Saying that nothing can break through the city of Wuchang, and nothing can help Zeng Guofan and the Hunan army, the Hunan reinforcements have successfully joined forces with the Hunan army, and the defense force has been strengthened again, and the Taiping army, which is short of grain and grass, finally has no choice but to lift the siege of Wuchang Fucheng, and retreats to Tianjia Town to take grain, and the defense of Wuchang Fucheng, which lasted more than two months, finally ended with the victory of the Qing army.

The city of Wuchang was saved, but Wu Chaoyue, the governor of Hubei, was not happy at all, and the war of more than two months had completely turned the originally prosperous town outside the city of Wuhan into a ruin, and the war spread to more than 20 counties in Wuchang, Huangzhou, Hanyang and De'an, and the people were displaced and starved all over the land, and the money and grain in the treasury and the treasury were squandered by the barber teacher, not to mention the relief of the hungry people and the handling of the new army, but even the money for the people to buy seeds and plough cattle could not be taken out.

What's even worse is that although the main force of the Taiping army retreated to Tianjia Town, which is adjacent to Jiangxi and Anhui, to get food, it still did not give up the Hubei cities of Huangzhou, Wuchang County, Qizhou and Dazhi, and still had troops stationed there, forcing Wu Chaoyue to try to recapture these cities at the same time, he could also use these cities as a base for advance at any time to make a comeback, and kill Wuchang City and Wu Chaoyue desperately!

After the war, the only thing worthy of Wu Chaoyue's good fortune was that the barber teacher was still obedient, and without mentioning any conditions, he withdrew from the city with the Hunan army and the land division, and honestly returned the city of Wuchang to Wu Chaoyue, the governor of Hubei. However, as soon as the barber teacher left, Li Qinggu and the prefect ran to Wu Chaoyue to wipe his tears, saying that the barber teacher returned the treasury and the treasury to them were as clean as the white belly of their concubine, and there was not even a grain or a tael of silver left. At the same time, Zhao Liewen also told Wu Chaoyue with a sad face, saying that on the account provided by Guo Songtao, the Hunan army not only did not need to return the money and grain to the Hubei Domain, but on the contrary, the Hubei Domain Treasury also owed the Hunan Army more than 10,000 taels of silver for its military exploits.

After being silent for a long time, Wu Chaoyue reluctantly squeezed out a smile to Zhao Liewen, Li Qinggu and the others, and said with a forced smile: "It's nothing, as long as you can keep Wuchang Mansion City, Qingshan is still there, are you afraid that there will be no firewood?" It's a big deal, let's live a hard life for a few days and start again. ”

As a result, it was also at this time that Wu Chaoyue's governor's authority and the benefits of Wuchang Mansion's water transportation were fully reflected, Wu Chaoyue just gave an order, and the prefectures and counties in Hubei immediately obediently loaded the taxes and grain that had not been submitted for more than two months into the Wuchang Mansion City, although they were not enough, but they also solved Wu Chaoyue's urgent need.

At the same time, after receiving Wu Chaoyue's letter of help, the newly appointed Sichuan Governor Huang Zonghan immediately agreed to buy cattle for Wu Chaoyue in the relatively peaceful Sichuan Province because he had long admired Wu Chaoyue's reputation for loyalty and righteousness, and helped Wu Chaoyue solve the problem of spring ploughing in Hubei. There is also Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, who also read it for the sake of his lips and teeth, and like Wu Lao's compradors, he is from Lin Zexu's lineage, and he also sent a batch of grain to Wu Chaoyue through the waterway, so that the people of Hubei will not even have seeds for farming.

At the same time as personally organizing the people to develop spring ploughing, Wu Chaoyue did not forget to handle the Hubei regimental training to rebuild his military strength, but considering the shortage of money and food, Wu Chaoyue had to repeatedly reduce the number of recruits, and only recruited a total of 3,000 Lian Yong, with the two sentinel training Yong he brought from Shanghai as the core backbone, and quickly formed six battalions of regimental training, temporarily trained strictly with arquebuses, and at the same time took turns to train them to use firing pin guns and mini guns for the future.

As a result, when it was time to recruit new soldiers, Wu Chaoyue found that the barber teacher's choice of military sources was exactly the same as his own, they all liked to recruit rural people with simple personalities, and because the Hunan army preemptively replenished the source of soldiers on the spot, a large number of qualified soldiers around Wuchang Mansion City were recruited into the army, which made it difficult for Wu Chaoyue to recruit troops on the spot. Fortunately, Wu Chao recruited a small number of soldiers, and at the same time, water transportation was far more convenient and faster than land routes, so Wu Jun Lian Yong only slightly expanded the scope of recruitment, and still recruited new recruits quickly.

On the day of the formation of the army, Wu Chaoyue personally delivered an impassioned speech at the scene, and used the old soldiers he brought from Shanghai as an example to encourage the recruits to learn from these examples, and to be promoted to make a fortune and make a fortune. Zeng Guofan, who is still stationed in the Baishazhou area, also sent representatives to participate in Wu Chaoyue's army formation ceremony, which is called a visit, but it is actually a spying on Wu Chaoyue's new army.

Most of the recruits could only wear the old clothes left by the veterans of the Qing army, and all the guns in their hands were primitive and outdated, with only four 800-pound guns and 10 500-pound guns. The only sailor battalion, equipped with the same light and small pull-out boats as the Taiping army's sailors, and because there were no qualified sailor generals, Wu Chaoyue had to borrow a Hunan army sentry commander named Wang Fu who barely understood water warfare from Liu Kunyi's battalion to be the sailor battalion officer, and it was very shabby from top to bottom, from the inside to the outside.

Therefore, when the eyeliner reported the situation of the Hubei New Army to Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guofan laughed and proclaimed very proudly: "There will never be a day!" What bullshit is that the Hubei New Army will never be able to compete with the Hunan Army of this commander! ”

What he never expected was that on the same day that he said this sentence proudly, because he was afraid of the threat of blockade of the sea route threatened by the British and French combined fleet, the Xianfeng Emperor and the Manchu court had to be aggrieved and signed the "Treaty of Tianjin" with the British and French three years earlier than in history, and was forced to agree to open the Yangtze River shipping route to Britain and France, and also promised to open the four inland ports of Hankou, Jiujiang, Nanjing and Zhenjiang as treaty ports!

The stupid Xianfeng Emperor was of course unwilling to let foreigners enter Chinese mainland, but there was no way, the Manchu Qing court in the battle at the mouth of Heilongjiang owed the British and French combined fleets a favor, and although Sakhalin Island could not be directly taken back afterwards, the reason was that the Qing army could not do Russian Cossacks on land. After receiving Wu Chaoyue's secret guidance, the old Bao Ling threatened to cut off the Manchu court's sea transportation route under the pretext of repairing the treaty, and in essence blocked the Manchu court's sea grain fleet from entering the Baihe River. However, fortunately, Britain and France promised to negotiate with Russia to force the Russians to return the occupied land to the Manchu court through diplomatic means.

For Wu Chaoyue, the fact that Wild Boar Pi IX was forced to agree to open the Yangtze River waterway was of course a good news bigger than the sky, so much so that after receiving this news, Wu Chaoyue, who was having dinner with Feng Wanzhen, happily hugged Xiao Luoli and kissed her, and almost straightened Xiao Luoli on the spot with a black conscience. And after Xiao Luoli forcibly struggled out of Wu Chaoyue's claws and ran out with a red face, Zhao Liewen, who sent the good news, also warned Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, don't be too happy too early, although the imperial court agreed to open the Yangtze River waterway, it also opened Hankou as a treaty port. But Changmao's side is not a fool, and he must also understand that once you get in direct contact with the foreigners, you will be able to get the foreigners' guns, ammunition and artillery immediately, and will definitely find a way to destroy the obstruction, and maybe it is possible to block the Yangtze River waterway and not give you a chance to contact the foreigners. ”

"It's possible." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "But I'm not worried at all, no one knows better than me how much foreigners attach importance to the inland market, for the sake of money, they will use force against our imperial court, and they will also use force against Changmao." ”

Zeng Guofan, who had not met with Wu Chaoyue since he left the city, suddenly came to the door in person, asking Wu Chaoyue to come forward to promote his staff Guo Songtao as the prefect of Hanyang, and directly explained that he had already submitted this script to the imperial court, and let Wu Chaoyue also come forward to protect the promotion of some hopes.

If it was another prefect of Hubei, Wu Chaoyue could consider agreeing, but Hanyang is different, not to mention that Hanyang and Wuchang Fucheng face each other across the river, and the geographical location is extremely important, and Wu Chaoyue must not agree to the fact that Hankou, which is under the jurisdiction of Hanyang, is about to be opened into a treaty port. And before that, in order to reward Lu Shenhui, the prefect of Hanchuan County, who established miraculous achievements, Wu Chaoyue had already made Lu Shenhui the prefect of Hanyang. Therefore, Wu Chaoyue also rejected Zeng Guofan's request for the first time in the first time, and also clearly told Zeng Guofan that he had recommended Lu Shenhui.

After Zeng Guofan left Wu Chaoyue's governor's yamen with a smile on his face, the first thing Wu Chaoyue did was to write a letter to his backer Su Shun, asking Su Shun to help him with this great favor, and begging Su Shun early to let Lu Shenhui concurrently serve as the superintendent of Hankou Customs. However, Wu Chaoyue also knew in his heart that this matter was just the beginning, and the rift between himself and the barber teacher was destined to gradually increase because of this incident.

Wu Chaoyue underestimated his barber teacher a little, and after eating a closed door in front of Wu Chaoyue, Zeng Guofan did not use any means to make Xiang Jun Lian Yong deliberately make trouble for Wu Chaoyue, but Wu Chaoyue also seriously underestimated his barber teacher, and Wu Chaoyue couldn't get through here, Zeng Guofan set his sights on the new governor Wang Jia Guanwen who replaced Yang Pei as the governor of Huguang. When the official document came to Hubei via Henan to take office, Wu Chaoyue only went to the north bank of the Yangtze River to meet him, but Zeng Guofan personally led the sailor to Xingou to meet the official text, and as soon as they met, he was extremely affectionate with the official Wen who had met in the capital, and came to Wuchang with the same boat.

Through contact and observation, Wu Chaoyue found that Guanwen was a greedy and lustful goods, and Wu Chaoyue was very good at dealing with this kind of person, but it is a pity that Zeng Guofan, who could move seven times in ten years during the Taiping period, was also a ruthless character who patted on the back, and the meeting gift given to Guanwen was no less than Wu Chaoyue. At the same time, Guan Wen also knew very well that if he wanted to sit firmly in Hubei, he must pay attention to military issues, and in terms of military strength, Zeng Guofan was currently much stronger than Wu Chaoyue, so Guan Wen did not hesitate to sit on Zeng Guofan's side, and as soon as they met, he forced Wu Chaoyue to take out money and food, and let Zeng Guofan start a war to recapture the Hubei city in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The request of the official document almost did not force Wu Chaoyue to cry, and under the resentment, Wu Chaoyue simply told the official document directly about the actual money and grain in the Hubei Domain, saying that there were only more than 10,000 taels of silver in the treasury, and he still owed three months' military salary to the Hubei Green Camp, less than 30,000 stones, and owed the imperial court last year's grain. As a result, the official text had to think about Wu Chaoyue after hearing it, and scolded: "Wu Futai, how did you become the governor?" It's been more than a month since I took office, why is the Hubei Domain still empty? ”

Wu Chaoyue's face changed, and he almost wanted to turn his face with the official document on the spot, and then ask Su Shun behind him to come forward to clean up the official document. However, the barber teacher jumped out at this time to play a round and be a good person, and tried his best to defend Wu Chaoyue, saying that when Wu Chaoyue took office, the Hubei Domain Treasury did not even have a copper coin left, and also truthfully introduced Wu Chaoyue's efforts in developing people's livelihood and organizing spring ploughing. ”

Wu Chaoyue and Guanwen, who were so poor that they naturally wanted to hear Zeng Guofan's good idea, but after Zeng Guofan said his good idea, the official Wen applauded loudly, but Wu Chaoyue almost tilted his nose in anger -- Zeng Guofan actually suggested that the tax on bandits be increased at various ports and wharves in Hubei, and that a 1 percent levy on the value of goods should be levied on past business travelers for the purpose of countering the rebellion of the Hunan army.

At the same time, Wu Chaoyue of course resolutely opposed this method, pointing out that Hubei has been in turmoil several times, the people have been displaced, starving, and have long been oppressed by all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and it is urgent to reduce the burden of the people and rest the people. However, Zeng Guofan rolled his eyes and asked Wu Chaoyue: "Wu Futai, if you don't do anything, then where do we go there to raise military expenses for killing thieves?" And how to recover the fallen land in Hubei? ”

"yes." The official document also questioned Wu Chaoyue in a big way: "Wu Futai, since you don't agree to take a penny, where will the money and food for us to kill thieves and quell the rebellion come from?" ”

Wu Chaoyue was speechless, and only after a while did he shout: "I am the governor of Hubei, and I am responsible for the finances of Hubei, and I don't agree to do this!" Anyway, Wu Chaoyue didn't care what the consequences of doing this would be, and rushed out of the lobby of the Governor's Mansion with a flick of his hand.

Angrily returned to the governor's yamen, Zhao Liewen, who was leading a group of new masters to Wu Chaoyue as cattle and horses, saw that Wu Chaoyue was not good, so he hurriedly followed Wu Chaoyue into the back hall to inquire about the reason, after Wu Chaoyue introduced the situation to Zhao Liewen, Zhao Liewen quietly thought about it for a long time, and then suddenly said: "Weiting, you were too impulsive just now, your best choice just now should be a mouthful!" ”

"Should I say yes?" Wu Chaoyue was taken aback, and looked at Zhao Liewen with some disbelief - Wu Chaoyue had already discovered through observation that although he was definitely not a good man and a woman, he was not a person who did not care about the lives of the people.

"That's right! You should agree, the benefits of this matter outweigh the disadvantages! ”

Zhao Liewen nodded solemnly, and then explained to Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, I know that your refusal to levy the levy of the centigold is a good intention, and the people of Hubei should also relieve them of some burdens. I also know that the source of military spending you are most looking forward to is Hankou's tariffs, but have you thought about it, Hubei has just experienced war, and Hankou has just opened its port, how many tariffs can you collect? How much money can I get for the new army? ”

Wu Chaoyue closed his mouth and stopped talking, pondered for a while before he woke up, and said: "You mean, push the boat down the river, borrow the teacher's hand to open up this source of wealth, and take the opportunity to raise military salaries for my new army?" ”

Zhao Liewen nodded and smiled, his smile was very treacherous, and said: "If you raise taxes, the people will inevitably complain, if you come out to ask the court for this matter, the people and businessmen will definitely hate you to the bone." But if this matter is played by the official system and Zeng Butang, what do you have to worry about being scolded? Don't forget, those who can transport goods to and from the major gates are either businessmen who are barely a little educated, or rich businessmen with backgrounds and backgrounds, and they are not easily deceived by the goods. ”

Wu Chaoyue's brows slowed slightly, and he asked again: "But the money collected belongs to my teacher's Hunan army, so does it have my new army?" ”

"Who said you didn't have your share?" Zhao Liewen said with a smile: "First, you are the governor of Hubei, and the finance and civil affairs of Hubei are in your hands, and the money drawn by the magistrate must be handed over to you first, ......and when it passes through your hands, you don't even understand the truth of goose plucking, right?" ”

"Second." Zhao Liewen smiled even more happily and said, "Will your teacher stay in Hubei all the time?" After he left Hubei, you continued to push the boat down the river, and continued to collect the thief's gold from the people, didn't all this silver belong to you? When the tariffs and other financial resources on the Hankou side are opened, and you go up to the table and ask to stop collecting the commission, what will the people and merchants think of you? Do you think that you are their reborn parents, a good Qing official who loves the people like a child? ”

Wu Chaoyue suddenly realized, patted his forehead and said regretfully: "Confused, confused, why didn't I think deeply just now?" But it doesn't matter, I will go to the official system station and Mr. Zeng tomorrow to apologize and promise to let them levy a percentage from Hubei Business Travel. ”

"Remember, you must ask the official system and Zeng Butang to go to the imperial court and ask the imperial court for permission to raise salaries in Hubei." Zhao Liewen pointed out again: "There is a more critical point, you must emphasize the military affairs of the Prime Minister of the Two Lakes of the Official Taiwan, and the military salary should be paid by him, so the money you collect must be handed over to the official platform first, and then ask the official Taiwan to issue it to your teacher's Hunan army!" ”

"What does that mean?" Wu Chaoyue was a little confused again.

"Weiting, it seems that you are really confused today, you don't understand this." Zhao Liewen smiled and said: "Of course, in order to curry favor with the official platform, insert a wedge between him and your teacher, so as to separate them in the future, otherwise, your life in Hubei in the future will only become more and more difficult." ”

When Wu Chaoyue looked at Zhao Liewen suspiciously, Zhao Liewen said: "The reason why the official platform is resolutely on your teacher's side today is because there are two reasons, the first is of course that your teacher must have spent money on him, and the second is that the military affairs of the two lakes of the governor of the official system are the military affairs of the two lakes, and they must rely on your teacher in the military to ensure that they can sit firmly in the position, and they will gather with each other because of interests, and they will naturally disperse because of interests." ”

"What about you, push the boat down the river and hand over the collected cents to the official platform for him to distribute, and the official platform will naturally have to pluck the goose and get some benefits for yourself. When the time comes, your teacher will be scolded for carrying the black pot and letting the official system occupy it, of course you will not feel comfortable; And the official authority not only acknowledges your affection, but also has to work hand in hand with you in the accounts, so as not to give authority to others. In this way, you are not afraid that the official system will get closer and closer to you, and you will become more and more estranged from your teacher? ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Liewen smiled even more treacherously, and said in a low voice: "Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Zeng Butang tried his best to tolerate the official system for the sake of military salaries. But as long as you get close to the official platform, get along well, and when you have the opportunity, wouldn't it be easy to separate the relationship between your teacher and the official platform? ”

Wu Chaoyue finally laughed happily, patted Zhao Liewen's shoulder and smiled: "Huifu, great talent!" It's really worthy of my Zhang Liangzifang! That's it, push the boat down the river, I will take the opportunity to reap the benefits, and let my teacher carry the black pot! (To be continued.) )