Wu Chaoyue was completely forced to expand the army, Wu Jianzhang, who hoped that Sun Chengchan would be forced, the local wealthy businessmen and gentry who wanted to ensure the safety of Shanghai, the foreigners who wanted to sell more weapons, and Chen Tinghuang, the prefect of Songjiang, who hoped to be cleared of the territory, Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, and the Manchu court also sent letters to order Wu Chaoyue to expand the army, and even the common people in Shanghai hoped that Wu Chaoyue would hold more group training to control the public security situation in Shanghai, which had deteriorated rapidly due to the rapid increase in population.

In the end, there was really no way, and the annoying Wu Chaoyue could only wave his thin hand, while quietly writing the resignation of the official, while expanding the Shanghai regimental training to a battalion of 500 people, and this time, Wu Chaoyue's seemingly absurd recruitment conditions not only no one laughed at them, but also became the research and study object of the concession foreigners and the regimental training in Songjiang counties.

Although this time there is no need to worry about money and food, there is still something that annoys Wu Chaoyue, that is, Liu Lichuan, the old lackey of the Wu family, is angry at the combat effectiveness of the Shanghai regiment, and wants to stuff a hundred people into Wu Chaoyue's camp, and let Wu Chaoyue help him train and arm the thugs. After Wu Chaoyue, who had always been disgusted with the township party gang, categorically refused, Liu Lichuan, who refused to give up, ran to Wu Jianzhang's face again, and read Liu Lichuan's loyalty performance, Wu Jianzhang also opened his mouth to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue was forced to be helpless, so he had to give Liu Lichuan a piece of paper, let Liu Lichuan recruit two hundred Lian Yongcheng Army from scratch to help maintain law and order at the dock, and let Liu Lichuan go to Wu Jianzhang to find a way to find a way for money, food and equipment, but also promised to help Liu Lichuan hire foreigners as instructors to help Liu Lichuan train the regiment. This is how Liu Lichuan was finally sent away.

In terms of weapons, Wu Chaoyue still bought breech shots from the Prussians as main battle rifles, and at the same time, in order to appease and thank Brown, the American ** fire salesman who helped a lot, Wu Chaoyue purchased 100 revolvers and 50 mini guns from Brown. However, the British consul Ali Guo refused to let Wu Chaoyue go, and also came to the door to force Wu Chaoyue to purchase arms from him, Wu Chaoyue did not dare to offend the current world hegemon, so he had to order two mortar guns and two breezed rifled guns from Ali Guo, and arranged for some of his own soldiers to go to the British warships and armed merchant ships to learn artillery operation, wasting a lot of money that Wu Jianzhang had worked hard to embezzle, and it took a lot of effort to send the insatiable British away.

It must also be explained that during this period, Wu Chaoyue did not forget the whereabouts of Zhou Xiuying, in addition to cooperating with the local government to put a reward for the arrest of Zhou Lichun's father and daughter, Wu Chaoyue quietly sent thugs from the Double Knife Society and the Hundred Dragons Society to inquire about Zhou Xiuying's whereabouts, but the little girl seemed to have disappeared in this world, and there was no news all the time.

Zhou Xiuying's whereabouts could not be found, but the excerpt of the resignation had been replied to -- Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, who was supposed to relay the resignation for Wu Chaoyue, not only did not send the excerpt to the capital, but also sent someone to send the excerpt back to Shanghai and directly handed it over to Wu Jianzhang. Wu Jianzhang was furious when he saw the excerpt, and immediately sent someone to bring Wu Chaoyue back who was in training, smashed the excerpt on Wu Chaoyue's face and scolded his grandson for a bloody dog, no matter how Wu Chaoyue explained and begged Wu Jianzhang to listen, forcing Wu Chaoyue to continue to be an official. Wu Chaoyue also got a little angry in the end, threw down a sentence and left, "Grandpa, it's okay if you don't let me resign, but when the court transfers me to fight long-haired bandits in the future, don't cry!" ”

After another conflict with the comprador grandfather, Wu Chaoyue angrily went directly out of Shanghai City, and went straight to the training ground located more than ten miles southwest of the county, because he was in a bad mood, Wu Chaoyue also vented his anger on the war horse, regardless of his mediocre riding skills, he just urged the horse to hurry, and a few pro-soldiers brought from the barracks couldn't keep up at all, and saw that Wu Chaoyue's face was extremely unsightly, and several pro-soldiers didn't dare to shout, just followed quickly, and soon distanced themselves from Wu Chaoyue.

After passing Lujiabang, the pedestrians on the road gradually became scarce, and Wu Chaoyue, who had been sulking for a long time, took a breath of anger for a while, so he slowed down his horse and waited for the soldiers behind, but he was still very angry in his heart, and he really didn't understand what kind of luck he was, he obviously didn't want to be an official, let alone be a slave to the Manchu Eight Banners, why couldn't he resign from this broken official, and was forced to go to the forefront of the Taiping Army step by step? Under the fire, Wu Chaoyue couldn't help but curse in a low voice, "**** Manchu Qing, if you dare to force Lao Tzu to be cannon fodder for you, Lao Tzu will be Yuan Datou's grandson cannon and overthrow you for them!" ”

When there was a soft sound, Wu Chaoyue's words had just finished scolding, and he had already heard a soft sound from his head, and then the red tasseled hat also flew out, Wu Chaoyue squinted and found that there was a flying knife stuck in his hat, and he was immediately frightened and quickly jumped off the horse and hid next to the war horse, pulled out the revolver and nervously observed the surrounding movements, and saw that there was no one around, but there seemed to be a figure shaking in the grass beside the road, Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and immediately fired two shots in the grass, shouting: "Come out, otherwise Lao Tzu will shoot again!" ”

The grass shook, and a figure fled quickly to the distant woods, Wu Chaoyue wanted to continue shooting, but after vaguely seeing the back of the man, Wu Chaoyue was taken aback, hurriedly gave up shooting, and shouted: "Shimei, don't run, I don't shoot, I have something to say to you!" ”

The back is very similar to Zhou Xiuying's man who ignored Wu Chaoyue at all, his footsteps did not stop and just rushed to the reeds of the Huangpu River in the distance, and at the same time, the soldiers who followed from afar heard the gunshots and found that something was wrong, and they also shouted and rushed quickly, Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and quickly picked up the gun and followed, and the soldiers shouted danger to Wu Chaoyue and wait for them, and Wu Chaoyue did not pay attention to it.

When chasing the man all the way to the dense reeds, Zhou Xiuying's familiar back had long since disappeared, and Wu Chaoyue could only shout loudly: "Sister Shi, Xiuying, come out, I won't arrest you, let alone kill you, I just want to meet you and say a few words to you." ”

didn't answer, but the river flowed, the reeds shook, Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to shout again: "Xiuying, you are not the main culprit in Qingpu's matter, even if you come out to see me, I can guarantee to clear your name, you have to believe me!" ”

There was still no sound in the reeds, but a few pro-soldiers shouted and chased after them, and drew their guns to shoot at the reeds, when Wu Chaoyue hurriedly stopped them, a pro-soldier pointed to the ground and said: "Mr. Lian, look, there is blood on the ground." ”

had to be reminded by the soldiers, Wu Chaoyue found that there were really a few drops of blood on the snow, Wu Chaoyue suddenly complained even more, and hurriedly shouted: "Xiuying, are you injured?" I didn't know it was you who shot you, did it hit you? Come out quickly, I have medicine here, I'll treat you! ”

I shouted bitterly at the reeds for a long time, but Zhou Xiuying still didn't move, I don't know if she is still hiding in the reeds, or if she has fled, a personal soldier suggested: "Mr. Lian, it's winter when the reeds are dry, let's set fire to the reeds, as long as there are people hidden inside, we will definitely get out." ”

Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said, "She doesn't want to come out, so let her be, anyway, she's just a small accomplice, it doesn't matter if she can be caught or not, let's go." ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue shouted at the reeds again: "Xiuying, you don't want to come out to see me, I don't force you, when you figure it out, you can come to me at any time." You remember, you are only coerced into rebellion, you can get away with it, but you can't find someone else to turn yourself in, you can only come to me! ”

"Also, I put the wound medicine here, I'm leaving, you come and get it, stop the bleeding first!"

After shouting these words, Wu Chaoyue put the wound medicine in place, and walked away with his own soldiers step by step. And after a long time, Zhou Xiuying also covered her left arm that was shot and walked out of the reeds, first looked at the wound medicine that Wu Chaoyue put in place, and then looked at the direction where Wu Chaoyue went, Zhou Xiuying's beautiful eyes that were already full of tears finally shed tears, and she choked and said softly: "What's wrong with me?" At such a distance, how did my throwing knife miss? ”

On the way to leave in a sullen mood, Wu Chaoyue didn't say a word except for asking a few personal soldiers to keep this matter strictly secret, and what he was thinking about in his heart was how to exonerate Zhou Xiuying and how to make the Songjiang government cancel the wanted warrant for Zhou Xiuying, but Wu Chaoyue also knew very well in his heart that even if he thought of a way to get rid of Zhou Xiuying, as long as he was still mixed in the Manchu officialdom, there was absolutely no possibility of marrying Zhou Xiuying as the main family. But Wu Chaoyue thought about it, but said in his heart: "But it doesn't matter, if it really comes to that point, it is estimated that she will not dare to ask for any more extravagant position in the main room, and it is estimated that she is willing to accept her as a concubine." By the way, when it comes to this question, what kind of daughter-in-law should I marry? I'm not too big in this era, and it's time to think about marrying a daughter-in-law. ”

…………

quarreled with the comprador grandfather again, Wu Chaoyue originally thought that like last time, the comprador grandfather would ignore him for a few days, but what Wu Chaoyue didn't expect was that the next day, Wu Jianzhang sent someone to call him back to the city, and Wu Chaoyue, who was counting on inheriting Wu Jianzhang's Wanguan family property in the future, did not dare to lose his temper, obediently agreed, and learned a lesson and brought a team of personal soldiers to protect himself back to the city. As a result, when he arrived in the city, something that Wu Chaoyue didn't expect happened, Wu Jianzhang actually put a stack of birthday characters in front of Wu Chaoyue with a pleasant face, and said with a smile: "Good grandson, look at what this is, I want to marry my daughter to you, you are not too young, look at the daughter who likes that family, grandpa will send someone to propose marriage to you." ”

"Again?" Wu Chaoyue's forehead was sweating, and he cried bitterly: "Grandpa, why are you here again?" Last time, Zhou Xiuying caused us less trouble, why do you still give me a blind date? ”

"It's not a blind date, it's a daughter-in-law for you." Wu Jianzhang said with a smile: "In the past, you were not angry, and no big family looked down on you, so grandpa, I let you go on a blind date with the little girl surnamed Zhou, and now you are angry, and you have become an official, what are you going to do with those big-footed mothers-in-law?" These are all beautiful girls, either scholarly families, or rich families, you see if there is one you like, grandpa, I will ask the matchmaker to hire you! ”

"I don't choose, I don't want those three-inch golden lotus, I like Tianzu." Wu Chaoyue flatly refused, "And I don't want you to choose, I want to find a daughter-in-law myself." ”

Born as a chicken dealer, Wu Jianzhang's original wife is also a big-footed mother-in-law, and he doesn't care much about whether his granddaughter-in-law is talented, but seeing the attitude of his baby grandson, Wu Jianzhang, who is also on fire in his heart, can't bear it anymore, yelling and forcing his grandson to pick a daughter-in-law, and threatening that if Wu Chaoyue doesn't choose, he will pick a daughter from a big family for Wu Chaoyue to ask the matchmaker to hire him, and directly use a sedan chair to carry his granddaughter-in-law back and stuff it into Wu Chaoyue's bed. Wu Chaoyue, who knew very well that it was completely legal to do this in this era, had no choice, so he had to quickly come up with a perfunctory solution, and said: "Grandpa, it's not that I don't want to marry a daughter-in-law, it's that I already have someone in my heart, and if I want to marry, I'll only marry her!" ”

"Who is it?" Wu Jianzhang hurriedly asked, and then shouted uneasily: "Don't say it's the girl surnamed Zhou, she is now a wanted criminal in the imperial court, and it's a dream that you want to marry her!" ”

"Of course not her." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said nonsense: "I like that girl is from the capital, her name is Feng Wanzhen, she lives in Xie Zhuang next to the Old Summer Palace, although the family conditions are average, but I just like her, I want to marry her!" ”

Wu Jianzhang, a national-level billionaire who ranked number one in the late Qing Dynasty, of course wouldn't mind whether his daughter-in-law had money at home, and he just asked Wu Chaoyue and Feng Wanzhen what the situation was, but Wu Chaoyue was talking nonsense, saying that he and Feng Wanzhen fell in love at first sight in the capital, and Li Hongzhang also made a matchmaker for himself and almost became a matchmaker, but Feng Wanzhen's father Feng Sanbao didn't know the details of the old Wu family, so he didn't agree. And Wu Jianzhang was happy when he heard it, and immediately said: "This matter is easy to do, grandpa will send someone to Beijing immediately, and ask the matchmaker to come to Xie Zhuang to propose a marriage to you, and I will definitely marry that Feng Wanzhen back for you!" ”

Wu Chaoyue snickered in his stomach, in order to delay more time, Wu Chaoyue said again: "Grandpa, let's talk about it after the New Year, when the time comes, the person you send can go directly to Li Hongzhang, he knows about me and the girl, and he also knows that the girl lives there, ask him to help talk about the matchmaker, this thing will definitely be done." ”

"Okay, okay." Wu Jianzhang laughed and said, "As long as you like it, although you said that girl is not a big family and is not worthy of our family background, but as long as you like it, grandpa, I don't mind this!" ”

When he secretly sighed that this comprador grandfather was really good to him, an errand officer of the customs yamen suddenly entered the back hall and presented an official document to Wu Jianzhang with both hands, saying that it was an official document sent by Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, and Wu Jianzhang didn't think much about it, so he took it and opened it to watch, but after only two glances, Wu Jianzhang's face changed, and the two thin old hands began to tremble............

Observing the words and looks, he found that Wu Jianzhang's expression was wrong, Wu Chaoyue wanted to inquire about what happened, but when the words came to his mouth, Wu Chaoyue suddenly guessed the reason, and said: "Grandpa, if I guess correctly, this should be the official document that Lu Jianying sent me to Hubei to participate in the war, right?" ”

"How do you know?" Wu Jianzhang asked in surprise.

"Can you scare grandpa like this, what else can you do except transfer me to Hubei to participate in the war?" Wu Chaoyue smiled bitterly and said, "How is it, grandpa, I'm not wrong, right?" As long as I don't resign, I won't be able to run this day. ”

Wu Jianzhang was speechless, and only yelled after a long time: "Is Lu Zhitai crazy? You only have a few people, and you are still stationed in Shanghai, why does he want you to lead the army to Jiujiang to help suppress it?! ”

"Jiujiang?" Wu Chaoyue raised his eyebrows and hurriedly asked, "Grandpa, where did the long hair go?" ”

"The official document said that Changmao had surrounded Wuchang and taken Hanyang City." Wu Jianzhang said with a sad face: "Lu Duxian was ordered to lead the army westward to help suppress, and the following is for you to lead the Shanghai regiment to Jiujiang to help suppress." ”

"It's normal, I'm sick and rushed to the doctor, I knew that sooner or later there would be today." Wu Chaoyue sneered disdainfully, and said: "Grandpa, don't worry, Lu Jianying has a policy, we have a countermeasure, you ask the master to write me a reply, just say that I have just expanded the army, the soldiers have not yet been trained, the weapons, food and grass are not yet complete, and the remnants of Zhou Lichun have not been completely wiped out, so I can't obey my fate, so I will talk about it perfunctory first." ”

"Yes, yes, yes." Wu Jianzhang nodded again and again, and said: "Deal with it like this first, if you can delay it for a day, if you can't do it, use your method, resign from the office, grandpa, I don't allow you to fight long hair, you must not go, even Lao Qiu Ba like Xiang Rong is not an opponent of long hair, let alone you." ”

Wu Chaoyue heard the bitter complaint, and hurriedly said: "Grandpa, things have come to this point, you still don't allow me to resign?" If Changmao defeats Wuchang and goes down the river by boat, it will be possible to hit Jiangning in a few days, and then I will be able to resign as an official? ”

Wu Jianzhang was a little shaken, but quickly shook his head and said, "Nonsense! Wuchang is the capital of Hubei Province, how can Long Hair be able to fight it? Changmao didn't fight Changsha and Guilin before, and Wuchang must be the same. ”

"Whatever you want." Wu Chaoyue was too lazy to argue with Wu Jianzhang, who was obsessed with officials, and after thinking about it again, Wu Chaoyue said again: "Grandpa, by the way, ask your master to count the information about Longhair and copy it to me, so that I can understand the specific situation of the Longhair bandits." ”

"What do you want to do?" Wu Jianzhang, who had already suffered a loss, was anxious when he heard this, and said with a glare: "Do you want to go behind my back to fight long hair again?" ”

"If I want to grow hair, I won't resign behind your back." Wu Chaoyue said angrily: "I want to know the specific situation of Changmao and see when the best time to resign." Also, if the long hair really came down the Yangtze River, Shanghai wouldn't be able to run away? I don't know about the enemy's situation, how can I take the regimental training to protect Shanghai and protect you when the time comes? ”

After listening to Sun Tzu's words, Wu Jianzhang didn't say anything more, but according to Sun Tzu's request, he asked his staff to sort out a copy of the information about the Taiping Army and hand it to Wu Chaoyue, but after getting this information and studying it carefully, Wu Chaoyue found that he didn't seem to have much time left, because the speed of the Taiping Army's march was too fast beyond Wu Chaoyue's imagination, and within half a year of laying down Daozhou, the Taiping Army conquered Guiyang, Anren, Youxian, Liling, Jianghua, Chenzhou, Yongming, Yongxing and Chaling and other placesIf it weren't for the siege of Changsha and the waste of 80 days, it should have entered Hubei a long time ago, and after giving up the attack on Changsha, the Taiping army only took 24 days to take Ningxiang, Yiyang, Yuezhou, Puyi, Jiayu and Hanyang six cities, attacking the city and plundering the land and fighting for nearly a thousand miles, which can be called a god speed.

Wuchang will definitely be taken by the Taiping army, which Wu Chaoyue knows very well, Wu Chaoyue just doesn't know how much time it took for the Taiping army to take Nanjing after taking Wuchang. But considering the convenient transportation of the Yangtze River waterway, Wu Chaoyue was absolutely sure that the process would definitely not be too long, so Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and immediately pinched his fingers to estimate how much time he had left............

"Today is the 6th of January 1853, November 27 of the second year of Xianfeng of the Ninth Wild Boar Skin, the Taiping army fought from Changsha to Wuchang in 24 days, no matter how bastard the defenders of Wuchang are, it should be no problem to hold for a month, right? The Taiping army took Wuchang to prepare grain and grass ships and deal with Xiang Rong, who was stalking them, at least another month had to be wasted, and then from Wuchang all the way to Nanjing, even if the waterway speed was fast, the cities and cities along the way, as well as Jiujiang, Anqing and Wuhu, these important military towns must be beaten, and they did not want to touch the city wall of Nanjing for three or two months. By the way, the Taiping army had not yet fought a water war, and it was not so easy to break through the Manchu Qing's Yangtze River surface defense line. ”

"I will resign after the New Year." Wu Chaoyue quickly made up his mind, and calculated in his heart quite easily: "Under the pretext that the training will drag on for a month, and I will find an excuse to resign after the New Year, I don't believe that the Taiping army can advance so quickly, and it will enter Anhui to threaten Nanjing in a month, forcing Xianfeng and Lu Jianying to transfer me to Nanjing to participate in the war." ”