Not only Wu Chaoyue is concerned about the autumn grain harvest in Hubei, Zeng Guofan is also concerned about this issue, Zeng Guofan also directly sent people to find out that several state capitals in the northwest of Hubei that have not been damaged by too much war have a very good year this year, among which Anlu, Yichang and Jingmen are still harvesting a bumper harvest, and the remaining prefectures can collect three or five more buckets of grain per mu of land even if they are not ripe, and the overall situation can be regarded as a good year even in the peaceful years. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

With the bottom in his heart, of course, the barber teacher did not hesitate to reach out to the disobedient protégé to ask for food, thinking that even if he could no longer extort as before, it should be reasonable to get fifty or sixty thousand stones of grain from the disobedient protégé just by virtue of the love of teachers and students. After the letter asking for military rations was delivered to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue only thought about it for less than three minutes, and immediately went straight to the Huguang Governor's Mansion, which was located in the southwest corner of the city, with the letter, and asked the official for instructions on how much grain should be given to Zeng Guofan.

Knowing Wu Chaoyue's intention, the official document was of course full of puzzlement, and asked Wu Chaoyue in confusion: "Weiting, your governor of Hubei, the money and grain in Hubei are under your control, and your teacher wants military rations. ”

"Uncle, the little nephew is also thinking about the overall situation, so I came to ask you for instructions."

Wu Chaoyue's mouth was as sweet as honey, and he said with a heartfelt voice: "Yes, according to the imperial court system, Hubei's money and grain should be managed by the little nephew, but uncle, you are the governor of Huguang after all, and it is not uncommon for my dynasty to delay state affairs because of discord between the governors. ”

"This year, thanks to the emperor's blessing, the autumn grain harvest in the northwest counties of Hubei is not bad, but the imperial court, the province and the province, everywhere is in short supply of money and grain, uncle, your superintendent and the two lakes green camp must not be cut off from food, so although Zeng Butang is the little nephew's teacher, but he reached out to the little nephew to ask for money and grain, for the unity of the governor of Huguang and Guangzhou, and in order to ensure that the uncle of your superintendent and the supply of money and grain in the Huguang green camp, it is reasonable, the little nephew should report this matter to you, and ask you how to deal with it. After all, uncle, you are the governor of Huguang, the only top product in Hubei and Hunan. ”

Extremely satisfied with Wu Chaoyue's respect and respect for himself, Guan Wen also showed a little happy smile, and scolded with a smile: "If you really have to worry about everything, the old man will worry about it, so let's talk about the money and food in your hand, and let the old man show you how much military food he can give to your teacher." ”

Wu Chaoyue recited the general ledger of money and grain in his hand without blinking his eyelids, and then said very respectfully: "Uncle, Hubei has been hit by war in the first half of this year, and the little nephew means that how much military ration Hunan gave my teacher in the autumn harvest, and Hubei should give half of it." ”

"Then how much military rations did Hunan give your teacher?" The official asked casually.

"It's ......." Wu Chaoyue looked embarrassed, and said with a wry smile: "Uncle, the little nephew is the governor of Hubei, how can he know the money and grain situation in Hunan?" How much military rations did Hunan give my teacher, you should ask your staff master? Hunan is in the south of Hubei, and the autumn harvest is better than Hubei, and Luo Futai should have reported the money and grain accounts, right? ”

Guan Wen's face changed a little, because unconsciously, Guan Wen suddenly remembered a big event - Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan who was killed by God, didn't take him seriously at all, and never reported to him about Hunan's money and grain! Under the hatred in his heart, Guan Wenqiang smiled and said: "No need to ask, Luo Futai doesn't have so many things like you, and you have to ask the old man for instructions on everything, so Hunan gave you the teacher's military rations, and I don't know." ”

"So that's the case, the little nephew took the liberty to ask my uncle for forgiveness." Wu Chaoyue's face was full of sincerity and fear, and he lowered his head in shame - and then a little sinister smile naturally appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The result was not as Wu Chaoyue expected, and after gradually calculating the official documents that were dissatisfied with Zeng Guofan and Luo Bingzhang, he waved his hand and said: "Reply to your teacher, just say that it is what I mean, Hubei has been repeatedly warned this year, starvation is everywhere, displaced people are all over the land, and he is in urgent need of relief and pacification, how much military ration can Hubei give him, I will talk about it after I discuss it carefully with you." ”

"It's ......." Wu Chaoyue's face was embarrassed.

"What? Don't even listen to your uncle? "Guan Wen is also a little unkind to Wu Chaoyue's face.

"The little nephew doesn't dare, the little nephew doesn't dare, the little nephew just replied to the teacher."

Wu Chaoyue hurriedly agreed tremblingly, and the face of the official text slowed down again, and he scolded Wu Chaoyue again: "Virtuous nephew, it's not that my uncle said you, you are the governor of Hubei, the official of the feudal territory, and the second-grade official, you must be assertive in case of trouble, don't be like Luo Futai, everything is at the mercy of the teacher, that is called useless!" ”

"Yes, yes, the little nephew must remember his uncle's teachings." Wu Chaoyue agreed again and again, but he was thinking about whether he should try to let his barber teacher know what the official text said, but considering the barber teacher's treacherous slippage, Wu Chaoyue dispelled this idea - if the matter is overdone, maybe the heavenly opportunity will be exposed.

Even if he didn't want to do too much, Wu Chaoyue still replied to Zeng Guofan according to the requirements of the official document, saying that he couldn't provide grain and grass to the Xiang army for the time being-Wu Chaoyue didn't know the severity and deliberately wanted the Xiang army to run out of food, but Wu Chaoyue had already secretly investigated the approximate amount of grain and grass provided by Luo Bingzhang for the Hunan army after the autumn harvest, knowing that the Hunan army could not be short of food for the time being, and it was not urgently needed, Wu Chaoyue certainly didn't want to immediately fill his teacher's bottomless appetite.

It is conceivable that Zeng Guofan's wonderful expression after receiving the reply of his disobedient protégé, in front of several henchmen, Zeng Guofan directly tore up the letter to shreds, smashed the table and sat down without saying a word for a long time, and only after a long time did he tell Liu Rong and others the content of the letter at the careful request of several confidants.

After knowing the general content of the letter, Liu Rong, Guo Songtao and others not only did not hate Shangguanwen, but on the contrary, they unanimously decided that this was Wu Chaoyue's shameless excuse - because according to the rules of the Manchu court, unless it was a concurrent governor, the military governor only had the right to supervise and know the local finances, and could not directly intervene and control the local finances. Therefore, Wu Chaoyue, who has the power to directly control the money and grain in Hubei, said that he would discuss with the official document before giving the Hunan army grain and grass, and simply pulled the official document out as a shield, and whether the official document knew about this matter is still a big question.

Under the hatred, Liu Rong simply suggested to Zeng Guofan: "Dashuai, anyway, you have a bit of a friendship with the official Taiwan, why don't you just write a letter to the official station and ask him if he has this matter?" If it's really Wu Chaoyue's excuse, look at him, how Wu Chaoyue will answer at that time?! ”

"What's the use of asking?" Zeng Guofan replied sullenly: "Not to mention that doing this is directly overstepping your authority, even if you ask clearly, what can you do?" Folded the bullet to impeach that little bastard for deliberately cutting off the grain and grass of the Hunan army? Let everyone in the world know that Ben Shuai has no way to teach, and taught such a bastard student, look at the jokes between Ben Shuai and that little bastard teacher and student? ”

Liu Rong closed her mouth, Zeng Guofan waved his hand, and said helplessly: "If you don't give it, forget it, fortunately, we are not short of military rations now, this account is remembered by the marshal first, and then I will slowly find him later." ”

"Dashuai, you can't wait for the future, the sooner this account is settled, the better." Luo Zenan said gloomily: "Otherwise, the more you swallow your anger, the more arrogant Wu Chaoyue will become, and in the future, we will still want to reach out to him to ask for weapons, money and food, it will only become more and more difficult." Therefore, it is best to give Wu Chaoyue a lifelong lesson right now, and let him know how many eyes Ma Wang Ye has. ”

After several hard battles, the Hunan army has taken the peripheral strongholds of the Taiping Army such as Chengzi Town, Xiaochikou and Ruichang County on the periphery of Jiujiang, surrounded the Taiping Army, and defeated the Taiping Army's sailors in the water battle, and drove the Taiping Army's sailors to the mouth of the lake opposite Poyang Lake to station, opening the water road for the sailors to reach the Nanchang battlefield. As long as Zeng Guofan has a heart and asks the sailor to go south alone to save Nanchang, the sailor of the Taiping Army is likely to take the opportunity to enter Hubei and clean up the disobedient protégé who is currently extremely weak on the water!

But unfortunately, it is too dangerous to do so, and although Zeng Guofan, who is known for his cautious use of soldiers, has moved this idea several times, he has not been able to make up his mind to take the risk. Even if the disobedient protégé slapped Zeng Guofan, the teacher, again, Zeng Guofan still didn't dare to take this risk.

At this time, Luo Zenan proposed again: "Dashuai, as far as the lower officials know, the Huguang Dao Yushi Fu Aji, who supervises Hubei, has some friendship with Hu Zhensheng (Hu Linyi), why don't you ask Hu Zhensheng to let Fu Aji come forward and participate in his Wu Chaoyi?" ”

"If you don't have a handle, what will you do with him?" Zeng Guofan replied without thinking about it: "Also, even if you can really get any handle credentials, there are Su Shun and ******** Zaiyuan standing behind that little bastard, Fu Aji may not dare to offend these two big men for Hu Linyi." ”

After that, Zeng Guofan added hatefully, "Especially Su Shun, that kid is notoriously narrow-minded and short-sighted, Fu Aji dares to join Wu Chaoyue, whom he regards as a confidant, he can pinch Fu Aji to death with his backhand!" ”

Forgetting that Wu Chaoyue still had Su Shun, a tough backer, Luo Zenan in the court and kept his mouth shut, but on the other side, Liu Rong said gloomily: "Dashuai, impeaching the governor of a province is indeed not trivial, and you can't act hastily, but if you attack Wu Chaoyue's relatives and confidants, attacking the people he will save, not only will the impact be small, and the hope of success will be great, but it can also play a role in knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger!" ”

Zeng Guofan looked up at Liu Rong in surprise, and after his eyes rolled for a moment, Zeng Guofan asked Liu Rong: "What does Mr. Meng Rong mean, to ...... and Zhao Liewen?" ”

"Not bad! It's Zhao Liewen! Liu Rong replied categorically and said: "In terms of military affairs, there are many capable people under Wu Chaoyue's command, but in terms of civil affairs and civil affairs, the only right-hand man Wu Chaoyue can rely on is Zhao Liewen. Losing Zhao Liewen, Wu Chaoyue is equivalent to losing an arm! Moreover, Zhao Liewen is just a staff master with a six-grade false title, not only is it easy to impeach him, but Su Shun and Zaiyuan will never protect him! ”

remembered that Zhao Liewen wrote the "Asking for Cantonese Thieves" for his disobedient protégé, and remembered all kinds of disrespect and disrespect to himself after his disobedient protégé arrived in Hubei, Zeng Guofan's anger did not come to one place, and he only thought about it for a while and asked: "What crime is used to impeach Zhao Liewen?" ”

Zhao Liewen, who is frivolous by nature, does have a lot of tricks for others to arrest in ordinary times, so Liu Rong replied without thinking about it: "Controlling Hubei government affairs, acting arbitrarily, overheading governors, prostituting prostitutes, and colluding with Yangyi, these are all real ready-made crimes." There should also be a problem with the money and grain account he is in charge of for Wu Chaoyue! ”

Knowing that the disobedient protégé was busy with military affairs and foreign affairs, almost all civil affairs were handed over to Zhao Liewen to handle, as long as it was an official decree prepared by Zhao Liewen, the disobedient protégé only had to sign and use the seal, and Zeng Guofan was not afraid that the Manchu court would send someone down to investigate. So after just a little calculation, Zeng Guofan asked again: "Fu Aji is far away in the capital, it is impossible to know a little person like Zhao Liewen, it is inconvenient for him to make a move, who will be impeached?" ”

Liu Rong first proposed to let Bao Chao, the deputy general of the Hubei Green Battalion, be the villain, but Zeng Guofan shook his head, saying that since Yang Dingguo was corrected on the spot, Bao Chao has been the biggest chess piece he has planted in Hubei, and it is too wasteful to let him come forward to do this. Liu Rong had no choice but to change her words and said: "Then let the officials of Hunan come forward to impeach, and the officials of Hunan will escort us with grain, grass and military supplies, and we will have to pass through Wuchang Mansion City back and forth, and it is normal to know that Zhao Liewen's evil deeds are impeached during this period." Moreover, Hunan officials impeaching Zhao Liewen can be sent directly to the capital through Luo Bingzhang's hands, bypassing Wu Chaoyue to avoid extraneous branches. ”

Zeng Guofan nodded in agreement, and the result was also a coincidence, the last time the leading official who sent Hunan grain and grass to the Hunan army happened to be Wang Xun, the general of the Hunan army with the rank of governor of Yuezhou Mansion, and he had always been very loyal to Zeng Guofan.

After receiving Zeng Guofan's letter, the loyal and obedient Wang Xun of course immediately wrote a recital, and sent it to the yamen of Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, and asked Luo Bingzhang to transfer it to the capital. Then it was also natural that the impeachment of Zhao Liewen for controlling the Hubei Governor's Yamen was first seen by Zuo Zongtang, who controlled the Hunan Governor's Yamen.

As Luo Bingzhang's chief of staff, Zuo Zongtang had of course heard that Wu Chaoyue also had a chief of staff named Zhao Liewen next to him, and he also saw at a glance that Wang Xun's impeachment was Xiang Zhuang Wujian, and the real target was Wu Chaoyue behind Zhao Liewen, and immediately guessed that Wang Xun's impeachment excerpt was actually from Zeng Guofan's instructions - otherwise Wang Xun would take care of Hubei's gossip if he ate too much? Therefore, Zuo Zongtang did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent this inconsequential fold to Luo Bingzhang, and asked Luo Bingzhang to decide whether to transfer it to the capital.

"Bohan, what kind of reputation is this? Wu Chaoyue is his protégé, and even the words are given by him, why is he still fighting with Wu Chaoyue so hard, and even used the ruthless trick of cutting Wu Chaoyue's arm? ”

Like Zuo Zongtang, the treacherous Luo Bingzhang also saw at a glance that Zeng Guofan was rectifying the students behind this excerpt, and he immediately frowned and complained: "It's troublesome, offend Zeng Bohan by deducting this excerpt, and offend Wu Weiting if you don't deduct this excerpt, their teachers and students are fighting, and they are in a dilemma, troublesome, troublesome." ”

After complaining, Luo Bingzhang, who was really in a dilemma, could only ask Zuo Zongtang: "Ji Gao, what do you think?" Do you come forward to reconcile the contradictions between their teachers and students? ”

"Futai, don't do this." Zuo Zongtang warned: "Zeng Butang instructed Wang Xun to impeach Wu Chaoyue's right-hand man, obviously he didn't want to openly tear his face with Wu Chaoyue, and he came forward to reconcile, which is equivalent to piercing the window paper, so that the contradictions between their teachers and students will be directly made public, and the two of them will not only not thank you, but will hate you together." ”

"It makes sense." Luo Bingzhang, who was obedient to Zuo Zongtang's words, nodded his head, frowned even tighter, and said: "Trouble, trouble, this thing is really difficult to do, it's really difficult to do." ”

After frowning and thinking for a long time, Luo Bingzhang still made up his mind helplessly, and ordered: "Ji Gao, according to the rules, hand over this fold to the post station to report to the capital." ”

"Futai, is this too much?" Zuo Zongtang, who has an upright personality, asked: "Wu Chaoyue has never offended you, and you helped Zeng Butang rectify him for no reason, is this ......." ”

"Comfort Pavilion, he will know my troubles." Luo Bingzhang spent the belly of the villain with the heart of a gentleman, and said: "If I don't present this excerpt, it is equivalent to offending my long-time friend Zeng Bohan, and a large number of Hunan generals who are currently crucial." Even if things get bigger, Weiting will know that I am forced to push the boat down the river, and even if there will be some dissatisfaction with me because of this, he will not hate me to the core. The lesser of two evils, that's all I can do. ”

After sighing, Luo Bingzhang ordered in a low voice: "Find someone who has a connection with Wu Chaoyue, stab him secretly about this matter, and let Wu Weiting prepare first." ”

Zuo Zongtang also knew that Luo Bingzhang had to let Zeng Guofan, who had a great influence in Hunan, even if he felt that this was too much, he still had no choice but to send the impeachment excerpt to the capital through the post station, and then transferred it to the military aircraft through the General Political Envoy. And at this moment, the Manchu Qing Military Aircraft Department has long been a matter of right and wrong, Qi Liaozao, who can't fight Su Shun, has resigned in a negative manner, and the devil Zi Liu also directly offended the Xianfeng Emperor because of his dead ghost and old lady's title, and was driven out of the Military Aircraft Department to go home and think about it, the military aircraft department has no leader, and Mu Yin, the minister of the military aircraft who has always remembered the grudge with Wu Chaoyue, in order to export his evil anger, he unceremoniously presented the fold to the Xianfeng Emperor.

If it weren't for Wu Chaoyue's purge of the Taiping Army in Hubei not long ago, Emperor Xianfeng, who was not too satisfied with Wu Chaoyue's performance during this time, might have directly ordered Zhao Liewen's head to be cut off, but it was precisely because Wu Chaoyue had just behaved a little during this time that Emperor Xianfeng also saved some face for Wu Chaoyue, and decided to transfer the excerpt to Guanwen, the governor of Huguang, and let Guanwen be responsible for investigating this matter.

However, Mu Yin, who hated Wu Chaoyue so much in his heart, refused to be satisfied, and reminded Emperor Xianfeng in a roundabout way, saying that Guanwen and Wu Chaoyue worked in the same city, and they turned a blind eye to such a big event, but they were afraid that they were already a little unreliable. And Emperor Xianfeng also felt that Mu Yin's words were a little reasonable, so he changed his mind and decided to send Huguang Dao Yushi Fu Aji to investigate the matter, but Mu Yin still refused to give up, and kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, the servant recommended Yan Jingming, the head of the household department, to serve as the deputy envoy of the Qin Mission, and followed Fu Aji south to investigate the case. During his tenure as the head of the household department, Yan Jingming was diligent and thrifty, honest and upright, and his accounts were accurate for several years in office. ”

Emperor Xianfeng was also very impressed by Yan Jingming, who had two eyes, one high and one low, and agreed without thinking about it, Mu Yin was overjoyed and thankful, and said in his heart: "The surname Wu, the gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late!" With Yan Jingming's bull temper, as long as you find out that there is a discrepancy in your account, you will definitely check it to the end, and you will not die, you wait for death! (To be continued.) )