"We have a lot of bastards!"

Su Shun's famous sentence is by no means self-deprecation, let alone to please the Han people, so that the Han people can loyally work for the wild boar skin family, it is a statement of facts. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Hengzhou mutiny, the Hunan army and the green battalion soldiers were on fire, and the discerning people knew that it was caused by the corruption of the Hunan Green Battalion and the malicious arrears of the Hunan Governor Wenge's military salaries, but in the report to the Manchu court, our Wen Da Governor unceremoniously put the shit basin on the head of Hu Linyi, the new commander of the Hunan army, and also on the head of the banner man Kui Zhen, who was rarely not a bastard, saying that they were not effective in governing the army, and connived at Xiang Yong to bully the green battalion soldiers of the regular army of the imperial court, and the green battalion soldiers were humiliated before they caught fire with the Hunan army. While pushing the responsibility away, he also tried his best to encourage the Manchu court to get rid of Hu Linyi and Kui Zhen, who had an incompatible personality.

What is even worse for Hu Linyi is that many of the old Hunan soldiers who surrendered to the Taiping Army also became the leading party, not only with the Taiping Army to attack the city and plunder the land, in order to take revenge and show loyalty, the charge into the battle was also very desperate, the green battalion soldiers who fled to Hengyang had just been gathered, and were soon broken by the Taiping Army. And after these things were reported to Wenge by the local officials of Hengzhou, they naturally became evidence of Wenge's impeachment of Hu Linyi and the Hunan army.

In the face of this thorny situation, in order to prevent the hard-founded Hunan army from becoming a historical term, Hu Linyi, who was becoming more and more ill, had no choice but to quickly seek help from the Manchu officials he knew, begging them to state the truth to the Manchu court, and begging the Manchu court to be extrajudicial and merciful, not to remove the establishment of the Hunan army, and to give himself and the Hunan army a chance to atone for their crimes. And such a letter for help, Wu Chaoyue also received one.

When he was thinking about whether he should lend a hand to Hu Linyi, Yan Jingming, the new accomplice next to him, couldn't wait to come up with a bad idea and said: "Lord Futai, if you want to keep the Hunan army, the only way is to put the responsibility on Kui Zhen and let Kui Zhen carry all the black cauldron alone. But there is one point, it must not involve Hunan Green Camp. ”

"Why?" Wu Chaoyue asked casually: "The matter in Hengzhou is all caused by the corruption of the military discipline of the Green Battalion, and the responsibility of the chief soldiers who command the army is not greater than that of Kui Zhen?" Although I don't have much friendship with Kui Zhen and don't like him, I won't deliberately blame him for saving Hu Linyi, right? ”

"Comfort Pavilion, you have to consider the position of the flower table." Zhao Liewen on the other side interjected and said: "The current Hunan Governor Zhang Guoliang is currently defending the city in Xuzhou, and the general soldiers of all provinces in Hunan are directly under the orders of the Flower Establishment, so you state the truth to the imperial court, and impeaching the Hunan Green Battalion is equivalent to impeaching the Flower Establishment." ”

"It's complicated officialdom." Wu Chaoyue sighed, and then said: "Okay, let's do it, Xiangjun is the result of my teacher's hard work, and I can't help them." ”

After deciding to lend a helping hand to the Hunan army again, considering that he was the governor of Hubei and it was inconvenient for him to intervene in Hunan's affairs, Wu Chaoyue wrote a letter to Su Shun asking him to come forward to help, and then ran to the governor's mansion to find Hua Shana to cry out for Hu Linyi, and instigated Hua Shana to detain all the basins on Kui Zhen alone.

has always hated Kui Zhen's right-hand man Luo Bingzhang for bringing down him, Hua Shana did not refuse to frame Kui Zhen, who was actually not very responsible, but Hua Shana was not interested in keeping the Xiang army at all, and asked Wu Chaoyue: "Comfort Ting, is there still a need for the Xiang army to exist?" The elite soldiers are dying and scattered, the local government no longer supports it, the military salaries and grain and grass cannot be solved by themselves, and the previous provincial aid to Jiangxi has a lackluster record, this time there is such a big thing in Hengzhou, the best choice is to disband or let other armies be absorbed, what do you still want to do to keep the Hunan army so hard? ”

"The predecessors are reasonable, as far as the current situation of the Hunan army is concerned, there is no need for it to exist." Wu Chaoyue replied very directly, and said: "But after all, the Hunan Army was formed by the junior teacher, and Hu Linyi's gang was also the old man brought out by my teacher. Therefore, please look at this thin face of the younger generation, and give the Hunan army another chance. ”

Hearing Wu Chaoyue's sincerity, Hua Shana also sighed and said, "Okay, for your sake, the old man will give them another chance and not cancel the establishment of the Hunan army for the time being." ”

Wu Chaoyue hurriedly thanked him, and casually asked Hua Shana how to deal with the changes in the battle situation in Hunan, Hua Shana replied: "The old man has gone to Wen Liu Changyou, let Chu Yong return to Hunan to help, and pacify Changmao in Hengzhou." ”

Wu Chaoyue frowned a little when he heard this, although he knew that this was the only effective way at present, he was also worried that the Taiping army would take the opportunity to invade Hunan on a large scale, making the current already very chaotic situation even more chaotic, and he once considered letting Zeng Guoquan and others lead a Hubei army to the south for reinforcements. However, after thinking about it, Wu Chaoyue dispelled this idea again - his three-year term is about to expire, and the possibility of changing to other provinces cannot be ruled out at that time, and the more chaotic the surrounding area, the more stable his position in Hubei will be.

…………

Wu Chaoyue made an extremely correct decision, in fact, Emperor Xianfeng actually had already planned to transfer Wu Chaoyue to other provinces, the reason was not that he found out that Wu Chaoyue had an attempt to rebel, but that Emperor Xianfeng felt that it was a pity to put Wu Chaoyue in Hubei, which had been settled, and wanted Wu Chaoyue to go to a more suitable province to sell his life.

In addition, there were also many people in the Manchu court who were jealous of the fat difference of the governor of Hubei, and the governors around Hubei, such as Wenge, Wenjun and Yinggui, were even dreaming of changing to Hubei, taking over the rich money and grain left by Wu Chaoyue, the Hankou tariff, and the power to mint gold and silver yuan in the nine provinces. Therefore, whether it is in the court or locally, there is a lot of call for Wu Chaoyue to change to other provinces.

About to expire in three years, it is undoubtedly the best opportunity for the Xianfeng Emperor and the Manchu court to transfer Wu Chaoyue, in order to rectify Wu Chaoyue, Su Shun's sworn enemy Bai Ye also once made a statement, persuading the Xianfeng Emperor to promote Wu Chaoyue to the governor of Liangjiang, who has little territory left, forcing Wu Chaoyue to risk desperately with the Taiping army. As a result, although this move was strongly opposed by the Sushun party, Emperor Xianfeng's attitude was quite ambiguous and quite shaken, and he once discussed this matter with his beloved concubine while doing piston exercises in the bed.

The suggestion that the beloved concubine might as well be appointed made the Xianfeng Emperor even more shaken, but the sudden deterioration of the situation around Hubei made the Xianfeng Emperor suspicious, for fear that Hubei, the center of China, would lose his ability to sit in the town, and the chaos in the territory like Jiangxi and Henan would be taken advantage of by the Taiping army again.

In such a situation, the occurrence of the Hengzhou mutiny naturally helped Wu Chaoyue, hearing that the Hunan army and the Hunan Green Battalion were fighting and led to the erosion of Hengzhou, the Xianfeng Emperor was furious, but also temporarily dispelled the idea of Wu Chaoyue being promoted to the governor of Liangjiang, while ordering Huashana and Wenge to pacify Hunan Changmao within a time limit, while nervously watching the changes in Hunan, for fear that Hunan would follow in the footsteps of Jiangxi and the erosion of the whole territory, and then affect the relatively stable Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.

Huashana's decision to withdraw Chu Yong's rebellion also helped Wu Chaoyue, without Chu Yong's strong containment, Shi Zhenji, the general of the Taiping Army, who was very strategic, did not sit down and enjoy the peace, and decisively chose to personally lead the army into Hunan to enter Hunan and forcibly cross the Yongle River and Li Yafeng's division. Then, after obtaining a large amount of grain and grass provided by Li Yafeng, Shi Zhenji and Guoduan divided their troops and went east to fight Yongzhou, which the Taiping army had occupied before.

Shi Zhenji's choice to develop in Yongzhou is of course not without a target, for two reasons: first, the Taiping Army once laid down the Yongzhou Mansion to govern Lingling City, opened a warehouse to release grain to help the poor people, and had a certain mass base; The second is the report of the surrendered Hunan soldiers, saying that Fan Xie, the chief general of the Qing army in Yongzhou, is a very famous general soldier in the sedan chair, so incompetent that he can't even ride a horse, so he can only sit in the sedan chair to parade.

As expected, Shizhen Jibu general Wei Youfang really easily defeated the Yongzhou Qing army in Baishui Town, and quickly approached the Lingling City that had been captured in the warm welcome of the people of Yongzhou, and Fan Xie, the general soldier in the sedan chair, also lived up to his expectations, in the case that Hu Linyi had already taken Jiangxi to retreat to the Hunan army day and night to come to reinforcements, Fan Xie still did not dare to hold on to the city, under the pretext of suppressing bandits escaped from Lingling City in advance, and also took away a lot of green battalion soldiers. The Qing army in Yongzhou, whose combat effectiveness was already pitiful, was in a panic, and just saw the banner of the Taiping army collapse on its own, and the Taiping army easily took Lingling, and then defeated the Hunan army reinforcements with the same morale.

Then, the hidden dangers in Hunan soon became full of popular uprisings, large and small uprisings one after another, the Hunan Qing army took care of one thing and lost the other, left and right, Hunan governor Wen Jun while wantonly embezzling money, while constantly shifting the responsibility to the local civil and military, forcing them to pay money to atone for their losses in Hunan.

In such a situation, Emperor Xianfeng of course even more dare not make up his mind to transfer Wu Chaoyue from Hubei, when Wu Chaoyue's term of office is about to expire for three years, Emperor Xianfeng also specially issued a secret decree to Hua Shana, asking Hua Shana's opinion on this, and directly asked Hua Shana whether he is sure to continue to maintain the stability and health of Hubei after transferring Wu Chaoyue to Liangjiang? Is it possible to stabilize Hubei while still sending troops to help neighboring provinces quell the rebellion?

The difficult choice was put in front of Hua Shana, after losing Luo Bingzhang's left arm, Hua Shana of course did not want to cut off Wu Chaoyue's right hand, but Hua Shana knew very well that if Wu Chaoyue was not transferred from Hubei as soon as possible, Wu Chaoyue, who had already controlled a large amount of military power and civil finances, was afraid that it would be a big disaster. And after thinking about it, Hua Shana came up with a way and casually found an excuse to invite Wu Chaoyue to eat together......

"Come, come, comfort, have another drink. Today, the old man wrote a proud new poem, and he was happy, he didn't want to talk about any official business, he just wanted to have a good time with you, and we will talk about those things later. ”

"Flower making table, the younger generation can't drink anymore, can't drink anymore, and if you get drunk like last time, you will definitely be scolded when you go back."

wanted to get Wu Chaoyue drunk, but Wu Chaoyue refused to be fooled, no matter how Hua Shana persuaded him, he refused to drink more, when Hua Shana asked the reason curiously, Wu Chaoyue also said the truth with a sad face, "I was drunk with you last time, and I don't know what kind of confusion I made after I went home, I actually went to the wrong woman's bed, that trouble has not been settled until now, and the younger generation doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes." ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue was serious, Hua Shana was inevitably curious about who Wu Chaoyue was in the wrong bed, but Wu Chaoyue didn't say anything - saying it could really kill someone. Fortunately, Hua Shana didn't break the casserole and asked in the end, but just smiled: "What are you afraid of?" If you get into the wrong bed, can't you just take in the room? You have three wives and concubines, and with the situation in your family, you are afraid that you will not be able to support another room? ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled bitterly and refused to entangle with Hua Shana on this issue, and Hua Shana forced Wu Chaoyue to accompany two glasses of wine, and then said: "Weiting, tell me something about you, if the old man is not mistaken, there will be another month, and your three-year term will expire, right?" ”

"Twenty-eight days." Wu Chaoyue remembers this sensitive date very clearly.

"It's really fast, it's only a blink of an eye, and three years have passed." Hua Shana sighed, and then smiled and said: "Tell you a good news, don't talk nonsense when you go out, as far as the old man knows, the officials have given you excellent evaluation comments in the past three years, and you are expected to be promoted." ”

"Thank you for making the table, but the younger generation doesn't want anything to be promoted." Wu Chaoyue hurriedly replied: "The younger generation just wants to serve another term in Hubei, train more elite soldiers, especially elite sailors who can drive steamships to fight, and then take them out of the province to quell the rebellion, cut off the long hair, and support the community." ”

"Isn't it the same to train soldiers and horses in other places?" Hua Shana asked rhetorically, and said with a friendly smile: "Weiting, let me tell you one more thing, the old man wants to ask the imperial court to promote you to the governor of Liangjiang, I don't know what you think?" ”

"Old fox, you have finally revealed your true colors." Wu Chaoyue was secretly shocked in his heart, knowing that what he was most worried about had finally happened—the Manchu court already had the idea of transferring himself out of Hubei.

After the surprise, Wu Chaoyue hurriedly waved his hand again and again and said: "Flower making table, Grandpa Hua, thank you, your love for the juniors, the juniors are flattered, but the juniors really dare not accept it." ”

"Why?" Hua Shana asked curiously, and her eyes that were not cloudy also stared at Wu Chaoyue's eyes.

"The younger generation doesn't have this confidence." Wu Chaoyue casually talked nonsense and said: "What is the situation in Liangjiang now, Grandpa Hua, you must know that if the younger generation really becomes the governor of Liangjiang, let alone the soldiers, horses, money and food, there is no decent station, what do you take to fight with long hair?" When the time comes, once something goes wrong, Bai Ye's gang will definitely take the opportunity to fall into the well, how can the younger generation parry? ”

"Afraid of what?" Hua Shana encouraged: "The old man will support you, most of the army in Hubei has been trained by you, no matter what army you want, the old man can send it to you, money, grain, boats, and boats, and the old man will definitely supply it with all his might." It was the old man who recommended you to be the governor of Liangjiang, am I not afraid that something will go wrong with you and affect me? ”

Wu Chaoyue originally wanted to refuse, but after the words came to his lips, Wu Chaoyue's heart suddenly moved, and he said secretly: "Hua Shana is testing me so desperately, I really want to ask if I have the confidence to be the governor of Liangjiang?" No, if he really wants to recommend me as the governor of Liangjiang, he can just make a break, why do you need to ask my opinion? ”

"Could it be that this old fox actually wants to test whether I must insist on staying in Hubei ......?"

"Comfort Ting, why don't you speak?" Hua Shana urged with a puzzled expression: "The old man asked your opinion, and he didn't force you to go to Liangjiang, why didn't you speak?" ”

"Gotta gamble! At present, the right to appoint personnel is still in the hands of Wild Boar Skin IX, how can I object, he must transfer me out of Hubei, there is no way! There is only one gamble, and if you win the bet, you will stay in office, and if you lose, you will find another way! ”

Gritting his teeth and making up his mind, Wu Chaoyue said: "Grandpa Hua, I'm thinking, if you can really recommend me to be the governor of Liangjiang, then I want to make two requests. ”

"Those two requirements? Just say it. Huashana encouraged.

"First, the juniors must continue to be in charge of Daye Iron Works and Daye Gun Bureau!" Wu Chaoyue raised two fingers and said: "Grandpa Hua, you also know that the guns and ammunition of the juniors are all from Daye, and if you don't personally control the Daye Guns Bureau and the Iron Factory, the juniors don't dare to go to the front line and work hard with Changmao." ”

"Second, transfer Wen Jun and Weng Tongshu's father and son." Wu Chaoyue said again: "What kind of grudge do the juniors have with Weng Tongshu's family, Grandpa Hua, you know, I'm afraid that they will deliberately pull back, so they have to leave Liangjiang." Not to mention Wen Jun, the kind of vicious villain who has more than enough success and more than failure, continues to make him the governor of Jiangxi, and he is a junior. ”

After Zhenzhen finished talking about his two requests, Wu Chaoyue went in turn to observe Hua Shana's gaze, but unfortunately, although Hua Shana's gaze wandered, Wu Chaoyue couldn't see anything famous. After a long time, Hua Shana smiled and said, "Okay, the old man thinks about it." ”

"Old fox, you really didn't give me an accurate answer, you must make me scared." Wu Chaoyue scolded in his heart, "I have already promised to hand over Hubei, don't you still trust me?" ”

It was night, Hua Shana stayed awake all night, and what he kept throwing in his hand was an ordinary copper coin with completely different patterns on the front and back............ (To be continued.) )