With Zhou Tenghu's permission, Wu Lao, who volunteered to help his grandson's accomplice in this regard, did not hesitate, and went directly into the concession outside the north gate of Shanghai without even returning home, and personally went to run an errand for Zhou Tenghu.

The war continued, and of course the concession was already overcrowded, and it was certainly not easy to find Joseph, the secret envoy of the Taiping army. But fortunately, after several turmoil, the civil forces in Shanghai have long been dominated by the gang of the old Wu family, so not long after the old comprador Wu entered the concession, there was accurate news immediately, saying that Joseph had left the British consulate and went south to the French consulate at the new north gate, and the old comprador Wu rushed directly to the French consulate.

The current French consul in Shanghai is still an old acquaintance of the Wu family, and the staff in the consulate have not confiscated the old Wu family's silver, so after arriving at the French consulate, Wu Lao comprador knew that Ai Joseph was meeting Ai Shang without much effort, and also knew that Ai Joseph was directly showing his identity as a part-time Taiping Army envoy to meet Ai Xiang. Then Old Comprador Wu hurriedly asked again: "Then how did your consul talk with Mr. Joseph?" ”

"I don't know yet." The consulate staff who leaked the secret shook his head and said, "But it should be soon, Mr. Joseph has been in for a while." ”

It was also a coincidence that at this time, two foreign priests in black robes suddenly walked out of the gate of the French consulate, one of which was Wu Lao comprador also knew the priest of a church in Shanghai, whose Chinese name was Yang Duxin, and the French consulate staff who told the secret also quickly whispered: "Come out, Master Wu, the older foreigner is Joseph sent by Long Hair." ”

When the old comprador Wu heard this, his heart tightened, and when he hurried to see the foreign priest who dared to help the Taiping Army and his precious grandson rob the country, Yang Duxin, who was also an Englishman, had already greeted him with a smile on his face, hugged the old comprador Wu with open arms, and said loudly: "Dear Wu, what a coincidence, I was about to enter Shanghai City to see you, but I didn't expect to meet you directly here." ”

Old comprador Wu hurriedly politely, but Yang Duxin directly pulled another foreign priest directly in front of Old comprador Wu, pointed at him and said like a machine gun: "Dear Wu, let me introduce you, his Chinese name is Joseph Ai, and like me, he is an Englishman, a missionary of the London Evangelistic Society." ”

Wu Lao comprador was about to be polite, but that Ai Joseph's temper was even more anxious than his compatriot Yang Duxin, and he directly grabbed Wu Lao comprador's hands, and said faster: "Dear Wu, it is a great honor to be able to meet you, in fact, when I came to China, I first lived in Shanghai, but unfortunately you were not able to come to Shanghai to take up your post at that time, and you and your family were not able to get help from you and your family in missionary work. Otherwise, I would not have been disappointed to leave Shanghai and return to Hong Kong to serve a mission. ”

"Mr. Joseph, the old man is also honored to ......."

Wu Lao comprador still couldn't finish his polite words, he was already interrupted by Joseph and Yang Duxin, the two foreign devils not only did not give Wu Lao comprador a chance to speak, but also pulled Wu Lao comprador up and left, "Respected Wu, this is not the place to talk, find a quiet place to go, we have something very important to discuss with you." ”

Judging from their words and demeanor, the two foreign priests had no malicious intent, and they did not look like they were hiding weapons, and the personal soldiers of Wu Lao comprador did not stop them from pulling Wu Lao comprador . Wu Lao comprador himself had important matters to discuss with Joseph, so he did not resist much, but could only quietly complain about the foreigners' too direct habit of leaving with the two foreign priests, but he did not pay attention at all, and the French consul in Shanghai, Ai Xiang, was looking at him from the window on the second floor of the consulate, and his face full of curly yellow hair was full of doubts......

"Strange? How could Wu Jianzhang be so friendly with the envoy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? What was the position and attitude of Wu's army on how to defend Shanghai? ”

…………

Let's take a look at the situation on the side of Wu Lao compradors, after being dragged by Yang Duxin and Joseph to leave the French Consulate, when discussing going there to find a quiet place to talk, Wu Lao comprador was heartbroken, and simply invited the two foreign devils directly into Shanghai City to talk to his home. The two foreign devils happily obeyed, and the old comprador Wu quietly sent someone to send a letter to Zhou Tenghu, so that Zhou Tenghu also knew about the situation.

A series of misunderstandings unfolded, after getting the news sent by Wu Lao comprador, Zhou Tenghu mistakenly thought that Wu Lao comprador was good at dealing with foreigners, so that he could get the opportunity to negotiate directly with the Taiping Army's secret envoy so quickly, and quickly arranged for the most powerful deputy Jin Anqing to help Wu Lao comprador After Zhou Tenghu couldn't help but smile and muttered in a low voice, "For the sake of his grandson's country, he really worked hard." ”

As a result, after Jin Anqing hurried to Wu's mansion and accompanied Wu Lao comprador to meet and talk with Joseph Ai, Jin Anqing was very surprised to learn the truth - Joseph Ai accepted Li Xiucheng's entrustment to take the initiative to contact Wu Lao comprador , not only had he already planned to go into the city to meet Wu Lao comprador after visiting the British and French consuls, but also directly brought Li Xiucheng's handwritten letter to Wu Lao comprador Wu Lao Comprador !

Moreover, Li Xiucheng's letter was actually written this morning, and the approximate content is that Li Xiucheng greeted Wu Lao comprador as a junior, and clearly said that he led the army to attack Shanghai but was forced to act by Hong Xiuquan's holy decree, and that he did not want to use force against Shanghai from the bottom of his heart, let alone see the mountains of wealth inside and outside Shanghai destroyed in the flames of war, and he also told Wu Lao comprador very clearly that he was willing to solve the issue of Shanghai's ownership through negotiations, and hoped that Wu Lao comprador could think about the millions of living beings in Shanghai, intervening to facilitate peace negotiations between the Taiping Army and the Wu Army in Shanghai.

In addition, Li Xiucheng also told Wu Lao comprador more directly, saying that the sneak attack on the Sanlintang stronghold of the Wu army on the Pudong battlefield last night was completely the private affair of Lu Shunde, the general of the Taiping army, and it was by no means his own order, and he would only try his best to solve the Shanghai problem through peaceful means, and try to avoid the expansion of the war and the loss of human life.

When Jin Anqing and Wu Lao comprador read the letter, the two foreign priests, Joseph and Yang Duxin, who were in a hurry, had been constantly making noise by the side, trying their best to persuade Wu Lao comprador to personally come forward to facilitate the peace talks, and also volunteered to act as a liaison between the Wu army and the Taiping army in Shanghai, to help facilitate the negotiations, and also to help Shanghai avoid the disaster of this war, with a warm and sincere attitude.

Fortunately, Jin Anqing and Wu Lao Comprador were quite calm, and they were not in a hurry to give a reply, but only agreed to discuss the matter with Zhou Tenghu. Fortunately, Joseph and Yang Duxin were not in a hurry to ask Wu Lao comprador to agree immediately, but just said that they could act as a messenger at any time, Wu Lao comprador thanked him, and hurriedly ordered someone to prepare wine and dinner, wanting to set up a banquet to entertain Joseph and Yang Duxin, but the two foreign devils said that there were still important things to do, and thanked Wu Lao comprador for his kindness and left.

Sent away two foreign devils, Wu Lao comprador originally planned to go to see Zhou Tenghu with Jin Anqing, but he never thought that the British consul Mai Huatuo sent someone to invite Wu Lao comprador to the British consulate to talk, and Wu Lao comprador who was hoping to pull foreigners to defend Shanghai together Of course he did not dare to refuse, so he could only hurry to the concession, and Jin Anqing had to come back alone to report the situation to Zhou Tenghu. As a result, after reading Li Xiucheng's letter brought back by Jin Anqing, Zhou Tenghu was inevitably surprised and said, "Really fake? Li Xiucheng, a big hairman, really wants to solve the problem through negotiation? ”

"This is also a way for Longhair to take Shanghai." Jin Anqing said: "Shanghai is surrounded by long hair, the threat of force and the lure of negotiation are not impossible to succeed, Li Xiucheng's long hair may want to try his luck and strive to take Shanghai at the lowest cost." ”

"That's just the chance to give us a chance." Zhou Tenghu smiled, but he always felt that something was wrong in his heart, and he suspected that things were by no means as simple as they seemed. Therefore, Zhou Tenghu was not in a hurry to accept the olive branch that Li Xiucheng took the initiative to hand, and after thinking about it, he said: "Don't rush to give a reply to Changmao first, and then wait and see, no matter whether Li Xiucheng's big hair really intends to surrender without a fight, there will definitely be moves, let's see what tricks he is playing first." ”

On that day, because it was not too early, the old comprador Wu who went to the concession to negotiate with the British consul did not come to meet Zhou Tenghu again, but Wei Wencheng, the spy leader of the Wu army in Shanghai, sent another report after it was dark, saying that Wu Jun had obtained accurate information, and Li Xiucheng sent people to Pudong to ask for the crime in the name of disobeying the king's order, and scolded Lu Shunde and Gao Yongkuan, who led the army to launch a sneak attack without authorization, and threatened that if there was a next time, he would be held accountable!

"It's a bitter trick with long hair."

Being able to train a vicious brother-in-law like Zhao Liewen, Zhou Tenghu is certainly not a person who will be easily fooled, and at the same time, Zhou Tenghu doesn't have much heart to care about such a trivial matter of sesame mung beans, because it was just the morning of the next day, and Zhou Tenghu was completely disrupted by an unexpected incident......

To be precise, a newspaper completely disrupted Zhou Tenghu's hands and feet, and the next morning in the Chinese newspaper "Shanghai Xinbao" published in the concession, the headline on the front page turned out to be - "Peace is hopeful, the top level of the Shanghai rebel army has accepted the Taiping army's demand for negotiation!" ”

"Is this newspaper crazy? When has this been? Even publishing such shocking news? ”

Roaring angrily, Zhou Tenghu didn't bother to recall the situation about "Shanghai Xinbao", and directly roared and asked: "Who runs this "Shanghai Xinbao"? What is the background? ”

"Huifutai people, "Shanghai Xinbao" is also run by Mr. Henry, the owner of the British word Lin & Co., and it is the same newspaper as the "North China Jiebao" in foreign languages."

Zhou Tenghu's quick answer made Zhou Tenghu surprised, and he said even more puzzled: "Mr. Henry? He has always been very familiar with us, and the relationship has always been very good, how can he dismantle our station at this time? ”

No one could answer Zhou Tenghu's question, but outside the door came the news that Yang Fang, president of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, and Gu Wenbin, director of the International Defense Bureau, jointly asked to meet, Zhou Tenghu knew that these two wealthy businessmen and big landowners must have come for the headlines of the "Shanghai News", so he immediately agreed to meet him, and hurriedly shouted: "Send someone to meet Master Wu immediately, please come to see me immediately!" Eighty percent of the problem is with him! There are also Jin Meisheng and Wei Wencheng, and they are also told to come to see me immediately! ”

Before the soldiers could agree, the old comprador Wu who was looking old had already led Yang Fang and Gu Wenbin to the lobby in a hurry, and as soon as he saw Zhou Tenghu, he asked anxiously: "Tao Fu, what's the matter?" How could the newspaper say that you had agreed to negotiate with Changmao to solve the Shanghai problem? ”

"Why doesn't he know?"

Zhou Tenghu looked at the old comprador Wu suspiciously, and saw that the wrinkled face of the old comprador Wu was full of anxiety, as if he had no knowledge in advance, and an ominous premonition suddenly came to his mind, and said secretly: "It's bad, maybe it's a trick." ”