Guo Songtao's purpose in coming to Rehe was twofold, the first was to report the organizational structure and operation mode of the Prime Minister's national affairs yamen to the Manchu court in the form of a fold, and ask the Manchu court to approve it - although the submission of the fold can be done by the post station, but it involves a lot of modern diplomatic knowledge and new terms, in order to be cautious and ensure that it is passed, Wu Chaoyue still asked Guo Songtao, who understands both foreign affairs and Manchu officialdom, to personally make a trip to facilitate the Manchu court to inquire. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Guo Songtao's second is to inquire about the current situation of Rehe for Wu Chaoyue, to understand the severity of Emperor Xianfeng's condition, and whether it is possible to kick his legs and lose his breath in the near future. For this reason, Wu Chaoyue also specially asked Zhang Dejian to arrange a few capable spies for Guo Songtao to accompany him, so that Guo Songtao could call him at any time.

Of course, what Wu Chaoyue and Guo Songtao never expected was that when Guo Songtao and his party were still on the road, Emperor Xianfeng had already kicked his legs impatiently and helped Guo Songtao complete the most important task in advance. At the same time, what Guo Songtao didn't expect was that Emperor Xianfeng had just kicked his legs on his front foot, and Su Shun helped Wu Chaoyue to the astonishing high position of the governor of Huguang and Liangjiang, making Wu Chaoyue the honorary emperor of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The boss of the boss is so powerful enough, as Wu Chaoyue's accomplice Guo Songtao arrived at the Rehe Palace, of course, he ran to Su Shun's residence for the first time to ask for a meeting, and kowtowed to Su Shun on behalf of Wu Chaoyue to thank him. However, it is a pity that Su Shun's attaché in Rehe's temporary residence told Guo Songtao that Su Shun was so busy that he had not returned to stay for several days in a row, and had been living in the palace. Guo Songtao had no choice but to report to the official reception of the Rehe Palace, and asked Su Shun to summon him according to the rules.

It's a pity that Su Shun is indeed very busy, and the devil six happened to lead a part of the capital officials to Rehe to the Zi Palace on the same day, Su Shun needs to understand the position and attitude of the eight ministers of Gu Ming in the capital, as well as the reaction of the six and three brothers of the devil to be squeezed out of the center of power, so even if Guo Songtao is a representative sent by Wu Chaoyue, he was asked by Su Shun to come to see him two days later. Of course, Guo Songtao didn't dare to have any complaints about this, so he pretended to cry a few words about Emperor Xianfeng outside the palace, and honestly ran back to the pavilion to rest and wait, and at the same time asked the accompanying spies to inquire about the situation in Rehe as much as possible.

Two days passed quickly, and on the morning of the third day of coming to Rehe, Guo Songtao came to the Rehe Palace again to ask to see Su Shun, but this time he was finally led to the palace by the guards, but the guards did not take Guo Songtao directly to see Su Shun, and said to Guo Songtao: "Lord Guo, Su Zhongtang said, since you happened to catch up with this pass, then by the way, I will give you a grace, let you go to the emperor's Zi Palace to cry and worship before going to see him." ”

sighed a sentence of Su Shun's love for Wu Chaoyue, Guo Songtao, who had no qualifications at all, hurriedly said that he didn't know that he could have such an opportunity, and he couldn't prepare the sacrifice in advance for fear of losing respect, but the guard who led the way smiled, asked Guo Songtao's official rank and gave a little order, and soon, a sacrifice that matched Guo Songtao's identity was sent to him. Guo Songtao was overjoyed when he saw it, and hurriedly thanked the guards with silver, and then hurriedly followed the guards to the Zigong Palace of Emperor Xianfeng to set up sacrifices and cry.

He cried for a long time, but at the urging of the guards, Guo Songtao stopped crying and wiped away his tears, and then knelt three times and bowed nine times to the coffin of Emperor Xianfeng before getting up. As a result, when leaving the spirit shed with the guards, Guo Songtao inadvertently noticed the shaman who was crying wolves in front of the spirit shed.

Guo Songtao, who had never seen the shaman dance brought by the Manchu Jiannu from Tunguska before, was so curious that he could learn a foreign language in order to understand Western culture, but it was inevitable that he would take a few more looks, and the result was that the sesame seed fell into the eye of the needle - during this period, the little shaman who had been kneeling around the main shaman suddenly jumped up neatly in the sound of drums, and when Guo Songtao stared at a little shaman casually, he suddenly felt a little familiar, and said secretly in surprise: "Why do you seem to have seen it there?" ”

At the same time, the little shaman also happened to see Guo Songtao, and the little shaman hurriedly lowered his head, and exclaimed in his heart: "Why is this dog slave here?" Did he see me? Will you recognize me? ”

Guo Songtao's side, very suspiciously, after leaving the spirit shed with the guards, on the way to the temporary military aircraft office, Guo Songtao's mind was full of the vaguely familiar face of the little shaman, but he didn't want to see it there. In the end, when the guards entered the temporary military aircraft to communicate to Su Shun, Guo Songtao suddenly remembered who that vaguely familiar face belonged to, and suddenly exclaimed in his heart: "Is it him?" How can it be?! It can't be him?!! ”

When he was shocked in his heart, the order summoned by Su Shun and others had already come from the temporary military aircraft department, Guo Songtao did not dare to slack off, quickly regained his mind, followed the guards into the temporary military aircraft office, and saluted the eight ministers headed by Zaiyuan, Duanhua and Su Shun. Zaiyuan, who was named Gu Ming's chief, smiled and said, "Get up, you are Guo Songtao?" I heard that when you were in the capital, it was you who took the foreigners to search the palace of the prince and the alcohol prince, and asked the foreigners to pull out the alcohol prince from under the bed? ”

"Lord Zai, the lower officials were not deliberately humiliating the two princes at that time!"

Guo Songtao hurriedly gave up his hands and explained: "At that time, the foreigners could not find the court's parliament and the ministers to negotiate, and the lower officials were worried that the foreigners would mess around in the capital because there was no one to negotiate, so they were forced to take the foreigners to find the prince and the alcohol prince, and the foreigners searched their mansions, and it was not the idea of the lower officials!" ”

The hearty laughter of Zaiyuan and Su Shun and others reassured Guo Songtao a little, and Zaiyuan smiled: "What are you panicking about? We don't blame you, speaking of which, we have to thank you, I heard that because of your persuasion, the foreigners didn't even touch a single grass in our palace, and we have always kept this favor in our hearts. ”

"It's fine." Su Shun also said with a smile: "The prince and the alcohol prince are impeaching you with a bullet, but we reported the truth to the first queen, and the first emperor not only didn't blame you, but on the contrary, he also scolded the prince and the alcohol prince." ”

Seeing that Zaiyuan and Su Shun and other current de facto rulers of the Manchu court said this, Guo Songtao breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly reported his intention at Su Shun's request, presented the prime minister's report on the formation of the yamen of various countries and specific rules and regulations, and then expressed his willingness to give a detailed introduction and explanation to Su Shun and others. However, Zaiyuan looked at the fold and shook his head, and said, "Don't worry, we've been too busy these days, wait until we take a closer look at these things first, and ask you if we don't understand something." If it works, it's not much of a problem. ”

Guo Songtao agreed, and was busy thanking Su Shun and Zaiyuan and others for Wu Chaoyue's kindness to Wu Chaoyue. Zaiyuan and Su Shun and others waved their hands one after another, saying that as long as Wu Chaoyue was dedicated to his errand, he would make good use of the power he gave Wu Chaoyue to pacify the long hair as soon as possible, and then asked some specific situations in Huguang, Guo Songtao answered one by one, and constantly subtly complimented Zaiyuan and Su Shun and others for their attention to Huguang and Wu Chaoyue, and talked happily with Zaiyuan and others.

The words were speculative again, and Su Shun and Zaiyuan, who were busy with government affairs, did not have time to talk too much about Guo Songtao, and it didn't take much time for Guo Songtao to go back and wait for the news, Guo Songtao thanked him, and left under the guidance of the guards. As a result, when he was out of the temporary military aircraft office, Guo Songtao suddenly thought of an important question, "Should I report that person's situation to Su Zhongtang and them?" Is it him? Am I mistaken? ”

"Yun Xian, wait a minute."

Just when Guo Songtao hesitated, there was Su Shun's greeting from behind, Guo Songtao hurriedly turned back, but saw Su Shun personally walked out of the temporary military aircraft to him, Guo Songtao hurriedly saluted again, but Su Shun drove away the guards and pulled Guo Songtao aside, and asked in a low voice: "Yunxian, Weiting called you to come to Rehe, in addition to handing the fold and preparing for inquiry, are there any other instructions?" ”

"Yes." Guo Songtao didn't dare to hide it, and replied honestly: "Don't dare to deceive Su Zhongtang, Wu Futai also asked me to inquire about the emperor's condition for him, but I didn't expect that when the lower officials were still on the way north, the emperor had already died." ”

"Is there anything else going on besides this?"

Su Shun asked, his eyes were still fixed on Guo Songtao's eyes, Guo Songtao shook his head blankly and denied it, but Su Shun refused to give up, and asked, "Did you ask you to meet someone for him again?" Or to whom do you carry letters? ”

Guo Songtao continued to shake his head and deny it, and then when he saw that Su Shun's expression was wrong, Guo Songtao, who was proficient in officialdom, finally came to his senses, and hurriedly whispered: "Please rest assured that Su Zhongtang, everyone in Huguang officialdom knows that Wu Futai has said in public more than once: He went to live in Shanghai with his grandfather when he was a teenager, and over the years, there are only two people who have the best for him, one is Wu Jianzhang Wu, who is willing to take his life for him, and the other is Su Zhongtang, Su Zhongtang, you have a deep affection for him, and even above his father. ”

Seeing that Guo Songtao's gaze and expression did not seem to be fake, and his words were very sincere, Su Shun showed a little relieved smile and scolded with a smile: "Even if that little rabbit cub still has a little conscience, Lao Tzu finally didn't hurt him in vain." ”

The matter should have come to an end at this point, but in order to repay Su Shun's grace of the sky and the sea for Wu Chaoyue, although he was not too sure, after hesitating for a while, Guo Songtao still said in a low voice: "Su Zhongtang, there is something, the lower officials are not very sure, and I don't know whether to report it to you." ”

"Tell me, what's the matter?" Su Shun commanded casually.

Guo Songtao nodded, and then said: "When Xiaguan went to cry in front of the Emperor's Zigong just now, he accidentally found that among the shamans who danced the gods there, there was a shaman who was somewhat familiar, and he was very similar to a person Xiaguan had seen. ”

"Who?"

Su Shun asked again, but Guo Songtao's next answer made Su Shun's face change immediately-Guo Songtao replied truthfully: "King Gongjun, sixth master." ”

"King Gongjun?" Su Shun was shocked and asked, "Are you mistaken?" ”

"Xia Guan is not sure." Guo Songtao replied honestly: "But Xiaguan can be sure that the shaman really looks very similar to Prince Gong, when negotiating with foreigners in the capital, Xiaguan met and talked with Prince Gong many times, and remembered his appearance very clearly." I'm not sure that the shaman is him, but I'm sure that the shaman at least looks like him! ”

Su Shun's face began to become grim, and after his eyes wandered for a moment, Su Shun suddenly pulled up Guo Songtao and rushed back to the temporary military plane, and quickly told Zaiyuan and the others that Guo Songtao had accidentally discovered that Devil Six might pretend to be a shaman and carry out the palace. As a result, Zaiyuan and the others were also taken aback when they heard it, and hurriedly asked Guo Songtao for details, Guo Songtao also knew that the matter was very important, so he quickly retold the situation, and then Zaiyuan and the others also had grim faces, and said: "If it is really the sixth prince who changed his appearance as a shaman and entered the palace, then what is he going to do?" ”

"Let's get people out first!" Su Shun immediately made a decision, and immediately instructed Jing Shou, the minister of the guard: "Jing Shou, immediately use the excuse that the palace may infiltrate the assassins, immediately block all the palace gates of the Rehe Palace, and no one is allowed to enter or leave!" Also, immediately transfer a team of guards to listen to it! ”

Jing Shou agreed, and quickly sent someone to send an order to block the palace, and then immediately transferred a team of guards to Su Shun and others to use, and then Zaiyuan and Su Shun and other eight ministers were not polite, and together they led the guards directly to the Zigong of Emperor Xianfeng, and personally searched for the shaman who looked very similar to the devil six. And Guo Songtao never dreamed that his report would lead to such serious consequences, and when he was asked to go with him by Su Shun, Guo Songtao could only quickly pray to the sky, and said secretly: "I hope I am not mistaken, and don't be mistaken." Otherwise, I'll be in big trouble this time. ”

Guo Songtao soon found that he was completely worried about it, as Su Shun and the others came to the spirit shed again, the team of shamans had already disappeared, and when Su Shun and the others asked about their whereabouts, they knew that the team of shamans was actually summoned to the Yanbo Zhishuang Hall to jump the gods by the queen of the East Palace! Su Shun, Zaiyuan and others were even more shocked when they heard the report, and hurriedly rushed directly to the Yanbo Zhishuang Palace, and finally found the team of shamans who were resting in the side room of the Yanbo Zhishuang Palace.

Then, the truth was quickly revealed, although none of the shamans in this team looked similar to the devils, but Su Shun and the others only made a brief inquiry, and immediately a shaman reported that they had a companion named Ubao who had been called away by the eunuch before, and had not returned yet! Zaiyuan, Su Shun and the others were no longer polite when they heard this, and immediately took down all the shamans and palace maids and eunuchs present, and asked about the specific situation of the shaman being taken away, and the eunuch soon confessed: "Lord Yu, that shaman was announced by Wei Yue and Wei Gonggong, and the minions didn't dare to ask when they went there, but they only saw that they went to the direction of the Empress Dowager's dormitory." ”

In the end, when Zaiyuan and Su Shun and others rushed to the door of Ci'an's dormitory and asked to see them, to Zaiyuan's and Su Shun's other eight ministers, the reply to the summons came from the dormitory very quickly, and as a result, Su Shun and Zaiyuan and others did not dare to take it lightly, regardless of the rules, they went directly to the guards and led them into the dormitory, first stared at all the eunuchs in the dormitory before entering the palace, and then what made Su Shun and Zaiyuan and others even more surprised - Devil Six was really wearing a shaman costume in Ci'an's dormitory! Ci'an was also sitting alone on the Feng Kang, and his expression was still very calm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are in a hurry to see you, what is the matter?" Ci'an asked with a slightly surprised tone.

"Our Lady of the Queen Mother, someone warned the ministers that there were suspicious people pretending to be shamans to enter the palace, and it seemed that they were suspected of assassination." Zaiyuan came forward and replied: "So the ministers hurriedly inquired about the shaman in the palace, and heard that the queen mother had summoned the shaman to the Yanbo Zhishuang Hall to jump the gods, so he traced it all the way to here." ”

"Oh, did the assassin catch it?" Ci'an asked again, looking as calm as if the devil six wearing shamanic clothes beside him did not exist.

"Nope." Zaiyuan shook his head, and asked Devil Six in surprise: "Sixth Prince, why are you here, still dressed like this?" ”

"It was the mourners who announced that he came." Ci'an replied very happily: "The sixth master hurt the emperor, and was willing to fold his identity to pretend to be a shaman to pray for the emperor's blessings. ”

"Disguise yourself as a shaman to pray for the blessing of the emperor?"

Su Shun and Zaiyuan and the others were stupid to believe this excuse, and when Downloadyuan sank his face, he scolded Devil Liu: "Sixth Prince, as the king of the imperial court, is it too ridiculous for you to pretend to be a shaman and enter the palace privately?" ”

"The lesson of the prince is that Xiao Wang is indeed ridiculous." Devil Sixth finally spoke, and said in a low voice: "I hurt the imperial brother, my mind is dizzy, and I am confused to do this ridiculous and rebellious thing for a while, it is indeed absurd, and I wish to lead the law of the country." ”

Zaiyuan and Su Shun and others were suspicious in their hearts, so they could only order the guards to use Huang Aya to tie up the devil six first, during which Ci'an also opened his mouth to intercede for the devil six, but Zaiyuan and Su Shun and others refused categorically because of the national law. In the end, Ci'an had no choice but to let Zaiyuan and others escort Devil Six away, and send guards outside her bedroom to 'protect' her.

In the end, Zaiyuan, Su Shun and the others, who were quite careful, asked Cixi about the situation over there, and when they learned that Cixi had been living in her nearby dormitory today and had not left a step, Su Shun and the others were suspicious and began to think that it was nothing for Devil Six and Ci'an to meet in secret.

By the way, when Devil Six was escorted out of Ci'an's dormitory by the guards, Guo Songtao met him again on the side of the road, although the two did not talk, but between their eyes, Guo Songtao clearly saw the gloomy hatred in the eyes of Devil Six, from the depths of his heart The kind of gnashing hatred, and as if he heard Devil Six's hysterical crazy roar, "Dog minion!" It's a good thing to break this king! ”

Note: Devil Six pretended to be a shaman and sneaked into the Rehe Palace to secretly discuss with Ci'an and Cixi to launch the Xinyou coup, which is recorded in Pu Yi's book "The First Half of My Life"! (To be continued.) )