Wu Chaoyue in Jiangyin **** wound, the battlefield of the East of the Soviet Union and the main battlefield of Ningzhenyang fell into a stalemate, but the Central Plains battlefield suddenly had earth-shaking changes, the Qing army heavy troops gathered in Huaiqing City for a long time, Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan led the Taiping Army Northern Expeditionary Army suddenly continued to advance westward, in one fell swoop to take the small city of Yuanqu, and rushed to cross the Yellow River before the arrival of Shengbao, Tuo Ming'a and other pursuers, in one fell swoop to break through the Yellow River defense line carefully arranged by Emperor Xianfeng, and entered Shanxi.

Receiving this news, Emperor Xianfeng was so angry that he scolded Shengbao, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army in the Central Plains, for the defeat of the Qing army in front of hundreds of civil and military officials.

The festive atmosphere of Jiangyin's victory was soon disturbed by the fierce arguments of the courtiers, because Wu Chaoyue also handed over a request for salt in lieu of pay and self-minted silver dollars at the same time as the red flag. However, the monks Grinqin, Mu Yin, and Lin Kui, who hated Wu Chaoyue, and some long-term Manchu civil and military officers, resolutely opposed it, pointing out that Wu Chaoyue's move was not only insatiable, but also harbored evil intentions.

The biggest opposition is to salt instead of pay, salt tax is one of the three major sources of tax in the Manchu Qing court, in the case of financial tension to the point that it has been minted when fifty Wen big money, this important financial source naturally can not tolerate the slightest mistake, and Wu Chaoyue said that the salt to resist the Xianfeng Emperor agreed to tie up the salt and sell it himself, in fact, it is to dig the root of the salt tax wall, once this precedent is opened, the group exercises around the country have asked to follow suit, then the group exercises around the country will definitely try their best to sell more private salt in order to make more money, and the sales of official salt are bound to be impacted, If the official salt can't be sold, the tax can't be collected, and the more the group trains the more private salt is sold. The less official salt is sold, the greater the salt tax revenue of the Manchu court, and the sales of private salt far exceed that of official salt.

The voice of opposition to allowing Wu Chaoyue to mint his own silver dollar is relatively small, but those who oppose this point are also people who really understand the economy, and the head of the household is the most resolute, and he kowtows and says loudly: "Long live." Wu Chaoyue asked for salt instead of pay, this matter can still be considered flexibly, but Wu Chaoyue asked to mint silver dollars, this matter must not be! ”

"Why?" Emperor Xianfeng, who didn't understand economics, asked suspiciously: "Is there any drawback to this matter?" ”

"No, minting silver dollars, this matter is not only not a drawback, on the contrary, it is a great thing for the benefit of the country and the people!"

Wen Qing's words were amazing. As a result, Emperor Xianfeng, who didn't learn skills, was naturally even more confused, and asked again: "What's so good about this matter?" Since it is a move that benefits the country and the people, why do you resolutely oppose it? ”

"Your Majesty. This matter cannot be explained in a word, and the minions only give a cursory introduction. Wen Qing said: "At the beginning of my dynasty, money is expensive and silver is cheap, and there are often private profiteers who buy copper coins to cast bronze utensils for profiteering, Yongzheng Ye in order to stop this evil, once forced to change the ratio of copper and lead from half to copper and lead six from copper and lead. ”

Since the first emperor, a large number of foreign money and silver dollars have flowed into the Qing Dynasty, because they are easy to carry and calculate. Quickly passing through the north and south of the Yangtze River, the foreigners used silver dollars to buy raw silk for Daqing tea leaves. He also took the opportunity to buy a large number of silver ingots from the Qing Dynasty and minted a large number of silver dollars back to China, making profits from them, and gradually causing the Qing Dynasty silver to be expensive and cheap. ”

In view of this situation, some people wrote to the emperor at that time, requesting that the Qing Dynasty silver dollar be minted for private use and trade with foreigners. But for various reasons, the first emperor did not adopt it. And now Wu Chaoyue pleaded to mint a silver dollar by himself, if the Holy Lord allowed it, then there would only be two results, the first was that Wu Chaoyue took the opportunity to have a large amount of copper and lead in the silver dollar. Reduce the amount of silver, and harm the people for huge profits. The second is that the money minted by Wu Chaoyue is of good quality and sufficient, passing through the north and south of the Yangtze River, and the people only use the money minted by Wu Chaoyue, and Wu Chaoyue takes the opportunity to buy silver and mint a large number of silver dollars, and also makes huge profits from it! ”

Wen Qing had already explained it plainly enough, but the clever Emperor Xianfeng still didn't understand, and said: "Wen Aiqing, I understand the first result you said, but I don't understand the second result, if you agree to Wu Aiqing's self-minting silver dollar, the money he minted is of good quality and sufficient to pass through the north and south, which is convenient for the people to use, this is a good thing?" How does Wu Aiqing make huge profits from it? ”

"Your Majesty, because the foreigners' silver dollars are not pure silver, and they are somewhat mixed with some copper and lead, but our Qing court uses pure silver!" Wen Qing said with a wry smile: "Although the difference between this silver dollar is not very much, maybe Lord Wu can only earn one and a half cents of silver per silver dollar, but if there are many of them, the silver that Lord Wu earns from the middle is not trivial!" ”

Emperor Xianfeng finally suddenly realized, and secretly scolded Wu Chaoyue for being really uneasy and kind, and then Emperor Xianfeng asked strangely: "Wen Aiqing, since it is profitable to mint silver dollars, and some people wrote to the imperial court to mint silver dollars themselves, so why didn't the emperor allow it?" Also, since you understand this truth, why didn't you think of asking me to allow the household department to mint the Great Qing silver dollar by itself, and take the opportunity to open up a new source of wealth? ”

Wen Qing smiled bitterly, and the civil and military officials next to him also smiled bitterly, but no one dared to tell Emperor Xianfeng the real answer to this question. In the end, when Emperor Xianfeng asked again, Su Shun, who was very worthy of the wild boar skin family in terms of anti-corruption, stood up and replied: "Your Majesty, if corruption is not eliminated, it will be difficult to mint silver dollars!" In our dynasty, it was clearly stipulated that those who entered and exited the treasury of the feudal treasury must wear a sleeveless and bagless short coat, and after leaving the treasury, they must also stand upside down on the spot once to prevent the theft of silver ingots, but even so, the silver from the treasury and the treasury in various places was still seriously ....... ”

Speaking of this, Su Shun paused for a moment, and said: "If it is a self-minted silver dollar, the minted silver dollar cannot distinguish how much silver it contains. Wen Shangshu should also be afraid of this, so he didn't dare to ask the emperor to implement this move. ”

Wen Qing nodded silently, admitting that Su Shun said his psychological words, and all the civil and military officials were silent, and some people gloated, knowing that those who liked to stuff the silver in the **** and steal it out of the treasury soldiers would definitely hate Su Shun to the bones. Emperor Xianfeng was thin and gloomy, and only after a long time did he scold: "This group of silverfish, sooner or later I will kill them all!" ”

Su Shun nodded, and suddenly had an idea, and said to Emperor Xianfeng, who was very worthy of Wu Chaoyue: "Your Majesty, since Wu Chaoyue has asked for his own silver dollar." It is indeed a move to benefit the country and the people, so why does the emperor not allow Wu Chaoyue to temporarily try it out in Jiangsu? Mint some Qing silver dollars in limited quantities? ”

"If Wu Chaoyue is insatiable and the quality of the silver dollars minted is poor and the quantity is inferior, the emperor can stop it with only one will. If Wu Chaoyue's minted silver dollars are of good quality and sufficient quantity, they will be welcomed by the people and replace the silver dollars of foreigners to pass through the north and south. Then the emperor, you also have a will, so that the coinage bureau built by Wu Chaoyue can be collected by the imperial court, wouldn't it open up a new source of wealth for my Qing Dynasty? ”

felt that Su Shun's words were reasonable, Emperor Xianfeng was inevitably a little moved, and Wen Qing next to him was also right about things and not people, and echoed: "Your Majesty, the slave thinks that Su Zhongtang's method is good, and the slave is only against letting Wu Chaoyue mint the Great Qing Silver Dollar without restrictions, but he is not opposed to letting him try this matter for the time being, and let Wu Chaoyue mint himself in limited quantities." If it is not quickly banned, if it is successful, the silver minting bureau he created will be immediately nationalized, and the imperial court will directly control the power of silver dollar minting, and make profits to supplement the state. ”

Wen Qing, who understood the economy, also echoed Su Shun's opinion, and Emperor Xianfeng no longer hesitated, nodded and agreed to let Wu Chaoyue try to mint silver dollars, and couldn't wait to imagine that Wu Chaoyue would pick peaches after the success of minting money. And Su Shun did keep his word, and took the opportunity to ask Wen Qing: "Wen Shangshu." You just said that Wu Chaoyue's use of salt as a substitute for pay can also be considered as a workaround, so how to work around? ”

"It's simple. Just issue a duty-free salt ticket to Wu Chaoyue. Wen Qing didn't think about it and said: "Calculate Wu Chaoyue's regimental training and military salary expenses, and issue Wu Chaoyue the corresponding tax-free salt stamps according to the amount of expenses, and let him sell salt to raise salaries by himself." ”

"Thanks for the pointers." When Su Shun heard this, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly took the opportunity to say to Emperor Xianfeng: "Your Majesty, the servant thinks that Wen Shangshu's method is also good, and sends tax-free salt stamps to Wu Chaoyue. It can not only reward his repeated miraculous achievements, but also help him solve the problem of insufficient military salary, and then encourage our Qing soldiers to learn from Wu Chaoyue's courage to kill the enemy, serve the imperial court, and collect the effect of thousands of gold and bones. ”

I don't want to take out silver from the overstretched treasury and inner treasury to reward Wu Chaoyue. Of course, Emperor Xianfeng immediately nodded in approval, and also named Su Shun and Wen Qing to handle the matter, and considered how many tax-free salt tickets Wu Chaoyue would be given, and also discussed how many silver dollars Wu Chaoyue was allowed to mint by himself.

Seeing this scene, the monks Greenqin and Lin Kui, who wanted to disgust Wu Chaoyue, were of course disappointed, but Qi Liaozao, the chief military aircraft who had a good impression of Wu Chaoyue, also frowned, and said secretly: "Although Su Shun and Wen Qing's method sounds good, it seems to have more drawbacks. ”

"Also, there is also a problem with the limited amount of self-minted silver dollars, this Wu Chao's self-minted silver dollars are not popular with the people, if the silver dollars he minted are really the same as foreign money, it will still be full of drawbacks after the imperial court recovers, and it is a dead end?"

…………

Wu Chaoyue's personality is indeed a little too kind, Emperor Xianfeng only approved Wu Chaoyue's two requests with reservations, and did not fully agree, and at the same time, the edict sent by Emperor Xianfeng sent by Qincha Jingshou was also very faceless, and he took away Yang Wending, the grandfather of Wu Chaoyue's fiancée, early. However, under the gratitude of Dade, and with the approval and support of Yiliang, the governor of Liangjiang, Wu Chaoyue immediately planned and launched a war to attack Wuxi, in a vain attempt to recapture Wuxi City and completely dredge the canal arteries of Suzhou and Changzhou.

But it's a pity that Wu Chaoyue fought an unprecedented defeat this time, and Li Tianchao, the vanguard general who was ordered to attack the city, launched two attacks, but were killed and retreated by the Taiping Army Xie Changsha's department, and the Wu army Lian Yong Cao Yanzhong's department was also unable to effectively suppress the defenders on Wuxi City because of insufficient ammunition, and was forced to retreat with Li Tianchao's department. The Qing army in Changzhou under Yiliang was ordered to protect the smooth flow of the canal and did not dare to move a little, but the Taiping army in Wuxi City was highly moraled, and Xie Changsha's reputation increased greatly. So much so that after the news reached the Taiping Army, even Lin Fengxiang and Wu Ruxiao looked away, "I didn't expect Master Xie to be so capable of fighting, why didn't I find out before?" ”

Diametrically opposed to the Taiping army, Wu Chaoyue of course scolded the lackey Cao Yanzhong for being incompetent, breaking the undefeated golden body of Wu Jun's Lian Yong, and then hurriedly withdrew the battalion to Jiangyin for reorganization, and went to Wenwujin on the other hand, and took the initiative to ask Yiliang, the governor of Liangjiang, to plead guilty, confide in the fatigue of the sergeants, the exhaustion of ammunition and the scarcity of food and salary, and ask Yiliang to approve his withdrawal to return to Shanghai to recuperate, replenish ammunition and food, and then attack Wuxi City after reorganizing the army.

Zhao Liewen, who was ordered to contact Yiliang, soon returned to Jiangyin City, saying that Yiliang had accepted the five thousand taels of silver given to him by Wu Chaoyue. also agreed to let Wu Chaoyue lead the army to withdraw to Shanghai for rest. Wu Chaoyue was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly immediately ordered the army to prepare to retreat, but also when he heard the news, Tai Wenying and Mo Zai and other Jiangyin civil and military officers were shocked, and immediately ran to Wu Chaoyue to ask for advice, saying that it was after Wu Chaoyue left. What if the Taiping army comes to attack Jiangyin again?

Originally, from the perspective of the strategic situation, it was very unlikely that the Taiping Army could still draw out troops to attack Jiangyin, but considering the variables that there was still a Taiping Army in Wuxi, and the importance of Jiangyin's important places to Shanghai, Wu Chaoyue still kept an eye on it, and promised to save Jiangyin in the future, instructed Mo Zai and others to strengthen Jiangyin's defense, and considered handling a regimental training in Jiangyin to strengthen the defenders here.

It is not difficult to run a group training in terms of money and food. With the support of the rear of Shanghai, which is becoming more and more prosperous and prosperous, it is very easy for Wu Chaoyue to raise one or two battalions in Jiangyin, and there is no big problem in terms of weapons. And the only thing that gives Wu Chaoyue a headache is the problem of generals, this general must be obedient, and he must understand military affairs and be reliable, people like Liu Lichuan are absolutely not good.

When discussing this issue with Zhao Liewen, Zhao Liewen's eyes lit up. immediately said to Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, if you want to find a reliable person to run a group training in Jiangyin." Then I have an ideal candidate here. ”

"Who?" Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked, and immediately said: "But it can't be you, you have to go back to Shanghai with me." ”

"Of course not me." Zhao Liewen shook his head, smiled again and said: "Comfort Pavilion, the virtuous do not avoid relatives, I want to recommend someone to you." It's my fourth brother-in-law, Zhou Tenghu, whose name is Taofu. ”

"Zhou Tenghu?" Of course, Wu Chaoyue, who has a sparse history, doesn't know what the weight of Zhou Tenghu is in the history of the late Qing Dynasty, but he has also heard Zhao Liewen mention this Zhou Tenghu a few times, and asked curiously: "Then how about your fourth brother-in-law's talent?" ”

"I won't tell you the truth, Zhou Tenghu is my fourth brother-in-law. He is also my mentor, and my middle school and Western studies are all taught by him. Zhao Liewen replied truthfully: "He has the highest attainments in economic and financial management, and is familiar with military affairs, and has great experience in how to govern the army, when we first met, I saw that your army lacks a foundation in morale and fighting spirit, in fact, it is also from his guidance, he often tells me that all good generals, the first thing is to let the soldiers under his command know why they are fighting, so that even if they can't win a hundred battles, they can also be defeated and defeated. ”

I don't know why, when I heard Zhao Liewen's introduction, Wu Chaoyue immediately remembered his honorary teacher Zeng Guofan - this teacher is the best at repeated defeats and battles, defeat but not defeat. Moved, Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked again: "Huifu, where is your fourth brother-in-law now?" ”

"It's not far away, it's in Changzhou Mansion to govern and enter the city." Zhao Liewen smiled and replied: "I went to Changzhou to do activities in front of the Yizheng platform for you this time, and I just lived in his house." ”

"Then why didn't you bring him to me?" Wu Chaoyue was anxious when he heard this, and complained: "Your brother-in-law is so talented and outstanding, why didn't you recommend it to me earlier, why didn't you just bring him to see me this time?" ”

"Comfort Ting, you can't blame me for this." Zhao Liewen smiled bitterly and said, "After entering your shogunate, I didn't write to the fourth brother-in-law and ask him to go out of the mountain to help you, but he refused. ”

"Why did your brother-in-law refuse?" Wu Chaoyue asked suspiciously: "Do you think I'm a small official?" ”

"Not really." Zhao Liewen shook his head and said: "It's Weiting, you are too young, only eighteen this year, my fourth brother-in-law is thirty-four years old this year, almost twice as old as you, and my brother-in-law's personality is very arrogant, so I ...... and didn't agree to go out of the mountain." ”

Wu Chaoyue suddenly realized, and then Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and immediately said: "It's okay, Huifu, let's go immediately, you take me to Wujin to meet your brother-in-law, ask him to come out of the mountain, if he wants, I will give him a disciple salute." ”

"That's not necessary." Zhao Liewen hurriedly shook his head again and said: "I went to Wujin this time, and I told my brother-in-law about this matter again, and my brother-in-law also changed his words, saying that as long as you promise him a condition, he will go out of the mountain to help you." ”

"On what terms?" Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked.

"Let him lead the troops, let him lead an army to fight alone." Zhao Liewen replied.

"Isn't this drowsy and someone sent a pillow?" Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "Huifu, write to your brother-in-law immediately, ask him to come to Jiangyin to help me, I will provide money, food and weapons, handle a battalion of regimental training for him in Jiangyin, and ask him to help me guard Jiangyin." Now that the battle is well fought, I will expand his army in the future. ”

Zhou Tenghu is also a person who does what he says, after receiving the letter from his brother-in-law, he came directly to Jiangyin to meet Wu Chaoyue without saying a word, and Zhou Tenghu's movements are fast, Wu Chaoyue's movements are faster, Zhou Tenghu arrived in Jiangyin on the day he arrived in Jiangyin, Wu Chaoyue had already organized five hundred Lian Yong in Jiangyin, armed them with carbines, and also prepared technical instructors for Zhou Tenghu to operate muskets and artillery. Therefore, when meeting with Zhou Tenghu, Wu Chaoyue directly held the military flag of Jiangyin regimental training in front of Zhou Tenghu with both hands, and implored Zhou Tenghu to take the post of Jiangyin regimental training.

Quietly took the military flag from Wu Chaoyue's hands with both hands, and Zhou Tenghu only said one sentence, "Please rest assured, Lord Wu, from now on, you can prepare for war in Shanghai with peace of mind." ”

"Not enough." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "Mr. Taofu, I handed over the Jiangyin regimental training to you, not only asking you to defend Jiangyin, the Jiangyin fortress, for me, but also hoping that you can bring me a strong army to share more pressure for me." ”

Zhou Tenghu nodded and replied, "Tenghu will do his best." (To be continued.) )