When the news that the old fox Hua Shana pretended to be seriously ill was confirmed, Li Hongzhang, who had disappeared for a long time, also returned to Wu Chaoyue's face, and still appeared in front of Wu Chaoyue wearing heavy filial piety and tears on his face, and as soon as he met, he bowed down in front of Wu Chaoyue, and cried on the ground until the sky was dark, and the sun and moon were dark. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

"Shaoquan, what's wrong? Why are you wearing filial piety clothes and still crying like this? Wu Chaoyue asked in surprise.

"My father died." Li Hongzhang replied with bitter tears.

"What? Uncle passed away? How could it be so sudden, why didn't I know anything beforehand? ”

Wu Chaoyue was shocked and asked, and then Li Hongzhang cried and cried to explain the reason, saying that Li Wenan suddenly fell ill in Fenggang, Fuzhou, Jiangxi, and then before Lang Zhong could find out Li Wenan's condition, Li Wenan had already died violently, so Li Hongzhang had no time to inform Wu Chaoyue of the situation in advance. After Li Wen'an died of illness, the morale of the Shizi battalion was also in turmoil, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to lead the army to withdraw to Nanchang Mansion for rest, and entrusted the Shizi battalion to his fellow villager and deputy Zhang Shusheng to command, and he wrote to Ding Wei in accordance with the rules of the Manchu court, and brought Li Wenan's coffin to Hubei to report the funeral to Wu Chaoyue, and also prepared to meet with his brother Li Hanzhang, who was serving as a county magistrate in Shanhua, Hunan, and tried to send Li Wenan's body back to Fei for burial.

After listening to Li Hongzhang's tearful statement, Wu Chaoyue, of course, had to pretend to cry a few times, and then hurriedly sent someone to prepare a mourning hall for Li Wen'an, summon the soul, and while trying his best to comfort Li Hongzhang, he prepared a residence for Li Hongzhang to let him rest.

As a result, after Li Hongzhang was invited to go down to the hall to rest, Zhao Liewen, who was very jealous of Wu Chaoyue's close relationship with Li Hongzhang, opened his mouth and reminded: "Weiting, don't say that I am slandered in the back, your senior brother came to Hubei this time, and the purpose is probably not to return to his hometown with his brother to help Ling return to his hometown for burial." ”

"Of course I can see this, not to mention that it is difficult for Hefei to go back in the hands of Changmao, even if he has this plan, he can wait for Li Hanzhang in Jiujiang, and there is no need to run the wrong way to Wuchang."

Wu Chaoyue shrugged his shoulders, he had long known Li Hongzhang's true intentions, sighed again, and said: "But forget it, he has already suffered a lot in Jiangxi for his ambitions, and he has also paid the corresponding price, so he can't worry about the past with him anymore." ”

Wu Chaoyue is of course not without reason, in fact, since the death of Zeng Guofan, Wu Chaoyue has not particularly cared much about the lonely Shizi battalion hanging in the hinterland of Jiangxi, and with the Taiping Army once again increasing troops in Jiangxi, the weak Li Wen'an father and son are also in an increasingly embarrassing situation in Jiangxi, although relying on Wu Chaoyue's handouts of weapons and ammunition to be able to protect themselves, and also let out the tricky and mean Jiangxi governor Wen Jun did not dare to offend Li Wen'an and his son too much, but there is no stable source of military salaries, grain, grass and ammunition, The Li family's father and son still didn't stir up much turmoil in Jiangxi, on the contrary, they suffered a lot of hardships and were retributed for trying to get rid of Wu Chaoyue alone.

Therefore, even without Zhao Liewen's reminder, Wu Chaoyue also knew the real reason why Li Hongzhang ran the wrong way to carry Li Wenan's body to the Hubei provincial capital -- the first was to escape from the Jiangxi battlefield that had become erosive, the second was unwilling to return to the field, and wanted to let his good brother ask for his favor, and the third was to seek the protection of Wu Chaoyue's wings, and wanted to rely on Wu Chaoyue's money, food, and weapons to make a comeback.

After all, some Wu Chaoyue, who likes to miss the old, still pretended not to know the good brothers, and tried his best to persuade Li Hongzhang not to risk returning to Hefei, and on the other hand, he also persuaded Li Hongzhang not to return to his hometown, and volunteered to revenge Li Hongzhang. And after Li Hongzhang pretended to give in, he quickly got off the donkey and promised to wait for Li Hanzhang to arrive before discussing.

Even if the matter of winning the love has not yet been finalized, Wu Chaoyue has already begun to think about how to appoint Li Hongzhang, but what makes Wu Chaoyue a little hesitant is that he should take the opportunity to keep Li Hongzhang by his side to help? Or continue to let Li Hongzhang out and lead troops to fight?

With Li Hongzhang's talent and ability, keeping him by his side to help must be no less than Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming's right-hand man, but Wu Chaoyue was a little worried about Li Hongzhang's loyalty to the Manchu court, and was afraid that he would see his opposition -- he didn't say it on TV, and Wu Chaoyue, who had a sparse history, certainly didn't know that during the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Manchu local governor secretly engaged in the southeast mutual protection treaty, the first article was that if Cixi and Guangxu were killed by foreigners, the Manchu local governor would immediately publicly elect Li Hongzhang as president. And Li Hongzhang himself took the lead in signing this treaty.

Let Li Hongzhang go out again to lead the troops to fight, Wu Chaoyue also did not dare to be completely assured, no matter how bad the history is, Wu Chaoyue also knows that Li Hongzhang has made a famous Huai army in history, and now there is no Li Wen'an's constraint, really let Li Hongzhang be the master of the house and work alone, pull up a strong army and make trouble when Wu Chaoyue raised troops, Wu Chaoyue really dug a pit and buried himself.

In a dilemma, Wu Chaoyue simply handed over this choice to Li Hongzhang himself, and took the opportunity of Li Hanzhang to come to Hubei, and deliberately mentioned this matter in a roundabout way during the chat, and asked Li Hongzhang his own opinion, but Li Hongzhang, who was very smart, really understood what Wu Chaoyue meant, and immediately gave a vague answer. However, what made Wu Chaoyue regret and helplessness was that Li Hongzhang still wanted to go out and lead the troops to fight.

Of course, Wu Chaoyue can also understand Li Hongzhang's hardships, it is not easy for civil servants to get promotion opportunities, and with the help of powerful civil officials such as Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming, it is of course more difficult for Li Hongzhang to stay by his side and come out quickly. In the case of chaos in the world, leading troops to fight is of course the best shortcut to promotion and wealth, and the ambitious Li Hongzhang naturally wants to take a shortcut, and he does not want to work his qualifications.

But fortunately, what makes Wu Chaoyue quite relieved is that Li Hongzhang still knows how to eat a trench and grow wise, and while expressing his willingness to continue to lead the troops, he also took the initiative to say that he no longer wants to handle the regimental training independently, and is willing to lead the troops to fight under the command of Wu Chaoyue's order, and voluntarily demote from the senior brother to Wu Chaoyue's younger brother thug, and treat Wu Chaoyue as a cow and a horse, charging into battle.

After figuring out Li Hongzhang's attitude, even if he still didn't dare to be completely reassured, Wu Chaoyue still decided that Li Hongzhang should be rewarded for his correct choice of understanding current affairs, and began to think about a position that could give him some sweetness. Coincidentally, at this time, Chongen, the former governor of Shandong, who had had several relationships with Wu Chaoyue, suddenly came to Hubei, and at the same time helped Wu Chaoyue come up with the best way to settle Li Hongzhang.

The reason why Chongen, the former governor of Shandong, came to Hubei was to prepare to take up his post in Hunan, replacing the acting governor of Hunan, who was overthrown by Hua Shana because of the coinage and copper theft case. Although Chongen is not very good at military affairs, he lost the position of governor of Shandong before because he failed to quickly suppress Ji Wenyuan, who suddenly walked out of the Yimeng Mountains, and gave Ji Wenyuan the opportunity to quickly make a comeback. But Chong'en has a small hand in civil affairs, after being demoted to the minister of Hami, he quickly reconciled the ethnic conflicts there, pacified effectively and governed meritoriously, and was transferred back to Zhili as a political envoy, and then relied on financial management to care for the people, and was successfully promoted to acting governor of Hunan after the fall of Wenge, and truly made a comeback.

In addition to having a small hand in civil affairs and calligraphy and poetry, Chongen also has an advantage that he is a little self-aware, knowing that he is not good at military affairs, and knowing that if he wants to sit in a firm position in Hunan and remove the word acting as soon as possible, he must pay attention to the military, so when he met with Wu Chaoyue, he pulled down his face and asked his juniors for advice, and asked Wu Chaoyue to give him more help and guidance in military affairs, so that he would not repeat the mistakes made in Shandong, and Wu Chaoyue naturally immediately thought of Li Hongzhang.

"When I was sleepy, someone sent a pillow, coincidentally, I just took the opportunity to put Li Hongzhang in Hunan, that ghost place is fighting, there are many opportunities to be rewarded for meritorious service, and it is a poor and remote country, and it has been looted by Luo Bingzhang and Wenge successively, no money, no military salary, and Shaoquan can't get there if you want to get rid of me and work alone."

"Also, after inserting the nail of Shaoquan into Hunan, I can also take the opportunity to use him to restrain the Hunan army and Chu Yong, so as not to make trouble when these two groups of people raise my army. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that Shaoquan will be in cahoots with Hu Linyi and Liu Changyou, colluding with each other, and joining hands to oppose me, but there is no need to be afraid, the Chinese have always been one person and one dragon, a group of people and a group of worms, uneven distribution of spoils, competition for power and profit, each with a ghost, the more factions of the Hunan gang, the easier it is to divide and divide and bribe! ”

Born of these vicious thoughts, Wu Chaoyue of course immediately put them into practice, first sent someone to invite Li Hanzhang and Li Hongzhang's brothers to introduce Chong'en, and then boasted about Li Hongzhang's dazzling performance on the battlefield of counterinsurgency in Jiangxi and Anhui, and also boasted about Li Hanzhang's familiarity with Hunan customs and the officialdom army by the way.

As a result, the Li brothers themselves were also angry, and under the temptation of Chong'en's questioning, they answered like fluent, and expressed a lot of correct opinions, and Chong'en, who urgently needed to understand the situation in Hunan and urgently needed military assistants, was also overjoyed, and did not care that the Li brothers were guarding the system, so he proposed to Wu Chaoyue on the spot, and directly stated that even if the Manchu court did not agree to let the Li brothers regain their affection, they would also let the Li brothers help him govern the territory and command the army as a staff member.

When Wu Chaoyue asked the Li brothers if they were willing to follow Chong'en to Hunan on an errand, the Li family brothers, who understood the idea, of course, only modestly agreed after two sentences, and Wu Chaoyue generously said that he would definitely provide full help when Li Hongzhang established a new group training for Chong'en.

After Wu Chaoyue sent off Chong'en, who had returned to the pavilion to rest, the Li family brothers, who would soon be able to gain more military power, of course, immediately ran to Wu Chaoyue to thank him, thanking Wu Chaoyue for his great kindness - giving them the opportunity to be promoted to the secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, Wu Chaoyue smiled and waved his hand and said: "You're welcome, it's just a gesture." Speaking of which, this is also the luck of your two brothers, just resigned from their jobs and were idle, and immediately ran into Chongfutai to patrol Hunan, and Chongfutai happened to have a little friendship with me when he was in Jinan, otherwise, would he have been able to meet such a good opportunity? ”

Although they are also very aware that there is a lot of luck in this Feihuang Tengda, the Li brothers still sincerely thank Wu Chaoyue again and again for their good deeds and have not forgotten them, and said that they will definitely do a good job of connecting Wu Chaoyue and Chong'en and help Wu Chaoyue and Chong'en get along amicably. While Wu Chaoyue thanked him casually, he suddenly remembered a big event, and hurriedly said to Li Hongzhang: "Shaoquan, after arriving in Hunan, I need to ask you for a favor if I have a matter, please help me go to our teacher's hometown in Xiangxiang." ”

"Weiting, what do you want me to do in your teacher's hometown for you?"

Li Hongzhang asked suspiciously, but Wu Chaoyue's refreshing answer made Li Hongzhang slide down from the chair directly - Wu Chaoyue said very directly: "Go and ask my wife to marry my mother, and ask my wife to promise to give me the eldest daughter of my teacher, Zeng Jijing, to be a partial room." ”

"Partial room?!" Li Hongzhang screamed like a pig: "Weiting, do you want my life?" What is the identity of the teacher, the seventieth grandson of the saint! His daughter is still the eldest daughter, how can he marry you as a partial house?! ”

"It's okay, I'm sure you can do it, and my wife will definitely consider agreeing." Wu Chaoyue replied more cheerfully: "Because of some accidents, the daughter of my mentor can't marry again except for me." ”

Li Hongzhang's mouth opened wide, Li Hanzhang's eyes widened, Wu Chaoyue said that he accidentally stripped Zeng Jijing's clothes without blushing and heartbeating, but of course the corners of Li Hanzhang's eyes were almost not torn, Li Hongzhang's mouth was directly opened and dislocated, and after holding his chin, he asked in the first sentence: "Comfort Ting, tell me honestly, did you mean it that night?" ”

Wu Chaoyue, who was not afraid of crooked shadows, of course shouted loudly, and swore that he really recognized the wrong person at that time, but Li Hongzhang didn't believe it at all, and snorted: "Even if you really didn't mean it, didn't you pit me to death?" When I arrived at my master's house, I was afraid that as soon as I said the words of asking for marriage, my mother would be able to pick up a kitchen knife and chop me up! ”

"No, no, I guess the most I'll do is knock you out with a broom."

Wu Chaoyue hurriedly comforted him heartlessly, and said even more shamelessly: "Shaoquan, I think you can do this alone in the whole world." After all, my wife Yang Yuru and Feng Wanzhen are both matchmakers made by you, and you are related to me in this regard, and you are my lucky star, so you must have the hope of convincing my wife to agree to let my sister commit to marrying me. ”

"I don't want to be such a lucky star." Li Hongzhang groaned in pain, and he didn't dare to imagine what kind of violence and abuse he would encounter when he went to the door to ask his junior sister for his junior brother............

The next day, out of courtesy, Wu Chaoyue once again set up a banquet in the governor's yamen to invite Chong'en, and invited the Hubei civil and military officials in the provincial capital to accompany him, and introduced his colleagues to Chong'en to live next to each other in the future.

While talking and laughing, suddenly a personal soldier hurriedly entered the flower hall where the banquet was held, handed over an official document to Wu Dadao and whispered a few words, Wu Dadao hurriedly handed the official document to Wu Chaoyue, who was talking and laughing with Chong'en, and said: "Lord Futai, the constitutional decree sent by Huazhitai from Hubei is very urgent, please open it immediately." ”

Wu Chaoyue didn't slack off when he heard this, he hurriedly confessed his guilt to Chong'en, and quickly took the official document sealed by fire paint and opened it to watch, but after a few glances, Wu Chaoyue showed a surprised look and said, "What tricks are the flower tables playing?" How can you say that he is getting sicker? ”

"Hua Zhitai said that his condition has worsened? Really? Chongen was also startled, and said in his heart, old man, don't play with me, last time you said that your condition suddenly worsened, Wenge's second-grade top fell to the ground, this will be before the official officially takes office, you will have another aggravation of your condition, you just don't want to see me like this?

When he continued to look down in surprise, Wu Chaoyue's expression began to be solemn, because Hua Shana not only said in the official document that his illness had worsened, but also said that he had been forced to hand over the front-line military affairs to Feng Sanbao and others, and returned to Changsha to recuperate first, and asked Wu Chaoyue to tell the new governor Chong'en, who was about to take up his post in Hunan, and told Chong'en not to delay on the road, and to go to Hunan to officially take office and take over the important task of commanding Hunan's counterinsurgency.

After handing the official document to Chong'en with a serious expression, Chong'en quickly read it, and his face was immediately full of nervousness, and he said to Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, it seems that Hua Zhitai is really seriously ill this time, with Hua Yuzhong's temper, it is impossible to leave the counterinsurgency matter alone, and return to Changsha to recuperate first, I can't delay here, I will leave after eating this meal." ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, and while ordering someone to arrange a clipper and escort for Chongen, he also informed Li Hongzhang's brothers to immediately prepare to accompany Chongen to Hunan. And the civil and military officials in Hubei over there heard that Hua Shana was really seriously ill this time, and the sound of talking and laughing suddenly disappeared without a trace, replaced by whispering, and many officials were constantly peeking at Wu Chaoyue, looking at Wu Chaoyue's expression, and also seeing if Wu Chaoyue had the blessing of taking over as the governor of Huguang.

After a hurried meal, Chong'en, who was in a hurry to get on the road, immediately said goodbye and went back to prepare to leave, Wu Chaoyue promised to go to the dock to see him off, and then when the Hubei civil and military officials got up to say goodbye, Wu Chaoyue keenly found that these subordinates were obviously much more respectful and pious to their etiquette, especially Ma Xiuru, the political envoy who was qualified to take over as the governor of Hubei, and Li Qinggu, the envoy of the inspection, were even more respectful and almost didn't kneel down to lick Wu Chaoyue's shoes. Wu Chaoyue smiled secretly when he saw it, and said secretly: "Above the officialdom, promotion is really the first priority." ”

It is indeed the first priority, just sent away a group of colleagues, and before returning to the back hall, Wu Chaoyue immediately instructed Zhao Liewen: "Huifu, help me write a letter to Su Zhongtang, tell him that Hua Zhitai is really seriously ill this time, and ask him to prepare in advance." ”

Zhao Liewen agreed with a smile, and said in a low voice: "Weiting, Hubei civil affairs also have to prepare in advance, the three major events of Hankou tariff, nine provinces and silver yuan casting must be mastered by the most reliable person!" ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, and said secretly in his heart: "When I become the governor of Huguang, it would be good if I could cancel the position of governor of Hubei, and let me be in charge of both the army and the money, then it will be called beauty." (To be continued.) )