It was also when Wu Da Da entered the room again, saying that Song Jin had already left the Guangdong Hall through the back door, Wu Chao got up with a yawn with the smell of wine, and smiled and told Wu Da Da to send breakfast and enjoy the authentic Guangdong breakfast that could not be eaten in Shanghai.

When breakfast was almost over, the person who went to inquire about Wu Jianzhang's news came back to report for duty, saying that Wu Jianzhang had stayed in the yamen of the military department last night, and had entered the palace this morning to participate in the morning court, and it was estimated that he would not be able to come over until at least noon. Wu Chaoyue didn't worry much when he heard that the comprador grandfather was fine, but he drank the remaining shipboy porridge in three or two strokes, and then wiped his mouth and ordered: "Wu Dadao, take two people to follow, let's go to Hanlin Academy to play." ”

"Young Master Sun, what are you doing in the Hanlin Academy?" Wu Da asked confusedly.

"Stupid!" Wu Chaoyue scolded with a smile and said, "I lost such an important letter, I don't show nervousness, can the other party believe that it is true?" The people who go to make trouble and prepare to pit me will believe it, and if they believe it, someone will definitely jump out, and I can take the opportunity to see if it is that bastard who is plotting against me behind my back. ”

Wu Dadao suddenly realized, and hurriedly waited for Wu Chaoyue to comb his braids and change clothes, but Wu Chaoyue shook his head again and refused, deliberately messed up the pig's tail behind his head in the mirror, and then wore yesterday's clothes and deliberately made them not neat enough, pretending to be in a panic, and then led Wu Dadao and other dogs out of the house, and rushed all the way to Hanlin Academy to find Song Jin to ask for letters.

…………

When Wu Chaoyue was still on the way, Song Jin had already returned to the Hanlin Courtyard next to the Luan Jiaku with the fire-sealed letter, and went straight to Weng Tongshu, the eldest son of the teacher Weng Xincun, and whispered the details of his trip to Wu Chaoyue, and also said that he stole the secret letter of the French minister from Wu Chaoyue. As a result, Weng Tongshu was immediately surprised and delighted, and hurriedly asked, "Such a coincidence?" Where is the letter? ”

Song Jin hurriedly took out the letter and handed it to Weng Tongshu, Weng Tongshu took it and took a closer look, and found that there was no text mark on the envelope, only the fire paint seal, and his heart was even more happy, knowing that if this letter really wrote the content of Wu Jianzhang's secret communication with foreigners, then not only could he take down Wu Jianzhang's head immediately, but also took the opportunity to prove that his father's impeachment was not false, and Wu Jianzhang was indeed secretly colluding with foreigners.

However, after the joy, Weng Tongshu had some suspicions, and said to Song Jin suspiciously: "Brother Xifan, you don't think this matter is too coincidental, right? You went to spy on whether the surnamed Wu was secretly colluding with foreigners, and it happened that the foreigners sent a letter to Wu Jianzhang, and successfully got the letter, which happened to be a little unbelievable. The little rabbit surnamed Wu couldn't have set a trap for us to drill into Jiang Gan's book theft? ”

"I also think this time I was a little too lucky." Song Jin also admitted that this was too coincidental, and then said: "But it doesn't matter, let's open the letter and see the contents inside." ”

Weng Tongshu nodded, and just when he wanted to crush the fire paint, he shook his head again and said: "Can't open it, if this letter is really evidence of Wu Jianzhang's collusion with foreigners, then once we open the letter, we will inevitably be suspected of forging the letter." And if this epistle is written in foreign language, then we can't read it. ”

"What then?" Song Jin asked.

Weng Tongshu's eyes rolled and pondered for a moment, and then he said: "Wait and see, if this letter is really ironclad evidence of Wu Jianzhang's collusion with foreigners, then such an important letter is lost, the kid surnamed Wu will definitely be anxious to jump to his feet, and he will definitely be suspicious of you, and ask you about the whereabouts of this letter. ”

As soon as Song Jin heard the applause, he was not in a hurry to open the letter with Weng Tongshu at the moment, but waited patiently in the Hanlin Academy, but the result was not as Weng Tongshu expected, after more than half an hour, there was really a door outside the Hanlin Academy to report, saying that there was a son-in-law surnamed Wu who asked to see Song Jin, and said that there were 100,000 urgent matters to meet Song Jin immediately. Weng Tongshu and Song Jin were overjoyed when they heard this, and they hurriedly went to the gatehouse of Hanlin Academy to meet Wu Chaoyue.

When I arrived at the gatehouse, I saw that Wu Chaoyue, who hadn't even combed his braids neatly, was anxiously stepping in the gatehouse, and at the same time, his clothes were a little messy, and he was obviously very anxious. Song Jin smiled secretly when he saw it, and said loudly: "Brother Wu, the foolish brother apologizes to you, I was in a hurry to come to the Hanlin Academy to take up my post this morning, and I didn't wake up when I saw you asleep, and I didn't say goodbye. ”

Before Song Jin's polite words were finished, Wu Chaoyue had already pounced, grabbed Song Jin's sleeve, and said while shaking his head: "It's okay, it's okay, Brother Song, I have something to ask you, in the middle of the night last year, someone sent me a letter, did you see it?" Did you see that I put that epistle there? ”

"No?" Song Jin looked surprised and said, "Someone sent a letter to you last night?" How did I not know this? Maybe I was so drunk last night that I didn't hear anything. ”

"What's weird? Where did the epistle go? ”

Wu Chaoyue looked puzzled, and looked at Song Jin's expression carefully, it was obvious that he was skeptical of Song Jin's words, and Weng Tongshu on the side took the opportunity to say: "Wu Gongzi, whose letter is so important?" Is it worth your anxiety to go directly to the Hanlin Academy to find Brother Song Nian? ”

"yes." Song Jin also echoed and asked, "Brother Wu, who wrote your letter to you, how anxious are you?" ”

Wu Chaoyue's expression was a little complicated, and he hesitated for a moment before saying: "It's a letter from a distant relative of mine, which says something about my family's business, so it's very complicated." ”

Song Jin and Weng Tongshu quietly exchanged glances with each other, and then Song Jin said hypocritically: "Then you don't need to be in a hurry, you don't need to be in a hurry, just lose it, write a letter to your distant relative, explain the reason, and let him tell you the content of the letter again, and it will be fine." Otherwise, how about a ghostwriter for you? ”

"It's ......." Wu Chaoyue opened his mouth to stammer, and then shook his head and said: "No need, the content of the letter is not important, the key is that there is still a silver ticket in the letter, and losing the letter is equivalent to losing the silver." ”

"There's a silver ticket in the letter?" Weng Tongshu was shocked, and hurriedly turned to Song Jin and said: "Brother Xifan, since there is a silver ticket in the letter, you lived with Wu Gongzi last night, and you have a lot of suspicions." In my opinion, it is best for you and Wu Gongzi to go to Shuntianfu immediately to report the case, and ask Shuntianfu to send a messenger to investigate this matter. ”

As soon as Song Jin heard this, he nodded, and immediately invited Wu Chaoyue to go to Shuntianfu to report the case, but Wu Chaoyue quickly shook his head, and even said that there was no need, there was no need to report the case. Song Jin was surprised and asked, "Brother Wu, don't you have a silver ticket in your letter?" If you lose your silver ticket, how can you not report it? ”

Wu Chaoyue was speechless, just rubbed his hands and pinched his fingers anxiously, and after thinking for a while, Wu Chaoyue simply attached to Song Jin's ear and whispered: "Brother Song, you tell the truth, did you take the letter?" If you really took it, as long as you give it back to me, how about I give you a thousand taels of silver? ”

Song Jin's face changed, he shook off Wu Chaoyue's hand, and said angrily: "Wu Gongzi, what do you mean by this?" Do you think that I stole the epistle for a thousand taels of silver? ”

"You stayed with me last night, and you didn't take my letter, who else could take it?" Wu Chaoyue's eyes were also red, and he yelled: "You make a price, how much silver do you need to repay my letter?" One thousand taels of silver is not enough, is two thousand taels enough? ”

After carefully observing Wu Chaoyue's expression and finding no flaws, Weng Tongshu did not hesitate any longer, and said as soon as he pulled Song Jin: "Brother Xifan, there is no need to talk nonsense with him, since he doesn't believe you so much, it's okay if you don't make this kind of friend!" Let's go! ”

Song Jin nodded in agreement, raised his legs and left, Wu Chaoyue was even more anxious, hurriedly stopped Song Jin, and shouted: "The surname Song, return the letter to me, otherwise I will fight with you today!" ”

"I didn't take it!" Song Jin still denied it, and said: "If you think I stole your letter, go to Wanping County or Shuntian Mansion to report the case!" Excuse me! ”

After that, Song Jin and Weng Tongshu strode into the courtyard, Wu Chaoyue came up and tore Song Jin, but was pushed away by Song Jin and Weng Tongshu, and at the same time Weng Tongshu called the messenger again, and asked the messenger to expel Wu Chaoyue from the Hanlin Academy, Wu Chaoyue yelled and shouted just to ask Song Jin to return the letter, but the two fists were invincible and the four hands could not beat the joint efforts of Song Jin and Weng Tongshu, and they were forced out of the gate by the messenger of the Hanlin Academy, and fell directly down the steps, Wu Chaoyue struggled to get up, crying and wanted to rush into the gate, but was stopped by the door, and could no longer step into the gate of the Hanlin Academy.

Wu Chaoyue, who was so anxious, cried loudly in front of the gate of the Hanlin Courtyard, and the side was already surrounded by passers-by who were watching the excitement, and at the same time, there were also many Hanlin in the Hanlin Courtyard who heard the sound and came out to see the excitement, and then, naturally, a thin young man who was also on an errand in the Hanlin Courtyard walked in front of Wu Chaoyue, and asked Wu Chaoyue with great confusion: "Wu Gongzi, what's wrong?" Why are you crying out loud here? ”

Raising his hazy teary eyes and seeing clearly that the person in front of him was Li Hongzhang, Wu Chaoyue suddenly looked like a bullied little brother seeing his brother, and grabbed Li Hongzhang and cried, crying while begging Li Hongzhang to help him, Li Hongzhang heard it inexplicably, and hurriedly comforted: "Wu Gongzi, if you have something to say, what do you want me to help with, explain it carefully, I will do my best." ”

"Brother Shaoquan, please call the editor named Song Jin out ......."

Before Wu Chaoyue's pleading words were finished, Li Hongzhang's face had already changed greatly, and he blurted out: "Song Jin? What does this have to do with him? ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded a little blankly - this time Wu Chaoyue's blank expression was not pretended, he really didn't understand why Li Hongzhang was so surprised. Li Hongzhang stomped his feet again and again, and said in a low voice: "Wu Gongzi, you made too much mistake this time, do you know?" Song Jin and Song Xifan are Weng Xin's proud protégés of Weng Shangshu! Weng Shangshu was dismissed because of your family's affairs, and he was also escorted to the capital to discuss the crime, Song Jin is hating you to the core, why are you still involved with him? ”

Wu Chaoyue opened his mouth, and immediately understood why Song Jin spied on the evidence of his family's secret collusion with foreigners, and Li Hongzhang said in a low voice: "Also, Weng Shangshu's eldest son Weng Tongshu is also an editor in this Hanlin Academy, and he is also close friends with Song Xifan, you came here to make a fuss, didn't it just give him the opportunity to clean up and avenge your father?" ”

Who is the person next to Song Jin, Wu Chaoyue, who felt that he was a little familiar just now, also guessed it immediately, and then, some white foam suddenly appeared in Wu Chaoyue's mouth, shaking and slowly falling, Li Hongzhang, who was definitely warm-hearted, quickly hugged Wu Chaoyue and asked Wu Chaoyue about the situation, Wu Chaoyue rolled his eyes, and there was no sound or reaction anymore............

Then, after getting the news that Wu Chaoyue was frightened in front of the gate of the Hanlin Academy, Weng Tongshu and Song Jin did not hesitate, and immediately walked out of the Hanlin Courtyard from the side door, all the way to the direction of the imperial city, and on the way, the two brothers were still full of joy on their faces, and they kept gritting their teeth, "The dog ancestor surnamed Wu, your retribution has finally arrived!" ”

………………

It's time to take a look at the situation on Wu Jianzhang's side, as a four-rank foreign official, he can get the opportunity to participate in the early dynasty, Wu Jianzhang of course understands that this is because he wants to negotiate with the foreigners in the court, but it is very unfortunate that the early dynasty on this day caught up with the major matter of discussing the construction of the Daozhou encirclement to trap the Taiping army, or discuss this matter first, so Wu Jianzhang, who was in his sixties, knelt outside the Taihe Hall for an hour and a half, and then heard the will of announcing his going to the palace.

Trembling up to the Jinluan Palace, Wu Jianzhang, who was already facing no one inside, immediately noticed that there were countless unkind eyes shooting, which made Wu Jianzhang, who went to the Jinluan Hall for the first time, even more nervous, and knelt down on his knees before he took a few steps, and stammered and said that he had said that he had said his name wrong, which made the hall laugh.

Fortunately, for the sake of Wu Jianzhang's ability to collect taxes, the wise and martial Emperor Xianfeng did not care about Wu Jianzhang's gaffe, and also gave Wu Jianzhang a flat body, and then asked Wu Jianzhang directly: "Wu Jianzhang, this time I announced that you went to Beijing to assist the Qincha in negotiating with the foreigners, what did the foreigners in the Shanghai concession say when you left?" ”

"Long live, in order to avoid the melon field and plums, after receiving the will, Weichen never dared to say a word to the foreigners." Wu Jianzhang replied truthfully: "So what is the reaction of the foreigners, Weichen doesn't know." ”

Emperor Xianfeng nodded sullenly, satisfied with Wu Jianzhang's caution, but also disappointed that he couldn't know the attitude of foreigners in advance, but Mu Yin Zhongtang on the other side didn't believe it at all, and said sarcastically: "Really? Lord Wu, this official remembers that the comment given to you by the Ministry of Officials is that you have a good match with foreigners, and you went to Beijing to assist Qincha in negotiating with foreigners, can the foreigners in the Shanghai Concession know? ”

"Absolutely." Wu Jianzhang was not afraid of the shadow crookedly at this point, and replied calmly: "Lord Su Shunsu can testify for the lower officials, after the lower officials received the will, they didn't even take a step out of Shanghai City, and came directly to the capital early the next morning, and Lord Su also went to the Wu Lijiang Wharf to see off the lower officials, and there were no half foreigners present at that time. ”

Although he is the Minister of Military Aircraft, Mu Yin really can't afford to provoke Su Shun, the number one celebrity in front of Xianfeng, so he didn't continue to entangle, but said in his heart: "If you don't meet and talk to foreigners, you can prove that you have nothing to do with foreigners?" If you secretly communicate with foreigners, or send people to bring messages to foreigners, aren't you the same as colluding with foreigners? ”

Next, Emperor Xianfeng, who was barely suspicious, asked Wu Jianzhang's views on this negotiation again, and when Wu Jianzhang went to the military aircraft to meet Qi Liaozao and others yesterday under the guidance of the right attendant of the military department, he already knew the negotiation conditions offered by the combined fleet, and he didn't have much stage fright, so he directly kowtowed and replied: "Long live the emperor, although the conditions offered by the foreigners are harsh, but there is obviously room for bargaining. Make every effort to get the foreigners to withdraw as soon as possible. ”

"That's good." Emperor Xianfeng nodded with satisfaction, and said: "But remember a few points, one is that in the negotiations, we must not insult the face of our Qing court, let alone let the foreigners feel that our Qing court is afraid of them, and let the foreigners know that the reason why my Qing court negotiated peace with them is all for the sake of stopping the sword soldiers and for their good." ”

"Second, we must not promise to let foreigners station troops in Tianjin, nor can we promise to let foreigners build any embassy in Beijing."

"Third, no more ports are allowed, not a single port can be opened! Especially Tianjin! ”

"Fourth, you can't cut the land! It is also necessary to pay less! Last time you dealt with Qingpu Yiwu, didn't you just let the local rebels pay the foreigners 300 taels of silver to end the matter? Well done, continue this time, and pay as little as possible! If you can get the foreigners not to pay compensation, then I will credit you for a great achievement! ”

Emperor Xianfeng said a word, Wu Jianzhang kowtowed, and his face became more and more sad, knowing that this errand was more difficult than he imagined. And Emperor Xianfeng finally finished talking nonsense about his unrealistic demands, and then he remembered another important matter and said: "By the way, let's also discuss the candidate for the Qincha?" That Aiqing is willing to serve as this messenger and share my worries? ”

The Jinluan Palace is silent, the civil and military officials are all looking at the nose, the nose is looking at the heart, and they don't even dare to take a mouthful of the atmosphere, and the official Shangshu Hua Shana, who was brought back by the foreigners a few days ago, can't wait to put his head in his arms, for fear that the Emperor Xianfeng will be whimsical, and he will be named to carry this big black cauldron. Wu Jianzhang, who had been named as his deputy, was also silent, hoping that the envoy in charge of the negotiations would be a better talker, otherwise this errand would definitely be more difficult.

Faced with this silent scene, Emperor Xianfeng's face was inevitably a little ugly, and just when he wanted to think about casually pulling an important minister of the court out as a substitute for the dead ghost, a eunuch suddenly ran into the Jinluan Palace, attached to the ear of Bai Ye, the head of the Hanlin Academy, and muttered a few words in the ear of Bai Ye, Bai Ye's face suddenly changed, and blurted out: "Really? ”

The eunuch who came to report nodded, and Emperor Xianfeng was also puzzled and asked what happened, Bai Ye did not dare to slack off, and immediately came out to play: "Long live Qiyu, it is the two editors of the Hanlin Academy, Weng Xincun and Song Jin, who came to report, saying that they got the ironclad evidence of the secret collusion between Wu Jianzhang and the French minister of the foreign negotiator, Bourbulon, and asked Weichen to immediately play long live on his behalf, please make a decision." ”

Onslaught! Before Bai Ye's words were finished, there was already a big uproar in the Jinluan Palace, and Wu Jianzhang was suddenly dumbfounded, and exclaimed: "I secretly colluded with Burbulon? How did I not know?! ”