If it weren't for the barracks, Wu Chaoyue would definitely immediately have a big banquet, put on the delicacies of the mountains and seas, wine and delicacies, and find ten or eight young girls who were as beautiful as flowers, singing and dancing to welcome the investigation team sent by Emperor Xianfeng. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info But it's a pity that Wu Chaoyue is in the military camp with the first discipline at the moment, or in the military camp on the front line of the battle between the two armies, so there is no way, Wu Chaoyue is so good that he is wronged by Fu Aji and Yan Jingming, the deputy envoys of Qincha.

Facing the light wine and side dishes presented by the soldiers of the Wu army, Yan Jingming, who was short and strangely described, ate fragrant and sweet, but Fu Aji, who was born in a family, had an ugly and ugly face, and he didn't even bother to touch his chopsticks. Wu Chaoyue saw his dissatisfaction, and hurriedly said: "Master Fu, I'm really sorry, Tianjia Town is far away from the state capital and county, and our army is currently at war with Changmao, and it is difficult to transfer materials, so I really can't bring you any good wine and food to entertain you, and I hope you will forgive your sins." When this official returns to Wuchang City after breaking through the long hair, he will definitely put on the best banquet to make amends to you. ”

"Wu Futai doesn't have to be polite, the lower officials are not hungry." Fu Aji replied dryly, and then took the initiative to say: "Wu Futai, let's discuss the matter, the Yuezhou Mansion and the governor Wang Xun impeached your staff for controlling the Hubei Governor's Yamen, and the Yue Yi exercised the governor's power on your behalf, and also nestled in prostitutes and prostitutes to squander wantonly, suspected of embezzling the money and grain of the Hubei Domain, I don't know how you explain this matter?" ”

"Make something out of nothing! Shameless false accusations! Wu Chaoyue replied very simply, and said: "Huifu has entered my shogunate as early as Shanghai, I know best who he is, he is in charge of copywriting for me, but every major matter in Hubei is discussed by him and I take the decision to decide, only some complicated and trivial matters are ruled by him for me, but every time the official document has to be seen by me, I agree to sign before it is issued for implementation, this is the door of the empty me?" And that men's control of the Hubei Governor Yamen? ”

"There is also suspected corruption, which is even more vexatious! He, Wang Xun, a fellow acquaintance of Hunan, has never seen the money and grain accounts of the Hubei Domain, so why should he insist that Huifu is suspected of corruption? Regarding this matter, I will inevitably impeach him for false accusations and frames, and ask the court to make decisions for my staff! ”

Fu Aji smiled treacherously, and said with a grin: "Lord Wu, Lord Wang may be a little suspicious of rumors, but this is also for a reason, as far as the lower officials know, your Master Zhao is in Wuchang City, but he rented a good house and raised two Qinglou women, which is not a small cost." ”

"So what?" Wu Chaoyue asked rhetorically: "Zhao Liewen is not an incumbent official, and he didn't violate the court law by raising two women to serve him in his diet and daily life during the period of Ding Wei's system?" ”

"And where did his money come from?" Fuagi asked.

"Of course I gave it to him." Wu Chaoyue replied without thinking about it: "Not to mention that Huifu was born in a wealthy family in Changzhou, and his family has 600 acres of fertile land and 800 acres of mulberry fields, which is enough for him to have fine clothes and food." The Guangben official gave him 8,000 taels of silver every year, and supporting two women was a drop in the bucket for him. ”

"Wu Futai, do you give Zhao Liewen 8,000 taels of silver every year?" Fu Aji almost suspected that he had heard it wrong, and Yan Jingming, who was eating, also raised his head in surprise and looked at Wu Chaoyue carefully, his two eyes, one high and one low, were full of doubt.

"Rich man, don't be surprised, I will raise it to 10,000 taels for him this year." Wu Chaoyue sneered and said: "As for where the official's silver came from, I can also tell you clearly, it is my own clean silver, my father's Tongshun foreign firm in Guangzhou has been doing prosperous business, and I am making money every day, and I am a single family heir, my father's silver is my silver, and 10,000 taels of silver is not much different from 100 taels of silver for me." ”

Fu Aji swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, not only dissatisfied with Wu Chaoyue's arrogant attitude, but also extremely jealous of Wu Chaoyue - why doesn't Uncle Fu have such a good father? Secretly jealous, Fu Aji nodded and said: "Okay, Wu Futai, your words are remembered by the lower officials, but sorry, the lower officials are doing the emperor's errand this time, so even if the lower officials believe that you will never tell lies, you have to investigate this matter to the end, interrogate Zhao Liewen and check the money and grain of the Hubei Domain, and the lower officials also ask Lord Futai to cooperate as much as possible." ”

"You can check the money and grain accounts at will, and Zhao Liewen can also be interrogated with you, but I can't let you detain Zhao Liewen until you get real evidence." Wu Chaoyue said calmly: "Now that our army is fighting with Changmao, this officer is inseparable from Zhao Liewen's assistance at all times. ”

"Lord Wu, I'm afraid this won't work, right?" Fu Ajipi said with a smile: "This official is ordered to thoroughly investigate the Hubei bad case, if the party Zhao Liewen is not temporarily detained, what if he takes the opportunity to confess and destroy the evidence?" ”

"Listening to the tone of Lord Fu, can you directly arrest people just by making an impeachment out of nothing?" Wu Chaoyue said unceremoniously: "Then there are so many impeachment excerpts in the imperial court, do you also want to arrest and interrogate everyone who is impeached first?" ”

Fu Aji was speechless, and his already extremely ugly face became even more ugly, and he snorted heavily after a while: "Okay, please ask Wu Futai to hand over the money and grain accounts handled by Zhao Liewen, and this official will check whether there are any discrepancies in the money and grain accounts related to him from this evening!" Also, during the investigation of this official, Zhao Liewen must be on call! ”

"It's impossible to be on call, you can only act according to the situation." Wu Yue replied even more unceremoniously: "The war situation is changing rapidly, Zhao Liewen is in charge of the military Chinese book for this officer, and he also gives advice and formulates tactics for this officer, if you miss the military intelligence because of your summons at any time, no one can bear this responsibility!" ”

Fu Aji's face became even more gloomy, and he said gloomily after a while: "Okay, follow your wishes, Lord Wu, but the lower officials also have words first, and these things, the lower officials will inevitably report them to the imperial court." ”

Wu Chaoyue, who has Su Shun as a backer, is of course not afraid of Fu Aji's threat, and sneered and agreed, but Fu Aji over there was very quiet and asked Yan Jingming to accompany him to check the accounts, Yan Jingming, who had not spoken, then opened his mouth to agree, and then said to Wu Chaoyue: "Lord Wu, as for whether there are discrepancies in the money and grain accounts of your curtain, in order to prove his innocence, it is not enough to check the accounts handled by him, and the lower officials also have to check the general accounts of the Hubei Domain, and I hope that Lord Wu will cooperate." ”

Wu Chaoyue agreed without thinking about it, and immediately asked the other masters to hand over all kinds of accounts to Fu Aji and Yan Jingming. And after Fu Aji left angrily, Wu Dadao also immediately came to Wu Chaoyue's front and asked in a low voice, "Young Master Sun, did you send the prepared silver overnight?" ”

"I can't send it." Wu Chaoyue shook his head categorically and said in a low voice: "This Fu Aji knows that Tianjiazhen is fighting, and he deliberately went to the front line to investigate Zhao Liewen, making it clear that he wants to deliberately rectify us, and he has been holding on to the money and grain accounts, in addition to wanting to engage Zhao Liewen, he definitely wants to take me with him." At this time, giving him silver is equivalent to sending him a handle to catch, and he stabbed the silver I sent into the court, and Huifu and I jumped into the Yellow River and couldn't wash it. ”

"What if he does get some grip on the accounts?" Wu Dadao asked in a low voice.

"It's okay, Huifu is not afraid of crooked shadows, and he Fu Aji can't catch any tricks in the accounts, we just need to beware of him deliberately framing him." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said in a low voice: "Send reliable people to keep an eye on Fu Aji and Yan Jingming secretly, and find out if they have secret contact with my teacher in private." ”

Wu Da Da agreed, and hurriedly sent someone to spy on Fu Aji and the others, Wu Chaoyue scolded in a low voice with a gloomy face, "Dog! Don't give Lao Tzu the evidence that you were secretly instructed by Zeng Guofan, and when Lao Tzu is caught, even Zeng Guofan's Lao Tzu will be impeached! ”

That night, a small fleet of the Taiping army came to harass the defense line of Tianjiazhen twice, and the exhausted soldiers of the Wu army were furious, and unanimously asked Wang Fu, the commander of the Wu army's sailor battalion, to go to war, saying that he would rather die in the Yangtze River than be tortured by the Taiping army's sailors again, Wang Fu reported the request of the sailors to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue still shook his head and refused after hesitating again and again - there was no chance of victory, Wu Chaoyue really couldn't bear to let the sailors die in vain.

The next morning, Fu Aji really summoned Zhao Liewen to go over for questioning, and Zhao Liewen, who was innocently lying on the gun, was forced to be helpless, so he could only accept the questioning honestly, Wu Chaoyue knew that Zhao Liewen was fine and did not waste saliva to tell him how to act. However, what Wu Chaoyue didn't expect was that it didn't take long for Wu Dadao to come to the front quickly, and said in a low voice: "Young Master Sun, escort Master Zhao to see Fu Aji's brother to report, and Fu Aji's entourage hinted to him, saying that as long as we know each other, Zhao Liewen's matter can be erased immediately." ”

Although the old Wu family has always liked to use silver to open the way in officialdom, Wu Chaoyue didn't dare to take it lightly this time, and after thinking about it, he said: "Wait and see, we have to guard against Fu Aji's deliberate trap, don't send our silver over, he will hand it over to the court as soon as he changes hands, then we can't say it clearly even if we are full of mouths." ”

It was almost noon, Zhao Liewen returned to Wu Chaoyue with a tired face, and when Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked about the situation, Zhao Liewen shook his head and said: "It's clear that you came prepared, and I didn't let go of the fact that I ghostwrote most of your previous official decrees, and repeatedly induced me to confess that I wanted to control the Hubei Governor's Yamen." He also kept asking me about my contact with foreigners, and it seemed that he had accused me of fornicating with foreigners. ”

Wu Chaoyue snorted coldly, and then told Zhao Liewen about Fu Aji's sending someone to secretly ask for bribes, Zhao Liewen was shocked when he heard it, and hurriedly said: "Weiting, you must not give silver!" Fu Ajiming knew that Tianjiazhen was fighting and came to the front line to check on me, and it was clear that he wanted to deliberately rectify me, if you give him silver again, then he will take the bribe as evidence and hand it over, then I will be even more unclear. ”

Wu Chaoyue hurriedly comforted Zhao Liewen, saying that he was also worried that this was a trap deliberately set by Fu Aji, and he was not stupid to be fooled. And although Wu Chaoyue has never been willing to see Li Yuandu, a junior brother, and guessed that his coming here must have something to do with the only two warships in the army, he still nodded and asked Li Yuandu to come in because of the name of the same family-Wu Chaoyue was not interested in personally greeting Li Yuandu.

After a while, Li Yuandu, who was full of smirk, was led to Wu Chaoyue, and saluted Wu Chaoyue as soon as they met, and he was honored as Lord Futai and senior brother, Wu Chaoyue endured the nausea and picked him up with his own hands, and said goodbye to each other more hypocritically, and then invited Li Yuandu to sit down, and asked Li Yuandu casually: "Ciqing, the long-haired sailor is entrenched in the Wuxue and blocking the channel, which way did you come?" ”

"Back to the senior brother, the younger brother came by water." Li Yuandu replied quite proudly: "The master sent a fast boat to the younger brother, although he was discovered by the long-haired warship and was pursued when he passed through Wuxue, but relying on the skillful boat-building skills of our army's sailors, the younger brother's boat not only failed to be caught up by the long-haired and successfully broke through, but also lured a long-haired warship into the sandbar shoal, and now I don't know how to save the boat." ”

As soon as he heard Li Yuandu showing off the high quality of the soldiers of the Hunan Army's sailors, Wu Chaoyue, whose sailors were all rookies, became angry, and couldn't help but smile and said: "I see, it's a pity that you couldn't bring the elite sailors under the command of your mentor to Shanghai last time, otherwise, there would not have been an incident in Taihu Lake." ”

Li Yuandu's face was extremely thick-skinned, although he could hear that Wu Chaoyue was deliberately sarcastic, he still looked calm, changed the topic with a smile, and said: "Senior brother, the little brother sent the little brother to Tianjia Town to meet you, just for the ...... of the long-haired water master entrenched in the martial arts. ”

"Yufutai, Lord Qin Chafu and Lord Yan ask to see you."

Li Yuandu's words were interrupted by Fu Aji's request to see him, and when he heard this, Li Yuandu's face was full of surprise, and he hurriedly asked Wu Chaoyue: "Senior brother, how can you have a Qincha here?" When did the imperial court send you a messenger, and what did they do? ”

While casually ordering the meeting, Wu Chaoyue said roughly the reason why Fu Aji, Yan Jingming and others came here, and Li Yuandu was even more surprised and shouted How could a talent like Zhao Liewen be a bad scene, Fu Aji had already strode into Wu Chaoyue's handsome tent, and held up an account book and shouted at Wu Chaoyue: "Wu Futai, Hubei's money and grain account is wrong!" Sure enough, it's not right! Benchin suspects you that this is a false account! ”

Hearing this, Li Yuandu, who was still pretending to get up and salute before, was no longer good at acting, and he couldn't help but have a joy on his face that couldn't be concealed, forcing Li Yuandu to quickly lower his head, so as not to be found out that he was ecstatic. But Wu Chaoyue was silent, and asked Fu Aji: "Master Fu, are you sure that my accounts are fake?" ”

Fu Aji was triumphant, and shouted at Wu Chaoyue even louder: "Director Yan checked the accounts and found that the treasury of the Hubei Domain in charge of you has more than 200,000 taels of silver more than the income!" Is your Hubei domain a cornucopia? Can you grow hundreds of thousands of taels of silver by yourself? ”

Wu Chaoyue sneered and didn't say anything, but just asked Yan Jingming: "Lord Yan, apart from the Hubei Domain's extra 236,000 taels of silver, what is wrong with my other accounts?" ”

"Nope." The taciturn Yan Jingming shook his head and said in a deep voice: "But Lord Wu, if you can't explain the source of this extra 236,000 taels of silver, the lower officials have the right to suspect that you are a fake account." ”

"Yes!" Fu Aji was so proud that even a few small pockmarks on his face were shining, and he said arrogantly: "Lord Wu, if you don't know the source of these more than 200,000 taels of silver, Ben Qincha will go to the imperial court and ask the imperial court to seal the Hubei domain treasury and thoroughly check every money and grain expenditure!" ”

Wu Chaoyue clasped his hands to his chest, sneered and looked at Fu Aji, his eyes were full of viciousness except for mockery, and the deep killing intent made Fu Aji couldn't help but feel furious, subconsciously lowered his voice, and asked: "Wu Futai, what do you think the officials are doing?" The subordinate officials were ordered to thoroughly investigate the bad case, and found that there were hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in your account for some reason, shouldn't you ask? ”

"Yes, yes." Wu Chaoyue nodded, turned his head and commanded Wu Dadao: "Dada, tell Master Fu for me, how did the 236,000 taels of silver come out." ”

"Master Fu, that's my Young Master Sun's own silver!"

Wu Dada, who had long been unbearable, roared angrily: "After my Young Master Sun took office, there was not a single silver or a grain in the Hubei Domain, but it was necessary to use money everywhere to help the hungry, buy grain and cultivate cattle, organize the Hubei New Army and supply the front line, so my Young Master Sun took out his own silver and lent it to the Hubei Domain, and advanced money to do things for the court and the people!" ”

With a soft snap, the account book in Fu Aji's hand fell to the ground, and he looked at Wu Chaoyue stupidly, and Yan Jingming's two eyes, one high and one low, were also round, looking at Wu Chaoyue and silent. And the other soldiers of Wu Chaoyue next to him also roared angrily, "We all know about this!" For the sake of the court and the people, our Lord Futai took his own silver to the Hubei Domain! What else do you want? What else do you want?! ”

In the anger, a few short-tempered soldiers pulled out their revolvers in a rage, scared Fu Aji so much that he almost peed his crotch, and quickly took a few steps back and shouted, "What are you doing? Do? I'm Chincha! I'm a minister sent by the imperial court! ”

If the strength is enough, this incident is undoubtedly the best excuse for Wu Chaoyue to rebel, but unfortunately, the current strength in his hands is weaker, and the rebellion has no chance of winning, so Wu Chaoyue has no choice but to wave his hand and signal his soldiers to put away their guns.

At this time, Yan Jingming, the deputy envoy of the Qincha who had been stammering, had already come back to his senses, and after closing his ugly eyes and thinking for a while, Yan Jingming bowed his hand to Wu Chaoyue and said: "Lord Futai is highly virtuous, and the lower officials are very admired, but the lower officials found an abnormality in the accounts, and reported it to the envoy of the Qin Mission, and joined hands with the rich man to understand the reason for the discrepancy in the accounts, and the responsibility within the line, this is not deliberately making things difficult for Lord Futai, right?" ”

"It doesn't count." Wu Chaoyue also knew that Yan Jingming did not deliberately make things difficult for himself, and what he was dissatisfied with was Fu Aji's attitude and purpose.

"Thank you Lord Futai for your understanding, and I will leave." Yan Jingming arched his hand and said: "Please also ask Lord Futai to forgive me, the Hubei money and grain accounts handled by your curtain Zhao Liewen have not yet been checked, and the lower officials will go back to continue to check the accounts. Leave! ”

After that, Yan Jingming picked up the account book that Fu Aji had fallen to the ground before, and strode out of Wu Chaoyue's Chinese army tent with his head held high, Wu Chaoyue's personal soldiers all looked at Yan Jingming angrily, but Yan Jingming was not afraid at all. Over there, Fu Aji also hurriedly arched his hand to Wu Chaoyue to say goodbye, and crawled behind Yan Jingming's ass to escape from the Chinese army's tent, and as soon as he walked away, he couldn't wait to whisper in Yan Jingming's ear:

"Danchu, well done, don't be intimidated by Wu Chaoyue's arrogance! Continue to investigate, check carefully, even if there is a big son in Hubei's money and grain, you have to check it out for me to the end, and pull Wu Chaoyue, the arrogant boy, off the horse! Let him bankrupt his family, his family will be ruined, and his wife will be separated! (To be continued.) )