When Emperor Xianfeng authorized Wu Chaoyue to create the so-called holy decree of the Manchu Prime Minister's Yamen for national affairs to Hubei, Su Shun asked the guards who passed the decree to bring a secret letter to Wu Chaoyue by the way, so that Wu Chaoyue knew the important situation of Emperor Xianfeng's infection in Rehe. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the letter, Su Shun not only asked Wu Chaoyue to grasp the military power of Huguang, but also clearly explained to Wu Chaoyue, saying that unless he saw his handwritten letter, he must not leave Hubei one step, especially the Hubei provincial capital, the center of the nine provinces, and make every effort to ensure the smooth communication with Rehe.

Su Shun's warning made Wu Chaoyue immediately smell the smell of mountain rain, and after secretly showing this letter to Zhao Liewen, Yan Jingming, Dai Wenjie and several other henchmen, Zhao Yan and Dai immediately suspected that Emperor Xianfeng was definitely very ill and had the possibility of kicking his legs in Rehe. Then, Yan Jingming, who was still a little loyal to the Manchu court, immediately said suspiciously: "Since the emperor is not lightly ill, why don't they invite the emperor back to Beijing to recuperate as soon as possible?" ”

"yes? It is also necessary to comfort the pavilion to ensure the smooth communication with Rehe, which makes it clear that the emperor will stay in Rehe for a long time. ”

Zhao Liewen also said very strangely: "Rehe is located in the north of Yanshan, the climate is much colder than the capital, and now it is autumn, and the climate there in winter will definitely be more unfavorable to the emperor's physical conditioning, Su Zhongtang They can't even consider this, right?" ”

Wu Chaoyue also felt that this was very strange, and he didn't understand why Su Shun didn't hurry up and bring the Wild Boar Skin IX back to the capital to recuperate? But fortunately, Wu Chaoyue's shogunate now has an accomplice Dai Wenjie left by the old fox, Dai Wenjie is inferior to Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming in terms of talent and ability, but in terms of power crushing, he has not been playing with Wu Chaoyue in the palm of his hand, only after thinking for a moment, Dai Wenjie said: "The emperor's illness must be more serious than we estimated, Su Zhongtang did not persuade the emperor to return to Beijing as soon as possible It is a smart choice, and it is also a wise move." ”

"Mr. Wenjie, what do you mean by that?"

Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming hurriedly asked, Wu Chaoyue also looked at Dai Wenjie suspiciously, and Dai Wenjie replied calmly: "If I guess correctly, there must be a big problem with the emperor's dragon body, and there is a possibility that it will die in the near future, so Su Zhongtang did not persuade the emperor to return to the court, and may even directly persuade to prevent the emperor from returning to the court." ”

Su Zhongtang did this for two purposes, one was out of the emperor's loyalty, for fear that the journey would be bumpy, causing the emperor's condition to become more serious, and even die halfway. I have been to Rehe twice with Yuzhong, and that road is indeed very difficult to walk, the emperor is sick, so it is indeed dangerous to take that road by dragon chariot. ”

"Impossible, right?" Zhao Liewen asked suspiciously: "If I remember correctly, the emperor seems to be only twenty-nine years old this year, and he is in the prime of his youth, even if he really has any disease, it will not be so serious, right?" ”

"Huifu, you only know one, but you don't know the second, the third or even the fourth." Dai Wenjie smiled, lowered his voice and said: "You must not know that the emperor was actually born by his mother's medicine, and there is no full-term in the mother's womb." ”

Zhao Liewen, Yan Jingming, and Wu Chaoyue, who had a sparse history, opened their mouths wide at the same time, and Dai Wenjie smiled again and said: "When the emperor and queen mother were pregnant with him, the first emperor's concubine Xiang was already pregnant with the fifth master, and the first three princes of the first emperor had passed away at that time. But Quan Guifei's pregnancy time was more than half a month later than Concubine Xiang, and in order to compete for her son's favor, Quan Guifei came up with a ruthless trick and bought the imperial doctor to drug her, so that she gave birth to the current emperor for the first emperor six days ago. ”

Speaking of this with a smile, Dai Wenjie paused, and then said in a low voice: "Also, the emperor has actually smoked opium in the first year of his reign, and his addiction is very big. In addition, the emperor is also very indulgent in terms of wine, every time he drinks, he will get drunk, and when he is drunk, he will go crazy, not to mention lustful, hundreds of sika deer are raised in the Old Summer Palace, just to let the emperor drink blood happily. Now, you should understand why the emperor's health has been bad, right? Why would Su Zhongtang worry that the emperor wouldn't even be able to finish his way back to the capital? ”

Hearing this, Wu Chaoyue of course immediately remembered the picture of Emperor Xianfeng drinking deer blood in the movie, and his heart was immediately overjoyed. And over there, Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming couldn't help but nod their heads together while being dumbfounded, and both said in their hearts: "Premature birth plus opium, plus excessive wine, it's really not strange that such an emperor kicks his legs at a young age." ”

After being shocked, Zhao Liewen remembered to ask Dai Wenjie: "Mr. Wenjie, what is the second purpose of Su Zhongtang?" ”

"The second purpose, of course, is for Su Zhongtang himself." Dai Wenjie said lightly: "You can think about it, if the emperor dies in Rehe, then the emperor will let those people serve as ministers of orphans?" If the emperor dies in the capital, then how many more competitors will Su Zhongtang, Zai Wang Ye and Duan Wang Ye have? ”

A word to wake up the person in the dream, or after Dai Wenjie pointed out the important matter of Tuogu, Wu Chaoyue, Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming suddenly woke up and completely understood Su Shun's sinister intentions - if Emperor Xianfeng was kicking his legs in Rehe, then before he died, he must have only entrusted his son to the ministers headed by Su Shun, Zaiyuan and Duanhua.

But if Emperor Xianfeng returns to the capital and then dies, then Emperor Xianfeng will of course have much more choices to support Gu, and even if Su Shun, who is deeply favored by Emperor Xianfeng, can successfully become the minister of Tuogu, there will be a lot of constraints around him, which is far less than ensuring that Zaiyuan and Duanhua, who are wearing a pair of pants, are as comfortable as Tuogu.

Then, when Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming, the two of Wu Chaoyue's sworn friends, thought about it carefully, they were suddenly pleasantly surprised to find that if Su Shun really got what he wanted, then in the case of Xianfeng's son who was only three years old, Wu Chaoyue's future days would be as cool as he wanted, with Su Shun's love and closeness to Wu Chaoyue, he must have the right to give the right to the silver, Wu Chaoyue can protect whoever he wants, and expand the army as much as he wants, and he no longer has to worry about being restrained and constrained, and he no longer needs to worry about being suspicious and guarded.

Overjoyed, Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming of course strongly suggested that Wu Chaoyue follow Su Shun's instructions, master the Huguang army to stay in Hubei honestly, and be ready to act as Su Shun's strong foreign aid at any time, and do everything possible to help Su Shun sit in the position of the chief minister. But Wu Chaoyue just nodded, and he was not too happy in his heart, because no matter how bad Wu Chaoyue's history was, he knew that Su Shun did not sit firmly in the position of the minister of Tuogu, and he was killed by his eldest niece Cixi in collusion with a group of princes and nobles within a few days.

"Do you want to give Su Shun a wake-up call and tell him to guard against my eldest niece?"

It stands to reason that Wu Chaoyue should never hesitate on this question, because Wu Chaoyue himself admits that Su Shun is indeed too good and good to him, and he is a little unpleasant! Since the beginning of the meeting, Su Shun has never done a thing sorry for Wu Chaoyue, on the contrary, Wu Chaoyue has found a lot of trouble and created a lot of problems for Su Shun, but Su Shun not only did not complain, but on the contrary, he did his best to help Wu Chaoyue wipe his ass and solve the problem, and his kindness to Wu Chaoyue was so deep that Wu Chaoyue's best comprador Wu was actually not much better.

It is precisely because of this that Wu Chaoyue, who should have fully supported Su Shun's monopoly on the Manchu Qing Dynasty, had to consider another issue -- if Su Shunzhen sat firmly in the position of the chief minister and became the de facto Manchu ruler, what excuse would Wu Chaoyue use to raise troops against the Qing Dynasty? Crusade against the Sushun Suzhongtang who is deeper than the sea to himself?

On the contrary, if Wu Chaoyue deliberately did not notify Su Shun to be vigilant to his eldest niece, let history develop according to the normal track, and let his eldest niece cut Su Shun with one sword, then his reason for raising troops against the Qing Dynasty would be justified, and no other excuse was needed.

Of course, although this choice is ideal, Wu Chaoyue's conscience, which has not yet been eaten by dogs, began to jump out and go against himself, "Is it okay to do this on conscience?" Why can't we come up with a better way to save Su Shun's life and get a better excuse to start an army? ”

…………

While entangled in this future problem, Wu Chaoyue did not forget to immediately set up the Manchu Foreign Ministry of the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen, but it was also at this time that Wu Chaoyue found that wanting to establish a foreign ministry from scratch was by no means as simple as talking, and many of the doors in it were completely ignorant, let alone how this yamen should operate.

Fortunately, Huang Sheng, who had returned to Hubei Province from the capital, gave Wu Chaoyue a good idea in time, suggesting that Wu Chaoyue seek help from the diplomatic officials of the Western powers, take a shortcut and directly imitate the modern Western system to establish this yamen, and then combine the current actual situation of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to seize as much power as possible. Wu Chaoyue was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly wrote a letter to his old friend Xiao Bao Ling, inviting Xiao Bao Ling to come to Hubei Province to help him establish the Prime Minister's Yamen, and urging Xiao Bao Ling to send the three medium-sized steam gunboats he ordered as soon as possible.

As a result, it was only after sending a special person to Hong Kong to deliver the letter on a British merchant ship that Wu Chaoyue found that he was completely seeking the near and far away -- because the messenger had not left the Hubei provincial capital for a few days, a large Anglo-French combined fleet had already arrived in Hankow, and the leader of this combined fleet was none other than Wu Chaoyue's old friend French Minister Bourblon, as well as the new British Minister to China Pruss and the American Minister Hua Ruohan, as well as Zhao Liewen's good friend Gong Cheng.

Then, naturally, when Wu Chaoyue asked Burbulon and Pruss and others to help set up the Manchu Foreign Ministry, Burbulblon and Pruss and others of course immediately brightened their eyes, rolled up their sleeves and began to draw up the specific structure and operation regulations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Wu Chaoyue without saying a word. At the same time, without Wu Chaoyue's request, Burbulon and others took the initiative to think of ways to help Wu Chaoyue obtain the management rights and customs control of the treaty ports in various parts of the Manchu Dynasty, and even the power to determine tariff rates.

In addition to going all out to create the Prime Minister's Yamen with the help of foreigners, Wu Chaoyue also did something worthy of going down in history -- that is, he was interviewed by the British "Times" reporter Bao Bell, becoming the first person in China to be interviewed by foreign media as a feudal official. At the same time, Wu Chaoyue once again took the initiative to put on suit and leather shoes, put on a top hat, scratched his head and made Bao Bell take a lot of photos, and brazenly asked Bao Bell to publish his suit photos in the world-class newspaper "The Times".

The arrival of foreigners is not all a good thing, at least Gong Cheng secretly reported to Wu Chaoyue, saying that Britain and France had also sent diplomats to stay in Nanjing, and it seemed that they were negotiating with Yang Xiuqing, but they didn't know what they were talking about. In this regard, Wu Chaoyue was also very helpless, and said: "It's going to rain, my mother wants to marry, let them go, who told us that we can't beat them?" ”

Britain and France continued to try to negotiate with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, that is, at least the Yangtze River route would allow their merchant ships and warships to flow unimpeded, the tea and silk products of Huguang could be sold overseas in an endless stream by foreign merchant ships, and foreign industrial products and weapons and equipment could also be shipped to Hubei for sale. In addition, the most important thing is that Wu Chaoyue ordered the three medium-sized steam gunboats from the British, and because the Taiping Army also had to give way to the support of Britain and France, they were escorted by Xiaobaoling and taken to Hubei to deliver to Wu Chaoyue.

Having gradually become accustomed to seeing the steam paddle steamer warships of the Western powers, the three brand-new steam gunboats did not cause any sensation among the people of Hubei when they arrived in the capital of Hubei Province, on the contrary, the camp of the Wu Army's sailors located in Baishazhou was completely jubilant, and Wang Fu and Xu Lai and other soldiers of the Wu Army's sailors were all cheering and rushing to board the ship to visit. Civil and military officials from Hubei provincial cities and ministers of Western powers also came to the scene to watch the handover ceremony of the steam gunboat.

After signing the certificate of handover of the ship on behalf of the British side, Xiao Baoling first shook hands with Wu Chaoyue and exchanged certificates in applause, then hugged Wu Chaoyue affectionately, and finally whispered in Wu Chaoyue's ear: "Wu, you missed a rare opportunity, if you decisively accepted my father's kindness last time, you may be hugging me in the Chinese palace now." ”

"The opportunity will come up again, and it's not too late for us to sit down and discuss it carefully." Wu Chaoyue replied with a smile, and added in his heart, "It's a pity, but relying on you to win the capital and sit on the throne, in addition to being scolded by the world, I am not just your puppet puppet?" ”

In front of countless Chinese and foreign personalities and British and French media, Wu Chaoyue named the first steamer gunboat Zeng Guofan, and reaffirmed his teacher-student relationship with Zeng Guofan in public, recalled some of the warm past when he got along with Zeng Guofan, and continued the virtue of respecting teachers and respecting teachers in the Eastern civilization, and also won the collective applause of representatives and reporters from Western countries.

The second steamer ship was named Huashana by Wu Chaoyue, but as soon as Wu Chaoyue announced the name of the ship, some of the Mongols present shed tears on the spot, and the civil and military officials in Hubei were full of praise for Wu Chaoyue's affection and righteousness.

After leading the crowd to the front of the third steam gunboat, looking at the last unnamed steam gunboat, Wu Chaoyue hesitated for a while, but the small bag next to him, who knew a lot about Wu Chaoyue, came up with a good idea and said: "Dear Wu, I know that the people you respect the most are Sushun Suzhongtang in Beijing, and your grandfather, Mr. Wu Jianzhang, how about naming them after them?" ”

"Dear Mr. Bao Ling, your suggestion is very good." Wu Chaoyue smiled, shook his head again, and said: "But my teacher and Hua Shana Hua Tai have both passed away, please Su Zhongtang and my grandfather are listed with their names, with the customs of the East, this is a very unlucky act, they will definitely mind very much." ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue smiled again and said, "But I know that there is a respected gentleman who will definitely not mind the customs of the East, and he must be very willing to be placed side by side with the name of my teacher and the flower table, and I plan to name this steam gunboat after him." ”

"Oh, who is this honorable gentleman?" Xiao Baoling asked curiously.

Wu Chaoyue said this person's name out loud, but before the words fell, the Chinese and foreign representatives present were already collectively silent, all of them opened their mouths, their faces were full of disbelief, only this person who happened to be in the crowd exclaimed, "What? With my name? ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, his face was still a little hot, because even Wu Chaoyue himself felt that in order to curry favor with the Western powers and Western public opinion, he had used too many methods. But fortunately, what this person did was worthy of Wu Chaoyue's respect for him.

"Dear Mr. Luo Weilin, I know that since 1944, the Western Medicine Hospital you founded in China has always insisted on practicing medicine free of charge, treating tens of thousands of Chinese patients, often distributing free meals to poor patients, and even treating wounded soldiers without distinguishing between friend and foe. You are a great missionary, a great medical expert, a great Bethune of the nineteenth century, so, as a sign of respect and gratitude to you, I would like to be able to obtain your permission to name the ship I purchased from your home country after your Chinese name. (To be continued.) )