On the issue of Shanghai, Wu Chaoyue also made the mistake of negligence, although Wu Chaoyue sent a British merchant ship with a letter on the night of the third day of the third month of March, so that Zhou Tenghu, Deng Siyuan, and Meng Qi, who had stayed in Shanghai, and other old troops in Shanghai were put on alert, and always guarded against other Qing troops in Shanghai to take the first action, and also reminded Wu Lao comprador to be prepared for the earth-shattering changes, and begged Wu Lao to move to live outside the city, and it was better to live in the concession. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

At noon on the 10th day of the first month of March, after receiving the news of the preparations for the outbreak of the coup d'état in Qixiang, Wu Chaoyue went to Shanghai again to inform Wu Lao comprador and Zhou Tenghu and others of his decision to raise troops on the side of the Qing monarch, and asked Zhou Tenghu and others to strike first to capture and control Xue Huan, the governor of Jiangsu, and Gilhang'a, the political envoy of Bu, and others to control the situation in Shanghai.

In order to facilitate the actions of Zhou Tenghu and others, Wu Chaoyue also issued an official document in his capacity as the governor of Huguang and Liangjiang and the minister of moderation of the five provinces, appointing Zhou Tenghu, who is currently the envoy of Jiangsu, as the governor of Jiangsu, and authorizing Zhou Tenghu to arrest Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a on charges of party-attached devil six and others, so as to seize the moral upper hand as much as possible.

Of course, Wu Chaoyue was also worried that the Devil Six Group would launch the Qixiang coup d'état and also move to Shanghai, but fortunately, this may not be large, because the Wu army in Shanghai could not directly threaten the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty like the Huguang army, and the Devil Six Group could not risk the risk of leaking the news in Shanghai to lay out in advance. The result was not surprising, after that, Wu Chaoyue received news from Shanghai several times, but the Shanghai side was calm and calm, without any abnormal signs, and Wu Chaoyue gradually relaxed.

Wu Chaoyue was relaxed too early, even if it was really as Wu Chaoyue expected, the Devil Six Group did not make a layout in Shanghai in advance, and did not pay enough attention to Wu Jun in Shanghai, but Wu Chaoyue ignored the reaction of other Manchu officials in Shanghai, and forgot two important problems - the first is that there is a time lag during this period, and the second is that in the seven days from the evening of the third day of March to the evening of the tenth day of the first month of March, it is enough for the news sent by Huguang to be sent to Shanghai............

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On the afternoon of the eighth day of the first month of March, the British merchant ships hired by Wu Chaoyue rushed to Shanghai day and night, and they sent Wu Chaoyue's warning letter to Wu Lao comprador and Zhou Tenghu and others very smoothly, and then Zhou Tenghu, who was very sensitive to political smell, immediately ordered the Wu army in Shanghai, which had been expanded to more than 6,000 people, to immediately enter a state of readiness for war, and secretly informed Deng Siyuan and Meng Yu and other old generals of the Wu army about the situation in Huguang. Let Deng Siyuan and Meng Si be mentally prepared to face the drastic changes in Shanghai.

In addition, in addition to quietly transferring his and Zhao Liewen's family members to the concession and moving to the Wu military camp under the pretext of presiding over military affairs, Zhou Tenghu also complied with Wu Chaoyue's request and tried his best to persuade Wu Lao Comprador to transfer his family members to the concession in advance, and also suggested that Wu Lao Comprador temporarily move to the Jiang Customs Tax Collection Office located outside the city in the name of handling customs affairs.

Seeing that the baby grandson said in the letter that he had been forced to arrest Chong'en, and that he had suffered a big loss of not listening to his grandson's advice during the uprising of the Little Knife Society, Wu Lao comprador finally learned a lesson this time, even if he didn't understand why his grandson was so careful, but he still followed Zhou Tenghu's advice, and preemptively let the nine-room concubine and the root of his life Wu Nianyue and Zhou Xiuying move to the concession to live, and at the same time he also found an excuse to live outside the city, and more carefully transferred the family's property to the concession for safekeeping, leaving only the maid and servant to take care of the family in the county.

It stands to reason that these arrangements of Wu Lao comprador and Zhou Tenghu are enough to prevent any eventuality, but what Wu Chaoyue, who is far away in Hubei, did not expect, and what Zhou Tenghu and Wu Lao comprador did not expect, is that it is precisely this kind of overly cautious arrangement that arouses the suspicion of other Manchu officials in Shanghai, especially the suspicion of Wu Lao's comprador political opponent in Jiangsu, the political envoy Gil Hang'a.

As mentioned above, because of Gilhang'a's report, Wu Lao's comprador who embezzled the military salaries of the Jiangbei battalion was imprisoned for a time, but Gilhang'a was promoted because of this, and he also got a legitimate opportunity to flee to Shanghai for refuge when the Taiping army marched westward. Then after Wu Lao comprador made a comeback by defending Shanghai, although he didn't settle accounts with Ji Hang'a because of his own losses, Ji Hang'a was a shameless face, and the other was that his life was directly held in the hands of Wu Lao comprador and Wu Jun's old department, and of course he was always on guard against Wu Lao comprador, for fear that Wu Lao comprador would suddenly find him to settle the previous account that day, so Wu Lao comprador and Wu family's old accomplice Zhou Tenghu quietly transferred their family members out of the city, which immediately aroused Ji Hang'a's suspicion and suspicion.

"Why did Old Man Wu and Zhou Tenghu suddenly let all their families live in the concession? If you say it's going to the concession to have fun, it's impossible to go to both of them? and Zhao Liewen's parents, wife and children, why did they all live in the concession for no reason? Didn't they buy a house in the city of Shanghai? Why don't you live in your own spacious mansion, and you want to go to the concession to squeeze a small western-style building? ”

"What's even weirder, why did Zhou Tenghu and Old Man Wu all live outside the city? Zhou Tenghu said that he would deal with military affairs, and Old Man Wu said that he presided over the collection of customs duties, and he still needed to do it himself? ”

Full of doubts, and afraid that Wu Lao comprador would suddenly find himself to settle accounts with the autumn queen, of course, Gilhanga immediately strengthened the monitoring and reconnaissance of Wu Lao comprador, Zhou Tenghu and Wu Jun's old department, and although he found something special abnormal, another time difference suddenly appeared - the capital sent a coup edict by sea to the yamen, the governor of Jiangsu, who was currently temporarily located in Shanghai, announcing the removal of all posts of Gu Ming's eight ministers, and the coup group headed by Devil Zi Liu took over the power of the Manchu court!

All the officials in the Manchu officialdom who have a little way of being in the field do not know what the relationship between Wu Chaoyue and Su Shun is, and those who are a little politically minded do not understand what the sudden fall of Su Shun did to Wu Chaoyue. Therefore, after receiving this edict, Xue Huan, the governor of Jiangsu, who was taken aback, did not dare to make the edict public in a hurry, so he could only temporarily block the news while secretly seeking to discuss countermeasures with Ji Hang'a. And then, Gilhanga naturally immediately understood why Wu Lao Comprador and Zhou Tenghu hid outside the city, and immediately guessed the real reason for the strict boundary monument of the old Wu army.

"Yushan, according to what you say, Wu Jianzhang and Zhou Tenghu are ready to do something to us?" Xue Huan asked in horror.

"That's the only explanation." Gilhanga replied in a low voice: "Otherwise, what are they doing by transferring all their families to the concession?" What are they doing outside the city? Aren't you afraid that you will be used as a hostage by us when you suddenly make a move? ”

After thinking about it, he found that Ji Hang'a's analysis was very reasonable, Xue Huan had no choice but to quickly ask about the countermeasures, and Ji Hang'a replied with a deliberate thought: "Counting on the army in Shanghai to deal with Zhou Tenghu's soldiers, we don't even think about it, we can only secretly contact Wu Quanmei stationed in Wusongkou first, so that he can prepare for contingencies." In addition, we will send more people to secretly inquire if there is any abnormal movement in Huguang, and then find a way to deal with it. ”

"Also, this edict sent by the capital must be kept secret for the time being." Gilhanga pointed out again: "If Wu Jianzhang and Zhou Tenghu know that such a big event has happened in the capital, they will jump over the wall in a hurry and strike first." ”

Xue Huan adopted Gilhang'a's suggestion, but because all the forces of Wu's army were concentrated outside Shanghai, the governor of Jiangsu, Yamen, really temporarily blocked the news, and it was also a coincidence that only one day later, Xue Huan sent a fine work on a foreign ship that had just come to Shanghai from Hubei, and heard the shocking news that Wu Chaoyue had arrested Hunan Governor Chong'en for treason!

At this point, the truth is basically close to being revealed, and there is no choice, Xue Huan and Gilhang'a can only hurriedly decide to secretly dispatch Wu Quan's US troops from Wusongkou to Shanghai for reinforcements in order to protect themselves. But Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a also knew very well that on the water, Wu Quan's army didn't need to be afraid of the old Wu army left behind by Wu Chaoyue, but on land, Wu Jun's only half of his strength was enough to draw Wu Quan's army all over the ground to find teeth, so Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a quickly discussed a plan to capture the thief and capture the king first.

"It's best to catch Wu Jianzhang and Zhou Tenghu at the same time, even if Zhou Tenghu is cunning and not easy to be fooled, as long as he can catch Wu Jianzhang, Zhou Tenghu will not dare to ignore Wu Jianzhang's strong attack on Shanghai City. If these two thieves refuse to enter the city, we will let Wu Quanmei's army raid Jianghaiguan and try to capture Wu Jianzhang alive! ”

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In the turbulent undercurrent, the time soon came to the afternoon of March 14, and Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a arranged the time carefully, and Gil Hang'a sent an envoy to invite Zhou Tenghu into the city to meet with him on the pretext of checking the Wu army's money and grain accounts and dealing with the backlog of official documents. Xue Huan, on the pretext of discussing the issue of apportionment of military expenses in Shanghai, invited Shanghai's wealthy merchants and gentry to the governor's yamen for a banquet, and at the same time sent people to the Jiangxi Customs Taxation Office to invite Wu Lao comprador to the city to participate in the party.

Let's take a look at Zhou Tenghu's side first, although Gilhanga's invitation excuse is quite justified, but Zhou Tenghu is a meticulous person, as soon as he sees that the time is not early, he will definitely have to delay until the evening after entering the city, Zhou Tenghu found an excuse and politely refused Gilhanga's request, and only promised to enter the city early the next morning to meet with Gilhanga. And Gilhang'a also knew that Zhou Tenghu was difficult, and he had already explained that the envoy must not be reluctantly insisted, so after Gilhang'a's messenger agreed, Zhou Tenghu did not have any suspicions, and said that it was just a normal official exchange, and he did not care or be particularly vigilant.

Wu Lao comprador is different here, Shanghai Island can hold on to today, in fact, it depends on the Shanghai gentry gritted their teeth to provide food and pay and lose military expenses, which ensures the supply of food and weapons for the Wu army in Shanghai, so as soon as I heard that it was about military salaries and military expenses, Wu Lao comprador not only agreed to go into the city to meet Xue Huan, but also arranged for his officials to temporarily take over the tariff accounting and collection, and changed clothes and prepared sedan chairs to prepare for entering the city. And yet at this time............

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Grandpa! ”

In the immature shout, Wu Nianyue, the new heart of Wu Lao comprador, suddenly rushed into the back room like a little monkey, and threw himself into the arms of Wu Lao comprador without saying a word, and Wu Lao comprador who was about to change clothes also hugged Wu Nianyue, and smiled happily: "Little baby, miss your grandfather?" Did you miss me and come to see me? ”

"Yes, grandpa, I haven't seen you for a few days, and I miss you so much, so I begged my mother to take me to see you."

Wu Nianyue, who had a deep relationship with Wu Lao comprador, replied loudly, and hugged Wu Lao comprador neck coquettishly, "Grandpa, I want to eat meat buns, I want to eat meat buns at home!" ”

"Little guy, are you tired of eating?" Old comprador Wu scolded with a smile: "Grandpa didn't buy you anything delicious, why do you only think about eating meat buns?" Didn't grow! ”

"It's not that I haven't grown, it's that my mother said that you can't forget your roots." Wu Nianyue pointed to Zhou Xiuying, who was saluting the old comprador Wu behind him, and said: "My mother said, if I only know how to live a good life now and forget the hardships I have endured before, I will grow into a gentleman, and I will never grow up." So although the meat buns are not as delicious as before, I still want to eat them. ”

Hearing this, of course, the old comprador Wu smiled happily and was relieved, patted Wu Nianyue's ass and said, "Okay! is worthy of being the great-grandson of Grandpa, better than your grandfather and your father, they were born with a golden spoon, so do you know what Grandpa suffered when he was a chicken dealer before? Or my great-grandson who planted my roots the most! ”

After complimenting, the old comprador Wu also kissed the baby great-grandson and said: "It's just right, grandpa I am just about to go into the city to do errands, let's go, let's go home together, and ask the family to make meat buns for you to eat." ”