"Wu Dashuai, the officials dare not make the decision in this matter, and they must consult the empress dowager of the two palaces to decide, and then they can reply. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Bao Jun's answer attracted a round of boos from the audience, and also attracted Wu Chaoyue's face-to-face questioning, "Lord Bao, isn't it?" I remember that when you visited me in the Marshal's Palace, you once said to Mr. Wenjie who came forward to receive you that you are a plenipotentiary messenger sent by the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, and you have the right to arbitrarily decide on the spot, how did you get to this point, and you said that you would first ask the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces to decide? ”

Bao Jun was speechless again, and only after a while did he bite the bullet and said: "The matter of killing Prince Gong, the head of the imperial court, is too big, and even if the lower officials have full powers, they will not dare to be the master." ”

"The imperial court has already announced the removal of Yixun from all his powers, how did he become the first assistant of the imperial court?" Wu Chaoyue immediately asked: "Could it be that the removal of Yixun's authority is just a show for the people of the world to see, and in fact, Yixun still controls the power of the imperial court's military aircraft department?" ”

"No......, no." Bao Jun hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Xia Guan just made a slip of the tongue for a while, and he is used to the honorific title of Prince Gong before, and Prince Gong has indeed been removed from all powers. ”

Wu Chaoyue snorted heavily, and said, "Whether the traitor has really been removed from his authority or not, only you know, and I don't bother to talk to you." In a word, if you don't hand over the traitors to prove the sincerity of your peace talks, you don't have to talk about everything! ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue flicked his sleeves and swaggered off the stage, and the soldiers of the Wu army in the audience shouted neatly again under the command of some people, "If you want to negotiate peace, kill Yixin first!" If you want to negotiate peace, kill Yixin first! ”

In the end, relying on the protection of Wu Chaoyue's personal soldiers, Bao Jun barely escaped from the crowd of ordinary people who unanimously demanded the killing of Devil Liu, fled back to Wuchang City in the midst of the fierce scolding, and hid in the pavilion arranged for him by Wu Jun for temporary refuge.

The matter is not over, after returning to the post house, Bao Jun has not had time to wash off the sweat on his face, and there is a sudden slogan outside the post house demanding the killing of Devil Six, and at the same time, the accompanying guards also ran to report that there are countless Hubei people surrounding the post house, shouting slogans to kill Devil Six in exchange for peace. Bao Jun was even more distressed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked: "What did the Wu thief and thief soldier who guarded the post house say?" Why didn't they get rid of these troublemakers? ”

"Back to Bao Zhongtang, the thieves said that this is a new rule that Wu thieves learned from foreigners." The guard replied truthfully: "The people are allowed to demonstrate, as long as the people who are demonstrating do not hurt others or rob, they can say whatever they want." also said that not to mention this post house, that is, in front of the gate of the marshal of the Wu thief, there were demonstrations by the people to protest against the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Wu thief and the foreigners, but the Wu thief never cared about it. ”

"Fart!" Bao Jun, who has always been witty, rarely scolded and said: "Lao Tzu doesn't believe it, the mud-legged man ran to the gate of his Wu thief's marshal to demonstrate, can he not care?" ”

"Bao Zhongtang, there really is such a thing." Jing Shou next to him said with a wry smile: "I heard that when Wu Thief and British foreigners held negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations, Hanyang Ye Mingchen's clansmen ran to Wu Chaoyue's Marshal Mansion to protest, Wu Thief didn't care, and later the foreigner newspaper also praised Wu Chaoyue for allowing freedom of speech and being civilized and enlightened. ”

Bao Jun had nothing to say again, and only after a while did he grit his teeth and say: "Okay, since Wu Thief doesn't care, then Ben Zhongtang is not afraid, Ben Zhongtang doesn't believe it, Wu Thief really dares to risk the world's greatness, and deliberately let these Diao people come in to hurt this official." ”

Bao Jun Bao Zhongtang was indeed wise and martial this time, and the Hubei people who were demonstrating outside the post house really did not rush in and stomp him to death, and they dispersed to go home for dinner in the evening, and Bao Jun was very proud of this, and then wrote Wu Chaoyue's harsh requirements into an excerpt and reported to the Manchu court, while patiently waiting for Ci'an and Cixi's decision not to mention it.

Bao Zhongtang soon found that it was difficult to wait for Ci'an and Cixi's instructions, because the next day just after dawn, there was a louder and more violent protest outside the post house, thousands of Hubei people marched in front of the post house to protest, constantly chanting the slogan of killing the devil in exchange for a truce, the crowd was so angry that the guards brought by Bao Jun from the capital did not dare to enter and exit from the main gate, and could only go to the back door to the street to buy newspapers for Bao Jun.

Bao Jun ignored the danger and forced the guards to go out to buy newspapers, of course, the purpose was to learn about the media coverage of yesterday's negotiations, but the few newspapers brought back by the guards made Bao Jun's heart tremble. Except for the "Hubei People's Daily," which was directly controlled by Wu Jun, in order to avoid suspicion, it only published the details and specific contents of the negotiations, and none of the remaining non-governmental newspapers did not criticize the Manchu court's request for peace talks as insincere, and they all questioned that the real purpose of the Manchu court's request for peace talks was only to delay time, take the opportunity to prepare for war, and further prolong the time of China's civil war, and also unanimously demanded that Wu Chaoyue promote peace by force, increase military strikes against the Manchu court, and force the Manchu court to show sincerity to end the civil war as soon as possible.

The matter was not over, and at noon, Dong Qiliang, who was already very famous in the southwest Shilin, once again united with hundreds of juzi and ran to the door of the post house to submit a letter of ten thousand words, demanding that Baojun immediately accept Wu Chaoyue's conditions for peace talks and hand over Devil Six in exchange for peace talks. Bao Jun was afraid that these moves would be rude and did not dare to come forward, so he just asked the guards to pick up the Wanyan book, but Dong Qiliang and other lifters categorically refused, and resolutely asked Bao Jun to pick it up in person, and the two sides were deadlocked, and there were constant quarrels.

At this point, of course, Baojun also came up with the idea of finding another way, fantasizing that he could exchange Wu Chaoyue's concessions on the condition of being crowned king, but he also didn't dare to make decisions without permission, so he could only write an excerpt to ask for instructions. However, just when Bao Jun had just written the fold, the noise outside the post house suddenly increased several times, and it seemed that the situation was suddenly out of control.

"Zhongtang, Zhongtang-sama, something is wrong." The guards who went to understand the situation stumbled back to Bao Jun, holding a newspaper and shouting: "Lord Zhongtang, please see, the "Southwest New Deal" has just been released, saying that you and Prince Gong are the same dog, and you are deceiving the world for Prince Gong. ”

Hurriedly snatched the new inkblot outside the number, Bao Jun only glanced at it a few times, and immediately his face was as pale as paper, and his whole body was like a pulp - the title outside the number was directly 'a hill of raccoon dogs' four words, and the content was to expose the intimate relationship between Bao Jun and Devil Liu, revealing that Emperor Xianfeng's escape to the north of Rehe was due to Bao Jun's request to bring disaster to the country and the people, and strongly questioned the real reason why Bao Jun suddenly joined the military aircraft department after the coup d'état in Qixiang!

"Kill the treasure and sacrifice the flag! Crusade against the rebellious party and go straight to the capital! Kill the Baojun sacrifice flag, crusade against the rebellious party, and go straight to the capital! ”

Outside the door, there was a sudden sound of newly baked neat slogans, angry and loud, hearing this slogan, not to mention Baojun himself, even Jing Shou and the other imperial guards were all frightened, for fear that those lifters would rush in and eat them alive. As a result, it didn't take long for the Wu military sentry officer who was in charge of protecting the post house to really come and say: "Baozhongtang, the people outside are very angry, and they all say that they want to rush in and beat you to death, sacrifice the flag of the Northern Expedition, we can't stop it, what should we do?" ”

"I am a messenger, the two countries are fighting, if you don't kill the envoy, you must protect me!" Bao Jun hurriedly replied.

"But we can't stop it!" The sentry officer of the Wu army replied confidently, and said: "Baozhongtang, I have already sent someone to find General Qian for help, and I will do my best to protect you, but if those people really want to rush in, we can't stop you and don't blame me, I have done my best." ”

After hesitating for a moment, Jing Shou said to Bao Jun: "Bao Zhongtang, why don't we go through the back door, go out of the city and cross the river to Hanyang or Hankou, and avoid these poor people for the time being." ”

Afraid that he would really lose his life in Wuchang, Baojun accepted Jing Shou's suggestion without thinking too much, hurriedly packed his luggage, and escaped from the post house through the back door. The result was also a coincidence, Bao Jun and Jing Shou and his party just escaped from the post house on the front foot, and the sound of the crowd rushing into the post house came from the back foot.

It didn't take long for the news that Baojun and Jing Shou and others had escaped from the post house to Wu Chaoyue, who smiled and instructed Zhao Liewen, who was directing this farce: "It's almost, it's time to let those people quiet, don't really make the situation out of control." ”

Zhao Liewen agreed, and hurriedly sent someone to give an order to the general of the Wu army who was in charge of handling the matter, asking him to let the soldiers shoot at the sky to warn, and arranged for civilian officials to come forward to appease this group of people who had been brainwashed by public opinion.

Lifting a stone to shoot himself in the foot, just as Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen arranged to force Baojun and Jingshou and others to flee back to the capital directly, there were pro-soldiers outside the door one after another, saying that the warning to shoot at the sky was ineffective, and the troublemakers led by the sycophant Dong Qiliang didn't know what medicine they had taken wrong, and they were reluctant to chase after Baojun and others as if they were crazy, causing the situation to get out of control.

"This Dong Qiliang, what is crazy? Originally, Lao Tzu wanted to give him an official position after this matter was over, but he didn't give it! ”

When Wu Chaoyue was furious, a soldier stumbled in outside the door, and said: "Dashuai, the big thing is not good, those movers not only chased directly to the dock, but also hacked two people to death by the guards of the chaotic party!" ”

"What? The guards of the rebellious party killed people? Wu Chaoyue's surprise is not trivial.

"That's right." The soldiers wiped their sweat and said: "Those people are still shouting that the holy decree of the queen mother of the two palaces and the emperor to crown you king is on Bao Jun, and Bao Jun should be handed over immediately!" Otherwise, Bao Jun will be beaten to death! ”

Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen first glanced at each other, and then shouted in unison: "Prepare the horse, go to the dock!" ”

When he led the pro-army team to the dock in a hurry, the dock was already crowded with people, but fortunately, Qian Wei had also personally led the army to the dock to maintain law and order, so there was no major chaos. However, even so, there were still roars from the densest places of the crowd, "Hand over the holy decree!" Hand over the Divine Decree! ”

"What the hell is going on? Dong Qiliang's gang of poor people, how could they know that Baojun has a holy decree to make me king? ”

Confused, under the protection of his own soldiers, he came to the scene and appeared in front of Wu Chaoyue, of course, Baojun and Jingshou and others who were surrounded by countless Confucian scholars, as well as Dong Qiliang, the number one sycophant in Hubei who couldn't wait to run up and kowtow, and kowtowed again and again, Dong Qiliang said even more impatiently: "Dashuai, the emperor's holy decree to crown you king is on Baojun, Baojun is hidden, and we will find it out for you, students." ”

"How do you know?" Wu Chaoyue asked suspiciously.

Dong Qiliang was in a hurry, took out a fold from his arms, presented it to Wu Chaoyue with both hands, and said: "Dashuai, this is what the student I saw in the post house, written by the handwriting of the traitor of Baojun, maybe he ran too quickly and forgot to take it, and was seen by the student, and it said that the holy decree of making you king is in his hands." ”

took the secret fold that Bao Jun didn't have time to send out and took a closer look, the truth was revealed, Wu Chaoyue was ecstatic in his heart, but his face was silent. After closing his eyes and thinking for a while, Wu Chaoyue strode forward and walked directly in front of Bao Jun and Jing Shou, who were protected by the guards with knives, and said coldly: "Bao Zhongtang, it seems that you should give me an explanation." ”

"The holy decree to crown you king is on me, but the queen mother of the two palaces has an explanation, and the peace talks can be reached first, and then they can ......."

"Shut up!"

Baojun's defense was interrupted by Wu Chaoyue's angry shouting, and in front of everyone's eyes, Wu Chaoyue's face was full of anger, pointing to the two bloody corpses lying on the ground and yelling: "I want you to explain their affairs to me!" As an envoy of the imperial court, why do you kill innocents indiscriminately and let your guards kill my students? What law did they break? ”

"They want to rob the Holy Decree and beat me to death, and my guards have to fight back." Bao Jun hurriedly argued.

Wu Chaoyue turned to Dong Qiliang next to him and asked, "Baojun said that you want to rob the holy decree and kill him, is there such a thing?" ”

The conscience of heaven and earth, Wu Chaoyue really didn't give Dong Qiliang any look or hint, but Dong Qiliang was blessed to the soul, and immediately denied it: "No, we are asking him why he wants to hide the holy decree?" Why did the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces and the Emperor have made you the king, but he wants to hide it? ”

"As for killing him?" Dong Qiliang raised his hands even smarter and said: "Boss, please look, the students are all unarmed, but the guards brought by Baojun are all armed with knives and swords, what do we use to kill him?" ”

"That's right, we just asked him why he was hiding the decree? Why don't you fulfill your obligation to be sent and read the holy decree in public and make you king? They were the ones who killed first, they were the ones who did it first! ”

The people present clamored one after another, scrambling to put all the responsibility on Bao Jun and his party, but Bao Jun and Jing Shou shouted loudly, saying: "Wu Dashuai, the conscience of heaven and earth, it was they who rushed up murderously, and we would have been killed by them if we didn't fight back!" ”

"Shut up!" Wu Chaoyue shouted angrily again, and said loudly and loudly: "Baojun, I won't pursue the matter of your concealment of the emperor's holy decree, and I have never coveted any prince." But today, since your guards killed my subordinate students in the street, you have to hand over the murderer to me! ”

"Hand over the murderer! Hand over the murderer! Hand over the Decree! ”

The crowd was boiling again, and some people shouted to hand over the murderer and hand over the holy decree, Wu Chaoyue waved his hand to signal everyone to calm down, pointed to Bao Jun, who was already as pale as the earth, and said: "Bao Jun, as long as you don't kill someone, I will let you go, but you must hand over the murderer to me!" ”

"Also, from now on, I will give you a sentence for the crime of party attachment and deliberate sabotage of peace talks, now I will not kill you, but after I wave my army to the north, break through the capital and capture you alive, I will behead you, in order to thank Su Zhongtang, the spirit of the prince and their soldiers in the sky!"

The crowd cheered, and Wu Chaoyue asked Dong Qiliang and others who the Manchu guards who killed people were, and then sent their own soldiers to arrest them with guns, and a few unlucky guards with blood on their knives trembled, but they didn't have any courage to use cold weapons to fight against Wu Chaoyue's long guns and short guns, so they could only cry and shout for help from Yixun, and obediently tied their hands and captured.

"Take it back and hand it over to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation and conviction! Again, Bao Jun, go back and tell Yixun to wash his neck and wait for death! I will kill him! ”

Throwing down these two sentences, Wu Chaoyue turned around and left, but before he had walked a few steps to and from the road, there was a sudden shouting behind him, it turned out that Dong Qiliang and others were lax, and suddenly pounced again, relying on the number of people to drag Bao Jun out of the protection of the guards, and searched Bao Jun's body with all hands and feet, Wu Chaoyue pretended not to hear it, and Wu Sergeant also pretended not to see it again.

"Found it! Holy Decree! Holy Decree! ”

It is also a sycophant Dong Qiliang Fei Huang Tengda, in the forcible search of Bao Jun's body, he really let him be the first to find the holy decree wrapped in yellow silk, and then Dong Qiliang and the others were not polite, and immediately strode to catch up with Wu Chaoyue, ran to Wu Chaoyue and knelt down on his knees, and shouted excitedly: "Dashuai, the imperial decree that crowned you as the king!" ”

"I don't want it, give it back to Baojun." Wu Chaoyue shook his head arrogantly.

"But ......." Dong Qiliang is in a difficult situation.

"I said, don't!" Wu Chaoyue shouted: "I repeat again, I am not subject to the king!" ”

"Dong Qiliang." Zhao Liewen opened his mouth and said with a smile: "The holy decree is only effective if someone reads it aloud. ”

Dong Qiliang woke up, quickly got up and stood up, then took out the holy decree from the silk sleeve and opened it, and shouted loudly: "The emperor's holy decree, rebel against the generalissimo Wu Chaoyue and kneel down!" ”

"You're ......, so daring!" Wu Chaoyue was furious.

"Comfort Ting, are you bold?" Zhao Liewen said calmly: "You are a courtier of the Qing Dynasty, and it is a great crime of disrespect to not kneel when you see the emperor's holy decree, do you really want to be a rebel against the decree?" ”

Wu Chaoyue hesitated, Dong Qiliang asked Wu Chaoyue to kneel down to receive the decree again, Wu Chaoyue was forced to have no choice but to kneel down obediently, and said loudly: "Minister Wu Chaoyue, kneel to receive the holy decree." ”

Under the eyes of everyone and the attention of tens of thousands of people, Dong Qiliang, a poor man who had not been able to be admitted to a jinshi for more than ten years, was like thunder, and read loudly: "Fengtian carries the emperor, and the edict says: Wu Chaoyue, the governor of Huguang and Liangjiang and five provinces, has been fighting in the south and the north for many years, fighting in the east and west, governing the army on the horse, and calming the people on the horse, with outstanding merits, and can be called a model for the people and ministers. Chin this! ”

"I don't dare to accept it!" Wu Chaoyue hurriedly refused.

"King Zhennan, the king wants his ministers to die, and the ministers have to die. The king wants the minister to be the king, and the minister has to be the king. Dong Qiliang retorted confidently.

Wu Chaoyue hesitated, but Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming, Dai Wenjie and others who came one after another knelt down on his knees and pleaded loudly: "Please let the king of Zhennan be crowned a prince!" ”

"Please let the king of Zhennan be crowned a king!"

After Zhao Liewen and others took the lead, of course, some of the nearby Hubei soldiers and civilians were scrambling to kneel down and persuade them to enter, and then soon, except for some foreigners, reporters and some Wu Chaoyue soldiers who had to monitor Baojun and others, almost all the officials and generals and soldiers all knelt down to Wu Chaoyue, and shouted loudly, "Please let the king of Zhennan be crowned!" ”

"King Zhennan, the people's will is wanted, the will of the people is difficult to disobey, please King Zhennan is immediately crowned the king!"

Zhao Liewen shouted again, driving countless people to shout in unison, "King Zhennan, the will of the people, the will of the people is difficult to disobey, please King Zhennan immediately be crowned the king!" ”

Although being a king is harder and more tiring than a toilet cleaner, but there is no way, the will of the people is difficult to disobey, and in desperation, Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to kowtow heavily, and said reluctantly: "Minister Wu Chaoyue, thank you, long live the emperor, long live, long live!" ”

"King Zhennan, Chitose, Chitose, Chitose!" In this way, under the diligence of a group of sycophants, and surrounded by the people of Wuchang, Wu Chaoyue finally became the prince.

The matter is not over, after being crowned the prince with confidence, Wu Chaoyue and the propaganda department of Wu Jun also put all the basins on the head of the Manchu Qing court even more confidently, declaring: "Baojun is a traitor, the party is attached to Yixin, conceals the holy decree, deliberately sabotages the peace talks, in a vain attempt to make the war continue, and the people of the world are even more miserable. ”

"The leader of the thieves is the leader, bullying the king, coercing the two palaces, forming a party alliance, corrupting the dynasty, mutilating the people, and accumulating crimes! Wu Chaoyue, the king of the south of Daqing Town, in order to repay the country's kindness, will soon raise troops to the Northern Expedition, crusade against the rebellious party, capture and kill Yixun, help the community to fall, and save the people of Li from fire and water! ”