What Wu Chaoyue didn't expect was that in order to deal with the hundreds of remnants of the Taiping Army who had fled into the mountain area, Emperor Xianfeng actually asked him to continue to stay in Jinan and help Zaiyuan continue to encircle and suppress the remnants of the Taiping Army, so that Wu Chaoyue's plan to withdraw from the northern battlefield as soon as possible was frustrated, and it also completely shattered Wu Chaoyue's dream of taking Feng Wanzhen back to Shanghai to surprise the comprador grandfather.

Wu Chaoyue didn't dare to complain, and he didn't have time to complain, because on the day he received this will from Emperor Xianfeng, Wu Chaoyue, who respected his teacher, was crying in the newly built mourning hall in the camp of his own army - crying bitterly that he had lost his famous senior brother Jiang Zhongyuan, whom he had never met!

Jiang Zhongyuan was killed by the Taiping army in Li Hongzhang's hometown of Luzhou City, and was also killed by Shu Xing'a, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, who was a pig teammate.

After the news reached Wu Chaoyue's face, Wu Chaoyue, who had been dragged down by his pig teammates countless times, was not only injured by things, but also in order to deceive the good reputation of valuing love and righteousness, he obtained Zaiyuan's consent and set up a mourning hall in the barracks to worship Jiang Zhongyuan, and swore that he would avenge this senior brother who had never met. Zaiyuan and the generals of the Qing army came to the camp one after another to pay respects, and local officials such as Chong'en, the governor of Shandong, and Chen Kuan, the prefect of Jinan, also pretended to come to kowtow to incense, and all of them praised Wu Chaoyue's respect for teachers and affection, adding a bit of luster to Wu Chaoyue's name of hypocrisy.

Then, when the edict happened to send the holy decree of canonizing Wu Chaoyue as the envoy of Jiangsu to the Wu army camp, Wu Chaoyue, who was in the third rank at a young age, naturally immediately became the object of everyone's congratulations and sycophancy, and the Manchu civil and military officials present were either envious or jealous, and all they said were beautiful words to congratulate the promotion, forcing Wu Chaoyue to pay out of his pocket again, set up a banquet to thank these civil and military colleagues, and finally sent away these jackals and hungry tigers who ate and drank in vain and had the wrong mouth.

It was also after sending away the Manchu officials led by Zaiyuan and Chongen that Wu Chaoyue tore off his disguise and complained to Zhao Liewen: "I really don't know what the court and the emperor think, there are only a few hundred long-haired bandits, and I must continue to stay in Shandong to help suppress them, what is the use of us fighting if we can't find any trace of long-haired?" To deal with this remnant bandit, wouldn't it be enough to let the local government be responsible for clearing the fortified walls around the mountainous area? Why do you have to leave us behind? ”

"In the long run, this decision of the imperial court is not wrong." Zhao Liewen replied with a smile: "The world is not chaotic Shandong rebellion, the people of Shandong are fierce, the people are bold, and the people are bold, since ancient times, it is a place where there are often rebels, although there are not many remnants of Ji Wenyuan's bandits, but they are all stubborn core backbones, strong cohesion and rebellion experience, if the court does not hurry up to kill them, the slightest disturbance may re-form the trend of beacon fire." So in my opinion, it is definitely a rare and correct decision that the imperial court attaches so much importance to the remnants of Ji Wenyuan. ”

"I can't wait for that."

Wu Chaoyue muttered in his heart, but now he didn't dare to say the truth, so he could only nod, change the topic and continue to complain: "There is also an official given to me by the emperor, and the Jiangsu envoy of Zhengsanpin, it sounds good, and it is bigger than my grandfather's officials, but what is the use of this official to me?" In charge of the criminal law cases in Jiangsu, I am still not familiar with a few articles of the Qing Dynasty, can I manage it? Even if I am given a five-grade Songjiang prefect, I feel that it is better than this envoy, and it can manage the local civil affairs and finances, and it is more convenient to run a regiment and practice foreign affairs than to be an envoy. ”

"Weiting, I think there's still a bit of a problem with what you said." Zhao Liewen seemed to be determined to raise the bar with Wu Chaoyue today, and refuted: "Yes, the official position of Jiangsu according to the procurator is a bit unsuitable for you, even your personal soldier captain Wu Dadao is behind your back to let you take care of the Jiangsu criminal case, and the flower picking case in Jiangsu Province will at least multiply ......." ”

Wu Chaoyue went to see Wu Dadao angrily, Wu Dadao quickly lowered his head, wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, and said in his heart that I was telling the truth. Zhao Liewen continued: "But Weiting, I don't understand, why do you keep staring at Jiangsu Songjiang?" Jiangsu is rich, and Songjiang also has Shanghai, a cornucopia? But Weiting, have you forgotten that half of Jiangsu is now in continuous flames, and there are constant wars, even if you master Jiangsu's civil affairs and finances, and if you get some money and food, you have to first fill in the two bottomless holes of Jiangnan Daying and Jiangbei Daying, even if the imperial court makes you the governor of Jiangsu, what is the meaning? ”

"And Shanghai." Zhao Liewen continued very unceremoniously: "Shanghai has oil and water, and the money for regimental training can be relied on by local musicians, and the refugees in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River continue to flee eastward, and it is very easy for you to replenish the troops, but does Shanghai have enough food?" Is there an iron ore mine that you need to run foreign affairs? Even if you can buy it for money, the Yangtze River waterway is not accessible by land, how much can you buy by sea alone? Can a stable and sufficient supply be guaranteed? Can you guarantee that you will have enough money to buy these things at all times? Besides, shipping is also subject to the dual restrictions of the court and foreigners, no matter which side you offend, anyone can easily choke you by the neck and strangle you, believe it or not? ”

Wu Chaoyue was stunned, and looked at Zhao Liewen in disbelief - because Wu Chaoyue found that Zhao Liewen seemed to have seen his ambition to become a warlord. After Zhao Liewen paused, he said calmly: "Weiting, if you really want to show your strength, build more regimental exercises and do more foreign affairs, don't fight the idea of Jiangsu, Jiangsu has been stirred up into a mess by the main counterinsurgency force and the main force of Longhair, and there are foreigners who intervene to muddy the waters, you want to develop and grow in Jiangsu, the court, Changmao and foreigners can kill you in the embryonic stage, and will not give you a chance to lose your tail." ”

"So Weiting, if you really want to show your strength, you must leave the mess of Jiangsu, go to other provinces to develop, and go to a place where no one can directly threaten your life and death to develop and grow, this is the best policy."

After listening to Zhao Liewen's words, although he was extremely agreeable in his heart, Wu Chaoyue didn't sigh that he was better than reading for ten years, he just nodded silently, and then asked: "Huifu, in your opinion, should I seek to develop a foothold there?" ”

"Comfort Ting, this question can only be asked to yourself." Zhao Liewen replied: "You are a hundred times more proficient in foreign affairs than me, where is the most suitable place to do foreign affairs, and only you know best about handling regimental training equipped with foreign guns and artillery." ”

Wu Chaoyue stopped talking, and the names of several industrial bases immediately appeared in his heart, Northeast Industrial Base, Hebei Industrial Base, Shanxi Coal Sea, Panzhihua Iron Mine, Ma'anshan Iron Mine, Wuhan Industrial Base......

After quickly rejecting several industrial bases that would never be able to get his hands on, Wu Chaoyue soon had only one answer left in his heart - Wuhan! The thoroughfare of the nine provinces, the water and land transportation are developed, and there is the Yangtze River shipping route directly to Shanghai, which is convenient for overseas contacts, far away from the core territory of the Taiping Army, can avoid direct conflict, although the resources are not as good as the three eastern provinces, but they are barely enough, and there are also the advantages of sufficient manpower and self-sufficiency in food. The disadvantage is that the phosphorus content of iron ore is too high, and the legendary Pingxiang Coal Mine is not known for the time being, and there is a bigger trouble - Zeng Guofan!

Thinking about whether he should seek a local official position in Wuhan, Wu Chaoyue, who did not dare to offend Emperor Xianfeng, stayed in Jinan honestly. But fortunately, the new Qing army commander Zaiyuan leaned Wu Chaoyue on the Great Wall, and did not rush to send the winning magic weapon Wu Jun Lian Yong into the mountains and the Taiping Army to hide and seek, at the same time, the Taiping Army basically disappeared after entering the mountains, and there was no more movement, and the Qing soldiers also found a lot of corpses of Taiping soldiers who died of frost and hunger in the mountains, and the optimistic speculation that the remnants of the Taiping Army had been wiped out by severe cold and hunger was also popular, Wu Chaoyue and Wu Jun Lian Yong naturally had no need to shoot, and they were able to rest and recuperate in Jinan, **** Wounds recuperate.

In order to surprise the comprador grandfather, Wu Chaoyue, who had bad intentions, had just settled down in Jinan, so he naturally sent someone to Tianjin early to contact Feng Sanbao, and invited Feng Sanbao to take his wife and daughter south to join him, so that they could return to Shanghai together in the future. And Feng Sanbao saw Wu Chaoyue lead the army into the sea of fire to rescue his daughter, and saw his daughter's attitude towards Wu Chaoyue, so he had no choice but to resign himself to preparing to be Wu Chaoyue's father-in-law, not only agreed to go south, but also took some of Xie Zhuang's martial arts masters south to Wu Chaoyue as a thug, Wu Chaoyue of course couldn't ask for this.

It was also a coincidence that when Feng Sanbao's family came to Jinan to meet Wu Chaoyue, Wu Jianzhang also sent someone from his family to send Wu Chaoyue a family letter, and Wu Chaoyue, who was barely a little conscientious, was overjoyed when he heard the news.

In addition to praising the spirit of the baby grandson, the old comprador Wu told the baby grandson that he was in good health, ate and slept well, and his work was quite smooth, so that the baby grandson did not have to worry about him, and it was important to be rewarded for his meritorious service on the front line with peace of mind. After reading the letter, Wu Chaoyue was both happy and worried, for fear that the comprador grandfather would be afraid that he would only report good news and not bad news, so the subordinate who delivered the letter in person questioned the real situation of Wu Jianzhang.

Facts have proved that Wu Chaoyue is just worrying about it in vain, Wu Jianzhang, who was born as a chicken dealer, worked and exercised in his early years, his body was strong, and he paid attention to maintenance after he developed, and his physical condition was really good. After being a little relieved, Wu Chaoyue wanted to ask his subordinates: "What is the situation in Shanghai now?" ”

"Back to Young Master Sun, it's not very good." The subordinate replied truthfully: "Wuxi's long hair is getting bigger and bigger, twice it entered Suzhou, once it burned Hushu Pass, robbed a lot of silver, Suzhou, Changzhou and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River fled to Shanghai in large numbers for refuge, Shanghai City is full of overcrowding, grain prices have increased more than tenfold, and thousands of people freeze to death and starve to death in winter. ”

"So serious?" Wu Chaoyue was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Did you open the warehouse and release grain?" ”

The answer given by the people of Wu Mansion was to let go of the grain twice, but the grain of Songjiang Mansion was not only to supply the Jiangnan Jiangbei camp of the Qing army, but also to supply the Eight Banners Lord in the capital by sea transport, and the local government could not take out much food for relief, and then after the layers of corruption and deduction of officials at all levels, the food that could really be boiled into gruel and distributed to the hungry people was even more pitiful, so it almost did not play any role in alleviating the disaster, and there were hungry people unrest twice during the soup kitchen. Wu Jianzhang and Shanghai officials could only send troops to suppress it.

Hearing these situations, Wu Chaoyue was of course even more worried, and subconsciously asked, "Shanghai, is there a gang called the Little Knife Club now?" ”

"Knife will?" The subordinates of the Wu Mansion were stunned, and then gave an astonishing answer, "Yes, Young Master Sun, you are in the north, how do you know that Shanghai's Knife Club will be?" ”

"What? There's already a knife club?! Wu Chaoyue jumped up directly, rushed up and grabbed his subordinates by the collar, and yelled: "Tell me quickly, what will happen to that knife?" ”

"Young Master Sun, the Little Knife Club is the Double Knife Club that used to be very close to our family." The subordinate was confused, and replied truthfully: "After Liu Ayuan took the people of the Double Knife Club as a group practice, the Double Knife Club was disbanded, and Liu Ayuan entered the green camp as the general manager, and the rest of the Double Knife Club had no food and clothing, so they re-established the Double Knife Club, and also changed the name of the Double Knife Club to the Little Knife Club." ”

"The Twin Knife Club is the Little Knife Club?" Wu Chaoyue, who had a sparse history, opened his mouth and stammered, and only after a while did he quickly yell and ask, "Who is the leader of the Little Knife Society?" ”

"It's still Liu Ayuan." The subordinates of the Wu Mansion replied truthfully: "Young Master Sun, after you arrived in the north, the government transferred Liu Ayuan back to Shanghai to take up his post, Lin Afu and Chen Alin had the permission of the master to rebuild the Double Knife Society, but no one was convinced, Liu Ayuan became the leader of the gang again, and he also changed the name of the Double Knife Society to the Little Knife Society." ”

What is called being struck by lightning, Wu Chaoyue's current feeling is like being struck by lightning, and at the same time, Wu Chaoyue finally completely understands a word - black under the light! What you can't see, it's actually in the darkness under your feet that the light can't shine!

It was not easy to come back to his senses, and of course, Wu Chaoyue, who was angry, immediately wrote a letter to the comprador grandfather, asking Wu Jianzhang to dissolve the Little Knife Club immediately on the grounds that Liu Lichuan's character was despicable and unreliable, and it was best to find an excuse to arrest Liu Lichuan, and at the same time find another way to appease the other backbones of the Little Knife Society, so that they would not have no way out and choose to take risks. Then he forced his subordinates to return to Shanghai immediately and handed over this letter to Wu Jianzhang in person!

After the Wu Mansion people honestly accepted the order, Wu Chaoyue still refused to rest assured, and told him again: "Remember, tell my grandfather that if something happens in Shanghai, tell him to immediately take our family to the concession or to my military camp, don't worry about anything else, I will try to return to Shanghai as soon as possible to deal with the aftermath!" Also, tell Deng Siyuan, the battalion officer who stayed in Shanghai, that if there is any accident in Shanghai City, give priority to protecting the place I entrusted to him! It is better to abandon our camp, and there must be no accidents in that place! ”

After sending someone to take the urgent letter away, Wu Chaoyue still didn't dare to rest assured, and asked Zhao Liewen to write a memorale to report to Emperor Xianfeng that there had been signs of a civil uprising in Shanghai, remind Shanghai of the importance of tariffs and shipping grain concentration, and ask Emperor Xianfeng to allow him to immediately lead his army back to Shanghai, suppress the demons and monsters there, and nip the civil rebellion in the bud!

Not to mention, after Wu Chaoyue's fold was sent to the capital on a fast horse, although several masters in the military aircraft department felt that Wu Chaoyue was a little worried, but considering Wu Chaoyue's current importance in the eyes of Emperor Xianfeng, he still obediently handed over the fold to Emperor Xianfeng.

It's a pity that at the critical moment, although Emperor Xianfeng also felt that Wu Chaoyue's words made some sense, he still felt that Wu Chaoyue was a little worried, and after thinking for a while, Emperor Xianfeng didn't consult the ministers, but just asked: "In that area of Shanghai, who is the official acting in charge of the green camp?" ”

"Back to the emperor, it is Su Songtai who is preparing for the Hui Zheng." Minister of Military Aircraft Peng Yunzhang replied.

"It's him." Emperor Xianfeng showed a gentle smile on his face and said: "Give Hui Aiqing a decree, asking him to send the Green Battalion to work with the local government to rectify Shanghai, once there are signs of popular unrest, immediately send troops to suppress it, arrest when it should be arrested, kill it when it should be killed, and never let there be turmoil in Shanghai." ”

After that, Emperor Xianfeng also mentioned the Zhu pen, and personally commented on Wu Chaoyue's recital, "I know, I have ordered Shanghai to be strictly guarded, you will break the thief as soon as possible, and I will have good news for you." In the end, in addition to asking the military aircraft department to return the song to Wu Chaoyue through the post station, Emperor Xianfeng went to visit Wu Chaoyue's niece once in the evening.

When he got the excerpt approved by Emperor Xianfeng Zhu Pen, Wu Chaoyue simply had the urge to cry, but no matter how anxious he was, it was useless, since he still wanted to continue to mix in the Manchu court, Wu Chaoyue naturally did not dare to take Wu Jun Lianyong back to Shanghai to save Shanghai, so he could only pray for God's blessing day and night, so that his handwritten letter was sent to the comprador grandfather in advance, and also blessed the comprador grandfather to successfully eradicate the huge hidden danger of Liu Lichuan, and nip the uprising of the knife club that pit his own family in history in the bud.

Prayer is useless, just five days have passed since the request to return to the teacher was rejected, and a court newspaper was suddenly sent to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue picked it up and only looked at it a few times, and immediately jumped up and scolded, "**** your mother!" Why is it still a step too late? ”

"Young Master Sun, what's wrong?" The captain of the pro-soldier Wu Dadao hurriedly asked.

"Liu Ayuan's ungrateful dog thing launched a rebellion, seized the city of Shanghai, and raised the banner of long hair to rebel directly!" Wu Chaoyue replied with a blushing face.

"Huh? Liu Ayuan rebelled? How can it be?! Wu Da shouted in disbelief, and then hurriedly asked, "What about the master?" How is my lord and our family? ”

"It wasn't written in the newspaper!" Wu Chaoyue yelled in reply, and yelled even more angrily: "Fuck it! If you don't listen to Lao Tzu's bad advice, forget it! Whether my grandfather is alive or dead, and what his whereabouts are, he didn't even write it clearly in the newspaper! It's a big trouble now, it's a big trouble now! (To be continued.) )