In fact, Jing Shou had long known that he would be able to come back as an official sooner or later, because Jing Shou was indeed on good terms with Su Shun and Zaiyuan, but he did not offend Ci'an, Cixi and Devil Ziliu and others to death, and the yellow-faced woman he married was the daughter of Daoguang, the brother-in-law of Devil Liu, and Tongzhi's uncle. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

There is a more critical point, during the coup d'état in Qixiang, Jing Shougang, who controlled the imperial guards, saw that Su Shun and others were gone, and immediately surrendered decisively, without taking the imperial guards to fight to the end, and afterwards extremely cooperated with the propaganda of the coup group, and forced Su Shun and Zaiyuan and others to be charged with a lot of crimes.

Jing Shou just didn't expect that the first messenger he took after his comeback was to ask Wu Chaoyue for peace talks, Jing Shou could see that Wu Chaoyue's side flag of the Qing monarch was just a shameless excuse for rebellion, and the real purpose was to replace the wild boar skin family and the Manchu court.

But fortunately, Wu Chaoyue's previous relationship with Jing Shou was not bad, this time he went south to ask for peace talks that seemed to go deep into the tiger's den and wolf's den, but in fact there was no danger to Jing Shou, so Jing Shou didn't need to worry about his own safety, the only thing he was worried about was how to persuade Wu Chaoyue to start peace talks and fight for the last chance to turn around for the Manchu court, which was already hanging by a thread.

was expected by Jing Shou, when he went south to the Wu army's control area that had expanded to the south of the Zhili Daimyo's Mansion, he was really treated politely by the Wu army's Zeng Guoquan Department, and was respectfully invited to Kaifeng City, where he met with Zeng Guoquan after Zongsheng. Then Zeng Guoquan also contacted Wu Chaoyue with an expedited 600 miles to ask for instructions on how to deal with Jingshou's arrival.

Wu Chaoyue's reply was quickly sent back to Kaifeng, and he decisively agreed to meet with Jing Shou, and also explained that Jing Shou was allowed to go south under the honor guard of the imperial minister. As a result, after receiving the news, Ci'an, Cixi, and Devil Six also breathed a sigh of relief, and Devil Six also smiled proudly: "Traitor! You don't dare to refuse peace talks, wait for Long Hair to settle accounts with you! ”

…………

Devil Six sneered in the capital, but Yang Xiuqing was dumbfounded in Nanjing, because while Wu Chaoyue agreed to meet with Jing Shou, he sent his accomplice Zhou Wenxian to Nanjing to consult Yang Xiuqing in person if he intended to start peace talks with the Manchu court? He also strongly suggested that Yang Xiuqing send an envoy plenipotentiary to Hubei to participate in the peace talks, temporarily stabilize the Manchu court under the guise of negotiations, and take the opportunity to reorganize the army for war in order to launch the Northern Expedition again.

"King Dong, our Marshal Wu knows very well that the rebellious party in the capital asking for peace talks is just a measure to delay the army, and there are countless ways to refuse to negotiate with the rebellious party in the capital. But now we have just captured Taiyuan, and we are not ready to send troops from Shanxi to attack the capital, and your army has suffered a setback in the Northern Expedition before, and its vitality has been greatly damaged, and it urgently needs time to reorganize its troops and horses and recover its vitality. ”

"Therefore, our Marshal Wu decided to make a plan, pretending to accept the demand for peace talks with the rebellious party in the capital, and buying time for your and our armies to prepare for war, if your army is willing, we will act according to the plan, if your army is unwilling, our marshal will find an excuse to refuse peace talks. Where to go, please ask His Royal Highness the East King to decide. ”

Yang Xiuqing was speechless, because Yang Xiuqing's plan was to wait for Wu Chaoyue to contact the Manchu court, and immediately block the Yangtze River channel under the pretext of destroying the covenant, and detain the black cauldron of betraying the covenant on Wu Chaoyue, so as to seize the moral upper hand. However, Yang Xiuqing never expected that Wu Chaoyue would come to ask for his opinion first, and he would kindly pull himself to participate in the peace talks, so Yang Xiuqing naturally had no excuse to be mad and provoke trouble.

What is even more desperate for Wu Chaoyue is that because the current internal problems of the Taiping army are very serious, without knowing that Yang Xiuqing has secretly joined forces with the Manchu court, the subordinate officials of the Eastern Prince's Mansion headed by Hou Qianfang also tried their best to persuade Yang Xiuqing to accept Wu Chaoyue's suggestion, pretend to negotiate peace to relieve external pressure, and gain time to solve internal problems.

Forced to be in a hurry, Yang Xiuqing simply slapped the Golden Dragon case and yelled: "Shut up! This king and the Qing demon do not share the sky, even if it is false and wronged, it will never be peaceful. ”

The officials of the Eastern Palace, Zhou Wenxian said respectfully: "Your Royal Highness the Eastern Prince, please calm your anger, since you don't want to negotiate peace, then this matter is also very easy to do, after our generalissimo sees the envoy of the chaotic party in the capital, he only needs to put forward the condition of killing the other six major culprits of the chaotic party first and then negotiating peace, and the chaotic party in the capital will naturally retreat from the difficulty." ”

Yang Xiuqing was even more speechless, and then pretended to be angry: "When you negotiate with the Qing Demon Envoy, it's best not to play tricks, if you let this king know that you have a private agreement with the Qing Demon, you will be responsible for the consequences!" ”

"Please rest assured that the East King is here." Zhou Wenxian smiled and said: "When our marshal meets with the envoy of the rebellious party in the capital, we will invite the envoy of your army, Hong Renji, to be present to supervise. ”

Yang Xiuqing snorted and replied, but he was really a little worried in his heart, because Yang Xiuqing knew very well that if he couldn't find a reasonable excuse to turn his face with Wu Chaoyue and rashly ordered the blockade of the Yangtze River waterway, then maybe he didn't have to wait for Wu Chaoyue to make a move, and the Taiping Army itself would have internal chaos first-the economic benefits brought by the Yangtze River waterway could be related to the source of military salaries and food for the Taiping Army's foreign generals.

…………

After Yang Xiuqing forced the Taiping army along the Yangtze River to give way to the Qing army's naval division, the internal problems of the Taiping army have become more and more obvious, especially in the Taiping army teams along the Yangtze River, the complaints and doubts about Yang Xiuqing are even more numerous and one after another, Wu Chaoyue also saw this, and did not want to give Yang Xiuqing an excuse to be mad to gather people's hearts, so he sent Zhou Wenxian to block Yang Xiuqing's mouth, and then tried to slowly figure it out.

But what Wu Chaoyue never expected in advance was that when Zhou Wenxian set off to return to Hubei the next day, he had just boarded his own ship at Xiaguan Wharf, and the entourage who stayed on the ship handed a letter with Wu Chaoyue on the cover and personally opened it to Zhou Wenxian, saying that someone shot an arrow on the cabin last night.

On the cover of the letter, it was written that Wu Chaoyue opened and sealed it in person, and Zhou Wenxian, who was quite loyal to Wu Chaoyue, did not dare to open it privately, or after returning to the Hubei provincial capital, when he saw Wu Chaoyue, the letter was opened by Wu Chaoyue himself, and the content of the secret letter also surprised Wu Chaoyue - it turned out to be a copy of the letter that Yang Xiuqing secretly contacted with the Manchu court!

On the copy, Yang Xiuqing directly expressed his hope to join forces with the Manchu court to deal with Wu Chaoyue, and promised to block the Yangtze River channel to encircle Wei and save Zhao when the Manchu court encountered danger, and the exchange conditions were non-aggression with the Manchu court, dividing the territory with the existing control areas as the boundary, communicating with each other in trade, and helping each other militarily.

In addition, there is also a letterhead written in his left hand in the letter, saying that the secret envoy sent by Yang Xiuqing to secretly communicate with the Manchu court is his uncle Chen Lai, and after arriving in the capital, he first contacted Rong Lu, who had been an envoy to Nanjing, and then Chen Lai soon returned to Nanjing with the reply of the Manchu court, but the specific reply of the Manchu court could not be obtained.

The letter was not signed, but Wu Chaoyue also knew with his toes that if this anonymous letter was not fake, then the writer must be Yang Xiuqing's extremely trusted confidant. And then, a new question was put in front of Wu Chaoyue, if the letter is true, then what is the purpose of the letter writer?

"Could it be that the discord plan of the chaotic party in the capital lured me to start a war with Yang Xiuqing?"

Wu Chaoyue once had such suspicions, but as soon as Wu Chaoyue said this possibility, Zhao Liewen, Yan Jingming, Dai Wenjie and other accomplices immediately shook their heads and said, "Weiting, it's definitely not a chaotic party in the capital!" ”

"Weiting, who are you, can you know the chaos in the capital? First of all, you will definitely not easily believe such a letter without a beginning or end, and secondly, even if you believe the content of this letter, in order to comfort your temper habits, you must pretend not to know, you can temporarily coax Yang Xiuqing to count one day at a time, and then find Yang Xiuqing to settle accounts for revenge when you have the right opportunity! ”

After listening to the words of a few accomplices and lackeys, Wu Chaoyue was extremely depressed, and said in his heart, are you praising me or scolding me? But in this way, Wu Chaoyue was inevitably more suspicious, and wondered: "If it's not a separation, then what does this person want to do?" ”

"What exactly this man wants to do, it's impossible to guess for the time being." Zhao Liewen analyzed: "However, judging from his detailed introduction to how Yang Xiuqing contacted the chaotic party in the capital, it is very likely that he wants to help us intercept the ironclad evidence of Yang Xiuqing's contact with the chaotic party in the capital." The Shanghai terminal is under our semi-control, and knowing the identity of the envoy, it is certainly not difficult to do this. ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, and then his heart moved again, and he hurriedly said: "Could this be Hong Xiuquan's mastermind behind this?" If we get the ironclad evidence of the secret collusion between Yang Xiuqing and the chaotic party in the capital, and make Yang Xiuqing ruined by the public, the biggest beneficiary is obviously Hong Xiuquan? ”

After carefully pondering Wu Chaoyue's whimsy, Zhao Liewen, Yan Jingming and others nodded one after another, all suspecting that the real mastermind behind this matter might be Hong Xiuquan. - Of course, no one can be sure.

"Comfort Pavilion, what should we do then?" Zhao Liewen asked: "Do you want to try to intercept the long-haired envoy and get ironclad evidence of Yang Xiuqing's secret alliance with the chaotic party in the capital?" ”

After thinking about it for less than a minute, Wu Chaoyue nodded decisively and said, "Of course!" Yang Xiuqing is a huge hidden danger for us to go to the sea, and getting ironclad evidence can not only coerce Yang Xiuqing to stop, but also can take it out at any time to completely split the long hair, which is more beneficial to us than harmful. This deal is a good deal for us, even if it is used by others, I will admit it! ”

"Then I will immediately write to my brother-in-law and ask him and Mr. Wu to do this."

Zhao Liewen hurriedly picked up the pen to make a book, but Wu Chaoyue was not satisfied, and after thinking about it for a while, he said: "Copy a few copies of this letter as it is, give it to Zhang Dejian, and let him find a way to send the copy to Lin Qirong, Huang Wenjin, Lin Fengxiang and Wu Ruxiao, the long-haired leaders, without revealing the identity of the messenger." ”

"Wonderful, let's lay the groundwork first, leave the roots, and when we get the ironclad evidence, these long-haired heads will be easier to believe." Yan Jingming praised.

Wu Chaoyue nodded, and hurriedly sent someone to send Zhang Dejian to explain the task, and then advised: "Remember, you must not let these long-haired leaders know that we sent the letter, if our meticulous work is really helpless, we don't have to force it, but Jiangyin Wu Ruxiao, we must send the letter." ”

"Last time, Wu Ruxiao intercepted the Rakshasa people and suffered a big loss, but Yang Xiuqing took the initiative to give way, Wu Ruxiao must be full of anger, not only is it easier to believe, maybe he will rely on the advantages of geography and knowing Chen Lai, and directly intercept the ironclad evidence of Yang Xiuqing's secret collusion with the chaotic party in the capital."

…………

After the letter exposing Yang Xiuqing's betrayal of the anti-Qing cause was sent, Jing Shou, who was sent by the Manchu court to ask for peace talks, also came to Hubei.

used to have a good relationship, Wu Chaoyue and Jing Shou's reunion after a long absence was of course full of sighs and sighs, and they also shed tears together for the tragic deaths of Su Shun and Zaiyuan and others. In the end, when Jing Shou began to persuade Wu Chaoyue to start peace talks with the Manchu court on the big reason that he could not fight in the same room, Wu Chaoyue immediately refused, and put forward the harsh prerequisites of killing the six brothers of the devil and the six major culprits such as Gui Liang, Seng Lingqin, and Mianyu.

"Comfort Ting, your request is too difficult for the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces and the current Emperor." Jing Shou smiled bitterly and said: "Gui Liang and Seng Lingqin are just that, the three brothers Prince Gong are the uncles of the current emperor, and the old prince Hui is the grandparents of the current emperor, how can the emperor easily kill them?" ”

"Then let's not talk about it!" Wu Chaoyue categorically refused: "If the six major sins of Yi Cheng, Yi Xun, Yi Xun, Seng Lingqin, Gui Liang and Mianyu are not killed, my army and the people will not be at ease, and the first emperor and Su Zhongtang and their spirits in the sky will not be able to turn a blind eye, only by killing them first, and then I can rest assured that I can negotiate peace with the imperial court!" Otherwise, I can only wave the Northern Expedition and capture and kill the six thieves! ”

"Comfort Ting, why are you bothering?" Jing Shou persuaded again: "Why can't you change the condition?" I won't tell you anything, in fact, the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces has an explanation to me, as long as you don't force them to kill, no matter what conditions you put forward, they can consider agreeing. ”

Wu Chaoyue raised his head and didn't listen, pretending to be unmoved, and he was indeed unmoved, Jing Shou added, "Even if you are named the king with a different surname, and enter the state affairs of the prime minister of Beijing, the Empress Dowager Dong said that she can discuss, why are you so stubborn?" ”

Wu Chaoyue, who was still thinking about getting a prince for himself some time ago, hurriedly asked, "The Empress Dowager said such a thing?" ”

"Absolutely." Jing Shou replied truthfully.

Wu Chaoyue's eyes rolled, and he wanted to agree, but he was embarrassed to speak—after all, even Boss Cao was crowned King of Wei only after three resignations. Fortunately, Zhao Liewen, who was on the other side, was Wu Chaoyue's confidant, and hurriedly said for Wu Chaoyue: "Lord Jing, if the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces and the Emperor first crown our generalissimo as the king with a different surname, and allow our generalissimo to enter Beijing for state affairs, we will definitely support the generalissimo to negotiate peace with you." ”

Before Jing Shou agreed, Wu Chaoyue had already preemptively excused himself, saying that he was not worthy of being crowned king, and he was even more self-righteous and rebellious when he raised troops to rebel, and he had no covetousness for any title. However, it was useless to quibble, Zhao Liewen took the lead, and all the civil and military officers of the Wu army present responded, shouting in unison: "First crown our marshal as the king, and then we can negotiate peace!" ”

"Hugh is talking nonsense, this commander will never give in to the chaotic party in the capital, and he will never have the heart to be the king!" Wu Chaoyue's attitude became more and more resolute.

"The merit of the great handsome, the extreme sky, even if it is the founding king of the Qing Dynasty, no one can match it! It is natural to be the king! "Wu Junzhong's civil and military attitude is more resolute than Wu Chaoyue.

By the way, Wu Chaoyue's attitude was not complained about by the Taiping army - after all, Wu Chaoyue resolutely did not agree to start peace talks with the Manchu court on the condition of being crowned a prince, right?