Only two days later, when Li Yuandu, who was lucky not to be killed alive by the Wu army's sailors, returned to the Hunan army camp with serious injuries, he also brought back important documents such as family letters, official documents, chapters, maps, and edicts that Zeng Guofan had captured by the Taiping army. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

- Li Yuandu was able to bring these things back to Zeng Guofan, of course, it was Shi Dakai who took these things with him and brought them to Wuxue, Wu Jun broke through the Taiping Army camp and found these important documents, and Wu Chaoyue did not know for the time being that the barber teacher had impeached and falsely accused himself with a black conscience, so he made a favor and returned it to the teacher.

As long as Zeng Guofan can take the opportunity to get off the donkey, then Wu Chaoyue, in order to use the Hunan army to contain and resist the Taiping army, will not only definitely return to the warm and broad embrace of the barber teacher with tears, but also will definitely negotiate in terms of military salaries, food, grass and weapons and ammunition. However, it is a pity that the little comprador Wu, who was smart and confused for a while, forgot that the nature of some people is - they cannot be saved!

"Yellow-haired boy who has not dried up! How dare you insult me like this! ”

Our teacher Zeng is such a person, when he was in Hunan, he had a quarrel with Bao Qibao, the governor of Hunan, and in Jiangxi, he was able to force his fellow villagers and colleagues of the Hanlin Academy to impeach him for many years. Even in front of Zeng Guohuang, Zeng Guohua and Zeng Guoquan and other brothers, Zeng Guofan still scolded regardless of his manners, smashing the table and smashing the bench, so angry that he could swallow the disobedient protégé alive on the spot!

"Brother, did you misunderstand the comfort pavilion? Comfort Pavilion sent these important copywriters back, it should be a piece of kindness, not like a deliberate ......? ”

"Shut up! I know better than I know who that little brute is! Relying on the money in his family, relying on foreign devils to support him, relying on the powerful firearms of foreigners and a little luck to win a few battles, he has long stopped taking me as a teacher in his eyes! He just wanted to embarrass me! If you want me to be faceless and shameless in the officialdom, he can take the opportunity to dominate the family and swallow the miracle of pacifying the long-haired bandits! He dreamed! ”

Zeng Guoquan's cowardly defense was reprimanded by his brother angrily, and after roaring with red eyes, Zeng Guofan also tore up the greeting letter written to him by his disobedient protégé, but Zeng Guofan still refused to be relieved, and yelled at Liu Rong and Luo Zenan and other henchmen and asked, "How is Fu Aji and Yan Jingming doing?" Did you find any evidence of Zhao Liewen and the little brute? ”

Liu Rong and the others smiled bitterly and said, "Dashuai, you should ask Li Yuandu about this matter, he handled this matter single-handedly, and we know the specific situation." ”

Zeng Guofan's anger was suppressed slightly, and when he was about to summon Li Yuandu to see him, he never thought that Guo Songtao hurriedly came in from outside the door with an official document, and came to Zeng Guofan's ear and muttered in a low voice, Zeng Guofan's face suddenly showed joy, and he quickly snatched the official document in Guo Songtao's hand to take a closer look, and then patted his thigh and said happily: "God help me!" ”

"Brother, what's the good thing?" Zeng Guohuang asked curiously.

"Jiang Zhongji obtained a batch of smuggled opium for the gold tax card we set up at the Jinjiang wharf in Yuanzhou Prefecture." Zeng Guofan's eyebrows fluttered and said: "The owner of the goods is the brother-in-law of Li Hao, the commander of Wanzai County, this husband not only confessed that Li Hao was behind the smuggling of opium was instigated and shielded by Li Hao, but also confessed that Li Hao also had Jiangxi Governor Chen Qimai behind him, and half of the huge profits from smuggling opium were handed over to his teacher Chen Qimai!" ”

"What a good thing!" Zeng Guoquan said happily: "Chen Qimai's husband only secretly went to the table a few days ago to tell my brother that you fell into the well, which will allow us to get ironclad evidence that he shielded opium smuggling, and we can take revenge openly." ”

Chen Qimai stabbed Zeng Guofan in the back, Zeng Guofan had already mastered the situation through secret channels, and he had already made up his mind to retaliate, and it would not take long to get ironclad evidence enough to directly bring down Chen Qimai, Zeng Guofan was of course overjoyed, and immediately calculated the impeachment of Chen Qimai. But Zeng Guofan was not satisfied with this, and asked Liu Rong and the others: "Meng Rong, can you think of any way to pull the little beast into the water in this matter?" ”

"Dashuai, Wanzai County is in Yuanzhou Mansion, far away from the Hubei border, I am afraid there is no hope of dragging him into the water." Chen Qimai said with a wry smile: "And to impeach the two governors at the same time for this matter, it is inevitable that the movement is too big and the appetite is too big, but it is not beautiful." ”

Zeng Guofan thought about it and found out, not to mention that the disobedient protégé had nothing to do with this matter, even if he insisted on relying on the disobedient protégé, it would be too shocking to impeach the two feudal officials at the same time, and the Manchu court would never be able to move the disobedient protégé who had just made great contributions. But the teacher is a teacher after all, after thinking about it, Zeng Guofan thought of other methods, and said: "This incident also reminds us that opium smuggling is rampant far away from the Yangtze River for thousands of years, and Hankou is already a treaty port, and the opium smuggling situation there will definitely only be more serious. ”

Although I don't understand why my brother's jealousy of the disobedient protégé is so deep, Zeng Guohuang, Zeng Guoquan and others still did not object, and Liu Rong, who knew some of the inside information, nodded and said: "This matter can be handed over to Bao Chao, he is currently stationed in Wuchang Mansion, and it is convenient to secretly investigate these matters." ”

Zeng Guofan also nodded, and then said: "Since Chen Qimai took office, he has lost more than 20 counties in the five prefectures of Jiangxi in more than a year, and the court has long been very dissatisfied with him, plus the ironclad evidence we got this time, it should not be a big problem to bring him down." After overthrowing him, the governor of Jiangxi was ....... ”

"It's definitely yours, brother!" Zeng Guoquan said categorically.

Zeng Guofan smiled bitterly when he heard this, shook his head and said: "If there is no defeat in Jiujiang, there may still be great hope for my brother, but this time the defeat in Jiujiang is really too bad, and there is no hope for my brother." ”

Sighing and missing the opportunity again, Zeng Guofan cheered up and said: "But we can strongly recommend Hu Linyi to this position, his merits and qualifications are enough, he was on the road when Jiujiang was defeated, and the fiasco had nothing to do with him, and afterwards he led the army to the rear of the palace to block the pursuers." Using our connections in the court, coupled with his own connections in the court, it is not difficult to put him in this position. ”

"What the marshal said is very true." Liu Rong echoed: "Putting Hu Linyi in the position of governor of Jiangxi is actually no different from the marshal directly serving as the governor of Jiangxi, and it can also avoid the court's senseless suspicion of the marshal." ”

Everyone echoed one after another, Zeng Guofan also bowed slightly, and finally Zeng Guofan ordered: "Remember, if I hold the ironclad evidence of Chen Qimai's crime and the impeachment of him on the above table, I must keep it strictly confidential, and I must not let any outsiders know." ”

After that, Zeng Guofan couldn't help but pout in the direction of Hubei, gritted his teeth and said, "Especially you can't let that little beast know!" ”

"Brother, why do you hate Comfort Pavilion so much?" Zeng Guoquan couldn't stand it anymore and said, "What does he know about this?" Will he still secretly report to Chen Qimai? ”

"You know!" Zeng Guofan scolded, and said coldly: "Jiangxi is located in the lower reaches of Hubei, and it is the biggest barrier to prevent long-haired criminals, if this little beast knows that the governor of Jiangxi is about to become vacant, he may have the idea of peeping, and run out to make trouble for me!" ”

Hmph, Zeng Guofan suddenly remembered that Fu Aji investigated and dealt with Wu Chaoyue's right-hand man Zhao Liewen, and hurriedly sent Liu Rong to inquire about the news from Li Yuandu, who was seriously injured in bed, and made some arrangements and plans not to mention it.

…………

Of course, Wu Chaoyue didn't know that Chen Qimai, the governor of Jiangxi, who had been an ally of the enemy, was about to be unlucky, and Wu Chaoyue didn't know that Fu Aji, who had been determined to fix himself and Zhao Liewen, had fled back to Wuchang Mansion and scraped the ground, and really found a handle that could clean up Zhao Liewen.

This handle is not big, it is not small, it is not small, it can be regarded as related to Zhao Liewen, and it must be said that it has nothing to do with Zhao Liewen. The cause is more or less related to Zhao Liewen's style of life -- among the two Qinglou women raised by Zhao Liewen, one named Xiuzhu carried Zhao Liewen on his back and accepted a bribe of 100 taels of silver under the sign of Zhao Liewen, and promised to settle a lawsuit over a land dispute for Zhao Liewen.

As mentioned earlier, the Taiping army has captured Wuchang Mansion City twice, coupled with the Hunan army's counterattack on Wuchang and the Taiping Army's three attacks on Wuchang, Wuchang Mansion City has actually been destroyed by war four times, during which the people and gentry fled and suffered many casualties, leaving a lot of ownerless fields outside the city. In order to restore the people's livelihood, Wu Chaoyue encouraged the old landowners to resume farming, and leased the ownerless fields to the poor people for cultivation free of charge, promising that they would be owned by the cultivators after a certain period of time. In the meantime, because of the corruption and dereliction of duty of grassroots officials, as well as the loss and forgery of land deeds, and many other problems, some drawbacks have more or less appeared, so that some local tyrants and shoddy gentry have found opportunities to exploit loopholes, and Wu Chaoyue will also spend great efforts with officials such as Guanwen, Li Qinggu, and Duoshan to rectify these malpractices, helping many people who have fled to get back their land, and also punishing some inferior gentry who forged land deeds and occupied people's land.

There is a landlord named Feng Changsheng in the East Lake area is one of them, coveting the good water of the missing people in the same village to water the fields, forging land deeds and bribing officials, and turning hundreds of acres of good land into his name, never thought that some real landlords returned to the village, and Feng Changsheng had a dispute, and sued the county government, and began Feng Changsheng to rely on his own relationship in the county government and didn't care, but I heard that these people handed the paper into the provincial capital and was accepted by the prefect's yamen, and saw some local tyrants and inferior gentry similar to themselves because of this bad luck, Feng Changsheng panicked.

It was also a coincidence that when Feng Changsheng went to the provincial capital to inquire about the news, he accidentally learned in the Qinglou that Xiuzhu, an old friend he had taken care of several times in business, was raised by Zhao Liewen, and heard that Zhao Liewen was very able to speak in front of the governor of this province, so he drilled holes everywhere to find Zhao Liewen's outer house, saw Xiuzhu who had rolled the sheets together and begged her to speak for herself in front of Zhao Liewen, Xiuzhu was a little greedy for money and accepted Feng Changsheng's silver, and accepted the silver that Feng Changsheng bribed behind Zhao Liewen's back. For Zhao Liewen, he promised to help Feng Changsheng settle this matter.

Then, Xiuzhu didn't even have a chance to mention this matter in front of Zhao Liewen, Zhao Liewen had already hurried to Tianjia Town with Wu Chaoyue to preside over the war, during which the Wuchang prefect Duoshan, who received the paper, arrested Feng Changsheng to the prefect's yamen, and found out that he forged the land deed to occupy the people's land, not only forced him to return all the occupied land to the original owner, but also punished him with forty boards and wore a flail to show the public for three days. Feng Changsheng was beaten and humiliated, and his money and land were empty, and in a fit of anger, he ran to Zhao Liewen's outer house to find Xiuzhu to settle accounts, but he happened to meet Qin Chafu Aji, who came to investigate the case in person in Zhao Liewen's outer house. And then ......

And then we rich adults don't know that seizing the opportunity is really to eat the old rice for so many years, show their identity and take down people, first beat Feng Changsheng and forced him to confess and detain him, and then arrested Xiuzhu and interrogated him, but I don't know if Xiuzhu couldn't survive the punishment or was instructed by someone, and even confessed that she accepted Feng Changsheng's bribe with Zhao Liewen's permission, and Zhao Liewen also agreed to act in front of Wu Chaoyue for Feng Changsheng, and finally said that Zhao Liewen told her personally, Wu Chaoyue has already promised to let Duoshan no longer pursue Feng Changsheng!

With such a good handle in hand, Fu Aji was of course the first to write a bullet to impeach Zhao Liewen for accepting bribes to exonerate Diao Min, and then although he didn't dare to impeach Wu Chaoyue directly, he also sent the confession copy to the capital along with the excerpt, so that the Manchu court knew that Wu Chaoyue was also related to this matter. Fortunately, Wu Chaoyue's staff members such as Huang Sheng and Huang Zhisheng, who stayed in the rear, were not vegetarians, and secretly inquired about the situation early, and sent the news to Tianjia Town by clipper as soon as possible, so that Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen, who had just finished the decisive battle in Wuxue, knew about it.

Without Zhao Liewen's defense, Wu Chaoyue also knew that he was wronged, and after a little more calculation, Wu Chaoyue suddenly remembered an important question, and blurted out to Zhao Liewen: "Oh no! I don't know if Huang Sheng and they are keeping an eye on Fu Aji and that Xiuzhu, if Fu Aji kills that Xiuzhu and dies without proof, then you can't wash it even if you really jump into the Yellow River. ”

Zhao Liewen, who was shaking his head and smiling bitterly, said with some hesitation: "No, right?" In order to bring me down, he Fu Aji dared to take such a big risk with his life and career prospects, and directly caused a murder? ”

"Wouldn't it be okay to pretend to be a suicide?" Wu Chaoyue has been educated a lot more by movies, TV and animation, and is well-informed in trying to make money and kill people, and said: "Kill that Xiuzhu, get a fake suicide note or a fake suicide note or something, say that she is sorry, you can only apologize with death, and then her confession will become ironclad evidence, and you can't turn it over if you want to!" Whether her confession was forced out or deceived is completely unproven. ”

Zhao Liewen's face changed, and Wu Chaoyue hurriedly picked up the pen to make a book, and personally wrote a letter to Huang Sheng and other staff members who stayed behind, asking them to keep an eye on Fu Aji and protect the good person Xiuzhu, and at the same time asked other masters to write a letter to Li Qinggu, the Hubei prosecutor, asking him to intervene in the case, participate in the interrogation of Xiuzhu and protect her life, and then send the letter back to Wuchang Mansion overnight by speedboat.

Wu Chaoyue's movements were fast, Fu Aji's movements were faster, and only two days later, Huang Sheng used a clipper to send news to Wu Chaoyue, saying that Xiuzhu had committed suicide by throwing herself into a well in Qincha Xingyuan, and before she died, she heard that she also left a last word, saying that she betrayed Zhao Liewen and was sorry for Zhao Liewen, so she could only apologize with death. On the same day, Fu Aji also issued a summons in the capacity of a messenger, asking Zhao Liewen to immediately rush to Wuchang Mansion City for interrogation.

At this moment, it was finally the turn of Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen, the unscrupulous pair, who were completely dumbfounded, and under the continuous complaint, Wu Chaoyue thought twice, simply slapped the table and said: "I will go back to Wuchang with you, accompany you to accept the interrogation, and personally investigate this case!" I don't believe it, he Fu Aji can do this seamlessly, without leaving even a trace of it! ”

"Comfort Pavilion, I'll go alone." Zhao Liewen dissuaded dejectedly: "Although Shi Dakai has just been hit hard, there are still some remnants of vitality, and there are still long-haired troops on the Jiujiang battlefield that can be recruited, what if you leave Tianjia Town at this time, and Longhair suddenly sends troops into Hubei?" ”

"The soldiers are coming, the water is coming to cover the earth, I don't believe that he Shi Dakai just fought such a big defeat, and he dared to bring the troops to die immediately!" Wu Chaoyue patted the handsome case and said: "Just do it, let the Lu division stick to the battalion, and the sailor will adapt to the situation, and if the situation is not right, he will directly withdraw to Wuchang and join me, and nothing will happen in the future!" I'll go back to Wuchang with you and personally go to find evidence that Fu Aji framed you! ”

To achieve this situation, no matter which Manchu official is replaced, the smartest and most correct way is to lose the pawn and protect the car, sacrifice Zhao Liewen to clear the relationship, at least immediately draw a clear line with Zhao Liewen to avoid continuing to burn himself. But Wu Chaoyue refused to sacrifice Zhao Liewen, and he had to personally wash away his grievances for Zhao Liewen, and he had to take huge risks for this. So after listening to Wu Chaoyue's resolute decision, Zhao Liewen couldn't help but have some tears in his eyes, and he knelt down on one knee and hugged his fist to Wu Chaoyue and said: "Weiting, in the future, whether it is a mountain of swords and a sea of fire, or a rain of bullets, I will definitely fight with you!" ”

Of course, the ill-intentioned Wu Chaoyue would not miss this opportunity to enhance the cohesion of the Hubei New Army, and also to increase the hatred of the Hubei New Army against the Manchu court. After making up his mind, Wu Chaoyue immediately ordered the generals in the army to announce that he would accompany Zhao Liewen back to Wuchang for interrogation, and made Zhao Liewen's grievances public, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.

As Wu Chaoyue expected, the generals of the Hubei New Army really blew up all of a sudden, yelling and shouting that they would return to the provincial capital with Zhao Liewen for trial to prove his innocence for Zhao Liewen, and Huang Dasha, who had a rigid personality, also yelled directly: "Wu Futai, let the last general go back with you!" The last general is going to ask the person who is called Fu Aji in person, can a **** just say a few words and directly convict Master Zhao? Then I will immediately hire ten or eight **** with silver to sue him for raping his mother, and let the court directly kill his head Fu Aji! ”

"Lord Futai, let the last general lead the sailor to send you back!" Wang Fu also roared angrily: "The last general will personally throw that Fu Aji under the cannon, and ask him to come up with real evidence!" I can't take it out, Lao Tzu blasted him into scum with one shot! ”

is still not strong enough, and there is no chance of winning the rebellion, after Wu Chaoyue planted the seeds, he hurriedly covered the soil to avoid premature exposure, and quickly persuaded the generals to calm down, and promised that he would never let Zhao Liewen, who was quite popular, be hurt in the slightest. In the end, Wu Chaoyue first arranged his defensive strategy after leaving Tianjia Town, and then said to the generals: "Everyone, time is urgent, Master Zhao and I will board the ship and return to the provincial capital this afternoon." I won't hide it from you, Fu Aji also deliberately involved me in the case, and I may be in danger if I go, if I can't come back, ....... ”

"Lord Futai, then we will directly kill the provincial capital and save you back!"

The generals of Hubei roared and shook the sky, including Feng Sanbao, who had once been dead set on the Manchu court, Liu Mingchuan, who had newly joined the Wu army, and Liu Kunyi, who was not a descendant of Wu. Only Ding Ruchang, who had just surrendered from the Taiping Army, did not say anything in order to avoid suspicion, but said in his heart: "I will go with them, if you have any mistakes, my life will be completely over." ”

Wu Chaoyue is a very delicate person, even if the defense strategy was arranged early, Wu Chaoyue, for the sake of prudence, still deliberately arranged a maze array to intimidate the Taiping army - on the surface, he returned to the provincial capital with great fanfare, but secretly instructed Zhang Dejian's Hubei Tactical Fool Bureau to secretly spread rumors, saying that he was still in Tianjia Town, and Zhang Luobuwang was just waiting for Shi Dakai to come to his death again, which made the Taiping army unclear about his true intentions, and also made the Taiping army afraid to send troops easily.

But it's a pity that Wu Chaoyue didn't know that Shi Dakai, who had been killed, didn't mind whether he was still in Tianjia Town, and after Jiujiang had just collected the defeated army and regrouped a little, Shi Dakai, who was very aggrieved, convened his generals again to discuss sending troops to Hubei again to find Wu Chaoyue for revenge! (To be continued.) )