Chapter 52 Section 52 Friends Involved in the Case

Xu Qian, whose style name is Zhongyun, was born in Qiantang, Zhejiang Province. He was born in a donated class. He has been with Ding Richang for many years and is Ding Richang's right-hand man in his foreign affairs affairs. After Ding Richang became governor of Jiangsu, he had to discuss everything with Zhong Yun, and Rong Hong also looked at Xu Qianshen differently. After Xu Qian came to Wuchang, he was about to show what he had learned in his life in front of the nobleman, but Li Hongzhang took the order at this time.The decree said: "According to the letter sent by the Minister of Military Aircraft, Guizhou's military affairs have not improved for a long time, and Li Hongzhang will go to Guizhou immediately. All the troops in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Guizhou will be controlled. If the troops cannot be effective, they will be disbanded immediately. Zhiming Chongshi, Wu Tang, and Liu Kun dispatched the soldiers to Li Hongzhang's barracks to pay. The governor retreated last year, and many of them were brave. If it is necessary to be transferred to the capital of Guizhou Province for suppression, we will handle it at our own discretion."

After receiving the order, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but looked up to the sky and sighed: "Man's calculation is not as good as heaven's calculation, and Li Shaoquan's life is so hard!" Why did he express this emotion?It turned out that the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu at this time was Zuo Zongtang who was born in the first place. The imperial court ordered Li Hongzhang to go to Guizhou to supervise the army, not only to control the troops in Guizhou, but also to control the troops in Sichuan and Shaanxi. This is tantamount to poaching Zuo Zongtang's corner.If Zuo Zongtang is mediocre, it’s fine, but he is an outstanding figure. Isn’t it the same as hitting your head against a wall to poach such a person’s corner?How could Li Hongzhang not be in a dilemma?

While arranging the departure, Li Hongzhang thought about good strategies.He can't disobey the king's order, but he can't really enter Guizhou either.When he arrived at Tongguan, he stopped and did not move forward.He knew that Liu Mingchuan was seriously ill and couldn't go to the camp to serve, but he chose to ask Liu Mingchuan to go to the military camp to help with military affairs; he knew that the provincial co-payments could not be paid as scheduled, but he urged the provincial co-payments twice to come to the camp on time . The imperial court was unable to fulfill even one of Li Hongzhang's various requests.Li Hongzhang then found a good reason for his long-term stay in Tongguan.

Three months later, the imperial court had to order him to return to his post as governor of Huguang.Li Hongzhang took his entourage with him and happily returned to Wuchang, and continued to prepare for the establishment of the Steel Mill Manufacturing Bureau. Unexpectedly, an imperial decree was quickly delivered to the governor's yamen. The decree said: "Some people have played the absurd corruption of Wu Tang, governor of Sichuan, and the boiling of material discussions. It is said that when Wu Tang's family members arrived in Sichuan, they needed a lot of sedan chairs. Due to the lack of sales and errands, the search for the barbarians was not enough, and the admiral Hu Zhong and the garrison army were withdrawn because of the failure of the search, and the garrison of the admiral Hu Zhonghe was withdrawn. In the past few months, Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan, has sent officials to Sichuan seven or eight times. Each time, there must be a huge amount of donations, and there are many cases of corruption. The case is related to the embezzlement of officials and the important affairs of frontier defense. Urgent response After a thorough investigation, Li Hongzhang went to Sichuan Province to investigate the cases impartially according to the original participation, and acted according to the facts. Although the superintendent and Wu Tang are from the same hometown, they are not allowed to engage in partiality and self-indulgence. The original film was picked up. Read it, and let me know this from the four hundred miles of secret edicts, hereby."

Li Hongzhang and Wu Tang were good friends when they were running a regiment in Anhui. After receiving the decree, Li Hongzhang was stunned for a while before he asked someone to pass Xu Qian over. Isn’t this inexplicable? Honbutang is the governor of Huguang, and someone came to visit Wu Tang, but the higher-ups didn’t let the chief officer go, but sent Honbutang to Sichuan to investigate the case!” Xu Qian looked at the imperial decree again and again, and said: "This matter is really a bit strange. The superior knows that you and Wu Shuai are from the same village and should be avoided, but they still let you go! This has to make people think a little bit more. Don’t tell me the superiors did this on purpose?”

Li Hongzhang said decisively at this time: "No, this kind of thankless job, I am determined to resign. I am too lazy to meddle in these trivial matters!" Xu Qian hesitated and said: "Of course I have to resign, but I'm afraid I can't resign." Li Hongzhang sat down and said: "Zhong Yun, tell me, is there really some mystery in this?" Xu Qian replied: "Your Excellency, I would like to ask your Excellency, do you know the origin of Wu Shuai?" Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "He is a person with a first-class background, what else can he have?"

Xu Qian said with a smile: "My lord, don't be impatient. I will tell you a story first, and your lord will make a conclusion." After speaking, take your time and talk slowly... In the second year of Xianfeng (1852 A.D.), Wu Tang became the magistrate of Pizhou.One day, an official ship suddenly parked on the river.Knowing this, he thought that some high-ranking official was passing by here on business, so he took a notebook and tucked a five hundred taels of silver bill in his waist, which was originally intended to be used as an invitation to a guest.When he arrived at the riverside, before the boat had weighed anchor, he sent someone to hand in his book and his opinion, saying: Wu Tang, the magistrate of Pizhou, came to see your lord.It took a long time to hand in the notebook and bank notes before an old lady came out and said: "My young master and young lady have accepted the things. Because of my filial piety, I will not come out. The servants will give the adults the money for my young master and young lady." Kowtow." After speaking, he knelt on the board of the boat, kowtowed three times, then got up and walked back to the cabin.

Wu Tang was taken aback, and when he took a closer look, he saw a white flag floating on the bow of the boat.Then he knew that he had made a mistake, but it turned out that it was not some high-ranking official passing by here, but an official ship that was protecting the spirit and returning home.He stomped his feet in remorse at the time, wishing he could jump into the boat and grab the banknote back.But he changed his mind again, the favor has already been made, why bother to be an enemy?What's more, seeing the behavior of the old lady just now, it is clear that the deceased is a full member, who would have expected that the descendants of the deceased will have no future!After Wu Tang returned to the county government office, he finally felt that the five hundred taels of silver was a bit unfair, so he sent someone to visit him, and only then did he know that the person who died was Guangtai Dao Huizheng in Ningchi, Anhui Province.Huizheng had a son and a daughter, and the people who sent his coffin home were his son and daughter, and they were both very young.Only then did Wu Tang truly regret it, seeing that the five hundred taels of silver had been wasted.

When Xu Qian said this, he suddenly asked in a low voice: "My lord, who do you always think this Lan'er is? It's the Lan nobleman back then, and now the Empress Dowager Cixi!" Seeing Xu Qian's mysterious appearance, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but stroked his beard and smiled and said, "Zhong Yun, what you said just now, I heard someone say it ten years ago in this department. It's just hearsay, so it's not credible." Xu Qian said: "My lord, you can always listen to it as a joke, but there are some things that you have to think about carefully. You can think about it, what is Wu Shuai's future in Xianfeng ten years ago? What is the future?"

Li Hongzhang was taken aback, pondered for a while and said: "After what you said, this department hall is really a little strange. This department hall remembers that in the tenth year of Xianfeng, Wu Tang had just been awarded a fourth-rank title by Xu Huaidao. I don’t know why he was dismissed because of some case. In the second year after the dismissal, he was awarded the third rank as the deputy inspector of Jiangsu, and then the second rank as the deputy governor of Jiangning, and then he was dismissed. The political envoy went to be the governor of Cao Cao. After that, he went straight up and became the current governor. Looking at it this way, Wu Tang has been promoted too fast in the past few years. Then why did the court want to investigate him? This is not me Palm your own mouth?"

"Your Excellency, I have a different view from your old one. I think that the imperial court's frequent visits to Sichuan just want you to clean up Wu Shuai's crimes and return Wu Shuai's innocence. I don't know. Think about it, my lord, isn't that the case?" Li Hongzhang pondered for a long time before he waved his hand and said, "Zhong Yun, you go down first. This matter should be carefully considered by the Headquarters." Xu Qian hurriedly withdrew. Li Hongzhang picked up the imperial decree again, and walked up and down in the signing room while looking at it. That night, Li Hongzhang gave the imperial court such a note, which was called asking for an order, but it was actually throwing stones to ask for directions, and wanted to take the opportunity to find out.The title of the book is "Request for Investigation and Handling of Events in Sichuan". Zhezi said three things in total: 1. The imperial decree has been received, and he dare not disobey it; 2. Sichuan and Wuchang are too far apart. After he goes to Sichuan, he may affect the military and government of Huguang; It is still supplied by Hubei. Once I leave Wuchang, accidents are prone to occur. Li Hongzhang was not at ease after the papers were sent out, so he sent a secret letter to Prince Gong, Li Tangjie, Minister of Military Aircraft, Pan Zuyin, Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and others to find out the real intention of the court. Li Hongzhang said with emotion to Zhao Lian after dinner that day: "The affairs of the imperial court are becoming more and more unpredictable. Wu Zhongxuan was involved, and people from the Ministry of Punishment should have been sent to investigate, but I, the governor of Huguang, was asked to investigate! I I can't manage my own affairs, so how can I take care of them? I really don't know which military boss got nervous and gave the bad idea to the higher-ups!" When Zhao Lian heard this, she quickly touched her bulging stomach and said, "Are you going to travel far away again? The concubine may be giving birth in a few days. In the past few days, I always dream of Dongmei coming. Talk to me." Li Hongzhang knew that Zhao Lian was frightened by Dongmei's dystocia, so he comforted him: "Good Lian'er, I know what you think, how can a woman have a difficult childbirth? Besides, you are not comparable to others, you are the future His commandment! How dare the King of Hades invite you casually!" A few words made Zhao Lian happy, and her heart naturally relaxed a lot. Ten days later, Prince Gong's secret letter was delivered by Kuai Ma. Prince Gong wrote: "Wu Tang was involved this time. The Military Aircraft Department originally planned to go to Sichuan to investigate and deal with Shang Shurui of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, but was rejected by the superior. The west called your brother to go out. I don't know what my brother is doing. It is facing the west. temper?" Prince Gong finally wrote: "It is about the reputation of Fengjiang, my brother must take it seriously and handle it carefully, so as not to disappoint the court." Prince Gong's letter made Li Hongzhang sleepless in the middle of the night.He didn't know what the connotation of "taking it seriously and handling it carefully" was, and he couldn't even remember what he had done right. The next day, he received another confidential letter from Pan Zuyin. In the letter, Pan Zuyin talked about such a thing: once in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly asked Prince Gong, "Prince Gong, I heard people who came to Beijing talk about Wu Tang recently, and they all said he was a capable person. Go down and find out what kind of person Wu Tang is. If he is really like what people say, we can't wrong him. The governor of water transport is not the governor after all!" After a few days of this incident, Wu Tang became He was appointed as the governor of Jiangsu, and was transferred to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.As we all know, the Governor of Water Transport is the second-rank title, while the local governor is the first-rank title.After Xi Bian spoke, Prince Gong naturally didn't dare to let Wu Tang stay in Caodu's position. Li Hongzhang finally knew the true intention of the court: the investigation is false, and the truth is to wash Wu Tang away.However, Li Tangjie's letter did not arrive, and the imperial decree issued instead: order Li Hongzhang to set off as soon as possible, and go to Sichuan Province without delay! So Li Hongzhang sent people to pack his luggage, and passed Xu Qian's body to the signing room, and said: "Our hall is ordered to enter Sichuan, you can take people to disguise and go ahead, and understand Wu Shuai's visits in various festivals for our hall." Xu Qian hurriedly agreed with "yes", and then asked: "My lord's entry into Sichuan this time, what kind of rules are there? My lord must have an explanation, so that the next official will have a basis for it." Li Hongzhang said: "Don't be naughty, you just have to investigate and understand. No matter what the court thinks, as the chief investigator of the case, the head of the Ministry must know it well. You leave today, and the people in the yamen can choose as many as you want." Man, don't waste your time on the road. Go." More than ten days after Xu Qianshen left, Li Hongzhang and his party also set foot on the vast road of Shu.