scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 142 A New Beginning

(PS: October is here, I wish all friends a happy National Day, and ask for October monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.)
On the 26th day of the seventh month of Kangmazi in the Great Qing Dynasty, Fatty Lu returned to Qujing City amidst the welcome of tens of thousands of Qujing people. The cheers were so loud that the newly built gates and buildings in Qujing City were almost knocked down.Fatty Lu's fat face, which was trying to maintain a calm smile, finally showed an expression of relief and arrogance to the extreme.

It's not easy, it's really not easy. In the nearly half a year since leaving Qujing, Fatty Lu, who has a dark heart, can't count how many times he was awakened from nightmares, or dreamed that he was accidentally exposed. Being caught by the rulers of the mite Qing Dynasty, caught in Beijing and executed by Ling Chi or beheaded on the spot like Zha Rulong; or dreaming that because he changed history, Wu Sangui suddenly died suddenly or successfully withdrew from the vassal, causing his previous efforts to be wasted, On the contrary, my hard work was cheap for the son of a bitch; or else I dreamed that Wu Sangui suddenly raised an army, and I couldn't go back to Yunnan in time, and was detained on the spot by the traitors from other places. .

All kinds of worst-case scenarios kept Fatty Lu awake at night, unwilling to eat, and never fell asleep peacefully at night.But now, it's finally easy. After passing this level, the future is bright for Fatty Lu. The next question is how to force or induce Wu Sangui's rebellion in the shortest time. king.

Back in Qujing, Shang Wanyi had to take Lu Bangjing to cry in front of Fatty Lu. Uncle Qin Chuanwu, cousins ​​Qin Yong and Qin Mo, and Fatty Lu's hard-core lackeys Li Tianzhi and Liu brothers who stayed in Qujing were also there. It is unavoidable to hold Fatty Lu and cry a few times, and tell each other how farewell we are. Although these scenes are touching, they are really boring, so I won't detail them here.Only Fatty Lu's former deputy in Qujing, Chen Dou, who has now officially served as the magistrate of Qujing County, still has the gloomy and ugly face of Fatty Lu who owes him 800 taels of silver, but the occasional gleam of joy in the eyes of a pair of mice is still there. It made Fatty Lu feel extremely warm - Qujing would be better.

He is born with a busy life, and his ass is still hot in the position of prefect, and he has not even spared time to meet with civil and military officials from one county, one guard and three prefectures in Qujing Prefecture as usual. Sha Xiangde, the confidant of the new governor of Yunnan Zhu Guozhi, took The official document from the governor's yamen came to Fatty Lu and handed it to Fatty Lu.When Fatty Lu opened the official document for a look, he saw that the content was to order him to go to Kunming with Sha Xiangde to pay a visit to Zhu Zhongcheng, the governor of Yunnan.

"Sha Bantou, it's not that I'm an official who refuses to obey orders." Holding the official document, Fatty Lu, who was determined to restrain himself from attracting attention, looked a little embarrassed, and said in a low voice to Sha Xiangde, the head of Zhu Guozhi's yamen: "It's just an official." I just took over, and I haven't received the officials of Qujing Mansion as usual, and now it's autumn harvest, and there are a lot of miscellaneous tasks such as cutting medicine, boiling ointment, and harvesting of Eight Banner Fushou Gao. It's really hard to go away. Can you trouble Shaban Head back to Mr. Zhongcheng, wait for the officials to be busy for a while, and then go to Kunming to pay a visit to Mr. Zhongcheng?"

To change to another magistrate, the governor dared to shirk when summoned. Sha Xiangde, who was notorious in Yunnan and would never be under Zhu Guozhi, had already pulled his face down and said the ugly words.However, in view of Fatty Lu's tough background, and his reputation for contradicting and punishing his boss, it is rare for Shaban, who has been ordered by Zhu Guozhi, to not lose his temper. He just tried his best to smile and said: "Lu Futai, Of course I understand your difficulties, but this was summoned by Lord Zhongcheng, and it is also Lord Zhongcheng's special care for Master Futai, if Master Futai refuses, I really can't explain to Lord Zhongcheng."

"But I'm really too busy here." Fatty Lu was extremely troubled, and asked tentatively: "Sha Bantou, I'm sorry to bother you to report to Mr. Zhongcheng, and I will be dismissed from office for 20 days... oh, half a month later, I will be dismissed from office." I must go to Kunming to meet Lord Zhongcheng, is that all right?"

"My lord Futai, if I can make the decision for my lord Zhongcheng, then I don't need to ask my lord Futai, I will agree immediately." Sha Xiangde smiled more humbly, but he refused to make any concessions, just said with a smile on his face: "However, before I came to Qujing with a lowly position, Mr. Zhongcheng made a special statement. If you want to be humble, you must invite Mr. Futai to Qujing. Otherwise, you will definitely be punished for the crime of incompetence. Therefore, Mr. Futai must be considerate of us. Don't make it difficult for a humble job to be a errand."

Sha Xiangde's attitude was so firm that Fatty Lu felt awkward and helpless for a moment. At this moment, Chen Dou, who was standing by the side, suddenly made a gesture to Fatty Lu and weighed his right hand a few times. Fatty Lu suddenly realized and secretly After scolding himself for forgetting all about the officialdom since he hadn't been an official for a few days, he quickly beckoned Xiao Erlang to his face, whispered a few words in his ear, and Xiao Erlang took orders and left in a hurry.

After a while, Xiao Erlang came back from the door with two heavy packages, ran to Sha Xiangde, put the small package in front of Sha Xiangde first, nodded and bowed and said: "Sha Bantou, you came all the way to Qujing , a little native product is not a tribute, and I hope you don't dislike it."

After finishing speaking, Xiao Erlang put down the big package again, and said with an apologetic smile: "As for this package of local specialties, it is a little inconspicuous thing that my young master respects Mr. Zhongcheng. Pass it over. For the hard work, my young master will definitely be rewarded in the future."

Sha Xiangde weighed the package that Fatty Lu gave him, and found that the weight was at least a hundred taels. He smiled all over his face, stood up and cupped his hands and said, "Master Xie Futai, please don't worry, I will return to Kunming with humble duties." Afterwards, I must truthfully report the difficulties of Master Futai to Master Zhongcheng, please give Lord Futai some more time, and go to Kunming after Master Futai finishes his business."

"If that's the case, then there will be Mr. Shaban." Fatty Lu bowed his hand to return the salute, and then ordered: "Erlang, invite Mr. Sha to go down to eat, and let Mr. Sha be served the best food and drinks in the kitchen. Make Mr. Mr. Sha feel at home." Xiang De thanked repeatedly, and happily followed Xiao Erlang down.

As soon as Sha Xiangde and Xiao Erlang left, Fatty Lu smiled wryly at Chen Dou: "Thank you, Lord Chen, for reminding me that I haven't been an official for half a year, so I almost forgot about this."

"Master Futai is polite, it's just a little effort." Chen Dou said indifferently: "However, I have to remind Master Futai that your hundreds of taels of silver today will definitely not be able to send our Lord Zhongcheng, our Mr. Zhongcheng came to Yunnan this time to take up the post, and the money received was clearly marked. Just for the meeting ceremony, the prefects of the first-class prefectures each get 3000 taels of silver, and the other prefects each get [-] taels of silver. [-] per person in first-class counties, [-] in second-class counties, and [-] in third-class counties.

"What else?" Fatty Lu was very curious.

"It's absolutely true." Chen Douzheng nodded, and said, "Feng Su, the magistrate of Dali, is one of the rare high-ranking and upright officials among our Western Selected Officials. Because he couldn't get the money for meeting, he was forced to cry by our Lord Zhongcheng." In the end, the prince paid 3000 taels of silver for him, and then he barely managed to pass." (Note: Historical facts are contained in "Jiashen Chaoshi Xiaoji" and "Dian Shizhilu".)
"Even Feng Laoshi is blackmailing like this? The prince doesn't care about this?" Fatty Lu was even more surprised.

"Know how to flatter." Chen Dou said disdainfully: "When appreciating peonies in April, the prince made a peony poem. Not only did he immediately sing the poem himself, but he also forced all the officials present to compose poems to accompany him. Also, When the other governors met the prince, including the previous one in Lin Zhongcheng, they all gave thousands of salutes, but he bowed down and saluted, so although the prince looked down on him, he didn't bother to talk to him because of his flattery. After all, for the prince, it is much better to let a corrupt and bribe-taking sycophant be the governor than to let someone like Gan Wenkun be the governor of Yunnan."

"Hehe, it's really the best." Fatty Lu laughed out loud, and couldn't help but think of Zhu Guozhi in the later drama, who was as clear as water and bright as a mirror, who was so angry that Hai Rui shamed Bao Gong to death, and finally killed his wife and son. Sacrificial to the mite——As for what kind of super-strength metal the face of these mite screenwriters is made of, Fatty Lu can't figure out what to say.

After laughing, Fatty Lu said again: "So, this old man called me back to Kunming, probably because he wants to get a lot of money from me? But it doesn't matter, as long as it can be spent with money, it is basically better." deal with."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Chen Dou shook his head, and said with a serious face: "The official suspects that Zhu Guozhi's urgent summoning of adults to return to Kunming this time is likely to be related to the taxation of the Eight Banners drug. , The limelight in the imperial court is really tight during this time. The officials are also worried that Zhu Guozhi might make a big fuss by taking advantage of the fact that Qujing Prefecture is the only state capital in Yunnan that allows the private cultivation of Eight Banners Fushou Gao, and let adults take the lead The role is to cooperate with the court to put pressure on the prince on the issue of taxation of the Eight Banners drug and life cream."

Fatty Lu was stunned for a while, then patted the tea table after a while, and complained: "It's better not to be caught by you, otherwise, I'll be like a mouse getting into the bellows, and I'll be pissed at both ends! Standing on the side of the imperial court, I agree to treat Baqi Fushou Gao Levy taxes, levy heavy taxes, then the prince will not tear me up? Standing on the prince’s side and resolutely opposing the imperial court’s taxation of the Eight Banners drug, then the suspicion that I managed to get rid of, won’t come back to me?”

"I also hope that my guess is wrong." Chen Dou said helplessly: "However, judging from various signs, this possibility is too great. I even suspect that the court just let you go at this juncture. Returning to Qujing to serve as the magistrate may be the trick of your enemy again, my lord, in order to force you into a dilemma."

Fatty Lu was dumbfounded, and after careful calculation and analysis for a while, Fatty Lu couldn't help but patted his fat forehead and began to whine, "It's too early to be happy, it's too early to be happy, maybe I fell into someone else's trap again, and I actually Are you still happy like this? Damn it, this time it’s probably because of that bitch Kong Si who deliberately recommended me back to Qujing as the magistrate, in order to push me to the forefront.”

………………

"Ah! Ahh!"

Fatty Lu seems to have really wronged Kong Sigege this time. Almost at the same time in the capital, Kong Sigege, who was riding naked on the body of Xiong Cilu, who was working hard, suddenly sneezed twice. She asked with concern: "Si Gege, did you catch a cold? Do you want to change your posture?"

"No need, my mother is not made of tofu, so she will catch a cold in July?" Kong Sizhen snorted confidently, and then asked doubtfully: "But you, why are you always secretly sneering these days for no reason? It was the same just now, and you still laughed so happily, did you pick up the big ingot?"

"No? Sigege read it wrong, when did I secretly sneer?" Xiong Dashi denied it, but there was still an uncontrollable cold smile on the corner of his mouth, and he said in his heart: "It's time, you Fatty Lu It's time to go back to Qujing Mansion, and it's time to find out that Lao Tzu asked the emperor to release you back to Yunnan, isn't he really afraid of you?"

………………

The deal was done, and he found that he might fall into the enemy's trap and couldn't get out. In desperation, Fatty Lu had no choice but to put this issue aside for the time being, and concentrate on dealing with business and making up for it. Think of the loss of weapon technology stagnation caused by his temporary departure from Yunnan.On the official side, Zhu Fangdan and Chen Dou were there to help, Fatty Lu really didn't need to worry too much, he just gave Zhu Fangdan a task, and then he plunged into the firearms camp on Nule Peak to get busy.

Fatty Lu explained the mission to Zhu Fangdan as follows. In view of the backward medical system of this era, the army has a serious shortage of military medical reserves and training, and the death rate of wounded soldiers is extremely high. Based on the province's unique Panax notoginseng, research and development - Yunnan Baiyao!At the same time, thanks to the compradors of later generations, Fatty Lu remembered some of the formulas of Yunnan Baiyao published in the United States, and provided these formulas to Zhu Fangdan for research and matching, so that he could come up with Yunnan Baiyao and the safeties in Yunnan Baiyao at all costs!
Fatty Lu believed that as long as Zhu Fangdan could produce Yunnan Baiyao ahead of schedule as he wished, then on the anti-Qing battlefield, the more courageous Yunnan-Guizhou soldiers would definitely make those mite and dog traitors drink a pot, and at the same time, it could greatly make up for the population of Yunnan-Guizhou people. Insufficient defects have saved the lives of countless brave soldiers.

My long-term enemy has to be eliminated. In order to eliminate the invaders better and faster, Fatty Lu not only designed several airship control technologies during the nearly half a year of leaving Yunnan, but handed them over to the Yuxi Daying Camp in Pingxi Palace for experimental application. , to check the actual effect, and designed a very advanced fragmentation grenade in an extremely vicious way-put Sanhao brand safety gunpowder or No. The fuse can be ignited, and success is achieved in one fell swoop, the power is amazing.

In addition, Fatty Lu also designed the [-]-pound bronze howitzer invented in the Napoleon era in an extremely insidious way. He also found the best formula of copper-tin eight-to-one bronze, and started trial production, intending to make up for the bulky and backward red gun. The various weaknesses of the barbarian cannon - the biggest advantage of this bronze cannon is its light weight, convenience and flexibility, and its large muzzle can be fired and almost never exploded. more obvious.

After working so hard for ten days, on the eighth day of August, when Qujing Folk's Eight Banners drug purchase work was coming to an end, Fatty Lu returned to Qujing City full of exhaustion, but before Fatty Lu could lie down and take a good rest After a while, Chen Dou hurried to Fatty Lu again.As soon as they met, Chen Dou said straight to the point: "It's good that Master Futai is back. I originally planned to use pigeons to contact him. Please return to Qujing City as soon as possible."

"What happened?" Fatty Lu asked while wiping his face with a cotton cloth.

"The message from Kunming was just sent by carrier pigeon, and Zhu Guozhi is here." Chen Dou replied, "I set off from Kunming this morning, and the destination is Qujing.

"Didn't you say that I was allowed to arrive in Kunming before August [-]th?" Fatty Lu asked suspiciously, "Why did you change your mind and come to Qujing by yourself?"

"There is a [-]% possibility that it is for the taxation of the Eight Banners drug products." Chen Dou replied decisively: "Because the carrier pigeon also brought an order from the prince, if Zhu Guozhi asks to tax the Eight Banners drug products, he will absolutely I can't agree. In addition, I want you to try to get the court's minimum taxation limit from Zhu Guozhi and Gan Wenkun's mouth, and see how the court plans to tax the Eight Banners drugs."

"Crack." The cotton towel in Fatty Lu's hand fell to the ground, and his fat face showed a dignified expression.

"Master Futai, what's the matter with you?" Chen Dou was amazed and asked: "With your character, you shouldn't be so frightened by such things, right? Zhu Guozhi forced you to tax the Eight Banners medicine, and you used the excuse that the court has If you don’t have to pay taxes to refuse Baqi Drugs, and if you put some money to send that old thing, you should be able to pass the test, don’t you need to worry about it?”

"That's not what I'm worried about." Fatty Lu didn't bother to pick up the cotton towel, so he straightened up his fat face that had only been wiped halfway, sat on the chair next to him, and said with a gloomy face: "What I'm worried about is that the prince is right. The attitude of this matter, judging from the order that the prince asked me to try to find out the bottom limit of the court's tax collection from Zhu Guozhi and Gan Wenkun, we, the prince, are probably playing with the idea of ​​passing by, as long as the court collects the Eight Banners. It's not too much, if the prince can accept it, then the prince will never fight to the death with the imperial court."

"Yeah, why didn't I think of this just now?" Chen Dou was also stunned, and exclaimed, "With the character of the prince, it is very possible to do such a thing, and no one can persuade him."

"We are such a prince, why is it so disappointing? I have already produced so many good things, why is he still undecided, and confront Emperor Mazi head-on to the end? Still have the idea of ​​muddling through?" Fatty Lu Moaning in pain, he really couldn't understand the old traitor Wu's way of thinking, how could he be so weak and deceitful?

After thinking for a while, Fatty Lu suddenly slapped the table hard, gritted his teeth and said, "No, I have to find a way to go to Kunming quickly. I must not make any more concessions, let alone fall into the trap of boiling frogs in warm water!"

"Master Futai, what do you mean, you want to persuade the prince not to make the slightest concession on the issue of taxation of the Eight Banners drug and longevity cream?" Chen Dou asked tentatively.Seeing Fatty Lu nodding, Chen Dou sighed, and said in a low voice, "Master Futai, if you plan to do this, I think your chances of success are extremely slim."

"Master Futai, you can think about it carefully. If you can send the court with a small amount of money, the prince and the generals under him, why would you take the risk of doing what the Lord Futai wants? Why not spend a lot of money?" A little money can be used to feed the dog and buy a peace? So the officials think that the plan of Mr. Futai is impossible to succeed—even if the prince agrees, the civil and military officials under the prince will not agree."

Fatty Lu bowed his head in silence, and asked after a while, "Then what's Mr. Chen's idea?"

"Master Futai, why can't you change your mind?" Chen Dou's voice suddenly became extremely cold, "Since you are destined to be unable to persuade the prince and the court to die to the end, Mr. Futai, why can't you give it a try and let our pockmark The emperor and the imperial court have adopted a tougher attitude towards the prince, offering a condition that the prince will never accept, forcing the prince and the entire Pingxi Palace to the point of no return?!"

Fatty Lu's body shook, and when he raised his head again, a smile appeared on the corner of Fatty Lu's mouth, and he asked, "Master Chen, how about we burn yellow paper to worship our brothers?"

(End of this chapter)