scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 73 Listening to Fatty Telling Stories

"General Murima, the humble position can guarantee it." Fatty Lu said to Murima very seriously: "If the general listens to the story told by the humble position, he will definitely be inspired."

"Mulima, this is the only chance that the Lord has given you Guerjia brothers." After speaking earnestly, Fatty Lu said more seriously in his heart: "I was afraid that I would completely change the course of history, and even make Wu Sangui unable to rebel. I'm even more afraid that leaving Ao Bai, an experienced veteran who is difficult to deal with on the battlefield, I don't want to get involved in this matter, but seeing that I have misunderstood your Ao family brothers for so many years, I will give you a chance. Given this opportunity, whether you can seize it or not depends on you.”

"Tell me a story, surely it will inspire you?" It's also the brothers of the Ao family who are blessed to the heart. They are known for their roughness and irascibility. First, because there is nothing to do at this meeting, and second, seeing Fatty Lu's serious expression, she made a strange mistake. He promised: "Well, anyway, I have nothing else to do at this meeting. I know there is a teahouse near here, which is specially used for officials entering the palace to rest and wait. Let's go sit and listen to your stories while hiding from the snow."

Fatty Lu nodded, and then Murima led the way, leading Fatty Lu to a small alley between Meridian Gate and Qianmen. There was indeed a teahouse in the alley. Murima asked the boss to prepare a private room and brought a charcoal basin. He ordered another pot of good tea and some snacks, sat down face to face with Fatty Lu, and then said with a smile: "Master Lu, tell me quickly, the general is all ears, and I will go to the palace gate to pick up my elder brother for a while."

"General Murima, can you let your people occupy the two rooms next door?" Fatty Lu said cautiously: "Also, please arrange the most reliable people to guard the door and the window of this room."

"Lord Lu, what is the story? Do you need to do this?" No matter how careless Murima was, she could tell that something was wrong, and asked Fatty Lu in surprise.Fatty Lu didn't answer, but his expression became more serious.Murima stared at Fatty Lu for a while, and finally couldn't hold back her curiosity. She got up and went out to arrange for her confidants to guard the front, back, left, and right sides of the room. Even the beams of the room were manned to prevent people from being stolen. It was possible to listen, and then he returned to the room and said, "Okay, Mr. Lu, everything is arranged according to what you said, can we talk now?"

"Don't blame General Murima." Fatty Lu cupped his hands, "But after listening to this story, General Murima, you will definitely understand the difficulties of being humble."

"Come on, you're driving me to death." Murima, whose appetite was completely whetted, urged, and filled a cup of tea for Fatty Lu and himself.

"Thank you, General." Fatty Lu thanked him, took the hot teacup, held the hot teacup and said slowly: "General Murima, I want to tell this story. There is a story that happened in a western country. In that country called Daman, there was a young king and a meritorious veteran minister. The young king ascended the throne at the age of eight, and was assisted by four veteran ministers. Later, the four veteran ministers died. Two, and there is an old official who is old and sick and doesn't care about things, and all the important affairs of the Daman court are decided by the last old official."

"In the end, this old minister seems to be surnamed Gua. I can't remember the specific title. I only know that he has made great contributions. He has made countless contributions to the little king's family. He is the number one warrior in Daman—that's fine. Like the first Baturu."

Fatty Lu's words were not very cryptic, and even a bit explicit. Of course Murima understood who Fatty Lu was really talking about. Murima held her breath and listened patiently.Fatty Lu continued on his own: "Six years after he ascended the throne, the 14-year-old little king married the queen and became involved in politics. At this time, the old minister surnamed Gua and the little emperor had a conflict. The old minister surnamed Gua killed several treacherous ministers whom the little king liked. The little king was very angry, and felt that the veteran surnamed Gua had too much power, so he wanted to take back the power of this veteran minister and kill the whole family of the veteran surnamed Gua—— Of course, this veteran’s brother is also included.”

"The little king even wants to kill the old minister's brother?" Murima raised her eyebrows,
"Of course." Fatty Lu nodded, and said: "The old minister surnamed Gua is too powerful. Most of the important officials of the Daman court are his people, and his brothers are very good at fighting. There are countless old troops in the army. If the little king wants to kill the old minister surnamed Gua, but doesn’t kill his own brother, what if his own brother leads troops to rebel?”

"Are you sure that the little king will kill the old minister surnamed Gua?" Murima asked nervously, "The old minister surnamed Gua has made so many contributions and is so loyal to the little king's father. The little king wants to kill him too?"

"The rabbit is dead and the dog is cooking, and the bird is dead and the bow is hidden. It is the same in ancient and modern China and abroad." Fatty Lu said unhurriedly: "But I just heard this story by accident, and I don't know if it is true. Is General Ma still interested in hearing how the little king plans to kill this old minister surnamed Gua and his whole family?"

"Of course I want to hear it." Murima nodded vigorously and urged: "Lord Lu, please speak quickly, I'm listening."

"Okay, then I will continue, but I would like to emphasize that this is just a story. After leaving this teahouse, I will not admit it." Fatty Lu smiled, and then continued: "Of course, the little king wants It is not so easy to kill this old minister surnamed Gua, because this old general surnamed Gua not only has many friends and subordinates in the court, but also has extremely high martial arts skills. Fighting alone, no one can match this old general. So the little king held his temper and made a very strict and detailed plan to deal with this old minister."

"What plan?" Murima said nervously: "If Mr. Lu still remembers the detailed steps of this plan, please tell me the exact details. I will be very grateful."

"The little king has a lot of steps in his plan. I remember he wanted to do this first." Fatty Lu recalled, "First of all, the little king wanted to make the veteran surnamed Gua take it lightly. The old minister surnamed Gua relaxed his vigilance, thinking that the little king respected him very much and would not attack him. Then, the little king recruited a large group of half-grown children into the palace, and let them practice boxing—boxing is a Western style. Martial arts are equivalent to our Buku in the Qing Dynasty, and we plan to use these half-grown children to deal with this old minister surnamed Gua."

"Semi-old kid? Boxing? Buku?!" No matter how stupid Murima was, she could understand what Fatty Lu meant. The shadows of the young guards Cao Yin, Li Xu, Lang Tan and Sun Dianchen also came from Mulima like lightning. Lima's mind flashed—Murima suddenly realized, "Damn it! No wonder these guys practice Buku every day, so it's for this!"

"It's a good idea!" Knowing this, Murima couldn't help but snorted coldly, "Just relying on these three-legged cat skills, do you want to achieve your goal?"

"Of course these three-legged cats can't beat the old general surnamed Gua, but this little king is very insidious, and he has prepared a lot of tricks." Fatty Lu said slowly: "The third step, the little king is to control the army in the capital, and use all of his strength to control the army." After trying all means, they finally brought the admiral of their country's capital over, and asked the admiral to lead troops to blockade the capital at any time, and catch the old general surnamed Gua's family in one go. The fourth step, the little king contacted the three major families of their country , Aijia (Aixinjueluo), Hejia (Hesheli) and Niujia (Niu Colu), who are going to deal with the old general's Guajia, want to grab all the treasures and land of the Guajia and distribute them to these three families .”

Hearing this, Murima's face turned pale, from white to blue, then from green to black, and finally suppressed the shock and anger in her heart, and tried to calmly say: "The story is very exciting, Mr. Lu, please continue. "

"The fifth step is to transfer all the cronies and confidantes of General Gualao." At this point, Fatty Lu can only continue, "Either use the excuse of promotion, or the excuse of running a job, or use The excuse for the transfer, in short, is to get all the cronies of the old general surnamed Gua out of the capital, and the cronies of the little king took the opportunity to control the key yamen in the capital. At this time, the little king will start to attack."

"How do you do it?" Murima asked nervously.

"How to do it is divided into six small steps." Fatty Lu deliberately slowed down his voice so that Murima could easily remember, "The first step is to find an excuse that the old minister surnamed Gua can't refuse, and deceive him." Enter the palace. In the second step, the uncle of the little king and queen, and the uncle surnamed Suo, guarded a building called Yingwu..., yes, at the gate of Yingwu Hall (Wuying Hall), and confiscated Gualaao General's weapon."

"The third step is to prepare a special chair for the old general surnamed Gua. One leg of the chair is sawed off and then simply glued on, so that after the old general surnamed Gua sits on this chair, he can't use it. If you can't jump up quickly, you won't be able to hurt the little king."

"In the fourth step, more than a dozen young masters carefully trained by the little king are in ambush in the main hall. The two young masters with the best martial arts, one stands behind General Gua's chair to serve, and the other young master gives General Gua a gift. The tea, the teacup has been boiled in boiling water for more than an hour, it is extremely hot."

"The fifth step, when the old general Gua took the teacup, he picked up the lid of the teacup and felt it was very hot, but he didn't dare to drop the lid of the teacup, because it would be disrespectful, so he could only raise his hand subconsciously, and turned his body to his legs. Use force on the right side of the chair that was sawed off. At this time, the young master behind the chair will push the chair forcefully, causing General Gua to fall to the ground with the chair!"

"In the sixth step, the little king will shout, ordering people to help the old general surnamed Gua, and the dozen or so young masters who are ambushing in the hall will rush forward, pretending to help the old general, the old general surnamed Gua He was fooled, thinking that these young masters were really here to help him, and he didn't resist, so he was pressed to the ground and tied up by these more than a dozen young masters. Then the little king stood up, read out the fabricated crime, and put the old general surnamed Gua Execute first, then kill the entire family of the old general surnamed Gua, and regain all power!"

"General Murima, that's the end of the story of the humble job." After finishing the long speech, Fatty Lu took a sip of tea and asked Murima with a smile on his face: "How is it? It's exciting, right?"

Murima was tongue-tied, the hairs all over her body stood on end, and the hand holding the tea was shaking.After a long time, Murima put down her teacup and stood up, bowed to the ground with her fists clasped, and said solemnly: "Thank you, Mr. Lu, for the wonderful story. I, Murima, will remember it. I will never forget Master Lu's kindness in pointing us."

"General Murima, I didn't tell you anything." Fatty Lu blinked his eyes and said with a sly smile: "I just told you a story, a Western story."

"Understood, Master Lu just told me a story." Murima nodded vigorously, and then said in a low voice: "This general asks again, where did you hear the story, Master Lu? Who asked you to tell it?" my story?"

"Where did you hear it?" Fatty Lu scratched his head and replied, "It seems to be in Yunnan. Originally, the one in Yunnan wanted to tell General Murima or the general's elder brother personally, but he was afraid of you guys. Misunderstood, so I asked the humble staff to find an opportunity to tell General Murima, believe it or not, and follow General Murima yourself."

"Wu Sangui used his eyeliner to discover Xiao Mazi's vicious plan. He was afraid that we would misunderstand that he was trying to sow discord, so he asked Fatty Lu to tell us." Murima nodded secretly, already understanding Fatty Lu's implication.

"Also." Fatty Lu added: "A few days ago, I had the opportunity to tell this story to Ao Zhongtang, but the discussion on the salary was imminent, and the son was afraid that Zhongtang would misunderstand, so I asked the humble officer to wait a few more days. Now the discussion The payment has already started, I believe that Ao Zhongtang and General Murima will not misunderstand that the prince and the son have other plans, right?"

"Understood." Murima nodded vigorously again, thinking that it was good. If the Pingxi Palace had disclosed this secret to our brother a few days ago, the eldest brother would definitely suspect that the Pingxi Palace was sowing discord, fabricating lies to deceive the elder brother on the matter of salary negotiation. support.Now that the salary discussion has started, the eldest brother must have expressed his position on the salary discussion. The fact that Fatty Lu told me this is enough to prove that the news is true. The Pingxi Palace did not sell Xiao Mazi for military salary.

Thinking of this, Murima came up with another thought, "Pingxi Palace sold such a big favor to our brother, if elder brother offends Pingxi Palace too much in discussing the payment today, don't expect Pingxi Palace to support our brothers in the future! No way! , I have to find a way to send the news to my eldest brother immediately, and advise him not to offend the Pingxi Palace too much, so that there is no one who supports him."

"Lord Lu, the tea is almost done, let's go." With a firm mind, Murima immediately stood up and said with a smile: "If you have any good stories in the future, Master Lu, remember to talk about it in front of me, today's story It's wonderful, Murima will repay Master Lu."

"General Murima, you are being polite. If there is a good story in the future, the humble official will definitely come to you." Fatty Lu smirked, agreed casually, and said in his heart: "I guess it will be this time, next time If you are not dead when we meet again, then we must have met on the battlefield. Sun, what will happen if I do this? Will history develop in a better direction, or in a worse direction?"

………………

After breaking up with Murima, I returned to the Meridian Gate of the Imperial Palace with my mind full of worries. It was almost noon, but the salary meeting held in the Imperial Palace was still not over. They must still be arguing fiercely.Fortunately, Fatty Lu had already sat down and prepared for the protracted battle, and told the Liu family brothers to buy snacks and dry food to satisfy the hunger of the dog legs, and got into the warm sedan chair with Mrs. Tang to continue to be patient.

Time passed by every minute and every second, the copper Tang Pozi had changed the boiling water twice, there was still no movement in front of the palace gate, Fatty Lu could still hold his breath, but Xiao Erlang, Li Tianzhi and others began to fidget, Xiao Erlang still I deliberately went to the bearers of other officials to inquire about the situation, and ran back to Fatty Lu and said, "Master, I just asked about it, and they said that the imperial court rarely lasts for such a long time, especially since Emperor Kangxi Since he came to the throne, there has never been a morning court or a big court that did not end until noon."

"Yeah." Fatty Lu snorted with his nose, which was an answer, but he didn't move.

"Master, why are you not in a hurry?" Xiao Erlang said in a low voice, "Could it be that the eldest son has a problem in the palace? The military pay is too high, which angered the emperor?"

"So what?" Fatty Lu snorted coldly, "The son is a proton, unless the emperor wants to force the prince against him, would he dare to kill him?"

"But what if the emperor cuts the military salary too much?" Xiao Erlang reminded: "If the emperor refuses to pay more to the army, what can the prince do with him? Then the prince will ask you to settle the score!"

"It's up to fate, it's something I can't decide." Fatty Lu sighed, not sure what position Xiao Mazi would take, he would make a little compromise to temporarily stabilize the San Francisco, and then turn around after Oboi is dealt with When it comes to cleaning up San Francisco, I still stand firm and never compromise. I would rather force against San Francisco now than let myself be ripped off.I don't even know what position Aobai will take, whether he intends to sacrifice Xiao Mazi to please San Francisco, or whether he intends to join hands with Xiao Mazi to suppress San Francisco with all his strength.

Calm on the surface but anxiously waiting for Shen Shi, Fatty Lu finally couldn't sit still, got up and got out of the sedan chair, and walked around the square outside the Meridian Gate with his hands behind his back. A large group of civil and military officials.Seeing this, Fatty Lu immediately rushed to the gate of the palace, looking for Wu Yingxiong, as if he had been pumped with blood.

The first ones came out were a large group of ordinary officials, who were talking and laughing, or whispering, and most of them were complaining, beating their backs and chests, crying for hunger and thirst, but Wu Yingxiong was not among them.Immediately afterwards, brothers Shang Zhixiao and Shang Zhili came out side by side. The two brothers were dejected and depressed. They turned a blind eye to Fatty Lu, and Fatty Lu didn't dare to ask them.Then there are brothers Geng Juzhong and Geng Xinghe. The expressions of these two brothers are a little more relaxed, but they went straight to the sedan chair as soon as they left the palace, and they didn't talk to Fatty Lu at all, and then there was the sound of liquid excretion coming from the sedan chair. The two brothers are also suffering enough.

After years of tormented waiting, Wu Yingxiong's solitary figure finally appeared in front of the palace gate, with his hands behind his back, his expression was calm, and he walked at a slow pace, making it impossible for people to see his emotions.Fatty Lu held his breath, until Wu Yingxiong walked in front of him, and then moved his lips to ask a question. He never thought that Wu Yingxiong would ask, "Is there any water and snacks? I'm starving and thirsty."

"Yes, yes." Fatty Lu agreed repeatedly, rushed back to the sedan chair, brought the snacks and tea that had been prepared, Wu Yingxiong took them, and started to gobble them up on the spot.

"Master, how is it?" Fatty Lu was so anxious that he was about to cry, and asked anxiously, "Is there any agreement on the salary of the Yunnan-Guizhou army this year?"

"It's agreed." Wu Yingxiong said calmly, "160 million taels."

"It's only 160 million taels?!" Fatty Lu froze there as if struck by lightning. Wu Yingxiong asked for salary, but was cut off 300 million taels instead?
"That's right, it's only 160 million taels!" Wu Yingxiong nodded, stuffed another piece of dim sum into his mouth, and then added with a smile: "In addition, there are 180 million taels from Yunnan, plus the 160 million taels from Guizhou—so the total It is 340 million taels, 40 taels more than last year, and more than 100 million taels more than what the father hoped."

"My lord!" Fatty Lu almost didn't yell out, but considering that this was outside the Meridian Gate, Fatty Lu finally suppressed the urge to strangle Wu Yingxiong to death, and choked with tears, "My lord, you really know how to do this!" Making fun of the humble job, the humble job was almost scared to death... woo."

"Hehe, it's my fault. I forgot that you are more anxious than me." Wu Yingxiong smiled easily, patted Fatty Lu on the shoulder and smiled, "Don't cry, this time you are the first success, father will not treat you badly, I I won't treat you badly either."

"Woo..." Fatty Lu agreed with choked sobs, but couldn't help but shed tears of excitement.

"Did you see that unlucky Shang Zhixiao just now?" Wu Yingxiong was also very relaxed and excited after the salary dispute was won, and he couldn't help but smirked: "He lost the worst today. Two taels of silver, and was forced by the emperor to cut off 60 taels of silver! This guy is destined to have no chance to be a prince in this life."

"What about Geng Juzhong?" Fatty Lu asked curiously again.

"The military salary has increased by 10 taels compared to last year, and another 20 taels will be allocated separately to build warships." Wu Yingxiong said relaxedly: "Although there is not much added, mosquitoes are also meat. At least there will be an explanation when I go home."

"Then Guangxi..." Fatty Lu wanted to ask, but he caught sight of Kong Sizhen coming out with Tuhai and the others dejectedly. The expression on his face was as miserable as his own mother had died.

"This bitch has lost enough." Wu Yingxiong said with a smirk: "In order to force us to make concessions, she sang with the emperor and took the lead in petitioning for cuts in military pay and downsizing of the army. In desperation, I almost agreed to the military salary of 260 million. But I don’t know why, after a short break in the middle, Ao Zhongtang, who had always been very tough before, suddenly changed his position, and brought many cronies to support us in Yunnan and Guizhou to increase the salary. The resurgence of Shuixi chieftains, and the extermination of the remnants of the former Ming Dynasty on the border of Yunnan."

"Ao Zhongtang suddenly changed his position, why?" Fatty Lu was very surprised.

"How do I know?" Wu Yingxiong gave Fatty Lu a white look, and said again: "In short, Ao Zhongtang suddenly became very firm in his support for raising wages in Yunnan and Guizhou. He also asked his confidant, Minister of the Household Department, Marseille, to figure out the necessary military expenses for our Yunnan-Guizhou—damn, I really don’t know how that old Marseille figured out, it was 360% higher than our estimated necessary expenses A lot! In the end, Ao Zhongtang decided to give us [-] million taels in Yunnan and Guizhou!"

"Seeing this, I was frightened, so I took the initiative to give in and agreed to the emperor's price of 340 million taels." Wu Yingxiong smiled wryly, and said: "In this way, Kong Sizhen, who had already taken the initiative to ask for an order to disarm the army and cut his salary, fell down." Big Mold, couldn’t keep his words back, the court found a balance, forcibly cut 45 taels of military pay, and had to lay off 4000 troops.”

"Haha, it's fun, it's fun!" Fatty Lu patted his thigh quietly, screaming in his heart - this time when Kong Sizhen returned to Guangxi, the gang of old Qiuba in Guangxi might have the desire to fuck her to death.

"Let's go back and talk about it in detail. This is not the place." Wu Yingxiong waved his hand and said, "Anyway, I really want to thank Ao Zhongtang for his help this time. Let's go back and discuss how to thank him."

"Of course." Fatty Lu agreed, and was about to help Wu Yingxiong into the sedan chair, when Oboi's hearty laughter came from behind him, "Nephew Yingxiong, Mr. Sanhao, are you going back so soon? Why don't you go to my husband's house? "

"Greetings to Ao Zhongtang." Wu Yingxiong and Lu Fatty didn't dare to neglect, they quickly turned around to salute, but saw Ao Bai leading a large group of henchmen and running dogs with a smile on his face, and Ao Bai's younger brother Murima was also at his side.

"You're welcome, you're welcome." Aobai smiled and helped Wu Yingxiong and Lu Fatty up one by one, and then smiled at Wu Yingxiong and said, "Nephew Yingxiong, this year I gave your father 40 taels of military pay, is that enough? If If it’s not enough, just ask, I’ll find a way for you, now that the Central Plains has basically settled down, the treasury and the treasury can be relaxed, your father’s side is hard, so it’s time to add more.”

"Should be enough." Wu Yingxiong was frightened by Aobai's previous arrogance and embarrassment, and hurriedly cupped his hands, and said vaguely: "Ao Shaobao's love for our Yungui soldiers and people will never be forgotten by the Pingxi Palace, and today my nephew has not done it." Get ready, wait for my little nephew to prepare a small gift tomorrow, and then go to the mansion to pay New Year greetings to Mr. Zhongtang."

"Success, then it's settled. Tomorrow the old man will host a banquet at home." Obai clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Yifeng will also come at that time. I also want to hear Yifeng's story."

"Tell a story? What do you mean?" Wu Yingxiong was taken aback.

"No way? It turns out that old man Ao suddenly changed his position because of this." Fatty Lu probably guessed something, and smiled bitterly in his heart: "I didn't expect that little story to be sold for so much money. This time, I have to rack my brains to make it up again." The story explained."

(End of this chapter)