It was after he was imprisoned in the backyard of the customs surveillance yamen with Wu Jianzhang that the imperial envoy who came to investigate the Wu family was Weng Xincun, the Minister of Works of the Ministry of Works. For this reason, Wu Chaoyue was extremely grateful to muttered secretly, "Fortunately, he just called Weng Xincun, not Weng Tonghe. If it was Weng Tonghe that bastard, then I would be miserable - even Li Hongzhang was beaten to death by him, let alone me."

Before Wu Jianzhang could find out that his baby grandson had offended Weng Xincun and his son to death, he kept comforting his baby grandson and said, "Sunny, it's okay, don't worry, if you help foreigners preach and buy land, even if the court refuses to agree to pursue the matter, it will definitely not be able to punish your death penalty. After your father received the news, he will definitely go to the capital to move immediately and try to save us. Your father has no other ability, and it is reliable to treat guests and give gifts. At worst, he can spend a few more money and there will be no problem."

After saying that, Wu Jianzhang comforted himself in his heart again: "There will be no serious crime, there will be no serious crime. Even if the court really wants to be beheaded, I will definitely rush to bear the beheaded crime and will protect my only grandson no matter what."

Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue were soon completely desperate. Although the servants who assisted Weng Xincun's subordinates to take care of them were all Wu Jianzhang's old subordinates, they had read some old feelings and did not abuse them, and they also secretly sent them quilts and food. However, just as Wu Jianzhang's grandchildren comforted each other and had dinner together, the door of the woodshed was suddenly pushed open. As the light of the lantern shone, Weng Xincun's son, who kowtowed to Wu Chaoyue during the day, came in with his head held high and greeted Wu Chaoyue very cordially and actively: "Young Master Wu, it's such a coincidence. I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon."

Wu Chaoyue didn't say anything, and finally understood the real reason why Weng Xincun deliberately locked himself and his comprador grandfather in the backyard of the customs office - it was obvious that he wanted to give his baby son a chance to avenge his anger. Wu Jianzhang, who still didn't know the specific situation, asked in confusion: "Young Master, do you know my grandson? I dare to ask your name Gao."

"You are kind to Mr. Wu, I dare not take the name of Gao, so I am Weng Tonghe." Weng Xincun's son smiled and reported a name that made Wu Chaoyue completely stunned. He said with a more friendly smile: "Wen Shangshu, the Ministry of Works, who came to Shanghai to handle the case under the order, is his father. Because my father was old and I happened to be free, I followed him to the side. This morning, I met Lingsun on the dock, which was considered a bit of friendship."

"So it's Mr. Weng!" Wu Jianzhang was shocked and regained hope. He hurriedly asked Weng Tonghe to sit down, while bowing to Weng Tonghe and begging him impatiently: "Mr. Weng, I hope you will say more beautiful words in front of Weng Shangshu, and you will be wronged by him. He is just young and ignorant. He has made a few foreign friends without knowing the importance of helping foreigners preach and buy land. I also ask you to give more beautiful words in front of Weng Shangshu. I will definitely give you good rewards."

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say." Weng Tonghe smiled and nodded, saying, "Mr. Wu must not say anything to repay you. My father's family tutoring is strict, so he won't accept anything from you. But you can rest assured that you don't say anything else. Just based on my friendship with your grandson, I will definitely say more good things to you and Mr. Wu in front of your father-Mr. Wu, don't you?"

When Wu Jianzhang heard this, he was overjoyed and quickly thanked Weng Tong and Qian En, and scolded Wu Chaoyue, who had never spoken, "Chaoyue, why are you still stunned? Let's thank Mr. Weng quickly?"

Wu Chaoyue didn't deal with the comprador grandfather's stubborn face. He looked at Weng Tonghe with expressionless expression. Weng Tonghe smiled. In his beautiful eyes, the pride of cats playing with mice was flashing. It was when Wu Jianzhang came up and picked Wu Chaoyue to salute Weng Tonghe. Wu Chaoyue said, "Grandpa, don't waste your energy. It's useless to ask him. This hypocrite's purpose is to gloat and avenge him. It's useless to ask him."

"What did you say? Why can't I understand?" Wu Jianzhang was completely stunned.

"I said it was useless to beg him because I forced him to kowtow to apologize this morning."

Wu Chaoyue said to Wu Jianchang calmly what happened this morning. Wu Jianchang was stunned and dumbfounded. His whole body was trembling for a long time and could not make any sound. Then he slapped Wu Chaoyue in the face and roared: "Little beast, are you looking for death! Even the son of the imperial envoy, you dare to offend him? And he offended so much?"

Wu Chaoyue was forced to death and said nothing. Wu Jianzhang immediately knelt down at Weng Tonghe and begged with a crying voice: "Your Madam Weng, the grandson of Xiaguan offended you, beg you for forgiveness. Xiaguan kowtowed to you and apologized to you. Chaojiu is only seventeen years old and doesn't know anything. Please let him go and let him go. Even if you lose everything, you will definitely repay your great kindness! You are the only one who wants to be rich! You are the only one who asks you to be...!"

As he kept begging, Wu Jianzhang kowtowed to Weng Tonghe repeatedly, looking extremely miserable, but Weng Tonghe was not moved at all. He even knocked his legs crossed and shook them with a smug smile on his face. His vicious eyes were always looking at Wu Chaoyue, clearly asking Wu Chaoyue to kneel down and kowtow to him and beg for mercy, and double the revenge on the dock.

If it were someone else, then for the sake of his own life, Wu Chaoyue might bow his head, but Weng Tonghe could not do it. Wu Chaoyue knew too much about how narrow Weng Tonghe was and how despicable his character was. In order to revenge Li Hongzhang's revenge for impeaching his brother Weng Tongshu, after serving as the Minister of Revenue, Weng Tonghe Leng did not give the Beiyang Navy a tael of silver in military expenditure, and encouraged Guangxu to force the Beiyang Navy, which had only one shell, to go to sea to fight the Japanese Navy, which led to the devastating defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895! So Wu Chaoyue knew very well that he bowed his head to Weng Tonghe and would never receive any effect except to humiliate himself.

It is precisely because of this that Wu Chaoyue has never paid attention to Wu Jianzhang's order to kneel down. Instead, he forced Wu Jianzhang to stand up and said, "Grandpa, get up, it's useless to ask this hypocrite! This hypocrite with sweet mouth and ambiguous sword will never... even if he agrees..."

Before Wu Chaoyue finished speaking, Wu Jianzhang slapped his big ears on his face again, and then Wu Jianzhang roared with red eyes: "Little beast, this is the point where things are, you still dare to talk nonsense! Who is Weng Shangshu, a famous official, a leader of the Qingliu in the court, why is his young master who is that kind of person?"

"Grandpa, have you forgotten Yuan Zuqi?" Wu Chaoyue asked fearlessly: "Is Yuan Zuqi not the descendant of a famous family? Isn't it a bullshit Qingliu Zheng class? You were so soft-hearted that you forgive him, how did he repay you today? After suffering a loss, do you want to be fooled for the second time?"

Wu Jianzhang was stunned for a moment, and suddenly became a little shaken. Today, Weng Xincun made a clear statement when he read the imperial edict. Xianfeng issued an order to thoroughly investigate the Wu family. It was because Yuan Zuqing reported the impeachment of revenge for his revenge! Taking advantage of Wu Jianzhang's opportunity to be stunned, Wu Chaoyue forced him to sit down, squatted in front of him, and comforted him with his thin hands: "Grandpa, it's okay. I have made enemies with this hypocrite, but the imperial court's decree was to hand us over to the Ministry of Justice. His father would not be able to control us. It's the same reason. No matter how much you beg his father, it's useless. His father is the Minister of Works and not the Minister of Justice, and he can't save us either."

Although he felt that the words of the baby grandson made some sense, Wu Jianzhang still cried bitterly and kept looking at Weng Tonghe pitifully. Weng Tonghe, who was called by Wu Chaoyue several times, had a very gloomy face and looked at Wu Chaoyue with a vicious look. Wu Chaoyue calmly looked at Weng Tonghe with bright eyes without a trace of fear. Finally, Weng Tonghe, who confirmed that Wu Chaoyue could not bow to him, completely lost his patience, and stood up and said, "Okay, Young Master Wu is indeed a hero. Let's ride a donkey and read the songbook, let's take a look!"

After saying that, Weng Tonghe walked out loudly. Before leaving, he did not forget to tell the Goshha who was guarding the door to keep a close eye on the grandparents of the Wu family and not to give the grandparents of the Wu family any chance to convey information to the outside world. Wu Jianzhang rushed to the door and kowtowed to Weng Tonghe desperately, constantly begging loudly, but Weng Tonghe still ignored him and left straight.

It was also when there was no one else in the woodshed that Wu Chaoyue attached himself to Wu Jianzhang and whispered: "Grandpa, don't worry, don't forget that we have a big backer like foreigners."

"Foreign people?" Wu Jianzhang asked with a sob: "Will they care about this?"

"I will definitely take care of it." Wu Chaoyue replied in a low voice: "The imperial court sent an imperial envoy to arrest you and me because we helped foreigners preach missions and built factories in partnership with foreigners. Both of these matters are related to the vital interests of foreigners, and foreigners will not interfere."

"But this time the emperor sent the imperial envoy to arrest us, and the foreigners can still control us?" Wu Jianzhang asked worriedly again.

"Grandpa, do you think Xianfeng is not afraid of foreigners?" Wu Chaoyue sneered: "As long as we use the old method, we will ask foreigners to complain to the capital and complain to us, the court will never dare to do anything to us."

"Is this... OK?" Wu Jianzhang was still extremely worried.

"It must be no problem." Wu Chaoyue, who was extremely clear about the cruel virtues inside and outside the Qing court, answered confidently, and then frowned and said: "We only have two questions now. One is how to send the news and ask foreigners to help us. The other is that we must beware of hypocrites such as Weng family father and son and Yuan Zushi on the road and do not give foreigners the chance to complain for us."

After thinking for a while, Wu Chaoyue came up with an idea. He first took out his handkerchief and spread it under the moonlight. Then he found a sharp fine firewood on the top of the firewood pile instead of the pen. Then he bit his arms with his teeth and dipped in blood and wrote a letter of help on the handkerchief in English. Wu Jianzhang was stunned by the side. After finally coming back to his senses, he quickly praised his grandson for his intelligence. Wu Jianzhang whispered to ask Wu Jianzhang to stay in front of the window to prevent outsiders from peeking. Then he concentrated on writing a letter to Martin, Luo Weilin, Maidusi and other foreign friends for help, asking them to go to the capital to petition and complain, and also asked them to escort him and Wu Jianzhang to the north, not giving political enemies the chance to attack him and Wu Jianzhang on the road......

…………

By the way, I took a look at the situation on Weng Tonghe. When Weng Tonghe returned to his father Weng Xincun, although the night was dark, Weng Xincun still had no rest and was still looking through the account book of the customs office. The magistrate Yuan Zuqian and a few money and grain masters were also waiting by the side. Weng Tonghe hurriedly stepped forward to pay his respects and reminded Weng Xincun to rest quickly. Weng Xincun shook his head and yawned and said, "No hurry, we will check the tax and silver accounts of Shanghai Customs from tomorrow. Let's first check the general account and get familiar with it. It will be much more convenient when checking the accounts tomorrow."

"Father, have you found clues about Wu Jianzhang's embezzlement of tax silver?" Weng Tonghe reminded with kindness: "Wu Jianzhang's mansion is luxurious and luxurious. He just asked his grandson to build a foreign factory with foreigners. He could have a huge silver pattern of 200,000 taels of silver. Such a huge amount of property may not be the source of the right way."

"Not yet." Weng Xincun said yawning: "The three taxes of the major customs in the Qing Dynasty were in parallel, and the accounts were known for their complexity and chaos. Even the Ministry of Revenue has always been most afraid of checking customs accounts. It would not be so easy to find out Wu Jianzhang's evidence of corruption in a moment."

"Young Master Weng, it is not easy to find out the evidence of Wu Jianzhang's corruption by checking the accounts." Yuan Zuxu, next to him, also echoed: "As far as the officials know, Wu Jianzhang himself is a master of accounting. He personally records the general account. He never borrows people. He also checks the large and small accounts every day. Even if there are any loopholes, it must have been made up for a long time and is difficult to find. However, the officials can assert that Wu Jianzhang will never be clean in his duties at the customs office, and he must have received a lot of money!"

Weng Tonghe was disappointed when he heard this, and thought to himself that there was no evidence, what's the use of suspected Wu Jianzhang's corruption? And Weng Xincun also spoke out and scolded: "Mr. Wu is careful. We are officials of the Qing Dynasty. We must tell evidence in everything. If we don't rely on real evidence, we will insist on corruption among our colleagues. That is slander!"

Yuan Zushi was timid and apologized repeatedly. Weng Xincun waved his hand and yawned again, saying, "The night is really too late, I'm tired, so let's go here today, and you'll go back early to rest. Tonghe, I'll send you Lord Yuan to your father."

Everyone agreed and bowed to their own tribute. Weng Tonghe also sent Yuan Zuqi away as his father asked. However, after he walked to the deserted place, Yuan Zuqi suddenly stopped and bowed to Weng Tonghe, and whispered: "Young Master Weng, please forgive me. I have to remind you that Wu Jianzhang's grandparents and grandchildren have to be wary of their grandparents and grandchildren's reuse of their grandparents. Like last time, he instigated foreigners to complain about their unjust and cause trouble for them, and forced the imperial envoy to give in and release them."

"What are you afraid of?" Weng Tonghe said with a smile: "Didn't my father want you to follow Guangzhou and strictly prohibit foreigners from entering the city? As long as you do this, why are you afraid of foreigners entering the city to cause trouble?"

Yuan Zuqi was in a difficult situation because he had no courage to learn from Guangzhou to offend foreigners to death, nor did he dare to offend Weng Xincun, the imperial envoy who brought imperial edicts to deal with his mortal enemy. After a little calculation, Yuan Zuqi could only bite the bullet and said, "Since the imperial envoy has an order, the official should do his best to prevent the foreigners from entering the city to cause trouble. But the official was worried that even if the foreigners could not make trouble in front of the imperial envoy, they would probably go to the Songjiang Prefecture Office and the Jiangsu Governor's Office to file a complaint like last time, and they might even make trouble in front of the Liangjiang Governor's Office in Jiangning."

Weng Tonghe smiled but didn't answer, thinking that it was a headache for the prefect of Songjiang, the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Liangjiang, and it was related to my Weng family? Yuan Zushi observed his words and expressions, guessed Weng Tonghe's thoughts, and then said in a low voice: "Young Master Weng, please let me say something brave again. Those foreigners may still run to the capital to cause trouble and go directly to the Forbidden City Gate to complain for Wu Jianzhang's grandparents and grandchildren..."

Weng Tonghe's eyes flashed and he asked coldly: "Wu Jianzhang's friendship between grandparents and grandchildren and foreigners is so close that can foreigners travel thousands of miles to the capital to complain for them?"

"It's hard to say." Yuan Zuqi replied: "You have seen the friendship between Wu Jianzhang's grandson and foreigners, Mr. Weng, you have seen it with your own eyes. The Wu family's financial resources are placed there. It should not be difficult to buy a few foreigners to go to the capital to complain to them."

Weng Tonghe was silent, and such a picture appeared in his heart. Several foreigners ran to the Meridian Gate with paper in their hands and knelt on the ground to shout for justice, or knelt on the ground to stop one or two military ministers' sedan chairs, and sent the paper to Xianfeng. When Xianfeng saw that it was a foreigner who complained about the incident, Long Yan was furious and ordered a thorough investigation...

Even if Weng Xincun acts according to the order and does not take any responsibility, then the joke of Mr. Weng kowtowing to Wu Chaoyue to apologize will spread throughout Beijing! It will completely destroy Mr. Weng’s bright and ambitious career prospects!

Yuan Zushi was very good at thinking about his thoughts. He saw that Weng Tonghe had been awakened by his warning, and then whispered: "Young Master Weng doesn't have to worry too much. In fact, there is such a way to do it once and for all. As long as the imperial envoy gives an order, he will put Wu Jianzhang's grandson and grandson in the prison of Shanghai County... The officials guarantee that even if the foreigners want to cause trouble, they will not find the victim."

"No!" Weng Tonghe flatly refused and said, "My father was ordered to thoroughly investigate the matter. Now the crime has not been decided, and Wu Jianzhang's grandparents and grandchildren have an accident. How did my father explain to the court?"

"But Mr. Weng, if you give foreigners the opportunity to complain to Wu Jianzhang's grandchildren, this matter will be difficult to deal with." Yuan Zuqi hurriedly reminded again.

Weng Tonghe looked stern and said without saying a word. After thinking for a long time, Weng Tonghe said calmly: "The emperor's will is to let my father continue to thoroughly investigate the tariff collection after taking down Wu Jianzhang's grandparents and grandchildren, but did not let my father personally escort Wu Jianzhang's grandparents and grandchildren back to Beijing. I will remind my father and urge him to send someone to take Wu Jianzhang's grandparents and grandchildren to the capital as soon as possible. If there are any enemies on the way to Beijing..."
Chapter completed!