Chapter 405 Chaos is coming
Chapter 405 Chaos is coming
Shao Quanzhong suddenly announced the end of the activity. Shao Quanzhong's subordinates were all soldiers. They obeyed his orders and acted decisively. They all left in an instant and returned to the barracks to prepare for their return journey.
Before the envoys of the Li Dynasty had a chance to take the lead in persuading the emperor to ascend the throne, they suddenly realized that everyone had left. They felt a little confused, sighed, and gave up for the time being.
Shao Quanzhong returned to the temporary tent and suddenly frowned, "Call that bastard Le Sen in!"
Le Sen entered the tent, confused and unsure of what was going on. He didn't know how he had displeased the Marshal.
Shao Quanzhong threw Haiqing's urgent information on the ground and said, "Look for yourself!"
Le Sen picked it up and took a look at it, with a bitter face, "Marshal, this is not my fault at all. How dare the Intelligence Department investigate your family members? Isn't this courting death?"
Uh, Shao Quanzhong patted his forehead, "Brother Le, I was so angry that I lost my mind. It's okay now. You can go out now."
When Hai Qing reported in urgently, Shao Quanzhong thought something had happened in the palace and felt strange.
Even if the young emperor continues to commit suicide, he should still live for more than a year according to calculations made by him, so he shouldn't die unexpectedly. Apart from that, is there any major event that requires sending the eunuch Jiyong to deliver the intelligence in person?
If it's really urgent information, wouldn't it be faster to send a telegram?
After reading the content, I realized that it was the result of a secret investigation of Ping'er by the Detective Department headed by Haiqing.
Normally, the Intelligence Department would not dare to investigate the Marshal's wife, and it would be taboo for the Detective Department to investigate the Marshal's wife.
But Haiqing is different. He is Shao Quanzhong's sworn brother, a close friend and a family member. He ordered an investigation because he was worried about his second brother.
Haiqing had not had this idea originally. It was Ping'er who sent someone to give him generous gifts to make friends with him. Haiqing accepted the gifts with a greedy look on his face, but immediately became alert.
There is a saying that goes, "The prostitutes have always pretended to be elegant, and the eunuchs have always been famous for their prestige."
Eunuchs fear being looked down upon the most. When Shao Quanzhong and Hai Qing became sworn brothers, they were truly brothers and were sincere to each other.
Hai Qing was deeply moved, and his brotherhood with Shao Quanzhong overcame the eunuch's greedy nature.
The Detective Department and the Intelligence Department are completely two systems.
The intelligence of the Intelligence Department comes from all over the world, and there is all kinds of intelligence. In addition to sending important intelligence to Shao Quanzhong, Le Sen also has a special team responsible for screening and selecting.
Economic intelligence was sent to Wenxiu and Wang Yongxian, and military intelligence was sent to the Huai Army General Staff. It was an open intelligence organization serving multiple departments.
Haiqing received money from Wenxiu and set up a completely independent intelligence system, which was only responsible to Shao Quanzhong and was mainly responsible for monitoring the work of the Intelligence Department.
As a result, no problems were found between Le Xiucai and Jiang Chunlin, but Ping'er's unusual behavior was discovered.
Over the course of several years, Ping'er made friends with important officials under Shao Quanzhong and maintained good relations with everyone, even extending her tentacles to students studying in the United States, Britain, and Germany.
However, Ping'er was Shao Quanzhong's concubine, and it was not wrong for her to care about her subordinates in the name of Shao Quanzhong. Haiqing was just vigilant and kept sending people to follow and investigate, but he did not mention it to Shao Quanzhong.
In the past two days, Haiqing received secret intelligence from his subordinates that Ping'er was contacting important officials of the Shao faction and even envoys of the Li Dynasty to put the yellow robe on Shao Quanzhong. This was a big deal.
Can this be done without Shao Quanzhong's consent? Haiqing knew about Shao Quanzhong's plan. Shao Quanzhong had already received information about the "nationalization of railways" recently carried out by Sichuan Governor Wenxiang. This is the beginning of the chaos in my Qing Dynasty.
They have been waiting for years, and now finally there is a fool who wants to rush to the front to take the bullets. Is it stupid to declare himself emperor at this time and attract all the firepower of the Qing Dynasty?
Now Ping'er is Shao Quanzhong's personal secretary, and all telegrams must go through Ping'er.
The secret informant of the Detective Department who obtained the intelligence at the scene was reluctant to expose himself, so Hai Qing directly sent a skilled and brave eunuch to hand the intelligence to Shao Quanzhong in the most backward but safest way, allowing him to make his own decision.
It would be too late to rush to travel such a long distance of 800 miles. Who can blame the train from Beijing to Xi'an?
Hai Qing, as the second general manager of the Forbidden City, directly dispatched a special train. All trains along the way gave way and the train did not stop. It took only one day to arrive at the scene. The eunuch Jiyong's fast horse just rode from Xi'an.
Third brother is thoughtful. Actually, it is not a big deal for Shao Quanzhong. Even if someone persuades him to come, he can just control himself and turn them away. What makes him very angry is that Ping'er dared to do this behind his back.
"Someone, call Ping'er over to me!"
Ping'er walked into the big tent gracefully. Shao Quanzhong was furious. He reached out for his revolver, but suddenly his heart softened and he stopped.
Ping'er had been with him for six years and had given birth to a daughter. When he traveled around the world, Ping'er served as his secretary all the way. Even if she had no merit, she had worked hard. Later, she wrote a Huiban opera to praise his great achievements, which greatly increased the loyalty of the Huai Army to him, greatly increased his prestige in the eyes of the people, and also prepared public opinion for his expedition to France, which was a great achievement.
Ping'er was not simply involved in harem conspiracies, she also made significant contributions to the formation and cohesion of the Shao faction.
Shao Quanzhong took his hand off the gun handle, his face icy, "Ping'er, pack up and go back to the old lady. I'll demote you to the position of major general, and you won't be a concubine anymore."
Ping'er was struck by lightning and suddenly fell to her knees. "My Lord, I have served you wholeheartedly. What have I done wrong to have you send me back?"
"You secretly encouraged others to put the yellow robe on me. The harem interfered in government affairs. Do you understand that this is against the family rules?"
"My Lord, you didn't set up this family rule. I am innocent!"
Uh, Shao Quanzhong touched his forehead, he remembered it wrong. In his previous life, he had set up a family rule for the harem and posted it on the wall, but he really didn't set it up in this life.
In this life, the women he found all knew the rules, and none of them had crossed the line before. Shao Quanzhong only verbally warned against the harem interfering in politics, and he had never made an official announcement.
Ping'er has always been cautious in her actions and has never shown her ambitions. Shao Quanzhong has never even told her about it.
"That won't do either! Anyway, I can't allow someone to do such a big thing behind my back."
Ping'er cried out in grief, stood up and looked around for a pillar. Alas, there was no pillar in the tent, and suddenly she covered her face and walked away.
Once I am driven back, my reputation will be completely ruined and I will have no future at all. I might as well just die.
Ping'er ran out, opened the tent door, and a cold wind blew in, making Shao Quanzhong shiver.
Suddenly, a woolen coat was draped over Shao Quanzhong's shoulders.
Rong Hui saw that Shao Quanzhong had finished handling the matter and walked out from the back tent, "Brother Shao, I feel that Ping'er is quite pitiful. You are killing her without teaching her."
"No, I now suspect that Xiu'er and Liu Niang's running away is also related to her, but I have no evidence."
"Even if she was involved in palace fighting, it was just a habit she had formed after being with the old lady for a long time. She was at least loyal to you, and it didn't cause any serious consequences."
"She comes from a humble background, so it's normal for her to want to climb the social ladder. Sister Xiu'er also wants to be the empress, right? But Sister Xiu'er is generous and won't interfere with your work. I think we should give Ping'er a chance to reform herself..."
"Oh no! Madam Apple hanged herself in her tent!"
Shao Quanzhong and Rong Hui rushed over and saw that Ping'er had been rescued. There was a deep red mark on her neck, and it was obvious that she really wanted to die and almost lost her life.
Shao Quanzhong snorted, his heart was as hard as stone and he was not moved at all.
Seeing Rong Hui looking up and begging him, he sighed, "Xiu'er is not here, you, as the legitimate wife, should make the decision on matters in the harem!"
Shao Quanzhong turned away mercilessly. Rong Hui held Ping'er's hand and said, "Sister, you have been with Brother Shao for six years, which is more time than I have spent with him, but you don't really understand him."
"There's no need to plot against him. It's useless. Now he has a prejudice against you. You should stay away for a while and let him cool down."
"I will persuade him not to deprive you of your position as concubine. You should go to the Prince Sanhai Rui's mansion in Xiyuan to avoid the limelight and reflect on yourself for a while. When there is a chance, I will persuade Brother Shao to call you back. In the future, as long as you do your job, you will not make Brother Shao angry."
Under Ronghui's persuasion, Ping'er was demoted to the rank of major general, but retained her status as concubine and was demoted to the Leopard Room to look after the house, which was considered as temporary banishment to the cold palace.
…………
Shao Quanzhong paid homage to the emperor's mausoleum. He walked slowly on the way there but came back quite quickly, returning to Hailing in four days.
"Report! Haoguozi Company asked you to come over for inspection. They said that the research and development of the recoil gun and barrel recoil gun you requested have made some progress."
"Report! Call from Vienna, Emperor Franz I of Austria-Hungary invites you to pay a state visit to Austria-Hungary."
(End of this chapter)