Xiangtan won a complete victory on land and water, saving Zeng Guofan and the entire Xiangyong from death.
Soon, the success of the report plus the Xianfeng Emperor's Zhu approval was reversed. Zhu Bu greatly praised Xiangtan for his success, and only lightly mentioned the defeats of Yuezhou and Jinggang, without accusing him. What surprised Zeng Guofan in particular was that the emperor sternly reprimanded Bao Qibao for losing his city and land, and dismissed him from his post and handed him over to the ministry for investigation; Taqibu was appointed as the governor of Hunan land and water, taking charge of all the green battalions in Hunan, and revoked the punishment of demoting Zeng Guofan to the second level, allowing him to perform a single title. There is another point that Zeng Guofan never dreamed of: except for the governor, all civilian and military officials in Hunan, including the two divisions of the clan and the clan, can be dispatched by Zeng Guofan to inspect military affairs. This edict was the Xianfeng Emperor's most powerful support for Zeng Guofan, which completely changed the attitude of Hunan officials towards Zeng Guofan. Luo Bingzhang brought Xu Youren, Zuo Zongtang, and other officials to the shore of Shuiluzhou, and brought an eight-carried green tweed sedan to visit Zeng Guofan, who had been living on the ship and had been snubbed by Changsha officialdom for two months. Luo Bingzhang asked Zeng Guofan unusually affectionately about the long and short questions, saying that Bao Qibao and others wanted to go to the fold, how he opposed; Xiang Yong's ability to fight in battle, how to appreciate himself, and so on.
This kind of extreme hypocrisy of officialdom, Zeng Guofan saw a lot, and he couldn't stop sneering in his heart. After Zuo Zongtang's bitter scolding, Zeng Guofan's understanding of fame and career, human feelings and world conditions was greatly deepened. He knew that he still needed Luo Bingzhang and Hunan officialdom in the future, so when Luo Bingzhang insisted on respectfully inviting him ashore and still returned to the Yamen of the original trial bureau to live, after several resignations, he still got on the sedan sent by Luo Bingzhang and took the land and water battalion officials and a group of staff officers such as Guo, Liu, and Chen into the city. Wang Minyun returned to his hometown of Yunhuqiao in Xiangtan with Peng Yulin's boat last time. Zeng Guofan sat in the sedan and remembered the bittersweet and bitter of the past year, and his heart was very unpleasant, especially the changes in the past few days, which was even more emotional. "The clouds in the sky are like white clothes, and Swee must change into a dog." The unpredictable world is really faster than the white cloud turning into a dog!
That night, Xu Youren, the lord of the domain, politely came to visit the trial bureau alone.
After greeting, Xu Youren said: "Last year's festival of the Mid-Yuan Festival, the contemptible people originally planned to distribute the green camp and Lian Yong as one, regardless of each other, how could Bao Qibao insist that it could not be given to Lian Yong, otherwise, his governor would have no light on his face and threatened him with his resignation. It is also a weak nature, and for a while there is less advocate, and I hope that the benevolent brother will not be hung up in his heart. ”
Zeng Guofan smiled lightly and said, "Xu Fangbo is polite, small things, Guofan has long forgotten, why bother to mention it again." ”
Xu Youren put down his heart and said, "I have informed Lu Zhifu that Xiang Yong borrowed from Lu Zhifu in Hengzhou last year, and this batch of silver will be increased from the domain, and there is no need to ask Xiang Yong for any more money." ”
Zeng Guofan thought to himself that this was taking the money of the imperial court to form a personal relationship. Zeng Guofan has also seen this kind of thing a lot. What Xiang Yong lacks now is silver, since you sent silver to the door, I will accept it correctly. Zeng Guofan smiled politely and said, "Uncle Xu is kind, and Guofan is very grateful." ”
Xu Youren put on a sincere look and said, "It's all the emperor's silver, brother Ren is doing things for the emperor, why thank you!" Xiang Yong will soon go out of the province to fight against Changmao, and fight with the battalion, not the contemptible people's strengths, and the contemptible people will do their best to raise money and grain in the rear. ”
Zeng Guofan thought to himself that he was afraid that he would be conscripted into the camp to suffer and suffer, so he said with a smile: "In the matter of fighting with the camp, where dare to work adults, if they can raise money and raise food for Xiang Yong, Fang Uncle's merits will be great!" ”
Xu Youren was completely relieved and went out satisfied. Wang Qiu couldn't look past it, and said to Zeng Guofan: "Why don't you entrust him with a drudgery and let him taste it." ”
Zeng Guofan said: "This kind of person has soft bones and big frames, and he is sent in the army, but he has missed my business." Mo said that he also took 100,000 taels of silver, even if the imperial court ordered him to be transferred to the army, I don't want it. ”
With that, both of them laughed. Because of Xu Youren's arrival, Zeng Guofan remembered a major event and quickly asked Jing Qi to go to the Governor Yamen to invite Taqibu to come. Zeng Guofan was deeply satisfied with the decision to launch Taqib. If Taqib was not a Manchu, how could he gain the absolute trust of the imperial court so quickly! The Green Camp is in Taqib's hands, and it is also in his own hands.
Taqib beckoned. Zeng Guofan asked: "Governor Tati, Hunan Green Camp, how will you command?" ”
"The green camp is already very corrupt, and the first task today is to strictly rectify it." Taqib replied without thinking. Zeng Guofan shook his head slightly and said, "Strict rectification is certainly a necessary thing, but today's first task is not here." ”
"Why?" Taqib felt strange, didn't Zeng Guofan often say that the green camp was rotten and that he had to cut off the rotten meat ruthlessly?
"Governor Tati, in terms of seniority, are you comparable to Bao Qi Leopard?"
Taqib shook his head and said, "Far from it." ”
"Last year, the town soldiers mutinied and stormed your house to kill you, remember?"
"This hatred will never be forgotten."
"Brother Zhiting, your qualifications are not as good as Bao Qi Leopard, and there will be many disobedient people in the army; If you write down the hatred of the townspeople, it will inevitably cause the townspeople to be afraid. This one is not convinced, the other is afraid, can the Green Battalion Army be stable? ”
Taqib felt that the matter was serious, he looked at Zeng Guofan and said in a pleading tone: "Sir, I was pulled up by your old hand. I only have one sentence, from now on, I will follow the adults with a dead heart. Listening to the adult's analysis, I realized that my position as governor was still being shaken. Please make it clear to you, and Taqib will do so. ”
"Brother Zhiting, today's green camp is the first to appease people's hearts, and its means are only one word." Zeng Guofan stretched out a hand and spit out a word crisply: "Reward!" ”
According to Zeng Guofan's instructions, Taqib rewarded the soldiers of the Green Battalion, and those who received six-rank military merits, as many as 3,000 people. The few town soldiers who made trouble in the Fire Palace were also among the rewards, so everyone in the green camp was happy. Taqibu specially invited Deng Shaoliang to drink together, and Deng Shaoliang was very moved. The Green Battalion generals knew that Zeng Guofan and the new governor were magnanimous, did not remember old grievances, and the military spirit immediately stabilized.
Contrary to the Green Camp, Zeng Guofan followed the policy of "strict rectification" proposed by Taqibu for Xiangyong.
The first one to open the knife was Zeng Guobao's Zhenzi Camp. This battalion was the first to flee in the Battle of Jinggang, and except for more than 50 brave Dings who retreated with Zeng Guofan's defeat, including Zeng Guobao, all returned home. Zeng Guobao was not convinced, and after listening to his eldest brother's big idea of "righteous people first correct themselves", he reluctantly obeyed. Zeng Guofan called Man Di to the study, talked secretly for most of the night, and finally told Guobao that Guohua and Guoquan should each recruit 500 strong dings and train hard, and the five hundred brave dings should be trained as long trainers, and then they can immediately become five thousand.
Because the Zhenzi battalion was abolished first, Zeng Guobao took the lead in returning to his hometown, and the rectification of the other battalions went smoothly, with a total of more than 3,000 regimental members cut out. Some of the people who fled on the battlefields of Yuezhou and Jinggang wanted to return, and Zeng Guofan ordered that none of them be collected. He took advantage of this great opportunity to double the size of Xiangyong and build the 20th battalion of the Lu Division; 20th Battalion of the Admiralty; The two divisions of land and water were divided into two commanders. The Lu Division was served by Taqib and Luo Zenan, and one person was in charge of ten battalions; The navy division was played by Peng Yulin and Yang Zaifu, and one person was also in charge of the ten battalions. Ta, Luo, Peng, and Yang all listened to Zeng Guofan. The Xiangyong system is even more sound. Bao Chao and Shen Mingbiao fought bravely on the battlefield of Xiangtan and were both promoted to battalion officers.
Every day, the playground outside the south gate is trained by Tao and Luo, and Peng and Yang are responsible for training the water division on the river. No matter how busy Zeng Guofan is, he also goes to the playground and the riverside every day to see and lecture. Zeng Guofan also learned from Qi Jiguang's experience in educating soldiers with military songs, and carefully composed several easy-to-understand songs, which were composed by Guo Songtao, who was proficient in music theory, and taught them morning and evening. These lyrics are seven words and one sentence, including the main points of marching, fighting, setting up camp and so on. Lu Yong sang "Army Victory Song", and Shui Yong sang "Admiralty Victory Song".
After singing for a few days, from official to brave, all of them sang smoothly, and they remembered it well. On the way up and down every day, the Xiang braves sang military songs loudly, although they were not beautiful, but with the same steps, they still looked neat and powerful, and the people in Changsha City felt very fresh.
Xiang Yong's prosperity again brought joy to Zeng Guofan, he thought, fortunately he did not die, otherwise how could he see today's weather! He was very grateful to Kang Fu and Zuo Zongtang, who saved his life, and thought about repaying them. Zuo Zongtang is a great talent, and he can entrust big things in the future, so he is not in a hurry at the moment. Kang Fu has the talent to lead, but Zeng Guofan does not want him to leave his side, and he desperately needs bodyguards like Kang Fu. If he is allowed to receive the salary of his ruler, others will say that he has received additional benefits from saving himself, or some may say; When he threw himself into the water, he was fake animation, otherwise, why did he repay the rescuer like this?
Zeng Guofan thought about it and couldn't think of a good way to repay Kangfu. Once, he occasionally flipped through the wild histories and posted stories about the Hou newspaper master. He thought it was a good method. So he secretly asked Jing Qi to go to the Yuanjiang River, buy a large mansion and 300 acres of paddy fields in the name of Kangfu, move an honest family to live in the house, and collect the rent of these 300 acres of paddy fields on behalf of Kangfu every year. Soon, Kang Fu learned about this, was very grateful to Zeng Guofan for his generous gift, and became more loyal to Zeng Guofan. Kang Fu had the grace of a savior, but did not raise his salary and promoted to an official, and Xiang Yong also praised Zeng Guofan's virtue of not repaying personal favors with official Lu.
At this time, the news of the siege of Wuchang by the Western Expeditionary Army reached Changsha every day, and Zeng Guofan discussed with everyone day and night, preparing to rescue Hubei Province.
One afternoon, Zeng Guofan was studying in the study. Zeng Guofan's study was originally called "Seeking Lack of Fasting". Once, he recited ancient texts aloud in the middle of the night, entering an artistic realm in the clever rhetoric of his predecessors and his own frustration, and experienced great pleasure. He remembered Mencius's words that "a gentleman has three pleasures", and summed up his three major pleasures: macro prize talent, tempting daily progress, and one music; The sound of reading comes out of the golden stone, fluttering and far-reaching, two music; Industrious and then restful, Sanle. Momentarily happy, he renamed "Qiu Quezhai" as "Sanle Bookhouse". This day I read "Shiji Gaozu Benji".
Zeng Guofan was deeply attracted by a passage in which Emperor Gaozu of Han praised Xiao He, Han Xin, and Zhang Liang. He thought that before Liu Bang started the incident, but the head of the pavilion in Surabaya, both the civil and military aspects were mediocre, and the reason why he had the world after that, he actually fought the merits of the three masters; And to make the three masters give full play to their talents, this is Liu Bang's talent. He had neither talent nor experience in leading troops to fight, as evidenced by the defeat of Jinggang. In the future, it is necessary to let Ta, Luo, Peng, Yang and others fully display their talents, and discover and find more talents. While pondering, the soldier came to report: "There is a person outside the door who asks for a meeting, claiming to be an adult and deceased Hu Linyi. Zeng Guofan said with joy in his heart: "My Xiao Han is here." "Immediately put down the "Chronicle" and run out the door.