Early the next morning, Li Hongzhang took six people to the West Flower Hall and waited for Zeng Guofan to receive him. Zeng Guofan has always been punctual, but today he broke his contract and did not come for a long time. Because he saw Marshal Zeng for the first time, Zhang Shusheng, Pan Dingxin, and others were all sitting in a precarious position, but Liu Mingchuan was just in his prime, and he had waited impatiently, and he turned his hands behind his back and wandered back and forth in the living room, grumbling and saying: "Lady Thief, what does Grand Marshal Zeng really mean?" If you want to see it, you can see it, even if you don't see it, and if you don't come out again, Lao Tzu will leave. Liu Mingchuan was rude and straightforward, and Li Hongzhang had learned it, but he also dared to speak like this in the living room of the Governor of Liangjiang, which stunned everyone. At this time, Zeng Guofan stepped out from behind the screen and coughed with anger on his face. Everyone did not expect that the original Grand Marshal Zeng was behind the screen. His gaze swept over the crowd and finally stopped at Liu Mingchuan's face. The hearts of the people were hairy, but Liu Mingchuan said calmly and calmly: "I am a mountain village man, it is not easy to see the side of the marshal, and naturally I am not willing to wait for a long time." "There are a few official documents that are urgently handled, so it is a little late, and I ask you not to be impatient." Zeng Guofan motioned for everyone to sit down, "In the future, all of you will be cadres who will accompany Shao Tsuen on the Eastern Expedition, and you will help Shao Tsuen to recruit and practice courage well." The old man has been leading the courage for nearly ten years, and he has some experience with you, but I hope it will be helpful to you with the courage. First, it is necessary to recruit peasants in the countryside who are young and strong, simple and rustic; those who have oil heads and slippery surfaces, those who have the gas of the city well, and those who have the gas of the gate will not be accepted. In particular, the oil slippery soldiers must not be collected into the camp and indiscriminately filled. The second is the system of brave battalions, which follows the selection of battalion officers by commanders, the selection of sentry officers by battalion officers, the selection of sentry officers by shi chang, and the selection of yong ding by shi chiefs. It is like a big tree, which is like a root, and from the root it grows stems, branches, and leaves, all of which are in one breath. In this way, the brave ding is grateful to the elders, and the subordinates are grateful to the superiors, and they have both kindness and friendship on weekdays, and they can take care of each other in the face of their own hardships. Third, it is necessary to attach importance to encampment and fortification. Whether the Xiang army is attacking a city or fighting a field, it attaches the greatest importance to taking the lead in taking the lead. Wherever an army reaches a place, it must first camp, no matter whether it is wind or rain, cold or hot, and it will not tire of it. The so-called camps are based on the battalion as a unit, surrounding the camp, building walls, and digging trenches. The walls were eight feet high and one foot thick, made of adobe blocks, and had gun holes. The trench is generally two layers inside and outside, the outer trench is eight feet wide, one and five feet deep, and the inner trench is halved, and both are wide and narrow. For each fort, open two doors, the front door is large, and the back door is secluded. Whenever we go to a place, we must first set up camps, and the camp is undecided, and no rest is allowed, nor is it allowed to fight. The so-called step by step is this meaning. ”
These were all lessons learned from when he formed the Xiang Army. At the beginning, many of the Xiang army recruited were defeated and brave, only to get food and grain, and fled to save their lives as soon as they received the battle, and as a result, the Xiang army was defeated in the first battle of Jinggang, and Zeng Guofan almost committed suicide by throwing himself into the water. After that, he recruited only from the peasants in the countryside, so that they were simple and righteous, and there was no problem of opportunism. Moreover, in a battalion, it is often brothers and fathers, or relatives and neighbors, and everyone has friendship with each other, fights to take care of each other, and some casualties are even more desperate to save each other. Therefore, the Xiang army fought a battle more courageously than the officers and soldiers, and unlike the Eight Banners Green Battalion, which could not be saved by defeat, it won the victory.
Zeng Guofan told the generals that after returning home, they would each select elite soldiers and strong generals, and each of them would be allowed to take a battalion of elite soldiers and bring them to Anqing for centralized training as soon as possible. Finally, he signaled the crowd to disperse, but left Li Hongzhang behind: "I intend to treat everyone slowly today, just to see your temperament. "The teacher thinks that these fellow students can be worthy of a great responsibility?" Li Hongzhang was a little worried. "These few people have all been brave, they are all talented, and the one who will achieve the greatest success in the future will probably be the one with numbness on his face." Zeng Guofan Road. This was somewhat unexpected by Li Hongzhang, because Liu Ming was not inferior to his words, and he was worried about it. As soon as he heard Zeng Guofan say this, his tight heart suddenly loosened: "The teacher said yes." When Liu Shengsan was a teenager, he had smallpox and saved his life, but he left a face full of numbness. Then, he told some anecdotes about Liu Mingchuan. Liu Mingchuan has six brothers, he is the sixth oldest, does not like to read, and takes a group of children to run into trouble every day. Later, his father and the eldest brother died one after another, and the other three brothers started their own families, and at the age of sixteen, he lived with his mother. Just in time for the great drought in Anhui, he had no way to make a living, so he followed people to sell illegal salt, and as a result, he was wanted by the government. Nearby, a powerful man took the lead in organizing a group exercise and forced each family to pay silver and grain. Liu Mingchuan's mother had no silver to take, so Hao Qiang let people set fire to the Liu family's house, and issued harsh words, Liu Liumazi dared to come back, and sent him to the official palace. Liu Mingchuan heard the news and went to Hao Qiang's house to reason. When Hao Qiang saw Liu Mingchuan, he took a knife and handed it to him with a disdainful face: "I know that you are very capable, if you dare to cut me with a knife, I will spare you the money and grain of the Liu family." Liu Mingchuan took the knife and slashed the head of the strong man in half. Holding up a bloody knife, he said, "Your neighbors, those who do not want to suffer from this nest, follow me to the mountain as king." As a result, he quickly gathered thousands of people. Later, he helped the government to fight the Taiping Army, made meritorious contributions many times, and now has been guaranteed to wear the top of the five pins. "True Owl Also." This man was bold and bold, and he said bluntly, and when I stared at him, he was fearless, very human, and if he made good use of it, he would become a great instrument. But there is a point, such a person, not easy to calm down. Zeng Guofan nodded, took a sip of tea, and said, "For such a person, it is useless to play a little clever, but once he is satisfied, he will be willing to drive away." When they were leaving, Zeng Guofan said to Li Hongzhang: "The situation in Shanghai is critical, and it is best to bring the battalions here within a month and train intensively for two or three months before we can be sure." Li Hongzhang replied: "Please rest assured that the battalions will definitely be brought to Anqing within the month, and at that time, the teacher will also be asked to come forward to teach in person." When Li Hongzhang returned to his residence, Liu Mingchuan was waiting for him, and when he caught him, he said, "Second Young Master, when we run here, we are rushing to you." It seems that I have offended Marshal Zeng, he is your teacher, and I will make it difficult for you to be a person if I stay. There is no grandfather here, there is a place to keep the grandfather. I want to go back to my big submerged mountain, to be my mountain king. ”
"Of course, you have to go back to the Great Dive Mountain, and you also have to pick up a battalion of elites for me to bring over." Li Hongzhang smiled. Liu Mingchuan was a little incredulous and asked, "Didn't Marshal Zeng annoy me?" Li Hongzhang smiled again and said, "The teacher said that all of you who came today are worthy of great responsibilities, but the one who will achieve the most in the future will be the one with numbness on his face." Originally, having hemp on his face was a big taboo of Liu Mingchuan, and no one dared to mention it in person. However, when these words came out of Zeng Guofan's mouth, he was full of smiles and replied, "Grand Marshal Zeng looks up to me so much, and I Liu Mazi followed the Second Young Master and went to the soup to fight the fire, and I will not quit!" Li Hongzhang patted his shoulder and said, "Let's get together and do a good job, your future is far away!" "Marshal Zeng said that he was going to the countryside to recruit farmers, but it would be very difficult, my people have been following me for four or five years, where are there any farmers?" As soon as the conversation turned, Liu Mingchuan asked another question. Li Hongzhang thought for a moment and said, "This is a problem. But the living can never let the urine die, and the teacher's meaning is not necessarily to recruit farmers, but to have peasants to be rustic. You, remember not to recruit those oily heads and only sell their lips, otherwise when the time comes, there will be a war, and you will be embarrassed by the rupture. ”
"Of course. Not only don't you want to be oily, but you don't want to be older than me. "Why?" Li Hongzhang was a little puzzled. "The generation is older than me, I opened my mouth to call an old uncle, it is not painful to use." If he were to talk about things in the same way, how would this soldier be brought? The soldierS I brought, whether he was a battalion officer or a sentry officer, I would like to say one thing or another. "Well, the biggest thing for a big husband to do is to say one thing or the other." Li Hongzhang praised. Zhang Shusheng and Liu Ming told them that their words counted, and after the Lantern Festival, they brought people to Anqing. Zhou Shengbo and Zhou Shengchuan were slow to act and did not arrive on time. However, there was also an unexpected battalion of people, that is, Li Hongzhang's old partner Zhang Yuchun when he was training in the regiment, and when he heard that Li Hongzhang had recruited Huai Yong, he also defected. Zeng Guofan personally discussed Huaiyong's camp system with Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang believed that the battalion system of the Xiang Army would be complete, so why should it be discussed again, and it could be copied completely. So he took the battalion as a unit and set up a battalion officer. Each battalion is divided into four sentries, one sentry officer, one sentry officer in charge of the whole post, and one member of the sentry commander as the deputy sentry officer. Each sentry officer has five guards and one guard. Each post has two teams of gun carrying teams, four teams of knife and spear teams, and two teams of small guns, for a total of eight teams. Each team has another commander and one gang leader. Each sentry company sentry officer, sentry commander, shi commander, protector, zheng yong, and gang yong, a total of 108 people, a total of 432 people in the four posts. In addition, the battalion officers also had six teams of pro-soldiers, each of which had one commander, ten pro-soldiers, and one gang brave, counting seventy-two. The total number of pro-soldiers and four sentries was five hundred singles and four officers per battalion. In addition, each battalion had 180 men in charge of building fortifications, digging trenches, and transporting ammunition. In this case, there were 685 men from the battalion officers to the eldest husbands. Seeing that the Huai Army was about to become an army and that there were many things, Li Hongzhang began to set up his own shogunate team, and he at least had to set up a battalion office and recruit a few copywriters. Zeng Guofan's shogunate was extremely talented, and it was impossible to choose a few people, and Li Hongzhang's first thought was Zhou Fu. Zhou Fu (1837-1921) character Yushan, Lanxi, Anhui Jiande people, talented. The Zhou family has always attached great importance to studying, and although the family road was devastated by the war, they still did not drop out of school. In the third year of Xianfeng, he went to the county seat to take the boy exam, and after only one test, the news came that the Taiping Army was attacking Anqing, and the exam was forced to be suspended. His hometown was the place where the Taiping Army and the officials and soldiers were most fiercely contested, and he took the family to and from home, and once carried his infant son on his back to trek for dozens of miles on an empty stomach in Meiling. In the ten years of Xianfeng, he was recommended by others to the Zeng Guofan Dongliu camp to help with the copywriting. After the capture of Anqing, Zeng Guofan set up a wooden booth (opinion box) to solicit opinions, and Zhou Fu's opinion draft made Zeng Guofan read it and greatly appreciate it, and immediately asked Li Hongzhang to find him. Li Hongzhang also admired Zhou Fu quite a bit, and seeing that Zhou Fu's family was in difficulty, he shared his small salary with Zhou Fu. Li Hongzhang was going to Shanghai, and Zhou Fu didn't even think about it, so he said that he would fight to the death and follow. Zeng Guofan not only agreed, but also recommended to him several copywriters and assistants for camp affairs and grain stations.
On the 24th day of the first month, Zhang Shusheng's Shuzi camp, Liu Mingchuan's Mingzi camp, Pan Dingxin's Dingzi camp, Wu Changqing's Qingzi camp, and Zhang Yuchun's Chunzi camp set up camp outside the north gate of Anqing. Li Hongzhang also officially moved out of the shogunate of Zeng Guofan and went to the military camp for training. Since then, he has officially become the commander of the First Army from the shogunate. Zeng Guofan led more than a dozen people to send Li Hongzhang to formally take up his new post, and more than twenty battalion officers and sentry officers greeted him outside the camp gate. Everyone accompanied Zeng Guofan into the big tent, and Zeng Guofan signaled everyone to sit down and said, "From today onwards, the Huaiyong New Army will be formally established. From today onwards, Shao Tsuen will be the commander of the Huaiyong New Army. Just like the girl is old enough to get married, and the young Tsuen wants to leave, I really have some reluctance. In the past two years, I have been subordinate to my account, giving advice and handling literature, and I have leaned on my arm, which really makes me a little confused. Li Hongzhang arched his hand: "Over the years, I have gained a lot of insight in the teacher's curtain, and if the students grow a little, it is also the result of the teacher's adjustment." The students are ignorant, the teacher's ability to govern the army and the government is not as good as one, although the army has begun to be unified today, but still the teacher's student, I implore the teacher to continue to teach. ”
"Xianghuai is originally a family, you and all the commanders are assured, I naturally fully support." Subsequently, Zeng Guofan's words turned around, "All of them are from the regiment, and they used to be the king of the mountain who said one thing and the same. From this day forward, you will be under the command of Shao Tsuen, and naturally you will only be under the command of Shao Tsuen. In the barracks, military orders are greater than the sky. Only by prohibiting orders can we win the battle and defend ourselves. If you don't listen to Shao Tsuen's greetings, do your own thing, and don't wait for Shao Tsuen to speak, I will first ask the king to order the flag, and then cut it first and play it later, and then you don't want to say that I was not kind. "Marshal, please rest assured, I will definitely obey The Order of General Li." Everyone left their seats and held their fists. Li Hongzhang knew that the teacher was standing up for him, and naturally went along the pole: "Teacher, please rest assured, the students know the importance of prohibiting the military orders and prohibitions the students at the teacher's side, and in front of the military orders, the students are also open-minded, unequivocal, and will definitely bring out a military order for the teacher to come with a mountain of Huai Yong." Zeng Guofan had a smile on his face, motioned for everyone to sit down, smiled, and said, "I have already stated that those were ugly words just now." Don't look at Shao Tsuen now that he is only in charge of the rank of inspector, but as long as one or two beautiful battles are fought, serving as the inspector of a province is also a matter of blink of an eye. You follow Shao Tsuen to fight with courage, and what Shao Tsuen says in the future is what he says. Fighting a war is a messenger with his head on his head, but the reward is also very red-eyed. You can't get out of the way in ten or eight years, but in the military, maybe a year or two will be impressive. Zeng Guofan waved his hand, and Ghoshal took a stack of newly engraved books and said to the crowd, "This is the camp system and camp rules of the Xiang Army, and it is given to all the battalion officers for reference. He also brought 20,000 taels of silver and gave it to Li Hongzhang to stay in the camp to prepare for emergency. Opening the door seven things, the barracks are the same as the family, and the newly opened barracks will naturally need more matters. There are also five pigs and ten sheep, which is a reward. These Zeng Guofan did not tell Li Hongzhang in advance, and he was so moved that the corners of his eyes were hot, and the tears in his eyes were about to come out. Because he knew that Zeng Guofan had been worrying about the salary of the Xiang Army, and now it was not easy to transfer twenty thousand taels of silver to the Huai Army. After sending Zeng Guofan away, Li Hongzhang sat in the seat he had just taken, and everyone naturally once again expressed their loyalty to obedience. Li Hongzhang waved his hand and said, "If you want to say this again, you will see the outside." Not a family, not a door. I will be a brother tied together from now on, one glory and one destruction, everyone will have to dig up their hearts when they get along, what to say. As soon as Liu Mingchuan heard this, he said straight through: "Young Marshal, then I will say something ugly." The imperial court has repeatedly urged the Eastern Expedition, but as far as the three thousand of us are concerned, we are not sour in vinegar, salt is not salty, and we want to go on a thousand miles of crusade, and if we can't get to Shanghai, we are afraid that we will be wiped out. Everyone called Zeng Guofan a marshal, and Li Hongzhang was from Zeng Guofan's door, so everyone called him a young marshal.
Zhang Shusheng, as an elder brother, blamed him for speaking unluckily. Liu Mingchuan said disapprovingly, "Don't blame me for speaking badly." Although our five battalions of men and horses have also seen battles, they are all helping the officers and troops to fight, and there is really no one who is really the main force. There are no veterans who have been in the battlefield for a long time, and we rely solely on us to support Shanghai, and the strength of the troops is too thin. This is also what Li Hongzhang is worried about; now the Huai Army not only lacks veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time, but also lacks commanders with actual combat experience. Zhang Shusheng, Pan Dingxin, and Liu Mingchuan did not fight the Taiping Army independently. He was anxious in his heart, but he still had to persuade everyone: "Everyone knows that Cheng Fangzhong, who is a tiger general under the Ninth Marshal's account, has made a great achievement in attacking Anqing." He had already promised to come to my account, and today I would go to the teacher to talk about it. "Everyone knows that Cheng Fangzhong can fight, but even if he brings one or two battalions, he is still a dime a dozen." Liu Mingchuan still felt that it was not possible. "There are also the people and horses of the Zhou brothers, who will soon be strong and strong." Li Hongzhang added another sentence. "The young marshal still went to see the marshal as soon as possible, hoping that he could send some people over as soon as possible." Everyone can train together, and they can also compete with each other. The crowd gave him advice again. Li Hongzhang wanted to give everyone the impression of standing up and acting decisively, so he waved his hand and said, "I will go to see the teacher immediately, and first ask Cheng Fangzhong to come over." ”
Entering the Liangjiang Governor's Palace in Anqing City, Zeng Guofan was meeting guests. The servants brewed tea for Li Hongzhang and told him to wait. Just yesterday, Li Hongzhang was thirsty in the governor's gate and would pour tea, and did not want anyone else to serve him; he did not need to be informed to see Zeng Guofan, and he was almost always there. But today, the servants have taken him as a guest. Official status is like this, and no matter how familiar people go to different positions, various changes will be immediately manifested. After waiting for the boss for a while, the envoy of An Huibu resigned and went out, and Li Hongzhang went in to meet him. "Shao Tsuen, why did I just come back and you came over again, is there anything wrong?" Zeng Guofan motioned for Li Hongzhang to sit down. "Teacher, there are only five battalions I can grasp at hand now, and it is too thin to rely on these five battalions to rescue Shanghai." Cheng Fangzhong trained with Uncle Jiu to become a tough general, and I would like to ask the teacher to say a word to Uncle Jiu, whether he can compile Fang Zhong and his centaurs into Huaiyong, and also make a model for Huaiyong to train and fight. Cheng Fangzhong is a fellow Anhui native, and He and everyone else are also in a similar mood. "You will pick people, Cheng Fangzhong is indeed a tiger general." But you have to know that to become a commander who can fight a good war, to bring out a battalion of soldiers who can fight hard battles, it is not just kung fu on the training ground. Listening to Zeng Guofan's meaning, it seems that he is a little unhappy. Li Hongzhang continued, "Teacher, when you first asked me to recruit Huaiyong, to tell you the truth, I didn't have confidence, I sought Fang Zhong's opinion, and he promised that as long as the teacher released people and was willing to come to the Huaiyong camp, I would have the courage to take on this heavy responsibility." "Listen to what you mean, if you don't give Fang Zhong to you, you won't bring Huai Yong?" "This is not the meaning of students, it is really the students who need generals like Cheng Fangzhong who have seen evil battles." Li Hongzhang tried his best to explain. Zeng Guofan was chosen to attach great importance to meritorious names, that is, the so-called Confucian generals. Cheng Xueqi, who did not know a lot of characters and was a traitor, did not like it very much in his heart, so in the end he still said very happily: "I will make the decision for Lao Jiu, and I will give you Cheng Fangzhong's two battalions." He is from Anhui, as you said, and he is more similar to Huaiyong. "Can the teacher transfer a few generals from other battalions, and what Huaiyong lacks most is the general talent." Li Hongzhang seized the opportunity to make some more demands. Xianghuai is all soldiers for generals, and the so-called transfer generals are, of course, not just a battalion officer, but actually a company of generals and soldiers.
When Zeng Guofan heard this, he said, "Shao Tsuen, the key to leading the troops to fight is to be like-minded." As the saying goes, a twisted melon is not sweet, I forced which commander to go to Shanghai with you, if he is not willing, he will be inconsistent in the future, but instead make a mistake. You see this is not possible, you pick a few people from the familiar generals, move him, and be willing to go with you to Shanghai, no matter who you pick, I will give you what I will do when the time comes? Li Hongzhang originally expected Zeng Guofan to send several battalions of men and horses to the Huai Army under an order, and it seemed that he had thought it was simple. Moreover, the teacher's statement was reasonable, and he had no reason to dwell on it any longer: "Then the student will try, but with the student's qualifications, I am afraid it is difficult to say which general to move." This matter was not necessary for Li Hongzhang to personally go out, and he took Zhou Fu to run around the camps near Anqing. In the Xiang Army, there were many acquaintances of Li Hongzhang, both in literature and martial arts, but when he said that he would go to Shanghai with him, everyone resigned for various reasons. After running like this for two days, I found nothing. Li Hongzhang's greatest advantage is that he is not willing to give up easily. Although he found nothing for two days, his interest was still high. He said to Zhou Fu, "There is nothing in the world that cannot be done, and if it cannot be done, there is something wrong with the method." Lan Xi, you help me think about it, what is wrong with us? "We're not looking for the right person." Zhou Fu has been thinking about this question for the past two days. "What's wrong?" Li Hongzhang looked at Zhou Fu with glowing eyes.
"The people we are looking for are all people who are currently gaining momentum in the Xiang Army. These people are being valued by the commanders of all walks of life, and naturally they will not change the court. Zhou Fu said the idea. "That's right." Li Hongzhang encouraged, "Keep talking. "Among the officers of the Xiang military camp, the most important are those Confucian students with meritorious names, and the higher the meritorious names, the higher the status." Although it is a military camp, it is somewhat like the smell of eight strands of soldiers. Those who have no meritorious name or have a worse meritorious name have a somewhat bad future. Therefore, we should work these people. Of course, there is one point, if the adults are as non-Confucian as Marshal Zeng, then it is only when I don't say anything. "I don't care if he is a Confucian or not, as long as he can fight." You see, these battalion officers of the Huai Army, except for Zhang Zhenxuan, are all from the mountain king. Zhou Fu's suggestion is good. Li Hongzhang was well-known, and it was not difficult for him to find out which battalion and who had a meritorious name, and he also helped Zeng Guofan raise grain and salaries, and had good relations with many commanders of the Xiang Army. He first found Bao Chao, met him, and said, "Old Bao, we are old acquaintances, and I have not helped you with your grain in the past few years." Now I'm going to Shanghai, people are lonely, can you help? Bao Chao is a big old man who does not read, and his army can fight, but he is also known for his poor military discipline. He said happily, "Which one do you like?" As long as he is willing to go, I will release people. Li Hongzhang named Yang Dingxun. Yang Dingxun and Bao Chao were both from Sichuan, and it was Bao Chao who recruited him into the Chuanyong battalion, and later belonged to the Xiang Army, and has always been the most capable cadre under Bao Chao. However, Bao Chao, the eldest and rude, was very moralistic, and he did not change his mouth when he promised: "However, if the elder brother wants to take someone away, you have to ask him if he wants to." Li Hongzhang was usually familiar with Yang Dingxun, and he talked about Shanghai in a mess, and as a result, Yang Dingxun was moved, and all he could bring was one battalion, and he also had to consult with Bao Chao. Bao Chao shook his hand and said, "I, a young fellow, don't talk about friendship at all, but if a good person does it to the end, he will send you this battalion." In this way, Li Hongzhang ran for three or four days, and finally said that he had moved several people: Chen Feixiong of Chen Shijie's department, Teng Silin and Teng Siwu of Zeng Guoquan's department, plus Cheng Xueqi's two battalions, and there were already six battalions that could be incorporated into the Huai Army. Zeng Guofan read the list handed over by Li Hongzhang, and almost without thinking about it, he agreed: "Of course, what I said counts, and they are willing to go with you, so I will order the transfer." The two battalions of the two teng brothers were originally recruited by Xue Zhongcheng in Shanghai to Hunan, but I stopped them, and they were not elite generals. Shao Tsuen, these people are not good generals who can fight a good war. I will send you two battalions of Han Zhengguo to supervise the biao camp, and first make your pro-army battalion. ”
The supervision camp was equivalent to Zeng Guofan's personal soldiers, and it was really unexpected for Li Hongzhang to give two battalions to each other. "You went to rescue Shanghai, it was a lone army crusade, we all had no whip, if we wanted to stand on our feet, how could a few battalions of veterans succeed!" With these eight battalions of men and horses under your account, I can barely rest assured. Zeng Guofan said again. Li Hongzhang hurriedly left his seat and performed a great salute of kneeling and worship. Zeng Guofan hurriedly stopped him: "Shao Tsuen, this can be seen outside." In the future, if you can gain a foothold in Shanghai, you will be able to contain tens of thousands of horses with long hair, and if you can recover normally, it will be able to form a pinch attack on Jinling, which is of great importance to the overall situation. Sending you the Eight Battalions of the Xiang Army, one is the love of our teachers and students, and it is also my overall consideration for the two rivers. These eight battalions, two battalions of the Vine brothers, will arrive about tomorrow, and the other battalions may be a little later. As long as their salary and silver are in Anqing, they are all distributed by the Xiang Army Grain Station, and once they leave Anqing, it is your business. Zeng Guofan also wanted to leave Li Hongzhang to eat at the Governor's Palace, and Li Hongzhang wanted to tell the generals about this great news.
In the middle of February, Qian Dingming came to Anqing and personally released 80,000 taels of silver as the starting fee for Huaiyong's trip to Shanghai. This solved Li Hongzhang's urgent need, because the army was going to Shanghai, and he didn't know that he would be able to return in the Year of the Monkey, and everyone who dragged his family and brought his mouth had to leave some silver at home, and even if a single person ate the whole family's full family, he had to have a few pieces of silver in his pocket to be at ease. According to Zeng Guofan's plan, the Huai army was going to Shanghai in early March, but it was still uncertain how to go, because the steamship to Shanghai was still undecided. Li Hongzhang asked what was going on, but Qian Dingming couldn't say a word. The matter of hiring a steamship was presided over by Wu Xu, the acting envoy of Jiangsu Province, and the person directly in charge was Wu Yun, the alternate prefect of the Chinese and Foreign National Defense Bureau, and Ying Baoshi, the alternate governor of The Prefecture of China and foreign associations. Ever since the beggars, they have been negotiating with the British. The British consul Mai Huatuo initially refused, but after the enthusiastic planning of the interpreter Achari, he finally agreed. Carried by the foreign merchant Mai Li Yangxing, 9,000 troops were transported, and mules, horses and ordnance were brought into the ship. But Mai Li Yangxing lion opened his mouth widely, and the freight rate was 250,000 taels. Through the coordination of Achari in the middle, it was reduced to twenty-two silver per soldier, and the full price of the ship was paid in four months. Wu Yun offered fifteen taels of money in six months, but the British merchants clenched their teeth very tightly and refused to reduce one or two. Wu Yun reported it to Wu Xu, who explained to Xue Huan what the British merchants meant. Xue Huan heard that he wanted 180,000 taels, and he didn't agree anyway. So until now, there has been no agreement. If you want to sail directly to Shanghai on a foreigner's steamship, not to mention the wind and waves, you also have to cross the occupied area of long hair, if the long hair is bombarded by artillery, shouldn't you be buried at the bottom of the river? Therefore, everyone is worried, and even Li Hongzhang has no bottom in his heart. Now that the foreign ships were still not convinced, Li Hongzhang consulted with Zeng Guofan to go by land. Therefore, Zeng Guofan decided to take Chao County, Hezhou, and Hanshan along the north bank of the Yangtze River by land, with Zeng Guoquan as the siege of the city, and Li Hongzhang led the Huai army to rush through the city, and then stationed at Yangzhou and Zhenjiang. When Qian Dingming heard that the Huai army could not be transported directly to Shanghai, but was stationed in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, he cried several times, and the aid that had been begged for help was not adrift. Zeng Guofan advised, "Don't worry, it's not that the Huai army doesn't want to take the foreign ship, the problem is that the foreign ship has not been hired so far, how do you let Shao Tsuen go?" Therefore, Qian Dingming wrote a handwritten letter and paid a lot of money to hire two people who wanted money and did not want to die in Anqing City to ask for a foreign ship to take them to Shanghai. Three days later, the two arrived in Shanghai and handed the letter to Gu Wenbin, deputy of the Shanghai regiment. Gu Wenbin was the initiator of Anqing Beggar,000, and now because he hadn't hired a foreign wheel to make this matter fall apart, he immediately went to find Wu Xu. Gu Wenbin has been happy with calligraphy, painting, and poetry since childhood, and although he is in the official field, the literati have a very good temper. He said to Wu Xu, "You tell Xue that if he doesn't pay for it, I will smash pots and sell iron, and if I sell my family's house and land, I will also hire foreign wheels." If it doesn't work out, I will borrow foreign debts from foreign banks and see where his face is! His thoughts were nothing more than fear that the Huai army would come and steal his limelight, but if he could not save Shanghai, the imperial court would first want the head of his surname Xue! ”
Wu Xu saw that Gu Wenbin had an iron heart, so he went to find Xue Huan again. The two of them were former and subsequent envoys of the songjiang prefect, Su Songtaidao, and Jiangsu province, and their relationship was very close. If Gu Wenbin had a temper tantrum and completely blamed Xue Huan for the failure of the beggar, how could he still gain a foothold in Shanghai? Of course, he didn't want to take on such a big stake, so he said, "Standing and talking doesn't hurt your waist." Where does the money come from? That's 180,000 taels of silver. "Gu someone wants to come out on their own." Wu Xu replied. "Where did he get so much silver?" "He said that by smashing pots and selling iron to sell houses, he could also borrow foreign debts from foreign banks." Xue Huan was silent for a long time, thought about Gu Wenbin's cow temper, and finally nodded his head in agreement. When Li Hongzhang was planning to march by land, Shanghai sent Pan Zengwei and three others to Anqing, saying that they had hired seven foreign ships and transported all the Huai army to Shanghai in three shifts. Zeng Guofan heard that the Shanghai gentry had donated 180,000 taels of silver for this purpose, and felt that if they went to Shanghai by land, it would be really impossible to say. Moreover, this Pan Zengwei and Zeng Guofan still have some origins.
Pan Zengwei, Zi Baochen, a native of Wu County. His father was the famous university scholar Pan Shien, who served in the four dynasties of Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng, and was known as the "Elder of the Four Dynasties". When Zeng Guofan was in the dynasty, he counted as a colleague with Pan Shi'en, which was a layer; and Pan Shi'en also had a grandson, named Pan Zuyin, that is, Pan Zengwei's cousin, who was a first-class Tanhua in the second year of Xianfeng, and entered the Southern Study, Zeng Guofan exchanged letters with him, Zuo Zongtang was framed, and Zeng Guofan once asked Pan Zuyin to be a shuli bao. Pan Zengwei himself was not smooth, Xianfeng's father died in four years, he returned from the punishment department Langzhong to Serve Ding You, sent his love for poetry and painting, and after the Taiping Army occupied Suzhou, he took refuge in Shanghai. Because of his prominent family lineage, local affairs always entrusted him to come forward, he was one of the famous beggars in Anqing, and now he brought a foreign ship to Anqing and asked him to come forward. Zeng Guofan considered the sincerity of the Shanghai gentry on the one hand, and Pan Zengwei's face on the other, so he quickly agreed with Li Hongzhang to take a foreign ship to Shanghai according to the original agreement. Li Hongzhang wanted to do the work of the battalion officers again, because everyone had always been very worried about taking a foreign ship to Shanghai. One is that everyone has never dealt with foreigners, and the impression is that the foreigners either shot at the Qing army or forced the imperial court to sign a peace treaty and pay silver. The second is to cross the area occupied by the Taiping Army, and the coast is full of huge cannons, and if they are bombarded by the Artillery of the Taiping Army, everyone will inevitably be buried in the belly of the fish. Just a few days ago, we said that we should go by land, but everyone was a little relieved, and now they have come to mobilize everyone to take a foreign ship, and everyone can't turn a corner for a while. "The foreign ship has been decided, the Shanghai gentry spent 180,000 taels of silver, we do not sit on the foreign ship, how can we be worthy of the pure sincerity of the people of Shanghai?" It is not a discussion of whether to take a ship or not, but to discuss how the three-liner ship will be arranged. Li Hongzhang made up his mind. Liu Ming preached: "The most worrying thing is the first batch, the first batch is no problem, and the back is easy to say." "I'm the marshal's pro-barracks, so I'll be the first to go." Han Zhengguo was a pro-soldier battalion and came forward first. Cheng Xue enlightened Li Hongzhang to value it, and also rushed: "I am also willing to be the first to leave." It is always safer to take a foreign ship than to attack the city and seize the trench. I know long hair, and they are not easy to attack the ships of the foreigners. Besides, being a soldier and eating food is originally a job on the belt of the head tucked into the pants, and there is no need to say a word. "I am the commander-in-chief of the whole army, and I can't just ask others not to be afraid of death, so I will go with the first batch." Li Hongzhang must also show his courage at a crucial time. Everyone advised him not to take risks under any circumstances, but he had already made up his mind, and it was useless for others to persuade him. Everyone had nothing to say, and the order of the three shifts was also scheduled. Li Hongzhang was about to leave, but Zeng Guofan was still a little uneasy, so he wanted to talk in detail again, and he had a few words to tell him bluntly. When the two met, Zeng Guofan first asked: "Shao Tsuen, in Shanghai today, the British, French, Americans and other foreigners have concessions, and when you come to Shanghai, you must not deal with foreigners." Nowadays, the great Qing Dynasty is weak, and the foreigners always try their best to calculate ourselves, and if there is a small mistake, it will harm the overall situation. "The protégé is about to ask a teacher for this." Li Hongzhang bowed his hand respectfully.
Zeng Guofan said, "From this point of view, you are also thinking about this issue again and again, of course, you must have an idea, and first say it to me." "The protégé didn't have any ideas either. When I negotiated with foreigners, I only played with him. The so-called "leprosy cavity" is the Anhui Chinese native language, that is, the meaning of oil cavity slip. Li Hongzhang's meaning is that when negotiating with foreigners, in any case, he cannot tell the whole truth, the truth is true and false, the false is false and the truth is real, and sometimes Wang Gu may as well say that he is left and right, and in the end he cannot let the foreigners seize the loopholes in the discourse to blame him. Zeng Guofan listened to Li Hongzhang's words, silently brushed his whiskers with five fingers, and after half a day he slowly opened his mouth, elongated his voice and said: "Oh--''Shit', I don't know how to play, you hit one and I will listen." Li Hongzhang heard that Zeng Guofan was not impressed, and hurriedly said: "The protégé is talking nonsense and asking the teacher for advice." Zeng Guofan squinted his eyes, and kept pulling up his beard for a long time before he raised his eyes and said, "In my opinion, I still use a 'sincere' word." Sincerely able to animals, I think foreigners are also like this human. The saints said that faithfulness is feasible for barbarians, and there can be no mistake in this. I have no real strength now, and no matter how strong you are, he can see clearly and clearly, and it is useless. It is better to be honest, to meet with him sincerely, and to be fair with him, although we cannot take advantage of him, or we may not suffer too much. In any case, my credit status always holds. Down-to-earth, not too far to fall, I think it is always a little more reliable than the 'leper cavity'. ”
How to deal with the foreigners, Li Hongzhang really couldn't make up his mind. Because he had hardly ever dealt directly with foreigners, how cunning foreigners were, how mercenary they were, and how they were just word of mouth, the teacher's words were naturally reasonable, so he hurriedly responded: "Yes, the students obey the teacher's instructions." Zeng Guofan was a master of science and revered Confucianism, and his hometown of Xiangxiang Lotus Pond was also a remote and simple countryside. Therefore, Zeng Guofan acted most respectfully and sincerely. In particular, the word sincerity is the most exquisite. Most of the generals he chose also attached the greatest importance to Confucianism, and most of the generals had meritorious titles, and in addition to training, studying and cultivating themselves in the morning and evening was a major feature of the generals of the Xiang Army. It is the most "devious" thing to fight, and Zeng Guofan also pays attention to the word "sincerity", that is, fighting a stupid battle, not taking advantage of the trick, relying on solid training and hard work, and finally gradually gaining the upper hand. Although Li Hongzhang inherited Zeng Guofan, he was very different. Although Li Hongzhang's hometown of Hefei Modian is not a bustling town, it is not as deep in the mountains as Zeng Guofan's hometown, and Huishang is famous all over the world. Li Hongzhang was also a Confucian student, but he left the Beijing Division to run a regimental training at the age of thirty, so his Confucian influence was far less profound than zeng guofan.com. His personal disposition is not as rigid and serious as Zeng Guofan's, even in front of his subordinates, Li Hongzhang is often much more easy-going. There are two sides to everything. Li Hongzhang was good at being accommodating and changeable, which was a strong point, but what Zeng Guofan was worried about was that he was too impetuous and too eager to achieve results. At this time, Zeng Guofan had secretly played Li Hongzhang as the governor of Jiangsu, replacing Xue Huan, who was being impeached. If Li Hongzhang suddenly won the territory, he was too overwhelmed and forgetful, and everything had to be done according to his own ideas, causing resentment to be rife, and it was inevitable that he would lift a stone and drop it on his own feet. Therefore, Zeng Guofan also warned: "Sooner or later, Shao Tsuen will be alone when he goes to Shanghai." If the three fires are not accurate, it is possible to make a sandwich rice and damage one's authority. If you are too impatient and light fires everywhere, you may bury your future. "Students ask their teachers for advice." Li Hongzhang knew that Zeng Guofan would not make such an explanation for no reason, so he listened to it. "There are great problems in the administration of Shanghai officials, and their habits are too heavy, and sooner or later they must be rectified; Shanghai is mixed with Chinese and foreign countries, and negotiations with foreigners are bound to be complicated." However, the management of foreign affairs by officials is not fundamental, nor is it the most urgent task. What you must always keep in mind is the training of soldiers and the study of war, which is the foundation of your wealth. The reason why you want to go to Shanghai is because of the tense military situation, and only then did you have the Shanghai gentry beggars. As soon as you arrive in Shanghai, it is estimated that the long hair will soon invade. Therefore, after you arrive in Shanghai, don't rush to ask questions about anything, but only settle down to train your troops in a down-to-earth manner, and don't rush to seek war, but once a war starts, you must strive for victory. Zeng Guofan brushed his beard, still feeling unfinished, and reminded, "And you remember, in the future, when you look back, leading troops to aid Shanghai will be the key to your Tengda." If you have this elite Huai army in your hands, it will be the foundation of your wealth. You can command freely, you can defeat the enemy, and your future is naturally far-reaching. If it turns out that you are leading a ragtag crowd, don't say the future, I am afraid that I will worry about my life. ”
Of course, Zeng Guofan could not clearly say such words as "only those who have the army have the right," but with Li Hongzhang's cleverness, he would naturally understand his painstaking heart. "Students bear in mind the teacher's teachings and take it as their duty to 'train elite soldiers and learn to fight.'" Li Hongzhang answered sincerely. "A thousand words, hard to say. I have the word "deep" to give away, but I hope that no matter what you encounter, you will respond with the word 'deep'. This made Li Hongzhang sigh secretly. He was going to Shanghai, and recently his friends had many kind words to tell him. Hubei Inspector Li Xuyi gave the word "calmly" to him; Inspector Shen Baozhen of Jiangxi gave him the word "don't be in a hurry," and Zhejiang Inspector Zuo Zongtang gave a lot of advice, the core of which was the word "calm." Now Zeng Guofan admonished him with the word "deep", which was really like discussing it. On the seventh day of the first month of March in the first year of Tongzhi (April 5, 1862), the military field of the school outside Anqing City. The soldiers of the Huai Army lined up neatly, waiting for the review. Zeng Guofan, the minister of Chincha, the co-founder of the university, the prince Shaobao, the military governor of the four provinces, and the governor of Liangjiang, Zeng Guofan, wearing a coral top and a nine-python and five-clawed robe, walked toward the school military field accompanied by Li Hongzhang, who was wearing the top of the three pins of sapphire.
"See Marshal Zeng, see Young Marshal Li!" The generals of the Huai Army shouted in unison. Zeng Guofan ascended to the school reading platform, and the commanders of the various battalions of the Huai Army signed up to see it, and then Zeng Guofan said: "The sons of the Huai Army are going to Shanghai to kill the enemy, and today is also a send-off for you." In those years, I led the generals of the Xiang Army to leave their hometowns, serve the imperial court, travel long distances, and lack of soldiers' salaries, but they were able to repeatedly defeat the enemy and win victories, not only by virtue of the word loyalty and courage, but also by relying on the various battalions and sentries to breathe and take care of each other, go to the fire, and go to the same place. If you win, you will raise a glass of wine to make merit, and if you lose, you will give a death force to save each other. As the saying goes, fighting tiger brothers, fighting fathers and sons and soldiers, the sons of our Xiang Army deserve it. Xianghuai was originally a family, and it was hoped that the generals of the Huaihuai Army would also be able to share the same hands and brotherhood and kill the enemy side by side. In this way, even if there are tens of thousands of bandits, in front of my Xianghuai Jian'er, they are just a ragtag crowd, which will surely be destroyed and decayed, and they will be broken in the future. "Destroy the decay, it can be broken in the future!" The generals of the Huai Army shouted in unison. At Anqing Wharf, three steamships were leaning against the shore, and 800 people from Han Zhengguo's pro-army battalion took a boat, 500 people from Zhou Liangcai's department took a boat, and Cheng Xueqi's 1,300 people took a boat. "Teacher, please come back, the wind by the river is strong, and the students dare not work hard for a long time." Li Hongzhang respectfully gave a gift to Zeng Guofan. "Shao Tsuen, your walk is like a girlfriend getting married, I want to watch you go, get on the boat quickly." Zeng Guofan had some feelings. The whistle sounded and the ship set sail. Get off the boat and shake your hands goodbye. Li Hongzhang, the commander of the Huai Army, was less than forty years old at the time, standing at the bow of the ship facing the wind, with a lofty spirit and a graceful demeanor, and the corners of his tightly closed mouth and slightly protruding cheekbones revealed calmness and perseverance. The steamship did not feel at all like the wooden boat I used to ride, so smooth that sometimes I could not feel the boat moving. Because they were afraid of being discovered by the Taiping Army, after boarding the ship, the commander of the battalion sentry was ordered to strictly guard the personnel of the station, and they were not allowed to make noise, let alone go to the deck. Han Zhengguo personally dragged a chair at the entrance of the cabin and sat there, in a posture of one husband and one wife. Everyone was carrying their orders to Shanghai, so they were very disciplined, and they didn't even dare to cough loudly. Li Hongzhang's residence is relatively wide and clean, there are beds, there are tables, and the most wonderful thing is two thick chairs, and when people sit on them, they sink down, very soft, and people stand up and bounce up again. The foreign firm's general secretary told him that foreigners called this kind of chair Shafa. The foreigners were very kind to Li Hongzhang, and the captain personally invited Li Hongzhang to visit the control room and introduce him to the functions of various instruments. The captain then set up a small table on the deck and invited Li Hongzhang to drink coffee. Because he was worried about being discovered by the Taiping Army, Li Hongzhang could not wear official clothes, but changed into a suit that was tightly wrapped around his body, which was very uncomfortable. Therefore, as soon as Li Hongzhang stepped off the deck, he quickly changed it and never wore it again. This was the first time he had come into close contact with foreigners, and his first feeling was that foreigners were also human beings, and they were not as fierce and vicious as they thought, looking for stubble everywhere, but they were very friendly.
The closer they got to Jinling, the more the Taiping Army, with flags flying everywhere, forts on both sides of the strait densely packed, and guns in black hole holes. The Taiping Army looked at each other and pointed. Li Hongzhang put on the clothes of a foreign apprentice and stood on the deck to observe the two sides of the strait. Near Jiufuzhou, suddenly a wooden boat came towards the heart of the river, waving a small flag and shouting. Li Hongzhang was so nervous that he advised: "Adults need not panic, there is a good chance that they want to buy something." The foreign ship slowed down, and the wooden boat approached and asked, "Is there any medicine to cure red wounds, we have a prince who was injured and urgently needs red wound medicine." No matter the price, as long as there is medicine. The first officer told the general to warn the people on the boat: "It is too dangerous for you to do this, and if the boat is overturned, who is responsible?" "There is really no way, we want to save the life of the prince." The Taiping Army on the small boat was very polite. The two sides negotiated a good price, and the ship first used a rope to pull up the silver, and then hoisted the anti-inflammatory drugs. Below I propose to buy a handcuff. The so-called handcuffs are the pistols of foreigners. The general report reported a very high price, but the people below agreed without even returning the price.
The general secretary explained to Li Hongzhang that as long as the ship docked, there were Taiping troops to buy things, grain, medicine, muskets, ammunition, all kinds of things, everything. Today they went to the river to intercept them, indicating that they are really urgent, and if they are ignored, they will cause trouble. "This ship is a foreigner, I am just a guest, you see how suitable and how to do it, but you must not let the long hairs get on the ship." Li Hongzhang emphasized only one point. Tong Shi laughed and said, "This is natural, everyone has an unwritten agreement, and long hairs generally do not get on the ship." Li Hongzhang was shocked. After that, the steamship went all the way down the river without any trouble, and arrived at Shanghai three days later. The first batch of Huai troops arrived in Shanghai, and Jiangsu officials, garrison commanders, and gentry led by Wu Xu, the envoy of the government, came to greet them on the docks, plus hundreds of people watching the liveliness. Qian Dingming, the head of the household department, was already very familiar with Li Hongzhang, so he was introduced by him one by one. The Huai army braved out of the boat, and the Shanghainese people were greatly disappointed, how could the reinforcements they had spent a huge amount of money to invite look like this? Wrapped in a piece of cloth on his head, he was wearing a tunic sewn from native cloth, and there was a circle on his chest with a Huai character written on his back, and a brave character written on his back, as if he were aiming at the bullseye; the lower body was bigfoot fat pants, and the feet were straw shoes. Everyone was carrying oil-paper umbrellas and large fans, and the weapons were even more unusual, except for a few worn-out guns, most of which were swords, spears, bows and crossbows. Because of the long stay in the cabin, everyone's face was blue, their eyes were not bright, and the smell on their bodies was even worse. The mouth full of hefei native dialect, can not understand a word. The officials didn't say anything in their hearts, but the people who looked at the liveliness didn't have so much to worry about, and what to say: "Allah is an eye-opener in this dynasty, which is the army, and it is clear that it is a local man." Fortunately, Shanghainese dialect sounds like bird language in Hefei, fast and soft, and cannot be understood at all. Li Hongzhang led his army to the Nanhui military camp, and a neatly ranked army approached the Huai army head-on, as if it was specially going to get along with his team called Huazi. Qian Dingming pointed and said, "Lord Li, this is the Foreign Gun Team." Initiated by the Shanghai Sino-Foreign National Defense Bureau, foreigners were hired as commanders, and the soldiers were both foreigners and Chinese, and the commander was the American Huaer, who fought bravely and won many great victories, and was named 'Changsheng Army' by The Futai People. Li Hongzhang carefully looked at this unit, and it was indeed extraordinary; the military uniform was straight, the leather shoes were polished, and the foreign guns of the same color were carried on his shoulders. The yankees were obviously trying to show off, and the officers grunted and immediately changed their formation, holding the gun flat and kicking the right step; a moment later, they carried the gun on their shoulders and ran up, shouting trumpets in their mouths, and their steps were neat, and their feet were on the points.
The generals of the Huai Army looked at the people's clothing and weapons, and their eyes widened with envy. Li Hongzhang was also shocked in his heart, but he knew very well in his heart that when the Huai Army first arrived in Shanghai, as the commander-in-chief, he could not show timidity, so he said to the generals: "The army can fight wars, what is the comparison of appearance?" I will pass on the order that all soldiers and men must not leave the camp without permission, that all battalions should be trained strictly, that the thieves should do a good job, that they should fight a victorious battle for foreigners and Shanghainese to see, and that we anhui people should not lose the face of our Anhui people! The Huai Army of the Thirteenth Battalion of Anqing was transported to Shanghai by steamship in five batches, and apart from a dozen people who were smothered and fainted, they hardly lost a single soldier or pawn. The thousand-mile transfer of nearly 10,000 people was completely transported by steamship, which was really unprecedented, and this unbelievable miracle was actually completed with the help of foreigners, which made Li Hongzhang feel a thousand emotions.
This article is selected from Zhang Hongfu's "Li Hongzhang: All Three Volumes", which is for study only.