"Forget it, forget it......" Xiao Letian waved his hand, "I've been in a bad mood and a little upset in the past two days, I'm sorry for you when I get angry with you......"

Xiao Lotian is indeed very confused, on the one hand, his strategy is disrupted, which is the main reason, but there is no irremediable solution to this chaos, and even Xiao Lotian can take advantage of the chaos to get more benefits.

What made him unhappy was that because of this out-of-control strategy, others actually saw the opportunity to take advantage, especially the cunning Hunan Army Group, which actually wanted to enter Xinjiang in advance, which is not a good sign.

In real history, Zuo Zongtang should have been seven years after entering Xinjiang, and he spent seven years quelling the Huibu rebellion, and then led his troops out of Yumen in the first year of Guangxu.

Moreover, the war to pacify Xinjiang lasted for three years before it was basically over, and Zuo Zongtang himself stayed for another two years until he officially returned to Beijing in 1881.

In other words, the elite of the Hunan army group was dragged out by the war in the Great Northwest until 1881, and it was a sigh of relief.

This year is 1868, which means that it will take thirteen years for the main force of the Hunan army to return to the Central Plains, and how many thirteen years can people wait?

Xiao Letian couldn't help but sigh and said secretly in his heart, many people don't understand why the Hunan army that fought a hundred battles did not rebel in the end, and why it disappeared in obscurity in the long river of history? The answer is actually here.

It is difficult to find a very detailed record of the establishment of the Hunan army, but it is recorded in the Qing court archives that the imperial court only allowed local organizations to organize regimental training in 1853, and it was in that year that Zeng Guofan obtained the right to train troops.

It is because in 1852, in the second year of Xianfeng, his mother died of illness, and according to the past rules, officials had to go home for three years to show filial piety.

It was in his hometown that he witnessed the local squires being so frightened by the menacing Taiping army that they abandoned their homes and fled their homes.

The imperial court knew that Zeng Guofan was a talent, and also knew that he was now in his hometown Ding Wei, where was the front line against the Tianping Army, so it was logical to give Zeng Guofan this will to train the troops, which was the original root of the Hunan army.

In 1853, when the Hunan Army was established, let's assume that the average age of the recruits at that time was 20 years old, so when the city of Nanjing was breached in 1864, how old should these veterans be? The answer is 31 years old.

Of course, this data will not be very accurate, because the army is absorbing new recruits every year, which will cause the average age to grow very slowly, but this data is very accurate for the elite, because only veterans are the soul of an army.

After 1864, did the veterans of the Hunan army go to Nanshan? Of course not, after the Tianping Army, there was still the Twist Army, and after the Twist Army, there was the Huibu Rebellion.

When Zuo Jigao led the main elite of the Hunan army into Xinjiang in 1875 in the first year of Guangxu, what was the average age of the earliest Hunan army veterans? It was 42 years old!

Of course, the 42-year-old soldiers who are still fighting in the army have already become officers at all levels, and a number of disabled people have already left the army.

At that time, the veterans of the Hunan Army under Zuo Ji's command were not all the first batch of veterans, but more soldiers who were recruited in batches during the pacification of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for more than ten years, and belonged to the second and third echelon veterans, so even if they were a little younger, the average age should be over thirty-five years old.

Then he fought Xinjiang Agubai, until Zuo Zongtang returned to Beijing in 1881, these veterans with an average age of more than 40 years old were already full of gray hair, they had exhausted their vitality and lives for this empire, and they had reached the age of not being confused.

The average life expectancy of ancient people was not as long as that of modern people, and if you were not confused at 40, you would know the destiny of heaven at 50! Where did the Hunan army go? In fact, they have long since melted into the long river of time and become the invisible speck of dust in our civilization.

Xiao Letian emotionally hopes that these people will let Nanshan go home as soon as possible to enjoy the joy of family, and stop fighting, they have already fought enough.

However, strategically speaking, he must also let the Hunan army continue to advance along the line of the past life, at least the time node will not be confused.

Because Xiao Letian knows very well that once the Hunan army stops the national war, this powerful military group is destined to vent its excess energy, and the radicals led by Zeng Guoquan are destined to make some trouble, and Xiao Letian can't turn his face with them now.

As an aside, why didn't the nine marshal Zeng Guoquan rebel in his real history? On the one hand, it was the suppression of his elder brother, and on the other hand, it was because of his age, and he was actually defeated by time just like the Hunan army.

When the veterans who were loyal to him were getting old and couldn't wield a knife, the nine marshals Zeng Guoquan was already old and unusable, and when Zuo Zongtang returned to Beijing in 1881, the nine marshals were already 57 years old, and there were only 9 years before his death, even if he wanted to rebel, he no longer had that spirit.

So don't think that Cixi and these Manchu cliques have such clever political skills, they sometimes deal with Hanchen, especially those old commanders of the Hunan army, and use the stupidest method, which is to use time to survive.

So for politicians, what is the real ability? In fact, it is longevity, you live longer than others, and you will naturally be able to go farther, even if you walk slower than a turtle.

Xiao Lotian waved his hand to stop thinking, "It seems that the development of the situation is a little out of our control, many details in the ten-year plan need to be fine-tuned, and we must seize the time to quickly solve some important problems......"

"Once the Russians reduce their support for Aguba, Zuo Zongtang will quickly expand the results of the war, and the war that I thought would take more than ten years to settle is likely to be brought forward......

"In the Far East, on the contrary, our burdens have increased...... I'm really unwilling, I've always hoped that Xinjiang will drag on for a longer time, it's like carrying a burden, the east and west borders of the Qing Kingdom are the two ends of the burden, the pressure on the west has been reduced, and as a result, we will be tight in the east......"

"Hey...... What kind of hero are you? These are good, you will attract at least 30,000 or 40,000 Cossack elites from the Great Northwest, and this battle will not be easy to fight!"

The three of them pondered for a moment, and then Wang Huaiyuan asked, "What should we do with Beijing's side?" Now that the ministers of various countries have expressed serious concern, we must give Britain, the United States, France, Russia, and other countries an explanation? Evasion is not the ...... way."

Xiao Letian nodded, "My identity is too sensitive, I can't always appear in Sijiu City, it will frighten the Manchurians...... In this way, Xiao Hexin, you will go for me, and I will appoint you as the ambassador plenipotentiary to deal with this diplomatic war at hand......"