Flags were unfurled, drums and trumpets were in the sky, and the horseshoes trampled on the official road with a dull sound, and they were like a rainstorm in summer from afar.

If there are tens of thousands of people, let alone a crowd of 20,000 cavalry rolling forward. This is the gold-swallowing monster in the hands of Zeng Guofan, which is the core strength of the Hunan army. Not to mention that the world is now dominated by muskets, in the military system of the Western powers, the cavalry is still the king, and in the era when the automobile and tank were not invented, the cavalry still controls the rhythm of war.

"The minister Zeng Guo was ashamed of his trust in the imperial court, and there were many setbacks in the battle to exterminate the Twist Army...... The minister also heard that there were rebellious ministers and thieves colluding with foreign people to make rebellion, and even the Qing Dynasty Green Battalion was almost wiped out, and the minister heard the news that all five were burned, and now he should mention 20,000 elites to the north, and after entering the capital to report on his work, he should go straight to Tanggu and destroy the bandits......"

In April of this year in Heze, Shandong, the monk king Monk Greenqin was wiped out here, this battle made the Twist Army shake the world, and even the foreigners exclaimed, although Monk Greenqin rejected the West, but as the commander on the battlefield he was still qualified, is competent, such a brave general fell here, it can be seen that the Qing Dynasty did not have an effective stability of the domestic political situation.

It was the death of the monk king that made the court lose face, and under the urging of several tough holy decrees, the main force of the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan, as well as the main force of the Huai army of Li Hongzhang, who was now just emerging, all went north, from Henan to Shandong to squeeze the range of activities of the twisted army in all aspects, and the flames of war burned all the way to the north.

But what is surprising is that the Hunan army, which was in the limelight of the Heaven Destroying Kingdom, was tied up when it encountered the rogue army of the Twist Army, and even let the Huai Army, which was still weak in Li Hongzhang's hands, steal the limelight, and the deep meaning of this is worth pondering.

The truth in this Xiao Letian has long been analyzed, Zeng Guofan can't just want to raise his own respect, the way out of the 500,000 Hunan army has not been thought out, if there is no bandit now, then the status of these armies will be embarrassing.

Another main reason is that Zeng Guofan also hopes that Li Hongzhang, the apprentice of the Huai Army, can rise up, and at least make more military exploits to at least divide the slander in the imperial court, so as not to keep the eyes of the royal family staring at him.

It was based on this consideration that the entire Pinghu Battle was turned into a puddle of mud, and the imperial court and the Hunan army finally formed a situation where they were afraid of the wolf with a hemp rod.

Just when everyone thought that the fourth year of Tongzhi in 1865 would be spent in this dreary atmosphere, Xiao Letian, the-stirring stick of the Great Qing Dynasty, suddenly made a move, and as soon as it came up, it was a big killing move, a set of combination punches were played, and the Zeng brothers were dazzled and fascinated.

"What a second devil... is worthy of the title of the grandmaster of Western studies, this kid really doesn't brag...... Bring the wine..."When Zeng Guofan held the first copy of the Minzhi Bao and various versions of the leaflet and the post, he was completely drunk.

Zeng Guofan and his most outstanding ninth brother Zeng Guoquan were the top political figures in the late Qing Dynasty, if they couldn't understand Xiao Letian's routine, it would be in vain.

"Writing books to raise hope, relying on foreign countries to protect themselves, and infiltrating the Ryukyus...... These are not the end, and now they dare to privately train the new army and steal the newspapers of foreigners... What does he want to do? Do you want to snatch prestige from the imperial court? This man is ambitious and boundless......"

The Zeng brothers don't care about the pitiful army in Xiao Letian's hands at all, even if the army of a few hundred people is all Western-style training and foreigner equipment, it is only a few hundred people.

But Xiao Letian's newspaper is a big killer, and now the people's hearts in the Qing Dynasty are already unstable, where can he be allowed to tear down the stage like this. Look at the smears and revelations on this, all of them are the things that the people are most concerned about and even hate, which can be regarded as turning out all the sediment in the stinky pond.

"Okay, well, it's really the city wall that can't stop it when the luck comes at this time, with Xiao Letian stirring it up, there will be room for us to maneuver...... Lao Jiu, go and order 20,000 soldiers, we are going to celebrate the New Year in Beijing this year......"

The body of the handsome tiger was shaken, and the entire Qing Dynasty was shaken, and in just three days, all the elite cavalry of the Hunan army battalions gathered under the banner of the marshal. When the 20,000 cavalry set off for the north, the Manchu officialdom was like a bombshell, and everyone was blown up stupid and stunned.

"Zeng shaved his head to rebel? Zeng shaved his head to rebel... He wants to lead troops to force the palace... Who can stop his 20,000 soldiers in the entire Zhili... Green Battalion or Eight Banners? Do you expect the Tiger Spear Battalion and the Good Fighting Battalion in the Beijing Division?"

"God, what's wrong with the Qing Dynasty? The days are just a little better, why don't you let people stop? Go to the Taimiao, go to the Taimiao and cry for the ......ancestors."

"Traitor, this is a traitor... He was also a scholar raised by Confucianism, so how could he not know about honesty and shame? How could he dare to rebel?

Ninety percent of the people in the entire hinterland of the Central Plains who knew the news were crying and scolding, but what was the use, whoever dared to stop Zeng Guofan's army would almost hang up the seal and flee.

From Heze to the north, through Liaocheng, Dezhou and then to Cangzhou, when you arrive in Cangzhou, you will have two choices, you can go straight to the capital in the west, and you can go straight to Tanggu in the east, and only then can you understand Zeng Guofan's intentions, whether to rebel or really to suppress the rebellion? It depends on how he chooses.

The cavalry marched quickly, and when the capital received the news that Zeng Guofan was heading north, this group of 20,000 cavalry had already crossed the border of Texas, and no official dared to stop him along the way. If the normal pace continues, in more than ten days, Zeng Guofan's army will be able to see the city of Beijing.

"Hurry up and send a decree to let Zeng Guofan's army retreat, and he can't enter Beijing without a will, is he going to rebel...... Inform the Mongolian Eight Banners and immediately mobilize 30,000 Mongolian cavalry into Beijing and station them in Changping in case of contingencies...... Prime Minister Yamen sent a note to the envoys of Western countries, asking them to express their position immediately and asking them to put pressure on Zeng Guofan...... I don't believe it, can the sky of the Qing Dynasty be changed..."

"How's Ermao's injury? Brought over on a soft couch, I want to see him..."

Ci'an and Cixi, the head of the national crisis, gave up the dirty contradictions on weekdays, and the two sisters first reached an agreement, various orders were issued from the Forbidden City, and the Manchu state machine began to operate frantically.

When Ermao was carried out of the prison cell of the Internal Affairs Office, his buttocks were already rotten, and under the treatment of the Tai Hospital regardless of the cost, he finally did not fall disabled. When he saw the two queen mothers, Ermao knelt on the soft couch despite the pain, "Queen Mother... Your Majesty... The slave is really wronged, and the slave never thought of betraying the emperor when he was killed......"

"Ermao, you don't need to say it, your heart and mourning family already know, now I just want to ask you, what does your godfather want? There are no outsiders in the palace, you can rest assured and boldly say ......"

Ermao rolled off the soft couch and slammed on the gold bricks, "Master, master... The slave said a big rebellious word, Xiao Letian and even foreigners are just suffering from scabies, and there are other people who are suffering from henchmen..."

"Xiao Letian is indeed bold, and there are disrespectful actions to the court between actions, but he grew up in a pile of foreigners since he was a child, and he didn't learn the rules of the Qing Dynasty, so he didn't want to rebel..."

"What Xiao Lotian wants, the slave can also guess the ** is not far from ten, not to mention money and women, everyone who grew up eating foreign beef has this problem, Xiao Letian He really likes money and women... When these two points can be satisfied, his ideal is to promote Western Studies, and he is determined to become this great master of Western Studies......"

"As for saying that the foreign bank has raised so many guards, and the slave said something disrespectful, it was really forced out, since the godfather returned to China for more than a year, how many assassinations have he experienced? how many times have he faced the army in person? he is really scared, he has to live..."

Ci'an took a few deep breaths and said calmly, "Ermao, you hold on, go to Tanggu with Zhou Daoying, and tell Xiao Lotian that the court agreed to the first three conditions, and as for the third point he said, the court can only agree to half of it...... The Green Battalion garrison in Tanggu cannot be withdrawn and must maintain the status quo......"

"However, I can give half of the security rights in Tanggu City to the guards of the foreign bank. Let the Tongzhi Yamen and the businessmen discuss a piece of paper together, and in the future, they will be jointly responsible for the security of the Tanggu business district and the special industrial zone......"

The imperial court has now compromised to the bottom line, the green battalion soldiers and the Tongzhi Yamen represent the dignity of the imperial court, which can never be revoked, and the so-called joint management is actually the transfer of the greatest power to the merchants. You must know that Xiao Letian's iron blood has made the entire Tanggu officialdom, shopping malls and even ** frightened, who would dare to grab this power with him?

Ermao knew that Xiao Lotian would definitely be able to agree to this condition, and he kowtowed heavily and agreed, "Even if the slave is broken, he must do this errand well..."

When there were only two queen mothers and three little emperors left in the main hall, Emperor Tongzhi said unwillingly, "Isn't this a fight?

"Emperor, this is not admitting defeat, this is just a compromise, using compromise to exchange time for the imperial court...... Do you know why Zeng Guofan dared to enter Beijing? Wasn't it because Xiao Letian's methods disturbed people's hearts? Since ancient times, careerists have all taken advantage of the situation, and what is this trend? The trend is the change of people's hearts......

"The people may let it be done, but they cannot know it. The common people can't understand too many truths, and if everyone can discuss politics, won't the world be in chaos?"

"Not to mention the distance, after the British and French barbarians entered Beijing five years ago, the country was broken and the mountains and rivers were broken, and the imperial court signed a treaty with the foreign powers, and finally in exchange for the foreigners to withdraw and promised to support the imperial court to jointly exterminate the long hair, son, you must know that it was the dynasty that used countless real money and silver interests to exchange for this victory......"

"If there was such a newspaper chattering among the people at that time, if the peddlers and pawns all knew about the contract of the imperial court, the contract would not be signed under the surging public sentiment, and then our dynasty would have a few years of life?"

At this point, Emperor Tongzhi has completely understood what politics is all about, which is no different from doing black-hearted business, and a successful businessman is to use the interests of others to do his own things. Exchange the blood of hundreds of millions of Han people for the support of stronger forces, and finally protect their own country.

The little emperor looked up at the sky in the east, his mind had drifted to the distant Tanggu, and he kept asking in his heart, "Xiao Letian, are you also such a black-hearted businessman? Take advantage of the situation and take the interests of others to do your own business?" No, no, no, you should not be such a person, because there is always an inexplicable flavor in your books, although I don't know what it is, but you must be different from others......

After all, the emperor is only ten years old, he has a keen perception unique to children, and he can understand Xiao Letian's heart, that pure heart.

This book was first published from 17K Novel Network, the first time to see the genuine content!R405