Prisoner of war camps have always been temporary installations, and the nearly 4,000 Huai soldiers who were captured froze in the cold wind of autumn all night, and many of them finally showed a trace of relief when it was dawn. In any case, after dawn means that the sun can bring warmth.

"Li Hongzhang! Come out! The soldiers of the Liberation Army guarding the Huai Army shouted.

Li Hongzhang, who was in the middle of the captive pile, seemed to have been whipped by a whip, and his whole body shook. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, the captured Huai troops were gathered one after another to guard them. Among the captured Huai troops, Li Hongzhang always had a sense of belonging. After all, there is always more security when you are with your own people. Now that he was named, the people around Li Hongzhang immediately tried to leave Li Hongzhang and let him stand out among the crowd. In normal times, this feeling of standing out from the crowd is naturally good, but now this feeling of standing outside the crowd has become a strong feeling of alienation.

But Li Hongzhang is Li Hongzhang anyway, although he doesn't want to die, but yesterday Li Hongzhang also thought about it repeatedly, the Guangfu Army claims to treat prisoners preferentially, and Li Hongzhang himself has not fought any battles with the Guangfu Army, even if there has been a battle, the Huai Army is still on the side of the loss. I don't think I will be dragged out and killed by the Liberation Army immediately.

After tidying up his clothes, Li Hongzhang walked towards the guards of the Guangfu Army. Huai Jun saw that Li Hongzhang was so courageous, and subconsciously made way for Li Hongzhang. Many Huaijun Yan zhòng even had some admiration. This kind of sight makes Li Hongzhang feel good, there is no need to be in a hurry to surrender, and it will be too late when the Guangfu Army really wants to kill Li Hongzhang. If you throw your hole cards early, you will only be underestimated by others.

When he arrived at the officer of the Liberation Army, the officer looked at Li Hongzhang and asked, "Are you Li Hongzhang?" ”

Li Hongzhang raised his head and held his chest high, "This official is Li Hongzhang!" Who are you? ”

The officer rolled his eyes, "I'm the one who manages the captives. ”

There was mockery in these words, and Li Hongzhang was choked up, his face turned red and white, but he couldn't say a word.

"Li Hongzhang, you have been released." The officer said simply.

"What?" The sense of humiliation instantly flew out of the clouds, and Li Hongzhang couldn't believe such a thing at all.

The officer further made arrangements, "You have been released, and we want you to bring a letter to Jiang Zhongyuan." You take the letter, have a meal, and then you can go to the pontoon bridge we built to cross the river and leave. ”

This kind of change is completely beyond Li Hongzhang's imagination, and Li Hongzhang never imagined this. And the officer took out a letter, and then took out another piece of paper, "Li Hongzhang, write a receipt on it." ”

"Receipts?" Li Hongzhang knew what the word meant, but he didn't know what to write a receipt for.

The officer said a little impatiently: "We asked you to bring a letter to Jiang Zhongyuan, whether you gave the letter to Jiang Zhongyuan or not, we can't be sure." Whether you got this letter or not, we have to prove it to our superiors. Hurry up and don't delay. You'll go to dinner when you're done, and I'll have to send you across the river after eating! ”

The letter was suspiciously written and the receipt was written, and Li Hongzhang took the letter handed to him by the officer. After that, things were simple, Li Hongzhang had breakfast, and then he was escorted to the Huai River with the Huai army.

The riverside is a good place to kill people, and Li Hongzhang still plays a small drum in his heart. Will the Guangfu Army prepare to slaughter the Huai Army, so use this method to break the Huai Army's will to resist, and then calmly kill the unarmed Huai Army by the river.

It seems that Li Hongzhang is not the only one who has this fear, many Huai soldiers are also grinding and grinding when they walk, and the whole team is slowly elongated. When they saw that three pontoon bridges had really been erected on the Huai River, the people who walked further forward began to cross the Huai River through the guò pontoon bridge, and the people behind were even more worried. Will a group of soldiers and horses suddenly appear on the other side of the Huai River and kill the Huai army?

Until all the Huai troops crossed the river, the Guangfu army began to dismantle the pontoon bridge. Li Hongzhang stood on a small dirt slope inside and outside the city, watching the calm and unhurried actions of the Guangfu Army. Touching the letter in his arms, Li Hongzhang had no idea if he had had a nightmare in the past few days. Now he is actually just waking up from a big dream, and he is leading the Huai army to prepare to fight to the south bank of the Huai River, and he is short and long with the Guangfu army.

But this delusion is just a delusion, looking at the surrounding gathering of so many worshipping Huai troops, watching more Huai troops hurriedly march north, preparing to get out of the attack range of the Guangfu Army as soon as possible. Li Hongzhang knew that he had fought a complete defeat, and the combat ability between the Guangfu Army and the Huai Army had reached a world of difference. If you don't want to commit suicide, don't take the initiative to provoke the Liberation Army. The big ship with an iron body and the terrible artillery on the big ship left too deep an impression on Li Hongzhang.

Jiang Zhongyuan read the letter after getting the letter from the Liberation Army, and first prepared to tear it up. However, just before he was about to make a move, Jiang Zhongyuan stopped and threw the letter to Li Hongzhang. When I opened it, it turned out to be a letter of persuasion. The Guangfu Army built yì Jiang Zhongyuan honestly surrendered and pulled down. Continuing to fight will only get more and more ugly.

As a general of the defeated army, Li Hongzhang did not dare to speak, and handed the letter back to Jiang Zhongyuan without saying a word. Jiang Zhongyuan stood up and said angrily: "Early death is also death, and late death is also death, isn't it just death!" ”

These words were full of despair and frustration, and after a while, Jiang Zhongyuan suddenly laughed. Li Hongzhang's hairs stood on end when he listened, this was not because he was worried that Jiang Zhongyuan was crazy, but because there was a sense of fearlessness in Jiang Zhongyuan's voice. That's the kind of energy that only people who have abandoned life and death.

Lord Jiang Zhongyuan can ignore his own life and death, but Lord Li Hongzhang feels that his good life cannot be buried by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in vain. Although the experience of being captured was short, it was just two days and one night, and death flashed countless times in Li Hongzhang's mind. The importance of life has never been so clearly perceived by Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang didn't say a word, for fear that any of his actions would make Master Jiang Zhongyuan discover Li Hongzhang's "bravery". No matter how big the risk of victory is, Li Hongzhang can accept it. But fighting that kind of battle that is sure to be defeated, Li Hongzhang absolutely cannot accept it.

After laughing for a moment, Jiang Zhongyuan turned his head to Li Hongzhang and said, "Since the Guangfu Army has underestimated us so much, we just exterminated the bandits first and stabilized all places. I think that at that time, I will be able to fight to the death with the Liberation Army. ”

Li Hongzhang shuddered, this is a completely imaginable ending. The Guangfu Army has such a strong military strength that it will not be satisfied with a Southern Dynasty at all. But at this time, what Li Hongzhang had to do was to dispel the possibility of Jiang Zhongyuan's decisive battle with the Guangfu Army in the near future. Seeing that Jiang Zhongyuan was so smart, Li Hongzhang breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, the Guangfu Army had no intention of fighting a decisive battle with the Huai Army, and the best example of the inland river armored ship made everyone very satisfied. In particular, steel artillery was copied from the British. This gun has a rear-loading mode, and its shooting accuracy and firing speed are far higher than those of its predecessors. Six of these cannons beat the Huai army to the ground. Four or five such gunboats would ensure security on the Huai River.

Wei Ze raised another question, "We grow long-staple cotton and alfalfa in the sandy soil belt from the Huai River to Xuzhou. ”

The American Civil War was basically over at this time, and in the war, China reaped a lot of benefits. One of them is the introduction of long-staple cotton from the United States and Egypt. This introduction has been very successful, and the problem now is the lack of suitable sites for large-scale cultivation in places such as the south. From the Huai River to Xuzhou, the Huai River has ravaged for hundreds of years, leaving behind a large amount of sandy land that is difficult to grow food, which is suitable for growing cotton. At least for now, it is suitable for growing cotton and alfalfa.

These plantings can be considered to be approved by the Central Committee, but Wei Ze's next proposal made everyone jaw-dropping.

"Yungui and other places are suitable for growing peppers, peppercorns, and rubber. In addition to cultivating terraced fields as much as possible, the place should help the local people to live. I heard that crayfish have begun to wreak havoc on the tidal flats of Jiangsu, and there should be a market for spicy crayfish in the city. Wei Ze, a foodie, watched two seasons of "A Bite of China", and naturally couldn't help but show off.

Looking at everyone's stunned expressions, Wei Ze smiled: "We have all been hungry, don't look at just a few mouthfuls of meat, it will be a life in a famine year!" ”

This is a good point, half a catty of shrimp meat can last a day without starvation. But Wei Ze suddenly spoke in such a way, and everyone was really not used to it.

Of course, Wei Ze didn't want to show his vision as a foodie, he threw out the next point, "I know that everyone is not used to it, why is it not used to it, I also know." Because the supply is a process, being able to catch crayfish does not mean that you can transport these shrimp to the city. If we don't go north, it doesn't mean that we are just idle, in addition to building water conservancy, we need to strengthen the construction of roads. Rail and road will be the focus not only for the next three years, but for the next three decades. Cities are connected by rail and road. These cities are the most important foundation of our Liberation Party. In this era of industrialization, cities, and their industries, are the real core of the country. ”

These ideas are very advanced, and everyone is confused. But Wei Ze said this, and everyone knew that they would have to do it in the future. So everybody took out their notebooks and started taking notes. Zuo Zongtang listened carefully and remembered carefully. He has gradually seen that although it is the credit of the army that the Liberation Army will win every battle, there are a large number of factories and mines behind the army. These are the true strengths of the Liberation Party.

Zuo Zongtang believes that the country that wants to come to the foreign devils also has such a large number of industries, so they can cross thousands of miles and hit the door of China. The Liberation Army has shown military strength no less than that of foreign devils, relying on these industries.

After Wei Ze finished talking about urban construction and material supply, Wei Changrong spoke, "Governor, based on our experience in Guangzhou, don't look at those small vendors who set up night market stalls, many of them earn more than us. What should I do? ”

The question was sharp, but it was so powerful that everyone's attention was drawn to it. This is the content of Wei Ze and Wei Changrong's collusion, Wei Ze smiled: "It's very easy, let's open a state-run hotel." At this point, we have to talk about the so-called investment. ”R1058