"Zeng Gong, what does Zuo Zongtang's letter say?" After Hu Linyi saw Zeng Guofan put down the letter, he couldn't help but ask.

In the big tent of the Qing army, not far from Tianjia Town, the four leaders of the Hunan army, Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guoquan, Hu Linyi, and Taqibu, were discussing the future war.

After receiving the holy decree of Emperor Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan immediately wrote a letter to Zuo Zongtang, once again earnestly asking Zuo Zongtang, who had once again become a staff member of the governor of Hunan, to come out of the mountain to help. This letter was sent out with an expedited document of 800 miles, and Zuo Zongtang was also happy, and also replied to Zeng Guofan with an expedited express of 800 miles.

After listening to Hu Linyi's anxious inquiry, Zeng Guofan handed Zuo Zongtang's letter to Hu Linyi, and Zeng Guoquan also came over to watch it together. As in the past, Zuo Zongtang still called Zeng Guofan "Disheng" at the beginning of the letter, Zuo Zongtang told Zeng Guofan in the letter, Xianfeng ordered Zuo Zongtang to go to Zhejiang as a military training minister, Zuo Zongtang happily accepted the order and prepared to take office.

Seeing Zuo Zongtang so neatly rejected Zeng Guofan's invitation, Hu Linyi was quite disappointed. If the degree of sending the letter can reach 800 li, it will be possible to write a reply from the front line of Tianjiazhen to Hunan in two days at most. However, with the Manchu communication system, the correspondence took six days to go back and forth. In the past six days, Zeng Guofan and others have fully discussed the orders issued by Emperor Xianfeng. The most favorable situation for the Hunan army is that Zuo Zongtang joined the Hunan army and led an army alone. With Zuo Zongtang's ability, he will definitely be able to strengthen the Hunan army. And Emperor Xianfeng appointed Zuo Zongtang as the minister of military training in Zhejiang, completely cutting off this possibility. Hu Linyi was naturally extremely disappointed.

Compared with Hu Linyi's disappointment, Zeng Guoquan's face changed greatly. He said eagerly, "This is bad! ”

Hu Linyi frowned suspiciously, although he regretted that he couldn't invite Zuo Zongtang out of the mountain, but he was far from reaching Cheng Dù, who thought that something big was going to happen, so he asked Zeng Guoquan, "Why?" ”

Zeng Guoquan was in charge of recruiting the Hunan army, and he was extremely familiar with the situation in Hunan, he said anxiously: "Zuo Zongtang is not at the mercy of others, if he goes to Zhejiang alone, without his own soldiers and horses, what is the use after arriving in Zhejiang?" Now Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, obeys Zuo Zongtang's words, and will definitely give priority to Zuo Zongtang to recruit troops, and we will lead the army to fight hard against the Cantonese bandits, and urgently need to replenish the men and horses, so ......"

The big leaders of the Hunan army are all smart people, and there is no need for Zeng Guoquan to continue to explain the next words. In this way, the Hunan army's plan to replenish the troops will be completely frustrated. Needless to say, Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, will definitely take this opportunity to strike hard at the Hunan army.

More than a year ago, Zeng Guofan recruited soldiers and horses to form the Hunan army, at that time, Zeng Guofan let the green battalion and the Hunan army practice together, and he himself gave a speech to the soldiers, trying to persuade the green battalion with the righteousness of the monarch and the ministers, so that the military aircraft were scattered, and the green battalion, which harassed the people all day long, should no longer be willing to degenerate, but should work hard to train and serve the country.

Zeng Guofan's hand stretched too long, which directly touched the interests of the Hunan Green Camp. seems to be loyal to the monarch and patriotic, but from the perspective of face, it is equivalent to accusing the green battalion of being a bad person, and it is even seen as implying that the generals of the green battalion connived at their subordinates, which is evil!

In response to this kind of attack, the green battalion immediately took a counterattack, and it was Changsha Deputy General Qingde who took the lead in making trouble. He fled when the Taiping army attacked Hunan, but he was very brave in the face of Zeng Guofan. He not only took the lead in boycotting the exercise, "during the period of the exercise, the general should never come", but also shook his lips and drummed around, agitating all armies not to be manipulated by Zeng Guofan.

Zeng Guofan, who thought that what he had done was worthy of Xianfeng and his conscience, immediately gave Xianfeng a fold, impeached Qingde, and violently criticized the Hunan garrison for "the soldiers are afraid of the soldiers, and the fatigue has become a habit, and they do not listen to persuasion, and they are not afraid of authority, and there is no way to motivate them." Shang Fang's sword quickly showed its power. Emperor Xianfeng immediately dismissed Qingde.

Qingde's boss, the governor of Hunan, that is, the supreme military governor in Hunan, Bao Qibao, waited for an opportunity to retaliate, and the opportunity soon came. The Green Battalion soldiers didn't understand Zeng Guofan's reasoning, but they had their own aesthetics. They looked at how these Xiangyong buns recruited by Zeng Guofan were not pleasing to the eye, and they often used the excuse to fight with Xiangyong. On the fourth day of August 1853, Bao Qibao's guards again provoked and attacked Xiangyong, and both sides were wounded.

If the army is not disciplined, how can it pacify thieves and reassure the people? Zeng Guofan sent a document to Bao Qibao and asked him to arrest the green battalion soldiers who took the lead in making trouble, so as to put an end to the style of private fighting.

Bao Qibao was determined to take this opportunity to teach Zeng Guofan a good lesson. He deliberately tied up several soldiers who caused the accident and escorted them to Zeng Guofan's mansion with great fanfare, and at the same time sent people to spread the news that Zeng Guofan was going to severely punish these green battalion soldiers, encouraging the soldiers to make trouble. The Green Battalion passed on two and two to three, gathering more and more, and the crowd was so angry that they took to the streets one after another, marched and demonstrated, demanding that Zeng Guofan release the Green Battalion soldiers. There was chaos in the city of Changsha for a while.

After Zhang Liangji left, the officials of Hunan Tong Province did not agree with Zeng Guofan. When this happened, the officials all over the city closed their doors and stood by and watched, secretly happy in their hearts. "The battalion soldiers have traveled and gathered in the city day and night, and the civil and military officials have closed their doors and refused to do anything." Waiting to see Zeng Guofan's joke. Seeing this, the Green Battalion soldiers were even more bold, and actually began to openly besiege Zeng Guofan's mansion.

Zeng Guofan's mansion was temporarily set up in the shooting garden of the governor's yamen, only one wall away from the office of the governor Luo Bingzhang. Zeng Guofan thought that no matter how bold the green battalion soldiers were, they would never dare to attack him, a second-rank member. So after being surrounded by the Green Battalion soldiers, he still handled official documents as if nothing happened. Unexpectedly, the Green Battalion soldiers broke into the door and injured several of his entourage. Even Zeng Guofan himself was almost stabbed. Zeng Guofan grabbed the door and fled, and ran to the door of the governor's office next door in a few steps, knocking again and again.

The green camp was making trouble outside the door, and Governor Luo Bingzhang heard it clearly, but he pretended to be deaf and dumb and laughed secretly. He should have come out to mediate, but he never knew about it. It wasn't until Zeng Guofan came to knock on the door that he pretended to be surprised and came out to mediate. As soon as the Green Battalion saw the governor coming, they immediately behaved.

Luo Bingzhang's mediation method was to order someone to bring the green battalion soldiers who Bao Qibao was sent over, and he personally stepped forward to loosen the ties, and apologized to them again and again, saying that he had wronged his brothers!

The green battalion soldiers earned enough face and happily hugged these people.

There were only two Luo Zeng left, and Luo Bingzhang didn't say a word of comfort to Zeng Guofan, but only said lightly: "In the future, we will rely on them to fight!" And he turned and walked away.

Zeng Guofan was so angry that he almost vomited blood, but he also clearly saw that the Hunan government fully supported the green camp, so Zeng Guofan had no choice but to take the Hunan army to Hengyang to avoid the Hunan government. This can be regarded as the continuation of military training.

Now Zeng Guoquan simply clicked, the four leaders of the Hunan army knew very well that with the emperor's order, Luo Bingzhang, who had long wanted to continue to reorganize the Hunan army, would never let go of this opportunity. The idea of the Hunan army to replenish its forces in the short term was completely frustrated.

Taqibu looked at Zeng Guofan's frowning appearance, and couldn't help but say: "Zeng Shuai, why don't you give a break to the Lord of Long Live and talk about this matter?" ”

Taqibu was a banner man, and Zeng Guofan made him his deputy, and he also had the intention of showing his loyalty to the emperor. And Taqibu did not feel superior because he was a banner man, and he was extremely supportive of Zeng Guofan. At such times, the Taqibu Folding was more effective than the Zeng Guofan Inscription.

Zeng Guofan just thought for a moment and said, "No need. Although our army needs to be replenished, the real opponent is Weez. Naweize has won many battles, and his men are all elite. Relying on conscripted soldiers, I am afraid that they are not his opponents. ”

As soon as Zeng Guofan said this, Taqib couldn't continue.

In the past few days, the big leaders of the Hunan army have been studying Xianfeng's holy decree and the current situation. Emperor Xianfeng urgently ordered Zeng Guofan to send a naval army to the east along the river to attack Tianjing City. There is no need to combine the battle situation, just from the words on the holy decree, you can see the urgency of Xianfeng. After combining the battle situation, Zeng Guofan was able to understand the crisis of the situation in Jiangnan at this time.

Zeng Guofan maintained a high density of intelligence exchanges with his good friend Jiang Zhongyuan, and was very clear about the situation in Anhui. The Taiping army occupied the central Anhui region, and a large amount of grain flowed down the river to supply the needs of Tianjing City. This made Zeng Guofan's plan to cut off the supply of food and salaries to the Taiping army after choking the Lianghu region completely failed.

Although the famous Cantonese bandit leader Wei Ze left Anhui, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not relax its grip on Anhui. Jiang Zhongyuan told Zeng Guofan that the Cantonese bandits were now holding on to Shouzhou and Fengtai, and were in a-for-tat confrontation with the Huai army in Suzhou. If there were no special changes, Jiang Zhongyuan would still be in a disadvantageous position in the short term and would not be able to move his army south.

Zeng Guofan won a big victory in Xiangtan, took advantage of the situation to counterattack, and hit near Tianjia Town. If Zeng Guofan led his army eastward, the Taiping army on the opposite side would not be Zeng Guofan's opponent after a great defeat. After conquering Tianjia Town, the Hunan army will be able to go down the river if they take Hukou again. In order to ensure that Tianjing City is not lost, the Taiping Army must mobilize mobile forces to help defend Tianjing City. There is no need to think about it, the mobile force of the Taiping Army is naturally Wei Ze's troops. Zeng Guofan's Hunan army had to go head-to-head with the famous Wei Ze's forces no matter what.

Zeng Guofan was not an arrogant person, Wei Ze faced the Qing army's repeated victories, and fought against such an enemy, Zeng Guofan never thought that he could win lightly.

Zeng Guoquan, Hu Linyi, and Taqibu's eyes all fell on Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guofan could of course refuse Emperor Xianfeng's order, at least he could disobey him. Whether the Hunan army obeyed the orders of Emperor Xianfeng to carry out the Eastern Crusade depended on Zeng Guofan's opinion.

"Long live is very worried, I have said many times a long time ago, and we must go east at this time!" Zeng Guofan gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.

"Why?" Zeng Guoquan couldn't help but ask, "Since Zuo Zongtang is going to Zhejiang to be the minister of military training, I might as well let him go." Zuo Zongtang is brighter than today, thinking that he will definitely be able to defeat the Cantonese bandits in Zhejiang! ”

Zeng Guofan sighed, "Guoquan, if our army does not advance eastward, Wei Ze will definitely advance eastward. As for the new defeat of Jiangsu's official army, it was impossible to resist Wei Ze's troops. Once Wei Ze conquers Suzhou and joins forces with the traitors of the Shanghai Little Knife Society, the entire Jiangnan situation will really be erosive. Hooray is thinking about that! ”

Zeng Guoquan was not persuaded by his brother that the officials and troops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were incompetent, so why should the Hunan army in Hunan bear it? Although he wanted to say this, Zeng Guoquan didn't say it directly, he said sideways: "It is said that there are still 50,000 horses left in the Jiangbei camp in Jiangnan, even if Wei Ze cannot be destroyed, it can resist for a while, and at that time, after our army is corrected, we will be able to enter the army calmly." What does it matter if it's a few days earlier or a few days later? ”

Zeng Guofan didn't speak, Hu Linyi already understood what Zeng Guofan meant, and he said: "Brother Yuanpu, our army has hit the Cantonese bandit navy this time, and these sailors are mainly a large number of ships and sailors that the Cantonese bandits got from Poyang Lake. Na Weize does not need to occupy Zhejiang, as long as he controls the Taihu Lake, he can do the same and rebuild the Cantonese bandit army. Our army now has the advantage of a naval battle, if you don't do it at this time, you will be in trouble in the future! ”

After listening to Hu Linyi's words, Zeng Guoquan immediately understood. As far as the virtues of those people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are concerned, Wei Ze will definitely be able to control Taihu Lake in the short term, and if the Taiping army is allowed to rebuild the navy, the current advantage of the Hunan army will be gone. Thinking of this, Zeng Guoquan also gave up his efforts to prevent the Hunan army from sending troops, and he fell silent.

Seeing that no one objected, Zeng Guofan ordered: "Our army should hurry up and recuperate, and replenish as much as it can." Three days later, Hyoda Town! ”

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