On January 24th, Zeng Guoquan, who was guarding Ding Wei at home, walked into Zeng Guofan's study quickly, and when he saw Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guoquan's face showed some joy, and he said: "Big brother, it is indeed a handwritten letter from the third brother. ”

In the morning, a bald guy came to see Zeng Guofan, and he sent a letter to the porter, claiming to be a letter from the captured Zeng Guohua. After the fierce battle with the Guangfu Army in Fuzhou, Jiangxi, Zeng Guohua and thousands of Hunan troops "disappeared" together, and countless corpses appeared in the pit where the Guangfu Army buried their bodies afterwards. It would be too difficult to identify someone's body among so many corpses. In fact, only the soil on the ground was dug up, and the legs of the Hunan soldiers who were responsible for digging the pit were frightened, and they dared to continue digging.

The Guangfu Army killed the captured Hunan troops in Ganzhou, and the officers were all skinned. Zeng Guofan thought that his younger brother had also been killed by the Liberation Army, so he also made a mound for his younger brother.

Someone brought a letter in the name of Zeng Guohua, which naturally caused a shock in the Zeng Mansion. The comers were immediately arrested, but they did not dare to torture them. Zeng Guoquan went to inquire in person, and carefully read the letters and tokens, and finally determined that it was Zeng Guohua's letter.

Thinking that his younger brother was still alive, Zeng Guofan suddenly smiled bitterly, "It's good to be alive!" It's good to be alive! ”

After finishing speaking, a trace of cruelty appeared on his face, "What did Wei Wei want to do when he came to me?" ”

"Big brother......," Zeng Guoquan looked a little uneasy.

Zeng Guofan looked at his younger brother with a gloomy face, and said in a reproachful tone: "Wei Wei came here so blatantly, it will definitely not be a good thing. They must be trying to blackmail us, so if they have anything, just say it. ”

"Big brother, the Liberation Army is not here to blackmail me and wait. They are here to spread the word, and the foreign devils have gone north again, and they should be going to attack the capital. They said that this time the imperial court would definitely not be able to withstand it, and then ...... Then he ...... "Zeng Guoquan wanted to quote the words of the representative of the Liberation Army, but he didn't think it was appropriate, so he repeated it several times and couldn't continue.

Being in Hunan, Zeng Guofan's intelligence was not smooth, and he also knew the news that the foreign devils went north to attack the capital a few months ago, but he didn't expect the foreign devils to go north again. "What the hell?" Zeng Guofan saw his younger brother's hesitant appearance, and couldn't help but ask anxiously.

Zeng Guoquan saw that his eldest brother was angry, and hurriedly replied: "They said that the imperial court used to be just perfunctory to foreign devils, and adopted a procrastination. But this time, the foreign devils will not let the court play this drag with them, and they must beat the court hard. And the court can't resist the foreign devils, and it will definitely kneel for the foreign devils! ”

When listening to the envoy of the Guangfu Army, Zeng Guoquan was very touched by the word "kneeling". He originally wanted to use this word directly, but he felt that he didn't respect the court enough, so he stopped talking. was urged by Zeng Guofan, so he couldn't help but say it. After finishing speaking, Zeng Guoquan looked at his eldest brother's expression, but saw that Zeng Guofan, who was square and rigorous, did not have any objection to this word, but frowned slightly with great understanding.

Seeing that the eldest brother was not angry, Zeng Guoquan continued: "Eldest brother, the Guangfu Army said that there is nothing wrong with the imperial court asking foreign devils to abide by Chinese rules in China. Foreign devils can naturally use their rules on their territory, but there is no reason to run to China so that the Chinese must use their rules. Therefore, the imperial court fought with foreign devils, and the Guangfu Army felt that there was nothing wrong with the imperial court. But the imperial court is incompetent and cannot resist foreign devils externally, this is the ...... of the imperial court Immorality. ”

The original words of the representative of the Guangfu Army were "This is the great sin of the Manchu Qing Dynasty", and although Zeng Guoquan had a good feeling for the word "kneeling", he did not have the courage to use "great sin" to refer to the imperial court.

Zeng Guofan listened to his younger brother Zeng Guoquan's relays expressionlessly, and didn't say anything until he finished listening.

Almost at the same time, in Suzhou, Anhui Province, representatives of the Liberation Army were also talking similar to Jiang Zhongyuan and Li Hongzhang. The representatives of the Liberation Army first took the British ship from Guangdong to Shanghai, and then from Shanghai to the territory of the Taiping Army, and finally, with the help of the Taiping Army, took Li Hongzhang's relatives to Suzhou. Li Hongzhang was originally more concerned about his clan relatives, and when he heard that he could change his clan relatives as long as they met, he agreed. Jiang Zhongyuan himself did not expect that the Liberation Army would come here from Guangdong all the way, and it was a long way and a risk. As a heroic person, Jiang Zhongyuan also wanted to hear what important things the Guangfu Army had to say.

Jiang Zhongyuan's mind was big enough to hear the representative of the Liberation Army use the term "great crime" to describe the defeat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in foreign wars, and although he was extremely unhappy on his face, he did not do it immediately.

The representative of the Guangfu Army continued: "After the defeat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty this time, he will definitely kneel to the foreign devils. The Manchus didn't understand what the foreign devils wanted at all, they only knew that the foreign devils were powerful, so they took out the officialdom and felt that there were foreign devils who the court couldn't afford to provoke. The foreign devil said that the officials below were either angry for a while, just fighting for themselves to have a reputation for not being afraid of rape, no matter what the matter was, and doing it against the foreign devils, showing that they were not afraid of rape. Either they just obey their words and do things like serving the officials. We heard that Jiang Gong is a hero, and I think you think these things are ridiculous. ”

Of course, Jiang Zhongyuan knew the virtues of the group of officials in the imperial court, although he was facing the enemies of the imperial court, but because he was an enemy of the imperial court, he spoke more bluntly, and even said a little bit about the faces of the imperial court officials. Jiang Zhongyuan didn't object in his heart, he just sneered a few times, but he couldn't tell who he was scaring about.

The representative of the Guangfu Army was not moved at all, his task was to tell Jiang Zhongyuan about this, and when he encountered an opportunity, of course, he completed the task first, he said: "Of course, after the foreign devils beat the Manchus, after the Manchus knelt, it was beneficial to the Manchus. The envoy of the Liberation Army continued. After the foreign devils mastered the customs of the Manchu Dynasty, the income and expenditure were clear, and the Manchu court could finally get some customs silver. This greatly alleviated the financial problems of the Manchus. Moreover, in order to destroy us, the Liberation Army, who absolutely refused to surrender, the foreign devils will fully support the Manchus. Jiang Gong's Huai army, Zeng Guofan's Hunan army, and Zuo Zongtang's Chu army were all stronger than the green battalion. First of all, we will support you to work together to eliminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and then the foreign devils will besiege our Guangfu Army from the sea. This is already the best way to win. ”

"Aren't you afraid?" After listening for a while, Jiang Zhongyuan spoke for the first time. Jiang Zhongyuan didn't want to listen to bad things about the imperial court. However, the perspective of the Liberation Army from a high vantage point, as well as the importance of telling the news, made Jiang Zhongyuan unable to listen to it or not. It wasn't until he heard the Guangfu Army explain the strategic situation that would be unfavorable to the Guangfu Army in the future that Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't help but speak.

At Jiang Zhongyuan's ridicule, the representative of the Guangfu Army smiled slightly, "What is there to be afraid of?" I am afraid because I know that I can't overcome difficulties, and I don't know if I watch failure come step by step. But we, the Liberation Army, know what the difficulties are, and we firmly believe that we can overcome them. We just need to do things seriously on our own, not lazy, and not shirk. Walking the road of victory in a down-to-earth manner will naturally reach the end of victory. ”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhongyuan's eyes couldn't help but squint slightly. Li Hongzhang, who was beside Jiang Zhongyuan, immediately felt a strong killing intent, he had followed Jiang Zhongyuan for so long, even if he was commanding the battle on the battlefield, Li Hongzhang had never seen Jiang Zhongyuan have such a strong murderous aura. It was not a fighting intent, but a strong killing intent against the bare-handed representative of the Liberation Army on the opposite side.

If the representative of the Guangfu Army is killed, the Li family's relatives in the Taiping Army-controlled area are afraid that their lives will not be guaranteed. Seeing that the situation was like this, Li Hongzhang immediately stood up and scolded the representative of the Liberation Army: "How dare you be so arrogant and rebellious, and you don't ...... get out."

Jiang Zhongyuan waved his hand to stop Li Hongzhang from continuing to say these small scolding and big help, he leaned back in the chair, put his left elbow on the arm of the chair, frowned and said: "Seeing that you have traveled thousands of miles from Guangdong to Anhui, listening to you is also like a scholar, if you have anything to say, you might as well say it and listen to it." ”

"Gong Jiang, we all said that there are not many heroes in the world now, you are one, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang is almost a hero. The so-called heroes naturally put the interests of the people of the world and the people first. Since the Manchus were destined to sign a treaty of loss of power and humiliation of the country, there would only be endless shame after the fall of the Manchus. We don't ask Gong Jiang to defect to the Governor's Mansion of the Restoration Governor's Office, but we just came to inform Gong Jiang of what he will have in the future. If there really is a day, we think Jiang Gong will definitely have his own choice. ”

"Huh!" Jiang Zhongyuan sneered, "Didn't you come to persuade you to surrender?" ”

The representative of the Liberation Army smiled: "Haha! Jiang Gong, only those who are afraid of death will surrender, we think that you are not greedy for life and afraid of death. If Jiang Gong is the one who will surrender, we will not bother to meet Jiang Gong, as long as you are cornered during the Northern Expedition, you will naturally surrender. can Jiang Gong's temperament, even when the mountains and rivers are exhausted, it is just a big deal. You're really not afraid of death. ”

After Jiang Zhongyuan listened to these confident words, he didn't feel angry. The other party completely recognized Jiang Zhongyuan's noble character and treated him completely differently from those who were greedy for life and afraid of death.

"You ......" Jiang Zhongyuan opened his mouth, but paused again. He believed in the statement of the representative of the Guangfu Army that the imperial court would inevitably lose to foreign devils, and after the representative of the Guangfu Army divided, Jiang Zhongyuan also understood what it meant by "extraterritoriality" and "loss of customs power." More importantly, the Liberation Army fought a battle with foreign devils and defeated them. This matter has spread all over the world, Jiang Zhongyuan is a face-saving person, and he really can't do nonsense.

After groaning for a while, Jiang Zhongyuan waved his hand, "Let's go!" ”

Li Hongzhang was relieved to see that Jiang Zhongyuan did not kill the representatives of the Restoration Army. However, he couldn't help but ask: "Jiang Gong, the Guangfu Army is only afraid that it is alarmist...... At this point, Li Hongzhang couldn't go on. As a smart person, Li Hongzhang can intuitively feel whether people are talking nonsense. And the representatives of the Liberation Army obviously do not seem to be fabricating facts.

Jiang Zhongyuan just shook his head, but didn't say anything.

Half a month after the representatives of the Guangfu Army left, the news came that Dagukou had been lost and that the British army had captured Tongzhou on January 18. On the 21st, the Qing army and the British and French forces fought a fierce battle at Bali Bridge, and the commander Seng Lingqin and others took the lead in escaping, and the Qing army was annihilated. On January 22, Emperor Xianfeng and others left Beijing with the queen and Yi Guifei in the name of Bei Hunt and fled to Rehe Summer Resort. News of the British invasion of Beijing from Andingmen on 31 January.

After the conquest of Beijing, on November 11 and 12, the British and French forces threatened to burn the Forbidden City, forcing Prince Gong to exchange ratifications of the Treaty of Tientsin with Ergin and Gro respectively, and to conclude the unequal Sino-British, Sino-French Treaty of Beijing as a supplement to the Treaty of Tianjin

Russia seized the opportunity to force the Manchus to recognize the "Aihui Treaty" on November 16 on the grounds that "mediation was meritorious." More than 6o square kilometers of land were cut from the Manchus.

As the news came one by one, Li Hongzhang gradually did not dare to speak to Jiang Zhongyuan, and after the events predicted by the Guangfu Army were born one by one, Jiang Zhongyuan's expression became more and more terrifying. Jiang Zhongyuan submitted several petitions to Emperor Xianfeng, requesting to mobilize troops to counterattack in the north. These movements are as silent as the sea of stones.

By January 1859, there were many lists in various parts of the south of the Yangtze River, except for a brief introduction to the affairs of Peking students, there was only one evaluation of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, "Measure the land and material resources of China, and please foreign countries!" ”

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