On the morning of February 4, 1853, the commander of the teaching brigade, Ke Gongyu, rode a horse and led a small group of cavalry troops to the riverside ferry. The horses were captured from the Qing army in Wuhu and the eastern and western Liangshan mountains. Far from being familiar with the new owner, fortunately, the horses in Jiangnan are not horses, and in this place where the water network is dense and hilly, the horses are honest and honest. If it is the kind of horse that travels thousands of miles a day and 800 at night, if it is temperamental, people and horses are really prone to accidents.

At the ferry, Ke Gongyu and the cavalry jumped off their horses. Under the city of Changsha, the teaching brigade formed the first cavalry units. When transferred from Changsha, the horses were transferred to the cavalry units. Everyone has accumulated a little experience, and it doesn't feel too difficult to handle the new mount at this time.

Several boats rowed over from the opposite shore, and standing on the bow of the boat was Hu Chenghe, director of the Operations Department of the General Staff. After the troops arrived at the strange place of Jinling, they first drew a map and prepared a defensive position. The cartographers of the General Staff and the staff of the divisions were dispersed to prepare for battle.

After getting off the boat, Hu Chenghe said to Ke Gongyu: "Fortunately, I let you come, if we leave you in Anqing, we really can't fight in Nanjing." Jinling City is so big! ”

The size of Jinling City is almost seven times that of Wuchang City, and the Taiping army of more than 60,000 people arrived in Wuchang to surround Wuchang City, and at present, Wei Ze's troops are only 3,500 people, plus Luo Xuan's 4,000 naval army, and the troops of 7,500 people are facing the huge Jinling, and they are really unable to adopt the strategy of encirclement.

Ke Gongyu was so embarrassed that Hu Chenghe was not so embarrassed, he said calmly: "With the leadership of the prime minister, I can't wait for a month to break through more than ten cities, travel thousands of miles, and fight from Wuchang to Jinling." The prime minister said that he could be laid, and he must be able to be laid! ”

Hu Chenghe was Wei Ze who followed Wei Ze at about this time a year ago, and he knew that Ke Gongyu admired Wei Ze very much, and such an attitude was not unusual. But this Nanjing city is too big, and as far as the current observation is concerned, there may be as many as 20,000 or 30,000 Qing troops in the city. Wei Ze's troops were too difficult to defeat ten.

As he was talking, he heard a sudden cannon sound at the city wall of Nanjing. Both generals frowned and looked over, and there were more and more places where the cannons were fired, and the general direction was the place where the vanguard was tentatively approaching. After listening to it for a while, Ke Gongyu suddenly laughed, "It seems that the Qing Demon is so scared that he is about to pee his pants!" ”

Even if he was not as optimistic as Ke Gongyu, Hu Cheng and Fang Cai's frowning brows had already loosened. The artillery of the Qing army opened fire as violently as madness, as if facing a fierce attack by tens of thousands of enemies. And Hu Chenghe knew very well that the total number of troops to be tested was less than three hundred. The reaction of the Qing army can only prove one thing, not that the defensive Qing army has sufficient gunpowder, but that the defense of the city of Nanjing is weak. Hu Chenghe couldn't help but start to revise the number of Qing troops in his heart. If there were really 20,000 or 30,000 Qing troops and outstanding generals, then the correct response of the Qing army should be to lure the Taiping army to attack the city, and then use fierce firepower to inflict great damage on the Taiping army.

Ke Gongyu took out a pamphlet from his arms, which was a manual for the senior officers in the military academy to study, he turned a page, and read: "The way of using soldiers, show it with softness and welcome it with rigidity, show it with weakness and multiply it by strength, respond to it with a long time, and show it to the west and show it to the east. If there is no trace of ghosts, if there is no invasiveness of water. The hometown is not what you want, and what you see is not what you see. The move is moving, and I can't recognize it. ”

After reading it, Ke Gongyu put away the pamphlet and sneered: "The prime minister is definitely not wrong, the Qing Demon didn't expect us to hit Jinling so quickly, and the defense in the city is extremely weak. At this time, it will definitely be able to be captured in one go. ”

Hu Chenghe didn't want to support or oppose it, although he felt that Ke Gongyu inevitably trusted Wei Ze too much, and fighting a war was not such a simple matter. But Hu Chenghe couldn't help but envy Ke Gongyu's simplicity, and sometimes he was too tired to think too much. If Hu Chenghe could only consider executing orders like Ke Gongyu, he would be able to save a lot of trouble.

As they spoke, the guards suddenly moved, and they surrounded several people who were walking towards the ferry.

Wei Ze only arrived at the city of Nanjing at noon, and he knew that the Manchu Qing was rotten, but he did not expect that the local organization of the Manchu Qing was so rotten. It's nothing to conquer the city along the way, raid battles are like this, if you can't solve the enemy cleanly, then you will only be blocked or solved by the place.

But after arriving in Wuhu, the troops no longer marched by boat, but were divided into two teams, Water 6, to kill Nanjing City together. As a result, a large number of local officials surrendered in the places they passed along the way. This surrender seemed to be quite sincere, and they came to surrender with the booklets of local grain, land, and taxes. It's a real deal. Once we have a grasp of the local personnel, land, and the amount of grain we pay each year, we will be able to cut into the actual control of the locality. Wei Ze naturally laughed.

Because of this, he was held back for a while. It was not until noon that he arrived in Nanjing.

When I arrived at the camp, I saw that there were several people surrounded at the door, and one of them turned out to be a foreign devil. Wei Ze stopped and asked, "What's the matter with that foreign devil?" ”

Ke Gongyu, who came to greet him, replied: "He seems to have come to find us for something." ”

Wei Ze frowned, he didn't enter the big tent, and asked people to bring foreign devils over.

The foreign devil couldn't understand the sinicization of the accent after a mouthful of it first, anyway, Wei Ze couldn't understand at least eight out of ten words. So Wei Ze simply said in a fluent 21st-century Manhattan accent: "Do you speak English?" ”

The merchant was in a hurry when he saw that Wei Ze was frowning and looking incomprehensible, and he was in a hurry, but he was quite stunned when he suddenly heard English, and after a pause, the guy spoke English and replied to Wei Ze: "Your Excellency, General, I am a British merchant. Seeing that your troops have arrived in Nanjing, I want to make a deal with you! ”

"Come in with me." Weeser said.

Ke Gongyu and the other generals were stunned as they listened to Wei Ze conversing fluently with this brown-headed, brown-eyed foreigner in a language they had never heard before. However, when everyone saw Wei Ze's expression, they didn't dare to disturb.

Wei Ze was not worried that this foreign devil was an assassin, if the Manchu Qing could send foreign assassins posing as merchants so quickly, then Wei Ze felt that his death might not be wronged. A person who completely remembers history deserves to die like this.

After informing each other of their names, Weser said in American English, "Mr. Smith, why do you dare to take the initiative to come and do business with yourself?" ”

The merchant, Smith, replied with a smile on his face in British English, "Your Excellency, I have never seen such a uniform of your army in China. ”

Stand-up collars, collar badges, epaulettes, armbands. This was the hallmark of the European and American armies at this time, and the uniforms of Weeser's troops had all the elements. So Weser fully understood why Smith dared to take the initiative to ask for business.

"And what are you going to sell me?" Wei Ze asked knowingly.

"Muskets! Artillery! Gunpowder! Cannonball! Smith replied, "Your Excellency, I have many friends in Shanghai, and if you are willing to buy them, you can have as many as you want." ”

Because he didn't know the term, Weeser had an arquebus and his modified flint gun brought in, and then began a discussion with Smith about the arms deal. Smith said that the gunpowder two taels one barrel can be sold to Weeser 3oo barrel first. There are five taels of flint guns, and you can get two thousand for Wei Ze first.

"These two thousand are all old guns, and five taels is too pitiful! Don't fool me with some broken guns from the Napoleonic era in France at the beginning of this century! Weese immediately bargained.

Listening to Weeser vaunt his knowledge of Europe, Smith was in awe. It was the first time he had met a Chinese in China who could be so well versed in European history. Smith immediately assured him that it was British, and that the gun was old, but it was good.

Weeser scoffed, "Mr. Smith, how long has it been since you been back to England?" How did I hear that Britain itself doesn't use flint guns? ”

Smith was even more surprised at this time, because he had only heard that the British 6th Army was no longer equipped with flint guns, but it had not completely eliminated flint guns. He immediately defended: "The army in Hong Kong is using flint guns, and His Excellency the General must have been to Hong Kong, so he must know their equipment!" ”

In the end, Weeser increased the gunpowder from 3oo barrels to 8oo barrels, and the flint maintained the price of five taels a piece. A commercial contract was signed with Smith, in which Smith guaranteed to ship weapons and gunpowder from Shanghai to Nanjing within fifteen days. If the weapon can be delivered within 10 days, Weeser will add an additional 5% to the shipping fee.

Wei Ze didn't really care about the thousands of taels of silver, China was beaten miserably since the First Opium War. Various indemnities plus interest, a total of 1.3 billion taels of silver were lost. If China's losses were limited to the First Opium War, China would have lost at least 1.2 billion taels of silver. Between 1.2 billion taels and a few thousand taels, Wei Ze can naturally distinguish clearly.

The reason for the bargain was because Wei Ze needed to get these weapons as much as he could. And to catch this line of arms trade. In those years, the merchants who were able to participate in the arms trade were not a good thing, and those who were engaged in the arms trade in the Far East were absolutely mercenary. Wei Ze's experience of following the old lady to bargain in the vegetable market made him understand a sentence. When a bargaining connoisseur gets entangled in the details, it is precisely when he wants to buy the most.

In Europe, merchants and thieves once shared a god, that is, a grandfather. Weeser was confident that Mr. Smith would not disgrace his status as a businessman.

Sure enough, after reading the contract, Smith asked a question, "Your Excellency General, if I can transport these supplies to Nanjing within seven days, can I increase it by another 5%?" ”

"Why?" Weser was a little puzzled.

"If you rent a steamboat in Shanghai, you need to pay quite a bit. Of course, it can also save a lot of time! Smith replied confidently.

"I can only give you a deposit of 2oo taels first." Weese replied.

Smith knew that Wesser's words were indicative, and the negotiations had entered a more profound process. Smith asked Weser to pay half of the money first, and Weser immediately vetoed it, "Give you five hundred taels at most, so that you won't lose money if you hire a boat." This is the first time we have met, so why should I trust your business reputation? ”

The two sides finally reached an agreement for 600 taels, and after the contract was signed, Smith hurriedly borrowed a clipper boat from the Taiping Army with a deposit and went to Shanghai.

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