"Secretary Zuo, did Your Majesty encounter any problems today?" Li Yifang asked Zuo Zongtang kindly.

The Mandarin with a Hangzhou accent is very refreshing, and Zuo Zongtang, who has been the governor of Zhejiang, feels quite cordial. However, the intimacy is intimacy, the secretary can't reveal party affairs and government affairs, let alone Zuo Zongtang can be such a big official, so he naturally knows what will happen if he talks nonsense. So Zuo Zongtang asked rhetorically: "Is Your Majesty in a bad mood?" ”

Li Yifang just smiled, she didn't answer anything. That's the end of this conversation.

Zuo Zongtang sent Wei Ze a text, but saw Wei Ze sitting comfortably on the fabric sofa in the dining room. There were some dried meat and canned fruit on the table next to it, and a quarter of an open bottle of rum had been drunk. Is this relaxation, or is it something on the mind? Zuo Zongtang didn't know. He said: "陛xià, this is the latest Wen jiàn. ”

Wei Ze waved his hand and motioned for Zuo Zongtang to sit down, and he asked, "Old Zuo, do you want to drink two glasses at this time?" ”

Zuo Zongtang replied: "Me...... One cup at most. ”

"I think it's good to drink alcohol to make yourself comfortable, and one or two glasses depends on the individual's meaning." Wei Ze sat up as he spoke, and went to get a cup and chopsticks for Zuo Zongtang.

When Wei Ze came back to sit, Zuo Zongtang had already moved the soft stool of the sofa to the table and sat down steadily, Zuo Zongtang smiled: "Talking to Shangguan, you can sit down so steadily." That is, I have a bad temperament, and other people on the Manchu side really don't dare. ”

Wei Ze didn't have the heart to joke, he poured wine for Zuo Zongtang, and sat back on the sofa cross-legged with his wine glass, "Old Zuo, have you ever wanted to kill someone?" I don't mean to be angry, but I think that theoretically there is really no reason not to kill? ”

Zuo Zongtang heard this question, and the hand holding the wine glass paused. After thinking for a while, Zuo Zongtang took a sip of wine and asked tentatively, "Does the governor feel unbearable?" ”

Wei Ze took a sip and replied slowly, "Hmm." I really can't bear it, but sometimes I can't find a reason not to kill. If it is a Han Chinese, at most it is for the benefit of themselves or their families. Zhuang people, Dai people, Miao people, Yao people, these are just for life. As long as the society accepts them, these members of the Chinese nation will happily integrate into this society. But some people don't. In this era of killing, the cost of killing is actually very low, so I can't help but kill. But it's always human life, and I naturally can't bear it in my heart. ”

Zuo Zongtang didn't know why Wei Ze was upset, but this sound was gentle, but there was another thrilling in it. As a minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, killing people never made Zuo Zongtang hesitate. So Zuo Zongtang couldn't figure out Wei Ze, he didn't know whether to praise Wei Ze's benevolence, or criticize Wei Ze's indecision.

After thinking for a while, Zuo Zongtang followed Wei Ze's words and said, "Enter Huahua and raze it." This is the truth. The Governor repeatedly propagated the Chinese nation, believing that it was necessary to establish a nation-state. Then whoever is anti-China will be killed. ”

When Wei Ze heard this, he suddenly laughed, "This is also a truth. I just didn't want to trouble future generations, so I thought about cutting down the grass and eradicating the roots. But looking at it now, or maybe I'm thinking too much. ”

"Is the governor still benevolent?" Zuo Zongtang asked.

Wei Ze laughed, "Those who fight against China will not be killed." ”

Zuo Zongtang was puzzled by this answer, but Wei Ze didn't give him a chance to continue talking, and filled Zuo Zongtang with wine, Wei Ze asked: "Old Zuo, what do you think of Li Hongzhang?" ”

"Are you going to surrender him?" Zuo Zongtang asked keenly.

Wei Ze looks down on Li Hongzhang's personality very much, and he has no ability to cultivate, but there is basically no possibility of changing his character. Li Zhongtang made Wei Ze look down on the most because he was spineless, Li Hongzhang was assassinated during the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and this guy was able to endure it. At that time, Li Hongzhang was about to die, and if he resigned and didn't do anything, he would resolutely not sign the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", and He Cixi would dare to kill Li Hongzhang. If Cixi really killed Li Hongzhang, it would have achieved Li Hongzhang's later evaluation.

So Wei Ze replied, "I don't have that plan. This is not a collection of rags, all cats and dogs have been brought over. It is not a bad thing that the Huai army can continue to exist in the short term. ”

Zuo Zongtang didn't like Li Hongzhang either, he smiled: "This person is smart. ”

Wei Ze sneered: "It's useless to be smart, there are many smart people, but people who have really made contributions, what everyone remembers is never their intelligence, but their perseverance." ”

"Ahh Li Hongzhang sneezed a short and sharp sneeze in the night wind, the air of the Huai River in autumn was humid and cold, and the little flying insect after the autumn may have felt his own death, regardless of the random flying, a bug that didn't know what flew into Li Hongzhang's nasal cavity, so he couldn't help but sneeze. Wiping the liquid from his nasal cavity with his hand, Li Hongzhang only felt that his palm was wet. I don't know if it's snot or cold sweat.

The person holding the torch in the distance stopped walking, and Li Hongzhang covered his mouth and nose tightly, praying in his heart that his voice was not heard by the people over there. But the sourness in his nasal cavity made Li Hongzhang unable to help but cry.

During the day, 5,000 Huai troops were ready to cross the river, the boats were built into pontoon bridges, and the Huai troops began to cross the river along the pontoon bridges. Li Hongzhang stood by the river and watched the brigade calmly cross the river, feeling quite proud. The boats were fastened with iron chains, on which planks were laid. The long pontoon bridge looks as steady as the ground.

When the Huai army crossed the river, more than half of the people passed, but boats appeared downstream. At the head was a large ship with smoke spraying from its chimney. The Huai soldiers became nervous. The Guangfu Army has a patrol fleet on the Huai River, but I didn't expect this fleet to come so quickly.

Li Hongzhang ordered the Huai army to quickly set up formations on both sides of the river, and at the same time let the troops step up to cross the river. Since they want to fight this battle with the Guangfu army, the Huai army has to cross the river no matter what. Moreover, Huainan is so big, there are many places where the Huai River can be crossed, as long as the Huai army moves quickly, it can always find a chance to return.

But half an hour later, when the big ship of the Liberation Army approached, Li Hongzhang was really dumbfounded. The ship went up against the current, without slowing down at all. After getting closer, Huai Jun was stunned to find that in addition to the ship's building and other locations, the ship was actually made of iron. At this time, the array of Huai's subordinates had already begun to fire heavily on the ship.

The Huai army also placed troops on the pontoon bridge. The lead hit the ship and was completely bounced off by the iron hull, and the shells never hit the ship directly. In Huaijun's stunned gaze, he saw that the ship did not stop at all, and hit the pontoon bridge with its head. The bow of the iron ship tilted slightly, then pressed down heavily. In the gut-a-wrenching sound, the Huai soldiers on the pontoon either fell into the water unsteadily on their feet, or jumped into the water to escape.

Although the speed slowed down a little after hitting the pontoon, the iron-hulled ship still moved forward, the wooden boat and planks broke like wheat straw, and the thick wooden stakes laid on both sides of the river were uprooted from the earth, and the whole pontoon bridge was destroyed in a very short time.

Looking at this nightmarish scene, Li Hongzhang was dumbfounded. But the nightmare clearly isn't over. The big ship stopped, and the ship's artillery began to roar. There was also a strange sound mixed with the rumbling cannon. The sound was so crisp that it seemed to be the result of a violent clash of iron objects.

But Li Hongzhang, who was not far from the river bank, was not sure if he had actually heard the sound, and his attention was completely absorbed by the terrible artillery on the ship.

The Huai army already felt that his artillery was very powerful, but compared to the artillery on the big ship, it was nothing at all. I don't know how many guns there are on that ship, what Li Hongzhang knows is that in half an hour, the ship didn't stop firing at all.

Li Hongzhang saw with his own eyes that one of the Huai army's artillery positions was hit by a shell, the gun carriage was blown to pieces, and the artillery and gunners were blown into the air by the air wave of the shell explosion.

A few minutes later, perhaps the artillerymen on the big iron ship saw that the Huai army's artillery was dumb, so they turned their aim to the infantry. As long as the Hunan army that could be seen in the field of vision, without exception, they were subjected to fierce artillery fire. Seeing that the array of the Huai army was blown up, Li Hongzhang suddenly understood, and he didn't care about giving orders to the team, so he took his own soldiers and turned around and ran. Before Li Hongzhang fled, the Huai army also scattered and fled like a flock of frightened sheep in the thunder. At this time, they just wanted to get out of the range of those terrible guns on the head of the Liberation Army.

Li Hongzhang also ran away, riding a horse and running out of four or five miles, the sound of the cannon became farther and farther, and Li Hongzhang felt that he was finally safe. If he went back like this, Li Hongzhang knew that he would not be able to explain to Jiang Zhongyuan. Summoning up courage, Li Hongzhang began to set about reining the Huai army. Just when Li Hongzhang had just gathered four or five hundred frightened Huai troops. Not far away, a dense burst of gunfire suddenly rang out. The troops of the Liberation Army have been pressed forward at some point.

Seeing that the Huai army in front of and behind him was defeated one by one, although he could see the figure of the Guangfu Army in full shadows, he couldn't see how many people there were in the enemy. The Huai army was completely frightened, they wailed and cried, but they were knocked down one by one by the merciless bullets.

The Huai army continued to flee, but the Guangfu army had no intention of letting the Huai army go, and they shot while pursuing. In such a death pursuit, the Huai army kept kneeling on the ground and obediently surrendered to the Guangfu Army in accordance with the surrender method circulated among the Huai army.

Li Hongzhang was originally riding a horse, but he could get away from the pursuit of the Liberation Army. But his horse's body shook suddenly, and then he fell. Li Hongzhang was caught off guard and rolled off the horse. The soldiers were still loyal and brave, and immediately picked up Li Hongzhang and continued to escape.

Li Hongzhang no longer knew where he was running with the support of his own soldiers, let alone how far he had run. All he could know was run, run! After it got dark, Li Hongzhang and his soldiers hid in a field. By this time, the fields had been harvested, and they could only hide on the edge of the ridges, hoping not to be discovered.

But the Guangfu Army was searching with torches, and they didn't mean to let Li Hongzhang go. Watching the people holding torches in front of him walk farther and farther, the big stone in Li Hongzhang's heart finally put down temporarily.

But at this moment, there was a sudden shout from behind them, "People over there, we have seen you!" Hands up! ”

The moonlight is not bright, but it is not impossible to reach out and lose sight of five fingers. After staying in the capital for so long, hearing that weird northern accent, Li Hongzhang was trembling at first, and turned his head to look at the dozen or so black shadows behind him, Li Hongzhang raised his hands high without resisting.

On the third day, when Weeser arrived at the office early in the morning, the secretary delivered a briefing. "Annihilate 5,000 Huai troops and capture commander Li Hongzhang."

Wei Ze was very surprised by this, this really means that Cao Cao Cao arrived. R1058