In the British palace in Luoyang, the Taiping army is putting up its last resistance. More than 2,000 of the 15,000 Huai troops were stabilizing the artillery carriages, adjusting the gun positions, and preparing for the final attack. The corpses were strewn all over the ground in front of the British Palace, and they were all Taiping officers and soldiers who had been killed.

In addition to the five hundred Li Hongzhang's guards who closely protected their adults, the other tens of thousands of Huai troops under the leadership of the White Hat Army went around killing the Taiping troops scattered in the city. The big leader of the White Hat Army knelt reverently in front of Li Hongzhang and said loudly: "My lord, in the past, Xiaomin was bewitched by the Cantonese bandits, thinking that the imperial court was not on our side. Later, I learned that it was only when I was disrespectful to the court that I provoked the anger of the court. And the Cantonese bandits, they don't give us a way to live at all! ”

Li Hongzhang looked at the big leader of the White Hat Army crying and complaining, his face was calm, and there was a strong sneer in his heart. After all, Monk Grinqin was timid, and although his Mongolian Eight Banners won a big victory against the Eastern Twist Army, the losses were not small. The Manchu Qing side believed that the Taiping Army had been operating in Luoyang for several years, and it would definitely be difficult to take it. But Li Hongzhang can see through the key, as soon as he contacts the local white hats, these white hat troops cooperate with Li Hongzhang like a long drought.

Chen Yucheng's departure from Luoyang is not unconfidential, but the White Hat Army inquired about the news. Li Hongzhang led the troops to raid Luoyang from the Tiger Pass, and the Huai army was still more than ten miles away from Luoyang, and the white hat army had already set up troops to raid the Taiping army. The Huai army did not delay outside the city at all, and directly entered the city.

With the White Hat Army, a group of local snakes, leading the way, the clean-up of the Taiping Army went very smoothly. What can the Taiping Army do if it has been operating here for several years, and it has not been wiped out by Li Hongzhang in one fell swoop. This credit was not only to recapture the famous city of Luoyang, but also to turn the Manchu strategy around.

When the Taiping army occupied Luoyang, they would be able to ravage Henan and march into Zhili. Now that Li Hongzhang has recaptured Luoyang, the imperial court can once again block the door of the Taiping army's eastward advance. According to the edict issued by the Empress Dowager Ci'an, although it is not enough to be crowned a king, it is no problem to be a duke or a marquis.

Suppressing the pride at this time, Li Hongzhang helped the big leader of the White Hat Army up, and he said with a straight face: "It's good that you know this, since you are willing to abandon the secret and serve the court, the court will not treat you badly." ”

"Thank you, sir!" The Grand Leader of the White Hats knelt down again and saluted.

This time, Li Hongzhang did not pick up the big leader, he said in a stern voice: "Since you know that the Cantonese bandits are brutal, if you vote for the Cantonese bandits again, will the Cantonese bandits let you go?" Do you understand that? ”

The leader of the White Hat Army paused again and again, "Please rest assured, the villains and the White Hat Army are following the court with all their hearts, and wherever the court points out, the villains will fight." ”

The big leader took the lead, and the other leaders of the White Hat Army also fell to their knees, and they shouted with all their might: "Please rest assured! ”

That's what Li Hongzhang wanted, he picked up the big leader again, and said with a hearty smile: "The nest of the Cantonese bandit Chen Gou will be broken soon, and I will have to bother you to go in and clean up the Cantonese bandits!" ”

The big leader said happily: "The adults have a life, and the villain will never give up." ”

Li Hongzhang smiled with satisfaction: "Then take someone to take it." ”

Seeing the big leader happily go with the white hat army, Li Hongzhang was also very happy in his heart. Once the White Hats slaughtered the British Palace, they had no chance of turning back. In this turbulent era, it is not uncommon for a force to go to Qin and Chu for its own interests. can slaughter the British King Chen Yucheng's British Palace, and the two sides will no longer have room to turn around, only to die.

With the strength of the White Hat Army, Li Hongzhang believes that he can hold out in Luoyang. Of course, he was very in awe of his teacher Zeng Guofan, and he admired his boss Jiang Zhongyuan. But Li Hongzhang has followed them for so long and contributed so much, there is no possibility of promotion. As long as Luoyang is taken, Li Hongzhang will be able to form his own armed forces here, and at that time, Li Hongzhang will have full space and freedom to act, and no one will be able to suppress Li Hongzhang.

The news of the recapture of Luoyang reached Beijing at an expedited speed of 800 miles, and the news was even more shocking than the heavy damage inflicted on the Dongwu army by Seng Lingqin. Luoyang's geographical location was so important that the capture of Luoyang meant that the strategic situation of the Manchus was greatly improved.

Prince Gong Yixin almost rushed to the palace to tell the two queen mothers in the east and west, kneeling on the ground, Prince Gong Yixin even forgot the rules, looked directly at the east queen mother Ci'an, and reported the good news.

After listening to Prince Gong's report, Ci'an seemed to be quite excited, her eyes widened, and she finally suppressed her excitement. Even so, Prince Gong Yixin could still hear that Ci'an's voice trembled a little when he spoke, and Ci'an asked, "Li Hongzhang is Jiang Zhongyuan's subordinate and a disciple of Zeng Guofan, right?" ”

"Exactly!" Prince Gong Yixin replied loudly.

Ci'an pondered for a moment, and then said: "It is decreed that Li Hongzhang will be the prefect of Luoyang. ”

After making personnel arrangements, Ci'an Feng's eyes closed slightly, and she made up her mind with a lot of thought, she continued: "Feng Li Hongzhang is a third-class duke!" ”

Prince Gong Yixin was stunned, he didn't expect Ci'an to be so decisive. did not make Li Hongzhang a marquis, but jumped directly to the duke without excess. Although the dukes of the Qing Dynasty were also hierarchical, the third-class duke was the lowest of the dukes. But this is also a rare reward for Hanchen.

Thinking of the wave of opposition that those full officials in the court might set off, Prince Gong Yixin hurriedly persuaded: "Queen Mother, do you think you can first crown Li Hongzhang as a second-class marquis?" ”

Ci'an shook his head almost stubbornly, "No, just make a third-class duke!" ”

Looking at Prince Gong Yixin's embarrassed expression, Ci'an said: "At this time, if you can't sweep away the twisted bandits in one go, let the twisted bandits ease up, then there will be endless troubles. Monk Grinqin is already a prince, hereditary repudiation, and there is no way to be crowned again. However, Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan were both Li Hongzhang's division commanders, and when they saw that Li Hongzhang was awarded the title of third-class duke, they naturally knew that the imperial court did not hesitate to reward meritorious officials with high ranks, so they naturally fought and worked hard. Besides, Li Hongzhang is Jiang Zhongyuan's subordinate and a disciple of Zeng Guofan, what will Zeng Guofan's subordinates think when they see Li Hongzhang made a duke? ”

Prince Gong Yixin can certainly understand what Ci'an is referring to, with Li Hongzhang "Zhuyu in front", the generals of the Huai army and the Hunan army are naturally not far behind. But the Empress Dowager Ci'an only considered the feelings of the Han Chen, but did not consider the feelings of the Manchu ministers at all. It's not easy to deal with the shouting of those princes and nobles.

Ci'an looked at Prince Gong's expression, and she couldn't help but sneer, "If our Manchurian men are not convinced, then let them go into battle to make meritorious contributions." The country has reached such a point that there are many opportunities to make contributions. If someone says something, you can tell them, and if the Manchurians can make great contributions, the court will not hesitate to reward them with the prince. ”

Prince Gong was pleased to see that Ci'an's attitude was so firm, and he also knew that he could not change Ci'an's order. Moreover, Prince Gong Yixin was also extremely dissatisfied with the cowardice and fear of war of the Manchurians, thinking of this, he kowtowed and said: "Queen Mother, the slave will go to the Ministry to pass the decree." ”

Things were not as difficult as Prince Gong Yixin thought, and there were no more Hanchen in the Ministry at this time, and the Manchu ministers carried out Ci'an's order without delay. The secretary of the ministry ordered someone to write the paperwork and prepare the seal letter, and the seal inspection department of the ministry also handled the matter of the title quickly. The gang didn't question the arrangement of the official position and title. Instead, they asked if the imperial court could send troops to Shaanxi after the capture of Luoyang.

Listening to this not a stupid question, Prince Gong Yixin smiled and said, "At the moment, the priority is to exterminate the bandits. As long as the twist bandits are exterminated, the imperial court will naturally recapture Shaanxi. ”

After dealing with the matter, Prince Gong Yixin returned to the palace. Ci'an had already ordered someone to draft the edict, and in addition to the edict to Li Hongzhang, the edict to Jiang Zhongyuan and Zeng Guofan had also been written. Using Li Hongzhang's matter to stimulate these two people is exactly Ci'an's plan.

Zhili is not far from Zheng County, and it will take three days to arrive. It took two days for Li Hongzhang's document to arrive in Beijing, and the imperial court showed unprecedented efficiency, and the official title was rewarded in one day. So on April 21, Zeng Guofan received the holy decree. The holy decree was also polite, but only informed Zeng Guofan of Li Hongzhang's exploits and the imperial court's reward, and told Zeng Guofan in the edict that he had taught such a good disciple and was really a hero. Li Hongzhang was awarded the title of duke, and Zeng Guofan also had glory. Finally, Zeng Guofan was encouraged to work hard.

Officialdom speaks like this, and everything is unspoken. Zheng County is not far from Luoyang, and the Hunan army knew the news of Li Hongzhang's capture of Luoyang earlier. This caused quite a stir in the Hunan army. Now that the generals of the Hunan army learned that Li Hongzhang had been added to the rank of knight, not only did they not feel happy for Li Hongzhang, but they were all extremely unhappy.

Sending off the messenger, Bao Chao said sourly: "If we hadn't supported Li Hongzhang in the back and blocked the bandits in Zheng County, how could he go to Luoyang so easily?" ”

These words expressed the thoughts of the generals of the Hunan army, Zeng Guoquan snorted coldly, "That's right, we have also walked hundreds of miles, and the court has not even given a condolence, which is too favoritism." ”

There were two generals taking the lead, and the generals of the Hunan army also spoke one after another.

"Li Hongzhang originally came to help, why did our Hunan army help Li Hongzhang instead?"

"Li Hongzhang didn't tell us about his plan at all, he looked down on our Hunan army, right?"

"Dashuai, this kid Li Hongzhang only cares about his own interests, and completely ignores our hard work!"

After learning the news of Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan was not very unhappy even if he was not very happy. Beforehand, Li Hongzhang had already told Zeng Guofan of all the plans, and volunteered to let the Huai army undertake all the difficult work.

Taking the risk of chasing the Twist Army and raiding Luoyang seems to be easy after doing it, but where is it so easy when you really make this decision. So Zeng Guofan waited for everyone to complain and said loudly: "Everyone, after Li Hongzhang captured Luoyang, he will be crowned a duke, this is the imperial court's encouragement, as long as there are military merits, he will not hesitate to reward." Now the twist bandits are still there, after we destroy the twist army, I will definitely protect to the imperial court, and you will at least be crowned! Can you make up your mind? ”

Hearing Zeng Guofan's question, the generals of the Hunan army were silent for a moment, and then they made a noise together, "Commander, we will definitely destroy the bandits!" ”

"Handsome! Wait for the bandits to be destroyed, and I will wait for the handsome man to be the king! ”R1058