In the blink of an eye, the pillar has been back for more than a month.

first went to his ancestral grave and the ancestral tomb of the Han family in the countryside, and then went back to the city to feast on relatives, friends and neighbors, and then renovated the house with a lot of construction, and was very busy.

Seeing that the New Year was coming, I hired two sedan chair drivers early this morning, carrying two baskets of gifts, taking my sister and baby, and coming to Jiangbei with Qin'er's mother and son and Pan Er's family to give Duan Dazhang New Year's gifts.

Because Pan Er sent someone to send a greeting post yesterday, the Duan family had already prepared, not only prepared two tables of banquets, but even the courtyard was cleaned, and Duan Xiaoshan, the eldest young master of the Duan family, was waiting for their arrival at the door early.

In the eyes of others, it seems a bit exaggerated to put on this posture, but now that Han Xiufeng has officially resided in Fengchen Yuanqing, who is in the third grade, Qin'er, the third grade, has been ordered to bring two babies to visit, and in Duan Dazhang's words, he deserves such courtesy. But in fact, Qin'er and the two babies only saw Duan Dazhang once, and after saluting with the baby, they went to the inner house to talk to the old lady, and the younger sister and the second mother-in-law Pan did not even have the qualifications to meet Duan Dazhang, and they were welcomed into the inner house by the Duan family from the side door.

I don't know if Pan Er has changed too much in the past few years, or if Duan Xiaoshan has been beaten by his father, anyway, he now sees that although Pan Er is not very respectful, he doesn't dare to put on a domineering posture anymore, he sits at the end of the table when he eats, helps pour wine from time to time, and after he is full of wine and food, he accompanies Pan Er and Zhuzi into the study, and helps make a few cups of tea himself, so he finds a reason to retire very interestingly.

Other people's babies are more prosperous than one another, and even the little servants who were hated by everyone back then have done Nanyuan Yuancheng, and for the future of his eldest brother, he obviously had the opportunity to find another errand but resolutely chose to go back to his hometown, and then thought that his own baby only knows how to spend all day and wine, Duan Dazhang couldn't help but sigh, and looked at the pillar with a smile and said: "It's out, it's all out, seeing that one of you is more promising, and each is more sensible than the other, the old man is very pleased." ”

The pillar hurriedly bowed down and said: "The adult is too famous, the small one is not promising, the small one is not angry, not only did he not help the fourth brother, but he also impeached the fourth brother......"

"What is it to be impeached, how can anyone who is an official in the court not be impeached." Duan Dazhang waved his hand, then turned around and said: "Changsheng, you are a busy man, coming to Jiangbei today is not just as simple as giving a New Year's gift to the old man." ”

"I don't know how to hide it from adults." Pan Er took out a stack of letters from his sleeve and presented them respectfully: "Lord Yu, these letters are from Han Bo, who served under the command of Hu Linyi, the governor of Hubei, and these two have been brought back by people. ”

Duan Dazhang is old, his eyes are not as good as before, and he doesn't like to wear reading glasses very much, so he simply put down the letter and said: "I'm old, my eyes are not good, I still bother you to talk to the old man." ”

"Immortality obeys." Pan Er picked up the first letter, took it out and looked at it, and said in a low voice: "A month and a half ago, Chen Yucheng, Li Shixian, and Wu Ruxiao acted at the same time and invaded Luzhou from Sanhe Town, Shucheng. The new governor of Anhui, Weng Tongshu, has not yet arrived, and there are only thousands of officers and soldiers in Luzhou City, which are garrisoned by the deputy capital commander Lin Ruidu, and the new Anhui political envoy Li Mengqun leads more than 10,000 Yong to garrison the southern suburbs. As a result, they didn't really fight with Changmao, so they fled one after another, and Luzhou fell. ”

"Luzhou has fallen again!" Duan Dazhang was taken aback.

"It was precisely because Luzhou fell again that the imperial court was shaken, and the emperor ordered Shengbao to be the minister of Qincha to supervise the military affairs of Anhui, and all the armies in Anhui were under his control. He also ordered the governor of Huguang, Guan Wen, to send a strong force from the Hubei army along the east of the river to aid Luzhou; The edict ordered Dexing'a to allocate horse infantry from the Jiangbei camp and gallop to Luzhou to assist in the suppression. ”

Pan Changsheng paused, and then said: "I never thought that attacking Luzhou was actually Changmao's plan to attack the east and west, several reinforcements from the official army were on the way to Luzhou, Chen Yucheng had waved his army from the boundary card to Chuzhou, and arrived in the Wuyi area on September 16, and joined Li Xiucheng, the minister who arrived there from Quanjiao. ”

Although Duan Dazhang has been sick and returned to his hometown for many years, he has always been concerned about the situation and the war in Huguang, Liangjiang and even Liangguang. ”

"Adults really know the world without going out!" Pan Er complimented and reluctantly confirmed: "After Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng converged, their soldiers reached tens of thousands, and Dexing'a lightly advanced the enemy, and only sent less than 10,000 officers and soldiers from Xiaodian to attack Wuyi, and the result was a complete defeat, with three or four thousand soldiers killed and wounded. ”

"Go on."

"Changmao won the first battle, how could he give Dexing'a a chance to breathe, and then took advantage of the victory to storm the small shop and attacked, first defeated more than 5,000 people from the Jiangnan battalion, and then broke through the steep gang camp of the official army, went straight to Pukou, and defeated the officers and troops in the Pukou area under the coordination of Changmao who came from Jiuhuanzhou to cross the water.

Seeing that the rear road was attacked, the officers and troops were in chaos, and they fled one after another. Dexing'a first fled to Liuhe, and then fled to Yangzhou by water. Seeing that Changmao was in hot pursuit, he fled to Shaobo Town, which was nearly 100 miles away from Yangzhou. More than 10,000 soldiers were lost before and after, and the Jiangbei camp had existed in name only, and Yizhen, Yangzhou and other cities had also fallen one after another. ”

"What about Katsubo, where is Katsubo?" Duan Dazhang asked solemnly.

"Lord Yu, the thief general Wu Ruxiao did not go with Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng to attack Dexing, but led his troops from Luzhou to the north, occupied Dianbu Town and its Liangyuan in the northeast, and forced Dingyuan, Shengbao was so restrained by Wu Ruxiao. There are so many soldiers under him, if he goes to aid Dexing, Wu Ruxiao will definitely lead his troops to the north, and he will be saved. ”

Zhu Zi said coldly: "My lord, Shengbao is only the minister who supervises the military affairs of Anhui, and he is not the minister who supervises the military affairs of Jiangbei. ”

"Think about it," Duan Dazhang pondered for a moment, and couldn't help but sigh: "After so many years, so much money and food, and so many deaths, but this Jiangbei war has become what it was like in the second year of Xianfeng in just one or two months!" ”

"My lord, Changsheng thinks it's not the same."

"What do you mean by that?"

Pan Er sighed lightly and said meaningfully: "When I was in Taizhou with my fourth brother, although Yizhen, Guazhou, Yangzhou and other places fell one after another, we still had hope at that time, knowing that Xiang Shuai and the minister Qi Shanzheng led the army to chase after them, and knew that as long as we gritted our teeth and held on, we could wait for reinforcements sooner or later."

Later, although Yizhen and Yangzhou fell one after another, I was not very worried about the fourth brother, at least I would not worry about the safety of Taizhou, especially Hai'an, after all, there was Guo Peilin and Guo Daren sitting there, and although Taizhou was not rich at that time, I could still support it if I wanted to find a way to raise ten thousand Xiangyong.

But now, those Eight Banners Green Battalion in Jiangbei has been completely crippled by Long Hair, Lord Guo has been martyred, and the prefectures and counties in Jiangbei have either been smashed, or the people's and financial resources have long been exhausted, and it is not easy for the imperial court to clean up this mess! ”

The more Duan Dazhang thought about it, the more he felt that Pan Er's words had a certain amount of truth, and muttered: "According to what you say, now you can only count on Hu Linyi's Hu army and Zeng Guofan's Hunan army. ”

"There are more than 10,000 soldiers under Hechun, if Hechun is also disabled by Changmao, and the Jiangnan camp is also broken by Changmao, then it will really be as you always said, if you want to clean up this mess, you can only rely on Lord Hu's Hubei army and Zeng's Hunan army!"

Thinking that He Chun, the minister who supervised the military affairs in Jiangnan, was only done after Xiang Rong died, Duan Dazhang suddenly had a strange thought, secretly thinking that Xiang Rong was still alive, which turn would get Hu Linyi and Zeng Guofan to be in the limelight, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's really the time and the fate!" ”

Pan Er didn't know what Duan Dazhang really wanted to say, picked up the second letter, and continued: "Then there is Zuo Zongtang, the curtain friend of Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang and a famous Hunan scholar, who has an accident. ”

Duan Dazhang had never met Zuo Zongtang, but he had heard people talk about Zuo Zongtang more than once.

It is said that Zuo Zongtang won Luo Bingzhang's trust, not only handed over all the folds to Zuo Zongtang to draft, but also handed over the major and small matters in the province to handle, so that when the officials of various prefectures and counties went to Changsha, the provincial capital, the first thing to meet was not Luo Bingzhang, the governor, but to visit Luo Bingzhang's master Zuo Zongtang first.

And Zuo Zongtang did not disappoint Luo Bingzhang, who had been thinking hard and planning day and night over the years, not only assisting Luo Bingzhang in "clearing the four borders of the inner Qing Dynasty and aiding the five provinces of foreign aid", but also supporting the overall situation. At the same time, he also assisted Luo Bingzhang in eliminating malpractices, opening up sources and reducing expenditures, and vigorously raising arms purchases.

Thinking that Zuo Zongtang was the same thing in Hunan, and was even jokingly called "Deputy Hunan Governor Zuo", Duan Dazhang subconsciously asked: "What can happen to him?" ”

"My lord, according to Han Bo, Shi Dakai led his troops to besiege Baoqing with tens of thousands of displaced people, but he didn't capture it for more than 80 days, and the army's morale was weak and morale was not strong, so he could only withdraw from the siege and go south and return to Guangxi. Chen Mingguan, the thief general of the palace, was surrounded by the official army and the village brave, and could only lead more than 5,000 remnants of the army to surrender.

Li Xuyi, who went to aid Baoqing, and Fan Yan, the chief soldier of Lingling Town, conspired to kill the prisoners in order to avenge Li Xubin's death, so as to vent the hatred of Sanhe. Zuo Zongtang, who went to Baoqing to supervise the army on behalf of Luo Bingzhang, felt that it was ominous to kill the prisoners, and spoke to stop him, but Li and Fan just didn't listen, and insisted on killing those prisoners. ”

Pan Er took a sip of tea, and then said: "The two of them disobeyed the order to kill the prisoners, Zuo Zongtang naturally will not be happy, not only is it said that he will present his gifts to Luo Bingzhang, but also ask Luo Bingzhang to cure the crimes of the two of them." Li Xuyi is eager to avenge his brother, understandable, and is a veteran of the Hunan army, Luo Bingzhang is embarrassed to embarrass Li Xuyi, thinking that Fan Bian is a mediocre official, so he went on a bullet to impeach Fan Bian.

Fan Yan didn't want to lose his official position, he went to see Luo Bingzhang, but he didn't see him, so he could only visit Zuo Zongtang, Zuo Zongtang saw that he refused to kneel and salute, and he had a fat head and big ears, anyway, he was angry when he saw him, scolded him for being a bastard, and told him to get out. ”

Duan Dazhang reacted: "This Zuo Zongtang is too arrogant and arrogant, no matter how bastard Fan Chang is, he is also a chief military officer, and he is just a friend of the scene, how can he humiliate others so much because he was slighted." ”

Pan Er smiled bitterly: "So he is a strange person, maybe celebrities are like this." ”

"And then?"

"Fan Chang was dismissed like this, thinking about it and not being convinced, he went to the official document of the governor of Huguang to complain, and the official text did not agree with Luo Bingzhang, and he had already seen that Zuo Zongtang was not pleasing to the eye, how could he miss this opportunity, first on a secret fold, and reported the matter of Fan Chang to Zuo Zongtang to the emperor, and then instructed Fan Bian to go to Beijing to deliver a complaint, complaining that the Hubei military administration was controlled by a friend of Zuo Zongtang."

"Jingkong!"

"So this matter is a big trouble, Lord Hu received the news, saying that the emperor Long Yan was furious, and secretly ordered Lord Qian Baoqing Qian, who was the chief examiner of Hubei Province, to strictly investigate with the left deputy capital Yu Shichong, and even ordered Lord Qian to 'If Zuo has any illegal things, he will do the law on the spot'!"

Seeing that Duan Dazhang was thoughtful, Pan Er said again: "How can Lord Hu not save him when he sees death, as soon as he receives the news, he will send someone to Beijing for activities, Han Bo also went to the capital to find the fourth master on the order of Lord Hu, and this letter was brought by the ticket number when he set off." ”

"This is clearly for Luo Bingzhang."

"But now it's Zuo Zongtang who is unlucky!"

"What is Zuo Zongtang's situation now?" Duan Dazhang asked in a low voice.

Pan Er smiled bitterly: "It is said that he just quit his errand as a friend of the scene, won't the imperial court open Enke next year, not only is he not afraid at all, but he also claims to enter Beijing to catch the exam." ”

"It's kind of interesting."

"My lord, where did you start with that?"

Duan Dazhang stood up and looked at Pan Er with a smile: "Changsheng, didn't you just say that the war in the two rivers is erosive, and the imperial court can only count on the Hubei army and the Hunan army now?" Zuo Zongtang is not only a celebrity in Hunan, but also has controlled the military and government of Hubei for several years as Fan Yan sued, do you think such a person can be killed, is such a person easy to kill? ”

"My lord, are you saying that the emperor will not really kill Zuo Zongtang?"

"If there is any lawlessness, the law should be rectified on the spot...... The first is 'if there is', Qian Baoqing is a capable official to the left deputy envoy, which shows that he is a smart person. If he didn't dare to offend so many Huguang officials, if he didn't guess wrong, he would drag it first, so that he wouldn't be stupid enough to really go to Hunan to investigate Zuo Zongtang. ”

"Qian Baoqing didn't go to Hunan, as far as I know, he is still in Wuchang, but now Zuo Zongtang has to enter Beijing, isn't this self-defeating?"

"Don't worry, Hu Linyi and Zeng Guofan won't let him enter Beijing, even if they do, they will tie him up and serve in the army."