Among the two boats that went down the river from Wuchang, the "William Matt" was loaded with people, and the "Margaret" was loaded with horses.

This team is Guan Zhuofan's old foundation in the Rehe Infantry Army. Because he was going to go out of Beijing to fight, he made a special selection and selected 400 people from the original 500 people. And most of the officers in the horse team have been promoted because of their merits in the coup d'état, especially Ding Shijie, Daniel Zhang and Iksan, and he is embarrassed to ask them what they think.

"Do you want officials or money?" He asked Daniel Zhang.

"Ask for money!" Daniel Zhang said without hesitation.

If you want money to come with me, I'll take you to Shanghai, where gold is everywhere.

"Do you want officials or money?" He asked Ixan.

"To ...... Officials. Ixan hesitated for a moment before he blushed.

If you want the official to come with me, I will take you to Shanghai, where the promotion is like picking up mustard.

"Do you want officials or money?" He zuihou went to ask Ding Shijie.

"As long as I follow the boss, I will go to the ends of the earth." Ding Shijie replied solemnly.

Hmm, I'm optimistic about you......

The military attache of the Beijing camp was released, and the regular officer was promoted to one level, so Ding Shijie and Daniel Zhang became the capital of the fourth product, and Ixan became the garrison of the fifth product.

Unexpectedly, the news spread, and among the infantry army yamen and the battalions in the capital, there were actually many people who either asked for favors, or simply went directly to the door, asking to be transferred to this branch of the troops who will go out of Beijing to endure hardships - follow the Chengnan Guansan, as long as you are willing to work hard, you can be promoted and make a fortune, and the example of the existing Rehe is there! Therefore, some people who are conceited and brave and are not afraid of hardship invariably want to seize this opportunity to get ahead.

Since King Gong allowed him to transfer troops and generals, Guan Zhuofan was not polite, and entrusted Ding Shijie to preside over and select 200 people from these people. There are three conditions: one is not to be accustomed to heavy people, the second is to be young and willing to learn, and the third is to pick more Han people.

There is only one person who was personally set by him, and it came from Xu Gengshen's recommendation.

"Yixuan, I'll recommend someone for you."

"Yes, please ask Brother Xu to come down."

Xu Geng is an old friend, of course he has to buy face. After Rehe returned, Xu Geng, as Cao Yuying's deputy, was also promoted to the official position and transferred to the Ministry of Officials by virtue of his merits in the coup. This time, Guan Zhuofan donated an alternate prefect official to Libin in the Ministry of Officials, which was handled by Xu Gengshen.

"This person's surname is Ding, his name is Ding Xianda, he is twenty-five years old, and he is from Lujiang, Anhui Province. When I was a child, I rocked the ferry boat by the Yangtze River, and Changmao hit the Lujiang River, and was coerced into the long-haired sailor and became a sentry officer. When Zeng Jiushuai hit the Lujiang River, he brought three boats and more than 100 people, anyway, he made some contributions. However, in the end, it was the person who took refuge in Longhair, and Zeng Jiushuai didn't trust him very much, and he was idle in Beijing for more than a year to be an Anhui Titang official. One of his maternal uncles, my little countryman, begged me for help and wanted him to go out of Beijing with you to work. ”

Ding Xianda...... Guan Zhuofan always felt that this name was somewhat familiar, and he seemed to have heard it somewhere. However, when I think about it carefully, I can't grasp it suddenly.

Xu Geng was stunned when he saw him, and thought that he had heard that Ding Xianda had made long hair, and he was reluctant to ask for it, so he added: "Yixuan, I never look at people." I've seen this person face to face, and he's definitely a good hand and can help you! ”

"Since it was Brother Xu who said yes, it must be haode." Guan Zhuofan saw that he had misunderstood, and hurriedly said with a smile, "What's more, Brother Xu's orders, how can the younger brother not obey it." ”

So, among the troops going south, there was another Wupin garrison, Ding Xianda.

When all the soldiers and generals were selected and the six-day training was completed, the list of people who were reported was 627 in total. Prince Gong saw the number of people at the military plane, he was a little worried, frowned and said: "After all, it is to start a war with Changmao, although the soldiers are not expensive, but this number is too thin, let him transfer troops and generals, how did he get this person, not even a thousand?" ”

"Lord Wang, there are some things that Guan Yixuan can't say directly." Cao Yuying explained for him, "You know the situation of the Jingzhong Banner Camp, Lord Wang, if you bring it with you, you can't fight, but it will be a burden." This time, he picked more people than Han Junqi and Han people, and he said that when he arrived in Shanghai, he would recruit new bravery. ”

"Oh, that's fine." King Gong swept the list again, and said to Cao Yuying: "Zhuoru, I still borrow your big money, let's draw up the purpose." ”

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Although this army is counted as a flag battalion, for the convenience of Guan Zhuofan to recruit courage in the future, it is in accordance with the establishment of the green battalion, and the full name is "Admiral Jiumen Infantry Army Patrol and Capture Five Battalions Commander Outside the Bid Horse Team". It's a name that's so awkward that no one remembers it. At that time, the officialdom and the people were accustomed to take a word from the name or word of the chief officer of each army, as the number of the army, which was both refreshing and easy to remember, such as the soldiers of Bao Chao, a general under Zeng Guofan, who was called "Thunder Army", taken from his word "Bao Chunting"; Liu Kunyi's soldiers are directly called "Kun Army". Following this example, this horse team was privately known as Guan Yixuan's "Xuan Army", and before Guan Zhuo had left the capital, this title had gradually spread.

It is difficult to write this edict in four places: who is the chief officer, where is the control, who is the food and salary, and what is the amount of money to be raised. However, these are not difficult for Cao Yuying's pen, he discussed the results with Wen Xiang Baojun, with a little polish, and the text was completed in one go.

The nominal commander of this army can't be Guan Zhuofan - how can there be a reason for Qipinzhi County to be the commander of the army? Therefore, in the holy decree of Ming Fa, Ding Shijie, the highest-ranking four-rank capital, became the commander of this "Xuan Army", and his deputy was Daniel Zhang, who was also a four-pin.

Where to control it, but did not specify it, but vaguely stated that the location of the Xuan army was "stationed in Songjiang Mansion", and the grain and grass were also supported by Songjiang Mansion, but the military salary was "allocated from the customs and silver of the Jiang Customs". The so-called Jiang Customs, that is, the Shanghai Customs, uses customs silver to supply the military salary of the Xuan army, which is an inextricable source of salary, and there will never be the trouble of "eating the last meal but not the next meal", which is a preferential treatment that other armies have never had, and it is inevitably enviable.

As for recruiting bravery, the edict reads, "Recruit as appropriate according to the needs of the war", and he didn't even want the quota, and said nakedly: Although you recruit people, the more the merrier.

There are many places that are not written in the whole edict, but the wonderful thing is that when officials large and small read it, everyone can understand what it means. After Guan Zhuofan read it, he couldn't help but sigh that my culture in Greater China has a long history, broad and profound, and the unspoken rules in officialdom do not need to be repeated.

And behind all this, it reflects an attitude of the imperial court: whether it is the empress dowager of the two palaces, or Prince Gong, or the minister of military aircraft and the relatives and nobles of the court, they all believe that what Xuanjun represents is the reputation of Jingying and the face of the imperial court, and in the future wars that may occur in Shanghai, only victory is allowed, not defeat.

When the dust settled, it was time to prepare to pull out, and according to the original agreement, we should first go to Dagukou in Tianjin, and then take a foreign ship to Shanghai. At this time, Li Henian, the governor of Henan, was misled by the fake military information, and urgently reported that hundreds of cavalry bandits had been found in the territory and were harassing Zhili. The Military Aircraft Department had no choice but to change the route of the Xuan Army, press down head-on in Henan, and prepare to work together with Li Henian's Yu Army to defeat the bandits, and then take the river ship directly from Wuchang to Shanghai.

When I arrived in Henan, it turned out that the so-called banditry was a false alarm. Therefore, until Daniel Zhang got on the boat, he still expressed dissatisfaction with Li Henian on deck, believing that not only delayed time, but also delayed his opportunity to take the sea boat.

Daniel Zhang was far more dissatisfied with Li Henian - officials and gentry in Shanghai scolded Li Henian in private. The foreign ship that was originally planned to receive troops at Dagukou was hired by Shanghai, and it was just a deposit of tens of thousands of silver that was lost, and it was sad that the time was delayed in vain!

Fortunately, the delay time was not too much, and when the Xuan army arrived in Wuchang in a hurry, the news spread to Shanghai, and the panicked people's hearts were finally decided: there were two foreign ships to pick up the transport, and they were released directly along the river, as long as there was no obstacle on the way, the arrival of the Xuan army in Shanghai was a matter of the day.

For the imperial court to send the Xuan army to defend Shanghai, the gentry of Shanghai have the emperor's grace and gratitude, the reason is all because of the seven words "the horse team of the south of the city", with the performance of the Qixiang coup, it has been more and more spread in the community, exaggerated layer by layer, and simply to the point of being a hundred enemies and gods, and is regarded as the world's first-class strong force, and the number one army guarding the forbidden garden. Therefore, this huge amount of shipping fare from Wuchang to Shanghai was all served by the gentry in Shanghai, and the government did not want to pay a tael of silver. Even the American Qichang Company, which carried it, also expressed the intention of "making a contribution" and discounted the freight rate by two and a half.

The waterway of the Yangtze River is not impassable. As a matter of fact, the naval armies of the Hunan Army and the Taiping Army are still fiercely contested, and the checkpoints on both sides of the strait are intertwined. At this time, the only passenger ships that still dared to take risks sailing on the river were the two steamers of the Qichang Company, and whether they could reach Shanghai smoothly depended on the support of the two American flags on board.

The American shipowner who opened up this "Shenhan line" is called Kim Nenghyung, a cheesy name that he personally chose for himself. The name is cheesy, but the person is not vulgar, very stable, and very capable. At this moment, he was also on the ship, thinking about how he should be the first to get in touch with the new Shanghai magistrate.