Guan Zhuofan didn't speak first, stared at the sentry chief kneeling in front of him for a long time before asking.

"What's your name?"

Liu ...... Brother Liu. ”

"Have you given money for dinner and drink?"

"Give, give, one or two or three pieces of silver."

"Well," Guan Zhuofan nodded, "I'm full of food and drink, and if I don't go back to the camp, where are I going?" ”

As soon as this sentence was asked, Brother Liu opened his mouth and hesitated without replying.

"What's wrong? The handsome man is asking you! "Do you have no ears, or no mouth?" ”

"Yes...... Go to the women's hall. Brother Liu said dejectedly.

Guan Zhuofan didn't know why, but when it came to the women's hall, Liu Xunjiao knew.

The Women's Pavilion is an evil law promulgated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hong Xiuquan took "all evil and fornication as the head", starting from the defeat of Wuchang, and ordered the people of the city to live separately between men and women, although the husband and wife, mother and son could not be reconciled. Tens of thousands of women are concentrated in designated areas and houses to live, which is called "women's halls", also known as "women's battalions", and is supervised and led by female captains, female commanders, and female military commanders in the army, which is similar to female prisoners. Li Xiucheng also engaged in this set in Suzhou, but with the passage of time, this set of rules that violated human ethics could not be enforced, so it was relaxed again and local women were allowed to return to their own houses.

However, there are still women from other villages, either homeless, or brainwashed by the Hong sect leader, unwilling to leave, and still living in the women's hall. Tan Shaoguang, Gao Yongkuan, and these people simply turned the women's hall into a place for soldiers to have fun, and these women became de facto camp prostitutes. When the official army entered the city, these women's pavilions were distributed in the city. Naturally, it became a place for the soldiers of the Xuanhuai and Huai armies to have fun. And these women. He also had to sell his body in exchange for food and money to survive.

"I didn't know there was such a place in the city, such a thing." Guan Zhuofan's face was gloomy and frightening-Xuan Jun couldn't help prostitution, but how different is such a thing at the moment from Tan Gao and others? "Mr. Liu. Do you know about this? ”

Guan Zhuofan had never spoken to him in such a cold tone, Liu Xunyi was stared at by his sharp gaze, and his heart trembled, and he bowed down and said: "The subordinates are negligent, please punish the marshal!" ”

Guan Zhuofan didn't make a sound, waved his hand impatiently, and asked Brother Liu, who was kneeling on the ground, to get up, and he turned his head and left, without stopping, all the way to the city gate. panicked, Liu Xunjiao and a group of personal soldiers hurriedly followed. Until he entered the north camp of the Xuan army, Guan Zhuofan sat down in the tent. I opened my mouth again.

"Mr. Liu, you immediately write a letter to Li Shaoquan, saying that I am now disposing of the administration of Suzhou in the capacity of the Jiangsu Domain. In the city, the women's pavilion was immediately disbanded, and the women in the pavilion were given silver taels, and they were allowed to go by themselves, regardless of the southern city and the northern city, and they were also handled, and he was asked to take down the various departments of the Huai army, and not to be hindered. ”

"Yes!"

"The battalion of the Xuan Army, there is no false in wartime, half of the fake is given during training, and one is given when stationed, this is a non-substitute rule!" Guan Zhuofan's tone was extremely cold, "It's easier, even if it's decided by your meeting, you should report it to me - you tell Ding Shijie, if there is such a situation next time, I will punish him with military law!" ”

"Yes!" Liu Xunjiao's voice trembled slightly. This was the first time he had seen Guan Zhuofan's true color, and he knew that it was to save face for himself, so he didn't call his name.

"The army can't stay in Suzhou anymore," Guan Zhuofan said categorically, "Pass my order, all the Xuan army will pull out the camp in two days and go to Changshu for training!" ”

*

*

The weather in early spring is still cold, but a peach blossom in the courtyard of Changshu County has bloomed very vigorously.

It was stationed in Changshu and used as the regiment headquarters. Wu Jianying personally held a recliner and put it under the peach tree, and watched Guan Dashuai wrapped in a military blanket, half-leaning on the chair, squinting his eyes and admiring the flowers.

What's there to see? Wu Jianying scratched his head, and said in his heart that it was a cold day, how good it would be to bake a fire in the house. No wonder people are handsome, and a rough person like himself doesn't have this leisure.

Most of the Xuan army did not enter the city, and after arriving from Suzhou, they have been camping outside the city for training. Guan Zhuofan came to the county office, not to enjoy the flowers, but to wait for someone, so although his eyes were on the peach tree, he was thinking about other things in his heart.

It should be said that from the beginning of the counteroffensive in Shanghai to the surrender of Suzhou, the game designed by himself can be regarded as completely achieving its goal.

Tan Shaoguang killed.

The credit for breaking Suzhou is in hand.

The Xuan army has grown again.

The charge of killing and surrendering was evaded.

The foreigner broke with Li Hongzhang.

The second foreign regiment is back.

Now as long as you wait for that person to come and finish one thing, then there is nothing to worry about, and you can go west with all your strength to start a new round of journey.

The person he was waiting for was Li Tai.

Guan Zhuofan expected it well, Li Taitai led the Aspen fleet from Shanghai to the north, anchored the ship at Dagukou, and went to Beijing to negotiate with the Prime Minister Yamen to ask for the 10 million taels of silver he dreamed of. However, no matter how much he puffed up his tongue and lobbied desperately, after all, the number was too appalling, and after a long time, his ambition to be the president of the fleet, who "managed everything in the middle," was also exposed.

Prince Gong and the group of people around him are not stupid, and since they saw this, they were even more unwilling to give in. In a hurry, Li Tai threatened that if he did not pay any more money, he would disband the entire fleet and sail back to England.

Go back, go back! The imperial court simply handled a "Aspen Fleet Retreat Case", except for the two ships of the Xuan Army Naval Division, the other ships are not needed! Not only that, but he also had to recover the remaining price from Li Tai.

At this time, the lawsuit was inextricably fought, and under the mediation of the British minister and the tax secretary Hurd, an agreement was reached, and Li Taitai wanted to return seventy percent of the original ship price paid by the imperial court to the imperial court. As for the two boats left in Shanghai, the imperial court replied that he didn't know where they were, and asked him to go to Xuanjun himself.

"Tell him that if he wants to come back, he will take him away." Dong Sui, Minister of Prime Minister's Affairs, rolled his eyes and said to the interpreter, "If you don't come back, you don't have to return the price of these two boats to the imperial court, and you will be cheaper for him." ”

When Li Taitai returned to Shanghai, sure enough, there was no trace of the Jintai Baiyue ship, and after further inquiry, it was said that they had gone to Taihu Lake to fight. Li Taitai had no choice, so he first asked someone to send a message to Guan Zhuofan, and then thought about it again, so he simply took a steamer and went to Changshu to find this old friend in person.

Who would have thought that an old friend had changed his mind.

"Nils!" Guan Zhuofan, who was admiring the flowers in the yard, waited for Li Taitai in the end, put on a smile on his face, and let him into the house. When he heard Li Taitai tell him about the matter, Guan Fansi's smile turned into a look of surprise and regret.

"Whew! How did it come to this? Guan Zhuofan stumbled and said, "It's a pity! ”

"There's no way around it. Yixuan, I have come this time to ask you to return those two gunboats to me, and I will take them back to England. ”

"Yes, yes, of course it should be returned to you." Guan Zhuofan said sincerely, "It's just that you are a step late, and those two boats have already sailed into Taihu Lake." Now the official army is fighting with the long hair of Wuxi and Jiangyin, and the waterways are cut off, and they can't get out for a while. ”

"This ......" Li Taitai still didn't give up, thought about it, and said, "Then please Yixuan, you send a force to escort me to Taihu Lake by land, okay?" ”

Guan Zhuofan paused for a moment, and then raised his voice to call Wu Jianying in.

"Wu Jianying!"

"Mark it in!"

"This foreign lord is going to Taihu Lake and take the gunboats of our Xuan Army and drive away." Guan Zhuofan squinted at Wu Jianying, "Send your subordinates to escort him, okay?" ”

"Back to the words of the handsome! At present, Huang Zilong in Wuxi and Chen Chengqi in Jiangyin have sent long hairs to operate in our hinterland. Wu Jianying said slowly, "Changshu is tight, and my own soldiers are not enough." If Lord Yang has to go, I will just send dozens of people to follow him, can they all have to pass the ghost gate, each according to the destiny of heaven. ”

According to the destiny of heaven, this is too scary, how dare you go? Li Taitai was originally a timid person, in order to avoid the Taiping Army, he didn't even want the position of chief tax secretary and fled to Hong Kong, but now he is even more afraid to move.

"Yixuan, isn't there any other way?" Li Tai said in despair.

"I can't say that there is no way...... I think it's okay," Guan Zhuofan said after a long time, "Nils, you can go back to England first, and when we have flattened the long hair, Jiangsu Ningjing, the boat will naturally come out of Taihu Lake." At that time, how good would it be for me to let the two Edwards themselves sail back to England to find you, and I would send you another heart, so that they could bring it to you together. ”

*(To be continued......)