"It's a conversation that the prince brought up when he played the right game," Xu Gengshen said with a smile, "The two queen mothers listened to it and thought it was good." ”

Do you think it's good? Guan Zhuofan weighed in his heart and listened to Xu Gengshen continue.

Lianggong and King Gong asked him to go back, and he wanted to ask two things, one was his opinion on the next war, and the other was foreign affairs.

"Yixuan, although Jiang Ning is broken now, and Hong Xiuquan is also dead, there are really a lot of remnants of long hair. Although Zhang Lexing has died in the hands of the monk king, Zhang Zongyu, Lai Wenguang, and Ren Zhu, the leaders of the bandits, are becoming more and more powerful, and they also have to use troops. Now although Li Shaoquan's Huai army has entered Anhui, and Zeng Disheng is also backed by it, is the force enough to be used? The Xuan Army, a combat force, should also rush to help? After all, the capital is far away, and it would be best if there was a knowledgeable person who could state it in person. What's more, you are the person next to the Queen Mother, and it is most appropriate to ask you to go back. ”

I'm someone close to the Queen Mother? Guan Zhuofan was startled, and looked at Xu Gengshen, who was talking energetically, and realized that what he was referring to was his identity as a royal guard.

must not go to fight the army, this is something Guan Zhuofan has already thought about.

The Twist Army is different from the Taiping Army. Since the Taiping army established the capital of Jiangning, it gave up the advantages of the original mobile warfare, and took the city as the core of the battle and defense everywhere, which was of course a change of last resort, but it did also give the officers and troops the opportunity to calmly dispatch and gradually counterattack.

The Twist Army is dominated by horse teams, rushing north and fluctuating. When there were few officers and soldiers. The Twist Army can roar in. When there are many officers and soldiers. It disappeared without a trace, and even the Mongolian horse team of Seng Lingqin could only follow behind and eat ashes, and it became very difficult to fight a good battle.

To put it bluntly, the battle against the Twist Army is protracted, and it is not yet the time to be able to reap the merits, such a battle. It's not Xuan Jun's director.

Guan Zhuofan is self-aware - although his newly built Xuan Army has won consecutive battles and is known as a strong force for a while, it actually does not have any great secrets, but it also has a few experiences in army building.

First, from the very beginning of the founding of the army, it dared to appoint a large number of Western officers as teachers and backbones. The second is to buy new ordnance without hesitation and intercept Western gunboats. The third is to select soldiers from among the refugees and take that part of the hostile spirit. Fourth, the "spoils distribution system" is clear and military discipline is strict. Fifth, it is necessary to keep in mind that "soldiers cannot be idle." We will never give the army a chance to relax, and we will never allow the prosperity of the market to erode the atmosphere in the army. The sixth is to rely on Shanghai. The food and wages are abundant, and the morale is very good.

There is another one, which is the brave men selected by the Xuan army, especially the officers, who are better to know a few words. In terms of "average cultural level", it is about slightly better than the soldiers of the Hunan and Huai departments. As for forcing officers to learn foreign languages, that is a step up and has ulterior motives.

With these seven articles, because of the sharp guns and Western training, whether it is a field battle or a siege, it is a temporary choice, and I don't believe that anyone can stop it. However, in the end, it is a unit that has not been formed for a long time, and only the word resilience still needs to be consolidated and strengthened; if it is rashly used in such a place, not only will it not play the role of training troops, but it will also be easily dragged down and turned into a tired army under the ineffectiveness of the division.

This pit can't be jumped.

"Uncle Xing, when you were in Rehe, you pointed out the strategy, you saw it with your own eyes, and you were a real expert in military affairs! Although he is now a member of the ministry, he must still know the overall military affairs well. Hong Xiuquan is dead, Li Xiucheng is on the threshold, the snake is not headless, although there are many remnants of long hair, but it is enough to deal with the word 'Fu'. There is only one ocean......"

Speaking of which, the smile is silent.

"How is Wang Haiyang?" Xu Gengshen was very interested.

"Zuo Jigao's temper, Uncle Xing still doesn't know? Naturally, it is necessary to look at the overall situation. Xuan Jun honestly guarded Jiaxing for him, when he broke Hangzhou, when to return it to him, the next things, it is not my turn to worry about it. ”

After saying this, I talked about the bandits.

"Speaking of the twist, there is now a king, a marquis, a scholar, and a few counts and governors. Not to mention the soldiers of seven or eight provinces, the generals are also all together, and even my fourth uncle is among them. My Xuan Jun, why bother to join in the fun? ”

Wang is a monk Lingqin, Hou is Zeng Guofan, and a scholar is the official Wen of the governor of Huguang. Xu Gengshen thought about it, and felt that he had a point, so he asked, "Yixuan, then what are your plans?" ”

"Uncle Xing, I think you can also see that the Xuan Army is somewhat different from other armies." Guan Zhuofan said calmly, "To be honest, if it's just used to beat long hair, it's enough, but in case...... In short, I plan to train a new army for the imperial court in Jiangsu. ”

It turns out that there is such an ambition! Xu Geng was impressed, and was in awe. After "just in case", Guan Zhuofan didn't say it, but this newly sealed Hou Ye is no longer the Liupin Qianzong who used silver to subsidize the troops in Rehe and asked the secretary to make an IOU, since he didn't say it, Xu Gengshen didn't ask, so as not to ask anything inconvenient to each other.

Xuanjun's ordnance is good, military discipline is good, and there are many foreigners in the army, these are what Xu Gengshen knows. But what kind of army is the new army?

"It's nothing more than the French and Western methods of governing the army," Guan Zhuofan replied to Xu Gengshen's question, "There are too many joints in it, and I can't say a word or two clearly, and when I return to Beijing, I will slowly tell Uncle Xing and ask Uncle Xing for guidance." ”

"Don't dare to give advice, when the time comes, I'll just listen." Xu Gengshen said with a smile, "But what you said about the 'law of the West' is just in line with the situation - the two palaces and the prince want you to go back, and the second thing is to ask about foreign affairs!" ”

*

*

It was already dark, Zhang Shun led people to light up the candlesticks on the four walls of the flower hall, and replaced the residual wine that had been cooled with warm wine, so that the Marquis Guan and Lord Qincha had a candle night banquet and chatted slowly.

"It's a great success, it should be peaceful, and it's time to take advantage of this momentum to work together and cheer up," Speaking of the second thing, Xu Geng couldn't help frowning slightly, "But it's good now, there are two forces in the open and in the dark, and it's very noisy." ”

Ming's share is a dispute over foreign affairs, and it is Tongwenguan that is used as an introduction.

The Tongwen Museum was set up at the beginning of last year by Prince Gong, hanging under the Prime Minister's Yamen, although the president was later known as the "Oriental Galileo" Xu Jishe, but the actual museum affairs were supervised by Hurd.

The establishment of the Tongwen Museum was an initiative that King Gong felt very proud of, and it was also his feeling that when he negotiated with the British and French forces, he suffered from the lack of translators, and was controlled by Gong Xiaogong, arrogant and rude.

With such a past, the first subject set up by Tongwenkan was translation, and then "majors" such as arithmetic, geography, and international public law were added. At the beginning of its establishment, there was a joke - the Tongwen Museum recruited officials to study in the museum, and at the same time planned to recruit schoolchildren, I don't know who he listened to, and set the qualifications for admission to the museum as "children of the Eight Banners under the age of fourteen", but fortunately, later the good as flow, and soon revoked this rule.

In Guan Zhuofan's view, this is naturally a big haode matter, without talents, how to do foreign affairs? However, some people objected, which is also expected.

"Uncle Xing, does anyone dare to get along with the prince?" He asked, feigned surprise.

"How do you know about that group of defenders!" Xu Gengshen said with a wry smile, "Military and political affairs, I didn't see that they could have a little bit of a party, Yujian such a thing, I thought it was a good opportunity to see the wind and bones, all of them were 'Zhengse Dynasty', they couldn't beat and beat, scolded and scolded, but the leader was the Ugong Peak, so that between the two palaces, the queen mother almost gave birth to a small opinion, and the prince was even more sulking every day, and there was no way to take them." ”

Ugong Feng is talking about the university scholar Uren.

In the matter of handling foreign affairs, Cixi was on the side of King Gong, and originally wanted to admonish Wuren. Helplessly, before Xianfeng's death, he once confessed to the then queen, the current Empress Dowager Ci'an, and appointed him as the chief master of the study, taking his prudent approach. So the loyal Ci'an, since then he has kept Wu Ren firmly in his heart, and now he refuses to "make a noise" to Wu Ren, he didn't expect that in addition to being cautious and decent, he is actually an old master who is too broad.

The Empress Dowager Ci'an did not agree to it, even if she was as competitive as Cixi, she could not do it without her, so the matter of Tongwenguan became a stalemate, and after a year, few people went in to study.

"Yixuan, you have a real history of foreign affairs in Shanghai, and the two things of telegraph and fleet are also very beautiful, so the two palaces and the prince want to hear about you." Xu Gengshen gave a bottom to Guan Zhuofan, "To be honest, the two people in the west and the prince also have the intention of using your example to suppress that group of people." ”

Guan Zhuofan understood, and at the same time, he had to weigh it in his heart, after he arrived in Beijing, what he should say and do, so that he could help King Gong.

Speaking from the heart, in the matter of Tongwenguan, King Gong dared to be the first to be popular, and resolutely founded it in the midst of opposition, which is already very sharp, but Guan Zhuofan believes that he is also in a hurry in this matter.

The excerpt of the Tongwen Museum reads, "Consult the Hanlin Academy and the personnel of the Yamen on the right path to learn Western language and algorithmic geography from Westerners." The so-called right path, that is, the Jinshi background, and the Hanlin Academy is a valuable place in Tsinghua University, and now let these people enter the Tongwen Museum and study with foreign devils, isn't it a joke? It is not surprising that the value system that has been formed over thousands of years has met with fierce opposition.

Guan Zhuofan naturally knows that it is not an overnight thing to change the deep-rooted concept, and King Gong's intentions are good, but there are two mistakes in the measures, which even King Gong himself has not yet figured out.

One is, why do we have to force the scholars to study?

The other is, why do we have to use Jinshi to learn?

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