Zeng Jize's arrival was the result of Guan Zhuofan's visit to Jiangning by Qian Dingming, who saw him at the wedding banquet, and he brought a letter to Zeng Guofan for Guan Zhuofan.

The first thing Guan Zhuofan did the day after Xu Gengshen read the edict was to write a letter to Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang and the first-class marquis in Jiangning.

Li Hongzhang was transferred to Anhui to be the governor, saying that the Shili of the Xianghuai system was almost completely squeezed out of Jiangsu. Now that the goal has been achieved, what needs to be done now is to mend the relationship with Zeng Guofan in turn.

He was still not sure how Zeng Guofan regarded him now, and he was not even sure how far he had offended Zeng Guofan.

Yes, he did ignore the "rules of the rivers and lakes", led his troops west into Jiangning, and ordered the sailors to shell the north gate, so as to rob him of the credit for recovering Jiangning. But he also handed over Hong Fuyu, Li Xiucheng and other important criminals to Zeng Guoquan, which is equivalent to making up for a huge omission for him. Therefore, this layer should be regarded as a reveal.

Moreover, he squeezed Zeng Guofan's most proud protégé, Li Hongzhang, out of Jiangsu, but this is because his own merits have overshadowed Li Hongzhang, and it can't be said that this is also a sin? As for repeatedly setting up bureaus and trapping Li Hongzhang, there are some of them, but this is all by using his identity as a "prophet" and cleverly arranging it, and people who don't know this layer will never blame themselves.

There is also a gift list sent by Zeng Guoquan, which is stamped with the big seal of "Ji Zi Zhongying", and when he holds it in his own hand, it becomes ironclad evidence that the Hunan army sacked Jiangning City. But in the final analysis, it was sent by Zeng Guoquan himself, and he didn't snatch it himself. Zeng Guofan has the meaning of vigilance. You can't hate yourself for this, can you?

Wrong......

Guan Zhuofan was stunned for a while. I suddenly figured out that I hadn't done this well enough.

The official excerpt of the details of Jiang Ning's recovery, Zeng Guofan said the credit of Xuanjun in it, and invited himself to lead it, which was the key to his final ability to squeeze out Li Hongzhang, pay official worship to the governor of Jiangsu, and wait for Xifengsan. This is of course the credit of Zeng Guofan's capture of Li Xiucheng and other "rebel chiefs" in order to reward himself. But it was also to form a good fate for Zeng Guoquan and fill the gap for the gift list.

Since people have done what they should do, they still hold this gift list in their hands, and it is not quite right.

Singles play ninety-nine, don't play plus one! Thinking about it this way, I knew what I was going to do - it was time to return the gift list.

As for this letter, it was also considered for a long time, and Zuihou decided to write it in three levels.

The first meaning is to express gratitude.

The governor of Jiangsu was a subordinate of the governor of Liangjiang, so he took this identity. Thank you to Zeng Guofan, xiexie for his allocation and promotion. These are, of course, insincere. But in terms of politeness, you must have this stroke, and try to write as earnestly as possible.

The second meaning is to give money.

It turned out that when Guan Zhuofan was in the post of the domain secretary, he had to allocate 60,000 taels of military salaries to the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan every month, and this money has been paid as usual and has never been in arrears. Now Guan Zhuofan took the initiative to put forward in the letter that in addition to the 60,000 taels, he was also willing to provide another 60,000 taels of "co-payment" to the Huai army that entered Anhui every month.

The words in the letter were very beautiful, saying that he and Li Hongzhang were originally colleagues, and now they are also serving under the account of the commander, so they are naturally motivated. There is also an unspoken meaning, that is, to admit that the Huai army also made great contributions in the war to draw Jiangsu. It's just that this point, there is no need to write it, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang can naturally read it - in the final analysis, giving money is the greatest sincerity.

However, the third meaning is the focus and core of the whole letter - he asked Zeng Guofan for someone, and what he asked for was no one else, Zeng Guofan's son, Zeng Jize.

This is a clever move he made after thinking about it repeatedly.

Zeng Jize is the second son of Zeng Guofan, because the eldest died at a young age, so he is actually the eldest son of the Zeng family. Zeng Guofan, this person, self-discipline is very strict, and the requirements for his sons are extremely strict, up to now, Zeng Jize is only a three-grade shadow student, and he has not really become an official, but his knowledge and character are first-class, not only has a deep foundation in Confucianism, but also can speak English, and he is most interested in foreign affairs.

It was originally a very simple thing for him to come out to be an official, Zeng Guofan was all over the world, and he could find a seat for him anywhere, and the court would definitely agree. However, Zeng Guofan was worried and ridiculed, thinking that handing over his son to his old subordinates or old friends would not deviate from the way of interest and transportation, and his deeds would be manifested and damage his reputation, so he refused to do such a thing and kept his son in his own background.

Guan Zhuofan figured out his thoughts very thoroughly, and asking him for Zeng Jize just happened to relieve him of this worry, because everyone knew that Guan Zhuofan was not in the same vein as the Hunan army, and he was also orthodox in the imperial court. Zeng Jize came to Shanghai to be an official, and it became a very upright thing.

For Guan Zhuofan, such an invitation is not only a very sincere gesture of goodwill, but also a question - after all, the rise of the Xuanjun family has become an indisputable fact. If so, the Xuan family and the Hunan family may not be able to work together to do something for the country, and with Zeng Jize's identity, it can be vaguely regarded as a "political marriage".

He believed that with Zeng Guofan's bearing and pattern, this matter would be quite successful.

Another point, he invited Zeng Jize to come to Shanghai, and he also had a very pragmatic plan - Zeng Jize is not an ordinary son-in-law, who is fake and good-looking, but a person who is indeed talented. Shanghai was in urgent need of such a person, so he did not plan to offer Zeng Jize as a bodhisattva, but honestly explained to Zeng Guofan in the letter that he was going to ask Zeng Jize to preside over the new "Canton Dialect Museum" as a three-grade official.

The Cantonese dialect hall does not refer to the Cantonese dialect, and even has nothing to do with the dialect, but is essentially another "Tongwen hall", ready to teach various Chinese dialects, modern science, and some jishu practices. Considering the resistance encountered by King Gong's Tongwen Pavilion in Beijing, Guan Zhuofan played a trick, specially consulted people, and set such a name that concealed people's eyes. Speaking of which. Magnificent China. Regard foreign countries as states. It seems that the words of foreign devils are regarded as "dialects", which seems to be reasonable.

This is an extremely important piece in foreign affairs, which is worthy of Zeng Jize's identity, and it is enough for him to show his strengths. As for whether he can ring the golden bell of Zeng Guofan and whether he can touch the heart of Zeng Ergongzi, that is, "but do your best, each according to the destiny of heaven". Guan Zhuofan put this letter and the gift list of Zeng Guoquan. Secretly sealed the package and handed it over to Zeng Guofan's old acquaintance, and now Qian Dingming, a Taicang man who was recruited by himself in the curtain, asked him to take him to Jiangning and hand it over to Zeng Governor Shuai.

Who knew that when the golden bell hit, the loud was abnormal, Zeng Guofan not only agreed to his request, but also promised to let Zeng Jize bring two others, thinking that he would help in handling foreign affairs. And that's not all. In the reply letter, he also deliberately said such a sentence: "Today's foreign affairs." If there is something right, the power will be exercised by the General Administration, and the matter will not leave the port, and among the ports, Shanghai is the most important. The meaning of the words is exactly the same as what Guan Zhuofan thought - the capital is not a good place to do things, and to really promote the development of foreign affairs, it also depends on local self-improvement.

The old official seeks the country, and he is as sincere as this, Guan Zhuofan can't help but sigh. Now in the pouring rain, I finally received Zeng Jize and the three of them, and this hard work can be regarded as a reality.

The three of them were invited to the side room to change their dry clothes before they officially greeted them in the flower hall. Zeng Jize is the same age as Guan Zhuofan, and the two people who came with him are also full of vitality, so they signed up by themselves and asked Guan Zhuofan for peace.

Guan Zhuofan was very polite, helped them up one by one, and invited them to take a seat. The reason for their politeness is that these two people are from the Anqing Ordnance Institute of Zeng Guofan, and they are not idle people, and they are famous in later generations and are well known to Guan Zhuofan.

The one called Hua Yufang is slightly older, longer in mathematics and English, and will be a mathematics master of the Qing generation in the future.

The one named Xu Jianyin is younger, and he will become a highly accomplished scientist in the future.

"Brother Zeng, Jiang Ning has been in a hurry for a few months, but I don't expect to see each other here again today." Guan Zhuofan is in a very good mood, and he is quite proud of "the heroes of the world have entered my place", "I have been running all the way on the river, and I have worked hard." ”

"Don't dare to be, please Xuan Shuai still call me Jie." Zeng Jize owed a debt and said with a smile, "Don't hide it from Xuan Shuai, the 'Yellow Bird' we sat on was extremely stable, but we didn't suffer any from running around." ”

"Oh? Yellow Bird? Guan Zhuofan's eyes lit up, and he leaned forward, "But is that steamer that Lord Zeng made in Anqing?" ”

For Guan Zhuofan, this is knowingly asked. The Yellow Bird steamer is the first steam engine paddle steamer designed and built by China itself, and it does not involve foreigners at all. The designer is Xu Jianyin's father, Xu Shou.

"Exactly, it all depends on the strength of Uncle Xu Shouxu, and I don't want a foreigner to participate!" In Zeng Jize's words, there was also a sense of joy and pride, "Zhonghu is the son of Uncle Xu, this time I was ordered by my father to bring him to Xuan Shuai." ”

"It's very good, if you have a father, you must have a son, and you are going to use Zhonghu's great talent!"

Zhonghu is Xu Jianyin's character, father and son, both of whom can go down in history.

After talking about this yellow bird, he turned to the affairs of the Guang Dialect Museum. The purpose has already been set in the correspondence between Guan Zhuofan and Zeng Guofan, and what we need to discuss now is how to proceed with the specific process.

"Brother Jie, don't worry, you're all tired today, rest for the night. Tomorrow I will first pick up the wind for you, and then introduce two people for you, Mr. Liu Xun and Mr. Li Bentley. Guan Zhuofan said, "The situation in Shanghai and the handling of foreign affairs, with the two of them being the most familiar, choosing a place and recruiting teachers can help you." A few of you will take out the charter together, and as for the fees, you will wait for Zhao Fansi to dig out his pockets. ”

"Then I'll have to ask Zhugong a lot!" Zeng Jize thanked Zhao Jingxian.

Just talked with each other so earnestly, chatted for a while, and then sent the three of them to the hotel to rest. Zhao Jingxian was left in the flower hall, and he still had something to say.

"Zeng Commander didn't rely on foreigners, he built a steam turbine in Anqing, which is really fascinating!" Zhao Jingxian said excitedly, "Xuan Shuai, I don't know when we can build one in Shanghai?" ”

Guan Zhuofan was speechless for a while, silent for a long time, and suddenly said something that he could never think of again.

"Governor Zeng's path is wrong."

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