Zeng Guoquan, who was in Yuezhou City, appeared in the south of the city in a hurry. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Looking at the more than 2,000 people in front of him, lying on the ground, and carelessly, he couldn't help but feel on fire!

"Get up, give Lao Tzu up, train, fight each other for training!" Zeng Guoquan kicked down a young man sitting on the ground, and slapped another drowsy man leaning on the side of the flagpole, and couldn't help but become more and more anxious!

Can you not be in a hurry?

Since the capture of Changsha City by Cantonese thieves from the south a few months ago, Xiang Yong has lost his soul and almost captured all of his family. But even after the brave fighting of the soldiers, he finally rescued his family, but his brother's henchman Li Yibin was killed on the spot by the Cantonese thieves, and they were driven out of Changsha and fled to Yuezhou under the leadership of his eldest brother Zeng Guofan.

Without the hometown soil of Changsha Mansion and the villagers donating money and food, is Xiangyong still Xiangyong?

Zeng Guofan, who was in Yuezhou, led a group of Xiangyong, and wanted to do a good job, but he didn't expect that Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Munan who was rescued from Changsha City, not only did not thank Zeng Guofan for saving his life, but instead participated in Zeng Guofan's book to the imperial court, saying that Zeng Guofan's training was not effective, he did not recruit many soldiers, and he deducted soldiers' salaries, and scattered his troops, resulting in the fall of Changsha.

Zeng Guoquan was furious, and wanted to raise troops with Wang Zhu, Taqibu, Li Yuandu, Zhou Fengshan and others on the spot, and arrested Luo Bingzhang. But Zeng Guofan stopped them and explained that Luo Bingzhang also participated in this way out of helplessness, just to protect himself, otherwise, Luo Bingzhang would have to bear the main responsibility for the loss of Changsha City.

Sure enough, although Zeng Guofan did not defend himself, the court seemed to know that it was not his fault, and only reprimanded him slightly, and there was no actual punishment and punishment.

Maybe Xianfeng also knew that the state affairs of the Qing Dynasty were not going well, and Zeng Guofan was already a talent. It's just that the times are not good, and the court can't give support, so they can only be defeated again and again.

Delicious salary? The imperial court has never given Zeng Guofan a penny, he raised his own military expenses, even if he wants to deduct it, it is his right.

Not a lot of recruits? Poor training? It's not nonsense. How can you recruit a lot of soldiers if you don't have money, how can you train soldiers if you don't have time, no territory, and no money? Before the training began, the Guangdong thieves came to attack again, or the imperial court transferred them to support Chixi again, how could there be a chance to train the troops?

For this reason, Zeng Guofan also had a sad face for a while, and then he figured it out. If he has no money, no people, and even no weapons, he has to rely on himself, even if the entire Munan is occupied, he still has to rely on himself, and the imperial court's own banner soldiers can't pay their salaries, let alone pay them for military training in places like him.

Therefore, he shrank his forces and defended the city of Yuezhou. At the same time, restrain the troops, not to provoke the 3rd Division that occupies Changde, especially not to provoke the Peng Yulin Naval Division that occupies the side of Dongting Lake.

Peng Yulin was naturally very happy, his sailor had not yet been trained, and he was a newcomer, and Dongting Lake was not yet familiar, so he also took the opportunity to put the sailor into Dongting Lake and practiced diligently.

And Zeng Guofan, knowing that Yuezhou was on the verge of Guangdong thieves, although it was still in his own hands for the time being, but he could not only have this one territory, so he personally led Luo Zenan, Taqibu, Li Yuandu, Yang Zaifu, and Zou Shouzhang to lead 3,000 Xiangyong land divisions and 5,000 sailors to the neighboring Hanyang Prefecture and Jianli area, where there were many merchant ships in the Yangtze River and Honghu Lake, which were busier than Dongting Lake.

Zeng Guofan sat in the city and commanded.

In terms of sailors, let Yang Zaifu and Zou Shouzhang lead five thousand sailors, a total of ten battalions, eight battalions to step up training in water warfare, the second battalion on duty in the waterway, pumping heavy taxes on passing merchant ships, at the beginning or eight draws one, half a month later, Zeng Guofan thought that the money was too slow, a ruthless, simply five draws one, the past merchant ships were in pain, and they scolded "Zeng shaved their heads" behind their backs, but at this time, "Zeng shaved heads" is no longer the meaning of cutting off people's heads, but seeing the ship peeling the skin.

On the Lu Division, Zeng Guofan also asked Luo Zenan, Taqibu, and Li Yuandu to each lead 1,000 Xiangyong to occupy the county towns of Jiayangzhou, Jiayu, Puqi, etc., regardless of the opposition of the local magistrates, forcibly occupied the county seats, and offered a showdown of military salaries and forced donations of food and weapons to the gentry and merchants in the county. In addition, it also occupies the official road post station and collects the money from the merchants, but this gold is no longer the one in history, but directly every five draws.

This is no longer a tax, it is equivalent to forcible plunder. Some merchants who already had meager profits cried and scolded on the spot, but they were kicked out by a group of Xiangyong.

It didn't take long for Zeng Guofan and Xiang Yong's banditry to become notorious. A month later, many merchants no longer passed through the southern end of Yuezhou, Hanyang, and Wuchang, which were controlled by Xiangyong, whether by water or land.

Xiang Yong was able to draw even less money, and fell into a vicious circle.

Zeng Guofan had no choice but to order the commanders of all battalions under his command to not allow more than one-tenth of the tax to be collected. The excess tax that was originally drawn was made with an IOU, and when there was a spoil, it was returned.

But at this time, the notoriety has already spread, and it is difficult to clear the name!

In Yueyang City, the officials and gentry who were originally enthusiastic about donating food and military salaries also fell silent and were no longer active.

Zeng Guofan simply couldn't see it, leaving Zeng Guoquan in Yuezhou City, and asked him to recruit Minzhuang and continue to practice as Xiangyong. He, Zeng Guobao and others, led 2,000 Xiangyong, wandered around the countryside around Hanyang Mansion and Wuchang Mansion, looking for bandits who occupied the mountains as kings, and relied on fighting bandits and bandits to earn some sporadic military salaries, and by the way, they trained their troops.

Zeng Guoquan thought that he would recruit at least 5,000 people, and if he trained it well, he would be a good soldier. Unexpectedly, the people in Yuezhou City didn't buy his account.

After recruiting for more than half a month, Kenmeng's methods of abduction, coercion and temptation were used, and only more than 2,000 people were recruited, which was far from the expected 5,000 people. In the past, in Xiangxiang's hometown, tens of thousands of people came to recruit when they raised the flag, and they had to be carefully selected, and there was no such good thing.

"Report! Ninth Master, a large number of Cantonese thieves set out from Changsha, Changde and Dongting Lake in the south to march to my Yuezhou City, with an estimated number of 30,000 or 40,000 people! Please also ask the ninth master to make arrangements early! The messenger bowed and stepped back.

"What?! Thirty or forty thousand thieves? How can the thieves have so many troops? Zeng Guoquan changed color! He knew that this group of Cantonese thieves was different from other thieves, and the strength of the Cantonese thieves was all capable soldiers, and there was no water. Moreover, the messenger let himself make arrangements as soon as possible, although he did not say it, but it was nothing more than persuading himself to make plans to retreat and flee as soon as possible.

But this is Xiangyong, if you retreat, you have to leave Munan and retreat into Hubei!

Xiang Yong, who can't even hold Nan, is still Xiang Yong?