Beijing, the warm sunshine and the refreshing spring breeze are coming, which is a good time to go green. In the military aircraft department of the west courtyard of the imperial palace, the two princes and several important ministers of the imperial court, as well as friends and other colleagues of the same court, came to see him off.

The send-off ceremony was very solemn, with three teams of heavily armed cavalry, two teams of cavalry with ceremonial swords, two teams of lancers with leopard tails, and five teams of flag gunners. The front honor guard also holds a pair of Qingluo embroidered peacock fans and a pair of red Luo embroidered four-season flower fans; A pair of red Luo pin Jin Rui grass umbrellas, a pair of red Luo embroidered four seasons flower umbrellas, and finally the red Luo embroidered five dragon crank umbrellas behind Cezanne, accompanied by 75 retinues such as loose riders, guards, ceremonies, and pro-military schools, which are all the emperor's grace, according to the prince's level to give him a farewell ceremony.

In a scene of such a level as usual, the courtiers who were sent off often had to be complacent, which was a great honor, but at this moment, Cezanne was not happy, and even cried to his colleagues who came to see him off. Others thought that he was crying with joy when he received such a great grace from the emperor, but in fact, only Cezanne himself knew that he knew nothing about war, and he wanted to make him the commander of the three armies, which was to roast him on the shelf.

Although Saishana was pessimistic, he also knew that he was blessed with holy grace, and he did not dare to slack off all the way, and he came to Guangxi in a mighty way. After walking for two months, he finally arrived at Guilin, the capital of Guangxi Province, and Saishan'a never went any further, he learned from the experience of Li Qincha's death, and if he could not kill the front line, he would command remotely in the rear.

Guangxi Governor Zou Minghe gave up his mansion as the office of the first assistant of the competition. On this day, Sai Shoufu invited both Xiang Rong and Ulantai to discuss how to exterminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The governor's parlor was particularly quiet and elegant, with glazed windows and doors, and celebrity calligraphy and paintings hanging all over the walls of the parlor. On the beautiful wooden shelves are the four treasures of the study. There is also a guzheng on the desk, and there is a small incense burner and all kinds of small bonsai as decorations next to the zither, and the whole room is quiet and harmonious, giving people a very relaxing feeling.

But at this time, the atmosphere in the living room was not relaxed at all, and even smelled of gunpowder. Admiral Xiang and Udutong sat on the east and west sides, not looking at each other at all, not even the most basic polite words, as if the other party did not exist.

Cezanne walked into the living room, and he also felt that the atmosphere in the hall was abnormal after being in the officialdom for a long time, "I'm sorry to keep the two generals waiting for a long time." Sai Shousuke said with a greeting in his mouth, making the atmosphere a little more relaxed.

"I've met Shousuke-sama." Xiang Wu and the others didn't dare to slack off, after all, they were Lord Shoufu, although they were also military generals and executives, but the civil officials of the same level in the court were all older than them, not to mention the Shoufu of Zhengyipin, which was too far behind in comparison.

"I invited the two generals here today, just to hear any good suggestions from the two of you to exterminate this gang of bandits?" Sai Shoufu sat on a red sandalwood chair in the middle and said unhurriedly, "Udutong, you can talk first." ”

Ulantai looked arrogant and did not hide his contempt for the Taiping Army: "The bandits' several victories were nothing more than the use of some filthy tricks. This time, the first assistant of the race came, and our army had more than 20,000 troops, which could be crushed like Mount Tai pressing the top, and it was useless in the face of absolute strength to care about his conspiracy and conspiracy. ”

"Wudutong may not know, this bandit has been expanding the army, and after taking Wuxuan County, their number of soldiers is not much less than that of us now, and our army does not have the absolute advantage you said." Xiang Rong vetoed Ulantai's proposal in one bite.

"What do you say? Not to mention that you have been defeated by bandits several times, it is because you are afraid of the enemy like a tiger and do not save you when you see death, Li Qincha sacrificed his life for the country! Ulantai was angered by Xiang Rong's words, and immediately sneered at him.

"Am I going to die? It's because you fell into someone's plan to encircle and help, even if I didn't take Dongling, I'm not like someone harassing the place and blackmailing the rich to replenish military funds. "Xiang Rong doesn't show weakness, even if you are a Man of the Eight Banners? My qualifications are much older than yours, and you dare to play in front of me at a young age?

"Li Qin is returning to heaven, and the salaries of my more than 6,000 soldiers have not been fulfilled for a long time, how can I calm the morale of the army if I don't get some silver? What's more, those rich people were already hooked up with bandits, so it was only natural for me to raid their homes. Ulantai paused and said: "Of course you don't have to worry about military salaries, your team is less than half of the people, and you don't need to pay this half of your military salary." ”

"What did you say!" Xiang Rong was on fire, and he was about to stand up and make a move with Ulantai, and Ulantai also stood up without showing weakness, thinking that when it comes to doing it, I'm still afraid of you, an old man?

"Alright! Do you treat me as a dead man? Sai Shousuke looked at the two of them and slapped the table and shouted. It is precisely because of your inability to unite that our army has let the bandits succeed repeatedly, so sit down for me! ”

Xiang Wu and the others sat on the chairs angrily, looking blushing and thick-necked.

"Come on, three bowls of rock sugar longan lotus seed soup, all come and go!" Sai Shoufu greeted the servants outside the hall, and after a while, the fragrant lotus seed soup was served. Sai Shoufu scooped a mouthful with a soup spoon and put it in his mouth, "It's delicious, it's good, you can also taste it, this is said to be a local tribute, and it's usually hard to eat." ”

Xiang Wu and the others also tasted a few bites, nodded and praised again and again, and the atmosphere in the hall was much better.

"Tell the Admiral, tell me about your plan." Sai Shoufu said to Xiang Rong with a calm face, in fact, he already had a plan in his heart.

"Okay, Shousuke-sama. Guangxi is mountainous and does not have abundant products, and the bandits have recently expanded their army on a large scale. As long as we firmly trap them in the area of Bauhinia Mountain, they will definitely not be able to supply food and grass for a long time, and when the time comes, the bandits will be in chaos without a fight, and we can take advantage of the situation and fight a decisive battle. Xiang Rong said confidently.

"Autumn is coming in a blink of an eye, and as soon as this autumn grain is on the market, I don't know if I have to stay until the Year of the Monkey?" Ulantai looked disdainful and interjected.

"It is naturally impossible to cut off food in a short period of time, but if we focus on cutting off salt first, they will be finished in three or four months. As long as we set up cards on the mountain roads and waterways leading to the bandits' station, they can't buy public salt, and they can't transport private salt, and without salt, people will be weak, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced, and we will be able to easily win at that time. This is the last general's plan to sit in battle, what does Shousuke-sama think? Xiang Rong is very eloquent, and it is indeed very reasonable.

"Don't hide it from the Admiral, in fact, before the old man came, he told the emperor about the Admiral's plan to sit on the battlefield, and the emperor also agreed very much." Sai Shoufu's old face was slightly red, he didn't say that he had stolen Xiang Rong's tactics. "So this time, I think I'll follow the way of the Admiral first, what do you think about Udutong?"

When Ulantai heard that the emperor nodded in agreement, what else could he care about, so he could only give his hand and say: "Obey the will of Lord Shoufu, and the last general will have no opinion." ”

"As for the military salary, don't worry, you will go to our army to get it. This time, the emperor allocated 360 taels of silver, which was enough for the military salary in the past few months. In addition, I will send a few of my commanders here to your army to fight with the two of them. "Sai Shoufu gave the two of them to the bottom, and this encirclement and suppression is enough for people and money.

When Xiang Wu and the others heard this, their expressions were overjoyed, and their confidence increased greatly. It seems that the support of the imperial court this time is very strong, and it is estimated that the bandits will not be able to jump for a few days.