After seeing the report of his disciple Wu Chaoyue killing Wei Changhui's imperial palace, Zeng Guofan was both proud and disappointed. Of course, it was his students who fought for anger and gave him a long face. What is lost is that his eldest disciple Jiang Zhongyuan overturned Feng Yunshan, and his younger disciple Wu Chaoyue killed Wei Changhui, and together he became famous all over the world by virtue of his military exploits.

In fact, the reason why Zeng Guofan made up his mind to handle the regimental training, in addition to being unwilling to silently guard the system for three years, the greater reason was that Zeng Guofan wanted to make a difference in military affairs and be a famous Confucian handsome minister who went down in history, and as early as the end of the second year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan had already asked for the position of assistant director of the regimental training in Hunan, and immediately began to form the famous Hunan army in later generations.

Compared with the student Wu Chaoyue, Zeng Guofan's biggest advantage in running a regimental training is that he has a wide range of connections, many students and disciples, many relatives and clan members, relying on complex interpersonal relationships such as mentors and apprentices, relatives, and friends, it is easy to pull up a regimental training team of more than 5,000 people, and the loyalty is quite guaranteed, and the quality of the soldiers is also higher than that of other places in regimental training, and the biggest lack is only training and weapons.

The problem in this aspect of training is not very big, and based on the "New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness" and "The Actual Record of Military Training" left by Qi Jiguang, Zeng Guofan believed that as long as he gave himself a little time, he would definitely be able to train an elite and strong army that swept the world -- everyone knows that Zeng Guofan has indeed done this in history.

Only weapons worry about Zeng Guofan, although he is not as superstitious as the student Wu Chaoyue, but Zeng Guofan, who is open-minded, also knows that it is impossible to rely on bows, arrows, swords and spears to fight invincible. The Qing army's most advanced firearms, the Bird Gun and the Lifting Gun, were also available on the side of the Taiping Army, and even if they were also equipped, they were only a draw. Therefore, Zeng Guofan still set his sights on the foreigners' foreign guns and cannons, and sent people to Guangzhou to purchase foreign guns and foreign cannons at the same time. Zeng Guofan also wrote a letter to Wu Chaoyue, a comprador student, asking Wu Chaoyue to help him inquire about the price of foreigners' guns in Shanghai, so as to compare them with the price of arms in Guangzhou and save money.

The waterway was impassable, and Zeng Guofan's messenger could only go to Shanghai by land to contact Wu Chaoyue, which took a long time, so it was not until the middle of April of the third year of Xianfeng that the messenger returned to Xiangtan, the garrison of the Hunan army, with Wu Chaoyue's reply letter. It turned out to be a coincidence, Zeng Guofan, who has always liked to personally supervise the soldiers, would not be on the school grounds. The messenger could only inquire about Zeng Guofan's whereabouts from Zeng Guofan's ninth brother, Zeng Guoquan, who knew that Zeng Guofan was in the barracks, and Zeng Guoquan happened to have some military affairs to report to Zeng Guofan, so he personally led the messenger to visit Zeng Guofan.

Entering the barracks, Zeng Guofan was writing hard next to the bookcase, Zeng Guoquan opened his mouth to speak and was stopped by Zeng Guofan, who was entering the state, and Zeng Guoquan, who knew his brother's temper, had no choice but to sit aside obediently and wait. As a result, after waiting for a long time, Zeng Guofan finally put down the brush in his hand and breathed a long sigh of relief. Then Xiang Zeng Guoquan smiled and said, "Yuanpu, come and see, how is the writing of this thief for my brother?" ”

"Asking for a thief?"

Zeng Guoquan was stunned, and hurriedly stepped forward to pick up Zeng Guofan's new work to admire. However, I saw that the dragon and phoenix were dancing on the rice paper, and the iron was painted with silver hooks, and it was really a text denouncing the crimes of the Taiping Army -- the title of the article was "Asking for the Cantonese Thief." The writing is like a knife, and he counts all kinds of crimes of the Taiping Army. righteous rhetoric vigorously instigated the hatred of the people of the world against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It's exciting to read, and the aftermath lingers, and it doesn't stop for three days. Zeng Guoquan couldn't help but applaud loudly and said, "Okay! Great article! The elder brother's literary talent has never imagined that he has advanced so far, and the younger brother admires it! ”

"Yuanpu, how did you learn to pat on the back?" Zeng Guofan smiled and accused Zeng Guoquan of over-praise, and asked: "Yuanpu, in your opinion, is there anything else that needs to be changed in this text?" ”

"No need, brother's literary talent, why do you need to change a word?" Zeng Guoquan continued to pat himself on the back, and then asked suspiciously: "But brother, we haven't trained the soldiers yet, and we haven't decided to send troops to fight against Changmao, what are you doing writing the text so early?" ”

"On a whim, my hands itched for a while, and I couldn't help but write it first." Zeng Guofan smiled and said: "Be prepared first, and when our army goes out to fight against the thief, we will immediately spread this message to the world, and call on the people in the world to work together to help our army break the long hair." ”

is also a famous general after Zeng Sheng and in the future, Zeng Guoquan is not much inferior to his brother in terms of scheming and strategy, so after listening to Zeng Guofan's words, and then pondering the taste, Zeng Guoquan quickly understood his brother's true intentions, and patted his thigh and said happily: "Brother is smart, this move is wonderful!" ”

"Where's the wonder?" Zeng Guofan asked with a smile.

"Brother, why do you have to ask your younger brother knowingly?" Zeng Guoquan laughed loudly, first looked at no one on the left and right, and then said in a low voice: "Of course, it is to seize the moral high ground, establish the position of the commander of the world of training and courage of you and our Xiangyong, brother, and also give the court and the emperor a reassurance, let them know that we are only raising troops to crusade against Changmao, and there is no second heart." ”

Zeng Guofan's smile was a little proud, Zeng Guoquan's smile was also a little treacherous, and he said in a low voice: "Since Changmao raised his army, although the capitals and counties of the Qing Dynasty basically have officials and gentry to handle regimental training and help the country fight thieves, they are all fighting on their own, with few contacts and no leaders. Brother, you are the first in the world, and the first document called on the people in the world to help you fight the thief, which is equivalent to grabbing the position of the commander of the world's group training, even if you can't command the regimental training in various places like an arm, but you also occupy the moral upper hand, whether it is the imperial court or the local regimental training, you will be recognized as the backbone of the thief, and you will be the commander of the thief, and the brother you will be of infinite benefit to the soldier in battle. ”

"Also, the more important thing is to reassure the court and the emperor about us." Zeng Guoquan said with a wicked smile: "The Manchurians are suspicious of the Han people, and never refuse to let our Han people control the heavy army, brother, you set up five thousand Lian Yong this time, and the court and the emperor will also stuff a taqibu into the sand to secretly monitor our army, if you want to expand the size of the army in the future, it will be extremely difficult." But once this document is issued, the emperor and the court will definitely think that our army is only for thieves, brother, you have no second heart for the court, even if you still refuse to rest assured, you will definitely not deliberately make things difficult and strictly limit the size of our army. Brother, did you say that the younger brother was right? ”

glanced at Zeng Guoquan. Zeng Guofan smiled and didn't answer, but asked: "I don't supervise the training in the school field." What are you doing here? ”

"I have some military affairs to report to you, brother." Zeng Guoquan first showed the official document in his hand, and said, "There are more." The messenger we went to contact Wu Chaoyue has returned. ”

Zeng Guofan nodded, and while casually flipping through the official documents brought by Zeng Guoquan, he casually ordered the messenger to come in, and then asked the messenger who had been waiting for a long time, "Have you seen Wu Daotai?" What did he have to say? ”

"Yubutang, Wu Daotai asked the villain to greet you, and said that he couldn't go to Xiangtan in person to pay a disciple salute to you because of his military and government affairs, and I hope you will forgive your sins."

The protégé's respect for himself made Zeng Guofan very satisfied, and when he asked about the price of arms. The messenger hurriedly took out Wu Chaoyue's reply and said: "Yu Butang, Wu Daotai asked the small one to bring you a reply, as well as a list of gun quotations from Western countries, Wu Daotai also said that as long as the ministry you need, he can immediately order from the foreigners for you, if the ministry is difficult to raise military expenses here for a while, within 50,000 taels of silver." He can do it for you. ”

Hearing this, not only did Zeng Guofan smile more happily and satisfied, but Zeng Guoquan couldn't help but praise: "Not bad, brother." You're a pretty good student, much better than your other protégés. ”

"Who called his grandfather a well-known rich man in Guangdong?" Zeng Guofan smiled and said, "But he can have this filial piety." It's a rare thing indeed. ”

"That's right, Ministry. The small one almost forgot a big thing. The messenger took out another scroll from his bosom and said respectfully, "Wu Daotai has published a book in Shanghai called "Seeking the Cantonese Thief." After counting all kinds of evils of long hair, he called on the people of the world to work together, and put pen to help him crusade against the long hair, and asked the small one to bring it back, please correct it, and said that if it is convenient for you, please help him spread this text in Hunan. ”

Before the messenger's words were finished, Zeng Guofan's face had already changed color, and the official document in his hand had fallen to the ground unconsciously. Zeng Guoquan's face changed even more, and he quickly stepped forward to grab the text, and after only a few glances, Zeng Guoquan was completely stunned, and muttered, "My God!" Is there such a coincidence in the world? Brother, can you believe it? Not only is the title of this essay exactly the same as yours, but even the content is not much different? ”

With trembling hands, he took the text released by the student first, and when he lowered his head to read it carefully, Zeng Guofan wiped his eyes several times to make sure that he was not mistaken, and pinched his thighs several times to confirm whether he was dreaming, and he couldn't help but whisper the essence of the sentence in his mouth, "Monarchs and ministers, father and son, up and down, respect and humility, rank like a crown cannot be inverted...... ”

"Citing thousands of years of Chinese etiquette, righteousness, and human ethics, poetry and books, once swept away. Is this only the change of my Qing Dynasty, is the strange change of the famous religion since the opening up, my Confucius and Mencius wept bitterly in the Nine Plains, all those who read and write, and Wu Ke sat with his hands in his hands, and did not think about what he ......? ”

"This Tao Tai De is thin and fresh, and the word loyalty is the foundation of the march, there is the sun and the moon, there are ghosts and gods, there is the water of the mighty Yangtze River, and there is the soul of the martyrs who were martyred in the past. It is like a law, and there is no ......! ”

Reading this, Zeng Guofan almost didn't have a mouthful of blood sprayed on Wu Chaoyue's inscription, and screamed in his heart, "Good student! Really good student! Not only did you get to the point of me, but you also moved much faster than me, the teacher! Good student, really my proud protégé, I accepted you as a student, really, really ....... ”

"It's really been eight lifetimes of blood mold!"

…………

Although I didn't want to present Wu Chaoyue's shameless "Asking for Guangdong Thieves" to Emperor Xianfeng, I couldn't help it, knowing that Wu Chaoyue still had a special channel for Emperor Xianfeng to see this text, so after receiving the copy of Wu Chaoyue's version of "Asking for Guangdong Thieves" presented by the Jiangsu local government, Mu Yin, who finally returned to the military aircraft department, obediently handed the excerpt to Emperor Xianfeng, and helped Wu Chaoyue to please Emperor Xianfeng against his will.

Originally, under the instigation and reminder of the prince of Manmeng, Emperor Xianfeng also seriously considered whether to put a few more eyeliners around Wu Chaoyue to spy secretly, but after seeing Zhao Liewen's ghostwriting to Wu Chaoyue, Emperor Xianfeng not only temporarily dispelled this idea, thinking that it was enough to continue to let the old man serve the loyal Wu Chaoyue as a supervisor, and said with a smile: "I didn't expect Wu Aiqing to think of such a point, yes, the long-haired rebellion is indeed a punishment for everyone." Wu Aiqing first established the banner of righteousness and called on the people of the world to rise up to beg for thieves, and I was very relieved. I am very relieved. ”

If it weren't for the resolute opposition of the Eight Banners Prince, and because Wu Chaoyue's official position was really small. Emperor Xianfeng almost wanted to use the imperial court to report Wu Chaoyue's civilization to the world, and help Wu Chaoyue expand his influence and increase his prestige. But even though he was resolutely stopped by the masters of the Eight Banners, Emperor Xianfeng still issued an order: "Pass on my oracle and tell Wu Aiqing that I have seen his "Asking for Cantonese Thieves" and wrote it well, so that he can do what the text says, train his elite soldiers earlier, and win the battle again." I will never be stingy with official rewards! ”

After all, Emperor Xianfeng, who felt that the verbal reward was not enough, also issued a special decree to give Wu Chaoyue the title of a third-class car captain. The prince of the Eight Banners, the monk Greenqin and the others bowed their heads in frustration, and they all scolded in their hearts, "Dog barbarian, the kung fu of patting the sycophants is really getting better and better!" ”

…………

It was completely Zhao Liewen's idea to promulgate "Seeking the Cantonese Thief" to seize the moral high ground, and Wu Chaoyue did not interfere at all, and let Zhao Liewen toss. His eyes were also on the two major events of recruit training and picric weapon development. But fortunately, there are more than 200 veterans as the backbone, and Wu Chaoyue does not need to participate in the whole process of recruit training; At the same time, with the help of Huang Sheng and Gong Zhenlin's subordinates, the development of weapons gradually got on the right track. Wu Chaoyue's concern here is how to make a breakthrough in technology.

The picric grenade is easy to solve, and the black powder in the cartridge is emptied of it. The inner wall of the cylinder was coated with a layer of paint and then a layer of paraffin wax and filled with picric acid, and the first test was successful. At the same time, it is not very difficult to produce by yourself, and it is not much of a problem to produce a small amount by yourself. The hardest ones are mortars and grenadiers. Originally, Wu Chaoyue still had a great appetite to get these two weapons out at the same time, but when it was time to really start researching and manufacturing, Wu Chaoyue found that his thinking was too simple, not to mention mortars, even the simplest grenadiers were not so easy to get out.

The barrel of the grenadier is not difficult to manufacture, Wu Chaoyue also clearly remembers that there is a metal impact rod in the barrel to fire the tail fire, the difficulty is the primer and fuse of the shell, Wu Chaoyue is racking his brains and can't think of any way to make a collision fire at the same time must ensure a safe primer, let alone create a more complex trigger fuse, the experiment of fifty or sixty methods has not been successful. In the end, when Wu Chaoyue was about to despair, Huang Shengcai found the ideal thickness of the thin copper skin wrapped in **** through repeated experimental research, and made a fire cap that not only ensured a certain sensitivity but was relatively safe, and barely achieved the first launch success.

The primer was barely solved, but Wu Chaoyue and Huang Sheng were completely useless to trigger the fuse, and Wu Chaoyue could only use the flowering shell time-delay fuse bought from the British to finally use the grenadier to shoot the first flowering shell - for safety, or deliberately reduce the amount of black powder shell.

After finally achieving this success, the first thing Wu Chaoyue did was to lie on the ground with his limbs wide open, and said to Huang Sheng and the others weakly: "The rest will be handed over to you, find a way to get the picric acid cannonball for me as soon as possible, and then figure out how to mass produce it." ”

Sympathetically glanced at Wu Chaoyue, who was completely paralyzed, Huang Sheng first agreed honestly, and then cautiously suggested to Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, why don't you ask some foreign weapons experts to help us, otherwise, I am not very sure to get the grenadiers and mortars you want." ”

"Isn't the secret of the bitter acid revealed?" Wu Chaoyue asked weakly.

"Wouldn't it be okay not to get them involved in the picric thing?" Huang Sheng asked rhetorically, and said: "As long as the foreigners get us out of the cannon body and shells, and then we quietly change the gunpowder in the shells, why do we have to do it ourselves behind closed doors?" Time-consuming, labor-intensive or slow-moving? ”

After thinking about it carefully, he felt that Huang Sheng's words made sense, Wu Chaoyue nodded, sat up again, and said: "In this way, open a bounty bonus, and let the foreign experts help us study grenadiers and mortars, you can do it, as long as it can be successful, you can spend as much money as you want." ”

Huang Sheng agreed, and immediately went to the concession to find a way to contact weapons research experts from Europe and the United States, while Wu Chaoyue sat and kicked the grenadier that had been cast with great difficulty and was absolutely not satisfied, and scolded: "Lao Tzu doesn't believe it, you can make a grenadier if you want anything during the War of Resistance Against Japan, I have a foreigner here to help, and I can't get your thing out?" ”

When he was depressed that he hadn't learned how to make weapons before, Wu Dadao, the captain of the pro-soldiers, suddenly came to Wu Chaoyue, handed Wu Chaoyue an official document, and said, "Young Master Sun, Liu Lichuan just sent someone to send it. ”

casually took the official document and opened it, only after a few glances, Wu Chaoyue's eyes widened, and blurted out: "Counterattack Zhenjiang? Liu Ayuan is crazy, just his little bit of virtue and that bit of virtue, he still dares to follow Yang Wending to counterattack Zhenjiang? ”

"Uncle Yuan wants to follow Yang Wending to counterattack Zhenjiang?" Wu Dadao was also taken aback.

Wu Chaoyue nodded, because the official document sent by Liu Lichuan did indeed say that Yang Wending had decided to launch a counterattack against Zhenjiang, and Liu Lichuan, who had already been sealed with a seven-rank top, not only did not object, but also decided to follow Yang Wending to fight Zhenjiang - so he asked Wu Chaoyue to replenish his weapons and ammunition. And after nodding, Wu Chaoyue's heart suddenly gave birth to an ominous premonition, and said secretly: "Could it be that Liu Lichuan is going to be disobedient?" The upper reaches of Shanghai are also in danger again? (To be continued.) )