Li Hongzhang expected, early the next morning, Zeng Guofan really sent to Li Wenan to discuss the matter of the joint army, Li Wenan deliberately relieved a little according to the instructions of his baby son, saying that he wanted to settle the scale of the army first, and then said, Mr. Zeng really drilled when he saw the cracks, and immediately pulled Li Wenan to run to Wu Chaoyue, and took it upon himself to ask Li Wenan to expand the training of the Shizi battalion into four battalions, and asked Wu Chaoyue to agree in the face of his elders and brothers. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Believing that his friendship with Li Hongzhang is eternal, Wu Chaoyue certainly never believes that Li Wenan will really be willing to join forces with Zeng Guofan to form an army, and knowing that it is inconvenient for Li Wenan to answer this question directly, Wu Chaoyue simply asked Zeng Guofan directly: "Teacher, Uncle Li, has he really decided to join forces with you?" ”

"Of course." Zeng Guofan, who was anxious to rebuild the Hunan army, did not blush and his heart did not beat, and said to Li Wen'an: "If you don't believe it, you ask your Uncle Li." ”

Wu Chaoyue turned his suspicious gaze to Li Wenan, Li Wenan hesitated awkwardly, and then nodded as if he was very reluctant, and said, "Yes, that's the case." ”

Zeng Guofan, who had succeeded in his wish, smiled proudly, while Wu Chaoyue only felt a little regretful, but he did not feel sorry -- it is true that Li Wenan brought more than 800 military experience to Anhui regimental training, but to be honest, Wu Chaoyue did not look down on this bit of strength at all, and in Li Wenan's regimental training, what Wu Chaoyue really wanted was Li Hongzhang alone. In addition, Wu Chaoyue also knew that it was a bit difficult for Li Wen'an to pull down his nephew to be a cow and a horse, so Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, immediately nodded and said: "Okay, since you mean the same thing, uncle, of course the little nephew fully supports it." Okay, four battalions are four battalions, uncle, you can immediately start recruiting soldiers, money, food, salaries, weapons and equipment, the little nephew is here to find a way for you, and it won't make you embarrassed. ”

Li Wenan, who has never met before, is so bold and generous, and his personality is far less than that of his baby son, Li Wenan, of course, is both moved and ashamed, and he can't find anything to say except to thank him repeatedly. Wu Chaoyue didn't even say it was necessary, and said: "Uncle, if you need anything to expand the army, just ask Shaoquan to come to me to discuss." But you have to hurry up, the little nephew will go north to Xiangyang in a few days to suppress the twister, and he won't be able to stay in Tianjia Town for a few days. ”

Li Wen'an thanked him again and again, and then said goodbye to Zeng Guofan and left, but Zeng Guofan naturally immediately instigated Li Wen'an to ask Wu Chaoyue for a firing needle gun and a picric acid weapon, and couldn't wait to go beyond the bounds to plan various specific matters for Li Wen'an's expansion of the Shizi battalion, and tried his best to persuade Li Wen'an to join forces with him to ask Wu Chaoyue to set up a card in Tianjia Town, establish a shipyard, and allow the Xianghuai coalition army to get their hands on the Daye iron mine.

Wu Chaoyue really didn't mind that Li Wen'an ran to join forces with Zeng Guofan, but Li Hongzhang had to dig it up anyway, so when Li Hongzhang came to Wu Chaoyue with the specific expansion plan of the Shizi camp to ask for money and food, Wu Chaoyue also directly showdown with Li Hongzhang and said: "Shaoquan, about your father's army expansion, except for the screeching pin gun and the new gunpowder weapon, I really can't do anything, I can agree to anything else." But there is one condition, you have to go with me, go to the provincial capital to help me, don't worry, how I treat Huifu, I will treat you in the future. ”

Wu Chaoyue's request was also expected by Li Hongzhang, so after sighing, Li Hongzhang also had a showdown with Wu Chaoyue, left the table and knelt down on one knee to Wu Chaoyue, clasped his hands into fists and said sincerely: "Comfort Ting, you look up to me so much, and treat me and my father well, foolish brother, I am grateful and moved from the bottom of my heart." But Weiting, please think about it for me, as a son of man, is there a reason for letting my father charge forward and lie in the provincial city to enjoy peace? ”

"Also, you saw it with your own eyes, my father's health is not good." Li Hongzhang said more sincerely: "But my eldest brother Li Hanzhang is serving as a county magistrate in Shanhua, Hunan, the third brother is disabled and his eyes are close to blindness, and the fourth brother also went to Shanhua with his brother, in fact, there is only one son by my father's side, in this case, how can you tell me to leave my father and go back to the provincial capital with you?" ”

has almost taken out his heart, liver and spleen to Li Hongzhang, but it still got Li Hongzhang's polite refusal, Wu Chaoyue's disappointment and loss in his heart can be imagined, but no matter how disappointed he is, what is the use? Li Wen'an, who is over half a hundred years old, is indeed in poor health, and he doesn't even dare to drink too much, the eldest of the three adult sons is working as a magistrate in Hunan, and the third Li Yunzhang is disabled and almost blind, what else can Wu Chaoyue do to force Li Hongzhang to give up filial piety and serve in his own shogunate?

Forced to be helpless, Wu Chaoyue could only sigh and said: "Shaoquan, you get up, what kind of friendship do I have with you, and I need to make such a big gift?" Don't worry, I won't force you, and I will definitely do what I promised you. ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue's disappointment came from the bottom of his heart, Li Hongzhang also felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, so he said again: "Weiting, don't worry, your deep kindness and kindness, the foolish brother must remember it in his heart, but if he has the opportunity, he will repay it with all his might." ”

"Do you still need to talk this nonsense between me and you?" Wu Chaoyue smiled bitterly, and also said: "Shaoquan, you remember, my door is always open to you, no matter when you want to come, I will definitely welcome you!" ”

Li Hongzhang arched his hand, but no longer mentioned this matter with Wu Chaoyue, but only begged Wu Chaoyue to approve the army expansion plan agreed upon after consultation with Li Wen'an, Wu Chaoyue basically approved all of them, but there were not many firing pin guns, only 100 were given to Li Hongzhang, and 5,000 shots of pin gun bullets and some grenadiers, grenades and other picric acid weapons, as well as 30 light and heavy front-loading guns produced by Daye. Although Li Hongzhang's request was not fully satisfied, he was also ashamed and did not dare to be too forceful, and the once close confidants and brothers scattered with their own disappointments.

After sending Li Hongzhang away, Wu Chaoyue, who was extremely disappointed, did not speak, lying on the handsome chair and looking at the top of the tent in a daze, Zhao Liewen next to him saw Wu Chaoyue's thoughts, and said: "Weiting, do you know the real reason why Li Shaoquan is reluctant to follow you?" In my opinion, it's not because you're not good enough for him, or because he doesn't want to be subordinate. ”

"What's the reason for that?" Wu Chaoyue asked weakly.

"It's because you're not strong enough!" Zhao Liewen pointed out sharply: "Your teacher can make the generals of the Hunan army obey him with sincerity and convincing because his age, qualifications, and knowledge can overwhelm these people. Your brother made excuses to decline your invitation because your age, qualifications, and knowledge could not convince him. These happen to be your biggest weaknesses, and the only way to make up for them is to become strong as soon as possible, so strong that they must look up to them, so that they can be willing to use them for you! ”

Wu Chaoyue didn't speak, knowing in his heart that Zhao Liewen's words made sense, but he didn't know what to do? Wu Chaoyue can't desperately expand the army, or desperately rush to Anhui or Jiangxi with the Hubei New Army to find the Taiping Army, right? Not to mention the Taiping Army, in fact, even the Twist Army on the northern front of Hubei, Wu Chaoyue was not very willing to weaken them too much, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty deserved to die for nothing.

Wu Chaoyue didn't speak, but Zhao Liewen continued to talk to himself, and said: "Fortunately, you are still young, and you have time to wait for a better opportunity." I also dare to assert that even if your teacher can make a comeback this time, it will never be possible to regain the glory of the original, let alone fight the Xiangtan War or the beautiful battle of recovering Wuchang, but it is very likely that he will be completely crushed by Long Hair, and it will be difficult to get ahead. You are the only person that the court can rely on in the end. ”

"How so?" Wu Chaoyue finally got a little interested.

"It's very simple, your teacher has no foundation for a re-emergence." Zhao Liewen said: "The reason why your teacher was able to respond to every call and quickly establish a Hunan army that looks at the world is because of his prestige in Hunan and the support of the township party, as well as the money, food, and military salary provided to him by Luo Bingzhang regardless of personal gains and losses. ”

"And now? After several big defeats in Jiangxi, your teacher's prestige has already been lost, his hardcore township party has been killed and wounded, the rich and financial resources have been exhausted, the capable ones have died in battle, and the clan children have been killed and wounded, what else can your teacher get from them? There is also Luo Bingzhang, without Zuo Zongtang to advise him and raise money and food, what will he do to support the Hunan army like before? Your teacher has thousands of old pawns, no money, no food, and no strong support, how many storms can you afford to turn over? ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Liewen paused, then lowered his voice and said: "Weiting, on the surface, your teacher is now better than you in terms of momentum, prestige and qualifications, but these things are all false, and strength is real." Seize the opportunity to continue to strengthen yourself, and when your teacher defeats Maicheng again, you can take the opportunity to stand up and become the mainstay of the imperial court on the battlefield of counterinsurgency, and show your life's ambitions! ”

The history is sparse, I don't know that Mr. Zeng's logistics foundation has long been dug up by himself, poor Mr. Zeng is already a paper tiger weaker than himself, but after listening to Zhao Liewen's opinion and prediction, Wu Chaoyue still cheered up again, sat up straight and nodded and said: "It makes sense!" Let my teachers be more beautiful, and I will swallow my anger for a while and wait for better opportunities. I don't believe in this evil, my teacher really has three heads and six arms, no money, no food, military salaries and baggage all rely on me and Luo Bingzhang to give alms, he can continue to make a comeback, and then build miraculous feats, and always trample me under my feet! ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue couldn't help but snort and said, "At that time, I also want to see if the civil and military generals of the Hunan Army can still follow my teacher without regrets?" Will you find every excuse to refuse my kind solicitation?! ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue had regained his strength, Zhao Liewen, who was somewhat jealous of Wu Chaoyue's unusually important attention to Li Hongzhang, also took the opportunity to slander and suggested: "Weiting, since you have made up your mind to compete with your teacher, then you had better take precautions and make some preparations in advance to indirectly control the development trend of the Hunan army, and it is also convenient for you to take over the essence of the Hunan army left by your teacher in the future." ”

"How do I prepare?" Wu Chaoyue asked.

"Mix some sand, and also appropriately separate the internal cohesion of the Hunan army." Zhao Liewen lowered his voice and said in a low voice: "I suggest that you might as well put your wife and grandfather Yang Lao directly into the decision-making level of the Hunan army in the name of supervising the supply of money and grain to the Hunan army in the name of supervising the affairs of Hubei's money and grain supply to the Hunan army, to help you grasp the specific situation of the Hunan army, and also to help you establish direct contact with the grassroots generals of the Hunan army, secretly monitor your teacher, and also indirectly restrain part of your teacher's military operations, so as not to completely lose control of your teacher and give birth to other branches." ”

One of the reasons why Wu Chaoyue asked Yang Wending, who had re-emerged from the mountain, to be responsible for receiving the Hunan army that had fled back to Hubei, was to let Yang Wending keep an eye on the Hunan army for himself, so as not to cause misconduct in Hubei like before. Then Wu Chaoyue asked again: "Then how to properly separate the Hunan army?" I can't focus too much on the traces in this matter, otherwise, the teacher will definitely hate me even more, and the generals of the Hunan army will also see it. ”

Zhao Liewen is inferior to Li Hongzhang in terms of talent and specific ability to do things, but he is by no means inferior to Li Hongzhang in engaging in conspiracy and trickery, and immediately replied: "It is easy to divide without a trace, and now there is a good opportunity." Li Yuandu used Hu Linyi's signboard to buy Fu Aji to frame me, in fact, fools can see that the biggest suspect is your teacher, Hu Linyi is a smart person, and he won't fail to see this, but he can't prove his innocence because there is no evidence. We only need to do one thing, so that Hu Linyi and your teacher feel that this case is likely to be thoroughly investigated, so it is difficult for Hu Linyi to think about each other for the sake of his innocence and your teacher for self-preservation. ”

"How?" Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked.

"Simple." Zhao Liewen immediately replied: "Li Yuandu bribed Fu Aji with two thousand taels of silver for the silver ticket, and asked Fu Aji to take the silver ticket to the Rishengchang ticket number in Hubei Province to withdraw the cash, and the Fu Aji entourage who took the silver can be remembered and testified by the shopkeeper of the Rishengchang ticket number, so of course the person who deposited the silver may also be recognized by the shopkeeper to testify." If you can find out the person who deposited the silver and ask for a confession, and find out who deposited the ticket number of the two thousand taels of stolen silver, of course, you can return Hu Linyi's innocence immediately. ”

"In that case, then you only need to find Hu Linyi and tell him, and say that after our interrogation, the shopkeeper and the guy who handled the stolen silver will confess, not only remember that the person who deposited the silver has a Hunan accent, but also remember the appearance of that person. Then tell Hu Linyi that if he wants, we can secretly escort the shopkeeper to Tianjia Town to look for a witness who has deposited money, and if we find a witness, we can prove Hu Linyi's innocence, and I am not afraid that Hu Linyi will not be tempted. ”

"Then, as long as Hu Linyi agrees, we will immediately let your teacher know about it. In this way, it will be difficult for your teacher and Hu Linyi not to happen. ”

Wu Chaoyue pondered and remained silent, and said after a long time: "Han, Hu Linyi is a person who understands the overall situation, and for the sake of the internal unity of the Hunan army, he may not agree to do this." ”

"Then let Hu Linyi carry the black cauldron properly." Zhao Liewen didn't think about it and said: "Lord Jing Shoujing came to Hubei this time to investigate this case, if he can't find out the culprit behind the scenes, he can't go back to the capital to make a business, Hu Linyi is willing to sacrifice himself for the unity of the Hunan army, we will fulfill him, and instigate Jing Shou to let Hu Linyi properly carry the black pot." Demotion and punishment will be humiliated, and when Hu Linyi will be wronged and aggrieved, the Hunan army's civil and military rabbits who know the inside story will be sad, your teacher will be ashamed of Hu Linyi, and no one in the Hunan army will be happy! ”

After thinking about it for a long time, Wu Chaoyue nodded and said, "It's a good idea, just do it." However, I don't think Hu Linyi will agree to investigate to the end, for the sake of the overall situation, he is likely to choose to give up and continue to investigate, this time he will suffer a little bit It should be certain. ”

"Hu Zhensheng is talented, and his age is more than twice as old as yours, if you don't let him suffer a little hardship and humiliation, how can he be willing to use it for you?" Zhao Liewen asked with a smile.

Wu Chaoyue smiled and nodded, admitting that Zhao Liewen guessed his mind and agreed with Zhao Liewen's opinion, and Zhao Liewen continued to slander: "And your senior brother Li Hongzhang, in order to quickly rebuild the Hunan army, your teacher did not hesitate to take advantage of the close friendship between you and him, at this point, you can also make a fuss." ”

"Of course you can do it, but you can't rush it, it's too much of a trace to do it now." Wu Chaoyue finally showed a smile, and said with a smile: "I'm not sure about separating others, I have a way to separate my senior brother and my teacher-just exchange it for a second-hand steam paddle steamer gunboat from a foreigner, I guarantee that my senior brother and my teacher can beat people's brains out of pig brains!" ”

Zhao Liewen applauded and laughed, and at that moment Wu Chaoyue immediately acted according to the plan, first sent someone to invite Hu Linyi to his account, falsely claiming that the person handling the stolen silver still remembered the accent of the depositor, and proposed to secretly escort the person to Tianjia Town, secretly find the depositor, track down the real culprit behind the scenes, and help Hu Linyi clear up his grievances.

As Wu Chaoyue expected, Hu Linyi, who knew the overall situation, after thinking about it repeatedly, really declined Wu Chaoyue's kindness, and told Wu Chaoyue very sincerely, saying that he would write a letter of introduction to Fu Aji for Li Yuandu without asking what was going on. Wu Chaoyue secretly admired Hu Linyi's morality, and also made a great guarantee that he would say more good things for Hu Linyi in front of Jingshou and help Hu Linyi reduce the punishment, Hu Linyi was moved by gratitude from the bottom of his heart, and Wu Chaoyue sighed and said goodbye.

The next thing was very simple, in addition to secretly begging Jing Shou to properly let Hu Linyi order the black pot on his back and not to die directly, Wu Chaoyue forcibly inserted Yang Wending into the decision-making level of the Hunan army under the pretext of supervising the money, food, and military salaries supplied by Hubei to the Hunan army. Although Zeng Guofan was unhappy about this, he was soft and short-handed, so he could only pinch his nose and admit it in order to disobey his protégé's money, food, and military salary, and was forced to agree to let Yang Wending serve as the Hunan Army Grain Station to manage money and grain.

Next, Wu Chaoyue, of course, unceremoniously adjusted the deployment of Hubei troops again, in the name of returning to the division to pacify the twisted army and resting, all the last four battalions of the Hubei New Army stationed in Tianjia Town were transferred, and only Wang Guocai led the Hubei Green Battalion to help the Hunan army defend Tianjia Town, and at the same time secretly instructed Wang Guocai to only allow Tianjia Town to defend Tianjia Town and not to go out of the province to fight. Zeng Guofan, who was forced to show the door to his disobedient protégé, was even more angry, but there was still no way to do it.

Three days later, he said goodbye to his mentor and senior brother and others, and took the four battalions of the Hubei Xiang Army, which had been stationed in Tianjia Town for a long time, and Wu Chaoyue set off to return to the provincial capital. When passing through Daye on the way, Wu Chaoyue naturally had no choice but to leave the ship and go ashore, so he went to the Daye Iron Works and Daye Gun and Artillery Bureau, which he founded with his own hands, to inspect it, and personally urged Rong Hong and others to speed up and increase production, and quickly increase production to get rid of dependence on overseas.

Wu Chaoyue does have an innate advantage in industry, and the people of Guangdong and Shanghai, who can receive advanced scientific and technological education from the West, are either Wu Chaoyue's hometown or Wu Chaoyue's basic plate, and the scientific and technological talents who want to make a little difference in this area are also willing to work in Daye Industrial Base, which has laid a certain foundation. Coupled with Daye's abundant coal and iron resources, Daye's iron works and arsenals have developed rapidly, and the steel output has been enough to meet Wu Chaoyue's military needs, and wrought iron has begun to be sold to other provinces to earn silver, and at the same time, the monthly output of firing pin guns has also reached 100 figures, and the monthly output of bullets can produce more than 8,000 rounds per month.

What worries Wu Chaoyue is the production of picric acid and the production of nitroglycerin, as well as the development and research of ****, among which picric acid is better, the West already has mature production technology, as long as you buy production equipment and find enough raw material sources, you can quickly expand production. However, the safe production of nitroglycerin and the development of **** made Wu Chaoyue very troubled - even if Daye Arsenal had secretly developed diatomaceous earth safety explosives in front of Nobel, it was useless, there was no small **** detonation, and the output could not go up, no matter how advanced the technology in the laboratory was, what role could it play on the battlefield?

"Is it trying to find a way to get the Nobel Prize to China?"

When Wu Chaoyue had this idea in his heart, Rong Hong on the other side seized the opportunity and suddenly whispered to Wu Chaoyue: "Wu Futai, an old friend of yours came to Daye a few days ago and wants to meet you, I don't know if you agree?" ”

"That old friend of mine?" Wu Chaoyue asked suspiciously.

"The surname is Shui." Rong Hong replied in a low voice: "He said that there is something very important to discuss with you. (To be continued.) )