In order to force the Ci'an Cixi political group to surrender and prevent them from falling to the side of Tsarist Russia, Yan Jingming suggested that some articles should be made in Huairou, and he also specifically named Zeng Guoquan's name, of course, he wanted to let the Northeast Banner people know the Wu Army's leniency policy by treating the Beijing Banner people well, and lure the Northeast Banner people to surrender to the Wu Army with confidence and boldness. And although Wu Chaoyue has almost no good impression of the people of the Beijing Banner, the thought of not being able to settle the old debts of the Eight Banners and having to treat them well is as disgusting as eating a fly, but for the sake of the overall situation, Wu Chaoyue still pinched his nose and accepted Yan Jingming's suggestion, and handed over the task of contacting the six groups of Ci'an Cixi devils to Zeng Guoquan, and clearly explained that Zeng Guoquan did the thing of buying the hearts of the people of the Beijing Banner, and lured the Northeast Banner people to surrender on their own initiative.

Wu Chaoyue just felt disgusted in the Hubei provincial capital, but he didn't know that after the envoy he explained was sent to the capital, Zeng Guoquan, who had been canonized as the acting governor of Zhili, was completely dumbfounded, and wailed in great pain: "King Zhennan, niece and son-in-law, aren't you embarrassing me?" Tell me to be kind to the people of the capital banner, how can I be kind? In the current situation in the capital, how can I treat the Eight Banners Manchurian well? ”

This time I really can't blame Zeng Guoquan for being incompetent, I can only blame Wu Chaoyue for not understanding the truth and blindly commanding and ordering, in fact, since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the grain in the Jinggi area of Zhili has been unable to be self-sufficient, and the entire capital is purely dependent on the grain from the south. However, after the Wu army captured the capital, under the dual constraints of the Taiping army's blockade of the Yangtze River channel and the Qing army's control of Tianjin's sea route, it was inevitable that there would be a food shortage in Beijing, and the price of grain soared rapidly.

At the same time, in order to appease the people and buy the hearts of the people, the Wu army implemented the policy of cash-for-work, encouraging the people to participate in production and construction in exchange for food to make ends meet. However......

However, the Eight Banners Manchurian people who have been parasitic on the Han people for more than 200 years have fallen into bad luck, and they are used to eating hardcore crops, one by one they have no strength, they have no craftsmanship, and there is no land to cultivate, and they want to find their own way to support their families purely daydreaming, and the bad thing is that because the war has not been settled, and the foreigners have not yet lived in large numbers in the capital, the Eight Banners Manchu people imagine that it is difficult to sell antiques after the Xinhai Revolution in history, and it is easy for the Hunan army bandits to exchange a pound of grain noodles for an antique. There are no low-skilled positions such as rickshaw drivers and patrol officers that can be laid off and re-employed. Therefore, even if Wu Jun opened two warehouses to release grain in order to stabilize the situation in the capital, he could not prevent these Manchurian masters from freezing to death and starving to death one after another. On the overpass, the teahouse is full of people from the Eight Banners who sing and talk about cross talk, and the inner city is full of secret prostitutes, and the price of a steamed bun sleeping on a flag man's aunt and grandmother is commonplace. ——Li Chendian, the famous demon in the Hunan army, also broke the record he created in history, and easily created a new record of more than a dozen maids in one day.

In addition, because they really couldn't find anything to eat, the Eight Banners Manchurians in the capital also launched several riots, but although they were easily suppressed by the Wu army every time, they still treated the symptoms but not the root cause, and could not change the situation of the Eight Banners Manchurians who were hungry and cold.

Therefore, Wu Chaoyue actually asked Zeng Guoquan to implement good governance, bribing the hearts of the people in the capital, Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji, who had not much food in their hands, of course, could only be big eyes to small eyes, sad faces to bitter faces, and they couldn't think of any other way to implement good governance, appease these banner people in the capital, and encourage the Eight Banners in the northeast to surrender to the Wu army.

There is no way, the order comes from Wu Chaoyue, Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji and others have no choice but to think of a way, and as a last resort, Zeng Guoquan can only hold a meeting in the Nanfu Yamen of the Wu Army Headquarters in the capital to discuss how to implement Wu Chaoyue's order. The result was not what Zeng Guoquan expected, he had just informed Wu Chaoyue's decision in public, and Wu Junzhong immediately complained bitterly and complained.

"How else are we going to treat these Eight Banners Masters?" The little pervert Li Chendian was the first to complain, and said in a complaining tone: "We have already opened the warehouse twice to release grain, but these Eight Banner Masters can't do anything except eat, drink and have fun, and the disaster relief food they are given to them, they still have the ability to exchange it for tea and drink, and feed the starlings for bird food, and the mud can't support the wall, how else can we save it?" You can't starve us to death, and take all the military rations to feed these Eight Banner Masters, right? ”

"These Eight Banners disciples are white-eyed wolves who can't be fed, and they can't fill the bottomless pit of dissatisfaction." Zhu Hongzhang, who had a relatively mild temper, also got a little angry, and said angrily: "Obviously gave them the opportunity to work to earn money, but one by one they were either dirty or tired, and they would rather go to the door of the second meat restaurant and wait to collect mixed vegetables (leftovers from the swill bucket) than work hard to make money." For such people, don't say that we can't save them, even if there is a way to save them, we can't save them, we can only let them fend for themselves, so as not to waste food by living in the world! ”

Zeng Guoquan's two cronies took the lead, and the other Hunan generals naturally rushed to respond, feeling that the Eight Banners in the capital were already hopeless, and it was the best choice to let them fend for themselves. The generals of Jiang Zhongji's army stationed in Nancheng also echoed one after another, and they all angrily scolded the people of the Eight Banners for being lazy and incompetent, lazy and lazy, but they could not be saved. Zeng Guoquan had a sad face, waved his hand to interrupt everyone and said, "Okay, I know better than you about these situations you said. But there is no way, the king of Zhennan is now trying to recruit the banner people in the northeast, and we can't watch these waste straw bales starve to death, which completely chills the hearts of the people in the northeast, so we have to come up with a way to make the people in the northeast feel that surrendering us is their best choice. ”

"Jiu Shuai, what should I do then?" Jiang Zhongji asked quietly: "You can't open the warehouse for the third time to release grain, right?" There is not much food in the capital, and before we take Tianjin to dredge the sea, we must leave food as a precaution. ”

"If I had a way, I wouldn't have consulted with you." Zeng Guoquan groaned in pain, and with the last ray of hope, he turned to Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, who had not spoken, and asked: "Shaoquan, Xiaoda, you are our brains, is there any way?" ”

Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong did not rush to answer Zeng Guoquan's question, but first discussed in a low voice for a long time, and then Li Hongzhang came forward and said: "Jiu Shuai, I discussed it with Xiaoda, and agreed that we must have some more blood and open a warehouse to put some grain. ”

Before Li Hongzhang finished speaking, there were already boos in the venue, and Li Chendian also took the lead in firing again, roaring: "Do you want to open the warehouse for the third time to release grain?" Isn't summer coming, it's time for those Eight Banners masters to eat boiled meat, give them grain to go to the casserole house to exchange for pork belly to eat?! ”

"Xiangyun, you have to listen to Shaoquan finish speaking." Zhang Zhidong opened his mouth and said: "Brother Shaoquan and I discussed it like this, we can open a warehouse for the third time to release grain, but these Eight Banners Manchurian people can get grain, there must be a prerequisite, the person who receives the grain must leave the capital!" ”

"The premise of receiving food is that you have to leave the capital?" Li Chendian listened to it for a while, and hurriedly asked, "Then let them go there?" ”

"Go to Tianjin to find the puppet Prince Gong Yixun, or go to the Northeast to defect to the rebel party and puppet court, if you like to go there and there, we won't stop you." Zhang Zhidong replied lightly.

"Let them go to Tianjin? Go to the border outside the border to join the rebel party and puppet court? Li Chendian almost suspected that he had heard it wrong, and said in surprise: "Isn't this sending soldiers to the rebellious party?" What if these bannermen are full of people and come to fight us as soldiers for the rebels? ”

Zhang Zhidong laughed when he heard this, Li Hongzhang was also dumbfounded, and Zeng Guoquan roared angrily: "Little bastard, shut up for me!" Is it a good thing or a bad thing for us that these Eight Banners waste go to serve as soldiers for the rebellious party? Don't understand this? ”

After thinking about it carefully, he found out what kind of performance these Eight Banner Masters who were not diligent and indistinguishable from all four parts would be on the battlefield, Li Chendian quickly slapped himself lightly, and said with an embarrassed smile: "It's not for the nine marshals to remind me, I almost forgot that on the battlefield, there will only be more such people in the chaotic army, the better." ”

"Shut your mouth, listen carefully, and listen to Shaoquan and Xiaoda finish talking before talking." Zeng Guoquan scolded again, and then turned to Zhang and Li and said, "Xiaoda, Shaoquan, speak slowly, and carefully explain your plans." ”

Li Hongzhang agreed, sorted out his thoughts a little, and then said: "Jiu Shuai, our plan is like this. First of all, we first issued a notice to the people, clearly telling the people of the Eight Banners in the capital, saying that we understand their situation and can't bear to watch them starve to death, but now the inland river is not passable, Tianjin has not yet been taken, and the sea route cannot transport grain, and we do not have much grain in our hands, so we really can't help them. Therefore, we can only send them disaster relief food for the last time, let them take the disaster relief food to find their own way of survival, let them go to Tianjin at will to join the pseudo-Gong prince Yixun, or go to relatives and friends outside the customs, and wait for us to lay down Tianjin, dredge the sea transportation, solve the problem of the granary in the capital, and then welcome them back to the capital to make a living. ”

"In addition, in order to let these Eight Banners people leave the capital with peace of mind, we will continue to recognize the title deeds in their hands, and no matter when they come back in the future, they can live back in their original houses. It will never prevent them from selling the land of the house for the road fee, buying and selling freely, and they can keep the house if they want to, and they can sell it directly if they don't want to keep it. ”

Speaking of this, Li Hongzhang paused for a moment, and then said: "Xiaoda and I estimate that because of the serious food shortage in the capital now, and the hostile attitude of the Eight Banners Manchu towards us, there will be many Eight Banners Manchu people who are willing to choose to leave." And whether these people go to Tianjin or go directly to the Northeast, they will definitely find out immediately that we are actually better to them than their own people. Because whether it is the puppet Prince Gong in Tianjin, or the rebellious party court in Shengjing, they will definitely not be able to take out food and silver to continue to support these Eight Banner Lords, but they may only make a fuss about them. ”

"At that time, these Eight Banners will not only become our mouthpiece for nothing, but also help us desperately encourage the chaotic parties in Tianjin and Northeast China to surrender." Zhang Zhidong smiled and added for Li Hongzhang: "Maybe he will lend a helping hand when we attack the city and help us take Tianjin City and break through Shanhaiguan." ”

"Brilliant plan!" Zeng Guoquan slapped the table and said with great joy: "Good idea! In this way, we can not only reduce the burden of money and food, clear the hidden dangers in the rear, but also buy the hearts of the people, let them know that we are the real good people, and the Shengjing Chaos Party is the son of the turtle and the bastard! ”

"It's better to be blocked." Li Hongzhang smiled and said: "Instead of leaving these Eight Banners Manchurians in the capital to waste food and cause hidden dangers, it is better to guide them to join the Shengjing Rebellion and let them scourge Tianjin and Northeast China." ”

"That's it!" Zeng Guoquan clapped the board again and shouted: "Immediately issue a notice, as long as it is full of people from the Eight Banners, those who are willing to leave the capital can receive a liter of food, their houses in the capital can be sold if they like to sell, if they are not sold, we will watch for them, and when we have laid down Tianjin and dredged the sea, they can come back at any time to continue to make a living in the capital!" ”

"Jiu Shuai, a liter of grain weighs only three catties, and he has already starved to death before he walks outside the customs with this bit of food." Zhang Zhidong said with a wry smile: "Although those Eight Banner Masters are lazy to eat, they are still quite good at settling accounts. ”

"That's ......." Hunan's number one iron rooster Zeng Guoquan was like a knife, and he said after a while: "The man will take four buckets, and the women and the elderly and children will take three buckets." ”

Zhang Zhidong nodded, Zeng Guoquan pressed his chest with an expression, and secretly comforted himself: "Long pain is better than short pain, let's invite these Eight Banner Masters out first." ”

After comforting himself, Zeng Guoquan was also inspired again, and hurriedly added: "By the way, remember to add such a clause to the notice, saying that we heard that the Shengjing Rebellion Party has begun to continue to distribute hardcore crops to the Eight Banners Manchurians, and encourage them to go to the Chaos Party to continue to receive ironcore crops!" ”

In this way, under the operation of Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong and other civilian officials, Wu Jun's notice of peace and security was soon pasted all over the city of Beijing, and the result immediately caused a huge sensation in the city. It not only gives himself the hope of being fed and clothed, but also leaves himself a way to retreat, which can be attacked and defended, and he will not suffer any loss.

And then, among the two bad seeds of Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, in the case that they really couldn't find any means of making a living, they coveted the relocation grain given by Wu Jun, and fantasized that they could continue to receive hardcore crops, coupled with the hostile attitude towards Wu Jun from the heart, there were really tens of thousands of Manchurians who chose to take the grain and leave, many of them sold their houses in the capital to pay for the journey, and many people chose to leave with the deed of ownership, and there were many smart people who chose to bet at both ends, and half of the family stayed at home to watch the house. The other half went out of the city with the relief food given by Wu Jun to join the Manchu court, leaving himself a safer way out.

It's easy to say, but it's very difficult to do, because there are too many links involved, not only to notarize the authenticity of the house title deed, but also to prevent these clever Eight Banners uncles from defrauding the disaster relief food and then quietly coming back, Wu Jun spent a lot of manpower and energy to ensure that the implementation of this good governance is in place, plus there are some things in Zhangjiakou, a military stronghold, and even Zeng Guoquan is so busy that his feet don't touch the ground, and he can't rest at ease for several days.

In the end, on the tenth day after the implementation of good governance, Zeng Guoquan, who had basically straightened out these affairs, had to go to bed with peace of mind, and then when Zeng Guoquan was just asleep, his own soldiers suddenly woke him up, and Zeng Guoquan, who had just closed his eyes for a long time, was furious and roared: "What's the matter? The sky is falling, can you give me a rest? ”

"Jiu Shuai forgives his sins, it's Lord Zhang Zhidong who is here." The soldier honestly pleaded guilty: "You said before that as long as Master Zhang comes, no matter when, you must be woken up immediately." Lord Zhang said that it was an urgent matter, so the little one was offended. ”

After recalling it carefully, he found that it was such an order, Zeng Guoquan had no choice but to suppress his anger, get up and meet his current most trusted accomplice Zhang Zhidong, but as soon as the summoning order was issued, Zhang Zhidong immediately rushed in with a gust of wind, and said happily: "Jiu Shuai, Daxi, we let go of those Eight Banners Manchu to send representatives, wanting to act as an internal response in Tianjin City and help us take Tianjin." ”

"What?" Zeng Guoquan almost suspected that he had heard it wrong, and asked in surprise, "Really?" It's only been the tenth day, and you're already seeing results? ”