The early morning sun shone on the deck of the ship, and several seabirds flew with the bow of the ship, and the bow of the ship cut open the calm sea, at this time the sea was still sparkling, and the white sails on the sea were dotted, a scene of peace and tranquility. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

There are ships sailing in this area, including Western-style sailing ships and Chinese-style sailing ships, as well as steamships from various countries, the smoke of the steamboats spews smoke, and not far away you can see small Chinese-style sailing ships rocking oars. This is how the two civilizations, the East and the West, come together, and this collision is undoubtedly the most painful, because many people simply do not know where to go. And in this impact, in this confusion, some people have become the pioneers of a new civilization, and some have chosen to be conservative?

Who is the future?

Or for most Chinese in this era, they simply don't know what the future is, but they are still adapting and adapting to the drastic changes of the times.

The people on board the Vostok, which had been away from China for more than three years, finally returned home, and as it sailed into the Lingding Ocean, the people on board looked at the waters where just a few years ago, China's navy had inflicted heavy damage on the American fleet that had flaunted its might in Asia, and it was from that day that the Governorship became a force to be looked at.

At this time, the wanderers who had returned from the voyage on this ship finally arrived at their destination, Guangzhou.

For many of them, when the boat approached the mouth of the Pearl River, when they saw the mountains and rivers of the motherland, the tears could not help but flow.

It's back!

It's finally back!

Everyone looked at the mountains and rivers of the motherland with excitement, and although they could only faintly see the land, even so, when they breathed the air, they were still born with a cordiality from the bottom of their hearts.

"Toot ......"

Suddenly, a whistle brought the excited wanderers to their senses, and they saw a gray-painted warship blowing its whistle at them, it was a naval warship.

This is a warship of the South Sea Fleet, and as soon as the officer on the warship spotted the "Vostok", he sounded his whistle and sounded the flag signal:

"Welcome students returning from studying abroad."

This was a wordless welcome, but at this moment, the "Vostok" upstream children felt the country's welcome to them. Just as the captain ordered a response with a flag, a gun salute rang out.

When the salute sounded on this calm sea, the sailors of the "Vostok" could not help but hold on to the side of the ship, and at this moment, each of them had a burst of strange emotions in their hearts, and they knew that only by working hard in the future and bringing Western science back to China would they not be insulted by such hospitality, and would not be insulted by the huge amount of money spent by the lord to send them to study in the West. In the midst of this agitation, the "Dongfang" sailed into the Pearl River.

"The Pearl River is more lively than ever!"

Luo Wei, a native of Guangzhou, looked at the foreign ships on the Pearl River and said with some excitement.

When he left Guangzhou, he had witnessed the city slowly declining, and now, the city has risen again, and they have learned a lot of domestic news when Singapore replenishes coal water!

A few months ago, the rebels had conquered Nanjing, and now the Governor has moved to Nanjing. There is also the Sichuan Governor Tou Cheng, and even Zeng Guofan, who was regarded as the mainstay by the Manchu Emperor Tongzhi, also rebelled in Nanchang. The whole of Jiangnan has completely returned to the Han Chinese.

These good news had made them excited for a long time and couldn't sleep, such a drastic change was something they had never expected, although they also looked forward to it, but no one expected that it would come so quickly, everything would come so suddenly.

But for Luo Wei, a native of Guangzhou, when he saw the foreign ships on the Pearl River, he knew that Guangzhou was alive again. "The Hanyue Railway has been built!"

And that's why they stopped at the port of Guangzhou - they would take a train from Guangzhou to Wuchang, and from Wuchang to Nanjing, which was faster than a boat.

"Look!"

Suddenly, when the ship docked in port, I followed the screams of my friends. Luo Wei looked towards the dock and saw that the dock was full of a group of officials wearing Han-style official uniforms, and the leader was an official wearing a second-grade official uniform, which must be Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Guangdong.

Watching the "Dongfang" slowly dock at the port, Zuo Zongtang nodded to the side, and the subordinates who had been prepared immediately ordered to light firecrackers, in the noisy gongs and drums, the master of the lion dance danced the lion, and for a time the atmosphere of the entire wharf seemed to be jubilant, which Zuo Zongtang specially prepared for them. He hoped that the fellow countrymen or attachés on the ship, or those students who had studied in England, France, Germany, the United States and other places for nearly four years, would feel home.

When Zuo Zongtang saw the flag fluttering on the boat, he couldn't help but be stunned when he saw the five-element flag. What's going on? As the governor of Guangdong, he naturally knows very well that now the red flag has always been hoisted in the house, how could Guo Songtao's ship raise the five-element flag?

As for Guo Songtao on the boat, he didn't know Zuo Zongtang's surprise, he also changed into a vermilion second-grade official uniform, looked at the people on the dock and listened to the noise of gongs and drums, and was even more excited to return the salute with his hands over the top, and his mouth couldn't stop muttering.

"How to deserve it! How to deserve it! ”

Until he got off the boat, Guo Songtao still couldn't stop expressing his gratitude to Zuo Zongtang, and Zuo Zongtang first comforted him with kind words, and then said to him.

"The lord specially called, and ordered his brother to greet him with a great gift, Yunxian traveled tens of thousands of miles to inspect Western countries for the country, which can be described as a high degree of hard work! Don't say that it is my brother who greets here, even if I go to the estuary by boat to greet him, it is really a proper thing, but although my brother is the governor of Guangzhou, he has no right to interfere in military affairs, and he can't go to the estuary to greet him, and please don't be surprised by Yunxian! ”

Guo Songtao met strangely, and he didn't even expect that the greeting scene would be so grand—all the officials of Guangzhou had come to the dock, and had apparently been waiting for a while.

"Brother Ji Gao is tormenting the little brother, tormenting the little brother!"

Guo Songtao hurriedly accommodated his hand, and then said in the direction of Nanjing.

"The little brother can be treated so favorably by the lord, and only the bones are broken to embrace the grace of the lord!"

The slightly chilly wind blew his hair, and when Guo Songtao was talking at this time, there were even a few tears flashing in his eyes, and his expression was even more excited.

"The lord treats me and other courtiers well, this is a matter known to the world, Yunxian, you and I get into the carriage first!"

Holding Guo Songtao closely, Zuo Zongtang said in a low voice.

"Unzen, let's talk about it in the car!"

As soon as Zuo Zongtang said this, Guo Songtao immediately understood, nodded, and then got into the carriage with Zuo Zongtang, and on the way to the train station, Zuo Zongtang said apologetically.

"Yunxian, this Guangzhou City, I'm afraid you won't be able to go this time, although my brother intends to set up a banquet in the mansion to welcome Yunxian back to the country, but the military mansion has a fate, Yunxian As soon as you arrive in Guangzhou, you must immediately go north, there must be no mistake!"

Join the Army!

Hearing that it was the order of the military government, Guo Songtao immediately looked at Zuo Zongtang with some doubts, and only heard Zuo Zongtang say.

"Although today is the twenty-first day of the lunar month, the New Year will be celebrated in a few days, Yunxian, you have not returned to your hometown for several years, but official business is urgent, you have to be wronged again, go to Nanjing first!"

For his fellow countryman, Zuo Zongtang did not explain too much, but directly conveyed the order of the military government.

"Brother Ji, why is the government urging the younger brother to return to China?"

Guo Songtao asked tentatively, while Zuo Zongtang casually took out a few newspapers from the side.

"You read the newspaper first!"

Among them, there are not only "Guangdong Times", but also "Zhujiang Daily", "Yuewen Daily" and other newspapers, these newspapers are all newspapers in Guangdong, Guo Songtao took the newspaper and looked at it, and soon understood the reason.

"Northern Expedition!"

Raising his head and looking at Zuo Zongtang beside him, Guo Songtao spit out two words.

"Ji Gao, what do you mean is that Fuzhong is determined to go on a northern expedition?"

Zuo Zongtang shook his head and said.

"It's not that Fuzhong is determined to go on the Northern Expedition, but after the self-righteous army lightly conquered Nanjing, in the past few months, the people everywhere have been moved, and the gentry and virtuous people have all invited the lord to go on the Northern Expedition to determine the Central Plains, if nothing else, after this year, the army will definitely be in the Northern Expedition!"

"Can you win?"

As soon as the words came out, Guo Songtao laughed at himself.

"Look at me, I've been out for a few years, and I can't even tell the difference!"

Since the rebels were able to take Nanjing lightly, there was naturally no problem with the Northern Expedition.

"There is no problem at all militarily, although the Manchu Qing Dynasty has also trained a foreign gun team in recent years, but it is also a practice, last month, in Handan, although the Manchu Qing foreign gun team repelled Shi Dakai's Northern Expeditionary Army, but they also suffered a lot of casualties, and now the righteous army has 300,000 troops, if the Northern Expedition is waved, there will definitely be no problem, and the current problem is not actually the problem of the Northern Expedition!"

Zuo Zongtang's few words revealed a lot of information, which made Guo Songtao a little unable to adapt for a while, Shi Dakai's Northern Expedition was blocked, and the Qing army was damaged, obviously, this is more conducive to the Northern Expedition of the Lord, but why would he say that the problem now is not the Northern Expedition.

If it wasn't for the Northern Expedition, what would be the problem?

"Please also ask Brother Ji Gao to make it clear."

Guo Songtao looked at Zuo Zongtang and asked.

Facing Guo Songtao's question, Zuo Zongtang was just silent, and after a while, he said.

"Three months ago, after the lord arrived in Nanjing, he went directly to the filial piety mausoleum, the ruin of the filial piety mausoleum, it is really distressing, the lord is the emperor Gao, it is even more painful, shouting unfilial piety......

Some words don't need to be as direct as Zuo Zongtang's words, when he euphemistically mentioned this old matter, Guo Songtao instantly understood the information revealed in his words, his eyes instantly widened, and then returned to normal, at this time, he seemed to understand why the mansion would order him back, not the order of the lord, but the order of the military mansion.

Of course, I also understood why I let myself rush to Nanjing immediately.

"So what do you mean by joining the army now?"

"It's not two of you!"

Zuo Zongtang shook his head, stared at Guo Songtao and said.

"It's everyone's meaning! Including you Guo Yunxian, understand? ”

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