The four prefectures of Changsha, Changde, Yuezhou, and Hengzhou in Hunan Province, and the four prefectures of Wuchang, Hanyang, Huangzhou, and De'an in Hubei Province were still occupied by the Qing army. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Therefore, the division of Huguang is only a paper operation, but whether it is Zhou Shixiang or Liu Tichun, they are full of confidence in the recovery of Huguang Province, after all, the main force of the Huguang Qing Army is only a third-rate green battalion strength, under the blow of the Taiping Army and the Loyal Battalion and the Shake Huang Thirteen Patriarchs for nearly a year, half of the main force of the Huguang Qing Army was annihilated, and Wuchang was even more precarious. After the ceremony of the Tang Dynasty's supervision, the Taiping army will immediately embark on a northern expedition to the southern capital, and on the Huguang side, the Loyal Battalion and the Thirteen Families of Shaohuang will also join forces to capture Wuchang. It is foreseeable that soon after, the two main battlefields of the Ming army will be near Nanjing and Wuchang.

After Huguang was divided into two provinces, Zhou Shibei made it clear in the face of Pan Yinglong, the eunuch who came to negotiate together, and Hong Yuao, a scholar from the university, that Hubei Province could be owned by the Loyal Battalion and the Thirteen Huang Families, but Hunan Province was all owned by the Taiping Army. Hubei Province can set up governors, three divisions of the yamen, the upper and lower officials appointed by the loyal battalion and the thirteen Huang family self-determination, appointed by the imperial court to be confirmed.

The price paid by Zhou Shixiang for this proposal was to hand over Baojing Prefecture, which was actually controlled by the Taiping Army, to the Loyal Battalion, and the more than 20,000 Tusi armed forces that had surrendered to the Taiping Army were also taken over by the Hubei side, and at the same time, Zhou Shixiang promised to send the Taiping Army to assist the Hubei side in attacking Wuchang, Hanyang and other places. In addition, the household department allocates 30,000 soldiers to the Hubei military salary every year. After the Loyal Battalion and the Thirteen Families of Shaohuang took over the whole province of Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places were sent by Hubei to conquer, while the Taiping Army provided a certain amount of money, food and ordnance support, and when necessary, troops could also be sent to fight jointly. At that time, it will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

These conditions are further than the previous agreement between Zhou Shixiang and the Hubei side, whether it is political or military, but also money and food, the Hubei side has been very cheap. And more than 20,000 Xiangxi Tusi armed forces that surrendered to the Taiping Army were transferred to Hubei to take over, which was the most exciting for Liu Tichun and He Zhen. The two of them knew very well that the loyal battalion had a hard time in Kuidong in the past few years, and almost half of the veterans in the battalion had lost almost half of the veterans in the two attacks on Chongqing, and before the Taiping army opened the gap in Hubei to relieve their siege, most of the armaments of each battalion were broken, and many recruits could only use a sharpened wooden stick against the enemy. Food is even more scarce, adults are hungry and hungry, children are even more skinny, and the bones are distressed and tearful when they look at each bone.

After entering Hubei, the life of the loyal battalion became better, and in just a few months, it snowballed from less than 30,000 to 120,000, and captured more than 70 prefectures and counties in five prefectures. If you really want to meet the main force of the Qing army, such as the Qing army now trapped in Yungui, the loyal battalion is still invincible. Therefore, Zhou Shixiang handed over more than 20,000 Tusi armed forces in Xiangxi to them for command, which undoubtedly made their foundation in Hubei more sufficient and their waists straighter.

At the beginning, He Zhen proposed to allocate money and grain according to 100,000 people, but Dong Changqing, who negotiated on behalf of Zhou Shixiang first, refused, and only agreed to allocate money and grain according to 15,000 people, and the gap between the two sides was too big, and in the end, Hong Yuao consulted with Zhou Shixiang and set a quota of 30,000 people. The rest of the non-commissioned officers' money and food expenses were settled by the Hubei side itself.

Many generals and staff officers in the military marshal's mansion did not agree to pay the loyal battalion any military salary, and it was decided by Zhou Shixiang against the crowd. Since the Loyal Battalion and the Thirteen Families of Shaking Huang have supported the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, then they are the troops of the Tang Dynasty, and the Taiping Army are the same Ming army under the banner of the Tang Dynasty, Zhou Shixiang and Liu Tichun, Li Laiheng, He Zhen, and Hao Shaoqi are the same palace ministers, so there is no reason for the imperial court not to pay their own troops. If it is still the same as Yongli in the past, not a single copper plate is given to the loyal battalion, then why does Zhou Shixiang need the loyal battalion to respond to the support of the Tang Dynasty, and it is not better to let them fend for themselves.

Paying military salaries was the best way for the Tang regime to show its attitude towards the anti-Qing forces such as the Loyal Battalion, or the attitude of Zhou Shixiang. Only after the military salary was paid, the anti-Qing forces such as the loyal battalion could truly have a sense of belonging to the Tang regime, instead of wandering away and still seeing themselves as the remnants of the Shun army. More importantly, although he could not actually control the loyal battalion, through the means of issuing military salaries, Zhou Shixiang could also indirectly exert a certain influence on the various departments of the loyal battalion. Zhou Shixiang was not sure how much influence this would have, but at least, it would make these people in the Loyalty Camp have no ill feelings towards him. The name of the military salary was issued by the imperial court, but who built the imperial court, and who took out the military salary, there are no fools in the loyalty camp.

Guangdong's economy is very difficult, but no matter how difficult it is, Zhou Shixiang will not be like He Tengjiao and Yongli in the past, who only regarded the loyalty camp as a tool that could be used, and used it as a cow and horse, and threw it aside without asking. No matter what, these men who have insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty to the end are worthy of respect and support from Zhou Shixiang. Moreover, he was about to lead the Northern Expeditionary Army to attack Jiangxi, and after the split of Huguang, he also needed the loyal battalion to play a greater role. Even if they were only active in Hubei Province, they could always contain some of the energy of the Qing court, so that Shunzhi had no way to deal with the Taiping army.

The salaries of the 30,000 soldiers set for the Hubei side were paid according to the standard of Zhou Shixiang's Taiping Army. As for how to solve Guangdong's financial pressure after these 30,000 mouths, Zhou Shixiang put the solution on the people of Annan. Calculate the time, Zhao Ziqiang's side should also have sent news.

Zhou Shixiang is benevolent and righteous, Liu Tichun and He Zhen can't say anything, and if they make any requests, they will feel that it is too much. Then Wang Guangxing was active from it, and the agreement was finally written but not reported to Tang Wang. After all, this matter was handled by Zhou Shixiang and Liu Tichun, and the official positions, land, money and grain involved had nothing to do with His Royal Highness the Tang Dynasty, even if Zhou Shixiang wanted to report the agreement to the Tang King, Liu Tichun and they would not like to.

Guo Zhiqi has no objection to the terms of cooperation between the loyal camp and Zhou Shixiang, and he has no accusations, he is loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but he is more sensible and knows the overall situation. He can help the Tang Dynasty preside over the cabinet, stabilize the government, establish the authority of the Tang Dynasty, and weaken the influence of the Zhou Shi relative to the imperial court, but he will never stumble on the Zhou Shi behind his back, let alone cause any trouble when the Taiping Army is about to go on the Northern Expedition. The lessons of the Hongguang Four Dynasties are in the eyes of the forty-six-year-old scholar. A lesson from the past, Ann dares to commit again.

Even the second assistant of Chengbi didn't know that the loyal battalion was negotiating with Zhou Shixiang, but even if he knew, he was powerless to stop this.

Under the chairmanship of Guo Zhiqi, Song Xianggong and others, the cabinet passed Zhou Shixiang's proposal to split Huguang Province into Hunan and Hubei provinces. Guo Zhiqi, who was also in charge of the ministry, asked the Tang Dynasty to appoint Yuan Zongdi as the governor of Hubei and Zhao Sihai as the governor of Hunan. (To be continued.) )