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Located at the intersection of rivers and lakes, Yuezhou City can be seen everywhere on the head of the city, including artillery weighing more than 1,000 catties. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoTo a certain extent, this city is equivalent to the gateway to Hunan, and it is precisely because of this that tens of thousands of Xiangyong will gather here.

However, in the past few days, compared with the past, this Yuezhou city does not seem to be as heavily guarded, and the reason is simple - Han rebel's eyes have moved northward, and he will soon march north with the Cantonese bandits, although this is not a good thing for the imperial court, but for the Xiangyong in this Yuezhou city, it makes them breathe a sigh of relief, at least they don't have to worry about Han rebel going down the river to the city at any time.

However, not everyone's mind will be as slack as soldiers, at least for Zeng Guofan, the minister of regimental training, he is heavy at this time, first the news of Hu Linyi's defeat made him worry about the safety of his friends, and now the news of the "Northern Expedition of Guangdong and Han" makes him worry about the future of the imperial court.

As the minister of regimental training, he naturally knows that now the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Cantonese bandits is invincible all the way, and its troops are almost unstoppable.

Could it be that the Qi of the Great Qing Kingdom is really going to run out?

On this day, as usual, after inspecting the city defenses in the city, when he was about to go down to the city, he only heard Luo Zenan say to Zeng Guofan.

"My lord, there is Yueyang Tower in front, you can go up and eat something! You haven't had a good meal these days. ”

This Yueyang Tower is a scene on the city of Yuezhou, I don't know how many literati and ink writers have attracted for hundreds of years, even though this Yuezhou is on guard at this time, but the restaurant on the Yueyang Tower has not been closed because of this, but it is still open, but most of the people who come here to dine are the officials of the Hunan army and the staff in the scene.

Zeng Guofan didn't make a sound, just nodded slightly. It's not easy for him to live these things, and it can even be said that he has been in a trance and struggle, and he doesn't know how to deal with it. It's almost to the point where I don't want to eat.

This will be Luo Zenan said this, he really felt a little hungry, so he raised his legs and walked towards Yueyang Tower. After approaching Yueyang Tower, his mood began to calm down slightly. But when he looked up at the Yueyang Tower in front of him, which was known as the "World Tower", he couldn't help frowning again.

He is no stranger to Yueyang Tower, and can even be said to be extremely familiar with it, whether it is out of Hunan or returning to his hometown, he will always travel here like a literati in Hunan Province. When he first went out of Hunan Province, he went to the capital to take the examination in the eighteenth year of Daoguang. At that time, he was only 27 years old, and he came to this Yueyang Tower with his friends who went to the examination at the same time, and this Yueyang Tower was so majestic and magnificent, and the spirit was extraordinary! Climb the stairs to visit, the wine hall is hung high is Fan Zhongyan's recitation of the eternal "Yueyang Lou Ji", downstairs is the smoke of the vast 800 miles of Dongting.

At that time, Zeng Guofan, who had great ambitions, repeatedly recited in his heart the epigram of "the worries of the world first, and the joy of the world after the world", which can be described as full of pride, and even secretly vowed that if he could be in high school, he would definitely take Fan Wenzhenggong as an example and do a great cause that will go down in history!

Later, he entered the Hanlin Academy and was a protégé of Mu Zhang, the Minister of Military Aircraft. Retired cabinet bachelors, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Soldiers, Workers, Criminals, and Officials, and now he is also the Minister of Hunan League Training, but has he really achieved "the worries of the world first, and the joy of the world after the world"?

Look at the Yueyang Tower in front of you with peeling paint, grass at the corners of the eaves, bleak, and there are not necessarily the people and visitors in the past, and there is no such prosperous scene as in the past. Zeng Guofan couldn't help but sigh. He thought to himself, maybe this is the ruin of repeated fires!

At this time, he even forgot that a few months ago, when he returned to his hometown, when he passed through Yueyang Tower, this place was so dilapidated.

After entering Yueyang Tower, Zeng Guofan went straight to the second floor, picked a clean seat near the lake and sat down, and Luo Zenan sat opposite. The shopkeeper accompanied him with a smile on his face, and asked politely while wiping the table.

"Master Zeng, what kind of dishes do you order?"

Without waiting for Zeng Guofan to answer, the shopkeeper continued.

"Today, Lord Zeng and Lord Luo are blessed, Xiaolou has a few new golden turtles from Junshan today, if you don't give one to the adult......"

The shopkeeper tried his best to please him, for fear that one would be careless, if he annoyed this Zeng Lord, then his head would be separated from his body, and the golden turtle of Junshan refers to the king who weighed more than one and a half catties and was golden, which could not be saved in the past, and often this side and there would be people to point away, but now, this business is not as good as before. It happened to be used by him to discuss this meeting, Lord Zeng.

When the shopkeeper was about to introduce the dishes, Luo Zenan noticed the solemn expression of the adult, so he waved his hand impatiently.

"Shopkeeper, what are you chewing on your tongue! Then the golden turtle came up, burned another carp, cut a plate of beef, fried a plate of dried tofu, and then served a pot of daughter red, and that's it. ”

"Okay!" The shopkeeper said yes in a loud voice, and went downstairs in a hurry.

While waiting for the food to be served, Zeng Guofan took a sip of tea, although it was not as good as the high-grade hair tip bought by Jingshi, but it also made people's hearts and spleens refreshed, this is the new tea of this year. He picked up his teacup and looked out the window at the lake.

The sun shines on Dongting Lake, shining with golden light. In the distance, patches of white sails are cruising. At the pole, there was a faint black shadow. Zeng Guofan knew that it was Junshan. Nearby, wooden rafts are moored along the shore of the lake. Most of this timber comes from the mountainous area of southern Hunan and drifts along the Xiangjiang River after being tied into rows, crossing Dongting Lake, entering the Yangtze River, and then drifting far away in Wuchang, Jiangning and other places. The person who puts the row is called the row guest. The paimen float on the water all year round and make their homes on the pao. The rows were made of cedar bark to make small sheds, and the families lived in them.

"These individual pai customers now often float the wooden rafts to Wuchang, sell the timber in Wuchang, and then buy salt goods in Wuchang and traffic them back to our Hunan Province......"

As if sighing, Zeng Guofan said something that everyone knows.

"Wuchang thieves and Jiangning Yue bandits, without the slightest foresight, in such a situation, actually build such a large number of buildings, how can such a rat and wood inch light make adults worry like this?"

Luo Zenan spoke on the side and was relieved. As for his persuasion, Zeng Guofan shook his head.

"Jiangning Yue bandits built for the palace, and Wuchang built for the people's houses and workshops, the two are not the same, I sigh that the price of salt in Hunan Province today is rare, and the people have been eating for a long time. Some people reported that the thief went against the city to find the salt mine, today Hubei no longer has the worry of light food, for a long time, I am afraid that the wealth of Hunan Province will be the Wuchang thief rebel income, so that the other rises, is it a long-term solution? ”

As the minister of regimental training, Zeng Guofan is not like many military attachés with a narrow vision, Hunan Province uses salt thanks to Huai salt, now the salt road is cut off, the price of salt is rising, but the people rely on Wuchang to sell private salt, the high price of salt has already made the people of Xing Province bitter, how can he not worry, and he is more worried is that after the silver money flows into Wuchang, it will be conducive to thieves.

But although he knew that this silver money flowed into the hands of thieves, he couldn't do anything, firstly, because of the cut off of this Huai salt, and secondly, because this Sichuan salt was difficult to enter, so he could only watch Wuchang Han reverse exchange salt goods for Hunan silver coins to rise in the trend of thieves.

"The eyes of adults are beyond the reach of below!"

Luo Zenan hurriedly complimented, but he changed his words slightly and said softly.

"When the Sichuan salt arrives, I think the situation will improve!"

"The situation ......"

With a long sigh, Zeng Guofan looked at the long row on the lake, and couldn't help but think of the current situation again, is this situation really getting better one day?

If the Cantonese bandits of the Northern Expedition broke through the capital, what would happen to the Great Qing Kingdom? Naturally, Zeng Guofan thought of Li Zicheng in the history books, and when he thought of Chongzhen, he shook his head, and his understanding of the emperor made him very clear that it was impossible to be like Chongzhen, I am afraid that the emperor would come to "hunt in the north" at that time!

But at that time, what will happen to this Great Qing Kingdom?

Thinking like this in my heart, I saw that the wind suddenly rose on the calm Dongting Lake, and on the previous sunny day, it would be full of dark clouds rolling in the sky, as if it was going to rain. The surface of the lake, which was as calm as a mirror just a moment ago, suddenly rolled in waves. The wind is blowing stronger and stronger, the waves are rolling higher and higher, and the wooden rafts on the lake are rising and falling with the waves, and several wooden rafts not far from the shore are quickly approaching the lake. Heavy rain poured down, the rain was fierce and the wind was fierce, and the docile Dongting Lake suddenly turned into a raging dragon.

Looking at the sudden wind and rain, Zeng Guofan sat upstairs and felt cold all over. He was a little worried, would this thousand-year-old building be crushed by this storm?

But what he is more worried about is the country of the Great Qing Kingdom, whether the Great Qing Kingdom can withstand this storm? If he can't withstand this storm, then as a courtier of the Great Qing Kingdom, what should he do?

"My lord, the dish is here!"

At this moment, the guy brought up the four dishes with a plate, and put the fragrant and spicy dishes on the table, although the dishes on the table were fragrant, but Zeng Guofan did not have the slightest taste, just drank the wine and ate the vegetarian dishes in a boring manner, and he ate very boring with a heavy heart.

Looking at the golden turtle in the urn on the table, his brows furrowed suddenly, doesn't this urn of golden turtle correspond to his current situation?

"The turtle in the urn!"

Am you like a turtle in this urn, and you can't see any hope?

While he was thinking wildly, he was a little distraught when he saw a black strange-looking, turtle-like boat with black smoke emitting black smoke from the chimney on the surface of the lake about a hundred feet away from the shore, and it was slowly driving from the intersection of rivers and lakes in the middle of the wind and waves.

"That's ......"

Just in surprise, he noticed the red flag at the stern of the ship, and Zeng Guofan's face changed suddenly.

"Bad ......"

Before the words fell, a cloud of white smoke erupted from the "waist" of the strange ship shaped like a turtle...... (To be continued.) )