Nanchang City on the third day of the Lunar New Year still seems a little deserted, although it is deserted, but on the street you can still see Xiang Yong patrolling with a knife, saying that it is Xiang Yong, but in fact it is now "Gan Yong", after all, Hunan has long been controlled by the righteous army, even if the governor of Jiangxi, Zeng Guofan, is a native of Hunan, there will not be many ordinary Hunan people who will not be far away to say that they came here to join the army. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Ordinary Hunan people will not come, but there are many Hunan scholars who come here to defect to Zeng Guofan, after all, there are a lot of regimental exercises in the Qing Dynasty, and there are only a handful of people who may run regimental exercises like Zeng Guofan. There are constantly scholars from Hunan who come to defect, and some of his former students will also come to defect, and Li Hongzhang, who lives in Luzhou, is one of them.

"It's not enough to rely on famous teachings!"

After dinner, Li Hongzhang talked with his eldest brother Li Hanzhang as in the past, and the reason why he came to join Zeng Guofan was because he was good at organizing group training and wanted to learn the method of founding group training with him. In case he can re-organize the group exercise on another day.

"Indeed!"

Li Hanzhang nodded.

"Zhu Yifeng of Wuchang does not rely on famous teachings, the strength of the Han army today depends on its foreign affairs in Huguang and Guangdong, foreign affairs are strong, and its soldiers are naturally strong, and the foreign guns and fast cannons used by the Han thieves can be described as innumerable, which not only have no worries for their own use, but can also be sold to bandits."

Hearing the eldest brother mention the foreign guns that sent the bandits, Li Hongzhang's brows furrowed, and he immediately thought that Yu was defeated by foreign guns in his hometown. However, most of the foreign guns were purchased from Wuchang.

"The guns are already so sharp! Isn't that thief's firearm sharper? ”

He has always been quite curious about the "Han thief" Li Hongzhang, who occupies the three provinces and drives tens of millions of people, after all, his mentor was defeated by the Han thief.

"The strength of the thief does not depend entirely on firearms."

Li Hanzhang put down the teacup in his hand and said slowly.

"When the world looks at it, like a bandit, just a little more than a month, swept the whole province of Hubei, and then swept Hunan, everyone only thought that "its prosperity is also vigorous and its death is also sudden", but then he is step by step, operating the three provinces, intending to take the three provinces as his day to seize the foundation of the world, if it is replaced by ordinary people, its soldiers are strong today, how can they be willing to be under the bandits, but they are still willing to be under the bandits, and their thoughts can be seen in general."

"Big brother, could it be that in your opinion, he Zhu thief has the potential to take over the world?"

Faced with Li Hongzhang's question, Li Hanzhang did not answer directly, but said.

"If tens of thousands of Han troops are marching east to the north, who in the world can stop them today?"

The eldest brother's question made Li Hongzhang's mind sink, it is true, who can stop Han Rebellion at that time?

He didn't know what the foreign spear team was training on the side of the imperial court, but the teacher's side was only barely able to maintain it in the face of the bandits, and if it was attacked by Han thieves, how could he resist it.

"It's a pity that there are too few foreign guns on the teacher's side, if you can practice a foreign gun team like the imperial court, even if the Han thieves call, you can also tear it up!"

After this sigh, Li Hongzhang looked at his eldest brother and said.

"It seems that this foreign affairs must be done!"

Only when you do foreign affairs can you have foreign guns, otherwise, how can you rely on those bird guns and earth cannons to be the opponents of foreign guns and foreign guns?

"The question is whether Lord Zeng is willing to do it......"

The eldest brother's words made Li Hongzhang's mind unbounded, whether this is done or not is not up to him. At this moment, Zeng Guofan sent his own soldiers to pass on Li Hongzhang and order him to the mansion. Li Hongzhang hurried to the governor's yamen.

Under the lamp, Zeng Guofan spread the map of Jiangxi Province on the table, pointed to the Jiangkou and said:

"I've been thinking about it for several days, with the topography of the estuary, as long as we can build a fort at the mouth of the river, even if the long hair has the ability to reach the sky, I'm afraid it will be difficult to threaten my Jiangxi? Gradually, what do you think, tell me about it. ”

Li Hongzhang leaned over to the table and looked at the map, and said categorically.

"Teacher, this is probably the provincial map drawn by the household department during the Kangxi period of my dynasty, right?"

Zeng Guofan replied:

"Gradually, (1) is confused. In addition to the map drawn once during the Kangxi period, I have drawn a provincial map twice? Aren't all provinces using these old maps now? ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said:

"The teacher is right, since the Holy Grandfather, the household department has indeed not drawn a provincial map. But there are too many mistakes in this picture, and sometimes there are mistakes based on this picture. I heard that since the commander of the army, he has won many battles with Changmao in Huguang, but after leaving the country, there have been victories and defeats. The protégé boldly thought that the teacher could win many battles in Huguang, all because of the familiarity of the terrain. ”

Zeng Guofan nodded in approval and sighed:

"In the past two years, I have fought fiercely with bandits, and there have been victories and defeats, probably because I made a mistake on this map. When I was on an errand in the military department, I went to the court and asked for permission to draw a new map, and the court agreed, but soon the hair grew up, and the court no longer had time to care about this matter. Cough! ”

Zeng Guofan suddenly changed his words and asked:

"Gradually, in your opinion, what are the shortcomings of my Hunan army battalion?"

Li Hongzhang thought for a while and replied:

"If you return to your teacher, the Hunan army has both land and water, strong people and horses, and diligent training, and the protégé really can't see any shortcomings."

Zeng Guofan saw Li Hongzhang talking, and couldn't help but smile bitterly:

"Gradually, I can't see that you have been trained for a long time and have become cautious. Say whatever you see, don't hide it, you are not used to it. ”

Zeng Guofan's instructions made Li Hongzhang blush:

"The teacher taught me well, but the protégé didn't want to speak, but he was afraid that he would say it incorrectly and make you angry."

Zeng Guofan, who has always been interested in cultivating Li Hongzhang, said with a smile.

"Say, I like to hear you tell the truth."

Li Hongzhang hurriedly replied respectfully:

"The teacher is graceful, and the protégé boldly thinks that the use of soldiers is not expensive, and the weapons are not expensive. For example, the Han thieves of Wuchang, at the beginning of their army, there were no more than 1,000 soldiers, all of whom were armed with foreign exercises and guns, and swept all over the country in a few years. Its soldiers are less than 200,000 so far, but let me ask the world, who can be the enemy? On the other hand, what is the use of long-haired bandits, who are prone to hundreds of thousands? He attacked Jiangxi with an army of 300,000 and failed for two years, which was not only due to the merits of his mentor, but also because his soldiers were not proficient. ”

Zeng Guofan was stunned when he heard this, Li Hongzhang hurriedly stopped talking when he saw this, he immediately realized that he had lost his words, this is not a disguised way to say that he is not as good as Zhu Zhihan thief.

At this time, Zeng Guofan's attack case praised:

"Gradually, you're on the point! Our Hunan army Gan Yong now seems to be a strong soldier, but there are tens of thousands of troops in the air, and the lack of foreign guns and cannons in his hands is a major weakness! You go on! ”

Seeing that the teacher was not angry, Li Hongzhang hurriedly said:

"The protégé has been thinking, if I have tens of thousands of Hunan troops, each of whom can have a foreign gun, whether it is long hair or a thief, how can I crisscross several provinces?"

If Li Hongzhang has learned anything in the past year or so, I am afraid that he has learned that he must have foreign guns and foreign artillery on the battlefield, and if there are no foreign guns and foreign artillery, no matter how many soldiers he has, it will be in vain.

Looking at Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan nodded in agreement:

"Well said! But foreign guns need to be equipped with foreign bullets in order to play an effective role, how difficult! You may not know that there are more than 50 battalions of our Hunan army, and all of them are in arrears. Your eldest brother, the Prime Minister's Reimbursement Bureau, has a sad face every day. Brave and easy to practice, it is difficult to get paid. Gradually, you have also held a group exercise, you should know the taste of it! ”

After Zeng Guofan finished speaking, he sighed again. After the guest army came to Jiangxi, Zeng Guofan was worried about the salary, at that time he only thought that the governor of Jiangxi was secretly involved, but after he became the governor of Jiangxi, he found that the food and salary were really difficult to pay. In order to raise food and salaries, he had already set up a bureau to levy money, but despite this, the use was still insufficient.

"Besides, since you have raised the money, where did you buy foreign guns?"

Zeng Guofan looked a little helpless.

"Although the Little Knife Club in Shanghai has been suppressed by the official army, but the bandits control Jiangsu and Anhui, and the Yangtze River is controlled by them, even if I want to buy foreign guns, where can I buy them?"

Seeing his mentor mention Anhui, Li Hongzhang's mind sank, since last year, long hair has swept through Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, and even learned from the Han thief to appoint magistrates, levy grain and grass to solve their needs, and it is precisely because of this that he had to go to Jiangxi to defect to Zeng Guofan after the defeat.

Looking at the thoughtful Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan continued.

"Even Zhu Wei of Wuchang, the reason why he has not broken with Changmao so far, I am afraid that he has this concern, I am afraid that he will cut off the Yangtze River! Long hair can let go of the ship of Zhu Rebellion, how can it let go of the ship of the government? This foreign gun......"

Shaking his head, Zeng Guofan sighed again.

"It's not that I don't want to, but I can't!"

"In fact, you don't have to get Shanghai to buy foreign guns!"

Seeing that the master looked sighing, Li Hongzhang suddenly spoke.

"In the student's opinion, if it can, it should be set up to set up a factory to manufacture foreign guns and cannons, if it can't be set up a factory, it can also be purchased, and now the way to purchase is cut off by Changmao, and it is impossible to set up a factory, so there is only another way......

"Going off the beaten track?"

Zeng Guofan looked at Li Hongzhang in surprise, as if he didn't understand his thoughts.

"Gradually, what do you have to do?"

"I can't talk about good policies, from the perspective of students, since we can buy salt from Wuchang, why can't we buy foreign guns and cannons from it!"

Buy foreign guns and cannons from Wuchang!

Zeng Guofan was taken aback by Li Hongzhang's suggestion, and buying salt from Wuchang was just a private salt dealer, because Jiangxi did not produce salt, and under the cut off of Huai salt, he had to buy salt from the surrounding areas.

"How could he possibly sell us foreign guns and cannons?"

Facing the surprise of the master, Li Hongzhang hurriedly said.

"How could it not be? We're blocking the long hair for him! If there was no teacher in Jiangxi, I am afraid he would have turned his face with Changmao a long time ago. ”

When he returned to his residence that night, Li Hongzhang couldn't sleep for a long time. He can be said to know the master very well, Zeng Guo's domain is so deep that he can't guess what he is thinking.

Li Hongzhang thought to himself that he had made it clear to him, what other concerns did Zeng Guofan have?

(1) Gradually, Li Hongzhang is the word, and Shaoquan is its number.

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