October of the second year of Tongzhi (1857). Undoubtedly the most sensational January of the year. This month, Wang Chi successfully sold matches in accordance with Li Zhen's deployment. Especially during the ten days of receiving the wine, there was a long queue outside Wang Chi's shop every day, and the scene was extremely hot, becoming the biggest highlight of Nanjing City.

Because of this big stroke, the people in the streets and alleys of Nanjing City discussed the matter of matches and Wang Chi, so that Wang Chi became a star in Nanjing City. In addition, the news that Wang Chi worshiped Li Zhen as his teacher also spread, causing an endless stream of people visiting Wang Chi and becoming a hot figure.

In October, Li Zhen's army also expanded again, from two armies to three armies, and had three large armies. Among them, Huang Shihai's First Army had five divisions, each with 10,000 people, and there were as many as 50,000 people. The remaining two armies will also be trained according to the establishment of five divisions, and when the Second Army and the Third Army are formed, there will be 150,000 men.

In the study, Zheng Zaoru was reporting the situation.

Zheng Zaoru said humbly: "Lord Wang, the Governor of Guangzhou has sent news that the arsenal has built a new warship according to the ships of the foreigners, please take the time to review it." ”

"Oh, there's news."

Li Zhen's heart moved, and a bright smile appeared on his face.

Unexpectedly, the arsenal has this ability.

Li Zhen said: "I will arrange a time to go to Guangzhou. However, you first send a letter to Dai Yuanhua in Guangzhou, asking him to test the waters of the new warship. It is necessary to make sure that nothing goes wrong, the battleship is sailing on the sea, and there can be no mistakes. ”

"Understood!"

Zheng Zaoru nodded in response and kept the matter in mind.

Li Zhen changed his words and asked again: "How are Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan's army trained?" Previously, the Hunan army under Zeng Guofan's command had been merged into Li Zhen's command, and all of them had been reorganized.

In this way, the army can be integrated more quickly.

Zheng Zaoru immediately replied: "Back to the prince, the two armies of Commander Zuo and Commander Zeng have begun to operate normally, and the soldiers are training in full swing every day, and they are extremely diligent. In particular, after seeing the situation of the soldiers of the First Army, Commander Zuo's army and Commander Zeng's army both saw their own gap and tried to keep up with the First Army. ”

"It's good to have a competition!"

With a smile on his face, Li Zhen ordered: "Invite Huang Shihai over!" ”

"Yes!"

Zheng Zaoru nodded and got up to inform.

After a short time, Huang Shihai came to the study and saluted: "Handsome! ”

Li Zhen said in a deep voice: "In the past, in the camp in Jiangbei, I once asked you to recruit people who can speak well to form a team dedicated to ideological work. Caught in the army, how is this team going? ”

When Huang Shihai heard this, his expression darkened.

Since Zheng Zaoru persuaded the surrendered Taiping Army with a group of people, this team has not been used much.

Li Zhen's expression was serious, and he said in a deep voice: "Ideological education must be done and cannot be delayed, this is the top priority. We gave the soldiers enough money and good meat and food to serve, but we needed more spiritual things to support them. Money and food can only meet temporary needs, and only the spiritual imprint is indelible, so it is imperative to do a good job in ideological education if they want to truly recognize our army. ”

"Yes, I'll do it right away!" Huang Shihai replied with his head down.

Li Zhen sighed and said, "Don't do things like an abacus bead, just move it, it's unacceptable." Shihai, you are now the commander of the First Army, a person in a high position, no longer a small battalion commander or a small regiment commander, you don't need to do everything in detail, this is not what you should do. ”

After a pause, Li Zhen continued: "As a leader, you must learn to assign tasks, divide everything, and assign it to someone. Now, you have to find the person who is responsible for doing the ideological work for the soldiers, but you have to determine how many times a month you will carry out ideological education and how to determine the specific plan.

"Only by doing this will you be able to secure the position of commander."

"If you interfere in everything, you will be exhausted to death sooner or later."

Li Zhen said earnestly: "From now on, you have to learn to divide what you need to do and determine the head." You just sit on it and watch the people below run and that's enough. ”

"Understood!"

Huang Shihai lowered his head and sighed in his heart.

He was just a martial artist, and he followed Li Zhenhou from a small regiment commander, to a brigade commander, and finally became a military commander. When he was the regiment commander, Huang Shihai could control the situation, and when he was the brigade commander, he was barely competent. But after becoming the commander, the army was already stronger than ever, and there were so many people that he began to be powerless.

Li Zhen looked at Huang Shihai's expression in his eyes and said: "Shihai, there is no end to learning, as long as you are willing to learn, there is nothing you can't do." Lu Meng of the Three Kingdoms was just a big old man at the beginning, but he was willing to learn and could calm down and study, so that he could achieve future achievements. Now you are also facing such a difficulty, but as long as you are willing to learn, you will definitely be able to overcome it. ”

"Yes! I will definitely strengthen my studies. ”

Huang Shihai also encouraged himself, thinking that he couldn't be looked down upon.

Li Zhen waved his hand and said: "Starting from the First Army, the soldiers of the Second Army and the Third Army must carry out ideological education. It can't be a hasty end once or twice, it has to be arranged every month. ”

After a pause, Li Zhen shouted: "Zheng Zaoru! ”

Immediately, Zheng Zaoru walked in from outside the study.

Li Zhen instructed: "When you are in charge of my side affairs, you must also be responsible for the ideological education of the soldiers in the army. It's up to you to take care of it, and it's all arranged. ”

"Yes!"

Zheng Zaoru nodded and left with Huang Shihai. After the two left, they began to educate all the soldiers of the army ideologically, so that the soldiers recognized the army and could be loyal to Li Zhen. In a month, after a period of ideological education, all the soldiers under Li Zhen's command had a unified thinking, and the soldiers recognized the army even more.

At the same time, in the past month and a half, Li Zhen has frequently taken action to control Fujian, Hubei, Hunan and other places. Among them, the governors of Yunnan and Guizhou, Liangguang, Huguang, Liangjiang, and Fujian and Zhejiang all expressed their submission to the imperial court controlled by Li Zhen. In this way, Li Zhen controlled the territory to the south and southeast, and occupied the area south of the Yangtze River.

On November 16, Li Zhen began to plan a counterattack in the north.

The south is set, and he will definitely take the north. Li Zhen was dealing with military affairs in the study, when there was a knock on the door outside the study. Immediately, Zheng Zaoru's voice came: "Lord Wang, there is an urgent report!" ”

"Come in!" Li Zhen said.

"Crunch!!"

The voice came, and Zheng Zaoru walked in.

Li Zhendao: "What's the matter?" ”

Zheng Zaoru said: "The envoy of the Japanese State arrived in Nanjing and submitted his credentials to meet the prince. ”

"Wa Kingdom?" Li Zhen raised his eyebrows, and there was a look of surprise in his eyes. Isn't the country of Wa just a small day-ben in the southeast? What happened when this little day-Ben came to China to meet him?

PS: The second update, a new volume opens! Thank you for your support.