On June 24, the third year of Xianfeng, the ministers of the Three Roads met in Anqing to discuss the plan for attacking Jinling.

Li Weiguo met Xiang Rong for the first time, because Li Weiguo put Xiang Rong together when he was in Anqing before, which caused Xiang Rong to be very faceless, and now that the two meet, Xiang Rong naturally will not give Li Weiguo a good face.

But Li Weiguo is not afraid, he is also a minister all the way now, and he doesn't need to look at Xiang Rong's face anymore.

Qishan is a peacemaker, Xiang Rong is a student of Qishan, and it was Qishan who single-handedly lifted him up. And Li Weiguo gave the credit for Jiujiang's main attack to Qishan, and also got the favor of Qishan, so Qishan was sandwiched in the middle, and the three of them were suddenly in a delicate balance.

After discussion, Xiang Rong led the army to set up a Jiangnan camp in Xiaoling to prevent the Taiping army from moving south; Qishan set up a Jiangbei camp in Yangzhou to prevent the Taiping army from advancing north into the Central Plains, while Li Weiguo set up a Jiangdong camp in Xiaomaoshan, Zhenjiang Prefecture, to prevent the Taiping army from advancing eastward, in fact, to protect his old nest Su Songtai.

In this way, on the surface, the three of them went their separate ways and reached an agreement for the time being.

In fact, Qishan is a veteran of the road, and he sits in the Jiangbei camp in Yangzhou, with a Yangtze River in the middle, which is convenient for defense.

Because Li Weiguo knew the history of the development of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he had a foresight and knew that the Taiping Army would not advance eastward in a short time, and Li Weiguo secretly hooked up with the Taiping Army, and the Taiping Army would not easily send troops to Li Weiguo, so he chose to guard Jiangdong in the town, and he was also at ease for the time being.

At the same time, Li Weiguo chose to set up the Jiangdong camp in Zhenjiang, which was also out of the intention of expanding the territory. After all, he now controls the entire Su Songtai two prefectures and one state, next to Su Songtai are Changzhou Mansion and Zhenjiang Mansion, Li Weiguo pressed the battalion in Zhenjiang Mansion, which is equivalent to military control of Zhenjiang Mansion, and Changzhou Mansion is sandwiched between Zhenjiang Mansion and Su Songtai, that is, it is in the bag.

In this way, Li Weiguo's territory expanded from the nominal two prefectures and one prefecture of Susong Taichang to four prefectures and one prefecture of Susong Taichang Town, and the land of Jiangdong was in his hands.

Only Xiang Rong is the stupidest, he was born as a military general, and he has no foresight, he chose to set up a Jiangnan camp in Xiaolingwei, which is too close to Tianjing, the capital of the Taiping Army, and it is at the door of people's homes, and anyone will kill Xiang Rong first.

Li Weiguo knew that the Taiping Army would soon go on a northern expedition and a westward expedition, and then it would take about two large camps in Jiangnan and Jiangbei to be uprooted, although there was now more Li Weiguo than in history, but Li Weiguo believed that the Taiping Army would not easily attack the Jiangdong camp unless necessary, and even if it was attacked, it would be after the Jiangnan camp and the Jiangbei camp were removed, which would take about two or three years, so Li Weiguo was not in a hurry and shifted his energy to running his own territory.

Li Weiguo then prepared to return to Shanghai, leaving only 1,000 defenders in the Jiangdong camp, relying on the terrain of Xiaomao Mountain, building fortifications, three lines of defense, echelon configuration, in fact, just to show people, they received Li Weiguo's secret order, if the Taiping army came to attack, they just had to withdraw to Zhenjiang Prefecture Dantu (Zhenjiang City).

In addition, Li Weiguo deployed 5,000 troops in the Zhenjiang Prefecture Prefecture Dantu, and the three counties of Jintan, Danyang, and Liyang each deployed 1,000 soldiers and horses, and their main task was to maintain law and order in the counties of Zhenjiang Prefecture, collect taxes, and at the same time strengthen the city defense, build forts and fortifications, and only resist the attack of the Taiping army, and did not have the task of counterattacking. In addition, Zhenjiang Prefecture deployed a thousand naval troops along the river, responsible for patrolling along the river, blocking the waterway, preventing the Taiping army from raiding Su Songtai along the river, and threatening the rear of the Li family's army.

The remaining 20,000 soldiers and horses, Li Weiguo directly brought back to Shanghai, after all, the army consumes a huge amount of money and grain abroad, which is a huge expense, since it is impossible for the Taiping army to advance eastward in a short period of time, there is no need to spend that unjust money.

Li Weiguo took his daughter-in-law Fu Shanxiang back to Shanghai County to visit his parents, at this time Li Weiguo's parents had already moved from Jinling to Shanghai County, and temporarily lived in the back house of Su Songtaibing's Provincial Mansion.

Li's father and Li mother were naturally very happy to see Fu Shanxiang come back safe and sound, and Li's mother Yang even pulled Fu Shanxiang to whisper, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law inevitably talked about sexual affairs and childbirth, Fu Shanxiang and Li Weiguo's round house naturally could not be hidden from Yang, Yang was very happy, and had to urge Li Weiguo and Fu Shanxiang to spend money for the Li family as soon as possible.

This is human nature, and Li Weiguo is also looking forward to it.

However, there is still a cold war between Li Weiguo and Li's father, previously because Li Weiguo and Shen Ziyan went to Shen's house to meet Shen Wansan and was bombed out by Shen Wansan, and later because the Taiping Army was close to Jinling, Li's father still guarded the ancestral house and refused to move, as a result, Li Weiguo had no choice but to use force and send someone to forcibly bring his father to Shanghai.

In this regard, Li Weiguo was also helpless, so he could only take his time.

Fu Shanxiang's return made the Li family have a young lady, so naturally they had to have a lively celebration.

It's just that Li Weiguo has more important things to do, and it has been a few months since he left Shanghai, and Wu Yong is in charge of all the affairs of Su Songtai's yamen, waiting to report to him; Fu Xuexian brought back more than 400 ships of gold, silver, treasures and various materials from Jinling, all waiting for Li Weiguo to make arrangements; Li Jiajun returned from a great victory, and the issue of rewards and pensions must be signed by Li Weiguo himself before they can be implemented; When the shareholders of the AIIB Board of Directors heard that the Taiping Army had captured Jinling, they were so frightened that they wanted to evacuate Shanghai, and they also waited for Li Weiguo to appease them; The progress of various projects in the Jiangwan Town Industrial Zone is also what Li Weiguo wants to know the most.

There are so many things waiting for Li Weiguo to deal with, but he is too busy.

Fortunately, in the past few months, Li Weiguo has gathered a lot of staff members, although they are not talented, but they can still handle some daily affairs, Li Weiguo only needs to nod, or sign it, and these staff members are responsible for the implementation of the specific details, which also makes Li Weiguo a lot easier.

As for the concerns of the shareholders of the AIIB, Li Weiguo patted his chest and assured that with him Li Weiguo, the Taiping Army would never enter Shanghai, and let them put 120 hearts.

After working all day, Wu Yong and Fu Xuexian were finally left.

The total value of more than 400 boats of materials brought back by Fu Xuexian was as high as 34 million taels of silver after Wu Yong sent people to carefully count them, including more than 10 million taels of real gold and silver, and there were many antiques, calligraphy and paintings and other rare treasures that could not be estimated.

Li Weiguo was in a very comfortable mood, he had long known that Jinling was rich, and instead of cheapening the Taiping army for nothing, it was better to use this huge amount of money to vigorously develop national industry and revitalize the Chinese economy in the future, which was a great thing for the country and the people, and it was much better than subsidizing the Taiping army to fight the civil war.

Li Weiguo was very happy and rewarded Fu Xuexian with 10,000 taels of silver, and the officers and soldiers of the Li family who participated in the operation were each given special allowances to reward their merits.

Fu Xuexian is a talented person, otherwise he would not become the future Futian of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, just by virtue of the word "Futian", he knows Fu Xuexian's ability, not to mention that it is still his own family, Li Weiguo decided to give him a heavy responsibility.

Wu Yong saw what Li Weiguo meant, and immediately proposed: "Jiangwan Industrial Zone needs competent people to take command, so it's better to let Mr. Fu take on this burden!" ”

Li Weiguo turned to Fu Xuexian and asked, "How is it, do you have confidence?" ”

Fu Xuexian returned to Shanghai a few days earlier than Li Weiguo, and had exchanges with Wu Yong, and also knew that Jiangwan Industrial Zone was one of the places that Li Weiguo valued most, which was related to the future of the Li family, and was the economic foundation and foundation.

"Brother-in-law, don't worry, I will definitely do this errand well?" Fu Xuexian immediately patted his chest and promised.

Li Weiguo nodded and said: "Jiangwan Industrial Zone is in the first phase of the construction period, everything has just started, and it is also a kind of experience for you. You have to remember that although the current heads and technicians of the factories in the industrial zone are foreigners, but in the future must be all our own people responsible, your task is to select the right workers, as soon as possible to each factory from the operation, management to technology, research and development level, have learned, our own people master these factories and technologies, the future of the province is subject to others, understand? ”

Fu Xuexian nodded and said: "I understand, teach students to starve to death of the master, I understand this truth, brother-in-law, you can see it, I'm good at it!" ”

"Excellent! Very well understood! Li Weiguo smiled and nodded, teaching students to starve to death of their masters, these eight words are indeed enough to summarize the whole meaning of Li Weiguo, and it also proves from the negative side that Fu Xuexian is indeed a person with brains, which can be of great use.

Wu Yong also nodded with satisfaction, he didn't mind Li Weiguo appointing relatives, the key is to use people properly, through Wu Yong's observation in the past few days, he also felt that Fu Xuexian was a talent, a talent who could be used, so he would take the initiative to introduce him to be in charge of Jiangwan Industrial Zone.

"That's right!" Wu Yong suddenly thought: "Jiangwan Industrial Zone is about to carry out the second expansion, and the second batch of machinery and equipment purchased by adults from Europe and the United States has arrived in Hong Kong and will arrive in Shanghai soon." ”

Li Weiguo asked: "I asked you to contact you to buy nearby land before, how did it go?" ”

Wu Yong replied: "After the First World War in Baoshan, we got some land for free, but it was far from the scale of land needed for the major factories we were going to build next, and there were some powerful people who occupied good areas nearby, and they refused to sell it to us, or asked for sky-high prices. ”

Li Weiguo looked at Fu Xuexian and asked with a smile: "How about it, what are you going to do if it's you?" ”

Fu Xuexian smiled and said: "This kind of thing is nothing more than black and white at the same time, we are now officials, and we can forcibly expropriate, but it will not have a good impact on my brother-in-law's reputation." You can hire ruffians to make trouble and force the buyer to give up the land or sell it cheaply, and I prefer the latter, which is the easiest and most effective method. ”

Wu Yong said with a smile: "I have proposed this method to the adults many times before, but the adults said that under his rule, the underworld forces will be completely eliminated in the future, so your second plan is not suitable." ”

Fu Xuexian didn't know what the underworld was, and after listening to Wu Yong's explanation, he quickly understood that he was referring to those organized gang forces.

"It is a wise move for my brother-in-law to be determined to eliminate the underworld forces, just imagine that the Heaven and Earth Society will know, the Qing Dynasty has been established for more than 200 years, and the Heaven and Earth Society will make a small fuss in three years and a big trouble in five years, and a rebellion in ten years, the slogan of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty is already a bullshit disguise, in fact, selling dog meat on the head of a sheep is just satisfying the desire for personal rights and seeking personal interests, it is a scourge for the country and the people, and the brother-in-law does not want to repeat the mistakes of the Qing Dynasty, and from the beginning to purge all the gang forces under his rule, which is a clever strategy for long-term peace and stability."

Li Weiguo and Wu Yong glanced at each other, both smiled, and both looked at Fu Xuexian's foresight and wisdom.

Li Weiguo thought for a while and said: "It's better to be like this, don't they not sell land, then we will make a big publicity, and say that the Taiping army is about to go eastward, our army is invincible, and we are about to give up the entire Jiangdong." In particular, it is necessary to publicize the methods of the Taiping army that specialize in slaughtering banner people, powerful landlords, and looting rich households, and scare them as much as possible. In this way, these rich and powerful people will definitely be scared to death, and they will be in a hurry to sell their properties and land, and we can send people to secretly buy them at a low price. ”

Wu Yong said with a smile: "It's still an adult, this trick is to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle, and take care of these people to obediently spit out those good land!" ”

Fu Xuexian said: "It's just that in this way, it doesn't matter if the bannermen and the powerful landlords are gone, they are originally a scourge, but if those rich businessmen also leave, the economic blow to Jiangdong will be not small." ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "It's okay, the old doesn't go, the new doesn't come." These people control the economy of Jiangdong and have solidified their own interests, and now we are building Jiangwan Industrial Zone, and it is inevitable that we will impact their interests and confront them in the future. It's better to scare them away now, so that we will dominate the economy of Jiangdong, and if they want to come back in the future, they will have to bled to see our faces. ”

Wu Yong and Fu Xuexian nodded in agreement.

Next, Li Weiguo and the two planned in detail, and everything was left to Wu Yong to operate.

When the news spread, Shanghai shook, and the whole Jiangdong was like a major earthquake, and the children of the banner people and the powerful landlords from all over the country sold their land and property one after another, and then fled north with their families. Merchants in the towns also dumped their stockpiles of goods, and then cashed out their shops and workshops to transfer their funds to Jiangbei.

On behalf of the government, Li Weiguo openly demanded that these people not be allowed to flee and refused to give them road guides, which further intensified their determination to flee. So Li Weiguo secretly sent a large number of people to buy those good plots of land suitable for building factories and good areas for opening up shops at ultra-low prices. The powerful landlords who had plagued the expansion of the Jiangwan Industrial Zone were also frightened by the rumors, and finally sold the land they occupied to Li Weiguo at a low price, and then fled with their families.

Tightly a rumor, eventually led to the flight of a large number of people from the entire Jiangdong four prefectures and one state, leaving a large number of borderless land, in the later period, Li Weiguo simply directly ordered that if you want to get the relocation of the official government road guide, then you must return all the land in your hands to the government, even so, there are still many people who have handed over the land that they have guarded for generations to the government for the sake of road guidance.

These people, when they want to come back a few years later, these lands are no longer theirs, and if they want to buy them back, they will have to pay several times or even dozens of times the price.

Li Weiguo named this operation the enclosure operation, and in less than half a year, it achieved the intended results, and all the good locations and good land that Li Weiguo wanted fell into his hands.