Now it's the second watch, or ask for the first order, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support, there are eight watches today, and tomorrow is also eight watches, how to exceed 100 monthly passes today and tomorrow, Da Luo Luo will continue to break out!

In the school field in the inner city of Guangzhou, a group of people dressed as scribes stood on the edge of the school field, watching a large number of soldiers of the Eight Banners in the black pressure to practice in formation. In the past, the Guangzhou Eight Banners, who relied on casual comparisons of archery and horse riding and shooting, have actually played with foreign guns for the first time now! The brown bass smoothbore guns were not provided by the soldiers of the Eight Banners, but were issued by the Guangzhou General Yamen. In the school grounds, everyone of all ages, young and old, has a shot in their hands, and they are playing with it. About every 300 soldiers of the Eight Banners gathered together, and there was a leader who taught them how to use a smoothbore gun.

Among this group of scribes, there was a thin middle-aged man who said with his eyebrows fluttering: "This time, the banner people in Guangzhou are really cheering up, and they have expanded fifteen Niu Lu at once, except for the vest and artillery team, all of them have been replaced with foreign guns!" If the British devils dare to come to the door again, they will be guaranteed to have no return! ”

There was an old man beside this little man, but his bearing was quite extraordinary, he stroked his beard and said: "No matter how sharp the foreign gun is, it needs to be held in the hands of elite soldiers, otherwise it is useless, and with Western sharp weapons, it needs to be practiced in Western law, Yuanfang, does anyone in Guangzhou Eight Banners understand Western formations?" ”

The old man who interrogated was the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Zexu, and the person who spoke to him was called Ulantai, who was originally the wing commander of the Beijing Banner Firearms Battalion, because the Eight Banners of Guangzhou expanded the new army and used a large number of firearms, so he was sent by Emperor Daoguang to be the deputy capital of Guangzhou. He Lin Zexu went south on the same road, but he was not in Changsha, so he arrived a few days early.

And today. Lin Zexu and his entourage had just arrived in Guangzhou, citing the fatigue of the carriage and horses. pushed the reception banquet in the Guangdong officialdom, and went straight to watch the drill of the Eight Banners New Army in Guangzhou. In fact. This is also Emperor Daoguang's order, asking him to pay attention to the Eight Banners New Army.

"Mu Weng is really a soldier, this Western weapon has to cooperate with Western exercises, Mu Junmen has already opened a Western martial arts school in Dongguan in Guangzhou, and invited a French instructor to teach us to co-lead and lead the use of foreign guns and Western battle formations, and then the co-leaders and leaders will come back and hand over to the soldiers of the Eight Banners below."

"How long is this?"

As soon as Ulantai's words were finished, a short scribe in his thirties beside Lin Zexu interjected. This person is Zuo Zongtang, the body of cloth. is not Lin Zexu's staff. Ulantai glanced at the talkative man with some disgust, and just wanted to teach him a lesson. But I heard Lin Zexu ask the same question, so I had to reply with a smile: "It's now a two-day exercise, and every exercise is half a day!" Even the Praetorian Eight Banners are not so refined, and the new army of the Guangzhou Eight Banners is bound to become a strong force. ”

Lin Zexu said: "One exercise every two days, but it cheers up a lot." ”

After saying this, he arched his hand, took Zuo Zongtang and other entourages, and left the inner city of Guangzhou. went to his own foreign affairs yamen.

The Western-style yamen in Guangzhou was expanded on the basis of the yamen of the Guangdong Customs, which was also under the jurisdiction of the Western-style yamen. And Bai Siwen prepared a comfortable Western carriage for Lin Zexu, an important minister of the Qing Dynasty who came from afar.

On the way back to Yamen, Lin Zexu invited Zuo Zongtang to ride with him. As soon as I entered the carriage. Lin Zexu asked, "Brother Ji Gao, how is it?" ”

"Hanging!" Zuo Zongtang's answer was just two words.

"What's hanging?"

"Of course it's the Qing Dynasty hanging!"

Lin Zexu smiled and groaned: "Weishenme? It's been every two days, and I don't know how much stronger it is than the green camp. The flag man can cheer up like this, it's always a blessing for the country, right? ”

Zuo Zongtang sneered and shook his head. "These Eight Banners disciples, if you carry a cage and a bird. Youyou frolic, this Qing Dynasty may have a hundred years, but once they want to cheer up. He lowered his voice, "Huh...... Mu Weng, it's not that I cursed the Qing Dynasty, this Zhu Jishi is really going to become a climate! ”

Lin Zexu smiled bitterly, "I know, I know, that's all there is to be an official, the banner people pretend to cheer up, and the Han people have fewer chances." He sighed again and said in an inaudible voice: "But the banner people are multiplying day by day, lack of money, and have no official work, and they have been shouting for decades...... We Han people also laugh at the decay of the flag people, who only know how to have fun and refuse to cheer up. Now that they have just cheered up a little, who dares to pour cold water on the emperor at this moment? Moreover, the path of the Han people will not be completely broken, but it will only be narrower. ”

Zuo Zongtang also lowered his voice and said: "Mu Weng, you always understand people, you should know the truth of retreating bravely, you have been an official for decades, and your reputation is all over the world, why not take advantage of the Qing Dynasty when Haiqing River Yan retreats to the forest?" Whoever becomes the emperor in the future will definitely respect you, the leader of the Shilin. ”

Lin Zexu was silent for a long time, he is now a foreign affairs officer, and he has to interact with Western powers, now that the Qing Dynasty is weak, this diplomatic thing must not be easy to do, and if he is not careful, it will be ruined for half of the world. What's even more troublesome is that Zhu Jishi doesn't know when he will raise troops against the Qing Dynasty, and then the city of Guangzhou will inevitably bear the brunt......

"Let's take another look." Lin Zexu stroked his beard and sighed, "After all, I have eaten for half my life, so it's not good to retreat like this." By the way, Brother Ji Gao, that Bai Siwen said that there is a French businessman named Rodli who is willing to work for our court, and also said that this person is quite talented, and he has contributed a lot in this errand to purchase foreign guns, and wants to promote him as a Taoist, do you want to see him? ”

"A foreign businessman? Missing! Zuo Zongtang snorted, "This official of the Qing Dynasty is really done by everyone!" ”

A foreign businessman has an official job, but Zuo Zongtang, who is only eight buckets high and wiser than Zhuge Zuo, is still a peasant in central Hunan Province, so how can he be in the mood to meet Luo Li, a foreign adult? So the Western-style yamen didn't want to go, and when he left the inner city of Guangzhou, he said goodbye to Lin Zexu, went straight to Tianzi Pier, and prepared to take a merchant ship to Hong Kong to meet Zhu Jishi and his people.

This is the busiest commercial port in Asia, on the wide Pearl River, full of all kinds of merchant ships, both Western-style soft-sail armed merchant ships, as well as Chinese cantonese ships, but most of the merchant ships are hung with various Western flags, Zuo Zongtang does not recognize. The wharf was bustling with merchants and coolies waiting to board the ship. Among them, passengers dressed as merchants gathered on the left side of the wharf, and coolie-looking passengers crowded together on the right side of the wharf, all squatting on the ground holding small bags of luggage, and some hooligan-like figures in black silk clothes patrolled around these coolies.

"This little brother, may I ask what those coolies are all about?" Zuo Zongtang felt a little strange, so he asked a young man in brocade clothes who looked quite clever next to him.

"Mr. Hui's words," replied the young man politely, "those bitter men have all gone down to the South Seas to earn a living. ”

"Down to the South Seas?" Zuo Zongtang was stunned.

The young man smiled: "Listen to Mr.'s accent is not Cantonese, right?" ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled: "I'm from Hunan." ”

The young man said: "Then it's no wonder I don't know about going to Nanyang, in recent years, Guangdong's harvest has not been good, taxes are heavy, people's livelihood is difficult, many middle-class families are in poverty, and it is even more difficult for small people to survive." Fortunately, Java, Singapore, Lanfang and the English people in Australia all need labor, and the wages are also high, so they give these bitter men a way to live. ”

"But Weishenme looks like it's guarded?" Zuo Zongtang pointed to those who looked like thugs and asked.

"Those are the Hong brothers," the young man sighed, "because of the high cost of the ship to the South Seas, most of the bitter men can't afford it, and they all borrow a few usury loans from Hongmen Shantang, so the Hong brothers take care of it, and when they get on the boat, their own boss pays for the debt...... In fact, these bitter men are sold to Nanyang, we here in Guangdong call this 'selling piglets', and when they get to Nanyang, most of them will be sold again. ”

"Oh, I see." Zuo Zongtang thought for a while, and then asked, "Little brother, may I ask again, who are these men who go to the South Seas sold to?" ”

"There are everyone, many foreign companies are doing this business, and now the biggest buyer is the Nanyang Nanyang Trading Company under Jishi Bank."

"Help!" Zuo Zongtang's pupils twitched slightly, and he said in his heart: "High!" High! That's high! Where are these bitter men 'piglets', they are clearly an army of tigers and wolves! No matter how much the Eight Banners soldiers on Emperor Daoguang cheered up, they were still the children of the anointed sorghum, how could they fight with the elite soldiers trained by these bitter men? Could it be that this destiny has really returned to the side of Daming? (To be continued......)