Call for guaranteed tickets, is there still a monthly pass?

"Your Majesty, there is someone outside who claims to be the envoy of the Governor of Shandong Lin and asks for an audience." Today is May 22, the second year of the liberation, and the secretary reported to Zhu Datianzi early in the morning that someone had asked to see him.

Zhu Jishi saw that he was Lin Zexu's envoy, and thought that it was related to Shandong's military affairs, so he immediately announced it. It was a foreigner dressed as a Catholic priest. When the priest saw Zhu Jishi, he bowed ninety degrees and reported to his home: "I am the Jesuit missionary Ma Lai, entrusted by Governor Lin to deliver a letter to His Majesty.

Zhu Jishi nodded, and did not show too much surprise, the Taiping army had conquered the city in Shandong and already had the territory of most of the provinces. Jinan, Taishan, Qufu and other key points that were heavily defended were also surrounded or monitored by the Taiping army. Ordinary messengers were hard to get into, but Western Christian clergy were able to travel more freely to Taiping-controlled areas. Although Yang Xiuqing claimed in front of the papal envoy Brother Trigo that the worship of God is not a branch of Christianity, he did not explain to the following that "Chinese God" and "foreign God" are not the same god. So the middle and lower strata of the Taiping army were still very friendly to the "foreign brothers".

In addition, in addition to preaching, these foreign brothers often have to do a little business by the way, such as selling arms or something, so the generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom welcomed them very much.

"Father Ma," Zhu Jishi waved at the foreign monk and asked him to sit down on a brocade pier. "What's the situation in Jinan City?"

"Very bad." Father Ma took out an envelope and handed it to Weng Tongyong, the secretary who accompanied Zhu Jishi to meet him.

"What's a bad deal?" Zhu Jishi took the letter from Weng Tongyi's hand, and asked casually while opening the envelope.

Li Hongzhang had told Zhu Jishi about the situation in Jinan City before. Jinan City is a rare fortified city in the world. In particular, it was built in the fourth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. The inner city of Jinan can be described as an iron wall with copper walls and iron walls. The total length of the wall is only 6.4 meters, the height of the ground is 9 to 10 meters, the base width is 12 meters, and the top width is about 10 meters. The lower part of the wall is made of green square stone ramparts, and the upper part is made of green bricks, each of which weighs more than 10 kilograms. Its sturdiness is not below the city of Beijing, and the city of Beijing is large, and the city of Jinan is small. Lin Zexu's 60,000 or 70,000 troops were indeed able to withstand such a fortified city.

In addition, due to the diversion of the Yellow River, the north of Jinan is now a tidal flat and a river, and the Taiping army has no way to attack from the north of the city. And the Liuli Mountain and the Thousand Buddha Mountain in the south of Jinan City were taken by the forest system to train the army, and two large villages were built according to the mountain, which was extremely difficult to capture.

Therefore, the possible breakthrough of the Taiping army is only the west of Jinan City and the east of Jinan City, and the superior strength of the Taiping Army cannot be deployed at all. Therefore, Zhu Jishi was not worried that Jinan would be captured by the Taiping army before the army ran out of food.

"Governor Lin is seriously ill." Father Ma immediately took out another copy of the diagnosis he had written. handed it to Weng Tongyi, it turned out that he was still a part-time doctor. In Jinan City, he treated the seriously ill Lin Zexu several times.

Zhu Jishi opened the diagnosis book and looked at it, it was written in German, and Zhu Jishi could read it.

"It looks like a hernia!" Zhu Jishi's brows furrowed, "It's a very troublesome disease, and you have to have surgery." ”

It seems that this is the cause of Lin Zexu's death! Zhu Jishi sighed in his heart. Adult hernias are almost incurable in this day and age! The surgery to treat the hernia was not even sure by Zhu Jishi himself, let alone other doctors. He unfolded Lin Zexu's handwritten letter and read it, the content of the letter did not talk about his illness, but hoped that Zhu Jishi could go north to the Central Plains as soon as possible, and at that time, more than ten thousand people in Shandong were willing to serve the Ming Dynasty and be the king's forerunner.

Obviously, Lin Zexu was worried that once he died of illness, the tens of thousands of training troops in Jinan City would be leaderless, and his son Lin Ruzhou was unlikely to be able to suppress the situation, and it would be cheap for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom at that time, so he sent a letter urging Zhu Ming to go on a northern expedition as soon as possible.

And the Northern Expedition to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has always been divided here by Zhu Ming. Some of Zhu Ming's ministers advocated a rapid northward march, taking advantage of the fact that the "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System" had not yet been fully spread out in Zhili, Henan, and Beijing, and the hearts of the small people in the north had not yet been fully returned to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so they went north with heavy troops to recover the Central Plains.

Others believe that it is advisable to revise internal affairs first. Matters such as legislation, parliament, railways, telegraphs, new schools, and new factories have only just begun, and it will be difficult to achieve results without three or five years. If the Northern Expedition is carried out on a large scale now, financial, material, and energy resources will inevitably be concentrated on the military, and if these new policies are not done well, they will be abandoned halfway, and I don't know when they will be picked up again.

However, now the opinions of the two groups of people have been unified, that is, they are waiting for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to change by itself, and the contradiction between Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing has been superficialized.

"Your Majesty, the Northern Expedition may be suspended, but Lin Muweng's army and Jinan City must be in hand." Luo Zenan, who was summoned to the temporary palace for deliberations, said to Zhu Jishi thoughtfully. "The imperial court should send a large army to the north and enter Jinan to control its army, so as not to discourage the people."

The Taiping army's encirclement of Jinan was not airtight, Zeng Tianyang's troops were limited, and he had to attack all parts of Shandong, so he could only use 70,000 or 80,000 troops to besiege the city, and there were many loopholes in the encirclement. As for Mount Tai and Qufu south of Jinan, they were only monitored by the Taiping army, and there was no siege, so Zhu Ming's officials still had a way to enter the city.

Zhu Jishi asked Zuo Zongtang again: "What does Zuo Xiang think?" Who can enter Jinan City and preside over the overall situation for Lin Zexu? ”

Entering Jinan is not a good errand, once the city is not defended, I am afraid that even my life will be lost. Moreover, the training army of the Lin system is not the same system as Zhu Ming's army, and Zhu Ming's generals may not be able to command the movement when they enter Jinan City.

Zuo Zongtang said: "Your Majesty, do you know the Zong Zhong Jian Gong of the Song Dynasty? ”

"Zong Ze?" Zhu Jishi said in a deep voice, "Is Zuo Xiang worried that the Lone King will send Du Chong to Jinan?" ”

In the past, Zong Ze stayed behind for Kaifeng, rectified the defense, trained volunteers, built barriers, and acted as a great enemy, turning Kaifeng City into a strong fortress against the southward movement of the Jin soldiers. However, after Zong Ze died of illness, Song Gaozong did not use Zong Ze's son Zong Ying, but used Du Chong, who did not have much influence in the Kaifeng Army and the Hebei Army, to serve as the Kaifeng guard.

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said: "The towns of Huaibei are not directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, similar to the feudal towns of Tang Ji, and the soldiers of Mu Weng are not the Ming army, and they are lonely in Shandong. Instead of fighting among the generals, it is better to let Lin Jingfeng (Lin Ruzhou) be the general army of Shandong Town, Daming Dynasty, and control the Jinan army; appointed Kong Bohai as the governor of Shandong to control the Qufu army; Ren Zeng Disheng was appointed as the governor of Henan, and ordered him to go to Xinyang through Huaibei to take office, and at the same time appointed Yuan Wuqiao as the chief soldier of Henan Town. In this way, all the feudal towns in the Central Plains can be owned by our Ming Dynasty, and in the future, there may be the Taiping Heavenly Army in the future, or they can do it according to the rules. ”

"Tang Jiqiang's domain is ultimately a disaster for the country." Zhu Jishi shook his head slightly.

Zuo Zongtang said with a smile: "The Tang Dynasty is in decline, and there is a disaster in the town, and my Ming Dynasty is now a strong cadre and a weak branch. He paused, and then said, "Now if you take over the power of the vassals, you will bear the responsibilities of the vassals, and please think twice about the king." ”

To tell the truth, the Huaibei Domains, except for Miao Peilin, have no ambition, and Zhu Ming will not have much difficulty if he recruits him to cross to the south. Therefore, the matter of cutting the feudal domain is not in a hurry, and Yang Xiuqing's big offensive is just around the corner, so it is better to let these feudal towns block the front as cannon fodder. When they have consumed Yang Xiuqing almost, it will be much easier for Zhu Ming's army to go on a northern expedition.

"Then according to the plan of the left minister, let Lin Ruzhou, Zeng Guofan, Kong Fanhao, and Yuan Jiasan all come to be the ministers of my Ming Dynasty!" Zhu Jishi paused for a moment, and then said: "Zuo Xiang, the lonely king will be swept across the sea in a few days, and you will have to take care of the government affairs in the country." ”

His voice suddenly sank, and he said with a serious face: "Tomorrow, the lonely king will go to the Taimiao Temple and swear in front of the ancestors' spirits that he will not return to Liaodong and will not return to the dynasty!" (To be continued......)