Zhili Governor's Mansion, Li Hongzhang only sighed when he learned of Zeng Guofan's death.

In recent years, the estrangement between the Hunan army and the Huai army has diluted their teacher-student relationship a lot.

The fall of a generation of heroes Zeng Guofan did not receive people's sympathy, because the rule of the Qing Empire was deep-rooted, and although it was not a thing, the common people still believed in the imperial court more.

Since the imperial court said that Zeng Guofan was plotting to rebel, the common people took it as true and criticized it one after another.

"It's a pity! There is no proof of death! ”

Zhou Fu also sighed, but there was a deep meaning in his words.

Li Hongzhang asked, "What?" Do you think there's a problem? ”

Zhou Fu replied: "Lord Wang, the rebellion of the King of Chu is a little strange. The minister thought that the rebellion of the king of Chu was too sudden, and there was no reflection before. And the king of Chu has always shown his integrity, since he promised the regent to obey the court and never rebel, he even persuaded His Royal Highness King Yan to also be loyal to the court, and there is no reason for treachery. ”

Wang Kaitai immediately retorted: "People can change, Zeng Guofan was promoted to the queen of Chu, his ambitions swelled, and his generals instigated all day long, and rebellion was inevitable." ”

Zhou Fu said: "Yes, people will change. It is undeniable that the King of Chu is ambitious, but don't forget that among the three feudal kings, the King of Chu is the weakest, if it were you, would you be stupid enough to rebel first? ”

Without Wang Kaitai's rebuttal, Zhou Fu continued: "Even if you want to rebel, at least you have to choose allies, right?" Didn't the king of Chu know that if the king of Yan and the king of Wu did not agree, even if he rebelled, he would achieve nothing? ”

Wang Kaitai suddenly said: "Didn't Zeng Guofan send a letter to His Royal Highness King Yan to persuade him to rebel?" It seems that King Wu also received a similar letter, which proves that Zeng Guofan took into account the attitude of King Yan and King Wu. ”

Zhou Fu snorted coldly and said, "But the problem is that our King Yan has just received the letter, and King Chu has not yet made a decision. Isn't that strange? The King of Chu should at least wait until our King Yan and King Wu have a clear attitude to decide whether to rebel, right? ”

Wang Kaitai said with a smile: "This is not difficult to understand, because of Li Yuandu's report letter, Zeng Guofan realized that the rebellion was exposed, and he had to immediately raise troops!" ”

Zhou Fu continued to argue: "But the problem is. Since the king of Chu knew that the rebellion had been exposed, why didn't he immediately kill Li Yuandu, who had reported him? ”

Wang Kaitai was a little struggling, and said casually: "Maybe it's because Li Yuandu has been following Zeng Guofan for too long, and Zeng Guofan can't bear to do it." ”

"Can't bear to do it?" Zhou Fu sneered: "The King of Chu is known as having shaved his head, that is a person who kills people without blinking, since the rebellion has been leaked, how can he not kill Li Yuandu?" Even if you say that you think of the old love, at least you have to put Li Yuandu in prison, right? However, according to our intelligence, Li Yuandu was doing well in Hankou, and even ordered hundreds of thousands of Chu troops to fight against us as the head of the Chu Palace. And at this time. The king of Chu did not prepare for war, but went to the Great Tomb Mountain to look for iron ore, but happened to be killed again, is this series of events just a coincidence? ”

Wang Kaitai was speechless, and the others were just watching the fun.

Li Hongzhang furrowed his brows and asked, "Do you want to say that there is a secret in the rebellion of King Chu?" ”

Zhou Fu sighed and said, "There is a mastermind behind the scenes, but it's a pity that the King of Chu is dead." There is no proof of death. ”

The staff members exchanged their heads and ears, thinking that what Zhou Fu said was not unreasonable.

At this time, Qian Dingming suddenly said: "The problem lies with Li Yuandu, if there is really a black hand to manipulate this matter to blame the King of Chu." Then Li Yuandu is the only breakthrough, as long as you see which side Li Yuandu will surrender, you will know who the black hand is. ”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I'll talk about this issue later, regardless of whether the King of Chu has a secret or not. It doesn't matter now, according to the agreement between this king and the king of Wu, we will take Hubei. King Wu took Hunan. ”

Li Hongzhang didn't want to waste his energy on Zeng Guofan, admitting that even if Zeng Guofan was framed, so what, in the face of interests, Li Hongzhang would not be able to avenge Zeng Guofan, on the contrary, he would fall into the ground, and sit in the name of Zeng Guofan's rebellion, so as to annex Hubei openly.

Feeling Li Hongzhang's attitude, Zhou Fu sighed and stopped talking.

At this moment, an urgent report suddenly came.

Li Hongzhang opened it and looked at it, and suddenly his beard curled up in anger.

With a snap, Li Hongzhang smashed the urgent report in his hand.

"Li Weiguo, you deceive people too much!"

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, they are all confused, someone has already stepped forward to pick up the urgent report from the ground and read it aloud.

"Our army Ding Richang was ordered to march to Huangzhou Mansion in Hubei, but unexpectedly on the 11th of this month, in Guangzhou, Henan Province, suddenly encountered the Chu army Zeng Guoquan, the two sides broke out a fierce battle, Ding Richang suffered heavy casualties, and failed to move forward. In addition, the Chu army Peng Yu phosphorus attacked Sichuan, and fought fiercely with the Sichuan army in Yunyang, and the Sichuan army was defeated. In addition, the Wu army had conquered Wuchang on the 8th of this month, Li Yuandu killed the Wuchang defender Luo Zenan, and together with the Hubei governor Guo Songtao, Jiang Zhongyuan and others, they defected to the battle, took control of the Chu army's ammunition depot, and forced the 100,000 Chu troops in Wuchang Mansion to surrender to Li Weiguo en masse. Subsequently, the provinces of Hubei fell to the wind, and by the time the letter was sent, all the provinces of Hubei and Hunan had fallen into the hands of Wu's army. ”

Quiet!

It's quiet!

Falling pins can be heard!

This urgent report made it very clear that the main force of the Wu army led by Li Weiguo had already taken all the two provinces of Hunan and Hubei, and it took only four days.

This is nothing, it can only show that the Wu army is strong in combat, and the Chu army is too vegetable.

However, when a smart person pays close attention to the time, he can't help but sigh.

Li Hongzhang only learned of Zeng Guofan's rebellion on the 7th, but Wu's army had already conquered Wuchang on the 8th, and had completed the occupation of Hubei Province and Hunan Province by the 11th, while Li Hongzhang's army only arrived in Guangzhou, Henan on the 11th, but was attacked by Zeng Guoquan, and has not yet entered Hubei Province half a step.

The question is, why was Li Weiguo's Wu army able to attack Hubei so quickly?

There is only one answer, that is, Li Weiguo has premeditated.

Why did Li Hongzhang his beard in anger, because he found out that he had been tricked.

Li Weiguo also sent Chen Jingnan to cooperate with Li Hongzhang on the 7th, agreeing that Hubei would belong to Li Hongzhang and Hunan would belong to Li Weiguo, but on the 8th, Li Weiguo directly sent troops to occupy Wuchangfu, the capital of Hubei Province, and forced 100,000 Chu troops to surrender. Li Weiguo got the two provinces of Hubei and Hunan, and Li Hongzhang's troops were still fighting with Zeng Guoquan's troops in Henan, what a trick this must be, no wonder Li Hongzhang went crazy in an instant.

"Li Weiguo is really a good means!" Zhou Fu exclaimed, he figured out all the irrationalities in that moment, and guessed that the mastermind behind the scenes was Li Weiguo.

Zhou Fu named Li Weiguo with a word, and everyone remembered Zhou Fu's remarks just now. I understood it in an instant, and they all marveled at Li Weiguo's good methods.

"Zeng Guoquan and Peng Yupho are both descendants of Zeng Guofan, and it is impossible to surrender to Li Weiguo, so Li Weiguo secretly sent Zeng Guoquan's troops to Henan to fight with us, and sent Peng Yupho to Sichuan to fight with the Qing army, and the remaining Chu generals and troops in Huguang and Guangzhou provinces all surrendered to Li Weiguo, which is really a good means."

"This time we suffered a big loss, and we were used as a gun by Li Weiguo!"

"What are we going to do now? Please also show the prince! ”

Everyone looked at Li Hongzhang one after another, and at this time, Lao Li had to come up with an idea.

"Zhou Fu, you set off immediately. On behalf of this king, I went to Wuchang Mansion to negotiate with Li Weiguo, no matter what the mastermind behind the scenes conspiracy is, in short, Li Weiguo has to give Hubei to me, I can't be unruly, otherwise don't blame this king for turning his face. ”

Li Hongzhang expressed his attitude, he didn't care whether Zeng Guofan was wrongfully framed, and he didn't care what conspiracy Li Weiguo played, he only cared about whether he could get the territory of Hubei.

Zhou Fu bowed down and said, "Oh! The minister then set off for Wuchang, but how could Li Weiguo easily give up Hubei. Please also ask the prince to give the minister a bottom line. ”

The bottom line, no matter what you do, you have to have a bottom line, including negotiations.

What is Li Hongzhang's bottom line, he must go back to Hubei and not hesitate to start a war with Li Weiguo. Or give up Hubei and ask for other benefits.

This question was really asked by Zhou Fu, and Li Hongzhang suddenly made a difficulty, if Li Weiguo did not hand over Hubei. Do you really want to go to war with Li Weiguo?

Although Li Hongzhang was the king of Yan, the minister of Beiyang and the governor of Zhili, he had more than 300,000 Yan troops under his command. However, it is said that Li Weiguo's Wu army has expanded to more than 1 million people, and now the Chu army of Zeng Guofan, which has won the two provinces of Huguang and Guangzhou, is estimated to have nearly 200,000, adding up to 1.2 million, which is by no means a Yan army that can resist.

"Let's talk about it first, if you really don't want to come back, find a way to knock Li Weiguo on it. He has at least 200,000 troops, and there are countless money, food, and materials in Huguang and Guangzhou, so why do you have to give some to this king? ”

Hearing Li Hongzhang's words, Zhou Fu suddenly sighed bitterly in his heart, and understood that Li Hongzhang was not unconfident to really start a war with Li Weiguo after all.

Zhou Fu didn't say anything, just took the order to retire, he knew that the night was long and dreamy, so he hurriedly set off south.

Li Hongzhang was not idle, and quickly entered Beijing to discuss countermeasures with Yixin.

Now that Zeng Guofan has withdrawn from the stage of history, there are only three forces left in the entire Qing Empire, Li Weiguo's Wu Army, Li Hongzhang's Yan Army, and Yixin's Imperial Court Manmeng Eight Banners.

In the past, Li Hongzhang could cooperate with Li Weiguo in order to eliminate Zeng Guofan, a competitor, but now that Zeng Guofan has been kicked out, then the next thing is to play with Li Weiguo and Yixin.

Obviously, Li Hongzhang knew that Li Weiguo was powerful and hoped to join forces with Yixin to deal with Li Weiguo.

Yi Xin was also taken aback, his intelligence was not as fast as Li Hongzhang's, and when he learned that the two provinces of Huguang were occupied by Li Weiguo, he suddenly felt the seriousness of the problem.

Originally, Yixin wanted to sit and watch Li Weiguo, Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan fight and profit from it, but now he found that it was Li Hongzhang and the court who lost, and Li Weiguo was the one who profited.

Yi Xin sighed: "I didn't expect Li Weiguo to be so powerful, this king already thinks highly of him by three points, but it's still not enough, I really underestimate him." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Now Zeng Guoquan is still in the dark, fighting with this king in Henan, Peng Yupho has invaded Sichuan, and your army is afraid that the regent will also be hit hard." ”

Yi Xin nodded, this was the last thing he wanted to see.

"You can't let Li Weiguo be arrogant anymore!" Yi Xin gritted his teeth and said: "Now that Li Weiguo has ten provinces south of the Yangtze River, we can't let him get involved in the north anymore, otherwise we will all die and have no place to be buried." ”

Li Hongzhang agreed: "What does the regent say? ”

Yi Xin said hatefully: "Showdown with him, your Yan army, plus this king's Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners Army, this king doesn't believe that he can't beat Li Weiguo!" ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Once the showdown occurs, it will be the outbreak of a full-scale war, Li Weiguo has a million troops, and the combined strength of you and me is only 800,000, barely a battle, but the war is fought to the point of attrition, and it is impossible to win without enough food, grass and ammunition reserves." ”

Li Hongzhang has often been in contact with foreigners recently, and hired foreigners to help train the Yan army, so he also knows that modern warfare is no longer dominated by cold weapons, and it is no longer enough to have food and grass, and musket wars are fought with the consumption of bullets. After a high-intensity battle, millions of bullets were consumed, and I didn't have too much experience when I fought with the Taiping army before, but later I learned that during the Battle of Songhu, the Shanghai army consumed 6 million rounds of ammunition and 100,000 shells to eliminate more than 100,000 British and French troops, which made Li Hongzhang understand what modern warfare is.

Yi Xin said: "This king has just borrowed money from foreigners and bought 30,000 muskets, 40 cannons, 50,000 catties of marbles and 50,000 boxes of medicine, I don't know how long it will last?" ”

Li Weiguo smiled bitterly: "Doesn't the regent know how many weapons and ammunition Li Weiguo's Shanghai army consumed in the Battle of Songhu?" ”

Seeing Yi Xin shaking his head, Li Hongzhang was right to think about it, those things were confidential, and he himself learned that it was also because of the spy report lurking in the Wu army, and it was expected that Yi Xin also planted eyeliner in the Wu army, and it was estimated that the level was not enough, so he didn't know.

Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang said: "If we want to compete with Li Weiguo, we have to hoard at least 500,000 muskets, 2,000 artillery pieces, 5 million bullets and 5 million boxes of medicine. ”

Yixin's mouth is open, this Nima is too exaggerated, so many arms, hundreds of millions of taels of silver, oh no, now it's all in RMB, then it will cost twenty or thirty million, where to raise it?

Yi Xin was forced to do so, but Li Hongzhang smiled mysteriously and said, "Didn't the regent forget to borrow his teacher to help suppress it?" ”

Yi Xin asked rhetorically: "You mean to borrow foreigners to deal with Li Weiguo?" ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said: "Britain and France were defeated by Li Weiguo last time, and they were defeated in Songhu and lost more than 100,000 troops, can they be willing?" ”

Yi Xin frowned and said: "But if we borrow the army of foreigners to deal with Li Weiguo, how will the people of the world think of us?" This is a traitor! Besides, the heart of the Qing Dynasty has never died, how can we set ourselves on fire? ”

Li Hongzhang rolled his eyes and thought secretly: You proposed it with the help of the teacher, but now you say that you have betrayed the country, you are really a watch and a memorial arch, and good people have let you be.

"After all, foreigners are foreigners, and they will never be able to rule the Qing Dynasty, but if Li Weiguo wins, then there will be no Qing Dynasty at all. The regent should think twice! ”

Drink to quench your thirst, but is there any other way?

The answer is no!

Obviously, Yi Xin will not believe that Li Weiguo will be a good boy and not rebel.

Seeing Yixin's hesitation, Li Hongzhang said: "Don't worry about the foreign soldiers, only allow enough benefits for them, let them fight to the death with Li Weiguo, whether Li Weiguo destroys the foreigners, or the foreigners destroy Li Weiguo, they will all be exhausted in the end, at that time, we will send troops to sweep away Li Weiguo and the foreigners, and when the foreigners fail miserably, we can still regret it, and the foreigners can't do anything to us." ”

Yi Xin tilted her head and looked at Li Hongzhang, thinking: Lie to the ghost, foreigners will be so easy to fool? No matter how you look at it, Li Hongzhang doesn't look like a good bird, and seems to be calculating something.

"Well, King Yan, you are now the minister of Beiyang, so you will come forward to talk to the foreigners, and you can promise them benefits with the help of the teacher, and everything is up to King Yan to decide."

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he suddenly scolded in his heart: Your uncle, Lao Tzu doesn't want to carry the black pot.

"This, or the regent came forward to be more convincing!"

Yi Xin understood it, and Li Hongzhang was also calculating him.

Your uncle's!

The two old foxes glared together. (To be continued.) )