Li Hongzhang, who was sitting in a two-wheeled carriage, looked sideways through the window and looked out of the window, and in front of him were a dozen or so Chinese military policemen on horseback, and they were walking along the dirt road from the dock towards the city.

Although it was still a suburb, there were not many people and carriages on the road, some of them were travelers from afar, and more of them were people carrying fruits and vegetables or wood or other goods, and these people wanted to send the goods they brought to the city of Nanjing to sell, but in exchange for a small amount of copper coins for the family to make ends meet.

The closer you get to the city, the more people there are on the road!

Li Hongzhang has not been to Nanjing in the past few years, but from some reports, it can be known that since the Taiping thieves occupied the city of Nanjing, the commercial and agricultural production in the city and the surrounding areas have almost come to a standstill, and there is a scene of depression everywhere.

However, when Li Hongzhang's carriage passed through the city gate, looking at the people waiting in line to enter the city, he found that the city had recovered its vitality in just half a year, and although the city of Nanjing at this time was not as prosperous as the Kangqian period, the residents in the city dropped from the peak of 780,000 to the current 200,000 or more people, but it can still be seen that there is no trace of war here, and the people's lives have returned to normal.

After entering the city, more people appeared on the streets wearing military uniforms, Chinese costumes, and suits, and patrolmen in black uniforms could often be seen walking back and forth on the streets.

Although the buildings are still those buildings, and the people are still those people, Li Hongzhang clearly sees that this city is different from other cities!

If the buildings in the city are replaced with Western-style buildings in the business district, the streets in the city are wider and cleaner. This is a complete replica of the Shanghai Business District!

This Lin Zhe really promoted the original set in the business zone to the entire Jiangnan area!

Changes to the city of Nanjing. Li Hongzhang didn't judge anything, he didn't think about whether these changes were good or bad. He just watched with his own eyes!

He wants to see what is different about the Chinese country that Lin Zhe created, he wants to know why they are all imitating the new army trained by foreigners, his new Jianghuai army was defeated, and the training army of the imperial court was also defeated, but his Chinese army was able to continue to win the war.

Along the way, Li Hongzhang, who didn't say a word, watched silently until he got off the carriage and was sent to an independent courtyard!

A major of the military police of the Chinese Army who led him in said to him with a hint of pride: "Li Xiucheng lived here a few months ago!" ”

Li Hongzhang secretly showed a wry smile when he listened. As the main commander of the Qing army on the ground in the south of the Yangtze River, he naturally knew who Li Xiucheng was, and knew that this person was a general in the Taiping Thief Army and was named the Loyal King.

And this loyal king was defeated and captured by the Chinese army in Danyang this summer, so that like Li Hongzhang, he became a prisoner of war in the south of the Yangtze River in China!

After entering this small courtyard, Li Hongzhang stayed with peace of mind, he didn't try to escape or resist anything, because there was nothing but him in this courtyard. There were also a few Chinese soldiers guarding him, and this small courtyard was not located in some prosperous city, but in a military camp in the city.

In addition to this small courtyard, in front of it is the headquarters of the Guards Division of the Chinese Army. Behind it was the training ground of the Guards Division, and around it were the barracks of the soldiers of the Guards Division.

It's a place that's even tighter than a prison, even if you can get out of this small compound. I'm afraid that I didn't take a few steps before I was discovered by the soldiers of the Chinese army who were on alert.

Li Hongzhang is not a super special forces who can fight a dozen or so, nor is he a monster or a special person. He was a traditional official, the commander in chief of an army. He could train a new Jianghuai army from scratch, but he couldn't escape the control of the guards.

Along the way, the gendarmes of the Chinese army seemed to treat him more favorably, but in fact, they rigidly restricted his every move, except for not wearing shackles and handcuffs, he was not much freer than any felon!

Even for fear that Li Hongzhang would not be able to think of committing suicide, even soldiers stared at him with wide eyes every night, and he was always under the supervision of the Chinese army for 20 hours a day.

However, the worries of those guards are obviously superfluous, Li Hongzhang is not a monk Lingqin, nor is he Huang Zonghan or He Guiqing, defeat is defeat, but Li Hongzhang will not commit suicide for this.

Compared with death, he was more curious about what the Chinese army defeated him, and he was more curious about how Lin Zhe was able to establish a huge foundation in only a few years.

For the Chinese army, for Lin Zhe's empire, he has too much curiosity!

Li Hongzhang was curious about this, in fact, he didn't know that in the Pingren Hall of the Zhonghua Palace in Nanjing, Lin Zhe also looked at the report sent by the director of the gendarmerie, which said it was a report, but in fact it was more like Li Hongzhang's detailed resume, and there were also self-reports of other captured senior generals of the Jianghuai New Army.

The First Army of the Chinese Army in the north of Suqian, east of Pizhou, through a large-scale tragic field battle completely defeated the Jianghuai New Army, although the scale was not as large as the previous Battle of Suqian, but the actual impact was much greater than the Battle of Suqian.

The destruction of the Jianghuai New Army means that the Qing army can no longer stop the Chinese army's northward march in northern Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and other directions!

Therefore, the battle report of the battle had already been reported to Nanjing through the military report, and the speed of this military report was naturally much faster than Li Hongzhang's slow southward movement.

When he knew that the army in front had captured Li Hongzhang, Lin Zhe felt a little strange!

Although he has seen many so-called important ministers in the late Qing Dynasty over the years, Huang Zonghan, He Guiqing, Xiang Rong, Dexinga and others were all famous people in the late Qing Dynasty, but these people are really nothing in Lin Zhe's eyes.

He Lin Zhe is not a scholar of the history of the late Qing Dynasty, and he also knows a little about history, he knows that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has Hong Xiuquan, Shi Dakai and Yang Xiuqing, and also knows Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Zuo Zongtang, these famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, and also knows Emperor Xianfeng, Emperor Guangxu and Cixi, but it is impossible for you to let him casually say the name and resume of a minister in the late Qing Dynasty.

So when facing Huang Zonghan and Xiang Rong and others, Lin Zhe actually didn't have the feeling of facing historical celebrities!

For Lin Zhe, the historical celebrities he knows are Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and from the evaluation and influence of later generations, Li Hongzhang's name should be known by more people.

Lin Zhe couldn't memorize Li Hongzhang's life history in the original time and space, but he also knew that this Li Hongzhang was the leader of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, and the famous Beiyang Sailor was created by him.

So when he learned that his army had captured Li Hongzhang, he couldn't react for a while, and this person was not easy to deal with.

It is not appropriate to kill Li Hongzhang as another Qing general, on the one hand, it will make the senior generals of the Qing army no longer surrender, thus increasing the difficulty of the Chinese army's operation. It's even more inappropriate to release it directly, this Li Hongzhang was also self-made a few years ago, but he was able to train a new Jianghuai army, if he was released, it is estimated that it would not take a year or two of hard work for this Li Hongzhang to toss out tens of thousands of new troops to fight against himself.

can't be killed or released, so will he surrender to himself? This possibility is not very likely, although the ordinary soldiers and officials of the Qing army surrendered more, but the high-ranking generals and civilian officials surrendered very little, whether it was in the face of the Chinese army or the Taiping army, there were more Manchu feudal ministers and senior generals who committed suicide.

If he is willing to surrender, it is estimated that he will not continue to wear braids!

No matter how Li Hongzhang chooses, Lin Zhe still hopes that this Li Hongzhang can understand the current affairs, and then bow down to himself, not because he has a fancy for Li Hongzhang's difficult talent, but because of an excitement in his heart.

Just imagine, Li Hongzhang, an important minister of the late Qing Dynasty, bowed down in front of him, what could prove his greatness better than this?

Well, maybe it's only when Xianfeng kneels at his feet that it's more exciting than this!

Of course, this kind of innermost thought Lin Zhe naturally wouldn't say it to anyone, he just skimmed Li Hongzhang's report and put it down, he didn't plan to run to see Li Hongzhang in person, now lock this Li Hongzhang for a few months, and then take him out when he remembers, maybe when the time comes, his Wang Ba's anger will be dispersed, this Li Hongzhang cried and shouted that he finally met Mingjun!

Li Hongzhang's matter is just a kind of psychological adjustment for Lin Zhe, whether he surrenders, commits suicide, or is locked up all the time, except for satisfying Lin Zhe's little bad taste, it actually doesn't have much impact!

Putting aside Li Hongzhang's affairs, Lin Zhe picked up the report of the Quanxu Division, which was to draw up a reward for the series of wars in northern Jiangsu.

After the news that Shi Qingxuan led the First Army to completely defeat the Jianghuai New Army through field battles came back to Nanjing, Lin Zhe began to think about how to reward the meritorious soldiers!

And this time the reward is not only for the officers and men of the First Army who directly participated in the war, but also for the officers and men of the Fifth Army who also served as cover tasks in the rear, but also for the navy that provided supply and transportation tasks for the above two armies, and all the departments of the Command that worked hard to support the war in Northern Jiangsu were all meritorious personnel!

Its first contributor, Shi Qingxuan, because the rank is already a lieutenant general, is not easy to promote, and his title is already an earl, and if he is promoted again, he will be a marquis, and Lin Zhe considered that Shi Qingxuan would definitely go north in the future, and when he won the Beijing Division and captured the entire north, he would have to be rewarded again.

Moreover, Shi Qingxuan's military rank and title are already the highest in the Chinese Empire, and if he is promoted, it will easily cause a backlash from other generals, so Lin Zhe's reward for Shi Qingxuan is mostly honor, but it is actually relatively small.

There is no military rank, and there is no knighthood, but the secretariat still proposes some other more meaningful blockades, such as titles! (To be continued......)