The news of the Han army's capture of Beijing was a bolt from the blue sky for the people of the two lakes, and the Qing Dynasty was over! Emperor Xianfeng fled north, even Mongolia did not dare not go, fled straight to his hometown in Shenyang, many officials were disheartened, returned to their hometowns to live in seclusion, and many officials decided to be loyal to the end, Hunan army staff Guo Songtao, Lianghu Governor Xu Guoliang, Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang is one of the representative figures.

Guo Songtao found Zeng Guofan, didn't say a word, and immediately asked: "Zeng Gong, Prince Gong has decided to ascend the throne in Wuchang and re-establish the Great Qing Dynasty, do you want to go to watch the ceremony?" ”

The purpose of his visit this time was to persuade Zeng Guofan to obey the new imperial court, as long as Zeng Guofan agreed, 100,000 Hunan troops would be loyal to Prince Gong, and the new imperial court they planned could survive.

In the past two years, Zeng Guofan can be said to be exhausted, seeing the Han army conquering the city and entering Beijing, he can only nest in Hunan, not an inch in, Jiangxi has the Han army Zeng Shuiyuan defense, Anhui has a fierce general Chen Qirong to defend, Liangguang has Zuo Zongtang's army of tens of thousands of Chen soldiers outside, the Hunan army sent troops several times to try, all defeated and returned.

For Prince Gong? Zeng Guofan had already heard about the decision to ascend the throne in Hubei, and he didn't want to support this court in his heart, and he didn't want to be suspicious of Prince Gong, so he only said to Guo Songtao in a consultative tone: "The emperor went north in the dust, and did not announce his abdication, we are still the emperor's courtiers, if we rashly declare loyalty to Prince Gong, how is this different from those chaotic ministers and thieves in Wang Zhu?" Moreover, the Han army was eyeing the country and could attack at any time, and the foreigners refused to cooperate with us and openly helped the Han army to and from the Yangtze River. ”

Guo Songtao disagreed, and said what was in his heart: "Disheng." You and I are both from Jinshi and Hanlin Academy, and we are different from Liu Rong and Wang Zhu. They did not receive favors from the imperial court and could surrender to the Han army. We are deeply favored by the court, can we descend? Our name is important, or our life is important, since ancient times, there has been no vassal who can be famous for centuries! ”

'Hey! Zeng Guofan sighed: "This matter is very important, and it needs to be considered in the long run!" ”

After that, I want to go back to the inner room to avoid conflicts, these times. I have already figured it out: the Hunan army is unstable, most of the grassroots generals tend to surrender to the Han army, but his prestige is there, so no one openly rebels, if he declares his allegiance to the new court in Hubei, the Han army will inevitably send troops to attack, the Hunan army will definitely split, he, the commander of Zeng, will no longer have the capital to bargain with all parties, and it is a matter of time before the army is defeated and dies. He would rather commit suicide to honor his full name than pledge allegiance to the new court.

Guo Songtao chased after Zeng Guofan and persuaded: "Xu Guoliang, the governor of Liangguang, Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, and other officials at all levels are in favor of this matter, and Disheng still hesitates!" ”

Zeng Guofan was forced to be helpless. He turned around and said: "I will immediately convene the generals and staff of the Hunan army to discuss the matter, and if everyone agrees, I will know that I will be ruined." I have no objection to it! ”

"You...... Why do you bother with this! Guo Songtao has predicted the result, but he still has the last trace of fantasy. Participated in this meeting.

Li Xuyi, Bao Chao, Zhou Fengshan, Zhu Sunyi, Yang Zaifu, Peng Yulin and other army and navy commanders, Liu Rong, Chen Shijie, Li Yuandu, Zeng Guohua, Zeng Guoquan and other major staff members successively arrived here in Zeng Guofan. When they learned that the Han army had captured Beijing, they immediately set off to return to Guiyang, the garrison of the army, and waited for the day when the fate of the Hunan army would be decided.

Watching the bigwigs of the Hunan army enter the house one by one, Guo Songtao's confidence has decreased a few points, the situation has changed in the past year, the generals in power of the Hunan army have given birth to two hearts, and the staff and subordinates from the Jinshi have been squeezed out of the leadership class, and now the Hunan army is in charge of these children and people.

Zeng Guofan coughed, and waited for everyone to calm down before saying: "There is a news from Wuchang, Hubei today, I think this is very important to our Hunan army, so I will discuss it with everyone." ”

As soon as Zeng Guofan's words fell, Zeng Guoquan exclaimed: "Could it be that the Han army has captured Wuchang?" ”

Guo Songtao laughed a few times and replied: "Lao Jiu is too worried, Wuchang has 40,000 elite garrisons brought by Prince Gong, which can be called impregnable, how can it be captured by the Han army!" ”

Zeng Guoquan breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a big grin: "Since you haven't fought with the Han army, what other important news is there?" ”

Zeng Guofan glanced at Guo Songtao and said with a smile: "It's not a big deal, Prince Gong?" If you want to ascend the throne, what do you think? ”

Guo Songtao then immediately added: "Xu Guoliang, the governor of Liangguang, Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, and Yan Shusen, the governor of Hubei, have all written to persuade them, and we should not lag behind the talents!" ”

"Phew!" Before Guo Songtao finished speaking, Li Yundu scolded: "You Bochen is quite a chaotic thief, can we do the same!" The current emperor is now in Mukden, why do we flatter the so-called new emperor! ”

Guo Songtao's face was embarrassed and angry, but he persuaded him with good words: "Emperor Xianfeng fell into the northeast, the road is far away, and he flatters foreigners, and the country is ruined so much. It's all his responsibility, he has long lost his qualifications as a king, how can we obey him anymore, Prince Gong has the heart to rectify the rivers and mountains, and we should support it. ”

Li Yuandu saw that no one objected, but he just 'snorted' twice and stopped making a sound, he knew in his heart that none of the generals below supported Prince Gong to be the emperor.

Zeng Guofan stroked his beard and said: "If you have any opinions, just say them, and you will never be convicted for your words." ”

Liu Rong waited for this sentence, and took this opportunity to make her plan public: "Since the Han army has conquered Beijing, the situation in the world has been decided, and we don't have to act against the sky, why not make peace with the Han army, and everyone coexist peacefully, wouldn't it be beautiful!" ”

Zeng Guoquan said: "I already knew that Mr. Xiaxian had an affair with Wang Zhu, what can this Han army give us?" Could it be that he, Li Yunzhong, can promise us to divide the two lakes? It's almost the same to surrender like this! ”

was said the word 'fornication' in public, Liu Rong laughed twice, and replied: "It is impossible to divide the two lakes, you can negotiate with them slowly, Ji Gao is still very talkative." ”

Guo Songtao saw the topic of surrender, and was anxious and angry, and said: "Everyone come slowly, the matter discussed today is the matter of Hubei, and other matters are not discussed!" ”

Li Xuyi looked at Guo Songtao and said with a straight face: "Mr. Bochen is too worried, and Brother Xiaxian is just thinking about everyone." ”

Bao Chao scolded Li Xuyi with a smile: "Who doesn't know that Lu Dao Kehui became the political envoy of Guangxi of the Han State, and your brother will take care of him, of course you don't have to worry, the big guy doesn't have a brother to work on the side of the Han army, and no one will intercede when his head is cut off!" ”

Li Xuyi's face was embarrassed, and he was angry in his heart, your benefactor Hu Linyi of Bao Chao is already ready to surrender, what qualifications do you have to say that I am not.

Guo Songtao persuaded bitterly: "Let's talk slowly, let's talk about Prince Gong's accession to the throne first, and then talk about war or peace, how about it?" ”

Zeng Guofan saw that his friend was sweating profusely, praying with his hands, and he was embarrassed, he couldn't bear it for a while, and nodded and said: "Bochen's words are reasonable, let's talk about Prince Gong's accession to the throne first!" ”

Zeng Guoquan didn't give Prince Gong at all? face, scolded: "What else is there to say, he Prince Gong does not have a penny of salary, and expects us to be loyal to him?" Dream! ”

Bao Chao was also hot-tempered, and echoed when he heard this: "Lao Jiu is right, the Hunan army owes 2.6 million taels in the past two years, and the brothers below have to rebel when they hear about the war, and serve him Prince Gong, isn't it just to make it difficult for the brothers and the Han army?" Yu Han army is embarrassed, and he is going to fight, what face do I have to let the brothers fight hungry! ”

Someone agreed with his bastard words, Zeng Guoquan Yile, and said: "Let Prince Gong allocate five million taels of silver to us, otherwise why should the big guy listen to him!" ”

Seeing that the rest of the generals and staff were watching coldly, Guo Songtao was completely depressed, not to mention five million taels, even five hundred thousand taels could not be taken out, and the silver in the Hubei treasury was not enough to spend on ascending the throne, how could there be any silver allocated to the Hunan army.

Zeng Guofan stopped his younger brother from continuing to be angry, glanced at Liu Rong, and said loudly: "Since everyone doesn't praise Prince Gong, then don't mention this matter again, if Prince Gong ascends the throne, we won't accept any of the orders!" ”

Guo Songtao bent over and thought to himself: If you Zeng Guofan doesn't support it, Prince Gong still dares to ascend the throne? Even if the Hunan army moved casually, Prince Gong in Wuchang City was also worried and did not dare to sleep peacefully.

Zeng Guoquan smiled: "Big brother is right! We obey the orders of Emperor Xianfeng! ”

Zeng Guoquan was happy in his heart, Emperor Xianfeng was far away in the sky, and the two lakes were not the final say of the Hunan army! Prince Gong wants to seize power, but there is no door! (To be continued......)