Four days later, Zhang Shouyan took this information to Fuzhou by boat, and soon met Zuo Zongtang.

Zuo Zongtang's staff group is far less powerful than Li Hongzhang, and there is only one Hu Xueyan who is really famous in the whole country, which is the money bag of the Chu army. Therefore, if you want to convince Zuo Zongtang, you only need to persuade Zuo Zongtang, unlike when talking to Li Hongzhang, not only to settle Li Hongzhang, but also to settle those staff under him who are trusted and relied on.

"Zuo Gong, the so-called Restoration, is a process of redistribution of resources and power. In this process, some of the old power holders will inevitably lose the resources and power they originally had; In the words of foreigners, it is a process of flattening management, and a part of the middle class will be eliminated. Japan's reform is a process of squeezing from the top and bottom strata to the middle strata, and the power and surplus resources that are eventually deprived in the middle are redistributed to the two strata at the top,↗the highest, and the lowest, so that management and production reach a new balance. For example, their "rebellion" is essentially to deprive foreigners of their resources and privileges for their own use, but compared to Japan at that time, foreigners were very powerful, even if a strong feudal domain such as Satsuma Choshu in Japan was deeply aware of the inability to compete with them after fighting against foreigners. If the foreigners are forcibly deprived of their resources in Japan, it is very likely that they will be completely defeated by these foreigners with strong ships and guns. Zuo Zongtang understood what Zhang Shouyan said, and his face was calm, "Just like when Britain and France entered Beijing?" ”

"Zuo Gong is wise." Zhang Shouyan nodded fiercely, "The reason why I'm still in the Qing Dynasty is to say something taboo." That's because Emperor Daxing bowed his head, and second, because I was in China. The land is vast and abundant, which is not comparable to Japan and other small foreign countries. The Anglo-French forces were strong. The number of people is small. ”

"With the greatness of my China, I still have to suffer this great humiliation. Japan, a small country, would lose its sovereignty (the power of its government to allocate its own resources) if it were to suffer such a change. Therefore, it is better for the Japanese to recognize their privileged interests in Japan, or even form an alliance with them, in exchange for their support and necessary military and technical assistance, so as to obtain a higher ability to develop and squeeze the ability of other strata, that is, to fall under their support. ”

"The essence of Japan's downfall is to point the finger at the emperor. The shogun, above the princes, deprived him of his privileges, his domains, the resources he possessed, and the power to distribute them. After the successful downfall, the abolition of the feudal counties was tantamount to slashing the sword at the princes again, depriving them of resources and power. However, further military reform, so that ordinary civilians also have the right and obligation to serve as soldiers, so that more people have a sense of honor and promotion opportunities for loyalty to the country, it is equivalent to cutting this knife at the lower level of samurai again.

If we want to talk about betrayal, the princes and low-ranking samurai who contributed to the fall of the curtain were all betrayed by the new government in Tokyo. The one who will benefit in the end. There are people at the highest level, and there are also more Japanese civilians. ”

"Saigo Takamori was one of the three great men of the Japanese Restoration, a former field marshal and governor of the Guards, and he was in favor of the new military system. But this person has too many old friends and old departments who are involved in this knife. In the beginning, he organized the Japanese King's Guard with Japanese lower-ranking samurai as the main body, in order to give his comrades a place to stay. However, the establishment of the Guards is also limited. Saigo himself was very bold and generous, whenever a Satsuma samurai came to him. If he can't solve their personal problems, he will let them take it from the cash drawer at the door. However, this does not solve the fundamental problem. It is also easy to be jealous, and it is easy to create opportunities for opponents in politics to create rumors similar to "Xixiang wants to buy people's hearts and rebel". ”

What Zhang Shouyan said was actually not at the point of the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. But Zuo Zongtang listened attentively and did not show any impatience. Because Zuo Zongtang knows very well that in order to truly solve Japan's threat to Taiwan and China, the most important thing is to find out what the situation is in Japan.

Japan wants to invade Taiwan, and Zuo Zongtang attaches great importance to this information, but compared with Japan's domestic intelligence, the former is nothing. It's like a claw coming in suddenly, do you keep an eye on the claw, or do you want to see what the 'body' behind the claw looks like?

Of course, Zuo Zongtang will not just look at the claws.

And another point is that Zuo Zongtang admires Xixiang Takasheng very much, and Xixiang in Zhang Shouyan's narrative has a heroic personality, is loyal, loyal to his work, loyal to his will, diligent and hardworking, and treats soldiers with integrity, which makes Zuo Zongtang admire.

"The embankment is insufficient, and the embankment is replenished outside. Saigo's solution was to expand externally. Zhang Shouyan then told Zuo Zongtang about the origin of Japan's 'Korean Expedition'. Liu Xian's order of 300,000 taels of silver was not lost at all, and the materials and information brought to him by Maisheng Foreign Company allowed the Qin army to analyze his eastern neighbor Japan in detail for the first time.

Even Okubo Toshitsu, Aritomo Yamagu, who opposed Saigo, the most staunch opponent of Saigo, were all in favor of expansion, but it was nothing more than a difference between "urgent levy" and "delayed levy." The Tokyo Restoration government was dominated by the Nachiji faction, while Saigo, because of the interests of the samurai class he represented, stood on the opposite side of the majority of the courtiers and strongly called for a "quick conscription." He was anxious to use the samurai class, a soldier who had been fighting for generations, to carry out his country's foreign aggression at a time when the Japanese army, which was mainly civilian, did not have strong combat effectiveness, so that the samurai could quickly regain the privileges and interests they had lost in their own country in the new colonies. Saigo advocated the use of force against Taiwan and Korea, and wanted to "seize these lands and give them to me, so as to Yongzhen the southern gate of the imperial country."

Specifically, he begged himself to be an envoy to Korea, and used diplomatic means to provoke North Korea, and if North Korea was plotted to kill him, Japan could justifiably send troops to conquer him. ”

Zhang Shouyan could clearly see Zuo Zongtang's expression of emotion at this moment. From an outsider's point of view, Saigo Takamori is not unbrave, and seeking the country is not disloyal.

"The Japanese offensive was inevitable. The reason for this is not to avenge the people of the Ryukyus, but to annex Taiwan, and to transfer the contradictions by the Japanese Restoration government. Yes, my military family wants to cut off this bane! ”

Zuo Zongtang's eyes were bright and bright at this moment. "Your military family wants to dig Xixiang to get rid of future troubles? Not advisable! Shaking his head slowly, Zuo Zongtang stroked his beard and said, "With the old man's intentions, the Restoration Internal Governance School is more of a disaster to me than Xixiang." ”

Okubo Tomitsu, Yamaguchi Aritomo, and others, who opposed Saigo, believed that Japan's modern state system and logistics system should be established before launching foreign conquests. The rash use of samurai to conquer is likely to fail due to insufficient logistical supplies, strong backlash from the Qing Dynasty and interference from Western powers. Therefore, we strongly oppose the urgent conscription!

In other words, they were afraid that they would not be able to defeat the Qing Dynasty, or if the Qing Dynasty retreated, Japan would face the threat of foreigners, and the territory that had been hard to lay down with human lives would have to be spit out. The so-called modern state system and logistics system of Japan refer to the strength of the country!

Zuo Zongtang clearly saw the threat of the internal governance faction such as Okubo Ritsu and Yama Prefecture Aritomo. mistakenly thought that the root cause of Liu Xian's judgment was Zuo Zongtang, who slaughtered Xixiang Takamori and other urgent conscription factions, and he was very unimpressed with this.

Zhang Shouyan smiled. "Zuo Gong misunderstood. My military said that the East cannot accommodate a second power. For thousands of years, China has been the co-owner of the Oriental countries, and this eternal foundation has been unswerving. If Japan wants to be strong and has the heart to become a strong country, it is the enemy of China. ”

"Great goodness!" Zuo Zongtang's face moved, and he smiled happily, "Japan is close to the elbow and armpit, and its strength will be a big disaster for Middle-earth!" "The heroes on both sides see the same thing.

"Cutting off this bane is not to kill one Saigo Takashi, but to break the foundation of Japan's strength. My military family believes that in Japan at present, Tokyo is strong and southwest is weak, and the problem of the noble clan will only become more and more intense, but will not be calmed down. Therefore, this time the Japanese army attacked Taiwan, our Qin army wanted to join forces with Zuo Gong, first eat the Japanese army coming to Taiwan, and then the army went straight to Ryukyu to restore the Ryukyu domain, so as to stop the people in the court. Fight with the Japanese sailors, win, that is, gather a large army to attack Tokyo Bay - "Only by maintaining the survival of the southwest domain can Japan's strength be twisted!" In order to achieve this situation, it is necessary to weaken the strength of the new government forces as much as possible.

Whether it is a naval battle or a battle for Tokyo, victory or defeat is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to consume the strength of the Restoration government.

"What if the Battle of the Sailor was lost?" Zuo Zongtang frowned and thought about his precious shipmaster, and soon a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Zhang Shouyan smiled very easily, "Zuo Gong laughed. Dignified China, naval warfare is not as good as a projectile island country, how ridiculous. If the naval battle is unfavorable, my military gate should join forces with Zuo Gong to play Beijing, please open the navy quickly! ”

"Hahaha, hahaha......" Zuo Zongtang's loud laughter sounded in the flower hall. Well said, well said. Hahaha, hahaha......" The laughter spread far, far away.

That night, Zuo Zongtang held a private banquet to entertain Zhang Shouyan. Zhang Shouyan ate very comfortably this dinner, Zuo Zongtang's temper is known all over the world, and if he can eat his private banquet, his face can be three points brighter. As for the cooperation with Qin Jun, Zuo Zongtang completely agreed. In the early battle of Taiwan, Liu Xian sent another 3,000 troops in addition to four ironclad gunboats. For the rest, regardless of the number of Japanese troops, the Chu army was all covered. Of course, Zuo Zongtang also needed some guns and shells from the Qin army. Nowadays, the arsenal of the Qin army is also very famous, and within a few months of putting it into production, it directly squeezed the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, which invested more funds, to the second position.

Zhang Shouyan naturally agreed. As long as Zuo Zongtang doesn't feel sorry for the boat, this qiē is not a problem. But doesn't Zuo Zongtang really feel sorry for the ship? That's absolutely not. He agreed happily, just because he was Zuo Zongtang, not Li Hongzhang!

Zuo Zongtang is not Li Hongzhang, because he feels sorry for the fleet in his hands and because he is worried about his status, after the first battle in the Yellow Sea, he does not dare to fight again. What did Zuo Zongtang set up the Shipmaster Sailor for? In order to ward off the enemy on the ocean. If the shipmaster is a sailor who can't fight, what is the use of Zuo Zongtang? (To be continued......)