In order to allow Han to join the Crimean War as soon as possible, the British and French governments were all inaccurate to Li Yunzhong's requirements, in order to test the sincerity of the British, Li Yunzhong deliberately proposed to take back Hong Kong, but Wen Han only thought about it for less than half an hour before agreeing, and the refreshing Taidu made Li Yunzhong stunned, and then he was angry, and the British were uneasy and kind!

At the military meeting, all the bigwigs in the army arrived, even Zuo Zongtang went to Beijing to report on his work because he was the new governor of Huguang, and several other marshals did not dare to be absent, especially Zeng Guoquan, the new commander of the Hunan army, rushed to Beijing first, and made friends with the ministers of Qingliu everywhere, a banquet every two days, and a meeting every three days, and soon gained a firm foothold, and with confidence, he did not regard himself as a new minister, and the voice of the big grin sounded in the meeting from time to time.

"Your Majesty, we are all Han Chinese, why bother to fight for the ghosts, these ghosts have no faith, they said they would support the Hunan army, who knows...... Give up halfway, we have to keep an eye on it, so as not to be betrayed by the ghosts, and count the money for them! ”

The participants frowned together, Zeng Guoquan's rough voice was very unsuitable for such an occasion, Zuo Zongtang and Zhao Liewen thought that they were Confucian generals and should respect the virtues of Confucian tradition.

Zhang Suimou was the farthest away from Zeng Guoquan, and he was indeed the first to scold:

"Presumptuous! In front of the emperor, how can he be so Meng Lang! ”

Although Zhang Suimou couldn't see Zeng Guoquan's appearance clearly, his unscrupulous voice made him very annoying. Although their brothers are all from the bottom, for the sake of gossip, the most important rules, often restrain their own behavioral norms, especially after the accident of Mengsheng, they can't wait to pretend to be a humble gentleman.

Looking at Zeng Guoquan's embarrassed appearance, Li Yunzhong smiled and waved his hand, signaled Zhang Suimou to stop, and said happily: "What Zeng Guoquan said is reasonable, foreigners are clearly plotting against each other. We can't afford to be on guard. I'm afraid that after the fight against Russia, they will continue to attack us, and a few months ago, I had summoned Chen Yucheng and others back to China. I'm afraid that foreigners will turn their faces and not recognize people. Use them as hostages. Blackmail big guys. ”

Zuo Zongtang sighed and said to everyone: "Foreigners are greedy and make good use of conspiracy and secret schemes. There are often disputes with the people, I often encounter such cases during the period when I was in charge of the two Guangzhou, they also regard the Han as the Manchu Qing, they are really ignorant and ignorant, if the foreigners dare not despise it, they must be taught a lesson, and it is really useless to attack Russia, the north is a bitter cold land, it is useless to ask for it, but to send troops to hold on, labor and money are really the next policy. ”

Zhao Liewen secretly pinched a sweat for Zuo Zongtang, this Zuo Zongtang has just returned to Beijing, and he is not clear about the situation, the emperor is no longer the Royal Highness of the Han King in Nanjing, nor is he a British lord who was good at admonishing when he first ascended the throne, in order to maintain his prestige, the emperor just moved the capital to Beijing and dealt with two cabinet ministers.

When Li Yunzhong heard this, he was quite annoyed, and when he saw that there were still people who were smiling and smiling among the crowd, Long Yan was furious, slapped the case heavily, and reprimanded: "The Russian Empire is more vigilant than the British, since the Mengyuan Dynasty, they have invaded all the territories in northern China, and now they have hit the northeast with their ideas. ”

Telling these people about the importance of Siberia is simply playing the piano to the cow, Li Yunzhong had to find a far-fetched reason to block Youyou's mouth.

Zuo Zongtang's bull temper also came up, and he said: "How can the emperor govern the bitter cold land in the north, do you let the people herd horses and sheep?" In the long run, what do these people mean by the Yi people, and who will remember that they are Yanhuang Zhengshuo! ”

"You!" Li Yunzhong was shocked and angry, he wanted to take heavy responsibility, but looking at Zuo Zongtang's gray hair, his heart softened again, and he said: "I have already decided to send troops, and you can only make suggestions, and you must not shake the hearts of the army!" ”

Marvel! Marvel! Zhao Liewen and others were amazed, and thought that Zuo Zongtang would not escape, after all, during his reign in Liangguang, he left too many handles, and the emperor could dismiss the official if he said a word, but he didn't expect the result to be like this, Zuo Zongtang not only had nothing to do, but proved his status in the emperor's heart, which was much better than Chang Dachun and others.

Zhang Suimou took out a folded drawing, ordered the guards to hang it up, eased the atmosphere, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, this drawing is a synthesis of all the northern atlases of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, plus some sent by foreigners, the places bordering on Russia in my Han Dynasty have basically been explored, and the important cities and resident gathering points in Russia are drawn on the atlas, especially in the area of Nebuchu in the northeast, there are still many spies lurking in the intelligence bureau personnel, as long as the Han army arrives, you can find the main force of the Russian army for a decisive battle." ”

Zeng Guoquan knew that the Hunan army must participate in this campaign, so he was very concerned about this map, looked at the border line that stretched for tens of thousands of miles, and sighed: "The emperor is wise, Russia borders on the Han Dynasty, if Russia is strong, it will definitely fight the idea of the Han Dynasty, strike first, and then be controlled by others, our army is also for national defense considerations, and it is by no means an unwarranted invasion of other people's land and propaganda of hegemonism." ”

Zhao Liewen, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Yang Kailin, the squire of the Ministry of War, and others nodded for a while, China has believed in Confucianism since ancient times, focusing on moral cultivation, and attacking other countries for no reason is shameful for a gentleman.

Zuo Zongtang listened to Zeng Guoquan's flattering words, and angrily reprimanded: "The villain is in profit! It is not difficult for our army to capture these places, but how to face the mouth of the world and spend money on the soldiers, just for these barren lands, which can neither farm nor build cities, what is the use of getting them! ”

Zeng Guoquan's face was flushed, he had been humiliated in public like this, even if Zeng Guofan wanted to teach him a lesson, it was when there was no one around, he persuaded him with good words, but he didn't expect Zuo Zongtang to look down on him so much, and call him a villain in public.

Li Yunzhong smiled indifferently, although there was nothing to do on the surface, Zeng Guoquan already held a grudge against Zuo Zongtang, the Xiang army and the Chu army would not be in the same stream after all, Li Hongzhang was a smart person, and the Huai army would soon be able to draw a clear line with the Hunan army and the Chu army.

The Chu army is the eleventh army of the main force of the second group army, Zuo Zongtang's trump card troops, because most of the members are from Zhejiang and Jiangxi, so they often use the name of the Chu army, and the headquarters has been expanded to three divisions and as many as 50,000 people.

The Huai Army is Li Hongzhang's 14th Army, because the main force is the security force trained by Liu Mingchuan and Wu Changqing in Anhui.

Li Yunzhong originally wanted to crack down on this regional concept, but later saw that these two armies were capable of fighting well, the cohesion in the army was extremely high, and the commanders were both enlightened figures, so he left it to his own devices for the time being, and planned to reorganize and dismantle them after Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang became famous.

"Okay, it's noon, adjourn for the time being, let's all go and rest!" Li Yunzhong saw that Zuo Zongtang was always looking for faults, so he wanted to talk to him in private.

Li Yunzhong came to the harem angrily, and wanted to have dinner with all the concubines calmly, but when he remembered Zuo Zongtang's outspoken admonition, he had no appetite.

"Does the emperor have something on his mind?" Su Sanniang was teasing her daughter, but her mind kept paying attention to Li Yunzhong.

Li Yunzhong hurriedly said the cause and effect, and added a sentence at the end: "Zuo Zongtang is a capable minister, and he is very old, I can't bear to deal with him, besides, there is a lesson from Lin Zexu's past, hey!" Anyway, I can't do anything. ”

Su Sanniang frowned slightly, and couldn't think of any good way for a while, seeing Chang Shuying's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, she had an idea, and said with a smile: "Sister Chang has a plan?" ”

Su Sanniang is also a painstaking person, since the emperor disposed of Chang Dachun, he has snubbed Chang Shuying, poor Chang Shuying is caught in the middle, restless all day long, sick several times, and her face is becoming more and more haggard, which makes the women feel related to each other, and try their best to make Li Yunzhong change her mind.

Chang Shuying glanced at Li Yunzhong timidly, met her eyes, and quickly lowered her head, not daring to speak.

Li Yunzhong was distressed for a while, he didn't mean to snub Chang Shuying, he just filmed Chang Shuying to intercede for Chang Dachun, and he couldn't agree, so he had these things later.

"Shuying can say it if she has something to say, no matter what she says, I won't blame her."

Chang Shuying glanced at Su Sanniang gratefully, and whispered: "Lord Zuo's words are not unreasonable, the emperor should pay attention to it." ”

Li Yunzhong sighed in disappointment and said angrily, "Isn't my words reasonable?" ”

"No, no, no! The emperor misunderstood. Chang Shuying hurriedly shook her head and added: "Zuo Zongtang's position is different from that of the emperor, he speaks from the position of the gentry of the whole world, and naturally there will be differences with the emperor, and the emperor will have to find someone else to persuade him." ”

Li Yunzhong was confused and asked, "Why can't I do it?" Just now, I wanted to talk to Zuo Zongtang. ”

Seeing that the emperor attached importance to his own opinions, Chang Shuying secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "The emperor and Zuo Zongtang have different positions, your reason is the reason why Lord Zuo opposes, if you find someone who holds the same position as Lord Zuo to persuade him, it will be much easier." ”

Li Yunzhong suddenly said: "You mean that Zuo Zongtang is preconceived, I understand, hahaha...... Shuying, I want to thank you, I'm going to find someone! ”

Looking at the fiery Li Yunzhong, Su Sanniang smiled at the dumbfounded Chang Shuying: "The emperor is like this, do whatever you want, you will soon get used to it." ”

The reason why Li Yunzhong attaches so much importance is that he has the intention of letting the Chu army go on the expedition. (To be continued......)