After discussing some details of the dispatch, Rong Lu first gave Zeng Guofan 10,000 taels of silver tickets as food, and the rest of Rong Lu promised to return to Yiyang to lead 3,000 town soldiers to meet and deliver them together. After the explanation, Rong Lu, Cheng En, and Na Ke didn't even eat, so they hurriedly left Zeng Guofan's handsome camp and went back to Yiyang.

After Rong Lu left, Zeng Guofan dismissed the generals, leaving only Luo Zenan, Guo Songtao, and Zeng Guoquan to discuss matters.

Zeng Guofan handed over the silver ticket given by Rong Lu to Guo Songtao, and Guo Songtao saw that it was the silver ticket of Shanxi ticket number Rishengchang, but it was not the unreliable Qing treasure banknote issued by the imperial court.

"What do you think of this dispatch?" Zeng Guofan took a sip of tea and asked slowly.

Zeng Guoquan was the first to stand up and said: "Brother, this Ronglu has a little white face, and I don't look very reliable at Lao Jiu." Even if he has 3,000 soldiers to come, plus our soldiers and horses can have 8,000 people, but Hengyang has more than 10,000 long hair, 20,000 in Changsha, 8,000 in Xiangtan, and Changmao has the convenience of the boat master. ”

Guo Songtao also said: "It is not easy for Zeng Shuai to recruit these 5,000 children of Xiangxiang, and the long hair is now powerful. ”

Luo Zenan glanced at the two of them and said, "Then why don't you say anything against it?" I see that as soon as you heard that people gave you money and food, you swallowed your words back. ”

Zeng Guoquan and Guo Songtao were silent, Rong Lu's 50,000 taels of silver was really life-saving money, how could they refuse?

Zeng Guofan waved his hand and said: "Don't argue first, since we have agreed to this matter, we will send troops according to the strategy, I am asking how to send troops!" ”

Guo Songtao's eyes lit up and he smiled slightly: "Zeng Shuai is still thoughtful, and I think that we will still send troops." It's just that our Xiangyong is behind, and once the situation is not right, we can walk away. ”

Zeng Guoquan's eyes widened and said, "This, this is too unrighteous, then it is better not to send troops." ”

Zeng Guofan looked at Luo Zenan and said, "Brother Zhongyue, what do you think?" ”

Luo Zenan took a deep breath and said: "Zeng Shuai, there is no turning back when you open the bow, instead of us Xiangyong hanging like this, it is better to do it vigorously, as the so-called wealth and danger are sought, let's believe in that Ronglu once." If you can recover Hengyang, the situation will be greatly reversed. ”

Zeng Guofan nodded slowly and said, "What you say makes sense, but in my opinion, we must go all out to send troops this time." Our Xiangyong is so poor now that he only has one life left, what else is there to be reluctant to? Besides, I don't think that Ronglu is a person who is a fool. This person has made great achievements in Shanghai and Jiangbei camps. It doesn't seem to be a person who only knows how to talk on paper. And the most important point is that this person was originally one of the Jiangbei battalion tribes, but the Jiangbei battalion was broken by Changmao, and his part not only did not suffer major damage, but also made great contributions to Yangzhou, but there is something hidden in it. ”

Luo Zenan sighed and said, "Zeng Shuai means that this Rong Lu has eyeliner on the long hair?" ”

Zeng Guofan smiled slightly: "There is nothing else to think about." ”

Guo Songtao bowed slightly: "In this way, this Rong Lu's achievement in the position of chief soldier at a young age is not all due to luck and ancestral shadow. It seems that he still has some means. ”

Zeng Guofan said slowly: "The old man has countless faces, looking at this Ronglu's face, he must be in the posture of entering the phase one day, and he can't be wrong by taking advantage of his fortune!" At that moment, Zeng Guofan slowly stood up and said, "Buy grain, grass and ordnance." The whole army is fighting, this time I will fight a bloody way! Several people bowed down together to receive the order, and then went on their own errands.

Zeng Guofan looked at Hengyang on the map alone, squinted his triangular eyes and muttered to himself: "If I get Hengyang, I can get more land for food and salary, and I can also train water masters, which is based on this, or I can expel the long hair and restore the Hunan land." ”

……

After walking more than ten miles, I looked around, only to see that the fertile fields were barren, and there were corpses and bones on the side of the road from time to time among the grasses, and the cold wind blew, but the earth was full of devastation. Rong Lu sighed secretly after reading it, but most places where there is war are like this. When he came to a dead tree, Rong Lu got off his horse, took some water, sat on the ground and ate it. Cheng En and Nak naturally dismounted and rested.

After eating a few mouthfuls of dry food, Rong Lu despised the fact that among the big rocks next to the big tree, a rotten skeleton was in the column, and he couldn't help but feel a horror in his heart, and then thought, if he didn't have the identity of this man, but traveled to the life of this skeleton, he was afraid that he would not be able to escape the fate of becoming a pile of bones. Life in the world, although all living beings are equal, but in fact, many fates have been destined in life, and how much effort you have to put in if you want to get ahead. Fortunately, now that you have the identity of a Manchurian, you can do a lot of things that others can't do, and in this kind of barbaric and ignorant shijie, you may only have a dead end except to be assimilated. I remember reading a novel before crossing over, it was well said that advanced civilizations can only assimilate backward civilizations under the protection of strong liliang, and if the former is a small group into the backward civilization, it will either be assimilated or eliminated.

At this time, Rong Lu thought of Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er, and their approach was actually no different from his own approach, first playing his own role, and then slowly influencing the people around him. If Rong Lu is not Rong Lu, I am afraid that I will not be able to walk through this troubled world alone for a day, and the end will be nothing more than being caught by Long Mao to be a soldier, or being killed by the Qing army.

Although when Xiao Yungui proposed to let him go south, Rong Lu himself was indeed moved, but the stubborn Lu Sixuan in his heart told himself that he could no longer be bullied by this rich man, and he could create a world by relying on Rong Lu's identity, so why should he rely on others? What's more, there is still a person in the palace waiting to rescue him!

Thinking of the Song Qingyun in the palace, Rong Lu's heart was tugging at the pain, for himself and for Song Qingyun, he had to stay, Qingyun was his alone, only he could save her, and only he was qualified to save her! As long as he can achieve his goals, he doesn't mind his status as a man at all! What's there to mind? He's not an angry youth at all! The honor and disgrace of the Han people? What does the life and death of others have to do with oneself? Now in Rong Lu's eyes, there is only the difference between useful people and useless people.

Seeing Rong Lu staring at a skeleton in a daze, Cheng En walked over and handed over the cowhide water bag and said: "Here Xiangyong and Changmao have fought a few battles, and many soldiers have died, and some flat-headed people have also been killed by mistake, and many bones have been left. No need to be surprised. Come, warm up with a glass of wine. ”

Rong Lu looked back at Cheng En, this person is very useful, Cheng En, Zabudonak and Li Chong brought out by the Jiangbei camp are his right-hand men. Rong Lu smiled slightly, took the cowhide bag and took a big sip, a warmth went down to his abdomen, and his whole body was comfortable.

"Brother Rong, why do we want to give Xiangyong silver?" Cheng En sat on the stone next to Rong Lu and asked, "If you want to borrow soldiers, there are still many soldiers in Hunan to borrow." ”

Rong Lu smiled faintly and said: "There are a lot of soldiers and horses in Xiangdi, but Xiangyong's situation is the most embarrassing, I just want to be grateful in the snow." And not the icing on the cake perfunctory. Besides, Xiang Yong is a local soldier, and the money is spent on them, which is worth it! ”

Cheng En frowned slightly and said, "You have also seen those Xiangyong who are called Huazi, can you do it with some soldiers?" ”

Rong Lu said slowly: "When you are so poor that you only have one life left, you will go to work hard. I believe that Xiang Yong and the Zhenxiao soldiers can fight against Long Hair. ”

Zabudonak leaned over and said, "It's just that those Xiangyong seem to be related to Zeng Guofan, I'm afraid they won't be used by me." ”

Rong Lu smiled and said, "There is no impermeable wall in the world. I don't believe that Xiangyong is monolithic. As long as we can take the first step, Zeng Shuai will slowly fall into my coffin. ”

Cheng En sighed lightly: "I'm afraid that the Hunan people are xenophobic and can't tolerate me." ”

Rong Lu waved his hand, smiled faintly and said: "I heard that Zeng Shuai has the eldest daughter Zeng Ji Jing Nian Fang Twelve, to be in the boudoir, two years later." Brother Chengen, what do you think of this marriage? ”

Cheng En was startled and said: "Brother, we can't easily marry a Han girl, besides, after you are a nobleman, I am only afraid that the family will ......."

Rong Lu raised his hand to interrupt Cheng En and said, "The eldest husband is not informal. What happened to marrying a Han girl? It's a big deal to win a few battles when the time comes, ask the emperor to marry, and I will talk about it in my family. ”

Cheng En was stunned for a moment and said: "Brother, I don't understand as a brother, is this Xiangyong worth it for you to do this?" ”

Rong Lu smiled faintly and said: "Wealth and power are all tied to this!" ”

Cheng En nodded and said: "Brother, I believe in your vision, although it is a bit painful to spend 50,000 taels of silver, fortunately, we also made a lot of money when we were camping in Jiangbei, and this money can be afforded." ”

Rong Lu hummed and said: "Li Chong and our firearms battalion will escort the arms to Yiyang tomorrow, and the three thousand muskets and twenty artillery pieces we bought from the foreigners when we were in the Jiangbei camp are all good goods, and we must not leak the news to let Zhang Liangji and them know." After the arms arrived, they were all matched to the children, and let Li Chong take the firearms battalion to teach the children to use firearms as soon as possible, and then go to Shaoshan to meet Xiangyong, and we will send troops on the New Year's Day of Changmao! ”

Cheng En nodded and said, "I know, my brother admires you a lot, and I can guess that Long Hair will send troops to Huai in winter." ”

Rong Lu shook his head and said: "Guarding the river must guard Huai, this is a common practice, what kind of person is the long-haired West King?" When I heard that this long-haired king had returned to Tianjing, I expected that he would definitely let Tianjing's long-haired team go out of the team. Once Tianjing wants to go out of the Huaishang, it must first protect the soldiers and horses going north, and the long hair of Xiangdi will definitely take the defensive, we must seize this opportunity, otherwise when the long hair gains a firm foothold in Jiangbei and turns back to fight Fujian and Jiangxi, Xiangdi will no longer be able to hold on. ”

Cheng En touched his chin and said, "Is this the truth, or Brother Rong has insight." ”

Rong Lu looked at Cheng En and sighed: "Brother Cheng En, how many times have I told you, read more military books, read more historical materials, these military affairs are not too difficult, as long as you are willing to think more, you can figure it out." In the future, we will encounter more and more wars, and I also hope that the two of you can be as more responsible as Li Chong, otherwise how can you two be relieved to stand alone in the future? ”

Cheng En and Na Ke both scratched their heads, Cheng En laughed and said: "Brother knows, just read the book, don't embarrass me, brother, I want to sleep when I read a book, and I always lose and lose, it's too unlucky, the two of us are not like Li Chong's kid who is a scholar." ”

Rong Lu sighed lightly and said no more, after eating and drinking, seeing that the sun was in the west, the three of them got on their horses and continued to hurry. Looking at the sunset and the cold west wind, Rong Lu's heart is hot, his own way has come out, what is so great about the long-haired Xiwang, if he can become a powerful minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the future, he will definitely let the long-haired Xiwang kneel and beg for mercy! (To be continued......)