Compared with the turmoil in the court on the side of the Taiping army, the turmoil in the Qing court was greater, although there was a great victory in Nanchang, but the situation of the Qing army as a whole began to shift from offensive to defensive is unchangeable.

At the beginning of October, not long after the victory in Nanchang, Wei Changhui, the northern king of the Taiping army, captured Luzhou, and Shi Dakai, the king of wings, successively attacked the city and began to threaten the safety of Jingxiang. In the face of the defeat of the war in Hubei, Anhui and other places, Emperor Xianfeng jumped like thunder, the foreman of the military aircraft Minister Qi Liaozao was removed from his post and investigated, the military department Shangshu Guiliang was demoted to three levels and retained, and the governor of Jiangbei Military Affairs Shengbao was dismissed and locked in the Beijing division for questioning.

Subsequently, Xianfeng sent the minister of the clan to order Prince Hui Mianyu to be the general and Monk Lingqin to be the counselor and minister to lead the troops south to continue to suppress the bandits. However, Zeng Guofan, Rong Lu and others were rewarded for the victory in Nanchang.

Because Rong Lu is a banner man, he not only won Baturu's brave name, but also won the title of admiral, and even got a yellow coat to wear. It's just that his rank of admiral is a fictitious title, not a real official title, but he is still leading troops in the Hunan army. Xianfeng alone gave Rong Lu the will to serve well in the Hunan army, and vaguely told Rong Lu to monitor Zeng Guofan and other Han army generals. In fact, although Xianfeng issued the will of the provinces to run regimental training to protect themselves, he was also worried that these Han generals who would hold military power in the future were also afraid that they would rise up and rebel.

In the ensuing pursuit battle, the money, food, firearms and other materials left by Yang Fuqing made the Hunan army full, and won the rewards and praises of the imperial court.

When the Hunan army returned to Hengyang, it was also troubled by several other Qing troops, because the things they captured were too rich. It was also Rong Lu who came forward to reach a deal with several Qing troops, so that the Hunan army could return to the division safely. The Qing army was not monolithic, because of the competition for military merits, prisoners, and captures, conflicts broke out between Qing armies from all walks of life. It's just that this kind of conflict will not be reported by generals from all walks of life, and if you can grab it, you have the ability, and if you can't grab it, you don't have the ability.

The strength of the Hunan army should not be underestimated, whether it was to buy Rong Lu's account from the Qing army from all walks of life, after paying a part of the spoils, Rong Lu and Zeng Guoquan led the Hunan army back to Hengyang.

After returning to Hengyang, the future father-in-law Zeng Guofan was overjoyed, and held a banquet for three days in a row to celebrate Ronglu and Zeng Guoquan, compared with the first defeat and loss of the Hunan army in history. The Hunan army's unsuccessful expedition has been greatly rewarded, why is Zeng Guofan unhappy?

Originally, Zeng Guofan was still a little unkind to Rong Lu, the son-in-law of the banner man, and always felt that he was forced to marry his daughter to him due to the situation, but now it seems that Rong Lu, this kid is young and promising, and having him in the Xiang army must also make the court feel at ease with the Xiang army. It was Zeng Guofan who began to rely on Ronglu.

This time, the Hunan army returned with a great victory, and many generals of the Hunan army clamored to recover Changsha and other lost territories in Hunan. However, Rong Lu firmly believed that the Hunan army's training had not yet been completed. It's not time to send troops in a big way. Zeng Guofan also agreed with Rong Lu's statement. The Hunan army did not succeed, and the troops were far from being the opponents of the Taiping army at this time, especially Changsha at this time after several years of reinforcement by the Taiping army, which can be described as impregnable, and if you want to recover Changsha, you must be completely sure, otherwise the defeat of the Taiping army in Nanchang is an example.

After Zeng Guofan and Rong Lu joined forces to suppress the restlessness in the Hunan army, the two continued to train in Hengyang. Rong Lu continued to expand his business in Guangdong, and continued to buy Western firearms to arm the Hunan army by land.

In the afternoon, it was already cold in the middle of winter, and although it was afternoon, there was no trace of warmth. Rong Lu after reading the latest trading books. got up and straightened his clothes, and sighed secretly: "It's still Xiao Yungui, this kid can let go of his hands and feet, and he has bought the entire firearms production line." ”

It turned out that Rong Lu opened his own business in Guangzhou, and in addition to being responsible for doing business, Rong Lu's Rong Yun business name was also responsible for finding out the news. The Xidian Taiping Army ordered two M1842 rifle production lines in Kamanerryder, Sweden, as well as three attached accessories and ammunition production lines, spending a total of more than 3 million taels of silver, and this sky-high transaction was not a secret in Guangzhou, where foreigners gathered.

When Rong Lu first heard the news, the kid's first reaction was to see if he could rob this batch of goods in Guangzhou, but later learned that the British actually sent warships to escort the trade, and the Swedes were also very cautious, they only stopped in Hong Kong to replenish supplies and coal water and then continued to go north, and had no intention of stopping in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou and other places. This made Rong Lu feel beyond his reach, and he could only watch the foreigners' goods go north to Ningbo.

Rong Lu got up and walked to the window of the study, looking at the dark clouds outside the window, and suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness, was his movement too slow or because there were too many confinements on his head? Why do you always walk behind Xiao Yungui? He knew very well what kind of catastrophic consequences the smoothbore guns equipped by the Hunan army would be after encountering a large number of rifled guns, although the rifled guns may have a slightly slower rate of fire than the smoothbore guns, but the range of the rifled guns can make up for all this, and the accuracy of the rifled guns is also very terrible.

Rong Lu can even yujian to the time when the array of Xiang Yong under his command is not close to the array of the Taiping Army, his array will be riddled with rifled guns with a range of hundreds of meters, and the tactics of queuing and shooting need to maintain a complete array to maintain firepower, although Xiang Yong is brave, but Rong Lu does not think that Xiang Yong will be more brave than the Red Shirts, even if it is the Red Shirts, if they lose two to three percent of their combat power before they enter the range, they will collapse, not to mention the Xiang Army?

What's even more terrifying is that in defensive warfare, the Taiping army can also rely on the range advantage of rifled guns to steadily suppress the firepower of the Hunan defenders outside the range of smoothbore guns and bows and arrows, with the large-scale use of rifled guns, Rong Lu can even expect that Xiao Yungui's gang will definitely organize and train specialized snipers, which is also a huge disaster for the defense of the Hunan army. The defense can't prevent it, let alone the Hunan army to attack the strong camp of the Taiping army in the West Temple, and the Hunan army will collapse outside the range of the rifled gun.

The more he thought about it, the more upset he became, Rong Lu decided to go to see Zeng Guofan, he also wanted to buy rifled guns, and at the same time, he also wanted the court to put pressure on foreigners, so he couldn't let it go like this. After making up his mind, Rong Lu called the servants to change their clothes. After packing up, Rong Lu took the top warm sedan car and went to Zeng Guofan's mansion in Hengyang.

After arriving at Zeng Guofan's mansion, Rong Lu stepped down from the warm sedan chair, but found that several carriages and horses were parked on the side, and several female dependents walked down in a richly decorated carriage. Rong Lu was dressed in civilian clothes, wearing a purple robe, a bearskin coat on the outside, and a light blue round hat on his head, which looked very handsome, but it attracted the laughter of the female dependents Yingying Yanyan and looked at him from time to time.

Rong Lu walked up to the gatehouse of the mansion. When I looked back, I saw two maids and two grandmother-like women among the female dependents, hugging a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl pointing and laughing at herself. Although the eyebrows are delicate, they lack the charm of an adult woman, and they wear a white fox fur jacket. It looks even cuter.

Rong Lu was slightly stunned. When they looked at it, the maids and grandmothers lowered their heads in fright, but the girl was still looking at her with her head held high, and her pretty face was flushed with carved jade, but she did not avoid her gaze at all, and her eyes were full of curiosity.

I saw that several carriages kept moving objects. They are all home objects, even the haode rosewood tables and chairs have been moved down, and there are incense burners, screens, brocade quilts and other things used in women's boudoirs.

Rong Lu beckoned to the porter and asked, "Whose lady is this?" ”

That little guy is the long-term entourage of the Zeng State Domain, and Rong Lu goes in and out of the Zeng Mansion all the year round. He also set up a mandarin alliance with Zengfu, because the people in Zengfu are very familiar with Ronglu. The little guy stepped forward and smiled and said a thousand words: "Master, this is the eldest lady." ”

Rong Lu was still entangled in the armament of the Taiping Army, and he didn't think back to it for a while, and said in his mouth: "It turned out to be Miss Zeng." ”

Li Zhong, Ronglu's henchman beside him, reminded: "Junmen, this young lady is the future lady." ”

Only then did Rong Lu react, this woman was Zeng Jijing, the eldest daughter of Zeng Guofan, who had made a relationship with him. Rong Lu coughed slightly, and the maids and grandmothers who dared to be suitable were pointing out to Zeng Jijing and telling her who her future husband was.

For this family business, Rong Lu was completely out of interest considerations, but he didn't expect Zeng Jijing to be such a lovely person carved in jade, although it was not convenient to meet before marriage, but he met her by chance at the gate of Zeng's mansion like this, and he couldn't say hello without stepping forward, and Rong Lu said to Li Chong at the moment: "Bring the magnifying glass in the baggage." ”

Li Chongyi took out the magnifying glass, which Rong Lu was going to bring to Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guofan began to be a little old and couldn't read the documents clearly, so Rong Lu ordered someone to buy a few glasses and magnifying glasses in this business, ready to give them to Zeng Guofan.

After taking the magnifying glass, Rong Lu walked straight to the lovely man next to the carriage, the maids and grandmothers didn't seem to expect Rong Lu to come over so loudly, and they were so frightened that they lowered their heads and retreated behind Zeng Jijing.

The girl didn't expect her fiancé to suddenly come towards her, and her little face turned even redder at the moment, and she was a little at a loss.

Rong Lu walked up to the front and bowed slightly: "Hello Miss Zeng, I am Rong Lu." ”

Rong Lu's self-introduction was polite and straightforward, Zeng Jijing was a little flustered for a while, she didn't expect to meet her future husband at the door of her house today, and she didn't expect him to come over to talk to her, but she was young and young, and she was also a scholarly person, so she accepted a blessing with a red face at the moment, and replied in a low voice: "Hello Rong Gongzi." ”

Rong Lu felt that he really had nothing to say to her, so he handed over the magnifying glass in his hand and said: "This is a Western magnifying glass, which can magnify objects and look at them, which is very interesting, this is a meeting gift for you." ”

Zeng Jijing was slightly stunned, but did not stretch out his hand, Rong Lu became a little impatient, took her hand and handed the magnifying glass to her, and said: "I have an urgent matter to meet Zeng Dashuai, let's see you back." With that, he strode away.

Zeng Jijing's heart jumped suddenly, looking at the magnifying glass in his hand, his pretty face turned red, but the little maid on the side whispered and laughed: "Our future uncle is so special, as soon as we met, I gave Miss such a strange thing, what can this thing do?" But this future uncle is dignified and still very young. ”

Zeng Jijing turned around and said coquettishly: "You guys be quiet, didn't you just twitter attract him?" ”

The grandmother on the side smiled and said: "Miss, don't be ashamed, we just arrived in Hengyang today, and the master met him before he even saw him, isn't this fate?" ”

Zeng Jijing blushed and looked at Rong Lu's straight and sturdy back, speechless. (To be continued......)

PS: I wish you all a happy Chinese New Year, all the best, and xiexie support.