After returning to the back hall and sitting down, Hai Tingchen ordered the servants to change the refreshments, and the tea that was replaced was steaming, Hai Tingchen said with a smile: "Junmen, Yuanfu come to taste this Yunfeng Maojian, and there are only a few taels left in this zuihou." ”

Zeng Guoquan looked hesitant, didn't drink tea, and waved his big hand and said: "Haigong, we have been drinking this tea for a long time, and when we talk about this today, you have to give a clear word, the squire fathers and elders in Xiangxiang City finally scraped together tens of thousands of taels of silver, you can't raise all of them to Yiyang, our Xiangxiang soldiers are waiting for this money to be paid." ”

Hai Tingchen put down the teacup and smiled faintly, then sighed lightly and said: "Yuan Fu, this official knows the difficulties of Lord Shilang, but it is also difficult for this official to be sandwiched between Lord Governor and Lord Shilang." According to the style, Xiangyong's money and grain are self-raised, and the money and grain in my county government are to be supplied to the army, from last year to now, I still owe more than 100,000 taels of silver in Xiangxiang, and the governor is also urging money and grain. ”

Rong Lu was sipping tea by himself, and Cheng En and Zabu Donak were sitting next to him, both of whom were also drinking to themselves, obviously watching too much of this kind of lawsuit.

But when Rong Lu drank tea, his mind spun quickly. In the early days of the Hunan army, most of the military money and food came from the sale of official titles and academic titles, that is, the donations of the gentry, and a small part of them were allocated by the governor's yamen or the imperial court. The biggest feature of this source of military spending is instability, so it was common for the Hunan army to be in arrears or pay half of the salary in the early days. But it's not like this, I can't even eat.

After thinking about it, Rong Lu already knew what was wrong, the old friend of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had ruthlessly defeated Changsha, and places east of the Xiangjiang River, such as Hengyang, Xiangyin, and Yueyang, were all in the hands of the Taiping army. It can be said that most of the rich land in Hunan has been lost. However, the historical Hunan army was formed by raising money and grain in Changsha, and it is not surprising that the current Hunan army lacks rich Changsha, Hengyang and other places, so it is not surprising that there is a lack of money and food. Although Zeng Guofan, Guo Songtao, Luo Zenan and others also had some family wealth, it was still very difficult to supply thousands of Xiangyong to fight. It can be said that the Hunan army has encountered the biggest problem at present, that is, the source of money and food, if there is no money and food, let alone send troops to fight the Taiping army, maybe one day Xiang Yong will disperse in a hurry.

Zeng Guoquan gritted his teeth and said in a muffled voice: "Haigong, don't be unlucky, we don't want much of the 80,000 taels of silver raised by the squires in Xiangxiang City." You allocate 30,000 taels, let Xiang Yong respond for a while, and later break Changsha, and a lot of silver will be returned to you. ”

Hai Tingchen smiled dumbly and said: "Zeng Laojiu, Zeng Laojiu, what Xiangxiang recruited is an official photo issued by the imperial court. What do you do with Xiangyong? This is more than the silver governor has personally inquired about it, and it will be transferred to Yiyang. No one is missing. Besides, we are not a private businessman. Is there any bargaining? Break Changsha? Hmph, just with Xiangyong's four or five thousand people, can he break the 20,000 long hairs in Changsha? ”

Zeng Guoquan's temper is not very good, when he came, Zeng Guofan had repeatedly told him not to be hasty and patient, but in the morning, Shanghai Tingchen and he went around for a long time without giving a clear word, and now he was robbed by Hai Tingchen again. Zeng Guoquan couldn't hold back any longer, and immediately slapped the table, and the tea and pastries on the table were shocked and jumped up, "Haigong." Thousands of my Zeng Lao Jiu's brothers have to eat, if everyone who hasn't eaten is scattered, if the long hair comes over, everyone will die here! Then Zeng Guoquan looked at Rong Lu with big eyes and said: "Rongjunmen, since the imperial court has appointed you as the assistant minister of the regimental training, you can give me a word." ”

Hai Tingchen was taken aback by Zeng Guoquan, Rong Lu slowly put down the teacup, smiled slightly, and secretly thought that although this Zeng Guoquan was a person who had read books, his temper was not much different from those people in the market, and he waved his hand and said: "Brother Yuanfu sit down first, let's talk slowly, you are also from Gongsheng, you can't be so angry when you encounter something." Lord Hai just told the truth, and the official hasn't opened his mouth yet, so you don't have to worry. ”

Zeng Guoquan slowly calmed down at this time, although he helped his brother to run Xiangyong, and he was also born in Gongsheng, but he did not have an official position, and the two people in front of him were both officials of the imperial court.

Rong Lu looked at Zeng Guoquan and said: "Since this official is the assistant minister appointed by the imperial court, and Zeng Gong, the assistant minister of group training, is naturally one. Now that Xiangyong is a start-up, it costs money everywhere, and I heard that Zeng Gong sold a lot of family property to meet the needs of the army, which really made me feel ashamed. ”

When Zeng Guoquan heard this, his face slowly became better-looking, and he only heard Rong Lu continue: "Brother Yuanfu, this official is new to the road, when this official and Lord Hai finish talking about business first, he will naturally go to Xiangyong Camp to visit Lord Shilang, you can rest assured, Xiangyong's money and food, this official will definitely give you an explanation." You go back and bring a message to Zeng Shilang first, and Rong Lu will come to pay a visit later. ”

Zeng Guoquan stood up and bowed his hand, but said unceremoniously: "Rongjunmen, today I Zeng Laojiu will listen to you and go back first, but I hope you don't talk and don't talk." Then he turned and walked away.

Cheng En, who was beside Rong Lu, was furious, stood up and pointed at Zeng Guoquan's back and said, "Damn, what kind of birdman is this." ”

Hai Tingchen hurriedly persuaded: "Don't blame the three adults, this Zeng Lao Jiu has this temper, he is straighter, but he doesn't have any bad intentions. ”

Rong Lu smiled and waved his hand, "It's okay, I can see that he is really in a hurry." Then Rong Lu looked at Hai Tingchen and asked, "Is Xiangyong really embarrassed in terms of money and food?" The official went to Yiyang to see Zhang Futai, and he didn't mention it. ”

Hai Tingchen sighed lightly and said: "Speaking of this Xiang Yong, Xiangxiang Township has long hairs in the past, if they don't fight desperately, Xiangxiang will not be able to keep it, and the lower officials are very admitted." It is also a loss that Zeng Shilang has maintained it, and the green battalion soldiers and Eight Banner soldiers next to him would have made a fuss if they hadn't been paid for a month, and Zeng Shilang's Xiangyong had not been paid for four or five months, and he could still hold it down, and the lower officials still admired Zeng Shilang. If it weren't for Lord Futai's order, the lower officials would not have helped Xiang Yong more, but unfortunately the land under the control of the lower officials was not rich, and he had more than enough heart but not enough strength. ”

Rong Lu smiled faintly and said in a deep voice: "How much do the local squires donate? ”

Hai Tingchen sighed and said: "Most of the rich land in Hunan is occupied by Changmao, and the rest of the land in Xiangxi is not very rich, just like our Xiangxiang land, there were several waves of people in Xiangyong and other provinces, and the local squires have donated more than ten times, and I heard that Tao Shu Tao's family has paid more than a dozen times, and the family has long had no money, let alone other rich squires." The 80,000 taels donated this time were all brought by the official to force the donation, which is really ashamed. There is no money and food allocated by the imperial court, and even if it is allocated, it is a treasure money that no one dares to use, and Lord Futai does not dare to pay it. A province's military and political expenses are all counting on this money, where is this enough? ”

Hai Tingchen went on to say that Xiangyong lacked money and food, it turned out that in addition to the Qing army's control of Hunan is not very rich, from last year to this year, the Qing army and the Taiping army have been fighting in Xiangdi, the Qing army has come to several waves of people, there are people from all over the country, and the local area has also held group exercises, every time it is a variety of donations to be overwhelmed, even the local Shili huge Tao Shu Tao boss family can't afford it, not to mention other squires and rich households? Xiangdi gives people a feeling of drying up and fishing, and I am afraid that there will be no oil and water squeezed out.

When this kind of thing happened, Zeng Guofan had nothing to do, so he had to promise that the salary owed would be paid, and Xiangyong was mostly recruited by Zeng Guofan's clan, friends, and division commanders, and most of them were villagers in the village, and everyone also trusted Zeng Dashuai, so it was still passable. Slowly, Zeng Guofan discovered that these arrears had almost become soldiers' deposits. A soldier who has paid a deposit, when he wants to escape, has to use one more thought. In addition, this deposit has a greater effect, when he is discharged from the army, he can get a considerable amount of cash at once, which can be used as the capital for him to make a living after returning to his hometown, so as not to create a large number of displaced people in the township who can only kill people but not produce, which is greatly conducive to the stability of the township after the war. Therefore, the Hunan army later simply stipulated that only half of the salary would be paid, and the other half of the soldiers' salary would be deposited in the "public office".

Rong Lu hummed and said: "The matter of money and food is nothing more than opening up sources and reducing expenditures, and the current war is to motivate the soldiers, and such things as throttling are absolutely impossible, so let's think more about the method of open source." The official also encountered this shortage of money and grain when he was in the camp in Jiangbei, and then thought about a fold, opened a law of tax contributions, and now it is quite effective in central and northern Jiangsu. ”

Hai Tingchen sighed and said: "Xia Guan has also read the Di Bao, and the strategy of Li Jin can indeed be rich, but our Xiangxiang land and Changsha are approaching, and we often fight fiercely with long-haired thieves, and there are not many businessmen and merchants, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to have more." ”

Rong Lu smiled slightly and said: "The way is dead, people are alive, let's plan slowly and always come up with a way." This time, the official came to visit the Hai people, and the second was to see the landform of Xiangxiang, and then the official wanted to counterattack Changmao, most of which was to start from the land of Xiangxiang, and asked the Hai people to help at that time. ”

Hai Tingchen also didn't believe the person in front of him, he was not yet twenty years old to achieve the position of the general soldier, although I heard that he was in Shanghai to eliminate the bandits, and he also contributed to the strategy of giving money, the Jiangbei camp was broken in front, and he also tried his best to turn the tide and protect Yangzhou, but in Hai Tingchen's view, Rong Lu can hold a high position with Chongling, most of which is due to his father and grandfather's Yu Yin, and he is also a Manchurian. At this moment, I heard Rong Lu say that he wanted to counterattack Changmao, and he really didn't believe it, "Changsha, Hengyang, Xiangyin, and Yueyang have no less than tens of thousands of Changmao soldiers, and there are boat divisions to respond, so Rongjunmen can't be careless." ”

Rong Lu smiled slightly and said: "At the end of the long-haired thief's crossbow, Lai Hanying is not an all-rounder, he still has a big flaw, and I will see that this official will break the enemy later." The Hai people only need to prepare the manpower, the warehouse, and the camp, and then the officers and soldiers will arrive. After speaking, he got up and said goodbye: "Everything you need is written in the official document, and I also ask Lord Hai to do the errand as soon as possible, and the official will go to Xiangyong Camp to see Zeng Shilang now." (To be continued......)