At the same time, thousands of miles away in the yamen of the prefect of Yuezhou Mansion in Hunan, Zeng Guofan also sneezed fiercely, and Guo Songtao on the side said: "Zeng Shuai, the weather has been changeable recently, and you have to take care of yourself." ”

Zeng Guofan took out a sweat towel and wiped it slightly, his triangular eyes were faintly lit and then grayed again, and he said with a wry smile: "Eventful, it's really an eventful autumn." ”

Before Guo Songtao could speak, Zeng Guoquan's loud voice outside the study door shouted: "Brother, Rong Lu has a letter!" While speaking, I saw Zeng Guoquan and Luo Zenan, another important figure in the Hunan army, arriving together.

Zeng Guofan's triangular eyes glared at Zeng Guoquan fiercely and said angrily: "Are you afraid that people don't know?" If you don't listen, if you don't listen, now we have to keep our connection with Zhonghua secret! ”

Zeng Guoquan said curtly: "What are you afraid of, here are all your own people." ”

Zeng Guofan said coldly: "Doesn't my son-in-law also think that his subordinates are trustworthy people? In the blink of an eye, he was betrayed by his own worship brother! This Yuezhou Mansion is not as good as Hengyang, but I am afraid that the partition wall has ears! After that, he stopped dwelling on the topic and said, "Bring the letter." ”

After Zeng Guofan read the letter, his face became solemn, and he handed the letter to Zeng Guoquan, Guo Songtao, Luo Zenan and others for circulation.

Zeng Guoquan was the first to read it, and said: "Brother, you see that even Zhonghua said, let's raise troops to reinforce Jiang Zhongyuan in Guangxi, are we dividing our troops to go south?" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Zeng Guofan said lightly: "Zhonghua is a family, after all, he is still younger, and he doesn't know the danger. ”

Zeng Guoquan hurriedly said: "Brother, if Guangxi is lost." Our Xiangyong will be attacked on three sides, with Shi Dakai in the north, Chen Yucheng in the south, and Li Xiucheng and Lin Qirong in the east, and Hunan will not be protected. ”

Luo Zenan also said: "Yes, Zeng Shuai." As the so-called lips are dead and teeth are cold, Huguang is one, Guangdong has been lost, if Guangxi is lost again, Xiangyong may not be able to support it. ”

Zeng Guofan took an unhurried sip of tea and asked slowly, "What is the current weather of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom?" ”

Everyone looked at each other strangely, why did Zeng Guofan suddenly change his words and not call it long hair. In the end, Guo Songtao said: "Zeng Shuai, since Hong Rebellion and Yang Rebellion fought hard, Changmao was taken advantage of by the Western Thieves to enter Jinling. Now Longhair is the West Thief family in power. The western thief has quite a trick, and the long-haired fire is so fierce that he can stabilize the situation, but it has been more than a year. Long hair is not weak but strong. The offensive intensified. ”

Zeng Guofan nodded and said: "That's right, the ability of the King of Taiping West is indeed very good, the previous long-haired kings were in their own formations, and sooner or later there would be disasters, and Zhonghua also said back then, there will be a fight within the long-haired people." But this turmoil was suppressed by this person, and he even unified the inside of Long Hair, and now Long Hair is already ironclad. It's hard to shake anymore. ”

Zeng Guoquan frowned and said, "So what? We have been fighting with Longhair for a long time, and we have a common hatred. Why does my brother grow up today to destroy his own prestige? ”

Zeng Guofan asked in a deep voice: "Let me ask you, what would happen if Changmao didn't fight Liangguang, but Shi Dakai, Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng and Longhair's Navy Luo Outline and other troops came together to attack Hunan?" ”

Zeng Guoquan was a little dumbfounded when he boarded, and Luo Zenan and Guo Songtao looked at each other and were silent.

Zeng Guofan sighed lightly and said: "Do you still remember last year when we got the news of the long-haired infighting, the heavy troops of the Xiangyong water and land armies went north to attack Wuchang. ”

Luo Zenan said with some bitterness: "Of course I remember, we did have an advantage at the beginning, but then Shi Dakai led his troops back to Wuchang, and with the help of Luo Xuan's sailors, Changmao's new Western warships were on the Yangtze River, and our sailors were not opponents, so we had to retreat to Yuezhou in the end." ”

Guo Songtao also sighed: "Yes, that defeat was a bit miserable, but fortunately, we stabilized our position and held Yuezhou later." ”

Zeng Guofan shook his head and said coldly: "At that time, Ben Shuai also thought so, but fortunately, we kept it by ourselves." But now in retrospect, if Changmao really took advantage of the victory to pursue, the two divisions would attack Yuezhou, with the strength and ability of Shi Dakai, Luo Outline and others, can we really hold Yuezhou? Yuezhou can't hold it, and Xiangyin and Changsha behind it can't hold it! ”

Zeng Guoquan smiled and said, "Brother, does that mean that Changmao let us go?" ”

Zeng Guofan glared at him and said, "No, there is not a day when Long Mao doesn't want to attack our Xiangyong!" ”

Zeng Guoquan didn't understand and said, "Then why don't they take advantage of the situation to attack us?" ”

Zeng Guofan said in a deep voice: "That King of the West's vision has far surpassed us, and Xiang Yong is no longer the entire chess game in his eyes, but just one of his chess pieces. ”

Zeng Guofan stood up and took two steps and then said: "But in chess, the one who can see one step and think three steps is the master, our mortal enemy King Xi, his eyes have been on the back dozen or so steps. ”

Zeng Guoquan said unconvinced: "How can the western thief be as godly as you say, brother? If this were the case, our Xiangyong would have been exterminated by him a long time ago, can we still laugh here? ”

Zeng Guofan sneered: "You are also a person who sees the tricks, and you are far worse than others." Although our Hunan Yong troops are not comparable to Changmao, we are all children of the Hunan people, even if Changmao can break through Changsha, Yuezhou and other places, they can't completely control the gentry clan forces in the countryside, and those people still support us. If Changmao really broke into the hinterland of central Hunan at that time, although he could occupy a few big cities, he would still not be able to control the whole of Hunan in the end, but would trap a large number of troops in Hunan. Therefore, this king of the West chose to block us on the front line of Yuezhou and Changde very cunningly, while his heavy troops made a detour to fight Liangguang. Needless to say, before the fall of Guangdong, it was still the only place of trade in our Xiangyong, and it was also the source of taxes and revenue for several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. And Guangxi is our back, if Changmao occupies here, it will form a situation of encirclement on three sides against us, if Changmao contacts the rebels who are in trouble on the Yungui side, Yungui is afraid that he will not be able to hold it, and we will become a turtle in the urn overnight. ”

Zeng Guoquan hurriedly said: "In this case, we have to send troops to save Guangxi." ”

Guo Songtao is a smart person, and without waiting for Zeng Guofan to speak, he said: "Ninth Master don't be impatient, we may not be able to save Guangxi by sending troops, and we won't get any benefits, and listen to Zeng Shuai." ”

Zeng Guofan nodded and said: "Yes, Xiangyong is our hard work, Xiangyong defends Xiangdi, and sending troops to save Guangxi may not be able to save it, and even if it is saved, what is the benefit to us?" The king of the west put on an embattled posture, thinking of surrendering without a fight, and let us surrender automatically! ”

Zeng Guoquan jumped up all of a sudden, and said loudly: "Let's surrender?" No way! Our children in Hunan have been fighting with Changmao for many years, and they all have blood feuds, they are delusional! ”

Zeng Guofan sighed lightly and asked: "If it is true that Guangxi and Yungui will all fall at that time, and we will be attacked on all sides, how do you say we should deal with it?" Do you really want to turn Hunan into a bloody and fire purgatory? ”

Zeng Guoquan was speechless, Zeng Guofan continued: "I still feel that this king of the West has no good intentions when he fights Guangxi, he wants to lure Xiang Yong out of Hunan and then annihilate it at the lowest cost, which is really vicious." ”

"In addition to the benefits of using troops in Liangguang and Guangxi more than entering Hunan, at that time, Changmao also needed to digest the newly occupied land, and they were no longer the rogues who traveled through several provinces back then, but were already the overlords of the steady and steady side. At that time, the cost of their defeat of Hunan was too great, but Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi and other places had Tiandihui and other rebel uprisings, and the common people in those places were not as united as the people of Hunan Province. ”

Zeng Guofan continued: "The occupation of Guangdong also closed the last treaty port, which was the most vicious, which made the imperial court unable to trade with foreigners, and the foreigners also declared war with the imperial court, which is bound to make foreigners eager to go north and open the commercial port with the imperial court, which is the sinister intention of leading the water to the east." As long as the relationship between the imperial court and the foreigners was not eased for a day, the soldiers and horses of the imperial court in Jiangbei would not dare to go south for a day, and the king of the west could calmly first map the nine southern provinces, follow the example of the Ming Taizu back then, and then launch the Northern Expedition after Dingjiangnan. That's why I said that this king of the West saw more than ten steps after taking one step. ”

Zeng Guoquan was a little frustrated, and he couldn't speak, Luo Zenan frowned and said: "This long hair seems to be putting on a dead chess look, no matter how we go, we can't jump out of his conspiracy." ”

Zeng Guofan nodded and said: "He played this hand beautifully, Ben Shuai even regretted it a little, if he had let go of Yuezhou and introduced Changmao into Hunan Land back then, maybe the situation would not be as bad as it is today." Guangxi has long hair heavy soldiers, no matter how many soldiers and horses we send to rescue it is very difficult, and long hair starts in Guangxi, it is a local battle, on the other hand, if we send troops, the children of Hunan will not be willing to fight, most of them are still more losses and less wins. If we don't save it, we will watch Longhair complete the embattled layout, and then we will really have only one way to surrender. ”

Guo Songtao thought for a moment and said: "What does the marshal mean is that now we will not move our troops and not save Guangxi?" ”

Zeng Guofan nodded slowly and said: "If the situation between the imperial court and the foreigners can be promoted as much as possible, and the imperial court soldiers and horses in Jiangbei can go south, there is still a glimmer of hope for us to save Guangxi." But if the situation fails, the imperial court will not dare to send the Gyeonggi New Army and the soldiers and horses of Monk Lingqin to the south, then we will not be able to stop the offensive of Changmao, so instead of wasting troops to rescue, it is better to leave the soldiers and horses, and in the end Changmao will really be embattled, and we can also leave some capital to fight with it. ”

Zeng Guofan finally said slowly: "The atmosphere of Taiping has faintly dominated the world, if it is really the building will fall, we are no longer thinking about what loyalty to serve the country, but should consider leaving a way for these children of Hunan who follow us." Before the world is resettled, you have soldiers and food in your hands, and you have the right to speak, otherwise we will lose the capital to negotiate conditions with Longhair in the end......" (to be continued......)