The news of the surrender of the Hunan army and the recovery of all Hunan land was put on Xiao Yungui's desk two days later, and with the recovery of all parts of the country, Bai Zetang, the Intelligence Department and other intelligence agencies that were originally active underground also began to gradually surface, and after they did not have to hide in Tibet, they transmitted the news much faster.

After reading the official document handed over by Zuo Zongtang, Xiao Yungui said to Zuo Zongtang with a smile: "Zuo Xiang, Hunan has been fully recovered after Hubei, and a big stone in my heart has finally landed." ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said: "The water is natural, Zeng Guofan's delusional desire to sit in a corner of his soil emperor finally failed. It's just that His Royal Highness the King of the West, the old man still doesn't understand that Zeng Guofan's surrender conditions will not go too far, but why does His Royal Highness still refuse to agree to their conditions, but force them to finally be desperate to accept surrender? ”

Xiao Yungui said with a smile: "Zeng Guofan always feels that he still has more than 100,000 horses in his hands and can make conditions with us, and it is impossible for them to see the reality clearly without fighting a war to defeat their sharpness, this is the first reason." In the historical War of Liberation, the Fu Zuoyi group trapped in Pingjin could not see the reality clearly, and in the end, the People's Liberation Army still fought in Tianjin, so that Fu Zuoyi could see the reality clearly, and laid the foundation for the smooth transfer of power in Pingjin and Tianjin.

"The second is that the ruling group of the Hunan army is a whole, and if all of them surrender, it will be very difficult to deal with, and it is very necessary to force them to be separated through World War I, which is the second reason. The last point is that some old accounts still have to be settled with some people in the Hunan army, and this king does not want to see those who have their hands stained with the blood of the soldiers and civilians of our heavenly kingdom still be able to sit on the court in a grand manner later, which is disrespectful to the sacrificed soldiers and innocent victims. ”

Zuo Zongtang slowly bowed his head. The mouth said: "When the dynasties changed dynasties, all the enemy generals led the people to surrender. It was always possible to get the forgiveness of the new monarch, although there were many examples of settling accounts after the autumn. But our approach is still very persistent, which also makes various places encounter trouble when they clean up some remnants of the former Qing Dynasty, and those people see that surrender is also a death, so they desperately resist, which also caused some casualties. ”

Xiao Yungui said: "We are no longer simply changing the dynasty, but building a brand new country, and the guilty must be dealt with in accordance with the law, which is the concept of equality under the rule of law." I confess that some of the battles can be spared if the sins of those people are forgiven. But I'm not willing to do that. Since ancient times, there have been sayings about killing people and setting fire to the golden belt, building bridges and paving roads without corpses, and there is also a saying that if you want to be an official, you will be recruited for murder and arson, I just want to let these words end in the new country we have established, and I want to tell the people of the whole country that those who do evil will always be punished, and the country will not compromise with these people! ”

Zuo Zongtang snorted, he was jealous and hateful, and he also agreed with this approach. Then he changed the subject: "Your Highness, now that the Mongolian princes have agreed to our conditions and are willing to invest in our country, the 19 Mongolian princes in Beijing have signed the Bingguo Agreement. They urgently need us to send troops into Mongolia to counter the threat from the Russians. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "I have signed the official document of the military department to send troops, let Chen Yucheng of the front line of Xuanda enter Mongolia as soon as possible, so that not only can I support the Mongolian army and people to fight against those hated Cossack cavalry of the Russians." It is also possible to block the rebels of Mianyu and Ronglu on the front line of Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou from the west to prevent them from entering Mongolia. It would take a lot of effort to exterminate them. ”

Zuo Zongtang twisted his beard and smiled: "Yes, we have only been outside Chen Bingshan Customs in the past few months. Concentrating our efforts on solving the Mongolian problem is that we are worried that Mianyu and Ronglu will lead troops into Mongolia, and now that the Mongolian problem is solved, we will be able to completely block their way, and the problem outside the border can also be quickly solved. When the Mongolian problem is solved, those people in Tibet and Xinjiang who are still waiting and watching will all see the reality, and when the solution is solved, they will all be alive, and the big chessboard of the whole country will be alive. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Yes, after more than two months of discussions with the representatives of the Mongolian princes, Mongolia is also extremely uncomfortable in the face of the oppression of the Russians, fortunately, the Russians have not thought about the idea of supporting the independence of the Mongols, otherwise it will be more difficult for us to deal with it. ”

Xiao Yungui said: "Yes, so we must first consider all aspects of the problem when we send troops into Mongolia. The first is to strictly follow the contents of the agreement signed with Mongolia to implement various preferential policies for Mongolia, and commerce, trade and transportation are the best support for Mongolia. The second is that the troops entering Mongolia have been renamed the Mongolian Construction Corps, telling the Mongolian people that our soldiers and horses have come to help them build their homes and reclaim the frontiers. The third is to start developing Mongolia's rich mineral resources as soon as possible, so as to boost Mongolia's economy and let the Mongolian people taste the sweetness of resource extraction, so that they will support the local government we have set up in Mongolia. Fourth, although the privileges of the Mongol princes are said to remain unchanged for 50 years, the local government and the construction corps should intensify their work, and once the conditions are ripe, some Mongol princes who have turned into capitalists can mobilize them to give up their privileges first, and I think there will always be open-minded Mongol princes who will give up their privileges first, and we cannot wait for 50 years, but gradually implement the abolition of privileges in Mongolia. Finally, there is the abolitionist movement, after we have established ourselves in Mongolia, we will promote the abolitionist movement, Mongolia still has a large slave population, and the liberation of them will help us to further stabilize Mongolia. However, all of the above requires the people in charge of the work of the local government to have a clear mind, distinguish priorities, and be able to soberly judge the changes in the situation, so that Mongolia can do a good job in the follow-up stability and development. ”

Zuo Zongtang thought for a while and said: "The candidate for the commander of the Mongolian Construction Corps is Chen Yucheng, I think he is a more suitable candidate, but the person sent by His Royal Highness the local government is Qingfeng, although this person is reliable in his loyalty to the new country, but he is more greedy, I am afraid that after he goes to Mongolia to become a party leader, he will commit the corrupt national law." ”

Xiao Yungui said with a smile: "Qingfeng is an important person who presided over the negotiation this time, and he is from a Manchu and Mongolian nobleman, and the Mongols still believe in him now, so we can send him to minimize the wariness of the Mongols and facilitate the initial garrison work." As for the follow-up economic and trade development process, if Qingfeng can't help but be greedy, I have a handle in my hand and can clean him up at any time, and if Qingfeng makes people angry in Mongolia, we can replace him with our own people, so that we can solve many problems. ”

Zuo Zongtang also smiled, using corrupt officials is a knowledge, since ancient times, emperors have been useful, just see how to use it well, corrupt officials are ospreys, the emperor is a fisherman, when a certain time kills corrupt officials, not only the emperor is rich, but also let the people of the world get rid of their grievances, praise the emperor is a good emperor, since ancient times.

Zuo Zongtang said again: "Your Highness, it is estimated that it can be solved within ten months at the earliest, and then shouldn't we mobilize the main forces to deal with the attack of Britain, France and Russia?" ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "It's time to start preparing, judging from intelligence, the Russian Cossack cavalry has begun to harass Mongolia, but the British and French forces are still being assembled, especially the French troops, they have just finished the war in Italy, and they are still mobilizing and preparing, and it is estimated that it will take a few months to join forces with the British." ”

Zuo Zongtang said: "Yes, the news that Prussia gave us should be accurate, because the Dutch and Spaniards also came with the same news, and we still have time to prepare, but the old man thinks it would be better to defeat the Russian Cossack cavalry first?" ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Of course, although the British and French troops are powerful, they do not border with me, and the Russians are different, once we end the war outside the border, let Chen Yucheng and Tan Shaoguang immediately launch an offensive against the Russians, first capture Nebuchu, and then the Mongolian troops and horses will be dispatched to flank the hinterland of the Russians in Siberia, surround an important stronghold, attract Cossack cavalry to come to help, besiege the city and send reinforcements to defeat their cavalry, I believe that Muravyov in Siberia will be difficult to support, The best outcome would be that before the British and French ships could sail to the Far East, we would have already made peace with the Russians on their own initiative, so that we would be able to deal with it more easily. ”

Zuo Zongtang nodded and said: "That's right, then it depends on how Tan Shaoguang and Li Xiucheng's battle between the north and south to attack Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou will go." ”

In early September of that year, the Mongolian princes and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom signed the Bingguo Agreement, which ended the Shanxi War that month, and the Taiping Army of Chen Yucheng, who was stationed on the front line of Xuanda, was renamed the Mongolian Construction Corps and entered Mongolia, completely cutting off the retreat route of the Jinzhou line to the west. Outside the Guan, relying on the power of the Manchu Empress Dowager's surrender edict, Tan Shaoguang also recovered the place occupied by the Manchus outside the Guanxi in a short time, and then the soldiers pressed south, and the soldiers pointed directly at Jinzhou.

Rong Lu did not smell the danger at first, on the contrary, he had been encouraging Mianyu and other rebel generals to lead the people west into Mongolia, but Mianyu and the others were ambitious, and the rebels under his command were all thinking about how to return to the capital as soon as possible, and their families were still in the capital. Moreover, the propaganda offensive of the Taiping army is very powerful, many ordinary soldiers know about the division of land in the capital by the Taiping army, and everyone can get thirty acres of land, houses and money, which is very tempting for ordinary soldiers, who wants to follow Rong Lu to Mongolia for adventure? Moreover, the Mongols were hostile to this rebel army from the beginning, because they were rebels who betrayed the Qing court, so there were often Mongol cavalry on guard in the west. And Rong Lu was also worried that they would be intercepted and killed by cavalry after entering Mongolia, so they could only stay in Jinzhou in the end.

So, Rong Lu could only watch the rope around his neck get tighter and tighter, and when Li Xiucheng's troops began to attack Shanhaiguan and Tan Shaoguang began to attack Jinzhou, Rong Lu knew that the general trend had gone.

In mid-September, when Jinzhou fell, and Rong Lu, Mianyu and other cadres were captured in the Jinzhou Mansion, Rong Lu just looked up to the sky and sighed: "Dongfeng is not with Zhou Lang, not with Zhou Lang, Su Shun, what you said at the beginning was right...... (to be continued......)