In the yamen of the governor of Changsha, Hunan, Zeng Guofan sat on the main seat with a gloomy face, and his subordinates sat in a row with the fierce generals of the Hunan army and the staff of the civil ministers, and the atmosphere in the hall was solemn and dull, and everyone's hearts were gloomy.

In less than half a year, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Beizhili, Hubei, and Shanxi all fell, and the capital ended the war in an unbelievable way.

Subsequently, the Manchu Empress Dowager and the emperor issued an edict to the Qing army in the name of the Manchu government to surrender to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the spot and unconditionally.

Zeng Guoquan couldn't stand the atmosphere of the imprinting in the hall, and couldn't help but stand up and said loudly: "Brother, let's raise the flag and stand on our own, this Qing court is Adou who can't be supported, we are still working hard here, they should surrender first." We are also Han people, since the world has been returned to our Han people, then the position of the emperor is for everyone to sit, let's stand on our own, support your brother as the emperor, and fight for this world with Changmao! ”

As soon as Zeng Guoquan's words came out, he was approved by some Hunan army generals, but most of the ministers and staff were indeed silent. Zeng Guofan's triangular eyes rolled, and he snorted: "Sitting in the well and watching the sky, I don't know how thick the sky is, being an emperor, being an emperor, do you know what the price is?" ”

Zeng Guofan stood up, pointed to the map behind him, and said, "See for yourself." The land occupied by our Hunan army was only a corner of Hunan, and all land routes were cut off, and the fleet of sailors only dared to trap various ports. The long-haired sailors are guarding the Yangtze River and have besieged us. At this time, Changmao is also worried that the people in Hunan will live in hardship without trade, so they have not cut off several trade roads in Hunan Province, if we raise our banner to stand on our own, Changmao will immediately cut off the road of commerce, and will not stop Changmao to attack, and our Hunan army will be trapped in Hunan for less than a year. We will be trapped and we will not be able to fight again! And what about long hair? Sitting on the eighteen provinces of the country, there is the banner of the righteousness of the Han Dynasty, and the edict of the surrender of the Manchu royal family. With a two-pronged approach, where can we still gather people's hearts? Resist the whole country with a corner, do you want me to be the second Wu Sangui? ”

Everyone was silent when they heard this, but Zeng Guoquan said unwillingly: "Brother." The sons and daughters of the Hunan army are all brothers of our clan. I will inevitably support my brother wholeheartedly, and I want my Hunan army to resist Changmao alone for several years, and at this time, I will give up this emperor to Xiao Chaogui, the charcoal seller, I really can't swallow this breath! ”

Zeng Guohua sighed and said: "Lao Jiu, it's not that we don't want to support the eldest brother, but the current situation is really not for me." The eldest brother is right, if we raise the flag, we will even cut off the last retreat. At that time, not only the entire Zeng family, but even tens of millions of children in Hunan will be buried with us. What's the point? ”

Zeng Guoquan snorted and said angrily: "The way back, the way back, you all read the edict of the Manchu Emperor and the Empress Dowager, and now your mind is full of thoughts about surrendering and saving your lives." Speaking of this, Zeng Guoquan took a step forward and said: "Big brother, these people below can surrender, but you can't surrender, think about it, you have such a great prestige in Hunan Land, will Xiao Chaogui let you go?" ”

Zeng Guoquan's words made Zeng Guofan's triangular eyes jump slightly, Guo Songtao got up and said: "Great marshal, what the Ninth Master said is not completely unreasonable, thinking that my Hunan army has been fighting fiercely with Changmao for several years, how much blood has been dyed with Changmao's hands, if you surrender lightly, you will lose your military power in the future, and you will die one by one without a place to bury." ”

As soon as these words came out, most of the people echoed their words, Zeng Guofan secretly sneered in his heart, these people have not moved the idea of surrender, but it is because there is too much blood of the Taiping Army soldiers on their hands, so they have scruples, do not dare to surrender easily, and the behavior of Long Mao is also a little strange, in addition to sending someone to send the edict of the Manchu Emperor, he did not send someone to lobby for surrender, so that these people are in their hearts, Zeng Guofan dares to bet that if Taiping Xiao Chaogui makes an amnesty edict to cooperate with the persuasion to surrender, it will not take three days, most of the Hunan army will surrender.

While he was talking, a general manager hurriedly came to report: "Boss, there is a big ship from Xiangshui under the banner of Hubei Hu Linyi, and it has arrived at Ximen Wharf, and the eldest lady is coming with the boat. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall was shocked, and Zeng Guofan lost his voice and said: "Hu Linyi was trapped in the lonely city of Xiangyang a few months ago, and the news has been cut off for several months, how can he appear in Changsha now?" How was his boat able to break through the blockade of the Changmao Yangtze River Sailors? Didn't my daughter Ji Jing be in the capital with a child? How could it come together? ”

Guo Songtao frowned, and said in a deep voice: "Dashuai, there is only one explanation, that is, Hu Linyi also surrendered Longhair, and the eldest lady was released from the capital by Longhair to be a lobbyist with Hu Linyi. ”

Zeng Guofan was stunned for a while, then laughed loudly, and said loudly: "Good, good, good, good Xiao Chaogui, sure enough, he still sent someone to persuade him to surrender, but the ones sent are all the old man's old friends, welcome him over there, and listen to what Xiao Chaogui has to say!" ”

At that moment, Zeng Guohua and others took some people to the Ximen Wharf to greet them, and after a short time, Zeng Guohua had already brought Hu Linyi and Zeng Jijing and others to the governor's yamen hall.

When the people came to the hall, Zeng Guofan got up and came out to greet him, only to see that Hu Linyi was still the same, but he was wearing the clothes of an ordinary teacher, and at the same time, the braided hair on the back of his head had been removed, and his cheeks were slightly thin. After seeing Zeng Guofan, Zeng Jijing couldn't help but have red eyes, and pulled the child forward to worship and cry: "Father, the child will never see you in this life." Then he began to cry.

Zeng Guofan's eyes were also moist, and he comforted him a few words, Zeng Jijing asked the child to kowtow to his grandfather, and his great-mother rushed over when she heard the words, and she hugged her head and cried like a child. Zeng Guofan instructed his great-mother to take her daughter and grandson to the back hall to settle down, and she pulled Hu Linyi and went straight into the lobby.

When they arrived at the lobby, after inviting Hu Linyi to be the first under Zeng Guofan, everyone sat down, and Zeng Guofan asked: "You are here to be a lobbyist for the peace?" ”

Hu Linyi sighed lightly and said: "Hu was born in Hunan, and he didn't dare to forget the love of incense. ”

Zeng Guofan snorted and sighed: "I can't imagine that the rise of Taiping has swept the world in ten years, and even those who are loyal to him have surrendered, it seems that the general trend has been achieved and it is irretrievable." ”

Speaking of surrender, Hu Linyi was still slightly embarrassed, and said: "Taiping besieged the second city of Xiangfan for several months, and there was no attack on the city. Xiangyang, which Hu guarded, was also poor and desperate, and he couldn't bear to see all the people in a city being martyred, so Hu led the people to surrender before the tenth month. ”

Zeng Guofan nodded and said: "The lonely city is difficult to defend, and if Zhensheng can support it for so long, it can be regarded as loyal to the previous dynasty." After a pause, Zeng Guofan asked, "Then what words does the king of Taipingxi have?" ”

Hu Linyi took out a letter from his bosom and presented it: "The words of the King of the West are all on this letter, and the handsome can read it carefully." ”

Zeng Guofan took the letter and opened it to read it, only to see that the king of the West on it was written in the vernacular, and he couldn't help but secretly disdain it, such a person who does not learn and does not know how to do it is worthy of being the world, it is really blind to God.

At that moment, I looked at the letter carefully, and the letter first said about Zeng Jijing, "Mr. Zeng Guofan, your son-in-law is very disloyal and unfilial to the country, and colluded with foreigners to invade my China, and has been condemned by me Taiping as a crime of treason, and will be sent back to the capital to punish the crime in the near future, but my Taiping law is not as good as my wife and children, so I will send his wife and children back to you, my grandfather." ”

Seeing this, Zeng Guofan snorted coldly, secretly thinking that his son-in-law Ronglu was defeated, and he was also trapped in Jinzhou alone, and it was a matter of time before he was defeated, but this is a matter of merit and demerit, the winner is the king, and the loser is the villain, since the son-in-law is defeated, of course this treason will be deducted on his head. However, Zeng Guofan still admires the spirit of the king of the West in his heart, and his sin is not as good as his wife and children, but there is also some benevolent monarch who buys people's hearts.

Following the look, I saw that the king of the west wrote: "Now that I Taiping has mastered the general trend of the world, the Mongolian prince has sent someone to contact the matter of surrender, and the Qing court ministers in Tibet and Xinjiang have also seen the surrender will and are ready to surrender, and the Shanxi Hui bandits have been defeated and retreated under the offensive of my Yiwang army, and before the tenth month, the 200,000 Taiping army in my capital has gone out of the north to conquer the northeast, and your old friend Hu Linyi Hu Gong has also surrendered to my Taiping, and it is time for your Hunan army to surrender." ”

Zeng Guofan sneered, secretly thinking that who would surrender without conditions? Then I changed a page of letterhead, only to see that it was written: "You must think, who surrenders without conditions?" I don't have any conditions here, do you have any ideas to say to Hu Linyi, just let him bring the words back, in short, if you can talk about it, Hunan will be able to avoid the suffering of war, if you can't talk, this king will personally lead troops to exterminate you! ”

Zeng Guofan looked at it, and quietly handed the letter to Guo Songtao, Zeng Guohua and others to pass it on, and he looked at Hu Linyi and asked, "What is the position of the Taiping official now?" "Zeng Guofan is cunning and cunning, although Xiao Chaogui's letters and words are very arrogant, but people have arrogant capital, and the capital in his hand is not rich, since Xiao Chaogui also gave a word, you can put forward conditions, then you might as well discuss, but before putting forward conditions, Zeng Guofan wants to see what official position Hu Linyi can do after surrendering, so as to offer the price of the surrender of the Hunan army.

How do you know that Hu Linyi smiled slightly and said: "Hu is a white body over there now, and he has no official position......" (to be continued......)