"The Queen Mother, the minister has something to do." Gong Jichang carefully took out the piece and put it on the table.

"Hey, now I'm tired of this palace and don't want to take care of state affairs." Lala stopped.

"Queen Mother, the minister and Lord Yin Zongtang jointly signed a fold a month ago, have you reviewed it?"

"I didn't see it." Lala was surprised.

"That's it." Gong Jichang held the fold with both hands to Lala's.

"Stand down, all of you." Lala took the fold and waved his hand to the maid beside him.

"Gong Junmen, in order to recover Xinjiang, the imperial court has spent a lot of silver, so let's accept it when it is good." Lala said as he watched the recital.

Gong Jichang analyzed the pros and cons of war and non-war: "Queen Mother, Xinjiang is the gateway to the northwest and cannot be discarded. If we withdraw our troops, the Zaras will take the opportunity to occupy Xinjiang. The appetite of the Uras is very big, and they are wild wolves that cannot be fed, and only when we station troops in Xinjiang and completely defeat the Agubai rebels can we deter the Uras with force......"

"Li Zhangtong and Li Zhongtang said that Xinjiang has no strategic value, just like chicken ribs, tasteless food, and it is a pity to abandon it." Lala still didn't let go.

Gong Jichang said earnestly: "This old thing specializes in bad things, and the foreigners have given him a lot of benefits, such as the "Yantai Treaty" signed by Li Zhangtong and Wei Tuoma in Yantai, although the treaty ended the Yunnan case, but the DPRK compensated the Eagle Strike Li State with 200,000 taels of silver. In fact, it was the pretext of opening the door to Chinese mainland, realizing the desire to expand trade privileges in China and obtaining the so-called 'treaty rights' to invade China's southwestern border. Li Zhangtong's loss of power and humiliation of the country is just the beginning, please think carefully about ......"

"Gong Junmen, wait until the palace finishes reading the recital......" Lala shook a little. So, Gong Ji stopped talking and only cared about drinking and eating meat.

After reading his recital, the Empress Dowager Xi realized the importance of Xinjiang to the Qing and the country, and finally agreed to continue the Xinjiang reconquest.

In August of the same year, the Western Expeditionary Army advanced westward from the right road, and first recovered the four eastern cities of southern Xinjiang, namely Yanqi, Kucha, Aksu, and Wushi. Then the four western cities were recovered, namely Kashgar, Yingjisha, Yarkand and Khotan.

Aguba's eldest sons, Huli and Bai Yanhu, fled to Urros. At this point, the rebellion in Agubai, which was supported by the Eagle Strike Lebanon and the Rus, was put to an end. Seeing this scene, the fourteen tribes of Burut (now Kirgiz) living in the mountains also vied with each other to join in.

It only took more than a year before and after, and Yin Zongtang commanded the Western Expeditionary Army, conquered the eight cities in southern Xinjiang that were invaded by foreign invaders, and recovered the territory of Xinjiang except for Ili.

After the event, Yin Zongtang applied for the imperial court, and the Empress Dowager of the Lala clan of Emperor Guangxu and the regent praised his merits and was awarded the title of second-class marquis. Various parts of Xinjiang have also established ancestral halls in villages and towns of all sizes to burn incense and worship.

In the autumn of the 12th year of Guangxu, a great drought occurred in Rulin County, which has many mountains and few fields, which has not been seen in a century, and there has not been a drop of rain for three or four consecutive months, and even the well water has dried up, and all the seedlings in the farmland have died, and there is no harvest.

More than 50,000 people in the county were affected by the disaster, and for a time the famine spread, and the victims poured into the county government to ask the county magistrate to open a warehouse and release grain. But the county government only had a little bit of grain in stock, and it was quickly eaten, and these hungry people prayed for rain on the Rongchang Wind and Rain Bridge every day, but to no avail. The landlords, the old fortune and the wealthy merchants were unwilling to provide relief to the victims, resulting in a lot of complaints from the hungry people, and a peasant uprising was quietly brewing.

The magistrate who learned of the situation panicked and sent troops to the Zhujia compound, asking the "Maosheng Xiangqian Village" to pay 50,000 taels of silver to buy food in nearby prefectures and counties, actively participate in disaster relief, and set a good example for those local tyrants.

The old owner Zhu Qiroom had passed away at that time, because the successor owner Zhu Rongfan (the third son of Zhu Qiroom) was not doing well, and he couldn't take out so much money at all, he said to the magistrate: "My lord, in recent years, my family's prosperous Xiang Qian Zhuang has gone downhill, and the profits have been greatly discounted, and I donate to charity every year, and I really can't take out so much money today." ”

"The emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and if you can't take it out, you have to take it out for me, otherwise the official will seize the Maoshengxiang Money Village!" The magistrate didn't believe that there was no silver in the Zhu family's compound.

"My lord, I'll try to make up as much as I can." Zhu Rongfan picked up a stack of silver tickets from the table.

"Hey, I wish you a few days, and this official has limited you to transport 50,000 quintals of rice to the county government within three days." The magistrate said fiercely, "Come on, tie up Zhu Rongfan first, and see if the Zhu family pays the grain!" ”

As a result, the proprietor of "Maosheng Xiang Qianzhuang" was "invited" by the county government into the county government's prison. This is terrible, Zhu Qibao, the housekeeper of the Zhu family's compound, wanted to go to the county government to snatch the young owner's house back, but was stopped by Gong Lanping: "Housekeeper, are you old and confused, why don't you go to Chenzhou to find Gong Laoxue?" ”

"My aunt, Chenzhou is so far away from Sidu, is three days enough?" Zhu Qibao said.

"I don't know if it's going day and night, hey, I have to go out of the house?" Gong Lanping turned over and got on horseback, and was about to go out.

"Grandma, let's just go." Zhu Qibao helped Gong Lanping off the horse.

"This county knows how to eat, I don't have the ability, I want to ask us to be angry, but it's a pity that the second young master is far away in Jiangzuo County, otherwise they wouldn't dare to fight our idea." Zhu Qibao muttered.

"Butler, you say these useless words, take someone to Chenzhou as soon as possible, the sooner the better, or the third young master's life will be difficult to protect." Gong Lanping said eagerly.

"Yes, Grandma. It's just that Gong Laoxue hasn't been in contact with us for many years, I don't know if he will help us? "Zhu Qibao is worried.

"Gong Laoxue grew up in our Zhujia Academy, and without us, he would not be where he is today. In this way, I will write a letter myself......" Gong Lanping turned around and entered the house, waved his pen, and wrote the letter.

So, Zhu Qibao took three family members and went to Gong Jichang's station in Chenzhou overnight......

At that time, Gong Jichang, who was stationed in Chenyuan and commanded the Changsheng Water Division, received a letter from his aunt, and without saying a word, he personally spent a huge amount of money to buy a large amount of materials and led the troops back to Rulin for disaster relief.

Gong Jichang personally distributed rice to the victims at the entrance of the county ya, asked Langzhong to treat the patients for free, and sent quilts to those who did not have quilts, and the deceased gave coffins and funeral expenses, helping the victims to survive the most difficult years.

The people of Rulin County were grateful to Dade, and they all shed tears and said: "Master Gong is a good official and our reborn parent!" ”

Gong Jichang also funded the construction of many schools in Confucianism to train scholars. In order to help students from poor families, he established a special bursary fund, which Zhu Rongchu was responsible for managing and distributing.

In order to spread the Confucian style, Gong Jichang donated a huge amount of money to build the Shaoyang Confucian Temple, which is also known as the Confucian Temple (built in the fifteenth year of Guangxu) with a large scale and a construction area of 1,842 square meters.

In the winter of the 14th year of Guangxu, Gong Jichang received a formal order from the Ministry of War to serve as the chief soldier of Yunyang Town, Jingbei. Seeing Gong Jichang's hard work day and night, his subordinates persuaded him to rest and rest, but he said: "I am a martial artist, and I am an official to a high position in the general army, and I dare not slack off." The subordinates had no choice but to give up.

In November of the fifteenth year of Guangxu, heavy snow fell in the sky. Gong Jichang braved the snow to patrol the Zhushan Sanxie, suddenly felt tightness in his chest and began to vomit blood, Ran cried: "Brother, what's wrong with you?" ”

Gong Jichang replied: "Sister, my life is short, I killed too many people in Guimao County back then, and Lord Yan is going to summon me to trial......"

Ran cried even more: "Brother, didn't you say that you would accompany me to the gray-haired one?" ”

"Sister, I'm afraid I'm going to break my promise, I'm exhausted......" Gong Jichang coughed violently.

"No...... You'll be fine......" Ran couldn't cry, "Let's go back to the station......"

Gong Jichang grabbed Ran's hand tightly: "Sister, I saw Cousin Rong Chu, he beckoned to me in the clouds." Look—"

Ran Shi looked in the direction he pointed, only to see a little light in the gray clouds, and comforted: "Pure nonsense, isn't that the sun?" How can there be glory? ”

"I really saw ......," Gong Jichang said weakly.

So, Gong Jichang returned to the hotel with the support of everyone, and his condition stabilized slightly.

Ten days later, news came from his hometown, and sure enough, on the day of his patrol, his second cousin Zhu Rongchu (awarded the same title, four-rank civil official) who had been fighting with him for many years passed away at the age of 38.

When Gong Jichang heard the bad news, his will collapsed instantly, he vomited blood again, coughed violently, and his condition deteriorated.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Ran asked the ministry to immediately escort Gong Jichang back to the Yunyang General Town Office. With the help of the soldiers, Gong Jichang returned to the General Military Mansion for treatment.

The common people had long heard that Gong Jichang suddenly felt a cold, and he couldn't afford to get sick, so he came to visit with his family and things, and saw that Gong Jichang was so thin that he was not human, and they all secretly wiped their tears.

Gong Jichang still struggled to sit in the middle of the lobby of the office: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your kindness, you still keep the things for yourself." Gong doesn't need it, please go back. I'm fine, isn't that good? ”

At that moment, he tried to get up, but found that he could not stand up anymore. The third lady Ran Jiufeng prescribed him many prescriptions, but they all worked, and in the last few days of his life, Gong Jichang refused to take the medicine.

In the fifteenth year of Guangxu, on December 19, Gong Jichang, a generation of heroes, died in Yunyang Town, Jingbei County, at the age of 58.

When the coffin came out of the gate of the general town, despite the cold and freezing, tens of thousands of people still spontaneously came to escort them, mourning all the way, some of them couldn't cry silently, calling for the sky and grabbing the ground, as if they had lost their biological parents, and the people along the way also carried the coffin to escort them until they left the territory of Yunyang.

The sky is still fluttering and sprinkling goose feathers and heavy snow, when will the sky of Qinghe Country be red and shining? Maybe tomorrow, maybe never.