Chapter 59 On the 12th, Zeng Guohua came to Wuchang bravely, Wang Pushan, please transfer back to Hunan

In the afternoon of the next day, Zeng Guohua led the five hundred soldiers recruited in Xiangxiang to Wuchang.Zeng Guofan was very happy to see this sixth younger brother who was raised by his uncle.Of the four younger brothers, he thinks the most promising is the suave and majestic sixth brother.Guohua told his eldest brother: Ninth Brother will come back in two months because his wife is in labor, and asks his eldest brother to give him a chance to make meritorious service when he attacks Jiangning; Ashamed of myself.Guofan laughed out loud after hearing this.He asked about the family situation one by one, knowing that his father was healthy and his son was studying hard, he was very relieved.

Guohua sent two letters, one from Zuo Zongtang and the other from Luo Bingzhang.After conquering Wuchang, Zeng Guofan served as an official to the imperial court. He did not forget Zuo Zongtang's contribution in Changsha.He thought that Zuo Zongtang's letter would definitely express his kindness to his old friend, but he opened the letter and read it, but he was surprised.After a few pleasantries, Zuo Zongtang wrote: I am not from the mountains, nor is it in the hands of economics. Since the year before last, I have stolen the pre-guarantee performance twice, which has exceeded my expectations.To show that honoring Marquis Wu with blue-topped flower feathers is not the way to get along.This time we conquered Wuchang, we were more than 700 miles away. I didn’t make a lot of contributions one day, and I didn’t participate in the strategy and discussion by chance. How can I deal with myself?How to convince people?Fang Wangxi and his friends discussed the source, "Heaven does not want to abolish my way, and it has its own steps to climb upright. Why bother to start with a fake history?" 'That's it.If I want to be an official, Zhili Prefecture in Tongzhou is also an official. I must know the prefecture and then become an official?And in the past twenty years, the only person who has been careful, confident and competent is the governor.Respecting Marquis Wu with a blue crown and taking away his Lun scarf, and honoring Marquis Wu with flower feathers while tearing off his feather fan does not mean Marquis Wu, but makes Marquis Wu a laughing stock.The original wall of the blue-topped flower feather is specially returned.

After reading it, Zeng Guofan smiled and said: "People say that Ji Gao can be taught but not underestimated, and that he can be used by others but not used by others. It's true." Then he asked his brother, "Has Ji Gao been proud recently?" "I heard from officials in Changsha that Hunan only knows Master Zuo, not Luo Zhongcheng." "Is there such a thing?" Guohua smiled and said: "Someone told a story: One day Luo Zhongcheng was working in the signing room. He heard three cannons outside the yamen, and asked why. The servant replied: "Master Zuo is paying homage." Luo Zhongcheng was surprised at first, Then he said calmly, "Go to Master Zuo and show me the manuscript." Luo Zhongcheng is only the censor of the right deputy capital, and Ji Gao is now called the censor of the left capital."

Zeng Guofan laughed loudly: "I am afraid that there will be no second master like this in history. No wonder he is not honored by the magistrate." Guohua said: "The governor Luo Zhongcheng is too pitiful. If it were me, even if Zuo Zongtang really has the talent of Zhuge Liang, I can't let him climb on top of me." "Luo Yumen also has no choice, and he has no talent to be a governor, and he wants to love the village, so he has to listen to Ji Gao." Zeng Guofan said and picked up Luo Bingzhang's letter to read.The letter said that the bandits in Hunan were in chaos again, and there was no peace in the surrounding areas. If possible, please borrow a battalion of powerful troops to go back to Hunan to suppress the bandits and calm the people.Zeng Guofan asked: "The bandits in the provincial council have risen again?"

"The Tiandihui, Zhengyitang, Chuanzihui, Banbianqianhui, and Chuanzihui are all in trouble, and Luo Zhongcheng is in trouble all day long." Guohua replied, "It is said that the Chuanzihui plans to attack Changsha and claims to fight for it. Lin Mingguang takes revenge." "It seems that Lin Mingguang is really a person with a lot of friends, so it's not wrong to shut him up." "Lin Mingguang is actually not a member of the Chuanzihui. The Chuanzihui is taking the opportunity to fight against the government." After a pause, Zeng Guofan asked his sixth brother, "Is the county still quiet? What's the latest news?"

"Oh, really, I forgot to tell you something if you don't ask me." Guohua moved the stool a step closer to his elder brother and whispered, "Two days before I came, I heard that the two of Pushan were at home. Younger brothers Kailin and Kaihua also recruited Yongding from the village, saying that they were ordered to form two battalions of Malay battalions to serve in the camp." Zeng Guofan was startled and said, "Whose order? Why don't I know?" Guohua lowered his voice and said: "I think Pushan is ambitious. He wants to strengthen his power. Brother, you can't be Luo Yumen, let Pushan be the third son on the left."

Zeng Guofan frowned and remained silent.Guohua saw that his eldest brother was unhappy, and regretted that he had said too much.He intentionally changed the subject: "Brother, I only know how to read and compose all the time, and I have never brought courage. I will ask you to teach me more in the future." "The way to bring courage," Zeng Guofan thought for a while and said, "Brother's experience in the past two years is that observing talents is the first priority, rectifying camp regulations, and paying attention to combat defense is the second. The way to win, some people attribute it to The use of strong ships and sharp guns, in fact, depends on the people, not the weapons. Therefore, the most important thing for you is not to add more knives, guns and horses, but to choose the sentry officers carefully."

Zeng Guohua has a very high vision, and he only admires his elder brother on weekdays, and others don't pay attention to him.At this moment, he knew that his elder brother was imparting real knowledge to him, so he sat and listened respectfully. "The choice of a sentry officer is mainly based on doing things with sincerity, with loyalty and blood; secondly, being able to endure hardships, having strict orders, and being resourceful. Among them, the most important thing is to do things with sincerity. Honesty means sincerity, simplicity and stability, which is the first. Righteousness. As for counting the distance of the distance, counting the surplus of food and grass, and counting the strength of one's own, they are all secondary righteousness. This is the relationship between virtue and talent. It is best to have both virtue and ability. It is better to use a person with low talent and good morality than to use a person with high talent and low morality."

Guohua nodded yes.Zeng Guofan knew his younger brother's temperament, and said: "Hengren should not be too high-sighted. Talents come out through rewards. For ordinary talents, if the rate of rewards is encouraged, they can be expected to become great talents; if they blindly criticize and use them, they will slowly die. Will fall into mediocrity. When dealing with subordinates, elder brother has two words, brother Wang must remember." Guohua looked at his elder brother and said sincerely, "Please enlighten me, elder brother." "These two sentences are: Yang is good at public courts, and regulation is better than private rooms."

Guohua nodded and repeated it lightly. Zeng Guofan added: "I will send you a few good sentry officers tomorrow, and you will have to choose your helpers carefully in the future." While the two brothers were talking, Wang Chi came in.When Guohua and Wang Chi met, they were very close and expressed their longing for each other.Wang Chi said to Guofan: "Yesterday Master Di personally awarded the waist knife, which had a great influence on the 20,000 Xiangyongs. Whoever wins the waist sword is grateful for the kindness of Master Di and vows to follow Master Di. Yes, quite a few people came to me and asked me to ask my teacher to make another fifty, and they would get it based on their military exploits."

Zeng Guofan stroked his long beard and laughed heartily: "Okay! For Pu Shan's sake, make another fifty." Wang Chi was very proud, and said: "I heard that the whole army will go eastward in a few days. Since ancient times, the victory and capture has relied on ingenious strategies. The students have an ingenious strategy. I wonder if it can be used?" Zeng Guofan said: "If there is any clever plan in Pushan, just tell me." "According to intelligence, Qin Rigang, the long-haired puppet king of Yan, collected the routs of Wuchang and set up a line of defense from Qizhou to Tianjia Town. His attempt was to stop our Yangtze River Navy. The terrain from Qizhou to Tianjia Town is steep, and the enemy has heavily guarded it. It's hard to know. The long-haired and false-winged king is now occupying Jiujiang. Jiujiang's troops have gone up the river, and the city must be empty. Our army might as well not disturb the bandits in Tianjia Town for the time being, and send surprise troops to raid Jiujiang. Jiujiang is in danger, and the bandits will return. At that time, our land and water troops will successfully break through Qizhou and Tianjia Towns, and join forces at the city of Jiujiang. If this strategy is feasible, the students are willing to lead 5,000 troops to gallop to Jiangxi in the starry night, and capture stones to open in Jiujiang." high spirited. Zeng Guofan was listening carefully with his eyes slightly closed while stroking his beard.He didn't take Wang Chi's strategy for granted.After Wang Chi had finished speaking, he said slowly: "War with soldiers, although there are often strange strategies, they should only be used occasionally, and should not be relied on as the foundation. Those who are stable and ordinary will often use the cards to win. What Pu Shan just said is called In order to encircle Wei and save Zhao, it is actually an attack from Yuezhai. In my opinion, it is not very sure." Wang Chi was full of enthusiasm, but what he encountered was a basin of cold water, and he was quite unhappy, but he was unwilling to give up, and wanted to use the successful examples of previous generations to convince Zeng Guofan: "Master Di, there are many examples in ancient times of attacking across the village. In the second year of Emperor Taishi of the Song and Ming Dynasties, Prince Xun of Jin'an rebelled. The official army and the rebel army were in a stalemate in Nonghu, and it was unresolved for a long time. At that time, the official army was in the lower reaches of Zheqi, the rebel army Yuan Kai was in the upper reaches of Nonghu Lake, and the other general Liu Hu was in Nonghu Lake. Quewei in the upper reaches. General Zhang Xingshi of the official army Longxiang attacked Quewei as he crossed Nong Lake, and finally Quewei and Nong Lake collapsed one after another. The situation at that time was quite similar to today.” Wang Chi deserves to be Luo Zenan's number one student, and he has read very well. It is very appropriate to quote this example at this time.Zeng Guofan admired this in secret, but he only kept this appreciation in his heart and did not want to show it.He did not answer Wang Chi's challenge head-on, but gave a counter example: "In the first year of Emperor Chen Wen's Tianjia, Wang Lin was stationed at Zhakou on the west bank of the Yangtze River, and Hou Zhen was stationed at Wuhu on the east bank of the Yangtze River. Later, when the southwest wind was strong, Wang Lin threw fire on Hou Zhen's boat, but all of them burned his own boat. Hou Zhen sent a small boat to attack it, and Lin's army was defeated. This is an example of the failure of the Yuezhai attack." Wang Chi argued: "This is Wang Lin's lack of talent. When the southwest wind blows, how can I burn the boat at the rear with fire again!" Zeng Guofan said: "What you said is reasonable. But let me ask you, Jiujiang is empty, have you reported it? Shi Dakai is a hero among thieves, how can your five thousand soldiers panic Jiujiang? If the soldiers of Tianzhen don't return to help, Instead of diverting the tiger away from the mountain, it disperses our troops. Moreover, the three-way advance is a foregone conclusion, and it is inconvenient to change it." Wang Chi was not pleased when he heard it. He knew that it would be empty to say anything, so he asked, "May I ask how the three groups of people are arranged?" Zeng Guofan said: "The northern route is led by Duolong'a and Guiming, along Hekou, Yangluo, Bahe, Lanxi, and Maoshan Towns to the east, and stationed in Qizhou; the southern route is led by Tazhiting, and Luoshan, Di'an, Chunting For the command of the sub-command, go south from Zhifang to the hillside, and then turn east, and move closer to the river from the direction of Jinniubao and Daye; The three armies meet in Qizhou. Runzhi was newly awarded the Hubei Standard Division, and it was his responsibility to guard the soil, so he guarded Wuchang and did not set off with the army. " Wang Chi heard that Bao Chao had become a sub-commander, but he didn't have his own share, and the boss was unhappy. In fact, the division of Bao Chao belonged to Wang Chi, but he changed his mind temporarily after hearing Guohua's words just now.Zeng Guofan can never tolerate someone carrying him behind his back and cultivating his own personal power in Xiangyong.He originally liked Wang Chi's talent very much, but after the battle at Savage Mountain, he valued Wang Chi even more.But later, Zeng Guofan discovered that Wang Chi was becoming more and more arrogant, often making his own claims, implicitly calling himself the head of Xiangyong.Especially when he first arrived in Hengzhou, Zeng Guofan was uneasy for a long time when he wrote the signboard.Today, after hearing what the sixth brother said about the situation, he resolutely decided to remove his post and send him back to Changsha.Zeng Guofan saw Wang Chi sitting silently, so he put on a smiling face, showing a very trusting attitude, and said to him: "Pu Shan, this is a letter from Luo Zhongcheng brought by Wen Fu just now, please read it first." Wang Chi took the letter, read it and thought: Since Master Di doesn't trust me, why don't I take this opportunity to go back to Hunan.The world is chaotic, where can't you stand up, why do you have to suffer under someone's hand? "Master Di, let me take Lao Xiangying back to Changsha!" Wang Chi's voluntary request came as a surprise to Guofan.He thought to himself: Wang Chizhi has great talents and dares to do things. This person is still young. After some training, he may become a generation of famous generals.Thinking of this, he thought that he should not be too mean to Wang Chi, and had to leave it for later.Zeng Guofan said with emotion: "Pushan, Luoshan once told me that the virtuous brother is the number one among his disciples. In the past two years, I have the same feeling that the virtuous brother is the most talented among the Xiangyong camp officials." One of them. I have always been surprised and hopeful. Luo Zhongcheng sent a letter, please send a strong team, I also thought about it, this matter must be a good brother. Hunan is the hometown of Xiangyong, and the hometown is restless. How can the soldiers of Xiangyong come to fight? And in the future, food, salary, Soldiers still have to rely on the continuous supply from their hometown. Brother Xian must be very aware of the importance of hometown to Xiangyong. Brother Xian must be on his own this time when he returns home. Naturally, it will be difficult. If you are doing very difficult things, I hope you can do it yourself. If there are any equipment that the old Xiangying lacks, you can propose them yourself, and the camp will do its best to make up for it." Wang Chi said: "The equipment of the old Hunan battalion is stronger than other battalions, and there is nothing lacking." Zeng Guofan pointed to the bookcase behind him, and said to Wang Chi: "If there is no shortage of equipment, I will not give it away. This cabinet is engraved with twenty-three histories and given to my virtuous brother. It is a farewell party." "The kindness of teachers and students is too great." Zeng Guofan said affectionately: "In the 16th year of Daoguang, I will try and report again. I went out for a trip to the south of the Yangtze River. Tongyi Yi was the Meiguan and the county magistrate of Suining. Because of his visit, he borrowed a hundred gold from Yigong to go to Jinling. To buy a book. This Twenty-Three Histories is what I bought at that time. It has been with me for nearly 20 years, and I have never left for a while. Now I am giving this book to my virtuous brother. I hope that I can read it in my spare time, hone it, and become a generation. A famous general, a generation of virtuous ministers, will leave his name in history." Wang Chi was greatly moved by Zeng Guofan's words, and Zeng Guohua who was on the side was also moved by it.Wang Chi felt guilty for wrongly blaming Zeng Guofan. He stood up and said, "My teacher is kind, and Wang Chi accepted it. Wang Chun will never let down my teacher's expectations. After the bandits in Hunan are put down, I will return with my battalion and follow your elder brother forever." left and right."