Chapter 55 Section 55: Corruptors

Zuo Zongtang begged to take back the restraint, and the three provinces and the armies were ordered to pay homage to him. It took less than forty days for the imperial decree to go down to the Governor's Yamen in Fuzhou. The imperial court still ordered Zuo Zongtang to restrain the army of the three provinces according to the original proposal, but with some modifications: "Zuo Zongtang doesn't have to go to Guangdong. Only the generals from all walks of life must have prestige and important ministers to control and dispatch them, so that they can have the power to do one thing, so that they don't wait and see and miss the opportunity. Zuo Zongtang should only look at the thief's direction and go to Jiangxi to mediate , The camera was suppressed, in order to quickly kill the madness. Only when all the thieves and bandits are wiped out can this heavy responsibility be relieved. This time, please take back the place where it was ordered. There is no need to discuss it. Zuo Zongtang copied each piece and gave it to Ruilin Read on."

In other words, Zuo Zongtang didn't have to rush to Guangdong to oversee the army, but he could command and dispatch in the center of Jiangxi.After receiving the imperial decree, Zuo Zongtang was silent for a long time, so he had to send out his horses to gather all the generals around Fuzhou to the governor's office to discuss matters, and at the same time flew to the commanders of the various armies who were conquering Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces to command Taiping. The movement of the army was quickly reported in order to make arrangements for the advance and stop of the various armies.

The officers and troops fighting in Jiangxi at that time included: Jiangxi Tibiao Army Sixth Battalion with 3,000 soldiers, led by Jiangxi Admiral Xi Baotian; Jiangxi Fubiao Army Eighth Battalion with 4,000 soldiers led by Chief Soldier Lou Yunqing; As Liu Songshan's old department, he had already entered Jiangxi to "assist and suppress" long before Zuo Zongtang entered Fujian.Wang Kailin currently has ten battalions of 5,000 people, playing under the banner of the old Hunan Army.There are more than 10,000 people who are soldiers from various provinces who successively assisted the river.Jiangxi now has about 20,000 troops.The troops in Guangdong are relatively thicker. There are ten battalions of the Tibiao Army with 5,000 soldiers, led by Gao Liansheng, the admiral of Guangdong; The battalion of 10,000 people will be led by Admiral Fang Yao and Admiral Zhuoxing.Ruilin also recruited another ten battalions of Yueyong to station near Guangzhou, and Guo Songtao also recruited eight battalions of Yong to follow the army to conquer.Calculated in this way, the total number of Cantonese troops reached more than 30,000.

In late October of the same year, Zuo Zongtang sent Liu Dian to lead the 20th Battalion into Jiangxi, and sent the 10th Battalion of the Fubiao Army into Guangdong.In Guanxi, Pinghe, Zuo Zongtang flew to the various officers and troops in Guangdong and moved closer to Jiaying Prefecture, determined to find an opportunity to compete with Kang Wang Wang Haiyang, the Taiping Army who occupied the vicinity of Jiaying Prefecture, in order to reverse the situation in Guangdong Province.During this period, the eldest son Xiaowei came to Beijing to introduce him. He was rewarded with the title of master and allowed to be an alternate in the capital.At the end of the year, Xiaowei returned to the governor's office of Fujian and Zhejiang.

At that time, Wang Haiyang had more than 80,000 troops in Jiaying Prefecture, and they were divided into various key passes; Very in line with the art of war.When Zuo Zongtang invaded Jiaying Prefecture this time, he could only mobilize more than 40,000 people.The other armies were either stationed at the provincial borders to strictly prevent the Taiping Army from fleeing and colluding with each other, or they were fighting with the Taiping Army, so they could not be recruited. After Zuo Zongtang arrived at Guanxi for less than a month, he broke out his camp and took the mountain road to advance towards Tai Po.Guanxi is more than three hundred miles away from Dapu, and it is all dangerous mountain roads.

Zuo Zongtang let go of the road and walked this mountain road, just to make Wang Haiyang unexpected.Before the trip, in order to ensure the supply of food and grass along the road, Zuo Zongtang sent personnel to send two or six thousand taels of silver to Yongding County in advance, and ordered him to purchase two thousand shi of military rice nearby for the use of various troops.The so-called three armies have not moved, and the food and grass go first, which is the truth. After Zuo Zongtang confirmed that everything was safe, he set up camp.But this time he was trapped by a person, this person is Li Hualong, the magistrate of Qipin County, Yongding County, Fujian Province.

Li Hualong was originally a slave of Guanwen, the governor of Huguang, a scholar of the Wenhua Palace. Because he gave his daughter to Guanwen as a concubine, he was rewarded by the official. He donated a seven-rank magistrate to him. county. Li Huazheng is dishonest as a man, and greedy as an official.Relying on the power of official documents, he not only ignored Governor Xu Zongqian, but also Governor Zuo Zongtang. Xu Zongqian didn't dare to do anything to him because he was in the way of Guanwen's affection, and Zuo Zongtang couldn't make things too difficult for him because he had a feud with Guanwen before.What's more, he is a local parent, and he is under the control of the governor's yamen. It is impossible for the governor's yamen to oversee him, so he becomes more and more daring.

Yongding was originally a small county, but after several years of war, the population became even sparser. When the seeds fell, there were not even a few people working in the fields, let alone the word prosperity.But he completely ignored these things. After receiving the wheat seeds distributed by the governor's yamen according to the head, he took them to the neighboring counties and exchanged them for cash for sparrows; , Second, don't distribute it downwards, put it all in your own pocket for smoking (opium).The people in the territory were displaced and lived by digging wild vegetables, but the county yamen was brightly lit all day long. Either Li Huazhen was lying on the bed with his wives and concubines smoking, or a group of people gathered together to fork sparrows, which was very lively.

The people in Yongding were so quiet that sometimes even Xu Zonggan was puzzled.What is the reason for this?In fact, this is not difficult to understand. It is nothing more than that the people are too poor and hungry, and have no extra energy to go to court, so the Yamen naturally wants to be idle. After Li Huazheng received the six thousand taels of silver from Zuo Zongtang, he dismissed the officer and said with a laugh: "I'm going crazy thinking about money these days, Zuo Jigao, the idiot, It just happened to send six thousand taels of silver! Isn’t this a windfall from the sky?”

He wanted to put all the six thousand taels into his pocket, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was inappropriate.After all, this is military pay for purchasing rice, which is not comparable to the silver taels used for disaster relief. If the superiors really blame it, I am afraid that the husband-in-law's official documents will not be able to speak for him.After thinking about it, he decided to keep the three thousand taels for his own use, and only use three thousand taels to buy rice.If Zuo Zongtang asked, he would only say that the money he received was three thousand taels, and he would refuse to admit it.Li Hualong had already made up his mind, and the next day he sent someone to a neighboring county to buy rice with three thousand taels of silver.Unexpectedly, the person he sent out was more courageous than Li Huajun, and when he got three thousand taels of silver, he kept two thousand taels for himself first, and only used one thousand taels to buy grain.

Zuo Zongtang's army had not arrived in Tai Po in time, and the battalions on the road ahead had sent letters declaring food shortages. Zuo Zongtang hurriedly sent his staff to check the amount of grain purchased, but it turned out that it was only 300 shi, which was far from the amount needed. Li Huazheng couldn't make excuses for his illness.Zuo Zongtang sent someone to check with him again on the cash register, but he issued a written receipt stating that he had received three thousand taels of rice; no matter who Zuo Zongtang sent to check, Li Yao refused to admit that he had received it. Six thousand taels of silver.At that time, military pay was extremely scarce, and six thousand taels of silver was not a small amount. Li Huayong, a county magistrate, dared to swallow three thousand taels of military pay all by himself. On the one hand, Zuo Zongtang played to the imperial court, asking for an order to dismiss Li Huarong and interrogate him. On the other hand, he sent personnel to Yongding County to take off Li Huarong's hat first, and escorted him to the front of the army for interrogation. On the one hand, he flew to the Fuzhou governor's yamen to inform Xu Zongqian of the situation, and Xu Zongqian dispatched personnel to Yongding quickly. Before Li Hualong left his post, he naturally sent his servants to deliver letters to the officials behind his back. After Zuo Zongtang saw Li Huarong, he naturally asked another question.However, Li Huazhen refused to deny that the money he received was 6,000 taels, and insisted to death that it was 3,000 taels.Zuo Zongtang was so angry that he sent the official who sent the money up to confront him, but he still didn't let go, and even claimed that he was wronged. The officer had no choice but to show him the written receipt he had issued at that time, thinking that Li Huazheng would definitely not have anything to say after seeing it.Unexpectedly, Li Huazhen took the note and only glanced at it, then tore it up in the hall, saying: "This is a fake!" This time even the officer didn't know what to do. Zuo Zongtang ordered people to take Li Hualong out to take care of him, and then brought Li Mingxin in with the rank of general in the military battalion, and said: "I hate Li Huamang, you are such a rascal! Even if he received three thousand taels of silver, how about Only buy three hundred stones? The main hall has already been troubled by him." Li Mingxin took a step forward and said, "Jeezhang Rongrong, I have long heard that this Li Huazheng is the old Taishan of the Guanxiang Kingdom, I wonder if it is true?" Zuo Zongtang said contemptuously: "Listen to him talking big words and deceiving people! Xu Futai believes him, but the Headquarters doesn't believe him! He just gave his daughter to Guanwen for fun. He is not even given the title of aunt, what kind of Taishan is he! The main hall has asked for an order to dismiss Li Huarong, but the main hall is still furious. Li Huayong is so bold and reckless, he dares to swallow my salary three times at once More than a thousand taels, just dismissing him and questioning him, isn't it too cheap? What's more, even if he is dismissed and questioned, and taken to Beijing, it will take a few days for the official document to change his name and separate him Reply. If he is beheaded, he will be an official of the imperial court. This Li Huajun, he really hates people! General Li Shen, do you have a better way?" Li Mingxin lowered his voice and said, "My lord, do you want Li Huarong to die, or do you want him to live?" Zuo Zongtang stared and said: "Are you really confused or pretending to be confused? Let him live, why should I be so worried! As far as I know, he has been in office for more than a year, has he ever done anything serious? How did he ever give the people a penny or a stone of the disaster relief silver and rice that he put into his own pocket in exchange for cash? An official like him, what is the use of keeping it?" Li Mingxin smiled, nodded again, and said, "As long as your lord has something to say, I will handle it easily. Fifty miles ahead, there is a section of the Grand Canyon, which is unfathomable. Tomorrow's march, I will have people throw Li Huazhen into the valley." That is to say. What’s more, it’s not uncommon to encounter some dangerous situations while marching, and it’s not uncommon to stumble and fall into a valley. As long as your lord adds a sentence, “The prisoner Li Huazheng accidentally stumbled and fell into the valley with the battalion and died in the valley” when he reported to the court, wouldn’t that be enough? Is it? Not only the official minister has nothing to say, but what can the court say?" Zuo Zongtang lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then said with a smile, "Li Huajun's death method is reasonable, but it's just a little bit cheaper for him." Li Mingxin was taken aback for a moment, and asked casually: "What do you mean by your lord's words? How can you take advantage of him instead?" Zuo Zongtang said in a low voice: "Think about it, after the imperial court found out that he had slipped and fell into the valley, he would naturally punish him and allocate a few hundred taels of funeral money to his bereaved family. In this way, it is not too cheap Is he? All right, the Headquarters doesn’t care about these things anymore. The Headquarters first draws up the paperwork for Li Huarong’s slip and fall, and after you finish the process, he will send it to Beijing. Li Huarong will be handed over to your brother to take care of it, but Don't let him escape!" Although Li Huajun "stumbled and fell to the bottom of the valley and died" in the evening of the second day, several groups of people who arrived in Tai Po earlier began to loot the local people because of the lack of food and grass.All of a sudden, the area around Tai Po, with a radius of hundreds of miles, was filled with wild chickens and dogs, people turned their backs on their backs, and accusations of looting by the government and the army flew into the local yamen like snowflakes. Ruilin was furious when he heard the news. On the one hand, he worshiped and impeached Zuo Zongtang, and on the other hand, he sent a letter to Zuo Zongtang to question Zuo Zongtang.After Zuo Zongtang received the letter, he didn't bother to reply to Ruilin to argue with him, so he urgently sent a letter to the Dapu County Yamen overnight, ordering him to quickly prepare a thousand shi of military rations and send them to the army for emergency, and to buy rice and use silver to compensate the army when they arrived. . At the end of the article, it was written: "If the order is delayed and the document is not processed, the military situation will be misunderstood. We must strictly participate in it! We will never tolerate it!" The Jueshuai who controlled the armies of the three provinces was finally forced to show his power! On November 29th in the fourth year of Tongzhi (AD 1865), Zuo Zongtang led the horse-buying army and finally arrived in Dapu, Guangdong as scheduled after crossing the vast forest, rocks, and ridge roads. On the day Zuo Zongtang arrived in Tai Po, in order to stabilize the morale of the army and appease the anger of the people, he first tied up the two camp officers of the Chu army who had plundered the people bravely in front of the camp and asked them to kill them. After verification, the lost grain, rice, chicken, duck, etc. were registered one by one, and the military camp grain platform compensated for the loss.Only then did the people gradually stabilize, and the morale of the army began to stabilize. In order to make this expedition a success, Zuo Zongtang went to Fengjie, Sichuan again, and ordered Bao Chao, the admiral and first-class viscount who was originally from Ding Muyou, who was originally from Ding Muyou, to be the admiral and first-class viscount, and the former commander of the Hunan Army, to summon the old troops of Liujiang to fight in Jiaying.At the time when the army was being used, the imperial court had no objection to the various requests of the military commanders, but it did not say a word about the disturbance of the people by the troops in Guangdong.Zuo Zongtang was very puzzled. Bao Chao quickly summoned all the old troops, and the raised troops rushed to Tai Po day and night. Not long after Jiangning recovered, Zeng Guofan began to lay off the Hunan Army under his command.Bao Chao's Tingzi Battalion originally had 30,000 troops, a total of 60 battalions, and was the main force of the Hunan Army.In order to be able to dispatch the army smoothly, Zeng Guofan first secretly protected Bao Chao as the admiral of Zhejiang, and allowed Bao Chao to lead the old tenth battalion and two battalions to take up the post.After Bao Chao left, Zeng Guofan quickly disbanded the remaining forty battalions in Tingzi, and went to the court to transfer the old ten battalions taken away by Bao Chao into the Zhejiang Bidding Army, which was assigned to the National Economic System Division.A member of the commanding army would not see his remaining troops being disbanded by the commander-in-chief, it would be like slaughtering his son, and Bao Chao was no exception.After he heard that his remaining troops had been disbanded by the commander in chief, he immediately flew to see Zeng Guofan, kowtowed and cried bitterly, begging Zeng Guofan to keep some more soldiers for his urgent use no matter what, but Zeng Guofan refused to die. Ken agreed.Bao Chao was so angry and hated that he asked Zeng Guofan for leave and insisted on going back to his hometown to bury his mother, so as to continue Ding's mother's worries. On the way back home, Bao Chao didn't scold the commander-in-chief Zeng Guofan, but he scolded the court for killing donkeys. Bao Chao cried and said to the accompanying officials: "If the court hadn't pushed too hard, the old Xiangguo would not have done this anyway. Which battalion of the Hunan Army was not created by him himself!" Along the way, there were battalion officers from the Tingzi Battalion who were stranded after being dismissed. They stopped their commander all the way, cried out their grievances to him, and persuaded Bao Chao, "Why don't you do the opposite!" But Bao Chao stared and roared Said: "With Bao Chunting here, whoever dares to say half a word, I will chop off his head to make a chamber pot!" Bao Chao made great contributions to the smooth dispatch of the Hunan Army without rebellion. Bao Chao’s expedition this time, in addition to raising the bid for the 10th Battalion to which he belonged, he also collected the 5th Battalion that had been laid off along the way. A total of more than 8,000 people were divided into 15 Battalions, and they came to Tai Po one by one; Arrived here five days later.The arrival of Bao Chao made Zuo Zongtang suddenly boost countless confidence. Although Bao Chao is nearly forty years old, his physical strength is not as good as before due to years of galloping on the battlefield, and several serious illnesses, but he is a famous general of the Hunan Army after all, a rare fierce general in the Qing Dynasty. Leading troops and knowing how to fight, as long as he is with him, he will strengthen the courage of the whole army. On the day Bao Chao rushed to Dapu, he asked Zuo Zongtang: Can he be allowed to fight back against Wang Haiyang this time under the banner of the Tingziying of the Hunan Army. Zuo Zongtang understood Bao Chao's temperament and his intentions, so he agreed immediately. So Bao Chao was ordered by Zuo Zongtang to lead the 15th battalion under his command, under the banner of Tingzi Battalion, to advance to Jiaying Prefecture; Officers and soldiers from Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi provinces in Yingzhou.Bao Chao was full of joy, as if he had returned to the past. It was Liu Dian who set out on the second road.Zuo Zongtang led the Chinese army as the third route.