Chapter 9 Section 9 Intensification of Contradictions

Hechun never dreamed that Shi Dakai had ambushed 20,000 people in Feixi in advance, waiting for his arrival.As soon as Hechun arrived in Feixi, before he had set up camp, 20,000 Taiping troops rushed out from all directions, joined forces with the men and horses that Hechun was chasing all the way, and surrounded him.Hechun turned pale with shock, and rushed to Yuan Jiasan and Fuji for emergency, while organizing the troops to resist desperately.When Yuan Jiasan received the urgent letter, he led his troops to Feixi in a hurry. Fuji didn't dare to neglect the urgent document, and on the same day, he also mobilized his troops to rush to Feixi.At this time, Li Hongzhang offered a plan: "My lord Futai, let me tell you that Mr. Yuan has already raised his army to Feixi. If we send all the soldiers of the city to rescue at this moment, Changmao will definitely use the soldiers of Luzhou and Shucheng to surround our army. Then I and the Hejunmen are in danger!"

Fuji rolled his eyes, and asked in a low voice: "Shaoquan, are you going to ask the headquarters to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao again?" Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "Your Excellency is very predictable, and this is exactly what I mean!" Fuji said: "What Shaoquan said coincides with the headquarters. The headquarters is just worried that Changmao will not give in. Once that happens, it is not a big mistake! If the superior blames it, the people who eat in the headquarters will be gone!" Li Hongzhang said: "My lord, let me tell you this, and I boldly think that when I pour my troops to rescue Hejunmen, I can leave an army to lie under the city of Luzhou. After Changmao leaves the city, I will attack the city. Win in one fight."

Fuji interjected: "After recovering Luzhou, we will rush to Feixi. Changmao definitely has no intention of fighting again, so Hechun is out of danger! The Ministry is right, isn't it?" Li Hongzhang smiled and replied: "Your Excellency is right, but I think that after our army regains Luzhou, we can't rush to Feixi, and rush to Shucheng in the middle of the way. Changmao will be defenseless. After Shucheng is recovered, The army rushed to Feixi again. Changmao lost two cities in a row, does he still have the heart to fight again? What do you think?" Fuji Chijie said: "Shaoquan is really Zhuge Liang by my side! This department is up to your plan! I will send the army to Feixi to rescue Hechun, how about your brother still leading the regiment of three thousand to make great contributions?"

Li Hongzhang said: "My lord's order, I dare not disobey. But the lower officials boldly think that it is best to use Jiang Zhongyi's regiment camp to recover Luzhou and Shucheng this time. The former Futai Jiang Zhongyuan died in Luzhou. His younger brother Jiang Zhongyi and his subordinates are always thinking of revenge. Your lord sent him to take back Luzhou, isn't it true to the old saying that one bird kills two birds with one stone?" Fuji smiled and said: "It's not your brother who reminded me, the headquarters really forgot about this. Alright, the headquarters will appoint you to lead the battalion."

Fuji led the Mabu army and rushed to Feixi, while Li Hongzhang led Jiang Zhongyi's regiment camp to Luzhou by Jiandao.An undercover agent urgently reported to Wang Haiyang.Wang Haiyang hurriedly transferred the defenders of Luzhou and Shucheng to Feixi for reinforcements. Not long after the Taiping Army left the city, Li Hongzhang and Jiang Zhongyi arrived.They looked around the city and saw that the city gates were tightly closed and banners were planted all over the top of the city, but there were not many soldiers patrolling.Li Hongzhang expected that most of the defenders had left the city, so he ordered the attack.The Taiping Army was outnumbered, and Luzhou was soon restored.

Li Hongzhang followed Jiang Zhongyi to leave 300 troops to defend the city, and led his army to Shucheng from the small road in the starry night, and Shucheng followed.The Taiping Army lost two cities in a row, which was like losing its left and right wings. The morale of the army was shaken, and they were quickly defeated. In Shucheng, Li Hongzhang was overjoyed when he received a complete map of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces drawn by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from Jiangjun.Li Hongzhang kept the four maps away without saying a word, and then made some arrangements, and led Jiang Zhongyi's troops out of the city to rush towards Feixi.

Yuan Jiasan's reinforcements arrived after Li Hongzhang.Seeing that the time was right to reject Yuan Jiasan, Fuji immediately drafted a ginseng and handed it to the capital overnight.Fuji knew that it would not be long before nearly ten thousand soldiers would be added to his command. In the first month of the sixth year of Xianfeng (1856 A.D.), Fuji carried out large-scale construction projects in Luzhou to rebuild the governor's office.The imperial decree came in quickly at this moment. Fuji, Hechun, Zhang Guoliang and others hurriedly knelt down to accept the imperial edict.The imperial decree first commended Fuji's merits, saying that he was "both wise and courageous, mature enough to seek the country, and rewarded him with a top hat, double eyes and feathers, and the title of Prince Shaobao"; With the law, there is a way to control the enemy, and he will be appointed as the imperial envoy to supervise the military affairs of the whole province of Anhui."The third person commended by the imperial decree was not Li Hongzhang, but Yuan Xiang, the magistrate of Hezhou.The Canadian dollar detailed Taoist was rewarded with three ranks and topped by the Anhui Provincial Envoy and the State Prefect.It was Li Hongzhang after Yuan Xiang, who wrote Li Hongzhang to the Military Aircraft Office to record his name for the Taoist government.Then came Jiang Zhongyi, Wu Quanmei and others.Yuan Jiasan was summoned to the capital to interrogate his crimes, and the remaining divisions were handed over to Fuji.It can be said that the emperor's grace is mighty, and there is no omission.

Fuji held a banquet in Luzhou to celebrate his victory, and Yuan Xiang, who was in high spirits, surrounded Fuji and waited on him, yelling "Mu En" one after another. Li Hongzhang hid his unhappiness, and specially toasted the masters around Fuji. A few days after the banquet, Li Hongzhang invited Zhang Gong, the second handsome copywriter in the governor's yamen, to drink in a restaurant; after drinking, he specially called the bureau to serve him. Mr. Zhang is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and is a poor relative of Fuji Shiqiru's wife.Zhang Gongyuan sang opera with Mrs. Shiqiru of Fuji in the teahouse. After Shiqi became Mrs. Ru of Fuji, he also entered the governor's office.Because of his good pen skills, he was appointed as a master copywriter, who specially wrote manuscripts for Fuji, and gradually became a celebrity around Fuji.Zhang Gong believed that he had a few drops of ink in his stomach, and he had written a playbook, so he looked down on others.When other masters talked to him, he would either snort his nose or raise his face high, and people secretly nicknamed him Second Handsome.

In recovering Luzhou this time, Li Hongzhang was the first in terms of meritorious service, but the one who received the most reward was Yuan Xiang who didn't even go out of Hezhou City.Li Hongzhang suspected that this matter might be the work of the master copywriter, so he put his efforts on the second handsome man. At first Zhang Gong refused to talk about it, but Li Hongzhang had a meal for three days and a scene for five days, but gradually he couldn't hold back.Zhang Gong, although he pretends to be dignified, is actually the cheapest, which has something to do with his background.

That evening, Zhang Gong specially ordered some side dishes from the street and placed them in his room to invite Li Hongzhang back.Afraid of being underestimated by him, Li Hongzhang went to a wine shop and bought a bottle of "Xinghua Village". The price was actually more expensive than these dishes.The two of them were still gossiping first, you drank one cup after another, after five or six cups, Zhang Gong finally couldn't hold it back, and started to chatter. Zhang Gong was drunk and blindfolded, and took Li Hongzhang's hand to complain: "Brother Shaoquan, don't look at my brother who pretends to be a man in front of outsiders, but in the eyes of Futai, dogs are worse. He let me If I beat a dog, I would not dare to kill chickens; if he told me to go east, I would not dare to go west. He said that Yuanxiang was the one who made the first contribution to the recovery of Luzhou. When I drafted the manuscript, I dared not list your brother First, brother, tell me, brother, is my life still a human life?"

Li Hongzhang asked in a low voice: "Master Zhang, did you drink too much? Yuan Jietai has been guarding Hezhou City, and he didn't leave the city to recover Luzhou?" Zhang Gong widened his eyes and said, "I drank too much? Even if your brother brought three more bottles of 'Xinghuacun', he would never get me drunk! Yes, Yuanxiang didn't go out of the city to fight Changmao, but he did it for Aunt Seventeen. It’s been a birthday! Brother, do you know how much money he spent for Aunt Shiqi? A total of 30,000 taels! Thirty thousand taels of silver, how much land can you buy if you take it to the countryside? The aunt climbed up, except that he didn't lick her ass, he did everything that should be done. "I heard from the maid inside that Aunt Shiqi and Futai had a big fight twice because of Yuanxiang. Brother, you and I are best friends. You must not tell the third person what I just said. Boss My brother is a little dizzy today, so I won’t keep my brother.” Before Zhang Gong could finish speaking, he already lay down and fell asleep. Li Hongzhang sighed, got up and left.A few days later, he went home on leave to renovate the old house in Hefei that had been destroyed by artillery fire. Then, together with his elder brother Hanzhang and four younger brothers, he brought his mother and family from Modian Township to live in Hefei. After the vacation was over, Li Hongzhang rushed back to the barracks.At this time, he felt more and more that his future with Fuji was bleak, so he asked Ding's father to continue his worries, and he refused to allow it on the grounds that the whole territory of Anhui was not peaceful. Just after the New Year's Eve, He Chunkai, Wu Quanmei and the Taiping Army fought in Lujiang. Zhang Guoliang led his troops to attack Anqing.The two sides are evenly matched, in a tug-of-war state. In April, the imperial court ordered Fuji to quickly send troops to reinforce Hechun, hoping to conquer Lujiang first and then Tongcheng. Fuji knew that the Taiping Army in Lujiang was weak, and as soon as the reinforcements arrived, they would be able to recover immediately. He could not pass on the credit for this in his hands to others.He sent Li Hongzhang to lead 2,000 regiments to still besiege Tongcheng, and he planned to personally lead Jiang Zhongyi's troops and Fubiao camp, and rush to Lujiang overnight to make great contributions. Li Hongzhang said: "Master Gong Bao made such an arrangement, and I have nothing to say. But I boldly believe that Tongcheng has no fewer than five thousand long-haired people. Surrounding five thousand people with two thousand people is like hitting a stone with an egg. If the long-haired people go out of the city to fight against us." , how can I be against? I hope you must think twice." Fuji widened his eyes and said: "Brother Shaoquan, you are not a coward, are you? Changmao has a large army, but they are a mob. Although you only have two thousand troops, don't forget, you lead Yes, they are the officers and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty!" Li Hongzhang replied: "Your Excellency, I have learned from you. I boldly think that no matter whether it is an officer or a long-haired man, they are all made of flesh and blood. If your Excellency arranges this way, the lower officials dare not obey their orders!" Fuji sneered and said, "The enemy is in front of us, as a fourth-rank official of our Qing Dynasty, you actually said such words!" Li Hongzhang replied calmly: "My lord, I know that the lower officials are not those who are afraid of death. The ancients said: Why should a man be afraid of death when he is born in this world? If the lower officials are afraid of death, how dare they go alone to recover Shucheng?" Fuji was exposed by Li Hongzhang, and immediately trembled with anger. He said loudly, "Li Shaoquan, don't block me with this matter. This department knows that you are the first to recapture Shucheng, but it is the order of the people. You let the headquarters What’s wrong with the courtyard? Shucheng, you and I will not talk about him first. You give the headquarters a happy word, and the superiors ask the headquarters to help Hechun. The special committee of the headquarters leads 2,000 regiments to besiege Tongcheng bravely. You obey the order Shouldn't it?" Li Hongzhang knew that Fuji was playing the trick of killing donkeys.Yes, it's death; no, it's disobedience, and it's also death; I had no choice but to bow my head and reply: "This is the constitutional order, and I dare not refuse, but I have to implore Lord Gong Bao to allow me to do things at my own expense. that power." Fuji replied coldly: "It's natural. The department has always been fair to others when doing things, and it's the same for you, Li Shaoquan!" After speaking, he left with a flick of his sleeves.