Chapter 17 Section 17 Li Hongzhang became governor of Jiangsu at the age of thirty-nine

Xue Huan quickly asked Su Song Taidao Wu Xu to make up Huaiyong's salary and food, and an additional reward of 50,000 taels of silver.Li Hongzhang decided to stay away from the foreign gun team and move to Taicang to prepare for the next step to recover Qingpu.Xue Huan agreed to his request. Li Hongzhang led Huaiyong to leave Shanghai, and the imperial edict followed to the governor's office.The decree officer was welcomed into the governor's yamen, and Li Hongzhang was rushed to receive the decree together. Xue Huan was taken aback for a moment, and hurried out of the city on fast horses to catch up with his soldiers.At this time, Li Hongzhang was already on the way, and the fast horse tail of the governor's yamen came after him, asking him to return to the city quickly to receive the order.

Li Hongzhang urgently sent orders to go down and stand by on the spot.As soon as he arrived at the governor's yamen, out of breath, the decree officer did not allow him to rest, so he shouted: "Xue Huan and Li Hongzhang accept the decree!" The two hurriedly fell to the ground facing north. The decree official declared: "According to Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, who co-organized the university, someone previously reported that Xue Huan, a governor of Jiangsu, has been guarding Shanghai since he took office, and he was helpless... Since the date of receiving the decree, this member has been working. Lacking the post of governor, I will add the title of imperial envoy to handle foreign affairs in Shanghai... According to Zeng Guofan's request, Li Hongzhang was rewarded with the second rank and Dai was promoted to the governor of Jiangsu. According to Zeng Guofan's previous report, in order to show that the power of affairs is unified, can foreign affairs be made an exception? The gun team and the Huaiyang navy are under their control. I understand the inspector's intentions, and Jia En breaks the rules and agrees."

At the most critical moment, Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, who co-organized the university, gave Xue Huan a head-on blow, and recommended his protégé Li Hongzhang to be the governor of Jiangsu.At this time, the four provinces of Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Anhui were all under Zeng Guofan's control. It was impossible for the court not to listen to Zeng Guofan's words. At that time, the Qing Dynasty had a total of eighteen provinces, including Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

Among the governors of eighteen provinces, the 39-year-old Li Hongzhang was undoubtedly the youngest governor. Xue Huan was forty-seven years old when he was appointed governor by Shanghai Daosheng, and he was dismissed just a year after he arrived in Shanghai. This is what annoyed him most; , Xue Huan hated the quick promotion.What's more, in Jiangsu at that time, there were only three people in the top rank of Enshang, and seven or eight officials in the second and third ranks. For example, Su Songtai Dao Wu Xu and Jiming Dao Yang Fang were both tops of the second rank. The most unlucky group training assistant, Liu Xiao, is also the top wearer of the third rank.

After receiving the order, Xue Huan was downcast and unable to cheer up; Li Hongzhang was in high spirits and his face was flushed after receiving the order.Speaking of which, Xue Huan is not an incompetent person, he has his abilities. Xue Huan was born in Xingwen, Sichuan, and has been running an antique shop for three generations.He used to be the magistrate of Jinshan County, and later joined Xiang Rongmu to praise the military of Jiangnan Daying.In the third year of Xianfeng (AD 1853), with the growth of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Shanghai Small Knife Society also gathered people to revolt.

Xue Huan led 1,500 people from Chuanyong with the title of magistrate, and went to suppress with Xu Naizhao, the governor of Jiangsu. He was awarded the prefect of Songjiang and Suzhou for his meritorious service. .In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860 A.D.), the Taiping Army captured southern Jiangsu. He also acted as the Governor of Liangjiang, and ordered Su Song Taidao Wu Xu and Salt Transport Envoy Yang Fang to collude with American Hua Er and rely on British forces to organize foreign guns. The team fought against the Taiping Army, which was appreciated by the Prime Minister's Yamen.

Soon, the governor of Liangjiang released Zeng Guofan as his acting agent, and he returned to serve as governor of Jiangsu, living in Shanghai.Although Xue Huan has fame, he still refuses to abandon his ancestral foundation. There are his antique shops in central Sichuan and Shanghai.The officials in Liangjiang knew Xue Huan's habit. All the officials who came to Jiangsu as candidates, no matter how close or close they were, had to spend a lot of money to collect one or two antiques and send them to them in order to get a place. But they were all short-term; If you lack points, you have to go to Xueji Antique Shop to buy goods frequently, and then ask someone to send them to the governor's office.In the third case, Xue Huan has a lot of money, and he is familiar with the roads in Beijing, but the officials in Jiangsu are all in a hurry.Relying on the fact that the foreign guns can fight and defend, Shanghai has never been broken.

Li Hongzhang knew that Xue Huan's ability to win the favor of foreigners depended on Wu Xu and Yang Fang. Both Wu Xu and Yang Fang were compradors and were familiar with foreigners. Yang Fang also married his daughter to Hua Er as his concubine.Relying on the influence of foreigners, Wu Xu and Yang Fang got involved in Shanghai official circles, and won Xue Huan's trust, becoming figures no one in Shanghai would dare to mess with. Although Li Hongzhang was promoted to the governor of Jiangsu, he had to discuss with many people before he could handle the affairs of Jiangsu.He needs to ask for the approval of his mentor for officials' promotion, transfer and compensation; he needs to greet Xue Huan when it comes to foreign affairs; Political envoy has two important titles; as for the matter of the foreign gun team, he must first discuss it with Yang Fang before handling it, because Yang Fang is the old Taishan who leads the foreign gun team, that is, the old Taishan of the foreign gun team However, Li Hongzhang still couldn't do without the foreign gun team at this time.

Wu Xu and Yang Fang, on the surface, obeyed the governor's yamen, but they still circled around Xue Huan secretly; the same was true for the foreign gun team. Li Hongzhang remained calm, but he was thinking hard about the countermeasures in his heart. He knew that Wu Xu and Yang Fang had been in Shanghai for a long time, and with Xue Huan and foreigners as the background, it was not easy to move.But if you want to gain a foothold in Shanghai, you have to rectify it in both the military and political circles. After much deliberation, Li Hongzhang decided to start in Luying first, and then look for opportunities to join Wu Xu and Yang Fang, hoping to seize the power of banking and grain in Jiangsu.As for the foreign gun team, Li Hongzhang was not in a hurry to make a move, because the foreign gun team originally held the principle that whoever provided the food and wages for the foreign gun team was the mother of the team.Li Hongzhang firmly believed that as long as he gained a firm foothold in Shanghai, he would have the same powers, and he did not believe that the foreign gun team would not obey orders.

Having made up his mind, Li Hongzhang did what he said.He first checked the generals of the green battalion one by one, so that he knew what he knew.The admiral of Jiangsu, Zeng Bingzhong, was a man who made his fortune through military exploits. He was valiant in battle and capable of both water and land, but he was full of gangster spirit and always looked down on civilian officials.For such people, Li Hongzhang believes in the tenet: only use but never rely on for a long time.The commander-in-chief Kuang Wenbang only followed Zeng Bingzhong's words. Zeng Bingzhong ordered to go west, but he dared not go east.He has always had no independent opinions, and he is a top-notch fool in the Shanghai naval camp.Lieutenant General Feng Rikun is Xue Huan's confidant general. He has only been in Shanghai for two years, but he relied on Xue Huan's influence to rob civilian women, beat the regiment trainer Liu Xingao, and kill Wu Xu's future son-in-law with a cane.Participating general Li Hengsong has been fighting with the foreign gun team and has not had any bad records yet.

Li Hongzhang decided to get rid of Feng Rikun first, then replace Zeng Bingzhong and Kuang Wenbang, and finally set about rectifying the foreign gun team.In the evening of that day, Li Hongzhang asked the cook to prepare some small dishes, and then someone secretly sent Liu Xunjiao to question him. Liu Xunjiao was having dinner at that time, and when he heard that the governor had ordered him, he hurriedly put down the bowl and rushed over. After the ceremony, Li Hongzhang took Liu Xunjiao's hand and sat down with a smile, and ordered wine and dishes to be served.Liu Xunjiao was flattered, and even said: "The lower officials will not be rewarded without merit, and the lower officials will not be rewarded without merit!" Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Master Liu is a great hero in Shanghai. I should offer you a glass of wine when I come to Shanghai for the first time." Liu Xunjiao hurriedly said: "Your Excellency's words have made the lower officials more and more at a loss. Please explain your words clearly, otherwise the lower officials will not dare to sit on their own accord!" Li Hongzhang pressed Liu Xunjiao on the seat and sat down on the opposite side himself. Then he said slowly: "When the headquarters came to Shanghai, I heard that Feng Rikun, the deputy general of the Fubiao Battalion, did evil things. No one dared to touch him. Only the regiment commander Liu My lord is not afraid of him. My lord Liu, what the headquarters said is true, right?" Liu Xun said: "My lord's words are the truth, but not the truth. The official and Feng Xietai did have a festival before, but it was all done after drinking. At that time, the official scolded Feng Xietai a few words, Because Feng Xietai scolded the subordinate too hard, he had someone tie him up. Later, Lord Xue came forward and reprimanded the subordinate and Feng Xietai. Now that I think about it, it was not worth it, and it was also suffered. People ridicule. If my lord really loves the lower officials, don't mention this matter in the future!" Li Hongzhang sneered before Liu Xunjiao could finish his speech, and said, "Everyone said that Liu Xunjiao in Shanghai was a real man, but now it seems that the rumors are all false! Mr. Liu, if your brother thinks that You have been begging for food under people's noses all your life, so naturally this department cannot force you. Not only will this department not mention your brother's name to people in the future, but you will also tell people that there is no such thing as Liu Xunjiao in Jiangsu officialdom!" Li Hongzhang's few words made Liu Xun's face red and his neck thick, and he was restless.Li Hongzhang said to himself: "Feng Rikun is a second-rank military officer, he doesn't want to serve the country, but he uses his strength to kill the people. Just as the acting governor of our department, we received more than a dozen complaints, all of which were against Feng Rikun. Feng Rikun acted recklessly, The officialdom in Jiangsu has been messed up by him! If such a person is not dealt with, what is the law?" Liu Xunjiao raised his head suddenly, summoned up his courage and asked, "I want to ask my lord, Feng Xietai has been messing around in Shanghai for a long time, and my lord wanted to deal with him when I first arrived in Shanghai. Did my lord forget, Feng Xietai?" Is there anyone standing behind him? The lower officials are definitely not idiots, they are just worried for adults!" Li Hongzhang replied with a smile: "Since I want to deal with him, I am not afraid of anyone standing behind him!" Liu Xiao said in a low voice: "Feng Rikun has been in Shanghai for a long time, and his relationship is complicated. It is not easy to deal with him!" Li Hongzhang said: "Master Liu, if no one exposes Feng Rikun, the Ministry will naturally not be able to deal with him. But if someone dares to stand up and expose him, as long as the evidence is convincing, the Ministry will definitely be able to deal with him! Master Liu, your brother may not Believe in the Ministry, but you should believe in the laws of the king and the imperial court!" Liu Xunjiao trembled all over, and quickly raised his head and said: "Since your lord has such determination, the time for Feng Rikun's death is really here!" Look, the scar on Xiaguan's arm was done by Feng Rikun of Gou Ri!" On Liu Xunjiao's left arm, a full-foot scar was clearly visible.Li Hongzhang touched the scar on Liu Xunjiao's arm with his hand, and said, "Feng Rikun is so daring, he dared to force even the court order!" Liu Xunjiao sighed and spoke slowly.