Chapter 31 Section 31 Armed Huai Army

The Guo Junxian mentioned by the brothers Li Hongzhang and Li Hanzhang was the famous Guo Songtao. Guo Songtao, courtesy name Bochen, nicknamed Yunxian, was originally from Xiangyin in southern Hunan. He was from the same hometown as Governor Zuo Zongtang of Zhejiang, and he was a Jinshi in the same year as Li Hongzhang.Guo Songtao traveled to Yuelu Academy in his early years and had a close relationship with Zeng Guofan and Liu Rong.At the beginning of the second year of Xianfeng (AD 1852), Zeng Guofan organized a regiment training in Hunan. Guo Songtao, who was worrying about his parents in Xiangyin, applied for the job.

During Guo Songtao's campaign in Nanchang, he suggested to Jiang Zhongyuan to set up a navy to fight against the Taiping Army.Later, Zeng Guofan paid attention to the Hunan Army Navy, and it was actually Guo who started it.In the seventh year of Xianfeng, Guo Songtao and Ding You left the camp of the Hunan Army at the expiration of his term, and went to Beijing to be awarded the editorship of the Imperial Academy. The next year he entered the Zhishang study. In the ninth year of Xianfeng, when the British and French allied forces invaded Dagu, he was sent to Tianjin to assist Seng Gelinqin in negotiating with the allied forces.Because of Seng Gelinqin's tyranny, he couldn't listen to different opinions, and disagreed with him, so he resigned on the pretext of illness and returned to his hometown to recuperate.After Guo Songtao arrived in Tianjin, he was awarded the fourth-rank top-ranking title. Afterwards, he recuperated in his home country and never advanced again.Compared with Li Hongzhang, Guo Songtao has been very unsatisfactory in officialdom.

On the second day of Li Hanzhang's arrival, Li Hongzhang went to Changshu and Taicang barracks with his own soldiers, and recalled his third brother Hezhang and fourth brother Yunzhang, who had fought bravely, to the governor's office in Shanghai. The four brothers of the Li family had a brief gathering in Shanghai. Li Hongzhang had six brothers in total, namely Hanzhang, Hongzhang, Hezhang, Yunzhang, Fengzhang and Zhaoqing.Hezhang and Yunzhang are both county magistrates of the seventh grade now, Zhaoqing is recruiting new braves in Hefei according to Li Hongzhang's letter of appointment, and the army will come to camp soon; Fengzhang is at home serving his mother and taking care of housework for his brothers.

Li Hanzhang originally wanted to wait for the imperial edict to arrive before leaving, but the imperial edict did not arrive, so he had to leave Shanghai and return to Anqing by ship to return to his order. Strange to say, the imperial decree arrived in Shanghai on the third day after Li Hanzhang left. According to Li Hongzhang's play, Wu Xu and Yang Fang were dismissed and made to serve in front of the camp; Army, restore the whole territory of Jiangsu as soon as possible. Knowing that Li Hongzhang was actually appointed governor of Jiangsu, Xue Huan regretted it so much that he wanted to find a rope and strangle himself to death.On the second day after Li Hongzhang received the order, Wu Xu and Yang Fang both asked for leave.

Li Hongzhang attached a memorial to Guo Songtao while paying his respects to Xie Enzhe. The film talks a lot about Jiangsu's lack of officials who are willing to do things after years of war; then it talks about how talented Guo Songtao is, and mentions Zeng Guofan, saying that he has obtained Zeng Guofan's consent to invite Guo Songtao to work in Jiangsu. A few days later, Li Hongzhang began to reorganize the Ever Victorious Army, eliminating all the idle personnel, leaving only six infantry regiments, four siege artillery teams, two position artillery teams, and one fleet, with a number of 3,000 soldiers.Although Shidi Fuli and Mai Huatuo complained a lot about Li Hongzhang's move, because Li Hongzhang handled it according to the agreement, they could only let it go.

The personnel of the Ever Victorious Army was halved, saving the governor's yamen boss a sum of money. After the Changsheng army stabilized, Li Hongzhang sent Hezhang, Yunzhang, and several capable personnel around him back to Anhui to continue recruiting bravery, and began to purchase a large number of relatively advanced guns and cannons from abroad to gradually equip the battalions of the Huai army.Li Hongzhang has made up his mind and strives to build Huaiyong under his command into the number one force in the Qing Dynasty in the shortest possible time. Hezhang, Yunzhang, Zhaoqing and others soon recruited another 20 battalions of new warriors from Anhui. Counting the original 13 battalions, the total number of Huaiyong battalions reached 33 battalions, plus four battalions of personal soldiers. The number of people is close to 20,000, which is far more than the economic division in Jiangsu Province.Soon, Guo Songtao took office.

Three days later, Gordon, commander of the British engineering corps, came to Shanghai from Tianjin. According to the usual practice, Mai Huatuo and Shidi Fuli brought Gordon to meet Li Hongzhang.Li Hongzhang looked at Gordon. He was tall and tall, with red hair covering a sharp face, two big and shining eyes, broad shoulders, long legs, a pair of British military boots on his feet, and a wide belt around his waist. Gordon humbly saluted Li Hongzhang, and after sitting down, he put his legs together, looking modest and elegant.Li Hongzhang quickly compared Oren, the leader of the current permanent victorious army, with Gordon in his mind.

Oren's figure is similar to that of Gordon in front of him, but Oren, like Stiffley, Mai Huatuo, Bai Qiwen, Wall and others, flaunts his superiority everywhere, exuding an arrogance.This kind of breath not only made Li Hongzhang feel uncomfortable, but it was also unacceptable to most people in the Qing Dynasty.Gordon, on the other hand, seemed less arrogant. After sending Shidi Foli and others away, Li Hongzhang immediately passed on Su Song's Tailiang Dao Guo Songtao and asked about Gordon's origin.When Guo Songtao was negotiating in Tianjin, he had dealt with Gordon and knew his details.

Guo Songtao pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke. Gordon was born in a military family in the United Kingdom. After graduating from the military academy, he served in the British Army Corps of Engineers.In September of the ninth year of Xianfeng (AD 1859), Gordon, who was already a captain of the army, was sent to the Qing Dynasty to serve as the commander of the engineering team of the British side of the Anglo-French coalition forces.In October of the same year, he participated in the attack on Beijing and looted and burned the Old Summer Palace, and returned to Tianjin.Gordon fought ferociously and was quite military minded. Compared with Shidi Fuli, Bai Qiwen and others, he was indeed a relatively outstanding figure.

Guo Songtao finally said: "My lord Futai asked about Gordon, if he guessed the career path well, Futai wants Gordon to replace Oren, right?" Li Hongzhang smiled and said: "You are the same age, you and I are not better than others, you are five years older than me, and you are my mentor's relatives, close the door, you should not be so serious in the future!" "If you think about it this way, it's not in vain for you and me to meet in the same year, and I finally didn't misunderstand you. Thinking about it, I'm really ashamed. I've been traveling here and there for many years, with Jiang Zhongyuan, and with my in-laws. Now You are not confused and four-year-old, and you are still wandering east and west wearing a four-pin cap. As for you, you are just thirty-nine years old, and you are already a big official in the frontier, this is probably what the sages call the destiny!"

Li Hongzhang interrupted Guo Songtao's words: "Okay, don't be full of complaints, your brother. Find a chance, and I will give you a secret security. Your brother's talent is known to everyone in the world, and it will not be buried!" Let's get to the point, Oren has always been arrogant, and sooner or later he will become Bai Qiwen's second." "I have had dinner with him twice, but I don't see any arrogance." "He's acting as the team leader now, so he doesn't dare to go too far, but when the real problem comes to him, I'm afraid it won't be up to you and me." "Replacing the leader of the ever-victorious army, I'm afraid the British side will nod, right?" "It's natural." "Gordon is definitely better than Oren a hundred times as the team leader. But what if Mai Huatuo and Shidi Fuli refuse to agree?" Li Hongzhang pondered: "They will agree. I withdraw the British and replace them with the British. Why should they not agree? More than half of our Huai army is now equipped with foreign guns. It is completely possible to independently recover the entire territory of Jiangsu." Guo Songtao suddenly smiled and said, "Shaoquan, weeding out the Changsheng Army and transferring money to equip your younger brother's Huai Army. This is probably what you and my relatives in Anqing have planned long ago, right? Your move is really serious. Stronger than Zuo Jigao!" "You have wronged my mentor this time. My mentor has never controlled the affairs of Jiangsu. I have never planned everything with my mentor after I arrived in Shanghai." "This is the brilliance of my in-laws. Perhaps, Tianxiang was born in this world, perhaps to rejuvenate the Qing Dynasty?" Li Hongzhang suddenly asked with a smile: "Old Tongnian, don't just praise your in-laws. You see, what is the reason for Li Hongzhang to be born in this world?" Guo Songtao laughed and said, "You Li Shaoquan, you have become the governor of a province, but you still can't change your joking temper! I always scold people in front of me and praise people behind my back!" Li Hongzhang smiled, without words, secretly said: "If you, Guo Yunxian, hadn't had such a bad temper, would you still have a fourth-rank future?" Li Hongzhang felt a little sorry for his own year. After Guo Songtao had dinner in the governor's yamen, he took a sedan chair and went back to the yamen in Songtai Liangdao, Songjiang Province. Li Hongzhang has just ordered a batch of western flowering cannons for Huaiyong, which requires a large sum of money. Guo Songtao has been raising money for this matter these days.