Chapter 36 Section 36 Dismissing the Ever Victorious Army

In April of the third year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1864), the hundreds of thousands of Taiping troops under the command of Li Xiucheng, the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who occupied the key passes of various states and counties in Jiangsu, suffered heavy losses under the powerful offensive of Li Hongzhang's Huai army, and gradually changed from offensive to defensive. The defensive position gradually turned into a retreating position; the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Tianjing was in a hurry, and people from all walks of life had to abandon the existing city walls and join together to return to Tianjing.

So far, except for Jiangning, Jiangsu has been recovered by the Huai army.At this time, the governor's office of Jiangsu had been moved from Shanghai to Suzhou, and Li Hongzhang was stationed in Suzhou, taking care of Shanghai and running between the two places. However, Jiang Ning could not be attacked for a long time, and gradually became the focus of China and foreign countries. At this time, Guo Songtao of Su Song Tailiang Dao was recommended twice by Li Hongzhang. He was first awarded the Su Song Grain Storage Dao, and then awarded the second grade Ding Shi as the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy. He left Shanghai to take up his post; He was appointed as the chief envoy of Jiangning to supervise the military camps in the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Yangtze River, and temporarily lived in Suzhou; at this time, Liu Xingao was rewarded with the second rank as the chief envoy of Jiangsu; Wang Dajing was appointed as the inspector of Jiangsu; It is also a grain storage road; Ding Richang has been transferred to Shanghai by Li Hongzhang to supervise the affairs of the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau.

Except for Jiangning, the whole province of Jiangsu was under the control of Li Hongzhang. Although the Taiping Army has all withdrawn from Shanghai, the Niu Party that followed it has become stronger and stronger. In addition, Jiangning has not recovered. It is obvious that Jiangsu has not yet reached the time when swords and guns are put into storage and horses are released in Nanshan. But Li Hongzhang was at this time, and asked to dismiss the Ever Victorious Army.When the news came out, Jiangsu officials were in an uproar.Ding Richang hurried from Shanghai to Suzhou, and together with Qiao Songnian, Liu Yunjiao, Xu Peiyuan and others, met Li Hongzhang to dissuade the matter.

After the ceremony, Ding Richang took his seat and said first: "Lord Futai, when Jinling (people used to call Jiangning as Jinling at that time) was not conquered, the Changsheng Army happened to be transferred to help the suppression, why should it be dismissed instead?" Qiao Songnian said, "Taiwan told me that Sili thought that although Changmao had withdrawn from the province, they would make a comeback anytime before Jinling was restored. Besides, I spent a lot of money to raise money for the Changsheng Army, so I laid them off." It is a pity to be sent away! I hope you must think twice."

Liu Xun Gao was originally a man of no opinion, and in addition to recovering from a long illness, his energy was obviously not enough.He didn't want to come to the governor's yamen to join in the fun, but he couldn't stand Ding Richang's sharp mouth, so he had to follow.But he has always adhered to the belief that Futai can do whatever he says, and he is just like a wooden man. Xu Peiyuan said at this time: "Liu Fangbo, why don't you say a word?" Liu Yunjiao stared at Xu Peiyuan with his eyes, raised his arm and waved it weakly, but still said nothing. Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "Xu Dao, don't just let others talk, you should talk too. Should the Changsheng Army be withdrawn or not?"

Xu Peiyuan pondered for a while, then said hesitantly: "Accordingly, it is not easy to establish the Ever Victory Army, and it has made great achievements in its establishment. It is a pity to withdraw it before Jinling is restored. But thinking about it in reverse, the Western Army is permanently stationed. Our country is not a good thing in the end. What's more, most of the battalions of our Huai army have been replaced with foreign guns and cannons, which is far from the Huai army when we first came to Shanghai. At this time, even if there is no ever-victorious army in the counties and states of Shanghai, the long-haired Do you dare to make a comeback?"

Li Hongzhang laughed and said: "Xu Dao's words coincided with the thoughts of the headquarters. It was a helpless move to borrow the western soldiers to help the suppression. The western soldiers were fierce, the ships were strong and the guns were powerful. Listening to dispatch, in addition, many countries collude with Long Mao, or sell guns, or sell opium, and most of them use the ships of the Ever Victorious Army. There is also one thing that is worrying. From then on, unscrupulous, if things go on like this, troubles will inevitably happen. This is a disadvantage. Now, Gordon happened to take a leave of absence to go back to visit his relatives. If I don't take this opportunity to dismiss this army, when Gordon comes back, he will entangle with me, and the matter will be settled. It's going to be more difficult."

When Li Hongzhang said this, he paused for a moment, seeing several people who were deep in thought, and then continued: "This time the dismissal of the Ever Victorious Army, the headquarters decided to handle it jointly with the special committee Ding Dao and the supervising army Li Hengsong, and it must be completed in a short period of time. The silver taels needed for the layoffs must be recorded and submitted to the governor's office for approval one by one, and then paid by the Jiangsu Fan Treasury and Jiangning. Ding Dao, can you hear what the headquarters said?" At this time, Li Hengsong had been recommended by Li Hongzhang, and he was rewarded with the second rank top Dai, and led the rank of Changsheng Army Superviser.

Ding Richang hurriedly got up and replied: "Master Futai said, I have memorized everything. Since my lord appointed Zhidao to take part in this matter, Zhidao must do it with all my heart. Zhidao will take a boat to Kunshan tomorrow to go to the Changsheng Army Daying is meeting with General Li, sir, please rest assured. My lord, there is one more thing to say about the profession, I don't know if I should say it or not?" Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "Ding Dao, but it's all right." Ding Richang said: "Your Excellency, let me tell you. I thought about it just now. The former vassal Wu Fangbo and the former Taiwan Yang Yinyuan were the founders of the Changsheng Army. Every shot and bullet of the Changsheng Army, they both know the root cause. This time In order to disband the army, I think, can I appoint two people to handle it together?"

Li Hongzhang thought for a while and said, "Yang Fang has returned to his hometown to recuperate from his illness. Although Wu Xu is stranded in Shanghai, he goes to and from various foreign firms all day long. He has the intention of returning to his old business. The dismissal of the Changsheng Army should be done quickly rather than later. , don’t bother them both.” Ding Richang fully agreed and no other requests were made.Several people said something else to accompany Li Hongzhang, and then they dispersed. Dan Ding Richang has his plan.He had just arrived in Shanghai, and although he was immediately appointed by Li Hongzhang as the supervisor of the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau, he was not satisfied with it. He had long coveted the lucrative position of the Changsheng Army Supervisor.Not long after arriving in Shanghai, he became very familiar with the newly appointed British Consul, Bacharley.

He had long heard that Pachari was fond of ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting, so he asked someone to spend a lot of money to buy a landscape painting by Bada Shanren in the Liulichang area of ​​the capital and send it there, which made Pachari very happy for a few days.After getting acquainted with Pacharley, he paid non-stop visits to the consuls of the United States, France, Russia and other countries, which cost a lot of money.Foreigners quickly took a liking to him. After Ding Richang came down from the governor's yamen, he returned to Shanghai that day, and he didn't want to go back to his mansion. He went to the British consulate overnight to pay respects to Pachari. Instead, he first consciously stated that Li Hongzhang wanted to dismiss the Changsheng Army, and then revealed that if he wanted to be the supervisor of the Changsheng Army, he would buy another landscape painting by Bada Shanren and give it to Ba Xia Li, made a pair with the one hanging on the wall of Bacharley. As soon as Bacharley heard that Li Hongzhang was going to dismiss the Ever-Victorious Army, he became very angry. He didn't want to listen to Ding Richang's words anymore, so he stood up and began to walk around the room like a trapped lion. Seeing the consul's appearance, the interpreter said to Ding Richang apologetically, "Master Ding, I'm sorry, please come back later. Consul Ba is in a bad mood, and he doesn't want to talk to you anymore." Ding Richang got bored, stood up hastily, shook hands with Bacharley to say goodbye, and said to the interpreter: "Tell Mr. Consul, I will come to see him when he is in a good mood." After speaking, he hurried out. Bacharley looked at Ding Richang's back and muttered: "All Chinese are mentally ill!" Pacharley then sent in the consulate's clerk who was in charge of drafting the manuscript, and ordered the clerk to take out a pen and paper immediately, and he wanted to protest to the governor's yamen. The interpreter standing on the side said at this time: "Master Consul, it is probably inappropriate to lodge our protest with the governor's office now, right? We have not received an official note from the governor's office!" Pacharley woke up after hearing this, and knew that he had acted recklessly in this matter, so he vaguely remembered some words Ding Richang said later.Pachari thought, "Maybe it's the lie surnamed Ding who wanted to be the supervisor of the Ever Victorious Army. These Chinese people always talk around like this." So he stopped writing the letter of protest, but asked the secretary to send a letter to the governor's office in his own name, recommending Ding Richang as the supervisor of the Changsheng Army, saying: Although the position of supervisor is appointed by the governor's office, the British side can still propose For their own candidates, the British side does not want the governor's office to appoint a person who does not understand military affairs to supervise the ever-victorious army. Bacharley emphasized: "The position of the commander of the Changsheng Army cannot be suspended forever. This is unreasonable." After Li Hongzhang received the letter from Pacharley, he smiled and said nothing. One day, Li Hongzhang left Ding Richang alone after sending away the officials who came to pay their respects and return to their official duties.Li Hongzhang handed the letter from Bacharley to Ding Richang, and said with a smile, "Your brother can read it before we talk about it." Ding Richang browsed through the letter, he was full of joy, but he pretended to be apprehensive, and said: "This Bacharie, he is quite good at elevating his career. How could someone who was transferred to Shanghai to manage the Manufacturing Bureau dare to supervise and lead the Changsheng Army?" Li Hongzhang saw that Ding Richang spoke seriously and without adulteration, so he sighed and said: "Who said it was not? Yung Wing was sent by his mentor to the United States to purchase machines for the manufacturing bureau, and he is about to return home. Now, to buy the American Iron Works The matter has not yet been settled, and I don't know if the acquisition can be made. "If it works, it's fine, if it doesn't work? After the machine arrives, the Manufacturing Bureau has to rush to build the factory building, hire technicians, and recruit workers. I don't know how busy it will be! This Parker, he will add chaos to the headquarters as soon as he arrives in Shanghai. Is it true that your brother can go to supervise the Changsheng Army, and he doesn't even think about it. If your brother goes to supervise the Changsheng Army, who will take care of the manufacturing bureau for the headquarters? The supervisor of the Changsheng Army can just find anyone, The supervision of the Manufacturing Bureau is not something everyone can do!" Ding Richang hurriedly lowered his head and replied: "Master Futai is right, this Bacharie will not help, but will only add to the chaos." Although Ding Richang spoke eloquently, his heart was already cold, but he did not give up on this, and still wanted to have it both ways.Ding Richang was the same age as Li Hongzhang, but he was with foreigners several years earlier than Li Hongzhang. Seeing that his official luck was not good, he wanted to make a fortune. When he was supervising the Anqing Firearms Institute, he had already obtained a few by deceiving his superiors and subordinates.But he has too many friends, both Chinese and foreigners have made friends with the big gang, and he loves to talk about ostentation, no matter how much money he brings in, it is not enough to use it, which forced him to have an external heart and want to give it to his head. Taking on a few more errands to increase income; especially recently, he has hired two concubines in a row and bought five more maids, all of whom asked him for money when they saw him. It's a good way to think about it. Li Hongzhang did not know about Ding Richang's inside story.Li Hongzhang always regarded Ding Richang as a capable person, but he didn't know that Ding Xiaogui was crazy about money. After Ding Richang came down from the governor's office, he returned to his home in Shanghai that day, and boarded a boat to Kunshan the next day.Before going to Kunshan, he secretly did two things: one was to send someone to the British Consulate to find Pacharley, and inform the governor's office that he had decided to lay off the ever-victorious army behind the back of the British side, so that Pacharley could find a way to dissuade him in advance; It was to Guo Songtao of Lianghuai that he wrote a secret letter, asking Guo Songtao to dissuade Li Hongzhang. In order to get the fat job of the Changsheng Military Superintendent, Ding Richang took great pains.When Pashaley learned that the Ever Victorious Army was really going to be laid off, he was very surprised.Although he had not yet received an official note from the governor's office at this time, Ding Richang had already stated to him that the decision was made unilaterally by the governor's office, and the accuracy of the information was beyond doubt. On the one hand, Pacharley sent an urgent letter to Li Hongzhang to protest, on the other hand, he sent an urgent telegram to Gordon to return to Shanghai (the British had already set up a telegraph office in Shanghai at this time), and went overnight to discuss with Burrough, who had replaced Stifley as the British land admiral. After hearing Pacharley's words, Bo Lang immediately jumped up.He waved his hands and shouted: "Li Hongzhang, this bastard, he dared to dismiss Changsheng Army without consulting with our country. I want to go to Beijing with him to file a lawsuit! I want their great emperor and queen mother He kills!" Parker said, "General, I have already sent a letter of protest to this bastard in the name of the consul." Bo Lang said: "Mr. Bacharley, you just came to Shanghai and you don't know Li Hongzhang well. It is useless for you to send him a letter of protest. Many people say that the court is afraid of foreigners, foreigners are afraid of Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang is afraid of the court. It is because of him It’s not easy to deal with, we have to argue with him face to face! He is a fox, a very cunning fox! If it doesn’t work, we will put pressure on the court.” Parker agrees with Braun.The next day, Pachari and Bo Lang took their entourage and went to the governor's office in Suzhou by boat. Along the way, Bolang stood at the bow of the boat, clasped his hands tightly, and opened his eyes angrily. Looking at the posture, he was not going to the governor's office to argue, but he was clearly going to fight for his life. In the eyes of the British, the officials of the Qing Dynasty are sheep without fire. When these sheep want to turn into wolves, the best way to turn them back into sheep is to hit them with a musket . Both Bo Lang and Pacharley firmly believed that as long as they widened their eyes and clenched their fists, Li Hongzhang, a wolf, would immediately become a sheep obediently.Bo Lang and his party rushed into the governor's yamen with a murderous look, and a master with a smile on his face rushed out to greet him. Bacharley took a step forward and said, "I am from the British Consulate. I'm here to discuss business with your lord." The master led the group into the hall to sit down, and then said: "My lord went to Changshu to reward the army early in the morning." After listening to the interpreter, Parker asked, "When will he come back?" The master shook his head: "I'm not quite sure about that." At this moment, Bo Lang got up and shouted: "Lord Li is clearly avoiding us! We won't see him today, and we will never leave here for half a step!" The master waited for the translator to finish the translation, and hurriedly said with a smile on his face: "Several foreigners, don't be impatient, my lords are really going to Changshu. The commander-in-chief Cheng Xue Qicheng was seriously injured, and Futai became anxious when he heard it. My lord may not know yet, Mr. Cheng has been with my lord for many years and has made many great achievements, but now he is injured, how can Mr. Futai ignore it?" After hearing this, Bo Lang couldn't help muttering in English: "This damned Cheng Xueqi, he was not injured sooner or later, but he was injured at this time! Isn't he clearly against us in Britain? Mr. Bacharley, we Are you still waiting?" Bacharley thought for a while and replied: "It seems that we can only go to Kunshan to wait for him. As long as we are in Kunshan, Li Hongzhang will not dare to attack the Changsheng Army. As for Ding Richang, there will be no way to dismiss the Changsheng Army." He can be a supervisor because of the reason." Pacharli said in his mouth, but what he thought in his heart was: "How about another landscape painting by Bada Shanren?" The two of them stopped discussing, and immediately stepped out of the governor's office, boarded a boat and rushed to Kunshan.