Chapter 43 Section 43 Start Westernization and Help Suppress the Nian Army

In order to prevent Hurd from taking the opportunity to make things difficult for Shanghai County, on the day Tang Guohua and the other three were released, Li Hongzhang gave the imperial court "Purchase of Machinery in Foreign Iron Works" and "Tang Guohua's Atonement Film".The content of folding and sheeting is roughly the same as that described in the previous chapter. Zhezi talked about three advantages of purchasing an iron factory on the spot: first, setting up an iron factory can make all kinds of short-explosive guns and bombs; , On-site purchase is convenient for inspection, and parts can be added freely.

After the excerpt, "Tang Guohua's Atonement Film" is attached, which tells the story of how Tang Guohua and others jointly bought the iron factory. A few days later, Li Hongzhang merged the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau supervised by Ding Richang and the firearms institute supervised by Han Dianjia into the iron factory; and with the consent of Zeng Guofan, he also merged the Anqing Firearms Institute founded by Zeng Guofan into the factory.The name of the factory was suggested by Li Hongzhang and agreed by Zeng Guofan, and it was officially named Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

Li Hongzhang appointed Ding Richang, Jiangnan Customs Road, as the supervisor of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and Han Dianjia, the commander-in-chief, was in charge of the meeting.After Yung Wing came back from the United States, Han Dianjia was transferred to the military camp, and Yung Wing succeeded him.The bureau hired nearly 100 foreign technicians, more than 300 Chinese craftsmen, and more than 5,000 workers. In addition to manufacturing guns, mines, ammunition, and machines, it also repaired and built ships. It was the largest in the Qing Dynasty at that time. , the largest and most powerful military manufacturing enterprise.

In May of the fourth year of Tongzhi (AD 1865), Li Hongzhang's fate was changed again as the situation changed.The Mongolian iron cavalry, which has been quite effective in suppressing the Nian army, was ambushed in Caozhou, Shandong. None of the three thousand cavalry survived, and the commander, Prince Seng Gelinqin, died in battle. With the annihilation of the Mongolian iron cavalry, the Nian army immediately spread in Zhili, Shandong, and Henan, and its momentum became stronger and stronger, almost becoming the second largest in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Nian Army is an important peasant rebel army in the north transformed from the Nian Party in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The common people used to call them Nianzi.The original leaders were Zhang Lexing and Gong Deshu. Later, Zhang Lexing was promoted as the leader, known as the "Leader of the Great Han Alliance".In the second year of Tongzhi (1863 A.D.), the Nian Suppressing Officer Army headed by Seng Gelinqin fought against the Nian Army in Zhiheji. The Nian Army was defeated.In the third year of Tongzhi (AD 1864), Tianjing was conquered by the army. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Zunwang Lai Wenguang led part of the Taiping Army to escape from Tianjing. Soon after, he joined the Nian Army Zhang Zongyu and Ren Huabang. Lai Wenguang was promoted as the leader and reorganized They took the banner of the army, and gradually changed from foot to horse, and soon developed into a cavalry team with more than 100,000 horsemen. They dealt with the Qing army, and their momentum once again became the boss.

At the end of May, Zeng Guofan, Governor-General of Liangjiang, first-class Yiyong Hou, was appointed as the imperial envoy and rushed to Shandong to supervise the suppression.At the same time, the imperial decree was issued to the Governor's Yamen in Suzhou and Jiangsu. The decree said: "That is to say, Li Hongzhang, the first-class Su Yibo, governor of Jiangsu, will first reward him with the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, and then go to Jinling to act as the governor of Liangjiang. The governor of Jiangsu will temporarily act on behalf of Liu Yunjiao." At the end of the imperial decree, it was particularly emphasized: "Li Hongzhang must take care of the manager with great responsibility, and still discuss with Zeng Guofan at any time. All matters concerning the deployment of troops and salary collection in Zeng Guofan's barracks should be discussed and properly planned without any delay."

Li Hongzhang first arranged the affairs in Suzhou, temporarily moved his family members out of the governor's yamen, and handed over to the governor Liu Xunjiao, then hurried to Shanghai.What he is most worried about is the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.The red-faced Ding Richang led Rong Wing and other people to wait for him at the pier. When he got off the sedan chair outside the gate of the manufacturing bureau, Li Hongzhang didn't care to rest, so he asked Ding Richang, Rong Hong and others to accompany him to walk around the machine rooms first, and then went to the finished product room to see the quality of the manufactured machines and guns.In the finished product room, Li Hongzhang touched a flowering cannon with his hand, and said affectionately to Ding Richang: "Dao Dao, after the head office leaves, the manufacturing bureau will inevitably encounter some problems, but no matter what problems you encounter, you must Gritting your teeth and going on, you must not stop working. This is the road that I must take for Daqing Tuqiang, and I must not give up halfway!"

Ding Richang replied: "My lord, don't worry, the profession has made up its mind. No matter what kind of troubles the manufacturing bureau encounters, as long as the profession survives, even if it takes one's life, we must continue to run it!" Rong Hong also said: "My lord, Master Ding is indeed a conscientious person. He is always the first to come to the office every day, and always calls us together before meals to discuss the things to be done for the day. Really Hardworking and meticulous.” Li Hongzhang said with a smile, "it's a blessing for Ding Dao to be able to do things like this. It's also a blessing for Liangjiang and the country!"

After the meal, Li Hongzhang took a short rest, and then took a sedan chair to visit the Cantonese Dialect Hall again.After returning to the commercial yamen, the consuls from the consulates of various countries in Shanghai rushed over with their entourage to congratulate him on his promotion to governor.While Li Hongzhang was talking with the consuls of various countries, Chief Taxation Secretary Hurd rushed over with a group of people in a hurry, and repeatedly said, "I want a glass of wedding wine." That night, Li Hongzhang held a banquet at the Commercial Yamen, entertaining consuls from various countries, Hurd and others, accompanied by a group of officials such as Ding Richang and Rong Hong.During the banquet, Li Hongzhang revealed to Hurd in a low voice: "The governor's yamen has recommended him as the third rank and the rank of inspector, and the imperial edict will come soon."

Hearing this, Hurd was overjoyed and shouted more and more. In fact, Li Hongzhang's recommendation of Hurd as a third-rank inspector was nothing more than following the order of the Prime Minister's Yamen, and Li Hongzhang was just doing a favor.What's more, the General Taxation Department was originally the top of the third rank, and it was invited by the local governor's office. It was just a bureaucratic article of the Qing Dynasty, nothing special. After staying for three days, Li Hongzhang rushed to Jinling by boat to pick up the seal. On the third day after Li Hongzhang's arrival, Zeng Guofan set off for Shandong to suppress the Nian front line.

At this time, seven or eight out of ten of the Hunan Army had been laid off, leaving only 40 battalions of the Yangtze River Navy with 3,000 and 20,000 troops stationed in various places.Zeng Guofan mainly relied on Li Hongzhang's 60,000 Huaiyong and Fubiao troops from Shandong, Henan and other provinces to suppress Nian this time, and the imperial court assigned another 30,000 banner camps to him.This is also the reason why the imperial court appointed Li Hongzhang to act as the superintendent of seal script, and did not let Anhui governor Qiao Songnian and Jiangxi governor Shen Baozhen take care of the governor.

Li Hongzhang held a heavy army, and the court had to look at him differently. But Zeng Guofan's suppression of Nian this time did not go well. After Zeng Guofan arrived in Shandong, after on-the-spot investigation, he quickly formed a cavalry team of 5,000 people in view of the characteristics of the Nian army's immediate combat and high mobility. Heyi has only 7,000 people, and it is impossible to fight against the Nian army.After repeated deliberation, Zeng Guofan decided to adopt the strategy of using static brakes and keeping constant to respond to changes. He stationed troops in Linhuai, Jining, Zhoujiakou, Xuzhou and other areas with frequent Nian army activities. In Wei Village, the Nian army was forced to fight against it by fortifying the walls and clearing the fields. Zeng Guofan's plan is easy to write, but it is extremely difficult to implement. It requires not only the endurance of the generals, but also sufficient supplies of salaries and food, and the strong cooperation of the local governments of various provinces. In the summer of the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866 A.D.), Zeng Guofan adjusted his strategy again, advocating the canal in the east, the Shahe River and Jialu River in the west, the Huaihe River in the south, and the defense line from Zhuxian Town to Bianliang and the south bank of the Yellow River in the north. Army, to achieve the goal of extermination. The scope of the Nian Army's activities became smaller and smaller. Zeng Guofan commanded the army for more than a year, and he saw that his great achievements were about to be completed.During this period, Li Hongzhang, the Governor of Liangjiang, raised money and delivered ammunition for Zeng Guofan's army to suppress the Nian, and worked day and night to prepare for the establishment of the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau. When Li Hongzhang took office, he had already made up his mind to maintain the existing regulations of the Supervisory Office without changing them, and strived to set up one or two industries in Jinling during the period of the Office, taking the opportunity to promote the process of industrial power in the Qing Dynasty. During this period, Ding Richang, the supervisor of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau of Jiangnan Road, was recommended by Li Hongzhang, the superintendent of the department, and was rewarded with three grades. The title of Taoist was awarded to the general office of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau. Ding Richang, Wang Dajing, Rong Hong and others were all grateful to Li Hongzhang. These little subordinates, who were not well-known in the past, have now entered the ranks of Daoist officials and become well-known figures, which is really enviable. Li Hongzhang took the family members of Suzhou to the governor's yamen of Liangjiang in Jinling.Not long after arriving in Jinling, the old lady saw that Li Hongzhang, who was growing in reputation, had no heirs, so she made up her own mind and adopted Zhaoqing's son Jingfang to Li Hongzhang as an adopted son. When Li Hongzhang first served as the governor of Jiangsu, he appointed the British Ma Geli to set up an ammunition factory in Songjiang. Later, the governor's office moved to Suzhou. He also moved the factory here and changed its name to the Suzhou Foreign Artillery Bureau, but the scale has not been large.After receiving the appointment of the governor of Liangjiang, he saw that the Yuhuatai area in Jinling was vast and suitable for building a factory, so he raised funds from various sources to build a factory here.He first moved the Suzhou Artillery Bureau here, and then purchased some equipment from the Americans through Rong Hong, and then officially named the factory Jinling Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, and filed a record with the imperial court and the Ministry of Household Affairs. The system of the Jinling Machinery Manufacturing Bureau is roughly the same as that of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. After the Jinling Machinery Manufacturing Bureau had a clue, Li Hongzhang started to prepare for the establishment of the Jinling Weaving Bureau.The latter matter is many times more difficult than the former one. In the Qing Dynasty at that time, the cloth used was all made by hand. First, cotton or cocoons had to be spun into silk threads, and then they were woven by hand on the soil machine. After customs clearance, foreign cloth is sold in the market, but the manufacturing process is in the hands of foreigners. People in the Qing Dynasty only knew that foreign cloth had fine lines and uniform thickness, but they didn't know how it was woven.Li Hongzhang also learned the truth from Rong Hong, Tang Guohua and others after the establishment of the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau. Li Hongzhang decided to introduce this kind of weaving machine and build a factory to break the monopoly of foreign merchants.What's more, the cocoon industry in Jiangnan is the most developed. The factory is built in Jinling to purchase cotton and cocoon silk, which not only saves a lot of transshipment costs, but also can be purchased as needed, without the need for a large amount of hoarding.However, Li Hongzhang’s work was only halfway through. As soon as a suitable piece of land was found, and the people who purchased the machines had just set off for the United States, the work was interrupted by unexpected events. This sudden incident came from the front line of suppressing twisters.Because Zeng Guofan built the embankment wall at Luhuagang in the south of Kaifeng, it was breached overnight by the Nian army, and most of the officers and soldiers were killed or injured. Zeng Guofan's painstaking river defense plan failed.Zeng Guofan was exhausted physically and mentally, so he had to submit a full request to open the vacant book and hold various positions. He begged to cancel the Marquis, and asked the court to appoint another competent person to supervise the suppression of Nian.Therefore, the imperial court ordered Zeng Guofan to return to his post as the governor of Liangjiang, and appointed Li Hongzhang as the imperial envoy to go to Shandong to supervise the suppression of various affairs. Li Hongzhang sighed deeply, and had to send his family members to the old mansion in Hefei first, and embarked on the journey again alone.The time was September in the fifth year of Tongzhi (AD 1866), and Li Hongzhang was forty-three years old. Before the family members left, Mrs. Zhao Lian considered that Li Hongzhang was in the army and it was inconvenient for her to take care of her in the camp, so she made her own decisions and took Dongmei, a maid brought from her natal family, as a concubine.Zhao Lian asked Dongmei to follow Li Hongzhang, take care of and serve her at any time, so as to do her best for her. Li Hongzhang stationed the imperial envoy's camp outside Xuzhou City, and the military commanders from all walks of life came here one after another. Wu Tang, the governor of water transport, also hurried from his post to report to the imperial envoy. It's almost the end of the year, and government offices around the world are about to seal the New Year.