Chapter 18 helper luck

Since Fourth Sister Luo married into the Hu family, she has really taken a step to help her husband. Hu Xueyan's career has flourished as described above.Of course, the reason for the prosperity is that he relies on Zuo Zongtang as his backer, and Zuo Zongtang regards him as his thigh. As long as Zuo Zongtang conquers the west and wins every victory, the imperial court will grant all requests, and Hu Xueyan will go smoothly up. It turns out that starting from the Daoguang period, the emperor's dark ministers were stupid, which aroused internal and external troubles, and the rebellion in the Northwest was also caused by corrupt officials.At that time, the so-called "Ganhui" had three branches, west, south, and north, and three leaders. The one in the west was called Ma Duozhi, who was entrenched in Xining, Qinghai; It is the base; the north is called Ma Hualong, the most ruthless of the three bosses, the sphere of influence is in Ningxia and Lingwu, and the old nest is called Jinjibao. At the starting point, besides being good at tea and horses, there is a salt pond called Huamachi in the east, which is a great source of income.

There are more than 500 villages around Jinji Fort, and Ma Hualong's Jinji Fort is surrounded by stars like the moon. This man is full of cunning, and he specializes in inciting kind-hearted Hui people to be enemies of the Han people. Goodness is respectful.Zuo Zongtang saw through this person's background, so the first goal of the Western Expedition was to capture Jinji Fort. Before attacking Jinji Fort, it is necessary to cut off the collusion between the Nian Army and Gan Hui.The Nian Army is divided into two groups, called "East Nian" and "West Nian"——Zeng Guofan explained the Nian Army's Nian, saying: "Twisting paper burns fat, so it is called Nian". For example, the paper coal used for smoking water pipes, etc., are all called Nianzi. The characteristic of Nian Army is that it is easy to gather and disperse, but it looks like a mob, and it is erratic and erratic. It is exhausting and powerful.Seng Gelinqin's Heilongjiang horse team chased northward, and the Nian army fled when they saw it, but as soon as they stopped, countless Nian troops would appear around them, and the monk king was killed in this way.The king of the monks fought Dong Nian, and the leader of Xi Nian was Zhang Zongyu. He traveled from Henan to Shaanxi, crossed the Yellow River from Henan, went straight to Yan'an and Mizhi, and stretched the north-south front to more than a thousand miles. From west to east, there are also thousands of miles where this front meets.

As long as it is connected, Xi Nian will no longer be able to be controlled, and Hui Chao will not know when it will be calmed down. Therefore, Zuo Zongtang's initial strategy for the Western Expedition is to isolate Xi Nian and Gan Hui, and prevent them from "joining forces".When fourth sister Luo married into the Hu family, it was the time when Xi Nian Chuping was in peace, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces summoned Zuo Zongtang and praised him in heavenly words.Zuo Zongtang initially stationed in Xi'an, and then gradually advanced to the northwest. The camp first moved to Ganzhou, then moved to Jingchuan in Gansu, and then went north to conquer Zhenyuan and Qingyang. For the method of reclamation, the seeds and agricultural tools were purchased by Hu Xueyan's transshipment bureau and transported to Gansu.

When Zuo Zongtang's vanguard pushed into Lingwu, Ma Hualong saw that his old nest was in danger of being suppressed, so he resorted to another trick, "writing a letter to beg for appeasement". Either dismiss, or make a living for them.Suppressing rebellion and suppressing bandits, with the result of turning hostility into friendship, was originally the most ideal method. However, among rebels and rebels, there were many cunning ones and few honest ones. I don't know how much.Zuo Zongtang has a lot of experience, and Ma Hualong has a reputation for being good at overturning. He can play with Mu Tushan, but Zuo Zongtang will never be fooled by him, so he ignores it, prepares food for March, and attacks Jinji fort.

The general who commanded this campaign was Liu Songshan.This person is a small fellow of Zeng Guofan, he was born in the army, and he rose to the rank of general soldier through his meritorious service.In the tenth year of Xianfeng, Britain and France committed internal crimes, and Seng Gelinqin promoted the army to serve as the king. There was no such a fierce cavalry in the southeast, and the battle situation was greatly affected. At that time, Li Xiucheng of the Taiping Army was just beginning to be reused by Hong Xiuquan. When Dao entered the army, Li Xiucheng himself led the army, went down from Wuhu Lake, and captured Yixian County in southern Anhui. In addition, the Taiping Army generals Li Shixian, Huang Wenjin, Li Jiyuan, etc., successively captured Ningguo and Xiahuizhou, and occupied Fuliang, Duchang, and Raozhou in Jiangxi. .Zeng Guofan, who was stationed in Qimen, received aid from Hubei in the west, and was cut off because of the interruption of the Jiangxi grain road. In the east, he was surrounded by arrogant soldiers led by Er Li. He was besieged and unable to do anything. Get through the luck of Zhejiang.So Zeng Guofan moved his army to Jiangning, north of Qimen and west of Huizhou. One day, the Taiping army attacked at night and all the battalions were defeated. Only Liu Songshan marched against the enemy under the moonlight. It wasn't true, they thought the Taiping Army was intercepting them, and they turned around and wanted to flee. It wasn't until Liu Songshan raised the flag that everyone knew that the camp hadn't been lost, that the "Old Commander" was safe, and the shock was set.The Qimen battle was another major crisis after Zeng Guofan was defeated in the Jingjiang army and was rescued by drowning. He even wrote his suicide note, and turned the crisis into safety.

When Zuo Zongtang was ordered to go west, this was a big battle, and the non-local military affairs were comparable, and all armies should work together. Zeng Guofan handed over Liu Songshan's army, which he valued most, to Zuo Zongtang's command.Zuo Zongtang was originally supported by Zeng Guofan. Later, because of disputes over salary, he held opinions. Zeng Guoquan broke Jinling, condoned Hong Xiuquan's son to escape, and criticized him bluntly. I know that "seeking the loyalty of the country and knowing the wisdom of others, I am ashamed to be inferior to Yuanfu".It is self-evident to compare Liu Songshan's first army to him as Zeng Guofan's "married daughter".

Liu Songshan really lived up to Zeng Guofan's acquaintance and Zuo Zongtang's expectations. He fought Xi Nian and Ping Gan Hui, almost invincible and invincible.Before he joined the army, he had already arranged a marriage in his hometown. He was hired but never married. He had been in the army for more than ten years. He only returned to his hometown once because of recruiting soldiers. He was married in Luoyang when Xi Nian was leveled. The bride and groom were in their thirties. Years old. The honeymoon only lasted ten days, and Liu Songshan entered Shaanxi immediately. After clearing the four prefectures of Yu, Yan, Sui, and Fu, he marched into Lingwu and won in one battle.Ma Hualong was so frightened that he asked for help again and everywhere, but the Huizi in Xining, Hezhou, Lintao, and Jingyuan, who were more famous than Liu Songshan, sat idly by, so Liu Songshan attacked on a large scale. , attacking a stockade outside Jinji Fort, was hit by a cannon and fell from a horse, and was killed in battle. The troops were led by his nephew Liu Jintang, and Jinji Fort was finally conquered in November of the same year.

The reason why the Western Expeditionary Army was able to win more and lose less and make progress was because of its powerful equipment, high morale, and good discipline.Hu Xueyan has the power of Gu Yingchun, as long as there are new guns and other exquisite military equipment in the West, as long as they can be used, there is no need to ask Zuo Zongtang for instructions. Yu, the morale is naturally strong.This is what the soldiers of the Western Expedition Army admire and are grateful to Hu Xueyan, but good discipline should also be attributed to Hu Xueyan, and only Zuo Zongtang understands it best.

Since the last years of Xianfeng, Sai Shangwu, the grandfather of Tongzhi Empress Arut, lost his teacher and lost his discipline, wasting a military salary of two million taels of silver from the Ministry treasury. Army, Hunan Army, Huai Army, Zhejiang Army, Guangdong Army and other titles are all called "official troops".These officers and soldiers came from different sources. Most of them were "recruited from their hometowns", but many of them were recruited by bandits or the Taiping army. They had different backgrounds, the styles of the officers, and the military discipline.Among the Hunan Army, Peng Yulin's subordinates were the most disciplined, and Bao Chao's army was the worst. This is why the views on leading troops are different. However, Bao Chao is brave and good at fighting, and he is Zeng Guofan's "loved general", so everything is tolerant.

Zuo Zongtang's army is also a motley crew, but they can all abide by discipline. Half of Zuo Zongtang's army is stricter, and the other half is because he is sincerely convinced and cannot bear to violate discipline.In terms of the cause of sincere convincing, Hu Xueyan has to be convinced. "Huxiang children are full of Tianshan Mountains" and there is no worries.As for the soldiers who died in battle, Zuo Zongtang didn't need Zuo Zongtang to take care of them, so he sent someone to do it. Everyone said that "Hou Ye" loved his subordinates so much, why would he violate his military discipline?But they didn't know that it was Hu Xueyan who was helping "Master Hou" maintain discipline.

Hu Xueyan was able to take care of both public and private affairs. Banks, pawnbrokers, and silk accounts opened one after another. The business grew bigger and bigger, and the reputation of the "God of Wealth" became more and more famous. Starting from Mrs. Hu, everyone believed that it was the credit of "Mrs. Snail"—— Originally, in order to avoid using the name "Second Wife", but couldn't think of a more suitable title, an expert said: "During the Shunzhi period, Gong Zhilu, one of the 'Jiangzuo Three Great Masters', married Gu Meisheng, who was born in Qinhuai, and Gong Zhilu's wife. The first wife called her 'Mrs. Gu'. Following this example, why not change the word '姐' from 'Sister Luo' to 'Mrs.'?" Thus, "Mrs.The servants didn't understand the reason, so they called her "Mrs. Luosi" because her natal family lived outside the Luosi Gate. But it is the most praised by the township party, and it makes Hu Xueyan feel ashamed of Mrs. Luoshi. What he loves and respects is that she has the reputation of "great virtuous and virtuous" and married Hu Xueyan's wife of the eleventh house. About a year after her marriage, Mrs. Luoshi complained to Grandma Qigu who came to Hangzhou to burn incense for three days.It turned out that Hu Xueyan was very energetic, and she was the only one "Dangxi", and she was a little powerless, so she felt that the joy was outweighed by the pain.So Hu Xueyan couldn't help lingering in the flowers. Originally socializing in the entertainment venue, it was almost a daily routine for Hu Xueyan. In the past, it was only limited to "eating flowers and wine", and gradually he used Goulan as a retreat, often staying out all night, even in the "Tangzi" Receive guests here and take care of official business, this matter can be worrying. "Seventh sister," Mrs. Snail said, "he is in the limelight now, and this step is not good luck. First, it will hurt your health; second, it will delay the business; third, you will not have a good reputation; and fourth, you guys look at the owner. How can it be that they all go whoring and gambling? Even if you don't follow his example, you will be discouraged and work hard to help him start a business, but you don't know that he is so incompetent!" Grandma Qigu knew that the last two sentences were her own complaints, but she also had some doubts. "Everyone knows that my uncle can't see through the word 'color'. But," she asked, "what else?" How can it be 'good' to this extent?" "Here," Mrs. Snail couldn't help complaining, "It's our Third Uncle Liu!" It turned out that Hu Xueyan decided to open a drugstore.He had had this intention for a long time, but he just got angry again—last summer, Mrs. Hu suffered from the heat and developed a scrape. The local method was to use copper coins to scrape the scrape, and the scrape left bright red bloodstains, and the illness stopped.Mrs. Hu's Sha was scraped very thoroughly, so it was nothing to worry about at first, but Hu Xueyan was worried. After asking the "doctor" to see it, he prescribed prescriptions and medicines, and told the servants to be quick!It still took two hours to come back, Hu Xueyan was very serious about the matter of his mother, and immediately lost his temper which is rare to see. The servants waited for him to finish swearing, and Fang began to complain that the epidemic was prevalent this year, and the people who sprayed medicine waited in line. After waiting for an hour, he couldn't help but squeezed forward, like "dialing the number" to see a doctor , asked to match his prescription first. "Please hurry up. Our old lady is waiting there to eat!" "Which one doesn't have an old lady?" the pharmacy partner replied, "You have to be quick, won't you open a pharmacy yourself?" The person who was scolded vented his grievances on his partner in the pharmacy, and described it with embellishments, which aroused Hu Xueyan's anger. At that time, he paused and said, "Okay! He sees." So Liu Bucai was ordered to make preparations, and immediately went north to Zhili to buy medicinal materials, and brought back hundreds of "dog skin plasters" for Hu Xueyan to try. This "dog skin plaster" is a kind of "house medicine".When Liu Bucai was shopping for medicinal materials, he made many friends because of his boldness and humor.Among them was a Suzhou native. He talked about Hong Jun, the number one student in his last department, who is currently studying politics in Hebei. He said that he recently wrote back to Suzhou and asked someone to buy a concubine. For some reason, if you don't have a son, you must say that "there are three types of unfilial piety, and having no offspring is the greatest." If you are single, you say that you have no one to take care of your daily life. These words are nothing more than self-deception.He said, enjoy yourself in time, this sentence should be discussed in two aspects. People; on the one hand, they want to have fun, but of course they have to marry a beautiful concubine to have fun.Everyone listened to his sincerity and treated each other with sincerity, and finally found a famous prostitute in Shanghai for him, Sai Jinhua, who was beautiful and beautiful, as his concubine. Then another person lamented, saying that a young man started a business with great energy, but he had no money. When the business was successful, he had money but lacked energy. The concubine was full of concubines, and Guangtian was desolate. Maybe he would even wear a cuckold. There is nothing more regrettable in life than this. These words reminded Liu Bucai, thinking that Hu Xueyan might also have this regret.So I asked if there is any good aphrodisiac, which only strengthens yang and does not hurt the body.At that time, someone pointed out that there is a small pharmacy in the Drum Tower of Beijing, where you can buy "dog skin plaster" for external use.However, the owner of this small pharmacy is quite ashamed of producing and selling this medicine, and he must be introduced by someone who has a close relationship with him, and it only makes special products and does not retail them.Liu Bucai's popularity is good, he actually found a suitable introducer, and ordered a batch of them with a lot of money.After Hu Xueyan tried it out, he indulged between the beds. "There's nothing you can do about it." Grandma Qigu said, "Unless you think about it." This means that Mrs. Luoshi may allow Hu Xueyan to take another concubine to share her favor?She was thinking in her heart that she has a half-right and half-right identity. Although the old lady is loved and trusted, the eldest wife can live in peace, but being a family member will inevitably be hated by the servants. If you marry into a concubine, you will be a powerful person , and for the sake of the servants, contact the eldest wife, disregard the rule of "the first door is the best", openly and secretly fight against her everywhere, although not necessarily afraid of her, but often angry, this is something that cannot be ignored. While she was meditating, Grandma Qigu spoke again: "Last autumn, Ying Chun suffered from typhoid fever. She was recovering from the illness and couldn't go out. She was really bored at home. I invited a storyteller's 'outing party' to relieve the boredom. For half a day and two hours, I read a book called, "Women are jealous, and it makes sense." "Oh!" Mrs. Snail asked, "What does the storyteller say?" "He said that there are two kinds of jealousy, those who can eat and those who can't eat, and each kind can be divided into three grades. Those who can't be jealous, eat ridiculous, pitiful, and terrible food, for example——" "Seventh Sister," Mrs. Snail interrupted her, "If you don't know how to eat it, don't talk about it." "Okay, when it comes to food, there are also three grades, called regular grades, capable grades, and divine grades. There is no need to talk about normal grades, let's talk about capable grades first, for example, for a first-class talent like you, my uncle will then If you marry one, even if you can beat you, as long as you are magnanimous, calm and calm, and you still care about the food and daily life of the little uncle, and he has a feeling of indebtedness to you in his heart, he will still be favored by you. That's why you will be jealous energy products." Mrs. Snail was thinking, according to this, the eldest wife is a capable product, but what about a divine product?Thinking about it in my heart, I asked it out of my mouth. "You ask about the gods. It's nothing special to put it bluntly. You are so capable, and it doesn't take much trouble to do it. In a word, you can use both kindness and power! It's good that she keeps her own place. You dote on her more than my uncle. She has If you don’t obey the rules, you can just criticize her and take care of her. When you have children in the future, you will be more sensitive than her biological mother, and you will be able to teach them a lesson. Then, whoever disobeys you? Who doesn’t say you are virtuous? It’s amazing to be jealous like this!” Mrs. Qigu's words penetrated Mrs. Luosi's heart every sentence, and she didn't understand that now the head of the family, the first is the "old lady", the second is the "master", the third is the "wife", and the fourth is her turn. , except for servants, only those who care about her, not her.If you choose by yourself and marry more concubines for Hu Xueyan, and teach them the words "combining kindness and power" as Qigu's grandma said, and convince them, then you will truly show your majesty as a family member. Thinking like this, a smile spread on her face unconsciously, Qigu's grandma also smiled and said: "How is it? Fourth sister, do you also want to eat this kind of jealousy that can't be seen as jealous?" "I'm afraid I don't know how to eat." Mrs. Snail said, "Seventh sister, please help me to pay attention." Upon hearing this, Grandma Qigu knew that she was determined to do as she said.It was meant to be a small talk, even if you wanted to plan something for her, you still have to think about it in the long run, but she is so good at doing good things, so she immediately listened to it!It was surprising. Thinking of this, she suddenly felt heavy on her shoulders. As the saying goes, "If you want family discord, marry a younger wife", there are very few cases like Mrs. Luosi. I can't blame her for being unsatisfactory after entering the door.It's different now, it's completely like her idea, if there is any disturbance in the future, starting from Mrs. Hu, they will all blame her.So I have to think about it for Mrs. Snail. "Fourth sister," she said as soon as she thought about it, "everything is well thought out, but it's not easy to do. If my uncle wants to please the people in the hall, you can't allow him. The people in the hall have habits and it's hard to control. " "Yes. If you want to please someone else's daughter." Mrs. Snail said again, "I want to explain to Mr. Da first that he can look for it by himself, and he must let me see it." She then said, "In fact, he doesn't need to look for it himself. I'll ask someone to pick it for him first." Mrs. Snail did what she said, and after three or four years, she searched successively. In addition to the one chosen by Hu Xueyan, she married a total of eleven concubines, including herself, which happened to be twelve golden hairpins. With more family members, coupled with the booming business and constant addition of people, although the original house has been expanded again and again, it is still not enough for the needs. Later, the base is limited, and if it is not completely renovated, a new house has to be built.Hu Xueyan discussed with Mrs. Luoshi, planning to find another place to build a house, and moved his two younger brothers, together with various clerks, etc., demolished the vacant house, turned it into a garden, and built another house. "Zou Ma Lou" gathers the "Twelve Gold Hairpins" together. Mrs. Snail is quite in favor of building a walking horse building, but she has objections to building a new house. "Please ask the second master and the third master to move out, it will hurt the old lady's heart, and relatives will also gossip. This matter, the master has to consider it." Hearing that it would hurt the old mother's heart, Hu Xueyan immediately dismissed the original proposal, but, "The house is not enough to live in, so we have to find a way." He said, "Do you have any good ideas?" "I heard that the house of Jianbi Liu's family is going to be sold. The owner of the rice store at the back door has died. The two sons are fighting for property. They have been arguing about who will manage the rice store. They also want to sell the house and get cash. Why don't you take this The two lands were bought and the walls were opened, so they can be connected together?" This aroused Hu Xueyan's desire to put on a show again. It happened that the price of silk rose sharply this year. Hu Xueyan manipulated "Yangzhuang", and after three months of settlement, he made 400,000 silver and decided to rule the garden. "For example, if I don't earn this sum of money," he said to Mrs. Snail, "I will do as you want, but the scope must be large, and the front, back, left, and right sides should be facing the street. Style is good." This is a matter of face, Mrs. Snail is of course happy.So Hu Xueyan sent people to the surrounding houses to lobby for huge profits, and all but two of them were willing to relocate. One of these two houses was a wine inn. They said that the storage of wine was inconvenient to carry and could not be sold. Although their attitude was firm, they spoke very politely. The other family was different. This is a very small barber shop, located just at the corner of Yuanbao Street and Wangxianqiaozhi Street, which must be passed by when entering and exiting. The whole house is missing a piece on this main road, and it is dilapidated. A barber shop is as unbearable as a beautiful woman who is blind in one eye. "What does she mean?" Hu Xueyan said, "If she wants to sell for a good price, just say as much as she wants." She refers to the "Old Lady Cui" in the barber shop.The boss is her son, and although his temper is very stiff, he can't stand the Hu family's servants saying good things every day, and for the sake of money, his intentions are a little active, but the old lady Cui insists on refusing.It turned out that she was young and widowed, lonely and helpless, and finally brought up her son, but she was just a barber. She didn't blame herself for asking her son to learn this trade, but said that God has no eyes, and gradually cultivated it. With a eccentric temper, she hates the rich the most, and the richer she is, the more she hates. Therefore, when Hu Xueyan said "as much as you want", it just violated her taboo. "You tell your boss that he is the God of Wealth, and we are poor ghosts, so we can't deal with each other. His fortune belongs to him, and he is not the king of Hades or a judge. I don't need to be afraid of him." The one who went to deal with Hu Xueyan was a clearer named Zhang Zihong who was known for his good temper. At this time, he couldn't help being angry and said: "Although he is not a judge of the king of hell, he is just a Daoist." "Could it be that Daotai doesn't teach the king's law?" Old lady Cui replied, "Our mother has two lives, so let him do whatever he wants." These words reached Hu Xueyan's ears, and he was so angry that he didn't eat for a day.There was a lot of discussion among the housekeepers, accountants, stewards, and servants, and they came up with a lot of ideas, some said to ask the county servants to come and talk to her, some said to burn her house down, and some said He fabricated a false contract to sue her, but Hu Xueyan finally couldn't bear it, and Mrs. Snail was also afraid of forcing a murder case, so he restrained the servants and was not allowed to do anything wrong.So much so that until the completion of the giant house and the renovation of Yuanbao Street, the barber shop still exists. On the day of completion, the grand feast for guests was divided into three days. The first day was the "Three Constitutions".Before entering the table, the host personally guides the garden, twists and turns, turns around the rockery, and sees a tall building rising from the trees in the southeast, which is gorgeous and extraordinary. Go, no one can guess why. "Xue Weng," Governor Yang Changjun asked, "what is that place?" "It's a building where my wife lives." Hearing that it was the residence of the family members, Yang Changjun was inconvenient to ask further questions, and only after inquiring privately did he know that the building was called "Hundred Lions Building".On the railing posts, there are a hundred lions polished with red sandalwood. The protruding eyes of the lions are made of gold, so they are dazzling against the sun, making it hard to look at. "Why is the place where the ladies live called Baishilou? Could it be that he doesn't understand the phrase 'Hedong Lion's Roar'?" "No. Because that lady is called Mrs. Snail, so Mr. Hu Da built this building for her to live in." Yang Changjun then asked how the name "Mrs. Snail" came about and where she came from.After inquiring clearly, I felt that it was too much, so I quietly wrote a letter to Zuo Zongtang in Suzhou, which was quite critical. Unexpectedly, Zuo Zongtang didn't think much of him, but it was inconvenient to express it clearly. It happened that his eldest son also criticized Hu Xueyan in a letter. He knew very well that the military success of the Western Expedition is all thanks to Hu Xueyan, and he deserves to enjoy it a little bit.He also mentioned that Tao Shu, his son and daughter's in-laws and the first confidant in his life, when he was the governor of Liangjiang, his son-in-law Hu Linyi lived in Jiangning with Hanlin. "Nursing a clean bank", the internal accountant once told Tao Shu that Hu Linyi was extravagant, should he be a little restrained?Tao Shu told him: "Just let him spend it! He will contribute to the country in the future, and he has no time to spend it if he has money." Although the situation of Hu Xueyan and Hu Linyi are different, personal enjoyment is better than the great interests for the country. Come, even luxury is not worth mentioning. When the words spread to Zhejiang, Hu Xueyan was very grateful, and naturally became more loyal to Zuo Zongtang, but Mrs. Luoshi was wary. When talking privately with Grandma Qigu, they all thought that "a big tree attracts wind" and should be restrained.But Hu Xueyan only asked: "How to deal with it?" Mrs. Snail had no words to answer.Because what Hu Xueyan relies on is credit, credit is based on everyone's confidence in him, and confidence is created by Hu Xueyan's scene, the scene can only be big, not small, otherwise as long as someone inadvertently says: "Mr. It’s not as good as it used to be.” Immediately, countless speculations will be aroused, and those who originally had hatred and no resentment or enmity just because of jealousy will fuel the flames and spread rumors, which will shake their credibility, and the consequences will be disastrous.