Chapter 26 Inspector of Fujian

At the end of October in the third year of Tongzhi, Zuo Zongtang handed over his duties as the governor of Zhejiang Province, and set off for the governor of Fujian under the firing of cannons by all the civil and military officials in Hangzhou. Prior to this, the division to aid Fujian set out in three routes.On the west road, 8,000 new troops from Zhejiang Inspectorate Liu Dian, who was assisting in Fujian's military affairs, were the main force. Together with 2,500 people from the registered inspector Wang Debang, they entered Tingzhou from Jianchang, Jiangxi. A total of 4,600 troops, from Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, via Pucheng and Jianning, Fujian Province, entered Yanping. In the east, Gao Liansheng, acting governor of Zhejiang Province, and Wei Guangbing, an alternate magistrate, led 4,500 troops. They crossed the Qiantang River and took a ship from Ningbo to follow the sea route. Landing in Fuzhou.

The targets of these three armies are all in southern Fujian-Li Shixian is in Zhangzhou to the west of Xiamen, Ding Taiyang is in Wuping at the junction of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi provinces, and Wang Haiyang is wandering between east and west in southern Fujian.Zuo Zongtang's plan is that they must not be allowed to go to sea, tightened from the north, west, and east, and oppress the enemy to flee south. South of Fujian is Guangdong.Mao Hongbin, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Guo Songtao, governor of Guangdong, knew something was wrong when they saw this scene.If Zuo Zongtang drives the thieves into Guangdong, the troops from Fujian will follow the thieves, which will create a dilemma between Changmao and "friendly troops", so he is very anxious.

However, the Cantonese army led by two lieutenants, Fang Yao and Zhuo Xing, is only 8,000 strong. Although Fujian Yanjian Shao Daokang Guoqi is from Cantonese, the New Unified Army also has Cantonese nationality, but it cannot be counted as the Cantonese army, because He is Zuo Zongtang's subordinate, and he does not obey the orders of Guangdong officials.Mao Hongbin and Guo Songtao had no choice but to send Fang Yao and Zhuo Xing into Fujian to suppress Changmao and Zuo Zongtang secretly. Before the troops to aid Fujian arrived, Lin Wencha, the admiral of the Fujian Land Route, had already taken over the battle with Li Shixian.Lin Wencha is a native of Changhua, Taiwan. In the eight years of Xianfeng, he helped the bandits in Danshui with his salary. He was appointed as a guerrilla and became a military officer. Batulu" name.When Wang Youling was trapped in Hangzhou, he was ordered to aid Zhejiang, but was blocked in Quzhou. Later, he was controlled by Zuo Zongtang. Taiwan, to quell chaos in his hometown.

The leader of the rebellious party is Dai Chaochun, who was originally from Longxi, Zhangzhou. He is a remnant of the old rebellious party, the White Lotus Sect, that has lingered in Chinese history.In the name of organizing group training in Changhua, it is actually in collusion with Changmao. At the turn of Xiantong, Zhejiang fell, and the officers and troops in Fujian were transferred to northern Fujian and southern Zhejiang. Dai Chaochun thought it was a good opportunity to raise an uprising. In March, his henchman Lin Yucheng started an uprising in Dadun. Five days later, the occupation In Changhua, Kong Zhaoci, the military commander of Taiwan, was killed.Dai Chaochun called himself the "King of the East", "King of the South" was Lin Yucheng, and there were also "King of the West" and "King of the North".The following official positions include "Great Master", "Left and Right Prime Minister", "Six Ministers" and so on.

This slightly imitates the system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, where the monkeys are crowned and crowned, as if the scene of the stage is on the stage. Because the situation in the southeast is at a critical juncture, the imperial court only sent 600 people to attack and suppress at the request of Liang Dao Ding Rijian. Hold for a while.In the autumn of the second year of Tongzhi, when Zuo Zongtang regained Zhejiang, he was confident that he sent Lin Wencha back to Taiwan to call on the old Ministry. Xu Zongqian, the governor of Fujian, also sent Ding Rijian, who had been in Taiwan for a long time, to lead the troops and was awarded the title of Taiwan soldier. Prepare the road and supervise the military affairs of the whole Taiwan.

So at the beginning of November, Changhua was recovered and Douliu was captured. At the end of the year, Dai Chaochun was captured in Zhangcuo Village, and Lin Yucheng was defeated and died in Sikuaicuo. The situation can be regarded as stabilized. However, it is also very laborious to clear up the remnants of the chaotic party, especially after Li Shixian occupied Zhangzhou, Dai Chaochun's remnant party was ready to meet and reunite.Zuo Zongtang was deeply afraid that Li Shixian, Wang Haiyang and others would go to sea, and that was exactly why. Seeing this situation, Lin Wencha was deeply embarrassed. On the one hand, he had to prevent the resurgence of the ashes, and he couldn't let it go.After careful consideration, we should return to Fujian, because if Li Shixian can be eliminated, the rebellious party in Changhua will lose its support and hope, and it will collapse without a fight.

After making up his mind, he crossed in haste and brought two hundred soldiers with him on the same boat.He had fought against Li Shixian more than once, and he didn't dare to underestimate the enemy. He originally intended to go to Fujian, make arrangements first, and then attack.Unexpectedly, Li Shixian had already prepared and set up an ambush at Wansong Pass, waiting for him to enter the net. But Lin Wencha changed his mind again.Because he felt that his army was lonely, he took in many stragglers along the way, and mixed them into an army. If the food was sufficient, the time was leisurely, and he had capable helpers, he could of course gradually train this generation into a strong army. Otherwise, he had to use them to find a way out. Or with a mentality of revenge, sharpen morale, and use it as a plan to borrow from the city.Lin Wencha is old in military affairs, silently observes the situation, and thinks that he has to make a quick decision. If he drags it on, it will waste food and pay, and it will be too difficult, and he will collapse without fighting.

Originally, Zuo Zongtang's order was to instruct him to "strengthen Quanxia", which was a difficult task, because the terrain from the east of Zhangzhou to Xiamen and Quanzhou was flat, easy to attack and difficult to defend, and there was a huge disparity in the number of troops. .As far as strategy is concerned, offense should be used as defense. As far as the interests are concerned, it is difficult to attack more with less, but it is better to attack and lose than to defend and lose.Therefore, at the beginning of October, they entered from Quanxia and camped at Wansong Pass.

Wansong Pass, also known as Wansong Ridge, is located on Fenghuang Mountain, 25 miles east of Zhangzhou. It is a passageway from Quanxia to Zhangzhou.As soon as the camp was set up, Li Shixian sent a team to attack, with the intention of testing the situation, but the lieutenant general Huishou was useless, so Chang Mao stepped on the camp.Lin Wencha had no choice but to retreat to a place called Yuzhou. After two days, he went out to attack and returned with a small victory. At this time, he received a letter from Zuo Zongtang, instructing him to "deep trenches and high fortifications, don't fight in waves to win, and when the Zhejiang army arrives, work together to restore Zhangzhou." Lin Wencha had to obey orders at this time, and stationed in the camp On Wansong Ridge, waiting for the reinforcements, Zeng Yuming, the commander of the Navy, joined the water battalion in Haikou Town, Chengxian County, near the Jiulong River, thinking that it would be a corner.

In this way, until the end of October, Zuo Zongtang had not yet entered the territory of Fujian, and the Zhejiang army, which set out first, would form a three-way encirclement for the next time.Li Shixian originally set up an ambush west of Wansongguan, waiting for Lin Wencha to enter the net. Seeing that he stood still and the Zhejiang army had entered Fujian, he had to rush to open a way out, so he launched a surprise attack on the third day of November. The raid was carried out by land and water.The long-haired men who attacked Shuiying wiped their faces with bituminous coal, deliberately pretending to be hideous and terrifying ghosts, and at the same time used it as an identification of "our own people".Zeng Yuming's navy was caught off guard. Except for the bombardment with the small cannons on the gunboat, the rest of the battalions collapsed.

Lin Wencha's headquarters at Wansong Pass in the west were originally stragglers who procrastinated and deteriorated. I heard that the rear was attacked and chaos occurred before the battle.Lieutenant General Huishou and guerrilla Xu Zhongbiao couldn't hold back the formation, so they had to flee, but Lin Wencha refused to escape, and was shot and killed in battle.The disbanded rebellious soldiers barely gathered on the east bank of the Jiulong River, which can be regarded as protecting the gate of Quanzhou. After March, Zuo Zongtang arrived in Pucheng and formally entered the realm of Fujian, and he was scheduled to use this as his destination.The first battle report Xingyuan received was that Lin Wencha was defeated and died in the line of duty. This is not a sign of immediate success, Zuo Zongtang was very displeased.In his opinion, Lin Wencha had dampened the enthusiasm of the Zhejiang army and hurt his reputation. Although he did not deserve to die, it was absolutely unforgivable.Therefore, when the play was played, he refused to discuss this matter specifically, and only used a reason for the case of "the supervisor arrived in Pucheng and is now planning to suppress the situation", and reprimanded Lin Wencha for not listening to the dispatch in the excerpt. The first army has rushed from Fuzhou to southern Fujian, and Quanxia can be safe.As for Lin Wencha's tribute code, it is stated that he will file a request for another case, but it is conceivable that the tribute code will not be generous. But the situation quickly stabilized.What Zuo Zongtang was most worried about was that Li Shixian ran southeast into the sea, so as long as Gao Liansheng's army could go south from Fuzhou, and block it in time, he would block it for a while, and wait for the Soviet army Guo Songlin and Yang Dingxun to sail to clear the hinterland. Then there is a full grasp. For this reason, Zuo Zongtang set up a strategy of defending from the east, attacking from the north and pressing from the west. He first recovered Longyan in the south of Fujian and north of it, and then, together with Fang Yao's troops of the Guangdong Army, recovered Yongding at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong. After these two victories, the morale was greatly boosted, and the command became more flexible. Zuo Zongtang began to "drive the thieves into Guangdong". Wuping and Shanghang area bordering Guangdong.At that time, the Soviet army to aid Fujian had arrived one after another, and the Zhejiang army Gao Liansheng and Huang Shaochun were assigned to divide the defense area, and aimed to advance Zhangzhou, the Soviet army guarded the south of Zhangzhou, and the Zhejiang army guarded the north of Zhangzhou.As a result, Li Shixian's way to go to sea was completely blocked. In mid-April, the armies of Zhejiang and the Soviet Union attacked from the north and the south at the same time, and they would attack Zhangzhou. On April 21, Zhangzhou was restored, but Li Shixian opened the west gate and left, joining Wang Haiyang, becoming a "trapped beast". The situation at that time was that the coastal areas of Quan, Xiamen, and Zhangzhou in the southeast had the strongest military strength, and Yongding in the northwest had more than 7,000 people defending. layout. To the west is the Dapu and Raoping areas in Guangdong. Although Fang Yao of the Guangdong Army is defending, they are by no means the opponents of Li Shixian and Wang Haiyang. Anyone can tell.However, what does Zuo Zongtang mean?People with discerning eyes can see it naturally. This discerning person was Xu Gengshen, the foreman of Zhangjing, a military aircraft far away in the capital. On May 12th, he was surprised to see a memorial that had been handed out. Aiding Fujian and the Soviet Army, joining the Zhejiang Army and splitting the road, and on April 21, the Fucheng of Zhangzhou was conquered." In the report on the attack, there is a sentence saying: "The servant Li Shixian sneaked open the west gate and fled." Zuo Zongtang's battle report did not match the situation. In Zuo Zongtang's memorial, the reason for the case was "to force the great victory in Zhangxi, and we are now preparing to deal with the situation." It did not mention Zhangzhou's recovery, let alone Li Shixian's escape from the west gate of Zhangzhou. , The situation is poor day by day, trying to detour Anxi by the Zhangbei small road, in order to copy the army's back road. The plan failed, and tried to collude with the Tong'an bandits, causing internal strife and troubles. Member Zeng Xiande cleaned up the bandit nests in the villages of Xitang, Shangzhai, and Hujing." Look at the date of worship is April 26, and the place of worship is the capital of Fujian Province.Fuzhou is only two or three days away from Zhangzhou, and Zuo Zongtang in Fuzhou should not know about it until twenty-five.If you already know, why didn't you succeed in the twenty-six prostrations? This is a huge suspicion, but after a little more detailed research, it is not difficult to understand that Zuo Zongtang only "slipped through the net" for Li Shixian, and refused to report victory. Whatever Guo Songlin did was to push Li Shixian's responsibility for "slipping through the net" onto Guo Songlin. As for the reason why Zuo Zongtang wanted to "rectify" Guo Songlin, it can also be inferred.It turned out that after Lin Wencha's death in battle, Guo Songlin, the commander-in-chief of Fushan Town, was filled in as soon as there was a vacancy for the Fujian land admiral.Although acting as an acting officer, he was always promoted, but if Zuo Zongtang hadn't asked the Soviet army to help Fujian, the admiral with the highest rank among generals would not have been able to get Guo Songlin's turn.According to Zuo Zongtang's idea, since Guo Songlin's promotion came from aiding Fujian, and the promoted officials were lacking in Fujian, he should belong to him according to the establishment system, regardless of whether he is grateful for the picture or is responsible for the name. underlings.There is no such thing as Guo Songlin, who refused to take office despite the repeated urging of Fujian governor Xu Zongqian.It was quite intolerable for Zuo Zongtang to assume the status of a guest general while fighting in Fujian. However, before the two armies of Guo and Yang sailed south, Li Hongzhang made a special statement: Guo Songlin will not perform his duties, and he will also " Don't advise driving."Zuo Zongtang once agreed, so it's inconvenient to backtrack now!But I regretted Guo Songlin, so I made a foreshadowing at this time. On the one hand, I vaguely stated that it was Guo Songlin's responsibility to pursue Li Shixian. On the other hand, we can look at the future situation. But it is official to ask Guo Songlin to stay in Fujian—it is only right and proper to use the admiral of this province to suppress the bandits in this province. Knowing Zuo Zongtang's secret intrigue, and then looking at Li Hongzhang's "Aid to Fujian wins, Zhangzhou government will be conquered", it will suddenly become clear that in addition to expressing merit and inviting rewards, it also has the effect of leaving room for the Soviet army to shrug off responsibility in advance .Because of the eclectic description of the battle situation, the defense area and deployment of Guo and Yang's two armies were particularly detailed. One said: "Dongshan is ten miles south of Zhangzhou City, connected to the Zhangpu Road. Guo Songlin uses eight battalions to control it, and another ten miles for the town. The gate is in the middle of Dongshan, Haicheng, and Shima. Yang Dingxun used five battalions to control it. Haicheng County is the rear route of the two armies. " Furthermore, it is said: "The chief soldier Liu Lianjie and the king of Jiesi are in the northwest, and the admirals Gao Liansheng, Huang Shaochun and other troops are on the east road. Since the Soviet army strangled Dongshan, the south road has been cut off." The third said: "Fleeing against Nanjing all the way, the battalions chased and suppressed for several miles, and together with Gao, Huang and other troops, they turned back to the southeast and set up bandits at the Fangzi Bridge outside Dongguan, Dongyue Temple and the nearby Nanmen Xinqiao. Everything will be leveled." It can be seen everywhere that both Guo and Yang's armies, whether defending or attacking, mainly take charge of the south of Zhangzhou, followed by the east, but Li Shixian opened the west gate and fled. Who is responsible?Needless to say.After repeated analysis like this, Xu Gengshen believed that Zuo Zongtang was playing terrible tricks.Since the rise of the army, the leaders of the various provinces have used it as a habit to drive thieves out of the country, but Zuo Zongtang seems to be deliberately beggar-thy-neighbor, hiding some evil intentions.This must be corrected early. Therefore, he pointed out to King Gong, Wen Xiang and others that Chen Lili, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces of the Ming Dynasty, planned to issue a "Ting Ji". When he came down, he said: "Although Zhangzhou has been conquered, Qu Kui has not yet been appointed as the leader. He will definitely conspire with Wang Ni to plan to regain his success. Now the situation in the southeast and southeast roads is still stable, and the northeast road is also guarded by Liu Mingdeng and others. Zhangpu, Yunxiao, Zhao'an, Pinghe and other cities in front of us are all occupied by thieves. There is no doubt that the rebels must think of fleeing this way. In the area of ​​Raoping and Dapu in Guangdong Province, although Fang Yao and other troops are defending, Fearing that the troops will not be distributed enough, Zuo Zongtang and others should still allocate a strong force, go around to the west road, and join the Cantonese army to intercept them head-on, so as to stop him from crossing the road." At this point, Zuo Zongtang knew that the time was right to drive Guo Songtao away.Before that, he had made a foreshadowing for Jiang Yili, and used Li Hongzhang as a foil to improve Jiang Yili's status.This foreshadowing was set at the beginning of September, when Ruilin and Guo Songtao were at odds with each other, and in the memorial "I implore to take back the orders of all the three provinces and all the troops in the three provinces", he also mentioned: "I am afraid that the military affairs in Guangdong and Guangxi will not end. The talents of the army are like Li Hongzhang and Jiang Yili, and there are disasters and chaos!" It means that it is best to transfer Li Hongzhang to the governor of Guangdong, and Jiang Yili to be promoted to the governor of Guangdong. However, the impression that Jiang Yili could be a responsible person has been left in the minds of the Empress Dowager Nishinomiya and the Minister of Military Affairs. At this time, of course, it is not clear that Bao Jiang Yili was promoted to Guangdong. He used the method of clipping to attack Guo Baojiang in "Chen Ming Guangdong's military affairs".First of all, I said: "The facts about the soldiers in Guangdong province are impressive, and the issue of pay is unquestionable. The military has been prosperous for a long time, and the military affairs of famous provinces may turn from weak to strong, while Guangdong has been strong in the past and now it is sluggish! The pay of the provinces may change from scarcity. Jianyu, Guangdong has been spared in the past, but now it is exhausted!" Just these two words, the governors of the past two years attacked together, of course, Guo Songtao should be more responsible than Ruilin, because he was more responsible than Ruilin when he was in office. Long. Then he was responsible for the payment, and this was the governor's duty. There was no mention of Guo Songtao's name, but most of the attacks focused on Guo Songtao, especially mentioning the Chaozhou tax in a wealthy area of ​​Guangdong. Zuo Zongtang accused him in this way: "When I arrived in Dapu, I met the officials, gentlemen and people of Chaojun County, and asked about the tax rate of Chaojun County. The total amount of groceries, foreign medicines, Shantou trips, and boat donations, the annual income, the total More than 30,000 taels is a yearly income, which is less than the monthly salary of 6,000 people. Chaozhou is a county in the east of Guangdong, and the tax rate is so small, and the rest can be deduced by analogy." This is an intentional distortion of the facts.Ever since Qianjiang established Lijin, the most difficult area to deal with is Guangdong. When Guo Songtao came to office, he and Governor Mao Hongbin made a statement.The situation in Guangdong is different from that in other provinces, mainly due to the influence of foreigners.The situation in Guangdong, "Macao occupies its west, Hong Kong surrounds its east, and all the provinces and rivers are at the mouth of Haikou, all of which belong to foreigners, and Hong Kong is especially a place where merchants gather. One or two big shops have been moved to Hong Kong in order to rely on them. The people attached to the barbarians, for their own purposes, all persuaded to donate at a rate, and never dared to ask. Those who intend to evade donations also send more to Hong Kong, hoping to survive. Statistics of incoming and outgoing goods, all major brokers, are transferred from Hong Kong Losing is a way for him to save money and prevent leakage, and eastern Guangdong has a hotbed of escape.” Secondly, the atmosphere in Guangdong is different from other provinces.The gentry in Guangdong often took all the taxes and levies. When Lijin was first established, it was also contracted by the evil gentry, allowing them to invade and fish for a living.And the public and private suffer from the disease.Afterwards, it was taken over by the government, but the bad gentry in Baoli were unwilling to lose their privileges, so they instigated trouble and gathered people to destroy the bureau. Mobilize local officials in prefectures and counties in order to compromise.The result is that the more accommodating, the more difficult it is. After Guo Songtao took office, he rectified donations with the purpose of eliminating middle-income and pursuing reasonableness, which was quite effective. Qiongzhoufu, Lianzhou, and Heyuan in Huizhou, which had never been established, opened successively.As for Chaozhou, as far as Guangdong is concerned, it was located in the east, and it had been outside for a long time. When Wang Haiyang approached the border of Guangdong, Chao Jiahui and Zhang Mi tried to open it. Although the number was small, it was always a beginning.The folk customs of Chaozhou are to make the best use of the situation, to say good things first, to discuss everything, and to force and suppress people, but they will not obey.What Zhang Mian meant was that as long as Chaozhou is willing to accept tax donations, it can be increased in the future. Moreover, the bandits are in a hurry, and it is extremely dangerous to start a dispute between the government and the gentry and the people.Guo Songtao took this view very seriously, but Zuo Zongtang deliberately disregarded the facts, only emphasizing that he only received 30,000 silver per year, but did not say that the 30,000 silver was hard-won, and as long as he could collect this 30,000, the next 300,000 would be the same. possible. The most vicious thing is that Zuo Zongtang exaggerated the income of Guangdong Customs: "I heard that the customs collected at each mouth is no less than two million taels per year. It is impossible to check the number of Beijing. If the governor can manage to organize this, then The official payment period is correct, and it is of great benefit to the overall situation of the province's salary raising. Hereby, it is a 200-year-old system, and no foreign minister dares to discuss it lightly." Next is Bao Jiang Yili.He said: "The minister led the guest army into Guangdong. I heard about it occasionally, but I dare not not tell the truth. When the soldiers are paid at the same time, the responsibility is heavy. If you are not a talented person, you can't do it. Zhejiang Chief Envoy Jiang Yili is unparalleled in talent and ability, and knows a lot about the number of high-ranking ministers. If God is kind enough to send him to Guangdong to supervise military affairs and raise military pay, it will definitely help him in the current situation in eastern Guangdong." This is the so-called power guarantee.The "strength" of Libao can be summed up in one sentence: "Incomparable talent, a little bit of high-ranking ministers, etc." The governor who controls the military affairs of the three provinces is so respected, and the weight is too heavy. Zuo Zongtang pretended to be Zhuge Wuhou, and he was defiant to everything. To actually admire him in such a down-to-earth way is really not like him.Therefore, someone spread an inside story, saying that a close friend of Zhang Zou, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang Province, received a red envelope of 10,000 silver from Jiang Yili, and strongly advocated adding the ten words "unrivaled talent, knowledge of the number of senior officials, etc.", if the rumors are true, It counts as a thousand dollars. However, although the theory of bribery is unknowable, it must have this cross when discussing the facts.Jiang Yili's talent is known to most military ministers, and they all think that it is difficult for him to take up the task.Therefore, although Zuo Zongtang hinted in the memorial that he could replace Guo as governor of Guangdong, and use Li Hongzhang as a foil to increase his social status, the court always pretended to be deaf and dumb.Now Zuo Zongtang's ten words are as heavy as thunder, so he can't pretend to be deaf or dumb. However, it is not allowed to pretend to be deaf, but it is possible to pretend to be stupid. The imperial court deliberately ignored Zuo Zongtang's hints, and just as he asked on the surface, issued an order on the eighth day of the first month of the fifth year of Tongzhi: "Jiang Yili, the chief envoy of Zhejiang, went to Guangdong to handle the matter." Military affairs, as well as food and payment." When the memorial for sponsoring Jiang Yili was issued, Zuo Zongtang was sure of recovering Jiaying Prefecture, which Wang Haiyang occupied.The general offensive was launched on December 12th, and Wang Haiyang was killed by random guns. Ten days later, Ke was completely successful.Zuo Zongtang paid homage at the end of the year: "Jiayingzhou City will be recovered, the heads of the thieves will be wiped out, and the rest will be wiped out." This is tantamount to eradicating the remnants of Long Mao, Zuo Zongtang himself returned to his post, and all the troops were sent back to the province, but Jiang Yili "flew to Guangdong", what "military affairs" did he do, and what "food and salary" did he raise?If a powerful person asks this question, Jiang Yili's new appointment may be revoked.Of course Zuo Zongtang had already considered this, so he took advantage of the problem and pushed Guo Songtao even harder. The title borrowed was "Gao Liansheng led his troops to the post".Gao Liansheng's job is "Guangdong Land Admiral". Now that Zuo Zongtang's task of controlling the military affairs of the three provinces has come to an end, since he returned to his own province, Gao Liansheng should also take up his post in Guangdong.When the admiral arrived at his post, he did not need to bring any other troops except his own soldiers, but Zuo Zongtang asked Gao Liansheng to take all his troops to the new post.The superficial reason was that the chaos was at the beginning of peace, the people's hearts were uncertain, and the "suppression with capital" was actually intended to cause difficulties for Guangdong, because Gao Liansheng's department had 5,000 people, and at least 30,000 silver was needed every month. Guangdong burden. However, Guangdong welcomed Gao Liansheng, but did not welcome Gao Liansheng's troops.So Zuo Zongtang accused Guangdong and complained a lot, saying that "the ministers should ask themselves, so they are the ones who are planning for Guangdong, and they should not do anything, but Guangdong cares about it. I want all the ministers to order Gao Liansheng's subordinates to go to Fujian. Here is the minister's proposal." I don't understand. If it is said that the military salary of Gao Liansheng should still be received by Minzhi, then try to raise it for Guangdong, and the salary of Xiemin should be resolved. There are still more than 300,000 taels. This time, refugees from various provinces and Jiaying Prefecture and Town Ping County relieved Ping’s rice and grain and ministers allotted the price of rice to Bao Chao’s first army, and there were more than 50,000 taels of rice that should be returned from Guangdong. That is to say, all the money was transferred to Gao Liansheng’s military salary, and Fujian’s salary was used to help Fujian. The army needs about one year, and after one year, all the troubles will gradually subside, and it is not too late to dismantle the army one after another." The provincial co-payment, which province owes which province, is an account that will never be settled. Anyway, it is justified to be able to fight a war, and it is even more justified to win a battle.Zuo Zongtang has the most thorough understanding of this level, so it is more reasonable to be able to speak eloquently. Zuo Zongtang's folded newspapers are often discussed at the end, and this fold is no exception. Because of the attack on Guo Songtao, Guangdong was affected, and it was also criticized: "The troubles of Fusi Haijiang originated in Guangdong, and the troubles of thieves in the Central Plains also came from Guangdong. It started in Guangdong. When the military affairs have just been completed, those who have raised troops and raised their salaries, how should they learn from the past and learn from the past in order to strive for self-improvement? If they still regard mediocrity as generosity, and take shirk as ability, they are clearer than small plans and darker than The big plan may not be enough to relieve the worries of the imperial court. He did not ask for an order to order the governor of Guangdong to deliberate and examine the office, and still call for Gao Liansheng to take his troops to the post, which is from the holy order." This memorial is the same as the memorial of Jiang Yili that was protected before.The person in Zuo Zongtang's shogunate who received the red envelope secretly copied the bottom and sent it to Zhejiang. Although Jiang Yili was a rough man, he was still a master after all. He told him: The time for promotion is not far away. The seal of the governor of Guangdong was engraved, and he was ready to take office. The most powerful part of this memorial is to use Ruilin to attack Guo Songtao.The matter started with Ruilin's consultation, and Zuo Zongtang's aggressive writing was also directed at Ruilin in the front, which implied that if the attack on Guo was ineffective, he would turn to attack Rui.Ruilin's political achievements in Guangdong are well known to all the ministers in the court, and King Gong and Wenxiang are far superior to the Manchurian dignitaries in the Daoguang and Xianfeng dynasties, but they also think that Ruilin must be preserved, because first, Since the rise of the army, nine out of ten governors have been Han Chinese, which has never happened since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.At present, only Huguang and Liangguang are bannermen. If Zuo Zongtang impeached Ruilin endlessly and forced the court to adjust, he didn't have the right subordinates to bear the burden; secondly, Ruilin had the support of Empress Dowager Cixi. Third, although Ruilin is mediocre, he is very obedient, especially the funds of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have a lot to do with the Guangdong Customs. It is convenient to have an obedient Guangdong governor in Guangzhou. Therefore, the imperial court must appease Zuo Zongtang, not only to preserve Ruilin, but also because of the words "I am afraid that the imperial court's worries in the south will not be satisfied".Therefore, Ruilin was reprimanded in the edict, and the wording was quite severe: "After Zuo Zongtang's triumphant return, Guangdong Province sent soldiers to search and punish bandits. Urging Gao Liansheng to go to Guangdong to serve as the admiral, why not order Zuo Zongtang to return his trilogy to Fujian? If the Fujian army retreats triumphantly, and the surrendered bandits again breed troubles and trouble the troops, the department supervisor can take this important role Blame?" The next step is as requested by Zuo Zongtang: "There are more than 5,000 people in Gao Liansheng's department, and the monthly salary is only more than 30,000 taels. That is to say, Zuo Zongtang ordered the admiral to take the department to take up the post, and the monthly salary is from Rui. Lin and Guo Songtao raise money on a monthly basis, and no shortfalls or debts are allowed, and there will be a danger of being constrained!" Of course, Ruilin lost face when he received this reprimand, but his future was saved, and the one who couldn't keep his future was Guo Songtao, who was not reprimanded. The imperial court meant that they were determined to preserve Ruilin and sacrifice Guo Songtao in exchange for Zuo Zongtang's "loyalty".However, the edict on "employing people for administration" often stated that "one is a righteous man", and the delay in Guangdong's military affairs is the same as that of governors and governors. One should not be deposed and the other should be fine.Therefore, using the unwritten principle of "fairness" of "beating but not punishing" and "punishing but not hitting", strict warnings to Ruilin mean that he has already beaten and not punished. Punishment". In just seven or eight days, two edicts were issued on the political situation in Guangdong. The "Ting Ji" of the emergency military newspaper, which is divided into Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian, writes: Ma Xinyizuo: Inspecting the situation in Haikou, discussing the transformation of warships as appropriate, the military affairs of Guangdong Province have been decided, and whether Jiang Yili, the feudal commander, should go there will be 10% off.The official army's search for foreign pirates depends entirely on the ability of ships and equipment to be effective.Ma Xinyi saw that he planned to renovate the No. 30 Hongdan Guangboat, and combined Zhang Qiguang's original belt of ten Guangboats, making a total of No. 40. They were assigned to various key ports in Wenzhou and other places, and purchased one or two foreign ships for guerrilla search and suppression. The preparations are still in place, and they are all done as requested.Still with Ma Xinyi in charge of the generals along the coast, there are division ships, patrolling carefully, hunting down the rest of the bandits, so as to calm the place, without any negligence.Today, a decree has been issued to appoint Jiang Yili as the governor of Guangdong.That is to say, Jiang Yili hurriedly handed over his departure and went to his new post.Jiang Yili was promoted to Xinjiang post by the imperial court, and his responsibilities were not light. After he took office, he would make great efforts to rectify the affairs of general affairs, government affairs and salary raising, so as to make progress in the future, and he must not follow the old habits and lead to appointment.Know this from the decrees of Wubaili. Zuo Zongtang expelled Guo Songtao in order to occupy the territory of Guangdong.On the surface, it seems that this purpose has been achieved, but in fact it is not. Although the imperial court accepted Zuo Zongtang's protection of Jiang Yili, although it was under coercion, it had no choice but to gather the strength of everyone to deal with the arbitrary Zuo Zongtang, after all, there was something extraordinary about its foresight.It didn't take long for anyone with a discerning eye to see that, in the end, it was someone who used the government's affairs and had the upper hand. First, the imperial court had a preliminary plan and wanted to use Zuo Zongtang again, so in the matter of using him to protect Jiang Yili, they used extra words to win over Jiang Yili; second, Guangdong's prosperity has long been famous and has always been The Ministry of Internal Affairs' public and private needs.For more than ten years, Hong Yang has been poisoning all over the southeast, but the disaster in Guangdong is very light.However, in order to raise salaries in the early years, the governor of Guangdong had to accommodate the sponsor of Zeng Guofan, who was sent by the expert.After the incident, the situation is different, the time to take power has come, but Zeng Guofan is hindered on the one hand, and Guo Songtao's background and performance as an official, if there is no major fault, he cannot be transferred casually, especially with Ruilin around. In contrast, if we want to rectify the administration of officials in Guangdong, Ruilin should be transferred first, not Guo Songtao.Even if we take a step back, at least Ruiguo should be in the same tune, otherwise the high-sounding words such as "employing people and administering with integrity" and other high-sounding words repeatedly stated in the imperial decree will become deceitful talk. It is rare for Zuo Zongtang to attack Guo Songtao vigorously, but it can be used as a way to collect power.It is not easy to depose Guo, but it is very easy to depose Jiang Yili.Because in terms of his background, qualifications and talents, he is not suitable for the responsibility of the field. In the future, he will be transferred easily with a piece of paper, and no one will gossip. Another advantage is that compared with Jiang Yili, Rui Lin is very qualified to be the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.Therefore, in August, a decree was issued to eliminate the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in Ruilin and change from an acting to an actual granting. On the same day—August 17th in the fifth year of Tongzhi, there were two other edicts: one was Yang Yuebin, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, who said: "The talent is not enough, the disease is getting worse, please open the vacancy", and Zuo Zongtang was transferred to the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. Another said: "Yang Yuebin is not very suitable for people and places, and the handling has not been effective. He has a deep relationship with the west. The governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, in order to quickly sweep back the atmosphere and appease the frontier." It is a special statement that Zuo Zongtang is assigned the important task of subduing the Northwest. According to the traditional regulations, the transfer of the ministers of the borderlands often first summons the intended candidates to Beijing, and when His Majesty sees the order, Fang Shiming issues an imperial edict, and then "please train" to leave Beijing.If you do not go through this procedure and directly send a decree to make a replacement, then the new incumbent should ask your majesty to see and ask for instructions, which means that this transfer must include the intention of eliminating the old and bringing in the new.What the imperial court hopes, we must first inquire and understand, so we should ask for training.Of course, there are exceptions. For example, if the military situation is urgent and no delay is allowed, it can be clearly stated in the imperial edict: "I will go to the new post immediately, and there is no need to come to Beijing for training." This is the case for Zuo Zongtang's new order. However, this is a superficial view, and there are actually other articles.Because Zuo Zongtang went from the old post in the southeast to the new post in the northwest, detoured the capital, and entered Qinlong from Shanxi. Clean up, the sooner the better the situation is different.And the reason why he was prevented from going to Beijing to ask for training was only because of Zuo Zongtang's method. The Military Aircraft Department and various ministries have been taught, and they are asking for salary and people. trouble?So simply don't want him to go to Beijing.