Chapter 41 Section 41

Of course, the Empress Dowager Cixi also knew that the emperor was nostalgic for the "East Side" like this, and there must be some tricks involved.But at this time, she has no time to take care of it, because the military affairs to suppress Nian are at a critical juncture.The West Nian has been fleeing indeterminately, and the imperial court advocated pursuing and suppressing it. However, Li Hongzhang, based on his experience in suppressing the East Nian, believed that "the best strategy to deal with the rogue bandits is to strengthen the wall and clear the wilderness." In several provinces, people are more afraid of Weizhai than soldiers.At the same time, it was pointed out in the book: Xi Nian "crossed the Yellow River and entered Jin Dynasty, and captured mules and horses along the way. Each of them rode two or three horses. They stole them wherever they wanted. They rushed wildly without any care, and the officers and soldiers couldn't do it. And he can rob food anywhere, we Grain must be bought anywhere; work, rest and hunger are irrelevant. Today, if you want to cut off the thieves' food and horses, you must quickly build a village. If there is a ten-mile village, the thieves will have nothing to prey on. It can be destroyed in the future", so the eight-character policy is put forward, which is called "defend the yellow luck and keep the thief Haidong".

These eight words were about to be achieved, and the officers and soldiers from all walks of life went all around to suppress, and drove Xiyan Zhang Zongyu's troops to the area south of Cangzhou and east of the canal.The canal is to the west, the sea is to the east, and the Yellow River is to the south. It is like a sack facing the sky. If the north can be locked, the west will become a turtle in an urn. There is just one terrain that can be used. There is a dam called "Jiediba" in the south of Cangzhou, and a river connected to it is called "Jiahe". The function of this river is to adjust the water level of the canal. Vent the torrent, pass through the Jiahe River, and enter the sea from the "Mulching Pig Port" to the west.However, the Jianhe River has been silted up for a long time and cannot be effective. Li Hongzhang's solution is to dredge the Jianhe River intensified, and fill the Jianhe River when the water rises in April and May. .

The imperial court fully supports any method of restricting the interference of Jifu in the west and north in the north.This year, there was a leap month in April, with a lot of rain, the weather and the location were favorable, and Li Hongzhang was very active, because the court had vaguely hung a "reward" there. If he didn't work hard, this "reward" would fall. In Zuo Zongtang's hand. This "reward" is a co-organizer.Since the first year of Tongzhi, the Military Aircraft Department and the cabinet have established an unwritten system. There are five military ministers, except for the foreman of King Gong, and the remaining four members are two full and two Han.The Han Dynasty was further divided into the South and the North. At this time, Shen Guifen was the only Han Minister of Military Affairs. Although he grew up in the capital, he was born in Wanping, and his original home was Wujiang, Jiangsu.The princes and royal families have always been close to the north and shunned the south to the Han people. Therefore, Shen Guifen, who is actually a northerner, was used as "Nan Que", and there was a "North Que" left for Li Hongzao and Ding You to fill up.

There have always been two halls and two cabinets for the cabinet bachelors, with a total of four members, and two co-organizers, half of them are Banners and half of them.Last year, there was a vacancy for Zhou Zupei, a scholar of Tiren Pavilion, which was filled by Zeng Guofan as a co-organizer, and the vacant co-organizer was given to Luo Bingzhang, Governor of Sichuan.At the end of the year, Luo Bingzhang died of illness, so Wu Tang finally got his wish and became a high-ranking official. The vacancy of another co-organizing scholar was inferred from the merits, and Zhu Fengbiao, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, was promoted to make up for it.His official luck was very good, and soon there was a vacancy for a bachelor—Jia Zhen, a scholar of Wuyingdian, reported illness. When the vacancy was not filled, the Empress Dowager Cixi discussed with Prince Gong and decided to take a co-organizer as a "reward" "Among Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, whoever receives all the merits of Ping Xinian will be the co-organizer, so it is easier for Zhu Fengbiao, who was taught by King Chun's Enlightenment, to "rectify" as soon as possible.

For the honor of "entering the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister", Li Hongzhang asked his teacher Zeng Guofan to persuade Liu Ming to sell fake aid, and at the same time supervised the troops of Pan Dingxin, Guo Songlin, and Yang Dingxun, and together with the militiamen conscripted, they rushed to dredge the Congjie Road day and night. From the dam to the sea, the Jiahe River is ninety miles long.And from time to time, he himself dressed lightly and went to Cangzhou to inspect the project of opening rivers and building walls. There was a lot of rain in the early summer of this year, and the canal swelled by three to four feet. After the dredging of the Jiahe River was completed and the Jiedi Dam was opened, the torrent immediately rolled in, and the Jiahe River was filled in half a day. Restrict west twisting and north channeling.Based on the credit for "defending Shenjing", it is known that Zuo Zongtang cannot compete with Li Hongzhang.

The banks of the Jianhe River were guarded by the two armies of Pan Dingxin and Yang Dingxun, but there was also a 600-mile-long canal from Shandong to Hebei in the west, presided over by Li Hongzhang, and it was agreed that the Huai Army, Anhui Army, Eastern Army, and Zhi Army would defend in sections.Because the water of the Yellow River was also rising, the Zhangqiu section of the canal was dredged and diverted from the Yellow River, so that the Chu army's naval gunboats could also sail from Zhangqiu and Linqing into the canal and reach Dezhou. In this way, the deployment of enclosing Xiyan has been completed.

Zhang Zongyu's department really became a turtle in a urn, cramped in the north of Zhangqiu where Huang and Yun intersect, Yucheng and Gaotang to the west of Jinan and east of Linqing.Li Hongzhang estimated the situation, as early as March, as late as half a year, he would definitely be able to extinguish Xi Nian.In terms of military strength, it is enough, but the future credit will be shared by the reinforcements of the provinces. If you want to make a great contribution alone, you must first create a momentum for the Huai army to devote all its strength to it.As for the general of the Huai Army, everyone knows that Liu Mingchuan is the biography. If Liu Ming can't pass it on, it will be difficult to write about his military exploits in the future.Some people will definitely say: "The general of the Huai Army has not yet appeared, and he can reap the merits, so we know that Xi Nian is not as difficult as the legend says!"

For this reason, Li Hongzhang made up his mind to find out Liu Mingchuan.Liu Mingchuan had an opinion on him, and he knew it well, so in addition to asking the teacher for help, he specially sent a memorial, requesting "to order Liu Mingchuan to lead the front enemy's troops." Li Hongzhang's memorial said: "Liu Mingchuan lived in the same hometown as his ministers and students. He was less unruly, loyal and courageous, and wise and wise, which is rare among military generals in recent times. Liu Mingchuan and Cheng Xueqi's contributions to eliminating non-official officials in Jiangsu Province are more; Ren and Lai twisted their stocks and spread to several provinces. Fortunately, they were exterminated. This is not the merit of the minister, but the merit of Liu Mingchuan alone." He also said: "Now the bandit party is captured alive in the camp, and Zhang Ni is afraid that Liu Mingchuan will come back, so he always asks. I am a weak official, and I am ashamed of being a thief." Such a big stick Liu Mingchuan, on the one hand, is to lay out a book for the future military exploits; Unrivaled, but Xi Nian is afraid of Liu Mingchuan, not Zuo Zongtang who claims to be Zhuge Liang.In particular, the request for Liu Mingchuan to lead "the former enemy's horses and troops" was originally a task entrusted to Zuo Zongtang by the imperial court, but now it is taken over by the general of the Huai Army, which means that Zuo Zongtang has to be a subordinate for Li Hongzhang to drive.

In addition to asking for an order, this memorial was copied and distributed to the relevant ministers of military command for "reading and reading" as usual.The first person Zuo Zongtang looked down upon was Li Hongzhang, so when he saw this "copy", he was very angry, but he had no choice but to hold back his breath and find a chance to turn over the copy. The opportunity came quickly.Since Liu Mingchuan received the "decree of kindness", Zeng Guofan sent someone to "persuade him", and Li Hongzhang had another secret letter, which was moved not only by emotion, but also implicitly expressed in the tone of his words that he would receive his merits soon, and he should not give up this rare opportunity of being a knight. machine.So Liu Mingchuan was moved, hired a famous doctor, and healed the dampness on his feet a little better, and he was barely able to mount a horse. Then he left for Dezhou, Shandong to meet Li Hongzhang, and dispatched the Ming army to help suppress Xi Nian.

With an army of 100,000, surrounded by rivers and seas, Xi Nian, who is encircling and suppressing tens of thousands of people, has no reason why he cannot reap his merits.Just one and a half months after Liu Mingchuan arrived at the front line, Zhang Zongyu's troops surrendered, those who were beheaded were beheaded, and in the end only eight cavalry were left. . When the officers and soldiers arrived, Zhang Zongyu was nowhere to be seen. Six of the eight people were killed, and two were left alive. They said that Zhang Zongyu was with the eight of them on the bank of the Tuhai River. Farewell, and confessed that he had sinned deeply, then wept bitterly and drowned himself to death.

This day was the 28th of June, and Li Hongzhang dispatched a special mission of 600 li to speed up his mission. The imperial court got the news on the first day of July.State-owned Daqing, princes, ministers and inner court personnel, as usual, "deliver Ruyi" congratulations, two queen mothers plus the emperor, one hand is three handles.The jewelry store at Zhushikou and the antique shop at the glass factory were all sold out with all kinds of Ruyi. Thanks to Mr. Zhang Yu, they made a good business out of thin air. So in terms of rewards for meritorious deeds, all of Li Hongzhang's punishments were fully restored, and he was rewarded with two eyes and feathers, and he was also rewarded with the title of Prince Taibao. And the "reward" was awarded without hesitation. Li Hongzhang followed in the footsteps of the official documents. He became the co-organizer of the University with the Governor of Huguang, and he was awarded the first-class honor as a scholar. Zuo Zongtang's "grace" is the same as Li Hongzhang, but without the "reward".The most irritating thing is that Liu Ming was sent to the front line for more than a month. Because the humidity has not healed and he is not good at walking, he has hardly been on the front line. "The first-class male.In addition, the generals of the Huai army were all rewarded. In Zuo Zongtang's view, they were all luck. In contrast, with Liu Songshan's credit for returning from the west of Lingxi and being the first to aid Jifu, he only got the post of a third-class captain of light vehicles, which is even more unacceptable. At the same time, Zuo Zongtang did not believe that Zhang Zongyu had committed suicide by drowning himself, because there was no body to prove it.The Huai army took Li Hongzhang as an excuse for not being able to find it because it was hot summer, and the corpse must have rotted. "The Huai army is good at pretending to blame and blame, and it is well-known in the world." He said to Liu Songshan and Guo Baochang, who was originally subordinate to Chen Guorui, "I don't believe in evil! You search carefully, whoever finds Zhang Zongyu, I will guarantee him a title. " So the cavalry under Liu Songshan and Guo Baochang launched a search along the Hebei and Shandong borders. Although the chaos was flat, the defense line did not withdraw. Everyone couldn't figure out what was going on?The Shenji Battalion, which was also deployed in Zhili, asked to withdraw its defense, but Zuo Zongtang ignored it.There was another memorial, saying that it was "no success in chasing and suppressing", and Ken En was ordered to take back the reward. When this memorial arrived in Beijing, Chonghou, the three foreign trade ministers stationed in Tianjin led by Governor Wen He of Zhili Governor, also reported Zuo and Li's estrangement to the Military Aircraft Department.Everyone knows that he is difficult to provoke, but the disaster in the northwest is still waiting to be settled, and Zeng Guofan has long retreated from loyalty, and Li Hongzhang refuses to leave the customs, so he has to rely heavily on Zuo Zongtang, so he has to win him over. So Prince Gong talked with Wen Xiang, Bao Jun, and Shen Guifen for several days in a row, planning the overall situation, and reached a preliminary agreement.The Nian army was flattened, and the military affairs in the northwest were listed as the top of the big government. With the lessons learned from the west Nian's retreat, there is an inseparable relationship between the flattening of the northwest and the protection of the capital. As for the troops for the Western Expedition, you might as well choose from the various armies in Ping and Nian, but you must first listen to Zuo Zongtang's opinion.Therefore, it was not Li Hongzhang, who had made great achievements in Xinjian, but Zuo Zongtang, who claimed to be "pursuing and suppressing no meritorious service", who was called into the pilgrimage.This gave Zuo Zongtang a chance to "turn over the book". He wrote a replay with sweat and pen, and criticized the generals of the Huai Army as worthless. He wrote in a sarcastic tone: "All the armies in Huai and Anhui have made new contributions, and their generals are all rich and noble!" He pointed out bluntly that the Huai army's westward expedition was to remove "hidden dangers in Qin Long".Then we talked about the salary, saying that the Huai army only pays nine months a year, and each person is no more than three taels of silver. The price of grain in Shaanxi and Gansu is much more expensive than that in the interior.If a rebellion occurs because of this, the court will definitely blame him for not being good at controlling it.Therefore, he had to think in advance and put forward the following views and practices: "Now the generals of the battalions who seek to enter Shaanxi may not necessarily be loyal and brave, and there is no need to recruit them. The move of the provinces to recruit troops into Shaanxi will definitely happen. It may not be that Rongchen selected Xuanchen. After returning to Shaanxi, I will carefully study the payment of Shaanxi and Gansu, how much can I raise soldiers? Then I will choose the officers of the battalion and post to go to Anhui and Henan to start recruiting. At this time, I really dare not do it rashly. " The next step is to protect Liu Songshan.Liu Songshan was indeed very effective in Zuo Zongtang, and because of Zeng Guofan's dispatch, Zuo Zongtang knew it in his heart at this level. At this time, in order to attack Li Hongzhang, he had to forget the past for a while and praised Zeng Guofan: "Liu Songshan Matsuyama was originally a deceased Taoist in Hunan, and he was bestowed posthumous posthumous title Zhuangwu Wang Xin's old department. More than ten years ago, the minister knew about it but did not realize it. His descendants were conscripted into Anhui from Hunan and were rewarded by Zeng Guofan. The genus is expected to increase. The minister tastes private opinion: Zeng Guofan is known as a wise man, and he acquired Liu Songshan late, especially for his outstanding knowledge. Liu Songshan moved from Anhui and Henan to other provinces. There are as many as two, so that they can concentrate on dealing with thieves, without worrying about shortages, and use them to protect the dying Qin, save the dying Jin, quickly defend Jidian, and take pawns as horse thieves to be the first in the world. Is it not the power of Liu Songshan? I use this to subdue Zeng Guofan's understanding of people and seek the loyalty of the country. It is beyond the reach of my ministers. I have to say it from each province. I can't help but look at it as the Qin army. I can't help but look at the words of each army. It is a minister's department. The minister has no real name but lives in his name, and he feels ashamed. He especially respects the grace of heaven and appoints Zeng Guofan's ability to Liu Songshan. Declare, those who think that the ministers of the border have the responsibility of others persuade them." When the memorial was delivered to the imperial court, Empress Dowager Cixi praised it greatly, "Zuo Zongtang's pen is really good!" She smiled and said to Prince Gong, "I finally said a word of conscience to Zeng Guofan." Therefore, at this time, Prince Gong proposed to adjust Zeng Guofan as the governor of Zhili.The governor of Zhili, although he is the leader of the frontier ministers, is close to Gyeonggi, with the government at the top and the governor of Shuntian Prefecture at the bottom.The Empress Dowager Cixi had been dissatisfied with the official documents for a long time. When Wu Tang entered the audience, she wanted to keep him, but Wu Tang refused, thinking that the governor of Sichuan was far away from the emperor and could do whatever he wanted, so her Majesty hurried out of Beijing after seeing that the matter was over.Now Zeng Guofan is transferred to be the governor of Zhili. On the one hand, he will use his prestige to sit in the capital, and on the other hand, he will be asked to train troops, raise salaries, and rectify the administration of officials.At the same time, if the imperial court has difficult affairs, it can be consulted nearby, so the empress dowagers of the two palaces felt that this was the most appropriate arrangement, and they readily agreed. "So, what about Liangjiang?" Empress Dowager Cixi said, "This is a very important place, and there must be a capable person to go there." "Except for Zeng, Zuo, and Li, the most capable governor of each province is Ma Xinyi." "Ma Xinyi?" Empress Dowager Ci'an was somewhat disapproving, "Isn't the qualification too shallow?" Ma Xinyi is from Heze, Shandong Province. He is on the same list as Li Hongzhang. He was a Jinshi in the 27th year of Daoguang.They have never ordered Hanlin, nor recruited officials in the capital. They are used immediately after the list, and distributed to Dangzhi County, Anhui.Ma Xinyi went to the province on the first day, and had an audience with the chief on the second day. On the third day, the vassal yamen was listed and made up the county magistrate of Jianping, which belongs to Guangde Prefecture.Since then, he has been an official in Anhui, fighting Hongyang and Nian army, from county to government, from government to Taoism, and has been an Anhui feudal secretary. Hong Yang was pacified, and Ma Xinyi was promoted to governor of Zhejiang. In December last year, he took over Wu Tang's vacancy and succeeded the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.However, after half a year, the transfer of the governor of Liangjiang was too fast, so the Empress Dowager Ci'an said that he was not qualified enough. "The ministers and others have also discussed it, and it is really Ma Xinyi who is the most suitable." King Gong calmly said: "Ma Xinyi is smart and capable, and he has good integrity. He has served as an official in Anhui for many years and is most familiar with Liangjiang. It takes someone like Ma Xinyi to repatriate those arrogant soldiers and return them to their hometowns." "This is important." The Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "Ma Xinyi is the same age as Li Hongzhang, how is their friendship?" "They're the best of the same year." "Well, I'm afraid they won't be at peace with each other." Empress Dowager Cixi turned to look at Empress Dowager Ci'an: "I think Liangjiang should ask Ma Xinyi to go." "What about Ma Xinyi's deficiency?" "I'm waiting for a public discussion," Prince Gong replied, "It will still be under the concurrent administration of Fuzhou General Yinggui." "Will Yinggui go?" Empress Dowager Ci'an expressed doubts. "No, there is no other way." Empress Dowager Cixi said, "Let's settle it like this! Also, Li Hongzhang has to let him come to Beijing for a meeting." "Yes, I also intend to do so. There are many matters related to foreign affairs. You can ask Li Hongzhang for clarification." "Okay! Write the decree right away." So Prince Gong turned around and gave Shen Guifen a wink, he knelt down first and withdrew, looking for "Dalami" to write the imperial edict. "Since Shen Guifen was here just now, I can't tell." The Empress Dowager Cixi explained to the Empress Dowager Ci'an at this time, "Including water transport and river channels, there are ten governors in total, and Han Chinese account for eight. If the governors of Fujian and Zhejiang don't teach Yinggui is also in charge, and if one more Han is released, there will be only one Ruilin left in Guangdong and Guangxi!" The Empress Dowager Ci'an understood now, and said with emotion: "Who taught us bannermen to be dishonest! Even if Ruilin is in Guangdong, it is enough to see! "