Chapter 27 light tower (7)

Since the fourth sister Luo married into the Hu family, she really took a step to help her husband. Hu Xueyan's career is as prosperous as described above.Of course, the reason for the prosperity is that he relies on Zuo Zongtang as his backer; Zuo Zongtang regards him as a thigh. Everything went smoothly. It turned out that starting from the Daoguang period, the emperor's secret ministers were stupid, which aroused internal and external troubles. The Hui chaos in the Northwest was also caused by corrupt officials. At that time, the so-called "Gan Hui" had three branches and three leaders: The one in the west is called Ma Duozhi, who is entrenched in Xining, Qinghai; the one in the south is called Ma Zhanjiao, rooted in Gansu and Hezhou in Qinghai, that is, Linxia; the one in the north is called Ma Talong, the most ruthless of the three bosses , the sphere of influence is in Ningxia, Lingwu area, and the old nest is called Jinjibao. This place is the starting point of the Hetao where "the Yellow River is full of evils, but the only rich one". Besides the benefits of tea and horses, there is a salt pond called Huama in the east. The pool 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. Tushan is very 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, the collusion between Nian bandits and Gan Hui must be cut off.Twisted bandits are divided into two major strands, called "East Twisted" and "West Twisted". The paper media used for smoking water pipes, etc., are all called Nianzi. The characteristic of Nian Bandits is that they are easy to gather and disperse; but they look like a mob, and they are erratic and erratic, making people exhausted and powerful.Seng Gelinqin's Heilongjiang horse team chased northward, and the Nian Bandits fled when they saw them;The Monk King fought against Jiang Nian; the leader of Xi Nian was Zhang Zongyu, who 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 to the head, Xi Nian is no longer uncontrollable, and Hui Chao doesn't know when it will be calmed down?Therefore, Zuo Zongtang's initial strategy for the Western Expedition focused on isolating Xi Nian and Gan Hui, preventing them from "joining forces".When Fourth Sister Luo married into the Hu family, it was at the time when Xi Nian was in Chuping, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces summoned Zuo Zongtang and praised him; 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 disband them, or find a livelihood for them, suppress rebellion and suppress bandits, with the result of turning fighting into friendship, it was originally the most ideal way, but there were many cunning people and few honest people who rebelled. In the years of Ping Hongyang, the bandits took the opportunity to steal I don't know how many people caress and repeat.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 man is a small fellow of Zeng Guofan. He was born in the army and rose to the rank of general soldier after his meritorious service. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the British and French invaders, and Seng Gelinqin was promoted to the king. There was no such fierce cavalry in the southeast, and the war situation was greatly affected. At that time, it was peaceful. The army Li Xiucheng, who was reused by Hong Xiuquan at the beginning, convened a military meeting in Wuhu and marched in separate ways. Li Xiucheng himself led the army, went down from Wuhu Lake, and captured Yi County in southern Anhui; They successively fell into Ningguo and Xiahuizhou; they also 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 due to the interruption of the Jiangxi grain road. In the east, the cavalry led by Er Li personally pressed against him. Passage to Zhejiang.So Zeng Guofan moved his army to Xiuning, which is west of Qimen and west of Huizhou. One day, the Taiping army attacked at night, and all the battalions were defeated. Not really, I thought the Taiping Army intercepted and turned around to flee. It was not until Liu Songshan raised the flag that everyone knew that the camp was not lost and the "Old Commander" was safe. , Another big crisis, he even wrote the suicide note, and turned the crisis to safety, all thanks to Liu Songshan, and he has been treated as a national scholar since then.

When Zuo Zongtang was ordered to go west, this was a big battle, and it was not comparable to local military affairs. All the armies should co-organize it. 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, due to disputes over wages, Zuo Zongtang held opinions, and Zeng Guoquan broke Jinling, condoned Hong Xiuquan's son to escape, and bluntly criticized him. : "Seeking the loyalty of the country and knowing the wisdom of others, I am ashamed to be inferior to Yuanfu."Putting Liu Songshan's first army under his control is compared to Zeng Guofan's "married daughter"; it goes without saying that Liu Songshan is reused.Liu Songshan really lived up to Zeng Guofan's acquaintance and Zuo Zongtang's expectations. He fought west and twisted, flattened and returned, almost invincible and invincible.Before he joined the army, he had already made a marriage arrangement in his hometown. He was hired but never married. He had been in the army for more than ten years, and he returned to his hometown only once because of recruiting soldiers. It was not until Xi Nian was leveled that he got married in Luoyang. Both the bride and groom were in their thirties. Years old.

The honeymoon lasted only ten days, and Liu Songshan entered Shaanxi immediately. After clearing the four prefectures of Yu, Yan, Sui, and Chang, he marched into Lingwu and defeated him in the first battle. Huizi in Hezhou, Lintao, and Jingyuan all sat idly by Liu Songshan's reputation, so Liu Songshan attacked on a large scale; in the first month of the ninth year of Tongzhi, he attacked a stockade outside Jinji Fort, was shot and fell off his horse, and died in battle; The Ministry was 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, and if there are new guns and other exquisite military equipment in the West, as long as they can be used, they don't need to ask Zuo Zongtang for instructions, they will be done first; if they are replenished at the right time, there will never be no food and pay. 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, Austrian Army, etc., are all called "Official Army". Or those from the Taiping Army have different backgrounds, and the style of the team officers is different, so there is a big difference in military discipline.Among the Hunan Army, Peng Yulin's subordinates were the most disciplined; Bao Chao's army was the worst, because of the different views on leading troops, but Bao Chao was brave and good at fighting, and was Zeng Guofan's "loved general", so everything was tolerant.

Zuo Zongtang's army is also a miscellaneous army, but they are all subject to local discipline. Half of Zuo Zongtang's army is stricter; After accepting Hu Xueyan, "Huting's children are all over the world" and there is no worry about the future. It is because Hu Xueyan relied on him to set up a wide range of banks, which is convenient for remittances, and can support the families of officers and soldiers on time. He sent someone to do it, and everyone said that "Father Hou" loves his subordinates so much, why would he violate his military discipline?But they don't know that Hu Xueyan is helping "Master Hou" maintain discipline.

Hu Xueyan was able to take care of both public and private interests. Banks, pawnbrokers, and silk accounts opened one after another. The business grew bigger and bigger. In order to avoid using the name of "Second Wife", but couldn't think of a more suitable title; an ordinary person said: "During the Shunzhi period, Gong Zhilu, one of the three great masters in Jiangzuo, married Gu Meisheng, who was born in Qinhuai, Gong Zhilu's first wife. Call her Mrs. Gu, follow this example, and change the name of Sijie Luo's sister to Mrs. Why not?" So, "Mrs. Luo Si" started calling her.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 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 a reputation as a "great virtuous and virtuous" and married Hu Xueyan to the eleventh concubine. 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 on 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 the Goulan as a hangout, often staying out all night, even in the "Tangzi" If you receive guests here and prepare food for public presentation, you can worry about this matter.

"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 business; third, you will not have a good reputation; How can it be that they all go whoring and gambling? Even if you don’t follow his example, you’ll be discouraged; you’ve worked so hard to help him start a business, but you don’t know that he’s such a failure!” Grandma Qigu knew that the last two sentences were her "master's own words".However, she also had some doubts, "Young grandpa can't see through this word, everyone knows it. But," she asked, "how can it be 'good' to this extent?" "Well, Mrs. Snail couldn't help complaining, "Is it our Uncle Liu?" It turned out that Hu Xueyan decided to open a drugstore.He had this intention for a long time, but just got angry again—the old Mrs. Hu suffered from heat stroke last summer; the local method was to scrape with copper coins, and the scraping left bright red blood stains, and the illness disappeared.Mrs. Hu's Sha shaved very thoroughly, so it was nothing to worry about at first; but Hu Xueyan was worried, and after asking the "doctor" to see it, he prescribed medicine and told the servants "Hurry up!" He still went for two hours before returning , Hu Xueyan was very serious about the matter of his old mother, and immediately lost his temper which was rare to see. The servants waited for him to finish cursing, and Fang Shi complained: So 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 clerk replied, "You have to be quick, won't you open a pharmacy by yourself?" The person who was scolded vented his resentment on the head of the pharmacy clerk, 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; by the way, he 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 buying 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 whatever 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: "Pleasure in time, this sentence should be discussed in two aspects. On the one hand, if you marry a concubine in time, you must marry a concubine early; when a person reaches middle age, his shape gradually declines, and he is unable to do what he wants when he is beautiful. people.One side is carpe diem, of course one has 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: It is said that young people start a business with great energy, but they have no money; 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. Snail may allow Hu Xueyan's other concubines to share her favor. She was thinking in her heart that she is half-right and half-side. It is inevitable that I will be hated by the servants. If I marry into a concubine, I will be a powerful person, and I will be persuaded by the servants.Contacting the eldest wife, disregarding the rule of "the first door is the best", openly and secretly, fighting against her everywhere, although you may not be afraid of her, but you will inevitably get angry often, 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. It took half a day and two hours; I was talking about a book called "The Legend of the Heroes of the Sons and Daughters", which is about women being jealous, which makes sense." "Oh!" Mrs. Snail asked, "What does the storyteller say?" "He said: There are two types 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 and said, "If you don't know how to eat it, don't talk about it." "Okay, when it comes to food, there are three grades: ordinary, capable, and divine. There is no need to talk about ordinary; let's talk about ability first, for example, like you, a first-class talent, and then my uncle." Marry one, even if you can beat you; as long as you are magnanimous, calm and calm, and 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. This is jealous energy products." Mrs. Snail was thinking, according to this, the eldest wife is a capable product.I just don't know what the gods are?Thinking about it in my heart, I asked it out of my mouth. "You ask about Shenpin, and it's nothing unusual to put it bluntly. As capable as you, it doesn't take much trouble to do it. In a word: both grace and power! It's good for her to keep 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 control her. When you have children in the future, you will be more sensitive than her biological mother, and you will teach them a lesson. Then, whoever disobeys you? Who doesn’t say you are virtuous? It’s amazing to be jealous like this!” Grandma Qigu's words penetrated Mrs. Luosi's heart every word, and she didn't understand it.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 the servants, she is the only one who cares about her, not her. I personally selected and married more concubines for Hu Xueyan, and according to what Grandma Qigu said, use the four words "combination of kindness and power" to teach them to convince them, and only then will I truly show the majesty of being a family member. Thinking of this, a smile appeared on her face unconsciously; Grandma Qigu also smiled and said: "How is it? Fourth sister, 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, 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 to have a bad family, marry a younger wife", there are very few cases like Mrs. Luosi: besides, Fourth Sister Luo is Hu Xueyan himself. I can't blame her for being unsatisfactory after entering the door.It's different now, it seems to be 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 when she thought about it, "Everything is well thought out, but it's not easy to do. If my uncle wants to offend the people in the hall, you can't allow him; the people in the hall have habits and it's difficult to manage." "Yes. If you want to please someone else's daughter, you have to please her." Mrs. Snail said again: "I want to explain to Mr. Da first that even if he looks for it by himself, 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. Luoshi kept her promise, and after three or four years, she searched one after another, and together with Hu Xueyan's own choice, she married a total of eleven concubines, including herself, which happened to be twelve beauties. With more family members, coupled with the booming business and constant addition of people, although the original house has been expanded repeatedly, 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 opened.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; 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 asked, "Do you have any good ideas?" "I heard that the house of Jianbi Liu's house is going to be sold. ;The owner of the rice store at the back door died, and the two sons were fighting for property. They had been arguing over which of the rice stores would be in charge, and they wanted to sell the house for cash. Why don't they buy the land from these two houses and open up the fence? Can we join together?" This aroused Hu Xueyan's desire to put on a show, and it happened that the price of silk soared this year; Hu Xueyan manipulated "Yangzhuang", and after three months of settlement, he earned 400,000 silver, and decided to rule the garden. "For example, if I didn't earn the money," he said to Mrs. Snail, "I will do as you want; but the scope must be large, with front, back, left, and right sides facing the street, square and square, like a palace. Style is good." This is a matter of face, Mrs. Snail is of course happy.So Hu Xueyan sent people to the surrounding people to lobby for huge profits; except for two of them, they were all willing to give up. 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 stunning beauty 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 barbershop.The boss is her son, and although he has a strong temper, he can't stand the Hu family's servants saying good things every day, and for the sake of money, he seems to be active, but the old lady Cui insists on not allowing him.It turned out that she was young and widowed, lonely and helpless, and finally raised 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; With a weird temper, she hates the rich the most; the richer she is, the more she hates. Therefore, when Hu Xueyan said "as much as you want", it just violated her taboo. "Talk to 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; he is not the king of hell or a judge, and 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 the judge of the king of hell, he is also a Daoist." "Could it be that Daotai doesn't talk about 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; He said that he made a false contract to sue her, but Hu Xueyan finally couldn't bear it, and Mrs. Snail was also afraid that a murder case would be forced, so he restrained the servants and was not allowed to do anything.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 banquet guests are divided into three days. The first day is the "Three Constitutions", Hangzhou Prefecture, Renhe, Qiantang County, and alternate roads; the gentlemen who are registered are invited to accompany them. Turning around the rockery, I saw a tall building rising from the trees in the southeast. What is the reason. "Xue Weng," governor Yang Changjun said, "what is there?" "It's a building where my wife lives." Hearing that it was the residence of the family members, Yang Changjun was inconvenient to ask again: only after inquiring in private, 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. "The place where the ladies live is called the Baishi Tower. 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 say it clearly; it just so happened that his eldest son also criticized Hu Xueyan in a letter, and just used the topic to make use of it, saying that one person's enjoyment should be commensurate with it. 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 account 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 these words spread to Zhejiang, Hu Xueyan was grateful, and naturally became more loyal to Zuo Zongtang;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, and credit is based on everyone's confidence in him, and confidence is created by Hu Xueyan's scene, which can only be big, not small; otherwise, as long as someone inadvertently says: "Mr. Hu Da is now It’s not the same as before.” Immediately, countless speculations will be aroused; those who originally had hatred and no resentment were just out of jealousy, and those who originally fueled the flames and spread rumors would shake their credibility, and the consequences would be unimaginable.