Chapter 34 Bleak foreign field (3-1)

Zhang Zhenyan is Zhang Shusheng, the current governor of Zhili.When mentioning this person, Hu Xueyan had to be concerned, because since Zuo Zongtang intended to expel Li Hongzhang's influence in Liangjiang, he would have a direct conflict of interest with Zhang Shusheng, so he wanted to inquire about this person if he had the opportunity. "I heard that Zhang Zhijun is a scholar who started his career with military merits. Now there is a group of Qingliu in Beijing, who are extremely arrogant, and the old men who came from the army can stand them?" Hu Xueyan said: "In the past in Guangdong, it can be said that the sky Emperor Gaoyuan is now stationed in Tianjin, and there are many Hanlins passing by the sea road, so he, the governor, may have a headache, right?"

"Zhang Zhenxuan is not an old man. He was born in a granary—" "It turned out to be a gifted student." Hu Xueyan felt that Zhang Shusheng was born in the army and was a rough man. He knew that Zhang Shusheng was born among scholars, second only to Bagong. To enter the school, you also need to be a guarantor, and as usual, you must also give a thank you gift. On the contrary, senior scholars must not only have real talents and practical learning, but also have good conduct. Those who earn a lot of income are easily given. "Zhang Zhenxuan was born as a gangster, and later took advantage of it." Sha Yixin continued to talk about Zhang Shusheng's experience, "He was in Li Hefei's Huai Army at first, and his reputation was not only inferior to that of Cheng Xueqi, Liu Bingzhang, Guo Songlin, and Liu Mingchuan. It's not even as good as Pan Dingxin. But from military merit to fifth rank, changing the same group, from Wu to Wen, this is an advantage. In the summer of the fourth year of Tongzhi, Huaihai Road was acting; Liu Liumazi was the governor of Zhili, and the official worshiped first rank, but He would rather not have this first-rank official, and go to his hometown in Hefei to have a leisurely meal. Xue Weng, do you know what is the reason for this?"

Hu Xueyan understood this truth. "Liu Mazi" is Liu Mingchuan's nickname, and Hu Xueyan has also heard about his story.It turns out that the highest official of the green battalion in a province is the admiral, commonly known as the "junmen", who is very airy in the army; when he meets the governor, he is half short, because the governor holds the title of Minister of the Ministry of War; "Tang Guan" is also the superior of the admiral, and the first-rank admiral must be restrained by the second-rank governor; and when formally seeing the ceremony, the "Tang Shen" gift should be used.Liu Mingchuan claimed to be a Confucian general, and he had engraved a "Poetry Collection of the Great Qianshan House". He believed that military officers were worthless even if they were first-class, so he filed a vacancy and hid in his "mountain house". "Yes, a military officer is worthless. Although Zhang Zhenxuan was only a Taoist priest at that time, he was promoted to the Zhili Bureau, and everything went smoothly. In the tenth year of Tongzhi, he was appointed as the Governor of Water Transport to act as the Governor of Liangjiang. He was proud of him, and Li Hefei naturally supported him. The friendship is different, but this time Li Hefei and Ding You opened a vacancy, and Zhang Zhenxuan was specially guaranteed to act as an agent, which is of course useful." "Ah, ah, I understand." Hu Xueyan suddenly realized, "It turns out that he is temporarily looking after the house for Li Hefei. "

"Exactly. However, Li Hefei didn't know that the former subordinates were no longer Wuxia Fangmeng. Zhang Zhenxuan and Qingliu became friends. It was the year before last—" The year before the Great Era—November of the fifth year of Guangxu, Shen Baozhen, governor of Liangjiang, died of illness in office, and the court ordered Liu Kunyi, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to be transferred to Liangjiang; the remaining vacancies were promoted to governor of Guangxi by Zhang Shusheng. Guangzhou is the place where the Eight Banners are stationed. The general of Guangzhou is called Changshan, who was born in Tatala family, one of the eight nobles in Manchuria.This person is very generous, and he is happy to reward and encourage those who are less advanced, especially because he does not have the boundary views of Manchu and Han.The back garden of the General's Office is full of flowers and trees. Changshan often invites a group of young celebrities from Guangzhou to compose wine gatherings.The year before last, the Gengchen Divisional Examination was presided over by Weng Tongguo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and many of them were able to stand out with practical learning and true talents. Among them, Liang Dingfen from Guangdong and Yu Shimei from Guangxi were often guests of Changshan, and they all ordered Hanlin.

When he was in Guangzhou, Zhang Huakui, the son of Zhang Shusheng, was often invited by Changshan, so he followed Yu Shimei, Liang Dingfen, and Wen Tingshi, a Jiangxi native who was famous for his literary fame in Yu Yu and Liang Dan, who unfortunately failed in the examination.They are all very close friends.At this time, Zhang Huakui followed his father to the post of governor of Zhili, and often went to Beijing to hang out with Yu, Liang and Wen. Although it is said that there is an old man in a foreign land and the old love is deep, but Zhang Huakui has other plans.It turns out that the influence of words and deeds has been extremely powerful in recent years, especially a group of Hanlin officials who are also lecturers. , known as "Hanlin Four Admonishments".Although Yu Shimei and Liang Dingfen are descendants of the Imperial Academy, they have long been famous in literature, so they often have contacts with Qingliu; and Zhang Huakui relied on Yu and Liang's relationship to be able to write Zhang Peilun and Sheng Wu, who are famous in the Qingliu .

Zhang Huakui is a juren, although he is young, he is very capable, and his nature is cheap and amiable. In addition, the "Beiyang Branch" has accumulated a lot of "public funds". Gatherings, no matter in Songyun Nunnery, "Jifu Xianzhe Temple", or places of interest such as Taoranting and Chongxiao Temple, or even the place under "Xianggong" in Eight Great Hutongs, all the banquets are prepared by him. Zhang Huakui was even more obliged to run around to make contact on matters, so he got the nickname "Green Cow Leg". "Qingniu" is a homonym for Qingliu.Every household in the folk has a "spring cow picture", spring is east, east is wood, and the wood is green, so "green cow" is also spring cow.When drawing a picture of a spring cow, the head, body, horns, ears, abdomen, tail, shins, hooves and other parts are distinct.Therefore, those who do good things use the various parts of the blue cow to describe the people in Qingliu. The bull head is Li Hongzao, the master of Emperor Tongzhi, and his two disciples—Zhang Zhidong and Zhang Peilun are the body and belly of the cow.Some people also say that Li Hongzao is the god of Goumang who drives the ox, and Zhang Peilun is the head of the ox, because the pair of horns on his head are extremely powerful, and anyone who touches it will suffer great damage.

Zhang Huakui was called "legs" because of his work for Qingliu; but some people said that he was not even qualified for "Qingliu legs", but that "Qingliu boots" served "Qingliu legs". Whether it is "clear legs" or "clear boots", it is a fact that Zhang Huakui has attracted much attention.However, this caused hostility from Li Hongzhang's disciples, who believed that he "conspired against the law". Tonglu is a giant of the southern faction, and his views on political affairs have always been different; second, Zhang Huakui tried his best to win over Qingliu, obviously in order to cultivate his father's reputation, and his purpose is to replace Li Hongzhang.

These slanderous rumors continued to spread to Hefei, and Li Hongzhang, who was "studying behind closed doors", couldn't help being suspicious.His gang of disciples began to plan a plan to welcome Li one by one, and soon found an opportunity to take advantage of it. It turned out that Zhang Peilun was full of economics and aspirations to be useful in the world, so Zhang Huakui offered advice to his father, imitating Zuo Zongtang's method of playing Yuan Baoheng to improve his reputation.After Zhang Shusheng agreed, Zhang Huakui tried his best to swim to Zhang Peilun. At that time, the foreign navy already owned several armored ships, which were magnificent in scale and had a bright future. Zhang Peilun was so excited that he finally agreed.

So Tianjin, Baoding and other places quickly spread news that after Zhang Peilun assisted in the Beiyang military affairs, he would greatly rectify, and all "four ways and eight towns" must participate.Under the governor of Zhili, there are four Taoists and eight general soldiers. The places where the general soldiers are stationed are called "towns"; the four roads and eight towns are the administrative system of Zhili civil and military officials, and of course they are all sent by Li Hongzhang. . Unexpectedly, at this critical juncture, Zhang Shusheng and his son acted too hastily on the one hand;It turned out that the big officials in Fengjiang allowed Zoudiao Beijing officials to serve in the province, but they were not allowed to Zoudiao Hanlin.This prohibition was even stricter during the Qianlong period.Because Hanlin is like an official commentator on daily life, and he is by the emperor's side, knowing every word and every move; and he has the opportunity to see various memorials and participate in state secrets. , so there is a strict prohibition.

After arriving in Hongyang, the prohibition is not as strict as before, but firstly it depends on whether the person who asks for the tune is enough; secondly, whether the timing of the tune is really necessary.At that time, Zuo Zongtang was an honored minister who worshiped the prime minister; he played the role of Prime Minister Yuan Baoheng's Liangtai, and he had a legitimate reason for a large-scale western expedition, using troops and relying on senior officials, so it was naturally easy to approve.Now Zhang Shusheng's qualifications are far inferior to Zuo Zongtang's, and he is not necessary for military affairs. Therefore, when Zhang Peilun's note was sent to the military plane, he was ordered to refute it.This time not only did Zhang Shusheng touch such a hard nail as a feudal official, which greatly hurt his prestige, Zhang Peilun's face was even more ugly.

According to Zhang Peilun's idea, he should be a "guest of the princes", and Zhang Shusheng should serve as a teacher in the north, and now he agrees to help the Beiyang military affairs, which is already aggrieved; He went to Beiyang to save face.It is indeed too presumptuous to accuse Zhang Shusheng of being "presumptuous" in the Shangyu today. The Beiyang bureaucrats of Li Hongzhang's family were naturally happy to see Zhang Shusheng hit a wall; they were even more overjoyed when they heard that Zhang Peilun expressed dissatisfaction with the Zhang family and his son, thinking that this good opportunity to sow discord must not be missed.It just so happened that on the day when Zhang Shusheng played, there was a "poor examination" - Beijing officials who were born in the two rankings had to pass the examination before they could be released as the main examiners of the rural examination; the income of an examiner can last for a year or two, so few people give up the examination. ; But Zhang Peilun could not be appointed as an examiner because he was wearing mourning clothes, so naturally he did not have to participate in the examination.For this reason, outsiders will not know, so those with ulterior motives can create a rumor about him, saying that he deliberately avoided the exam and waited at home for the edict requested by Zhun Zhang Shusheng so that he could take office.This slanderous rumor spread quickly and widely; Zhang Peilun's reputation was greatly damaged, and he couldn't help becoming angry from embarrassment, so he naturally turned his anger on the Zhang family and his son. "Bachelor Fengrun is known to be short-tempered. He will definitely take revenge. Zhang Zhenxuan is self-defeating, and the direct governor will definitely not be able to keep it." Sha Yixin said: "Now it is just a reason for Li Hefei to take back his position. Once this reason is found , Zhang Zhenxuan is about to hand over." This inside story is very useful to Hu Xueyan; I thought that Li Hongzhang would return to his post soon after twenty-seven months after the death of his parents, but as long as there is a reason, he can return at any time.From this point of view, if Zuo Zongtang wanted to expel Li Hongzhang's influence in Liangjiang, he should speed up the process. At that time, Sha Yixin's addiction was over, so he was accompanied by Hu Xueyan to the Xiangyun Old Fourth Dressing Pavilion, and had a drunken drinking.Sha Yixin got up to leave, and Yu Ke also knew that Hu Xueyan and Gu Yingchun wanted Zuo Zongtang to inspect the manufacturing bureau early the next morning, and they all said they would leave, only Lin Maoxian "borrowed a dry shop" from the fourth son of Xiangyun. "Sha Yixin is very useful," Hu Xueyan said to Gu Yingchun on the way home, "You might as well keep in touch with him in the future, he is very familiar with the situation in the Huai Army and Beiyang, you can ask him if you need anything." "That's what I meant. Don't worry, grandpa, I will arrange it." The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is located outside the county seat of Shanghai. Gaochang Temple, which is on the verge of the Huangpu River, was originally a wasteland. Since Zeng Guofan asked to set up the manufacturing bureau, a gravel road was built to lead east to the south gate of the county.However, Zuo Zongtang still disembarked in front of the back shaft of Tianqian Palace this day, and went directly along the Huangpu River to the special wharf of the Manufacturing Bureau. lobby, and then introduce the subordinates, and visit them one by one.Next, ask: Which one to look at first? "Let's look at the shipyard first." Zuo Zongtang said: "I resigned from Beijing last year, and my superiors specifically explained that foreign defense is important, and I should pay special attention to it. Although the shipyard of the Manufacturing Bureau is not as large as Fujian, it is the second shipbuilding in China. Plants can make the best use of people, land, and things, which is also beneficial to foreign defense.” This opening remark had some meaning of teaching, Li Mianlin was certainly not very comfortable listening to it, and he couldn't help feeling embarrassed, seeing this scene, Hu Xueyan spoke good words for Li Mianlin, and finally rounded up the situation. The dock was in a mess, and there was no one in sight, so Zuo Zongtang had no choice but to ask: "Peng Gongbao patrolled the Yangtze River, Haikou, Jiangfang, and Ocean Defense all year round, and he wrote to me. I thought about building at least No. 10, but in my opinion, No. 10 is not enough. It would be better to imitate five more new-style clippers. Do you think you can build them here?" "Small steamers can be built, but the new fast boats are limited by machines, so they can't do it." "Then, how much does it cost to build a small steamer?" "It depends on estimation." The words froze again, but fortunately Zuo Zongtang didn't care and asked, "How many days will it take to estimate?" "If you want an accurate valuation, you have to go to the Fujian Shipping Bureau. They have all the pictures and descriptions there, and the market prices of the materials are relatively accurate. If you decide to build it, the bureau will send people to Fujian immediately. It will take about a month, and the detailed account will be enough. Come out." "Okay! Please do it right away." Next to the shipyard is the gun factory. Zuo Zongtang is very interested in this place, because the western expedition is powerful because of its excellent equipment; especially for foreign guns, he is already very good at it, but he has seen and used it a lot. It was made, but it was the first time I saw it, so from the steelmaking plant, every department looked very carefully. Finally, when we arrived at the inspection office, there was a shooting range attached, and the sound of ping-pong ping-pong was very lively.As soon as Zuo Zongtang stepped in, an old man sitting on the high stool jumped off and hid to the side; Li Mianlin then shouted: "Yao Siwu, meet Mr. Zuo!" This Yao Siwu's face was as red as fire, and his hair was as white as silver. His eyes were one big and one small, and the big right eye was piercing.Zuo Zongtang has a lot of experience in his life and has seen many strange people; seeing that Yao Siwu looks weird, he couldn't help but pay more attention. After Yao Siwu kowtowed his head and stood up, Li Mianlin looked at Zuo Zongtang and said: "This Yao Siwu is a treasure in the manufacturing bureau. No matter what kind of gun, if it goes out in his hands, it must be 'accurate'." "Oh," Zuo Zongtang was most interested in ordnance, he raised his head, looked at it and asked, "This is where you inspected the guns?" "Yes." Li Mianlin replied instead. "How to test the law?" "Speaking of it, I'm afraid adults won't believe it. He just glanced at it and fired a shot." "This is amazing." Zuo Zongtang said happily, "I want to see and see." "Yes." Li Mianlin turned to Yao Siwu and said, "You rehearse and rehearse for adults." Yao Siwu seemed very dull, he wouldn't even say "yes", he just nodded and pushed the high stool away, meaning to test the gun while standing. "No, no!" Zuo Zongtang hastily stopped, "You are as usual. You are sitting normally, but you are not sitting now." Yao Siwu didn't dare to agree, so he still asked Li Mianlin to say: "You follow my lord's orders." Yao Siwu then moved the high stool back to its original place, stepped on the steps attached to the stool, and sat on it.In front of him was a long and narrow alley made of walls, and at the end were six concentric targets, the center of which was riddled with bullet holes; Yao Siwu shouted loudly, "Change the target!" Someone was taking care of the gun target, and a new target was immediately replaced.Zuo Zongtang saw that there were two long wooden boxes on his left, and two large baskets on his right, in which guns were piled up in disorder. In the long wooden boxes were newly repaired guns, and someone was looking after them. "Come!" Hearing Yao Siwu's sound, the man took a gun and threw it up. Yao Siwu caught it with his left hand and handed it to his right hand. He squinted his eyes and heard a "bang"; There was a sound of "Peng", and he had thrown the gun into the basket in front of him. Zuo Zongtang didn't see clearly at all how he was pulling the trigger with one hand, but he could see clearly that there was a small hole in the center of the red heart on the new target. At this time, it was "bang bang pang peng" for a long time. Some guns were thrown in the outer baskets, and some guns were thrown in the inner baskets, but there were fewer outside and more inside. "That's right," Li Mianlin explained to Zuo Zongtang, "The ones that were thrown outside were not repaired, so they were taken back and repaired; the ones that were thrown inside were repaired." Zuo Zongtang was a little disbelieving, "Just take a look, You can hear it by firing a gun?" He said, "It seems a little weird." "Yes! It's a bit unbelievable, but it's true." "I don't understand." Zuo Zongtang took advantage of the gap and shouted, "Siwu Yao! Siwu Yao!" Yao Siwu remained motionless, as if he hadn't heard anything, Li Mianlin quickly explained, "He is hard of hearing, and his eardrums are damaged by the sound of gunshots. Usually when he speaks, he only looks at people's mouths." Then he walked up and patted Pat Yao Wu on the back and let him get down. "Yao Siwu," Zuo Zongtang asked, "How old are you this year?" "Sixty-six." "Have you played with guns and played with teenagers?" Yao Siwu flexed his fingers and calculated: "Forty-eight years." Zuo Zongtang also made some calculations in his mind and said, "So, you have been doing this business since you were in Daoguang?" "yes." "Who did you learn from?" "First the Germans, then the British." "Oh!" Zuo Zongtang asked: "Do you think German guns are better or British guns?" "Germany." Hearing this, Zuo Zongtang turned around to look. Hu Xueyan knew that he was looking for him, so he squeezed forward from a large group of officials. "Xueyan," Zuo Zongtang asked, "Has Fogg come yet?" "No." Hu Xueyan asked: "What's your order? I'll tell him right away." "I'm looking for a 'Windsted' gun." "Uh," Hu Xueyan replied, "I've assigned it to recruits, and I'm using it." "Okay, okay! Take one." This gun was handed over to Yao Siwu, and asked him if he had seen it?The answer is no.But he only looked at it for a while, then turned a screw, and then took it apart one by one. In just a few minutes, a new gun became a pile of parts.This showed real skills, Zuo Zongtang couldn't refuse him, and immediately asked: "Is this gun good?" Yao Siwu didn't answer, but just looked at Li Mianlin.Zuo Zongtang didn't know what was going on, but Hu Xueyan could tell that as soon as Yao Siwu agreed, Zuo Zongtang might immediately tell him which one to buy.In that case, how can the procurement committee's money source be cut off.Therefore, Hu Xueyan said: "I'm afraid it may not be good." Unexpectedly, Li Mianlin was just the opposite, he said again and again: "Okay, okay, very good." On the surface, they are polite to each other, but in fact they are fighting hand to hand, and they are also suspicious of each other.Originally, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was under the control of Li Hongzhang. No matter whether it was self-made or outsourced, it was not Hu Xueyan's turn to intervene. Therefore, when he said "I'm afraid it may not be good", he was unwilling to "compete business" with the Manufacturing Bureau. Conversely, if he wants to "grab business", he can get it at his fingertips.This made Li Mianlin deeply feel that he must be careful in front of a strong enemy. The business of buying the "Warmersted" rifle naturally went to Hu Xueyan, but it was Fokker who made the big profit. It turned out that the agency right of this kind of gun in China belonged to Fokker's foreign firm. The first batch bought 500 guns and sold them everywhere, but only sold more than a hundred. There are so many rifles in the army, Zuo Zongtang even sent a batch to King Chun for use by the Shenji Battalion.When I heard that Hu Xueyan was going to Shanghai, I thought that Zuo Zongtang's "team" might use this relatively sophisticated new gun, and sent twenty guns as samples. Hundreds of branches, half of the stock is still there, where is the market? Unexpectedly, the news transmitted by Hu Xueyan said that he would buy 2,500 sticks and prepare to distribute them to the defense battalions in the south of the Yangtze River.Fogg was overjoyed, but also worried, because the cash loan that could be supplied was not even a fraction. "Mr. Hu," Fogg said to Hu Xueyan through Gu Yingchun's translator, "I'll take the stock in the warehouse and hand it over first, and the rest will be handed over within three months; I'll go back to China and do this specifically." . Hu Xuedao discussed with Gu Yingchun, he also saw that Li Mianlin was deeply wary of him, and thought it was not appropriate to make enemies from the beginning, lest there would be more and more obstacles in the future.Zuo Zongtang personally explained the deal, so he had to deal with it; he was worried that Li Mianlin would "eat it", and it was rare that the supply of Fokker was insufficient, so he just canceled the deal to avoid offending Li Mianlin.He told Gu Yingchun what he meant, and said: "I think it's better to push it away. You tell him that you need to use it immediately, and you want it in stock. If you don't have it in stock, you can skip the discussion." "He won't talk about it." We know each other." Gu Yingchun said: "Little uncle speaks in front of Mr. Zuo, he is not ignorant, every time he buys arms, he will send samples first, and then place an order if he likes it. Now it is said that everything must be in stock Didn’t you obviously embarrass him?" "That's true." Hu Xueyan hesitated for a while and said, "Well, you tell him to go to Mr. Zuo by himself. And we want to avoid suspicion. You tell him to go to the Manufacturing Bureau to see Li Guan first. , ask Li Guan to take him to see Mr. Zuo. Whether the business will be successful or not depends on his own luck." "This method! Will it work?" Gu Yingchun couldn't help doubting, "We can't afford to hand over our own way to others." "No! Now they are afraid that we are too defensive, so there is no need to make a deadly enemy for such a trivial matter. Why don't we be more generous now, and we will handle things more smoothly in the future." Gu Yingchun thought to himself, this is a way to take Guyu, and it might not be unusable.The commission for 2,500 guns, although at least 5,000 commissions may seem like a large amount to others, but in Hu Xueyan's eyes, it is a trivial matter; since he wants to be "generous", he will do as he wants. But Fogg had no way of knowing Hu Xueyan's concerns and plans, so when he heard Gu Yingchun's words, he was very confused. After years of cooperation, why did he have such a refusal attitude?Could it be that Hu Xueyan no longer has the strength to speak in front of Zuo Zongtang, or is there another reason? Now ask Gu Yingchun straightforwardly.Of course, Gu Yingchun couldn't tell him the truth, he only said that Hu Xueyan respected Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.This statement was dubious to Falk. He has been in China for many years and he is quite familiar with the situation in the officialdom. Whoever has the means has always been able to fight for power and profit; rights and responsibilities are not clear, and respect is even more false. Falk is very experienced in doing things, so he went to inquire about Hu Xueyan's "market situation" with Zuo Zongtang, and the answer he got was that he would never fall out of favor.As a result, he couldn't help but suspect that someone else was taking advantage of the arms business and wanted to replace him; Hu Xueyan's attitude made him retreat in spite of the difficulties. Ask Gu Yingchun, but Gu Yingchun categorically denies it.This time, Falk was relieved. There are many tricks in China's official circles that are not as good as outsiders, so there is no need to ask more.Anyway, I still adhere to the principle of equal benefit, and tighten Hu Xueyan, and maintain a cooperative relationship for many years, which is always good. So Fogg brought an interpreter to the Manufacturing Bureau to ask Li Mianlin.Officials at that time treated foreigners differently, not to mention that Fogg was one of the leaders of Shanghai's maritime merchants, so as soon as the famous assassin reported in, Li Mianlin, who was meeting guests in the flower hall, left others to meet Fogg in the signing room. When asked about his purpose, Fogg said through an interpreter: "Master Zuo wants to buy 2,500 Wengers rifles, but I only have more than 300 in stock, and the rest will be delivered within three months. Hu observes that it will not work." , want me to come to see Li Guan, please take me to see Mr. Zuo for an interview." Hearing this, Li Mianlin couldn't help but be surprised. The order of Western arms has always been futures. There is nothing going on at home and abroad, and it's not like a war with a strong enemy. We urgently need sophisticated weapons to be able to restrain them. Why must we have to buy them in stock?Thinking about it carefully, it is obvious that Hu Xueyan is unwilling to deal with this matter, but why is he unwilling?The only reason is that Zuo Zongtang is no longer the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, but the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Nanyang. Among the two titles, "Jiang" and "South" clearly show that this case should be handled by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. host. Li Mianlin admires Hu Xueyan's ability to keep the boundaries. Hu Xueyan's wrist is very powerful, but he is still "on the road".Immediately he replied happily: "Yes, yes! Master Zuo will leave for Jiangning tomorrow. I was going to see him; let's go together." So they agreed to meet at Xingyuan of Tianhou Palace at three o'clock in the afternoon that day.When the time comes, Qi Li Mianlin will first hand over the book for an audience, and then find a gap in the conversation, saying that Fogg is outside, waiting for an interview, and reporting something. Zuo Zongtang had already received Hu Xueyan's report, and he thought Hu Xueyan said that the case was handled by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and that all signing, payment and other procedures were relatively convenient, so he heard Li Mianlin's words and immediately interviewed Fogg. He knew Fokker very well, and he also admired Fokker's orderliness, warm words, rather fake words; when it came to buying guns, he also readily agreed, and he would pay some in stock first, and set a deadline for the rest. Solve.In terms of price, Falk had a detailed discussion with Li Mianlin. "These two thousand five-faced guns are for the Green Camp." Zuo Zongtang told Li Mianlin, "When you receive the guns, give them to Li Chaobin right away." Li Chaobin's official title is Jiangnan Admiral, the highest officer of the Green Camp. "yes." "I heard that you are going back to China." Zuo Zongtang turned his face and asked Fogg, "When will you leave and when will you come back?" "Leave in ten days and come back in two months." "I'm going to rectify the navy now; the navy's sharp weapon is torpedoes, isn't it?" "Yes." "I want to buy a batch of torpedoes, do you have any?" "Yes, yes." Fogg replied: "Master Zuo knows that all countries in the East, West and the West have new sharp weapons, and they must send samples and instructions to my foreign firm. Especially this time when I return to China, I can personally I found out that the latest model has been shipped." "Can you invite the technician along with you?" "Of course. Any purchase of new weapons that did not exist in China before must be sent by a technician to teach how to play. This is an inevitable rule, and there is no mistake." "Oh, you didn't understand what I meant, I am Said there are technicians who can make torpedoes." "That's true." Fokker replied, "But first we need to check with the manufacturing bureau to see if there are any machines that can make torpedoes." "You discuss it with Li Guan." Zuo Zongtang asked again: "There is also a kind of 'touching thunder', what's the use?" "Yes——" Fokker clarified the meaning of the word "touching thunder" with the translator, and then replied: "That is called a mine, and it is specially used to guard against the enemy's warships. For example, a port does not want the enemy's ships to break in. You can lay mines on the sea surface of the port, and the ship will explode as soon as it touches it." "Where's your own ship?" "My own ship will also explode." Fokker said: "Mines are very powerful. The trouble is that you don't have eyes, so if you encounter a confrontation with a foreign country, you plan to cut off water traffic and use mines." "What happened afterwards?" "Clean up afterwards. There is a special kind of ship called a minesweeper." "According to this, this matter involves a lot, let's leave it at that, you can just purchase the latest torpedoes for China. You can discuss the details with Li Guan." "Yes!" Seeing that there was nothing to say, Fu Qike stood up and said goodbye under the signal of the translator.Although Li Mianlin was retained, he couldn't allow him to say a word from the beginning to the end, and he was extremely unhappy. As for Zuo Zongtang keeping Li Mianlin, he wanted to discuss a half-public and half-private matter.However, the private matter is not his personal, it is for Zeng Guofan's young son-in-law Nie Gui. It turned out that Mrs. Ouyang of Zeng Guofan had three sons and six daughters.The eldest son and five daughters died at an early age; two sons and five daughters survived. The eldest son, Jize, was top-notch in writing and government affairs, and he was able to speak English through self-study. Both Shi Xiyang and Guo Songtao are great talents who really understand Westernization. The second son, Ji Hongzhong, has been unfavorable in the examinations since his examination; Zeng Guofan also knew that "there is no paper in the field" and that the examination is all about luck, but the thought of fame and fame is in his heart; his expectations are too high, and he always says that his second son does not work hard.Unfortunately, his luck was really bad. Until Zeng Guofan died, he was always a Juren, and he has never been able to become a Jinshi. Compared with his elder brother, the situation is very different, so that he died in Beijing, and Zuo Zongtang took care of him behind him. Compared with Zeng Jihong, the situation of his sisters is even worse than him. Some mothers-in-law are too fierce, and some husbands are worthless.Zeng Guofan was very strict with his family. He said that he had seen many daughters from famous families who were greedy for their mother's wealth, and often refused to do their best in their husband's family. Because Zeng Guofan didn't allow them to go back to Ning, they had to suffer at her husband's house, and all of them shed tears all day long.Among them, the fourth lady was well married, but she was young and widowed, so Zeng Guofan often said that his "luck was not good". Miss Six is ​​the youngest daughter, known in Hunan as "Miss Man", named Zeng Jifen, and she was married after Zeng Guofan's death.Originally, her uncle "Jiu Shuai" was the matchmaker, and she was promised to be married to Nie's family in Hengshan, and she was scheduled to leave the court in the eleventh year of Tongzhi.Unexpectedly, at the beginning of February of this year, Zeng Guofan died of a stroke while serving as the governor of Liangjiang; it was the Guangxu period when he was fully served.