Chapter 11 Chapter 6 (1-1)

The mother and son fell ill one after another, and lasted for ten months. Zhu Daqi's career suffered a setback, but the overall situation was not what it used to be, and there was considerable progress. Li Hongzhang's footsteps in Shanghai have been firmly established.Songjiang had already recovered, but Chen Shifa hadn't started to act anyway, unfortunately died of stray bullets in a battle.In Qingpu and Jiading areas, there were advances and retreats between each other, but it was mostly when the Huai army had the upper hand.Li Xiucheng had two meetings in Suzhou, trying to solve the siege of Tianjing, but to no avail. In September, Li Hongzhang, together with Cheng Xueqi, who had been promoted to the general army, Liu Mingchuan, Guo Songlin, and Huang Yisheng, the admiral of the Navy, defeated Tan Shaoguang in Baihe Port, Qingpu.After this battle, it became a dream for Li Xiucheng to capture Shanghai.

The victory in Qingpu naturally included the strength of foreign generals. The commanders of the Changsheng Army were changed. Britain and France assisted the Qing army in attacking eastern Zhejiang. Huaer was injured and died in the battle to recover Cixi County, which belongs to Ningbo.British Admiral Ho Bo recommended Bai Qiwen to take over the Ever Victorious Army.In November, the court ordered the Changsheng Army to go to Jinling to aid Jinling—this was a trick Xue Huan and his party came up with to compete with Li Hongzhang, so it was handled by Wu Xu and Yang Fang. Wu Xu went to Zhenjiang first to arrange for support, and Yang Fang Go to Songjiang to supervise and urge Bai Qiwen to march.

Bai Qiwen didn't want to go on an expedition. He excused that the food and salary in October hadn't been paid, so he refused to set off. Yang Fangyuan had already prepared the salary. He was afraid that Bai Qiwen would not go if he got the money, so he made a condition that as soon as there was a date , pay immediately.Bai Qiwen was very displeased and said he was going to resign, Yang Fang accused him of having no conscience.There was a language conflict, and they broke up unhappy. Bai Qiwen returned to Songjiang from Shanghai angrily, and waited for Yang Fang to pay his salary. Yang Fang ignored it, and insisted that the Changsheng Army could only pay when they had a certain date of deployment.After four or five days of this stalemate, Bai Qiwen brought dozens of foreign gun teams to Shanghai, went straight to Yang Fang's apartment, met him indiscriminately, beat Yang Fang severely, his face and chest were injured, and he vomited blood continuously.There were dozens of boxes of silver coins piled up in the living room, which were also robbed. Afterwards, Yang Fang reported the matter, saying that he had stolen more than 40,000 yuan in salary.

Li Hongzhang originally took a sit-and-watch attitude, but now seeing the opportunity, he actively sent a note to the British Admiral Sir Tivoli and Consul Mai Huatuo, requesting that Bai Qiwen be released from the army and wait for China to investigate and deal with it. As a result, due to Stephen's persuasion, Bai Qiwen was dismissed and left the team, and the team was handed over to Oren, a British regular officer.Li Hongzhang made a memorial, killing two birds with one stone, expelling Bai Qiwen, and punishing Wu Xu and Yang Fang.He not only said that "the way to create and recruit this army, and replace it with others, is always the mastermind, and has the responsibility of supervising and leading. If you can't restrain your strength, you can't escape the blame. You should ask for a temporary dismissal to see the effect." They should be instructed to "strictly resolve" Bai Qiwen's case and punish him, and because Bai Qiwen failed to go to Jinling to help Jinling, Wu Xu and Yang Fang should pay for all expenses for hiring ships and purchasing additional arms.The most powerful and embarrassing move is that this memorial invites Xue Huan, the "Top Minister of Trade and Commerce" to give the memorial, which is tantamount to forcing Xue Huan to slap himself in the face.

However, Li Hongzhang did have the means to overwhelm the Changsheng Army. The Changsheng Army was so pampered by Wu Xu and Yang Fang that the number expanded from the initial 1,000 to more than 4,500. The supply of other military supplies is several times higher than that of the officers and soldiers; not only the monthly expenditure of 70,000 to 80,000 silver has become a huge burden, but also the inner dissatisfaction of the officers and soldiers has become a hidden worry.At the same time, I am even more afraid that the Ever Victorious Army is becoming more and more domineering day by day, and there is a tendency that the tail will not be dismissed. Once the guns are reversed, it will cause a catastrophe beyond control.It is no wonder that Li Hongzhang is so dissatisfied with Wu Xu and Yang Fang.

He wanted to suppress the ever-victorious army, and he had been there for a long time, but he couldn't find it convenient.This time, Bai Qiwen's disturbance was an opportunity. On the one hand, he replaced Bai Qiwen, and on the other hand, he asked to join the management and lead the Changsheng army.The British admiral Stephen was reluctant at first, but Li Hongzhang argued hard, and finally signed a 16-point treaty. The ever-victorious army was reduced to 3,000, and the food and wages were reduced, and they had to be distributed by Chinese officials in conjunction with them; It is not allowed to interfere with local official affairs; the purchase of arms must be approved by the governor's office, and private purchases are not allowed; soldiers must be punished according to the ideas of Chinese officials.Although it is not possible to seize military power, it is still far from what it used to be.

Regarding Bai Qiwen, Li Hongzhang still insisted that he must be arrested and brought to justice, and punished according to military law. This is also a reasonable request, because Bai Qiwen has received the top three ranks of the Qing Dynasty and is a Chinese official, so he should naturally be bound by Chinese laws.However, although Bai Qiwen himself was absolutely unwilling to appear in the case, even the British side was also unwilling to hand over foreigners to Chinese officials for trial, resulting in a stalemate.Bai Qiwen hid on the British warship, Shidi Fuli used the excuse that Wall and Bai Qiwen had not cleared the accounts of the purchase of arms by the British army, and asked Li Hongzhang to send his staff to settle the settlement before handing over Bai Qiwen.This time, Wu Xu and Yang Fang were unlucky again.Li Hongzhang refused to send someone who would settle the case because he had no case to prove, let alone pay it off.

A letter was issued to Wu Xu and Yang Fang, asking them to "clean up by themselves". At the moment of this delay, there was another trouble within the Ever Victorious Army.When Bai Qiwen was dismissed, the British officer Oren was in charge first, and because Oren was a staff officer, it was not suitable for him to lead the army, and Stephen recommended Gordon to replace him.The Changsheng Army didn't know whether it was to support Bai Qiwen or to hope that Oren would stay, but the crowd clamored and opposed Gordon's entry to the camp. Fortunately, Cheng Xueqi has a deep heart and intends to marry Gordon. He sent a brigade to support him.As a result, Chang Shengjun was finally forced to submit obediently. Gordon was so moved that he formed an irreversible friendship with Cheng Xueqi, and according to Chinese rules, the two became friends, and Cheng Xueqi had a "big foreign brother" for no reason.

Gordon's first achievement in taking over the Changsheng Army was to cooperate with Cheng Xueqi and Li Hongzhang's younger brother Li Hezhang to conquer Zhaowen County in Changshu and Fushan Haikou. With this credit, Gordon was also appointed as the general soldier.In the second year—that is, in the middle of March of the second year of Tongzhi, he assisted Cheng Xueqi to conquer Taicang; Wang Tan Shaoguang, Na Wang Gao Yongkuan. From Changshu to Jiangyin and Wuxi in the north, led by Li Hongzhang and Liu Mingchuan, they fought against the servant king Li Shixian and the Chaowang Huang Zilong.The south route is dominated by naval divisions, from Maodian Lake to Wujiang Taihu Lake and Pingwang, led by General Li Chaobin and Admiral Huang Yisheng to enter the army.

These three routes are the front enemies, and the rear route must guard against the Taiping Army from Jiaxing, taking advantage of the emptiness and going straight to Shanghai, so Pan Dingxin, Liu Bingzhang, and Yang Dingxun were sent to guard the main roads around Songjiang and Jinshanwei.Gordon's ever-victorious army moved to Kunshan to support them. Li Xiucheng was rewarded, so he was naturally anxious. Suzhou and Jinling formed horns, and they were also the main sources of salary.So I personally rushed to Suzhou to deploy defenses, called Li Shixian, the "King of Attendant" stationed in southern Anhui, Huang Zilong, the "King of Chaos" stationed in Danyang, and Chen Kunshu, the "King Protector" stationed in Changzhou. Supporting Taiping Army Titan "Mu Wang" Tan Shaoguang defending Suzhou.

At that time, the strength of the two sides was about two to one. In Zhongcheng Xueqi, Li Hezhang and Changsheng Army, there were 38,500 people in total; the Taiping Army had 40,000 inside the city and 20,000 outside the city. Eighteen thousand people were brought, a total of seventy-eight thousand. However, despite the large number of people and poor weapons, especially the waterway is even more disadvantaged. Although the Huai army has only two armed small steamers and a gunboat, they have no enemies in all directions. Therefore, the Huai Army first defeated the Taiping Army between Jiangyin and Wuxi, then conquered Wujiang and Zhenze, and gradually advanced to Suzhou.And Tan Shaoguang's unexpected help—Bai Qiwen once went to Beijing to campaign for reinstatement, but failed to get the point. He returned to Shanghai and tried to recruit a group of foreigners, and won a small steamer "Gaoqiao" and a batch of munitions from the Changsheng Army. He voted in Suzhou and served the Taiping Army. However, this accident was a blessing in disguise for Li Hongzhang.The friendship between Gordon and Cheng Xueqi had already cracked. When Wujiang was conquered, Cheng Xueqi was the number one general of the Huai Army. How could Li Hongzhang listen to Gordon?The two sides almost broke.At this moment, he received the news that Bai Qiwen had defected to Suzhou. Gordon was worthy of being a regular officer, and he knew his responsibility well. Fearing that the Changsheng Army would be affected by Bai Qiwen and might collapse, he hurried back to Kunshan to sit in command and resigned. , it is virtually eliminated. In August, following the recovery of Jiangyin, Cheng Xueqi broke through ten enemy bases outside the city of Suzhou.Li Xiucheng personally led the army to aid the Soviet Union, assisted by Bai Qiwen, fought at Baodai Bridge first, and then fought at the corner of Wuxi Bridge, but all failed.However, the Takahashi ship accidentally sank because the foreign sailors were drunk.At that time, Bai Qiwen's subordinates were so cute and lost their ambitions, and Bai Qiwen himself was drunk all day long, doing nothing, greatly disappointed Tan Shaoguang's expectations, and finally broke up unhappy. ＊＊＊ On the ninth day of October, Li Hongzhang came to Suzhou to supervise the battle.The Taiping Army in Suzhou City, except for Tan Shaoguang, almost all felt that the battle was hopeless, so they got on the line with Cheng Xueqi, and Cheng Xueqi's general Zheng Guokui was in the middle. "Gao Yongkuan is old.After the secret envoy returned, it was agreed that on October 19th, Gordon would attack the city. When Tan Shaoguang went out to fight, the city would close its doors and let Tan Shaoguang be defeated first. The next day, Gordon and the Huai army broke through the stone barriers at Qimen and Loumen as promised. Li Xiucheng and Tan Shaoguang were defeated.The next day, Gao Yongkuan's subordinates gave up the artillery barracks outside Qimen again.Seeing this situation, Li Xiucheng knew that the morale of the army had changed and the general situation was over. In order to save the people of Suzhou, he planned to abandon the city, but Tan Shaoguang refused, so Li Xiucheng had to cry bitterly and leave. Gao Yongkuan was once promoted by Li Xiucheng, and seeing him leave, he felt no scruples, so he sent an envoy to make an appointment with Cheng Xueqi to meet him alone in Yangcheng Lake.Also present are Gordon and Zheng Guokui.Cheng Xueqi asked Gao Yongkuan to kill Li Xiucheng and Tan Shaoguang, and he was allowed to be a second-rank official.Gao Yongkuan couldn't bear to kill Li Xiucheng, so he only allowed to plot against his brother Tan Shaoguang. After the conditions were settled, Cheng Xueqi and Gao Yongkuan made oaths, burned incense and swore that if they broke the alliance, Cheng Xueqi swore that he would die by gunfire, and Gao Yongkuan swore that he would die among the rebellious soldiers. In addition to Gao Yongkuan, seven others were named in the covenant: "King Kang" Wang Anjun; "King Bi" Wu Guiwen; "King Ning" Zhou Wenjia; "Heavenly Generals" Wang Youwei, Fan Qifa, Zhang Dazhou, and Wang Huaiwu.This covenant was signed by Gordon as a witness. Although this operation was confidential, Tan Shaoguang had already heard a little bit about it, so he made the plan to preemptively invite these eight people to a banquet.This banquet was of course a "Hongmen Banquet". During the banquet, Gao Yongkuan ordered Wang Anjun to draw his sword and stab each other, and the rest of the people rushed forward, and Wang Youwei cut off Tan Shaoguang's head.At the same time, troops were sent to capture the generals of Tan Shaoguang's direct line, killing more than a thousand people, and at night they opened Qimen and surrendered. Cheng Xueqi got the report, but he didn't dare to enter the city lightly. He first sent "Kuizi Battalion", that is, Zheng Guokui's two battalions into the city.The next day, Gao Yongkuan dispatched a special person to send Tan Shaoguang's head to the Huai army camp. Li Hongzhang and Cheng Xueqi found many long-haired men who had surrendered, and they unanimously confirmed that it was correct. door into the city. When I entered the city, I saw that there were still a lot of long hairs, occupying the four gates of Chang, Xu, Pan and Qi in the western half of the city.According to the covenant, if the second-rank military post was granted expediently, eight general soldiers would appear immediately.There are many officials and soldiers, so it is bound to be difficult to control, so Cheng Xueqi plans to betray the alliance. After meeting each other, there must be some warm condolences.Gao Yongkuan asked the troops to be organized into 20 battalions and set aside half of the city to defend, Cheng Xueqi agreed without dissatisfaction.In secret, he went to Daying and asked Li Hongzhang to execute Gao Yongkuan and other "Four Kings and Four Heavenly Generals" in secret. Li Hongzhang was surprised and astonished, "Fang Zhong," he said, "you don't study much, and you don't know the history books. Since ancient times, killing and surrendering has been inauspicious!" "I also know that killing and surrender is inauspicious, and I swore a curse with Gao Yongkuan. But the bandits are too powerful, and Gao Yongkuan still refuses to shave his head. What is his intention? It's hard to say. If there is any change, I know they will refuse to defend against the city. The rations in the city can last for five years. Even if it can be captured, it will take several years. Not to mention our brothers, how many people in the city will die? What is the use of taking the lives of eight people to save millions of lives? Can't?" "Jiaxing and Changzhou are still in Chang Mao's hands. If we kill these eight people, what do you think Chang Mao will think in those two places?" "That's another matter." Cheng Xueqi said, "It's inauspicious to kill and surrender, and to betray the alliance, but for the sake of the overall situation, I have to do this. People blame ghosts and blame me. If your lord doesn't listen to me, In the future, please adults do it yourself, I can't take care of it anymore!" With such a threat, there is no room for negotiation, so Li Hongzhang had no choice but to reply: "In that case, I'll let you do it. However, you can't ruin my business." "It will never be a bad thing. However, I need an adult to come forward and put on a show." Then he made a secret proposal and determined the steps and methods of killing and surrendering. With the plan in place, Cheng Xueqi re-entered the city and made an appointment with Gao Yongkuan to say that Li Hongzhang had fully accepted their request.At the same time, he said that Li Hongzhang wanted to see the eight of them and expressed his condolences.It has been agreed on behalf of him to attend Cheng Xue's camp at noon tomorrow. Gao Yongkuan had absolutely no reason to refuse, nor did he think that there would be any danger in going here, but even so, he gathered his accomplices the next day, and still brought a group of fierce soldiers, as guards, straddled horses, and went straight out of Loumen , led by Cheng Xueqi into the camp—— It was a mansion owned by a country gentry. Li Hongzhang was already waiting in the lobby. When he saw Gao Yongkuan and his party, he went to greet him in front of the dripping curtain.Cheng Xueqi introduced the registration, and both parties saluted very politely and affectionately. "The eight people have abandoned the dark and turned to the bright, which shows their loyalty. Hongzhang admires them very much!" After Li Hongzhang sat down in the hall, he expressed condolences one by one, and then asked for their nicknames and hometowns one by one. During this courteous exchange of greetings, Cheng Xueqi had already made the necessary arrangements. While adding troops to garrison Loumen to block the return of Gao Yongkuan and others, he dispatched many well-spoken generals to entertain the group of guards and gradually sent them away. Separated from the lobby. After exchanging greetings in the hall, Li Hongzhang told Ghoshha next to him: "Take the crowns of the eight adults!" So the eight soldiers each held a vermilion tray, and there were eight warm hats neatly placed on the tray. The coral red tops and the feathers that were a foot long were dazzling and moving. "Everyone is now a senior official of my Qing Dynasty. From now on, we must work together and make a contribution to the court. Come, come, please come here!" The eight people, led by Gao Yongkuan, lined up and knelt down, and Li Hongzhang crowned them one by one.Standing up, those who thanked thanked, those who congratulated congratulated each other, all of them were smiling, and they were very happy. "The banquet in the second hall is ready!" Geshha came to ask for instructions, "Should we start the banquet immediately?" "A glass of water and wine is not a respect." Li Hongzhang entered the second hall in a silent manner. There were exactly ten guests including Li Hongzhang, and they sat at two tables. Just after a round of drinking, Geshha suddenly came to report: there is a post from the court in Beijing, please Li Hongzhang to pick up the order.When he left his seat in a hurry, Cheng Xueqi also got up, cupped his hands and said to everyone: "Be with me for a while, I will send you off to the care platform, and I will come to accompany you immediately." Li Hongzhang and Cheng Xueqi stopped seeing each other once they left.Gao Yongkuan didn't suspect him at first; when he noticed something strange and wanted to ask someone to ask, he only heard the cannon fire at the camp gate, and then there was a cannon response in the distance, and he judged that the direction was the cannon fired by the Loumen defenders. "What is this for?" Gao Yongkuan asked. There was no end to a sentence, inside and outside, left and right, wherever there was a passage, a group of soldiers crowded out, armed with spears and heavily guarded.The eight people looked at each other with pale faces. Gao Yong was holding a pistol, which was already drawn in his hand, but he hesitated to fire it, fearing that if he fired it, his life would be lost. If you don't shoot, you can't save your life, and the armor is everywhere, clamoring loudly: "Kill Chang Mao! Kill Chang Mao!" "Don't move, don't move!" Gao Yongkuan threw away his gun and shouted: "As long as we see Li Futai, we can say anything!" No one paid any attention to his words, they stabbed straight with their spears, and all of them died unexpectedly, the blood was all over the ground, redder than the red cap. Of course, the group of guards brought by Gao Yongkuan was also slaughtered, and none of them survived.After the decision was made, Cheng Xueqi immediately returned to the city and rode his horse to the "Nawang Mansion". Under the guise of Gao Yongkuan, he ordered the generals of the Taiping Army who were the "sixth-class Spyker" and the lowest-level "weather" to come to the mansion to discuss the military situation. A total of hundreds of people arrived and were detained one after another, and the "Nawang Mansion" could only enter and not come out, as if facing an enemy.When it was almost time to arrive, Cheng Xueqi ordered to have them all beheaded. According to Li Hongzhang and Cheng Xueqi, the Taiping army in the city at that time numbered as many as 200,000, which was a big deal, but there were at least 30,000 to 40,000 people.But the snake can't do without a head, so under the threat of Cheng Xueqi's heavy guard, most of them were disarmed, and a small part rebelled, and they died in vain.Such turmoil lasted all night, and by the next morning, the situation was finally settled. But in Li Hongzhang's camp, there was a disturbance.When Gordon got the news, he was furious, and took a pistol to find Li Hongzhang desperately.Ghoshha saw that he had a gun in his hand and looked murderous, so he hurriedly told Li Hongzhang to avoid him. Gordon roared like thunder, and many people couldn't persuade him.Later, he insisted on seeing Gao Yongkuan's body. The Western Affairs Commissioner accompanying the battalion had no choice but to take down Gao Yongkuan's head, which was hung on the flagpole for public display. When Gordon saw it, he burst into tears.On the same day, he took his team back to Kunshan. Another person who is more sad than Gordon is Zheng Guokui.Gordon, however, signed his signature to testify when Cheng Xueqi and Gao Yongkuan burned incense to form an alliance, and Zheng Guokui was the first person who took the lead to recruit Gao Yongkuan. Without a friend, the blame on my conscience is indescribable.What saddened him the most was that he felt like he suffered from being dumb and had unspeakable suffering.Gordon can be furious and vent his anger, but he can't yell at Li Hongzhang and Cheng Xueqi for being untrustworthy and acting like animals like others.In this way, under the grievances of mourning and nothing to complain, there is only weeping and hunger strike. ＊＊＊ When Li Hongzhang and Cheng Xueqi met in the evening, both of them were ashamed, because this incident was so harmful to nature and reason, it was shocking to think about it, and the five middle schools were disturbed. However, one is handsome and the other is a general. Their actions and demeanor are bound by the morale of the army, so they have to restrain themselves and deal with the aftermath carefully.Among them, Li Hongzhang's situation is even more difficult, because in the first half of the play, he is a supporting role, and in the second half he has to "take the lead". On the one hand, he has to reward Xu Cheng Xueqi, and on the other hand, he has to comfort Zheng Guokui.On the one hand, it is necessary to dismiss Long Mao, and on the other hand, it is necessary to deal with the Ever Victorious Army.In addition, discussing rewards for meritorious deeds internally, and caressing refugees externally are all complicated and complicated things.After two days and two nights like this, although it is not like Wu Zixu who passed through Zhaoguan, his beard and eyebrows turned white all night, but he is still in good shape.