Chapter 39 On the eve of the second dispatch of troops, Zeng Guofan personally drafted an appeal

Yang Jiang took the lead, and other gentry merchants followed suit. Within a few days, they raised 90,000 taels of silver.One hundred cannons of various specifications have been shipped in recent days. Zeng Guofan allocated money to each battalion and ordered them to prepare for departure. Zeng Guofan was excited and excited when he saw the men and horses of the various battalions on the water and land busy sharpening their knives and guns, distributing armaments, moving food and grass, and repairing warships.It was already midnight, under the Shiguzui where the steamed water and the Xiangshui confluence, the temporary repair factory was still brightly lit and the fire was blazing.The crisp sound of metal crashing entered the Zhao Family Ancestral Hall.Standing on the top floor, Zeng Guofan looked affectionately in the direction of Shiguzui, as if he saw the sparks flying from the anvil, and saw the red smiling face of Xiangyong onlookers.

Zeng Guofan is stable by nature, not the kind of frivolous person whose emotions are easy to rise and fall.Since studying Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism with Tang Jian, he has consciously demanded to conduct himself in the world, handle affairs and study, use more reason and less emotion. Phase demeanor.However, tonight, my heart was restless like a madman.He lit an incense stick, closed his eyes, and sat cross-legged on the bed, trying to imagine Xie An's superhuman sense of Go gambling before the Battle of Feishui, and the superhuman sense of going as before after he won the victory, forcing himself to settle down...

Yes, Zeng Guofan had thousands of reasons to be excited.From "don't say a spoonful of water, there will be mosquitoes and dragons" to "you are still with Guo and Li, and return the two capitals to the emperor" to "pursue virtue to pursue Confucius and Mencius, save time and Zhuge", from youth to youth to middle age , an ideal of longing to make great achievements and be an extraordinary person, has been running through his life.But in the past, this ideal was only revealed in poems, and occasionally in letters and conversations with close relatives and friends.Over the years, although the official career has been prosperous, he has not made great achievements.Today, after a year of humiliation and painstaking formation and training, he has 10,000 Xiangyong in the 20th water and land battalion in his hands, and nearly 20,000 including his husband.He is the veritable commander-in-chief of this team, and when he gives an order, both land and water will advance side by side, with flags covering the sky and battleships like clouds, which can be described as mighty and majestic.In the future, he will personally command this team to wipe out Changmao, regain the lost land, and do the work of Guo, Li, and Zhuge.Once the ideal of the past 30 years has become a reality, this farm boy who walked out of the lotus leaf pond, without ancestral property or backing, and relying on self-struggle, how emotional is he!

At this moment, he thought of the legend of boa constrictor reincarnation and Chen Fu's prophecy.Dukes, generals and ministers are really just a matter of days!The feeble scholar back then is really a giant who can turn the world around! At this moment, he also thought of the cursing of Changsha citizens who "shave their heads", the arrogance of Bao Qibao and Deng Shaoliang, and the pain of swallowing their anger and moving to Hengzhou.Now, this Xiangyong team has been built, and it will be able to win the battle immediately, so feel proud!The world will soon see that Zeng Guofan is not a mediocre person!

At this moment, he still thinks of the Emperor's Yin and Yin notes, the enthusiastic recommendation of Prince Gong and Bachelor Su, and the extreme trust guaranteed by Master Jinghai with his lifetime fame, and his body is full of heat. "I have lived up to your high expectations. I, Zeng Guofan, will be Guo Ziyi and Li Mi who will save the world and help the people! From now on, I will repay your kindness with frequent success!" Zeng Guofan almost shouted from the bottom of his heart. It was a late winter night in southern China, and the weather was still cold, but Zeng Guofan felt hot all over his body tonight. He unbuttoned the cloth buttons on his old cotton robe, and felt a kind of comfort that he had never felt before.There was a horse neighing in the distance, and it was the groom on night duty who was adding fodder. "The horse made Lu Feikuai, and the bow is like a thunderbolt. It ends the affairs of the king and wins the fame in life and death." Xin Jiaxuan's long and short sentences hundreds of years ago seem to express his mood at this time.And Zeng Guofan was luckier than Xin Qiji, he didn't have to lament that "it happened in vain", he was in the prime of life, and he could build a vigorous career!

"For such an upright battle against rebellion, there should be a call-to-action on the eve of sending troops!" From Xin Qiji's words, Zeng Guofan suddenly thought of King Luo Bin's "Call to the Wu Family".The crusade by Xu Jingye, which was defeated in an instant and had no effect, should have been eliminated by history long ago. It was because of King Luo Bin's article that people talked about it for more than a thousand years.I will surely win this crusade according to the order, and it is by no means comparable to Xu Jingye's army. There should be a better article than "Discussing Wu's Call"!With its colorful literary talent, majestic spirit, expressive words, and sonorous tones, it will last forever with this war that shocks the past and the present, so that future generations can remember the great achievements of the predecessors when they read this essay.

Zeng Guofan felt that although there were many proclamations in the previous generation, except for Luo Binwang's article, none of them were good articles, and that was because they were all written by knife grabbers.How could a literati whose job is to chew words and phrases have the spirit of a commander-in-chief of the three armed forces and the ambition to spin the universe.This article should be written by myself! Yes, Zeng Guofan was originally a master of composition.At the beginning of entering Hanyuan, he followed Mei Boyan and joined the Tongcheng School. He liked Yao Nai's ancient prose very much and agreed with Yao Nai's ancient prose theory.Zeng Guofan studied the writing of ancient prose assiduously.In a few years, he became known as Chong Jingshi, and there was an endless stream of people asking for his composition. Even Fang Shi Ji Zhimao's poetry anthology was published, and Zeng Guofan was asked to write the preface on his behalf;Deeply influenced by Yao Nai, Zeng Guofan liked the masculine beauty of grandeur, magnificence, majesty and grandeur.But he was not quick-witted. Every time he wrote an article, he had to search his brains and think hard, and sometimes he was exhausted. After writing, he revised and revised it until he was satisfied before showing it to his friends.This final revised article is often highly praised by the literary world.But the hundreds of articles written in the past are nothing compared to this article to be written!Zeng Guofan thought that those prefaces to poems, essays, and longevity, and those tombstones and inscriptions are either borrowed from the topic, or they are moaning without illness, or they are insincere because they are not in the way of affection. No matter how good the writing is, it is just a good article That's all, it can never be compared with this call to action.This proclamation can boost morale, win people's hearts, deter enemies, and disintegrate coercion.Its effect can even exceed that of a powerful army, otherwise, since ancient times, why has there been a saying of "passing on the world to determine the world"?In the face of such a proclamation, all the works of literati will appear weak and bleak.But this call to action today must come from the pen of a commander-in-chief of the three armies!This especially excited Zeng Guofan.Throughout the ages, there have been thousands of proclamations, but which one was written by the commander himself?No!The commander-in-chief of the three armed forces personally drafted a call to action against thieves, and based on this, it will be recorded in the annals of history with unprecedented glory!

The more Zeng Guofan thought about it, the more excited he became. He extinguished the incense head, got out of bed, lit up the oil lamp, took out the ancient lotus leaf inkstone given by Tang Peng, ground a thick inkstone inkstone with the emblem ink given by Emperor Daoguang, and chose a fine and soft top inkstone. Waiting for the Xuan paper, holding a tube and a brush, quickly wrote the title of the essay: "A Call to the Bandits in Guangdong", then left the book case, paced around the room with hands behind their backs, and beat the manuscript. The oil lamp flickered and flickered, shining on his tired and excited long face, and on his broad-shouldered and thick-backed body, stretching the shadow long and reflecting on the wall like a bamboo pole; A large shadow covered half of the house, like a dark cloud for a long time. "This call-to-action must surpass "Call to the Wu Family." Zeng Guofan thought.He tried not to fall into the pattern of King Luo Bin, and designed several different layouts, but they were not as good as King Luo Bin's.Helpless, he had no choice but to follow in Luo's footsteps and first scold the target of the crusade.As soon as he picked up the pen, he felt difficult again.King Luo Bin is familiar with Wu Zetian, and he has many handles of the Wu family in his hands.But Zeng Guofan didn't know anything about Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing, and he didn't know much about Chang Mao.During the half day he was captured by Changmao, he only felt the viciousness of Changmao and hated the court officials, but he didn't see them do any bad things with his own eyes.However, long hair is hateful after all. If Kang Fu hadn't come to save him that day, his head would have been chopped off long ago.In any case, Changmao is one of the bandits, and he must be scolded severely to arouse the hatred of the people of the country.He picked up his pen and began to write.After writing a paragraph, I went over the words and sentences again and again, scribbling and correcting them, and finally I felt satisfied, so I read it softly to see how the cadence and rhythm of the voice are:

For the purpose of preaching.It has been five years since the rebels Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing declared chaos.It has poisoned millions of souls and ravaged more than 5,000 miles of prefectures and counties.Wherever they pass, no matter how big or small the boats are, and no matter how rich or poor the people are, they will all be plundered and plundered, and no grass will be left behind.Those who have five taels of silver and do not offer it to the thief will be beheaded immediately.The men are given rice a day, and they are driven forward to the battle, and they are driven to build the city; the women are given a day of rice, and they are driven to watch the night, and they are driven to transport rice and pick coal.If a woman refuses to untie her feet, she will be beheaded immediately to show off to all women.Those who conspired to escape from the boat households carried their corpses upside down to show the boat households.

After reading this paragraph, he felt that the tone of voice was okay.Recently, Zeng Guofan has realized many tricks in the world during his spare time in military affairs. He put these tricks into "eight books": "Reading is based on exegesis, writing poetry is based on tone, serving relatives is based on being happy, Keeping healthy is based on refraining from anger, standing on the basis of not lying, staying at home based on not being arrogant, being an official based on not requiring money, and marching based on not disturbing the people." He sometimes thought that after Changmao was calmed down, in his hometown Build another house, which contains the emperor's edicts and gifts, as well as the manuscripts of memorials, poetry diaries, and books at home that I wrote over the years, so I named this house "Babentang" and named it "Babendang". The theory of "eight books" is engraved on the hall, so that it can be passed on to future generations together with the emperor's grace and documents, and the prosperity of Zeng's family will be preserved forever.Both content and tone satisfied him, so Zeng Guofan continued to write.

He remembered the conversation with Guo Songtao before leaving the mountain last year.right!It is necessary to raise the banner of defending the Tao and win the hearts of the people by defending the Tao and protecting the religion, especially to arouse the public indignation of scholars all over the world. Zeng Guofan wrote: Scholars cannot recite the scriptures of Confucius, but the so-called Theory of Jesus and the book of the "New Testament", which cite thousands of years of Chinese etiquette, morality, and poetry, will be wiped out once they are swept away.This is not only the change of my Qing Dynasty, but also the strange change of famous teachings since the founding of Confucius and Mencius. I, Confucius and Mencius, cried bitterly in Jiuquan, and all those who can read and write can sit quietly with their hands and don't think about doing anything. He felt that this passage was well written and powerful. It was a true expression of his own feelings, and it also expressed the righteous indignation that had been stored in his chest for a long time for the gentle people in the world.Next, Zeng Guofan wrote a paragraph about Hong Yang burning the school palace, destroying the wooden master of Confucius, polluting the statue of the emperor and the king of Yue, destroying Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, and altars. hate.In the end, Zeng Guofan declared that he was "ordered by the Son of Heaven to command 20,000 people, advance by land and water, and vowed to sacrifice his courage and sacrifice this evil", and called on people from all walks of life to support him.For these people, they will be treated as guests and teachers, or they will be invited to play, or they will be awarded official titles, and those who rebel will not die.If anyone "willingly obey the rebellion and resist the punishment of heaven", then "when the soldiers press down, all jade and stone will be destroyed". After the full text was written, Zeng Guofan read the whole article again, and was greatly disappointed while reading it.This written text is far from the one he thought of while sitting cross-legged on the bed.No matter in terms of courage or writing, it is much inferior to Luo Binwang's "A Call to the Wu Family". "Beyond" and so on, where to start!It lacks the momentum of "the mountain will collapse if you are silent, and the situation will change when you are strong. If you use this to control the enemy, no enemy will be invincible; if you use this to make merit, no effort will be invincible", and there is no such thing as "the words are still in the ears, but the loyalty will not be forgotten. The soil is not yet dry, and there is no need for a six-foot solitary", let alone the epigram of "look at who owns the world in today's domain", which shocked through the ages.Zeng Guofan revised it over and over several times until the cock crowed, but he was still not satisfied.He sighed helplessly: "It seems that this proclamation has made King Luo Bin reach the peak, and no one can surpass it." After speaking, he shook his head and thought unconvinced: there is nothing in the world that cannot be surpassed!Changli said, "If you are vigorous, you can speak good or bad words, and those who speak high or low are suitable." Could it be that my momentum is not as good as that of King Luo Bin?King Luo Bin is only a literati, and he is not as good as the commander-in-chief of the three armies!Zeng Guofan was puzzled, until the roosters near and far crowed together, and the sky was already bright, he put down his pen wearily, and most of the excitement before starting the action had disappeared. After the call to action was written, Zeng Guofan ordered a large number of copies to be posted everywhere, so that everyone in the downtown area would know it.After finishing this matter, Zeng Guofan began to consider another major matter. The two teams of water and land, plus nearly 20,000 people including husbands and servants, once they leave Hengzhou, they will go all out to march and fight.Zeng Guofan thought that his main energy will also be placed on defeating the enemy, so he must establish an organization similar to the cabinet of the DPRK and China to handle daily affairs such as issuing documents, allocating food, grass and money, and purchasing military supplies.This institution mainly supplies grain and grass, and Zeng Guofan named him Grain Terrace.There are eight institutes under the grain platform.The copywriting office is responsible for dealing with documents from up to down, left, right, up and down; the inner money office is responsible for allocating and arranging money for the water and land battalions within Xiangyong; the outer money office is responsible for sending and receiving money allocated, aided, and donated by the imperial court and various provinces; the ordnance office is responsible for purchasing various items used by the army. Equipment, such as military uniforms, tents, horses, etc.; the Firearms Office is responsible for purchasing all kinds of firearms, mainly cannons; the Detective Office is responsible for intelligence detection and military report transmission; various conflict cases; the editing and editing institute specially collected and edited materials about the loyalty and filial piety of Xiangyong officers and soldiers and presented them to the court in order to reward loyalty and boost morale; Liangtai entrusted Huang Mian and Guo Kuntao as the managers; at the same time, a donation bureau was set up in Hengzhou to accept Donations from gentry and merchants from all over the country were entrusted to my brother-in-law Ouyang Bingquan. Soon, two shipyards in Hengzhou and Xiangtan reported that they had completed the No. 40 Kuaixie, No. 50 Changlong, and No. 150 Sampan. They also built an extra-large ship called Tuogu, with five or six boats. It was dragged forward and used as Zeng Guofan's ship. At the same time, dozens of civilian ships were rebuilt and more than 200 civilian ships were hired to carry luggage.By the end of the first month of the fourth year of Xianfeng, the preparations in all aspects were generally in place under careful arrangements, and Zeng Guofan was relieved.At this time, the imperial court issued another emergency order, ordering Zeng Guofan to go north along the Xiangjiang River and go to Wuhan to help.Zeng Guofan decided to leave from Hengzhou on the 28th of the first lunar month. On the afternoon of the 27th, Zeng Guofan remembered that he was going to march north early in the morning, and he couldn't calm down no matter what.He burned incense and sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes and concentrated on it. After half an hour, his mind gradually calmed down.So he invited Luo Zenan over to drink tea and play chess.A few days ago, Luo Zenan resumed his post as a battalion officer.After that setback, Luo Zenan became more sophisticated.When Jin Songling's battalion officer is absent, Zeng Guobao will act as his agent.In his usual relationship, Zeng Guofan treated Luo Zenan differently from anyone else, and always treated him with an attitude of being both a teacher and a friend.In their spare time, the two often talk about academic matters together.Zeng Guofan often feels inferior to Luo Zenan in the study of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. The match between Zeng Guofan and Luo Nanze was not over yet, the soldiers came in and reported that there was a young scholar visiting outside the door.Zeng Guofan has always received visitors with humility, especially scholars.He ordered the chessboard to be put away and sent an order to meet him immediately.