Chapter 46 Nine White Clouds Canggou

Xiangtan's water and land victory saved Zeng Guofan and the entire Xiangyong from death. Soon, the memorial of Baojie and Emperor Xianfeng's Zhu Zhu were transferred back.Zhu Pi greatly praised the victory of Xiangtan, and only lightly mentioned the failures of Yuezhou and Jinggang, without accusing them.What surprised Zeng Guofan was that the emperor severely reprimanded Bao Qibao for the responsibility of losing the city and land, and dismissed him from his post, and handed over to the Ministry of Investigation; For Zeng Guofan's punishment of being demoted to a second level, he is allowed to play with a single title.There is another point that Zeng Guofan never imagined in his dreams: except for the governor, all civil and military officials in Hunan, including the vassal and the bureaucracy, can be dispatched by Zeng Guofan as military affairs.This edict was Emperor Xianfeng's most powerful support for Zeng Guofan, which completely changed the attitude of Hunan officials towards Zeng Guofan.Luo Bingzhang took Xu Youren, Zuo Zongtang and other officials to the bank of Shuiluzhou, and brought an empty green wool sedan chair with eight loads to visit Zeng Guofan who had been living on the boat and had been neglected by Changsha officials for two months.Luo Bingzhang asked Zeng Guofan very affectionately, saying how he opposed Bao Qibao and others who were going to participate in the ginseng, how he appreciated Xiangyong's ability to conquer wars, and so on.Zeng Guofan has seen this kind of extreme hypocrisy in officialdom a lot, and he couldn't help sneering in his heart.After Zuo Zongtang's severe scolding, Zeng Guofan's understanding of fame and career, human relationship and state of the world has greatly deepened.He knew that he would still need Luo Bingzhang and the officialdom in Hunan, so when Luo Bingzhang insisted on respectfully inviting him to go ashore and return to live in the original office of the trial bureau, after several refusals, he got into the big sedan chair Luo Bingzhang sent him and took him with him. Water and land battalion officials and a group of staff officers including Guo, Liu, and Chen entered the city.Wang Kaiyun went back to his hometown of Yunhu Bridge in Xiangtan with Peng Yulin's boat last time.Zeng Guofan sat in the sedan chair, thinking of the ups and downs of the past year, he felt very uncomfortable, especially the changes in the past few days, which made people feel a lot of emotion. "The clouds in the sky are like white clothes, so they must change into gray dogs." The unpredictable world is really faster than white clouds turning into gray dogs!

That night, Xu Youren, the governor of the feudal clan, paid a polite visit to the case bureau alone. After exchanging greetings, Xu Youren said: "Last year's Hungry Ghost Festival ceremony, I originally planned to distribute the Green Camp and Lianyong together, regardless of each other, but Bao Qibao insisted that it could not be distributed to Lianyong, otherwise, his admiral would lose face and use it as a gift." Threatening to resign. It is also because I am weak in nature, and I have no opinions for a while, so I hope my dear friend will not take it to heart." Zeng Guofan smiled faintly, and said: "Xu Fangbo is being polite. Guofan has long forgotten about trivial matters, so why bother to mention them again."

Xu Youren was relieved, and said: "Last year, Xiangyong borrowed the one hundred thousand taels of silver from Lu Zhifu of Hengzhou. I have notified Lu Zhifu that this batch of silver will be increased from the treasury, and there is no need to ask Xiangyong for it back." .” Zeng Guofan thought to himself, this is using money from the court to form a personal relationship.Zeng Guofan has seen this kind of thing a lot.What Xiangyong lacks now is money. Since you send money to your door, I will accept it.Zeng Guofan smiled politely and said, "Xu Fangbo is kind, Guofan is very grateful."

Xu Youren put on a sincere demeanor, and said: "It's all the emperor's money. My dear brother is doing things for the emperor, so thank you! Xiangyong will go out of the province soon to fight against Changmao, and he will fight with the battalion. I will do my best to raise funds and food for the rear.” Zeng Guofan thought to himself that he was afraid of being recruited into the camp to suffer fright and suffering, so he smiled and said, "Where do you dare to work with the camp? What a big deal!" Xu Youren was completely relieved, and went out satisfied.Wang Chi couldn't see it, and said to Zeng Guofan, "Why don't you give him a hard job and let him have a taste."

Zeng Guofan said: "This kind of person has a weak bone and a big frame. He was sent to the army, which actually missed my business. Don't say that he even took a hundred thousand taels of silver. Even if the imperial court orders him to be transferred to the army, I don't want it." After all, both of them laughed.Because of Xu Youren's arrival, Zeng Guofan remembered an important event, and hurriedly asked Jing Qi to go to the admiral's office to invite Taqibu.Zeng Guofan was deeply satisfied with the decision to launch Tazib at the beginning.If Taqibu was not a Manchu, how could he gain the absolute trust of the court so quickly!The green battalion is in the hands of Tazib, and it is also in his own hands.

Tazib is at your beck and call.Zeng Guofan asked: "Admiral of the Tower, Hunan Green Camp, how will you lead?" "The corruption in the green camp has become very serious. The first thing to do now is to strictly rectify it." Tazib replied without thinking.Zeng Guofan shook his head slightly, and said: "Strict rectification is definitely something that must be done, but today's first task is not here." "Why?" Taqibu wondered, didn't Zeng Guofan often say that the green camp was rotten, and he had to be cruel to cut off the rotten flesh? "Admiral Tower, in terms of qualifications, are you comparable to Bao Qibao?"

Tazib shook his head and said, "Not so far." "Last year, the soldiers of the township mutinied and rushed into your house to kill you, remember?" "This hatred will never be forgotten." "Brother Zhiting, your qualifications are not as high as Bao Qibao, and there must be many dissatisfied soldiers in the army; if you write down the hatred of the Zhendang soldiers, it will inevitably arouse the fear of the Zhendang soldiers. If one is dissatisfied and the other is afraid, can the green battalion be stable?" Taqibu felt that the matter was serious. He looked at Zeng Guofan and said in a pleading tone: "My lord, I was promoted by you. I only have one sentence. From now on, I will follow you wholeheartedly. After listening to your analysis, I will I know that my position as admiral is still being shaken. Please make it clear, my lord, and Tazib will definitely do it."

"Brother Zhi Ting, today's governance of the green camp is to soothe people's hearts. The method is only one word." Zeng Guofan stretched out a hand and uttered one word crisply: "Reward!" According to Zeng Guofan's instructions, Taqibu rewarded the soldiers of the green camp all over the place, and as many as 3,000 people won the sixth rank of military merit.The township soldiers who made trouble in Huogong Palace were also included in the rewards, so everyone in the green camp was very happy.Taqibu specially invited Deng Shaoliang to have a drink together, and Deng Shaoliang was very moved.The generals of the green battalion knew that Zeng Guofan and the new admiral were magnanimous, and they did not forget the old grievances, and the morale of the army immediately stabilized.

Contrary to the appreciation of the green camp, Zeng Guofan implemented the policy of "strict rectification" proposed by Taqibu for Xiangyong. Zeng Guobao's Zhenzi Camp was the first to be used for surgery.This battalion was the first to flee during the Battle of Jinggang. Except for the fifty or so Yong Ding who followed Zeng Guofan in retreat, all of them, including Zeng Guobao, were vacated and returned home.Zeng Guobao was not convinced, and reluctantly obeyed after listening to his elder brother's great truth of "righteousness first".Zeng Guofan called Mandi to his study room, and had a secret conversation for most of the night. Finally, he told Guobao to ask Guohua and Guoquan to recruit five hundred strong men each, and to practice hard. becomes five thousand.

Since the Zhenzi Battalion was withdrawn first, Zeng Guobao took the lead to return to his hometown, and the rectification of other battalions went smoothly, with a total of more than 3,000 regiment members laid off.Some of the people who escaped from the battlefields of Yuezhou and Jinggang wanted to come back, but Zeng Guofan ordered not to accept any of them.Taking advantage of this great opportunity, he doubled the size of Xiangyong, and built 20 battalions of land divisions and 20 battalions of navy divisions;The land division is played by Taqibu and Luo Zenan, and one person manages the ten battalions; the navy division is played by Peng Yulin and Yang Zaifu, and one person manages the ten battalions.Ta, Luo, Peng, and Yang all listened to Zeng Guofan.The Xiangyong system has become more robust.Bao Chao and Shen Mingbiao fought bravely on the Xiangtan battlefield, and were promoted to battalion officers.

Every day, Ta and Luo are in charge of training the land divisions in the playground outside the south gate, and Peng and Yang are in charge of training the navy divisions on the river.No matter how busy Zeng Guofan is, he has to go to the playground and the river every day to see and give lectures.Zeng Guofan also learned from Qi Jiguang's experience in using military songs to educate soldiers, and carefully compiled several easy-to-understand songs, which were composed by Guo Songtao, who is proficient in music theory, and taught them in the morning and evening.These lyrics have seven words and one sentence, including the main points such as marching, fighting and camping.Lu Yong sang the "Song of the Army's Victory", and Shui Yong sang the "Song of the Navy's Victory". After a few days of singing, from Guan to Yong, everyone sang fluently, and I remembered it by heart.On the way up and down the exercise every day, the Xiangyong soldiers sang military songs loudly. Although it was not pleasant to hear, they still looked neat and mighty when they followed the pace. The people in Changsha felt very fresh. The resurgence of Xiangyong brought joy to Zeng Guofan, he thought, fortunately he did not die, otherwise how could he see today's weather!He was very grateful to Kang Fu and Zuo Zongtang who saved his life, and thought about repaying them.Zuo Zongtang is a great talent, and he can entrust important matters to him in the future, so he is not in a hurry right now.Kang Fu has the talent to lead, but Zeng Guofan doesn't want him to leave his side, he desperately needs a bodyguard like Kang Fu.If he was allowed to receive the salary of the commander, others would say that he got extra benefits for saving himself, and some people might say that he threw himself into the water at the beginning to pretend to be suspended animation, otherwise, why would he repay the rescuer like this?After much deliberation, Zeng Guofan couldn't think of a good way to repay Kang Fu.Once, he occasionally read the unofficial history and uploaded the story of Aobai Houbao's teacher.He thinks this method is good.So he secretly asked Jing Qi to go to Yuanjiang, bought a big house and 300 mu of paddy field in Kangfu's name, moved an honest family to live in the house, and collected rent for the 300 mu of paddy field from Kangfu every year.Soon, Kang Fu found out about this, and he was very grateful for Zeng Guofan's generous gift, and became more loyal to Zeng Guofan.Kang Fu had the grace to save the coach, but he didn't get promoted to an official position. Xiangyong also praised Zeng Guofan's character of not repaying his personal favor with his official salary. At this time, news of the siege of Wuchang by the Western Expeditionary Army spread to Changsha every day. Zeng Guofan discussed with everyone day and night to prepare for the rescue of Hubei Province. One afternoon, Zeng Guofan was studying in his study.Zeng Guofan's study was originally called "Qiu Que Zhai".Once, he recited ancient prose aloud in the middle of the night, entering an artistic realm amidst the ingenious constructions of his predecessors and his own cadence, and enjoyed great pleasure.He remembered Mencius's words that "a gentleman has three joys", and summed up his own three joys: rewarding talents, tempting people to improve every day, one joy; Sanle.In a moment of joy, he changed the name of "Qiu Que Zhai" to "Sanle Bookstore".What I read today is "Historical Records: The Benji of Gaozu".Zeng Guofan was deeply attracted by a passage of Han Gaozu's praise of Xiao He, Han Xin, and Zhang Liang.He thought that before Liu Bang started the incident, he was only the head of a pavilion in Surabaya, and he was mediocre in both civil and military aspects. The reason why he came to power in the future was due to the merits of the three heroes;I have neither talent nor experience in leading troops to fight, as evidenced by the defeat in Jinggang.In the future, we must allow Ta, Luo, Peng, Yang and others to fully display their talents, and we must also discover and search for more talents.While thinking about it, the soldiers came to report: "There is a man outside the door asking to see him, claiming to be an old man Hu Linyi." Zeng Guofan said happily in his heart: "My Xiao Han is here." Immediately put down "Historical Records" and ran out of the door.