Chapter 16 Eight Zeng Guofan divination to ask good and bad luck

Huizhou fell, and Qimen became the front line.At this time, Qimen's troops were only a part of Zhang Yunlan's Laoxiang battalion and Kang Fu's personal army battalion, the combined total was less than 3,000, and the situation was very critical.The old camp of Xiangyong was full of panic and panic. Although Zeng Guofan hated Li Yuandu for not being up to date, there was nothing he could do now.On the one hand, he arranged for Zhang Yunlan and Kang Fu to lead troops to guard Jugen Ridge and Yangzhan Ridge, ten miles away from the old camp, which are the two gates entering Qimen from the northeast.One side sent two teams.The first team reported to the south that Zuo Zongtang, who was stationed in Fuliang and Jingdezhen, must protect the road from Qimen to Jiangxi. After the loss of Huizhou, this is the only way for Qimen's food and documents; He rushed to search for Bao Chao along the way, and asked him to come to Qimen for rescue immediately.

At this time, the Taiping Army was dividing its troops into three groups and encircling Qimen.Li Shixian entered Jiangxi with 40,000 people, intending to attack Qimen from the south, but he encountered his formidable enemy Zuo Zongtang. Zuo Zongtang defeated Li Shixian three times in a row in the southeast of Leping City.The Taiping Army on the South Road was blocked and could not enter Qimen as planned.To the east, Luo Dagang led 20,000 people through Yuting Town, and met Zhang Yunlan's sniper at Jugenling.To the west, Zhou Guoyu led 20,000 people to cross Dahong Ridge, and met Kang Fu's resistance at Yangzhan Ridge.The strength of the Taiping Army was more than ten times that of Xiangyong, and Xiangyong occupied a favorable position. The two sides fought for three days and three nights, and there was no victory or defeat for a while.However, the number of Xiangyong is decreasing day by day, and the Taiping army may break through the mountains at any time.It seems that the annihilation of Qimen's old battalion is inevitable.

During the day, ferocious shouts of killing continued to be heard from Jugenling and Yangzhanling;The military counselors in Liangjiang governor's yamen, the secretary copywriters who play with words, and the small officials who keep accounts and calculate calculations, although they live in the military camp, they have never seen the scene of the two armies fighting with their own eyes.I have never experienced the situation of the former enemy.These powerless literati were in extreme fear all day long. They saw blood and blood flying across the east and north, and the south was a little quieter. They colluded with each other and secretly bought twenty Small boat.Every night, packs of luggage were loaded onto the boat, and when the defeated soldiers fled back, they set up their boats and rowed towards Jiangxi.When Li Hongzhang reported this situation to Zeng Guofan, he was so angry that he wished to catch and kill these cowards who disturbed the morale of the army one by one.But he did not do so. Instead, he drew up a notice himself, and asked the documents to be copied and pasted outside the barracks: In this critical autumn, if anyone who is not an official ordered by the imperial court wants to leave Qimen, the governor will issue this document on a voluntary basis. The full monthly salary and travel expenses will be sent by boat; those who wish to come after the matter is settled, will be welcomed by the governor, treat each other wholeheartedly, and never forget the past.

As soon as this notice was posted, those staff who were about to leave were embarrassed to leave, and secretly moved their luggage back from the boat.For all this, Zeng Guofan pretended not to see it. During the day, he approved documents, sent letters, met guests, played chess, and read books as usual. In the nearby forest, he said to Jing Qi: "If the old camp is overthrown, I will be loyal to the country. From now on, you must try to transport these materials back to the lotus leaf pond. Do you understand?" Jing Qi nodded in agreement, her heart was already in a mess.In the middle of the night, Zeng Guofan saw that the two mountains in the east and north were fighting again, and Bao Chao had no news so far. He thought that he would die this time. I am stationed in the east, but it is too late to regret it now.I'm over fifty years old, and I live in a first-rank official position. I don't have any major regrets in this life except that I have no achievements in learning.Thinking about it this way, I felt much calmer again.

He first wrote a will to the emperor, and made arrangements for several major events he had handled one by one.He also wrote a family letter to his son Ji Ze Jihong, telling them not to be involved in the military when they grow up. Xiang's tutor.Fearing that they would forget, I wrote the eight books and three Zhixiang again: the foundation of reading is exegesis, the foundation of poetry is tone, the foundation of raising relatives is the foundation of happiness, the foundation of health care is to reduce anger, and the foundation of life is not to lie. In other words, governing the family is based on not raising money, being an official is based on not having money, and marching is based on not disturbing the people;

After writing this family letter as a will, the sky was already dimly lit, and seeing the bleak autumn scenery outside and the soldiers rushing around, Zeng Guofan's heart tightened again.He stared in panic, bewildered.After a long time, he suddenly remembered something and asked Jing Qi to bring a basin of clean water.Zeng Guofan washed his face and hands carefully, adjusted his clothes, sat down at the desk, and took out fifty stalks of yarrow from a small pen holder.He randomly picked one of them and put it aside, and then sandwiched one between his left thumb and index finger, divided the remaining forty-eight into two piles, and then removed every four until he couldn't take any more. Then merge the two stacks.After 18 times of splitting and combining in this way, a "Kan" hexagram was formed, of which the ninth and second is Laoyang, and the upper sixth is Laoyin.Zeng Guofan remembered that the words of the ninth and second line were: "There are dangers in the hurdles, seek small gains." The words of the upper six lines were: "It is used for emblems, placed on thorns, not three years old, fierce." The words of the ninety-two lines are undoubtedly a good word , Is the emblem in the speech of the last six lines used to bind oneself, or to bind long hair?It's really God's will, it's hard to guess.When he was in doubt, Kang Fu pushed the door open and came in panting: "My lord, Changmao has broken through the Yangzhanling defense line. I will protect you to leave Qimen."

While speaking, Wang Jingqi had brought Zaozima over.The Zaozi horse neighed loudly, and the staff surrounded them one after another. Most of them carried burdens on their shoulders, and some didn't even put on shoes and socks.Seeing this chaotic scene, the glimmer of hope brought by divination to Zeng Guofan has long been wiped out.He yelled at Jing Qi: "Who told you to bring the horse? You all go, I will die here today!" "My lord." Kang Fu took a step forward, "The situation is extremely critical, we have to leave, please get on your horse." Zeng Guofan still sat still, his heart felt like thousands of drums were beating, it was broken and messed up.Yang Guodong and Peng Shouyi both came to persuade: "My lord, if you don't leave, you won't be able to get out."

Zeng Guofan looked around and saw that his staff were all looking at him with pleading eyes, he sighed a long time, and said slowly: "Guodong, take everyone away, I will leave last." As soon as a word was uttered, the staff immediately dispersed like birds and beasts, busy carrying luggage.Zeng Guofan took the sword given by Wang Shiquan from the wall and put it on the desk, then put on his court clothes, closed his eyes slightly, and let the noise and chaos outside, he sat like a log, and made the final decision: Once Changmao rushed into the house, he immediately cut himself with a sword.Kang Fu and Wang Jingqi walked around anxiously, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, there was a burst of earth-shattering cheers outside.Li Hongzhang ran in excitedly and shouted, "Master is overjoyed, Admiral Bao is here!" Zeng Guofan opened his eyes, was about to get up, then sat down immediately, and asked in a slow tone, "Are you reading correctly?" Li Hongzhang was about to speak when Yang Guodong rushed in excitedly: "Admiral Bao has defeated Chang Mao and has come to the old camp!" Zeng Guofan stood up abruptly and said, "Let's pick up Chunting!" Outside the old camp, there were cheers, and Bao Chao, surrounded by the crowd, was walking towards the barracks.Seeing Zeng Guofan appearing at the door, he immediately jumped off his horse and ran to Zeng Guofan. Just as he was about to kneel down and salute, Zeng Guofan quickly took a step forward and hugged him.Looking at Bao Chao's dark face with a messy beard, his eyes were filled with tears, and it took him a long time to utter a sentence: "I don't want to meet my virtuous brother again!" After speaking, he became dizzy and lost consciousness.