Chapter 25 Chapter 4 Among the Great Changes - Zeng Laojiu wants to transport the treasures of the King's Mansion back to the Heye Pond

On the first day of August when the lights were on, Zeng Guofan received the news of Anqing's victory.It seems that the very auspicious auspiciousness of "the combination of the sun and the moon, and the union of five stars and pearls" should indeed be on the battlefield of Anqing, and it should be on his Zeng family. The luckiest family in the world.This point will immediately be made known to the world through the emperor's praise.Thinking of this, Zeng Guofan was very excited.He immediately wrote a letter to Yuanfu and Zhengan under the lamp, congratulating the two younger brothers, and told them to come to Anqing to celebrate in person tomorrow, and the governor's office of Liangjiang moved to Anqing immediately.

Getting up early the next day, the east wind was strong, and the river was rough, making it impossible for the boat to sail. Zeng Guofan had to stay in Dongliu and draft the announcement of the good news.In the past, Zeng Guofan's memorabilia was unavoidable with boastful rhetoric.After his comeback, he kept Chen Guangfu's advice in mind, followed the Huang-Lao theory of life, and kept boasting and retreating softly. "A soldier's unlucky weapon is not a gentleman's weapon. Use it as a last resort. Tranquility is the most important thing. Those who win but are not beautiful are happy to kill people. Those who are happy to kill people can't achieve their ambitions in the world." "Lao Tzu What a profound statement, it's a pity that I didn't understand it deeply before!" Zeng Guofan thought.Although he was very happy for the victory of Anqing and the prosperity of the Zeng family deep in his heart, his news of the good news was very flat and indifferent. Hu Linyi made all the accomplishments of the three brothers of the family, and heaped all the achievements on Hu Linyi's head: "The layout of the front and back, and the plan to suppress and aid the thieves are all determined by Hu Linyi." his benefits.After writing, he also felt that this matter had been improved.Thinking of Bao Chao's big victory a few days ago, he simply changed it to Bao Chao's victory, and condensed the text of the capture of Anqing as much as possible, reducing it to an appendix.

The strong wind blew for three days and three nights, and on the morning of the fifth day, the Yangtze River was calm, and Zeng Guofan took a group of civil and military staff members down by boat.The launching boat moved quickly, and arrived at Anqing South Gate Wharf in less than two hours.Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Zhenqian, Bao Chao, Duolong'a, and Wei Jun were already waiting on the pier.Everyone was very happy to meet again after the great victory. "Where is Xueqin?" Zeng Guofan noticed that Peng Yulin, who had made great contributions, was missing from the welcome crowd. "He has gone to Chizhou Mansion and will come in a few days." Guoquan replied.

After exchanging pleasantries, Zeng Guofan prepared to enter the city through the south gate.Guoquan said: "Don't worry, big brother. Let's rest outside the city this afternoon. Hou Er and I will accompany big brother to see the battlefield outside the city, and we will enter the city tomorrow morning." Zeng Guofan said: "Alright, I want to take a closer look, so that I can understand the hardships the soldiers have endured in attacking the city for half a month. When you go to the soup and cake meeting, you can't hold the baby in your arms and forget the pain of the mother."

After that, he laughed out loud.The accompanying staff all said: "After a difficult birth, it's like rebirth. It's really not easy." That afternoon, everyone accompanied Zeng Guofan for a walk along the city wall.Seeing the contiguous gaps and bloodstains everywhere, Zeng Guofan kept sighing, lamenting the hard-won victory. After breakfast the next day, there was a long sedan chair outside the barracks, except for a green one, the rest were blue ones.Yuanfu invited his eldest brother to enter the green sedan chair.Zeng Guofan said: "The war has just ended and there is a mess everywhere. Everything should be kept simple. Just take a horse to travel. Why bother to find so many sedan chairs!"

Yuanfu laughed and said: "Long-haired officials like to sit in sedan chairs the most. There are at least a hundred official sedan chairs in Anqing City, but they like to use yellow silk and yellow satin to cover them. I've worked hard for a few days." Then, everyone got into the sedan chair one by one. Of the nine gates in Anqing City, the south gate is the tallest and widest. Over the past year or so, there have been few battles around the south gate and little damage has been done.Zeng Guoquan chose to enter the city from the south gate.Today, a tall archway is erected outside the south gate.The archway is decorated with pine branches, silk flowers, and four red lanterns are hung.Li Chendian, the subcommander of the former battalion with the auspicious character, was in command of the south gate.

Li Chendian, styled Xiangyun, is only twenty-four years old this year.Shaoyang people.I grew up in my grandmother's parents in Heyetang, Xiangxiang.He was very brave in life, and when he fought, he charged forward and was very brave. After he came to Jiziying from Zeng Guofan's side, he was highly regarded by Zeng Guoquan.In order to make this entry ceremony a success, Li Chendian made arrangements early on.Standing on the tower, he saw from a distance a line of thirty or forty sedan chairs meandering towards the south gate, and immediately ordered to get ready.When Zeng Guofan's green wool sedan chair was still a hundred feet away from the city gate, ten cannons lined up outside the south gate fired at the sky one after another.There was a muffled thunder-like cannon, and the birds and beasts ran away in fright, and the people nearby hid in the house one after another.The atmosphere of entering the city suddenly became majestic and serious.When the sound of artillery stopped, the sedan chair team had arrived at the gate of the city.Li Chendian led more than a hundred battalion officers and sentry officers of the former battalion with the auspicious character, dressed in neat military uniforms, standing upright on both sides of the city gate.Zeng Guofan hurriedly ordered the sedan chair to stop.He stepped out of the sedan chair, touched Li Chendian's shoulders with both hands, and said emotionally: "Li Fentong, you have done a great job in recovering the famous city for the country, please accept my gift from the governor."

After speaking, we must bow.Li Chendian was so flustered that he supported Zeng Guofan's hand and said: "My lord, please get on the sedan chair. In two days, all the officials of the Jizi Qianying will hold a banquet to clean up your lord. At that time, we will have to ask for a reward from your lord!" Zeng Guofan said happily: "Everyone has made great contributions. I have reported to the emperor. I think the imperial reward will come soon. My governor congratulates you all." After speaking, he got on the sedan chair again. Zeng Guoquan arranged the Liangjiang Governor's Yamen in the King's Mansion on Rongsheng Street.Since Anqing was occupied by the Taiping Army in the third year of Xianfeng, in the past eight years, successive governors of Anhui have been unable to take Anqing back.In the sixth year of Xianfeng, the checkpoint Chen Yucheng was ordered to be the general of Anqing, and the former governor's yamen was rebuilt into a checkpoint yamen.Afterwards, Chen Yucheng's official position was continuously promoted, and the checkpoint yamen was changed to Chengtianyu yamen and Yingwangfu.The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom paid attention to the repair of government offices, and the Yingwang Mansion became the most magnificent building in Anqing City.When Anqing was about to break down, Zeng Guoquan thought that there must be many rare treasures hidden in the Palace of King Ying, so he issued an order that any government office could be robbed, except that the Palace of King Ying was not allowed to enter.On the afternoon of the day when the city was broken, Zeng Guoquan hurried to the Yingwang Mansion with Zhenqian, and there were indeed many treasures inside.He ordered Yongding to pack all these things into a room, then put a seal on it, and sent several Yongdings to guard it day and night.

The streets and alleys along the way from the south gate to King Ying's Mansion have been cleaned up, and every ten or eight steps there is a Xiangyong with a knife and a gun, the atmosphere is solemn and majestic.Sitting in the sedan chair, Zeng Guofan couldn't help sighing: In the past, I didn't see that the ninth brother was superior, but he has really improved a lot in the past two years, not to mention the military ability to attack Anqing, just the arrangement of entering the city from the south gate , It has already shown the talent of a general.Thinking back to the time when he entered Wuchang before dawn and was almost killed by a cold arrow on the way, he could see the extraordinary courage and sophistication of the ninth brother more and more.

The sedan chair team stopped in front of the British Palace. The horizontal plaque with the three characters "Yingwang Mansion" has long since been smashed, and it has been replaced with a vertical plaque with gold characters on a black background in Liangjiang Governor's Yamen.The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom likes painting.Religious paintings about the heavenly father and brother and various pictures praising the heavenly king, the British king, and the military victory of the Taiping Army were painted everywhere in the palace of the king of England.Now, they are all covered by white lime, but the painting on the screen wall in front of the gate still remains.It was a peach tree with red flowers in full bloom, and a monkey was crawling on the trunk. The monkey held a wooden stick in his hand and poked a honeycomb on the branch of the peach tree, surrounded by startled little bees.Zeng Guofan stood in front of the screen wall and asked, "Why hasn't this painting been erased?"

"Brother!" Zeng Zhenqian stepped forward and said, "This is the picture of conferring a marquis. It is a homonym for bee and monkey. Brother Nine said that this picture must be obtained. This is a good omen for big brother to be a marquis in the future." "What a mess!" Zeng Guofan's face was full of displeasure, "Long Mao is ignorant, and comparing monkeys to Lord Hou, isn't it ridiculous! How can such nondescript graffiti be tolerated in the majestic governor's office. Brush it off quickly, Also write the four characters 'clean and honest'." "Yes! I'll call someone to do it right away." Guoquan took his eldest brother into the bedroom, pointed to the things in the house and said, "This is where the four-eyed dog lived in the past. The elder brother will keep what he wants, and I will ask someone to move it if he can't." Zeng Guofan looked around the bedroom and saw that the bedroom was quite luxuriously furnished, so he couldn't help frowning and said, "I don't leave a single thing in the room, just move it all away for me. Bring my bamboo boxes over here, and look for them again." An old bed, a few old desks, chairs and benches will do." Zeng Zhenqian said: "Ninth brother, since eldest brother doesn't want it, just carry it to my house, and let me enjoy it for a few days." "Okay, I will give you all the blessings of the baby." Zeng Guoquan waved his hand with a smile, and a dozen soldiers came over immediately, and swarmed away all the utensils in the room. Zeng Guoquan set up a sumptuous banquet in the Palace of King Ying.The meal lasted until night, when Zeng Guofan was about to undress and go to bed, Guoquan pushed the door open and came in: "Brother, I have something important to discuss with you." "What's the matter?" Zeng Guofan asked strangely. "Brother, in a few days, after the city has settled down a bit, Jiziying will ask Houer to take care of it, and I will go back to Heye Pond to recuperate for two months." "As far as your fatigue from the previous period is concerned, you should go back and take a rest." Zeng Guofan looked at the dark and thin face of his ninth brother, and said rather distressedly, "However, in my elder brother's opinion, don't go back for the time being. You have to take the army that conquered Anqing." Wei, go east to Wuwei, Chaoxian, Hanshan, and Hezhou, and prepare to march into Jiangning." "Brother is right," Yuan Fu said in a low voice, "I'm going back to the lotus leaf pond this time, in the name of recuperation, but in fact I want to transport the property of the King's Palace back." "How much treasure has the four-eyed dog amassed?" Zeng Guofan asked in surprise. "It's all sealed up in a room in the backyard, and it's worth more than a hundred thousand taels of silver." Zeng Guoquan said with joy on his face. "Are you going to transport all of them back to the lotus leaf pond?" Zeng Guofan looked annoyed. "Ship it all." Zeng Guoquan replied unequivocally, "I have already thought about transporting it by ship. I nailed fifty large boxes with old boards, and it is estimated that it can be filled, and put some old books outside. When people ask, I will Said to carry the book home. When I come back, I will buy a few boxes of ginseng along the way, and reward the generals who have made meritorious service this time.” "Yuanfu, you can't do this." Zeng Guofan said with a straight face, "The salary in the army is very tight. Except for the Jiziying and Zhenziying, all other ministries have owed their salary for many months. How can you use this huge sum of money?" Send the money home without permission? Besides, there is no impenetrable wall in the world, so you are not afraid of being accused of embezzling the stolen goods? This is absolutely unacceptable!" "Brother, you are too serious." Guoquan smiled slightly, not taking it seriously, "Swallowing stolen goods? Since the rise of the army, no matter whether it is the Eight Banners soldiers or the green battalion, which general will not take the stolen goods privately? Take our Xiangyong Internally speaking, how many generals did not transport gold and silver back to their hometown in Hunan? When Di An was alive, the amount of silver transported home was more than 100,000 to 200,000! The freight went back to Xiangxiang. His family’s farmland said it was 5,000 mu, and the number was recorded in other people’s names, let alone how many. Only our Zeng family, the elder brother was strict, and our brothers did not dare to bring one or two more. Go back with the silver. But how do other people see it? Have you thought about it? No one believes that we don’t embezzle the stolen goods, and they all say that the Golden Hall is now truly full of gold.” "Who said these groundless words?" Zeng Guofan said angrily. "A lot of people say this, not just in Xiangxiang County, but in the whole of Hunan. A few days ago, someone told me that no one in Xiangxiang County and Changsha City participated in the purchase, and some people said that they let the people of the Zeng family I bought it all! This time I really want to let everyone down, not only from Xiangxiang and Changsha, but also from Hengzhou and Xiangtan, I have to buy all the ginseng." Zeng Guoquan said more and more vigorously, with a loud voice. "Keep your voice down, old nine." Zeng Guofan said, "You have made such a great contribution this time, I think the emperor will definitely reward you generously, and I think you will put a standard secretary, or a feudal secretary, why bother to reward opponents?" What about the truth?" "I don't think so." Lao Jiu, who had been in command for several years, no longer obeyed his elder brother's orders as in the past.He has his own way, but when talking to his eldest brother, his tone and demeanor are still respectful. "Whether the emperor is promoted to my official position or not, I don't think I care whether I bring money back home, or whether others criticize or not. In today's troubled times, what the emperor wants is to restore his country as soon as possible, as long as my Jiziying If he can fight, he must be promoted to my official position!" Although Zeng Guoquan's words were not subtle, they were telling the truth. "Brother, in the 23rd year of Daoguang, you released the main examiner in Sichuan for the first time, and got two thousand taels of Cheng Yi, and hurriedly sent back one thousand taels, and attached a long list. Relatives, friends, and neighbors all wrote it down. I He and the fourth and sixth brothers didn't understand at the time that our family was very tight and we had some money, so why bother to spread out like this. The eldest brother enlightened us, saying that relatives and friends supported us a lot in the past, and some of them were old. If we didn't give them some money earlier , I'm afraid I won't be able to repay you in the future; I also fondly recall what Uncle Nanwu said that he would be your cook. We were very moved after watching it, and finally did exactly what the elder brother said.Brother, you may not be very clear about it. Over the years, because you are an upright official and your family does not have much money, many relatives have resented us, saying that you have taken on a false name and have not received any benefits. " Zeng Guofan laughed and said, "It's really wronged them to be relatives of my Zeng family." "Brother, I know that you want to be a sage who will be blamed without any flaws, but the family property must be disregarded, the jobs of the descendants must be considered, and the demands of close relatives and friends must be met. Brother, you don't care about this kind of thing, let me Let’s do it. I’m not afraid of what people say, and I don’t want to be a sage, what I’m saying is the truth. Besides, the property in Anqing City has been divided among the brothers, and it’s not too much for Zhengan and me to belong to the Puppet King’s Palace.” "Yuanfu, what do I usually teach you? You just conquered a provincial capital, and you are so hasty to buy property and show off your wealth. If you really conquer Jiangning in the future, why don't you take away the gold and silver capital in the pseudo-king's palace?" Transport it back to the lotus leaf pond?" Seeing that the eldest brother was angry, Lao Jiu stopped speaking.At this time, Zhengan came in, holding a stack of papers in his hand: "Brother, this is the recommendation list, and the soldiers of all battalions are urging it, so you should read it quickly!" Zeng Guofan took it and flipped through it one by one.Zeng Guofan didn't know most of the names on the recommendation form, and he couldn't figure out the contribution of each person. Knowing that there must be many inaccuracies in it, he had no choice but to pick up a pen to sign, but suddenly saw a name: " Hou Er, is this Jin Yimin the son of Jin Songling?" Zhengan nodded.Zeng Guofan became angry: "He is only a ten-year-old boy, so please pull out the head first, and reward him with a blue feather. If people know it, he will laugh!" Zeng Zhengan explained in a calm manner: "Brother, since Jin Songling was executed, his mother, wife and children have lived a very pitiful life. I know that my brother regretted it a little later, but he is dead and irreparable. , so he can only do his best for his son. Brother, don't forget that Jin Yimin's grandfather once saved the life of his mother. " "It's a child after all, and it's far away in Xiangxiang, which is too far away." Zeng Guofan said, his tone obviously relaxed. "When I grow up, I'm afraid the battle will be over long ago!" Zeng Guoquan leaned in and interjected.Zeng Guofan pondered for a moment, picked up his pen again, and wrote two words: according to copying.The three brothers were about to go to bed, when there was a sudden sound of horseshoes outside, everyone felt the suddenness, so they put on their clothes and walked out the door at the same time.As soon as he left the room, Kang Fu was walking from the gate holding a wooden box: "My lord, the imperial court has an urgent document." Zeng Guofan hurriedly took the wooden box and entered the house.The wooden box was opened, revealing a letter from the Ministry of War, on which it was written: Six hundred miles delivered day and night, to Zeng Daying, governor of Dongliu Liangjiang. "Why are you in such a hurry?" He hurriedly opened the envelope, and a line of words jumped into his eyes. He felt his eyes darken, his hands softened, and he collapsed on the chair, and the message from the Ministry of War fell from his hands...