Chapter 41 Shen Baozhen was killed on the seven-and-a-half road

Soon, Bao Chao led the Tingzi Battalion to Jinling City and stationed in the area from Shence Gate to Zhongfu Gate.So far, the originally planned army of the five east, west, south, north and water routes has arrived in Jinling, except that Duolong'a on the west route was dispatched to Shaanxi, and the north route remained in Anhui due to the death of commander-in-chief Li Xuyi.Under the unified command of Zeng Guoquan, the Hunan Army cooperated by water and land to take down the eight passes in the southeast: Zhonghe Bridge, Shuangqiao Gate, Qiqiao Urn, Fangshan, Tushan, Shangfangmen, Jiaoqiaomen, Moling Pass, and then captured Chun Hua, Jiexi, Longdu, Hushu, Sancha five towns.In this way, the southeast of Jinling was completely blocked by the Hunan Army, and Jinling City truly became an isolated city.

Jinling City Wall is known as the best in the world.It is ninety miles long, as high as a three-story building, and two carriages can pass side by side on the top of the wall.The root of the city wall is connected with rivers and lakes, and only the area from Tongjimen to Taipingmen is land.Zeng Guoquan took Zhao Liewen, Kang Fu and others along the city wall from Jubaomen to Taipingmen to inspect the terrain.I saw that the city has high walls, thick walls and tight defenses. It is difficult to deploy soldiers and firepower to attack outside the city. "No wonder it has been the capital for hundreds of years!" Zeng Guoquan thought to himself.There is only one place that is the best, and that is the area from Fugui Mountain outside Taipingmen to Longjing.This is the southern foot of Zhongshan Mountain. The terrain on the left is very high, which is convenient for setting up artillery positions. The artillery can be fired flat into the city, which is enough to control the defensive firepower on the city wall. The terrain on the right is extremely low, which is also conducive to digging holes.

"This is really a gift from God!" Zeng Guoquan laughed triumphantly.Just at this moment, a cannon shot came over, and the horse was startled so that its front hooves flew into the air, and a cloud of dust was raised around it. "No, there is a fortress on the mountain!" Kang Fu pointed to a stone fortress on the top of the mountain.Sure enough, there was a tall and solid stone fortress on the top of the third peak of Zhongshan Mountain, and it was from there that the cannon was fired just now.Zeng Guoquan and the others quickly retreated. "Jiu Shuai, there is another one over there!" Peng Yuju pointed at a black-gray stone barrier on the dragon's neck and exclaimed.It was indeed another one, and this one was being built in the best position for a siege.Because this is a favorable terrain for attacking the city, the city defense of Jinling in all dynasties paid great attention to it.On the basis of their predecessors, the Taiping Army even heightened and thickened these two stone barriers, and mounted the most sophisticated Western cannons here.The stone base on the mountain is named Tianbao City, and the stone base under the mountain is named Bunker City.

"Fuck me!" Zeng Guoquan cursed wildly, "Move the old battalion to Xiaolingwei! I must blow it up. Let's see if it is stronger or I am stronger!" After several days and nights of fighting, Xiao Fusi and Zhu Hongzhang led the Jiezi Camp and Huanzi Camp to take down the Tianbao City at a heavy price, but the last fortress outside the city, the Bunker City, has always been impregnable. The cannons bombarded indiscriminately, still standing motionless on the dragon's neck, which made Zeng Guoquan very headache.Since the bunker city cannot be attacked, the tunnels outside the city cannot always be dug.For half a month, the Hunan army left hundreds of corpses at the entrance of the tunnel, but was unable to dig a tunnel leading to the foot of the city wall.

The fact that this bone is so hard and hard to crack is enough to make Zeng Guoquan angry and Zeng Guofan worried. Unexpectedly, Shen Baozhen's refusal to pay the salary suddenly happened, which made Zeng Guoquan and Zeng Guofan even more angry. After Zeng Guofan became the governor of Jiangxi, he stipulated that all Lijin in Jiangxi should be used as military pay, and Caozhe and Jiujiang customs taxes were often intercepted and transported to the military camp.When Shen Baozhen served as governor of Jiangxi, he went against the old habit of his predecessor's inaction, and raised money to build a regiment by himself, which greatly increased the expenditure.After the defeat of the Taiping Army in the Zhejiang battlefield, a large number of personnel retreated to Jiangxi. The situation in Jiangxi was critical.Shen Baozhen took the opportunity to expand the provincial regiment training.As a result, the number of Yongding in Jiangxi increased to more than 30,000, and the expenditure on food and salaries was huge.Therefore, Shen Baozhen often withheld the funds for the Jinling siege division and used them as Jiangxi military pay.Zeng Guoquan was very dissatisfied with this, and asked his elder brother repeatedly.Although Zeng Guofan was extremely dissatisfied with Shen Baozhen's actions, the military situation in Jiangxi was indeed serious, so he had to endure it, comfort his younger brother with good words, and sometimes moved some from other places to the Jizi camp.

Last year, Zeng Guofan sent a private letter to Cai Jinqing of Jiujiang Customs Road, asking him to release 30,000 taels of foreign tax from Jiujiang Customs to Jinling Weishi.When Cai Jinqing was halfway through, Shen Baozhen found out, and Shen angrily reprimanded Cai, threatening to remove Cai from his post as a Taoist priest if he didn't take it back. Zeng Guofan was extremely annoyed at Shen Baozhen's inhumanity.Not to mention that Shen Baozhen was personally recommended by him, even if there is no such relationship, he still has to implement the imperial order and accept the governor's restraint.Shen Baozhen's move was ruthless and unreasonable. According to Zeng Guofan's past character, he had already participated in it, but now he endured this tone and returned the 15,000 taels of silver he received.Zeng Guoquan under the city of Jinling scolded Shen Baozhen, and even blamed his elder brother for being too useless.When Zeng Guofan heard this, he just smiled wryly, without making any distinctions.

But what time is it?Tianbao City has fallen, and Jinling City is about to be breached, and when he is about to use money to encourage Jizi Daying to work hard, Shen Baozhen withholds all the 50,000 lijin that should be paid to Jinling, refuses to give any money, and even sues the imperial court Zeng Guofan only had Jinling in his eyes, and he ignored Jiangxi's danger, and declared that if Lijin was forcibly released, he would have to resign.What made Zeng Guofan even more intolerable was that Shen Baozhen also colluded with the great scholar and Hubu Shangshu Woren, and through Woren, said that the two lakes, Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong agreed to settle Zeng Guofan's military salary of 155,000 taels every month. Full solution, there is also a monthly income of 100,000 taels, and most of Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been purged, and Shanghai is even richer.

Zeng Guofan almost fainted when he saw the Woren Memorial that had been forwarded.If the salary is not enough, the Jinling Weishi is likely to fall short; the demand for lijin will arouse hatred from top to bottom.Zeng Guofan was in a dilemma and was full of worries. Ringworm, which was already much better, had a sudden attack, which made him miserable. "This ungrateful villain!" Zeng Guofan finally couldn't help cursing Shen Baozhen to his confidantes, "I would like to suggest that the imperial court add another department of no conscience in addition to the subject of erudite poetry, and take Shen Baozhen as the first place. .”

"My lord, Shen Baozhen is too hateful. Cutting off the salary at this time is simply drawing the salary of Jinling Weishi from the bottom of the pot, and it will be stuck on the neck of the nine marshals. Yang Guodong and I and others tried to figure out your lord's intentions, and paid Shen Baozhen a discount. This is Sir, please have a look at the draft." Peng Shouyi took out two pieces of paper from his cuff and handed them to Zeng Guofan. In the past few days, the staff members have been talking about Jiangxi's refusal to pay, and everyone is very angry.Peng Shouyi thought that Chen Qimai, the governor of Jiangxi, was impeached by Zeng Guofan for his salary.At that time, he was just a registered servant, living in Jiangxi, and Chen Qimai was his fellow countryman of the same age, even if they couldn't get along with each other, they made up accusations, protested with sparse words, and vowed not to give up until they achieved their goals.Now he is the co-organizer, the governor of Liangjiang, and he is ordered by the empress dowager and the emperor to control the military affairs of the four provinces. His power and prestige are so high that there is no second Han Chinese since San Francisco.Besides, Shen Baozhen is his junior subordinate and the person he promoted, can he tolerate it?Peng Shouyi pondered Zeng Guofan's mind in this way, discussed with Yang Guodong, Li Hongyi, Wang Shiduo and others, and first drafted a stern statement.

Zeng Guofan browsed through the manuscript, and saw that Shen Baozhen's crimes were listed above: poor defense, loss of state and county, incompetent government officials, traitors in power, falling power, manipulation by inferior actors, etc., especially the refusal of payment this time, resulting in The harm of Jinling's inability to overcome the speed has been greatly exaggerated.Judging from this note, Shen Baozhen is indeed not good enough to serve as a great official in Xinjiang, and should be dismissed immediately for investigation.The manuscript was pinched in Zeng Guofan's hands for a long time.

"My lord, Shen Baozhen is too hateful, we all feel wronged for your lord." Peng Shouyi encouraged, "If your lord has no other changes, I will ask Luo Boyi to copy it." "Slow down." Zeng Guofan stared at Peng Shouyi's photo The face that lost its right ear said thoughtfully, "I'll think about it again." Back then Chen Qimai was so straightforward and bold, why is Shen Baozhen so hesitant and undecided now?Peng Shouyi couldn't understand. "Chang Geng, you are from Jiangxi. Let me ask you, why does the governor of Jiangxi always feel sorry for me? Shen Youdan was also very respectful when he was in my shadow. Wenjun also opposed me. Do you know the reason here? "Zeng Guofan's eyes were lost, and his face was melancholy. Regarding the reasons for this, Peng Shouyi, a native of Jiangxi, naturally knows something.It turned out that the Jiangxi officialdom did not like Zeng Guofan from top to bottom.First, the Hunan army built a lika in northern Jiangxi to collect money without authorization, cutting off local sources of income, and later banned private salt, emptying the private pockets of many officials. Regardless of the mess in Jiangxi, he hurried back to his hometown for the funeral, causing an uproar in the officialdom.In addition, Zeng Guofan was repeatedly defeated by Shi Dakai in Jiangxi for several years, and Jiujiang City could not be defeated after three years of fighting. Soon after leaving, Jiujiang and Hukou were recovered one after another.Therefore, the Jiangxi official circles believed that Zeng Guofan lacked military talent and was fond of fighting for power. " Shen Baozhen had been a magistrate in Jiangxi for many years, so he was very clear about the past. After becoming Ganfu, he heard the discussions from the upper and lower levels, and felt that what they said made sense.In particular, Jiangxi is not rich, and he has been devastated to raise the province's military salary, but Zeng Guofan urged Jiangxi to pay the salary like a ghost, ignoring the lives of others for the sake of his younger brother's first contribution, which angered Shen Baozhen and the officials of Jiangxi province. So they unanimously decided to fight Zeng Guofan.Shen Baozhen thinks he is innocent and has no grounds to be arrested by Zeng Guofan. He would rather throw away his black hat than give in. Can Peng Shouyi tell Zeng Guofan about these situations?What's more, although Peng Shouyi is from Jiangxi, he has always hated Jiangxi officialdom. He doesn't think Jiangxi officialdom's opinion on Zeng Guofan is justified. "My lord, Jiangxi's officialdom has always had a bad atmosphere. If you are close to Zhu, you will be red, and if you are close to Mo, you will be black. Anyone who goes to Jiangxi to be a governor will turn bad." Peng Shouyi replied angrily.Zeng Guofan was noncommittal after listening to it, and looked at the manuscript again.The manuscript was well drafted, the wording was rigorous and thoughtful, and there was no gap. Over the years, under Zeng Guofan's guidance, the level of drafting by the staff has been greatly improved. At that time, the memorial submitted by the governor of Liangjiang was known as the first in the country, and became a model for the governors of all provinces to learn from.Zeng Guofan was cruel several times, and wanted to sign the word "repair", but in the end he decided not to publish it. First of all, the matter of participating in Shen Baozhen itself is inappropriate.Shen was personally recommended by himself, saying that Shen should be dismissed and investigated, wouldn't it mean that he was negligent in recommending people?Because of Li Yuan's affairs, Zeng Guofan, who had admitted to the court that he had made a mistake in recommending people, did not want to smear his face again.Besides, although the purpose of expelling Jinling was to fight Changmao's lair, half of it was also for his younger brother.Such a high position and weight has already reached the point of envy, and another governor who is impeached within his own restraint for military pay will provide excuses for critics.The more sharp-edged the opponent is, the more he must be weak and give in so as to show his righteousness.If you want to take it, you must first give it.He decided to overcome rigidity with softness and advance with retreat. Zeng Guofan breathed a sigh of relief, laid the manuscript flat on the table, and straightened his back.Peng Shouyi thought it was going to be wholesale, so he quickly dipped the pen in ink and handed it over.Zeng Guofan shook his hand. "My lord." Peng Shouyi was still not reconciled, "Subordinates have always obeyed Shangfeng, so that they can take advantage of their fingers. Shen Baozhen used the governor to disobey the governor when the military situation is urgent, and it is reasonable to participate." "Chang Geng, you don't understand my painstaking efforts." Zeng Guofan said with a sad expression, "Shen Youdan deliberately restrained me, how can I not be angry, but when I think carefully about the way the ancients did things, the place of restraint and the end of disobedience, the world has it, everyone can't help it It is the behavior of a powerful official to hate his rebellion and obey him, and try his best to eliminate dissidents. This is the behavior of a sage. Shen Youdan's rebellion is to sharpen his virtue." "My lord, you are too kind." Peng Shouyi said emotionally, "Why don't I write a private letter to him for my lord, and tell him clearly that the red cap was given by my lord, and I want him to know something about it." "Chang Geng, don't act recklessly. You are familiar with history books, so you should know the story of Lou Shide's unkindness. There was a glorious history of Lou Shide in the previous dynasty. Can't this dynasty publish another one?" After a while , Chief Zeng Guofan sighed and said, "It's useless even if you explain it, I know Shen Youdan is not Di Renjie." Peng Shouyi couldn't say anything more, picked up the manuscript and quit angrily.Zeng Guofan picked up the pen, thought for a while, and drew up a euphemistic note by himself, "Let Chen's salary is short of soldiers and weak posts, Ren Taiguang's household department is not true".First of all, what the Ministry of Household said about the monthly assistance of more than 150,000 taels of silver from the two lakes, Sichuan, and Jiangxi provinces is all based on speculation.Sichuan has not paid any money in the past five years, and Hunan has not paid any money this year. The Jiujiang Customs tax from Jiangxi has been refunded, and only Guangdong has paid 90,000 taels this year.Writing here, Zeng Guofan couldn't help but secretly thank his old friend Guo Songtao.Since Guo Songtao took charge of Yuefu last year, Yueli has hardly been broken.The Xieji in Hubei only supplied a few troops that were originally paid by Hubei, and did not support the Hunan army besieging Jinling.Next, Zeng Guofan thought for a long time, and wrote a few painful words: "The minister knows the stupidity, and the heavy responsibility is wrong. It is said that huge sums of money were received and paid from the six provinces, and suspicious ministers seized the rights. Although the ministers are very stupid, do you not know that in ancient times, those who steal the rights have always suffered misfortunes. Externally, they are afraid of the Qing Dynasty, internally, they care about their wealth, and they are afraid of the emperor all night long, and they are worried and afraid. " After writing this point, he couldn't help being a little disturbed. He stopped writing, stared at the window lattice for a long time, thought for a long time, and then continued to write.He also said that his current position was divided among six people in the past, and he had repeatedly asked the emperor Jian to send a highly respected minister to do it. The ground, with its weak strength and sick body, is not self-sufficient to defend against the thieves, so it has to be presented before the Holy Lord. After finishing writing, he considered it carefully from beginning to end, made a few small changes, and was quite satisfied.Just about to order Luo Boyi to transcribe, Yang Guodong came in. "My lord, there is a large sum of money now, which is rightfully ours. Why don't your lord ask the court for it?" "Where is our big money?" Zeng Guofan couldn't figure out what Yang Guodong said. "Your Excellency, have you forgotten? The fleet purchased by Li Taitai was returned the year before last, and Li Taitai promised to pay the court 500,000 taels of silver. The fleet was originally bought to fight Jinling, and the money was given to us. Now that the fleet is gone, the 500,000 taels returned Shouldn't the ten thousand talents be returned to us?" "Yes, yes!" Zeng Guofan suddenly became happy, "Guodong, your reminder is too important. During this period of time, Shen Baozhen was so dizzy that he forgot about it. Of course, the five hundred thousand taels of silver should belong to us!" "The silver was returned in two batches. The first batch of 290,000 yuan has been deposited into the account of the Ministry of Accounts, and it will be difficult to get it out again. The second batch of 210,000 yuan is still in Shanghai. Your Excellency sent a message to the Prime Minister's Office." Explain this situation and ask them to ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to return the 290,000 yuan, and on the other hand, send a letter to Shaoquan, ordering him to release the 210,000 yuan in Shanghai to Jinling as soon as possible." "Okay, let's do it like this. Please write a message to Prince Gong, and I will write Shaoquan's letter." It's like a fish dying in a dry ditch, suddenly getting a stream of clear spring and immediately becoming active , Zeng Guofan forgot the annoyance of fighting with Shen Baozhen, and happily wrote a book with a pen. The imperial court quickly made a ruling that half of Jiangxi Lijin should be kept in the province, and the other half should be controlled by Jiang Du.A crisis was finally over.