Chapter 52 Five Zeng Guoquan Meets the Old in Other Lands

After the impeachment of Guan Wen, Zeng Guoquan had a very uncomfortable life.Qian Xiang fought against the Nian Army, and the Xinxiang Army was defeated.Officials ridiculed the impeachment case, saying that he was narrow-minded and arrogant, and the court felt that he had gone too far.Zeng Guoquan was under attack from both inside and outside, so he resigned from office and returned home on the pretext of a recurrence of his injury.After returning to the lotus leaf pond, he used the gold and silver plundered from Anqing and Jiangning to set up farmland, and built a large number of buildings. The Dafudi building was huge and complicated, and nearly 100,000 silver was consumed, which shocked the gentry in Xiangxiang.Usually spend money like water at home, everything is about luxury and style.He thought Hunan's letterheads were not good, so he sent someone to Beijing with 800 taels of silver, and swept away all the valuable letterheads in Liulichang, which made the bosses dumbfounded.He himself felt that he was a bit too out of the ordinary, and was afraid of causing resentment from his brothers and nephews, so he built a group of buildings five miles away from the Golden Hall, named Fuhoutang, as a gift to his eldest brother.Another house was built, named Youheng Hall, and given to Guobao's heir.The Golden Hall was rebuilt and renamed Wannian Hall, where Guohuang's family was housed.Guohua's wives and concubines lived in Baiyutang, and they didn't want to move anymore, so he gave another 20,000 silver to Jishou.In this way, the brothers and nephews all praised Master Jiu for his brotherhood.But the people in a radius of dozens of miles complained everywhere.Because Zeng Mansion built so many high-rise buildings, it needed a lot of old trees, and most of these old trees grew on the cemetery, and the owners were unwilling to cut them down.Zeng Guoquan invited the leading figures from the four townships and asked them to help.

Who doesn't want to please these people?So he forced the common people to cut down the big trees on the graves that had been passed down from their grandfathers and great-grandfathers to honor the Zeng Mansion.The common people dared not speak out, and they all hated to death in private, hoping that the newly-built buildings would be struck by lightning and set on fire.This is still second to none. There are two things that bothered Zeng Guoquan the most. One is the children of the generals who died in the original Jizi camp, who came to him in three days and two days to complain. They also have their own troubles.The pension silver is limited, and it will be used up in a year or two.Seeing other people returning home in a splendid manner, bringing their treasures in boats and vehicles, and not counting the loss of their own relatives' lives, and not getting any extra money, how can they not be angry and jealous!This is one layer, and another layer.Some of the former subordinates of the dead generals were not doing well, and they often came to the door to cry and make a fuss, saying that the salary owed to him had not been paid, and they all smuggled them home, forcing their children to pay back the salary.These children were troubled and angry, and had nowhere to vent, so they all went to the commander of Uehara Jiziying.

Some women and Taoists still think of their dead husbands and sons because of this, and they can cry for days and nights in the doctor's building with disheveled hair, which makes Zeng Guoquan's family restless.Some old relatives and old friendships who really can't deal with it can only be reluctantly dismissed by spending tens of hundreds of taels of silver. The second headache was Yuan Jiziying Guanyong who was in Hunan and caused troubles in Xiangxiang, especially the Gelaohui.Most of the members of the Gelaohui are junior officers and Yong Ding who have not plundered much money on the front line.The war has been fought for a long time, and the industrious and frugal nature of the peasants has been completely lost. With a little bit of skill, several military exploits, and seeing scenes, they are very courageous. The local officials didn't dare to face it squarely, and the honest people avoided it even more.These old Hunan Army units that have harmed the village are far better than the Chuanzihui, Hongheihui, and Yichongxianghui back then, leaving the king-robbing thieves in the past beyond the reach.The grievances of the common people and the accusations of the officials and gentry all reached the ears of Yuan Jiziying Commander, and he was helpless.Moreover, I also vaguely heard that someone from Luo Zenan's and Li Xubin's family was also involved in the Gelaohui, and it was said that Xiao Fusi had become the head of the Gelaohui.Without real evidence, Zeng Guoquan is not easy to deal with them, let alone this first-class Wei Yibo who is full of complaints about the court, he doesn't want to deal with these things at all.

A month ago, he received a letter from his eldest brother.The letter was very bleak, saying that it is possible to go to Jiuquan to meet with Lord Xinggang and Lord Zhuting every day and night, and invite him and Chenghou to come to Jiangning for a short period of time, so that the brothers can meet each other for the last time.The stall at home was too big, and it was impossible to leave the head of the family even for a moment, Cheng Hou couldn't travel far, so Yuan Fu had to go to Jiangning to visit his elder brother on behalf of him. In the afternoon of this day, Zeng Guoquan's luxurious boat was moored at Digang Wharf in Fanchang County on the south bank of the Yangtze River.Zeng Guoquan remembers that ten years ago, he took advantage of the prestige of conquering Anqing and captured Fanchang County in one fell swoop.Revisiting the old place, I became interested, so I took my eldest son Ji Rui and servants Wang Yong and Xiong Qiang off the ship and went ashore.

The majestic and invincible Nine Commanders back then, now has no guards to surround him. Although he is wearing a valuable Firefox fur robe and a valuable sable warm hat, he has not attracted the attention of the general public.The four masters and servants walked around Digang Town and saw that the fields were barren and the market was bleak. People wore thin old clothes and ragged jackets, shivering in the cold wind and doing nothing.It seems that the word "sufficiency and clothing" still has a long way to go for most people in Digang Town.Zeng Guoquan's heart was as heavy as a stone, this is the town he recovered from Changmao for ten years!It's only worse than the situation when the long hairs took over.He wandered into a tavern, where he drank a few glasses of wine.People have no money in their hands, and agricultural products are surprisingly cheap.Wang Yong and Xiong Qiang, carrying fish, meat, chicken and ducks in their hands, followed their master back to the boat.

After dinner, the surface of the river was already pitch black.The river wind blew the waves, making a burst of muddy noise, and the boat floated up and down on the water.Zeng Guoquan was reading in the cabin with the lights on.It was late at night, everyone on board had fallen asleep, and the boatmen who had worked hard all day let out rude snores.Seeing that the lamp oil was about to run out, Zeng Guoquan stretched himself, ready to undress and go to bed. Suddenly, from the window, he saw a row of torches on the bank walking towards the side of the ship.Years of military career has developed his high degree of vigilance.He immediately got off the bed, put on his pants and shoes, and stared at the shore.The torch team was getting closer and closer. There were about forty or fifty people, with a few horses in the middle, and a small sedan chair carried by two people.When they approached for more than ten feet, Zeng Guoquan saw clearly: each of them had a long knife hanging from their waists!

"Oops, maybe we met bandits who robbed us!" He groaned secretly, and immediately woke up the people on board, everyone was so frightened that they had no idea.The eldest son Ji Rui, who is over twenty-three years old, married a wife and had children, lived in wealth and peace since he was a child. He has never seen such a scene before, and he has long been scared to hide in the deep cabin, his face turned pale and his feet trembled.Finally, all the torchbearers stopped by the boat, with black cloth wrapped around their heads and black cloth belts tied around their waists, shouting and yelling.A big man jumped off his horse and took a few steps forward, followed by four or five torches.The big man shouted at the boat: "Boss, is this Zeng Jiushuai's boat?"

After shouting several times, the boss of the boat did not dare to answer, and ordered the men to prepare sticks, knives and guns.Zeng Guoquan looked at the big man again and again from the window, and he seemed familiar, so he said a few words to the boss of the boat. "Who are you? Tell me your name!" The boss of the boat came to the deck, holding a ten-meter-long bamboo pole in his hand, and asked sharply. "Boss, please tell Jiu Shuai that I am Li Chenzhang, the younger brother of Li Chendian, the former Xinzi battalion officer. I haven't seen Jiu Shuai for many years. I know that Jiu Shuai's boat is here tonight, and he is here to visit." The man said loudly. Reply.

Is he really the younger brother of Li Chendian who was honored as a viscount and died disgracefully before he could accept the imperial edict?Zeng Guoquan called the boat boss into the cabin and gave him another instruction. "Do you have any evidence for saying that you are the subordinate of Jiu Shuai?" The boat boss put aside the bamboo pole, rolled up a trumpet with both hands, and shouted into it with his mouth. "Yes!" The answer was very happy, "Boss, stay away!" As soon as the words fell, a long black image flew towards the sky like a flying centipede, and fell on the deck with a "boom".The boat boss went over and picked it up. It turned out to be a waist knife in a scabbard.He walked into the cabin and handed the waist knife to Zeng Guoquan.

Looking at the scabbard, Zeng Guoquan knew that it was a waist knife handed out by himself.He took out the knife, and there were two lines of words engraved on the bright knife: "Kill the ugliness and be loyal to the king. It was a gift from Zeng Guofan." Next to it was the number: No. 17,200 Lushisi. It is indeed the old department of Jiziying that is correct! It turned out that after Zeng Guoquan conquered Anqing, he took the right to cast and distribute waist knives starting from No. 10,000 from his elder brother, and he controlled them all by himself.His waist knives were handed out indiscriminately. When Jinling was captured, almost 10,000 people got this kind of engraved waist knives with the characters of 50,000 auspicious, which made a very high honor worthless, which greatly violated Zeng Guofan. original intention.

To prevent accidents, Zeng Guoquan only let Li Chenzhang onto the boat.Lanterns and candles were lit together, and the cabin was brightly lit.When Li Chenzhang got on the boat, he saw Zeng Guoquan sitting on the chair majestically, hurriedly took two steps forward, bowed his head and bowed: "Li Chenzhang, the left sentry chief of the former auspicious character, and the rear camp, kowtows to Lord Jiushuai!" "Raise your head!" Zeng Guoquan ordered. Li Chenzhang raised his head.Zeng Guoquan saw clearly now that it was indeed Li Chenzhang, the whistle chief who had been awarded the rank of general on the eve of the withdrawal of Jiziying!Seeing the old department here can be said to be an old acquaintance in a foreign land.Zeng Guoquan was happy, he lost the majestic expression he put on just now, and returned to his informal nature: "Get up, let Jiu Shuai take a good look at you, the grandson of you!" Li Chenzhang was very happy when he heard the familiar and intimate voice of abuse. He immediately jumped up from the boat, walked up to Zeng Guoquan, and said with a smile on his face, "Jiu Shuai, I haven't seen you grow old in seven or eight years." , we want to die." "How do you know I'm here?" "A few brothers saw you in Digang Town in the afternoon. When I heard the news, I came here immediately." "That's right, you haven't changed much, you're thirty!" Zeng Guoquan asked with a smile, grabbing Li Chenzhang's two strong shoulders. "I'm thirty-two years old, and now I'm thirty-three years old." Li Chenzhang's mouth was wide open, and his two big canine teeth were dazzling. Zeng Guoquan stared at him again, and then shook his shoulders vigorously. Seeing that he couldn't shake them, he withdrew his right hand, clenched his fist, and punched him unexpectedly.Li Chenzhang shook slightly, and immediately stood up straight again. "Good boy, it's still the same as Jiziying back then!" "Jiu Shuai, your old fist is not as strong as it used to be." Li Chenzhang laughed, "The first time my brother took me to see you old, he knocked me down with one punch and I couldn't get up for a long time." "Remember those Chen Guzi rotten sesame seeds?" Zeng Guoquan laughed out loud. "Sit down, sit down and have a good chat, you have been doing well in recent years!" Li Chenzhang sat down next to Zeng Guoquan.Wang Yong brought two cups of tea. "Take it down, ignorant thing!" Zeng Guoquan yelled loudly, "The warriors in Jiziying don't have the habit of drinking tea, so serve wine!" When Wang Yong changed to the food and drink, Ji Rui, who was just in shock, followed behind. "Second Four, come and see Captain Li." Zeng Guoquan raised his hand and pointed to his son. Seeing that he was well dressed, Li Chenzhang asked tentatively, "Is it the young master, or the young nephew?" "This is Boss Ji Rui." "Oh, young master." Li Chenzhang hurriedly stood up and saluted, and Zeng Jirui also bent down. "Second Li." After a few sips of wine, Zeng Guoquan called Li Chenzhang by the name he used to call in the barracks, "Who are the people on the shore, do you want to give them some water?" "No more. Marshal Nine," Li Chenzhang leaned his face closer, and said with a smile, "Because I respectfully invite you to stay at my house for two days, I have a lot to say to you." "How far is your house from here?" "It's not far, only about 20 li. The humble officer brought an empty sedan chair for Jiushuai. I didn't know that the young master was coming too, so I didn't prepare an extra sedan chair. Fortunately, there were a few horses, and I spared one for it." Eldest young master sit down." "Okay, let's go to your house and have a look." The boat ride on this journey is too boring, so it's good to change the taste for two days. "Ji Rui doesn't know how to ride a horse, so let him sit in a sedan chair, and I'll ride a horse!" "How can I do that?" Li Chenzhang said hastily, "I'll call another sedan chair when I get to the town." "Forget it, I haven't ridden a horse for four or five years, and I want to ride too." Zeng Guoquan waved his hand, "Let's go, you lead the way, and I will be a guest at Li's residence tonight!"