Cao Shuai's meeting with the head of state this time gave him an extremely strong spiritual shock. In fact, he couldn't understand many of the words the head of state said, but he was a little confused, as if he had found the patch of paper in the dark room. Fake wall of paper!
As long as there is a direction, there will be a breakthrough. Cao Shuai has at least found the direction of future study and found the key!
But at the same time, he felt very lonely, because the words of the head of state had completely destroyed the last trace of illusion of the Northwest Army!
Of course Zuo Zongtang is a loyal minister, there is no doubt about this, but Zuo Zongtang is also a mortal and he also has his own selfish motives!
He would never rebel against the Qing Dynasty. He had served the Qing Dynasty for most of his life. Why would he want to rebel when he got old? No matter what others say, he can't live with it!
As for jumping on Xiao Letian's battleship, he had not considered it, but he still couldn't save face!
Now he can be regarded as the Northwest King of the Qing Dynasty. He is a veteran general in the Hunan Army. With this status, he is equal to Xiao Letian! Just like Zeng Guofan, but he really boarded Xiao Letian's warship and became his subordinate?
Xiao Letian is too young, why should I kowtow to him at my age? I can’t save my face!
It seems that we can only go to the dark side in the muddy waters of Manchu and Qing Dynasties! But he knew very well the virtues of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. When you are needed, you are the ancestor, but when you are not needed, you are just a bug!
There is a lot of work involved in removing mills and killing donkeys. Today you are the king of the northwest, but tomorrow you may be in jail!
I don’t care anymore, I have taken life and death, honor and disgrace lightly, poverty is just one day, rich is just one day, nobility is just one day!
But what about my brother? What to do with the 100,000 soldiers brought out to conquer the West? They trust themselves and entrust their lives to themselves. Will there be no end in the future?
Why did Zuo Zongtang let the Zhengxi Army stay to guard the border? In fact, he also saw the fate of the Hunan Army veterans currently staying in Jiangnan!
The imperial court has begun to unload the mill and kill the donkey. Since the war is over, the imperial court has begun to systematically dismantle the Hunan Army, giving money, honorary titles, and empty yellow mandarin jackets with dazzling feathers!
Use the money, honor and land in exchange for you to retire and leave the army. Finally, all the battalions will be eliminated, leaving only some memory of the number in the history book!
Scenes like this happen every day in Jiangnan. Those veterans leave the military camp and return to social life at the age of half a hundred or more!
In fact, it was kind of the Manchus to do this. Maybe Yi Xin and the others were afraid that the hundreds of thousands of Hunan troops would rebel, so they would rather use money to settle the matter than openly bully others!
At this point, neither Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang nor Zeng Guofan had anything to say. The Hunan Army's fate at this moment was actually much better than that of Wu Sangui's army when they defeated San Francisco!
This kind of treatment is already extraordinary in the history of the Qing Dynasty!
The conditions are good, but will the result be good? Can those veterans who leave the military camp really live a good life?
The answer is no. Only 30% of veterans who leave the military camp can successfully resume ordinary people's lives. They can buy a few acres of land to become small landlords, or open an oil-pressed tofu workshop to earn some hard money. Of course, there are some officers and soldiers who use the money to go around. The Chinese are looking for a new way of life!
Only 30% of veterans can resume a normal life as ordinary people, while the rest have ruined their lives!
Years of fighting and killing have made them mentally unhealthy. When they have money in their hands, they go to eat, drink, whoring, and gamble!
The shadow of the pension will be spent in less than a year and a half, and in the end he will be reduced to a scammer, and even kill people and sell goods to engage in illegal business!
These people are used to killing people. Killing on the battlefield is no different from killing in life!
Maybe there are some people who are still conscientious and are unwilling to earn money for committing crimes. In the end, there are many people who have no skills and become beggars!
Zeng Guofan once secretly begged Xiao Letian if he could take over some young and strong soldiers with combat experience! But I didn't expect that these Hunan soldiers who were used to being uncles couldn't stand the strict rules in the Chinese army. You don't want to be restrained even if you are hanging around in your hometown!
The various appearances of these veterans in society give these veterans of the Hunan Army Group a huge headache!
Of course Zuo Zongtang was aware of such a serious problem, and he had to give his 100,000 brothers a new way out!
Let them have enough food and clothing, and at the same time have something to do so that they will not let themselves go in society!
After much deliberation, guarding the border is the only way! Guarding the border can ensure that these soldiers still maintain the military structure. With the rules of the army, they will not get out of line too much!
Take these soldiers back to the Central Plains? The imperial court will never allow these fierce soldiers to continue to maintain their establishment. How many Eight Banners soldiers are needed to guard these 100,000 tigers and wolves? What will happen if they rebel?
It won't work in the Central Plains, but it will be no problem in the border areas of the Western Regions. If you put some troops on the border of tens of thousands of miles and in the bitter cold, the men of the Fourth and Nine Cities won't worry!
With these 100,000 hardcore border guards, the Western Region has become the sphere of influence of Zuo Zongtang's small group! This does not mean that Zuo Zongtang wants to rebel and become independent!
He will not rebel. The sovereignty of this Western Region will always be in the hands of the Qing Dynasty. But if your court has taken away the rightful name, you will have to give me the money and water below, right?
One hundred thousand border guards are enough to make the entire Western Region's economy revolve around them, and all bureaucracies have to negotiate with them!
How to invest, how to collect taxes, and give Beijing as much dividends as it wants. If not, I can still reach out to you to ask for disaster relief!
In the end, the wealth created by the entire Western Region economy will support Zuo Zongtang's brothers!
This is the iron rice bowl that the brothers will provide for their retirement in the future. It is not only the iron rice bowl for the brothers but also for the descendants of the brothers. It is best that all the children and grandchildren can eat it!
This is the small calculation of the entire Western Conquest Army, so there is a request for help from the Chinese to help the industrialization of the Western Regions!
By making this small kingdom in the Western Regions richer, their lives will be better in the future!
Politically, we need great unification, and economically we need to create a small court! This is wishful thinking!
Unfortunately, this wishful thinking made Xiao Letian wake up. When Zuo Jigao received Cao Shuai's secret letter of ten thousand words, the old coach was speechless for a long time!
A dead lamp kept the old man awake all night!
"I thought it was simple! It turns out that the world has become like this... we can no longer control it!"
"Xiao Letian, Xiao Letian! It seems that the idea of independence for the Western Conquest Army has been completely shattered,"
"In that case, I will guard this world for you. I want to see what China's national destiny will become in your hands!"
"Send a message to Rong Quan in Tacheng! Let him block all the mountain passes from the Ili Valley to the northern Xinjiang. Don't expect him to attack. Defending the passes will be the first achievement!"
"Let the Western Region Bank raise funds for me. From now until spring next year, I need to save the arms and supplies for a hundred thousand troops to fight for six months!"
"As long as I have enough money and food, it only takes me two years to pacify the Western Regions!"
