When Wuchang fell, Emperor Xianfeng was shocked and reprimanded Xu Guangjin: Since arriving in Chu, the military camp has not improved. I am ashamed of myself for using you, and I ask you how you can bear it in your heart. I have no choice but to put you in jail immediately. He also ordered: Xiang Rong, Kuai Ke was commended, and he was granted the title of Minister of Imperial Envoy and Admiral of Hubei Province, responsible for the military affairs of the two lakes. Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, was awarded the title of Imperial Envoy, responsible for the military, political and civil affairs of Jiangsu and Anhui, and suppressed thieves who invaded the east. Luo Raodian, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, appointed the imperial envoy to move quickly to guard Jing and Xiang to prevent the enemy from fleeing northward. Qishan, the governor of Henan, was appointed as an imperial envoy to station in the Central Plains, taking care of Hubei and assisting Jingxiang from afar. Zhang Liangji, the governor of Hunan, guarded Changsha and made great achievements. He was appointed governor of Huguang. Pan Duo, the chief envoy of Hunan Province, served as governor of Hunan Province for his meritorious service in guarding Changsha. Jiang Zhongyuan, a Taoist member, repeatedly defeated the rebels and was promoted to Hubei Inspector. Yang Zaifu, a scholar and citizen, had meritorious service in guarding Xiangyin, and was promoted to General Yizhang Yingqian.
A few days later, Emperor Xianfeng issued another message: During the Jiaqing period, the Sichuan and Chu religious bandits spread for several years. Later, they implemented the method of fortifying the walls and clearing the country, and ordered the militia to train for defense, and they were immediately quelled. Even in Guangxi and Hunan, there are many regiments who are brave enough to protect the countryside. The thieves dare not force them, and there are those who have made meritorious deeds by killing the thieves.
Now the governors and governors are assigned their respective responsibilities, and they are properly arranged according to the local situation, and all instructions are issued. Some build strongholds and dredge the mountains, linking villages into fortresses; or they strictly guard dangerous passes and trap traitors. When there is nothing to do, each of us can make a living; when there is something to do, we can protect each other's wealth. All funds are under the control of the gentry and not in the hands of subordinates. All young men in the regiment are not allowed to travel far for recruitment. If there is anyone in each regiment who donates money to promote aid, or kills thieves to achieve self-result, the local officials will apply for the magistrate in detail, report it according to the facts, and I will immediately add rewards.
All good indigenous people have their own property. Instead of migrating hastily and abandoning the fields and houses, where bandits will inevitably take the opportunity to plunder, how can we stick to our hometowns, defend our fathers and brothers with our children, and protect our clan and party with our family assets?
Lu Xianji, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, immediately went to Anhui to handle the provincial team training matters together with Anhui governor Jiang Wenqing and Zhou Tianjue. Zeng Guofan, the current minister and assistant minister of Hunan regiment training, must not delay any longer and rush to Changsha to practice bravery. Zhang, Pan, and Zeng must work together to prevent the thieves from returning south. In addition, at the Pheasant River gathering place in Bozhou, Anhui, eighteen groups of Nian bandits gathered to rebel. Jiang Wenqing, the governor of Anhui, must urge General Bian to do his best to suppress the bandits and nip the bandits in the bud.
Lu Xianji, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, accepted the order and did not dare to delay for a moment. He set off as soon as he arrived in Anhui: Jiangning took the East and West Liangshan Mountains as key passes and must guard them first. Lujiang is the gateway to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, so it is appropriate for important officials to be stationed there. Chaohu's river reaches the upper reaches of Liangshan Mountain. Local bandits should be appeased to prevent them from being used by thieves, and it can be a horn with Liangshan Mountain.
Although the Holy Will was sincere, Zeng Guofan was still unwilling to stop Ding You, in order to be called "stealing love".
His close friend Guo Songtao came to visit him three times and repeatedly advised him: "The prince has the ambition to clarify the world. Now he does not take advantage of the situation. He sticks to the ancient etiquette and is always modest. What is the benefit to the emperor and his father? Moreover, Mo Liao joins the army. This is the ancient system."
Zeng Shulin said sternly: "My father believes that a gentleman's ambition is to cultivate his moral character and rule the country and bring peace to the world. In today's troubled times, if we only cultivate our moral character and allow thieves to cause trouble in our country, our relatives will be displaced and their bodies will be left in the wilderness. What will be the benefit of cultivating the body of a god?"
After being angrily reprimanded by his father, the feudal vassal state was no longer delayed. Together with Guo Songtao, they rushed to Changsha in plain clothes. On the way, they met Luo Zenan, an old acquaintance, who was leading a brave tour in Hunan.
Zeng Guofan adhered to the disciple ceremony and said: "Sir, you are not worried about having a large family, but you are worried that what you have learned cannot break away from the secular and become a saint; you are not ashamed of the hardships in life, but you are ashamed of not having the skills to help the world. Guoquan and Guobao are like dogs. , thanks to Mr.’s teaching.”
Luo Zenan bowed his hands and said humbly, "The Duke of Di is in great honour, and the phoenix of Xiangchu is a role model for us. Don't ever call him sir again."
Zeng Guofan said: "According to the imperial edict, I am training in Xiang Province. Brother Luo, would you like to accompany me?"
Luo Zenan said: "I would like to serve under Duke Di and defeat the rebellion in Guangdong."
Zeng Guofan was so happy that he immediately joined hands with Luo Zenan and headed straight to Changsha.
Zhang Liangji heard that Zeng Guofan had arrived and greeted him outside the city together with Pan Duo and Zuo Zongtang.
Zeng Guofan said: "If you don't want to return to your original intention of guarding the city, if you can do your best, you must work hard to do it. Success or failure will be blunt, and you won't care. Lord Shi Qing, Lord Zhenzhi, and Mr. Ji Gao have made great contributions to the defense of the city. , Zeng Disheng felt ashamed."
The four of them exchanged polite greetings, and Zhang Liangji immediately accepted Zuo Zongtang's intention to train Xiangchu and return them to the vassal state.
After the vassal state said goodbye, Zhang Liangji said: "Mr. Ji Gao, life is unpredictable. Mr. Ji Gao has done the best in defending the city. I want to fight for the three, and I don't want to just reward him with the sixth rank."
Zuo Zongtang said: "It's just a title."
Zhang Liangji said with a smile: "Zeng Disheng, I haven't seen a single bandit, that is, the second-grade assistant minister. Mr. Ji Gao, how about Zeng Disheng?"
Zuo Zongtang said: "I'm not very familiar with it. I've heard from people that Zeng Di was born and acted slowly. For more than ten years in the capital, he first attached himself to Mu Zhang'a and then to Wo Ren, and his behavior seemed not simple. But looking at his appearance, he is decent and decent. He is willing to do his job, but he feels that his talents are slightly underdeveloped."
Zhang Liangji said: "A number of officials in Changlan County, Hubei Province have been killed by thieves. We are here to fill the vacancies. The future is uncertain. I have accepted Mr. Zeng's offer and trained bravery in various counties. All of them have returned to Zeng. Zeng Di was born and trained in bravery. I only hope that I can help." One force.”
Zuo Zongtang said: "Zeng's practice of bravery is justified; if we gather our strength as one, we may achieve something."
The night was deep and the wilderness was vast. Zeng Guofan sat facing the broken lamp and sighed speechlessly. People reported to Jiang Zhongyuan asking for an audience. Guofan raised his eyebrows and palmed his hand, how could he forget Minqiao. He didn't have enough shoes to wear, so he walked quickly to meet him, holding his hands and stamping his feet, he just said: "Minqiao Minqiao, is your leg injury okay?"
Jiang Zhongyuan said: "There is no serious problem. Fortunately, brother Disheng sincerely recommended me, so I am where I am today."
Zeng Guofan said: "Minqiao is polite, brother's eyes are as bright as a torch. This change was foreseen ten years ago. He first recruited Chu Yong to go out to suppress the bandits. He fought in Xiangzhou in the first battle, Guilin in the second battle, Reiyidu in the third battle, and Cai Gongfen and Cai Gongfen again. He defended the Changsha city wall for eighty-one days and made outstanding achievements. A scholar who defended the enemy, he is the best in Hunan Province."
Jiang Zhongyuan said: "The thief has become powerful, how can he achieve anything?"
Zeng Guofan said: "The thief is so big that no one can control it, and no one can match my fighting power. The party leading the troops to defend against the enemy, except for the orders and prohibitions, the other parties should tell me quickly."
Jiang Zhongyuan said: "Be honest with others, care for the soldiers well, share joys and sorrows, and show kindness. In this way, leading the army is like divine help. As for defending the enemy, I feel deeply ashamed. I have tried my best, but the thieves are getting bigger and bigger. Tomorrow, We are about to go to Hubei to kill the thieves."
Zeng Guofan said: "When I practice bravery, I want to refer to the methods of Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty and Fu Ding of the modern era, but I want to be more refined, not more; I want to be helpful, not quick. I want to recruit new bravery, and I don't want to be quick. Mix the soldiers together, do not collect them indiscriminately, clean up the old traces, and open up new faces. Generally speaking, we require our party to be led by gentlemen who are upright and knowledgeable about military affairs. They should be based on loyalty and righteousness, supplemented by diligence in training, and encourage each other. Hey, the common people are like the so-called generals who are of one mind and all are united. My idea is to take Luo Zenan's training of bravery as the basis, and recruit Xinning Yong, Nan Yong, Liu Yong, and Baoyong in Changsha City, select the best and remove the miscellaneous, and form the left, middle, and The third battalion on the right is divided into two groups: Wang Xin, Luo Zenan, and Zou Shouzhang. After practicing hard for a year, Bian Yong can jump from a house ten feet high, cross a ditch ten feet wide, and then kill the enemy. What does Minqiao think?"
Jiang Zhongyuan said: "Luo Luoshan knows the "Six Arts", literature can guide the world, and martial arts can be used. His scholar disciples, Wang Xin, Li Xubin, Li Xuyi, Jiang Yili, Yang Changjun, Luo Xinnan, Jin Songling, etc., are all outstanding. Brother, I will go to Hubei to kill the thieves. My brother is skilled and can be a strong shield for the rear. There are water towns in the southeast, and the enemy occupies the river roads. There are more than 10,000 boats, and they have occupied the Dongting and Yangtze River waterways. And I will attack them by land. Without water divisions, we will always be outnumbered, and the thieves will be extremely difficult to eliminate. We must compete with the enemy for the danger of the Yangtze River, and then we can start a war. I will go up to Shu and build hundreds of warships, equipped with thousands of barbarian cannons, and hand them over to my brother for training. He must practice them. A refined and strong boat master who can use both land and water will be perfect."
Zeng Guofan said: "This is very good. The thieves have grown up and cannot be destroyed overnight. The swords and guns have no eyes. Brother Minqiao, please do not be impulsive. The best is to fight steadily and steadily. I will sit in the rear, buy cannons and guns, build a naval army, and train elite soldiers who can survive a hundred battles. , I will help you with all my plans."
Jiang Zhongyuan said: "Thieves invaded Changsha, Liuyang and Tongcheng bandits were in chaos, but Pingjiang remained the same. Lin Yuan'en, the magistrate of Pingjiang, guarded the pass like a defense against water. It was absolutely impossible to sting, and it was worthy of the army. Brother, if there is an opportunity, please accept it. Of."
Zeng Guofan was filled with emotions when he met Luo, Zhang, Zuo and Jiang every day. Letter to Hu Linyi: On the 21st, I went to the provincial capital and had a deep and emotional talk with the four gentlemen Luo Luoshan, Zhang Shiqing, Jiang Minqiao and Zuo Jigao. There is not a day that goes by that we don't get together to cheer each other up, and there's not a day that goes by that the great talents and talents of Taiwan Duan are enough to save today's turmoil, and they wish they could join together to relieve the worries of Sang Zi's soldiers.
The vassal vassal trained troops in Changsha for two months and gained a lot. It is listed in the memorial: When I first arrived in the provincial capital, Fu minister Zhang Liangji allocated a thousand soldiers from Hunan's foreign camp and recruited a thousand soldiers from Xiangxiang to train for the province's defense.
By the beginning of the first lunar month, the Cantonese bandits were scurrying eastward, and the martial law in Changsha was about to be lifted. Zhang Liangji, the Superintendent of the Department, and Pan Duo, the Vice-President of the Department, both discussed with their ministers that all Yunnan and Henan troops remaining in the province would be withdrawn separately, and the new and old recruits would be eliminated respectively. A total of more than 3,000 soldiers were left, which was enough to qualify. In defense, even if a bandit steals hair, it is enough to suppress it.
As for the matter of team training, I gave a brief summary and said that it is difficult to donate money and collect expenses. Recently, I have collected public opinion extensively and observed the sentiments of the people, and I know that there are those who spend a lot of money on articles in the township league, and there are also those who do not need to spend too much money on articles.
Merge villages into villages, build walls and blockhouses, make multiple instruments, recruit teachers, recruit strong men, and practice skills regularly. This will cost a lot of money and the people will not be happy to follow it.
No villages are united, no forts are erected, although the settlements are scattered, they rescue each other at the sound of the voice, no flags are made, no warriors are recruited, the farmers and herdsmen are all strong soldiers, and the bamboos and trees are all used as weapons.
There is no need to spend a lot of money on this, it is what the people are happy to follow. If you spend more money on literature, you will not avoid disturbing the place, but it will still be insufficient to ward off the Cantonese bandits; if you don't spend more money on literature, although you will not be able to build a strong momentum, you will have more than enough to defend against bandits. Nowadays, all the bandits from Guangdong have moved eastward, and the various county and township regiments are mainly dedicated to hunting down bandits. The minister thus issued an edict to the people, asking them to live in the same place and communicate with each other without spending much money or labor, hoping that the people would be encouraged and obeyed.
It is well known that there are many bandits in Hunan. Last year, Guangdong rebelled against Chu, and most of those who entered the Heaven and Earth Association followed them away, but there were still some remnants. In addition, there are the so-called Chuanzihui, Hongheihui, Banbianqianhui and Yixianghui. They have many bright eyes and often form groups and gather in valleys, such as Heng, Yong, Chen and Gui in the southeast, Baoqing and Jing in the southwest. The state, with thousands of mountains and dense forests, is especially a breeding ground for bandits.
In recent years, Gai Yuan has been well aware of the unstoppable nature of bandits, and he does not want to cause harm to himself, so he has tried to cover up the gaps, just to survive for a day, and has accumulated unsolved cases for decades and allowed them to be delayed; For decades, people who should have been killed were not killed, but they were allowed to run rampant, which resulted in the huge bandits we have today.
The rogue people in this township are noisy and restless. Seeing that the chief culprits of murders and robberies in the past years are at large, and seeing that bandits and bandits in Guangdong have been rampant in recent years without restraint, they feel that the law is not enough, and the officials Not enough to be afraid of. He spreads rumors and incites people in ordinary life, and commits robberies during the day without any scruples. If it were not for harsh punishments and severe punishments, it would not be able to dampen his unwillingness to succeed and destroy his rebellion.
In my foolish opinion, I want to use the heavy code to hoe evil explosions. I hope that good people can live in peace, even if I get the name of cruelty, I dare not say goodbye. I hope that every case in the province will be solved, and I will not dare to give up even if the suppression is extremely difficult.
Zhang Liangji, the Superintendent of the Department, and Pan Duo, the Vice-President of the Department, both wanted to rectify the situation severely and try to reverse the decline. They consulted with each other from time to time and vowed to eradicate all the bandits of all sizes in Hunan, clean up the flaws, clean up the filth, and not dare to leave any residue , to make your father worried.
In areas where there are many bandits, such as Heng, Yong, Chen, and Gui in the southeast, I should go to Hengzhou and station for a few months to investigate and deal with them nearby. Bao and Jing in the southwest belong to each other. I should go to Baoqing and stay for a few months to investigate and deal with them nearby.
Wherever they arrive, they often lead hundreds of brave soldiers and several civil and military personnel to assist in suppression and capture. Contact the local township groups, ask them to find more informants, block key points, use the kindness of one party to control the bandits of the other party, and hope that no nest will be broken and no criminals will be captured. This minister plans to organize a meeting with bandits in general. As for teaching bandits and bandits, it is the same as meeting bandits.
In addition to the three, there are the usual gangsters and the newly emerged bandits. What is a wandering bandit? Deserters and deserters rush back with no assets to return to and no camps to join. They linger along the way and plunder everywhere. This is a kind of wandering bandit.
In the areas ravaged by the Guangdong invaders, property was emptied, houses were burned down, the weak became beggars, and the strong moved to other places, or gathered ugly people to follow and plunder. This is a kind of wandering bandit.
Wherever the soldiers camped, thousands of wanderers would often follow them, pretending to be long-term husbands or young men, mingling in the shopping streets, stealing from the support bureaus, wandering far from the main camp, wandering around, and causing nuisance everywhere. This is another kind of banditry.
I am now in charge of the street group in the provincial capital, especially those three types of bandits, who are particularly careful to detect. If they encounter any suspicious ones who have robbed and formed alliances, they will use the governor's flag to respectfully request the king's order and implement the law. A case investigation bureau was set up in Chen's residence, and two deputies were dispatched to capture the culprits and subject them to strict interrogation. Even ordinary gangsters, such as traitors, cowards, litigants, bachelors, etc., are also punished more severely, no longer sticking to the rules, but with generosity in mind.
In these troubled times, when the strong and the weak devour each other, and the big and small invade each other, if we do not punish those who are cunning and violent and harm the people, then kindness will end up boring. Don't dare to rescue without force, in order to benefit the place.
In compliance with the order, all ministers discussed various matters concerning the allocation of troops and the recruitment of brave men, as well as the scale of the bandits currently planned to be investigated and dealt with. They would like to present the general outline and seek the emperor's instructions. The ministers moved to Heng and Bao counties, and when the Changsha office had a clue, they made a separate memorial to ask for guidance. I would like to play.
Emperor Xianfeng issued an edict: In extraordinary times, bandits must be dealt with strictly, and all roots and branches must be eliminated.
