Chapter 166 Li Hongzhang Hidden Needle in Cotton
Li Hongzhang accepted the order and advised Zeng Guofan: I would like to express my gratitude to my teacher, but the situation of employment and administration may be subject to change. If you want to do things, you have to choose people, and if you want to choose people, you have to accept slander. The matter has come to this, and my teacher does not need to be more modest. I have no choice but to follow Li Zongxi's plan and ask Hongzhang to suppress the thieves on my behalf. If Zunyi is willing to follow the public's expectations and return to Jinling, the overall situation will be full of life and will not be hindered. Please ask my teacher to think again.
After Li Hongzhang consulted, he immediately wrote: "I have received the imperial edict, expressed my sincere thanks to Heaven for his kindness, and summarized the general situation. I made a special report and prayed to the Holy Spirit for enlightenment."
The imperial envoy Cheng Zhun sent an edict to the Minister of Military Aircraft on October 20th: Zeng Guofan will be granted another month's leave to recuperate in the camp. The Imperial Envoy will guard against Li Hongzhang as a temporary agent. The shareholder must be completed quickly before he can free up his troops to concentrate on his work. West Road. That is, to coordinate the overall situation and handle it properly, whether it should be moved to a moderate place in Henan, and to consider and report it, etc., I admire this.
I admire the sacred bamboo slips and give instructions to Zhou Xiang. In addition to admiration, fear doubled. Fu Nianchen is a mediocre scholar with no knowledge. In the past in Jiangsu Province, only a small amount of success was achieved because of the hard work of the generals and the soldiers. The minister has no command strategy, receives generous rewards, assumes heavy responsibilities indiscriminately, and feels ashamed day and night.
I was ordered to station in Xuzhou, which is under the jurisdiction of the governor, and the border officials should take care of the defense. To the east of Qinghuai and to the south of Sumeng, if the army can reach it, the officials will have no shirk to shoulder the responsibility, and they will not dare to shirk the responsibility.
I am hereby ordered to take charge of the imperial envoys, and wherever they are sent and twisted, when everyone is tied up, they will all be responsible for the minor ministers. It is difficult for me to overcome this difficulty because of my short intelligence and weak ability. Don't dare to sell the false reputation of humility, and hold back the end of resignation.
When I try to figure it out, I feel trembling and frightened. There are people who really can't keep their minds to themselves. However, because Zeng Guofan became ill due to overwork and was distracted by the imperial edict, he ordered me to temporarily act as a temporary expedient. If we insist on saying goodbye again and again, and delay in going back and forth, we will not be able to worry about the late night, and Zeng Guofan will be sick and waiting for his death, and our friendship will be apologetic.
Although he was anxious and thinking, he still looked up to the Holy Ming to discuss things calmly. He also asked the military officials to supervise and handle the military affairs of suppressing and capturing people, or when Zeng Guofan recovered after being nursed back to health, he would still handle it. It is easy for ministers to be at peace with their stupidity, to be spared from great violence, and to be grateful and generous.
However, regarding the current situation, there are those who must make plans in advance and those who dare not impose restrictions in advance. I would like to state them one by one for the sake of the Holy Lord.
In September of last year, I was ordered to lead my troops to Heluo. I am afraid that as soon as I leave my post, I will lose all my food, salary, and weapons. I should consider the three major issues and present them in detail in detail.
Zeng Guofan attached a memorial on August 23 this year and said that if a general leads an army to suppress thieves, and those who do not have the power to manage finances are in the hands of governors, they will not be able to receive military pay. This is a true statement from experience.
For more than a year, Zeng Guofan has been supervising the army in front of him, and his ministers have been raising salaries behind him. They have shared weal and woe and are closely related to each other. Although the soldiers and horses are not fully fed, the ministers are really exhausted and they are full of complaints.
It has been more than a month since I came to Xu Fu. After the transportation of food and salary, I was getting farther and farther away from each other, and I was afraid that I would not be able to respond well. If the thieves are driven out of the country again and stationed in Henan Province, the overall military affairs may not be able to be helped. However, the military pay needs and official duties will be delayed a lot.
That is to say, the officers were assigned to supervise the seal script. Each has his own responsibilities and his own achievements. How can he remain consistent with his former enemy? If you fight forcefully, you will lose harmony; if you tolerate it, you will inevitably divide the territory. The military supply was slightly restricted, but the effect was completely useless, and the defeat was imminent. I already said it in detail last year.
I also ask myself about my true nature. I have always known that I am indifferent to all glory and profit. If I can get rid of local affairs and concentrate on dealing with thieves, I can go ahead with the situation, my mind is not confused, and I can still try my best to serve. If it collapses due to lack of pay, it is not the intention of the imperial court to use ministers to supervise divisions and hope that they will succeed. I have been in the army for decades, and I know the reason why the army is weak. The key is not that it is difficult to deal with thieves, but that it is difficult to provide food, pay and arms.
Zeng Guofan was suffering from old age and illness, and he had withdrawn from his ambition. His ministers earnestly advised him that if he could not bear the fatigue of military service, he should return to his post to raise salary and take charge of important areas. He always thanked him with his exhausted energy, but he also wanted to suppress the whole army and relied on the wages of the two rivers. If the manager could not find him, the overall situation might be shaken. After four rounds of secret discussions with his ministers, no one could sue him. We have to rely on the good conduct of the imperial court.
The current edict did not ask anyone to take over the governorship of Jiang and the requirements for trade, but asked whether they should move to Henan. If I arrive at the border of Henan Province, which is more than a thousand miles away from Jiangning and Jiangning, and thousands and hundreds of miles away from Suzhou and Shanghai, there will be no delay in the dispatch of military reserves, the transfer of official reports, and the return of documents for more than several months.
The most important areas for the back road are all newly restored areas, and there are many treaty ports. They are not easy to move, making it more difficult to take care of them all. The minister has repeatedly studied the affairs and strives to be right. The program is all about winning people.
If the emperor still orders his troops to raise both troops and pay, they must be stationed in Xuzhou. It should still be like Zeng Guofan's prelude. The east road is a little loose, and we should return to Jinling or station in Qingjiang to raise funds and transportation. This will be enough to strengthen the morale of the army and maintain the overall situation.
If Nian Ni is in the east, he will supervise all the troops to attack nearby. If Nian is driving out of Henan, he will observe the work and rest of the armies, adjust the defense on the east road more carefully, follow the enemy, and join forces with Bao Chao, Zeng Guoquan and other troops to attack in a pincer attack.
Liu Mingchuan and others were loyal and courageous, and they were reliable in responding to the enemy. The ministers discussed and arranged things accordingly, so that there would be no chance of sudden loss.
If the emperor is responsible for his ministers to punish thieves, he can also take charge of the local area in this territory. Who should be responsible for military supplies and how to deal with the shortage. It is not just empty talk that can achieve real results. This must be planned in advance.
By the time Ni Ni became a rogue bandit for a long time, although his army was still effective in fighting, the cavalry was too small and not as powerful as the thieves' horses. Zeng Guofan said this repeatedly.
When I arrived in Xuzhou, I inspected the military situation and found that I could defeat the thieves, but it was not enough to destroy them. After Gai's defeat, he hugged his team and left in a hurry, covering more than a hundred miles in a day. Our army's troops are as fast as seventy or eighty miles a day. Thieves steal food everywhere, but our army must travel with food.
Now each army has a few chariots and camels, and the food supplies will not last more than ten days. After ten days, they will purchase them on the spot. However, the places where thieves passed were desolate and desolate, and the urban and rural areas were poor. They often stayed for three or four days without being able to buy a day's food.
Moreover, the salary and silver are sent all the way, and it is not easy to handle. The sergeant endured hunger and hurried on, but if he pushed too hard, he was afraid of a collapse. If I stop for a day, the thief will have traveled hundreds of miles, so I will have to deal with the pain of chasing the thief.
The former prince Seng Gelinqin commanded a large number of cavalry, but they were still unable to recover. This was the reason why. After Zeng Guofan took over, in view of this, he set up four towns to guard the canal and sand river, so that the terrain was narrowed and the thieves were less powerful and easier to suppress. At present, if the water is transported deep and the embankments are dense, it can still be controlled. However, in winter and spring, when the water is shallow and dry, special care must be taken. The Jialu River and Shahe River sections were too long and it was difficult to mobilize the manpower, so it could not be completed.
For the current plan, I should use my own plan to set up a space, and Xu plans to control the thieves. Or they could hide in the deep and wooded areas of the mountains and abandon the ground to lure them in, and then the armies from all provinces would join forces to surround them on three or four sides. Or they can secretly recruit the hungry and threatened people to cause civil strife and massacre, otherwise they will surrender to avoid death and be sent back; or there are other ways to set up a garrison and cause difficulties, and the ministers and the generals of Hunan and Huaihe and the governors of the provinces can coordinate well, but If we can work together, we hope to defeat the enemy.
The military can change at any time and at any time, so we dare not impose restrictions in advance. Zhi Ren, Lai and others went against the direction of the eastward movement, deliberately blocking the canal and moving down the Qinghuai River. The armies of Liu Mingchuan, Pan Dingxin, and Zhang Shushan split into separate groups and attacked for more than a month. There was almost no day without fighting. Liu Mingchuan's pursuit was extremely tight, and his running away was extremely painful.
It was reported that the enemy had fled from the northwest of Juye on the 23rd and seemed to be heading towards the Yuncheng area. Liu Mingchuan and others also followed and took advantage of the terrain to plan a flanking attack. However, there is a barrier from the Yellow River in front, and when we leave Caokao in the southwest, the terrain is scattered and uncontrollable. We may still enter Henan from this point, or return to Yongdang, but we are not sure.
Zeng Guofan has sent Liu Bingzhang and Zhou Shengbo's troops to the east when they come to consult. If they can arrive early, they will be ordered to join forces to suppress the enemy and to gather more troops to annihilate them.
The minister believes that with the right manpower and the right time, this remnant can be destroyed; but wages, money, food, supplies and arms are indeed needed at the moment.
The land of Liangjiang is an important source of income and foreign affairs. It is protected from bombs and suppressed by weak officials. Once we let go, it will be difficult to disperse our troops, rely on our sources of funds, and support our troops. It has been a long time since Zeng Guofan controlled all the affairs of the two rivers, large and small, under the control of Zeng Guofan. The military affairs regulations were clearly divided, and there were things that the chief ministers did not hear about and others could not comprehensively deal with. At the invitation of the minister, Zeng Guofan immediately returned to Liangjiang to take charge of the overall situation.
In response to the edict, all the emperors express their sincere thanks to Heaven for their kindness, and give a general account of the situation. They would like to make a copy of the document and leave it to the post six hundred miles away. Fu Qi, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor’s Holy Mirror gave instructions. I would like to play.
