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Jiang Zhongyuan didn't really like Li Hongzhang. In the capital, the reason why everyone felt proud to be friends with Jiang Zhongyuan was because Jiang Zhongyuan was a very loyal person. This kind of loyal action wasn't something that Jiang Zhongyuan came up with after weighing the pros and cons. Rather, it was because Jiang Zhongyuan was such a person. He believed that he had the obligation to uphold the social moral system of loyalty and righteousness.
Li Hongzhang was very smart. Everything he did was based on his judgment. After making various judgments, Li Hongzhang would choose the most beneficial way to deal with the situation. Not only was Jiang Zhongyuan a loyal person, he was also a smart and carefree person. Therefore, he could understand Li Hongzhang's lack of responsibility. Moreover, he didn't really like this kind of person.
From the perspective of Jiang Zhongyuan's personal interests, he had warned Jiangsu's Inspector Jierhanga before the Taiping army attacked Hongze, asking him to make preparations. Moreover, the reason why Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't stall the Taiping army in Anhui was because Jiang Zhongyuan didn't have enough strength. To ensure that the Manchu Qing's rule north of the Huai River didn't worsen, Jiang Zhongyuan had already done his best.
Xianfeng allowed Jiang Zhongyuan to establish the Huai army. Jiang Zhongyuan also did his best to establish a 14,000 strong Huai army north of the Huai River. However, there were at least 60,000 Taiping army troops south of the Huai River. Vézé's troops had just annihilated 12,000 strong Heshun's troops. This kind of powerful field operation wasn't something the Huai army could resist.
At this time, if Jiang Zhongyuan was a person who prioritized himself, he would definitely think like Li Hongzhang. He would think that it was a good thing for the Taiping army to attack Jiangsu. However, even if Jiang Zhongyuan knew that he should do this and think this, he would not accept that he was thinking this and doing this. This was the difference between him and Li Hongzhang.
However, a smart person like Li Hongzhang would never let his emotions affect his decisions. Even when he saw He Chun's disgusted and disdainful expression, even when he saw Jiang Zhongyuan's expression of disapproval, Li Hongzhang was still able to stand his ground. This was because Li Hongzhang believed that the only thing that could decide the outcome of a matter in this world was strength.
Whether it was the Taiping army as the Cantonese bandits or the Taiping army as the Cantonese bandits. It didn't matter if they called Vézé a bandit or Vézé a bandit. None of that mattered. The current reality was that if Vézé led the sixty thousand Taiping army south of the Huai River and crossed the Huai River to the north, Suzhou City, which only had fourteen thousand people, wouldn't be able to defend it.
If they wanted to support Jiangsu and extinguish the Taiping Rebellion, the Great Qing Dynasty could only recruit more troops, train more elites, and use more advanced weapons. Therefore, after arriving at Jiang Zhongyuan's place, Li Hongzhang focused all his energy on this matter. The recruitment was handled by Jiang Zhongyuan, while Li Hongzhang was in charge of training and weapons. Wang Qinian, who could make flintlock guns, took the initiative to come out after Li Hongzhang issued the declaration. After the new flintlock guns were popularized in the Huai army, the Huai army's fighting strength would naturally increase by a large margin.
Of course, Li Hongzhang was well aware of Jiang Zhongyuan's character. He was loyal to his country and could disregard his own life. Moreover, Li Hongzhang did not agree with the way Jiang Zhongyuan did things. If he couldn't even protect his own life, then what loyalty and patriotism could he use?
Therefore, regardless of Jiang Zhongyuan's boiling loyalty and patriotism, Li Hongzhang directly threw out a very practical problem. "Lord Jiang, the Cantonese bandits have already begun to send small groups of troops to the north of the Huai River. These small groups of troops entered the various villages and towns north of the Huai River and demanded that the local people pay them grain this year. The Cantonese bandits have posted notices in each village and town, saying that if the local people pay them grain and taxes, they will send troops to protect the people there and will not allow the imperial court's troops to enter the villages under their banner. "
He Chun wasn't a fool. In the past, there were people who accused him of accepting bribes from the Taiping army and allowing the Taiping army to escape. In his self-defense memorial, Admiral He Chun wrote a deafening sentence, "The bandits don't fear the imperial army, how can they be willing to bribe them?"
Upon hearing Li Hongzhang's words, He Chun understood what Li Hongzhang meant. Admiral He Chun looked at Li Hongzhang with disgust and even more disdain in his eyes.
However, as a genuine Jinshi, Li Hongzhang didn't care about this kind of look. He continued to pour cold water on Jiang Zhongyuan, trying to make Jiang Zhongyuan calm down and look at the problem.
"Lord Jiang, we have posted notices to the north of the Huai River, allowing the local gentry to form their own local training teams. If they can kill the Cantonese bandits, they can use their heads as rewards. North of the Huai River, there is a place called Sun Family Town, where the local gentry formed a training team. Originally, our agreement with them was that if the Cantonese bandits attacked the place, the local gentry would first resist, and the imperial army would immediately go and annihilate the Cantonese bandits. However, the Cantonese bandits' cannons were sharp, and the Sun Family Residence was breached in less than half a day. The Cantonese bandits killed their way into the Sun Family Residence, and the entire Sun Family was wiped out. All of their property was plundered. The Cantonese bandits spread the news to the north of the Huai River, saying that whoever dared to cooperate with the authorities would end up like the Sun Family. "
Li Hongzhang was a Jinshi, and his father, Li Wenan, was not only a Jinshi, but also a Minister of the Ministry of Justice. With his family's inheritance and personal experience, Li Hongzhang had a good understanding of the central government's operations, and was even more sensitive to tax matters. His report was all important points. It was impossible for Jiang Zhongyuan not to be moved.
Jiang Zhongyuan frowned, he and Vézé could be considered old acquaintances, they had crossed swords in Guangxi and Hunan, and in Anhui, they were 'close neighbors'. Thanks to Vézé's efforts, the dignified Anhui Inspector-General was only in charge of ten counties north of the Huai River. If Vézé was allowed to infiltrate north of the Huai River, it would not be long before Anhui Inspector-General Jiang Zhongyuan would not be able to establish a foothold in Anhui.
"Lord Jiang, what should we do?" After reporting the situation, Li Hongzhang pretended to ask in a desperate tone.
Jiang Zhongyuan also did not know what to do. Before Vézé had completely conquered the Huai River, there were some villages and towns south of the Huai River that paid taxes to the Manchu Qing. At that time, Vézé's troops played this trick in the south of the Huai River. Those who dared to organize regiments to resist the Taiping army, the Taiping army would always wipe out their entire families. Land was confiscated.
Later on, the Taiping army even played the trick of besieging the enemy and attacking the reinforcements. They set up ambushes and pretended to besiege the villages south of the Huai River. When the Qing Army's reinforcements crossed the river to provide aid, they were often annihilated by the Taiping army's ambushes. The Taiping army brought the captured captives to the villages and towns that resisted. They publicly beheaded the captives as an example to the public, and then massacred the regimental commanders who refused to surrender. After doing this more than ten times, the villages south of the Huai River no longer dared to trust the Taiping army and paid taxes to the Taiping army. Moreover, the landlords and gentry were not stupid enough to risk their lives for the Taiping army. The power of the Taiping army was quickly wiped out from the south of the Huai River.
In fact, there was no need for Li Hongzhang to remind him. Jiang Zhongyuan knew very well that with just over ten thousand men, he really could not afford to fight a decisive battle with Vézé.
"Now, assign Huai Yong to …" Jiang Zhongyuan could not continue. So what if he was assigned to a place? To fight the Taiping army for the villages and towns? In this day and age, the amount of food paid by a village and town could not feed that many soldiers. If the Taiping army protected the villages and towns that were threatened by the Taiping army, perhaps the amount of food consumed by the imperial army would be more than the amount of food collected. Moreover, if these soldiers were scattered, it was tantamount to putting a piece of juicy meat next to the Taiping army's mouth. The Taiping army had a strong offensive ability. They could suddenly cross the Huai River at any time and besiege the Qing Army stationed in a village or town.
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhongyuan felt a kind of despair in his heart. His passion to go to the Jiangsu Province had already disappeared. His opponent, Vézé, was not a bandit. He was a man who used troops to govern the people and was more like a soldier than the Taiping army. If Jiang Zhongyuan could not solve the problem of insufficient troops and weak fighting ability, he would not be able to find a way to defeat Vézé.
Seeing Jiang Zhongyuan's appearance, Li Hongzhang hurriedly took the opportunity to admonish him. "Duke Jiang, even if the flintlock guns are not as good as the guns of the Cantonese bandits, they are far better than the guns in our army. Just like what Commander Chun said, not all of the Cantonese bandits use the guns of the elite Cantonese bandits under Vézé. Many of the Cantonese bandits use the same guns as ours. Right now, we do not need to fight to the death with the Cantonese bandits. We need to forge weapons, recruit men and horses, and train the Huai army. Once these preparations are complete, we will naturally have the opportunity to eliminate the Cantonese bandits. Duke Jiang, if you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools! "
Of course, Jiang Zhongyuan knew this. He could only ignore the fact that the Taiping army had infiltrated to the north of the Huai River. Therefore, after thinking for a while, Jiang Zhongyuan ordered, "Send out another message. We cannot let the villages and towns north of the Huai River pay taxes to the Taiping army."
"Duke Jiang, since the Taiping army has sent people to cross the Huai River, why don't we also send people to cross the Huai River?" Li Hongzhang probed.
"Oh …" Jiang Zhongyuan did not seem to be particularly interested in Li Hongzhang's suggestion. So what if they crossed the Huai River? Attack the cities occupied by the Taiping army, and then throw away their lives?
Li Hongzhang continued, "After we cross the Huai River, we will kill the bandits in the various villages and towns. As long as we can sway the hearts of the people, the Cantonese bandits will not have an easy time. "
After listening to Li Hongzhang's suggestion, Jiang Zhongyuan's eyes widened. Two words appeared in his mind, "Immoral!"
It was the government that did not have the ability to defend Anhui and was forced to the north of the Huai River. If the government didn't fight the Cantonese bandits after crossing the Huai River, and instead killed the people south of the Huai River in the name of bandits … What would the government be like then? They would probably be worse than bandits.
However, Li Hongzhang did not feel that there was anything wrong with his actions. He continued, "Duke Jiang, if we don't do this, the Cantonese bandits will certainly collect taxes and grain from the south of the Huai River this year. If there are no government troops south of the Huai River for three years, will the area south of the Huai River still belong to the Qing Dynasty? Although there are not many of them, there will certainly be greedy gentry who will seek refuge with the Cantonese bandits. If we let the Cantonese bandits take root south of the Huai River, we will be letting down the imperial court and the people. "
With different words, Li Hongzhang's actions had a different conclusion. At least according to Li Hongzhang's theory, Li Hongzhang's actions could be explained. And in a sense, Li Hongzhang wasn't spouting nonsense. According to the current situation, the Qing Army would not even have a presence on the south bank of the Huai River.
In the end, Jiang Zhongyuan came up with a compromise plan, which was to send troops across the Huai River, but not to kill anyone on the south bank of the Huai River. They would only kill the people sent by the Taiping army in the villages and towns on the south bank of the Huai River.
As for the Taiping army conquering Jiangsu … Jiang Zhongyuan had to admit that he could only watch helplessly.
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