?
"Long live the Prince Of Qi. I have a niece who is sixteen years old and unmarried. Although she is not devastatingly beautiful, she has a graceful figure and a beautiful face. I am willing to offer my niece to the Prince Of Qi, make the bed for the Prince Of Qi, and serve the Prince Of Qi. What does the Prince Of Qi think about it? "Levis's uncle, Li Yuchang, asked respectfully. Seeing that Wei Ze was silent, Li Yuchang continued, "This woman was born with a strange scent on her body, and there seems to be nothing else. Everywhere she passed by, it smelled like musk and orchids. The strangest thing was that when she was young, a wandering Taoist once said that this girl was a noble lady. Although she had no hope of becoming a legal wife, she would be able to become a mother because of her son. If Your Highness can love her, then her fortune in this life will not be in vain. "
"Ah?" Vézé was stunned. He thought that Li Yuchang was here to ask for Vézé's help, but he didn't expect that he was here to offer his niece. Vézé turned to look at Levis, the major staff officer of the General Staff who brought Li Yuchang here. He was speechless.
As one of the main members of the General Staff who was in charge of external contacts, Levis should be said to have contributed a lot. He made use of his family's Huizhou merchant connections to help Wei Ze resell the tea leaves and silk, as well as to purchase sulfur. He didn't expect that Levis would work so hard when his uncle was offering his niece. Levis's uncle's niece was Levis's cousin.
Vézé naturally knew that Levis's uncle, Li Yuchang, was doing this to show his loyalty. To Vézé, offering his family's daughter for his own benefit was a complete deviation from Vézé's basic morality.
Standing up abruptly, Vézé said to Levis, "Follow me to the back."
After that, Vézé ignored Li Yuchang and walked straight to the tent at the back. Levis immediately got up and followed Vézé to the tent at the back.
"What's going on?" Vézé asked Levis with a straight face.
"Show your loyalty!" Levis answered frankly, "The Taiping army has been in Wannan for so long, and it's only under your command, Prince Of Qi, that they can be considered to have made some money. At other times, he had been charged a lot of taxes. At present, the Chief of the General Staff has led troops to destroy the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks, your reputation has shaken the whole of Anhui. The Huizhou merchants would naturally want to establish a good relationship with you. But I'm just your subordinate. This relationship isn't strong enough. As businessmen, how could it be so easy for them to meet you? If I were to propose marriage to you, you would certainly not agree. So they can only use this method to show their loyalty! "
As Levis spoke, his small eyes on his pointy and thin face flashed with a rather cold but rather firm gaze. This made Vézé feel like he was looking at a cruel official.
Vézé frowned. "Advisor Li, you're saying it as if you don't know anything about this? Do you think I'll believe you? "
As if he didn't hear the reprimand in Vézé's tone, Levis said in a particularly emotionless voice, "Chief of the General Staff, I didn't know anything at first. And they're so stubborn, how can I stop them? I think the Chief of the General Staff can make his own decision whether he's willing or not. When they're rebuffed, they'll naturally know what you think. "
Vézé tilted his head slightly and asked, "Why do I feel like you're playing the good cop and the bad cop?"
It seemed that Vézé's words had hit a nail on the head for Levis. At least for the time being, he didn't say anything and was instead organizing his words. During this process, Vézé also didn't speak. He stared at this guy who had once contacted the Huizhou merchants in private and was almost kicked out of the army by Vézé. However, a very nonsensical thought suddenly popped up in Vézé's mind. Based on Levis's cold and ruthless appearance, would his cousin really be good-looking?
And Levis seemed to have prepared his words. He said slowly, "Chief of the General Staff, when you asked me to contact the Huizhou merchants last year, you said one thing. In the negotiation of the price of raw silk tea leaves, we have to first figure out their purchase price, and then make a more balanced profit calculation based on the price we sell to the foreigners. Of course, when doing business, we need to calculate the profits. But when other people do business with businessmen, they only look at how much they can earn, and they want to make the biggest profit. Only you really use the thinking of businessmen to do business with businessmen. Do you still remember? "
"Yes, that's what happened." Vézé answered. At that time, he hoped to use the Huizhou merchants' business channels for a long time, so he naturally chose the method that could achieve long-term cooperation under the circumstances.
After receiving Vézé's approval, Levis continued, "Chief of the General Staff, I don't want to be a businessman. Because businessmen have no status, the government, local people, as long as they have a bit of power, can bully businessmen. I couldn't pass the imperial examinations, so I joined the Taiping army. Not only did I learn a lot from you, but I also admire your way of not bullying businessmen. So I really want to join you. I want to follow you, Chief of the General Staff. As for my family members, they are naturally sent to you for their business. Although it's a show of loyalty, it's not the same thing. "
"In other words, you want to let me know that you are my man?" Vézé asked slowly.
After listening to Wei Ze's question, Levis immediately straightened his body, which was already in a standing posture, and answered, "Yes!"
Vézé nodded, "I know now! Then come with me and meet this uncle of yours! "
Seeing Vézé come out, Li Yuchang, who was waiting anxiously outside, hurriedly stood up.
Vézé sat down on a chair and said, "When I choose a woman, she must first be educated. I don't want those who are uneducated and unreasonable. "
Li Yuchang saw that Vézé was showing signs of agreement, so he hurriedly replied, "Reporting to the Prince Of Qi! My cousin lives in Hangzhou, and she is my cousin's daughter. My cousin was a local provincial official, but unfortunately passed away two years ago. My niece was all alone, so when we found out, we brought her back to Anhui. My cousin taught her how to read and write since she was a child. She is definitely not an illiterate country bumpkin! "
"I don't want her to have her feet bound!" Vézé continued.
Hearing this, Li Yuchang's face lit up. "Reporting to the Prince Of Qi, the Taiping Rebellion has decreed that no one is allowed to have their feet bound. I've known this for a long time. My cousin loves my niece very much. When she was young, my niece cried all day and begged my cousin not to bind her feet anymore. My cousin loves my niece very much, so he said that even if she can't get married, she can stay at home. So, my niece is born with feet. Long live the King of Qi! Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has decreed this, no matter what, we would not dare to send a woman with small feet to the King of Qi! "
"Hmm …" Vézé didn't expect the other party to be so well-prepared, which made Vézé interested. "I care a lot about appearance when I choose a woman. If I don't like her, I won't want her. So, bring her here and let me have a look. If it's possible, I'll make her stay. If I don't like her, I'll make her stay. If I don't like her, I can only thank Mr. Li for his kindness. Please bring her back. "
"Yes, Prince Of Qi!" Li Yuchang hurriedly knelt down and saluted.
"Do you have anything else?" Vézé asked.
"I'll bring her back now!" Li Yuchang lowered his head and answered.
After Li Yuchang was brought out of the tent, Vézé turned to look at Levis. He suspected that it was Levis who told Li Yuchang about her feet. However, it only appeared in Vézé's mind for a moment and then disappeared. It was rare to be confused! If Levis really wanted to show his loyalty to Vézé, then this kind of question would only show that Vézé was stingy.
"Qi Yuchang, Li Yuchang, it seems that I'm quite fated with people named Yuchang!" Vézé sneered in his heart. At this moment, Vézé suddenly felt great disgust at his own moral standards.
After the troops were assigned, the task of collecting money fell into the hands of Chen Delong, the nephew of the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing. The next task was a rather dull wait. Vézé made full use of this time to begin systematic military training and rest. His troops hadn't had a good rest since July. If he hadn't been suddenly transferred to East and West Liangshan, Vézé would have already seized Suzhou and begun to rest and reorganize his troops.
Now that they had to prepare for war, the troops could only train for half the day and rest for the other half. This wasn't very beneficial to the recovery of the troops' combat strength. The troops were very close to Wuhu, but they couldn't rest there. Most of Vézé's troops were soldiers from Anhui and Central Anhui. Central Anhui was separated by the Yangtze River, but they couldn't go home. Seeing that it was going to be Spring Festival in two months, the soldiers' homesickness grew stronger. This caused the morale of the troops to waver.
Vézé's half-baked reorganization only lasted for half a month before good news came.
Qin Rigang, who had been demoted to a servant, wasn't completely defeated by the Xiang Army after the defeat at Tianjia Town. He retreated to Jiujiang with his troops to continue defending. Ceng Guofan's Xiang Army had already suffered heavy losses, and they also suffered heavy losses at the battle of Tianjia Town. They only continued to advance to Jiujiang in early November.
At this time, the reinforcements led by Shi Dakai had already arrived at Jiujiang. Some of the troops met up with Qin Rigang's Jiujiang garrison. Shi Dakai and Luo Dagang personally stationed themselves at the mouth of the lake. The Xiang Army attacked Jiujiang fiercely. After three large-scale attacks failed, Ceng Guofan personally commanded the navy, who had the advantage, to attack the mouth of the lake. He tried to seize the place and completely cut off the Taiping army in Jiujiang from the outside world.
Shi Dakai and Luo Dagang seized the opportunity. They used sunken ships to block the channel between Poyang Lake and Changjiang River, leaving only one pass. Seeing that the Taiping army had fallen for the weak Xiang Army's trap, their light warships sailed through the pass to the side of Poyang Lake, preparing to launch a two-pronged attack. Shi Dakai and Luo Dagang seized the opportunity and completely blocked the pass on the channel. Then Shi Dakai sent dozens of small boats into the Xiang Army's navy camp, burning more than 40 ships of the Xiang Army.
The Xiang Army's navy had to retreat. Luo Dagang then took the fleet to Jiujiang. Taking advantage of the night, they attacked the Xiang Army's navy from Jiujiang and Xiaochi Estuary with hundreds of small boats, burning many ships and seizing Ceng Guofan's ship. The Xiang Army was defeated. Shi Dakai led Luo Dagang to pursue the Xiang Army.
Not only was the Xiang Army defeated, but the possibility of the Qing Army using the navy's advantage to attack Tianjing from upstream was also gone. Vézé felt that his work guarding the East and West Liangshan was about to come to an end. Yang Xiuqing couldn't let such a large army stay in the wilderness forever. Even if he couldn't immediately launch an expedition to the east, at least Vézé could bring his troops back to the city to rest.
Vézé was right. Three days after the victory at Hukou, Vézé received an order to station in Wuhu. But the order to launch an expedition to the east that Vézé was most looking forward to did not appear.
When Vézé led his troops to Wuhu, first it was Li Yuchang, then Qi Yuchang. One after the other, they sent the two women to Vézé's army in Wuhu. This was also the first time Vézé learned that Li Yuchang's niece, Levis's cousin, was called Li Yifang. She was a beautiful woman with the characteristics of Suhang.
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