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Li Hongzhang knew that Jiang Zhongyuan was a member of the anti-smoking party, so when Jiang Zhongyuan mentioned in a relaxed tone that Vézé's ban on smoking in Guangdong had led to the possibility of war between the British and the Liberation Army, he did not really think that Jiang Zhongyuan was unconditionally happy to see this situation.
However, this was great news for Manchu Qing. The British were initially reluctant to transfer some of their military technology to China, but the appearance of Vézé changed the situation. Vézé used the flintlock to gain a technological advantage over the Manchu Qing. In order to balance the power of both sides, the British were naturally willing to provide corresponding military technology.
"Master Jiang, can Master Zeng tell us how to make the Fire Cap?" Li Hongzhang asked tentatively. Although Ceng Guofan had a good relationship with Jiang Zhongyuan, it didn't feel right to ask him to obediently hand over his technology. At the very least, Ceng Guofan had to reap some benefits.
Jiang Zhongyuan replied, "Zeng Gong wrote in his letter that the money was from Wan Sui. Therefore, I have already petitioned His Majesty to give us the recipe for making fire hats as soon as possible, so that we can build a fire hat manufacturing workshop in Anhui. This matter cannot be delayed. "
Li Hongzhang was relieved after hearing the news. However, he was young after all. He was only 33 years old this year. There were some things in his heart that he still couldn't completely hide. After pondering for a moment, Li Hongzhang asked softly, "Lord Jiang, if Vézé really fought with the Englishman, who do you think would win?"
"Hehe!" Jiang Zhongyuan sneered, "Who can win?"
Seeing that Jiang Zhongyuan finally became emotional, Li Hongzhang held his breath and listened attentively. As for Big Smoke, Li Hongzhang had his own ideas. Jiang Zhongyuan's attitude was very important.
"The tobacco tax is already an important source of revenue for the royal court. If the British can't win against Vézé's ban on smoking in Guangdong, they will definitely sell more in other places. The Taiping army had strict military discipline. Anyone who smoked cigarettes would be beheaded! Therefore, the group of trash from the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks had besieged Jiangling for more than a year, but they had not made any progress at all. If the British increase their tobacco sales in Shanghai, I'm afraid they won't be able to fight! "Jiang Zhongyuan said in a heavy tone.
Li Hongzhang was stunned. "Master Jiang, do you think Vézé can win?"
"It doesn't matter who wins or loses. Zeng Gong has always said that we need to learn the methods of British man-made weapons. If he wanted to obtain the manufacturing method of the Fire Cap from Wei Ze, then it would probably be extremely difficult. But with Vézé around, the Englishman could only take out the recipe for the fire-making hat. This can only be said to be God's will! " Jiang Zhongyuan pretended to be relaxed as he said this, but Li Hongzhang could clearly hear the unwillingness in Jiang Zhongyuan's heart. With Li Hongzhang's intelligence, he could already roughly guess that Vézé's technology was not obtained from the British. If the British sold the technology to Vézé, they should be selling a lot of fire caps and making a lot of money. But they would not just obediently take out the technology to make the fire caps and sell it to the royal court. The royal court could not compare to the traitors. They had to rely on the power of the traitors to buy advanced weapons and technology from the hands of the foreigners. This was a great mockery.
Without waiting for Li Hongzhang to speak again, Jiang Zhongyuan sighed and said: "We don't need to talk about this anymore. Anhui is thousands of miles away from Guangdong. How Vézé and the British fight is their business. We just need to worry about the south! "
"… As you command!" Li Hongzhang replied.
The first target of Jiang Zhongyuan's Huai army south was Fengyang. Fengyang was located on the southern bank of the Huai River. But there were many water systems in this area. To the east of Fengyang was the boundary of the five rivers, an area with a dense water network. If they wanted to seize Shouzhou, they had to cut off the Shouzhou reinforcements. If they could seize Fengyang, they could insert a nail between Hongze Lake and Shouzhou. This would create the best conditions for the next step of besieging Shouzhou.
At this time, the Huai army had gone through a series of expansions. The Huai army authorized by the Xianfeng Emperor was 32,000, but the actual number of soldiers had reached 48,000. Jiang Zhongyuan had his own strategy for selecting and training soldiers. First, he recruited as many simple and honest sons as possible. The newly recruited troops also had to be separated from the Green Camp. The new troops in the province also had to be infected by the Green Camp's vile culture.
On the 3rd of April, the twenty-thousand-strong Huai army began to attack Fengyang. In addition to organizing their defenses, the Taiping army also seized the opportunity to send news to Tianjing.
By now, Tianjing had basically recovered its peace. Traces of the chaos in Tianjing could basically be seen. The market still followed the various rules and regulations set by Yang Xiuqing's era. The management was strict. Without orders, no one dared to go anywhere.
Wing King Shi Dakai ultimately refused to accept the title of King Yi. Instead, he accepted the title of Premier of Heavenly State's affairs and became the administrative head of Heavenly State's court. As for Lin Fengxiang, who was loyal to the Taiping Rebellion, he was conferred the title of Prince Zhang. Unknowingly, the system of nobility in Heavenly State had also undergone a huge change. From the initial Direction King who commanded the four directions, to the Vassal King who was named after the region, and now to the new Prince with all sorts of nice-sounding titles. The relationship between the central and local governments during the Taiping Rebellion was also a subtle reflection of this.
In any case, the chaotic situation in Tianjing had finally come to an end. The widely expected Wing King Shi Dakai took control of the court, and a veteran brother like Lin Fengxiang once again became the Prime Minister of the Heavenly Official. This Prime Minister was different from the previous Prime Minister. After the King Of The East's residence was destroyed, the Six Ministers were also destroyed. Therefore, the Heavenly Official, Earthly Official, Spring Official, Summer Official, Autumn Official, and Winter Official of Heavenly State — the six types of Prime Minister became the Six Ministers. All the other Prime Ministers in the past were all relieved of their duties.
From a system point of view, this was a very correct approach. Whether it was the formalization of the organization or the attempt to gradually turn the title of nobility into nothing, it was the direction that the entire Heavenly State was moving in the traditional direction. The Prime Minister of the Heavenly Official was the head of the Six Ministers. Managing the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel was something that would greatly offend people. When Yang Xiuqing was still alive, no one dared to argue with Yang Xiuqing, so he held great power. Now that the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan had insisted on Lin Fengxiang doing this, and surprisingly, Shi Dakai also wanted Lin Fengxiang to do it, he could only grit his teeth and persevere.
News of the Huai army preparing to move south had been around for half a year, but the Huai army's actions had dragged on. When the news came this time, Wing King Shi Dakai gathered the officials for a discussion. Facing the big shots of the Heavenly State, Shi Dakai said in a low voice, "We don't have enough firearms. How should we deal with it?"
No one had expected the key point that Shi Dakai raised to be the problem of weapons. Prince Of Qi Vézé was a person who had left the Taiping army. In terms of the diffusion of technology, the Taiping army had benefited much more than the Qing Army. At least, Yang Xiuqing had wanted Vézé to take on the heavy responsibility of replacing the Taiping army's firearms. Even if Vézé had run away, the firearms weren't something rare for the Taiping army. The key was the craftsmanship of the fire hats.
As the highest official in the Heavenly State, Wing King Shi Dakai looked anxious. "Heavenly State has more than two hundred thousand brothers, but there are less than twenty thousand firearms. The production of the fire hats is slow. Not only Jiang Zhongyuan, but Demon Head Zeng is also closing in. Our brothers in Jiujiang are already in danger. If we don't have enough weapons, I'm afraid we'll be at a disadvantage! "
The quality of the mercury fulminate that the Taiping army had copied from Vézé wasn't very stable. Of course, they didn't know that this was because when they were making sulfuric acid and nitric acid, the oxidation level of their products wasn't high. The content of sulfuric acid and nitrous acid was higher, so the quality of the mercury fulminate was naturally problematic. Due to the lack of knives made from crucible steel, the output of the Taiping army's craftsmen camp was higher than that of the Qing Army, but it still couldn't compare to Vézé's factory.
Without factories and equipment, the Taiping army had seen new weapons, so their need to change their weapons was especially strong. The reason why Vézé was able to win the war had been discussed many times by the brothers in the Heavenly State. Everyone agreed that the firearms in the Prince Of Qi's hands were sharp. Although Lin Fengxiang had emphasized the General Staff Department's system many times, to learn this system meant that the Taiping army's military system had to be completely reformed. Naturally, Shi Dakai wasn't willing. Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan himself also strongly opposed it. Lin Fengxiang had been a fortune-teller before, so he was quite good at dealing with people and had a lot of experience in observing people's hearts. Of course, he could see clearly that after the incident in Tianjing, anything that touched on the fundamental system of the Heavenly State could be interpreted as a rejection of Hong Xiuquan. Hong Xiuquan would naturally oppose it.
Since the system couldn't be implemented, the only thing that could be approved was Vézé's equipment. The Heavenly State's generals were not afraid of the Qing Army. What they needed the most now was powder (gunpowder) and elite soldiers.
This wasn't the first time Lin Fengxiang heard Shi Dakai say this. The importance of Jiujiang was self-evident. Tianjing City had two gateways on the Yangtze River. The first was Jiujiang, and if Jiujiang fell, the next would be Anqing. These two gateways blocked the Qing Army upstream and prevented them from going downstream. Over at Jiujiang, Lin Qirong had been begging for reinforcements, but Ceng Guofan's troops at Jiujiang had surrounded Jiujiang with barracks. Twice in a row, reinforcements had failed due to lack of manpower. Moreover, Ceng Guofan's troops had a large number of flamethrowers and new cannons bought from the British. This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of rescue.
Shi Dakai believed that they needed to gather the Western Expedition Army and the Anhui Army to attack Jiujiang together. But the Taiping army was under pressure from all sides and couldn't immediately complete such a large-scale mobilization. And the Xiang Army's advantage in weapons made everyone feel even more uncertain.
At this point, Lin Fengxiang was also helpless. He finally said, "If it doesn't work, we should send someone to contact the Prince Of Qi and ask him to support us on the account that we're all brothers in the Heavenly State …"
The Heavenly State officials didn't say anything after hearing this. This was undoubtedly a good idea, and Lin Fengxiang wasn't the only one who had thought of this. But in the entire Heavenly State, probably only Shi Dakai and Lin Fengxiang dared to say this publicly.
The chaos in Tianjing had finally subsided. After everyone got rid of the initial confusion, they were finally able to look at the problem more rationally. Many people used to think that Vézé had betrayed the Heavenly State by leaving. Now, everyone thought that if Vézé hadn't left, as the most powerful military group in the Heavenly State, if Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan couldn't kill Vézé, he would definitely not be able to eat or sleep well. And if Vézé didn't seize the central power of the Heavenly State, he wouldn't be able to sleep well facing the hostile Heavenly King.
If Vézé seized the central power of the Heavenly State, what choice would these Heavenly State officials have? Apart from getting up and fighting to the death with Vézé, there probably wasn't any other way.
Vézé's departure from the Heavenly State cooled down the gunpowder keg situation. At least everyone could calmly solve the problem. Vézé's departure from the Heavenly State was an act of loyalty. Of course, since Vézé was loyal, everyone naturally felt a sense of injustice when facing Vézé. More importantly, this "injustice" should be shouldered by the Heavenly King.
Therefore, the Heavenly King had hypocritically sent a few edicts to Vézé, hoping that Vézé would return. He even announced that Vézé was still the Prince Of Qi of the Heavenly State. But that was all. Everyone knew that the Heavenly King was just putting on an act.
Now that they asked Vézé for help regarding the weapons, they had indeed found the right person. However, other than important officials like Shi Dakai and Lin Fengxiang, no one else dared to make such a suggestion.
Everyone's gaze landed on Shi Dakai. Shi Dakai thought for a good while, and finally said, "Let's get Prime Minister Lin to handle this matter!"
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