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On June 11th, Shouzhou was finally captured by the Huai army. When the founder of the Huai army, Anhui Inspector-General Jiang Zhongyuan, entered Shouzhou with his troops, he was shocked by the tragedy of Shouzhou.
The city wall was almost soaked in blood. There were human limbs and pieces of internal organs everywhere. As for the houses near the city wall, only some bricks and stones were left after the fire caused by the shelling. The Huai army broke through the city wall, and the remaining Taiping army in the city continued to resist with the houses in the city as cover. The Huai army used the tactic of shelling and arson, and the whole city of Shouzhou was turned into a scorched land.
Shouzhou was in the mountains, and there was no way to break through it with acupoint cultivation methods. The Huai army had infiltrated south of the Huai River a few years ago, but they were helpless against this city. It was not until they had the bomb that the Huai army found a feasible way to break through the city. After taking Shouzhou, the Taiping army's Huai River defense line finally came to an end. The Taiping army had been in charge of Luzhou for seven or eight years, but Jiang Zhongyuan was very confident about taking Luzhou.
After leaving Shouzhou, which was almost completely destroyed, Jiang Zhongyuan arrived in Liu 'an on June 15th and reunited with his old friend Ceng Guofan. The two parted ways that year. Although they kept in touch through letters, it had been eight years since they last met. Ceng Guofan was born in 1811, and Jiang Zhongyuan was born in 1812. The last time they met was in 1853. At that time, Ceng Guofan was 42 years old, and Jiang Zhongyuan was 41 years old. They were still high-spirited middle-aged men. After eight years of bloody battle, Ceng Guofan was 50 years old, and Jiang Zhongyuan was 49 years old. Both of them had entered the old age.
Meeting old friends was naturally different. It was just a simple meal, two old friends, and two bottles of wine. Pouring a glass of wine for Ceng Guofan, Jiang Zhongyuan laughed heartily and said, "Brother Shisheng, when I was in the capital, I went to your house to eat and drink. Now that I think about it, it seems like yesterday."
In front of others, Ceng Guofan had the appearance of a Confucian cultivator, but in front of Jiang Zhongyuan, he became lively. Ceng Guofan raised his glass and toasted to Jiang Zhongyuan. He casually drank half a mouthful and ate the food with his chopsticks. Then, he said, "Yes. In the blink of an eye, 16 years … no, 17 years have passed. "
In 1844, Ceng Guofan had long known that Jiang Zhongyuan, who had come to the capital to take the imperial examination, had twice sent the corpses of his teachers and friends from Hunan back to Hunan for burial. However, Ceng Guofan heard that Jiang Zhongyuan liked gambling and whoring, so he was unwilling to associate with Jiang Zhongyuan. In the end, Jiang Zhongyuan took the initiative to visit Ceng Guofan. When they first met, Jiang Zhongyuan predicted that the world would descend into chaos.
In 1848, Jiang Zhongyuan formed a regiment in his hometown and wiped out several large-scale rebellions. He pioneered the use of private troops to establish meritorious service and become a high-ranking military official. Ceng Guofan's Xiang Army took over the channels that Jiang Zhongyuan had left in Hunan. Other than the 5,000 soldiers that Zuo Zongtang had brought with him from Hunan, everything else he had done was imitating Jiang Zhongyuan.
At this time, Jiang Zhongyuan had been the inspector-general of Anhui for eight years. Ceng Guofan was the inspector-general of Hubei, in charge of the military affairs of the four provinces. Zuo Zongtang had also been the inspector-general of Zhejiang for four years. With the help of the Huai army, Xiang Army, and Chu army, the people from Hunan had become high-ranking officials and nobles in the provinces along the Yangtze River. As for the reason, everyone admitted that Jiang Zhongyuan was the pioneer. Even Zuo Zongtang, who was proud of his talent and looked down on Ceng Guofan, was very respectful to Jiang Zhongyuan.
It was even more impossible for Ceng Guofan to look down on Jiang Zhongyuan. Thinking back to their meeting in the capital 17 years ago, he was also very emotional.
Jiang Zhongyuan drank generously. He had just finished his glass of wine in one gulp, and now he poured himself another glass. He didn't care how much Ceng Guofan drank. The two of them clinked their glasses again, and Jiang Zhongyuan drank the wine in one gulp. Then he sighed: "Seeing the rich have no worries, who will pity the poor for hunger? Once the poor are driven by hunger, how can the rich be content with their homes? Brother Disheng, I said this 17 years ago, and I still want to say this 17 years later. Shouzhou has been taken, and our army can attack Luzhou. But as far as I know, the reason why the people of Huainan followed the Guangdong bandits is because they don't allow landlords to collect land rent. We aspire to govern the country. Suppressing mergers and attacking the tyrants is the way to govern the country. I don't know what Brother Disheng thinks. "
With Ceng Guofan's intelligence, he didn't answer. Instead, he said: "As long as the Guangdong bandits aren't destroyed, Vézé won't die. We can't talk about this matter yet. "
Hearing Ceng Guofan talk about Vézé, Jiang Zhongyuan was silent. He had fought with Vézé and knew that Vézé's subordinates were brave and good at fighting. Fortunately, Vézé led his troops south to Guangdong and Guangxi after the Tianjing coup. Otherwise, with Vézé's continuous infiltration to the north of the Huai River, the Huai army would have been driven out of northern Anhui in a year or two.
Ceng Guofan downed the rest of the wine in his cup in one gulp and then poured himself another cup. "Wei Ze is treacherous and cunning. Right now he only occupies several crossings from Lingnan to the Yangtze River, but he has not sent his troops to Hunan. I know that Vézé wants us to destroy the Guangdong bandits first. After we suffer heavy casualties, he will go all the way north to take advantage of this ready-made advantage. Although I know Vézé's plan, I have to do this. Sigh … "
Jiang Zhongyuan didn't continue this topic. He continued his own topic, "Now the entire Huaibei has to support the Huai army, and the common people can't live a good life. I'm very anxious about this … "
"Just kill those rebels, why do you need to say more?" Ceng Guofan said resolutely, "Brother Jiang, I admire your decisiveness. But why are you so muddle-headed now? It's a chaotic world now, and we should act according to the authority. At this time, the key is to destroy the Guangdong bandits and Vézé. They are missing the rebels, so they are in chaos one after another. Such rebels should be killed immediately. Otherwise, it will only become more and more chaotic. After the world is calm, we will implement the strategy of governing the country. At this time, if we only think that the rebels are also suffering, the world is in chaos, and the common people will only suffer more and more. "
Jiang Zhongyuan sighed, but took out a notice and handed it to Ceng Guofan, "I don't know if Brother Disheng has seen this notice."
Ceng Guofan took a look and saw something written in vernacular on the notice. It was the notice that Vézé posted in the Jiangnan area since this year. The content was about the reasons for the rebellion, the difference between rebellion and revolution.
At the end of the notice, Vézé emphasized that the recovery of the Viceroy's Mansion was a revolution, calling on the common people to join the revolution of the Viceroy's Mansion and the Restoration Party to build a new China.
After reading the discussion of the land issue and the "accounting" of the recovery of the Viceroy's Mansion, Ceng Guofan's face gradually became ferocious. He slammed the notice on the table and said angrily, "A bunch of nonsense!" Because of the excessive force, the wine glass on the table jumped on the table, a few drops of water splashed on the water surface, and then a circle of small ripples appeared in the glass.
Jiang Zhongyuan nodded, "Brother Disheng, I think so too. But Vézé is completely different from the Cantonese bandits who believe in God. This person has such insight, but he is a great enemy of the imperial court. And the imperial court has been defeated by foreigners several times, but Vézé has defeated foreigners several times … "
Ceng Guofan saw that Jiang Zhongyuan seemed to be deceived by Vézé's notice, so he said loudly, "Brother Jiang, I heard that some people call me Zeng Zhaotou, saying that I kill people without counting, and beheading them is like shaving their heads. But these people don't know that if there are no rules in the world, there will only be chaos. I kill the rebels to maintain the current rules. This is a merciful heart. If I don't do this, the world … "
Just as he said this, someone outside asked to see him. Ceng Guofan's bodyguard led a person in and handed Ceng Guofan a thick letter. Ceng Guofan opened it, and there was also a notice inside. Since it was a notice, it was not a private matter. There must be many people who had seen it. Jiang Zhongyuan also leaned over to take a look, only to see that it was the Liberation Army's usual simplified characters, and the writing was also in the vernacular. Jiang Zhongyuan looked at it for a moment and was stunned.
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