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When the name "Letter of the Restored Military Governor's Office to Sue the Manchu Qing Officials" leapt into view, Jiang Zhongyuan felt rather shaken.
The Taiping Rebellion had been going on for so many years, but it was only during the first two years that there were any official declarations. Moreover, it was not very influential. On the contrary, the Liberation Army often published all kinds of announcements. When Vézé went south, he issued a declaration to the people of the world. Next, he captured Guangdong and Wuzhou in Guangxi. Then, he defeated the British in the Battle of Foshan, occupied Qiongzhou, and fought the British and French at sea and on land near Hong Kong. After these major events, the Liberation Army would issue proclamations everywhere.
Especially in the two wars with England and France, the news of the victory of the Liberation Army and the subsequent news of the defeat of the Manchu Qing caused a strong shock in the upper echelons of society. In fact, Jiang Zhongyuan had been in contact with the people sent by Vézé before the British invaded Beijing. At that time, the representative of the Liberation Army told Jiang Zhongyuan that the Manchu Qing would humiliate the country. Jiang Zhongyuan didn't believe it. After the Treaty of Beijing was signed, Jiang Zhongyuan had nothing to say.
After reading the title, Jiang Zhongyuan continued reading. In this notice, the Restored Viceroy's Office went straight to the point. When the Restored Viceroy's Office overthrew the Manchurian Qing regime and liberated China, some people would not be pardoned by the Restored Viceroy's Office.
"Some people must be killed. The Restoration Commandery had never acted against people who had no ability to resist. It had never been because of a personal grudge, and it had never been because the Manchu Qing officials had resisted the liberation operation of the Restoration Commandery Office. We must kill the enemies of Huaxia, the pests of Huaxia. This is a national feud! "
"… There's a group of people whose ancestors aren't Manchu, and they aren't even Bannermen. They claimed to have read the Book of Sages and considered themselves to be the descendants of Confucius. Confucius said, "Small tube Zhong, my quilt is on the left side." And this group of people, facing the Liberation Army, the righteous army that was trying to recover Huaxia, not only did they not surrender, but they also wholeheartedly worked for the foreign races and massacred the common people. Those who massacred the common people were thieves. Those who claimed to be the disciples of Confucius but rebelled against Huaxia were despicable people. Pledging allegiance to the Outsiders was a traitor's bone. Having the bones of a thief, the bones of a wretch, and the bones of a dog, these kinds of people had no value in living, and there was no need for them to live. The sins of the clan that raised this group of people were hard to absolve. The entire clan must be executed, and the nine generations of the clan must be executed. Let the future generations know what happens to traitors … "
When Jiang Zhongyuan saw this, he felt that things were getting serious. Back then, Zeng Guofan had written an article to refute the propaganda of the Taiping Rebellion. He used the reason that the Taiping Rebellion had started worshipping God and destroyed China's traditions. His words were also very righteous.
The Liberation Army had never engaged in any religion. Now, in the name of "the division between China and the Barbarians," they proposed the concept of traitors, expressing that they wanted to exterminate the traitors for China. It was difficult for the literati to refute. In Manchu Qing, the distinction between Manchu and Han was very clear.
If the literati wanted to defend themselves, then the only reason left was that the two sides were fighting for the world. If this reason was adopted, the rest would be simple. The two sides would only have complete means of war left. The Liberation Army's declaration seemed to be beautiful. Killing people and exterminating people was not for personal grudges. However, in the current situation, if the officials under the Manchu Qing dared to meet the Liberation Army on the battlefield, their entire families would be finished after they were defeated. Jiang Zhongyuan did not know whether others knew about the Liberation Army's war capabilities. However, Jiang Zhongyuan himself had a very positive evaluation of the Liberation Army's war capabilities. In other words, Jiang Zhongyuan knew that if he fought with the Liberation Army, the possibility of him being defeated was very high. The result of defeat was that Jiang Zhongyuan would become a traitor and his entire family would be killed. Then, he would become a "traitor and a national thief." This kind of ending was too tragic.
Ceng Guofan looked at the declaration of the Recovered Commander-in-Chief's Office to the Manchu Qing Officials, and his hands couldn't help shaking. Before he finished reading it, he tore the declaration in half and threw it on the ground. He was so angry that his beard trembled. "Nonsense! Nonsense! "
Jiang Zhongyuan had thought that Ceng Guofan would immediately draft a counterattack declaration, but he did not expect Ceng Guofan to lose his composure like this. His hope of facing Ceng Guofan's civil battle with the Liberation Army was almost shattered. However, Jiang Zhongyuan still couldn't help asking, "Brother Disheng, are you going to write something?"
Ceng Guofan's body shook, and he looked at Jiang Zhongyuan with an indescribable evil fire in his eyes. There was blame for Jiang Zhongyuan's inappropriate question, deep-seated hatred, and pretentious contempt. Jiang Zhongyuan didn't care about these. As the governor of Anhui, any threat from Ceng Guofan had no effect on him. Moreover, Jiang Zhongyuan was a person with true temperament. Through Ceng Guofan's various performances, Jiang Zhongyuan could clearly feel Ceng Guofan's panic from the bottom of his heart.
Perhaps because he could also see through his old friend Jiang Zhongyuan, Ceng Guofan quickly calmed down and said in a calm tone, "We are paid by the emperor and are loyal to the emperor. Since we are loyal to the imperial court, we can't be a traitor. "
As a scholar who had passed the imperial examination, Jiang Zhongyuan was very disappointed with Ceng Guofan's words. Vézé had scolded the Han officials for being loyal to foreigners as Han people, and called them dog bones. Ceng Guofan's words made it clear that he recognized the title of "dog bones". Although he was also willing to be loyal to the imperial court, the title of "dog bones" shocked Jiang Zhongyuan.
However, Ceng Guofan was Ceng Guofan after all. After losing his composure for a short while, he quickly calmed down. Frowning and thinking for a moment, Ceng Guofan suddenly ordered someone to bring a brush and paper. Jiang Zhongyuan invited Ceng Guofan to the study in the back and personally ground the ink for him. Ceng Guofan pondered for a moment and began to write a response.
In the first paragraph, Ceng Guofan accused Vézé of being a citizen of the Great Qing. Instead of being loyal to the emperor and serving the country, he used his own power to bring disaster to the world. Moreover, Vézé had once sought an official position from the Manchu Qing. After being rejected, he harbored hatred in his heart and rebelled.
This "big revelation" left Jiang Zhongyuan dumbfounded. He really didn't know that Vézé had such an experience. However, after a short while, Jiang Zhongyuan guessed that this was probably fabricated by Ceng Guofan himself. Seeing this, Jiang Zhongyuan admired Ceng Guofan's Big Brother Ceng. When he first read this paragraph, Jiang Zhongyuan almost believed it himself. Even Jiang Zhongyuan had misgivings, not to mention the thoughts of the other officials and scholars. In this day and age, it was a serious matter whether one tried to seek an official position or not. If Vézé had never sought an official position, in the eyes of scholars, it wouldn't be a problem of his character if he rebelled. But if he failed to seek an official position and rebelled, it would be a matter of personal vengeance. This was definitely a problem of his character.
In the next paragraph, Ceng Guofan changed the topic to Hong Xiuquan. Hong Xiuquan had passed the county-level examination. This was something that everyone knew. Ceng Guofan wrote that Hong Xiuquan's academic level was low and he couldn't pass the county-level examination. After obtaining an official position in the imperial court, he rebelled. His character was even more despicable.
After talking about Hong Xiuquan, Ceng Guofan continued to talk about Vézé, the scum who failed to seek an official position. For his own glory, splendor, wealth and rank, he sought refuge under Hong Xiuquan. After these two rebellious thieves gained a little bit of power, they even started to fight amongst themselves. After Hong Xiuquan killed Yang Xiuqing, Vézé, who had long had the intention to rebel, took the opportunity to drag Yang Xiuqing's subordinates to Guangdong. It was obvious that Vézé's character was even worse than Hong Xiuquan's, and his schemes were even more sinister than Hong Xiuquan's.
Now that Hong Xiuquan had suffered a setback and was about to be taken care of by the imperial court, Vézé didn't help Hong Xiuquan out of consideration for their old friendship. Instead, he watched from the sidelines, waiting for Hong Xiuquan to be defeated so that he could take over Hong Xiuquan's subordinates. Such a heartless and unjust person had no right to call himself Huaxia.
At the end of the article, Ceng Guofan called on the officials to unite around the imperial court and not be deceived by Vézé's lies, let alone be intimidated by his threats. The Xiang Army would soon take care of Hong Xiuquan, and then they would eliminate Vézé. Therefore, the officials had to work together and work hard in the imperial court's war to eliminate the traitors. They had to make contributions and bring honor to their ancestors.
This was only a draft. After Ceng Guofan finished writing in one breath, he stopped to catch his breath and rested, preparing to polish it.
After reading this draft, Jiang Zhongyuan was very impressed by Ceng Guofan's writing ability. If Jiang Zhongyuan were to write a rebuttal article, he would never be able to write as well as Ceng Guofan.
Since Vézé had written "The Letter of the Restored Military Governor's Office Against the Manchu Qing Officials", it used the principle of "the difference between China and the barbarians". Ceng Guofan also wrote to the officials, telling them that Vézé's character was inferior and had no right to speak of righteousness. More importantly, Vézé had betrayed the imperial court and then Hong Xiuquan. His words could not be trusted. The article hinted to the officials who might be swayed by Vézé's announcement that Vézé was unreliable and nothing he said was worthy of trust.
Jiang Zhongyuan believed that since Vézé's article was written for the officials to read, Ceng Guofan's article would be sufficient to deal with it. Not to mention others, even Jiang Zhongyuan himself, who was initially swayed, now felt that Vézé's "The Letter of the Restored Military Governor's Office Against the Manchu Qing Officials" was insignificant.
However, in addition to being an official, Jiang Zhongyuan was also a soldier. Fighting with words was never of much use during a change of dynasty. Everything was decided by war. Regardless of whether Vézé's character was inferior or not, Vézé's fighting ability could not be ignored.
Ceng Guofan quickly recovered. He did not immediately revise the article, but discussed with Jiang Zhongyuan the matter of joining forces to recover the entire south of the Yangtze River. Occupying Anqing would open the door to Tianjing City, but Hunan had long been squeezed dry. The wealthy Hubei had supported the Xiang Army for a few years, but its finances had also dried up. On the other hand, Huainan, which had been under the control of the Taiping Rebellion for several years, was far from the flames of war. Coupled with the policy that Vézé had set to restrain the landlords and help the peasants, the entire Huainan had sufficient food and a stable life. After the Xiang Army and Huai Army worked together to deal with the Taiping Army in Huainan, they could immediately make full use of the food in Huainan. This would provide enough food for the Xiang Army and Huai Army to attack Tianjing City.
Ceng Guofan almost forced Jiang Zhongyuan to agree to this strategy. He hurriedly returned to Anqing to prepare for a new round of military operations. On the other hand, Jiang Zhongyuan's expression was very bleak. When he first proposed to Ceng Guofan to save the country, he was not trying to be arrogant. If he wanted to attack Tianjing City, he had to extract money from Huainan. There were two ways to obtain money. The first was to maintain the current situation in Huainan. This was also the plan that Jiang Zhongyuan preferred. At the same time, Jiang Zhongyuan was very clear that this was also a hopeless plan.
Too many landlords had already sent people to contact Jiang Zhongyuan. They claimed that they were organizing troops and waiting for Jiang Zhongyuan's troops to arrive. As they spoke, these landlords hated the ruthless oppression they had suffered for the past seven to eight years. They expressed that they would cooperate with the imperial army to eliminate the unruly people.
Jiang Zhongyuan wanted to say this to Ceng Guofan in hopes of getting his support. Even if he could not continue to maintain the social system that Vézé had established, it would at least reduce the number of killings. But now, it seemed that this was completely impossible.
Since the first plan did not work, the remaining plan was for the Xiang Army and Huai Army to work together with the landlords to counterattack. The landlords would promise to provide food and money to the Xiang Army and Huai Army, and the Xiang Army and Huai Army would allow the landlords to "solve their own problems" …
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhongyuan did not dare to think any further. In fact, when he first met Ceng Guofan, he did not say any poems. What they talked about were just some urban legends. That poem was written by Jiang Zhongyuan when he went to Guangxi to participate in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion. He saw the current situation in Guangxi and wrote it. Jiang Zhongyuan could still roughly remember the content of the poem.
Sorrowful for this poor man's hard work in farming, the harvest is only enough to compensate for a tenth.
This year will no longer look forward to another year, the ravine will be filled with white bones.
But seeing that 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?
Thinking back to what he had written, and then to the war over the past years, Jiang Zhongyuan only felt confused. He closed his eyes and put his hand on his forehead, his brows deeply furrowed. Despite his great ambition to save the country, despite being the governor of Anhui, Jiang Zhongyuan was completely helpless against what was about to happen.
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