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Zeng Guofan originally had a pointy face. After he was forced to lead the Xiang Army to retreat to Huaibei in 1862, he worked hard day and night. At this time, he was even thinner, and his pointy face had turned into an awl face. He looked tired, but Zeng Guofan's eyes seemed to be burning with a kind of heat, which made people feel a little ghostly.
At the meeting of the main generals of the Huaihe defensive line in Manchu Qing, Zeng Guofan was not depressed or confused. He proposed his own strategy to Jiang Zhongyuan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi and other generals. "At this time, the only way is to protect the armor, take a seat, and station the fields. We have to do three things at the same time! "
Zuo Zongtang was driven from Zhejiang to northern Jiangsu. At this time, he was no longer arrogant. He just quietly listened to Zeng Guofan's opinions. However, Jiang Zhongyuan was still a little calm. He asked, "Brother Disheng, you have already written these strategies in your letter last time. Please explain it more clearly."
Zuo Zongtang had long felt that Zeng Guofan's ability was limited, but his own performance was not necessarily better than Zeng Guofan's, so Zuo Zongtang thought that he should not speak. But in the end, this talent with a lion nose and a wide mouth couldn't help asking in surprise, "Military settlement?"
Jiang Zhongyuan asked, "What do you think, Ji Gao?"
"Military settlement is not feasible!" Zuo Zongtang immediately replied.
"Please say it, Ji Gao." Zeng Guofan was indeed a person who cultivated his mind. There was no dissatisfaction in his voice. At least, what Jiang Zhongyuan saw from Zeng Guofan was only a humble acceptance.
Zuo Zongtang replied with a straight face, "First, where does the land for the military settlement come from? Second, the north of Huaihe River is not like the south of Changjiang River. The wheat planted in the north of Huaihe River must survive the winter. It will take more than half a year to go back and forth. If something happens in the middle, it will be equivalent to wasting money. Although your idea is good, it is difficult to realize. "
Jiang Zhongyuan sighed in his heart. In fact, both Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang were outstanding talents. It was just that Ceng Guofan was good at planning, while Zuo Zongtang was good at executing. If the two of them could cooperate sincerely, they would definitely be successful in every endeavor, but Zuo Zongtang did not want to be under Ceng Guofan no matter what. Although he knew where the conflict between the two of them was, Jiang Zhongyuan had no way of reconciling this conflict.
Ceng Guofan was not angry. He said slowly, "Then what is Ji Gao going to do? If they couldn't station troops, would they have to rely on the imperial court's deployment? North of the Huai River was indeed not Jiangnan. The people there were more simple and honest, and business was not prosperous. The method of collecting Likin was not suitable for the north of the Huai River. Right now, if we were to wait for the imperial court's taxes, I'm afraid it would be no more difficult than waiting for wheat for half a year. "
Jiang Zhongyuan agreed with Ceng Guofan's thinking. As the Governor of Anhui, Jiang Zhongyuan naturally knew the difficulty of collecting money and grain. He expressed his thoughts very implicitly, "It is said that Vézé also has troops stationed in various places."
Recently, there were more than a dozen landlords who had fled to the "imperial court." They had been low-level officials in the Commander-in-Chief's Office. After being "cruelly purged" by the old revolutionaries, this group of people felt that they had no future and could not get any benefits from being a civil servant. Therefore, they came to seek refuge in the "imperial court."
With the information provided by these people who had participated in the actual operation of the new government, coupled with the investigation of Manchu Qing, Jiang Zhongyuan and the others were now able to confirm that the Liberation Army had a large number of state farms. Every unit had set up a farm in the station and cultivated vegetable fields. Although staple food still needed to be collected, non-staple food could be self-sufficient.
When Jiang Zhongyuan brought up this issue, he did not want to discuss the organizational model of the Liberation Army, but rather, he was very implicitly expressing his support for Ceng Guofan.
"Let the soldiers farm?" Li Hongzhang's voice had a hint of opposition in it.
Zuo Zongtang's expression was ugly, and he did not even want to object. In fact, Jiang Zhongyuan also felt very guilty. The purpose of being a soldier was to eat and get paid. If they were willing to farm at home, how could they still be a soldier? However, Jiang Zhongyuan knew that the Manchu Qing was on the verge of destruction. Not to mention that Vézé occupied the most prosperous area in the world, the areas that the Qing court still had could not force the local people to rebel in order to deal with the Taiping Rebellion and the Nian Army. At this time, the only people that Jiang Zhongyuan could really give orders to were actually the troops under his command.
"The military camp, six civilians and four soldiers, is similar to the current land rent," Ceng Guofan said. "The people are short of land. We only need to get the land now."
Hearing Ceng Guofan say this, everyone's attention was focused on Ceng Guofan. Zuo Zongtang asked, "Where does the land come from?"
Ceng Guofan pointed at the map of Huaibei. "From here!"
Everyone looked at it and confirmed one thing. Ceng Guofan was pointing at the area where the Nian Army was entrenched. Since 1853, the Nian Army, which mainly sold illegal salt between Henan, Anhui, and Shandong, began to rebel. They first colluded with the Taiping army, and then took advantage of the opportunity of Vézé's second northern expedition to greatly expand their territory and strength. It seemed that Ceng Guofan was ready to take over the Nian Army's territory and implement the policy of stationing troops in this area.
"Then the local people …" Jiang Zhongyuan asked.
"The local people are rioters. We need to get rid of them," Ceng Guofan answered frankly.
The other generals didn't say a word when they heard these words that seemed to be playing it down. They really could not think of any other choice to speak of.
After the meeting, Jiang Zhongyuan privately went to find Zuo Zongtang. He asked Zuo Zongtang, "Ji Gao, have you made any progress on the establishment of the new army?"
The Huai army, the Xiang Army, and the Chu army were naturally new armies compared to the Green Camp. But after these three armies had been tempered by the fires of war, the senior generals believed that they had to build a stronger and more effective army to fight against the Liberation Army. Then this army was naturally the new army. The characteristic of the new army was to "imitate the Western armies." The Huai army was an artillery unit trained by Western instructors. The results were much better than the Huai army's own training. The Chu army had not only hired Western instructors for the artillery, but also had Western instructors for the army. In terms of building a new army, the Chu army, which had more contact with the Westerners in Shanghai, should naturally have the most experience.
Hearing Jiang Zhongyuan's question, Zuo Zongtang smiled bitterly, "Sir Jiang, how much money does it cost to build a new army? Does the imperial court have money now? Do we still have money? "
This guy had hit the nail on the head. Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't say anything else. In the past, Ceng Guofan had Hunan and Hubei, Zuo Zongtang had Zhejiang and Fujian, and Jiang Zhongyuan only had Huaibei. Back then, the Huai army had the worst conditions, but now it had become the wealthiest of the three armies. After many years of operation, the tax revenue in Huaibei had finally stabilized. At least, Jiang Zhongyuan would not be ignorant about who to tax and how much to collect. But the once wealthy Xiang Army and Chu Army were now running out of money. Their days were becoming more and more difficult.
While he was sharp and unkind, he could always hit the nail on the head. This was Zuo Zongtang's specialty. Jiang Zhongyuan knew very well that Ceng Guofan had always been terrible in practice. He could make strategic plans for the Xiang Army, but if he personally led the army to fight, he would lose every battle. In terms of military practice in the Xiang Army, the navy had Peng Yulin, and the army had Ceng Guoquan. Relying on this group of generals, the Xiang Army could become stronger as they fought.
As for Zuo Zongtang, he had a high level of practice and could use theory in practice. But Zuo Zongtang could not create a theory himself. This did not mean that Zuo Zongtang had high standards but low ability, but that Zuo Zongtang was very capable, so he had higher requirements for theory. At least, the military theory of the Xiang Army of "being the host and the guest, forming a strong stronghold to fight a dumb battle" was ridiculed by Zuo Zongtang as worthless.
But to build a theory like the Liberation Army, it was beyond Zuo Zongtang's level. So Zuo Zongtang's greatest performance was that he could accurately see the problem, but he could not come up with a solution. In comparison, although Ceng Guofan's method had many problems, it was still a method if it was implemented. Comparing the two, Jiang Zhongyuan's evaluation of Ceng Guofan was higher.
"I actually think it's strange. Vézé is a country bumpkin. Where did he learn these skills?" Jiang Zhongyuan changed the topic to a less hurtful one.
"This …" Zuo Zongtang pondered. The more he knew about Vézé, the higher Zuo Zongtang's evaluation of Vézé. In fact, a few years ago, Zuo Zongtang's evaluation of Vézé was far higher than Ceng Guofan's. In this era, the standard to evaluate an emperor was the administration of literature and martial arts. Martial arts were naturally not needed. The Liberation Army that Vézé founded single-handedly established a great reputation. In terms of administration of literature, he wrote a Xinhua dictionary, set up a large number of schools, and taught various courses. Zuo Zongtang sent people to Guangdong to inquire and purchase primary school textbooks. Zuo Zongtang read those textbooks and felt that it was beneficial to open a book. He felt enlightened on many problems.
Zuo Zongtang was proud and arrogant. In the face of the person who defeated him with absolute strength, he could not say anything against his conscience. Therefore, Zuo Zongtang said to Jiang Zhongyuan, "Maybe the information we got about Vézé before is wrong. This person may not be from a poor family. "
"It seems that we can only see it this way." Jiang Zhongyuan also felt that this statement was very reasonable. After sighing, he solemnly said to Zuo Zongtang, "But Jigao, Vézé has only worked for 12 years to get to where he is today. The money and food in our hands are much better than Vézé's at the beginning. At this time, we must cooperate sincerely. I think Brother Shisheng's plan may not be a good one, but it may be implemented. "
"The money and food in our hands may be much better than Vézé's 12 years ago, but the enemy in front of us is much stronger than the official army 12 years ago. There is no dispute. "Zuo Zongtang sneered.
This was indeed a point of view that hit the nail on the head. Jiang Zhongyuan was refuted to the point that he was speechless.
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