Chapter 15 Coming out of the rivers and lakes to gain the times

The ancients said: Times make heroes.Although Li Hongzhang, who returned to Zengmu, was not considered a hero, the rapidly changing situation provided him with a good opportunity to realize his ambition of mastering military power and establishing a school of his own. During this time, the situation changed.In 1860, the Taiping Army destroyed the Jiangnan camp that the Qing government had besieged Nanjing, and further captured most of southern Jiangsu, leaving only Shanghai and Zhenjiang under the control of the Qing army. During the battle against the Taiping Army, the Qing army was very incompetent, and the decadent army was not an opponent of the Taiping Army at all.

Therefore, the Qing government had to rely on Zeng Guofan and his Hunan army. Emperor Xianfeng was wary of Zeng Guofan before, but now he has no choice but to appoint Zeng Guofan as the governor of Liangjiang, and the imperial minister to supervise the military affairs in the south of the Yangtze River. In the second year, Emperor Xianfeng died of illness after fleeing from the capital to Rehe in order to avoid the British and French allied forces. His son Zaichun succeeded him as Emperor Tongzhi. In September, Zeng Guofan captured Anqing City, an important stronghold of the Taiping Army in Anhui at this time, and the Qing government rewarded Zeng Guofan as the prince Shaobao.Li Hongzhang accompanied Zeng Guofan from Dongliu to the city, discussing day and night the plan to march into Jinling and attack the Taiping Army.

In November, Zaichun's biological mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, colluded with Prince Gong Yixin to launch a palace coup, killing and deposing Chanxiang Minister of State Affairs, and seizing the supreme ruling power of the Qing Dynasty. Empress Dowager Cixi held a grand enthronement ceremony for Zaichun, changed the next year to the first year of Tongzhi, appointed Prince Gong Yixin as the king of politics, and presided over the Military Aircraft Department and the Prime Minister's National Affairs Office (also known as the General Administration and Translation Department), and then announced to listen to politics behind the curtain.

In order to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty, Cixi and Yixin further relied on the power of Han landlords, so they further handed over Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang to Zeng Guofan's jurisdiction. According to the military situation at that time, most of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were still owned by the Taiping Army. If the Hunan Army wanted to attack Jinling, it had to have a large force stationed in Jiangsu and Zhejiang respectively, but the strength of the Hunan Army was obviously insufficient.Therefore, in order to make up for the lack of strength of the Hunan Army, it is something Zeng Guofan has been planning for a long time to make use of the vigor of the two Huaihe Rivers to train Huai Yong.

Just at this time, after the defeat in the battle to capture Hubei and defend Anqing, the Taiping Army adopted the strategy of defending on the west and attacking on the east, defeated the Qing army on the east, invaded and conquered most of the eastern and western Zhejiang, and went straight to Hangzhou, threatening the Shanghai. At that time, Shanghai was the largest commercial city in the country and the gathering place of Chinese and foreign counter-revolutionary forces.Faced with the fierce offensive of the Taiping Army, the Shanghai officials and gentry were in constant panic, so they sought protection by various means.On the one hand, they advocated borrowing teachers from Britain, France and other countries to assist in the suppression, and established a Chinese and foreign defense bureau; on the other hand, they suggested to Governor Xue Huan of Jiangsu and Minister of Regiment and Training Pang Zhonglu through Gu Wenbin of Yandao, Hubei, asking to send people to Anhui to ask Zeng Guofan for help.

They sent a group of representatives including Qian Dingming to Anqing to ask Zeng Guofan to send troops to assist Shanghai.Qian Dingming took out the move that Shen Baoxu, an aristocrat of the Chu State, asked Qin Bing for help in the Spring and Autumn Period. He went to Zeng Guofan every day and cried bitterly, which made Zeng Guofan have a headache when he saw him. Qian Dingming also proposed that the wealthy gentry in Shanghai were willing to raise 600,000 taels of military pay for the Hunan Army every month.But Zeng Guofan considered Shanghai's remote location and feared that it would be disadvantageous to divide the troops, so he did not agree to their request.

Qian Dingming is a good public relations talent. He used his father's relationship with Li Wen'an in the same year to start lobbying Li Hongzhang instead, and finally moved Li Hongzhang's heart. Li Hongzhang persuaded Zeng Guofan, saying that the military expenditure of the Hunan Army is currently tight, and the Shanghai gentry is willing to give us 600,000 taels a month, which can be of great help to us.In addition, keeping Shanghai is also a good thing for us, why should we keep them out? Therefore, Zeng Guofan agreed to send troops into Shanghai.Zeng Guofan carefully analyzed the candidates for admission to Shanghai. At first, he selected his younger brother Zeng Guoquan.

However, Zeng Guoquan only wanted to take the first victory in conquering Tianjing, and he was not interested in Shanghai at all.Zeng Guofan invited Chen Shijie, a veteran of the Hunan Army, to join the mountain, but Chen Shijie refused Zeng Guofan on the grounds that his mother needed to be taken care of. Zeng Guofan thought of Li Hongzhang, and it was time to send this proud student out to practice.So he asked Li Hongzhang to talk alone: ​​Shaoquan, this time the task is not light, you have to be mentally prepared.You don't have many troops under your command now, I'll send you some more when the time comes.But this is not enough, you have to find a way to solve this problem.In addition, I will recommend you to be the governor of Jiangsu, which will make things easier.After you arrive in Jiangsu, you can station the main force in Zhenjiang and put the small force in Shanghai, because after all, Zhenjiang's location is very important, and Shanghai is just a remote place, so there is no need to be stationed there.

Hearing this, Li Hongzhang was very happy. Thinking that the people in Shanghai were unfamiliar, Li Hongzhang might as well go back to his hometown of Anhui to recruit Huai Yong. Call back quickly: Teacher, thank you for your cultivation and trust!I will find a solution for the military affairs. I have accumulated some experience and made some friends when I co-organized the regiment training before.Earlier you ordered me to recruit some Huaiyong in your name to train in the Hunan Army. I think this time I can go back to northern Anhui to recruit a group of troops. In fact, Zeng Guofan had a plan to establish the Huai Army a long time ago, and Li Hongzhang was appointed to take up the task this time, which was in accordance with the right time, place and people.Li Hongzhang had the foundation of training in the Anhui assistant regiment, and he had been with Zeng Guofan for many years, and learned a lot of ways to lead troops, so he was full of confidence and felt that he would be able to do this job well.

Zeng Guofan nodded and said: Well, I think this time you will recruit people in your own name, and then your army will be called the Huai Army.In addition, I will give you the Chunzi Battalion of Huaiyong Zhang Yuchun in the Hunan Army. He was originally your direct descendant. I will also give you the two battalions of the Kaizi Battalion led by Cheng Xueqi. In addition, I will allocate two more battalions to you. , led by Han Zhengguo. Li Hongzhang was very satisfied with the teacher's careful arrangement and thanked him a thousand times, so he hurried to Hefei.