"Mr. Danchu, Huifu is not here. You know my writing style. Please send me a letter to Yung Wing, the general manager of the Daye Iron Factory, and ask him to take out some money from the profits of the iron factory, go to Jiujiang to buy back the captured long-haired women and children, and distribute it to single miners in Daye to start their families."

After listening to Wu Chaoyue's orders, Yan Jingming, who was only invited by Wu Chaoyue to the Hubei General Office of Grain Station, rarely smiled and said, "Everyone in the world said that Wu Futai was stained with blood, and every red tassel on the official hat was condensed by long hair and blood. I didn't expect that he could have such kindness and kindness."

"It's all raised by parents, and they can save a life." Wu Chaoyue sighed and said, "Most of them are forced. The government army is incompetent and they have grown hair and beaten to the door. If they don't follow the thief, they will still be dead. They would rather be peaceful dogs than people in troubled times."

He nodded silently and agreed with Wu Chaoyue's words from the bottom of his heart. Yan Jingming then picked up his pen to write a letter to Yung Wing for Wu Chaoyue. When the letter was about to be written, Zhao Liewen, Wu Chaoyue's number one helper in internal affairs, also came to the room with a lot of documents and shouted directly: "Weiting, bad news, someone is going to steal your business! Mr. Yang wrote a letter saying that Luo Bingzhang also sent a letter to Hu Linyi and Zeng Guoquan and others, asking the remaining troops of the Hunan Army to withdraw from Hunan for reorganization."

"Retract Hunan to reorganize?" Wu Chaoyue was stunned and asked in surprise: "Luo Bingzhang is still reluctant to give up the Hunan Army? He still wants to rebuild the Hunan Army? Can he still give out money and grain to expand the Hunan Army?"

"Luo Futai can be taken out." Yan Jingming, who happened to write the letter, put down his brush and said, "Since August of the sixth year of Xianfeng, Luo Bingzhang has escaped from the burden of the Hunan Army's military salary, re-entered tea and newly opened a new place of production. It is about to be time for spring tea to go on the market. When the remaining Hunan Army retreats to Hunan for rest, Luo Futai can calm down and rebuild the Hunan Army."

"This is immortal!" Wu Chaoyue cursed in his stomach with great depression. If Luo Bingzhang really brought the remaining troops of the Hunan Army back to Hunan, he would miss a lot of people in vain. Not only would he have to use talents, the re-established Hunan Army will immediately become a sharp knife against his waist and continue to threaten his plan to rebel against the Qing Dynasty.

After being depressed, Wu Chaoyue quickly asked Zhao Liewen again: "Huifu, what is the attitude of Zeng Guoquan and Hu Linyi? Are you willing to accept my invitation, go back to Hubei to reorganize, or go back to your hometown in Hunan?"

"The attitude is ambiguous, and there is no position."

Zhao Liewen shrugged and handed the letter from Yang Wending that he had just delivered to Wu Chaoyue. Wu Chaoyue took it and saw that Yang Wending did say that Hu Linyi and others had not yet expressed whether they would accept his recruitment. His face was slimming and he immediately pulled it longer than a donkey. He knew that his plan to recruit the remnants of the Hunan Army would not be as easy as planned.

At this time, Yan Jingming, who had just come to be a cow for Wu Chaoyue for a few days, heard the clues and asked curiously: "Wu Futai, Mr. Huifu, from your tone, have you planned to incorporate the remnants of the Hunan Army long ago?"

Zhao Liewen nodded and replied: "Weiting has always believed that the Hunan Army's poor record in the past two years is not a battle, but it's just a bad luck. The civil servants and generals under Zengbutang are also rare talents for the world. Therefore, after Zengbutang died this time, Weiting immediately wanted the remaining Hunan Army to recruit them to their subordinates for their advice."

"So that's it." Yan Jingming nodded, and after a little more calculation, Yan Jingming immediately said: "Wu Futai, please forgive me for saying that if you want to incorporate all the remnants of the Hunan Army, there is no possibility, and you can't compete with Luo Futai."

Wu Chaoyue looked at Yan Jingming's ugly face in confusion. Yan Jingming then replied: "If you want to ask the reason, there are two answers, one is age and qualifications, and the other is village party."

"You can't solve the problem of age and qualifications in Wu Futai. Liu Rong, Guo Songtao, Hu Linyi, Zeng Guoquan, Li Xubin and Yang Yuebin under Zeng Guofan's command, who are not ten or twenty years older than you, and many of them are your elders. It is naturally difficult to let them lose face and obey you, the young Shangguan and junior. Luo Futai is over 60 years old, and he has the upper hand on you in this regard."

"The problem of the village party is even more difficult to solve. All the people used by Zengbutang are from Hunan, and they are in a group with great cohesion. Although Luo Futai is not from Hunan, he attaches the most importance to promoting and appointing Hunan locals. The leader of the group training is all local generals in Hunan, and they provide food and wages without complaints. Under the influence of subtlety, the Hunan Army members are of course more willing to return to Hunan to regroup, and continue to make a comeback with the support of Luo Futai. Doing so will make it easier for the Hunan Army members to rise again."

After listening to Yan Jingming's analysis and judgment with a sad face, Wu Chaoyue asked with great depression for a while: "So, I can't keep them?"

"Of course it is impossible to keep all of them." Yan Jingming replied with a smile: "But if you want to keep some of them, there is not hope."

"But Wu Futai, the official of the lower officials think that if you want to leave a part of the remaining unit of the Hunan Army, it is best not to use any means of money and beauty to buy the enemy. The remaining unit of the Hunan Army that you bought with such means will not win over the real talents, but it is also unreliable and unreliable. Because if you use silver beauties to keep them today, and if others offer double the price tomorrow, they may abandon you."

"Mr. Danchu, what should I do?" Wu Chaoyue asked quickly.

"It's very simple. Just let them know that following you will be more beneficial to their career in the future."

Yan Jingming replied with a smile and said, "Wu Futai, the official before only talked about your disadvantages in terms of age and qualifications and Hunan Township Party, but did not mention the two major advantages you have against Luo Futai. One is that you are young and have a bright future, and you have more hope of getting promotion opportunities after you follow you. The other is that you don't need a village party, only talent is the only way to promote the Hunan Army. Everyone in the Hunan Army can have no worries."

"The Xiaguan is a living example. To put it bluntly, the reason why Xiaguan took the initiative to ask Lord Futai to transfer me to Hubei was not only admire Lord Futai, but also a more important reason is that you don't need a village party, but only talent. The civil and military officials under him come from all over the world, from all over the world, and have not deliberately used your Guangdong fellow villagers. It is most suitable for officials like Xiaguan who have no way or background. Therefore, Lord Futai, as long as you let the Hunan Army understand this truth, you will not worry that the Hunan Army will not have the intention to surrender to you."

Wu Chaoyue smiled and said to Yan Jingming: "Mr. Danchu takes the initiative to come and I have another right-hand man."

…………

It's time to take a look at the situation of the remnants of the Hunan Army. After the battle situation in Jiujiang was basically stable, it was a confrontation across the lake. When they received letters from Wu Chaoyue and Luo Bingzhang, the generals of the Hunan Army gathered together twice to discuss how to deal with it. Unfortunately, although they were all grateful for Wu Chaoyue's support for the Hunan Army in the past two years and their grievances for the Hunan Army, the civil and military officials of the Hunan Army were still not very interested in joining Wu Chaoyue in collective resignation.

The reason is nothing else. Apart from being unable to bear the face and obeying the orders of Wu Chaoyue, the younger generation, he has become accustomed to building an army with his fellow countrymen, fellow clans and clans. The civil and military officials of the Hunan Army have subconsciously found it difficult to accept being incorporated by a provincial citizen, and they are even more unwilling to lose their autonomy and work hard to make contributions to others.

Although Luo Bingzhang is also from Guangdong, he always attaches importance to important Hunanese people. He gives money, food and even gives Hunan regiments the autonomy. He only issues commanders in the general direction and never asks about details. Whether it is the Hunan Army or Chu Yong, he can fight independently once he leaves the province. The trophy he earned is basically distributed by Chu Yong of the Hunan Army by himself, and Luo Bingzhang never interferes. At the same time, Hunan is also the only source of grassroots soldiers of the Hunan Army, so whether it is emotional or personal interests, the Hunan Army is more willing to return to Hunan to make a comeback, and is unwilling to submit to Wu Chaoyue, who has strict control over the army.

All the people were thinking about this. Even if no one was embarrassed to refuse Wu Chaoyue’s invitation to win over, there was no result in the two meetings. Finally, Liu Rong suggested: “How about this, let’s go back to Hubei Province first, and when we get there, we will see what Wu Futai plans, and also ask the attitude of our soldiers, and then make a decision.”

Hearing this, everyone in the Hunan Army's eyes lit up, and they knew very well that several major defeats had been fought. Everyone who had left their hometown had long missed their relatives and wanted to go home and rest as soon as possible. They would definitely not want to stay in Hubei to serve in the army. At that time, they used the excuse that the soldiers refused to obey Wu Chaoyue, and Wu Chaoyue had nothing to say. At that time, Hu Linyi, Zeng Guoquan and others nodded, and they all said, "Mr. Meng Rong's idea is better. Go back to Hubei Provincial Capital first, and then discuss with our soldiers whether to go back to Hunan or stay in Hubei."

In this way, with the intention of actually wanting to go back to Hunan, eating Wu Chaoyue's food, spending Wu Chaoyue's travel expenses, the Hunan Army set off with the idea of ​​returning to Hubei Province to rest. When they parted, Yang Wending, a white glove in Jiangxi, personally went to the dock to see you off. He did not persuade Hu Linyi, Zeng Guoquan and others to accept the grandson-in-law's recruitment. He just said to Hu Linyi and others: "Everyone, my grandson-in-law wrote a letter saying that when you pass by Songyuankou on the way back, you must go to Daye to go there. He has sent someone there to prepare to welcome you, and there are still some things you want to know."

He was very puzzled by Wu Chaoyue's intention, but he owed too many favors to Wu Chaoyue. When he returned to Fengyuankou, the leaders of the Hunan Army obediently asked the fleet to move into Fengyuan Lake, and took the waterway to the increasingly prosperous Daye Wharf to stop, and met Shao Yanxian, a capable aide sent by Wu Chaoyue, at the Daye Wharf.

What puzzled the leaders of the Hunan Army was that Shao Yanying did not greet them with red and colorful colors. Even the dinner that received them was very simple, and there was no advantage except wine and meat. Shao Yanying also saw the doubts of the leaders of the Hunan Army, and smiled and said, "Sir, I'm really sorry, dinner is a bit simple. But you probably don't know that although our Wu Futai family is definitely rich in the world, his daily diet is actually simpler than this. He has a rampant hair and is in chaos in the world. Wu Futai dares not spend money indiscriminately, and he can only use it to give priority to the army."

Thinking of the fact that when Wu Chaoyue was fighting in the past, Wu Chaoyue did drink and eat with ordinary soldiers. The leaders of the Hunan Army were relieved and hurriedly expressed humility. Then Hu Linyi asked curiously: "Mr. Shao, Wu Futai wants us to come to Daye for a trip, why is it?"

"I would like to invite you to visit the Daye Iron Factory and the Daye Guns and Cannon Bureau." Shao Yanying answered truthfully: "Master Futai said that he wanted you to see the true power of the Hubei New Army, and know why the Hubei New Army could rarely lose on the battlefield, and why it was afraid of by Changmao."

While looking at each other, even though they suspected that Wu Chaoyue was deliberately showing off, the interests of the leaders of the Hunan Army were successfully aroused by Shao Yanyang. So early the next morning, under the leadership of Shao Yanyang, the Hunan Army stepped into the Daye Iron Factory, which was extremely mysterious and strange to them, with curiosity.

In the Daye Ironworks, the first thing the leaders of the Hunan Army saw was the British iron smelting furnace Pudlin furnace purchased by Wu Chaoyue for a large amount of money, and two new furnaces that were made by the Daye Ironworks. When they learned that the monthly crucible iron production of these three iron smelting furnaces exceeded the annual crucible iron production in Hunan, all the leaders of the Hunan Army were speechless and screamed. Shao Yanying said lightly: "This is nothing. If we are willing, we can build several such iron smelting furnaces at any time to double the output."

"Mr. Shao, then why don't you build more?" Liu Rong asked curiously.

"Wait for a better steelmaking furnace." Shao Yanxuan replied: "In Kent, England, there was a foreigner named Tory who invented a new steelmaking furnace that could directly smel iron ore into molten steel. Wu Futai had already commissioned foreign friends to buy this steelmaking furnace for a large sum of money. We are also trying to develop it ourselves. Once successful, we will no longer use cooked iron in the future, but will all use steel."

The steam forging press of the Daye Iron Plant was the eye-opening of the Hunan Army's local buns. When they saw the huge hammer under the steam, the impact of large pieces of iron blasting, even if Shao Yanxuan didn't need to explain, the leaders of the Hunan Army knew the secret, and even knew why the number of Wu's artillery guns was so numerous, the output was too great.

In Daye Guns and Cannon Bureau, Xiangjun Tubozi saw the metal processing lathe for the first time. He saw with his own eyes all the links of a piece of cooked iron turning into an iron bar and turning into a barrel. He also saw how to carve the rifle in the barrel and how to produce their salivating high-fire striker guns. Although the Minnie gun and Colt-style revolver are not high in production, they are enough to make Xiangjun Tubozi's eyes red.

In order to keep it a secret, Shao Yanxuan did not lead the Hunan Army's local buns to visit the picurenic acid production line and the Wu Army's most confidential weapons development laboratory, but just told the Hunan Army's local buns what were in the buildings. Finally, at night, Shao Yanxuan invited a large group of Guangdong technicians represented by Yung Wing to lead them to dinner with the Hunan Army's local buns. During the meal, Shao Yanxuan took the initiative to raise the question of the township party, pointing to the group of Cantonese technicians speaking, and smiled at the Hunan Army's people: "Dear sirs, do you know if you have found this detail? The technicians here in the Daye Iron Factory are almost all our Guangdong fellow villagers from Wu Futai. Do you know why Wu Futai didn't let their fellow villagers let their horses and lead troops? gallop on the battlefield?"

All the local buns in the Hunan Army shook their heads and almost curiously asked the reason. Shao Yanxuan asked the local buns in the Hunan Army to ask those Guangdong technicians by themselves. As a result, under the curious inquiry of Hu Linyi and others, a Guangdong technician replied in a half-baked official speech: "We certainly thought about leading troops to fight, getting promoted and rewarded, but Wu Futai refused. He said that we do not understand military affairs and cannot play much role on the battlefield. Only by doing industry well in the Daye Iron Factory and giving full play to our Western learning skills can Hubei play a greater role in China."

The famous name of being able to survive in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China was that the Hunan Army had no low IQ, and they all vaguely guessed the real reason why Shao Yanying deliberately raised this topic. Yung Wing, who knew Wu Chaoyue's purpose, also stood up and smiled at the Hunan Army, saying, "I also know a little Western military, but Wu Futai, who was born in the same county as me, still refused to let me lead troops to fight, saying that I could not change anything when I went to the battlefield alone, and asked me to help him establish a military school, teach advanced Western tactics and advanced weapons to students, and cultivate more military generals who understand modern military for China. Everyone should work together to change the situation where the Chinese army is not as good as the foreign army."

"Fortunately, establishing a martial arts school in China is one of my purposes for returning from Citigroup. Hankou martial arts school has been established. The textbooks are written by me and foreigners. I also go there to take classes every once in a while. Wu Futai is also a volunteer teacher there. Whenever he has time, he will personally go to the martial arts school to teach the reserve officers there. If you are interested, you can also visit there after you arrive in Hankou."

The dinner was silently ended. Accompanied by Shao Yanxuan, the Hunan Army fleet set sail again and headed north to return to Hubei Provincial Capital. When we arrived at Hankou, we saw the Wu Navy's steam gunship galloping like the wind on the river. Guo Songtao, who had been silent on the road, was the first to speak and said to Hu Linyi, Zeng Guoquan and others: "I won't go back to Hunan, I will stay in Hubei."

"Yunxian, have you made up your mind?" Hu Linyi, who was also taciturn on the road, asked.

"It's decided." Guo Songtao said in a key point: "When we go back to Hunan, we can make a comeback and build the Hunan Army again, but you have also seen the current situation. Wu Futai has left more than eight streets in its heyday. Even if we return to Hunan to rebuild the Hunan Army, we will never have the chance to catch up with Wu Futai's Hubei New Army. They will only be left farther and farther away by them, and will never have a chance to make a comeback!"

"And," Guo Songtao said with a serious expression: "Wu Futai is talented and has good responsibilities. He does not engage in nepotism. His capable generals are almost all his fellow Guangdong people. I think Wu Futai's approach is more correct than Zeng Butang's method. He is also broader in his mind."

No one accused Guo Songtao of being disrespectful to Zeng Guofan. On the contrary, the leaders of the Hunan Army still looked different and began to consider whether they should accept Wu Chaoyue's recruitment. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!