Suzhou, Shuyuan Lane, Jiangsu Governor's Office.
Jiangsu Governor Guaerjia Yiliang is as anxious as an ant on a hot pot these days. This old bureaucrat who is also famous in modern Chinese history is 63 years old this year. Fifteen years ago, he
He became the governor of Guangdong at the age of forty-eight. There was a lot of room for improvement. As long as nothing unexpected happened, a Yizhongtang would have it all.
But just when everything was going smoothly, this unexpected thing happened7!/
And this accident was the most famous Opium War in modern history!
To be honest, Yiliang's performance in the Opium War was absolutely remarkable. From beginning to end, for almost five years, he did not make any big mistakes. Moreover, Emperor Daoguang was also quite satisfied with his performance, twice
He was asked to act as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and in the final period after the Opium War, he was actually appointed governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.
Just when Yiliang thought he had passed the test safely and could continue to make progress, Daoguang suddenly found him for a crime. He was beaten to the end and went home to eat old rice. He was idle for almost ten years and was not reactivated until the second year of Xianfeng.
He was the general of Fuzhou and was transferred to the governor of Jiangsu at the beginning of this year.
After going around in circles for more than ten years, he returned to the post of governor.
But he was not happy at all. In fact, from the first day he received the transfer order, he knew that he was here to take the blame!
Because when he took office, Changmao had already captured Wuchang Prefecture in Hubei, at least half of Hanyang Prefecture, and also controlled half of Hunan. At this time, the defenses along the Yangtze River downstream of Wuchang could only be said to be better than nothing, facing
The Taiping Army moving down the river may not be able to resist for a long time.
And the prosperous Jiangnan is likely to become the next target of Changmao, who controls Wuchang and Hanyang and owns a large number of ships!
Whoever becomes the governor of Jiangsu at this time may be responsible for the destruction of the city and the death of the country.
Fortunately, the governor of Jiangsu is not stationed in Jiangning Prefecture but in Suzhou Prefecture. There should be some room for turnover. There is also a foreign Japanese stronghold in Shanghai near Suzhou. As long as we can borrow foreign soldiers, there is still hope for defending Suzhou.
But when Yiliang, a "veteran scapegoat", officially took over as governor of Jiangsu, he discovered that the situation was worse than he originally imagined!
Changmao came so quickly. Their vanguard troops rushed to Taiping Prefecture next to Jiangning Prefecture in February. They captured Caishiji and Dangtu County. After occupying a foothold, they quickly advanced into Jiangning and even conquered Jiangning Town.
Banqiao, Moling Town, Dashengguan, Yuhuatai, Xiaolingwei, Ming Xiaoling, and Yanziji had completed the three-sided encirclement of Jiangning by the beginning of March.
And the main force of long hair comes continuously along the Yangtze River!
At the same time, the attitude of the foreigners made Yiliang even more desperate. The British, French and American consuls in Shanghai only mentioned "amending the treaty" but did not propose troops. As soon as Wu Jianzhang negotiated with them to send troops, these foreign devils talked about "neutrality"
!
After being "neutral" and still wanting to "revise the contract", isn't this just asking for free prostitution? Foreign devils are indeed not a good thing!
And the news coming from outside Jiangning City this morning made Yi Zang even more frightened - the main force of Long Hair has landed at the pier of Dashengguan. The mighty "red-headed men" are only strong enough to go on the battlefield. No less than one hundred thousand.
Including the 30,000 to 40,000 who arrived previously, the number of Taiping troops outside Jinling City has reached 1,340,000! Jinling City is probably going to fall soon. After Jinling... "Master Yi, good news!"
Yi Liang was anxiously running around in the second hall of his governor's office when he suddenly heard someone shouting "good news" outside. The person shouting was also talking about Beijing movies. It was obviously not the Shaoxing masters who were eating hard work in the governor's office.
Yi Liang thought for a moment, and a slight hint of joy flashed across his face.
Because he had already remembered that the voice belonged to his nephew Guerjia Yuanbao.
Yuanbao came to Suzhou with Shengbao. Shengbao came to serve as assistant minister of military affairs, while Yuanbao served under Yiliang and Shengbao as a second-class bodyguard.
And Yiliang also valued these two eldest nephews of the family, and immediately entrusted them with important tasks, asking Shengbao, the assistant minister, to help manage the Jiangsu team training. Unexpectedly, just a few days after Shengbao took office, his brother came to report the good news.
"Yuanbao, come in quickly!" Yiliang greeted quickly. "Cha!"
The people outside responded first, and then saw the door curtain raised, and Guaerjia. Yuanbao hurriedly walked in from the outside, and when he arrived in front of Yiliang, he bowed to Yiliang and said, "Bless me, uncle."
"Get up quickly," Yiliang smiled and asked Yuanbao to stand up, "Yuanbao, did you just say you had good news?"
Yuanbao stood up, walked two steps, came to Yiliang's side, and said with a smile: "Uncle, today the leader of the foreigners in Shanghai and the deputy consul of the British Kingdom, Mr. Witomawe, came to Suzhou with Wu Daotai. I just accompanied him. My brother met them."
"Is this the good news you were talking about?" Yiliang snorted, and her old face turned down, "Yuanbao, those foreign devils are very good. It's even harder to get them to send troops to help suppress it than to climb to the sky...Besides, letting them We cannot afford the price of sending troops! They are going to sell opium to us openly and defraud the whole country of their money!
Besides, even if we agree to open up the sale of opium to them, how many soldiers can they send? How many foreign soldiers will it cost if we add all the foreign soldiers in Shanghai?" Yuanbao shook his head and said, "Uncle, just the two of them coming to Suzhou is nothing. Good news, but they brought unexpected good news."
"What good news?" Yiliang asked.
Yuanbao smiled and said: "It's a rare general from Shanghai. He is a fellow countryman invited back by Luo Ruweng from Nanyang. A man named Luo Xueyan is worshiped as a candidate county in Hunan. He is also Luo Ruweng's chief master. He was conferred the title of Ruoweng a while ago. I was ordered to lead 500 elite Hunan troops to Shanghai to purchase arms from foreigners..."
Yuanbao then added some salt and jealousy to Wu Jianzhang and told Shengbao that Yuanbao and Yuanbao both shared the same story about Luo Xueyan's "first showing off troops in Shanghai, then wooing foreigners, and finally purchasing foreign weapons and hiring foreign generals." I told Yiliang.
Yiliang was stunned for a moment, with a look of doubt on his face: "There is still such a person...it was Luo Ruweng who invited him back from Nanyang...that's not right!"
Genbao asked: "Uncle, what's wrong?"
Yiliang shook his head: "Everything is wrong... First of all, it is wrong to come back from Nanyang! Uncle, I have been the governor of Guangdong for five years, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. I know very well about these scoundrels who went to Nanyang. Not many of them
Good thing, nine out of ten are members of the Tiandihui!
Secondly, is this person a little more capable? Is it so easy to practice foreign exercises? I have seen elite foreign soldiers... Back then, I also wanted my Fu Biao to learn from them, but he couldn't learn at all! Then
Why can people say that they will succeed after practicing?
Furthermore, dealing with foreigners is not easy. I, the governor, wanted to ask them for help, but they ignored me and made a series of conditions. Why should they help Luo Xueyan like that?" Listen to Yiliang's analysis.
, Yuanbao also felt that there was indeed something wrong with Luo Xueyan.
"Uncle," Yuanbao frowned, "Then what do you think we should do? Should we... devise a plan to capture him?"
Yi Liang glanced at Yuan Bao: "Take it? He has 800 elite soldiers in Shanghai, and he also bought a large number of foreign guns and cannons... and he can practice foreign gymnastics. I can't even take him if I drive past him.
Down!
Besides, just because he has a problem doesn't mean we won't tolerate him! I guess he may have been raised by foreigners, or it may be those from Hunan who are working with the foreigners... but it's unlikely to be a hairy person. As long as he doesn't have long hair.
People with hairy hair can use it.”
"Uncle, he is so tall!" Yuanbao raised his thumbs and praised him. After he praised him, he asked with a smile on his face: "I wonder how I plan to use him?"
Yiliang stroked his beard and smiled slightly: "Of course, I am reporting to the emperor. Let the emperor judge for himself what this person's origin is. If he is really a candidate for the seventh grade recommended by Luo Ruzhai, the Ministry of Personnel must have his files and they will know after a check.
.
As long as the emperor is sure that he is from Luo Ruzhai, then the emperor will definitely want to reuse this talent. Yuanbao, you can make a suggestion to Prince Gong... See if you can make him a Jiangnan Salt Method and Jiangning Mansion!
"
"You are of the fourth grade, but you are still fat!"
Motoho looked envious.
Yi Liang glanced at him and said with a smile: "If it's not a fat job, how can I be willing to do my best? Jiangning Prefecture is an empty job, but Jiangnan Salt Law Road is not empty. After all, there are Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang, and Taicang.
The state's salt affairs are under the control of the Salt Law. Isn't it just a joke to make hundreds of thousands of taels a year? There are millions of black spots in his hands! But the premise is that he has to defend these four prefectures and one state! Can't do it?
Come on, those millions are just for harvesting hair!
Chapter completed!