After dinner, Bao Youzhi drank a little too much and slept in the village, while the others returned to the fleet's camp to rest.
Just as I was getting ready to go to bed, there was a knock on the door.
"Mr. Bao, grandpa asked me to bring you some sobering soup. I left it at the door."
Xu Yue'e put down the bowl and prepared to leave.
At this time, the door suddenly opened, and Bao Youzhi leaned out.
Bao Youzhi cupped his hands to Xu Yue'e and said, "Thank you very much, girl!"
Xu Yue'e turned around and ran away in shame.
Bao Youzhi, who was standing there, was a little confused.
In the next two days, Bao Youzhi did not wait in the villages, but led the fleet to explore upstream for a while.
Two days later, more than a thousand young people that Patriarch Xu had recruited from various villages all gathered in Xujiatun. Bao Youzhi also unloaded the cargo on the ship and left a communication boat and a team of people here to organize the cargo.
Sales exchange and liaison work with Temple Street.
He himself led the fleet and took the recruited young men down the river.
Next to the simple pier in the village, an old man said to an older girl: "Don't look at it, silly girl. I have already asked for you, and he is not married yet. When he comes back later, I will ask him to propose marriage. Girl
If you like it, grandpa will definitely help you fight for it."
Xu Yue'e lowered her head and blushed in shame and whispered: "Well, thank you grandpa, grandpa is the best to Yue'e!"
With this group of young people, the construction of Temple Street is finally on the fast track. At this time, the manpower and materials supported by the headquarters are almost here.
…
It's December, the winter in the Northeast has arrived, and the construction work has gradually stopped. The young people have also returned to the villages.
When each village settled their wages, they all exchanged their wages for muskets. With these guns, the village's self-protection ability will be greatly improved. Huai Haijun of Temple Street paid a total of about 500 flintlocks to each village.
Muskets as payment.
In the past month, Dong Shuheng has been inspecting various places in the south of the Yangtze River to check the reception work in Suzhou, Changsong, and other places.
Under the joint pressure of the Governor's Mansion and the Governor's Yamen, the prefectures and counties south of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu finally transferred power to the Huaihai Navy Government. During this period, there were not many local officials who bypassed the Governor-General and delivered secret documents directly to the court, but at least
On the surface, Emperor Xianfeng ignored him.
Xianfeng's ability to endure was evident even before he became the crown prince. Now that he has become an emperor, his ability to endure is even deeper than before.
Qianqing Palace.
Xianfeng shouted into the darkness: "Hermione!"
Suddenly a figure came out and answered, "I'm here, master. What orders do you have, master?"
"Last time I asked you to place someone next to Dong Shuheng, why haven't you done it yet?" Xianfeng said coldly.
"Returning to the master, the people around Dong Shuheng are very simple. They are basically his guards, not even a maid. Our people have been close to him once before, but this person is extremely self-disciplined in matters between men and women, so
We couldn't successfully break into him." Hermione explained.
"Master, don't worry, the person we installed has not been exposed, and there will be opportunities later."
"Actually, Master, if you want to kill him, I can help Master do it right now."
"Kill him? It's not possible now. Let's get over the current difficulty first. You first try to find a way to see if you can kill Lin Fengxiang, who is responsible for the bandit. This person is our serious problem now."
"As for Dong Shuheng and Zeng Guofan, they are just a little ambitious. I am not afraid of their ambitions. Only when they are ambitious will they do their best. When the time comes, whether it is the power I gave them or the power they grabbed themselves, I will be able to take it back.
." Xianfeng said confidently, exuding the aura of an emperor.
"Wu Sangui was ambitious enough, but he was tortured to death by Emperor Kangxi in the end. I don't believe that a few Han landlords could turn the world upside down in the end. After I sort out the affairs in the north, I will slowly fix you guys.
The Han people are best at fighting among themselves, and then a few edicts can make them fight each other." Xianfeng thought in his heart.
Xianfeng also summoned all the military ministers. In October, Qi Zuozao and Lin Kui were dismissed from office.
The current military ministers are Peng Yunzhang, Shao Can, Mu Yin, Prince Gong and Ruilin.
After a while, several military ministers arrived.
Duan Hua, as the imperial minister, is now in the palace. Last time he asked Su Shun to go to the Jiangnan camp to do some small things, hoping to give Huai Haijun some eye drops.
Unexpectedly, Jiangnan Camp was completely destroyed in one go. Fortunately, Sushun ran fast, otherwise he would have been captured by the Taiping Army.
This fright made Sushun ill and lay at home for many days after he returned.
The Huaihai Navy was not affected at all. The local government in Changzhou was full of commendations and memorials. Why did the Huaihai Navy help the local area eliminate the bandits? No one said that the Huaihai Navy attacked Zhang Guoliang's army and caused the destruction of the Jiangnan camp.
And Zhang Guoliang did die in the hands of Luo Outline of the Taiping Army. In this way, the lawsuit could not be fought.
Duan Hua could only suffer the loss of being dumb. But not long after, a man who claimed to be the manager of Huaihai Trading Company came to Duan Hua's door.
…
The other party handed over a cooperation agreement. The content of the cooperation turned out to be the development of coal mines in Luanzhou. Luanzhou (today's Tangshan) is close to the sea and is located in the Liaoxi Corridor with convenient transportation. However, like most places outside the customs, there has been no
well developed.
There are indeed some coal mines there, and the Duanhua family also has some industries there. But the big bosses in Beijing rarely do such things as mining. It is a bitter business, with heavy investment and slow money coming in. This is not the future, right?
The demand for coal mines is not that great.
However, the conditions given by Huaihai Commercial Bank are very good. Duan Hua only needs to deal with the Zhili Governor's Palace and the Luanzhou government to obtain mining rights. He can also ensure that the local government does not interfere with the coal mine. Every year, the coal mine will give Duan Hua 50
Ten thousand yuan in dividends.
In other words, Duan Hua can get 500,000 silver dollars every year just by talking. Duan Hua is confident that he can still talk about Kailuan in Zhili. He just takes a few coal mines, which is not a big deal.
Equipment, personnel, and management are all handled by Huaihai Company. The newly established company is called Kailuan Mining Company. It includes a coal port and several mining areas.
Duan Hua naturally agreed, and the dispute with Huai Haijun was wiped out. With this agreement, his goal this time was actually achieved.
…
Several military ministers were seated, and Guiziliu was sitting at the end. He was short and inconspicuous.
"Dear dear friends, there have been two major events recently. One is that bandits have fled to Tianjin to cause chaos. They must be eradicated as soon as possible, otherwise the people in the capital will be unstable. The other is that the Jiangnan camp was broken down and Xiang Rong died. What will happen next?
Who will take over the position of Jiangnan Camp?" Emperor Xianfeng asked.
"Your Majesty, the Jiangbei camp has won many battles this year. This time the Jiangnan camp was defeated. The bandits sent troops to sneak attack Changzhou, but they were repelled by the Huai Navy from the Jiangbei camp. After that, the Huai Navy stationed in Lishui.
They approached Zhenjiang and blocked the routes to the east and south of the bandits. Therefore, I feel that there is no need to set up a special Jiangnan camp. The saved military salary can be invested in the army near Zhili and strengthen the defense near Gyeonggi." Peng Yunzhang said.
Peng Yunzhang's words are indeed the words of an old man who holds the country. At present, the largest military expenditure of the imperial court is Jiangbei Camp and Jiangnan Camp.
Now that the Jiangbei camp is enough, why should I maintain two camps?
In addition, blindly building the army in the south will inevitably lead to strong branches and weak trunks.
This time the Taiping Army reached Tianjin, and the Qing government finally managed to gather 5,000 troops and hand them over to Shengbao and Seng Gelinqin. This shows the emptiness of the capital.
"Peng Aiqing, what you said is true. Then the Jiangnan camp will no longer be established, and the officials will posthumously commend Xiang Rong and other soldiers who died in the battle. I ordered Qishan to change the Jiangbei camp to the Liangjiang Bandit Camp, so that
He seizes the time to regain Jiangning, don't delay."
Dong Shuheng gradually grew bigger, and Emperor Xianfeng felt that it was the result of Qishan's connivance. Therefore, he also felt resentful towards Qishan this time.
The purpose of this purpose was to let Qi Shan focus more on surrendering bandits and controlling his subordinates, instead of always thinking about usurping power.
According to the secret report, the Huaihai Navy basically controlled the military and political affairs of Jiangsu. The Hunan Army in Hunan also controlled the local power in Hunan. They had become a veritable warlord with a big tail. This made Emperor Xianfeng feel very uncomfortable.
These Han armed forces were not loyal at all, and the Qing Dynasty never really trusted Han officials from beginning to end.
But Emperor Xianfeng cannot touch these people now, otherwise it will be death.
All the military and aircraft ministers sitting here also know this, but no one has brought it up, just because everyone knows the truth behind it.
Since they cannot be touched now, the resources controlled by the imperial court cannot be transferred there anymore.
"In addition, tell the Ministry of War that the military salary allocated to the Jiangbei Camp next year will be temporarily retained. A group of brave warriors will be selected from Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Mongolia and given to Seng Gelinqin for training. They will be stationed in Tianjin."
"Hiss..." All the military ministers below took a breath of air. The emperor is going to start a new effort to train a new army. Isn't he afraid that the proud soldiers and generals of the Jiangbei camp will cause trouble?
"The military pay for the bandit camps in Liangjiang will be raised by the Liangjiang Governor's Office itself." Xianfeng added.
This is more or less the same. Emperor Xianfeng felt that since you have actually controlled the power of this place, don't ask me for money anymore. Anyway, the Liangjiang camp and the Taiping army are intertwined, and the bandits must be surrendered no matter what.
Then I will give you the title, as long as you don't ask me for money. As for how to take back these powers in the future, we will wait until the Taiping Army is destroyed.
"Shao Aiqing, you have experience on the canal. Now that Jiangbei Camp has opened the canal, I am going to transfer you to be the governor of water transportation. I want you to resume water transportation as soon as possible and transport materials from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Beijing."
The Huai Navy advanced into Zhenjiang and opened the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in one fell swoop. Emperor Xianfeng saw an opportunity. The financial constraints of the imperial court in the past two years were closely related to the interruption of water transportation.
Resuming water transportation now will not only alleviate the financial problems of the capital, but also insert a nail into the two rivers.
Shao Can went down to be the Governor of Water Transport, which was higher than Qi Shan in terms of rank. Xianfeng wanted to divide Qi Shan's power.