At this time, it was already getting late. Mai Lian had a sumptuous meal with the steward of the Wu family, and then found a place to have a good time.
After Wu Jianzhang came out of the Governor's Yamen, he went directly back to his residence.
Returning to Wu Mansion's study, six officers of the New Army were already waiting there.
They were the main generals placed by Wu Jianzhang in the new army. These people were either bribed or were warriors raised by the Wu family.
It was through these people and the salary of the New Army that he controlled in his own hands that Wu Jianzhang was able to control the New Army.
"A-Liang, you must step up your studies with the French instructors and do a good job in training the New Army. We may soon have to fight the Huai Navy." Wu A-liang is from the Wu family and a member of the Artillery Association of the First Town of the New Army.
Association.
"Yes, sir, my subordinates will definitely train their troops well. The Huaihai Navy is fighting well in the north. That's because they have not encountered our new Guangdong Army."
Wu Aliang has never fought against Huai Haijun, but he has confidence in his army.
Those French instructors say every day that the French Army is the strongest army in the world. Their troops that use French equipment and receive French training must also be the strongest in China.
After winning several battles in Guangxi, these people became even more proud.
Wu Jianzhang did not try to undermine the self-confidence of the officers. Some self-confidence in the military is sometimes not a bad thing.
Wu Jianzhang explained some more things, especially telling these people to win over the subordinate officers.
Ordinary soldiers are uneducated and easy to control, but junior officers generally have their own ideas.
These people are all high-level military officers. The vulgar warriors don't know how to win people's hearts, so Wu Jianzhang specially summoned them to give an explanation.
Most of Wu Jianzhang's sons and grandsons were incompetent. The eldest son had a cowardly character, the second son spent all day drinking and drinking, and even the grandson was a playboy.
This Wu Aliang is the nephew of Wu Jianzhang. He is strong, bold and careful, and he is a good soldier.
Therefore, Wu Jianzhang focused on cultivating this person to help his family.
Wu Jianzhang was heartbroken for the sake of the Wu family.
In Guilin Prefecture, Guangxi, Shi Dakai was holding a military meeting. With the cooperation of the Guangxi army, the Guangdong New Army captured Pingle Prefecture, which the Taiping Army had previously occupied.
Now Shi Dakai only has Guilin in his hands. Under such circumstances, it will be difficult for the Taiping Army to fight against the new army in Guangdong.
Shi Dakai had just heard that the governor of Hunan had been replaced by Zeng Guofan, an old rival of the Taiping Army. Therefore, Shi Dakai suddenly felt a sense of crisis.
Wen Qing had returned from Jiangning and did not disappoint Shi Dakai.
During this Wenqing negotiation, Huai Haijun not only agreed to return the family members of Shi Dakai and others, but also agreed to sell Shi Dakai two thousand rifled muskets.
It's just that the price is indeed a bit expensive, but Shi Dakai is not interested in money. As long as he has land and people, he can't get it for any amount of money.
The content of today's military discussion is mainly to discuss the issue of westward march. Guangxi is surrounded by Hunan and Guangxi armies on three sides, northeast and south. This position is very embarrassing.
After much consideration, Shi Dakai decided to march westward. To the west of Guilin Prefecture are Liuzhou Prefecture, Qingyuan Prefecture, and Sien Prefecture. Among them, Liuzhou Prefecture is second only to Guilin Prefecture in terms of wealth in Guangxi.
At the military meeting, the generals were furious because everyone wanted to be the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition.
In the end, Shi Dakai had no choice but to stand up and make the decision, handing over the position of general of the Western Expedition to Chen Yucheng, a young player who had performed quite well recently.
After everyone left, Shi Dakai left Chen Yucheng alone.
"Yucheng, this westward advance is very important to our Taiping Army. The area to the west of Guilin is vast and mountainous. As long as we can capture a few states in the west, we can advance to attack and retreat to defend! Only then can we stand in
invincible position."
Chen Yucheng bowed his hands and said, "Don't worry, Holy King, I will definitely live up to your expectations."
"Yucheng, I can only give you five thousand soldiers and horses this time. I will give you one thousand of the new muskets that Huai Haijun sold to us. But you are allowed to recruit troops and horses along the way."
When Chen Yucheng heard this, he was delighted. Although the Holy King did not give him many soldiers and horses, half of the new muskets were given to him, which could be used as a trump card.
In addition, you can recruit troops along the way, which gives you great autonomy.
Chen Yucheng burst into tears of gratitude for the Holy King's trust in him.
The two discussed some details of the westward advance before Chen Yucheng said goodbye and left.
…
Changsha, Hunan, Liu Rong went to Guangdong a few years ago and gained a lot.
Under the recommendation of Ye Mingchen, Liu Rong made friends with Wu Jianzhang. Through Wu Jianzhang, Liu Rong purchased a large number of artillery guns from an arms dealer in Hong Kong and could pay part of the deposit first and pay the later payment in installments.
If this were not the case, Zeng Guofan would not be able to get so much money in his hands at once.
The purchased arms were shipped directly from Guangdong to Hunan.
At the west campus of Changsha City, Zeng Guoquan's "Quan" battalion is changing its equipment. They used to use the flintlock guns they bought from Huai Haijun.
Although the performance is very stable, it is far inferior to the rifled guns you can buy today.
An inch longer and an inch stronger, the range of a musket is a very important factor in judging its performance.
On the battlefield, the enemy can hit you, but you cannot hit the enemy, which will be a very frustrating thing.
Weighing the musket in his hand, Zeng Guoquan couldn't help but hit the target.
After coming back, he excitedly said to Zeng Guofan: "Brother, this gun is good and can shoot far. Our original gun can only penetrate a poplar in a hundred steps, but this gun can penetrate a poplar in a hundred steps."
Zeng Guofan did not comment on Yao Di's description. After all, Yao Di was a vulgar warrior.
Thinking about it, it is impossible for the Huai Navy to sell the best weapons to them.
So this can also be inferred that the Huai Navy must have stronger weapons.
It is not difficult to find out this information. You only need to send someone to Jiangxi to find out.
"Meng Rong, you may have to go to Hubei to see Zuo Jigao. It's best to make an agreement in advance. Then go to Henan, find Yinggui, tell him our plan, and suggest that he talk to Zuo Jigao
Attack Anhui together. When the time comes, all of us will have a chance of winning if we act together."
Zeng Guofan left the school grounds. He wanted to go back and write a memorial to Xianfeng, telling Emperor Xianfeng of his plan.
Several other local officials may not listen to his call, and the final plan to encircle and suppress the Huaihai Navy will still have to be handed down through the imperial court.
Back in the mansion, Zeng Guofan put on his reading glasses. On the desk were several Huai Haijun newspapers.
There will be photos in the newspaper. Although they are blurry, Zeng Guofan can see the young man standing in the middle. According to the newspaper, this is Dong Shuheng, the president of Huaihai Navy.
Thousands of people gathered at the conference, oh, this Huaihai Navy was really happy with his success!
If a tree is beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy it! This man is indeed young and does not know how to hide his strength and bide his time. No wonder the court wants to deal with him.
Now that the Taiping Army in Henan has been wiped out, there are only a handful of Nian bandits in the north, so there is nothing to worry about.
The world of the Qing Dynasty seemed to have regained its stability.
As for the bandits in the Taihang Mountains, everyone generally chooses to ignore them automatically.
Although it is difficult to eradicate those who occupy the mountains as kings, the terrain restrictions of the Taihang Mountains also restrict the development of bandits.
Since ancient times, bandits have been difficult to exterminate and grow, because the output in the mountains is limited and the population is limited. These two points have restricted the expansion of bandits.
In Zeng Guofan's opinion, although the Huaihai Navy occupied the five provinces, their rise was too short.
Most of the territory was recently occupied and could not be converted into combat power. Instead, troops needed to be divided to defend it.
The Huai Navy relied on better firearms.
As long as each province can purchase advanced firearms from foreigners, the gap can be completely bridged.
Zeng Guofan always asked people to buy Huai Haijun's newspapers. Through the newspapers, Zeng Guofan learned a lot of information about Huai Haijun.
These newspapers made Zeng Guofan feel that Dong Shuheng was a person with a flamboyant personality.
As a traditional literati, Zeng Guofan was still unable to realize the role of newspapers in controlling public opinion.
Because in the traditional scholar-officials' view, "the people can control it, but cannot make it known." Scholar-officials will also control public opinion, but it will only be limited to their own class, and ordinary people are just tools and objects of control.
Spreading out the memorial, Zeng Guofan began to write.
…
On the bank of the Pearl River in Guangzhou, the Wu family is located in the annex of Shisanhang.
Early in the morning, Wu Jianzhang hurried here in a sedan chair.
As a result, Mai Lian was still sleeping soundly in the room.
Wu Jianzhang quickly asked his servants to call Mai Lian. The servants came to where Mai Lian lived and explained the situation to the American guards.
A guard then knocked on the door and told Mai Lian to get up.
In the bedroom, Mai Lian pushed away a white woman, kicked her legs, got dressed and got up.
Still in the same study room as before, the two finally finalized the loan agreement.
Mailian's original idea was that since the Guangdong government wanted to purchase weapons, he could directly contact domestic merchants, send a batch, and directly give them credit.
But Wu Jianzhang needed spot goods, and he couldn't provide so much at once.
In the end, they reached a loan agreement, with the total amount being 500,000 silver dollars, and Mai Lian guaranteed the loans from several banks in Hong Kong.
The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi will allow the U.S. fleet to dock at the port of Guangzhou. At the same time, a piece of land outside Yongxing Gate in the southeast of Guangzhou will be leased to the United States as a base for the business group.
Soon the two parties signed an agreement. As this agreement became known to Britain and France.
Britain and France immediately sent a note to Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and made the same request.
This was what Wu Jianzhang had expected, and it was Wu Jianzhang who also came forward to sign a loan agreement with Britain and France.
Following the precedent of the United States, the two countries leased a piece of land on the banks of the Pearl River, and warships can freely enter and exit the Pearl River estuary.
Britain and France are richer than Americans, and Wu Jianzhang received a loan of 2 million yuan in one go.
2.5 million silver dollars is enough for Guangdong to build two more new armies in its towns.
Wu Jianzhang did not dare to waste time. While recruiting troops, he also sent people to Hong Kong to purchase guns and artillery.
There are so many off-the-shelf items that need to be pieced together to meet the needs of the new army.
At the same time, Mailian also sent an officer corps to Wu Jianzhang. This officer corps was drawn from the Marine Corps of the fleet.
It is worth mentioning that many of them were prisoners of war in Japan before.
Coupled with a regiment of officers sent by the British, the Guangdong New Army simply became the Three Kingdoms Alliance Army.
However, Wu Jianzhang was complacent and said that he had taken the strengths of the three schools.
…
In Wuchang City, Hubei Province, the Spring Festival has passed and the streets are much quieter.
The dock is still very lively, with an endless stream of ships coming and going. Most of the goods sold by the Huaihai Navy to the upper reaches are transferred here to Sichuan, Hunan, Henan and other places.
Zuo Zongtang jumped off a gunboat, followed by a group of important Hubei officials.
They have just returned from Jiangning.
Zuo Zongtang went to Jiangning this time to attend the second meeting of the Renaissance Association.
According to the newly formulated constitution of the Renaissance Association, the leadership body of the Renaissance Association is the Supreme Committee, and the leader of the Association is elected from the Supreme Committee.
The decision-making bodies are the Supreme Committee and the General Assembly.
The National Member Conference is held once a year and elected every four years. Member representatives are elected in proportion to their numbers.
The Supreme Council is elected by the Member Congress.
The Supreme Committee exercises the powers of the National General Assembly during intersession periods.
According to the previous resolution of the first meeting, Wei Yuan was the chairman of the first Supreme Committee, Dong Shuheng was the executive vice chairman, and Zuo Zongtang was also the vice chairman.
In the Supreme Committee, Huai Haijun's family accounted for the largest number of people. After all, the elders headed by Wei Yuan could also be considered as members of Huai Haijun.
Zuo Zongtang's members in Huguang and Sichuan accounted for one-fifth, and these people were basically from the enlightened scholar-bureaucrat class.
Huaihai Haijun is now developing members of the Fuxing Association at all levels, and now almost all senior leaders have joined the Fuxing Association. There is only one major condition for the development of members of the Fuxing Association, and that is patriots.
Therefore, when developing members, the conditions are relaxed. However, the Renaissance Association is very strict in the management and education of members.
Violation of the rules will be severely punished.
In fact, the current program of the Renaissance is not very clear. It only sets the overall goal of reviving China and the small goal of overthrowing the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
It is not very political in nature and is just a non-governmental organization.
Dong Shuheng was unable to transform her into a well-organized political group at once.
At this stage, the main role of this organization is to connect Zuo Zongtang's family and Huai Haijun's family.
It also serves as an ideological education function for members.
In this meeting just now, the function of the revival meeting finally took a step further.
At the meeting, Wei Yuan announced that the Renaissance would develop into an alliance of patriots from all ethnic groups in China.
The meeting also clarified that the Chinese nation recognized by the Fuxing Association is a broad Chinese nation, which includes Han Chinese and other ethnic minorities living on Chinese soil.
Dong Shuheng stated that he would continue to support the construction and development of the Fuxing Association.
His statement confirmed that the Renaissance would become a political organization uniting all levels of the Huaihai Navy.
At the same time, this was also confirmed by Zuo Zongtang.
Of course, until the Renaissance is not mature enough or even has greater power, it cannot become a political organization with decision-making power.
The main reason Zuo Zongtang went to Jiangning this time was to discuss the anti-Qing plan.
The political structure can be determined later, but the division of labor for the war must be coordinated first.
In order to facilitate unified coordination, Zuo Zongtang and Dong Shuheng decided to reorganize all armies into the Fuxing Army and divide them into five armies.
Dong Shuheng was appointed commander-in-chief of the Fuxing Army, and Zuo Zongtang was appointed deputy commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief of the West Route Army.
Zuo Zongtang's Hubei army will be organized into the West Route Army, responsible for capturing Sichuan, and then move north to Shaanxi, Gansu, enter Xinjiang, and divide the troops into Tibet.
Zuo Zongtang has been expanding the army since last year. Now he has more than 50,000 regular troops. These troops will be organized into six divisions. This number of people is already the limit that Hubei can bear.
The prerequisite is that the Huai Navy will provide weapons and equipment and share part of the military expenses.
The Taihang column of the Huaihai Navy and the two divisions from Shandong formed the North Route Army. The North Route Army was mainly responsible for capturing Shanxi, Zhili and Jingshi, a total of four regular divisions.
Originally, the teaching divisions of Liangjiang, the 1st, 2nd, and 6th divisions formed the Central Army, responsible for capturing Henan, Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou.
The Eighth Division of Zhejiang and the Ninth Division of Fujian formed the Southern Route Army to cooperate with the Nanyang Navy to occupy Guangdong. This route army has the weakest combat power and the lightest tasks.
There is also an army drawn from the Black Dragon Military Region and the Far East Military Region. Their goal is the Northeast and the Mongolian grasslands.
Each route army will be equipped with a certain number of garrison troops. The vacancies left by the garrison troops will be filled by mobilizing militia troops.
In this way, this anti-Qing campaign will be an all-round attack with no blind spots.
Dong Shuheng pushed out all his chips at once, just to compete with the Qing court and quickly occupy the country without giving outsiders time to intervene. Then he would slowly digest it.