When Li Zhen arrived in Guangzhou with his army, he had already passed the new year. It was at the end of January in the third year of Tongzhi (1858). The two armies were stationed. Li Zhen took Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Guofan and others into the city and returned to Guangzhou. When he arrived at his house, Li Zhen summoned Qi Zhenhai, Wang Xiaoyang, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Ye Mingchen and others, as well as Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and other military generals, all in the conference room for a meeting.
Li Zhen sat in the main seat, glanced at everyone, and said: "At the beginning of the meeting, I would like to introduce to you the two handsome men who have recently joined me, Brother Ji Gao and Brother Bohan. Please introduce yourself."
Zuo Zongtang stood up and said: "My name is Zuo Zongtang, courtesy name Jigao. I am from Xiangyin, Hunan. I am currently serving as the commander of the Second Army under the prince's command. Please give me your advice."
After saying that, Zuo Zongtang gave a military salute to everyone before sitting down.
Immediately afterwards, Zeng Guofan stood up and bowed slightly, and then said: "My surname is Zeng Guofan, and my courtesy name is Bohan. I am from Xiangxiang, Hunan. I am currently serving as the commander of the Third Army under the prince. This time I will follow the prince to Taiwan to destroy the US military. , I will work with you in the days to come, and I ask for your advice. Please forgive me for any inappropriateness."
The two people quickly made a brief introduction.
Li Zhen shook his head and said with a smile: "Brother Ji Gao and Brother Bohan are too humble. They are still far behind. It is you who guide them, not them who guide you." After Li Zhen said these words, everyone present was surprised. With their expressions, they secretly speculated on who Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang were, so that Li Zhen valued them so much.
Li Zhen continued: "The purpose of introducing Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan to everyone is that I hope you can get to know them. Both of them have great talents. It is your blessing to study with them. I hope you can get to know them as soon as possible."
Li Hongzhang and others were sitting behind Zeng Guofan, feeling even more honored.
"Zhenhai, let's talk about the current situation facing the attack on Taiwan."
Li Zhen changed the topic and returned to the topic.
Qi Zhenhai stood up, saluted, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the current attack on Taiwan is not going well. The situation has always been in a stalemate, and the situation has not been opened up for a long time."
"What's the reason?" Li Zhen asked.
Qi Zhenhai explained: "The opponent's firepower is not weaker than ours, especially the US military's defenses built at the port of landing on Taiwan Road, etc. Even if we attacked fiercely, we have been unable to open up the situation and are in a stalemate."
"Um."
Li Zhen nodded and stopped asking.
"Dong, dong,."
The middle finger of Li Zhen's right hand lightly tapped the conference table, which seemed very abrupt in the silent conference room. After a moment, Li Zhen asked in a deep voice: "Can we get ashore with the current firepower?"
Qi Zhenhai said: "Yes, but you have to be driven down again after landing, so you can't stand firm at all."
Li Zhen said: "I will solve the problem of establishing a foothold after landing ashore. Now we need to reorganize the army, dispatch warships, load the Second Army, the Third Army and some of the soldiers under your command to go to Taiwan."
"Yes." Qi Zhenhai agreed.
Ye Mingchen said: "My lord, do you want to go there in person?"
"Of course, this is necessary."
"I would like to suggest from my humble position that it would be better for the prince not to go. After all, this is going to be a sea battle. As the saying goes, there are unpredictable situations in the sky. No one can predict what will happen at sea, so it is best not to go out."
Li Zhen shook his head and said: "No, I have to go." After a pause, Li Zhen said again: "Don't worry, I won't charge into the battle. This is not what I should do. I only direct from behind, so you don't have to worry. ."
After hearing this, Ye Mingchen stopped talking.
When he opened his mouth to persuade, he didn't mean that he really cared about Li Zhen, he was just doing his duty to remind Li Zhen.
"Tap, step,."
There was a sound of footsteps, and a soldier walked up to Wang Xiaoyang and whispered a few words. In an instant, Wang Xiaoyang's face changed drastically, and he also showed panic on his face. He said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, there is news from the Wei Mansion. The old man is already on his deathbed."
"What."
Li Zhen stood up suddenly, was stunned for a moment, and then ran out of the conference room.
There were a lot of stunned people left in the conference room.
Zuo Zongtang asked: "Governor Wang, who is Mr. Wei?" Zeng Guofan was also confused and guessed that Mr. Wei might be a relative of Li Zhen, otherwise Li Zhen would not have run out so rudely.
Wang Xiaoyang shook his head and said: "Mr. Wei is the person in charge of Jiuzhou Daily under the prince's command. His name is Wei Yuan. I believe you have all heard of Mr. Wei's name." At the mention of Wei Yuan, Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Guofan and others stood in awe, but they didn't expect it to be him. Wei Yuan.
Unfortunately, Wei Yuan is already on his deathbed.
Wang Xiaoyang said: "Let's go and see Mr. Wei off for the last time." He also got up and left the conference room. Zuo Zongtang, Zeng Guofan, Ye Mingchen and others followed behind and rushed towards the place where Wei Yuan lived.
Li Zhen came to the mansion where Wei Yuan lived and asked someone to lead him straight to Wei Yuan's bedroom.
When they came to the bedroom, everyone in the bedroom was surprised. They didn't expect Li Zhen to rush over so quickly. Wei Yuan's family members saw Li Zhen slightly arching his back, breathing heavily, and the white hair on his head. I was so angry that I was very moved. When this happened, it must have been Li Zhen who came all the way, otherwise the heat would not have burst out in the cold weather.
"Everyone, go down and let me have a few words with the prince."
Wei Yuan, who was lying on the bed, saw Li Zhen and gave instructions.
It's just that Wei Yuan's voice was hoarse and old, with a hint of fatigue, and gave Li Zhen an unsustainable feeling, as if Wei Yuan would not be able to hold on after saying this sentence, which made Li Zhen feel unspeakably uncomfortable.
"Your Majesty."
Wei Yuan gritted his teeth and wanted to stand up to salute, but he couldn't muster the strength at all.
"Mr. Wei, lie down and don't move."
Li Zhen quickly asked Wei Yuan to continue lying down.
Wei Yuan was lying on the bed, looking at Li Zhen, with a smile on his face, and said: "I thought that the old man would never see the prince until he died, but I didn't expect that he would see him again. God has treated me well. The old man has lived a lifetime, and he has done so many things." I have experienced many things, but the happiest and proudest thing is that I founded Jiuzhou Daily with the prince. Now that Jiuzhou Daily has grown in scale and continues to develop, we can expect future achievements. Even if the old man dies, I will have no regrets."
Li Zhen held Wei Yuan's bony hand and felt the coldness coming from Wei Yuan's hand. He felt disappointed and said in a low tone: "Mr. Wei, on my way here, someone notified the doctor. There will be a doctor soon." You came here, take good care of your health, I'm still waiting for Mr. Wei to support me in the overall situation."
A flush appeared on Wei Yuan's face, and he suddenly became energetic and said loudly: "I know my disease well. The old man has lived for such a long time. It's enough. It's a pity that more people can't see Jiuzhou Daily. It did not allow more people to understand the outside world, nor did it allow them to see the day when the Qing Dynasty became majestic in the world."
Li Zhen wanted to interrupt, but Wei Yuan waved his hand to stop him. He seemed to feel that he was really going to lose his last breath, so he wanted to say everything in one go.