The Taiping army flowed from Guangxi to Hubei, all the way to conquer the city, coercing the people, the losses caused to the place can not be estimated, no one has considered what the Taiping army will do to make a rebellion, listening to the easy to be content with these words, Zeng Guofan and the three of them couldn't help but look at each other, I have to say, these words are not far-fetched. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Zuo Zongtang didn't know much about the situation of muskets, so he immediately seized the opportunity to ask: "Firearms are completely dependent on imports, what's going on?" ”

"I saw that Brother Ji Gao is not too interested in the military industry." Yi Zhixiang glanced at him and said: "Whether it is the Eight Banners New Army or the Nanyang Navy, the Minnie guns equipped are all purchased from Citigroup, but Citigroup has strict control over the foreign sales of Mini guns.

Even so, it is still difficult to meet the needs of the country, at present, the Eight Banners New Army and the Nanyang Navy are not able to fully equip the Mini gun, only half of the 30,000 Eight Banners New Army can be equipped with Mini guns, and the navy is about seventy percent. As for artillery, such as large-caliber naval guns, 12-pounder marine guns, mountain howitzers, etc., Western countries also adopted strict limited supplies.

Another is the battleship, the Nanyang Navy has developed rapidly in recent years, and has purchased a large number of sail warships, you may feel gratified, but Ben Hou is anxious, anxious to the point of sleeping, sleepless night!

Because Ben Hou knows that Western countries are now actively developing steam ironclad ships, and a large number of sail warships are sold to us, which shows that the steam ironclad ships of Western countries have made significant progress, and the navies of Western countries are preparing for a large number of steam ironclad ships!

You may not know about the steam ironclad, let's put it this way, if there are a dozen or so steam ironclad gunboats, the navy is enough to sweep the long-haired naval division, because the ironclad ships are not afraid of fire attacks, and they are not afraid of small-caliber artillery shelling. ”

Not only Zuo Zongtang, but even Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan had only heard about the import of weapons, and did not know the specific situation. ”

"It's a complicated question." Yi Zhizhi took a sip of tea, and then said slowly: "Citigroup is actually an independent country of British colonies in North America, and there have been several wars with England intermittently, and both countries are the most important countries in our Qing Dynasty's foreign trade, and Citigroup has been competing with England for our Qing Dynasty's trade share."

Citigroup sold us Mini guns, it began with the last war between us and England, for Citigroup, he hopes that we and England will lose both, so as to monopolize our Qing Dynasty's foreign trade, in addition, the service life of Mini guns is not long, firing two or three hundred bullets rifling will be smoothed, become a rifled gun, as for the price of Mini guns, you all know, it is completely sky-high! Such a lucrative and worry-free business, Citigroup is naturally happy to do it. ”

It turns out that the Mini gun still has a service life, Zeng Guofan's three people have heard of it for the first time, and they can't help but secretly say to themselves, the Minny gun is indeed powerful, but it is not only sky-high, but also so undurable, without strong financial support, it is really unaffordable, at least the general local team training is not affordable, not to mention that it is not sold, even if it is sold, it is impossible to equip it on a large scale.

Taking a puff of his cigar, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "In terms of military industry, whether it is muskets, artillery, or ironclad ships, we are decades behind Western countries, and there is one point, I am afraid that you are not clear, Western countries vigorously develop industry, implement the industrial revolution, popularize the use of machines, and greatly improve production efficiency, which is also destined for Western countries must continue to expand abroad, plunder raw materials, and seize market ......." ”

Zeng Guofan hurriedly asked, "Why is it necessary?" ”

"Why do you have to?" Yi Zhizhi smiled, "Simply put...... Take the textile industry as an example, the textile mills in England use machines to spin and weave cloth, which is more than ten times more efficient than manual, which means that a large amount of raw cotton is needed to produce, and a large market is needed to dump the cotton cloth they produce.

India, England's colony in Asia, is England's largest supplier of cotton and cotton cloth, and France, as a European power, is now also vigorously developing textile mills, where does his cotton come from? Where does cotton cloth dump? Without a vast overseas colony, how could he compete with England? ”

Yi Zhixiang said and glanced at the three of them, "Western countries advocate free competition, and behind free competition is foreign expansion. As a rising star, Citigroup, France, Tsarist Russia, Austria and a series of Western powers are vying to develop industry and implement the industrial revolution, which means that a new wave of foreign expansion and the wave of colony carve-up is gradually coming. ”

After a pause, he said coldly: "You should know by now how serious the external worries of the Great Qing Dynasty are, right?" With the army's low combat effectiveness and its weapons completely dependent on imports from the West, how did the Qing Dynasty face the new wave of world colonial partition launched by the Western powers? ”

Zuo Zongtang said in disbelief: "Is it really so serious? ”

"You might as well figure it out for yourself if it's so serious." After Yi Zhizhi finished speaking, the old god was drinking tea and smoking.

"China is safe, and the people are self-serving, and those who want to be outside must first settle inside." Zeng Guofan said slowly: "Since the external worries are serious, since you should be the first to eradicate the long hair, does the Hou Ye think so?" ”

"If you go outside, you must first settle inside, this is the reason, but it also has to be analyzed specifically." Yi Zhicontent said disapprehantly: "At present, the Eight Banners Green Battalion is not ready for a battle, and its weapons and equipment are not self-sufficient, and even if it exterminates the long hair, it will not be able to resist the invasion of the West. If we can control the long hair within a certain range, use it to train troops in actual combat, train generals, and promote the development of the military industry, it is tantamount to turning harm into benefit. ”

Hearing him say this, Jiang Zhongyuan hesitated and said, "But this price is too great...... And the long hair is not easy to control, once you jump out of the encirclement, the consequences are unimaginable. ”

"Long hair has developed to this extent, is it possible that you still fantasize about being able to eradicate it quickly?" Yi Zhizu asked rhetorically, knocked on the cigarette ash, and then he said: "The safest and least costly way to deal with the rogues has always been to besiege, four positive and six corners, ten sides of the net, to wait for work, to limit the river, to guard the long wall, to restrict the flow of the rogues, gradually shrink the encirclement, each break, and finally annihilate."

You may question that Long Hair can repeatedly break through the siege, and it is difficult to achieve results by adopting the siege method, but Ben Hou wants to ask, why can Long Hair successfully break through repeatedly? Why can you quickly run away after breaking through? Why can it flow from Guangxi to Hunan and Hubei? ”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhongyuan, who had been participating in the encirclement and interception of the Taiping Army, had a pair of eyes that became bright and bright, and said tentatively: "Master Hou refers to the omission in the deployment of the Eight Banners Green Battalion?" ”

"Longhair has been surrounded repeatedly, and you have repeatedly broken through, so you haven't reflected?" Yi Zhicontent glanced at him, "Long Hair's combat power is not bad, but this can't be an excuse, several times besieging Long Hair, there is a major mistake - strategic depth!" Lack of strategic depth! Long hair only needs to tear a hole to easily jump out of the encirclement and get rid of the dilemma of being chased and intercepted. ”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhongyuan was full of admiration, and said sincerely: "Master Hou is really to the point!" ”

Yi Zhizu waved his hand with a cigar between his legs, and said: "Since you know that long hair cannot be quickly exterminated, you should study the strategy and tactics of long hair, and have a detailed understanding of important people such as Yang Xiuqing, Feng Yunshan, Shi Dakai, Xiao Chaogui, etc., to be honest, when it comes to fighting alone, many green camp generals are inferior to Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai." ”

Jiang Zhongyuan nodded again and again: "What Master Hou said is that knowing each other and knowing oneself will not be defeated in a hundred battles. ”

Zeng Guofan carefully pondered Yi Zhi's contented tone, and said with some hesitation: "Master Hou really doesn't plan to encircle and suppress Long Hair?" ”

"The Navy doesn't need a whetstone for long hair." Yi Zhishu smiled and said: "The main task of the navy is to the outside world, of course, if the Eight Banners Green Battalion is really muddy and can't support the wall, the navy will not ignore it." ”

The tone of these words was not ordinary, Jiang Zhongyuan and the three of them did not dare to accept these words, Zeng Guofan glanced at Zuo Zongtang, changed his words, and said, "I heard that Hou Ye wants to expand in the northwest?" ”

Zuo Zongtang continued: "Since the external worries are serious, how can we still have the spare strength to expand in the northwest? ”

"Benhou has said many times that the best defense is offense. The expansion of the northwest should take advantage of the opportunity and seize the opportunity, just like the expedition to Luzon Java," Yi Zhixiang glanced at him and said: "The northwest is a big game of chess, but there are generals and no handsome, is Brother Ji Gao interested?" ”

There will be no handsome! Zuo Zongtang's heart jumped, is this to let him go to the northwest to take command? He looked at Yi Zhizhi in disbelief, although he thought very highly of himself and claimed to be Zhuge Kongming in the world, but after all, he had never led a leader, nor had he experienced actual combat, and the situation in the northwest was completely on paper, how could the other party easily let him become the commander of the northwest? I heard that the navy has five or six thousand troops in the northwest, this is not child's play!

Not only Zuo Zongtang, but even Bao Shichen, Zeng Guofan, and Jiang Zhongyuan were taken aback by these words, and the four of them all stared at Yi Zhicontentment in unison, looking at the expression on his face, they didn't seem to be joking, and they couldn't help but be confused.

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "Brother Ji also has stage fright? ”

"Master Hou is not joking?" Zuo Zongtang said with a serious face, but his heart was pounding without fighting, and his face was slightly red, if he could really be in charge of the northwest, he would definitely be able to soar to the sky, and the clouds would rise, how could it be compared to recruiting Xiangyong to form a regiment to practice encircling and suppressing Changmao?

took a puff of cigar, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, and said slowly: "The northwest is a big game of chess, related to the national fortune for hundreds of years, once the army is mobilized, at least 350,000, if the tuntian is well-organized, there is enough grain and grass, and maybe even 100,000, the commander of the western expedition, how can he be lightly imparted, if Brother Ji Gao is confident, he should show what he has learned in the northwest, so that the officers and soldiers in the northwest are happy and convinced, I don't know if Ji Gao is willing to do military or civilian work?" ”

Listening to these words, several people present couldn't help but look at each other, this is obviously not a joke, Yi Zhicontent Is this really the intention to let Zuo Zongtang be in charge? Although it is undecided, the meaning of valuing Zuo Zongtang has been undoubtedly revealed, tens of thousands of troops, and even the commander of the 100,000 army of the Western Expeditionary Army, just thinking about it, it is fascinating, Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan all looked at Zuo Zongtang eagerly, for Zuo Zongtang, who is still just a person, this is completely an opportunity to ascend to the sky.

Zuo Zongtang forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart, and said calmly: "What is the martial arts position that Master Hou said? And what about clerical? ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said: "If you enter the navy with a military career, Ben Hou will let you take charge of a brigade of recruits, civilian, and Ben Hou will recommend it to the imperial court, at least there is no problem with Sipinfu Dao." ”

Hearing this, even Bao Shichen glanced at Zuo Zongtang with some envy, and said: "The first brigade of the navy, five thousand people, the navy is stationed in the northwest, and Yuan Qi is responsible for the salary, weapons and equipment. ”

Hearing this, Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't help but blush, and secretly praised Yi for being content and courageous, but Zuo Zongtang said with some hesitation: "Can you think about it and then reply to Hou Ye." ”

"Absolutely." Yi Zhizu nodded slightly, raised his wrist and looked at the time, and then he said: "Brother Ji Gao is coming to the Yellow Crane Tower for the first time, it's still early, you might as well let you take a look around, and after half an hour, let's start again." ”

This is tantamount to letting him reply within half an hour, Zuo Zongtang immediately smiled, "Master Hou is considerate, and he has this intention in the future." As he spoke, he glanced at Jiang Zhongyuan and Zeng Guofan, and the three of them got up to say goodbye and walked downstairs slowly.

The three of them went downstairs, Bao Shichen took a sip of tea, and said softly: "Master Hou is relieved to hand over a brigade of soldiers and horses to outsiders?" Zuo Ji is high-minded and arrogant, thinks very highly of himself, and is not a person who is willing to be inferior to others, and most of the generals in the northwest are Guangdong scholars...... Don't worry about making wedding dresses for others? ”

Yi Zhizu took out the scissors and cut off the unfinished cigar, took a sip of tea, and said, "If Mr. thinks so, what will the court think?" ”

Bao Shichen listened to it for a while, and said tentatively: "What does the Hou Ye mean, the court will win him over?" ”

Nodding slightly, Yi Zhizhi said slowly: "Although Zuo Jigao is just a person, he is not famous in Hunan, and he has an inextricable relationship with officialdom, he and the late Liangjiang Governor Tao Shu are sons and daughters, Tao Shu is deeply appreciated and respected, Hu Linyi is Tao Shu's son-in-law, Lin Zexu and Tao Shu's relationship, Mr. should be clearer."

In addition, Hunan officials such as Zeng Guofan and Jiang Zhongyuan also have a close relationship with him. With Yuanqi's strong support and the court's efforts, he will definitely be able to open up the situation in the northwest as soon as possible. ”

Speaking of this, he sighed lightly, "Time is not waiting, the top priority is to open up the situation in the northwest as soon as possible, as for controlling the Northwest Army, the silver, weapons, and ammunition are all from Yuanqi, and many high-level and low-level officers are also Yuanqi people, can they still turn the sky?" ”