Luzhou Mansion is an important town in Jianghuai, the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty leap June Yisi, Luzhou Mansion changed to Jiangnan Province (Provincial Governance Jiangning Mansion, now Nanjing City). In July of the sixth year of Kangxi, Jiayin was changed to Anhui Province (the provincial capital of Zhi'an Qingfu, now Anqing City) and North Anhui Province (Daozhi Fengyang Mansion, now Fengyang County).

Jiang Zhongyuan, the newly arrived governor of Anhui, was born in Xinning, Hunan Province, in the seventeenth year of Jiaqing. This year, two amazing babies were born in Hunan, namely Hu Linyi and Zuo Zongtang.

Jiang Zhongyuan came from an impeccable family and was a scholarly family. Father Jiang Shangjing is a talent, living in seclusion and teaching, living in poverty. Jiang Zhongyuan adhered to his father's aspirations, studied poetry and books, and was able to write good articles when he was a teenager. Although he is not good at Bagu and likes to read practical books that are helpless for exams, he is still a serious reader, and he was admitted to Xiucai at the age of fifteen.

This Xiucai is not a decent Sven, but a problem teenager. He was born with a good body, a handsome face, a cheerful personality, and a willingness to socialize. Due to careless travel, he mixed with a group of gamblers and became addicted to gambling. The bigger the gambling addiction, the worse the gambling luck, and I always lose and take off my clothes to pledge, and return to the casino after getting the money. Occasionally win money, so go to Yeyou (to find a lady). Those law-abiding scholars looked sideways at him and did not dare to be with him. Jiang Zhongyuan didn't care, he played in society by temperament, and he mixed until he was twenty-five years old.

That year was the seventeenth year of Daoguang, and Ouyang Zhaoxiong, a native of Xiangtan, served as an instructor in Xinning. Jiang Zhongyuan was ordered by his father to take the test to pay tribute, and he ranked second in the four exams. The first place is a scholar surnamed Chen, a son of a rich family, with a good article and a good endowment. The student envoy Cai Chunfan sent the top papers to the instructors in various places for review, discussing whether the champion should take Jiang or Chen. Ouyang Zhaoxiong said: "If you talk about the test papers, there is a huge disparity between the advantages and disadvantages; If you ask for real materials, I'm afraid you still need to think about it. ”

The envoy was upset and asked, "What do you mean?" Could it be that someone hired a gunman? ”

Ouyang Zhaoxiong said: "It is difficult to find out whether the gunman was invited or not, and there is no need to investigate deeply. However, in the examination shed, time is so urgent, I am afraid that no one in Shaoyang and Xinhua can write such a good paper, let alone Xinning, a remote place! He extracted a few good sentences from the fu written by Examinee Chen, read them again, and then said: "Examinee Jiang is a poor scholar, but Examinee Chen is a rich man. ”

Ouyang Zhaoxiong's eloquence made Jiang Zhongyuan rank first, and Chen Examinee ranked second.

This year, the provincial capital of Changsha held a township examination, and both candidates Jiang and Chen went to take the examination. Candidate Chen had a distraction, chose the auspicious day of the eighth day of the eighth month of August, accepted a beautiful concubine, and voluntarily gave up the township examination. Cai Xuezhi heard that he was so uncompromising, and said to Ouyang Zhaoxiong: "You still have eyesight and can see through the embroidered pillow." ”

Coincidentally, Jiang Zhongyuan and Ouyang Zhaoxiong were promoted at the same time that year and went to Beijing to participate in the examination together. Jiang Zhongyuan's move is a grand event in Xinning. Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, no one has been lifted here, and Jiang Zhongyuan has broken the ground.

Ouyang Zhaoxiong believes that this person will make achievements in the future. Another Li Yueqiao, who was a waiter in the capital, saw Jiang Zhongyuan for the first time, and said that this person was a warrior and would die on the battlefield.

This prophecy seemed a bit outrageous at the time, and it was a bit of a physiognomic magician. Judging is a reader's hobby, and most of the words spoken are not boundary. In the eighteenth year of Daoguang, the world has been peaceful for a long time, the Opium War has not yet broken out, and most people are looking forward to a sustainable peace. Jiang Zhongyuan is a bus and not a military general, how could he die on the battlefield in an era when there is no war?

Now he led his hometown Xinning regiment training more than 3,000 people, on the evening of September 1, in the governor of Anqing City, in the yamen, received the big seal of the governor of Anhui, Wang Jinxiu wore an embroidered lion uniform to watch the ceremony, saw Jiang Zhongyuan received the big seal, and hurriedly stepped forward to pay respects: "Humble duty, Admiral Wang Jinxiu, the chief military officer of Anhui Province." See Futai-sama! ”

With high cheekbones and deep cheeks, the new governor of Anhui Province who is deeply sunk into his cheeks is like a monkey, Jiang Zhongyuan hurriedly handed over the big seal to his own soldiers, personally helped up the governor of Anhui Province who was kneeling on one knee and was full of armor, and said with a friendly smile: "Wang Junmen, don't be polite, now you are a minister specializing in military affairs, and you have the title of baron, let's just intersect as one, this official is in Anhui, and you have to rely on your Hubei soldiers in the military gate." ”

"Don't dare to be, Lord Futai's Chu army is extremely elite, and the battle of Lingyidu killed the rebellious puppet king Feng Yunshan, and his reputation is famous."

In May of the second year of Xianfeng, Jiang Zhongyuan led Chu Yong and his officers and soldiers to chase the Taiping army outside the city of Quanzhou. The Taiping army occupied the whole state, obtained hundreds of civilian boats, and the old and young women loaded them on the boats, preparing to advance along the Xiangjiang River by land and water, and attack Changsha in the north. Jiang Zhongyuan grew up in southern Hunan and was quite familiar with the terrain of the Hunan and Guizhou borders. Lingyidu is located in the north of Quanzhou City ten miles, is a dangerous ferry port in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River, the two banks are heavy and mountainous, the trees are towering, the riverbed is narrow, and the river is turbulent. Jiang Zhongyuan nailed piles in the Shuiliuwan River three miles north of the ferry, built a wooden weir to block the river, and then used Chu Yong to ambush on the west bank of the river, and flew to the tail to chase the general army of the Taiping army and Chun sent troops to block it on the east bank. On June 5, the Taiping army came from across the river, the boat road was blocked, and Jiang Zhongyuan led Chu Yong to call out. The Taiping army hastily responded to the battle, covering the old and young women on the east bank with heavy troops, and abandoning all the heavy ships. Chu Yong and the Taiping army fought fiercely on the west bank for two days and nights, both sides had many casualties, the Taiping army captured the boat and crossed eastward, Jiang Zhongyuan was tired with Chu Yong's strength, and did not dare to wade into the river to pursue. The Taiping army was able to cross the mountains from the east bank and enter Hunan. The Battle of Lingyidu disrupted the Taiping Army's plan to attack and take Changsha along the north of the Xiang River. At that time, it rained heavily for several days, and the river swelled, and if the Taiping army went north, Changsha could reach Changsha in a few days. When the governor of Huguang Cheng Zhicai garrisoned Hengzhou, heard that the Taiping army was coming north, hurried back to Changsha, Jiang Zhongzhongyuan Chu Yong Yidu battle, so that the Qing army bought time, Changsha was able to fortify.

Jiang Zhongyuan smiled proudly, this is his two or three years from a small county to a provincial prince, holding the power of Anhui, it is really worthy of his pride, Jiang Zhongyuan in his own line of the flower hall, stretched out his hand to invite Wang Jinxiu to sit down, and asked the attendant to serve tea, the red candle on the flower hall shines high, a gust of autumn wind blows, the fire is swaying, the room is uncertain, Jiang Zhongyuan invited Wang Jinxiu to use tea, took a sip of the tea bowl, and then smiled and said:" Not as good as the general in Wuchang City a fire burned the rebel army of 30,000, but also single-handedly picked the pseudo-king of the West, at that time people in Hunan have said that this fire burned like Zhou Yu and Zhou Gongjin, this single shot killed the leader of the rebel thief and like the reincarnation of Zhao Zilong, all said that General Wang has the ability to have both! ”

"The fathers and elders praised it falsely, but it really relied on the emperor's plan to destroy the enemy, and it was thanks to Governor Chang who took the lead, and the soldiers used their lives, and the lower officials really didn't have any credit."