Shanghai, Xincheng, Zhenhai Road. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although it is about to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the agarwood trees on both sides of Zhenhai Road are still luxuriant, emerald green, and also exude a faint innate fragrance, strolling in the meantime, making people refreshed, the former governor of Liangguang, the current minister of Nanyang Qishan dressed in casual clothes all the way slowly, looking at the scenery on both sides with great interest.

Zhenhai Road is wide and straight, the road surface is paved with black asphalt, smooth and solid, and the sidewalks on both sides are paved with bluestone slabs.

Because the road surface is good, and there are few pedestrians, it has quickly become a good section of the road to learn to ride a bicycle, and you can see everywhere the crooked novices who ride the bicycle, since the launch of the bicycle by Yuanqi, this light and fast means of transportation soon swept the whole Shanghai, especially by young people.

Slow all the way, Qi Shan was quite emotional, not to mention going back thirty years, that is, going back twenty years, he must also learn this bicycle, this thing is much stronger than riding a horse, especially on this smooth asphalt road, it is completely a pleasure.

"Master Hou, can our Prime Minister Yamen buy a batch of bicycles ......?" Pang Zhonglu, who was one step behind, followed step by step, tentatively said, he was only twenty-seven or eighteen, handsome, slender, was the twenty-seventh year of Daoguang Ding Weike Tanhua, edited by the Hanlin Academy, because the imperial court enriched the Prime Minister's Yamen, he was transferred to the Shanghai Prime Minister's Yamen, and was awarded the Wailang from the five grades, which was quite appreciated by Qi Shan.

With a slight groan, Qi Shancai said: "Buying a bicycle is more cost-effective than raising a horse......" ”

"Hou Ye Mingjian." Pang Zhonglu smiled and said: "Traveling in the city, bicycles are much more convenient than horseback riding, the streets and alleys can be walked freely, and there is no need to spend ....... on forage every day." ”

Qi smiled when he heard this, "Raising horses, the imperial court can routinely sell and buy bicycles, where does this money come from?" This bike is not cheap. ”

Pang Zhonglu said softly: "I heard that Hou Ye and Yi Da shopkeeper are very familiar, Hou Ye opened his mouth, and Yi Da shopkeeper can also sweep Hou Ye's feelings." ”

Shaking his head slightly, Qi Shancai said slowly: "Yuan Qi gave a batch of bicycles to the Prime Minister's Yamen, it's nothing, but if you send it to the Prime Minister's Yamen, will the Governor of Suzhou send it to the Yamen?" Will the governor of Jiangning send it to the yamen? Do you send large and small yamen in Shanghai? Yuanqi semicolons are all over the southeastern provinces, how can they do this thing of favoring one over the other? ”

Hearing this, Pang Zhonglu's face turned red, and he said curtly: "The lower official is ashamed." ”

"The Prime Minister's Yamen was built by Yi Guocheng." Qi Shan said slowly: "There are two sentences, he often hangs on his lips, one is that a weak country has no diplomacy, and the other is that diplomacy is no trivial matter, the main responsibility of the Prime Minister's Yamen is to deal with foreign affairs with Western countries, and you must think twice before you act, otherwise, you will inevitably mislead the country and yourself, and you will ..... in peacetime." ”

Before he finished speaking, he heard a long "call" A carriage stopped not far in front of him, and then, as soon as the curtain was lifted, Li Xingyuan, the governor of Liangjiang in civilian clothes, slowly got off the car. And even he didn't notice it, Qi Shan wondered in his heart, waved his hand to stop the guards who surrounded him, and slowly stepped forward.

After getting out of the car, Li Xingyuan greeted him a few steps, and said with a smile: "I don't want to meet the Hou Ye here, but go to the Zhenhai Hou Mansion?" ”

Qi Shan returned the salute and said with some surprise: "Zixiang Weifu came to Shanghai to see the national city?" After a pause, he continued: "It's not far away, just walk and be a car." So saying, he ordered someone to go and deliver the post.

Zhenhai Houfu, the main room, the east wing, and Bao Shichen, who were chatting with Bao Shichen about the situation in Changsha, heard that Qi Shan and Li Xingyuan came to visit, and couldn't help but smile, "It seems that there is still a general ......" ”

"How could Lord Qi get mixed up?" Bao Shichen said in a sullen voice, glanced at Lin Meilian as he spoke, and said, "The two of them came here in Weifu?" ”

"Sir's guess is right." Lin Meilian said: "It is indeed a micro-service. ”

Yi Zhizhi said disapprerovingly: "Since the micro-service came, someone led them in." As he spoke, he glanced at Bao Shichen and said, "Yingying? ”

Bao Shichen got up and said: "The big shopkeeper is not in the registration system now, and he should welcome himself. ”

The two greeted Qi Shan and Li Xingyuan on the second door, and after a greeting, Yi Zhishu gave the two of them into the study, and after the ceremony sat down to serve tea, Li Xingyuan couldn't wait to say: "Now Changsha has gathered the green battalions of several southeastern provinces, with a strength of up to 60,000, together with the local regimental training in Hunan, the strength is always above 80,000, and the entire Changsha is surrounded like an iron bucket, and the bandits can still calmly break through?" ”

"The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is fundamentally different from the ordinary Hui Party, and you should not still treat it as an ordinary Hui Party, but must pay enough attention to it, let alone despise it." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Since the incident in Jintian, the Taiping army has repeatedly successfully broken through, and each time it has successfully broken through from an army several times its size, and several times after breaking through the ambush of the pursuers and won a big victory.

Changsha gathers green battalions in the surrounding ten provinces, not to mention that the number of troops is as high as 60,000, how many civil and military officers are above the second grade? Since Sai Zhongtang was ordered to go south to Guangxi to recruit the Taiping Army, he has lost many defeats and won few victories, and his prestige has been swept away. ”

As he spoke, he looked at Qi Shan and said tentatively, "Does the Eight Banners New Army plan to go south?" ”

"The eyes of the national city are like torches." Qi Shan said with a smile: "The emperor has no confidence in the green camp, and has ordered the monk king to lead the new army .....of 10,000 eight banners to the south to Changsha. As he spoke, he pulled out a letter and handed it over.

The letter was written by Monk Greenqin, saying that he would lead the army south to Hunan to recruit the Taiping army in a few days, hoping that Yuan Qi could provide enough guns and ammunition for the army.

He and Monk Greenqin was met in the battle of Zhenjiang when fighting against the Yingyi, over the years, although the two have not met for a long time, but they have been in constant correspondence, and they are very secret, and the Tao is naked Monk Greenqin to form the Eight Banners New Army, and it is mostly for this reason that the Eight Banners New Army has received strong support from Yuanqi since the day it was formed, whether it is training instructors or guns and ammunition.

This time, Monk Greenqin was not polite to him, he opened his mouth to ask for 3,000 mini guns and 500,000 ammunition, which made him feel embarrassed, although Monk Greenqin did not mention Xianfeng, the court or anything in the letter, only talked about the old friendship, but he knew very well that this was actually Xianfeng's temptation of him, if he refused, Yuanqi and the court would immediately have to turn their faces.

But if such a large amount of guns and ammunition is provided, the Taiping Army is definitely facing the danger of annihilation, the shortcomings of the Eight Banners Green Battalion is melee hand-to-hand combat, the ultra-long range and ultra-high shooting accuracy of the Mini gun make up for this shortcoming, and the 10,000 Eight Banners New Army has a sufficient supply of guns and ammunition, in the face of the Taiping Army, it cannot be called a battle, but a one-sided slaughter!

Of course, Bao Shichen knew the relationship between Yi Zhixiang and Seng Lingqin, and after reading the letter quickly, he spoke: "Three thousand mini guns and 500,000 ammunition, this is not a ...... that can be provided if it is provided. ”

Yi Zhizu took over and said: "This is the truth, the Mini gun is purchased from Citigroup, three thousand pieces, at least one or two years in advance, in the past two years, Yuanqi has repeatedly encountered runs, capital turnover is difficult, although the navy is expanding, but did not dare to order a large number of Mini guns."

As for ammunition, the Ammunition Bureau is able to produce it, but it is impossible to deliver such a large quantity in a short period of time, after all, the scale of the Ammunition Bureau is limited, and the output is only that large, 500,000 copies, and it will take five months to say the least.

In addition, friendship is friendship, business is business, 3,000 mini guns, 500,000 ammunition, this is not a small amount, Yuan Qi's current situation, the court should also be very clear, cash trading. ”

Seeing that he didn't refuse, Qi Shan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said: "The matter of silver is easy to do, and it can be raised after all, but at this time, the so-called military situation is as urgent as fire, not to mention the guns, and the ammunition will be delivered in five months, Changsha really can't afford to delay ......" ”

Yi Zhicontent said without thinking: "One hundred thousand yuan a month, delivered monthly, how about it?" ”

100,000, it seems like a lot of money, but if it is distributed to 10,000 new troops, it will only be ten rounds of ammunition for one person, and ten rounds of ammunition for one person a month, what kind of war is this? Qi Shan smiled bitterly and said: "Guocheng is also the one who leads the army...... 300,000 a month, how about it?" ”

Yi Zhizu shook his head and sighed: "Under normal circumstances, the Ammunition Bureau can produce 50,000 copies in a month, because on weekdays, the ammunition Bureau can sell about 30,000 or 40,000 copies of ammunition per month, because ammunition cannot be stored for a long time, so the inventory is also small, and the scale has not been expanded. ”

Qi Shan and Li Xingyuan didn't know the situation of the Ammunition Bureau, and they didn't say much when they heard this, and they groaned slightly, Qi Shancai said: "One hundred thousand in a month, if you get it, it's ten rounds of ammunition per person........ Better than no ...... ”

Yi Zhizu rolled his eyes and said, "That's not how the account is calculated, how many troops does the Taiping Army have?" Minnie's gun has a high hit rate, 200,000 ammunition, enough to wipe out the Taiping army, and it is not unreasonable for the monk to open his mouth as long as 500,000. ”

Hearing him say this, Qi Shan couldn't help but smile, "What Guocheng said is not unreasonable. ”

The matter of Qi Shan, who saw it, had been finalized, and Li Xingyuan continued: "The 10,000 Eight Banners New Army is going south to participate in the encirclement and suppression, and it should be difficult for the Taiping Army to break through smoothly, right?" ”

"It's hard to say." Yi Zhizhi said: "The Taiping army is camped in Hexi, connected by land and water, and Changsha City, in addition to Shi Dakai leading thousands of elite soldiers to wander outside, if you want to annihilate them all, the difficulty is not ordinary, the two of you should have paid attention to the "Heavenly Country Tianmu System" issued by the Taiping Army.

Nowadays, the land is highly concentrated, and the equal distribution of land proposed by the "Heavenly Land and Mu System" has a lot of attraction for the poor, and the Taiping Army and Hong Xiuquan have a total of six kings, and one king can quickly resurrect the ashes. ”

For the war in Changsha, as the governor of Liangjiang, Li Xingyuan is naturally highly concerned, he is most worried about the Taiping army flowing into the Liangjiang, listening to this analysis, he thinks deeply, the war in Changsha, the officers and soldiers do occupy an absolute advantage, but if you want to completely annihilate the Taiping army, this possibility is really not big, a little muttering, he said: "Once the Taiping army breaks through from Changsha, where is the possibility of flowing?" ”

"It's hard to say." Yi Zhixiang smiled and said: "It is said that the possibility of returning to Guangxi is the greatest, but they should also be able to expect that the imperial court will inevitably block them on the way back to Guangxi, so they are most likely to flow to the surrounding areas, Hubei, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, all are possible, however, Jiangnan is rich and the army is empty, and they are more likely to choose Jiangnan, especially by waterway, down the Yangtze River!" ”

Hearing this, even Qi Shan's expression became serious, this is really not a lie and threat, all the elite troops of the surrounding provinces of Hunan have been transferred to Hunan, once the Taiping army breaks through from Changsha, it will be tantamount to a disaster for the surrounding provinces.

After a slight groan, Li Xingyuan said: "The meaning of the national city is to strengthen the defense along the Yangtze River? ”

Yi Zhishu nodded, and said: "Yuan Qi has invested a lot in the iron ore in Dangtu County, Taiping Prefecture, if the Taiping army goes down the river, Dangtu will inevitably be spared, and the prevention along the river will focus on Yuezhou, followed by Wuchang, if the local naval division is not enough, the navy can send fireships and gunboats to Yuezhou or Wuchang to support." ”

The Nanyang Navy sent troops to Wuchang and Yuezhou? Qi Shan and Li Xingyuan couldn't help but look at each other, Yuan Qi's relationship with the imperial court is really hard to say, God knows what consequences will be caused by the Nanyang Navy stationed in Wuchang and Yuezhou? Not to mention that the Taiping Army is only likely to break through at present, even if the Taiping Army successfully breaks through and goes down the river, they may not have the courage to ask the Nanyang Navy to enter Wuchang and Yuezhou.

Groaning slightly, Li Xingyuan smiled dryly and said: "Even if the Taiping army can break through, it is just a remnant of the army, so there is no need to worry, of course, the old man must strongly urge the defense of Yuezhou and Wuchang proposed by the national city." ”

After sending the two away, turning over and returning to the study, and after sitting down, Bao Shichen pondered and said: "The 10,000 New Army of the Eight Banners is rushing to Changsha, and the Taiping Army is afraid that it will be more auspicious and less ......." ”

"Sir, don't worry." Yi Zhishu said in a relaxed tone: "Although the Taiping army is all from poor backgrounds, but there is no shortage of generals, from the Jintian incident to the capture of Changsha, the Taiping army has gradually grown up, Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Shi Dakai are not pedantic, if Changsha really can't hold it, they will definitely not defend it." ”

After a little hesitation, Bao Shichen said: "Even if the Taiping army can break through from Changsha, it may not choose to go down the Yangtze River, and the wishful thinking of the big shopkeeper is afraid that it will fail." ”

Yi Zhizhi said disapprehantly: "It doesn't matter, as long as the Taiping Army is not quickly exterminated, we have a chance, but the imperial court transferred 10,000 new troops of the Eight Banners to the south, and the threat to the Taiping Army is too great." ”

Bao Shichen nodded slightly: "Chess to the middle game, there are thousands of changes, how can you master everything, this game of chess is too big, don't ask too much for the big shopkeeper, the result can be won." ”