Feng Yunshan then looked down, but it was the first batch of Hunan generals who returned from Huguang to Shun, as well as Hunan and Chu literati. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The three brothers Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Guobao, and Zeng Guohua are all obedient! These three people are all capable people, Feng Yunshan heard that his old rival Zeng Guofan, before committing suicide, expected that the Manchu Qing Dynasty would inevitably perish, so he left a way out for his brothers and subordinates, requiring them to all submit to the Holy State, and now they are the vassals of the Chinese Empire, which can be regarded as a relatively early group of obedient people.

For these three people, Feng Yunshan knew that they could not be as dazzling as in history, especially Zeng Guoquan, who was also a fierce general in history, but that was because his brother concentrated the superior forces and military resources in battle on him, and now he couldn't take much care of him, everything had to rely on himself.

There are a lot of names for this subordinate of the Hunan army. After that, there are Liu Rong, Li Yuandu, Taqibu, Zhou Fengshan, Yang Zaifu, Zou Shouzhang, Liu Kunyi, Luo Xinnan, Luo Xindong, Tang Xunfang and other cadres.

Speaking of this Liu Rong, he can now be regarded as the leader of Zeng Guofan's family. He was originally a friend of Zeng Guofan, and even Zeng Guofan admired him and respected his opinions, but now that Zeng Guofan is gone, he has become the one who is in charge, even Zeng Guoquan obediently listens to him. Originally, he didn't want to be an official, he just wanted to stay in his hometown in Xiangxiang and be a rich man quietly, but as soon as Zeng Guofan died, the entire Zeng Group had no leader, and in desperation, he could only pick up the burden; Second, his friend Zuo Zongtang and Jinlan's brother Guo Songtao both wrote to him, inviting him to join the Chinese Empire and serve Feng Yunshan. In desperation, he could only lead this group of Zeng Guofan's team to defect to the Chinese Empire as the person in charge.

And Luo Xinnan is a friend of Liu Rong and Zuo Zongtang, he has always seen extraordinary, so he naturally knows that the Manchu Qing Dynasty is no longer good, and he persuaded Liu Rong to defect to the Chinese Empire, and he also contributed, otherwise, Liu Rong was disheartened and still wanted to live in seclusion.

As for Li Yuandu and Zhou Fengshan, they are both close friends of Zeng Guofan, and they want to follow Zeng Guofan to make some achievements, on the one hand, they are to obey Zeng Guofan's instructions before his death, and on the other hand, they also understand that only by returning to the empire can they have the opportunity to display their talents, so they are all obedient. And this Zou Shouzhang is the cousin of Jiang Zhongyuan and Jiang Zhongyi, Liu Kunyi is Liu Changyou's uncle, and he has long wanted to take refuge in Feng Yunshan.

And behind, there is a heavy list, but it is Luo Zenan and his disciples.

Luo Zenan, Wang Zhu, Jiang Yili, Liu Tenghong, Yang Changjun, Zhong Jinheng, Liu Songshan, Liu Tenghong, Wang Kaihua, Liu Dian, Li Xingchun. It's a pity that Li Xuyi, because his brother Li Xubin died tragically in the hands of the captive army, he didn't want to be obedient, and would rather stay in his hometown in Xiangxiang to farm.

However, with Luo Zenan, Feng Yunshan was ecstatic. This Luo Zenan is simply a demonic existence. Not to mention the current era, even among the historical figures since ancient times, he can be regarded as an almost saint-like figure, and as for the future generations, there will be no such a master of science.

Although this kind of Confucian rationality is not what Feng Yunshan admires, it is best to regulate the morality of officials and the loyalty of courtiers. Take Luo Zenan as an example, he developed the science he learned into practical application, and set an example for personal cultivation and cultivation, there are almost no flaws, especially in the march and war, because of Luo Zenan's existence, the ideological education and army discipline of the entire army are extremely rigorous.

His disciples, almost all of whom became fierce generals of the Hunan army, started as scholars, and fought extremely bravely, plus they were fellow villagers as soldiers, and the people were also willing to live and die with them, and the cohesion of the troops and the quality of the army were trained to be a level higher than that of the army of this era. Moreover, the generals who were born in these disciples regarded it as their duty to maintain his scientific ideas and feudal ethics and morality, and led the troops to be disciplined and well-trained, so that they were strong in battle.

If it weren't for Luo Zenan's early death, Feng Yunshan believed that this Hunan army would really not be as corrupt as the military discipline when it broke through Tianjing City in the later period.

The city of Beijing was breached, and a large number of Manchu officials who remained in the capital were directly captured, plus the annexation of Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Anhui and other places, and a large number of Manchu ministers in these places also came to Shengjing this time to receive unified training and brainwashing from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Feng Yunshan looked at the list carefully, preparing to pick out the people he was familiar with and summon them in turn.

Peng Yunzhang, Shangshu of the Ministry of Works, Hu Linyi, Sichuan Inspectorate, Tang Jian, Taichang Temple, Wu Tingdong, Directly Subordinate Inspectorate, Yin Tan Tingxiang, Shuntianfu, Qian Xinhe, Tianjin Prefect, Shuntianzhizhong Shi Zanqing, Kuraba Waiter Chonglun, Hubei Governor Qinglin, Yanzhou Town Commander Fuxin, Anman Governor Fuji, Fengyang Prefecture Governor Zhang Weihan, Household Chief, Yan Jingming, Hebei Town Chief Soldier Leshan, Gongbu Lang Chinese Xiang, Hanlin Yuan Shuzi Shen Guifen, Yushi Mao Changxi, etc., Feng Yunshan is no longer interested in taking a closer look at the long list of character names behind. These ministers, there are corrupt officials and clean officials, there are those who can really serve the people, and there are also old fritters in the officialdom, but there are too many characters, Feng Yunshan is not familiar with these people, and it is difficult to judge whether they are good or bad, so they can only let them, or let the Imperial Cabinet, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of the Interior screen and supervise them.

However, Feng Yunshan still had some impressions of several of them.

Needless to say, Han Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry and Minister of Military Aircraft said that he originally fled to Rehe with Xianfeng, and then wanted to leave under the pretext of leaving for some reason, so he took the initiative to ask Ying to return to Beijing, and returned to Shun halfway to beg for the army.

That Hu Linyi is known as the Manchu Qing Xiang Army's four famous ministers of Zhongxing, even the history of Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Yan Jingming and others are also recommended by him and reused, and although Hu Linyi was born in a family of eunuchs and donated a prefect, he thinks that he is on the right path, Zeng Guanqing wants, and donating to the official has made him ashamed, so he would rather go to Guizhou in a remote place to serve, and govern the people and the government as the top priority, in order to distinguish him from those corrupt officials, and then, he has indeed been an official for many years but has a clean sleeve. With his strict self-discipline, he coordinated the contradictions of various factions in the Hunan army and became a backbone figure. Feng Yunshan must be of great use to this person, but because he has been an official in the Manchu government for many years, he has been stereotyped, so he must be sharpened and encircled.

As for other characters like Qinglin, the governor of the paste, just give an idle post and fill a scene. For Wu Tingdong and Zhang Weihan, it is available, but their ideas conflict with themselves, and before they can be reversed, they can only give them a chance to govern the state capital, and it is still not enough to reuse themselves.

However, Feng Yunshan has some impressions of Shen Guifen and Mao Changxi, who are not famous and have low official positions at the moment, and Feng Yunshan has some impressions that these two people came from the time of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, one is the main organizer of the Westernization faction and the other is the chief planner and think tank of the Guangxu Dynasty.

As for Yan Jingming, Feng Yunshan remembered that he was called an honest and honest official in history, Geng Jie, who was one of the few financial experts in the Qing Dynasty and even since ancient times, and was known as the "Prime Minister of the Salvation of the Times". This person was stern and selfless, "feared by the officials", and good at managing money, and saved the lives of the Manchus by eliminating the accumulated malpractices for the chaos and poor finances of the Manchu Dynasty. This person is the best candidate for the Ministry of Finance and Taxation, but now Zhou Shengfu is doing well, so it is appropriate to let this person help him first.

Feng Yunshan thought about arranging an errand for him directly.

Two days later, hundreds of Manchu surrendered officials were ushered in in the former Jiangning Mansion School in the Holy Capital City, but it was Feng Yunshan who arranged for an examination similar to the imperial examination before summoning them.

Shen Guifen glanced at the slightly immature face in front of him, this was a young scholar, shook his head, and sighed: "Unexpectedly, I, Shen someone, have been in the Jinshi for eight years, and I have been a scholar in Shaanxi and Gansu, and I have always given exams to others, and now I have to be a candidate again and conduct a scientific examination." It's ridiculous. ”

The scholar was Zhang Zhidong, smiling silently, and his appearance as a young man made Shen Guifen sigh.

The two of them are in the same number, and they can be regarded as the same year.

The examination papers were issued, but they did not test the content of the "Four Books" and "Five Classics", but directly titled the two policy theories.

"'On the land annexation of all dynasties, explain in detail the reasons and solutions'. This, what kind of question is this, it is so straightforward, there is no need to solve the problem, and it seems that there is no such content in the book of saints! Shen Guifen was dumbfounded when he looked at the test questions, but he was familiar with the history of scriptures and books, and he had worked in the local area for several terms, so he knew the people's suffering, so he understood it at once, and muttered in his mouth: "Could it be that the new dynasty wants to take the local squires and landlords and completely solve the problem of land annexation?" It's just that this is too big, since ancient times, no dynasty has ever been able to solve the land annexation, and no one can do it! ”

After speaking, Shen Guifen remembered some statements in the book, and combined with her own understanding, she had some ideas in her heart. Looking at the second question, it is "try to compare the gap between the Manchus and the West, and how should the empire avoid becoming the second Manchu." ”

Shen Guifen sighed in her heart, this topic is too general. If this is really written, I'm afraid that I won't know a lot about it.

Zhang Zhidong on the side was also frowning, it was too weird. It is not an ordinary eight-strand exam question at all, but although the text is straightforward and simple, the content of the real question is to the point. Although Zhang Zhidong is still young, he has seen the harm of land annexation, and he has also been worried about this problem, but after thinking about it left and right, thinking repeatedly and seeking advice, there is still no way, thinking that there will never be a way to solve this land problem in this world.

Only the second question later, the gap between the Manchus and the West, is too much. Zhang Zhidong suddenly understood that the empire obviously wanted to follow the old path of emulating the West, no wonder, a while ago I heard that Mr. Wei Yuanwei was invited by the empire to go out of the mountain and served as a messenger to the Yellow River Valley to manage the river, so it was!

If you want to say that in the early years, Lin Zexu Lin organized the compilation of the "Chronicles of the Four Continents", Zhang Zhidong had read it, and the "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" written by Mr. Wei Yuan surprised him even more, he did not expect that in addition to the Four Books and Five Classics, there was such a knowledge, the world was so big, it was beyond his expectations. The Western countries are not at all the barbarians they thought they used to be, but they have become powerful. Isn't this move of the empire to select officials and prepare for the emulation of Western countries and the promotion of Western studies?

For a while, Shen Guifen and Zhang Zhidong thought for a while, and then they began to write hard.

I have to say that these ministers are still the best of the best, and the ones selected are all more knowledgeable, and hundreds of ministers have written one after another.

Luo Zenan was alone in a room.

Strange to say, although Luo Zenan has studied all his life, he has never been lifted, but this time, after some changes in Zeng Guofan's affairs, he feels that his study of rational qi has reached a new level. Everything in the world, as long as there is reason and qi, becomes learning, and the same is true of Western learning.

Luo Zenan devoted himself to Cheng Zhu Lixue for more than 20 years, deeply exploring the writings of these Song and Ming Dynasty masters, and he adhered to Lixue all his life, innovatively enriching and enriching the theory of rationality.

Therefore, in these two examination questions, Luo Zenan wrote down his understanding of land annexation and Western studies from the perspective of rational qi.

On the third day, after Zuo Zongtang, Xie Xiangcai, Xu Xiangguang, Li Shanlan, and Liu Changyou, several test papers were handed over to Feng Yunshan.

Feng Yunshan opened the test paper, and the first one had to be said to be a standard eight-strand answer sheet. Let's not talk about the eight-strand format, just with Feng Yunshan's not very good vision, you can also see this handwriting, which is really rare.

"All things in heaven and earth are rational! Vaporize all things, reason is the master! ”

"Human nature is inherently good, and sex is reason...... The heart is the master of the body, and the heart is also the second to give up! All things need to make the body, mind, action, and Tao one, and reason is the essence of the mind, and the mind and the reason and qi must be integrated and complement each other. Western studies can be said to be rational and advantageous, and they are the so-called excellent. Now the empire should abandon the concept of the Manchu and Qing dynasties that they are afraid of the foreign like a tiger, and despise the foreign and afraid of the foreign, and instead use razing to control the foreign, taking the habits of its elders and the evil of its shortcomings, and making every effort to govern the country and be righteous and reasonable......"

After reading this, there is no need to look at the name, Feng Yunshan already knows that this must be Luo Zenan's test paper. Pick open the seal and take a look, sure enough, it was Luo Zenan.

It is worthy of a generation of Confucianism.

Then, Feng Yunshan picked up the second test paper, but it was two decent eight-strand texts, but its content suggested that the Chinese empire should learn from the West to carry out reforms and carry out the Westernization movement: "The empire should use the 'mastery of the art to control the country', imitate the industrial technology and business model of the Western powers, and use the modes of government-run, government-supervised business-run, and government-business cooperation to develop modern industry, so as to obtain powerful military equipment and civilian supplies, increase treasury revenue, enhance national strength, and rise in the world."

And these two eight-strand essays, one is a little immature, the other is sharp, but the content is very close, both feel that today's China has fallen far behind the West, advocate to take the advantages of the West, and catch up. Isn't this exactly what the Westernists of later generations advocated?

Feng Yunshan unlocked the seal and found that one of the two was named Shen Guifen and the other was named Zhang Zhidong, and suddenly realized that it was these two people, and this was not the backbone of the two Westernization Movement in the future, one was the central decision-making representative and the other was the local representative?

In particular, Zhang Zhidong, during his tenure as governor of several places, did three major things, all of which affected the entire modern China: first, to run a new type of education, second, to run industry, and third, to train the new army.

This person is so young, and he has such insight, which can be of great use! Originally, I thought that I would have to exercise for a few years, but now it seems that I can be directly appointed, but it's a big deal, I will give it to the county and the like first, Feng Yunshan immediately decided.