In Jiangxi, Jishui County Post Station.

Zeng Guofan sat in the living room pinching the five willows and long beard and pondered, there were a few pieces of letter paper on the desk, on the letter paper was quite a style of Yan characters, and there was a map of the southern provinces below, the night outside the window was pervasive, and the oil lamp in the room was like beans.

The old family at the door knocked on the door and said, "Young Master Ronglu has arrived." ”

"Come in, please." Zeng Guofan stood up and watched Rong Lu walk in, Rong Lu was neat and tidy at this time, and the braids behind him were still a little steamy, thinking that he had just come over after bathing.

"Zhonghua, please take a seat." Zeng Guofan and Rong Lu sat down as guests of honor, and when Rong Lu took a sip of tea, he slowly asked, "That day, Zhonghua, you said that the old man was worried about returning to his hometown, but he got cheap and avoided the disaster, how do you say this?" The old man didn't understand. ”

Rong Lu put down the teacup and said with a smile: "The old man did it before Ding Wei, but it was an errand for the Jiangxi Township Test?" ”

"Exactly."

"With the prestige of the boss, if the traitors flock to Jiangxi, and you happen to receive the emperor's order in Jiangxi, what should I do?"

"The military plane must have mentioned the old man to exterminate the thieves."

"That's it, do you know that a few days ago, the former governor of Huguang had already been beheaded at the entrance of the vegetable market!"

Zeng Guofan was taken aback, and then smiled indifferently as if nothing happened: "What does this have to do with the old man?" ”

"Hehe, my lord is testing me," Rong Lu smiled, "Although the feudal officials are princes of one place and live in eight places, they have the responsibility to defend the land, and the situation in Hunan is so corrupt, how can they not ask for their crimes?" ”

"That noble man has long asserted that within ten years, the situation in Jiangnan will still be unbearable! Needless to say, the Eight Banners have been in the land of Chengping in the south of the Yangtze River for a hundred years, and it has long been rotten to the roots! In addition to a stalemate, this situation can only be eliminated in one breath by slowly transferring the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion! But the Shaanxi-Gansu Iron Cavalry still needs to let the Mongols and Russians go, and the emperor and the military aircraft department will definitely not let them come, and the soldiers are like locusts, and the border will inevitably be full of devastation, and there will be no grass, so they braved the world's disapproval to the emperor and allowed the local government to build its own regimental training to protect the family and serve the country! ”

"So, my lord, this misfortune is the responsibility of the feudal officials to defend the territory! You are now worried at home, you only need to build a good group training, there is no need to stick to the empty city, in addition, you only need to recover the lost territory, the long-haired traitor is not prepared to stick to a city, the boss only needs to stay far behind, fight a few beautiful ambushes, kill a few new forces, and then recover a few cities, in the overwhelmed military aircraft, that is the merit of pouring the sky! This is your cheapness, you can attack, you can defend, this is a real magic weapon! ”

Zeng Guofan pinched his beard and smiled: "Honestly, Zhonghua, what you said is indeed true, I received a letter from the clan relatives in the township a few days ago, the Hunan generation is full of sorrow, and the people are boiling with grievances, and when I learned that the emperor ordered the old man to form a group training and organize the villagers, he was already indignant and wanted to pay for it!" I believe that as soon as the old man returns to the township, he will be able to sweep away the flood and bandits in Hunan in one fell swoop with the noble man and Huidaotai's charcoal in the snow! ”

Zeng Guofan was full of pride, and remembered his own stunned when he received the order before, and said dumbly: "I didn't expect that noble man to be so clever and able to firmly fall on the old man's head, I really didn't expect it." ”

"That's natural, even in the next, at the beginning was frightened by the nobleman's material like a god, fortunately I have known it for many years, otherwise Rong Lu must think that the noble man is the reincarnation of Zhuge Kongming, in addition to the heavenly wisdom, I can't think of any words to describe this nobleman, it just so happens that this nobleman's letter also mentioned the next move of the red-haired traitor, why don't you make a bet with the boss? So you can win a lottery. ”

"Oh?" Zeng Guofan looked incredulous, "If you let the noble person guess, the old man will lose to you, so what's the matter, if the noble person guesses, then the emperor must also know, just take precautions, can gather the Eight Banners of the Manchu and Han Dynasty, and give the traitor a blow!" ”

Rong Lu stood up, walked to the desk, put down the teacup, and pointed to a point, "This is the place!" ”

Chuxiu Palace.

Emperor Xianfeng walked in from the palace gate angrily, ignoring the palace maids and eunuchs who knelt on the ground to greet him, and directly lifted the thick cotton curtain and entered the main hall of Chuxiu Palace.

No way, who called Xingzhen was a southerner in her previous life, and she was reborn in the north, she was really afraid of the cold, and her own blood was very strong, mainly because she was afraid of freezing in her brain, but fortunately there was no concubine in her position, except for the occasional visit to the imperial concubine to ask for peace, the rest were all concubines from various palaces to visit her own Chuxiu Palace, and Xingzhen was unscrupulous every day in the warm pavilion in Chuxiu Palace.

Xingzhen saluted: "Concubine Lan sees the emperor, the emperor is blessed with Jin'an"

"Get up," Emperor Xianfeng walked quickly into the warm pavilion, sat down, and saw the quilt on the kang, "Is Concubine Lan afraid of the cold?" Rejoice, bring the new black fox skin of General Jilin this year to Lan Concubine. ”

"Your Majesty." Xingzhen embarrassedly put the cup together, and asked Anqian to take it away quickly, seeing that Emperor Xianfeng looked unhappy, he knew that he was troubled by political affairs again, isn't this nonsense, ** a good situation, and the sisters are harmoniously tight.

"Your Majesty, what's the matter?"

"Lan'er, I have a hard time deciding on something, but I want to ask you what you think?"

"Although the concubines may not be able to come up with any methods, they are very willing to listen to what the emperor has to say." Xingzhen took the longan and red date soup sent by Fan'er, and handed it to Emperor Xianfeng with a bowl. The fragrant longan and red date soup, I can't help but drink a bowl, Fan'er, this dead girl, is actually such a good soup, don't give it to me first.

hinted at Fan'er with his eyes, Fan'er knew that his master's gluttony had been committed again, and took advantage of the emperor's lack of attention, silently rolled his eyes that Lan Concubine learned from him, and went out to make longan and red date soup for his master to satisfy his hunger.

Emperor Xianfeng took a sip and put down the covered bowl with a pastel passion flower pattern.

"It's still a matter of rebellion in the south, the long-haired rebels have been entrenched in Yuezhou for more than a month, the governor of Hubei, the governor of Hunan, and the newly arrived governor of Huguang have all taken a fold, and they all say that the long-haired thieves will inevitably attack elsewhere, but the three of them are waste," Emperor Xianfeng sneered, "I can't say why, I called the ministers in the military plane to discuss, and there are different opinions, Qi Liaozao Peng Yunzhang said that he must go north, but where to go, I can't say, Shao Canlinkui said that the long-haired thieves will be entrenched in Hunan, and they will make plans after stabilizing the south." Mu Yin was noncommittal, and said that he wanted to be judged. When Emperor Xianfeng said this, he looked at Lan Concubine and said, "Lan'er, guess what, where are these traitors going?" ”

Xingzhen already knew where Hong Xiuquan and them were going next, but she still had to push it off, lest Emperor Xianfeng feel that he was already planning to interfere in political affairs, and it was okay to help, but now it was not time to make up his own mind, "How does this concubine know, the emperor, you are really embarrassed to be a concubine." ”

When Emperor Xianfeng saw Concubine Lan's delicate appearance, the unhappiness in his heart disappeared, and he laughed: "What is this?" By the way, I forgot to tell you, your idea last time was very good, this time in Hengshan County, Hunan Province, came to report, the local gentry ambushed the tail of the rebel thief, killed hundreds of thieves, this credit is all in your idea! ”

"The concubines don't dare to blindly receive the reward, this is the credit of the gentry, where it can be counted on the head of the concubine, the concubine, can only move the hairpin mirror, not the knife!"

"Haha, every time I come to Lan'er, my mood suddenly improves."

Xingzhen smiled happily, and a fine light flashed in her eyes, "Then if the emperor wants the concubine to guess, the concubine will guess, but this time, Chuxiu Palace has no map, and the concubine can't see it clearly." ”

"This is easy, Yang Qingxi, ask someone to go back to the Heart Cultivation Hall and bring the map of Huguang and Liangjiang that I see every day." Emperor Xianfeng said.

"Huh!"

Standing outside the Yangxin Gate, the chief manager of Kangshou Palace, Deling, held his hands in his sleeves, silently looking at the two little eunuchs, one carrying a lantern in his hand, and one holding a map, struggling to move forward in the early snow of the winter at the end of the second year of Xianfeng in November.