On the 18th day of the first month of the 10th year of Guangxu, Zuo Zongtang, the minister of military affairs of the eight provinces of the General Office, arrived in Nanning Mansion in Guangxi. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Liangguang officials from Liangguang Governor Zeng Guoquan and below all the Qi, even the officials of Fujian have also arrived here, the post station outside Nanning Mansion, the black pressure is a piece of well-dressed beasts, this word was not a derogatory term in the past, the civil officials embroidered with the complement of birds, the military attache is the complement of the beast, so together it is a bird and a beast, and the well-dressed beast refers to the civil and military officials.

After a while, the guard of honor of the Qin Cha arrived, on the official road, the gongs of the Jingjie sounded again and again, and behind him were not the number plates of the previous Qin Cha patrol, and the officials stood before and after, followed by the Qin Cha is the murderous Huguang regimental training, divided into two columns, and sandwiched a huge Western carriage in the army, led by a military attache wearing a yellow coat and dazzling eyes, he took the lead, and shouted to the civil and military officials in the post station, "The minister of the Qin Mission, the war is urgent, it is not appropriate to stick to the etiquette at this time, and enter the city immediately!" ”

Zuo Zongtang's frame did not stop, went straight into the city, and arrived at the place where he was stationed, which was the residence of the Nanning prefect, when Zeng Guoquan and others arrived at the palace, Zuo Zongtang had already ascended, with a serious expression of twisted beard, looking at the ceiling and silent, Gao Xinkui and other officials all knelt down to the court to participate in the ceremony, "The lower officials knock to see the minister, please bow to the saint!" ”

Only Zeng Guoquan was a little hesitant, he didn't expect to kneel this old enemy who was under him in the past, Zuo Zongtang turned his face down, and stared at Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Guoquan gritted his teeth, and quickly knelt down, "The lower official knocks to see the minister, please bow to the saint!" ”

Zuo Zongtang didn't speak for a while, and after a while, he said, "Holy bow!" Zuo Zongtang laughed, got off the big case, and personally helped Zeng Guoquan, "Haha, Brother Zeng, our fellow countrymen, why do we need to be so polite, you know, we were all under the command of Wenzheng Gong in the past, what is this, hurry up." At this time, he smiled like a spring breeze on his face, and helped Zeng Guoquan up, "Set up a seat for the Governor!" "The Governor of Yunnan, Guizhou, Huguang, Sichuan, and Fujian are all here, and this is the first-class official on the top of the head now, and it can't be easily simplified. But only Zeng Guoquan has a place to sit.

Zuo Zongtang turned his face and nodded indifferently at the officials who were still kneeling underground, "You all get up." ”

Waiting for everyone to get up, Zuo Zongtang slowly returned to his position, a cup of tea had been prepared on the case, Zuo Zongtang took a sip of it, "The will of the imperial court, appoint me as the general office of military and political affairs of the eight provinces, responsible for the war against France, the defeat of Beining in the old days, the fall of Taiyuan, such a big defeat, always come to find a few people to kill, lest everyone forget the dignity of the court, and the responsibilities of the body." ”

The officials above the lobby lowered their hands and listened carefully, maybe it was hot weather in Guangxi, and some people had beads of sweat on their foreheads, Zuo Zongtang glanced at everyone and put down the bowl, "Yunnan and Gui took off their hats, killed a partial general, and committed suicide as a commander, according to my will, it is not enough, and if you don't enforce military discipline, you will naturally not be able to achieve victory." It's just that the Western Sage is merciful, and allows you to make meritorious contributions to your crimes, and the will of heaven is like this, and I can't disobey it, so I have to listen to it, but I will put the words here today, and you will all listen to them! ”

Zuo Zongtang stood up again and slowly walked into the crowd, "The previous matter, since it happened, we will not investigate it first," Empress Dowager Cixi originally intended to depose all the officials involved in the defeat of Beining or send them to prison for questioning, Zuo Zongtang thought it was inappropriate, so after a fold that allowed them to make meritorious contributions, he explained the matter first when he arrived in Nanning Mansion, "Looking at the next thing, if you smoothly repel the legal person, recover Beiqi, or achieve greater results, you will recover the entire territory of Vietnam." So let's raise tofu with hemp rope, we don't care about the past, but we have to add officials to the knighthood and reward them lavishly. But if anyone spoils the good situation of Xisheng, the strength of the whole country, to break hands with the French here in Vietnam, I, Zuo Zongtang, will not be the first to let him go! ”

The subtext in the words is that if this big victory is overcome, naturally there will be no more mistakes in the past, but if anyone delays the great thing that Zuo Zongtang wants to make a great achievement, Zuo Zongtang himself is a person who does not care about the system, and he must first make it difficult for the person who made the mistake, Zuo Zongtang has this power.

Everyone obeyed the order, and Zeng Guoquan also stood up and bent down together, "Obey!" ”

"So the first thing is to take military discipline seriously," Zuo Zongtang nodded with satisfaction and turned back to his seat, "Where is Li Ciming!" ”

"The lower official is here!"

"Since you are inspecting the political discipline of various provinces, and you came to the Nanning front line with me today, I will hand over this matter of supervising military affairs to you, and all those who violate the order will be investigated and dealt with by you!"

Li Ciming secretly complained, is this a good errand? I'm afraid that I will offend the dead, arrogant soldiers, and I must not be convicted by a civil official from the Imperial History Tower, and I don't have so much courage and ability, "I know you have any concerns, but it doesn't matter, I have the trump card order arrow here, you can cut it first and then play it below the fourth grade, and above the fourth grade, you can be dismissed, you don't need to report it, I will support you, if you don't respect the order of Ben Qincha, you can take it!" ”

The matter has come to this point, and there is no way to shirk it, Li Ciming can only respond loudly, "Yes!" ”

The governors of the provinces also brought some regimental training soldiers, especially Ding Baozhen, the governor of Sichuan, who brought two thousand of the most elite Xikang Mama infantry cavalry, so calculated, there were about eight thousand regiments trained here, Zuo Zongtang nodded, "The old man knows the intentions of the governors of the provinces, and it is registered in the record, please take credit in the future!" Zeng Guoquan obeyed the order, these 8,000 people will train and teach you first, and all departments must cooperate properly, and there must be no hostility or discord. ”

Zeng Guoquan didn't expect Zuo Zongtang to give himself such authority, in addition to the front line, 8,000 people are already the largest military strength in the border of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, Vietnam, he originally thought that Zuo Zongtang came here, with the political dispute between Zuo Zeng in the past, I was afraid that he would have to stand aside and watch others fight, which is far more uncomfortable for a military general than killing himself, to a certain extent, the battle of Beining was due to the palace dispute, but the sin hat here in Guangxi is to be buckled on Zeng Guoquan's head, I didn't expect that such a great authority was granted today, and it was naturally inappropriate for the governor of a country to go into battle and kill, but to pay all 8,000 people, such a mind was indeed unattainable by Zeng Guoquan. (To be continued.) )