The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 138: The business of capturing people, ransoming them and selling them to the Qing Dynasty is now open! (asking for monthly tickets)
Trying to redeem Hong Daquan is actually a gesture to buy off Jiao Hong, Xu Yuegui, Xu Xianggui, Zhang San and other members of the Recruiting Army Hall.
Luo Yaoguo clasped his fists and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Ji Gao. Oh, there's one more thing I need to agree with Mr. Ji Gao."

"What's the matter? But it doesn't matter."

"Then let's make a gentleman's agreement. First, the Taiping Army will not go to the banks of the Zijiang River and the Weishui River in Changsha Prefecture, nor will they go to Changde Prefecture, Baoqing Prefecture, Chenzhou Prefecture, Lizhou Prefecture, Yongshun Prefecture, etc.

Your men cannot go south of Changsha and east of the Xiangjiang River! Yuezhou Prefecture is the throat of our army’s exit from Hunan, so your men should not go to take over the defense, lest they damage the peace!”

Zuo Zongtang nodded gently: "Yes!"

"Secondly, your people can only occupy three strongholds in Changsha City: Tianxin Pavilion, Tiefu Temple, and Yingchun Gate. The 1,000 steps inside Yingchun Gate and the 1,000 steps on both sides of Yingchun Gate are used as buffers. People from both families are not allowed to enter. Chaozong Gate and the dock outside Chaozong Gate are given to me as the place for our two families to trade rice."

"So good!"

"Again, our two families should keep in touch secretly and exchange information to avoid misunderstandings!" Luo Yaoguo looked at Zuo Zongtang's expressionless face and said word by word, "If one day I can really fulfill my ambition, I hope Mr. Jinliang will join me in conquering the world!"

"This"

What Zuo Zongtang had just said to Luo Yaoguo, "As for the weight of the tripod, you may ask me about it," was actually partly a test and partly an attempt to block Luo Yaoguo's invitation.

Unexpectedly, Luo Yaoguo actually followed his words and came over!
Zuo Zongtang considered it for a while and said, "We need to be extremely careful about this matter and must not let the news leak out!"

"Yaoguo knows what's going on!" Luo Yaoguo nodded, paused, and asked, "Mr. Ji Gao, how should we contact each other in the future?"

Zuo Zongtang thought for a moment and said with a smile, "I wonder if Your Highness the Angel knows Zhu Jiutao, the head of the Chu Yi Tang of the Tiandihui in Changsha?"

"Yes," Luo Yaoguo asked, "Does Mr. Ji Gao also recognize this person?"

"Of course I know him," Zuo Zongtang said, "This man has great magical powers and many disciples. Your Highness the Angel may ask him for help."

"Okay!" Luo Yaoguo nodded gently. "To be honest with you, Mr. Ji Gao, I have appointed Master Zhu as the Lord of Changsha. If you want to take credit for retaking Changsha in the future, you must cooperate with Master Zhu. Don't hurt the relationship, or my Taiping Army will take action."

Zuo Zongtang thought to himself when he heard this: "It seems that the Taiping Army will be heading north soon. I have to hurry up to recruit soldiers, train them, and occupy territory. As for the credit for retaking Changsha, I must fight for it on behalf of Luo Ruweng. If I let him stay as the governor of Hunan, it will be much easier for me to do things in the future."

When Zuo Zongtang finished his negotiations with Luo Yaoguo and returned to Chaozong Gate, the "defeater" Shengbao had already lost Yibu Gate and returned in disgrace. This time he was defeated in a very ugly way, with more than 40% of his 500 green camps being killed, and only less than 300 people fled along the city wall all the way to Chaozong Gate.

Shengbao himself was also injured. He was hit on the head by an old Taiping Army brother from Guangxi with the barrel of a gun. Not only did he bleed profusely, but he also suffered a concussion!

Xi'an Town General Fu Cheng also arrived at Chaozong Gate. He was a "lucky general" who got lost when he ran outside Changsha City. When he saw the tall tower of Tianxin Pavilion, he thought it was a city gate and led his men to run over in a daze. When they arrived at the bottom of Tianxin Pavilion, they found that there was no gate to enter.

But this getting lost allowed him to escape, because he was lost, and the Taiping Army chasing him, because they had Yu Mieqing's godsons leading the way, knew that the tall tower was the Tianxin Pavilion, so they did not chase there, and as a result, Fucheng escaped.

The soldiers of Fucheng circled the city all day long, and finally arrived at Chaozong Gate at dusk. After the battle was over, they saw Shengbao with a white cloth tied on his head.

Then Shengbao and Fucheng got together to do the math and discovered that more than 70% of the 4,000 Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers they brought with them were killed, leaving almost 3,000!
This was truly tragic. The two of them started crying as they were calculating. Yuan Bao, Bai Siwen, Ronglu, Wenxiang, and the Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers who survived the disaster, all gathered together and burst into tears.

When Chen Qishu saw this scene, he quickly asked his men to pretend to cry together. As a result, when Zuo Zongtang came back excitedly, he saw a crowd of wailing.
Zuo Zongtang hurriedly approached with a sad face and comforted them: "Master Sheng, Master Fu, you are back. It's good to be back. As long as the green mountains are there, there will be no shortage of firewood."

Shengbao and Fucheng also saw the negotiation between Zuo Zongtang and Luo Yaoguo. They were so sad when they counted the losses just now that they put aside the matter of Zuo Zongtang's suspected "collaboration with the enemy" for a moment.

Now that Zuo Zongtang has returned, how can we let him go?
Shengbao stepped forward and grabbed Zuo Zongtang's wrist, as if he was afraid that he would flee for fear of the crime. He stared at him and asked, "Zuo Jigao, what did you say to that damn pseudo-angel just now?"

Fu Cheng also gritted his teeth and glared. Seeing that he was already addicted to cigarettes, he spoke without thinking: "Zuo Jigao, Luo Ruweng treats you well, you...you can't surrender to the Changmao!"

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in Chao Sect suddenly became a little weird. Chen Qishu and Zhang Dingxiang's faces changed drastically. They each gave fierce glances to their best friends and confidants. Hundreds of strong Hunan men put their hands on the knife handles.
Seeing that their confidants were ready for a fight, Chen Qishu and Zhang Dingxiang turned their attention to Zuo Zongtang - they were just waiting for his words!
"It's a misunderstanding, Master Sheng, Master Fu has misunderstood. The long-haired leader just asked me to come over to discuss how to redeem the Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers!" Zuo Zongtang explained, "He has captured this number of Eight Banners and this number of Green Camp soldiers."

As Zuo Zongtang spoke, he wriggled his wrist out of Shengbao's grasp, then gestured with one palm, then with two palms. This meant that nearly 500 Eight Banner soldiers were arrested, and more than 1,000 Green Camp soldiers were arrested.

After Zuo Zongtang finished his gesture, he looked at the two "Manchus" and asked, "Master Sheng, Master Fu, tell me, do you want to spend some money to redeem them?" "Can they be redeemed?" Shengbao was stunned, "How much, how much each?"

"The price of a Green Camp soldier is thirty taels of silver each!" Zuo Zongtang had no good intentions. He did not mention the price of the Eight Banners soldiers, but instead quoted the price of the Green Camp soldiers.

"What? Thirty taels, a soldier from the Green Camp." Shengbao jumped up immediately, "Why doesn't he just rob? Oh, he's a robber!"

Fu Cheng also shook his head repeatedly: "Thirty taels, how can a Green Camp soldier's body be worth thirty taels? Are you kidding me?"

"What about the Eight Banners soldiers?" Shengbao asked again, "How much is one of them?"

"The Eight Banners soldiers are very valuable," Zuo Zongtang held up three fingers, "three hundred taels each."

"Three hundred taels is not cheap," Fu Cheng frowned and sighed, "It still needs to be redeemed!"

Shengbao also nodded and sighed: "Forget about the Green Camp, we are our own people in the Eight Banners!"

They said it unintentionally, but the listeners, including Chen Qishu, Zhang Dingxiang, some officers and soldiers of the Green Camp of Gansu and Shaanxi, and officers and soldiers of the Hunan militia, all showed resentment - the lives of the Eight Banners soldiers are lives, but the lives of the Green Camp soldiers are not lives? Then the lives of the militia? Isn't it even worse than that of the Green Camp?

"The above is the redemption fee for soldiers. If it is an officer, the redemption fee for a Han official is..."

Although Zuo Zongtang had long known what Shengbao and Fucheng were thinking, he still felt delighted after hearing what they said. The business of capturing and ransoming people could finally start!

Moreover, "capturing people and ransoming them" is only the first step. First, the way to do business must be established. The next step is to build credibility. Once both parties trust each other, they can naturally do bigger business.

For example, they traded the land and population of the Qing Dynasty.
While Zuo Zongtang was thinking about how to become bigger and stronger, he also quoted the redemption price for the Manchu and Han officers.

"Official bannermen start at 400 taels, not bad!"

Shengbao actually showed some joy on his face, because the Demon-Suppressing Camp was commanded by Prince Gong himself, and Prince Gong had a great chance of becoming the next emperor, naturally many of his relatives and nobles had set up operations in the Demon-Suppressing Camp, and the young men they sent in were all close and capable, so it would be good if they could redeem some of them.

The honest man from Fucheng was pleasantly surprised and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I have a few lovers, oh, they are Han people I know well, I will pay for their redemption."

The "lover" he was talking about was, of course, the handsome Goshaha. Fucheng had been very good to them and had kept their official positions, at least as a captain. Now he certainly couldn't just watch them suffer at the hands of the Taiping Army.

As for the ordinary Green Camp soldiers, Uncle Fu doesn't care!

Zuo Zongtang then continued slowly: "In addition, if Lord Sheng and Lord Fu can release Hong Daquan, it can be worth 30,000 taels of silver! My two lords, do you think it would be better to ask the emperor for a favor? One Hong Daquan can be exchanged for 108 Bannermen or 1,000 Green Camp soldiers."

Before he finished speaking, Shengbao and Fucheng shook their heads at the same time.

“It’s not easy, it’s not easy”

"It's difficult, it's difficult. I finally caught a big one, how can I let it go?"

"Report"

With a long "report" sound, a soldier suddenly ran down from the Chaozong Gate, rushed to Zuo Zongtang and knelt on one knee: "Master Zuo, I saw a large group of 'red-headed people' coming to Chaozong Gate from the city gate. There are so many people, probably tens of thousands!"

There are tens of thousands?
Shengbao and Fucheng both gasped.

Zuo Zongtang remained calm in the face of danger. He clasped his fists towards Shengbao and Fucheng and said, "You two lords, please retreat to the Iron Buddha Temple first. Mr. Ru and Mr. Su are both there. You two lords can discuss with them how to report the battle of Changsha. As for Chao Zongmen, I will cover your retreat!"

After hearing what Zuo Zongtang said, Shengbao and Fucheng were both deeply moved. After saying "be careful", they both led their remaining troops to escape to Tiefu Temple.

(End of this chapter)