The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 334 I am a Confucian Saint! (Please vote and subscribe)

Zeng Guofan narrowed his triangular eyes and glanced at Miao Peilin, who was shaking his head like Zhuge Kongming. Then he took out two envelopes from the sleeve pocket of his official robe and placed them on the desk in front of him: "This is a handwritten letter from Prince Zheng and Du Jiyuan to me. You can all take a look!"

Miao Peilin, Guo Songtao, Huang Shijie, Zeng Guoquan, and Li Wenxuan looked at each other, and then Miao Peilin and Guo Songtao each picked up an envelope and read it first. After they finished reading the letters in their hands, they exchanged them and read them again, and then it was the turn of the other three to read the letters. Soon, the five confidants who had a small meeting with Zeng Guofan today finished reading the two letters from Beijing, and then each of them frowned slightly.

"How is it? Tell us everything." Zeng Guofan asked while looking at Miao Peilin, the "Anhui Zhuge Liang".

Miao Peilin was a little confused. He stroked his beard and shook his head gently, saying, "King Zheng wants us to spend money to buy the officials of Huai'an, Haizhou, and Xuzhou, as well as the useless positions of the governor of the grain transport and the governor of Jiangsu. On the other hand, he wants us to ask the court for the Eight Banners to go south. And Prime Minister Du wants us to ask the court for the Eight Banners to go south to protect the orthodox teachings and guard the hometowns of Confucius and Mencius. What are these two gentlemen up to?"

Miao Peilin was, after all, a local scholar who had spent most of his life wandering around the countryside of Fengyang Prefecture. How could he know the philandering of the gentlemen in Beijing? Zeng Guofan asked him for advice first, which was a bit embarrassing.

Then Zeng Guofan turned his triangular eyes to Li Wenxuan, who had been an official in Beijing for more than ten years.

Although Li Wenxuan is not a high-ranking official, he is well-known and well-informed!
Seeing Zeng Guofan's gaze, he shook his head and said, "The court must be out of money, right?

The emperor wants us to pay to buy those officials, but in fact, he is just trying to get money out of our pockets. As long as we can control the salt and canals in Huai'an Prefecture, we will not be afraid of not having money to support the army. What's the use of Xuzhou and Haizhou? The governor of the grain transport and the governor of Su are just empty titles, and they cost money.
As for asking Brother Disheng to invite the Eight Banners soldiers to come south to help in the battle, I think the emperor probably wants to move the Eight Banners' strongholds!"

"Oh?" Zeng Guofan raised his eyelids, "The emperor wants the Eight Banners soldiers to go south and die?"

Li Wenxuan shook his head: "That's not the case yet, the emperor is not that cruel. I think he just wants us to be the bad guys to scare those Eight Banners children. The price for the Eight Banners children to eat iron crops is to serve in the army for generations to defend the Qing Dynasty!
Now the Taiping rebels have almost seized half of the Qing dynasty. Shouldn't they stand up for themselves? Shouldn't they ask the Han peasants who have been paying taxes to feed them to serve as soldiers to protect them? Why? They have to pay taxes to serve as soldiers.

If they are unwilling to go south and fight the Taiping rebels, then wouldn't it be justifiable for the Emperor to cut off their crops?"

Zeng Guofan nodded slightly and asked again: "What does Du Jiyuan mean?"

"Jiyuan" is Du Han's pseudonym. The content of his letter to Zeng Guofan is somewhat different from that of Prince Zheng Duanhua.

In the letter from Prince Zheng, Zeng Guofan was told to buy an official position and become a villain. Although Du Han's letter also told Zeng Guofan to become a villain, he did not specify what official position Zeng Guofan should buy. Instead, he mentioned "protecting the orthodox teachings and the hometown of Confucius and Mencius."

The hometown of Confucius and Mencius is not in Huai'an or Xuzhou, but in Shandong!
Guo Songtao took over the topic and said with a smile: "My dear, Du Jiyuan is from Shandong! Moreover, his grandfather Du Shiqiao and his father Du Zhinong were both leaders of Shandong scholars, and he himself is now a figure that Shandong scholars look up to. The Taiping rebels are about to arrive at his hometown, how can he not want to defend his hometown?

In addition, he mentioned the protection of the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and probably also mentioned the Yanshenggong Mansion! "

Miao Peilin nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, Prime Minister Du and the Kong family must have heard about the "Exhortation to Suppress the Invasion of the Invaders and Revive Confucianism"!"

When Zeng Guofan heard the "Exhortation to Suppress the Invasion of the Invasion and Revive Confucianism", his triangular eyes were filled with disgust.

Zeng Guoquan shook his head and said, "Yusan, that wasn't written by my eldest brother!"

Miao Peilin smiled: "So what? Anyway, now everyone knows that Dizhang wants to protect the orthodox teachings and promote Confucianism!"

Huang Shijie nodded: "Everyone knows that the teacher still wants to restore the Han family's clothing!"

"Ziying!"

Zeng Guofan called out Huang Shijie's name in a deep voice.

"Brother, what's the big deal!" Zeng Guoquan said loudly, "What clothes do we wear and whether we have braids or not? Didn't Luo Xueyan from Shanghai cut his braids? Didn't the emperor pretend not to see it? He also wanted to give Concubine Yi's sister to him as his wife! Hehe, that man is a Hakka scoundrel, and his family is a leader of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. How could he not have a wife at the age of twenty-four or twenty-five? If Concubine Yi's sister marries him, at most she will be a big wife!" Zeng Guofan glared at Zeng Guoquan fiercely again, but didn't care anymore. It was not easy to care about this matter now. Because he really needed a big banner to fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

It seems that the banner of the Qing Dynasty is of little use. So isn't it that the only thing left is to preserve the orthodox teachings and promote Confucianism?
However, the "Exhortation to Suppress the Invasion of the Invaders and Revive Confucianism" raised the tone of "protecting the orthodox teachings and reviving Confucianism" too high. Only by restoring the Han Dynasty's clothing and customs can it be called "reviving Confucianism"!
Then I can't keep this braid.
But Zeng Guofan couldn't bear to part with his braid!
But he didn't dare to say publicly that he would never cut his braids.

The reason is very simple, the group of Hunan scholars and military leaders who followed him all had "Anti-Classics" and "Exhortation to Suppress the Invaders and Revive Confucianism" in their arms. They were all very ambitious and were waiting for him to become "Zeng Baobao", "Zeng Mengde" or "Zeng Jian"!

If he now declares that he is against cutting off queues and wants to be the most loyal Zeng Shaver of the Qing Dynasty, it would be like pouring cold water on the foreheads of his subordinates!
Because his height determines the height of those below him!

If he insisted on going against everyone's wishes, he would either be deserted by his friends or wake up with his braids gone and a yellow coat on his body.
Zeng Guofan pondered for a while and said, "It seems that the governor of Jiangsu is not qualified to be the governor of Shandong. I guess the emperor is unwilling to give it to me now. It is better to settle for the second best and buy a governor of the grain transport. However, the governor's office must be moved to Jining Prefecture in Shandong Province!"

Jining Prefecture is adjacent to Yanzhou, and the Yanshenggong Palace is located in Qufu County within Yanzhou Prefecture.

If Zeng Guofan opened the office of the Governor-General of the Grain Transport Administration in Jining Prefecture, it would be easy for him to collude with Kong Fanhao, the Duke of Yansheng.

The Duke of Yansheng's Mansion has ruled Qufu for hundreds of years, and has great influence in Yanzhou Prefecture and Jining Prefecture! Moreover, the Duke of Yansheng's Mansion has huge financial and human resources!

The sacrificial fields owned by the government alone amount to hundreds of thousands of acres!

In addition, there are many clansmen in Yanshenggong Mansion! They are everywhere in Yanzhou Prefecture and Jining Prefecture!
Needless to say, these descendants of Confucius were definitely hostile to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If Zeng Guofan was willing to play the role of "Confucian Saint Warrior", he would definitely get the support of the Confucius family.

With the support of the Kong family and the assistance of Du Han's Du family, Zeng Guofan could at least be a "Zeng Baobao" in Shandong. As for whether he could lead troops to Luoyang, hold the emperor hostage, sleep with the empress dowager and become Zeng Mengde, it was not certain.
Even if he really doesn't want to, this possibility cannot be ruled out!

When the people below heard that he wanted to go to Jining Prefecture to be the governor of the grain transport system, they were all delighted.

Especially Miao Peilin, his face was smiling so much that it looked like a blooming flower. I wonder if he was going back to sew yellow clothes overnight?
He was just in high spirits when Zeng Guofan said to him, "Yu San, have your people take Yang Xiuqing's pass flag and go to Shanghai!"

Now the land transportation and water transport from Beijing to Shanghai are unblocked!

Although Yang Xiuqing owned the salt industry in Yangzhou and opened the Guazhou commercial port, he had no reason to be against silver!
Moreover, there are a large number of canal workers in Yangzhou, millions of them depend on the food and clothing! So not long ago, under the matchmaking of the big salt merchant Huang Xiqing, Yang Xiuqing and Zeng Guofan reached an agreement that the two families would operate the canal together to make money!
So now the canal transportation has been restored, and it is even smoother than during the Qing Dynasty!
Of course, the free rice was gone. If Emperor Xianfeng still wanted to eat southern rice, he had to spend money to buy it.

Miao Peilin was the local boss in Huainan, so he was in charge of connecting with Yang Xiuqing. When he heard Zeng Guofan's words, he asked casually, "Master Di, are you going to send someone to Shanghai to buy arms? Do you want to send silver over there?"

Zeng Guofan thought about it and nodded: "It's OK to buy some foreign guns and cannons along the way. But the main purpose is to deliver a letter. Concubine Yi wrote a letter to Luo Xueyan and asked my people to help deliver it."

"Noble Concubine Yi?"

Miao Peilin was stunned: "This Luo Xueyan has a history with Concubine Yi?"

Zeng Guofan glared at him and said, "It would be strange if they had any old acquaintance with him. That was the emperor's intention!"
"Yu San, don't ask too many questions. Just send the messenger to Shanghai."

"And a messenger?"

Zeng Guofan nodded: "He is a bannerman named Ronglu."

(End of this chapter)