Li Hongzhang was in his bedroom reading a letter of protest from Commander He Bo.The letter said that the men of the Qingzi battalion were greedy for life and afraid of death during the battle, and instead of injuring a single enemy, they also connived at their subordinates to loot everywhere, and asked Li Hongzhang to severely punish the perpetrators so as to set an example.Li Hongzhang chuckled and shook his head, and scolded in his heart, foreign devils are really good at thieves and shouting to catch thieves.At this time, Zhou Fu spread the word outside, saying that Qiao Zhiqing came to visit.Li Hongzhang tidied up his clothes, hurriedly asked, and ordered Qiao Zhiqing to wait in the guest room."
Dashuai, your complexion is a little bad."
Qiao Zhiqing saw Li Hongzhang come out, and deliberately teased a few words, he and Li Hongzhang became more and more familiar, and they were both familiar with each other's temperament, but they were not restrained."
You stinky boy, didn't you let you attack Qibao Town with the coalition army, and the battle will end so soon" Li Hongzhang deliberately pulled his face and pretended to be displeased."
My subordinates are here to report the good news to the commander, all the brothers in our Qingzi Battalion, regardless of life and death, took the lead in this battle, and were the first to attack the Qibao City, and were warmly welcomed by the local people, and raised 50,000 taels of silver for us to show condolences.The subordinates thought about it, and the marshal was using the money, so he brought these silver taels over and gave them to the marshal. ”Qiao Zhiqing said that the spittle stars flew around."
Oh, is this really the case, how did the old man hear that this silver was robbed" Li Hongzhang's brows furrowed slightly, and he looked at Qiao Zhiqing with a sneer."
The marshal must have misbelieved the slander, and his subordinates are willing to confront him face to face, if the silver is really robbed, his subordinates are willing to be dealt with by military law."
Qiao Zhiqing was cheeky and refused to admit it."
Hahaha, okay, okay, stop.For the sake of these silvers, the old man will not care about you.But you have to write an apology statement and reflect on yourself.Everyone has come to the door, and the old man has to give someone an explanation. ”Li Hongzhang looked at this rabbit cub who was full of nonsense, chuckled and shook his head, there was nothing he could do about him.Qiao Zhiqing said that the matter of robbing the silver was big or big, and it was small or small, anyway, if Qiao Zhiqing didn't rob it, the foreign devils would also rob it, this kid was quite acquainted, and he didn't swallow the silver alone.The Huai Army was built in full accordance with the Hunan Army, and in the final analysis, it was a local armed force, and the imperial court would not allocate a penny for military expenses.Therefore, each battalion of the Hunan army was self-sufficient, feeding the war with war, and looting silver taels as military salaries in the war.The manager has no right to blame for this kind of thing, and he turns a blind eye.Li Hongzhang's life was indeed difficult, the Huai army just ate and drank every day was a large expense, and now the appointment letter of the imperial court has not yet come down, and the various forces in Shanghai are still in a state of wait-and-see for this army called Huazi, and the gentry do not want to waste their money.Therefore, Li Hongzhang's family background is stretched thin, and the silver sent by Qiao Zhiqing just solves his urgent need, so even if he is under great pressure, he has no complaints about Qiao Zhiqing.With the boss behind him, Qiao Zhiqing's heart was also relaxed, his strength of more than 500 people was far from being the opponent of foreign devils, and now he could only accumulate strength and send people under the roof.Qiao Zhiqing returned to the camp, and Ma Xun hurriedly came up and whispered, "Young master, it's not good, as soon as Brother Wang came back, his face was full of anger, and he had already locked himself in the house and hadn't eaten for a day." ”"Oh, what's going on."
Qiao Zhiqing frowned."
I don't know, you can go and see."
Ma Xun shook his head."
Okay, I'll take a look, you can ask the guy to make something delicious and bring it over."
Qiao Zhiqing confessed, and hurriedly walked towards Wang Shumao's camp."
Brother Wang, are you sick" Qiao Zhiqing lifted the curtain, and Wang Shumao was lying on the marching bed with his head covered with a quilt."
Boss, there is something I want to discuss with you" Hearing Qiao Zhiqing's voice, Wang Shumao turned around and sat up, rubbing his face with his hands."
You say, what's polite to your brother" Qiao Zhiqing sat down opposite him."
Qiao Dongjia, it's been almost three months since I followed you out of Shanxi, we're a little homesick, you don't need us anymore if you're strong, we want to take the brothers of the dart game home."
Wang Shumao looked melancholy and lowered his head embarrassedly."
What are you talking about" Qiao Zhiqing stood up and asked in disbelief, "Brother Wang, what's wrong with you, our brothers said that they would go to the end together, how can you have such a mind" Wang Shumao took out the dry tobacco bag in his arms and took a sip, and asked Qiao Zhiqing with a solemn face, "Our old king said that he would follow you to life and death, but how did you promise our old king at the beginning, saying that you ran the army to protect the country and the people, but we just came to Shanghai, why don't you talk and don't count, In the first battle, I connived at the brothers to loot everywhere, have you seen how miserable those ordinary people are, what is the difference between you and bandits" Wang Shumao became more and more excited the more he spoke, and finally angrily threw the cigarette bag and pot on the ground, turned his head and stopped talking.Qiao Zhiqing picked up the cigarette pouch, patted the soil, filled a pot of tobacco by himself, took a puff, and choked on tears."
The smell of your dry tobacco is too big, I'll give you a whole cigarette another day."
Qiao Zhiqing said and handed the cigarette pouch to Wang Shumao, and asked him calmly, "Brother Wang, this army was trained by you, and you also saw the strength of foreign devils yesterday, you said it yourself, who is more powerful than us and foreign devils" "This still needs to be asked, of course it is foreign devils." ”Wang Shumao calmed down and took the cigarette pouch with his face behind his back.Qiao Zhiqing smiled and continued to ask, "Then you said that if we turn against foreign devils now, we can have a few percent chance of winning?"
”Wang Shumao's face gradually calmed down a lot.At this time, Ma Xun led someone to bring the food up, stacked it neatly on the table, and took a pot of aged Fenjiu according to Qiao Zhiqing's meaning."
Ma Xun, you can also sit down and have a drink with Brother Wang."
Qiao Zhiqing gave an order, pulled Wang Shumao, who looked bitter, and the three of them sat down around the table.Ma Xun hurriedly got up and poured a full cup for Wang Shumao and Qiao Zhiqing."
Brother Wang, it's all my fault that I didn't explain it to you in advance, I'll punish myself first."
Qiao Zhiqing picked up his wine glass and drank a full glass.Wang Shumao was still silent, Qiao Zhiqing put down his wine glass, and said slowly, "Brother Wang, you also saw the situation yesterday, if we don't go into the city to grab the silver, the foreign devils will do the same, and the looting is even more powerful than ours."
Then Brother Wang said that we should stop them, or should we watch them harm the people?"
”Wang Shumao picked up the wine glass, drank it all, and slammed it on the table."
But Brother Wang also said just now, if we turn against foreign devils, we won't even have a chance of winning."
Qiao Zhiqing smiled and picked up the wine jug and filled Wang Shumao's wine glass."
Then fight with these foreign devils, fight one is enough, and fight two to make money."
Wang Shumao was stunned, and his mind suddenly couldn't turn.Qiao Zhiqing took a drink of himself, and then said, "Now we are weak, on the surface, we are doing a little disgraceful, harming the people of one side, but we have to focus on the overall situation, in order to avoid more people from suffering disasters, we can only accumulate strength, fight to nourish the war, and make ourselves strong as soon as possible."
When the time comes, we will be able to wipe out all the rebellious armies that plague the common people, and then the common people will be able to live in real peace and stability.Like Brother Wang said, even if you desperately kill a few foreign devils now, will the people of the world be peaceful Wang Shumao took a sip of wine, was silent, and after thinking for a long time, he finally opened his brain, and gave Qiao Zhi a kneel to apologize, "Our old king is wrong, he has caused trouble to his brother, and his brother will be punished, and our old king has no complaints." ”Qiao Zhiqing hurriedly helped him up and comforted, "I understand the thoughts of the eldest brother, but now we can't act recklessly, brother promises you, in less than a year, we can make the people of the whole world live a peaceful life, but we also need Brother Wang to lead the troops well." ”"Just rest assured, this brother will not be confused in the future, this life of the eldest brother is yours, why do you let the eldest brother do the eldest brother has no second word."
Wang Shumao stood up and patted his chest."
That's right, Ma Xun, quickly pour wine for Brother Wang, and the three of us brothers will have a few more drinks."
Qiao Zhiqing sat down with a smile, and the three of them finally breathed a sigh of relief and took a big sip of wine.On April 25, Li Hongzhang finally waited for the long-awaited decree, and the Qing court transferred Xue Huan, the governor of Jiangsu, and appointed Li Hongzhang as his successor.Li Hongzhang immediately decided to expand the army, and the Huai army was expanded from 16 battalions to more than 30 battalions at once, and the total number of troops doubled to more than 20,000.The Qingzi battalion was also given special care, and more than 2,000 new soldiers were recruited.It's not that Li Dashuai takes care of this illegitimate son, the main thing is that these soldiers are all soldiers recruited by the Taiping Army in Shanxi, and the generals in Huaixiang and Hunan have a very strong sense of locality, and no one wants to squeeze out military salaries to support these northerners.So Li Hongzhang pushed the boat down the river, sold his personal favor, and allocated these soldiers to Qiao Zhiqing.Qiao Zhiqing still reorganized this army according to his own method, upgraded the specifications of the Qingzi battalion to the Qingzi regiment, and all the officers were also promoted to one level, and selected more than 400 strong men from the newly recruited Shanxi soldiers to supplement the pro-soldier team, and reorganized the pro-soldier team into a pro-soldier battalion, which was directly led by Qiao Zhiqing.The remaining soldiers bravely eliminated the old, weak, sick and disabled, and paid their own travel expenses to fend for themselves, and the rest were added to the ranks of each outpost, upgrading the specifications of each outpost to a battalion.So Qiao Zhiqing completely became a nouveau riche, and his subordinates had Wang Shijie of the Jiezi Battalion Wang Shijie, Liu Fu of the Fuzi Battalion, Liu Lu of the Luzi Battalion, and Liu Shou of the Shouzi Battalion of the Shouzi Battalion in charge of Wang Shumao, plus the pro-military battalion led by Hu Wenhai and the logistics department in charge of Ma Xun, with a total of more than 2,500 people.Li Hongzhang immediately issued a battle mobilization order after his troops were strong and strong, and decided to attack Jiading on 27 April and seize the northern stronghold of the Taiping army in Shanghai, so as to steadily advance and encircle Qingpu
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