Chapter 227: Carrying the Anti-Scripture Li Hongzhang (Seeking votes and subscription)

Spring March.

The spring atmosphere in Beijing gradually became stronger, and the dry and cold weather finally became slightly damp and warm. The well-fed and well-clothed bannermen in the inner city took off their thick leather waistcoats, put on neat jackets and walked the streets. The teahouses and taverns were filled with the chirping of birds that only opened their mouths in spring. In addition, the wind and sand that had been blowing regularly in spring for more than a hundred years, everything was the same as in previous springs, except for the indelible gloom that permeated the hearts of all the bannermen.

The Qing Dynasty is in danger!

The current Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is different from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that was still a bandit in the same period of history. The current Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has occupied the two provincial capitals of Changsha and Wuchang and will not leave! In addition, it has also controlled the prefectural capitals of Hengyang, Chenzhou, Yongzhou, and Yuezhou in Hunan, the prefectural capital of Guiyang Prefecture, the prefectural capital of Hanyang in Hubei, and the prefectural capital of Taiping Prefecture in Anhui. Now it has surrounded the residence of the Governor-General of Liangjiang and General Jiangning, Nanjing of the Ming Dynasty, now the prefectural capital of Jiangning.

The crisis of the Qing Dynasty had now reached a point where it could no longer be concealed.

This time, after losing the county town, they lost the prefectural town. After losing the prefectural town, they lost the provincial capital. After losing the provincial capital, they lost Nanjing. After losing Nanjing, where else would they lose next?

The Eight Banners in Beijing and the Han officials who were loyal to the Qing Dynasty were horrified at the thought of what they would lose after losing Nanjing.

Of course, not everyone feels that a disaster is imminent. Some people feel that this is a rare opportunity!
Outside Yongding Gate, a tall father and son, wearing navy blue jackets and gowns, melon-shaped hats on their heads, and shiny braids on the back of their heads, looked expectantly at the official road extending southward, as if their future was not in the gray capital of the Qing Dynasty behind them, but in the endless land in front of them.

This father and son were well-known among the Han officials in Beijing. It was not easy to pass the Jinshi exam in the Qing Dynasty. There were more than 100 candidates for each exam – 400 million Han people! How could one be chosen from a million? Therefore, it was rare for both father and son to pass the exam, and it was even rarer for the father and son to pass the exam with a difference of only nine years. It was even rarer for the father and son to serve as officials in Beijing together after passing the Jinshi exam.

The father of this pair of father and son Jinshi is Li Wenxuan, who was a Jinshi in the 18th year of Daoguang’s reign. He was in the same class as Zeng Guofan and ranked very close, both of them were “Tong Jinshi” in the third class, with only a difference of a dozen places. However, Zeng Guofan “became a minister in eight years”, while Li Wenxuan is still a director of the Ministry of Justice today, with no hope of promotion.
Li Wenxuan’s son was even more impressive. He was also named Li Hongzhang! He was later called “Li Zhongtang”! Not only was he only 24 years old when he passed the imperial examination, but he also did much better than his father, ranking th in the second class. After the imperial examination, he became a Hanlin Academy scholar, and after the academy was dismissed, he was appointed as an editor of the Hanlin Academy. If nothing unexpected happened, Li Hongzhang would have been able to climb up to the position of a minister step by step, and decades later, he would have been honored as “Li Zhongtang”.

However, this “Zhongtang Road” of following the rules and working hard to be a servant seems a bit too conservative to Li Hongzhang now!

The junior brother Huang Shijie he was going to meet, who had escorted his mentor Zeng Guofan’s father Zeng Linshu to Beijing to be a bannerman, was only a scholar, but now he was a candidate for county magistrate. According to reliable information, he would be promoted to candidate for prefecture before he went to the garden. That was the fifth rank! Thinking of this junior brother, Li Hongzhang couldn’t help but touch the strange book in his arms again – “Anti-Scripture”!
The world today is in turmoil. If you want to succeed, you must be a little bit “rebellious”!

“Father,” Li Hongzhang whispered to his father Li Wenxuan beside him, “Yesterday I heard from my colleagues in the Hanlin Academy that there is another Luo Xueyan in Shanghai. He was originally from the Hunan Army. He brought 800 elite soldiers to Shanghai to buy foreign guns and cannons. He was hired by Wu Jianzhang, the governor of Susongtai, at a high price to help organize militia training. The 800-man training army expanded to several thousand people in a short time, and he also got in touch with foreigners and bought a lot of foreign guns and cannons. His strength increased immediately!

I heard that yesterday, after the emperor received the memorial from the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Susong, he praised Luo Xueyan for his rare talent in front of several officials in the Military Affairs Office. But that person didn’t even have the title of a scholar. I heard that he was a scoundrel who came back from Southeast Asia. In the past, he didn’t even have the qualifications to take the imperial examination! Judging from his current situation, he can at least be a prefect, and maybe even a prefect, a fourth-rank official!

Father, it seems that what the book says is correct. In troubled times, only those with troops and territory can be officials. This is the right way to be an official in troubled times. It is much better than waiting for experience in the capital!”

Li Wenxuan nodded gently and whispered: “Then you have to get closer to Mr. Zeng and Huang Ziying later. The reason why Luo Xueyan was able to get so many benefits in Shanghai, in addition to his own ability, is that he got 800 elite soldiers from Luo Ruzhai and Zuo Jigao as capital. With these 800 elite soldiers, he can get the support of foreigners. If you want to be the second Luo Xueyan, you have to borrow some capital from your mentor Zeng Disheng! With the capital, you can contact foreigners and things will be done!” “Son understands!”

Li Hongzhang nodded.

At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, “Young Master, the prince is back!”

The one who shouted was a servant from the monk prince’s palace. Senggelinqin’s son, Boyan Nemohu, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old this year, was riding a horse and leading a large group of strong men from the Khorchin grassland to wait for his father Senggelinqin outside the Yongding Gate!
Hearing this shout, Li Hongzhang and his son outside Yongding Gate, several generals and deputy generals of the Han army of the Bordered Yellow Banner, several officials from the Imperial Household Department, and several Hunanese officials in the capital, all perked up, straightened their clothes, and waited to welcome Zeng Guofan’s father Zeng Jia Linshu.

Li Hongzhang also stretched his neck to look at the official road, and soon saw a group of people coming in a mighty procession, led by two strong men wearing black robes and riding horses. One of them seemed to be Senggelinqin, who looked much weaker and thinner than when the prince went south a few months ago. The one walking side by side with him was an old man with a gray beard, who looked bigger than Senggelinqin and was riding a horse with vigor – he should be a general under Senggelinqin, right?

When he was wondering who the old man next to Senggelinqin was, Senggelinqin and the old man suddenly sped up their horses and galloped together. In just a blink of an eye, they were less than ten steps away from a group of people who came to greet them outside Yongding Gate, and they were able to rein in their horses.

The two horses seemed to be still unsatisfied and jumped a few times before settling down.

Senggelinqin on horseback laughed loudly, turned his head and said to the old man with gray beard: “Zhu Ting, no wonder you can never pass the exam to become a scholar. Your skills are all in martial arts. You should join the army!”

The old man with the gray beard laughed and said, “Your Highness, being a civil official is more noble than being a military commander. Of course I want to be a civil official, but it’s a pity that being a civil official is easy, but writing eight-part essays is hard!”

“It’s not that difficult actually. You have raised the flag now.” Senggelinqin had already seen the two tall men, Li Hongzhang and Li Wenxuan, while he was speaking, so he waved at them, “Mr. Li, come here, come here quickly!”

Li Wenxuan and Li Hongzhang quickly picked up their robes and went forward to bow to the prince together.

Senggelinqin smiled and said to the old man with gray beard beside him: “Zhu Ting, one of these two is your son’s classmate, Li, the head of the Ministry of Justice. What’s Li’s name?”

“Your Highness, this is Li Wenxuan, courtesy name Shihe.” Li Wenxuan quickly introduced himself, and then pointed at his son, “This is my son Li Hongzhang, courtesy name Jianfu.”

Senggelinqin smiled and nodded: “Zhu Ting, this Li Jianfu is a student of your son Zeng Disheng. He is knowledgeable and a Hanlin! You can ask him to teach you. Although he cannot guarantee that he will become a Jinshi, he will definitely become a Juren!”

When Li Wenxuan and Li Hongzhang heard what Senggelinqin said, they were stunned. They looked at the tall and strong Zeng Linshu with disbelief – how could Zeng Guofan’s father be so big? He looked like a brave warrior.
(End of this chapter)