Obviously, Zuo Zongtang’s thought changed quickly after being defeated by the army of pure firearms. He was a wise man who studied Confucianism since childhood, and his mind was flexible and not conservative. Of course, the person who was able to run Fuzhou Shipping Bureau later was not conservative.
However, compared with Li Hongzhang, he is still more orthodox. Whether his ultimate foundation is influenced by Lin Zexu or not makes him disbelieve. When Lin Zexu was exiled to Ili after the defeat of the Qing court, he was introduced to Zuo Zongtang through Hunan and immediately asserted that Zuo Zongtang would become a famous humerus in the future. Obviously, at that time, Lin Zexu’s evaluation made Zuo Zongtang feel grateful to Lin Zexu for his comments, which made Zuo Zongtang know more from a small school in Hunan.
Therefore, Zuo Zongtang’s bad impression of the British is understandable.
Li Hongzhang, on the other hand, is different from Li Hongzhang. Of course, he must cooperate with the British, but he never rejects cooperation with other countries. Li Hongzhang is more skillful and practical in dealing with foreigners. Even if he doesn’t like the British, the British navy is the first in the world. He still sends students such as Liu Buchan to study in the UK, but the warships are mainly purchased from Germany.
Of course, Zuo Zongtang seems to be quite relaxed compared with Zeng’s brother Xiang. Up to now, Zeng’s Xiang is still mainly a cold weapon force, that is, Zuo Zongtang’s Chu army is also better than that without Li En Field’s rifle and Armstrong’s cannon, Li Hongzhang’s Huai army, but Xiang is far superior to these two forces in one point. First, it has more combat experience and more tenacious will. It can be said that Xiang relies mainly on spiritual soldiers, and is full of Hunan’s conservative countryside. All of them are born officers, but they are full of Confucius and Mencius.
Another army in Jiangbei, Bao Bu Xiang, is now in a mess. The Qing court gave him the most support to purchase guns and guns. At most, it was equipped with a British fleet. The sailors were mainly British. Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang were very happy. After being fooled by Horatia Nelson Lay to China this time, they found a man in Bao Bu because Bao Gen didn’t understand the water army and foreigners. Regardless of the fleet, the Beowulf gave the Arth fleet enough activities, which made the fleet fully fight. Instead, it won many battles with the Taiping fleet in the Yangtze River.
But Bao Bu has a large number of muskets and artillery, a British navy and tens of thousands of flags in green camp, which makes his troops extremely complicated. Moreover, the flag green camp doesn’t listen to the command post very well. He should be the best fighter. No one expected that Li Xiucheng didn’t fight Bao first, but the first one was right. Zuo Zongtang was a tough nut to crack.
Is Li Xiucheng stupid?
Of course, it’s not that Li Xiucheng knows more about the situation in Jiangbei than anyone else. In recent years, he has made much progress. He can jump into military affairs and look at military issues from other angles, such as politics, to interpret military issues.
He saw through Zeng Guofan’s Nanda Xiang Army and immediately split into two factions, Ceng Guoquan and Bao. Ceng Guoquan took root in Anqing in the past two years, and the Taiping rebels never moved. Although Huizhou Prefecture in the south faced Anqing across the river, they never really thought about crossing the river and surrounding Anqing again in recent years. It was peaceful for the two armies.
Li Xiucheng found out Ceng Guoquan’s temperament. He thought that if he went to fight Bao, Ceng Guoquan would definitely not support him. If he wanted to support him, Ceng Guoquan would appear as the savior. However, if he went to fight Bao in Ceng Guoquan, he might send reinforcements. He could not master Jiang Lixiu’s achievements, but he didn’t fight Anqing. What’s more, he dealt with Zeng Guofan too much and knew how hard Ceng Guoquan was to chew on.
If Li Xiucheng goes to fight Zuo Zongtang, the same is true. Bao may also send a fleet of reinforcements, and if he fights Bao, Zuo Zongtang will also reinforce. It seems that it is the best to fight Bao, but Li Xiucheng chose to fight Zuo Zongtang first. He is convinced that Bao Zaizhong and Ceng Guoquan will sit quietly.
Another important reason is that foreigners in the Qing court have been afraid of foreigners, even Zuo Zongtang and others have recognized that foreigners are not easy to provoke. However, Li Xiucheng has a psychological advantage over foreigners and always feels that foreigners can’t take advantage of him if they fight openly with him. His three attacks on Haidu were not failed because of military problems, but because of political problems such as the siege of Tianjing.
History After Li Xiucheng was captured by Zeng Guofan, he still commented on foreigners with contempt, saying,’ At that time, foreigners didn’t dare me to lose when I saw a battle.’ Li Xiucheng was full of bragging. He always had the advantage in fighting with the foreigners’ armed forces. The Walters were defeated by him many times and all the Walters were killed.
There is no psychological pressure to attack Li Xiucheng. Anyway, he has fought for the third time. This time, he is stronger and there is no reason to fight.
Zuo Zongtang doesn’t care about defending the sea. Anyway, he will compete with Zuo Zongtang. If he doesn’t fight the sea, he doesn’t have an optimal northern base. It seems easier to fight the sea from the sea to the north. The most important thing is that the wealth of the sea makes him have to be moved. In recent years, although he has financial support for raw silk production in the south of the Yangtze River, he has bought too many muskets and cannons, and the financial pressure is finally great. The politics of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is becoming more and more corrupt, especially the report of the surname Hong is still unchanged. He also acquiesced in this. Even he
Therefore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is not only corrupt, but everyone thinks that corruption is also a kind of success that erodes the government’s financial resources step by step. Therefore, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s financial resources are finally stretched. If the sea can be included in the bag, Li Xiucheng believes that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not only get an ideal port to cross the river, but also get sufficient financial resources to support the Northern Expedition.
This is a strategic issue. That’s why he attacked the sea three times before and after.
Zuo Zongtang could see that once Li Xiucheng captured the sea, it would definitely be a battle to cross the river. At that time, he was in charge of Yangzhou Prefecture, so Zuo Zongtang made great efforts to defend the sea. However, the first world war was extremely unfavorable, and the counties around the sea stormed by Taiping rebels and fell one after another.
In April, Taiping rebels attacked Jiashan County, Jiaxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province for ten days, then captured Louxian County, Songjiang Prefecture, and then attacked Qingpu County from Louxian County and Kunshan County, Suzhou Prefecture for five days.
At this time, Zuo Zongtang’s main force is still preparing for the protection of Yangxian County and Jiading County in Taicang Prefecture. The Taiping rebels attacked from Suzhou. Who thought that the Taiping rebels were stationed in Suzhou to attack the hinterland of Songjiang Prefecture from Zhejiang?
Then the Taiping Army troops were still stationed in Kunshan and Qingpu County, which seemed to be to guard against Zuo Zongtang’s troops in Taicang. They still poured reinforcements from Zhejiang into Songjiang House and attacked Huating County, Jinshan County and Fengxian County on the side far away from Zuo Zongtang’s main force.
Zuo Zongtang’s troops have also entered Taicang in large numbers, and have repeatedly attacked Taiping troops stationed in Suzhou and Qingpu County, but they have repeatedly failed.
Taiping rebels captured Nanhui county at the end of the month after taking Huating and other counties in succession in the southern line, and all the counties around the sea were captured by Taiping rebels.
At this point the sea panicked!
A large number of rich people sold their fixed assets and rushed to escape from the sea. At that time, real estate prices plummeted and a financial crisis exploded under the threat of war.
Section four hundred and fortieth Take advantage of the chaos to get rich
At this time, the sea has become an important commercial center. With the economic integration between China and foreign countries and the lack of strict management, the law of the jungle is growing wildly, which is comparable to the economic form of the United States at this time. At the same time, because of a large number of gambler-type adventurers and businessmen, the wealth story here is full of ups and downs, which makes it scattered with a dangerous and exciting special charming color.
A large number of overseas adventurers flocked here, holding all kinds of financial dreams, and three powerful forces were formed.
The first one is the Shili foreign market. Although it is difficult for foreigners to integrate into the local economic ecology, there is a world behind them. They introduced the products of the Yangtze River basin to the world and brought the world products here. It can be said that when they came here, they brought with them a huge platform power of the world economic platform, giving them advantages comparable to those of other business groups. They became strong, and of course, they were British businessmen, who accounted for half of more than 100 foreign businessmen.
The second one is from the commercial gangs near the sea, including Ningbo commercial gangs from Wuxi, Suzhou, Huzhou and other places, Zhejiang commercial gangs from Huizhou, Jiangxi and Anhui. Among these major commercial gangs, especially from Ningbo, the most powerful commercial gang, a seaport in Ningbo has been trading with foreigners through smuggling for many years. Therefore, after a group of businessmen who are most familiar with foreigners gathered here, Ningbo commercial gangs poured into the sea, and they accounted for less than half of the tin. Suzhou and Huzhou business gangs rely on Su Hu’s excellent raw silk to have a place in the sea, while business gangs from Huizhou Huangshan and Jiangxi Wuyuan mainly deal in tea, and they also have a place in the sea.
The third is that the emerging big businessmen help them to be inferior to the localization of foreigners and the three big businessmen in the world economy, but relying on the strength of the emerging countries, they can compete with foreigners at the top of the commercial body, shipping and finance, and at the same time, they can integrate with the local economy better than foreigners, and they can also do some local products trading like local people. Moreover, they also have foreigners and the three big businessmen have no advantages. For foreigners, they are more integrated. Their activity platform is more ocean-based, and the Bund Center is mainly engaged in finance. The big businessmen are widely active in the counties around the county, and they can also be seen; Compared with the local people, they can enjoy the extraterritorial law, which may not bully people, but it can make the Qing government afraid to bother them.
The three commercial forces have their own advantages, but they are both big and backward. It is pitiful that the real native Haitians have been beaten in the face of these powerful foreign forces. The business of people is mainly limited to small shops, and the foundation is to squeeze and pick up leftovers from foreign businessmen.
Of course, the competition among the three major commercial forces belongs to competition, but most of them are still timely. At this time, the sea market still belongs to a situation that tells the expanding market to keep playing the Yangtze River route and let the merchant ships here converge. It is an opportunity that the arachis duranensis zone is not saturated to the game era at this time, so the three major power bases are working together for common prosperity.
However, this time the Taiping rebels approached the sea, which disrupted this situation. Foreigners came from afar. They were more adventurous and had no retreat. Most of them still stayed in the sea. They constantly put pressure on the Chinese envoys to ensure that they would protect themselves. Some businessmen in the country’s naval forces were not optimistic or had no confidence in the country’s power in the sea. For example, some small businessmen went to Hong Kong to observe the situation after selling their shops and houses.
However, Ningbo and other three major business gangs did not rely on it. They were most frightened, especially the silk merchants from Su Hu. Some of them hid in the sea when the Taiping rebels occupied here, and they turned from landlords to businessmen. Later, when they saw that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had become a climate, some people went home after Li Xiucheng adopted the rule of Huairou. For them, it made no difference whether the Taiping rebels or the Qing army ruled them or who ruled them. It was just a matter of braiding. There are also some Su Hu businessmen who were completely Taiping rebels. Later, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was unable to be self-sufficient because of its small territory. When it was restructured from Shida Anqing, it was to encourage trade. They specially approved those businessmen who traveled between the two places to cut their braids, and the tax collection was very simple. In the Taiping rebels’ control area, seven taxes were set up, but they had to pay one tax, so other ports could be blocked by the smooth roads. Finally, a group of businessmen who could not accept cutting their braids or were biased against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or their relatives died at the hands of the Taiping rebels, and they remained in the sea
For this last kind of businessman, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom destroyed their hometown and now they are approaching their refuge. He is the most desperate group of people who abandon their industries and flee the sea is their only choice.
Ningbo merchants and tea merchants in Huizhou and other places are more free and easy in Ningbo, and now they are managed in a more relaxed way. They have always been free to come and go to Nanjing and Shanghai, and Ningbo is close at hand, and they are not leaving their homes. Therefore, although they are worried that the Taiping rebels will seize the sea and cause losses, they are not too desperate.
On the contrary, tea merchants in Huizhou and other places are most indifferent to helping them, and they are vaguely looking forward to it. Therefore, they can still sell tea between the two places. Most of them have already joined the Taiping rebels. The arrival of Taiping rebels will not affect their business.
At this time, most of them are big businessmen. In Ann, like foreigners, they can rely on the consul in the sea. Although they have not joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they have been close to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in recent years. Their biggest trade partner in the sea is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They are least worried about it.
Moreover, the consulate has informed the large and small businessmen of the news of appeasement through the Guangdong Guild Hall in Shanghai, so that the people in Shanghai will not panic and the great court will try to protect their interests.
As a result, in this panic moment, big businessmen not only didn’t sell their industries, but some boldly accepted the assets of other businessmen at low prices and planned to make a war fortune. Foreigners fled to Hong Kong on the Bund to sell assets. They took Su Hu businessmen, Nanningbo, Shanghai or big businessmen to sell land and shops, but they also took the most, but they still took a lot of land outside the concession offshore county town, especially outside the city wall. Everyone recognized that when they fought, it must be the first place to build houses outside the city. Shops and wharves are built, and businessmen are selling most violently at this time. Although they know that these places may encounter war, there are still big businessmen who are willing to sell because many houses and shops have been sold cheaper than land prices. Even if they are in ruins, they will not be able to pay for their land in the future.
These big businessmen dare to do such things at this time because they are afraid that after the war, no matter whether the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wins or the Manchu and foreigners win, there will be no loss for them. The Manchu government dare not bother them. There is a big court in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to stand up for them and they want them to get the title deeds. These lands are theirs. No matter who comes, they are guaranteed, but the three big business gangs and foreigners are not. No one is sure about the outcome of the war. No one can guarantee whether the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can keep their assets when it comes.
It’s not bad for big businessmen to gain benefits from their natural neutrality, but some people don’t even let go of the search line, which makes people feel a little pointed. Seeing wealthy businessmen and landlords fleeing in large numbers, sea citizens blindly follow suit, but it’s just a loss of money for businessmen. These small citizens have really sold their property, and as a result, one small property has become a big businessman’s pocket, which makes some people suspect that the country is in trouble and wealth is in danger.
The Consulate General played an important role in this process. They swore that they had been asking them for information and the merchants assured them that their interests would not be lost. This only gave some big businessmen the courage, otherwise I am afraid they would have run away. Of course, some big businessmen did not believe in the government and fled early when they saw the war. Although they did not sell their shops, they temporarily closed their shops and did not believe in the government, which made them lose a huge opportunity like those big iron workshops in Foshan that refused to cooperate with the arsenal to produce artillery for the government.
In fact, this taste is not a war, the law of the jungle is also cruel.
In the increasingly depressed sea market, a large number of shops have closed down, and the Taiping rebels have arrived in the city. They have rejected foreigners’ demands and insisted on fighting the sea this time.
Li Xiucheng would never believe foreigners. He had already suffered losses. When Hong Rengan negotiated with foreigners, these foreign brothers would meet them into the sea as soon as he invaded. As a result, when he entered the sea gate in a sedan chair, he was greeted by foreigners, who had already arranged the artillery array.
This time, he won’t make any changes. He wants to play here openly.