"No, it's the New Year tomorrow. Do you want to take people to fight Yangzhou? Let your brothers celebrate the New Year before going to fight." Xu Ming extremely did not understand Yang Yi's decision and desperately persuaded Yang Yi to give up.

"No, I want to conquer Yangzhou for the New Year."

"Why choose today?"

"Because I have a cannon." Yang Yi pointed at the dozens of cannons that Nie Shicheng had removed from the ship.

"Forget it, I don't care about you." Xu Ming gave up on his intention to persuade Yang Yi to give up his thoughts.

When Yang Yi and his troops appeared outside Yangzhou City, the Yangzhou city gate was as calm as usual, but there were no soldiers at the gate, nor the Taiping Army at the gate. The Taiping Army retreated to Jiangnan a few days ago. Yang Yi regretted that he did not fight, but that he regretted that he had taken the cannons too slowly. It was dark when he entered Yangzhou and delayed his meal. If he had known, he would not have to come in person. It would be great to stay in Taizhou for the New Year.

Yang Yi was not very good during the Spring Festival in 1854, but he was in a good mood. Yangzhou won without a fight, which was also a comfort to Yang Yi, who could only eat a big pot of New Year's Eve dinner with his soldiers. But then again, celebrating the New Year with his brothers is also a good experience.

1854 was still a good year for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Northern Expedition Army trapped in Tianjin also successfully broke through. After heading south, it successfully crossed the Yellow River and entered Henan. The western expedition of Jiangxi and Hubei also defeated Xiangrong's Jiangnan Camp many times. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom took Nanjing as the center and controlled the vast areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom entered a relatively prosperous period.

With the prosperity, development and growth of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the rule of the Qing Dynasty was in crisis. The Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers, as its main ruling pillar, seemed corrupt in the face of the powerful Taiping Army. "A civil and military personnel took avoiding thieves as their best strategy, while soldiers took escaping death as their long-term strategy." Faced with this reality, the highest economist of the Qing Dynasty had to pin their hopes of saving the crisis on the local army training armed forces that played an important role in suppressing the Sichuan-Chu Bailian Uprising. In July of the second year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Army attacked Changsha, and Emperor Xianfeng specially ordered Chen Fuen to help with the Jiangxi army training and blocking matters; in December, on the eve of the Taiping Army attacking Wuchang, he ordered the Hunan minister Zeng Guofan to help with the Hunan

The villagers of the delegation searched for all matters of "bandits"; in February of the first month of the third year of Xianfeng, more than 40 high-ranking officials were appointed as ministers of the northern and southern provinces. On the first day of the first month of the fourth year of Xianfeng, Zeng Guofan rushed from Xiangxiang to Changsha and began to prepare for the training of the Hunan Army. He was well aware of the common disadvantages of "soldiers do not know the generals, generals do not know the soldiers", and soldiers and generals are corrupt and vulnerable. Therefore, the Hunan Army trained is based on the "Qi Family Army" created by Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty. It uses family, local, and teacher-student relationships as a link, and a group of scholars are recruited as generals. All brave and powerful are recruited by the officials of each battalion and battalion, and only one battalion officer is obeyed and each battalion is organized.

The numbers are arranged, and they are not subordinate to each other, and they are directly under the command of Zeng Guofan. Each of the mainland divisions has 500 people, with four sentries at the bottom, eight teams, and half of firearms and swords and spears; each of the navy divisions has more than 400 people, equipped with 21 fast crabs, long dragons, sampans and other ships, and later it has increased to more than 500 brave men and thirty ships. The entire Hunan Army is dependent on each other from top to bottom, and each is responsible to its superiors. Zeng Guofan designated the commander to command the battalion officials, and the battalion officials will be the ones who will be sent by themselves, thus creating a precedent for the modern warlord system to "military as the general" and becoming a major change in the military system of the Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan armed the Hunan Army with feudal ethical thoughts. Officers at all levels were mainly selected from scholars and confucians.

To teach and govern the army, it also attaches great importance to the use of new firearms, and purchases a large number of guns and cannons from foreign countries to equip the Hunan Army. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of this newly formed army is much stronger than that of the previous Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers. On the 28th day of the fourth year of Xianfeng, the Hunan Army was initially built, with 6,500 people in the 13th Battalion of the Land Division and 5,000 people in the 13th Battalion of the Land Division, and 5,000 people in the 10th Battalion of the Navy, plus more than 17,000 people in the reserve personnel of the husband, craftsmen, etc. (later gradually expanded to more than 130,000 people). Before going to the expedition, Zeng Guofan published the "Anti-Expression of the Guangdong Bandits", attacking the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, worshipping foreign religions, killing people and setting fires, poisoning creatures, and destroying the famous religions of the Constitution. The establishment of the Hunan Army marked the birth of the Taiping Army's biggest opponent.

History made a joke with Yang Yi. Sometimes the trajectory is normal, but sometimes it breaks away from the original route for no reason. Perhaps it was Yang Yi's appearance that interfered with the frequency of history. I just don't know if Yang Yi's appearance would interfere with Zeng Guofan's "famous minister of the Zhongxing" in the late Qing Dynasty in history.

In order to commend Yang Yi's achievements, Emperor Xianfeng issued an order to promote Yang Yi to the governor of Jiangsu, and Xu Ming also took the job of a Jiangsu Censorate, and Liu Mingchuan and Nie Shicheng also promoted a garrison. After the New Year, Wei Xiaosheng, who was unhappy in Luzhou, also moved to Suzhou, and the group centered on Yang Yi took shape.

In February, Yang Yi submitted a memorial to Emperor Xianfeng. In view of the turbulent situation in Jiangnan, Yang Yi proposed measures to stabilize Jiangnan and stabilize the people's hearts first. In order to solve the problem of stabilizing the people's hearts, Yang Yi proposed to use Yangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and Taizhou as a pilot. The court adopted administrative orders to forcibly control the amount of land rent and interest, hoping to reduce the burden on the people and give Jiangsu a rest and recuperation environment.

Yang Yi's memorial was opposed by most officials, but Xianfeng still adopted Yang Yi's method and decided to try it in Jiangsu first to see how the effect was? As soon as this move was made, it caused an uproar. Gentlemen from all over the country came to visit him, trying to get Yang Yi to cancel the order.
Chapter completed!