Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 258 Zuo Zongtang's Three Wins and Three Losses
After playing with Li Zai for a while, Li Yi said goodbye to Luo Caiyu and her son and set off to pay his respects to his mother, Zhao.

Led by his attendants, Li Yi walked into Zhao's room and bowed to greet her.

"Son greets mother."

"Mother, may you be safe!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao put down the work in her hands, looked up and said with a smile.

"Hurry up and get up! Come sit next to me."

Li Yi stood up from the ground as he was told, walked over to the chair next to Zhao and sat down.

Zhao asked.

"Brother Yi finally has some free time today. He should spend more time with the Queen and the Crown Prince. Why are you here for me?"

Li Yi smiled and said calmly.

"My son hasn't eaten food cooked by his mother for a while."

"So, whenever I have some free time, I come to my mother's place for a meal."

Although the Li family was well off, Zhao loved cooking, so she often cooked for Li Yi herself.

Well, the craftsmanship is pretty good.

In Li Yi's memory, this is the taste of his mother.

Zhao stretched out her finger and tapped Li Yi's forehead, then said.

"Brother Yi, you are the king now, what can't you eat?"

Li Yi still said with a smile.

"No matter how delicious the food is, it is not as good as my mother's simple meals."

Upon hearing this, Zhao smiled and nodded in response.

"Good good!"

"I'll make it for you. Whatever you want to eat, I'll make it for you."

Li Yi said with a smile.

"My son is tired of all the delicacies from land and sea. Now he just wants to eat the rice noodles made by his mother."

"The chewy and smooth rice noodles paired with red chili oil and pickled bamboo shoots make me drool just thinking about it."

People are all a bit mean.

When I have no money, I want to eat delicacies from land and sea.

But when they become rich, they get tired of all the delicacies from land and sea and start to miss the simple home-cooked meals.

Zhao still responded with a smile on her face.

Afterwards, she called the maid and prepared to cook herself, and Li Yi followed to help.

Soon, with the help of Li Yi, Zhao prepared lunch.

The two sat opposite each other at a table. Li Yi picked up the bowl and slurped the noodles, eating them with relish.

Halfway through the meal, Zhao, who was sitting opposite Li Yi, spoke.

"By the way, Brother Yi, do you still remember your second cousin Zhao Rui from your uncle's family?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yi stopped slurping the rice noodles, bit off the half-eaten rice noodles, swallowed the food in his mouth, and nodded.

"Impressed."

"What's wrong?"

Zhao said somewhat embarrassedly.

"When your uncle came to the mansion to reminisce with mother a few days ago, he mentioned Zhao Rui."

"Zhao Rui is a few years older than you, Brother Yi, but now he is unemployed at home and has accomplished nothing."

"Your uncle wanted to find something for him to do, so he came to find your mother."

Upon hearing this, Li Yi immediately understood what Zhao meant.

He came to Li Yi to ask for an official position on behalf of his nephew.

Logically speaking, Li Yi should agree to his uncle Zhao Ke's request for an official position.

You know, Zhao Ke is not only Li Yi's uncle, but also the director of Datang's Industry Department.

He was one of the earliest people to follow Long. When he was in Xunzhou, he followed Li Yi.

It has been a lot of hard work over the past few years!

It was only natural for Li Yi to agree to his request for an official position.

However, Li Yi is a little unhappy about this now.

If you, Zhao Ke, want to ask for an official position for your son, just come to me directly. I won’t refuse.

But what do you mean by looking for my mother?
Use my mother to put pressure on me?
Seeing Li Yi frown, Zhao spoke gently as usual.

"What's wrong, Brother Yi? Aren't there any vacancies in the court now?"

Hearing Zhao's gentle question, Li Yi finally let out a breath and agreed.

"Mom, this bowl of rice noodles is really expensive."

"A bowl of rice noodles was exchanged for an official position."

"How about this, my secretariat is short of people recently, let Zhao Rui report to the secretariat."

Although Li Yi was unhappy, he finally agreed to Zhao Ke's request for an official position because of his past contributions.

Moreover, the position given is not low. You know, Li Yi’s secretariat is a famous cradle of high-ranking officials.

Zuo Zongtang, Guo Songtao, Peng Yulin and others were all transferred from Li Yi's secretariat.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that it was Zhao who initiated the matter.

Li Yi still respects his mother very much.

Upon hearing this, Zhao reached out and patted Li Yi's arm, then said.

"What are you talking about, kid?"

"It's as if your mother forced you to do it."

Li Yi smiled but said nothing, then continued to slurp his noodles, looking somewhat unhappy.

After lunch, Li Yi left Zhao's place.

Halfway through the journey, Li Yi said to Zhang Tai who was beside him.

"Zhang Tai, send someone to the Yongxin Marquis's residence to deliver my oral instructions."

"Just tell me that next time you want to seek an official position, just come to me directly, and don't bother to disturb mother."

Li Yi was going to give Zhao Ke a small warning.

He was really unhappy about Zhao Ke's request for an official position from the Zhao family.

If it weren't for Zhao Ke's past contributions and the Zhao family's face, Li Yi would have been ready to deal with him.

Of course, if you don't listen to the warning and don't take it as a warning, then what awaits you next is the iron fist of the feudal rulers.

Zhang Tai heard this and immediately clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I understand!"

After saying this, Zhang Tai turned around and left in a hurry.

He could see that Li Yi was in a bad mood.

He wouldn't go up and get into trouble at this time.

……

In the afternoon, Li Yi strolled to Fu Shanxiang again.

Prepare to have afternoon tea with Fu Shanxiang.

However, just as the tea was brewed, someone came to report.

"Report, Your Majesty, the Director of the Military Intelligence Department, Li Liang, is outside seeking to see you. He said he has something important to report."

Li Yi put down the teacup in his hand and said.

"Go and invite the person in."

Upon hearing this, the attendant turned around and took his leave, and went to summon Li Liang as ordered.

Li Yi turned to Fu Shanxiang who was standing beside him and said with a wry smile.

"It's a rare day of rest, but I didn't expect that there would still be things to come up. It's really too busy to rest for even a minute."

"I was born to work hard!"

Fu Shanxiang smiled very gracefully, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Your Majesty is in charge of the whole world. You have to make decisions on all matters in the world, so naturally you are busy."

"When the country is unified and the world is stable, Your Majesty will be able to relax a lot."

Li Yi said with a smile.

"I hope so!"

While the two were talking, Li Liang walked in with a document in his hand.

Li Yi raised his hand to motion Li Liang to sit down, then asked.

"What happened? Why are you so anxious to come and see me?"

Li Liang heard this and spoke.

"To answer your Majesty, there are two things in total."

"One is an urgent report from Henan: Shi Dakai's troops are heading east from Shaanxi to attack Henan."

"After successively capturing Luoyang, Shanzhou and other places, the Qing army in Henan retreated all the way to Kaifeng."

Hearing this, Li Yi nodded slightly and then asked.

"What about the second thing?"

Li Liang took a deep breath and said solemnly.

"News came from the South Seas that the foreign expeditionary force had passed Malacca and arrived in Batavia."

"Rest in Batavia."

"It is estimated that they will soon head north to Guangzhou and attack."

When Li Yi heard this, the expression on his face instantly became solemn, and then he said.

"It's really an important matter!"

Taking a deep breath, Li Yi said.

"Go and tell me to tell all the directors of the Tang Dynasty's General Staff and all the generals in the Guangdong-Guangxi War Zone to put down their work immediately and come to the palace to discuss matters."

Upon hearing this, Li Liang immediately responded with a "yes" and turned to leave.

Li Yi turned to Fu Shanxiang who was standing beside him and said.

"I have something important to do, so I'll leave first."

"I'll come see you again after I finish the work at hand."

Upon hearing this, Fu Shanxiang stood up and saluted.

"Your Majesty, I respectfully send you off!"

Li Yi waved her hand, indicating that Fu Shanxiang didn't need to be polite, and strode out of her villa and went to the study.

……

When Li Yi arrived at the study, many high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty had not yet arrived.

Li Yi ordered someone to hang up a map, and he stood in front of the map, his eyes constantly wandering over it.

Li Yi didn't have to wait long before the directors of the General Staff, as well as Commander Wang An of the Guangdong-Guangxi War Zone and Chief of Staff Feng Zicai arrived at Li Yi's study one after another.

Li Yi gestured to the first few people to sit down and wait. After everyone was present, he began to speak.

"I just received the latest news from Nanyang."

"The foreign expeditionary force has now crossed Malacca and arrived in Batavia."

"Calculating the time, it won't be long before the second battle between our Tang Dynasty and the foreigners begins."

"Everyone, tell me, how should our Tang Dynasty fight this battle?"

A huge map hangs in the middle of the study, which details the current situation in Southeast Asia.

Well, the Military Intelligence Department of the Tang Dynasty has now extended its tentacles to Southeast Asia.

A lot of information can be obtained from Nanyang!

Well, this is actually not because the Tang Dynasty’s spies are so powerful.

This is mainly because most of the Chinese in Southeast Asia are oriented towards China.

With the support and help of these Chinese in Southeast Asia, it was very easy for the Tang Dynasty's intelligence personnel to carry out their work in Southeast Asia.

All Li Yi paid for this was just a few worthless letters of appointment.

Although the Tang Dynasty was temporarily unable to govern Southeast Asia, this did not prevent Li Yi from going to Southeast Asia to lay the foundation for the Tang Dynasty's future Southeast Asian strategy.

Looking at the situation marked on the map, Zuo Zongtang stood up and said.

"Your Majesty, I have something to say."

Li Yi nodded slightly, indicating that he should start talking.

Zuo Zongtang organized his words a little and then spoke.

"Now, our Tang Dynasty has three victories over the foreigners! And the foreigners have three defeats over our Tang Dynasty!"

"First, in this battle, our Tang Dynasty is fighting on home soil, with a well-rested army, while the foreigners are exhausted from the long expedition across the ocean. This is a win and a loss."

"Secondly, in this battle, our Tang Dynasty had a strong army with all its troops under the same command, and they could be commanded easily. The foreigners had weaker troops with different subordinates and different orders. This is why we had two wins and two losses."

"Third, the common people and wealthy merchants in Guangdong and Guangxi all lean towards the Tang Dynasty, not the foreigners. As the saying goes, he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. This is the third victory and the third defeat."

"In my humble opinion, as long as the Tang Dynasty can seize these three wins and three losses, we will surely win the final victory in this battle!"

……

PS: It’s the beginning of the month, please give me a guaranteed monthly ticket!
Also, today is National Day, I wish our motherland a happy birthday!
(End of this chapter)