"Political commissar, this is the second time you have been to the Yellow River." A young staff officer couldn't help but ask.

Lei Hu was amused, this was not the first time he had seen the Yellow River, this was the third time he had seen the Yellow River. The first two were during the Second Northern Expedition, when the Yellow River was crossed near Xuzhou. Ten years later, when Lei Hu returned to Xuzhou, the Yellow River was gone. It is also a very interesting experience to encounter such a strange thing once in this life.

The Yellow River is not as big as the southern water system, but the muddy yellow water looks more textured than the water in the south, and it seems that what rolls away in the river is not the water flow, but the muddy soup. The staff officers from the south were all shocked by this famous river, and even a little speechless.

On the surface of the river are boats, and a large group of people are crossing the river by boat. The beaches on the south bank of the Yellow River were full of troops, and on the other side there were a large number of troops who had already crossed the river. It was a majestic spectacle of great enthusiasm.

Lei Hu did not answer the staff officer's question, he said: "This time I sent a mixed army to the north, but I don't know how they can behave. ”

"The political commissar thinks they can take the city of Beijing?" The chief of staff also asked with some uneasiness.

Lei Hu glanced at the chief of staff who had participated in the Second Northern Expedition, and he asked rhetorically: "Do you think they can't be defeated?" ”

The General Staff was silent. The mixed army consisted of two infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions, with a total strength of about 20,000. The chief of staff also participated in the Second Northern Expedition, and at that time the number of Weese troops was a little smaller than this time. Compared with the two northbound troops, the troops have an all-round upper hand in terms of numbers, equipment, training, and technical and tactical levels. Even the distance of departure is different. That time, Wei Ze set off from Luzhou and fought all the way to the vicinity of Tianjin. Starting from Zheng County this time, if they take the same distance, this army is afraid that they will be able to reach Shanhaiguan.

Seeing that the chief of staff was silent, Lei Hu Zhengse said: "As long as they fight under the city of Beijing, they can occupy the city of Beijing." That's how I judged. ”

This was discussed in the Lei Hu Command, after the British army hit the city of Beijing, Emperor Xianfeng fled from Beijing City to Chengde with his tail between his legs. Now that the army of the Liberation Army has hit the city of Beijing, the navy is carrying troops directly to Tianjin, and once the two roads converge, the high-ranking officials and nobles in Beijing can be said to be unable to fly. Lei Hu thought that the small Manchu court was only afraid that it would choose to run away.

Of course, there are not a few who disagree. Beijing was not a city for the Manchus, Beijing was the symbol of the Manchus. Letting the Liberation Army take Beijing meant that the Manchus could not even keep their foundations. After the loss of Beijing, the Manchus were completely reduced to a small local power, and were no longer a "imperial court". In order to maintain the last straw of the imperial court, the Manchu Qing Dynasty must have resisted stubbornly in the corner of Beijing.

Of course, the Liberation Army's intelligence agencies have also gathered some information. There is a saying in the Manchu Qing that the outside of the Guanxi is the foundation of the Manchu Dynasty. This statement is a big joke in the eyes of the Liberation Army. It is difficult to be self-sufficient in grain outside the Guan, and there are really hundreds of thousands of Manchurians who do not know how to produce who suddenly run away to the Guanwai, and just eating is a big problem. In that winter, he was able not to starve to death, even if the Manchus were capable enough.

This kind of thing is a matter of public justification and mother-in-law saying that mother-in-law is reasonable, the staff officer sighed, "This matter will be known when the troops hit the city of Beijing." But can the Navy move faster? If the navy can really start attacking Tianjin in half a month, we may be able to leave the Manchu court in Beijing. That's a big deal. ”

Lei Hu also agreed in his heart, but what he said was something else, "Don't think about that first, let's quickly destroy Miao Peilin's house, relying on wooden boats to transport materials is too slow, and take the canal to mobilize a group of ships to the Yellow River." ”

The General Staff also considered this, so the chief of staff talked about it with Lei Hu. After talking for a while, everyone couldn't help but complain with the mentality of a self-interested person that the Hunan army was running too fast. If it took seven or eight days before and after the encirclement and annihilation of the Hunan army, I am afraid that Miao Peilin has been solved now and has begun to march to the north of Shandong.

"The current troops are really much stronger than we were back then, and there is no need to talk about the equipment, and in the future, we will directly take the train and the ship to fight." The chief of staff has new associations.

Lei Hu was not confused by such a vision, he smiled and said: "When the whole country is liberated and the train is opened, where will there be a war in the country." If you fight again, you will have to fight abroad, and when the time comes, I am afraid that you will still have to rely on walking and horseback riding. ”

The chief of staff thought for a moment and nodded in response: "That's right!" ”

As he was talking, the communications staff officer ran through the crowd to Lei Hu, and he stood up and saluted, "Report to the political commissar, Li Hongzhang sent someone to ask for help!" ”

It took Lei Hu a few seconds to figure out what this sentence meant, and he frowned and said, "What kind of help did Li Hongzhang ask us for?" ”

The communications staff officer replied: "Li Hongzhang sent someone to say that Chen Yucheng led his troops back to Luoyang, and he had insufficient troops to hold Luoyang temporarily. Since the political commissar has already agreed to Li Hongzhang's surrender, he now only begs us to accept his surrender now and rescue him by the way. ”

"Huh! Ha ha! Lei Hu was amused by these words, although he knew that Li Hongzhang's request was not unreasonable, but Li Hongzhang said it so logically, and the huge groove contained in it made Lei Hu have to laugh out loud.

The General Staff Department is a laborious department, and the Chief of Staff is not so relaxed, he frowned, "If we go to the rescue, then we will officially fight with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." ”

Of course Lei Hu could think of this, he nodded, "Anyway, we will definitely fight, let's ask the Military Commission first what the level of fighting." ”

After saying this, Lei Hu suddenly sighed: "Why does the telegram have to be wired!" If there is no wire, let's stand here and send a telegram to directly report the news to the Military Commission! How nice that is! ”

The chief of staff also agreed with this, the cable telegraph was really a good thing, and when he was in Xuzhou, the distance of thousands of miles was only a day to transmit the news back and forth. Now that Lei Hu is in Zheng County, he has to use a fast horse to transmit the news to Xuzhou first, and then send a telegram from Xuzhou to Nanjing. The most time-consuming part of this is the round-trip distance from Xuzhou to Zheng County.

Thinking of transmitting information in the void, the chief of staff smiled and said: "Political commissar, if you are no longer in the army, who said that you can transmit sound for thousands of miles, I must think it is a fairy method." After you said it, I also think that we can do it in the future, but I really think about whether we have all become immortals. If I hadn't seen the cable telegraph before, I wouldn't believe that just one wire, two transmitters, could deliver news so quickly within dozens of miles! ”

Lei Hu also smiled, "Haha, when we built the railway during the land reform, the masses saw the train running on the railway by themselves, and they also thought it was a demon law!" When the crowd got on the train, they looked everywhere for the cows and horses that were stepping on the wheels. ”

Speaking of these interesting things, everyone laughed out loud and forgot about Li Hongzhang for the time being.

On the city of Luoyang, Li Hongzhang commanded the Luo army and was shooting fiercely at the Taiping army under the city. The houses outside the city have been demolished, and the Taiping army's best acupuncture technique is to rely on the houses as a cover, directly digging a tunnel leading to the city wall, and planting explosives under the city.

Three days ago, King Chen Yucheng led his troops to pounce on Luoyang, and his menacing appearance had the posture to take Luoyang in one fell swoop. Although Li Hongzhang was frightened, he felt that his future had encountered a serious turning point. At that time, he dared to fly to capture Luoyang, and one of the bases of his strategic judgment was that there could be no real peace between the Guangfu Army and the Taiping Army, and after the Guangfu Army took Sichuan, the war between the two sides was a situation in which the arrow was ready to be launched.

Now Lei Hu of the Guangfu Army has expressed his willingness to accept Li Hongzhang's surrender, with the importance of Luoyang, as long as Li Hongzhang can resist the Taiping Army, the Guangfu Army will definitely take a look at Li Hongzhang's hard work after arriving in Luoyang. Therefore, Li Hongzhang simply told his panicked subordinates about the latest changes, of course, this part of the content was tampered with, and he told the generals that the Guangfu Army had come to persuade them to surrender, and Li Hongzhang also accepted their request. It won't be long before the Guangfu Army will be able to come to save Luoyang.

This news certainly made some of his subordinates lose their fighting spirit, and it also made some subordinates feel that their future was guaranteed. As for the white-hat soldiers in Luoyang, they slaughtered the British Palace, and they are already mortal enemies with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, if Luoyang City is broken, they will definitely fall to the point of ruining their families. Therefore, the Luo army gritted its teeth under Chen Yucheng's onslaught and resisted Chen Yucheng's onslaught.

Finally repelled another round of onslaught of the Taiping army, Li Hongzhang sat at the head of the city and gasped for breath, the smell of gunpowder smoke in the air was permeated, Li Hongzhang had long been accustomed to this environment, coughing from smelling, and becoming the current peace.

Li Hongzhang's deputy, Zhou Shengchuan, ran to Li Hongzhang's side out of breath and said, "My lord, the Cantonese bandits have been repulsed. ”

The Luo army has only been in army for a few months, and the generals are basically brought out from the Huai army. Of course, those first-class talents refused to come to work for Li Hongzhang, and his first general was Zhou Shengchuan.

Listening to the news of Zhou Sheng's announcement, Li Hongzhang reluctantly smiled: "Good job!" ”

After the fierce battle, people often forget a lot of constraints, and they have experienced life and death, and the Luo army is such a crisis situation, Zhou Shengchuan didn't care so much, he asked Li Hongzhang, "My lord, if we leave Luoyang and go to the capital at this time, we won't suffer." Why do you want to serve the Liberation Army, whether they will come or not is another matter! ”

Several other generals of the Luo Army learned that Li Hongzhang had defected to the Guangfu Army and was now on strike, and Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly about Zhou Shengchuan, who was still willing to fight: "Do you think that the army that can fight out is powerful, or the army that can only defend the city is powerful?" ”

Zhou Shengchuan was stunned, although he didn't know what Li Hongzhang meant, Zhou Shengchuan replied: "Naturally, it can be beaten out." ”

Li Hongzhang continued: "In the current situation in the world, the imperial court is completely on the defensive, and the recovery army has swept the world. You also know about the Taiping Army, if the Guangfu Army does not let them go, they will be able to take the lives of the Taiping Army in Jiangning. Who do you say is better than these three parties? ”

Of course, Zhou Shengchuan is not a fool, and after hearing this, he completely understood. Of course, Zhou Shengchuan was willing to fight with Li Hongzhang after learning that Li Hongzhang had defected to the Guangfu Army, and he naturally knew in his heart that seven or eight out of ten of the Guangfu Army would annex the world and take refuge in the victorious side, which was the instinct of these troubled people. Anyone who can't do this is already dead, or about to die.