Lin Fengxiang did not have the intention of engaging in political disputes, but he desperately wanted to establish a general staff system in the Taiping Army to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army. After expressing his views in the court, Lin Fengxiang began to contact people from all sides. The first contact was naturally the British King Chen Yucheng, who suffered heavy losses.

Chen Yucheng is nicknamed Four Eyes because he has moles under his eyes, and he looks like four eyes from a distance. But if you look closely, Chen Yucheng is a short man with a beautiful appearance. If you only look at the appearance, no matter how you think that this man is famous for being a fierce general. He originally had 30,000 elites under his command, but he lost more than 20,000 people in Anqing, and now he has less than 8,000 troops under his command.

When Lin Fengxiang came to visit Chen Yucheng, Chen Yucheng did not look depressed after the defeat. Without Lin Fengxiang to speak more, Chen Yucheng took the initiative to say: "King Zhang, if you want me to join forces with you, I naturally have no opinion. But I have some ideas to tell King Zhang. ”

Chen Yucheng is Chen Chengying's nephew, and he is Lin Fengxiang's nephew according to his generation, so he didn't dare to call Lin Fengxiang Brother Lin like others, but used King Zhang to call Lin Fengxiang.

Lin Fengxiang nodded, "It's okay to say it directly." ”

Chen Yucheng had a solemn expression on his beautiful face, and he said slowly: "Today, after listening to King Zhang's talk about the General Staff system, I suddenly realized. It turns out that I also learned from King Qi, and now I know that I am much worse than King Qi. However, in addition to this general staff system, we have one biggest gap compared to King Qi. King Qi's firearms are sharp, King Qi used a fire cap gun seven years ago, and I am still using a fire cap gun. As for the artillery, we are far worse than the King of Qi. Therefore, King Qi's battle has always been frontal, no matter what kind of enemy he is, he will break it head-on in one fell swoop. Far away with a gun, close with a bayonet. But if our army wants to surprise the enemy, it can only use pikemen, or sword and shield hands. King Qi's tactics may not be able to be used by our army. ”

Lin Fengxiang nodded slightly after listening, he had a few middle-level officers who came to defect after being "wronged" from Wei Ze, according to what they said, Wei Ze's current troops have eliminated the "advanced" cap gun and replaced it with another breech-loading rifle commonly known as singles one. This rifle is said to be extremely powerful and accurate. A soldier with a good level of shooting is able to accurately kill the enemy from a distance of two hundred meters. With the high level of Wei Ze's army, after changing to such weapons, the Hunan army was completely vulnerable. In terms of weapons and equipment, Lin Fengxiang has no intention of competing with Wei Ze.

So Lin Fengxiang replied: "Yucheng, with the level of the Hunan army, the fire cap gun is enough." King Qi's tactics are different from ours, no matter how the enemy comes, he just attacks all the way. Moreover, in the battle plan drawn up by the General Staff, the echelons are extremely well equipped. Whoever attacks and who outflanks the troops is part of the overall tactics, so every unit of King Qi pulls out is a tough battle. Yucheng, even if you are extremely capable of fighting, there are only a few troops who can fight tough battles. The king of Qi referred to this kind of troops as a field army. When King Qi left, he had at least 30,000 field troops under his command. Our Taiping Army now has all four or five hundred thousand troops, and it can have the level of the Qi King Field Army back then, but I am afraid that there are no 30,000. ”

Chen Yucheng has no intention of refuting this evaluation. As a recognized general of the Taiping Army, Chen Yucheng actually had less than 5,000 troops under his command who could put a row of guns and be able to fight hand-to-hand. This is still the case in his troops, and there are naturally fewer officers and men of this level in other units. At present, the Taiping army was heavily defeated in Huainan and lost more than 100,000 soldiers and horses. The number of field troops is less than 30,000, which is a very fair judgment.

"Among King Zhang's subordinates, how many people are in this kind of field army?" Li Yucheng asked.

"Less than 10,000." Lin Fengxiang replied.

"There are so many?" Li Yucheng said in surprise.

Lin Fengxiang said seriously: "I proposed the formation of the General Staff, mainly to bring Zhang Yingchen's Imperial Forest Army in. Zhang Yingchen has always been a subordinate of King Qi, and he has learned the most about King Qi's ability to train soldiers. We can still do it by joining forces with 20,000 field troops. With 20,000 men fighting head-on, and other troops as auxiliaries, it was not without hope of defeating the Hunan army. If our army were still fighting separately like it is now, and fighting with the Hunan army, the victory or defeat would only be five or five. King Qi can dominate the world precisely because he breaks the army and kills generals in every battle. I heard that the key to the war of King Qi is that it is better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt his ten fingers. The larger the number of field armies and the better prepared they are, the smaller the casualties will be during the battle. The enemy's elite continued to lose, either by demolishing the east wall and making up for the west wall under the lack of troops, or by wantonly recruiting new soldiers, and the combat effectiveness became worse and worse. ”

Chen Yucheng nodded slightly, he agreed with Lin Fengxiang's opinion very much. After Wei Ze left the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom no longer had a field army like Wei Ze who could easily break the army and kill generals, and all the generals regarded the elite as a baby bump and a bargaining chip to determine victory or defeat at a critical moment. It is even more impossible to take out his own elite and unite with other generals. This kind of attitude of being timid and only knowing how to play wishful thinking has led to the loss of many battles that could have been won.

Lin Fengxiang persuaded: "Yucheng, Zhang Yingchen's affairs will not be so smooth, but if you and I join forces, I will let you take charge of the troops after the reorganization of the troops, and I will be the chief of staff." The operation is like the General Staff of King Qi, and my unit has a combat training department dedicated to training, and the field troops are supplemented, and they will only get stronger and stronger the more they fight. Before, I didn't know the trick of King Qi's military training, his troops were divided into non-commissioned officers and officers. In the army, people are taught to read and write, even non-commissioned officers can read and write military orders, and even write military orders. With these non-commissioned officers presiding, the troops are truly like their arm's arm. Compared with King Qi, the non-commissioned officers under me and others are not qualified at all, let alone officers. The king of Qi always leads the weak with the strong, so the more he fights, the stronger he becomes. But when we have a strong army, I can't wait to hide it, for fear that something will go wrong. On the contrary, the more you fight, the weaker you get. ”

After listening to Lin Fengxiang's story, Chen Yucheng praised it in his heart. However, thinking that his troops would merge with Lin Fengxiang from now on, not to mention that Chen Yucheng himself had a pimple in his heart, even if Chen Yucheng had agreed, whether his subordinates were willing to merge with Lin Fengxiang, and completely adopt a new military system after the merger, Chen Yucheng was not optimistic at all. He could only say that he would discuss the matter with his subordinates first and try his best to facilitate it.

Chen Yucheng's reply did not exceed Lin Fengxiang's expectations, if Chen Yucheng now said that he can definitely handle things well, Lin Fengxiang would be surprised. Weeser's troops had an innate advantage in establishing a system, and they had established the general staff system nine years earlier when their strength was less than a few thousand. At the time of the expansion of the army, there was a system, and the troops were completely unified. Thinking that the Taiping Army had not only failed to unify over the years, but had become more and more divided, Lin Fengxiang only felt a little sad in his heart.

After reaching an agreement with Chen Yucheng, Lin Fengxiang continued to visit other civil and military forces in Tianjing City. And Zhang Yingchen did not receive Lin Fengxiang, and Lin Fengxiang had a closed door when he went to visit. Zhang Yingchen is "sick".

Just when Lin Fengxiang was working hard, the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan issued an edict. In the edict, on the grounds that there was not much food in Tianjing City, Lin Fengxiang was ordered to go to Liangshan in the east and west to garrison. Dongxi Liangshan is very close to Wuhu, and the edict is very polite, and the supply of grain and grass for Lin Fengxiang's troops is responsible for Wuhu.

Lin Fengxiang is not a fool, he understood Hong Xiuquan's thoughts after reading the edict. Obviously, Hong Xiuquan did not want to establish a general staff system at all, so he directly sent Lin Fengxiang to Liangshan, which was far away from Tianjing City. As long as no one provokes a general staff system in the capital, this matter will end here.

It was precisely because he understood Hong Xiuquan's thoughts that Lin Fengxiang immediately went to ask to see the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. The reply was, "The King of Heaven is unwell and cannot receive his subordinates!" This reason can make Lin Fengxiang angry, if Hong Xiuquan is unwilling to establish a general staff system, can he openly oppose it. What is this kind of power trick?

But Hong Xiuquan was gone, and Lin Fengxiang couldn't rush directly into the palace and grab Hong Xiuquan to ask him. And Hong Xiu is not in the court, but he still has enough ability to influence the court. King An Hong Renfa and Fu Wang Hong Renda showed their value at this time. The two first publicly said that Hong Xiuquan ordered Lin Fengxiang to guard Dongxiliang Mountain, and then urged Lin Fengxiang to hurry up and not waste time in Tianjing City. Fu King Hong Renda even said publicly: "King Zhang, since the Heavenly King has an order, I can only stop your food in Tianjing." As long as you get to Dongxiliang Mountain, you will naturally be able to get food from Wuhu. ”

Lin Fengxiang had a lot of dissatisfaction with Shi Dakai, but Shi Dakai forced Hong Xiuquan to take away Hong Renfa and Hong Renda's princes, and Lin Fengxiang couldn't agree with it. It is precisely because there are such bastards who are doing nonsense in Tianjing City that the generals outside will be forced to despair more and more of the central government of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

But no matter how dissatisfied he was, Lin Fengxiang couldn't force Hong Xiuquan to act according to Lin Fengxiang's plan. As a last resort, Lin Fengxiang could only lead his troops to Dongxiliang Mountain first.

On the day that Lin Fengxiang left with his troops, an envoy secretly contacted Lin Fengxiang. At night, when the troops were stationed, Lin Fengxiang secretly took the guards out of the camp. According to the agreement, Lin Fengxiang met with another small team. Although he couldn't see clearly in the night, Lin Fengxiang could still recognize the person in charge, and he smiled: "Brother Zhang, I didn't expect you to be willing to see me." ”

Zhang Yingchen on the other side sighed, "If I meet Brother Lin publicly, the Heavenly King will know immediately." Then I can only see it. I also hope that Brother Lin will not blame his brother. ”

Lin Fengxiang didn't want to discuss the reaction of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, so he ordered his subordinates to be on guard, he was alone with Zhang Yingchen, and the surrounding guards couldn't hear the content of the conversation between the two, Lin Fengxiang asked in a low voice: "That brother Zhang came to see him this time, but he didn't know why?" ”

Zhang Yingchen said calmly: "Brother Lin, I naturally agree with the unification of military orders. If we really join forces to set up a field army and a combat training department, I am afraid that the first three months will be difficult, but after surviving the first three months, we will be able to live a better life in the future. However, such a good thing can only be thought about, but it cannot be done. The Heavenly King is now only thinking about taking power by himself, if Brother Lin really does this, the Heavenly King will only feel that there is another East King. ”

Lin Fengxiang could only say nothing about Zhang Yingchen's straightforward evaluation, he said: "But if you don't do this, how long can the Kingdom of Heaven last?" ”

Zhang Yingchen smiled slightly, "If Brother Lin wants to do this, he can only let the Heavenly King be an honest puppet in the palace like the King of the East." If not, the king will call the shots. He is now afraid that someone else will take power and take away his kingdom of heaven. Everything else is secondary, what does Brother Lin expect to use the power of the Heavenly King to promote, it is better to rest this heart as soon as possible. ”

"Brother Zhang, did you come out to sue me for this?" Lin Fengxiang also asked with a glimmer of hope.

Zhang Yingchen replied: "Brother Lin, I respect you as a person. At this point, you're still thinking about Heaven. I'm telling you this, just to make things clear, I can't help you. Brother Lin, take care of yourself! ”R1058