If you draw a rectangle at the apex of the four more important places in the battle, the Yangtze River passes through the middle of this rectangle. The apex of the long side north of the Yangtze River is ** and Yangzhou. The apex of the long side south of the Yangtze River is Nanjing and Zhenjiang.

Among the two vertices on the short side on the left, the ** in the upper left corner was still in the hands of the Qing army at this time. From ** to the south, after crossing the Yangtze River is Nanjing. The two vertices on the short side on the right are Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, both of which are under the control of the Taiping army at this time.

From the map, the Jiangbei camp of the Qing army is north of the Yangtze River, and the position is in the lower left direction of Yangzhou, which is located in the upper right corner. The Qing army's Jiangnan camp was south of the Yangtze River, east of Nanjing in the lower left corner. In a sense, there is a bit of a "back-to-back" meaning of the Yangtze River between the Jiangnan camp and the Jiangbei camp.

**In the north of Nanjing, north of the Yangtze River, along the ** and then to the east is Yizheng, from Yizheng to the east, is Yangzhou. Based on such terrain, the General Staff ordered Zhang Yingchen to march from Chuzhou**. From the map, capturing ** is equivalent to capturing the four vertices of the entire rectangle. The Taiping army, which occupied the four vertices, was able to move to besiege the Qing army's Jiangbei and Jiangnan camps living in the square.

This rectangular area covers an area of about 3oo square kilometers, and there are nearly 30,000 troops, including the Qing army and the Taiping army. Although 70,000 or 80,000 of the 100,000 Taiping troops in Tianjing were old and weak women, such a density of troops was extremely rare in the history of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Wei Ze, who had an unusual enthusiasm for the war of annihilation, believed that this place was an excellent place to fight a war of annihilation, and first the Taiping army took control of the canal from Huai'an to Yangzhou, and the supply of food and salary to the camp in Jiangbei was cut off. The Taiping army controlled the Yangtze River waterway from Anhui to Tianjing City, and the Taiping army's food supply was continuous. Secondly, with the density of the Qing army, they are likely to cover each other, rather than running away. In the end, as far as the garbage combat level of the Qing army in Jiangbei was concerned, they dared to take the initiative to attack Wei Ze, which made Wei Ze see an opportunity. Before the Qing army suffered greatly, they were afraid that they would dare to fight. Then the battle will undoubtedly make the Qing army suffer greatly.

Zhang Yingchen's attack was very easy, and with the current training level and equipment level of Wei Ze's troops, the ordinary Qing army had no power to fight back at all. It was broken in half a day.

Zhang Yingchen reorganized the team in ** and asked Ji Wenyuan, the prime minister of Chuzhou, to send troops to ** to take over the defense. The original plan took about two days, mainly the time for Ji Wenyuan's troops to march.

However, Ji Wenyuan's troops have not yet arrived**, but the order of Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, has already arrived**. The Qing army's Jiangbei battalion occupied Jiangxinzhou in the north of Tianjing City, and Yang Xiuqing ordered Zhang Yingchen and Ji Wenyuan to join forces to jointly attack the Qing army located north of Jiangxinzhou. Jiangxinzhou is north of the Yangtze River, a little east due north of Tianjing City. From the perspective of the overall siege strategy, the Qing army attacking this place at least seems to be constantly uprooting the Qing army's stronghold outside Tianjing City.

It was the first time that Zhang Yingchen had directly received a direct order from Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, and this decree made Zhang Yingchen feel a burst of irrepressible excitement. In Wei Ze's troops, it was generally believed that Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, was a greater being than the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. This is the result of Weizer's deliberate propaganda. Zhang Yingchen, as the first brother to follow Wei Ze, has a clearer attitude towards this.

However, excitement is excited, but Zhang Yingchen is more concerned about one of the situations in this order, that is, Yang Xiuqing's order that "Zhang Yingchen and Ji Wenyuan join forces". In addition to respecting Yang Xiuqing more than Hong Xiuquan, Wei Ze's troops also had another characteristic, that is, everyone was very dissatisfied with the various generals who were not worthy of the name created by the current military system and official system of the Taiping Army.

For example, Zhang Yingchen is a military commander, and he really has more than 10,000 troops under strict training who can attack the city and break the formation. The other Taiping troops had a large number of commanders, and the troops they commanded ranged from 500 to 800. The combat effectiveness cannot be compared with Zhang Yingchen at all. But the level is exactly the same.

Not to mention the Taiping Army generals at the same level as Zhang Yingchen, even if he is the deputy prime minister of Chunguan, Pinghu Hou Ji Wenyuan, Zhang Yingchen doesn't think he has anything remarkable. Judging from the information gathered, if Wei Ze's troops had not gone north to rescue, these three prime ministers would inevitably face a situation of annihilation. Moreover, they had now relied entirely on the troops and weapons provided by Wei Ze to restore their vitality, and Zhang Yingchen did not see any reason for him to accept Ji Wenyuan's command.

From the perspective of the system, Zhang Yingchen, as a military commander, still has to accept the command of Pinghu Hou Ji Wenyuan, the deputy prime minister of the Chunguan.

** Closer to Nanjing City than from Yangzhou, Zhang Yingchen repeatedly took the text given to him by Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, and read it, and Zhang Yingchen's name was clearly written on it. Zhang Yingchen's mood became more and more excited, this was an unprecedented experience for him, and this will was his direct communication with Yang Xiuqing.

Although he felt that it was best to discuss this matter with Wei Ze first, Zhang Yingchen strongly felt that he did not need to do this. In Zhang Yingchen's view, Yang Xiuqing's order was completely unclear about the specific situation on the front line, and did not understand the difference in strength between Wei Ze's troops and other units of the Taiping Army. If Zhang Yingchen can let Yang Xiuqing figure it out, then Wei Ze's troops will definitely be paid more attention to by Yang Xiuqing. Of course, Zhang Yingchen, who played a great role in this matter, can also be promoted faster.

Out of such thoughts, Zhang Yingchen gritted his teeth and wrote a piece of music for Yang Xiuqing. The memoirs were written in the pattern of operational reports that he had learned during his training at the General Staff. Zhang Yingchen stated the specific situation of the enemy and us to Yang Xiuqing, and at the end of his report, he said that Zhang Yingchen's department has a combat effectiveness above Ji Wenyuan's department from all angles, so there is no need to let Ji Wenyuan participate in the war. And even if he participates in the war, he also asks Yang Xiuqing to consider the issue of the command of each other between the two sides.

After finishing writing, Zhang Yingchen finally had the courage to give this piece to Yang Xiuqing. After finishing, Zhang Yingchen wanted to send a letter to Wei Ze, but he felt a little uneasy when he thought about it. A copy of the will given to Zhang Yingchen by Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, was sent to Wei Ze, and Zhang Yingchen continued to wait for the troops sent by Ji Wenyuan to support.

As soon as Ji Wenyuan's troops arrived, Zhang Yingchen directly led the troops out. He did not choose to march into Yizheng as planned, but went straight to Jiangxinzhou in the southwest of Yizheng according to Yang Xiuqing's order. Zhang Yingchen felt that no matter how far the situation went, as long as he could fight and win the war, it would be easy to say.

The Qing army set up a camp in the north of Jiangxinzhou, where less than 1,000 men were stationed. Zhang Yingchen arrived outside the Qing army camp after a day of marching, and broke through the Qing army's camp very easily, annihilating the Qing army of less than 1,000.

Zhang Yingchen hurriedly sent all the captured Qing army officers and Qing army prisoners to Tianjing City. He also wrote a note to Yang Xiuqing, telling Yang Xiuqing that he had completed his mission and was now going north to attack Yizheng.

At this time, it was getting late, Zhang Yingchen did not rush overnight, but sent someone to send the song to Tianjing City, which is across the river. With the experience of the last one, Zhang Yingchen felt that the feeling of writing the second letter was much better than the first one.

As soon as the morning dawned, Zhang Yingchen woke up and was woken up. It turned out that Yang Xiuqing, the eastern king of Tianjing City, which was separated by a river, made a decree and asked Zhang Yingchen to go to Tianjing City to receive orders.

After winning the battle, Zhang Yingchen was very relieved. If he is facing Wei Ze, Zhang Yingchen may have to consider whether there is any problem with his command after the war. But in the face of Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, Zhang Yingchen believed that Yang Xiuqing would not ask about these details. Ordering the troops to rest for another day, Zhang Yingchen happily followed the envoy of the Eastern Wangfu to Tianjing City.

The last time he saw Tianjing City, Zhang Yingchen only looked outside the city. This time he was able to go to Tianjing City in person, but Zhang Yingchen felt that it was really an eye-opener. Such a magnificent city is something that Zhang Yingchen, who was born in Yong'an City, could not have imagined. The long streets in the city and the buildings on both sides of the streets made Zhang Yingchen unimaginable.

Anqing is the provincial capital of Anhui Province, which is much more prosperous than Yong'an City, but it is nothing compared to Tianjing City. Zhang Yingchen never imagined that he could walk ten miles in a city without reaching the end.

When he arrived at the Dongwang Mansion, Zhang Yingchen was so shocked by this magnificent building that he didn't dare to say a word. At this time, the king of the east did not come back, and Zhang Yingchen was waiting outside the door. After waiting for a while, I heard the sound of drums in the distance. There were no ordinary people outside the Dongwang Mansion in Tianjing City who dared to pass indiscriminately, and at this time, under the orders of the guards, the people knelt down one after another. Zhang Yingchen is a military marshal, so he doesn't need to be so afraid, he just knelt down under the orders of the officials of the Dongwang Mansion.

After a while, I saw a huge sedan chair appear in Zhang Yingchen's field of vision. The luxurious sedan chair is unimaginable, and from the outside, it looks like a shrunken palace. This palace is golden, bright and fragrant. If there were no forty-eight sedan chair bearers, it would be as gorgeous as the heavenly palace.

Zhang Yingchen, who was born in Yong'an City, was dumbfounded and looked at the sedan chair carried by the forty-eight people, already dumbfounded. Of course, he had heard of pomp and circumstance, but because of the limitations of his background, marching and fighting were about efficiency rather than pomp. After seeing the sedan chair carried by these forty-eight people with his own eyes, Zhang Yingchen suddenly felt that all the things he had seen before were nothing.

Seeing Zhang Yingchen's demented appearance, the people in Dongwangfu said something, but Zhang Yingchen didn't hear it. And the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom only talks about kneeling, not prostrating. Zhang Yingchen is also a military commander, and he is a general under Wei Ze, the king of Qi. Staring stupidly at the sedan chair of Dongwang Yang Xiuqing is not a sin for Zhang Yingchen, at most it looks stupid. Fortunately, the officials of the Eastern Palace's Mansion didn't say anything.

It wasn't until the sedan disappeared out of Zhang Yingchen's sight that he recovered from his awe. After waiting for a while, Yang Xiuqing summoned Zhang Yingchen to meet him.

Facing the officials into the Dongwang Mansion, as soon as he saw Yang Xiuqing sitting in the main hall, Zhang Yingchen immediately knelt down and saluted. I saw that the impact of the sedan chair was still strong, so Zhang Yingchen's attitude towards Yang Xiuqing was respectful from the heart. Because there was no need to kowtow, Zhang Yingchen seemed to see a trace of doubt on Yang Xiuqing's face.

However, this doubt did not last long, and Yang Xiuqing opened his mouth and asked, "Zhang Yingchen, are you guilty?" ”

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