Luzhou is called Hefei in later generations, located in the center of Anhui Province, between the Yangtze River and the Huai River, on the shore of Chaohu Lake, and the Xiangjiang River embraces the lake. The Hunan army took advantage of such a well-developed water network and sent an inland river fleet to also arrive outside the water gate and block the waterway in Luzhou.

Wu Shaokang, the Marquis of Tianyi of the Taiping Army, carefully looked at the Qing army encirclement network constructed by land and water outside the city, and at sunset, all boats on the water were waving the banner of the Hunan army, small boats patrolled back and forth, and artillery was set up on large ships, which could attack targets on water and land at any time. Luzhou fell into a heavy siege so quickly, and the Hunan army's naval army made great contributions. Li Kaifang led his troops to retreat from the north to Luzhou, where the water could have been used as a natural barrier against the Huai army. After the Hunan army sailors from the south took control of the water, the water became a noose tied around the neck of the Taiping army.

On land, the Hunan army had already approached the city walls, desperately building fortifications beyond the range of the Taiping artillery. Faced with such a situation, Wu Shaokang's heart was like falling into an ice cave. Eight years ago, Wu Shaokang followed Li Kaifang on the Northern Expedition and was surrounded by the Qing army near Tianjin. At that time, I was far away from Tianjing City, in the unfamiliar land of Hebei. Surrounded by layers of Qing troops, and the Qing cavalry who didn't know when they would be killed. Wu Shaokang had such a desperate feeling in his heart.

Bypassing the local Anhui officers and soldiers who were dejected and even crying in a low voice, Wu Shaokang went straight to the palace. After entering the palace, as soon as I arrived at the door of the hall, I heard Zhong Dahong saying loudly: "Please Wang, I will go to the camp tonight." If we let the Hunan army set up camp, we will be in a bad situation. ”

Walking into the hall quickly, I saw that the main generals under the command of Wang Li Kaifang were basically there. Everyone looked excited, and Zhong Dahong was loudly saying his views on the battle situation, "Today, the Qing Demon forced the people outside the city to take the lead, and many of them didn't dare to do anything to the people at all. King Zhang's letter said that the Qing demon often used the people to take the lead in Jiangxi, and the local officers and soldiers in Jiangxi were afraid of hurting the people, so they lost a lot of battles that could have been won. We can't let the Hunan army fight like this again. ”

Li Kaifang's main generals are still the Guangxi brothers, and the local brothers in Anhui are mainly middle- and low-level officers, so there are no people crying loudly in the hall for the time being.

"It's not right." Hu Shaokang said immediately.

Hearing Hu Shaokang's public opposition, Zhong Dahong glared at Hu Shaokang. King Lin Fengxiang once wanted to completely rectify the military system of the Taiping Army, imitating the officer system of the Guangfu Army that had no title and was simply based on the reorganized troops, but in the end it failed. Li Kaifang's troops are even good, at least they can guarantee the continuation of the establishment of ten brigades of one army with about 5,000 people. But the matter of indiscriminate knighthood cannot be avoided. Hu Shaokang and Zhong Dahong are both commanders who command an army, and the lord is also the Marquis of Tianyi. This is the second most prestigious title after the Lord. It is precisely because the title is the same as the position that Zhong Dahong is unhappy, and there is no way to treat Hu Shaokang.

After saluting Li Kaifang, Hu Shaokang immediately said: "Please Wang, let's break through quickly." ”

Li Kaifang is 50 years old this year, and his body is still very healthy, but his hair has turned gray. Listening to the construction of his subordinates, Li Kaifang said angrily: "Now there is a lot of grain and grass in Luzhou, and we still have seven armies of almost 30,000 people. There is no problem in staying here for a year and a half. ”

After angrily denouncing Wu Shaokang's defeatist remarks, Li Kaifang listened for a moment before asking, "Where did you go after breaking through?" ”

Almost ignoring Li Kaifang's anger, Wu Shaokang immediately replied: "Go in the direction of Zhenjiang." ”

"King Zhang, I'm afraid that I will be able to cross the river soon to rescue, I'll just hold on for a while." Li Kaifang continued to scold.

Wu Shaokang was not deceived by Li Kaifang's expression, he said seriously: "Please Wang, I followed you from Guangxi to the present, we have never seen any battles." If King Zhang can cross the river, the Hunan army's naval army will not be able to defeat Luzhou. If anyone can save us, it must be a strong army such as King Qi. Please, Wang, if we don't break through now, the next thing is the situation between Anqing and Shouzhou. ”

Li Kaifang did not continue to scold his subordinates, Wu Shaokang was the old brother who followed him out of Guangxi. Over the years, Wu Shaokang has fought very bravely, and he is by no means a cowardly person who is afraid of death. Li Kaifang used to hate Wei Ze very much, but over the years, he is old, and he has to admit that if Wei Ze hadn't gone north to rescue, he Li Kaifang would have died in Tianjin long ago. Without the Huai River defense line established by Wei Ze, Li Kaifang would not have been able to hold out in Huainan for so long. Whether Li Kaifang likes Wei Ze or not, Wei Ze does not owe Li Kaifang any favors. On the contrary, Li Kaifang owes Wei Ze at least one life and a fame.

can evaluate the past fairly, and Li Kaifang can also evaluate the present more correctly. If there was a strong army like Wei Ze, the king of Qi, in the Taiping army, Li Kaifang would be rescued in Luzhou. But since Wei Ze left, there has never been a fierce general like Wei Ze in the Taiping Army.

"Luzhou has enough grain and grass, and we will definitely be able to keep it." Li Kaifang still came up with the cliché truth. After finishing speaking, Li Kaifang looked at the other generals, hoping that they would support his views. But some of the other generals frowned and pondered, some nodded slightly, and some glared at Hu Shaokang like Zhong Dahong. But no one was in line with Li Kaifang, and he scolded and opposed Wu Shaokang. These generals have all participated in the Northern Expedition, and after listening to Hu Shaokang's analogy, everyone also remembered the situation when the Northern Expedition was besieged.

Wu Shaokang said anxiously: "Let's not talk about Anqing, aren't there enough grain and grass in Lu'an and Shouzhou?" But what is the final result. Please, Wang, the Hunan army and sailors have all hit here, they must have taken Chaohu, and we can't break through to the south. If you can't cross the river, you can only go east to Zhenjiang, and from Zhenjiang to the south. The subordinates saw that the Hunan army was building a camp, and the British king's subordinates were extremely capable of fighting, and there was nothing they could do after being surrounded and killed by the Hunan army. When we went to save Anqing, we didn't know how difficult the Hunan army's camp was! ”

"I'm not leaving!" Please Wang Li Kaifang said angrily. Since the beginning of the war, Anqing was lost, and the elite of the British king Chen Yucheng retreated to the south of the Yangtze River after the loss of Anqing, and Anhui north of the Yangtze River was only supported by Li Kaifang's troops. Huainan, which had been as stable as Mount Tai for seven or eight years, was lost within a few months under the attack of the Huai army and the Hunan army from the north and south. Luzhou, as the center of the Taiping Army in Anhui Province, was very safe for several years, and Li Kaifang issued military orders here everywhere. But in a blink of an eye, he fell into a heavy siege, and such a gap was really unacceptable to Li Kaifang.

The disillusioned status quo made Li Kaifang feel a strong feeling, and he said loudly: "As long as you wait, reinforcements will definitely come." ”

This is not the first time Li Kaifang has said such things, of course Wu Shaokang knows that Li Kaifang has always hated Wei Ze, and he mentioned Wei Ze just to remind Li Kaifang of the past when Wei Ze went north to save the Northern Expeditionary Army. If Yang Xiuqing, the king of the East, is still there, and Wei Ze is still a fierce general of the Taiping Army, the reinforcements that Li Kaifang is looking forward to will definitely come. But after the Tianjing Change, Yang Xiuqing was killed, and Wei Ze escaped. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been on a downward slope for several years.

Faced with the onslaught of the Hunan army upstream, the Taiping army was exhausted. After the loyal king Li Xiucheng and the servant king Li Shixian received back the 200,000 Taiping troops of the "Ten Thousand Miles to Return to the Dynasty" in Jiangxi, they did not launch an attack upstream, but turned to attack Zhejiang. In addition to Li Kaifang in Huainan, the only people who remained upstream to resist the Hunan army were Lin Fengxiang, the king of Zhang, Jiangxi, and Chen Yucheng, the king of England, who was based in Anqing.

Li Kaifang, who monopolized Huainan, has been very comfortable for several years, but he didn't expect the destruction to come so quickly. Only Luzhou was left in the entire big city of Huainan, and the Hunan army seized the position outside the city in one fell swoop, and the situation in Luzhou City became even worse.

Seeing that Li Kaifang insisted on going his own way, he wanted to stick to Luzhou and wait for rescue. Wu Shaokang could only change his words, "Then let your subordinates go down and ask for reinforcements." ”

"Where are you going to get reinforcements from?" Li Kaifang has some spirit.

Wu Shaokang replied: "My subordinates can only go to Zhenjiang to ask for reinforcements. If you don't ask for reinforcements, God knows when they'll arrive. ”

These words pointed out the cruel reality, and Li Kaifang was silent. Although Lin Fengxiang has a high status and great prestige. But he is only of high status and prestige. Originally, in Lin Fengxiang's plan, the Li Xiucheng brothers took over the Taiping Army brothers who went to Jiangxi to meet the "Ten Thousand Miles Back to the Dynasty", and they would join forces with Lin Fengxiang to deal with the Hunan army upstream. The action of these two people who went straight to Zhejiang announced that the idea of cooperation between the various groups of the Taiping Army came to naught.

With these two people taking the lead, a new split in the Taiping Army inevitably occurred. Among the thirteen princes, Lin Fengxiang took the initiative to shoulder the heavy responsibility of dealing with the Qing army in Jiangxi. The British Prince's Mansion was located in Anqing, and King Li Xiucheng had to focus on Anqing. The other princes either stayed in the safe Tianjing City, or followed the Li brothers into Zhejiang, or stationed in Zhenjiang as the center.

After Wei Ze, the king of Qi, left, the Huaihe defense line was once considered by everyone to be unable to last long. But they all thought that the direction of the Huai River could not be maintained for too long, but it was maintained for five or six years. In five or six years, the Taiping army could not break the situation, but there was no particular danger. Lin Fengxiang, who wanted to do something, could naturally fight a bloody battle with the Hunan army in Jiangxi. The enterprising Li Xiucheng brothers can also enter the rich Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Unenterprising princes can maintain their lives in places such as Tianjing City and Yangzhou Zhenjiang.

Lin Fengxiang was too busy to take care of himself, Li Xiucheng's brothers were unable to return to the army, and Hong Tianwang of Tianjing City was thankful that he didn't invite others to save him. The only people who could send troops to rescue were the two princes Ji Wenyuan and Zeng Lichang, who were at ease in Zhenjiang. In fact, they did not have any military pressure, but the Qing army did not threaten them at all. It is still possible that they will send some reinforcements to rescue Luzhou.

"Please, Wang, let's send someone to Zhenjiang to ask for reinforcements." Zhong Dahong began to support Wu Shaokang's construction.

"Let's ask for reinforcements." With Zhong Dahong taking the lead, other generals also expressed their positions.

Seeing this situation, Li Kaifang had no choice but to nod, and he said, "Then let Brother Zhong go and ask for reinforcements." ”

Wu Shaokang was greatly disappointed, he had no confidence in the current battle situation, so he naturally hoped that he could ask for reinforcements. Unexpectedly, Li Kaifang actually handed over the burden of inviting reinforcements to Zhong Dahong.

Zhong Dahong is refreshing and does things without delay. After receiving the order, he took the letter from Li Kaifang, and immediately made preparations to leave the city. Wu Shaokang was not at ease, and personally sent Zhong Dahong to the city gate. In the night, Wu Shaokang said worriedly: "Brother Zhong, you must bring reinforcements back!" ”

Zhong Dahong said in a sullen voice: "If Zhenjiang refuses to send troops, even if I go to ask the King of Qi to send troops, I will definitely bring back reinforcements!" ”

Hearing this, Hu Shaokang smiled bitterly. Wei Ze, the king of Qi, is still in Liangguang, where can he send troops so easily.

"Take care!" Zhong Dahong said a word, and ordered someone to secretly open the city gate. What he said just now was sincere, since he was rescued by Wei Ze from Hebei, Zhong Dahong has maintained quite close private contact with Wei Ze. If Zhenjiang refuses to send troops, Zhong Dahong's target is Guangdong. Like Hu Shaokang, Zhong Dahong firmly believed that only Wei Ze could defeat the Hunan army. R1058