July 16, 1865, Nanjing Imperial Palace.

"Zuo Zongtang was surrounded by the twisted army on all sides?" Weser looked at the telegram while his three-year-old son, Wei Rui, was sitting on Wesser's lap and playing, and the little guy was in the age of saboteurs. Of course, this kind of destruction is from the perspective of adults, for small things of this age, they are really exploring the world, and they are "creating a zào world", but this process of creating zào cannot be recognized by adults.

So Weeser pinched the telegram in one hand and read it again, while the other hand was holding back his son's efforts to grab the telegram manuscript and ravage and tear it in his hand. Qi Hongyi took the book and pretended to watch his son toss with his father next to him, but he didn't step forward to coax his son away.

After all, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and Wei Ze was playing a game with his son, when the secretary suddenly rushed in and gave Wei Ze such a telegram. The little guy was thrown aside by his father, and of course Qi Hongyi psychologically supported his son to make such a fuss. Of course, Qi Hongyi himself didn't want his son to make too much trouble and make his father very unhappy. So pretending to read the book was just pretending, and a full five minutes passed after the page was opened, and Qi Hongyi didn't really look at it.

Li Yifang also gave birth to a son to Wei Ze at the beginning of the year, and from a political point of view, Wei Ze had two sons, and this new dynasty finally stabilized. If Wei Ze had three long and two short, there would be no question of the heir. From a paternal point of view, both sons are Weese's own sons. But from a mother's point of view, if Qi Hongyi's son inherits Wei Ze's power, Li Yifang's heart will definitely not be happy, and vice versa. So Qi Hongyi hopes that Wei Ze can pay attention to his eldest son, but Qi Hongyi also doesn't want his son to make Wei Ze really unhappy.

Weeser now considers it completely irrelevant to this. The reason why he can regard the emperor as an honorific title is entirely because Wei Ze holds the fundamental power of the three countries of the party, government and army, and the maintenance of this power depends on Wei Ze leading the party, government and army to steadily control China, at least the power in the liberated areas.

He almost subconsciously stopped his son's tossing, and his real mind was on strategic considerations. The Twist Army is currently divided into three parts: Hebei, Henan, and Shandong. The teams conquered the city, and the main force was actually divided into two. Part of it was under the leadership of Zhang Zongyu and fought fiercely in Hebei Seng Greenqin, and the other part was under the command of Lai Wenguang to fight Zuo Zongtang in the Heze area.

Lai Wenguang adopted an extremely bold strategy this time, he himself led the troops to adopt the tactics of movement warfare and went around in circles with Zuo Zongtang, and at the same time secretly transferred other troops over. When Zuo Zongtang attacked Zhuangzhai, he suddenly surrounded the Chu army with more than 10,000 troops with 50,000 troops.

Zuo Zongtang made a strategic misjudgment, he was confused by Lai Wenguang's movement tactics, thinking that Lai Wenguang adopted the traditional rogue tactics, and when he marched into Zhuangzhai, he actually divided the troops into two ways, the main force of 10,000 troops was surrounded by 30,000 twist troops, and 20,000 twist troops surrounded and annihilated the detachment of 5,000 Chu troops. These 50,000 troops surrounded Zuo Zongtang.

Wei Ze's biggest feeling was that he had miscalculated, that he had underestimated the strength of the Taiping army, or that he had overestimated the strength of the Manchus. Indeed, both the Taiping Army and the Twist Army were exterminated by the Qing Army in history. But that's just history, and the current reality is that after the merger of the Taiping Army and the Twist Army, the total strength is more than 300,000. Although these 300,000 people were nothing in Wei Ze's eyes, when the Manchu Qing still had national power, the total number of troops was only 900,000. In recent years, they have suffered a series of painful blows, and the remaining Manchu troops are estimated to be at most 500,000. Of these 500,000 people, there are probably 200,000 people in several completely unrelated areas. For example, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Northeast China and other places.

Just distracted, Wei Rui finally grabbed some newspaper while his father didn't care. He stood on his father's lap with his feet, threw his upper body on the table, and said in a milky voice: "Straight...... Rash...... Clear...... There are 250,000 troops, and 150,000 are ...... The People's Army ......, no ...... Fighting power. On the cow ......"

"It's morning, not the cow!" Qi Hongyi immediately corrected.

The whole content of this sentence is "Zhili, Henan, Lu, the Qing army has a strength of 250,000 about 250,000, and 150,000 are green battalions and banner armies, which do not have sufficient combat effectiveness." In the morning, Chu Jun was surrounded ......, "The little guy doesn't know much words, and he pronounces "about" as "spoon" and "noon" as "cow".

Listening to his son's milky Nanjing-style Mandarin, Wei Ze hugged his son, and at this time he was already smiling and couldn't see his eyes, "Good, I know so many words!" ”

"Daddy, my mother praises me for memorizing the ninety-nine multiplication table!" Wei Rui boasted in his father's arms.

Qi Hongyi's heart is beautiful,

The real Qing army strength in Hebei, Henan, and Shandong is estimated to be only 250,000 people, and she has spent countless efforts on her son, especially during the period when she took her son back to Nanjing first, Qi Hongyi worked hard to enlighten her son.

Although his heart was extremely refreshing, Qi Hongyi said very politely, "Wei Ze, the food you ate when you were pregnant really works, what folic acid, carrots, sesame oil." Our son is smart. ”

"The eldest son is basically like his mother, with a smart wife like you, can the son be worse?" Weser laughed. If it was before, Wei Ze would have to brag about himself at this time, even if it was for the sake of bickering. But after Zuo Zongtang's incident, Wei Ze reflected and found a lot of things that he didn't understand when he was young. In fact, most people can endure hard work, but everyone must not endure without results. Living with Wei Ze and giving birth to children, Qi Hongyi is also very hard. Wei Ze put all the credit on himself, so what did Qi Hongyi do with Wei Ze? At this time, Qi Hongyi's credit must be affirmed, and Qi Hongyi's efforts must be extremely positively affirmed.

The son's appearance is excellent, and her husband's praise is sincere, and Qi Hongyi feels satisfied. She took her son out of her husband's arms, and said, "These children are all long, and I can't hold him anymore." ”

The adopted son couldn't be fruitless, Wei Ze immediately replied: "When Wei Rui grows up, let him carry you on his back." ”

Hearing her husband say this, Qi Hongyi's mother instinctively had an immediate attack, and she replied: "Don't, I'm so heavy, what if I crush him?" ”

"Okay, I'll carry it." Weser laughed.

The family is so happy, Qi Hongyi smiled: "Wei Ze, you don't have to carry it." When Wei Rui grows up, just let him help the two of us walk. ”

"We are on one side, you are in the middle, and we will help you go." Weeser made a promise.

Thinking of such a scene, Qi Hongyi felt very happy and satisfied, and she smiled: "Then let's wait until I'm old." Now I'll take Wei Rui to take a bath and sleep. Weeser, you also rest early. ”

Finally, without bothering to coax his wife and children, Wei Ze picked up the telegram again. Wei Ze believed that Zuo Zongtang would probably be able to break out of the encirclement, but he couldn't help but consider another possibility, if Zuo Zongtang was annihilated by the Twist Army, northern Jiangsu would fall into the hands of the Twist Army. The Xuzhou area is also the essence of China, and it would be too cheap for the Twist Army to take it away like this.

Thinking of this, Wei Ze called the confidential secretary in and gave an order, "Let Lei Hu and them go north and seize the whole of Jiangsu." If the Twist Army wants to fight with us, then expel us militarily. Even if there is no need to worry about the corner area now, there is no room for loss in the Xuzhou area. ”

These war plans had long been set, and at this time Weezer activated one of them. Of course, such an order needed to be discussed by the Military Commission in principle, but at this time, a large part of the Military Commission was still in Guangzhou, and Wei Ze used the privilege of his emperor to decide on the initiation of military plans alone.

However, after saying this, Wei Ze felt that it was inappropriate, and he ordered: "This order is drafted first, and the Military Commission will be notified to hold a meeting overnight." ”

After the meeting of the Military Commission, as soon as everyone heard the latest news, they unanimously expressed their intention to seize Xuzhou. This is actually a very normal strategic response. Everyone originally thought that the Qing army might be able to suppress the Twist Army, but since the Qing Army was so incompetent, the Guangfu Army could not sit idly by and watch the Twist Army expand its territory so much.

After reaching an agreement, the Military Commission put forward other views, "Your Majesty, if you take the entire northern Jiangsu, the Huaihe defense line will be outdated, let's establish the Xuzhou Military Region." Originally, the Anhui Military Region was responsible for the defense line on the Anhui side, and the Xuzhou Military Region was the starting point for the offensive in the future. ”

On the morning of July 17, Zuo Zongtang summoned the generals with red eyes. After suddenly falling into the siege of the Twist Army, Zuo Zongtang realized that the Twist Army was not the tributary he imagined at all.

The morning before yesterday, when the battle with the Twist Army, Tanma suddenly reported that the Twist Army appeared on the back road. Zuo Zongtang didn't take it completely seriously, he ordered the troops to shrink temporarily, and tested the enemy's reality. But there were more and more twisted troops around, and by the night before yesterday, the Chu army was surrounded. There were twisted troops everywhere in all directions, and more importantly, there were cannons on all defensive positions of the twisted army. As soon as the Chu army sentry approached, the Twist Army opened fire violently with flowering shells.

At this time, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong were full of twist armies in activities, and all kinds of urgent letters for help were flying all over the sky, and Zuo Zongtang found that he was misled by this situation. He thought that the Twist Army was still making chaos everywhere, forcing the officers and troops to run for their lives, but he didn't expect that the overall strategy of the Twist Army was so clear that it was to annihilate his Zuo Zongtang's main force.

The Twist Army did not immediately launch a fierce attack at this time, but built an earthen fortress around the area where Zuo Zongtang was located. It is clear that it is a long-term siege. During the day, the Twist Army is constantly challenged, and at night, the Twist Army is crazy and harassed. In addition to the shelling, shouts of killing and the beating of gongs and drums sounded in all directions.

For two nights in a row, it was difficult for the Chu army to rest after being harassed. The soldiers may still be able to doze off regardless of it, but the officers must cheer up one by one, for fear that the Twist Army will really rob the camp in the middle of the night. So every eye is red.

Zuo Zongtang looked at his tired subordinates, and he decisively ordered: "Everyone take a rest this morning, finish eating at noon, and break through in the afternoon." ”

"Dashuai, where to break through?" The generals hurriedly asked.

"Momentum. Go to Jining. Zuo Zongtang replied. R1058