On February 11, 1854, 8o miles south of Dongchang City, outside Zhangqiu Town.

Wen Yuewei grabbed the reins with her left hand, and the jujube red horse under her crotch was running vigorously at this time, and suddenly began to decrease, and the horses were not so obedient. The winter north of the Yellow River is much colder than that south of the Huai River, and if you have to let the horses stop at this time, in this cold weather, the horses that are running sweaty will only be stimulated.

Thinking of this, Wen Yuewei had no intention of stopping, she let the horse lower the degree by herself. Although there were still some bumps on the horse, Wen Yuewei's right hand swung the single knife very smoothly in the air, shook off the blood stains on the single knife, and then inserted the single knife back into the scabbard behind her waist.

The fields of cold winter were already full of corpses, and these people were not wearing the clothes of the officers and soldiers, but they just had weapons in their hands. Wen Yuewei's family also received people from the Manchu Qing Dynasty who came to lobby, and knew that these people should be what the lobbyists said at that time were "group exercises".

At that time, after much deliberation, the Wen family finally decided to defect to the Taiping army. Now that we see it, it was right to reject the choice of the imperial court. If the Wen family had fought with Weez's forces, they would have ended no better than the slain regiments.

The tactics of the Taiping army were very simple, after receiving the news that the enemy was coming, the infantry and artillery met the enemy head-on. With a single burst of artillery and gunfire, the enemy on the opposite side of the Taiping army collapsed, and then the cavalry behind the infantry was released to chase and kill.

Wei Ze, the king of Qi of the Taiping army, was very righteous, and the money, goods and cold weapons obtained in the pursuit were handed over to the Twist army, and the gunpowder and muskets were received by the Taiping army. Of course, the Twist Army also needed muskets, but Wei Ze only used the cavalry of the Twist Army, and the cavalry could not use muskets when charging. In the end, everyone reached an agreement. Wei Ze got seven, and the twist army got three.

There are more than 200 cavalry directly under Wen Yuewei, and more than 200 scattered cavalry attached to Wen Yuewei. The total number of cavalry she could command was more than five hundred. It ranked second among the more than 30 twisted army teams that participated in the Northern Expedition. The larger the number of troops, the more benefits they will naturally get from cleaning up the battlefield and collecting loot.

For example, Wen Yuewei's troops all tied a red cloth belt around their left arm, and the cavalrymen with this mark had already encircled a large part of the battlefield, some were in charge of guarding, and some had jumped off their horses and began to search for money and belongings from corpses. From time to time, there were screams, which were the screams of those unlucky regiments when the Twist Army executed those undead regiments on the battlefield.

Finally restraining the horses, Wen Yuewei pulled the reins, the horses circled in place, Wen Yuewei shouted to the soldiers who followed behind: "Let the leaders rush over and arrange the manpower of the reconnaissance force." ”

In a joint battle, one of the obligations of the Twist Army was to send a certain number of cavalry to scout with the cavalry of the Taiping Army. This request was not resisted, and those who dared to come out to fight knew what would happen if they were not prepared properly and were kicked by the enemy. Because the Taiping army had few horses, this was the only thing in all the conquests that allowed the Twist army to contribute more. Wen Yuewei didn't think there was anything wrong with doing this.

"Chief of the General Staff, this time there are only four teams left in the Twist Army that came to take the initiative to participate in the investigation according to the negotiated system." Trusted Operations Chief of Staff Nguyen Hee Ho reported to Wei Ze.

"These four teams are the four largest in the Twist Army, right?" Weeser asked.

Ruan Xihao nodded, "Yes, they are the four largest in the Twist Army, and they also get the most loot each time. The four teams combined had more than 18oo cavalry. ”

"It's good to have a more reliable 18oo cavalry, and with them in charge of chasing and killing, we should be able to rest assured." Weser laughed.

Ruan Xihao was not as optimistic as Wei Ze, and he said with obvious concern: "Chief of General Staff, wouldn't it be better if we bypassed Linqing and went straight to Fucheng now, and joined the Northern Expeditionary Army in Fucheng." Why did you take Linqing? ”

Wei Ze pointed to the map and said: "Linqing is a good place, even if some brothers are left to guard this place, we can be regarded as having a stronghold." At that time, I went to Fucheng to pick up my brothers back, and my heart was much more steady. ”

"Is it just a field battle between Linqing and the Qing army?" Wei Changrong said with a slight frown.

Wei Ze said with a smile: "Fighting on the inside line has the advantage of fighting on the inside line, and fighting on the outside line has the advantage of fighting on the outside line. But in the final analysis, there is only one thing, and that is to know oneself and know that the other is invincible. ”

On the evening of February 11, Shanlu, the general of Suiyuan, who was preparing to defend against Wei Ze's siege in Dongchang City, received the news that more than 2,000 regiments had been annihilated in Zhangqiu Town. At this time, there were only 3ooo soldiers and horses in Dongchang City, and this regimental training was a force that Shanlu attached great importance to.

On 13 February, Wei Ze sent troops along both sides of the canal to attack other county towns and capture Guanxian. Wei Ze avoided the county seat and went straight to Linqing, and on February 16, the brigade arrived at Liguanzhuang, which was 25 miles away from Linqing City.

The Qing army was extremely twilight at this time, and the civilian and military generals only wanted to be able to hold on. In the face of the Taiping Army's armed forces that were striving to attack, Suiyuan General Shanlu felt that he was going to be driven crazy by this series of bad news. However, in addition to the pressure created by the Taiping army on Shanlu, Emperor Xianfeng issued a holy decree to dismiss Shanlu from his post, but remained at the front line. Shanlu understands very well that if he has no credit in the future, any dissatisfaction of the emperor will completely ruin Shanlu's future.

At this time, all official documents are official documents asking for help, and if they can "safely approach" the Cantonese bandits, they will be considered meritorious service. After some careful selection, Shanlu chose to march into Jiaozhuang in the southeast of Linqing.

On February 18, Shanlu led the 3ooo troops to Jiaozhuang. This area is basically a plain area, Shanlu has something in his heart, and he doesn't speak when he marches. At noon, a soldier suddenly rose up to report that a large number of signs of the enemy appeared diagonally behind.

"Huh?" Shanlu didn't immediately understand what he meant.

"General! There were thousands of horses behind us, and more than 1,000 horses in front. It's up to you how to respond! The soldier said respectfully. In fact, according to normal speaking, Shanlu who was dismissed is no longer a general. But the pro-soldiers didn't care about it.

The soldiers don't care, but Shanlu cares very much. Knowing that there were troops of the Taiping Army in front of and behind, Shanlu's first thought was to run away immediately. But he remembered his current identity, a general who had been dismissed and retained. Although Emperor Xianfeng was young, he was able to grasp the key points in the government. For example, Xianfeng reprimanded Shanlu for the crime of not being able to prevent thieves from crossing the river and not being able to fight with thieves.

Of course he can run now, but before this trip, in order to prove to Emperor Xianfeng that he was not a wreck, Shanlu not only apologized for his crimes, but also told Emperor Xianfeng that he had sent troops to Jiaozhuang. Now that the words have been spoken, if Xianfeng knows that Shanlu knows that he will flee immediately when he sees the enemy, there is no need to think about the result.

With this in mind, Shanlu decided to take a gamble. Although the Taiping army claimed to be good at fighting, it was fifty or sixty miles from Li Guanzhuang, where they were stationed, to Shanlu. People say that a hundred miles will be on the * general, and the Taiping army should have consumed a lot of body along the way. And Shanlu's troops dragged on the march, everyone was afraid of hardship and tiredness, and the body should be consumed relatively little.

"Line up! Meet the enemy! Shanroku gave the order.

On February 2o, the head of Linqing City. Zhizhou Zhang Jigong saw that several high poles were erected under the city, and a few people were hung on them. On the pole hung several large cloth banners with the inscription "The Human Head of Zenroku". These words are written very much, and they are clearly visible at dozens of paces. This frightened Zhang Jigong. The troops in the Linqing City he defended were already small, and now if the Suiyuan general Shanlu was really killed, the reinforcements in the vicinity would become even fewer.

"Quick! Bring pen and ink, I'll write a paper for help now! Zhang Jigong shouted.

There are more than a dozen copies of the distress documents, and the objects are not only the governor of Shandong, but also the documents to the governor of Zhili and the Ministry of War.

On February 22, a document came into the city, and Zhang Jigong was moved to almost cry when he saw the news that Shengbao had brought 8ooo soldiers and horses to help.

Almost at the same time, the Northern Expeditionary Army, which had been encamped near Tianjin, also received Wei Ze's paperwork.

Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and Ji Wenyuan were stationed in Jinghai and Duliu Town near Tianjin, Wei Ze's documents were not polite, in the official document, Wei Ze first informed the three prime ministers that now Wei Ze is already the king of Qi in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and there is an obvious gap between the two sides in their positions. Although the three of them were the main generals of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Wei Ze was a reinforcement. However, now on the overall battlefield, Wei Ze asked the three prime ministers to obey Wei Ze's command.

It was the first time that the three of them learned the news of Wei Ze's promotion to King of Qi, although it was thousands of miles away from Nanjing, there was no way to verify it. But Wei Ze dared to say that, and it wouldn't be a lie. The three of them immediately had some arguments about whether or not to obey Weese's command.

Lin Fengxiang felt that since the situation had reached the current point, he might as well follow Wei Ze's orders. Ji Wenyuan supported Lin Fengxiang's view, while Li Kaifang was puzzled as to why Wei Ze was in such a hurry to ask for command. The three of them didn't want to argue, so they continued to read around Wei Ze's official document.

Wei Ze's strategy was to try to converge in Fucheng as much as possible, and immediately after the convergence, they went south. To Lin Fengxiang's surprise, Wei Ze actually asked Lin Fengxiang's troops to prepare for a breakthrough, but they did not move first. Wei Ze's troops will try their best to rely on their own forces to solve the Qing army and fight to Fucheng. By that time, the forces on both sides were very close to each other, and the efficiency of the breakthrough was greatly improved.

Wei Ze repeatedly stressed that at this stage, Lin Fengxiang's subordinates tried not to let the Qing army see any signs of breaking through. In particular, don't attack Fucheng and wait for Wei Ze's next order.

After reading the order, Lin Fengxiang smiled, "Brother Wei still does things like this, if he can bear more, he won't let other brothers work hard." ”

Li Kaifang didn't appreciate Wei Ze's plan, he frowned and said: "It's a little strange for Brother Wei to do this, if it is according to his plan, I just have to wait for Brother Wei to call." Can he do it? ”

Li Kaifang knew that Wei Ze's troops were good at positional warfare and hard battles. In the Taiping Army, there was a person who fought like Wei Ze, or there was once a person, that was Xiao Chaogui, the king of the West. As Xiao Chaogui's subordinate, Li Kaifang knows very well that since Xiao Chaogui died in battle, no one is willing to take the initiative to fight a tough battle. Even Xiao Chaogui's right-hand men Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang refused to fight a tough battle.

Lin Fengxiang looked at Ji Wenyuan and then at Li Kaifang. There was longing and anxiety in Ji Wenyuan's eyes, and on the whole, he hoped to break through as much as possible. And Li Kaifang also wants to break through, but he is very worried about Wei Ze's ability. Any mistake at this stage will lead to a very bad result.

"If we stay where we are, according to Brother Wei, we won't lose any soldiers and horses." Lin Fengxiang said. At this time, the Taiping army had been holding on to Jinghai and Duliu Town for more than two months, in addition to a large number of trenches and traps, Lin Fengxiang and others built long earthen walls in two places, and built firing ports with bricks and stones on the earthen walls. The Qing army had little defense against the city wall, and the Taiping army could stand upright behind the earthen wall, reload the arquebus as quickly as possible, and shoot in a comfortable position.

Of course, Li Kaifang knew that what Lin Fengxiang said was right, but he still couldn't believe Wei Ze's construction. According to what is said in the official document, Wei Ze has the ability to break through all the obstacles of the Qing army all the way by himself, and kill all the way to the city of Tianjing. If this is the case, Wei Ze, Lin Fengxiang and others will have at least thirty or forty thousand troops after joining forces. It is not inconceivable for such a force to capture Tianjin, or even Beijing. Why was Weese's plan to retreat immediately?

"We are ordered by the king of the east to make a northern expedition to Beijing. At present, the Northern Expedition has not yet been won, and the king of the east has not issued an order, why should we retreat? Li Kaifang finally couldn't help but ask loudly.

Lin Fengxiang frowned, and he sighed before he said, "Because Brother Wei is now the king!" As the King of Qi, of course he can command us and others! ”

Lin Fengxiang originally thought that Wei Ze had made it clear that he was the king of Qi at the beginning of the official document, so it was a kind of show to get the command of the whole army. Looking at it now, Wei Ze really grasped the current contradictions. Lin Fengxiang already knew that things could not be done, and agreed with the necessity of retreat. But Li Kaifang obviously felt that as long as he could get assistance, the Northern Expedition would be able to continue. And Weeser undoubtedly thought it was necessary to retreat immediately.

Looking at Li Kaifang's unconvinced appearance, Lin Fengxiang said: "I'll hold on first, and wait for Brother Wei to come." ”

Wei Ze didn't care about Li Kaifang's thoughts, and in the future strategic exhibition, Wei Ze did not expect any cooperation from the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition near Tianjin. Although Wei Ze knew that this army was the absolute elite of the Taiping army, if Wei Ze's troops had traveled thousands of miles and had been besieged for two months, there would probably be no way to continue to maintain strict discipline and morale. Of course, Weeser didn't think he would send a force out thousands of miles without a rear. This is a very ludicrous choice in strategy.

The information about the Northern Expeditionary Army was obtained by Wei Ze from the Suiyuan general Shanlu. Shanroku's men also had 3ooo soldiers and horses, but when Wei Ze's 3,000 infantry and the Twist army arrived at the position on horses and mules, the end of Shanlu had arrived.

Wesser's troops lined up in a large column with no depth, and Shanlu could theoretically make countless gaps in this column. But in the whole hour of fighting, Shanlu exhausted the cavalry and infantry, but failed to break through the ranks of Weze's troops, which consisted of five platoons of men.

While Shanlu was dying, Wei Ze's troops outflanked him from two directions, and the infantry actually completed the encirclement of Shanlu's troops. Wei Ze naturally did not surround him, leaving a gap. Faced with such a simple tactic of encircling three and missing one, Shanlu still chose to escape from the gap on that side. As a result, the exhausted Shanlu troops were completely annihilated by Weze's cavalry.

Shanlu honestly chose to surrender, and when Wei Ze asked about the latest information of the Qing army, Shanlu knew everything. The high evaluation of the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Taiping Army is the words of Seng Lingqin relayed by Shanlu. Wei Ze didn't have a good impression of Manchu, and after asking questions, he beheaded Shanlu.

At this time, the Northern Expeditionary Force of the Taiping Army was mainly besieged by two Qing armies, one was the cavalry unit of Seng Lingqin, which was mainly active in Zhili. There were also many cavalry in Katsubo's troops, but they were mainly infantry. The General Staff finally judged that Shengbao's troops were likely to be Qing troops who had come to reinforce Linqing. Of course, in response to the support of Seng Greenqing, the General Staff Headquarters also formulated some corresponding operational plans.

In the end, it was determined that it was Shengbao who came to help, and Wei Ze was overjoyed. Although the cavalry under his command lacked combat effectiveness, the Twist Army also had a solid 5,000 men fighting under Wei Ze. The two sides have fought more than a dozen battles along the way, and even if the cooperation is not seamless, at least there will be no trouble.

The main force of Shengbao's troops is infantry, and the main force of Weizer's troops is also infantry, and this is where Weze's opportunity lies.

On 25 February, Shengbao's forces approached Linqing. Tanma came to report that on the nearby plain, a group of about 6,000 Cantonese bandits lined up and waited. Their position was stuck on the main road, and unless Katsubo chose to turn and take other roads, he would have to engage the Cantonese bandits' troops head-on

"Do they have any other ambushes?" Sheng Bao heard that the Taiping army had 20,000 people, and it would be terrible if he suddenly rushed out of another Taiping army from other places while he was fighting with these 6,000 Cantonese bandits.

Katsuho is a banner man, and his own soldiers are his family's minions, so he replied very quickly, "The minions didn't see any ambushes." It's all flat land here, and you can see far away at a glance, and the minions specially ran to the high places to see, there are about 4,000 Cantonese bandit infantry, and there are about 2,000 cavalry. Just swing out on the main road. ”

Katsuho is a banner man, and his own soldiers are his family's minions, so he replied very quickly, "The minions didn't see any ambushes." It's all flat land here, and you can see far away at a glance, and the minions specially ran to the high places to see, there are about 4,000 Cantonese bandit infantry, and there are about 2,000 cavalry. Just swing out on the main road. ”rg

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