Han Xiufeng decided to go out of Sichuan, and the excerpt of the invitation to go to Liangjiang to quell the chaos had already been handed over, but he was not idle during the days of waiting for the edict.

If you can't even keep your hometown, it's better not to go out. Therefore, after going to the homes of Du San and Liu Cunhou, who had been martyred, to mourn their homes, they went to Jiangbei to meet Duan Dazhang, and after meeting Duan Dazhang, they returned to the city to visit Gong Ying, Yang Yiqing, Jiang Zonghai, Guan Yunzhong, the local gentry and the guest governors of the eight provinces, and then rushed to the Yangjiao camp again under the escort of Chen Zhankui, Chen Tianru and others, and summoned the supervisors and regiments of the regiments that were blocking at the junction of Chongqing and Guizhou in the name of supervising the regimental training in eastern Sichuan.

Just when he was about to go to Songkan to have a look, Pan Ercha sent the bad news that Xiang Rong, the minister of the Qin Mission, died of illness in the army, and the news that Shi Dakai led 30,000 bandits to invade Hubei!

Shi Dakai is one of the most brave and warlike generals in Changmao, and the counties of Sozhou that Jiangxi fell were all captured by Shi Dakai, and even besieged Zeng Guofan, who led Xiangyong to Jiangxi to help suppress, in Nanchang City, it is said that Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, and Hu Linyi, the governor of Hubei, have sent troops to rescue, and I don't know if Zeng Guofan can hold on until the reinforcements arrive.

Now that Shi Dakai has killed a horse pistol, Han Xiufeng is really worried that Hu Linyi, who is besieging Wuchang, will not be able to withstand it, if Shi Dakai and Wei Jun, the thief general who is guarding Wuchang, will give the officials and troops a combination like Qin Rigang and Changmao who is guarding Zhenjiang, then the situation in Hubei will become out of control like Jiangxi. If Changmao defeated the officials and troops around Wuchang and took advantage of the victory to trace the river to the west to attack Yichang, then eastern Sichuan and even the whole of Sichuan would not want to be as peaceful as it is now.

Han Xiufeng had never been so scared, he really felt that the building was about to fall, and he didn't dare to delay for a moment, and rushed back to Ba County non-stop to meet Wang Tingzhi of East Sichuan Province and Li Zhuang, the new prefect of Chongqing, and learned that the state capitals had just delivered 58,000 taels of military salaries from Hubei, and immediately took the initiative to ask Yingqin to lead more than 300 regiments of the Firearms Regiment of the Baojia Bureau, the Dizang Regiment, the Shilong Regiment, the Wenjing Regiment and the Jade Emperor Regiment to escort the silver to Wushan County under the rule of Kuizhou Prefecture.

At the junction of Wushan and Badong under the rule of Yichang Prefecture in Hubei Province, in order to transfer the food and salary urgently needed by the army, the Yichang prefect specially appointed an alternate magistrate to handle the handover at the junction of the two counties.

Han Xiufeng handed over the money to the Hubei officials and did not return to Ba County, but met with the local gentry and Huguang businessmen accompanied by the Tongzhi of Kuizhou and the county of Wushan, persuaded them to raise money, and organized a group training to prevent blockage. While waiting for the emperor's edict, he also sent people to inquire about the war situation in Hubei.

This time, I didn't bring my family, and I didn't even let Second Master Fei accompany him. There are only fourteen civil and military supervisors around him, including Liu Shanyang, Pan Er, Chen Zhankui, and Chen Tianru.

Liu Shanyang knew very well that Han Xiufeng did not plan to go back when he came out this time, if the emperor ordered him to return to Beijing, he would enter Hubei from here, and then enter Beijing through Henan and Zhili. If the emperor had ordered him to go to Liangjiang before, he would also set off from here and go to Yangzhou via Hubei, Henan, and Anhui.

But before that, we have to figure out the war in Hubei.

As more and more news became clear, the situation in Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi gradually became clearer, Liu Shanyang looked at the positions of the officers and troops marked on the map, and muttered: "At the moment of the great enemy, why is the more than 6,000 Eight Banners Green Battalion led by Xiling A guarding the north, and why is it that Shi Dakai has already killed Lujiagang and still does not move!" ”

Han Xiufeng raised his head and glanced at the map, and muttered, "If you guessed correctly, Xiling'a is here to prevent blockage, not to attack and suppress bandits." ”

Liu Shanyang asked puzzledly: "But Shi Dakai didn't go to the north, how can they prevent it in the north?" ”

"The emperor and the civil and military ministers of the court were bitten by snakes for ten years and were afraid of the well rope, and they were worried that Changmao would invade the north again, so they ordered Xi Ling'a to lead troops to block the road to the north of Changmao, Hubei, to invade Gyeonggi."

Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and then said: "But compared to when Xiang Shuai was not martyred, compared to Lord Zeng in Jiangxi, Hu Linyi's situation is much better, at least he is the acting governor, he can control the state capitals, and although the food and salary are tight, there is no need to rely on people." In addition, although the Green Battalion of the Eight Banners under Guan Wen and Xi Ling'a did not listen to him, they also helped to defend most of the places together with those regimental exercises in the locality, so it can be said that he and his Xiangyong are now fighting on the east and west fronts, but they are much more flexible than Zeng Daren, can maneuver guerrillas, and can even wait for work and deal with it calmly. ”

Looking at the map again, Liu Shanyang found that Hubei is really not the same as Jiangxi, at least only the provincial capital Wuchang and a few prefectures along the Yangtze River are fighting, although other places are more or less affected, but unlike Jiangxi, which is occupied by Shi Dakailian eight prefectures and more than 40 counties.

In other words, the battlefield is not very large.

Liu Shanyang pondered for a moment, and then asked: "Zhixing, as far as I know, Hu Linyi's official reputation is good, but in terms of military merits and prestige, he is far worse than Zeng Guofan, Tabuqi, Luo Zenan, Yang Zaifu, Peng Yulin and other Hunan army veterans, why did the emperor order him to act as the governor of Hubei at that time, and not to order Zeng Guofan, Tabuqi, Luo Zenan and others to act as the governor of Hubei?" ”

"The reason why Lord Zeng and they failed to be governors is mainly because many princes and ministers in the court are worried that the tail will not fall. As for why Hu Linyi was able to act, it was because Wen Zhongtang helped a lot. ”

"What is the relationship between Wenzhongtang and Hu Linyi?"

It is said that the Xiajiang (Jiangsu) in the paper was mistakenly written as Shangjiang (Anhui), which caused an uproar due to the inconsistency between the number of students and the number of students. Wen Zhongtang admired Hu Linyi's talent very much, and didn't want Hu Linyi to be implicated, so he took the initiative to shoulder all the blame, and Hu Linyi was only demoted one level to stay in office, so it can be said that they have shared hardships. ”

"I see, this is the first time I've heard of it."

Whether it is Wenzhongtang or Hu Linyi, Pan Er, who is busy sorting out the military situation these days, is too far away and too unattainable, put down an urgent report in his hand, raised his head and said: "Fourth brother, judging from the news I heard these days, Shi Dakai led his troops to attack Hubei last year, and there were 20,000 soldiers and horses at that time, and then he divided his troops twice to help Wei Jun, who was guarding Wuchang, and added up to four or five thousand soldiers, and when he returned to Jiangxi with one shot, there were only fifteen or six thousand men and horses left at most, according to the algorithm of long-haired 'two thousand five for ten thousand', in fact, there were only four or five thousand soldiers.

Relying on four or five thousand soldiers to attack the city and conquer the territory, sweeping most of Jiangxi, and now it is leaving tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to defend Jiangxi, and leading tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to attack Hubei. Even if you coerce the people, you can't coerce so much, which is faster than snowballing. It is reported that this time there are not only the 'Yellow Flag Army', but also the 'Citi Army', and I don't know how he came up with this 'Citi Army'. ”

Pan Er may not know if he asks other Han Xiufeng, but when he asks about Shi Dakai's "Citi Army", Han Xiufeng may know his origin better than Hu Linyi, who really fought with Shi Dakai.

He looked back at Pan Er and said lightly: "The reason why the Citigroup Army is called the Citigroup is not the Citigroup of the United States, but that there are too many colorful flags, which are dazzling, so it is called the Citigroup." ”

"There are too many flags, fourth brother, what do you mean by that?"

"The Citi Army is actually the chaos of the Heaven and Earth Association in Guangdong, they were originally 'eating at both ends' in Guangdong, they were group training on the surface, and they were traitors in secret, and even planned to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, Ye Mingchen and the previous two governors were blind, and they wanted to use them to deal with the foreigners and let them sit big, so that they were so bold that they besieged Guangzhou City."

Han Xiufeng paused, and then said: "The foreigners have long seen that they are not pleasing to the eye, so naturally they will not miss this opportunity, so they will help Ye Mingchen defeat them." They are different from Changmao, there are many Tangkou, no one is convinced of anyone, in the face of the official army encirclement and suppression of Guangdong, there is no way to stay, only a small part of them went to Guangxi with Li Wenmao, Chen Kai and other thieves, most of them entered the mountains by land, and then went north into Chenzhou, Guiyang, Chaling, Xingning and other places in Hunan, trying to get into trouble with the remnants of the Tiandihui in Hunan.

Hunan, you know, there are Zeng Guofan, Luo Bingzhang, Luo Zenan, Li Xubin and others, how can they have the opportunity to commit rebellion, in Hunan even heel unstable, just from last year through Chaling through Yongxin, Anfu, Fenyi, Wanzai and other places into Jiangxi, earlier than Shi Dakai entered Jiangxi. ”

"Fourth brother, are you saying that heaven and earth will be chaotic and the party will vote for long hair?" Pan Er asked in surprise.

Han Xiufeng said disdainfully: "If they really want to invest in long hair, then they can go north to Wuchang directly, and they don't need to go to Jiangxi at all." They are not the same way as Changmao, they have always been 'not surnamed Zhu is not called the emperor', and Hong Xiuquan is not only the king but also the self-proclaimed king; the only similarity is that the officers and soldiers call each other brothers, but who is the brother and who is the younger brother, the long hair is according to the rank of the official, and the heaven and earth will come according to the generation.

So they are just temporarily joining forces, just grabbing money, grain, and land together, I dare to conclude that Shi Dakai will not believe them, they are just using them, and they will not really listen to Shi Dakai's orders, after all, their set is all a lie in the eyes of Hong Xiuquan and Shi Dakai. ”

"So it's a rabble that is attacking Lujiagang?" Pan Er asked.

"Almost, as long as Hu Linyi gritted his teeth and resisted the long hair in Wuchang City, those Citi troops from Jiangxi really don't have to worry."

"Fourth brother, I said why are you so calm, it turns out that you already know the details of the tens of thousands of Citi troops!"

"What can I do if I don't calm down, in fact, I'm just talking on paper, Changmao should be inside and outside at this time, and the inside and outside will be attacked, Hu Linyi, Li Xubin, Jiang Yili and Bao Chao are suffering from the enemy at this time, it can be said that whether Lujiagang can hold directly determines the situation in Hubei, once Lujiagang is captured by Changmao, the Hubei official army will be as defeated as the official army in Jiangnan and Jiangbei."

Liu Shanyang couldn't help but ask: "Zhixing, what if Shi Dakai wins and Hu Linyi loses?" ”

Han Xiufeng had already prepared, and said without thinking: "If Hu Linyi is really defeated, we will hurry back to Fengjie and help the prefect of Kuizhou and Fengjie County defend the city." ”

"Why don't you call the group to rush to Yichang and help the Yichang prefect defend the city?" Liu Shanyang was confused.

"I want to summon the group to go, but you have also seen the local group brave, and it is not material to go into battle at all." Han Xiufeng pointed to the map, and then said: "Besides, Yichang is too far away from Ba County, and the food and salary cannot be helped. And Yichang is really not rich, and there are not so many soldiers who can't support them without so much food. It's different to return to Kuizhou, we are familiar with the place, not far from Ba County, the food can be helped, the time and place are favorable, and all the people are occupied, even if there are 10,000 or 20,000 long hairs, they can keep it for a year and a half! ”

"What should Wu County do?"

"I don't know if there is a county in Wu County, as a county parent, he has the responsibility to protect the land." Han Xiufeng raised his arm and pointed to the map again: "Changsheng, you look carefully, this time, or in the future, no matter who comes to attack my eastern Sichuan, as long as it is a large group of bandits, here, here, here, and here, all of them can be given to the bandits and let them go deep alone." ”

Seeing that Han Xiufeng had drawn a large piece and wanted to give up more than a dozen states and counties, Pan Er was taken aback.

Liu Shanyang stared at the map and pondered for a moment, and couldn't help laughing: "If you are willing to give it, how can you get it if you are not willing to give up?" Give up to the bandits where there are not many people and not much food, and see how far they can go if they can't loot much grain along the way. And let's wait for the work, and then give them a thunderous blow when they are exhausted from crossing the mountains and mountains! ”

Han Xiufeng continued: "What I said about giving up is not really giving up, when calling the group to bravely prevent and even counterattack in key places, we must also call on the young people along the way, especially the mountain people who are familiar with the mountains and rivers, to attack and disturb. Don't be tough, just get rid of their heavy grain and grass. ”

Pan Er reacted and hurriedly said, "Understood! ”

vertex