"What a big lake"

Standing on the shore of the lake, Monk Lingqin let out the same exclamation: "I heard that the red thief has come? ”

One of the Eight Banners officer replied, "Just a dozen miles to the south, the horse team has already made contact with them."

He added: "It is the most elite dragon lance among the red thieves, about three or four thousand people, Monk King, you should be careful"

"You should be careful" The monk nodded and said, "We have suffered such a big loss in Jiande, can we be careful"

Speaking of which, the attack of Yanzhou Mansion failed, but the monk lost confidence in the ability of his troops to attack fortifications, there were more than 10,000 people, and the horses and steps were all elite, but in the face of the defense line of hundreds of red thieves, the result was a hard battle, and not even a single hair of the red thief was touched

It was based on such a failure that Monk Lingqin made the decision to destroy the enemy in the field, and he felt that his cavalry was reliable, and there was absolutely no problem

Fighting their cavalry on a plain like Sunan is something that idiots can do, but Red Thief and Liu Jiehu are now behaving like idiots

He said: "Let Ming Antai, who lured the enemy in front, slow down as much as possible, and don't beat the red thief away."

The reason why Ming Antai was chosen was not because he could fight, but because among the Qing troops in the Jiangnan camp, Ming Antai was famous for not being able to fight, so it was most suitable for him to lead the red thief into the encirclement of the party

However, Shengbao thought simply: "Monk King, why do you think so highly of the red thief, the red thief went north to Changzhou this time, but it is just a dragon spear, and what can be used to the west of this lake is at most just a group of people, and a group of people, more than 2,000 people"

He was well aware of the establishment of the Hong Army, but in terms of the strength of the army, he and the monk king made a fatal mistake, and now it is not an infantry regiment of more than 2,000 people or a reinforced regiment of 3,000 or 4,000 people advancing along the north of the lake, but the main force of the entire first division is here with a total strength of nearly 8,000 people

However, in terms of troops, the Qing army's strength still occupies an absolute advantage, although some Qing troops did not rush to the battlefield, but the total strength of the Qing army on the battlefield still exceeded 25,000 people, which is three times the strength of the Hong army

However, the monk king smiled: "Shenggong Bao, you are too optimistic, too optimistic, there are a group of red thieves, often accompanied by artillery, baggage, and cavalry, with a total strength of no less than three or four thousand, let's be careful this time."

However, he also estimated that the strength of the Rainbow Army in the battle was too small

"With 30,000 to 3,000, how can you have a chance of winning" It was Jiangnan Admiral He Chun who spoke, and he said: "Ten times the number of soldiers, it's a field battle again"

It's just that the next moment he scolded: "Ming Antai, this bastard, what a bastard"

But Ming Antai is full of honors and nobles like him, and it is natural that he can't fight, but even so, the scene in front of him fully shows one thing, that is, Ming Antai turned the lure of the enemy into a big collapse

The 500 soldiers under his command have been routed on all fronts

……

The 500 soldiers who fought against Ming Antai were the 2nd Company of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment, and the commander of this company was the 2nd Company of the Dragon Lance - nominally, second only to the 1st Company of the Dragon Lance

In the company, the core cadres of Xianfeng's four years to participate in the Hongjun Army and three veterans before entering Taizhou have more than 20 backbones, and the remaining personnel have nearly 100 veterans of Xianfeng for five years, and Xianfeng's soldiers for six years are only more than 30 people, and recently four old backbones from the Taiping Army have been added

As for the weapons, needless to say, the whole army was already fully equipped with Mini rifles, and with them were two mountain howitzers and other reinforced units, and the actual personnel of this vanguard company reached 200

Therefore, this company and Ming Antai's army exchanged fire, and the first time I saw that Ming Antai's side had not even approached the Hongjun Hongjun's side with guns and cannons, and it was a well-known preparation, and it knocked down twenty or thirty people of Ming'antai's army at once, in this case, Ming Antai barely supported for a minute or two, and then he could only collapse on the whole line

If he doesn't withdraw, he can't do it, and if he doesn't withdraw, this is not to lure the enemy, but to directly trap the entire battalion and send it to the Hongjun to eat in vain

But the result of Ming Antai's insistence on the spot was that the entire first battalion of the first regiment was attracted by this dense gunfire, and a company felt that it was difficult to parry, not to mention that the entire infantry battalion was thrown into battle, and Ming Antai had lost one-third of his soldiers in an instant, and could only flee backwards in embarrassment

And now the company commander of the second company, a veteran cadre who has participated in Xianfeng for four years, has stood at the forefront of the team: "Brothers, follow me"

He knew that there must be a brigade of the Qing army in front of him, but he also believed in his infantry company, and believed that the dragon spear battalion would not let him face the offensive of the Qing army with a single company

And at this moment, the monk king saw that the Ming Antai army had been defeated, and even the Ming Antai on the horse couldn't contain his troops, so he immediately shouted: "Hechun, Hechun, you let the infantry team below rush up to block it, otherwise our horse team will use it to rush so many hundred people, it's too wasteful."

"Okay" Hechun, the governor of Jiangnan, although he is a man, is also a general army, and he knows that it will not work like this: "Hu Songlin, I'll leave it to you"

It's just that Seng Lingqin saw the scene in front of him, but he smiled bitterly: "Now Yixing and Luyang are all occupied by red thieves, although there are only hundreds of people defending the city, but it is not easy to deal with, even if he wins today, he may not be able to hurt the foundation of the red thief, and Guan Jian has to look at the two provinces of Anhui and Zhen."

……

Luzhou, Anhui

The city of Luzhou had a special significance in the Taiping War, and his repeated changes of hands many times showed who controlled the city and who controlled the initiative in the Anhui battlefield

And now the owner of this city is Anhui Governor Fuji, his station was originally in Anqing, but this Anhui provincial city has long been controlled by the Taiping army, and even this Luzhou city is Xianfeng five years and October to recover it with great difficulty

He is not a strong commander, Zhang Guoliang, a general, can criticize him for "too deep power", it can be seen that the problem is this, on the one hand, he does not have his own descendant army, so he can only rely on his soldiers and horses, but on the other hand, he walks a tightrope between his subordinates to play balance and mutual restraint, although it is relatively successful, but this hand is only for his own people, not for the Taiping army, so that his situation in Anhui has not changed much

And today he had already obtained the letter from Monk Greenqin, and after reading it a few times, he finally had a little determination, and he said to one of the civil officials under his account: "Can you edit Li Hongzhang?" ”

"Students In"

It was Li Hongzhang who spoke, he was a student of Fu Ji, but he miraculously escaped several times in the past two years, which made Fu Ji deeply suspicious of his own student

You must know that Lu Xianji was killed alive by this Li Shaoquan, but Li Hongzhang faced the defeat of the whole army three or four times in a row, everyone else died, but he Li Hongzhang survived without a single hair, which is not just described as luck

Therefore, he is willing to take special care of this student: "Shaoquan, the monk king sent a letter in Danyang to ask for help, now the red thief is running north to Suchang, the monk king and the Jiangnan battalion are already more than willing to deal with the Tianjing Yue bandits, don't mention the red thief brave, he is really unable to deal with it, he specially asked Benfu for help, you have repeatedly made meritorious contributions to the editor......

As soon as Li Hongzhang heard what Fuji meant, it was to let him lead the army to aid the Soviet Union, and immediately knelt down: "I don't want to leave the teacher's earnest teaching, the teacher ......."

Speaking of which, he does have some special feelings for Fuji, the teacher, after Fuji lost power, Li Hongzhang repeatedly defended Fuji, but what he learned from this teacher was only scheming and trickery, and Li Hongzhang's limited pattern in the future also originated here

But Fuji single-mindedly pushed this student out: "Shaoquan, although you and I are teachers and students, the truth is the same as father and son, today Jiangsu and Zhejiang are in trouble, as the governor of Anhui, I have to send troops to rescue, think about it, only you are the most trustworthy"

Fu Ji wore such a high hat, Li Hongzhang had to ask: "Teacher, I don't know which team is under my command and went to the Soviet Union to rescue together."

Fuji had already calculated: "You have a deep friendship with the Hefei militia group, and you are very effective in commanding the group in peacetime, you can choose its elite among the Hefei militia group, and take a foreign steamer to help Su Chang, presumably the Jinling thieves will not dare to stop it."

As soon as Li Hongzhang heard this, he already knew Fuji's intentions, but he also knew that he was usually too deeply involved with the militia in his hometown, so that it aroused the suspicion of this Fuji Fuzhongcheng, so he could only make one request: "Teacher, there is naturally no problem with the Hefei militia group, I will definitely be able to attract hundreds of 11,000 people when I go, but this military salary?" ”

"Before entering the Soviet Union, I will find a way for you, but you have to set off quickly"

Fuji naturally didn't want to see Li Hongzhang's tail drop: "Where are you going to go to support?" ”

Li Hongzhang immediately replied: "Now Jiangsu is a province, and the most urgent one should be Songjiang Mansion."

Songjiang Mansion is Shanghai

……

Nanchang, Jiangxi

Zeng Guofan was in a good mood: "Liu Changyou's victory has greatly reduced the spirit of the red thief in one fell swoop, and it is really fortunate that Wuchang Keke is added"

Zhao Liewen didn't see it that way: "Liu Junmen's victory, although it is enough to boost my morale and thwart the red thief, but now Jiangxi is still in danger, Wei Twelve will not retreat from Wuchang, Hurun will not return to Hubei Province one day, and Jiujiang will strangle the Yangtze River, and my water division will divide the inner and outer lakes, if the red thief increases the troops in Jiangxi, the consequences will be unimaginable......"

Wei 12 is Wei Jun, he is Wei Huichang's younger brother, although Wei Huichang is now executed, but as a Wuchang guard, he still sticks to Wuchang with Wei 14 and does not retreat, Hu Linyi tried all kinds of things to do, but after a few months, Wuchang is still standing on the Yangtze River

If Wuchang is not down, Hubei will not be able to fully support Jiangxi, and with the strength of Jiangxi Province, it can barely reach a draw with the Hong Army now, but Zeng Guofan smiled and said: "Zuo Ji is highly talented, and he has already thought of a good way, which will definitely make Liu Jiehu stop fighting Su Chang."