After the occupation of Zhenjiang, Lin Qirong, the commander of the Northern Expedition, asked He Beigou, the commander of the 6th Division, and Shi Zhenji, the commander of the 1st Yiyi Division, to the back hall of the Zhenjiang Prefect's Yamen to discuss the Northern Expedition. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Lin Qirong hung a march map on the beam and said: "After I captured Zhenjiang, the Qing demons no longer had troops in the south of the Yangtze River, and they all fled to the area of Yangzhou Mansion in Jiangbei. The current situation, Lin will tell you. According to the information provided by the Special Services Department and the Intelligence Department of the General Staff, the distribution of the demonic forces is like this! ”

Lin Qirong pointed to Yangzhou City on the map: "Previously, after Yiliang, the governor of Liangjiang, fled into Zhenjiang City, he didn't stay too long, and he directly led the three thousand Qing troops directly under the governor to flee into Yangzhou City. Coupled with Yangzhou's original Yangzhou co-defenders, there are a total of five to six thousand troops. ”

"Of course, the most Qing Demon troops are still in the Jiangbei camp in the south of Yangzhou City! The specific location is here, Qinjiaqiao to Xuejialou to the area of the Sanxia River, the Qing demon has nearly 20,000 troops in the camp in the north of the Yangtze River, and is currently led by the Qing demon's minister Tuo Ming'a, as well as the head of the Qing demon Jiangnan Governor and Chun, Huicheng, etc. ”

Lin Qirong pointed to Guazhou Town, which is across the river from Zhenjiang City, and said: "This place is called Guazhou. Lonely in the river, there is only one access road, there is a 5,000-strong Taiping army naval division guard, the main will be the original East King's cronies check Li Zhenhui, King Yi and Yang Fuqing Yang leader respectively wrote to him to persuade him to surrender, the spy of the secret service department came to report, Li Zhenhui has decided to defect to our holy country. Now, as soon as our army arrived, he led his men to respond. ”

Immediately afterwards, Lin Qirong pointed to the county town of Yizheng in the southwest of Yangzhou and on the edge of the Yangtze River, and said: "In Yizheng City here, Xu Zongyang, the deputy prime minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Lin Shaozhang, the deputy prime minister of the spring official, led nearly 20,000 Taiping soldiers to occupy and garrison. But after the Tianjing Incident, Xu Zongyang led 3,000 elites to Tianjing City to rescue King Qin, the Taiping soldiers of Yizheng because of the need to transfer food from Tianjing to Zhenjiang for transportation, and later Zhenjiang was occupied by the Qing demon sneak attack, the grain road was cut off, in desperation, Lin Shaozhang, the deputy prime minister of Chunguan, led the remaining more than 15,000 Taiping soldiers to the north bank of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, stationed in Yanziji and Jiangpu and other places, and defended Tianjing City. Therefore, this Yizheng City is now also occupied by the Qing Demons, and there are not many garrisons, only 2,000 people. ”

Shi Zhenji, the commander of the Yiyi Division, said: "Qi Shan, the minister of the Qing Demon, has built a huge fortification outside Yangzhou City, which is like a turtle, and it is difficult to attack. ”

Lin Qirong frowned, made a mark on the map with his hand, and said, "Not bad!" It's a solid earthen wall, and it's right here. ”

According to the information revealed by the secret service department to buy a general within the Qing army, it is said that the Qing army originally built a long wall from the new city of Yizheng in the west from the new city of Yizheng and the Shijia Bridge by the canal in the east of Yangzhou City in the east in order to prevent the Taiping army of Guazhou and Yizheng from advancing northward. Later, in order to attack Guazhou, in the south of the long wall, extending from Balipu to the east and west, an earthen wall was added, in fact, it was equivalent to enclosing the entire Jiangbei camp into two city walls. After the earthen wall was built, it stretched for more than 40 miles and was very solid. According to the secret agent, the Qing demon built more than 30 or 40 camps and forts along the earthen wall, all of which were garrisoned and heavily defended. ”

Lin Qirong finished introducing the information and let everyone talk about their opinions.

He Zhigou, the commander of the 6th Division, didn't have a particularly good idea, he just said: "The biggest threat is the Jiangbei camp." This time, the purpose of our Northern Expeditionary Army is to attract the Qing Demon forces and let them transfer troops from the Zhili area to come to the rescue. Therefore, it is necessary to break through the Jiangbei camp and eliminate this Qing Demon force. The Qing army was beaten to the heart, and the Qing demon chief would transfer his Jingshi Weirong troops from Zhili and other places to come to the rescue. ”

Shi Zhenji, the commander of the Yiyi Division, directly suggested: "Commander Lin, Commander He, look! The Qing Demon has been building a long wall for more than a year and has been holding on to it for more than a year. At the beginning, the commander of the Jiangbei battalion was Qi Shan, the minister of the Qing Demon, who was cautious and conservative, only defensive, and did not take the initiative to attack, but because of this, the fortifications built were very solid. Originally, when Zhenji was in the Taiping army, he had also heard that the Taiping army of Zhenjiang and Yizheng sent by the Eastern King attacked the Jiangbei camp several times, but failed to break through. Therefore, this Jiangbei camp can be described as tightly defended, and it may be difficult to attack this long wall. ”

"However, last month, the original Qing Demon Minister Qi Shan died of illness, and the new Minister of the Qin Mission, Tuo Ming'a, was reckless and unwilling to hold the camp, which is why the Qing army would take the risk of attacking Zhenjiang City, and he actually succeeded. This time, Zhenjiang was captured by my captive army, and the demon head Tuo Ming'a must be unwilling. Therefore, Shi believes that the key to breaking through the Jiangbei camp in this battle is not to attack the camp, but to lure out the Qing demon hiding behind the camp! ”

Shi Zhenji's words made Lin Qirong's expression move.

He looked at the map, his eyes lit up, and he slapped the table and said, "What Master Shi said is very true!" Lin had already thought of a way to let the Qing Demon get out of the Jiangbei camp by himself! ”

He pointed to Yangzhou City and said, "The defenders in Yangzhou City are only five or six thousand, if we avoid the forty-mile long wall of the Jiangbei camp." Go around to the back and attack Yangzhou directly, and the defense line of the Jiangbei camp of the Qing Demon will be useless. ”

Lin Qirong's words aroused everyone's attention and set their eyes on the map!

"Just, where do you get around?" Lin Qirong pointed to the Yizheng in the west of Yangzhou City, and then looked at Jiangdu Town in the east of Yangzhou City, and pondered.

He said suddenly: "Senior Master Lin, are we too cautious?" Division Commander Shi said that the Taiping army attacked the Jiangbei camp several times, but it was blocked by the camp and forts in the long wall, and could not attack it. That's because the Taiping army didn't have much heavy artillery. But our army is different, didn't the 3rd Division of the B Division divide ten 32-pound retractable smoothbore guns? Our B6th Division also has eight such heavy guns, which can completely collapse the long wall in one fell swoop and rush into it. ”

Shi Zhenji's face changed, and he said: "Division Commander He, Shi wants to remind that the Taiping Army also used a lot of artillery at the beginning, but it was still not enough to collapse the long wall. ”

Lin Qirong said: "Senior Commander Shi, I'm afraid you haven't seen our 32-pound retreating smoothbore gun, its power is huge, and the hit is extremely high. Lin felt that what Master He said was reasonable. In this way, Division Commander Shi, Division Commander He, and the two of you will lead the Yi 1st Division and the B 6th Division respectively, and I will send you four 32-pound retreat smoothbore guns, so that you can bombard the long wall from the front and defeat the Jiangbei camp of the Qing Demon. I led the 3rd Division, together with the Guazhou Taiping Army Naval Division and the 10th Division, to take a detour by waterway to occupy Jiangdu first, and then cross the river to bypass the Jiangbei camp and attack Yangzhou City directly. ”

After the discussion was decided, Lin Qirong announced that the troops would act according to the order.

The next day, in addition to the Zhenjiang boundary, the Taiping army across the Yangtze River and Guazhou was already on the river under the leadership of Li Zhenhui. The two armies joined forces in one place, and rushed to the other side of the Yangtze River.

It took three rounds of ships to send the 6th Division and the 1st Division across the river. Then, the 10th Division and Li Zhenhui's Sailor Division reluctantly escorted the 3rd Division and made a detour to the east, but the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and took the Shanyang River waterway instead to Jiangdu.

More than 20,000 people, including the 6th Division and the 1st Yi Division, went ashore, only to find that the north bank of the Yangtze River was full of ditches, soft mud in the fields and water, and it was difficult to transport heavy artillery.

He Zhigou's face changed, and he finally understood what Shi Zhenji said, why the Taiping army couldn't capture the Jiangbei camp of the Qing army at the beginning.

Heavy artillery is difficult to do. With the technology of the Taiping Army, the heavy artillery cast must be thousands of catties, how can it be transported in such a place? Except for the ships. The battery of the Baiqing Army in the canal is occupied, and it is impossible to drive into the canal, how can the heavy artillery be transported to the long wall?

How can we only rely on manpower to transport some light artillery, but how can we break through a solid and thick earthen wall?

Fortunately, the 32-pound retractable smoothbore gun produced in Prussia was not too heavy, and it had an iron wheel to roll.

He ordered the people to use the most stupid method to dismantle the planks of the ship, lay them on the soft mud one after another, and put the smoothbore guns on the planks, and dozens of people pulled forward, and finally moved slowly.

Shi Zhenji kept staring at the twelve heavy cannons, thinking about the power of the artillery he bought from the foreigners.

From the Guazhou on the Yangtze River to the first fortification wall in the Jiangbei camp, it is exactly eight miles, which is also the origin of the name of Balipu.

And on this eight-mile road, in order to transport twelve heavy guns to bombard the fortification wall, it took a day and a half for the 6th Division and the 1st Division of the Righteousness.

In the evening, as 22,000 soldiers finally arrived two miles beyond the fortification wall, the flames of war were officially ignited.