Most of the seizures and donations from a group of squires were packed, and a fast boat was sent back to Changsha via Yiyang, and then Guo Kuntao, who was sent to Changsha to serve as the prefect, organized people to transport valuable silver to Guangzhou. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Chen Yucheng and Liang Litai did not stop, and after waiting for the 20,000 soldiers of the 3rd and 4th Divisions to rest and recuperate, they immediately set out for the expedition and directly entered the public security county border of Jingzhou Prefecture.

As for the adjacent counties of Anfu, Shimen, Cili and other counties, a part of the Seventh Division of the First Division had already gone to occupy them.

In late December, although the weather was bitterly cold, it could not cool down the enthusiastic and enterprising hearts of the officers and men of the 3rd and 4th Divisions.

Just as Chen Yucheng and Liang Litai were preparing to lead their army to take Jingzhou City in Jiangling, a secret report came:

The Taiping Army's Western Expeditionary Army temporarily changed generals, and Wei Changhui, the king of the North, was transferred back to Tianjing, and Zeng Shuiyuan, the prime minister of Tianguan who took over the affairs of the Western Expedition, led his troops to Anqing before arriving in Anqing.

Seeing that the main general of the Taiping Army of the Western Expedition had changed, and there was a lack of unified command, the Qing demon took the initiative to attack Shi Xiangzhen, the emperor of Huangzhou, who had already captured and garrisoned.

Wu Wenrong, the governor of Huguang, personally led 7,000 Qing troops into the blockade in the north of Huangzhou, and ordered Tang Shuyi, the new commander of the Mubei Naval Division, to lead the naval division to guard the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and prepare to capture Huangzhou.

When Shi Xiangzhen heard the news, he hurriedly asked for help from Zeng Tianyang, Tang Zhengcai, and Guozong Wei Jun, who occupied and garrisoned Jiujiang.

Zeng Tian raised 2,000 soldiers to garrison Jiujiang, personally led 10,000 soldiers, and led 5,000 troops with Wei Jun along both sides of the Yangtze River to support Huangzhou. And Tang Zhengcai led tens of thousands of sailors to go up the Yangtze River to Wuchang.

At this time, heavy snow fell from the sky, and the Qing troops stationed in the blockade city were affected by the wind and snow, unable to march, and their morale was low. And it was very close to Huangzhou, and Wei Jun, who had already arrived, led 5,000 Taiping troops to secretly go around to the Qing army camp and lay in an ambush, and the Qing army was unaware.

The next day, more than 4,000 Taiping troops in Huangzhou City, under the leadership of Guozong Shi Xiangzhen, all attacked, and took the initiative to storm the Qing army from the front. At the same time, Wei Jun led the 5,000 Taiping troops in ambush to attack together, setting fire to the Qing army camp from behind.

The main force of the Qing army was attacked by the enemy before and after, and they fled one after another, Wu Wenrong, the governor of Huguang, and Deliang, the chief soldier, were killed, and Cai Runshen, the prefect of Huangzhou, was captured. Seeing that the Lu division was destroyed, Tang Shuyi, the commander of the Mubei Naval Division, hurriedly led the naval division to flee to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

After the Taiping army won a great victory in Huangzhou, they took advantage of the situation to launch an attack along the Yangtze River, and arrived in Hankou and Hanyang at the end of December, and soon captured both places, and besieged Wuchang. At the same time, they also actively separated and prepared to march to northern Hubei.

At this time, Xianfeng, who was far away in Beijing, was shocked, and the death of Wu Wenrong, the governor of Huguang, made him realize that the Manchu halal gas had arrived. But no matter what, the country left by the ancestors cannot be abandoned anyway. He hurriedly ordered Jingzhou general Taiyong to temporarily take over as the governor of Huguang, and took Jingzhou as the place of governance of the governor of Huguang, and ordered Qinglin to be the governor of Mubei, leading 1,500 to guard Wuchang. At the same time, 4,000 troops were transferred from Sichuan to the east to aid Hubei, and the governor of Shaanxi was repeatedly urged to transfer 2,000 troops to urgently aid the north.

Chen Yucheng and Liang Litai, who received these news, immediately realized that Jingzhou had become a hard bone.

Originally, spies had already been sent to find out that there were nearly 7,000 Manchu, Mongolian and Qing officers and soldiers under the jurisdiction of the Jingzhou General's Mansion, including 4,000 horsemen, 1,500 shotgunners, 1,500 archers, and 1,000 reserve horsemen; There are also nearly 2,000 spearmen and swordsmen in infantry armor, plus 8 or 900 infantry nurturers and gunners. Not only that, but there are more than 20,000 Manmeng family members who also have the strength to fight.

However, Jingzhou already had nearly 2,000 horsemen and more than 1,000 infantry armor in the last attack on Wuchang City, which was defeated by the Taiping army and has not been replenished.

In this way, there are actually only 2,000 horsemen and 2,000 infantry soldiers stationed in Jingzhou City, all of whom are full of soldiers. There are still two or three thousand green battalion city flood soldiers outside the city, but the combat power is low.

Chen Yucheng led 11,000 armor and three divisions to directly besiege Jingzhou City, except for the city wall on the side of Shuizhai, the rest of the east, west, north and north sides were all besieged.

In the west of Jingzhou, there is a city of Manchu stationed for more than 100 years. The 4,000 Manmeng banner soldiers in the city were all panicked, but the military discipline was strict, and behind them were the families of the 20,000 banner soldiers, thinking of the cities in Guangzhou and Jiangning, the bannermen and the families of the bannermen in the whole city were all slaughtered, and the 4,000 Manmeng bannermen gritted their teeth and swore to protect their relatives and their own Mancheng.

Tai Yong, the new governor of Huguang, is also the general of Jingzhou at the moment, and it was a matter of pride to grasp the local and military power together, but now, he does not feel joy at all, and some are only worried and afraid.

Although the Jingzhou banner soldiers had experienced battles such as Wu Sangui and the White Lotus Sect of the Three Domains, they were already decayed at this time and had little combat power. As a general of Jingzhou, Tai Yong naturally understands. That's why he has a bitter mouth.

His soldiers were incompetent, but they just reached out to him to ask for their salary. However, the Jingzhou General's Mansion has no source of finance and taxation, and only relies on the imperial court to allocate military posture. But since the long-haired thieves rebelled, the Jingzhou General's Mansion has become worse and worse, and the military expenditure has become less and less, and now, it has reached the point where it is unsustainable.

Soon, Chen Yucheng, who surrounded Jingzhou City, ordered someone to shoot a letter of persuasion to surrender and surrender to the Qing army in the city.

Taiyong was furious, and the noble background of the white flag of Manchuria made him unable to think about surrender at all. He immediately ordered the whole city to recruit 5,000 strong people from among their families to assist in defending the city.

Two days later, after Chen Yucheng and Liang Litai's 4th Division arrived in Yichang, they saw that the Qing army in Jingzhou City did not react, and immediately ordered the 3rd Division to attack Jingzhou City.

The 3rd Division was equipped with sufficient foreign guns, and braved the artillery fire of the Qing army on the head of Jingzhou City to fire guns on the city. The Eight Banner Soldiers and Mengqi Soldiers at the head of the city were first subjected to a volley of foreign guns, killing and wounding hundreds, and they immediately did not dare to rise again.

The soldiers of the third division of the first division climbed the ladder and charged to the head of the city in the face of artillery fire, although the combat strength of the Qing soldiers was not good, and the weapons were also backward, but they were not afraid of death, and under the command of the Jingzhou general Taiyong and the deputy capital commander Guisheng, they rose up to slash and kill, and the Jingzhou city wall was tightly guarded.

The 3rd Division attacked twice in succession, but they all returned in vain, and only a dozen artillery pieces bombarded the city gate, but to no avail.

The 3rd Division couldn't capture Jingzhou so much, but the 4th Division was overwhelmed.

The Qing army's troops in the western Hubei area were weak, and they were all rotten green battalion soldiers.

From the last day of December to January of the following year, Liang Litai led the 4th Division all the way up the Yangtze River, and successively conquered Songzi, Zhijiang, Yidu, Changyang, Yichang Fucheng, Guizhou, Badong and Wushan, and the troops entered the four places.

Peng Yulin, who led the inland river water division, also appeared on the surface of the Yangtze River after reconnoitring the Wandongting Lake and arranging the Dongting Lake defense post and water village, occupying the Chengling Rock where the Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River meet, and controlling the Yangtze River waterway.

Except for the section from Wuchang to Huangzhou, almost all of the Yangtze River waterways in northern Mubei were occupied by the captive army, and the entire Manchu court and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were shaken.