Lin Fengxiang is also worthy of being a famous general in the world, and found the weakness of the Hunan army that is good at defending and not attacking, so he strongly advocated that Hanyang and Wuhan should be established first, and then turn around and slowly clean up the Hunan army, while Qin Rigang did not fully agree with Lin Fengxiang's point of view, but agreed to the plan of attacking Hanyang first. At that moment, the Taiping army immediately arranged a combat strategy, with Lin Fengxiang leading the army to attack Hanyang, and Qin Rigang leading the naval division to garrison Tianxingzhou, Jiangxin Island, to prevent the Hunan army's naval division from advancing westward and obstructing the Taiping army's crossing of the river.

Carried by more than 1,000 small pulling boats, the Taiping army only took one day, so that tens of thousands of soldiers of the land division set foot on the north shore of the land, during which the frightened governor of Huguang Yang Pei ordered Zeng Guofan to enter the army and intercept several times, but Zeng Guofan was afraid of the small boat sea tactics of the Taiping army's sailors, and never dared to enter the army, watching the Taiping army successfully cross the Yangtze River, and immediately launched an attack on Hanyang City, which was across the river from Wuhan.

There is no suspense, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army is poor, Yang Pei, who is greedy for life and afraid of death, withdrew most of the Hanyang garrison to the south bank to guard Wuhan City, there are only two hundred green battalions and more than 1,000 township Yong guarding the city in Hanyang City, just saw the Taiping Army display heavy artillery bombardment outside the city, these green battalion soldiers and Xiangyong have already fled from the city, the guard general Bao Chao and the new Hanyang County Order of a few days can not be restrained at all, and later saw that the situation is critical, Bao Chao simply excused himself to ask Yang Pei for help, and took a few personal soldiers to flee south in a small boat, Hanyang County ordered him to hang himself, and the Taiping army easily took Hanyang City and gained a stable foothold on the battlefield of Wuhan.

Then, although Qin Rigang once again rejected Lin Fengxiang's suggestion to take the opportunity to attack Wuhan, he also adopted another correct suggestion put forward by Lin Fengxiang, and decided to erect a pontoon bridge and a number of iron cables between the mouth of the embankment on the south bank of the Yangtze River and the mouth of the south bank on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and build a large number of water fortifications on this basis, cutting off the connection between the Hunan army and the rear of Hunan! (The name of the south bank of the north bank of the Yangtze River is not a clerical error, and the south bank refers to the south bank of the Han River.) ）

When the Taiping army began to build pontoon bridges and iron cable fortifications, Zeng Guofan finally couldn't hold his breath, although Zeng Guofan no longer cared about whether he could keep Wuhan - and even hoped that Wuhan would be lost, but once the Taiping army really cut off the connection between the Hunan army and Hunan, then the Hunan army, which relied on the supply of the rear of Hunan for food and grass, would be in an embarrassment or even danger. Therefore, Zeng Guofan had no choice but to immediately urge the Hunan army to advance westward, reinforce Wuhan and regain the advantages of the upper reaches.

The tragic battle began, the Hunan army sailors composed of more than ten red single boats and more than 130 light warships went upstream, just arrived in Tianxingzhou, they were immediately submerged by the Taiping army's small pulling boats, thousands of cannons shook the sky, the fire was blazing, the cannons rumbled, the large and small ships were intertwined, the shouts of killing and the sound of guns and cannons were endless, and all kinds of terrifying sounds converged into one, like the unison howl of hellish ghosts.

The battle on land was equally fierce, even if most of the arquebuses in their hands were primitive, but the strictly trained Lin Fengxiang army still played the linear tactics well, with three shots and a hollow hedgehog formation blocking the way, and the Hunan soldiers who charged through fell to the ground one after another, and they could not break through the defensive position of the Taiping army with heavy casualties. During the war, Zeng Guofan, who was red-eyed, also went to the front line to supervise the battle for a time, and was almost hit by a stray bullet.

In the afternoon, relying on the advantage of the ship and artillery, the Hunan Army Naval Division finally broke through the interception of the Taiping Army Naval Division and successfully killed Wuhan after paying a heavy price. When the news reached the land battlefield, Zeng Guofan also ordered the soldiers with tears in his eyes to abandon the precious grain and grass and unnecessary baggage, only carry guns, ammunition and artillery to advance lightly, and bypass the interception position of the Taiping army to gallop towards Wuhan. Yang Pei was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly ordered someone to open the door of loyalty and filial piety to welcome the Hunan army into the city and station.

If it weren't for the loss of grain and grass, Zeng Guofan, who had not earned any real power and no real power, would definitely not want to live in Wuhan City to help Yang Pei die, but there was no way, the Hunan army would be hungry tomorrow if he didn't enter the city today, Zeng Guofan had no choice, so he had to honestly take the land camp into the city and station, and let Zeng Guobao lead the sailors to be stationed in Changshazhou, and helplessly boarded Yang Pei's thief ship, and 10,000 unhappily guarded Wuhan for Yang Pei and the disobedient students.

Fortunately, in order to let Zeng Guofan and the Hunan army die for themselves, Yang Pei treated Zeng Guofan quite well this time, asking for money and food, and personally came forward to suppress the green camp to avoid conflicts between the green battalion soldiers and the Hunan army, which made Zeng Guofan's psychology a little more balanced. At the same time, after being stationed in the city, the Hunan army, which was already good at fighting defensive battles, had a condescending advantage, and it was much easier to fight, and they repelled the attacks of the Taiping army several times in defending the city, and soon pulled the war into a state of balance of power.

As the once desperate situation gradually stabilized, the Taiping army gradually lost hope of taking Wuhan City, and Yang Pei and Zeng Guofan also began to be optimistic, feeling that the Taiping Army, which came alone from afar, had insufficient support and insufficient food and grass, and it would definitely be difficult to fight for a long time, or they would withdraw on their own, and it was no longer a big problem to keep Wuhan. However, what no one expected was that twenty days later, new bad news suddenly came - Shi Dakai, the commander of the Taiping Army's Western Expedition, actually sent his generals Wei Jun and Chen Yucheng to lead more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to rush to reinforce the Wuhan battlefield, and they had already entered Hubei!

For Yang Pei and Zeng Guofan, this news was of course a shock, and Zeng Guofan never expected that Shi Dakai would let Nanchang City, which was close at hand, not fight, but wanted to go on an expedition to fight Wuchang City, and he was determined to fight to the end with his own army! In addition to being shocked, Zeng Guofan inevitably secretly complained, and said secretly: "It's miserable, even if I can win this battle, I have to hurt my vitality after the battle!" ”

Zeng Guofan was shocked, Lin Fengxiang and Qin Rigang and other Taiping army generals were also confused, and they couldn't understand why Shi Dakai attached so much importance to Wuchang Mansion City - because Wuchang Mansion City was too difficult to fight, the Hunan army resisted fiercely, and Wuchang Mansion City was almost in turmoil, people's livelihood withered, grain and grass were scarce, and there was not much oil and water to fish, Lin Fengxiang and Qin Rigang had already asked Shi Dakai whether to withdraw his troops and give up attacking Wuchang Mansion City. Now that Shi Dakai not only did not order the withdrawal of the army, but also sent reinforcements to the battlefield of Wuchang Mansion, Lin Fengxiang and Qin Rigang completely did not understand Shi Dakai's intentions.

In the end, it was the messenger sent by Wei Jun to contact Lin Fengxiang and the others to explain the reason, and the messenger said directly to Lin Fengxiang and Qin Rigang: "Yes, before the Wing King was five thousand years old, he had already planned not to attack Wuchang for the time being, and was ready to concentrate his forces to take Nanchang Mansion first. However, our detailed work found out that the Qing Demon Emperor had appointed the Acting Governor of Hubei. The fifth thousand-year-old of the Winged King was worried that after surpassing the little demon and arriving in Hubei, it would pose a huge threat to the western front of the Heavenly Kingdom, so the five-thousand-year-old Winged King resolutely decided to fight Wuchang Mansion City first, so that the Transcendence Little Demon would have no foothold in Hubei, and there would be no time and opportunity to train calmly, and he would fall into a passive disadvantage on the battlefield in Hubei. ”

Qin Rigang and Lin Fengxiang suddenly realized, and then Lin Fengxiang said with a cruel smile: "Okay, stepping on the corpses of our Heavenly Kingdom soldiers to climb up, surpassing the little demon is quite fast, and he became the governor of the Qing Demon before he was twenty years old." It's a good time, this time we are looking for him to settle new and old accounts! ”

After thinking about it for a while, Qin Rigang nodded and said: "Wing King Yingming, yes, since the little demon is going to serve as the governor of Hubei, then we had better take Wuchang Mansion City before he takes office, so that he has no place to stand in Hubei, and he has to obediently send it to the door to give us a chance to take revenge." ”

After that, Qin Rigang turned to Lin Fengxiang again and said: "Prime Minister Lin, since the Wing King is five thousand years old, we must take Wuchang Mansion City and send us reinforcements, then we don't waste time, how about attacking the city in the old way?" Dig a tunnel to reach the city of Wuchang first, and when the reinforcements from Prime Minister Wei and Chen Jian arrive, we will work together to attack the city! ”

"That's it!" Lin Fengxiang didn't even think about it, so he agreed!

The crisis is like a dark cloud back on the head of Wuchang City, with the rapid approach of the Taiping Army reinforcements, the people in the city of Wuchang Mansion that had been captured by the Taiping Army twice were panicked, and all kinds of rumors were flying all over the sky, not to mention that the morale of the Qing Army's green battalion soldiers under the combat effectiveness was depressed, that is, there were fearful voices within the Hunan Army, and Zeng Guobao, who was stationed outside the city, once ran into the city in person, persuading Zeng Guofan to lead the Hunan army to leave Wuchang Mansion City as soon as possible and retreat to Hunan to avoid the edge of the Taiping Army.

"Brother, listen to the persuasion of the younger brother, we should withdraw as soon as possible, Changmao has increased his troops on the battlefield of Wuchang, and the attitude of taking Wuchang Mansion City has been very resolute, even if we stick to it and finally save Wuchang, we will not have to be seriously injured, why bother? Anyway, you are not the governor of Huguang or the governor of Hubei, it doesn't matter if you can keep Wuchang Mansion City, even if Wuchang Mansion City is lost, it is also something that Yang Pei and Wu Chaoyue are worried about, what does it have to do with us? ”

Zeng Guofan was silent for a long time, and after a long time he hesitated and said, "Then ......, what excuse should we use to withdraw from the Wuchang battlefield?" ”

"There are excuses." Zeng Guobao didn't think about it and said: "Hunan is not very peaceful, bandits are full of places, we use the excuse that Hunan bandits are rampant and endanger the hometown of our soldiers, our soldiers are worried about the safety of their relatives in their hometowns, and unanimously asked to withdraw to Hunan to suppress bandits, and then say hello to Yang Pei and leave." Anyway, if you don't belong to him, what can he do to you? ”

Zeng Guofan was greatly moved, but he was still a little hesitant - although this could preserve the vitality of the Hunan army, the impact on Zeng Guofan's reputation and career was not ordinary. However, just when Zeng Guofan hesitated, news suddenly came from outside the door, saying that Yang Pei, the governor of Huguang, was visiting the house, Zeng Guofan did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly went out to greet him in person, and respectfully invited Yang Pei to come in and sit down.

After the Hunan army entered the city to help defend this time, Yang Pei's attitude towards Zeng Guofan has always been very polite and friendly, and his attitude was even more friendly when he met this time, first greeted Zeng Guobao with a smile, and then asked Zeng Guofan more affectionately: "Bohan, now that the Changmao reinforcements are approaching rapidly, the war is destined to start again, how to protect Wuchang Mansion City next, I don't know what kind of strategy you have." ”

"Not yet." Zeng Guofan replied truthfully: "It can only be the soldiers who will block it, and the water will cover it." ”

"It's a good word, but it's hard to protect the lonely city." Yang Pei sighed and said: "Changmao and our army confronted each other on the battlefield of Wuchang, and the governor urged the soldiers of Huguang to rescue Wuchang several times, but the civil and military officials everywhere will only find various reasons to delay and delay, and so far there has not been a support army to come to Wuchang Mansion City for reinforcements, so if it goes on, what should I do?" ”

"Then what are Yang Zhitai's plans?" Zeng Guofan heard that there was something in Yang Pei's words.

"That's what I thought." Yang Pei cleared his throat and said with a smile: "Bohan, I plan to temporarily entrust Wuchang Mansion City to you to guard, and you alone will take up the important task of guarding Wuchang Mansion City and resist Changmao's siege, I personally rushed to De'an to meet with Yue Xingyue, the Hubei political envoy stationed there, and personally supervised the organization of various state capitals in northern Hubei to send troops to reinforce Wuchang Mansion City, I don't know what you think?" ”

After that, Yang Pei hurriedly added: "Bohan, don't worry, I will leave Hubei according to the envoy Li Qinggu to lead the green camp to help you continue to defend the city, and I will also clearly tell him that he will obey your orders and command, and all the big and small affairs of the Wuchang battlefield will be arbitrarily decided by you instead of me!" ”

Zeng Guofan wanted to cry, but he also wanted to laugh even more, and said that you Yang Pei had a good calculation, greedy for life and afraid of death and afraid of being charged with abandoning the city and absconding, so he pushed the Wuchang battlefield to me, are you the second official in this office? This official has been promoted to ten levels in ten years and seven times, is it a second can get to this point? Play these twists and turns with me, you're still a little tender!

Under the secret anger, Zeng Guofan of course refused, but Yang Pei's attitude was also very resolute, saying that he would entrust the battlefield of Wuchang Mansion to Zeng Guofan. The dispute continued, and Zeng Guofan, who was already aggrieved, almost turned his face directly to Yang Pei, and fled from Wuchang Mansion City, which was destined to be in flames.

At the critical moment, new changes suddenly appeared, and someone suddenly came to report outside the door, saying that Wu Chaoyue, the new acting governor of Hubei, had sent a messenger to Wuchang Mansion City, requesting to meet Zeng Guofan Zeng Shilang in person, and Wu Chaoyue's handwritten letter was presented.

Just borrowed 120,000 taels of silver from the disobedient students, no matter how dissatisfied and jealous the disobedient students were, they still had to go through the motions, and ordered Wu Chaoyue's messenger to be invited into the door, Zeng Guofan casually asked about the situation on the way of the messenger and when Wu Chaoyue would be able to arrive in Hubei to take office, and took the letter and opened it, but took out the letterhead and only glanced at it, Zeng Guofan's nose was almost crooked - as a protégé of the seventieth grandson of the sage Zengzi, Wu Chaoyue's brush writing is not only more ugly than ghost drawings, but the writing is also almost vernacular and uses foreigners' punctuation, dry and unstylish, and the rhetoric is worse than a showman, and there are even quite a lot of typos!

"If the ancestor knows and knows that I have accepted such a disgraceful protégé, I am afraid that I will be so angry that I can crawl out of the grave and practice the law on me!" Shaking his head and sighing for a while, Zeng Guofan settled down to read Wu Chaoyue's letter carefully, but looking at it, Zeng Guofan's face gradually changed.

The full text of Wu Chaoyue's letter is as follows: "Student Wu Chaoyue, Baibai Grace Teacher Zeng Gong Qi (knee), I haven't seen him for more than two years, I don't know if the teacher's body is healthy and his demeanor is still the same? The students thought about it (twilight), hoping to meet their teachers as soon as possible, kowtow, and do their best to be a disciple.

The student is not filial, I don't know that the saint once intended to let the teacher serve as the governor of Hubei, I heard that this official position was vacant and ran to the capital to recommend myself, I never thought that the emperor was like the grace of the sky, and really let the student act as the governor of Hubei, and inadvertently took away the official position that should belong to the teacher, and the student deserved to die.

However, students should also rest assured that the students will rush to Hubei as soon as possible to take up their posts and help the teacher. After the students take office, they will definitely do their best to help the teacher kill the thieves and quell the rebellion, and establish miraculous achievements, and will never let the teacher suffer the slightest grievance in terms of military salary, money and food. The teacher's teaching should be obscure, and the student carefully ...... the word, and the student does not know how to continue this word, so please forgive the teacher. In a word, what the teacher says, the student must do!

By the way, there are still major things that must be made clear to the teacher, the student knows that Changmao has increased the army to Hubei, and the pressure on you is very great, but the student knows that the Hunan regiment training of the teacher is not easy to come by, and the teacher has suffered a large casualty, and you can't explain to the parents and villagers in Hunan. Therefore, you can rest assured, if you lose any important city passes in Hubei, the students will never say a word of nonsense, and it is important to keep the battleable soldiers in your hands first. If the court blames the teacher, the students will definitely do their best to exonerate the teacher, and will never let the court cure the teacher's sins, even if there is any guilt, it is the student I will bear, and the teacher you will put a hundred hearts.

The letter is short and long, and the students still have countless things to say, and they will speak slowly after meeting the teacher. In this salute, student Wu surpassed a hundred bows.

And again: The 120,000 taels of silver don't have to be returned, even if the student is filial to the teacher, although the teacher takes it to reward the soldiers, the students know that the teacher's money and food all depend on the Hunan gentry, and the hands must be very tight, and they really can't bear to add a burden to the teacher. In the future, if there is any place where you urgently need money and food, just ask the students, and the students will do their best. ”

After carefully reading Wu Chaoyue's letter, Zeng Guofan was silent for a long time, and Yang Pei next to him asked curiously: "Bohan, what did Wu Futai say in the letter?" Did you say when he would arrive in Hubei to take office? ”

"I didn't say it, I just said it as soon as possible." Zeng Guofan shook his head, put away the letter that was enough to humiliate his ancestors, and then said to Yang Pei: "Yang Zhitai, just now you said that you want to go to De'an to organize reinforcements in person, since you have made up your mind, then do it." Here in Wuchang Mansion City, you can rest assured that the lower officials will definitely hold on to it with all their might, waiting for your reinforcements to arrive. ”

"Really? Bohan, did you agree? ”

Yang Pei's joy was not trivial, and he hurriedly opened his mouth to ask, Zeng Guofan smiled and nodded, but roared angrily in his heart: "Little rabbit cub, you dare to look down on your teacher so much if you can't even write a letter?!" It doesn't matter what important city passes are lost? Will you take it back in the future? I look down on me so much before I work with Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu must let you see this time, ginger is tender and spicy? Or is it old and spicy?! (To be continued.) )