The battle of Tianjiazhen in history, the Taiping Army's Qin Rigang tactical use mistakes, blindly passive defense, gave the Hunan army an opportunity to take advantage of the simultaneous victory by land and water, and played the first battle victory of the Hunan army since the establishment of the army. But because of the agitation of Wu Chaoyue's demon moth wings, on this historical track, the knot of victory and defeat was completely reversed.

In the battle of Tianjiazhen in history, Qin Rigang of the Taiping Army was too afraid of the threat of the Red Single Boat of the Hunan Army Naval Division, and took the initiative to give up the advantage of the Taiping Army's naval division in terms of mobility and flexibility, and pulled up six iron cables to block the river in the area of Banbi Mountain, and built a large number of water fortifications on this basis, intercepted the eastward road of the Hunan Army's naval division, and gave up the mobile advantage after concentrating the main fleet on the fortifications, and also put the main army on the water to fight a defensive battle.

In the case that the Qing army land division on the north bank has not yet arrived for reinforcements, Zeng Guofan highlighted the surprise army and stormed the Taiping army's half of the mountain land camp in one fell swoop, and then defeated the Taiping army counterattack many times in succession, and then after the arrival of reinforcements on the north bank, Zeng Guofan immediately launched a counterattack, smashed the Taiping army's iron cable defense line with a flaming giant axe, and then attacked the Taiping army sailor with a fireboat as the vanguard. It was extremely unfortunate to encounter a southeast wind in the late autumn season, and the fire took advantage of the wind and a thousand cannons to fire in unison, and the Taiping Army Naval Division was defeated and chased by the Hunan Army Naval Division for more than 30 miles, almost all the troops were wiped out, and the loss of large and small ships exceeded 4,500! In the end, the Taiping army could only be forced to abandon Hubei and retreat to Jiujiang, which gave Zeng Guofan a great victory with great face.

The result of the battle of Tianjiazhen on this historical track was completely opposite, after the Hunan army broke the Taiping army in Malingao, Qin Rigang immediately asked for help from the friendly forces in Jiangxi, and Lin Fengxiang, a famous general of the Taiping army, who should not have appeared on the battlefield of Tianjiazhen, also immediately gave up the plan to reinforce the Nanchang battlefield, and led the army to Tianjiazhen by land to reinforce, and at the same time Qin Rigang himself realized that the Hunan army was not as easy to deal with as imagined, and adjusted the deployment in time to increase the garrison to the Banbishan land camp, and finally not only successfully held the Banbishan land camp, It also allowed the Taiping Army Sailor to avoid the southeast gale and persist until Lin Fengxiang led the army to help.

The situation reversed abruptly, in front of Wu Chaoyue, Lin Fengxiang, who had had enough of the hardships of linear tactics, was the enemy's division to control the enemy, and in turn used linear tactics to clean up Zeng Guofan, and the Taiping soldiers who marched in a dense horizontal line were stunned by the Hunan army's native buns, and then used intensive firepower to beat the Hunan soldiers to cry wolf, with heavy casualties, forcing the Hunan army to take the initiative to charge and fight close combat, attacking the enemy's strength with their own shortcomings, and was soon defeated by Lin Fengxiang's army, and the land attack suffered a heavy defeat.

Won the victory on land, Qin Rigang's side immediately adjusted the tactics, commanded the naval division to take the initiative to attack the Hunan naval division, during which he deceived the enemy and lured the Hunan naval division into an ambush circle, thousands of light and flexible small boats were killed on all sides, and the Hunan naval division was surrounded by water, although the red single boat of the Hunan naval division was fierce, but it suffered in too large and relatively small numbers, and was defeated by the Taiping naval division with the tactics of ants gnawing bones, four red single boats were sunk, and two were taken away. Seeing that the situation was not good, Zeng Guobao, who commanded the Hunan army and naval division, could only quickly flee west with the fleet, and Zeng Guofan, who was stationed on land, was also afraid of being invincible, so he also hurriedly fled all the way west with the main force of the land division, and fled back to Huangshi Port in defeat.

Here we must also say a fair word for Zeng Guofan, it is really not Zeng Guofan who did this in order to grab the official position of governor of Hubei with his students, and at that time there were no such advanced means of communication to let Zeng Guofan know what was happening in the capital, and it was just a good habit of Qing officials in this era to turn defeat into victory, and Zeng Guofan had already done this kind of thing when the Jinggang Water Battle was beaten by the Taiping army and committed suicide. Zeng Guofan, who did not stay in Qizhou to help the Qing army defend the city, could not blame Zeng Guofan, it was the Qing army in Qizhou who did not allow Zeng Guofan to enter the city and station, and Zeng Guofan, who had no reliable foothold in the naval division and land division, was forced to flee directly to Qizhou.

Of course, here we also have to say a fair word to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue pit the teacher at the same time actually saved Zeng Guofan, after the victory of the Hunan army in Tianjia Town, the angry Shi Dakai personally led the army to fight Zeng Guofan, and pumped Zeng Guofan all over the ground to find teeth in Poyang Lake, forcing Zeng Guofan to commit suicide by throwing himself into the water for the second time, and also caused Zeng Guofan to be fed up with the ridicule, insult and harsh difficulties of local officials, which led to the third time Wuhan was occupied by the Taiping army. The defeat of Tianjiazhen can actually be regarded as a loss of horses for Zeng Guofan and the Manchu court, and it is not a blessing.

Of course, poor Mr. Zeng can't have the author to popularize history like his friends, and he doesn't know that Tianjiazhen is actually taking advantage of the loss, so after fleeing all the way to Huangshi Port, his foothold is just stable, and our poor teacher Zeng immediately cried loudly, and washed his face with tears every day, always felt sorry for the Manchu court and the Hunan army soldiers, ashamed and embarrassed, and was depressed for several days, almost unable to extricate himself, and finally relied on the repeated persuasion of Zeng Guoquan and Li Xubin and other confidants to unravel and enlighten, which reluctantly regained his spirit.

On the fifth day after the defeat of Tianjia Town, news came from Qizhou that Lin Fengxiang and Qin Rigang of the combined army had easily captured Qizhou City, and the Qing army in Qizhou abandoned the city and fled to Qishui. Zeng Guofan did not dare to slack off when he heard the news, and hurriedly convened the generals to discuss countermeasures, and took precautions to prevent the Taiping army from continuing to attack Huangshi Port in the west.

The result of the discussion was that Huangshi Harbor should not be defended for a long time, although the terrain of Huangshi Harbor is very suitable for the Hunan army's joint operations by land and water, but it is difficult to guarantee grain and grass military supplies, and the green battalion of the Qing army adjacent to Huanggang County and Wuchang County (Echeng) is less than 1,000 people, and the combat effectiveness is very weak, and it is simply unreliable at the critical moment, and at the same time, these two counties have just experienced the disaster of war, and it is difficult to provide strong support for the Hunan army in terms of grain, grass and materials. Therefore, the brothers of the Zeng family and Li Xubin, Hu Linyi, Taqibu and other generals of the Hunan army unanimously suggested that Zeng Guofan withdraw his troops as soon as possible, and withdraw to Wuhan with the Hunan army to meet with Yang Peibu, the acting governor of Huguang, and then plan the next step.

What made the Zeng brothers and Li Xubin and others strange was that they had a heated discussion and agreed on the same opinion, but Zeng Guofan was always silent and refused to open his mouth to order the retreat. It was only when Zeng Guohua asked Zeng Guofan whether he felt that he should not withdraw his troops, Zeng Guofan nodded and said, "Yes, I think we can't withdraw the troops in a hurry, we have to wait and see." ”

"Brother, what are you waiting for?" Zeng Guohua hurriedly reminded: "If Changmao's westward advance approaches Huangshi Port, it will be a big trouble for us to withdraw our troops, what do we have to wait?" ”

"Wait for the official position of the governor of Hubei." Zeng Guofan replied very frankly and said: "I have already sent my second brother to Beijing to carry out this position before, and later I won a big victory in Malingao, and there is great hope that the Holy Lord will appoint me as the governor of Hubei. As long as we continue to grit our teeth and persist in Huangshi Port, we will hopefully wait for the post of governor of Hubei, and if we ignore Wuchang County and Huanggang and return to Hankou directly, even if the emperor has already decreed the appointment of me as the governor of Hubei, it is possible to withdraw my order in anger. ”

Zeng Guohua closed his mouth, but Zeng Guofan said: "If it goes well, the emperor really makes me the governor of Hubei, then I can justifiably lead the army into the city, collect the money and grain of the two counties in one city and confront Changmao for a long time, then my position as the governor of Hubei can be completely secured." ”

Zeng Guohua nodded silently, and the generals of the Hunan army also understood, and no longer asked Zeng Guofan to withdraw his troops as soon as possible, but it was quite a coincidence that in the afternoon of the same day, Zeng Guohuang sent a messenger from the capital also came to Huangshi Port, at first Zeng Guofan thought that it was the governor of Hubei that the matter had already been raised, and he was overjoyed to quickly take the letter and watch it, but only a few glances, Zeng Guofan was dumbfounded on the spot, and blurted out: "I'm not dreaming, right?" ”

"Brother, what's wrong?" Zeng Guoquan, who happened to be next to him, hurriedly asked.

"Your second brother said that Su Shun Su Zhongtang decided to recommend Wu Chaoyue to be the governor of Hubei." Zeng Guofan replied in despair.

"Wu Chaoyue?" Zeng Guoquan was first stunned, then startled, and exclaimed: "Wu Chaoyue? Is the second brother joking, I remember my brother you said, your student seems to be less than twenty years old this year, right? At such a young age, how could he be the governor of Hubei? ”

"No kidding." Zeng Guofan shook his head and said: "Your second brother made it very clear in the letter that Wu Chaoyue told him about this matter personally, and Wu Chaoyue also asked your second brother to bring me a message, if he can really get his wish, Wu Chaoyue will try his best to help us in terms of military salaries and food." ”

Unbelievably took the letter from Zeng Guofan's hand, read it roughly, and saw that the content was similar to Zeng Guofan's introduction, Zeng Guoquan inevitably opened his mouth and muttered: "Is Su Zhongtang crazy?" If he really lets him do it, then Wu Chaoyue will go to the governor of Hubei, brother, how can you, a teacher, get along with the students? ”

Zeng Guofan had a gloomy face and did not speak, although Zeng Guofan knew very well that with Wu Chaoyue's age and qualifications, it was absolutely unlikely that he would be the governor of Hubei, but Zeng Guofan knew better how favored Su Shun was in front of Emperor Xianfeng, and knew that if Su Shun really tried his best to support Wu Chaoyue, this matter was not completely hopeless. So Zeng Guofan couldn't help but secretly said in his heart: "Weiting, although I am very sorry for you, but this time, I hope you must not succeed, give this opportunity to your teacher." ”

Suddenly a disobedient student came out to stir up the situation, and Zeng Guofan, who felt deeply threatened, of course, did not dare to give up Huangshi Port at will to continue to anger Emperor Xianfeng, but unfortunately, after a slight delay in Huangshi Port for two days, the Taiping army really marched west towards Huangshi Port to kill. Zeng Guofan was forced to have no choice but to continue to hold on to Huangshi Port, relying on the favorable topography of the port to establish a water and land defense line to compete with the Taiping army, waiting for the opportunity to grasp the real power of the place.

As we all know, the Hunan army is best at fighting defensive battles, especially good at relying on barracks and fortifications to defend to the death, for which Zeng Guoquan also got a good reputation as a Zeng iron bucket, and Lin Fengxiang learned the biggest weakness of linear tactics learned from Wu Chaoyue is that he is not good at attacking fortifications, so you attack me and defend the room, and the Taiping army has always had no way to defend the Hunan army that can't defend the camp. At the same time, the main warship of the Taiping Army's naval division, Xiaotuchuan, also had the Achilles heel of being too weak in attack, and it was also unable to break through the water defense line of the Hunan Army's naval division, and the two armies fought fiercely for several days without winning or losing.

Unable to clean up the Hunan army that was good at defense, the Taiping army had no choice but to adjust its tactics, stop attacking the Hunan army camp and change to garrison troops, divide troops to attack the neighboring Wuchang County and Huanggang City, and deliberately hit Huanggang City on the north bank first, besieged the city to lure the Hunan army to leave the fortifications for protection, Zeng Guofan saw through the purpose of the Taiping Army gritted his teeth and did not move, Yang Pei, the governor of Huguang in Wuhan City, did not dare to send troops to save Huanggang, resulting in Huanggang City, which had only one battalion of defenders, was quickly broken by the Taiping Army, and then Wuchang County also fell quickly. Seeing that the Hunan army had always stood still, and that the Qing army in the Wuhan area was empty, the Taiping army simply continued to march directly to Wuhan, ignoring the Hunan army camp that could not move at all.

Finding out the movements of the Taiping army, Yang Pei, the governor of Huguang, suddenly panicked, and had to quickly order Zeng Guofan to return to the division immediately to save Wuhan, and promised to provide Zeng Guofan with money, food, and military salaries. Zeng Guofan was also afraid that the loss of Wuhan would affect his career, and he coveted the military salary and food promised by Yang Pei, so he hurriedly led the army westward, and carefully followed the Taiping army behind to help Wuhan City.

In order not to give the Hunan army a chance to reinforce Wuhan City, the Taiping army and water army gathered troops in Qingshan and Shakou, preparing to kill the Hunan army first and then attack Wuhan. Qin Rigang and Lin Fengxiang scolded the Hunan army for being shameless, but they were helpless, and it was difficult to decide which target should be attacked first.

When the Taiping army hesitated, Yang Pei also sent a master to get in touch with Zeng Guofan again, and when they met, the master sent by Yang Pei also congratulated Zeng Guofan again and again as soon as they met, and said: "Congratulations to Zeng Shilang, congratulations to Zeng Shilang, great joy, great joy." ”

"A big event?!" The generals of the Hunan army present all pricked up their ears, and Zeng Guofan's heart also jumped, and he hurriedly suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and asked, "Master Chen, what is the happy event?" Where does the joy come from? ”

"The edict I received yesterday." Master Chen said with a smile: "The Holy Grace decrees that your student Wu surpass Wu Zhentai as the acting governor of Hubei. ”

It is indeed a happy event, so happy that our poor teacher Zeng's face turned white, and the brothers of the Zeng family and Li Xubin, Hu Linyi and other generals of the Hunan army even screamed one by one, "Wu Chaoyue? Is Wu Chaoyue the acting governor of Hubei? ”

"Not bad." Master Chen smiled even more happily and said: "Also, Yang Butang has also been awarded the Governor of Huguang, and the governors of Hubei are all acquaintances of Zeng Shilang, and it will be more convenient for Zeng Shilang to do things in Hubei in the future." ”

Zeng Guofan was silent, and after a long time, he barely squeezed out a smile that was more ugly than crying, nodded and smiled: "Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations!" ”

…………

When the poor barber teacher was about to cry, his disobedient student Wu Chaoyue had also hurried back to Shanghai by sea, and when he saw Zhao Liewen and Zhou Tenghu and other cronies who stayed in Shanghai, although the disobedient student Wu Chaoyue did not immediately say that he had gotten what he wanted, but the joy on his thin face had betrayed Wu Chaoyue deeply. Zhao Liewen, Zhou Tenghu and others, who were very discerning, also immediately bowed their hands to Wu Chaoyue, and said together: "Congratulations to Wu Futai, congratulations to Wu Futai, who was ranked governor before the weak crown and sealed a province in Xinjiang, which is really gratifying, gratifying." ”

"Huh? You already know that? The newspaper came so quickly? Wu Chaoyue asked in surprise.

"Wu Futai, Di Bao is not so fast." Zhao Liewen smiled bitterly and said: "But with the depth of your city, Lord Futai, you can smile so happily, in addition to being promoted to the governor of Hubei as you wish, what other good things can make you happy like this?" ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled a little ashamed on his thin face, and quickly moved his facial muscles with his hand, and then said: "It seems that my city government still has to cultivate well, otherwise, if anything on my mind can be seen by others from the face, then I will be in big trouble." ”

It's useless to work hard, it's just a moment to be calm, Wu Chaoyue still couldn't help but show a smug smile of the villain, Zhou Tenghu saw that he was angry and funny, so he reminded: "Lord Futai, don't be too happy too early, as far as the current situation is concerned, the situation in Hubei is not good, and you can't enjoy happiness immediately when you go to Hubei, you have to suffer some hardships first." And don't blame the lower officials for speaking unlucky, a little unlucky, maybe you don't even have a governor in Hubei when you arrive. ”

Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked about the situation in Hubei, and it turned out that it was good to have a competent staff officer in the shogunate, Zhao Liewen and Zhou Tenghu immediately took out the Hubei intelligence summary they collected through various light and dark channels, which introduced the bad situation that the Hubei Green Battalion had a total of only five or six thousand people (real data), and also let Wu Chaoyue know the important situation that the Taiping army was counterattacking Hubei - but because of the backwardness of transportation and communication means, the intelligence collected by Zhao Zhouren was only up to the time when the Taiping army was fighting with the Hunan army in Huangshi Port.

"Huifu, Mr. Taofu, in your opinion, is it possible for Longhair to break through Yellowstone Harbor?"

Wu Chaoyue asked in a deep groan, but Zhao Liewen and Zhou Tenghu both shook their heads together and replied: "The distance is too far, I don't know the specific topography of Huangshi Port, and I don't know your teacher Zeng Guofan, so I can't judge." ”

After that, Zhou Tenghu said again: "Lord Futai, although Huangshi Port is the outer barrier of Huanggang and Wuchang, the geographical location is quite important. But in the eyes of Xiaguan, Huangshi Port, Huanggang and Wuchang County are not important to you, for you, the most important thing is Wuchang Mansion City, where your governor is stationed, once it is captured by Changmao, then after you arrive in Hubei, there is nothing to do, you can only try to recover Wuchang Mansion City and recapture your station. ”

"What Mr. Tao Fu said is very true." Wu Chaoyue nodded and said, "For me, Wuchang Mansion City must not be lost, and I have to find a way to keep it no matter what." ”

"It's not easy." Zhou Tenghu shook his head again and poured cold water on Wu Chaoyue, and said: "It is thousands of miles away, it is difficult to reach in a hurry, and you can't take Shanghai Lian Yong to Hubei to fight, even if you can arrive in time, you can't immediately reverse the passive situation in Hubei." ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded thoughtfully, and then quickly said: "No way, it seems that I can only rely on my good teacher in the early stage, counting on him to help me defend Wuchang Mansion City, and I can only count on him to stand up to the front and buy me time to reorganize the army." ”

"I'm afraid it's not that easy, right?" Zhao Liewen smiled and said: "Teacher Zeng has no real power in the place, after letting you sit firmly in the position of governor of Hubei, he can only look up to your snort, I'm afraid that Teacher Zeng will not let you get your wish so easily, right?" ”

After thinking for a moment, Wu Chaoyue quickly smiled and said: "It's not easy, but it doesn't matter, my teacher still has a few character weaknesses, and it is not hopeless to seize his character weaknesses and chase and beat him hard, and let him work hard for me for a while." ”

"What exactly are you going to do?" Zhao Liewen asked curiously.

"Write a letter to the teacher first, and ask him to defend Wuchang Mansion City for me no matter what." Wu Chaoyue replied.

Zhao Liewen, who is equivalent to Wu Chaoyue's secretary, didn't talk nonsense, and immediately went to get a pen and paper and put it in front of him, but Wu Chaoyue, who was so badly rotten that the brush was terrible, said: "No, I'll write this letter." (To be continued.) )