Under Yang Yuanqing's almost stubborn insistence, the Taiping army still followed the tactics of first hitting Dagukou and then Tianjin, and as a result, after four hard battles, relying on the Taiping army's soldiers and soldiers to charge and kill one after another, relatively advanced weapons and equipment, the Taiping army finally took the north and south forts of Dagukou, but ......

However, the Taiping army paid a much heavier price of casualties than expected before the war, more than 900 elite soldiers of the Taiping army died on the battlefield, and more than 200 people were seriously injured. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

There is also something that made Yang Yuanqing jump like thunder, because the cavalry of the Qing army sent troops to respond in time, the Taiping army that surrounded the Dagukou Fort on all sides failed to annihilate the Qing army at Dagukou, and some of the defenders not only broke through successfully under the leadership of the Qing army's Zhili Admiral Leshan, but also set fire to the ammunition depot of the Qing army when retreating, and did not leave any available materials for the Taiping army as much as possible.

In a fit of rage, Yang Yuanqing not only scolded the generals of the Taiping Army who led the army to attack the fortification, but also ignored Shi Dakai's dissuasion, and ordered all the captured Qing army prisoners to be buried alive on the beach on the bank of the Haihe River. As a result, the news spread, and the officers and soldiers of the Qing army in Zhili were angry, but naturally they were more determined to fight to the death with the Taiping army.

The above problems are actually still light, and what is more serious for Yang Yuanqing is that because he blindly attacked and never considered the personal interests of the major military leaders of the Taiping Army, the generals of the Taiping Army, including Shi Dakai, were full of resentment and anger against him, but Yang Yuanqing was unaware of this, and he also started the idea of forcing Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang and others to act as cannon fodder in the Battle of Tianjin.

At the same time, after relying on the Dagu Pass to gain a few more days of preparation time, the Qing army also made the most adequate preparations for a decisive battle on the battlefield in Tianjin, made every effort to strengthen the already very strong city fortifications, and mobilized the people to dig three moats, introduced the Haihe River to fill it, and built a sheep and horse wall after each trench to increase the depth of defense. At the same time, in view of the fact that Tianjin is adjacent to the Haihe River in the north, a number of strong forts were built outside the north gate of Tianjin, ready to be used for artillery combat with the Taiping Army's naval divisions.

In addition, because the Taiping army was very unpopular with the people, not only the landlords and gentry of Zhili generously donated money and food to help the Qing army resist the Taiping army, but the ordinary people of Zhili also spontaneously joined the army, providing almost inexhaustible human resources for the Qing army. As a result, the official document was only an order, and only one day passed, and a huge fortified fortress was built on the north bank of the Haihe River, which once again strengthened the depth of Tianjin's defense.

Under such circumstances, it is undoubtedly the best choice for the Taiping Army to abandon Tianjin and attack Beijing directly, but it is a pity that Shi Dakai almost wore out his mouth, and almost all other important generals of the Taiping Army were on Shi Dakai's side, and even Yang Runqing suggested leaving an army to defend the fleet and smash Beijing with the main force of the land division, and the stubborn Yang Yuanqing resolutely refused to listen. Forced to be anxious by the generals, Yang Yuanqing also took out the golden saber that Yang Xiuqing handed over to him, and shouted: "Long live the East King Saber here, and if there are any disobedient people, kill them immediately!" ”

All the generals didn't dare to say anything more, but Shi Dakai, who had a high status, insisted: "Guozong, we are not resisting the order, we want you to avoid the real and attack the false, avoid the Qing Demon heavily guarded Tianjin to fight the capital, besiege the city and send reinforcements to force the Tianjin Qing Demon to go north to fight with us in the field, so that we can exchange for the greatest victory at the lowest price!" ”

"Is the capital of the Qing Demon easier to fight than Tianjin?" Yang Yuanqing said angrily: "What if the Tianjin Qing Demon refuses to go north, and we attack the Qing Demon Capital for a long time?" Have you forgotten that our grain and grass are only enough to support one month at most, and if we don't hurry up to take down Tianjin to grab grain, we won't need to do it without the demons, and we will starve to death! ”

"Hit Tianjin first, and then attack Beijing! The mind of the national sect has been decided, and if there is any more violator of the order, don't blame me for being ruthless! ”

In this way, the Taiping army still launched an attack on Tianjin, which was heavily garrisoned by the Qing army, but at this time, the internal problems of the Taiping army's disunity of heart were also completely exposed, and the Taiping army leaders represented by Zeng Lichang, Li Shixian and Wei Jun all wanted to preserve their strength, and were unwilling to fight hard, and they all did not contribute to the battlefield, and no one was willing to work hard to attack the city of Tianjin, which was destined to be difficult to take.

Not only are several military leaders of the Taiping Army like this, but Yang Yuanqing himself is also preserving his strength, and he doesn't want to consume Yang Xiuqing's elite lineage too much. As a result, Shi Dakai and Li Kaifang, who still have some overall views, fought hard battles, fought hard battles, fought hard battles, and in fact, took on the heavy responsibility of fighting a decisive battle with the Qing army. At the same time, Li Kaifang's troops were all cavalry, unable to participate in the siege of the city, and could only fight with the Qing army stationed outside the city on the periphery, so the drudgery of the siege fell on Shi Dakai's army, and the soldiers of the Shi army were killed and wounded heavily, and they complained bitterly, and Shi Dakai himself was also gloomy day after day, and gradually lost confidence in victory.

In the fierce battle, the soldiers of the direct Qing army relied on strong fortifications, with bird guns and guns to stubbornly resist the foreign guns and foreign artillery of the Taiping army, and did not give an inch of land one after another, not only to fight the Taiping soldiers who attacked against the door panel were killed and wounded, but also several times to carry out hand-to-hand white-knuckle battles with the Taiping soldiers, and in the case of the first and second trenches were lost successively, they also miraculously recaptured the second trench by counter-charge. Shi Dakai couldn't help but exclaim, "Whose soldier is the Zhili Qing Demon?" Zeng Guofan's Xiang Demon, Wu Chaoyue's Wu Demon, that's just it, right? ”

The land was fought beautifully, and the Qing army fought more beautifully on the water, and when the newly built fort was far less solid than the Dagukou fort, the commander of Zhili, Leshan, still led the Qing gunners to fight tenaciously, and dealt a heavy blow to the Taiping fleet that was killed from the lower reaches of the Haihe River with fierce firepower, and the Taiping warships that were already covered with bruises were even more scarred. When the Leshan artillery on the front line was killed, there was no confusion in the Qing army fort without a leader, and Du Siqi Chebu resolutely took up the command responsibility, and when Qi Chebu was also killed by the Taiping army's artillery, Wang Shiyi, who was only six products and thousands of generals, took the initiative to stand up again, and the line of fire took over the command and continued to command the Qing soldiers and Taiping soldiers to fight to the end.

In the face of such stubborn resistance of the Qing army in Zhili, the first person who could not support it was Yang Yuanqing, who insisted on attacking Tianjin first, and just saw that the seriously wounded steam gunboat Tianyuan was in danger of being sunk, Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered the naval division to retreat. As a result, of course, the Qing army in Tianjin was thunderous, but the morale of the soldiers of Shi Dakai's army, who was fighting with the Qing army outside the south gate, dropped their morale, and Shi Dakai himself was so angry that he drew his knife and chopped the case in front of him, and roared: "Fight a bird? Mingjin, retire! Retire! ”

After the defeat, the camp of the Taiping Army was depressed, but the tent of the commander of the Chinese army was as noisy as a bazaar, Yang Yuanqing loudly reprimanded Li Shixian and Wei Jun and other generals for their ineffective fighting, while Li Shixian and Wei Jun and others loudly distinguished, constantly finding all kinds of excuses to shirk and justify. Fan Liande and Zeng Yuxiu, who Yang Yuanqing brought directly from Nanjing, said their own things, some defended Li Wei and others, and some helped Yang Yuanqing accuse them of incompetence, but Shi Dakai, who really fought hard and was silent, refused to say anything with a straight face.

Yang Yuanqing's leadership ability is indeed far inferior to Yang Xiuqing, and he did not directly clean up Wei Jun and Li Shixian, who were obviously maintaining their strength, without saying a word, and failed to refute their shameless sophistries in the argument, and finally simply took out his power to suppress people, and forced the soldiers to drag Wei Jun, Li Shixian, and Zeng Lichang out to fight a hundred military sticks each. As a result, it was also at this time that Shi Dakai, who finally couldn't stand it, opened his mouth and said: "Yang Guozong, the big battle is coming, and they are all injured, who will lead the troops to fight?" Make a note of this military stick, and wait until Tianjin is defeated. ”

Considering that he had to give Shi Da a little face, Yang Yuanqing retracted his fate, pointed at Wei Jun and the others and roared: "For the sake of the eight-thousand-year-old face of the Wing King, write down your hundred military sticks!" The next time the city is attacked, whoever dares to fear the enemy and stop moving, will be crushed at the first touch, and the national sect will calculate the new account and the old account together, and directly launch the Yuanmen beheading! ”

When Wei Jun, Li Shixian and the others swallowed their anger and agreed, Shi Dakai said again: "Guozong, Tianjin's city defense is too strong, and the Qing demons in the city are very tenacious, it will definitely be difficult to defeat it in a short period of time. If you still insist on attacking Tianjin first and then the capital, I have no objection, but it is best for us to divide a group of troops and horses to capture Ninghe, Yutian and Fengrun, which are not well guarded by the Qing demons, and seize the grain and grass to supply the battlefield in Tianjin. ”

The military rations were insufficient, but Yang Yuanqing did not refuse Shi Dakai's proposal, but as soon as Yang Yuanqing nodded, the generals of the Taiping Army were already scrambling to take up the task of partial division, and even Zhu Xikun, a veteran of the Taiping Army who had not recovered from his stick wounds, joined the competition and wanted to lead his troops to fight other cities to seize food - no one wanted to be directly commanded by Yang Yuanqing anymore.

"Shut up the king!" Shi Dakai suddenly roared, suppressing the fighting voice of the generals of the Taiping Army, and then Shi Dakai said to Yang Yuanqing: "Guozong, this task can only be done by me and Li Chengxiang, the Qing demon cavalry is watching and delaying in the periphery of Tianjin, seeing that our army is divided and seizing food, it will inevitably be blocked with all its might, only if I join forces with Li Kaifang, can we be sure to deal with them while attacking the city and seizing food!" Otherwise, if you change anyone, you will have no chance of winning! ”

The generals of the Taiping army pouted their lips and were dissatisfied with Shi Dakai's arrogance, and Yang Yuanqing was also extremely hesitant, and hesitated for a long time before saying: "Yiwang, you have fought hard for a long time, and you can't do without your seat here on the Tianjin battlefield, so let someone else go." ”

"Why can't Tianjin be without me?" Shi Da said with great anger: "After I leave, you can always set up a camp to protect yourself, right?" When I get enough food and come back, I'll be able to attack the city, right? ”

Yang Yuanqing, who was unwilling to let Shi Dakai out of control, still refused and insisted that Shi Dakai continue to stay on the battlefield in Tianjin. Shi Dakai was already angry, but after being repeatedly rejected by Yang Yuanqing, he was even more disheartened, so he simply roared angrily: "Okay, whatever you want, you can arrange it!" ”

After that, Shi Dakai also rushed out of the big tent of the Chinese army directly, and after Yang Yuanqing sent Shi Dakai away, his face was gloomy for a long time, and then he shouted: "Wei Jun, Zeng Lichang, you each lead the troops and horses of your headquarters to the east to seize grain, you must break through the three cities of Ninghe, Yutian and Fengrun, and seize enough food for our army!" ”

Wei Jun and Zeng Lichang, who were unwilling to consume too much strength under the Jiancheng of Tianjin, happily agreed, but Yang Yuanqing pointed at them and shouted: "Remember, if you can't make a mistake, you will not be spared!" ”

So, Wei Jun and Zeng Lichang each led their headquarters to the northeast of Ninghe County the next day, but after the Qing army scouts detected this movement, the commander of the Qing army, Guan Wen, really ordered Shengbao to lead the cavalry to reinforce Ninghe at the first time to prevent the Taiping army from attacking the city. At the same time, Hengfu, the governor of Zhili, also pointed out: "The purpose of Changmao's division of troops to take the Ning River must be to rob grain for self-sufficiency. There are not many defenders of Ninghe, and General Shengbao may not be sure that he will be able to stop them, so we should prepare early to prevent Ninghe from being attacked by Changmao. ”

After thinking about it for less than three minutes, the official document said categorically: "Send the order to Ninghe County, tell him to prepare to burn grain, and once Ninghe is difficult to protect, immediately burn all the grain and grass in the city!" Clearly told him that as long as the grain in the city was burned, even if he lost the county seat of Ninghe, Ben Qincha would also go to the court and ask the court not to investigate his crime of losing his land! But if he leaves a grain for Changmao, Ben Chin will also ask the court to destroy him! ”

On the battlefield of Ninghe, although relying on the advanced weapons equipped by Zeng Lichang's army, the Taiping army repelled the surprise charge of the Qing cavalry several times, and at the same time, Wei Jun also relied on the tunnel siege tactics of the Taiping army, and successfully blew up the wall of Ninghe. However, as soon as the city wall fell, the Qing army in the city did not hesitate to set fire to the granary in the city, and when the Taiping soldiers rushed to the granary to rescue, the Ninghe granary ignited by gunpowder and fire oil had already turned into a sea of fire, and it could no longer be saved.

Some friends must ask, won't the Taiping army rob the people inside and outside the city of food? The answer is that the season is too unfortunate, it is early summer, the grain in the field is not yet ripe, and the people's grain is about to be eaten up, plus the people are afraid of the war, so they fled early with the life-saving rations that can be taken away.

On the night of the destruction of Ninghe City, when Zeng Lichang and Wei Jun were frustrated and disappointed because they had broken the city and had found nothing, Shengbao sent someone to send a letter to the Taiping army, clearly telling Zeng Lichang and Wei Jun that no matter which city the Taiping army attacked in Zhili, as soon as the city was broken, the magistrates in the city would immediately burn grain!

After gasping, Zeng Lichang and Wei Jun of course reported the situation to Yang Yuanqing as soon as possible, but it was Yang Yuanqing's envoy who brought a message and scolded them, "What are you afraid of when the Qing demon burns grain?" As long as you move quickly, don't give the Qing Demon a chance to burn food, right? Remember, if you can't grab enough food for our army for three months and send it to Tianjin, you will be beheaded and questioned! ”

Hearing this, Zeng Lichang and Wei Jun of course turned more ugly than the other, and said together in their hearts: "Could it be that Yang Yuanqing is deliberately forcing me to death?" ”

The matter was not over, after conveying Yang Yuanqing's message in a high-spirited manner, the envoy sent by Yang Yuanqing left Ninghe and returned to Tianjin on the way, and was very lucky to encounter a patrol of Qing cavalry............