In the first battle of the Daimyo's Mansion, although the two Qing army teams of Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang, who participated in the war, showed extremely high military quality, they also worked together in a real sense and enjoyed each other. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 However, there was no way, because the traitor's betrayal was despicably attacked by the Wu army, and he did not have any starting advantage, coupled with the disadvantage of weapons and equipment, the Qing army finally suffered a crushing defeat and was forced to take the initiative to abandon the city and retreat.

What's worse is that the Qing army even broke through and retreated in the direction and order of the Wu army's command guessed in advance, seeing that the Fu Zhenbang army, which was relatively weak in combat effectiveness, successfully withdrew from the west gate, Zhang Guoliang's Shandong New Army was a little careless, and fled directly out of the West Gate without too many precautions. No matter how high the quality is, it is inevitable that the hands will be rushed, and the number of casualties will increase sharply.

Fu Zhenbang, who attaches great importance to the overall situation, immediately returned to the division to rescue Zhang Guoliang's army, although it relieved a lot of pressure on Zhang Guoliang's army, but also gave the main force of the Wu army the opportunity to move to reinforce the Ximen battlefield, and finally the Qing army was of course defeated, and fled north in embarrassment, while the Wu army pursued and fought fiercely, and only stopped after chasing and killing until outside Guangping City, Zhang Fu Er will be lucky enough to flee into Guangping City for a while, but the soldiers and horses of the department have suffered heavy losses, and the grain, grass and ammunition have almost been lost.

I have to explain, thanks to the fact that I fled for my life on the open North China Plain, there are roads to go everywhere, and at the same time, the main cavalry of the Wu army has not had time to go north to participate in the battle, otherwise, even if the two armies of Zhang Guoliang and Fu Zhenbang are not completely annihilated by the Wu army, the losses will never be only about forty percent.

The distance is relatively close, Luo Bingzhang, who was in Jinan, received the news of the fiasco of the Daimyo's Mansion earlier than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and when he heard the bad news, Rao is Luo Lao Fox is no matter how old and treacherous he is, deeper than the city government, and he was so shocked that he sat on the chair, his face was as pale as rice paper.

Afraid that Luo Bingzhang, who was nearly seventy years old, would make a mistake, Liu Rong, the chief of staff, hurriedly stepped forward and persuaded: "Ruzhai, victory or defeat is just a common thing in soldiers, no matter how important the Daimyo's Mansion is, it is just a palace city, if you lose it, you will lose it, as long as the palace ministers are still there, we will definitely have a chance to block the Wu thieves in Henan." ”

Luo Bingzhang was silent, and after a long time, he shook his head and said: "You don't understand, although the Daimyofu City is just an ordinary mansion city, but in the war to prevent the Wu thief Beikou Capital, it is a vital strategic support point, and now that this strategic support point is gone, we will be passive in the next war." ”

"Originally, I also expected Zhang Guoliang and them to be able to take a long time in the Daimyo Mansion City, so that the Henan Wu thieves, who rely entirely on land grain transportation, will not dare to bypass the Daimyo's Mansion and go north directly, or directly to the east of Jinan, Yuan Baoheng can also free up his hands and serve as a strategic general reserve, so that Guan Xiufeng can rest assured to guard the western front and resist the Shanxi Wu thieves with all his might."

"But if we lose the Daimyo's Mansion, we will be too passive." Luo Bingzhang said bitterly: "Now the old man neither dares to let Yuan Baoheng send troops to participate in the war, nor does he dare to transfer back to Zhang Guoliang to help defend Jinan, so he can only be passively beaten and passively defensive." The Wu thieves in Henan can avoid the real and the virtual, or fight Jinan in the east so that I have no time to aid in the north, or take Zhengding in the north to respond to the Wu thieves in Shanxi, and take the lead everywhere. ”

"Then we can let Zhang Guoliang and Fu Zhenbang join forces as strategic reserves to replace the role of Yuan Baohengjun?" Liu Rong asked.

Luo Bingzhang shook his head again, and said with a wry smile: "Without the main force of the Daimyo Mansion City to contain the Wu thieves in Henan, our strategic reserve team will not play any role. As long as Wu Chaoyue and Nie Shicheng are not stupid, they will definitely send their cavalry north to participate in the battle soon, and when the time comes, our strategic reserve will not even be able to catch up with the enemy, and will only be more passively beaten. ”

Liu Rong had nothing to say, and only after a while did she persuade again: "Ru Zhai, the matter has come to this point, it is useless to be annoyed, we can only quickly find a way to deal with the current passive situation." ”

Luo Bingzhang finally nodded, and after thinking for a long time, Luo Bingzhang personally wrote a secret fold, suggesting that the Manchu court concentrate the main force of Zhili in Zhengding Mansion, and make every effort to prevent the Shanxi Wu army from joining forces with the Henan Wu army, and start a strategic decisive battle with the Wu army in Zhengding, and use all kinds of advantages in the home field to win. In addition, no matter what happened to the Manchu court, it could not send troops to rescue Jinan, so that he could lead the Shandong Qing army to resist the eastern crusade launched by the Wu army in Henan, share the pressure for the Manchu court, and fulfill his last duty as a courtier.

In addition, Luo Bingzhang reminded Ci'an, Cixi and others that although there was a loophole in the strategic deployment he proposed, it would give the Henan Wu army the opportunity to attack the capital alone without attacking Jinan and Zhengding, but judging from the military habits of Wu Chaoyue and Zeng Guoquan, the possibility of the Henan Wu army daring to take this risk is very small.

Therefore, Luo Bingzhang thought that the Manchu court did not have to worry about this danger at all, and also expected that even if the Wu army in Henan made such a move, it must only be a feint to lure the enemy, and it would never be possible to put it into practice.

It was only after Luo Bingzhang finished writing the excerpt that Liu Rong said cautiously: "Ru Zhai, you arrange it like this, there seems to be a flaw, if I am the commander of Wu Thief, after seeing through your intentions, I will definitely go all out to the east, first take Jinan to gain a foothold, and then try to take the capital north." ”

Luo Bingzhang was silent, and after a long time, he pointed to his white head without a single black hair, and said in an extremely bitter voice: "It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and now Zhengding is a hundred times more important than Jinan, if the Wu thief invades Jinan in a big way, the old man can only use my white head to buy three or five months for the imperial court." At that time, perhaps with the blessing of the sky, there will be a good turn for the better. ”

Liu Rong shed tears, and also cried directly......

…………

When Luo Bingzhang decided to sacrifice himself to buy time for the Manchu court to survive and send it to the capital, the Manchu court was already full of chickens and dogs, and the panicked Manchu civil and military officials were frightened three times a day, and all kinds of rumors were rampant in the capital, which frightened many Manchu banner people whose ancestors had a blood feud with the Han people to start transferring their property outside the customs early, ready to run away and flee back to their hometown in Tunguska. There are countless officials, soldiers and people who can't wait to make up the idea of surrendering, ready to wait for the Wu army to come to the city, and immediately bend their knees to surrender and return to the new dynasty.

The most panicked thing is still in the Forbidden City, the devil who has returned from the line of fire has led all the officials to eat and live at the military plane, in order to collect cannon fodder to resist the Wu army going north, he did not hesitate to offer a high price for every 500 regiments formed to practice a candidate title. At the same time, he went to the Tsarist Russian legation to kowtow, kneeling and begging Tsarist Russia to send the Far Eastern army south for reinforcements.

Ci'an was also forced to show an edict given by Emperor Xianfeng on his deathbed in advance, and decided to abandon the capital when the situation was critical, and fled back to the northeast with the rare treasures and people's fat and ointment that had been looted in the Central Plains for more than 200 years, waiting for the opportunity to re-enter the customs and recapture the Qing Dynasty.

I have to explain that the edict of Emperor Xianfeng was originally used to prevent the success of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition, but Emperor Xianfeng never thought that the one who could eventually pose a fatal threat to the capital would be Wu Chaoyue, who was more trusted by the Han people.

Under such circumstances, after Luo Bingzhang decided to sacrifice his fold and send it to the capital, it undoubtedly became the guiding light of Ci'an and Cixi, and he didn't care that Luo Bingzhang was the superintendent of the secret fold, Ci'an and Cixi immediately convened the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department to show it in public, and asked the devil six and others to discuss the feasibility of Luo Bingzhang's proposal.

Unlike Liu Rong, after reading Luo Bingzhang's selfless secret fold, the military ministers such as Guizi Liu and Gui Liang all frowned, and they were all worried that Luo Bingzhang's analysis was too optimistic. And when Ci'an and Cixi asked everyone's opinions, Devil Six said directly: "Two imperial sisters-in-law, although Luo Ruzhai's analysis is reasonable, it is too risky. If Wu surpasses the rebel thief or Zeng Guoquan, Nie Shicheng and other thieves see through his arrangement and go north alone, then the capital will inevitably be in danger. ”

"But the current adjustable troops of the imperial court are just that, if you don't adopt Luo Aiqing's suggestion to deploy, how can you resist the Wu thief north?" Ci'an asked.

The devil who didn't even deserve to carry Luo Bingzhang's shoes with military ability was speechless, but Cao Yuying came up with a way and said: "The two queen mothers, among my court, the most knowledgeable military affairs now are in addition to Luo Bingzhang's official documents, you might as well forward this excerpt to the official and civil official system to see what his opinion is?" ”

Ci'an and Cixi had nothing to do, so they could only nod their heads and agree, and at the end, Cixi also reminded: "To use six hundred miles to expedit, our time is running out, Shanxi Wu thieves may send troops at any time, once the Henan Wu thieves seize the three cities of Kaizhou, Qingfeng and Nanle in the south of the Daimyo's Mansion, there will inevitably be big moves, and now every moment is extremely precious, and it must be sent out immediately, and the official document should be replied as soon as possible." ”

With Cixi's explanation, Luo Bingzhang's secret fold was put in front of the official document in the evening of the same day, but after learning of Ci'an and Cixi's request, the official document also complained bitterly, saying: "Two queen mothers, aren't you giving the slaves a problem?" Luo Ruzhai's proposal is so risky, and the slave dares to take such a big responsibility to approve and veto? If there is anything wrong with this, wouldn't you want me and Luo Bingzhang to carry the black pot together? ”

"But the official system, things have come to this point, if you don't come up with an idea, you can't explain it to the court?" Henchman Tang Shixi reminded.

Guan Wen hesitated, but fortunately, Guan Wen had a strength that he could barely know people and be good at his duties, knowing that Luo Lao Fox was stronger than himself militarily, and even if the strategic proposal he put forward was risky, it must be better than the method he came up with with in the military. Therefore, the official document quickly made up his mind and instructed Tang Shixi: "Write an excerpt for me, just say that I think Luo Bingzhang's proposal is feasible, and suggest that the two palaces adopt it." ”

"Make Taiwan, then what if the Wu thief really smashes into the capital?" Tang Shixi hurriedly asked.

"Then I have nothing to do but gamble." Guan Wen replied very helplessly, and said: "But judging from the old man's previous contact with Wu Chaoyue, the traitor is indeed a cautious person, almost never taking risks, and asked him to send a lone army to attack the capital directly, he definitely does not have such courage." ”

In the early morning of the next day, when the official text was sent to Ci'an and Cixi and others by a fast horse, although the people in the military aircraft department headed by the devil still felt that it was too dangerous, Ci'an and Cixi trusted the two old foxes more in the military aspect, so after discussion, Ci'an and Cixi unanimously decided to adopt Luo Bingzhang's risky strategy, gather troops to fight a decisive battle with the Wu army, and hand over all Shandong to Luo Bingzhang. Only the necessary troops were left in the capital to defend it, and the Wu army was left alone to take the capital.

"Let's be a dead horse as a live horse doctor." After promulgating the edict, Ci'an said helplessly: "I hope that Luo Aiqing and Guan Aiqing's judgment is correct, and the Wu thieves will not dare to attack the capital directly, if they are wrong about the Wu thieves, the situation on the battlefield is not good......." ”

Sighing, Ci'an said even more helplessly: "Then our Qing Dynasty has the only choice to retreat outside the Guan. ”

…………

During this period, unable to resist the coercion and temptation of the envoys of the Wu army, Ruilai, the general of the Qing army's Kaizhou, was not only worried that the Manchu court would investigate his responsibility for helping Changqing secretly communicate with the Wu army, but also knew that the self-army was not the opponent of the Wu army, so he had no choice but to obediently choose to surrender in Kaesong, and helped Zhang Zhidong successfully fulfill the prophecy that Changqing's official document copy was worth two cities.

Then, the weak Qingfeng Qing army also chose to take the initiative to open the city and surrender, but the Nanyue Qing army chose to resist stubbornly, but when the Wu army covered the Nanle town with heavy artillery firepower, the stubborn Nanle defenders could only obediently flee out of the city.

On the fifteenth day of the lunar month, Nie Shicheng led the main force of the southern front to return to Kaifeng, which strengthened the gap left by Zeng Guoquan's army to the north, and also provoked the burden of providing logistics for the front line, and sent Ding Ruchang to lead 3,000 cavalry to the north at the first time to help Zeng Guoquan's army gain a mobile advantage. At the same time, Wu Chaoyue also sent an order from Hubei, asking Zeng Guoquan's army to give priority to the Wu army in Shanxi Province to cross the Taihang Mountain, and advance to Zhili, first obtain the military superiority of the Wu army on the battlefield of Zhili, and then try to forge ahead.

Previously, under the advice of Li Hongzhang, a staff officer of the bad species, the Jiang Zhongji Department of the Shanxi Wu Army had taken advantage of the opportunity of the Manchu court to concentrate on dealing with the Taiping army, and the surprise soldiers took the Niangzi Pass in Shanxi first, and took precautions to seize the advantageous position of advancing the army. Therefore, it is not difficult for Zeng Guoquan to meet the Shanxi Qing army into the North China Plain, so he only needs to go north to Zhengding Mansion and cooperate with the Shanxi Wu army to attack Jingcheng City, which is the key defense of the Qing army.

However, there was an accident, just when Zeng Guoquan was actively preparing to take Zhengding in the north, Wu Jun Xizuo suddenly sent an urgent report, saying that Guanwen had personally led the main force of Zhili to Zhengding to garrison, and at the same time, Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang, the Qing army who had been defeated and fled to Guangping Mansion, also suddenly left Guangping and directly returned to Gaoyi in the south of Zhengding Mansion to garrison and defend.

"Strange? How could the main force be deployed in the Zhengding area? Could it be that the rebels only plan to guard against our friendly forces, and don't want the capital anymore? ”

Hearing the detailed report, Zeng Guoquan was of course extremely puzzled, and did not understand why the Qing army would take such a risk and choose to gather the main force on the Zhengding battlefield and ignore the capital?

When Zeng Guoquan and his generals discussed and analyzed the intentions and objectives of the Qing army, the generals under Zeng Guoquan, who were basically all from the old Hunan army, unanimously agreed that this was a trap, and felt that the Manchu court was killing two birds with one stone by doing so, not only deploying heavy troops in Zhengding, warning that the Shanxi Wu army, which must attack Jingcheng and the natural danger, did not dare to act rashly, but also lured the Wu army of Henan to go north to take the capital directly.

After thinking about it for a long time, he found that the generals' analysis was reasonable, and Zeng Guoquan, who was deeply influenced by Zeng Guofan and also had a nickname called Zeng Tietong, nodded, and subconsciously gave up the choice of going straight to the capital, and immediately decided to continue to implement Wu Chaoyue's orders and requirements, and go north to Zhengding to meet the eastward advance of the Wu army in Shanxi.

However, at this moment, Zhang Zhidong, who hadn't even grown a few beards, suddenly spoke up and said: "Jiu Shuai, if we continue to send troops to Zhengding, then we will fall into the hands of the chaotic party, and this battle will have to be fought." ”

"Why?" Zeng Guoquan hurriedly asked.

"Because the chaotic party has figured out Jiu Shuai's temper, it has long been expected that you will blindly seek stability, and you will not dare to take risks." Zhang Zhidong replied.