Qi Tianhongfu, who entrusted the monk and the prince, almost overnight, Zeng Guoquan's army, which only had more than 9,000 people, armed more than 20,000 homeless beggars as auxiliary troops, and selected more than 16,000 warriors of the Great Qing Tiger God Camp, which suddenly expanded the size of the army to nearly 50,000 people, so that Zeng Guoquan had sufficient troops available, and also completely reversed the comparison of superior and inferior forces on the battlefield in the capital, so that Zeng Guoquan's army had the upper hand in both quantity and quality. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Even so, Zeng Guoquan, who only slept for two hours a night, still didn't dare to take it lightly, because Zeng Guoquan knew very well that once the self-army could not quickly break through the capital and let the Manchu court support the Qing army until reinforcements arrived, then the current battlefield advantage would inevitably be reversed again, and the homeless beggars who joined the Wu army in order to eat for a bite of food would soon be scattered, and the warriors of the Tiger God Battalion, who were scrambling to be slaves, would definitely rush to turn against each other and return to the warm and broad embrace of the Qing court.

Therefore, the sky was just dawning, and before the collection of displaced prisoners of war was completed, Zeng Guoquan immediately held a meeting in the Buddhist hall of Huayue Temple, convened the generals to discuss the siege plan, and also handed over the important task of intercepting the Qing army reinforcements to Ding Ruchang at the first time, and asked Ding Ruchang to defeat the Qing army's Baoding Mansion and Tianjin's reinforcements that are likely to arrive today at any cost.

Knowing the strength of the opponent better, Ding Ruchang took over the task without hesitation, and said: "I am sure that I can stop the two chaotic party reinforcements of Baoding Mansion Tongjian and Tianjin Hengfu, but if the main force of the official document arrives, I will have no way." So Zeng Jiushuai, our siege time may only be three days at most, or even only two days at the shortest. ”

"Don't worry about this, even if it is chopped with a knife and an axe, within two days, I will also cut the walls of the capital!" Zeng Guoquan agreed, and then advised: "Be careful when intercepting the reinforcements of the rebellious party, don't underestimate the enemy, things have come to this point, we can't make any more mistakes." ”

Ding Ruchang promised, and Zeng Guoquan also turned to the infantry generals under his command, and said viciously: "Is there any way to attack the city, just say it!" No need to twist and pinch, we don't have much time! ”

"Jiu Shuai, I think we should directly fight all over the city!" Li Chendian, a fierce general of the Wu army with gauze wrapped in gauze on his head, was the first to speak, and hurriedly said: "If you hit the outer city first, even if you take the outer city, you have to continue to attack the city, which is a waste of time and ammunition, it is better to fight the city first, as long as we succeed, we can go straight to the Forbidden City and lay the victory in one fell swoop." ”

"The city is full of high moats and deep, the height of the city wall is generally about three and a half zhang, the narrowest part of the moat is also about seven zhang, and there is an urn city at each city gate, which is extremely difficult to break."

The veteran Ni Gui still habitually sought stability, and resolutely opposed Li Chendian's adventurous light-headedness, saying: "The safest way is to attack the outer city first, and after taking the outer city, we can not only gain a reliable foothold, but also get sufficient food and grass supplies in the city." In this way, even if we can't take the city immediately, we can rely on the outer city and hold on until our reinforcements arrive. ”

"How much food can I have in the outer city?" Li Chendian retorted and said: "Even if we can scrape the ground and collect enough food, what about weapons and ammunition? The granaries and arsenals of the rebellious party are all in Mancheng, and only by taking Mancheng can we have enough food and ammunition to use until our reinforcements arrive. ”

"Although it is reasonable, are you sure that you will take the city? Mancheng is very important, and the main elite of the chaotic party must be deployed on the battlefield of Mancheng, how sure can we break through quickly? ”

Ni Gui's words made Li Chendian speechless, and the generals of the old Hunan army, who generally had a steady personality, also echoed one after another, while Zeng Guoquan stood in front of the sand table in the capital that Zhang Zhidong led people to make overnight, his brows were furrowed, and he was more inclined to Li Chendian's proposal, but he was indeed not sure that he would quickly break through the most well-fortified and the most heavily guarded Beijing Mancheng.

At this time, a strange thing happened, the patrol scout suddenly sent a feather arrow tied with a letter to Zeng Guoquan's face, saying that it had just been found outside the Dong'an Gate of the outer city, Zeng Guoquan took down the arrow book in confusion and took a closer look, but was extremely surprised to see that the arrow book was written with his left hand - the guard of the southern city (outer city) was Monk Lingqin, and most of the soldiers and horses in the department had participated in the pacification of the Changmao War and had battlefield experience. The defender of Beicheng (Mancheng) is Yi Xun, and although the soldiers and horses are well-equipped, they are basically the children of Anointing Liang who have never been on the battlefield. The rebels have determined that you will attack the southern city first, and then take the northern city.

After Zeng Guoquan made the arrow book public, of course all the generals of the Wu army were equally surprised, and they all asked in confusion: "Who wrote this?" ”

"How do I know?" Zeng Guoquan asked angrily, and then turned to Zhang Zhidong, the dog-headed military advisor next to him who had not slept all night, and asked, "Xiaoda, what do you think?" ”

"It doesn't matter who wrote it." Zhang Zhidong yawned and said, "The important thing is whether the content of this arrow book secret report is credible?" ”

"Do you think it's credible?" Zeng Guoquan asked.

After yawning again, Zhang Zhidong replied: "It should be credible, because Mancheng is too important for the chaotic court, and it must be the most trustworthy person to guard the army. ”

After that, Zhang Zhidong added, "Besides, even if the person who wrote the letter used tricks, his purpose was only to trick us into fighting the most difficult city and increase the difficulty of our siege, even if we were fooled, the danger we encountered on the battlefield would not be too great." ”

"But if we can't attack the city for a long time, and we waste the time to break through the outer city and seize the food foothold, this long-distance attack on the capital will be completely wasted."

Zeng Guoquan's expression was still very worried, and he didn't dare to decide the direction of the main attack, and after thinking about it for a while, Zeng Guoquan simply asked Zhang Zhidong: "Xiaoda, among our people, you have stayed in the capital and are familiar with the situation inside and outside the capital, you say, we should fight the city first?" Or do you want to hit the outer city first? ”

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Zhidong said: "Jiu Shuai, the lower official does not understand military affairs, but if the lower official is in your position, I will resolutely choose to fight the city first." ”

"Why?" Zeng Guoquan hurriedly asked.

"Because all the bannermen in the city are now gone." Zhang Zhidong replied: "There is a saying in the capital, which is about the three treasures of Baylor, and the bird in the walnut cage is wrenched. The banner people in the city of Beijing are now accustomed to the days of stretching out their hands for clothes and opening their mouths for food, and they have long become a group of wine bags and rice bags, who only know how to eat, drink and have fun, and do not know how to go to the battlefield to work hard. ”

"So I dare to conclude that even if we only break through one gate of the city, the bannermen of the entire city will run away with packages on their backs, and they will not fight with us to the end, and it will be easy for us to occupy the entire city, and the possibility of being resisted to the death is very small!"

After that, Zhang Zhidong added, "It's different to fight the outer city, the people in the outer city are poor, as the so-called barefoot is not afraid to wear shoes, as long as the rebellious party in the capital takes silver money and food to smash the people's heads, it is not impossible to recruit some dead soldiers to fight with us." Moreover, in order to protect their only possessions, the people in the outer city may not only struggle with us in street battles, but when we are forced to collect food in the outer city, they are more likely to fight with us! ”

After listening to Zhang Zhidong's words and thinking for a while, Zeng Guoquan finally made up his mind, slammed his fist on the table, and roared: "Fight the whole city first!" ”

"First hit the Chaoyang Gate all over the city." Zhang Zhidong put forward another suggestion, saying: "You can properly feint to attack Dongzhi Gate to reduce the resistance to the siege, but you must not hit the Desheng Gate and Anding Gate in the front, so that the rebel parties and banner people in the city can see the hope of escaping." ”

Zeng Guoquan nodded, and immediately ordered the whole army to move outside the Chaoyang Gate in the east of the city, and attacked the Chaoyang Gate in a desperate and desperate manner. If this arrow book is not the instruction of the imperial court, but a personal act, then if you can open a bow and release arrows on the city wall and are not afraid of being discovered, you must be an important person in the chaotic party, an important person in the chaotic party, how can you give us a message and suggest that we fight the city first? What is his purpose? ”

Who exactly shot this arrow book from the wall of the outer city of Beijing, even after the war, the Wu army did not find out the slightest eyebrow, and this matter has become an eternal mystery.

When he was busy moving the army, Zeng Guoquan's personal soldiers suddenly came to report, saying that the Manchu court had sent Li Tangjie, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, as an envoy to contact Zeng Guoquan with a holy decree. Zeng Guoquan was a little strange when he heard this, and hurriedly turned to Zhang Zhidong, who was helping beside him, and asked, "Why did the chaotic party suddenly send someone to contact me, and what tricks did they play?" ”

"What other tricks can there be?" Zhang Zhidong said contemptuously: "It's nothing more than giving officials knights, trying to appease, asking for negotiations, taking the opportunity to delay time, and delaying the army." ”

"Think beautifully." Zeng Guoquan snorted coldly and said: "Only now do I think of the knighthood, when the brothers of our Zeng family tied their heads to the waistband of their trousers to give them their lives, why didn't they think of giving us the title of knight?" Missing! ”

"Jiu Shuai, let me go and meet that Li Shangshu for you." Zhang Zhidong volunteered: "Since he is here to try to buy you for the rebels, he must have brought a lot of good things, and it would be a pity to let him take the good things away without meeting." I'll go see Li Tangjie for you, ask him to leave the good things first, and then send him away. ”

"Yes." Zeng Guoquan nodded when he heard this, and advised: "Be careful when you speak, don't leak our army's secrets, no matter what Li Tangjie asks, you can't agree." ”

Zhang Zhidong promised, and Zeng Guoquan added, "Also, the good things brought by Li Tangjie are not allowed to be opened to the money, and they have to be handed over." ”

"Jiu Shuai, the lower officials have a hundred guts, and they don't dare to hit your ideas." Zhang Zhidong smiled bitterly, and said with a hippie smile: "But the lower officials are certain, in order to let the lower officials speak in front of you, Li Tangjie should not miss the lower officials, and the lower officials can stay, right?" ”

Zeng Guoquan smiled and said, "Of course you can, but I gave you this opportunity to make a fortune, remember to invite me to dinner in the future." ”

Zhang Zhidong agreed with a smile, and said in his heart: "Phew! It is worthy of being the number one iron rooster in Hunan! ”

…………

When Li Tangjie was led into the Huayue Temple, the temporary headquarters of the Wu army, just in time for the front team of the Wu army to drive north, seeing the appearance of the Wu army leaving in a hurry, Li Tangjie was still a little surprised, and couldn't help but whisper to the Zeng Guoquan soldiers who escorted him to ask the reason for the transfer of the Wu army, but fortunately, Zeng Guoquan's army was quite strict, and all the soldiers refused to answer, so that Li Tangjie touched a nose of ash.

Then, when Li Tangjie was led in front of Zhang Zhidong, Li Tangjie still vaguely felt that Zhang Zhidong was a little familiar, and couldn't help asking, "Are you ......?" How do I seem to have seen you? ”

"Li Shangshu, we have indeed met." Zhang Zhidong replied with a smile: "The younger cousin Zhang Zhiwan, once served as a waiter in the Ministry of Rites, and worked with you in the same yamen. ”

"Come to think of it, you are Zhang Zhidong Zhang Xiaoda!" Li Tangjie's memory is not bad, not only remembered Zhang Zhidong's name but also remembered Zhang Zhidong's words, and said very happily: "When your brother was working with the old man, he didn't mention you less, saying that you were talented at a young age, and his future would definitely be far above him!" ”

Saying that, Li Tangjie suddenly came back to his senses and said in surprise: "Why are you here?" Do things for Wu ......, for General Zeng Guoquan and Zeng? ”

"The past, don't talk about it anymore." Zhang Zhidong made a slippery haha, and directly erased the scandal of his capture and surrender, and quickly changed the topic: "Li Shangshu, I'm really sorry, although you came with a holy decree in your hand, but our Zeng Guoquan Zeng Jiushuai is currently entangled in military affairs, and he really can't spare time to see you, so let the junior temporarily meet you on his behalf, Master Li, if you have any instructions, you can just say it to the junior." ”

Unexpectedly, Zeng Guoquan didn't even want to meet him, Li Tangjie was really anxious for a while, but there was no way, the proposal to appease Zeng Guoquan was the first to be put forward by Li Tangjie, and the cannon he made about had to be finished with tears in his eyes, so Li Tangjie had no choice but to talk to Zhang Zhidong about his intentions - for the Manchu court, he sent a decree to canonize Zeng Guoquan as the secretary of the military department, the general of Ning Yuan, the second-class prestige prince, gave 100 gold beads, 10 pieces of jade, and asked Zeng Guoquan to stop the siege and start peace talks with the Manchu court.

Glancing at the rich gifts brought by Li Tangjie, Zhang Zhidong snorted again, and said: "Lord Li, the juniors have understood your intentions, and the juniors will go and tell Zeng Jiushuai, and also transfer your kindness and the rewards of the court to Jiushuai, please go back to the city first to Jinghou Jiayin, and we will send someone to contact you as soon as possible." ”

"Don't." Li Tangjie was anxious when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "The old man came with the holy decree in his hand, and he is the identity of the messenger, Zeng Guoquan is a courtier of the Qing Dynasty, why can't he even see the old man?" ”

"Jiu Shuai, he's too busy." Zhang Zhidong shook his head helplessly, pointed to the soldiers of the Wu Army who were striding outside, and said, "Lord Li, please see, our Zeng Jiushuai is busy with military affairs, and we really can't spare time to see you." But don't worry, your meaning will definitely be conveyed to Jiu Shuai, and you will never miss your mission. ”

"Xiaoda, you guys are stationed well here in Huayue Temple, why did you suddenly go somewhere else?" Li Tangjie asked curiously.

"Master Li, don't embarrass the juniors, it's about the military plane, and the juniors don't dare to talk nonsense." Zhang Zhidong replied with a polite smile.

I don't know what Li Tangjie thinks, after looking left and right, Li Tangjie actually got a little closer to Zhang Zhidong, and said in a low voice: "Xiaoda, for the sake of the old man's friendship with your brother, tell the old man the truth, is it that the army of the official, civil and official Taiwan has arrived?" ”

Zhang Zhidong smiled, and said in his heart that your old thing really wants to be beautiful, but after sneering, Zhang Zhidong suddenly moved in his heart, and said secretly: "How did you forget the most important thing?" The biggest hope of the chaotic party in the capital now is the main force of Zhili under the command of Guan Wen? If I use this Li Tang step to bring that kind of news back to the city, will I be able to get miraculous results? ”

quickly made up his mind, Zhang Zhidong was not polite, and said with a smile: "Lord Li, don't even think about the army of the official platform, I won't tell you, we are preparing to attack Chaoyangmen, and in order to facilitate the attack, we are also preparing to move the camp outside Chaoyangmen." ”

"Xiaoda, why are you so stubborn?" When Li Tangjie heard the bitterness, he hurriedly said: "The empress dowager of the two palaces and the emperor have already issued a holy decree to give you General Zeng another official and knighthood, and said that as long as you agree to peace talks, any conditions can be discussed, why do you still insist on making a big move and ruining the lives of people?" ”

"Xiaoda, for your brother's sake, and for the sake of the old man's thin face, please go and see General Zeng Guoquan Zeng immediately, and ask him to take time out to meet the old man no matter what, and the old man has something from the bottom of his heart to confide in him. Please, please! ”

Unable to withstand Li Tangjie's bitter pleading, Zhang Zhidong's heart softened, and finally agreed to invite Zeng Guoquan and Li Tangjie to meet.