Zeng Guofan and the Hunan Army Sailor coveted the two good ships of the Wu Army Sailor for a long time It has not been a day or two, as early as when Xiao Baoling sold the two and gave them to Wu Chaoyue, Zeng Guofan had already moved the idea to get those two good boats, but Wu Chaoyue could never let go for no reason, and then there was no suitable opportunity to force the disobedient protégé to pay tribute, Zeng Guofan has never spoken, and has always hidden this idea in the deepest part of his heart. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

This time, it was not easy to wait for the opportunity for the Taiping Army's sailors to enter Kouhubei to force the disobedient protégé to take the initiative to ask for help, Zeng Guofan of course would not be polite, and wrote a letter to beg that it was not enough, and also sent Li Yuandu, a well-behaved protégé who claimed to be the same brother and sister as Wu Chaoyue, to Tianjia Town, and stated the pros and cons to Wu Chaoyue in person, and induced the disobedient protégé to hand over the warship. In addition, Zeng Guofan also secretly explained to Li Yuandu his final limit - Wu Chaoyue had to hand over at least one of the Loyalty and Renyi before the Hunan Army Naval Division would return to Tianjia Town in a big way.

Zeng Guofan was making a big gamble with his disobedient protégé, in fact, the current situation of the Hunan army was far more critical and dangerous than outsiders imagined, and the Lu Division and the Navy Division suffered a crushing defeat in front of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Western Route Army led by Shi Dakai one after another, and the morale was low and the morale of the army was shaken. Even if a section of the lake's mouth channel was barely dredged and the water division of Poyang Lake was withdrawn, the Hunan Army Navy was completely inferior in front of the Taiping Army and basically had no chance of winning.

Under such circumstances, if the partial division of the Taiping Army's naval division is allowed to take Tianjia Town and cut off the supply line of grain, grass and baggage of the Hunan army, then the Hunan army not only has no hope of victory, but also the danger of annihilation! Quickly sending the sailors back to Tianjia Town to help Wu Chaoyue defend the choke point of Tianjia Town is actually the only correct choice for the Hunan army!

Even so, Zeng Guofan still dared to bet with his disobedient protégé, gambling that the disobedient protégé would not dare to let the Taiping Army's sailors enter the hinterland of Hubei, and also bet that the disobedient protégé, who had always cherished military strength, would not let the newly formed Wu Army's naval division be wiped out! And if this bet wins, the Hunan army, which has been hit hard, will not only be able to turn over immediately, but also have a great hope of turning defeat into victory!

Gambling so big, Zeng Guofan of course extremely concerned about the results of the opening, originally Zeng Guofan thought that he had to wait at least three or five days before there was news, but to Zeng Guofan's surprise, Li Yuandu ventured to Tianjia Town on the second night, relying on the advantage of smooth sailing, Li Yuandu had already sent someone to send the news. Excited and nervous, regardless of the darkness of the night, Zeng Guofan ran out to meet Li Yuandu's envoy without even putting on his clothes, and as soon as they met, he couldn't wait to ask:

"News so soon? Isn't it good news that the second youth is really fast? Come on, did Wu Chaoyue promise to lend us the boat? ”

"Back to Dashuai, it's not good news, it's bad news." The envoy replied with a sad face: "Lord Li was beaten by the people of the Hubei Navy, and he was seriously injured, and eighteen bones were broken on his body, and whether he could be rescued or not is a big question. ”

After listening to the envoy's crying and complaining about Li Yuandu's beating by Wu Jun's sailors, he only thought about it for a while, and Zeng Guofan, who had long been dissatisfied with his disobedient protégé to the extreme, finally couldn't bear it anymore, smashed his fist on the handsome case, and roared angrily: "Ungrateful little bastard!" Dog thief! went out of the same door as Li Yuandu, and dared to connive at the soldiers to beat the **** Ben Shuai's protégé so badly, and he didn't take Ben Shuai in his eyes? ! ”

"I also take Li Yuandu's aggressive tactics." Liu Rong next to him said gloomily: "I dare to assert that the Hubei sailors made trouble and beat Li Yuandu, and the reason behind it must be instigated by Wu Chaoyue!" He knew that his sailor was not the opponent of the long-haired sailor, so he deliberately used Li Yuandu to completely anger his sailor soldiers, so that his sailor pawn took the initiative to ask for battle under extreme anger, and took out 12% of his strength to fight to the death with the long-haired sailor, striving for that faint chance of victory. ”

Hearing this, Zeng Guofan's face was of course blue and black, his face was hard to see, and after thinking about it for a long time, Zeng Guofan simply picked up a blank fold and personally picked up the pen to make a book. Liu Rong, Guo Songtao and others have been serving Zeng Guofan as a tiger for many years, and they know Zeng Guofan's temperament very well, and when they saw Zeng Guofan doing this, Liu Rong and others immediately asked in surprise: "Dashuai, do you want to personally impeach Wu Chaoyue?" He's your protégé, and if you personally impeach him, isn't that a joke? ”

"Come and don't be rude! He instigated the soldiers to beat Ben Shuai's protégé, if Ben Shuai still wants to swallow his anger, it will be a joke! Since he has done such a desperate job, let's completely tear his face! From now on, Ben Shuai and him are no longer teachers and students, they are enemies! Foe! ”

Roaring angrily, Zeng Guofan ignored the repeated dissuasion of Liu Rong and others, insisted on writing down the impeachment of the disobedient protégé and conniving at the soldiers to beat the alternate magistrate Li Yuandu, thinking that this crime was not strong enough, Zeng Guofan simply impeached Wu Chaoyue for an even more vicious crime - knowing that he was invincible, he insisted on taking the risk of a decisive battle with the Taiping Sailors, ignoring the safety of Hubei! and shamelessly claimed that he was ready to return to the battlefield in Hubei, but the disobedient protégé was greedy for merit and good name, insisted on forcibly going to war, and regarded the safety and survival of ten prefectures and thousands of living beings in Hubei as child's play!

Shaking his head and sighing, he watched Zeng Guofan finish writing the excerpt, and saw that Zeng Guofan was about to send someone to send out the impeachment excerpt overnight, Liu Rong, Guo Songtao and others hurriedly persuaded again: "Dashuai, are you waiting a little longer?" Wait until the decisive battle between the Hubei Navy Division and the Long-haired Water Division is over? You are sure that the Hubei Navy Division will be defeated, if this is sent out, but Wu Chaoyue is lucky to win a battle, then your face will be lost. ”

He hesitated slightly, but when he thought of all kinds of disrespect for his disobedient protégé, Zeng Guofan, who was angry, still insisted on letting his soldiers send out the impeachment with a fast horse overnight, and said angrily: "Is it possible to expect the rookies of the Hubei Navy Division to win the battle?" It was Shi Xiangzhen who led the long-haired sailor, and even our sailor had suffered a big defeat in front of him, so could the little beast have a chance in front of him? Send it out now, and when his entire army is annihilated, it will be just right for the imperial court to know how accurate Ben Shuai's judgment of the war in Hubei is! ”

It was very clear how weak Wu Jun's sailors were, and seeing that Zeng Guofan was angry to this point, Liu Rong, Guo Songtao and others did not dare to continue to persuade them. And Zeng Guofan, like Li Yuandu, couldn't help but say viciously in his heart, "It's better to let Shi Xiangzhen, the thief, slaughter the little beast!" Vent evil anger for Ben Shuai! ”

Determined that the Wu army's sailors would be defeated, Zeng Guofan even gave birth to the idea of taking the opportunity to retreat to Hubei to rest and recuperate, and at the same time, he was more concerned about the results of the decisive battle between the Wu army's sailors and the Taiping army's sailors.

Anxiously waited until about the afternoon Shen Shi, and finally a scout clipper ship rushed back to the Hunan army camp with the news of the battle situation, Zeng Guofan was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly ordered the scout to be summoned. After meeting, Zeng Guofan couldn't wait to ask the scout, "How is it?" Has the Hubei Sailor been wiped out by the Long-haired Sailor? ”

"The Hubei Sailor was wiped out by the Long-haired Sailor?!"

The scout, whose clothes were not yet dry, was dumbfounded, and replied timidly: "Yu Dashuai, the Hubei Navy Division was not annihilated by Long Hair?" On the contrary, the long-haired sailor was also defeated by the Hubei sailor, and had fled directly from Tianjia Town to the Jiujiang side. ”

Zeng Guofan's chin was directly dislocated, and after pinching his thighs a few times to confirm that he was not dreaming, Zeng Guofan hurriedly put his chin back in place with both hands, jumped up and exclaimed and asked, "The Hubei Navy Master defeated the Long-haired Navy Master?" How is this possible? How did the Hubei Navy Division fight this battle? ”

"The Hubei Navy Division is too desperate, they dispatched a suicide ship!" The scout replied truthfully: "They filled the clipper with gunpowder, rushed into the dense fleet of the long-haired sailors and blew themselves up, completely disrupting the long-haired sailors, and their main force took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack and directly sank the long-haired flagship!" The long-haired naval division lost its flagship command, and was completely defeated by the suicide ship of the Hubei naval division, and was completely defeated. When the little one came back to report the news, the river was full of the fleeing warships of the long-haired sailors, and the corpses of the long-haired sailors were also everywhere. ”

Zeng Guofan dislocated his chin again, and Liu Rong, Luo Zenan, Guo Songtao and others next to him were all dumbfounded, and they all suspected that they were in a dream. After a long time, Liu Rong exclaimed, "Take the clipper full of gunpowder and rush into the long-haired fleet to blow it up!" Such a desperate madman tactic, how did Wu Chaoyue come up with it?! ”

Even more shocked, Zeng Guofan and the others were still behind, and the first scout who came back to report the news wiped the sweat on his face and said: "Also, Dashuai, I heard that the Hubei Navy Division also directly cut off the head of the big-haired Shi Xiangzhen on the battlefield, but there is no way to prove the truth of this news." ”

With a plop, Zeng Guofan directly sat down on the handsome chair, and almost overturned the handsome chair, and after his face was pale for a long time, Zeng Guofan suddenly remembered a big event, and hurriedly shouted: "Quick! Fast! Quickly send someone to chase back Ben Shuai's fold last night! Chase it back! ”

In the evening, the defeated soldiers of the Taiping Army who fled from the upstream passed through the Hunan army camp, and after receiving the news, Zeng Guofan personally climbed the high platform to look at the situation of the Taiping Army and the sails, and when he saw the miserable appearance of the sails of the Taiping Army Navy Division, Zeng Guofan's face was of course more ugly and ugly, and he was extremely remorseful and ashamed, and he did not dare to imagine what the world would say about his disobedient protégé after he fought such a beautiful battle, and what kind of opinion he would have of himself.

The bad news came one after another, Liu Rong, Luo Zenan and others quietly came to Zeng Guofan's side, and said cautiously: "Dashuai, the news is confirmed, the Hubei Navy Division did kill the long-haired Dakou Shi Xiangzhen on the battlefield. Also, in this battle, Wu Chaoyue personally boarded the flagship and personally commanded the decisive ...... of this decisive battle in which the weak defeated the strong. ”

After being hit too much, Zeng Guofan was completely numb, and he didn't react to this bad news at all, but asked weakly: "Has the excerpt been recovered?" ”

"Didn't catch up." Liu Rong shook her head painfully, and then comforted Zeng Guofan and said: "But don't worry, the student has already explained to the person who went to chase the excerpt, even if it is chased to the capital, he must chase the excerpt, and he will not let the excerpt be sent to the military plane and sent to the emperor." ”

Mu Ran nodded, and after being silent for a while, Zeng Guofan suddenly asked: "Meng Rong, I intend to give up Jiujiang and lead the army south directly to Nanchang for reinforcements, what do you think?" ”

Liu Rong's face changed, he never thought that Zeng Guofan could be so ruthless, in order to take revenge on his disobedient protégé, he actually wanted to go deep and drive directly to Nanchang alone, and deliberately let go of the road to let Shi Dakai, who had just died of his brother, go to find a disobedient protégé to take revenge! Then after quickly thinking about it, Liu Rong hurriedly said: "Dashuai, the student thinks that this must not be the case, not to mention that after the lone army goes deep into Nanchang, it is difficult to supply grain and grass and military supplies, and it is very dangerous to retreat from the battle alone. ”

"And." Liu Rong timidly added another sentence and said: "There are also discerning people in the court, and they won't fail to see what the real purpose of doing this is ...... you." ”

The more Liu Rong spoke, the quieter his voice became, Zeng Guofan's face became more and more depressed, knowing that Liu Rong had a big point, he deliberately went south to save Nanchang at this time, and the discerning people in the Manchu court would not fail to see that he was deliberately giving way, and let Shi Da go to find Wu Chaoyue desperately. So after hesitating for a long time, Zeng Guofan finally dispelled this idea - it was too much.

Zeng Guofan knew very well that the Hunan army was going south too much at this time, but he forgot that Shi Dakai wanted him to make this decision at this moment. Zeng Guofan also never expected that on the same night, the main force of the Taiping Army Naval Division, which was full of grief and indignation, suddenly attacked in a big way, taking advantage of the night river fog cover, with a small rowing boat as the vanguard to raid the camp of the Hunan Army Naval Division and succeeded in one fell swoop, killing and burning the boat when he saw people, the Hunan Army Naval Division was defeated, and the large and small warships were either destroyed or scattered in all directions, Zeng Guofan's flagship was also besieged by the Taiping Army's small boats, and Liu Shenghuai, the general of Guangdong, was killed by the Taiping Army Naval Division, and Zeng Guofan's Chinese army general Li Zicheng was killed together, Pan Zhaokui, the supervising sealer, and Ge Rongji, the clerk, and Zeng Guofan's family letters, official documents, chapters, maps, seals, and edicts were seized by the Taiping soldiers.

In the chaos, Zeng Guofan was forcibly put on a boat and fled by his own soldiers, and when he heard the slogan of 'capture Zeng Guofan alive and avenge Shi Guozong' roared by the Taiping soldiers, Zeng Guofan, who was already depressed, was even more ashamed, and committed suicide by throwing himself into the water in Poyang Lake as in history, and when the soldiers jumped into the lake to rescue him, Zeng Guofan also cried out in public, "Heaven! Let Ben Shuai die, Ben Shuai is really faceless, too faceless! ”

In the end, it was under the crying and pleading of Liu Rong and Luo Zenan and others that Zeng Guofan finally dispelled the idea of suicide, but even so, after the night battle, the once rampant Hunan army sailors were still completely injured, and the remnants of the warships either fled upstream to seek the protection of the Wu army's sailors, or fled directly into the inner lake of Poyang Lake for refuge, almost disintegrating. Without the water power to protect the flanks and grain routes, the Hunan army and the land division did not dare to fight hard in Jiujiang and Shidakai even if they still had vitality, and Zeng Guofan did not care about the ridicule of the people of the world and the suspicion of the Manchu court, so he quickly ordered the land division to lift the siege of Jiujiang City, and hurriedly retreated to the town of Wucheng in the south to set up camp.

After the victory of the decisive battle of Jiujiang, the military genius Shi Dakai also made the mistake of being rash, regardless of the death of the hundred-legged insects of the Hunan army, and despite the repeated persuasion and opposition of the generals under his command, he insisted on hanging filial piety and went to Tianjia Town to find Wu Chaoyue desperately to avenge his brother Shi Xiangzhen. During this period, Luo Outline was too resolute in his opposition, and was reprimanded by Shi Dakai with tears, "It's not your brother who died!" Of course you don't feel distressed! It's my own brother who died, I don't avenge him, am I still human? ”

Unable to stop Shi Dakai, who had gone crazy, Luo Outline and Qin Rigang and others had to be forced to agree with Shi Dakai's decision, and at the moment Shi Dakai left Luo Outline and Qin Rigang to guard the first line of Jiujiang and Hukou, and personally led the main force of Anqing to march westward, and marched to Tianjia Town with murderous spirit by land and water, and also played a huge white flag of revenge in the army to make his mind clear! ――Don't say that Shi Dakai is too impulsive, without this bit of blood, Shi Dakai can lead a lone army to fight thousands of miles all the way to the Dadu River?

After the news reached Wucheng, the head of the Zeng State Domain, who was almost at the end of his rope, breathed a sigh of relief, and inevitably had such a vicious thought, "Little beast, it's finally your bad luck, you will soon know how cunning and cunning Shi Dakai's big thief is, wait for death!" ”

Of course, if Zeng Guofan, who had suffered enough of Shi Dakai's big losses, could know what was happening in Shi Dakai's army at this moment, then he would definitely not dare to be so optimistic. -- At this moment, a team of villagers who had made a long journey from the hinterland of Anhui suddenly came to Shi Dakai's army with their own dry rations and asked to join.

When Shi Dakai, who was wearing heavy filial piety, ordered to summon the leader of this township warrior, a strong man with pockmarks on his face was quickly led to Shi Dakai, saluted and said: "His Royal Highness the Wing King, the little one is named Liu Mingchuan, because he killed the bullies in the rampant township in Luzhou and was wanted by the government, he was forced to go to the Daqian Mountain to fall into the grass, and pulled up a group of brothers to eat by robbing the house and eating the big family. ”

"Some time ago, the villain's cottage was burned by the official army, so I had to take my brothers to wander around looking for food, and when I came to the neighborhood, I heard that His Royal Highness the Wing King Your army is here, and I have long admired Your Highness's name, so as soon as we totaled, we came directly to you, hoping that you would take it in. Before and after the saddle, charge into battle, three knives and six holes, and the small one will never frown! ”

I personally tried and found that Liu Mingchuan's martial arts were good, and I saw that Liu Mingchuan gave an order, and more than 300 villagers he brought cut their braids together, Shi Dakai was of course overjoyed, and what made Shi Dakai even happier was that many of the soldiers from Luzhou Mansion under his command also testified one after another, saying that there was indeed a chivalrous and righteous man named Liu Mingchuan in Luzhou Daqian Mountain. Among them, a general named Ding Ruchang under Chen Yucheng is a native of Lujiang, and he also stood up and testified: "The Wing King is 5,000 years old, you can't be wrong, Liu Liumazi of Daqian Mountain is a famous name in Luzhou Mansion, and the last general has long admired his name, and he has also recommended him to Chen Jiandian!" ”

Without the slightest doubt, Shi Dakai even began to congratulate himself on his good luck, and received a general before he met with the enemy who killed his brother, and at that moment Shi Dakai pointed at Liu Mingchuan and shouted: "Okay!" General Liu, this king has made you the commander of the division, led your fellow villagers, incorporated into the king's Chinese army, and belonged to the direct command of this king! ”

"Thank you for the five thousand years old Wing King, Liu Ming passed on the grass title ring, and he was broken to pieces, and he will definitely repay your deep kindness!" Liu Mingchuan answered neatly and categorically! (To be continued.) )