"Zeng Dashuai, my lords, if half a word of what the sinner says is false, I am willing to be thundered by the sky, and after death, I will go to the eighteenth layer of hell, and I will not be able to live forever. Also, the son I have left now is just as bad as I am! ”

First, with tears in his eyes, he carefully introduced the before and after of his trip to Tianjin and the specific situation in the city, and then swore to ensure that he did not tell a lie, and then Shiqing, the representative sent by the Tianjin Manchus, kowtowed to Zeng Guoquan and others again and again, and cried bitterly and said: "Zeng Dashuai, all the lords and generals of the rebel army, sinners and my fellow clansmen have really repented this time, and really know that you are the people who are really good to us, and I also know that you are right. Hurry up and send troops to save the sinners in Tianjin City, or they will all be finished. ”

"Zeng Dashuai, lords and generals, you can rest assured, there are now thousands of banner people in Tianjin City who have gone from the capital, most of them are young and middle-aged, as long as you go to fight Tianjin, even if we bite with our teeth, hit with stones, and knock with sticks, we will help you open the gate of Tianjin, and take you into the city, and ...... Prince Gong, oh no, kill all the rebels of Prince Gong, and kill them cleanly! Not a single one to stay! ”

"Marshal, here is a list, all of them are the names of the Manchurian generals in the Tianjin rebel army, most of their relatives are in the capital, they are willing to use their families as hostages, to ensure that when you attack the city, they will raise troops to respond, and bring their soldiers to help you, go to the soup and fire, and break your bones, at any cost!"

The list that Shiqing took out was quickly forwarded to Zeng Guoquan, but to Zeng Guoquan's great disappointment, the Manchu generals on the list were only some lower-level generals in the Qing army in Tianjin, not even a battalion officer or a middle-level general at the Niu Lu level, not to mention the two most powerful Manchu generals in Tianjin City, Dechun and Ha Feng'a, even if all the people on the list started according to the agreement, the role they could play in the Tianjin war was very small and could not play a decisive role. The Qing army in Tianjin, which had quite sufficient troops, could immediately pinch all these people on the list to death as long as they had a little free hands.

After the list was transferred to Jiang Zhongji, Jiang Zhongji, who was second only to Zeng Guoquan in the Wu army in North China, also frowned, and also saw at a glance that although there were many generals of the Qing army on the list, they were actually useless, but fortunately, Jiang Zhongji did not show too much disappointment, but just smiled at Zeng Guoquan and said: "Nine marshals, the matter of sending troops to Tianjin is not trivial, we need to discuss it slowly, let's ask about other situations in Tianjin first." ”

Zeng Guoquan understood, and was not in a hurry to agree to send troops to Tianjin, and patiently only asked Shiqing about other specific situations of the Qing army in Tianjin, but it was a pity that Shiqing, who was born in cross talk and erhu, knew nothing about intelligence collection, and he couldn't get in touch with any decent Qing army generals in Tianjin. Zeng Guoquan was disappointed again, so he had to wave his hand to Shiqing and said, "Okay, you go down to rest first, Ben Shuai and Master Jiang will discuss it and then send you to see you." ”

"Xie Dashuai." Shiqing kowtowed and agreed, and hurriedly added, "Dashuai, please be quick, the sinner's clan has no food and clothing in Tianjin City, all rely on begging for a living, and may starve to death or be driven out of the city at any time, and the sinner's son is still a hostage in the city, please Dashuai must send troops as soon as possible, the sooner the better, otherwise the opportunity may be missed, and the sinner's son may not survive." ”

"Don't worry, go ahead."

Zeng Guoquan nodded, waved his hand again to expel Shi Qing away, but the guards had just taken Shi Qing out of the lobby, Zeng Guoquan immediately changed his wry smile and said with a wry smile: "The sooner the better?" If Tianjin City is really so easy to fight, we will still watch Prince Pseudo Gong jump in Tianjin City for more than a year and ignore him? Besides, even if Tianjin is taken at this time, what use can it be for us? ”

Zeng Guoquan's words are not exaggerated at all, after Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji's two armies joined forces to control the capital, they have been trying to recover the lost land in North China for more than a year, but they have never been in a hurry to attack Tianjin, which is close at hand, for two reasons: First, most of the main force of the Qing army in North China has retreated in the area of Tianjin, and it is not easy for Zeng Jiang's second army, which has difficulty in supplying advanced ammunition, to take Tianjin, and there is no complete certainty that it can ensure victory, and it is also possible to run into a head in front of Tianjin's strong city defense, which will hurt the morale and morale of the army.

The second reason is simpler, taking Tianjin before was useless for Wu Jun, and now taking Tianjin is equally useless for Wu Jun. Previously, the Taiping army controlled and blocked the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, even if Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji gritted their teeth and took Tianjin, the grain from Huguang and Sichuan could not be sent to Shanghai by water, and Shanghai had no surplus grain to send supplies to the capital Wu army by sea.

And now, the Yangtze River channel has been dredged by the Wu army, but the Wu army's naval division, which has been training and fighting in inland rivers, has just entered the sea, and in any case, it has to adapt to familiarity for a period of time before daring to go north to fight, plus the Jiaodong Peninsula is still in the hands of the Qing army in Shandong, whether the Wu army's naval division needs to seize a coastal haven and establish a transit base is still unknown, and no one knows when the rear of the lake will be able to send supplies to the Wu army in North China by sea, so Zeng Guoquan naturally has no need to rush to Tianjin, and fight a meaningless decisive battle with the Qing army in Tianjin, which is still fighting with the trapped beasts. - For the North China Wu Army led by Zeng Guoquan, at least for now, it is still meaningless.

"The key is that there are no decent people on this list, the largest is only two assistants, who are only equivalent to our sentinels, and they can't play any role." Jiang Zhongji also shook his head, and said very regretfully: "Otherwise, we can try our luck, at least we can guarantee that we will suffer many losses in the siege battle." ”

"Ru Zhou, so you don't have much interest in fighting Tianjin?" Zeng Guoquan asked.

"It's not that I'm not interested, it's that there's no need for it." Jiang Zhongji replied very directly, and said: "Our main force is still in Fujian and the Liangguang area to recover the lost land, no one can say when we will be able to turn around and go north, and I don't know when the counterinsurgency war in the northwest will be fought. The fact that Prince Gong can be forced to die in the Eight Banners shows that the food situation in Tianjin will only be worse than we estimated. ”

Zeng Guoquan nodded his head, and deeply agreed with Jiang Zhongji's opinion, although Zeng Guoquan's accomplice Zhang Zhidong felt extremely regretful, but he knew that what Jiang Zhongji said was the truth, so he did not open his mouth to object. On the contrary, it was Jiang Zhongji's right-hand man Li Hongzhang who suddenly spoke, and asked in a slightly mocking tone: "Second General, Nine Marshal, in this way, do you want to continue to be subservient?" ”

"Shaoquan, what do you mean by that?" Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji are both the same.

"It's nothing, just remind the second general and the ninth marshal." Li Hongzhang smiled first, and then said: "Yes, now the main elite of our rebel army is indeed fighting in the area of Fujian and Guangzhou, and there is no way to turn back to the north to participate in the war. But the second general, the ninth marshal, have you considered it, if you wait for the king of Zhennan to relieve this tone, the main forces of Cao Yanzhong and Feng Sanbao will turn around and go north, and on the two battlefields in North China and Northeast China, will you still have the right to speak? ”

Jiang Zhongji and Zeng Guoquan felt a pang in their hearts, and then they remembered this fateful problem, and when Cao Yanzhong's corps, which was strong and well-equipped, turned around and went north, it was actually just Jiang Zhongji and Zeng Guoquan's two corps of the second-line corps of the Wu army—100% of them had to stand aside immediately! Give Cao Yanzhong a hand! The credit was given to Cao Yanzhong's corps, and the limelight was given to Cao Yanzhong's corps, but the work of enduring hardships and suffering and carrying the black pot had to be done by Jiang Zhongji and Zeng Guoquan!

Observing the words and looks, seeing that Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji had already understood their own voices, Li Hongzhang continued: "Nine marshals, two generals, I think this is our chance, and it may also be our last chance, taking advantage of the fact that the elite main force of our rebel army is still in Liangguang, Fujian, and also taking advantage of the opportunity that the king of Zhennan is now very concerned about the battlefield in the northeast, and hurry up to light the fire of the war in the northeast, only in this way can the initiative be in your hands, and the king of Zhennan can only open up the sea route as soon as possible at any cost. I will send you a steady stream of food and ammunition by sea to fight. ”

Speaking of this, Li Hongzhang paused, and then smiled again: "Otherwise, we can only drink the leftover soup of Cao Yanzhong, Feng Sanbao and Wang Fu." ”

Hearing this, Hunan's number one iron rooster Zeng Guoquan's eyes suddenly spewed a fierce light, and Jiang Zhongji, who had made an enmity with Liu Kunyi for half his life for a meal, had muscle twitches on his face, and his teeth rubbed together. Only Zhang Zhidong's current nature has not been completely blackened, and he is very worried and objected: "Brother Shaoquan, although your words are very reasonable, have you considered these issues?" What if the king of Zhennan is unwilling to continue to expand the war and lengthen the front at this time? Also, after years of war, our money and food are also very tight, what if the king of Zhennan can't afford us to fight this war in the Northeast? ”

"Xiaoda rest assured, Weiting has never given any order, asking us to exercise restraint and not continue to expand the war, and he is now obviously eyeing the Shengjing Rebellion, we use force to put pressure on the Shengjing Rebellion, and also help him to make a forced landing on the Shengjing Rebellion, he has no reason to blame us."

Li Hongzhang waved his hand easily, first answered Zhang Zhidong's first question, and then sneered and said: "As for the money and food issue, if you say sorry for the comfort pavilion, this is something that should be worried about him and Yan Jingming." The second general and the nine marshals charged into battle for him, and it was a matter of birth and death; Providing money, food, ammunition and supplies for the second general and the ninth marshal is within his duty to comfort the pavilion, and everyone just keeps their duties. ”

Zhang Zhidong smiled bitterly and shut up, while Li Hongzhang turned to Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji again, and said: "Second general, Jiu Shuai, in fact, I have long wanted to persuade you to send troops to Tianjin, but the time was always not ripe before, so I have never opened this mouth." ”

"Now it just so happens that the Yangtze River channel has been opened, and our sailors have also been adapting to training at sea for nearly three months, and the Eight Banners in Tianjin City have taken the initiative to express their willingness to give us an internal response, although they certainly can't help much, but we sent troops to Tianjin at this time, not only complying with their request, buying the hearts of the people of the Eight Banners, but also allowing Weiting to have to send us grain, grass and ammunition supplies by sea as soon as possible, turning our idle chess into a living chess, and letting us take the initiative in the Northeast Battlefield."

The stakes are very high, Zeng Guoquan and Jiang Zhongji did not rush to express whether they accepted Li Hongzhang's suggestion, but first discussed in a low voice for a period of time before Jiang Zhongji made a decision and said: "Okay, since this is your idea, Shaoquan, then we will be the main force in this battle, and strive to take Tianjin and Dagukou, so that the king of Zhennan can directly send us food and ammunition by sea." ”

"Don't forget to give King Zhennan a piece of music first." Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "In addition to explaining the causes and consequences to him, I also ask him to prepare for us to send food and ammunition as soon as possible, so as not to have to wait for a long time after we take Tianjin." ”

Jiang Zhongji and Zeng Guoquan both laughed, and Zeng Guoquan also said with a smile: "Shaoquan, the king of Zhennan has a senior brother like you, and he really accumulated virtue in his previous life. ”

Li Hongzhang also laughed, but said in his heart: "But I am also for his good, if he is in my position, there is no need to consider the overall situation, he will only unceremoniously do more ruthless than me." ”

…………

According to Li Hongzhang's proposal, the Wu army in North China was ready to attack the Qing army in Tianjin, and it was immediately sent out through the fast horse, but the first person to be caught was not Wu Chaoyue, who was now extremely tight on money and food and was ready to borrow foreign debts from the Western powers, but the devil six in Tianjin.

Originally, according to the proposal of his confidant Jing Lian, Devil Six had long planned to use force to expel the Eight Banners Manchu people who came from Beijing to Tianjin to defect to him from the city, but considering that this would definitely chill the hearts of the people in the capital and force the middle and lower Eight Banners Manchus to the side of Wu Jun, Devil Six never made up his mind. When the Eight Banners in Tianjin City were full of more than 5,000 people, and the Banner People in the streets outside the city were about to break through the 10,000 mark, seriously threatening the safety inside and outside Tianjin, the Devil Six made a ruthless decision and decided to use force to drive people away, and expelled all the same clans in the city and the towns outside the city, so as not to cause trouble.

But at this time, the bad news came, and the Qing army's fine work in the capital suddenly sent an urgent report, saying that the Wu army had begun the pre-war mobilization and was preparing to launch a large-scale attack on Tianjin, pulling out the last nail that the Manchu court had nailed to the throat of the Wu army. The devil was shocked when he heard the report, in addition to hurriedly summoning Chen Guorui, Ha Feng'a and Dechun and other generals to discuss countermeasures, he had to cancel the idea of expelling the Eight Banners from the city by force, and said very helplessly: "Can't rush it, if you rush again, these dog minions will definitely carry knives to help the Wu rebel thief army and us desperately, and the other banner people in the capital will only completely fall to the side of the Wu thief." ”

"But Lord Wang, so many people are gathered in Tianjin City, without food and clothing, the hidden danger will definitely be greater?" Jing Lian, a very talented confidant, asked with a sad face.

Devil Six gritted his teeth and said: "Give porridge, raise them with two meals of gruel a day, and then find a way to send them outside the customs after they get through this pass, the situation there is better than Tianjin." Tianjin is the last direct gateway between the Qing Dynasty and the British, French, and foreigners, and the stakes are very important, and we must strive to keep it. ”