Even if too many first-line elites were not dispatched to fight westward in Yunnan and Guizhou, the special situation of the Yunnan-Guizhou battlefield doomed Wu Chaoyue to constantly throw money and food into it, and to lose money and make money to consume ammunition and military supplies, so naturally he did not have the strength to go north in a big way, and fight with the Manchu army with the Taiping army to compete in the Central Plains. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, Wu Chaoyue was not idle for the Central Plains battlefield, in addition to constantly soliciting the counties of Nanyang Prefecture that had not yet surrendered under the shameless banner of the Qing monarch's side, trying to build the defense line of Fangcheng Mountain, he was also very concerned about the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army, and constantly collected news of the Shandong Battlefield through various light and dark channels to understand the progress of the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army.

It's a pity, for various reasons, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom famous general Shi Dakai, who commanded the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition, disappointed Wu Chaoyue, and in the absence of any threat from the rear, Shi Dakai was never able to break through the Yimeng defense line of the Qing Army in Shandong, and was successfully blocked by the Qing Army south of Tai'an, unable to take a step north.

Tai'an Mansion has been run by Luo Bingzhang, a famous minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, for many years, and has the terrain advantage of the Taishan Mountains, Shi Dakai is difficult to conquer Tai'an, and it is understandable that Wu Chaoyue will directly attack Jinan, but after the attack is blocked, Shi Dakai's coping choice makes Wu Chaoyue unacceptable.

If it was Wu Chaoyue who commanded the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army and couldn't defeat Tai'an, Wu Chaoyue would definitely choose to turn around and go west, take the main force north along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, first take Dongping Liaocheng, and then wave his army eastward to attack Jinan. In this way, although the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, which was scrapped because of the diversion of the Yellow River, could not bear the heavy task of transporting grain, it could rely on the river to weaken the mobility advantage of the superior cavalry of the Qing army, and force the Qing army and the Taiping army to launch a strategic decisive battle in Jinan.

It's a pity that Shi Dakai chose to split two partial divisions to attack and harass the two wings of Jinan, in a vain attempt to force the Qing army to divide his troops to meet the battle, weaken the troops on both wings of the Qing army, and then attack Tai'an.

Of course, this can't be regarded as Shi Dakai's mistake, in the case of insufficient cavalry and the scrapping of the canal, Shi Dakai led the army to the north, of course, he had to beware of the Qing army cutting off his grain route, and the troops had to act cautiously, and it was a great danger not to pull out the hard nail that threatened the main grain route in Tai'an. At the same time, if the soldiers on both wings can successfully induce the main force of the Qing army to go out of the city for field battles and give full play to the strengths of the Taiping army in field battles, it may not be a good move.

But what disappointed Shi Dakai and Wu Chaoyue together was that the real old fox Luo Bingzhang saw through Shi Dakai's purpose and plan at a glance, and made every effort to strengthen the defense of the Dongping area, relying on the city to defend without fighting, no matter how Chen Yucheng, who led the Taiping Army's western division, provoked and lured, he only hid in the city and did not come out, so that Shi Dakai's dream of luring the Qing army to a decisive battle was completely frustrated.

Contrary to the West Road, the Taiping Army's East Road Division is progressing smoothly, under Luo Bingzhang's intentional indulgence, Shi Dakaiai's He Mingbiao easily broke through the Nine Girls Pass to capture Mengyin, although the attack on Xintai was blocked, but it also found that the Qing army was empty in Yishui, so he continued to attack the east to take Yishui, and really successfully took Yishui. Then, the Taiping army took Muling Pass with only a small force, and the blade pointed directly at the hinterland of Qingzhou Mansion, and He Mingbiao, who was overjoyed, immediately sent people to Shi Dakai to ask for reinforcements, preparing to attack Qingzhou Mansion on a large scale.

Qingzhou Fucheng is Yidu, since ancient times it has been an important town in Shandong, rich in money and grain, Xu Da's Northern Expedition when the Ming army first took Yidu and then attacked Jinan, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom kings had the highest Chinese Shi Dakai knew about this, seeing that the east road was going so smoothly, Shi Dakai naturally gave birth to the idea of emulating Xu Da, decisively sent Lai Yuxin to lead the army east to reinforce He Mingbiao, and unknowingly, pinned the hope of severely hitting the Qing army in Shandong on the eastern front.

Restricted by the distance of the road, Wu Chaoyue only knew about Shi Dakai's transfer after more than half a month, and immediately suspected that Shi Dakai had fallen into the evil deeds of the old fox Luo Bingzhang, and the Taiping Army's Eastern Route Army was in danger of being destroyed. Then Wu Chaoyue only had a little calculation, and immediately asked his staff to write a letter to Yang Xiuqing, suggesting that Yang Xiuqing intervene to prevent Shi Dakai from entering Qingzhou.

"Tell Yang Xiuqing that you must not fight Qingzhou, which is too far away from Yanzhou, where Shi Dakai's main force is stationed, and once there is a mistake, it will be difficult for Shi Dakai's main force to rescue his East Road Division. Instead of going north to fight Qingzhou, Shi Dakai's east road is better to go south to sweep the remnants of Yizhou and consolidate his Shi Dakai's rear. ”

"If Shi Dakai wants to seize Jinan, the most sure route is still Dongping and Liaocheng, and the grain road is threatened by the cavalry of the Qing army, and Li Kaifang and the Twist Army have cavalry that can help. I suggested that Yang Xiuqing mobilize the Twist Army to march east to help Shi Dakai, and specifically help Shi Dakai deal with Shengbao's cavalry. ”

In this way, if he is lucky, Shi Dakai may be able to force the Manchu court to send the Zhili army south to reinforce him, and then Shi Dakai will wait for his work, and it will be easy to kill the idiot of Seng Lingqin. Then Zhili was empty, and the strategic initiative was in Shi Dakai's hands. ”

Or when the staff picked up the pen and made the book, the chief of staff, Zhao Liewen, smiled and asked Wu Chaoyue: "Comfort Ting, is it so selfless?" Aren't you afraid that the Taiping Army will really take Beijing City before you and force you to declare yourself a vassal to Yang Xiuqing? ”

"Yang Xiuqing is easier to deal with than the Manchu court." Wu Chaoyue replied with a smile: "The overall strength of the Taiping Army is very strong now, but there are too many internal problems, even if Yang Xiuqing really takes Beijing City, he will not be able to restrain and control the situation, and the internal problems of the Taiping Army will break out sooner or later." At that time, it will be easier for us to clean up the Taiping army, which is fighting separately, than it is to deal with the Manchu court, which has a stronger internal cohesion. ”

"But if Shi Dakai's Northern Expedition fails, then Yang Xiuqing's trouble will be big, and maybe the internal problems of the Taiping Army will break out in advance." Wu Chaoyue said: "If that's the case, then we have to follow the bad luck, the Taiping army that is not under the control and restraint of Yang Xiuqing may stab us in the back at any time, and the Manchu court will definitely concentrate its forces to deal with us first, because the Taiping army in civil strife can no longer pose a mortal threat to them, they can let it go." ”

Zhao Liewen nodded and said: "That's true, the internal problems of the Taiping Army will break out sooner or later, but for us, the civil strife of the Taiping Army must not appear at present, and it is best to expel the Manchu court from the customs for us before breaking out." ”

"I hope Yang Xiuqing can listen to my advice, and I also hope that he can mobilize the Twist Army to help Shi Dakai with this." Wu Chaoyue was still a little worried, and sighed: "Otherwise, I can only hope that Shi Dakai will not be defeated by the whole army, and he will be able to continue to defend southern and northern Jiangsu." ”

…………

Wu Chaoyue also underestimated some military genius Yang Xiuqing, no need for Wu Chaoyue to remind, as early as when he received the news that Shi Dakai was going to the East Road to invest heavy troops, Yang Xiuqing also saw that this was a trap, and immediately went to Wenshi Dakai, asking Shi Dakai to enter Qingzhou cautiously, and Wu Chaoyue coincided with asking Shi Dakai's East Route Army to return to Lunan and consolidate the northern line of the Taiping Army.

After receiving Wu Chaoyue's letter again, Yang Xiuqing was of course a little surprised, and scolded with a smile that he didn't expect that the Transcendence Little Demon would think of a little bit with this king, and then Yang Xiuqing inevitably smiled a little bitterly, and said to himself: "Beyond the Little Demon, do you think that this king hasn't considered the point of mobilizing the cavalry of the Twist Army to help Shi Dakai?" Can you know that the Five Banners of the Twisted Army are not mobilized when the king says they can be mobilized? ”

The book explains that Yang Xiuqing really can't move the Twist Army, because the Twist Army only accepts the canonization of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and only listens to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and at the same time, the Twist Army is also doing its own thing, and the Twist Army Alliance, which was named Chengtianyi by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, advocates that Le Xing can only command the Yellow Banner soldiers and horses of the headquarters, and also cannot command the other four banners of the Twist Army. Therefore, Wu Chaoyue counted on Yang Xiuqing to mobilize the main force of the cavalry of the Twist Army to help Shi Dakai, which was really difficult for some strongmen, and also seriously overestimated Yang Xiuqing's control over the Five Banners of the Twisted Army.

It can't be said that Wu Chaoyue's letter is completely useless, seeing that Wu Chaoyue, a good brother who is also an enemy and a friend, feels that he must have the help of the Twist Army to complete the great cause of the Northern Expedition, and has already found that the Qing cavalry has already threatened Shi Da's grain road too much Yang Xiuqing was also ruthless, and adopted Hong Renji's suggestion, and simply directly issued an edict to canonize Zhang Lexing as King Wo Chitose, rewarded 200,000 taels of silver, and promised to send half of the money and grain in the city to the Twist Army after capturing Jinan, and asked Zhang Lexing to send troops to the east to help Shi Dakai deal with the Qing cavalry.

Not to mention, Yang Xiuqing's heavy gold temptation really played a role, after receiving the silver and edict sent by Yang Xiuqing, Zhang Lexing, who was very righteous, not only immediately agreed to send troops, but also personally came forward to persuade Su Tianfu, the general banner owner of the Black Flag of the Twisted Army, to also send troops to help, and jointly with Li Kaifang, who was loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, to send a total of tens of thousands of cavalry to the east, and to Shandong to help Shi Dakai day and night. However, it is a pity that the cavalry of the Twist Army has just arrived in Suzhou, and news has already come from Shandong that Shi Dakai's Eastern Route Army has been defeated.

Shi Dakai was defeated for the sake of stubbornness, insisting on luring Shandong to a decisive battle in the field, believing that even if He Mingbiao was stubbornly blocked by the Qing army, he would have the ability to hold out until Lai Yuxin's reinforcements arrived. After receiving Yang Xiuqing's warning letter, Shi Dakai still did not give an order to stop He Mingbiao from going north, but what Shi Dakai never expected was that Luo Bingzhang's appetite was not only He Mingbiao's Taiping army, but also the reinforcements sent by Shi Dakai to He Mingbiao.

The hinterland of Qingzhou Mansion, which has not been damaged by too much war, has become Luo Bingzhang's incense bait, greedy for money and grain in market towns such as Baisha, Wujing, Xinzhai and Zhiyuan, without waiting for reinforcements to arrive, He Mingbiao could not wait to divide his troops to the north to plunder, and the Qing army deliberately lost these markets one after another, so that He Mingbiao felt that the Qing army in Qingzhou Mansion was also vulnerable, and just received the news of the source of Lai Yuxin's army, he hurriedly took the East Route Army north to fight Linqu County, and completely fell into Luo Bingzhang's trap.

Then, the Qingzhou Qing army continued to pretend to be pigs and eat tigers, deliberately did not dare to send troops to rescue Linqu, and let He Mingbiaojun besiege the small city of Linqu, and patiently waited for the Taiping army's reinforcements to arrive and join the battle to attack Linqu. Then at this juncture when He Mingbiao could not attack the old man of the division and Lai Yu's new army after a long journey, the fierce counterattack of the Qing army suddenly began, and it still made the Taiping army extremely dumbfounded to start from the Mi River first - Wu Quan's American army, which had been assigned to Luo Bingzhang's command, changed to a small boat, and suddenly killed from the lower reaches of the Mi River and appeared on the flank of the Taiping army.

Carefully calculated time psychologically hit the Taiping army, He Mingbiao and Lai Yuxin just lined up the formation to prepare to face Wu Quanmei, and the Qingzhou city not far from the north suddenly killed the Qing army general Yuan Baoheng, at the same time, another Qing army commander Zhang Guoliang also led an elite cavalry from the east of Changle City suddenly killed, three ways to attack the Taiping army, the war did not start, the Taiping army was already in an absolute psychological disadvantage - knowing that the army had fallen into the trap.

Caught off guard, the Taiping army first lost two battles in a row, and then was forced to retreat to the south, but at this time, He Mingbiao and Lai Yuxin, who were already a little festive, suddenly broke out contradictions (historical interpersonal relationships), all of them did not want to be behind, and all rushed to the front, causing the Taiping army's retreat order to be chaotic, giving the Qing army a God-given opportunity that they did not dare to think of before the war. After a pursuit battle, He Mingbiao and Lai Yuxin's two armies suffered heavy losses at the same time, and before they escaped from Muling Pass, they had lost all their grain and grass, and the Qing army was in hot pursuit under the leadership of Yuan Baoheng and Zhang Guoliang, chasing and beating the Taiping army's buttocks, forcing the Taiping army to flee west without even daring to enter Yishui City, and the Qing army took advantage of the situation to recover Yishui, and captured He Mingbiao alive in the pursuit, and played a hearty and beautiful counterattack.

The news of the fiasco of the Taiping Army's Eastern Route Army spread, and the morale of the Shandong Qing Army was of course greatly boosted, while the Taiping Army, which was already not progressing well, was greatly depressed and lost confidence in the Northern Expedition.

At this time, the internal problems of the Taiping army also began to surface, and they were already very suspicious of Shi Dakai, and they were angry that Shi Dakai did not obey the order and insisted on going north to Qingzhou, Yang Xiuqing almost planned to use this to deprive Shi Dakai of his military rights and replace him with the more obedient Ji Wenyuan to command the Northern Expedition. Hou Yukuan, Yang Yuanqing and other people also strongly persuaded Yang Xiuqing to do this, but Hong Renji repeatedly persuaded Yang Xiuqing to remind Yang Xiuqing that Shi Dakai's descendant army would never obey Ji Wenyuan's orders, and forcibly removing Shi Dakai would only lead to the split of the Taiping Army on the northern front, and the Qing army in Shandong would be cheapened for nothing.

To Yang Xiuqing's great surprise, after a period of time, Wu Chaoyue also sent a letter to Shi Dakai to intercede, pointing out that victory and defeat are just a common thing in soldiers, and strongly advised Yang Xiuqing not to severely punish Shi Dakai because of the loss of all the way. At the same time, Wu Chaoyue even suggested that Yang Xiuqing adjust the strategy of the northern front, stop rushing to conquer Jinan and attack the capital, and might as well sweep the Lunan Prefectures first, seize the large and small cities in southern Shandong, and in turn exert pressure on the old fox Luo Bingzhang, prompting the Manchu court to force the Qing army in Shandong to send troops to counterattack, so as to welcome the Taiping army.

After thinking about it for a whole night, Yang Xiuqing decided to adopt Wu Chaoyue's suggestion, temporarily stop the big move north, and instead sweep Lunan to consolidate and gradually weaken the living space of the Manchu court. At the same time, in order to avoid the split of the northern front, Yang Xiuqing wrote back to appease Shi Dakai, saying that he would never investigate this small setback, and did not mention Shi Dakai's disobedience at all, but only asked Shi Dakai to severely punish Lai Yuxin's crime of rebellion.

Yang Xiuqing, who has always been short-tempered, is so reasonable, and Shi Dakai, who has a much better temper, is naturally grateful to Dade, while beating his relatives Yuxin with a hundred military sticks, while adjusting the army on the northern front, no longer in a hurry to go north, but instead confronting with the main force, using mobile forces to capture the Qing army in northern Shandong, and in turn forcing the Qing army to send troops to rescue Lunan.

After learning about the situation on the northern front of the Taiping Army through Yang Xiuqing's direct reply, Wu Chaoyue, who had been worried about the early outbreak of internal problems in the Taiping Army, breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter if you can't defeat Luo Bingzhang, as long as you stabilize your position and don't go wrong." Hebei and Shandong have been abolished by the war and flood, and only Shanxi can collect a little money and grain on my eldest niece's side, and she has to fight and support those Eight Banner Lords, as long as the Taiping Army can stabilize, it can consume my eldest niece to death. ”

At this point, Wu Chaoyue also underestimated his eldest niece Cixi, although the main battlefield tended to be calm, and the county capital of southern Shandong was captured by the Taiping army one after another, and there were indeed voices within the Manchu court asking Luo Bingzhang and Shengbao to send troops to fight back. However, Cixi categorically stood on the side of Luo Bingzhang and Shengbao, and said: "Luo Bingzhang and Shengbao have done a good enough, as long as they can stabilize the hinterland of Shandong and don't give Changmao a chance to go north!" ”

"There is no need to save those states and counties in the southeast of Shandong, although the mourning family does not understand military affairs, but they also know that fighting with soldiers cannot care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, as long as Luo Bingzhang and Shengbao can block Changmao from going north, it doesn't matter if they lose all the cities in southern Shandong! Time, the Qing Dynasty needs time to ease this breath now, and then there is hope to wait until the foreigners send troops, long-haired civil strife, Wu thieves and long-haired dogs eat dogs! ”

After categorically rejecting the suggestion to force Luo Bingzhang and Shengbao to send troops to counterattack, Cixi also set her sights on He Mingbiao, the general of Shi Dakai's division who defected and surrendered after being captured, not only did not brutally execute He Mingbiao like a dead ghost husband, but also gave He Mingbiao a five-grade garrison official position against public opinion, and personally went to Luo Bingzhang to ask Luo Bingzhang to use He Mingbiao as a chess piece, and strive to completely split the Taiping army, which was full of internal rifts.

In fact, there is no need for Cixi to order it personally, the treacherous Luo Bingzhang has already started the idea of dividing the Taiping Army in Shandong, and he has already asked He Mingbiao to secretly send a letter to Ji Wenyuan, who is not controlled by Shi Dakai, claiming that he was forced to surrender to the Qing, but he is still loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he wants to find an opportunity anyway, but he is afraid that Shi Dakai's protection and trust Yuxin will kill him, so he does not dare to return to Shi Dakai, and can only beg Ji Wenyuan to accept it.

After the letter was sent to Ji Wenyuan by other captured and renegade Taiping soldiers, Ji Wenyuan really hit the trick and immediately replied that he was welcome to return at any time, and also clearly told He Mingbiao that he would definitely protect He Mingbiao in front of Shi Dakai. Luo Bingzhang was overjoyed to get the book, and immediately arranged for He Mingbiao to escape from the Qing army camp with some captured Taiping soldiers to join Ji Wenyuan, and at the same time sent Qing soldiers to disguise themselves as Shi Dakai's subordinates to ambush on the road, claiming that they were ordered by Shi Dakai to intercept He Mingbiao and others, and openly threatened to kill all of them. Then He Mingbiao fled back to the Qing army camp, and the two Taiping soldiers fled to Ji Wenyuan's army under the deliberate indulgence of the Qing army.

In this way, of course, Shi Dakai has a hundred mouths and can't say clearly, Ji Wenyuan, who was furious, immediately sent someone to find Shi Dakai to ask for the crime, Shi Dakai denied it and secretly angered Ji Wenyuan for digging his corner and quarreling with Ji Wenyuan. Since then, the Shandong Taiping Army has naturally lost harmony, and at the same time, Ji Wenyuan also reported to Yang Xiuqing that the matter was not mentioned.

At the same time as the internal discord of the Taiping army in Shandong, the strength of the Qing army in Shandong was greatly strengthened, and with the efforts of the six devils and others, the Manchu court finally purchased 6,000 Lizhi rifles and 20 advanced artillery pieces from the Muravyov, the governor of Siberia in Tsarist Russia. After the guns and ammunition were transported to the capital, although the monk and the forbidden army in the capital were cheeky enough to ask for it, Cixi pulled Ci'an and categorically refused, and decided without hesitation to transport all these guns and ammunition to Shandong and hand them over to Luo Bingzhang's army equipment. Luo Bingzhang was grateful, but asked the Manchu court to strictly seal the news, and was ready to surprise the Shandong Taiping Army with this batch of arms............