When the news that the Taiping army had purchased three steam gunboats from foreigners reached Hubei, the time had already dragged into the autumn harvest season of the seventh year of Xianfeng in Wu Chaoyue's passive sabotage. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Wu Chaoyue was not afraid that the Taiping army would be equipped with steam cannon ships, because Zhang Dejian's subordinates had already found out that the Taiping army had not considered training sailors and soldiers in a systematic and orderly manner like himself, and had directly hired some foreigners to drive the ships, supplemented by some sailors who specialized in rough work, and had a big problem in terms of morale and morale -- but not every mercenary in every country had the same professional ethics as Swiss mercenaries. Therefore, it seems that the number of steam ships exceeds one, and if it really starts, the two steam cannon ships of the Wu army may not be afraid of the three ships of the Taiping army.

In order to counter the Qing Army's Red Single Fleet Wu Quanmei, which posed a huge threat to Nanjing, and also to protect the safe and smooth grain shipping route from Anqing to Nanjing, the Taiping Army deployed the steam fleet directly in Nanjing, without any sign of coming to the Hukou battlefield, and Wu Chaoyue did not need to rush to drive his steam gunboats.

The Taiping army equipped with steam gunboats and also helped Wu Chaoyue, so that Wu Chaoyue could confidently ask the Manchu court to allow him to directly intercept Hubei taxes, buy more steam gunboats and compete with the Taiping army for the right to control the river, and save the Hubei gold that was originally intended to be used to buy steamships for other places. At the same time, the plan to establish an advanced shipyard and produce and build its own steam gunboats also appeared in Wu Chaoyue's blueprint for Hubei industrial construction.

Even if he secretly slackened his work, Wu Chaoyue did not eat the money given by the Manchu court in vain, just after the autumn harvest was busy, before he could relax and breathe a sigh, Wu Chaoyue was passed to the Yamen of the Governor of Huguang by Hua Shana, and as soon as they met, Hua Shana said to Wu Chaoyue with a bitter face: "Comfort Pavilion, bad news, a long hair in Ji'an, Jiangxi Province passed through Jinggang Mountain, bypassed the official defense line and entered Hunan, Chaling and Yanling were in an emergency at the same time. ”

"Long Hair has entered Hunan again?" Wu Chaoyue almost thought that he had misheard, and asked in surprise, "How is it possible?" Liu Changyou, Jiang Zhongji and Wang Xin, didn't they just suppress bandits in Ji'an? Why did you let the long-haired deviant division enter Hunan? ”

"Wang Xin died, suddenly fell ill and died, and the more than 3,000 Hunan troops under his command did not receive military pay for several months, and completely collapsed." Hua Shana replied helplessly: "Liu Changyou and Jiang Zhongji attacked Ji'an several times, but they failed to succeed, and they were also restrained by the long-haired Dakou Shi Zhenji, and Shi Zhenji's subordinate Li Yafeng took the opportunity to enter Hunan with a stream of long-haired hair. ”

"What about the local officers and soldiers? Are you sure to drive this long hair back to Jiangxi? Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked again.

"Don't mention it." Hua Shana said angrily: "That location is at the junction of Changsha Mansion and Hengzhou Mansion, and the commanders of the two prefectures only care about shirking each other's responsibilities, and they both say that Changmao is in each other's territory, and they are unwilling to immediately send troops to suppress bandits." The old man received the news and issued a strict order for them to send troops together, but he didn't know if it would be too late. ”

Wu Chaoyue was of course even more gloating when he heard this, and then hurriedly said: "Huazhitai, it doesn't matter if you can keep Chaling and Yanling, those two counties are remote, even if they are entrenched by Long Hair, it will not have much impact, and they can be recaptured in the future, the key is not to let Long Hair continue to run west!" ”

"The younger generation remembers the sand table terrain there, as long as you cross the Yongle River, it will immediately be a densely populated open area, where the long-haired bandits can get sufficient food, grass and military supplies, even if it is a small long-haired force, it may grow stronger and stronger, and gradually form a beacon fire."

Hearing Wu Chaoyue's words, Hua Shana, who is not good at military affairs, then remembered to check the terrain sand table of Huguang, and saw that the situation in that area was the same as Wu Chaoyue's introduction, Hua Shana, who had already suffered a big loss from the Twist Army, inevitably frowned even tighter, and Wu Chaoyue suggested: "Hua Zhitai, we must immediately increase our troops in Hengzhou, and resolutely hold the Yongle River defense line, even if Changmao has crossed the river, we must hold there, first block the road for Changmao to continue to enter Hunan Province, and then turn back to exterminate Changmao in the west of Yongle River." ”

In the battle plan, Hua Shana was unconditionally obedient to Wu Chaoyue, and immediately nodded in agreement, wrote Wu Chaoyue's proposal into an order in an official document, and sent it to Hunan to let Wen Ge act according to the plan, and then Hua Shana said: "Comfort Ting, there is another thing I want to ask your opinion, after Wang Xin died of illness, the army of Ganxiang was leaderless, and the old man intended to let Chu Yong incorporate the Ganxiang army, and unify it under the command of Liu Changyou, I don't know what you think?" ”

"Old fellow, the military power picks and instigates me, and is generous to others."

Wu Chaoyue rarely slandered Hua Shana, and then with the same intention of raising Chu Yong, after a little calculation, Wu Chaoyue replied: "Hua Zhitai forgives the sin, the younger generation thinks that this is not appropriate, although the Xiang army and Chu Yong are both Hunan regiment training, but after all, the establishment is different, the Hunan army that went out of the province to reinforce Jiangxi was re-recruited and formed by Hu Linyi after they returned to Hunan, if you order Chu Yong to take over the Hunan army, I am afraid that Hu Linyi and they will have ideas." ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue added, "Especially now that the long-haired bandits have entered Hunan again, it is difficult to say whether the long-haired bandits can be driven back to Jiangxi as soon as possible, and there is still the possibility of requisitioning the Hunan army to participate in the war in Hunan. ”

Hua Shana thought about it carefully and found that it was the same, Hu Linyi and Yang Yuebin and others refused Wu Chaoyue's invitation to stay, and insisted on returning to Hunan to start again, hoping that the self-reliant faction would make meritorious deeds on its own, and let Chu Yong absorb the Hunan army they had worked so hard to recruit and train, Hu Linyi and Yang Yuebin's gang would definitely have ideas and feel that they had been completely abandoned. So after a little calculation, the good old man Hua Shana nodded and said: "It makes sense, it can't hurt Hu Linyi's heart, forget it, let Hu Linyi decide for themselves who will continue to lead the Hunan army." ”

successfully prevented Chu Yong from annexing the Ganxiang army and weakening the hidden dangers in his rear, but Wu Chaoyue still refused to rest assured, worried that the Taiping army's westward march into Hunan would give the Hunan army a chance to make a comeback - after all, Hu Linyi, who was both civil and military, was not a good stubble. Therefore, for the sake of prudence, Wu Chaoyue immediately stepped up intelligence reconnaissance in Hunan to observe and understand the details of the reconstruction of the Hunan army.

The battle situation in Hunan is unexpectedly complicated, the Taiping army that originally crossed Jinggang Mountain and entered Hunan was only more than 1,000 people, and the strength was not much, Wu Chaoyue, who had a sparse history, had never heard of Li Yafeng, the name of the Taiping general, but Li Yafeng, who had been fighting against the Hunan army Chu Yong alone in Ji'an for more than three years, quickly showed his talent, while vigorously recruiting the poor mountain people to strengthen the team, while decisively giving up attacking the two remote but strong county towns of Chaling and Yanling, and risking across the Yongle River with a lone army, Successfully entered the densely populated hinterland of Hengzhou.

Then, Hunan's internal problems, which were covered by the light of Chu Yong of the Hunan army, suddenly broke out in full force. Previously, in order to support the Hunan army and Chu Yong who fought in the province, Luo Bingzhang, who had scraped the ground, successfully pacified the people by relying on his honest and honest governance style, but never caused a popular uprising, but also added a heavy burden to the people of Hunan. After taking charge of Hunan, not only did he not consider anything to rest with the people, but on the contrary, he also wantonly embezzled and amassed wealth, driving the local officials to expropriate and extort money, exploiting and poisoning, and the people of Hunan, who had not been able to ease their breath from beginning to end, were even more overwhelmed, and the seeds of hatred were planted deep and sprouted.

Under such circumstances, Li Yafeng's division of the Taiping Army, which had decisively entered the densely populated place, was naturally like a fish in water, and in the hinterland of Hengzhou, where the market was dense, it not only obtained sufficient supplies of money, food and materials, but also obtained almost endless supplies of soldiers, and almost instantly expanded the size of the army to 10,000 people, and successfully established a foothold in Changning County. By the time Huashana's counterinsurgency policy was delivered to Changsha, the size of Li Yafeng's headquarters had expanded to more than 20,000 people.

At the same time, the Hunan regular army, which was also covered by the light of Chu Yong of the Hunan army, soon exposed their true colors in actual combat, and they were still vulnerable in actual combat, not to mention the successive defeats in front of the Taiping army, and also took the opportunity to plunder the hinterland of Hengzhou, which had never been damaged by the war before, wantonly brutalized the people, pushed more Hunan people to the opposite side, and also sent a large number of military weapons to the Taiping army in the defeat and rout. Li Yafeng's army was in the limelight for a while, and Shi Zhenji also began to consider continuing to increase troops in Hunan and open up new base areas.

However, it is okay for the Hunan government, they still have enough troops to call in the north, although the stubborn Hunan envoy Kui Zhen is not liked in the officialdom, but there are still two brushes in the war, so there is no need for Hua Shana to command remotely, and the panicked Hunan governor Wenge immediately forced Kui Zhen to immediately send troops to quell the rebellion, and entrusted all the Hengzhou war to Kui Zhen.

Kui Zhen is indeed a person with equally outstanding advantages and disadvantages, and while taking over the burden without hesitation, Kui Zhen also asked Wenge to make up the salary of the Hunan army that has been in arrears for more than half a year, so that his former comrade-in-arms Hu Linyi also led the Hunan army to Hengzhou to participate in the war, helping him to break Li Yafeng first, and then continue to move east to reinforce Jiangxi. When Wenge was embarrassed, Kui Zhen also put aside his cruel words, saying that if Wenge continued to make things difficult for the Hunan army, and did not let the Hunan army, which had guaranteed combat effectiveness, help him, Wenge would let Wenge fight this battle by himself!

It was only after Wenge reluctantly agreed to this request that Kui Zhen happily led the army south to Hengzhou. However, when our Wen Dafutai thought of repaying the military salaries of the Hunan army, which had been in arrears for more than half a year, he suddenly felt distressed as if he had cut his flesh and skin, and after thinking for a while, he simply sent an official letter to Hu Linyi, asking Hu Linyi to send troops to help Kui Zhen kill Li Yafeng for himself, and then make up the arrears of military salaries.

After Wenge's letter was sent to Xiangtan by clipper, the angry Yang Yuebin and Sun Kaihua and other Hunan army generals all asked Hu Linyi to categorically refuse, and asked Wenge to send the arrears of military salaries and military salaries for the next three months before speaking, but after thinking about it for a long time, Hu Linyi, who was sick, still gritted his teeth and said: "Send troops immediately!" ”

"Commander, you can't send troops!" Sun Kaihua hurriedly reminded: "What if Wenge's shameless villain doesn't believe his word? After defeating Changning and destroying Li Yafeng, he still doesn't pay the military salary, how can we explain to the soldiers? ”

"This is our only chance." Hu Linyi said weakly: "After we send troops, it is possible that Wenge will not be trustworthy and continue to rely on our military salaries, but if we do not send troops, Wenge can not only be more justified in arrears of our military salaries, but can even directly disband our Hunan army on the grounds of refusing to obey orders." ”

After coughing a few times, Hu Linyi gasped and said: "Sending troops according to the order can ensure that our Hunan army will not be disbanded, avoid sitting still, and can also hope to get the military salary, and it is very likely to get a chance to make a comeback." As you all know, he has a bad temper but a good person, and he will definitely not embarrass us, and he will definitely help us ask for military salaries and help us solve various problems. ”

felt that Hu Linyi's words were very reasonable, Yang Yuebin and the others nodded helplessly, and the Hunan army, which had recovered to 5,000 people, immediately prepared to go out, and first joined forces with Kui Zhen who came along the Xiangjiang waterway, and jointly marched south. Then, as Hu Linyi expected, after learning that Wenge still owed the Hunan army's military salary, the quick-tempered Kui Zhen really scolded his mother in public, and immediately sent someone back to Changsha, forcing Wenge to immediately make up the Hunan army's salary.

needed Kui Zhen and Hu Linyi to work for him, and Kui Zhen's re-fight still had a little effect, and Wen Da Futai, who loved money like his life, finally sent someone to send this month's military salary to the Hunan army - as for the arrears of more than seven months of military salary before, I'm sorry, the Hunan Domain is nervous, and we have to prepare again, at least we must first defeat Changning and kill Li Yafeng before talking. And after greeting Wenge's eighteenth generation ancestor again, Kui Zhen could only reluctantly promise Hu Linyi: "Brother Hu, don't worry, if Wenge dares to find an excuse to default, brother, I will take you to his door to ask for money!" ”

Knowing that Kui Zhen could do what he said, Hu Linyi, Yang Yuebin and others worked hard to appease the disgruntled Hunan army soldiers, and took them and Kui Zhen to continue south, and successfully drove to the territory of Hengzhou Mansion. However, at this time, something big happened.

The reason for the incident was the loose military discipline of the Hunan Green Battalion, the Hunan Green Battalion who fought in Hengzhou and the Taiping Army was timid as a mouse when they fought, but they were brave when they plundered, even if the Hunan Inspector Kui Zhen had already taken the provincial green battalion to the south to the territory of Hengzhou Mansion, these green battalion soldiers were still desperately robbing the people to make a fortune. And seeing that the friendly army had silver to rob and beautiful women to ride, the Changsha Green Battalion soldiers who almost killed Zeng Guofan with one shot immediately followed suit, and couldn't wait to start robbing and raping, turning Hengzhou, which had never been damaged by war before, upside down, and the sun and moon were gone.

As mentioned above, the main force of Kui Zhen's descendants was arranged in Yuezhou, and this southern expedition was too hasty to send troops and failed to bring his henchmen to participate in the war. In the case of being unable to restrain the army, Kui Zhen, who only had a few personal soldiers around him, of course, could only ask Hu Linyi for help, and let the Hunan army serve as the military law team to clean up these green battalion soldiers who violated the law and discipline.

Then, the contradiction naturally broke out, and the green battalion soldiers in Changsha Mansion even dared to rush in and shoot and injure people from Zeng Guofan's official office, of course, they would not take the Hunan soldiers in their eyes, and when the Hunan soldiers were ordered to stop the atrocities of these green battalion soldiers, they were naturally resisted and retaliated against by the green battalion soldiers. And the Hunan army, which has been in arrears for more than half a year by Wenge, has long been full of anger, and the volcano erupted when it was oppressed, and it was impossible to control it, and finally couldn't bear to fight with the green battalion soldiers.

After seeing the blood in the death of someone, the scale of the fire naturally spread further, and quickly expanded to the point that even if Kui Zhen and Hu Linyi came forward, they could not stop it, and after an internal strife, hundreds of green battalion soldiers and Hunan soldiers were killed on the spot. The Taiping army, which received the news, also came to take advantage of the fire and looted, and broke the Qing army camp with only one charge, and Kui Zhen and Hu Linyi were defeated together and forced to flee to Hengyang. The Taiping army took advantage of the victory to pursue, seized countless military weapons at the same time, but also recruited countless Hunan soldiers, grief and indignation of the Hunan army soldiers in the hand over of weapons and voluntary surrender, but also kept yelling, "I lead the way!" I'll take you to fight Hengyang, fight Changsha, and kill that dog mongrel and the dog court in Wenge! ”

When the news of the mutiny in Hengzhou reached the capital of Hubei Province, Hua Shana of course foamed at the mouth, screaming that Hunan was finished, and Wu Chaoyue, who never expected that the situation would be so serious, also opened his mouth, and said secretly in his heart: "If Hunan is really completely chaotic, will it be beneficial or unfavorable to me?" (To be continued.) )