After receiving the news that Teacher Zeng had entered Peng Ze, the first thing Wu Chaoyue, who had already prepared, was to ask Zhao Liewen to ghostwrite and write a recital for himself, showing Teacher Zeng the merits of this period of time to Emperor Xianfeng, and praising Teacher Zeng for his loyalty to the country in Peng Ze's march to Anqing, and asking Emperor Xianfeng to seal Teacher Zeng as the secretary of the Ministry of War for encouragement. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In addition, Wu Chaoyue also asked for the establishment of a separate post of Jiangxi governor, and recommended Zeng Guoquan, who had made many meritorious contributions before, to serve as this position, and led the Jiangxi Green Battalion to join forces with the Hunan army to attack Pengze and Anqing, and besieged Wei to rescue Zhao and forced the Taiping army to draw the main force from Zhejiang and North China to return to Anqing, so as to share the pressure on the Qing army on the north and south lines.

After listening to the general content of Wu Chaoyue's request for ghostwriting, Zhao Liewen looked at Wu Chaoyue in a daze and didn't speak for a minute, and at the end he reached out to touch Wu Chaoyue's thin forehead, and asked suspiciously: "Weiting, do you have a fever again?" How can you talk nonsense? ”

"I don't have a fever and I don't talk nonsense." Wu Chaoyue, who has always laughed with Zhao Liewen, has a rare expression and a somewhat serious expression.

looked at Wu Chaoyue stupidly for a moment, and seeing that Wu Chaoyue really didn't seem to be joking, Zhao Liewen asked in surprise: "Weiting, aren't you joking?" It's nothing to ask your teacher to be promoted to the secretary of the military department, why do you want to add the governor of Jiangxi to take charge of the Jiangxi green camp? Don't you know that the imperial court did not set up the official position of Jiangxi Governor, because the Jiangxi Governor was originally also the Governor, and the current Jiangxi Governor Wen Jun is notoriously tricky and difficult, let him know that you asked the imperial court to deprive him of his military power, and it is strange that he didn't chew you! ”

"Huifu, I'm not joking." Wu Chaoyue said solemnly: "I also know that if I do this, Wen Jun will definitely hate me to the bone, but Huifu, have you considered this issue?" With my teacher's current strength, is there any hope of taking Anqing and coercing Jiangning? ”

"Nope." Zhao Liewen replied very simply.

"That's right." Wu Chaoyue said: "If my request can be approved by the emperor and the imperial court, then with the help of the Jiangxi Green Battalion, won't the teacher's certainty of capturing Anqing be greatly increased?" And after the teacher took away part of Wenjun's power, we also sent troops to help the teacher fight Anqing, and if he wasn't constrained by Wenjun, it would be much smaller? Do you want to be angry with Wenjun's harsh villain at every turn when we send troops to Jiangxi and Anhui? ”

"But there's almost no hope of success for this recital?" Zhao Liewen reminded again.

"Try your best, we don't need to ask Wen Jun for anything anyway, and it's not so easy for him to take revenge on me."

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue insisted on acting like this, Zhao Liewen didn't say much, and honestly picked up the pen while writing excerpts for Wu Chaoyue, while muttering in his heart: "It is difficult for Wenjun to take revenge on you directly, but it is easy to use your teacher and your senior brother as a punching bag." Hey, you didn't mean to kill someone with a knife, did you? Borrow Wenjun's knife to avenge the ungrateful revenge of your teacher and senior brother? ”

Relying on the network of post stations that could barely maintain normal operation, Wu Chaoyue's excerpts were successfully delivered to the capital, and they were soon presented to Emperor Xianfeng. As Zhao Liewen expected, Emperor Xianfeng didn't care about the promotion of Teacher Zeng to the secretary of the military department, and he could also consider it - anyway, it was a false title. However, Wu Chaoyue suggested adding the post of Jiangxi Governor and recommending Zeng Guoquan to serve as this point, but Emperor Xianfeng immediately vetoed it without thinking about it, and said with some dissatisfaction: "This Wu Chaoyue, what does a Hubei governor worry about Jiangxi?" also recommended Zeng Guoquan to lead the Jiangxi Green Battalion, thinking that the Zeng brothers did not have enough troops? Not sensible! ”

Luckily, this time several of Wu Chaoyue's backers happened to be by the side of Emperor Xianfeng, Su Shun immediately stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Wu Chaoyue suggested adding the governor of Jiangxi and recommending Zeng Guoquan to serve, although he was a little reckless and radical, but he was also loyal to the Qing Dynasty and the emperor, hoping to enhance the pressure on Anqing Changmao, attack Changmao's place must be saved, encircle Wei to save Zhao and force Changmao to return to the division to save Anqing, curb the momentum of Changmao to continue to go south and north, and hope that the emperor will investigate clearly." ”

"I know he's loyal, so I don't blame him." Emperor Xianfeng nodded first, and then said: "Let's take a look first, if Zeng Guofan can really force Changmao to send the thief army from the north and south to aid Anqing, curb the momentum of Changmao, and make him the secretary of the military department, of course, he can consider it, and let the Jiangxi soldiers and horses help him fight Anqing, it is not negotiable." ”

After that, Emperor Xianfeng casually ordered Zeng Guofan to be rewarded with a yellow coat, verbally commending Zeng Guofan's recent performance, and encouraging Zeng Guofan to enter Anqing as soon as possible to contain the effect of besieging Wei and saving Zhao, and then no longer paid attention to the matter. -- For Zeng Guofan, who had suffered a series of defeats to Shi Dakai, Emperor Xianfeng no longer had much expectations.

There was an accident, just one day later, the Xianfeng Emperor actually received a fold of the Red Flag of Teacher Zeng, saying that it was relying on the divine power of the Xianfeng Emperor, the military aircraft department Miaomo, and the Hunan Army Navy Division took the Dongliu County in Anhui in one fell swoop, and achieved a great victory in the Eastern Expedition, and cut off the grain support of the Taiping Army in Pengze and Jiujiang in one fell swoop, and divided and surrounded the two main forces of the Taiping Army in Jiangxi, and annihilated the hope.

"Even the East Stream has been recovered? Doesn't this mean that Huguang's Great Qingshui Division can already reach Anqing City unimpeded? This Zeng Aiqing, this time is really a surprise for me. ”

I never expected that the Hunan army would be able to fight so beautifully this time, and Emperor Xianfeng did not hesitate in surprise, and immediately issued an edict to promote Mr. Zeng to the secretary of the military department, and ordered Mr. Zeng to annihilate Peng Zefa bandits as soon as possible, and the troops entered Anqing to smash the thieves' nest. At the same time, he ordered Huashana and Wenjun to organize the land and water armies of Huguang and Jiangxi, and was ready to send troops to reinforce the Hunan army at any time.

…………

Emperor Xianfeng was pleasantly surprised by the achievements of the Hunan army, but he didn't know that our teacher Zeng was actually even more surprised and happy, and he didn't expect to be able to take the east stream so smoothly - send the sailor to attack the Xiaogushan camp of the Taiping army's sailor, and after the victory, the Taiping army's sailor fled eastward, and the sailor was sent to pursue the original intention of expanding the results of the battle, but he never thought that the Taiping army's sailor would be directly defeated and fled back to Anqing, and directly gave up the long route from Anqing to Pengze.

It is rumored that there are not many defenders of the Taiping Army in the east, and the Hunan army led by Zeng Guohua tried to land and fight, but I didn't expect the Taiping Army to be so unbeaten, the Hunan army had just opened the city gate and fled to Jiande, and gave up the Dongliu city, so that Mr. Zeng obtained a small amount of food in the city, but it was not too little, and at the same time, Mr. Zeng obtained a buffer on the eastern front, so that the Hunan army could besiege Peng Ze with more confidence, and the possibility of being attacked by the Taiping army was greatly reduced.

Of course, Mr. Zeng immediately suspected that this was a plan by the Taiping army to lure the enemy into depth, so he decisively stopped the advance of the sailors, and sent scouts to closely reconnoiter every move of the Taiping army, and at the same time sent additional land divisions to Dongliu to help defend the city, and built strong fortifications in Dongliu to create a buffer, thinking that even if he did not have the strength to attack Anqing for the time being, he could at least rely on Dongliu to reach the counterattack from the main force of the Taiping army, and buy valuable time for himself.

However, even if Zeng Guofan was careful, it didn't have much effect, Hukou, Dongliu and Pengze were stationed in three places, and the troops were diluted, and the battle line was also stretched to more than 200 miles, and a discerning person could see the danger at a glance. Because of this, Zuo Zongtang also took the initiative to meet Zeng Guofan, and sent an alarm to Zeng Guofan, asking Zeng Guofan to give up the eastward flow and withdraw to the land and water army, and attack Peng Ze with all his might, not to stretch the battle line too long, and give the Taiping army every opportunity to break through.

"Ji Gao, I also know that our battle line is too long, and our troops are already too thin." Zeng Guofan patiently handed over the truth to Zuo Zongtang and said: "But we captured Dongliu but did not defend it, and let Changmao reoccupy it, and the court asked after it, how can we explain to the court?" ”

"Also, although Dongliu hangs alone in Anhui, the distance is a little far away, but relying on the Yangtze River waterway, the supply of grain, grass and ammunition is convenient, enough to hold on for a long time, and can play an early warning role in preventing the counterattack of long hair, so it is a pity to give up like this."

Zeng Guofan's bitter explanation did not impress Zuo Zongtang, but made Zuo Zongtang's already arrogant attitude even more arrogant, and roared angrily: "Changmao is expected that you are reluctant to give up Dongliu, so he deliberately abandoned the city to lure you to divide your troops and station!" The location of the small city of Dongliu is important, but your troops are insufficient, what is the use of putting a thousand land divisions stationed there? Don't dissipate the main force of the long hair, as long as Jiande's long hair sends troops, it is enough to contain your 1,000 land divisions to the point that they dare not move! ”

"If you want to rely on the eastward flow to prevent Longhair from suddenly sending troops, just put dozens of clippers there! Put two battalions there as sentinels, you are generous! If you want to give an explanation to the imperial court, it's simple to hold a county order and bring a local regiment to practice guarding Dongliu, when the time comes, the long hair will fight back and lose Dongliu, and the black pot is also the back of the Dongliu county order, which has nothing to do with you! ”

couldn't stand Zuo Zongtang's bird's spirit, and he was indeed reluctant to give up the buffer and advance base of Dongliu, Zeng Guofan simply waved his hand and ordered the expulsion, and said: "I know, Ben Shuai will consider giving up Dongliu, Ji Gao, go down, let me consider it carefully." ”

There are three reasons for the fact that the current strength of the Anqing Taiping Army is not very strong, and the main force of the Anhui Taiping Army personally led by Shi Dakai is still fighting with Yuan Jiasan, Weng Tongshu and other Qing army units in the Fengyang area, and there is no sign of returning to the south, and the pressure on the Hunan army is not great at present.

The second reason is, of course, that Zeng Guofan can ask Luo Bingzhang and Wu Chaoyue for help, and as early as when he accidentally took Dongliu and found that his troops were diluted, Zeng Guofan had already written to Luo Bingzhang and Wu Chaoyue, asking them to send troops to help him quickly. At the same time, Zeng Guofan also sent a letter to Li Wen'an and his son, persuading them to come north with the Shizi camp to help him and make greater contributions.

The third reason is that Zeng Guofan still has a reserve army, that is, Li Xuyi's department of the Hunan army that stayed at Hukou, Peng Ze has been surrounded by the main force of the Hunan army, and the partial division has held the east stream to establish a buffer, and it is too wasteful to let Li Xuyi continue to defend Hukou, and it is undoubtedly the best choice to transfer this army to Peng Ze to strengthen the troops.

In view of these circumstances, after thinking about it again and again, Zeng Guofan still made a choice that made Zuo Zongtang thunderous - he ordered Li Xuyi to move east to strengthen the Pengze battlefield, so that the Hunan army and naval divisions could free up their hands to help Dongliu in the east, and the water and land joined forces to defend this buffer land, and continued to surround Pengze while trying to attack the city with tunnels, in addition to waiting for reinforcements from Huguang and Jiangxi.

Upon learning of Zeng Guofan's decision, Zuo Zongtang rushed directly into Zeng Guofan's tent in a fit of anger and yelled, scolding Zeng Guofan's move for self-defeat, and treating the life and death of tens of thousands of Hunan troops as child's play. And Zeng Guofan couldn't bear it anymore, and coldly took out the holy decree just sent by Emperor Xianfeng, asking Zuo Zongtang to go to the capital to revoke this will for himself, Zuo Zongtang was completely helpless, so he had to stomp his feet and scold, and never met Zeng Guofan again.

…………

At the same time, after Zeng Guofan's letter for help and the front-line battle report were sent to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue also saw at a glance that Yang Xiuqing was deliberately luring the enemy, and the Taiping army was also brewing a large-scale counterattack on the western front.

Then, Wu Chaoyue naturally faced a dilemma, whether to send troops to reinforce Teacher Zeng? Sending reinforcements, Mr. Zeng may be able to escape this catastrophe and survive to continue to be a hidden danger for himself. If you don't send troops to reinforce it, it is morally unjustifiable, and there is no way to explain it to the Manchu court, and it is not conducive to the integration of the Hunan army in the future. Dilemmas and worries.

At this time, seeing that Wu Chaoyue didn't speak for a long time, blinking his triangular eyes and just kept calculating, Zhao Liewen rarely misunderstood Wu Chaoyue's thoughts, and asked curiously: "Comfort Pavilion, can you use it so difficult?" Just give the question to your teacher and choose it? ”

"Leave the questions directly to the teacher to choose? What do you mean? Wu Chaoyue asked confusedly.

"Don't you have a headache when you get to the front line, who should control whom?" Zhao Liewen asked rhetorically, and said: "This is actually very easy to do, you can directly tell your teacher and ask you to personally lead the Hubei New Army to reinforce him, yes, but when you get to the front line, he has to be under your command." If your teacher is unwilling to listen to your command, it's okay, the Hubei New Army directly under you doesn't move, you ask Huazhitai to send E Yong or Hubei Green Battalion to help him, according to the rules of the imperial court, in case of trouble, negotiate and do not belong to each other. ”

slapped his forehead heavily, Wu Chaoyue realized that he had drilled the tip of the horns, and only thought about whether to save Mr. Zeng's life, but forgot that after he led the army to Jiangxi, he and Mr. Zeng still had a front-line command dispute, and used this to kick the ball back and let Mr. Zeng choose for himself, and it has nothing to do with Mr. Zeng losing his life in the future.

Thinking of this, Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and immediately asked Zhao Liewen to ghostwrite the book, and wrote a reply to Mr. Zeng, asking Mr. Zeng to choose how to send troops to Hubei. After arriving at the front line, Mr. Zeng had to listen to his own command, and the order of his name when he went to the fold after killing the thief and making meritorious service had to follow the rules, first Hua Shana and then himself, and then Mr. Zeng!

Of course, if Teacher Zeng wants to eat alone, Wu Chaoyue can ask Huashana to send Hubei Green Battalion soldiers or E Yong to help Teacher Zeng do some auxiliary work such as transporting grain to defend the city and protecting the back road of the grain road. At that time, if Mr. Zeng had the ability, he would seek the consent of the Manchu court, obtain the commander-in-chief of the front, and order the troops sent by Huguang to be sent.

After sending someone to send this letter to the front line by clipper, Wu Chaoyue breathed a sigh of relief and secretly said in his heart: "Teacher Zeng, I, as a student, have given you a chance, and you decide whether you want to die or live." However, with your old man's temper, I'm afraid it's hard to make the right choice. ”

…………

After Wu Chaoyue's letter was delivered to the front line, Mr. Zeng's face was gloomy for a long time and he didn't make a decision, and he didn't make the letter public, just patiently waiting for Luo Bingzhang's reply. The result was good, three days later, Luo Bingzhang also sent a letter by speedboat, promising to send Xiao Qijiang to lead 3,000 regiments to reinforce Zeng Guofan, and also generously said that Xiao Qijiang's department would be assigned to Teacher Zeng's control and command - but the military salary had to be left to Teacher Zeng to figure out his own way.

After learning this news, after Mr. Zeng breathed a sigh of relief, he also hurriedly wrote a reply letter to Wu Chaoyue, begging Wu Chaoyue to persuade Hua Shana on his behalf and let Hua Shana send Bao Chao to lead an army east to reinforce him. Then it was also a coincidence that when the letter was about to be written, Zeng Guohuang's brothers happened to come to see their brother on something, and they probably saw the content of Teacher Zeng's letter, and Zeng Guohuang and others immediately exclaimed, "Please Wu Chaoyue send Bao Chao to reinforce us?" Brother, why don't you want Wu Chaoyue to dispatch his Fubiao Hubei New Army? ”

"With his temper, how can he let his descendants help us make meritorious contributions?" Zeng Guofan sneered and asked, "Ask him to dispatch the Hubei New Army, even if he agrees, he will definitely personally lead the army out of the province to fight, and when the time comes, who will listen to him or me on the front line?" Grab credit with him, can we grab it? ”

After that, Zeng Guofan told several brothers the good news of Luo Bingzhang's decision to send Xiao Qijiang to lead the army to reinforce his own army, so that they could wait for reinforcements with confidence, and then asked Zeng Guohuang and others about their thoughts. As a result, Zeng Guohuang and the others looked depressed and took out a letter they had just received, and said: "The family just sent it, my father's illness has worsened again, and Lang Zhong also directly said that my father may not survive this winter." ”

Zeng Guofan was silent, and only after a while did he sigh in his heart, "Fortunately, I made the right choice." ”

…………

It was indeed the right choice, on the same day in Nanjing, Yang Xiuqing finally announced his long-brewing counterattack plan on the Western Front, and decided that Qin Rigang would lead the main force of the Taiping Army's naval division, which had been basically idle, and cooperate with the main infantry of the Anqing Taiping Army led by Lai Guiying and Shi Zhenji, to counterattack Jiangxi, teach the Hunan army a lesson and rescue Luo Xuan and Huang Wenjin, who were surrounded by the Qing army. At the same time, Yang Xiuqing also explained the battle plan to Qin Rigang early on - a surprise attack on Hukou, cutting off the support of the Hunan army's grain route, advancing by land and water, blossoming inside and outside, and annihilating the main force of the Hunan army in Pengze!

Qin Rigang, who had recently become increasingly strained with Yang Xiuqing, was not very happy to accept this task, not because he was worried that he would not be able to deal with the Hunan army, but because he was afraid of recruiting Wu Chaoyue, the nemesis of the Taiping army, who was already equipped with steam cannon ships. Yang Xiuqing tried his best to comfort Qin Rigang, saying that although the Wu army was equipped with steam cannon ships, it would definitely not be able to use it skillfully in a short period of time, and it was a God-given opportunity to be weak and easy to break, and on the other hand, he fed Qin Rigang red dates and carrots, and promised to annihilate the Hunan army and rescue Luo Gang, and then asked Qin Rigang to sit in Anqing and guard the important land of money and grain in Anhui, so as to force Qin Rigang to accept this mission.

After handing over the golden handsome seal to Qin Rigang, Yang Xiuqing had a smile on his face, and he smiled even happier in his heart, and said secretly: "Dare to say bad things about Lao Tzu in front of the Heavenly King, and encourage the Heavenly King to be unfavorable to me, wait for death." was slaughtered on the battlefield by the transcendent demon, this king gave you a posthumous seal, lost and fled back, this king let you go to prison to ask for beheading! (To be continued.) )