In addition to the fact that there are indeed some underestimated enemies, Hu Huaizhao, a veteran of the Wu army, only brought about 20 days of grain and grass to the north to fight Tai'an City, and there is another key reason - he can't raise enough food.

As mentioned above, in the fifth year of the Wild Boar Skin IX Xianfeng, the Yellow River had a breach and diversion, of which the most serious disaster was Shandong, not only the canal was scrapped, but also caused a series of various natural disasters, first floods, and then because the Yellow River water formed a large area of river beaches and depressions, which was very conducive to the reproduction of locusts, resulting in locust plagues repeatedly; Then the floods of the Yellow River seriously damaged Shandong's natural water system and irrigation system, causing the water system to be disordered, and the rivers and lakes were shallow, which seriously weakened the capacity of natural rivers and lakes to contain and irrigate.

Either drought or flooding, locusts from time to time run out to make trouble, since the Ming Dynasty has been unable to self-sufficiency in grain, the grain shortage can naturally be imagined how serious it is. And what's worse is that the Yanzhou area has always been a battlefield for the Qing army and the Taiping army, after the outbreak of the civil war of the Taiping army, Yang Yuanqing and Ji Wenyuan fought here many times, the war was devastated, the white bones were exposed in the wild, and there was no rooster crying for thousands of miles.

Fortunately, Yanzhou is not too far from Tai'an, even if it is carried at a normal speed to carry heavy weapons to the north, it will take three days, and because Tai'an is the second most important town in the Shandong battlefield after Jinan, the Qing army has hoarded a large amount of grain and grass and ammunition in the city, so as long as the Wu army can take Tai'an before the grain and grass run out, and seize the inventory of the Qing army, then the Wu army does not need to worry about the danger of running out of food, if it goes well, maybe it can continue to go north by relying on the grain left by the Qing army to attack Changqing and Jinan. This is also one of the key reasons that prompted Hu Huaizhao, a veteran of the Wu army, to make the decision to continue to go north.

Or after taking the army north to the city of Tai'an, and seeing the Qing army's defense in Tai'an, Hu Huaizhao realized that he was thinking too simply, and found that the Wu army wanted to take Tai'an, which was by no means much easier than the Wu army wanted to take Nanjing by frontal attack, and it might even be more difficult. - But it is not surprising that Tai'an and Jinan share Mount Tai's natural danger, and if the Wu army or the Taiping army wants to attack Jinan in the north, or attack Qinglai and other places in the east, they must take Tai'an to open the road to the north, or protect the flank grain road, and Luo Bingzhang, a master of Manchu strategy, naturally attaches great importance to Tai'an.

"Fuck it, isn't the party crazy? Three moats were dug alone, each of which was two feet deep and two feet wide, protected by a sheep and horse wall; Four more out of the city were built, each out of the city is brick and rammed earth, two and a half zhang high and one zhang wide, as well as forts and moats, how to fight this battle? Don't say 20 days, even if you give me two months, I may not be sure that I can take it? ”

It was too late to complain, the army had already arrived in Tai'an, and the direct retreat of the troops would not only make people laugh, but also have a great impact on the morale of the army, so Hu Huaizhao had no choice but to temporarily stop on the south bank of Panshui and hold a military meeting on the spot to discuss the specific tactics of capturing Tai'an.

Of course, the Wu army cannot be said to have no chance at all, because of Luo Bingzhang's sudden death, there was no one to dispatch and command, and the main force of the Shandong Qing army stationed in Jinan could not send reinforcements to help the war early, and there were only 3,000 Qing troops in Tai'an City, and the Shandong regiment training to help the defense was only more than 3,000, and the troops were not particularly strong, and the equipment could not catch up with the Shandong New Army directly under Luo Bingzhang. After the two surrendered troops of Yang Yuanqing and Yang Fuqing were incorporated, the strength of the Wu army brought by Hu Huaizhao to the Tai'an battlefield had reached 13,000, of which 4,000 were still the old troops of the Wu army whose combat effectiveness was reliable, and the other 2,000 were the Taiping troops recruited by the Wu army in Nanjing.

It is precisely because of this advantage that Cheng Jiakui and Zhou Anyu and other generals unanimously suggested a frontal attack, first taking the four camps of the Qing army outside the city, and then attacking the main city of Tai'an, and breaking the city with the blasting tactics that the Wu army is good at. On the contrary, Yang Yuanqing, who had not surrendered to the Wu army for a few days, objected and said: "General Hu, if you are not an alarmist general, Tai'an's exit from the city will only be more difficult than you think." Listening to the old man over there in Yanzhou, when Shi Dakai led tens of thousands of troops to besiege Tai'an, he had fought these four out of the city, although he had captured three of them, but on average, he took one out of the city, and even more than 1,000 people were killed and wounded. Our current strength is not as good as Shi Dakai's original, if we want to fight like him, I am afraid that just by taking these four out of the city, we will have to suffer heavy casualties and lose our vitality. ”

"Xia Guan also feels that he can't do it directly, he can only outwit." He Qinghan, who had been out of the limelight before, also stood up against it, saying: "With the strength of our army, it is certain to attack and take the four out-of-town cities of the Tai'an Rebellion Party head-on, but no one dares to guarantee how much time it will take us to take these four out-of-town, if it takes a long time, our grain and grass will be in danger." Therefore, Xia Guan believes that if we want to take Tai'an, we can only win by surprise, and we must not rely on brute force to attack and give the chaotic party the opportunity to drag us into a war of attrition. ”

"So how do you win? Does Mr. Bo Yuan have a clever idea? Lao Qiu Bahu asked in a crepe manner, and also honored He Qinghan's expression.

"On this point, I can only ask General Hu to figure out your own way." He Qinghan said with a wry smile: "The subordinate has no battlefield experience, so he doesn't dare to talk about the army on paper, and delay the major affairs of our army." ”

Hu Huaizhao nodded, and then instructed the generals under his command: "Give me all my brains, see if there is any way to win by surprise, catch the rebel party by surprise, and take Tai'an as soon as possible?" ”

Not everyone is like Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen who are born with bad water, lack of morality and bad ideas, so Wu Junzhong will rack their brains and fly all kinds of unreliable methods, some people suggest that Yang Yuanqing or Yang Youqing should go to the deception and surrender plan to deceive the Qing army to attack; Some people suggested deceiving and luring the enemy out of the city to pursue; It was also suggested that a strange soldier should pretend to be reinforcements from the Qing army and deceive the city gate into attacking in the dark. However, after Hu Huaizhao made a careful calculation, he found that every one was unreliable, and every one was unsure, so he naturally shook his head and refused.

In the end, Chang Liang, who was still inferior to Cheng Jiaxie and Zhou Anyu, racked his brains and put forward a relatively reliable suggestion, saying: "Brother Hu, according to common sense, we should first take the four out of the city, and then attack the main city of Tai'an, but if we directly attack the main city of Tai'an in turn, and then consider attacking the four out of the city, we should definitely be able to kill the party by surprise." If we succeed, not only can we solve the problem of food and grass immediately, but it will also be easy to win four more out of the city. ”

"The method is a way, but if we don't take the four out of the city first, our march road will be covered by the firepower of the chaotic party out of the city, how can the battle be fought? How can the city be attacked? Hu Huaizhao asked thoughtfully.

"How about a sneak attack at night?" Cheng Jiaxie hurriedly opened his mouth and said: "Quietly send troops at night, first send a small army to touch the city of Tai'an, use explosives to blow up the city gate or blow down the city wall, and then the large army rushes up to attack the city directly, fighting for more people, as long as you can take Tai'an City." ”

"Fart!" Hu Huaizhao said angrily: "The rebel party has three trenches outside the city, so is it so easy for our small troops to directly touch the city of Tai'an and bomb the city?" ”

"We can fill in the trenches first...... Before Cheng Jiaxie finished speaking, he slapped himself in the mouth and said: "I'm confused, if I want to fill the trench, I have to suppress the rebellious party defenders in the city first, and even take it out of the city first, this method doesn't work." ”

Hu Huaizhao snorted coldly and said that Cheng Jiaxie was still a little self-aware, but Zhou Anyu suddenly moved in his heart and hurriedly said: "Brother Hu, how about directly attacking the south gate of Tai'an?" The four out of the city, two are outside the east gate, the remaining two are outside the north gate and the west gate, the south gate is because of the protection of the Pan River, the demon soldiers did not build out of the city, it is now the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, the river is relatively shallow, we are completely possible to grab a pontoon bridge to smuggle across the Pan River, directly attack the south gate of Tai'an. ”

Hu Huaizhao didn't speak, but jumped up directly, rushed to the map sand table newly made by the self-army to check the terrain, and after studying it for a long time, Hu Huaizhao nodded vigorously and said, "It's a method, it's worth trying." ”

"Brother Hu, then let's quickly lead the army over, set up camp outside the south gate of Tai'an, and arrange to prepare for the siege." Zhou Anyu hurriedly suggested.

"Pig heads? Why are you stupid again when you are just smart? Hu Huaizhao angrily reprimanded: "Directly setting up camp outside the south gate of Tai'an, isn't it equivalent to directly telling the rebellious party that we are going to attack the south gate?" When the time comes, as long as the rebel party blocks the city gate, and more troops are stationed in the city, we will have no place to cry! ”

Zhou Anyu smirked and hurriedly asked, "What should I do then?" ”

"Immediately cross the river, set up camp outside the east gate of Tai'an on the north bank of the Pan River, and pretend to attack the east gate." In the end, it was the old man Wu Jun who was badly damaged by Wu Chaoyue, Hu Huaizhao said without thinking about it: "Build a pontoon bridge according to the usual practice, and we can't let the chaotic party suspect that we want to cross the river at any time." ”

Zhou Anyu and Cheng Jiaxie and other generals agreed to the promise, and hurriedly commanded the army to start the landing in order to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river, and then Hu Huaizhao arranged for experienced scouts to secretly reconnoiter the hydrological situation outside the south gate of Tai'an, and suddenly had an idea, beckoned Yang Youqing to the front, and said in a low voice: "General Yang, I will arrange for the military law team to inspect your army in a while, and deliberately catch a few unlucky people who have violated military law to clean up, don't mind when the time comes, I want to deliberately make Changmao feel that I am short-tempered and brave and unscrupulous." , so that we can launch a sneak attack suddenly, and we will have a better chance of success. ”

Yang Youqing nodded when he heard this, and immediately patted his chest and said, "General Hu, don't worry, I will quietly appease those unlucky people in private." If necessary, you can take me out and use the method of marching with bitter meat. ”

"Then thank you in advance, if it's really necessary, maybe I want to wronged you."

Hu Huaizhao's answer made Yang Youqing regret that he almost wanted to slap his mouth, and Yang Youqing couldn't help but pray quietly, "Heavenly Father bless, just let my subordinates be unlucky, don't let me suffer from skin and flesh." ”

In this way, the Wu army's plan to attack the south from the east was carried out in such an orderly manner, and as a result, because the Qing army in Tai'an knew very well that its own army could not defeat the Wu army in the field battle, the Wu army broke through the Panshui defense line of the Taiping army without much effort, and built four pontoon bridges for the army to cross the river and set up camp. At the same time as setting up camp, the military law team of the Wu army also smoothly pulled out a few unlucky people who accidentally violated the military law from Yang Youqing's army, escorted them to an open place and beat them in public, and whipped a few unlucky eggs with a horse whip to cry and scream, and the skin and flesh were opened, which quickly attracted the attention of the Qing army scouts, and reported to the boss together with the situation of the Wu army's camp.

It's a pity that Hu Huaizhao's little tricks did not get the effect he needed, on the contrary, Liu Yingjie, the commander of the Qing army in Tai'an, who was already considered to have won a hundred battles, immediately suspected that Hu Huaizhao was a ruthless character who pretended to be a pig and ate a tiger, and deliberately whipped the Taiping army to surrender to the soldiers It was a bitter ploy to deceive himself. At the same time, it is even more regrettable for Hu Huaizhao that although the main force of the Wu army has crossed the Pan River and set up camp outside the east gate of Tai'an, Liu Yingjie still refuses to relax his vigilance against the south gate, and specially reminds Bai Shengdao, the deputy of the commander: "Baititai, although as we expected, the Wu rebel thief army really left the camp at the east gate of Tai'an, but we still have to prevent them from suddenly sending troops to attack the south gate like Shi Dakai's big long hair, and kill us by surprise." ”

"Liu Zhentai rest assured, it has been arranged a long time ago." Yum replied confidently: "A battalion of soldiers is stationed at the head of the south gate, and at night they will put a secret sentry to the city to guard it. ”

"Prepare more sandbags just in case." Liu Yingjie still refused to rest assured, and said: "Luo Futai once wrote a letter to remind him before his death, saying that the best siege tactic of Wu thieves is to directly blow up the city gate and attack the city, even our capital in the Qing Dynasty was broken by Wu rebel thieves in this way, and we must not repeat the mistakes of the capital." ”

Yum agreed, and said: "Liu Zhentai, just in case, just block the south gate in advance, although it will be more troublesome for us to get water in this way, but it is safe, at least we don't have to worry about the Wu rebel thief army suddenly blowing up the south gate and killing us by surprise." ”

Considering that the river water is decreasing in autumn and winter, and the silting up of the Pan River is more serious, it is easier for the Wu army to sneak across the Pan River and attack the south gate than Shi Dakai at the beginning, Liu Yingjie only thought about it for less than a minute before nodding and said: "Okay, block the south gate for the time being, although it is more troublesome to get water in this way, but if it is only for daily drinking, the well in the city alone is enough, and it will be reopened after the Wu rebel army retreats." ”

In this way, after learning experience and lessons, the Qing army, which was getting smarter and smarter, prepared in advance to prevent any eventuality, and used earth and stone sandbags early to cover the only Tai'an South Gate that was likely to be directly attacked by the Wu army. But the Wu army didn't know anything about it, not to mention that they knew that the Tai'an Qing army had blocked the city gate in advance, and even the Tai'an Qing army had to put a secret sentry down the city every night to guard the south gate outside the city. Outcome......

As a result, in the middle of the night of the next day, Wu Jun's Hu Huaizhao Corps was naturally beaten and suffered its first defeat after setting out from Nanjing.