In the summer, locusts are infested, and in late autumn and early winter, famine will inevitably break out on the land of North China, and more than 20 prefectures and counties in Shandong Province will not be harvested, and millions of hungry people will struggle on the line of death. In desperation, peasant uprisings of all sizes, such as www.biquge.info the Twist Army, the Banner Army, the Spear Society, and the Water Loop Army, broke out and grew one after another, forming large and small anti-Qing armed forces, which fought against the Manchu army and reactionary landlord armed forces continuously, and effectively dealt a blow to and shook the foundation of the brutal rule of the Manchu court.

In this case, the Taiping Army, which is stronger and more united than in history, has also obtained a more rare opportunity for development, attacking on three fronts in the southeast, north and south, and has laid down the entire territory of southern Jiangsu except Shanghai to the east, and has penetrated into the hinterland of Zhejiang and successfully won the capital of Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province to the south. Wu Quanmei and the Shanghai Qing Army and other Liao Liao Qing army armies may be wiped out at any time.

After the Jiangxi Governor Wen Jun falsely accused him of accepting and surrendering the rebellion in Jiangxi and sending the secret fold of the unscrupulous intention of expanding the army to the Emperor Xianfeng, the anxious Emperor Xianfeng not only did not suspect that Teacher Zeng was trying to rebel, but also issued a secret decree to scold Wen Futai for a bloody dog, just ask Wen Futai to do a good job of surveillance, don't accuse Teacher Zeng of being suspected of rebellion without evidence, chill the hearts of heroes, and affect the front-line war.

Emperor Xianfeng rarely trusted our teacher Zeng, and inadvertently pit Teacher Zeng, Wen Futai's best character is that others don't recruit him, he can want to whole people for no reason, Teacher Zeng dared to hurt Wen Futai was scolded by the master, Wen Futai was of course angry from the heart, evil to the guts, immediately put Teacher Zeng on the blacklist of endless death, and immediately started the vicious head that even the good old man wanted to strangle him to death, pondering the idea of revenge and restraining Teacher Zeng.

To tell the truth, Mr. Zeng was really lucky to meet Luo Bingzhang and Wu Chaoyue to get to where he is today, otherwise, any local governor with real power wants to clean him up is really no different from pinching an ant to death, and grasping part of the Hunan army's military salaries, grain and grass must be raised on the spot This weakness, Wen Futai immediately gave two orders, and immediately put Teacher Zeng to death.

Wen Futai's first order was a secret order, secretly informing the local officials of various prefectures and counties in Jiangxi that they would never allow the local rich households in their jurisdiction to donate money and grain to the Xiang army, and that rich family would not be long-sighted and disobedient and dared to give the Xiang army a grain of one or two silver, and immediately let the rich landlord eat the lawsuit! If that magistrate dares not to carry out this order, Wenfutai will let whoever wears it fall to the ground, and the family will be ruined!

The second order is a clear order, which is called Jiangxi Cai and Jiangxi, taking advantage of the fact that the Hunan army has just entered Jiangxi to fight and has not had time to perfect the establishment of the card, Wenfutai will preemptively set up all the cards in the places where the Hunan army has not had time to set up cards, so as not to give the Hunan army the opportunity to draw the road tax and pay.

At the same time, where the Hunan army had already set up a card draw, Wenfutai also sent people to add a card, and resolutely refused to recognize the tax payment certificate issued by the Hunan army, forcing the passing merchants to only pay taxes to the Jiangxi card. In addition, Mr. Zeng had previously participated in the bad deeds of some places in Jiangxi, including the former governor of Jiangxi, Chen Qimai, and the magistrates of various prefectures in Jiangxi also let go of their hands and feet to retaliate against Mr. Zeng, and there was even a violent incident in which the officers of the local yamen in Jiangxi beat and expelled the tax personnel of the Hunan army.

In addition, Wen Futai used the excuse of financial constraints to categorically refuse Mr. Zeng's request to establish a gunpowder bureau and shipyard in Jiangxi, and at the same time secretly ordered all prefectures and counties not to give Mr. Zeng a boat, a boat, or a tael of gunpowder!

Encountering such a vicious and insidious governor as Wenfutai, Mr. Zeng was completely out of luck, sending money to buy was accused of bribery by Wenfutai, sending troops to suppress bandits was sent by Wenfutai Jiangxi army to rob the merit, persuading the local gentry to lose the salary was falsely accused of blackmail, and finally won a city controlled by the Taiping army, and the remnants of the enemy have not been cleared, and the Jiangxi Qing army has rushed into the city to seal the granary and silver warehouse. Reasoning with Wenfutai, Reasoning with Wenfutai, Talking about the Law with Wenfutai, Talking about the overall situation of the court with Wenfutai, talking about the overall situation of the court with Wenfutai, playing scoundrels with Wenfutai, Wenfutai going back to reasoning! has no local real power, and has no courage to directly confront the local governor by force, Mr. Zeng can't talk about Wenfutai no matter what he says, and no matter what he does, he is deliberately hindered and made difficult by Wenfutai.

In this case, the war to recover the lost territory in Jiangxi, which should have been very smooth in the plan, was naturally difficult, and the Hunan army, which was hastily expanded to more than 10,000 people, lacked food and salary, and what did the weapons, ammunition, boats, and vehicles want, Teacher Zeng couldn't help but think of the disobedient protégé he once hated, and Luo Bingzhang, who had deliberately killed himself—compared with Wenfutai, Wu Futai and Luo Futai were simply holy angels, sage gentlemen!

It's useless to think about it, the Hunan army, which was not established by the imperial court, made it very clear when it was formed in terms of the source of money and salaries - self-raising on the spot! Wu Chaoyue and Luo Bingzhang had selflessly borne eighty percent of the grain and grass of the 7,000 Hunan army in Hubei, and the remaining two percent had to be found by Mr. Zeng himself.

Knowing that it might not be big, Mr. Zeng still decided to give it a try, and sent Guo Songtao back to Hubei and Hunan with two letters, and submitted them to Wu Chaoyue and Luo Bingzhang respectively, begging Wu Chaoyue and Luo Bingzhang to bear some more grain and grass and military salaries for themselves to help them solve their urgent needs.

The waterway transportation is convenient, and half a month later, Guo Songtao returned to Hukou with Luo Bingzhang and Wu Chaoyue's replies, although the result was that just looking at Guo Songtao's dejected appearance knew that there was no good news, Mr. Zeng still held the last ray of hope and asked, "How is it?" What do you say about the gate and the pavilion? ”

"Luo Futai took the lower officials to see the treasury of Hunan, and let the lower officials see the income and expenditure accounts of the governor's yamen." Guo Songtao said in a hoarse voice: "In the treasury of the Hunan Domain, there is not even a tael of silver, and the tax silver that should be sent to Changsha every month, and more than half of the prefectures and counties are directly used locally to offset the silver borrowed from the local government before Luo Futai. Even if some can barely be delivered, it will be used to repay the silver borrowed from major merchants before it has time to enter the warehouse. The master and the errand in the yamen of the governor of Hunan have not been paid for two months. ”

"Luo Futai also said, if Zeng Butang doesn't want to force him to death, please don't stretch out your hand to him again." Guo Songtao said with a painful expression: "According to the rules of the imperial court, when your army arrives in Jiangxi, he should not continue to bear the forty percent of the salary of the fourteen battalions, and you should ask the commander to raise your own funds in Jiangxi." ”

I had long known that it was almost impossible for Hunan, which had been squeezed dry, to squeeze out oil and water again, but after hearing Luo Bingzhang's reply with his own ears, poor Teacher Zeng was still disappointed, so he could only continue to beat the student's idea and asked, "What does the comfort pavilion say?" ”

"Wu Futai promised to bear the salaries of our ten battalions." Guo Songtao started his spirit a little. - By the way, Wu Chaoyue only had to bear less than six battalions of military salaries.

"It's still a comfort pavilion." Teacher Zeng almost burst into tears, and then hurriedly asked, "What about weapons and grain and grass?" ”

Guo Songtao smiled bitterly and replied: "Wu Futai wants to ask you, how can he send you food and weapons?" The main force of the Hunan army went south to the hinterland of Jiangxi, and the waterways were impassable, so how could the grain from Hubei be delivered to the front line? ”

"By road." Teacher Zeng almost wanted to blurt out this answer, but he forcibly held back - no matter how hard it is, it will only be hard to settle a bad debt, Teacher Zeng also knows that the consumption of grain transportation by land is terrifying, not to mention that it is difficult for Hubei to bear this consumption, even if it can barely bear it, Wu Chaoyue will not be able to explain to the Manchu court - the Manchu court will never allow Wu Chaoyue to do such a stupid thing!

After thinking blankly for a long time, Mr. Zeng asked Guo Songtao again: "What suggestions does the comfort pavilion have in terms of strategy and tactics?" ”

"Nope." Guo Songtao shook his head, "He only said that he was willing to bear the salaries of ten battalions, as well as the grain and grass within his ability, and he didn't say anything else." ”

"He knew that the old man would definitely not listen, so he didn't want to waste any more saliva."

Teacher Zeng sighed heartily again, and couldn't help but have some tears flickering in the corners of his eyes. After feeling sad enough, Mr. Zeng sat down in front of the map sand table and studied the last suggestion made by the disobedient and gentlemanly protégé - to enter Peng Ze!

Relying on the main artery of the Yangtze River, Hubei's military salaries, grain and grass can be sent to the front line in an endless stream by waterway, and at the same time, Hunan can also lend a helping hand to help the Hunan army completely solve the problem of grain and grass -- the transportation is cut off, and Hunan's grain is backlogged in large quantities, and there is only a shortage of silver and no grain. Therefore, as long as the Hunan army marches along the Yangtze River, it will never have to worry about running out of food. This is also the most critical reason why the Hunan army was able to besiege Jiujiang for more than a year and Anqing for two years.

From a strategic point of view, marching into Pengze is undoubtedly a clever move, Pengze is the east gate of Jiangxi, and it is also the peripheral barrier of Anqing City, which is strategically important, and taking Pengze can form a direct threat to Anqing, and Anqing is the outer barrier of Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Army, in the overall strategic situation, if the Hunan army can continue to go east and take Anqing, of course, it is the best, and it can immediately be like a dagger against the back of Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing. Even if the Hunan army took Pengze and no longer had the strength to continue attacking Anqing, it could force the Taiping army to send the main force from northern Huibei and southern Jiangsu back to Anqing, encircle Wei and rescue Zhao, and relieve the pressure faced by the Qing army in various places.

Of course, marching into Peng Ze is also a dangerous move, and it is very likely to completely anger the Taiping army, resulting in an all-out counterattack by the main force of the Taiping army, and smashing the Hunan army and Teacher Zeng to pieces with a thunderous momentum!

Danger and opportunity coexisted, the embarrassing situation and the glorious prospect were on the same side, and under the hesitation, Mr. Zeng, who seldom listened to the opinions of others in terms of strategy and tactics, held a rare military meeting to discuss the plan of advancing to Peng Ze with the generals of the Hunan army and his staff. However, to Mr. Zeng's surprise, although the generals of the Hunan army and Guo Songtao, Liu Rong and others had different opinions, both for and against, Zuo Zongtang, who rarely spoke in the Hunan army, unexpectedly jumped out and roared against this plan!

"Can't enter Peng Ze! The best time to march is when you have just conquered the mouth of the lake, but you missed it! Now it's too late to march into Peng Ze! The long-haired bandit army that fled to Peng Ze has been determined, the morale has been restored, and the city fortifications have been established and improved. There is a danger of total annihilation! ”

Knowing Zuo Zongtang's fiery temper, although he was unhappy in his heart, Mr. Zeng still had the patience to discuss with Zuo Zongtang, and said: "Ji Gao, the danger you mentioned has also been considered by Ben Shuai, but Ji Gao, have you considered this, Peng Ze is only more than 100 miles away from Hukou, and the water and land roads are unblocked, even if the main force of Long Hair returns to the western front of the division in a big way, it will be too late and very easy for us to withdraw to Hukou?" ”

"Then what if the main force of Longhair highlights the strange soldiers, and instead of saving Peng Ze, he takes Hukou instead?" Zuo Zongtang shouted and asked: "If Changmao's move is successful, our grain road support will be cut off immediately, the army will retreat hastily without food, Hukou Changmao will send troops to intercept, Peng Ze Changmao will take the opportunity to counterattack, how can we resist?" ”

Teacher Zeng tapped the handsome case with his fingers and didn't speak, constantly thinking about this possible danger in his heart, but Zuo Zongtang was still chattering, "If you want to hit Peng Ze, why did you go earlier?" When the mouth of the lake was first taken, the long-haired defeated army was unstable, and the morale of our army was high and the military supply was sufficient, which was a godsend opportunity to take advantage of the victory to capture Pengze. You have to stop to rest and expand the army, set up a card to collect money and food, and you have to divide your troops to the south to pick up the cheapest! ”

"It's good now, I didn't pick up the cheap, and the fighter plane was missed. actually wanted to fight Peng Ze again, Jiujiang was besieged for so long and didn't pay attention to Long Hair, it was clear that he wanted to accumulate strength to launch a counterattack, and at this time he went to fight Peng Ze, who had been built by Long Hair, didn't he stick his head over and cut it off for Long Hair's main force? ! ”

I really couldn't stand Zuo Zongtang's heart-piercing, and Teacher Zeng interrupted: "Ji Gao, the danger you said is possible, but as long as we leave enough soldiers and horses to hold the mouth of the lake, but Changmao has the opportunity to suddenly seize the city, then we don't need to worry about being cut off by Changmao." ”

"Dashuai, do you have the certainty to stick to the mouth of the lake with a partial division?" Zuo Zongtang asked with a sneer, and said even more unceremoniously: "Don't blame me for not reminding you, during the attack on Pengze, once there is anything wrong with Hukou, we are in danger of being wiped out." ”

Zuo Zongtang's reminder had the opposite effect, and he couldn't stand Zuo Zongtang's ridicule and snatching white, so Mr. Zeng gritted his teeth and replied: "I have this certainty!" ”

"Then I won't stop you, whatever!" Zuo Zongtang also replied angrily.

"Then it's decided!" Zeng Guofan slapped the handsome case and shouted: "Immediately withdraw the southbound army, assemble Hukou, and prepare to attack Pengze!" Kerang, you are cautious, after the main force leaves, you will take four battalions to strictly guard the mouth of the lake, and you must not give Changmao the opportunity to seize the mouth of the lake! ”

Li Xuyi, who was named by Zeng Guofan, bowed his hand and sang a promise, and then asked: "Marshal, is the lower official leading the army to garrison the city, or is it stationed outside the city?" ”

"Stationed outside the city, don't give Wen Jun a chance to sue again." Zeng Guofan was very helpless and reassured: "Don't worry, the new county order of Hukou is our people, if the situation is not good, you can retreat to the city at any time to defend the city, and then send troops to meet our main force when I withdraw." ”

Li Xuyi sang the promise again, but Zuo Zongtang sneered and muttered, "As smart as a pig." Zeng Guofan's heart was on fire, but he pretended not to hear.

Quickly withdrew the Hunan army that went south to grab merit but in vain, and in the early snow, Zeng Guofan personally led the main force of the Hunan army to Pengze County. However, what Teacher Zeng never dreamed of was that the news that he led the main force east to Pengze had just reached Nanchang, and Wen Jun, who hated Teacher Zeng to the bone, immediately called Kang Bu, the senator of Jiangxi Buzheng Division, and instructed him: "Go to Hukou to check the accounts, no matter what reason you find, you have to take down the county order recommended by Zeng Guofan for me and replace it with our own people." On the ground in Jiangxi, there can't be a local official who is the person of Zeng Guofan! ”

Within a few days, Yang Xiuqing, who was thinking about whether to go all out on the Northern Expedition or go all out to the south, also received the news that the Hunan army was marching into Peng Ze, and after thinking about it for less than ten minutes, Yang Xiuqing made up his mind, sneered and waved his hand, and said: "Don't worry, let Zeng Guofan be arrogant for a few days." Furthermore, let the sailors withdraw to Anqing by deception, and then give the Dongliu defenders an order to the Dao, if Zeng Guofan's army advances eastward to Dongliu City, immediately abandon the city to Jiande, and lend Dongliu to Zeng Guofan to live for a period of time, so that he can rest assured to besiege Pengze City. (To be continued.) )