Since Wu Chaoyue raised troops under the shameless banner of the Qing monarch, the most correct thing that the Beijing coup group did was to appoint Luo Bingzhang as the governor of Shandong, replacing the mediocre Qingsheng to preside over the Shandong war and be responsible for guarding against the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Luo Bingzhang is also unbearable to kill Shi Dakai in history, after taking office, he acted vigorously and resolutely, and quickly encouraged the Shandong gentry and landlords to form several Shandong regiments to participate in the battle, and asked the Manchu court to reactivate the Qing army generals Yuan Baoheng and Zhang Guoliang who were convicted for losing Xuzhou. greatly relieved the pressure on the coach of the Qilu Qing Army, Shengbao.

At the same time, in view of the characteristics of the open terrain of the North China Plain, Luo Bingzhang tried his best to persuade Shengbao to avoid the enemy's edge and minimize the decisive battle with the Taiping army in the field. After Shengbao accepted Luo Bingzhang's suggestion, he soon relied on the superior cavalry to sneak attack the Taiping army's grain transportation team twice, which brought great trouble to Shi Dakai, who relied on land supplies for grain and grass and military supplies, and also successfully slowed down the Taiping army's northward speed, giving Luo Bingzhang time to build and strengthen the defense line of the old Yellow River.

In addition, Luo Bingzhang also did two things, the first was to desperately buy off the small peasant rebel army in Shandong, and take advantage of the regional contradictions and conflicts of interest between the Shandong rebel army and the Taiping army, and encourage them to harass the Taiping army in exchange for glory and wealth. The second is to spread rumors through various channels, falsely claiming that Yang Xiuqing's initiation of the Northern Expedition was nothing more than a sword to kill people, and to weaken and get rid of Shi Dakai, who had a gap with him, through the hands of the Qing army, desperately dissipating the morale of the Taiping army, and hitting and shaking the fighting spirit of the Taiping army.

Not to mention, Luo Bingzhang's hands really received a lot of results, coupled with the decline in the combat effectiveness of the elite veterans of the Taiping Army after many dilutions, the collapse of faith after seeing clearly the cult nature of the Worship God Cult, and the Qing army gradually adapted to the crypt siege tactics that the Taiping Army was good at, and found a means of countering it with deep trench irrigation and leyline exploration, the Taiping Army's northward speed really slowed down a lot, and it took the Taiping Army more than two months to fight just one Yanzhou City. After the Taiping army tried their best to take Yanzhou, the Qing army had already built an iron wall in Tai'an Mansion in the north, forcing Shi Dakai to abandon the established plan of going through Yanzhou Mansion to attack Jinan, and instead divide his troops to enter Dongping and Yizhou, attack the Qing army on both wings of Jinan, in an attempt to lure the Qing army to divide his troops to meet the attack, and then smash Jinan with the main force.

Shi Dakai's helpless move made his nemesis Luo Bingzhang simply ecstatic, so much so that after receiving the news, Luo Bingzhang jumped up and shouted God bless Daqing and Shandong are saved! Then Luo Bingzhang did not hesitate, and immediately pulled Shengbao to strengthen the defense of the western front, and made every effort to hold Dongping, Dong'e and Pingyin. On the other hand, the eastern front was deliberately relaxed, so that the Taiping army's partial division could easily attack Yizhou, and then prepared to lure the Taiping army into Qingzhou. At the same time, he went to the Wen Manchu Qing court to request that the Qing army's Red Single Fleet, which had now retreated north to Penglai, be restrained............

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The active performance of the Qing army in Shandong and the progress of the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Taiping Army were unfavorable, of course, it gave the Manchu court a chance to breathe, and also gave the commander of the Qing army in Zhili, the monk prince, the opportunity to brag and show off, so that the monk and the prince could point fingers at the Shandong battlefield in the capital.

However, it is a pity for the monk and the prince, except for the generals of the Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners who are subject to him, there is no choice, let alone Ci'an, Cixi and Devil Liu, and others, even the old prince Mianyu, who has a good relationship with him, does not like to listen to his bragging, so the monk has no choice, and if he wants to be addicted, he can only stay in the Fengtai camp of his command as much as possible and torture his poor subordinates.

"The bullshit lure the enemy deeply, the sea and land are flanked, and the Manchu and Mongolian iron cavalry who put our Qing Dynasty don't know how to use it well, they just want to be opportunistic, and the imperial court handed over so many troops to Luo Bingzhang, it's really blind, it's blind."

On this day, as usual, the monk and the prince were still spitting in the camp of the Chinese army, accusing Shengbao and Luo Bingzhang of being incompetent, and torturing his confidants Qingqi and Na Ma Shan and others. As a result, when Qingqi and Na Ma Shan and other Mongolian generals were about to wear out calluses, the savior appeared - there was a report from the soldiers outside the tent, saying that the monk and the sergeant had found the Hubei scholar Lian Zhaolun who had secretly absconded back to Zhili at the mouth of Dagu, but Lian Zhaolun not only did not run away, but also took the initiative to ask to meet the old monk Wangye, and also said that there was a confidential matter to report to the monk Wangye.

"Lian Zhaolun? Didn't that dog minion rebel with Wu Chaoyue's dog thief? How did you come back again? ”

The monk and the prince heard the report, because the monk and the prince were not only old friends with Lian Zhaolun, but also because Lian Zhaolun not only had excellent calligraphy, but also knew some cavalry and archery techniques, and there was a lot of speculation with the monk and the prince, and he was barely half a confidant. I heard that Lian Zhaolun had returned, and of course the monk did not hesitate, and immediately ordered Lian Zhaolun, who was tied up with five flowers, to be escorted into the big tent of the Chinese army for personal interrogation, and as soon as he met Lian Zhaolun, he slapped the table and shouted: "Boldly rebel against the thief, and join forces with Wu Chaoyue to rebel against the dog thief, you dare to come back!" Are you guilty?! ”

"The prince forgives the sin, and the official knows the sin." Lian Zhaolun also confessed, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to the monk and the prince to confess his guilt, and said: "But the monk and the prince, the lower officials had no choice at that time, the Wu thief held the knife and coerced, if the lower official did not obey, he would inevitably be killed by the Wu thief, and the lower official was forced to follow the thief as a last resort." ”

"Shut up!" The monk roared angrily: "You, a rat who is greedy for life and afraid of death, as an official of the imperial court, did not think of fighting for your life when Wu rebelled against the dog thief, and you still have the face to quibble in front of this king!" ”

"Lord Wang, the people present at that time were either Wu Chaoyue's henchmen and cronies, or his accomplice lackeys, and the lower officials couldn't fight him even if they wanted to." Lian Zhaolun shed tears, kowtowed and said: "Xia Guan didn't think about scolding the thief and dying to repay the king's kindness, but Xia Guan felt that it was too unworthy, and felt that he should stay useful, and try to help the court cut off Wu Yi and pacify the thief army, so he had to swallow his anger and have to bend down to serve the thief!" ”

With tears in his eyes, Lian Zhaolun kowtowed desperately, and cried bitterly and said: "Xiaguan also knows, now I can't wash away the sin of rebellion even if I jump into the Yellow River, and Xiaguan has nothing else to ask for, but to ask the prince to let Xiaguan first report the thief I have mastered in Hubei to the imperial court one by one before the punishment of Xiaguan, help the imperial court grasp some of Wu's rebellion and truth, and talk about reporting the kindness of the Qing Dynasty in case of emergency, so that even if Xiaguan goes to Jiuquan to see the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, he can also have an explanation." ”

Seeing that Lian Zhaolun's repentance was very sincere, and knowing that Lian Zhaolun and Wu Chaoyue did not have a deep friendship when they worked together, the monk suppressed his anger a little and changed his tone and asked, "How did you come back?" ”

"It was the traitor Wu Chaoyue who sent his subordinates back." Lian Zhaolun replied truthfully: "Wu Thief knew that Xiaguan was from Shuntianfu, and most of his family members were in his hometown Ninghe (today's Jinninghe District), so he took Xiaguan's younger brother Lian Zhaohui as a hostage, promised Xiaguan a heavy reward, and ordered Xiaguan to pretend to flee back to the north, so that Xiaguan could return to the capital to act as an internal response for him and spy on the military situation in the capital. ”

"And." Lian Zhaolun added: "Wu Chaoyue also knows that the lower official has a little friendship with the prince, so let the lower official sneak into your shogunate at any cost, act as a staff member for you, and take the opportunity to collect imperial military aircraft for him." The lower officials were concerned about the children in the family, and because they were not trusted by the Wu thieves in Hubei, they could not collect more military information of the Wu thieves for the imperial court, so they gritted their teeth and agreed to the Wu thieves and took the opportunity to get out and return. ”

"Dog offal! Traitor! The monk gritted his teeth, but he was a little proud in his heart - this at least proves that Wu Chaoyue still attaches great importance to the monk and the prince.

"That's right." Lian Zhaolun hurriedly added: "The thief Wu also handed over a secret letter to the criminal minister, and asked the lower officials to try to hand it over to the queen mother of the two palaces, and explain that no one is allowed to know the existence of that secret letter." ”

"Where's MeSign?"

The monk asked quickly, Lian Zhaolun also immediately replied that he was in his arms, when the monk's personal soldiers came forward to search, they really found a blank letter in the envelope from Lian Zhaolun's arms, the monk took it and saw that the seal was sealed with fire paint, hesitated a little, and then immediately had an idea, while crushing the fire paint without a trace, while scolding Lian Zhaolun: "What are you eating?" If you can't keep a single letter, how can the fire paint be broken? ”

After putting the black pot that shattered the fire paint on Lian Zhaolun's head, the monk prince was no longer polite, and immediately took out the letterhead in it and opened it to take a closer look, and then naturally, looking at it, the face of the monk who was named by Wu Chaoyue to ask for his head began to change, and his heart trembled a little, and he said secretly: "If the two queen mothers really want the king's head in order to appease Wu Chaoyue's dog thief, what should the king do?" ”

Thinking of this problem, the monk subconsciously wanted to tear up the letter, but as soon as he tore a small opening, the monk suddenly stopped, because the monk suddenly remembered a problem - it is easy to tear up this letter by himself, and it is easier for Wu Chaoyue to find someone to write the same letter, and as long as the same letter falls into the hands of Ci'an and Cixi without his knowledge, his precious life may be even more suspenseful - there will be no time to warn in advance.

After thinking about it for a while, the monk and the prince, who had always loved his own life, quickly made a decision that Wu Chaoyue expected, first sent someone to temporarily detain Lian Zhaolun, and then immediately drove into the city, and went straight to Prince Hui's mansion to find the old prince Mianyu who was also named by Wu Chaoyue, and handed the letter to the old prince Hui to read. As a result, the old prince Hui was inevitably a little frightened when he saw it, and after a little discussion with the monk and the prince, he sent someone to invite the devil six, so that the devil six, who was also named by Wu Chaoyue and asked for his life, could watch this life-urging talisman.

Of course, the shrewd devil six is much calmer than the old prince Hui and the monk prince, although he was also a little shocked to see Wu Chaoyue's letter, he still asked the monk prince very calmly about the source of the letter, and then asked the reason why Lian Zhaolun escaped and returned. Then, after a little calculation, the six devils immediately said: "The discord plan, a very shallow discord plan." ”

"But it's insidious enough." Devil Zi Liu added: "Wu Chaoyue's other purpose is to induce us to execute Lian Zhaolun, to warn the Qing officials in the southwestern provinces who are still interested in the imperial court, and to block their retreat. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Old Prince Hui asked with some doubts.

"It's very simple, Wu Thief has long seen that Lian Zhaolun is not really submissive to him, and forcibly leaving him in Hubei will not only not play any role, but on the contrary, it may become a hidden danger for him."

Devil Six replied lightly: "So the Wu thief simply came to push the boat down the river, and deliberately sent Lian Zhaolun back to Beijing to carry out a divisive plan, so that Lian Zhaolun, who must be unreliable, handed over this letter to us, and provoked the relationship between us and the queen mother of the two palaces." By the way, let Lian Zhaolun anger us and the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, and induce us to get rid of Lian Zhaolun for him. And for him, it is of course the best among us to fall for his treacherous schemes, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't, he has nothing to lose at all. ”

"Treacherous dog thief!" The monk and the old prince scolded in unison, and then the old prince Hui asked again: "Lord Gong, what about this letter?" ”

"Of course it's ruining ......."

Devil Liu's words suddenly stopped, because Devil Six also remembered that fatal question like the monk and the prince - if Wu Chaoyue was determined to pretend to negotiate to induce Ci'an and Cixi to cut himself, then it would not be difficult to write the same letter and send it to Ci'an and Cixi, and if Ci'an and Cixi wavered at that time, he would not even be able to take precautions in advance.

Therefore, after closing his mouth in time, Devil Six couldn't help but have such a thought, "Is it taking this opportunity to test the attitude of the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces?" See if they will waver? If they really have such a plan, we can at least take precautions in advance? ”

The most disgusting thing about the discord plan is that it is difficult to crack, and the smarter the person, the easier it is to fall for the trick, so even if he knows that Wu Chaoyue is stirring up right and wrong, in the case of his own life, Devil Six still can't help but have the idea of being cautious. In the end, coupled with the fact that it is unlikely that such a major event as the return of Hubei Xuezheng Lian Zhaolun will be hidden from the ears and eyes of the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, after hesitating again and again, Devil Six still changed his words and said: "Don't be in a hurry to destroy it first, invite the fifth prince and the seventh prince, and invite Gui Zhongtang and Cao Zhongtang, let's discuss it together." ”

In the evening, Gui Liang, Cao Yuying, Prince Xuan, and Prince Alcohol were also invited to King Hui's Mansion after everyone arrived, and the devil took out the secret letter written by Wu Chaoyue to Ci'an and Cixi, and discussed countermeasures with all the culprits.

After knowing the content of the letter, Gui Liang and Cao Yuying, the two military ministers, were better, and their hearts were frightened, and their faces at least kept their expressions as usual, but the prince and the prince were so calm, and roared together: "Wu Chaoyue is a dog thief, and he dares to sow discord and force the two queen mothers to be unfavorable to us?!" ”

"The fifth brother and the seventh brother are right, this is indeed sowing discord, but it is also the most effective way to sow discord." The devil said gloomily: "If the two queen mothers are shaken, I am afraid that the seven of us will all die without a place to be buried!" ”

Gui Liang and Cao Yuying nodded slightly, because they both knew very well in their hearts that if Ci'an and Cixi really wavered and were determined to use them as scapegoats to curry favor with Wu Chaoyue, if they wanted to clean them up, they would be saying a word and putting a seal on the edict, and then they would not even have the strength to resist.

At this time, the prince who was named and degraded to a concubine by Wu Chaoyue also proposed to destroy the letter, but without the help of the devil six words, the monk and Gui Liang and others immediately said: "Lord, it is useless to burn this letter, if Wu Chaoyue is determined to force the queen mother of the two palaces to execute us, there is a way to send the same letter to the queen mother of the two palaces." ”

When the prince thought about it, he closed his mouth, but the prince who had not spoken over there moved in his heart and exclaimed: "Oh no! Maybe the two queen mothers have already received such letters! ”

"Seventh brother, why do you say this?" The six devils asked in surprise.

"Just yesterday, Gui Xiang, the younger brother of the Empress Dowager of the West, entered the palace and met the Empress Dowager of the West." Prince Alcohol hurriedly replied: "Because I am the Minister of the Guard, I know about it, but I didn't think much about it at the time, and I thought it was just Guixiang's waste who ran to ask the Empress Dowager Xi for help, so I didn't stop it." ”

None of the seven culprits of the coup d'état present did not know the relationship between Wu Chaoyue and Hui Zheng's family, and none of them did not know that Wu Chaoyue had saved Hui Zheng's life twice, and he also saved Gui Xiang's life once in Shanghai, so after hearing the introduction of Prince Alcohol, none of the six people such as the devil did not have a discolored face, and the more wasteful Hui Lao Wang Ye and the monk Wang Ye began to turn gray, and their legs began to tremble a little.

The most calm is of course Prince Gong's Devil Six, after thinking for a while, Devil Six gritted his teeth and said: "It seems that we can only find a showdown with the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, tomorrow the seven of us will enter the palace together to meet the two Queen Mothers, and present this letter to them to see how they react!" ”

"Lord Wang, isn't this too direct?" Gui Liang asked hesitantly.

"It can only be so direct." Devil Liu's voice was cold, and he said: "Now that Wu Chaoyue has not started the Northern Expedition, Long Mao has also been temporarily blocked in Shandong by Luo Bingzhang and Shengbao, and there is no news for the time being when Wen Xiang went to Hong Kong to ask the British for help, otherwise, if the situation changes unfavorably for the imperial court, our heads and official titles will not be saved." ”

"Lord Wang, then what do we say?" Cao Yuying asked.

"Let's just say that if we can really get Wu Chaoyue's resignation from the dog thief, then please ask the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces to allow Wu Chaoyue to be invited." Devil Zi Liu said lightly: "Give me and Prince Hui, the monk and the prince, assign you and Gui Zhongtang, get rid of the fifth brother's prince, and let the seventh brother go home to study behind closed doors." ”

Cao Yuying, Gui Liang and the others nodded together, knowing that Devil Six was going to force Ci'an and Cixi Ming to issue an edict, promising the whole world that they would never start peace talks with Wu Chaoyue. The monk prince was frightened, and said secretly: "Is it too risky for the sixth prince to do this?" What if the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces really agreed? Or what if the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces wants to make a discount? Since this king is not with Wu Chaoyue's dog minion, Shu Bao's dog slave is also like crazy to settle accounts with this king, no matter how much the queen mother of the two palaces discounts this king's head, she can't keep it? ”