On the night of the 22nd day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the lights were bright in the city of Guilin and in the governor's yamen. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Due to the approach of the Taiping Holy Army, some large families in the city began to fluctuate, and even more than ten timid people took their families out of the city to hide in the mountains and forests of the countryside two days ago.

Two days ago, Governor Lao Chongguang, who had been in office for less than half a year, ordered the city to be closed and the whole city was under martial law, stopping the momentum of fleeing for refuge, and the city began to stabilize.

Above the lobby, the person in the middle is the governor of Guangxi, Lao Chongguang.

In the evening, he learned from the spies that the long-haired bandits who had attacked from Hunan had crossed Liutang in Lingui County by land, approaching Santang, and that the waterway had also reached the vicinity of Jiangzhou, which was only about 20 miles away from Guilin City. The situation was critical, and in the afternoon he inspected the city defense and soldiers at the head of Guilin, but still felt uneasy, so he summoned the officials above the fourth rank in Guilin and several famous officials and gentry to discuss the matter of defending the city.

"Ahem, the spies have found out that the long-haired thief is led by the pseudo-king of the south, and there are more than 20,000 thieves, from southern Hunan through Pingle and Yangshuo, by land and water, and will arrive at the outskirts of the south of the city tomorrow. What are the best strategies for the adults to retreat from the thieves? Lao Chongguang glanced at the people sitting around and asked. He also knew that he could not discuss anything good against the enemy, but he was just urging everyone to pay attention to the defense of the city.

"Lord Futai, the day before yesterday, the lower official suggested that an ambush should be set up on the Li River, and artillery could be placed on both sides of the river, so that the long-haired thief army could be defeated, but Lord Futai, you don't accept it. At this time, the thief is approaching Guilin City, but he comes to ask me again, what can I do? A white-faced, bearded man who looked nearly fifty years old said.

Lao Chongguang looked at the past, but it was Wu Dingchang, the newly appointed political envoy of Guangxi, who was only promoted from Gansu to the post of inspector in May.

Hum! A guy who only knows how to impeach others to be promoted behind his back, has never seen the ferocity of the long-haired thief army, and thinks that this long-haired thief is the same as the previous chaotic people, vulnerable to a blow, and will be defeated immediately.

Lao Chongguang secretly despised it, but in order to defend the city, he naturally didn't show it on the surface, but just replied calmly: "Lord Wu, there are not many soldiers in the city. Previously, there were only 6 battalions of defenders inside and outside the city, and each battalion had more than 500 people. The 3 battalions outside the city were all reinforcements temporarily mobilized from other provinces, and last month they wanted to follow Xiangjunmen to send troops to Changsha, but they were forced to stop it, so they stayed to defend the city for half a year. With so few soldiers, if you divide your troops out of the city to ambush them, if you don't win and lose your troops, Guilin City will have no troops to defend and it will be in danger! ”

When everyone heard this, they nodded one after another, and glanced at Wu Dingchang complainingly, making his face flush and not daring to say anything.

"Lord Futai, although there are few soldiers in the city, the imperial court ordered a few years ago to allow me Guangxi to form a regiment on its own. I remember that at that time, Long Qirui and Tang Zishi, the two elders of Zhishi, were jointly ordered to set up the Guangxi League Training Bureau, and there should be many villagers who can help defend the city, right? What spoke was Yao Ying, a white-haired procurator who was nearly seventy years old.

Lao Chongguang heard that he followed Lin Zexu to fight the Westerners in Guangzhou in his early years, and he admired him very much. He saluted and smiled: "What Lord Yao said is very true! Long Xuetai, you can tell you about the group training in the city. ”

The next long-bearded official gentleman who was nearly sixty years old stood up and saluted when he heard this, it was Long Qirui, the head of the Youth League of the Guangxi League Training Bureau.

"Lao Futai, my lords. After taking over the post of head of the regiment, thanks to the help of the adults and the elders of the countryside in the city, he tried his best, and now there are dozens of sub-regiments in Guilin City, and nearly 10,000 villagers have joined the regiment training. If the regiments from the surrounding state capitals are mobilized to rescue in Gui, 30,000 should be gathered. Long Qirui said proudly, at present, the regimental training has become the main force to defend the city, and he, the head of the regiment, will naturally rise.

When everyone heard this, they immediately looked happy. With tens of thousands of regiments bravely assisting in defending the city, coupled with the high and thick walls of Guilin and the dangerous terrain, it is not a problem to defend Guilin.

However, Lao Chongguang is not as relieved as everyone else, he knows the level of combat power of the team training. In a hurry, people were recruited from various villages to join the group, and each squire received an index to gather the number of people. However, the imperial court did not issue any money, and relied on the donations and donations of the gentry to subsidize the villagers, so naturally there was not much treatment at all. After defending the city this time, he has to report this matter to the imperial court.

"Liu Junmen, I don't know how the defense on the city wall is, can you tell everyone?" Lao Chongguang didn't want to pay attention to the acting governor of Guangxi, who was waiting for the dismissal and investigation, but now that Guilin is in danger, this person is indeed a person who has been in war for a long time. Seeing that he wanted to make meritorious contributions, he inspected the city defenses every day and performed his duties wholeheartedly, so he still did his best to help.

The person Lao Chongguang questioned was Liu Changqing, the acting governor of Guangxi who led the troops to attack Daozhou some time ago and was completely annihilated by the Taiping Holy Army. At that time, under the escort of his own guards, he fled to the direction of Yongzhou Fucheng, but did not enter the city, but made a detour and went straight south to Guangxi, and returned to the Admiral's Yamen, as if there had never been a defeat in Daozhou.

However, there is no impermeable wall in the world, let alone the loss of several thousand troops. For this reason, although the war in Changsha delayed the court's handling of him, everyone understood that it was a matter of time before he was dismissed and investigated, so he was also snubbed.

Liu Changqing was not in high spirits when he led the troops to attack Daozhou, and he looked a little depressed at the moment, but the light in his eyes flashed from time to time, revealing his unwillingness.

"Lord Futai, colleagues. The governor has collected all the guerrillas outside the city into the city, plus the dragon regiment general regiment training village Yong and the people in the city, the number of people should exceed the thieves who came to attack, we defend the city, you can take turns to rest nearby, as long as you hold on for a while, the thieves will be tired. ”

"In addition, a few days ago, I have ordered people to burn down all the houses around the suburbs of Guilin, and all the grain collected in the nearly twenty miles of polder has been moved into the city, and the walls are cleared. Liu Changqing said excitedly.

"Liu Changqing, how can you forcibly burn down the houses of ordinary people outside the city without authorization?" Xu Xiangguang, a member of the Guiping Wuyu Daoist, stood up and asked.

"Xu Daotai, now that the thieves are pressing the border, this is not the time to pity the people!"

"Yes, yes, Liu Junmen did the right thing, defending the city is the first priority at the moment! Observe, you can't blame this time. ”

Xu Xiangguang saw that everyone was facing Liu Changqing, so he had to sit indignantly.

"I don't know if Liu Junmen has an inventory of the villagers who have recently mixed into the city?" Li Xian, the prefect of Pingle Mansion, fled from Pingle Mansion to Guilin, although he got the consent of the governor, but he was responsible for defending the land, if Guilin fell again, he would be guilty, so he was very worried about the thieves in the city.

"Don't worry, Lord Li! The Governor has always been strict in administering the army, and all soldiers of the battalion are not allowed to go out without a military order. In recent days, the people who have entered the city have been checked one by one and verified their identities; The city is also under martial law, and the people are not allowed to go out at night, and a few days ago, more than ten members of the Tiandihui Party have been arrested by this inspector and immediately beheaded. ”

When everyone heard this, they all had a different opinion of Liu Changqing.

Lao Chongguang also nodded secretly, at this moment, he must be strict.

However, when he saw that the time was not early, he remembered the main purpose of his convening, so he said directly: "All of you are eating Yulu, and the court officials trusted by the monarch's father still need to do their best to defend the city, and work together!" In order to boost morale, Ben Fu wanted to give the soldiers a reward, but I don't know that the adults have some silver taels on hand, and they hope to support some to tide over the difficulties together. ”

"This, the tribute court that this official is responsible for is the Qingshui Yamen, and there is really nothing that can be done!" This is Hu Zhuo, a scholar in Guangxi, who only arrived in August.

"Yes, there are only more than 40 people under this official, and they all owe a lot of money. I can only say that I can't help it! Daotai Xu Xiangguang also hurriedly waved his hand.

“……..”

"Zhu Qi is willing to donate 5,000 taels of silver as military funds, and do his best!" Zhu Qi, who is an official gentry and vice president of the League Training Bureau, stood up and said.

Seeing that someone was finally willing to contribute, Lao Chongguang was overjoyed and said: "The people of Guangxi have thanked Brother Zhu on behalf of the people!" ”

Then, several more squires said that they would donate silver taels, and Lao Chongguang's brows relaxed.

After everyone left, Lao Chongguang left Admiral Liu Changqing and the regiment commander Long Qirui behind to inquire about the defense of the city. The three of them went up to the city wall overnight and inspected separately, and it was already midnight, so Lao Chongguang went back to his house and lay down with peace of mind.