In early April, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom first sent 22,500 troops from the right route of the Northern Expeditionary Army from Yangzhou, bypassing the Jiangbei camp in the west of Yangzhou, passing directly through the east of Yangzhou, and killing Anman and Hanan. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Immediately afterwards, the 15,000 men of the Northern Expeditionary Army on the left road, led by Zhu Xikun, Xu Zongyang and Huang Zhonglai, set out from Tianjing, and also went directly north, marching together on the same road. However, Zhu Xikun and others took the wrong road under the darkness of the night, and strayed into Liuhe County, but they were unfamiliar with the place and were blocked by the enemy courage of the local regimental training, and in the middle of the night, the gunpowder in the camp was ignited and exploded, and the whole army collapsed, with heavy casualties among the soldiers and soldiers, and more than 5,000 people were lost, and even Huang Zhonglai, the commander of the 15th Zuo Wing of the Palace, was also killed.

Xu Zongyang led more than 4,000 people to return to Tianjing, and Zhu Xikun led the remaining 5,000 Taiping soldiers to rush out of the Liuhe Realm and came to Anman Chuzhou, where they happened to meet Qin, Ji, and Huang who led the right route army.

On April 20, the king of the east called Hu Yixuan, the prime minister of Chunguanzheng, Lai Hanying, the deputy prime minister of Xiaguan, and Zeng Tianyang, the commander of Zuojiu, to the front of him.

Zeng Tianyang followed Hu Yixuan and Lai Hanying to the meeting hall of the East Palace. I saw that Yang Xiuqing was already sitting in the hall, and there was a person standing next to him, but it was Wei Changhui, the king of the north.

The three of them hurriedly lowered their eyebrows and lowered their heads to enter the hall in turn, knelt down in front of Yang Xiuqing and shouted: "Dongwang, nine thousand years old, thousand years old, thousand years old!" ”

I saw the Northern King Wei Changhui again: "The Northern King is six thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old!" ”

Yang Xiuqing asked the three of them to get up.

Zeng Tianyang only felt uncomfortable for a while!

Zeng Tianyang has deep eyes and long hair, and a majestic figure, although he is now almost sixty years old, he is still fierce, and he is a famous general in the Taiping Army.

Among the soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom, he was the oldest, and when he first saw the face of Feng Yunshan, the king of the South, he joined the God Worship Sect. Later, everyone gathered troops to oppose the Qing Dynasty and carried out anti-Qing and missionary activities in the Bauhinia Mountains, which was very happy.

He was also a leader of the worshippers at that time. At the beginning, it was still him who met Yang Xiuqing, who was burning charcoal in the mountains in Ping. He came forward to persuade him many times, but Yang Xiuqing still refused to join the God Worship Sect, so he introduced it to Feng Yunshan, the king of the South. Then, Feng Yunshan came forward in person, and after a few explanations, Yang Xiuqing took a few charcoal burners to join the teaching.

At that time, it was under Zeng Tianyang's hands.

Starting from Yong'an City, the rules in the Taiping army have become bigger and bigger, and Zeng Tianyang began to feel that he had a separation from the Heavenly King Dongwang, but he and the Southern King were still the same as brothers in the old days. Later, Feng Yunshan was repeatedly suppressed by the East King and the West King, Zeng Tianyang saw it in his eyes and wanted to help, but his status was low, but he couldn't do anything.

So, when he learned that Feng Yunshan was leaving Quanzhou and wanted to stand on his own feet from the main force of the Taiping Army, he happily said that he would follow Feng Yunshan. However, under the persuasion of Zeng Guanlan, he finally agreed to act as an internal response of the Southern King in the Taiping Army, find out the news for him, and continue to follow the main force of the Taiping Army to the north.

Thinking that he hadn't written to Nanwang for a long time recently, Zeng Tianyang couldn't help but blame himself.

He looked up and saw that the East King was wearing a compass gauze hat with a single dragon and a single phoenix, and eight yellow dragons were embroidered on the yellow satin robe, only one less than the Heavenly King, and seven dragons were embroidered on the yellow satin shoes, which were only two less than the Heavenly King. He looked at it again, and Wei Changhui, the king of the North next to him, only had four dragons on his satin robe. Remembering what the King of the South said, the King of Heaven and the King of the East are very hierarchical people in their bones, and they have never really regarded the Taiping Army and ordinary people as brothers.

Yang Xiuqing first pretended to greet him: "A few old brothers, how is your health?" ”

Hu Yixuan replied: "A certain can also go into battle to kill the enemy." ”

Lai Hanying said: "Tuodong Wang Fu, Han Ying is still healthy. ”

Zeng Tianyang said: "I can eat five bowls a day, but I have very little, which looks pretty good." ”

Yang Xiuqing was a little puzzled, and asked Lai Hanying, who was smiling, "Why did Brother Tianyang get involved in?" ”

Wei Changhui, who was on the side, had read a lot of books and knew some allusions, so he interjected: "He is talking about the story of the ancient veteran Lian Po. ”

Seeing that the illiterate Dongwang still didn't understand, Lai Hanying added: "At the end of the Warring States Period, there was a famous old general in Zhao State named Lian Po. Some people falsely accuse Lian Po of being too old to go to the battlefield, and he has to go out to three times after eating a meal. Old man Zeng meant that he hadn't reached this point yet. ”

Yang Xiuqing heard this, and immediately snorted coldly: What if you have read the book? It's not up to me to listen to this king!

However, he didn't show it on his face, he just cleared his throat, with a little smugness, and said with a smile: "Although the capital is Tianjing now, but the Qing Demon has not been destroyed, the Heavenly King and this King still can't sit back and relax." This king has sent two heavenly soldiers on the left and right to the north to attack the Central Plains to destroy the lair of the Qing demon. Qin Rigang, Ji Wenyuan, and Huang Wenjin did a good job. ”

After speaking, he picked up a letter from the table and said: "The Northern Expedition Right Route Army has frequent successes. On the third day of their journey north from Pukou, they used artillery to blast open the south gate of Chuzhou City and killed Zhizhou, whose surname was Pan. On April 12, the city of Fengyang Mansion was broken again, and on the 13th and 14th, Huaiyuan and Mengcheng were successively attacked, and they were invincible all the way. ”

Lai Hanying said: "I heard that the left army of Zhu Xikun was not very smooth? ”

"It's a small loss." Yang Xiuqing said, "They originally won the battle in Liuhe County, but that night there was a fire in the camp, which detonated the gunpowder, and Huang Zhonglai, the commander of the 15th Zuo of the Palace, was unfortunately killed, and most of the soldiers had returned to Tianjing with Xu Zongyang, and Zhu Xikun led a group to continue north, and had joined forces with the Right Route Army in Chuzhou. ”

Wei Changhui and Hu Yixuan said in unison: "With the strategy of the King of the East and the command of the Marquis of Dingtian, the Northern Expedition to break through the Qing Demon Lair is just around the corner. ”

"Heaven is still going west." Yang Xiuqing said, "At present, there is only the land of Tianjing and Zhenjiang Yangzhou, and it is also blocked by the two big camps of the Qing Demon, Jiangnan and Jiangbei, and there is no land, and the people cannot farm." Now that the plan for the western expedition has been discussed, I have summoned you here today, and I want to entrust you with this important task! ”

Wei Changhui nodded and echoed: "Brother Shengming, the king of the east! At present, the Qing Demon is using all his forces on the camp in the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Yangtze River and the division that intercepts my Northern Expedition, and the emptiness of the Qing Demon in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is the best time for my Heavenly Kingdom to attack. ”

Hu Yixuan asked: "Is it to fight the two lakes, or Anman and Xixi?" ”

Yang Xiuqing said with a bit of spirit: "First attack Anqing and occupy southern Anhui, and at the same time divide troops to fight Nanchang, jam the important town of Jiujiang, and then occupy Wuchang." After these goals are achieved, the army will be expanded, and the king will continue to send reinforcements from Tianjing to support the Northern Expeditionary Army from the territory of Anman Hubei, and be sure to occupy the Central Plains! At the same time, the king will take the opportunity to send troops to occupy the entire Jiangnan area, and take the land of the two lakes, the land of the two rivers and the land of Zhejiang and Fujian. ”

"As long as Jiangnan is pacified, the rear of the Kingdom of Heaven will be stable. At that time, if they have laid down the nest of the Qing demon, it is the best, if it is not defeated, this king can also play the king of tomorrow, all the heavenly soldiers of the Heavenly Dynasty, and go all out to the north, then the world can be determined. ”

After listening to the strategic plan of the East King, Wei Changhui and the others hurriedly shouted in unison: "The East King has a grand plan, and the Qing Demon can be broken soon!" ”

However, the next moment, Zeng Tianyang frowned.

When Yang Xiuqing saw it, he asked: "Zeng commanded, I don't know what this king said, what's wrong?" ”

Zeng Tianyang hurriedly confessed: "There is nothing wrong with the East King. The old man just heard that now the area around Munan and part of Fujian has been occupied by the southern king of Liangguang, if my Taiping army goes to attack, I don't know if it will cause contradictions? ”

"Hmph, as long as the king of the south does not publicly declare his separation from the kingdom of heaven for a day, he will still be the king of the south of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! Could it be that he still dares to do anything to my heavenly kingdom? Yang Xiuqing waved his hand, and continued: "If Anqing is captured, Hu Yihuang will divide his troops and garrison them, develop northward, and Lai Hanying and Zeng Tianyang will go to fight Jiujiang and Nanchang. This king has prepared a thousand ships for you. Go out as soon as possible. King Bei, although you don't go on the expedition, it is extremely important to do a good job in the logistics of grain and grass! If it is except for mistakes, don't blame this king for ignoring brotherly love and asking you! ”

Wei Changhui, Hu Yixuan, Lai Hanying, and Zeng Tianyang hurriedly agreed in unison.

……..

On 25 April, with Lai Hanying, the deputy prime minister of Xiaguan, as the main general, and Hu Yixuan, the prime minister of Chunguanzheng, as his deputy, he led Zhang Zipeng, the eighth commander of the right side of the palace, Zeng Tianyang, the ninth commander of the left of the palace, and Tang Zhengcai, the watermaker, to lead 23,000 troops and more than 1,000 boats, starting from Tianjing, tracing the Yangtze River, and starting the westward expedition.

At this point, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Northern Expedition to the West and the two armies marched separately, attacking the city and plundering the land, and the world was shaken. Due to the rapid march and the complete lack of preparation of the Manchus, the local government of the Shuoduo Qing court trembled, and the defenders of the small county town fled in despair.

……..

At the end of April, the Northern Expeditionary Army conquered the state of Aman.

On the first day of the fifth month, the Northern Expeditionary Army conquered the Hunan Guide Mansion, killed more than 3,000 Qing troops, lost more than 500 people, and recruited more than 1,000 soldiers.

The next day, the reinforced Qing army came to attack, fought again, and killed more than 2,000 Qing troops.

As a result, the Northern Expeditionary Army passed through Anbang and entered the south of the country.

When the Qing court heard the news, it hurriedly sent the former imperial minister Horqin County Wang Monk Greenqin, and the commander of the infantry army, Zuodu Yushi Huashana, to supervise the patrol of Beijing and strengthen the martial law in the Jingshi area of Zhili. At the same time, Emperor Xianfeng appointed the new Dutong Shengbao as the minister of the Qincha and rushed to Hanan to intercept the Northern Expeditionary Army.

The Northern Expeditionary Army was originally scheduled to cross the Yellow River at Liujiakou, more than 40 miles northwest of the city of Guide to the city of Hanan.

When the Qing army had strictly defended the river in advance, all the ferries and people's boats were burned, and the Northern Expeditionary Army arrived at Liujiakou, but could not find the ferry and could not cross the river, so they marched west along the south bank of Huanghe.

On 13 May, nearly 100 ships were found at the mouth of the river, and the Northern Expeditionary Army was divided into several groups, all of which rushed across the Yellow River and occupied Wen County.

The Taiping army of the western expedition, after twenty days of marching, arrived outside the city of Anqing. Because Anqing was captured by the Taiping army a few months ago, the Qing soldiers defending the city died to death, and those who fled fled, and now there are not too many Qing soldiers who have returned. Seeing that the Taiping army was coming menacingly, thousands of warships were attacking, and they scattered and fled.

On 15 May, Lai Hanying and other Western Expeditionary troops easily captured Anqing City, which was not defended by many troops.

Hu Yihuang and Zhang Zipeng, the eighth commander of the palace, divided 7,000 troops and garrisoned Anqing City. And Lai Hanying, Zeng Tianyang, and Tang Zhengcai, led 15,000 Taiping soldiers to the hinterland of Xixi by boat, preparing to capture Nanchang City. All the way to Liankepengze, Hukou, Nankang and other places.

At the end of May, Zeng Tianyang and Tang Zhengcai, two 6,000 Taiping soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army, had arrived in Nanchang. However, due to the strong attack, he could not succeed, so he besieged the city on the one hand, and attacked nearby states and counties on the other hand to besiege Nanchang City.

In this way, the Taiping Army's Western Expedition and Northern Expedition, the war on both sides began to stalemate. (To be continued.) )