The Taiping army is going to attack Guangzhou?

Hong Shiming's face was even more ugly than Zuo Qing when he heard the news, and he stayed there, staring at Zhu Guorong, the prefect of Guangzhou, motionlessly, and only repeated one thought in his heart - how did the situation in Guangdong collapse to this point!

Wang Huacheng and other generals of the green battalion were also dumbfounded, the Taiping army, which was still being pursued a few days ago, was about to come to attack Guangzhou City in a blink of an eye, and this contrast was really difficult for them to accept for a while.

"It's nonsense, where did the Taiping Kou get tens of thousands of troops! The battalion officer of Daliang Town made Taiping Kou frightened, the thieves really have tens of thousands of troops, and he can still stay in Daliang to send a report to the governor! ”

Li Shutai didn't believe that the Taiping army that ran to Xiangshan from Xinhui could support tens of thousands of troops in just a few months, and he didn't believe that the thief Xiucai Zhou Shixiang had the courage to attack Guangzhou City, and the foreign commissioner of Daliang Town, Qianzong, was also surnamed Hu, and eighty percent was a private person installed by Hu Qili, so he lied about the military situation in order to cover up the truth for him.

He asked Zuo Qing angrily: "What does the Daliang report say?" ”

Zuo Qing hadn't recovered from Zhu Guorong's words, and he didn't react for a while.

Catching a glimpse of Zuo Qing in a daze, Li Shutai couldn't help but say angrily: "Lord Zuo, what did Daliang's recital say, read it, read it to Bendu!" ”

"Huh? Okay, this is the thought of the lower official..."

Zuo Qing came to his senses, hurriedly opened the Daliang newspaper in his hand, scanned a few words, his face turned pale, and he looked up at Li Shutai's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping.

"Look at what Ben Du is doing, read it, is there any worse news than Taiping Kou is going to fight Guangzhou!" Lee So-tae laughed angrily.

"It's not true, it's just that the lower officials read it, and they read it."

Under the gaze of Li Shutai. Zuo Qing finally stammered and whispered: "Hu Mingyi, the general manager of the foreign affairs committee of Panyu Daliang, reported that when he heard that the official army was defeated in the Lutou River, he sent a probe to the place to inquire about the details, but Taiping Kou has blocked the checkpoint, and the staff is not allowed to go south. He also sent boats up the Lutou River and found my Green Battalion soldiers a few miles downstream... There were more than 1,000 corpses of soldiers, and because of the large number of corpses blocking the river, the boats could not continue to explore the upper reaches for 17 days, and a large number of Taiping Kou attacked the territory under the jurisdiction of the government, and Sanshui, Shaping, Weijing and other places were all caught in the hands of the Kou, who robbed grain and grass and burned houses in the countryside. Killing the people, doing all kinds of evil, escaping from the hands of the people, and reporting to the office that the head of the Kou threatened to attack the provincial capital, and wanted to race bravely in the Pearl River on the Dragon Boat Festival. After receiving the report, he immediately sent a fast horse to the governor to report the news. In order to take precautions in the provincial capital as soon as possible, the soldiers were menacing, and there were only a few hundred soldiers in the post department. Please make a decision as soon as possible. ”

After reading it. Zuo Qing looked at Li Shutai nervously, not knowing how to judge the performance of Hu Mingyi, the general manager of the Great Liang Foreign Committee. It's not like it's full of ridiculous words, and it's even less like it's true to say it, I really don't know how to say it.

Li Shutai frowned and looked at Zhu Guorong: "Did the Guangzhou Government send someone to investigate?" ”

Zhu Guorong stepped forward and replied: "Back to my lord's words, the lower officials have sent someone to Panyu County to investigate, and the report of the Daliang Qianzong Office is true, and the border of Panyu County has indeed been attacked by the Taiping Army, and the head of Kou, Zhou Shixiang, has threatened to attack Guangzhou. What kind of boat race do you want to do in the Pearl River during the Dragon Boat Festival. ”

"What a hundred boat races, thieves show only bluffing. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of him. ”

Li Shutai was sure that the Taiping army had no ability to attack Guangzhou at all, although the governor and the Guangzhou Green Battalion were defeated at the Lutou River, and they folded a Han army flag Niu Lu that was still gratifying, but there were still thousands of banner soldiers under the two feudal clans in Guangzhou City, and there were even more Eight Banners stationed in Manchuria, and there were tens of thousands of Green Battalion officers and soldiers stationed near Guangzhou, not to mention that Guangzhou City was stronger than Xinhui, and the thief Xiucai had the help of divine soldiers, and he couldn't defeat Guangzhou City!

If he really has the heart, and he has the strength, he doesn't have to loot grain and grass in Panyu, but he is approaching Guangzhou with the momentum of Lutouhe's victory. The soldier is fast, he doesn't know the truth of thief talent?

Although it was believed that the Taiping army could not have the strength to attack Guangzhou, but the current situation also gave Li Shuitai a big headache, in order to encircle and exterminate the Taiping army, he had already sent the superintendent and the Guangzhou green battalion, together with the newly built superintendent artillery team and horse team, and now he really had no troops to send.

Although Hu Qili's report did not mention that the horse team and artillery team were annihilated by the Taiping army, Li Shutai did not have much hope. Hu Mingyi's recital made it clear that the Lutou River was blocked by the corpses of the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion who died in battle, and the hundreds of cavalry of the Han Army Banner were all wiped out, and it was impossible to expect the horse team and artillery team to escape.

The top priority at the moment is to immediately transfer troops to attack the Taiping army, even if it cannot be annihilated, it must be driven out of Panyu, otherwise the Taiping army will be allowed to operate in the annexed county of Guangzhou, and he will not be scolded to death by the two governors of Guangzhou! Even if the imperial court was about to transfer him to Fujian and Zhejiang, Li Shutai did not want to leave with a reputation for incompetence, and this mess would have to be cleaned up in his hands no matter what.

Soldiers, Li Shutai really can't make it up, the military power of the Guangdong Green Battalion is nominally in his hands, but the only ones who can really be promoted by him are the Governor and the Guangzhou Green Battalion, and the other Green Battalion soldiers are controlled by the two feudatories. Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao disagreed, and he, the governor, could not move those green camps.

Li Shutai, the superintendent who ran to Shunde, also didn't expect it, Xinjing was defeated, plus Hu Qili was worried that he would cut off his head, it would be good to stay in Shunde honestly, where to expect him to come back with the superintendent, and where to expect the superintendent to go into battle again.

Now he can only go to Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, Hahamu also has to go there, and whether the Manchurian soldiers of the Zhengbai Banner of Niu Lu are afraid of the enemy or not, he also has to find out. It's okay for the Taiping army to bluff, at least Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao have no reason to shirk the matter of sending troops.

After thinking about it, Li Shutai made up his mind and instructed Zuo Qingdao: "You will immediately raise 100,000 taels of silver and 10,000 stone of grain and grass with the Guangzhou Prefecture, and this governor only asks you, may you do it within three days?"

100,000 taels of silver, 10,000 stone of military rations, and it will be done in three days?

Zuo Qing and Zhu Guorong were both surprised.

Zuo Qing looked embarrassed: "Lord Governor Mingjian, Guangdong Province accounts for two-thirds of the tax revenue in eastern Guangdong, one-third in central Guangdong, and there is almost no tax in western Guangdong. If we do it again, I'm afraid there will be civil unrest, my lord. ”

"Lord Governor, the treasury of the lower official is really not able to take out one or two silver, last year in order to raise food and grass for the besieging army, the lower officials racked their brains to reluctantly do it, and then in order to build a full city, the lower officials are even more scavenging the people's savings, and they have a reputation of scraping their skins, so they still have a big deficit, and the lower officials are in a hurry to ask for debts every day, and the lower officials are so anxious that there is no way at all, and now they want me to wait for three days to raise so much silver and food, and the lower officials have the heart, but they are really unable to do it."

Zhu Guorong's eyelids jumped when he said this, for fear that the governor would vent his anger with him, he didn't know that the situation was serious, but he really couldn't take out the silver and food.

Li Shutai was not unhappy, only glanced at the two of them, and then said in a deep voice: "This governor does not care whether you have hardships or not, in short, after three days, this governor must see silver and grain!" Whether you borrow or rob, the governor doesn't care, the governor only needs money and food! If there is no silver and food, you tell the officials and soldiers how to go to Pingkou, is it true that you want Taipingkou to fight under the city of Guangzhou, do you know what is going on! ”

After speaking, he flicked his sleeves and instructed Gui Bao: "Prepare a sedan chair, this governor is going to Pingnan Palace." (To be continued.) )