In 1850 the climate was much colder than it was a hundred years later, and at the end of December last year, a heavy snowfall fell on the north bank of the Yangtze River, which has not yet melted. However, the march of the Ming brocade guards was still smooth, with thick tweed coats and warm and sturdy boots, and a layer of fine beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of the men who were snorting and snorting fast on foot.

On this stretch of official road next to the Grand Canal, a long gray dragon rolled forward, and a convoy of infantry, baggage soldiers, mule-drawn 9-, 12-, and 24-pounder cannons, as well as brocade knights in red flying fish suits, and four-wheeled carriages of various types, headed north.

The scale of the Jinyi Guards' dispatch this time is still more than 26,000 people, one division stayed behind to guard Yingtian, and the rest of the troops guarded Zhu Jishi's personal expedition. The Brocade Guards were accompanied by the 8th Army Corps and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigades of the Royal Guards Cavalry, which consisted of the Knights of the Brocade Guards. In the first half of last year, the imperial examinations in the two rivers and three provinces were not only literary examinations, but also martial arts examinations were held at the same time, and more than 17,000 martial artists were selected, of which more than 3,000 were able to ride horses relatively proficiently. Although he is not skilled, he already has the basic skills, so he has been named the official of the brocade knight, which can be regarded as Zhu Tianzi's subordinate army. The French cavalry officers who served the Zhu Ming court also trained them strictly according to the standards of Western cavalry, and equipped them with military horses purchased from India, and then mixed with the original "old brocade knights" to form three guards cavalry brigades, with a total number of no more than 6,000. This time, they all followed Zhu Jishi to the north. If you count the Jinyi Guards and the headquarters of the 8th Army. The number of troops heading north this time has reached 58,000.

And along the Huai River. From Huai'an to Xinyang, the troops stationed at the key points in Huainan also included six infantry divisions of the Third Army and the Sixth Army, together with the three divisions of Yuan Jia, which had taken refuge in the Ming army, as well as local armed regiments in Huainan and northern Jiangsu, and the armed forces loyal to the Ming Dynasty south of the Huai River also reached nearly 150,000 people, plus the reinforcements this time, it has properly exceeded 200,000. If you count the Huaibei Miao Peilin Division, the Ming army has put up to 400,000 troops on the front line. Such a scale of troops has never been seen in the history of the Ming army.

Zhu Jishi, the son of the Great Tomorrow, rode on a horse, and braved the wind and snow with his military advisor Luo Zenan, the deputy chief of the general staff, Lao Peel, and a staff officer from the Royal Military Academy. After several years of conquest, he is now a veteran of the battlefield, and the battlefield feels better and better. Although there was a lot of wind and dust all the way, it couldn't hide the radiance on his face. Around his marching columns were brightly armored cavalrymen, or armed with spears. Or the waist hangs the saber, and moves forward majestically.

Zhu Jishi looked at the cavalry beside him with satisfaction. Although it is only 6,000, I don't know how much effort and wealth Lu Dao has spent! The training is of the highest standard, and the foreign instructors assigned to these 6,000 people account for almost 30% of all foreign instructors in the Ming Army, and they are almost taught the most advanced cavalry tactics in Europe at present...... In addition, their horses, cuirasses, sabers, pistols, and all other equipment and equipment are first-class in the world, and Zhu Jishi even thinks that he can sweep the Central Plains with just these 6,000 cavalry! However, sweeping the Central Plains is not the mission of these horses, the Mobei Western Regions, and even Central Asia and Siberia are the frontiers where they gallop, and the Cossack cavalry of Tsarist Russia is their real opponent!

The sound of hurried horses' hooves came, and the horsemen riding short Mongolian horses galloped over - after taking the northeast, the Ming army was no longer short of horses, but the Mongolian military horses were not suitable for riding and impacting, so they were only equipped with ordinary scouts and heralds, and these people did not have the identity of knights in brocade, and their kung fu was also very loose. The three cavalrymen were drenched in sweat, reined in their horses in front of Luo Zenan's horse, and gave a military salute and reported loudly: "The commander of the Sixth Army reported that he received a military report from the governor of Huaibei, Yamen, and Xuzhou was victorious!" Miao Governor overseer destroyed 300,000 Taiping troops in Xuzhou, killed 30,000 thieves, captured more than 50,000 enemies, and beheaded Wei Changhui, the northern king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Zeng Tianyang, the king of Lu! ”

"What!" Hearing the news, Zhu Jishi, Luo Zenan, and several staff officers around them exclaimed almost simultaneously.

Destroy 300,000 Taiping troops! also killed 30,000, captured 50,000, and killed Wei Changhui and Zeng Tianyang!!

This kind of record is also awesome, right? Miao Peilin is really so good at fighting?

Zhu Jishi glanced at Luo Zenan. Master Luo was also stunned, and hurriedly took the letter in the passenger's hand, opened it and looked at it again. The envelope was stuffed with two pieces of stationery, one of which was a good news sent by the governor of Huaibei, the yamen—only a preliminary report, and a formal envoy would be sent later to report the success to Ying Tianfu and Zhu Jishi; The other is a handwritten letter from Ren Yijiang, the commander of the 6th Army, after the 6th Army learned that the Taiping Army Brigade had arrived in Xuzhou, it secretly sent scouts to sneak to the left of Xuzhou City to observe, and the results witnessed the entire process of the Xuzhou War from afar, and it can be determined that the Miao Army achieved a great victory, the Taiping Army was defeated in Xuzhou City, the elite was lost, the rest of the people were frightened, and the 300,000 army was defeated!

"Your Majesty, the scouts sent by General Ren witnessed the Battle of Xuzhou...... The Miao army did win a big victory, and the Taiping army was defeated! ”

"Wei Changhui is really dead?" Zhu Jishi asked.

"It's not clear, but the Taiping army that attacked Xuzhou was indeed defeated quite miserably, maybe this Wei Changhui was really a pro-enemy and was killed." Luo Zenan smiled bitterly and shook his head, "There are no absolutes in the things on the battlefield, and it's not strange that the boat capsized in the gutter." ”

"Is it because Wei Changhui was killed that he was defeated like this?" Zhu Jishi shook his head, a little incredulous. Wei Changhui, King Wei Bei, who slaughtered Yang Xiuqing in history, is gone?

"Your Majesty, maybe the Taiping Army is really rotten, right?" Luo Zenan said with a smile, "The ministers have already received a lot of reports on the decay of the Taiping Army, they are arrogant and entered Beijing, and their combat strength and fighting spirit are much worse than before, the people above are fighting for status, houses, women, and women, and the people below are fighting for money and goods for food and drink, and they no longer have the strength of not being afraid of death and hardship before." Such a situation also appeared in the rebel army that day. ”

Luo Zenan tried to explain the reason behind the battle of Xuzhou, but Zhu Jishi nodded thoughtfully. If the Taiping army had really decayed, the resistance to sweeping the Central Plains of Beiping would be much smaller.

……

In the meeting hall of the Yamen of the Huaibei Governor of Xuzhou, there was a sound of spurs creaking and squeaking, and the sound of waist knives clanging and colliding. The entire hall was full of generals of the Miao family military system wearing red python robes and black gauze hats, all of them were beaming.

The Miao army has appeared in history, in fact, it is the landlord armed in the Huaibei area, and there are more than 100,000 people at the most. However, the landlords and gentry in Huaibei are different from Xianghu, most of them don't read much, but the martial style is quite popular, so Miao Peilin's army is also a bit rude and martial arts.

Miao Peilin himself was also neatly dressed at this time, sitting behind the public case, stroking his beard and looking at the two heads side by side on the case triumphantly!

The owners of these two heads are not ordinary Taiping soldiers, because they are wearing bright yellow dragon robes on their bodies! There is also a papier-mâché dragon crown on his head, which is obviously the prince of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! One of them must have been Zeng Tianyang, the king of Lu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the other was killed by a big explosion in the urn city, his face was already blurred with flesh and blood, and he couldn't recognize who it was, but he was with the elite of the North Hall of the Taiping Army, so he thought it was Wei Changhui, the king of the North Palace, right?

"Kill the two kings in a row! The merit of the great handsome is not under Zheng Yanping, and he will have the future of being crowned king in the future, and he will be congratulated by the great handsome! ”

"Destroying the Taiping Army of 300,000, Xuzhou's victory will go down in history, and the handsome man is really the first hero of my Ming Dynasty......"

"Wei Changhui and Zeng Tianyang are the heads, the Taiping army will be terrified, why don't the marshal take advantage of the victory to raise the army to the north and west, and recover the Central Plains?"

"That's right, why don't you go north to restore Yanjing, so that the emperor can know the bravery of my Huaibei boy." (To be continued......)