On October 27, 1848, on the north bank of the Yellow River.

I don't know when the sparse autumn rain and the north wind fell, and overnight, the temperature on the north bank of the Yellow River plummeted, and the late autumn came.

The Qing army of the brigade marched aimlessly along the Yellow River in the autumn wind and autumn rain. The soldiers on foot fell step by step, some fell and did not get up, and some walked and cried loudly. There are also quite a few people on horseback. People, depressed. Horse, listless. It's just a long way to go.

On both sides of the road, there were dead people, dead horses, and dying wounds, crying out in despair in the cold autumn rain.

They are most of the remnants of the Eight Banners New Army of 150,000 people in 6 banners commanded by Seng Lingqin after the war in Huaxian County!

The Battle of Huaxian on October 25 had become an out-and-out disaster, with 140,000 and thousands of elite Eight Banners almost crushed by the Taiping army, which was less than half of them, after a few hours of hard fighting. At the last moment, the fight of the monk Greenqin did not bring a turning point, but it was the Taiping army that came with more than 20,000 reinforcements from the army and horses! Although it was impossible for these hurried cavalry to enter the battle immediately, their arrival was the last straw that crushed the spirit of the Qing army.

The new army of the Eight Banners of 6 flags completely collapsed! First of all, the infantry team was completely desperate, and before the Taiping army's foreign gun team entered the firing position, the last 6 co-infantry team scattered and fled, and Yishan and others, who supervised the battle, also joined the fugitive army at the first time and fled south under the escort of Goshha.

After defeating the Qing army's infantry team, the Taiping army only dispatched a few thousand twisted army horses to cover all the way, and the main force of its foreign spear team immediately turned its guns to kill the more than 30,000 horse team commanded by Seng Lingqin. In desperation. Monk Lingqin also had to lead the horse team to retreat south. The Twist Army Horse Team and the Taiping Army Infantry Team pursued and killed all the way.

Although the rout of the Qing army's infantry cavalry was in order. But the main direction of escape is the same, that is, to the south to Kaifeng! Because Huaxian is more than 120 miles south of the Yellow River, crossing the Yellow River is Kaifeng. The general Prince Hui Mianyu was still stationed there, with more than 20,000 green battalions under his command, as well as the camp of the original Eight Banners New Army and Kaifeng Jiancheng to defend!

The most important thing is that Kaifeng has also hoarded a lot of life-saving grain and grass! The wave of troops sent by Seng Lingqin turned out to be carrying enough grain and grass to eat for a month, and when he retreated to Huaxian County, there were still 20 days of rations left. All of them are stored in the county seat of Huaxian County. Unexpectedly, the first battle was defeated, the three armies fled in panic, and all the grain and grass became the trophies of the Taiping army! Now tens of thousands of defeated soldiers can only kill horses and eat, if they can't retreat to Kaifeng in time, I'm afraid that the whole army will be wiped out.

But no one expected that the pontoon bridge originally built on the Yellow River (there has always been a pontoon bridge near Kaifeng to communicate the north and south, which was repaired by the imperial court at the expense of the imperial court), I don't know when the road was set on fire (it was Mianyu's honest boy who let him burn it). In a hurry, the defeated soldiers of Seng Lingqin did not have time to collect ships, and the pursuers of the Taiping army arrived again. I had to retreat southeast along the Yellow River, as for where I could go. It's really only God knows.

Suddenly, a northerly wind blew, and the rain seemed to be heavier. Monk Lingqin was riding on a horse, the cotton armor and clothes on his body were all wet, and they were cold and piercing on his body, but he didn't know anything about it, so he just numbly followed the rout eastward. As for where to go, he, like everyone else, has no bottom in his heart.

"Lord Belle, where are we going? Where are we going......"

Duolonga, the deputy commander of the Zhengbai Banner beside him, said with some panic: "One hundred and fifty thousand Eight Banner disciples, there is only one thing left, but how is it good, what should I do......"

Monk Lingqin silently wiped the rain from his face and asked tiredly, "How long will it take to get to Lanyi County?" ”

Lanyi County is about the place of Lankao County in later generations, where the Yellow River turned south to seize the Huai into the sea, and in recent years, the Yellow River dam in the Lanyi area has been in frequent danger, and there is a danger of bursting again. Therefore, as long as he arrived in Lanyi County, Seng Lingqin was able to let people dig the Yellow River dam, artificially create a diversion of the Yellow River, and block the pursuers of the Taiping Army - the Yellow River was diverted at the Tongwaxiang Junction in Lanyi County on August 1, 1855. It flooded a large area of land in Henan, Shandong, and Zhizhi provinces, and caused by flooding, and it was a vast ocean.

"Lanyi County? Seventy or eighty miles, right? "Dorona isn't quite sure. He didn't know the specific location of the Lu Dao army now, he only knew that it was on the bank of the Yellow River, he was silent for a while, and then sighed and said, "What can you do when you get to Lanyi County?" What if it is opened? It's time for the Cantonese bandits to fight Beijing next...... We can only watch Beijing fall into the hands of thieves in Henan! Lord Belle, we are all sinners, sinners of the Qing Dynasty......"

As he spoke, the Manchurian man from outside the Guanguan burst into tears, and Monk Greenqin could only sigh, he really didn't expect that the New Army of the Eight Banners would be defeated so badly! 150,000 troops of 6 flags...... I really don't know if there are 50,000 left after the most luthied road? You must know that the total population of the Eight Banners of the Eight Banners is only one hundred thousand, and the loss of 100,000 strong people is afraid that it will not be able to be raised for more than ten years! (Nonsense, it takes at least ten years to train a living Eight Banners soldier to replace a dead Eight Banners) Moreover, such losses are only the beginning! Just getting started...... Have all the people of the Eight Banners in Beijing been evacuated? After they arrived outside the customs, would they have food and clothing? There is also a half-flag Eight Banners New Army in Beijing, and a half-flag Eight Banners New Army in Shanxi. If you want to defend Beijing, these 50,000 people will probably be more than lucky, right?

“…… Let's go, it's good to get to Lanyi, if the Cantonese bandits chase again, they will dig the Yellow River dam, so that they can be stopped! Then let's go to Kaifeng to find Prince Hui, find Zeng Guofan, find Cezanne, and always find a way to collect some troops and then fight the Cantonese bandits! ”

……

"Muon, this ...... This was sent by Zeng Disheng in an expedited manner of 800 miles! ”

Lin Zexu stood up from behind the public case suddenly, rushed over in a hurry, and took an envelope from Wei Yuan's hand. Li Hongzhang and Lin Ruzhou, who were sitting on their knees under the public desk, glanced at each other. They all came from Anhui and Zhejiang—now the dividing line between Zhu Ming and the Manchu Qing in Jiangnan is the border between Anhui, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Zhejiang.

Although the Zhu Ming Group has temporarily made peace with the Lin Zexu Group and is preparing to "take Jiangnan from the text", who knows if they will launch a surprise attack? Therefore, Lin Zexu had to deploy the main forces Huaiyong and Min Yong in Anhui and Zhejiang, and at the same time always pay attention to the changes in the north. However, Zeng Guofan did not completely tear his face with Lin Zexu, and regularly transmitted the war situation in the north to Jiangnan through eight hundred miles of expeditious.

After Lin Zexu learned the news of the Battle of Baisha Town, he knew that the decisive battle between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was about to start! Therefore, he sent people to summon Li Hongzhang and Lin Ruzhou to Shanghai, in order to come up with countermeasures in time when the results of the decisive battle between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchu Qing Dynasty were clear.

Lin Zexu took the letter, hurriedly opened it, and read it at a glance, his face suddenly became extremely gloomy.

The Eight Banners New Army was exactly as he expected, it was a joke! The banner man's hope of using this force to reverse the decline is simply a fool's dream. But the fiasco in Huaxian County was still somewhat unexpected...... The New Army of the Eight Banners actually lost 50,000 troops - in fact, more than 100,000, Zeng Guofan ambushed here, and only said 50,000. However, Zeng Guofan still told Lin Zexu that the New Army of the Eight Banners had suffered a great loss of vitality and had now retreated to Lanyi County, and had also dug up the Yellow River embankment in Tongwaxiang to block the pursuit of the Cantonese bandits!

Although it is no longer the flood season of the Yellow River, the disaster situation in Shandong and Zhili provinces is still extremely serious! Large areas of land have been flooded, millions of people have been displaced, and more than 100,000 people have lost their lives! And because of Seng Lingqin's action of digging up the Yellow River, the Yellow River has been diverted from directly subordinating itself to the sea......

"Adult (father) ......"

Seeing Lin Zexu's face, Li Hongzhang and Lin Ruzhou couldn't help but stand up and ask.

"The Qing Dynasty is coming to an end!" Lin Zexu handed the letter to Li Hongzhang, stomped his feet and said, "Monk Greenqin, this foolish worm, should be killed!" Damn it! ”

Li Hongzhang took the letter and looked at it, and his face suddenly changed greatly: "The Yellow River was dug and the two provinces of Zhili and Shandong were flooded...... This monk Greenqin is afraid that the people of Zhili Shandong will not accept the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or what? Now, the Qing Dynasty is really over! (To be continued......)