At the end of March, the spring cold in Shanghai has begun to subside, and although people on the streets are still wearing coats, many poor people who have fled from all over southern Jiangsu and lack winter clothes no longer have to shiver because of the cold weather.

The most prosperous former British Concession Yanjiang Avenue in the business area, which was later renamed the Bund Avenue, stands major foreign banks, commercial banks, banks, and many institutions such as the Yamen of the business and trade zone, Jianghaiguan, etc., and the four-wheeled or two-wheeled carriages drove by one after another, and most of the foreigners and Chinese who came down were dressed brightly, whether they were wearing suits or Chinese-style horse coats and robes.

In the center of the Bund Avenue, a large Western-style three-story building stands in it, which is the official residence where Lin Zhe lived for several years.

The original modest bungalows at the back of the three-storey building have disappeared, and two large three-storey masonry western-style buildings have been built on the vacant land in the past two years.

Together with the three-story western-style building where Lin Zhe lives and offices, the three buildings that stand in the shape of a zigzag are the office of the military and political system of Yu Shengjun headed by Lin Zhe.

In addition, it is interesting that because Lin Zhe is the political envoy of Jiangsu, this is not only the Yamen of the Shanghai Business Zone and the headquarters of Yu Shengjun, but also the official office of the political envoy of Jiangsu.

In addition, at the same time, although Lin Zhe has stepped down from Su Songtai's military preparation, the new Su Songtai military preparation is Xue Huan, the former prefect of Songjiang, who, like most other officials in the Su Songtai region, has completely thrown himself into Lin Zhe and is currently working here.

At this time, in the three-story western-style building facing the Huangpu River in front of this building, that is, Lin Zhe's official residence, Chen Jing, who was already with a big belly, was watching Lin Zhe in front of him put on his military uniform.

Although Lin Zhe often wears military uniforms in normal times, this time is different from the past, this time Lin Zhe is going to lead the army!

Looking at himself in the mirror, Lin Zhe checked that he didn't miss anything before turning around: "It won't take long to go for my husband, at least one month, at most three months, you should be able to return, you can raise the baby at home with peace of mind, I will come back in time when the time comes!" ”

Chen Jing is a quiet person who doesn't talk much. After hearing this, he just nodded: "Hmm! ”

Although the couple has been married for more than a year, they have not talked much in the past, Chen Jing is a very traditional woman, and she never asks about Lin Zhe's political and military affairs. And the trivial matters at home rarely say to Lin Zhe that the relationship between these two people can be regarded as a very typical respectful and polite to each other.

This is also related to Lin Zhe, almost all of his thoughts and energy are focused on work on weekdays, and he is extremely busy every day. In addition, he felt that he couldn't find much to talk to Chen Jing, and sometimes he said something slightly intimate to her, just to be able to detect her unaccustomedness.

As for what life and ideals are talking about, Lin Zhe's ideal is rebellion, which naturally cannot be said to her.

Lin Zhe asked her about her ideals, but she thought hard for a long time but said: My ideal is you.

This is a woman who has been completely brainwashed by traditional Confucianism, and Lin Zhe's husband is her world, her ideals, her qiē, and other than that. She has nothing!

After he settled in the Shanghai Business Zone, the focus of the Lin family's business has gradually shifted to Shanghai, for the safety of his family, he also brought his mother and three younger sisters to Shanghai to live together.

However, last year, his eldest sister Zhi Ying had married Shi Langyi and moved out, and now there are only him, his wife Chen Jing, Mrs. Lin and two young sisters in the official residence.

Lin Zhiying and Shi Langyi's marriage naturally has a strong political connotation.

Because Lin Zhe was worried about Shi Langyi's long-term expression of extra concern for the imperial court. Since the beginning of the previous year, he has been estranged from Shi Langyi.

This estrangement reached its peak when he asked Lin Zhe to let him lead troops to Changzhou to help Huang Zonghan counterattack the Taiping army, Shi Langyi may have sensed his own danger, and in the end he didn't know if he had figured it out himself or someone pointed him out, so he cheekily asked Lin Zhe for marriage. said that he had not yet married, and the cheeky Lin Zhe married his eldest sister to him as his wife.

He was expressing his personal loyalty to Lin Zhe, and in this era, although marriage does not represent anything, it still has a certain role.

For Shi Langyi, Lin Zhe still attaches more importance to this person, and this person's ability is among the senior generals of the Yu Shengjun Army. can be regarded as the top one, whether it is training troops or commanding operations, he has quite a hand, and several other regiment commanders of Yu Shengjun, such as Lin Anfei, Shi Qingxuan, Xu Yanqing and others, are far inferior to him.

Seeing that Shi Langyi had figured it out, he also approved Shi Langyi's courtship, and married his eldest sister Lin Zhiying to him, thus completely pulling him into his chariot.

Seeing the old lady Lin, this old lady Lin did not have the same reluctance or worry as the old lady as usual, but encouraged him with a smile: "My son must work hard and live up to the expectations of more than 10,000 soldiers of Yu Shengjun and millions of people in Shanghai!" ”

When Lin Zhe went downstairs to the conference room, he saw that the generals of Yu Shengjun, who was the first big vote, were already waiting together.

Lin Zhe glanced at it after entering, and then said: "All who should come are coming, well, I won't talk about it at length if time is limited, I just said one sentence before leaving: This battle is about the future of my Yu Shengjun, about the future of everyone here, and please do your best!" ”

Immediately, Shi Qingxuan, the third bastard of the group below, said: "Don't worry, Qingxuan will definitely die for the handsome, and he won't win!" ”

"No win, no return!" Several other people also spoke out one after another.

Lin Zhe looked at these people and nodded: "Without further ado, presumably the soldiers below are already in a hurry, let's go too!" ”

Immediately, Lin Zhe set off with these senior generals and many personnel from the Yu Shengjun Headquarters and the first battalion, and their group was only more than 700 people.

In fact, however, the main force of Yu Shengjun's army began to march early in the morning, and nearly 6,000 people from the 1st Mixed Regiment, the 3rd Mixed Regiment, and the 1st Cavalry Regiment stationed in Shanghai began preparations yesterday, and they were drawn out one after another at dawn.

In addition to them, some of the Yu Shengjun troops stationed in Songjiang and Taicang have also sent people to give urgent orders, and they will also go west to Suzhou together.

The sailor battalion has also been led by Lin Dabiao along the river!

This time, in addition to leaving only one infantry battalion in Shanghai, Yu Shengjun's other main forces poured out, not only the main force of Yu Shengjun's main force, but even the auxiliary defense regiment was also sent out, but Lin Zhe really couldn't trust the combat effectiveness of the auxiliary defense regiment, so he just used them as auxiliary troops to transport and transport supplies in the back. Ensure that the logistics line is unblocked, and as for the frontal decisive battle, there is basically no need to count on them.

After leading thousands of troops to the north, by the time Lin Zhe arrived in Suzhou, Yu Shengjun had already gathered four mixed regiments and a cavalry regiment in the vicinity of Suzhou Prefecture. Among them, the Fourth Mixed Regiment led by Lin Anfei has marched from Jiading and Taicang, and is currently in the south of Changshu County, echoing the main force of Yu Sheng's army in the direction of Suzhou.

In the direction of Suzhou Fucheng and Changzhou County, Lin Zhe personally commanded the 1st Mixed Regiment, the 3rd Mixed Regiment, the 5th Mixed Regiment, and the Cavalry Regiment.

The second mixed regiment stationed in Huzhou has also been led north to Yixing by Xu Yanqing, the second commander of the regiment, and then will converge with the main force of the Yu Shengjun led by Lin Zhe personally or continue to fight alone, depending on the situation.

The remaining three auxiliary defense regiments were also deployed in Yuanhe, Xinyang, Taicang, and Kunshan.

And Lin Zhegang led the army into Suzhou, just to hear the battle report ahead. Xiang Rong in the direction of Danyang failed to support Huang Zonghan's reinforcements, and was quickly defeated by Lin Chengting again, and Xiang Rong committed suicide in defeat.

Although Huang Zonghan wanted to lead the army north to aid Danyang, on the one hand, he was entangled by Wu Ruxiao and it was difficult to move westward, on the other hand, Xiang Rong was defeated too quickly, after learning that Xiang Rong was defeated and committed suicide, he knew that he was invincible while collecting the rout of the Jiangnan battalion, and at the same time led the army to retreat to Jiangyin.

At this point, the entire southern Jiangsu region west of Yanghu County, Changzhou has all fallen under the control of the Taiping Army.

And that's not all. On April 8, Qin Rigang broke through the Jiangbei camp and killed countless enemies.

Immediately afterwards, Qin Rigang led nearly 30,000 people from his headquarters to cross the river and return to the south bank, following Lin Chengting's footsteps and continuing to march eastward.

By the middle of April, the elite main force of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had gathered in Changzhou, with Lin Chengting's 20,000-strong new army, 30,000 troops of Qin Rigang's headquarters who had conquered several provinces and defeated the Hunan army, and 30,000 troops of Wu Ruxiao's troops who had resisted the Jiangnan battalion and Huang Zonghan's Fubiao battalion and were stunned.

A total of 80,000 elite soldiers gathered in Changzhou, but they did not attack the city as quickly as usual. On the contrary, while carefully testing to send a dense number of scouts around, they built fortifications under the city of Changzhou.

In the capital of Changzhou, after more than two years of scuffle, there are no ordinary people in the city. Most of the people have fled, those who did not escape have also been killed, and most of those who were not killed were also coerced into the Taiping army or the Qing army.

In the former government of Changzhou Mansion, Qin Rigang, Lin Chengting, and Wu Ruxiao sat together!

"At present, the scout has been reported. Lin Zhe has already led the army to Suzhou, and traces of Yu Shengjun have also been found in Changshu! Lin Chengting pointed to the map on the table and continued: "In addition, our scout cavalry also got the news that Yu Shengjun's traces have been found in Yixing yesterday!" ”

"The enemy army is coming in three ways, it seems that Lin Zhe is the same as the previous two years, he is still so bold in using soldiers, hum, he is not afraid of capsizing in the gutter!" Wu Ruxiao said so, but his face still showed a cautious look: "Changshu, Suzhou, and Yixing marched at the same time, can you know that these three are the generals of Yu Shengjun's army?" ”

Lin Chengting said: "The enemy forces on the Changshu side have not yet been investigated, but according to my understanding of Yu Shengjun, there should be at least two infantry battalions or more, and they will also be equipped with cavalry and artillery units, and it is very likely to be a mixed regiment." But it's definitely not Yu Shengjun's first mixed regiment and second mixed regiment! ”

"At present, we have received accurate information, the first mixed regiment of Yu Shengjun Shi Langyi is marching with Lin Zhe, and now in Suzhou, Yixing should be the second mixed regiment of Yu Shengjun who has been stationed in Huzhou, commanded by Xu Yanqing!"

"It turned out to be Xu Yanqing, I'm afraid that Yixing is going to be in danger now!"

Qin Rigang on the side interjected: "Who is Xu Yanqing, and which army is the second mixed group?" But there are tens of thousands of troops? (To be continued.) )