The mighty Qing army of more than 20,000 soon only Liu Xian was left with 6,000 foot cavalry.

At the head of Xiping City, looking at the back of Liu Mingchuan's distant military horse, Liu Xian's face was twilight, and all the generals in the army behind him were also gloomy.

'Unparalleled talent, not inferior to others'. This is the evaluation of Liu Mingchuan by Zhao Erxun, who presided over the compilation of the "Qing History Manuscript" in the original time and space.

The first four words, Liu Xian didn't feel it yet. The last four words are really in Liu Mingchuan's bones.

This guy is really arrogant.

A flat-headed commoner, a person who has been dismissed, even if you still lead the main force of more than 10,000 Huai troops in the inscription battalion, even if you are still Li Hongzhang's confidant and favorite general, facing yourself [Liu Xianam], who has the same heavy army and the same official and residence commander title, it is really immodest to overwhelm people.

Liu Xian was just modest, and he was stunned to arrange the distribution. At that moment, Liu Xian was stunned. Has this guy really been in officialdom for three or four years?

It's really a shame that he met Li Hongzhang, who is tough in the background, has abundant capital, and is not afraid of the moths in the lives of his subordinates, if he follows someone else, he is afraid that his head will not fall out early, and people will be pressed to the bottom.

"Your Excellency." Qi Dalin's eyes flashed cold, and he said to Liu Xian: "Let's slow down the march and let Liu Xingsan go to Runan by himself!" ”

"Master Zeng is staring at Zhoujiakou." Liu Xian still remembers the scene when he saw Zeng Guofan, and he is full of energy.

"Liu Xingsan doesn't say it, the bandit horse team is strong." Zhou Jun's voice was also cold, Liu Mingchuan was so strong towards Liu Xian during the convergence of the two armies, and his attitude towards the rest of the generals can be imagined. The entire group of generals of Liu Xian's army did not have a good opinion of Liu Mingchuan. "Our army is blocked by it, and it is difficult for us to advance quickly. It's normal to miss the appointment. ”

"Zeng Guofan at most played the court to impeach the lord. But with Liu Rong's past, where will the imperial court believe it? Besides, Zeng Guofan is afraid that he will be suspicious of the imperial court at the moment......"

In the autumn that just passed, following the disarmament of 50,000 troops by the Hunan army last autumn, the main combat force of the Hunan army this year -- Zeng Guoquan's Jizi Battalion, an elite division armed with a large number of new foreign guns and artillery, which had been cultivated by Zeng Guofan for many years, disarmed 25,000 people at once.

In its heyday, the Jizi Battalion, which had more than 60,000 people in the [Siege of Tianjing], had less than 10,000 people left after these two large-scale disarmaments.

The whole world knows that this move is Zeng Guofan's show of loyalty to Beijing.

-- The disarmament of the Hunan army this time is different from the last time. One of the major reasons for the last disarmament was that the political struggle between the Hunan army group headed by Zeng Guofan and the Manchu and Han Green Camp group headed by Guan Wen, the governor of Huguang, who had the second highest military achievements in pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, became white-hot.

Beijing took the opportunity to cut down 50,000 Hunan troops with one sword.

And the most important thing is that last time, the Hunan army was disarmed twice, and Beijing did not give a penny.

Based on the vision of Liu Xian's descendants and the experience of irrigation on the Internet, it can be seen that Zeng Guoquan conquered many important towns of the Taiping Army, such as Anqing and Tianjing, especially the latter, and all the seizures of Jinshan and Yinhai were put into his own pockets, which is not Zeng Guofan's plan for the Hunan army to retreat.

After all, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was suppressed, and it was impossible for the Hunan army to continue to maintain a huge scale during the war, and tens of thousands of soldiers were disarmed and returned to the fields.

However, with Beijing's financial resources and urine, it is completely impossible for Jinshan Yinhai to send it to Beijing and then want to come back from Beijing.

Zeng Guoquan broke Tianjing, and if he didn't send a penny of silver to Beijing, there must be a sign from Zeng Guofan. This is by no means a greed for money, but a form of cunning.

But we also have to reflect a very obvious problem -- Zeng Guofan and the Hunan army were deeply suspicious of Beijing.

Liu Xian even linked the active cutting of the Hunan army this time with the collapsed monk Greenqin army in the high-rise village.

-- Beijing lost the last of its formed Manchu and Mongolian iron cavalry, and this defeat was due to the delay of Liu Mingchuan's garrison. And Li Hongzhang, the leader of the Huai Army to which Liu Mingchuan belongs, is Zeng Guofan's proud protégé, although the Huai Army is self-reliant, it also belongs to the same vein as the Hunan Army, sharing weal and woe.

Because of the cutting of the 50,000 Hunan army, the distance between the imperial court and the military strength of the Hunan army has just been narrowed, and now it is widening violently, and even because of the collapse of the 'myth' of the Manchurian and Mongolian iron cavalry, it is strictly out of balance.

Zeng Guofan wants to show his loyalty and take the initiative to cut the Hunan army, is he sending a signal to Beijing?

Liu Xian shook his head and vetoed his subordinates. If his guess is true, then Zeng Guofan will return the favor with a peach, and Beijing will repay him with a peach, and he will bump into it at this time, and it is very likely that he will be sent to Zeng Guofan as a plum by the Qing court to comfort.

Liu Xian's small supplementary appointment of the governor of Shandong, the leader of the Hunan army, and the pillar of the Manchu Qing Dynasty for ten years to protect the country, is not at the same level at all. If you say you want to give up, you can't give it up! That would be terrible.

In the afternoon of the same day, Liu Xian also drove out of Xiping City with more than 6,000 steps.

……

Liu Ming passed on to the army.

The army marched to a high ground on the banks of the Hong River.

Liu Mingchuan, Liu Shengzao, Tang Diankui, Liu Chaoxi, Bi Huaqing and other high-level leaders of the inscription battalion all gathered together and looked at the team that was constantly driving under their feet.

Since joining the Huai Army at the beginning of the first year of Tongzhi, he has become one of the thirteen battalion leaders of Li Hongzhang's army. Liu Mingchuan's inscription battalion has continued to grow and develop in the past four years or so, and so far there are 16 battalions of infantry regiments, two battalions of naval divisions, one battalion of artillery regiments, and five battalions of horse brigades, that is, a huge battalion of more than 14,000 people.

Looking around the entire Huai army, except for Pan Dingxin's Dingzi battalion, the inscription battalion is at least twice as strong as the rest of the battalions.

Especially the five-battalion horse team with more than 1,200 horses, in the entire Huai army, it is absolutely the only scorpion.

Liu Mingchuan is proud of himself, and with the strength in his hands, he naturally wants to suppress Liu Xian. But Liu Mingchuan is by no means an incompetent and mediocre general who is blind, while forcing Liu Xian, in a short distance between the two armies, he keenly discovered the goodness of Liu Xian's army.

The neat queue, the vigorous spirit, and the abundant body lì all threw off the inscription camp.

Although he had never seen Liu Xian's army on the battlefield, Liu Mingchuan knew that there was such an army on the march, and it would definitely not be sparse on the battlefield.

Liu's past record also proves this.

"Liu, are you still thinking about the difference between the Qin army and our army?" Bi Huaqing shook his head and said, "That's a modern army. Although their equipment is inferior to ours, their combat effectiveness will definitely not be inferior to their weapons.

Although I also wonder why such an army would be present in the depths of China's interior, it is a truly strong army. Replaced with the latest guns, their combat effectiveness may not be weaker than that of the second-rate armies of Europe. ”

Is it strange that Bi Huaqing's opinion and title for Liu Mingchuan are strange? Just see him as a person and you'll understand.

The man, who spoke fluent Anhui dialect and had a Chinese name, was a foreigner. To be precise, he was a Frenchman.