Soldiers surround Anqing, Zuo Jigao and Zeng Disheng are the main forces, in addition, Yang Meng also plans to use the new group of Lianghu Green Battalion, Hu Linyi's hand has a fierce general Bao Chao, although his official position is not high now, but the shadow has a good evaluation of him, since Bao Chao is available, let him go to Anqing to practice!

Although Shi Dakai runs Anqing in front, but it is not much difficult to surround Anqing, Shi Dakai uses troops to take advantage of it, and if he wants to break the siege, he must divide his troops to attack other places.

As for Anqing's death siege, it is just a cover for confrontation, so Zeng Zuo and the two people are surrounded by death, I am afraid that they will not be able to defeat it in a few months.

During this time, it was mainly to hone Xiang Yong and Chu Yong, as well as to improve the prestige of Zeng Zuo and the others in the imperial court, and how many Taiping troops were really killed, but Yang Meng had no goal.

Zuo Jigao mainly attacked Anqing, Zeng Disheng also sent his ninth brother Zeng Guoquan to surround Anqing, Lian Yong is the main force, and most of the military in Anhui and Jiangxi have to be pressed on the shoulders of the green battalion soldiers in the two places.

How the battle situation is not difficult to predict, the brave battalion has won successive battles, and the green battalion has lost consecutive battles, although among the official army, there are also several teams that can be worthy of a battle, but meeting Yang Meng is also their sorrow, and in the next period of time, the shadow intelligence will make these officers and armies, and the opponents they meet, are not very easy to defeat.

Suppressing dissidents and coercing the finance, taxation, and food of Anhui and Jiangxi is also one of Yang Meng's purposes, so that Zeng Disheng and Zuo Jigao can feed in Anhui and Jiangxi is better than sharing the pressure to the two lakes, two lakes, Anhui and Jiangxi, and raising 60,000 soldiers and horses in the four provinces. It's a bit of a struggle, though. But it can still be handled.

drove Wei Changhui's men out of Jiangxi. Pressing Shi Dakai's men to Tianjing is the purpose of Yang Meng's Anqing strategy.

Jiangxi is the waist of the south of the Yangtze River, Yang Meng also has great demands in Jiangxi, the porcelain kiln in Jingdezhen is only one of them, food and commerce are also Yang Meng's ambitions, and the most important thing is the importance of Jiangxi to Guangzhou.

Although the pace of the great powers can be predicted, they will fight in Guangzhou and go north to Tianjin. It is the path they must choose, but the situation on the English side is not easy to figure out, in case they want to gain a foothold in Guangdong, then Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangxi are the strategic depth of Guangdong.

With Hong Kong Island as an outpost, Britain, France, and the United States may not be able to fight a large-scale land war in the Qing Dynasty. There are flaws everywhere!

As for northern Anhui, it is another access road to Gyeonggi, which enters Hongze Lake through the Huai River. Entering the Grand Canal through Hongze Lake, although the road is a little farther, although it is necessary to dig some canals, but for Yang Meng, taking advantage of the wartime development of waterway transportation, it is easy to find from the beginning, just find an excuse, and the project can be started.

Entering the Grand Canal through the Yangtze River is undoubtedly a shortcut, but Tianjing is an obstacle on the Yangtze River waterway.

Instead of fighting with the Taiping army on the way to Beijing, it is better to open up the waterways in northern Anhui and open up some canals, now is the right time, the war has caused a large number of refugees, and the development of large industries also needs sufficient capacity, no trains, no cars, only barges, Yang Meng can only come up with the most stupid way to dig the canal.

Barges, canals, and land transportation, although combined, are not as good as rail transportation, but in the current situation, this stupid method is the simplest and fastest way.

Even if the railroad is erected now, within five or ten years, how many thousand miles will it be erected? For the entire Qing Dynasty, thousands of miles, I am afraid that it can only meet the capacity needs of one province, right?

With canal shipping as the basic capacity, the industrial zone is set around the rivers and lakes, and after having the basic industry, and then focusing on the development of railways, Yang Meng has the momentum in the south, and with the southern river and waterway network, it is also possible to reluctantly develop industry.

Yang Meng didn't talk too much about the specific tactics of the siege of Anqing, but just planned a roadmap for Zuo Jigao and Zeng Guoquan to march, as for how to fight and how to fight, it all depends on the ability of the two.

Although Shi Dakai and Wei Changhui sent troops to harass Xiang Yong and Chu Yong's brigade several times, the combat power of Xiang Yong and Chu Yong was stronger than that of the Taiping Army.

In the field, more than 1,000 foreign guns can defeat several times the enemy, and with Yang Meng's supply, the foreign guns in Zuo Jigao's army have reached nearly 5,000; There are more than 3,000 foreign guns in Zeng Disheng's army; These are also the military salaries funded by Yang Meng, with these 8,000 foreign guns, whether it is Shi Dakai or Wei Changhui, it is extremely difficult to stop the pace of the two armies!

In order to protect the Qing Dynasty, Shi Dakai personally sat in the town, transferred 20,000 men and horses from Anhui, 10,000 people and horses from Jiangxi, plus more than 10,000 people from his headquarters, and 40,000 troops gathered around Anqing.

40,000 troops guarding Anqing, it is said that it is a lot, but for Shi Dakai, 40,000 people are not much, 40,000 people are arranged in Anqing, then Anqing will be lost, no matter how many people and horses there are in a dead city, he is also a dead city.

With Tongcheng, Chizhou, and Anqing, forming a triangular formation, the three cities echo each other, and it is also an extremely difficult task for 40,000 people.

Shi Dakai deployed defenses in Tongcheng, Chizhou, and Anqing, and Yang Meng also responded, and Zuo Ji's high soldiers were divided into three roads, all the way to Tongcheng and all the way to Chizhou, and the remaining one was surrounded by Zeng Laojiu and Anqing.

And Zeng Laojiu's Xiangyong men and horses are the main force besieging Anqing, Yang Meng's first step is very simple, that is, to turn Anqing into a dead city, and then Zuo Jigao's men and horses work together to capture Tongcheng, as for Chizhou, the right should be a back road for Shi Dakai!

As long as Chizhou can contact Anqing, Anqing will be a magnet on the battlefield after that, and it will continue to attract the Taiping army to help.

In the early stage, it was just a layout, and Yang Meng didn't want to go down to Anqing in a battle, with Zuo Jigao and Zeng Laojiu's men and horses, if they fought Anqing with their strength and suffered more than 10,000 casualties, it was not impossible to capture Anqing, but in that case, whether it was Xiang Yong, Chu Yong, or the Taiping Army, it was extremely unfavorable. The best situation now is a confrontation!

A month of time. Zeng Lao Jiuhe surrounded the earthen city and soldier village of Anqing. All over the city, this means that the first step of the siege of Anqing is completed, and the next step is the second step to deal with the Taiping army in Anhui and Jiangxi.

Within more than three months, Yang Lao completed the encirclement of Anqing, which in the eyes of the imperial court, there is always a different taste, compare it carefully. Yang Laosan, Zeng Disheng, and Zuo Jigao's excerpts, the strategy is not much different from Yang Laosan's first excerpt, although the states and counties captured are somewhat different, but it is probably the same!

For Zeng Zuoyang and the three of them to be in the same stream, whether it is a military plane or a four-color stick, they don't care too much about it, it's impossible! Yang Laosan is domineering, Zuo Jigao is arrogant, and Zeng Disheng is a master, and it is extremely difficult for these three people to become all the way.

As for why the soldiers surrounded Anqing, they could make contributions within a month, and they could only be attributed to Yang Laosan's good scheduling.

Come on now. If this matter is two months in the morning, it may be Xiang Rong's Jiangnan camp. It won't collapse, but the matter has come to this point, and Yang Laosan's share of the fold can only sink to the bottom.

In the battle of Anqing, although Yang Meng did not make any military achievements, half of the territory of Anhui and Jiangxi was in his hands, and the territory was undoubtedly much more beneficial than the military exploits.

"Third master, there is news from the shadow side, the Taiping army will attack the two battalions in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, and some of the ordnance obtained will be transported to Anqing."

The battle of Anqing is over for Yang Meng, but for Zeng Disheng and Zuo Jigao, it has just begun, and at this beginning, Yang Xiuqing supported Shi Da to open a batch of ordnance, which is not a good phenomenon.

"What are they? Commander, you send an order to Li Hai, asking him to focus on monitoring the foreign ships at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and once there are foreign merchants who provide firearms to the Taiping army, we must know as soon as possible. ”

After listening to Xu Ziwei's report, Yang Meng also paid attention to the batch of weapons, and now the ordnance of the two battalions in Jiangnan and Jiangbei has no impact on Zeng Zuo and the others, and the most important thing is the firearms on the English side.

Even if it is brown beisi, after a large amount of equipment, it is difficult to resist, as long as the Taiping army has more than 50,000 brown beisi, even if the sailor group training, it is extremely difficult to annihilate them.

"Most of them are knives, guns and artillery, but there are also a certain number of shotguns and guns, and there are a total of more than a dozen ships, which can equip 20,000 or 30,000 horses.

According to the report from Li Hai's side, many merchants in England are preparing to set off from Shanghai Road to Tianjing to do business, and there is no news about the specific business.

Our firm in Shanghai Road has never dealt with these British merchants. ”

As soon as Xu Ziwei said the recent information, Yang Meng's brows couldn't help frowning, if it was an arms merchant and a serious businessman, it would be impossible not to know the business name of Shanghai Dao, and if there was an English merchant he didn't know, I am afraid that the background was extremely complicated.

"Hmmm! The intelligence of the ordnance was reported to Zeng Disheng and Zuo Jigao, so that they should be careful, Shi Dakai used troops to take advantage of it, although he already had a shelf in Anqing, but he had to prevent Shi Dakai from sending people to sneak attack, and the siege of the city should be built more cautiously. ”

In terms of actual tactics, Yang Meng never gave Zeng Zuo and the others guidance, although Yang Meng also knew some things about the war, but he had never experienced large-scale wars, and accumulated experience, not only to the generals of the new army, but also to Yang Meng.

Many modern tactics, because of the limitations of equipment, can not be relied on on the battlefield of the Qing Dynasty, how to integrate what he knows into the current war, is also something that Yang Meng has been exploring.

Although the wars between the Taiping Army and the official army, the Taiping Army and Xiang Yong and Chu Yong were mainly cold weapons, it did not prevent Yang Meng from drawing nourishment from these wars.

The Crimean War, the victory of Britain and France, is not a good thing for Yang Meng, plus the strange British businessmen who appeared in Shanghai Road, these are the things that attract the most attention.

Once the Taiping Army has a sufficient amount of munitions, the battle situation in Jiangnan will be overturned, and Yang Meng still doesn't have that mind.

"Send a post to Luo Bingzhang and Hu Linyi, ask them to send people to participate in the battle to encircle Anqing, and let Cen Yuying in Yuezhou prepare, Lao Tzu will let him go to Shanghai Dao to be an official!"

There is a concession in Shanghai, and Yang Meng has not placed personnel in Shanghai Road before, not because it is not difficult to place, but because there is no suitable candidate.

Shanghai Road is not a very peaceful territory, before the knife meeting, although the army was defeated, but this Shanghai Road, for today's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, is a treasury, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Many wealthy businessmen have brought their wealth to Shanghai for refuge, once under the Shanghai Road, the wealth is countless!

Sitting in Shanghai Dao, the most suitable candidate is Ding Taichen in Guangzhou, but Guangzhou is much more important than Shanghai Dao, and there will be a war next.

As long as Cen Yuying makes some military exploits in the process of besieging Anqing, with the recommendation of himself and Luo Hu, it is not difficult for Cen Yuying to serve in Shanghai Dao! (To be continued......)