The night is about to pass, and the dawn is coming, but the lights are still bright in the tent of the West King Shuai in the Nanyuan camp. Xiao Yungui of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sat calmly on the main seat, and the people sitting on both sides were members of the Western Kingdom Policy Advisory Group headed by Qian Jiang. At the same time, there were Li Xiucheng, who was also the commander of the First Army, Feng Zicai, Chen Alin, Zhang Wenxiang, three division commanders, and a number of instructors and staff officers at or above the division level, while Han Baoying and Zhou Xiuying, two female generals, participated in it as staff officers of the First Army.

Since the Battle of Guangxi, the First Army has been rotated back to Nanjing to recuperate, and then Commander Li Xiucheng followed the Western King north, while Han Baoying and Zhou Xiuying followed the captured Peng Yulin and Li Mengqun back to Shanghai. Originally, the two daughters were reluctant to leave the front line, but they couldn't withstand the temptation of the King of the West, so Xiao Yungui sent a letter to persuade the two daughters, saying that they wanted them to follow him north to fight the capital of the Qing Demon. So, the two daughters returned to Shanghai, and later followed the First Army to the city of Beijing.

After Xiao Yungui saw that everyone had arrived, he cleared his throat and said, "The king of Shicai has personally met with the people in the Qing court, and he has also talked about some things. At that moment, Xiao Yungui told him some of the inspirations he got after meeting Xingzhen, and after listening to Xiao Yungui's story, everyone began to talk about it.

Liu Xin, a member of the advisory group, was very disappointed after hearing this, his plan to join forces with the Manchu peace talks to deal with the foreigners seemed to be the first step to fail, so he got up with a red face and saluted: "Your Highness, this adventure to the north is too much for your subordinates, please punish Your Highness." ”

Xiao Yungui raised his hand and stopped: "What are you guilty of?" When the Anglo-French forces marched north, we all analyzed the situation and decided together on this plan to send troops to Beijing. It's not your own idea. After a pause at this, Xiao Yungui sighed slightly: "This king is still a little too big. Thinking that he had achieved the general trend, it turned out that he was still unable to do it. In fact, it is the king's own fault. ”

Liu Xin saw that the King of the West took the responsibility alone, and he was very grateful, knelt down on one knee and said: "Your Highness, since the Manchu Qing Dynasty is unwilling to cooperate, then we will attack the capital, although there are more than 100,000 Qing demons in the city, but the morale of our army is like a rainbow, and we will be able to break the city in one fell swoop." At present, our army is alone, and we can only quickly break through the capital. to solve the current dilemma. ”

Zhou Xiuying, a reckless girl, immediately got up and echoed: "Yes, King Xi, we are ready to send troops to attack the capital." Although Zhou Xiuying is beautiful and has a very good figure, the turbulent waves on her chest just now made Xiao Yungui swallow her saliva, but it seems that she has responded to that sentence, she has a big chest and no brains, and she only knows how to fight. It seems that she did not learn much in the staff.

Xiao Yungui coughed, retracted his gaze, looked at Qian Jiang and asked, "What are your opinions?" ”

Qian Jiang pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness, what Liu Xin said is very true. At present, we are alone, the foreigners are in the east, and the Manchus are in the west. We must do our best to get rid of the situation of being attacked by the enemy before and after, and we can only solve it by fighting out. Whether to go east or west is worth considering. To the east, the foreigners have good combat power. It is difficult for us to be sure that we will win with one blow, and if we cannot defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, guns and ammunition and other materials will inevitably be in an emergency. Moreover, although Britain and France have broken down negotiations with us, they have not officially declared war on us until now, and I think that the foreigners are not ready to go to war with us, so we still have time. It was relatively easy to attack the Manchu capital to the west, although the Manchu Qing Dynasty defended the city with more than 100,000 people, but most of them were green battalion soldiers with low combat effectiveness. As long as we can quickly capture the capital, the Manchu power will collapse, and the general situation of the world will change in an instant, and at that time, even if Britain and France are ready to start a war with us, we will be able to play with ease. ”

Qian Jiang's words seemed to say what everyone thought in their hearts, and everyone in the tent echoed and agreed, but Li Xiucheng frowned and was silent, Xiao Yungui looked at Li Xiucheng and asked, "What is Xiucheng's opinion?" ”

Li Xiucheng said slowly: "Your Highness, as a general, when you think about victory before you think about defeat, whether it is going east or west, what is bothering us now is a problem, that is, how to ensure logistics. To carry out supplies from Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou, it is necessary to take the sea route from Dalian Bay to supply and transport, which is a long way, and most of the areas passed through are not our territory, so it is difficult to ensure the supply of the army. The Jintang area, which is a little closer, is occupied by foreigners, and now that the foreigners are at odds with us, it is impossible to agree to use this supply line for us. Although attacking the capital can change the general trend of the world, even if we take the capital, we will still not be able to solve the problem of supply in a short time, and the local disadvantage of the capital will still be difficult to reverse. ”

Xiao Yungui bowed slightly: "Yes, in fact, we all think that the Manchu Qing Dynasty is better to fight, but is there any benefit to conquering the capital?" How much food does it take for a million people in the capital to stabilize the people? It is difficult for us to encircle the capital on all sides, the Manchu Qing Dynasty lost the capital, the Manchu court will definitely flee west, without the burden of the capital, the Qing army will be more relaxed, and we are not ready to take over the capital now! ”

After finishing speaking, everyone began to talk again, and Qian Jiang asked with some surprise: "Your Highness, do we want to attack the foreigners first?" ”

Xiao Yungui slowly stood up and said, "The Anglo-French alliance went north to conquer the Manchus, although it was to fight our enemies, but it was inevitable that they would intervene in the civil war in the land of China by force. Think about it, if Britain and France had not started this war, would it have been necessary for us to go north in advance? We can unify the country at our own pace. One thing to remember is that we went north in advance to prevent the British and French from joining forces with the Manchus to deal with us after defeating the Manchus. Why should we sit idly by, given that the intention of Britain and France to restrict us from uniting the whole country could not be more obvious? Why can't we strike first? ”

Speaking of this, Xiao Yungui slowly walked to the center of the camp tent, and said in a deep voice: "I, Xiao Chaogui, since the army in Guangxi, the one who should be broken, the one who was attacked, the one who was attacked, thousands of miles down to Nanjing, and the southeast half of the country, is now the most dangerous battle since I started the army, all of you here are good generals and ministers of our army, and this battle must be unified first." ”

"Today, the Manchu Qing can be said to be gone, and if there is no variable of foreigners, we are confident that we can eliminate the Manchus and unify the whole country within three years. And now that foreigners have become the roadblocks for us to complete the great cause, then our strategic focus must also be adjusted, we must first eliminate the roadblocks, eliminate their threats, otherwise we will never achieve our goal! Xiao Yungui said as he walked: "Since the contradictions between us and the foreigners can no longer be reconciled, then prepare for war!" And the Manchus, I'd rather let it go first, and if we want to fight us, we will also fight the Anglo-French alliance that threatens us the most! ”

There was silence in the tent, and Qian Jiang couldn't help but say: "Your Highness, we have declared war with the Russians, and now with the addition of Britain and France, I am only afraid of ......"

Li Xiucheng said: "The Russians and we have been at war for several years, although the Russian Far East Governor Muravyov has been at war with us, but they have never been able to launch a major offensive, and this time we declared war with Russia, we should be worried about the Russians, they are very afraid that we will launch an offensive, so on the Russian side, we can temporarily stop taking action and concentrate on defeating Britain and France first." ”

Liu Xin had already figured it out at this time, and he also stood up and said: "Yes, Britain and France are too far away from us, as long as we can defeat their land forces and make them feel that it is not beneficial for them to continue the war, we can make peace with them after victory, and then it will be much easier to deal with the Russians and the Manchus." ”

Xiao Yungui snorted, waved his big hand and said: "This is what this king means, the sooner the threat of Britain and France is resolved, the better, now they have not declared war on us, it can be seen that they are not ready for war, but we can strike first!" Let's discuss how to fight Britain and France. ”

The direction is determined, and the next thing is to discuss the specific deployment, the people in the tent in the West Hall are not too entangled in the east or the west, they only feel that the words of the King of the West are right, whoever poses a greater threat to the Taiping army should fight whom, this is the eternal truth!

Qian Jiang said: "At present, there are 20,000 British and French troops, and the troops are distributed along the line from Tanggu to Tianjin and Tongzhou, and there are more than 50 navy in the open sea, more than 50 warships, and more than 250 auxiliary ships and merchant ships. ”

Liu Xin continued: "The key point of the war situation is to encircle and annihilate the more than 20,000 British and French troops who have come ashore, and the best situation is to besiege them and force them to surrender. ”

Li Xiucheng got up and pointed to the map and said: "To complete the encirclement and annihilation of the British and French forces, the most important thing is to bypass the place in front of Tongzhou, cut off their retreat, and then you can slowly surround and annihilate them!" Li Xiucheng's fingers fell heavily on Tianjin on the map.

Feng Zicai stroked his palms and smiled: "Yes, the British and French troops have set up a long snake formation from Tanggu to Tongzhou, and Tianjin is exactly the seven inches of this snake!" And I heard that they have hoarded a large amount of supplies in Tianjin, and if we can take Tianjin, our supply will be greatly improved! That's enough time for us to hold on longer! ”

Everyone made a rough plan with a word, and finally Xiao Yungui said in a deep voice: "Although we have determined the goal and tactics, it is not yet the time to launch, we need to send a messenger to inform the troops in Jiangnan to prepare, once the war starts in the north, they need to guard against the British and French troops in the south, and at the same time occupy the concession and the embassy area as much as possible." Then Xiao Yungui touched his chin and said with a sinister smile: "At the same time, we also need to negotiate with the British and French envoys in person to confuse them to gain some preparation time!" (Want to know more exciting news about "Taiping Blood"?) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner, select Add Friends to add an official account, search for "Qidianzhongwenwang", follow the official account, and never miss every update! 51read) (To be continued......)