On November 18, the year of Yimao, on the Miao Peak of Changsha City, in the cold wind filled with the smell of blood, the banner of the Taiping Army quietly fell, followed by the cheers of the Qing army and the Hunan braves of the mountain. The Hunan warriors who wrapped their heads in gray cloth and dragged long braids behind them ended their short celebration under the shouts of the Hunan army generals and began to clean up the Taiping army position on Miaofeng Peak.

More than a month ago, the Hunan army swore to go on the expedition, and Zeng Dashuai published the famous "Discussion of Cantonese Literature". The Hunan army of 40,000 troops by land and water marched side by side, and rushed straight to Xiangtan along the Xiang River. But the only thing missing in the Hunan army was Zeng Dashuai's future son-in-law Rong Lu, and the upper-level generals of the Hunan army knew that Zeng Dashuai's son-in-law had already led 8,000 Hunan troops south to Guangdong Province to help suppress them.

Seeing the banner of the Hunan army raised on Miao Peak, Zeng Guofan, who was on the naval warship in the middle of the Xiang River, saw this scene, and all the staff and attachés around him also clapped their hands and celebrated.

"Dashuai, Miao Fengfeng has been won, and Changsha City will be broken soon." Guo Songtao, the chief staff member of Zeng Guofan, tightened the cloak on his body, and said with a smile: "The Xiangjiang River has been controlled by our sailors, and the north and east have also formed hard villages. ”

Zeng Guofan stroked his long beard under his chin and said with a smile: "The hard training of soldiers, shipbuilding, and water training is more than one, thanks to the dedication of all the princes, and the soldiers use their lives to repay the service, there is today's great victory, after recovering Changsha, our army can drive forward, and after recovering Xiangyin and Yuezhou, the entire territory of Hunan Province will be restored." ”

Zeng Guoquan, a fierce general of the Hunan army on the side, said with a smile: "Brother is right, but to be honest, Xiangyong can have today's scale, and it is inseparable from the credit of that kid Ronglu." ”

Mention Rong Lu. The smile on Zeng Guofan's face became more obvious, and his small triangular eyes narrowed even more. Guo Songtao also knew that Zeng Dashuai was now the most important and relied on this fast son-in-law, and immediately echoed: "Yes, the Rongjunmen is young and promising, and he has made great achievements in the year of the weak crown. ”

Zeng Guofan smiled and waved his hand: "Don't talk too much, the wood is beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy it, and the children still have to hone more." Full of losses, humble benefits. There are so many compliments, it's hard to guarantee that the kid won't be proud. ”

Although Zeng Guofan was teaching a lesson in his mouth, the smile in the corner of his eyes was always hanging, and the Hunan army knew that Rong Lu never put up any shelf in the Hunan army. can get along with ordinary soldiers, and treat the staff of a cadre of the Hunan army for several weeks. You can also ask questions about things you don't understand. Where does pride come from? Zeng Shuai is just humble, but it can be seen that Zeng Shuai has treated Rong Lu as half a son.

Guo Songtao smiled and said: "Since the formation of the Mandarin Alliance with Zeng Shuai, the Rongjunmen has raised a large number of money, grain, and firearms every month. Although the Invalids Gate is still young, he has nothing to say about doing things for others. Dashuai's words just now were too modest. ”

Zeng Guohua, one of the five brothers of the Zeng family on the side, also suddenly spoke: "Yes, Rong Lu, this kid judges the situation and has a broad vision, and he really deserves everyone's praise." ”

Zeng Guofan glanced at his brother. also knows the character of his younger brother, he has a very high vision, and he rarely praises people, even he said so, which shows that Rong Lu is indeed very popular in the Hunan army.

Zeng Guohua is now the official rank of Tongzhi, helping to handle military affairs in Xiangyong, and the main function of Xiangyong is the matter of money, food and weapons, and he has only been in Hengyang for less than half a year, and he usually has a lot of contact with Ronglu. Rong Lu relied on trade with Guangdong Province and united the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangdong and Hunan to extract gold tariffs, bringing very rich money and grain to Xiangyong, which touched Zeng Guohua a lot, so Zeng Guohua was also more satisfied with this niece and son-in-law.

Before Zeng Guofan could answer, Zeng Guobao, who was beside Zeng Guohua, interjected and smiled: "All brothers value this honor so much, it seems that I, who is an uncle, will have to catch up." ”

Zeng Guobao is the youngest of the five Zeng brothers, and has been taking care of the door in his hometown at first, and recently Zeng Guofan brought his family to Hengyang to live temporarily, and Zeng Guobao also followed, and now serves as a staff member in Zeng Guofan's shogunate. When he came, Rong Lu had already gone to Guangdong, and he couldn't see it, but he admired his name for a long time.

Zeng Guofan smiled and said: "Ji Hong (Zeng Guobao) should indeed work harder, so as not to let the juniors compare." ”

Zeng Guobao was said by his brother, his face was slightly red, he was just joking, he didn't want to be robbed by his brother, and then said a little unwillingly: "Brother, let's fight Xiangtan first, and then besiege Changsha, making such a big move, I'm afraid that Changmao is unwilling to sit still, if Changmao from Jiangxi rushes to help, I'm afraid that our army will be trapped by the enemy." ”

In the first battle of Xiangtan, the Hunan army was in full swing, and Xiangtan was conquered within five days, and all the 5,000 Taiping army defenders in the city were killed. Because the Hunan army was conquering the provincial city, it was not too presumptuous, and the killing was not heavy. Subsequently, under the leadership of Yang Zaifu and other fierce generals, the Hunan Army Naval Division and the Yiyang Qing Army Naval Division led by Peng Yulin in the north defeated the Taiping Army Naval Division in Changsha Xiangjiang and jointly controlled the Xiangjiang River. Subsequently, the Hunan army besieged the city on all sides and stormed the Taiping army position at Miaofeng in the south of Changsha City.

The Miaofeng Position was a camp laid by Xiwang when he was guarding Changsha, and later it was reinforced by Lai Hanying, the Changsha defender, which can be described as strong and abnormal. The Hunan army attacked for more than 20 days, and several bloody battles were conquered today. It stands to reason that Zeng Guobao's worries are indeed very right, Nanchang, Jiangxi was broken by the Taiping army, the Taiping army in Tianjing is known as one million, and the Taiping army in Jiangxi has no less than 300,000 people, if the Hunan army takes too long under the city of Changsha, it is indeed extremely vulnerable to the attack of the Jiangxi Taiping army.

Zeng Guofan squinted his eyes and said lightly: "Now that the signs of long-haired civil strife have appeared, and the puppet king of the east, Yang thief, is busy dealing with the puppet king of the west, and has no time to look west, this is a good time for our Hunan army to send troops." ”

Zeng Guobao frowned slightly and said, "Brother, if we fight with long hair, will they stop for a while and turn their heads to deal with us?" ”

Zeng Guofan smiled and didn't speak, Guo Songtao said on the side: "Ji Hong doesn't know, although the long-haired thief is in full swing, the ambitions of the long-haired puppet kings are not small, the puppet king of the north is in Anhui, the puppet king of the wing is in Hubei, and the puppet king of the east is in Jiangxi. The puppet king of the West is in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian. Although the pseudo-king Hong Thief is the nominal co-master, there are few people who can really be summoned by the Hong Thief, and the Hong Thief is not very much of a council, and the military and political affairs of the Pseudo-East are all handled by the Pseudo-East King, and several puppet kings will inevitably have civil strife in order to compete for power, and they are all in a situation where they will rest until death. ”

Zeng Guoquan nodded and said: "Yes, the Pseudo-West King's fang is the most powerful now, and he has become a big problem for the Pseudo-East King, and the rest of the kings also regard him as a thorn in their side." I heard that hundreds of thousands of troops of the puppet East King and the puppet West King were facing each other in the Huzhou area. Although the big fight has not started, the small fight is continuous, and if it goes on like this, sooner or later both sides will tear their faces and fight each other. ”

Zeng Guobao said: "Why do you know so much about the movements of the long-haired thief? ”

Zeng Guohua didn't smile, but said lightly: "Your time in the army is still short. I don't know, it's not surprising, these are all from the Rong Lu faction's meticulous work on the long hair side. And the foreigners can also get a lot of news. ”

Zeng Guobao sighed and said: "It seems that the proverb of the Taiping King to kill the king is about to come true." If this is the case, we Xiangyong can take advantage of the situation to recover the lost territory in Hunan as the foundation, and only then will we have the capital to compete for the upper hand in the future. ”

Zeng Guofan squinted his triangular eyes and said, "Ji Hong is right, the long-haired civil strife is a good time for us to expand." When Rong Lu wrote to persuade me to send troops a few days ago, he said that time is running out. If we wait for the long-haired thief and a few pseudo-kings to divide the victory and defeat, and after integrating the long-haired thief, it will be difficult for us to have such a chance. Therefore, Brother Wei led Xiang Yong out of the nest this time, so as to take this opportunity to get the greatest results. ”

Zeng Guoquan touched the short beard under his chin and suddenly said, "That being said. But Ji Hong's worries are not unreasonable, Jiangxi's long-haired soldiers have always been numerous, and they should still be on guard. ”

Zeng Guofan smiled and said, "Rong Lu has already said this in his letter yesterday, so you don't have to worry. He sent a batch of money and grain to Jiang Zhongyuan, who had retreated to Tonggu, and at the same time after consulting with Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, he transferred 3,000 Xiangyong to help Jiang Zhongyuan stabilize the situation in the west of Jiangxi. Jiang Minqiao (Jiang Zhongyuan) This person is still quite capable, the more frustrated the more courageous, and never admit defeat, now Jiangxi still has Tonggu, Yichun, Pingxiang and other western prefectures and counties are still in his hands, as long as he is given some money and food, he will be able to gain a firm foothold, and continue to fight with Changmao. ”

Zeng Guoquan said with some dissatisfaction: "Why did Zhonghua borrow troops again? You must know that it is not easy for us to train Xiangyong, what should we do if we borrow from the east and borrow from the west......"

Zeng Guofan didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and immediately reprimanded: "The eyes of the rat are light, Jiangxi and Guangdong are the two thieves who shield the east and west of my Hunan land, you need to know the truth of cold lips and teeth." If it weren't for my Xiangyong in Xiangdi, and Li Tingyu in Fujian, would you have an army of more than 100,000 to be able to withstand the puppet king of the West? Zhonghua has his own reason for borrowing troops, the situation in Guangdong is unstable, Ye Du has not many troops available, heaven and earth will be conspired against thieves, if we don't borrow troops, after the fall of Guangdong Province, our greatest source of wealth will be cut off, even if there are 100,000 soldiers at that time, they will be dragged down sooner or later. You look at the long-haired thief on Miao Peak, isn't it that he has run out of ammunition and food and has been eradicated? ”

Guo Songtao nodded and said: "Ninth Master, what Zeng Shuai said is very true, borrowing troops to go out can also win a good reputation, and at the same time, it also lays the groundwork for Xiang Yong to fight in the province in the future, as long as the court feels that I Xiang Yong can win the battle, it will definitely be more important in the future." For others and for himself, this soldier borrowed very cleverly. ”

Zeng Guoquan stopped talking, Zeng Guofan glanced at everyone and said: "Miao Feng has fallen, then the next is to storm the Changsha city wall, recovering Changsha is our Hunan people's long-cherished wish in the past three years, you should move forward, you must conquer Changsha as soon as possible!" Everyone shouted their orders together, and everyone went to their own places, leaving only Zeng Guohua standing still.

Zeng Guofan looked at Zeng Guohua and asked, "Sixth brother, are you still in trouble?" ”

Zeng Guohua said: "Zhonghua has a lot of ambitions, although the marriage is decided, it is inevitable that there will be extraneous branches, and Ji Jing should be married to him as soon as possible." ”

Zeng Guofan nodded and said: "Brother Wei is also thinking about this matter these days, and he went back to repair a letter to Hengyang's Guohuang, and ordered him to start preparing, Ji Jingxu is already fifteen years old, and he can leave the cabinet in time." ”

Zeng Guohua nodded and said, "I'll go back and repair the book for the fourth brother." He bowed and went.

Zeng Guofan looked at the figure of the wall of Changsha City in the distance, and sighed lightly and muttered: "I can't imagine that I will have a day to bring the troops back......" (to be continued......)