In the Luzhou Mansion covered with war clouds, the chrysanthemums have been dyed and withered, and the autumn breeze in the Jianghuai area is far less mild and pleasant than in the south, and a cool autumn breeze blows, and Li Hongzhang, who is sitting in the Anhui governor's signing room, can't help but sneeze. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Wang Jinzhi looked at Li Hongzhang and asked with concern, "Shaoquan, what's wrong with you?" Don't suffer the cold, now that your musket team has made a reputation, it is estimated that you hate it at this time, you have to take care. ”

"Hehe, the prefect laughed, in the battle of Sanshui Town, although the talented Xiangyong also killed a few cavalry, but the infantry behind rushed up, those Xiangyong were dumbfounded, and they didn't have time to fire and shoot, so they were defeated and retreated, if it weren't for the Xinning Xiangyong of Futai and a few cavalry of Lord Wang Zongbing harassing behind, whether the thousands of people under the official could enter the city safely or not, it was between the two." Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and hurriedly became modest.

"Hey, Shaoquan, why do you have to be arrogant," Jiang Zhongyuan put down the account book in his hand and said with a smile, "Your musket team is extremely good, but unfortunately the firepower is insufficient, otherwise it is very possible to sweep away the rebellion, and it has also cleared out the rebel cavalry, and now in the Jianghuai area, if the rebel does not send troops to support in Jiangning, this guy is a rebel under the city of Luzhou, without cavalry, it is like a tiger with less teeth, and there is a lot less danger!" ”

"Lord Futai said very much," Wang Jinzhi nodded hurriedly, "Although Shaoquan's Huaiyong has also lost a lot of people, but Shaoquan, don't worry, Lord Futai has ordered me to take out the silver from the treasury and distribute the pension to the family of the fallen Xiangyong, the young people in the township see that the military salary is rich, and they also enthusiastically sign up to join the township Yong regiment to practice killing the enemy. ”

Jiang Zhongyuan nodded and said: "Yes, Shaoquan's musket team has indeed made a great contribution, and the official thinks that when will he also match the Xinning regiment with some muskets," Jiang Zhongyuan turned his head to look at Wang Jinzhi, Wang Jinzhi hurriedly replied with a bitter face: "Lord Futai Mingjian, now there is enough money and food in this Luzhou Mansion, but this musket, the lower official really can't change it, this is still when Shaoquan rebelled and did not capture Jiangning, he dealt with the foreigners in Shanghai and bought it at a great price, and now this Jiangning has been attacked by the rebellion, The road to Shanghai is impassable, and I am afraid that it will not be able to raise it for a while. ”

Jiang Zhongyuan nodded thoughtfully, and Li Hongzhang also nodded and said: "What the prefect said is very true, not to mention that this Yingyi didn't give us any good muskets, they are all backward musket styles that need to be eliminated, and if they are fired a few more times, they will be blown up, which is really useless. ”

"Not to mention these, how are the gunpowder reserves in the city?" Jiang Zhongyuan asked Wang Jinzhi.

Wang Jinzhi opened the booklet in his hand, and said while reading: "There are 3,000 catties of gunpowder and 100 carts of saltpeter, so I think I can last for about two months." ”

"Two months? Enough! Jiang Zhongyuan excitedly closed the account book in his hand, "As long as we hold on here, don't let the rebels go north and interfere with the monk's Henan bandit plan, and when Henan is pacified, the monk will go south with the power of the great victory, I'm afraid these traitors won't be able to leave if they want to!" What's more," Jiang Zhongyuan showed a cunning smile, "These two big battalions in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, the governor will never just watch Jiang Ningli's rebellion and send troops everywhere, right?" ”

"What your lord said is very true." Li Hongzhang and Wang Jinzhi nodded again and again, the three of them were extremely optimistic about the future situation, and were talking and laughing indoors, at this time, the Qing soldiers of the governor Xingyuan came in and said, "The rebellion outside the city seems to have moved, and it is time to start preparing for the attack." ”

"Okay, just do what we did in the division of labor before, Shaoquan, you follow me up to the city wall to see how the posture of rebellion is, Wang Zhifu, you can just pacify the peaceful place in the city." Jiang Zhongyuan took the top worn by his entourage and put it on his head, straightening it, the momentum of the feudal officials was unobstructed, and his eyes flashed with excitement, "This official wants to see if he can gnaw the hard bone of Luzhou Mansion!" ”

Li Hongzhang and Jiang Zhongyuan went up to the position of the south city gate together, only to see the figure of the Taiping Army camp shaking below, and the Taiping Army soldiers were ready to go in the camp, Jiang Zhongyuan took a clairvoyant eye and carefully looked at the movements in the Taiping Army camp, and indifferently instructed Li Hongzhang: "Shaoquan, tell the regimental trainers to prepare to defend the city, now it is not a field battle, and it is really wishful thinking to rely on these thousands of people to capture Luzhou Mansion!" ”

Li Hongzhang responded, waved his hand and let the herald wave the flag to signal the whole city to start defense, boulders, artillery, and hot oil were sent up one by one by the strong men in the city in an orderly manner, and the prefect of the king had ordered that the daily wage of each person who helped carry things was fifty wen, and the daily wage of each one who helped defend the city on the city wall was one hundred wen, all of which included food and shelter, so that all the young men who fled to Luzhou Mansion near Chaohu Lake were collected, Li Hongzhang looked at the Zhuang men who hurried back and forth in the city.

Jiang Zhongyuan looked at the majestic military strength of the Taiping Army, his arrogance was monstrous, and he couldn't help sighing, his expression was a little gloomy, "These fierce rebels turned out to be good people, but it's a pity that this world is ......" Li Hongzhang hurriedly intercepted the sigh of the governor of Anhui, "My lord, now is not the time to worry about this, let's defend this Luzhou Mansion first." ”

Although Jiang Zhongyuan has always been active in the front line of suppressing peasant uprisings and is ruthless with an iron fist, he has been in a poor and remote country for a long time, and has often seen the people of Xinning County rebelling due to famine, and has also experienced the great wilderness of Zhejiang. Jiang Zhongyuan especially hated the rich and unkind, thinking that it was these people who forced the poor to go to Liangshan. Jiang Zhongyuan once wrote a poem to warn the rich that they must not do bad things and force the people to rebel:

"Sorry for this poor man who cultivates hard, and the abundance of years is only enough to pay tithes.

This year is no longer looking back, and the ravines are filled with white bones.

But when the rich are worried, who will pity the poor for hunger?

Once the poor are driven by hunger, how can the rich be in peace?

Jiang Zhongyuan woke up violently, now is indeed not the time to sigh, he hurriedly came back to his senses and nodded, "What Shaoquan said is very true, you go and see if the artillery in the city is usable, and when the counterattack is issued to attack the city, the artillery and muskets will be fired together, and the traitors will definitely look good." ”

"Yes."

Li Hongzhang saluted, turned around and went to inspect a few forts near the left, the horn in the Taiping army camp outside the city whined, the ant-like Taiping soldiers drove the ladder from afar and began to trot towards the Luzhou Mansion, Jiang Zhongyuan's signal soldiers raised a red flag, from the right oblique to the left and waved to the end, the city wall sounded one after another swishing sounds, continuous arrow rain poured down the city, the battle of Luzhou began.

On the fourth day of October, the Taiping army besieged the Luzhou Mansion, on the first day, the conquer was fruitless, and the troops were collected, on the second day, the Taiping Army attacked the west city wall, and was beaten down by Li Hongzhang's musket team, on the third day, the Taiping Army dug a tunnel and tried to blow up the city wall of the Luzhou Mansion with gunpowder, fortunately, the amount of gunpowder was not enough, and the blind man who was levied by Jiang Zhongyuan in the city came to hear the direction, and the water was poured into the ground, the Taiping Army only collapsed a corner of the corner tower, left a few corpses, and could only retreat, on the fourth day, the Xinning regiment of Anhui Governor Jiang Zhongyuan practiced out of the city to fight against the Taiping Army, and returned defeated, neither side can help the other, so the Taiping Army's westward expedition Hu Yihuang and the Qing army in the Luzhou Mansion stalemate, Lu'an and Chuzhou Qing soldiers got Jiang Zhongyuan's order, happy in the two places to rest, just hold their own city.