On the fifth day of October in the fourth year of Xianfeng, Raozhou Mansion, Jiangxi. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Zeng Guofan stood up, and asked again and again in disbelief: "But really?" Pseudo-Wing King, Shi Dakai has already returned to Jiangning? ”

"Exactly," the spy who came back from the mouth of the lake nodded and said, "On the second day of October, Shi Dakai's boat was full of looted property from Anhui, Jiangxi, three large ships and five small boats. ”

"Good, good!" Zeng Guofan increased the amount with his hand to express his celebration, and Hu Linyi on the side was also happy, "If this person is not there, the matter in Jiangxi has a great sense of redemption!" Brother Zuo, what do you think? Zeng Guofan was overjoyed, turned his head and asked a middle-aged man who was about the same age as himself sitting on the side, this person was Zuo Zongtang, who was ordered by Emperor Xianfeng to come to Zeng Guofan's tent to help with military affairs.

"Zong Tang thinks that this is a great opportunity for you to recuperate, rest and reunite, and not be busy attacking, the emperor appointed you to the actual position of governor of Jiangxi, first straighten out the military affairs of Jiangxi Province, prepare good grain and grass, and train a strong army, so that you can get out of Poyang Lake in one fell swoop and give those traitors a little color!" Of course, the five thousand Xiangjiang children he brought out also have to practice well, although Zuo Zongtang, who has never been convinced, is still only a soldier, but he has no respect for Zeng Guofan, the governor of Jiangxi, who is a feudal official.

"That's about to depend on Brother Zuo's talent! Since Ji Gao is doing this in Hunan, it is also in Jiangxi Province as it is in Hunan Province! Zeng Guofan generously promised.

"That's it, if I still do this in Hunan Province, I'm afraid I will offend people again, and there will be no more people like Disheng and Runzhi to save me." Zuo Zongtang thought of the grievances he received in Wuchang a few days ago, and he was still in a cold sweat in his heart, and he was afraid.

"Ji Gao, it's time for you to change your temperament," Hu Linyi nodded on the side and said, "If it weren't for the queen's sudden help this time, how could you get out so easily." ”

"What, this matter is still related to the queen's mother?" Zuo Zongtang was taken aback. The queen herself has no dealings at all.

"Exactly," Zeng Guofan nodded, "The queen mother said something to the emperor, which surprised the emperor. "There is no day in the world that there can be no Hunan, and there is no day in Hunan that can not be without Zuo Zongtang"! Look at it, Ji Gao, how much praise this is for you, the emperor has made a will. Let the imperial history check again, this will return your innocence, and reward you with an official in the Langzhong, and allow you to lead the troops to fight and make war exploits! ”

"Now I know the true face of the fog cover in Yunshan, Ji Gao has thanked the two Gao Yi, and he has to thank the queen mother!" Zuo Zongtang stood up, saluted the two Hunan fellows, and sighed.

"Between us, you don't need to be polite, just do your errands. Ji Gao, what you said is very true, now it happens that Shi Dakai has left, the old man is so good to take a breath, take advantage of this good opportunity to practice and train soldiers, and we Jiangxi Jingdezhen was reversely occupied, and it is not as good as losing all the south of the Yangtze River in southern Anhui! This headache makes Jiang Minqiao (Jiang Zhongyuan's number) annoyed! Zeng Guofan gloated, remembered something, and instructed Zuo Zongtang, "Ji Gao, the first thing is to contact Ningbo Mansion." The newly arrived muskets and artillery must be given to us as soon as possible, and we must send competent people to guard this one, and we can't let that kid from Shaoquan take my head soup! Also, Runzhi. You also take some foreigners' firearms back to Jiujiang, this is a militaristic weapon, much stronger than our firearms in the Qing Dynasty! ”

"Listen to the handsome."

Shi Dakai knelt down at Moling Pass to receive the edict of the East King at the age of nine thousand, and without saying a word, he kowtowed three times and got up. Lai Hanying, who was on Shi Dakai's side, frowned, and waited for the triumphant envoy to leave, and then spoke on Shi Dakai's side and said, "Yiwang, this East King is too bullying, right?" We have won a big victory in the west, and we have captured so much grain and grass, the king of the east does not send people to reward, not only do we have to take away all our gold, silver, grain and grass, but also do not allow us to enter the Tianjing City, and stand by in this Golden Pillar Pass! Hey, that's chilling! After saying that, he threw his bandana on the ground.

Shi Dakai shook his head, squatted down and picked up Lai Hanying's headscarf, returned it to him, and quietly said: "The East King naturally has his reasons for doing this, let's obey the order, I saw that the envoy from the East King said that he was going to solve the Jiangnan Jiangbei camp of the Qing Demon, and we guarded the Jinzhu Pass, and it is estimated that we will deal with Xiang Rong's old horseman!" ”

"Relying on the skills of our Wing King, isn't Xiang Rong handy? However, this Jiangbei camp is easy to say, after all, it is the command of the literati, but this Jiangnan camp is still a difficult bone to gnaw. Lai Hanying finished flattering, but he was slightly worried.

"It's okay, now let's work together, the western expedition will win a big victory at Hukou, and the military will be available, not to mention that the king of the east wants to pour the power of the whole city to destroy the two big camps, even if this king is one, it will be easy to destroy Xiangrong!" The strong self-confidence revealed in Shi Dakai's words infected a group of people around him, and the pro-soldiers on the side, who were originally afraid of the Dongwang's military disposition, heard that their boss was so confident, and they regained their momentum, and hurriedly set up a camp tent under Moling Pass.

Emperor Xianfeng was angry that the two camps in the south and north of the Yangtze River did nothing, but the two ministers of the north and south had their own hardships, Lu Jianying's hardships were that there were no soldiers in Jiangbei, and he did not dare to send troops to attack Jiangning every day except for holding Cao Yun in the Zhenjiang camp, and there was no silver salary, half of the silver salary of the two rivers in Anqing was lost in Chizhou, and half of it went to Luzhou Mansion, but it went into Li Hongzhang's pocket, so that Li Hongzhang's Huai army was full; And Xiang Rong, the special military minister of the Jiangnan battalion, had more problems to face.

The first is age, since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Jintian uprising, Xiang Rong, who has been scolding the "turtle son" while fighting, is already sixty and three this year, and it is obviously impossible for him to fight at such an age, and since he attacked Jiangning once last year, he was hit by a stray arrow in the leg, and the injury has not been healed so far, not to mention getting on the horse, now it is a daily walk to be supported by someone, if it is not for the fact that he still remembers the position of the commander of the two Jiang Zheng, and is worried about the responsibility of this rebellion, Xiang Rong would have returned to his hometown long ago.

Another problem is the discord between the generals, this is a problem that the big battalion in any place must face, Lu Jianying in the camp in Jiangbei is slightly better, after all, he is a feudal official, and he is the emperor's teacher, everyone has to worry that they have offended this person, and his name will be on the emperor's imperial table in a few days;

Xiang Rong is different, he is a soldier who has been killed step by step from the ranks, and he is born with a sense of awe and awe for civil officials, but he is in power, so it has caused a phenomenon that if Xiang Rong is alone with the clerk, he can still listen to some words, if the clerk and the military general have a dispute, it is nothing to say, only biased towards the general, plus the assistant military affairs of Jiangsu Governor Gil Hang'a, Xi'an General Fuxing and other banner members of the constraints, in Guangzhou transported from Guangdong The red single boat is still delayed. can only cower in the camp and not come out, land attack, water attack, the day against the fortified city, helpless. In July of the fourth year of Xianfeng, 50 "red single boats" in Guangdong finally arrived at the Jiaoshan River in Zhenjiang.

Xiang Rong was like a treasure, and excitedly said to the emperor: "The ministers have been raising ships for two years, and there has been a turnaround so far. "Xiang Rong agreed with the Jiangbei battalion that half of the fifty red single boats would stay on the Zhenjiang and Guazhou rivers and be under the command and dispatch of the Jiangbei battalion; The other half went to the upper reaches of Jinling and returned to Xiang Rong to command and dispatch. The large red single boat can install more than 30 cannons, and the small ones can also install 20 cannons, and it is indeed a sharp weapon on the water at that time, and it once posed a great threat to the Taiping army. In order to deal with the Qing army's Hongdan boats, the Taiping army built large wooden pai, a kind of artillery fort that could move on the water, and clashed down the eastward river to support Zhenjiang, but were often intercepted by the red single boats. During this period, the Qing army in the Jiangnan camp won some victories in the upper reaches of Jinling, and Xiang Rong's situation improved slightly, and the report to the emperor was repeated with 600 li of victory, so the imperial court was slightly satisfied with Xiang Rong and reprimanded less. But Jiangning is a Xiongcheng after all, as written in Xiang Rong's recital: "Jinling City is high and deep, strong and abnormal, the west side is bordered by the big river, the north is the lake and the ocean, its east and south sides, half of the small river surrounds, only the corner of the dragon's neck in the Purple Mountain has a dry road to pass." Dig deep trenches again, heavy trenches, densely covered with bamboo sticks and thistles, to protect the city with the camp, and then protect the camp with the city, the defense is extremely tight, it is to repeatedly attack can not succeed, although there are several fires burned off, and the rebellion is repaired with glutinous rice juice as before. (To be continued.) )