Xiaolingwei, the Jiangnan camp of the Qing army. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Xiang Rong sat breathlessly on the handsome tent, and heard the soldiers outside come in and tell him that the governor of Jiangsu, Gil Hang'a, and the prefect of Jiangning led more than 1,600 people to camp in the high-level Yandun Mountain, Xiang Rong was still okay, but sighed, and Zhang Guoliang, the chief soldier of Zhangzhou Town on the side, was angry, and said to Xiang Rong angrily: "Xiang Shuai! This governor is really handsome, so he didn't say goodbye and divided his troops alone! ”

"Don't blame him, he also said to Ben Shuai a few times, saying that Yandun Mountain is a traffic artery, and it is true that someone should be sent to station, originally I wanted you to go, but you are a rare brave general in the camp of Jiangbei in Jiangnan, and you are indispensable for the battle in Jiangning," Xiang Rong stood up and staggered out of the tent, Zhang Guoliang hurriedly stepped forward to support him, "Plus my foot injury is inconvenient, and the previous pioneers can't be anymore, the emperor decreed that I can't be trapped and can't be defended, and I naturally have nothing to say, hey, I'm really powerless to get on the horse," Xiang Rong said in a gloomy tone, reveals a sense of the end of a hero, for more than three years, Xiang Rong has worked hard, and has not been criticized, and even intimidated and threatened. The business situation of Jiangnan Daying is not thriving, but there is a trend of decline. The first 16,700 people, who walked and died, are not much left. And the burden on Xiang Rong's shoulders is getting heavier and heavier. Xiang Rong, who sits in the area of Xiaolingwei in the south of the city to the Qiqiao urn, wants to fight Wuhu in the west and Gu Zhenjiang in the east, which is really a little overwhelming.

"What's more, Ben Shuai is illiterate, all the court sends to others to read, and the emperor's edict, at first Ben Shuai thought there was no big problem, but now I look at it, it is really not a good thing, the news in the army has poured thousands of miles, and the majesty of this marshal has also plummeted in the emperor's request, and the matter has been irreparable, and now there is only a stubborn hold, and then send ships and small teams to harass it, but with me, no one dares to be easily rebellious!" Xiang Rongfu perked up again, his white hair was sluggish, and his eyes were wide open. The appearance of the commander of the first army, who is not angry and arrogant, is once again revealed in this 60-year-old veteran, who is in his position and seeks his own government. More than three years, counting from Guangxi. It should be more than six years, and he fought to the death with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which may not be anything to Xiang Rong, who has been fighting horses for a long time. As a professional soldier, face the war head-on. Defeating opponents is the main content of life. This time is also his chance to take revenge. When encountering challenging opponents, not every soldier can have this opportunity to make a difference.

"Dianchen, you take the men and horses to Yanziji and Shibu Bridge to sweep around, you can't let the rebels in Jiangning City easily go out of the city to attack Gilhang'a, and send another thousand people to support him, although he is a banner man, but everyone is a courtier of the Qing Dynasty, and it is a little bit to help a little."

"Yes!" Zhang Guoliang clasped his fists and saluted. Towards this old leader who has been following since he came out of Guangxi.

"Palace, don't blindly just know how to fight, my old man has not been in for a few years, no matter who is in charge of this Jiangnan camp in the future, only you will do the things of the soldiers!" I have looked at it coldly for so many years, the Eight Banners Green Battalion in the Jiangning area is unusable, only we, the native soldiers from Guangxi, still dare to fight and kill, the court does not rely on us, who can we rely on, and now I am counting on the monk king to exterminate the twist thief and go all the way south. It also has to be reversed and good-looking! ”

"What the marshal said is that now looking at the Luzhou Mansion and the soldiers of the former governor are useful."

"Yes, it's just that the days are too short to see anything. It's a pity, last time when the Jiangbei and Jiangnan camps besieged Jiangning, there were people in charge of the two rivers, and Anhui, Jiangxi, and Jiangning took care of the three places. Each of them retreated. ”

"Handsome and relieved, they must not be fools, knowing that the rebel army of the Western Expedition will return to Jiangning to aid Jiangning, and they can also counterattack, right?"

"Well, but now, the pressure on our side is great again." The remnant sun was like blood, and the white-haired Xiang Rong looked at Zhang Guoliang's distant back under the sunset, and shook his head, "I can't say that I have to die to serve the country." ”

The commander of the Jiangbei camp was Lu Jianying, the minister of the Qincha and the governor of Liangjiang. Lu Jianying led the direct subordinate governor Chen Jinshou and other generals, led more than 10,000 troops, and stationed in the north of Yangzhou, the main purpose was to cut off the Taiping army's road north along the canal and seize Yangzhou. It is not difficult to achieve this goal to prevent the Taiping army from moving north, but to capture Yangzhou, Lu Jianying has no confidence. His opponents are Lin Fengxiang, the deputy prime minister of the heavenly official, and Li Kaifang, the prime minister of the earthly official. As early as June of the third year of Xianfeng, they had already laid down Yangzhou. Before the start of the Northern Expedition, Yangzhou was guarded by Lin and Li Er, who could attack and defend well, and under the guidance of Yang Xiuqing, Yangzhou City was defended like an iron bucket. Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang's strategy is to guard the danger and not the city. They relied on the strongholds outside the city, such as East Hongqiao, Fahai Temple, Yizheng, and Guazhou, to build fortified positions and form a tight defense system.

Lu Jianying knew that his troops were limited and his opponent was fierce, so he just sat and waited for the opportunity.

The opportunity was not long in coming. Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang were transferred out of Yangzhou to form the Northern Expeditionary Corps, and those who remained in Yangzhou were commanders Zeng Lichang and Chen Shibao. After that, Lu Jianying repeatedly dispatched a large army, and finally when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom dispatched Yangzhou elites to the north to rescue, he captured Yangzhou, which had almost become an empty city, and the Taiping army was in Jiangbei, leaving only a lonely city in Guazhou.

The large triangular defense circle of Tianjing, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou is transformed into a small triangular defense body of Tianzhen Gua (Guazhou). The deformed Tianjing battlefield faced a more severe test in the middle of the Qing army's northern and southern battalions. The situation in Tianjing is becoming more and more dangerous. In order to support the Western Expedition, the elite in Tianjing City was transferred to the Jiangxi Battlefield and the Lianghu Battlefield in large numbers.

"The Northern Expedition of the rebellion has gone and there is no return, and the Western Expedition is also in vain, only the pseudo-wing king Shi Dakai can be called a hero, and he fought extremely happily in the upper reaches of Jiangning, not only recaptured most of Anhui, but also beat Zeng Guofan to the ground at Hukou, and now Shi Dakai actually returned to help, it seems that he is coming to the two camps, and our situation seems to be difficult." Lu Jianying frowned and said, he is really not good at military politics, and now he can barely maintain the Jiangbei camp, to be honest, a large part of it is because the military center of gravity of the rebellion is not in the east, and the west and the north are successive expeditions, and the east is ignored.

Jiangning General Xianghou had just finished practicing the Eight Banners disciples he brought out from Jiangning Mancheng, he didn't care about the herbal tea in the teacup, he tilted his neck, drank happily, put down the teacup, and wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand - the flag man originally cared about the image the most, "Don't worry, the lower officials have been practicing extremely diligently outside the Slender West Lake these days, and the sons and daughters under the mark are holding their breath and want to go back to Jiangning." ”

"It's good that you can have such ambition." Lu Jianying nodded with satisfaction, "But there is no need to look at such a long-term perspective at the moment, we must first defeat Guazhou, if Guazhou is not down, Yangzhou will be difficult to be safe!" Let's just deal with Yangzhou, just surround it! ”

"Wow!"

Guazhou is located at the confluence of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River. Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty wrote the poem "Docking Guazhou" here: Jingkou Guazhou is a water, and Zhongshan is only separated by a few mountains. The spring breeze and the south bank of the Green River, when will the bright moon shine on me. The story of Du Shi Niang's angry sinking of the treasure chest has been widely spread for hundreds of years. It is not the scenery that is attractive, but the strategic location of Guazhou to the north and south, which is full of attraction to people such as Lu Jianying, Xianghou and Chen Jinshou.

On October 16, the fourth year of Xianfeng, in order to prevent the Taiping army from going north, Lu Jianying immediately transferred the Jiangbei camp to the periphery of Guazhou. The Taiping army in Guazhou did not intend to go north, they only wanted to keep a stronghold in Jiangbei and prevent the Jiangbei camp from joining forces with the Jiangnan camp to attack Zhenjiang or Tianjing.

"There is only one word in the edict of the nine thousand years old of the East King," the guard general Xie Jinzhang summoned the generals in the camp, "that is the word 'guard'!" The congregation will obey the order! excavated three long trenches to introduce river water to block the Qing army's attack; Pull up three iron cables on the river to block the Qing army's water division; Build camps and fortifications in the upper, middle and lower continents in the long trench, lay stones on the outside, and sand on the inside, block the artillery fire, don't let the two big camps in the north and south of the Qing Demon echo each other from afar, affecting the great cause of my heavenly kingdom! ”

"Yes!" (To be continued.) )

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