Chapter 43 Jiang Zhongyuan died in Luzhou

Tianjing was tight, Yang Xiuqing ordered: Shi Dakai returned to aid Tianjing, and Qin Rigang took over Anqing; Hu Yihuang must break through Luzhou within the month.

Shi Dakai led his troops back to Beijing, that is, from Yuhuatai outside the city to the ground of the bridge above, and set up camp step by step, intending to outflank the back road of Daying in the south of the Yangtze River. He also ordered Lai Hanying to lead his troops to stand outside the Taiping Gate, and when he came out to watch along the dragon's neck, he attacked the Jiangnan camp head-on.

Seeing this, Xiang Rong dispatched troops day and night, and clashed even more. After more than a month of fierce fighting, little progress was made.

Xiang Rong had no choice but to go up: Jinling City is big and strong, and it cannot be broken repeatedly. The thieves are all hidden in the old self, the walls are high and thick, the trenches are overlapped, the water potential is curved and protected, and the accumulation is wider and wider, and there is no gap to ride, and there is no wonder to come out. Although he tried his best to attack day and night, he was cunning in this fortified city! If a thief rebels and refuses to defend the fortified city, it is not even possible to break it by attacking it. Weichen thought: The thieves in Jinling, Guazhen, have their own priorities, and always clean up the reverse ship and clean up the river as soon as possible. The strategy of suppressing and washing must be to break the thief's aid, Guazhou first, take advantage of the situation to attack on both sides, and take Zhenjiang as the second. And Jinling is the leader of the old nest, the thief ships are especially numerous, and it is the area where the upstream and downstream converge, and the big state will fight the ship, and the party will be swept away. As soon as the Yueshi Red single ship arrived, it was in the upper reaches of Jinling, anchored mainly, stopped the thieves from coming and going, made the thieves from north and south no longer connected, and cut off the way for them to transport grain. After that, we will meet with the Lu Division, and we will block and suppress, and we can sweep the holes and capture the ditch.

Emperor Xianfeng also sighed: Jinling is difficult to break, and it is expected; Attacking the east and attacking the west, encircling Wei to save Zhao, Luzhou is still the top priority.

Hu Yihuang attacked Luzhou for a long time, so he ordered the earth camp to dig the ground, install gunpowder, and blow up the wall to break the city; Or escape into the city, and the strange soldiers should respond.

Jiang Zhongyuan saw through it, dug in the city, and broke more than ten tunnels; Where the city wall is damaged, Zhongyuan will leap on his horse and carry a spear, and supervise the troops to resist.

Hu Yihuang exhausted all his means, and there was nothing for a while.

Zeng Tianyang said: "The Qing Demon reinforcements have reached 10,000, the 4,000 people of the Shaanxi and Gansu Governor Shu Xing's Demon Department have arrived in the Gangziji in the northwest of Luzhou, and the 1,000 people of the Jiangnan Admiral and the Spring Demon Department have entered the Liangyuan in the northeast of Luzhou. Ximen Jiang Zhongjun, Liu Changyou, and Jiang Zhongxin tried their best to attack to the death, without stopping for a moment. Jiang Demon Zhongyuan has a heart, Nanchang fought in March, and the city walls were blown down everywhere, and the width was more than 20 zhang, which was helpless. This Luzhou city, whether to attack or withdraw, must be decided as soon as possible. ”

Hu Yihuang said: "Shu Xing, he is a demon governor in vain, and he doesn't dare to fight in a battle; Its soldiers, abandoning their horses and migrating, hid in the pine forest, sat and wept twice, and my heavenly soldiers arrived, and they were actually cut by the neck; What is there to fear from such a soldier! and the spring demon, but diligent, wait for the destruction of the river demon, and then punish this demon. Spread my order, block the reinforcement of the army, leave a small number of soldiers on guard, the main force retreats, and attack together. He also whispered to Zeng Tianyang: I want to dig a few more places next to the Moon City of Shuiximen, which are shaped like curved protrusions, and stacked into upper and lower layers, which is particularly important, and the interval is two explosions. For the first explosion, the sound does not have to be corresponding, and it is blocked by force; Bombing again and again, the river demon is defenseless, and Luzhou will be broken. ”

Zeng Tianyang said: "The situation is urgent, and there is no need to wait. ”

Hu Yihuang said: "Attack immediately!" ”

On the night of January 14, 1854, Hu Yihuang ordered the soldiers to ignite the upper layer of gunpowder and blew down the city wall.

Jiang Zhongyuan was accustomed to it, supervised the troops to block it, and repaired it in two hours. Suddenly, another explosion sounded, deafening, and the repaired city walls were blown up again. The military and civilians in Luzhou were in chaos and scattered one after another. Jiang Zhongyuan killed many people, and he couldn't stop it.

Hu Yihuang took the opportunity to enter, and the small south gate and small east gate were also broken by Zeng Tianyang.

Hu Yuanwei, the prefect of Luzhou, was frightened and panicked and knelt down.

Governor Jiang Zhongyuan led his own soldiers and Chu Yong fought in the streets. The sky will dawn, the fog is filled, Zhongyuan was injured in many places, Sima Liangxun fled with Zhongyuan on his back, Zhongyuan bit his ear, raised his knife to fight back to Shuiguanqiao Gutang, and injured seven places, and could not support it anymore, shouting: "The red dust is enviable, but there is no circuit; Kuang Ji the world, the husband is the ambition. ”

After Zhongyuan finished speaking, he jumped into the ancient pond. Political envoys Liu Yuzhen and Li Benren, Chizhou prefect Chen Yuanyan, Tongzhi Zou Hanxun, county Cheng Xingfu and Ai Tinghui, deputy general Song'an, and staff general Dai Wenyuan were also killed in battle.

Hu Yihuang broke through Luzhou, and after the killing, the soldiers did not seal the blade, and they did not stop, and then captured Lujiang, Lu'an, Qianshan, Wuwei and other prefectures and counties. Yang Xiuqing was happy with Hu Yihuang Zhiyong, sealed the protection of the heavenly marquis, ascended to the king of Yu, led 5,000 troops, and defended Luzhou.

Zhongyuan died, the Qing army was defeated like a mountain, Shu Xing'a did not know where to go, Liu Changyou retreated to Xiangdi, and Chun was lonely and difficult to sing, and fought and retreated to Sanligang, on the dredging road: Luzhou and the subordinate counties were trapped, and Anqing was in contact with the thieves, and it was very difficult to clear out. Although there are more than 10,000 soldiers in Anhui Province, many of them have not been in battle. Please transfer the Hunan soldiers of the old Zhenjiang Army, and allocate 3,000 capable officers and soldiers from Jinling, and hand them over to the general soldiers Qin Dingsan and Zheng Kuishi to help suppress them.

Yuan Jiasanshang, the minister of Huaibei, impeached Shu Xing, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and sat back and watched, and Luzhou was lost.

Emperor Xianfeng sighed: "Since last year, Anhui has been lost repeatedly, but Yuan Jia, the minister of Huaibei Twist, captured three twists of the head, injured a twist of the head, the more the battle became more and more courageous, and the soldiers were very victorious." Passed on the edict: Shu Xing'a retreated without a fight, that is, he was abducted, and Yuan Jiasan was promoted to the left deputy capital of the Imperial Palace. Anhui Province implicates the north and the south, hinders the northward advance of thieves, and the land is dangerous and precipitous, and it cannot be lost again. The second battalion in Jiangbei and Jiangnan divided 5,000 troops and rushed to Anhui. The governor of Caoyun, Fu Ji, quickly went to Anhui and took office as the governor of Anhui and the prime minister of Anhui's military, political and civil affairs. ”

Fuji received the order, that is, to transfer 600 Caohe pacesetters to Lu, and they were evacuated halfway: the statistics were about 20,000 troops, and the monthly salary was no less than 150,000 or 60,000. Please ask Zhejiang, Shandong, Qin, and Jin to help their ministers; Please allocate 2,000 elite soldiers to choke the mountains and streams to prevent thieves from fleeing north; Pan Xien, the governor of the original river, and Sun Mingen, the governor of Anhui Xuezheng, are invited to hold the three prefectures of Huizhou, Ningguo, and Guangde to prevent suppression.

Wang Maoyin, the right attendant of the military department, said: The Anhui provincial capital was moved to Luzhou in the north, and it was difficult to take care of it in southern Anhui, so it was advisable to temporarily allocate Huizhou and other places to Zhejiang Fu to take charge of it.

Emperor Xianfeng sent Huang Zonghan, the governor of Zhejiang, to send Taoist soldiers to Huizhou, and sent an edict to Rong to reinforce troops.

Xiang Rong received the order and sent the guerrilla Zhou Tianshou and Dusi Jiang Changgui to lead a thousand troops to southern Anhui, and then they were miserable: there were not many soldiers in the southern camp, and the number of points became fewer, and the city of Jinling was along the river, and the sound of the east was not enough to attack the west, and the words of attack were not able to say that they were encircled. Today, there are less than 6,000 people in the southern camp who can fight. Weichen took the blockage as the suppression, waited for the Yuehong single boat to arrive, blocked the river, and then attacked.

Zhang Guoliang said: "Huizhou is the junction of Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, and there are few soldiers and nothing to do. ”

Xiang Rong sighed: "At the junction, there are different powers, one party moves, and many parties are restricted, and they are doomed to do nothing." I just wait for my emperor to punish him! ”

Emperor Xianfeng really reprimanded Xiang Rong again: don't use the words of fewer soldiers and generals, and wait and see; Don't sit on a heavy army and delay the day. He also told Chun and Fuji: Luzhou is associated with the north and south, this county was lost suddenly, Jianghuai suffered a heavy weight, and the second secretary must try his best to attack the fortifications and recover as soon as possible.

He and Fu received the order, that is, they led Qin Dingsan, Zheng Kuishi, Jiang Zhongjun and others to besiege, and fought fiercely for more than a month, without advancing an inch.

Fu Ji said: "Luzhou is a vast place, the thieves are very heavy, and the refusal is extremely strict, and we are short of soldiers, and it is very tricky to deal with it. ”

He Chun said: "We besieged from the east, west, and north to strangle the road of thieves to the north; The south is still Tongshu and Tong. An army must be sent to attack Shucheng in the south to curb the way for thieves to respond. ”

Qin Dingsan said: "This is very wonderful, and I will be willing to go." ”

He Chun said: "Attack Jinling at the military gate, can there be a new move?" ”

Zheng Kuishi said: "The team rises day and day, attacks day and night, and consumes time. ”

He Chun sighed: "It's so difficult to tackle tough problems, I can't sleep day and night, and only death can show my face." ”