Chapter 139: Li Xiucheng Besieges Yuhuatai (3)

At the end of October 1862, Zhao Liewen arrived at Jinzhu Pass. Peng Yulin invited Zhao to have a drink.

Zhao Liewen said: From the perspective of Brother Xueqin, what are the odds of winning the battle with the pseudo-protector?

Peng Yulin said: Seven or eight percent. Yesterday, I and Lu Shi Zhu Nangui, Luo Fengyuan, and then fought against Chen Kunshu and rebels, although more than 100 people under the general Wang Mingyuan and deputy general Guo Mingao, the thieves lost more than 1,000 people, and now they have escaped from the fish dam. Yang Hou'an's Waijiang Naval Division arrived, and I immediately attacked by land and water, and completely annihilated Chen Wei.

Zhao Liewen said: Di Shuai ordered Yang Hou'an to fight in Jinzhu Pass, and the matter here was decided, and then aid Jinling.

Peng Yulin said: The day before yesterday, Jiang Xinzhou was in an emergency, and Yang Hou'an was afraid of affecting Dashengguan, so he was eager to return to the division.

Zhao Liewen said: The soldiers are single-minded, uncertain, and turbulent.

Peng Yulin said: Yang Hou'an is restless and yearning, and I have no right to stop him. The thieves are the fiercest, Chen Yucheng, Huang Wenjin, and Yang Fuqing. In the first battle of Anqing, Zeng Guoquan strangled Chen Yucheng and Yang Fuqing, two bandits, and broke Anqing City. Li Xiucheng, Li Shixian and other thirteen pseudo-kings, although there are many soldiers, the weapons are also strong, but the city and the aid are surrounded by each other, the casualties of the soldiers are open, and the soldiers are rarely fighting, and the sound of the cannons is shocking. Gai Ko will be arrogant, but also self-respecting to his death, and the rabble, do not know how to choose a general, than at the beginning of the decline. Zeng Guoquan's Yuhuatai defense is not a cause for concern. The day before yesterday, Peng Yutang, Xiao Fusi, and Li Chendian's troops under Zeng Guoquan poured out of Banqiao and destroyed the twelve thieves' bases; How much do we have to worry about!

Zhao Liewen said: Zeng Guoquan was arrogant and violent, and his virtue was not as good as that of Di Shuai, but Di Shuai ordered me to go to his tent as a curtain, and my heart was stuffed!

Peng Yulin said: Panic in the world, almost no happy things; It is not necessary to break the eyebrows and bend the waist.

Zhao Liewen laughed helplessly, and said: Bao Chunting has arrived in Ningguo, how is the war in southern Anhui?

Peng Yulin said: Bao Chunting arrived, the war in Ningjun stabilized, but Wei Jun and Tong Ronghai were incompetent, but Ningguo County was lost. Bao Jun's vitality was greatly damaged, and his prestige was also lost.

Zhao Liewen said: If the fence in southern Anhui is broken, the interior of Jiangxi will be empty and have nothing to worry about. Di Shuai will order Bao to suppress the thieves of Ningguo, and there is no need to think about aiding Jinling.

Peng Yulin said: Brother Huifu looked forward and backward, analyzed to the clear, and was really handsome.

Zhao Liewen said: Talking on paper is useless; As the war intensified, I immediately went to Shanghai to discuss with Li Shaoquan about aiding Jinling.

In early November, Zhao Liewen arrived in Shanghai and met with Li Hongzhang to talk about the Jinling War.

Li Hongzhang said: When the order of Di Shuai arrived, the war in Jiading was in full swing, and Jiading was restored, so I immediately ordered Wu Xu, Yang Fang, Bai Qiwen, etc., to lead 4,000 victorious troops, and quickly responded.

Zhao Liewen said: Within half a month, there was no army rushing to Jinling. After Wall was shot and killed, Bai Qiwen took over as the commander of the Changsheng Army, who is better to get along with this Wall and Bai Qiwen?

Li Hongzhang said: A raccoon dog is also. My emperor said: There are many brave soldiers in the victorious army, and if you always let the foreigners take charge, I am afraid that the luck will not work in the future. According to the British minister in front of the Prime Minister's office: "Chinese brave men let foreigners train and gradually get used to each other, and if they forget that they are Chinese for a long time, Chinese officials will not be able to control them." Since the envoy said this, he may not be able to appoint a person in charge at this time, and in the future he must make the Chinese right-hand man be attentive at all times, study with the soldiers, etc., so that he can manage the belt and take back the military power in the first place, which is most beneficial.

Zhao Liewen said: My emperor Shengming. Foreigners are unruly, unruly, and difficult to tame.

Li Hongzhang said: Bai Qiwen may have known the edict, so he shirked in every possible way and delayed his help.

Zhao Liewen said: There is no need for the Chang Shengjun to come to the aid, Cheng Xueqi is enough.

Li Hongzhang said: Cheng Fangzhong's opening camp, he dare not be transferred. I can be based in Shanghai, relying on the strength of Cheng Fangzhong. In the battle of Xinqiao, Cheng Fangzhong took the lead; In the battle of North Xinjing, Cheng Fangzhong turned the tide; In the battle of Jiading, if it weren't for Cheng Fangzhong's desperate fight, he would not have been able to break the city!

Zhao Liewen said: Cheng Xueqi and the first army, Di Shuai and Jiu Shuai are sent together, which is really a great gift.

Li Hongzhang: Am I ungrateful! The armies of all walks of life in Guangdong gathered in Jinling, and fierce battles were inevitable; The epidemic of Zeng and Bao Erjun was thriving, and there was a slight setback, and the overall situation was moved. The victorious army is coming, and it cannot influence the tide of battle. After the pseudo-wing king Shi Dakai ran away, Yue reversed the plot and divided the land. Suzhou is the puppet capital of the puppet Sufu Province, the forbidden belly of the puppet loyal king Li Xiucheng, if I do my best to attack it, Li Xiucheng rebels, will definitely come back.

Zhao Liewen said: This is the bottom of the kettle, and attacking it will be saved; In this way, Yuhuatai is unharmed.

On November 3, Li Hongzhang led Li Hezhang's personal battalion, Guo Songlin's Songzi battalion, and Wu Jianying's Jianzi battalion out of Jiading to attack Nanxiang, Cheng Xueqi Kaizi battalion and Liu Shiqiqi's character battalion out of Qingpu, choking Huangdu, and the two departments advanced north and south, directly approaching Suzhou. Liu Shiqi's troops made rapid progress, and in one day, they captured the mouth of the four rivers.

Mu Wang Tan Shaoguang and Wang Chen Bingwen moved when they heard the wind, and quickly dispatched troops from Suzhou, Jiaxing, and Hangzhou to coordinate the battle. On November 5, Tan Shaoguang's troops were divided into four routes, and the Huai army Liu Shiqi was surrounded by regiments.

Cheng Xueqi was single, the rescue was powerless, and Li Hongzhang quickly helped. When Li Hongzhang got the report, he immediately sent Guo Songlin and Li Hezhang to help.

Cheng, Guo, and Li are in one place, and they can fight for the time being.

However, the Taiping army gathered more and more, from the west of Qingpu City to the mouth of the four rivers of Wusong River, camped more than 100 people, stretched for 40 miles, and there were more than 100,000 people.

Li Hongzhang was in a hurry, and urgently urged Huang Yisheng to lead the water division, Liu Mingchuan and Wu Jianying to lead the land division, Bai Qiwen and Li Hengsong to lead the Changsheng army, and Xian went to Huangdu for reinforcements.

On November 12, Li Hongzhang went to Huangdu in person and convened the generals to discuss the battle.

Cheng Xueqi, the registered commander-in-chief, said: Although there are 100,000 thieves, they live on both sides of the Wusong River, and their troops are scattered. I gather all my strength to attack the enemy on the south bank first, and if the enemy is defeated, I will cross to the north; I use the sailors to choke the river and strike; After that, the joint attack of land and water will completely suppress the thieves on the north shore.

Li Hongzhang said: Cheng Fangzhong's words are reasonable, and he quickly passed on my order, and President Cheng Fangzhong's front-line armies, first in the south and then in the north, suppressed the rebels.

Cheng Xueqi received the order, that is, Li Hezhang of Kaizhi County, deputy general Guo Songlin, staff general Liu Mingchuan, and guerrilla Wu Jianying, and the troops were divided into three ways to encircle Chen Bingwen's Chinese army camp.

Listening to Wang Chen Bingwen's vow to resist to the death, he was still defeated, so he retreated to the north bank and joined forces with King Mu Tan Shaoguang. However, the heart has weakened, and the corners are also chaotic.

The next day, Li Hongzhang ordered a general attack, listened to the defeat of the king and the king of Mu, retreated to Kunshan, and lost the city to protect himself.

Zhao Liewen witnessed the whole process, with a look of envy, and said that Li Hongzhang said: Di Shuai is old and serious, and the scholar is heavy; Master Li is determined to forge ahead, and the future is terrifying.

After winning many battles, Hongzhang is also cool, but he said: Where is it, carving insects and small skills!

Zhao Liewen said again: All battalions under the command of Master Li are equipped with foreign guns and cannons, and if you talk about combat strength, there is no army to compare.

Li Hongzhang said: In the past six months, more than 20,000 people have been recruited by land and water, and more than 20,000 people have been appeased. The often victorious army of foreigners, although they occasionally do not listen to the call; However, there are more than 3,000 foreign gun teams. In time, this rebellion will be wiped out.

Tan Shaoguang and Chen Bingwen were defeated at the mouth of the four rivers, and Li Xiucheng, the loyal king, was shocked, and urgently said to the king Li Shixian: If Suzhou and Jinhua are all demons, and our elite is exhausted here, how can you and I live here?

Li Shixian said: If you can't attack for a long time, you don't need to attack again.

Li Xiucheng said: Besieging Zeng Guoquan's demons for more than 40 days, digging the ground, blowing up the wall, breaking the river, opening the river, attacking all, besieging, attacking, and attacking, everything is done, and it is impossible to break the base.

Li Shixian said: War reports from all over the country, Chen Kunshu defeated Jinzhu Pass, since then Taiping, Guanwei, Xiaodanyang should be difficult to stand up, my grain road is blocked, if you don't break the siege and go, you must divide troops to save Taiping. Yang Fuqing, Huang Wenjin and others besieged Ningguofu City, and they were unable to attack it repeatedly, and they were also short of breath.

Li Xiucheng said: Ning County is not allowed, and there is no place in southern Anhui; The demon army's food supply is reasonable, and it is useless to fight again. That's it, and the order is given to all the armies, reorganize their troops, and slowly retreat.

The Taiping army withdrew, and the Hunan generals wanted to chase after them.

Zeng Guoquan said: After the epidemic, followed by casualties, heavy fatigue, and no longer able to go out to fight.

Zeng Guofan was far away in Anqing, heard the rain and Huatai was encircled, sighed, and said: I have planned to break the siege and surrender to Wuhu. The thieves besieged for dozens of days and could not win, the loss was not large, even if they retreated, they would definitely come back, the southeast catastrophe, cover no time, good increase sigh.