Chapter 165: Zeng Guofan's Painting of the River Circle (5)

Zeng Guofan commanded the army for half a year, and won very little, the Empress Dowager Cixi was displeased, and said: In recent years, Li Hongzhang did not hesitate to invest heavily in buying foreign craftsmen, hiring British and French foreign craftsmen, setting up bureaus and sending people to study the system, and using them in a steady stream. Each battalion has obtained this sharp weapon, which is enough to destroy the fortification, and the south of the river is cleared one by one, and the speed of the effect is unsurpassed. However, the governor of Zeng Guo led Huaiyong, suppressed and twisted for half a year, and there was no great success, which seemed to be unsuitable for water and soil, and would not be useful.

Prince Gong said: Zeng Guofan paid attention to the hard village and fought in a stupid battle; Siege the rogue is not his forte.

Empress Dowager Cixi said: Mourning the family, there are no heavy troops in Heluo, and there are no famous generals in Henan Province who can be dispatched. It is in the middle of the world, and it is empty and worrying. Li Hongzhang Mouyong is well-known, and he is strong and strong, he can personally experience the line, Li Ke personally supervised Yang Dingxun and other troops, galloped to the Heluo area to station, and assisted Zeng Chenguo Domain, and would suppress bandits nearby, taking into account the entrance to Shaanxi. Jiang Governor is vacant, that is, Wu Tang is the acting; The printing of the governor of Caoyun was handed over to Li Zongxi for temporary acting; Ding Richang is familiar with foreign affairs, and he is the acting governor of Jiangsu, and he can be expected to be competent.

Empress Dowager Ci'an said: Liangjiang is once Li banned, how can it be easily transferred!

Empress Dowager Cixi said: For the Qing Dynasty for a hundred years, throw stones and ask for directions!

Yi Xun said: The general will not be subject to the orders of the foreign monarchs, and it is difficult to obey the fate of such an intervention.

Empress Dowager Cixi said: Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Wu Tang and others received this decree and discussed with each other. If there is a consensus of opinion, it is to be replayed quickly, and then the decree is made clear and obeyed. Jin Xiang is far away, Zeng Guoquan has not recovered from his illness, and it is still difficult to take office; It can be used in the nearest Hubei and entrusted with care.

Zeng Guofan received the order and said: At present, the thieves tend to focus on the East Road, and there will be no trouble for the time being without Qin and Jin, even if Wan and Luo are also slightly lighter, they should focus on the East Road with all their might. Even if Li Hongzhang goes to Luo, there is no thief to kill.

The ministers suppressed the bandits, thanks to the courage of the Huai army; Li Hongzhang entered Luoxi, if he withdrew the troops that had been set up by the ministers, wouldn't he sit back and watch the erosion of Lu Su and ignore it?

At the beginning of the year, Li Zongxi played the Salt Transportation Division, reinstated the Anhui Division, and the Jiangnan Domain, and moved three times in one year, which was already an extraordinary encounter. The officer is more than honest, only slightly shorter, and the power is sealed, which is inevitably considered too hasty. Ding Richang has been promoted to the two Huai Transportation Divisions in recent years, although he claims to be familiar with Yiwu, but his qualifications are too shallow, and his qualifications are not enough.

The ministers have a clear view of the pre-history, the advance and retreat of the military, the urgency, the battle defense, the cantonment, the commander-in-chief, the court should not be remotely controlled; The dethroned generals of the temple are rewarded and punished, the Son of Heaven and the ministers and lords of the left and right, and the ministers outside the temple should not intervene.

The imperial court remotely controlled the military, and its troubles were still shallow; From ancient times, the commanders and important ministers controlled the country's destiny remotely, and they were not able to do the latter.

Interference in internal affairs from outside the country is really harmful; I don't dare to keep it secret, and I don't think it's appropriate to consult. The minister did not wait for Li Hongzhang and Wu Tang to agree, and expressed his views directly, and did not try it in case of no.

After the national domain was sparse, he urgently consulted Li Hongzhang: Cao Governor Wu Tang demolished the weir to control the disaster, besieged the city and sold land, but he was not a good person; Jiang Du changed hands, and the waves were rampant. The two rivers are the source of my salary, if the two rivers are there, the military salary will be sufficient, and if you are not careful, you will lose all the plates, please think about it again.

Li Hongzhang received Zeng Guofan's message, that is, he boldly marched north, and it was difficult to distinguish power and responsibility, and it was easy to become a constraint, causing thieves to overflow, but he did it.

The Empress Dowager Cixi took Zeng and Li Zuoyan, sighed, and was speechless.

After the Pheasant River set battle, the Twist Army was divided into two routes, and Zhang Zongyu, the king of Liang, rushed west into Henan, went around Zhoukou and Xinyang, and entered the territory of Xiangyang in northern Hubei Province. Zunwang Lai Wenguang and Lu Wang Renzhu joined hands with Beigu to coil in the border areas of Anhui, Henan, Jiangsu and Lu, waiting for the opportunity to move.

In late November 1865, Lai and Ren reinstated Zhang Zongyu's way, went around Zhoukou, forcibly crossed the Shahe River, and entered Hongji Bridge. The soldiers ran month by month, and the suffering was unspeakable.

King Lu Renzhu Jin: Liu Mingchuan demon child has been following for nearly three months, and now he has gathered on the other side of the Sha River, can he choose a place to encircle and annihilate him, so as to prevent future troubles.

Lai Wenguang said: Liu Demon has nearly 10,000 soldiers, foreign guns and foreign artillery, it is very difficult to stop, and if it is not the army of King Liang, it cannot be annihilated. Quickly send fast horses, report to King Liang, return to Yudi, and work together to chase demons.

Ren Zhudao: If Liu Demon's army crosses the river, will it fight?

Lai Wenguang said: Small shares gather to annihilate, and large shares avoid it; The art of war was halfway across the attack, passed on my military orders, stationed on the spot, buried the pot to make rice, relied on the sand river, and waited for the opportunity to fight.

Liu Mingchuan led the Ming army, slowly advanced, and at the end of December, chased to Shahe.

Zhang Shushan, the commander of the tree army, stationed in Zhoukou, came to give a speech: the year before last, Lai Thief led the bandit army west into Hanzhong, all the way, invincible; Now that the monk king is besieged and killed, the provincial commander should not take it lightly.

Liu Zhibu's generals Tang Diankui, Liu Shengzao, and Liu Shengxiu all said: Don't chase after a long time and become poor.

Liu Ming preached; Don't I know that the thief is the old way to lure me to regain the monk's residence! Knowing oneself and knowing that the other is invincible, the thief reverts to the old rut, I am different, and I am slow to advance and fight; The army crossed in the dark tonight, and the morning surrounded the rebels.

Zhang Shushan said: The thief ride is erratic, but I am waiting, and the military generals are ashamed! I immediately told Di Shuai, and also became a guerrilla to fight thieves.

At dawn the next day, the Ming army forcibly crossed the Shahe River, with 4,000 foreign guns and 300 huge cannons, firing a salvo and bombarding.

Twisting the army horse team, thousands of horses rushed together, roaring out, the front team slammed to the ground, the rear team followed up, the rear team pounced on the ground, and there were multiple rear teams advancing, so repeated more than a dozen times, thousands of people have fallen to the ground; Lai Wenguang did not dare to fight again, and the rest of the troops pretended to cross the river to attack Zhoukou, and suddenly went south into Hubei again, looking for Zhang Zongyu, the king of Liang.

In January 1866, Lai Wenguang and Ren Zhulian Ke Macheng and Huangpi were one step away from Wuhan.

Co-organizer of the university scholar, the former governor of Huguang and the official Wen rushed to Jing, Xiang, Ning, and Hubei counties, and galloped to help.

Liang Hongsheng, the chief soldier, did not let go of much, and immediately followed the order. Liang Hongsheng was originally under the command of Li Xubin and Ding Ruiyi, and he fought with Li and Ding for many years.

Lai Wenguang used static braking, set up an ambush on the outskirts of Huangpi City, and besieged and killed more than 3,000 people under Liang Hongsheng.

The official text was frightened, and the two palaces were in a hurry, and Wuhan was in an emergency; reconsulted Zeng Guofan, and divided troops to aid Hubei; urged Zeng Guoquan to go to work quickly.

Zeng Guofan received the consultation, replied to Liu Mingchuan, and the horses, infantry, artillery and baggage teams marched forward in a hurry, choosing the opportunity to gather and annihilate.

Liu Mingchuan was noncommittal, and still walked slowly. In mid-March, they arrived at Huangpi, rested for a while, set up cannons and guns, and surrounded the city walls.

Lai Wenguang resisted stubbornly for a day, abandoned the city to the north, and moved from eastern Henan to northern Anhui into southern Lunan, turning the tide of time, and finally met with Zhang Zongyu, the king of Liang, in Puyang at the end of April.

Lai and Zhang met each other, and they were embarrassed.

Lai Wenguang said: Liu Mingchuan Demon Er artillery is very good, and it is really difficult to stop; Brother Yu Yuncheng defeated the two demons of Pan Dingxin and Li Zhaoqing, captured a lot of explosives and foreign guns, and no one could match the brother's combat power.

Zhang Zongyu said: Brother Liang said that after saying goodbye to his brother, I and King Jing and others traveled to dozens of places, fought dozens of battles, lost thousands of soldiers, and lost thousands of soldiers. Yuncheng's small victory was really a surprise and a sudden attack.

Lai Wenguang said: In today's situation, only by working together to break the big demon stock can we make a difference.

Zhang Zongyu said: We are combined into one, that is, we swim and attack, and then in the Yuncheng area of Lunan City, encircle the point to send reinforcements, and choose the opportunity to gather and annihilate most of the Huai Demon.