Chapter 165: Zeng Guofan's Painting of the River Circle (7)

Zhang Zongyu swam across the Shahe River and rode west, Zeng Guofan was very angry, rushed to Zhoukou, and summoned Liu Mingchuan, Liu Songshan, Zhang Shiri, etc., to discuss the encirclement and suppression.

Zeng Guofan said: The Central Plains is flat, extending in all directions, this is the other, and the other cannot be punished, can the brothers have other strategies?

Liu Ming preached: Qi Yu Di Shuai, the two armies face each other, each set up a battle array, a clear gun and a knife, and the thief is not my opponent; It can rely on the natural danger of the Shahe River and the Jialu River to strangle the road of thieves to the east, and choose the opportunity to destroy them.

Zeng Guofan said: What does Shouqing mean?

Liu Songshan Road: Qi Yu Di Shuai, the Ming Sun Chuanting said, the suppression of the Liukou should be driven to the road of difficulty, taken from the day of death; If one or the other is this, the victory and defeat are between the arrows and stones, that is, the victory has nothing to do with the draw.

Zeng Guofan sighed and said: The third province and Shouqing are all reasonable, I plan to hold the Shahe River from below Zhoujiakou, and the Jialu River above Zhoujiakou, from the north of Zhuxian Town, to the south bank of the Yellow River, there is no water to strangle, and I plan to dig Hao to defend it, and dispatch the water division and the third provincial army, Sheng Chuan, and Shushan to strangle it in sections.

Liu Ming preached: Qi Yu is handsome, the defense line is 500 miles long, and our soldiers are not enough.

Zeng Guofan said: It's okay, I will consult the two ministers of Henan and Anhui to transfer troops to divide the guard. To the group of thieves fleeing south, not out of Nan, Ru, Gu, Huangzhou, Lu'an and other places, then Bao Chao's first army, Liu Bingzhang, Yang Dingxun and other Huai army, and Shouqing, Shiri's Hunan army is full of suppression.

Zhao Liewen said: Qi Yu Di Shuai, Yuan Fu came to consult, and his words were not in harmony with the official documents, but the two palaces sent Yuan Fu to Xiangyang to help with military affairs, Yuan Fu inquired?

Zeng Guofan said: The post of assistant minister is under the counselor and the minister, which is due to the official request. Supervising the same city, it is not easy to deal with, eventful autumn, must raise troops and salaries, in which the struggle for people and wealth is bound to be like the interweaving of water and fire. Consult Yuanfu quickly, don't eat bait, be a minister of the assistant, just keep the appointment.

After the words of the national domain, he immediately consulted the governor of Henan, Li Henian, on the policy of river defense, and replied: The measure of river defense is too long, and Liu Mingchuan, Pan Dingxin, and Zhang Shushan were sent to guard the land of 400 miles below Zhuxian Town, and let it be difficult.

Since Zhu Xianzhen and above, he has specially allocated troops in Henan, and has consulted Li Henian to temporarily garrison Bianliang, transfer back to various armies, and first handle defense affairs, and take charge of defense rather than suppression.

I am afraid that Li Henian will not be able to advance the opportunity of Mengton's troops, and if the river defense cannot be achieved in the future, the minister is willing to bear the blame alone and has nothing to do with Li Henian.

Li Henian received the consultation, considered it again and again, and replied: The 100-mile defense line of the Shahe River can be the foundation of the bandits; However, Song Qing and Ma Dezhao won consecutive victories in Shangcai, and whether Di Shuai could order all the armies of Xianghuai to quickly cross the Shahe River and encircle and suppress Zhang Zongyu's bandits.

Zeng Guofan received the consultation and said indignantly: Li Henian only cares about the present, which is very hateful. Liu Mingchuan said that if the Huai army did not hold the Shahe River and the Jialu River, if the thieves returned to the flat area in the northeast, wouldn't they be busy again in vain!

Zhao Liewen said: The five-hundred-mile defense line is too long, and the cavalry thieves are especially good at loitering.

Zeng Guofan said: If the thieves break through the defense line of the Shahe River, they will all flee eastward, and I will immediately resign. Although Lai Wenguang, Zhang Zongyu and others are rogues, they are actually thieves! It is wandering all over the sky, and it seems that there is no way, but it is actually ready to go, and choose the opportunity to take the head of my master! Passing on my military order, Liu Songshan and Zhang Shiri crossed the Shahe River quickly, and together with Song Qing and Ma Dezhao, they jointly suppressed Zhang Zongyu's bandits; The rest of the Ming, Ding, Shu, Sheng, Henan, and Anhui armies rushed to Shahe, Jialu River and Zhuxian Town to Kaifeng place, built a fortress in Junhao, and stifled the thieves to the east.

Liu Songshan and Zhang Shiri received the order and quickly crossed the river to chase after them.

Zhang Zongyu fought and retreated, and after two months, he finally found Lai Wenguang and Ren Zhu in the boundary of Yuzhou.

Lai Wenguang said: Zeng Demon relied on the Bailisha River, and if he wanted to put me, it was equivalent to death!

Zhang Zongyu said: After saying goodbye to Brother Zun, I joined King Jing and others to swim across the Shahe River, and successively fought in Xiping, Wanjinzhai, Shuangmiao, Honghe, Yuncheng, and Zhaoling, with fewer victories and more defeats; Liu Songshan, Song Qing, Zhang Shiri, Ma Dezhao, etc. are all demons! In the battle of Wanjinzhai, I set up an ambush in advance, and after the horse team attacked, I could not win; In the battle of Yuncheng, I strayed into the ambush circle, lost thousands of soldiers, and lost a great decline in combat power.

Lai Wenguang said: Brother Lu and I also have losses. The demon army is gathered here, I intend to quickly select the weak point of the demon river's defense, and quickly drive east into Lu.

Zhang Zongyu said: It is also a pleasure to drive west into Shaanxi, meet the local rebels, and resist the Qing demon together.

Lai Wenguang said: In the past two years, he has fought more than 40 battles with Zeng Demon's army, and the victory and defeat are mixed, and it is difficult to distinguish between them; People say that the dagger is poor, I am less than one percent, the main force is still there, the picture is not exhausted, do not retreat, re-enter Ludi, search for fighters, and cut off the head of Liu Demon dog.

In late September 1866, Lai Wenguang and Zhang Zongyu led their troops to bypass Liu Mingchuan and Pan Dingxinhuai's army, and defeated the six battalions of the Henan army from Luhuagang north of Zhuxian Town, crossed Chenliu, and then entered Shandong.

When Zeng Guofan heard the news, he was stunned, and he had no choice but to say: The bandits were back and fled eastward, and the river defense was unsuccessful, so Liu Mingchuan and Pan Dingxin were dispatched to Shandong to pursue and suppress, and Liu Songshan and Zhang Shiri went to Henan to intercept them.

After more than a year, the ministers still had no effect, and they were extremely ashamed, so they asked Li Hongzhang to take the governor of Liangjiang to go out of Xuzhou and set up the East Road with Shandong Fuchen; Zeng Guoquan, a minister of Fuzhou, Hubei, moved to Nanyang with a customs defense, and set up a west road with Fuchen in Henan; The minister is now stationed in Zhoujiakou, living in several provinces, and he can communicate with each other and breathe.

Defending the Shahe River and the Jialu River is the most clumsy policy of the system, but it is difficult to control the Liukou, so he has to make this strategy as a last resort. This time, the bandits fled eastward, out of the flood land of the Henan army, or it was inevitable to blame the Fuchen Li Henian. I would like to express my fair opinion, and I sincerely grant it a temporary exemption, in order to work together in harmony and plan for the future with one heart.

The Empress Dowager Cixi took over and said: The twisting bandits overflowed, which was expected; Li Chenhongzhang and Zeng Chenguo immediately took the governor to take care of the customs defense, and divided Xuzhou and Nanyang, and dispatched the Rong machine.

Empress Dowager Ci'an said: Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guoquan are all here, and Xianghuai is at the same time, which can be strangled. The two provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu and the places of Ningxia were particularly chaotic after the death of Duogong Long'a. Lei Zhengwan and Cao Kezhong defeated Jinji Fort and collapsed; Duxing'a and Mu Tushan are blunt soldiers in Ningxia, and it is difficult to make a difference; Liu Rong was hopeless in Shaanxi, and repeatedly begged for vacancies due to illness; The reason for the Lanzhou mutiny was Yang Yuebin's uneven salary. Du Xing'a, Liu Rong, Yang Yuebin and others have been in Shaanxi for many years, but they are not able to turn the tide, and they are helpless.

Prince Gong said: If it is not a minister who knows the soldiers and the people, he can only eliminate the Shaanxi and Gansu rebellion.

Empress Dowager Cixi said: The Lanzhou mutiny is not an overnight accumulation; Yang Yuebin had no eyes for the imperial court, demolished the officials without permission, and was guilty of no guilt, so he was demoted to the third grade and retained; Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, was appointed as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and galloped to the west to fight the chaos; Before Zuo Zongtang arrived, Mu Tushan temporarily acted as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. The post of governor of Shaanxi was established by Qiao Song, the governor of Anhui; Liu Rong did not retreat from Xiaoxiao, and stayed in Shaanxi to govern the army.

Yi Xun Dao: Zeng Guofan, Li Hezhang, and Zuo Zongtang suppressed rebellion, and established Jinling Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, Shanghai Machinery Bureau, and Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau. The Jinling and Shanghai Second Bureaus, following the example of foreigners, have already started to manufacture guns and ammunition. However, Zuo Zongtang's Fuzhou Bureau is built at this age, and a hundred ends are waiting to be lifted; If Zuo Zongtang goes to Shaanxi, the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau may be unsustainable.

Empress Dowager Cixi said: There are priorities, Zuo Chen eliminated the rebels, returned to Zhejiang and Fujian, and reopened the ship.