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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 140: Unstoppable

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    On the tenth day of the first lunar month of the third year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty and the sixteenth day of the first lunar month of the third year of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Army of the West Palace of Yuezhou commanded 30,000 troops and tens of thousands of civilians and family members, claiming to be a force of 100,000, and attacked Wuchang from Yuezhou.  Down the river, the wind traveled six hundred miles, and on the vast river, I saw the banners of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom covering the sun, and thousands of ships floating on the river. When traveling, their sails were like piles of snow, and when they were living, they were like clumps of reeds.  There were more than 10,000 infantry troops on both sides of the Jiajiang River following them. As they advanced by land and water, they were always driven forward by the wind, and the Qing troops on both sides of the Jiajiang River dispersed like birds and beasts.

    When the Qing court heard the news, the whole country was shocked. Under Xianfeng's strict decree, Xu Guangjin, the governor of Huguang and the imperial minister, hurriedly dispatched 6,000 Qing troops from Qin Dingsan, Chang Lu, and Wang Jinxiu in the direction of Liling to aid Hubei.  The Taiping Rebellion's naval fleet of nearly 10,000 ships completely controlled the river. Qin Dingsan, Chang Lu, Wang Jinxiu and other pursuing troops could only take the land route from Jiangxi to Hubei. When they reached the river, they could not even find ships to transport troops.  Able to pursue along the south coast.  .

    A few days later, Taiping Army forward Li Kaifang's 3,000 troops arrived at Jinkou, the gateway to Wuchang. Zhou Hexiang, the magistrate of Jinkou County, led a regiment of 400 troops to resist.  Although Zhou Hexiang was loyal and brave, the gap in strength was too big and the Qing army could not match it. After more than 200 people were killed, the Qing army collapsed. Zhou Hexiang, the magistrate of Jinkou County, was killed along with the county magistrate, Dian Shi and Qian Zong, and Li Kaifang's troops lost dozens of people.  .  After Xiao Yungui arrived at Chrysostom, he learned that Zhou Hexiang had always been an honest official, so he ordered him to be buried generously.

    Although Zhou Hexiang was unable to resist the Taiping Army in the West Palace, he delayed the Taiping Army's offensive and bought some precious time for the Qing army to pursue their troops.  General Qin Dingsan of the Qing Army pursued and defeated Taiping Army Ji Wenyuan's rear team in the West Palace. The two sides fought a bloody battle, each suffering injuries.  Seeing how powerful the thieves were, Qin Dingsan did not dare to approach too closely, so he had to follow Ji Wenyuan slowly.

    Chang Lu and Wang Jinxiu took another land route and led three thousand troops to arrive. However, they were ambushed by Li Yiwen, the Taiping Army of the West Palace on the right wing, and more than half of them were lost.  The second general was defeated and had to lead more than a thousand remaining troops to Wuchang. Fortunately, several reinforcements from neighboring provinces arrived in Wuchang within a few days to set up defenses. The Qing army in Wuchang was slightly stronger, unlike the original few hundred regiments.

    Xiao Yungui led his army to advance rapidly, and the West Palace Taiping Army entered Xianning. There were many cultural relics in Xianning, which were supposed to be "monster traces" that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wanted to eradicate. However, Xiao Yungui ordered the Taiping Army not to set fire to them, which caused the city offices, martial arts temples and  The first mountain Zifu Temple, Anlan Palace and other places of interest have been preserved.  The Taiping Army had strict military discipline, but some rogues took advantage of the situation to rob them along the way. The Taiping Army beheaded all of them in public display.  The Taiping Army also strictly enforces military discipline when its own soldiers make mistakes, but if they disturb the people, they will be beheaded in public.  Therefore, wherever the Taiping Army in the West Palace passed through, although countless cities were destroyed, the people did not suffer much harm.  After the city was broken, the Taiping Army instead opened the treasury to distribute food to the poor people, and punished local corrupt officials and bullies. For a time, the people of Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces were like rain, and every place they passed was greeted by baskets and pots.

    Three days later, the vanguard of the West Palace Taiping Army led by Li Kaifang landed at the famous Guishan in Hanyang, defeated 800 defenders, and then invaded Fucheng. Prefect Dong Zhenduo led dozens of officials and died in street fighting with the West Palace Taiping Army. The Taiping Army captured Hanyang.  .

    Hubei Governor Chang Dachun, Hubei Admiral Shuangfu, Commander-in-Chief Chang Lu, Wang Jinxiu and others only had 3,000 troops stationed in Wuchang. There were no troops in other places. In Hankou, a famous trading town, there was not a single soldier. The West Palace was peaceful.  With the secret support of He Yuanlun and others from the Baoqing Chamber of Commerce, the army successfully entered Hankou, inspected shops related to the Qing army, and obtained a large amount of property.  After the rectifications in Hankou and Hanyang, Xiao Yungui made another windfall and at the same time supported Guiyun and Baoqing firms into the two largest local firms.  At the same time, along the way, more and more poor people joined the army. After arriving in Hankou, the army expanded by more than 20,000 people. The number of the Taiping Army in the West Palace reached more than 50,000 people, and there were no less than 100,000 civilians, family members, and civilians accompanying the army.

    Due to the utterly confused command of Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei, the Taiping Army easily wiped out the outlying strongholds of Wuchang such as Hanyang and Hankou, leaving the Qing army in Hubei trapped in the isolated city of Wuchang, and the internal and external food and grass were cut off.

    At that time, the Qing army in the two lakes had no navy, and the Taiping army easily controlled the river.  Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang were able to calmly order Tang Zhengcai to preside over the construction of a pontoon bridge on the Hankou River to communicate the infantry operations south of the Yangtze River and north of the Yangtze River. At the same time, they set up formations in the north of the Yangtze River to cut off the Qing army's reinforcements and prepare to block the Qing army once reinforcements came from the north of the Yangtze River.  war.  Among the two pontoon bridges, one is from Parrot Island to Baisha Island, and the other is from Nan'an Mouth to the mouth of the embankment. Once the pontoon bridge is repaired, the Taiping Army will prepare to invade Wuchang.

    At first, Tang Zhengcai was eager for success and built the pontoon bridge quite quickly. He only used burlap cloth to connect the ships and built a simple pontoon bridge on the river in just one day.  But later it was discovered that this kind of pontoon bridge was easily torn apart by wind and waves. Xiao Yungui personally summoned Tang Zhengcai in front of the army, severely reprimanded him for his eagerness for quick success, and ordered him to supervise the construction and reconstruction of the pontoon bridge.

    Tang Zhengcai was so ashamed that he realized his shame and then had the courage to design a solid pontoon bridge. It used huge cables and large trees as the bridge base, covered it with wooden boards, and attached large iron anchors weighing three to four thousand kilograms. Although there were strong winds and waves,  Unable to move, people and horses come and go as if walking on flat ground.  After the pontoon bridge was built, Xiao Yungui went to the front of the army again.The three armies had previously publicly praised Tang Zhengcai and rewarded him with a promotion.  Tang Zhengcai was grateful. Then he realized that the King of the West was a man who would reward those who had merit and punish those who had made mistakes. Naturally, he was sincerely convinced.

    After the pontoon bridge connected the three towns of Wuhan, it was convenient for the West Palace Taiping Army to quickly deploy troops on the entire battlefield of the Wuchang Battle.  Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang were stationed in the Longevity Palace, commanding Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and Luo Ganggui to attack Wuchang. Ji Wenyuan and Li Yiwen occupied the back road and blocked the Qing army's reinforcements from Jiangxi.  In addition to the troops of the Taiping Army in the West Hall who went out to block reinforcements from the north and south, the remaining 30,000 troops encircled Wuchang by land and water. They occupied Boyu Mountain, Hongshan, Xiaogui Mountain, and Zijing Mountain in the east of the city. All the fortresses built by the Qing army were occupied by the Taiping Army, and they encircled Wuchang again.  The Wenchang, Wangshan, Baoan, Zhonghe, Binyang, Zhongxiao, Wusheng and other gates completely surrounded the Wuchang Qing army.

    Shuangfu, the governor of Wuchang and the governor of Hubei Province of the Qing army, is tied for the last IQ among the generals who have already appeared, together with his partner Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei.  After the two of them did the stupid thing of blocking the port at first, Shuangfu took advantage of the Taiping Army to rest in Yuezhou and ordered the Qing Army to build a large number of forts, fortifications, and barracks outside the city in preparation for a stubborn resistance outside the city.

    However, after the overwhelming Taiping Army arrived in the West Palace, Shuangfu seemed to have taken advantage of the power of the Taiping Army, and abandoned all the fortresses and dangerous points outside the city, and withdrew all the Qing troops outside the city into the city. As the commander-in-chief of Wuchang, he strictly prohibited Chang  Lu, Wang Jinxiu and other Qing reinforcements stationed at the fort outside the city not only wasted a lot of precious manpower and financial resources, but also benefited the enemy.  So Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Luo Gangtang and others effortlessly occupied the fortifications built for them by the Qing army outside the city, calmly set up artillery to attack the city, and obtained a camp for shelter and support, which made Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang overjoyed.

    No matter how hard you think about it, Xiao Yungui can't figure it out. Shuangfu's move is quite suspicious of Infernal Affairs. Could it be that this guy is in the Man camp and his heart is in the Han Dynasty?  Unable to figure it out, Xiao Yungui also ordered Li Kaifang to shoot several arrow letters to Shuangfu in Wuchang City, and the letters were quite intended to persuade them to surrender.  Who would have thought that in Shuangfu's reply, he cursed Xiao Yungui as a rebel without a king or a father, and that he was a loyal minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.  After reading the reply, Xiao Yungui was convinced that this guy's head must have been caught in the door.

    There are still many ordinary people living outside Wuchang City. Under normal circumstances, because the Manchus still have the name Zhengshuo and have a propaganda advantage, if the Qing army is not too ruthless and the rebel army is too benevolent, the people will be more  He habitually sided with the government.  Before the war started, the residents outside Wuchang City were hanging outside the city, fearing that they would be captured by the Taiping Army or suffer disaster during the attack. They all requested to enter the city to help the officers and soldiers defend the city.

    At this time, Chang Dachun and Shuangfu were confused again. They ordered the city gates to be closed tightly and no people were allowed to enter the city. They said they were afraid that long-haired spies would sneak in. At the same time, they ordered the Qing army to fire artillery and attack the city gates.  People outside.  Many people were disheartened and decided to join the Taiping Army.

    Chang Lu and Wang Jinxiu¡¯s reinforcements, who had participated in the Guilin and other battles, brought experience. The houses outside the city would be the cover for the Taiping Army¡¯s tunnel excavation and must be burned down.  Chang Dachun and Shuangfu ordered the residents to evacuate within three days. Unfortunately, before the three days came, they were afraid that the residents would not leave, so they set fire to the city first. The fire burned for six days and nights. Many people outside the city were burned to death.  All of them spontaneously became the siege guides of the Taiping Army.

    "There are no people in Hubei who can't see the name Chang Dachun without gnashing their teeth It's hard for the people to leave their homeland, so they only ask for three days' grace. Although the governor agreed to the request, he was also afraid that thieves and bandits would suddenly arrive. In the early hours of the night, everyone  Sleeping soundly, burned to ashes, with no regard for hundreds of millions of living beings." This was the memorial written by Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang after the war, to the Qing court. It can be seen that the stupid things Chang Dachun and Shuangfu did in Hubei broke the hearts of the people of Hubei Province.  But their stupidity didn't seem to be over yet, and they made even more foolhardy moves in the subsequent siege battle.

    Qin Dingsan led thousands of reinforcements to arrive outside Wuchang City, and immediately launched an army to storm the Taiping Army stronghold of the Jiwen Yuan tribe in Hongshan.  Under Ji Wenyuan's carelessness, the Hongshan stronghold was captured by Qin Ding and the Qing army, and he had to retreat slightly. He was scolded by Xiao Yungui afterwards.  But Qin Dingsan was not much better. He suffered heavy losses in the first battle at Hongshan, and then he had no choice but to be weak. He relied on Hongshan to attack the Taiping Army camp outside Wuchang several times, but was defeated by Ji Wenyuan and Li Yiwen. He was unable to enter Wuchang.  There is no way to open a road under the city, so we can only offer support from afar.

    Before dawn the next day, Ji Wenyuan gathered all the troops and horses, and took advantage of the situation before dawn when the men and horses were exhausted to counterattack Hongshan.  Qin Ding's three Qing troops could not stop them and were driven out of Hongshan by Ji Wenyuan. The Taiping Army recaptured the Hongshan stronghold.  Seeing that the momentum was not good, Qin Dingsan had to retreat.

    At the same time, because Shuangfu and Chang Dachun foolishly abandoned their strongholds outside Hanyang, Hankou and Wuchang, the Taiping Army had completely surrounded the isolated city of Wuchang. The defenders in the city had nothing to rely on, and there was no danger for reinforcements outside the city. The Taiping Army also blocked the river.  , pontoon bridges were built, and reinforcements came and went continuously. Wuchang had no famous generals to guard the interior, and no elite troops to assist outside. Food and grass were cut off, and the people were resentful. They saw that Wuchang was a dead city.  As previously estimated, the Qing army along the Yangtze River was insufficient in strength and its generals were inexperienced. The Taiping Army entered Wuchang with overwhelming force, and its advance was surprisingly slow.Everyone in the Taiping Army in the West Palace agreed that it was God's will. Even the few generals in the East Palace who had some concerns at first gave up their doubts. Faced with the impending capture of the second provincial capital, everyone was happy and excited.
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