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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 170: The only solution for now

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    Zuo Zongtang in the main tent was also shocked when he heard this. He hurriedly took the letter and glanced at it for a few times, then lost his voice and said: "The imperial guard of the Qing Dynasty actually went south to Shanghai? Shangyu backup place? Isn't it the sticky pole place originally established by Emperor Yongzheng?  ?¡±

    "Xiao Yungui seems to not know what sticks are sticky, nor does he know what Shangyu's backup is. He only cares about the one person mentioned in the letter, Rong Lu!  This Empress Dowager was a popular figure next to Empress Dowager Cixi. It was Ronglu and Yuan Shikai who caused the failure of the Hundred Days Reform.

    "Shangyu's spare place? Sticking rod place? What is it?" Xiao Yungui didn't understand. Zuo Zongtang told the origins of the sticky rod place and Shangyu's spare place. At the same time, he also told some secrets circulating in the market. Xiao Yungui just  He came to understand: "It turns out he is a blood droplet. If you had said he was a blood droplet earlier, I would have understood." Then he said to himself: "So Ronglu was also a blood droplet?"

    Zuo Zongtang frowned and said: "The blood drop is just a rumor among the people, and the sticking point is its correct name."

    ?????

    Zuo Zongtang mused: "The Shanghai Knife Club and other gang members must save us, otherwise we will lose a big helping hand when we capture Shanghai."

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Exactly, but we are attacking Suzhou now, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang are attacking Hangzhou, and the rest of the troops cannot get away, so we can only let Tong Qiangsheng lead Bai Zetang's brothers to inform the Xiaodao Association as soon as possible.  I hope they can receive the news and start an attack in advance, so that they can catch Qing Yao off guard. If necessary, Guiyun Company, which has already established a foreign company in Shanghai, can also cooperate"

    Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang did not know that the Qing court was borrowing troops from foreigners, and they just asked Tong Qiangsheng to send the news to Xiaodao Hui.  After Tong Qiangsheng received Xiao Yungui's instructions, he immediately looked for Liu Lichuan, the leader of the Little Sword Society, and later found out that Liu Lichuan had left the city for Tangwan.  Tangwan is the territory of the Qingpu Anti-Food Rebels. Liu Lichuan went there to contact the local rebels, so Tong Qiangsheng was ready to rush to Tangwan to report the news.

    Before leaving, cousin Bai Ze, who was watching Ronglu and others, came back injured to report. The following brothers were spotted by the court's eagle dogs. Three people died and only two escaped.  But the news they brought back surprised Tong Qiangsheng. The Qing government actually borrowed troops from foreigners to deal with the Xiaodao Gui in the city, and Ronglu personally led a group of foreign soldiers to Tangwan to capture the leader of the guild.

    Tong Qiangsheng did not dare to neglect, so he had to order someone to send a message to Xi Wang. He quickly left the city and rushed to Tangwan with his men to rescue Liu Lichuan and others.

    After the British Minister Wenhan left Nanjing, Xiao Yungui divided his troops into two groups and began the Eastern Expedition. One group was led by Xiao Yungui himself, accompanied by Zuo Zongtang and Hong Yun'er, and Ji Wenyuan and Lin Qirong as generals, leading 25,000 troops.  Attack Dantu, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and other places.  On the other hand, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang commanded 30,000 troops to attack Jintan, Liyang, Yixing, Huzhou, Hangzhou, and Jiaxing.  The two armies agreed that after capturing Suzhou and Hangzhou, they would encircle Shanghai from Suzhou and Jiaxing, and finally meet in Shanghai.

    As the armies of the Heavenly King and the East King arrived in Wuhu, all the West Palace troops in the city along the river withdrew eastward, and the West Palace generals who were guarding various places returned to the West King's command. Only Li Yiwen's troops were a little further away and did not catch up with the Eastern Campaign.  The king ordered Li Yiwen to guard Nanjing and wait for the arrival of the armies of the Heavenly King and the Eastern King.  Zhenjiang and Guazhou were guarded by two generals, Luo Daguang and Zhu Xineng respectively. Shuiying and Shuiying were all stationed in Zhenjiang. Most of the Shuiying ships did not participate in the Eastern Expedition.

    After Xiao Yungui led his troops eastward, there was little resistance from the Qing army along the way. It turned out that the commander of the Qing army, Xiang Rong, felt that his troops were insufficient. Faced with the fierce offensive of the Taiping Army from two directions, he had to retreat to important cities and wait for reinforcements.  Xiang Rong's arrangement was also to divide the troops into two groups. One group was led by Zhang Guoliang and the new Jiangsu Governor Xu Naizhao and others to retreat to Suzhou. The other group was led by him personally and guarded Hangzhou together with Hangzhou General Du Xing'a.  Xiang Rong wanted to use the cities along the way to thin the strength of the Taiping Army, and then have a decisive battle with the two menacing Taiping Army under the strong city.

    However, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang did not divide their forces thinly. The cities captured along the way, such as Dantu, Changzhou, and Wuxi, were all garrisoned by soldiers and horses from the West Palace who arrived from Nanjing. Li Yiwen deployed troops and horses to garrison the captured cities while preparing  Welcome the Heavenly King and the Eastern King.  The two Eastern Expedition Brigades did not divide their forces thinly. In just over ten days, Xiao Yungui had already reached the walls of Suzhou, and Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang had also reached the walls of Hangzhou.

    Jiangsu Governor Xu Naizhao and Zhang Guoliang's Qing troops retreated to Suzhou early. Before arriving in Suzhou, Zhang Guoliang used his many years of experience in fighting the Taiping Army and ordered Ma Dezhao, the commander-in-chief of Daming Town, to "order the civilians to dress first, relocate them second, and set fires the third."  Prepare to burn the residences outside the city to ashes to prevent the Taiping Army from using these residences and cottages to approach the city wall and attack the city.

    Ma Dezhao complied with the order and set fire. In an instant, the area from Nanhao Street, Shantang to Huqiu outside Changmen, and from Zhongshi Street to Jiejiaqiao and Wuqiu Square outside ChangmenAll the shops were reduced to ashes, and some guerrillas from the Qing army took the opportunity to loot. All the people of Suzhou were forced to move into the city, and for a while the people complained.

    After Xiao Yungui's troops arrived, they started a battle with Zhang Guoliang's Qing army to compete for the camp in a dangerous location outside the city.  During this expedition, Xiao Yungui divided the foreign cannons he received from Wen Han into two parts. One set of seven cannons was given to Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang for use, and the remaining ten went with him on the expedition.  After arriving at the Suzhou City, Xiao Yungui ordered the artillery team to deploy the foreign cannons and blast the Qing army's camps outside the city in important places such as Shantang and Huqiu.

    The foreign gun on the Hamils ??was a 24-pound breech-loading rifled gun that was the mainstream equipment of the British Navy at that time.  In 1846, Italian Major Cavelli created a breech-loaded rifled artillery with two rotating rifle lines carved into the barrel and loaded with cylindrical shells in the breech, which made a revolutionary leap in artillery technology.  Soon, the British gunmaker Whitworth also produced a breech-loading rifled gun, but he used a spiraling hexagonal bore instead of a rotating rifle.  Compared with the front-loading cannon, the breech-loading cannon changes from muzzle loading to breech loading, which increases the firing speed; it has a complete locking gun door and tight plug, which solves the problem of the front-loading cannon having a shell diameter smaller than the fire envelope.  The problem of leakage of gunpowder gas caused by the caliber; spiral rifling is carved into the barrel, and pointed cylinder fixed shells are fired at the same time, so that the shells have a stable trajectory after being fired, improving the hit accuracy and increasing the  It can be used to load artillery shells in forts, including land combat bunkers and warship service warehouses, which is convenient and safe.  The British army began to install breech-loading rifled artillery in 1850. Of course, it started with the British Empire Navy, which they were proud of. The artillery on the Hamils ??was replaced with this kind of breech-loading rifled artillery in 1851.

    Due to the long range and high precision of the newly acquired artillery of the Taiping Army, the Qing troops in Shantang and Huqiu could not withstand it. After a day and night of fierce fighting, the Qing troops outside the city suffered heavy casualties. The remaining troops dispersed or surrendered, and only a thousand Qing troops retreated.  Inside the city.  After clearing the outskirts of Suzhou, Xiao Yungui sent his army to surround Suzhou City and prepared to attack the city.

    On the first day when he started bombarding the Suzhou city wall, Xiao Yungui received a letter from Tong Qiangsheng. Knowing that the Qing army had begun to mobilize the Guangdong Navy to move north, he immediately understood that he would quickly capture Suzhou and then move his army to Shanghai. Only after capturing Shanghai,  Only then can we get more arms from foreigners, and with more new cannons and muskets can we resist the red single ships of the Guangdong Navy.

    So the next day, Xiao Yungui ordered all the troops to strengthen their offensive, and the artillery was fired at the city wall as if it was free of charge.  While the fight was going on happily, Xiao Yungui received news from Bai Zetang again. When he opened the letter, Xiao Yungui could not help but be furious. These foreign devils had just signed a treaty with him and returned to Shanghai to lend troops to the Qing army to help suppress the war.  Damn, what a bunch of treacherous villains!

    "Fucking foreign devils! A bunch of scoundrels! Treacherous scoundrels! You can't give birth to a son without an asshole!" A series of vicious curse words jumped out of Xiao Yungui's mouth. This guy had always had a loud voice, which frightened Zuo Zongtang next to him.  After a jump, Zuo Zongtang asked why. Xiao Yungui handed Bai Zetang's letter to Zuo Zongtang.

    After Zuo Zongtang looked at it, he laughed instead of being angry. Xiao Yungui asked curiously: "Why are you laughing?"

    Zuo Zongtang took a deep breath and sighed: "King of the West, King of the West, you are a person who does important things. You should also know about intrigues. Whether the foreign devils betray the treaty or abide by the treaty, that is someone else's business. You  You cannot place your hopes on others. As the saying goes, how can everyone be of the same mind? How can everything go as planned? When encountering setbacks and betrayals, instead of getting angry and swearing, it is better to think about how to solve the problem. The general of one army, the commander of another  , We should have the courage to remain unchanged despite the collapse of Mount Tai, so that the people below will have the confidence, so that no matter what happens to us, we will have the confidence to solve it."

    Xiao Yungui touched his chin thoughtfully. As expected of Zuo Zongtang, he really spoke well. In times of trouble, such intrigues and betrayal should be commonplace. He has seen it many times in later generations.  You really shouldn't lose your temper like this.  As the commander-in-chief of an army, he really cannot lose his calm judgment because of anger.

    At that moment, Xiao Yungui took a deep breath and smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Zuo, for reminding me." Then he took the letter and read it carefully. The more he read, the more he felt something was wrong. He looked up and saw Zuo Zongtang smiling without saying a word.  Xiao Yungui frowned and said: "This matter is very strange. It stands to reason that if Wen Han and others really want to borrow the help of his master to help Qingyao come to fight us, he doesn't have to go to Nanjing to sign any treaty with us. If he wants to  They deceived us and set a trap. The time to fall out was when we arrived in Shanghai and were unprepared for the foreign soldiers, and suddenly launched an attack. Why are we sending troops to help eliminate the monsters with great fanfare now?"

    Zuo Zongtang stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The letter said that the foreign devils helped the Qing army to suppress the Xiaodao Hui. The Xiaodao Hui was not our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Of course the foreign devils didn't need to pay attention. I guess the Qing government must have promised huge profits, so the foreign devils must have  I expected that without violating the neutrality treaty with my kingdom, I would receive generous gifts and stabilize the situation in Shanghai.They will naturally send troops to help suppress it.  "

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Yes, we have never told the foreign devils that the Xiaodao Society is our people. The Xiaodao Society will probably not admit that they are from the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom. They originated from the Tiandi Society, and maybe they still have  Their dream was to reverse the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty."

    Zuo Zongtang hummed and said: "I originally thought that when we invaded Shanghai, with the strength of our Heavenly Kingdom soldiers and the many generals, we would be able to conquer the Xiaodao Hui easily. But now it's good. Before we reach Shanghai, the Xiaodao Hui will be captured by the Qing court.  After the annihilation, why did the Qing court think of us going ahead this time?" Then he sighed softly and said: "The only plan now is to detach a light force to attack Shanghai, and also immediately find Wen Han, the foreign devil, and tell them that we  The Taiping Army is coming!"
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