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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 220: Battle of Xukou

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    It was late at night. After a busy day during the day, Xiao Yungui felt very tired, but he couldn't fall asleep. He simply got up and dressed again, and took the West Palace counselor to the main hall of Huqiu Villa.

    This place was set up as the general camp by the Suzhou Taiping Army. Inside, Zuo Zongtang and a group of people in the west hall who were writing books and joining the army were busy busy.  From time to time, generals or lieutenants from various departments in the West Palace come and go, all coming to apply for supplies or request to leave the team.  Groups of people came one after another in the entire main hall. Zuo Zongtang and others always discussed and handled everything properly. All kinds of affairs around Suzhou were handled here, and there were even guards from Wuxi and other places.  Zuo Zongtang would always give instructions after carefully reviewing some of the matters he came to ask for orders. He also ordered his subordinates to transcribe the official documents. He would summarize these large and small matters and report them to Xiao Yungui for reading every day.  When Zuo Zongtang encountered a major event and couldn't make up his mind, he would personally lead the generals who came to report to the King of the West to make a decision.  The entire West Palace operates in this way, maintaining the handling of military and political affairs in the three lines and rear areas such as Wuxi.

    Fortunately, Zuo Zongtang was there to share Xiao Yungui's worries, otherwise those trivial matters would have annoyed Xiao Yungui to death. Xiao Yungui planned to adjust the administrative and military systems of the West Palace after the Jiangsu Southern Campaign, and completely separate the administrative and military affairs.  Separated, the main logistics library and the main staff library were established separately to share the pressure on Zuo Zongtang.

    Seeing Xiao Yungui strolling into the main hall, the busy people in the hall stopped what they were doing and stood up to salute the King of the West.

    Zuo Zongtang stood up and came over, bowed and said: "King Xi, it's okay to have Zuo here. You can go back and rest. You haven't slept a wink all day and night."

    Xiao Yungui smiled slightly, looked at Zuo Zongtang's red eyes and said, "Sir, you are actually working harder than me." Then he asked, "Have you arranged for a midnight snack? We have dispatched doctors and doctors from various places, as well as medicinal materials, money and food.  These things cannot be done in a short while. If you stay up late for a long time, you still need to eat something and rest."

    Zuo Zongtang nodded and said: "Zuo understands that the manpower of the West Palace Library has been divided into two batches for rotation, so it will not be too tiring. King Xi, after counting, the materials that can be mobilized from various places have been basically sorted out, and the official documents have been  Send it out and let various places prepare materials for transportation. There are still some materials that need to be purchased and transported from various places, and the required silver has also begun to be allocated. It is estimated that the first batch of medicinal materials, money and food will arrive in three days, and it will not delay our entry into Suzhou."

    Xiao Yungui chuckled and said sincerely: "Mr. Zuo, please do your work. I can rest assured. It's just that you are better than you are now. It's better to do everything yourself, but don't tire yourself out. Like Zhuge Liang, he was not beaten by the enemy."  On the contrary, I am exhausted. I want to transfer Wang Kaiyun from Wuxi to help Mr. Wuxi. The matter in Wuxi is almost settled, and Li Shourong should be able to take care of it on his own. "

    Zuo Zongtang shook his head and said: "Li Shourong went to Changzhou, Jintan, Jiangyin and other places to prepare for the supply of troops and food. He won't be able to come back for a while. Wuxi still needs Wang Kaiyun to take charge of the matter. We have generals in the West Palace who are good at recruiting and fighting.  There are quite a few, but there are just a few civil servants and capable people."

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "Yes, I still have fewer scholars under my command. I am also looking for talents everywhere. I even want to ask the King of Heaven and the King of the East to open a subject to recruit scholars. Unfortunately, water from far away cannot quench the thirst of near, but this time  During the trip to Shanghai, I still found a few talented people, such as Li Shanlan, Xu Shou, Hua Hengfang, Wang Libin and others who were also well versed in Chinese and Western studies. However, I thought that the war was tight and did not let them come.  "

    Zuo Zongtang yelled, "Li Shanlan? But Li Qiuren from the Yuanhu Yin Society?" Xiao Yungui nodded.  Zuo Zongtang continued: "It turns out it's him. This person is proficient in the study of arithmetic. He is indeed a talented person. I heard that he dabbled in the study of speech and exegesis, but he was not as good as arithmetic, so he was very dedicated to arithmetic. That's also true.  After failing several times, he finally concentrated on studying arithmetic in the Shanghai Maritime Library. Being able to ask him to come out will really help us a lot in coordinating the counting work."

    Xiao Yungui chuckled and said: "Letting Li Shanlan do the iron abacus thing is overqualified. I plan to set up a school and teach more people to learn his skills. Then our West Palace will have more and more talents in the future, and we don't have to worry about nothing."  People are available.¡±

    While the two were talking, spies from the two camps at Hushu Pass and Wenchang Pavilion suddenly came to report that Qing troops had broken into the camp at night and seemed to want to break out and escape.

    Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang looked at each other, and they both exclaimed at the same time: "Zhang Guoliang wants to escape!"

    The two of them walked quickly to the map of Suzhou hanging in the hall. Zuo Zongtang said anxiously: "During the day, we sent people to shoot many letters of surrender into the city. We thought that there was a plague in the city and the Qing army should be unable to fight and surrender."  It was more likely, but I didn¡¯t expect that Zhang Guoliang would break through before the deadline.¡±

    Xiao Yungui touched his nose and smiled and said: "This guy knows that he has a lot of blood debt on his hands. Although our surrender letter said that he would surrender and avoid death, he was afraid that we would settle the score later, so he simply broke out overnight, just hoping to? Got a life to go.  "

    Zuo Zongtang looked at the map and muttered: "This is a good plan. He broke out from Xushuguan in the northwest. He thought that we would heavily prepare the Qing army to break through to Taihu Lake in the southwest. There wouldn't be too many troops deployed in the northwest, so he took the risk."  Break out to the northwest, hoping to break out and escape along the canal and Suzhou River to Shanghai."

    But Xiao Yungui shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple."

    Zuo Zongtang said oh, and Xiao Yungui continued: "Xushuguan in the northwest is an important pass for our army to lead to Wuxi. Zhang Guoliang will not know that we will definitely guard our grain road with heavy troops. I guess this Qing army  It's just a feint, Zhang Guoliang's real direction of breakthrough is Taihu Lake! Moreover, it is best to have several soldiers and horses break out in different directions so that the enemy can't figure out the direction of the key breakthrough. At present, there is only one Qing army heading towards it.  It is unusual to break through from the northwest. Let the soldiers and horses from Xushuguan and Wenchang Pavilion strictly guard the fortresses, and do not act rashly for the time being."

    Zuo Zongtang nodded and said: "The King of the West has carefully considered it. Although it is risky to go to Taihu Lake in the southwest, as long as Zhang Guoliang can escape into Taihu Lake and the vast waters there, it will be difficult for our army to pursue him. Zhang Guoliang is the most capable."  It is still possible to break out towards Taihu Lake."

    Xiao Yungui no longer hesitated, and immediately ordered someone to send an order to Chen Yucheng, who was leading the patrol, asking him to lead his troops to the southwest to guard the Taiping Army barracks in Xukou, Yuexi and other places from Suzhou to Taihu Lake.  The troops living in Zhang Guoliang broke out to the southwest.  At the same time, Xiao Yungui ordered dozens of naval warships on standby in the Xushuguan Canal to rush from the Wusong River to the surface of Taihu Lake to intercept the Qing army.

    Sure enough, an hour later, spies from Chen Yucheng's department reported that a large group of Qing troops had broken through in the southwest of Suzhou. The two armies had engaged in battle at night. The Qing troops were attacking Xukou Town with the intention of opening a passage to escape to Taihu Lake.

    Xiao Yungui rubbed his hands and smiled and said: "The big fish finally took the bait. I ordered Ji Wenyuan to lead five thousand men and horses to outflank him from behind, and then ordered the naval warships to search the lake. I must catch Zhang Guoliang!"

    After receiving the order, the soldiers left quickly. Xiao Yungui walked around and could no longer sit still. He sat down and drank strong tea, then stood up and said to Zuo Zongtang: "Mr. Zuo, I'd better take people to the battlefield.  I'll leave it to you here. Since Zhang Guoliang wants to escape and Xu Naizhao can't survive alone, he may open the city and surrender tomorrow. We must make preparations for entering the city overnight. There is a plague in the city. It is not appropriate to send too many soldiers and horses into the city. Soldiers entering the city  The number of horses is three thousand. We will wait until we find out the severity of the epidemic in the city before taking the next step. However, we must strictly guard the six city gates and not allow people in the city to come out at will to prevent the spread of the epidemic."

    Zuo Zongtang knew that the King of the West would not be able to sit still if there was a battle, so he smiled slightly and said: "Don't worry, King of the West, Zuo will definitely do his job here, Zhang Guoliang must be captured, and if he is allowed to escape,  , I¡¯m afraid those brothers who died in the battle will not be able to rest in peace until they know it.¡±

    Xiao Yungui nodded and walked out of the hall, shouting loudly to the guards of the West Hall who were lighting torches: "Qing Yao Zhang Guoliang and Zhang Yao are trying to escape. You and I will go and catch this bastard!"

    The guards of the West Hall responded loudly, held up torches and cheered. They followed Xiao Yungui out of the other courtyard and mounted their horses at the outer camp. Xiao Yungui led more than 300 horses and roared towards Xukou Town.

    Accompanied by the moonlight along the way, Taiping Army torches danced like fire dragons from various camps on the ground towards Xukou Town. It seemed that after receiving the general's order, each camp separated its troops and marched towards Xukou Town.  Looking around, several fire dragons rolled forward, and from time to time the angry shouts of Taiping Army generals could be heard: "Go out to Xukou Town and capture Yaotou Zhang alive!"

    The guards of the West Palace led by Xiao Yungui galloped in carrying the banner of the King of the West. Whenever other Taiping Army teams passed by for reinforcements, the team would burst into loud cheers, and they would speed up and run towards Xukou Town unconsciously.

    A few miles away from Xukou, Xiao Yungui heard the thundering sound of fighting over there. Xiao Yungui knew that the Qing army Zhang Guoliang was going to fight to the death and must have risked his life, while the Taiping army was going to fight for the last time.  The brothers who died in the battle avenged themselves and vowed not to let a single Qing soldier go, so the two sides fought fiercely.

    Because it was dark night and after a heavy rain, both sides lost a lot of gunpowder and firearms. In the sound of fighting, there were not many sounds of guns and artillery, but several artillery pieces of the Taiping Army in Xukou Town still made their sounds.  , these artillery pieces were firing cannonballs at the densest concentration of torches of the Qing army.

    After galloping up to a high ground, Xiao Yungui opened his monocular and looked at it. The torches of the Qing army began to loosen. After several rounds of artillery, the Qing army that attacked the Xukou Town camp began to retreat, and the Taiping Army generals took advantage of the situation.  The Qing army was chasing the Qing army at the fortress Muzha. The Qing army's formation was in chaos. Xiao Yungui had already seen the densest place of the Qing army's torches, where Zhang Guoliang's flag was erected.

    Xiao Yungui put away his telescope, pulled out his long knife, pointed at Zhang Guoliang's handsome flag and shouted loudly: "Young men of the West Palace,, rush down with me and capture Yaotou Zhang alive!  "Recalling the shouts of killing from the Zhentian Stage, more than 300 Taiping Army cavalry held torches in one hand and thick-backed swords in the other and rode towards the Qing army's rear formation. Behind them were a steady stream of Taiping Army soldiers and horses who rushed to the rescue.  Soon the fire dragons of the Taiping Army and the fire dragons of the Qing Army collided, and thousands of people fought selflessly under the moonlight. (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!</dd>
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