Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Taiping blood

Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 295: Three-inch Sideburns

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    Looking at the treaty burned in the fire pit, Zeng Guofan narrowed his triangular eyes and smiled: "Does Zhong Hua mean to go back on his word?"

    "Zeng Shuai has made up his mind, but I think that the city is full of local Hunan people. If Zeng Shuai wants to gain a foothold here, he must not kill too much." Rong Lu said slowly: "I am just helping Zeng Shuai to bring this matter to the city.  When it comes down to it, we can¡¯t hide this bluff for too long, I won¡¯t recognize this appointment.¡±

    Zeng Guofan laughed again. This attack on Hengzhou City was extremely dangerous. On the first day of the surprise attack and fierce battle, Zeng Guofan and Ronglu's coalition forces suffered 8,000 casualties and 3,000 casualties in total. It was almost impossible to fight anymore. The Taiping Army suffered six casualties.  There were more than a thousand people, but only a few thousand people escaped. There were still more than 2,000 Taiping troops in the city, and with the young and strong people who could be mobilized in the city, it was really difficult to break the city with a strong attack.

    Fortunately, there were more than 6,000 soldiers and civilians accompanying Xiangyong. That night, Zeng Guofan and Ronglu planned an empty city outside the city, leaving hundreds of soldiers to command 6,000 civilians to besiege the city. They led 3,000 Xiangyong and 1,000 Miao soldiers to rush  To set up an ambush in Hengshan County, the Taiping Army in Xiangtan will definitely send reinforcements, and they will definitely pass through Hengshan County, so the Hunan Army can set up an ambush in advance.

    So Xiangyong set up an ambush in Kaihe Town, Hengshan County. The Taiping Army's Xiangtan reinforcements were also influenced by Liang Litai and He Zhenchuan, because Liang Litai and He Zhenchuan reported that although the Hengzhou Army was defeated, Qingyao was also seriously injured and was unable to fight anymore. The Xiangtan Army  Once the horse arrives, it can defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.  To be fair, the two of them did not exaggerate the facts, but they still evaluated the Xiangyong and Miao soldiers based on their previous understanding of the Qing army. It was the previous Qing army. It was true that they could no longer fight after suffering such losses, but this  The Zhi soldiers are Xiang Yong and Miao soldiers

    So the Taiping Army swarmed in, intending to defeat the enemy before Qing Yao could gain a firm foothold. They accidentally ambushed the enemy in Kaihe Town, and the entire army was caught in the valley at the foot of Hengshan Mountain.  , artillery caused great damage to the Taiping Army.  Of the five thousand Taiping troops who finally came to the rescue, only two thousand escaped.  The leader of the Xiangtan Taiping Army was Zeng Lichang. After escaping from Kaihe Town, he, Liang Litai, and He Zhenchuan couldn't figure out how many Qingyao came. Could it be that there were Qingyaos from Guangxi who came to Hunan to support them?  It is said that the Qing Yao in Guangxi was busy suppressing Wu Lingyun and He Goujian's rebels, so they should be inseparable.  However, seeing the current heavy losses, the three generals had no choice but to retreat to Xiangtan and wait for support from Lai Hanying in Changsha.

    After Zeng Guofan and Ronglu cleaned up the battlefield, they ordered people to put up many banners and straw men in the mountains, and then slowly returned to Hengzhou.  Fortunately, Hengzhou City only strengthened its defenses and did not send troops to attack the soldiers and civilians outside the city.  Otherwise, the hundreds of Xiangyong and thousands of civilians who were left behind would not be able to stop the two thousand Taiping troops in the city.

    That night Zeng Guofan and Ronglu made another plan. This time they attacked Hengzhou with the focus on attacking the city and attacking the heart. So the next day they gathered all the Taiping troops captured within two days and walked around the city carrying wooden signs.  .  Destroy the morale of the city.  At the same time, Xiangyong and the common people were asked to sing Chu songs, indicating that all people inside and outside the city were Hunan people.  We are one family.  Then he resorted to alienation tactics.  To instigate relations between Guangxi and Hunan people in the city.

    There were many young and strong people who came to the city to help defend the city, and things like sowing discord and persuading surrender spread like wildfire. No matter how Liang Lihai and Tao Enpei tried to cover up or ban rumors, they could not stop it.  Most of the leaders of the Taiping Army in Hengzhou City were from Guangxi, and they often had regional differences in managing the military and the people. Therefore, the resentment between the two sides did not last for just a day or two.

    Speaking of the geographical differences between Chinese people, it has a long history.  Even in later generations, there is still a saying that within a group, people who come from the same place like to be called fellow villagers.  After being in a group, they were able to take care of each other. In fact, they were not unique among the Taiping Army, but were amplified and exploited by Ronglu and Zeng Guofan.

    In addition, there were only a small number of Guangxi people in Hengzhou City. During the previous implementation of the "Regulations on Treating the Common People", every household was raided by the Taiping Army, and any surplus grain or silver was confiscated to the holy treasury.  Although the Taiping Army said that the holy treasury belongs to everyone and can be used by anyone who needs it, the common people think that their money and food have been confiscated.

    As the saying goes, things must rot first and then insects will grow. However, Hengzhou City's fair actions have brought about an invisible gap between the Taiping Army and the people. This gap is getting deeper and deeper. It turns out that under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the poor became poorer.  , the rich got richer, but now everyone is equally poor, and the Taiping generals and officials who control the holy treasury will naturally be hated by others.

    The holy treasury system of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had great drawbacks. The holy treasury system was intended to distribute fairly, but after all the money and food were concentrated in the holy treasury, the generals and officials in charge of the holy treasury were also human beings. They did not have the consciousness of saints. Naturally,  Just use your authority to take it for yourself, no one dares to control it.  There has been a song circulating in Hengzhou City for a long time: "At the beginning of the month, half a kilogram of rice rises and oil is poured into the holy treasury. In the past, there was a basic amount of money, but now every household is generally poor."

    At this time, Hengzhou was not like Jiujiang and Anqing, which were guarded by Lin Qirong and Ye Yun in later generations. In later history, when Yi Wang Shida opened the Jiangxi Province, he no longer followed Tianjing's laws, but restored the old grain payment system. People's hearts were very unified.  Plus Jiujiang, Anqing Taiping Army was heavily guarded, so the Hunan Army spent a lot of effort to defeat it.  Today's Hengzhou City is just a victim of Tianjing's utopian system, so Ronglu and Zeng Guofan's alienation plan can work.

    "Zhonghua is really a talented general. Don't worry, I will never know about the agreement with the thief." Zeng Guofan's triangular eyes narrowed again. Over the past few days, he admired the young man in front of him very much.  Zeng Guofan saw his own shadow in him, and many times the two of them would think of going together.

    Rong Lu smiled faintly and secretly cursed the old fox. He had previously discussed the surrender with Tao Enpei. Rong Lu expected that Zeng Guofan would only go around the mountains and rivers and not make up his mind, because although he was the minister of the group training assistant, he still had himself as the co-organizer in front of him.  Minister, and Ronglu is still a Manchu, Zeng Guofan is extremely cunning, so he will naturally agree to anything. If Ronglu does not come forward to agree to this matter first, then Hengzhou City will not surrender so easily.  In other words, Zeng Guofan did not have the guts to take on this responsibility, but Ronglu could because he was a Manchu.  In the officialdom of the Qing court, on many occasions, among the Manchu and Han ministers at the same level, most Han ministers would still listen to the Manchu ministers, and the Qing court would treat Manchu ministers who made mistakes more lightly than Han ministers.

    "Then please give Commander Zeng an order to open a hole and let people come out of the city first. We successfully occupied Hengzhou City. Although we sent an official document to Chenzhou requesting reinforcements, it is better to capture Hengzhou City as soon as possible. It's just a mere  Hundreds of old men are just long-haired, and they won't cause any trouble if they are released. If Zeng Shuai feels uneasy, he can send people to intercept and kill him in Hengshan County." Naturally, Ronglu didn't want to bear the reputation of treachery, so he just kept this thing  After the matter is discussed, it depends on Zeng Guofan whether to kill or retain him.

    Zeng Guofan nodded, his triangular eyes suddenly became brighter, and he said in a deep voice: "You know this matter and I know it. I will send Lao Jiu to handle this matter. If every old Changmao in Xiangdi dies, one will be missing. In the future, we will use troops."  It¡¯s easy to put it to use. Besides, I didn¡¯t promise anything in the city-changing agreement, right?¡±

    The two of them laughed in unison, followed by Zeng Guofan and tapped the armrest of the chair with his fingers: "Zhonghua, although the people in the city are all from Hunan, which is the foundation of our foothold in Hengzhou, I heard that the people in the city have shaved their braids.  If you don¡¯t hold me accountable, I¡¯m afraid the court won¡¯t be able to explain it to you.¡±

    Ronglu touched his chin and muttered: "I heard that Hengzhou shaves its hair in order. The first ones had long hair before they conquered Hengzhou and then they shaved their heads. These people have long been opposed to it, while the latter ones have long hair.  People who are gradually forced to shave their hair. It has been said that long-haired people judge the length of their hair by looking at the hair on their sideburns when they join the army. The older ones mean that they have shaved their hair for a long time, and the short ones mean that they have just joined the army. Our hair can grow more than three inches a year.  Zeng Shuai can use this as a distinction. Anyone whose hair on the temples is longer than three inches can be killed without leaving any hair."

    Zeng Guofan touched his palm and smiled and said: "That's very good, but how to kill this person?"

    Ronglu also smiled and said: "The commander-in-chief has his own plans in his mind, why do you need to explain it below?"

    In this way, the two Manchu and Han League Ministers discussed the funeral affairs of Hengzhou City, which could be regarded as the general principles for what to do after the city was destroyed. Both of them believed that the newly established Hengzhou could not kill too many people, but they had to give an explanation to the court.  At the same time, Zeng Guofan was not willing to let go of those who were loyal to long hair, so he set the tone that no one with sideburns longer than three inches would be allowed to grow.

    Unfortunately, things backfired. After Liang Lihai and others led hundreds of Taiping troops to withdraw to the north gate overnight, Tao Enpei led the people of Hengzhou City to surrender the next day.  In addition to the Guangxi veterans, there were more than 500 Hunan soldiers who were loyal to the Kingdom of Heaven among the Taiping troops Liang Lihai took away. The rest who did not want to leave were mostly Hunan soldiers whose families had grown up in Hengzhou. These people all changed their uniforms and hid.  Went home.

    After entering the city, Zeng Guofan found that everyone's temples seemed to be less than three inches, and there was no one to wield the knife, which made him feel very uncomfortable for a while.  Then Zeng Guofan found the original gentry and wealthy households in the city to identify those who helped the thieves. This time, he finally got something. Not only did he identify a large number of Hunan soldiers who had been in the Taiping Army, but many people who had helped the Taiping Army were also identified.  Recognized.  Zeng Guofan arrested all these people, and even Tao Enpei was arrested and imprisoned. The number of people involved was more than 20,000.

    "Then, there was nothing left for these people. Zeng Guofan raised his butcher knife for the first time, and more than 20,000 people were slaughtered. The rich and rural gentry became proud again, and the order of the Manchu Qing Dynasty returned to Hengzhou.  However, Tao Enpei was not killed. Zeng Guofan seemed to intend to send him to Beijing for punishment.

    On their way back to Xiangtan, Liang Lihai and others were intercepted by more than a thousand Xiangyong led by Zeng Guoquan. Liang Lihai was killed on the spot, and only a hundred people fled back to Xiangtan. At this point, Xiangyong completely occupied Hengzhou, and the Qing army from Chenzhou and other places also sent troops.  Reunion is actually just to share some credit.  Since the fall of Changsha, the Qing army seemed to have only suffered defeat and lost ground, and had never regained a city occupied by the Taiping Army. Zeng Guofan and Ronglu reported this, and the Qing government widely praised it as the victory of Hengzhou.

    "After Xiangyong captured Hengzhou, he really made a fortune. The Taiping Army could not take away much from the holy treasury in Hengzhou, but a large amount of money, food and weapons were used."Although the spoils of war for Xiang Yong and the Miao soldiers were not as great as the massacre of the city, Zeng Guofan and Ronglu supplemented the military pay for each soldier and gave them a lot more money and food. For a while, Xiang Yong and the Miao soldiers burst into cheers.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report