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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 516: Standing Still

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    Zhaoqing, Guangdong, known as Duanzhou in ancient times, was famous for its production of Duan inkstones in the early years. Like Duan inkstones, the ancient city wall of Zhaoqing is also as old as the Duan inkstones.  The city wall of Zhaoqing was built in the early years of the Song Dynasty. Zhaoqing was originally an earth city wall. In the third year of Zhenghe of the Song Dynasty (1113), the earth city wall was expanded and built into a brick city.  Although the city wall has gone through many vicissitudes in history and has been repaired more than 20 times, the positions of the city wall and city gate have never been changed.

    There are four gates in the city wall: Song Chong in the east, Zhennan in the west, Duanxi in the south, and Chaotian in the north.  There is a gate tower above each city gate, an urn outside the four gates, a turret at each corner of the city wall, and a moat outside the city.  In the fifth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1469), the prefect Li Chen thickened part of the city wall and personally inscribed the stone plaques on the four gates, renaming the east gate Qingyun, the west gate Jingxing, the south gate Nanxun, and the north gate Chaotian.  Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been renovated more than 10 times, among which the larger ones include: In the 14th year of Chongzhen (1614), Zhang Jingxin, the governor of Zhaoqing Prefecture, increased the height of the wall by 3.5 feet and reconstructed 4-men Yuecheng.  In the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1651), Xu Erxian, the commander-in-chief, and Zhang Zhibi, the prefect, built 6 more forts, 148 huts, 2 water city forts, demolished the houses near the city wall, and added battlements.

    Zhaoqing's city wall is still well preserved to later generations, and is known as Zhaoqing's Little Great Wall. However, it is somewhat ridiculous that this city wall, which has been built for hundreds of years, has never played its true role in defending against enemies before.  It has blocked dozens of floods from the Xijiang River.  Perhaps this time it will really play its true role in defending against enemies, but sadly this city wall built by the Han people in the Song Dynasty was used by one group of Han people as a defense against another group of Han people.

    On the Qingyun Tower of the East Gate, Jiang Zhongyuan, the newly appointed Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, stood at the top of the city wearing a military uniform.  His face was thin and stern, and his eyes were firm and resolute.  His expression was calm and indifferent.  Below the city tower, groups of strong Zhaoqing people were busy reinforcing the city wall. They were surrounded by fierce Qing soldiers who were watching. Jiangxi and Hunan accents were yelling and cursing mixed with Cantonese begging for mercy. Jiang Zhongyuan frowned.  He turned back to his brother Jiang Zhongjun and said, "Tell all the generals to be polite to the civilians who are loyal and helping to defend the city."

    Jiang Zhongjun is Jiang Zhongyuan¡¯s brother and has been following Jiang Zhongyuan in battles.  At that time, another brother of Jiang Zhongyuan, Jiang Zhongji, died in the Battle of Hangzhou, but Jiang Zhongyuan's other two brothers, Jiang Zhongjun and Jiang Zhongshu, have been following Jiang Zhongyuan in the war to this day, and their hands are also stained with the blood of the Taiping Army.  Jiang Zhongjun has now been transferred to the post of Chief Envoy of Guangdong and is Jiang Zhongyuan's capable subordinate. He responded, turned around and gave several instructions to several Qing generals behind him, and the officers hurriedly turned around.

    Jiang Zhongyuan sighed softly.  With a look of intolerance on his face, he read slowly: "I'm sorry for the poor man who works hard to farm, but a good year can only make up for the tithe. This year, there is no hope of a good year, and the ravines are filled with bones. But seeing that the rich have nothing to worry about, who pities the poor?  Are they going out because of hunger? Once the poor are driven out by hunger, how can the rich live in peace?"

    On the sidelines, Liu Zhaolan, the prefect of Zhaoqing, praised: "The Taiwanese master is sympathetic to the people and has great compassion. It is really a blessing to the people of Guangdong and Guangxi."

    Jiang Zhongyuan's face was still calm, and he just hummed slightly and said: "I have been an official for eighteen years, and I have suppressed thieves for eighteen years. But all thieves and bandits were good people in the past, and they only gathered people to rebel because they didn't have enough to eat. Although it was  It¡¯s a treasonous act, but it¡¯s excusable.¡±

    Liu Zhaolan¡¯s facial muscles twitched.  He hurriedly said: "Master Taiwan, please be careful. If such remarks are spread to the capital, some villains will inevitably use them to make articles."

    Jiang Zhongyuan sneered and said: "The national situation is so difficult. The root cause is that there are too many corrupt people among our officials. Those corrupt people deserve to die."

    Liu Zhaolan was speechless for a moment. At this moment, another brother of Jiang Zhongyuan, Jiang Zhongshu, arrived quickly and reported loudly: "Master Taiwan, my subordinates were ordered to investigate the case of notice copybooks that appeared in the city last night. A total of five criminals were found.  Twelve people.¡±

    Jiang Zhongyuan snorted coldly and said: "You will interrogate yourself and be sure to kill all the hidden stakes in the city." Jiang Zhongshu responded and was about to leave when Jiang Zhongyuan said again: "Wait a minute, capture these fifty-two people."  You should also take down all the neighbors in this land. Regardless of whether they have colluded with Changmao or not, they will all be punished for the crime of being acquainted with Changmao! No matter how young or old!"

    Jiang Zhongshu loudly accepted the order. Liu Zhaolan was startled by Jiang Zhongyuan's cold order, and hesitantly whispered: "Master Taiwan, there may be good people in the neighbors"

    Jiang Zhongyuan raised his hand to interrupt him and said: "This is what I do. This is called killing one person to serve as a warning to others. Maybe some people will be wronged this time, but their death has reminded the people of the whole city. I want to let those people  There¡¯s no way for long-haired and fine-looking people to hide!¡±

    Liu Zhaolan was shocked, but he still bowed his head and praised the good deeds. He couldn't help but think in his heart, Mr. Jiang always said he was sympathetic to the sufferings of the people, but he was ruthless in suppressing thieves. No wonder he still continued to suppress thieves after eighteen years.  Being able to remain standing and having an official position that is getting bigger and bigger is indeed something special.

    Jiang Zhongyuan inspected the EastThe city wall was carefully deployed, and when he saw the battlements inside and outside the city wall, the traffic inside and outside the ditch, the dense layers, and the orderly defenses, he nodded with satisfaction and said to Liu Zhaolan: "Master Liu did a good job. The east gate blocked Chang Mao's attack last time.  , it is indeed rare to have it renovated in such a short period of time.¡±

    When Liu Zhaolan heard the praise from his superior, he hurriedly said humbly: "This is also the reason why the master of Taiwan production is in command and command well, and the subordinate officials dare not take credit."

    Jiang Zhongyuan hummed, frowning as if he was disgusted with the compliment, and then said: "There should be a lot of robes, straw pillows, net mats and other items on the top of the city wall. The long-haired cannons are sharp. Keep more of these items at the top of the city or they can be bounced off.  Artillery shells and our artillery must be deployed backwards. When the war begins, we only need to be able to hit the city and injure its infantry. We must not expose our artillery positions as soon as the war begins. There are also Bois tanks at the top of the city to store water.  , as well as sediment and other materials to prevent long-haired artillery shells from igniting the fire"

    Jiang Zhongyuan fought against the Taiping Army and other rebels for eighteen years, and he was really good at defending the city. Under his guard, Zhaoqing became more hierarchical, much like the legacy of Hao Zhao's defense of Chencang in the Three Kingdoms in the past.  You can think of all the situations.  He even set up barricades on every street and residence in the city. Even if the city wall was breached, he could still fight street battles with the Taiping Army.

    After talking about the city's defense deployment, Jiang Zhongyuan looked at the city's east and west river banks and saw densely packed Taiping Army soldiers coming to the shore and starting to take boats westward to reinforce the Taiping Army's frontline barracks on the west bank. He couldn't help but frowned and said: "Look  It looks like Changmao has begun to increase its troops again."

    Jiang Zhongjun said: "Yesterday, I reported that long-haired soldiers from Foshan, Yangjiang, Jiangmen and other places began to come to Zhaoqing, about tens of thousands of them."

    Jiang Zhongyuan sighed softly and said: "When Li Xiucheng was playing with the carbine under the city of Nanchang, how many soldiers and horses did he have in his hands? Now he has entered the land of Guangdong and Guangdong by land and water. He has tens of thousands of elite soldiers on land and water, as well as local warriors.  With a regiment of more than 100,000 soldiers and countless warships and artillery, this battle will be very difficult."

    Jiang Zhongjun had a sudden thought. Back then, his eldest brother had never said such depressing words when he faced the million-strong army of the Long-haired Puppet King of the East to besiege Nanchang. However, he said this today. Could it be that he still had no guarantee of victory in the face of the long-haired and elite West Palace Army?  Sure?

    Jiang Zhongyuan looked at the generals around him and saw some changes in their expressions. He couldn't help but smile and said: "I shouldn't say such depressing words. Zhaoqing is the gateway to western Guangdong and the place where the throat lies. There must be no room for failure. I  Sitting here personally means that you have the idea of ??coexistence and death with Zhaoqing. All you can do is to move forward with all your strength, and let Changmao know how powerful we are!" All the generals claimed that they were right, and continued to strengthen the city defense, encourage the soldiers, and wait for the danger.  Don¡¯t mention it.

    At the same time, Li Xiucheng also led a group of Taiping Army generals to stand on the east bank of the Xijiang River, overlooking Zhaoqing City in the west. Looking at the shadowy and busy figures of the Qing army at the top of the city, the entire Zhaoqing City was indeed heavily defended. Li Xiucheng exited  He picked up the tall Western war horse, pointed the whip at Xijiang and said: "When will the engineering battalion start building the pontoon bridge? If the pontoon bridge is not built, the artillery team will not be able to cross the river."

    Zhang Wenxiang said on the side: "Jiang Zhongyuan is extremely cunning. At first, our troops built three pontoon bridges. However, due to lack of troops, this guy stole them from the west of the city. They put down fireships in the upper reaches of the Xijiang River and then led troops to raid the pontoon bridges.  Burnt.¡±

    Li Xiucheng said with a sigh: "Now that our troops have sufficient strength, I have ordered the troops to plant mines at the four gates of Zhaoqing. I want to see how they can sneak out of the city! After the pontoon bridge is built, the artillery team will cross the river.  I don¡¯t believe that Zhaoqing¡¯s city walls can stop cannons!¡±

    The generals of the Taiping Army also took orders in unison and prepared to go. After Li Xiucheng led the first and second divisions of the Taiping Army and the attached auxiliary corps of rural soldiers to arrive, in the face of absolute strength, what he wanted was a simple and crude attack.  Way.  After the Taiping army arrived, all they needed to do was transport the cannon across the Xijiang River, set up the cannon and blast down the Zhaoqing city wall, and then they could march straight in.

    Of course, Li Xiucheng might have thought too simply, but his thoughts changed after receiving the last letter from the flying pigeon sent by the secret agent Bai Zetang in the city. He learned from the information that the secret agent Bai Zetan exchanged his life for,  The Qing army built the entire Zhaoqing city into a fortress, and Jiang Zhongyuan was ready for street fighting.

    After reading this bloody intelligence, Li Xiucheng fell into deep thought. Zhaoqing must be conquered, but there may be huge casualties. Is there any way to minimize the casualties?  Are you going to surround Zhaoqing until the day you run out of ammunition and food?  The Taiping Army did not have that many troops or time to play with Jiang Zhongyuan.  Do we really want to use cannons to level the entire Zhaoqing?  This seems to be too inhumane to the people in the city.

    After much deliberation, Li Xiucheng finally decided to lay down the city wall first. Within the next few days, the huge Taiping Army transportation force continuously transported various materials to Zhaoqing, and the pontoon bridge was also built. Due to the sufficient strength of the Taiping Army, Zhaoqing  The four gates of the city were completely defended. The Qing army failed to leave the city for a sneak attack. Instead, they were buried outside the city.The mines greeted me with a meal.

    Seven days later, everything was ready, and the two sides were preparing to launch an extremely brutal battle in Zhaoqing City.
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