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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 530: Conquering Xunzhou

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    In Teng County, Guangxi, after defeating Jiang Zhongyuan's pursuers, Chen Yucheng led the cavalry troops to quickly arrive in Teng County.  In order to consolidate the defense lines in Wuzhou, Luoding Prefecture, Deqing Prefecture and other places, the main force of the Qing army and young civilians in Tengxian and other rear cities in Guangxi were transferred. Today, there is only one guerrilla leader in Tengxian County, a regiment of 500 Qing troops trained by local gentry.  More than 2,000 soldiers and horses were trained and guarded.

    Chen Yucheng used the captured Qing army uniforms and flags from Jiang Zhongshu's tribe to order a cavalry group to dress up as Qing troops and open the city gate of Teng County. Then the Taiping Army cavalry seized the city gate, and the Taiping Army who arrived quickly followed up.  The county was defeated that day.

    Chen Yucheng is a native of Teng County. When he returned to his hometown after many years of absence, Chen Yucheng felt as if he was in another world.  His parents died in his early years, and he was brought up by his uncle Chen Chengrong. He also joined the Taiping Army with his uncle. Unexpectedly, when he returned to Teng County seven years later, he was already a general with an army of tens of thousands.

    In the Battle of Teng County, more than 2,000 Qing troops and regiment training personnel were annihilated, and the rest were made prisoners.  After Chen Yucheng occupied Teng County, he released the young and strong civilians who had been forcibly recruited, opened warehouses and distributed grain to help the people, and left a cavalry battalion of more than 400 people to organize the people of Teng County to defend the city, and followed the cavalry battalion commander who stayed behind.  I explained it alone.  Then Chen Yucheng led a large army to replenish food and some supplies, and quickly headed for Xunzhou Mansion.

    The cavalry battalion commander who stayed in Teng County to guard was named Zhang Chaodong. He was also an old Guangxi Taiping soldier and a native of Teng County. Naturally, the people of Teng County responded to his call. In the words of the people of Guangxi, they had long been waiting for the Holy Spirit.  The soldiers came back.

    Tengxian County is the only way to transport supplies from the rear of Guangxi. It stores a large amount of weapons, gunpowder, food, and even eight three-thousand-jin cannons. Although in the eyes of Zhang Chaodong and other New Army officers and soldiers, these cannons, muskets,  Gunpowder is an outdated thing, but it can be used to defend the city.  So the Taiping Army quickly armed the young men in the city and placed cannons to defend the city.

    While mobilizing the people to participate in the defense of the city, Zhang Chaodong ruthlessly suppressed the wealthy gentry in the city who helped the Qing army train troops and horses. More than ten wealthy families were publicly tried and then beheaded in public.  All property and lands were confiscated.

    Jiang Zhongyuan learned about the fall of Teng County in Wuzhou two days later. Jiang Zhongyuan still had 20,000 troops in Wuzhou. Logically speaking, he could not just sit back and watch Chen Yucheng cause trouble in his rear. However, Jiang Zhongshu's death told Jiang Zhongyuan that the Qing army and  The Taiping Army was still unable to fight in the field, especially the cavalry led by Chen Yucheng. Jiang Zhongyuan was deeply afraid of the elusive cavalry warfare.

    It¡¯s the fifth day.  The latest news came one after another. First, the reconnaissance cavalry sent to Teng County escaped with a narrow escape. It was said that Chen Yucheng led the army to continue to the west. There were still Taiping troops stationed in Teng County, but the specific strength of the troops was unknown. However, from Chen Yucheng's leadership,  The people who left came to see.  There will not be too many Taiping troops in the city.

    Jiang Zhongyuan was still hesitant. He was afraid that this was another trap set by Chen Yucheng for him, but Xunzhou Prefecture had to save him. Once Chen Yucheng captured Xunzhou Prefecture, he could attack Liuzhou and Guangxi Governor Lao Chongguang in the north.  Soldiers and horses, Lao Chongguang was leading more than 30,000 Qing troops to besiege the local rebel He Gougian's troops in the Xiangzhou area.  Going south, you can go south to Yulin Prefecture, where Guangxi Admiral Xi Yinglong is leading 20,000 Qing troops to deal with Hu Youlu, Zhu Hongying and other rebels.  So once Chen Yucheng takes Xunzhou Prefecture.  It is very possible to quickly attack the Qing army in the south or north, and join forces with the rebels such as He Goujian, Zhu Hongying, Hu Youlu, etc., then the entire situation in Guangxi will become uncontrollable.

    When Jiang Zhongyuan was still hesitating whether to send troops to pursue him, several gentry who had escaped from Teng County came to ask for a meeting.  Jiang Zhongyuan summoned them immediately. It turned out that these gentry were more clever. When they saw the Taiping Army entering the city, they disguised themselves as ordinary people. They even gave up their homes and property, and escaped from Teng County among the common people.  When Jiang Zhongyuan asked about the situation in the city.  Several gentry said that there were not many long-haired people left in Teng County, only a few hundred people. Now the Taiping Army was everywhere in the city to lure and recruit young and strong people to join the thieves.

    So Jiang Zhongyuan no longer hesitated, and the next morning he personally led more than 10,000 Qing troops to Teng County, intending to hinder Chen Yucheng.

    Jiang Zhongyuan raised troops and left Wuzhou. Zhang Chaodong of Teng County sent a team of cavalry to monitor the movements of the Qing army in Wuzhou and saw Jiang Zhongyuan's army marching out.  Report back immediately.  When Zhang Chaodong of Teng County learned that Jiang Zhongyuan had left Wuzhou, he was overjoyed and immediately ordered people to leave the city and go to Xunzhou Prefecture to report to Chen Yucheng.

    It turns out that Chen Yucheng left a small number of troops to guard Teng County in order to lure the Qing army from Wuzhou to attack.  He led a large group of cavalry and stopped at Wulin Port, more than sixty miles west of Teng County.  After Zhang Chaodong received the news, Chen Yucheng immediately led a large group of cavalry to kill another carbine.

    Jiang Zhongyuan arrived at Teng County in the afternoon of the next day. After lunch, Jiang Zhongyuan immediately gathered his troops to attack Teng County.  Zhang Chaodong commanded the young and strong rural soldiers in the city to defend the city, and with the help of several 3,000-jin cannons in the city, thousands of Qing troops attacked for two hours, but Teng County was already standing still.

    ? ?Zhongyuan was furious. He knew that being outside the city would be more dangerous, because none of the scouts he sent to the west to investigate came back. He was already feeling bad, but he could not retreat at this moment. If  At this moment, the retreating troops are very likely to be overtaken by Chen Yucheng's cavalry halfway. The only solution for now is to quickly capture Teng County, and rely on Teng County's refusal to defend or there may be a turn for the better.

    Jiang Zhongyuan personally supervised the formation with his sword, commanding the Qing army to attack the city in turn regardless of casualties. The rural soldiers temporarily organized in Teng County were few and not trained at all. The defense for two hours was already the limit. When it was about to collapse, Zhang Chaodong ordered  His three cavalry company commanders led their respective cavalry units out of the north gate, detoured to the east of the city and attacked Jiang Zhongyuan's siege troops from the flanks.

    The most ferocious offensive of the Qing army was interrupted. The siege focused on one-stop attacks. At this time, the Qing army was already declining and exhausted, and its morale could no longer be lifted. Jiang Zhongyuan killed five generals in a row, but the Qing army was still fierce.  He rushed forward, but was beaten back softly.

    Seeing this scene, Jiang Zhongyuan sighed and said: "It's too late, we've fallen into the trap of a four-eyed dog." Sure enough, in the evening, Chen Yucheng's cavalry brigade came back and raided the Qing army outside Teng County while the Qing army was having dinner.  At the camp, Chen Yucheng defeated Jiang Zhongyuan's seven camps, and the Qing army completely collapsed.

    Fortunately, it got dark soon. Although the Taiping Army and the rural soldiers in Teng County held torches all night to intercept and kill the defeated Qing troops, Jiang Zhongyuan, the old fox, was still allowed to escape.  Jiang Zhongyuan fled to the edge of the Xijiang River with several staff and personal guards. Fortunately, he grabbed a small fishing boat, and Jiang Zhongyuan fled back to Wuzhou with five people.

    Jiang Zhongyuan was good at defending but not attacking with his troops, and the defense has always been more convenient than the attacker. Therefore, the Qing army failed to capture Tengxian County, which was guarded by less than 3,000 young and strong people. The officers of the Taiping Army played a role in commanding and calming people's hearts.  effect.

    Chen Yucheng's horse-back tactics were brought into full play. More than 10,000 Qing troops were annihilated, more than 6,000 people surrendered, more than 3,000 people surrendered, and more than 1,000 people fled in the dark, killing more than ten Qing generals below the rank of general.  At this point, the Qing army in Wuzhou no longer dared to send troops westward for rescue, and Chen Yucheng's springboard strategy was successful.

    On the third day after the Battle of Tengxian County, Chen Yucheng led a cavalry brigade and 3,000 young and strong rural soldiers recruited from Tengxian County and nearby areas to Xunzhou Prefecture. They brought the 3,000-jin cannon captured in Tengxian County.  Although Chen Yucheng's cavalry fought fiercely at night, they were advancing lightly and had no siege artillery. Fortunately, the Qing army in Teng County prepared eight guns for them.

    " Then Chen Yucheng bombarded Xunzhou Prefecture. The entire Qing army in Xunzhou Prefecture had less than 2,000 people, and everyone was in panic.  Chen Yucheng originally thought that Xunzhou Prefecture would be able to resist for a while, but he did not expect that the day after the bombardment of Xunzhou Prefecture began, Gu Yuankai, the prefect of Xunzhou Prefecture, and Wang Lie, the magistrate of Guiping County, surrendered.

    Chen Yucheng occupied Xunzhou Prefecture without any bloodshed, and then left a regiment of cavalry and the township corps to guard Xunzhou Prefecture. However, the local civil affairs Chen Yucheng still appointed Gu Yuankai, Wang Lie and others to govern.

    Gu Yuankai and Wang Lie originally did a good job in taking office in Xuzhou Prefecture, but after Jiang Zhongyuan arrived, he wanted to stick to Wuzhou and other places, so he forced Gu Yuankai and Wang Lie to pay more money and food, organized young men to go out with the army, and tormented Xuzhou Prefecture.  It's a wild ride.  Moreover, Jiang Zhongyuan disliked the two of them and often picked on and even insulted them. After the Taiping Army arrived at Xunzhou Mansion and began shelling the city, it was more important for the two of them to survive together. In addition, with the current power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it was already a dynasty change.  The two of them wisely chose to surrender.

    In fact, in the history of the Taiping Rebellion in later generations, there were many examples of mutual surrender between the Qing army and the Taiping army.  The most famous figure is undoubtedly Miao Peilin. This guy was very fast-paced to the extreme. When the Taiping Army was strong, he was the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. When the Qing army was strong, he was the training minister of the Qing court.

    After Chen Yucheng captured Xunzhou Prefecture, he rested for two days and then led two cavalry regiments non-stop to the border of Xiangzhou Prefecture, Liuzhou Prefecture. There, there were 30,000 Qing troops led by Guangxi Governor Lao Chongguang who were besieging He Gougian's rebel army in Xiangzhou.

    He Goujian was ordered to return to Guangxi to contact the rebels in Changsha. He was born in the Tiandihui. After returning to Guangxi, he contacted some Tiandihui figures and successfully launched an uprising. Later, he joined forces with Hu Youlu, Zhu Hongying and other rebels. This rebel army  At one time, it grew to more than 100,000 troops and captured Xunzhou Prefecture.

    But after occupying Xunzhou Prefecture, Zhu Hongying wanted to resort to the old tricks of the Tiandihui to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. His surname was Zhu, so he claimed to be a descendant of the Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty, proclaimed himself King Dingnan, and prepared to establish a national title.  He Goujian was a figure assigned by the Taiping Army to go south. Naturally, he refused to agree to establish another national title, so he asked the rebels to follow the orders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  Zhu Hongying was very ambitious and naturally refused to agree. However, Hu Youlu was a good old man, so he made a fool of himself and suggested that the country be named after the Shengping Heavenly Kingdom. The reign name was Taiping Tiande, which was considered to be on the same level as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

    He Goujian was furious and led his troops northward. From then on, the two rebel armies parted ways.The good situation in Xixi has since changed.  The Qing army took advantage of the split of the rebel army and divided up to suppress the rebel army. By the beginning of this year, He Gouji's men and horses were less than 10,000, and they were besieged in the mountainous areas around Xiangzhou. However, Hu Youlu, Zhu Hongying and other troops still occupied the  There are still tens of thousands of people in several prefectures and counties in Yulin Prefecture, but most of them are old and weak.
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