The energy that Guiziliu had accumulated throughout his life finally burst out at this moment. In Baoding City, at the Zhili Governor's Mansion, Zuo Jigao could not help but shed tears as he held two telegraph newspapers in his hands.
One was an appointment telegram sent by the imperial court, appointing him to station in Baoding and quell the refugee rebellion. Even Li Hongzhang, who was stationed in Handan, was under his control.
This telegram can be said to have authorized all the defense rights of South Zhili to him!
With such an authorization, he can build a government again, recruit soldiers, train the army, and put down the rebellion!
It's still the same routine as when he was flat and long-haired, the same old formula. With such power, Zuo Zongtang can once again pull out an army loyal to him in less than a year or two.
Is that a good thing? But Zuo Zongtang was no longer interested because he was old and mentally exhausted and no longer had the strength to push forward.
Moreover, this is the land of Gyeonggi and the center of the Qing Dynasty. As a Han Chinese, leading troops in the south and fighting in the Western Regions, people would be on guard, let alone here.
Blessings come from where misfortune lies, misfortunes come from blessings! It’s really not a good thing!
His guess was correct. It had only been a few days since Emperor Tongzhi's imperial edict came, and the second telegram that shocked him fell in front of him.
Zuo Zongtang is a veteran, and the wave of refugees caused by this disaster has a strange flavor from beginning to end. As a veteran who has been fighting for a lifetime, he still has this kind of battlefield intuition.
He had been looking at the map all night, carefully pondering the areas where the refugees were making trouble and the patterns of their march. The more he looked at it, the more frightened he became. He even vaguely guessed the ghost figure, but he didn't dare to confirm it. He didn't want to in his heart. confirm!
Today, the sudden telegram verified all his guesses. Prince Gong had really rebelled, and he also sent a message to persuade him to surrender.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
"Old minister, I really can't do anything...Prince Gong, why are you doing this? You've been here all your life, why are you still taking this step at this age?"
"Your Majesty, how can you be loyal to the country, and you have a personal favor that can save your life! What should I do, what should I do..."
Just when Zuo Zongtang was in tears, there was a sudden knock on the door, and the hoarse voice of a veteran who had been following him for many years rang out, "Commander... another telegram... from Handan Li Hongzhang..."
"Master Li also received a telegram urging him to surrender. Master Li asked the commander what he should do?"
"Get lost! He, Li Hongzhang, doesn't pretend to be a good guy for me. Why does he really think of me as a superior? Bah... He has never obeyed me in his life!"
"Li Hongzhang can do whatever he wants. It has nothing to do with me!"
The old soldier asked with red eyes, "Then what should we do? People in the city are in panic now. There are always groups of refugees rushing to get stuck outside the city. Neither the Green Camp nor the Flag Camp can stop them..."
"When I inspected during the day, I clearly felt that everyone was overstaffed and making do, and those traps were useless..."
"Commander, you must have an attitude, you must have an attitude..."
What can Zuo Zongtang do? He wiped away his old tears and sighed, "At my age, I don't want to be a second minister. I don't even want to take care of Xiao Letian's job, let alone Guiziliu!"
"After reading books about saints and sages all my life, I still haven't forgotten this bit of character!"
"Prepare the pen and ink, I want to draft a message... I denounce Yi Xin for his wild rebelliousness. Even if I die, I will not surrender to him! Your Majesty is the purest king with the right to inherit the Qing Dynasty for 200 years, and it is not that he, the devil, is unprincipled!"
"Ah? You want to start a war with Prince Gong? Commander, we only have more than 10,000 soldiers, how can we be our opponent..."
"Stop trying to persuade me. Prepare a telegram immediately. I want to inform the governors and officials across the country... and give a copy to Li Hongzhang!"
Electrifying the whole country, this is a war without gunpowder, and its cruelty cannot be understood by outsiders.
The ninth coach Zeng Guoquan chose to sit on the sidelines and not say a word at all. Li Hongzhang was Zuo Jigao's deputy at the moment, and he actually kicked the ball to the feet of the coach Zuo.
The governors in other places in the Qing Dynasty were shocked and didn't know what to do, and they didn't react for a while!
Only Zuo Zongtang was the first to jump out and electrify the whole country to angrily denounce Prince Gong Yixin’s outrageous behavior!
When Li Hongzhang received the call from Zuo Zongtang, he was watching the enemy's situation at the top of Handan City. His face was ashen, and what he saw shocked him.
Li Hongzhang brought 30,000 elite Huai troops from Shandong. They were all foreign gun teams that had been trained for many years. They also had ten artillery pieces. They were considered elites of great importance in the land of Zhili.
But when he pursued the rebels from Shandong and entered Zhili, he discovered that the enemy situation here had reached the point where the ground was thousands of miles away!
Looking around, there were destroyed and looted villages everywhere. Some large cities and towns built some defensive fortifications, and they used some money and food to bribe the rebels, and they managed to escape.
There are too many of these refugees, and they will not fight the Huai army. If you chase them, they will run away. If you stop them, they will continue to go north!
Once the terrain is blocked and you go over with a row of guns, their army will immediately break up in all directions, and you don't dare to disperse and pursue them.
Once your small force is far behind, there will be hundreds of rebels chasing you!
At the end of the fight, Li Hongzhang could only order to disperse and not to pursue, and he lost the lives of hundreds of brothers. He had learned his lesson!
What a strange battle situation. Li Hongzhang's Huai army marched towards Handan City, but the rebels marched north just as they could see. The two sides were actually on the same page.
After entering Handan City, the entire city's soldiers and civilians knelt on the ground to greet the commander-in-chief. The whole city cried bitterly, which showed how frightened they were.
Thirty thousand Huai troops took control of Handan City. This famous city in Zhili was considered safe, but the wild control was still in the hands of these refugees.
In the night, Li Hongzhang looked around at the river full of torches. The refugee bandits dragging their families with them, organized by the fierce bandit leader, robbed and marched northward with difficulty.
When they saw the tall Handan City Wall, they were not offended. They just took a long detour and continued northward beyond the range of the city defense artillery.
"Damn it...how many victims did this Guiziliu incite? Five hundred thousand or seven hundred thousand? Could it be one million? This is going to turn all Zhili into nothing!"
"Commander... let the brothers fight twice. This is all for free!" The generals of the Huai Army asked for a fight one after another.
Li Hongzhang shook his head, "You can't, you can't... When Guiziliu doesn't power the whole country, we can still fight and kill to get some credit!"
"Now that he has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor! We can't be stupid anymore..."
"Report...a call from the Zhili Governor's Palace...a call from Marshal Zuo!"
