Hu Linyi received the order and arrived in Huangzhou on January 11, 1859. He collected the remnant troops, comforted the soldiers, and sent people to Hunan to recruit new brave men. In order to organize the time, Lin Yishu said: In the ninth year of the army's rise, every time it was hard to force the city. If you focus on attacking a stronghold, your soldiers will be destroyed, your ambition will be concealed, but the general will not notice it. When the thieves are greatly aided, others will take advantage of the situation and interfere, which will definitely delay the situation. The officers and soldiers focus on the front, but the thieves' plan will be to attack behind; every time the officers and soldiers use their upward attacks to frustrate the enemy, the thieves' plan will be to use their remaining strength to take advantage of the weakness. The past is past, and lessons can be learned from the past. Now the thieves from Taihu Lake and Stone Tablet are hiding in the city and refuse to go out to fight. The cunning plan of thieves is to use a strong city to frustrate the soldiers, but to turn to an empty and unprepared place to take advantage of the gap. How cunning is it to succeed? Observing the situation silently, the thieves have set up a garrison in the city, and they must not be able to perform their duties in recent months. Yan Jingming, the head of the Household Department, acting in full capacity, begged to go to Hubei to handle the grain business. The ministers will be accompanied by official documents, supervising officials and promoting generals, arranging capital and salaries, cultivating talents and benefiting the people, protecting Chu and then planning for Anhui.
Zeng Guofan responded to the order again: Shi Nida Kai, it has been more than a year since Su Shanzhuan; recently, he went out of Ruijin and attacked Huichang, but he couldn't; he attacked Anyuan again, and he couldn't; he encircled Xinfeng and Chongshi again, but he couldn't win again. This thief is rebellious, wandering around, living in no fixed place, and there is nothing to fear from the wild thief in the mountains. Recently, thieves have been the most serious on the north and south banks of the Wanjiang River. The riverside areas in southern Anhui have been frequented by Cantonese bandits since the third year of Xianfeng. From the south of the mountain, there are only two places where thieves are found in Wuyuan and Jingdezhen. If they can be driven out, the defenses of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces will be loose, and the north of Anhui will be divided into two routes. To the south of Jiaohu, Anqing, Wuwei, Chaoxian, and Han have been entrenched by Cantonese bandits for a long time. From the north of the lake, Luzhou, Fengyang and Huaibei belong to each other, and the Cantonese and Nian bandits are in chaos. The thieves in northern Anhui are ten times more powerful than those in southern Anhui. When Hu Linyi heard about the police, he responded, and the friendship between Chu and Anhui gradually settled down. In terms of the overall situation, it is better to attack the north of the Yangtze River in order to clear the Central Plains; in terms of the current priority, it is better to attack Jingdezhen first to protect Hukou.
Then, according to the title of inspector, he was named Li Hongzhang, editor of the Hanlin Academy. In the first month of the third year of Xianfeng, he was ordered to accompany Lu Xianji, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to handle the regiment defense of Anhui. Later, Tichen Hechun and Anhui Fuchen Fuji reported to stay in the military camp to help with everything. Work hard for a long time and work hard. In September of the seventh year, Fuji reported to the official Ding's father that he was worried about Fuque. As soon as the matter was completed, he returned to Beijing to serve. Qin was entrusted with the purpose of the project. After finishing his business in Wanying, this member came to Jiangxi Province in the winter of last year and wanted to return to Beijing. Because this member has been in the army for a long time and has both civil and military talents, I can keep him in the camp to support him.
Emperor Xianfeng said: In terms of the big one, Li Qing Xubin died in Sanhe; in terms of the small one, Deng Qing and Shaoliang died in Wanjun. The soldiers are in great mourning and find it difficult to do both. Shi Ni was tossing and turning, and the horses were thin and hairy. Zeng Chen had to do his best to kill Shi Ni in the mountains and ravines of southern Jiangxi within half a year, lead the army northward, and coordinate the overall situation. It is accurate that Li Hongzhang stayed in the camp in Jiangxi.
Zeng Guofan received the order and said to Li Hongzhang: "There are mountains and valleys in southern Jiangxi. It is not easy to kill the stone bandits in Dakai."
Li Hongzhang said: Chen Yucheng was defeated and retreated to Taihu Lake. I should march into southern Anhui and join hands with Hu Runzhigong to advance along the river to attack Chen's thieves, plan for Jingde and Wuyuan, and take Taihu and Qianshan.
Zeng Guofan said: "I also have this intention. However, Hu Runzhi suffered a huge defeat last year and the morale of the army was unstable. Within half a year, the troops did not move rashly and stopped." Your Majesty, please hurry up. We will go south and north, and we will plan for it slowly.
Shi Dakai had been stationed in southern Jiangxi for a long time and was annoyed with repeated attacks without success. He personally led the main force and divided his troops into five groups to besiege Nan'an. After repeated attacks failed, Dakai was anxious and ordered to spread goods and medicine and blow up the wall to attack the city. The generals acted in accordance with the order, and on January 3, 1859, Nan'an was finally defeated. Dakai garrisoned the city, divided his troops into four attacks, and rested for the New Year.
Although Nan'an was lost, Zeng Guofan was not afraid. Shu said: "Shi Ni suddenly attacked Nan'an and hesitated to advance. His skills stopped here." However, the atmosphere among the thieves in Anhui is very bad, and their troubles are long-lasting. When the officers and soldiers disappear, the enemy will grow stronger, and when they disappear, the enemy will grow stronger. There is absolutely no reason to be neutral. If I can go forward and suppress the thieves, then the thieves will try their best to keep me at bay, and there will be no time for them to escape; if I cannot move forward to suppress the thieves, then the thieves will take advantage of the opportunity to attack me, and they will overflow in all directions. He sincerely ordered heavy troops to be deployed on both sides of the river. On the north bank, there were 30,000 horse and foot troops, with Du Xing'a, Li Xuyi, and Bao Chao in charge; on the river's surface, there were more than 10,000 naval troops, with Yang Zaifu and Peng Yulin in charge; on the south bank, there were 20,000 horse foot soldiers, with Wei Chen, Xiao Qijiang, and Zhang Yunlan let him go; three roads went parallel, and went down the river. Fortunately, we succeeded and captured a hundred miles. The thieves had less food for a hundred miles, so they were not very successful. And the force upstream was heavy, so the thieves downstream had to use all their strength to resist us. , its two major camps in Jinling and Luzhou are enough to draw out the bottom of the cauldron salary and add additional support outside the vehicle. The minister immediately ordered Zhang Yunlan's troops to attack Jingdezhen and eliminate the remaining bandits in northern Jiangxi.
Emperor Xianfeng said: "Zeng Chen's policy is very good." Recently, Luo Bingzhang reported: Intercepting Yang Shi Erni's letter, Yang Nifu told him to take the road north from Gan and Ji, and join forces with him to get a glimpse of Anhui and Hubei; Shi Ni intended to flee from Nan'an to Hunan, and go down to Hubei. Province to take advantage of the upper reaches. If Shi Ni's move succeeds, Hunan and Hubei will be in danger. Zeng Chen must supervise the troops and order the generals, go all out, kill the rocks and suppress the poplars.
Emperor Xianfeng issued a strict order, but Zeng Guofan had no choice but to order Xiao Qijiang to lead three thousand troops to aid southern Jiangxi.
Xiao Qijiang marched for three days, and then reported: The thieves from various tribes in southern Jiangxi are spreading, and it is difficult to take care of them all.
The vassal's advisory order: Save Ganzhou, Xinfeng, and Nan'an only, and don't worry about others.
Zhang Yunlan said: Excuse me, Commander Di, where are we going?
Zeng Guofan said: The remaining bandits in Fujian have been put down. Jiang Changgui, the commander-in-chief of Wannan Town, and Li Dingtai, the commander-in-chief of Quzhou Town, besieged Wuyuan. I order: Your troops will immediately move northward and look for opportunities to overcome Jingdezhen; Zeng Guoquan's troops will guard the area near Ji'an and guard against rocks going northward.
On January 18, 1859, Zhang Yunlan led four thousand troops from Leping to Jingdezhen.
Zhang Yunlan inspected it for three days and reported to Zeng Guofan: Thirty to forty thousand thieves had rebelled, and they were in close contact with the Wuyuan thieves. , dozens of yandun. Near the town, Shang Licun and Xia Licun, which span 20 miles, are all nesting. The terrain is scattered and the harbor branches are diverse, making it difficult to attack.
Zhang Yunlan was timid before fighting. He attacked three times in one month and failed to gain an inch of ground.
Jingdezhen was difficult to conquer, so Zeng Guofan gave an order: Zhang Yunlan's troops should not rush to attack the enemy, but wait quietly for action. There is no need to attack from a distance, which will only hurt the elite. Shen Baozhen on Jiujiang Road rushed to Pingjiang for help.
At the end of the month, reinforcements arrived. Zhang Yunlan was so angry that he led his army to attack. Yang Fuqing divided his forces to fight, and the two armies fought fiercely for the whole day. At the time of the chieftain's engraving, it was dark and Zhang Yunlan was about to withdraw his troops. Suddenly, more than 10,000 Taiping troops intercepted their return from behind Lishu Mountain. Yun Lan cheered up and supervised the troops to fight again, but gradually became unable to support them. An hour later, more than 10,000 Taiping troops entered the battle group. Zhang Yunlan could no longer support them, so he left behind 300 corpses and retreated in disgrace.
Zeng Guofan cried bitterly and warned Zhang Yunlan: Jingde's terrain is rugged, making it difficult to fight. Moreover, since the defeat in northern Anhui last winter, the morale of the Xiang braves has not recovered. Three hundred people were injured this time, all of whom were sharp soldiers. Never start another vicious battle like this. Your troops will rest for a while and hold on to the pass. If the thieves come, they will fight to the death. There is no need to attack lightly.
Yang Fuqing was trapped in Jingde and Wuyuan for two months and ran out of ammunition and food. He then abandoned Wuyuan and attacked Qimen, but failed. He then attacked Jiande and failed. Fu divided his troops into two groups, advancing on Poyang and Pengze; copying the back roads of Raojun to relieve the siege of Jingdezhen; and said that he would attack Fuzhou from Leping.
Zeng Guofan was worried about Zhang Yunlan's retreat, so he immediately led his army to Fuzhou to guard and help Yunlan. He also ordered Pu Chengyao and Liu Tenghe to prepare their troops and advance in advance.
