Chapter 145 Li Xiucheng’s defeat at Jiangpu
Xiao Qingyan, the registered general, rushed to attack Jiangpu, but Bao Chao refused, saying: "Commander Di made a mistake in his judgment. The army of loyal chiefs is moving eastward along the upper reaches and has now reached the border of Tianchang County. If I attack two Pus suddenly, the army of loyal chiefs will cover up and kill them from behind." , we are attacked from both sides, and the gains outweigh the losses. Rest for a while and wait for Peng, Yang, Liu, and Mao to arrive by land and water before attacking again.
Xiao Qingyan said: Master Titai is right...
Bao Chao quickly interrupted and said: "You and I, our colleagues, can't talk about how to raise the stage, or how to call yourself an adult. Do you have enough food and salary for your brother?"
Xiao Qingyan said: When Marshal Run was there, the pots were full; when Marshal Xi was there, he could still make ends meet; now, he is hungry.
Bao Chao sighed and said: You are so similar to me! There are many soldiers but few silver, few relatives and many sparse relatives. All the silver from the three rivers and two lakes is gathered at the Yuhuatai. Zeng Jiushui dredged two roads and built two walls. He stopped there and enjoyed himself leisurely. Send a small team quickly to cross the river south to tell us that our army is about to cross the river and attack.
When Bao Xiao's Second Division attacked Liangpu, Zeng Guoquan was surprised. He hurriedly ordered General Li Chendian, Deputy General Zhao Qinghe, General Soldier Yan Lizhou, and Deputy General He Yugui to attack the stone barriers outside Yuhuatai and Jubaomen. Admiral Xiao Fusi and Taoist priest Chen Di were beside them. Attack and support.
In the early morning of June 13, Li Chendian issued the order to attack. At dawn the next day, all eleven stone barriers were breached.
Zeng Guofan was rewarded and happily reported: On the north bank of the river, Bao Chao, Peng Yulin and other troops advanced by land and water. From then on, they advanced towards Jiangpu and Jiusuzhou, and they might be able to cut off their branches and leaves; on the south bank, Zeng Guoquan's troops broke through the stone barriers and tried to conquer Jinling. The situation was good.
The Empress Dowager Cixi heard the report and said happily: Zeng Chen, Guoquan, Bao Chenchunting and others attacked together. The Jinling Hong Rebellion will be destroyed; Li Chen Hongzhang, after driving the rebellion out of Shanghai, invaded Changshu, Taicang and Kunshan again. The land in southern Jiangsu, except Su Chang, was about to be restored. However, after Zuo Chen Zongtang was promoted to governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, he launched an army in Fuyang, but failed repeatedly. It had been nearly two months, and he immediately sent an order to urge him.
Zuo Zongtang accepted the order and said: "The two palaces are thousands of miles away, how can we know the military situation in Zhejiang!" After our army captured Tangxi, Lanxi, Longyou, and Jinhua, we divided our troops to garrison them. The bandit army in southern Anhui was not destroyed, and we had to divide our troops to take care of both. Therefore, there were only more than ten thousand people who attacked Fuyang. And the rebel armies came in droves from Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Changshu, and Shimen. The thieves and thieves gather together like ants, and An can be defeated in one fell swoop. An order was sent to Jiang Yili. If the fortified city of Fuyang cannot be evacuated suddenly, a brief camp must be set up to ward off city thieves. I dispatched troops from Yanzhou to garrison the new city and protect the division's ships to deter thieves and facilitate the transportation of wages. I immediately led the army down from Fuyang, from Xincheng and Lin'an to Yuhang, in order to divide the bandit's strength and mobilize the bandits to return for reinforcements.
Zongtang gave the order and immediately dismissed: In terms of the situation of returning to Hangzhou, unless heavy troops march directly from Xincheng and Lin'an to Yuhang, they cannot suppress Hangzhou and hold Fuyang's back.
I originally planned that after Liu Dian's army clears southern Anhui, it can then attack Yuhang from Fenshui and Lin'an. Although Hui, Xiu, Qi, and Yi were eliminated in this way, the thieves from Jiande, which belongs to Chi, invaded Jiangxi's Rao and Jing. It was difficult for Liu Dian's army to withdraw quickly, and because of the tight situation in Rao and Jing, Jiangxi still had to be taken care of.
There are more than 30,000 troops in the army, including Liu Dian and Wang Wenrui, who are in Anhui. Jiang Yili's entire army is also attacking Fuyang.
The minister will again allocate the navy's cavalry to assist him, and the remaining battalions will be assigned to Xincheng, Tonglu and the Yiqiao area of Shaojun in the lower reaches. In addition to the two counties of Chun'an and Sui'an in the upper reaches, they must also defend Quzhou, Jinhua and Yanzhou. , the military strength is really not thick. In addition, dysentery is on the rise, so the military affairs are still stagnant.
Although Li Hongzhang won many battles in southern Jiangsu and regained the lost territory, he was still anxious. He wrote in a memorial: There are three things for me to worry about, and two things to be lucky about.
Chasu, Chang, Hang, and Jia were the areas with the most wealth in the southeast. They fought against the enemy for four years, collecting grain and taxes, extracting fine grains, and using them for macro purposes. They also provided grain and millet to Jinling from time to time and transferred it to various roads. Jinling is its home base, and Su, Chang, Hang, and Jia are the foundations of Jinling. The thieves will defend it to the death and fight for it to become a powerful force and obtain the source of food and salary. This is one thing they can worry about.
There is a lot of water in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in the counties of Sujia and Suzhou. The lakes, rivers and harbors are connected by thousands of connections, the roads are blurred, the bridges are intermittent, and there are places that warships cannot reach. When the army sighs at the prospect of the ocean, it is difficult for us to invade and easy to defend. Just like the last time we rescued Changshu, Taicang and Kunshan overlapped. The enemy captured and killed no less than 40,000 to 50,000 thieves. The thieves in Sujia were not afraid, but they still resisted with all their strength, relying on the danger of the terrain to secure themselves. The minister's advance from Songhu is at the corner of Su Province, opposite Jiaxing. Sujia and Tutu do not have the strength to do so, and Shejiatu and Su are often restrained. These two things can be taken into consideration.
The pseudo-loyal king Li Xiu became the crown prince among the kings. He was not very resistant to fighting, but the most cunning. He occupied the four counties of Su, Hang, Jia and Hu. The other pseudo kings were his buddies and obeyed his orders. So far last year, in order to save Jinling, they have been running to the south and north of Anhui, and they also want to go around Yangzhou and Lixiahe to gain further advantage. Now that our army is advancing on Suzhou, the chieftain is wandering up and down Jinling. He immediately looks back and sends his closest associates to guard Sujia. If the attack here is too hasty, they may bring in the masses to help, or they may try to sneak in. There are three things to consider.
Jiang, Anhui, and eastern Zhejiang are all blocked by heavy troops, and the land is thousands of miles away, with no prey. I heard that the troops sent by Bao Chao and Zeng Guoquan had returned to Chaoxian, Hanshan, and Hezhou, and had pursued them to Jiangpu and Pukou. Another group of troops had fled to Tianchang and Yangzhou. Although there were many people, they were really hungry and exhausted. Fortunately, Du Xing'a, Wu Tang and others were able to block the enemy with all their strength and block the way for the northern thieves to cross the river, so that each army would be divided into separate groups for suppression, making it easier to deal with them. This was a blessing for them.
Previously, Li Xiucheng and Li Shixian were in Jiangsu and Zhejiang respectively, and their momentum was growing day by day. In recent years, they have been repeatedly defeated by the government and the army, with no less than hundreds of thousands of casualties on all sides, and they do not have many elite tactics. Each army could not capture dozens of cities, and half of their wealth was lost. However, it is fortunate that our army can advance steadily, gain every inch, avoid losing opportunities, and control the enemy slowly.
Over the past year, the land of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai has been shrinking day by day. Hong Xiuquan was frightened and said: How can I protect my land in the future? Who can protect my people? Outside Tianjing City, I have built a solid stone fortress that has been impregnable for eleven years, but today it was breached by demons. Why?
Hong Rengan said: The Xiang demon has now activated barbarian cannons. The barbarian cannons are sharp and will burn rocks when they encounter them.
Hong Xiuquan said: Su Fu's Taicang and Kunshan were lost, and Suzhou was in danger; after the fall of Jinhua in Zhejiang Province, the demon army arrived at the city of Hangzhou and issued edicts quickly, ten edicts a day. Li Xiucheng was ordered to return from Jiangbei to rescue Tianjing. , save Suzhou from afar.
When the loyal king Li Xiucheng received the order, he was also anxious and said: "Jiangpu and Pukou are still in my hands. Quickly withdraw from the siege of Tianchang and Lai'an. The army will go south from Yizheng and Liuhe, and cross south via Liangpu and Jiusuzhou to aid the capital."
Li Xiucheng's army marched southward fiercely, and Bao Chao, Peng Yulin, Yang Zaifu, Xiao Qingyan, Liu Lianjie and others hurriedly gathered to oppose it.
Bao Chao said: "The thieves have no navy, and there are hundreds of thousands of people crossing the Yangtze River. If they lose the support of Pukou and Jiangpu, there will be chaos!" My intention is to gather all our strength to capture the two villages and draw fuel from the bottom of the cauldron.
Yang Zaifu said: This strategy is very good. The bandits are powerful and poor, so there is no need to intercept them head-on. The thieves gather on the river bank, with no boats to cross and no land to rely on. They are destined to be in chaos. We will take advantage of the chaos to kill them.
Peng Yulin said: Jiufuzhou stretches across the center of the river, leading to Liangpu in the north, and forming horns with Xiaguan, Caoxie Gorge and Yanziji in the south. The key to the Jinling Waterway is to occupy this key pass and the overall situation is determined.
Bao Chao said: Jiu Suzhou can be obtained once and for all. Quickly consult Zeng Yuanfu and dispatch powerful troops to respond to each other from afar.
On June 25, five troops, Bao Chao, Peng Yulin, Yang Zaifu, Liu Lianjie, and Xiao Qingyan, launched a simultaneous attack on land and water to besiege Pukou and Jiangpu.
The Hunan army was so powerful that the defenders at Liangpu retreated without a fight because their liver and gallbladder were so cold.
Li Xiucheng's more than 200,000 troops arrived at the edge of the river. When they heard that Liangpu had been lost, the morale of the army was in chaos. Li Xiucheng also ordered the kings to tell who should cover, who should protect, who should resist and who should cross, and the division of labor was also clear; however, the kings were also panicked, and they acted against each other.
Bao Chao took the opportunity to urge all the troops to march out of the two rivers and press towards the river bank, killing them wantonly. Governors Peng Yulin and Yang Zaifu also led the navy, shelling and shooting, and massacred the soldiers crossing the river.
The Taiping Army's more than 200,000 troops were crowded, chaotic, and defeated. Only less than 50,000 people succeeded in crossing south.
Li Xiucheng cried bitterly and faced Hong Xiuquan, the king of heaven: During this trip to northern Anhui, we lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Because of my loss of strength, the country is in danger.
Hong Xiuquan said: What's the point of saying more? Difficulty between the north and the south is inevitable. Do loyal compatriots have any other strategies to suppress the demon?
Xiuchengdao: Su, Chang, Hang, and Jia are connected to form a piece. It is the only perfect area of the kingdom of heaven. If this area is not lost, the kingdom of heaven will be intact. Suzhou is in urgent need, and we will rush to help immediately!
Hong Xiuquan said: The loyal people are right, so we should quickly lead the heavenly army to return to Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
