Chapter 147 (1) Li Xiucheng is unable to recover
While Li Xiucheng was running east and west, various units of the Huai army were gradually approaching Suzhou.
In late August 1863, Li Hongzhang went to Wujiang in person to convene various ministries to discuss the attack on the Soviet Union.
Li Hongzhang said: Suzhou city is large and strong, with water on all sides. As long as water and land cooperate, the war will go smoothly. On the north route, Li Hezhang, together with Liu Mingchuan and Luo Guozhong's troops, attacked Jiangyin and Wuxi by land and water, attacked northwest Suzhou, and cut off the connection between Su and Chang. On the south road, Cheng Xueqi opened his camp and Mr. Gordon's foreign rifle team relied on Wujiang to advance to the southeast of Suzhou. Huang Yisheng led the Huaiyang Navy, and Li Chaobin led the Taihu Navy, flying across the waterways to provide support. Is there any flaws in this arrangement?
Cheng Xueqi said: Wujiang connects Jiaxing to the south, Suzhou to the north, and Taihu Lake to the west. Everywhere is surrounded by thieves' dens. I set up two battalions south of Wujiang to ward off the bandits from Jiaxing, and then set up two battalions in the northwest of Wujiang to ward off the bandits from Suzhou. He Antai's troops were stationed in the city and the president of the war in Wujiang. I immediately returned to the old camp and accompanied Mr. Gordon. , attacking Suzhou from Kunshan.
Li Hongzhang said: Wujiang is the key point of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the thieves will definitely come back. I immediately dispatched a unit to flank Jiaxing to divide the thieves' power. To attack the Soviet Union and refuse reinforcements, it is best to start from Wujiang. The city of Jiangyin strangles the rivers and seas, and holds the backs of Changzhou and Wuxi, serving as a throat for thieves from the south to the north. Liu Mingchuan, Li Hezhang and others have been attacking together for half a month, but no improvement has been seen. Quickly pass on my order, Huang Yi ascends to the navy, and immediately responds by water to assist Jiangyin.
After half a year of joint attack by the Huai army, the city of Jiangyin was on the verge of collapse. Prince Li Kai of Guang sent a letter asking for help.
Changzhou is one step away from Jiangyin. The guardian king Chen Kunshu also knew that his lips were dying and his teeth were cold, so he personally led an army of 40,000 and rushed to help. After hearing the news, Huang Zilong, the Chaozhou king, also left Wuxi and joined Chen Kun's book department to attack the south of Jiangyin; Suzhou, Liyang, and Danyang each The king, after receiving the document from King Guang asking for help, also sent troops to help Jiangyin.
Liu Mingchuan attacked Jiangyin internally and resisted and reinforced troops externally. After a fierce battle for half a month, both the offensive and defensive forces were exhausted.
Li Hongzhang observed the battle situation and ordered Li Hezhang to lead the Qinba camp, Guo Songlin to lead the Songzi camp, and Zhang Shushan to lead the Shuzi camp. The three groups advanced abreast and galloped towards Jiangyin.
Guo Songlin, the registered commander-in-chief, was ordered to lead four thousand troops, attack Zhutang and Huangtang, and stationed at the junction of Wuxi and Jiangyin.
When Guo Songlin arrived, Liu Mingchuan felt relieved and greeted him personally.
Guo Songlin said: "Jiangyin city is strong, and there is a lot of reinforcements for the thieves. Can the third brother of Jiangyin have a good strategy to defeat the enemy?"
Liu Ming preached: Jiangyin City has wide walls and thick walls, so it is difficult to capture. From the river in the west to the mountain pass in the east, thieves walked along the river to attack the wooden city for more than ten miles. Among them, there were more than a hundred stone camps, earth fortresses, and wooden cards, large and small, which were also very difficult to attack. . Outside Jiangyin City, there were hundreds of thousands of thieves with reinforcements, watching eagerly.
Guo Songlin said: If you want to take a strong city, you must first refuse aid.
Liu Ming preached: "I have the same idea. Brother Zimei will speed up the Songzi camp and surround the thieves' rear. I will supervise the entire army and attack them head-on."
On September 11, Liu Mingchuan's military governor called for battle, and Chen Kunshu, Huang Zilong and others led their troops to move out. When the two armies were fighting, Guo Songlin suddenly led his cavalry to charge out from behind. The Taiping army was caught off guard, confused and dispersed.
The next day, Li Hezhang, Liu Mingchuan, Guo Songlin and others jointly attacked Jiangyin. They fought fiercely for a whole day but failed. On the 13th, we fought again, but to no avail. That night, the Huai army sneaked into the city in the dark, captured and killed more than 20,000 people under Guang Wang Li Kaishun.
Li Hezhang and Guo Songlin both lamented the wanton killing.
Liu Ming preached: When the bandits rebelled and captured Jiangyin, they massacred more than 3,000 people in Jiangzhuang, including young, old, women and children. We killed them in order to pay homage to the innocent souls.
When Li Hongzhang heard this, he was noncommittal and asked Liu Mingchuan, Li Hezhang, Guo Songlin and others: after Jiangyin is restored, the attack on Su will begin; after Wuxi is conquered, we can advance through this road. Therefore, Wujiang is the throat of the South Road and Wuxi is the throat of the North Road. If you want to capture his heart, you must first strangle his throat, and then you can gradually get closer and closer. I ordered Liu Mingchuan to lead the Nine Battalions of Mingzi and march into Qingyang Town. This town is located between the three counties of Jiangyin, Wuxi and Changzhou. While Liu is holding on, he will be careful to protect the highlands of Furong Mountain after the chief's attack. He must send troops guard. Governor Guo Songlin led the Sixth Battalion of Songzi, and promptly entered the Zhagou Mountain area, and the army began to attack Wuxi. From then on, Zhang Shusheng and Teng Siwu entered the vicinity of Zhangjing Bridge to guard the back roads of Songzi Camp. The three battalions of Huang Zhongyuan and Zhou Shouchang were to attack the bridge corner to prevent the thieves from advancing northward into Changshu. Li Hezhang, together with Huang Yisheng Shuishi, arranged the comings and goings and ensured the smooth flow of pay and food.
Jiangyin fell, Li Xiucheng's heart was burning, and he rushed to the Golden Dragon Palace to see Chen Hongxiuquan: Jiangyin fell, Su Chang's door was wide open; Hangzhou came to report, Zuo Zongtang's demon army besieged Fuyang for half a year, and the defenders ran out of ammunition and food. The city walls will also not be preserved.
Hong Xiuquan sighed and said: If Jiangsu and Zhejiang are not protected, the Kingdom of Heaven is in danger, the Kingdom of Heaven is in danger! The loyal compatriots must quickly mobilize the army to rescue, and the time limit is forty days. After forty days, the loyal compatriots must return to the division to assist Beijing.
On September 23, Xiucheng returned to Suzhou to discuss the war in Jiangsu and Zhejiang with the kings.
King Mu Tan Shaoguang said: The demon army breaks through Kunshan and approaches Loumen; it breaks through Wujiang and approaches Xumen; if the demon army breaks through Wuxi, there will be no way out of Suzhou!
Gao Yongkuan, the king of Na, said: "This is to inform His Highness Prince Zhong, when the demon army besieged Jiangyin, my troops attacked Dangkou, intending to take Changshu, and mobilized the demons to divide the troops. However, the demon army was powerful and defeated repeatedly.
Xiu Chengdao: The three monsters Zeng Guoquan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang attacked Tianjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou separately with great force. After the defeat of Jiangpu, we are short of troops; now we can only gather all the armies to defeat Li Hongzhang's demon army first. I ordered Tan Shaoguang to defend Suzhou; Li Shixian and Lin Shaozhang, together with Huang Zilong, cooperated internally and externally to completely annihilate the monsters besieging Wuxi; Chen Kun's book department attacked Jiangyin to contain them. I will lead the main force to capture the corner of the bridge and march north to Changshu to cut off the demon's retreat. All armies are quickly preparing for war, and the attack will begin next month!
On October 9, 50,000 troops under the supervision of Prince Li Shixian and Prince Zhang Lin Shaozhang entered Wuxi. The army spread out from the south gate and stretched for more than 30 miles. Chao King Huang Zilong also led 10,000 people out of the city to help in the battle.
The Taiping army was powerful, but Guo Songlin was not afraid. He told Li Hezhang, "Our army can be divided into three teams. I will lead one team to lure the thieves deep into the army. The other two teams will ambush on the left and right. When the thieves advance, Brother Ji Quan will immediately order all the troops to wave flags and shout, Fire the cannon. Although there are 60,000 thieves, they are all in a mob and will collapse when they hear the sound.
Li Hezhang said: Brother Zimei and Brother Fang Zhong have been in battle many times and will win every battle. Hezhang admires them very much.
Guo Songlin said: Brother Ji Quan, you are polite, it is our duty to kill on the battlefield.
On October 10, Guo Songlin led his own team, fighting and then retreating.
Li Shixian, Lin Shaozhang and others were eager to fight and pursued desperately. They went straight into an ambush and suffered heavy casualties.
After Li Shixian and others were defeated, Li Xiucheng sighed and led six troops, Gao Yongkuan, Lu Deshun, Huang Zhanggui, Huang Longyun, the Five Kings of Huang Jinai and His Highness Zhong Er, Li Rongfa, with a combined force of 100,000 troops, advancing by land and water, to besiege the bridge corner.
The Huai army had less than two thousand soldiers, and Huang Zhongyuan and Zhou Shouchang struggled to support them.
Li Hezhang saw through Xiucheng's intention and dispatched 6,000 troops from various places to rush to support Daqiaojiao.
That night, Zhou Shouchang led a suicide squad of a hundred people, sneaked to the river bank, and exploded the Taiping Army ammunition warehouse. There was only a loud noise, the ground shook, and hundreds of Taiping soldiers died instantly.
Xiucheng sighed and said, "God won't help me, so I can't help myself!" Send my order quickly. If the corner of the bridge is not broken, I swear not to return to camp.
Xiucheng's troops attacked again, and the bridge corner was in danger.
Governors Zhou Shouchang and Huang Zhongyuan led the defenders and refused to retreat until death. On October 13, various units of the Huai Army approached one after another. Li Hezhang gave an order, and Zhang Shusheng, Zhang Shushan, Teng Siwu, Huang Yisheng and other land and water units immediately surrounded them front and rear, attacking from the left and right. The Taiping army was defeated and collapsed again. The Huai army took the opportunity to pursue them to the front line of the Grand Canal and advance towards Baidu Port, one step away from Suzhou.
Undeterred by his success, he mobilized 80,000 troops from Suzhou, Wuxi, Liyang, and Yixing for a decisive battle.
On October 20, King Yang Li Mingcheng arrived with 20,000 reinforcements.
Li Mingcheng privately said that Xiu Chengdao said: The Qing demon is powerful, the foreign demon has powerful artillery, and it is invincible in a hundred battles. Is there a foolproof strategy?
Xiu Chengdao: There is no side door, the mountains are not exhausted and the rivers are not exhausted, only war!
Li Mingcheng said: My brother-in-law, Chen Kunshu, and I fought against the three demons Cheng Xueqi, Guo Songlin, and Liu Mingchuan. We were defeated in every battle, and the morale of the army was greatly reduced.
Xiu Chengdao: Cheng, Guo and Liu Yao are no less fierce than Bao Yao; their wisdom far exceeds that of Bao Yao. Before Cheng and Liu arrive, I can concentrate our forces to eliminate Guo Songlin's demon tribe.
On October 23, King Yang Li Mingcheng led 30,000 troops to besiege Songziying, but failed. Li Xiucheng personally led the main reinforcements, but there was no progress. Xiucheng then ordered Li Shixian, the servant king, Chen Kunshu, the guardian king, Huang Zilong, the Chao king, and Fang Zonghai, the guardian king, to come to help in the battle.
