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When Vézé's main force arrived at Tong City, the attack on Shucheng City began. As the vanguard, the 5th Division was soon caught in a fierce battle.
"The surprise attack didn't work!" Lei Hu wrote in his report.
"If the surprise attack didn't work, surround Shucheng City and prepare to attack!" Vézé ordered Lei Hu.
More than a month ago, the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division took over Tong City. This time, Vézé brought the 3rd Division over, and the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division quickly returned to the city. The troops then fought a stormy battle in Shucheng City.
Zhang Yingchen argued in the military meeting about this move, "If we were the vanguard, I'm afraid the surprise attack would work."
Hearing this, no one from the General Staff Headquarters to the other brigade commanders said anything. Everyone ignored Zhang Yingchen's words and just looked at Vézé.
This wasn't the first time this happened. Ever since the army started to be standardized, Zhang Yingchen's troops were increasingly disliked. Vézé knew this, so he asked with a straight face, "Yingchen, if you transfer the 1st Brigade under your command, can you take the other three brigades to attack Shucheng City and take it?"
"Why transfer the 1st Brigade?" Zhang Yingchen was quite surprised.
Vézé answered bluntly, "Because I don't think you can lead the 1st Division well without the 1st Brigade."
Vézé had wanted to say this for a long time. Although Zhang Yingchen did well in the exam and was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel, Vézé had been dissatisfied with Zhang Yingchen's attitude for a long time. This time, while Zhang Yingchen was bragging, Vézé was ready to give Zhang Yingchen a good beating. In fact, not only Vézé, but many senior officers were also dissatisfied with Zhang Yingchen.
In fact, not only Vézé, but many senior officers were also dissatisfied with Zhang Yingchen. After listening to Vézé's blunt criticism, everyone either looked away or lowered their heads to stifle their laughter. Among the high-ranking officers in the army, Zhang Yingchen was the only one who had climbed to the position of a division commander without going through a series of battles. Moreover, after the new system was enacted, it was impossible for others to have such a rocketing promotion. In addition, Zhang Yingchen relied on the Instructional Brigade to fight the battles. The Instructional Brigade was publicly acknowledged as the best among all the troops. In Vézé's troops, only Lei Hu suffered a loss in front of the Qing Army's cavalry once. At other times, no one had ever been defeated by the Qing Army. Therefore, although the general didn't have any ill intentions towards Zhang Yingchen, he had been dissatisfied with Zhang Yingchen's current position for a long time.
Hearing Vézé's rude words, Zhang Yingchen was first stunned, and then his face was full of grievance. But looking at the expressions of the other generals, he knew that no one would speak up for him. This time, he lowered his head obediently.
At this time, Vézé also didn't want to further hurt Zhang Yingchen. After the troops made the decision to attack, they dispersed the meeting.
After the meeting, Vézé called Zhang Yingchen to his side. "Yingchen, I've been thinking for a long time. I think I should let you have a good experience. "
Zhang Yingchen looked at Vézé pitifully. "Prime Minister, are you angry with me?"
"If I were angry with you, I wouldn't talk to you about this." Vézé became more determined. "Next, you will probably ask me, if you can fight the next battle well, will it be okay? Am I right? "
Zhang Yingchen was stunned. He really wanted to say that. But Vézé said it before him, which made Zhang Yingchen very uncomfortable.
Vézé continued, "I want you to start from the rank of corporal, not because I'm angry with you. I'm not angry with you at all. It's because you lack the experience of honestly rising up step by step. Now, let alone the brigade commander, even the commander of the regiment, who hasn't commanded a platoon before? You don't. Just this alone makes you different from everyone else. I want you to be like the others, climbing every level. "
Hearing that Vézé wanted to demote him to corporal, Zhang Yingchen was really scared. His face was pale, and he said with a sobbing tone, "Prime Minister, if you think I've done something wrong, you should hit me and punish me. You can't do this to me. "
"It's not your fault. I made a mistake when I arranged your position. You didn't do anything wrong. When I made the rules, I didn't want you to be promoted like the others. I thought you've been with me for a long time, and you're smart, so I arranged for you to be a division commander. Now I feel that it's not possible. You have to rely on your own ability to get promoted in the army. I used to protect you, but now it seems that I'm holding you back! If you commanded the battle yourself and fought your way up, I wouldn't have said that. It's my fault. So I can't continue to hold you back. I have to let you lead the army yourself. "
Vézé didn't get angry when he said this, but his attitude was serious and gentle. But Zhang Yingchen was already trembling with fear. He gathered the last of his courage and said, "Prime Minister, no matter what you arrange for me, you can't let me be a corporal."
Vézé nodded seriously, "Very well, then I won't let you be a corporal either. We also know that after we arrived at Tong City, several local forces nearby were alarmed and came to join the army. Now they have four to five hundred people. I'll transfer some corporals and commanders from the Instructional Brigade to this army. That should be enough to make up a soldier. You're still a division commander, so I'll hand these people over to you. You can lead them to fight. In the future, I'll give you some of the new brothers from Anhui, so that your army can slowly expand. But now, it's your turn to personally command them to march, shoot, and charge. Whether they can do well or not depends on you. "
This was not a derogatory remark, so Zhang Yingchen didn't dare to argue with Vézé. He obediently accepted Vézé's arrangement.
After solving Zhang Yingchen's problem, Vézé was finally relieved. The only abnormal arrangement in the entire army was finally normal. Vézé could finally command the army without worry. The hardest person to deceive was oneself. Among all the division commanders, Vézé was most worried that Zhang Yingchen would cause trouble. If punishment was to be carried out, Vézé would naturally be responsible for arranging Zhang Yingchen into a high position. Vézé was well aware of this.
None of the generals objected to this order. Not only did no one object, but the morale of the brothers grew even higher. The arrangement that everyone was unconvinced about was finally straightened out. All that was left was for everyone to display their capabilities based on their military exploits.
Vézé also announced another order, "As everyone knows, we've received the designations of ten armies. Based on the current situation of the Taiping Rebellion, each army only has two thousand people, which is equivalent to a division. This time I even said that whoever fought the best would be promoted to the rank of army. Brothers, please fight with all your might and make contributions! I'll wait and see! "
When this news was announced, the entire conference hall was in an uproar. The number of soldiers in Vézé's army was completely full. If there was no expansion, there was actually no difference between a division commander and a division commander. However, Vézé's troops still attached great importance to this title. Everyone felt that there was no reason why someone from another division could become a division commander with only two thousand soldiers.
"Prime Minister, we will definitely fight well. We will definitely bring honor to the Prime Minister!" The generals declared one after another.
Vézé said loudly, "It's not about making me proud. If we fight well, we will be able to take over Luzhou. At that time, it will be very convenient for us to gather food and soldiers from Anqing to Luzhou. At that time, everyone's army will expand and we will be able to defeat Qing Yao earlier. Once we defeat Qing Yao, the Kingdom of Heaven will be established. At that time, we will enjoy peace together! "
"Defeat Qing Yao! Share peace together! "Wu Qilu, the deputy director of the political department, was the first to shout.
Hearing this slogan, everyone was even more excited. All the generals shouted together, "Defeat Qing Yao! Share peace together! "" Defeat Qing Yao! Share peace together! "
Other than the gloomy Zhang Yingchen who did not utter a word, the other generals were all in high spirits.
Vézé let Zhang Yingchen lead the troops to guard Tong City while he led the first and third divisions to Shucheng with the cannons.
When they arrived at Shucheng, Lei Hu had already surrounded the city. Shucheng was located in the central part of Anhui Province, at the foot of the Dabie Mountains, by the shore of Lake Chao and between the Yangtze and Huai rivers. It was the intersection of Luzhou (Hefei), Lu 'an and Anqing. After reaching Shucheng, the mountains slowed down. Further north, there were more plains. After occupying Luzhou, Vézé had gained a foothold in the central part of Anhui Province. Whether it was food or soldiers, it was much better than Anqing, which was located in the hilly area.
When Vézé arrived at Shucheng, Lei Hu immediately came to report the situation. "Prime Minister, have we been tricked by Qing Yao? There's no such thing as 4,000 Qing Yao attacking Anqing. My scouts have already gone to Luzhou. There's no Qing Yao from Luzhou to Shucheng. This is Qing Yao's rumor to scare us! "
"Oh?" Vézé was also surprised by this news. Anqing guarded the Yangtze River. If the Qing Army from the two lakes and Jiangxi wanted to go down the river, they had to break through Anqing. If he couldn't control An Qing, it wasn't impossible for him to just pass by An Qing. However, it was quite easy to go with the flow, but it was difficult to go against the flow.
Even if Vézé's navy couldn't directly face the Qing Army's navy, the Qing Army couldn't have a large number of ships protect the grain ships at all times. And Vézé's navy could cut off the Qing Army's logistics at any time. If the Qing Army couldn't deal with Nanjing's troops, they would be trapped in the Yangtze River. It wasn't easy to build large ships. Even the Qing Army couldn't treat them as disposable consumables. So they had to deal with Anqing first before they could attack Nanjing further downstream.
So even if 40,000 Qing Army came to attack Anqing, Vézé wouldn't be surprised, much less 4,000 Qing Army. But the Qing Army in Luzhou actually dared to send 4,000 Qing Army to attack Anqing. Were they trying to scare Vézé and make Vézé bide his time in Anqing? Or were they trying to mobilize Vézé and have other Qing Army attack Anqing?
Lei Hu didn't think too much about it. He continued, "Prime Minister, when I arrived at Shucheng, the gates were already closed. I asked around and found that the gates haven't been opened for the past month. So there's no way to launch a surprise attack. We can only prepare to attack by force. "
"Very good. Then what's there to attack in Shucheng? " Vézé didn't want to pursue the failure of the surprise attack. If Shucheng's gates were wide open, perhaps Vézé would be more surprised.
Lei Hu replied, "There aren't many cannons in Shucheng. They're all concentrated at the south gate. There are many stones here, so it's not easy to dig tunnels. There aren't many soldiers in the city. I think it's better for our 5,000 to 6,000 men to climb the city walls. "
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