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The news of the fall of Luzhou and the Taiping army breaking out of Jiangbei Camp's encirclement of Yangzhou and heading north reached Beijing almost at the same time. Emperor Xianfeng had already sensed the possibility of the Taiping army going north. After reading these two pieces of news, he was sure of his judgment.
But there was no good way to make a judgment. The Qing Army in Luzhou was the last force of the Green Camp in Anhui. Hu Yuanwei, the magistrate of Luzhou, was ordered to rush out of the city to Fengyang with a letter for help from Anhui Governor Jiang Wenqing. In his memorial, he wrote that the Yue bandits had more than 20,000 people surrounding Luzhou. Hu Yuanwei was ordered to break out of the encirclement with his bodyguards. When he broke out of the encirclement, all his bodyguards died in battle. He went to Fengyang alone. On the way, he heard that Luzhou had fallen and Jiang Wenqing had died for his country.
Reading this, Daoguang sighed deeply and threw the memorial on the table. It was the elite Yue bandits, the Yue bandits, who had captured Luzhou! Two groups of 20,000 Yue bandits heading north at the same time. Needless to say, their target must be Beijing. In order to eliminate the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing Army mobilized a large number of Green Camp soldiers from other places. The direct result was that the number of troops in each province was greatly insufficient. In particular, the Qing Army in Hubei, Anhui, and Henan were almost emptied. This led to the high-speed march of the Taiping army to shake off the heavy pursuit of the Qing Army. Wherever the vanguard pointed, the cities were unexpectedly undefended.
After experiencing the Opium War ten years ago, the Qing Army was extremely sensitive to the blockade of the water transport. Even now, the Jiangbei Camp was established to suppress Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Zhenjiang, which were controlled by the Taiping army. There was no large Qing Army between northern Anhui and Henan, not to mention the elite Taiping army troops that could directly defend against 40,000 people.
Since the Anhui Governor Jiang Wenqing had fallen into the hands of the Taiping army, the most important thing now was to quickly appoint a courageous and good fighter as the Anhui Governor. To stop the offensive of the Taiping army. But after more than a year of fighting, the generals of the Qing Army went into battle one after another, but they were defeated one after another. Xianfeng really didn't see any generals who could really fight. Just as the young emperor was worrying, the eunuch sent in another urgent memorial.
When he opened it, he saw it was a memorial from the inspector-general of Jiangxi, Zhang Fei. A Taiping army set off from Nanjing, advancing by land and water, going upstream. The inspector-general of Jiangxi believed that the destination of this Taiping army was Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi.
When it rains, it pours! Xian Feng felt his head swell. The Taiping army had besieged Hunan's capital, Changsha, captured Hubei's capital, Wuchang, and now occupied Anhui's capital, Anqing, and Jiangsu's capital, Jinling. Could it be that Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi, was also doomed? Composing himself, Xian Feng continued reading. At the end of the memorial, the inspector-general of Jiangxi, Zhang Di, wrote that the titular prefectural magistrate, Jiang Zhongyuan, brought four thousand Chu Yong soldiers recruited in Hunan and rushed to Jiangxi to help the inspector-general of Jiangxi, Zhang Di, defend Nanchang.
Xian Feng's eyes lit up. The news that Jiang Zhongyuan had twice escorted the coffins of his teachers and friends back to his hometown in Hunan, causing him to delay the imperial examinations, spread throughout the world. Even in the inner palace, Xian Feng had heard of this person's chivalrous loyalty and righteousness. Ever since the rise of the Taiping army, although it had also suffered defeats, Jiang Zhongyuan was the official with the highest military service. He had risen from a small official with a high scholar background to a titular prefectural magistrate, relying on this military service.
What made Xian Feng's impression of Jiang Zhongyuan deeply was that Jiang Zhongyuan had never concealed his defeats. Because of jealousy, there were more than one or two officials who said that Jiang Zhongyuan had suffered defeats in secret memorials and letters. But the exact news that they said about Jiang Zhongyuan's defeats was after Jiang Zhongyuan's memorial. Because of this, Xian Feng's evaluation of Jiang Zhongyuan was extremely high.
Moreover, Jiang Zhongyuan had written memorials several times, analyzing the military and political reasons for the defeats, including how to reorganize the military affairs, in an attempt to strengthen the Qing Army's combat power. As the Emperor, Xian Feng had no way to force the contents of Jiang Zhongyuan's memorials to be carried out by his high-ranking officials. Even though he was young, Xian Feng was not muddle-headed. If he did so, not only would it be useless, but it would also make Jiang Zhongyuan the target of public criticism in the officialdom. Although he could not give Jiang Zhongyuan any support from the upper echelons, Xian Feng quite admired Jiang Zhongyuan's loyalty and bravery.
After thinking for a long time, Xian Feng finally decided that if Jiang Zhongyuan could defend Nanchang, he would promote Jiang Zhongyuan to the position of Anhui's inspector-general. He would let this valiant official deal with the Taiping army in Anhui.
The inner palace was the place where information was the most subtle. Many times, some news could spread very quickly. The news that Xian Feng intended to promote Jiang Zhongyuan to the position of Anhui's inspector-general spread very quickly. Other provinces were fine, but no one was more sensitive to this news than Hunan.
After Zuo Zongtang defended Changsha City, he was already prepared to resign from his position as Hunan's inspector-general. When he heard that Jiang Zhongyuan was very likely to become Anhui's inspector-general, he let out a long sigh. At this time, Hunan's inspector-general Zhang Liangji and a group of Hunan's high-ranking officials were together with Zuo Zongtang.
"Why is Ji Gao sighing?" Hunan's inspector-general Zhang Liangji couldn't help but ask.
"I'm sighing that Duke Jiang is a pioneer in this dynasty! Very impressive! "Zuo Zongtang replied.
"Oh?" Zhang Liangji didn't have Zuo Zongtang's talent and insight. It was very obvious that he didn't understand what Zuo Zongtang was referring to.
Zuo Zongtang continued, "Duke Jiang became an official with one of the Imperial Examinations. His literary achievements were indeed not bad. However, he recruited troops to suppress bandits and his military achievements shook the world. Two years later, he was promoted to inspector-general and guarded a region. Looking at the whole dynasty, he was unexpectedly the first! Not to mention that Duke Jiang valued righteousness and belittled personal gains. In order to escort his teacher's coffin back to his hometown, he delayed the imperial examinations several times. Today, as a scholar, he led the troops to protect the common people and support the country. He is indeed our Hunan's hero! "
Hearing his words, the others finally understood. Manchu Qing's regime was extremely ruthless in suppressing and guarding the Han people. Jiang Zhongyuan was a civil official. His subordinates were the private troops he recruited in Hunan and participated in the public war with his private troops. In the end, he used his military achievements to obtain the official position of a nominal prefectural magistrate. Moreover, he was promoted to inspector-general. It seemed like the rumor was not groundless.
In Manchu Qing's territory, there were only eighteen provinces in the mainland. Before Jiang Zhongyuan was only a county magistrate. He had to go home to observe the funeral. But in two years, he was promoted from a county magistrate to the inspector-general of Anhui. This promotion speed was really shocking. Not to mention that his military achievements couldn't be ignored.
Thinking about this point, everyone's complexion didn't look too good. Everyone knew that Zuo Zongtang's temperament was arrogant. Even when he became the inspector-general of inspector-general Zhang Liangji, he still wouldn't lower his head. But looking at Jiang Zhongyuan's path of promotion, everyone could understand the envy in Zuo Zongtang's tone of praise.
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