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On the 24th of May, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang's troops arrived at Shou Zhou. At this time, the city gates of Shou Zhou were wide open. As they approached, they saw that two pontoon bridges had been built on the Huai River. Apart from the pontoon bridges, Vézé had already arranged a campsite and a place to eat.
When Lin Fengxiang asked where Vézé had gone, a brigade commander who stayed behind told Lin Fengxiang, "Our Prime Minister has gone to attack Meng City."
Hearing the words "our Prime Minister", Deputy Prime Minister Lin Fengxiang was slightly taken aback. This was the first time he had heard such a title in the Taiping army. On the other hand, Prime Minister Li Kaifang was paying attention to something different. "When did Prime Minister Wei leave?"
The brigade commander answered, "He left early yesterday morning. We have already conquered Lower Cai City. Our Prime Minister is now on his way to Meng City. I stayed behind to welcome the three Prime Ministers across the river. "
Since Vézé had arranged all the work, Lin Fengxiang had no reason to refuse. Vézé was not in Shou Zhou, and Lin Fengxiang had no intention of entering Shou Zhou either. The troops began to cross the river after eating. The two rows of pontoon bridges could accommodate four people walking side by side. With the addition of some ships transporting supplies that were not suitable for crossing the pontoon bridges, it only took slightly more than a day for the 20,000 troops to successfully cross the Huai River and head straight for Meng City.
On the 28th of May, Lin Fengxiang rushed to the outskirts of Meng City. From afar, he could see Vézé's troops lined up to welcome them. Li Kaifang could not help but sigh. "I know Vézé has always dared to fight head-on battles. Although he had a spy when he took over Shou Zhou, he really dared to attack Shou Zhou. That city wall is really extraordinary. "
Lin Fengxiang knew that Li Kaifang still had something to say. Among all the generals in the Taiping army, Vézé was only 20 years old, a very young general. Compared to his shocking age, Vézé's overall impression was even stranger.
The other generals had followed the South Prince, the West Prince, and the East Prince to battle. For example, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, as well as the Spring Officer and the Deputy Prime Minister Ji Wenyuan, had followed the West Prince, Xiao Chaogui and killed their way out. Vézé used to work under West King, Xiao Chaogui. However, Vézé had always led an army and fought. of of Yongan. of Vé. Vézé. As for Wei Ze's troops, they had grown from the initial twenty people to more than ten thousand as they accumulated more and more battle achievements.
In terms of the expansion speed of the army, Vézé's army was not very fast. However, the expansion of the other armies in the central government was mostly because some people had defected to the central government of the Taiping Rebellion. In the end, it was arranged by the central government and allocated to the subordinate troops.
Vézé's subordinates had defected to Vézé and were reorganized by Vézé. Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang had now experienced the feeling of being reorganized. They had met many starving people along the way from Yangzhou. In order to make a living, the starving people had joined the army. The number of soldiers in the army had increased by a lot. However, after these people joined the army, the speed of the army had slowed down. At least, compared to Vézé's army, which had been moving forward non-stop and still had time to arrange for Lin Fengxiang's army, Lin Fengxiang's army was indeed not fast enough.
Vézé did not say anything. After receiving Lin Fengxiang, Vézé said directly, "Three Prime Ministers, I have received news that Qing Yao from Fengyang and Huaiyuan has attacked us. I can only lead the way to Meng City. After that, I have to lead the army back to Shouzhou. "
Regardless of the attitude of Li Kaifang and the others, Lin Fengxiang answered, "Wayne Brothers have worked hard on this journey. If I had known this earlier, I would have asked the King Of The East to let Wayne Brothers take the lead in this northern expedition. This way, I can follow behind Wayne Brothers. That's really cool. "
Vézé smiled. "Lin Da Ge really likes to joke. I can only fight until here. I can't fight any further. Lin Da Ge, I bid you farewell. I wish Lin Da Ge all the way to Beijing! "
There was no time for pleasantries during a war. Vézé only spent a few minutes bidding farewell to Lin Fengxiang and the others. Then, he led the army all the way south. If he had not taken Shouzhou, perhaps Vézé would have been satisfied with his Jiangbei defense line, which was based in Luzhou in central Anhui. However, now that he had taken Shouzhou, Vézé had unconsciously decided that he could not give it up so easily. After taking Shouzhou, Vézé had only taken a stroll on the city wall. If he retreated so easily, it would be very difficult to take Shouzhou in the future.
There was a main road from Meng City to Shouzhou, and Vézé's army was marching rapidly along it. During a break, Lei Hu could not help but ask Vézé, "Prime Minister, I think you're being too nice to Lin Fengxiang. In fact, we can just send them across the Huai River. Why do we have to be like their vanguard, attacking cities and conquering land? "
Vézé shook his head. "Think about it from another angle. With Lin Fengxiang on the northern expedition, Qing Yao's attention will be attracted by the Northern Expedition Army. They won't have the time to deal with us. At this time, we need to recruit soldiers quickly. Bandits, hooligans, refugees and bandits. For now, these people will be used to defend the city. Once we pass the system of paying taxes and establish a military service system, things will be much easier. "
"It's easy to recruit refugees, but it won't be easy to make them defend the city!" After this torment, Lei Hu also felt a little afraid. "We've fought all the way to Shouchun. Right now, Fengyang is to the north. Right now, we have to turn and deal with Liu 'an in the south. After taking Liu 'an, we can fight north and west. Besides, the boats on the Huai River are too small. Compared to our ships in the Yangtze River … sigh! "
"How can the Huai River compare to the Yangtze River?" Ke Gongyu laughed dryly. "Lei Hu, your joke is not funny at all."
Vézé gave a wry smile. There were some things he really could not say. This time in Shouzhou, Vézé thought of the Three Kingdoms period. At that time, Cao Cao and Sun Quan spent so much effort to fight for Luzhou (Hefei). Because in that era, there was a small canal connecting Shouchun. Only God knows which two rivers were. This allowed them to board a boat from Shouchun and take a boat from the Huai River to the Yangtze River.
In the Three Kingdoms period, the canal between the Huai River and the Yangtze River was decided by Cao Cao and Sun Quan's desire to control it. In order to farm the vast area between Xuchang and Shouchun, Cao Cao had to defend Hefei to the death. Sun Quan could not seize Hefei and could only run to Hubei and Jiangdong to farm. Life in the Yangtze River basin was not easy.
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