Chapter 121

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The Shandong Governor Zhang Liangji was an old acquaintance of the Taiping army. When the Taiping army besieged Changsha, Zhang Liangji was the Hunan Governor. With the help of Zuo Zongtang and a group of Qing Army from Guangxi, he managed to hold the situation. After being transferred from Hunan to Shandong, Zhang Liangji felt that he should be able to get rid of the war. However, he didn't expect that he would still have to fight on the frontlines against the Taiping army.

The commanders of the Taiping army's northern expedition, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, were the subordinates of Xiao Chaogui, the Western Prince. They followed Xiao Chaogui to Changsha. Naturally, they were old acquaintances of Zhang Liangji. This group of people was currently surrounded near Tianjin. For the time being, they were no longer a threat to Zhang Liangji.

However, before the northern expedition could stop, another group of old acquaintances of Zhang Liangji, the Bandit Gang, attacked again. This group of people had left a deep impression on Zhang Liangji at Changsha. Zuo Zongtang's performance in defending Changsha was outstanding. It was Zuo Zongtang who had planned a battle against the Bandit Gang. In that battle, the Qing Army had used more than 10,000 troops to fight against about 5,000 Bandit Gang. They had used all kinds of tactics, including luring the enemy, surrounding them from three sides, and attacking with cavalry. The Bandit Gang had not only withstood the attack of the Qing Army, but also defeated the 10,000 troops of the Qing Army in the following battle.

Zhang Liangji had always thought highly of Zuo Zongtang's ability. Even now, Zuo Zongtang's plan for that battle had been the best. His command had not made any mistakes. If there was any problem with that battle, it was that Zuo Zongtang had not considered the Bandit Gang's unimaginably powerful fighting ability.

In this battle, Zhang Liangji thought of the battle with the Bandit Gang. In order to avoid direct combat with the Bandit Gang, Inspector Zhang Liangji divided his 2,000 troops into two. You Ji Yushan led the other half to the east of Linqing and then moved to Chaocheng to fill in the gap left by the death of Suiyuan General Shan Lu. Zhang Liangji himself led a thousand troops towards Bali Village, east of Linqing.

As the Shandong Inspector, Zhang Liangji was very clear about the Qing Army's movements. In addition to Sheng Bao's 7,000 troops, Sengrinchen also sent 1,000 troops to harass the Taiping army. Shandong's Chief Minister Chong En led 4000 troops to Zhangguantun, northeast of Linqing.

The Taiping army had about 20,000 men. At this time, the Qing Army also had about 20,000 men. Zhang Liangji believed that even if the Taiping army's fighting ability was superb, he had heard from Zuo Zongtang that concentrating their forces to attack the enemy was the right way. The Taiping army was unlikely to divide their forces to fight. Even if they divided their forces, at most they would be divided into two or three groups. Sheng Bao, Chong. Lin. Qing. City of Linqing. Sengrinchen's commander-in-chief Gui Ling. These troops and their goals were much bigger than Zhang Liangji's. Logically, nothing should have happened to Zhang Liangji.

But when it came to fighting the Cantonese bandits, common sense was no longer reasonable. Zhang Liangji had just neared Bali Village when a group of Bandit Gang appeared in front of him. There were not many of them, about 500 or so. However, when this group of people saw the imperial army, they were like hungry wolves who saw their prey.

Inspector Zhang Liangji did not know how to fight a war. He could only let his subordinates face the enemy. After both sides exchanged fire for a while, Zhang Liangji's subordinates began to retreat towards Bali Village. It was a nightmarish retreat. Lord Zhang Liangji could hear gunshots coming from behind him, and his troops could clearly feel their numbers dwindle. Zhang Liangji didn't know whether the people who had decreased fled to other places or were simply killed. What Zhang Liangji knew was that after the imperial army escorted Zhang Liangji into Bali Village, the Taiping army surrounded Bali Village.

After hiding in Bali Village, Zhang Liangji felt that his legs were numb, and the inside of his pants was slightly damp. But in this life and death situation, he did not have the time to check the strange feeling in his pants. Zhang Liangji first ordered his subordinates to guard Bali Village. At the same time, he began to write an official document to ask for reinforcements from the surrounding troops.

"Are you sure that the person surrounding Bali Village is Inspector Zhang Liangji?" Vézé asked Chief of Staff Ruan Xihao.

"That's what the captives outside Bali Village said. Also, we caught the messengers of the Qing Army at Zhangguantun. In the official document they carried, Zhang Liangji asked Chong En to immediately lead the Qing Army to rescue him. " At this point, Ruan Xihao recalled the contents of the official document and could not help but laugh. "Zhang Liangji's words are very sincere!"

"Haha, it seems that Inspector Zhang Liangji still does not know what happened to Chong En." Vézé also laughed.

It was February 27th, 1854. Chong En's troops of the Qing Army had fought against the Taiping army on the 25th. None of them had escaped. After Vézé captured Chong En and asked him for information, Chong En actually thought that he was a high-ranking Manchu official and played a big card in front of Vézé. How could Vézé be polite to the Manchu people? The Nian Army had not personally killed a high-ranking Manchu Qing official, so Vézé brought Chong En to the Nian Army's camp.

It was the first time that the Nian Army had seen a living administrative envoy. However, after hearing Chong En curse at the Nian Army, the brothers could only "play" with him. In the cold wind of February in the north, the brothers stripped Chong En naked and poured cold water on him. Then, they tied a rope around his neck and dragged him around the horse.

After a while, Chong En fell to the ground. He would rather die than get up. The brothers of the Nian Army pulled him up and used finger clips, sticks, tiger stool, whips, branding iron, castration, and other methods to treat Chong En. Chong En sang in front of the Nian Army for a long time. After he was castrated, Chong En begged the Nian Army to "ask for a quick death." In the end, the Nian Army fulfilled Chong En's wish. Five healthy horses divided the living Chong En among the five horses.

Vézé and several other high-ranking Nian Army officials watched the brothers of the Nian Army make fun of Chong En and talked about some recent problems. After the five horses divided Chong En, Vézé laughed and said, "So the high-ranking officials of the Manchu are so cowardly."

"Indeed. This guy fell into our hands, but he still thinks he has a way out. Does he think that we won't dare to kill him? "Liu Yongjing said with a sneer.

So when he heard that Zhang Liangji sent an official document to Chong En, asking him to rescue the surrounded Zhang Liangji, Vézé felt that Zhang Liangji's request was very inauspicious.

"Chief of Staff, should we attack the Balizhuang where Zhang Liangji is now?" Ruan Xihao asked.

"What do you think?" Vézé asked.

"This … Since we are besieging the place to attack the reinforcements, it is better to leave Zhang Liangji alive." Ruan Xihao replied.

"Since we are besieging the place to attack the reinforcements, how many reinforcements will be able to reach Linqing in a short period of time?" Vézé continued to ask Ruan Xihao.

"This … According to the news from the captives, the Qing Army will not have any reinforcements for a short period of time." Ruan Xihao replied.

"Since there are no reinforcements, why are we still fighting for reinforcements? Let's make arrangements and attack Linqing. "

Ruan Xihao thought about it and agreed. Just as he was about to gather his staff to come up with a plan, he heard Vézé say, "All the captives should be handed over to the Nian Army."

Hearing this order, Ruan Xihao was slightly stunned. Vézé's troops had been able to effectively annihilate the enemy along the way. The Nian Army, which had a large number of cavalry, had contributed greatly. Relying on Vézé's infantry, there was no way they could annihilate the enemy so cleanly.

Similarly, the Nian Army did not leave any survivors during the pursuit. The Qing Army's money and belongings were carried with them. Everyone joined the army for this money. For the sake of money, the Qing Army would fight with their lives. The Nian Army knew this. In order to avoid future trouble, they had no choice but to kill. Although Vézé did not think it was necessary to give special treatment to the Qing Army's captives, Vézé could not really kill them on a large scale. So letting the Nian Army deal with the captives was tantamount to letting the Nian Army execute these people.

Ruan Xihao did not have any special concept of this. At this time, Vézé's troops were invincible wherever they went. But everyone was in Manchu Qing's territory. Who knew how many Qing Army would attack in the future? Executing the captives could also solve problems. When Ruan Xihao sought refuge with Vézé, he had participated in the massacre of Wujia Town in Guangxi Wuzhou. At that time, all the people in Wujia Town were slaughtered.

Mercy to the enemy was cruelty to one's own people. If Ruan Xihao let the people of Wujia Town go, would the people of Wujia Town think that Ruan Xihao was their 'savior'? That was absolutely impossible. They would only think that they were blessed by their ancestors. As for Ruan Xihao's actions, the people of Wujia Town would only think that Ruan Xihao was harboring evil intentions.

With the goal of the entire campaign confirmed, Zhang Liangji's fate was also confirmed. On the morning of the 28th, three brigades with 12 cannons dealt with the enemy at Bali Village. When the army was defeated, Zhang Liangji pretended to jump into a well. According to Zhang Liangji, at this time, someone had to stop him. This way, Zhang Liangji had taken the initiative to seek death. Even if he was captured by the Guangdong Bandits, it could be considered as a 'show' in the Manchu Qing officialdom. It should be known that in the Manchu Qing officialdom, this' show 'was very important. Whether he died or not was not important, but whether he had taken the initiative to seek death was a world of difference.

From the perspective of officialdom, Lord Zhang Liangji's thinking was very correct. But the troops below were not officialdom people. The cannons of the Guangdong Bandits were ferocious and Bali Village was about to be lost. At this time, no one thought that capturing Inspector Zhang Liangji to the Guangdong Bandits to ask for credit would be a sign of extreme loyalty. As for how Lord Zhang Liangji wanted to put on a show, the officers and soldiers below him who were running around like headless flies didn't care.

In the end, when the Taiping army rushed into the rich courtyard where Shandong Inspector Zhang Liangji lived, Lord Zhang was standing next to a well. When he saw someone come in, he firmly grabbed the well rope and jumped into the well.

Coincidentally, when the Taiping army launched an attack on Linqing City, which was already in a state of panic and had lost the will to fight, the Linqing Zhizhou, Zhang Jigong, also jumped into the well. This was, after all, the provincial capital. Lord Zhang Jigong's personal attendants saw Lord Zhang jump into the well with their own eyes. This group of personal attendants didn't go to save Lord Zhang Jigong. Instead, they went out and surrendered to the Taiping army. When these guys who surrendered voluntarily brought the Taiping army out of the well and fished Lord Zhang Jigong out, Lord Zhang's hands were tightly gripping the well rope. His lips were purple from the cold.