?
The three fully equipped armies had a total of 16028 men. After the political mobilization, more than three hundred of them felt that their lives hadn't changed for the better. Vézé didn't make things difficult for these politically indecisive people, only immediately urging them to leave. In 1853, the military benefits these people enjoyed didn't need to be refunded. But starting from 1854, this group of people no longer enjoyed military benefits.
Politically unreliable people were excluded, and ideologically unstable members were also excluded. Three divisions of 15642 men arrived at the Taiping army's stronghold north of the Huai River, Fengyang, on January 11th, 1854, and prepared to set out on the road north.
However, it wasn't just Hu Chenghe, the commander of the Shouzhou military division, who was waiting for Vézé. There were also more than thirty Nian Army commanders waiting to see Vézé. These people all begged Vézé to take them with him, and they were willing to serve Vézé.
Vézé didn't have absolute confidence in his ability to command. Commanding a regular army to fight north without a base was already very difficult for Vézé. With such a motley crew, Vézé didn't have the confidence to bring them back to Anhui alive. Moreover, among the leaders of this motley crew, there were also women. Of the thirty or so people, three of the leaders were women. One of them was called Wen Yuewei, and she looked to be in her twenties. Although Wen Yuewei's skin was a "healthy wheat color" due to the sun and the wind, her skin was rough, and her hands and feet were big, she was still a woman. No matter how much she looked like a tomboy, it didn't mean that she could become a real man.
However, even though Wei Ze thought so in his heart, he did not dare to say it out loud. Vézé smiled at this group of Nian Army commanders. "I understand your good intentions, but I don't accept undeserved rewards. I've never met you before, nor have I had any dealings with you. Since you're treating me like this, why don't you make it clear? After the war, what do you want me, Vézé, to do? "
The group of leaders looked at each other. For the time being, no one wanted to step forward. On the contrary, Wen Yuewei sprang up. First she cupped her fist toward Vézé, and then she said in a loud voice, "Wei Wangye, you have finished the tax on your territory. He even shouted that those with more land should pay more taxes, and those without land should not pay taxes. The Nian Army revolted because the court forced us to pay taxes every day. We didn't want to pay taxes anymore, so we rebelled. There are two reasons why we want to follow you to the north. One is to go north to fight, and you must let us make a profit. The second thing is that if you come back after the war, you can't come to our territory to collect taxes. After all, following you to the north is akin to throwing away our lives. If there were no such benefits, it wouldn't be justifiable, right? "
Such a forthright female leader of the Nian Army made Vézé gasp in admiration. Moreover, the Nian Army's political platform was to "not pay taxes." This also made Vézé feel quite amused. The history books talked about the Nian Army's uprising, but Vézé found that he was wrong. The Nian Army's uprising was definitely not a rebellion of the poor who couldn't survive. In history, those who made not paying taxes a clear political platform were not from the impoverished class.
The court never lacked scoundrels, and there was never a lack of inhumane scoundrels. But there were no fools in the court. The impoverished who had nothing on them were never the targets of the court's tax collection, because other than their lives, the impoverished had no ability to pay taxes. In an agricultural society, lives were never valuable.
After confirming that the Nian Army was a group of local landlords and peasant militia in northern Anhui, Vézé decided to cooperate with them. Although the landlords were short-sighted, they had a certain amount of fighting power. According to the history books, the Nian Army had a lot of horses. Without some property, it was impossible to get so many horses. What Vézé lacked the most at the moment was the mobility of horses.
Vézé said seriously, "I agree with Miss Wen. If we can return from the north, I will no longer impose taxes on the places where you live. After every battle, I will let you be responsible for cleaning up the battlefield. Everything found on the dead Qing Yao will belong to you. If we can break into the city, we will divide the loot according to the number of people. What do you think? "
The Nian Army leaders thought that Vézé wouldn't agree so easily, especially when it came to paying taxes. They didn't believe that Vézé would agree so easily. But Vézé agreed so calmly, which made them feel a little guilty.
Wen Yuewei heard Vézé call her name, but she didn't show the slightest fear. She took a step forward. "Prince Wei, since you dared to agree, do you dare to swear an oath of blood with us?"
"Why not?" Vézé smiled. Swearing an oath of blood was like cutting off a chicken's head and burning yellow paper. With God as their witness, they wrote down the contents of the oath with cinnabar on the yellow paper. After burning incense and praying, they burned the yellow paper with the oath. Next, they cut open the neck of a large rooster and poured its blood into a bowl. They drank the blood wine.
As Vézé participated in this oath of blood, his heart was filled with regret. In ancient times, swearing an oath of blood was a very important ceremony. In ancient times, there was also a chicken, but it wasn't used to drink blood. It was used as a tribute to the five animals.
The more traditional way, at least according to the historical records of Taishi Gong, was to smear the animal's blood on one's lips instead of mixing it with the wine and drinking it in one gulp.
Even if it was a Jianghu method, it still required everyone to cut their finger and drip their blood into a large bowl. Then, everyone's blood was mixed with the wine and divided. First, they dipped their finger in the wine and flicked it three times in the air, then three times on the ground, to show respect to heaven and earth. Finally, they drank the blood wine.
However, the culture of the Qing Dynasty was in decline, and the true essence of these rituals had long since been lost. Swearing an oath of blood with blood had become a thing that only cared about blood, not about culture.
As the leader of the alliance, Vézé and the Nian Army leaders were relieved after he and the Nian Army leaders drank blood. In this battle, Vézé mainly dispatched infantry, while the Nian Army mainly dispatched mules and horses. All the Nian Army leaders followed Vézé's orders. More than thirty Nianjun leaders were just a part of the hundreds of subordinates who were directly under them. They were people who could be seen in public. The main force of the Nien army was in the rural areas of Huaibei. In every village, there were small groups of armed forces. These small forces were attached to the main force. Although there were only thirty leaders, there were more than five thousand of their subordinates who had joined Wei Ze's team.
After over two days, Vézé's army of over 20,000 soldiers left Fengyang in a formidable manner and headed northward. Their first target was Huaiyuan County.
When Hu Chenghe attacked Fengyang, there were about 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers in the city. These were all the troops that the Manchu Qing Army had gathered with great efforts. According to Hu Chenghe's intelligence, the Qing Army had gathered a lot of troops in Suzhou Province; however, there were not too many troops between Suzhou Province and Fengyang.
Vézé was not afraid of the Qing Army's troops in Suzhou Province. Now, he had thousands of Nian Army members and 200-3,000 mules and horses. Plus the over 500 horsemen Vézé had formed in a hurry, of course, it was impossible for Vézé to launch a cavalry charge. However, Vézé could still dispatch scouts far away. As long as they were not raided by the Qing Army, Vézé excelled at fighting the Qing Army in the open field. He didn't refuse the Qing Army to fight him; instead, he welcomed the Qing Army to fight him.
The vanguard soon arrived at the Huaiyuan Ferry. On the opposite side of the ferry, hundreds of regiments of Huaiyuan County were waiting there. The vanguard unloaded 12-pound mountain howitzers from the backs of mules and fired towards the opposite side of the narrow river. The accurate shellfire instantly killed and wounded 40-50 of the hundreds of regiments who didn't even have uniform uniforms. Suffering such casualties, the regiments collapsed at once.
Without the enemy's obstruction, Vézé's vanguard started to cross the river. January was the dry season. The river was not deep. Vézé's vanguard built pontoon bridges over the river. After that, the rest of the army easily crossed the river. Huaiyuan County was left unguarded. After occupying the county and resting for one night, Vézé's army continued to move northward.
At this moment, in Vézé's next target, Jiang Zhongyuan, the newly appointed governor of Anhui Province, was listening to the report of Yang Changba, the county magistrate who had escaped from Huaiyuan County.
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