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Before the Yellow River returned to the north, Linqing was an important city on the Grand Canal. The city was surrounded by canals on three sides, and the Zhang River in the southwest led to Daming Prefecture.
This time, Vézé's troops first attacked separately and wiped out the Qing Army around Linqing. Shandong Inspector-General Zhang Liangji and Linqing Magistrate Zhang Jigong were captured. Speaking of these two, the Taiping army knew that they were drenched like drowned chickens. When they were rescued, they were shivering like monkeys, and their arms were still tightly holding on to the well rope.
The captured were considered lucky, and none of the Manchurian officials survived. Vézé painted the words "Expel the Tartars, restore China" on the city wall at the gate of Linqing. Then he dragged the Tartars to the gate and beheaded them in front of the merchants and rich people who were forcibly escorted to see the killing.
Among this group of people, the imperial envoy Sheng Bao was separated by five horses. This guy turned around and ran after losing the battle, and the Taiping army unexpectedly did not catch him. However, on the 28th, when the Taiping army captured Linqing, a Zhili brother who came to seek refuge with Vézé actually kidnapped Sheng Bao and presented him to the Taiping army as a meeting gift. This brother said with some embarrassment: "Master of the Taiping army, this guy should be a high-ranking court official. He also said he was some imperial envoy. But I don't know him. Do you know him? "
Everyone in the Taiping army did not know Sheng Bao, but although his clothes were dirty and his face was covered with dirt, he did not look like someone who had a hard life. Sheng Bao was sent to the political department in charge of screening prisoners. The political department knew that Sheng Bao was the only imperial envoy in Zhili Shandong. But no one knew Sheng Bao. Later, it was Wei Changrong, who was in charge of supervising the execution outside the city the next day, who came up with an idea. The "suspected Sheng Bao" guy met the guy who was going to be killed the next day.
Some of the officials were smart and had a bit of backbone. When they saw Sheng Bao, they didn't say a word. But when others saw Sheng Bao, they cried and threw themselves at him, "Lord Sheng Bao, how did you get caught?"
Sheng Bao was originally just trying his luck. After being recognized, he no longer concealed himself. He admitted that he was the imperial envoy, Sheng Bao. Vézé also met Sheng Bao once and asked, "Sheng Bao, is your family willing to pay 100,000 taels of silver to redeem your life?"
Sheng Bao was dumbfounded by the look of anticipation on Vézé's face. He had never imagined that the leader of the Cantonese bandits, who was so brave and skilled in battle, was actually a money-grubber. Looking at Vézé's eyes that were as round as copper coins, Sheng Bao thought for a while and finally said, "Of course not."
Sheng Bao actually wanted to say that his family could redeem him, but after thinking about it carefully, Sheng Bao wasn't sure. He was the imperial envoy, a general who commanded the army. It was already shocking that he didn't die when he was captured. As for being redeemed by his family in private, even if he managed to return to the capital alive, he would not be able to escape the fate of death. Thinking of this, Sheng Bao could only make it clear that he refused Vézé's proposal.
Vézé sighed in disappointment. "Then have a good meal tonight and die tomorrow." With that, Vézé tossed Sheng Bao behind his back and left.
Sheng Bao stared dumbfoundedly at Vézé's back, unable to understand what Vézé's straightforward words meant. Sheng Bao felt that he was, after all, a grand imperial envoy of the Qing Empire. How could he just kill someone like that? Although Vézé had asked Sheng Bao if he was willing to have his family pay 100,000 taels of silver to redeem him, even if Sheng Bao refused, there were still other things he could discuss with Sheng Bao.
However, when Sheng Bao was tongue-tied and wanted to call Vézé back, he felt that it would be too embarrassing. For Sheng Bao, begging the Cantonese bandits for the sake of survival was truly humiliating. Therefore, with this mentality, Sheng Bao was dragged out the next day and divided into five horses.
Less than a hundred people were killed in this execution, and Manchu Qing's record became "The Canals Changed Color".
The Qing Army near Linqing was completely wiped out. Other than the Sengrinchen in Dezhou, there were only a few thousand Qing Army soldiers left to guard Mound City to block Vézé's way and the Northern Expedition Army.
"Chief of the General Staff, I'm willing to go and test out Senggrinqin's cavalry." Lei Hu had experience fighting cavalry, so he volunteered.
At this point, there was no need for the General Staff to make a detailed plan. As long as they could send troops to defend Sengrinchen and then defeat the Qing Army in Mound City, Vézé's troops would be able to reach the Calm Sea and Duliu Town.
There was no need to wait until then. As long as Vézé dared to send a single troop to threaten Beijing, the Qing Army would have the guts to withdraw the Sengrinchen and Tianjin Qing Army back to Beijing to defend. At that time, the Northern Expedition Army would be able to easily move around.
Even without such favorable conditions, if the Qing Army took the wrong medicine and attacked Vézé's troops like moths to a flame, the Northern Expedition Army could easily break through the Qing Army's defensive line and reach Mound City to meet up with Vézé.
"We still lack cavalry!" Vézé finally said regretfully.
"Even if we order the Nian Army to harass them, we can still mobilize the Qing Army," Wei Changrong said. All the generals looked at Vézé. Anyone could think of such a simple tactic, but Vézé didn't bring it up. This wasn't normal.
Vézé sighed and replied, "To tell you the truth, I treat this battle as a training opportunity. The Qing Army is far weaker than our troops. Even if we are surrounded by the Qing Army, as long as we don't make any mistakes, the Qing Army can't do anything to us. However, there won't be such a good opportunity in the future. Our enemies will only grow stronger. We can't treat this battle as a training opportunity. "
To the generals, this reason was miraculous. All this time, Vézé had repeatedly warned them not to make mistakes and repeatedly told them to be careful. Now, it turned out that Vézé was the one person who looked down on Manchu Qing the most.
Vézé saw that everyone was dissatisfied. He said seriously, "All the Manchu Qing reactionaries are paper tigers. We have to look down on them strategically. But even paper tigers will bite. We have to pay attention to them tactically. If you think I'm paying too much attention to Manchu Qing, think back. When have we not paid attention to Manchu Qing on a tactical level? When have we ever been afraid to fight against the Manchurian Qing? "
Although these words could be considered to be self-justifying, it still surprised the generals quite a bit. However, there was no time to be surprised. The new marching plan was quickly decided. Lei Hu would go to Dezhou to attract the Sengrinchen cavalry. Wei Changrong would lead troops to defend Linqing. Vézé would lead the 13th Corps and the Nian Army to attack Mouteng.
Wei Changrong suggested that Wei Ze take three brigades of the 11th Division with him. "Right now, many heroes from Shandong and Zhili have come to seek refuge with me. I already have more than 9,000 subordinates. The Chief of General Staff taking three brigades with him will not affect the defense of the city."
On March 3rd, the troops set off. The Qing Army from Sengrinchen, Shandong and Zhili did not move. By the time Vézé reached Mouteng, the Qing Army had already fled.
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