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"Wayne Brothers, our brothers from the Northern Expedition really don't want to attack Beijing anymore," Lin Fengxiang said as he walked alongside Vézé. Beside them was the Grand Canal. The Taiping army and the Northern Expedition Army had retreated after meeting up with Vézé.
"You've all been out for ten months. It's really amazing that Big Brother Lin could bring the brothers to this point." Wei Ze had always been lenient towards those who weren't his true trusted subordinates, but he was strict with himself. His leniency could even be said to be indulgent.
Lin Fengxiang smiled bitterly. "If we weren't surrounded, our brothers wouldn't be like this."
"Lin Da Ge, I'm not joking. If my troops were surrounded, I don't know how panicked they would be, "Vézé said seriously.
Lin Fengxiang relied on fortune-telling to make a living, so he was no less talkative than Vézé. He smiled and said, "Wayne Brothers, you'll have to be surrounded first. From what I see, it won't be easy to surround you. "
Seeing that Lin Fengxiang was so understanding, Vézé decided not to continue with his half-joking. He said seriously, "It's hard to say whether it will be easy to surround me or not. But Sengrinchen's men are all cavalry. They come and go like the wind on this vast plain. I'm worried that they'll try to attack us when we're retreating. "
"We have cavalry too!" Lin Fengxiang seemed to be very confident about this. When the Northern Expedition Army retreated, they brought thirteen thousand soldiers with them. Among them were five thousand from Guangxi and three to four thousand from Hunan. These people were the backbone of the Taiping army. Vézé was very happy about this. There were also more than 2,000 cavalrymen in this 13,000 strong army. And Lin Fengxiang seemed to think that his cavalry could defeat Sengrinchen's cavalry.
"Lin Da Ge, I won't stand on ceremony with you. Our Guangxi and Guangdong are not good places to raise horses to begin with. Yunnan horses are good for transporting goods, but if you really want to ride Yunnan horses to fight, that won't do. The Mongolians in the north grew up on horseback, just like the sailors in Guangdong and Guangdong grew up on boats. If it's a water battle, one of our sailors can fight ten Mongolian cavalry. But if it's a real cavalry battle, the Mongolian cavalry can fight three or four of us. Besides, how many cavalry do you have? Sengrinchen has at least ten thousand cavalry under him. It's impossible to fight him head on. "
This was the first time Lin Fengxiang had heard Wei Ze praise someone else's morale and belittle his own. Feeling somewhat dissatisfied, he asked: "Then can you defend against Seng Linqin's cavalry by retreating along the canal?"
Vézé smiled and said, "Sengrinchen's cavalry can't swim across the canal. We can only defend against one side of the canal. Sengrinchen can't carry out a large-scale luring plan. "
"If that's the case, why did you arrange for a pontoon bridge to be built on the canal at night?" Lin Fengxiang asked.
"This is for the convenience of the march in the next few days. If we can get accurate information about the enemy, we can cross the pontoon bridge to the other side of the canal before resting. Although it may not be completely effective, it can at least make the enemy worry about how to cross the canal. It's impossible for the Qing Army to fight us with infantry. What we need to guard against now is the Qing Army's infantry. "
On the 9th of March, the Northern Expedition Army arrived in Linqing. The two armies combined had a total of forty-five thousand people. This large army filled Linqing to the brim. This news naturally spread to the capital.
Although Linqing was in Shandong, it was not far from Zhili. The Qing court was frightened by the series of defeats and deaths, so they sent a large number of mounted scouts to keep an eye on the Taiping army's movements. After learning that the two Taiping armies had finally met in Linqing, many court officials secretly heaved a sigh of relief. From a normal point of view, the Taiping army sent out earlier had suffered a setback when they tried to attack Beijing, and the reinforcement troops had retreated after joining up with the vanguard troops. The possibility of the Taiping army suddenly returning to attack them was greatly reduced. Ninety-nine percent of these forty-thousand Guangdong bandits were heading south to Jiangning.
The officials who held this view were naturally the capital officials. Their first priority was to protect the capital and then Zhili. As for how the other provinces would be ravaged by the Taiping army, that was a local matter. For the officials in the capital, they could take their time to think about it.
However, Emperor Xianfeng wasn't so calm. Seeing some of the officials so happy that they were about to present congratulatory reports because of the Taiping army's southern advance, Emperor Xianfeng put on a stern face. The officials below him also tactfully put away their joyful expressions.
Emperor Xianfeng coldly asked, "I want to ask you, even if the Guangdong bandits go south and there is no worry for the capital and Zhili, these Guangdong bandits have fought hundreds of battles, especially those who have tied their hair. Ever since they became enemies with the court, they have repeatedly defeated and killed soldiers. The situation in Jiangnan is already like this. When they return to Jiangnan, what kind of situation will it be?"
The officials looked at each other. Someone immediately came out to report that Sengrinchen feared the enemy like a tiger and didn't dare to fight the Guangdong bandits. They should strictly order Sengrinchen to attack the Guangdong bandits and exterminate them. Because Sengrinchen was the only mobile force in all of Zhili and even Shandong, the firepower of the attack was directed directly at Sengrinchen.
In addition, there were those who suggested moving the Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia Green Camp from the northwest to fight. There were also those who suggested moving the Eight Banners outside the Shanhai Pass into the Shanhai Pass to fight. In short, this group of officials in the capital upheld the style of the officials in the capital. The problems of other provinces were the fault of other provinces. The problems of Zhili were the fault of the officials below and the executors. As for the officials in the capital, they were not responsible.
Facing this group of people all day long, Xian Feng had long had enough. He only felt dizzy and mentally and physically exhausted. He glanced at the eunuch, who already understood Xian Feng's meaning. Seeing that no officials were ready to speak, the eunuch shouted, "Court dismissed! Kneel! "
Xian Feng stood up from the dragon chair, and all the officials in the court knelt down. As soon as Xian Feng left the main hall, these officials could stand up.
However, Xian Feng looked down at this group of officials in the cultural relics and couldn't help but feel a surge of anger in his heart. It had been more than two years since the Taiping army rose up. By now, Xian Feng had gradually become accustomed to the existence of the Taiping army. When the Taiping army won most of the battles, the people in the court couldn't do anything, and the people in the local areas were always defeated. These people in the court were either the sons of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing, the loyal servants of the Emperor, or talented people who had climbed up step by step through the imperial examinations.
But this group of high-ranking officials and prominent eunuchs, facing Wei Ze, who was only seventeen years old two years ago, living his life in the mountains of Guangxi, unexpectedly was defeated several times. Within three days, nearly twenty thousand imperial troops were completely annihilated. It was better to have Vézé than this group of people!
Thinking of this, Xian Feng stood straight in front of the dragon chair and didn't move. According to the rules of the Manchu Qing, if the Emperor didn't leave, the eunuch couldn't let the officials finish their ceremony. If the officials couldn't finish their ceremony, they had to bow their heads and kneel in the throne room. At this time, raising their heads to see if the Emperor had really left was a sin of great disrespect.
Bowing their heads and kneeling was quite uncomfortable. The group of young officials were better off. But the older officials couldn't stand it anymore after kneeling for less than five minutes.
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