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In a large tent outside Jining, Wei Changrong faced the two Nian Army leaders. "This time, I don't need you two to fight!" he said in a serious tone.
Sitting on Wei Changrong's left was Wen Yuewei. She was the second most powerful woman in charge among the many Nian troops who followed Wei Ze. After a short campaign, her skin, which had been tanned by the sun when she joined the group, was covered with a layer of dust. This made Wen Yuewei's feminine aura, which was not very strong to begin with, even weaker. She looked more like a handsome young man.
After hearing Wei Changrong's words, Wen Yuewei frowned. "Master Wei, are you talking about the Prince Qi's idea, or is it your idea?"
This was a very good question. For a moment, Wei Changrong didn't know how to answer. This was the result of the General Staff's discussion. However, the final decision was not to allow the Nian Army to participate in the attack on Jining. Instead, it was to prevent the Nian Army from pillaging the city.
On this matter, Vézé and the General Staff's attitude was unanimous. They needed the Yan army to exert its combat effectiveness in the battle to annihilate the Qing army. On the battlefield, no matter how violent the Nian Army was, or how cruelly they treated the Qing Army, the Taiping army could accept it. However, the Taiping army didn't have any plans to pillage the city. Naturally, they couldn't allow the Nian Army to do as they pleased.
Of course, Wei Changrong wanted to shoulder the responsibility himself, but this was not something that Wei Changrong could do even if he wanted to. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Leader Wen, why must you attack Jining?"
"Hmph!" Wen Yuewei laughed coldly, then looked at Liu Yongjing, who sat across from Wen Yuewei. Seeing Wen Yuewei's gaze, Wei Changrong also looked at Liu Yongjing. When Liu Yongjing and Vézé worked together, they were the largest group in the Nian Army. Recently, a few smaller groups had joined Liu Yongjing's group, making his forces much stronger than when they first set out.
Liu Yongjing was much older than Wen Yuewei. His sneer wasn't as straightforward as Wen Yuewei's, but his words were much clearer. "Sir Wei, you just don't want us to enter Ji Ning City, but you still put on an act, saying that we don't need to do anything. When you f * cking asked us to go north, you begged us to go with you. Now that you've done what you need to do, you want to burn the bridge after crossing the river? "
Wei Changrong thought for a moment. He didn't agree with what Liu Yongjing said about the Taiping army begging the Nian Army to go north with them, but he did agree with what Liu Yongjing said about the other departments. Wei Changrong didn't want the Nian Army to enter Jining. At this stage, the Nian Army was useless to the Taiping army.
In a private discussion with Vézé, Vézé told Wei Changrong how to deal with the Nian Army in the future. The Nian Army would be thrown north of the Huai River and let them "get along" with the Qing Army. The Nian Army was originally from the north of the Huai River, so they had a lot of advantages in their hometown. If the Taiping army could go north again in the future, it would be a large army of one hundred to two hundred thousand. At that time, even if the Nian Army had any ulterior motives, they wouldn't be able to do anything against such a large army.
Wei Changrong didn't think much of Vézé's "a large army of one hundred to two hundred thousand." It was hard for him to imagine what such a large army would look like, so he was confused for a while. At the same time, he completely understood Vézé's core idea. "The Nian Army is not on our side."
Since the Nian Army was not on Vézé's side, the Nian Army would definitely not stand on Vézé's side. Reality proved that this was not wrong. The Taiping army did not want to carry out meaningless looting of the city, and the Nian Army's view was completely different from Vézé's. Wei Changrong tried to persuade the two Nian Army leaders. After all, during the early days of Vézé's northern expedition, these two could be said to have cooperated quite well.
"You two, you have already looted in Linqing. I think there is no harm in stopping. Right now, you are using the Taiping army's name, so the looting will ultimately be blamed on the Taiping army. We have already told you, the Taiping army is against looting, "Wei Changrong very seriously tried to persuade them.
"You're talking nonsense!" Liu Yongjing's attitude was unyielding as he refuted Wei Changrong's words. "Our brothers came out with you, that is the same as putting our lives on the line. Are you going to send us away with just a few walnuts and dates? Are you trying to send off beggars? "
Wei Changrong laughed coldly, but did not immediately reply. The Nian Army had fought many battles in the north, but their casualties were very few. After all, they were responsible for chasing and killing the Qing Army that had escaped. Wei Changrong and his men had also cleaned up the battlefield. This time, although they had given up the pursuit to the Nian Army, the Taiping army had complete control of the battlefield where they had defeated the Qing Army. From the loot they had seized, the Qing Army's belongings were about one tael of silver per person.
Vézé had defeated more than twenty thousand Qing Army troops. On average, the Nian Army could get three to four taels of silver per person. For a small family, three to four taels of silver in half a month was not a small amount. However, for heroes who lived on the edge of a knife, this amount of money was really not much.
After the Taiping army seized Linqing, Wei Changrong defended it. A small portion of the Nian Army, which had not been able to seize any spoils of war, refused to go north. Seeing that the Taiping army in the city was small, they simply looted the city. After Wei Changrong discovered it, he chased this bunch of people out of Linqing City.
Now it seemed that everyone in the Nien Army was thinking the same thing. Even the Nien Army, who had seized most of the spoils of war on the battlefield by relying on the scale effect, also wanted to make a windfall before the end of this northern expedition. Without a doubt, Jining was their last chance.
However, Wei Changrong wanted to continue bluffing. It was not that they could not shed all pretense of cordiality with the Nian Army, but it was better to wait until they crossed the Yellow River. As long as they took the fleet, it would be easy to cross the Huai River after crossing the Yellow River. Besides, after crossing the Yellow River, they would reach Huaibei, which was the home of the Nian Army. It would be easy for them to go their separate ways.
With the idea of bluffing, Wei Changrong smiled and said, "Gentlemen, even if we cannot loot in Jining, there is still Xuzhou. Why are you in such a hurry? "
Without waiting for Liu Yongjing to speak, Wen Yuewei said, "Once we cross the Yellow River, will you still wait for us? Sir Wei, do you think we don't know anything about you? What you want is to defend the Huai River, to carry out the strategy of defending the river must defend the Huai River. This time in Jining, in order to gather ships at Weishan Lake, you must fight. As for Xuzhou … haha, you have already crossed the Yellow River, why are you still attacking Xuzhou? "
At this point, it was difficult to continue the discussion. Wei Changrong's expression was puzzled. He did not know how Wen Yuewei knew about the Taiping army's strategy of "defending the river must defend the Huai River." Moreover, this strategy must have been told to her by an officer of a certain rank in the Taiping army. Wei Changrong was quite surprised that there were people in the Taiping army who betrayed them.
"Sir Wei, just say it. Are you going to let us enter Jining?" Wen Yuewei saw that Wei Changrong did not say anything, so she simply pressed him.
After all, the heroes of the pugilistic world were real. Not to mention, if they did not have a way to loot in Jining, they would not have any other opportunities. Naturally, Wei Changrong could not be blackmailed by these people. He laughed coldly and said, "Since you already know that the Taiping army does not loot, then you should know that I will not let you enter Jining. If you feel that there are no benefits to be gained by following us, I think we might as well part ways here. What do you think? "
It seemed that Liu Yongjing and Wen Yuewei also thought so. They looked at each other and then stood up. Wei Changrong also stood up. "Both of you, since we have cooperated for so long, it would be too childish of us to quarrel over some small benefits. I only want to tell you one thing. Before you followed us to the north, what kind of weapons did you use? What kind of weapons do you use now? There are only so many guns and weapons. Let's not talk about whether you can buy them or not. Even if you can, how much did you spend? Ten taels per person is still too little. So, if you want to say that the Taiping army did not let you get any benefits, I think you should save it. "
Their cooperation with the Nian Army, or at least with the two largest forces in the Nian Army, had come to an end. Wei Changrong even temporarily stopped his plan to attack Jining. His troops began to withdraw and defend. Although the Nian Army was not likely to suddenly start a fight with Wei Changrong, one must not have the intention to harm others, but one must always be vigilant. In addition to taking care of his own affairs, Wei Changrong also hurried to inform Vézé, who was at the rear.
This torment wasted an entire day's time. Most of the Nian Army had left Vézé's troops. Only nine small groups of about five hundred Nian Army soldiers were willing to follow Vézé.
Vézé simply asked these people if they were willing to join the Taiping army. This group of brothers happily expressed their willingness. These people formed Vézé's cavalry unit. Feng Yixiao, the hero from Zhili who had captured Sheng Bao, was temporarily the commander of the unit. Feng Yixiao was a hero from Zhili's Qinghe. When he came to join Vézé, he had brought more than thirty cavalrymen with him. Judging from his skills on horseback, he was indeed very capable. Moreover, Vézé really did not have the time to organize the cavalry unit.
According to the information obtained by the scouts, the Nian Army did not move south after leaving the Taiping army. Instead, they quickly moved north. The Nian Army did not attack Vézé's troops. It was good enough that they could part ways peacefully. Moreover, Vézé did not say some dark words. With the Nian Army "covering the rear," Vézé's journey south would only be smoother.
Just as the Taiping army resumed their attack on Jining, the Nian Army that was rapidly moving north also held a meeting. The leaders of the four major Nian Army forces gathered together. Although Liu Yongjing could still show considerable confidence in front of Wei Changrong, he could not help but show some fear in front of his own people. With an unconfident expression, Liu Yongjing asked Wen Yuewei, who was sitting in the second seat, "Leader Wen, do you think the court will not chase us down?"
Wen Yuewei's face was cold and expressionless. She said coldly, "If the Qing Army really wanted to chase us down, they would have done so long ago! I will say it again. If you are afraid of war, then quickly go back and retreat with Vézé. If you really want to make a fortune in Zhili and Shandong before leaving, then don't be afraid of anything. "
After saying this, Wen Yuewei continued to sweep her cold gaze over the leaders around her. They all shivered.
Wen Yuewei continued, "We have fought with Vézé, so we naturally know how many Qing Army he killed in Linqing. That's more than twenty thousand people. We are not going to attack Mouteng, but Tianjin. As long as we can take Linqing and the surrounding counties, then we will be able to earn a lot of money! How can there be any Qing Army left in Linqing and its vicinity? Do you have the guts to fight properly? "
"Yes!" Under Wen Yuewei's instigation, the Nian Army leaders also had the will to fight.
"Very well, then let's assign how we are going to fight!" After Wen Yuewei finished speaking, she took out a map with Linqing as the center and carefully placed it on the table. Although the map was relatively simple, the charcoal drawing style was the standard for military maps in Vézé's army.
Wen Yuewei pointed at the map and began to assign tasks.
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