?
"Fourth Uncle, are you trying to smooth things over?" Wei Changrong didn't intend to give up after the meeting ended. He went straight to Vézé to talk about this matter.
"I want to set rules!" Vézé answered straightforwardly. "It's just that this isn't the time to set rules. If I were to talk about this during the meeting, would we still be going south? "
"This … Fourth Uncle, it's just a matter of an advisor. Who would dare to disobey you?" Wei Changrong insisted on his point of view.
"Who would dare to disobey me when I say so? Haha … "Vézé was amused." I'm obviously going to set up a military law office and a military court. Do you think everyone will listen to me just because you're tormenting me like this? "
Wei Changrong was stunned by Vézé's rebuke. He didn't expect that from Vézé's point of view, Wei Changrong also became an opponent. After a while, Wei Changrong said with some embarrassment, "Fourth Uncle, I understand. I'll listen to whatever you want to set up! "
Vézé said sternly, "Then remember, from now on, as long as I don't mention Li Guangfei's case, you're not allowed to mention it. Also, you're not allowed to tell anyone that I want to set up a military court. Do you hear me? "
"Yes!" Wei Changrong answered.
After finally suppressing this matter, Vézé could finally put his energy back into the war. This matter that couldn't be resolved actually took up half a day of everyone's time. It even caused a conflict between Wei Changrong and Lei Hu. Vézé felt a wave of regret. If he had known about this earlier, he would have suppressed this matter earlier. It was obviously a more efficient way to deal with it. But on second thought, if not for this conflict, Vézé's attempt to set up a military court would have been delayed for a while. This delay was also a matter of efficiency.
Everyone had 24 hours in a day. Wei Ze was still unable to come up with a conclusion after racking his brain over and over again. He soon realized that he had wasted another hour. Vézé knew very well that if he continued to invest time into this matter, it would only lead to more wastage. Vézé forcibly withdrew his thoughts and threw this matter to the corner of his mind, sealing it off. He forced himself to get back on track to deal with the work in front of him.
If Vézé wasn't prepared for this sudden incident and the military court, then he was well prepared for his retreat. Although he couldn't compare to Yang Xiuqing's control over Yuezhou like the back of his hand when he was in Changsha, Vézé had at least sent many people to Jining's Weishan Lake and the Grand Canal. In terms of searching for ships, the Taiping army did an outstanding job.
Hundreds of ships of all sizes could transport seven to eight thousand people at once. If the Taiping army also participated in rowing the ships, the speed of transport could be greatly increased. As this march involved Lin Fengxiang's Northern Expedition Army, Vézé had to discuss it with Lin Fengxiang.
Before Lin Fengxiang could say anything, Li Kaifang frowned and said, "When our army crossed the Yellow River to the north, a spy infiltrated the army and burned two carts of gunpowder. If not for this, our army wouldn't have been stopped when we reached Tianjin. Will there be some Qing Yao who sneaked into the fleet during the retreat? "
This suggestion was not wrong. Vézé guaranteed that when transporting important supplies, the army would choose more secure measures. However, Vézé also told Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang of the Northern Expedition Army that since the Nian Army had already gone north to pillage, the best thing to do now was to quickly move south.
Although he was a little reluctant, Li Kaifang accepted Vézé's suggestion. Lin Fengxiang even made a suggestion. He and Li Kaifang both had rich experience in building bridges, so Lin Fengxiang suggested that he lead the vanguard.
"Lin Da Ge, that won't do." Vézé immediately rejected Lin Fengxiang's suggestion. "You are a fierce general in the Taiping army. This time, the King Of The East ordered me to go north to rescue them, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't want me to join forces with Lin Da Ge to continue attacking Beijing. Since I forcibly ordered the army to return south, then I must bring the Northern Expedition Army back to Tianjing City safely. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain it to the King Of The East. "
"Wayne Brothers, we have already come this far. Do you think there will be any trouble?" Lin Fengxiang laughed.
Vézé shook his head. "From Weishan Lake to the south along the canal, the next stop is Taierzhuang. If we continue south, we will reach the Yellow River. After that, we will reach Xuzhou City. Although I don't want to fight in these two places, Qing Yao may not be unwilling to fight. Especially when we move along the canal, Qing Yao's Jiangbei Barracks also rely on the canal to obtain food supplies. If you say that Qing Yao doesn't have any ulterior motives, I don't believe you at all! Lin Da Ge, if you think that I have no intention of harming you, then please, Lin Da Ge, do as you say. This way, I will be able to explain it to the King Of The East. "
This was also Vézé's heartfelt words. He had no confidence that the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, would not have any strange reactions. After all, the Heavenly King, Hong Xiuquan, was a person that Vézé was prejudiced against. After being with the Heavenly King for so long, who knew if the King Of The East would be led astray by the Heavenly King.
Of course, this was just on the surface. Vézé had other worries in his heart. The establishment of the military court was nothing new to Vézé. It was a new system for the entire Taiping army, and even for the whole of China. Although the military court was not an absolutely fair place, the basic idea of the military court was that everyone was equal before the law. The incident with Li Guangfei clearly proved that Vézé's army was far from this idea.
The Heavenly King, Hong Xiuquan, had the religious power, and Vézé could not shake it. The King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, had the administrative and military advantage, and Vézé could not shake it either. Just like the 30,000 troops under Vézé's command. The 13,000 Taiping army led by Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and Yoshibuwon were absolutely loyal to the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing. If Yang Xiuqing ordered them to fight against the "rebel" Vézé, the three of them would not hesitate.
Even among the 17,000 troops under Vézé's command, those who could attack the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, completely disregard the Taiping Rebellion, and were loyal to Vézé were probably less than 10,000. The remaining 7,000 to 8,000 troops were not so loyal to Vézé that they would completely break off their relationship with the Taiping Rebellion.
Since that was the case, Vézé was at a complete disadvantage against Yang Xiuqing's powerful control. Being at a disadvantage meant that he could not lead the political and ideological work. If Vézé wanted to implement the ideas of the industrial era, it would definitely cause a lot of ideological opposition. If Vézé still had the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, and the Heavenly King, Hong Xiuquan, Vézé's opponents would easily choose to join these two.
Because of this, Vézé was even more unwilling to cause trouble after receiving the Northern Expedition Army. The combat power of Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, and Yoshibuwon would not affect Vézé at all. However, if the three of them died, Vézé would not be able to answer to Yang Xiuqing.
"Wayne Brothers, aren't you thinking too much?" Lin Fengxiang did not expect Vézé to have such a thought.
"Lin Da Ge, you guys have never been on this road before. What's wrong with letting me lead the way?" Vézé did not dare to speak his mind, so he could only use other words to brush him off.
Lin Fengxiang was not a person who liked to cause trouble. Since Vézé was so determined, and the marching would indeed take a lot of effort, it would be easier with Vézé's arrangement. He also chose to support Vézé's suggestion.
The troops soon began to move south. On April 3rd, Vézé's troops finally arrived at the Yellow River. They searched for ships along the way. By this time, Vézé's troops had more than 1,000 ships. It only took them two days to cross the Yellow River.
On April 10th, Vézé's troops crossed the Huai River and went straight to Chuzhou.
This area was Vézé's territory. At this time, Vézé had received the news that during the time he was away, the Qing Army did not launch any attacks. The whole area of Central Anhui was still the territory of the Taiping army. Zhang Yingchen was still guarding Chuzhou. Vézé wanted to bring the troops to Chuzhou. Their targets were Yangzhou and Zhenjiang. In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Tianjing, Yangzhou, and Zhenjiang were under the control of the Taiping army. Lin Fengxiang had been guarding Yangzhou before the Northern Expedition. He first broke through the encirclement of the Qing Army outside Yangzhou before he killed his way north.
From this point of view, even if the Qing Army was almost irredeemable at this time, Lin Fengxiang's courage was not comparable to that of ordinary excellent generals.
The reason why Vézé wanted to go to Chuzhou was that Chuzhou was very close to the Jiangbei Camp. If he rested here, he could quickly decide the direction of the future war.
But before Vézé arrived in Chuzhou, Yang Xiuqing ordered someone to send a decree to Vézé. In the decree, Vézé was asked to take Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang to Vézé's Luzhou area to rest and reorganize. During the process of resting and reorganizing, not only should the two troops be replenished to the scale of 30,000 people, but also the weapons needs of the two should be satisfied to the greatest extent.
After reading the order, Vézé wondered if there were spies of the King Of The East in his hands. It was not difficult to replenish the troops of Lin Fengxiang and the other two Prime Minister from 13,000 to 30,000 people. It was not impossible for Vézé to replenish the weapons of these three people. But ordinary people in Yang Xiuqing's position would not dare to so easily give such an order.
After seeing the document, Lin Fengxiang was stunned. After a while, he said, "Wayne Brothers, isn't it too difficult for the King Of The East to do this? If you think it's impossible, we can jointly write a letter to the King Of The East. "
"That's not necessary." Vézé smiled. In any case, the 17,000 people given to Lin Fengxiang and the others could be Vézé's soldiers who were not of high quality among the 50,000 to 60,000 troops in Wanzhong. And the hot weapons were naturally the muskets seized by Vézé. Cold weapons were even easier.
After getting over the shock of reading the order, Vézé slowly understood one thing. The King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, seemed to have put forward harsh conditions for Vézé, but in fact, Yang Xiuqing had no other way. The northern expedition troops needed to be revised, and the troops with experience also needed to be replenished. If he did not let the Prince Of Qi, Vézé, take charge of this matter, who in the entire Taiping Rebellion could bear the burden?
And from this order, Vézé could see that Yang Xiuqing had no intention of continuing the northern expedition. As for whether this attitude was temporary or forced, or if it was something he had figured out by chance. Vézé heaved a sigh of relief. As the saying goes, things do not happen more than three times. As long as they did not continue the northern expedition and did not mess around. This year, Wanzhong would naturally be able to steadily harvest grain for another year. After harvesting grain for three years, Wanzhong would know that the Taiping army had truly gained a foothold. At that time, their attitude towards the Taiping army would be greatly different.
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