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"Wayne Brothers, I didn't expect to be able to walk hundreds of miles into our Taiping Rebellion's territory," Lin Fengxiang praised. At this time, everyone was on a large ship with a black awning. This fleet's mission was to transport food from Luzhou to Tianjing City, so the security was relatively tight. Yang Xiuqing had ordered Vézé, Lin Fengxiang, and the others to report to Tianjing City, and Vézé had chosen to ride on this fleet.
It was obvious that Lin Fengxiang couldn't help but admire the feeling of not encountering the Qing Army for hundreds of miles and remaining within the Taiping Rebellion's territory. The Northern Expedition Army was constantly surrounded by the enemy. The feeling of being surrounded by enemies was too much for everyone to bear.
Vézé smiled at Lin Fengxiang's praise. Vézé was in charge of developing this large piece of territory. If he said anything, it would seem like he was blowing his own trumpet. Therefore, after a short pause, Vézé answered, "If the King Of The East in Tianjing City hadn't commanded the brothers from Yangzhou and Zhenjiang to guard the lower reaches, and if Lin Da Ge's Northern Expedition Army hadn't attracted Qing Yao's attention in the north, and Yi Wang had fought to go upstream. There wouldn't be a situation like this in Central Anhui. "
Lin Fengxiang was originally a fortune teller. After hearing Vézé's words, he laughed and said, "Hehe, the Wayne Brothers always know how to say nice things to others. If the Wayne Brothers had led the army on the Northern Expedition, I'm afraid Beijing would have been conquered. "
"I'm not good at mobile warfare. In this aspect, I can't compare to Lin Da Ge." Vézé answered bluntly. In fact, Vézé thought to himself that even if he could conquer Beijing, he wouldn't do it. Would he set Vézé's version of burning down the Old Summer Palace? Although it was a royal garden, it didn't mean that anyone had the right to destroy it. Even from a personal point of view, after Manchu Qing was finished, Vézé would have the chance to play there.
Of course, Lin Fengxiang didn't know that Vézé had so many thoughts in his mind. He heard Vézé's sincerity and sighed. "Wayne Brothers, if you could fight Qing Yao head-on every time like you and win, our troops would suffer little casualties. My own soldiers also suffered few casualties, so I didn't want to run around and fight at all. It's just that I can't do it. In order to fight my way to Beijing, I can only run around. "
Since Lin Fengxiang expressed his support for Vézé, Vézé said tentatively, "Lin Da Ge, now that we've returned to the south of the Huai River to rest and reorganize, I'm thinking of taking down Qing Yao around Tianjing first before trying to expand our territory elsewhere. It's like cleaning the yard. If you run out of the yard to clean the things in front of the door, you'll feel like you've gone too far. What do you think? "
Although this sounded like a casual conversation, Vézé was actually communicating with Lin Fengxiang about continuing the Northern Expedition. If Yang Xiuqing insisted on his original plan to take down Beijing while the Qing Army wasn't strong and quickly establish the Taiping Rebellion's national power, then Vézé would probably become the main force of the Northern Expedition.
This wasn't just Vézé's personal fantasy. After receiving Yang Xiuqing's decree, Vézé immediately took action. It was impossible for Lin Fengxiang and the others' troops to gather in Luzhou. That would be super inefficient. Vézé arranged for the three Prime Ministers to be stationed in Chuzhou, Dingyuan, and Wuhe. Originally, Vézé didn't have much control over these three areas because he didn't have enough troops. At this time, since they needed to replenish their forces in Wanzhong, they would naturally be stationed in these three places. This would also be able to help Wei Ze deter others.
However, on the 18th of April, Yang Xiuqing sent another decree. The original order for Lin Fengxiang and the others to expand their army to thirty thousand soldiers in Wanzhong was slightly revised to forty-five thousand. Under Yang Xiuqing's plan, the three Prime Ministers of the Northern Expedition Army originally took nine armies with them. Each of these nine armies was expanded to five thousand soldiers. Lin Fengxiang commanded four armies, Li Kaifang led three, and Yoshibuwon led two.
In addition to this decree, Yang Xiuqing also sent a new decree to Vézé. In the decree, he told Vézé that Yang Xiuqing was prepared to wait for the three Prime Ministers' troops to finish reorganizing and training before sending them to break the Qing Army's siege of Yangzhou. It seemed that Yang Xiuqing was very confident in breaking the Qing Army's siege of Yangzhou. He didn't talk about how to fight the war. Instead, he told Vézé that after the siege of Yangzhou was lifted, he was prepared to send the troops of Xia Guan and Ceng Lichang, who had been bitterly defending Yangzhou, to Wanzhong to recuperate and reorganize. The army of Ceng Lichang and the others had a total of twenty-two armies. After reading the number mentioned by Yang Xiuqing in the decree, Vézé couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Naturally, Yang Xiuqing couldn't put Ceng Lichang on the same level as Vézé and Lin Fengxiang. Ceng Lichang's twenty-two armies also couldn't be arranged according to Vézé and Lin Fengxiang's five thousand soldiers. Each army had five thousand soldiers. Twenty-two armies were a hundred and ten thousand soldiers. Right now, the Kingdom of Tianping only had a little more than two hundred thousand soldiers. A hundred and ten thousand soldiers would immediately be the largest army in the Taiping Rebellion. With Ceng Lichang's qualifications and status, it was impossible for him to have such a large army.
If it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to build a hundred and ten thousand soldiers, Vézé would have to consider what Yang Xiuqing was thinking, especially when he mentioned the number of twenty-two armies in the decree. Writing an official document wasn't like speaking. When speaking, it was common for one to speak without thinking, or be thinking about something, and casually say some limited data that was related to the matter at hand. So what did Yang Xiuqing mean when he specifically mentioned the number of twenty-two armies?
Vézé would discuss all the decrees of the King Of The East in the General Staff Headquarters. If Wei Ze could be said to be able to face it calmly, the other generals were somewhat dumbfounded. In the near future, they had to replenish Lin Fengxiang's thirty thousand soldiers. This had already caused Vézé's General Staff Headquarters to wail and wail. Vézé's total army was only sixty thousand. This guy had to divide half of it. No one could withstand it. The order to do his best to form a hundred and ten thousand soldiers had completely exceeded the strength of the central Anhui region.
Vézé didn't think that Yang Xiuqing would be so muddle-headed as to randomly give orders. Vézé controlled the central Anhui region and indeed had the ability to levy food and conscript soldiers. However, everything had its limits. If Yang Xiuqing explicitly ordered Vézé to complete this task, then it could only mean that Yang Xiuqing wanted to act against Vézé personally. In reality, Yang Xiuqing only mentioned this one sentence and didn't say anything else. Thus, Vézé guessed that based on Yang Xiuqing's desire for national victory, it was more likely that Yang Xiuqing hoped that Vézé could lead the army on a northern expedition after the siege of Yangzhou was lifted.
This strategy was quite unreliable. Vézé's purpose in chatting with Lin Fengxiang was to obtain Lin Fengxiang's support and do his best to cancel any military plans related to a northern expedition in the near future.
Lin Fengxiang seemed to support Vézé's point of view. He replied: "I also feel that the northern expedition is too impatient. We fought all the way from Guangxi to here and thought that Qing Yao couldn't withstand a single blow. They only knew how to defend the city, so we quickly marched straight into Beijing. This could be considered a gamble. Now, it seems that Qing Yao can still fight. I fought several battles with Sheng Bao and won each one. However, every time Sheng Bao was defeated, he would come back to fight. Our logistics and troops couldn't afford to waste, so in the end, we didn't dare to fight again. If we lose a battle, we will be destroyed. "
Vézé could completely understand Lin Fengxiang's feelings. Back then, the Party was able to quickly expand its base during the War of Resistance against Japan. Firstly, it was because of the righteousness of the national war. When this Chinese army arrived at the Japanese-occupied territories, it was recognized as the Chinese army. Secondly, this army was fully integrated with the people and had a relatively deep social foundation. This was why the army was able to spread across the vast land of China like dandelions, and then, with great difficulty, put down roots and flourished.
But now, the Taiping army was regarded as a rebel. After choosing the tactic of rapid advance, it was even more impossible for them to mobilize the masses. If not for the fact that Manchu Qing was rotten to the core, Lin Fengxiang's despair in the north would only be more intense.
Thinking of this, Vézé couldn't help but ask Lin Fengxiang, "Lin Da Ge, why did you join the Taiping army back then?"
"Haha, I didn't first join the Taiping army. I joined the God-worshipping religion." Lin Fengxiang answered with some emotion. He told Vézé about his past. Lin Fengxiang was born in Guangxi Wuyuan (now Wuming) in the fifth year of Daoguang (1825). Because his mother died when he was young, his father didn't discipline him, and he was unrestrained. When he was young, he would stand up to help whenever he encountered injustice. In the 28th year of Daoguang (1848), he killed an evil county gentleman and was arrested by the county magistrate. His seventh uncle, Lin Xiuzhong, sold four pigs to him as travel expenses. Lin Fengxiang then mingled in Jianghu, set up shops and sold divination, and got to know Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing. In the first year of Xianfeng (1851), he participated in Hong Xiuquan's Jintian Uprising and became one of the 40 sworn brothers.
"Oh!" After listening to this, Vézé found out that Lin Fengxiang was a senior member of the Taiping army. "Then, Lin Da Ge, if we build a Lesser Heavenly Kingdom, what do you think it should look like?"
"What does the Lesser Heavenly Kingdom look like? Didn't the Heavenly King and the King Of The East say it before? "Lin Fengxiang answered.
This time, Vézé was speechless. Vézé suddenly realized that in the Taiping Rebellion, Vézé was one of the few people who truly trusted the system of the Lesser Heavenly Kingdom and the "Imperial Land System". Vézé had asked many people about what the Lesser Heavenly Kingdom would look like and what the new country would look like in the future. Everyone's answer was similar to Lin Fengxiang's. They all thought that the new world that Hong Xiuquan and the King Of The East and Yang Xiuqing had mentioned was the world of the future. No one really thought about it further.
In this regard, Vézé once thought that it might be the ignorance of the peasants. However, as time passed, Vézé felt that it was his own ignorance. Great people could see the future from the past, and ordinary people could basically do things to maintain the good situation that had happened in the past. Vézé was a time traveler. He had really seen the future. And it was a future that was fundamentally different from the current China.
So Vézé thought that everyone should be able to see the future clearly … Was this someone else's fault or Vézé's? The answer seemed obvious.
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