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The Manchu Qing didn't use the solar calendar. Emperor Xianfeng didn't even know about the solar calendar, a calendar that came from the West. Therefore, on January 1, 1855 of the solar calendar, Emperor Xianfeng didn't think it was the beginning of a new year, but the end of the fourth year of Xianfeng.
The fourth year of Xianfeng was a terrible year for Emperor Xianfeng. During this year, the Taiping army's Northern Expedition Army attacked Tianjin. The Taiping Rebellion's fake Prince Qi, Vézé, led the second northern expedition. He killed many Manchu Qing officials, including Sheng Bao, and captured the Shandong Inspector-General, Zhang Liangji. During this time, Vézé annihilated 40,000 troops. Most importantly, the Cantonese elites, who had been besieged, were rescued by Vézé.
No matter what others thought, Emperor Xianfeng was very afraid of Vézé's decisiveness. Vézé achieved the greatest results with the smallest price. He annihilated the troops and rescued the Cantonese elites. Since then, the Cantonese began to wreak havoc in Anhui and other places. First, they defeated the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks and relieved the siege of Jiangning. Then, they defeated the Xiang Army, which had once been victorious. After the Battle of Hukou, the army suffered heavy losses. Ceng Guofan, whose navy was wiped out, committed suicide by jumping into the river. Fortunately, he was rescued by his subordinates.
The Cantonese bandits went upstream from Jiujiang and recaptured Wuchang City. Although Ceng Guofan resisted with all his might, he had no choice but to retreat to Nanchang in Jiangxi because of his small army.
Jiang Zhongyuan's army expanded to 24,000 troops and began to attack Fengyang. Emperor Xianfeng had great confidence in Jiang Zhongyuan's character. Jiang Zhongyuan reported in his memorial that although he won a few small battles, he couldn't break through the Huai River. The Cantonese bandits firmly controlled the front line of Shouzhou and Fengyang, opposing Jiang Zhongyuan's Huai army. If they wanted to launch a large-scale attack, it would take some time.
Just as the western route was beginning to crumble and the northern route was being attacked and defended, the fake Prince Of Qi, Vézé, deployed his troops to Changzhou. The fiercest unit in the Taiping army seemed to be resting and reorganizing. However, based on Vézé's past performance, this adjustment should be coming to an end soon. Once Vézé made his move again, there would definitely be a huge wave in Jiangzhe. If they could not resist Vézé's vanguard, the Yue bandits would certainly advance eastward along the banks of the Yangtze River. At that time, Jiangnan would be rotted away.
The result of Jiangnan's corruption was the financial collapse of the Great Qing. The goods from the south of the Yangtze River could not be transported north. At that time, the Qing Dynasty would slowly slide into the abyss of destruction.
At this point, Xian Feng could see very clearly that the Great Qing's first target of annihilation was the most ferocious of the Cantonese bandits, the fake Prince Of Qi Vézé's troops. If Vézé was done for, the Cantonese bandits would lose their left and right arms. If Vézé didn't die, even if the Great Qing could gain a temporary advantage on other battlefields, once Vézé conquered Jiangzhe and Jiangzhe, Vézé would definitely be transferred to those places to fight.
Xian Feng had once asked Jiang Zhongyuan how good Vézé's troops were at fighting. Jiang Zhongyuan's answer was very honest. He believed that in the near future, there was no army in the imperial court that could contend against Vézé's troops at the same level of military strength. Even if they had three times the number of troops, they would only be able to fight evenly with Vézé.
Xian Feng trusted Jiang Zhongyuan very much and believed that he was an extremely reliable person. According to the current intelligence, Vézé's troops numbered more than forty thousand. According to Jiang Zhongyuan, the imperial court would need to mobilize a hundred and twenty thousand men to fight evenly with Vézé. The Great Qing's entire army currently numbered no more than five hundred thousand. In other words, they would need to mobilize a quarter of the entire army to fight against Vézé in order to guarantee that the imperial court would not lose.
While he was angry and disappointed, Xian Feng also felt a sense of doubt. Why did such a capable person not only refuse to serve the imperial court, but instead jump out to rebel? Had the Great Qing really reached the point of being abandoned by the true heroes of the world?
However, Xian Feng's reflection on the system didn't make him want to surrender. He still worked hard to make strategic arrangements to save the world. The Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks suffered repeated defeats. Even though they had been driven to the claimed area, they still had sixty to seventy thousand soldiers. Even though they didn't have twice the number of Vézé's troops, Xian Feng still ordered Zhang Guoliang to lead an attack on Vézé's Changzhou.
Zuo Zongtang, who was praised by tens of thousands of people, had already gathered five thousand soldiers in the past few months. They were currently heading for Zhejiang by land. Before that, they had to delay Vézé and prevent him from smoothly attacking Jiangzhe. Moreover, even though Xian Feng trusted Jiang Zhongyuan, he didn't completely trust Jiang Zhongyuan's evaluation. Or rather, Xian Feng hoped that he could at least trust that the imperial court would trade a life for a life against Vézé.
Zhang Guoliang had always been a fierce commander. When the Jiangnan Barracks' commander Xiang Rong was still alive, Zhang Guoliang had fought against the Taiping army more than once and obtained victory. With such a valiant general leading the army, Xian Feng hoped that the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks' Green Barracks would be roused and deal a heavy blow to Vézé.
Once Emperor Xian Feng made up his mind, Zhang Guoliang was under great pressure. This pressure didn't only come from the emperor's orders. Jiangsu Inspector Jierhanga also used this opportunity to force Zhang Guoliang to mobilize his troops. "Commander Zhang, when you were serving as Commander Xiang's deputy general, you repeatedly reported to His Majesty that you were victorious in battle. His Majesty also promoted you and endlessly rewarded you. Now that you are an inspector, leading the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks' tens of thousands of soldiers. His Majesty has issued an imperial edict ordering you to mobilize your troops. Why are you still unwilling to mobilize your troops? Since this prefecture is also here, we have to talk about official matters first. If you aren't willing to mobilize your troops, then this prefecture can only report you! "
After all, Zhang Guoliang was a inspector. Even if he wasn't cultured, he was at least shrewd enough. Facing Jierhanga's attack, not only was Zhang Guoliang not angry, he even said with great mockery, "Inspector Jierhanga, the Guangdong bandits are powerful. Why don't we split our forces? I'll attack Changzhou, you attack Zhenjiang. We'll advance at the same time and make the Guangdong bandits' leaders unable to attend to each other. What do you think? "
Jierhanga naturally knew that Zhang Guoliang had rebelled in the past and was a bandit. Now that Zhang Guoliang was playing with him, this Zhejiang Inspector had no way to deal with him.
If Zhang Guoliang attacked Changzhou, it would look like he was attacking Vézé. However, if Jierhanga attacked Zhenjiang, it would be further north than Changzhou. Between Changzhou and Jiangning City, if Changzhou and Jiangning each sent out an army and cut off Jierhanga's path of retreat, then Zhang Guoliang would escape. Then, Lord Jierhanga's army would be completely wiped out.
Therefore, Zhang Guoliang's plan was something that he definitely couldn't agree to. However, he had to admit defeat now. These days, Jierhanga had been mocking Zhang Guoliang and using all sorts of threatening methods. He would immediately be mocked by Zhang Guoliang. Jierhanga didn't want to lose face.
Therefore, this Bannerman Inspector immediately shouted angrily, "You're just using sophistry!"
Zhang Guoliang sneered, "Inspector Jierhanga, I actually don't understand. You're forcing me to go to war. If I lose, His Majesty will at most dismiss me. If I'm dismissed, then it's your turn to lead troops? Could it be that you can win the war? "
These words were already very heartfelt, but Jierhanga wasn't moved at all. Instead, his heart was boiling with loyalty towards Emperor Xianfeng. The status of Bannermen was above the Han people. Jierhanga felt that he was the Emperor's dog, the Emperor's servant. As a servant, his mission was to drive the Han officials to serve the Emperor and the Bannermen. If Zhang Guoliang failed, there would naturally be someone to replace Zhang Guoliang. What did this have to do with Jierhanga?
Jierhanga firmly believed that the conflict between the Emperor and the Bannermen wasn't something a Han person could interfere with.
Therefore, Jierhanga wasn't moved by Zhang Guoliang's words. He stood up and said, "Inspector Zhang, this official has already said what I need to say. If you still don't move, I can only do official business! Don't regret it at that time! "
After saying that, Jierhanga left Zhang Guoliang's tent with large steps and left with his personal guards.
After Jierhanga was gone, Zhang Guoliang spat on the ground and cursed, "What is this thing?"
However, cursing was just cursing. Zhang Guoliang couldn't do anything to Jierhanga. Xian Feng had issued imperial edicts one after another. Zhang Guoliang also knew that he couldn't reject them. No matter what, he had to send troops to fight.
Standing up, Zhang Guoliang went out to patrol the camp. His tent was in the joint operation center that the Qing Army had set up in Xuan City. His main force was still fine. These four thousand soldiers were all carefully selected elites. When Xiang Rong was still alive, they had always been led by Zhang Guoliang. Relying on this elite force, Zhang Guoliang had won many battles.
Zhang Guoliang's military laws were strict, but that was only during battles. Other than battles, Zhang Guoliang had the management style of a bandit. Usually, the troops would go out to rob the commoners. After robbing them, the people in the army would drink and gamble, having fun.
After leaving the main camp and going to another camp, Zhang Guoliang immediately smelled the familiar smell of the Qing Army's Green Camp. It was the smell of smoke. The soldiers drank and gambled, and in a certain sense, they were lively and lively. In the other camps of the Qing Army, they didn't even have this liveliness.
It was broad daylight, and the lights in the tents could be seen everywhere. Most of the ordinary soldiers had one lamp for each person, or two people for each lamp. Their mouths were tightly clamped on the cigarette holders. Because they sucked the smoke from the pipes on the lamps, their skinny and pale faces had some color.
After inhaling, the soldiers held their breath again, afraid that the smoke in their lungs would leak out. Finally, when they couldn't hold it in any longer, they let out a long sigh. Then, their whole bodies slowly curled up, their bodies weak.
The officers were even more comfortable. They slept on their own beds, with a lamp on each side of the bed. They also prepared several smoking pipes. There were soldiers who specially lit the pipes for them. Unlike the poor soldiers who tried their best to smoke, these people were rich. They often smoked half or half of a pipe before putting it down.
After they finished, the soldiers came up to gently massage their legs and serve tea. Some officers were more particular, picking up the tea and drinking it themselves. Some of them even let their guards feed them tea.
If it wasn't for the fact that everyone was wearing military uniforms, it would be impossible to tell that this was a military camp. Instead, it would be mistaken for a huge smokehouse.
Zhang Guoliang didn't find this strange. It wasn't that he didn't want to send troops to war, but he really didn't have any confidence in leading this group of Green Camp smokers to fight a big battle.
After going through a few camps, they were all like this. Zhang Guoliang really despaired. But these Green Camp soldiers were Manchu Qing's "sons". They couldn't be beaten or scolded. If Zhang Guoliang went a little too far, these heavy smokers would unite and resist Zhang Guoliang. They had been like this since Xiang Rong was still around.
But Xianfeng was very fragile, so Zhang Guoliang couldn't do anything about it. He made up his mind and led the elites of the main army to launch an attack. He had to at least give Emperor Xianfeng an explanation.
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