Chapter 223

? Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

On May 6, 1855, the news of the fall of Ganzhou finally reached Beijing.

The Xianfeng Emperor didn't even have the urge to rebuke. 1855 was the fifth year of Xianfeng. From the first year of Xianfeng, the Taiping Rebellion had begun. In the first three years, Xianfeng had often rebuked and severely punished those who had lost cities. But a great man once said that it wasn't difficult for a person to do some good deeds. What was difficult was to do good deeds for a lifetime and not do bad things … Working hard for decades was the most difficult thing!

Although it was necessary for the Emperor to rebuke and severely punish those who had lost cities, it was clear that with Xianfeng's aptitude, it was beyond his ability to rebuke and punish people at every turn for five years. Not to mention that the one who had attacked Ganzhou was Vézé. From the bottom of his heart, if Vézé was blocked outside Ganzhou and still couldn't take it after suffering heavy losses, the officials in the Manchu Qing court and the Manchu Qing Emperor would find it strange.

At this time, there was no need to discuss Vézé's goal in moving south to Guangxi. After taking Ganzhou, Vézé could go straight to Guangdong. If Vézé had enough troops, he might be able to split his troops west to attack Chenzhou. Then, he would split his troops into two, one for Guangdong and the other for Guangxi. The two troops would meet in Wuzhou. After opening up the Wuzhou waterway, he would completely control Guangxi.

Xianfeng didn't underestimate the fighting power of Vézé's troops. He only admired Vézé's determination and decisiveness. Zhang Guoliang's Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks were attacking Changzhou with all their strength, trying to push the front line to Zhenjiang and rebuild the Jiangnan Barracks. Jiangxi's Ceng Guofan was attacking Jiujiang City fiercely, trying to open up the lake mouth so that the Xiang Army's Outer River and Inner Lake Navy could meet. Zuo Zongtang's troops didn't march fast. After Vézé's troops passed through Jingdezhen, they entered Zhejiang through Jiangxi. If there was a slight difference in time, Vézé would be in trouble.

The news of the incident in Tianjing had reached Beijing in more detail. Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan had killed East King Yang Xiuqing, and Tianjing was basically in a state of emptiness. Xianfeng asked himself. If he were Vézé, he probably wouldn't have been able to move south so decisively. He would have hoped to reap the most benefits from this incident. As long as they delayed for another month, Zuo Zongtang and the troops of the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks would be able to pursue Wei Ze to a certain extent.

However, Wei Ze left a month ahead of schedule. During this one month, he was able to stay out of the attack range of all the Qing army's field troops. Thus, he successfully carried out the southward operation.

Since Xian Feng was no longer excited, he couldn't help but sigh. It would be great if Vézé was a general under the imperial court. With such a general, there would be no need to worry about the rebel troops not being destroyed, no need to worry about not defeating Xiyi.

But this feeling and imagination didn't last long. As the Emperor of the Great Qing, Xianfeng had to make decisions for the world as the master of the world. Recently, he had issued several decrees to the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ye Mingchen, asking him to quickly break the rebellion of Tian Di Hui in Guangdong and fully defend against the attack of Vézé's troops. The news from Ye Mingchen wasn't satisfactory. Guangdong's local troops had encircled and suppressed Tian Di Hui in various places. Under the strategy of breaking them one by one, they had recaptured more than a dozen counties occupied by Tian Di Hui rebel troops.

At this time, Tian Di Hui besieging Guangzhou was also an arrow at the end of its flight. The British defending Hong Kong were obviously not optimistic about the rebel Tian Di Hui. Therefore, after Ye Mingchen bought weapons from the British and paid the shipping fee, the British shipped food, weapons, and gunpowder to Guangdong. The rebel Tian Di Hui was a motley crew. Although they had a large number of people and surrounded Guangzhou, they didn't have the ability to attack the city. But they didn't have the ability to attack the city. After fighting for nearly half a year, they finally couldn't hold on any longer. With weapons and ammunition replenished, Ye Mingchen launched a counterattack against Tian Di Hui outside the city. The day before Xianfeng learned that Vézé had captured Ganzhou, that is, on the 5th of May, Ye Mingchen's memorial stated that Tian Di Hui had begun to collapse. Many troops had begun to retreat to the west. It was estimated that within ten days, Tian Di Hui would completely withdraw from Guangzhou.

According to Xianfeng's understanding of his ministers, if Ye Mingchen dared to say so, it was estimated that Tian Di Hui would completely withdraw from Guangzhou in three days at most. Ye Mingchen finally had the ability to prepare to confront Vézé's troops heading south.

However, the news of Tian Di Hui's withdrawal from Guangzhou didn't make Xianfeng feel anything special. What the young Emperor really cared about were the memorials submitted by Jiang Zhongyuan, Zeng Guofan, and Zuo Zongtang. In the memorials, the three of them put forward their views on the current situation. Moreover, the three of them basically had the same view. "First eliminate the Guangdong bandits, then eliminate Vézé!"

The three of them all believed that the Taiping Rebellion had already taken shape. Although Vézé was ferocious, he didn't have a stable territory. At this time, the Taiping Rebellion was big, and Vézé was small. The Taiping Rebellion was the root, and Vézé was the branch. Jiang Zhongyuan was in the north, Zeng Guofan was in the west, and Zuo Zongtang was in the east. In addition, there were the troops of Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks. At this time, Manchu Qing wanted to carry out a centripetal attack on the Taiping Rebellion, so that the Taiping Rebellion couldn't take care of each other. After destroying the Taiping Rebellion, they would then join forces to attack Vézé in the south.

In response to this policy, Jiang Zhongyuan even proposed to "try to persuade Vézé to surrender with a half-truth." The current commander-in-chief of Jiangnan and Jiangbei Barracks, Zhang Guoliang, used to be a rebel, but he also had his current position after defecting to the imperial court. Therefore, it was better to persuade Vézé to surrender with a half-truth. If Vézé was willing to surrender, Vézé would be stabilized with a high position and a generous salary. While disintegrating Vézé's subordinates with official positions, Vézé would also join the ranks of besieging the Taiping Rebellion. As long as the Taiping Rebellion was over, they could deal with Vézé in whatever way they wanted to deal with Vézé.

Xian Feng was a little tempted by this suggestion, but he gave up this fantasy in the blink of an eye. Given Vézé's ability and experience, and the fact that he was now at the peak of his military strength, it was impossible to persuade him to surrender. Therefore, Xian Feng only issued a decree to Ye Mingchen, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, ordering him to defeat the Tian Di Hui outside Guangzhou as soon as possible, and to organize troops to fight against Vézé in the south.

On the 10th of May, Ye Mingchen received Xian Feng's imperial edict. Ye Mingchen already knew that Vézé had led troops south, which frightened the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi. Starting two years ago, Vézé's reputation rose. Two provincial governors had already died in the hands of this fierce bandit. Among them, the Shandong provincial governor, Zhang Liangji, was even captured alive by Vézé and sent to Tianjing City. The news that this provincial governor had been hacked to pieces in Tianjing City frightened Ye Mingchen. Now, Vézé's troops were heading south. According to different rumors, Vézé's troops ranged from fifty thousand to five hundred thousand. Whether it was the maximum or the minimum, the twenty thousand Qing Army in Guangzhou were not his match.

Ye Mingchen, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, used all his strength to finally drive away the Tian Di Hui besieging Guangzhou. Then he began to prepare for a new round of defense of Guangzhou.

On the 12th of May, the First Army of the Liberation Army, which had been "mediating the conflict between the militia and Tian Di Hui" along the way, received an order to put down their "mediation work" and attack Guangzhou with all their might. The order made it clear that Vézé's rear troops also abandoned Ganzhou and marched towards Guangzhou.

The rear troops abandoned Ganzhou and began to march towards Guangzhou. This news put great pressure on the General Staff of the First Army. Vézé was staking it all on one throw, and no matter what, he had to take Guangzhou. Luo Dagang kept his mouth shut. Of course, he knew one of the reasons for Vézé's actions this time. Since the garrison of Guangzhou was not worth mentioning, Vézé suddenly ordered them to quickly move south was nothing more than because the Tian Di Hui troops besieging Guangzhou couldn't hold out any longer and had left Guangzhou.

As the famous leader of Tian Di Hui, Luo Dagang naturally knew their character. If Vézé attacked Guangzhou with them, no matter how much effort Tian Di Hui put in, they would demand a share of the spoils. Moreover, they would try to get a share that was far greater than the amount of effort they put in.

Just like the situation they encountered during the "mediation of the conflict between the militia and Tian Di Hui" operation, Vézé's troops rescued the almost destroyed Tian Di Hui troops from the siege of the militia. This group of people naturally shouted to thank the Liberation Army for their great kindness, but when they turned around, they first wanted to eat and drink, and then they wanted guns and cannons. Seeing that they couldn't get either of these, they wanted the Liberation Army to attack the local militia with them.

Of course, there was no lack of stamping their feet and beating their chests, weeping, bare-headed and bare-handed, and banging their heads on the ground. Their mouths were full of things like "avenging the brothers of Tian Di Hui". But it was clear that the Liberation Army and Tian Di Hui weren't brothers, and these Tian Di Hui people didn't really regard the Liberation Army as brothers.

Luo Dagang was a sensible person. Vézé had previously suggested that perhaps the officers and men in Vézé's troops used to be members of Tian Di Hui, but now they were members of the Liberation Army. When faced with disputes of interest, they absolutely couldn't stand on Tian Di Hui's side. Luo Dagang wasn't angry at Vézé, but rather he very much agreed with Vézé's view.

On May 13th, the First Army, which had begun to disperse, quickly assembled. On May 14th, the First Army went straight along the main road to Shaoguan. The troops marched very steadily at a speed of forty li a day. On May 24th, the troops arrived at Shaoguan and immediately began to attack the city. Within a day, Shaoguan was broken.

On May 26th, the vanguard of the First Cavalry Division arrived at Shaoguan. After a simple two days of rest and reorganization, the First Army set out for the south and went straight to Guangzhou.

On the way, Luo Dagang saw Wei Changrong mumbling something. Because he had been mumbling for too long, Luo Dagang couldn't help but be curious and asked Wei Changrong what he was talking about.

"Don't rain on the road. It will rain after we reach Guangzhou," Wei Changrong replied.

Luo Dagang didn't understand at first, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that Wei Changrong was praying to God. Luo Dagang was already 51 years old, while Wei Changrong was only 26 years old. Luo Dagang didn't know whether to laugh or cry at Wei Changrong's childish behavior. But on second thought, if he wanted the weather to turn out as Wei Changrong hoped, he really needed God's blessing. Thinking of this, Luo Dagang couldn't help but pray in his heart. Don't rain on the road. It will rain after we reach Guangzhou.

Perhaps his prayer wasn't sincere enough, or perhaps he was too sincere, so he forgot to burn incense as a tribute. God didn't show up. The weather was gloomy along the way, but when the First Army arrived at Guangzhou, the sky was clear.

The troops didn't wait at all. The four regiments quickly arrived at R1058.