?
June 3rd, on the official road 60 li east of Fuzhou.
"The Xiang Army retreated as soon as we made contact. They seem to be luring us to attack Fuzhou." Zhao Di, the cavalry brigade commander of the Liberation Army, reported the situation in surprise.
The Liberation Army's ideology was naturally "the people's army" and "protecting the country". Their ideology was to attack, attack, and attack again. If the Liberation Army was luring the enemy to attack their stronghold, they would definitely set up an ambush. Since they didn't have much experience fighting the Xiang Army, no one in the division made a sound after Zhao Di gave his opinion. Everyone frowned and considered the Xiang Army's reaction, wondering what the Xiang Army wanted to do.
Song Wu looked at the map for a while and closed his eyes to recall the terrain of Fuzhou in his memory. Then he said, "Since the Qing Army didn't stop us, we might as well continue north. Let's finish handing over the cannons to Lin Fengxiang first and then talk about Fuzhou later. If the Qing Army comes out of the city to pursue us, we can turn back and attack them. We'll teach them a good lesson. "
Lei Hu didn't want to cause trouble at this time. He said, "Let's hurry up north. When we come back, we must fight the Xiang Army in Fuzhou and see how capable they are. "
Since the troops didn't want to fight the Xiang Army now, the troops sped up and continued north. The cavalry brigade was responsible for bringing up the rear. Song Wu couldn't help but complain to Lei Hu, "Lin Fengxiang's luck is too good. He needs thousands of people to buy cannons for him. If he can't raise the price, he'll be even angrier. "
When Lei Hu heard the resentful words, he simply laughed. "We can fight our way back. We brought 24 three-inch cannons, it's more than enough to destroy the cities along the way. There are thousands of Xiang Army in Fuzhou and thousands of other auxiliary troops. The amount of money and rations we'll get won't be small. If we can't ask Lin Fengxiang for money, we can only make up for it from the Qing Army. "
"Achoo!" In Fuzhou City, Ceng Guohua sneezed. Rubbing his nose, he said to his men, "It seems that this Liberation Army is indeed going to join forces with the Cantonese bandits."
Cantonese bandits were the standard term Manchu Qing used to refer to the Taiping army. However, in terms of the territory they occupied, Vézé was now more qualified to be called a Cantonese bandit. In terms of address, the Manchu Qing people mainly referred to the Liberation Army as the Liberation Army. At this time, the officers of the Xiang Army under Ceng Guohua learned that the Liberation Army continued to move north and knew that they had temporarily avoided the war, so they all relaxed. Most of the officers in the Xiang Army were scholars, and once they were relaxed, they would start to worry about other things.
"Daren, we have to give Wei Ni's subordinates a name." Barracks Officer He Junxi said. This suggestion immediately received the approval of the barracks officers and advisors of the Xiang Army. The Liberation Army naturally wanted to recover the Han people's land. This was the focus of the Liberation Army's unbridled propaganda. As the leader of the literati in Hunan, Ceng Guofan had once written an article attacking the Taiping Rebellion. But regarding the Liberation Army's declaration, Ceng Guofan pretended not to see it. Scholars placed great importance on their status. As Han people, they had to be running dogs for the Manchus, even if this group of people was willing. But when the word "recovery" was mentioned, there was always a bit of a grudge in their hearts. To be able to give the Liberation Army a name and completely separate it from the word "recovery" would make these scholars feel much better.
But as for what name to use, no one had any particular idea. Someone suggested borrowing the wisdom of others. "In the past, when the armies fought against Wei Ni, what did they call Wei Ni's subordinates?"
The idea of borrowing the wisdom of others received the support of the other officers of the Xiang Army. It would be best if they could pick out a name that the scholars felt was the most suitable from the many people's ideas. To elaborate on this aspect, they naturally had to first determine who had fought against Vézé. Someone asked, "Who fought against Wei Ni?"
When this kind of brainless question was raised, someone immediately answered without thinking. "Hunan Inspector-General Zhang Liangji." In terms of time, Hunan Inspector-General Zhang Liangji had fought against Vézé in the Battle of Changsha.
These fellows originally wanted to recall what Zhang Liangji had called Vézé. Then they quickly remembered that Zhang Liangji had been captured alive by Vézé in Shandong and sent to Tianjing before being executed by a thousand cuts. Such a depressing matter did not destroy the will of these scholars. They were scholars, after all. When it came to playing with words, the more frustrated they were, the more courageous they became. Xiang Rong, Sheng Bao, He Chun, Tuo Mina, and other prominent officials were recalled. They also recalled how they were killed by Vézé, or how they were stripped of their positions after suffering a crushing defeat at Vézé's hands.
After a series of meetings and discussions, these scholars of the Xiang Army finally began to understand why the Qing court did not have a more original name for the Liberation Army under Vézé. Vézé's target had always been very clear. Once he started fighting, Vézé would definitely annihilate his target. Therefore, those who had not fought with Vézé often did not remember Vézé, nor did they have anything better to do than to specially create a name for Vézé's troops. And those who had fought with Vézé might have tried to create a special name for Vézé's troops, but as they were defeated, died, or became commoners, their efforts were also abandoned. Therefore, until now, there had not been a common name.
Scholars were more talented in these matters. Most of them understood the cause of the matter halfway through the discussion and then stopped the discussion. The Xiang Army had never had a chance to fight with the Liberation Army. Fighting with the Taiping army alone was enough to give the Xiang Army a headache. As the war developed, the Xiang Army, which had gradually gained the upper hand against the Taiping army, had no choice but to start fighting with the Liberation Army. The battle of Ganzhou not long ago was an attempt by the Xiang Army to touch Gannan, which was rich in food and money. The result was very clear. The Xiang Army in Gannan was completely wiped out by the Liberation Army.
Seriously discussing what had happened in the past, these scholars of the Xiang Army could not help but feel uneasy. Would the Xiang Army in Fuzhou repeat the mistakes of the Qing Army?
Seeing the atmosphere suddenly become cold, Ceng Guohua could naturally guess what these scholars were thinking. He said loudly, "The host is strong, but the guest is weak. The host is comfortable, but the guest is tired. The host is advantageous, but the guest is disadvantageous. We should treat the guest as the host and wait for the guest to be tired."
This was the battle philosophy that Ceng Guofan formulated for the Xiang Army. The "host and guest" here did not refer to "internal and external battles". The host referred to the defensive side, while the guest referred to the offensive side. Due to the Xiang Army's lack of equipment and training, Ceng Guofan advocated that the Xiang Army adopt as much defensive tactics as possible. Even if they were the offensive side, they had to try their best to let the enemy attack the Xiang Army first.
This time, facing the Liberation Army's cavalry division, Ceng Guohua also adopted the same battle arrangement. He did not send troops to fight with the Liberation Army in the field outside the city. Instead, he sent troops to approach the Liberation Army, trying to attract the Liberation Army to take the initiative to attack Fuzhou. What Ceng Guohua did not expect was that the Liberation Army actually ignored the rear and went straight north. This kind of action revealed another problem of the Xiang Army, which was that their marching speed was too slow.
Every time the Xiang Army arrived at a place, even if it was only for one night, they would definitely set up deep trenches and high fortifications. Before the camp was built, they could not rest or eat. They had to build a wall ten feet high and half a foot wide, with a parapet on top to provide cover for the soldiers firing their guns. Outside the wall, deer abatis were planted to prevent people from climbing. Deep trenches were dug outside the deer abatis. It could be said that it was a very tight arrangement.
Every time the Xiang Army marched, they would use the elites as the vanguard and rear guard, and in the middle were the captains and supplies. They also sent scouts to patrol the surroundings to avoid being ambushed. In addition, it took two hours to break camp in the morning and more than two hours to set up camp before dark. Therefore, they could only march for six hours at most in a day. Moreover, the battalions had to support each other and could not advance rashly. Therefore, they could only travel about 15 kilometers a day. This kind of fighting and marching was the specialty of the Xiang Army, "forming a strong stronghold to fight a slow battle."
It was very easy for Vézé's troops to march 50 kilometers a day. If necessary, it was not a problem for them to march 70 kilometers a day. The Xiang Army's troops that went out of the city also acted according to the tradition of the Xiang Army. In the end, they watched helplessly as the Liberation Army ran away without a trace in front of them.
Of course, Ceng Guohua knew that his subordinates could not catch up with the Liberation Army, but he refused to admit it. Therefore, he brought up the Xiang Army's "open host and open enemy" strategy. What he meant was, "If the Liberation Army does not come to attack us, we will not take the initiative to attack the Liberation Army." How could the officers of the Xiang Army not understand this implication? Just now, when they were discussing the history of the Liberation Army, the officers of the Xiang Army who were scholars found that the Qing Army was basically defeated by the Liberation Army in the field. This showed that the Liberation Army had a very strong field combat ability. Of course, the Xiang Army did not want to compete with the Liberation Army in the field. If the Liberation Army left, so be it.
On the day the Liberation Army went north, which was June 30, Ceng Guohua received news from his brother, Ceng Guofan, that their father had passed away. Ceng Guohua immediately set up the mourning hall and burst into tears. The Xiang Army's subordinates, whether officers or soldiers, formed teams in the battalion as a unit and knelt down to pay their respects to Ceng Guofan's father in Hunan.
After receiving a large amount of silver from his subordinates according to the rules, Ceng Guohua had to face another, more important matter. That was Ding You. If the parents of an official of the imperial court died, no matter what official position he held, he must return to his ancestral home to guard for 27 months from the day he learned of the funeral.
In the letter, Ceng Guofan told Ceng Guohua that he had signed the names of several brothers on the letter, indicating that the Zeng family's descendants had to guard Ding You. Ceng Guohua officially received the notice. In theory, he naturally had to hand over his work to others and go home to guard Ding You.
At this time, the war was tense. Of course, Ceng Guohua did not want to leave the front line. But not guarding Ding You was not something Ceng Guohua could do even if he volunteered to go. The opposite of "Ding You" was "Stealing Love." Because the imperial court needed a certain minister, it did not wait for the end of the funeral to summon him to a post, or ordered him not to give up his post, not to wear official clothes, and not to celebrate in advance. Sacrifices, banquets, and so on were managed by the second assistant. This was called "Stealing Love."
Ceng Guohua felt that since the Zeng brothers were the leaders of the Xiang Army, the imperial court had no reason not to let the Zeng family continue to be in charge of the Xiang Army. Therefore, he could not understand and accept his brother Ceng Guofan's request for the Zeng brothers to immediately go home to guard Ding You.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
