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When Lei Hu led the army south from Jingdezhen, he didn't feel refreshed after completing a task. Instead, he looked a little depressed. The senior officers of the Liberation Army Cavalry Division, who were in charge of liaising with the Taiping army, were also unhappy.
"Lin Fengxiang is actually a despicable person." Song Wu expressed his opinion.
"Did Lin Fengxiang arrange for his subordinates to do this?" Zhao Di was also seriously questioning Lin Fengxiang and Lin Fengxiang's subordinates.
Escorting the cannon to Jingdezhen was already a very tiring job. After learning that the British had strengthened their support for the Qing army, the General Staff Headquarters thought it was necessary to support the Taiping army. Otherwise, the Liberation Army would have a large direction to attack, and they would not have thought about going all the way to the northern part of Jiangxi.
When the troops arrived at Jingdezhen, they found out that Lin Fengxiang was not in Jingdezhen, but had gone to Jiujiang. Jiujiang's situation was critical, but Lei Hu didn't think Lin Fengxiang's actions were unacceptable. However, Lei Hu later realized that he might have been wrong.
"I didn't know that there were so many rules in the Jianghu!" Lei Hu's face was filled with malice. Perhaps it was because he recalled what had happened back then, the muscles on his face slightly twisted, as if he was about to laugh out loud.
Song Wu and the other officers who had participated in the negotiation had similar expressions. Thinking back to the situation at that time, no matter how angry they were, everyone still felt that it was impossible to express their emotions without laughing. It wasn't a smile of approval, but a mocking smile that came from the bottom of his heart.
Seeing that Lei Hu and the others were in a hurry to sell the cannons, Lin Fengxiang's men expressed their hope that the Liberation Army could send the cannons to Jiujiang. If they did, the price would be doubled. How could such a childish trick fool Lei Hu? Sending cannons to Jiujiang was not sending cannons, but sending them to fight. Lei Hu straightforwardly rejected Lin Fengxiang's request.
Seeing that Lei Hu wasn't willing to see them off, Lin Fengxiang's subordinates began to talk about the "code of brotherhood". Although his words sounded righteous, as if the Liberation Army owed the Taiping Army a great favor, he did not say anything. But Lei Hu still understood that the Taiping army was fearful when fighting with the Xiang Army and hoped to get the support of the Liberation Army. But they didn't have any bargaining chips that could make the Liberation Army listen to them, so they could only put the "code of brotherhood" on the table.
That meeting was the first time that Lei Hu and the others had heard the most about "loyalty in Jianghu". The generals of the Taiping army were so eloquent that they told all kinds of inspiring stories about loyalty. Lei Hu had to maintain his dignity, and Song Wu was actually not very good at this kind of argument. Seeing that the two of them were silent, Zhao Di spoke, "Everyone, I think you should say this to the Heavenly King before he kills the King Of The East. Or you should tell these stories to the Heavenly King and King Yi. "
After Zhao Di finished speaking, Lin Fengxiang's subordinates all shut their mouths. Their expressions, as if they had eaten poison, really made the brothers of the Liberation Army who attended the meeting feel relieved. It was just that they didn't hit people in the face, and they didn't expose people's shortcomings when they scolded them. Zhao Di's words also gave Lin Fengxiang's subordinates an excuse to make things difficult for the Liberation Army.
Lin Fengxiang's subordinates first moved the cannons and then kept quiet about the silver. Lei Hu asked once, and Lin Fengxiang's subordinates said, "The silver is still being counted."
This kind of trick could not scare Lei Hu. With a command, the Liberation Army's cavalry division began to break camp and head south. Even after Lei Hu's troops had gone far away, Lin Fengxiang's subordinates still did not send the silver.
"Division Commander, aren't you afraid that the Commander in Chief will blame you?" Song Wu was a little worried.
"Division Commander, is this the Commander in Chief's arrangement?" Zhao Di was also not very optimistic.
Lei Hu sneered, "The Commander in Chief said that money doesn't matter. After the cannons are delivered, we can also be at ease. I think that since Lin Fengxiang's subordinates treated us like this, then we should be more loyal in the future. They do the same thing, and we do the other way round. "
Sometimes, breaking off all ties was also a way to resolve things. According to the rules of the pugilistic world, if you accepted something from someone who had traveled thousands of miles and did not pay for it. This meant that both parties had broken off all ties. Now, the Liberation Army really had no reason to maintain a very good relationship with the Taiping army.
After hearing Lei Hu's explanation, Song Wu said, "It's good that the Commander in Chief doesn't blame us."
Lei Hu smiled coldly and said, "I don't want Commander in Chief to blame me. This time, the losses suffered internally will be compensated externally. I can only go to Fuzhou and get this batch of cannon money from the Xiang army!"
"Very good!" Zhao Di said happily, "We can see how good the Xiang Army is at fighting."
After getting rid of the task of protecting 150 cannons, the cavalry division's marching speed greatly increased after leaving Jingdezhen. As the saying went, speed was the most important thing in war. Eight thousand troops headed straight for Fuzhou, which was also guarded by eight thousand people.
After learning that the Liberation Army was heading south and heading straight for Fuzhou, Ceng Guohua found himself faced with three choices. Either stay in Fuzhou and continue fighting, or leave Fuzhou with the troops, or Ceng Guohua himself left Fuzhou with the excuse of "Ding You." There was no doubt that Ceng Guohua could not make the choice to give up Fuzhou. He even welcomed the Liberation Army to attack Fuzhou. Other than setting up additional bamboo sticks and traps outside Fuzhou, Ceng Guohua had also set up an ambush of 1,000 Qing Army soldiers south of the city. He was prepared to send this "unexpected force" to launch a surprise attack on the flank of the Liberation Army when the Liberation Army attacked Fuzhou. If they succeeded, the Qing Army in the city would open the gates and kill their way out, dealing a heavy blow to the Liberation Army.
On the afternoon of July 5th, the Liberation Army arrived 30 li outside Fuzhou and began to set up camp.
On July 6th, which was the 27th birthday of Ceng Guofan and Ceng Guohua's father, the Liberation Army split into four teams and began to surround Fuzhou. This action was completely out of Ceng Guohua's expectations. He knew that the Liberation Army did not have many troops. Compared to the Qing Army in the city, the Liberation Army did not have the advantage in numbers. Under these circumstances, the Liberation Army still split into four teams to surround Fuzhou. What kind of game was this? Could it be that the Liberation Army was very confident in themselves and thought that they could surround Fuzhou and capture all the Qing Army in the city in one fell swoop?
Watching an army of more than 1,000 people head straight for the south of the city, Ceng Guoquan also mobilized the troops in the city, preparing to go out of the city and attack the Liberation Army when the troops in the south and the Liberation Army began to fight.
In a hidden spot on the city wall, Ceng Guohua used the All-Seeing Eye to observe the movements of the Liberation Army. Unlike the conservative and cautious Xiang Army, the Liberation Army's troops moved quickly and did not advance in formation. He saw about a thousand soldiers of the Liberation Army lined up in more than twenty columns, marching southward. Some columns even brought artillery pulled by horses. This was completely different from the neat formation used by the Xiang Army.
At first, Ceng Guohua sighed in his heart that the Liberation Army ran fast enough. But after watching for a while, he realized that the columns of the Liberation Army had actually split into two. One was advancing towards the south gate of Fuzhou, seemingly intending to block the gate. The other 500 troops had split into more than 10 small columns and headed straight for the direction of the Xiang Army lying in ambush in the south.
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