? Lin Fengxiang was silent as his finger traced the road through Jiangxi.
Lin Fengxiang's finger traced along the main road that passed through Jiangxi. To get Vézé's support, they had to open up a channel to Jiangxi. To get Vézé's support, they had to open up a channel to Jiangxi. This passageway would connect Tianjing and Guangzhou. This was a good idea, but if the Taiping army really had the strength, why would Lin Fengxiang ask the Liberation Army to transport weapons to Jingdezhen?
"We can only ask Prince Of Qi for help with the transport of weapons and cannons." Lin Fengxiang finally made a decision. After he said this, the others looked at Lin Fengxiang with malicious or mocking gazes. Everyone knew that Vézé didn't care about the tens of thousands of taels of silver. Lin Fengxiang's subordinates had dared to use money to threaten Vézé's troops who had come to deliver the cannons. Regardless of whether Vézé would deliberately make things difficult for Lin Fengxiang, Lin Fengxiang's subordinates had indeed done something wrong.
"Is Prince Of Qi still willing to help?" Li Xiucheng asked eagerly.
Noticing the mocking gazes, Lin Fengxiang said calmly, "Prince Of Qi isn't a narrow-minded person. We don't have to worry that Prince Of Qi will turn against us. But there's something I have to say first. We can't be disrespectful to Prince Of Qi. If Prince Of Qi hadn't left, he would be above us! "
Everyone was slightly taken aback by these words. But in the blink of an eye, everyone understood. The Taiping Rebellion's kingship was divided into the first wave, the East, West, North, and South Kings. The title of King of Wings was rather unusual. Moreover, Shi Dakai had been conferred the title of king not because of the influence and contributions he had made in the God Worshipping Church, but because of the four to five thousand relatives under him. Therefore, the title of Wing King was rather out of place among the Direction Kings. The second group consisted of the Prince Of Qi, the Prince of Yan and the Prince of Yu. In theory, Shandong, Hebei and Henan were the fiefs of these three. Together with Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, these nine Wangye were all important figures in the Heavenly State who were truly recognized by their status.
Vézé was the Prince Of Qi who had been conferred the title of Prince Of Qi before the coup in Tianjing. Up until now, the Taiping Rebellion had not dared to announce that Vézé, the Prince of Qi, was no longer a member of the Taiping Rebellion. According to the system of the Taiping Rebellion, other than Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan and Wing King Shi Dakai, everyone else had to kneel down when they saw Vézé.
However, everyone was surprised by Lin Fengxiang's words. None of them had any dealings with the Prince Of Qi. Weren't the ones who had offended the Prince Of Qi Lin Fengxiang's subordinates? Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Lin Fengxiang continued, "This time, my subordinates had no respect for the Prince Of Qi. That's why they made a mistake. As long as we show respect, the Prince Of Qi will not ignore us. "
When the generals of the five armies heard this, some nodded slightly, while some frowned. For example, Li Kaifang frowned, while Li Xiucheng agreed with him. At this moment, no one dared to criticize Lin Fengxiang. No matter what Lin Fengxiang had done, after the departure of Wing King, Lin Fengxiang was undoubtedly the number one person in the Taiping army in terms of qualifications and military achievements. Whether they listened to Lin Fengxiang's orders or not, that was the business of the generals. However, no one dared to refute Lin Fengxiang at this moment. Moreover, everyone knew that Lin Fengxiang could still get Vézé to send 150 cannons to Jingdezhen. The other generals and deputy generals did not even have the right to ask for Vézé's help. If they wanted to get help from Vézé in the future, they would have to rely on Lin Fengxiang.
After discussing Vézé's matter, the generals of the five armies continued their meeting. Li Xiucheng proposed to take advantage of Shi Dakai's attack on western Zhejiang to allow the Taiping army to advance eastward. However, Lin Fengxiang immediately vetoed it. "Right now, the Xiang Army may advance eastward at any time. If we attack Zhejiang now, we may not be able to win immediately. If the main force is entangled in Zhejiang, the Xiang Army will attack with full force. We will be fighting on two fronts and will not be able to take care of both sides. "
Li Kaifang immediately agreed with Lin Fengxiang's suggestion. He was under pressure from the Taiping army's northern battlefront. If the Qing Army launched a large-scale attack, Li Kaifang would naturally have to fight to the death with the Qing Army. If other allies came to reinforce them, their chances of success would increase greatly. Therefore, opening the Zhejiang battlefront would only disperse the Taiping army's strength. They might even mobilize the generals from other directions to lead their troops to fight together. This would not be good for the northern battlefront, which was getting increasingly tense.
The Taiping army in southern Anhui was also under pressure from the Qing Army from Jiangxi. They also did not agree with opening the Zhejiang battlefront at this time. As for the Taiping army in Yangzhou, they might be interested in attacking Jiangsu and fighting all the way to the coast. If they crossed the river and joined the Zhejiang battlefront, the Taiping army in Yangzhou would not be ready either.
After discussion, the final strategic direction was to launch an attack in the direction of Jiangxi. In the Huainan area, they would contact the Huaibei Nian Army to attack the Huai army together. At this time, the most important task was to hold the Huaihe River defensive line no matter what. They could not let anything happen to the northern battlefront of the Taiping Rebellion.
Looking at Li Xiucheng's disappointed expression, Lin Fengxiang said, "Regarding King Yi, we should wait. If we rashly enter Zhejiang, I'm afraid King Yi will not be happy. Although he has cut off all ties with the Taiping army, there is no need for us to fight with King Yi. "
Li Xiucheng was stunned at first. Then, he understood what Lin Fengxiang meant. The Heavenly State brothers had chosen to wait for Shi Dakai to fail. After all, King Yi Shi Dakai was one of the top generals in the Heavenly State. During the battle against the Xiang Army, he had also performed well in the battle at Hukou. The Heavenly State brothers who followed him naturally felt that they had followed the right person. If it was just empty talk, the Heavenly State brothers would not really think that Shi Dakai would fail. What the Taiping Rebellion could do was to wait and see how the situation would develop.
After the meeting was over, the generals returned to command their troops. Lin Fengxiang went to the capital to meet Hong Xiuquan and reported the contents of the military meeting to Hong Xiuquan.
After a few days of struggle, Lin Fengxiang first settled Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan and got him to agree to the future strategy. Then, he sent someone to Guangdong to meet Vézé and apologize to Vézé solemnly. But after a few days, they actually came back. What they brought back wasn't good news that they had met with Vézé, but it wasn't bad news either. "Prime Minister, a major epidemic in Jiangxi!"
Lin Fengxiang jumped to his feet. Jiangxi was the focus of the war between the two sides. The outbreak of a major epidemic meant that neither side could fight in Jiangxi. The most difficult thing to deal with in the Taiping Rebellion was the Qing Army in Jiangxi. The major epidemic in Jiangxi would allow Lin Fengxiang to not worry about the threat of the Qing Army to the Taiping Army for a few months.
"Prime Minister, I'm afraid we won't be able to meet Prince Qi this time," Lin Fengxiang's subordinate said nervously. Because of the epidemic, no one dared to go north of Jiangxi. The road to Guangdong was also blocked. If he wanted to apologize to Vézé, he could only wait.
"No problem!" Lin Fengxiang answered. The most important thing now was to solve the Taiping Rebellion's own problems. He got up and went to look for Zhang Yingchen. When he saw Zhang Yingchen, the current Garrison Commander of Tianjing City, Lin Fengxiang told Zhang Yingchen about the major epidemic in Jiangxi. Then he asked, "Brother Zhang, you said a few days ago that the troops should be trained strictly so that they can perform well on the battlefield. But how long do you need to train? I'm thinking of taking advantage of the temporary peace in Jiangxi to quickly train our brothers. "
Seeing that Lin Fengxiang was a little anxious, Zhang Yingchen smiled and said, "Lin Da Ge, I did say that we should train well. But I also said that we should not only train in martial arts, but also in culture. There are many things for everyone to learn. "
Lin Fengxiang went straight to the point and asked, "Is it very difficult to impart the training methods I learned from the Prince of Qi to brothers and sisters?"
Zhang Yingchen heard these almost reproachful words, but he was not angry. He chuckled and said, "Lin Da Ge, training the troops is not something that can be done in a day. Before Prince Qi Qi left Yongan, he trained them strictly, and it was only a year later that there were results. I was not able to learn ten percent of Prince Qi Qi's abilities, and I can't compare to Prince Qi Qi at all. Even if Lin Da Ge is brave and good at fighting, it will take at least a year to train the troops to Prince Qi Qi's level. What's the use of being anxious? "
Lin Fengxiang shook his head. "If Brother Zhang thinks that I am criticizing Brother Zhang, then you have misjudged me. At this time, Jiangxi Qing Yao is unable to go north, and our army has some time to train the troops. This time won't be a year, and it's good enough to have three months to concentrate on training the troops. "
"I'm afraid we won't even be able to finish training the marching and formation in three months." Zhang Yingchen still did not have the slightest attitude of being overjoyed.
"If we hurry up in three months and only choose one, how far can we go?" Lin Fengxiang continued to ask.
Zhang Yingchen thought for a while before answering, "If we really want it to be effective, we should establish the staff officer department system first. Prince Qi has been working hard to manage the staff officer department. It's hard to say about the brothers below, but at least train the officers and the old brothers strictly. "
"Alright! That's it. "Lin Fengxiang immediately answered," We will train the troops in Wuhu. I will ask the Heavenly King to let Brother Zhang help our army. "
As long as Zhang Yingchen's troops were not mobilized, Hong Xiuquan readily agreed to Lin Fengxiang's request. After the conversation ended, Hong Xiuquan asked, "Brother Lin, can't King Yi conquer Zhejiang?"
Lin Fengxiang simply answered, "Given the current situation, King Yi may not be able to defeat Zhejiang's Qing Yao."
Hong Xiuquan couldn't help but look happy. "Will King Yi return to the Heavenly State?"
Lin Fengxiang was rather surprised. He did not expect Hong Xiuquan to really hope that Shi Dakai would return to the Heavenly State. On second thought, Lin Fengxiang understood. If Shi Dakai suffered a crushing defeat and had nowhere else to go, he might return to the Heavenly State. By then, King Yi, who did not have the power to rally the troops, could only obediently listen to Hong Xiuquan's orders. This was great news for Hong Xiuquan.
However, Shi Dakai's personality was not one to turn back. When working under Yang Xiuqing, Shi Dakai was most afraid that Yang Xiuqing would suddenly "descend" and chop off Shi Dakai's head. Even so, Shi Dakai still obediently worked under Yang Xiuqing. This meant that Shi Dakai was a very tolerant person.
Now that Shi Dakai had finally chosen to leave, no matter what, Shi Dakai could not return to the Heavenly State. Hong Xiuquan's thinking was too idealistic.
However, this was not the time to refute Hong Xiuquan. Lin Fengxiang could only vaguely say that this might be the result.
After leaving Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly King Residence, Lin Fengxiang had already made up his mind to not accept Shi Dakai back to the Heavenly State no matter what. All good things must come to an end. When it was time to part, they had to part. In Lin Fengxiang's heart, Shi Dakai was no longer a person who could live in the Heavenly State.
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