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"Prince Zhang! The other princes have arrived. "Li Xiucheng, the Loyal Prince of the Taiping Rebellion, saluted Prince Zhang, Lin Fengxiang, the Prince of the Taiping Rebellion. This young general of the Taiping Rebellion had been bestowed the title of Prince, but he didn't lack the courtesy of a senior like Lin Fengxiang.
Lin Fengxiang had been looking at the map in silence, but when he heard Li Xiucheng's words, he turned around and ordered, "Invite them in!"
Very quickly, 'Prince Inviting' Li Kaifang, 'Prince Congratulating' Yoshibuwon, 'Prince Ying' Li Xiucheng, 'Prince Ning' Wei Jun, 'Prince Gang' Ceng Lichang, 'Prince Guard' Li Shixian, and the others filed in.
Now that this group of people was of the same rank as Lin Fengxiang, no one really felt that they could compete with Lin Fengxiang. According to their military rank and age, everyone sat down in the tent on two sides. As the convener of the meeting, Lin Fengxiang sat down behind the central table and began the 'Wuhu Meeting'.
Lin Fengxiang always maintained a straightforward attitude. He said, "I have received a letter from Prince Qi. It is said that Shi Dakai has been defeated in every battle, and his brothers want to return to Tianjing. Prince Qi has invited us to send a group of men to Jiangxi to pick up his brothers and bring them back. "
At the mention of Vézé, the princes fell silent. Recently, Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan had issued a decree to reprimand Vézé. Heavenly King Hong believed that it was because Vézé had beaten up the 'foreign brothers' in Guangdong that they had cut off their trade with the Taiping Rebellion. The weapons sold by the foreign brothers were very important to the Taiping army, and Heavenly King Hong felt like he had been abandoned after cutting off trade with them.
The generals didn't have much of a reaction to Vézé beating up the 'foreign brothers.' Prince Qi Vézé had been invincible in the Taiping army, beating up whoever he wanted. Now that Prince Qi Vézé was independent, the Taiping army had no ability to stop Vézé's military operations.
To everyone's surprise, Vézé had been concerned about Shi Dakai's situation, especially when he tried to mobilize the Taiping Rebellion forces to take over Shi Dakai's troops. Geographically, Vézé's territory in Guangdong and Guangxi was closer to Shi Dakai's troops. Given Vézé's illustrious reputation, if he really raised his arm and called for help, those who had broken away would immediately seek refuge under Vézé. Vézé, however, was the same as before. He didn't take advantage of the Taiping Rebellion at all. This' selfless' action baffled the Taiping army bigwigs.
Amidst the silence, Prince Zhong Li Xiucheng was the first to speak. "Prince Qi is a man who understands the big picture. It is only right for him to help us. However, I don't know what Prince Qi meant. Please explain it more clearly, Prince Zhang. "
Li Xiucheng's opinion was very representative. A considerable number of old brothers loyal to the Taiping Rebellion believed that Vézé's actions were consistent. His core belief was that no matter what, Manchu Qing must not take advantage of him.
This attitude was easy to understand. Geographically and strategically speaking, the Taiping Rebellion was now facing the attack of Manchu Qing's entire main force. Vézé's "kindness" to the Taiping Rebellion would strengthen the Taiping Rebellion and make it easier for the Taiping Rebellion to attack Manchu Qing. This would also be of great benefit to Vézé's efforts to restore the Governor's Office.
However, the "benefits" that Vézé offered were far beyond the Taiping Rebellion's imagination. Moreover, Vézé's attitude was so condescending that it was as if he were still the supreme commander of the Taiping Rebellion. Logically speaking, the Taiping Rebellion still recognized Vézé's status as a Prince Qi. Vézé's status was second only to Shi Dakai.
Hong Xiuquan had recently conferred thirteen titles. Before Shi Dakai left the Heavenly State, he had worked with the officials to remove the titles of Hong Xiuquan's two elder brothers. After Shi Dakai left the Taiping Rebellion, he had also been restored. All in all, there were fifteen princes in the Taiping Rebellion. They were all princes of the third wave. Their status and prestige were very far from Vézé's.
Even though everyone acknowledged this fact, they still found it hard to accept that Vézé was so "indifferent."
Among the princes of the third wave, the one who could accept this situation the most was Lin Fengxiang. After hearing Li Xiucheng's words, Lin Fengxiang immediately took out Vézé's letter and a map that Vézé had presented. The map showed the routes that Shi Dakai's troops had taken, as well as whether there were any small Taiping army troops left in those places. The data was detailed and the time was clear. The princes were immediately attracted by the route that Shi Dakai had taken.
"King Yi actually took such a long detour!"
"So this is how King Yi fought the war!"
The generals had heard a little about Shi Dakai's situation before. Now, they could understand in detail how Shi Dakai had fought the war after leaving the Taiping Rebellion. Everyone discussed fervently, completely forgetting about who would go to Jiangxi.
Lin Fengxiang watched the princes discuss quietly. He didn't participate at all. He was thinking about something else. Vézé wrote two letters this time. One was to "King Zhang of the Taiping Rebellion." The letter was written in a business-like manner. It only described Shi Dakai's situation and his prediction of the future war.
The other letter was for Lin Fengxiang, and there was a more personal part in it. Vézé told Lin Fengxiang that Shi Dakai's troops were already starting to lose morale and their fighting strength was declining. If Lin Fengxiang wanted to make full use of this troop, it would be best if he could give them strict military training or even break them up and regroup them. If he wanted to save trouble, he could pull them into the troop. Although there were many of them, they might not be of much use.
Lin Fengxiang could understand half of what Vézé said. Shi Dakai's departure had greatly affected the Taiping Rebellion. The entire situation in Heavenly State was on the verge of collapse. However, after a series of battles such as the Sanhe Victory in Anhui and the Erlang River Bloody Battle, the Taiping Rebellion had blocked the fierce attack of the Xiang Army. The plague in the north of Jiangxi had blocked the main direction of the Qing Army's attack. In Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces, after hundreds of battles, the new military system of Heavenly State gradually displayed its fighting strength. The battlefront also gradually stabilized. The troops fought with all their might and stabilized the precarious situation.
As an old general who was recognized as the number one army in the Taiping Rebellion, Lin Fengxiang, of course, hoped to unify the entire Taiping army and organize all the troops into a unified army. However, Lin Fengxiang knew that this was obviously unrealistic. The biggest opponent of unifying the military was Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. It was not that Hong Xiuquan did not want to unify the military, but he wanted to unify the military into his own hands.
After the change in Tianjing, although everyone was still loyal to the Taiping Rebellion, they were not loyal to him, Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Among the 15 Wangye, Hong Xiuquan's two elder brothers, of course, had to work for their "Hong Family's empire." Other than that, the fierce generals Yang Fuqing, Wei Jun, Li Xiucheng, Li Shixian, and Chen Yucheng all had personal grudges against Hong Xiuquan. The others did not think highly of Heavenly King Hong. Naturally, these people were unwilling to listen to Hong Xiuquan's orders.
Seeing that he was unable to unify the military, Hong Xiuquan began to use the method of dividing the troops. After Lin Fengxiang began to establish the negotiation mechanism for the commanding generals of the six armies, Hong Xiuquan began to confer the titles of the commanding generals and deputy generals of the six armies as kings. This could indeed eliminate the resentment the commanding generals and deputy generals had towards the center of the Heavenly State. However, this method also effectively allowed the troops to gradually have a hierarchy of command. In an instant, they became equal.
This time, when Lin Fengxiang held the military conference in Wuhu, Yang Fuqing, Meng Deen, and Zhang Yingchen did not attend. These three troops had a considerable military strength and combat power. They did not attend the conference. Lin Fengxiang's original plan of moving up the Yangtze River and attacking Hubei from two sides ran into a huge problem.
As he was thinking, he heard Li Xiucheng say, "King Zhang, I want to lead the troops to Jiangxi!"
"Oh?" Lin Fengxiang subconsciously responded.
"I want to go to Jiangxi to bring back the brothers from the Heavenly State." Li Xiucheng saw that Lin Fengxiang was a little absent-minded and emphasized.
Lin Fengxiang looked at the other princes. Although they were a little surprised, no one stood up to compete with Li Xiucheng for this task. The credibility of Vézé's words was a big problem. Even if what Vézé said was true and they could get a large number of troops from Jiangxi, there were still a few problems before they could bring back the troops. First was the problem of rations. It was very difficult to provide rations for hundreds of thousands of people. Secondly, entering Jiangxi to fight against the Xiang Army would require an all-out battle. The Xiang Army was getting more and more courageous as they fought. Vézé told the Heavenly State brothers that Shi Dakai's troops would split. However, he did not give a specific timetable. When would they split and who would be the ones to split? If they didn't wait for Shi Dakai's troops to split, the troops that went to Jiangxi would be surrounded by the Xiang Army and suffer considerable losses.
Based on this consideration, the other brothers did not say anything.
Li Xiucheng looked at the others and said, "If I go alone, I'm afraid I'll be alone. I want to bring the King of the Guards with me."
Still, no one was willing to compete with Li Xiucheng for this task. However, everyone looked at Li Xiucheng with a twinkle in their eyes. The King of the Guards, Li Shixian, was Li Xiucheng's cousin and one of the famous partners in the Taiping Rebellion. The other pair of brothers were the late King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing's ancestor, "King Yi" Yang Fuqing, and Yang Xiuqing's cousin, Yang Yiqing. Yang Fuqing and Yang Yiqing had led troops to cooperate with Shi Dakai. Later, when Hong Xiuquan made him one of the main generals of the Six Armies and conferred him the title of King, he abandoned Shi Dakai and led troops back to the Heavenly State from Fujian. Now, it seemed like the Li brothers wanted to take this opportunity to rise up.
This situation was within Lin Fengxiang's expectations. He said, "King Yi, come with us!"
Although Lin Fengxiang said it casually, Lin Fengxiang would not make such a choice if there were any other opportunities. Li Xiucheng's suggestion to go to Jiangxi was to give Lin Fengxiang face. If he didn't say anything and just led his troops to Jiangxi, Lin Fengxiang couldn't do anything to Li Xiucheng. The purpose of Hong Xiuquan's conferment of the Kings was to break up the unified military order that Lin Fengxiang was trying to establish.
Since the military order could no longer be unified, Lin Fengxiang could only work hard to nurture the talents that he fancied. Other than the Imperial Guards that Zhang Yingchen led to defend Tianjing City, the bravest and best of all the troops was Chen Yucheng's troops. Chen Yucheng was Chen Cheng? His nephew? In 1951, he followed his uncle, Chen Cheng? He joined the Taiping army. Shi Dakai forced Hong Xiuquan to kill Chen Cheng? Although Chen Yucheng was very dissatisfied with Hong Xiuquan, he believed that Shi Dakai was the main culprit.
King Yi Chen Yucheng had a good relationship with Prince Zhang Yingchen and had learned many things from Zhang Yingchen in the capital. As far as Lin Fengxiang knew, Chen Yucheng's troops completely adopted the General Staff Headquarters' system. The General Staff Headquarters governed the army, and all promotions were managed by the General Staff Headquarters. Moreover, Chen Yucheng had a heroic personality and was somewhat like Vézé when fighting. He was not afraid of hardships and dared to fight head-on battles. In addition, most of his troops were from Huainan, and most of the soldiers were poor. In order to maintain the system established by Vézé in Anhui, they dared to fight bravely in battle. Therefore, fierce generals like Bao Chao of the Xiang Army and Chen Yucheng, who used Anqing as his main base of operations, fought bloody battles repeatedly. They fought head-on against the fierce generals of the Xiang Army, leaving mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
At this time, if Chen Yucheng could get more troops, it would be a good thing.
Chen Yucheng thought for a while, then said very politely, "Lin Da Ge, I don't want to go to Jiangxi. I really can't leave Anqing. "
Although his tone was polite, Chen Yucheng clearly rejected Lin Fengxiang's suggestion. Lin Fengxiang sighed inwardly. It seemed that Hong Xiuquan's action of being conferred the title of King had really worked!
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