? As Hunan entered November, the weather officially began to become cooler.
Chenzhou was an important city for Lingnan to enter the Yangtze River basin, but it was located north of Lingnan. Even in November, Guangzhou was still hot and humid, so it was not a problem to wear short sleeves. But in Chenzhou, one needed to wear long-sleeved shirts and a military jacket on top of the shirt. In Chenzhou, one needed to wear long-sleeved shirts and a military jacket on top of the shirt to not feel too hot.
After occupying Guangdong for several years, the military department of the Liberation Army was finally able to provide a large amount of olive green dye. More than 200,000 troops all wore the same green military uniform. The color, texture, and style of Zhou Jinguo's military uniform were no different from the soldiers. Except that he had two pockets in front of his chest, which could hold pocket watches, pens, and other tools used by officers. The so-called four pockets and two pockets were the biggest difference in clothing between the officers and soldiers of the Liberation Army.
Of course, one had to get very close to see it clearly. From a distance, all the officers and soldiers wore the same green military uniform and octagonal hats. It was impossible to see the difference between these soldiers. It was completely different from the Xiang Army or the other Qing Army, where there was a clear distinction between officers and soldiers.
The regimental commander ordered Zhou Jinguo's troops to sweep along the river and dismantle the camps set up by the Xiang Army. If they encountered resistance from the Xiang Army, they would try their best to adopt new tactics to deal with the Xiang Army. The Xiang Army obviously had no intention of leaving people to die. Zhou Jinguo swept through more than a dozen villages, but they were all empty. When the farthest village was set on fire, Zhou Jinguo stood there and looked in the direction of his hometown for a long time.
The road in front of him was vaguely familiar. After climbing over two mountains and making three big turns, Zhou Jinguo would only need to walk for a little more than a day, and only need to walk for another eighty kilometers before he would be able to return to his hometown, his home. Zhou Jinguo had a hard time suppressing the urge to bring the troops home. First of all, as a battalion commander, without the consent of the political commissar and staff officer, he did not have to consider bringing the troops to act privately. Before setting off, the regimental commander had repeatedly instructed that the troops were not allowed to go far. Secondly, even if it was a private operation, once he returned to the Liberation Army, even if he did not die, he would be stripped of his military position. In the great purge a few months ago, not to mention a battalion commander, even a division commander who considered himself a Hunanese was dismissed from his post and sent to study in a military academy.
They were not fools. More importantly, the Liberation Army did not hide these things. Opposing "localism" was not a joke. With this reputation attached, even the most capable officers would be dismissed.
After looking in the direction of his hometown for a long time, Zhou Jinguo led his troops back to Chenzhou dejectedly.
The round trip only took three days. When they arrived at the camp in Chenzhou, Zhou Jinguo immediately found the military doctor and asked, "Doctor, how is it?"
The military doctor clearly remembered what Zhou Jinguo had said about studying gunshot wounds. He replied, "Most of these bullets only hit two holes in the body, and not many remain in the enemy's body. I carefully studied the puncture wound, and the residue inside … "
At first, Zhou Jinguo was still holding it in, but after listening to the military doctor's lengthy discussion about the characteristics of the Liberation Army's bullets, he finally could not hold it in anymore. He politely asked the military doctor, "Doctor, is the wounded soldier from the Xiang Army recovering?"
After hearing Zhou Jinguo's question, the military doctor thought for a while. "Oh? Oh! That wounded soldier! He was lucky. The bullet only penetrated his body and did not injure any vital organs or bones. It's just that the medical standards of the Xiang Army are too poor. If he was treated in time, I'm afraid that the amount of blood loss would be limited. But I don't know what kind of luck this kid had. His injury is not too serious. In a few days, as long as the wound does not fester, he will be able to run around. "
Zhou Jinguo hurriedly asked, "Can I talk to him?"
"You have to ask the guard about this. That person is from the Xiang Army, not our Liberation Army. Naturally, there will be someone watching over them. What I say doesn't count, "the military doctor replied.
Zhou Jinguo was a little confused at first, but he instantly understood. The military doctor in the Liberation Army had a lot of say, but for a group of Xiang Army captives, the Liberation Army naturally could not treat the Xiang Army captives the same way they treated their comrades. Therefore, Zhou Jinguo ran directly to see the guard and soon saw Lü Shanghai sleeping on the hospital bed with his eyes closed. He had seen wounded soldiers, unconscious soldiers, and dead soldiers. At a glance, Zhou Jinguo could see that although Lü Shanghai was lying there weakly, he was not like a pile of rags thrown on the straw mat a few days ago. He was now lying comfortably on the hospital bed and sleeping.
He sat down and shook Lü Shanghai to wake him up. Lü Shanghai opened his eyes in a daze and stared at Zhou Jinguo, who was sitting next to him, for a long time. Then Lü Shanghai said weakly, "I kind of remember you."
"I'm Zhou Jinguo. We used to fight in the village, "Zhou Jinguo said, paused for a while, and then added," I know your sister, Lv Yufeng. "
Lü Shanghai had completely remembered what had happened in the past. He gasped and said, "You... you are the fifth son of the Zhou family!"
Seeing that Lü Shanghai had recognized him, Zhou Jinguo felt much more relaxed. He continued to ask, "Is there any change in Yongxing?"
Lü Shanghai wanted to say something but hesitated. Under Zhou Xingguo's urging, he said after a long time, "You'll know when you go back."
This answer made Zhou Jinguo feel that something was wrong. His face darkened and he said, "Did something happen to my family?"
Lü Shanghai did not expect Zhou Jinguo to be able to guess so many things. He could only say, "After the Cantonese bandits left Yongxing, the Qing Army followed them here. After we returned to our original place, we only knew that the government army was burning and killing everywhere. We haven't seen your family since. "
"What?" Zhou Jinguo roared angrily. Of course, he had thought that his family might not be living a good life, but he did not expect that there would be no one left in his family. In a rage, Zhou Jinguo grabbed Lü Shanghai's collar and glared at Lü Shanghai, shouting, "Don't lie to me. Did your family do something to my family?"
"Cough, cough!" Being grabbed by the collar by Zhou Jinguo, his wound was affected. Lü Shanghai could not help coughing. After coughing for a while, Lü Shanghai finally caught his breath. He said in a weak voice, "Old Zhou, cough, cough! My family had already run away when the army came. It's not like you don't know. Cough, cough! Cough, cough, cough! When we returned home, our house had been robbed. I don't know who set it on fire, but half of our house was burned down. Cough, cough! We are from the same village. Our family has been tortured so badly. Why would we kill your family? "
After listening to Lü Shanghai's explanation, Zhou Jinguo felt that it was reasonable. He let go of Lü Shanghai's collar and continued to ask, "It's been seven or eight years. Haven't my family come back yet? You have joined the Xiang Army, but you don't know anything? "
"Yongxing has had several batches of soldiers. After the Taiping army left, the Guangxi army, Hubei army, Guangdong army, and Guizhou army came. After my family returned to Yongxing, there was a batch of Guizhou army. Why did my family join the Xiang Army? If I didn't join the Xiang Army, the foreign soldiers would come one batch after another. Without our Hunan army to defend Hunan, who could withstand the war? " Lü Shanghai explained the reason why he joined the Xiang Army. As he spoke, he thought of the old days and could not help crying.
Looking at Lü Shanghai's sincere tears, Zhou Jinguo believed 70% to 80% of his words. Even so, he still threatened, "We will be able to fight our way back to Yongxing soon. If I find out that my family was killed by your Lü family, I will kill your entire family."
This threat did not scare Lü Shanghai. Lü Shanghai panted and said, "My second brother was killed by your Liberation Army in Fuzhou. My third brother was killed by the Guangdong bandits in Sanhe. Cough, cough, you almost killed me too. How many lives do you owe my family? If you want to kill me, just kill me. Don't look for excuses. "
Looking at Lü Shanghai's expression, Zhou Jinguo snorted and left the military hospital.
After returning to the camp, Zhou Jinguo first ran to the regiment commander and asked him to give the order to attack Yongxing. If they could not attack Yongxing, Zhou Jinguo would not be able to investigate the whereabouts of his family. According to Lü Shanghai, no one from the Zhou family was in their hometown in 1853. Where did they go? At that time, only Zhou Jinguo chose to join the Taiping army. At that time, there were 13 members of the Zhou family. How could they disappear just like that? Zhou Jinguo did not believe it at all.
The regiment commander did not agree to Zhou Jinguo's request. Even if Zhou Jinguo cried and begged, it was useless. "The troops have not received orders to move north. Without orders, we cannot move. "
"Regiment commander, I beg you. Even if we don't attack Yongxing, can we send some people to investigate?" Zhou Jinguo begged.
Hearing this request, the regiment commander sighed. "I can only ask the division commander. But Battalion Commander Zhou, without orders, no one is allowed to act on their own. The discipline is very strict now. You have to pay attention to it. "
Zhou Jinguo knew this. After leaving the regiment commander's office, he wrote a letter to Commander-in-Chief Vézé. The previous letter did not receive a reply. Zhou Jinguo did not have much confidence in this letter.
Contrary to what Zhou Jinguo thought, his letter was sent to Guangzhou together with other people's letters. These letters were examined by specialized personnel and turned into various summaries. Zhou Jinguo wrote to Vézé on November 9th. The trusted Director of the Political Department, Shen Xin, brought a report to Vézé on November 16th.
After passing the statistical data and corresponding content to Vézé, Shen Xin introduced, "Commander-in-Chief, many comrades from Hunan in the army are asking for their hometown to be liberated as soon as possible. Some are looking for people, and some just want to go home. The letters from the comrades are very emotional, especially those who are only one step away from home but can only obey orders and not move forward. I feel like crying when I see their letters. "
Vézé shook his head helplessly. He could imagine the feelings of these comrades. When Guangxi was liberated, a large number of Guangxi local comrades, including Wei Changrong, tried their best to find out the situation at home. When they checked the letters sent to the front lines, they found that many of them were asking for information from familiar comrades from the Guangxi army.
Guangxi was easy to deal with. Conquering it would not affect the overall strategic situation. But Hunan was completely different. Hunan was the headquarters of the Xiang Army. Vézé's troops came from more than half of Hunan. If they could satisfy everyone's needs, they would have to conquer the whole of Hunan.
But now was not the time to conquer the whole of Hunan. Too many brothers in the Liberation Army were from the Taiping army, so no one wanted to bear the reputation of ending the Taiping Rebellion. And according to the latest intelligence, the Xiang Army had been besieging Anqing for more than half a year. It seemed that they were determined to conquer Anqing. Even if the Liberation Army conquered Chenzhou, the Xiang Army had no intention of returning.
If they let Manchu Qing and Heavenly King Hong fight to the death, when Manchu Qing killed Heavenly King Hong, he would definitely be badly injured. At that time, the fully prepared Liberation Army would go out and wipe out the Qing Army in one fell swoop. This was the wishful thinking of the upper echelons of the Liberation Army, so Shen Xin did not dare to persuade them to send troops. He only said, "Commander-In-Chief, since we have already entered Hunan, we can't just watch. I think we might as well do political propaganda in Hunan. We can publicize our policy of land to the tiller in Hunan. This way, we can divide Hunan first. When we officially send troops, the local people in Hunan will know why they want to follow the Liberation Army. "
No one urged Vézé to send troops, so Vézé felt much better. Regarding Shen Xin's plan, Vézé suddenly thought of another problem. "Can we also investigate the situation of the Hunan comrades' families?"
"Yes!" Shen Xin answered straightforwardly.
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