? July 16, 1865, Nanjing Imperial Palace.
"Zuo Zongtang is surrounded by the Nian Army?"
"Zuo Zongtang is surrounded by the Yan army?" This was the age of destruction. Of course, this kind of destruction was seen from an adult's point of view. For a child of his age, he was really exploring the world and "creating the world". It was just that the process of creation was not recognized by adults. So, while Vézé was reading the telegram, his three-year-old son, Wei Rui, was playing on Vézé's lap. The little guy was in the age of destruction.
So Weiser held the telegram in one hand and looked at it again, while his other hand was stopping his son from grabbing the telegram and tearing it apart. Qi Hongyi took a book and pretended to watch his son play with his father. He did not go up to his son to coax him away.
After all, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening. Vézé was playing games with his son when his secretary suddenly rushed in and gave Vézé such a telegram. The little guy was thrown aside by his father. Of course, Qi Hongyi supported his son to make a scene. Of course, Qi Hongyi did not want his son to go too far and make his father very unhappy. Therefore, pretending to read the book was just a pretense. After that page was opened for a full five minutes, Qi Hongyi did not really look at it.
Li Yifang also gave birth to a son for Vézé at the beginning of the year. From a political point of view, the new dynasty had finally stabilized after Vézé had two sons. If something were to happen to Wei Ze, there would be no problem of an heir. From a paternal point of view, both sons were Vézé's biological sons. But from a mother's point of view, if Qi Hongyi's son inherited Vézé's power, Li Yifang would not be happy, and vice versa. Therefore, Qi Hongyi hoped that Vézé could value his eldest son, but Qi Hongyi didn't want his son to make Vézé unhappy.
Vézé's present considerations had nothing to do with it. His current status was not achieved by his son. The reason why he could regard Vézé as an honorific title was that Vézé held the fundamental power of the party, the government, and the army. This power was maintained by Vézé, who led the party, the government, and the army to steadily control China, or at least the political power in the liberated areas.
He almost subconsciously stopped his son's torment, but his real thoughts were on strategic considerations. The Nian Army is divided into Hebei, Henan and Shandong. The various teams were attacking cities and territories, but the main force was actually split into two. One was led by Zhang Zongyu to fight against Sengrinchen in Hebei, and the other was led by Lai Wenguang to fight against Zuo Zongtang in the Heze area.
Lai Wenguang adopted a very daring strategy this time. He led his troops to use mobile tactics to circle around with Zuo Zongtang, and at the same time, he secretly transferred other troops over. When Zuo Zongtang attacked the village, he suddenly surrounded the ten thousand Chu soldiers with fifty thousand soldiers.
Zuo Zongtang made a wrong judgment in terms of strategy. He was confused by Lai Wenguang's mobile tactics, thinking that Lai Wenguang was using the traditional bandit tactics. When he entered the village, he divided his troops into two groups. The ten thousand main force was surrounded by the thirty thousand Nian Army, and the twenty thousand Nian Army surrounded and destroyed the five thousand Chu soldiers. These fifty thousand soldiers surrounded Zuo Zongtang.
Vézé felt that he had miscalculated. He had underestimated the power of the Taiping army, or rather, he had overestimated the power of the Manchu Qing. It was true that the Taiping army and the Nian Army had been destroyed by the Qing Army in history, but that was history. The present reality was that after the Taiping army and the Nian Army merged, their total force was more than three hundred thousand. Even though three hundred thousand was nothing in Vézé's eyes, but when the Manchu Qing still had power over the country, their total force was said to be nine hundred thousand. After a series of heavy blows over the years, the Manchu Qing had at most five hundred thousand soldiers left. Of these five hundred thousand, about two hundred thousand were spread out in several unconnected areas. For example, Sichuan, Yungui, and the northeast.
In this moment of distraction, Wei Rui finally grabbed some newspapers when his father was not paying attention. He stood on his father's lap, his upper body on the table, and read in a childish voice, "Zhi … Lu … Qing … military force of two hundred and fifty thousand, of which one hundred and fifty thousand are … human …, no … fighting power. Shangniu … "
"It's morning, not Shangniu!" Qi Hongyi immediately corrected him.
The full content of the sentence was: "Zhili, Henan, and Lu, the Qing Army has about two hundred and fifty thousand, of which one hundred and fifty thousand are the Green Camp and Bannermen, no fighting power. In the morning, Chu Jun was surrounded … "The little boy was illiterate, so he pronounced" Yue "as" Shao ", and" Wu "as" Niu ".
Listening to his son's Nanjing-flavored Mandarin, Vézé hugged his son. At this time, he was smiling so widely that his eyes could not be seen. "Good boy, you can read so many words now!"
"Father, mother praised me for memorizing the multiplication table!" Wei Rui boasted in his father's arms.
Qi Hongyi's heart was full of joy.
The real Qing Army in Hebei, Henan, and Shandong was estimated to have only two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. She had spent a lot of effort on her son, especially during the time she brought him back to Nanjing. Qi Hongyi had worked hard to enlighten her son.
Although he was very happy in his heart, Qi Hongyi was very polite. "Vézé, the food you said when you were pregnant was really useful. Folic acid, carrots, sesame oil. Our son is so smart. "
"The eldest son is basically like his mother. With a smart mother like you, how can the son be bad?" Vézé laughed. If it was in the past, Vézé would have bragged about himself even if it was just to bicker. However, after the incident with Zuo Zongtang, Vézé reflected on many things that he did not understand when he was young. In fact, most people could endure hardship, but no one could endure without results. It was hard for Qi Hongyi to live with Vézé and have children. Vézé gave all the credit to himself. What did Qi Hongyi get when he followed Vézé? At this time, it was necessary to recognize Qi Hongyi's contribution. Qi Hongyi's efforts must be recognized positively.
Qi Hongyi was satisfied with his son's excellent performance and her husband's sincere praise. She took her son away from her husband's arms and said, "This child grows with the wind. I can barely carry him."
Raising a son should not be without results. Vézé immediately replied, "When Wei Rui grows up, let him carry you."
Hearing her husband's words, Qi Hongyi's mother instinctively reacted. She replied, "No, I'm so heavy. What if I crush him?"
"Okay, I'll carry you." Vézé smiled.
Family was always this happy. Qi Hongyi smiled. "Vézé, you don't need to carry him. When Wei Rui grows up, we'll have him help us walk. "
"We will each take one side. You will be in the middle. We will help you walk." Vézé promised.
Thinking of that scene, Qi Hongyi felt very happy and satisfied. She smiled. "Then we'll talk about it when I'm old. Now I will take Wei Rui to shower and sleep. Vézé, you should rest early too. "
Finally, Vézé did not have to spend effort to coax his wife and children. Vézé believed that Zuo Zongtang would probably be able to break out of the encirclement, but he had to consider another possibility. If Zuo Zongtang was wiped out by the Nian Army, northern Jiangsu would fall into the hands of the Nian Army. The Xuzhou area was also an important area in China. Letting the Nian Army take it would be too easy for them.
Thinking of this, Vézé called the confidential secretary in and gave an order. "Let Lei Hu and the others go north and seize all of Jiangsu. If the Nian Army wants to fight with us, then we will expel them. Even if we don't need to worry about the border areas, we must not lose the Xuzhou area. "
These war plans had been set long ago. At this time, Vézé activated one of them. Of course, this kind of order, in principle, needed to be discussed by the military commission. But at this time, most of the military commission was still in Guangzhou. Vézé used his authority as the emperor to decide on military plans.
But after saying this, Vézé felt that it was inappropriate. He ordered again, "Draft this order first and inform the military commission to hold a meeting tonight."
After the military commission meeting, as soon as everyone heard the latest news, they unanimously expressed that they wanted to seize Xuzhou. This was actually a very normal strategic response. Everyone originally thought that the Qing Army might be able to suppress the Nian Army. Since the Qing Army was so incompetent, the Liberation Army could not sit back and watch the Nian Army expand their territory.
After reaching an agreement, the military commission put forward another idea. "Your Majesty, if we take all of northern Jiangsu, the Huaihe River defense line is already outdated. We should establish the Xuzhou Military District. Originally, the defense line in Anhui was the responsibility of the Anhui Military District. The Xuzhou Military District will be the starting point of the attack. "
On the morning of July 17, Zuo Zongtang gathered all his generals with red eyes. After suddenly falling into the Nian Army's encirclement, Zuo Zongtang realized that the Nian Army was not the roving bandits he had imagined.
The day before yesterday, when they were fighting with the Nian Army, scouts suddenly reported that the Nian Army had appeared behind them. Zuo Zongtang did not take it seriously. He ordered the troops to temporarily pull back and test the enemy's strength. But the Nian Army around them increased in number. By the night before yesterday, the Chu army was surrounded. The Nian Army was everywhere. More importantly, the Nian Army actually had cannons at every defensive position. When the Chu sentries came close, the Nian Army opened fire with explosive shells.
At this time, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong were all over the Nian Army. All kinds of urgent letters asking for help were flying everywhere. Zuo Zongtang found that he had been misled by this situation. He had thought that the Nian Army was still causing trouble everywhere and forcing the imperial army to run for their lives. He had not expected the Nian Army's overall strategy to be so clear. They wanted to destroy Zuo Zongtang's main force.
The Nian Army did not immediately attack. They surrounded the area where Zuo Zongtang was and built earth ramparts. It was clear that they wanted to surround him for a long time. During the day, the Nian Army continuously challenged them. At night, the Nian Army madly harassed them. Other than the cannons, there were shouts from all directions, and the sound of drums and gongs.
It was like this for two nights in a row. The Chu army was harassed until it was hard to rest. The soldiers might be able to ignore it and doze off, but the officers had to stay alert. They were terrified that the Nian Army would attack them in the middle of the night. So all of their eyes were red.
Zuo Zongtang looked at his tired subordinates. He decisively ordered, "Everyone, rest for the morning. After lunch, we will break out in the afternoon."
"Marshal, where do we break out?" the officers hurriedly asked.
"West. To Jining, "Zuo Zongtang answered.
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