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When they left Wujia Town, Vézé took a total of eight hundred people with him. Seven hundred men and one hundred women. The black awning boat that the youths were on was sailing steadily on the river. Seeing the unfamiliar scenery continuously appear, they looked at it with an extremely longing gaze, chattering non-stop.
For most of the children, it was their first time going to a place so far away from home. It was inevitable that they would feel a sense of novelty. All the older people were in a good mood when they were with these youths. Vézé had always thought that Ruan Xihao was a man of few words. He didn't expect Ruan Xihao to be so cheerful when he opened his mouth. When Ruan Xihao told the people around him about the airborne assault on Wu Town, he clearly explained the various problems encountered in front of the preparation in an orderly manner. He gestured and talked, and the people around him listened with great interest. Finally, it was time for the main event.
As someone who had personally participated in the airborne battle, Ruan Xihao was concise and to the point. As the houses approached, all he could think about was how to land. Thanks to adequate training, the thirty-six brothers landed safely. But the early hours of the morning were the most relaxing time in Wujia Town. Such a large group of people falling from the sky didn't attract much attention. Of course, this didn't mean that no one noticed. Many people probably saw these things and were so scared that they couldn't believe their eyes.
Ruan Xihao's description was so vivid that even Vézé listened. The guards of the Southern Prince, Feng Yunshan, who were standing next to Wei Ze, listened with great interest. Something as shocking as the airborne had appeared on the battlefield. It took many digests to fully accept this fact.
Of course, after this part, there wasn't much left to listen to. Vézé nudged the bodyguard sitting next to him. "Did Nan Wang say when we will meet in Guilin?"
It was already the 12th of May. Vézé wasn't familiar with the history of the Taiping army, but he knew that Nanjing had been conquered. He also knew that Shi Dakai had been killed. However, Vézé had no idea how many cities the Taiping army had conquered. Vézé was satisfied even though he had obtained 800 soldiers who didn't seem to be very strong. Although the young man's combat strength was limited, he could not be considered a burden. Take care of them, and they are no worse at marching than grown men. With this new batch of reinforcements, Vézé's troops grew from 300 to 2,000. What they needed to consider now was to meet up with the main forces of the Taiping army as soon as possible.
"The Southern Prince only urged Wei Jiandian to lead his troops to Guilin as soon as possible, but he didn't say anything else." The imperial guard now admired Vézé from the bottom of his heart and no longer dared to put on airs as an imperial guard.
Since Vézé had decided to rendezvous with the main force of the Taiping army, he didn't want to worry about other issues. "Let's go to Guilin as soon as we reach the camp. I'll have to trouble you to lead the way. "
"Naturally, we will serve Wei Jiandian," the imperial guard said respectfully.
Arriving at the Wuzhou camp, Lin Asheng and the others welcomed Vézé. Vézé immediately called for a meeting. Hearing that they wouldn't be attacking Wuzhou, the brothers all breathed a sigh of relief. Over the past few days, the brothers who had stayed in the camp had investigated Wuzhou many times. Everyone knew that Wuzhou would not be easy to attack. The Taiping army lacked manpower, and a head-on fight was certainly not an option. Vézé proposed not to attack Wuzhou, but to turn and meet up with the main force of the Taiping army. No one objected.
All that was left was to make arrangements for the march. The troops didn't set off immediately, but rested for two days. Vézé and the leaders of Tian Di Hui once again discussed whether Tian Di Hui wanted to follow Vézé or stay behind to continue fighting the Manchu Qing. In Tian Di Hui, only Liang Changtai and two or three of the people who had participated in the battle at Wujia Town clearly saw the strength of the Taiping army and chose to join Vézé's troops. The others all adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Hu Chenghe also did his best to persuade them, but he only pulled 40 to 50 people here and there to join the Taiping army.
After the two-day preparation period ended, Vézé led four brigade marshals and 18 soldiers, a force of more than 2,000 people, and began to head north. According to the intelligence provided by the imperial guard, at this time, the Qing Army that could fight had all rushed to Guilin. Along the way, it was possible that only Yongan City still had an organized Qing Army.
As expected, they didn't encounter any enemies along the way. When the main force arrived at Da Dong, they could smell the stench of corpses that hadn't completely dissipated from the mountains. Thinking of the fierce battle a month ago, Vézé had a feeling that things remained the same, but the people had changed.
When the main force of the Taiping army headed north, they didn't pass through Yongan. Instead, they set off from Da Dong, took a small path outside Lipu City, and went straight to Guilin. Vézé also chose this path. Along the way, the brothers of Tian Di Hui were all Luo Dagang's friends. They had already led the way for the Taiping army once, and now they were naturally willing to do it again. From the information they received, the Taiping army was still besieging Guilin. This time, Vézé finally felt relieved.
However, on the 20th of May, the news brought back by the reconnaissance troops gave Vézé a fright. The Taiping army outside Guilin had already been relieved of the siege, and at this time, there was no trace of them. And the Qing Army undoubtedly already knew that Vézé's troops were coming. A more than 2,000 Qing Army troops were attacking Vézé. Looking at the flag, it was Liu Zhangqing's troops.
"Are you still not sure where the Taiping army is heading?" This was the question that Vézé was most concerned about.
"We only know that the Taiping army crossed the Li River and continued north. There are too many Qing Army in front of us, so we really don't dare to chase after them," the soldier of the reconnaissance troops said, a little embarrassed.
Vézé also didn't want to blame the comrades of the reconnaissance troops. They had been growing their hair for so long, just the hairstyle alone could completely expose their identity. According to the intelligence of the reconnaissance troops, the Qing Army had undoubtedly discovered Vézé's troops. If Vézé continued to advance, he would directly be surrounded by the heavy troops of the Qing Army.
"Let's avoid Qing Yao first!" Zhang Yingchen suggested.
"No!" Vézé said. His attitude shocked his comrades. According to the intelligence, the Qing Army had at least twenty to thirty thousand soldiers, and Vézé's troops couldn't fight ten of them at once.
Vézé continued, "Our troops are not as strong as Qing Yao's. We know this, and so does Qing Yao. That's why Qing Yao dared to initiate an attack on our troops. If we can easily defeat Qing Yao, what will Qing Yao think? "
Wei Changrong, who had been promoted to Brigade Marshal, was the first to voice his opinion. "Liu Zhangqing has 2000 men after all. If we attack suddenly, we can catch him off guard, but Liu Zhangqing is a cunning man. But Liu Zhangqing is very cunning; when we were outflanking him at Da Dong, Liu Zhangqing ran away; we couldn't catch him. "
Hu Chenghe also supported Wei Changrong's opinion. "If the Qing Army turns around and encircles our troops, our troops won't be able to hold them off. Moreover, since the Kings have already gone north and can't contact us, we can't count on them to turn back. If we can't defeat Liu Zhangqing in one strike and force him to follow us, we'll be in trouble. "
"Then we'll just defeat this cunning Liu Zhangqing in one strike." Vézé smiled.
Most of the officers were Vézé's "old subordinates" who had followed him for a few months. During their training, they had learned the words "strategy" and "tactics". No one had the chance to see how good Vézé's strategy was. However, Vézé always had unexpected performances when it came to tactics. There was no doubt that Vézé was the number one tactician in the army. Seeing Vézé's confident expression, his comrades also felt an inexplicable sense of confidence.
Vézé's finger slid across the map. It was a route to Guilin after defeating Liu Zhangqing. "Comrades, if we go straight to Guilin after defeating Liu Zhangqing, what will Qing Yao think?"
The officers looked at each other. What would the Qing Army think? They would probably think that the Taiping army was digging their own graves.
"Qing Yao will think that the Taiping army's main force heading north is just a ruse. Their goal is to move Qing Yao to create an opening. We are an ambush prepared by the Taiping army. As long as we fight our way to Guilin, Qing Yao will immediately intercept us, "Vézé said.
This explanation was easy to understand. If Vézé's troops jumped into the enemy's encirclement, the enemy would naturally surround Vézé's troops.
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