"Political Commissar, this is the second time you've been to the Yellow River, right?" a young staff officer could not help but ask.
Lei Hu was amused. This was not the first time he had seen the Yellow River, but the third time. The first two times had been during the Second Northern Expedition, when he had crossed the Yellow River near Xuzhou. Ten years later, when Lei Hu returned to Xuzhou, the Yellow River had disappeared. To be able to encounter such a miracle once in one's life could be considered an interesting experience.
The Yellow River was not as large as the river systems in the south, but the murky yellow water looked more textured than the water in the south. It was as if what flowed through the river was not water, but mud. The staff officers from the south were all stunned by this famous river, and they were even a little speechless.
There were boats coming and going on the river, and a large number of troops were crossing it. Troops were everywhere on the southern bank of the Yellow River, and a large number of troops had already crossed the river on the other side. The majestic scene was extremely lively.
Lei Hu did not answer the staff officer's question. He said, "I wonder how they will perform when we send a mixed army north this time."
"Do you think they can take Beijing?" the chief of staff asked uneasily.
Lei Hu glanced at the chief of staff who had participated in the Second Northern Expedition and asked, "Do you think they won't be able to take Beijing?"
The staff officer did not say anything. The mixed army was made up of two infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions, with a total strength of about 20,000. The chief of staff had also participated in the Second Northern Expedition. At that time, Vézé's troops had been smaller than this one. Compared to the two northern troops, this army had the upper hand in terms of numbers, equipment, training, and technical and tactical skills. Even the distance they had traveled was different. That time, Vézé had left Luzhou and fought all the way to the vicinity of Tianjin. This time, if they had traveled the same distance from Zheng County, this army would probably have fought all the way to Shanhai Pass.
Seeing that the chief of staff did not say anything, Lei Hu said seriously, "As long as they fight their way to Beijing, they will be able to occupy the city. That's what I think. "
This was discussed in Lei Hu's headquarters. After the British army attacked Beijing, the Xianfeng Emperor fled from Beijing to Chengde with his tail between his legs. Now that the Sixth Army of the Liberation Army had reached the city of Beijing, the Navy took the troops directly to Tianjin. Once the two routes converged, the relatives of the high-ranking officials in Beijing would not be able to escape even if they had wings. Lei Hu believed that the Manchu Qing imperial court would choose to flee.
Of course, there were many who had different opinions. To Manchu Qing, Beijing was more than just a city. It was the symbol of Manchu Qing. Letting the Liberation Army take Beijing meant that Manchu Qing would not even be able to keep its foundation. After losing Beijing, Manchu Qing was reduced to a small local power and was no longer the "imperial court". In order to maintain the imperial court, this last life-saving straw, Manchu Qing would certainly put up a desperate resistance in Beijing.
Of course, the intelligence agency of the Liberation Army had also collected some information. There was a saying in Manchu Qing that the outside of the Great Wall was the foundation of Manchu Qing. This saying was a big joke in the eyes of the Liberation Army. It was difficult to be self-sufficient in food outside the Great Wall. If hundreds of thousands of Manchu people who did not know how to produce suddenly ran outside the Great Wall, just eating would be a big problem. If people did not starve to death in the winter, Manchu Qing was capable enough.
This kind of thing was reasonable. The chief of staff sighed. "This matter will be known when the troops attack the city of Beijing. But can the navy act faster? If the navy can really attack Tianjin within half a month, we may be able to keep the Manchu Qing imperial court in Beijing. That will save us a lot of trouble. "
Lei Hu also agreed in his heart, but what he said was different. "Don't think about that for now. Let's quickly kill that Miao Peilin. It is too slow to transport supplies by wooden ships. Mobilize a batch of ships through the canal to the Yellow River."
The General Staff had also considered this, so the chief of staff discussed this with Lei Hu. After talking for a while, everyone couldn't help but complain with a selfish mentality that the Xiang Army ran too fast. If it had taken seven or eight days to encircle and annihilate the Xiang Army, Miao Peilin would have been taken care of by now and they would have started to march to the north of Shandong.
"The troops now are really much stronger than we were back then. Not to mention the equipment, in the future, we can directly go to war by train or ship." The chief of staff had a new thought.
Lei Hu was not confused by such a vision. He said with a smile, "When the whole country is liberated and trains are connected, there will be no more wars in the country. If we continue to fight, we will have to fight abroad. At that time, I'm afraid we will still have to rely on walking and riding horses. "
The chief of staff thought about it and nodded. "That's true!"
As they were talking, the communications staff officer ran through the crowd and stood in front of Lei Hu. He saluted and said, "Political Commissar, Li Hongzhang has sent someone to ask for help!"
It took Lei Hu a few seconds to figure out what this meant. He frowned and said, "Why is Li Hongzhang asking us for help?"
The communications staff officer replied, "Li Hongzhang sent someone to say that Chen Yucheng has led his troops back to Luoyang. He doesn't have enough troops, so he can only defend Luoyang for the time being. Since the Political Commissar has already agreed to Li Hongzhang's surrender, he is only asking us to accept his surrender now and help him along the way. "
"Haha! Haha! " Lei Hu was amused by these words. Although he knew that Li Hongzhang's request was not unreasonable, Li Hongzhang had said it so logically. There was a huge point in it that made Lei Hu burst out laughing.
The General Staff Officer Department was a department that required a lot of effort. The chief of staff was not so relaxed. He frowned and said, "If we go to help, then we will officially be fighting with the Taiping Rebellion."
Of course, Lei Hu could think of this. He nodded and said, "Anyway, we will definitely be fighting. Let's first ask the Military Commission how far the war is going."
After saying this, Lei Hu suddenly sighed and said, "Why does a telegram have to be wired? If there is no wire, we can stand here and send a telegram directly to the Military Commission! How great would that be! "
The chief of staff also agreed with this. Wired telegrams were really good stuff. When they were in Xuzhou, they could send a message back and forth across a distance of thousands of miles in a day. Now that Lei Hu was in Zheng County, they had to first send the news to Xuzhou by horse and then send a telegram to Nanjing from Xuzhou. The most time-consuming part was the round-trip from Xuzhou to Zheng County.
But when the chief of staff thought of transmitting information through the air, he laughed and said, "Political Commissar, if we are not in the army, who said that we can transmit messages from thousands of miles away? I will think that it is the work of the gods. After you said that, I also think that we can do it in the future. But now that I think about it, we have all become gods. If I had not seen wired telegrams before, I would never believe that one wire and two telegrams can transmit messages so quickly within dozens of miles! "
Lei Hu also laughed. "Haha, during the land reform, we built the railways. When the people saw the trains running on the railway, they also thought that it was witchcraft! When the people got on the train, they were still looking for the oxen and horses to step on the wheels. "
Talking about these interesting things, everyone laughed loudly and temporarily forgot about Li Hongzhang.
On the city wall of Luoyang, Li Hongzhang was commanding the Luo army to shoot fiercely at the Taiping army under the city wall. The civilian houses outside the city had been demolished. The Taiping army was best at using civilian houses as cover, directly digging a tunnel to the city wall, and planting explosives under the city wall.
Three days ago, King Chen Yucheng of England led his troops to Luoyang. Looking at his aggressive appearance, it seemed that he was going to take Luoyang in one fell swoop. Although Li Hongzhang was shocked, he also felt that his future had met a major turning point. At that time, he dared to take Luoyang by air. One of the bases of his strategic judgment was that there could be no real peace between the Liberation Army and the Taiping army. After the Liberation Army took Sichuan, the war between the two sides would be in a situation where they had no choice but to fight.
Now, Lei Hu of the Liberation Army had expressed that he was willing to accept Li Hongzhang's surrender. With the importance of Luoyang, as long as Li Hongzhang could resist the Taiping army, the Liberation Army would definitely think highly of Li Hongzhang's hard work when they arrived in Luoyang. Therefore, Li Hongzhang simply told his panicking subordinates part of the latest changes. Of course, this part of the content was tampered with. He told the generals that the Liberation Army had come to persuade them to surrender, and Li Hongzhang had accepted their request. It would not be long before the Liberation Army arrived to save Luoyang.
This news made some of the subordinates lose their fighting spirit, but it also made some of them feel that their future was guaranteed. As for the White Hat soldiers in Luoyang, they had slaughtered the King Ying's Mansion and were already mortal enemies with the Taiping Rebellion. If Luoyang was breached, they would definitely fall into a state of destitution. Therefore, under Chen Yucheng's fierce attack, the Luo Army gritted their teeth and stubbornly resisted Chen Yucheng's fierce attack.
With great difficulty, they repelled another round of the Taiping army's fierce attack. Li Hongzhang sat on the city wall and gasped for breath. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder. Li Hongzhang had long been used to this kind of environment. From the time he would cough when he smelled it, he had now become calm and collected.
Li Hongzhang's deputy, Zhou Shengchuan, ran to Li Hongzhang's side and reported, "Sir, the Guangdong bandits have been beaten back."
The Luo Army had only been formed for a few months, and the generals were basically brought out from the Huai army. Of course, this group of first-class talents would not run over to work for Li Hongzhang. His top general was Zhou Shengchuan.
After listening to the news from Zhou Shengchuan, Li Hongzhang forced a smile and said, "Well done!"
After a fierce battle, people often forgot a lot of constraints. They had experienced life and death situations, and the Luo Army was in such a critical situation. Zhou Shengchuan did not care so much. He asked Li Hongzhang, "Sir, if we abandon Luoyang and go to the capital now, we won't be at a disadvantage, right? Why should we work for the Liberation Army? It's hard to say whether they will come or not! "
Several other Luo Army generals learned that Li Hongzhang had defected to the Liberation Army and were now on strike. As for Zhou Shengchuan, who was still willing to fight, Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "Do you think an army that can fight its way out is more powerful, or an army that can only defend the city is more powerful?"
Zhou Shengchuan was stunned. Although he did not know what Li Hongzhang meant, Zhou Shengchuan replied, "Of course it's the army that can fight its way out."
Li Hongzhang continued, "In the current situation in the world, the imperial court is completely on the defensive. The Liberation Army has already swept through the world. You also know about the Taiping army. If the Liberation Army does not let them go, they will be able to kill the Taiping army in Jiangning. Who do you think is more powerful among the three? "
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