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Li River, in countless movies and television works of the 21st century, was a calm and gentle river system. The elephant trunk mountain, bamboo raft, and mirror-like water surface were so peaceful that they seemed to be sleeping peacefully at dusk and early morning.
Standing by this tranquil river, Vézé saw the wide river surging like an excited flood dragon. During the flood season, Li River was roaring and rolling. The rapid river water swept up everything it could, including the water plants, leaves, and branches that fell into the river. Everything was rolling up and down in the river, following the rapid current towards the southeast. The river water slapped against the rocks on the shore, splashing mist everywhere. The river wind carried the water droplets onto Vézé's face, giving him the feeling that it was raining.
Vézé was no stranger to marching and fighting in the rain. Standing by the Li River where there was no fighting, Vézé's expression was much more serious than when he was marching and fighting in the rain. His initial military plan was to catch up with the main force of the Taiping army that was besieging Guilin. Things would be much easier after they returned. However, the Taiping army had already crossed the Li River and headed north. What awaited them was the dog-skin plaster Liu Zhangqing, so Vézé could only change his original battle plan.
Liu Zhangqing had escaped from the meticulously planned battle, so Vézé could only continue revising his military plan. He thought it was normal for him to gather the boats by the river to transport the old and the weak across the river. By controlling the boats and the crossing point, Vézé could let his elite troops move and fight on both sides of the Li River. Once he found the main force of the Taiping army, Vézé would immediately gather his troops and rush over as fast as he could. Because of his preconceived notions about the Li River, Vézé even thought that if it didn't work, it wasn't impossible to swim across the river with armed forces.
The wide and rapid Li River mercilessly crushed Vézé's idea. Unwilling to give up, he sent a few soldiers into the water to try. The warriors in the water were all proficient in swimming. However, the rapid flow of the Seeping River quickly swept the warriors who were proficient in swimming into the water. Fortunately, Vézé had asked them to tie a safety rope around their waists before they set off. Only then were they able to pull her up. After a series of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, she was finally saved.
The Taiping army and the Qing Army had long since wiped out all the boats on the river, leaving Vézé with no boats to use. Ruan Xihao could also be considered half a member of the boat army. The Li River went straight from Guilin to Wuzhou. He firmly believed that only people like the boat army, who relied on the water to make a living, had at least 10 large black awning boats. Only then could they transport troops back and forth between the two sides of the river in a short amount of time. But the reality was that not even the bamboo raft from Guilin that Vézé had seen before could be seen, let alone the big black awning boat.
"The ships have all been taken away." Zhang Yingchen's scouting team also couldn't find the ships.
"If we return to Wuzhou to find our brothers in the boat army, I don't know if we can make it in time," Liang Zhangtai, who had come from the boat army, said without much confidence.
"I'm afraid the ships are all over Guilin," Wei Changrong said.
Zhang Yingchen watched everyone discuss animatedly. He said, "There are ships at the ferry at Guilin, but there are hundreds of Qing Army guarding the ferry. There are probably also cannons guarding the ferry. If we attack the ferry, we can only attack by force. "
The ferry was very close to Guilin. If they attacked the ferry, they would likely encounter the problem of the Qing Army attacking from the city. Even if they could defeat the attacking Qing Army, the guards at the ferry would not so easily wait there. If they rowed the boats away, attacking the ferry would be the same as fighting for nothing.
In Vézé's original plan, Wei Changrong only needed to attack Guilin and harass the Qing Army. There were no more than 800 elite troops in Vézé's hands. There were probably tens of thousands of Qing Army in Guilin. If they stayed at Guilin for too long, they would probably be completely annihilated. At this time, Vézé could not afford to fight a war of attrition.
"Wei Jiandian, if you had withdrawn from Wujia earlier, you should have been able to catch up with Nan Wang's group. Now that we are separated by a river, how could Nan Wang know we have already rushed over? "Nan Wang's bodyguard looked at the wide river and couldn't help but complain.
Of course, Vézé also regretted it. If he had been two days late, the situation would have been completely different. But since it had already come to this, Vézé had even less time to waste. Forcing himself to retract his thoughts, Wei Ze said, "Brother Liang, is there a place we can cross if we go downstream?"
"If you want to cross the river, you have to wait for winter. Now is definitely not possible." Liang Zhangtai, who had come from the boat army, gave a rather professional opinion. He gave a concluding statement. "If you want to cross the river now, you have to rely on a boat. If you want to cross the river quickly, you have to find a big boat. "
Vézé sighed slightly. "Let's go downstream. We must cross the Li River and catch up with the group."
"Oh!" The brothers around him only responded. Wei Changrong said with some reluctance, "If only Nan Wang could order a boat to pick us up."
Vézé sighed. "The Taiping army will not come south of the Li River again!"
This judgment was actually very easy to confirm. The Taiping army finally set their capital in Nanjing. From Guilin to Nanjing, it was thousands of miles. From the captive Liu Changqing's subordinates, he learned that several Qing Army troops had already crossed the Li River and were pursuing the Taiping army. In such a situation, it was impossible for the Taiping army to turn around and fight back. Moreover, Vézé's experience in Wuzhou had already made Vézé understand that in Guangxi, where resources were barren, people were few, and there was a fierce conflict between the locals and the guests, there was no way for the Taiping army to do anything.
"Changrong! The plan has changed. We don't need to think about going back and forth between the two sides of the Li River, nor do we need to find the main force of the Taiping army. You will still lead the troops to pretend to attack Guilin. I will lead the rest of the people down the river. Remember, going to Guilin is just a feint to scare Qing Yao. Then, you will turn around and pretend to attack Li Pu. We will look for a crossing along the river. Help us buy time. We will also do our best. "
"Yes!" Having been entrusted with such a difficult task, Wei Changrong did not have the slightest bit of fear. He said, "Inspector, assign Commander Liang and Commander Ruan to me."
Vézé looked at Wei Changrong with a complicated gaze. He wanted to give a few more warnings, but he was afraid that if he said too much, it would affect Wei Changrong's confidence. He finally said, "You must be careful!"
Very quickly, the troops split into two. Wei Changrong took seven elite soldiers and headed west, while Vézé took the rest of the troops and headed southeast.
Vézé's troops split up on May 22, 1852. On May 23, the imperial envoy, Ceishang 'a, who was in Yangshuo, near Guilin, received an official document.
As early as April, Ceishang 'a had moved from Li Pu to Yangshuo to work. At that time, the Taiping army was besieging Guilin. Ceishang' a naturally could not put himself in danger. He handed over the heavy responsibility of defending Guilin to Xiang Rong and ran to Yangshuo, near Guilin, to "oversee the overall situation."
The news of the Taiping army's retreat had naturally reached Yangshuo. Ceishang 'a also deployed troops to organize a pursuit. After the battle of Dadong, the brave generals Wu Lan Tai and Qin Dingsan lost their lives. The remaining generals of the Qing Army were all seeking their own fortune and were unwilling to go out to battle. The twenty to thirty thousand people of the Qing Army were near Guilin, but they were passively defending. When they had the advantage in both numbers and weapons, the Taiping army saw that they couldn't take down the sturdy city of Guilin and easily broke the siege. Ceishang 'a expended a great deal of effort to have a few Qing Army troops pursue and attack the Taiping army.
As soon as the Taiping army left, Ceishang 'a received the news that the Taiping army, which had attracted the attention of Emperor Xianfeng and was specifically ordered to investigate, had finally appeared.
Before receiving this news, Ceishang 'a had also conducted a detailed investigation of the Taiping army. This time, the imperial army had suffered repeated defeats in suppressing the bandits. Emperor Xianfeng had issued countless edicts, but Ceishang 'a had not been able to achieve the emperor's goal. Among all the edicts, the one with the least difficulty was to find out who the Taiping army was. Before becoming the imperial envoy, Ceishang 'a had already been conferred the title of Grand Scholar of the Hall of Literary Glory, Chief Minister of Military Affairs, and in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, he was a solid minister in the Manchu Qing court. He was well aware of the importance of serving the emperor. He was even more aware of the importance of investigating the hair-tied army to the Qing court.
When the Qing Army besieged Yongan, this hair-tied army specialized in robbing the Qing Army's supply routes. The last news of this army was received in Dadong. At that time, Xiang Rong's army had been the Taiping army's retreat route. Since then, there had been no more news of this army.
However, after the Taiping army broke out of Yongan, it was very difficult to capture prisoners. Moreover, the Taiping army had been dispatched to besiege Guilin, but he had never seen any hair-tied Taiping army troops. Ceishang 'a suspected that the intelligence he had received was wrong. The Taiping army was known as the "Long Hair" because they didn't shave their heads, instead adopting a long, draping hairstyle. With long hair as a foundation, hair-tying was very easy.
After the Taiping army withdrew, this hair-tied Han army suddenly emerged from the south. Ceishang 'a could not understand the relationship between this army and the Taiping army. Ceishang 'a suspected that the hair-tied army wasn't the Taiping army. Perhaps it was a rebel force attached to the Taiping army. But this was no longer important. According to the intelligence, after this army on the south bank of Li River defeated Liu Zhangqing's troops, it unexpectedly took the posture of attacking Guilin.
Ceishang 'a knew very well that if he ordered the Qing Army, which had already crossed the river to pursue the Taiping army's main force, to return, the Qing Army, which originally had no desire to pursue, would immediately return. But Emperor Xianfeng had already clearly ordered in his imperial edict, "The provincial capital is important, and there must be no more negligence elsewhere."
At this time, the Taiping army's main force was fleeing north. If the Qing Army, which had crossed the river, returned to encircle and annihilate this hair-tied rebel force, it was tantamount to allowing the Taiping army to move freely. At that time, even if this hair-tied rebel force was annihilated, it would still be impossible to obtain Emperor Xianfeng's approval.
After some thought, Imperial Envoy Ceishang 'a finally decided on his strategy. He ordered Xiang Rong, who was in Guilin, to investigate clearly what was going on with this hair-tied army. At the same time, he ordered Yu Wanqing's troops, which had originally been pursuing the Taiping army with Liu Zhangqing, to head south and block this Taiping army in Jiangbei. This was the conclusion Imperial Envoy Ceishang 'a had based on his previous battle with the Taiping army. He wanted to block this hair-tied Taiping army south of Li River, which Emperor Xianfeng was very concerned about. In the event that the pursuit of the Taiping army's main force failed, he could still pull the Qing Army back and annihilate this hair-tied Taiping army. Ceishang 'a could no longer afford to fail. If he didn't have any military achievements, not only would he lose his position, but his life would also be in great trouble.
This was only the beginning. Ceishang 'a wrote an official letter to Zou Minghe and Xiang Rong in Guilin, telling them that he was immediately going to Guilin. He also ordered the two to immediately organize troops to attack the hair-tied rebel force.
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