?
On the 28th of May, Lin Fengxiang came to rendezvous with Vézé, which boosted the morale of Vézé's troops. The King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, did not ignore Vézé's troops just because the Qing Army was hot on their heels. This made the officers feel that their painstaking efforts to rendezvous with the main force had finally come to an end.
According to the news brought by Lin Fengxiang, the Taiping army had already begun to besiege Quanzhou. Vézé suspected that Yu Wanqing withdrew his troops because Quanzhou could no longer hold on and the garrison troops were begging Yu Wanqing. Yu Wanqing's move towards the main force of the Taiping army was just for show.
After making the above judgment, Vézé asked Lin Fengxiang, "Lin Da Ge, how much food do the Taiping army have left?"
"When we left Guilin, we didn't have much food left!" Lin Fengxiang answered.
Hearing Lin Fengxiang's answer, Vézé's subordinates' faces darkened. Before they crossed the river, Vézé still had ten days' worth of food. It took them three days to cross the river, and now they only had enough food for seven days. After seven days, the troops would run out of food.
While they were crossing the river, they studied the map. Lin Fengxiang made it clear that Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan both wanted to go south from Guilin, while Yang Xiuqing stood his ground and advocated attacking Changsha from the north. Now, the troops were attacking Quanzhou. If they conquered Quanzhou, the troops would continue north to attack Yongzhou, then Hengyang, and finally Changsha.
Between Vézé and the main force of the Taiping army, there were almost 20,000 Qing Army troops. If Vézé wanted to join up with the Taiping army, he would have to break through the Qing Army's defensive line. It would take at least three or four days to contact Yang Xiuqing and confirm that the two sides would cooperate in the battle. At that time, Wei Ze's rations would be less than three days. If the army marched to battle, it would be a one-off deal. If they couldn't break through the Qing Army's defensive line, they would have to starve.
Everyone looked at Vézé, hoping that Vézé could come up with a solution. At the very least, he had to think of a way to get the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, to send reinforcements. Seeing that Vézé was silent, Zhang Yingchen couldn't help but want to say something. Wei Changrong privately tugged at Zhang Yingchen. Zhang Yingchen looked at Wei Changrong in confusion, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Lin Da Ge, if that's the case, we'll go meet up with the King Of The East now," Vézé said. Hearing this, the faces of Vézé's subordinates darkened.
Vézé continued, "But the Qing Army is in front of us. We can't kill our way through. We can only take a detour to meet up with the King Of The East. "
"Detour?" Lin Fengxiang frowned.
Vézé placed the rough map on the table. "We won't go north. Instead, we'll first head east. We'll go through Yongjiang and Daozhou, then head straight for Yongzhou. Since the King Of The East wants to attack Yongzhou, we'll meet up with the King Of The East there. "
Lin Fengxiang looked at the map carefully. After a while, he asked, "Isn't it closer to go through Guanyang?"
"Going through Guanyang means going around to the back of Yongzhou. Since it's a detour, we should take a route that Qing Yao wouldn't expect. That's called a detour, "Vézé answered. After saying this, he stared at Lin Fengxiang. Lin Fengxiang was now an Imperial Bodyguard. Since he was going to meet up with Vézé's troops, he represented the kings of the Taiping Rebellion. If Lin Fengxiang couldn't accept Vézé's plan, then Vézé could only follow Lin Fengxiang's request. Otherwise, even if they met up with the Taiping army's main force, Vézé's actions wouldn't be approved.
Lin Fengxiang looked at the map for a while and asked Vézé a few more questions. Finally, he said, "The King Of The East thinks that Qing Yao's sudden retreat is because the Wayne Brothers are coming from behind. So he asked me to find the Wayne Brothers. The King Of The East didn't order the Wayne Brothers to attack Qing Yao from behind. Taking a detour is also a solution. "
Vézé didn't expect Lin Fengxiang to be so cooperative. He was overjoyed. Without further ado, Vézé gathered his subordinates who were expected to come into contact with the Heavenly Alliance and had them go ahead to communicate. After a simple reorganization of Vézé's troops, they began to follow the people opening the way to the southeast.
On the thirteenth of June, a large stack of memorials was placed on the Xianfeng Emperor's desk. Xianfeng rubbed his head. He was already having a headache at such a young age.
The only good news in the recent memorials to the throne was that the Qing army had fought a battle with the Taiping Army at the Crossing of the Cowhide Raincoat. Sai Shang A claimed that in this battle they killed nearly ten thousand Taiping Army soldiers, and also killed the Taiping Army's big bandit Xiao Chaogui. However, Xianfeng didn't believe this. Previously, the Taiping army had continued north after capturing Quanzhou. Even after fighting the Qing Army at the Coir Raincoat Crossing, the Taiping army continued north and appeared at the gates of Yongzhou.
Bao Qibao, who guarded Yongzhou, bragged that defending Yongzhou was an "unparalleled achievement." This was equivalent to giving Sai Shang A a slap in the face. Bao Qibao claimed that twenty to thirty thousand Taiping army had besieged Yongzhou and had been driven back by Bao Qibao. Sai Shang A first said that the Taiping army had only ten thousand soldiers when they fled from Guilin. Later, he claimed that he had killed nearly ten thousand Taiping army soldiers at the Coir Raincoat Crossing. But a few days later, another twenty to thirty thousand Taiping army had appeared at Yongzhou. The Taiping army had created an army of tens of thousands in the mountains in a few days. This was obviously nonsense.
Xianfeng didn't believe Bao Qibao's words at all. The Taiping army had made a feint outside Yongzhou and suddenly moved south, heading straight for Daozhou. Earlier, other memorials had claimed that a Taiping army had followed behind the Taiping army to attack Guilin. Then, after crossing the river, they had captured Yongjiang and Daozhou. The Daozhou garrison had never expected to be attacked. When the Taiping army had killed their way to the gates of Daozhou on the ninth of June, they hadn't even had time to close the gates.
And when Daozhou Zhizhou Wang Kuiyi's apology memorial read, Xian Feng actually laughed out loud. Wang Kuiyi had first "committed suicide by jumping into the river and being rescued." Then, he had "tried to commit suicide, but his knife was snatched away." In short, this Zhizhou Wang had gone through an intense test of life and death. In the end, he had led his subordinates and escaped alive.
After reading the memorial, Xian Feng first laughed heartily, then threw the memorial to the ground. He then stood up, wanting to rush over and stomp on it a few more times. If Zhizhou Wang Kuiyi had been in front of Xian Feng, Xian Feng would certainly have stomped on Wang Kuiyi's head the same way he had stomped on the memorial.
Xian Feng immediately issued a decree to punish this kind of person who fled in the face of battle. And the results of Ceishang 'a's investigation of the Taiping army were also sent to Xian Feng. According to Ceishang 'a, the leader of the Taiping army was named Wei Changrong. He was the younger brother of the Taiping army bandit Wei Changhui. He was a bandit who had followed Xiao Chaogui since Jintian Village. Moreover, Ceishang 'a also claimed that the highest leader of the Taiping Rebellion was Xiao Chaogui, and that Xiao Chaogui had been killed at the Raincoat Crossing.
Xian Feng had long since lost confidence in the memorials of Ceishang 'a and the other civil and military officials. He only temporarily believed the Taiping army's report. The young emperor didn't know that even though he was so vigilant, he had still overestimated his subordinates' ability to gather intelligence. Ceishang 'a had made a mistake in the name of the Taiping army's leader. Moreover, Wei Changrong and Wei Changhui weren't brothers of the same clan. In terms of seniority, Vézé and Wei Changhui were actually of the same generation. As for why their names seemed to be brothers of the same clan or blood brothers, it was a complete coincidence. The Northern King of the Taiping Rebellion, Wei Changhui, was originally named Wei Zheng. Hong Xiuquan had given him the name Wei Changhui, while Wei Changrong was his real name. Fortunately, Xian Feng didn't know this. If he did, he probably wouldn't be able to get rid of his headache even if he rubbed his temples.
With regards to the current state of the war, Xian Feng keenly sensed that Ceishang 'a was preparing to shirk his responsibilities. In his memorials, Ceishang 'a repeatedly mentioned that Daozhou was within Hunan's borders and that he was in charge of exterminating the Guangdong bandits. The meaning behind this was clear. Since Ceishang 'a had already driven the Guangdong bandits out of Guangxi, he had already fulfilled his duty. The rest was up to the Hunan government.
Xian Feng had always felt that Ceishang 'a was a rather capable fellow when he was in the imperial court, so he couldn't understand Ceishang's shameful behavior after he became an imperial envoy. However, the memorials from all sides had different opinions. Apart from attacking each other, they were all trying to shirk responsibility. As for the rebel bandits attacking the city and territory, they didn't mention much.
"It looks like I'll have to heavily punish a few people!" Xian Feng put down the memorials and finally made up his mind.
At this time, outside Daozhou, Vézé was waiting for the main forces of the Taiping Rebellion to arrive at Daozhou. On the way to Daozhou along the Yongjiang River, Vézé's forces had doubled in size. Hunan's Tian Di Hui had always been working hard to rebel, but they had never been able to defeat the Qing Army. Vézé's appearance had undoubtedly given the scattered Tian Di Hui members a target to rely on.
Vézé's troops sang the song, "The upper class owes me money, the middle class has to sleep, the lower class follows me, it's better than renting cows to plow the fields!" Everywhere they went, Tian Di Hui members would join them.
Unlike Guangxi's Tian Di Hui, after entering Hunan, the members of Tian Di Hui were basically locals. They didn't drag their families to seek refuge with the Taiping army. Instead, they joined Vézé's troops of their own free will. When they were about to reach Daozhou, Vézé's troops had expanded to four thousand people.
These newly joined Tian Di Hui members were all locals, and they played an important role in conquering Daozhou. Just like the Taiping army had conquered Yongan, with the help of these Tian Di Hui members, by the time Vézé's troops killed their way into the city gates, the city gates were already in a state of chaos.
Because they had been recruiting soldiers along the way, the troops didn't march very quickly. After conquering Daozhou, Vézé decided to temporarily reorganize his troops here. Of course, Vézé also sent an outpost toward Yongzhou. In the end, the outpost just so happened to run into the main force of the Taiping army heading toward Yongzhou.
For Vézé, this wasn't a good feeling. Even with Lin Fengxiang's testimony, after the main force of the Taiping army fought such a bloody battle, Vézé ran ahead of them. If someone with ulterior motives wanted to nitpick, they could find as many reasons as they wanted to find trouble. Furthermore, Vézé knew very well that this wasn't someone else's problem. He himself also felt a little guilty.
From the moment he went south to Wuzhou, Vézé had actually held the idea of breaking away from the Taiping army and going it alone. However, after seeing the reality of Guangxi, Vézé realized he didn't have the ability to go it alone. Only then did he turn back to chase after the main force of the Taiping army. Furthermore, if he was the kind of person who was "loyal and devoted," no matter how many Qing Army troops there were in front of him, he would do his best to break through the Qing Army's defensive line and do his best to regroup with the main force. Vézé's choice was the most advantageous for Vézé. On this point, Vézé was very clear.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
