Han’s Son is Not a Slave

After the Taiping Army wiped out Wuzhenchaoha and occupied Puning County, the navy Zheng Chengkui and Foshan Wang Zhaoxing joined forces to surround Huilai County. After the city was destroyed without opening the door, Qinghui came to the county magistrate Cheng Mingyun and was so frightened that he immediately opened the city and surrendered, and the Taiping army took another city effortlessly.

After Zheng Chengkui entered the city, he immediately ordered Cheng Mingyuan to relocate the people in the city to Jinghai by the sea, and selected more than 800 young and strong people to serve in the army. So far, except Jieshiwei was still in the hands of the Qing army, and then Lu Puning and Huilai were completely controlled by the Taiping army.

In order to unify the command and strengthen the strength, Zhou Shixiang ordered all the ministries of Puning City, together with the surrendered Green Battalion soldiers and Qingzhuang, to merge into the fifth town of the Taiping Army. The town general was appointed by Zhao Ziqiang. Qianhu Li Guoan served as the director.

The divisions of the Fifth Town captured a lot of young villagers when they were gathering grain in Chaozhou. Although the losses in the battle of Xitang River were not small, they were more powerful than when they set out from Guangzhou. In addition, the battalions and young men in the city surrendered in Puning. The actual strength of Wuzhen has reached 6,000, of which about 2,000 are capable of fighting. There are military rations from the Qing army in the inner village of Puning City, which are enough for the fifth town to hold on for several months. In addition, when the Taiping Army retreated from Chaozhou City, they secretly hoarded food from various places along the coast, and the amount was enough to support the Taiping Army's war on the northern front.

The fifth town was newly established, and the actual fighting force was only about 2,000. When Zhou Shixiang entered Jieshiwei in the south, another 1,000 people were taken away. Therefore, their task was to stick to Puning County and prevent any Qing army north of Puning from attacking Huizhou. There is possible support from the domestic economic army. Zhou Shixiang gave another secret order to Zhao Ziqiang. If Puning was wrong, he must set fire to the whole city before abandoning the city, whether it was houses or food. The same order was also issued to Wang Zhaoxing of Huilai.

Zhou Shixiang also asked Zheng Chengkui to send ships to transport the Taiping Army's Third Town C Brigade, which had been ordered to forty miles southwest of Haifeng, Huizhou, from Jiesheng Station to Jinghai Station to strengthen the troops on the northern front. In addition, the A and B brigades of the third town of Huizhou were urgently ordered to station in Haifeng, and they were ready to receive reinforcements from the second town of Lufeng. They also ordered Qi Hao's department in Haifeng City to dispatch a battalion of gunners to the Jingsuohai with the Third Town C Brigade. Zhou Shixiang negotiated with Zheng Chengkui, and then handed over the cannons to him after the war was over, but now he wanted to keep these cannons to enrich the defense force. There are hundreds of guns in Wuzhen Chaoha, so naturally there is no need for gun battalions to adjust guns. As long as the gunner comes.

Thousands of masons who had been trained in Guangzhou and had been transported by Zheng Chengkui from Guangzhou to Huizhou Jiesheng Institute when the first town was still under the Chaozhou city. The boat, after a day and a night at sea, arrived at Jinghai. After the Taiping army ambushed Wu Zhenchaoha and succeeded. These masons, who were trained and organized militarily, rushed to the Yunluo Trail under the leadership of the big and small craftsmen. Thousands of civilians captured from various villages in Chaozhou accompanied them. Everyone was carrying thirty bricks and stones and twenty catties of rations. Once they arrived at the place, a group of staff officers from the military commander's mansion began to rush to repair the bunkers and watchtowers along the official road. If there are not enough bricks and stones, they will be demolished from the nearby uninhabited villages and towns.

People from Puning and Huilai and more than 10,000 people from Zhaiding who were captured earlier were using various tools to dig trenches on the official road. There are rows of bunkers behind each trench, and there are watchtowers behind the bunkers as the command center of this line of defense.

Zhou Shixiang's purpose was to build a fortification group with a length of more than ten miles along the official road from Yunluojing to Beishan Village. Why choose this place. Instead of going further south, it was because the area from Jieshiwei to Lufeng in the south was a plain, and Jidu had several thousand Mongolian cavalry under his command. The section from Yunluo Trail to Beishan Village is a mountainous and forested area. Building fortifications along the official road can take advantage of the geographical advantage as much as possible and reduce the amount of work. For this reason, the time is limited. Zhou Shixiang gave the masons only three days. These three days were also taken from the Qing army with the main force of the first town and the Iron Man Guard.

The construction of such a huge fortification is the first time that the Taiping Army has formed an army, and the scale is large. The construction period was short, and all aspects of manpower, resources and management were extremely complex, which was a test of the Taiping Army's mobilization and organizational capabilities. Zhao Sihai, as a military officer, was instructed to preside over the construction of the fortifications. All the people who could be sent from the military commander's mansion were transferred, and dozens of Flang machines were also on the front line. Shang Keyuan, Geng Zhongde and others brought the instructors from the armament workshop and were also assigned tasks to urge the masons and villagers to repair the fortifications every day. Zhou Shixiang issued a strict order. Once the three-day deadline expires, anyone who has not completed it, regardless of military or civilian officials, will be asked to be executed. Under this strict order, it is also a high-intensity fortification construction. It is foreseeable that many Chaozhou people will die.

If the construction of the northern line fortifications is completed. Then the Qing army's food route was completely cut off, the second town was huddled in Lufeng City as a tortoise, and the first town was also a tortoise in the fortification group. . The difficulty can be imagined. If everything goes well, in the end, the army led by Jidu will be compressed by the Taiping army in the area of ​​tens of kilometers between Jieshiwei and Lufeng City.

Both Lufeng and Jieshiwei were built along the coast. The local people were either moved into Lufeng City or moved to Haifeng and Huizhou in the south, and the food here was swept away by the Taiping Army. within a radius of dozens of miles. A small army of Qing troops may be able to find something to eat, but the army of nearly 20,000 people wants to obtain food in this area, which is undoubtedly a fool's dream. If Ji Du is interested in being a fisherman, Zhou Shixiang will not stop him, but only if he can find a boat that can go out to sea by the sea. Obviously, he can't.

Zhou Shixiang had no intention of leading the Taiping army and the Jidu army who had the advantage of the plains into a head-to-head battle, because he had no certainty of victory. ten miles between. The only worry is whether he can block the Qing army at Jieshiwei, so that the fortification of Yunluojing can be completed on schedule.

On the 20th, Jidu received an urgent report from Jieshiwei who was staying behind the Qing army. Only then did he know that the main force of the Taiping army had gone around to the rear and ambushed the Wuzhen Chaoha artillery battalion led by Duke Xushun Shen Yongxing.

Ji Du was shocked and unimaginable. Just like Duke Xushun, Shen Yongxing didn't believe that the Taiping army could put wings on it and run from Huizhou to Chaozhou. Everyone in the Qing army had a question, that is, how did the Taiping army get to Chaozhou. .

After being in a daze for a while, Wu Liuqi pointed out a possibility that the Taiping Army was not originally hidden in Chaozhou, nor did it sneak past under their noses, but took a boat from Huizhou. They did not intend to fight the army at the beginning, but planned to ambush the rear of the Qing army. This also explains why the Taiping army hurriedly resolved the siege and withdrawn as soon as the Jidu army reached Nanzhao. This move is clearly to lure the enemy into the deep, and then use the convenience of the navy to successfully transport troops to the northern line.

"The thief is talented..."

Ji Du popped three words out of his mouth. At this moment, he understood how thief this thief show was.

Shen Yongxing's Wu Zhenchaoha was wiped out, which meant that the Qing army lacked a fortification weapon, and to take Lufeng City could only be filled with human life as last time. No one below the self-support level is stupid enough to do such a stupid thing. Their first thought is to return troops to defeat the Taiping army on the northern front and ensure smooth access to food.

Wu Liuqi suggested: "The Taiping bandits cut off my food route on the northern line, jeopardizing the safety of our army. The last commander will also ask the prince to immediately order the return of troops to pacify this bandit. Otherwise, the food route will fall into the hands of bandits, and the army will not be at ease."

The capital, Nahai, disagreed. He said: "The last general thinks that we should attack Lufeng City immediately. The Taiping army in the city has grain. If we take it, our army will not have to worry about lack of grain for at least a month. Su can always deploy troops to help. Dasu will attack from the north, we will attack from the south, and the Taiping bandits on the northern front will not be a concern. Even if Dasu cannot dispatch troops, we can attack the Taiping bandits directly after breaking Lufeng City. "

Wu Liuqi did not dare to directly say that Na Hai was absurd, but hesitantly said: "The Taiping bandits on the northern front may not let us attack Lu Feng with all our strength."

"My army is all elite, are you still afraid that the Taiping bandits will fail? Shen Yongxing's defeat is just the Taiping bandit being cunning, and he was caught off guard. If we really want to fight head-on, my army is full of thousands of cavalry, how much the Taiping bandit dares to resist me Great army?" Nahai has the inherent pride of the Manchurians. In his eyes, the Taiping bandits formed by the southern barbarians are not a formidable enemy, and the monk Hamu is delighted that they all suffered a great loss from underestimating the enemy. Because of the sudden appearance in the rear, there is absolutely no reason for the Taiping bandits to win the real battle between the two armies.

Nahai insisted on attacking Lufeng first, but Wu Liuqi did not dare to say more, but Mongolian red flag Gushan Ezhensu Rile dared to say, he said: "Lufeng city is difficult to get down~www.wuxiamtl.com~ In my opinion, it is better to clean up first. Taiping bandits on the northern front, come back and deal with Lufengcheng. Don't forget, the Taiping bandits can completely wipe out our Wuzhenchao Ha, and the main force must be on the northern front. This Lufengcheng is a pretense, but there are not many people, just borrow them Even if you have ten guts, you don’t dare to go out of the city to attack us. If you are worried, I will leave a few Niu Lu cavalry to come down and watch them.”

Ji Du was a little hard to choose. Seeing what Du Eryou was thinking with his head down, he asked him, "San Beiler thinks how our army should deal with it?"

Du Eryou slowly raised his head: "I think we should deal with the Taiping bandits on the northern front first and open up the food route, otherwise the army will not be able to last in Lufeng. If we attack Lufeng City by force, the casualties will be too high, and the gains will outweigh the gains."

Ji Duwei thought for a while, nodded in agreement with Du Eryou's opinion, swept away the generals in the tent, and said, "You all go back to the camp to prepare, half an hour later, the left army will be the forward, the right army will be the auxiliary, leaving 4 Niu Lu Mongolian soldiers. Monitor the Taiping bandits in the city. Na Hai!"

"The last commander is here!" Na Hai, the commander of the Zuo Army, responded quickly.

"In this battle, victory is not allowed to be defeated. If you lose..." Having said this, Ji Du stopped and said coldly, "You don't have to come to see this king!"

Na Hai froze in his heart, knelt down and ordered: "Hey!" (To be continued.)