Chapter 5 Chapter Four: Li Hongzhang of the Military Strategist (Part 1)

The Rise of Li Hongzhang and the Establishment of the Huai Army At that Time, the Weakness of the Official Army and the Exhaustion of Salary Sources The Gains and Losses of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces The Beginning of the Ever Victorious Army Li Hongzhang and Li Xiucheng's rivals Huai Army defeated Wu The Relationship between the Jiangsu Army and the Jinling Army and the Zhejiang Army The Restoration of Jinling The chaos at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, heroes rose up, and after Xiang Yu became the hegemony, Han Xin began to appear;Since ancient times, great men, if there is a place between their entry and exit, if the sky has a golden hand, they will wait for the opportunity to be ripe, and they will send out when they are full.Xie Kangle has a saying: Although the gods are born before the spiritual luck, they must be born after the spiritual luck to become a Buddha.In my view, among the ministers of Zhongxing, Li Hongzhang is the latest to achieve the highest reputation, and Li Hongzhang is the most famous among the ministers who have been in power for a long time.The world is full of opportunities, and the times make heroes. Li Hongzhang is the pride of the times.

At the turn of the 67th year of Xianfeng, the atmosphere of the enemy was at its peak, and the officers and soldiers were more aggressive than others.The temple calculations are uncertain, the commanders from all sides are suspicious of each other, and there is a shortage of military supplies. The farmer relies on the house, but relies on the provinces to raise their own salaries, and pays for the east to make up for the west, so as to save the day's emergency.At this time, although there are great loyal and talented people, they can't rush to play skin skills, and the reason is easy to understand.So it was a last resort, and the proposal of using European and American soldiers to assist and suppress was adopted.

First, since Hong Yang occupied Nanjing and ravaged all directions, there was not a single inch of clean land in eighteen provinces. After ten years, he could not settle down.The incompetence of the Beijing government has been exposed to the world.Therefore, the British consul and wealthy businessmen in Shanghai did not regard Hong Xiuquan as a mere rebel, but also regarded him as the same example as the Civil Rights Revolutionaries in European countries, treated him as a civilized friend, and occasionally provided him with arms, ammunition and food.Later, Hong Xiuquan was full of arrogance and extravagance, killing each other, and the internal governance became weaker and worse day by day.European and American intellectuals, examining their actions, know that the so-called Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the so-called brothers from all over the world, the so-called peace and fraternity, and the so-called equality and freedom are all just false names on the outside.Because it is determined that it cannot set a great cause.As a result, Britain, France and the United States all changed their policies, and they wanted to borrow troops for the Beijing government to help investigate chaos.To express this intention in order to ask the government is indeed something that happened in the tenth year of Xianfeng.And Russia also wants to send a small naval fleet, carrying a number of soldiers, back to the Yangtze River to assist in the suppression. The Russian Minister Igna paid a visit to Prince Gong to express his intention.

According to the European and American countries, it is time to do business with China, and they must not want China to be disturbed and solidified.Therefore, when the two armies are at each other's stalemate and have not been able to make a decision over the years, they must want to help in order to make a quick decision.However, the corruption of the Beijing government has long been hated by Westerners, and it is common for those who rely on the revolutionary army to strengthen it.At that time, in European and American countries, if you cast to the right, the officers and soldiers will win, and if you cast to the left, the enemy will win. There is no chance of victory or defeat.Make Hong Xiuquan have a rough plan and great insight.It is impossible to know the affairs of the world because it is necessary to fix the Central Plains by relying on its own power to fix the Central Plains.If you don't realize it, you will be corrupt internally, lose friends and make enemies, and finally be slaughtered by barbarians, which is not appropriate.And the fame of Li Wenzhong and others is also achieved here.

At that time, the British and French allied forces broke through Beijing, and Wen Zong was far away in Rehe.Although the peace talks have been decided, but the heart of suspicion is still strong.Therefore, Prince Gong did not dare to be arbitrarily arbitrarily arbitrarily concerned about the use of troops to aid in the suppression of the war. On the one hand, he asked for it in his office, and on the other hand, he asked the imperial envoys Zeng Guofan, Yuan Jiasan, Governor Xue Huan of Jiangsu, and Governor Wang Youling of Zhejiang, etc., to express his opinions.At that time, Yuan Jiasan, the imperial envoy of Jiangbei (Yuan Shikai's father), was the only one who strongly opposed it, saying that it would cause all kinds of harm but no benefit.Although Xue Huan disagreed, he suggested hiring Indian soldiers to defend Shanghai and its vicinity, and asked American generals Wall and Bai Qiwen to be the captains.Zeng Guofan's replay has slightly the same meaning, saying that when China is extremely exhausted, it is not appropriate for outsiders to deal with it with good intentions.Therefore, we should answer him with warm words for his great intention of helping and suppressing the bandits, and delay the date of his departure from the army to meet, and at the same time use foreign generals to achieve the actual effect of suppressing the bandits.Therefore, the imperial court refused to assist the suppression campaign, and ordered Guofan to hire foreign soldiers to train recruits. This is the starting point of the ever-victorious army.And the beginning of Li Hongzhang Xun's name has a lot to do with it.

Waller, a New Yorker in the United States, graduated from an army school in his home country, became a general, went abroad for a petty crime, and hid in Shanghai.In the tenth year of Xianfeng, Hong Jun ravaged Jiangsu, and both Su and Chang fell.Yang Fang, an alternate road in Shanghai, knew that Huaer Shen Yi was talented, so he recommended him to Wu Xu, the chief envoy.Xu Nai asked the Consul of the United States to pardon his old crimes, so that dozens of European and American soldiers would be recruited, and hundreds of Chinese recruits would be benefited, so that they could be trained to defend Suzhou and Shanghai.Afterwards, he repeatedly fought against the enemy, and was often able to attack the crowd with a small amount of force, and was invincible. Therefore, the official army and the enemy army were all called the Ever Victorious Army.The establishment of the Changsheng Army was actually before Li Hongzhang arrived in Shanghai.

Now, if I want to describe Li Hongzhang's achievements, please first describe the situation in the places where Li Hongzhang made great achievements. The two provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the backbone of China's wealth, and without Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there would be no world.Therefore, there is no better place to fight for soldiers than Wuhan, and no place like Suzhou and Hangzhou to fight for sources of wages.Hong Xiuquan, because of the momentum of the officers and soldiers in various places recently, is no longer despised as before, and Anqing was newly conquered (Zeng Guoquan was conquered in August, Xinyou, the eleventh year of Xianfeng). Divide the road equally to disturb Jiangsu and Zhejiang in order to contain the strength of the officers and soldiers.Xiucheng's army was extremely sharp, and Xiaoshan, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Zhuji, and Hangzhou were all trapped. King Fu of Zhejiang died at a young age, and the cities and towns of Jiangsu were harassed and trapped, and those who fled the chaos gathered in Shanghai.

After the recovery of Anqing, the prestige of the Hunan Army increased.All the courtiers and frontier officials in the past, those who were not as good as Zeng Guofan, all died or died.With the important task of conquering and suppressing, all of them are concentrated in one body of Guofan.Repeated edicts urged Guofan to move his troops to the east to guide the recovery of the lost prefectures and counties in Changhang. In five days, he issued four strict orders.Guofan not only recommended Zuo Zongtang to specialize in military affairs in Zhejiang, but Qian Dingming, a gentleman from Jiangsu, went back to Anqing by ship in October. But there are three ends that cannot last: Xiangtuan, Gunboat, and Neiying; there are three cities that are only end-of-life and cannot last: Zhenjiang, Huzhou, and Shanghai.Guofan felt sad when he saw it.At that time, the soldiers were short of pay, and the Chu army had nothing to allocate, so they discussed with Li Hongzhang to help them in February of the next year.

In November of the eleventh year of Xianfeng, there was a decree to ask Su Shuai Yu Guofan, and Guofan responded with Li Hongzhang.And please allocate thousands of troops as appropriate, so that they can go downstream to aid in the suppression.So Hongzhang returned to Luzhou to recruit Huaiyong. When he arrived in Anqing, Guofan decided the method of camping, the use of equipment, and the amount of salary. First, Huainan was ravaged by Fa and Nian, and the residents were in dire straits. Only Hefei County Zhishi Zhang Shusheng, Shushan brothers, Zhou Shengbo, Shengchuan brothers, Pan Dingxin, Liu Mingchuan, etc., have built forts since the early years of Xianfeng. In order to prevent bandits from the police, the whole province of Anhui was corrupted, but Hefei was left alone.When Li Hongzhang first recruited the Huai army, he refined it because of the old regiment. Er Zhang, Er Zhou, Pan, and Liu Xian followed Yan.Cheng Xueqi, a Huai native, was under Zeng Guoquan's subordinates, from officials to generals, and was extremely wise and brave. Guofan's specially selected envoy Cong Hongzhang, and later became famous for his bravery and skill in fighting.Also, when the Huai Army was first formed, Guofan used several battalions of the Hunan Army as its reinforcements, and specially selected a healthy one from the Hunan generals to command them under Hongzhang's command, that is, Guo Songlin.The former famous generals of the Huai Army were several Cheng, Guo, Liu, Pan, Er Zhang, and Er Zhou.

In February of the first year of Tongzhi, the Huai army was formed, and all 8,000 people planned to go down the river and rush across the bandits to help Zhenjiang. The plan has not yet been decided.On the 28th, Shanghai officials and gentry raised 180,000 taels of silver, hired seven ships, and sailed to Anqing to welcome them.It is decided to go to Shanghai for three times.On March 30th, Hongzhang's entire army arrived in Shanghai, and he was ordered to act as the governor of Jiangsu, with Xue Huan as the Minister of Commerce, specializing in negotiations (Xue Huan, the former governor of Jiangsu).

At this time, the system of the ever-victorious army has not yet been prepared.Hua Er used one guest general to supervise five hundred people and guard Songjiang.In the first month of that year, more than 10,000 enemies invaded Songjiang, surrounded Huaer dozens of times, and Huaer fought hard to break it.And when Hongzhang arrived in Shanghai, Huaer was subordinate to Yan, and even recruited brave Chinese to benefit them, so that they could be trained more, and their soldiers were given a brave salary, which was thicker than that of the Xianghuai armies.Since it is used by the ever-victorious army, it will be effective. Songjiang Mansion is the place where the admiral is stationed in the territory of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the center of Jiangsu.The enemy's siege was very urgent, so Li Hongzhang combined the Changsheng Army with the British and French defense forces (at that time, the British and French had a number of defense forces, dedicated to the self-protection concession in Shanghai.), and attacked Jinshanwei and Fengxian County in the south of the Songjiang River; the Huai Army Cheng Xueqi, Liu Mingchuan , Guo Songlin, and Pan Dingxin generals attacked Nanhui County in the southeast of Songjiang.The enemy fought hard, the British and French troops retreated without support, and Jiading County fell again. The enemy wanted to advance to Shanghai by taking advantage of the victory.Chuanshating (on the south bank of Wusongkou.) More than 10,000 enemy troops invaded again. Liu Mingchuan firmly defended Nanhui, broke it, and returned to Chuanshating.However, the enemy was still strong and unyielding. One team surrounded Qingpu, Songjiang, and another team stationed at Guangfutang Bridge, and gathered at Sibin to see the new bridge.In May, Cheng Xueqi set up a solitary army to station at Xinqiao. When the giant enemy rushed, he was surrounded for days.When Hongzhang heard about it, he raised his troops to help, met the enemy army in Xujiahui, and fought to break it.Xueqi saw Hongzhang Shuai's flag in his own camp, and rushed out of the camp to attack. He won a great victory, beheaded 3,000 people, captured 400 people, and surrendered more than 1,000 people.Those who were garrisoned outside Songjiang Mansion by the enemy army were shocked by the news and rushed northward, the siege was lifted, and the Shanghai defense was lifted. When the Huai army arrived in Shanghai at the beginning, Westerners snickered and despised him when they saw the crudeness of his clothes and hats.Hong Zhang Xu said to the left and right: "A good man in the army, how can he be subdued?"Seeing that my general is in full swing, Xubi has his own conclusions.When Europeans and Americans see the courage and discipline of the generals of the Huai Army, they will not change their respect, and the subordinates of the Changsheng Army will also begin to obey Li's restraint. At that time, Zeng Guofan was alone begging for the life of the thief, and he was responsible for heavy responsibilities, with no excuses or constraints.So Li Hongzhang drew Suzhou, Zuo Zongtang drew Zhejiang, and Zeng Guoquan drew Jinling.Jinling is also the base of the enemy, and Jinling and the two provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang must be truly powerful.Therefore, if the enemy troops in Jiangsu were not wiped out, Jinling would not be able to sit trapped, and if the enemy's nest in Jinling were not besieged, Jiangsu would not be able to succeed.When the Huai army came to Shanghai, Zeng Guoquan, Yang Zaifu (later renamed Yue Bin), Peng Yulin and others planned to advance by water and land to break through the enemy bases on the north and south banks of the Yangtze River.In April, Guoquan flowed down the Yangtze River from Taipingfu, pulled out Jinzhu Pass, captured Dongliangshan Camp, and entered Kemoling Pass, Sanchahe Jiangxin Island, and Pubao Island.In May, he entered Yuhuatai outside Jinling City.In fact, Li Hongzhang solved the moon around Songjiang.Therefore, in terms of the record of this campaign, it should be known that Zeng Guoquan was not alone in the Hunan Army's ability to defeat Jinling and wipe out the huge enemy.The Huai army's ability to defeat Wu Zuofu's meritorious service was not the work of Li Hongzhang alone. In fact, Zeng Guoquan and others destroyed his nest, making his soldiers handsome and brave, and the army had to sit still.Dongpo's sentence says: The mountains and rivers are picturesque, and there are so many heroes at one time.In the second year of Tongzhi Yuan Dynasty, it was also one of the grandest sights in Chinese history. Li Xiucheng is Li Hongzhang's strong enemy, and the enemy general is also the first person to rise from the latecomer.From the beginning of Hong Xiuquan, the outstanding leaders of his party were Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, Feng Yunshan, the Southern King, Xiao Chaogui, the Western King, Wei Changhui, the Northern King, and Shi Dakai, the Wing King. At that time, they were called Five Kings.Then Feng Xiaozhan died in Hunan; Yang Wei and Jinling fought for power and slaughtered each other;During the four or five years of Xianfeng, the official army was at its weakest, and the enemy forces in the south of the Yangtze River also declined.Li Xiucheng started as a pawn and ranked at the bottom. After Jinling separatist regime, he was no more than a service boy under Yang Xiuqing's account.However, the most intelligent and sensitive, rich in strategy, and utterly courageous, so at the end of the Hong family, he was able to raise the embers and win the catastrophe, exhausting the officers and soldiers.Yucheng traverses the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the hurricane rises in Henan, Anhui, Hunan and Hubei, Xiucheng haunts the lower mouth of the Yangtze River, and the turbulent waves often rise in Suzhou and Hangzhou.And Yucheng died, and the pillar Hong Xiuquan leaned on was Xiucheng alone.Xiucheng is both wise and brave, but also magnanimous, and he can win the hearts of scholars under the control of benevolence. Therefore, although Anqing has recovered, the downstream has become very corrupt.Since the encirclement of Yuhuatai by Zeng's army, Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guoquan have worked so hard in the various battles in Jiangsu and Jinling, and it is Li Xiucheng who only bought the honor of victory at a very high price.Those who talk about Li Hongzhang must know Li Xiucheng. After the Battle of Nanhui, Li Hongzhang gradually established his foundation, and he wanted to cooperate with the Jinling government army to contain the enemy's situation and choose an offensive strategy.In the seventh month of that year, Cheng Xueqi, Guo Songlin and others rushed to attack Qingpu County and pulled it out, and sent other troops to drive steamers across the sea to attack Yuyao County in Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, and pull it out.In August, Li Xiucheng's envoy Tan Shao'an mobilized more than 100,000 people to commit Beixinjing (Jiangsu Province, only a few miles to Shanghai).Liu Mingchuan invited him to attack and defeat them, and the enemy withdrew to Suzhou. In that month, the Huai army and the Changsheng army entered Zhejiang together, attacked Cixi County, and conquered it.It was also a battle, and Wall, the leader of the ever-victorious army, fought hard and ascended first. He was shot through the chest and died. He was buried in Chinese clothes.Bai Qiwen, an American, led the Changsheng Army on his behalf. It is the change of summer and autumn in the year, the epidemic in the south of the Yangtze River is prevalent, and the dead of the officers and soldiers are sleeping.Li Xiucheng took advantage of it to break the siege of Jinling, so he selected more than 100,000 elite soldiers from Changzhou, Suzhou, and went to Jinling in the eighth month to surround the camp of Zeng Guoquan. He bombarded with dozens of Western cannons and fought desperately for fifteen days and nights. , not a little frustrated.In September, Xiucheng sent Li Shixian to lead more than 100,000 people from Zhejiang to encircle Jinling and attack Yiju.When Zeng Guofan heard the news, he was very worried and urgently recruited aid from other places.However, at that time, the officers and soldiers in all aspects of Zhejiang and Jiangbei.All have their own direct responsibilities, and none can help.This battle is also the most dramatic battle between the two armies since the rise of the real army.At that time, the enemy's army was more than 200,000, while the officers and soldiers were surrounded by only 30,000, and almost half of the soldiers died of illness, battles, and wounded.And Guoquan and the soldiers share joys and sorrows, share adversity, love each other like family and father and son, so the three armies are happy to serve and die, so they can resist ten times the enemy to achieve their success.Xiucheng could not be pulled out, and with the strength of the officers and troops on the ground in Jiangsu, he was afraid that Jiangsu would be lost and Jinling would not be alone. In October, he led his troops back, and the siege of Yuhuatai was relieved. According to this battle, Hong Xiuquan's major events have passed.It is also a big taboo for military strategists to put Fu Dun soldiers under the fortified city.Xiang Rong and He Chun were defeated by this twice, so Zeng Wenzheng learned from it and was very cautious.Glancing at Yuhuatai at the beginning of Zhongxiang, Wenzheng repeatedly abstained.Up to this battle, there are ten times stronger people outside, and impoverished and desperate bandits inside, and the officials and troops are in danger, why not.It is because the enemy army knows that the widows of the officers and soldiers are like this, and the scars are like that, but the soldiers dare not break in with flesh and blood, and decide to die. If you lose your evidence, you will perish, why?At that time, the generals of the enemy army were extremely wealthy, arrogant and extravagant, and cherished life, and this is why.This is also what the officers and soldiers couldn't think of at the beginning.Zeng Wenzheng said: Fan Jun is most afraid of old age.At the turn of Daoism and Xian, the officers and soldiers were all slack, while the rebels were all angry, and in the early Yuan Dynasty of Tongzhi, the rebels were all slack, while the officers and soldiers were all angry.The forest of gains and losses lies in yes.Forgive me.Li Xiucheng's virtuousness is still unavoidable, but Hong Xiuquan's dry bones in the tomb are even more worthless.The so-called Six Kingdoms who destroy the Six Kingdoms are not Qin, and those who belong to Qin are not Qin.Yin Jian is not far away, and those who are interested in the world can quit.Hong Xiuquan used to be a rascal in the market. Once he rose to power, he trampled half of the world in just a few years. It's true that Chen She and his idiots are Yazai!Stand guard in a city, sit and wait for the siege.Therefore, the collapse of Xiang Rong and He Chun was not due to Hong Xiuquan's own way of staying alive, especially the enemy he encountered was almost the same as Wei Zhi and Ah, so he was able to prolong his last days.Alas!Between Zeng Hong's ups and downs, is the sky and the people?The gentleman said: People are also. According to this campaign, the greatest key to the meritorious service of the Xianghuai generals.Without encircling Jinling, the enemy troops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang cannot be drawn in, and Li Wenzhong's newly built army cannot win quickly; without attacking Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is impossible to break the siege of Jinling.Readers of history must focus on this. Li Xiucheng's siege of Jinling also prevented Tan Shaoguang and Chen Bingwen from staying in Suzhou.In September, Shaoguang and others led a crowd of more than 100,000, separated from Jinshan Dacang to the east, and the generals of the Huai army defended them.The enemy again set up camps along the canal, stretching for tens of miles, driving pontoon bridges across the canal and its tributaries to communicate with each other, attacking Huangdu, and the officers and troops surrounding the four river mouths were in a hurry.On September 22, Hong Zhang deployed his generals to attack his base camp.The enemy is strong and good at fighting, and the Huai army is almost out of support.Liu Mingchuan, Guo Songlin, Cheng Xueqi and others took the lead and fought with their swords. Their morale was boosted, and they were defeated. More than ten thousand people were captured and beheaded, and the siege of Sijiangkou was resolved. The commander of the Ever Victorious Army, Hua Er, died, and Bai Qiwen succeeded him with qualifications.Bai's personality is different from that of Fahrenheit, because he is a scheming and cunning person.Seeing the embarrassment of the officers and soldiers at that time, they stole money from Li Xiucheng.In October, seek to occupy Songjiang City as an internal response.He went to Shanghai to coerce Daotai Yangfang, demanding tens of thousands of military funds, but he couldn't get it, so he beat Yang Dao and robbed 40,000 taels of silver and left.Hearing this, Li Hongzhang was furious.Li negotiated with the British consulate.Depose Bai Qiwen, make compensation for the stolen gold, and replace him with the British general Gordon.The ever-victorious army began to be used again.It was February of the second year of Tongzhi.This is actually Li Hongzhang's first negotiation with a foreign country, and his decision is so strong that commentators have criticized it. After Bai Qiwen was deposed, he wanted to kill him, but was blocked by the US consul, so he released him.Returned to Li Xiucheng, as his staff, many plans, but the scale is narrow.Gai persuaded Xiucheng to abandon Jiangsu and Zhejiang, cut off his mulberry tea, destroyed his huts, and then gathered his troops to go north. According to the situation in the Qin, Jin, Qi, Henan and Central Plains, he controlled the southeast.Xiucheng didn't listen.Bai Qiwen also bought ordnance for the enemy, stole steamships, obtained several new guns, and presented them to the public.In the Battle of Suzhou, hundreds of officers and soldiers died on the Baodai Bridge.After that, he failed to pursue Xiucheng, so he went back to Zhangzhou to join the bandits, and was captured and killed by Guo Songlin. First, Zeng Guofan got the enemy's spies, and got Hong Xiuquan and Li Xiucheng's handwriting, saying that the north and south of Hunan and Jiangbei are now empty, so Li Xiucheng raised 200,000 troops and fell into Changshu first, while attacking Yangzhou, while spying on Anhui and Chu.Guofan was the first envoy of Li Hongzhang to control it, saying that he should urgently take Taicang Prefecture to disturb Changshu and restrain Xiucheng from going to Jiangbei.What Hongzhang sees is the same.In February of the second year of Tongzhi, Changshu was ordered to guard the generals to wait for help, and Liu Mingchuan, Pan Peixin, and Zhang Shushan were sent to Fushan by ship with their troops, and won dozens of battles with the enemy.Don't send Cheng Xueqi and Li Hezhang to attack Kunshan County in Taicang to divide the enemy's power, but let Gordon lead the Changsheng Army and the Huai Army to attack Fushan together, pull it out, and Changshu besieged.In March, Taicang and Kunshan were conquered, and more than 7,000 enemies were captured. Cheng Xueqi made the greatest contribution.Since then, Gordon has been admiring and admiring Xue Qiyan. In May, Li Xiucheng went out of Wuxi, and with the five generals, hundreds of thousands of sailors and troops were trying to help Jiangyin, according to Changshu.Li Hongzhang sent his younger brother Hezhang, Liu Mingchuan, Guo Songlin and others to separate the imperial court.Ming Chuan, Pine Forest and the vanguard of the enemy meet, attack and profit.However, the enemy is too strong, and the casualties are equal in each battle.At that time, the enemy built a company camp at the edge of the canal, stretching from Beimi in the north, Zhangjing Bridge in the south, Chenshi in the east, and Changshou in the west, with a length and width of sixty to seventy li, and hundreds of fortresses, all of which strangled the danger of the canal and destroyed the bridges. At that time, gunboats were prepared to respond on the river, land and water, and the situation was in full swing. Hezhang and Ming Chuanmou gathered timber to build a pontoon bridge, and rushed across the river in the middle of the night to attack the enemy. Thirty-two people who broke the enemy camp were in Beiji.Guo Songlin also attacked and fought vigorously, breaking the enemy's battalion, thirty-five of them were in the south.Among Zhou Shengbo's troops, there were twenty-three who broke the enemy's camp at Maishiqiao.The enemy then collapsed, tens of thousands of casualties, the river did not flow, more than a hundred chieftains, five hundred horses, twenty ships, weapons, ammunition and food were captured.Since there is no trace of invincibility to the west of Gushan.The Huai army was greatly boosted.In June, the enemy generals in Wujiang look forward to the fall. Cheng Xueqi led more than 10,000 people from land and water to conspire with Ming Chuan to recover the state.Enter Pohuajing Port, surrender its defenders, and station Weiting.In July, Li Hongzhang conquered the Taihu Hall and marched towards Suzhou, first sending Ming Chuan to attack Jiangyin.The enemy's heroic general, Chen Kunshu, has more than 100,000 people from Hunan, Hubei, and Shandong, and they all come to help.Hong Zhang and Ming Chuan personally watched the enemy's situation, and saw their camps, big and small, from the riverside in the west to the mountain pass in the east, so they decided to deploy a fierce attack.The enemy resisted very hard, and the stalemate did not end.Since there are internal changers in the city, the door is opened to surrender, and Jiangyin is restored. Shi Chengxue Qibie stationed near Suzhou, and fought hard for days, with dozens of victories before and after.The enemy's fortresses were trapped at Baodai Bridge, Wulong Bridge, Likou, Huangdai, Huguan, Wangguajing, Shili Pavilion, Huqiu, and Guanyin Temple.And Guo Songlin's army also won a great victory at Xintang Bridge, beheading two puppet kings, killing more than 10,000 people, capturing hundreds of ships, and the enemy's navy was greatly reduced.Li Xiucheng burst into tears and couldn't help herself.Naturally, the reputation of the Huai Army shook the world. After the enemy's defeat, Li Xiucheng made a large-scale plan to recover, and ordered his generals to gather more than 80,000 people in Wuxi, Liyang, Yixing and other places, and more than 1,000 ships to leave the mouth of the canal. , Coordinate with each other, fight with the officers and soldiers, win or lose each other.On October 19th (the second year), Li Hongzhang personally supervised the army, Cheng Xueqi and Gordon as the vanguard, marched into Suzhou City, fought fiercely, and then broke its outer gate.Xiucheng, Tan Shaoguang and others were brought into the inner city and defended unyieldingly.Then the officers and soldiers advanced by land and water, surrounded on three sides, and the food in the city was exhausted, and everyone was suspicious and fearful.His assistant general Gao Yunguan and others were suspicious, so they sent money to Cheng Xueqi to beg for surrender.So Xueqi and Gordon took a light boat to build Yangcheng Lake in the north of the city, and made a contract with Yunguan and others, so that Sha Xiucheng and Shaoguang would offer it, and promised a second grade reward.Gordon is his guarantor, so Guan Yun and others are not suspicious.However, the soldier couldn't bear to harm Xiucheng, so he beheaded Shaoguang and said goodbye. Li Xiucheng was slightly aware of his plan, but the matter had come to this point, so he had no choice but to go out of the city by night (three nights in October).On the fourth day of Gan, Tan Shao'an summoned Guan Yun to his tent because of a matter. Yun Guan and Wang Youwei, the Xiao general, assassinated Shao'an immediately after seeing Shao'an.On the twenty-fifth day, Guan Yun and others presented Shaoguang's head and invited Cheng Xueqi to come to the city for inspection.The ranks of the descendants are as follows: 1. Na Wang Gao Yunguan 2, Bi Wang Wu Guiwen 3, Kang Wang Wang Anjun 4, Ning Wang Zhou Wenjia 5, Tian General Fan Qifa 6, Tian General Zhang Dazhou 7, Tian General Wang Huanwu 8, Tian General Wang Youwei At that time, there were more than 100,000 soldiers under the eight generals' troops in the city, and their momentum was menacing.Cheng Xueqi promised to take the post of deputy general of the general army, so he asked for it.Xueqi carefully observed these eight people, saying that the wolf's ambition is unstoppable.He conspired with Li Hongzhang and held a banquet for them to sit on the ship. When the trumpet was fired, the ambush soldiers rose up and killed them in parallel.Suzhou was settled, and Hongzhang added the crown prince Shaobao with his meritorious service. First came the surrender of the eight chieftains, and Gordon was actually the guarantor.When he heard that Hongzhang broke his promise, he was furious and wanted to kill Hongzhang to pay for his crime, so he brought a short gun to find him.Hongzhang avoided it and dared not return to the camp.A few days later, the anger gradually subsided and stopped. According to Li Wenzhong, he is ashamed of virtue.Gentlemen don't want husbands to kill and surrender, but to surrender, there must be an agreement first, and there is a guarantor?Therefore, there are three crimes in this act, one is to kill and surrender to justice, the other is to break an agreement and break one's word, and the third is to bully Gordon and betray a friend.Gordon gnashed his teeth and hated him so much that he wanted to kill his belly to vent his anger, wouldn't it be appropriate?Although, in view of the stories of Miao Peilin and Li Shizhong, there may be some extremes in their personalities, and Wen Zhong's good use of small wisdom and small skills in his life can also be seen in general. The recovery of Suzhou is indeed the first key to the stability of Jiangnan.First, Zeng Guoquan, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang each went eastward to the important areas alone, and they could not communicate with each other.Therefore, the power is very single and the situation is very dangerous.The victory in Suzhou, Li Hongzhang suggested to coordinate the overall situation, to take advantage of the victory and enter Zhejiang, to cooperate with Zeng and Zuo's two armies, and join forces to make a big move. This is the most effective work for the final result of the official army.In November, Liu Mingchuan, Guo Songlin, and Li Hongzhang attacked Wuxi and pulled it out.Capture and behead the general Huang Zilong and his son.So Hongzhang divided his army into three major units: his (A) team, led by himself; Zongtang's army, (Zhejiang Army) also followed up with it, entered the border of Hangzhou, attacked Yuhang County, and defeated the enemy repeatedly; Recover Yixing and Jingxi, and capture the enemy general Huang Jingzhong.Hongzhang even made Guo Songlin attack Liyang and surrender. At that time, the enemy general Chen Kunshu, with more than 100,000 soldiers, was based in Changzhou Prefecture, and Zhang Qiyi used it to smash the backs of the officers and soldiers.Li Hongzhang and Liu Mingchuan took the lead, the enemy army was very strong, and the official army was quite defeated.Kunshu sneaked into the hinterland of Jiangsu again, and haunted Jiangyin, Changshu, Fushan and other counties. Wuxi, Jiangyin was under martial law, and there was a big earthquake in the west of Jiangsu.Li Hongzhang made Liu Mingchuan alone in Changzhou, and urgently called Guo Songlin to abandon the golden altar and rush to Suzhou day and night.He also ordered Li Hezhang to return to Wuxi in a hurry, while Yang Dingxun and Zhang Shusheng led the other troops to strangle Qingyang and Jiaoyin in Jiangyin and cut off the enemy's way back.At that time, the enemy's encirclement of Changshu became more and more urgent, and they fought hard for days, only to support.They also encircled Wuxi, and Li Hongzhang's infant wall was almost imperiled.A few days later, Guo Songlin's reinforcements arrived, the enemy was defeated in a big battle, and the siege began to be lifted.Songlin awarded the commander-in-chief of Fushan Town for his meritorious service. First, Cheng Xue encircled Jiaxing (from the first month of this year) in an extremely urgent manner. The guards in the city were equally sharp, and the two armies suffered casualties.On February 19th, Xueqi encouraged the soldiers, wanting to pull them out quickly, they bowed first to fall into the battle, crossed the pontoon bridge, and fought hand-to-hand with the ladder city.The enemy soldiers on the city defended steadfastly, bullets rained like rain, and suddenly there were bullets.General Liu Shiqi saw it, and set up a superintendent to supervise the army, and entered the city first.The soldiers were angry and courageous.And Pan Dingxin, Liu Bingzhang, etc. also joined forces by water and land, so they pulled out Jiaxing. After Cheng Xueqi was injured, he lay down for tens of days.So he couldn't afford it, and died on March 10, and was given the posthumous title of Zhonglie.Li Hongzhang mourned and shed tears. The Jiaxing mansion was conquered, and the enemy flames in Hangzhou were greatly reduced. Therefore, on February 23 (the 19th Jiaxing conquered), the enemy brigade escaped from the north gate by night.The Zuo Army entered Hangzhou City on March 2, and the Soviet Army (Li Jun) and the Zhejiang Army (Zuo Army) were fully connected, and the momentum began to gather. As Cheng Xueqi's death, Hongzhang sent his generals Wang Yongsheng and Liu Shiqi to lead the group, and together with Guo Songlin, they attacked Shashan from Fushan Town and defeated it in a series of battles.As far as Sanhekou, 20,000 people were captured.Hongzhang encircled Changzhou with all the troops and ordered Liu Mingchuan to attack its northwest and break it; Guo Songlin attacked Chen Qiaodu camp and broke it;The defeated army fled and wanted to return to the city, but Chen Kunshu refused, so there were countless people who died under the city.On the 2nd day of the third month, Li Jun entered Changzhou City and bombarded the city with cannons and explosives.Chen Kunshu is fierce and good at fighting.Gong led the fierce soldiers to fight against them, and repaired the gap. Hundreds of officers and soldiers died.Hongzhang was angry, and Du Zhongyi used the attack tools, built a long siege, and attacked fiercely for several days.After more than ten days, Li Hongzhang supervised the formation by himself, Liu Mingchuan, Guo Songlin, Liu Shiqi, Wang Yongsheng, etc. took the lead and fought hard to climb the city, and the enemy began to chaos.Chen Kunshu is still unyielding, instead of leading Fei Tianjiang to lead a fierce party and fighting in the streets, Songlin then fights to capture Kunshu, and Tianjiang is also captured by Sheng Bo.Ming Chuan shouted an order that those who threw weapons and surrendered would be pardoned, and more than ten thousand surrendered immediately.Thousands of officers and soldiers died.Changzhou was restored on April 6th.As a result, the Jiangsu Army (Li Jun) and the Jinling Army (Zeng Army) are fully connected. In the entire Jiangsu Province, there is no trace of an enemy except Jinling Prefecture. From the second month of Renxu Spring in the first year of Tongzhi, Li Hongzhang led 8,000 people to Shanghai to lead the Huai Army and the Changsheng Army. Xia Siyue, Ping Wu Gongcheng. According to Li Hongzhang's pacification of Wu Daye, because the generals of the Huai Army were brave and persevering, and there were many people who benefited from Huaer and Gordon, it was not just the victory of the ever-victorious army.At that time Li Xiucheng was extremely wise and brave, and the army mostly used western-style guns. Although Cheng Liu, Guo Zhou, Zhang Pan and other generals were good at fighting, they only relied on their natural courage and strategy, and did not understand the effect of the new law.Therefore, in the early days of the Huai army, when they encountered the enemy, they suffered repeatedly.In view of this, Li Hongzhang adopted the method of the ever-victorious army, and many of them used its equipment.And Zuo Zongtang's contribution to Pingzhe was also due to the many disciples of French generals Togby and Giger.The extinction of this dynasty and the continuation, Gaiying French people have made great contributions.Their intention is to keep the peace in East Asia forever and make it a paradise for business.And unexpectedly, as of today, it still does not vibrate first, and there may be a Great Revolution in the future.After that. First, Zeng Guoquan's army responded by land and water, and the siege of Jinling had been completed for two years. In the first month of Jiazi, the stone barrier of Zhongshan was pulled out, and the enemy lost its danger. On April 27th, he drank medicine and died.The generals supported his son Hong Fu.At that time, the officers and soldiers hadn't realized it yet.The imperial edict repeatedly ordered Li Hongzhang to move Jiangsu's victorious army to help suppress Jinling. Zeng Guoquan thought that the city thieves were exhausted, food and ammunition were exhausted, and annihilation was imminent. It is an excuse to say that the heat will not use firearms, and he refuses to march.The imperial court did not understand the purpose of Hongzhang, but repeatedly urged Guoquan to hear it, and was overwhelmed with worry and indignation. Since May 18th, he has supervised the soldiers to attack Dibao City day and night The ground also.), then pulled it out.Going deeper into the tunnel, from May 30th to June 15th, more than ten tunnels were completed.It is strictly forbidden for all camps outside the city to prepare for battle, don't offer heavy rewards to recruit dead soldiers, and make appointments to take advantage of vacancies before boarding first. Li Xiucheng was in Jinling at that time, and after Xiuquan's death, the order came out.Xiucheng knows people and is good at their duties, with kindness and power in parallel, and people are convinced, just like a son is like a father.On May 15th, Xiucheng led hundreds of dead men to protrude from the gap of Taiping Gate, and then sent hundreds of dead men to pretend to be officers and soldiers to protrude from Chaoyang Gate to Zengying, setting fire and making noise.At that time, the officers and soldiers were exhausted and exhausted, and when they met this policeman suddenly, they almost collapsed and scattered. Fortunately, Peng Yuju and his generals rushed to rescue him with recruits, but they were spared. At noon on June 16, the gunpowder in the tunnel exploded, thunder struck, the heaven and earth moved, and the city wall collapsed more than 20 feet.Zeng Jun's generals fought hard, the enemy soldiers resisted desperately, bullets rained, and more than 400 foreign soldiers died.Everyone worked hard, walked past the corpse, and then entered the city.Li Xiucheng decided to die early, he gave his young master Hong Fu with his beloved horse, and escaped from the city. However, Xiucheng fought in the streets from the commander of the army. He fought for three days and nights, and was captured with all his strength.The city walls and palaces burned continuously for three days. There were more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in the city who followed the Hong family for a long time, and none of them surrendered.Gui Chou Xiuquan first occupied Jinling in the third year of Xianfeng, and it was flattened in the twelfth year of Fan. Li Xiucheng is a real hero.When life and death are at stake, the city is full of people, and their lives are at stake. They can still drive thousands of athletes to break through decisive battles and wipe out enemy divisions.In the battle on May 15th, Zeng's army survived, God also.When the city was broken, Fu was able to save the young master with his beloved horse, and he was generous and determined to die, with the ambition of national perdition and perdition.The ministers and Confucian generals who pushed the ancient times, why did they go too far, Xiang Yu's black hair never dies, Wenshan's lacquer room has no spirit, heaven and man?I heard that when Li Xiucheng went to Suzhou, the people of Suzhou, men, women, old and young, all shed tears.Until the burial of the king is old, the defeated generals will be sent down to death, which seems to have the meaning of public law in wartime of civilized countries.There are more than 100,000 people in Jinling City, and none of them surrendered. Considering Tian Heng's guests, there are 500 people who are like-minded and do the same things, and their courage is a hundred times greater. This is unprecedented in the ending of wars in history.Let Xiucheng be in Hong Xiuquan's position, in today's domain, who knows who owns the world!When Xiu Chengzhi was captured, from June 17th to the 19th, he generously sucked a pen in the cage and wrote tens of thousands of words.Although it was abridged by the officers and soldiers and could not be prepared for biography, but reading it so far, it is still full of vitality.Alas!Liu Xing scolds Xiang, success or failure is judged by people, who is willing to shine for Li Xiucheng and Yang Weiye today?After a hundred years, it will be judged by itself, and there will be no selfishness in the good history of the future.Although, natural selection, survival of the fittest, Zeng, Zuo, and Li are also proud. Jinling conquered and rewarded for meritorious deeds.Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, was given the title of Prince Taibao and a hereditary first-class marquis.Zeng Guoquan, governor of Zhejiang, and Li Hongzhang, governor of Jiangsu, were both hereditary first-class uncles, and the rest of the generals were rewarded differently.Guoquan conquered Jinling, and generals from all walks of life were jealous of their merits, slandering and slandering, and slandering and slandering. Although Zuo Zongtang was a virtuous man, it was inevitable, but Li Hongzhang kept talking, and his merits in regulating and protecting were very cloudy. According to this, the reason why Li Wenzhong is a writer is that the imperial edict will be suppressed without wanting to divide the merits of others, and the matter will be settled without being jealous of the recommender. His virtue is superior to others.There is nothing wrong with the name, it is not Gou Yan who has heard it.