Chapter 47 Section 47: The Nian Army is Destroyed

That night, Li Hongzhang notified the imperial court of the victory of the Ming army with a brief order, and the attached sheet also notified what happened in Anqiu. The attached video mainly tells about the bad influence of Yu Wenjian's murder in Anqiu: "Yu Wenjian was shot to death for no reason on a routine basis, and the people sent by Liu Mingchuan were also locked up, and four people in the Shanqing camp were injured by gunshots. They must be strictly dealt with as a warning to those who come later; the county magistrate flouted the law to avoid business. It is bound to follow suit; even though Yu Wenjian was accidentally killed by the city gate officials, he should be given a sympathy." The attached piece does not mention Ding Baozhen at all.

The next day, Li Hongzhang left Anqiu, went to the battalions and inspected the defense along the river, and returned to the imperial envoy's camp outside Xuzhou City after a month. Ding Baozhen felt that Li Hongzhang's subordinates were merciful, and when he returned to the governor's office, he changed his face. He repeatedly ordered the government offices of various states and counties to purchase and store grain in advance, so that the military camp would offer prices at any time, and he dared to delay it. Those who ask questions in one body will never be tolerated. With the change in the attitude of the governor's yamen, the local yamen in Shandong also paid more attention to the government army that suppressed Nian.

On October 24th in the sixth year of Tongzhi (AD 1867), more than 20,000 cavalry from the Nian Army Lai Wenguang and Ren Huabang were besieged by Liu Mingchuan, Shanqing, Pan Dingxin, Tang Renlian, Guo Songlin, Yang Dingxun and other troops. In a narrow strip about a hundred miles or so along the Mi River. Liu Mingchuan and Shanqing led the army to fight against him first.During the battle, Ren Huabang was shot to death with a musket by Pan Guisheng, a soldier beside him, causing the Nian army to flee in chaos.Lai Wenguang led the remnants of the Nian army for several miles, and was stopped by the two armies of Pan Dingxin and Tang Renlian, and they fought hard.While they were fighting, Liu Mingchuan and Shanqing and their supervisors rushed over from behind.Lai Wenguang suffered such a big injury, he didn't want to fight, he only took more than 10,000 riders and galloped to the distance, just happened to meet Guo Songlin and Yang Dingxun's two armies again.Lai Wenguang fought a bloody road with all his might, and only led more than 500 riders into Heihe, and the rest were beheaded if they surrendered.

Li Hongzhang ordered all the troops to conduct a close investigation, gradually narrowing the encirclement, determined to capture Lai Wenguang alive. On December 19th of the same year, Lai Wenguang's remaining 500 riders were trapped in the mire near Wayaopu, Touwan, Mihe River, Yangzhou.Lai Wenguang had nowhere to go, he was captured alive, and the rest of his troops surrendered. The Eastern Nien Army that spanned the five provinces of Lu, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and Hubei no longer existed. Li Hongzhang let out a sigh of relief, and on the day he received the report, he went to the imperial court to ask for meritorious service and rewards. At the end, he still did not forget to bring Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, and Ying Han, the governor of Anhui.

The imperial decree soon came down to the imperial envoy's office: wearing a yellow mandarin jacket with the first-class Su Yi Bo Li Hongzhang on the head, and adding a first-class cavalry captain to the world, hereditary and no succession; Zeng Guofan was promoted to be a Bachelor of Tiren Pavilion; Admiral Liu Ming of Zhili Province was rewarded with a yellow mandarin coat, and was granted the post of captain of a third-class light vehicle rider; , Huang Yisheng of the Yangtze River navy, Pan Dingxin, the governor of Shandong, Liu Bingzhang, the governor of Shanxi, Zhou Shengbo, the commander-in-chief of Liangzhou Town, Li Hezhang, the commander of the battalion, and Li Zhaoqing, the commander of the personal battalion.It's really rainy and spring breeze, everyone has a share, and there is no omission.

A few days later, the imperial decree was sent to the Governor's Yamen in Shandong: Ding Baozhen was rewarded with the title of Dai Jia and Prince Shaobao.Ding Baozhen faced north to thank him, and he couldn't help but feel grateful to Li Hongzhang. Ding Futai has since become Ding Gongbao. Yinghan also received the imperial decree on the same day, and also rewarded him with the title of Dai Jia and Prince Shaobao. Liu Mingchuan was exhausted from fighting for many years. When the war stopped, he suddenly felt sick. He had to ask Li Hongzhang to beg for leave on his behalf and return home to recuperate.Soldiers from all walks of life also want to take advantage of the New Year's Eve to return to their hometowns to visit their relatives. Naturally, returning home in fine clothes is to glorify the lintel.Li Hongzhang agreed one by one, expressing his feelings above, and the court all agreed. He also rewarded Li Hongzhang with a two-month holiday and allowed him to bring his younger brother back home to reunite with his wife and daughter.

Li Hongzhang was overjoyed after receiving the order.Because Dongmei was about six months pregnant at this time, Li Hongzhang could take this opportunity to send her to Hefei to give birth, which saved a lot of trouble. After the assignment of the camp was decided, and the imperial envoy's Guanfang was sealed off, Li Hongzhang took some of his own soldiers and quietly left Xuzhou to take a shortcut to Hefei. Ying Han, governor of Anhui, led a response department and Dao officials out of Guosanli to meet him.When Yinghan saw Li Hongzhang's car, he quickly bowed and said, "Your Majesty welcomes the imperial envoy, Marshal Li!"

Li Hongzhang got off the sedan chair in a hurry, took Ying Han's hand, and said, "Ying Gong Bao can't do this. When we meet in the future, we can only meet each other with parallel courtesy, and we can't be so grand." Yinghan said in a loud voice: "The Marshal Jue wiped out the Nian bandits and returned our five provinces to a peaceful world. Such a meritorious deed will last forever. Now that I am honored to return to my hometown to visit my relatives, if the local government does not treat them respectfully, the imperial court will blame them." Li Hongzhang took his hand and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, no one can compare Gongbao's mouth, let's go back to the city. But, my brother has something to say first, I can't Stay longer in the provincial capital."

Ying Han said: "Who dares to disobey what Jue Shuai ordered! My brother, I only let my brother drink a glass of water and wine in the provincial capital, and then escort him out of the city. How about it?" Li Hongzhang turned his head while getting into the sedan chair and said, "This is what your elder brother said. If you break your promise, I will have a lawsuit with you." Yinghan laughed and walked back into his sedan chair. Don't look at Ying Han talking and laughing, he is very respectful to Li Hongzhang, he is a person who cannot be offended. Yinghan is a Manchurian Zhenghongqi man, of the Saltu family, with the word Xilin, and he was born in the first place.Yinghan served as the magistrate of Hefei in the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859 AD), and was promoted to the magistrate of Suzhou two years later, cooperating with Seng Gelinqin's Mongolian cavalry to suppress the twist.

In the third year of Tongzhi (AD 1864), Zhang Lexing, the leader of the Nian Army, was captured by Yinghan.The following year, Yinghan was ordered by Seng Gelinqin to go to Hubei to stop Chen Decai's Department of the Taiping Army. He was demoted and stayed in his post because of excessive rewards.Accumulatively appointed Anhui chief envoy, Anhui governor until the actual appointment of Anhui governor.Many people were puzzled by Yinghan's refusal to move after sitting in Anhui for several years. In fact, Yinghan didn't want to stay in Anhui for too long, it was because the imperial court didn't want him to leave, and he didn't have a good place to go.But both Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang knew Yinghan's background in their hearts. Yinghan's presence in Anhui was actually an eyeliner placed by the imperial court on Liangjiang.

No matter what happened in Liangjiang, Governor Zeng Guofan hadn't made a statement yet, but the court had already known about it in advance, and it was all thanks to Ying Han. The Qing Dynasty at that time was indeed chilling to say the least. The Manchus defended against the Han people almost to the point where all the grass and trees were soldiers and penetrated into every hole.