Chapter 6 Six or seven thousand Xiangyongs were buried in Sanhe Town

On the afternoon of the second day after deploying the military strategy, Zeng Guofan's ship lifted anchor and went down.In Wuxue, he met Duolonga.Over the past year or so, Duolong'a's green battalion has also won several battles relying on the prestige of Xiangyong. Because of this, he himself was promoted and awarded a yellow jacket, and the soldiers also made a fortune.Although there is still a deep prejudice against Xiangyong, compared with other Manchu and Mongolian civil and military, his attitude is considered friendly.Zeng Guofan really complimented him a lot, and he didn't tell about the plot in Anhui. He only suggested that his troops move to Chuzhou and Hezhou. He said that he was preparing for the next attack on Jiangning. The reinforcements coming over will guarantee the success of Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua.

Duolonga didn't understand the mystery, so he readily accepted. After the boat passed Jiujiang Mansion, Zeng Guofan came to Taqibu Temple, burned incense and paper, and paid tribute to him.Arrived at the mouth of the lake the next day.This is the base camp of Neihu Waijiang Navy.All the generals above the sentinel are waiting here in a team.Zeng Guofan was overjoyed to see that the navy he created was so prosperous and loyal to him as always. He made an exception and rewarded each water brave with 2,000 Wen, and went to the Zhaozhong Shrine of the Navy in Hukou to pay homage.Then came to the bank of the Yangtze River, put food and fruits for offerings, and burned incense and money paper.Zeng Guofan knelt down in front of the offerings, bowed three times looking at the sky, burst into tears, threw the food and fruit into the river, and wrote his own "The sound of the huge stone swallowing the river, screaming the hatred of heroes in the past and the present; worshiping the temple to honor the achievements, The elegiac couplet "forever laying down the souls of the children of Huxiang" was set on fire and incinerated.The ceremony was solemn and cordial, and all the naval officers and officers who accompanied the sacrifice were moved by it.

When he arrived in Nanchang, Zeng Guofan took the initiative to pay homage to Nanchang officialdom as he did in Changsha, and each sent a basket of top-grade Junshan Maojian.Nanchang officialdom has also undergone great changes over the past year.Wen Jun was dismissed from the post of governor because of his post in Deyinhang, and was recalled to Beijing. Qiling, the former chief minister, was promoted to governor.Zeng Guofan checked his past mistakes in Jiangxi with Qiling and others, and assumed the responsibility of building Lika without consulting with the local government, which eased the atmosphere of incompatibility with Nanchang officialdom in the past.

Zeng Guofan was planning to go to Guangxin Mansion according to the original plan, and when he joined Zhang Yunlan and Xiao Qijiang and went eastward to Zhejiang, he received an urgent order from Wubaili.The upper edict said that the situation in Zhejiang was a little bit weaker, and that Fujian Province was in a tight spot, so Zeng Guofan was ordered to lead his troops to divert to Fujian.After Zeng Guofan received the edict, he went from Fuzhou Mansion to Jianchang Mansion by water.Just as Zeng Guofan was on his way to Fujian, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng deliberately transferred away the troops in central Anhui, concentrated their superior forces back to the north of the Yangtze River, and defeated the Jiangbei camp in Dexing'a in the area from Wuyi to Jiangpu.Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua, who were marching into central Anhui, took advantage of this gap to win consecutive battles and captured Taihu Lake, Qianshan, Tongcheng, and Shucheng one after another.Xiang Yong, who had plundered the gold and silver treasures, was immersed in ecstasy.Where is the front of the lower infantry pointing?Go south to attack Anqing, or go north to attack Luzhou?Li Xubin wanted to garrison Shucheng temporarily, take a rest, and encircle Anqing after Bao Chaoting's battalion crossed the river.Zeng Guohua disagreed.

"Brother Di'an, the way to use troops is to take advantage of the situation. Now our army has conquered four cities in a row, and the army is in full swing. It is urgent to take advantage of the situation and go northward to conquer Luzhou. How can we rest our troops?" Zeng Guohua is arrogant by nature, and he loves great achievements. In the early years, he often suffered setbacks in leading troops, but he was still cautious and restrained. Recently, he took four cities lightly, so he thought that fighting with troops was nothing more than that. for dissatisfaction.Seeing that Li Xubin was still pondering, he continued to make a generous statement: "Luzhou is located in the middle of Anhui, and the city is large and rich. Most of the food and salaries from Anhui Province to Jiangning are transported by land through Luzhou, which is actually the western barrier of the old nest; and Today, Luzhou is the temporary provincial capital of Anhui Province, and its status is even more incomparable in the past. When Luzhou is recovered, the overall situation of Anhui Province is under control. It can be dispatched calmly in the center when going north to Fengyang and Yingzhou, and going south to Anqing and Chizhou. "

"Master Di has instructed us to encircle Anqing first in the Bahe boat, and the Spring Festival will cross the river soon, I think it is better to go south." Li Xubin is not good at words, and his words are far less hearty than Zeng Guohua's.He felt that although Zeng Guohua's words were reasonable, they were not very safe. "Brother Di'an." Zeng Guohua smiled and said disapprovingly, "Military opportunities change rapidly, which is unpredictable, and my elder brother has not instructed not to attack Luzhou. Our army is currently only 150 miles away from Luzhou, and 2 miles from Anqing. Two hundred and fifty miles. Anqing City is high and deep, and it is difficult to break through for a while. As a long-term plan, Luzhou is not as difficult as Anqing. In terms of today's situation, the success of going to Luzhou is worse than that of ten counties in Anhui Province. .”

What Zeng Guohua said made sense.In June, the acting governor Li Mengqun was killed, Luzhou fell, and the court was shocked.The new governor, Weng Tongshu, had to temporarily set up the governor's office in Shouzhou.The imperial court blamed Weng Tongshu for going down to Luzhou quickly, but Weng Tongshu was powerless to do so, and pinned all his hopes on Xiangyong.The recovery of Luzhou is naturally a lot of credit.But Li Xubin has another layer of concerns. "According to reports, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng are gathering in the Pukou and Liuhe areas to fight fiercely with the Jiangbei camp. If Luzhou is in danger, reinforcements will arrive within three to five days. If you fight Luzhou, you may not necessarily win.

"Brother Di'an, you are worrying too much." Zeng Guohua patted Li Xubin on the shoulder and said, "Chen and Li Erni surrounded Jiangbei Daying, aiming to solve the siege of Jiangning. It is precisely because Dexing'a held Chen and Li that we were able to You can go to Luzhou with peace of mind. You don’t have to hesitate any longer, just let him Dexinga work hard, let’s pick the ready-made fruit! The Manchus take advantage of us everywhere, and this time it’s our turn to take advantage of them.” After all, he laughed triumphantly.Zeng Guohua, as Zeng Guofan's direct brother, has always been regarded as a genius by his elder brother. Li Xubin could not persevere any longer, and thought: It is fine to return to Anqing after capturing Luzhou. Restoring the temporary provincial capital is, after all, a great achievement.

The 7,000 men led by Li Zeng were based on Luo Zenan's first battalion when Changsha built a large regiment, which was an elite division of Xiangyong.Along the way, the Taiping Army retreated without a fight. Li and Zeng were very happy.In the evening, Xiangyong was stationed in Jinniu Town.Tanma News: Forty miles ahead, outside Sanhe Town, Changmao has built nine new stone fortresses. In the town, food and grass are piled up like mountains, and there are countless weapons and armor. , want to fight to the death with Xiangyong here. Zeng Guohua rejoiced and said: "There is a severe shortage of food in central Anhui. It is said that human flesh is sold for 120 cents a catty. It is a godsend to our army that Changmao has accumulated a large amount of food here."

Li Xubin also said happily: "Sleep soundly tonight, and take down Sanhe in one go tomorrow morning." While the two were discussing, suddenly a person broke into the tent and shouted: "Marshal, you can't move forward, please retreat quickly!" When Zeng Guohua looked at it, he turned out to be a young scholar who barged in without being notified, and said angrily, "Who are you? Do you know where this is?" "Marshal." The man was not afraid, and said calmly, "Xiaosheng came here to tell you at the risk of death. According to reliable news, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng have defeated Dexing in Wuyi Town. The army was defeated, and now they are going against each other to enter Anhui, and Sanhe is a trap set by Chen and Li."

"The Jiangbei camp was defeated?" Li Xubin was shocked.The news made Li Xubin treat the visitor differently, and he hurriedly asked him to sit down and offered tea with his own soldiers.Li Xubin asked, "Your surname and name, how do you know that Dexing'a has been defeated by Chen and Li?" "Xiaosheng's surname is Zhao, his name is Liewen, his name is Huifu, and he is from Yanghu, Jiangsu. He came here from Quanjiao to visit friends this morning. I saw the Changmao vanguard troops in the county yesterday, and I heard from them that the army will arrive soon." "It doesn't matter, Sanhe is only sixty miles away from Luzhou. After we take Sanhe tomorrow, we will go northward at full speed. By the time the two thieves Chen and Li arrive at Luzhou, we will have already entered the city." Zeng Guohua didn't take this matter seriously. Take it seriously. "Marshal, this Sanhe Town is no different than other places. It is adjacent to Jiehe River and Mazha River in front, Chaohu Lake in the back, Baishi Mountain on the right, and Jinniu Ridge on the left. Entering Sanhe Town from the south, there is only one road on Jinniu Town. The locals call it The area around Sanhe town is a natural water hyacinth, and the mouth of the gourd is Jinniu Town, which is filled with half gourd water. This place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so Changmao stores grain, grass and equipment here so that it can be delivered to Luzhou and Jiangning at any time. Today Changmao Nine bases were built outside the town, and the guards were removed from Jinniu Town Avenue, in order to let the commander-in-chief's army enter the gourd mouth, please don't be fooled." "What do you think?" Zhao Liewen described the terrain around Sanhe Town in such detail that Li Xubin, who had led the army for many years, paid attention. "According to Xiaosheng's opinion, immediately go south from here, take advantage of the unpreparedness of Lujiang's thieves, and attack Lujiang City by surprise, and we will surely win the first battle." "Mr. Zhao, thank you for your kindness. Using troops to fight a war is no joke. Going north to Luzhou has been decided and cannot be changed. Please go back, Mr. Zhao!" While Li Xubin was thinking, Zeng Guohua impatiently issued an order to chase away the guests.Can a few words from a young man who has never met before change such a major goal?He was afraid that Li Xubin and Zhao Liewen would go on talking and be moved by Zhao's words.Zhao Liewen had no choice but to resign in embarrassment. "Scholars don't know about military tactics." Zeng Guohua said decisively to Li Xubin, "Water gourds and wine gourds, we have to pierce them. Brother Di'an, get up early tomorrow, and we will attack separately." Li Xubin didn't want to ruin the interest of the sixth master of Zeng's mansion, so he agreed to his plan. Wu Dinggui came to Sanhe half a month ago, and according to Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng's arrangement, he built nine stone barriers around the town.These days, the guards of Taihu, Qianshan, Tongcheng, and Shucheng who were ordered to let the city come to Sanhe one after another. When they learned that Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua had stationed in Jinniu Town, they all admired the ingenuity of the two generals Chen and Li. . In the middle of the night, Wu Dinggui sent flying cavalry to report this important military situation to Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng who had arrived in Quanjiao. Early the next morning, Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua led 7000 Xiangyongs and drove aggressively to Sanhe.After a day of fierce fighting, all nine stone barriers were broken.The stone base is full of gold, silver and wine, and everyone in Xiangyong is smiling. Zeng Guohua said triumphantly: "Long hair can only scare the timid and incompetent. That Zhao man has knowledge of military affairs, but is also cowardly and ignorant. Poor! Take down Luzhou City, I invite you to drink in Bao Xiaosu's ancestral hall How about three cups?" "I will accompany you!" Li Xubin also laughed happily. After that, for three consecutive days, Xiangyong launched a strong attack on Sanhe Town, but returned without success. It turned out that the Taiping army dug a moat eight feet wide and two feet deep in front of the town, connecting Mazha River to the west and Chaohu Lake to the east, and the moat was completely filled with water.Xiangyong's attack was suppressed by the artillery and crossbow across the river.Xiang Yong, who has won consecutive battles, is not discouraged. How many days can a moat last?Returning in vain during the day, eating and drinking as usual when returning to the camp at night, many people sneaked out of the barracks in the middle of the night with looted money, went to a nearby farmhouse, found a woman to sleep with for a night or two, and then took advantage of it. Come back to camp when it is dark.Everyone felt that this was very happy, and Ba had to stay in Sanhe Town for a few more days without a fight.Zeng Guohua also secretly started doing this.He seduces a young widow from a small restaurant on the outskirts of town.That woman is more beautiful and coquettish than his wives and concubines in the lotus leaf pond.Every night Zeng Guohua stayed in the hotel without telling Li Xubin, thinking about how to hide her in the barracks and take her away. At this time, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng led 120,000 people to march day and night, advancing step by step towards Sanhe.Wu Ruxiao, the guard general of Luzhou, joined Zhang Lexing, the leader of the Nian Army, and went south to block reinforcements that might come from the west of Anhui.When Tan Ma reported this serious situation to Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua, they woke up like a dream, but it was too late.On the one hand, Li Xubin quickly sent people to Huguang Governor Guan Wen for help, and asked the green battalion stationed in Luotian and Huangmei to come to help, while building fortifications, preparing for the battle.At this time, it happened that Hu Linyi returned home because of his mother's death. The official took Li Xubin's letter of appeal to his staff and made fun of him: "Xiangyong's famous general Jiujiang has been brought down. What is the little Sanhe?" So he didn't send a single soldier.Li Xubin was very disappointed, but also embarrassed to ask again with the cheek. The Taiping army set up a net around Baishishan, Luojiabu, and Beijiaguan, but they did not immediately attack Xiangyong.That night, Zeng Guohua couldn't hold back his longing for the widow of the restaurant. After the second watch, seeing no movement, he quietly slipped out of the barracks and got into the back door of the restaurant. Just after the third watch, autumn fog rose steeply on Jinniuling and Baishi Mountains.The fog was getting bigger and thicker. In an instant, from Jinniu Town to Sanhe Town, all the mountains and river houses on the ground within a radius of 30 to 40 miles disappeared in the night fog.At this time, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng began to close the big net that Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng had arranged for many days. Chen Yucheng led 70,000 people from Jinniu Town Avenue to Sanhe, Li Xiucheng led 50,000 people to turn over from Baishi Mountain, Wu Dinggui led 10,000 people from Sanhe Town to cross the moat, Wu Ruxiao and Zhang Lexing led 10,000 people from west to east .140,000 people from four groups surrounded 7,000 Xiangyong regiments on the outskirts of Sanhe Town from four directions.When the deafening sound of drums and horns woke up Li Xubin and Xiangyong from their sleep, what they were facing was an irreparable disaster.The Xiangyongs were panic-stricken, and their hearts were broken. Hundreds of people turned into headless ghosts in an instant.In the thick fog, even if the lanterns were turned on, people and objects more than ten steps away could not be seen. Li Xubin was anxious and hated.Zhou Guoyu ordered his subordinates to shout in unison: "Catch Li Xubin alive!" "Grab Li Yao's head, cramp and skin it, and take revenge!" In his panic, Li Xubin didn't bother to look for Zeng Guohua, and fled in a hurry with a sword in his hand. Zeng Guohua was sleeping in the widow's warm bed when he was suddenly awakened by a violent knock on the door: "Open the door, open the door! I'm going to smash it!" It turned out that these were several Taiping troops.A few days ago, they were still soldiers from the green battalion under Dexing'a. After the defeat of Wuyi Town, they surrendered to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They wanted to take advantage of the chaos to loot their homes and make some money.Zeng Guohua crawled out of bed and dressed quickly. The widow turned pale with fright and hugged him tightly.Zeng Guohua pushed the widow away and drew his sword. The door was thrown open.Among the torches, the soldiers saw Zeng Guohua's official uniform on the bedside and exclaimed, "This is a Qing demon!" "Still an official!" "Catch alive!" While speaking, several soldiers rushed forward.Zeng Guohua was a scholar after all, so how could he be their opponent.After only two or three blows, the sword was shot down and he was immediately captured alive.The soldiers shouted wildly, tied Zeng Guohua tightly with hemp rope, and pushed him out the door shouting.A soldier stared at the widow, reluctant to leave, and someone yelled outside the door: "Sexy! Want to fire a water cannon? If you don't go, you won't get the reward." The man walked up to the widow and pinched her hard on the face: "Little girl, let's have fun with you later." Zeng Guohua walked out of the door dejectedly, and heard the shouts of killing from all directions. He knew that the Taiping Army had launched an all-out attack. He regretted it and thought about how to escape. After the sun came out, the fog dissipated.Li Xubin took more than a hundred of his own soldiers and fled to a hill in a panic.Around the hillside, there were a sea of ​​Taiping soldiers and countless red, yellow, blue, white, and black flags waving in the wind. Li Xubin knew that he was doomed today, so he leaned against a tree with his head bowed and sighed in frustration.He regretted that he should not have listened to Zeng Guohua's ignorant and delusional opinions, regretted not taking Zhao Liewen's suggestion, hated the official document for not sending troops to rescue, and even more hated himself for being paralyzed and underestimated the enemy. He did not expect the enemy to steal camp in the foggy night. overwhelmed.In the three years since Xianfeng, the reputation of Sanxiang's famous generals won by hundreds of battles, large and small, will be wiped out, and Di division's plan to use troops to enter central Anhui will also be completely broken.At this time, Zhou Guoyu rushed up the mountain with a team and shouted: "The Qing demon under the tree is Li Xubin! If he is captured alive, he will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!" Before the words fell, hundreds of soldiers rushed up the mountain shouting.There were a few people from Savage Mountain who hated him so much that they shouted: "Catch Li Xubin, that son of a bitch!" "Rip this vicious dog into pieces!" The soldiers around Li Xubin rushed to meet the enemy.Both of Li Xubin's feet were injured. As soon as he took a step, the pain felt like a heart-pounding pain.Seeing that the Taiping Army was about to rush to the top of the mountain, Li Xubin gritted his teeth, took off his belt, knelt down and kowtowed three times to the north, then hung his belt on a tree branch, stepped on a stone slab, put his head into the belt loop, and followed his teacher Luo Zenan went. At noon, Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng successfully ended the Battle of Sanhe, which played a major role in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Seven thousand Xiangyongs were all buried in Sanhe Town except for two or three hundred who escaped by chance.