Wuxi in the Qing Dynasty divided Wuxi County and Jinkui County east and west two parts, the east of Jinkui County and Suzhou Province border, after Qiao Zhiqing captured Suzhou, the garrison of Jinkui County led 5,000 soldiers and horses to surrender, Qiao Zhiqing took advantage of the situation to incorporate these soldiers and horses, and sent the most elite left division of the Qing character army stationed here.Because Changzhou also gathered hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Taiping Army, Qiao Zhiqing did not have such a great appetite to swallow it in one gulp, so he gave up the capture of Wuxi County, leaving a strategic buffer zone between Suzhou and Changzhou.Changzhou's guards were also safe with Qiao Zhiqing, and there was no action to go south.After Li Xiucheng reorganized his troops in Changzhou, he sent troops to Wuxi County in one day, facing the Qing army in Jinkui County from a distance, and a big war was about to break out.Qiao Zhiqing summoned all the brigade commander-level generals of the Qingzi Army in the council hall, and introduced the current strategic situation to the generals, in the face of Li Xiucheng's 100,000-strong army, the generals were not too nervous, but all of them were excited, and they were all gearing up and discussing, and they couldn't wait to enter the battlefield immediately to fight with Li Xiucheng."
Let's talk about how this battle should be fought," Qiao Zhiqing smiled and waved his hand, telling the generals to calm down."
The owner can rest assured, more than 10,000 people in my former division have dug ditches and set up trenches in Jinkui City, and built a tight defense system, so that Li Xiucheng will not attack further."
Wang Shumao took the lead in standing up and expressing his position, his face full of incomparable confidence.Qiao Zhiqing smiled and looked around at the other generals in the room.Chen Bingwen hesitated and stood up, and analyzed, "Dashuai, the guard general of Changzhou is the protector Chen Kunshu, the last general has known him for a long time, this person is also a strong general in the Taiping Army, but he is good at defending the city, not good at attacking the city and plundering the land, if it weren't for Li Xiucheng sitting in the formation, I think Chen Kunshu would never dare to attack without authorization."
We should seize the opportunity this time to completely annihilate the forces of the Taiping Army, so that the war in southern Jiangsu will be completely quelled, and we can also drive straight up and take Nanjing. ”Now more than 10,000 soldiers and horses of the rear division have also completed training, and the Qing army in Suzhou City has reached more than 40,000 people, all of whom are young and strong men, equipped with foreign guns and cannons, and their combat effectiveness cannot find a second army in the Great Qing Dynasty, and they are completely confident in fighting any enemy."
Young master, give an order, my subordinates agree with Senior Commander Chen's opinion, but we must study a foolproof tactic, and we can't fight to the death with Li Xiucheng, and the result can only be a lose-lose situation."
Ma Xun was mainly responsible for the defense of Suzhou, and after listening to Chen Bingwen's idea, he stood up and agreed.Qiao Zhiqing smiled with satisfaction at the generals present, now that the Qing Zi Army has completed its training, its food and salary are sufficient, and its troops are strong and strong, its future strategy should also change from passive defense to active attack.Although Wang Shumao's defensive strategy is safe, it is too stable, and if it continues, the Qing army can only stay in this one-acre and three-point land in Suzhou.Qiao Zhiqing was in the middle of a meeting, when a guard suddenly came outside to spread the word, saying that there were several students from Huaxing Academy who wanted to meet Qiao Zhiqing.Huaxing Academy has been open for three months, because Qiao Zhiqing not only does not charge tuition, but also gives a subsidy of one or two pieces of silver to the scholars every month, so it has attracted a lot of poor students to study, and now the academy has more than 2,000 scholars, many scholars have achieved the fame of talent before entering the school."
Student" Qiao Zhiqing frowned and called the guards to bring them up."
The handsome man is above, please bow to the students."
Three young people walked in from outside the hall, clasping their fists at Qiao Zhiqing, wearing Xiucai's plain robes, all of them were full of scholarly spirit."
What's the name of a few of you?"
Qiao Zhiqing looked at him curiously, and saw that several of them were extraordinary, with sword eyebrows and big eyes, and they looked very handsome. ”"Tell the marshal, the student's name is Wu Tingfang.""
Yu Dashuai, the student's name is Zheng Guanying.""
Yu Dashuai, the student's name is Sheng Xuanhuai."
The three students reported their families, and they were all proud disciples of Feng Guifen, the dean of the college, and they emerged in the college a few months after the start of school, and were known as the "Three Heroes of Huaxing".Qiao Zhiqing was surprised and delighted, and he didn't know where Feng Guifen found these three people, they were all the backbone of the Westernization Movement, especially Sheng Xuanhuai, who was even more talented, and later became the housekeeper of Li Hongzhang's Beiyang faction, known as the "father of Chinese industry" and "father of Chinese business"."
Dashuai, the three of us heard that Li Xiucheng had committed a crime against me in Suzhou, and we worked out a set of strategies to deal with the enemy overnight, and asked the adults to take a look."
Wu Tingfang said the reason, took out a draft from his arms, and handed it to Qiao Zhiqing.The generals couldn't help laughing contemptuously when they looked at the three of them, and some people shouted, "Go down quickly, weak scholars, don't read and write well, and learn to fight." ”Wu Tingfang and Zheng Guanying were not ashamed or impatient, patiently waiting for Qiao Zhiqing's reply, only Sheng Xuanhuai had an arrogant face, and retorted to the general, "Since ancient times, heroes don't ask where they come from, looking at today, whether it is Zeng Dashuai of the Hunan Army, Zuo Dashuai, or Li Dashuai of the Huai Army, which is not a scholar leading the troops. ”The general was speechless by Sheng Xuanhuai's words, glared at him with a red face and stopped talking.Qiao Zhiqing finished reading the draft, which carefully outlined the strategic points in each place with a brush, and talked about the offensive and defensive steps at the beginning, if you don't consider the actual use of troops, this is a flawless tactic."
The three of you will stay, the commander will set up a staff department now, and the three of you will serve as operational staff officers in the staff department, and work with the commander to advise on the enemy's strategy."
Qiao Zhiqing made a temporary decision, these three people are talents, and it is a pity to be placed in the academy, just because there is still a lack of a few strategic staff officers around him, so he left the three of them by his side."
The student thanked the handsome."
The three of them hugged each other excitedly, they had long wanted to abandon literature and martial arts, go into battle to kill the enemy, and make meritorious contributions.However, he defected to several generals of the Hunan army, but they only acted as small staff, although they didn't know what position Qiao Zhiqing was talking about as an operational staff officer, but it sounded very high-level.Qiao Zhiqing dismissed the generals, asked everyone to prepare for defense, and waited for the new battle order, leaving only Wang Shumao, Ma Xun, and Chen Bingwen."
Wu Tingfang, you tell these three division commanders about the strategic ideas of the three of you."
Qiao Zhiqing handed the draft to Wang Shumao and the three of them to circulate."
Yes, Marshal."
Wu Tingfang walked to the topographic map and introduced to everyone, "Now that Li Xiucheng is leading an army of 100,000 to the south, according to the usual establishment of the Taiping Army, there are no more than 50,000 of these 100,000 people with combat effectiveness, and there are no more than 10,000 elite soldiers equipped with foreign guns among these 50,000 people. ”Wu Tingfang paused after speaking, looked at everyone's reactions, the three division commanders were full of curiosity, they didn't expect him to know a lot as a scholar, and smiled and motioned him to continue.Wu Tingfang pointed to the topographic map behind him and continued, "The students think that since Li Xiucheng came out of the empty nest and the defense of Changzhou is weak, we might as well send a division of troops from Taihu Lake to quickly intersperse between Yixing County and Wuxi County by water, and raid Changzhou, and at the same time let the defenders stationed in Jinkui County feign to retreat after Li Xiucheng attacked the city, and retreat to Suzhou, creating an illusion of victory for Li Xiucheng and luring him to continue to besiege Suzhou in the south.
Regardless of the head, we can attack from the north and south, and annihilate Li Xiucheng's 100,000 horses, Nanjing City is now besieged by the Hunan army, I am afraid that we will not dare to send troops to rescue, as long as we take Changzhou Mansion, Nanjing's door is wide open, we can drive straight in, and make immortal contributions. ”After Wu Tingfang finished speaking, the three division commanders were taken aback, and they also changed their views on these students and became a little admired."
According to what you said, if Li Xiucheng can't defend Jinkui County after taking it, wouldn't we give up Jinkui County in vain, let Li Xiucheng connect Changzhou and Wuxi, put a sharp knife on his head and one of our divisions of troops passing through Taihu Lake, why do you think that Li Xiucheng will not notice it, and quickly return to Changzhou, so that we not only do not raid Changzhou, but put ourselves in a situation where we are attacked by the enemy."
Wang Shumao expressed his doubts.Wu Tingfang and the three of them were speechless when asked by Wang Shumao, they never thought about these questions, and always took it for granted that Li Xiucheng also had to make this decision.Chen Bingwen quite admired Wu Tingfang's suggestion, and the strategic idea in his heart was similar to Wu Tingfang's, but Wang Shumao's question was not solved for the time being, so he was silent and had nothing to say."
Let me sum it up," Qiao Zhiqing looked at Wu Tingfang and the three of them with appreciation, stood up, walked to the topographic map, and continued to speak, "I probably understand what Tingfang means, one is to surprise attack Changzhou, one is to drag Li Xiucheng back and forth, and the other is to attack back and forth to completely eliminate this Taiping army in Changzhou."
I also thought about Brother Wang's concerns, the people of Suzhou City have just gone through the war, and everything is waiting to be rebuilt, and we must not bring the disaster of war to Suzhou again, so I agree with Brother Wang's opinion, we must stick to Jinkui City, and we must not use Suzhou as bait. ”After Qiao Zhiqing finished speaking, Wu Tingfang and the others were slightly disappointed, and their eyes were full of unwillingness."
But" Qiao Zhiqing deliberately lengthened his accent and continued, "Since Li Xiucheng took the initiative to attack, we can't just cheapen him for nothing, not only to fight, but also to finish his work in one battle, and completely quell the disaster on the battlefield in southern Jiangsu."
We have to find a way to make Jinkui County a bait bigger than Suzhou, so that King Li Zhong can't break free after biting it. ”"What kind of bait can make Li Xiucheng give up the back road and fall into a situation of two-line attack" Wang Shumao frowned and looked at Qiao Zhiqing in thought."
This marshal has his own arrangements, you will act according to Ting Fang's suggestions, and Wang Shumao will obey the order" Qiao Zhiqing smiled and gave a military order."
The last general" "ordered you to take the left division and an artillery battalion of the special operations brigade to hold Jinkui City, even if you have the advantage, you must not take the initiative to attack." ”"The last will obey."
Wang Shumao clenched his fists and took the order."
Chen Bingwen listened.""
The last general" "ordered you to take a former division and an artillery battalion of the special operations brigade across Taihu Lake to raid Changzhou." ”"The last will obey."
Chen Bingwen clenched his fists and took the order."
Ma Xun listens to orders.""
The end will be.""
I order you to take the middle division to defend the city of Suzhou to the death, and strictly prevent the Taiping Army from sending surprise soldiers to raid.""
The last will obey."
Ma Xun clenched his fists and took his life.Wu Tingfang and the three of them looked at Qiao Zhiqing's well-organized handsome demeanor, and couldn't help but be secretly happy in their hearts, glad that they had finally found the right person, but in what way did Qiao Dashuai make Li Xiucheng desperately besiege Jinkui County: