A few days after Li Hongzhang received Qiao Zhiqing's reply, the Qing army began to launch an offensive against Zhejiang.The battle unfolded simultaneously from the east and west directions of Jiaxing and Huzhou, which were also at the forefront of Zhejiang's offensive.When the battle began, Li Hongzhang deployed 200,000 troops near the two places.There were three times as many as the Qing army, but it still used the old-style strategy of defending the city.Send troops to set up strongholds outside the city walls and defend the city to the death.Qiao Zhiqing's reply to Li Hongzhang was also very simple, the letter wrote, "Teacher, although you are called a brother, the students really dare not commit it.At the beginning, the student was just a small trader in Shanxi, and thanks to your perseverance, the student was included in your command.Now, two years later, the students have not forgotten your kindness.But since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety cannot be both, students respect you, but it does not mean that students let our Han descendants continue to become slaves of the Manchu Tartars.Now it is imperative to kill the Manchus.If the teacher puts down the knife and gun, the student and you will still treat each other as a teacher-student friendship.If the teacher insists on going his own way and continues to be a lackey for the Manchus, then the students and you will only see each other.Sincerely, respects.Qiao Zhiqing. ”On the same day that the Qing army launched an attack on the Huai army, the Suzhou Daily published Qiao Zhiqing's reply to Li Hongzhang.The Han people in the world all applauded, and under the leadership of the Huaxing League in various parts of the Yangtze River, armed uprisings of various scales broke out in an instant.The Huaxing Party, which Qiao Zhiqing had cultivated in Suzhou, had also officially come to the fore in various places, and most of them had achieved leadership positions in the gangs.The gangs in the rivers and lakes that joined the Huaxing League were also controlled by the Huaxing Party at this time, and gradually gathered from the original scattered sand and became a political force that could not be ignored.Because Huang Wenzhong's navy deployed two large warships of 7,000 tons and more than a dozen small ships of 1,000 tons in Taihu Lake, the Huai army could not pose any threat to Taihu Lake at all.Zhang Zongyu's new army on the western front also rushed straight south without any scruples, as long as Taihu Lake was in the hands of the Qing army, the logistical supply line could provide a steady stream of materials.By the time Li Hongzhang discovered this problem, the New First Army had already attacked near Deqing County between Huzhou and Hangzhou.The military newspapers in front of the Shanghai county government have been continuously transmitted to Shanghai, because Chen Bingwen strictly guards the official roads in Shanghai, and Shanghai has gradually lost contact with the outside world.Li Hongzhang was preparing to rush to the base camp in Hangzhou with Zhou Fu, and there was no way to enjoy peace and quiet in Shanghai."
Dashuai, Qiao Zhiqing really turned his face with the imperial court, and the current situation is very unfavorable to us."
Zhou Fu looked at the topographic map, studied the military situation in various places, and the wrinkles on his forehead were curled up in one place."
Yes, the Qingzi Army can defeat even the combined fleet of foreigners, so you can imagine how advanced their weapons are.Although we have some advantages in numbers, we are far inferior to the Qingzi Army in terms of combat effectiveness. ”Li Hongzhang was also worried, reading the military newspapers from all over the country one by one, staring and pondering."
Marshal, please look here, the Qingzi Army is so prosperous, and it is not completely without weaknesses."
Zhou Fu brought the topographic map to Li Hongzhang, and there was a glimmer of hope on his face."
Let's talk about it."
Li Hongzhang was also full of urgency, and looked up and down at the topographic map."
Yesterday, I just received a report from Wu Changqing, who was stationed in Deqing County, saying that the vanguard of the Qing character army had been discovered fifty miles north of the city.The Qing army dared to cross the Taihu Lake so blatantly, relying on the control of the Taihu Lake by their naval army.The discipline of the Qing army has always been strict, and everything in military supplies must rely on the allocation of logistics.If we take control of Taihu Lake, then we will cut off the logistical supply of the Qing army, and the Qing army will inevitably be in chaos without a fight. ”Zhou Fu gestured left and right with some excitement and said the strategy in his heart."
This" Li Hongzhang stared at the topographic map for a while, and asked with some disappointment, "The naval forces of the Qingzi Army are well-equipped, all of them are ironclad warships of more than 5,000 tons, how can we capture the Lower Taihu Lake?"
"Have you forgotten that the British still have two warships stationed in the port of Shanghai, as well as the Qichang Steamship Company founded by Qichang Foreign Company in Shanghai, which is enough for us to use twenty or thirty cargo ships of more than 1,000 tons.We are now in the same boat as the foreigners, and if they help us take Taihu Lake, they will definitely not refuse. ”Zhou Fu explained with confidence, which made Li Hongzhang's eyes brighten up a lot for a while."
Okay, this plan is very good, as long as the supply of the Qing army is cut off, we will let them go in Zhejiang and have no return."
Li Hongzhang breathed a sigh of relief, and after reviewing the military reports of the various armies, he asked his soldiers to prepare a carriage and rushed towards the concession.Qiao Zhiqing in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province also closely checked the progress of the matter in front of the topographic map, and after the Qing army sent troops to Zhejiang, the Qing army deployed in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River finally made a move.Jiangbei's monk Lin Geqin had already marched rapidly eastward from Xinyang Mansion in Henan.Now it has rushed to Yangzhou Mansion, and Feng Zicai, who is stationed in Zhenjiang City, is only a river away from Jiangnan.Rong Lu, who was stationed in Wuchang in Jiangnan, also led a large army to the east, aiming directly at Chen Yucheng, who was stationed in Anqing Mansion.Rong Lu naturally also knows the military status of Anqing Mansion, as long as he takes Anqing Mansion, it is equivalent to taking the west gate of Nanjing.After the imperial court ushered in the queen mother of the two palaces to listen to the government again, it once again gathered the forces of all parties.However, the only soldiers and horses that can be mobilized by the imperial court now are Seng Lin Geqin and Rong Lu.The rest of the Han regimental training armaments are also yang and yin, and they are passive and on standby.Qiao Zhiqing fought with the imperial court without declaring war, and the first to bear the brunt was the Wang Shijie garrison of Taiyuan Mansion.As soon as the Qing army and the Huai army started in Jiangnan, Wang Shijie tore his face with the Eight Banners Army opposite the city and sent troops to occupy the city of Taiyuan Mansion.The Eight Banners fled in a hurry, and the governor of Shanxi, Hafen, was killed on the spot.The arrogant and domineering Eight Banners disciples in the city encountered a catastrophe at this time.The Han people in the city have been oppressed by these Manchus for a long time, and they have long been dissatisfied.On the second day after the Eight Banners Army was driven out of Taiyuan, the Han people spontaneously organized themselves in the city, picked up knives and sticks, and encircled and suppressed the Manchus.Wang Shijie maintained a neutral position and allowed the people to vent their emotions wantonly.When the Manchus entered the customs and killed thousands of Han people, now the blood debt of the ancestors is repaid by these grandsons, which is also a matter of course.The news of the Taiyuan mutiny soon spread to the imperial court, and no matter how loud the Jiangnan was in trouble, it was far from the imperial court.But Taiyuan is different, he is the gateway to Gyeonggi, and there must be no mistakes.As soon as Wang Shijie took Taiyuan Mansion, a storm was set off in the court, and everyone became frightened.Because from Taiyuan to Beijing, the rapid march took only ten days.The imperial court immediately issued an edict and strictly ordered Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, and Yuan Jiasan, the governor of Henan, to send troops to recruit the Taiyuan anti-thieves.Wang Shijie was not the commander of the new Second Division for a long time, in fact, when Wang Shijie was fighting for Changzhi's return to the army, he marched all the way to Taiyuan, and he continued to accept displaced people and accept drills along the way.He knew that the expansion of the new Second Division would be a matter of time, and sure enough, Qiao Zhiqing sent him a secret letter about the expansion of armaments more than a month ago.This is in line with Wang Shijie's appetite, and Qiao Zhiqing can prepare three armies for him at once.Because of the support of Shanxi's ticket number, Wang Shijie does not have to worry about the problem of salary at all.It only took half a month to prepare more than 100,000 troops, and Qiao Zhiqing also transported 150,000 expeditionary rifles to him from Nanjing at the same time.Wang Shijie trained the army in Taiyuan Mansion for half a month, in fact, Shanxi Governor Hafen also knew it, but he always held the mentality that more is better than less, and acquiesced in Wang Shijie's expansion in Taiyuan.In the end, this mediocre official also paid the price of blood, and he ruled in Shanxi for more than ten years.In addition to blindly conniving at his subordinates to buy and sell officials, he did not make any contribution to Shanxi.Because the Nanjing Iron and Steel Works had not yet produced profits, Qiao Zhiqing had to keep the waterways between Taiyuan and Nanjing open to transport steel and coal.This canal is also firmly controlled by the navy of the Qing army, where can a combat fighting naval army be produced in those arid and rainless lands in the north of the Yangtze River.At most, the armies along the way were equipped with cargo ships made of wood, and when the ironclad warships of the navy bombarded them, no one dared to come and provoke them.Wang Shijie's task is also to protect the safety of Taiyuan Iron and Steel Plant for the time being.Wait for the situation to develop, and then make plans.The army of 100,000 people had just finished training, and Wang Shijie naturally had no desire to send troops.Although there is a daily live firing without counting ammunition, after all, there are many people, and it always takes a certain amount of time to run in."
Taiyuan, Anqing, Yangzhou, Jiaxing, Deqing County."
Qiao Zhiqing looked at the topographic map, and marked these combat areas with red ink while reading silently."
Brother Qiao, you really look like a monkey in Journey to the West, who has turned the Qing Dynasty upside down."
Yan Yuting sorted out the military newspaper for him on the side, and laughed at him a few times.Her belly has been getting bigger and bigger recently, and she has also begun to hand over the work of Firefox to Wei Ziyou to deal with.She is used to doing things, and she can't sit still at first, so she helps him sort out official documents in Qiao Zhiqing's study every day, and has nothing to do to joke with him."
It would be nice if our Nanjing Iron and Steel Plant could train steel now.In this way, I can draw out a part of the technical backbone in the Jiangnan Military Factory and send it to Taiyuan.If a military factory is set up in Taiyuan, there is no need to travel between the two places to provide logistical supplies for Wang Shijie in Jiangbei. ”Qiao Zhiqing looked at the topographic map and sighed, it was too early for all this to come.However, the court will not let him mess around, if he doesn't do it in advance, the court will take the lead.Qiao Zhiqing did not send troops to the Huai army for no reason, because the news analysis from the fire fox in the palace kept coming, and the imperial court had made up its mind to deploy troops to encircle and suppress the Qing army.Originally, Qiao Zhiqing's plan was to declare war on the Qing court after the beginning of spring.It's just because Li Hongzhang feels more and more the pressure brought by the Qingzi Army.Therefore, he constantly exposed Qiao Zhiqing's rebellious actions to the court, and every act of Qiao Zhiqing in Jiangsu was a major crime, and the reason why the court tolerated it was because there was still Zeng Guofan's Hunan army that needed to be balanced.Now that the Hunan army has been driven to Yunnan by Rong Lu, the Qing army has become a thorn in the side of the imperial court, and it is natural to eradicate it as soon as possible.Since Li Hongzhang wants to take the initiative to eliminate the Qing army, the imperial court is happy to see it.Usually, it is common for these Han armed forces to refuse to listen to the dispatch, and the court wishes that they would fight to the death, and then reap the benefits of the fisherman
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