Because the Huaxing army has blocked all checkpoints, it will take at least a week to enter Beijing from Shaanxi.Although Luo Bingzhang had played many times to the imperial court before the war, the strategic goal of the imperial court has always been in Shandong.After all, Shaanxi is far away from Beijing, and if Shandong's problem is not solved, Cixi will not be able to sleep well in Beijing.Qiao Zhiqing meant to solve Shaanxi as quickly as possible, so he used the Sixth Route Army.It was also the first time that more than 200,000 soldiers and horses were mobilized to fight after the establishment of the Huaxing Army.For the first time, Luo Bingzhang felt hopeless, this kind of pressure was not the kind of confrontation with equal strength when facing the Taiping Army.In the face of Huaxingjun's absolute strength, no matter how clever he came up with a plan, it would be useless.The only extravagant hope now is to hold on for a while and wait for the rescue of the imperial court.The three key targets of this attack on Shaanxi were Xi'an City in Guanzhong, Hanzhong City in southern Shaanxi, and Xiangyang City in Hubei.After the battle began, the two armies of the Sichuan Military Region crossed the Yangtze River with the assistance of the South China Sea Fleet.The Yangtze River, which Luo Bingzhang had worked so hard to build on the other side, was instantly bombed into scum under the salvo of the South China Sea Fleet's medium artillery.The Taiyuan Military Region dispatched the Right Army and the New First Army, and the Left Army remained in Shanxi to garrison.With the assistance of the Navy's thousand-ton warships, the Yellow River was also successfully crossed.The first vicious battle is the attack, known as the first pass in the world, Tongguan.Tongguan is located in the eastern part of the Guanzhong Plain, and is located in the key places of Qin, Jin and Henan provinces.There are Qinling Mountains in the south, and Wei and Luo Erchuan in the north will be hugged down by the Yellow River.It is close to Huayue in the west, there is a forbidden valley in the southeast, and there are 12 cities in the south of the valley.The surrounding mountains are mountainous, and the peaks are peaks and peaks.The valley is deep and the cliffs are extreme, and the mountains are high and the roads are narrow.There is a narrow sheep intestine path in the middle of the road, and only one car and one horse can be allowed to go back and forth.After Du Fu left Tongguan, he also issued, "The Zhangren regards the important places, narrow and narrow bicycles, difficult and long-lasting, and uses a husband for eternity." ”of emotion.Luo Bingzhang deployed 20,000 elite descendants brought out of Sichuan here, and more than 100 breech guns were also deployed on the city wall.After the offensive began, the Right Army and the New First Army were not stupid enough to rely on manpower to take the city.Instead, let the thousand-ton warships in the Yellow River and ten main guns fire a salvo at the city wall.It was hard to tear two or three openings in the city wall, which was several kilometers wide.Then the fire of the walls was suppressed with mortars, and then the infantry attacked.The defenders who cleared the customs were almost dumbfounded, and they had never seen such a ferocious firearm.It's like holding a bow and arrow, going to fight with the foreign devil's foreign gun.Although it is now equipped with foreign guns, in the face of the overwhelming firepower of the Huaxing army, it is no different from a bow and arrow.Before I saw the figure of the Huaxing army, the city wall was blown to pieces, and I hurriedly withdrew to Tongguan County.Luo Bingzhang originally planned to hold on to the Tongguan natural danger for three months, but now it took only one day to be completely taken by the Huaxing army.This is not the most headache for Luo Bingzhang, at least after Tongguan, there is still a section of mountainous land between Weinan and Tongguan that can be defended.But in the northwest of Shaanxi, there was also a Huaxing army of soldiers and horses from Tongchuan City south.Tongchuan to Xi'an City is a flat river, only more than 100 miles, and it can be reached by a rapid march for three days.Luo Bingzhang arranged troops all the way, fully deployed more than 60,000 soldiers and horses, and the company camp was dozens of miles long.This army was the new 11th Army and the New 12th Army of the Lanzhou Military Region, and the New Second Army, as an old army, remained in Gansu to prevent attacks by the Hui.More than 60,000 people on both sides, more than 60,000 people on both sides.Originally, Luo Bingzhang's team did not have any advantage, and the breakthrough was equal to the Huaxing army in terms of numbers.The two armies were connected, and the Huaxing army was almost swept away by the breeze all the way, attacking the city and pulling out the village, and winning successive battles.Luo Bingzhang's Shaanxi army was defeated and retreated all the way, and only stopped when it retreated to Sanyuan County.Sanyuan County is located between Tongchuan City and Xi'an City, and is the northern gate of Xi'an City.If Sanyuan County is lost again, the Huaxing army will directly come to the city.If Xi'an is besieged, it will be difficult to send out both military orders and material supplies.The other cities will become lonely cities and be broken by the Huaxing army.Cai Guangyuan, the leading general of Sanyuan County, also decided to defend the city to the death and repay Luo Bingzhang for his kindness.Before the battle, let his subordinates put the coffins on the county office.When the Huaxing army occupied the city for more than 20 miles, a military letter suddenly came from Xi'an City.Luo Bingzhang ordered all the soldiers and horses to return to Xi'an, not wanting to make any more senseless sacrifices.In just three days, the Lanzhou Military Region took Sanyuan County, and then pressed on the city of Xi'an, which was only more than 20 miles away.The two-way army of the Taiyuan Military Region also made rapid progress, successively capturing the county towns of Tongguan and Huayin, and approaching the city of Weinan Prefecture.Weinan Mansion is the west gate of Xi'an City, and after the loss of Sanyuan County, the soldiers stationed in Weinan Mansion are also panicked.Luo Bingzhang also did not let them defend to the death, and gave the order to retreat, so that they all withdrew to Xi'an City.A week later, the Lanzhou Military Region of the Huaxing Army and the Fourth Route Army of the Taiyuan Military Region met in front of Xi'an City and achieved the first phase of the combat mission.The two-way army of the Sichuan Military Region also approached the city of Xiangyang and Hanzhong without any suspense.The defense system that Luo Bingzhang worked so hard to build took only a week to leave only three lonely cities.As soon as the military newspaper on the front line of the Nanjing Presidential Palace came back, Wei Ziyou sent it to Qiao Zhiqing.Qiao Zhiqing didn't have much surprise about the battle situation, according to the deduction of the Ministry of Defense on the sand table.The Sixth Route Army took Shaanxi, and it was only half a month at most.The first stage is to clear the strongholds outside the three main cities, and the second stage is to attack the three main cities."
Brother Qiao, Lord Zuo Zongtang has been waiting outside the door for a long time, do you want to let him in" When Qiao Zhiqing finished reading the military report and handed it to Wei Ziyou, Wei Ziyou suddenly remembered that there was a military commander standing outside the door."
I almost forgot, please invite Lord Zuo in" Qiao Zhiqing patted his head, just now the Shaanxi military report came, so he asked Zuo Zongtang to wait in the lobby for a while."
Yes" Wei Ziyou smiled sweetly, put the documents in his briefcase, bowed, and went out with small steps."
Zuo Jigao greets the president," Zuo Zongtang clasped his fists and saluted as soon as he entered the door."
Brother Ji, sit down.Recently, I have been busy with official business, and I have neglected you. ”Qiao Zhiqing smiled, beckoned Zuo Zongtang to take a seat in the guest seat, and filled a bowl of tea each."
Where is the president, time is pressing, and his subordinates will not spare him.This time, he came to Nanjing to ask the president to send his subordinates to Shaanxi. ”Zuo Zongtang clenched his fists and anxiously asked Qiao Zhiqing for his life."
Shaanxi" Qiao Zhiqing frowned, and asked puzzledly, "Brother Ji Gao has just made great contributions in Thailand and Malaysia, why don't you take a good rest, what to do in Shaanxi This battle against Shaanxi does not need to be done by your Yunnan-Guizhou Military Region." ”"The president misunderstood, his subordinates didn't come to ask for war.The subordinates wanted to go to Shaanxi as a private person to persuade Luo Bingzhang to lay down his arms and surrender. ”Zuo Zongtang pleaded sincerely with a face."
Brother Ji, you are now the commander of the Yunnan-Guizhou Military Region, don't be rash.The battle situation in Shaanxi is undecided, if you take the risk of going, I am afraid that your life will be in danger" Qiao Zhiqing's eyebrows tightened, not knowing why Zuo Zongtang was so nervous."
The president's subordinates understand it, but the subordinates have to go there if they are reasonable.The president didn't know that Luo Bingzhang was the mentor of his subordinates.If it weren't for Luo Bingzhang's discernment and knowledge of gold, my subordinates would probably still be studying in the countryside of Hunan.The friendship between teachers and students, the subordinates have to be full, and the president is also asked to fulfill it. ”Zuo Zongtang said what was in his heart, and clenched his fists and pleaded again."
That's it" Qiao Zhiqing thought about it carefully, the historical Zuo Zongtang was indeed discovered by Luo Bingzhang.This Zuo Zongtang is really a loving and righteous person, he usually doesn't smile, and he can really stand up when it is critical."
President, just let me try.If we can solve the problem peacefully, our two armies will be of Han blood, and there will be less bloodshed and sacrifice. ”Zuo Zongtang pleaded in a deep voice for the last time."
Well, since Brother Ji Gao insists on going, then President Ben has nothing to say.You go to the commander of the navy, Huang Wenzhong, and ask him to give you a special ironclad ship and take a boat.But you'd better move quickly, Xi'an City will last a week at most. ”Qiao Zhiqing didn't want to persuade him anymore, Zuo Zongtang grew up studying Confucianism since he was a child, and he attached great importance to the friendship between teachers and students in his bones.But Qiao Zhiqing knew Luo Bingzhang, he was loyal to the Qing Dynasty and would not easily make up his mind to surrender.The Xi'an City Wall is the third largest city wall in China, after Beijing City and Nanjing City.Historically, after the expansion of Zhu Yuanzhang, a huge city defense system with a circumference of 134 kilometers has been formed.The wall is 12 meters high, 14 meters wide at the top, and 18 meters wide at the bottom.There are four main city gates: the east gate of Changle Gate, the south gate of Yongning Gate, the west gate of Anding Gate, the north gate of Anyuan Gate, and four main city gates.Luo Bingzhang transferred all the surrounding soldiers and horses back to the county seat, and stationed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Xi'an area.It only took a week, and when they were withdrawn to Xi'an, there were only more than 60,000 people left.At this time, the small ironclad ship ordered by Qiao Zhiqing came in handy, and it went straight up the canal waterway.Directly in the moat outside Xi'an, lined up, the muzzles of the guns were aimed at the city wall of Xi'an.The water system of Xi'an City at this time is still very developed, and there is a saying that eight rivers surround Chang'an.So it was originally to defend the moat of the infantry, but at this time it became a helper for the Huaxing army's attack.There are hundreds of artillery pieces in each direction of the Xi'an city wall, but the accuracy is generally not high.In the era of cold weapons, it was only designed to deal with crowd tactics.At this time, after the warships of the Huaxing army sailed over, the artillery of the city wall also roared, and the dense cannonballs flew towards the moat with a "whoosh".The warships of the Huaxing Army immediately returned fierce fire, although they were small warships, but the firepower of the equipment was not weak at all.The main cannon is the Commander Breaker's cannon, one each equipped at the bow and stern.There were also ten small-caliber rapid-fire guns on either side of the ship.The ship's main and tail guns are already equipped with rotating bases, which can also be reversed in direction and angle at will.The breech guns on the ramparts were completely covered by the ensuing shells from the moat after only one round
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