I am rich in martial arts, but choose culture to win

But this poem Linjiang Xian by Yang Shen is definitely a wonderful line rarely seen in ancient and modern times.

Riding on a not so tall Jiangnan horse, the 55-year-old Zuo Zongtang looked at the Yangtze River heading east, and then looked back at the troops with low morale that stretched for several miles. He couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

Although the amount of money given for this trip is very high, but as the march goes on, it is inevitable that the spirit will be worn down.

The old soldiers from Hunan in the army are fine, and some newly recruited Zhejiang people have already begun to look for opportunities to slip away.

A place like Hangjia Lake is indeed not a good source of soldiers.

The group of Jiangdong tigers and wolves who followed the overlord of Western Chu to the west had smoothed their spirits in the gentle hometown for thousands of years.

But... there are exceptions.

"Marshal, are you really not going to fight Ezhou?"

A fat general with a body like an iron tower, tall and fat, but with a bald forehead, held the reins aside, and asked a little angrily, "That guy Li Henian can escape quickly, or the poor monk will have to pluck his feathers!"

Zuo Zongtang glanced at the fierce general who was accidentally discovered in Hangzhou by his side, and said with a smile: "Brother Bai, this trip to the Western Regions is far from a thousand miles away. If we continue to fight one city at a time, even if we fight for ten years, we will not be able to reach Loulan." !"

The fierce general was captured by Zuo Zongtang when he broke through the troops of Huang Wenjin, a Taiping remnant in Huzhou.

It is said that he is a monk who has returned to lay life, and he refused to reveal his Dharma name, only saying that his surname is Bai, and everyone calls him Master Bai.

Master Bai claimed that he wanted to kill the Tartars to avenge his righteous brother and son-in-law, so he joined the Taiping Army.

Zuo Zongtang saw that he was tall and fat, not only his arms were strong, but also he was good at making bird guns, and he was also familiar with the art of war, so he naturally loved his talents.

When Huang Wenjin was broken, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang had already reached an alliance, and they had long been rebellious.

After having a heart-to-heart relationship with Master Bai, the latter joined the Chu army, and made a lot of contributions in the past two years.

But the strange thing is, before this master Bai clamored all day long to avenge his son-in-law, but since he joined Zuo Zongtang's staff and heard about the Emperor Ming, especially after seeing the photo of him and his two concubines, The whole person's complexion seemed to darken a lot.

In short, these are all insignificant things. Now Master Bai and Liu Songshan are Zuo Zongtang's right-hand men in the military, just like Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and Liu Bei, they trust each other very much.

"We can no longer walk along the river. Ezhou, Chengtangguan and other places in front of us are all fortresses built to guard against the Cantonese bandits...to guard against the Taiping Army. Go around south of Liangzi Lake."

Zuo Zongtang glanced at the river again, "Brother Bai, the old man has received an edict from the Emperor Ming, saying that he will send troops to meet us at the Wuchang waterway, and there will be some supplies for us at that time, so we should send troops now." Speed ​​is what counts.”

"Humph!"

Master Bai snorted coldly, and muttered in a low voice, "How can a person with a heartless heart really have such a good intention?"

"Be careful!"

Zuo Zongtang helplessly covered his forehead.

I am courageous enough, but this old brother Bai is even more courageous.

But that young emperor really makes people feel uneasy...

By the way, I can no longer be called the Son of Heaven, but should be called the Heavenly Father...

Heavenly Father...

To be honest, Zuo Zongtang really didn't like the word "Heavenly Father" after fighting with Changmao for more than ten years.

I heard that Zhu Fugui bombarded the sky and ordered it to rain. This is why the courtier asked us to overstep.

In Zuo Zongtang's mind, this must be just like Hong Yang's magic spell.

If it was normal, I would definitely reprimand him angrily!

But now I can't bring myself to feel this way.

Two months ago, the Great Salt Lake Artemia Plant was put into production, and the first stock dividend of the Central Railway has been converted into cash and paid out...

Of course, this is not the main thing.

Zuo Zongtang swears that he is not greedy for money at all, nor does he love money!

What really moved Zuo Zongtang was that Zhu Fugui actually declared war on Tsarist Russia and invited him to send troops to the Western Regions.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Zuo Zongtang found that he had a sense of confidant for that little emperor.

In fact, Zuo Zongtang had long wanted to fight the Western Regions.

As early as the first year of Tongzhi, one year before Zhu Fugui came to this world, that is, in 1862 AD, He Mingtang, Ma Shengyan, Ma Zhenhe, Bai Yanhu in Shaanxi, Ma Zhaoyuan and Ma Hualong in Ningxia took advantage of the Taiping Army and the Nian Army to enter Shaanxi. The opportunity to launch a rebellion.

Yang Yuebin, Governor of Gansu and Shaanxi, was powerless to suppress, so he could only stick to Xi'an and other important towns.

Historically, in 1866, that is, last year, Zuo Zongtang went to the Qing court, preparing to lead the army to quell the chaos.

Later, for some reason, it was postponed until 1868, and Zuo Zongtang finally entered Shaanxi as the new governor of Gansu and Shaanxi to quell the chaos.

However, the Qing government has never allowed any hostility to the bigger pushers behind this rebellious force, the Kokand Khanate and the Tsarist Russian Empire, which occupy Central Asia.

Even the commander of the Kokand Khanate's Akemejit Fortress, Akuba, invaded southern Xinjiang and established himself as a Great Khan, and the founding of the "Hongfu Khanate" fell on deaf ears.

In the end, when Tsarist Russia directly sent troops to occupy Ili, together with Zuo Zongtang, Wang Wenshao and other forces advocated, this finally forced the Qing court to make up its mind, and there was a scene of "Huxiang children all over Tianshan".

It can be said that the beginning of Zuo Zongtang's recovery of the Western Regions was the Ganshan Rebellion, but now, Zhu Fugui and Daming have replaced the Qing court and become Zuo Zongtang's reliance to carry the coffin into Xinjiang.

But to be honest, Zuo Zongtang didn't know whether Daming's backer was reliable, whether Zhu Fugui's thighs were thick enough, and the 13 Chu soldiers and [-] civilian husbands were even more uncertain.

In history, Zuo Zongtang was appointed by the Qing court as the governor of Ganshan and Shaanxi to suppress the rebellion.

There are allocations from the imperial court on the top, and supplies of grain and grass materials from various prefectures and counties on the bottom. The conditions are far from what they are now.

Now on this road, the Chu army is not only a guest army, but also an enemy army in many cases.

Liu Kunyi, the governor of Jiangxi, was fine. He made friends with Zuo Zongtang and allocated food and supplies, but he just prevented the Chu army from entering the city.

But when we reached the border of Hubei, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Li Henian, governor of Hubei at this time, was from Fengtian, Liaoning, and was the most important bridgehead installed by the Qing court in the Yangtze River Basin.

Together with the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Yehenara Ruilin from the Zhenglan Banner of Manchuria, one south and one north, they became the last force of the Manchu Qing to restrain Zuo and Li in the south and ensure that ambiguous Han officials like Liu Kunyi maintained nominal obedience .

The Chu army came from afar, and Li Henian wanted to have a meeting with Zuo Zongtang in Yangxin County.

But who knows, the Chu army came down with three drums and killed all of Li Henian's troops, even Huangshi was lost.

Chapter 460

After the victory in the first battle, Zuo Zongtang was unwilling to make more troubles. He wanted to bypass Ezhou and continue northward after he robbed Huangshi.

But who would have thought that Li Henian was also a ruthless person, and actually started to fortify the walls and clear the wild from the north of Ezhou.

Although it was due to the hasty layout, in fact, Qing Ye was not so clean.

The mud legs in the suburbs have not had time to go up the mountain, and there are still a lot of food reserves in the village.

But Zuo Zongtang was unwilling to take the grain.

Zuo Zongtang's army is said to be the Chu army, but it basically has nothing to do with Hubei.

The old background of the Chu army is from Hunan, plus a small number of recruits from Zhejiang and Fujian, so there is no psychological burden to rob in Hubei.

Before breaking Huangshi, Zuo Zongtang came to a copying operation.

Soldiers pass like a grate, and of course the Chu army also has the disadvantages of the old warlords.

If the Chu army really had the ability to be as immovable as a mountain army, Zhu Fugui would not be able to sleep.

Besides, this time they are going to the Western Regions to do work, which is not what a modest gentleman can do. They are not ruthless enough, and it is impossible to succeed.

It's just that Zuo Zongtang is still a shameless person after all, so it's all right to ask the squire to "borrow" some food, but he really can't do it if he really wants to grab the life food that Dou Sheng Xiaomin is mouthing.

He prefers to buy food.

It's a pity that under Li Henian's tricks, the Chu army couldn't buy anything even if they had money.

Chu Jun is rich.

When he was in Jiangxi before, Liu Kunyi gave only a small portion of food, and Zuo Zongtang bought a lot with his own money.

The reason why Zuo Zongtang is rich is naturally because of Daming.

In addition to the previous stock dividends, Zuo Zongtang's white glove Hu Xueyan also raised a huge sum of 1500 million taels of silver.

In history, when Zuo Zongtang returned to the Western Regions, the Qing court actually only gave him 500 million taels of military expenses.

The military expenses of the Chu army mainly depended on the 1870 million silver borrowed by Hu Xueyan.

But now, the 1500 million taels of silver raised by Hu Xueyan are basically not borrowed, but the family property accumulated by the Chu army trading people and selling clear goods over the years.

Of course, Zuo Zongtang's current identity is a traitor, and he can't borrow much money.

Daming declared war on Russia too hastily, and did not give Hu Xueyan the opportunity to borrow money for his operations. He sold a lot of assets at a low price to obtain this military expenditure.

This can be said to be Stud.

Hu Xueyan was originally a stud lover, otherwise he wouldn't have lost so badly in history.

But in this life, Hu Xueyan has visited Daming, seen the high-rise buildings in Fengdu City, and heard the roar of machines in the shipyard.

He believes that he will never lose the bet.

And even if he loses the bet, the big deal is to run away with Marshal Zuo and go to Fengdu to become a millionaire who lives on stock dividends and waits to die.

……

The so-called house leak coincided with continuous night rain. When the Chu army detoured Liangzi Lake, it rained heavily for three consecutive days.

The muddy road made the Chu army's march more difficult.

In addition, the people in the self-protection of the village in Hubei also had great distrust of this guest army, and even shot and killed the Chu army scouts who went to negotiate to buy food.

In the end, the Chu army walked out of the lake area exhausted.

At this time, the 5 Chu army at the time of departure had already lost more than 6 people, and nearly a quarter of the 13 civilians had run away.

When the sun came out of the clouds, Zuo Zongtang squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of Wuchang.

"Pass down the order, spread the scouts widely, the army will rest in place for a day, cook at Yin time tomorrow, march at Mao time, and arrive in Wuchang at Chen time!"

"Yes! Master!"

The messenger passed on Zuo Zongtang's order, and after a while the Chu army began to build a simple rest camp.

At this time, Liu Songshan and Master Bai came together.

Liu Songshan asked: "Commander, how will the Wuchang City be attacked tomorrow?"

Wuchang is no better than Ezhou, and there is no way to get around it.

If 10,000+ people want to cross the river, they must win Wuchang.

Not only must Wuchang be taken, but Hanyang and Hankou must also be taken.

Only by seizing the three towns of Wuhan can it be possible to directly send materials to Shaanxi with the benefits of the Yangtze River and the Han River.

Liu Songshan understands the art of war, and knows the truth that to pacify the Western Regions, one must first pacify Gansan and Shaanxi, and to pacify Gansan, one must first win Wuhan.

He said: "The gunpowder brought by our army was drenched by the rain a few days ago. If we use the method of blowing up the city wall, I'm afraid it will take a few days to dry the gunpowder."

"It doesn't matter, the city of Wuchang is solid, and we can't take it down immediately. Tomorrow, our army just needs to surround it and not attack it."

Zuo Zongtang stroked his beard and said, "Before I set off, I wrote a letter to Changsha Wang Kuishi (Wang Wenshao's word Kuishi), inviting him to march into Wuchang together. At that time, I, Wang, and Zhu Ming's three families will all work together, as long as there is no shortage of food. , Wuchang Bigram.

As for food and grass, you two don't have to worry too much.

Although the civilian husbands lost a lot of food when they fled before, these days we have two meals a day, and there is a lot of rations left, which is enough for the siege of Wuchang for [-] to [-] days.

Besides, Xueyan must be raising food and grass in Huzhou, Jiaxing and other places these days. As long as Zhu Ming can get through the waterway, our army will definitely not worry about the lack of food and grass.

As for Kuishi, there is no shortage of food in Hunan, and they must bring enough food. "

The Wang Kuishi in Zuo Zongtang's mouth is Wang Wenshao, who was Zuo Zongtang's staunch ally in suppressing the chaos in history.

Today, in the south of the Yangtze River, it can be regarded as one of the few "leftists".

Even in his letters, Wang Wenshao claimed to Zuo Zongtang as a humble position, showing his subordinate status.

It's a pity, as the saying goes, if you are unlucky for three lives, the magistrate will be attached to Guo; if you are evil for three lives, you will be attached to the provincial capital of Guo.

Wang Wenshao, the governor, is even more unlucky than Fuguo Provincial City.

Where is Hunan?

It was the headquarters of the Hunan Army, and it was the hometown of Zeng Guofan, the current Governor of the Suppression of Nian, Luo Bingzhang, the current Governor of Sichuan, Zuo Zongtang, the former Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Hu Linyi, the former Governor of Hubei, and many others.

Wang Wenshao, the governor, can really manage very limited places, and it would be good if the government orders can go out of Changsha.

If Tan Tingxiang, the governor of Huguang, who placed the Yamen in Changsha, had just died of illness a while ago, Wang Wenshao would not even be considered a mascot.