Han’s Son is Not a Slave

Taiping army to attack Guangzhou?

When Hong Shiming heard the news, his face was even uglier than Zuo Qing's. He stayed there, staring motionless at Zhu Guorong, the prefect of Guangzhou. He only had one thought in his heart: How could the situation in Guangdong have collapsed to such an extent!

Wang Huacheng and other generals of the Green Battalion were also dumbfounded. The Taiping Army, who had been chased down a few days ago, was about to attack Guangzhou City in a blink of an eye.

"What nonsense, where did the Taiping bandits come from with tens of thousands of troops! The battalion officer in Daliang Town told the Taiping bandits to frighten them out. The bandits really have tens of thousands of troops, and he can still stay in Daliang and send a report to the governor!"

Li Suotai didn't believe that the Taiping army who went to Xiangshan from Xinhui could have tens of thousands of troops in just a few months, and he didn't believe that Zhou Shixiang, a thief and scholar, had the courage to attack the city of Guangzhou. The foreign commissioner in Daliang Town, Qian Zong, was also named Hu. 80% of it was a private person installed by Hu Qili, so he lied about military intelligence in order to cover up the truth for him.

He angrily asked Zuo Qing, "What did the Daliang report say?"

Zuo Qing hadn't recovered from Zhu Guorong's words, so he didn't react for a while.

Seeing Zuo Qing in a daze, Li Suotai couldn't help but said angrily: "Master Zuo, what did Daliang's report say, read it, read it to Ben Du!"

"Ah? Okay, this is what I'm thinking..."

Zuo Qing woke up, hurriedly opened the Daliang report in his hand, swiped a few words, his face turned pale, and looked up at Li Suotai's expression.

"Look at what the Governor is doing, read it, is there any worse news than the Taiping bandits going to attack Guangzhou!" Li Suotai laughed angrily.

"It's not that it's just a matter of reading it, just reading it."

Under Li Suitai's staring gaze, Zuo Qing finally stammered and said in a low voice: "Hu Mingyi, Qian Zong of Daliang Foreign Affairs Committee of Panyu, reported: I heard that the officers and troops lost to Lutouhe and dispatched to this place. I visited the horse to find out the details, but the Taiping bandit had blocked the checkpoint, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs was not allowed to go south. The office sent boats upstream from the Lutou River, and found my green camp soldiers several miles downstream... There are more than a thousand corpses of the soldiers, which were blocked due to many corpses. On the 17th day, the river, boats and boats could not continue to explore upstream, and a large group of Taiping bandits attacked the territory under the jurisdiction of the official. Some people who escaped from the pirates reported to the office that the leader threatened to attack the provincial capital. He wanted to compete with hundreds of boats on the Pearl River on the Dragon Boat Festival. After receiving the report, he immediately sent a fast horse to the governor to report the news, so that the provincial capital could take precautions early. In addition, the pirate soldiers are coming fiercely. There are only hundreds of soldiers in the post, and there is no danger to Daliang. The job is to fight or go. Please make a decision early."

After reading the recitation, Zuo Qing looked at Li Soltai anxiously, not knowing how to judge the report of Hu Mingyi, the general manager of Daliang Foreign Affairs Commission. Saying it is full of absurdity doesn't look like it, and saying it's true is even less like it. I really don't know how to say it.

Li Suotai frowned and looked at Zhu Guorong: "Did the Guangzhou government send someone to investigate?"

Zhu Guorong stepped forward and replied: "Returning to the words of your lord, the subordinate officials have sent people from Panyu County to investigate, and the report of Daliangqian is true. It is true that Panyu County was attacked by the Taiping Army. I want to have a boat race on the Pearl River during the Dragon Boat Festival."

"What a race of hundreds of boats. The thief show is bluffing, so it's just a mystery, don't be afraid of him."

Li Shuitai was certain that the Taiping Army had no ability to attack Guangzhou at all. Although the Superintendent and the Guangzhou Green Camp were defeated in the Lutou River, and they lost a gratifying Han army flag, Niulu, there were still thousands of flag soldiers under the two vassals in the city of Guangzhou. , there are even the Eight Banners of Manchuria garrisoned, and there are tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion garrisoned near Guangzhou, not to mention that the city of Guangzhou is stronger than Xinhui. He can't beat Guangzhou City either!

The thief Xiucai made these noises, it was nothing more than to scare people. If he really had the heart and the strength, he would not have to loot the food and grass in Panyu. But the momentum of the victory over the Lutou River is approaching Guangzhou. Binggui is so fast that he doesn't know how to be a thief?

Although it was determined that the Taiping Army could not have the strength to attack Guangzhou, the current situation was also a headache for Li Suotai. In order to encircle and destroy the Taiping Army, he had already sent all the inspectors and the Guangzhou Green Battalion together with the newly built inspector's artillery and horse teams. He went out, and now he really has no soldiers to send.

Although Hu Qili's report did not mention that the cavalry and artillery units were annihilated by the Taiping Army, Li Suotai did not have any hope. Hu Mingyi's report stated clearly. The Lutou River was blocked by the bodies of the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion who died in battle, and the hundreds of cavalrymen of the Han army flag were also wiped out.

The most urgent task is to immediately deploy troops to attack the Taiping army. Even if they cannot be wiped out, they must be driven out of Panyu. Otherwise, the Taiping army will be allowed to operate in Fukuo County, Guangzhou. Even if the imperial court was about to transfer him to Fujian and Zhejiang, Li Suotai was unwilling to carry a reputation for being incompetent, and this mess would have to be cleaned up in his hands no matter what.

Soldiers, Li Suitai really couldn't get it together. The military power of the Guangdong Green Battalion was nominally in his hands, but the only ones who could really be promoted by him were the Superintendent and the Guangzhou Green Battalion. The other Green Battalion soldiers were controlled by the Second Domain. Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao disagreed, and he, the governor, could not move those green camps.

Li Suotai, the superintendent who went to Shunde, is no longer expected. Xinjing was defeated, and Hu Qili was worried that he would chop off his head. It would be good to stay in Shunde honestly. How can I expect him to come back with the superintendent, and then again. Where can you expect the Superintendent to go into battle again.

Now he can only go to ask Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, and also to go to Hahamu. He also needs to find out whether the Manchu soldiers with the white flag of Yi Niu Lu are afraid of the enemy and timid. The Taiping Army is bluffing, but at least Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao have no reason to shirk the issue of sending troops.

After thinking about it, Li Shuitai made up his mind and instructed Zuo Qing: "You will immediately raise 100,000 taels of silver and 10,000 stone grains with the Guangzhou government. The governor just asks you one thing, it may be done within three days."

100,000 taels of silver and 10,000 stone rations, can it be done within three days?

Zuo Qing and Zhu Guorong were both shocked.

Zuo Qing looked puzzled: "Your Excellency the Governor, Mingjian, Guangdong Province accounts for two-thirds of the tax revenue in the east of Guangdong, and one third in the middle of Guangdong. There is almost no tax in the west of Guangdong. In recent years, the Nanming troops and horses have been attacking the Guangdong Province. The people are complaining that they suffer from excessive taxation, and this year, the money and grain have not been collected, and the lower officials are also hard to cook without rice~www.NovelMTL.com~ If there is another increase in the collection, there will be chaos among the people, my lord."

"Lord Governor, I can't even get a tael of silver out of the treasury of Xiaguan's mansion. Last year, in order to raise food and grass for the army besieging the city, Xiaguan racked his brains and managed to do it. Later, in order to build the city, Xiaguan even looted the savings of the people. Lazy Kong, lost the reputation of Zhu scraping, so it still made a big deficit. Every day in the Xiaguan Yamen, people come to ask for debts. Xiaguan is so anxious that there is no way for adults to ask me now. Waiting to raise so much money and food in three days, even if the lower official has the will, he is really unable to do it."

Zhu Guorong's eyelids jumped when he said this, for fear that the Governor-General would take him out to vent his anger. It was not that he didn't know the situation was serious, but he really couldn't get money and food.

Li Suotai was not unhappy, only looked at the two of them, and then said in a deep voice, "Bondu doesn't care whether you have any hardships or not, in short, after three days, Bento must see the silver and food! You can borrow it. Okay, rob or rob, Bento doesn't care, Bento only needs to

Want money and food! Without money and food, how do you tell the officers and troops to pacify the bandits? If it is true that the Taiping bandits should be attacked by the city of Guangzhou, do you know how powerful it is? "

After he finished speaking, he flicked his sleeves and instructed Gui Bao: "Prepare the sedan chair, the Governor is going to the Pingnan Palace." (To be continued.)