Han’s Son is Not a Slave

The first town has returned to Guangzhou, and the town command post is located in Foshan; the second town has returned to Yuexiu Camp; the third town has also returned to Zengcheng from Haifeng, and the town command post is also located in Zengcheng; the newly-built seventh town has been relocated to Qingyuan County, responsible for the defense of Qingyuan and Lianhua. In this way, together with the fourth town that has been guarding Guangzhou, the Taiping army has five towns in Guangzhou. After Zhou Shixiang returned to Guangzhou with the Iron Guard and the Cavalry Brigade, the Taiping Army in Guangzhou had reached more than 50,000.

Compared with Huizhou and Chaozhou, each stationed more than 7,000 troops in one town, Guangzhou has more than 50,000 troops stationed at once, and the supply of military rations is immediately tight. Originally, the Taiping army had few troops, and it could be maintained by capturing and self-sufficiency, and there was even a surplus to support the friendly forces in Zhaoqing. Now the army has more than doubled, and the capture alone will definitely not be able to maintain the needs of the army.

Among the counties in Guangzhou, only Xiangshan was the first to implement the construction of villages and townships, promote the cultivation of farmland, and integrate the land. The other counties only began to integrate at the end of last year. Before the counties had time for spring ploughing, many young men were recruited to serve as civilian husbands due to the army’s eastern expedition, which caused a lot of delay in spring ploughing. After the Battle of Xuanwu Mountain, Zhou Shixiang decided that Jidu was waiting to die, so he ordered the repatriation of all the grain transport teams from Guangzhou, and seized the time to plough the spring, so as to barely fill the gap. But the crops that are planted cannot be harvested until summer, so there is a big gap. In the past, there were not many war horses in the Taiping Army, but now they have added thousands of war horses, and one war horse can eat as much as three young men.

Guangzhou prefect Liao Ruixiang is busy every day these days with how to deal with the rations of the Taiping army who returned to the division. He also searched for the foundation, but still could not make up the gap. At the beginning, the rations of the Guangzhou Pingnan and Jingnan vassals and the Manchuria soldiers were not solved by Guangzhou alone, but from Chaozhou, Huizhou, Shaozhou, Nanxiong and other prefectures, so as to ensure the ration of the Qing army in Guangzhou. . Now Guangzhou has entered five towns with an army of nearly 60,000 people. Liao Ruixiang, the prefect, can't make food even with his great ability.

Liao Ruixiang found Song Xianggong to complain, what can Song Xianggong do. Can only write to Zhou Shixiang to complain. In this easter expedition, the Taiping army has achieved many victories no matter from which perspective. But from the point of view of military ration consumption, it is a huge loss.

Although the Taiping Army organized food in Chaozhou. There is a lot of food, but half of this part of the food is reserved for military use, and the rest is used for the tens of thousands of people who have migrated. .

Zhou Shixiang went to great lengths to relocate these people to Guangzhou, and he always emphasized that the population, like grain, salt and iron, were strategic materials that the Taiping army had to snatch, so driving the Chaozhou people out of the stockade was not to let them starve to death. Instead, let them go to Guangzhou to build a new home, reclaim new land, and become a constant supply of money and grain for the Taiping Army. Naturally, they cannot let people die. Not only should they not be allowed to starve to death, but they should not be allowed to be half full, but they must be full. After arriving in Guangzhou, they can rest for a few days and then be able to recover their physical strength for labor.

The first town of the northern line, the second town of Lufeng, the third town of Haifeng, the cavalry brigade plus the artillery battalion of Qi Hao, and the navy of Zheng Chengkui, the Taiping army participated in the Eastern Expedition The strength reached 30,000. There are also nearly 10,000 people in charge of transporting grain, and there are thousands of masons, plus Chaozhou villagers and battalions. Chaozhou youths were recruited, with 50,000 to 60,000 people on the front line, and the daily consumption of food and forage was staggering. After the war, the number was astronomical.

For the Eastern Expedition, the counties in Guangzhou mobilized tens of thousands of people to form grain transport teams, and thousands of trolleys traveled on official roads every day. It will take half a month to go from Guangzhou to Lufeng on the front line. The grain that a husband can push is about 200 catties, and a cart needs two people to rotate because it is manual work. You can't eat less, or you won't have the energy at all. Therefore, these two civilian husbands will eat a few catties of grain a day and wait for the front line. Most of the food left in the car is only half. On the way back, the villagers also need to have food, so they can't go back hungry. This time, they have to lose a few dozen catties, and the rest can be regarded as official military rations. Compared with such a loss, it is obviously much more cost-effective for the navy's warships to transport food. However, because of the sudden eastward expedition, Zhou Shixiang did not have time to arrange the seaborne food, and the navy also had to undertake the task of transporting troops of the Taiping Army. It is impossible to have enough ships and manpower to organize large-scale shipping.

The grain shipped from Guangzhou, the grain from Chaozhou, and the grain provided by Hu Qili from Huizhou ensured that the Taiping army could face off against the Qing army for a long time, and ensured Zhou Shixiang's strategic intention of starving the Qing army to death. If there is no such huge supply of food, it is difficult to say who will kill the deer. The best outcome is that the Qing army retreats to Chaozhou because of no food, and the Taiping army retreats to Huizhou because of lack of food. Both sides are preparing for the next decisive battle. There may be such a great success.

Originally, after Jidu led his army into Chaozhou, the grains from the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River were successively transported to Nanzhao, Fujian. Jidu went south to Huizhou and used Chaozhou City as a military grain storage area, but the Taiping army moved too fast, and in Nanzhao, Fujian Before much of the rations were shipped to Chaozhou, they ambushed the Qing army's Wuzhen Chaoha artillery battalion in Huilai. As a result, Fujian's military rations will naturally not be shipped to Chaozhou.

After Lu Guangzu changed his flag, he suggested that Zhou Shixiang send troops to Fujian to capture the grain that the Qing court had transported from Jiangnan, but before Zhou Shixiang could do it, Dasu of Fujian ordered to quickly disperse Nanzhao's rations to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou after hearing about the change of flag in Chaozhou.

Nanzhao without military rations is a piece of chicken ribs. If the southwest is safe, Zhou Shixiang naturally doesn't mind occupying a bridgehead for the Taiping army to enter Fujian, and by the way, goes to various places in Fujian to replenish the consumed military rations, but now he can't send troops. Entering Fujian, we can only seize the time to consolidate and surrender our troops, clean up the military and political affairs, and allow all the participating ministries to rest and reorganize. Otherwise, we will not be able to enter Guangxi westward in August.

With the help of Tang Sanshui, the general soldier of Shaozhou, Zhou Shixiang regularly received the Qing Tingtang newspaper from Tang Sanshui by Song Ying. In order to publicize this massive invasion of the Southwest, the Qing court published the Southwest War in great detail in the Tang newspaper. The great victories that were published on it certainly made the people of Ming Ming all over the world more pessimistic about the situation in Nanming. But let Zhou Shixiang, Zheng Chenggong and others clearly understand the southwest war.

Jin King Li Dingguo and Wu Sangui led their troops to retreat into Yunnan after a battle at Qixingguan in Guizhou. Wu Sangui did not easily pursue them, but waited for the other two troops while resting. Dhoni's army, who was watching in Hunan, has also entered Guizhou. Hong Chengchou, who has been "watching on the wall" in Hunan, also set off for Guiyang. It seems that several Qing troops and commander Dhoni are going to hold a meeting to determine the specific deployment of troops into Yunnan.

Zhou Shixiang estimated that the Qing army would enter Yunnan in July and August at the latest. At that time, Li Dingguo, who has no way to retreat, will definitely choose to fight the Qing army all the way.

Zhou Shixiang is not clear about the details of the war between Li Dingguo and Wu Sangui in Yunnan in history, but it can be known that Li Dingguo finally fell into a desperate situation after the defeat of the Battle of Mopanshan. The Battle of Mopanshan occurred in the thirteenth year of the Yongli calendar (the sixteenth year of Shunzhi), which is next year. Whether it is the beginning of the year or the middle of the year, this Zhou Shixiang is not very clear. But no matter when the Battle of Mopanshan takes place next year, at least it shows that Li Dingguo has not fallen into a desperate situation this year, so Zhou Shixiang planned to enter Guangxi westward in August, which can fully achieve the strategic intention of containing the Qing army and assisting Li Dingguo.

At the beginning of April, Song Xianggong sent someone from Guangzhou to report to Zhou Shixiang that a few Qing army spies disguised as traders tried to rescue Hong Chengchou's son Hong Shiming a few days ago, but they were caught in a hurry. Besieged by the Taiping army. Those spies were also brave. Four of them died on the spot, and the other one was injured. No matter how tortured they were, they would not tell who they were assigned by. But this answer is obviously not important. Who would take the risk to save Hong Shiming, pull anyone on the street to tell him Hong Shiming's identity, and this person will also answer that his father, the traitor Hong Chengchou, sent someone. It is a matter of course for Lao Tzu to save his son. There are not many people in this world who can be cruel enough to care about his son's life or death.

handling of this matter. Zhou Shixiang did not deal with it, and only asked Hong Shiming to send a letter to his father, and the son was still very good. My father, Moyou, didn't even mention the fact that Hong Chengchou sent someone to save him.

Song Xianggong has always been very confused about Zhou Shixiang's handling of Hong Shiming. Since it is Hong Chengchou's son, he should either kill or persuade his Laozi to surrender. What an abacus.

Zhou Shixiang's answer was that the time has not yet come, what kind of person is Hong Chengchou? took his son. He is willing to obey obediently, and come over again anyway?

The answer is obviously impossible. But this cannot be just because the time has not come, if the time has come. Often the impossible becomes possible.

Song Xianggong asked when the time was right, but Zhou Shixiang did not reply. He never sent anyone to have any contact with Hong Chengchou. The people who sent the letter were all quietly writing to the Jinglue House in Changsha. The reason for this was because Zhou Shixiang felt that The time to persuade Hong Chengchou to surrender has not yet come, and it is impossible for Hong Chengchou to have the idea of ​​returning to Daming, otherwise the three-way Qing army would not have gone south so quickly.

Zhou Shixiang is really just telling Hong Chengchou one thing - "Your son is in my hands, don't worry, he is fine".

......

Guangzhou's military supplies were in a hurry, so Zhou Shixiang could not ignore it. The territory of Chaozhou is dilapidated, the food that can be squeezed is limited, and the reputation of the Taiping Army in Chaozhou is really not very good, so Zhou Shixiang did not want to ask Zhao Ziqiang to harm the people of Chaozhou again. The people of Huizhou squeezed out the grain, but squeezed it out of the big households of the gentry.

Zhou Shixiang gave Suna the task of "persuading grain" for the big households in Huizhou. Hu Qili also persuaded the gentry for grain in Huizhou, but the targets of his persuasion were selective. Most of the big families had never been persuaded for grain, and these people owned the most fields and the most grain.

There is no contradiction between confessing Song Xianggong to postpone the affairs in Huizhou and persuading the big households to provide food. Zhou Shixiang treated Song Xianggong. If the Huizhou government and those big households who were persuaded to be persuaded to sue, they would put the responsibility on the head of Suna, a Manchurian, and wait until the grain is squeezed out. Afterwards, Lord Xianggong, the political envoy, should appease the Huizhou government, but if it was impossible, he, the Xingpingbo, came forward. If this doesn't work, it will be shameless. The left and right Huizhou must also be handled according to the Xiangshan model. Zhou Shixiang doesn't mind a few major cases of "Tongda" in Huizhou.

Huizhou persuaded grain on the one hand, and on the other hand, it was buying grain from Tang Sanshui in Shaozhou. After hearing that the Taiping army had defeated the Qing army, Tang Sanshui sent someone to send a letter to congratulate Zhou Shixiang, but he was worried that Zhou Shixiang would attack him without thinking of friendship.

You can't attack Tang San even if you attack anyone. Zhou Shixiang is definitely not a person who doesn't show affection, so he replied that he had no intention of infecting Shaozhou, and only hoped that Brother Tang could rise step by step in the Qing court.

Zhou Shixiang asked Song Ying to tell Tang Sanshui that he had just defeated Jidu, but he did not forget Tang Sanshui, a good brother, so Tang Sanshui could send troops to a certain place on a certain day, and Zhou Shixiang also sent troops, and then Tang Bu's soldiers were brave , the Taiping army did not dare to fight, and fled in embarrassment, so Tang Sanshui could send good news to Beijing. With the help of the army being defeated, Tang Sanshui's good news will definitely make the Qing court look up to him and hold him highly. It is impossible to say that Wu Liuqi's position as the Admiral of Guangdong belongs to Tang Sanshui.

Tang Sanshui was naturally very happy when he heard Song Ying's words. He suddenly found that he was able to rise step by step. It seemed that it was all thanks to Zhou Xiucai. Now Zhou Xiucai is more and more capable of fighting. Fame and disgrace cooperate with him Tang Sanshui to perform a good show for the Qing court, and keep him Tang Sanshui continue to rise, this affection is enough to move the world~www.NovelMTL.com~ Zhou Xiucai is really my good brother!

Although Zhou Xiucai finally tactfully expressed that he was very short of food, and hoped that Tang Sanshui, the elder brother, would be able to provide relief, and the amount was still quite large, but Tang Sanshui didn't mind, and decided on the matter, to ensure that Zhou Shixiang's men would not because there is no Eating and hungry.

Under the arrangement of Zhou Shixiang and the coordination of Song Ying, the Seventh Town, which had just moved to Qingyuan, sent a brigade to Shaozhou, Yingde, to wander around, and then returned to the station with several hundred vehicles of military supplies. These military rations were deliberately transferred from the food transported to the southwest army by the Qing court in order to allow Tang Sanshui to defend Shaozhou and prevent the Taiping army from moving from the north of Hunan to the southwest. I wonder if Shunzhi would vomit three liters of blood if he knew about this.

Tang Sanshui's memorial to the victory and Da Su's memorial to the Qing court to report the fiasco of the Jidu army were issued one after the other. After Jidu's death, Zhou Shixiang also ordered someone to block a piece of news, until he was about to return to Guangzhou, Fang ordered the fifth town to lift the blockade on the transition area between Chaozhou and Fujian, and let the news of Jibing's defeat in the past.

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Because of the plot, the two updates have been merged into one, and they have not been split into two. The 13,000-word update has been completed today. Thank you for your support! (To be continued.)