Tens of thousands of troops of the Taiping army besieged the city on three sides, and the people in Changsha City were panicked and sent a chaotic scene, not only the people in the city were panicked, but the civil and military officials of all sizes who were stranded in the city and the thousands of soldiers who defended the city were also panicked like ants on a hot pot. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

More than ten fast horses galloped through the street like a whirlwind, and went straight to the governor's yamen, and it was Jiang Zhongyuan who galloped ahead, and the military situation was urgent, and he didn't bother to pay attention to any rules, so he galloped all the way until he got off his horse in front of the gate of the governor's yamen, and hurried in.

Luo Bingzhang, who was in a hurry, saw him come in, as if he had a backbone, and hurriedly stepped forward, but he didn't care about being polite, and said eagerly: "Now that the army of bandits has come to the city, what should I do?" ”

"Withdraw! Withdraw now! Jiang Zhongyuan said in a deep voice: "Please also ask Lord Zhongcheng to give an order!" ”

Withdraw now? Luo Bingzhang paused, and hurriedly said: "The bandits won't take the opportunity to attack?" ”

"The bandits besieged Sanque Yi deliberately indulged the evacuation of the defenders in the city, so that they could easily take Changsha City." Jiang Zhongyuan said in a firm tone: "The bandits should also gain time, and occupy Changsha as soon as possible before the arrival of the chasing troops and reinforcements from all walks of life, and there will be no extraneous branches." Don't worry! ”

In the east of the city, the Taiping Army camp, the Chinese Army tent.

Yang Xiuqing and Shi Dakai looked intently at the map of Changsha City sent by Xiao Chaoguicai, and ignored the Green Battalion Regiment Training that was being evacuated from Changsha City, the current Taiping Army's first task is to occupy Changsha City, not to eliminate the officials and soldiers defending the city.

For the Taiping Army, Changsha is not only the capital of Hunan Province, but also a big city! The occupation of Changsha was of great significance to the Taiping Army, which could not only greatly boost morale, but also have unparalleled influence and appeal.

After a while, Yang Xiuqing took his eyes off the map and said: "The officers and soldiers of Changsha City have begun to evacuate, and it is not a problem to occupy Changsha, the question is how to hold the ...... Changsha?" ”

Hearing this, Shi Dakai, who was in his early twenties, hesitated before saying: "King Dong, we have suffered a big loss in Yong'an, Changsha is a provincial capital, let's occupy Changsha, and the Qing Demon will inevitably send reinforcements from all provinces to besiege ......." ”

Xiao Chaogui also echoed: "What the Wing King said is right, although Changsha is big, we can't withstand the long-term siege of the Qing Demon. ”

"Yong'an's lesson, we naturally have to learn." Yang Xiuqing deliberately lengthened her voice, "But occupying Changsha City, the little paradise promised by the King of Heaven to his brothers is no longer nothing..... Ethereal, this is conducive to boosting morale and stabilizing the morale of the army.

Our team is expanding too fast, and most of the people who have joined in Hunan are the congregations of the Heaven and Earth Society and the Qinglian Sect, and they are still different from our old brothers in Guangxi after all.

In addition, Changsha is a provincial capital, and our capture of Changsha under the siege and interception of tens of thousands of Qing demons is a heavy blow to the Qing court, and it also has great benefits for our heavenly kingdom, which is equivalent to making a name for itself and attracting more people to join our God Society.

The most important thing is that we can't run around without purpose, this time we go north and build a small paradise, there is no place more suitable than Hunan, Hunan is the land of fish and rice, rich in grain, and the Heaven and Earth Society, Qinglian Sect is very active, and Guangxi is close to it, it is the most suitable place for us to build a small paradise!

To establish a small paradise in Hunan, Changsha must be occupied, not only to occupy Changsha, but also to strive for a heavy blow to the Qing demon in Changsha, only in this way, Hunan and Guangxi can become our little paradise! In a word, we must occupy this Changsha City, but we must not forget the lessons of Yong'an, ...... ”

After a slight groan, he pointed to the west and said, "How is Hexi?" ”

Shi Dakai camped in the west of the city, and immediately said tentatively: "Does the king of the east mean to camp in the west of the river, echoing the inside and outside of Changsha?" ”

"Not bad." Yang Xiuqing nodded and said: "I think Hexi should be regarded as a strategic place, you can go to Changde to the west, and you can enter Dongting Lake to the north, if we set up a big camp in Hexi, echoing Changsha City, we can not only avoid the danger of being besieged by the Qing demon in Changsha City, but also master the initiative ......." ”

"Good is good——。" Xiao Chaogui said: "However, after all, it is separated by a ...... of the Xiangjiang River. ”

Before he finished speaking, Shi Dakai smiled and said: "With a pontoon bridge, you can use the water and land continent to build a pontoon bridge to connect Changsha with the Hexi camp, and the water and land island itself is also easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the camp can be stationed." ”

"The camp in Hexi is in the seat of the king of the west." Yang Xiuqing said and looked at Shi Dakai, and said: "It's not enough to camp in Hexi, the Qing Demon will inevitably besiege the Hexi camp, in order to avoid being besieged for a long time, we must also leave a part of our troops outside as a maneuver, one is to play a role in containing the Qing Demon, and the other is to develop and expand our forces."

Now we have a lot of troops at hand, but the battle with the Qing Demon in Changsha is very likely to be protracted, and a steady stream of supplementary troops is needed. ”

This is no longer a tone of discussion, but an order, Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai arched their hands and said, "Obey." ”

The Taiping army occupied Changsha almost bloodlessly, and then actively prepared for war, repaired the city wall and gate, erected artillery, and intensively built a camp in the west of the city and on the land and water islands, built pontoon bridges, and dug trenches, while Shi Dakai led 5,000 elites to fight in Xiangtan, Xiangyin, Ningxiang and other counties.

Seeing this situation, Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't help but be happy and worried, the good thing is that the Taiping army's posture is clearly to occupy Changsha City for a long time, so it is conducive to trapping Changsha to death now, and the worry is that the Taiping army has actually learned to be obedient this time, so arranged, it can be attacked and retreated, and it can be defended, and if you want to encircle and annihilate, this difficulty is not ordinary.

Cezanne who rushed to Chenzhou heard the news that the Taiping army had captured Changsha, and he was in a hurry, almost fainting, Changsha is a provincial capital, and was captured by the Taiping army, which has an impact that is not ordinary, Xianfeng has just ascended the throne and such a big thing happened, it will inevitably be thunderous and furious, Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang is certainly guilty of the crime, and he is also to blame for the encirclement and suppression of the Taiping army.

For the sake of his own life, Cezanne also went out and rushed to Changsha at full speed, and ordered one after another that the soldiers and horses of the various units with moderation rushed to Changsha as fast as possible to obey the order, and those who delayed the military plane were to stop the law before the sword army!

The generals of the Qing army naturally knew that the fall of Changsha was not trivial, and no one dared to slack off when they saw Cezanne, after all, no matter how thick the neck was, they did not stop the knife quickly, and they urged their subordinates to hurry to Changsha one by one.

In just five days, Cezanne rushed to the south gate of Changsha City, and a number of generals who had arrived in Changsha came to greet him. ”

Without waiting for Luo Bingzhang to speak, Jiang Zhongyuan arched his hand and said: "Lord Yuqincha, it is the lower official who rode lightly and entered Changsha City before the bandits, and strongly advised Luo Zhongcheng to take the initiative to evacuate Changsha ...... ”

Cezanne also appreciates and values Jiang Zhongyuan, after all, Chu Yong led by Jiang Zhongyuan fought with the Taiping army and won successive battles, and rarely lost, and now what he urgently needs is such a talent, however, Changsha fell, this matter is too big, he immediately frowned and scolded, "Nonsense!" ”

Luo Bingzhang said with a smile: "Lord Qincha has worked hard all the way, and the lower officials have prepared some herbal tea, melons and fruits, please ——。 ”

This was to take a step to speak, and Cezanne was also anxious to understand what was going on, and when the generals were hastily saluted, he stepped into the temporary shed on the side of the road, beckoned Jiang Zhongyuan to him, and said, "Why do you want to take the initiative to evacuate Changsha?" ”

"Back to my lord." Jiang Zhongyuan said calmly: "Changsha's troops are empty, the city defense is useless, 40,000 bandits besieged, and they can't hold on for a day.

Second, the bandits have fled from Guangxi into Hunan, and they have become rogue bandits, and now the southeastern army is empty, and once the bandits are allowed to wander through the southeastern provinces, the consequences will be unimaginable; Changsha cannot be defended at all, and even if it can be defended, it should be abandoned and let the bandits occupy it, so that there will be a chance to besiege the bandits in Changsha and annihilate them on the spot. ”

Listening to these words, Cezanne nodded slightly, the Taiping army is not only good at wandering, but also good at ambushing pursuers, this point, he is deeply aware of this, if the current strategy of encirclement and interception is still adopted, the bandits will inevitably flow around, I am afraid that the entire southeast will be disturbed, the best way is to besiege, and the siege is also more conducive to giving full play to the combat power advantage and strength advantage of the Eight Banners Green Battalion.

A group of generals also whispered, most of them were in favor of besieging the Taiping Army in Changsha, to be honest, they were ambushed by the Taiping Army several times, they were all a little timid, for fear that the next one to be ambushed was themselves, they all had a mirror in their hearts, and now the so-called encirclement and interception is nothing more than a bluff, if you really want to exterminate the Taiping Army, it is still a siege!

With a slight groan, Cezanne glanced sharply at the generals present, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, let's start from Guiping, Guangxi, to encircle and suppress the bandits, which lasted a year, costing countless money and food, and losing troops and generals, but the strength of the bandits is getting bigger and bigger.

If you can't besiege and exterminate the bandits in Changsha this time, Ben Qincha and all of you here are afraid that it will be difficult to preserve, and the battle of Changsha, whether it is for the bandits or for us, is a battle of life and death, I hope you can work together, soldiers with their lives, and complete their work in one battle! ”

After meeting with the generals and preliminarily setting the siege plan, Cezanne left Luo Bingzhang and Jiang Zhongyuan alone, and after appeasing Luo Bingzhang, he said slowly: "Gather the forces of the five provinces to encircle and suppress the bandits in Guangxi, but repeatedly let the bandits escape, Changsha is not comparable to Yong'an, and now the bandit forces are not comparable to Yong'an."

Although the imperial court has sent Hubei, Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan and other provinces to reinforce the green battalion, but it is not a good thing to have more soldiers and generals. ”

At the time when Cezanne and Luo Bingzhang posted notices encouraging the local gentry to form regimental bravery, the Taiping army was not idle, promulgating the "Heavenly Kingdom of Fields and Mu System", formulating the principle of equal division of land among peasants, establishing a system of township officials in the countryside that integrates soldiers and peasants, abolishing marriage for sale, and advocating equality for all and equality between men and women. It was played, 'Where the world is in the field, the people in the world will work together.' ''There is land and ploughing, food and clothing, money and work, everywhere is uneven, and no one is not full of warmth. and other slogans to win the hearts and minds of the people.

In the military aspect, the two sides were not idle, the Qing army was step by step, layer by layer fortification, the large Changsha city and the Hexi camp surrounded like an iron bucket, and the Taiping army, which had repeatedly successfully broken through, was accustomed to this set of tactics of the Qing army, and did not take it seriously at all, while reorganizing the army and fighting while busy rectifying the order in Changsha City, more than 100,000 troops on both sides gathered in the area of Changsha, although no large-scale war broke out, but the small-scale sporadic battles almost never stopped.

For a time, the government and the opposition, officials, businessmen, and people all focused on Changsha, and the newspapers of all sizes in Yuanqi truthfully reported the situation in Changsha with an impartial attitude, so that more people could understand and pay attention to the war situation in Changsha.

Yi Zhixiang couldn't stay in Guangzhou, and he couldn't take care of the system, so he hurried to Shanghai, and immediately sent letters to Li Xingyuan, the governor of Liangjiang, Lu Jianying, the governor of Jiangsu, Gong Yu, the governor of Hubei, Wu Wenrong, the governor of Zhejiang, and Lu Yinggu, the governor of Jiangxi.

In addition, he also sincerely invited Li Xingyuan, the governor of Liangjiang, Lu Jianying, the governor of Jiangsu, and Gong Yu, the governor of Hubei, to come to Shanghai to discuss the details of how to prevent the Taiping army from going down the Yangtze River.

However, the few letters sent were like mud cows into the sea, and none of them replied, which made Yi Zhishu very speechless, of course he knew that his identity was very sensitive, and local officials were now respectful of him, but he thought that the exchange of private letters, and it was also a major matter related to local peace, so how could he not ignore it, right? But no one really paid attention to him.