"Gradually, congratulations! Lord Futai ordered you to lead the Lian Yong in Hefei, Chaoxian and Hanshan this time, and cooperate with Lord Zhongtai, the deputy capital, to besiege the long-haired bandits in Luzhou City, so that they could not gather with the long-haired thieves in Hezhou and Hanshan. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info with your talent, this time will be able to make a difference! A Manchu Qing official in his fifties dressed in Taoist supplement clothes grabbed a man in his early thirties, with a burly physique and a rich face, and said with a smile.

"Where!? Hongzhang also wants to thank Lord Daotai for his support, if it weren't for Lord Zhang's recommendation, Lord Futai would not have handed over the three group exercises to Hongzhang to manage. Thank you, sir! The dignified-looking man was grateful.

This dignified-looking man is named Li Hongzhang, the word is gradually Fu, and he is a native of Qunzhi Village, Modian Township, Hefei. In the year of Daoguang Ding, Li Hongzhang took the first jinshi in the examination, and the second class and first class in the palace examination, and was awarded the scholar of the Hanlin Academy. Shi and Guo Songtao, Shen Baozhen, and Li Zongxi were known as the "Four Gentlemen of Ding Wei".

Last year, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom built its capital Jiangning, Li Hongzhang responded to the call of the imperial court and returned to his hometown Hefei, gathered his hometown children, and founded a group training. In June of the third year of Xianfeng, Li Hongzhang led more than 2,000 Lian Yong to defend Dongguan, and recruited local Lian Yong to resist, defeated the thousands of Taiping troops who came to attack at Yuxikou, and was appreciated by Zhang Guangdi, a member of Lufeng Daoist, and recommended to the imperial court.

In February this year, Hu Yixuan, a general of the Taiping Army, led 7,000 troops to besiege the capital city of Luzhou. After more than ten days of siege, the capital city of Luzhou, that is, Li Hongzhang's hometown, the seat of Hefei County, was captured by the Taiping army, and even Jiang Zhongyuan, the governor of Anman, committed suicide by throwing himself into a well.

Hu Yixuan's 7,000 people were desperately attacking Luzhou, although they occupied Luzhou City, but they suffered heavy casualties, nearly 1,000 people were killed in battle, 2,000 were seriously wounded, and only 4,000 people were left who could fight. Hu Yixuan was worried that the Manchu counteroffensive would return, so he asked Tianjing for help.

In mid-February, Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, sent He Yalin, the commander of Tu, to lead 3,000 Taiping troops from Taiping to cross the Yangtze River from Taipingfu, capture the two cities of Hezhou and Hanshan all the way, and prepare to march to Luzhou to support Hu Yixuan.

The new governor of Anman, Fu Ji, ordered Zhang Guangdi, a member of Lufeng Dao, to lead troops to surround the Taiping thieves who came to help. Zhang Guangdi took the opportunity to ask Fuji to send an assistant, and recommended Li Hongzhang, who only had six false posts and no real shortcomings. Fuji agreed, let the deputy capital of the Qing army, Zhongtai, lead 5,000 troops to besiege Luzhou City, and ordered Zhang Guangdi, a member of Lufeng Dao, to lead the local green battalion soldiers, and Li Hongzhang to lead the regimental training of Hefei, Chaoxian and Hanshan to cooperate with each other to attack Hanshan and Hezhou together to intercept the Taiping army that came to help.

"I don't know what kind of strategy is there to defeat the enemy? As you know, this officer is not very good in military affairs. Now there are 3,000 thieves, and according to the detailed report, the long-haired thieves are still recruiting hundreds of blind streams and mobs in Hezhou, which is menacing. The official has been worried for the past two days, and he can't eat or sleep. Lufeng Daoist Zhang Guang looked at Li Hongzhang with an earnest face.

"Lord Daotai, Hongzhang is also a scholar, and he is not familiar with military affairs. However, the thieves have exhausted their spirit, and after they captured Hezhou and Hanshan, they did not gallop to Luzhou, but stayed in Hezhou and Hanshan, in a vain attempt to recruit troops and horses, and loot grain and grass. In this way, not only did the imperial court mobilize our leading troops to intercept it, but also its wanton raiding of local squires in the two places was bound to offend the local villagers. As long as Lord Daotai issued an edict calling on the squires of the two places to form regimental warriors and family soldiers to assist us and other court officers and soldiers in fighting thieves, we will definitely be able to defeat the thieves. Li Hongzhang was worthy of talking, and Zhang Guangdi's heart was full of joy.

Then, Li Hongzhang took out a ticking Western gold watch, handed it to Zhang Guangdi, and said: "My lord, this is a rare Western thing that my father met on the way back to his hometown. ”

Zhang Guangdi hurriedly said: "How do you want this?" Zhang accepted it, how did the virtuous nephew explain to Ling Zun? Although he said this, his hand had already grasped the gold watch in his arms, and while touching it, he listened, and said again and again: "This gift is too valuable, I can't afford it for my uncle." ”

Li Hongzhang secretly laughed at this old fox, who was still "the official and the official" just now, so he gave the gold watch, and immediately changed his words to "uncle", and called himself a "virtuous nephew", it seems that this gold watch is really not in vain.

Immediately laughed: "It's just a gadget." It should not be valued by adults. The hour is not early, and the lower officials will not disturb the adults to rest. ”

After speaking, he looked at Zhang Guangdi, who had been playing with the gold watch without raising his head, and hurriedly took a few steps back, until he got out of the door, and then he held his head high and strode forward.

However, I secretly felt sorry for the gold watch in my heart. This was captured from the commander of a long-haired thief who had defeated the invading Taiping army at Yuxikou last year, and according to Li Hongzhang's guess, this Western gold watch was estimated to be worth two or three thousand taels of silver.

However, distress is distress, compared with his official promotion, Li Hongzhang can naturally distinguish it. Although this method is a bit inferior, Li Hongzhang has always been an unruly person. Only when officials are in high positions can they realize their ambitions, revitalize China, and save the people from fire and water.

Sure enough, the next day, Zhang Guangdi sent someone to send an order, saying that he was unwell, and that the 2,000 green battalions and 1,500 brave men he led were all led by Li Hongzhang, and ordered Li Hongzhang to send troops on the same day to attack Hanshan City.

Li Hongzhang smiled secretly in his heart, why is he unwell, doesn't he just want to continue to play with the gold watch? Isn't it just that he is afraid of the long-haired thieves and wants to stay in the Dongguan Pass and let himself lead his troops to attack Hanshan City?

However, this is exactly what I want, and I have the opportunity to lead the troops alone and show my skills.

Li Hongzhang immediately ordered the whole army to send troops, with 3,000 Lian Yong from Hefei, Chaoxian and Hanshan under his own leadership as the vanguard, plus 2,000 green battalion soldiers as the Chinese army, and 1,500 brave and strong to the rear team, and surrounded the mighty Hanshan County.

Li Hongzhang summoned the local work of Hanshan, and when he asked, he learned that there were only 1,000 long-haired thieves in Hanshan City. Li Hongzhang recruited the local villagers again, and when he asked in the local dialect of Luzhou, the villagers wanted to cry out loud, and immediately complained bitterly about the various bad deeds of the long-haired thieves, robbed property and food, abducted the tenants and helpers at home, and drove them all into the city.

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he had a plan.

He first sent the local village elders to secretly contact the tenants and helpers in the city, promising that as long as he acted as an internal response and surrendered to the government, he could farm for ten years without rent, kill a long-haired thief, and reward him with ten taels of silver.

After that, Li Hongzhang ordered 2,000 green battalion soldiers to rush to the middle of Hanshan and Hezhou City, camp for several miles, and drag the horses back and forth with tree branches, causing a dusty scene of people and horses running, as if it was not 2,000 green battalion soldiers stationed there, but 6,000 or 7,000 green battalion soldiers.

Then, he sent a thousand brave men to dig trenches, set traps and fortifications in front of the camp, and surrounded the camp where the green battalion soldiers were encamped.

After finishing all this, Li Hongzhang took advantage of the night to send more than 1,000 Lian Yong to divide into two teams, each team of 500 points and constantly attacked the Taiping soldiers in the city in the middle of the night.

The next day, Li Hongzhang did not send troops to attack the city. At noon, the Taiping army in Hanshan City had not slept all night, and they were exhausted, and even the soldiers at the head of the city were drowsy.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Taiping army did not pay attention, the local warriors of Hanshan in the city, especially the tenants of the local squires, knew that all the property in the Taiping army had to be handed over, and that as long as they broke through Hanshan City, they could be rent-free for ten years, and they were more likely to be officials and make a fortune.

Li Hongzhang, who was waiting outside the city, waved his hand and led the Lian Yong children in his hometown to rush into the city. The Taiping army in the city reacted, surrounded and intercepted, and the two sides engaged in fierce street battles in Hanshan City.

At this time, Li Hongzhang ordered people to shout: "Kill one thief, reward ten taels of silver!" The thieves surrendered, sealed nine officials, and rewarded twenty taels of silver! As a result, the regimental training warriors fought more fiercely, and the new soldiers who had not long joined the Taiping Army began to hesitate. The Taiping soldiers, who were already small in number, were defeated like a mountain at once, and after two or three hundred people were killed and wounded, they withdrew from Hanshan City.

Li Hongzhang led his troops to occupy Hanshan City in one fell swoop.