After receiving the news that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had begun the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition almost at the same time, Feng Yunshan ordered the intelligence department of the General Staff of the Capture Army to send hundreds of meticulous workers to the Manchu-ruled areas and the areas occupied by the Taiping Army to inquire about the news. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Zuo Zongtang was the original chief of the intelligence department of the General Staff Headquarters, but at present, in order to strengthen intelligence work, Feng Yunshan has merged most of the hundreds of detailed work battalions into the intelligence department of the General Staff Department, and has transferred Fan Ruzeng, the former commander of the detailed work battalion, to the deputy director of the intelligence department to assist Zuo Zongtang in collecting military intelligence from various places.

In this way, Fan Ruzeng held two positions. He is not only the deputy minister of police under the palace of the Holy King, but also the deputy director of the intelligence department of the General Staff, and the military intelligence and local intelligence are under the jurisdiction of each other, and they can also provide more information.

It's just that it makes Fan Ruzeng more tired, but this is also Feng Yunshan's exercise for him, after all, he is less than 15 years old. However, it is precisely like this, no one would have thought that a little kid would be one of the intelligence leaders of the captive army.

Feng Yunshan paid close attention to the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition and Western Expedition, and asked the meticulous workers to report the latest battle situation every one or two days, but it was actually the latest battle that happened a few days ago or even ten days ago.

He was mainly worried that if there was a border between the territory he occupied and the Taiping army, it would not be good if there was friction or dispute between the two armies. However, Feng Yunshan also thought about it, if he really made trouble, he wouldn't be able to control it so much, even if it was the original Guangxi brothers, maybe he should be ruthless and have to be ruthless.

However, today's situation is completely different from the historical situation.

Historically, the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition failed, although it was mainly due to strategic mistakes, resulting in a lone army going deeper, without logistical support and troop replenishment, and running out of ammunition and food. The Hunan army in the south and Guangzhou, which fully supported Huguang, held on to the Taiping army in the west, and did not lose a single defeat, but also supported the north profitably.

Moreover, the key thing is that the fiscal and tax revenues of Guangdong Province, especially the customs tariffs in Guangzhou, continuously supported the military salaries of the Manchu court, so that the Qing soldiers in the north could calmly arrange interception and deployment, and the Manchu court also had enough military pay to mobilize the troops of the northern provinces.

Another point is that the commanders of the Northern Expeditionary Army in history, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, although they fought bravely, they lacked strategy, and could only mechanically implement the pre-set strategic policy, and failed to carry out mobile operations according to the situation at that time, which was the direct cause of the failure of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

After the historical Northern Expeditionary Army arrived in Jinghai, it stopped there and waited for the arrival of reinforcements, resulting in being surrounded and killed by the Qing army.

And now, although the Taiping Army is still the same Northern Expedition, the first person who leads the troops is completely different. Although Qin Rigang didn't necessarily have much strategy, Feng Yunshan knew that although this person seemed to be loyal, he was actually quite scheming, and he would never stupidly lead the troops to wait for rescue.

According to Feng Yunshan's understanding of him, this person leads the troops, and it is difficult to say that he will win, but as long as he is defeated, he will most likely wander around.

Moreover, since Qin Rigang broke through the siege of Yong'an City and led the troops in Longliao Ridge after the fiasco, he no longer had the opportunity to lead the troops as the main general. Feng Yunshan estimated that there were really not many people to send Yang Xiuqing this time, and the original best candidates Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang were all poached by themselves, except for Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, only Qin Rigang was the most suitable.

But Yang Xiuqing has always been wary of Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, worried about growth, and with such a precedent as himself, he is definitely unwilling to let the Northern King Yiwang lead the troops to fight alone.

In addition, Yang Xiuqing's confidant Ji Wenyuan, Huang Wenjin and Zhu Xikun, who relied on him, were involved in surveillance, and Qin Rigang was also difficult to stand on his own.

That's why such a lineup of leaders will be sent.

In this way, Qin Rigang, who finally had the opportunity to lead the troops, will inevitably plan more, which will cause a different battle situation from history.

What's more critical is that now that the land of Liangguang is occupied by Feng Yunshan, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has lost Guangdong, a land of large taxes, and their own use of troops in Funan and Fujian has cost the Manchu Dynasty's military salaries even more, resulting in a serious deficit in the Manchu court's treasury.

I don't know how the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who couldn't get the money to pay their troops, raised all the food and salaries to gather troops to intercept the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Feng Yunshan thought of this, Feng Yunshan felt that he should also send Li Kaifang, who was originally from the Northern Expedition, to contribute to the Northern Expedition. Therefore, he ordered Li Kaifang to lead the officers and men of the Second Division stationed in Nanning Mansion in Guangxi Province to go out of Zhen'an Mansion in Guangxi Province and attack Yunan, focusing on the areas of Qujing Mansion, Dongchuan Mansion, Yunan Mansion, Chengjiang Mansion, Chuxiong Mansion and Wuding Mansion in the copper-producing areas around Kunming.

Of course, there are several reasons for sending troops to Yunnan. The first is to take advantage of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition to attract some Qing troops and spend some Qing soldiers' salaries, and the second is to plan to occupy Yunan, a mineral-rich land by the way, which is still the main reason.

Yunnan's copper mines have been famous since ancient times, and copper in this era is the best metal besides gold and silver. In addition to being able to cast cannons, the most direct way is to cast copper coins. It can be said that as long as there is a copper mine, except for the cost of mining, smelting and transportation, the copper coins minted are all profits.

However, Feng Yunshan had seen it on the Internet before, saying that it was a province far away from Yunnan in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the income from minting copper coins was not as good as the price of copper itself. But no matter what, even if you sell copper, it's a lot of money!

Feng Yunshan fantasized that one day he would master a large amount of copper, mint a large number of copper coins and put them on the market, and completely destroy the already fragile Manchu financial system.

Nowadays, the copper of the entire Manchu Dynasty is basically provided by Yunan.

Yunan provided the Manchu court and the provinces with more than 10 million catties of copper every year, according to the Qing Dynasty every seven catties of copper plate copper money conversion, the annual output of Yunnan copper is equivalent to 1.5 million taels of silver.

This is already a big income for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Feng Yunshan must of course curb it as soon as possible.

……..

From the first day, after receiving the news that the Taiping Army had set out from Yangzhou and Tianjing to start the Northern Expedition of the Two Route Army, Feng Yunshan summoned relevant people and others.

Li Wenmao, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Shengwang Palace, who is also the vice president of the "Nanfang Daily"; There is also Zeng Guanlan, who rushed to Guangzhou and has already taken up the post of deputy director of the General Affairs Department of the Shengwang Palace, who is also the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

There is also the American missionary named Wei Sanwei, who is the deputy editor-in-chief of the "Nanfang Daily" hired by Feng Yunshan, on the one hand, Feng Yunshan sees that he is the editor-in-chief of the original "China Cong Bao" and has the experience of opening a printing office, and on the other hand, Feng Yunshan also takes a fancy to his Westerner background and channels.

Nanfang Daily is not only a newspaper for Chinese people, but also for Westerners who are concerned about China. Moreover, in the current affairs page, it is not only domestic current affairs, Feng Yunshan wants to let the Chinese people know more about foreign current affairs, and give the Chinese people the important task of opening their eyes to the world.

As for the situation of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition and Western Expedition that he explored every day, the current affairs news page of the "Nanfang Daily" kept up with it in a timely manner, and generally received the news on the same day, and the next day's newspaper published the progress of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition and Western Expedition.

"In early April, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent 22,000 troops from the Northern Expeditionary Army on the right road to attack the territory of Anman."

"In mid-April, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom sent 15,000 people from the Left Route Northern Expeditionary Army, strayed north into Liuhe, fought fiercely with the Qing Demon, was defeated, killed and wounded more than 5,000 people, and fled back to Tianjing, 4,000 people, and the remaining 5,000 people under the leadership of Zhu Xikun joined up with the Right Route Army and captured Anman Chuzhou."

"In late April, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, with Lai Hanying as the main general, led more than 23,000 troops and drove more than 1,000 ships, set out from Tianjing, traced the Yangtze River, and began its westward expedition."

"At the beginning of May, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom conquered the Guide Mansion in Hanan, killing more than 3,000 Qing troops, losing more than 500 people, and recruiting more than 1,000 soldiers.

The Qing army counterattacked and returned to Defu, and the Northern Expeditionary Army fought fiercely with it again, killing more than 2,000 Qing troops, and the Qing army was defeated. The Northern Expeditionary Army captured countless people. ”

"In mid-May, Lai Hanying of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led a western expeditionary army to capture the city of Anqing, which was defended by only 3,000 troops."

In each issue of Nanfang Daily, a war column was set up, which was dedicated to reporting on the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition and Western Expedition.

Even, occasionally in which issue of the newspaper, Feng Yunshan would instruct to write a summary and analysis after reporting on the war, predicting the next trend of the war.

Of course, he knew that the Manchu court must also be reading its own newspapers, not only would it not reveal the movements of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's march, but also intended to give the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a little publicity. (To be continued.) )