Chapter 112 The King of the West Leaves
Xiang Rong rode on horseback and led the charge into Changsha City.
There were sounds of horse hooves. Xiang Rong waved his hand, the battle flag fluttered, and he rushed to the front.
"Soldiers, follow me and kill!"
"Today is the day to defeat the bandits and serve the country!"
Amid the shouts, Xiang Rong personally led the team to charge.
He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to wipe out the long-haired bandits who were rampant in the two provinces in one fell swoop.
Behind him, Zhang Guoliang, He Chun and other generals quickly followed on horseback.
The Qing army that entered the city was like a sharp steel knife, stabbing straight into the soldiers of the East and West Palaces who were in a melee.
The first to stand in their way was Xiao Chaogui's rear army.
When Shi Dakai saw this, he immediately ordered his men to stop the attack.
Although he came to help Xiao Chaogui, this conflict was caused by the contradiction between Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui, and had little to do with him, Shi Dakai.
Therefore, Shi Dakai's troops basically just watched and did not actually fight with Yang Xiuqing's troops.
Therefore, when the Qing army came, Shi Dakai was able to withdraw troops to prepare to stop them.
However, because the Qing army arrived too suddenly and Shi Dakai gave the order too late, he did not have time to mobilize much troops to stop them, and the Qing army attacked him.
In an instant, Shi Dakai's hastily organized blocking force was defeated by the Qing army.
The Qing army charged into the rear of Xiao Chaogui's troops without any hindrance.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Chaogui's troops were thrown into chaos.
The situation on the battlefield was also chaotic.
Xiao Chaogui's troops were immediately defeated under the pincer attack from Yang Xiuqing and Xiang Rong.
Looking at the situation on the battlefield, although Xiao Chaogui was unwilling, he had no choice but to order a retreat and lead his troops to retreat outside the city of Changsha.
Next, no matter whether Yang Xiuqing wins or Xiang Rong wins, Xiao Chaogui has already lost.
I definitely can’t stay in Changsha anymore.
Withdrawing troops is the best option before him.
Seeing this, Shi Dakai also led his troops and retreated to the outside of Changsha city with Xiao Chaogui.
He chose to be with Xiao Chaogui!
The reason why.
One reason is that Shi Dakai and Xiao Chaogui had a very good relationship in the past, and the two of them often advanced and retreated together.
The second reason is because of today's incident. Although Shi Dakai's original intention was to mediate, it is not certain whether Yang Xiuqing believes it or not.
If Yang Xiu settles the accounts in the future, how could Shi Dakai be spared?
Therefore, even for the sake of self-protection, Shi Dakai had no choice but to go all the way and simply stand on Xiao Chaogui's side.
As for what’s happening in Changsha city?
Shi Dakai couldn't care less about that!
If Shi Dakai was really loyal to the Heavenly Kingdom, then in history, he would not have led his troops away after the Tianjing Incident, and weakened the Heavenly Kingdom again...
Although he ran away at that time, it was also to protect himself!
……
"What? The Qing demons have entered Changsha City?"
Hong Xiuquan asked with a look of disbelief on his face.
Hu Yihuang nodded vigorously.
"How dare I deceive the Heavenly King with such a thing?"
"Just now, the Qing demon leader Xiang Rong took advantage of the fight between the East King and the West King and led his army into Changsha City."
"In the chaos of the battle, King Yi and King Xi were defeated one after another and retreated from Changsha City and headed northwest. King Dong is now leading his army in a fierce battle with the Qing demon leader Xiang Rong, and the battle situation is not going well."
Upon hearing this, Hong Xiuquan asked with a somewhat panicked expression.
"So what do we do?"
Upon hearing this, Wei Changhui stood up and spoke.
"Heavenly King, my subordinate's idea is to send troops to reinforce the Eastern King."
"The King of Wings and the King of the West have already fled in defeat, the King of the East cannot be defeated again. If the King of the East is defeated again, the consequences will be disastrous."
Although Wei Changhui and Yang Xiuqing did not get along well, in the current situation, Wei Changhui knew that standing by and watching was definitely not a good option.
Once Yang Xiuqing was defeated, they would not be able to escape.
Upon hearing this, Hong Xiuquan shook his head.
"No, no!"
"Changsha is in chaos right now. It's too dangerous for us to stay in the city."
"Why don't we evacuate the city first and then make a long-term plan!"
Well, Lao Hong wants to run away!
Although he knew that the situation was critical and not a good time to run away, the more critical the situation was, the more he wanted to run away.
Wei Changhui and Hu Yihuang looked at each other and were about to speak to persuade them.
Meng De'en on the side spoke up.
"I will obey the order of the King of Heaven!"
"Someone, come quickly, escort the king out of the city!"
Seeing this, Wei Changhui and Hu Yihuang looked at each other and could only agree.
A group of people began to retreat to the outside of Changsha city in a disorderly manner.
……
On the other side, Yang Xiuqing's troops were fighting fiercely with Xiang Rong.
Although at the beginning, the Taiping Army was caught off guard by the Qing Army.
Fortunately, Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai's troops withstood the first round of attacks, providing Yang Xiuqing with a buffer period.
This gave Yang Xiuqing time to organize his troops and prepare for war.
Therefore, when the two sides officially engaged in battle, although Yang Xiuqing's troops suffered some losses at the beginning, they gradually stabilized the situation.
Yang Xiuqing observed the battlefield, his expression a little serious but not dignified.
Because in his opinion, although Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai had rebelled, Wei Changhui, Hu Yihuang, Qin Riguang and others could still be relied on.
As long as they can bring troops to support, it would not be impossible to encircle and annihilate the Qing monsters that entered the city inside Changsha.
However, just as Yang Xiuqing was waiting for reinforcements to arrive, Huang Wenjin beside him brought him bad news.
"Report to the East King, the Heavenly King has led the North King and others to evacuate Changsha City..."
When Yang Xiuqing heard this, he almost fainted.
He thought Wei Changhui and others were reliable, but to his surprise, Hong Xiuquan was totally unreliable!
He has not been defeated yet and is still in a stalemate with the Qing demons. Why is Hong Xiuquan in such a hurry?
Yang Xiuqing took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and then began to clean up for Hong Xiuquan.
"Don't panic, generals. The Heavenly King is leading his army out of the city this time. He is definitely not running away, but going around to attack the Qing army camp outside Changsha."
"We just need to hold out against this wave of attacks from the Qing monsters. Once we hear that the Heavenly King has captured the Qing monster camp, we will have won the battle."
Upon hearing this, the generals still had some doubts, but they could only think positively and clasped their fists in agreement.
After doing all this, Yang Xiuqing personally went up to a drum tower in the East Palace, holding a drumstick and beating the drum to boost the morale of the army.
Under the encouragement of Yang Xiuqing, the morale of the Taiping Army was greatly boosted.
Start counterattacking the Qing army in front of them!
By this time, Xiang Rong's troops had exhausted all their strength after fighting, and could not help but begin to retreat.
When the Taiping Army saw this scene, their morale was boosted again. They launched another charge and repelled Xiang Rong's troops.
In desperation, Xiang Rong had to lead his troops to prepare to withdraw from Changsha City.
However, during his retreat, Xiang Rong happened to encounter Wei Changhui's troops, who saw the situation in Changsha improve and decided to return to Changsha. After a fierce battle, Xiang Rong's troops were defeated again and began to retreat helplessly.
Wei Changhui's troops were not polite and immediately launched a pursuit, but were blocked by the Chu warriors led by Jiang Zhongyuan, Liu Changyou and others, and returned empty-handed.
But even so, the Qing army did not dare to stay in Changsha any longer and could only withdraw towards Xiangtan.
……
After the war, Hong Xiuquan shamelessly led his troops back to Changsha.
However, the Taiping Army did not stay in Changsha for long, but chose to march northward, preparing to attack Nanjing.
The reason for this was that, firstly, the Changsha Rebellion caused the Western King and the Wing King to flee, and the Taiping Army was severely weakened.
If they continued to defend Changsha, they might be surrounded and annihilated by the Qing army.
The second reason is that after the Western King and the Wing King left, Yang Xiuqing gained absolute control over the Taiping Army.
Naturally, he also has to implement the strategy he has formulated!
On the seventh day of the eighth month of the first year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign in the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Army left Changsha, went north along the Xiangjiang River, broke through Xiangyin, and went straight into Dongting Lake.
On the tenth day of August, the Taiping Army captured Yuezhou.
Later, it entered the Yangtze River along Dongting Lake and successively captured important cities such as Hankou and Wuchang.
Afterwards, the Taiping Army reorganized its troops in Wuchang for several days, and then continued to move eastward by land and sea, marching towards the heart of Jiangnan in a mighty force.
The Qing army was almost unstoppable wherever they went.
On the other hand, after leaving the Taiping Army, Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai chose to head north and march into Hubei.
Xiao Chaogui and his men successively captured Changde, Lizhou, and Gong'an, then crossed the river overnight and marched to the city of Jingzhou.
In one battle, Jingzhou was conquered, the entire city was slaughtered, and the world was shocked!
……
Capital, Forbidden City.
The young emperor, who was only twenty years old, stared at the memorials in front of him with a dull look, looking a little silly.
Because, all of these memorials contained bad news.
The first was the Battle of Wuzhou, in which the Qing army in Guangdong was completely wiped out and the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Xu Guangjin, was captured.
Immediately afterwards, important cities such as Xiangyin, Yuezhou, Hankou and Wuchang fell one after another.
But before Xianfeng could recover from these bad news, news came that Xiao Chaogui had captured Jingzhou and massacred everyone in the city.
A series of bad news almost stunned Xianfeng.
How long has it been since he handed over this kingdom to his ancestors? How come it has become so corrupt? !
"Is this what you told me? The Longhair bandits are not a threat. As long as the imperial court can mobilize troops calmly, they can be wiped out?"
"If long-haired thieves like these can't make it big, then what kind of thieves can make it big?"
"Does it mean that we can achieve success only if the bandits reach Zhili, the capital, and even my presence?!"
Xianfeng looked at the military ministers kneeling on the ground in front of him, his chest heaving violently, and he was almost going crazy with anger.
"Now, the Manchus in Jingzhou have been massacred, and thousands of the Eight Banners have died. How can I explain this to my ancestors?!"
"what?!"
"Are you all talking? Why are you all mute?!"
Upon seeing this, Qi Junzao, Grand Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, stood up and spoke.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. No one could have imagined that the battle on the front line would be so disastrous."
"The most important thing for the court to do now is not to find someone to blame, but to find a way to curb the evil forces."
"To prevent the Taiping rebels from really invading Jiangnan and causing the tragedy of Jingzhou to happen again in Jiangning and Hangzhou."
"Once the affairs in Jiangnan are resolved, it won't be too late for the court to question the criminals about the affairs in Jingzhou."
Qi Junzao's attitude was very clear. The massacre of the entire city of Jingzhou was important, but no matter how important it was, it was not as important as the safety of Jiangnan.
Even without mentioning the two Manchu cities of Jiangning and Hangzhou, today's Jiangnan is also the most important source of fiscal revenue for the Qing Dynasty.
It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that half of the Qing Dynasty's fiscal revenue came from Jiangnan, but Jiangnan's annual fiscal revenue accounted for at least a quarter of the Qing Dynasty's total fiscal revenue for the whole year.
But this is true!
Once Jiangnan is lost, the Qing Dynasty will at least lose half its life.
When Xianfeng heard this, the anger on his face subsided a little, and he immediately opened his mouth to ask.
"Who do you think can take on the task of suppressing the bandits?"
He Ruolin heard this and stood up and said.
"Your Majesty, I think it is possible to let Xiang Rong take over the post of imperial commissioner temporarily and let him be responsible for chasing down the long-haired bandits who are trying to sneak into Jiangnan."
Upon hearing this, Xianfeng frowned and asked.
"Xiang Rong?"
"Will Xiang Rong be able to do it? If the court appoints him as the imperial envoy to lead the suppression of bandits, will he be able to convince the people?"
Xianfeng admitted that Xiang Rong was a good fighter, but he did not think that Xiang Rong had the ability to take charge of the overall situation.
Upon hearing this, Ji Zhichang also spoke in agreement.
"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter whether Xiang Rong has the ability to take charge of the overall situation. What matters is that Xiang Rong is closest to the bandits."
"As long as he receives the imperial edict, he can immediately mobilize troops to encircle and block the bandits. Perhaps it will be possible to stop the bandits in Jiangxi and prevent them from invading Jiangsu and Zhejiang."
"And judging from the speed at which the bandits are advancing, even if others have the ability, they may not be able to catch up in time."
When Xianfeng heard this, he immediately felt it made sense and began to give orders.
"Okay, then the Military Affairs Council will immediately draft an imperial decree and prepare to send it to the front line, allowing Xiang Rong to take over the post of imperial commissioner and take charge of the suppression of the bandits."
Upon hearing this, everyone responded in unison.
Xianfeng continued to ask.
"The battle situation in Jiangnan can be handed over to Xiang Rong for the time being. What about Hubei and Guangxi?"
"Whether it's the thief Xiao who broke through Jingzhou and massacred the Eight Banners of Jingzhou, or the thief Li who defeated the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in Wuzhou, they are not easy to deal with."
"If we don't encircle and suppress them as soon as possible, I am afraid they will continue to roam around and grow bigger, and we will be out of control!"
Xianfeng is really helpless now.
His Qing Dynasty is now like a rag bag, with leaks everywhere.
Everyone was speechless when they heard this, because the Green Camp was corrupt and the Eight Banners were decadent, and the Qing Dynasty really had no soldiers to send now.
Unless the Green Camp is transferred from Gansu and Shaanxi, or the Solon troops or the Outer Mongolian troops are transferred from outside the Great Wall and Mongolia to fight in the Great Wall.
After a moment, Ji Zhichang made a suggestion.
"Your Majesty, I think that the Qing Dynasty may be able to open up militia training in places where the bandits are rampant, such as Huguang, Jiangnan, Guangdong and Guangxi."
"Let the local gentry organize their own militia and train their bravery to cooperate with the imperial officials and soldiers to suppress the bandits."
Upon hearing this, Xianfeng showed a thoughtful expression.
Using militia to fill the shortage of military forces in the imperial court sounds like a good idea.
But he always felt that there was something wrong here!
But as he was still young, he really couldn't figure out where the pit was.
So, after thinking for a while, Xianfeng nodded.
"Yes, that's one way to do it."
Seeing that Xianfeng had given in, Qi Junzao, He Ruolin, Ji Zhichang and other old foxes exchanged subtle glances, as if to say, the matter was settled.
Well, it’s true that these people are loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty, but their status as loyal ministers does not prevent them from striving for greater power for their groups!
As long as the militia system is relaxed, it will only be a matter of time before Han officials completely overwhelm Manchu officials in the court.
……
PS: These two chapters briefly explain the split of the Kingdom of Heaven and the changes in the situation. In the next chapter, the focus will return to the protagonist.
(End of this chapter)