Chapter 113 Li Yi: I crave her body, but I crave my father-in-law even more...
Early September of the first year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, Wuzhou City!
The headquarters of the Grand Marshal's Office.
Li Yi met someone who interested him in his study.
"I am deeply moved that General Ling came to Wuzhou to meet me in person!"
Li Yi looked at Ling Shiba in front of him and said with emotion while inviting him to have tea.
Upon hearing this, Ling Shiba immediately clasped his fists and said.
"I was reckless in rejecting the Grand Commander's invitation before. This time I came to Wuzhou to personally apologize to the Grand Commander."
Originally, after the surprise attack on Xinyi, Ling Shiba planned to join forces with Li Yi to jointly resist the pressure from the Qing court.
However, when he learned that the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Xu Guangjin, was defeated in Wuzhou, Ling Shiba also realized the gap between him and Li Yi.
In addition, the two of them had previously worked under Feng Yunshan, so they had some kind of friendship.
Therefore, Ling Shiba began to think about surrendering.
Especially when Li Yi sent his thank-you gift, ten cannons, to his camp, Ling Shiba made up his mind completely.
Li Yi heard this and said with a smile.
"Brother Ling, you are being polite. You and I both served under the Southern King. We are brothers. What happened before was all a misunderstanding. It will be fine once we talk it out."
"How can there be overnight hatred between brothers?"
Upon hearing this, Ling Shiba spoke again.
"Thank you, Grand Commander, for your tolerance."
"Besides that, I came to Wuzhou this time because I want to join the Grand Commander and join the anti-Qing cause. I hope the Grand Commander will agree."
Ling Shiba took the initiative to express his desire to join the group.
Naturally, Li Yi had no reason to refuse, so he said with a smile.
"Easy to say, easy to say!"
After he finished speaking, Li Yi paused for a moment and continued.
"How about this, I will give you a Xinyi Independent Brigade. As for the reorganization work, you can do it yourself."
"Brother Ling, you can make your own list of officers at all levels. Just report it. As long as you report it, I will definitely approve it."
Li Yi's attitude is very clear. Since you have come to me, I will not take away your power. You still have the final say over your troops.
To put it bluntly, Li Yi wanted to use this to attract more rebels to join him.
When it comes to conquering the world, the more friends the better!
Of course, now is now, and the future is the future.
Li Yi will indeed not seize Ling Shiba's power now, but in the future he will gradually add sand to Ling Shiba's forces to increase his own influence until Ling Shiba's forces are completely absorbed.
To put it bluntly, Li Yi could accept the existence of factions and cliques within the Restoration Army, but he could not accept the existence of warlords within the Restoration Army.
There can only be one voice in the entire Restoration Army, and that is Li Yi's voice.
Everyone else just needs to follow orders!
When Ling Shiba heard this, his eyes lit up immediately.
"Thank you for your grace, Grand Commander. I understand!"
Ling Shiba had cleverly changed his words and directly called himself a humble official in front of Li Yi.
The two talked for a while, and then Ling Shiba took his leave and prepared to return to Xinyi to preside over the reorganization of his troops.
Li Yi continued to handle military affairs.
Almost a month has passed since the end of the Battle of Wuzhou.
During this month, the Restoration Army was busy.
The first one is Li Yi.
After the Battle of Wuzhou, Li Yi chose to return to the rear first to provide support, but did not march eastward to Guangdong in large numbers.
But this does not mean that Li Yi did nothing!
Taking advantage of the opportunity when the main force of his side returned to the rear for reinforcement, Li Yi not only returned to Cenxi for an inspection, but also personally presided over the land distribution work in Wuzhou Prefecture.
And continue to recruit soldiers and expand the army in various places.
In addition, he also sent a small force from Wuzhou to the east, captured Jiangkou, Fengchuan and other places, opened up a channel for the Restoration Army to march eastward, and paved the way for the main force of the Restoration Army to march eastward to Guangdong in the future.
The second is the situation in Xunzhou. After Wang An publicly tried and executed the Qing prisoners of war in the Battle of Pingnan, he took advantage of the situation to recapture Xunzhou.
He then carried out a bloody purge of the gentry in Xunzhou, exterminating the nine clans of local tyrants and evil gentry headed by Sun He, in order to avenge his son and the soldiers of the Restoration Army who died in battle.
Then, he led his army to capture Wuxuan and Guixian, and established defense lines in the two counties to protect core areas such as Xunzhou and Wuzhou.
Li Sheng led his troops to capture Rong County, and pursued the enemy to the city of Beiliu. He then retreated to the area around Goulou Mountain north of Beiliu City to build a defense line.
Zhao Xiang led his troops into Xinyi, and with the cooperation of Ling Shiba's troops, he defeated the Qing army in the direction of Xinyi and pursued the enemy all the way to the city of Gaozhou before withdrawing his troops to defend Xinyi.
At this point, the three threats to the rear of the Restoration Army were all eliminated, and the areas of Wuzhou and Xunzhou could basically be considered to have been taken over by the Restoration Army.
After doing all this, Li Yi decisively ordered the main forces of Li Sheng, Wang An and Zhao Xiang to gather in Wuzhou and prepare for the war to the east.
In addition, the most noteworthy thing is the progress of the Restoration Army's expansion.
After the great victory in the Battle of Wuzhou, the confidence of the people under the rule in the Restoration Army was significantly enhanced, and the speed of the Restoration Army's expansion also increased significantly.
In just one month, the Restoration Army's new recruit camp recruited nearly 20,000 new soldiers.
Although these new recruits may not be very useful in terms of combat effectiveness due to their short training time, it does not mean that they are useless.
Li Yi mobilized these inadequately trained recruits to replace the veteran soldiers of the Restoration Army stationed in various places.
Let those veterans go back to the battlefield.
The new recruits will then be responsible for garrisoning local areas while continuing their training and taking on some less difficult tasks of suppressing insurgency and banditry.
Use this to hone yourself.
After a long period of training, your fighting ability will naturally increase.
Overall, this is definitely a good thing!
In addition, Li Yi also took advantage of this period of time to reorganize the Qing army prisoners of war captured by the Restoration Army in the Battle of Wuzhou.
Li Yi reorganized the 20,000 prisoners of war into four brigades. He planned to let these prisoners fight with cold weapons and serve as the vanguard of the army.
To put it bluntly, they are just cannon fodder!
Although the Green Camp of the Qing army is now rotten, it can still play a certain role if someone can take ruthless measures to supervise the battle.
Even if we take a step back and say that these reorganized prisoners of war, no matter how bad they are, can certainly help to bolster their morale.
As of now, with the addition of new recruits and reorganized Qing prisoners of war, the total strength of the Restoration Army has now reached more than 60,000.
And this time when Li Yidong leaves Guangdong, at least 40,000 of them will be mobilized.
Among them, the number of combat soldiers of the Restoration Army was 20,000, and the number of prisoners of war who had completed reorganization was 20,000.
With a force of 40,000, we can claim to have an army of 100,000!
Apart from anything else, it is not difficult to break through Guangdong!
The only thing that made Li Yi a little regretful was that because of the need to send troops back to support the rear, the Restoration Army missed the best opportunity to march eastward to Guangdong.
Otherwise, Li Yi was even confident that he could take advantage of the victory in the Wuzhou battle and rush directly to the city of Guangzhou.
It’s a pity, but I can’t say I regret it.
To put it nicely, Li Yi is cautious; to put it bluntly, he is cowardly and sinister. Rather than taking strategic risks, he prefers to develop step by step.
Take it slow. Anyway, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is in the front to attract fire. The Qing court cannot pay attention to them for a while, and cannot mobilize troops to encircle and suppress them.
Li Yi has the objective conditions to develop slowly!
Just as Li Yi was thinking of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there was a knock on his door.
"Grand Commander, your humble servant Li Liang requests to see you."
Hearing this, Li Yi looked up and asked, "Come in, what's the matter?"
As soon as Li Yi finished speaking, the door was pushed open from the outside with a creaking sound.
Li Liang then walked in and came in front of Li Yi and said.
"Grand Commander, the latest news is that something big happened in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."
Upon hearing this, Li Yi's hand movements paused noticeably, and he looked up and asked.
"Tell me what's going on!"
Li Liang heard this and took a deep breath.
"In reply to the Grand Commander, a while ago, Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui had a conflict in Changsha City, and the two sides even fought a gunfight."
"Just as the two sides were fighting fiercely, the Qing Dynasty's Guangxi governor Xiang Rong led his troops to raid Changsha. In the chaos, Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai withdrew from Changsha together and retreated to the northwest."
"After defeating Xiang Rong, Yang Xiuqing immediately withdrew from Changsha and retreated to the north of Changsha city."
"Afterwards, Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai, who had fled, crossed the river and captured Jingzhou, slaughtered the eight banners stationed in Jingzhou, and then continued to move northwards towards Xiangyang Prefecture, apparently intending to invade the Central Plains."
"The main force of the Heavenly Kingdom led by Yang Xiuqing entered the Yangtze River through Dongting Lake, successively broke through Xiangyin, Yuezhou, Hankou, Wuchang and other important towns, entered Jiangxi, and headed for Nanjing..."
Upon hearing this, Li Yi couldn't help but look surprised.
The Taiping Army is progressing so fast!
Originally, Li Yi thought that after the Changsha Incident, the split Heavenly Kingdom would be silent for a while.
Unexpectedly, they developed even faster!
But this is not incomprehensible.
When Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui were together, they were always hindering each other. The Taiping Army could not even exert its normal strength, let alone form a joint force.
But once they split up, both of them would be able to have the final say. In this way, the Taiping Army under their respective command would no longer have to hinder each other and would naturally be able to perform better.
Hearing the news, Li Yi couldn't help but be shocked, feeling more happy than worried.
The reason is simple: the better the Taiping Army develops, the more attention it will attract to him.
In this way, Li Yi can also get more time for development.
How can it not be a good thing!
After Li Liang finished talking about the changes in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he continued.
"Grand Commander, there is one more thing."
Upon hearing this, Li Yi nodded and motioned for Li Liang to continue.
Li Liang was not polite and spoke.
"It was Commander Luo Dagang. When the Changsha Incident occurred, Commander Luo also took the opportunity to leave the Taiping Army."
"Right now, Commander Luo is leading his troops back to Guangxi, probably preparing to join our Restoration Army."
In fact, what Li Liang said here is indeed conservative.
Although there are several rebel armies throughout Guangxi, the only one that has become successful is Li Yi's Restoration Army.
Plus it’s because of Luo Caiyu.
The only possibility that Luo Dagang left the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and returned to Guangxi was to reunite with Li Yi.
Li Yi's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this.
"Good thing!"
"If Commander Luo can come to Wuzhou and join our army, then our army will be more confident in marching eastward to Guangdong this time."
Luo Dagang has great prestige in the Tiandihui in Guangdong and Guangxi. If Li Yidong could get Luo Dagang's help, his strategy of going to Guangdong would definitely be able to proceed more smoothly.
Well, the reason why Li Yi chose to marry Luo Caiyu was not only because of her youth and beauty and her body, but more because of his father-in-law Luo Dagang.
Now, seeing that Luo Dagang was about to return to Guangxi, Li Yi naturally had some ideas.
Li Yi asked.
"Where are Commander Luo and his men going now?"
Li Liang thought for a while and then spoke.
"Commander Luo and his men have already passed Yongzhou and are heading south towards Daozhou and Jianghua. They are not far from Guangxi."
Li Yi thought for a while and then spoke.
"Okay, send someone to get in touch with Commander Luo's troops first."
"Afterwards, a detachment was dispatched from Wuzhou to the north to Pingle Prefecture to meet Luo Dagang's troops heading south."
According to the map, after passing Daozhou in Hunan, Pingle Prefecture in Guangxi is not far to the south.
As long as you pass Pingle Prefecture, you will reach Wuzhou.
In other words, Luo Dagang's troops were actually not far away from Li Yi.
Under such circumstances, Li Yi naturally had to send someone to greet them.
Li Liang received the order and was about to do it when he was stopped by Li Yi.
Li Yi spoke up.
"No, I'll lead the troops to welcome them myself!"
Li Yi and Luo Dagang were originally brothers, but the younger brother ended up marrying the other person's precious daughter.
This is a bit unfair!
Therefore, Li Yi couldn't help feeling guilty when facing Luo Dagang, his cheap father-in-law.
Going to greet them in person is a sign of showing your appreciation.
Upon hearing this, Li Liang nodded to show that he understood.
……
The ninth day of the ninth month of the first year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign was the Double Ninth Festival.
Luo Dagang led his troops to the outskirts of Daozhou City.
At that time, there were only 300 defenders led by the prefect Wang Kuiyi in Daozhou City.
Originally, Luo Dagang only wanted to go south and had no intention of attacking Daozhou.
However, faced with the aggressive troops led by Luo Dagang, the prefect Wang Kuiyi simply fled without a fight.
Luo Dagang thought it would be a shame not to take advantage of an opportunity, so he led his army to capture Daozhou without bloodshed.
And began to repair it in Daozhou City.
During this process, Luo Dagang used his appeal to recruit a large number of Tiandihui members to join the army, which not only greatly made up for the loss of his troops, but also expanded the army to 5,000 people.
After resting for a few days, Luo Dagang was preparing to continue his journey south when he received a piece of good news.
Li Yi personally set out from Wuzhou and led his troops to Pingle Prefecture, ready to welcome him south.
After hearing the news, Luo Dagang felt quite relieved.
Originally he was worried that his daughter would be wronged if she married Li Yi, but now it seems that this will not be the case.
In a good mood, Luo Dagang immediately ordered the army to march south towards Wuzhou.
……
(End of this chapter)