Chapter 104 Siege Tactics
Thanks to our Emperor Xianfeng, there is no heart disease or hypertension. Otherwise, the complaints sent to Emperor Xianfeng in front of the Tianjin front in the past few days, even if the Emperor Xianfeng cannot scare him out of any myocardial infarction, it will definitely not be a big problem to scare him to have a stroke and hemiplegia.
It was so big that Senggelinqin had just impeached Wu Chaoyue, disobeyed the command, and refused to obey the order of the King of Monk. Emperor Xianfeng had just gotten angry with Wu Chaoyue. Zaiyuan immediately came to report the good news that the Taiping Army was afraid of Wu Chaoyue as if it were tigers. He also reported that Wu Chaoyue had issued a military order to claim that the Taiping Army was out of the city within three days, which made Emperor Xianfeng, who had long been used to the Qing army's fear of the enemy and was afraid of the enemy, and that he had rarely smiled happily.
However, before Emperor Xianfeng was happy, and before a day had passed, Zaiyuan sent a quick horse to send an urgent report, saying that it was a traitor in the Qing army. Not only did he reveal the secret of Wu Chaoyue's military order to the Taiping army, but he also imitated the handwriting of the Qing army commander Shengbao. As a result, Shengbao and General Senggelinqin, who had been fighting openly and secretly, turned against each other and fought in the central army's tent. The Qing army besieged in the city faced the danger of splitting and internal strife, which seriously affected the morale of the army.
Then, the furious Emperor Xianfeng of Longyan had just overturned the Long case. Before he had time to decide whether to replace Shengbao, the front-line commander, and who could thoroughly investigate the leaked case. Zaiyuan and Shengbao jointly sent great good news. Wu Chaoyue, who was pulled back, did not care about his personal gains and losses. He focused on the major affairs of the court and the country of the Wild Boar Skin family in every aspect, turned pressure into motivation, and turned anger into fighting spirit. He took Tianjin out of the city in just one day, defeated the Taiping Army and beheaded nearly a thousand troops, and seized countless military supplies! During this period, Shengbao personally visited the front line to supervise the battle. Zaiyuan, as the military supervisor, also put on a horse and killed six bandits, inspiring the Qing soldiers to fight bloody battles. It can also be regarded as a meticulous achievement!
Haha laughed and hugged Zaiyuan and Shengbao's joint memorials several times, and praised Wu Chaoyue, Zaiyuan and others. After carefully reminding Qi Yuzao, Sushun and others, Emperor Xianfeng discovered that there were two other memorials sent with the memorials. One was that Shengbao impeached Senggelinqin and ordered Mongolian deputy commander Tong Jian to incite the Qing army generals to deliberately drag Wu Chaoyue down. On the battlefield, he took the lead in order to compete for merit, which led to the Wu army's path of training bravely attacks, which also led to the Qing army's failure to defeat the right wing of the Taiping Army in time, resulting in the large number of escaped Taiping Army missing a large number of rare fighter jets to annihilate the enemy. The other memorial was that Senggelinqin impeached Wu Chaoyue with private revenge and deliberately did not reinforce the Mongolian cavalry, resulting in the Chahar cavalry not being able to defeat the right wing of the Taiping Army in time and missing the enemy's fighter jets.
With a bang, he habitually punched the dragon case. Emperor Xianfeng's face was three points worse than when Daoguang died. After the blue veins on his forehead stormed for a long time, Emperor Xianfeng even swears, "These dog slaves are simply lawless! Changmao has hit Tianjin, but they are still thinking about fighting for power and profit, pulling each other's back, and not taking my country's safety to heart! They are not all good things!"
After cursing angrily, Emperor Xianfeng asked Sushun, Qi Luzao and others with a gloomy face: "Dear friends, Prince Zai impeached Senggelinqin, Senggelinqin impeached Wu Chaoyue, and the previous military aircraft leak case, Shengbao and Senggelinqin's generals fight, what do you think should be dealt with?"
Of course, everyone who can be involved in Emperor Xianfeng's Yangxin Palace is good at judging the best. In fact, when he first heard the saying that it was not a good thing, Sushun and Qi Lizao had already understood that Emperor Xianfeng was actually very dissatisfied with everyone and did not intend to target a certain person. Therefore, the mature Qi Lizao immediately stood up and bowed and said, "Long live, the matter is big, and the matter is small. In the opinion of the minister, this matter should not be investigated immediately, so as not to shake the morale of the army, affect morale, and affect the major events of the suppression of the thieves. Therefore, the minister believes that the emperor might as well take the opportunity to promote Prince Zai to the general supervisor, and ask him to supervise all the troops and generals on the front line of Tianjin, and also ask him to be responsible for investigating these cases. When everything is revealed, it is not too late to be a severance."
Emperor Xianfeng was very satisfied with Qi Zhuzao's suggestions and nodded immediately. Su Shun said, "Long live, I believe that although Qi Junji's suggestions are good, the actions of the monk prince in Tianjin are really too much. At least, he did not listen to the command of Shengbao, which is a conviction. Instructing the generals to provoke the crime of slandering the army, which is also a testimony. In addition, he turned against Shengbao and became enemies, and the generals and generals would inevitably affect the morale of the army. Therefore, I believe that it is best to transfer the monk prince back to the capital first. As for the monk prince's troops, they can be handed over to the Prince Zai for temporary command, or they can send another person to take over. Please think twice."
Considering that Senggelinqin had already had an irreconcilable relationship with Shengbao, Emperor Xianfeng nodded and immediately wanted to transfer Senggelinqin, the number one messenger on the front line, back to the capital to confiscate military power. But unfortunately, Senggelinqin's current boss Mianyu was also in the Palace of Yangxin and immediately stood up and opposed: "Emperor, I think it's not possible. Although Senggelinqin did something wrong, he was an old minister of the previous dynasty and the Mongolian prince. He had been in charge of military affairs for a long time. His troops and horses were the elite of the imperial guards in the capital. He had never failed in the face of Changmao. His performance on the battlefield was far better than the head coach Shengbao who had been defeated repeatedly in front of Changmao. If he confiscated his military power for a few trivial matters, it would inevitably be a bit too much."
When Su Shun heard this, he was displeased and immediately questioned: "Prince Mian, Senggelinqin instructed Tong Jian to incite Xilinghe and Shanlu to deliberately drag Wu Chaoyue down on the battlefield, provoke disagreement among the army, and deliberately frame Wu Chaoyue who had already issued a military order. Is this a trivial matter?"
"Suzhongtang, that's just a matter of Xilinghe and Shanlu. Tong Jian denied this. Whether the Xilinghe and Shanlu's complaints are true is not yet determined." Mian Yu, who is considered the uncle of Xianfeng Emperor, replied with a smile.
Mian Yu spoke for Senggelinqin so unreasonably because in addition to being close to Senggelinqin, Senggelinqin is currently the assistant of his general, the fall of Senggelinqin will definitely make him lose face. But the overthrow of Senggelinqin is too unreasonable to force Emperor Xianfeng to govern Senggelinqin's crime of slandering the army. Seeing Sushun's speech frustrated, Lin Kui, the Minister of Military Affairs, jumped out immediately and said carefully: "Your Majesty, I believe that there is another important role in keeping Senggelinqin in the Tianjin army, which is to help Prince Zai supervise the front-line army. I am foolish, please think twice."
Emperor Xianfeng's ears were so soft that after listening to Mian Yu and Lin Kui's persuasion, he was inevitably shaken again. The noble origin of our monk prince also played a significant role in the moment. Considering the need to unite the Mongolian princes and princes to continue to absorb the blood of all Chinese ethnic groups, Emperor Xianfeng finally nodded and said: "The fifth prince is right. Although the two dog slaves, Xilinghe and Shanlu, insisted that Senggelinqin instructed them to deliberately drag Wu Chaoyue down, this was just their own statement. It has not been confirmed whether this is true. Moreover, Wu Aiqing's battle to leave the city was not affected. It is impossible to take back Senggelinqin's military power. Let him continue to kill thieves for me in Tianjin."
After personally expelling Senggelinqin, Emperor Xianfeng made a few more calculations and soon issued an order: "Issue the order, Prince Yixian Zaiyuan, during the Tianjin Army Supervisor, he knew the overall situation and took the overall situation into consideration, and promptly resolved the dispute between Shengbao and Senggelinqin. He personally went to the battlefield to supervise the army to kill the enemy and was awarded the order of the clan mansion, and was appointed as the minister of the guards, and promoted to the general supervisor of various troops from Tianjin. Wu Chaoyue, the Jiangsu Daotai, broke the bandits and made contributions to the city, and was rewarded with a single-eyed peach feather and gave him ten thousand taels of silver. In the imperial edict, he clearly told Wu Chaoyue that I would not promote him this time, but waited for him to break the Tianjin city for me, and I was preparing to give him a higher-level superb!"
Hearing this, the muscles on Sushun, Mian Yu and others couldn't help but move. They envy Zaiyuan's good luck, and it was almost certain that they could take the Tianjin Marine Office to gain real power. At the same time, they were a little funny. They said intimately: "Waiting to give Wu Chaoyue more and more superb? This kid is now a fourth-grade, even if he only goes to the first level, he is a third-grade. His grandfather is only going to be a third-grade. When the grandparents and grandchildren meet, should he kowtow to his grandson?"
After announcing the rewards to Zaiyuan and Wu Chaoyue, Emperor Xianfeng casually decided to let Zaiyuan be responsible for investigating various cases on the front line. At the end, he revealed his nature and shouted: "Transfer the order to Shengbao and Senggelinqin, tell them that they were fists and feet in the central army's tent. I already know that I will take back Tianjin as soon as possible and suppress this long hair. Everything is easy to say! If I delay and waste my salary as before, I will settle with their new and old accounts!"
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Emperor Xianfeng was wise and mixed with each other. Wu Chaoyue and Shengbao were not stupid. As soon as the imperial edict was delivered to the Tianjin front line, Wu Chaoyue and Shengbao immediately understood that Emperor Xianfeng did not want to deal with Senggelinqin seriously. In this regard, Shengbao was extremely angry, secretly hating that his background was too humble. If Shengbao and Senggelinqin were asked to exchange titles, see how Senggelinqin died! Wu Chaoyue sneered and said, "If you like to pull the straits, just pull it. It's best to leave Senggelinqin. If the Taiping Army successfully breaks through the defense zone under the responsibility of Senggelinqin, it will have nothing to do with me."
Of course, Zaiyuan was the happiest person. Although he was Prince Yixian, he had no real power, which was the greatest pain in Zaiyuan's heart and the key reason why he was never rich in the world. Now Emperor Xianfeng gave him the clan mansion and made him become an extremely noble minister of the commander's guard. In the next step of promotion, he had no other choice except for letting Zaiyuan enter the Military Affairs Office to take over the actual power. Therefore, after kowtowing happily, Zaiyuan's first thing was to bring Shengbao and Wu Chaoyue to drink. In fact, it was to force Shengbao and Wu Chaoyue to find a way to take over Tianjin as soon as possible and pave the spacious avenue for him to enter the Military Affairs Office.
Of course, Zaiyuan couldn't say so directly if he wanted to enter the Military Affairs Office. However, Shengbao and Wu Chaoyue were both smart people. After hearing Zaiyuan's nonsense of loyalty to serve the country, he immediately understood that Zaiyuan was forcing them to break the city as soon as possible. In this regard, even Jinghai County and Duliu Town had played for nine months, Shengbao was at a loss. He could only kick the ball to Wu Chaoyue and asked: "Weiting, what are your good ways to win Tianjin City as soon as possible?"
"Master, actually, I have a few words about how to break through Tianjin City. I have wanted to say to you for a long time." Wu Chaoyue said without hesitation, "Today, in front of Prince Zai, the official wanted to offend you a few words. If you are rude, please forgive and forgive me for your rudeness."
"Weiting, why are you polite when you talk to me?" Sheng Bao's attitude towards Wu Chaoyue was indeed a 180-degree turn, and he said, "As long as you say it right and make sense, it doesn't matter if you are not polite. Brother Yu, I listen carefully and accept it humbly. If there is something wrong with me, I will definitely correct it."
Zaiyuan also asked Wu Chaoyue to say anything directly, and then Wu Chaoyue said, "Master, Prince Zai, then Xiaguan is not polite. Victory, Xiaguan thinks that the tactic of your siege of Tianjin City is completely wrong and purely useless. There are food and grass in Tianjin. Changmao is not afraid of confronting us for a long time. We divide our troops from all sides. Not only will we disperse our combat forces, but we may be defeated by Changmao one by one, and the victory will be turned into a defeat. Surrounding three quotas and one by one, luring Changmao out of the city to fight to the decisive battle is the best strategy to defeat the enemy."
Zaiyuan didn't understand military affairs. After hearing Wu Chaoyue's words, he just nodded, and then hurried to see Shengbao's reaction. Shengbao's expression was a little complicated. After thinking for a while, he said, "Weiting, I have thought of surrounding three queu and one queu, and luring Changmao out of the city to fight to the decisive battle. But there are two reasons, which are destined to not dare to do this. The first is that this is Zhili, and it is already around the capital. If you are not careful, if Changmao continues to wander around and cause chaos, no matter if Changmao is allowed to capture any Zhili city, I will not be able to explain to the court and the emperor?"
After a pause, Sheng Bao also showed a bitter smile on his face and said with a bitter smile: "Second, Weiting, don't laugh when you hear it, and Prince Zai, don't be upset when you hear it. Say the words of your heart and fight with Changmao head-on. I really don't have the confidence to win in one battle. Although I have many soldiers and horses under my command, there are actually very few elites who dare to charge and face to face. I really don't have much confidence in fighting with Changmao head-on. So there is no way, I can only use the stupid method of surrounding Changmao to waste my hair."
After saying that, Shengbao quickly added: "Of course, the situation is different now. With Weiting and your army of wars, I already have the confidence and confidence to fight Changmao head-on!"
"Thank you, Grandmaster, for the misconception, I am ashamed of being accused of taking responsibility." Wu Chaoyue was hypocritical and humble, and then said: "Master, Tianjin City has sufficient food and grass, and the city defense is quite solid. It is still a cold winter when water turns into ice. It is very easy for long-haired city to repair the city defense. It is almost impossible for us to attack the front and take over Tianjin City. Therefore, the officials believe that if we want to take over Tianjin City now, there is only one way that is most certain."
"What's the solution?" Shengbao and Zaiyuan asked quickly.
"On three palaces and one, and force the enemy to abandon the city!" Wu Chaoyue replied: "Concentrate troops in the west, south and north directions, and open up the east road that leads to the sea directly. The deployment of troops is mainly to the north and west sides, prevent Changmao from entering Zhili's hinterland and disturbing the capital in the north, appropriately weaken the southern power, so that Changmao can see the hope of fleeing south, and lure the enemy out of the city."
"Retrieving the garrison in the east is a good way. It can concentrate our strength and make Changmao have no way to go even if it flows eastward." Sheng Bao pondered: "It is also a good way to appropriately weaken the power in the south. Although the terrain in the south of Tianjin is wide, there is no city within two hundred miles that can allow Changmao to capture the foothold. It can not only find a fighter opportunity for a decisive battle, but also prompt Changmao to go south and stay away from the capital, reducing the pressure on the capital..."
"It's better than letting long hair entrench in Tianjin." Wu Chaoyue added: "Tianjin is only more than 240 miles from Beijing, and the terrain is open and there is no danger to guard. If long hair entrenches in Tianjin for one day, the capital will be in peace for one day."
Shengbao nodded and asked again: "How can we force Changmao to break through the city?"
"Use the method of long hair to explode the tunnel." Wu Chaoyue replied: "Xiaguan has found many locals inquiries in the past few days. The soil in Tianjin is thick and there are not many underground water veins. It is suitable for digging tunnels to bury gunpowder under the city wall to blow up the city wall. As long as we succeed, we will launch a strong attack immediately and force Changmao to abandon the city, it is very possible."
When Shengbao heard this, his eyes lit up and immediately said, "Good idea. Changmao had left the city and guarded the open area in the south of the city before. We couldn't dig tunnels. Now we have not only taken down the city, but also ruins can be used for us. We just need to rebuild the city and pretend to be used to siege camps, and find some coal mining workers to dig tunnels and lead them to dig through the city. There is a great hope of success!"
"Wait." Zaiyuan interrupted quickly and asked in confusion: "Kezhai, Weiting, wait a minute. Since we are digging tunnels to bury gunpowder and are very sure to break the city, why do we still have to surround the three queu and one? Why don't we continue to encircle Tianjin City on all sides, blow up the city wall and destroy Tianjin Changmao in one fell swoop?"
Shengbao and Wu Chaoyue smiled bitterly when they heard this. In desperation, Shengbao had to patiently explain to Zaiyuan: "Prince, blowing up the Tianjin wall does not ensure that we can definitely take over the Tianjin city. During the Changsha war, Changmao exploded the Changsha city wall twice, and our Qing Dynasty defenders retreated Changmao's troops who entered the city quickly filled the city wall with earth bags, and saved Changsha City twice. Now it is winter when water turns into ice. After Changmao uses earth bags to fill the gap in the city wall, he will immediately become as strong as the city wall. It is much easier to repair the city wall than Changsha."
"So even if we blow up one or two sections of the city wall, long hair can be blocked quickly. It is not very likely that we can break the city with the flow." Wu Chaoyue also helped add: "Because long hair is nowhere to go, there is no choice except to defend the city desperately. The centipede insect is still dead but not dead. More than 50,000 long hairs are fighting for trapped beasts. It is definitely a big deal. No matter which Qing army is, it is impossible to break into a gap that is only a few feet wide and guard the road to the city."
"But we deliberately gave up one or two roads for Changmao to escape, and the situation was completely different." Shengbao said again: "When Changmao sent troops north from Yangzhou, there were less than 20,000 people in total. After fierce battles along the way, the old soldiers were still 12,300 left, and the remaining 37,800 long hairs were all the troubled and hungry people brought along the way of Changmao, and they were forced to go from the counter-fighting spirit. Seeing that the Tianjin wall was blown up, and seeing that there was still a way to survive, they would inevitably leave the city to escape from the life road. At that time, the new recruits from Changmao came out of the city from the east gate, which not only helped us open the city gate, but also would inevitably affect the morale of Changmao's old soldiers. Once the fighting spirit collapsed, they would naturally have the intention of abandoning the city to break through."
After listening to Shengbao and Wu Chaoyue's explanation, Zaiyuan had been thinking about it for a long time, nodded and said, "It sounds good, so how do you do it?"
"How about winning the general and letting the lower officials move to the north gate of Tianjin?" Wu Chaoyue took the opportunity to say: "Drag the garrison outside the east gate to the west to assist in the battle, strengthen the defense force in the west, and let the lower officials reach the north gate to establish the camp, and work together to block Changmao's westward running north road, forcing Changmao to break out to the east or south!"
"Good idea! Just do it!" Shengbao agreed immediately.
"What about the south?" Zai Yuan asked quickly: "The tunnel must be dug in the south and buried gunpowder must be buried. We must also be responsible for the tough situation. Who is responsible for these matters?"
Shengbao and Wu Chaoyue laughed and slowly said in unison: "Of course, you have to worry about these things."
Zaiyuan was speechless and said a long time later: "I don't object to you doing this, but I am only worried about one thing. The monk is afraid that he has no courage to fight the tough battle and enter Tianjin city."
Chapter completed!