When the news that the Taiping Army purchased three steam gunships from foreigners came to Hubei, the time had already dragged on the autumn harvest season of the seventh year of Xianfeng in the past slacking.

Wu Chaoyue was not afraid of Taiping Army equipped steam gunships because Zhang Dejian's detailed work had already been discovered. The Taiping Army had never considered training naval soldiers in a systematic and orderly manner like himself. He directly hired some foreigners to drive ships, supplemented by some sailors who specialize in hard work. There are big problems with morale and fighting spirit. Not every country's mercenaries are as professional ethical as Swiss mercenaries. So it seems that the number of steam ships exceeds one of them. If you really fight, the two steam gun ships of Wu may not be afraid of the three Taiping Army.

In addition, the Taiping Army was very relieved of the use and deployment of these three steam gunships. In order to compete with the Qing army's Red Single Fleet, which poses a huge threat to Nanjing, and to protect the safety and smooth grain transport channel from Anqing to Nanjing, the Taiping Army directly deployed the steamship in Nanjing. There was no sign of driving to the Hukou battlefield, and Wu Chaoyue did not need to rush to drive his steam gunship out.

The Taiping Army also helped Wu Chaoyue with steam gunships, allowing Wu Chaoyue to ask the Qing court to allow him to directly intercept Hubei taxes, buy more steam gunships and compete with the Taiping Army for the right to control the river, and save Hubei Lijin, which was originally intended to be used to purchase steam ships, in other places. At the same time, the plan to establish an advanced shipyard and produce and build steam gunships by itself also appeared in Wu Chaoyue's blueprint for Hubei industrial construction.

Even though he was secretly and passive, Wu Chaoyue did not eat the salary given by the Qing court in vain. After finishing the major autumn harvest, before he could relax, Wu Chaoyue was transmitted to the Huguang Governor's Office by Hua Shana. As soon as he met, Hua Shana said to Wu Chaoyue with a bitter face: "Weiting, bad news, a long hair from Ji'an, Jiangxi took Jinggangshan and bypassed the defense line of the government and entered Hunan. Chaling and Yanling were in a hurry at the same time."

"Changmao entered Hunan again?" Wu Chaoyue almost thought he had heard it wrong, so he asked in surprise: "How is it possible? Liu Changyou, Jiang Zhongji, Wang Xin and others are just suppressing bandits in Ji'an? Why did Changmao's side troops even make the enemy attack into Hunan?"

"Wang Xin died and suddenly died of illness. His more than 3,000 Hunan troops under his command did not receive military pay for several months and completely collapsed." Hua Shana replied helplessly: "Liu Changyou and Jiang Zhongji attacked Ji'an several times, but they failed. They were also restrained by the Changmao Dagu Shi Zhenji. Shi Zhenji's subordinate Li Yafeng took the opportunity to attack Hunan with a long hair."

"How about the local government troops? Are you sure to rush this long hair back to Jiangxi?" Wu Chaoyue asked again quickly.

"Don't mention it." Hua Shana said angrily: "That location is at the junction of Changsha Prefecture and Hengzhou Prefecture. The generals of the two prefectures were only concerned about shirking responsibility. They both said that Changmao was in the other side's territory and refused to send troops to suppress the bandits immediately. I received the news and issued a strict order to send troops together, but I didn't know if it was too late."

Wu Chaoyue was gloating when he heard this, and then quickly said, "The Flower Making Platform can protect Chaling and Yanling. The two counties are remote and even if they are occupied by Changmao, it will not have much impact. They can be recaptured in the future. The key is that Changmao cannot continue to flee west!"

"I remember the sand tray terrain there. As long as I cross the Yongle River, it will be a densely populated open area. The long-haired bandits can obtain sufficient food and grass and military supplies. Even a small strand of long-haired bandits may become stronger and stronger, gradually forming a prairie fire."

After hearing Wu Chaoyue's words, Hua Shana, who was not good at military affairs, then remembered to check the terrain sand table in Huguang. Seeing that the situation in that area was the same as Wu Chaoyue introduced, Hua Shana, who had already suffered great losses in the Nian Army, could not help frowning tighter. Wu Chaoyue suggested: "The flower platform must be used to increase troops immediately and resolutely defend the Yongle River defense line. Even if Changmao has already crossed the river, it must be guarded there. First block the Changmao's road to continue entering Hunan, and then turn around to wipe out Changmao on the west side of Yongle River."

On the combat plan, Hua Shana obeyed Wu Chaoyue's unconditional words, and immediately nodded in agreement, wrote Wu Chaoyue's suggestion into an official document, and sent it to Hunan for Wenge to act according to the plan. Then Hua Shana said: "Weiting, there is another thing I want to ask your opinion. After Wang Xin died of illness, the army in Jiangxi and Hunan were in charge of the leader. I intend to let Chu Yong incorporate the army in Jiangxi and Hunan, and unified it with Liu Changyou's order. I wonder what you think?"

"Old guy, Bingquan is stingy with me and generous to others."

Wu Chaoyue whispered Hua Shana in a rare sentence, and then with the same idea of ​​raising Chu Yong, after a little calculation, Wu Chaoyue replied: "Hua Jiantai is forgiven. I think it is not appropriate to do this. Although the Hunan Army and Chu Yong are both trained in Hunan, the organization is different. The Hunan Army that went out of the province to reinforce Jiangxi was re-recruited after Hu Linyi and his friends returned to Hunan. If you order Chu Yong to recruit the Hunan Army, Hu Linyi and the others will probably have ideas."

After saying that, Wu Chaoyue added, "Especially now that Changmao has entered Hunan again, it is hard to say whether the long-haired bandits can be driven back to Jiangxi as soon as possible. Hunan still has the possibility of recruiting the Hunan Army to participate in the war. At this time, let Chu Yong recruit the Hunan Army, which will definitely have a great blow to the morale of the Hunan Army."

Hua Shana thought carefully and found that the same was true. Hu Linyi, Yang Yuebin and others refused Wu Chaoyue's invitation to stay, insisting on returning to Hunan to start a new job, hoping to establish an independent faction and make achievements. They took Chu Yong to recruit and train the Hunan Army they had worked hard to recruit and train. Hu Linyi and Yang Yuebin must have ideas and felt that they had been completely abandoned. So after a little calculation, the good man Hua Shana nodded and said, "It's reasonable that you can't hurt Hu Linyi and the others' hearts. Forget it, let Hu Linyi and the others decide who will continue to command the Hunan Army."

Successfully prevented Chu Yong from annexing into the Ganzhou-Hunan Army, scattering and weakening the hidden dangers in his rear, but Wu Chaoyue was still uneasy, worried that the Taiping Army's westward entry into Hunan would give the Hunan Army a chance to make a comeback. After all, Hu Linyi, both civil and military, is not a good man. So to be cautious, Wu Chaoyue immediately strengthened his intelligence reconnaissance of Hunan, and observed and understood the details of the reconstruction of the Hunan Army.

The war situation in Hunan was surprisingly complex. There were only more than 1,000 Taiping Army who had crossed Jinggangshan and entered Hunan, and the troops were not large. Wu Chaoyue, who had a poor history, had never heard of the name of Li Yafeng, a general of the Taiping Army. However, Li Yafeng, who had been alone in Ji'an for more than three years in history, quickly showed his talent. While vigorously recruiting poor mountain people to strengthen the team, he decisively gave up attacking the two remote but solid counties, Chaling and Yanling, and took his alone army to cross the Yongle River and successfully entered the densely populated hinterland of Hengzhou.

Then, the internal problems in Hunan, which were hidden by the light of Chu Yong in the Hunan Army, suddenly broke out in full swing. In order to support the Hunan Army and Chu Yong who fought outside the province, Luo Bingzhang, who had successfully comforted the people with his honest and upright governance style, and never led to civil unrest, but also added a heavy burden to the people of Hunan. Wen Ge, the new governor of Hunan who succeeded in Luo Bingzhang, was a shameless corrupt official who could not afford to get up early. After the governor of Hunan, not only did not consider resting with the people, but on the contrary, he also embezzled and accumulated wealth, leading local officials to levy and exploit the poison. The people of Hunan who were unable to breathe a sigh of relief from the beginning to the end were even overwhelmed, and the seeds of hatred were buried deep and germinated.

Under such circumstances, the Li Yafeng tribe of the Taiping Army, which decisively entered the densely populated area, was naturally as if it was like a fish in water. In the densely populated hinterland of Hengzhou, not only received sufficient money, grain and material supplies, but also received almost endless supply of troops. Almost instantly, the scale of the army was expanded to a population of ten thousand people, and successfully captured Changning County. When Huashana's anti-rebellion policy was delivered to Changsha, the scale of Li Yafeng's troops had expanded to more than 20,000 people.

At the same time, the Hunan regular army, which was also covered by the light of Chu Yong in the Hunan Army, soon exposed their true faces of still vulnerable in actual combat. Not only did they lose in the face of the Taiping Army, they also took the opportunity to plunder the hinterland of Hengzhou, which had never been damaged by war, and robbed the people, ruling more Hunan people to the opposite side, and also sent a large number of military supplies to the Taiping Army during the defeat and fleeing. Li Yafeng's army was in the limelight for a while, and Shi Zhenji began to consider continuing to increase troops in Hunan and open up new bases.

However, it was fine for the Hunan government. They still had sufficient troops to call in the north. Although no one liked Kui Zhen, the stubborn Hunan Censor, had some tricks to fight, so there were no need for Hua Shana to control the command again. The panicked Hunan Governor Wen Ge immediately forced Kui Zhen to send troops to quell the rebellion immediately, and entrusted all the war in Hengzhou to Kui Zhen.

Kui Zhen is indeed a person with outstanding advantages and disadvantages. While taking over the burden without hesitation, Kui Zhen also asked Wen Ge to pay the Hunan Army that had been owed for more than half a year, so that his former comrade Hu Linyi would also lead the Hunan Army to Hengzhou to join the war, helping him defeat Li Yafeng first, and then continue to advance eastward to reinforce Jiangxi. When Wen Ge showed a difficult face, Kui Zhen even put a harsh statement, saying that if Wen Ge continues to make trouble for the Hunan Army and does not let the Hunan Army, which has guaranteed combat power, help him, and let Wen Ge fight this battle himself!

It was only after Wenge could not agree to this request that Kui Zhen happily led his army to Hengzhou. However, when our Wenda Futai thought of repaying the Hunan Army’s military pay that had been owed for more than half a year, he felt as if he had cut his flesh and cut his skin. After thinking for a while, he simply gave Hu Linyi a document asking Hu Linyi to send troops to help Kui Zhen kill Li Yafeng for him, and then repaid the repaid military pay.

After Wenge's letter was sent to Xiangtan by the Clippers, the angry Yang Yuebin and Sun Kaihua and other Hunan generals asked Hu Linyi to flatly refuse, asking Wenge to pay the owed military pay and the next three months of military pay first. However, after thinking for a long time, Hu Linyi still gritted his teeth and said, "Send troops immediately!"

"Master General, you can't send troops!" Sun Kaihua quickly reminded: "What if that shameless villain Wenge is untrustworthy? After defeating Chang Ning and destroying Li Yafeng, he still won't pay military salaries. How can we explain to the soldiers?"

"This is our only chance." Hu Linyi said weakly: "After we sent troops, Wenge may be untrustworthy and continue to rely on our military pay not to pay, but if we do not send troops, Wenge can not only be more justified in owing our military pay, but can even directly disband our Hunan Army on the grounds of refusing to obey our orders."

After coughing for a few times, Hu Linyi gasped and said, "According to the order, we can ensure that our Hunan Army will not be disbanded, avoid waiting for death, and have the hope of getting military pay, which will give us a chance to make a comeback. You all know that Kui Zhen, who has a bad temper but a good person, will definitely not make things difficult for us. We will definitely help us get military pay and help us solve various problems."

Thinking that Hu Linyi's words were very reasonable, Yang Yuebin and others nodded helplessly and agreed. The Hunan Army, which had recovered to 5,000 people, was ready to go to the expedition. They first met with Kui Zhen, who had arrived along the Xiangjiang River, and set off to the south together. Then, as Hu Linyi expected, after learning that Wen Ge still owed the Hunan Army's military pay, Kui Zhen, who was anxious, really scolded his mother in public and immediately sent someone back to Changsha, forcing Wen Ge to pay the Hunan Army's military pay immediately. When the Hunan Army soldiers saw it, they were indeed very at ease and felt that there was hope for money to work hard.

Kui Zhen and Hu Linyi need to work hard for him, but Kui Zhen's fight again still achieved some results. Wen Dafutai, who loves money as much as his life, finally sent someone to send this month's military pay to the Hunan Army. As for the military pay that had been owed for more than seven months before, I'm sorry, the Hunan vassal treacherous treacherous and had to prepare for it again. At least he had to capture Chang Ning and kill Li Yafeng first and then say it. After greeting Wen Ge's eighteen generations of ancestors again, Kui Zhen could only guarantee Hu Linyi helplessly: "Brother Hu, don't worry, if Wen Ge dares to make excuses to default on the arrears, brother, I will take you to his house to ask for money!"

Everyone knew that Kui Zhen could say something so frankly, so Hu Linyi, Yang Yuebin and others tried to calm the resentful Hunan Army soldiers, and led them and Kui Zhen to continue south and successfully drove into Hengzhou Prefecture. However, at this moment, something big happened.

The incident was caused by the loose military discipline of the Hunan Green Camp soldiers. The Hunan Green Camp soldiers who fought with the Taiping Army in Hengzhou were as timid as rats when they were fighting in Hengzhou, but were extremely brave when they were plundering. Even though the Hunan Censor Kui Zhen had already taken the provincial capital Green Camp soldiers south to Hengzhou Prefecture, these Green Camp soldiers were still desperately plundering the people and making great money in the national crisis. Seeing that friendly troops had silver robbed and beautiful female cavalry, they almost shot Zeng Guofan's Changsha Green Camp soldiers immediately followed suit and couldn't wait to start robbery and rape, which turned upside down Hengzhou, which had never been damaged by war before, and the sun and moon were gone.

As mentioned earlier, Kui Zhen's main force was arranged in Yuezhou. This time, because the southern expedition was too hasty, he could not bring his confidant army to join the war. Without being able to restrain the army, Kui Zhen, who had only a few personal soldiers around him, could of course have to ask Hu Linyi for help, and let the Hunan Army serve as the military law team to deal with these green camp soldiers who violated the law and discipline.

Then, the conflict naturally erupted. The Green Camp soldiers in Changsha Prefecture, even Zeng Guofan's official office, dared to rush in and shoot and injure people. Of course, they would not take the Hunan soldiers seriously. When the Hunan soldiers were ordered to stop the atrocities of these Green Camp soldiers, they were naturally resisted and retaliated by the Green Camp soldiers. The Hunan Army, which had been owed by Wenge for more than half a year, was already full of anger. When the volcano erupted, it was out of control. Finally, it could not bear to fight with the Green Camp soldiers. Not only did it use swords, guns, firearms, but it also caused a life immediately.

When human life was bloody, the scale of fire naturally spread further and quickly expanded to a point where even Kui Zhen and Hu Linyi could not stop it. After an internal strife, hundreds of Green Camp soldiers and Hunan soldiers were corpses on the spot. The Taiping Army, who received the news, also came to take advantage of the situation to rob the Qing army camp and used only one charge to defeat the Qing army camp. Kui Zhen and Hu Linyi were defeated together and were forced to flee to Hengyang. The Taiping Army took advantage of the victory to pursue and seize countless military weapons, and also surrendered countless Hunan soldiers. The extremely grief-in-law soldiers of the Hunan army kept shouting, "I lead the way! I will take you to fight Hengyang, Changsha, and kill the dog bastard Wenge and the dog court!"
Chapter completed!