Zhang Zongyu threw himself into the river and Li Hongzhang was promoted to xieyi

Li Hongzhang was led by Wei Yong of the Transport Bureau through the alleys, and finally reached the city wall and climbed up a step less than two feet wide. There was a thick rope tied to the battlements of the city wall, and a wicker basket was pulled along the rope, so that Li Hongzhang could sit in the basket and send it to the city, and then he said: "The brothers are not rich and noble, so let's slip down the rope." After saying that, he was the first to slide down, and then dragged a wooden boat out of the reeds, helped Li Hongzhang onto the boat, crossed the moat with six or seven of his relatives, and abandoned the boat at a collapsed river bank. At this time, the city wall was already full of twisters, firing arrows while shouting and shouting. Li Hongzhang ran all the way forward, and then he entered a village, and there was no one in the village, obviously hearing that the twister was coming and running. Li Hongzhang really couldn't run, so he said, "Quickly enter the house and find out if there is anything to eat." It was already past lunch, and he hadn't eaten the water yet. There was still a small half pot of porridge in the farmer's pot, and the remaining temperature was still there, obviously it was ready to eat before it ran away. When Li Hongzhang saw this, he said: "Quickly sweep quickly, sweep the light and then run." "Sweep" is the meaning of Hefei native dialect, fast eating.

Everyone was not decent, and each of them found a bowl to fish for rice directly from the pot. Li Hongzhang ate two bowls of porridge and stood on a large dung pile outside the courtyard to look in the direction of Zhang Qiucheng. Because it was too far from the city, it was impossible to see at all. Wei Yong of the Transport Bureau pointed in the opposite direction and said, "Grand Marshal, Zhang Qiucheng is over there, and we can run away." Li Hongzhang turned around and looked again, still unable to see the city, but the sound of gunfire was obviously rare. He stood on the pile of dung and said, "A few of you, who will go back to the city and inquire?" "I'll go back, my lord, I'm familiar with the place." Wei Yong of the Transit Bureau volunteered again. "Okay, go back quickly." But that Wei Yong did not leave immediately, and wandered around several courtyards. Seeing this, Li Hongzhang asked strangely, "This little brother, are you messing around?" "I'll find a horse or mule to ride, that faster." Mules and horses are not found, and they will ride a donkey. While talking, Wei Yong had already pulled a donkey out of the courtyard, and he slapped the donkey's buttocks twice, and the donkey ran obediently.

After walking for only two quarters of an hour, suddenly there was the sound of a horse team galloping in the distance, and several of his relatives advised Li Hongzhang to hide. He replied, "How to hide, where can Hirakawa hide here?" In these few yards, not a single mouse can hide! Alas, I, the commander of the Huai Army, cannot hide in Tibet. "A few of us, swear to defend the Marshal to the death." Several of the soldiers gathered around. By this time, more than a dozen horses had rushed into the village, and one of them rode directly into the courtyard, and the man on the horse immediately jumped down and shouted, "Find the marshal!" It turned out that they were the cavalry of the horse team of the camp, and when they heard the report of the Wei Yong of the Transport Bureau, they rushed over. Li Hongzhang was surrounded by a team of horses and returned to Zhang Qiucheng, and he rode straight to the alley behind the general office's gate, but he could not find the courtyard where Miao Yu lived. He shouted at Wei Yong of the Transport Bureau on the horse: "Hey, I said you, the little brother of the Transport Bureau, immediately take me to the home of the Han Hui Office." At this time, that Wei Yong had already changed horses and led Li Hongzhang to find the courtyard where Miao Yu lived. There were more than a dozen soldiers in the courtyard, and Han Wenda's body was already placed on the spirit bed. Miao Yu's door slammed shut. Li Hongzhang walked to the door and said, "Lady Han, please open the door and speak." Qiu Qiu replied inside: "Lord Chincha, our wife said that our small family is not worth a few dollars, Lord He Lao cares, the adult still goes." Li Hongzhang knew that his abandonment of Miao Yu to escape had broken her heart, but the situation at that time could not help him, so he explained: "Lady Han, Han Huiban died to save me, and you asked me to thank you in person." Qiu Qiu still conveyed the words of gambling: "Our wife said that the lives of adults are valuable and should be saved, and there is nothing to be thankful for." Thanks, our grandfather was lying in the courtyard. A courtyard of people watched Li Hongzhang being locked out of the door, no one could speak, and the courtyard suddenly became quiet. At this time, Qiu Qiu said loudly: "Li Qincha, our wife said that God has eyes, our family has a queen, and the husband gave birth to a daughter to Old Master Han." Li Hongzhang knew that Miao Yu was telling him that his daughter was born. Therefore, he said to Qiu Qiu: "Tell your wife, I will take good care of the children and relatives of the Han Association, and the Han Association will give me my life, and I cannot let his relatives and children fall to the mud." ”

Turning back, Li Hongzhang said to the general office that had just arrived: "You should immediately find a few women with sharp hands and feet to take good care of Lady Han." Han Huiban was killed in the line of duty to save me, and you immediately wrote a detail and handed it to Chincha Xingyuan. The group returned to the office of the Transfer Bureau, and Li Hongzhang inquired in detail about the battle. According to the information now, the number of this twisted army and horse team is not large, about two thousand people. Look at their coming, they are coming at the foreign guns of the transport bureau. They first sent dozens of Shandong people to enter the city posing as locals, controlled the city gate, and then let a large group of people and horses into the city. Li Hongzhang said with a cold face: "Immediately execute the people guarding the West Gate today and the military officials in charge of the defense of the city!" "Beep!" "Why did the twister suddenly withdraw again?" Li Hongzhang continued to ask with a cold face. "General He Shan, who supervised the horse team, was a little uneasy, and took the horse team to camp five miles east of Yanggu City, and after seeing my signal, he quickly rushed over." Vice Admiral Cheng said, "Xu Qian, the guard of the Transit Bureau, is not in a chaotic position, and he is desperately fighting to kill the enemy. ”

Zhang Qiucheng was defended by a thousand Huaiyong because it was a land he wanted. However, the cattle guerrilla who was in charge of leading the troops, nicknamed Niu Liangtan, was very drunk, and the earth-shaking shouts and killings in the city did not wake him, and as a result, the defenders were leaderless, and later Xu Qianzong, who was in charge of the gate control of the transport bureau, stepped forward, temporarily commanded, and organized five or six hundred people to fight against the twisters. Twister saw that the resistance inside the city was fierce, and reinforcements came from outside the city, so he fled in a hurry.

Li Hongzhang immediately rewarded and punished: "The cattle guerrilla was cut down according to the routine of retreating from the front, and Xu Qianzong immediately promoted the guerrilla and was in charge of the defense of Zhang Qiucheng." If you vacate a thousand generals, let that one who will take it. Xu Qianzong was in the lobby at this time, and immediately knelt down to plead: "Please ask the marshal for mercy, we cattle guerrillas are very good to the brothers, never withhold grain, and ask the marshal to spare his life." "You are a loyal man of heart. Well, look at your face, he will be spared the death penalty, the living sin will not be forgiven, the staff is forty, let him be a big soldier under you. Li Hongzhang wanted to surpass the "who" of the general manager, that is, Wei Yong, the transport bureau who took him out of the city today, this person was very brave, witty and interesting, and very much in line with Li Hongzhang's appetite, but he did not know his name. Xu Qianzong, who should have been Xu Guerrilla, hurriedly replied: "His name is Liu Erxi, and the lowly post will immediately call him to come." At this time, Liu Erxi was blowing haikan outside the door, and when he heard about this unexpected joy, he was a little uncomfortable. He entered the door and knelt down and prostrated his head, saying, "Grand Marshal, this small reward really does not dare to take it, and the little one has done some ridiculous things, and let the grand marshal know." It turned out that the basket and boat he had led Li Hongzhang to escape were the small way for him to smuggle. Because Zhang Qiucheng had a lika at every city gate, he was familiar with the guards standing on the city wall on weekdays, so he used this small boat to help people escape and donate money and get some small extra money. Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "It turns out that you did these things, and since the Headquarters Hall knows about it, it must be severely punished and punished you with a fine of 1,000 taels of silver." However, you are not in a disorderly situation, you are very methodical, you admit your mistakes, you are honest and respectable, and the headquarters will reward you with a thousand taels of silver. Hearing this, Liu Er closed his mouth happily and left happily. Li Hongzhang had intended to let Han Wenda take his place, but the heavens did not go according to people's wishes, and Han Wenda actually died to save him, and at present he could only let the general office deal with it first. Li Hongzhang also specially urged him to take good care of Mrs. Han: "If she has any requests, as long as she can handle them, she will handle them all, and I will handle them if she really can't." Mrs. Han's family has no relatives, so let her live in your transfer bureau first, and I will slowly find a way in the future. ”

Before Li Hongzhang left, he went to see Miao Yu again, but Miao Yu still refused to open the door to meet him. Li Hongzhang wandered in the courtyard for a long time before he left in fear. Unconsciously, tears flowed into Miaoyu's mouth, salty and astringent. She said to herself, "Qiu Qiu, why is he so cruel that he left us at the moment of life and death?" My old man died for him, bleeding profusely, and he didn't even look at it, so he took care of himself and fled for his life. "Sister, it was the soldiers who took him away, and he refused to leave." That General Cheng was the one he ordered to stay and protect his wife, and he said that if he couldn't protect his wife, he would need General Cheng's head. Qiu Qiu persuaded and persuaded, "Didn't the General Office say that Lord Chincha had already left two thousand taels of silver and was going to send his soldiers to escort the old man home." And specially invited someone to take care of the lady. "What's the use of silver, people are gone." Miao Yu looked up again and asked, "Qiu Qiu, is he really gone?" "People have been waiting for so long, you can't even let the door open, people can't leave." The Western Twister Army then moved south from Zhili to Dongchang Province, Shandong. Thousands of salt merchants in Dongchang Province were being chased and suppressed by the officials and troops, and as soon as the Xituo army entered Dongchang, they joined one after another and became ready-made guides. The Western Twister Army crossed the canal from the shallow water of the LiHaiwu Canal in the south of Dongchang City, leaving the officers and troops far behind on the west bank of the canal. Then the tan ma starred in the night, and in seven days, the soldiers went straight to a place more than ten miles south of Tianjin.

Tianjin is too close to the capital, according to the speed of the Western Twister Army, more than a day can be used to attack the capital! The imperial court was shocked and announced that the Jingshi was once again under martial law, and Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were given the punishment of being demoted to the second rank by the imperial court. Li Hongzhang felt that it was not a bad thing for the Western Twister Army to run east of the canal, and he saw the opportunity to suppress it. At present, the West Twister Army is surrounded by the Yellow River to the south, the canal to the west, and the endless sea to the east, and as long as we strictly guard the west bank of the canal and the south bank of the Yellow River, and press from north to south, we can encircle the West Twister Army and finally gather and annihilate. Therefore, he took the initiative to write a letter to Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, and Yinghan, the inspector of Anhui, asking them to support his plan to encircle the river; to Zuo Zongtang, he not only wrote a letter to inform him of the plan for the circle of rivers in detail, but also took the initiative to equip a batch of foreign guns and cannons that had originally been planned to be equipped with the Huai army to Liu Songshan's Xiang army first. Zuo Zongtang finally agreed to Li Hongzhang's plan and oversaw the arrival of the overseers to help defend the canal. Although this scheme is good, the manpower required is enormous. From Zhangqiu, the intersection of Huang and Yun in Shandong, to Linqing at the junction of Lu, this section of the canal is more than 300 miles long, and from Linqing to Tianjin, there are more than 700 miles. If each battalion defends four to seven miles, it will need to guard 100,000 troops, and if we add pursuing and suppressing troops, we will also need 30,000 troops. There are not so many troops that Li Hongzhang can mobilize. In addition, the amount of work to build a trench wall along the river is quite large, and perhaps if it is not built, the twister army will burst out again, and it will abandon its previous achievements. However, just like heavenly help, this year, Shandong and Zhili rained early, and the canal water rose, which was better than in previous years. Li Hongzhang invited Inspector Yinghan of Anhui and Inspector Ding Baozhen of Shandong to meet in Dezhou and make up his mind to encircle the river with a long wall. He told the two that if there is merit, it is everyone's, and if it is frustrated, he is left alone to blame. Li Hongzhang and the two men agreed to divide the canal defense area, zhangqiu to Dongchangfu is the eastern military defense area, Dongchang to Linqing is the Huaijun defense area, Lubei Dezhou section is the Anhui military defense area, the canal out of Shandong to directly subordinate Cangzhou section is the left army defense area, and the south of Tianjin is the defense area of the three-port trade minister. Because the plan for encircling the river with long walls was not very certain, and the imperial court had always hoped that the officers and troops would pursue them exhaustively and achieve results as soon as possible, Li Hongzhang agreed with everyone that this plan would be implemented first, but it would not be carried out for the time being. He again wrote a letter to Liu Mingchuan, asking him to go out to the mountains to unify the army; he also wrote a letter to Zeng Guofan, telling him that the canal was full of water, and asked Huang Jisheng, the admiral of the Jiangnan Water Division, to take the warships of the water division north along the canal and go to Zhang Qiu to help guard the canal. He also wrote a letter to Chonghou asking him to come forward and ask the British and French fleets stationed in Tianjin to sail into the Haihe River to help prevent the Twister army from moving north. The Huai army, which pursued northern Lu, fought continuously against the Western Twister Army and won victories. The imperial court once again adjusted its command of the battlefield, and all the officers and troops directly subordinate to the east were completely under the command of Li Hongzhang. Because most of the officers and troops were directly subordinate to the east, Li Hongzhang became the main commander of the crackdown. However, the whole court had a very good opinion of him for deploying a large contingent of people and horses on the canal, and Prince Shuo also opposed his plan to encircle the river with a long wall, believing that it was more practical to surround and annihilate the Western Twister army than to wait for the rabbits. Some people even believe that Li Hongzhang deliberately indulged the Western Twister Army and raised Kou to respect himself, and that Liu Mingchuan's refusal to aid and suppress liu Mingchuan was instructed by Li Hongzhang to borrow his wounds, and zhu Xueqin, the young secretary of the Hongxu Temple, also impeached Liu Mingchuan for this reason.

Cixi was not familiar with the situation on the front line and the similarities and differences between the Twister Army and the officers and soldiers, and always felt that it was not easy for a hundred thousand officers and troops to encircle and suppress 30,000 or 40,000 Twisters. Therefore, she also somewhat believed Li Hongzhang's assertion that he should raise Kou and be self-respecting, and heeded Prince Shuo's suggestion to have the Military Aircraft Department issue a decree to limit Li Hongzhang's efforts to suppress Xi Tu within a month: "The Minister of Military Aircraft, etc.": Zhu Xueqin, the young secretary of the Hongxu Temple, please urge the governor to suppress the thieves. Liu Ming passed it on his own after suppressing Lai Wenguang and other bandits, and begged for a false illness. This officer was originally directly subordinate to the Viceroy, and was on duty to twist the bandits to commit crimes against, that is, to sell their leave under strain, and to go to the direct crackdown on thieves, and sent them to the deputy specialty. Now that the March holiday has expired, if there is a peaceful place to live, will it be difficult for people to go to justice? The Admiral was promoted to Viceroy within a few years, and was greatly favored. Now when the twisting rebellion is rampant, when it is not to be reckless and steal, it is decadent to abandon itself. Li Hongzhang immediately ordered the governor xun to rush to the shandong area directly under the chancellor, accompanied by the minister to suppress the thieves, and quickly destroyed the bandits in an attempt to repay the name. If it is always extended, it will be played by Li Hongzhang to suppress the discipline. Zhu Xueqin folded one piece and showed it to Li Hongzhang with the money. All armies in the east should be vigorously attacked and suppressed, and several roads should be launched simultaneously, and all of them should be annihilated within a month. Li Hongzhang was properly dispatched, and he must not neglect to follow the rules and be blamed heavily. Rin! Several concurrent routes, all annihilated, easy to say, how to do it? Zhidong is also a plain, and if several large armies do not wait to form a siege, the twisters will drift away without a shadow, how to gather and annihilate? Annihilation within one month is purely a fool's dream. On the one hand, Li Hongzhang contacted Ding Baozhen, the inspector of Shandong, and Yinghan, the inspector of Anhui, and asked them to supervise the headquarters to quickly dig piles and dig trenches and consolidate the river defenses; on the one hand, he wrote another handwritten letter with an edict from the imperial court, asking Zhou Fu to personally go to Hefei and ask Liu Mingchuan to go out of the mountain. The government and the public are so misunderstood, if Liu Mingchuan does not return from a false illness, how will he account?

Zhou Fu had been following Li Hongzhang's side, and he had personally seen him work hard for the strategy of encircling the river by the long wall, not sleeping at night, and not eating on a daily basis, so he was very willing to share his worries: "Marshal please rest assured, even if you cry, I will also invite the third province out of the mountain." Li Hongzhang still insisted on his plan of encircling the river with a long wall, and he wrote a letter to Prince Shuo, asking him to urge the officers and men of the Beijing camp to concentrate on the western line of the canal to prevent the Western Twister Army from breaking through the transportation defenses and then running to the capital. Prince Shuo did not want the Jing soldiers to travel far, first, he knew that the Jingying banner soldiers were impatient with hard work, and second, he was more worried about the emptiness of the capital's defense, so he told Li Hongzhang that there were really no troops to adjust. Viceroy Wen Wen, who was directly subordinate to him, also said that the Baoding front line was a barrier for the Beijing Division and that it was necessary to make proper preparations for defense, so he refused to send troops to assist in the defense of the Yunhe River. He relied only on the four armies of Xiang, Huai, Dong, and Anhui, and Zuo Zongtang still had objections to the plan of encircling the river by long walls, and he believed that according to the changes in the situation, the troops should be divided into three branches: head-on, tail-pursuit, and cross-section, and the generals would do their own work. If zuo Zongtang really followed Zuo Zongtang's intentions and the people would do their own business, then the long wall circle river plan would be completely ruined. Therefore, Li Hongzhang wrote a long letter to Zuo Zongtang, bitterly fighting for his support: The circle of thieves is fleeting, the soldiers are leaving, they change in an instant, and they often cannot come out as people want. However, after the march was delayed, it was rare to be uniform, and every night it stayed in the village, and it was necessary to take advantage of the fact that there were also differences in the village, that is, the same as the same end. Thieves are suddenly fast, taking advantage of the gap, and it is difficult to gather and annihilate. After a long period of exhaustion, it is not easy to reach the thief, and it is even more difficult to see merit. Solidly take luck as a defense, although clumsy and skillful, it is especially necessary for Ji Shuai to hold on to each other. The imperial edict repeatedly used the western defense to appoint officials and chongliang marshals, but the princes specialized in hollow needles. If he really didn't care, the thieves would have wantonly sneaked up on him, and once they crossed the west, although they were not the defense zone of Hongzhang, how could they bear it in their hearts? The power stops here, the east smears the west, I am afraid of the sparseness of a gap, causing the overall situation to be misunderstood, and the anxiety is even worse! Li Hongzhang said it well, he was in charge of the defense of zhidong, and if he let the western twister army break through the canal and run to the west, it would be enough for Zuo Zongtang to be busy. If Zuo Zongtang was in a big position, he should support his defense plan. The Xituo army that ran to Tianjin saw that Tianjin's defenses were strengthened and that they were aided by foreign gunboats, so they went south and returned to the Zhilu junction. Li Hongzhang took the opportunity to send the Huai army to the Minhe River, dig trenches, and deploy defenses at the Minhe River. The Reduced River is an artificial river directly under the southern part, running through the Zhangwei River and the canal from east to west, until the sea, the canal water hours, can lead the Zhangwei River into the transport, when the canal water is large, the locks can be opened to release water from the Reduced River into the sea. This year, the water in the canal rose by three feet, and as soon as the Western Twister Army crossed the river, Li Hongzhang ordered the sluice gates to be raised and released, reducing the rise of the river and becoming a natural barrier. The scope of the Twister Army's activities was thus reduced to a narrow range of obstructing the sea in the east, canals in the west, the River in the north, and the Yellow River in the south.

On the eighth day of the first month of leap April, Zhang Zongyu led his army to pounce on the canal from the directly subordinate east, but was repelled by Zuo Zongtang's subordinate Liu Songshan and the Yu army Zhang Yao's troops, and he went south again, trying to break through the canal from the Dongchangfu section, where the Huai army defended and tightened. Therefore, the Western Twister Army turned to the north, and did not expect that the Huai Army was already deployed at the Reduced River. At this time, whether it was the river or the canal, the guards of the officers and troops were not tight, and if the Western Twister Army went all out to cross the river, it was completely possible to go north or west. However, Zhang Zongyu was not good at fighting hard battles, so he ordered him to return south and resume his activities in the area around Northern Lu. At this time, Lubei was the queen of wheat, and the grain was sufficient, and he planned to eat here for a month. In order to prevent being surrounded and suppressed by the officers and troops, he scattered his men and horses, and there were twist troops everywhere in more than a dozen counties in northern Lubei. However, the disadvantage of this was that it was easy to be broken by each one, so within half a month, several units of the Western Twister Army were continuously defeated by the officers. So he gathered the Twister army again and decided to try to break through. However, after a delay of this month, the situation has changed dramatically. During these twenty or so days, after the defense line of the River Reduction River was consolidated, Li Hongzhang further narrowed the encirclement, drew men and horses from the canal, and fortified the north bank of the Majie River in Dezhou, which was fifty or sixty miles south of the River; and asked Ding Baozhen to transfer the eastern army from the north of the Yellow River defense line to the fortification on the south bank of the Tujiao River, thus compressing the scope of the twist army's activities within a narrow range of three or four hundred miles between the Majie River and the Tujiao River in Northern Lubei. In the process of strengthening the defensive line, Li Hongzhang resolutely disagreed with the encirclement and suppression of the troops, because that would inevitably force the Western Twister Army to fight hard and might break through the river defenses. Li Hongzhang placed his large army by the river and sent only a few troops to deal with it, which made the imperial court very unhappy, and once again proposed to suppress it within a time limit, and sent the Heilongjiang general Du Xing'a to supervise the battle on the north bank of the Minhe River for Qincha, and urged Zuo and Li to march into the encirclement and suppression within a time limit.

In Li Hongzhang's view, duxing Aduzhan was only on the one hand, and on the other hand, it was for the Manchus to come and share the merits. The Taiping Army and the Eastern Twist were defeated and destroyed, mainly relying on the Xiang Army and the Huai Army, and the Manchus did not show their merits. Now that they were pursuing XiTuo, the Manchus had the viceroy Guan Wen and the three ministers of trade and commerce, who were probably not enough, so they sent Duxing'a to come. However, the troops of these three people, mainly distributed in the northern part of Zhili, are all posing, only to help, and if they really want to be able to fight hard, they have already come to the south bank of the Minhe River. Li Hongzhang saw it thoroughly, so he took the opportunity to play it and implored Du Xing'a to lead his troops to come and participate in the meeting. The imperial court replied that Duxing Abu strictly guarded against the reduction of the river and prevented the twisting of the north from attacking and disturbing the Beijing Division, and the replaced Huai army immediately participated in the pursuit and suppression of the battle. The situation is becoming clearer, Li Hongzhang's grasp is also getting bigger and bigger, and what makes him even more pleased is that Liu Mingchuan arrived at the Texas camp in early June. After seeing Li Hongzhang, he was stunned for a long time, and his eyes were red: "Marshal, I haven't seen you for a few months, but you have become like this..." Li Hongzhang's appearance was darker and thinner than when he was in the Moon Zhu Jie, his cheekbones were more convex, the corners of his eyes were gray, and his sideburns were white, and in Liu Mingchuan's eyes, he suddenly aged several years. "Cough, internal and external forced, no way." Li Hongzhang was not very concerned, "I insisted on encircling the river with a long wall, and several roads were forced to encircle and suppress it. The longer the army was on the river defense, the more uneasy my heart became, and I was afraid that if I failed and let the twister burst out, then I would be indefensible. Liu Mingchuan supported: "Regardless of them, the above is all on paper, and the only way to deal with the twister is the long wall and the river, and the knight must insist." "I have no other benefit as a man, and stubbornness can do it." However, to accomplish a thing, the right method is not enough, only you alone insist is not enough, you must let more people to support, and work together with everyone to do it. Li Hongzhang has been doing this for several months; he put down the shelf of minister Chincha, exchanged letters frequently, and finally won the strong support of the governors of Anhui, Henan, and Shandong provinces. "If you win, you will win the merits, and if you lose, you will be blamed, which is the chronic disease of the officers and the army." However, in order to completely eliminate the problem, it is impossible for everyone to join hands. Therefore, our Huai army should not be afraid of others to compete for merit, but also take the initiative to give credit. Li Hongzhang was afraid that Liu Mingchuan's attack was too strong and that he would not cooperate well with other armies, so he was given a preventive injection first. "Sir, rest assured, I have some experience in the past few months." Liu Mingchuan spent a few months recuperating at home, while reading and meditating, he really gained something, "We often say that we are willing to give up, and only when we have to give up can we get it, and only after we give it up can we get it." Sometimes you seem to have gained, but in fact you have lost more; sometimes you have lost temporarily, but in the long run you may gain more. Besides, life is limited, the world is full of things, where can people win over? For example, in military merit, I have already achieved the rank of admiral, so why bother? I did not come out of the mountains this time for military merit, but purely to help the knight. ”

"It's very good, the third province has this feeling, and the vacation of these months is also worth it." You are right, people can't just do things for the sake of merit, but also for the sake of things. If you think about those who have left their names in history, they must have accomplished several great things that people can't forget. Li Hongzhang also had some feelings, but it was different from Liu Mingchuan, "These days I am also thinking, with my temperament, we will not rely on anyone, just rely on our Huaijun brothers, and we can also destroy the twister with our teeth." But then I felt that you can't think like this, if you think you're right, you ignore anyone, with the idea of 'I'll show you what is right', then you are wrong, you will not be able to do it. If a person wants to do things and accomplish things, he must get more and more people to approve of it and let more and more people follow you to do it, whether it is fighting a war, civil affairs, or doing foreign affairs. Teacher Zeng taught me that the first meaning of doing things is to find a substitute, and I would like to add that to accomplish things, we must invite the same way as the first priority. "The marshal thinks deeply, but what I care about now is what the situation is on the front line." What Liu Mingchuan was most concerned about was the situation on the battlefield he was about to go to.

"Far from it. There are pros and cons to the battlefield situation. First of all, let's talk about the benefits: This year, the water potential in the upper reaches of the Zhangwei River is abundant, and the canal is rising, not only the canal is rising, but also the Majie River and the Tujiao River are also quite large. Twisters suffered defeats in this battle, mules, horses, weights, and grain losses were not small The day before yesterday, he captured a relative of Zhang Zongyu's relatives, and he said that Zhang Zongyu was most afraid of being besieged now, so he strictly ordered his troops not to fight with the officers and soldiers. He also said that the kudzu smoke was gone, and he yawned continuously. Province three you think, Zhang Zongyu is an opium ghost, several of his brothers and nephews also have this hobby, what is the taste of smoke gone? He is a man who is devoted to wisdom, and whoever is wise must be timid, and whoever is addicted to smoking is bound to be discouraged. Several times the twisters pounced on the canal, the officers and soldiers were not on their feet, the twisters could have pounced on them, and my heart was on the throat, but they retreated suspiciously and did not dare to attack for a long time. I dare to assert that even if in the future they want to rush the river to escape, the Zhang brothers will not take the lead, and if they do not take the lead, the rest of the twisters may not be able to come forward. Therefore, once the Huaijun brothers meet the twister, they will have the courage to fight, clench their teeth and insist, and they will be able to break the twister. This is the benefit. However, the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, there are too many officers and soldiers, and now there is a Duxing. A thief and a number of officers and soldiers, ordered out of many doors, then must be wrong. Now that the main forces of the officers and soldiers have reached the Majie River and the Steep River, if the officers and soldiers on the river defense are slightly negligent, the twister dogs may jump off the wall and may rush away; this is what I am most worried about, but I have already invited the Xiang Army's marine division to enter the canal. The decisive moment has finally arrived. In the past half a month, heavy rains have been pouring down continuously, and the Western Twister Army and horse teams can no longer gallop across the river, and after the river defense was reinforced, Li Hongzhang drew men and horses from the river defense to join the pursuit and suppression troops. The Western Twister Army has lost the battle, and the method of defeating the enemy has not worked. On the seventh day of June in the seventh year of Tongzhi, the Battle of Shanghe broke out. This morning, the Western Twister Army stationed in Shahe Town, northeast of Shanghe City, received the news that the officers and troops were encircling and immediately set up a team to prepare for evacuation from the dangerous area, but it was too late. Guo Songlin crossed the front, Pan Dingxin attacked in the rear, and Wang Xin'an's Eastern Army also came to help in the battle. It was raining heavily, the roads were muddy, and the horseshoes were stuck in muddy water, but they were not as fast as the infantry. Zhang Zongyu led his troops to fight and retreat, retreated to Shanghe City, received support from the twist troops in the city, and their morale soared, so they deployed a counterattack under the city. Guo Songlin and his troops arrived first, and Liu Mingchuan's Ming army also came to support. Zhang Zongyu personally led the Black Flag horse team to charge, and Guo Songlin's cavalry greeted them, with cavalry against cavalry. Liu Mingchuan's Ming army, on the other hand, each armed with a foreign gun, formed a gun array, and took turns shooting. Zhang Zongyu was shot, the bullet shot in from the back, from the lower abdomen, very seriously injured, was snatched back by the soldiers. He endured his wounds and ordered the Western Twister army to retreat to the southeast, but the officers and soldiers had no choice but to bite and hold on, and were beheaded by the army of more than 3,000 people, captured 2,000, and suffered countless heavy losses on mules and horses. Zhang Zongyu led his army to withdraw from the Shang River and marched east to Wuding, preparing to lure the officers and troops to the seashore, and then take advantage of the false predicament to cross the Yellow River. However, when he led his army to the north bank of the Yellow River and prepared to cross the Yellow River around the Dragon King Temple, tens of thousands of Qing troops surrounded him, so he led his army to retreat north to the town of Yulin in Jiyang.

Several lines of officers and soldiers followed to Jiyang, and they also knew the location of the Western Twister Army very clearly. On the evening of June 11, Liu Mingchuan, Pan Dingxin, Guo Songlin, and Wang Xin'an of the Eastern Army, and Song Qing of the Yu Army discussed a plan to encircle Yulin Town in Qudi Village, northeast of Jiyang City. The five commanders are actually mainly Liu Mingchuan. Although Liu Mingchuan had only been in the war for more than ten days, Pan Dingxin and Guo Songlin had bought his account, and Wang Xin'an and Song Qing were fighting with the Huai army, so there was nothing to say. The whole encirclement plan was naturally planned by Liu Mingchuan. Zhang Zongyu's army was less than 20,000 men, while the combined number of officers and soldiers was nearly 50,000. Liu Mingchuan's plan was to encircle the five roads at the same time. Pan Dingxin lived in the east, Guo Songlin from the south, Song Qing occupied the north, and the west road was an open area, which was the easiest to break through, so Liu Mingchuan and Wang Xin'anbu of the Eastern Army went hand in hand. In this regard, Wang Xin'an slightly disagreed: "The provincial marshal is a little too lifting up the little King of Yan, he is less than 20,000 people, we have 50,000 people to surround him, there is nothing to be afraid of." The Western Road is enough as long as our eastern army is enough, and the famous Ming Army is also on it, which is really a cattle knife for killing chickens. He wanted to achieve great success alone, and naturally he couldn't hide liu Mingchuan. The commanders also knew it, so he simply pointed it out, "The provincial marshal has repeatedly made great achievements, and the elimination of the Eastern Twist is even more famous in the world, so that the reputation of our Eastern Army will be discredited." Now that I have encountered such an easy opportunity to make a contribution, can the provincial marshal give me the Eastern Army? When Wang Xin'an said this, he seemed bright and upright. Liu Mingchuan thought to himself that you underestimated The Little King of Yan, and with the combat strength of your Eastern Army, you could not stop the twister at all. But he thought of Li Hongzhang's advice, bit his lip for a while, patted the table, and said, "Well, let the brothers of the Eastern Army show their hands." I retreat to the west, even if it is a reserve, and if any of you need the support of our Ming Army, send someone to greet me. ”

Liu Mingchuan naturally would not honestly serve as a reserve there, he had already penetrated the terrain around Yulin Town, and ambushed his Ming army in the village of Daliushu by the Tujiao River, just in case Wang Xin'an's eastern army was scattered, it was up to his Ming army to clean up the mess.

The Western Twister Army knew that its superiority had been lost and that it had been bitten too tightly by the officers and soldiers, so it always maintained its vigilance, and even Yulin Town did not plan to stay long, and planned to leave in the middle of the night the next day, so that the officers and troops would pounce. However, Zhang Zongyu was too badly wounded by the gunshot, and the Xituo army lacked medical treatment and medicine, so he sent people to the local area to find a doctor and get red wound medicine. The person who sent out swore that he was familiar with this area and would be able to find a doctor, who expected him to desert and slip away. Wait until the middle of the night when everyone knows that it is not good, and re-send people to find it, so that after a delay, the doctor has finished treating Zhang Zongyu's wound. There was fog at night, and the march was too tired for days, so I found it when the officers and soldiers quietly surrounded it. The Western Twister army hurriedly faced the battle, and Zhang Zongyu took the wounded and said, "Brothers, today's duel with the Qing Demon is a death battle, whether it is life or death, in one fell swoop!" After repelling the demon soldiers, I and my brothers broke through the canal and returned to our hometown in Anhui! Everyone in the Western Twister knew that this was the final decisive battle, so they all sacrificed their lives to fight each other, but there were many officers and soldiers, their own back roads were raided, and there were almost no firearms, so they suffered heavy casualties. Zhang Zongyu rode on his horse to observe the situation and found that the western road was flat and was an eastern army with average combat effectiveness, so he ordered: "The western road is an eastern army that has not been fought, and the brothers are working together to rush west." Wang Xin'an oversaw the battle, but the Western Twister Army was the momentum of the fish dead net, so the defensive line was finally broken, and he watched as the Western Twister Army rode away. Zhang Zongyu judged that there were officers and troops on both the north and south sides, so he ordered not to entangle with them, but to run westward, which happened to Liu Mingchuan's ambush circle. When the Western Twister Army broke into the village of Da Liu shu, it suddenly ambushed all over the place, and it was all foreign guns and cannons, and the bullets were like rain, and the Western Twister Army had no strength to fight back at all. Zhang Zongyu led people to rush left and right, but they could not break out of the siege, and those battle-hardened generals were shot and killed one by one. Although more than a thousand people were killed or wounded, most of the five thousand Twisters were killed except for more than a thousand who were captured. Liu Mingchuan asked people to count the number of people and look for Zhang Zongyu and other leaders, and it took half an hour, but they did not see anyone dead or dead. Later, an elderly Twister said that he was protected by several relatives and protruded, and Liu Ming stomped his feet in anger and personally led hundreds of cavalry to chase after the Tujiao River. After chasing for more than a dozen miles, he caught a twister named Wang Shuangzi, who claimed to be Zhang Zongyu's personal soldier and was one of the eight people who protected Zhang Zongyu from breaking through the siege.

"What about the surname Zhang?" Say a lie and cut off your head immediately. Liu Mingchuan did not want to delay time. "King Liang committed suicide by throwing himself into the water." Wang Shuangzi said. "Throwing water and committing suicide, who are you lying to?" Did you leave it to deliberately put me in a trance array? Liu Mingchuan was holding a seven-shot rifle, ready to take the life of this pro-soldier at any time. "The little ones don't dare. I waited to persuade the King of Liang to flee, but he said that he had no face to see Jiangdong's father and elder, and he wanted to die and be perfect. We were still young, and he told us to run for our lives. Wang Shuangzi answered honestly. "Since you were asked to flee for your lives, why didn't you run away?" Liu Mingchuan still did not believe it. "It's not that I don't want to escape, my horse has no hooves and can't run at all." Wang Shuangzi picked up the horseshoe that was running sparsely for Liu Mingchuan to see. Liu Mingchuan took a look at it and immediately ordered: "Immediately look for it along the river." After searching for an afternoon, he could not find it, so Liu Ming sent someone to escort Wang Shuangzi to Dezhou and hand him over to Li Hongzhang for interrogation. On July 13, 7th year of Tongzhi, at the end of Shen, that is, at nearly five o'clock in the afternoon, a fast horse came straight to Bingbu Street. Immediately, people held red flags in their hands, shouted good news in their mouths, and passers-by dodged one after another.

This fast horse came to the office of the provincial officials stationed in Beijing, and the man on the horse tightened his reins, and the horse was strangled and hissed because he ran too fast, raised his front hooves, and the horse's body was almost upright. This person's surname is Ma, and everyone recognizes it, and it is the folding of Li Hongzhang, the minister of Chincha, who was suppressed in Texas, and was known as Ma Taibao. It turned out that he belonged to Jiangsu Titang, and after Li Hongzhang became the governor of Huguang, he still used him to deliver the Tang newspaper, so he returned to the Hubei Titang official. Hubei Titangguan had already greeted him, and shouted in his mouth: "Ma Taibao, Kanhe." The differences are all checked and issued by the military department to prove the identity of the difference. Although everyone recognized Matthew Bao, the routine procedures still had to go. Ma Taibao handed it to him with one hand and said, "The Texas Victory Report will be delivered when the unitary period is strictly limited." The Titang official took out the foreign watch hanging on his chest and looked at it, and the short needle was pointing quickly to "5", while the long needle was pointing at "9", and there was still a quarter of an hour to reach unitary time - that is, five o'clock in the afternoon. He took the package and led the horse while saying, "Guys, greet Ma Taibao on my behalf, first let him drink a cup of sour plum soup to cool off, and I will go to the music office." The Tang Report from other provinces should first be handed over to the Foreign Affairs Office, and then transferred to the Inner Music Office, and the Inner Music Office should be sent to the Imperial Front--now that the Emperor has not yet personally governed, the Imperial Front does not have to send it, but directly to Cixi. At this time, Cixi was having dinner, and the eunuch of the Inner Music Office rushed to the yellow box, sweating, and he ran straight to the door of the palace and shouted loudly: "Dezhou Qincha xingxing six hundred miles red flag victory!" Standing in the doorway, An Dehai took the recital, knelt down and raised his head, and shouted in a voice that was neither male nor female: "Slaves, congratulations to the empress dowager, Texas victory!" The eunuchs and palace ladies all knelt down and said in unison, "The slaves give the empress dowager a congratulations!" "Bring it up!" Cixi put down the silver chopsticks. Winning a battle can be won, and a complete suppression of the West Twist can also be a victory. Cixi did not know whether this time it was a victory or a defeat in the West Twist, so she was also very anxious. Looking at Li Hongzhang's fold, Cixi opened her eyes and smiled: "Finally, the hair twist has been flattened!" The eunuch ladies knelt down again to congratulate. Cixi was excited and had no appetite, and ordered: "Go to the east and say a word, and after dinner, yangxin hall will see the military plane." ”

Therefore, An Dehai immediately arranged for two people, one to go to the military plane outside the Qianqing Gate to be on duty, and immediately notified the military ministers to go to the Yangxin Hall; and the other went to the Ci'an Palace to inform. Cixi had the habit of going around the bend after the meal, and today he had planned to cancel it, but he felt that even the great happy event would have to be calm, so he walked three thousand steps and took a bath, and only then did he go to the Yangxin Hall, and Ci'an and the military ministers arrived early. Because of the happy events at the bottom, Ci'an was not angry at Cixi's late arrival and asked, "Sister, did you win the battle or did you flatten the twister?" Cixi handed Li Hongzhang's fold to Ci'an and said, "Sister see for yourself." Ci'an has never been very attentive to government affairs, and can only look at simple and clear performances. Song Jie's folding zi would not be long-winded, and she could naturally understand: "Old Sixth guessed well, and sure enough, he flattened the twister!" She handed the fold to Prince Gong again. Led by Prince Gong, he led the military ministers to kneel down and congratulate the two empresses. Ci'an smiled and responded, "Tongxi, Tongxi, you have also worked hard these days." "Yes, the people on your military plane are the hardest, and you should be rewarded first." Cixi took over the conversation, then turned to Ci'an and asked, "Sister, I see that the old sixth and their military ministers have been added to the second level?" "Both the empress dowagers of the two palaces instructed the strategy, and the slaves did not dare to take the credit." Prince Gong thanked the military ministers on behalf of the military ministers.

"Old Sixth doesn't have to resign, and it's not easy to have a military plane Zhang Jing, how to reward, you take a charter." Cixi insisted, "Not only do you be rewarded, but everyone must be rewarded for such a great happy event, and I see that the king of the county, the belle, the shell, the public and the Chinese and foreign ministers, all of them will be rewarded one level." The soldiers of the Eight Banners and the Green Step battalions were rewarded with half a month's worth of grain. Ci'an saw that everyone was overjoyed, and suddenly sorrow came from it and wiped away tears. Prince Gong and all the military planes do not know where the good sorrow comes from? Cixi's eyes also turned red, and she said, "My sister remembered that the former emperor had come, such a big happy event, he had never encountered it before." The first emperor Xianfeng, in the year of his ascension to the throne, encountered Hong Xiuquan's rebellion, and then there were Anglo-French troops invading, and in northern Jiangbei, there were twisting troops to plague several provinces. The Xianfeng Emperor was also ambitious, but he had no choice but to lose every day, sometimes surprisingly overnight. Cixi often helped the Xianfeng Emperor to approve the recitals, and her anxieties and sorrows about him were clearer than anyone else. Originally a young emperor of literary style, he later borrowed wine to pour sorrow and greed to worry, which led to a deterioration of his health, and he fell ill with hemoptysis. Prince Gong and Emperor Xianfeng grew up together since childhood, and although they were separated by brothers due to the dispute over the throne, the brotherhood when they were teenagers was unforgettable, so they could not help but burst into tears. The military planes have been tired of coping with them for the past six or seven years, and they are also anxious, and now that they have completed their work, they are also crying with joy. Bao Zheng was grinning, and seeing that everyone in the palace was wiping away tears, he knelt down and said, "Slaves ask the empress dowager of the two palaces to mourn, and such a great happy event should be sent to Dingling to pay homage to the emperor and reassure the emperor." Cixi wiped her tears and said to Ci'an, "Sister, we will not cry on the day of the great joy, and there are still important things waiting for us to take care of." Bao Zheng said it well, just send the fifth elder to Dingling, there are several of their brothers, and now he is the oldest. Prince Gong replied, "The slaves have taken the order—and the monk king, who worked hard to suppress the twist, was also victimized by the twisters, and now that the twist is calm, he should send someone to pay tribute." "That's right, you go back and discuss who is appropriate to send." Cixi sighed, "Zeng Guofan made great contributions to the suppression of Ping Changmao, Li Hongzhang first suppressed the Pingdong Twist, and now the greatest merit of the Ping Xi Twist is also none other than him!" Both of these masters and apprentices were the pillars of the Great Qing Dynasty. Hong Yang Shiping, a scholar of Zeng Guofan and Jin University, is now suffering from a twist, and it is time for us to fulfill our original promise. ”

The so-called original promise was that at the end of the first month, Jia Zhen, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, fell ill, and his lack of university scholars was promoted by Zhu Fengbiao, a scholar who co-founded the university by shangshu of the bureaucracy, and the vacancy of the co-organizers of Zhu Fengbiao's office was not filled. Cixi negotiated with Prince Gong that the co-founder of the university would be rewarded for suppressing The Western Twist, and Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, who would lead the troops in pursuit and suppression, would be the one who had the greatest merits and would become the co-founder of the university. The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming system and did not have a prime minister, but assisted the emperor with cabinet scholars. After the Establishment of the Military Aircraft Department in the Yongzheng Dynasty, the military and political power was transferred to the Military Aircraft Department, and the role of the Cabinet was reduced, mainly responsible for the Ming Dynasty, but the status of the Cabinet University Scholars was still respected, commonly known as the University Scholars, which is called "Xiang", that is, the so-called "Middle Hall". A middle hall like Zeng Guofan's is also called "Festival Phase" because it is stationed outside the festival. According to the custom, there were originally six university scholars in the Bohe Hall, the Wenhua Hall, the Wuying Hall, the Wenyuan Pavilion, the DongGe Pavilion, and the Tiren Pavilion, and at the same time there was one assistant university scholar in Manchuria and Han, a total of eight university scholars, but in fact, there were generally not satisfied with the members, and the Tongzhi Dynasty usually had only six, so it was a very precious honor to receive the name of this university scholar or co-organizer. The two palaces discussed many things with the minister of military aircraft, so they arranged for the birthday room to prepare for supper. Prince Gong spoke again, and the eunuchs in the palace threw the pure python whip to a "popping" sound and rushed to tell each other; the Gong and drums were beaten inside and outside the Longzong Gate, and Luan Yiwei shouted loudly: "The great victory of Dezhou, the hair twist has been suppressed, and the bandit leader Zhang Zongyu threw himself into the river to apologize and fed Wang Ba!" ”

The sound of firecrackers in the capital was already boiling, the sound of firecrackers was rising and falling, and there were even two kicks and kicks that jumped into the sky, creating a bright light in the night sky. Fighting against the Twister Army, the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry led by the monk Greenqin suffered heavy losses, and almost all the people in the House of the Manchu and Mongolian Bannermen were killed in battle, and now the good news has come, and they have offered incense. There will be a big reward after the big victory, so the restaurant restaurant is full, and the boss guys are happy to grin to the root of the ear.

When Li Hongzhang received the edict, he burned incense and read it, and his heart was full of excitement, because the imperial court not only gave him the glory of a university scholar, but also had a very high evaluation of him -- according to Li Hongzhang chi this day: "Crack down on the twisters and bandits, and all the shares will be wiped out." In addition to watching the music, it is deeply pleasing. For more than ten years, he has been harassing several provinces, the people have been poisoned by it, the gods and men are indignant, and the sins are abundant. Last year, Li Hongzhang was sent as the minister of Qin to eliminate Renzhu Lai Wenguang and other bandits. In the first month of this year, Zhang Zongyu, the head of the rebellion, gathered together the bandits and wantonly harassed the direct subordinates of Henan in Shanxi, and spied on. It was defended by Guan Wen, Ying Han, Ding Baozhen, Li Henian, and the Overseer, and pursued by Zuo Zongtang's unified army. The imperial court reassigned Li Hongzhang to the Zhidong region to supervise and suppress it, in order to reap the effects of the people's will. Now, through Li Hongzhang,leading the generals to smooth out the rebellion and arrest the remaining bandits, it is evident that the minister and the superintendent and others have cooperated with each other and played the role of the emperor. Li Hongzhang was rewarded with a dazzling eye, a knight lieutenant, and a yellow coat, and he was punished with a compound punishment, and he was rewarded with the title of prince taibao and the viceroy of Huguang to assist in running a university fellowship. Zuo Zongtang rewarded the crown prince with the title of prince and handed it over to the ministry to discuss the first-class military merits. Both Ding Baozhen and Yinghan were rewarded with the title of Prince of The Crown Prince and handed over to the ministry to discuss their military merits of the first class. Li Henian was rewarded with a flower plume and handed over to the ministry to discuss military merits of the first class. When Chonghou counterattacked and attacked Tianjin, the overseer led the brave gentry regiment to protect the county city and raise the grain and stone salaries of various battalions, which were endless, which was really a meritorious achievement, and the reverence rewarded the prince with less protection titles, wearing the top of the head, and rewarding the eyes with flowers. Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, prepared for the Huai army's rear road grain and ammunition, and Li Hongzhang and others did their full work, and the ministry of communication was discussed from the superior. Non-commissioned Officer Wen of the Governor General's University, who was in office during the governorship of Huguang and this year, and when the twister bandits were straight this year, they were all punished for their inability to suppress the bandits, and this time the twisting stock was flattened, and the title of Prince Taibao of Jia'en Kaifu and the resignation of the prince were not forced to resign, and the reward was returned to the place, so as to show that the Tin Lord rewarded yong with The reward of Zhangqing. Another edict rewarded the commanders of the armies. Admiral Liu Mingchuan was promoted from a third-class light vehicle lieutenant to a first-class male. Guo Songlin was promoted from Riding Lieutenant to First Class Light Vehicle Lieutenant, Pan Dingxin was rewarded with the post of Lieutenant of Yun Riding, and Eleven members such as General Zhou Shengbo were all honored with first-class military merit.