At the entrance of Xiangtan County Yamen, Xiao Yungui ordered people to detain Deng Shaoliang and others, and entered the lobby of Zuo Zongtang, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang and others to sit down. The generals stepped forward to explain their respective battle situations. After hearing that Deng Shaoliang was captured, Xiao Yungui was a little surprised and ordered Su Ji to come to the hall.

When Su Ji arrived at the hall, Xiao Yungui was very surprised at Su Ji's age. He was only sixteen years old and was still a high school student in later generations. Unexpectedly, he had already taken a knife to kill people in this chaotic world. At that time, Xiao Yungui comforted him with kind words and promoted him to the captain of the boy soldier.

As soon as this statement was made, all the generals were a little surprised. The boy soldiers were always the last cards of the adult Taiping Army battalions. Su Ji was just a great scholar in Changsha, like Chen Picheng and Tan Shaoguang, who were named two Simas who commanded the troops, but they were only commanding the boy soldiers in the battalion. But now Su Ji was named the commander of the soldiers, and he was going to command one hundred people there.

Seeing that the generals were a little surprised, Xiao Yungui explained: "Child soldiers are still young and have insufficient strength. They have great disadvantages in mixing with adult holy soldiers. At present, there are many child soldiers in the new army, and they are then mixed with each battalion. On the one hand, they are afraid that there are too many child soldiers, which will make each battalion have insufficient combat power; on the other hand, there will inevitably be adult holy soldiers bullying the child soldiers. Therefore, this king decided to set up a child camp alone, so Chen Picheng, Tan Shaoguang, Su Ji and others will be led by Chen Picheng, Tan Shaoguang, Su Ji and others, and then they will be charged into the adult camp after the boy soldiers are over 18 years old."

All the generals agreed. Since then, the boy soldiers in the West Palace have established a single army, no longer as a battalion's tail card and the adult Taiping Army, which has avoided the occurrence of boy soldiers being bullied by adult soldiers to the greatest extent. The boy soldiers are young and vigorous, firm in will, brave and good at fighting, and are quite similar to the Young Communist International Division in later generations. In the major battles in the West Palace, this boy soldiers played an important role, and later became a well-known name "Youth Guards Regiment".

In this way, Chen Picheng, Tan Shaoguang and Su Ji were all named as commanders of the soldiers. Li Yiwen was very happy. After all, Su Ji was the little brother he fought with, and finally his hard work was not in vain.

After talking about the incident with the child soldiers, Xiao Yungui ordered people to bring Deng Shaoliang to the hall for trial. Not long after, several Taiping generals Deng Shaoliang came to the hall. When they arrived at the hall, Deng Shaoliang sat cross-legged on the ground and could not get up.

When the generals of the Taiping Army saw their enemies, they stood up and glared at each other, and even more so, they wanted to draw their swords to kill Deng Shaoliang.

Xiao Yungui waved his hand, and after the generals retreated, Xiao Yungui frowned and looked at Deng Shaoliang and said, "What else do you have to say now?"

Deng Shaoliang still has some backbone. Although he was seriously injured and was locked up for a long time, he still raised his head and said, "The winner is the king and the loser is the enemy. Now the Japanese Army is defeated and killed, so he is loyal to the emperor. If he dies, he will die. What's the point of saying? Humph, there are thousands of people like you who die under the sword of our Army. I have made money."

Seeing that he never repents, Xiao Yungui didn't want to talk nonsense to him, so he ordered his left and right to behead him at the county yard gate to show his head. The other officials in Xiangtan were killed, and the other officials were more fond of being spared and refused to kill him. They ordered them to take Deng Shaoliang's body back to Liling and tell Zhang Guoliang to wash his neck and wait for slaughter.

This was Zuo Zongtang's idea. If Zhang Guoliang gets news of the loss of Xiangtan, he will be even more afraid and speed up urging the Hengzhou brigade to come for assistance. It will be easier to move south to Hengzhou next.

In the battle of Xiangtan, the Taiping Army in the West Palace wiped out more than 1,500 Deng Shaoliang's troops, but because of its many new recruits, more than 500 were casualties, and most of the new soldiers were injured and killed. However, after this battle, these new soldiers were trained. Xiangtan was abundant with supplies, with a lot of rice, grain, oil, salt and cloth. The Taiping Army made a fortune. The people in the West Palace absorbed hundreds of poor and strong men to join the army. In addition, among the Qing prisoners, those who were forced to join the army were more than 800 more soldiers.

After three days of rest, the soldiers in the West Hall supplemented a large number of weapons, food, pack horses, and tigers lie in Xiangtan, threatening Liling, and asked Zhang Guoliang from Liling to send messengers to the south several times a day for help.

On the third day, Zeng Tianyang, the veteran general of the West Palace, Bo Shu He Zhenchuan, led three thousand soldiers who had originally guarded Yuelu Mountain. Their defense area had been taken over by the North Palace, so they came south to meet with the brigade. The troops of the national uncle Lai Hanying also drove to Jianning (now Zhuzhou), not far from Xiangtan. Since then, more than 25,000 Taiping Army troops began to march south.

Hearing this news, Zhang Guoliang once wanted to give up Liling and retreat to Youxian to meet with the brigade. However, the governor of Huguang Xu Guangjin strictly ordered Zhang Guoliang to station in Liling, and only sent Jiang Zhongyuan, Jiang Zhongji and Liu Changyou to lead more than 1,500 Chu Yongs to reinforce Liling. Because so far, Xu Guangjin has not figured out the strategic direction of the Taiping Army. Do they want to expand their territory and completely occupy Hunan, or to divide their troops south to fight back to Guangxi? Or to go west to Guizhou? Or to go east to Jiangxi? Now Xu Guangjin has only less than 40,000 Qing troops under his command. If he can't guess the direction of the Taiping Army, it will be difficult for the 40,000 Qing troops to prevent blocking.

The army could not divide its troops into three directions to encircle the Taiping Army from three directions east and south, which would violate the military taboo and would easily be defeated by the Taiping Army one by one. After many discussions, the generals of the Qing army could not guess the direction of the Taiping Army's departure this time, so they had to strengthen the troops in Liling first. The more than 20,000 people in the brigade were still in control of the troops in You County, and they formed a junction with the more than 10,000 troops stationed in Leiyang. They watched the changes and waited for the arrival of the other Qing reinforcements, and gathered to annihilate them. Xu Guangjin never dreamed that this time the Taiping Army was not for fighting for a city and a land, but for the 40,000 Qing troops under his command.

On the fourth day after the capture of Xiangtan, Xiao Yungui led the troops of the West Hall, divided into three groups, with Lin Fengxiang and Lin Qirong leading the troops along the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, and Sanmen Town went south. Xiao Yungui led Zuo Zongtang, Ji Wenyuan, Zhu Xineng, Chen Picheng, Tan Shaoguang and others along Meilin Bridge and Tanjiashan. On the right, Li Kaifang, Li Yiwen, Zeng Tianyang, He Zhenchuan led his troops along Gutang Bridge and Baiguo Town. The three groups had more than 10,000 troops and rushed straight to Hengzhou.

In order to cooperate with the west hall to fight south, Shi Dakai's troops in the Yidian began to attack Liuyang, Lai Hanying, Zeng Lichang and other troops began to advance to Liling, which was very much like advancing eastward to Ganzhou.

...

On that day, the north wind began to blow on the earth. On the official road south of Liling, a group of more than a thousand Qing soldiers marched towards Liling with the north wind. These soldiers were different from the ordinary green camp soldiers. They had thick blue cloth heads, and their coarse cloth clothes were written with words of courage. They were tied with cloth and leggings under their feet. However, their clothes were very ragged and dirty, and they looked like a group of beggars. But these soldiers were all determined in their faces. Although they were thin, they moved forward against the wind without any slowing down. No one heard of complaints.

Among the team, several Qing army generals followed them on horseback. One of them was over thirty years old. He had a gentle expression, but there was a heroic spirit between his eyebrows and leisurely manners. However, he saw a chivalrous feeling and a dignified appearance. His clothes were worn in the fourth-rank civil servants of the Qing Dynasty were a bit worn, but they were washed neatly and cleanly.

Along the way, I saw pieces of village houses being destroyed. Wild dogs were occasionally biting the dead bodies on the roadside among the weeds. The official frowned deeply. A thin and clear general beside him suddenly said, "They are all damn long-haired thieves, who poison our countryside. It is really hateful."

The official turned his head and looked at the Qing general, sighed lightly, and chanted slowly, "I am sorry that this poor gangster is working hard to farm, and the annual harvest is only enough to pay for tithes. This year, I will no longer expect that there will be a year, so that the ravines will fill the bones. But when the rich are worried, who will pity the poor for being hungry? Once the poor are driven by hunger, how can the rich be at peace with their families? Zimo, still remember that when he returned to his hometown to visit relatives a few years ago, the harvest was famine in central Hunan, but this was not the case?"

Na Qing Jiangzi was silent for a moment and said, "The meaning of Lord Jiang's poem seems to be sympathetic to Changmao?"

Lord Jiang nodded and said, "If everyone has enough food and clothing, who will rebel? They are all rich and evil gentry in various places who are unkind and have too many corrupt officials and force people to survive, so they take risks."

Na Qing gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, we have suppressed bandits all the way. When did we see you soften your heart? Why do you have such a feeling again now?"

Lord Jiang sighed: "I, Jiang Zhongyuan, trained Chu Yong back then, originally to eliminate bandits and bandits like Lei Zaihao, but I have been suppressing bandits for several years since then. Why did these bandits become more and more? Sometimes I think that maybe the words of officials forcing the people to rebel are also good."

Lord Jiang was Jiang Zhongyuan, the commander of the Qing army Chu Yong. He was the commander of the Hunan Army in the late Qing Dynasty. His name was Changru and his pseudonym was Minqiao. He was from Xinning, Hunan. He was a juren in the 17th year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty. In the 24th year of Daoguang, he was instilled in the regiment training, instilling loyalty, filial piety, etiquette, and righteousness, and taught military tactics and skills. He later led the regiment to cooperate with the Qing army to suppress the Lei Zaihaohui uprising and was promoted to the magistrate of Xiushui, Zhejiang. In the first year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, he revolted with the Jintian Uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and was ordered to go to the imperial envoy Sai Shang A Guangxi military camp. He then recruited 500 Chu Yong to Guangxi and called "Chu Yong". The following year, his troops expanded to more than 1,500. He ambushed the Taiping Army in the north of Quanzhou, seized its ships and supplies, severely damaged the Taiping Army, and once defeated the myth of the Taiping Army's invincible, and was quite famous among the generals of the Qing army.

The Qing general said indifferently: "Your Majesty must not be discouraged. Now in the national crisis, the people are in dire straits. Now our Hunanese hometown is ravaged by bandits. A real man should relieve the troubles of the people and serve the country. I, Liu Changyou, have been following you all the way to fight. No matter how difficult it is, I will definitely help you by your side and never regret it."

This Qing general was Liu Changyou, the brave general of Chu, whose courtesy name was Zimo and his pseudonym was Yinqu, Hunan. He was from Xinning, Hunan. He first organized a delegation training with Jiang Zhongyuan in Hunan, and led Chu Yong to Guangxi to suppress the Taiping Army and the Tiandihui Uprising. He was Jiang Zhongji, a brother of Jiang Zhongyuan. Liu Changyou is worth mentioning that in later history, he served as the Governor of Zhili and the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou for his military merits. As early as twelve years before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he suggested taking the initiative to attack Japan.

Liu Changyou analyzed that Japan violated public international law at that time. Once a war begins, it will not be advantageous in international morality. And its aggressive nature will sooner or later annex Korea. It is better to take advantage of its lack of prosperity and make it a first move. He believes that since the Tongzong Dynasty, the court has paid attention to the Westernization, set up coastal defense, learned naval troops, built artillery batteries, purchased iron ships, and built guns and cannons, and invested a lot of money. Now it is the time to use its power, and it is certain that it will devote all its efforts to kill Japan.

I have to say that this man's vision is quite accurate. If the Qing court could adopt his advice at that time and take action first, perhaps there would not be the shameful defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1989, and there would not be the tragic eight-year war of resistance. But everything was just a fantasy. If the Qing court would follow his bold suggestions, it would not be the Qing court.

While speaking, he had already seen the city walls of Liling City. Not far away, more than a hundred Qing troops were waiting in line. The Qing army had a big letter written on the banner. It seemed that Zhang Guoliang had personally left the city to welcome reinforcements.
Chapter completed!