After hearing Zeng Guofan's words, several people in the room were silent. After a while, Zeng Guoquan said, "Then how can we reply to the court?"

Zeng Guofan had not answered yet, but only heard the report from the doorman outside the house: "Master, Li Chong, the general of the town of Zhenzhi Town, asked to see the Master."

Zeng Guofan said oh, since Ronglu's general Li Chong was transferred to the capital, he served as the general of Zhenshi Town, which was considered to be the replacement of a soldier left by Ronglu in Hunan. The soldiers of Zhenshi have always been brave and cooperated with Xiangyong to fight, which is closer to the Green Camp soldiers who were the governor of Hunan in Changde. Zeng Guofan said at the moment: "Let him come in."

After a while, Li Chong walked in and greeted Zeng Guofan and others in the house. He couldn't wait to say: "Zeng Shuai, his subordinates received a letter from Rong Shuai. He wanted the generals of the town to bring the troops from Guangxi to rescue Governor Jiang."

Zeng Guofan looked at the people in the house and said with a faint smile: "I received Zhonghua's letter, but now in Wuchang, the Changmao Shidakai tribe on the Yangtze River is ready to move. I really can't order the reinforcements to Guangxi."

Li Chong seemed to have expected Zeng Guofan to say this, and immediately clasped his fists and said, "Shishou Rong's letter told the last general that if Zeng Shuai was unwilling to send troops, then the town soldiers would go to Guangxi alone, but they would still use the banner of Hunan soldiers. In this way, Zeng Shuai also gave an explanation to the court."

Zeng Guofan's triangular eyes raised slightly and said coldly: "What does Zhonghua mean?"

Li Chong said frankly: "Supervisor Rong has no other meaning. Supervisor Rong and Super Zeng are one, one prospering and one loss. Super Rong said in his letter that although the court has now thrown the Supervisor Rong away, the Empress Dowager will regain Rong in a few days. Supervisor Rong did not want to see the Hunan Army being criticized too much in the court, so it was difficult to make a circumference for Super Zeng in the court. He heard that Changde also sent reinforcements to Guangxi. If the Hunan Army did not send one soldier, it would be impossible to explain."

Zeng Guofan smiled faintly and said, "Zhonghua is intent. Since the troops from the town are out, the general has several new recruits in Hengyang, so you can take them together. Just call out the Xiangyong banner." Zeng Guofan followed and said, "Let General Li handle the army-raising tiger talisman in Hengyang, and then mobilize a batch of flags from the treasury, and give them some money and grain to General Li for the purpose of sending troops."

After Li Chong received Zeng Guofan's approval, he immediately bowed his fists and left.

After Li Chong left, Zeng Guoquan frowned and said, "What kind of tricks did Rong Lu play with? He is no longer the Minister of Training in Hunan. How can he decide the soldiers in the township? He skipped his brother and asked Li Chong to lead his troops to rescue him. It was obvious that he was squeezing us!"

Zeng Guofan's triangular eyes trembled slightly, and he smiled faintly: "This Zhonghua is gradually mature. The letters he sent to Li Chong and the letters he sent to the generals were all ordinary letters. It was not official documents at all. But the general order he sent to Li Chong just now was a formal order to send troops to the generals. He did this just to tell the generals and the court that he still had influence in Hunan. The more the court cut off his military power, the more he wanted to tell the court in this way that although he was far away from the world, he still had the ability to call the wind and rain."

Zeng Guoquan laughed and scolded: "Brother, your son-in-law is really brave and dares to squeeze your father-in-law. But we just listened to Zhonghua and asked the soldiers to rescue Guangxi? Although the soldiers in the town are not from our Xiangyong direct line, they can fight. It would be a pity if they lose it."

Zeng Guofan smiled but said nothing. He took a sip of tea and looked at Guo Songtao. Guo Songtao pondered: "There are several levels of Zeng Shuai's meaning. Li Chong said just now. Changde had already sent reinforcements to the south. If Xiangyong did not send one soldier, it would be unreasonable. The first meaning we still have to send some reinforcements to the south. Although the town soldiers cooperated with our Xiangyong to fight, their money and food were provided by Ronglu's business. Li Chong was also a stubborn person and had never truly integrated into Xiangyong. Therefore, the second meaning was to transfer the town soldiers to rescue Guangxi. No matter what the victory or defeat, our Xiangyong was considered to be lying on the side of the bed. The third was to let Ronglu feel at ease, and we Xiangyong still supported him."

Zeng Guoquan frowned and said, "There are so many ways to send troops to rescue Guangxi?"

Zeng Guofan nodded and said, "Zhonghua's doing this is nothing more than self-protection. He has always been the son-in-law of the Zeng family. If the court decides this time, he will not take our Xiangyong seriously. It is time for the court to know our attitude. Later, I will give a special comment to reply to the court's Xiangyong's sending troops to rescue the court. In the comment, I will specifically mention Zhonghua's letter to persuade the troops to be sent, and let the court know about this."

Zeng Guoquan said: "Brother, you blame me for quarreling loudly, just because you are afraid that others will know that we have contact with Zhonghua."

Zeng Guofan smiled and said, "It's time and time. Li Chong came to ask for generals to send troops in such a big manner. It seems that Zhonghua has already made arrangements. Sending troops to rescue Guangxi will help Zhonghua to recover, so let's help him. It's not good for Xiang Yong to lose power in the court. If he can recover, it would be a good thing. Since he wants to find someone to support him, then I will support him!"

Zeng Guoquan laughed and said, "Brother scolded me, and I just defended Zhonghua like this." When he said this, Zeng Guofan's eyes became sharp again. He quickly swallowed the words afterwards and changed the topic: "I don't know if Li Chong can escape from this time?"

Zeng Guofan smiled slightly and said slowly: "Don't underestimate Zhonghua and Li Chong. If Zhonghua lets Li Chong lead his troops, he will naturally have a way to protect himself. Changde's reinforcements seem to be suffering a lot."

...

A few days later, the news that the town soldiers sent troops to Guangxi to rescue Jiang Zhongyuan came to Xiao Yungui's desk. At the same time, his desk contained detailed information on the route, strength and other deployment of the Qing army in Changde.

After reading it, Xiao Yungui frowned and thought about it for a long time before he picked up a pen and wrote a long letter to Chen Yucheng from Guangxi, and then handed it to Bai Zetang to pass it on to the front line of Guangxi with a carrier pigeon relay.

...

It was already late November. Although Guangxi is located in southern Xinjiang, the temperature dropped after several north winds. Although it was not as cold as the northern country, the Taiping Army on the front line of Guangxi still changed into thick winter clothes.

Outside the Liuzhou Prefecture City in Guangxi, there was a scene of enthusiasm in the Taiping Army's besieged camp. Nearly 30,000 recruited civilians were digging the besieged moats. More than ten cannons were erected on the earthen platform built in the camp, and they were firing fires at Liuzhou City from time to time.

Chen Yucheng stood not far away watching the cannons on the earthen platform fired, and then frowned and said, "These Qing Yao cannons brought from Xunzhou Prefecture are too bad to use. Not only are they slow to fight, they also have to build the earthen platform to obtain the Qing Yao camp outside Liuzhou Prefecture. It's a pity that it took a lot of manpower and animal power to transport it over."

Zhang Wenxiang beside him said, "It's also a big blame for the subordinates who came here lightly, and the artillery of the Third Division was not transported."

Chen Yucheng waved his hand and smiled, "I just complained, if you don't come here lightly, you will have to wait a while before you arrive. Commander Chen was just careful, worried that my troops were weak, so he would let the Third Division come here lightly. But that's fine, only after you come, can you really prepare to fight this Liuzhou Prefecture."

Zhang Wenxiang said: "Teacher Chen surrounded Jiang Zhongyuan in Guilin this time, and the First and Second Divisions all breathed a sigh of relief. He must have the shame of being escaped by this villain last time. He recruited a large number of young and strong civilians to build a besieged camp. With the siege of camps, the Third Division can be drawn out to the west to reinforce."

Chen Yucheng nodded and said, "This time Commander Chen will definitely solve Jiang Zhongyuan, but after receiving the information, the Qing Yao Changde and Hengyang have reinforcements heading south. It is estimated that they will come to clear the siege of Liuzhou and Guilin along the way."

He Goujian, the general of the Liuzhou rebel army, bent down and said, "Ship Chen, since the Qing Yao has reinforcements going south, let the Du General lead the Liuzhou rebel army to meet them."

Chen Yucheng smiled slightly and said, "The Liuzhou rebel army has been dealing with the Qing Yao for more than a year in Daming Mountain. It is better to raise more generals for a while. No matter which reinforcements come to rescue Liuzhou, the cavalry will go to solve it. You should join the Third Division to surround Liuzhou Prefecture. This time the troops entered Guangxi, the King of the West explained, but if the Qing Yao reinforcements came, they would definitely siege the city and attack the reinforcements, and eliminate the Qing Yao's biological forces as one of the goals."

While he was talking, a staff officer rushed to report: "Sir, a letter from the King of Xi of Tianjing has arrived."

Chen Yucheng said oh, hurriedly took it and took it apart. After seeing it, Chen Yucheng frowned.

Zhang Wenxiang asked, "Does the Western King have any new mission?"

Chen Yucheng said slowly: "The King of the West has given us a big problem. Bai Zetang got the exact news. Changde Qing Yao and Hengzhou Qing Yao all went to Guilin. No reinforcements came to Liuzhou Prefecture. The King of the West wants us to wipe out these two Qing Yao reinforcements, especially Xiang Yong from Hengyang. Although this Xiang Yong is under the banner of Xiang Yong, it is an elite Xiang Zhenjun."

Zhang Wenxiang clapped his hands and said, "What's the dilemma? My subordinates requested to lead the cavalry regiment to Guilin to encircle and annihilate these two groups of Qing demon reinforcements."

Zheng Yantuo, the Xun leader of the Third Division, smiled and said, "You don't know how many of these two reinforcements are. Do you just shout to lead the cavalry regiment to encircle and annihilate others?"

Zhang Wenxiang said: "The cavalry of the First Army never asks how many enemies there are, but only asks where the enemy is!"

Chen Yucheng frowned slightly and said, "This kind of invincible spirit is good, but commanders at all levels must not underestimate the enemy, especially at your level, give me a clear mind." He continued, "The Western King's requirement is to wipe out these two Qing Yaos, and the Qing Yao Town soldiers are mostly Miao soldiers who are used to walking on the mountain road. There are many mountains in Guilin and are not suitable for cavalry maneuvers to large-scale maneuvers. If they fight to defeat, it is not the Western King's original intention."

Zhang Wenxiang was not worried and said, "Then let the infantry regiment of the Third Division go. The infantry of our Third Division is also used to walking on the mountain road. When we were chasing and suppressing the Qing demons in Fujian, it was known as the iron foot of the entire army. Otherwise, Commander Chen would not have sent us to Liuzhou this time. It would be a pleasurable thing for us to run back to Guilin."

Chen Yucheng said: "After the three infantry regiments of the Third Division fought the Pingyuefu battle, they rushed to Guilin without stopping, and then came to Liuzhou again. The exhaustion of the soldiers is certainly a problem, but another problem is, what should I do with Liuzhou Prefecture after you leave?" Speaking of this, several Taiping Army leaders also found that it would be a bit reluctant to complete the task of the Western King. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!