After an afternoon of fierce battle, the 5,000-hai Song Neihe Navy, which was not as good as the opponent's training and cooperation, fought bloody battles. It was entirely based on Western artillery and faith that the 6,000 Qing army naval divisions of the basic army, which were only 3,000 Hunan Army, broke out from Gongjiang, and then repelled the opponent in Ganjiang. It was a completely defeated tactic. Both sides had to call gold and withdraw their troops at the same time after dark.

"How did these Qing soldiers come from?" After returning to Ganzhou City General's Mansion, Zhu Qingzheng was shocked and scared. He pounded the desk and shouted: "If it weren't for the quantity and quality of our cannons that were not inferior to the other party, and with the support of the shore-based cannon, he would be fucking the end this time!"

Guan Ju, the navy brigade coach, covered with gauze, only showed half of his face outside. In the fierce close combat, half of his ears were cut off by a knife. He bowed and said, "General, don't worry, our men in Guangdong and Guangxi are all well-known in water and are not inferior to each other's bravery. After this battle, the navy on the other side dares not attack easily."

"It's over without martial arts! This time we didn't have the advantage of melee combat! The reason for victory is because we have too many guns and strong guns!" Zhu Qingzheng shook his head and sighed: "If His Majesty hadn't spared all his money to buy Western guns, we wouldn't have beaten these dogs!"

"It is inevitable that this will be the case when the navy was first established. Now our army is not afraid of opponents. As long as we step up the repair of ships and replenish our troops, we will definitely drive these Hunan dogs out of the Ganjiang River!" Guan Ju snorted dissatisfied. After this bloody battle, his experience and morale were enough to make him among the powerful generals.

"Old Guan, that's not what it said." Zhu Qingzheng looked at the former senior of the Jianghu, and sighed: "Wang Zhongyong escaped at the battle and was rectified on the spot. He was the old senior of the Jianghu in Foshan in the past. Gan Yong dared not fight. Our actual number was nearly twice that of the Hunan Army, and it still tied. How could I explain to His Majesty?"

"Victory and defeat are common in military affairs. Why should the general be so nervous? We didn't lose." Guan Ju didn't understand why this young commander who never gave up today was so disappointed and uneasy.

Zhu Qingzheng stepped back from the others, leaving only Guan Juhou, and said, "I am worried about the Sun and Moon Legion. You don't know, Your Majesty can't believe in the combat effectiveness of the Sun and Moon Army. His original intention is to completely become a recruitment system. I kept asking for it. I just reduced the Sun and Moon Legion. If I can't fight, I may be disbanded on the spot. I thought that with the training methods we used, and the ones I left behind were all young and strong soldiers. The Sun and Moon Army was comparable to the elite troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But I didn't expect that they... all suffered a great loss in the Hunan Army. No matter what, the Heaven and Earth Society is my home. I don't want to see the brothers of the Heaven and Earth Society being disbanded because they were not brave enough. They replaced those peasant militias..."

Guan Ju smiled bitterly and replied, "It turns out that Baitou, you care so much about the reputation of the Tiandihui. But to be honest, the soldiers of the Tiandihui are often city soldiers and are used to being oily. It is not as useful as farmers. Didn't you see that the 100 soldiers now are almost all from Guangxi? The Guangdong gang soldiers cannot achieve military merits."

"I don't believe it!" Zhu Qingzheng gritted his teeth and said, "Old Shu is from a gang. I can fight hard, why can't they?!"

After saying that, Zhu Qingzheng pointed at Guan Ju and said, "Hurry up and repair the warships, requisition all civilian ships, and train day and night. I will take pictures of the 2,000 Jiangxi people recruited on the spot to replenish your navy. You can only defend yourself. Never leave the turret of Jiancheng and leave the river estuary to fight."

After explaining the matters of the navy, Zhu Qingzheng hurriedly crossed the Zhangshui floating bridge and headed to Li Wenmao's troops on the other side to inspect the defense.

He was worried along the way. The navy's miserable victory this time shook his original idea. He thought that as long as he followed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom step by step, he could bring up a brigade, but the facts gave him a blow.

Members of the Tiandihui Association helped the army to explore the news and encourage the people were good at it, but once they formed an army, he found that they were not as good as the elite of the Qing army: the small Bajing platform was almost stolen. Any Song Dynasty naval soldier who was familiar with water could kill a few of them to learn to swim. In a few days, the farmers in the mountains of Hunan were killed when they were 1,000 to 1,000, and they were killed and ran away in a hurry, forcing him to take a gamble. The commander went up in person to suppress it.

He was very dedicated to the Sun and Moon Army: Compared with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that was so full of the whole family, the soldiers in other places were carefully selected. In order to reduce the habits of the gang, soldiers were often members of the lower gangs. It was very troublesome to recruit a big boss. His status in the world outside was higher than his sergeant. Who weaves straw sandals for whom?

Because this legion was merciless, there was no need for the entire army to believe in God. About one-third of the people were believers. He promoted the exorcism of the Tartars in the army to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. This belief could save the life of the navy, but it was still far from the old soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom whom he was familiar with before.

In addition, he never deducted military pay. His emperor Zhao Kuo scoffed at the army, and after several requests from Zhu Qingzheng, he began to send military pay equivalent to the Green Camp.

"Your Majesty, the Sun and Moon Legion has completed its military reorganization. Please switch to recruitment and distribute military pay."

"Chi, are you calling the army? You just chose some strong people, and they were very powerful when going out to fight and collect protection fees. Can war be done? And they don't even have faith."

"Believe me, this is definitely a brigade."

Finally, Zhao Kuo agreed to pay military salaries for non-basic main forces with the attitude of "I will give you a written letter", and emphasized that except for the top level, which was the great achievements of the uprising and the lowest level, the middle-level officers must be all veterans of the Crusader Guangxi.

Moreover, Zhu Qingzheng would never deduct the Qing Dynasty civilized management, delay the military salary at all, and would not receive empty salary. He would pay the full amount every month. Zhu Qingzheng realized that the Sun and Moon Legion was simply awesome. Why didn’t those soldiers fight desperately?

In the Qing Dynasty, no one was going to the military profession for military pay, but they looked at the black income. You definitely couldn't get military pay, it was all for the superiors, but who cares about military pay? The soldiers would have to make money from the common people through the "Emperor Xianfeng" given to the ground knife in their hands.

The national defense function of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty was just a decoration, and the most important thing was to maintain rule within and act as a police officer. Therefore, in the prosperous Guangdong, some soldiers were made in places to make money, and they were always regarded as a fat man and needed to give gifts to enter.

But the Song army did not let you make black income at all, but just used military pay to fight. Naturally, I saw the city gang soldiers with wealthier families familiar with the Qing society and would not be denied because of military pay.

"It seems that having a passionate heart and being suitable for killing people on the battlefield is different." Zhu Qingzheng was a little disappointed, but he didn't want to admit defeat. This legion was led by him. He promised that his friends in the world would not treat them badly as long as they work hard for Zhao Kuo, and they would not be untrustworthy. He vowed that no matter how difficult it was, he would form a brave journey of the Heaven and Earth Society. He used the glory of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring China to give the Heaven and Earth Society as his kindness.

"Ganzhou is a strong city. The Guangdong thieves are extremely sharp in artillery fire. The navy alone cannot completely defeat the Guangdong thieves who fight against the city." On the ship of the Hunan Navy in the north of the Ganjiang River, a Hunan Army officer summarized today's battle.

"This group of shameless foreign beasts have lost my Chinese morality. They colluded with foreigners unscrupulously and equipped Western artillery to kill and injure my soldiers in the Celestial Kingdom. They are really beasts!" The navy general Li Aoping shouted indignantly: "If they didn't have so many foreign guns, we would have smashed this group of Guangdong thieves under the tribute water.

"Shuwei thieves are different from Nanjing Changmao. They do not wander around. They are in the camp step by step. The soldiers are not coming here. They can see that they have been trained and the firepower of foreign artillery and foreign guns is several times greater than that of me. Now our warships urgently need repair and replenishment, and there is not enough gunpowder and ammunition, so they can no longer attack the Guangdong thieves. They will never leave the fortress in the city and come out alone for me to fight." The navy commander Peng Yulin looked at the map and said slowly: "We should cooperate with our army Lu Yong to capture the camp on the opposite side and unblock the iron chain blockade of Zhangshui in the west.

Then when the enemy navy intends to bypass the Bajing Platform to support Zhangshui on the other side, we intercept the attack in the middle to stop the Guangdong thief navy from rebelling around the city to reinforce Zhangshui.

After Taqibu's brother Lu Yong crossed the narrower Zhangshui, he advanced to Ganzhou's southern city on land. This can not only support our navy on the shore, but also blockade the land and water routes of Ganzhou City."

A few days later, the Hunan Army commander Taqibu, commander of the flag-man of the Xiang Army, led 3,000 Xiang Yong to advance to Li Wenmao's west bank camp. The latter had been added to 3,000 by Zhu Qingzheng, and Li Wenmao set up two camps. The deep trenches were dug in front and were nearly two miles long. The river water was digging and the deep trenches were filled with bamboo sticks and wooden piles outside. The trenches were covered with earth and sand on fire, and the gun holes were set up in the middle, and two cannons were installed. Behind the camp were the iron chains of the river locking river. With this Zhangshui locking river chains, the Song army did not have to divide troops to defend Zhangshui and Gongshui at the two ends of the Hunan Navy.

The defense is very strict, and Zhu Qingzheng personally supervised the battle across the other side through a short floating bridge. He was worried that the Sun and Moon Army would compare with the combat effectiveness of the Hunan Army, and he almost became a firefighter in later generations.

Looking at the camp a mile away from the river in front of him, facing the rising sun and the blue-bottom cross flag of the Song Dynasty and the blue-bottom sun and moon flags rising from a distance, Zhu Qingzheng stood up solemnly and prayed silently to God.

He didn't know that in the distance, some people were extremely familiar with the two flags. He once watched the two flags stubbornly climbing from his side to the city of Guangzhou with the breath of blood and smoke, but for this person, it was a nightmare--because he was Li Mingchang, a soldier of the Hunan Army, now a soldier in the Hunan Army.

Why did he become a Hunan Army under Zeng Guofan? This starts with Zeng Guofan's training in the army.

Zeng Guofan started training military service as early as January 1853. After spending many years in the Qing Dynasty's officialdom, he knew that not only the Qing Dynasty's administration was corrupt, but the Qing Dynasty's weapons were even more backward. Given the dense terrain of water networks in Hunan and the surrounding provinces, he used the navy as his foundation, but the most important weapon of the navy was cannon.

Of course, Zeng Guofan, a Confucian elite, would not pay attention to what he said at this time. He quickly hugged the foreigners' thighs, threw the "invincible riding and shooting" that his new ancestor, the Qing Dynasty, blew aside every day, and at all costs, he even intercepted the Qing Dynasty's military expenses, went to the trading port to buy Western cannons, and armed his own navy.

This navy with sharp firepower and well-trained firepower became a nightmare for the "military navy" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

However, with Zhao Kuo's invasion of Guangdong and taking over the most important trading port: Guangzhou, eight months later, the path of the Hunan Army to purchase arms was cut off by Zhao Kuo.

No matter how shameless, greedy, or fearful foreigners, Zhao Kuo would not let artillery and ammunition be sold to the Hunan Army.

But Zhao Kuo was not the emperor either. He could only manage Guangzhou and inland river transportation, Hong Kong and Fujian, and even more so, that group of foreign ghost books that everyone would sell as long as they were given money.

Therefore, Zeng Guofan's arms purchasers sneaked into Guangdong and Hong Kong from Hunan to look for arms dealers from the great powers, ordered artillery and transported to ports such as Fujian or Ningbo to ashore, and then transferred to Hunan through mainland China such as Jiangxi.

At that time, an old friend found Li Mingchang, a decadent young man who was mingling in a restaurant in Guangzhou every day. The other party hit it off and said that he wanted to contribute his life to the Qing Dynasty.

At that time, Li Mingchang suffered multiple blows in succession: in the first wave, no foreigners interfered with the Taiping Army's siege. The Taiping Army immediately broke the city, and his green camp friendly troops were not even as good as the wooden threshold. At least the wooden threshold would not shoot his commander or run into the house;

The second wave: Zhao Kuo broke the city. The people were so ignorant and shameful that they did not fight back against this thief; a few days later, they even started stuffing eggs to the long-haired army;

In the third wave, after Zhao Kuo occupied Guangzhou, the army immediately urged to break through the entire territory of Guangdong, but even a decent Qing residents had never blocked them;

In the fourth wave, his uncle's family turned out to be a traitor. The rebels gave some benefits and immediately surrendered;

The fifth wave. The girl who was originally his house was snatched away by this bandit! That day, after hearing from his uncle, Li Mingchang was in a desperate situation, and he had just written a book after falling in love.

But this is not a bigger impact. The bigger impact is the intentional fall of flowers and the ruthless flow of water.

A month later, Wan'er was taken away and returned to the Zhou family to "visit relatives". She was originally a rebel who was guarding the rebels with live ammunition. A man, he could not see the queen, but he begged her grandmother in tears. He asked him to stay behind the screen in the inner hall of the female family, and waited to see his lover.

To his surprise, Wan'er had no intention of sadness at all, but a hatred smile that a business woman did not know the hatred of the country. She was wearing a dress and gold and silver, and was chatting and laughing while talking to Sai Jinhua and others!

Li Mingchang felt that Wan'er was "sacrificed" by Zhao Kuo's cult demon. In a moment of pain, he broke his promise, just looking and not saying anything, and rushed out of the screen to see Wan'er.

But in return, the other party was shocked and bowed his head: "Hello, Li Gongshu."

"Wan'er, how are you? I'm worried that you're going to die!" Li Mingchang reached out to pull the other person's shoulder in a forgivable mood.

But Wan'er sideways and avoids it, and then the former little maid said to him lightly: "Public Stories, don't do this. I am Your Majesty's man now."

"This is the Queen of the Song Dynasty! Come on, Li Gongshu accidentally entered." Sai Jinhua was afraid that the relatives of the benefactor's family would do something stupid to kill them all, so she quickly asked someone to set up the stunned Li Mingchang out of the inner hall.

"Women are bastards! Playing books are unrighteous! Bitch books are ruthless!" The desperate Li Mingchang thought that he lived in a devilish world, drunk in the restaurant every day, and then opened his hands to shout in front of the guests: "The world is over! The world is over!"

Finally one day, a smiling young man found him.

Li Mingchang put down his wine glass and looked at it, and couldn't help but be surprised and happy: "Wen Luan, is it you? Are you not in Hunan? Why did you come here?"

"Brother Mingchang, long time no see you." Zhao Wenluan smiled. He and the Mingchang family could be considered family friends. A few years ago, they lived in Li Mingchang's house for half a year, asking Li Mingchang's father, a well-known Confucian scholar in Guangdong and some Confucian theories.

"I have something to do and ask Brother Mingchang for help." Zhao Wenluan finally revealed his purpose a few days later.

He had joined the Hunan Army of Lord Zeng Guofan. Now Zeng Guofan urgently needed Western artillery, but Zhao Kuo was shameless and rebellious. This traitor also bought Western artillery on a large scale, resulting in insufficient artillery in the Hong Kong arms market and soaring prices. Except for the new emperor, ordinary Western merchants had no goods to supply other buyers. He wanted to ask local Li Mingchang to contact Western merchants to buy foreign cannons to defeat foreign traitors.

Heard that he was buying cannons for the Hunan scholar Zeng Guofan, Li Mingchang immediately patted his chest and asked for help.

He went to beg his uncle, who was already a well-known leader among Zhao Kuo's traitor businessmen, and had a good relationship with the British merchants of the Ocean cloth merchants. He had connections in the business world.

He soon found the buyer of Western artillery, and Li Mingchang personally ran to Hong Kong to pick up the goods. Then, he escorted the artillery into the Fujian port by sea at the double risk of being discovered by the Song Dynasty thief team and pirates.

In Fuzhou, Li Mingchang said to Zhao Wenluan, who was extremely grateful, "Brother, I want to join your Hunan Army and fight against the thieves!"

As he said that, he took out a notice in his arms and said, "This is Lord Zeng's "Anti-Chapter to Counterfeit Guangdong" (Note: The Guangdong thief here refers to Hong Xiuquan). I saw it here after I got ashore yesterday. I realized that Zeng Guofan is the savior of the people. He said that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom poisoned creatures, and the people, no matter the rich or poor, were plundered. No grass left! I empathized with this! My whole family was killed by the Guangdong thief! He also said that foreign religions harmed people, and saints swept the floor, which is the right thing to do!"

On February 25, 1854, Zeng Guofan led 15,000 people from the Land and Hunan Army. He set out from Hengyang and met in Xiangtan, advancing to Changsha with water and land, and issued the "Anti-Chapter of the Guangdong Bandits".

The Confucian elite, the pillar of the Qing Dynasty, said: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom poisons creatures, and the people, regardless of wealth, plunder all the people, without leaving any grass.

His main mobilization target was the elite class of the Qing civilization that Zhao Kuo had tried his best to deal with - the Han nationality's knowledge. Therefore, Zeng Guofan solemnly declared as a Confucian Taoist defender, and was famous for his teachings.

"I can write to my father. The superiors and inferiors are as high as the crown and the shoes cannot be reversed."

"Scholars cannot recite the scriptures of Confucius, but they have the so-called sayings of Jesus, the book "New Testament". It cited thousands of years of Chinese etiquette, morality, human ethics, poetry and books, and once the rules were swept away, isn't this the only change in my Qing Dynasty? (You Qing Mother!)"

"This is the strange change of famous religion since its inception! The reason why I, Kong Shu and Meng Shu cried bitterly in Jiuyuan, can anyone who read and read can sit down and not think about what to do?!"

Zeng Guofan called on the Qing Dynasty to "hold the Tao and sprinkle books" to "defend my Tao".

From Li Mingchang's origin: the surviving letter of the whole family of the gentry who was killed by the long-haired slaughtered;

Taking Li Mingchang's class: the social elites in the land of reading the books of Confucius and Mencius;

With Li Mingchang's contribution: to buy cannons with money and giveaway cannons.

With Li Mingchang's personal relationship: his family-family friends.

Zhao Wenluan would not reject this person, and immediately Zhao Wenluan grabbed Li Mingchang's hand and said happily: "With brothers help, we have another power to save the world and the people!"

But when Li Mingchang followed several cannons to Hunan, some problems arose in his position.

Because there are so many lands that Zhao Kuo targeted him, he was famous to organize militia and become the leader of militia. Li Mingchang's father was also a well-known Confucian figure. Zeng Guofan originally wanted to keep this young man in his aide group as a civilian staff member, but Li Mingchang insisted on going to fight to kill the enemy, and he was a feud with Changmao's killing his father and destroying the family.

However, the Hunan Army recruited soldiers with the same nature as pyramid schemes. The leaders of each level looked for their subordinates, and then their subordinates looked for their subordinates. They went down layer by layer and pulled up a huge network of relationships like Zeng Guofan's spider in the middle, not directly leading them to the officials and soldiers like the Green Camp.

According to the contribution of this cannon purchase, Li Mingchang could give it to the official, but where can he find his own men in the enemy-occupied area of ​​Guangdong, a person with a family that was destroyed?

"It's okay to start with a soldier. As long as you can get a hair with your hands!" Li Mingchang said loudly.

Soon, he was sent to Zhao Wenluan, who brought him, and became a Lu Yong. Zhao Wenluan personally wrote a letter of guarantee for this friend of the world (to ensure that this person is loyal, reliable, innocent and honest in the background, and the rules of joining the Hunan Army). After Li Mingchang signed the letter, Zhao Wenluan patted his brother's shoulder and said, "Sorry, I am a captain now. Our Hunan Army has 10 people in the team, 8 teams are sentries, and 4 people are sentries."

Then Zhao Wenluan laughed again: "Brother, don't be afraid, you are my own person now! Our Hunan Army scholars are prone to becoming officials, and 60% of our officers at all levels are scholars. As long as you fight hard, you can follow me all the way up."

"Yes! Captain!" Li Mingchang immediately bowed and obeyed the order. It had been a few days since he came. He knew that the new army was in high morale and had strict internal military disciplines. He quickly saluted the leader of his land like others.
To be continued...