Zhou Shixiang did not return to Nandu, but recovered from his injuries in Zhenjiang. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, he had to hold on to the horse, which aggravated his leg injury and some of his leg bones were displaced. Therefore, after crossing the river, under the dissuasion of the doctors, Zhou Shixiang had to rest in Zhenjiang temporarily to avoid the turbulence of his right leg being disabled for life. He did not live in Zhenjiang City, but chose to recuperate in Ganlu Temple on the Gushan Mountain in the north of Zhenjiang.

Before leaving Yangzhou, Zhou Shixiang issued an order to appoint Ge Yi as the Jianghuai Strategic Envoy, and at the same time formed the Jiangbei Army.

The Jiangbei Army was another fixed corps organization of the Taiping Army after the attack on the Annan Expeditionary Force. The corps was under the jurisdiction of three infantry towns and one cavalry town. The infantry town established a new artillery battalion in the original third brigade organization, with 10,020 soldiers in each town. The three towns were reorganized and expanded from the original first town, the third town, the C Brigade, and the 13th town. Among them, 3,500 officers and soldiers were old soldiers in the first town, and more than 6,000 surrendered soldiers were added; more than 900 officers and soldiers in the third town, and more than 1,000 officers and soldiers were transferred from the second town, and more than 6,000 new surrendered soldiers were added; more than 4,000 surrendered soldiers were added in the third town. The three towns had a total of 17,000 surrendered soldiers.

The replenishment of troops was the Qing army that was captured and surrendered in previous battles since crossing the river, mainly the Green Camp and the Han army. Regarding the handling of the surrendered army, Zhou Shi relied on the previous requirements and ordered the general not to lead the troops and the soldiers did not return to the general. That is, the original Qing army officers (the general and above) were taken to Nanjing and Zhenjiang, and they could not directly lead their troops to serve in the Taiping Army. The soldiers were scattered into each town, and the towns were first organized to carry out ideological transformation and conduct fifteen days of camp training, and then the towns were distributed to the guards and teams.

The senior and senior generals of the Qing army who were taken to Nanjing and Zhenjiang entered the military transformation class to study and use it carefully according to their ability and performance. For the Qing generals (more than 1,000 generals) who had committed the crime of massacre of the city, and were not forced to surrender anyway, Zhou Shixiang's opinions on the following are to be clear about the canon and not to be tolerated. For the Qing generals who took the initiative, Zhou Shixiang's opinions were to give those who were willing to take off their armor and give them financial subsidies and allow them to return home. Those who were still willing to serve in the army would be demoted according to the original official. The demotion standard was determined by the amount of the merits he had made.

For example, because of his merits, the general of Huai'an, Lu Rulong, has made great contributions, has now arranged to be the third town of Jiangbei Army, Wuerte, Gongjianse, Yue Deji and other two white flag generals were given official positions below the general of the North (responsible leaders). After the army headed north to recover these places in the future, they would be given real leadership. Because of the situation, anyway, if the achievements were not made in the future, such as a general of the Han army green camp in Yangzhou, they would be used carefully.

The first town that was supplemented was renamed the First Town of Jiangbei Army, and its garrison was Yangzhou. The town general was replaced by Qi Hao, the former 15th Town general; the third town was renamed the Second Town of Jiangbei Army, and the town general was promoted by Zhu Qinglai, the former deputy general of the First Town; the 13th Town was originally composed of wolves recruited from Guangxi, and is now renamed the Third Town of Jiangbei Army. The town general Shang Keyuan was an old general under the southern vassal state of Qingping. The Cavalry Town was composed of two white flags, including the captured and surrendered Mongolian army. The Taiping Army's old cavalry was composed of hundreds of old cavalrymen, totaling more than 4,000 people. It was called the Second Town of Cavalry, and the town general was replaced by Shao Chengguo of the New Three Towns.

After the Jiangbei Army was formed and supplemented, they immediately marched towards Gaoyou to the north, Baoying marched straight into Huai'an Prefecture, and then stationed troops in Xuzhou. If possible, the Jiangbei Army would seize Xuzhou, a thoroughfare of the five provinces, and at the same time use troops to the left of Jiangnan (Anhui) to establish a stable defense line and advance fulcrum in Huaiyang. This means that defending the river must defend Huai.

After the surrendered troops were added to each town, a new hierarchy was established. That is, based on the time of surrender, each batch of surrendered troops was rated, and then combined with the performance of the battlefield, the military achievements were promoted and promoted. For towns that supplemented the surrendered troops, in addition to the part of the Anjun Envoy, the principle of "subvert first and then surrender" was generally followed. Through this method of "subvert first and then surrender", a hierarchy was formed between the surrendered troops, thereby weakening the possible group resistance of surrendered troops, and facilitating the management training of surrendered troops.

Some people jokingly say that this method is very similar to the Eight Banners system of the Manzhou people, except that Manzhou suppressed Mongolia, and Mongolia suppressed Han army into Taiping Army officers and soldiers first surrendered troops, first surrendered troops and then surrendered troops. In essence, the same name is different, and the soup is changed but the medicine is rough but the effect is good.

Facts have proved that once a large number of Qing army surrendered soldiers who were captured and surrendered in the early days gained the power of the Taiping Army to give them the rule, they immediately became extremely loyal to the Taiping Army. They were willing to "display" their existence in front of those prisoners who had just been taken into the camp. For the "later surrendered soldiers" who violated the Taiping Army's regulations, these "later surrendered soldiers" would be eager to attack them in groups. Once the "later surrendered soldiers" showed some hostility towards the Taiping Army or the "later surrendered soldiers", they often did not need officers and the An army envoys to come forward, and these "later surrendered soldiers" would be taught by the "later surrendered soldiers". At the least, they would be corporal punishment, and at the worst they would be beaten to death.

Because the system of the An Army envoy was only invented, not mature, and lacked enough talent to serve as a member, Zhou Shixiang did not have enough time to improve this matter, so the Taiping Army was actually moving towards the side he did not want to see, that is, militarization, rather than the integration of officers and soldiers he had imagined early in the morning. The most serious consequence of militarization was that there were a large number of lynchings in the army, which in the words of later generations was extremely unauthorized. This focus was reflected in the newly added surrendered soldiers. Under the layers of rule between officers and first surrendered soldiers, the situation of these surrendered soldiers was not much different from when they were the Qing army in the past.

Because of continuous fighting and continuous casualties, two-thirds of the An Army envoy who came out of the An Army envoy training class held by Zhou Shixiang in Guangdong in the early days were killed. Many of the An Army envoys are now promoted by officers. In addition to knowing that there is an An Army manual, they know nothing about what An Army envoy is and what the An Army envoy is. Every time they fight, most of these An Army envoys draw their swords and shout for charges as before, and they don’t know what they are going to do. What makes Zhou Shixiang even more troublesome is that these new An Army envoys are almost 100% illiterate, so it is simply delusional to expect these An Army envoys who are illiterate in large characters to transform the Taiping Army into a "one-man-soldier" people's army.
Chapter completed!