Chapter 132: The Northern Expedition Army Counterattacking
When the messenger from Beijing told Lin Fengxiang that a batch of supplies would be shipped along the canal, both Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang were dubious.
It wasn't until a man who claimed to be the director of the canal shipping company found Lin Fengxiang and discussed with Lin Fengxiang how to "hand over" this batch of materials that Lin Fengxiang believed that this matter seemed to be true.
The canal shipping company will transport the goods to a deserted beach on the canal south of Tianjin. It is only 40 to 50 kilometers away from Lin Fengxiang and his current station.
There are not very many Qing troops in this direction, because the main forces of Shengbao and Senggelinqin are placed in the north.
However, the transfer method was very special. The other party asked the Taiping Army to go there and "rob" the fleet.
Lin Fengxiang was dumbfounded by this bizarre handover method.
But think about it, the Huaihai Navy is still nominally an army of the imperial court, and it still has a hostile relationship with the Taiping Army. They must have their own concerns.
Lin Fengxiang guessed that the Huai Navy was not so kind to support his lone army. After all, the Huai Navy was still at war with the Taiping Army. Tianjing must have given up a lot of benefits in exchange for this support.
Therefore, Lin Fengxiang attached great importance to receiving the supplies this time. In order to ensure nothing went wrong, Lin Fengxiang asked Ji Wenyuan to lead five thousand elites to carry out this mission.
He estimated that this was the last and only material assistance Tianjing City gave him.
Ji Wenyuan led the troops to fight very steadily. One night, he raided the encirclement and suppression troops of Shengbao in the southwest. They marched all the way to the canal.
Sure enough, we saw dozens of huge sand boats on the edge of the canal. They saw that the Taiping Army was coming. All the boatmen on the boats fled to the steamboat, and the driver of the steamboat fled.
Only these sand boats were left dangling on the bank of the canal, like a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Ji Wenyuan carefully sent scouts aboard the ship to check it out. He did not dare to directly attack with all his troops. After all, they had no relationship with the Huai Navy. Who knew whether the other party would cheat?
After a while, the scout ran back panting and excited.
"Report to the general, the ship is full of cotton-padded clothes and food. My dear, it's all white rice. We no longer have to eat cornbread every day, and we can finally eat white rice." These veterans were brought out from Guangxi by Hong Xiuquan.
Yes, they are all from the south and are not used to northern pasta.
As they went all the way north, the supplies they brought with them had long been used up. They relied on fighting to support fighting to maintain the operation of the army. Naturally, the staple foods they captured in the north were wheat and millet.
This makes many Taiping Army veterans very uncomfortable with eating. Don't underestimate the importance of food taste. On the battlefield, delicious food also has a great impact on the morale of the troops.
"Let the brothers hurry up and carry it without leaving anything behind!" Ji Wenyuan ordered happily.
Without his encouragement, the Taiping soldiers' morale had already been boosted when they saw so many supplies, and they used all their strength to move the supplies down the ship.
When they came out, they brought a large number of carts and pack horses, which came in handy at this time.
Ji Wenyuan knew that Shengbao would react soon, and he must seize the time to carry the supplies back. If he was surrounded by Shengbao's cavalry, not to mention the supplies, even his 5,000 soldiers and horses might be abandoned.
here.
Shengbao originally thought that this breakout Taiping army was preparing to cross the river. He placed all his soldiers on the west side of the canal and prepared to attack the Taiping army halfway across the river.
But after waiting and waiting, Ji Wenyuan's troops did not arrive. When he sent someone to check after dawn, only empty sand boats were still floating on the canal.
Only then did Shengbao realize what was going on, and he immediately became furious.
"This is aiding the enemy and a naked bandit!" Shengbao roared in his camp.
How much supplies must be loaded into these dozens of huge sand ships! I was fighting life and death here, and finally forced the bandits heading north into a dilemma of shortage of supplies.
However, Huaihai Company was not robbed earlier or later, but it was robbed at this time, and being robbed this time was enough for the bandit to regain his strength.
This is simply cheating!
He could not take any action against Huai Haijun without authorization. He could only report the matter to the imperial court with added fuel and jealousy, and the emperor would make a decision on the matter.
…
Lin Fengxiang's eyes widened when he looked at these supplies. These were all the warm clothes, food and other supplies they urgently needed.
Li Kaifang took a few jars and sneaked towards the backyard, but Lin Fengxiang stopped him.
"Old Li, stop hiding it. I've seen it. That's alcohol to treat the soldiers' injuries. What did you do with so much?"
"Oh, I, Li Kaifang, have never been at the front in any battle. I will inevitably get injured. Keep some extra spares, haha, spare ones." Li Kaifang said with a smile.
"Don't think that I don't know what you are thinking. There are still several jars of old wine in the warehouse. These alcohols are given to the doctor to save the lives of the holy soldiers." Lin Fengxiang said seriously.
Li Kaifang was usually very carefree and dissatisfied with everyone, but he was the only one who could listen to Lin Fengxiang's words.
"Oh, scholar, you don't know that our old wine tastes like horse urine. Just a small sip of this stuff will make your stomach feel like it's on fire and your whole body will feel warm." Li Kaifang pointed to the jar in her hand and said.
"Forget it, you can only take one jar. Don't let me find you stealing medicinal wine again, otherwise I will ask for military justice."
"Okay, just one altar, you sour scholar!"
Li Kaifang hugged his jar of medicinal wine and left. He decided to go back and take a few sips first. He touched the two cans of fish in his arms, just in time to drink with them, and felt very happy. There are so many good things in Huaihai Navy.
Woolen cloth!
After Li Kaifang left, Ji Wenyuan came to Li Fengxiang's camp again.
"Prime Minister Lin, the supplies have been taken care of. This time we are prosperous and the soldiers will no longer have to go hungry and freeze." Ji Wenyuan reported after coming in.
"Wen Yuan, you go down and distribute everything that needs to be distributed. Let the brothers rest for a few days and regain their energy. This is not a place for us to stay for a long time." Lin Fengxiang explained.
"Does the Prime Minister want to break out of the encirclement?" Ji Wenyuan asked.
"This is not called a breakout. We continue to attack Beijing. Didn't you listen to the envoy from the Huaihai Company? The whole of Zhili is now short of food, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have gathered outside Beijing. This is a powerful force.
ah!"
Lin Fengxiang stood up and looked to the north with a deep gaze. It had been so long, and he couldn't even touch the edge of the capital, so he just withdrew, and he was unwilling to do so.
"At this time, if we can go outside Beijing to gather the refugees, and then cooperate with the hungry people inside Beijing, we might really be able to capture Beijing."
"Prime Minister, whatever you say, I, Lao Ji, will be the first to support you." Ji Wenyuan expressed his stance.
Lin Fengxiang has a very high prestige among the Taiping Army in the Northern Expedition. The backbone of this team are all his old subordinates, and everyone follows his lead.
When Yang Xiuqing sent Lin Fengxiang out, he not only wanted to weaken Hong Xiuquan's power, but also because he was afraid of Lin Fengxiang.
As Li Kaifang said, if Lin Fengxiang had stayed in Tianjing, he would have been crowned king by now.
However, Lin Fengxiang himself does not care about this. He has always had great righteousness in his heart.
He still remembered the oath they swore during the Jintian Uprising.
After the supplies were replenished, the morale of the Taiping Army really improved a lot. The previous sense of abandonment and loss was gone.
The materials provided by Huai Haijun were of high quality, and the cotton coats could cover the legs and wrists, although it was not guaranteed that everyone would have one.
But those soldiers on the front line can be equipped, at least the soldiers on sentry no longer have to huddle in the corner and tremble.
Besides, there is still a lot of cotton in the supplies, so they can make cotton clothes themselves.
While Lin Fengxiang was waiting, the Taihang column broke through Baoding, creating an opportunity for them. Seng Gelinqin led 15,000 Qing troops to regain Baoding, which made the Taiping Army's northern defense line much weaker.
It was difficult for Shengbao to support the army alone, and he felt that the Taiping Army was now more likely to break through to the south and return to Tianjing. Therefore, more troops were placed on the east and west sides to facilitate support from the north and south.
The Taiping Army has always been at a disadvantage in the game with them. If they advance northward, the Taiping Army will have less room for maneuver, and then it will really be all-or-nothing.
However, Shengbao still underestimated Lin Fengxiang's determination. Lin Fengxiang himself carried out the Northern Expedition with the determination to perish together.
On the fourth day of the first lunar month, the Taiping Army arranged a sumptuous dinner.
In the early morning, under the moonlight, five thousand elite troops cleared the way in front. The Taiping army attacked north with all its strength.
Lin Fengxiang originally planned to raid the Qing army's positions, but Shengbao's troops were very strict, and the Qing troops below did not dare to neglect their duties at will.
Lin Fengxiang saw that the sneak attack failed, so he concentrated his troops and launched a fierce attack on one point.
The Taiping Army's desperate tactics finally shook the Qing army's psychological defense.
In the end, after both sides suffered huge casualties, the Qing army could no longer hold on.
After all, the Qing army's defense line was so long and its forces were too scattered, while the Taiping army concentrated its forces to attack one point.
Therefore, the Taiping Army has an absolute advantage in local military strength.
After the gap was opened, the Taiping Army surged toward the north like a flood that broke a dike.
Lin Fengxiang didn't even have time to capture the Qing army's defeated troops.
He knew that Shengbao would soon mobilize troops from other places to try to surround him again.
If it were a wild battle, he might not be Shengbao's opponent yet.
Therefore, Lin Fengxiang must go north as soon as possible to find a place to stay.
He was not planning to go to Tianjin. Last time, he had a bad experience at the gate of Tianjin.
The Taiping Army's nearly 40,000 troops headed north from the west of Tianjin and headed straight for Langfang.
This time the Taiping Army no longer left any room for siege. Instead, the entire army pressed forward and crushed the opponent completely with strength.
The small Langfang City did not last long before it was captured by the Taiping Army.
Shengbao behind was also anxious. After passing Langfang, the city of Beijing was right in front. This time he let the Taiping Army escape and he already had to bear a heavy responsibility. If he let the Taiping Army attack Beijing again,
Then your life may be ruined.
Shengbao completely left the infantry behind and only led the cavalry at a gallop, hoping to intercept the Taiping troops before they approached Beijing.