Dong Shuheng's trip north this time was not just for Tianjin. After arriving in Shandong by boat, he secretly went to the headquarters of the Third Division.
I haven't seen Cai Shusen for a long time. This guy looks a little more mature and has a little beard on his chin.
"Mr. Cai, how are you? Are you getting used to staying in Shandong?"
After meeting Dong Shuheng, Cai Shusen was very excited. After following Dong Shuheng for so long, Cai Shusen admired him from the bottom of his heart.
He watched Dong Shuheng miraculously rise the Huai Navy, turning a poor boy like himself into a general in command of an army in just one year.
Cai Shusen thinks that he is not a genius, he just remembers every word the president said.
Just walking along the road pointed by the president, after arriving in Shandong, I also came into contact with many new people, and some local officials in Shandong wanted to win over me.
However, Cai Shusen looked at them like clowns. Seeing these people's artificial performances in front of him, sometimes he wanted to laugh.
However, he still remembered the president's words and responded to them with silence. After a long time, no one wanted to contact him again.
But with the great reputation that the Shandong New Army has gained in Shandong, no local official dares to disrespect him.
As long as the new army went to recruit troops or ask for supplies, local officials would do anything they could.
Because local banditry has to be settled by the New Army. Since the founding of Shandong, as long as the New Army takes action, there has been no banditry.
And another advantage of the New Army is that they never plunder places. The price they pay to the bandits is clearly marked. If you don't have money, you can use mines or land as payment. Anyway, the New Army can sell it if they change hands.
"President, I still think it's better to stay with you. At least I can learn a lot of things. After being here for so long, I feel like I'm going to regress."
"Hehe... Shusen, when did you learn to flatter me? You have to remember that practice is our best teacher. I can only talk on paper. I have basically told you everything in my mind.
You now have many practical opportunities in Shandong, and you should try your best to sum up experience through each battle." Dong Shuheng said with a smile.
He regarded his security company as his direct disciples, and his favorite among these students was Cai Shusen, who was also the highest-ranked among them.
Cai Shusen is steady, eager to learn, neither arrogant nor impatient. The most valuable thing is that he can always understand what he means.
"Yes, President, do you have any mission in Shandong this time? I heard that there is a lot of trouble in Zhili. Do we need our third division to take action?" Cai Shusen asked.
"The identity of your third division must still be kept secret. Even if the court has doubts about Guizhong Bank, you must not touch it lightly." Dong Shuheng ordered.
The Third Division is the nail planted by the Huai Navy in the north. This time, Dong Shuheng went north to ask the Qing government to recognize the existence of the Huai Navy in the Liangjiang area. Accordingly, the Huai Navy must take on the task of fighting the Taiping Army, and at the same time
We can't expand further to the north, otherwise Xianfeng will probably have a life-and-death situation.
In addition, Dong Shuheng plans to establish a commercial zone at the Tianjin port to facilitate Huai Haijun's dumping of goods to the northern region. Huai Haijun must be able to manage this commercial zone by himself and maintain safety. This is also the lesson Dong Shuheng has learned from the Beijing incident.
"This time when I go to the north, I may ask the imperial court for a military port in Shandong. Weihaiwei is a good place. Remember to clean up the surrounding area when you go to Jiaodong to hand over bandits this time." Dong Shuheng ordered.
He has always wanted to help the Nanyang Navy find a port in the north. The port conditions in Jiangsu are not very good. There is no large bay, and the existing ports are not suitable as military ports.
Moreover, the Nanyang Navy is just a seed, and it will definitely be divided into several branches in the future, and they cannot always stay together.
This time the Nanyang Navy arrived in Tianjin, and it happened that in the name of the navy, he proposed to the court to request several ports. The one he chose in the north was Weihai.
Weihai's location is just guarding the entrance to the Bohai Bay, and is very close to both the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula.
In the south, he plans to choose Zhoushan, Keelung in Taiwan, and Hainan Island. Of course, this is just his wishful choice. The Qing government may not agree or agree to all of them due to its own considerations.
How much Huai Haijun can get this time depends on the effectiveness of this armed parade.
After leaving Shandong, Dong Shuheng came to the second stop of his trip - Tianjin. Instead of entering the city, he turned directly from the canal to Haihe River, where he met the warships of the Nanyang Navy.
"President, you are taking too many risks. You should stay in Yangzhou and take charge. I am here, are you worried about anything going wrong?" Liu Dahai criticized. After all, he is an old man of the Dong family and can be considered half an elder. He advised
It doesn’t matter if you give Dong Shuheng a few words of advice.
"Uncle Liu, you see, after buying this warship, I haven't even sat on it much. Why don't you come here to enjoy it? Besides, I'm going to build a few nests for your navy this time!" Dong Shuheng joked like a junior.
road.
"nest?"
"Yeah, don't you think our navy is still short of a few bases? What do you think? Do you want to build a few military ports so that you can live there if you have nothing to do?"
"Is this feasible? It's not difficult for the Qing government to agree to it!" Liu Dahai still didn't believe it. The Qing government was not a fool and would casually give the military port to the Nanyang Navy and let the Huai Navy continue to grow.
"So, let's hold an armed demonstration for them this time. The British just swam around the Nanjing River and then demarcated an island and opened five ports. We all moved to Beijing City.
It’s not too much to stop the ship at a few ports, right?”
Dong Shuheng now has the mentality of a monk who can touch me. And he has already made up his mind. From now on, the Qing court will only allow himself to be bullied. Foreigners, if you want to bully the Qing court, you must get the consent of Huai Haijun. What's mine is mine.
What belongs to the Qing court is also mine.
"President, which military ports are you going to ask for? Let me, Old Liu, think about it first."
"Why, we have been thinking about looking at a new house so early. All we want is land. By then we will have to build the infrastructure ourselves. It won't be available for a while."
"Of course I have to build it myself. I don't like the one built by the Qing government."
He said that the fleet was already approaching Tianjin City.
Tianjin was an important port of the Qing Dynasty in the north. It was the gateway connecting the capital to the sea. It was surrounded by Youyan in the north, the sea in the east, and the Haihe River running around the city.
Dong Shuheng looked at the Tianjin City in the distance and fell into deep thought. The real failure of the Taiping Rebellion's Northern Expedition began here.
Moreover, there is another person in Tianjin City who needs to be conquered by himself. If he cannot be conquered, it is best to get rid of him. Who makes Dong Shuheng so afraid? This starts with the Taiping Army that resisted Lin Fengxiang in Tianjin City.
On September 20, the third year of Xianfeng, Lin Fengxiang led the Northern Expedition Taiping Army to take advantage of the opportunity from Shenzhou and head east, intending to pass through Cangzhou and Jinghai and march directly to Beijing from the east.
The Qing court was shocked and people were panicked. Emperor Xianfeng had already prepared his chariot and ordered people to pack up the Chengde Summer Resort.
In order to slow down the Taiping Army's offensive, someone took advantage of a violent storm more than a month ago to break open the Jieyuan River embankment in the northwest of Tianjin City, leaving Tianjin, Jinghai, Cangzhou, Renqiu, Dacheng and other areas covered with vast oceans and continuous floods.
Still haven't retired for more than a month.
The Taiping Army started from Cangzhou and marched through the water to Jinghai. On a morning soaked in autumn mist, the main force of the Taiping Army's vanguard lost its way in the water and drifted to Yangliuqing near Tianjin, where the water was the deepest. The people there
Singing a song:
Kill Tianjin Guards so that the imperial court can give way;
When they reached Yangliuqing, the emperor fainted.
The sudden arrival of the Taiping Army made Xie Zicheng, the magistrate of Tianjin, extremely anxious. But he did not flinch or panic. While the Taiping Army was still in the Cangzhou area, Tianjin had already begun to take some precautions.
Changlu Salt Transport Envoy Yang Pei donated 500 cheaply made foreign guns, recruited strong men, and drilled day and night, known as the Lu Tuan. Also, the Qing court ordered Liang Baochang, the former governor of Zhejiang, to coordinate with the local officials of Tianjin to organize regiment training. However, regiment training is not just one or two.
It's something that can be done in a few months, so it's just on paper.
In addition to officials like Xie Zicheng, those who are anxious are also Tianjin's wealthy gentry and merchants. If the Taiping Army breaks the city, these wealthy people will definitely "restore factory mode", and some may even lose their lives.
Tianjin was originally an auxiliary to the capital, and many wealthy people from the north gathered together. At this critical moment, in order to protect their interests, they spontaneously formed a group and spent money to establish the 28th Bureau of the Volunteers. Each bureau recruited fifty or sixty able-bodied people.
train.
Among these rich people, there was a man named Zhang Jinwen, who was a big salt merchant. He first called on the rich to donate a sum of money to fund the team training, and also presented the imperial policy to Wen Qian, the salt administrator.
Wen Qian simply asked him to recruit strong men. With strong financial resources, Zhang Jin quickly recruited 3,000 strong men and began training, known as Pu Yong.
At this point, Tianjin's defense force only consisted of a few thousand soldiers from the Yimin Bureau and thousands more from Lu Tuan's Gapu Yong. Moreover, they were not regular troops. All the town-association troops originally stationed in Tianjin were recruited from other places.
Seeing the Taiping Army getting closer, late one night, Zhang Jinwen took the initiative to visit Xie Zicheng, the magistrate, and asked about the progress of Xie Zicheng's defense against the enemy.
He raised the courage to buy cannons and encouraged Xie Zicheng, saying that he would persuade the gentry and merchants in the city to donate money to ensure the expenses of defending the city.
With this backing, Xie Zicheng spent a lot of money to recruit people to strengthen the city's defenses the next day.
More than 10,000 people were recruited to dig a long hole in the small straight mouth. They wrapped the earth with mats like salt and folded them into a fort. Six cannon trays were placed on the platform.
A few days later, Zhang Jinwen once again gave Xie Zicheng a plan. In order to make up for the lack of troops, he said that he could release the prisoners from the prison and ask them to kill the enemy to atone for their sins. Xie Zicheng immediately did so.
Among the prisoners was a Hui named Liu Jide. He was once a small bandit leader. After he was released from prison, he cheered up and gathered more than a thousand Hui people. Xie Zicheng was overjoyed and organized them into a team, but there was a problem:
There was no money to pay. When Zhang Jinwen found out, he immediately raised 20,000 taels of silver and gave it to Xie Zicheng.
Under the leadership of Zhang Jinwen, Xie Zicheng and others, Tianjin's defense force was greatly strengthened, but it was not enough. They also mobilized the people of the city to reward heavily those who provided Taiping Army intelligence and suggestions.
Sure enough, a villager named Jia Qingtang gave Xie Zicheng advice, saying that the Taiping Army would definitely sneak across the shallow water, and this had to be guarded against. Most of the people in their village were "Yifu hunters", that is, Yanhu (people who hunt geese with guns)
), these people are good at using volleys of guns, "putting them on a small boat, covering it with mats, pushing it into the water, and hitting the target with every shot." If they were recruited with dozens of times the reward to kill the thieves, the Taiping Army would not be able to pass.
The gentry and merchants present, as well as officials such as Xie Zicheng, all thought this was a good strategy and immediately recruited more than 500 Yanhu people, with Jia Qingtang as their guide, and then ambush southeast of Shouzhikou.
The wisdom of the masses is indeed infinite, but it is a pity that it helped the Qing army. Jia Qingtang's vicious plan caused the Taiping Army to lose two to three hundred people.