Shi Dakai didn't panic. After entering Guangxi, he felt confident for some reason.
Now that the number of soldiers under his command has increased, Shi Dakai promoted some more people from among his old brothers.
One of the most outstanding performers is the young general Chen Yucheng. This young general is less than twenty years old, but he joined the Boy Scouts at the age of fourteen. At such a young age, he is already considered an "old brother" in the Taiping Army.
His original name was Chen Picheng, and he was already a brigade commander before he moved to Guangxi with Shi Dakai. His combat command was quite organized, and he was deeply loved by Shi Dakai, so he was named a checkpoint officer and given the name Yucheng.
Of the five kings when the Taiping Army was founded, now only Wing King Shi Dakai is left. According to them, only one of the sons of Heavenly Father is left in the world.
Someone asked Shi Dakai to succeed him as the King of Heaven, but Shi Dakai said that the position of King of Heaven was assigned to his second brother by his Heavenly Father.
His subordinates still advised him that it was not appropriate to call him King of Wings when the other kings were not around, and he was not suitable to command the entire army.
Since he is not called "Heavenly King", he should change his name to "Taiping Holy King". Only then did Shi Dakai agree, so Shi Dakai changed his name to "Taiping Holy King" in Guilin.
He vowed in front of the three armies to lead them to open up a new holy land of heaven.
"Long live the Holy King!" Listening to the roar of the soldiers below, Shi Dakai once again felt high-spirited.
This feeling was similar to when he left Taiping Village. It was just that this time he was the only king, and the four brothers around him were no longer there.
Before Shi Dakai attacked Lao Chongguang, he left Chen Yucheng to garrison Huangsha Pass to guard against the Hunan Army's attack from the direction of Hunan.
Facing the oncoming Hunan Army, Chen Yucheng responded calmly and used Guancheng to hold off the enemy.
The Hunan Army used a trick to lure the enemy. Although Chen Yucheng was young, he was able to withstand the temptation and still could not hold on.
Most of the men Shi Dakai assigned to Chen Yucheng were newcomers, and their combat capabilities were far behind those of the veterans of the Taiping Army.
However, Chen Yucheng felt that the veterans were also newcomers who came out of Guangxi and were both from Guangdong and Guangxi. As long as these people have experienced the baptism of several wars, they can also become elites in all battles.
Although Chen Yucheng guarded Huangsha Pass, it was just a road passage.
The navy of the Hunan Army, led by General Yang Yuebin, sailed upstream along the Xiangjiang River.
Shi Dakai did not have a navy in his hands for the time being. In order to prevent the Hunan army from stealing his retreat, Chen Yucheng had no choice but to retreat to Quanzhou.
Quanzhou guards the intersection of Xiangjiang River, Guanjiang River and Luoshui River, and its location is very important.
Chen Yucheng knew that he could no longer retreat, so he ordered people to load huge rocks into the wooden boats, stop them in the river, and then scuttle the boats to block the river channel.
Quanzhou City was built along the river, and Chen Yucheng had all the artillery in the city moved to the city wall on one side of the river.
Considering the distance between the Quanzhou City Wall and the river, the range of these artillery cannons is just enough to block the river.
When Yang Yuebin led the Hunan Navy to Quanzhou, they were immediately blocked by a sunken ship in the river.
Yang Yuebin ordered people to go into the water and move the sunken ship. At this time, the artillery on the city wall began to fire.
The Hunan Army fired artillery to counterattack, but the caliber of the artillery on the ship was not as large as that of the artillery on the city wall, and the artillery on the city wall was located high up, so the Hunan Army was at a disadvantage.
After losing more than a dozen warships, Yang Yuebin had no choice but to retreat to the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River. The Hunan Army's land division landed in the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River.
They went to Jeonju from land to launch an attack, and the two sides fought fiercely in Jeonju.
After learning the news, Shi Dakai gave up the opportunity to attack Wuzhou and led his main force back to defend Guilin.
When the Hunan Army saw that the main force of the Taiping Army returned to the defense and that its strength far exceeded its own, it voluntarily gave up the attack on Quanzhou and returned to Hunan along the waterway.
At this point, Shi Dakai established a firm foothold in Guilin. The governor of Guangxi, Lao Chongguang, retreated to Wuzhou, recruited a large number of regiments, and while making defensive preparations, he asked Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, for help.
Ye Mingchen did not expect that Guangdong and Guangxi had just suppressed the Tiandihui uprising and would usher in war again.
As a result, the Tianping Army, which had been dispersed, returned to Guangxi and was still the strongest remaining force in the Taiping Army. This did not stop anyone.
Fortunately, Ye Mingchen still has a new Guangdong army in his hands.
But now it seems that the number of this new army is still too small. To suppress the Taiping Army in Guangxi, this number of people must not have been able to do it in the past.
So Ye Mingchen called for Wu Jianzhang. It was Wu Jianzhang who had created this new army. Now he had to find a way to expand the army.
When Wu Jianzhang heard about this, he was already happy. He had been thinking about how to expand his army early in the morning!
From Dong Shuheng, he learned one thing, that is, don't panic when you have a gun in your hand.
But it turned out that he only dared to form a new army of 5,000 people.
First of all, he didn't want to be too ostentatious, so it didn't matter if someone like Dong Shuheng turned against the court.
Although Wu Jianzhang is a local leader in Guangdong, he still dare not fall out with the Qing court.
He did not have the same self-confidence as Dong Shuheng. In his mind, the Qing court was still a behemoth that he could not touch.
However, everyone is ambitious. If there is an opportunity to improve one's strength without arousing the suspicion of the court, that would be great.
This time, Thirteen Lines cannot help Ye Mingchen recruit new soldiers in vain. Their financial resources are not as strong as the Huai Navy.
Moreover, the merchants of the Thirteenth Bank also suffered great losses during last year’s trade war.
Now is the time when they are most financially stressed.
Therefore, when Ye Mingchen found Wu Jianzhang this time, Wu Jianzhang did not agree immediately, but uncharacteristically talked about the conditions with Ye Mingchen.
Wu Jianzhang did not embarrass Ye Mingchen. Wu was originally the chief envoy in charge of finance and taxation.
Wu Jianzhang only proposed to Ye Mingchen that part of the donations from Guangdong and Guangxi should be used to support the new army.
The so-called new army must at least use foreign guns, practice foreign drills, and be adequately paid. Only with these three points can the combat effectiveness of the new army be guaranteed at the very least.
Wu Jianzhang himself did not know much about military affairs. However, he had good relations with foreigners. He hired a group of French instructors to help him train the new army.
Then, he arranged for his confidants to serve as officers at all levels in the new army.
This group of French instructors not only helped him train the army, but also helped him command the army.
He knew how much his cronies were worth, so he did not leave the army completely under their command. Instead, he asked them to follow the arrangements of the French instructors during the war.
The French instructors he hired were quite reliable. The French did not deceive Wu Jianzhang and sent him real instructors.
The French have always wanted to plot against Guangzhou, and Wu Jianzhang is not only an official in Guangdong but also a local gangster and comprador. He is exactly the person they need to win over.
As a result, the two sides came together. Therefore, Wu Jianzhang's new army was really capable of fighting.
Although it is not as good as the Huai Navy or the French Army, after all, their training time is not long, and the quality of their soldiers is just that.
But if Dong Shuheng had watched Guangdong New Army, Dong Shuheng would definitely give a good evaluation.
At this time, the Guangdong New Army had surpassed Guangxi's Shi Dakai's men in terms of combat strength.
After all, they use French equipment and French drills. The starting point is the strongest army in the world, although the quality of the soldiers is poor and the training time is insufficient.
Of course Dong Shuheng knew about Wu Jianzhang's establishment of the New Army in Guangdong, and the Intelligence Department even sent people to infiltrate it.
Recruiting so many new troops at once, it is easy to break in a few people.
This time Ye Mingchen and Wu Jianzhang finally decided to establish a new army in two towns in Guangdong, totaling 10,000 people.
In addition to donations from large households in various places, Ye Mingchen also specially approved a transfer from customs duties for the required expenses.
Now Guangdong and Guangxi have replaced Liangjiang as the largest source of tax revenue for the Qing government. Dong Shuheng has not paid a penny of tax to the Qing government until now.
However, now Dong Shuheng's not openly rebelling is already the greatest benefit to the Qing government, and he cannot be expected to pay taxes.
Although Ye Mingchen was a Han Chinese, he was loyal to the Qing court. He was a relatively traditional scholar.
Although he agreed to Wu Jianzhang's request this time, he would report these matters to the court and would not hide them from the court.
Moreover, the reason why the new army was established was because the imperial court had previously ordered the governors to form new armies to surrender bandits.
Now the two most important military forces in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions have become Shi Dakai's Taiping Army and Wu Jianzhang's Guangxi New Army.
In Hunan, the Hunan Army is also gradually growing. Zeng Guoquan previously purchased a batch of equipment from the Huai Navy, which has already formed combat effectiveness. Later, he successively purchased several batches of equipment from the Huai Navy, and the Hunan Army has gradually transformed into firearms.
In Henan, Governor Yinggui was inseparable from Luo Gang, and he was not an easy leader to deal with. Yinggui's method was the human sea tactic, and Henan was in poverty.
Ying Gui didn't have much money, so he delegated power to the local landlords and gentry. He organized a large number of regiments to train armed forces.
Moreover, he gave those people official titles and made a wish: as long as you can recruit people, I will give you the title of local regiment envoy.
This made local landlords very enthusiastic about organizing team training. In addition, landlords in Henan were also frightened by various bandits.
The Taiping Army crossed the border several times, and the Nien bandits even made trouble in Henan.
After Huai Haijun wiped out more than one million people in Henan, the conflict between population and land in Henan was reduced.
The relationship between landlords and common people has also eased, which also provides convenience for landlords to organize team training.
But this also leaves many hidden dangers. If the landlords have soldiers in their hands, they will find new ways to exploit ordinary people. The contradiction between landlords and farmers in Henan will deepen in the future.
Luo Gangyang didn't know that Huang Hao dragged him into a swamp.
Further north, the most famous bandits in Henan and Shanxi are the Taihang Bandits.
Now the entire Taihang Mountains spans three provinces from north to south, and basically the mountains are under the control of the Taihang Column.
The number of people under Lu Feiyan's control also reached one million.
They reclaimed farmland in the mountains, and the Huaihai Navy used caravans to supplement their supplies from time to time, so they were able to feed so many people.
The mountains are rich in mineral resources, and the Taihang Column built steel mills in Pingding and Jingxing.
The finished products will be transported back to Xuzhou by caravans and used as raw materials in Dafeng's industrial zone. This is much more convenient than transporting ore and coal.
The Taihang Mountains also process some primary industrial products, such as iron pots, sickles and other tools, and deliver them to caravans for transport to the grasslands for trading.
In this case, it can be worth the value of the food brought by the caravan.
In general, the Taihang Column was basically self-sufficient.
Neither Shanxi nor Zhili officers and soldiers were willing to touch this nail. They had all learned painful lessons.
As long as they reach the Taihang Mountains, they cannot defeat these Taihang bandits.
Once they retreated into the mountains, the officers and soldiers did not dare to pursue them further. Those officers and soldiers who dared to pursue them into the mountains did not come out in the end.
Those people were either eliminated by the Taihang column or captured and became coolies working in the mountains.
Of course, at this time, there were not many troops in Shanxi and Zhili that could fight in the field. Most of them were green camps or regiment training.
The main field troops are now outside Shanhaiguan.
Lin Fengxiang's life is not easy now. The situation here is different from what he expected, and there are not as many people as he imagined.
On the contrary, there were enemies everywhere. The three generals' mansions in the northeast were surrounded, with thirty to forty thousand cavalry alone.
Xianfeng did not even want Heilongjiang, and the entire Heilongjiang General Mansion moved southward. Of course, there was also fear of Tsarist Russia.
But the pressure on Lin Fengxiang is real. The current situation is that the Northern Expeditionary Army is about to be surrounded on all sides.
In addition, the news that Tianjing was broken and the King of Heaven was dead also demoralized Lin Fengxiang's men.
Naturally, Lin Fengxiang would not stay and wait for death. He set his sights on North Korea in the southeast.
At that time, the Ming army in Liaodong was defeated by the Manchus and retreated to Korea. In the end, they still persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty in Pidao for many years.
Although Lin Fengxiang had never dealt with the Koreans, he knew that the combat power of this Manchu vassal state was not very good.