Chapter 483 Cut off the supply of the Taiping Army
The blood on Li Zhen's body was not caused by his own injuries, nor was it sprayed on him when he killed someone. The blood was caused by the blood of the Taiping soldiers spilled on his clothes when the soldiers around him were killing people, causing Li Zhen's death. The clothes on Zhen's body were covered with bloodstains, as if he had been killed from blood.
Li Zhen returned to the big tent and immediately heard the noise.
At this time, the big tent was overcrowded, with more than thirty representatives arriving.
When Li Zhen walked in, the gentry immediately bowed their hands and saluted. When Li Zhen saw so many people coming and screaming, he nodded slightly, walked straight to the main seat of the conference table and sat down, then looked at the more than thirty gentry standing, and said lightly He said: "There are more than 30 people in the army, and it will definitely not be able to accommodate everyone. Therefore, I suggest that everyone think about it, and then nominate a few representatives to sit down and talk with Li Zhen."
The gentry were all from the Yangzhou area, and they quickly elected twelve representatives.
Li Zhen's right and left hands each have six representatives.
After the twelve people sat down, they all looked at Li Zhen with a hint of fear.
After all, the blood all over Li Zhen's body was too bloody, especially the blood-stained clothes still smelled of blood. It gave off a disgusting smell, which made the gentry have a feeling in their bones that labeled Li Zhen as cruel. In terms of positioning, he sat half-assed on the chair, carefully, not daring to show any slightest care.
Li Zhen was happy to see this, and said with a smile: "I just came back from outside. Do you know what I did when I took the army out on this trip?"
Among them, a gentleman said: "I don't know, please tell me."
"Please show me, sir."
Everyone spoke in the same voice and said they didn't know. Li Zhen listened to everyone and didn't believe what they said, because most of the gentry in Yangzhou knew Hong Xuanjiao's movements. If he contacted Li Zhen, he would definitely guess it. It's Hong Xuanjiao's matter. These people pretend not to know, but they actually understand.
Li Zhen was happy that these people pretended to be confused and said with a smile: "Today, Hong Xuanjiao, one of the bandits, led an army of 30,000 people, and Li Xiu became the vanguard to kill them with great momentum. I led 8,000 soldiers to meet the enemy, and the two sides fought. , Hong Xuanjiao and Li Xiucheng were captured, the 30,000-strong army collapsed, and the remaining 10,000 ambush troops who responded to Hong Xuanjiao were also defeated, with a total of 15,000 people captured, and countless others were killed or fled."
Everyone looked surprised when they heard this.
Eight thousand versus forty thousand, this is a ratio of one to five. The governor in front of him is really powerful.
When Li Zhen saw this, he smiled coldly in his heart.
The record of eight thousand against forty thousand just surprised them.
Li Zhen glanced at the desk, gently knocked on the desk, and said in a neutral tone: "In today's battle, less than 400 soldiers in our army died. The battle is decided. I believe that the next battle will be It will definitely go more smoothly.”
"Hiss, hiss,."
At this moment, both the sitting and standing gentry were all surprised.
It is not unusual to say that 8,000 soldiers defeated 40,000 people, but only 400 people were killed or wounded among the 8,000 soldiers, but they defeated an army of 40,000 people. This is quite surprising. Every gentry has a look in their eyes. A look of surprise, but more of a fear.
Li Zhen saw this and nodded slightly.
These gentry are usually the helmsmen of big families. They talk the truth and are arrogant. If they don't suppress it, they will not be easy to deal with. Li Zhen continued: "Everyone, you are the pillars of this area in Yangzhou. You are responsible for the suppression of bandits." It has an immeasurable effect. I came to you just to suppress the bandits."
When Li Zhen was talking, these gentry looked at each other in confusion.
They kept nodding to each other.
After all, these gentry have to think carefully when it comes to soldiers who suppress bandits.
More people planned to protect themselves wisely and kept mixing in the muddy water. The group of people quickly reached a unified view. The old man sitting first on the left side of Li Zhen at the conference table stood up with a serious expression and said slowly: "Master Li, we have some money at home and can provide you with money and food, but in terms of the strength of the troops to suppress the bandits, I'm afraid we really can't."
They had been invited by Li Zhen and had already made plans to provide money and food. There was no need to delay. After all, they could also benefit from the Taiping Army being eliminated.
However, it is obviously impossible for them to come up with private soldiers to help.
After hearing this, Li Zhen asked, "Mr., what's your surname?"
With a smile on his face, the old man continued: "My surname is Sun, my name is Youcheng, Master Li, I have discussed with the others that the contribution of money is the maximum we can support. We can only support you in this way. I hope Adults can accept it."
Li Zhen said: "Mr. Sun, you are always wrong."
"What's wrong?" Sun Youcheng said.
Li Zhen explained: "I have no intention of letting you send troops. I have called you here. Firstly, I want to raise funds from you to annihilate the bandits. Secondly, I hope that everyone will organize and work together as a team." , together we can control the grain transported to Nanjing and cut off the supply to Nanjing. This cannot be done completely. We only need to restrict the bandits. Otherwise, the bandits will be forced to jump over the wall, and things will not be good."
After hearing Li Zhen's plan, Sun Youcheng continued: "Master Li, we can fully agree to your request. We only hope that Master Li can wipe out the bandits as soon as possible to protect the safety of the whole party."
The so-called losing money to eliminate disasters means that these gentry kept the news of losing money and wanted Li Zhen to destroy the bandits and create a good environment for them.
After all, Li Zhenhe's reputation is valuable if he can scare the bandits.
At this time, a fat old man sitting in the first place on the right said: "Sir, all we can provide is hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain, as well as the expenses of the soldiers in Admiral Li's army, etc. As for limiting Nanjing's money and grain Wait, we will definitely implement it."
Li Zhen nodded and said, "Okay, I'll wait and see."
Immediately, Li Zhen, Sun Youcheng and others discussed some matters before sending the group of people away. At this time, Ye Chengzhong came back again, with an eager look on his face, and said seriously: "Commander, Brigadier Huang sent Someone came to send a message saying that it was difficult to persuade Hong Xuanjiao and asked you to consider how to deal with Hong Xuanjiao."
Li Zhen said coldly: "It's just Hong Xuanjiao who can't win. It's really useless. Hong Xuanjiao is also a human being and has shortcomings. Let's start with the shortcomings, or start with Hong Xuanjiao's advantages and so on. We will definitely succeed. Let's go, follow me. Let’s go and see how strong Hong Xuanjiao is.”
Ye Chengzhong smiled awkwardly and did not answer.
Li Zhen flicked his sleeves and led Ye Chengzhong out of the Chinese army tent and headed towards the place where Hong Xuanjiao was imprisoned. There were no barracks in the army, only tents. Hong Xuanjiao was imprisoned in the tent and her freedom was restricted.
