In Sichuan at the end of May, the sun was shining brightly.
Because the weather warmed up early, the golden sunshine shone on my body, giving me a faint feeling of heat.
The third army barracks, the central army tent,’
In the conference room, there was silence and a depressing atmosphere.
Sitting at the head of the conference table was an official with thin cheeks, bloodshot eyes, and big bags under his eyes. This official was none other than Zeng Guofan, commander of the Third Army under Li Zhen. At this moment, Zeng Guofan was facing a huge Due to the difficult problem, he sent troops continuously, but could not defeat Shi Dakai.
Until now, Zeng Guofan has lost all traces of Shi Dakai and cannot find him.
For Zeng Guofan, if he adopts a steady and steady strategy, there is no need to worry. He can simmer slowly and slowly start a fight with Shi Da. However, after Zeng Guofan learned about the battle situation in the north, he did not plan to fight Shi Da slowly. He went into battle frequently, hoping to completely capture the man who had defeated him in a short period of time. Unfortunately, Shi Dakai's army was elusive and almost always hiding, making it difficult to find.
Zeng Guofan glanced at the generals with his sharp eyes and said: "Search for traces of Shi Dakai's army. If you have any ideas, just tell me."
Zeng Guofan held such meetings countless times.
However, the results are not obvious.
In fact, the generals under Zeng Guofan did a lot of work, either by escorting grain to attract Shi Dakai in an attempt to encircle and annihilate Shi Dakai's army, but failed; or by sending soldiers to conduct a blanket search, not even a single peacekeeper could be found. No one from the army could be found; or the people were asked to report, but unfortunately there were almost no clues...
Various methods have been used, but the effect is not obvious.
Therefore, Zeng Guofan felt a headache.
No matter who it is, it will definitely be extremely uncomfortable if no results are obtained after taking continuous actions.
Seeing Zeng Guofan's distressed look, Zeng Guoquan suggested: "Commander, I think that at this stage we should adjust our strategy to attack the enemy, adopt a steady and steady approach, first consolidate the counties and villages that have been captured, and ignore Shi Dakai who is hiding for the time being. , I believe that Shi Dakai will show up one day and attack again when the time comes."
He felt that something was wrong with his brother Zeng Guofan's persistence and wanted to persuade him.
Zeng Guofan shook his head and said: "No, Shi Dakai must be captured."
The words were extremely tough and there was no room for negotiation.
Shi Dakai has become a problem in Zeng Guofan's heart and must be eliminated.
It is for this reason that Zeng Guofan sent his army to fight Shi Dakai. Of course, if the two armies fought head-on, Shi Dakai would definitely lose and there would be no chance of winning. However, Shi Dakai was not a fool. On the contrary, he was very smart. Shi Dakai knew the strength of Zeng Guofan's soldiers. With strong firepower, he would naturally not join in the trouble. Moreover, Shi Dakai cut off his wrists and decisively gave up the territory he occupied. He did not stick to the gains and losses of one city or one place, and went guerrillas everywhere. From time to time, he came out to shoot a shot to Zeng Guofan. Causing distress.
On the contrary, Zeng Guofan attacked cities and captured territory, carrying a burden and losing flexibility.
"Report,."
A soldier shouted outside, and Zeng Guofan immediately said: "Come in."
After the soldier walked in, he raised his hand and saluted, and then reported: "Report to the commander, the bandit Shi Dakai led a group of people to appear in Sanwangzhuang, a hundred miles away from us, and robbed the family of Li Youcai, a big owner of Sanwangzhuang. Food and money, when our soldiers arrived, the soldiers under Shi Dakai's command went silent again and lost sight of Shi Dakai."
Zeng Guofan looked a little impatient and waved his hand: "I understand, let's go down."
After the soldiers left, Zeng Guofan sighed and said: "Look, even if we want to stabilize, it is difficult to achieve it. Is Shi Dakai willing? He is definitely not willing. From time to time, Shi Dakai always jumps out. This is inevitable. If Shi Dakai is not solved, everything will be out of the question."
Zeng Guoquan said: "It's too difficult."
Zeng Guofan said loudly: "The war situation in the north has been decided. Zuo Jigao captured Beijing and made great achievements. The prince led a few people to the north, defeated the Russians, and took back the territory ceded by Yi. These two armies , have achieved the best results, only our army has mediocre results, can I not be anxious?"
"Don't worry, brother, I will do my best and let the brothers below come up with suggestions to capture Shi Dakai."
Zeng Guoquan could not persuade him, so he had to comfort Zeng Guofan.
"You go down, I'll calm down." Zeng Guofan issued the eviction order.
After Zeng Guoquan left, Zeng Guofan sat quietly alone, thinking about ways to defeat Shi Dakai. However, the more Zeng Guofan thought about it, the more confused he became and it was difficult to calm down. At this time, Zeng Guofan's staff came in and whispered: " Commander, we have just received news that the prince has entered Sichuan with his soldiers, and we are still ten miles away from our camp."
"The prince is here."
Zeng Guofan stood up abruptly, with an astonished expression on his face.
Immediately, Zeng Guofan asked: "Are you sure there is nothing wrong?"
The staff said with certainty: "Yes, there is no mistake. It is really the prince who came with the soldiers. This time, the people who came with the prince included Zhang Zhidong, who had risen to prominence in the north, and Liu Jintang, the heroic general under Zuo Zongtang, as well as the protective The prince's two old gentlemen, there are not many people here, about the strength of a battalion, but they don't know the prince's purpose of coming."
Zeng Guofan was surprised that Li Zhen came in person. He stopped thinking about it and said, "Get ready and come with me to welcome you."
The staff agreed and turned around to prepare.
In a short time, Zeng Guofan and his soldiers were ready, and then greeted Li Zhen at the gate of the camp, waiting for Li Zhen to arrive. Fifteen minutes later, a cavalry appeared in Zeng Guofan's sight, and the sound of horse hooves came from far to near. , the team gradually approached, this team was the soldiers under Li Zhen's command, escorted by only one battalion of soldiers. Li Zhen turned over and dismounted outside the camp, Zeng Guofan immediately greeted him, raised his hand and saluted: "Third Army Army Mr. Zeng Guofan has met the prince."
Li Zhen returned the salute and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Commander Zeng."
Zeng Guofan waved his hand to invite Li Zhen to enter the camp, and asked the soldiers to settle down a battalion of soldiers who followed Li Zhenlai.
Military camp, conference room.
Li Zhen sat on the main seat with a golden sword, with a faint smile on his face. Zeng Guofan sat on Li Zhen's left hand side, then Zeng Guoquan, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Jintang, Yang Luchan and others sat down in sequence. All the generals sat down. It was in the conference room that Li Zhen's eyes fell on Zeng Guofan and said: "Brother Bohan, I'm new here and I don't know the situation here. Please introduce it to me."
"yes."
Zeng Guofan directly agreed and explained the current situation.
After hearing this, Li Zhen frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "This Shi Dakai is really a cunning fox, so decisive. He actually abandoned a large number of counties, towns and cities to carry out guerrilla warfare. It's a bit interesting."
Liu Jintang frowned and said, "If we can't find someone, there really is no way."
Li Zhen squinted his eyes slightly and tapped the table with the middle finger of his right hand, thinking about a solution.
ps: Third update; call it a day, it’s so cold, my fingers are frozen.