Chapter 60: The Battle of Jingdezhen (Part 2)

  "Are these big camps all of the Foreign Gun Corps?" Zhang Yunlan asked.

  "Sir, you'd better go see Lord Li, and then you'll understand everything." This general was also unable to explain the current situation.

  Zhang Yunlan thought for a moment, fearing there was a trick, and ordered the Xiang Army to immediately assemble and head to Li Mingfeng's main camp stationed at the North Gate.

  Li Mingfeng came out of the camp to greet them, and Zhang Yunlan saw that all those who accompanied him were wearing long-haired military uniforms. She frowned and asked: "Mr. Li, who are these people?"

  Li Mingfeng pulled Zhang Yunlan and started bragging at the entrance of the big camp.

  "It's a long story, ah, Lord Zhang, you don't know the hardships of our army. Last month, we had 1,600 men and killed our way out of an enemy force of over 100,000. We wanted to attack Anqing, but we thought our forces were too weak." Li Mingfeng's words were enough to shock people to death, despite his sighs.

  Zhang Yunlan's two eyes stared like lanterns, how could 1,600 people attack Anqing surrounded by hundreds of thousands of troops? It was absolutely crazy.

  Li Mingfeng, however, seemed to be unaware that he had just spoken words that would shock the world, and continued: "When I saw that Anqing was difficult to attack, in order to preserve my strength, I led my army across the river to southern Anhui. When I saw that the city of Chizhou was high and deep, I knew that this must be a stronghold of the Longhairs, so I led my army in a fierce attack."

  "Are you attacking Pool State?" Zhang Yunlan almost shouted.

  "It's true that the Chi State has 50,000 long-haired warriors, and their momentum is very strong. To think of completely annihilating them is indeed a difficult task." Li Mingfeng's face showed a look of regret at this moment.

  Zhang Yunlan was like a fool, thinking to herself: more than 1,000 people went to attack a city of over 50,000 people, and they still want to completely annihilate them? Is Li Mingfeng crazy or did she just have an auditory hallucination?

  "However, although I couldn't completely annihilate them, I heavily defeated them. In the end, Taiping forces were left with no way out and Wei Zhi-jun surrendered to our army. My original plan was to lead my troops north to capture Tianjing, capture Hong Xiuquan alive and then return home for the new year. But then I received news that Zhang and Xiao were fighting a hard battle here, so I led the main force south. Yesterday we took Fuliang, and today we are about to break through Jingde Town." Li Ming-feng said calmly.

  Zhang Yunlan's expression could only be described as stupid, and indeed, he now felt like a complete idiot. Over 1,000 people had broken through the long-haired stronghold of Chizhou, captured Wei Zhi-jun, one of the five main generals of the Heavenly Kingdom, and were preparing to head north alone to capture Hong Xiuquan before the new year, all of which was completely beyond Zhang Yunlan's military understanding.

  She stood there for a while, before Zhang Yunlan asked in confusion: "The Wei Zhi-jun you mentioned, is he the Right Army General of Pool State, the younger brother of the Northern King Wei Chang-hui?"

  "It's true that this guy is very brave, with 50,000 troops, plus the deep and high walls of Chizhou City, our army fought for several days before defeating him." Anyway, Wei Zhi-jun was at the East Gate camp in Jingdezhen, Zhang Yun-lan wouldn't go to confront him, and Li Ming-feng would not give up this opportunity to gain some merit.

  Zhang Yunlan automatically filtered out Li Mingfeng's 'great' military achievements for the sake of her own fragile nerves.

  "What about these big camps?" Zhang Yunlan asked, pointing at several large camps nearby.

  "It's all our army's big camp, there are two thousand people with foreign guns and surrendered Qing troops, blocking the east and north gates. However, our military strength is limited after all. I want to ask Lord Zhang to come and support us, trap Yang Fucheng to death, take down Jingdezhen, and completely drive out the Longhairs from Jiangxi." Li Mingfeng said.

  "There were originally about 40,000 Taiping rebels in Jingdezhen. Huang Renju took 10,000 troops to reinforce Yingtan but didn't return. The 10,000 Taiping rebels abandoned by Yang Fuqing at the foot of Wuyushan Mountain were pursued and intercepted by our army, with Li Daxian cutting them off, so they lost at least half their numbers. Now there are at most only 25,000 Taiping rebels left in Jingdezhen. The Taiping rebels here are easy to deal with, but I'm afraid of reinforcements from Yingtan, Shangrao, Dexing and Le'an, if they come and attack us from both inside and outside, the outcome will be uncertain."

  "Let's not discuss this outside, let's go in and talk. Military matters are not your forte, little brother. Let's mainly ask Lord Zhang to make the decision." Li Mingfeng said.

  At this time, although the words spoken by Li Mingfeng were unbelievable, Zhang Yunlan had already determined that it was safe here. He ordered the Xiang Army to rest in camp, and Zhang Yunlan himself led several generals under his command to the military account to discuss with Li Mingfeng the next action.

  Entering the military account, the guests and hosts took their seats. The Xiang Army brought out the map they had brought with them and spread it on the table, and Zhang Yunlan instructed a general to explain the specific situation.

  "General Xiao has over 10,000 troops in Fuzhou, and we have another 6,000 in Raozhou. General Zeng Guofan has already withdrawn from the Nanchang area, leaving behind less than 5,000 Hunan troops, which have been authorized to be deployed by Governor Zhang. However, there are still 30,000-40,000 Taiping rebels outside Jingdezhen, maintaining their numerical superiority."

  Zhang Yunlan continued, "This is secondary, what I'm most afraid of is that the Tianjing side will send a large army again. Zeng Laizong led his troops into Xiang to suppress the bandits, and the Xiang Army has no more troops to deploy."

  Li Mingfeng only then realized that he was still a bit too optimistic, and after they analyzed it like this, not only did his side not have the upper hand, but there was even a possibility of being eaten by the long-haired ones.

  Seeing Li Mingfeng's disappointed expression, Zhang Yunlan hastily said: "Although this is the case, our army is concentrated and the enemy is scattered, which is an advantage. In ancient times, when people went to war, they would surround a point and attack the reinforcements. Today, as long as we surround Jingde Town, we are not afraid that the bandits from all around will not come to reinforce. They fight separately, with more than ten thousand at most and less than a thousand at least. As long as they come to rescue Jingde Town, we will eat them away one by one on the outer periphery."

  "This plan is excellent!" Li Mingfeng was delighted after hearing Zhang Yunlan's analysis.

  Zhang Yunlan thought to herself, "This ordinary move is considered a clever plan by you, and you still dare to boast about capturing Hong Xiuquan. It seems that Wei Zhijun's surrender was probably initiated by the other party."

  Zhang Yunlan is a veteran general, and he knows that the current situation is truly a rare opportunity in a hundred years. If they don't seize this chance to take down Jingdezhen, it will be even more difficult to attack later on. Zhang Yunlan quickly sent messages to Xiao Qijiang and Raozhou, as well as the garrison troops in Nanchang and other places, ordering nearby Xiang Army troops to come and provide support.

  The plan was set, Zhang Yunlan led nearly 5,000 Xiang soldiers to build a camp and besiege the city on the west side of Jingdezhen. Li Mingfeng, Wei Zhijun, etc. also dug trenches day by day, fortified the barracks, and prepared for a long-term battle.

  Two days later, Xiao Qijiang led the eight thousand men and horses of Fuzhou to set up four large camps five miles outside the south gate. Two days later, the Xiang Army from Raozhou, Nanchang, Wuning, Gaoan, Jing'an and other counties all sent troops to reinforce, with a total of over 10,000 people, who were incorporated into Zhang Yunlan's and Xiao Qijiang's large camps.

  The city is being gradually surrounded, and Yang Fuqing is also very anxious. However, several times he sent troops to stop the Xiang Army from building camps, they suffered heavy losses. Later on, Yang Fuqing relied on the sufficient food, grass, and weapons inside the city, so he didn't take the initiative to attack either, waiting quietly for the long-haired bandits to come and reinforce him, and then launch a pincer attack from both inside and outside.

  The Xiang Army outside the city tightened its encirclement, while the Longhairs inside the city waited quietly for reinforcements.

  But no one had expected that the long-haired reinforcements would be the first to fall into disarray.