Chapter Forty-Four: Requesting a Favor

  In October 1858, within a month, Li Xubin successively captured Taihu, Pingshan, Tongcheng, Shucheng, and along the way, although he won every battle and took every city, it was said that 'for every thousand enemies wounded, we lost eight hundred ourselves', and with troops divided to garrison, by November 3rd, when they arrived at Sanhe Town, there were only six thousand men left.

  At this time, the defenders of Sanhe Town also had several thousand people and had the geographical advantage. Moreover, the Taiping Army had just broken through the Jiangbei Camp, opening up the passage between Tianjing and the north bank of the Yangtze River, so the main force of the Taiping Army could arrive in Anhui within a short period. Therefore, all the generals under Li Xiu-bin advised him to retreat back to Tongcheng and rely on the city's defenses to wait for the arrival of subsequent troops.

  However, in the rear of Sanhe Town, three hundred miles away, was Anqing, a stronghold of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, where General Jingzhou Du Xing'a was leading his troops to launch a fierce attack. Anqing was the shield of Tianjing, and if Anqing fell, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would lose half of its territory. In this battle, Li Xuibin and Du Xing'a divided their forces into two routes, with Li Xuibin responsible for clearing the outer perimeter of Taihu, Panshan and other cities, turning Anqing into an isolated island, making it convenient for Du Xing'a to operate. Any enemy reinforcements had to pass through Li Xuibin's checkpoint before they could rescue Anqing.

  If this time, Li Xubin led his troops back to Tongcheng and gave up the attack on Sanhe Town, then as soon as the Taiping Army's main force arrived, the siege of Anqing would be lifted. Therefore, Li Xubin insisted on attacking Sanhe Town, he wanted to buy time for Du Xinga, if Anqing was captured first, the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would be imminent. If Anqing was captured before Li Xubin's defeat, all efforts in this campaign would be in vain, and the Qing army would have no strength to advance eastward in the short term.

  Under such circumstances, Li Xiu-bin, who was known for his bravery, resolutely decided to fight the Taiping Army to the death.

  At the same time, Li Xubin also felt that the situation was urgent and the troops were severely insufficient, so Wen Huguang, the governor of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and He Guiqing, the governor of Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces, requested reinforcements.

  On November 7, Li Xiubin's troops captured the outer nine forts of Sanhe Town. That evening, Chen Yucheng, the King of England, led an army of 30,000 to reinforce and stationed in Sanhe Town and Jinniu Town. Later, Li Xicheng, the Loyal King, and his brother, Shi Wang Li Shixian, also led a large army to reinforce.

  At this point, the ratio of forces between the two sides was: Li Xiu-bin led six thousand Xiang Army as the attacking side, Chen Yu-cheng and Li Xiucheng led over a million Taiping Army as the defending side.

  He Guiqing, the Governor of Liangjiang, was negotiating a commercial treaty in Shanghai at that time and received a request for help. According to the Qing dynasty system, the Governor of Liangjiang governed Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi provinces. At this time, these three provinces were the stronghold of the Taiping Army. The area under his control and the number of soldiers were very limited, so he was unable to rescue Li Xubin despite his willingness to do so.

  Moreover, sending troops from Jiangsu to Anhui for rescue would have to go through the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and pass under the Tianjing City. Even if He Guiqing sent all his soldiers out, they would be annihilated before arriving at Sanhe Town.

  Just as He Guiqing was about to ignore this rescue, someone came to report that the leader of the foreign gun team, Li Mingfeng, wanted to see him. He Guiqing had no good impression of Li Mingfeng, who in his mind relied on foreigners for food. Moreover, he had even used the tiger's might to snatch two thousand military horses and several hundred Green Camp soldiers from his hands, so He Guiqing simply did not want to see Li Mingfeng. However, without looking at the monk's face but rather the Buddha's face, it was possible that this person had come to deliver a message for the foreigners, so He Guiqing sighed and agreed to see him.

  Li Mingfeng was woken up early by Gong Cheng, who had received news from a familiar person in the yamen that the Xiang Army's Sanhe was in urgent need of help. Li Mingfeng had been telling Gong Cheng to pay attention to this matter, and since Li Mingfeng successfully predicted the defeat of the Taiping Army at Jiangbei Dazhan, Gong Cheng had also been paying close attention to the matters he cared about. As soon as the news came out from the yamen, Gong Cheng rushed to the military camp before dawn to report the message.

  Li Mingfeng received the news and hastily ordered Andrew and others to organize the troops to assemble, while he himself rushed to see He Guiqing.

  Li Mingfeng was led into the house, and He Guoqin reluctantly stood up to greet him. Li Mingfeng knew better and hastily knelt down to pay his respects. Only then did He Guoqin's expression slightly clear up, and he helped Li Mingfeng to his feet.

  "What brings Captain Li here today?" He Guiling asked after taking a seat.

  "Mingfeng heard that Sanhe was in a precarious situation and specially came to your honor's place to ask for help," Li Mingfeng said loudly.

  "Are you kidding me?" He Guoqiang doubted his own ears, "You're saying you want to go to Anhui to join the war?"

  "It was just then that General Li heard that the Taiping rebels were fighting against the Hunan army in Anhui, and if we didn't provide support, watching the Hunan army lose would be equivalent to letting the Taipings completely control both Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, which would put Shanghai in danger."

  He Guiqing looked at Li Mingfeng for half a day, but couldn't figure out what was going on. He thought to himself, "I really don't know if this fake foreigner is really willing to make contributions to the country in exchange for fame and fortune, or if he has other plans." However, under these circumstances, this person volunteered to go to war, which happened to be in line with He Guiqing's intentions: "You have such a desire for revenge, that is fortunate for the imperial court. But do you know that from Shanghai to Anhui, there are thousands of miles of distance, and in between, it is all occupied by the Long Hairs (Taiping rebels), it can be said that this journey is fraught with danger, you should think carefully before sending troops."

  "A great man stands in the world, seeking only to provide for his wife and children, and to leave a good name in history. Although this journey is fraught with danger, Mingfeng is not afraid."

  "Good!" He Guiqing slapped the table, stood up from his chair, picked up a pen and wrote a letter quickly, stamped it with the Governor-General's seal and handed it to Li Mingfeng: "With this letter, in all territories under our Great Qing dynasty, whether military or civilian, everyone will give you convenience."

  Li Mingfeng thanked He Guoqin and then returned to the military camp under the name of urgent military affairs.

  Andrews, Palen, Adams and Tsai I-chun, Chen Hsing-han have all reorganized their respective troops.

  To rush to Anhui, it's definitely not possible by land, only by taking the Yangtze River and going upstream. However, the Taiping Army's defenses along the Yangtze River are also very tight, especially in the Tianjing section, where there are numerous artillery emplacements.

  However, there is one type of ship that the Taiping Army dare not inspect. A British warship was once fired upon by the Taiping Army while sailing up the Yangtze River. When Hong Xiuquan learned of this, he immediately beheaded all the officers on the gun emplacement. In the eyes of Hong Tianwang, foreigners and Chinese are both followers of the same God, and when foreigners come to China, it is to worship the Son of God.

  Since that incident, all foreign merchant ships and warships have been allowed to navigate freely on the Yangtze River. This time, Li Mingfeng is preparing to use foreign ships to transport troops to Huai.

  Li Mingfeng had already sent Wu Ting to borrow a ship from the Prussians before going to He Guiqing's place, relying on their beneficial relationship there. It was assumed that those Germans would not refuse this matter either. So, without waiting for Wu Ting's return, Li Mingfeng directly led 1,800 rifled cavalrymen with full weapons, ammunition and dry rations, and majestically set off towards the Prussian ship dock.