Chapter 22: One Hundred Thousand Qing Troops Besiege Yong'an
Li Xingyu glared fiercely at Zhou Tianjue and Xiang Rong, scolding: "You only know how to fight for merit, without thinking about eliminating the bandits. As a result, even Yong'an was occupied by the bandits. I don't know how the Emperor will blame us, and you've even implicated me."
"...report..." At this time, a guard entered from the gate.
"Come in, what's up?"
"Report to Your Excellency, the rebel leader Hong Xiuquan has fled from Wuxuan to Yong'an, and the rebels Yang and Xiao have also set out from Guixian to Yong'an." The guard replied.
"Alright, go down." Li Xingyuan waved his hand at the guard, and after the guard left, he turned to Rong and Zhou and scolded: "Now you're satisfied? You don't have to fight anymore. Go to Yong'an together this time and make sure to work together with one heart, we can't let the rebels escape again."
"Yao" Rong and Zhou Tianjue answered simultaneously. The two not only did not let go of their grudges, but instead became even more resentful towards each other. After returning, Zhou Tianjue wrote another impeachment memorial against Yao Rong, saying that he indulged the rebels and sat idly by as Yong'an fell into the enemy's hands.
Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, on their way to Yong'an, encountered the large army of Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui, so they all marched towards Yong'an together. Along the way, government soldiers were intimidated by the Taiping Army's momentum and did not dare to block them. Only Li Xingyuan, Xiang Rong, and Zhou Tianjue led several tens of thousands of troops following behind, with Li Xingyuan ordering reinforcements from other provinces to directly join forces with the Yong'an army.
When the Taiping Army arrived in Yong'an, there was a great commotion and everyone was overjoyed. After all, Yong'an was the first major city conquered by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hong Xiuquan occupied the prefectural government office of Yong'an, Yang Xiuqing chose to reside in the Captial Hall, Xiao Chaogui stayed at the He family ancestral temple on the west bank of the river, Feng Yunshan moved into the Mo family's earthen building in the south of the city, Wei Changhui lived in the old county village, and Shi Dakai resided in the East Township Datan Village Temple. They also dispatched people to post notices ordering the civilians to grow their hair long, wear Han Chinese robes, destroy all temples, divide families, prohibit men and women from living together, and force the entire city to believe in God. Moreover, Yang Xiuqing ordered the massacre of all wealthy households in the city and the confiscation of their property. Li Yunzhong strongly approved of the first two orders but was perplexed by the latter ones. He discussed this with Hong Xiuquan, who remained resolute. Meanwhile, Feng Yunshan, Yang Xiuqing, and Xiao Chaogui each presented a multitude of reasons, leaving him bewildered and furious, and he stormed off.
Yang Xiuqing proposed that the Central Army, Front Army, Rear Army and Left Army each guard some strategic points, and exchange some troops of the Right Army to come back. After that, they will take turns to garrison, which is exactly what Li Yunzhong wants. He hastily sent someone to guide the main force to go and hand over.
Li Xingyuan's army arrived in Yong'an on the third day, joined forces with the reinforcements, and had a total of 100,000 people, which was more than twice the number of men, women, children and elderly people in the Taiping Army. However, compared to Han Xin's "more is better", these three people were not so happy.
These three led the troops, and indeed, the more soldiers there were, the worse things got.
When the army of 100,000 marched to Guangxi, they had not yet fought against the Taiping Army, but they were already fighting among themselves. As the saying goes: "The Eight Banners and the Green Camp are not harmonious, and the Green Camp is also not harmonious with the Tuanlian." The Hunan soldiers looked down on the Yunnan soldiers, and the Yunnan soldiers looked down on the Guangdong soldiers... The soldiers and braves liked to scold each other, and the Eastern Braves and Western Braves were even more "friendly", directly clashing knives, everywhere seeing red... As the commander-in-chief, Xiang Rong and Zhou Tianjue were incompatible, and when he learned that Zhou Tianjue had written a memorial to "blacken" him, he wrote three memorials in a row, accusing Zhou Tianjue of being old and muddle-headed, not knowing military affairs but still giving orders blindly, causing the bandits to escape smoothly from the encirclement... What made Li Xingyuan collapse was that some Guangdong soldiers were actually doing business with the Taiping Army, selling weapons, food, and medicine to the Taiping Army at high prices. The soldiers from other provinces saw that the Guangdong soldiers had all made a fortune, like they had gotten red eye disease, and they eagerly did business with the Taiping Army, even fighting each other, killing and injuring many people, while the generals reported to their superiors that they were fighting against the Taiping Army. These things made the imperial minister Li Xingyuan so angry that he was on the verge of collapse, and he fell seriously ill.
This made Xiang Rong and Zhou Tianjue so excited that they didn't argue anymore, each gathering their own troops to prepare for solo action, rushing to make some achievements to replace Li Xingyuan.
Xiang Rong first attacked the strategic location of Ma Bei Ridge, which was heavily guarded by Taiping Army's Lin Fengxiang. The location was high and steep, making it extremely difficult for the Qing army to pass through. If they tried to take the small road below, the Taiping army could easily attack them with arrows, stones, and fire from above, causing heavy casualties. Xiang Rong ordered Zhang Guoliang, who had recently defected to his side, to lead a strong assault. Lin Fengxiang had set up traps on the ground and prepared bows, arrows, stones, and sharpened wooden stakes to attack the Qing army. The first wave of Qing soldiers suffered over 300 casualties. Xiang Rong continued to send waves of troops to attack Ma Bei Ridge throughout the day, leaving behind over a thousand dead bodies by dusk before retreating.
Zhou Tianjue saw Xiang Rong's futile efforts for a whole day, losing soldiers and generals without achieving anything. While rejoicing at the misfortune of others, he couldn't help but secretly worry that even Xiang Rong, who was known for his military prowess, had been defeated by the rebels. He thought to himself that there must be a better way to defeat the enemy without using force. According to the Art of War, attacking the heart is more important than attacking the city. Even ancient people believed that strong-arming the city was the most inferior method, so there must be a clever plan to defeat the enemy without using troops.
After thinking for a day and night, he finally had an epiphany while drinking tea. He hastily sent someone to investigate if there were any wells or water sources within the city. When he found out that the soldiers and civilians inside the city were taking water from the river outside, he was overjoyed and danced with excitement.
The more he thought about it, the more he believed this plan was brilliant, and they could eliminate the rebels without losing a single soldier. He even wrote a memorial to the emperor: "After investigation, we found that there are no wells or springs within the city, and everyone drinks water from the river outside. We discovered that in the nearby mountains, there is a type of poisonous grass called 'rotten intestine grass' that has no antidote. We have purchased over 10,000 catties of it and put it into the river. The rebels will surely die if they drink it..."
In contrast, Xiang Rong's troops only knew how to launch fierce attacks, resulting in heavy casualties and low morale among the soldiers...
Xiang Rong spent half a month searching the outskirts of the city, but to no avail. He scolded his subordinates for their incompetence while also secretly worrying about Zhou Tianjue's recent successes. It was Wulan Tai who came up with a plan for Xiang Rong: since a direct attack wouldn't work, they would lay siege to the city and starve out the rebels and civilians inside. To prevent them from escaping, they buried landmines outside the city and on the roads, killing or injuring many of those who tried to flee over the next three days. Xiang Rong was delighted by this turn of events and wrote a report claiming that the landmines had triggered a massive landslide, killing tens of thousands of rebels and wounding countless others, causing them to lose their courage and refuse to come out of the city. He predicted that the city would fall soon.
Wu Lan Tai also had his own thoughts, he was the deputy commander of Guangzhou, and his official position was much lower than that of Xiang Rong and Zhou Tian Jue. He wanted to make a great achievement, but he didn't have as many soldiers as Xiang Rong, and in Guangxi, he didn't even have any subordinates. To achieve this goal, he could only rely on himself. After thinking for several days, he finally remembered a small gift that the foreigners had given him - a small device with explosives inside. If someone opened the box, the gunpowder would immediately explode. At that time, he was very curious and thought of using it to harm people, so he made one just like it. Although it failed, now that he was eager to make an achievement, he decided to try again. After seven days, during which many people were injured in the process, he excitedly wrote on a piece of paper: "Hong Xiuquan personally opened". A little while later, feeling that this was still not enough, he added the name "Li Yunzhong", and after writing it, he was still not satisfied, so he added the names of four more people - Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui, Feng Yunshan, and Wei Changhui. He promised his confidant many benefits and sent him to deliver it into the city. After thinking about it, he also learned from Xiang Rong and Zhou Tian Jue, writing a memorial: "I have devised an extraordinary plan, the leaders of the rebel forces have already been captured, and the city will be broken in the near future."
