1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 202 Flanking Maneuver
That night, under the cover of dusk, the Taiping army near Guilin City quickly and systematically withdrew from the city and marched swiftly.

To cover the main force's withdrawal and draw the attention of the Qing army in Guilin, Yang Xiuqing's central army launched a feint attack near Wenchang Gate and South Gate that night to attract the attention of the Guilin defenders.

Taiping artillery also fired cannons from Elephant Trunk Hill south of the city to cover the attack on the city.

The garrison of Guilin hastily concentrated its forces to defend the southern city of Guilin, which was under heavy attack by the Taiping Army. Little did they know that this was just a feint attack, and that tens of thousands of Taiping Army troops had taken the opportunity to cover the families accompanying the army and head north.

It wasn't until dawn that Xiang Rong, Lao Chongguang, and others realized that the Taiping army besieging the city had withdrawn. They wanted to lead their troops to pursue the retreating Taiping army and expand their gains.

Lao Chongguang was worried that this was a feint by the Taiping army to lure the defending troops out of the city to be annihilated. In order to ensure the safety of Guilin, the provincial capital, Lao Chongguang forbade Xiang Rong to lead troops to pursue the Taiping army.

It wasn't until the scouts sent out reported back that the Taiping rebels were all marching towards Lingchuan County, and that the Taiping rebels who had withdrawn earlier had already set up camp in Lingchuan County.

Only then did Lao Chongguang realize that this was not a feint by the Long-haired Rebels; the Long-haired Rebels had truly withdrawn this time, and he hurriedly made arrangements to pursue and intercept them.

It was learned that the main force of the Taiping Army had withdrawn from the siege of Guilin.

The Qing troops under Qin Dingsan and Zhou Fengqi in the Suqiaowei area.

The Qing troops under Zhou Tianjue and Wulantai in the Daxu area.

These two Qing army units also quickly joined the pursuit and interception of the Taiping army.

Meanwhile, Li Xingyuan, who was stationed in Lingling, the capital of Yongzhou Prefecture, was frustrated by the incompetence of his two generals and had no choice but to personally lead his troops south in order to contain the Taiping Army within Guangxi.

During the Qing Dynasty, Yongzhou Prefecture governed one prefecture and seven counties, with Lingling County attached to it.

The capital of Yongzhou Prefecture was not located in the urban area of ​​Yongzhou City in later times, but was located in Lingling District.

Before sending troops, Li Xingyuan, in the name of imperial envoy, wrote to Xu Guangjin, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, requesting that he send Guangdong troops to Guangxi to help suppress the God Worshippers.

When Lin Zexu was serving as Imperial Commissioner, Xu Guangjin was unwilling to enter Guangxi.

Xu Guangjin ignored Li Xingyuan's transfer order.

At this point, the astute Xu Guangjin had already realized that the Taiping army was likely to enter Hunan through the Hunan-Guangxi Corridor, and that Li Xingyuan would most likely be unable to stop the Taiping army.

In response, Xu Guangjin made corresponding arrangements, transferring the main force of the Guangdong army in the Zhaoqing area to Shaozhou Prefecture to prevent the Taiping army from entering the southern Hunan region and then marching south to Guangdong.

The Qing army within Guilin Prefecture pursued them, and Li Xingyuan claimed to personally lead 30,000 elite troops southward.

The situation was very unfavorable for the Left Army, which was caught in the middle of the Hunan-Guangxi Corridor. Logically, Peng Gang should have felt nervous.

However, Peng Gang, who was stationed in Quanzhou, and his Left Army officers and soldiers were not nervous at all. Instead, they calmly prepared to contact the Heaven and Earth Society in Yongzhou and launch a pincer attack from the north and south to annihilate the Qing army under Li Xingyuan.

Zuo Jun's confidence stemmed from his understanding of the Qing army.

The officers and soldiers of Zuo Jun who had fought against Liu Changqing and Yu Wanqing knew all too well what kind of people the so-called 30,000 elite troops under Li Xingyuan's command were.

That guy couldn't even march properly, he could only march less than thirty miles a day, and three or four thousand men could be scared into a ruckus by thirty-one men.

There's nothing to fear about such an army.

"Can the three of you, former members of the Heaven and Earth Society in Yongzhou Prefecture, along with Li Yantong's Heaven and Earth Society troops, block and intercept Li Xingyuan's Qing army and stop him from fleeing back to Lingling, the capital of Yongzhou Prefecture?"

Peng Gang summoned Liu Daiwei, Liu Tongwei, and Ma Yuji, three leaders of the Heaven and Earth Society from Yongzhou, and asked them questions.

At this time, Chen Shiqing also successfully contacted another Heaven and Earth Society armed force in Yongzhou Prefecture that was willing to join the Left Army: the Heaven and Earth Society under Li Yantong.

The Heaven and Earth Society was very active in the Hunan region. The Chu Yong of Zhongyuan in Xinning was one of the most elite militias in the Qing army before the Taiping Rebellion.

Besides Jiang Zhongyuan's skillful leadership and the fierce local customs and high-quality soldiers of Xinning, Chu Yong also accumulated rich practical experience in the process of suppressing the Tiandihui in southern Hunan.

There are several thousand members of the Heaven and Earth Society in Yongzhou. The main members are now the subordinates of Liu Daiwei, Liu Tongwei, Ma Yuji, and Li Yantong.

Chen Shiqing contacted Li Yantong. Peng Gang did not order him to go south to Quanzhou to meet up with Li Xingyuan because he hoped that they could organize the Tiandihui in Yongzhou, so that they could coordinate with each other from the north and south and encircle Li Xingyuan.

"After Li Yuanfa was wiped out, the Tiandihui in Yongzhou suffered a great loss of strength. Its elite troops were all gone, its equipment was poor, and its morale was low. It is unlikely that it could stop Li Xingyuan's government army."

After hesitating for a moment, Liu Daiwei and the others answered with considerable embarrassment.

If the Yongzhou Heaven and Earth Society had the strength to stand up to the government troops under the command of the imperial envoy, why would they need to consider joining the Left Army and living under someone else's roof?
The most elite force of the Xiangnan Tiandihui was the "Bazihui," founded in 1849 by Li Yuanfa in conjunction with the remnants of Lei Zaihao and the Tiandihui of Quanzhou.

At the beginning of his rebellion, Li Yuanfa, with the help of local officials in Xinning County, launched a successful night raid on the county seat, killing the magistrate Wan Ding'en. His power and prestige soared, and at his peak, Li Yuanfa commanded over a thousand soldiers. However, his good fortune was short-lived. Xinning was the stronghold of the Chu forces, and with the combined efforts of the Jiang Zhongyuan brothers, Liu Changyou and his nephew Liu Kunyi, and the Chu army, along with Xiang Rong's Chu troops, Li Yuanfa was swiftly defeated.

When Li Yuan started his uprising, Liu Daiwei and others were involved to varying degrees, and some of his followers were even remnants of Li Yuan's "Ba Zi Hui" (a secret society).

Before Li Xingyuan entered Lingling, the capital of Yongzhou Prefecture, Liu Daiwei and his Tiandihui were no match for the second-rate Chu army left behind in Yongzhou Town. They had no choice but to lie low in the mountains, mining for a living and waiting for an opportunity.

Peng Gang sighed softly. The second-rate Chu army that Zuo Jun could easily deal with were all forces that the Heaven and Earth Society could hardly shake.

"If I provide weapons to the Yongzhou Heaven and Earth Society and send three battalions to lead the Yongzhou Heaven and Earth Society in battle, can I block Li Xingyuan's way back to Lingling City?" Peng Gang asked after a moment's thought.

While it's reliable to get intelligence from these shady characters from the Heaven and Earth Society, expecting them to fight tough battles and hold off several thousand Qing troops is indeed asking too much.

If they want to stop Li Xingyuan from fleeing back to Lingling, the capital of Yongzhou Prefecture, the Left Army will have to send troops themselves.

The main force of the Taiping Army has already marched north. When the two armies join forces, there will be nearly 200,000 troops, including the elderly, women and children. The daily consumption of supplies will be astronomical.

We must capture a prefecture city as soon as possible to temporarily alleviate the food problem.

The closest prefecture city to Zuojun was Lingling, the prefecture city of Yongzhou.

Lingling, the capital of Yongzhou Prefecture, was the largest military town in southern Hunan. Its defenses were not weak; they were at least stronger than those of Quanzhou, which Peng Gang had captured.

Li Xingyuan's claim that he had 30,000 elite troops was clearly a bluff, but he did have 6,000 regular troops under his command, including the Sichuan and Hunan armies.

Including the local militia recruited by Li Xingyuan, he managed to gather a ragtag group of over ten thousand men.

If Li Xingyuan, like the defenders of Guilin, were to remain holed up in Lingling City, then attacking Lingling City would be very difficult.

Li Xingyuan's initiative to lead troops south to Quanzhou was a golden opportunity for the Left Army.

Once Li Xingyuan's main Qing army force in Hunan is annihilated, the defensive strength of Lingling City will be greatly reduced, making it much easier to attack.

"If His Highness the Northern King's Left Army were to intervene, it would be a piece of cake," Liu Daiwei said, patting his chest.

The Yongzhou Heaven and Earth Society didn't have the guts to confront the local government troops on their own, but they did have the guts to follow the Zuo army and take advantage of any favorable situations.

Liu Daiwei and others had personally witnessed the Left Army's attack on Quanzhou. The Left Army was capable of taking a heavily fortified prefecture city by force.

This is completely different from Li Yuanfa's night raid to capture Xinning County with the help of an inside agent.

Liu Daiwei and others had no confidence in the Yongzhou Heaven and Earth Society, but they had great confidence in Peng Gang's Left Army.

"Leave the task of blocking Li Xingyuan to me."

Luo Dagang, who had just arrived in Quanzhou City, volunteered to take on this task.

"There are Chu troops at Shuitang Bay. To cut off Li Xingyuan's retreat, we can't go from the Shuitang Bay direction, as it would be easy for the Chu troops to detect us. We can only take the land route to outflank Li Xingyuan's Qing army from the rear. I need some time."

Luo Dagang comes from the Heaven and Earth Society and is good at dealing with people in the martial arts world, so this task is indeed most suitable for him.

Peng Gang nodded and asked, "Is five days enough? According to Li Xingyuan's marching speed, he should arrive near Shuitang Bay the day after tomorrow. After Li Xingyuan's Qing troops enter Shuitang Bay, I will not immediately send troops to attack Shuitang Bay, lest the Qing troops rush towards Lingling City before your defenses are in place, leaving us unable to defend against them."

"More than enough. Our Left Army isn't the Qing Army. They march at a leisurely pace, barely covering thirty or forty li a day," Luo Dagang laughed.

“In that case, the Second Battalion, Third Battalion, Sixth Battalion, and the Mountain-Splitting Artillery Company will be under the command of Deputy Commander Luo.” Peng Gang assigned three battalions and the Mountain-Splitting Artillery Company to Luo Dagang.

Luo Dagang held an official position in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, specifically the position of Inspector.

However, the Left Army and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom each had their own interpretations, and they still habitually used the official titles from the Ping Zaishan period.

The three battalions that Peng Gang assigned to Luo Dagang were all from the old Sixth Battalion; none of them were provisional battalions, which shows how much importance Peng Gang attached to this encirclement and annihilation of Li Xingyuan's Qing army.

Whether Changsha can be captured after annihilating the main force of the Qing army in Hunan under Li Xingyuan is uncertain.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the two prefectures and two counties in southern Hunan—Yongzhou, Hengzhou, Guiyang, and Chenzhou—were within their grasp.

After all, all the troops in Hunan had been dispatched by Li Xingyuan to Yongzhou Prefecture to defend against the Taiping Army, leaving the other prefectures in Hunan with very little military strength.

(End of this chapter)