Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 68 Li Yi: Xunzhou brings prosperity to me!
As Li Xingyuan's military order was issued, the Qing army began to withdraw.

Retreat from the entire front battlefield.

Seeing this, Li Yi did not continue the pursuit, but let the Qing army leave.

Li Yi has always been very sober.

He knew that Li Xingyuan could die, but not at his hands.

Otherwise, he would be forced to take the lead and attract the Qing army's firepower for the Taiping Army.

Well, rather than being the first to stick his head out, Li Yi prefers to be the sixth one squatting down and doing harm to others.

……

After the Qing army withdrew, Li Yi's troops also withdrew to Xunzhou City and began to clean up the battlefield and take actual control of Xunzhou.

However, as he cleaned up the battlefield, Li Yi soon received good news.

In Xunzhou City, gold coins are popping up again!
Li Yi came to attack Xunzhou twice. The first time he harvested a large amount of gold, silver, supplies and food, and the second time he recruited a large number of soldiers.

It can be said to be a full harvest!
The same thing happened during the third attack on Xunzhou.

You know, Li Xingyuan didn't come to Xunzhou empty-handed this time.

He carried with him the food, military pay, and military equipment needed by the Qing army to suppress Jintian.

Although a lot of these food, military pay and military equipment were consumed in the battle of Dahuangjiangkou, Xiang Rong and others led their troops to pursue the main force of the Taiping Army and took away some of them.

However, a considerable amount of food, military pay, supplies and weapons are still left in Xunzhou City.

After a simple inventory, there were about 13,000 dan of grain, 17,000 taels of silver, 20,000 jin of gunpowder, and a number of muskets, cannons, swords, spears and other weapons.

In other words, Li Yi gained weight again...

In addition, it is worth mentioning that Li Yi’s troops also seized a batch of good horses in Xunzhou City, about three hundred horses.

Judging from the official seal branded on the horses' buttocks, they should be the war horses ridden by the Eight Banners of Guangzhou. They are all top-quality horses that have been castrated and trained.

In the north, these horses may not be worth much, but in the south, these horses are definitely worth a fortune.

I wouldn’t trade it for even a fortune!
Li Yi didn't know what to say about this.

Xunzhou City is truly his perfect Feng Shui location.

Come once, get fatter!
He is really too lucky!

If occupying the state capital now would not be too conspicuous, Li Yi really wanted to stay in Xunzhou...

……

Xunzhou government office, in the meeting hall.

The generals of Li's army gathered together to discuss the army's next strategic direction.

"General, my idea is that we should head west to Wuxuan to join the main force of the Taiping Army."

Wang An stood up and spoke.

He then gave an explanation for this.

"We now have a total of 800 combat soldiers, but including the prisoners we rescued in Xunzhou City, the number of auxiliary soldiers is more than ten times that of combat soldiers."

“This ratio is really unreasonable!”

"The only way to solve this problem is to go and join the main force of the army."

After saying this, Wang An sat back in his seat.

Li Yi sat in the main seat with his arms folded, his eyelids drooped, and waited for others to express their opinions without saying a word.

Hiding behind his long eyelashes, he secretly observed the expressions on everyone's faces.

It is very clear that the reason why Wang An made such a statement was to test the thoughts of senior generals on behalf of Li Yi.

Let’s see who is still obsessed with the Taiping Army!

It will be easier to take targeted measures in the future.

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Chen Yucheng was the first to stand up and express his opinion.

"General, I think this is not possible!"

"The main force of the Taiping Army is still being besieged by the Qing demons in Dongxiang. If we rush to join the main force now, what difference would that make us walking into a trap?"

Chen Yucheng's attitude was clear, but his position was somewhat vague.

Because his statement was made from an objective perspective, but he did not express his subjective opinion. In simple terms, he only said that Dongxiang could not go, but he did not say that he did not want to go.

There is an essential difference between the two.

But Li Yi really had nothing to say about this.

Because, given Chen Yucheng's position, it is enough for him to make such a statement.

As the saying goes, if loyalty is not absolute, it is absolutely disloyal.

But to be clear, the relationship between Li Yi and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was never antagonistic.

They just fell out.

It basically means that a loving couple had a conflict and then separated, but that's all. Neither party has divorced or started a new family yet.

Except for Xiao Chaogui, Li Yi had no irreconcilable grudges with any other members of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the current relationship between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Li Yi is one in which you are part of me and in which I am part of you.

Take Chen Yucheng for example. He is Li Yi's man now, but his uncle is Feng Yunshan's absolute confidant.

Therefore, Chen Yucheng's identity seems very embarrassing. By the same token, Chen Chengrong's identity is also very embarrassing because Chen Yucheng is on Li Yi's side.

But to a certain extent, Chen Yucheng and Chen Chengrong were the communication channels between Li Yi and the Taiping Army.

It's just not available for the time being.

Because of this, Li Yi can now tolerate fence-sitters whose loyalty is not absolute.

Well, even if he can't tolerate it and wants to purge the fence-sitters, it won't be now.

Well, no one can predict what will happen in the future. Li Yi and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom may have to join forces to fight against the Qing Dynasty in the future.

It is definitely not a good option to break up now.

Upon hearing this, the other generals also spoke up to express their opinions.

"Yes, I second the motion!"

"I hope the General will understand that we cannot go to Dongxiang!"

"Master General, the Taiping Army betrayed us a while ago, leaving us trapped and almost annihilated. No matter what you say, I am against continuing to cooperate with the Taiping Army."

"..."

Everyone’s attitude was very clear: Dongxiang could not go, and they and the Taiping Army were irreconcilable.

Upon seeing this, Li Yi's eyes flashed with a barely perceptible satisfaction, and he finally spoke up.

"Well, what everyone said makes sense."

“Dongxiang is really not a good place to go.”

"Then what we need to discuss next is where to go if not to Dongxiang!"

Li Liang stood up and spoke.

"Reporting to the General, I suggest that our army can follow the Xun River and head east to Guangdong."

"Guangdong has a large population, is rich and prosperous, and has a strong anti-Qing atmosphere. If our army enters Guangdong, we will surely be able to get a hundred responses, and a large number of people will respond, which will greatly enhance our army's momentum."

Li Liang's suggestion was consistent with Hong Xiuquan's idea when the Taiping Army decided to move eastward.

Going east to Guangdong is indeed a good idea.

But it’s not that good!

Because the main force of the Qing army is still there in Guangdong and Guangxi. If you go to Guangdong at this time, you will become a target and attract hatred.

In order to prevent the rebels in Guangdong and Guangxi from joining together, or to say, to prevent the soldiers of Guangxi and the money and grain of Guangdong from joining together, the Qing government will inevitably target you to death.

It is even possible to simply leave the main force of the Taiping Army alone and concentrate troops to encircle and kill Li Yi.

If the Qing army really did this, Li Yi would definitely not be able to withstand it with his thin arms and legs.

……

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(End of this chapter)