Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

From Shi Dakai's attack on Jiujiang, to the capture of Anqing, to the defeat of Zeng Guoquan's main Hunan Army, and then to the capture of Huizhou and Wuhu, the Taiping Army took less than a month! They were unstoppable and unstoppable!

The entire Jiangnan region was shocked. Zeng Guoquan hid in Hefei with his remaining troops, not daring to move, for fear that when he returned to Tianjing, Shi Dakai would attack Hefei again, which would be counterproductive. As for Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, they had just entered Anhui and were still quite a distance away from Shi Dakai's base camp!

The entire Hunan Army, Huai Army and Chu Army systems were all in panic. Shi Dakai was back, and Shi Gandang was back again!

It’s not that the three major systems under Zeng Guofan’s command are not as strong as Shi Dakai’s Taiping Army, but Shi Dakai’s military ability is too strong. Even though the Taiping Army is now on the decline, it still cannot be underestimated!

The Qing army was filled with shock, anger, and fear; however, there were also many people who were in high spirits. In the entire Jianghuai area, there were still at least 100,000 Taiping troops scattered in more than a dozen provinces, including Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangxi. The powerful ones had about 20,000 to 30,000 troops, while the smaller ones had perhaps only 1,000 to 2,000 troops.

The news of the fall of Tianjing and the Heavenly King's suicide spread, and the entire Taiping Army was in chaos. Even Hong Renxuan and Li Xiucheng, who were in charge of government and military affairs, were dead. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was doomed! The Taiping Army soldiers had already fallen into despair. Only their common faith kept them going. However, no one knew how much longer they could hold out.

At this critical moment, Shi Dakai suddenly appeared and fought all the way from Sichuan to Anhui! He won victory after victory, even defeating the Hunan Army generals Zeng Guoquan and Bao Chao. This undoubtedly gave all the Taiping Army a shot in the arm!

Lu'an.

There was a Taiping Army staying here, and it was a Taiping Army whose strength should not be underestimated. The leader was none other than Chen Decai, the King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Chen Decai was the cousin of King Ying Chen Yucheng, and was the remnant of King Ying's Taiping Army in the northwest of Anhui. At that time, Chen Decai was ordered to go north and west to Henan and Shaanxi to expand the army, and he broke away from Chen Yucheng. When he returned, he received the news that King Ying had died.

Chen Decai had to lead a large army to fight against the Qing army near Lu'an in northwestern Anhui, and has been holding on until now with great difficulty.

"Prince Fu, good news, great news! Prince Yi, Prince Yi Qiansui, actually defeated the main force of the Hunan Army led by Zeng Guoquan at Wusong Mountain! The Hunan Army of over 40,000 men was reduced to only over 10,000 men, with heavy casualties. Haha, Prince Yi is back, and our lives will be better in the future!"

King Hu Lan Chengchun shouted with laughter.

Chen Decai was also happy. Yes, King Yi had returned. Back then, they were all King Yi's old subordinates. It was a time when they were leaderless, but King Yi suddenly appeared and raised the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom again!

"Yes, that's great! King Yi has arrived. With his immense prestige and ability, he's more than enough to lead us in re-establishing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's unparalleled legacy! Anqing, haha, Anqing is only four or five hundred miles away from us. Come on, reorganize the army immediately and march towards Anqing in three days!"

Guangde, Anhui.

The Taiping Army, which had been in a dilapidated state, was marching with difficulty. The team was in a miserable state, with ragged clothes and almost all of their weapons lost!

As they were marching, a fast horse came galloping up to the leader, Prince Yang Li Mingcheng. The horse jumped off the horse and shouted, "Prince Yang, Prince Yang, good news, good news! Prince Yi has won a great victory. Prince Yi has conquered Jiujiang and Anqing along the Yangtze River and defeated Zeng Guoquan at Wusong Mountain. We are saved, we are saved!"

Li Mingcheng was greatly encouraged. He grabbed the brigade commander by the collar and shouted, "Are you telling the truth? Is it really the King of Wings who has returned?"

The brigade commander nodded repeatedly and shouted, "It's absolutely true, Prince Yang, it's absolutely true, it's definitely Prince Yi. Apart from him, no one in the Taiping Army can defeat the 40,000 Hunan troops led by Zeng Guoquan and Bao Chao!"

"So where is King Yi now?"

"Prince Yi is currently stationed in Anqing and has announced that he is summoning all Taiping forces to gather in Anqing to revive the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

"Order the army to rest immediately. Tomorrow morning, three thousand brothers, rush to Anqing with all your might!"

Li Mingcheng was overjoyed. He no longer had to worry about being annihilated. Since the arrival of King Yi, he had defeated Zeng Guoquan's 40,000 Hunan Army. Such strength was definitely not to be underestimated. It is good to lean on a big tree for shade. With King Yi, what else did he have to worry about?

In addition to Chen Decai and Li Mingcheng, the Taiping Army in Zhejiang, Henan, Jiangxi and other places also received news of great victories one after another. The various Taiping Army units began to advance into Anhui as if they had been injected with chicken blood. The entire Jianghuai area became lively again. The unusual and crazy movements of the Taiping Army also made the Qing army very nervous, and they kept mobilizing troops to respond.

In Anqing, Shi Dakai is now in high spirits. In a short period of time, six or seven Taiping armies have arrived in Anqing one after another. The first to arrive was Chen Decai, who was the closest. Chen Decai led nearly 20,000 people into Anqing, which greatly increased the strength of the Taiping army. Not only that, the other Taiping armies are also strong. Together, there are almost 20,000 people. Shi Dakai suddenly has nearly 40,000 more troops. Even if they are of varying quality, the combat power is already quite considerable!

Moreover, the most exciting thing is that Shi Dakai's strategy has achieved initial success. The entire southern Anhui area has fallen into the hands of the Taiping Army. Shi Dakai has already controlled four prefectures and twenty-four counties! If this development continues, it will take less than half a year for Shi Dakai to march eastward and northward, occupying all of Anhui and then marching into Jiangsu!

Similarly, the news quickly spread from Jiangnan to Beijing.

Prince Gong's Palace.

When Yi Xin was taking a nap, Wen Xiang rushed in from outside, "Your Highness, something big has happened!"

Yi Xin opened his eyes, his heart was shocked, and he looked at Wen Xiang in surprise. Wen Xiang has always been steady and rarely so anxious. His face has changed!

"Bochuan, what's wrong? Speak slowly! The sky won't fall!"

Wen Xiang said in a hoarse voice, "Your Highness, this time, I'm afraid the sky is really about to fall. Half a month ago, the Taiping rebel leader Shi Dakai marched out of Sichuan, passed through Hubei, and went straight down the river, taking Jiujiang in one fell swoop. A few days ago, he captured Anqing again, and then launched a decisive battle with Zeng Guoquan and Bao Chao at Wusong Mountain..."

Ok?

Yi Xin jumped up and asked, "What? Shi Dakai captured Jiujiang and Anqing?"