The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Western Expeditionary Army began its expedition on May 19. Under the command of Hu Yihuang, Prime Minister of Chunguan, and Lai Hanying, Deputy Prime Minister of Xiaguan, it first occupied Hezhou, Anhui, and then passed through Taiping and Chizhou. On June 10th, That day, Anqing, an important town on the north bank of the Yangtze River, was captured in one fell swoop. Later, Hu Yihuang took command in Anqing, and Lai Hanying led the inspection team Zeng Tianyang, commanded Lin Qirong and other troops with more than 10,000 troops to enter Jiangxi. On the 13th, Pengze was captured, and Hukou, Nankang, and Wucheng towns were captured. At the end of June, the entire army arrived at Nanchang City. It can be said that the journey has been unstoppable and the progress has been rapid.
However, Lai Hanying was dazzled by the easy victory. When he failed to capture Nanchang for the first time, he did not consider whether there was a better strategic plan. Instead, he ignited the flames of anger in his heart and vowed not to give up until Nanchang was taken. As a result, you and I fought for the top of Nanchang City, and the fight became a stalemate again. He had to quickly send people to Tianjing to request reinforcements.
At the end of July, reinforcements led by Guozong Shi Xiangzhen, Shi Fengkui and Wei Jun arrived in Nanchang. According to the edict of King Dong, Shi Xiangzhen unified the command of the two armies and quickly changed tactics. Using the method of encirclement and reinforcements, the Heavenly Army annihilated nearly 2,000 Qing soldiers sent by Jiangnan Camp Xiang Rongzeng to support the defense of Nanchang. They killed the commander-in-chief Yin Deb, and then quietly withdrew from Nanchang and disappeared without a trace.
When the Qing soldiers guarding Nanchang were still confused about the enemy's intentions, Shi Xiangzhen's army had already arrived outside Luzhou City on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Long before the Heavenly Army moved to Luzhou, Hou Fengfang, the Minister of the East Prefecture, entered Luzhou first. He came to see Hu Yuanwei, the prefect of Luzhou, on the secret order of King Dong.
Hu Yuanwei was born as a Jinshi. Since he did not have the backing of powerful people, he had no choice but to borrow money from relatives and spent countless gold and silver to donate to the real shortage of the prefect. He was cowardly by nature. After becoming a scholar in high school, he was once pointed at his nose and insulted by a neighbor woman. He remained extremely humble and submissive. All his relatives and friends laughed at him.
¡°However, no matter how cowardly you are, you may not be without your own strength. Although Luzhou is the temporary provincial capital of Anhui, it is not wealthy and the people are living in dire straits. After Hu Yuanwei donated his official position, he faced heavy debts, which he could neither deny nor plunder from the people. The dilemma made him feel more and more helpless. Seeing the sudden wealth of his colleagues and thinking about the constant blackmail from his superiors, he even regretted entering officialdom.
When he saw Hou Fengfang, for some reason, besides being surprised, he also felt a sense of novelty. He was surprised that the other party was so audacious that as a traitor to the imperial court, he came to his door without caring about the consequences. What was new was that as soon as the opponent opened his mouth, he directly hit his life gate.
From Hou Fengfang¡¯s calm demeanor and fearless posture, it can be seen that the opponent is completely prepared. The words made Hu Yuanwei feel that the other party not only knew the defense situation of Luzhou well, but also knew everything about himself.
"There are a total of three hundred garrison battalions in Luzhou City, and of course there are thousands of local warriors. But do you think they will do anything under the heavy pressure of our heavenly army? Haha, I don't think so. . The heavenly army will be approaching the city in a few days, with hundreds of thousands of troops. Does Governor Hu still have any hope for your court? You are a good official, and it can be said that you love the people like a son. However, as a court, there is only one and a half people like you. Such officials cannot save the people. You must have heard that our country rose up to save all the poor people. Our purpose is to eliminate all unfair things in the world and bring peace to the people! "
Of course Hu Yuanwei knows what the soldiers in the city are like. Apart from showing off their power with the people, he probably doesn't have much more ability. However, it is not easy to ask him to abandon the ethics and morals he is familiar with. At least he still had doubts. If the Taiping Army despised the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, would they value a corrupt Confucian like himself?
Hou Fengfang had already seen through his mind, "The prefect must still think that we just want to take advantage of you temporarily, say one thing and do another, right? Yes, we are saints who are against you, this does not mean that we are hostile All learned people. You can see, after we established the capital in Tianjing, have we ever burned books and harassed Confucians? No. Our Heavenly Father has admonished for this, "There is no need to abolish the books of Confucius and Mencius, which are consistent with the There are many truths in nature'. Don't listen to the instigation of people with ulterior motives."
"Your King Hong Tian destroyed the Confucius Temple and smashed the memorial tablets. This is all true."
"Yes, the King of Heaven also believed in Confucius and Mencius and studied the Four Books. However, due to fraud in the examination room and greed in the officialdom, you applied all the so-called etiquette to foreigners, but you exploited the common people. The memorial tablets of Confucius and Mencius have long been regarded by you as Fig leaf, how many of your officials have really paid attention to it in their hearts? The main theme of the Analects of Confucius is nothing more than the five words "gentle, good, respectful, thrifty, and yielding". Who has done it? What the king of heaven smashed in the past was what you inflicted on the people. inequality, but you officials have abandoned Confucius and Mencius in their hearts.tablet. Our heaven advocates that we have the same food to eat, the same clothing to wear, and everyone is a brother and sister. Is this contrary to what your saints said? "
It cannot be said that Hou Fengfang¡¯s eloquent talk did not touch Hu Yuanwei. He is from Cantonese, and the imperial court's cowardice and incompetence towards foreigners also impressed him deeply. There are even more people who have read the teachings of saints, but are full of male thieves and female prostitutes. After many contacts with Hou Fengfang, even though he was not truly convinced, when the Taiping Army surrounded Luzhou tightly like iron barrels, he still gritted his teeth and made a decision in order to protect the people in the city from the devastation of the war. . He sacrificed Shuiximen, allowing the Taiping Army to successfully occupy Luzhou.
Everything that happened from the withdrawal of the siege from Nanchang to Luzhou made Shi Xiangzhen, Hou Fengfang and others who knew the inside story full of admiration for His Highness Prince An's prediction. According to the advance arrangements of the King of the East, Shi Xiangzhen and Lai Hanying began to assign troops to clean up the surrounding small counties, mobilize local people in the far and near suburbs of Luzhou, divide the fields and property, kill local tyrants and bullies, expand the army and prepare for war, and immediately dispatched secret envoys to Huaibei. Yang, contact Nianzi who is having a great time there.
In more than a month, all the rural cities and towns in the areas controlled by the Tianjin Army in the west of Tianjing have been vigorously organized, with two commanders in charge of as low as twenty-five households, and as high as one in charge of thousands or more than 10,000 households. brigade commander, division commander, military commander and other management personnel. The heavenly dynasty has its own land for all tillers, shows sympathy to each other, helps each other in times of need, does not close the door at night, does not pick up lost things, the world is one family, and enjoys the sacred ideal of peace, the strict military discipline of the soldiers of the heavenly army, the amiable image of calling everyone brother, and the transaction is not only fair And even the act of intentionally paying more money was praised by the people who got real benefits. Their reward is that more and more people join the ranks of the heavenly host.
It was at this time that Shi Dakai arrived in Anqing.
While building momentum to cross the Huaihe River north, Shi Dakai left Lai Hanying to lead his headquarters and 20,000 newly recruited troops to garrison Luzhou, and only transferred Shi Xiangzhen's troops to go south. A few days later, Shi Xiangzhen's banner appeared again at the foot of Nanchang City.
Jiang Zhongyuan, the newly appointed Assistant Director of Military Affairs of Jiangnan Camp and Inspector of Hubei Province, received the urgent military report from Nanchang. Without saying a word, he immediately ordered 3,000 troops and horses to leave Jiujiang and rush to Nanchang's emergency aid. Due to his delay in judging the enemy's situation, a month ago, while he was chasing Shi Xiangzhen's troops, he got the news of the fall of Luzhou. For this, he was reprimanded by the court. This time, he could not let Changmao succeed no matter what. Unexpectedly, when he arrived in Nanchang, before he even had time to enter the governor's office, an urgent distress document followed him.
Jiujiang is in emergency! Jiang Zhongyuan fainted. What kind of battle is Changmao fighting? How can this be? When he stepped onto the city tower and saw the leader of the bandits outside the city, Shi Ni, fleeing far away with the banner, he had no choice but to believe this fact. The cunning Chang Mao was using a strategy to lure the tiger away from the mountain. He hurriedly bid farewell to Zhang Fu, the governor of Jiangxi, and embarked on the road back. Now that Anqing has been lost, Jiujiang cannot be lost again under any circumstances, otherwise the three provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi will be threatened by Changmao.
An idea is an idea after all, but the road is too long. It took nearly four days to get from Jiujiang to Nanchang. Without adequate rest, we rushed back in a hurry. No matter how anxious you are, the soldiers' feet are all made of flesh.
Governor Jiang Zhongyuan, leading the exhausted army, could finally hear the bursts of artillery fire coming from the direction of Jiujiang City, but before he could even see the slightest shadow of the city, he stepped into the city where he had been recharged and waiting for him for a long time. The heavenly army ambush the circle. Just like the Coiyidu in Quanzhou where he started his career, he set up an ambush there, felled trees to block the river, and intercepted the Taiping Army. He not only caused heavy losses to the Taiping Army, but also caused the martyrdom of the Southern King Feng Yunshan. Today, fate was such a coincidence. In the ambush circle of the heavenly army, they were greeted by soul-stirring angry shouts and a forest of swords that blocked the sky and closed the sun. The difference is that he and his men no longer have the spirit and courage that the Heavenly Army had to fight back in the past. They are only tired and have lost any ability to resist