March 1, 1865. There is still a little snow left outside Chang'an, the capital city of Xintian. The charcoal brazier in the Chang'an court hall burned the house warmly. Although Hong Xiuquan, who was sitting on the dragon chair, still had the unique look of the sect leader on his face, those close to Hong Xiuquan could see that Hong Tianwang was actually restless. The generals on both sides of the Wenchen military generals had a deep face and did not say a word, and those who were impatient looked left and right, and their palms subconsciously clenched and loosened. Everyone has their own feelings, but they don't speak. The hidden love xù puts the entire court in a strange cyclone.

Finally, a female official walked into the court hall quickly, knelt down and said, "Tell the King of Heaven, the Wing King has arrived!" ”

Hong Xiuquan's face showed irrepressible joy, and everyone's eyes fell on the female official. Some people glanced at the female official and couldn't help but look at the door of the court.

"Let Brother Shi come in!" Hong Xiu said with a full life.

The female officer got up and walked out, and soon, a shout came from far outside: "King Xuanyi enters the hall." ”

At this time, everyone looked at the gate of the court, and in everyone's attention, Wing King Shi Da strode in. Shi Dakai "began the expedition" in 1857, at this time 8 years have passed, Shi Dakai set out from Jiangxi, attacked Zhejiang and Fujian, was blocked by Zuo Zongtang and then turned through Jiangxi into Hunan. After the Battle of Baoqing, he moved into Guangxi, later into Yunnan-Guizhou, and then into Sichuan.

In 1864, the people sent by Hong Xiuquan finally contacted the Wing King Shi Dakai. At this time, Shi Dakai attacked Chengdu and was defeated by Luo Bingzhang and had to go to Hanzhong. In the end, Shi Dakai finally obeyed Hong Xiuquan's order and "returned to Tianjing".

Out of Tianjing, into Tianjing. In a flash, it was eight years, and the Tianjing City where Shi Dakai left was Nanjing, and now Tianjing has become Chang'an. This change made the veterans of the Taiping Army feel a kind of sigh in their hearts.

However, no one looked down on Shi Dakai, and everyone knew that Hong Tianwang was able to leave Nanjing and arrive in Chang'an because Wei Ze was unwilling to join forces with the Taipings. Along the way, the Guangfu Army gave the Taiping Army a lot of help. Even the Taiping army was allowed to replace it with a new type of rifle. No matter how tattered the musket guns remodeled by the Taiping Army from arquebuses, the Liberation Army still collected all of them. In exchange for the Taiping army were cast-iron barrels, musket guns with bayonets. Relying on these weapons, the Taiping army was invincible in the unfamiliar northwest.

And Shi Dakai did not have such conditions, he completely relied on himself to fight in the southwest for several years, with fewer enemies and more. The Qing army failed to eat Shi Dakai's troops, and let Shi Dakai lead tens of thousands of horses to Chang'an. As the only surviving one of the earliest five kings of the Taiping Army, he is a leader in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who is second only to the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Everyone did realize Shi Dakai's ability.

Unlike Wei Ze, who completely broke away from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and went it alone, although Shi Dakai broke away from the Heavenly Kingdom, he always admitted that he was still a member of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, for Shi Dakai's return, the civil and military forces of the Heavenly Kingdom are very happy.

Shi Dakai has also changed. When he left Heaven in 1857, Shi Dakai was 26 years old in his prime, and now he is 34 years old. Time has left the marks of the years on the face of this famous general. The high-spirited youth has become a calm middle-aged. Even the civil and military generals who were dissatisfied with Shi Da's happiness couldn't help but be a little impressed by this demeanor.

"Participate in the Heavenly King!" Shi Dakai walked up to Hong Xiuquan and knelt on his knees. The worship ritual of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is to kneel, but not kowtow, so Shi Dakai calmly looked at the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan.

The moment Hong Xiuquan saw Shi Dakai, the joy in his expression faded. The anger in his face became heavier and heavier, making the civil and military people feel that Hong Tianwang was about to be furious. When this anger rose to its peak, Hong Xiuquan suddenly stood up and strode in front of Shi Dakai. He pulled Shi Dakai up and said angrily: "Brother Shi, you have been away for several years. Do you know how worried I am, brother?! ”

Having said this, Hong Xiuquan suddenly hugged Shi Dakai tightly and cried.

Such a change was really unexpected by everyone, but Hong Xiuquan cried sincerely, and many old brothers were moved and couldn't help crying. Even people like Lin Fengxiang who didn't believe in Hong Xiuquan couldn't help but sigh with tears in their eyes when they saw that the old brothers of the divided Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could be assembled again.

Shi Dakai didn't expect Hong Xiuquan to welcome him so warmly, let alone Hong Xiuquan to cry in public. His heart moved, Shi Dakai's eyes suddenly turned red, and tears couldn't help but flow out. "Brother Hong doesn't blame the younger brother, the younger brother...... The younger brother really doesn't know what to say. ”

"Brother Shi, the previous things are in the past. It's good if you can come back, ...... if you can come back, brother, I'll ...... Whining...... I'm relieved! Hong Xiuquan cried as she spoke.

There are also some people in the civil and military who are worried that Hong Xiuquan will point at Shi Dakai and scold, and even severely punish Shi Dakai. Unexpectedly, Hong Tianwang was able to make a clear statement to release his previous suspicions, and everyone's hanging hearts fell into their stomachs.

And Hong Xiuquan also wiped away his tears and shouted to the female officer: "Banquet!" Welcome back the Stone Brothers! Let's drink together today! ”

The environment of the banquet is easier to pull into feelings than in the court, and King Hong and the generals have clinked glasses with Shi Da. Shi Dakai roughly recounted his experience of the eight-year "expedition". Although Shi Dakai didn't say how many times he had survived, just listening to Shi Dakai had traveled almost all over the southwestern provinces, everyone knew his hardships over the years.

Of course, Hong Xiuquan also told that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had no relationship with Wei Ze at all, and in order to be able to establish the Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping army went from Nanjing, a place where the king was lacking, to Chang'an, the land of Longxing. Regarding the matter of being driven away by Wei Ze, the civil and military people were reluctant to mention it more. Hong Tianwang's statement is the official version.

The atmosphere of the banquet was harmonious, and everyone cried and laughed, expressing their parting feelings.

The next day, the ten most important princes, including Shi Dakai, held an internal meeting in the Heavenly King's Mansion. There is no need to talk so much nonsense this time. The latest situation is naturally clear. The Taiping army entered Shaanxi in 1862 and completely occupied all parts of Shaanxi in less than three years, and also controlled part of Ningxia.

The Taiping army did not think that there was a need to fight Wei Ze at this time. Just as Zeng Guofan believed that the Manchus now needed to wipe out the rebels in other provinces, unite the forces of the north and Sichuan, and finally fight a decisive battle with Wei Ze. The Taiping army also believed that if they wanted to fight for the world, they had to seize territory from the Manchu Qing Dynasty and enrich their strength. It's best to destroy the Manchus, if you can't destroy the Manchus, you have to gnaw off a few large pieces of meat from the Manchus.

After listening to the ideas of these high-level Taiping Army leaders for future strategies, Shi Dakai asked: "I don't know if you have taken the Hetao?" ”

The kings have also been in Shaanxi for more than two years, and of course everyone knows that "the Yellow River is only rich in one way". Naturally, there is no need to talk about the richness of the Hetao area. Lin Fengxiang said: "There is a monk Lingqin over there in the Hetao, but it is not too easy to fight. ”

Seng Lingqin's subordinates were mainly Mongolian cavalry, and if they could fight, they would fight, and if they couldn't, they would run. The troops of the Taiping Army were also mobile warfare, but mobile warfare, which was very good in the Jiangnan region, was very different in the northwest because of the geography and climate change. Relying on the superiority of firearms and troops, although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom controlled Shaanxi, it was still far from truly and completely controlling Shaanxi.

Shi Dakai then asked, "But I don't know which brother I am going to send to attack Sichuan?" ”

Wing King Shi Dakai can always point to the point, which makes everyone admire. Cultivating their own cavalry is not a matter of one or two days, and after the Taiping army gained a foothold in Shaanxi, it was ready to march into Sichuan. It's just that Shi Dakai asked like this, and everyone felt that something was wrong. After all, the Winged King has been away from Heaven for many years, and now when he returns, will he send troops again?

As if he didn't see the looks of the kings at all, Shi Dakai said: "My brothers came from Sichuan, if you want to send troops to Sichuan, you can let my brothers lead the way." ”

Lin Fengxiang's eyes lit up, "It's better for the Wing King to preside over affairs in Tianjing!" ”

"Yes! The Wing King should stay in Tianjing City! The kings responded to Lin Fengxiang's construction. One of the reasons why everyone welcomed Shi Dakai back was to hope that Shi Dakai could balance the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Hong Xiuquan is the king of heaven after all, and it would be fine if everyone went their own way, but there was no unified central command, which had a great impact on the war. They were all forced to run from Nanjing to Chang'an, and it is impossible to say that no one reflects on the reasons for this. Wei Ze was able to achieve such a feat, isn't it because Wei Ze said nothing in the Liberation Army!

Shi Dakai said calmly: "Heavenly King, brothers, when I was on the expedition, I felt that I was in a hurry, and I was still at peace with my brothers. When I returned to Tianjing City this time, I was not ready to leave again. It's just that I came from Sichuan and know a little bit about the situation in Sichuan. Now is a better time to fight Sichuan. But no matter if that brother goes to attack Sichuan, I won't go. ”

With Shi Dakai's statement, the kings were also relieved. In order to ease the atmosphere, Lin Fengxiang said with a smile: "Yiwang, if you don't talk about Sichuan first, will there be opportunities elsewhere?" ”

Hearing Lin Fengxiang's question, Shi Da laughed and said, "The Qing Demon will definitely think that we only want to seize Sichuan or Hetao. If you can send a surprise army at this time, you can go out of Tongguan to storm Beijing. I'm afraid that I can catch the demon off guard,"

This military plan was actually similar to the first Northern Expedition that year, and everyone just laughed after hearing it. Lin Fengxiang also laughed with everyone. After laughing, it was about Shi Dakai's use, in fact, the two sides had already sent the following people to contact. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been tossed for so long, and the official system has finally become clear. The chief official of the six prime ministers has a strong position. Shi Dakai served as the prime minister of Tianguan, and Lin Fengxiang served as the prime minister of the local official. After the change of Tianjing, the structure of Hong Xiuquan, Shi Dakai, and Lin Fengxiang reappeared. This is also a situation that everyone can accept.

After the meeting was over, Lin Fengxiang found Chen Yucheng, "What do you think of the idea that the Wing King said about sending a surprise army to Beijing?" ”

Chen Yucheng was stunned, "But I don't know who King Zhang is going to send?" ”

Lin Fengxiang replied: "The brothers of the Twist Army are familiar with geography, and I think it is good to send them. ”R1058