Li Hongzhang did not go to Changshu and came to Suzhou precisely because he received a letter of surrender from these eight Taiping traitors. These eight people vowed in front of King Tan Shaoguang that they would live and die with Suzhou and fight until the last moment.

Behind his back, he asked the Qing army to surrender and asked to meet with Li Hongzhang to negotiate conditions. They are not the old brothers of Liangguang, they all joined the Taiping Army in order to have a future, seeing that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is no longer working, in order to save their lives, they also want to seek a future, so they plan to betray Tan Shaoguang as a stepping stone to change the court.

Outside Suzhou, Li Hongzhang's camp.

Gao Yongkuan and eight others came here with a small number of guards to negotiate with Li Hongzhang about surrender.

Li Hongzhang was copying calligraphy, and it was a habit for him to practice calligraphy every day, and at this time he deliberately suppressed the secret joy in his heart. Long hair comes to surrender, and he can easily take the important town of Suzhou, Zeng Guo has not made progress in besieging Tianjing for so long, and his Huai army is progressing rapidly. Compared with the two, he felt that he had won over his teacher Zeng Guofan.

"I've seen the Governor." Gao Yongkuan and the others were still a little trembling after entering the camp, after all, it was someone's territory, and the two parties were not familiar with each other, so they couldn't get to the end.

Li Hongzhang did not show a very happy expression, but said lukewarmly: "Look at the seat." ”

After a few words of greeting, the two sides finally came to the point.

"Although the generals have betrayed the imperial court and served the bandits, the imperial court has always been based on benevolence, righteousness and forgiveness, as long as you sincerely ask the governor to surrender, from now on you will change your mind and be a good citizen of the court. This governor can be merciful and give you a way out. Li Hongzhang made his words clear.

Gao Yongkuan's eight people suddenly fell silent, and no one answered for a long time.

Gao Yongkuan, who was finally the leader, stomped his feet and said: "If the imperial court agrees to give us the post of chief soldier, we can surrender the city." ”

"Yes, bring the top flower feather and we can descend!" King Kang Wang An echoed.

Li Hongzhang frowned slightly, these eight people are so angry, they want the position of chief soldier when they come up, and the eight chief soldiers are not something they can agree to.

"Does your Suzhou commander Tan Shaoguang agree to surrender?" Li Hongzhang diverted the topic.

"He is from Guangxi, and he fought all the way out of Guangxi with Long Hair, he will not surrender. But it doesn't matter, our eight soldiers have an absolute majority in Suzhou, and it doesn't matter if he agrees or not! Gao Yongkuan replied.

"This is not good, you have to be foolproof, you must bring this Tan Shaoguang's head. Only then can our Huai army enter the city and accept Suzhou. Li Hongzhang said loudly.

"This 。。。。。。" Gao Yongkuan hesitated slightly. After all, Tan Shaoguang and they were comrades-in-arms who were born and died, and they were upright and upright, so he couldn't do this.

"What's so difficult about this, give you the head, and give us the hat of the chief soldier?" Wang Anjun on the side agreed, only his own future and safety were in his eyes.

Li Hongzhang rolled his eyes and immediately agreed: "There is no problem, this governor will definitely ask the imperial court, and it should not be difficult with your status." Li Hongzhang agreed, in fact, this matter is too difficult, but he has no faith, so he casually agreed. He understood that as long as Tan Shaoguang, the strongest main battle faction, died, these eight people together would not be able to hold Suzhou City, and it was only a matter of time before they could surrender Suzhou City.

Gao Yongkuan was not worried about Li Hongzhang's promise, he didn't care very much about whether he had the position of chief soldier, he only hoped that Li Hongzhang would not turn his face and deny people, and his life and safety would not be guaranteed after he surrendered.

So he said to Gordon, an Englishman next to Li Hongzhang: "I also ask this gentleman to be a witness to ensure the safety of our brothers after surrendering." ”

The foreign devil has a simple thinking, where can he understand the twists and turns in the heart of Li Hongzhang, the old fox, and accept it in one bite. In the eyes of them in the West, it is a matter of course for them to surrender and not kill.

With the testimony of foreigners, Gao Yongkuan's heart relaxed a little, and then said to Li Hongzhang: "After the dedication of the city, our brothers' team will wear white scarves on their arms, and please be merciful and don't hurt them by mistake." ”

"No problem." Li Hongzhang agreed, anyway, the initiative is in his own hands.

In this way, Gao Yongkuan and other eight people reached a preliminary agreement with Li Hongzhang and returned to Suzhou City.

Tan Shaoguang, the king of Mu, is not a fool, these days fighting against the Qing army, he obviously feels the slackness of the other kings, and every time the danger is the charge of his own team to force the Qing army back. So he strengthened the defense of Suzhou, when one of his personal soldiers told him that Nawang Gao Yongkuan quietly went out of the city last night, Tan Shaoguang faintly felt that something was wrong, Gao Yongkuan was the second only general to himself, why did he go out of the city without permission?

Tan Shaoguang felt that he had to grasp the situation of the generals in Suzhou, unify their thinking, and prevent them from having different intentions, so he invited the main generals to his mansion for a meeting.

In King Mu's mansion, Tan Shaoguang looked at Gao Yongkuan with sharp eyes, slapped the table and said loudly: "King Na, what did you do when you went out of the city last night?" ”

Gao Yongkuan was a thief and defended in a low voice: "I went out of the city to kill the enemy." ”

"At this time, you are still lying, you are honest, have you become a demon and want to surrender to the demon?" Tan Shaoguang said sharply.

Gao Yongkuan knew that he couldn't hide it, so he said in a showdown: "King Mu, the army of the imperial court outside the city has besieged Suzhou to death, and now the city is about to be destroyed." As a brother, I advise you, those who know the times are junjie, it is better to surrender to the court together, and you can have a good future. ”

Tan Shaoguang's lungs exploded after hearing this, he pointed at Gao Yongkuan and said: "The surname is Gao, the kingdom of heaven is not thin on you, and it is the king of loyalty who asks for credit for you, so he named you the king." Are you going to become a demon now, worthy of King Zhong? Are you worthy of the kingdom of heaven? We have 200,000 soldiers and civilians in Suzhou City, and there are nearly 100,000 heavenly soldiers. ”

After Tan Shaoguang finished scolding Gao Yongkuan, he glanced at the other people and found that their eyes were wrong, and they didn't seem to be standing in the same line with him at all. He suddenly woke up, angry and anxious, and pointed to everyone: "Have you all become demons?" ”

The most vicious Wang brothers in the crowd, Wang Anjun, King Kang, and Wang Huaiwu and Wang Youwei, the generals of heaven, pulled out their sabers and surrounded Tan Shaoguang.

Tan Shaoguang knew that something was wrong, so he pushed away Wang Anjun, who was pulling out a knife in front of him and slashing at him, but he couldn't dodge the vicious two knives behind him, and was cut to the ground by Wang Huaiwu and Wang Youwei in the back, and fell in a pool of blood.

The three Wang clan brutally cut off Tan Shaoguang's head and sent a signal outward. The men and horses they brought also rushed into Tan Shaoguang's Muwang Mansion, brutally killing hundreds of people up and down the Muwang Mansion, and then looking for and killing more than 1,000 people in the old Muwang Mansion in the military camp.

Since then, Suzhou has completely fallen into the hands of these traitors.