Xiang Rong and Ulantai began to camp on the outskirts of Wuxuan and Guiping counties, and the general troops from all walks of life also led their troops to slowly advance, forming a horn trend with each other, gradually turning the big encirclement into a small encirclement, with the aim of compressing the living space of the Taiping army in the area of Bauhinia Mountain, so that it would lose the opportunity to break through through the gap.

Half a month later, Xiang Rong supervised the army to advance twenty miles from the northwest of Wuxuan and camped at the upper reaches of the Qianjiang River; The first section of Ulantai also advanced from the northeast of Guiping to Shuikou Village, and the other general troops marched to the area of the Guankou River, and all the Qing troops were only less than ten miles away from the front line of the Taiping Army. The Taiping army had been compressed into a small space, unable to move.

Du Sheng is an old acquaintance of the hometown of Hou Zhi, the third master, relying on this relationship, he also mixed a small boss position in the Heaven and Earth Society, and when he defected to the Taiping Army, he should also be a two Sima according to the regulations. Who would have thought that Hou Zhi would be killed, and his backer would be gone. Later, the second master, Luo Gang, became the commander of the division, and swept the cronies of the original big boss and the third boss to the end, and he also lost his position and became an ordinary soldier.

Du Sheng was originally a person who ate and waited for death, but now that his backing has fallen, his future is gone. I used to eat, drink, prostitute and gamble, but now I don't even think about it. Since the beginning of the summer, the food of the Taiping army has been getting worse and worse, there is no meat, no mention of the vegetables, the soup has faded out of the birds, there is no taste at all, and this day is unbearable.

He is a very practical person, he doesn't believe in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom worship God at all, his idea is very simple, whoever can live a good life will follow him. The Qing army's routine persuasion every morning made him moved, as long as he surrendered to the past, they would not care about their previous suspicions, and they could also get ten taels of silver to return home.

Ten taels of silver was also a big temptation for him, and Du Sheng had already secretly planned the time to escape. He observed the camp every day during the day to see if there were any unsecured wooden stakes, and at night under the pretext of nocturia, he went to the thatched hut to observe the free time of the Taiping Army patrol. Because he was afraid that the toilet time would be too long and arouse suspicion, he only dared to stay for a short time at a time, and finally let him find a gap for four or five consecutive days.

This night, Du Sheng took a nap during the day, and kept his eyes open at night, preparing to escape from the camp at night while no one was there and join the Qing army. Finally, at midnight, he walked out of the barracks of their group of people, and avoided the Taiping army patrol team at night.

There was no sound at all in the silent night, and occasionally a gust of night wind blew through, making it feel a little cold.

"Who?" Suddenly, a dark whistle screamed.

Du Sheng was startled, he pretended to be calm, and hurriedly replied, "It's me, who went to the thatched house." ”

The dark whistle frowned: "Why did you run here, it's almost out of the camp here." Turning back, the hut was on the west side. ”

"Yes, yes, I didn't see it clearly at night, and I went wrong." Du Sheng hurriedly turned around and walked back.

The dark sentry didn't care, his main task was to monitor the enemy army and prevent the enemy from attacking the camp at night, seeing Du Sheng dressed in the uniform of the Taiping Army, he really thought that he had made a mistake, and he didn't think about the enemy.

Du Sheng was drenched in a cold sweat, but he couldn't go back now, it was too long. He had to go around and around, and finally found an opportunity for him to come to the side of a camp wall. The stake here was loose, and Du Sheng lifted the stake, then supported it with the prepared stick, and climbed out like a dog.

Out of the camp, he ran all the way again, then crossed a small river, and finally ran out of the territory of the Taiping army, and the sky was already bright at this time. After another hard journey, Du Sheng finally arrived near the camp of the Qing army.

A patrol of Qing troops was about to return to the camp, Du Sheng hurriedly ran over and knelt on his knees, "Du Sheng, a criminal citizen, come to surrender." After speaking, he kowtowed again and again.

"Who are you? Is it a spy who sent bandits? A lieutenant of the Qing army at the head saw his long hair, pulled out his saber and shouted.

"I'm really here to surrender, not a spy, not a spy." Du Sheng hurriedly explained, and kowtowed three times in a row.

"Oh, if you really want to surrender, learn a dog bark for your master first." The lieutenant finally saw Du Sheng's appearance clearly, and saw that he had no weapons, so he put away his knife and deliberately teased him.

Du Sheng already regretted it a little in his heart, he never expected that the army of the imperial court didn't treat him as a human being at all, but at this moment he had no way out. "Woohoo." Du Sheng swallowed his anger and learned to call three times.

"Hahaha." The surrounding Qing soldiers burst out laughing.

"Have you ever seen a dog standing?" The lieutenant chuckled.

"Nope!"

"Then why don't you hurry up and climb down and continue to call Lao Tzu!" The lieutenant flew up and kicked Du Sheng to the ground.

Du Sheng didn't dare to disobey, so he could only crawl on the ground and learn a few more dog barks. The Qing soldiers saw him as a soft bone, you kicked me and punched him, pulled his long hair, and played with him as a human target.

At this time, a group of cavalry passed by, led by a pair of yellow coats, wearing flower feathers, surrounded by a large number of guards, quite magnificent. When the other Qing soldiers saw this, they immediately stood up and knelt down to salute.

"Help, my lord, I'm here to surrender." As soon as Du Sheng saw this formation, he knew that it was a big official, as if he saw a life-saving straw, and ran to the side of this big official.

"Are you a bandit who came here?" The person who came was none other than Ulantai, who happened to be passing by here this morning and met Du Sheng.

"Yes, yes, this lord, the criminal minister Du Sheng is here to surrender." Du Sheng hurriedly replied.

"When will it be reversed?" Ulantai didn't even look at him squarely, and asked in a condescending tone.

"The Taiping Army, which just joined today, has never fought with the imperial court, my lord." Du Sheng seemed to see hope, and he kept repeating it.

"Then why did you surrender to the imperial court?" Ulantai continued to ask.

"The villain was originally a good citizen, and he was coerced into the Taiping army, and he didn't dare to resist the imperial army, and it was a dead end to follow the bandits." Du Sheng changed his smiling face and said flatteringly.

"Really?" Ulantai snorted coldly, looking completely unconvinced.

"Adult, the villain can't eat enough with the bandits, and he really can't survive before he comes to run." Du Sheng didn't dare to deceive and told the truth.

"And what is your position in the bandit camp?" Ulantai squinted his eyes and looked at Du Sheng slightly.

"I don't have a position, the villain is just a small soldier, I haven't been on the battlefield, the adults have bypassed me and treated me as a fart." In order to survive, Du Sheng knelt down again and kowtowed desperately.

Ulantai glanced at him with disdain, and pretended to say, "Okay, don't kowtow." You can find out in your conscience that it is not too late to abandon the darkness and turn to the light. Take him to the camp office to get ten taels of silver, and send him back to his hometown. ”

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Du Sheng's face was relieved, and he felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart, he finally mixed up the money.

Several Qing soldiers grabbed Du Sheng's arm and escorted him into the camp of the Qing army.

At this time, one of Ulantai's entourage leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Lord Dutong, do you still follow the old rules?" ”

"It's just a waste, it has no use value at all, and it should be done according to the old rules." Ulantai commanded coldly.

Du Sheng came to the camp office, and the camp chief gave him a piece of paper, on which many words were densely written, and he couldn't read it. "What is this?" Du Sheng asked cautiously.

"This is your confession, and you promise not to rebel when you go home in the future. You don't care so much, press a handprint here, take the silver and leave quickly. The battalion chief said impatiently.

Du Sheng didn't dare to ask more, so he quickly dipped his thumb in the ink and pressed his red handprint under the paper.

"Take the money, go to the back room, shave the hair on your forehead, tie your braids, and go." The camp officer put away the paper with his handprint, and then put ten taels of silver in Du Sheng's hand.

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir." Du Sheng took the silver with a smile, weighed it, and there were really ten taels, and immediately smiled happily, and followed a Qing soldier into the back room.

The room was not large, the light was poor, and there was a pungent smell, and I vaguely saw a head shaver approaching.

"Honestly, sit down here and I'll shave your head." The man shouted.

"Okay, okay." Du Sheng's heart was relaxed for a while, with these ten taels of silver, he could mix well for a few days, and enjoy a while of happiness, this time it was really not in vain.

When Du Sheng was seated, the shaver picked up the razor, but instead of shaving his hair, he cut Du Sheng's throat.

"A head of a bandit spy was issued, and ten taels of silver were seized as military funds." Ulantai's retinue walked in, and Du Sheng's head was registered as the Qing army's military exploits, and the silver he exchanged for his life also went into Ulantai's private small treasury.

Du Sheng died, he didn't close his eyes, and before he died, he realized that the strange smell in this house was the smell of human blood. His head was placed in a secret room, and there were already dozens of heads of the Taiping soldiers who had come to surrender, most of whom were dead and regretted leaving the Taiping army before they died.