"Caught Li Xiucheng! We caught Lee so-so!! ”

Li Xiucheng's initiative to confess his identity once did not dare to make the cavalry soldiers of the Wu Army who surrounded him believe that even if the other captured Taiping soldiers identified Li Xiucheng's identity, and Wu surpassed a virtuous Wu army soldier who was still suspicious, and finally it was under the identification of the fifth wave of Taiping Army prisoners crying bitterly that the Wu army cavalry believed that they had gone lucky and really caught Li Xiucheng, the real No. 2 person in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! Then, the great news of the successful capture of Li Xiucheng also spread quickly throughout the entire Nanjing Dongcheng battlefield at the same speed, and continued to spread rapidly throughout the entire Nanjing battlefield.

I have to explain, after hearing this good news, Wu Chaoyue's first reaction was to maintain a high degree of doubt, and asked suspiciously: "Caught Li Xiucheng?" Really? Can our cavalry have such good luck? Immediately send Wu Jianying and Yang Youqing, these long-haired generals, over to see if it is true or not, and if it is Li Xiucheng's trick to get rid of the golden cicada. ”

And in the end, it was only after Wu Jianying, Yang Youqing and other great traitors of the Taiping Army proved Li Xiucheng's identity together, Wu Chaoyue jumped up from the handsome chair happily, dancing like a good brother Yang Xiuqing possessed by his father, and scared Dai Wenjie and Zhang Dejian and other cronies next to him to raise their hearts to their throats, for fear that Wu Chaoyue would suddenly commit some madness like Fan Jin.

Diametrically opposed to the ecstatic Wu Chaoyue, the Feng Sanbao Corps of the Wu Army, who had made great contributions to the capture of Li Xiucheng, did not have much time to cheer, because Qin Rigang, another important figure in the Taiping Army, was still leading the army to fight them to the death, saying that he would break through their blocking positions and flee for his life, and at the same time, there were many Taiping Army leaders who were mixed in the chaos and disappeared, and letting any of them go may affect the future situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Therefore, Feng Sanbao's corps, which was about to run out of ammunition, still did not dare to relax at all, and was still fighting desperately with the Taiping army, desperately capturing and killing every Taiping army soldier, which was extremely hard, and tired to the point that words could not describe it.

Fortunately, it was confirmed that the main brigade of the Taiping Army was breaking through to the east, and the mobile combat forces that the Wu army could use had already rushed to Dongcheng to help the battle, helping Feng Sanbao's corps to block the enemy brigade and hunt down the sporadic defeated soldiers of the Taiping Army. greatly reduced the pressure of the Wu army, and indirectly helped the Wu army capture many important figures of the Taiping Army, including Li Xiucheng's son-in-law Cai Yuanlong.

Looking down from the sky bird, there are Wu soldiers wearing white hats everywhere outside the east city of Nanjing, and there are also Taiping soldiers who are fleeing under the interception and pursuit of the Wu army, the sound of shouting and killing and screaming resounded through the world, blood splashes can be seen everywhere, gunshots are heard everywhere, the slogans of surrender and the screams of running and walking are one after another, thousands of Taiping soldiers and soldiers were captured and killed, including both ordinary Taiping officers and soldiers, and there are many important ministers and famous generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Mo Shixuan, the highest official in charge of criminal law in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was knocked off his horse by his own soldiers in the chaos, then trampled on his leg by the rebels, and finally held a tattered arquebus by two Wu soldiers and civilians who were driving the car. When he was captured, because he was wearing the clothes of an ordinary soldier, he was relatively incorruptible and did not have much gold and silver with him, and he was treated as an ordinary prisoner of war by Wu Jun's husband and was not rescued in time, and almost died of his injuries in the Wu army's prisoner of war camp.

Xiao Youhe, the young king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Xiao Chaogui's eldest son and Hong Xiuquan's nephew, the official title of the Taiping Army Tianjing Shence Right Bi Army is in charge, Chaogang is in charge of the rate, and the degree of favor is not pressed by Meng Shiyong's Taiping Army big celebrity, he was caught up by the Wu army soldiers during the escape, and before he could open his mouth to identify himself, he was immediately shot to death by a most ordinary Wu army soldier, and it was only two days after his death that his identity was confirmed.

Lin Shaozhang, the old man of Jintian of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the younger brother of Lin Fengxiang, a famous general of the Taiping Army, was chased by the cavalry of the Wu Army during his escape to the east.

Thousands of high-ranking officials of the Taiping Army were like a group of rabbits chased by hungry wolves, covered in mud and blood, and were either captured or killed in the melee, and very few could really escape the Wu army's blocking and pursuit, the huge bureaucratic class of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was almost empty, and the small court of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Nanjing, which had been painstakingly founded by sacrificing countless soldiers and people, also completely collapsed and never returned to its former glory.

The real culprit of all this is, of course, Long live Hong Xiuquan, the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, if it weren't for Hong Xiuquan's insistent provocation and shameless sneak attack, Wu Chaoyue would not have changed his strategic plan and was forced to attack the Taiping Army, an anti-Qing ally, first. If it weren't for Hong Xiuquan's blind command and indiscriminate interference, Li Xiucheng would definitely have hoped to calmly break through with the Taiping Army, and the Taiping Army would not face today's catastrophe. However, for the sake of the future war between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and in order to end the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cult rebellion that had been a disaster for more than ten years, Wu Chaoyue and the Wu army could no longer show mercy to their subordinates, and doing their best to wipe out the Taiping army on the Nanjing battlefield was already the only correct choice for Wu Chaoyue and the officers and men of the Wu army.

In the fierce battle, relying on the sacrifice of some of the old brothers in Guangxi, Qin Rigang, another important general of Taiping, still luckily rushed past Feng Sanbao's personally led army to block the attack, and rushed through the Wu army's blocking position covered in blood. However, Qin Rigang soon found that the nightmare was far from over, and the soldiers of the Wu army, who were rushing from other battlefields, had already woven a net north of Xiaolingwei, and set up a set of bows and sets up a set for him to drill, and the last few hundred people in Qin Rigang's hands had almost no possibility to rush past Xiaolingwei, and in desperation, Qin Rigang had no choice but to flee to the Purple Mountain Mountains in the north with the remnants of the defeated generals, in a vain attempt to use the complex terrain of the mountains to cover and get rid of the pursuit and killing of the Wu army.

It's a pity that the cavalry of the Wu army focused on guarding against the large number of defeated soldiers of the Taiping army, and before Qin Rigang rushed to the vicinity of the Ming Tomb with hundreds of defeated soldiers, the cavalry of the Wu army had already caught up with him, and a stray bullet hit the back of Qin Rigang's neck in the melee, which resulted in his life on the spot, although many of the remaining defeated soldiers of the Taiping army successfully escaped into the mountains and forests, but no one could have the prestige and appeal of Qin Rigang to convince the public, resulting in the rapid scattering of the defeated soldiers in the mountains and forests, and they could no longer stir up any wind and waves.

Several other culprits who led to the complete failure of the Taiping army's breakthrough plan Ji Qingyuan and Fang Haizong and others have been trapped in the city of Nanjing, and several times led the army to try to break through from other city gates, but they were repelled by the Wu army guarding outside the city, and the army around them also became smaller and smaller, and finally Fang Haizong was tied up by his subordinates and dedicated to the Wu army, Yuan Dehou took the initiative to lay down his arms and surrender, Chen Decai and Li Rongfa were still leading the army to fight street battles with the Wu army, and many Taiping army diehards who could not escape from the city also joined them, However, there were no strong fortifications to defend, ammunition and weapons were no longer guaranteed, and the performance of the Taiping army in the street battle was not as brave and outstanding as a few days ago, and it was only a matter of time before it was completely wiped out by the Wu army.

One of the most noteworthy is Ji Qingyuan, after carefully analyzing the melee situation, Ji Qingyuan actually took his soldiers to turn around and go north, wanting to break through from the gap in the Shence Gate that the Wu army had blown up before, but the Wu army Hu Huaizhao who guarded the Shence Gate was really caught off guard by Ji Qingyuan, and because of the excessive consumption of strength in the previous battle of the Shence Gate, he was killed and injured by Ji Qingyuan, and Wu Chaoyue could only personally lead the Chinese army battalion team into battle, and it took a lot of effort to block Ji Qingyuan's crazy counterattack, drove the Jiqing Yuan army back to the city of Nanjing.

During this period, if Sect Leader Hong could make a decision and let the Nanjing Taiping Army led by Meng Shiyong protect him and launch a breakthrough, then with the physical strength advantage and sophisticated equipment of Meng Shiyong's army, it was actually very certain to break out of Nanjing with a bloody way, and it could not be said that it was hopeless to get rid of the Wu army's pursuit and escape from the Nanjing battlefield. But it's still a pity, Hong Xiuquan, who has been accustomed to a luxurious life, has said that he doesn't want to eat two stubbles anymore and suffer two stubbles, staying in the former Ming Palace City and refusing to move his nest, Meng Shiyong, who is in charge of the army for Hong Xiuquan, has neither the courage and courage to forcibly hold Hong Xiuquan hostage to break through, nor has the experience and eyes to see this God-given opportunity, but stupidly took nearly 10,000 Nanjing Taiping troops to stick to the palace, watching the Wu army annihilate the Taiping army outside the city, and completely surround the palace where Hong Xiuquan is hiding.

In the end, on the night when Li Xiucheng and others were captured, Hong Xiuquan summoned Meng Shiyong and some accompanying civil and military officers, and ordered Meng Shiyong to protect his other three sons to break through the siege overnight and escape from Nanjing to make another living, and then Hong Xiuquan issued the last holy decree in his life, the full text said:

"The public is relieved, I will go to heaven immediately, receive heavenly soldiers from my heavenly father and brother, and return to the mortal world to kill the demon soldiers, first surpass the little demon, and then destroy the demon court, rejuvenate the heavenly kingdom, and unify the country for thousands of years. Chin this. ”

After announcing his final will, Hong Xiuquan first ordered the guards to forcibly drive away Meng Shiyong and others, who were crying and kowtowing, and then took a torch and sat down among his more than eighty young and beautiful princesses, as well as the treasures piled up in the Jinluan Hall of the former Ming Dynasty, and said to the crying kings and mothers with a smile: "What are you crying about? I take you to heaven to be blessed, what is there to cry about? If you have to laugh, you will laugh at me. ”

After that, Hong Xiuquan threw the torch in his hand into the firewood and grass piled up around the Jinluan Palace, and the firewood and grass that had been drenched with fire oil and gunpowder immediately burned and spread rapidly, and soon surrounded the Jinluan Hall in a raging fire, and in the sea of smoke and fire, Hong Xiuquan's calm shouting voice sounded, "Don't cry, laugh!" I am going to take you to see my Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, and I must not let me lose face in front of Heavenly Father and Emperor God, and lose face in front of Heavenly Brother Jesus! ”

The death of the master of the Hong Dajiao, who was unworthy of Yang Xiuqing, Li Xiucheng and Shi Dakai, who were unworthy of carrying shoes by Yang Xiuqing, Li Xiucheng and Shi Dakai, completely pitted the nearly 10,000 Nanjing Taiping troops led by Meng Shiyong, as well as the three sons he entrusted to Meng Shiyong - seeing the sudden fire in the palace city, the old sparrow Cao Yanzhong, who led the Wu army soldiers to surround the palace city, analyzed it with his toes, and also knew that the Taiping army in the palace city was ready to abandon the city and break through! Therefore, in addition to preparing for the battle immediately, Cao Yanzhong also sent people to contact the armies outside the city as soon as possible, so that all friendly troops were also ready to intercept, and laid a net early to wait for the Taiping army to drill.

Diametrically opposed to Cao Yanzhong, Meng Shiyong, who had never been on the battlefield once, wasted precious time, first cried outside the Jinluan Palace for a long time to sacrifice Hong Xiuquan, and then ordered the army to prepare to break through, and also chose to break through in Dong'anmen, which was destined to be blocked by the Wu army. Leaving only the corpses and wounded all over the ground, they had to retreat into the city and choose another south side of the noon gate to break through.

From there, the narrow palace gate seriously restricted the speed of the Taiping army out of the city, and the soldiers of the Taiping army were all overturned by the Wu army's muskets and artillery in rows, and at the same time, the narrow area of the palace city was destined to have sufficient troops to tightly seal every space, so Meng Shiyong even imitated Li Xiucheng to blow down the wall of the palace with gunpowder, and the Taiping army could not rush out for a long time. Meng Shiyong's department was like a rat that fell into the jar, no matter how he rushed left and right, fleeing from the south to the north, he couldn't break out of the wine jar that had been blocked at the mouth of the altar, and he hit his head and bled and died and injured in vain, but it never had any effect.

In the end, when the sky was completely bright, the Nanjing Taiping Army led by Meng Shiyong still failed to break through the fire blockade of the Wu army and escaped from the palace, and Meng Shiyong, who was completely helpless, could only hold Hong Xiuquan's three sons and cry in front of the Jinluan Palace, which had been burned to ruins, and deeply blamed himself for being incompetent and useless, unable to complete the instructions that Hong Xiuquan gave to him before his death. As a result, when Meng Shiyong was crying to death, a personal soldier suddenly came to report and said: "King Yu Youzan, the demon soldiers sent a messenger to Dong'an Gate with a white flag to surrender, saying that as long as we lay down our arms and go out of the city to surrender, they will spare our lives and guarantee that none of us will be killed." ”

If it was replaced in peacetime, Meng Shiyong, who was loyal to the Hongda Sect Leader to the bones, would definitely not hesitate to order the shooting, and let the soldiers immediately kill the Wu soldiers who came to surrender, but now the situation is different, looking at the three Hong Xiuquan young sons who were crying with tears and snot all over their faces, Meng Shiyong thought about it for a long time with tears, and still ordered: "Go and tell the demon soldier messenger that it is okay for us to surrender, but there are two conditions, first, you must not kill the three highnesses left by the Heavenly King, and promise to spare their lives." Second, bury the body of the King of Heaven, and do not insult or injure him, so that the King of Heaven can be buried in peace. ”

The envoy of the Wu army brought Meng Shiyong's reply back to Cao Yanzhong, and Cao Yanzhong also confirmed the news that Hong Xiuquan had self-immolated and died, but Cao Yanzhong did not dare to make decisions without permission and agreed to the two conditions proposed by Meng Shiyong, so he could only continue to tightly seal the former Ming Palace City to prevent the Taiping army from taking the opportunity to break through, and at the same time send someone to contact Wu Chaoyue, report the situation to Wu Chaoyue, and ask Wu Chaoyue to make a decision in person.

"Promise the two conditions of Changmao, and promise in the reputation of this king that he will never kill Hong Xiuquan's son, and also promise to bury Hong Xiuquan's body and let him be buried in peace!"

This is Wu Chaoyue's categorical reply, and then Wu Chaoyue was afraid that Meng Shiyong would not believe it, so he asked Dai Wenjie to write a letter of commitment stamped with the seal of the king of Zhennan, and asked the messenger to take it back and hand it over to Meng Shiyong. At the end, Wu Chaoyue also said a few words to himself, and said: "It can't be said that Hong Xiuquan has no contribution, without him founding the God Worship Sect to unite people's hearts, there would be no Jintian Uprising, no Taiping Army swept through China, and the blow shook the Manchu rule, without the Taiping Army, there would be no me today, and the Manchu forces of the Eight Banners in the south would not have suffered such a heavy blow." In the anti-Qing cause, Hong Xiuquan still has merit, and he should be allowed to keep a whole corpse. ”

After Wu Chaoyue's personally signed and sealed letter of commitment was sent to the palace, Meng Shiyong cried loudly again, hesitated for a long time before making up his mind, let his own soldiers tie himself with a white cloth, and then personally led Hong Xiuquan's three sons, walked out of the Qianming palace city crying, and knelt down in front of the Wu army to surrender. Most of the remaining Nanjing Taiping soldiers also obeyed Meng Shiyong's orders, laid down their arms and surrendered to the Wu army outside the palace, only a small number of diehards resisted stubbornly, but they were quickly killed by the Wu army's soldiers, and the Nanjing palace city fell, Hong Xiuquan's corpse, as well as countless treasures he scavenged, also fell into the hands of the Wu army.

When the news of Meng Shiyong's surrender was reported to Wu Chaoyue, it was close to evening, the sun was about to set, and although there were still some battles in Nanjing, the gunfire became less and less, and more and more sporadic, representing the imminent destruction of the Taiping army in street fighting. Looking at the gradually setting sunset, Wu Chaoyue was silent for a long time, and after a while, Wu Chaoyue suddenly opened his mouth and asked, "Where is Yang Xiuqing?" Didn't the prisoner we captured say that he had been detained by Hong Xiuquan's side all along? Where did he go? ”

"Yuzhen Nanwang, Meng Shiyong confessed, the night before yesterday, the big long-haired Hong Xiuquan had already strangled Yang Xiuqing, and the body was buried in the flower bed in the palace." The messenger sent by Cao Yanzhong reported truthfully.

Wu Chaoyue stopped talking again, and after another moment, Wu Chaoyue also showed his singing voice in public for the first time, and sang: "Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is green. The evening breeze blows the willow flute, and the sunset is outside the mountain. The end of the sky, the corner of the earth, the acquaintance is half scattered. A pot of turbid wine is full of joy, don't dream cold tonight. ”

Singing emotionally, Wu Chaoyue also shed tears, and the tears were not just for his good brother Yang Xiuqing.