Yang Shuang and Yang Xiuqing actually still have a chance, if he can reveal his plans and decisions to the subordinate officials of the Eastern King in advance, and consult the opinions of other henchmen and henchmen a little, then Li Junliang and Liu Shaoting, who have read a few history books, will definitely remind him not to follow Cao Shuang and the Lu clan and give his head to Hong Xiuquan to cut off. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

There is also Hong Renji, an alternative to the Hong family, who will definitely risk the infamy of betraying his brother on his back to persuade and block it. - Because Hong Renji and Yang Xiuqing have been too close in recent years, Yang Xiuqing is not bad to Hong Renji, and at the same time, Hong Renji also knows too well what kind of temper his brother is.

But it's a pity that Yang Xiuqing didn't discuss with these loyal subordinates. He made up his mind and sent Yang Runqing out of the city again to contact Shi Dakai to discuss the important matter of returning the power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to Hong Xiuquan. In the end, when the army of Yang led by Shi Dakai was approaching the city, and the Nanjing defenders controlled by the Yang brothers were ready to surrender in Kaicheng, Yang Xiuqing officially announced this decision to the subordinate officials of the Dongwang Mansion in the Dongwang Mansion.

There was an uproar in the hall, and almost all the officials of the Dongwang Mansion who were loyal to Yang Xiuqing couldn't believe their ears at all, and they all exclaimed loudly and asked, "Long live the Dongwang, aren't you joking?" There are still more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in Tianjing City, and the money and food are enough to support a year, how can they surrender to Shi Dakai and other traitors? ”

"Don't persuade me, I've already made up my mind." Yang Xiuqing shook his head and said with a tired expression: "This king is too tired, I don't want to worry so much anymore, and it is indeed true that this king secretly communicates with demons for the sake of heaven, and the soldiers don't understand it so much, if this king doesn't admit his mistake quickly, not only will he die without a place to be buried, but he may also affect you." ”

This is the first time that Yang Xiuqing has admitted that he is true in front of the officials of the Eastern Prince's Mansion, but the officials of the Eastern Prince's Mansion, who had already been mentally prepared, were not surprised, on the contrary, they shouted one after another: "What is the fault of secretly communicating with the demons?" Long live the East King, you secretly communicated with the Qing Demon at that time, in order to deal with our more dangerous enemy to surpass the little demon, as long as you explain the truth to our soldiers, what do they not understand? ”

"Long live the East King, you must not open the city to meet the thieves!" Hou Qianfang also knelt down on Yang Xiuqing's knees, kowtowed desperately and said: "Hold on to the closed city, no matter how critical the situation is, no matter how difficult the situation is, our lives are still in our own hands." But if you open the city gate and let the thief army in, long live the king of the east, you will be someone else's anvil and let others slaughter the fish and meat. ”

"Long live the East King, we still have a way." Hong Renji also had the courage to persuade: "Although we are now embattled and surrounded by enemies, we can still ask for help from the little demon beyond and ask him to send troops to save us, and if it falls into his hands, it is better than falling into the hands of others, at least he can be considered trustworthy, and he will not cross the river and tear down the bridge, unload the mill and kill the donkey." ”

It's still a pity that the bitter persuasion of the officials of the Dongwang Mansion failed to have any effect, and Yang Xiuqing, who was already physically and mentally exhausted, couldn't listen to it at all, Yang Runqing and Yang Zhuanqing also persuaded the people of the Dongwang Mansion in turn and said: "Don't persuade you, my brother has made up his mind." Rest assured, our brother has asked the Heavenly King to issue a holy decree to forgive all the people in the Eastern Palace, and the Wing King 8,000 years old has also promised to keep you from dying, and you will not be in any danger. ”

"We are not afraid of death!" Li Junliang, who has always been docile, rarely yelled in public, and then knelt down on Yang Xiuqing's knees, and said with tears in his eyes: "Long live the East King, we don't want to watch you die in vain!" Hong Xiuquan is saying it beautifully now, because his life is still in your hands, and he has to promise you everything. But once you open the city gates and let the thieves outside the city enter the city, no one can guarantee what he will do to you! ”

"Long live the East King." All the subordinate officials of the East King Mansion knelt down and begged, and they all said: "Open the city gate, long live the East King, your life and death, honor and disgrace, all of them are involuntary." ”

At this time, someone from the Jubaomen side came to report, saying that Shi Dakai had finished arranging outside the Jubaomen, and asked Yang Xiuqing to fulfill his promise, immediately open the door to change the defense, and hand over the control of Nanjing City, and at the same time, the combined forces of Ye Yunlai and Wu Ruxiao were also ready to enter the city in Yifengmen, and also asked Yang Xiuqing to open the city and surrender.

Even if things come to this point, Yang Xiuqing actually has a chance to turn back, as long as he refuses to open the door with an order, with the sturdiness and height of Nanjing's city, Shi Dakai and Ye Wu's combined forces want to break in, and it is by no means that they can break it. At the same time, facing the officials of the Eastern Prince's Mansion who were crying and kowtowing to stop him, Yang Xiuqing's heart was also very hesitant, and he did not give the order to open the city.

At the critical moment of deciding success or failure, Meng Deen stood up and said with false respect: "Long live the East King, if you hesitate, you might as well ask the two national sects to go to the city to lead the troops to defend the city, and at the same time send someone to tell Shi Dakai, just say that you still have to think about it, let Shi Dakai give you a little more time to think about it." ”

The first time I found that Meng Deen also had a cute side, Li Junliang, Hou Qianfang and others hurriedly nodded in agreement, Yang Xiuqing was also somewhat moved, but Yang Runqing scolded: "Nonsense! Promised the Winged King 8,000 years old, if we suddenly repented and didn't believe in the first place, and the Winged King 8,000 years old retaliated and didn't believe in us, then what should we do? ”

"Yes, brother, either open the city or fight to the death, you must not hesitate and repeat, take the lead in not keeping your promises!" Yang Zhuanqing also said the same.

The words of the two straw bale brothers moved Yang Xiuqing, making Yang Xiuqing wave his hand to the two younger brothers in pain, and said, "Go, go and open the city gate." ”

Yang Runqing and Yang Zhuanqing agreed, and immediately rushed down to personally organize people to open the door, but the officials of the Dongwang Mansion stopped them, pulled the sleeves of the sleeves, and pulled the belts, and they all cried and shouted: "Two national emperors, wait a little longer, let us persuade the East King to live again." ”

Yang Runqing and Yang Zhuanqing were pulled by everyone and couldn't move, so they could only come back to see what Yang Xiuqing meant, and Yang Xiuqing sighed: "Everyone, your kindness, this king understands it." Rest assured, I will not live up to the king, and the king will not live up to me! ”

After that, Yang Xiuqing also ordered the palace guards to pull everyone out and let their two younger brothers go out to pass the order, Li Junliang, Hou Yukuan and Lu Xianba and other Yang Xiuqing's henchmen all cried loudly, crying and begging constantly, Hong Renji also glanced at Yang Xiuqing with a pale face in despair, and secretly said in his heart: "Military genius, officialdom stupid!" ”

It's open! It's open! Yang Runqing has made meritorious contributions! Yang Zhuanqing has made meritorious contributions! Don't give any chance to the loyal ministers of the East Palace! Great political fools, they have inherited the great glorious tradition of political rookies, King Zhao Wuling, the kings of the Lu family, and the Cao Shuang brothers are possessed by their souls at this moment! Yang Runqing and Yang Zhuanqing represent the stupid failure examples of power struggles in Chinese history! At this moment, they are not two people fighting, not two people fighting!

The door is open! The Yang army has entered the city! The civil war in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is over! The Great Heavenly King, the Great Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, has been reset today! Long live the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! Long live the king Hong Xiuquan!

In the end, in the stunned reaction of Yang Xiuqing's soldiers, Yang Runqing and Yang Zhuanqing finally forced the Nanjing defenders to open the Jubaomen and Yifengmen successively, and handed over weapons and cities to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led by Shi Dakai to ask the Yang coalition army to quickly take over the city defense, and at the same time divide the troops into the city, while besieging Yang Xiuqing's Dongwang Mansion to prevent accidents, while going straight to the Tianwang Mansion to meet Hong Xiuquan, reopen the Golden Dragon Hall of the Tianwang Mansion and ask Hong Xiuquan to ascend to the palace and regain control of the military and political power of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Fortunately, Shi Dakai is obviously a man of his word, and after entering the city, in addition to disbanding Yang Xiuqing's guards, he really did not have any intention of harming the Yang family, on the contrary, he hugged Yang Xiuqing and cried, and scolded Yang Xiuqing for secretly communicating with the Qing court with tears, and then personally led Yang Xiuqing to the Tianwang Mansion to meet Hong Xiuquan, and begged Hong Xiuquan to pardon Yang Xiuqing and treat the Yang family well in public.

Hong Xiuquan also seems to be a person who believes in his word, first wiped his tears and counted Yang Xiuqing's previous achievements for the Taiping Heavenly State, and wept silently several times, and then issued a holy decree, announcing the pardon of all Yang Xiuqing's crimes, retaining the title of East Wang, changing the title to 9,000 years old, so that Yang Xiuqing still returned to live in the East Palace, and the supply should be doubled, and married one of his daughters to a son of Yang Xiuqing on the spot, and announced that he would never investigate the guilt of the people under the East Palace. Most of the subordinate officials of the Eastern Wangfu were also somewhat comforted, and they all bowed their heads and thanked them.

As Hong Xiuquan's brother, Hong Renji, who is also a subordinate official of the Dongwang Mansion, of course, received special favor, Hong Xiuquan not only personally left his seat to help him get up, but also canonized him in public as the elite and loyal military division of the Kai Dynasty, and granted Hong Renji the right to assist him in commanding a hundred officials. After Hong Renji was forced to accept the canonization, the officials of the Eastern Prince's Mansion and the generals of the foreign army led by Shi Dakai naturally looked at Hong Renji with very different eyes from usual.

Then, Hong Xiuquan issued a holy decree to reward the army of King Qin, set up a banquet in the palace of the king of heaven to entertain the generals who had made meritorious contributions to King Qin, and drank happily with Shi Dakai and others, and talked about the major events of rebuilding the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As a result, it was at this time that Shi Dakai and others were surprised to find that Hong Xiuquan, who had been under house arrest by Yang Xiuqing in the Heavenly King's Mansion, not only knew the general situation of the world today, but also knew the specific details of Wu Chaoyue's Northern Expedition from the Taiping Army.

At the end, Hong Xiuquan smiled and asked Shi Dakai again: "Brother Yiwang, I heard that the little demon is also planning to send another batch of grain and grass to Shanghai, and then send troops to launch the Northern Expedition, where is his second baggage and grain fleet now?" ”

"There's no news yet." Shi Dakai replied: "The fleet that surpasses the little demon is down the river, and the speed is very fast, unless it is the heavenly army of Hukou, Pengze and Anqing who send letters by fast boat day and night, otherwise we generally will not receive the news in advance." ”

"This is the biggest hidden danger of our kingdom of heaven." Hong Xiuquan sighed and said: "Brother Yiwang, have you thought about it, if you let the little demon destroy the Qing Demon Court and free up his hand to deal with us with all his strength, then he will go down the river from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and from Zhili Shandong on the other hand, how can our Heavenly Kingdom resist?" ”

Shi Dakai was silent, and only replied after a while: "The two Northern Expeditions of the Kingdom of Heaven have failed miserably, and the vitality has been greatly damaged, and the civil strife has just ended, and all kinds of waste are waiting to be rebuilt, but when we urgently need to recuperate, at this time, it is the best choice for our Heavenly Kingdom to borrow the way to exchange time for the Northern Expedition of the Transcendence Demon." ”

To Shi Dakai's great surprise, Hong Xiuquan, who was so stubborn and almost paranoid in the past, nodded and said: "Brother Yiwang is right, now we need time to recuperate, and we can't be in a hurry to turn against him, I will issue a holy decree tomorrow, continue to borrow the road to the Transcendence Demon, let his fleet transport grain to Shanghai, without any obstruction, and send a messenger to Hubei to discuss with the Transcendence Demon." ”

never expected that Hong Xiuquan, who once hated Wu Chaoyue to the bone, would become so reasonable, Shi Dakai of course quickly nodded in agreement, praising the wisdom of the Heavenly King. Hong Xiuquan laughed, and suddenly announced Zhou Lichun, the general of Zeng Lichang's department, in front of him, praised him for his loyalty to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and gave Zhou Lichun a position of deputy prime minister of the summer palace in public, and gave another heavy reward, leaving Zhou Lichun in Tianjing.

On that day, Hong Xiuquan and the generals of King Qin dispersed happily, but in the dead of night, Meng Deen, who had never said a word to Hong Xiuquan throughout the day, mysteriously appeared in the Heavenly King's Mansion, kowtowing to Hong Xiuquan with tears, congratulating Hong Xiuquan on his comeback and coming back to power.

Holding Meng Deen with his own hands, Hong Xiuquan also left tears, choked up and said: "Meng Aiqing, I have worked hard for you, if it weren't for you, how could I have today?" But even if you have made great contributions to me, I can't reward you in public, on the contrary, I have to reward Hong Renji who eats inside and out, don't you blame me? ”

"That's the love of the king of heaven for his subordinates, and it's too late for his subordinates to be grateful." Meng Deen wiped his tears and thanked him, and he also understood very well that Hong Xiuquan deliberately didn't take much care of his good intentions.

"Meng Aiqing, I will crown you as King Zan now! As soon as the limelight passes, I will be officially canonized immediately! Hong Xiuquan said categorically: "In addition, I will also reorganize the Heavenly Army into five roads, and set up five commanders to lead the commander, and you will be in charge of the Chinese army, and I will command the Tianjing soldiers and horses!" ”

"Thank you for the great grace of the king of heaven, Weichen is broken to pieces, it is difficult to repay the great kindness of the king of heaven in case of emergency." Meng Deen first thanked him respectfully, and then cautiously reminded: "Long live the Heavenly King, I'm afraid you can't rush the matter of reorganizing the Heavenly Army, right?" Heavenly King, your power has been lost for a long time, and most of the soldiers and horses of the Heavenly Kingdom are controlled by foreign generals, and if you hastily reorganize, you are only afraid that the generals will ....... ”

Speaking of this, Meng Deen, who had always been cautious and accustomed to it, had already stopped talking on his own, but Hong Xiuquan laughed and said: "Meng Aiqing, you said it too politely, what Heavenly Kingdom soldiers and horses are mostly controlled by foreign generals, the entire Heavenly Kingdom, the entire Tianjing, except for the female battalion soldiers under your command, which army is not controlled by foreign generals, and which army can truly be loyal to me?" ”

"The King of Heaven is not confused." Meng Deen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: "Since the Heavenly King knows the situation, then Your Majesty has the courage to ask, Heavenly King, what do you plan to do?" ”

"First of all, of course, we have to appease the generals from other places, especially the Wing King Shi Dakai, and stabilize them at all costs." Hong Xiuquan did not hide it from Meng Deen, and said: "Then I have to set up a powerful enemy for them, so that they have no choice but to bow down to me, and then this king can let go and organize the army of the heavenly kingdom." ”

Obedient and listening, Meng Deen immediately understood what Hong Xiuquan meant, and asked in surprise: "Heavenly King, do you want to start a war against the Transcendence Little Demon?" ”

"Sooner or later, there will be a war." Hong Xiuquan said coldly: "Seize the favorable opportunity to turn around and start a war, not only will I grasp it to the maximum, but I can also take the opportunity to take back the military power." ”

Knowing Hong Xiuquan's character, Meng Deen was not too surprised that Hong Xiuquan dared to take the initiative to provoke the courage to fight with the Wu army - it would be fought sooner or later anyway, and Meng Deen was also very clear about this. Therefore, Meng Deen only asked carefully, "Long live the Heavenly King, when is the most favorable time?" ”

Hong Xiuquan smiled and replied: "Of course, when the food baggage that surpassed the little demon was hoarded in Shanghai, apart from that time, what other time could he be more passive?" Let's be more proactive? ”

…………

Hong Xiuquan's military ability is not worthy of Yang Xiuqing's shoes, but in terms of playing with power, Hong Xiuquan has thrown Yang Xiuqing more than eight streets. No, it was only the next day, Hong Xiuquan found Shi Dakai to discuss, saying that the Tianjing defenders who had just laid down their weapons and left the city were all the old troops of the Yang family brothers, and it must be a huge hidden danger to stay in Nanjing, and asked Shi Dakai to come forward to incorporate most of Yang Xiuqing's old troops and bring them to the battlefield in other places to continue to play a role.

Shi Dakai didn't hesitate and couldn't help but accept Hong Xiuquan's kindness with some joy, but correspondingly, because Shi Dakai drained the blood of the defenders of Nanjing, in order not to leave Nanjing without an army to defend, of course, Shi Dakai could only send more than 10,000 people from his descendants to Hong Xiuquan to defend Tianjing. Leave the army that has had enough of suffering and suffering outside in Tianjing for Hong Xiuquan to buy and entrap as much as he wants, but he continues to run around with nearly 20,000 defenders of Tianjing who have been used to enjoying blessings.

Hong Xiuquan's means are not only that, on the same day, Hong Xiuquan issued a holy decree to frantically canonize the king, Feng Zeng Lichang as the king of Sheng, Li Shixian as the king, Wu Ruxiao as the king of Gu, Ye Yunlai as the king of Qing, on the surface it seems to reward the meritorious generals of King Qin, but in fact it is deliberately elevating their status, allowing them to stand side by side with Shi Dakai, weakening Shi Dakai's influence in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army At the same time, he also made a big deal to buy people's hearts, and took the opportunity to transfer their army to stay in Nanjing for their own use, and Yang Xiuqing, Shi Dakai's old departments restrained each other.

In addition, Hong Xiuquan also issued an edict to appease Huang Wenjin, the guard general of Peng Ze, who had previously firmly supported Yang Xiuqing, pardon him for all his crimes and keep him in his place. As for Yang Fuqing, who defected at the last moment, Hong Xiuquan not only praised him, but also promised that as long as Yang Fuqing could clean up Yang Yuanqing, who was still in Yanzhou, he would also canonize Yang Fuqing as king.

When Hong Xiuquan was playing power tricks in Nanjing, the main force of the Wu Army's naval division led by Wang Fu also protected the huge Wu Army's baggage fleet into Jiangsu Province, and also learned about the earth-shattering changes that had taken place in Nanjing through the news provided by the Taiping Army.

Then, the difficult choice was put in front of Wang Fu, a historical nobody, which was to continue to carry out Wu Chaoyue's orders and continue to protect the huge baggage fleet to rush to Shanghai? Or make a quick decision, immediately turn around and return to Hubei, so that Wu Chaoyue can make a new decision according to the changes in the situation?