The 8th Division of the 10th Division, which occupied Suzhou, left only 4,000 soldiers to defend the city of Suzhou, and the remaining 7,000 soldiers, under the leadership of the division commander Chen Tianshi, took the warships of the 10th Division, the requisitioned civilian ships, and the grain transport ships of the grain road, along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and went straight to Wuxi County. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Yiliang, the governor of Liangjiang in Wuxi City, led 500 banner soldiers to ride around the Taiping army in the outer city of Changzhou City on horseback, passed Danyang without entering, and ran to the newly occupied Zhenjiang City in one breath, which was relieved.

And Yiliang's escape naturally made the Qing troops defending the city in Wuxi feel that the end was approaching, and they all scattered and fled.

Before the captive army arrived in Wuxi, Wuxi City had been opened, Wuxi County Commander Sun Yunpei and Jinkui County Ling Hong Kejing led hundreds of people including the squires and eunuchs of Wuxi and Jinkui counties, beating gongs and drums to greet the captive army on the side of the canal.

Wuxi City is the same city of Wuxi and Jinkui County, as soon as I heard that the captive army occupied Suzhou City, even Jiangsu Jiangsu according to the envoy Wu Qitai, Suzhou Governor Pinghan and so on surrendered to the Holy State, and the Liangjiang Governor Yiliang fled, so that the small Wuxi City felt that the general trend had gone, so the guerrilla generals and two thousand generals who defended the city all fled to Jiangyin City.

As soon as they saw that the officials had fled, the 2,000 green battalion soldiers took off their Qing soldier uniforms and fled in all directions; The 4,000 regiments did not listen to the command of the regiment commander at all, and dispersed in a hurry, and most of them fled to the homes of relatives in the countryside and hid, for fear of being caught and beheaded by the captive army.

There are only hundreds of old, weak, sick, disabled Qing soldiers and poor soldiers left in Wuxi City, and they are powerless to resist.

As soon as the two county orders were summed up, after a little discussion, a decision was made: take the initiative to surrender!

Maybe it was the gentle township in the south of the Yangtze River that made these people lose their blood, or maybe it was because they were used to flattering the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and before the captive army arrived in Wuxi City, there were hundreds of people who followed the two local officials and gentry who surrendered to the county. In order to please the new masters, these local tycoons even sent boxes of silver ingots, ready to be presented to the generals of the begging army who were about to enter the city, so as to make a good impression.

got off the boat and stood on the official road two miles outside Wuxi City, facing the squires with slave whips who lined up in two rows and beat gongs and drums to welcome him into the city, Chen Tianshi looked helpless. However, he is the most annoyed to befriend these local tycoons or something.

In his opinion, it is better to arrest all the local wealthy gentry and gentry like when he was in Xiangnan before, confiscate all the property, behead all the bullying men and women to show the public, and send the rest to the cave for mining.

It's so easy, and you can get a lot of money. But since the implementation of the new version of the "Holy Country Farmland System", the Holy King has not allowed this to happen. At the end of last year, the commanders of each division and brigade were summoned back to Guangzhou by the Holy King in batches for intensive training, and the Holy King specially explained to them that now the Holy Kingdom has occupied as many as several provinces, and it is no longer a rogue, and it is no longer a rogue, but it is necessary to begin to pay attention to public opinion, learn to compromise, stabilize them first, overthrow the Manchu Qing and then rectify them.

At that time, the Holy King spoke very deeply, and Chen Tianshi didn't understand a lot, he only knew that now he couldn't kill people indiscriminately and confiscate their family property.

So, with a reluctant smile on his face, he accepted the welcome and kindness of a squire.

Sun Yunpei and Hong Kejing were still appointed and dismissed as county commanders in Wuxi and Jinkui counties to maintain local tranquility.

After a day of repair, another 1,000 captives were left to defend the city, and Chen Tianshi led 6,000 soldiers to continue to march to Changzhou City in the north.

……

Outside the city of Changzhou, Shi Dakai was discussing with several brothers of the same clan how to attack the city with a sad face.

The city of Changzhou has been besieged for several days, and it has not been taken.

Originally, I thought that the Qing Demon would be the same as usual, and after a few fierce attacks, it would hug its head and run away. Especially Shi Dakai heard that Xiang Rong, the head of the Qing Demon, had also died of illness in Changzhou City.

Unexpectedly, more than 20,000 Taiping soldiers fought bloodily for several days, killing and wounding more than nearly 2,000 people, and failed to capture Changzhou City. Yesterday, Shi Dakai even personally put on armor and went into battle, although the offensive was like a tide, he still failed to conquer Changzhou. The demons in the city are like crazy, and they will not retreat.

At this time, an astonishing news came, two days after the city of Suzhou was attacked by the southern captive army, the officials and generals of the Qing army in the city actually surrendered the city.

A large number of defeated soldiers and refugees from Suzhou, Wuxi and Jinkui flocked to the area of Changzhou City, and the gate of Changzhou City was closed, and many refugees gathered in the south of Changzhou City.

Shi Dakai suddenly thought of an idea, he pretended to claim that his Taiping army had not long defected to the Holy Country, in order not to cause disputes, he conceded military merit and the Eighth Division that was about to attack him, announced that he would retreat thirty miles, and wait for the Eighth Division of the captured army to arrive outside Changzhou City together, and then attack Changzhou City together.

In fact, it was to consume the strength of the Eighth Division and let them fight with Changzhou City, so that the Taiping Army could enjoy the benefits of the fishermen.

Early the next morning, the Qing army in the city tower found that the Taiping soldiers had retreated for thirty miles.

The Qing army in the city did not dare to move when they saw the long hair retreating, and then after learning the rumors, they suddenly realized.

The name of the governor of Changzhou is Zhang Guangzao, and he is also kind-hearted, seeing that so many refugees outside the city are all people from the Suchang area, he is very pitiful. Seeing that many of the refugees are young and strong, I think that in the past few days, many brave men have died in the city, and it is good to increase the number of troops to defend the city. So, after confirming that the long-haired thieves had retreated, they opened the south gate of the city and let the thousands of refugees enter the city.

The refugees are naturally grateful, and Zhang Guangzao is also very happy. However, the next moment, he couldn't be happier!

I saw that thousands of refugees had just entered the city halfway through, and in the woods in the distance, they suddenly remembered the earth-shattering shouts of killing. Hundreds of cavalry took the lead, and thousands of brave men followed, all Taiping soldiers with red scarves on their heads, armed with swords, spears, and birds, and rushed towards the city gate.

It turned out that Shi Dakai had already calculated that there would be a shortage of brave men in the city, so that refugees could enter the city. When the Taiping army withdrew its troops last night, they quietly sent thousands of troops to hide in the woods south of the city, and now they are attacking and killing the refugees when they enter the city. Moreover, after nightfall, hundreds of pro-soldiers were disguised as refugees and blended in.

Zhang Guangzao, the governor of Changzhou, panicked and hurriedly ordered the Qing army to block the mouth and close the city gate. It's just that under the crowding of thousands of refugees, how can hundreds of Qing troops guarding the gate be blocked?

What's more, there were hundreds of Taiping soldiers mixed in with the refugees, taking the opportunity to cause chaos and inciting the refugees to fight with the Qing soldiers.

At this time, Feng Zicai, the guard in the city, led thousands of Qing troops to arrive, and was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly stepped forward, whether it was a refugee or a long-haired thief, he directly ordered the Qing army to cut and kill, wanting to disperse everyone so as to close the city gate.

But at this moment, the Taiping soldiers outside the city had rushed to the city gate under the leadership of Shi Fengkui and Shi Mingkai and began to attack the city fiercely.

Several ladders were directly erected on top of the heads of the refugees blocking the city gate, and the Taiping army outside the city swarmed and rushed into the city along the ladders, slashing and killing the Qing army. And some other Taiping soldiers, holding ladders, began to climb the city wall and fight to attack the city.

The battle at the city gate soon became bloody and frightening the refugees who were originally blocking the city gate, and at this time, these refugees had almost run into the city, leaving only hundreds of Taiping soldiers mixed in to flank the Qing army from behind the city. Due to the unobstructed city gates, more and more Taiping soldiers came in.

The south gate of the city was occupied by the Taiping army, and it was crowded to the official road outside the city. On both sides of the city gate, there were also countless Taiping soldiers who used the ladder to attack the city, and the Qing soldiers and brave soldiers in the city threw them with wood and lime, but the Taiping soldiers did not retreat, but surged more and more.

Feng Zicai's eyes turned red. Although he was extremely brave, and he was defeated by slashing and killing Shi Fengkui, who was strong in martial arts, he was outnumbered after all, and the injuries he suffered when the Jiangnan camp was broken half a month ago had not yet healed, and the wounds were cracked and covered in blood.

Even so, Feng Zicai still slashed and killed more than ten Taiping soldiers one after another, and he was extremely brave, but because of such struggle, he lost too much blood and lost his physical strength, and was captured by the Taiping army.

Thousands of Taiping soldiers rushed into the city, spreading, more and more Taiping soldiers entered the city, more city gates were opened, and the city of Changzhou was broken.

In Changzhou City, Zhang Guoliang, who had just been promoted to acting chief soldier, heard the shouts of killing in the south and west of Changzhou and the north of the city, and did not see the news of Feng Zicai, the powerful general under his command, and knew that it was not good.

He was originally a bandit of the Heaven and Earth Society, very familiar with the Taiping army, and fought with the Taiping soldiers for several years, knowing that even if he surrendered, he would not be able to survive, so he immediately fled to Danyang with Xiang Rong's son.

In the city of Changzhou, Su Butong'a, the general of Jiangning, Fuxing, the governor of Jiangsu, Ji Shun, the chief soldier of Hezhou Town, and Qin Dingsan, the chief soldier of Guizhou Zhenyuan, who originally followed Xiang Rong, also led their troops to flee one after another.

But unfortunately, Yang Fuqing, the right wing of the attack on Jiangyin Shenpu, led 2,000 Taiping soldiers to ambush the river on the northeast side, and saw more than 100 horsemen fleeing from the east of the city, as if they were officials, and hurriedly stepped forward to block the bridge, and the birds fired together, and suddenly Zhang Guoliang, who was galloping on the bridge, fell under the bridge with a scream, and drowned in the river.