Inside the city of Wuchang. In the www.biquge.info of the Huguang Governor's Office, Zeng Guofan, who was sitting on the Taishi chair, looked at Qinglin, the governor of Mubei, who came to visit him, and walked back and forth anxiously, and couldn't help sighing.

The day before yesterday, he received news that the Cantonese thieves in the south, after occupying Hanyang City for more than half a month, finally began to make some moves, crossing the river and preparing to go to the ground of Wuchang Mansion.

But now that his Hunan army has been basically trained, there are 11,000 Hunan army soldiers, and in recent months, he has recruited 10,000 soldiers in Wuchang City in the name of Mubei regimental training, and he is not afraid of Cantonese thieves attacking the city.

On the contrary, he was still a little excited, and immediately sent all the Hunan army sailors, a total of 4,000 people, to wait for the Cantonese thieves to cross the river halfway, and then intercept and kill.

Unexpectedly, the Cantonese thieves were only making frequent preparations, but they did not really leave the north bank of the Yangtze River to cross the river. Zeng Guofan ordered four naval division battalion officers Yang Zaifu, Zou Shouzhang, Chu Ruhang, and Xia Luan to take turns on duty, and sent people to monitor the movement on the north bank day and night, ready to block the attack at any time.

But yesterday, I overheard a report from spies placed in Huarong Town in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River outside the city that there were thousands of large and small warships flying the flag of the Cantonese thieves downstream, heading upriver from Huangzhou Mansion to attack Wuchang.

Thousands of warships? Zeng Guofan was a little unconvinced. Not long after, another outpost set up more than 30 miles downstream of the Yangtze River, and spies from Qingshan Town on the riverside also came to report that one or two thousand warships were already attacking on the river.

What the? Zeng Guofan was moved at this time, knowing that what the spy said was true. He hurriedly ordered the sailors to take advantage of the fact that the thieves downstream had not arrived outside Wuchang City to tentatively attack the thief ships on the Yangtze River outside Hanyang City on the opposite bank.

Yang Zaifu, Zou Shouzhang, Chu Ruhang, and Xia Luan each led a thousand Hunan army sailors, put into a fan-shaped attack formation, and wanted to attack on the other side, just set off not far away, before reaching the center of the Yangtze River, they heard the sound of cannons on the north bank, dozens of cannons smashed like meteorites, and kept falling around the warship, the cannons were huge, it was actually twenty or thirty pounds of iron bullets, two of which hit two wooden sail warships, and the small warships fell apart on the spot.

The four of them all looked gloomy, and looking at the power of this artillery, the thieves were already ready to wait for them to be sent. It is not easy to train the sailors and build the ships, so Yang Zaifu, who is the leader, ordered on the spot to retreat.

The warships were turning their direction, and the guns on the opposite shore were ringing again, but this time, five warships were shot and destroyed. Yang Zaifu and Chu Ruhang's hearts were dripping blood, but these five warships were brought by the two of them, and they didn't care about the formation at the moment, so they hurriedly retreated.

When Zeng Guofan heard this, his face sank like water, but he didn't blame them, he just sighed, and asked the four of them to lead the sailors to retreat the warships to the sand lake. Let it guard the two water gates leading to the Yangtze River from Shahu Lake to the city and cooperate with the defense of the city.

As soon as I finished dealing with the matter of the water master, I heard that Qinglin, the governor of the northern part of the country, had come to visit. Zeng Guofan knew what he meant. Sure enough, as soon as he entered the door, Qinglin said anxiously: "Brother Disheng, now that the Cantonese thieves are coming to attack in a big way, I heard that there are tens of thousands of soldiers and thousands of warships, what should I do, can this Wuchang City still be defended?" ”

"Brother Mo Qing, now that the state affairs have come to this, what is the difference between keeping it and not keeping it? It's just the duty of a courtier! Zeng Guofan sighed.

Hearing this, Qinglin's face turned pale, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't say anything, and only after half a sound did he sigh: "Brother Disheng, why has the state been so erosive in less than two years?" I heard that the Guangdong thieves were huge, and last month's defeat in Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu was all defeated by the officers and soldiers of the imperial court without a fight. The city of Suzhou was breached, because the governor of Liangjiang, Yiliang, fled in advance, and the officials of Jiangsu, Wu Qitai, the prefect of Suzhou, and Pinghan, the prefect of Suzhou, contributed to the city......

"Brother Mo Qing, what do you want to say? Regardless of whether he is Yiliang or Wu Qitai, Zeng will not surrender to the Cantonese thieves, let alone abandon the city. Zeng Guofan said categorically.

Hurriedly sent Qinglin away, Zeng Guofan's face was gloomy. From the tone of the other party, it turned out that he was here to probe his own tone, and he must have either the intention of abandoning the city and fleeing, or the idea of surrendering to the Cantonese thieves.

Zeng Guofan really sweated for the Qing court! The governor of a province already had such a mind before the thieves attacked the provincial capital, so how could the officers and soldiers defending the city fight to the death?

It seems that the Qing Dynasty is really exhausted!

Do you really want to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty? Zeng Guofan also kept asking himself questions in his heart. Then, Zeng Guofan smiled a little wryly: Do you still need to think about this?

……

At the same time, in a house next to the Wuchang East School Yard, Luo Zenan, the commander of the first battalion of the Hunan Army, sat in the main seat, and under it, Liu Rong, Wang Zhu, Li Xuyi, Luo Xinnan, Jiang Yili, Liu Tenghong, Yang Changjun, Zhong Jinheng and other generals and adjutants of the Hunan Army were present.

Luo Zenan saw that all the people present were his own Luomen disciples, and knew that there must be something related to him, and when he saw that everyone had almost arrived, he stood up and said to Wang Ju: "Pushan, you called me and others, what is the mysterious matter of God?" ”

It turned out that these people were summoned by his disciple Wang Ju and said that there was something to discuss.

"Sir, the disciple should not have done this, but because it was related to the master and the junior brother, he had to gather everyone to discuss the matter. Of course, in the end, it is the gentleman who makes the decision, and in any case, we are willing to follow him. What Wang Xin said was very mysterious, which made Luo Zenan even more confused, but his group of students treated him very respectfully, and it must not be a bad thing, so he watched quietly.

I saw Wang Xin take out a letter from home, hand it to Liu Rong next to him, and let him circulate it.

Liu Rong took a look, but the more she looked at it, the more unnatural her face became, and she passed the letter to Li Xuyi, who was next, and was silent.

Li Xuyi also looked unnatural, but there was a faint look of worry on his face. Luo Xinnan, Jiang Yili, Liu Tenghong, Yang Changjun, Zhong Jinheng and others who watched it in turn all had strange expressions on their faces, looking at Luo Zenan.

Luo Zenan couldn't sit still, and stretched out his hand to ask for a letter: "What is it?" Let you be so uneasy. Show me ......" Before he finished speaking, he closed his mouth. Because he had already seen the letter, it turned out to be written by his wife, Luo Zhang.

The letter was not written specifically to himself. The letter has a total of five pages, the first three pages are addressed to Wang Xin, Liu Rong, Luo Xinnan, and Jiang Yili, and the last two pages are for themselves, and there are two pages attached to the back.

After reading the letter, Luo Zenan's face changed! This letter stumped him!

Luo Zhang wrote a letter to tell him that now under the rule of the Holy Kingdom, life is all the best. In the letter, Luo Zhang's family talked to Wang Xin, Liu Rong, Luo Xinnan, and Jiang Yili, four familiar Luoshan disciples, about the changes in their hometown in Xiangxiang since they followed Zeng Guofan from Changsha.

Luo Zhang's family talked about the changes in life under the rule of the Holy Country, that is, the Cantonese thieves in the mouth of himself and others. Especially when he saw that his only son almost died again, he was rescued by the officials of the township office of the Guangdong thief, Luo Zenan felt very uncomfortable!

And seeing that the neighbors in his hometown have divided the fields, and his family's private land has not been forcibly confiscated, and the township office of this Cantonese thief has even sent people and cattle for free to help his family and the surrounding neighbors cultivate the fields, help with double robbery, harvest grain and plant seedlings. Luo Zenan was both happy and shocked: How can this Cantonese thief be so different from the long-haired thief, and it will be so good?

Not only that, but the township office even owes a so-called holy fertilizer on credit, according to Luo Zhang's words, it actually let his own seven acres of paddy fields, just one season of early rice harvest 33 stones, the average rice yield per mu of land, is 4 stones and 7 buckets.

However, the tax is actually much lower than that of the Qing Dynasty, and with so much increased grain production, Luo Zhang's and his son can eat enough for two or three years.

The key is the last page of the letter, Luo Zhang's wrote: "Zenan Wufu, the concubine sincerely advises my husband to resign and return to his hometown, retire to the mountains and forests, and stay together, isn't it wonderful?" If you still help the Manchu Qing Dynasty, then you and I will end up in love, and you can sign the attached letter of resignation and send it back, and it has nothing to do with it. ”

Luo Zenan bitter: Luo Zhang's this, sure enough, he was persuaded to surrender. Although he said that he wanted to resign and return to his hometown, he understood that he had been involved in this world, how could he get out?

And mixed with it is a letter of resignation written by Luo Zhang's family and a notice from the Cantonese thief: "The Holy King's Mansion Tells the Manchu Qing Officials and Gentry".

"Today, I am ordered by the Holy King to tell the gentry and the people to know it.

Wherever our righteous army is everywhere, don't be suspicious.

I did not rise up to save the people, not for merit and selfishness.

Bul is equal to fire and water, and mends the devastation of Er, etc.

You have been abused like this, and it is worse than indulging in the sea of suffering.

It is only because of the tyranny of the alien race that it is abandoned.

You must know that today's Manchu slaves are not my Han family.

Despite the indignation, there is nothing to be done to retaliate.

I can't bear to do this now, so I raise the banner of righteousness for the first time.

The first is to eliminate harm for the people and drive away with the people.

All traitors and thieves are not allowed to live for a long time.

The thief ate my flesh, and I sleep with the skin of the thief.

Some people are anxious for righteousness, and it is advisable to return with a whip as soon as possible.

A total of the cause of recovery, the Han family was established.

To establish the holy country of China, compatriots have nothing to lose.

The farmers and the industrialists will surely chase the Hu chieftain together.

The military has always been disciplined and treats each other as one.

May the gentry under the rule of the Qing Dynasty and everyone listen to me.

Paner led the crowd to vote, and he didn't blame his brothers! ”

The payment was made in the palace of the Holy King at the end of July of the Yellow Emperor era of 4,552 A.D.

Seeing this, Luo Zenan's face changed greatly!