On the night of the second day when Wu Jun designed to snipe Chen Shibao successfully, Zeng Lichang already knew about this major event on the battlefield in Suzhou, but in the urgent letter jointly written by Zhou Haikun and Yang Wanyong to Zeng Lichang, it was said that Chen Shibao was only seriously injured and did not lose his breath, so Zeng Lichang did not immediately make up his mind to withdraw to Suzhou City, but only replied to order Zhou Haikun to temporarily preside over the overall situation and command the Suzhou Taiping Army instead of Chen Shibao.

Zeng Lichang did not choose to withdraw immediately, there are two reasons, one is that Zeng Lichang does not know how badly Chen Shibao is injured, and the second is that the Taiping army has seen the hope of conquering the important town of Changzhou at that time, and has pumped the Qing army outside the city to look for teeth and roll back to the city to defend the city, the tunnel has been excavated, and at the same time, Jin Agou also got in touch with Zeng Lichang again, saying that as long as the Taiping army launched an attack on the city, he would immediately find a way to open the city gate to welcome the Taiping army into the city. Coveted the important town of Changzhou, and felt that with the strong fortifications and favorable terrain of Suzhou City, it would never be a problem to hold it for a period of time, Zeng Lichang made a wrong decision and missed the best opportunity to return to the division in vain.

Of course, mistakes in decision-making on the battlefield have to pay a heavy price, when receiving the news that Wu Jun Lian Yong quickly reinforced the Suzhou battlefield, Zeng Lichang was shocked, and it was too late to return to the division immediately, and the road to return to the army had been cut off by Wu Jun Lian Yong, and he was not only not sure of forcibly returning to the division, but also definitely had to pay a heavy price. As a last resort, Zeng Lichang had no choice but to make a mistake, desperately blocking the news that Chen Shibao had been seriously injured, and at the same time digging tunnels with all his might to prepare to attack Changzhou City.

When the Taiping army met Wu Chaoyue, it was always unlucky, when the tunnel was about to be dug, all the Taiping army soldiers composed of coal workers actually missed once, and they were extremely unlucky to dig into the underground water vein, and the groundwater poured into the tunnel, although the Taiping soldiers transferred quickly without any casualties, but the tunnel that could be dug under the city wall was completely scrapped. At the same time, Jin Agou's side also did not see any movement, the Taiping army launched several attacks and did not see him open the city gate, Zeng Lichang, who was vaguely aware of the bad situation, also made up his mind to quickly withdraw the siege and retreat, but at this moment, the Taiping army had wasted seven days and seven nights of precious time.

Even at this time, the situation was definitely not bad, because Zhou Haikun and Yang Wanyong were very clever to tightly seal the news of Chen Shibao's death, and even took the initiative to give up contact with Zeng Lichang in order to prevent leakage of news. On the evening of the ninth day after the incident, when Zeng Lichang and the Taiping army hurried to the city of Wuxi to join Xie Changsha, the information provided by the Taiping army in Wuxi still showed that the Qing army had not yet launched an attack on the city of Suzhou.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Zeng Lichang did not dare to take it lightly this time, and only rested for half a night under the city of Wuxi, and before dawn the next day, Zeng Lichang had already set off with the elite main force of the Taiping Army, thinking that even if he could not immediately break through the blockade of the Wu army and enter the city of Suzhou, as long as he could rush to Hushu Pass, which was still controlled by the Taiping army, and station, he could contain the most dangerous Wu army from behind, so that Wu Chaoyue, the sworn enemy of the Taiping army, did not dare to use all his strength to storm Suzhou City.

Faster than Wu Chaoyue's expected march, it was only about four o'clock in the afternoon that day, Zeng Lichang's army had already arrived at Hushu Pass, and Gao Minghui, the general of the Taiping Army guarding the pass, hurriedly went out of the pass to greet him, but Zeng Lichang asked in the first sentence: "How is it?" How's the situation in Suzhou City? ”

"The Transcendence Demon launched an attack on Suzhou City this morning." Gao Minghui's answer made Zeng Lichang's heart rise to his throat, and said: "The scout reported that the fight was very intense, but the demon soldiers who surpassed the little demon blocked the water and land roads, and our meticulous scouts could only take the small road on this side of the Sun Mountain to pass the news around the long way, and there was no way to keep track of the battle situation in Suzhou City at any time, only knowing that as of the afternoon, the little demon had not yet entered the city, but only attacked the city wall." ”

"It's been an hour and a half, and there hasn't been any new news delivered, and your scouts are all eating dry rice?" Zeng Lichang scolded him very dissatisfied, and then he didn't think much about it, and immediately shouted: "All the people who asked you to go out immediately and go east to reinforce Suzhou City, I don't want you to win any battles, just contain and surpass the little demon from behind!" ”

Gao Minghui hurriedly agreed, and hurriedly organized his troops and horses to prepare for the attack, while Zeng Lichang commanded his own army to immediately take over Hushu Pass, and at the same time hurriedly arranged for the second support army to prepare for the attack. However, just when Gao Minghui's soldiers and horses were all out of the customs, a man dressed in people's clothes suddenly rushed to the path on the side of Sun Mountain, holding high the identity token of the Taiping Army and stumbled directly into the Hushu Pass. How's Suzhou City doing? ”

The fine who finally rushed back to report the news was panting, and before his mouth opened, two lines of tears had welled up in his eyes, and he cried and said: "Suzhou City, broken, beyond the little demon personally led the army into the city, and the brothers in the city couldn't resist it, so they could only break through from the Xumen abandonment of the city ......." ”

It was dark in front of him, Zeng Lichang stumbled and almost fell, and when the soldiers on the left and right hurriedly hugged him, Zeng Lichang pushed these soldiers away and yelled at Na Xiaozuo: "What about Prime Minister Chen? Chen Chengxiang, how is he? ”

Xi Zuo shook his head and said that he didn't know, Zeng Lichang was furious, and immediately ordered Gao Minghui to continue to march to reinforce the Suzhou Taiping Army who abandoned the city and broke through, and ordered the Suzhou Taiping Army to stop breaking through and return to the city to fight, and then hurriedly arranged for Huang Shengcai to lead an army to garrison Hushu Pass, and led the main force to save Suzhou City in a hurry. But......

But it was already too late, when Gao Minghui rushed to the outskirts of Suzhou with only a thousand Taiping troops, in addition to being attacked by Wu Junlian who stayed in the camp, the Suzhou Taiping Army who abandoned the city and broke through had also fled all over the mountains, Gao Minghui did not say that it was for the Suzhou Taiping Army to regroup and launch a counteroffensive, but it was difficult to find Zhou Haikun and Yang Wanyong and other senior generals to convey Zeng Lichang's orders. And when Zeng Lichang came to the scene with the main force, the banner of the Wu army had already been planted at the head of Xumen City, Zeng Lichang was furious and forcibly urged the army to launch a counterattack on Suzhou City, but the Wu army moved faster, and had already boarded the city wall to shoot, how could the Taiping army, which did not even have a flying ladder, re-enter the city of Suzhou?

In the end, it was learned from the crying Zhou Haikun that Chen Shibao had died of his injuries on the night of the shooting, and that he had asked Zhou Haikun to temporarily preside over the defense of Suzhou City and that the letter order he had asked Zhou Haikun to temporarily preside over the defense of Suzhou City could not be delivered to Suzhou City for some reason, Zeng Lichang understood the real reason for the fall of Suzhou City - there was no unified command, and the number of elite soldiers was too small. Regretting beating his chest, Zeng Lichang could only obediently order a retreat, not daring to let the soldiers of the Taiping Army who were marching continuously and rapidly fight overnight, and the Wu army and the Qing army also took the opportunity to completely wipe out the remnants of the enemy in the city, and the victory was restored to the city and captured a large amount of grain and grass.

Wu Chaoyue was also a little injured in this siege - his arm was grazed by a stray bullet, and it was stopped by just a little blood and some medicine. However, when the elated Xu Naizhao, He Chun and others saw Wu Chaoyue, they were shocked to see that half of Wu Chaoyue's body had been stained red with blood, and his arms were wrapped in thick gauze and he was still lying on a stretcher dying. Wu Chaoyue replied weakly: "It's okay, a little injury, it will be fine after a few days." ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue's sanity did not seem to be able to die at any time, Xu Naizhao and He Chun secretly scolded the sky for being blind, and at the same time, they hurriedly praised Wu Chaoyue's leading soldiers and brave champions, and actually dared to personally participate in the ant annex battle - this is a very rare behavior among high-ranking officials in the Qing army. Wu Chaoyue thanked him modestly, and said cowardly: "Xu Futai, and the military gate, although Suzhou City has been reluctantly taken, but the main force of Changmao has also returned to Hushu Pass, I am afraid that this battle will not be finished in ten days and half a month, we have to quickly send an army to station outside Hushu Pass." Even if you can't get back Hushu Pass for a while, you can contain the main force of Changmao and not give Changmao a chance to counterattack Suzhou again. ”

"What Wu Zhentai said is reasonable." Xu Naizhao nodded immediately, and immediately said to He Chun: "Hejunmen, Wu Zhentai was seriously injured, this official wants to rebuild the governor's yamen and preside over the aftermath of Suzhou City, now the only one who can pull out is you, how about continuing to work hard for you?" ”

He Chun's face was longer than a donkey's - it was not easy to take Suzhou City, which was a great opportunity for He Chun's army to rape and plunder, and He Chun certainly didn't want to confront the main force of the Taiping army right away. But there is no way, Wu Jun Lian Yong is the first army to enter Suzhou City, Wu Chaoyue was also injured in the siege battle, and Suzhou City is the residence of Xu Naizhao, the governor of Jiangsu, all of them have good reasons to stay in Suzhou City, so even if He Chun is unwilling to do so, he can only helplessly pick up this burden.

But fortunately, Xu Naizhao and Wu Chaoyue were still quite face-saving, and agreed to give the captured spoils to Hechun's army 30%, Xu Naizhao's army to take 30%, and Wu Jun, who entered the city in a bloody battle to open up the situation, took 40%, and blocked Hechun's mouth with a relatively fair distribution of spoils, and also gave Hechun an explanation to his subordinates. Wu Chaoyue took the opportunity to escape and avoid continuing to confront the main force of the Taiping Army, while Xu Naizhao let his garrison avoid a catastrophe, and also had an explanation to the people in Suzhou City, which was conducive to the reconstruction of the Jiangsu Governor's Office, and everyone was happy.

After moving to Hushu Pass, although the Taiping army was also 10,000 unwilling, the overall strength was not as good as the Qing army with Wu Jun training and brave help, and there was still the Changzhou Qing army behind it and there were no reinforcements to rely on, so Zeng Lichang did not dare to start a war at will, but just tried every means to get in touch with Yang Xiuqing in Nanjing City and ask for the next plan of action. However, what Zeng Lichang probably never dreamed of was that the current Yang Xiuqing had taken a 180-degree turn towards Wu Chaoyue............

…………

The reason for Yang Xiuqing's change of attitude towards Wu Chaoyue came from Hong Renji, with the arrival of the envoy group of Xiaobaoling in Nanjing, Hong Renji of course immediately showed his identity to the Taiping Army officials who received the British mission, and the Taiping Army officials were shocked and did not dare to slack off, and quickly invited Hong Renji into the city and led him to the beautiful Tianwang's mansion for Hong Xiuquan to identify.

The truth was soon revealed, and after Hong Xiuquan personally proved that Hong Renji's identity was true, Hong Renji of course received the warmest welcome and hospitality in Nanjing, and even Yang Xiuqing, who was above the top, took time out of his busy schedule to participate in the banquet for Hong Renji. As a result, Hong Renji was also quite calm, and he didn't say anything in front of too many outsiders, until after the banquet, Hong Renji took the initiative to ask for the opportunity to talk to Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing alone, and only then did he report his experience of dealing with Wu Chaoyue in Shanghai to Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing, and also repeated what Wu Chaoyue wanted him to convey - live in peace and be good for everyone.

"What do you mean by Beyond the Little Demon? To whom did he say this? Who do you want to live peacefully with? ”

Hong Xiuquan, who had nothing to do except pretend to be a ghost, was confused, and didn't understand the meaning of Wu Chaoyue's words, let alone grasp the point. Yang Xiuqing, who was very talented, rolled his eyes, and immediately asked, "Brother Renji, did the little demon recognize your identity?" ”

"I don't know." Hong Renji replied truthfully and said, "But I think he probably recognized me, but for some reason, he deliberately didn't reveal my true identity." ”

"In detail, the more detailed, the better." Yang Xiuqing hurriedly ordered.

Hong Renji agreed, and then he carefully told Yang Xiuqing about Wu Chaoyue's several temptations to him, and frankly admitted that he was ready to be found out of his true identity at that time, and his uncontrollable expression reaction had basically betrayed him, but Wu Chaoyue just refused to pierce the last layer of window paper and did not bring him to justice. In the end, Hong Renji also said: "I thought about it later, and I always felt that beyond what the little demon said, my relatives, the third brother and the worship brothers, are the king of heaven and the king of the east. The real purpose of the Transcendence Demon deliberately letting me go is to let me bring the word to you and secretly contact you for him. ”

"Pretending to be a ghost!" Hong Xiuquan snorted the words he was least qualified to say, and said, "How can the transcendent little demon be so kind, even though he has already guessed your identity and deliberately does not reveal it?" Renji, you're thinking too much. ”

is greedy for the glory and wealth that Hong Xiuquan is about to reward, of course, Hong Renji only dares to echo and dare not refute, but Yang Xiuqing, the real ruler of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, has never been silent, but suddenly remembered an old past - when the Jiangning War, the Taiping Army's feints were negligent in arranging and almost exposing the real main target. helped the Taiping Army to make up for the loopholes, and also covered the success of the Taiping Army's general attack.

After all, the past incident had nothing to do with Wu Chaoyue's goodwill conveyed by Hong Renji, although Yang Xiuqing was suspicious, but he did not dare to conclude that Wu Chaoyue actually didn't want to fight with the Taiping Army to the end, plus the nervous Hong Xiuquan hated Wu Chaoyue because of Wei Changhui's matter, Yang Xiuqing didn't want to get in touch with Wu Chaoyue, and turned the war into jade silk and no longer fought to the death to cheapen the Manchu court, and the matter was stopped. But this incident also drove a wedge in Yang Xiuqing's heart, making Yang Xiuqing begin to doubt Wu Chaoyue's true attitude towards the Taiping Army.

The time that really made Yang Xiuqing understand Wu Chaoyue's intentions was on the day when Zeng Lichang's letter was sent to Nanjing City, and he learned in the letter that Suzhou City had been captured by Wu Chaoyue, Chen Shibao was killed, and Zeng Lichang's army lost its reliable foothold and was isolated. Yang Xiuqing was furious, and once wanted to send reinforcements to Zeng Lichang, but at this time, the defenders of Shuiximen sent a girl to Yang Xiuqing's Dongwang Mansion, saying that the girl had a confidential matter to report to Yang Xiuqing.

When the order was summoned, it was a young girl with a delicate appearance who was led to Yang Xiuqing, and the girl dressed as a common person learned Yang Xiuqing's identity, and immediately knelt down to Yang Xiuqing, saluted respectfully and said: "Zhou Xiuying, the chief soldier of the Wuxi Women's Camp of the Heavenly Kingdom, Ye Lotus, has seen the East King 9,000 years old. ”

"Zhou Xiuying's personal soldiers?" Yang Xiuqing was a little confused at first, and then suddenly remembered Zhou Xiuying, who exposed Zhang Jigeng to him thousands of miles away, and was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Are you Zhou Xiuying's personal soldier?" And what about her? Where is she? This king wants her to come to Tianjing to see me, why are you here alone? ”

"East King ......." Ye Lotus suddenly cried, choked up and said, "His Royal Highness the King of Yudong, Zhou is missing. ”

"Missing?" Yang Xiuqing was shocked again, and hurriedly asked, "How did she disappear?" Where is it missing? ”

Ye Lotus cried and cried truthfully, saying that when she and the three companions came to Nanjing in disguise, Zhou Xiuying didn't know what was wrong on the way, she vomited vigorously, her whole body was weak and it was difficult to walk, so she had to rest in the small mountain village of Maoshan for a few days, and then Zhou Xiuying suddenly disappeared, leaving no news, only a little salute with her, and disappeared without a trace. Ye Lotus and other soldiers searched for a long time, but they couldn't find Zhou Xiuying's whereabouts.

As a last resort, Ye Lotus and others can only be divided into two, the two companions continue to look for Zhou Xiuying's whereabouts, Ye Lotus and another female soldier continue to rush to Nanjing to report the news, but when they detour to Fangshan, Ye Lotus and others were unfortunately found by the Qing army patrol soldiers, and another personal soldier was separated from Ye Lotus in the escape, and finally Zhou Xiuying and his party of five people, only Ye Lotus was lucky enough to get to Nanjing.

After listening to Ye Hehua's introduction, Yang Xiuqing was of course disappointed, knowing that the matter about Zhang Jigeng was likely to become a puzzle. However, Ye Lotus said: "Dongwang is nine thousand years old, and the little girl still has a big thing to report to you." When she was sick, she was worried that it would be difficult for her to reach Tianjing, so she quietly explained a confidential matter to the little girl, and asked the little girl to report it to you in person, and she must not let others know about it. ”

"Tell me, what's the secret?" Yang Xiuqing hurriedly urged.

"Zhou Zuchang asked the little girl to tell Dongwang that he was nine thousand years old, and Zhang Jigeng's matter was beyond what the little demon asked her to tell you. Zhou Zuchang also said that the little demon beyond wants to be friends with His Royal Highness the East King. Ye Lotus replied.

"What?" Yang Xiuqing's surprise was not trivial, and she jumped up and asked, "Zhang Jigeng's matter, is it beyond the little demon that she asked her to tell this king?" ”

Ye Lotus nodded, saying that this was Zhou Xiuying's separate explanation to her, Yang Xiuqing was even more shocked, and hurriedly asked: "What is the relationship between Zhou Shuchang and the Transcendence Little Demon?" ”

"It's ......." Ye Lotus was a little embarrassed and said, "The little girl doesn't know, and Zhou also refused to answer the little girl's question at that time. But the little girl has always suspected that the man who often meets with Zhou Zuchang alone in the concession is likely to surpass the little demon. ”

Yang Xiuqing hurriedly asked for details, and Ye Lotus honestly explained her two encounters with a mysterious man when she was purchasing weapons with Zhou Xiuying in the concession, and also said that Zhou Xiuying and the man had been secretly together for a long time in the concession hotel twice. Yang Xiuqing was even more shocked when she heard this, and hurriedly asked again: "What does that man look like?" ”

Ye Lotus answered truthfully that the man was dry and thin, like a reed stick, Yang Xiuqing did not hesitate to hear it, and immediately asked someone to take the portrait of Wu Chaoyue drawn by the Taiping Army to collect intelligence. As a result, after only one glance, Ye Lotus said: "Like him, very much like him, thin and dry, easy to recognize." ”

After the truth was revealed, and it was confirmed that the person who Zhou Xiuying secretly met in the concession was Wu Chaoyue, although Yang Xiuqing was not completely sure, he probably guessed the purpose of Wu Chaoyue's repeated messages to him through Zhou Xiuying and Hong Renji - I hope that the Taiping Army will stop taking the initiative to find trouble with Wu Chaoyue one after another. And after understanding this, Yang Xiuqing suddenly found that it was too unwise for him to send troops again and again to fight head-on with Wu Chaoyue, a strong enemy, and he was destined to sacrifice many loyal and brave soldiers in vain, and the Manchu court, the biggest enemy of the Taiping army, was in vain.

Thinking of this, Yang Xiuqing finally made up his mind that night, and sent a letter ordering Zeng Lichang and Xie Changsha to take the initiative to abandon the Wuxi area that had been completely destroyed, and to break through to the weak points of the Qing army.

After putting down the pen, Yang Xiuqing said in his heart: "I have to find a way to get in touch with the Transcendence Demon as soon as possible, and see what he thinks in his heart, whether he can become a comrade-in-arms of our heavenly kingdom like the Twist Army." (To be continued.) )