To put it mildly, Wu Ruxiao, the Taiping Army general who guarded Jiangyin, actually has a lot of roots with Wu Chaoyue's family, the same surname Wu, the same Cantonese, and the same Guangzhou Thirteen Foreign Companies, although Wu Ruxiao only worked as an accountant in the Thirteen Foreign Companies, and his net worth was not worthy of lifting shoes for the Wu Chaoyue family, who had been compradors for generations, but in business dealings, Wu Ruxiao had actually seen Wu Chaoyue's grandfather and cheap father for a long time. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

It is precisely because of such a relationship that after turning enemies into friends with the Taiping Army, and inadvertently learning of Wu Ruxiao's life experience, Wu Chaoyue also tried to establish a personal relationship with Wu Ruxiao in private, the purpose of course is to facilitate the passage of Wu's fleet through the geographically important Jiangyin River Defense, and the second is to facilitate the future solicitation and surrender.

However, it is a pity that Wu Ruxiao, who is loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, categorically rejected Wu Chaoyue's kindness, returned the gifts and letters given to him by Wu Chaoyue as they were, and took the initiative to report the situation to Yang Xiuqing.

Wu Ruxiao's loyalty to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom helped Wu Chaoyue this time, and on the premise that Yang Xiuqing had an order to give way and let him go, after receiving a secret report from the Wu army in Shanghai about Wei Jun, Wu Ruxiao, who hated Wei Jun deeply, immediately reported the situation to Yang Xiuqing, while strengthening combat preparations to blockade the river, preparing to force the Qing army to hand over Wei Jun, the number one traitor of the Taiping army.

However, Wu Ruxiao is not only a reckless man who knows what to do, but also a little worried that Wu Jun's whistleblower in Shanghai is sowing discord and tricking himself into fighting to the death with a strong enemy, after careful discussion with his deputy He Zaixiang, Wu Ruxiao, who is quite resourceful, simply let He Zaixiang, who knew Wei Jun, personally serve as a messenger, under the pretext of informing the Qing army of the specific matters of peacefully passing through Jiangyin River Defense, and let He Zaixiang go to the Qing army's naval fleet to test whether Wei Jun exists.

At the end, Wu Ruxiao also explained to He Zaixiang: "Remember, you must pretend to be greedy for money and lustful, if the Qing demon tests whether you are interested in surrendering, you can also speak ambiguously, saying something that is afraid that surrendering will not end well in the past." In this way, if Wei Jun's traitor is really in the Qing Demon fleet, he will definitely come out to meet you. ”

He Zaixiang faithfully carried out Wu Ruxiao's order, and after taking a boat to the downstream to get in touch with the Qing army sailors, He Zaixiang first informed the Qing army sailors on behalf of Wu Ruxiao about the passage and safety and other customs matters, and then accepted the banquet and hospitality provided by the Qing army sailors without hesitation, and also praised the exquisite wine and food provided by the Qing army sailors.

The Qing army, who was anxious to divide the Taiping army, was really deceived, and with Wenxiang's permission, the Manchu officials in charge of receiving He Zaixiang not only presented a beautiful gift with both hands, but also took the opportunity to test whether He Zaixiang had the intention of abandoning the dark and turning to the light? He Zaixiang spoke ambiguously, deliberately saying something like not wanting to follow Yang Xiuqing for a long time, and expressed his concern that there would be no good end after surrendering to the Qing army. And when Manchu officials cited Wei Jun as an example, He Zaixiang said: "Wei Jun? Didn't you hear that you had already been executed by Ling Chi? ”

"Who said that General Wei was executed by Ling Chi?" The Manchu official was puzzled and said, "Is he alive and well now?" He is already a third-grade general of our Qing court. ”

"Long live our East King in the Holy Decree?" He Zaixiang said even more suspiciously: "Some time ago, Long Live the East King issued an edict, saying that Wei Jun, the traitor, was executed by you in the capital. Our general system Wu also said that Wei Jun was the end of the rebellion against the kingdom of heaven. ”

The Manchu officials laughed when they heard this, and first asked He Zaixiang to wait for a while, saying that they wanted He Zaixiang to see someone. So, soon, Wei Jun, a rebel general of the Taiping Army who had a relationship with He Zaixiang, appeared in front of He Zaixiang with a smile on his face......

"General Wei, rest assured, after I go back, I will definitely find a way to persuade Wu Ruxiao to return to the imperial court, and if the Qing court has any arrangements in the future, the crime will go to the soup and the fire, and the bones will be broken!"

This is the assurance He Zaixiang made in front of Wei Jun with a pat on his chest, but after the Qing army fleet returned to Jiangyin, after He Zaixiang returned to the Jiangyin Fort, the Taiping soldiers on the Jiangyin Fort did not hesitate to fire at the river to warn, and at the same time sent someone to contact the Qing army, demanding that the Qing army's naval division immediately and unconditionally hand over Wei Jun, otherwise they would never give way!

"Long live your East King didn't put forward the condition of handing over Wei Jun when he agreed to borrow the road!"

"Long live the East King did not ask you to hand over Wei Jun, but you deliberately brought Wei Jun into the Yangtze River, you planned to use him to do shameless things, and it was you who were unrighteous first, so you must hand over Wei Jun, otherwise I will never give way!"

"Within half an hour, lower the barrage and give way, or we will open fire on you!"

"It won't take half an hour, you can fight now if you want to! I, Wu Ruxiao, as the general ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven, must not let Wei Jun's traitor pass through Jiangyin from under my nose! Let him go into the Yangtze River to plague our heavenly soldiers! ”

After some verbal rhetoric, the Qing army was still forced to open fire on the Jiangyin fort of the Taiping army, in a vain attempt to force the Jiangyin Taiping army to give way and let go. However, the coercion of the Qing army's naval division found the wrong person, Wu Ruxiao, who had fired at both British and American warships in history, was determined, and decisively ordered to fire back, knowing that he was invincible, but still led the Taiping soldiers to fight bloodily, resolutely guarding the Jiangyin River, and did not make any retreat and forbearance.

The earth-shattering fierce artillery battle lasted until the evening, and after paying a very heavy price, by virtue of its geographical advantage, the Jiangyin Taiping army not only sank and damaged a number of Qing army's red single boats, but also repelled the landing attack once launched by the Qing army's naval division. The Qing army's sailors had no choice but to ask the Tsarist fleet to participate in the war, but naturally they were scolded by Novosilsky, "Damn yellow-skinned monkey, didn't you say that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had agreed to borrow the road?" ”

After scolding and scolding, Novosilsky, who was tasked with destroying the industrial base of the Wu army, still ordered an attack, but after the advanced Tsarist fleet participated in the battle, the Jiangyin Taiping army finally couldn't parry, not to mention the rapid increase in casualties, and the firepower was also completely suppressed.

Although the Jiangyin Taiping Army had a favorable geographical position, it was still unable to block the Qing-Russian combined fleet, and almost all of the iron cable defense lines built at great cost were destroyed by the Qing-Russian combined fleet, and they also paid a very heavy price for casualties.

However, even so, the Jiangyin Taiping army still sank five Qing Red Single Ships, damaged eleven of them, severely damaged one Russian steam gunboat, and damaged three, which also made the Qing and Russian combined fleet pay a lot of price. Therefore, after breaking through Jiangyin, Novosilsky once again scolded Wen Xiang and Wu Quanmei, and forced Wen Xiang and Wu Quanmei to send someone to contact Yang Xiuqing again to negotiate, demanding that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's riverside batteries stop attacking the Qing-Russian combined fleet.

Wen Xiang also has a brain, knowing that the bane is all on Wei Jun alone, so he didn't rush to send someone to ask Yang Xiuqing for treachery, and chose to send a boat to escort Wei Jun back to the Shanghai Concession first, and then sent someone to contact Yang Xiuqing, saying that bringing Wei Jun to the army was to let him personally avenge Wei Changhui, but he didn't expect the Taiping Army to misunderstand, in order to eliminate the misunderstanding, Wei Jun had been sent back to Shanghai, and asked Yang Xiuqing to send someone to verify, and also sent a generous gift to apologize.

Wen Xiang made the wisest choice, in fact, before Wu Ruxiao used a trick to confirm that Wei Jun was hiding in the Qing army's naval division, and had just received a whistleblower letter from the Wu army in Shanghai, Yang Xiuqing had already ordered the army to prepare for war with red eyes, and was ready to use force to force the Qing army's naval division to hand over Wei Jun. However, after seeing Wen Xiang's explanation letter, Yang Xiuqing regained some calm, and while sending someone to check whether Wei Jun had really returned to Shanghai, he recalculated whether to make every effort to block the Qing-Russian combined fleet.

"Long live the East King, you must not spare the Qing Demon! They deliberately brought Wei Jun a traitor, and it was clear that they wanted to use this traitor to plot against our generals, and this account must be settled with them! ”

"It's not okay to send Wei Jun's traitor back to Shanghai! We must hand Wei Jun over to us before we can lend them the road!" ”

As the saying goes, like gathers like, Yang Xiuqing, who has an unwavering anti-Qing stance, still has a lot of calls for punishing the Qing army around him, but Yang Xiuqing, who has a temper that is more irritable than anyone else, is unusually this time, not only did he not shout and kill at every turn, but on the contrary, he hesitated and couldn't make up his mind.

Meng Deen, a new favorite who is good at sycophancy, was the first to see through Yang Xiuqing's thoughts, and stood up and said: "Long live the East King, the gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late, the Qing Demon Water Master is pouring in, the Rakshasa people and ships are strong and artillery, and blindly treating them toughly will only consume the strength of our Heavenly Kingdom's army along the river in vain." Let them fight with the Transcendence Demon first, and then try to take revenge. ”

Yang Xiuqing was still silent, but his heart was already greatly shaken, and he was graced to observe his words, and hurriedly said: "Long live the East King, this is not a matter of losing face, it is a matter of the interests of our heavenly kingdom." ”

"If Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't begged for food in a low voice, he would have starved to death in Fengyang a long time ago, so could he later ascend the throne and become the emperor? If Tang Gaozu Li Yuan had not been a vassal to the Turks, what would be the later Tang Dynasty? Long live the East King, you are so wise and martial, can you learn from these two sages? ”

The successive battlefield defeats have consumed Yang Xiuqing's countless sharpness and ambition, and the huge disparity in strength is placed in front of him, and Yang Xiuqing, who has never bowed to the Manchu court, also has to consider such a practical problem - ordering the batteries along the river to resist with all their strength can gradually weaken the strength of the Qing-Russian combined fleet to take revenge, but in this way, it will only be the Taiping army that will suffer heavy losses, and it is still Wu Chaoyue who is hiding in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River who is still reaping the benefits.

Therefore, after hesitating again and again, Yang Xiuqing, who was once arrogant to the extreme, betrayed his dignity for the sake of interests, gritted his teeth and said: "It is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge!" Tell the demons and the Rakshasa that this king has forgiven them! ”

After that, Yang Xiuqing also ordered Meng Deen to draft a document, ordering that all the Taiping Army batteries along the Yangtze River should not open fire on the Qing and Russian coalition forces without authorization, and must unconditionally give way and let them go. Meng Deen respectfully agreed, but he was secretly proud in his heart, and said: "This time, the generals outside will definitely regard you as the king of the East even more." ”

was expected to be favored, although from the perspective of the strategic interests of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Yang Xiuqing's decision to give way and let him go could not be more correct, but the hardliners in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were in an uproar, whether it was Wu Ruxiao, who had just fought with the Qing-Russian combined fleet, or Zhenjiang Defender Ye Yunlai, who was gearing up to fight, Anqing Guard, Lin Fengxiang, as well as Peng Ze's Guard, Huang Wenjin, and Hukou's Guard, Lin Qirong, no one dared to believe that this order came from Yang Xiuqing, and no one was not scolding.

What is even worse for Yang Xiuqing is that in fact, these hardliners of the Taiping Army are his biggest basic plate in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the most critical reason why Lin Fengxiang, Wu Ruxiao, Ye Yunlai and others were able to tolerate him to put Hong Xiuquan under house arrest and dominate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is that Yang Xiuqing's firm anti-Qing stance has an appetite for them. And now that Yang Xiuqing decided to borrow the road to the Qing army's sailors for the sake of interests, and even took the initiative to give up the opportunity to punish the traitor Wei Jun, these hardliners of the Taiping Army were shocked, but also naturally dissatisfied, disdainful, and even disgusted with Yang Xiuqing.

"Long live the East King, not the old East King Long live!" Including Huang Wenjin, who had become Yang Xiuqing's direct general during the Jintian Uprising, all roared like this.

The matter is so big, of course the Hubei Intelligence Bureau, which has been waiting for a long time, collected relevant intelligence reports to Wu Chaoyue, but Wu Chaoyue also shook his head and sighed, and said: "Yang Xiuqing has changed, and in the future, he will never be as reliable as before on the issue of joining forces to resist the Qing Dynasty." ”