Feng Sanbao and Li Hezhang and others, who were too greedy for merit, were in a dilemma outside Nanjing, and on the contrary, seeing that the Wu army obediently nested in the Dasheng Pass for two days and did not dare to make any big moves, Shi Dakai and Meng Deen and other discerning people of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were high-fived and celebrated in Nanjing City, knowing that before the arrival of the Wu army's backup, the Nanjing Taiping Army could already sit back and relax, and Li Xiucheng, the strongest force in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, could also attack Shanghai with all their might. For the Taiping Army, pull out the hidden danger of the Wu Army in Shanghai.

But there are also many high-ranking civil and military personnel of the Taiping Army who dare not be completely assured, and Hong Xiuquan, the largest boss of the Taiping Army, is a typical representative of them, because he was worried about the threat of the Wu army, Hong Xiuquan not only forced Meng Deen to draw heavy troops from Pukou and Qilizhou, which had not yet been attacked by the enemy, to force the western front, and stationed in Shangxinhe and Yuhuatai and other places to closely monitor the movements of the Wu army, and always guard against the sudden westward advance of the Wu army. He also sent three edicts to Yang Fuqing in Yangzhou in one day, forcing Yang Fuqing to go north and Yang Yuanqing, who has not expressed his allegiance to Hong Xiuquan so far, desperately, not only to prevent Yang Yuanqing from going south and join forces with Wu Jun, but also to let Ye Yunlai, Zeng Lichang and Wu Ruxiao, who were responsible for monitoring Yang Fuqing, free up their hands to come back to Nanjing.

Both Meng Deen and Shi Dakai tried to persuade Hong Xiuquan not to be so nervous, let alone put too much pressure on Yang Fuqing, who had already sworn allegiance to Hong Xiuquan, and received the opposite effect, and at the same time, Shi Dakai also suggested that Yang Fuqing should lead an army to reinforce Jiangpu and put pressure on the flank of the Wu army. It's a pity that Hong Xiuquan not only refused to listen, but also suspected that Shi Dakai's suggestion was ill-intentioned, and deliberately wanted Yang Xiuqing's own brother Yang Fuqing to join the Nanjing battlefield, giving the Yang family faction and Wu Jun a chance to join forces to support Yang Xiuqing to return to power. - But this is really not to blame Hong Xiuquan, no matter who is in Hong Xiuquan's position, he will be worried that the Yang brothers will come to such a hand.

Shi Dakai's suggestion accidentally received a counterproductive effect, after thinking of the huge threat of the Yang brothers, Hong Xiuquan once again complained about Li Xiucheng's refusal to return to Nanjing, and complained: "If Li Xiucheng can bring the main force back at this time, not only can I and Tianjing City sit back and relax, but Ye Aiqing and Wu Aiqing, my loyal courtiers, can also immediately free up their hands to go back to Tianjing, and join forces with Li Xiucheng to annihilate the demon soldiers outside the city." ”

With a wry smile, Shi Dakai, who was still qualified to speak in front of Hong Xiuquan, could only comfort again: "Long live the Heavenly King, rest assured, judging from the battle report in Shanghai, it should be a matter of the next few days for King Zhong to take Shanghai." In addition, from the time calculation, if nothing else, the five banners of the Twisted Army should also borrow a road from Yingzhou to enter Hubei, as long as you wait patiently for a few more days, there will definitely be good news. ”

"I hope so." Hong Xiuquan, whose personal safety was directly threatened, was not very confident, and habitually muttered: "Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother Divine Power, please quickly descend to the heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals to destroy the demon soldiers outside the city for me, kill all the demon soldiers and demon generals in the world, and then cast my iron bucket country." ”

For Hong Xiuquan, perhaps his heavenly father and brother really suddenly descended to earth, just when Hong Xiuquan was worried about the threat of the Wu army outside the city, the good news suddenly came - Feng Sanbao, the commander of the Wu army's second route Eastern Expeditionary Army, actually took the risk of dividing his troops again, and personally led a large number of soldiers, horses and the main force of the naval division to cross the Yangtze River north, preparing to attack the Taiping army's Jiuhuanzhou camp and Jiangpu on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

As a result, the pressure of the Nanjing Taiping Army was naturally greatly reduced, and the dragon chair under Hong Xiuquan's ass was immediately stabilized by three points, so after confirming the news, Hong Xiuquan immediately cheered and said with great joy: "Okay!" Good! Good! The demon soldiers went to the north bank, as long as Jiangpu and Jiuhuzhou can hold for a while, my rivers and mountains can be cast with iron and steel. ”

I haven't been able to see Hong Xiuquan so happy for several days, and the civil and military forces of the Heavenly Kingdom headed by Meng Deen naturally hurriedly flattered and flattered him, praising the supreme divine power of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, and helping Sect Master Hong survive the biggest crisis in his life. And then, naturally, soon there were officials who felt that they were very talented in military affairs, and knelt down and played: "Long live the king of heaven, since the demon soldiers are so arrogant and careless, and they dare to divide the troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River when they are in battle, then why don't our heavenly army take advantage of the situation to counterattack the victory pass and annihilate the demon soldiers on the south bank with the momentum of thunder, then not only will the demon courage be broken, but the demon soldiers on the north bank will also be isolated and helpless, so they can only withdraw obediently, so that my Tianjing is completely stable as Mount Tai." ”

Hearing this, not only Hong Xiuquan immediately wavered, but even Meng Deen, who is currently in command of the Taiping Army in Nanjing, couldn't help but be a little moved, but fortunately, Shi Dakai came out in time and knelt down and said: "Long live the King of Heaven, this move is absolutely impossible, the demon soldiers suddenly divided the north bank again, not only is there a great suspicion of tempting the enemy, even if the demon soldiers are really arrogant and careless, and they will inevitably leave elite soldiers and strong generals to guard the camp at Dasheng Pass, and our army has no chance of winning when it sends troops to attack, on the contrary, it may damage the troops and hurt the vitality." ”

Hong Xiuquan's face was a little elongated, and he snorted coldly: "The scouts of the Heavenly Kingdom are clear, and it is clear that the demon soldiers of the Great Victory Pass have sent at least no less than 7,000 land divisions to the north shore in addition to the water division pouring north, and now the demon soldiers of the Great Victory Pass are more than 6,000 people at most, and the soldiers of our Heavenly Kingdom are so incompetent, not only have no chance of winning when fighting more than 6,000 demon soldiers, but also lose their soldiers to the point of hurting their vitality?" ”

"Long live the King of Heaven, fighting a war is not simply a comparison of the number of troops, but a competition of strategy and tactics and elite soldiers." Shi Dakai said in a deep voice: "The demon soldiers who surpass the little demon are originally known for their elite, and they are often outnumbered on the battlefield, winning more with less, and now they have a strong camp to defend, and our army is attacking head-on, even if it is more and less fighting, it is difficult to guarantee the chance of victory." ”

"My Heavenly Brother, isn't it as good as the elite of the demon soldiers?" Hong Xiuquan suddenly became furious and shouted angrily: "I see that you have been killed by demon soldiers, the majesty of the demon soldiers, and the ambition to destroy the kingdom of heaven!" ”

Shi Dakai was a little speechless, but fortunately, Meng Deen had already secretly stood with Shi Dakai, and hurriedly came forward to change the topic, and said respectfully: "Long live the Heavenly King, since Long Live the Heavenly King intends to take the opportunity to fight, then Your Majesty will send more people to investigate the situation of the demon soldiers, if it is confirmed that there is really a chance to fight, Your Majesty will immediately personally lead the army to attack the Great Victory Pass, and destroy the demon soldiers on the south bank for Long Live the Heavenly King." ”

"It's still Meng Aiqing's loyalty, go and do it." Hong Xiuquan laughed when he heard this, but he didn't notice that Shi Dakai quietly gave Meng Deen a thumbs up, praising Meng Deen's flexibility and being good at being with the tiger.

Mond's remark was of course to stall for time, and it also left plenty of leeway to find an excuse to refuse to send troops into battle at any time. However, what Meng Deen never expected was that he had just dispersed and left the Tianwang Mansion, and before he had time to discuss privately with Shi Dakai, the army outside the city sent someone to report, saying that there was a soldier of Wu who forced the local people to act as messengers, and sent a letter to the Shangxinhe camp of the Taiping army asking Hong Xiuquan to open it in person.

"The demon soldier wrote a letter directly to the Heavenly King?" Meng Deen was very surprised, and when he received the letter sent by the Shangxinhe garrison, Meng Deen was even more surprised to see that on the cover of the letter, there were eight block letters neatly written - kneeling to the king of heaven to open it personally.

At this time, Shi Dakai, who had been waiting in front of the Heavenly King's Mansion for a long time, came up, and was also a little dumbfounded after reading the letter in Meng Deen's hand, and quickly asked about the origin, Shi Da was suddenly startled in his heart, and hurriedly whispered: "King Zan, you can't be in a hurry to present it to the Heavenly King, read the content first." ”

Glancing at the fire paint on the envelope, Meng Deen was a little hesitant, Shi Dakai understood his thoughts, and hurriedly said: "King Zan, this matter is not a joke, you know very well what kind of temper the king is, if this letter is a deception by demon soldiers, and long live the king of heaven and believe it is true, I am afraid that it will be difficult to clean up this matter." Moreover, this kind of headless and brainless letter of unknown origin is inconvenient to directly present to the king of heaven. ”

Considering Hong Xiuquan's bearish temper, Meng Deen nodded, did not rush to present the letter to Hong Xiuquan, and chose to return to his Zanwang Mansion with Shi Dakai first, and then open the letter to check its contents. As a result, before he had finished reading the contents of the letter, Meng Deen and Shi Dakai had already scolded together, "Dog Demon Soldier, when our Heavenly King is an idiot, will we believe your ridiculous nonsense?" ”

"King Zan, it is certain that the sudden division of the demon soldiers is to lure the snake out of the hole." Shi Dakai came to an accurate conclusion and said: "The demon soldiers don't dare to fight siege warfare, they just want to trick us into taking the initiative to fight, so they deliberately divide their troops to lure the enemy, and they want to use this ridiculous method to deceive our Heavenly King, we must not fall for the trick!" ”

Meng Deen nodded his head and took the initiative to say, "This letter must not be presented to the King of Heaven, otherwise with his temper, he will not be able to believe it." ”

"Burn this epistle and never suffer again." Shi Dakai suggested.

Meng Deen's head was only halfway to the point before he suddenly stopped, and he shook his head hesitantly, and said, "You can't burn it, you have to stay as a precaution." ”

"What in case?" Shi Dakai asked suspiciously.

Meng Deen's smile was a little bitter, and he said, "Wing King, if you think that if you burn this letter, Long Live the Heavenly King will never know the existence of this letter, then you will underestimate our Long Live Heavenly King." Therefore, I must keep this letter, otherwise if the king asks, I will not be able to wash it even if I jump into the Yellow River. ”

Shi Dakai understood what Meng Deen meant, and while he was secretly shocked in his heart, he hurriedly asked, "King Zan, what if the Heavenly King knows about this and forces you to present the letter to him?" ”

"Don't worry too much." Meng Deen said: "Long live the Heavenly King still trusts me, as long as I persuade him more, he should not believe the demon soldiers' nonsense." ”

Unfortunately, Meng Deen expected, at night, Hong Xiuquan, who married the eighty-eight princesses, was very rare to pass the decree at night, and ordered Meng Deen to go to the Heavenly King's Mansion overnight to meet him, and Meng Deen, who guessed the reason, did not dare to slack off, and quickly brought the nonsense letter, and hurried to the Heavenly King's Mansion with the female official who passed the decree, and entered the Golden Dragon Hall to kowtow to Hong Xiuquan. Then it was not surprising that Hong Xiuquan really asked Meng Deen about the letter, knowing that Hong Xiuquan's ears and eyes were powerful, Meng Deen did not dare to hide it anymore, first honestly admitted the existence of the letter, and then said: "Long live the king of heaven forgive the sin, because the ministers remember that the Qing demon once assassinated the king of Yu with a letter, and he was afraid that the demon soldiers would repeat the old trick, so he did not dare to present the letter to the king of heaven, and first took it down to carefully check whether it was hiding poison, and also had the courage to open the letter for the king of heaven." ”

Meng Deen told the story of when the Taiping Army was still in Guangxi, when Hu Yihuang, who was born as a big landowner, entered the water and joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and several of his wealthy brothers were afraid of being implicated and wanted to kill him, so they made a letter box containing gunpowder organs, and falsely claimed to contain a letter to Hu Yihuang, at that time Hu Yihuang was really fooled to open the mailbox and touch the mechanism, fortunately, Feng Yunshan next to him was quick-eyed, and slapped the mailbox to save Hu Yihuang's life, but the gunpowder still injured Feng Yunshan's right hand.

Of course, Hong Xiuquan knew that Hu Yihuang was almost assassinated by the letter, and after listening to Meng Deen's explanation, his suspicions suddenly disappeared, so not only did he not blame Meng Deen for concealing himself, but on the contrary, he also praised Meng Deen's loyalty, and then Hong Xiuquan asked suspiciously: "Meng Aiqing, since you have confirmed that the letter does not contain poison or gunpowder, why didn't you present the letter to me in the afternoon?" ”

When the real test came, Meng Deen carefully considered his words and said cautiously: "Long live the Heavenly King, because that letter is pure nonsense, and it is the demon soldiers who are luring our Heavenly Army to fight, so His Majesty did not dare to present it to the Heavenly King." Your Majesty is bold, if you want to ask the King of Heaven to live or don't read that letter. ”

It was useless to be careful, and Hong Xiuquan, who was very curious, still forced Meng Deen to submit the letter immediately, but Meng Deen had no choice but to submit the letter with a lot of nonsense, waiting for Hong Xiuquan to react with fear, and at the same time, it was very rare to pray to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother in his heart, praying for their supreme mana to bless Hong Xiuquan and keep Hong Xiuquan sane.

Prayer was useless, looking carefully at the neatly handwritten letter, Hong Xiuquan's face was shocked at first, and then gradually full of joy, and then suddenly showed rage, shouting: "Grace, you can be convicted?!" ”

"Your Majesty is guilty." Meng Deen hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, and suddenly complained in his heart, and said secretly: "It's bad, long live the king of heaven to believe it." ”

"Do you know what crime you've committed?" Hong Xiuquan asked loudly.

"Your Majesty does not dare to conceal this letter." Meng Deen kowtowed heavily, and said like a fly: "Your Majesty should not doubt the supreme divine power of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, and point the demon to return Ding Baozhen to Heaven and convert to worship God." But His Majesty would never dare to have the slightest disrespect for Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, but this matter came too suddenly, and His Majesty still needed to investigate carefully, so as not to deceive the Heavenly King, so His Majesty did not rush to report to the Heavenly King, and wanted to find out first and then report to the Heavenly King. ”

Meng Deen really understood Hong Xiuquan's bear temper and was very able to speak, so after listening to Meng Deen's report, Hong Xiuquan's anger suddenly subsided, and he showed some relieved smiles, and asked with a smile: "So, Meng Aiqing, you also believe that Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother really went down to earth to help me fight off the demon soldiers?" ”

"It's bad, my mouth, how can I flatter the king of heaven and come when I open my mouth?"

He shouted again and regretted that he was too obedient to Hong Xiuquan, and Meng Deen could only kowtow again, and said: "Long live the Heavenly King, Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother are boundless, and it is of course reasonable to go down to destroy the demon soldiers, but the incident happened suddenly, and his subordinates still need to investigate and understand for the Heavenly King." Please rest assured that His Majesty will arrange for someone to get in touch with that Ding Baozhen as soon as possible, ask him if he is really willing to worship God's religion, and then report to the King of Heaven to make a decision. ”

In addition to urging Meng Deen to contact Ding Baozhen, the general of the Wu army who dreamed of his heavenly father's descent as soon as possible, Hong Xiuquan suddenly smiled, and also viciously praised Meng Deen's loyalty, and rewarded Meng Deen to the two princesses on the spot. Meng Deen quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly kowtowed to Hong Xiuquan to thank him, but just when Meng Deen thought that he had passed this level, a new accident suddenly happened............

"Long live the King of Heaven, praise the King of Praise! Outside the city, the demon soldier's Dashengguan camp suddenly caught fire, and a fairy flew over the demon soldier's camp, and the demon soldier's camp was in chaos, shouting that the heavenly father had descended! ”

Hearing the sudden emergency report from outside the city, Meng Deen was of course dumbfounded, and couldn't believe his ears at all, but Hong Xiuquan was ecstatic, and yelled at Meng Deen: "Meng Aiqing, don't check!" Send troops immediately, you personally lead the troops to the camp of the demon soldiers, and slaughter all the demon soldiers in the Great Victory Pass for me! ”