After landing on Jiuhuzhou again, Li Xiucheng soon became the commander of the Taiping Army in Jiuhuanzhou, who was not directly in charge of the army, respected and admired Li Xiucheng's prestige and character and knighthood and official position, Liang Fengchao and Fu Zhenggang not only invited Li Xiucheng to sit in the middle of the main seat after meeting Li Xiucheng again, but also reported to Li Xiucheng on the preparations for the siege as usual, respectfully, as usual.

They are all veterans, and Fu Zhenggang and Liang Fengchao's preparation work is of course roughly the same, and when he heard that Liang Fengchao also secretly prepared some bamboo and wood rafts to facilitate the crossing, Li Xiucheng also happily praised Liang Fengchao, admitting that Liang Fengchao was more thoughtful than himself in this regard. Liang Fengchao was very happy to hear Li Xiucheng's praise, and said to Fu Zhenggang next to him: "Brother Fu, the raft is slow and sinks in a dozen hits, it is too unreliable, if you can spare your hands at that time, you must try to help me and take my brother ashore." ”

"No problem, wrap it up on me." Fu Zhenggang agreed and said, "I will ask a few brothers with troops to get ready, and try to help you when the time comes, and strive to get all your rafts ashore." ”

Liang Fengchao was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly thanked Fu Zhenggang, while Li Xiucheng casually asked Fu Zhenggang's army about the hidden location of the raft, and then sat down at the invitation of Liang and Fu and had a simple dinner with his former comrades-in-arms, and then Fu Zhenggang and Liang Fengchao met and officially announced the decision to surrender to the Wu army to the whole army, asking the officers and men under their command to obey the order and surrender to save their lives. As a result, because Fu Liang's second army had been trapped in the Jiuhuan Continent Jedi for many days, and the loyal and loyal veterans of Liangguang had quietly greeted them before, the Taiping soldiers on Jiuhuan Continent not only did not have any commotion, but on the contrary, quite a few people were full of joy and quietly cheered Fu Liang's wise decision.

In the early morning of the next day, according to the agreement, Fu Liang's two armies each went out of the camp to leave the fortifications for protection, and lined up to the north of Jiuhuanzhou according to the agreement, and assembled in line within the coverage of the Wu army's forts. To the surprise of Li Xiucheng and Liang Fengchao, Wu Chaoyue's banner of Zhennan King with teeth and claws also appeared on the north bank, representing that Wu Chaoyue had come to the scene in person to accept the surrender of the Taiping Army in Jiuhuanzhou.

Secretly counted the number of Wu army's battalion flags, and found that the Wu army's army on the north bank was only about 10,000 people, Liang Fengchao, who was loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, suddenly became greedy, and whispered to Li Xiucheng: "Loyal King Chitose, there is a chance, beyond the little demon came in person, although the soldiers and horses around him are not small, but his Chinese army has no fortifications to protect, when the north bank is in chaos, we may have the opportunity to directly raid his own formation, and directly avenge the king of heaven." ”

Li Xiucheng nodded, admitting that the Taiping Army did have this opportunity, and at the same time said in his heart: "Either it is to surpass the little demon and make a big mistake, or he has really believed me, otherwise, even if he has ambushes on the periphery of the battlefield, we still have the opportunity to raid his own formation." ”

Although the materials for Wu Jun to build pontoon bridges were very sufficient, it still took a lot of time to build two pontoon bridges, that is, during this period, Li Xiucheng, who barely spoke, also recalled scenes of the past, remembered the difficult life of his youth, and the hardships and hardships when he burned charcoal to make a living in Teng County; also remembered the biggest turning point in his life - the moment when he joined the Taiping Army in Teng County; I also remembered that with Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing appreciated and promoted themselves and trusted them; I also remembered all the glory when I led an army to sweep the southeast, and the glory of the scenery when I was crowned the king of loyalty. There are thousands of thoughts, and his heart is constantly surging, and he hates his weakness and cowardice more than once, bowing to Wu Chaoyue for himself and his family, and preparing to betray thousands of loyal and brave soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom......

"Why don't you fight this one?! It is only a dozen miles to the north that is the mountainous area, and when you enter the mountainous area, you can hope to get rid of the pursuit of the demon soldiers, Chuzhou and Lai'an are still in the hands of Chen Yucheng, and it is possible to meet his army after the mountainous area, although the hope is not big, but it must not be said that there is no! ”

Li Xiucheng had this idea several times in his heart, but whenever he thought of his old mother, wife and children who were still in the hands of Wu Jun, as well as Hong Xiuquan's four sons who were all captured by Wu Jun, the flame of hope in Li Xiucheng's heart gradually extinguished, and he said to himself in his heart: "Don't be in vain, I can't fight beyond the little demon, even if I can escape from Chen Yucheng, it will only be a lingering breath, and sooner or later I will be exterminated by the transcendent little demon." And my family and the four highnesses of the king of heaven will definitely be affected by me, when I gave up the Tianjing city a few days ago, my mother volunteered to stay in the city in order not to affect me, and almost hanged herself, I have been sorry for her once, do you want to be sorry for her for the second time? ”

Having said that, Li Xiucheng had another voice in his heart, saying: "No poison and no husband, since ancient times, the one who rebelled was not abandoning his family and children, regardless of whether his father and mother lived or died?" A manly man must be able to afford to put it down, I still have more than 100,000 or 200,000 troops to call in the rear of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and I have the power to fight with the monster beyond the little demon. And now that the Heavenly King is dead, and my prestige is so high, as long as I return to Suzhou and Hangzhou, the other Heavenly Kingdom troops will definitely be willing to listen to my dispatch and serve me as the master, and I may go further. ”

When the heavens and men were at war in their hearts, the two pontoon bridges had been built one after another unconsciously, and the Wu army also sent envoys to ask the Taiping army to lay down their arms and cross the bridge empty-handed. When Liang Fengchao and Fu Zhenggang asked Li Xiucheng for an order, Li Xiucheng first sighed lightly, and then said hoarsely: "Cross the bridge, follow our plan." ”

According to the plan drawn up in advance, Fu Zhenggang's army first began to cross the bridge, disarmed themselves before the ferry, marched across the pontoon bridge with their hands raised, boarded the north bank under the supervision of the Wu army, and waited for disposal in the temporary prisoner of war camp that the Wu army had repaired. As a result, what made Liang Fengchao and others secretly happy was that at the beginning, the Wu army did select some Taiping soldiers to search their bodies and check whether they were carrying weapons, but as the number of Taiping troops crossing the bridge increased, the number of Wu army's random inspections became less and less.

In the end, because no illegal weapons were found, the soldiers of the Wu Army simply gave up the random inspection, as long as the Taiping soldiers who put down their spears and knives on the opposite side of the pontoon bridge, they could all pass directly through the pontoon bridge with their hands raised. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the members of Fu Zhenggang's commando team, who hid melee weapons such as short guns and short knives, also took the opportunity to cross the river one after another in the crowd and set foot on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

After the brigade was all gone, it was Fu Zhenggang's turn to cross the bridge, and Li Xiucheng would also cross the bridge with Fu Zhenggang himself, at the last moment before parting, Liang Fengchao shed tears, choked up and hugged his fists to Li Xiucheng and Fu Zhenggang and said: "Loyal King Chitose, Brother Fu, whether we can break out of Jiuhuanzhou or not depends on yours." ”

"Brother Liang, don't worry, no matter what you think, I will definitely stick to it until I cover you across the bridge and go ashore!" Fu Zhenggang replied in a deep voice, raised his fists and clenched them, shaking them a few times.

Glancing at Liang Fengchao in a complicated mood, Li Xiucheng patted Liang Fengchao's shoulder and only said two words, "Take care." ”

Liang Fengchao nodded, and watched with tears as Li Xiucheng and Fu Zhenggang led the team north to cross the bridge, and then arranged for his direct army to step forward, put down their weapons and raise their hands to cross the bridge. - Of course, the people who walked in front were several teams that Liang Fengchao was not worried about, and there were indeed no cannon fodder armies carrying any weapons.

When crossing the bridge on the creaking pontoon, the battle between heaven and man in Li Xiucheng's heart was also at its hottest, and he wanted to give up his family several times and gamble with his life to escape, but every time he made up his mind, he immediately repeated it, and his mood was full of contradictions and pain. As a result, even Fu Zhenggang, who was walking next to him, saw that Li Xiucheng's mood was wrong, and asked curiously: "Zhongwang Chitose, what's wrong with you?" Why is your face so ugly? Under the weather? ”

"Nothing, nervous." Li Xiucheng shook his head and said in a low voice: "Just this one opportunity, if you miss it, it will be gone, so I am nervous." ”

While speaking, Li Xiucheng and Fu Zhenggang walked side by side on the north bank, and then came to the assembly place of the Taiping army under the strict supervision of the Wu soldiers on both sides, and merged into the crowd. As a result, according to the agreement, Wu Chaoyue really sent a messenger over there, found Li Xiucheng and said: "Mr. Li, our king of Zhennan invited you over, and I want to ask you face to face about some things about surrender." ”

The critical moment that decided Li Xiucheng's life and fate finally came, hearing that Wu Chaoyue suddenly sent someone to summon Li Xiucheng to leave, Fu Zhenggang next to him immediately raised his head, and subconsciously put his hand to his waist, looking at Li Xiucheng's eyes were full of vigilance and nervousness. And Li Xiucheng's heart also rose to his throat all of a sudden, and he almost blurted out that he wanted to tell Fu Zhenggang to make a difficulty, so that the Taiping Army commando team who had already mixed into the crowd of the brigade would do it immediately!

"Move ......."

The slight voice was swallowed back into his stomach by Li Xiucheng, and after pursing his lips, Li Xiucheng first nodded and promised to go to see Wu Chaoyue immediately, and then turned to Fu Zhenggang next to him, first pretended to make a look, and said, "I'll come when I go, wait for me here." ”

The vigilant glint in Fu Zhenggang's eyes disappeared, nodded his head, and said, "King Zhong, Chitose, please." ”

With heavy footsteps, the envoy of the Wu army left the surrender brigade, and for some reason, Li Xiucheng felt as if he had unloaded a thousand catties of burden, his steps became more and more brisk, and his body and mind became more and more relaxed, as if he had been reborn.

Wu Chaoyue's flag array is getting closer and closer, and Wu Chaoyue's thin ordinary face gradually appeared in front of Li Xiucheng, seeing Li Xiucheng walking briskly in front of him to salute, Wu Chaoyue also showed a pleased smile and said: "Zhongwang Chitose, as I guessed, you really came back." ”

"Don't dare to deceive the king of Zhennan, the sinner really didn't want to come back just now." Li Xiucheng smiled bitterly and said a big truth.

"Human nature, I don't blame you." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "King Zhong, Chitose, since you confided in you, then I can't hide it from you, in fact, even if you don't want to come back just now, you can't leave." You promised to come back to me, and you saved yourself. ”

"Of course." Li Xiucheng said with a wry smile: "The king of Zhennan is like a god with soldiers, so he has naturally been well prepared for a long time. ”

"No, no, it's not because I'm well prepared." Wu Chaoyue shook his head, smiled again and said, "Zhongwang Chitose, go back and see who is behind you." ”

"Who's behind me?" Li Xiucheng looked back in confusion, and then only glanced at it, Li Xiucheng suddenly stood on the spot, because at this moment, the person standing behind Li Xiucheng turned out to be Fu Zhenggang, who was by his side before!

"How are you?"

In despair, a tiny detail suddenly came to Li Xiucheng's mind - when discussing fraud to save his life, Liang Fengchao offered to lend Fu Zhenggang an elite veteran, but Fu Zhenggang not only did not accept it happily, but on the contrary, hesitated for unknown reasons! Then Li Xiucheng suddenly remembered that when Fu Zhenggang subconsciously touched the weapon on his waist, his vigilant eyes were looking at himself! Just now, Li Xiucheng also said that Fu Zhenggang wanted to ask himself if he wanted to do it in advance, but at this moment, Li Xiucheng finally understood everything!

Therefore, after coming back to his senses, Li Xiucheng could only smile bitterly and bow his hand to Fu Zhenggang, and said: "Thank you General Fu's subordinates for showing mercy and giving me time to calm down, and not rushing to shoot me or stab me with a knife." ”

"King Chung Chitose forgives sins." Fu Zhenggang pounced and knelt down on Li Xiucheng's knees, crying and said: "The last general and the brothers are surrounded in Jiuhuanzhou, there is no way to go to heaven and no door to go down, and the Tianjing side has been defeated in successive battles, if the last general does not make a choice, the brothers will either die in battle or starve to death, for the sake of more than 20,000 brothers and their families, the last general can only betray the kingdom of heaven and choose to surrender to the king of Zhennan." ”

After that, Fu Zhenggang, who was ashamed in his heart, kowtowed to Li Xiucheng again and again, crying, Li Xiucheng was also in tears, picked up Fu Zhenggang and cried and said, "Brother Fu, how can I blame you?" Am I not like you? Did you also choose to surrender to King Zhennan? ”

"You're not wrong." Wu Chaoyue finally spoke, and said solemnly: "You have saved more than 20,000 lives, and you will be able to save more lives in the future, so you did not do anything wrong, but did it right." ”

Li Xiucheng and Fu Zhenggang nodded together, but the tears still flowed together, Wu Chaoyue comforted them a few more words, and then said: "Okay, I'll talk about the sad things later, let's see, is it time to do it?" ”

took a closer look at the binoculars handed by Wu Chaoyue's own soldiers, and saw that Liang Fengchao's unreliable army was about to cross the pontoon bridge, Li Xiucheng hurriedly said: "King Zhennan, this is the last one, after this army is finished, Jiuhuan Continent will be full of Liang Fengchao's sworn friends." ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, but he was not in a hurry to make a move, but when the army was about to cross the pontoon bridge, Wu Chaoyue waved his hand and shouted: "Do it!" ”

Three fireworks flew into the air, and sent a signal to the Wu soldiers guarding the pontoon bridge, and the Wu army guarding the bridge immediately moved, cutting off the column tied to the pontoon bridge three times and two times, and the pontoon bridge lost its support and sank into the water, and the Taiping soldiers who had not yet walked the pontoon bridge screamed and led into the water. At the same time, among the reeds on the shore of the upper reaches of Jiuhuanzhou, like arrows from the string, countless military sampans of the Wu army rushed out one after another, and rushed into the north channel of Jiuhuanzhou, once again cutting off the water and land connection between Jiuhuanzhou and the north bank of the Yangtze River.

The pontoon bridge collapsed too suddenly, in addition to the immediate chaos of Liang Fengchao's army, which was trapped on Jiangxin Island in Jiuhuanzhou, the Taiping army on the north bank also inevitably had a riot, but fortunately, the soldiers of the Wu army had already prepared for this, and while raising their bayonets to threaten the Taiping army to surrender, they kept shouting, "It was Liang Fengchao who surrendered and forced us to do this!" It has nothing to do with you, as long as you don't move, we promise not to kill! Guaranteed not to kill! ”

There are still some veterans of the Taiping Army who riot and hurt people, and there will inevitably be greater turmoil in the Taiping Army's surrender, but the Wu Army has been fully prepared for this, and has stubbornly guarded several entrances and exits of the temporary prisoner of war camp, and the Wu Army snipers who are ambushed around also quickly opened fire, and shot the Taiping Army veterans who showed their short guns and blades by name, plus some of Fu Zhenggang's accomplices also kept shouting among the prisoners of war, asking their companions to calm down, so the turmoil was never big, and there was no large-scale escape of the surrendered troops.

Wu Chaoyue's side, according to Wu Chaoyue's request, Fu Zhenggang immediately rushed back to the temporary prisoner of war camp to help Wu Jun pacify the prisoners of war, Li Xiuwei also wanted to go, but Wu Chaoyue stopped him and said: "No need, Fu Zhenggang is enough, King Zhong, your status in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is noble, it is difficult for ordinary soldiers to have the opportunity to see you, and it won't make much difference if you go." ”

Li Xiucheng nodded and stopped, and said with a wry smile: "King Zhennan, can you stop calling sinners loyal to the king?" The sinner is now your prisoner, so dare to be the loyal king? ”

"Indeed, I can't call you that now." Wu Chaoyue nodded, and after a little calculation, he said: "I heard that you were called Li Yiwen before joining the Taiping Army, you are older than me, and I will call you Brother Yiwen in the future." Brother Wen, little brother is a comfort pavilion, if you don't mind, you can also call me comfort pavilion directly in the future. ”

"King Zhennan, don't break the life of a sinner, what kind of identity is a sinner, how dare you call you a brother?" Li Xiucheng hurriedly humbled.

"It's okay, I'm not a good person." Wu Chaoyue waved his hand and said calmly: "And in terms of family alone, I am not much better than you, my grandfather used to be just a chicken dealer in Xiangshan, and my father was a businessman, and our backgrounds are actually similar." So Brother Wen, that's it, we will be commensurate with brothers in the future. ”

Li Xiucheng still didn't dare to accept Wu Chaoyue's love, and insisted on honoring Wu Chaoyue as the king, Wu Chaoyue was not reluctant, but said sincerely: "Brother Yiwen, in the next southeast war, I will ask you more places, like today, save more innocent people, let us do less killing, and also help me open up a peaceful and prosperous era for the innocent people in southeast Jiangsu and Zhejiang earlier." ”

"Sinners do their best." Li Xiucheng's answer was very simple.

Answering Wu Chaoyue's request, Li Xiucheng turned back to look at the battlefield of Jiuhuanzhou in the distance, Jiuhuanzhou was naturally already a place where guns shook the sky, and the artillery of the Wu army fired continuously, bombarding the chaotic Liang Fengchao army, and the military sampan of the Wu army's naval division was mobile and flexible, and the guns and cannons were used simultaneously, constantly sinking and overturning the rafts that the Taiping army hastily put down into the water. The trapped Taiping soldiers were roaring up and down, either shooting across the water, or jumping into the water to forcibly swim across, but it is a pity that in front of the tightly guarded Wu soldiers, these efforts of the Taiping army were naturally useless, and they gained nothing but casualties.

Seeing this scene, Li Xiucheng couldn't help but close his eyes in pain, and muttered: "Actually, I also want to save you, but there is no way, you are the same as me before, too stupid and too stupid." ”nt

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