Even Dai Wenjie, who was very famous in the literary and painting circles, came forward in person, and Gui Zhongxing, who was also a famous painter, said that he didn't believe anything Wu Chaoyue let him return to his hometown, and asked him to bring a letter to Liu Yuanhao, the governor of Guizhou, and took the initiative to lend a helping hand to the Qing army in Guizhou, which was in danger. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

In the end, it was Dai Wenjie who forcibly put Gui Zhongxing out of prison, dragged him onto the Wu officer ship bound for Hunan, and ordered Wu Jun's sailors to send Gui Zhongxing to Huangzhou, Hunan, and hand it over to the Qing army in Guizhou guarding the catfish pass. The nerd Gui Zhongxing asked suspiciously: "Wu thief really wants to let me go?" Aren't you afraid that I will return to Guizhou and bring the officers and soldiers to fight you? ”

"Brother Zhenzhen, do you think we will be afraid of you on the battlefield?" Dai Wenjie asked with a wry smile, and said: "But we also have words first, we will only give you this chance, if you are still stubborn and insist on helping the chaotic party in the capital, then the next time we meet you on the battlefield, even if we have the heart to spare you, there is no reason to spare you." ”

After that, Dai Wenjie handed over the letter written by Wu Chaoyue to Liu Yuanhao to Gui Zhongxing, and begged Gui Zhongxing to deliver the letter on his behalf, but Gui Zhongxing still refused to accept the letter, and asked: "You can trust me so much?" Aren't you afraid that I deliberately didn't send you a letter? ”

"Brother Zhenzhen, I believe you will definitely send us a letter." Dai Wenjie replied calmly: "I have made it very clear to you that the situation is in prison, and the generalissimo asked you to bring a letter to Liu Futai, so that Liu Futai would put the Han people in Yunnan and Guizhou and the territory of China first, abandon grievances and suspicions, and join hands to pacify the thieves from all walks of life in Yunnan and Guizhou, and protect the integrity of our Chinese territory." Brother Xuzhen, you are also a Han and a descendant of China, so I believe that you will definitely send this letter to Liu Futai for us. ”

After speaking, Dai Wenjie sealed the letter again, and said: "Brother Zhenzhen, please see, this letter is not sealed, if you suspect that we are playing tricks, you can read the letter first, and then decide whether to send the letter for us." ”

Seeing that the letter was indeed not sealed, and listening to Dai Wenjie's sincerity, the nerd Gui Zhongxing took the letter, and then did not thank Dai Wenjie, and went straight to the boat to prepare to leave, but Dai Wenjie smiled bitterly and said a few words of cherishment, and then ordered the sailors to set off.

It was the season of abundant water, tracing the source along the channel of the Yuan River, and it didn't take much time for the Wu army ships to send Gui Zhongxing directly to the city of Huangzhou, and with the help of the Huangzhou government that took the initiative to submit to the Wu army, they successfully sent Gui Zhongxing to the catfish pass and released it in public. As a result, it was at this time that Gui Zhongxing finally believed that Wu Jun did not mean to kill him, and finally thanked the soldiers of Wu Jun, and then went to the Catfish Pass to show his identity to the Qing army in Guizhou, who guarded the pass, and asked to enter the pass and return to his hometown.

What made Gui Zhongxing very helpless was that he was not tied up all the way from the Hubei provincial capital to Huangzhou, but after returning to the place controlled by the Qing army, he was first tied up by the Qing army before he was able to enter the customs. However, after entering the Catfish Pass, Gui Zhongxing no longer had the mind to blame the Qing army guarding the pass, and he also understood the reason why the Qing army of the Catfish Pass was so careful.

The contrast is too great, although the Huangzhou Hall east of the Ayu Pass was also a genuine poor country in this era, at least the people were still able to farm and live in peace, and the shops and markets were still open for business. However, in the territory of Guizhou to the west of the Ayu Pass, there are countless hungry refugees on the road, all of them in rags, all of them with yellow muscles and thin faces, kneeling under the pass and begging the Qing army to open the way, crying constantly, and riots may occur at any time.

Seeing this scene, he understood why the Qing army guarding the pass was so cautious, and Gui Zhongxing also hurriedly asked the Qing soldiers who escorted him: "This military master, how can there be so many refugees?" Did Sizhou and Zhenning suffer a disaster? ”

"There was no disaster, but it was forced by thieves." The Qing soldiers replied casually: "The thieves in Pingyue and Duyun are getting bigger and bigger, killing people everywhere, setting fire to and robbing food, and even Yuqingcheng has been occupied by the Yellow Horn thieves, these are refugees whose hometown was burned by the thieves, and they fled here to go to Hunan." ”

"Yuqing City is occupied?" Gui Zhongxing, whose hometown happened to border Yuqing County, was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "What yellow thief?" Why haven't you heard of this thief army before? ”

"There's not much you've heard of." The Qing soldiers replied angrily: "Yellow thief, white thief, red thief, Zhang Miaozi, Jin Gangan, Long family thief, dozens of roads, large and small, can't count, you will know it slowly in the future." ”

Gui Zhongxing opened his mouth and stammered, and subconsciously remembered the letter written by Wu Chaoyue to Liu Yuanhao, only to find that Wu Chaoyue's statement in the letter was true, and the thieves in Guizhou were indeed as many as a cow's hair, even more serious than those listed by Wu Chaoyue.

Gui Zhongxing's luck is good, the current Qing army general guarding the catfish pass happens to be a general transferred from Zhenyuan, a native of Zhenyuan, who has heard of Gui Zhongxing's name, and immediately ordered the soldiers to loosen Gui Zhongxing's identity after verifying Gui Zhongxing's identity, and asked Gui Zhongxing in great surprise: "Lord Gui, didn't your wife say that you were arrested by Wu Chaoyue?" How can you get here? ”

"My wife, has she been here?" Gui Zhongxing asked with great joy.

"I've been here, just a few days ago, I took your son and young lady back to my hometown, or I sent them on the boat."

After the introduction of fellow generals, Gui Zhongxing finally knew that his family had indeed been released by Wu Jun and returned to his hometown in Zhenyuan, and then he was overjoyed, Gui Zhongxing finally had a good impression of Wu Chaoyue, "Dog thief, it's a bit of credit." ”

At this time, the general of the same township couldn't wait to ask the reason for Gui Zhongxing's return, Gui Zhongxing told the truth, and also said that Wu Chaoyue asked him to persuade Liu Yuanhao, the governor of Guizhou, to accept the surrender of Wu Jun. As a result, when the fellow general heard this, not only did he not angrily scold Gui Zhongxing's treacherous master, but also asked in great surprise: "Lord Gui, Lord Wu, he really wants to recruit us, and he also wants to help us suppress the thief?" ”

"It doesn't look fake." Gui Zhongxing replied helplessly.

"That's good." The townsman was overjoyed, and he also bowed his hand to Gui Zhongxing again and again, saying: "Lord Gui, please, please persuade Liu Futai more, it is best to agree to Lord Wu's surrender, and ask Lord Wu to send troops into Guizhou to suppress thieves, we really can't hold it." ”

"You can't hold on? What do you mean? Gui Zhongxing asked suspiciously.

"Lord Gui, you have been in the north all these years, I don't know how chaotic our Guizhou is."

The general of the same township sighed and said: "Since the Changmao Incident, our officers and soldiers in Guizhou have been constantly transferred to other provinces to participate in the war, and the province is empty, and some small thieves have also taken the opportunity to make trouble, and they can't be finished no matter how they suppress it. ”

"After Zhang Miaozi rebelled in Taigong in the fifth year of Xianfeng, he laid down five or six cities in Taigong, Huangping, Qingjiang and Qingping in one go, and also occupied the Danjiang Hall, Guizhou but all the troops who could fight some battles were transferred to fight Zhang Miaozi, and the thieves in other state capitals were no one to suppress them, and they took the opportunity to make more trouble than one another, and now there is no place in the state government and office in Guizhou that is not making trouble, the more the officials and soldiers fight, the more and more the thieves fight, we are all tired and half dead when we serve as soldiers, and no one can hold on."

"Lord Gui, I'm not afraid of your jokes, don't look at me as a martial artist, in fact, there are less than 300 soldiers under my command now, and the old brothers in the past either died on the battlefield or were transferred to other state capitals to suppress thieves. If it weren't for Lord Wu's Qingjun side, forcing Tian Titai to strengthen the defense of the side of Catfish Pass, I and my two hundred brothers would definitely have been transferred to Yu Qing and the Yellow Thief to fight hard. ”

Gui Zhongxing was silent, and only after a long time did he ask: "The situation of thieves in Guizhou is so serious?" ”

"Lord Gui, the thief rebellion in Guizhou will only be more serious than I said, more serious than you think." The fellow villager general smiled bitterly and said: "Moreover, these thieves also colluded with the thieves in Yunnan and Sichuan to deliberately cut off our salt roads, so that our brothers on the front line often couldn't eat a mouthful of salt for ten days and half a month, and all of them were so weak that they couldn't even lift their knives, and they couldn't even beat the thieves on the battlefield. ”

Of course, Gui Zhongxing, a native of Guizhou, knew about the fact that Guizhou did not produce salt, but Gui Zhongxing refused to believe that the Yungui thief army could be so powerful that it could cut off the salt road of the official army, so he asked: "How is it possible?" Even if the salt field in Sichuan was occupied by Li Lan's army some time ago, Dali in Yunnan also produces salt? ”

"Dali was also occupied by Yunnan thieves, and a country was built." The fellow villager general said with a wry smile: "The thief army and the Li Lan thief army are all the way, and they colluded to deliberately not sell salt to our government. ”

Gui Zhongxing was silent, and only said after a while: "Don't worry, if you hold on for a while, the Sichuan salt field has been recovered, and when the salt field over there resumes salt supply, the salt shortage situation in Guizhou will be much better." ”

"Then it also depends on whether Lord Wu sells it to us, if Lord Wu doesn't sell it, our Guizhou soldiers will really die."

The lamentation of his fellow villagers shocked Gui Zhongxing's whole body, and Gui Zhongxing couldn't help but say, "It's okay, no, I turned against Lord Wu, didn't he kill me?" Deliberately cutting off the salt road of the people of Guizhou, such a lack of morality, Lord Wu will never do it. ”

Facts speak louder than words, and after the generals sent their subordinates to protect and escort them deep into the hinterland of Guizhou, Gui Zhongxing really knew what the people of Guizhou were in. It was already difficult to be self-sufficient in food and was destroyed by war, and the hungry people were naturally starving all over the mountains; The salt road was deliberately cut off by the thief army, and the folk salt was naturally more expensive than gold, not to mention the poor people, even the landlords and gentry could only generally gnaw chili peppers instead of salt; Lack of food, lack of salt, lack of iron, lack of oil and lack of cloth, even if there is no shortage of thieves who kill people everywhere and set fires, even if I heard that the relatively peaceful Zhenyuan Mansion City must close the city gate in broad daylight, and the streets and houses outside the city also have many traces left by the war.

Seeing these scenes, how did he decide that Wu Chaoyue's so-called Qingjun side was actually a rebellion, and the Luotian County Linggui Zhongxing, whose family was only copied out of eleven taels and five dollars, still only met with his family once, and immediately begged the prefect of Zhenning to escort him to the provincial capital and submit a letter to Liu Yuanhao, the governor of Guizhou, on behalf of Wu Chaoyue.

What makes Gui Zhongxing unbelievable is that even if he was escorted by the Qing army to take the official road to Guiyang, when passing through the Pingyue Prefecture City on the edge of the thief-occupied area, his team was also robbed and killed by Zhang Miaozi's army.

What also made Gui Zhongxing cry and laugh was that when he heard that he was sending a letter of surrender for Wu Chaoyue, the governor and the general soldiers of Pingyue Prefecture actually sent a sentry of the Qing army and a battalion of regimental training to protect him to Guiyang, and kept begging Gui Zhongxing to ask Liu Yuanhao to agree to surrender to the Wu army, and their expressions were full of their true thoughts in their hearts - if Liu Yuanhao refused to surrender, as soon as the Wu army arrived, they would immediately open the city and surrender!

In addition, Gui Zhongxing also firmly believed that if it weren't for the fact that Pingyue Prefecture did not border the territory controlled by the Wu army, and the Wu army did not have many garrisons in the Phoenix Hall and Huangzhou Hall, it would be difficult to provide strong assistance to Pingyue Prefecture.

After going through many risks, Gui Zhongxing was lucky enough to rush to Guiyang, and soon met Liu Yuanhao, the governor of Guizhou, who was over sixty years old, and was able to explain the situation to him and present Liu Yuanhao with Wu Chaoyue's letter of persuasion.

After reading Wu Chaoyue's letter, after thinking about it for a while, Liu Yuanhao asked Gui Zhongxing a strange question, "Wu Chaoyue really wants to pick up this mess in Guizhou?" He doesn't feel at a loss? ”

"Suffer? What is the loss? Gui Zhongxing asked inexplicably.

"To burden him, of course." Liu Yuanhao said calmly: "You have also seen the situation in Guizhou with your own eyes, the surrender of this official to Wu Chaoyue will not be of any benefit to Wu Chaoyue, on the contrary, it will only become a huge burden for him, consuming his countless money, food, soldiers and horses. So the official has to ask clearly, is Wu Chaoyue willing to suffer this big loss? ”

"This ......, the sinner doesn't know, and he hasn't asked Wu Thief face to face." Gui Zhongxing replied truthfully.

"It would be nice if you asked in person."

Liu Yuanhao sighed, and after thinking about it for a while, Liu Yuanhao gritted his teeth and said something that made Gui Zhongxing extremely dumbfounded, and said: "It should be true, you were originally an official under Wu Chaoyue, but he didn't kill you, and asked you to send this letter to the official, making it clear that he wanted the official to see the sincerity of his surrender." That's it, the official immediately replied to Wu Chaoyue and asked him to send troops to Guizhou to take over the cities in Guizhou. ”

"Lord Futai, you are the governor of Guizhou!" Gui Zhongxing exclaimed: "How can the governor of a dignified province bow his head and surrender to the Wu thief who committed the rebellion? ”

"It is precisely because this official is the governor of Guizhou that this official must be responsible for the fathers and villagers of Guizhou." Liu Yuanhao smiled bitterly and said, "Do you know? All the prefectures and counties in Guizhou have thieves, there is a shortage of food and salt, every day there are thieves to occupy the city and town of the military situation report, and every day there are local officials to the provincial capital for help and troops, but the main force of Tian Titai was pinned down in Liping by Zhang Miaozi's thief army, Liping City has been surrounded for five months and has not been able to break the siege, what army can this official send? ”

Speaking of this, Liu Yuanhao smiled bitterly and added: "There is still the army of Zhao Dechang, the general soldier of Xingyi, here in Guiyang, to guard, but this official can't send out the army here in Guiyang, let the thief army surround the provincial capital, and starve and kill the entire Guiyang City to the point that there are only more than 200 people left, right?" ”

"But Lord Futai, you can still ask Yunnan for help?" Gui Zhongxing hurriedly said: "Your Shangguan Wu Zhenqi Wu Zhitai, it is impossible not to save Guizhou when he dies?" ”

"This official has lost contact with Yunnan for more than two months."

Liu Yuanhao's smile became even more bitter, and said: "The official has not dared to announce the news so far, and a Zhang Ma thief army has emerged on the Pu'an side, calling itself the White Flag Army, and has captured the towns of Pu'an Hall (Panxian), Yizikong, Xingyi and Zhenfeng, cutting off the southwest connection between Guizhou and Yunnan. This officer has no troops to send, and there is no help to ask for, so he can only watch them approach Anshun, which is the only place in Guizhou that can produce some food to supply the army. ”

Gui Zhongxing's mouth opened wide, and Liu Yuanhao sighed and said: "You know, the White Flag Thief and the Li Lan Thief Army are all the way, and the official tried to send people to appease them, but they only need to tear the soil and establish a country." If this official agrees to them, he will be a sinner in Huaxia. ”

"So, Lord Futai, have you made up your mind?" Gui Zhongxing asked for a long time.

"Although Wu Chaoyue rebelled, he played the banner of the Qing monarch, and still considered himself a subject of the Qing Dynasty." Liu Yuanhao said lightly: "No matter what happens to him in the future, since he is not afraid of suffering losses now, and voluntarily comes to help the Qing Dynasty recover its territory and exterminate those thieves who are vainly trying to split my Qing Dynasty's territory, this official is willing to surrender to him!" In the future, even if he is defeated and dies, this official can be worthy of the ancestors of China and the Li Shu of Guizhou. ”

Gui Zhongxing left tears, knelt down on his knees to Liu Yuanhao, who was also already in tears, kowtowed again and again, but couldn't say a word in his mouth, Liu Yuanhao hid his face and cried, crying: "First emperor, it's not that the criminal minister is greedy for life and afraid of death, greedy for wealth and nobility, but that the criminal minister has to surrender to the traitor Wu Chaoyue in order to save your people!" ”

More than ten days later, Liu Yuanhao's letter of surrender was sent to Wu Chaoyue by clipper, Wu Chaoyue gave an order, and the Hunan Wu army also entered Guizhou in a big way when the territory was not all cleared, and the Qing army in Guizhou and the Han people burned incense and Fu Dao, ate pulp pots, and greeted the Wu army with joy. However, it is a pity that none of the cities in Guizhou taken over by the Wu army are full of warehouses, and some are just groups of hungry people waiting to be fed.

"Wei Ting's decision to take Yungui first, at least delay his domination of the world by two years! There are countless variables to add! ”

This was the sullen muttering of Li Hongzhang, chief of staff of the Southern Route Army of the Wu Army, but Li Hongzhang did not dare to complain, let alone object. Because Li Hongzhang knows very well that if he dares to complain and object, his good brother Wu Chaoyue may not do anything to him, but the soldiers and civilians of Guizhou who have just surrendered to the province can chew him alive, and he doesn't even need to dip in salt!

There are also those who feel like Li Hongzhang that the Wu army should not be the first to march to the southwest, that is, those large and small thieves from all walks of life in Guizhou, although the Hunan Wu army that first entered Guizhou is a second-line army dominated by Xiangyong, and there are not many elites, but this is enough, and it is all necessary to rely on the number of people to bully the Qing army in Guizhou and the Guizhou thief army in regimental training encountered the second-line army of the Wu army, and they were also slaughtered like cutting melons and vegetables. Therefore, while the Guizhou thief army was driven all over the mountains to look for holes to drill, none of them decided not to scold Wu Chaoyue's lack of morality......

"The surname is Wu, Lao Tzu recruited you to provoke you, your fucking Qingjun side went to Beijing to kill the thieves, why did you come to Guizhou to bully us?"