After the great victory, the battlefield of Chenqiao Town was full of joy and earth-shattering, the Taiping soldiers who fled here in embarrassment all the way from the Tianjin battlefield forgot their pain and fatigue, everyone danced with their hands, all of them smiled happily, all of them were glad that the blood revenge was avenged, the evil enemy was annihilated, and they also rushed to laugh and insult the Qing cavalry captured by the Wu soldiers, and the sound of shouting and shouting and killing resounded in the sky. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Different from the heartfelt laughter of the grassroots soldiers, although the senior generals of the Taiping Army were also very happy about the great victory achieved by joining forces with the Wu Army, they were in a very complicated mood, and they never dreamed that there would be such a day. Especially Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang, who had fought with Wu Chaoyue many times, didn't know how to get along with Wu Jun next.

It's so embarrassing! Once upon a time, for a long time, Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang and others were even far from the hatred of Wu Chaoyue and the Manchu court, I don't know how many henchmen and siblings died tragically in the hands of Wu Chaoyue, and I don't know how many relatives and friends were brutally killed by Wu Chaoyue, and I don't know how many times the slogan of surpassing the little demon was shouted in the ranks of the Taiping Army.

However, today, it was Wu Chaoyue's accomplice lackeys who saved the remnants of the Taiping Army and helped the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom avenge their blood and revenge.

Thinking about the past, and then looking at the present, Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang and other old people of the Taiping Army inevitably had all kinds of feelings in their hearts, and they were full of emotion, and they didn't know how to face the generals of the Wu Army and talk to Wu Chaoyue's brother-in-law Nie Shicheng.

What made Shi Dakai even more embarrassed was that after learning that the deputy general of the Wu army's cavalry turned out to be his former subordinate Ding Ruchang, Shi Dakai and Chen Yucheng, who also had been Ding Ruchang's boss, were even more blank in their minds, never dreaming that Ding Ruchang, who was just a nobody under his command, would be able to soar into the sky after being forced by Hu Yihuang to descend to the Wu army's side and become an important general who actually commanded the main force of the Wu army's cavalry!

"Creation makes people!"

When they all let out this exclamation, Nie Shicheng finally came to Shi Dakai and the others with the cavalry of the Wu army. The result was also a conditioned reflex, seeing Nie Shicheng leading the brigade approaching the Taiping army camp, the Taiping soldiers immediately raised their guns to prepare for battle, and the Wu cavalry around Nie Shicheng was frightened and immediately drew their guns to prepare, but fortunately, Nie Shicheng stopped in time, and sent someone to invite Yang Yuanqing and Shi Dakai and others to meet outside the camp.

Afraid of the Wu cavalry beside Nie Shicheng, Yang Yuanqing hesitated and didn't dare to move, but Shi Dakai walked out of the camp without hesitation, and walked outside the camp to loudly identify himself. Nie Shicheng also immediately dismounted, drank his subordinates and stepped forward alone, Shi Dakai also quickly drank his own soldiers, and also stepped forward alone to meet Nie Shicheng, who had fought on the battlefield.

Nie Shicheng, who had just returned from the front line, had not had time to wash off the gray sand and blood stains on his face, but as a typical model of professional soldiers in the late Qing Dynasty, Nie Shicheng's straight standing posture and neither humble nor arrogant tone immediately left an excellent impression on Shi Dakai. In the case of helping the Taiping Army a lot just now, Nie Shicheng did not put on the savior at all, and took the initiative to salute, thanking Shi Dakai for his trust in him, helping the Wu army create a rare fighter to ambush the main cavalry of the Qing army, and also thanking the Taiping army for taking the initiative to help in the war. Shi Dakai was extremely ashamed, and said: "General Nie, you are too polite, if you hadn't annihilated the main force of the Qing Demon this time, we really don't know how many more people will die, how many good brothers will be killed, it should be us to thank you." ”

"You don't have to thank each other for helping each other, and I do what I am told." Nie Shicheng shook his head and said, "Your Royal Highness the Wing King, I asked you to come out to speak, I want to ask you if you plan to cross the Yellow River and set up camp?" Or is it stationed in place? ”

Glancing at the surging Yellow River in the south, Shi Dakai replied after a little calculation: "General Nie, let's still be stationed on the spot, our army is newly defeated, and the chaotic establishment of soldiers is difficult to restrain it. ”

"That's good." Nie Shicheng nodded and said: "I will arrange for people to send you food and wound medicine in a while, we will discuss the future carefully another day, if your army still needs anything, you can send someone to contact our army at any time, I will do my best." The military is busy, so I will take my leave. ”

After that, Nie Shicheng said goodbye to Shi Dakai again, and when Shi Dakai hurriedly returned the salute, Nie Shicheng added another sentence and said: "I almost forgot something, Yiwang, General Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Henan of our army, has some festivals with your army, and there is some resistance to our generalissimo's order to get along with you friendly, if his soldiers are not polite enough to your army, please bear with your army a little, you can also send someone to inform me immediately, and I will come forward to deal with it." ”

Shi Dakai smiled bitterly when he heard this, and said: "General Nie, in fact, I should say this to you, don't worry, I will definitely try my best to restrain the soldiers, and if our generals and soldiers have any rudeness to your army, I will also clean them up." ”

Nie Shicheng nodded, thanked Shi Dakai again and said goodbye to leave. And looking at the back of Nie Shicheng's departure, Shi Dakai's heart was inevitably full of doubts, and he said secretly: "Beyond the little demon is cunning and vicious, can you have such a kind and upright brother-in-law yesterday?" This Nie Shicheng's sister is blind, marrying such a pit with a bad stomach? ”

After slandering the brothers and sisters of Nie Shicheng who had a problem with their vision, Shi Dakai returned to the camp of the Taiping Army, and naturally he was immediately surrounded by the generals of the Taiping Army, and asked him about meeting Nie Shicheng. And after Shi Dakai said the truth, the Taiping generals were inevitably surprised again, and they all said: "Beyond the little demon has helped us so much this time, so I don't want anything in return?" ”

"Nope." Shi Dakai shook his head and said again: "Besides, what else can we repay him now?" ”

The generals of the Taiping army were silent, but Yang Yuanqing over there snorted: "Even if he is more clever than the little demon, if he dares to take advantage of the fire to rob, he will ask us for this and that, my brother Long Live Dongwang will definitely not let him go!" ”

No one paid attention to Yang Yuanqing's arrogant words, but they all listened to Shi Dakai's proposal and decided to build the Taiping army camp five miles away on the right side of Chenqiao Town, so as not to get too close to the Wu army camp and cause accidents, and at the same time, they all tried to restrain the soldiers and avoid the soldiers from remembering the past and clashing with the Wu soldiers who had fought to the death.

In the evening, Nie Shiguo sent a batch of food and medicine to help the defeated soldiers of the Taiping Army, who were short of food and medicine, to solve their urgent needs. In addition, the envoy of the Wu army made a small request to the Taiping army, that is, to inquire about the whereabouts of Zhou Lichun, the former leader of the rebel army of the Little Knife Society, and the result was that Zhou Lichun, who was currently serving Zeng Lichang as a general, had a big life, and did not die on the fleeing battlefield, and was soon called by Zeng Lichang to meet with the envoy of the Wu army.

Everyone knows the reason why the envoy of the Wu army wanted to see Zhou Lichun, and of course Zhou Lichun, who has also heard about his daughter's situation, also knows it, so after the meeting, of course, Zhou Lichun immediately asked the envoy of the Wu army about Zhou Xiuying's current situation, and the envoy of the Wu army replied: "General Zhou, rest assured, the fourth lady of our generalissimo is very good now, but the old man Wu is reluctant to give up his great-grandson, and the eldest son of our generalissimo is inseparable from his mother, so she is still in Shanghai." General Nie, he asked the little one to bring you a message, saying that he would pay you a nephew salute another day, and help you contact our Wu Dashuai and the fourth lady. ”

"I want to see General Nie now, okay?" Zhou Lichun hurriedly asked.

The envoy of the Wu army was extremely embarrassed, so he had to reply: "General Zhou, of course, the little one can lead you to General Nie, but this should first seek the consent of the commander of your army." ”

The conscience of heaven and earth, the honest man Nie Shi Chengzhen is not sowing discord, and suddenly remembered to ask the envoy to inquire about Zhou Lichun's situation by the way, the purpose is just to make Zhou Xiuying, the sister-in-law's sister-in-law, feel at ease and know whether Zhou Lichun died on the battlefield of the Northern Expedition. However, Nie Shicheng's unintentional move unexpectedly led to a further deepening of the contradiction between the generals and commanders of the Taiping Army, although Zeng Lichang promised to let Zhou Lichun go to meet with Nie Shicheng immediately, Yang Yuanqing categorically refused, and said: "General Zhou, don't be in such a hurry, when Ben Shuai goes to meet with General Nie another day, it's not too late to take you to meet with him." ”

Zhou Lichun, who was anxious to get in touch with his only daughter, was on fire in his heart, but he didn't dare to resist, so he had no choice but to accept the order. Zeng Lichang over there was also very angry, knowing that Yang Yuanqing was worried that he would take the opportunity to get in touch with Wu Chaoyue through Zhou Lichun, and he would have some different intentions.

In fact, after the fiasco, warlords like Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang were not only more reluctant to continue to obey Yang Xiuqing's command, but also had the intention of making direct contact with Wu Chaoyue. Its purpose was not to rebel against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but to establish a convenient and fast communication channel with Wu Chaoyue, obtain the military help of Wu Chaoyue, and also strive to obtain food and ammunition support from Wu Chaoyue, so as to regain strength faster and faster.

It is precisely because of this that the generals of the Taiping army unanimously opposed Yang Yuanqing's decision to ask the Taiping army to withdraw to Yanzhou as soon as possible, and demanded that the already exhausted army be allowed to rest for a while under the protection of the Wu army, find an excuse to deliberately leave in a hurry, and then take the opportunity to try to establish direct contact with the Wu army.

After receiving the front-line battle report, Wu Chaoyue in addition to cheering and no longer worried about the safety of the Northern Expedition grain route, and then immediately thought that Shengbao, who was captured by the Wu army, had great use value, and at the same time forced to temporarily need the protection of the Wu army's wings, the defeated soldiers of the Taiping army were also a group of walking treasures, if the operation was done well, it could not only greatly facilitate the recruitment and surrender after the war with the Taiping army in the future, but also accelerate the division and civil war of the Taiping army. Without spending a single shot, it directly weakened the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was already seriously fat.

If you want to speed up the split of the Taiping Army, the best way is to treat Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang and other warlord leaders well, fortunately, Wu Chaoyue has explained to Nie Shicheng in advance, and asked Nie Shicheng to treat the defeated soldiers of the Taiping Army as well as possible, with Nie Shicheng's loyalty and obedience, Wu Chaoyue does not need to worry that this article will not be implemented. However, this is obviously not enough, and if Wu Chaoyue wants to win over the warlords of the Taiping Army, he must come up with something weighty.

"Send more guns and weapons to these warlords Shi Dakai? No, not only is this too traceful, it is easy to anger Yang Xiuqing, and they have developed this habit, I am afraid that this bottomless pit will be difficult to fill in the future. ”

"It's definitely not okay to send a woman with silver, it's convenient to take the opportunity to pay homage to a family and get married, but it's still too traceful to do so. I have to think of a good way to get closer to these warlord leaders without arousing Yang Xiuqing's disgust, what method do I use? ”

"Hey, why am I getting into the horns again? Since I can't take the initiative to sell too many favors to these warlord leaders, why can't I go back and ask them for help and let them sell me favors first? In this way, didn't I still establish friendly ties with these warlord leaders, and justifiably skip Yang Xiuqing and contact them directly? ”

So, soon, Nie Shicheng quickly represented Wu Chaoyue and made a request to Shi Dakai, Zeng Lichang and others in front of Yang Yuanqing, imploring Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang and other Taiping warlords to help Wu Jun eliminate the Qing army entrenched in northwest Anhui.

"Yang Guozong, Yiwang, Zeng Prime Minister, and two Li Cheng Ministers, you must have also heard of the grudge between our Wu Dashuai and the Weng family father and son, the Weng family father and son are sanctimonious on the surface, but in fact, they are human-faced and beast-hearted, for the sake of their career and the so-called reputation, they did not hesitate to frame our Wu Dashuai and Wu Boss in prison, and almost killed our Wu Dashuai's whole family."

"The reason why we have not sent troops to Anhui is mainly because we respect the interests of your army in Anhui, and we don't want your army to misunderstand what our intentions are for the land and city of Anhui.

"Therefore, our Wu Dashuai entrusted me to ask you to take action to eliminate the rebellious army commanded by Weng Xincun's father and son as soon as possible, and help us cut off the tumor of Weng Xincun's father and son, if possible, please try to help us capture Weng Xincun's father and son alive, send them to Shanghai or Hubei, and hand them over to us Wu Dashuai or Wu Laosan to take revenge. After the deed is accomplished, our army will be grateful. ”

Nie Shicheng's excuse was high-sounding and the excuse was sufficient, of course Yang Yuanqing couldn't find any reason to refuse, so he could only nod reluctantly, and the warlord leaders such as Shi Dakai and Zeng Lichang immediately slapped their chests loudly, promising to cut off the heads of Weng Xincun's father and son as soon as possible and give them to Wu Chaoyue that night!

At the same time, Shi Dakai, Zeng Lichang and other warlord leaders also said in their hearts: "This is a good excuse not to go back to Tianjing, Tianjing can't go back no matter what, and it is safest to stay outside with the army." ”

By the way, although Zhou Lichun strongly expressed his desire to join the Wu army in private, Nie Shicheng categorically refused on behalf of Wu Chaoyue on the pretext that Yang Xiuqing could not be misunderstood, and asked Zhou Lichun to continue to stay in the Taiping Army and wait for Wu Chaoyue to negotiate with Yang Xiuqing, and then accept Zhou Lichun to join after obtaining Yang Xiuqing's consent.

The grandson saw that he was hopeful of becoming the crown prince, but his grandfather couldn't get any light, so of course Zhou Lichun was depressed and depressed. However, what Zhou Lichun never expected was that he had just started to return to Yanzhou, and Zeng Lichang immediately promoted him to the decision-making level of Zeng Lichang's army, and at the same time, other Taiping soldiers also rushed to get close to him......

"Brother Zhou, we will listen to you in the future, what you tell us to do, we will do it, go up the knife mountain and down the sea of fire, and never frown!"