Some bricks in later generations often boasted of the brave and good fighting of the Eight Banners warriors, saying that when the Taiping Army attacked Nanjing, the banner people and women in the city went to the city to fire guns and arrows, and the old people and children also shouted day and night, cheering for the Eight Banners warriors, and the Taiping Army who killed stupidly charged head-on suffered heavy casualties, accumulated corpses and the city level, and the Eight Banners soldiers fought bloodily, and many people were exhausted and tired to death!

If this is the case, then the Eight Banners soldiers should be made of tofu.

Many documents clearly record that after the Taiping army broke through the outer city of Nanjing on the 10th day of the second month of the second month of the Xianfeng Emperor, the next day launched an attack on the city, only three charges, about 1,000 people were killed and wounded, and the city was successfully climbed in the afternoon, and the street fighting ended in the evening and successfully occupied the whole city. ――Exhausted to death in less than a day, what is it that the Eight Banners Warriors are not made of tofu?

Because of the agitation of Wu Chaoyue's wings and the combination of various details, the Taiping army did not break through the city until the second watch that night, and did not completely occupy the city until the early morning of the next day. It is precisely because of this change in time that when the city was broken in the middle of the night, more than 100 flag soldiers under the leadership of Fuzhu Hong'a, the governor of Jiangnan disguised as ordinary people, escaped from the city from Chaoyangmen in chaos, and escaped into the Purple Mountain Mountains under the cover of night, and luckily picked up an old life.

Although Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing encouraged the soldiers and civilians to vigorously search and kill the remnants of the banner people at a high price of five taels of silver per bannerman, and the banner soldiers around Fuzhu Hong'a also fled, were captured and killed, but Fuzhu Hong'a himself was able to escape every time in the pursuit of the Taiping soldiers and the people of Jiangning, and miraculously fled to the Yangtze River on the night of February 13 with the last two personal soldiers, and found a sampan that he had sent his personal soldiers to hide in the reeds in advance. Disguised as fishermen, he fled eastward, and finally escaped to Zhenjiang a day later. Successfully returned to the warm and broad embrace of the Qing court.

As mentioned earlier, before the Jiangning War. Yang Wending, the old rival of the Wu family's ancestors and the old slippery head of Jiangsu, had already fled to Zhenjiang first, and luckily escaped the catastrophe of Jiangning City. However, even if he saved his life, Yang Wending's heart knew very well that it was still difficult for him to escape from the crime, so when he saw Fuzhu Hong'a who fled here in embarrassment, after confirming from Fuzhu Hong'a that the rumors of Jiangning's city were broken, Yang Wending immediately quietly cried out for bitterness.

"Oops! If Jiang Ning can hold on, it's okay to say, now that Jiang Ning has fallen, the emperor is furious. I will not be able to escape from the sin of escape no matter what. ”

"Master! Slaves are ashamed of their trust in you! You took the slave as the governor of Jiangnan and stationed in Jiangning, and now that the city of Jiangning is broken, and the slave has lost the city and lost his land, what face do you have to see you? Don't pull me! Don't pull me! I want to apologize to the emperor with death! ”

Fuzhu Hong'a was obviously much more loyal to the Qing court than Yang Wending, and as soon as he was full of food and drink, he immediately cried loudly, and went to snatch the saber of his own soldiers to apologize. After being stopped by Yang Wending and his own soldiers, Fuzhu Hong'a kept kowtowing to the north, constantly pleading to Emperor Xianfeng, and repeatedly blamed himself for his loss of city and dereliction of duty. See this scenario. Yang Wending, who only thinks about himself, feels guilty, and inevitably has some strangeness in his heart, I don't understand why Fuzhu Hong'a ran to Zhenjiang before he thought of apologizing for his crime with death? Why didn't you commit suicide by throwing yourself into the water on a boat?

It was also after Fuzhu Hong'a's mood finally calmed down. Yang Wending remembered to ask Fuzhu Hong'a about the story of Jiangning's city break, and Fuzhu Hong'a basically told the truth. He said that he heard the sound of an explosion coming from Yifengmen in his sleep, and he was afraid that the Taiping army would take the opportunity to attack the city, so he hurried to Jubaomen to supervise the battle - as for when he reacted. Hearing the explosion from Yifengmen, he ran to the Jubaomen in the opposite direction to supervise the battle, these Fuzhu Hong'a didn't say or explain, and the slippery old official Yang Wending didn't ask.

Then Fuzhu Hong'a said that after he arrived at Jubaomen, the Taiping army in the south of the city really launched a fierce attack on Jubaomen, he led the army to fight bloodily, and repelled many attacks by the Taiping army one after another, and then received the news that the city wall of Yifengmen was blown up, and he was forced to divide a large number of troops to rush to Yifengmen to rescue; As soon as the army that wanted to rescue Yifengmen left, the Taiping army that was put into the city by the incompetent Jiangning officials killed the city wall, and he was caught off guard and suffered a big loss, so he could only take the defeated soldiers and retreat to the city, and continue to fight with the Taiping army; It's a pity that Xianghou, who is responsible for guarding the city, is more useless than Lu Jianying, who is responsible for guarding the outer city, and he insisted on a day before being killed by the Taiping army into the city.

After listening to Fuzhu Hong'a's brazen boasting, Yang Wending didn't raise any questions, but just asked Fuzhu Hong'a a very critical question, "Futitai, what about the land-based platform?" He was on duty in the outer city, and after the outer city was breached by Longhair, where did he go? ”

"I don't know." Fuzhu Hong'a replied very frankly: "I heard Xianghou say that after the long-haired man entered the outer city, Lu Zhitai went to the inner city to enter, but Xianghou did not allow him to enter the city, and asked him to organize the people to launch a counterattack, and then there was no news of him. ”

Yang Wending was disappointed when he heard this, originally Yang Wending also hoped to be able to confirm that Lu Jianying had died in Jiangning City, so as to take the opportunity to put all the blame for the loss of Jiangning on Lu Jianying, but now that Lu Jianying's life and death are unknown, Yang Wending must take it easy - otherwise, Lu Jianying can pull Yang Wending into the water with a counterattack! So in desperation, Yang Wending could only change his tone and ask: "Then Fu Titai, who do you think is the biggest culprit in the fall of Jiangning this time?" ”

Of course, Fuzhu Hong'a wanted to answer truthfully that Lu Jianying and Xianghou were two fools, but Xianghou was surnamed Aixin Jueluo and was a descendant of the wild boar skin of Genhong Miaozheng, and Lu Jianying was the master of the East Palace of Emperor Xianfeng and a member of the first rank, and now his whereabouts are unknown, life and death are unknown, and putting the blame on them is not only too big, but also likely to make enemies that cannot be provoked. Therefore, after thinking about it, Fuzhu Hong replied like this: "If you want to say that the biggest culprit in the fall of Jiangning, in my opinion, it should be Wu Chaoyue, the regimental training supervisor and the head of the Ministry of Rites of Songjiang Mansion!" ”

"Wu Chaoyue?!" Yang Wending's joy was not trivial, and he hurriedly asked: "Fu Titai, why do you think it's Wu Chaoyue?" ”

"Because he was the first to open the gates of the city and flee for his life."

Fu Zhu Hong'a told the truth this time. Then he said eloquently: "After Yifengmen and Jubaomen were successively broken by Changmao, although some of the Qing soldiers in the city also fled. But most of the Qing Dynasty soldiers are still under my leadership and insist on fighting with Changmao in the streets, who knows that Wu Chaoyue is greedy for life and afraid of death. Unexpectedly, together with the garrison general Geng Huan, they opened the Shence Gate on their duty and fled out of the city, which completely shook the morale of the Qing Dynasty soldiers, and I was defeated in the street battle. ”

"Is there such a thing?" Yang Wending was even more overjoyed, and hurriedly asked: "There is still a street battle in Jiangning City, and Wu Chaoyue opened the Shence Gate and went out of the city to escape?" Do you confirm that? ”

"Absolutely." Fuzhu Hong'a didn't think about it and said: "When I retreated to the inner city, General Xianghou told me personally, saying that he sent someone to order Wu Chaoyue to retreat to the inner city with Songjiang Tuanlian to help defend it, but it turned out that Wu Chaoyue and Geng Huan had already opened the city gate and ran. There are many people in Jiangning City who know about this matter. Anyone can testify. ”

"Good!"

Yang Wending's excited reaction frightened Fuzhu Hong'a, and then Yang Wending couldn't wait to grab Fuzhu Hong'a and said: "Futitai, don't be shy, hurry up and write an excerpt, tell the emperor about the destruction of Jiangning City, and also put all the responsibility for the destruction of Jiangning City on Wu Chaoyue, and preemptively give Wu Chaoyue the charge to smash the porcelain, and then you can take the opportunity to exonerate yourself." ”

"There's no need to be in such a hurry, is there?" Fu Zhu Hong, who was tired enough, asked rhetorically. He said: "When you find out more about the situation in Jiangning City, it's not too late to make a break, right?" ”

"Can't delay!" Yang Wending hurriedly pointed out and said, "Jiangning City was attacked by Changmao, and the emperor will definitely be angry. It is certain that the civil and military officials who are not effective in defending the city must be strictly punished, and when the time comes, no matter whether Fu Titai has merit or deeds, he will definitely not be able to get involved. The situation is so critical. Fu Titai, you only have to find a punching bag for the emperor first, so that the emperor can vent his evil anger first. Only then can there be hope of exonerating the fault and reducing the punishment. If not. Once someone else preemptively sends such an important military situation to the emperor, and fails to find a punching bag for the emperor in time, the emperor is furious and decrees to investigate all Jiangning civil and military crimes for losing the city and land, and you can't run away from Futitai! ”

After all, he has been in the officialdom for so many years, and although his talent is not very high, he has seen a lot of things that have been fought for, and Fuzhu Honga has learned a lot. So after listening to Yang Wending's guidance, Fuzhu Hong'a did not hesitate, regardless of his fatigue, he immediately picked up the pen and made a book, and reported the bad news of Jiangning's loss to Emperor Xianfeng, and also put all the responsibility for the destruction of Jiangning City on Wu Chaoyue's head. And Yang Wending was secretly happy in his heart, but also did not hesitate, and immediately put pen to paper, saying that he organized reinforcements in Zhenjiang to prepare to rescue Jiangning, but the reinforcements had just begun to assemble, Jiangning had already fallen, and he was at a loss, so he asked Emperor Xianfeng for instructions to launch a counterattack on Jiangning?

-- Yang Wending bet that Emperor Xianfeng would never ask him to counterattack Jiangning, but would only ask him to guard the throat of Zhenjiang and ensure that the lifeblood of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty could transport grain to the north unimpeded!

After the two excerpts were written one after another, and sent to the capital with an expedited day and night journey of 600 miles, a great bad news quickly spread to Zhenjiang -- after the Taiping army broke through the city, the first thing was to kill the masters of the Eight Banners in the city, and not even half of the women and babies were spared!

When Fuzhu Hong'a cried loudly, a new bad news was suddenly sent to Yang Wending and Fuzhu Hong'a, which immediately made Yang Wending stunned, and also made Fuzhu Hong'a's crying stop - the Qing army heard rumors that Wu Chaoyue killed Wei Changhui, the northern king of the Taiping Army, outside the Shence Gate! And after finally coming back to his senses, Yang Wending hurriedly asked Xizuo: "Is the news confirmed?" Wu surpassed that little deflated three, and really killed the puppet king Wei Changhui with one shot?! ”

"Yufutai, you can't get into the city, you can't confirm it." Xizuo replied truthfully: "But it should be true, many long-haired generals have hung filial piety to Wei Changhui, and the slogan of wanting to avenge the long-haired puppet king of the north by cutting off Director Wu with a thousand knives is everywhere." I heard that in order to vent his anger, Changmao also chopped several of Wu's subordinates who were seriously injured and captured. ”

After being stunned for a while, Yang Wending hurriedly asked again: "What about Wu Chaoyue?" Where is that little deflated three? ”

"I should be back in Shanghai." Xizuo continued to answer truthfully: "It is rumored that although Chief Wu suffered heavy casualties in the process of breaking through, he finally managed to escape from the encirclement of Long Hair, so many Long Hair are still shouting the slogan of stepping on the city of Shanghai. But these are rumors and cannot be confirmed. ”

"This cockroach can't be killed!"

Yang Wending sighed and sat back on the Taishi chair. I knew that this time it would be difficult to kill Wu Chaoyue - not to mention anything else, just the great achievement of killing Wei Changhui. It was enough for Wu Chaoyue to get rid of the capital crime. In addition, now that Jiangning has fallen, the entire Jiangnan is in an emergency. In such a critical situation, Emperor Xianfeng must be even more reluctant to clean up Wu Chaoyue, who can fight well—at least for the time being.

When he was troubled, he came to make trouble for Yang Wending, saying that it was Menzi who came to report, and there was a person who claimed to be Zou Minghe, the former governor of Guangxi, who fled from Jiangning to Zhenjiang to ask to see Yang Wending. Yang Wending, who had stayed in Jiangning for a few days before, knew Zou Minghe, and although he didn't have any special friendship with Zou Minghe, he could barely be regarded as a nodding friend, so Yang Wending beckoned. signaled his entourage to bring Zou Minghe in, and then soon, Zou Minghe, who was wearing people's clothes, stumbled in, and cried loudly before he entered the door, "Yang Futai!" Yang Futai! Oh no! Big things are wrong! Jiang Ning is broken, Jiang Ning is broken by Long Hair-! ”

"Yang Futai, Jiang Ning......, huh? Why are you here? ”

Suddenly, I saw an old acquaintance, Fuzhu Hong, sitting in the hall. Zou Minghe's crying stopped abruptly, and a look of surprise appeared on his thin old face. Fuzhu Hong'a replied weakly: "I came yesterday, General Zou Office, how did you escape?" ”

"Go back to Futitai. The old man didn't escape, he killed. Zou Minghe didn't blush, and said even more shamelessly: "After the long hair enters the city." The old man has been fighting with Changmao in the city with Lian Yong from the Preparation and Defense Bureau, but he didn't expect Wu to surpass that rat to open the Shence Gate and escape for his life. shook the morale of the army, and the old man was finally defeated. had no choice but to break through the siege at the west gate of Shui, and finally managed to break out of the encirclement of Changmao and rushed to Zhenjiang to report to Yang Futai. ”

Fuzhu Hong'a and Yang Wending, who knew what kind of virtue Lian Yong was in the Preparation and Defense Bureau, all rolled their eyes, quietly despised Zou Minghe's shamelessness, but they didn't bother to delve into it. And Zou Minghe himself didn't dare to be too entangled on this topic, so he quickly changed the topic and said to Yang Wending: "Yang Futai, do you know about Wu Chaoyue?" The old man can testify, and the old man can also testify to the practice Yong brought from Jiangning City, it was the thief who was greedy for life and afraid of death, and was the first to open the city gate and escape with the group training, which allowed the long hair to enter the city! Yang Futai, you are the governor of Jiangsu, and Wu Chaoyue's top boss, if you don't hurry up to the court to explain this kind of thing, it will be easy to involve you! ”

Yang Wending, who was in an annoyed mood, didn't bother to pay attention to Zou Minghe, and kept a straight face, but Fuzhu Hong'a and Zou Minghe had a good relationship, and first called the uninteresting Zou Minghe in front of him with a look in his eyes, and then attached it to Zou Minghe's ear, and told Zou Minghe about Wu Chaoyue, but Zou Minghe's eyes widened when he heard it, and he exclaimed: "Wu Chaoyue, that little thief, actually killed the puppet king Wei Changhui when he broke through?" That's a big deal, isn't it? True or fake? If it's true, then doesn't this thief have another chance to escape this time? ”

Obedient and listening, hearing that Zou Minghe also hated Wu Chaoyue deeply, Yang Wending was a little energetic and asked, "General Manager Zou, what's the matter?" You are in Jiangning City, and you don't get along well with Wu Chaoyue? ”

"Isn't that bad? Don't hide it from Yang Futai, the old man is in Jiangning City, and he was bullied by that thief. ”

Zou Minghe gritted his teeth and replied, and also said that he and Wu Chaoyue had changed their tricks twice, adding fuel and vinegar to accuse Wu Chaoyue of disrespecting the elders, greedy for flowers and lustful, robbing widows or beautiful virgin widows that can be met but not sought! And although Yang Wending knew that what Zou Minghe said was definitely not the truth, he refused to break it, but just hummed and said: "Wu Chaoyue is indeed a thief, but there is no way, General Zou Office, just because he killed the puppet king Wei Changhui, the emperor will definitely be reluctant to kill him." So if you want to vent your evil anger, I'm afraid it's a little difficult. ”

is also the governor of the Qing Dynasty, Zou Minghe's means of rectification are of course no worse than Yang Wending's, and the parties are more aware of the situation at the scene. So after rolling his eyes, Zou Minghe said gloomily: "Yang Futai, Futitai, is it really Wu Chaoyue who killed the puppet king Wei Changhui?" As far as the old man knows, the people who went out of the city with Wu Chaoyue at that time also had the green battalion garrison Geng Huan and the green battalion soldiers under his command, whether this pseudo-northern king Wei Changhui was killed by Wu Chaoyue or Geng Huan, I'm afraid it's still uncertain, right? ”

"Even Geng Huan, that waste, also has the ability to kill the puppet North King Wei Changhui? If his green battalion soldier had this ability, would Jiang Ning still be ...... by Long Hair? ”

Fuzhu Hong's cold snort didn't go on anymore, because Yang Wending had suddenly shown a smile on his face, and asked Zou Minghe with a smile: "General Zou Office, then during the breakout, did you hear any rumors, saying that the Green Camp garrison Geng Hua killed the puppet North King Wei Changhui?" ”

"Back to Yang Futai, the old man has heard of this, but he just can't confirm it." Zou Minghe replied with a grin.

"It's okay." Yang Wending replied with a smile: "My emperor of the Qing Dynasty has opened up his way and allowed rumors to hear about things, since it has been basically determined that Wei Changhui, the puppet king of the north, was killed by my Qing soldiers, and we heard that Wei Changhui was killed by General Geng Huan, the garrison of the green battalion, then we might as well report it to the emperor, let the emperor know the good news, and relieve the troubles of the fall of Jiangning to some extent." ”

After that, Yang Wending also turned to Fuzhu Hong'a again, smiled and arched his hand and said: "Fu Titai, if it is really the puppet king of the north killed by Geng Garrison, the lower officials will say hello to you, you are the governor of Jiangnan, and the green camp of Jiangnan is all under your control, and Geng Shoubei's credit for killing the puppet king of the north Wei Changhui is naturally also your credit." ”

Fuzhu Hong'a also blinked his eyes, and then suddenly ran to the bookcase and sat down, and wrote a report to Emperor Xianfeng, claiming that it was the green battalion soldiers under his command who killed Wu Chaoyue. Yang Wending and Zou Minghe, who were on the side, smiled at each other, and said in unison: "Wu Chaoyue, you don't be beautiful!" We insist that Wei Changhui, the pseudo-king of the North, was killed by the Green Battalion soldiers, see what you can do?! (To be continued.) )