The Taiping army of Raozhou deceived the Wu army into making way and successfully stationed in Hukou, which also played an important role in boosting morale, directly allowing the Taiping army in Hukou to see the hope of defending Hukou, and also making the Taiping army in Hukou believe that the Taiping army in eastern Jiangxi would definitely rush to Hukou for reinforcements in an endless stream like Ji Rongxian's Taiping army, helping the army to finally repel the attack of the Wu army.

There is also something that makes the Hukou Taiping army happy, after three failed sieges, the Wu army was forced to give up the frontal assault and the direct blasting of the city wall tactics that had been cracked by the Taiping army, and also stopped the artillery bombardment of the Hukou city, just leaving an army outside the city to prevent the Taiping army from rebuilding the fort outside the city, the pressure of the Taiping army in the Hukou city was suddenly greatly reduced, not only did not need to face the threat of death at all times, but also had plenty of time to rest and prepare for the war.

The situation of the army has improved significantly, but Lin Qirong, the commander of the Taiping Army in Hukou, did not dare to take it lightly, expecting that the temporary slowdown of the Wu army's offensive was just the calm before the storm, and the real test of himself and the Hukou Taiping Army was still to come, and at the same time, in the absence of any intelligence support, Lin Qirong used his toes to analyze and guess that Wu Chaoyue was likely to fight the idea of tunnel blasting siege tactics that were very popular on the Chinese battlefield in this era, and arranged scouts early to closely monitor the movements of the Wu army's camps and find the location of the Wu army's tunnels.

Not to mention, relying on the familiarity with the Hukou leyline, it was only on the morning of the second day when Ji Rong's first army entered Hukou City, and the Taiping army roughly determined that the tunnel entrance of the Wu army was behind a low hill in the southwest corner of the city. Lin Qirong did not dare to slack off when he heard the report, and immediately went to the southwest of the city to arrange the arrangement, commanding the soldiers to dig eight places in one breath to listen to and monitor the movements of the Wu army's tunnels, and at the same time let the fine work continue to closely monitor the movements of the Wu army's camp, preventing the notoriously scheming Wu Chaoyue from playing anything to attack the west, and secretly digging other siege tunnels.

When he was busy, the soldiers suddenly came to report that Ji Rongxian asked to see him, and Lin Qirong, who had a good impression of Ji Rongxian, immediately ordered to meet him, but Ji Rongxian didn't say a few polite words after coming to Lin Qirong's face, so he made a request and said: "Zhentianhou, the last general is here for the matter of food, and the amount you stipulate for us is eight taels of brown rice per person per day (one catty and sixteen taels on the ancient scale), is the ration too little?" Can't my brethren have enough to eat? ”

Hearing Ji Rongxian's words, Wei Chaocheng and other generals of the Taiping Army in Hukou next to him were a little squinted, but Lin Qirong, who was quite well-educated, did not show any dissatisfaction, and said kindly: "Ji Zong, it's all the same, the demon soldiers are besieging the city, I don't know when this battle will be fought, in order to save food, the male soldiers, including myself, are eight taels of food per person per day in peacetime, including myself, and it is doubled in wartime, and no one has exceptions." I also ask General Ji to understand the difficulties of our Hukou, so that you can appease your subordinates and suffer more grievances with us. ”

"Zhen Tianhou, you yourself are also eight taels of grain a day?" Ji Rongxian couldn't believe it.

"Absolutely." Lin Qirong smiled and said: "If General Ji doesn't believe it, you can go to my Chinese army room and see with your own eyes whether the soldiers receive so much food for me every day." ”

"The last general won't dare, the last general won't dare, I didn't expect Zhentian Hou Gui to be the commander of the whole army, and he actually eats the same food as ordinary soldiers, the last general admires, the last general is guilty, guilty."

Ji Rongxian, who was just a small general, of course didn't have the courage to check Lin Qirong's food, and hurriedly asked Lin Qirong for his guilt, but Lin Qirong smiled and waved his hand to show that he didn't mind, and comforted Ji Rong with a few words of comfort before letting Ji Rong leave first. However, as soon as Ji Rong left, Wei Chaocheng and other Taiping generals began to complain, saying: "It's just a lack of greed, yesterday I treated them with good wine and food all day, wasting so much food on us, and today I started to think that the rations are less, and I don't look at what kind of equipment they have, whether they are qualified to eat as well as our soldiers." ”

"Don't say it." Lin Qirong interrupted the complaints of Wei Chaocheng and the others, and said: "General Ji is the first person to bring troops to reinforce our Hukou, if nothing else, just to help us stabilize the morale of the army, we should treat them well." ”

"Zhen Tianhou, it's not that our little family is reluctant to give up that bit of food, wine and meat, it's that this surname Ji is excessive, and it's too little to eat our grain for nothing." Wei Chaocheng replied dissatisfiedly, and said: "Also, yesterday, the commander of the Sister Pavilion (Women's Battalion) also reported that when the female soldiers of the Sister Pavilion were delivering food to the camp surnamed Ji, several sisters were molested by the soldiers of his army, and they even used their hands and feet directly when they said obscene words. Military discipline is rotten like this, and I am afraid that there will be trouble in the future. ”

Of course Lin Qirong knew about the women's battalion soldiers being teased by Ji Rongxian's subordinates, but in order to unite and resist the overall situation of the enemy, Lin Qirong had to choose to endure, and after being silent for a while, Lin Qirong could only say this: "Yesterday they were newcomers, forgive them once, and next time, of course I won't give up." ”

…………

Lin Qirong generously didn't bother with Ji Rongxian, but what Lin Qirong never imagined was that Ji Rongxian, who was a man by himself, didn't believe that he could really share weal and woe with his soldiers, and after returning to the garrison, he didn't patiently explain to his subordinates, but just said to a few generals in a big way: "Go down and tell the brothers, just say that Zhentianhou said, and his soldiers are the same, tell the brothers to bear with it, and wait for the future to open their bellies and eat well." ”

Who brings what kind of soldiers, after hearing Ji Rongxian's words, several generals were immediately full of resentment, and they all said: "I knew I was here to save someone!" took such a big risk to come in and save him Lin Qirong, and refused to surpass the little demon's surrender, treating us worse than Shi Zhenji, eight taels of coarse rice a day, who the hell can eat enough? ”

Ji Rongxian didn't pay attention to the general's complaints, but subconsciously remembered Wu Chaoyue's conditions for surrendering-sealing the third-grade martial arts, rewarding five thousand taels of silver, three hundred taels of gold, and other good fields, mansions and maids, etc., and inevitably muttered a little in his heart, "Really? Beyond the little demon, will it really be true to its word? Zhang Dejian, that son of a bitch, will he swallow what he promised me again? ”

It was also a coincidence that at noon, Wu Jun suddenly erected a big flag outside the four gates of Hukou to surrender, and each flag was written with two rows of words - those who offer Lin Qirong will get half of the wealth of Hukou! As a result, these flags were useless to the Hukou Taiping Army directly under Lin Qirong, and no one cared about them, but the Taiping soldiers under Ji Rongxian, who could only eat half full, were very dissatisfied, but they muttered one after another and discussed in a low voice, "Will the demon soldiers count when they speak?" Is there any credit for surpassing the little demon in this aspect? ”

…………

In the next two days, the Wu army's tunnel excavation progress has been relatively slow, it took two days to dig to the edge of the Hukou moat, and at the same time, the Taiping army's scouts monitored the Wu army's camp fortifications day and night, and did not find that the Wu army also had signs of digging tunnels in other places, so Lin Qirong, who was experienced in the battlefield, quickly came to the conclusion that it was expected that the Wu army was following the Taiping army's tactics of attacking Changsha that year, deliberately digging the tunnel as wide as possible, and then quickly digging the narrow tunnel when it was about to get close to the city wall. Even if the tunnel leading directly to the city was destroyed by the Taiping army, the Wu army engineers could re-dig the narrow tunnel in the spacious part of the tunnel to reach the city, and quickly launch the second and third blasting siege.

In this regard, Lin Qirong, who is very proficient in tunnel tactics, immediately made many plans, one is to prepare to destroy the Wu army's tunnels by primitive means such as pouring water and smoke, and at the same time try to bury gunpowder above the Wu army's tunnels to blow up the Wu army's tunnels, the second is to prepare sufficient earth, stone and sand bags in order to repair the gaps blown up by the Wu army at any time, and the third is to build inner wall fortifications in the city, and triple insurance to fight the Wu army to the end.

At this time, the accident inevitably appeared, in order to share the hard pressure of his direct army, Lin Qirong gave Ji Rongxian an order, let Ji Rongxian take his army to join the labor, and help the Hukou Taiping Army carry the earth, stone and sandbags, although Ji Rongxian accepted the order very reluctantly, but it soon led to a conflict between Ji Rongxian's soldiers and the soldiers of the Hukou Taiping Army, first quarrelling, and then fighting.

The cause of the conflict was nothing more than a trivial matter such as a straw bag filled with sand and soil and smashing his feet, but the soldiers of the Hukou Taiping Army who were smashed on their feet insisted that the soldiers of the Raozhou Taiping Army led by Ji Rongxian deliberately smashed their own feet, and retaliated against themselves for accusing the soldiers of the Raozhou Taiping Army of being lazy, and the soldiers of the Raozhou Taiping Army flatly denied it, and the other soldiers of the Hukou Army and the Raozhou Army each gave their own companions to help them.

After Lin Qirong knew about this, he immediately rushed to the scene as soon as possible, first separated his own personal team from the two sides of the conflict, and then before Lin Qirong could ask what happened, Ji Rongxian didn't know that he got out of that horn, and without saying a word, he took a horse whip and whipped at the soldiers of the Taiping Army in Raozhou, scolding him more than once, forcing the soldiers of the Taiping Army in Raozhou to kowtow to the Taiping Army in Hukou to apologize. As a result, Lin Qirong was embarrassed to accuse the Raozhou Taiping Army again, so he could only angrily reprimand the soldiers of the Taiping Army who participated in the armed fight in Hukou, but the soldiers of the Hukou Army who were scolded shouted injustice loudly and did not admit their guilt.

"Zhen Tianhou, the little ones are right, it was their hand that moved first, and we were forced to return it, and it was also the knife that they couldn't beat Xianliang, and injured several of our brothers, anyone can testify to this matter, Zhen Tianhou, please check clearly."

"Zhentianhou, we can all testify that it is the hand of the first person to move and the knife that lights up first!"

"Zhen Tianhou, the sisters in our sister hall can testify, it was the people from Raozhou who did it first, they didn't work hard, they just wanted to be lazy, and they said obscene things to our sisters at every turn, Zhen Tianhou, please give justice to our sisters."

"Ji Zong, they are talking nonsense, it was their Hukou Army who made the first move, it was them!"

The men and women of the Hukou Taiping Army who were present stood up one after another to testify, strongly condemning the Raozhou Army soldiers who took the lead in making trouble, and the Raozhou Army soldiers also shouted grievances in the accents of the two lakes, and said that the responsibility was all on the Hukou Army soldiers, and the scene was a mess. Ji Rongxian, who is experienced in this regard, saw the opportunity to speak and yelled: "Shut up! Shut up Lao Tzu! Are you in a hurry? Zhen Tianhou is the same as you, you are all from Huguang, can you help others? Listen to the heavens, please be the masters of the heavens! ”

The ball was forced into the feet of Lin Qirong, whose ancestral home is Hunan, Lin Qirong was very difficult, knowing that this matter was not handled well, and there would be endless troubles, but when things came to this point, Lin Qirong must not chill the hearts of the Taiping Army soldiers in Panhukou, so he could only call the parties in front of him and ask them one by one, and the result was that the paper could not contain the fire, and soon, the matter was soon revealed to the world, and several Raozhou soldiers who took the lead in flashing knives were identified, but those Raozhou soldiers blindly played tricks, Dead or alive refused to admit it.

"Ji Zong, you have also seen the situation, it is not that Ben Hou is biased, but that so many people have testified, and Ben Hou has to enforce the law impartially." Lin Qirong, who knew that it was impossible for the soldiers of the self-army to lie, suppressed the anger in his heart, and politely asked Ji Rongxian: "General Ji, you are in charge, what punishment should be given to these soldiers?" ”

"Zhen Tianhou, if it is not the last general, these guys are all crying out for injustice, and the last general can't help it?" Ji Rongxian spread his hands with a face full of embarrassment, saying that he would not sacrifice his descendants for the sake of uniting the overall situation.

"If one or two people wronged them, it would be forgivable, but with so many people testifying in unison, it is impossible for them to join forces to wronged your corporal and soldiers, right?"

Lin Qirong held back his breath and asked again, but Ji Rongxian no longer took a stubble, but just asked Lin Qirong to make his own idea, seeing that Ji Rong was deliberately playing tricks Lin Qirong was no longer polite, and immediately ordered to take down the Raozhou soldiers, and ordered each to beat a hundred military sticks, but the military sticks flew over, and a few troublesome Raozhou soldiers cried and shouted for their mothers, and the Hukou army was full of joy, but the people of the Raozhou army were all ugly, their eyes were resentful, and they were estranged from the Hukou army.

The matter is not over, although after Lin Qirong made a decision, Ji Rongxian did not say a word against it, but when the two armies dispersed after the military law was completed and continued to prepare for the war, the soldiers of the Hukou Taiping Army ran to Lin Qirong to tell him, saying that Ji Rongxian actually came earlier than Lin Qirong, but he did not immediately come forward to stop the fight, but first hid in the stroke of the Raozhou sergeant, and did not come forward until Lin Qirong came to stop the fight. Lin Qirong was furious when he heard this, and shouted to the informant: "Is there really such a thing? Do you see clearly? Do you know what it is to slander a friendly general? ”

"If the villain has half a lie, please wait for the marching method, divide the corpse of the five horses into glutinous rice, and the little one will never frown!"

Several informers swore by gambling curses, and they all insisted that Ji Rong did not stop the fight immediately after arriving first, Lin Qirong's face was even more pale when he heard this, and he still had some regret in his heart, and said secretly: "I knew that Ji Rong was such a person first, and he brought such an army, so he shouldn't have been allowed to enter Hukou City." ”

It's still the same, Lin Qirong regretted letting Raozhou reinforcements enter Hukou City, but he didn't know that Ji Rongxian's army up and down regretted being stationed in Hukou, and just returned to the camp to rest in the evening, several generals of the Raozhou army immediately found Ji Rongxian who was eating to complain, and they all felt that Lin Qirong's behavior was biased against his subordinates and deliberately bullied the Raozhou Taiping Army, and they all directly expressed regret to save Hukou. Ji Rongxian was silent, until the generals finished venting and shut up, Ji Rongxian said slowly: "Now you know that you regret it?" When I asked you to discuss whether you should enter Hukou City, why did you all say that you should enter the city? ”

"Brother Ji, at that time, we weren't afraid of being dumpled by demon soldiers outside the city." Henchman Chen 13 shouted injustice: "I'm even more afraid that I can't defeat the demon soldiers, and if you lose the battle, Brother Ji, you can't explain to Shi Guozong when you go back, for the safety of the brothers, and for the sake of Brother Ji, you can continue to take our brothers to fight for the future, so we will persuade you to enter the city." ”

"What's the use of birds now?" Ji Rong scolded the dirty work first and said, "Now that our army has entered Hukou City, can we still tell Lin Qirong that we want to leave?" Let's not talk about whether Lin Qirong will agree, even if he agrees, we are sure to break out of the encirclement of the demon soldiers? ”

Several generals closed their mouths, and after a long time, Chen Shisan said regretfully, "If you knew this, you should have tried to surpass the little demon if you really want to recruit us!" ”

Ji Rongxian still didn't say anything, just carefully observed the expressions of the other generals, and saw that the other generals not only did not show anger on their faces, but on the contrary, they also agreed with Chen Shisan's words, and Ji Rongxian's heart also had a bottom, so he lowered his voice and said: "If you want to regret it, it's not too late." ”

"Brother Ji, you ......." Chen 13 and the other generals were all shocked, and then Chen 13 said in a low voice: "Brother Ji, but you sold the transcendent demon in front of Lin Qirong as soon as you entered the city?" ”

Ji Rong smiled first, laughed very sinisterly, and said in a low voice: "I sold the transcendence demon?" What did I sell him? If you are willing, I can also say to the Transcendence Little Demon that I took the initiative to confess in front of Lin Qirong in order to make Lin Qirong believe in us and no longer guard against our foreign army. ”

Note: According to the fifth volume of the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Journal", under the command of Shi Zhenji in history, there was indeed a Taiping army composed of all Huguang soldiers, and its Hubei leader was executed by Shi Zhenji's marching law for kidnapping ** people's daughters, and this Huguang Taiping army rebelled and rebelled, which directly led to the defeat of Shi Zhenji, and Shi Zhenji himself was captured alive by the Qing army.