On July 8, the 5,000 Taiping army abandoned Ruizhou City and went down the river in hundreds of warships, and this time they seized 10,000 stone of rice and grain in Ruizhou, which was enough for the army under Nanchang City to be rationed for 100 days, and even to help the army in Jiujiang.

When I returned to Nanchang, it was just in time for the Qing army to attack and disturb each other, after a fierce burst of artillery fire. All of a sudden, hundreds of people rushed out of Deshengmen to storm the Taiping army camp, and the Taiping army was about to counterattack, and the Qing army retreated into the city. According to records, when the Taiping army attacked Nanchang for the first time, it besieged the city for a total of 93 days, and there were only more than 10,000 people in Laibu, and only based on the west bank of the Ganjiang River and a corner of the north of the city, which was far from enough to form a siege. In the face of Nanchang City, which has thick walls and concentric soldiers, Lai Hanying has no choice but to slowly annihilate the enemy.

Lai Hanying hated Shi Xiangzhen for being restrained, but he was backed by the powerful Shi family, with the support of the Wei family, and more importantly, Yang Xiuqing's acquiescence, but he couldn't help him. How could Yang Xiuqing, who was a dictator like him, tolerate him to win a big victory and grasp the military power of the Western Expeditionary Army! You must know that the Hong family is a piece of Yang Xiuqing's heart, not to mention that the national brothers Hong Renda and Hong Renfa have been repeatedly abused, even the king of heaven has to kneel when he delivers the decree on behalf of his heavenly father, and this world seems to be his Yang Xiuqing's biggest.

Lai Hanying didn't know what his end would be, but he was born as a village doctor, and he couldn't see the Heavenly Saint Soldiers killed or wounded in vain, and he rarely attacked the city since then. However, he did not stop dividing his troops to attack nearby prefectures and counties, and on July 11, Zeng Tianyang sent out his division again, this time pointing the spearhead at Gandong. In this expedition, Wei Shi's two surnames Guozong stayed outside Nanchang City, and the Right Eighth Army was directly under the jurisdiction of Zeng Tianyang.

On the 12th, Zeng Tianyang's second and eighth right armies set out from Duxipu, Xingzi County, Nankang Prefecture, carrying 60 artillery pieces and more than 400 guns, and crossed Poyang Lake to raid Raozhou. The prefect of Raozhou was absent, and Shen Yanqing of Poyang County and Li Renyuan of Leping County guarded the city together. On the 14th, the city of Raozhou was conquered, and the two county orders were killed together, and the rest of the Qing troops died and fled.

Raozhou is not a small state city, a government and seven counties, under the jurisdiction of Poyang, Yugan, Leping, Wannian are the essence of the Poyang Lake Plain, known as the "Poyang Lake granary", rich in products. Wang Jingyuan quickly led the people under the general system to control the treasury and official offices of Raozhou, and found 34,000 taels of silver in the treasury, but 380,000 taels of silver were found from the officials' houses, and there were countless house deeds and land deeds.

This time, Raozhou seized not only a large amount of gold and silver money, but also rice grain, enough tens of thousands of stones. While sending people to contact Shi Xiangzhen to transport the capture back to Tianjing, he also sent troops to capture Leping County, the land of fish and rice. Seized again.

Leping sent the second army after Liang Xiuren, but the right Eighth Army did not end up idle. Zeng Tianyang seemed to want to establish a long-term base in Raozhou, and assigned various units of the Right Eighth Army to pacify the people of Poyang along the road. At the beginning of August, the Eighth Army of the Right Army advanced to Jingdezhen, and the leading general Hu Yongxiang quickly reported back to Raozhou after his tentative attack was blocked.

On the fourth day, Zeng Tianyang gathered the second and right eight departments to conquer Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of the world, in one fell swoop, and then conquered Fuliang on the fifth day.

Although Jingdezhen is named a town, it is a world-famous porcelain capital, with two or three hundred kiln households and more than 100,000 kiln workers. These people come from far and wide, are employed by local potters, and are strong and practiced, and have no one to rely on. Since Qianlong, the output of Jingdezhen has shrunk, the quality of porcelain has declined, and Jingdezhen has gone downhill. Especially after the Opium War between the Qing Dynasty and the British, the number of potters decreased sharply and the porcelain industry withered.

This time, the Taiping army conquered Jingdezhen, opened a warehouse to release grain, restrained the army, and destroyed the imperial ware factory, the inspection department and other yamen, which won the hearts of the people, and there were no less than 100,000 unemployed potters. Zeng Tian raised his strong people into the army, got the elite two armies, handed over to his younger brother Zuo 27 to command Zeng Tianhe's pipe belt, and the rest were arranged into soldiers, and the official kiln was confiscated for his business. And Wang Jingyuan also had to make up the number of 2,500 in the whole army.

Since Zeng Tianyang became a division in eastern Jiangxi, there have been more than a dozen Taiping ships coming and going from Poyang Lake every day, and dozens of ships have been at most. Raozhou rice, grain, gold and silver, Jingdezhen porcelain and timber, Hou Yutian, the commander-in-chief of the Right Eighth Army, who was responsible for transporting the capture, transported them all to Tianjing, and the shortage of materials in Heaven was alleviated for a while.

On July 24, the Taiping Army, which had been besieging Nanchang for two months, defeated Yin Debu, the chief soldier of Luo Zenan in southern Jiangxi and Heli Town in Yunnan, and beheaded 500 people under Chu Yongqian and Xie Banghan. Luo Zenan and Yin Debu did not retreat, and they were stationed near Nanchang, and Zhang Fu and Jiang Zhongyuan in the city responded to each other. Nanchang had no chance to fall, and in mid-August, the Qing army captured Jiujiang, and the Taiping army in Jiangxi was robbed.

Soon, Lai Hanying finally waited for the withdrawal order of Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, but at the same time summoned him back to Tianjing, replaced him with Shi Xiangzhen as the commander-in-chief, and ordered Zeng Tianyang's troops to move in the direction of Anqing.

On August 20, the Western Expeditionary Army withdrew from the siege of Nanchang, out of Poyang Lake, and divided into two units at the mouth of the lake, Zeng Tianyang still led the second and right Eighth Army, returned to defend Anqing, and Shi Xiangzhen and Wei Jun led the main force west to Wuchang.

Wang Jingyuan entered Anqing City with Zeng Tianyang on the 21st, and the next day, the Wing King arrived in Anqing with Liu Chengfang, the prime minister of the Wing Palace, Qin Bingxian, the 21st inspection point on the left of the palace, Liang Litai on the 23rd inspection on the left of the palace, Xu Zongyang, the seventh commander on the left of the palace, Zhang Chaojue, the 10th commander on the right in front of the palace, and Zhang Suimou, the 29th commander on the left of the palace, arrived in Anqing with 7,000 or 8,000 people, officially opened the palace and presided over the western expedition.

That night, Wang Jingyuan returned to this familiar city, without the bustle and noise of Chinese New Year's Eve in later generations, nor the unexpected cold covered by snow in early winter. The neighing of military horses and the sound of craftsmen striking iron seem to pour out the suffering of the city. Anqing City is almost in ruins under the competition between the two sides. The original citizens had already fled, and the few who remained were also taken to the Taiping Legion camp, and there were more Taiping holy soldiers here. Of course, there are also a large number of young people from all over the country.

Zeng was arranged in the side city inside the Jinbao Gate, there are a large number of vacant houses, you don't need to set up camps, and more importantly, there is a city wall here and the inner city! Soon after entering the city, Zeng Tianyang led Zeng Tianhe, Liang Xiuren, Hou Yutian, Wang Jingyuan and several other generals above the military commander to meet the Yiwang. The Yiwang Mansion was located in the former Anhui Governor's Office, and after the Taiping Army conquered Anqing, it has always been the residence of the top generals. Because of the arrival of the Wing King, Chunguan Zheng Prime Minister Hu Yihuang moved away not long ago.

Compared with the lifeless ancient city, the Yiwang Mansion is obviously a little more vibrant, and the pavilions and pavilions everywhere are brightly lit, no less lively than the Qing Dynasty governor's yamen. King Yi summoned Zeng Tianyang and others in the main hall, accompanied by Liu Chengfang and Zhang Suimou.

"Rank see His Royal Highness the Wing King Five Thousand Years Old, Thousand Years Old, Thousand Years Old, Thousand Years Old!" Zeng Tianyang took the lead to meet the Wing King.

"Uncle Tianyang, please get up! Gentlemen, please rise! With that, the Wing King walked down the stairs and personally picked up the veteran, who was more than thirty years older than him. The hierarchy of the kingdom of heaven is strict, and the winged king is kind and respectful, so he is called Zeng Tianyang.

"Uncle Tianyang has repeatedly broken the city in Jiangxi and seized many of them, and the fourth brother of the East King often says that you are the old Huang Zhong sent by the Heavenly Father to help the Heavenly Dynasty exterminate the Qing Demon!"

"The East King is nine thousand years old and praises, and his subordinates have besieged Nanchang City for ninety-three days, and he has missed the major events of the Kingdom of Heaven, and he deserves death!" This highest level of praise in the Kingdom of Heaven is still a little gratifying, but he doesn't dare to rely on the old and sell the old in front of the Wing King.

"Uncle Tianyang and you, the battle is hard, and this king will pass on the meal for you later!" The Wing King held Zeng Tianyang's hands and smiled.

The Wing King personally rewarded him, and Zeng Tianyang hurriedly knelt down: "Your Highness, how can you work to celebrate Your Highness!" All the cities occupied by the lowly office have been lost, and not an inch of merit has been made!"

"This is a mistake, Tianyang Bo is a great achievement to solve the lack of grain and grass in Tianjing!" The Winged King said with relief.

"Your Highness, all the battles on the periphery of Nanchang are the credit of your brothers, and you dare not take it alone!" Zeng Tianyang said humbly.

"It's all the inspectors who are well directed!" Wang Jingyuan naturally didn't dare to take credit.

"Yes, Uncle Tianyang is not only great at war, but also deeply loved by his subordinates!" Seeing Wang Jingyuan, Yiwang smiled and said: "No wonder Tianyang Bo can seize a large amount of grain and grass, it turns out that this grain grabber is under your command, this kid has taken 160,000 meters of grain from the Qing Demon in Hezhou!" ”

"Hahaha, Your Highness doesn't know, Huang Jianjun is not only a good food grabber, but also a brave and resourceful general!" Zeng Tianyang lost no time in appreciating.

"Oh, let's just say, how can the generals of the heavenly kingdom only grab food!"

"Your Highness is taught!" Wang Jingyuan is also self-aware.

King Yi nodded approvingly, and then said to Zeng Tianyang: "Today's brother Xiangzhen and Wei Jun have taken Jiujiang, and the two of them plan to guard Jiujiang by Wei Jun, and Brother Xiangzhen will lead his troops west to Wuchang, this king has allowed it, and also ask Tianyang Bo and Tianhebo to work hard and lead the army to help."

"Rank command!" The generals will take the command.

In the middle of the night, the Wing King feasted. Wang Jingyuan returned to the camp of the Eighth Army on the right alone, and the tents of several brigade commanders such as Lu Yaoling and Yuan Hongmo had already snored loudly, and they could not be blamed. The Eighth Army on the Right won an army that dared to fight, but it also made the upper and lower levels tired of fighting. Approaching the Chinese army again, he found that the candlelight was shining in the big tent, and when he opened the door of the tent, he saw Jiang Wan sobbing inside, grieving alone.

Wang Jingyuan thought that Jiang Wan must be revisiting the old place, touching the scene and comforting: "I inquired with people, after Lord Jiang was killed at the beginning of the year, a servant sent his body to Tongcheng to report, and your brother will collect it after returning. ”

"And where is my brother now?" Jiang Wan wiped her tears.

"It's supposed to be Fuzi returning home, right? Where is your hometown? ”

"I don't know, I was born in Gansu in the fifteenth year of Daoguang, my father served there as a Taoist for ten years, and then the family moved to Zhejiang, and then came to Anqing, my father often said that he grew up in Dongzhimen, the capital." Speaking of his father, Jiang Wan choked up a little, and said intermittently: "My father was sixty years old when he was alive, and he often asked the court for a minister, and 'Anqing' responded to his name, and I wanted to live here in peace!" ”

"If you want, I can send Yuan Hongmo to send you to Tongcheng, or Luzhou, if you want to go to Beijing, you can also do it!" Wang Jingyuan was reluctant, but he had to think about Jiang Wan.

"What about you? Are you still fighting in this Taiping army, and what if the Taiping army can't succeed? ”

"Unsuccessful......" Wang Jingyuan hesitated, he knew better than anyone the end of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he was confused.