The 13 warships of the Yangtze River Naval Division escorted two official ships upriver from the Yanziji Wharf in Nanjing, the river was turbulent, and the sailors on board were sweating like water. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoThe two official ships, one large and one small, are full of flags, and the most conspicuous flag is none other than the long flag of "Wu Yingdian University Scholar and Military Department Shangshu Supervisor of Military Affairs in Anhui, Henan and Other Places". Dozens of flags fluttered in the wind under this long flag, and the fleet was like a long dragon. Three days later, the fleet slowly anchored at the Anqing Ferry.

After the ship was parked, the cabinet assistant Lian Chengbi walked out of the cabin with a depressed face, and saw that there were already civil and military officials and gentry of Anqing Mansion kneeling on the shore, but he was unwilling to say a word to these officials and gentry, so he only arched his hand slightly, and then got into the sedan chair and entered the city without saying a word.

This move made all the officials and gentry in Anqing dumbfounded, and they didn't know why the Inspector meant to ignore them, but no one dared to inquire about it. Not far from the wharf, about a mile away from where these officials and gentry were, there were more than a dozen generals of the Taiping Army smiling at the city wall of the superintendent who hurriedly entered the city.

On the way into the city, even the city wall was silent in the sedan chair, and his heart was actually full of grief. He had to be trusted by Emperor Wu, and was promoted from the governor of Guangdong to the cabinet deputy assistant, although this time the assistant did not taste good, without any real power, but as long as the cabinet is in one day, he is the old and important minister admired by many officials and gentry, and it is also an important force to contain the thief Xiucai.

But just a few days ago, the thief Zhou Shixiang used the excuse of the tension of the war in Anhui to instruct his henchmen Ding Zhixiang, Yuan Kuoyu and others to ask the emperor to select important ministers to supervise Anhui and Henan, and bribed the eunuch Pan Yinglong and others to open his eyes for him.

If it was just a superintendent out of Beijing, even the city wall was a loyal minister after all, and when most of the prefectures and counties in Guangdong fell, they could still insist on resisting the Qing in southwest Guangdong, and refused to surrender to the Manchus. Although his greatest contribution to the anti-Qing Dynasty was to burn incense and worship the Buddha when there was a war, and the Qing soldiers abandoned the city as soon as they came, but after all, as the governor, as long as he did not surrender to the Qing Dynasty for a day, he would carry the banner of Guangdong's anti-Qing forces for a day, and also represented the Yongli court. Therefore, for the Ming Dynasty, he is meritorious, which is why he can calmly accept the edict of the Tang Dynasty into the cabinet as the second assistant.

And then pedantic, even the city wall also knew that after the first war in Yangzhou, the Qing court had lost the strategic initiative, and the land of Jianghuai could be said to have been completely abandoned by the Qing court, so he supervised the military affairs of Anhui and Henan. However, from the moment he landed at the Yanziji Wharf, he knew that he was wrong, because none of the generals in Anhui were willing to listen to him, and he, as a supervisor, could not command and transfer a general at all!

"The generals are arrogant, and they don't need to die, how can they suppress the thieves? The thief Xiucai made me a superintendent and secretly wanted to put me to death! ”

Lianchengbi was infinitely resentful in his heart, the Qing army that fled from Anqing had obviously been surrounded in the mountains around Tongcheng, and it was not difficult to annihilate, but Jiang He, the governor of Anhui, did not follow the military order, and the soldiers of Geng Zhongde and Qihao were sluggish in Zongyang and Guichi, resulting in the emptiness of the troops blocking the northern road, and finally made the Qing army in Anqing flee under the nose of the Taiping army.

Even the city wall is really hate, great resentment, when he received the holy decree and was ready to set off, he specially summoned many famous people in Nanjing, invited some talents as his staff, originally wanted to brainstorm, in one fell swoop to suppress the enemy, and made a great contribution to return to Beijing, but as soon as the people arrived in Anqing, the Qing army ran away, which made him feel uncomfortable like a punch in the air. Unwilling, he is really unbearable!

"Your Majesty, do you know the hard work of the old minister!"

With extreme unwillingness, Lian Chengbi came to a garden prepared for him by Anqing Mansion. This garden covers an area of more than ten acres, it is a garden of the eunuch Qin Ming, secluded and quiet, quite interesting in the forest.

As soon as Lianchengbi sat down in the flower hall, he was about to order several cronies to discuss the matter, when a guard hurriedly came in and exclaimed: "My lord, Lujiang has fallen!" ”

"Lujiang has fallen? How so? Didn't Lujiang just come over anyway! ”

Lujiang is another major province in Anhui, and the imperial court intends to move the capital of Anhui Province from Anqing to Lujiang, which shows the importance of Lujiang. I heard that the thief Xiucai also intended to change the name of Lujiang to Hefei, saying that it was the ancient name of Lujiang.

The front foot let go of the Qing army, and the back foot Lujiang was lost, and even the city wall was angry, screamed, spurted out a mouthful of blood, fell backwards, and everyone hurriedly helped him into the bedroom to rest. After waking up from the city wall, he saw his confidant Xu Guoliang guarding the bedside, shook his head and sighed: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the minister's death is coming!" After speaking, he burst into tears, struggled to sit up, and instructed Xu Guoliang and the others: "Hurry, go and check, Lujiang is... How did it get lost? ”

Xu Guoliang whispered comfortingly: "Don't worry, the superintendent is in a hurry, it is important to rest your body." ”

"There are not many Qing troops in Anhui, and Lujiang is a big mansion, how can it fall into the hands of thieves? I—I'm really unwilling! ”

Even the city wall slapped the bed rails again and again, still a little skeptical, and he didn't have the usual elegant bearing.

Xu Guoliang said: "Zeng Yu, the prefect of Lujiang, came, but he was afraid of being guilty and didn't dare to meet the supervisor. ”

"Pass him! Pass him! Lian Qiang gasped for air.

Anyway, Zeng Yu, the prefect of Lujiang who was less than a month, was dressed in a royal blue straight jacket and covered with a leather robe, but the robe was covered with dust and dirt, his hair was unkempt, and his square scarf was wrinkled. ”

"Lujiang, Lujiang is really lost?" Even the city wall's face became more and more pale, his whole body trembled, and his teeth chattered, "But out, out of the spies?" ”

"There are no spies, it is the Qing army that sent people into the city."

"Where did the Qing army come from?!"

"It was the Qing army that escaped from Anqing, and the leader of the troops was a Manchurian named Kuenbu."

As soon as he heard that it was the Qing army that escaped from Anqing who seized the city of Lujiang Mansion, even the city wall was even more angry, and scolded Zeng Yu angrily: "How did they get in? ”

Zeng Yu stole a glance and saw that Liancheng Wall was clenching his teeth, his eyes were about to split, he was so angry that he was too frightened to speak.

"As the prefect of Lujiang, why did you escape!" Lian Chengbi looked at Zeng Yu and asked angrily.

"Humble ......"

Zeng Yu was secretly ruthless in his heart, how could he be a powerless civil official who could withstand those wolf-like Qing troops? Isn't this a clear intention to sacrifice one's life for righteousness? If he had the courage and courage to sacrifice his life for righteousness, he would not surrender to your Ming Dynasty!

Lian Chengbi was in a bad mood, closed his eyes and leaned on the back of the chair, seeing that Zeng Yu didn't say a word, he dared to be extremely angry, but he waved his hand weakly and said: "You go down!" ”

Liancheng sat alone in the flower hall, looking depressed and haggard, as if he was seriously ill, and his face was blue and gray. (To be continued.) )