On the third day after Hahamu's death, Geng Jimao, who led his troops to Xiangshan, saw the Hahamu and Kalai Daoga heads hanging on the gate tower of Xiangshan City.

The heads of more than 1,000 Manchurian soldiers frightened Geng Jimao, and he ignored the dissuasion of his generals and the fact that the Right Route Army led by Shang Zhixin was in Ningyuan Township, which was less than ten miles away from Xiangshan, and insisted on leading his troops to withdraw to Guangzhou immediately.

Suddenly, Geng Jimao's left route army fell into a dilemma, and what was even worse was that the left route army only brought ten days of rations when it set off from Guangzhou that day, and originally thought that after marching to Xiangshan City, it would get food from Hahamu on the middle road, but who would have thought that the middle route army had been wiped out, and it was delayed for a few days due to the typhoon, and it failed to join the right route army, resulting in only one day of grain and grass left in Geng Jimao's army.

The occupation of Guangzhou left thousands of Qing troops trapped in Liangzi Township, Geng Jimao had never encountered such a situation, he panicked and did not know what to do. Hearing that Xiang Rong, the second steward of the palace, had come from Guangzhou to see him, he was busy and immediately summoned him.

The news brought by Xiang Rong made Geng Jimao dumbfounded!

Pingnan Wang Shangzhixin **** died, and thousands of people in the palace were slaughtered!

The governor of Liangguang, Li Shutai, was captured alive, and his wife Eunzhe was taken captive by the Taiping army as a camp prostitute!

Guangzhou prefect Zhu Guorong was killed!

The city was breached overnight, and the thieves slaughtered the city!

This string of news frightened Geng Jimao's face white, but fortunately, Xiang Rong told him that although the Jingnan Palace was surrounded by the Taiping Army, Dafujin negotiated with Zhou Shixiang, the marshal of the Taiping Army, and obtained the other party's promise not to break the Jingnan Palace. But the premise is that Geng Jimao must immediately change his banner anyway.

Xiang Rong brought two letters, one was a letter from Dafu Jin Shi Yuanling, and what she said in the letter was basically the same as the news brought by Xiang Rong. The other letter was written by Zhou Shixiang, the commander of the Taiping Army. The letter clearly told Geng Jimao that he was limited to change his banner within three days, otherwise he would set up troops to sack the Jingnan Palace, and at the same time send large troops to attack him. If Geng Jimao is willing to change banners, he will not commit any offense against Jingnan Wangfuqiu, and at the same time, the Ming court will also entrust Jingnan Wangfu to reuse. The letter implied that once Geng Jimao changed his banner anyway, he would be king in the Qing Dynasty. Zaim Ming is also king.

"This"

After reading the two letters, Geng Jimao lost his reaction, and he attacked his father's title at a young age. Before that, he had not been tempered much, and he had followed Shang Kexi in the southern expedition to Guangdong, and he had never been in charge alone, so he didn't know how to decide.

The next subordinate of the Jingnan Domain rushed to hear the news. Most of them were taken hostage by the Taiping Army because of their small families. Since the situation in the capital is already like this, it is better to return to the Ming anyway. There are also a few generals who are unwilling to return to the Ming anyway, and these people are headed by Dutong Guan Dong.

Geng Jimao couldn't make up his mind, so he asked all the generals to retreat, let him think about it, and only leave his uncle Geng Zhongde to discuss.

"What does uncle think his nephew should do?" Geng Jimao couldn't make up his mind, so he could only ask this uncle who had followed his father for many years.

Geng Zhongde shook his head: "The current situation is even more sinister than when your father invested in the sea and crossed the gold, and I can't make up my mind." It's up to you. ”

Geng Zhongde actually wanted to persuade his nephew to return to Ming, after all, they had no way out now. There is no food and grass, and if they are delayed, they will not need the Taiping army to fight, and they themselves will have to collapse. But after all, he has voted for the Qing Dynasty for more than 20 years, and now the situation in the Southern Ming Dynasty is bad, and the advantage of the Qing Dynasty is too great, he is worried that even if Guangzhou is occupied by the Taiping Army, the Geng family will also change banners and vote for the Ming, and they will still not be able to hold it when they reach the Southern Ming Dynasty, and the Geng family will face the disaster of annihilation. So he didn't dare to persuade his nephew to change his banner, and he was very entangled in his heart.

Geng Jimao was a little disappointed, but he also vaguely understood his uncle's worries, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "Maybe you can find food?" ”

Geng Zhongde smiled bitterly: "The radius of dozens of miles is called Taiping Koujianbi Qingye, there is no food in the town, and there is no food in the countryside, I took someone to find it when I came, not to mention food, I can't even see a living person, alas." ”

Hearing this, Geng Jimao's heart immediately cooled completely, and he gritted his teeth and asked, "How long can the army last?" ”

"I can't hold it anymore." Geng Zhongde hesitated, the long-term threat was still worse than the immediate one, he still abandoned his concerns, and said in a low voice: "Are you thinking about the matter of changing banners?" ”

Geng Jimao got up silently and didn't say a word, obviously undecided. Seeing this, the corners of Geng Zhongde's mouth moved, and he stopped talking, and finally retreated with a sigh

That night, the Foshan Green Camp military camp was stationed on the outskirts of Liangzi Township.

"My lord, the Manchurians are finished, why do we have to work for Geng Jimao, their Han army doesn't treat our green camp as a human being on weekdays, and the only little food they have has been blackmailed by them, if it goes on like this, there is no need for the Taiping army to fight, and the brothers are starving to death!" My lord, how many years have you been born and died, and you have to give them a way to live! ”

In the tent of Wang Zhaoxing, the garrison of the Foshan Green Battalion, seven or eight officers of the Green Battalion looked at Wang Zhaoxing who was hesitant anxiously, and from time to time some people raised the curtain and looked out cautiously.

"Geng Jimao's wife was arrested by the Taiping Army, and the family of the Han Army was also arrested, and they definitely couldn't hold it. We can't advance or retreat now, Geng Jimao's kid was also frightened, otherwise why did he run here from Xiangshan? ”

"We're caged birds now, and we can't fly anywhere. Shang Zhixin on the right side can still run to Zhaoqing, where can we run? The road to Huizhou is blocked by the Taiping Army and Hu Mingyi's gang of bastards, and we can't get through at all! My lord, you can't hesitate any longer, hesitate any longer and wait until the Taiping Army kills you, but it's too late! ”

"The Taiping Army is Han, we are also Han, it is the Han Army that slaughtered Guangzhou and Chaozhou, and it is not us, the Taiping Army and we can't settle accounts, my lord, if there is still a way, the brothers will not persuade you, but now in addition to this road, what other way can we go!"

"Alright, don't talk about it."

Wang Zhaoxing, who had been hesitating for a long time and still couldn't make up his mind, finally made up his mind under the persuasion of his subordinates, he slowly glanced at everyone, and said in a deep voice: "Have you contacted the Taiping Army?" ”

Hearing this, all the officers were in high spirits, and one said: "The people of the Taiping Army promised us that as long as the adults took us over, they would give the adults a thousand households, and the brothers would also be promoted to the next level, and the money and grain from Foshan would be returned to us." ”

"It's a small matter to be an official, but it's important that the brothers survive."

Wang Zhaoxing didn't hesitate anymore, since the Taiping Army had promised and the conditions given were not bad, and the left and right had come to this point, could it really be true that he would be loyal to the Qing Dynasty to the end. He immediately instructed his subordinates: "You all go back and prepare, don't leak the slightest bit of news, as soon as the time is over, we will leave the camp and run north." If the South China Sea soldiers dare to stop us, we will scatter them! ”

"Don't worry, my lord, the South China Sea soldiers will be afraid of the same thoughts as us. The one surnamed Zhao doesn't plan to join the Taiping Army, and he doesn't dare to stop us! ”

Wang Zhaoxing's subordinates looked happy, and they rushed to prepare. (To be continued.) )