In the summer of 1854, a huge Tiandihui uprising broke out in the whole province of Guangdong, and the rebels called themselves "Hongbing", that is, the Hongmen rebel army.

According to the traditional slogans of "Restoration of Vision" and "Taiping" of the Heaven and Earth Society, the notices issued by the Guangdong Rebel Army were all written "Da Ming" or "Taiping Jiayin Year". The leaders of the rebel armies from all walks of life, under this general banner, called themselves generals, marshals, governors, military advisors, vanguards, and so on. For example, it is called "General Anton commands the soldiers and horses of all roads on land and water, manages the grain and recruits the marshal", "commands the generalissimo of the soldiers and horses of the land and water", "commands the generalissimo of the soldiers and horses of the land and water", and so on.

The rebel armies from all walks of life were surging, the offensive was fierce, and the momentum was like a bamboo, and in just three or four months, more than 40 county towns in Fuzhou Prefecture were conquered. For example, Shaozhou, Huizhou, Chaozhou, Xinhui, Xiangshan and other important prefectures and counties, although the rebel army could not capture it for a long time, it only became a few isolated strongholds.

The Red Turban Army, numbering more than 200,000, launched an attack on Guangzhou from all sides for several months.

At this time, Guangzhou was surrounded on all sides, the three sides were enemy, and the internal and external communications were completely cut off. Ye Mingshen adopted the strategic policy of "taking defense as a battle and fortifying it tightly". First of all, the city defense was redeployed, and the army was recruited and trained intensively, and donations were collected from the gentry to raise provisions. Through these measures, the rule was effectively strengthened, and the rebels' internal affairs were cracked, especially in terms of troops, weapons and food, which were replenished, so as to block the fierce offensive of the Red Turban Army.

After the battle eased and the strength was strengthened, Ye took advantage of the weakness of the rebel army that was not subordinate to each other and fought separately, and formulated the tactics of concentrating troops, "focusing on one place and sweeping first", and then attacking other roads together.

Ye Mingchen saw that although the Hong soldiers were huge, they were scattered and sandy with mountains and not subordinate to each other, so he adopted the strategy of "dividing the situation first, and then intercepting their reinforcements", and attacked them separately.

At the beginning of December, although the Red Turban Army suffered successive setbacks on the land route, it still had an advantage on the Pearl River. The sailors of all walks of life once again threatened Guangzhou, and defeated the Qing army in Dahuangqian and Xinzao.

"That's right! Dear soup, you're amazing. "Although China has repeatedly asked us to remain neutral, we can let warships cruise on the Pearl River to ensure the smooth flow of water traffic between Hong Kong and Guangzhou." ”

He looked hideous, "The fleet of the British Empire going north will return to Hong Kong this afternoon, and if those rebel forces dare to infringe on our interests, I have reason to make them pay a hundredfold compensation." ”

Bao Ling got into the governor's carriage and left, and Li Xiaoxiao, the proprietress of Watson's teahouse, looked at Tang Muyao with a puzzled expression, "Tang Taipan, these hundreds of thousands of heavens and earths in Guangdong are about to succeed, how can you instigate the British devils to drive warships into the Pearl River!" ”

"Historically, the Heaven and Earth Society has never succeeded." Tang Muyao said with a smile, "Now, we have privately provided some arms and materials, and although their combat power has improved, they are still a pile of waste materials. ”

Tang Muyao said with emotion: "There are no leaders in the Guangdong Tiandi Society, there are three or four marshals in the leaders of the rebel army, and generals are everywhere. People from all walks of life besieged the city of Guangzhou, and there was no even the simplest mutual cooperation, so that people could not see any hope of success at all. ”

"Hong Bing is holding the banner of the sun and the moon, and we are also holding the banner of the sun and the moon." Li Xiaoxiao raised her eyebrows, "We can take care of it, we can't let the Manchu Tartars win." ”

"Hong Bing and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are both all the way, and they are not inferior. If they're willing to let us take care of it, that's easy. Tang Muyao shook his head again and again, "If you don't have strong military support, you will definitely not be able to subdue these guys." ”

He persuaded Li Xiaoxiao, "Our goal is Ercrow, and we can't rush out." The Hong soldiers are scattered in a mess, it is not as good as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and it is only right for Guangdong to let the Manchus maintain it first. ”

"Hundreds of thousands of rebels, just watching them be exterminated?" Li Xiaoxiao is more emotional and soft-hearted.

Facing a tenacious girl, Tang Muyao could only persuade patiently, "The heart of the executive committee is not so ruthless, we have been improving Hong Bing's weapons and equipment." ”

"But~"

"But ~ we can't be emotional!" Tang Muyao was a little impatient, he unceremoniously interrupted Li Xiaoxiao's words, and his expression became serious, "Lady of the Li family, you have to remember that everything we do is for our interests and for the future of Huaxia. Hong Bing's best way out is to learn the knife to meet Zhou Xiuying. ”

On this morning, a team marched to Victoria Shan in Hong Kong beating gongs and drums.

"Bang ~~~"

They shouted loudly as they walked, "The Sun and Moon Commercial Bank is recruiting, including food and accommodation, at least 4 oceans per month, and those who are willing to go to Taiwan to work should go to the Sun and Moon Commercial Bank in Taipingshan to sign up." ”

"Recruitment, recruitment, Taiwan recruits a large number of workers, ironworkers, shipwrights, tailors, cooks, doctors, clerks, bookkeepers...... All kinds of industries are required, once the contract is signed, a settling-in allowance of five yuan will be issued. ”

"Recruitment, recruitment, food and housing, the monthly salary is 4 yuan guaranteed, and those with skills start at least 10 yuan; For those who are highly skilled, the minimum is 20 yuan, and there is no upper limit. 13 months' salary per year. ”

Located in Sun Moon Trading House in Victoria Peak, Hong Kong. Di Liuyin warmly entertained several European and American businessmen, "Listen to me! Huwei Free Port is definitely promising, as long as you open your shops in Huwei, wealth will surely roll in. ”

Di Liuyin was originally a member of the Hong Kong Huafu Foreign Bank, and a month ago he left the Huafu Foreign Company and opened the Sun Moon Commercial Bank, specializing in attracting investment in Huwei, Taiwan.

Now the Hong Kong business community knows that the boss of the Sun Moon Commercial Bank is a business representative from Taiwan stationed in Hong Kong, and the Sun Moon Commercial Bank is actually Taiwan's commercial representative office in Hong Kong.

A Western businessman winked his little eyes slyly, "Dear Di, is Huwei really free?" Did the Ming regime allow us to distribute opium~? ”

"Huwei is definitely operating according to the model of a free port." Di Liuyin said with a smile, "The Ming government guarantees that any commodity can be freely sold to Huwei. ”

After sending these European and American merchants away, Di Liuyin came to a secret room in the trading house, "Li Junshi, you've been waiting for a long time!" ”

Li Qunxing, the military advisor of the rebel army Chen Xianliang, was the leader of a Hongbing uprising army, known as the generalissimo who commanded the soldiers and horses of the navy.

"Mr. Di is polite, the tea of your Sun Moon Commercial House is really good!" Li Qunxing stretched out three fingers in his right hand and put an empty teacup on the table in front of Di Liuyin, and then lifted the teapot with three fingers, filled the cup, and then put down the teapot.

Di Liuyin saw that the mouth of the teapot was facing the cup, which was a single whip array in the tea bowl array of the Heaven and Earth Society.

Heaven and earth will use the different ways of placing teapots and teacups as tools for visiting friends, asking for help, and fighting. A single whiplash, which is used to indicate a request for assistance.

"This tea is good."

Di Liuyin stretched out three fingers, picked up the cup and drank it all. He broke Li Qunxing's single whip formation, saying that he could help.

Li Qunxing was very happy and handed over an arms plan, "Mr. Di, we are all anti-Qing and Ming, Qinglian and White Lotus are one family, you march into Taiwan, and our Hong soldiers besiege Guangzhou, everyone helps each other, and it is only right to defeat the Qing demon as soon as possible." ”

Chen Xianliang led about 30,000 troops from Yantang to attack Dongguan in Guangzhou, but he couldn't capture it for a long time, so he sent Li Qunxing to Hong Kong to buy foreign cannons, hoping to use cannons to bombard the city of Guangzhou.

This is not the first time Li Qunxing has dealt with Di Liuyin, and he has also come to Hong Kong several times to purchase arms and materials.

Due to the ongoing civil strife on the mainland, the European and American powers claimed to strictly observe neutrality and strictly prohibited arms from entering the mainland market. The price of arms on the black market in Hong Kong had already increased several times, and Western cannons could not be bought, so Li Qunxing had to find the Sun and Moon Trading Company again.

"Well said, well said!"

Di Liuyin smiled but didn't smile, "Chen Kai is the marshal of General Anton who commands the soldiers and horses of the land and water to manage the grain and the army, Li Wenmao is the generalissimo who leads the soldiers and horses of the water and land and manages the grain, and your Chen Xianliang is the generalissimo who commands the soldiers and horses of the water and land. ”

He checked Li Qunxing's plan, "We don't have much ammunition, and there are still 200 guns ~ guns and 30 barrels of gunpowder in the warehouse, so I'll give them all to you!" ”

Li Qunxing was overjoyed, "Great! ”

"But there is one thing, I hope that the military division will go back and make it clear to Marshal Chen ~ that there are no two days and no two people." Di Liuyin waved the folding fan gently, "The red flag is fluttering, the heroes are doing their best, the overseas son of heaven, come back to the Ming Dynasty!" ”

This four-character mantra is the slogan that Heaven and Earth will open the mountain gate to deceive people.

Di Liuyin glanced at Li Qunxing, "We are waiting to return to China to raise troops, and now we have re-established the sun and moon banner in Taiwan to rebuild the 'Daming'." Whether you stand on your own or return to our Daming banner, you must make a decision as soon as possible. ”

"Mr. Di, don't worry, the mountain people will report to the marshal in detail when they go back." Li Qunxing was full of smiles, and he looked at Di Liuyin with hope, "Is there artillery?" What we urgently need now is artillery, as long as we have foreign artillery, this Guangzhou city can be at our fingertips. ”

"Foreign cannons? This one really doesn't! Di Liuyin folded the folding fan in his hand, "If you marshals were sincerely united, integrated into a force, and acted in a centralized manner, this Guangzhou City would have been taken long ago." ”

Li Qunxing was speechless, so he could only nod yes.

At this time, the whistle of the ship entering the harbor sounded outside.

Di Liuyin got up and came to the window, watching the five warships slowly sail into Victoria Harbor, "It is said that the British ** ship will sail into the Pearl River tomorrow for a cruise. Fire~ guns and gunpowder can also be hidden, and Western cannons are huge, even if you buy them, they can't be transported to the mainland. ”

In fact, Di Liuyin didn't want to buy artillery for Guangdong Hongbing at all. If the Heaven and Earth Society took Guangzhou City, they felt that their great achievements were about to be completed, and they would definitely establish a country on their own, and they would never easily defect to the Ming Dynasty or the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Through the analysis of the team, the Hong soldiers are scattered and scattered, which is not as good as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Providing Chen Xianliang with artillery and allowing Hong soldiers to take the city of Guangzhou would only lead to continued unrest in Guangdong and affect the determination of Britain and France to launch a war against the Qing.

In the end, the Executive Committee decided to maintain only a certain amount of contact with Hong Bing, appropriately support a batch of supplies, and wait for an opportunity to rescue a group of personnel. The goal of the crossing team is Ercrow, and it is only right that Guangdong should let the Manchus maintain it first.