Li Desheng frowned and said: "As soon as the Hunan army retreated, he sent an envoy to ask for a meeting, what kind of conspiracy was Zeng Guofan doing, tell the brothers to be smart." ”

Cheng Xueqi was born in a reckless background, and knew what tricks the Xiang army was playing, so he sneered: "It must be that Zeng Guofan can't capture Hukou, so he wants to send someone to persuade him to surrender, and the general might as well meet him, so as to delay the time and let the brothers have a good rest." ”

Ye Yunlai, the deputy division commander, frowned and said: "I'm afraid that the news of seeing the envoy of the Hunan army will spread today, and the reputation of the army commander is not good. ”

"I am sitting up straight, not afraid of others chewing my tongue, go and bring him up, I and Zeng Guofan Lala are homely, so that the brothers can save some strength." Li Desheng found an open place on the city wall and sat down, waiting for the envoy of the Hunan army.

Li Xubin carefully observed the defense on the city wall, secretly counted the number of anti-thieves, and the more he walked, the more surprised he became, this wall was only more than 500 people, and it could withstand the Hunan army's seven-day attack!

"Li Xubin, the messenger of the Hunan army, visited the general, and the marshal of my family admired the general's talent, and specially asked me to bring a letter for the general to see." Li Xubin took out the letter of persuasion and handed it to Li Desheng, who was still squinting at him.

Li Desheng took the envelope and tore it open, staring at the letter for a long time.

Li Xubin was embarrassed not to look over, and reminded: "General, your letter has been taken down, you should come over and read it." ”

Li Desheng handed the letter to Cheng Xueqi and said with a smile: "Damn, Lao Tzu almost forgot that he didn't know a single big character, and thought that he could find a word he knew on it, but I didn't expect that Zeng Guofan's handwriting was not good." I didn't understand a word after reading it for a long time. ”

Cheng Xueqi couldn't help but smile and took the letter, and read: "Nian'er guarding the city will not die from officers and soldiers. He died of God's punishment, not of the Li thief. Died in the party of the Heaven and Earth Society, there is no reason to be lucky, isn't it sad! If you can shave your hair and surrender to sincerity, make meritorious service to atone for your sins, and play the emperor, you should treat Zhang Guoliang as an example, you can protect your head, you can get an official title, and you can punish the party for personal revenge. In one fell swoop, three good preparations, and the plan is also above. ”

Wei Chaocheng, the battalion commander next to him, scratched his scalp and asked, "What is this Zeng Guofan chirping crookedly, why can't I understand a word, do scholars talk like this every day?" ”

Li Desheng said with a smile: "You don't understand, Lao Tzu doesn't understand, this reader is troublesome, don't say anything good, just write something." What does all this mean? ”

"Ha Lu Ha ......" the soldiers all over the city laughed.

These martial artists really haven't seen the world, and Li Xubin has a contempt for it, feeling that this trip has something to gain.

Cheng Xueqi shook his head and finished reading the letter, reminiscing. Listening to Li Desheng and the others laughing, he explained: "Commander, this Zeng Guofan threatens you. Say that the king of Han is jealous of the hero and wants to kill you. The heavens and the earth in the city will be unruly and want to kill you. The most powerful thing is that God wants to kill you when he sees that you are not pleasing to the eye, hahaha...... This Zeng Guofan really likes to joke, we have only one enemy, but he has fabricated so many for us. ”

Li Desheng was interested when he saw someone talking about books, and then asked, "What else did the letter say?" ”

"After the threat, of course, it is a temptation, saying that if you shave your hair and surrender, he will recommend you to Xianfeng Xiaoer to be a big official, like that Zhang Guoliang, a high-ranking official, you can kill the troublesome party to relieve your hatred." Cheng Xueqi simply asked the translator and waited for Li Desheng's reaction.

Li Desheng touched his head and said strangely: "After making trouble for a long time, then Zeng Guofan still thought that the people of the Heaven and Earth Society were going to kill me?" Wei Chaocheng is going to kill me, how can Zeng Guofan know the way? Ha Lu Ha ...... This Zeng Guofan didn't have hysteria, so he loved to imagine it out of thin air. ”

Wei Chaocheng held a big knife on Li Xubin's neck, and said angrily: "Lao Tzu joined the Han Army because he admired Commander Li and Master Lin, and swore a blood oath of loyalty in this life. ”

Li Xubin's face did not change, but his heart was already tumbling, it turned out that there was a military commander of anti-thieves in Hukou County, and Li Xubin, who was familiar with the military system of the Han army, immediately understood that there was a general equivalent to the general army of the Qing Dynasty in Hukou County, who was holding on, and it seemed that he was the person sitting on the top of the golden sword.

Li Xubin smiled on his horse and arched his hand: "My marshal once sighed that the general was good at guarding, and praised you for being a great general!" ”

Li Desheng picked his nose again and asked, "How did the surnamed Zeng praise me?" ”

Li Xubin was stunned for a moment, and immediately repeated what Zeng Guofan said as usual: "Hukou City is as big as Douzi, and the North City Tower is a small base, and the enemy is waiting for our division, there seems to be no one in silence, and there is no more fire at night, as soon as our army arrives at the city, it raises its flag and fires cannons, hundreds of battlements around the city, and there are many banners. ”

Li Desheng immediately sat up straight and looked around, and said with a smile: "I can understand what Zeng Guofan said, but I can't understand what the straight lady thief wrote for him." ”

Li Xubin saw that he had been messing around and perfunctory, and he didn't want to waste time here, so he arched his hand and said: "The meaning of my family's marshal is all above, Jiujiang has been trapped by our army for nearly a month, and it is difficult to protect itself, the general still don't have expectations, if you can go out of the city and surrender, the marshal promises not to move you to a single soldier, the original establishment belongs to your commander, and guarantees that you are the commander-in-chief, and I will leave the next one." ”

"Ye Yun is here! You send this little brother for me! Li Desheng shouted to the crowd.

Li Xubin walked to the gap in the city wall, looked at the hole that was jammed with bricks, found a big hole and was about to drill out, and as soon as he had an idea, he took out a gold ingot and put it in Ye Yunlai's hand, and said in a low voice: "Take care, general, it's a small meaning, it's not a respect." ”

Ye Yunlai pulled out his hands, weighed the ingots, and laughed loudly: "Brothers, you have a good mouth, when the Qing army retreats, I invite everyone to drink in the best restaurant!" ”

"General, you are not afraid that the military judge will find you, such a big gold has to be locked up for several days!" A soldier with explosives on his pillow teased.

Ye Yunlai put away the gold: "What are you afraid of, Lao Tzu still doesn't know if he can live until that time, and the confinement proves that Lao Tzu has a great life!" ”

Li Xubin looked at the thief who was talking and laughing, and secretly returned to the camp with anxiety, and reported the matter to Zeng Guofan completely.

Zeng Guofan suddenly realized: "It turns out that there is a short-haired big man in the city guarding it, if I am not mistaken, he is Li Desheng, the commander of the Seventh Army, who is even more difficult than Lin Qirong." ”

Liu Rong remembered that the civil and military officials at all levels in the Qing Dynasty were greedy for life and afraid of death, and sighed: "I didn't expect that everyone in the short-haired big and small leaders was not afraid of death, Li Desheng could have stayed in Anqing, but who knew that he was stationed in Hukou, and he was really a masterpiece!" ”

Guo Songtao was completely pessimistic about the attack on Hukou, and admonished: "According to the spies' report, the recent short-haired reinforcements will arrive in two days, and our army will lose troops under Hukou City, which will take a long time, so it is better to lead the troops away, slowly look for fighters, and win a battle, so that is the way for our Hunan army to survive, in case the short-haired reinforcements arrive in advance, our Hunan army is in danger." ”

Luo Zenan also persuaded: "Yes, Dashuai, now the short hair is coming from all directions, just to annihilate our Hunan army here, even if we capture the mouth of the lake, we can't withstand the short hair's counterattack, it is better for us to join Governor Hu, stationed in Ezhou, and resist the short hair's attack on Hubei is the most important thing." ”

Zeng Guofan was shocked and asked anxiously: "Can Hubei be defended by soldiers?" ”

Li Xubin replied: "Only Wang Zhu and Zhou Fengshan are training the new army, and the rest are the green battalion soldiers mastered by Yang Pei, and Yang Pei is still hiding in Yueyang!" Wuchang emptiness! ”

Zeng Guofan closed his eyes and scolded: "Yang Pei mistook the country and misunderstood me!" Retire, retire early tomorrow morning! ”

Bao Chao took the urgent letter from the messenger and reported: "Dashuai, this is a letter from Master Hu. ”

Zeng Guofan took the letter, opened it and pulled out the letter, and after a while, his face was pale, sweat was like rain, he couldn't hold the letter with both hands, and fell to the ground.

Guo Songtao picked up the letter and read it briefly: "Ten days ago, I received a secret guarantee, Wuchang was lost, I was very shocked, and I repeatedly sent people to confirm that Wuchang and Jingzhou were captured by Changmao, and I have led my troops back to rescue them...... Zeng Gong was determined to resist the short hair and march into Hubei, otherwise I would be attacked by the enemy on my back and belly, and I would die for life. ”

Luo Zenan was like a sharp edge on his back, his underwear was soaked in an instant, and he lamented: "The Hunan army's two-year work was ruined, Yang Pei should die, sit back and watch Wuchang fall to the thief, my Hunan army is all outside, in case Changmao goes south again, Hunan suffers from war, what face do I have to see Sanxiang again." ”

Li Xubin said sharply: "The Hunan army is standing to defend the hometown, if Xiangxiang is looted by Changmao, the Hunan army will collapse immediately, and we will return to the division to save ourselves." ”

Zeng Guofan said weakly: "I'm sorry for Minqiao, I originally wanted to share the pressure for him, but I didn't expect to leave the short hair to him to deal with. ”

Liu Rong persuaded: "The handsome man also had to do it, and Minqiao is also a person from Sanxiang, he must be able to understand the hardships of the adults." ”

Guo Songtao said angrily: "The Hunan army won the battle, but the imperial court wanted to use people to contain the Hunan army, this Yang Pei was greedy for life and afraid of death, and he hid far away in Yueyang, but he wanted Wang Zhu and Zhou Fengshan to lead the army to be stationed in Hanchuan, as his shield, the court listened to treacherous rumors, and the officials who impeached Yang Pei last time were reprimanded, which really made me and other loyal ministers and good generals chill!" ”

As soon as the generals of the Hunan army mentioned Yang Pei, they were all panting and scolding angrily.

Zhu Sunyi slapped the table and said angrily: "We should have had a showdown with the imperial court a long time ago, and we should use the Hunan army to suppress the thieves, we have nothing to say, but we have to drive away Yang Pei, a fool who has brought disaster to the country and the people, otherwise we would rather be disarmed and return to the field than be used as cannon fodder. ”

If he had heard such a rebellious remark in the past, Zeng Guofan would have reprimanded him, but since the position of governor of Jiangxi fell on Chen Qimai's head, Zeng Guofan became disheartened and already had the idea of seclusion in his heart. (To be continued......)