The town mountain of Hengzhou City is Nanyue, Nanyue winds and south, forms the peak of the mountain, reaches the anther mountain, arrives back to the Yanfeng, and forms the county governance. The side is back to Yanfeng, there is a ring belt of the Xiangjiang River in front, Dongzhou Island emerges on the river surface in front, the grass river flows into the Xiangjiang River from west to east in the north, and then the Leishui River merges into the Xiangjiang River from east to west in the north. Shigu Mountain is listed on the left side of Fuzhi, looking at it from the other bank, the shape is like a bend of the moon. Its scenery is so beautiful that it is indeed an excellent place for mountains and rivers.

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Hengzhou layer was ravaged by war, Li Dingguo resisted the Qing army here, Wu Sangui was proclaimed emperor here at the time of Zuihou, several wars made the former Xianghu city lose its former glory, and Changsha replaced it as the provincial capital of central Hunan. Now she is once again facing the baptism of war, because the news of the loss of Hengshan County has just reached Hengzhou.

On the north gate of Hengzhou City, above the tower of Zhanyue Gate, Tao Enpei, the prefect of Hengzhou, stood on the city wall, looking at the people, soldiers and civilians who flocked into the city under the city, and his heart was very worried. Tao Enpei is a native of Shanyin, Zhejiang, the word Yizhi, the number Wenyun, the fifteenth year of Daoguang, and the prefect of Hengzhou, Hunan. In the first year of Xianfeng, the thieves in Guangxi rose, and the traitor Zuo Jia in Hengzhou conspired to respond, and Tao Enpei arrested him by thunder, won the Qing court's commendation, and was promoted to a Taoist.

In the spring of the second year of Xianfeng, the Cantonese bandit Changmao invaded Xianghu, and the governor Cheng Xucai, who was then the minister of the Qincha Mission, was in the city, and heard the alarm. Tao Enpei persuaded hard that Hengzhou is the gateway to Chu, and if you abandon it, all Chu will be shocked! But Cheng Zhicai didn't listen and retreated to Changsha City. When the long-haired thief arrived, he knew that Hengzhou had been prepared, so he fled from other roads to Daozhou, Chenzhou and other places, and everything was broken, but Hengzhou was alone. The Qing court was furious and investigated Cheng Qicai's dismissal, and Zuihou was transferred to Hubei, and Tao Enpei received a reward from the Qing court and has been staying in Hengzhou.

Although there were more than 5,000 soldiers stationed in the city at this time, there were more than 5,000 soldiers stationed in the city, but these green camp and Qiu Eight were doing anything wrong in the city, which made Tao Enpei miserable. He complained to Hechun several times, but Hechun shielded his subordinates, and each time he made a few official articles to deal with it, and only fined the generals who were not strict with the emperor and reprimanded them a few times. With the connivance of Shangguan, the soldiers of Hechun still eat, drink and gamble all day long, bullying men and women, Tao Enpei was angry and went to the court to impeach, but his participation was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no news.

He Chun is a native of the Yellow Banner of the Three Banners of Manchuria, and is also the Hesheri clan of the Manchurian clan, the word Yuting, and has served as a striker, a captain of the whole ceremony, a staff general, a deputy general, etc., which can be described as a red Miaozheng. At the beginning of the year, Jiang Zhongyuan defeated the Taiping army in the battle of Lingyidu, and Chun was heavily armed, but he did not dare to send a soldier to help the battle, otherwise the Taiping army might be in danger of annihilation. But it was Hechun's stagnation and a waste of a good fighter. Afterwards, the bandit Qin sent Sai Shang'a to He Chun, and He Chun was promoted to the chief soldier of Suining Town, and Jiang Zhongyuan only added the rank of Taoist, which shows that He Chun has a wide range of connections in the Qing court officialdom. The impeachment of a small Hengzhou prefect was naturally harmonized.

Just when Tao Enpei continued to order his subordinates to guide the people into the city, He Chun yawned and brought a dozen Goshha to the city tower, Tao Enpei hurriedly stepped forward to salute, before he could speak, He Chun sniffed the mutton fat jade snuffbox, followed by a big sneeze, and then rubbed his nose, the whole official uniform, and slowly replied with a slight salute.

Tao Enpei's face turned red, he was not humiliated like this once or twice, but now thinking about the safety of the people in the city, he had to endure this breath and said: "And the general town, the long-haired thief goes south, Hengshan County has been lost, and the long-haired place is only a hundred miles away, so it is time to quickly strengthen the city defense, cut off the Qingcao Bridge, block the enemy on the north bank of the Caohe River, and divide the troops to guard Dongzhou Island in the east of the city, in case the long-haired westward crossing, only by guarding the north and east, the city wall can be safe." ”

He Chun waved his hand and said with a smile: "Lord Tao is too worried, Lord Tai has a military order before, saying that the long-haired thief is out of the team this time, with the intention of going east, and he will not go south, this long-haired division captured Hengshan County, it is just a suspicious plan, Qingcao Bridge is one of the eight views of Hengzhou, so it is a pity to destroy it hastily?" Long hair comes from the north, there is Hunan water, Leishui blocked, along the coast boats are all collected by us, how do they cross to the east? Moreover, there are 5,000 soldiers and horses in the city, and there are 8,000 soldiers in Leiyang. ”

The Qingcao Qiaotou mentioned by Hechun is located at the confluence of the Grass River and Xiangshui, on the left side of Shigu Mountain, and is 800 years away. There used to be six post roads in ancient Hengzhou, in order to facilitate the comings and goings, during the Chunxi period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the wooden bridge was built in Qingcaodu, and it was rebuilt several times later, it has been the important place to communicate the north bank of Hengzhou, the shops at both ends of the bridge are lined up one after another, especially the majority of hotels, so there is the saying of "one hundred wines at the head of the green grass bridge", it is one of the eight views of Hengzhou.

Tao Enpei said in a hurry when he heard this: "The lord of the town must not be careless about the enemy, Changmao dared to attack the provincial capital with two thousand partial divisions, and he also fought down, which shows his courage, Hengzhou City hoarded a lot of money and grain, if there is a loss, how to explain to the Lord of Taiwan?" ”

He Chun's face sank, and he snorted and said: "Master Tao, you are a civil official, just appease the people, allocate grain and grass, and the rest of the military affairs have their own generals, who have experienced more than 100 battles, can you teach me how to use soldiers?" After that, he took a few steps forward and whispered coldly in Tao Enpei's ear: "Master Tao, do you think that if you impeach the general to the imperial court, the general will listen to you?" You still take care of your own government affairs, and do the right thing with Ben, otherwise be careful that your head is not protected! After speaking, he turned around and walked away with a group of Goshha Yaowu. Tao Enpei's hands and feet were cold, and he was so angry that he couldn't speak, but he couldn't do anything about Hechun.

But then the development of things seems to be as He Chun said, the Taiping army did not go south to Hengzhou one after another, and in the evening did not see a long-haired thief appear on the north bank, and the people outside the city and the stragglers who fled back from Hengshan County had all entered the city.

Hengzhou starts from the east, the seven city gates are the three gates in the east, Yuejiang Gate is also called the Iron Furnace Gate, the Binri Gate is also called the Chaibu Gate, the Xiangmen Gate. The north gate is Zhanyue Gate, and the Yanmen Gate is also known as the South Gate. Wanghu Gate, also known as Little West Gate, Anxi Gate, also known as Big West Gate. At this time, the streets within the city gates were crowded with people who had flocked to take refuge from all directions, and Tao Enpei had to allocate manpower to settle them. He asked the people who had fled from the north, but no one could tell how many of them had come and where they were. These people are so easy to follow the trend, they panic when they hear the news, and when they see others fleeing, they follow in a swarm, and they can't ask for any news.

Asked the stragglers who fled back from Hengshan County, these big-headed soldiers exaggerated the power of the long hair in order to escape responsibility, but Tao Enpei saw what kind of eyes, after a few questions, those soldiers' lies became bigger and bigger, and then they couldn't tell the truth until they couldn't stop it.

It turned out that when the long-haired army arrived more than ten miles away from Hengshan County, after the news reached Hengshan County, the Hengshan County Commander and the general smeared oil on the soles of their feet, and their whereabouts are still unknown.

Hearing this, Tao Enpei once suspected that Changmao was really just a suspicious formation, and made a trick of attacking the east in the south, but in fact, the main point of the army was to march eastward. I was in doubt until the night, and it was still dark and silent when I looked out of the north gate tower, and the scout horses sent out also reported that they had not yet found the enemy. More than 160 miles of waterway from Hengzhou Mansion to Hengshan County, more than 100 miles by land, it stands to reason that if Changmao really wants to go south, there should be movement, could it be that Changmao retracted with a shot?

The night was so cold that Tao Enpei stayed in the north of the city all night, and as long as there was the slightest disturbance, he immediately went to the city to check. Fortunately, Hechun didn't dare to be careless, he sent 300 people to garrison on the Qingcao Bridge, and every time he went to the city to see the three-point bonfire lit at the head of the Qingcao Bridge, it meant that everything was as usual outside the city, and Tao Enpei was relieved.

In addition to worrying about the city defense, Tao Enpei has been trying to improve the resettlement of the fleeing people, he called on the big households in the city to donate some coarse cloth, straw mats and bamboo poles, and set up some shacks for the people to shelter from the wind and rain, fortunately, the money and grain in the city are sufficient.

Originally, it was a big sin for Tao Enpei to take rice and grain from the official warehouse for use, but he didn't care, he knew that the officialdom was dark, and when military grain was transported like this, there were many interceptions by officials from all over the country, and it was not an uncommon thing. But this matter let Hechun know, this guy pretended to be a public servant, and sent someone to ask Tao Enpei at dawn.

When he arrived at the Hechun tent, Tao Enpei was bright and upright, and frankly admitted that he had evened out some of the rice and grain to help the people.

He Chun smiled and said, "Lord Tao, this military ration is an important thing in the army, how can it be taken and distributed to the people privately?" Now that the war is imminent, how can the soldiers cope with the war without rice and grain? ”

Tao Enpei rushed upwards angrily: "The official just took out some porridge to help the people, if these people don't have food, sooner or later they will become thieves!" Besides, who in the north and south of the river doesn't know the Tao in grain transportation? I didn't take it for my own personal use, but for the people! ”

He Chun secretly laughed at Tao Enpei's uprightness, he didn't understand the shady scenes of officialdom, how could this kind of thing be announced? Immediately lowered his face and said: "Lord Tao, what you said is that all the officials of my Qing Dynasty have been framed in it, what is your real basis for saying this?" I will play the matter here according to the truth and report it to the Lord of Taiwan! ”

He Chunzhi didn't have the power to deal with Tao Enpei, but he just ordered someone to confine him in the county office, and when he turned his head, he ordered someone to write a recital and an official letter to report to the Qing court and Xu Guangjin, and laughed secretly in his heart, this old man Tao is in the way, and this time he won't be in trouble?

There was no movement of the long hair on this day, and the spring sent a probe horse to investigate Hengshan County, but he saw that the city was still planted with the flag of the long hair, obviously the long hair thief was only stationed in Hengshan County, and he would not go south for a while.

He Chun was even more determined in his thoughts, the long-haired thief's partial division was a false soldier, and it was just a suspicious plan to make Xu Guangjin return to the division.

Early in the morning of the third day, He Chun was woken up by his subordinates, "Lord Zongzhen, something is wrong, Dongzhou Island in the southeast is occupied by long-haired thieves, and it is coming from the east, and the striker has already captured the anther mountain in the south of the city!" ”

He Chun was scared and sobered up for the most part, and asked sharply, "What?!" Isn't Long Hair still in Hengshan County? Where did all this long hair come from?! No one answered him, and the rumbling sound of cannons from the south of the city made it impossible for Kazuharu to ask any more questions, so he had to hurry to the south of the city with Goshha.