In the Xiwang Mansion in Suzhou, after listening to Hong Yun'er's words, Xiao Yungui touched his chin and said: "Yes, it must be the case, since the Fujian Little Knife Club has already raised troops, we can't sit idly by, and we must immediately send someone to contact He Bin and Liu Lichuan." Suzhou has been down on our side, the Qing army reinforcements on the periphery of Hangzhou have been defeated and retreated, and Hangzhou is a lonely city, which is also ready to go down, and then I personally returned to Shanghai to end the war in Shanghai. Hangzhou's side can let Li Xiucheng's troops be ready to go south to support Fujian at any time! ”

Hong Yun'er nodded happily and said: "That's right, in this way, we can not only take southern Jiangsu, but also seek Fujian." The two looked at each other and smiled, only to feel that the haze that had been shrouded in front of them for a long time dissipated, and a bright avenue seemed to be displayed in front of them.

……

On the same day, He Bin, Liu Lichuan, Pan Qiliang, Chen Alin and others took dozens of Bai Zetang's brothers to the south on a foreign merchant ship, and landed in Xiamen within a day. After landing on the shore, everyone disguised themselves and hired a boat and rushed straight to Haicheng County, the head of the Fujian Little Knife Society. Haicheng County is the name of the county in the Qing Dynasty, and the Jinghai Pavilion of Longxi County and part of Zhangpu County in the 45th year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty belong to Zhangzhou Prefecture.

Since Huang Demei, a wealthy businessman in Longxi County, joined the Fujian Knife Club, it has vigorously supported the Knife Club financially. At the beginning of Xianfeng's second year, he and Huang Wei, another leader of the Fujian Knife Society, went to various parts of Nanyang to contact members, and purchased thousands of knives and secretly shipped them to the South Gate Pocket of Shimei Society. At the same time, a martial arts hall was set up, and the candle was held for a long time, practicing martial arts, recruiting people and horses, and preparing to fight against the Qing Dynasty in arms.

In February of the second year of Xianfeng, 42 Dagu ships began to be built at Zhuoqi Shipyard in Haicheng County; In April, the construction of 36 broad-headed shallow boats began at the Shimafuhe Shipyard for the purpose of carrying out the work. In April of the third year of Xianfeng, Wang Shiqing of Haicheng Zhi County sent troops to attack Zhupu Village, and the leaders of the Little Knife Society, Jiang Yuan, were arrested and imprisoned.

The Fujian knife club was in a panic for a while, and the news came. The crowd was indignant, some clamored to save people immediately, and some old Cheng made a serious suggestion that it was best to contact the Shanghai Little Knife Society and the Nanjing Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to work together for a great cause. At that time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had occupied Nanjing, anti-Qing uprisings were occurring all over the country, and the Shanghai Little Knife Society was also preparing to brew an uprising. didn't expect the contact person to go and never return, Huang Wei and Huang Demei made money. The lives of the Jiang brothers were temporarily saved, and all kinds of news came in a chaotic manner, and it was rumored that the Taiping army had been defeated, and the Taiping army had captured Shanghai, and the Qing army had counterattacked. In short, there was chaos, so that Huang Wei and Huang Demei didn't know how to decide.

After He Bin, Liu Lichuan and others arrived in Haicheng County, they immediately contacted Huang Wei and Huang Demei. Huang Wei and Huang Demei met with Liu Lichuan and others and He Bin, the envoy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Naturally, it was overjoyed. He Bin and others told the real situation, and after everyone discussed, they decided to start an incident immediately, rescue the Jiang brothers first, and take advantage of the fact that Li Tingyu, the governor of Fujian, went north and the Qing army in Fujian was empty. First take a few big cities as a foundation, and join forces with the Taiping army in Xu Tu.

On the fourth day of the first month of June, the knife society erected the banner of "official forced people to rebel" and "anti-Qing and Han Dynasty" at the south gate of Shimei. The rebel army elected Huang Wei as the generalissimo and Huang Demei as the commander. Huang Chao was the deputy marshal, Liu Lichuan was the general, and thousands of people joined the army within three days. The rebel army was organized into four routes, east, west, north and south, with 12 brigades, Pan Qiliang, Chen Alin, Huang Baye, Cai Maozhao, Lin Sha, and Huang Ying as land generals, and Huang Mayi as the general of the water division. The rebel army learned the decoration of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the soldiers all went to braided their hair and wrapped their heads with red cloth. On the sixth day of June, the rebel army swore to set off, and Shimei disembarked and crossed the Jiulong River to Haicheng, and attacked the county seat overnight.

Due to the incident of the Little Knife Society, Jiang Yuan and Jiang Fa brothers were killed by the Qing army in prison, and the rebels captured the guerrilla Chong'an in Haicheng County alive and tied him to the spirit of the Jiang Yuan brothers. And learned from the Taiping Army to put grain for the people in Haicheng County, and for a time the servants were like rain.

On the night of the 7th day of the first month of June, the rebel army took advantage of the situation to attack, captured Shima, and captured Zhangzhou City and Changtai County on the 10th day of the first month, and captured and killed Cao Sanzhu, the envoy of Zhangzhou Town, Tingzhang Longdao and Wenxiu, the prefect of Zhangzhou. On the twelfth, Huang Wei and Huang Demei learned that the admiral of the Qing Xiamen Navy Shi Degao was out to patrol the open sea, and the troops in the city were empty, so they led three or four thousand people down the tide and landed at the port of Xiamen Yuandang, and the members of the Little Knife Society in the city opened the city gate to respond, and the rebel army quickly occupied Xiamen City and captured and killed the guerrilla Zheng Zhenying. On the same day, Tong'an and Anxi were occupied, Zhangpu and Pinghe Guanxi were occupied on the 13th, and Tongshan and Yunxiao were captured on the 14th.

The rebel army was mighty, and everywhere it went, it was supported and supported by the broad masses of toiling people, and the masses near Zhangzhou heard the wind and swarmed, and responded to all calls, after the knife would occupy Shima and Changtai, the number of servants in the vicinity increased to more than 8,000 people, and the people voluntarily donated food, and the pot pulp was eaten to meet the rebel army, and most of the dock workers, boatmen, police and people in all walks of life in Xiamen immediately responded, and the people were willing to follow the knife society and resist the Qing Dynasty to the end.

After the occupation of Xiamen, Huang Wei, Huang Demei and others officially announced that they had joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and issued a proclamation in the name of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, denouncing the crimes of the Qing Dynasty: "The fathers and elders have been harsh on the law for a long time, corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and the government is harsh to the tiger, and they have exhausted their marrow", calling on the people to support the Little Knife Society. After the rebel army entered Xiamen, the autumn did not commit any crimes, and was warmly welcomed by the people. The rebels also issued a proclamation abolishing exorbitant taxes and reducing the burden on the people.

The day after the rebel army occupied Xiamen, Huang Wei and Huang Demei, after discussing with He Bin, sent a letter to the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, explaining the situation of the uprising in Fujian, hoping that the Western King would send troops and horses to support him, and sent thousands of people to Quanzhou and Taiwan. After the news arrived in Taiwan, a huge uprising of the Taiwan Little Knife Society broke out quickly in Fengshan, Taiwan, and Chiayi counties.

At the same time, Huang Wei, Huang Demei, and others, the leaders of the Xiaodaohui uprising, also planned to directly attack Taiwan, and made an appointment with Ji Maosheng, who was often active in the Taiwan Strait, and asked him to gather men and ships to launch an attack on Taiwan in July and August.

At this moment, it seems that the situation of the Fujian Xiaodao Society is very good, but he did not expect a sudden typhoon to interrupt the beacon fire of the plain and give the Qing army a chance to breathe. After the typhoon landed in Fujian, Xiamen rained heavily for several days, and the water depth in the flat area of the city was more than enough, which dealt a heavy blow to the rebel army. Huang Wei, Huang Demei, He Bin, Liu Lichuan and others had to suspend the offensive and concentrate on Liliang to fight against nature.

In order to suppress the sudden outbreak of the Xiaodaohui uprising, the local government of Fujian Province in the Qing Dynasty took great painstaking measures, and Wang Yide, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, personally came to Quanzhou to take command, dispatch troops, and raise food and wages. He also asked the imperial court to transfer Li Tingyu, who had rich experience in naval warfare, back to Fujian to fight. He also asked the imperial court to transfer the Guangdong naval division that was fighting in Shanghai back to Fujian to fight, and to mobilize Guangdong Chaoyong to Fujian to assist in the encirclement and suppression of the Xiamen rebel army. At the same time, Wang Yide also summoned the nearby landlords and gentry to organize a righteous group to jointly suppress the Xiaodaohui uprising.

As soon as Li Tingyu led the troops to Ningbo, he received the news that the Fujian Xiaodao Society would raise troops, and Wang Yide's official letter soon arrived, and he ordered Li Tingyu to quickly turn around and go south to help, and the siege of Hangzhou had its own Liangjiang governor to worry about. Li Tingyu is a native of Xiamen, Fujian, and his hometown is in Xiamen, and when he heard that his hometown was occupied by traitors, he didn't care about having an appointment with Jiang Zhongyuan, so he immediately raised troops and rushed back.

Due to Wang Yide's personal command of the counterattack of the Qing army from all walks of life, and a typhoon caused a lot of losses to the Xiamen rebel army, the original offensive of the rebel army was not launched, resulting in the rebel army being forced to stay in Zhangzhou, Shima, Haicheng, Zhangpu, Anxi, Tong'an and other places. After the Qing army counterattacked, the rebel army fell one by one due to the lack of materials and the narrow strategic space, and at the same time, Huang Wei, Huang Demei, He Bin, Liu Lichuan and others lacked the talent of commanders, and were defeated repeatedly.

In addition, the internal composition of the Little Knife Society is complex, and at the same time, there are many factions, and the old subordinates of the Jiang brothers listened to the instigation of the Qing army, thinking that it was Huang Wei, Huang Demei and others who launched an uprising to kill the Jiang brothers, and the contradictions between the various factions in the Little Knife Society gradually became acute.

At the same time, the morale of the rebel army, which had been defeated in successive battles, was demoralized, coupled with the lack of materials, the discipline of various departments was lax, and the destruction of military discipline, extortion, gambling, and plundering began to occur continuously, and the residents of Xiamen began to be dissatisfied with the rebel army.

Subsequently, the commander of the Xiamen Navy Shi Degao and the Qing army sailor besieged the Fujian Xiaodaohui rebel army in Xiamen, and the Qing army also surrounded the passage on the road, Xiamen became an isolated city, and the news was cut off, and the messenger sent before was also seen and intercepted by the Qing army halfway, and Xiao Yungui of Suzhou has not received news from Fujian.

At the same time, the leaders of the uprising had differences on major issues, He Bin, Liu Lichuan and others insisted on breaking through the siege and going north to join forces with the Taiping Army in the West Palace, but Huang Wei and Huang Demei had no confidence to fight again, and the nearby landlord Hao Gentry took the opportunity to contact Huang Demei and instigate him to disintegrate the rebel army. At that time, the Taiwanese rebel army was also encircled and suppressed by the Qing army and was in adversity, and it was seen that an uprising was about to be strangled in the cradle as in history.

……

At noon the next day, in the Humble Administrator's Garden of the Xiwang Mansion, Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er hosted a banquet for the members of Luo Weilin's medical team. In fact, the main purpose of the two of them is to want to be with Mojana. Pasteur, Clifford. The two Rothschilds had a relationship, so this luncheon was arranged.

During the banquet, Zuo Zongtang, Yao Yuan and others were accompanied, and everyone enjoyed the scenery and gossip. Speaking of everyone's hard work, Xiao Yungui naturally praised it a lot, but the Taiping Army banned alcohol, and there was a lot less talk about no alcohol during the banquet.

Halfway through the meal, Luo Weilin suddenly said: "Your Royal Highness the King of the West, the war in Xiamen seems to be overwhelmed, do you need us to mediate one or two, maybe relying on our Britain, your warriors in Xiamen can save some of them." (To be continued......)