Xiao Yungui saw Deng Shaoliang wilted on top of the standing cage, his hair was a little gray, because the flail locked his throat, he had to stand on tiptoe, so that his neck would not be too uncomfortable. Standing cage this kind of torture instrument is an extremely vicious torture instrument, people stand inside, head and face hands out of the flail, can only rely on the feet to stand on tiptoe support, if you can't hold it will be stuck in the neck and suffocated, a stand is a few days, many people are standing alive to death.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty often had such torture instruments at the entrance of the government offices, and this kind of torture was used for some serious offenders, and there were guilty and deserving people, but there were also ordinary people who were tortured because they could not pay food, and many rebellious righteous men died of this torture instrument.

Now Xiao Yungui saw Deng Shaoliang and other Xiangtan officials being punished by this sentence, and he felt indescribably happy in his heart, and turned back to ask Zuo Zongtang: "What do you think should be done with these people?" ”

Zuo Zongtang said lightly with murderous intent in his eyes: "The King of the West can follow the laws of the Heavenly Kingdom, so why do you need to ask me?" ”

Xiao Yungui smiled and ordered his subordinates to put Deng Shaoliang and the others in prison first, and then execute them after the interrogation was clear. Deng Shaoliang, a vicious Qing general, naturally wanted to be executed, but among the rest of the officials in Xiangtan, I heard that there were a few people with good official reputations, and Xiao Yungui didn't plan to kill them all, and some officials with good reputations could accept them if they were willing to surrender, and it would not be too late to kill those who were unwilling to surrender.

After Xiao Yungui's soldiers and horses arrived in Xiangtan the day before yesterday, Zuo Zongtang really came to meet in the army according to the agreement. But when he saw Zuo Zongtang, his face was not good, it turned out that he already knew what happened in the city after the King of Heaven and the King of the East arrived in Changsha.

Facing Zuo Zongtang's cold questioning, Xiao Yungui was not annoyed, he also knew that when Zaijian Zuo Zongtang, Zuo Zongtang would definitely ask about it, and he had already thought about how to deal with it. In fact, what he was afraid of was not that Zuo Zongtang would come to question, but that Zuo Zongtang would hide and not appear again, so he Xiao Yungui would not be able to use it if he had a bad stomach.

At that moment, Xiao Yungui dismissed everyone and said to Zuo Zongtang alone in the big tent: "There are many big and wealthy businessmen in the city who collude and connect, intending to secretly communicate with the demons. ”

Zuo Zongtang's face is still ugly: "The He family has an old ...... with me"

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "I know that you have an old relationship with the He family, He Xiling is Mr.'s teacher, and he has also set up a family affair for his children, although He Ying is only He Xiling's nephew, but if he kills him, Mr. will not look good." When he came, the king had already sent someone to quietly release He Ming's family, which was for the sake of Mr. 's face, and the king was also very involved. Sir should also understand that this is all the king can do now. ”

Zuo Zongtang's face relaxed slightly, and he said slowly: "Zuo Mou hasn't finished speaking, in fact, whether it is the He family or the rest of the rich businessmen in the city, Zuo Mou can see it very clearly, since we want to be enemies of the Qing Dynasty, we will inevitably be enemies of old acquaintances, and there is no objection to how to punish them Zuo Mou." Since there is solid evidence, He Ying still wants to plot in tandem, so he should make an example, even if it is Zuo's close people, he can't be an exception, and if he wants to achieve a big thing, he can't abolish the public for personal reasons. This time, Zuo is very committed to the favor of the King of the West, but next time it can't be like this, even if the He family is the old man under him, but if it threatens the great cause of recovering the Han Dynasty for us, it should be removed in general, and there will be no mercy! ”

Xiao Yungui choked, this old Zuo can really afford to put it down, there is a clear distinction between public and private, but he doesn't blame the Taiping Army for cleaning up He Yin, it seems that his efforts have been in vain.

I only heard Zuo Zongtang continue indignantly: "Zuo's annoyance is the Kingdom of Heaven, why do you want to slaughter all the people in the city? Even the elderly, weak, women and children are not spared? ”

Xiao Yungui breathed a sigh of relief, secretly thinking that this old left's temper was also quite weird, for the sake of the great cause, he could ignore the old people's feelings, but he would stand out for a bannerman. In fact, Xiao Yungui didn't know that Zuo Zongtang had turned against Zeng Guofan in history because of the indiscriminate massacre of the people by the Hunan army, and even participated in the impeachment of the Hunan army.

Fortunately, Xiao Yungui was also prepared in advance for this matter, and immediately repeated what Hong Yuner had said to him, and added Yang Xiuqing's sentence at the end: "If the banner man does not give up his privileges one day, I can't stop the sword in my hand, unless the flag man submits to the softness, otherwise how can our great cause be revived?" ”

After listening in a daze, Zuo Zongtang seemed to have an understanding, closed his eyes in some pain and said: "It seems that the killing in the world can't escape a sharp word after all, it's really sad, lamentable, and pitiful." ”

Xiao Yungui was a little hesitant to talk to Zuo Zongtang about Hong Xiuquan's desire to destroy the academy, the school palace, and the Confucian Temple, but seeing that Lao Zuo's face seemed to look better, and he didn't want to make any extraneous branches, so he turned around and asked: "Mr. has made proper arrangements for his family when he comes to the army this time?" ”

After explaining the matter, Zuo Zongtang didn't drill the horns again, got up and hugged his fists and said: "It's been arranged, Zuo can follow the king of the west to chase the world, and do the great cause of recovering the Han Dynasty!" ”

Xiao Yungui was overjoyed, and also got up and returned a salute, the identities of the two were confirmed in this salute, how many years later, this good story of the two has also been handed down, which is almost comparable to Liu Bei's Sangu thatched house.

After sitting down again, Xiao Yungui was very happy and asked with a smile, "I wonder if the Zhou family can join our heavenly kingdom?" ”

Who knew that Zuo Zongtang's answer was very simple: "The Zhou family is unwilling to follow Zuo as a thief, Zuo has written a letter of resignation and severed relations with the Zhou family, and the two sons also follow the surname Zhou, and they have nothing to do with me." ”

Xiao Yungui was shocked, and couldn't help but stand up and said, "This, how can this work?" What about the lady? ”

Although Zuo Zongtang's face pretended to be calm, a trace of apology flashed in his eyes, and he said calmly: "The eldest husband should do what he says, since he has joined the kingdom of heaven, he should have no hesitation, how can the world be home?" For the sake of the rejuvenation of the world, Zuo was willing to abandon his wife and family, and he was not willing to affect relatives and friends, so Zuo and his brother went to the letter, cut off the relationship with the Zuo family, and then sent his wife to the Zhou family and cut off the relationship with his wife's family, so that there would be no worries. ”

Xiao Yungui looked at Zuo Zongtang in a daze for a long time, he never thought that Zuo Zongtang would be so decisive, but following the Taiping Army to kill officials and rebel was a matter of the Jiu clan, Zuo Zongtang had to be very serious, he left home alone, and cut off all relatives and friends, how much courage and perseverance does it take, just by virtue of this, Xiao Yungui can't do it by asking himself, he really deserves to be the iron-clad tough guy in history who still carries the coffin and goes out on the expedition.

After getting up and bowing deeply, Xiao Yungui took Zuo Zongtang's hand very sincerely and said: "Mr. Gaoyi, Xiao has nothing to repay, I am willing to form a brother with Mr., and share life and death in the future, and never give up!" ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly and said: "The king of the west is kind to Zuo, after all, the king of the west is the lord of an army, Zuo must not act arrogantly, so as not to act inconveniently in the future, it is enough to have the sentence of never giving up." ”

Xiao Yungui couldn't say anything anymore, his heart was deeply shocked at this moment, a person who could abandon his wife and family for the sake of his ideals was compared to him Xiao Yungui, but it was too noble, and for a moment he even began to despise his original thoughts in his heart, if this is the case, what should the king do? Xiao Yungui's heart began to loosen a little, and he only felt that he was no longer fighting for himself now, at least there were more Hong Yun'er, Zuo Zongtang and even those brothers in the West Hall around him, these people were worth fighting for!

Just when Xiao Yungui was thinking nonsense, Zuo Zongtang presented the topographic map of Xiangtan and said: "The land of Xiangtan has been a rich place in Hunan since ancient times, the Ming and Qing dynasties have been very prosperous in the trade of rice, medicine and other goods, and it has been very prosperous. Qing Dynasty to Daoguang years before the war with the Yiren, Xiangtan is an important place for the freight from Guangzhou to the mainland, but also the important place connecting Shanghai, Hankou and the southwest region, the population of the city is about 200,000, I heard that since we and other Taiping holy soldiers entered Hunan Province, many of the surrounding large and wealthy merchants have moved to the city, so the population in the city is more. Xiangtan City east from Songjia Bridge to Dabu Bridge in the west, more than 2,000 zhang long, the government office is built in this, and outside the city is mostly a place of commerce, the shape is also called the city of Biandan, there is no danger to defend. ”

"Deng Shaoliang of the Qing army gathered more than 1,000 troops to defend here, the troops are scarce, and it is not difficult to break it, but we must strive to gather and annihilate it, and we must let us wait for the least loss of soldiers. Now the Qing army Zhang Guoliang is guarding Liling, I expect Deng Shaoliang to ask for help from Zhang Guoliang, but Zhang Guoliang is very cunning, he will not come to the rescue, Zuo is expected to only tomorrow after the king of the West sends an artillery team to clear the Qing army stronghold outside the city, Deng Shaoliang gets the news that there is no hope for reinforcements, and he will definitely abandon the city and flee, and he is most likely to flee along this road, we only need this, so, so, so, we can easily capture Xiangtan! ”

After Zuo Zongtang's analysis, Xiao Yungui was overjoyed, nodded and said: "Sir, this strategy is very good, but at first, this king still wanted to ambush between Liling and Xiangtan to fight Zhang Guoliang's ambush soldiers." ”

Zuo Zongtang touched his beard under his chin and said with a smile: "These generals of the Qing army are as smooth as loaches, and they can be entangled with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom until now and have not died, which one is not a wise man to protect himself?" Unless it is the arrival of the Hengzhou official and military brigade, Zhang Guoliang will not take the risk of the previous one, and it is the best policy to lay Xiangtan as soon as possible and go south along the west bank of the Xiangjiang River to coerce Hengzhou. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said, "I'll act according to Mr.'s policy." At that moment, Xiao Yungui summoned the generals to distribute the troops and horses, and during the banquet, Zuo Zongtang participated in the military discussion as a staff member, and the armies acted in accordance with Zuo Zongtang's deployment.

Sure enough, everything was as Zuo Zongtang expected, Deng Shaoliang abandoned Xiangtan late at night, but was attacked by the Taiping army ambush at Tongmu Bridge, the Taiping army took advantage of the situation to seize the city, and captured Xiangtan without much effort, annihilating the Qing army in Xiangtan, Xiangtan County ordered Qi Wuzhi to commit suicide, and Deng Shaoliang and Xiangtan officials were all taken prisoner. When it was dawn, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang drove into Xiangtan City with the brigade.