It is said that the ancient five fathers and sons were taken on the warship by the Taiping army, Chen Da took the two to the kitchen cabin of the warship, and asked the military cook to make two large bowls of rice, and got some leftovers and served them to the father and son. The father and son of the ancient five were so hungry that they looked at the fragrant food, their eyes glowed green, and they picked up the bowl and thanked them and ate them.

Chen Da saw the sweetness of the two of them, smiled and said, "Eat slowly, it's not enough." ”

Gu Wu said vaguely: "Thank you, little brother." ”

The father and son devoured what they ate, and they didn't stop eating three bowls of rice until they ate, Gu Wu frowned, and asked in a low voice: "Little brother, isn't this long-haired soldier, isn't this heavenly soldier killing officials and rebelling?" Is there a way to survive with them? ”

Chen Da reprimanded in a deep voice: "Don't talk nonsense, the heavenly soldiers are very haode to the people, much better than those green camp demon soldiers and regimental training, you go to the Qing Demon, do people care about your food?" If you really don't have a way to live, it's also haode to take refuge in us, it's better than starving to death, right? ”

Gu Wu nodded and said, "That's right, it's just a little brother, what else does General Luo want to ask us?" We're just two ordinary fishermen. ”

Chen Da said with a smile: "Looking at you like this, it is not difficult to guess the tragic situation of the nearby fishing villages, now that the Saturn Port in front is blocked, General Luo wants to ask you if there are any waterways such as the port that you can pass." ”

The old five-headed shook like a rattle and said, "I can only fish, how can I know about this army?" ”

Chen Da smiled slightly: "Then you came here from that waterway to fish?" ”

Gu Xiaosi said hesitantly: "We have already been deceived by the government once, can this heavenly soldier believe it?" ”

Chen Da smiled and said, "Hurry up and eat, you will know in a while." ”

After a while, the two of them were full, Chen Da gave the two of them two cups of coarse tea, and the two drank a sip of hot tea, no longer hungry in their stomachs, but they felt indescribably comfortable.

Chen Da smiled and said, "Come with me when you're full." I couldn't help but say, Chen Da pulled the two of them and left.

When he came to the deck, the big man with a scarred face stood on the side of the boat, watching the flow of water, and saw Chen Da coming up with his father and son, and said with a smile: "Old man, have you eaten enough?" ”

Gu Wu nodded, made a big salute and said: "To be honest, this big white rice will not be eaten until the New Year, thank you for the kindness of the general, and I will definitely repay it in the future." ”

The big man hahadaxiao said: "If you want to repay the favor, just now, Gu Zhang, I will also say it directly, our army wants to pass through Saturn Harbor, but the lake port is blocked by the Qing Demon, I want to ask the old man to lead a detour to drive away the Qing Demon in the port, and then send someone to the nearby fishing villages, villages to collect boats, boatmen, and people, and clean up the blocked stones in Saturn Harbor, how about we send you food and silver?" ”

Gu Wu was taken aback, and said hesitantly: "General, the government has also requisitioned the people in front, but this silver grain has never been cashed, but I am afraid of this time."

The big man waved his hand, and several red turban soldiers came up with a few big boxes, and the big man stepped forward and opened one of the boxes, only to see that it was full of snowflake silver with white flowers, and the father and son of the Gu family were stunned, when had they seen so much silver?

The big man smiled and said: "I will order someone to bring this silver later, and I will prepare a large amount of grain, first for the people to eat, the silver will be put aside, for the villagers to see, as long as the work is done, the silver will be everyone's immediately." ”

Gu Wu and Gu Xiao Si glanced at each other, and under great joy, they immediately agreed. Since ancient times, people have died for money, and birds have died for food, let alone these people who can't live?

Yuezhou is located at the junction of Hunan and Hubei, and its geographical location is particularly important. Before the arrival of the Taiping Army, Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei of the Qing court, and Shuangfu, the governor of Hubei, sat in Wuchang and sent his own henchmen, Bole Gongwu, the capital of Hubei, to personally garrison with 2,000 elite soldiers. He also hired a man to work backwards for dozens of days, and used huge boulders to sink ships to block the Saturn Harbor in Dongting Lake to prevent the Taiping army from entering.

However, Bole Gongwu saw that the money was open, and he and his subordinates deducted the people's food and salary, and under the layers of peeling, the nearby fishermen and villagers did not see a single eldest son, and the Qing army cut off the trade and fishing routes, and most of the people in the vicinity could not survive.

As soon as the former army of the Taiping Army arrived, they let the ancient five fathers and sons lead the way, leading small boats from the port waterway to break into the port, and attacked hundreds of Qing troops in the port. The Qing army in Saturn Harbor saw that the long-haired sailors on the lake were already weak, but they did not expect that the Taiping army suddenly came out of the middle road, and they scattered and fled in less than an hour after a hasty engagement.

After clearing the Qing army in the port, the Taiping army sent food and hired people everywhere to clean up the shipwrecks and boulders in the port. What Luo Xuan didn't expect was that after the port was blocked by the Qing army, thousands of fishing boats and merchant ships of all kinds were blocked on the other side of the port, and there were thousands of sails on the water, which was not magnificent. Many merchants, fishermen, and boatmen were anxiously waiting to be able to pass through Saturn Harbor as soon as possible, and when they heard that the Taiping Army had hired people to clean up the shipwrecks and boulders in Saturn Harbor, the big guys burst out with great enthusiasm, and even many businessmen even paid to help the Taiping Army hire people.

As a result, the Taiping army made a clean-up team several times larger than Governor Chang overnight, and in one day, all the shipwrecks and boulders under Saturn Harbor that Chang Dachun spent a month sending people to fill were removed and cleaned, so that Xiao Yungui, who arrived later, saw what kind of crowd tactics made people's hearts move together and Mount Tai moved.

Among these businessmen, there is one person who is particularly active, this person is named Tang Zhengcai, a native of Guiyang Town, Qidong County, Hengzhou. After Xiao Yungui arrived at Saturn Port, he heard that this person had donated all the silver money of more than 30 merchant ships and goods he had brought with him, and together with the leaders of dozens of fleets, he asked to join the Taiping Army. This news made Xiao Yungui very surprised, there are still so many people who are enthusiastic about overthrowing the Manchu Qing in these years, but he is also a little suspicious whether this person will be an undercover agent sent by the Qing army, so he asked Hong Yun'er next to him.

Hong Yun'er smiled and said: "This person is the supreme general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's later navy, Tang Zhengcai, the king of navigation, have you forgotten?" ”

Xiao Yungui then remembered that it seemed that the head of the Taiping Army in the later period was this person, and he immediately ordered Luo Outline to bring him to summon him personally.

This Tang Zhengcai has a broad face and a lot of beard, and people always call Tang beard. Known as a wooden guest, and a dealer in Mijiang, Xiangjian, Ren Xia is hospitable, good at big swords, fine water, Huguang grain, salt two troughs of boaters are more good with it, and there are a wide range of people on the rivers and lakes, this is Luo Outline's comments to Tang Zhengcai, all of which are rumors in the rivers and lakes.

Xiao Yungui saw Tang Zhengcai at the boat in the port, and sure enough, as rumored, Tang Zhengcai had a big beard, which was somewhat similar to Xiao Yungui's beard. After a few words, Tang Zhengcai asked to be under the command of the King of the West, and Xiao Yungui was overjoyed and named Tang Zhengcai as a sailor, the same as the general, and the deputy of Luo Outline commanded the water battalion of the whole army. With the addition of Tang Zhengcai and other fleets, the Taiping Army's water battalion more than doubled at once, with more than 3,000 large and small ships, and more than 10,000 sailors.

Xiao Yungui did not stay in Saxing Port for too long, and after clearing the waterway, he ordered Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Luo Xuan, and Tang Zhengcai to lead the land and water army to Yuezhou.

The Governor sent General Bole Gongwu, a fierce general known as the Evil Star, stationed in Yuezhou, had extraordinary riding skills, but when he saw the approach of the Taiping Army's navy, he immediately fled alone on horseback. The rest of the more than 1,000 Qing troops were so frightened that they fled for their lives when they saw the fleet of ships covering the sky and the long-haired thieves with red turbans all over the mountains.

In this way, the Taiping army, which marched with arms, occupied Yuezhou, an important town on the east bank of Dongting Lake, without firing a single shot. What's even more bizarre is that this Bole Gongwu general will have no trace in the future, Emperor Xianfeng himself wants to settle accounts with him, and he can't be found all over the country, I really don't know what tricks this escaped Bole Gongwu general has, he can run away without a trace, maybe he fled to Shanghai, and he was sold overseas to make piglets.

Thousands of fishing boats and civilian boats near Yuezhou, after following the Taiping Army to clean up the shipwreck stones in Saturn Harbor, got the money cashed in advance, and the joy was thunderous at the moment, so they simply joined the army and joined the Taiping Army.

After entering Yuezhou, Xiao Yungui ordered Zuo Zongtang to lead the troops to blockade Yuezhou's treasury of silver, grain baggage, after the preliminary count, it was found that hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of stone grain, it turned out that these were collected to Yuezhou's grain and silver, ready to be escorted to Jinling, Chang Dachun thought that there was still time to transport these away from Yuezhou, but he didn't expect the Taiping army to come so quickly.

After Xiao Yungui entered the city, he went to the Yuezhou Mansion to rest temporarily, preparing to explore the next move of the Qing army.

Just as Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang were busy with the books and officials of the West Hall in the palace, Hong Yun'er walked up to the hall with Luo Outline and Tang Zhengcai, and the four-eyed sister couldn't wait to step forward and said: "Hurry up and follow me to see, the cannon left by Wu Sangui has been found by us." ”

Xiao Yungui was stunned for a moment and asked, "What Wu Sangui's cannon?" ”

Hong Yun'er stepped forward with a smile and whispered: "In the past, I remember that it was recorded in the book that when the Taiping army defeated Yuezhou, it had found the cannons, guns and other firearms cast by Wu Sangui back then, thinking that these things should not be wasted, so I asked Tang Zhengcai, who was familiar with Yuezhou, to take people to look around, and sure enough, we found the underground warehouse built by Wu Sangui under the warehouse where the Qing army hoarded weapons in Yuezhou City, which contained hundreds of cannons. ”

Xiao Yungui was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly stood up and said, "Where is it?" Take me to see it. At that moment, he handed over the matter at hand to Zuo Zongtang to deal with it on his behalf, and he followed Hong Yun'er, Luo Xuan, and Tang Zhengcai to the warehouse where the Qing army hoarded weapons in the south of the city.