After the vermilion gate of the yamen was opened, in the thick smoke and dust, one by one the Qing soldiers coughed loudly and came out, everyone's face was snot and tears flowed together, and after coming out, they lay on the ground and gasped for breath, greedily breathing fresh air, and the blades in their hands were thrown casually.

Seeing the Qing army coming out, the Taiping soldiers immediately stepped forward, two served one, and took aside more than 200 Qing soldiers who came out.

Ji Wenyuan spat at the foam heavily, and scolded loudly: "It turned out to be some caretakers, no wonder they are so desperate to protect the master." ”

Xiao Yungui then understood that the people in the yamen are all the relatives who follow Luo Bingzhang all the year round, if Luo Bingzhang and these eunuchs are finished, they will also be unlucky, so they will fight to the death, and many of them are Luo Bingzhang's fellow villagers or relatives.

Xiao Yungui also began to understand a little, why Zeng Guofan later relied on this relationship of clan, friends, and fellow villagers to pull up a Hunan army, many times the special nepotism and local relations between people can easily produce interdependent relationships, and to a certain extent, they are absolutely trusting and loyal to each other.

Xiao Yungui watched coldly as the captives were taken down one by one, and he was stunned that he didn't see a single person wearing an official uniform, and in doubt, he ordered Li Zuoche and Tang Erniu to lead people into the yamen to search carefully.

A moment later, the smoke bombs in the yamen were cleaned up, and after the bad luck dissipated, Xiao Yungui took Zeng Shuiyuan, Ji Wenyuan and others into the governor's yamen, only to see that there were still a few embers inside, dozens of Qing army corpses fell to the ground, and the air was filled with a choking smell.

Xiao Yungui rubbed his nose and ordered: "Clean up this place, my handsome tent is temporarily set up here, and arrange all the injuries in the government office, if it is not enough to live, the mansions and yamen of other officials, big and small, do not disturb the people!" ”

Zeng Shuiyuan and Ji Wenyuan bowed down to receive the order, and while they were talking, they saw Li Zuoche hurrying over and saying: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, I have searched inside and out, only some female dependents are in the backyard, and there is no clear demon." ”

Xiao Yungui sighed and said in surprise: "What about those dog officials? Can't they all fly with wings?! ”

Zeng Shuiyuan stepped forward and reminded in a low voice: "Your Royal Highness the King of the West, there may be suspicious people among those Qing demons outside." ”

Xiao Yungui reacted suddenly, damn it, a group of soft-boned dog officials might really disguise themselves as small soldiers and mix in the crowd and have already left the mansion, he slapped his thigh and shouted: "Come out with me, I will personally interrogate those prisoners!" "Among the Qing court officials here in Changsha, many of them later became the executioners of the massacre of the Taiping army, especially the current Hunan governor Luo Bingzhang, who was the murderer of Shi Dakai, and must be caught and punished severely, although he has not done anything now.

Out of the hall of the mansion, Xiao Yungui ordered Zeng Shuiyuan to bring in more than 200 Qing army prisoners outside, and after a while, the small courtyard was already full, and the Taiping soldiers were surrounded by torches and steel knives, watching from the side.

Xiao Yungui didn't want to talk nonsense, standing under the eaves of the lobby and looking coldly at the crowd under the stone steps, and shouted: "The officials inside are all standing up for me, who is Luo Bingzhang?" Stand up for me! And what about Bao Qibao? Who is the Hunan Inspectorate? Prefects, Tongzhi, Tongju, Grain Road, Salt Road, General Army, Adjutant General, Staff General, Guerrilla, what about these big and small officials? Stand up for me! ”

None of the more than 200 people made a sound, and from time to time someone coughed, Xiao Yungui was angry and opened his loud voice and shouted: "If you don't make a sound, pull it out and cut it!" Xiao Yungui sneered, and ordered Zeng Shuiyuan to pull out those timid people. …,

Usually when you ask for a confession, you must choose a timid person to start, Xiao Yungui looked at a few small soldiers with earthy faces with cold eyes, and said with a cruel smile: "Whoever confesses will kill him!" Several soldiers fell to their knees under this fright, kowtowing and begging for mercy, but they all said that they did not know the whereabouts of those officials.

Xiao Yungui pointed to the first soldier and said coldly: "Pull him down and cut him down!" A few wolf-like Taiping soldiers came up and dragged the man down, and the little soldier was so frightened that he shouted loudly.

"Wait!" I saw a family member in his fifties in the crowd walking out of the crowd, this person's face was dark but the neck was snow-white, the black color on his face should be painted with soot, a half-crescent-shaped beard under his lips, and a short beard under his chin, but he looked gentle and elegant, I saw him striding forward with his head held high, and the family members and Qing soldiers around him still wanted to pull him, but they were all brushed away by him, and when he came to Xiao Yungui, he said lightly: "You don't have to embarrass him, the Luo Bingzhang you are looking for is here." ”

Then Luo Bingzhang took out a sweat towel from his sleeve and wiped the soot on his face, and smiled slightly at the crowd: "This official is a province to Futai, and the provincial city is broken, and it is difficult to escape the blame of the official, and he is ashamed to be kind to the emperor, and ordered the people to fall into the hands of thieves, and if they die, they will die. Then he turned his head and glanced at Xiao Yungui and said, "The official is here, if you want to kill it, you have to kill it." ”

Xiao Yungui heaved heavily, he had an urge to kick Luo Bingzhang a few times, his mother's pretense, he Luo Bingzhang must have appeared righteously because he was afraid of being recognized, otherwise when he Xiao Yungui asked for the first time just now, Luo Bingzhang should have come out and scolded him for being a thief chieftain, why wait until Xiao Yungui arrested someone and forced him to ask?

"What about Hunan Admiral Bao Qibao? There are also Hunan officials such as the envoy, the prefect, the same knowledge, the general judgment, the grain road, and the salt road? Xiao Yungui held back his anger and asked.

Luo Bingzhang twisted his beard and said with a faint smile: "The rest of the people have already arranged to go out of the city, escorted by Bao Junmen's troops to take refuge temporarily, Xu Tu will continue to exterminate your group of thieves, and in the coming day he will recover Changsha, avenge us and others, and kill all these long-haired thieves!" ”

Ji Wenyuan and other Taiping generals were furious when they heard this, and they drew their swords to kill Luo Bingzhang, Xiao Yungui smiled and stopped the generals, looked at Luo Bingzhang and said: "On the side of the granary, we took the political envoy Weng Tongjue who set fire to the grain, I want to ask who the fuck is the idea to teach the arson to set fire to the grain?" ”

Luo Bingzhang swept away the mud and dust on his body and said lightly: "It is the order of this official, how can the money and food that has been raised so hard be used to fund the thief's salary?" It's better to burn it clean with a fire, a piece of silver, tens of thousands of taels of silver, this official has already let Bao Junmen take it away, and not a penny will be left to you thieves! ”

Sure enough, it is the idea of this "pancake Zhang", very vicious, although Xiao Yungui was furious in his heart, but there was nothing he could do, he entered the city one after another, unable to besiege Changsha on all sides, and gave the Qing army too much time to calmly prepare to flee, so that after the city was broken, Luo Bingzhang actually broke his wrist, and ordered Bao Qibao to lead the troops to escort the rest of the officials and money and grain to go first, and the grain that could not be taken away was burned on the spot.

Ji Wenyuan shouted angrily: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, kill this dog official." The rest of the Taiping army also shouted: "Kill the dog officer!" Kill the dog officer! ”

Xiao Yungui took a deep breath, slowly calmed down, waved his hand and said, "Everyone, don't be impatient, this dog official is still useful, and now he is detained in the mansion, I have my own arrangements." "Then Zeng Shuiyuan, Ji Wenyuan and others strictly investigated whether there were Qing army generals among all the prisoners of the Qing army, and all the generals above the general were sent to the prison in the Daoyamen for detention.

Ji Wenyuan sent more than ten people to escort Luo Bingzhang down, and then led people to start screening the Qing army prisoners, Zeng Shuiyuan stepped forward and whispered to Xiao Yungui: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, there is not much grain and grass now, do you want to release all the useless soldiers?" ”…,

Xiao Yungui glared at him and said, "Let it go?!" After they leave the city, they have nowhere to go and no food, so they will either become robbers, or they will re-attach themselves to the Qing Demon to fight us, and they must not let go! ”

Zeng Shuiyuan frowned and said: "But the grain and grass we carry are not much, originally we have more than 4,000 people, and the grain and grass collected along the way is enough for more than a month, and now the Qing demon captives are only afraid of more than 4,000 people, and there are still 20,000 or 30,000 homeless people in the city who want porridge, and there is no food." Then Zeng Shuiyuan said in a low and gloomy voice: "Why don't you kill them all?" ”

Xiao Yungui shook his head and said slowly: "You can't kill prisoners, most of these Qing demons are local children, if we want to gain a firm foothold here, we can't do this, you kill one person, how many family members, relatives and friends will this person have in this city?" To kill one person is to evil a group of people. There are still many official and commercial compounds in this city that have not been copied, there will be a way to pay for the money, the huge Changsha City, I don't believe that there will be no rice and grain in the official warehouse, we will starve to death, the old rule is that you take someone to investigate the rich merchants in the city first, but don't disturb them first, I have my own arrangements after three days. ”

Zeng Shuiyuan was embarrassed and said: "There is not much rice, why don't you reduce the rations of the demon captives from tomorrow." ”

Xiao Yungui said with a gloomy smile: "Don't reduce it first, starting from tomorrow, one meal will still be dry tomorrow morning, thick rice porridge will be given in the evening, and thin rice porridge will be given in another day, and so on." ”

Zeng Shuiyuan was very puzzled, he didn't know what Xiao Yungui's idea was, this King of the West seemed to have a much clearer mind since he fell off the horse in Chaling, and he was no longer the irritable and irritable King of the West in the past, let alone obeying his words, and he didn't dare to disobey the military orders of the King of the West, so he had to respond.

Half an hour later, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang sent people to pass the north gate, and asked the Qing army guarding the gate, and learned that Bao Qibao, the commander of the Qing army, really led 3,000 soldiers and horses to escape from the city.

Xiao Yungui pondered for a while, and then convened the generals on the palace overnight, and the order of the king of the west came out, and soon all the generals rushed to the palace hall to gather.

Xiao Yungui sat in the lobby and said in a deep voice: "Qing Demon Bao Qibao fled with three thousand soldiers and horses, he will definitely ask for help from the rest of the Qing Demons, now we have less than four thousand soldiers, and we are guarding such a big city in Changsha, if the Qing Demon gathers to attack, the situation will definitely be unfavorable to me." Changsha City has been captured, when the army was dispatched, the edict of the King of Heaven and the King of the East has been done, I want to send a messenger to Chenzhou in disguise and hurry to Chenzhou to deliver a letter, to report the situation of the King of Heaven and the King of the East, and I hope that the soldiers and horses of the Chenzhou headquarters can come to help, after all, Changsha is the first provincial city under the Kingdom of Heaven, and I should also invite the King of Heaven and the King of the East to lead the troops to come to the town. ”

Zeng Shuiyuan was the first to stand up and said: "What the King of the West said is extremely true, we are alone outside, and it will be unfavorable for a long time, so it is better to ask the Chenzhou Brigade to send reinforcements over." ”

Xiao Yungui coughed lightly and said: "But it takes time for the brigade to come here, we must quickly control the whole city, find out the movements of the Qing demon, and defend Changsha City before the Chenzhou soldiers and horses come!" ”

The generals suddenly received the order, and at the moment Xiao Yungui ordered Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Ji Wenyuan, and Zhu Xineng to lead five hundred men and horses to guard the four gates, Li Yiwen and Lin Qirong led five hundred recruits to strictly inspect the remnants of the Qing army in the city and maintain law and order in the city, He Bin and Zhou Zhaoyao led a thousand new troops to guard the Qing army prisoners, and let the Qing army prisoners do things such as coolies to strengthen the city defense, repair the damaged houses in the city, etc., Zeng Shuiyuan was in the center to control the money and grain, appease the people, and recruit young and strong recruits.

Zuihou Xiao Yungui ordered Zeng Shuiyuan to write a document and ordered someone to pretend to be a homeless person to rush to Chenzhou to deliver a letter. After everything was decided, Zeng Shuiyuan retreated, Xiao Yungui began to feel confused in his heart, Changsha City he captured, and temporarily saved his life, the history he knew seemed to have come to an end, and there was no eighty-one days of Changsha Vicious Battle, history has deviated from its original trajectory, where should he go? He could not predict what would happen after that, according to the history he knew, and from now on everything would be unknown.