As the campaign of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Xidian army in southern Jiangsu reached a white-hot stage, the Qing Dynasty was completely panicked, and the Qing army, which had been defeated again and again, urgently needed to stabilize the battle line, at least not to lose Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and other places. Under the strict decree of Emperor Xianfeng, the Hechun Department of the Qing army in Jiangbei began to prepare to cross the river to reinforce Shanghai, and Wang Yide, the governor of Fujian and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, also asked the imperial court to promote the veteran Li Tingyu as the governor of Fujian, and prepared to send Fujian reinforcements to the north to relieve the siege of Hangzhou.

Li Tingyu is an old Jiang who can fight well, a native of Xiamen, Fujian, and the son of the famous general Li Changgeng. At the age of twenty-two, he inherited the third-class earl and was awarded the second-class Blue Feather Guard; successively served as the deputy general of the garrison of Nanchang City, Jiangxi; General Soldier of Jiujiang Town; Chief Soldier of Chaozhou Town, Guangdong; General Soldier of Wolf Mountain Town, Jiangnan; Admiral of Zhejiang; Admiral of Fujian Navy Division. Later, due to illness, he could not patrol the ocean and took his job at home.

Li Tingyu's most famous battle was the Battle of Humen with Guan Tianpei, and in January 1841, the British army suddenly launched an attack, occupying Shajiao and Dajiao Forts, and then attacked Humen Forts. At that time, Li Tingyu guarded the Weiyuan Fort, and Guan Tianpei guarded the Jing Fort. They took the lead and fought bloody battles with dozens of times the number of British troops. Several requests for reinforcements from Qishan were refused. On February 26, the Jingyuan Fort was breached, and Guan Tianpei, the commander of the Guangdong Navy Division, sacrificed his life for the country and died heroically. The British army switched its gun positions and attacked the Weiyuan Fort with all its might, but Li Tingyu was finally forced to retreat because he ran out of ammunition and food, and his men suffered heavy casualties. Although the First Opium War failed, Li Tingyu was still known as a famous general of the Opium War.

At the same time, the Qing court also stabilized the situation on the battlefield of Hunan and Jiangxi, and in early April, Hu Yihuang and Lin Shaozhang, the protectors of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who stayed in Changsha, together with the Xiangtan guards Zeng Lichang and Chen Renbao; Hengyang guards Zeng Tianyang, He Zhenchuan and others sent 50,000 troops to attack Jiangxi. When the Tianwang Brigade pulled out its division and went to Tianjing, Jiang Zhongyuan, the general of the Qing army, and others had already abandoned Liling and retreated to Pingxiang. Hu Yihuang and his generals launched the Nanchang Campaign, intending to conquer Pingxiang, Yichun, Xinyu, Shanggao and other places all the way. Capture Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province.

Jiang Zhongyuan, a famous general of the Qing army, saw that the Taiping army was menacing, and his soldiers and horses were incomparable, so he took the initiative to retreat to Shanggao, Jiangxi, Hu Yihuang and other light enemies, and at the same time stretched the battle line, and was ambushed by the Qing army of Jiang Zhongyuan's department in Shanggao. The Taiping army was defeated in the first battle of Shanggao, and the veteran Zeng Tianyang was killed in battle with the Qing general Taqibu of Jiang Zhongyuan's department, and 50,000 Taiping troops died or surrendered, and only more than 20,000 people broke through. Later, on the way to Changsha, he was constantly attacked by local regimental training, and when he returned to Changsha, there were less than 10,000 people left.

The Shanggao fiasco completely changed the situation in eastern Hunan and western Jiangxi. Jiang Zhongyuan returned to Liling for hundreds of miles a day, reoccupied Liling City, hoarded money, food, soldiers and horses, and prepared to attack Changsha with Zhang Liangji, Hu Linyi and other troops in Xiangxi. Hu Yihuang only divided troops to guard Hengyang, Xiangtan, Xiangyin and other important places, and sent people to ask for help from his uncle Lai Hanying, who was guarding Wuchang, Yuezhou and other places. At the same time, he reported to Tianjing and asked for reinforcements.

After a series of defeats. The Qing army finally won a great victory. Emperor Xianfeng promoted Jiang Zhongyuan's official and appointed him as the governor of Jiangxi, the commander-in-chief of the military and political affairs of Jiangxi Province, and at the same time ordered Jiang Zhongyuan to quickly transfer people and horses to turn around and aid southern Jiangsu.

Jiang Zhongyuan was also not ambiguous, after he handed over the military affairs in Liling and other places to Qin Dingsan, Kailong'a, Changlu and others, he took Chu Yong's old subordinate Liu Changyou and his brother Jiang Zhongji and 5,000 men and horses to the east. On the tenth day of the fifth month, the troops had already reached Huangshan and threatened to attack the flank of the Taiping army in the west hall of Hangzhou.

Tianjing's Taiping army did not seem to be interested in reinforcing the battlefield in southern Jiangsu, and their brigade still did not move, but Yang Fuqing, the emperor of the Eastern Temple, led 10,000 troops to Wuchang. This army was to reinforce the Hunan and Jiangxi wars. According to the deployment of the Qing army, and the Tianjing Taiping Army did not come out, if the Qing army and Chun, Li Tingyu, and Jiang Zhongyuan gathered in southern Jiangsu, nearly 30,000 Qing troops would join the battlefield, and Xiao Yungui would definitely be in a hurry. Especially Jiang Zhongyuan and Li Tingyu's two Qing troops, Jiang Zhongyuan's subordinates Chu Yong is fierce, Li Tingyu's subordinates are also veterans who often suppress sea bandits, and they are all famous generals.

But Jihua never changed fast, and this change came from the addition of Liu Lichuan, Pan Qiliang, Chen Alin and others, the leaders of the Little Knife Society. On the same day, after Xiao Yungui and Liu Lichuan and others discussed the war in Shanghai, they asked Liu Lichuan about the Fujian Knife Society.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the rise of the knife society was actually the first in Taiwan, the knife society was originally a branch of the Heaven and Earth Society, founded in Taiwan during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and then spread to the Nanyang Islands, and overseas Chinese joined this society. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, Jiang Yuan, a native of Haicheng County, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian, returned to China and his brother Jiang Fa developed this small knife club locally. At the beginning, overseas Chinese only returned to China to join, but soon more and more people joined, from Haicheng County Fu to Zhangzhou Prefecture, and even Xiamen, there were members, so they exposed and posted anti-Qing notices, both in urban and rural areas. Subsequently, in the first year of Xianfeng, the knife club was introduced to Shanghai, and Liu Lichuan and other talents united various gangs to establish the Shanghai knife club. With the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the small knife societies in Shanghai and Fujian were eager to try and prepare to raise troops in response.

Speaking of the growth of Fujian knives, I have to mention a person, this person is called Huang Demei, this person is a native of Tong'an, Fujian, and his family is a wealthy family. In the first year of Xianfeng (1851), the brothers Jiang Yuan and Jiang Fa "purchased hundreds of foreign knives from Nanyang and formed a small knife association", set up a martial arts hall in Zhupu Village, Haicheng County, recruited congregations, and actively engaged in the anti-Qing struggle. Due to the successive disasters, the counties in southern Fujian have lost their grain harvest, starved everywhere, and complained everywhere. Overseas Chinese returned from Longxi, Haicheng, Tong'an, and other counties were often blackmailed and blackmailed by local officials and gentry, and the Qing government also implemented a policy of abuse, with the result that the personal safety of overseas Chinese could not be guaranteed, and they were even homeless. In search of a way out, many people participate in the Little Knife Society.

As a wealthy family, Huang Demei has a land in Humaozhou, Longxi County, but due to the erosion of the tide, the grain harvest has been lost, and the tenants cannot pay rent. He sent food for the hungry and announced that he would not collect rent. However, the local gentry and the money and grain officials forced Huang Demei to pay the money and grain, so disputes and conflicts broke out. The money and grain official Xiangshang said that Huang Demei crossed the border to force rent, and was suspected of plotting to cause chaos. Huang Demei was dissatisfied with the local corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and not long ago, the salt transport envoy forced him to serve as a salt merchant in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, causing him to suffer huge losses, and this time he sprinkled floating grain on his head, which aroused his indignation even more. So he contacted Huang Wei, Jiang Yuan, Jiang Fa and others, joined the Little Knife Society, and was determined to fight the Qing government to the end.

After the Fujian Knife Club joined Huang Demei, Huang Demei vigorously supported the Knife Club economically. At the beginning of the second year of Xianfeng, he and Huang Wei went to various parts of Nanyang to contact members, and purchased 2,700 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 March, 42 Dagu ships were built at Zhuoqi Shipyard in Haicheng County; In May, 36 broad-headed shallow boats were built at the Shimafu River Shipyard for business purposes. In April of the third year of Xianfeng, Wang Shiqing of Haicheng Zhi County sent troops to attack Zhupu Village, and the Jiangyuan brothers were arrested and imprisoned. When the news came, the crowd was outraged. At that time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had occupied Nanjing, and the anti-Qing struggle was rising throughout the country. Huang Wei and Huang Demei thought that the time was ripe for an uprising, so they prepared to send people to contact the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Shanghai Xiaodao Society.

However, because Shanghai Xiaodao would be raided by the government, the Shanghai Xiaodao Society collapsed overnight, and the Fujian Xiaodao Society who came to contact was also trapped in Shanghai and killed, and since then there has been no news.

After Xiao Yungui listened to Liu Lichuan's words, he immediately thought of the lesson of the Shanghai Knife Society, since the brothers Jiang Yuan and Jiang Fa of the Fujian Knife Society were arrested, the Fujian Knife Society could only start an incident immediately, instead of waiting forward, otherwise it would only end up being wiped out by a surprise attack like the Shanghai Knife Society.

Although Xiao Yungui did not know the deployment of the Qing army's three-way reinforcements, he immediately told Liu Lichuan, Pan Qiliang, and Chen Alin that they were going to go south immediately to contact the Fujian Xiaodao Society to cause trouble.

Liu Lichuan and the other three immediately agreed to this matter, Xiao Yungui immediately named Liu Lichuan as General Jin Sanzheng, Pan Qiliang as the second general of Mu, and Chen Alin as the deputy of the water Jiuren and the ninth superintendent of the army, and together with He Bin of Bai Zetang, he immediately rushed to Fujian with dozens of people to contact the Fujian Xiaodao Society to start an incident.

The reason why Xiao Yungui made the first move, in addition to being afraid that the Fujian Knife Society would also be exterminated like the Shanghai Knife Society, was also to lay the groundwork for the future to march to Fujian after taking southern Jiangsu, and at the same time, he was also selfish, and would rather have the West Hall preconceived and bring the Fujian Knife Society to the West Palace, rather than the Fujian Knife Society Zuihou being absorbed by the Tianjing Taiping Army. Historically, after the failure of the Xiaodaohui and Tiandihui uprisings in Fujian and Guangdong, these people went into exile, and Zuihou was taken in by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and reorganized into the Citi Army.

The so-called "Citi" refers specifically to the rebel armies such as the former Guangdong Tiandihui and the Fujian Xiaodaohui who joined the Taiping Army in Jiangxi in 1855. One of them claimed to be 100,000 people, under the leadership of Zhou Chun, Ge Yaoming, Chen Rong, Deng Xiang, Lu Wei, Zhai Huogu, Tan Xing, Tan Fu, Li Hongzao, Chen Xianliang, etc., went north to enter Chenzhou, Guiyang, Chaling, Xingning, Anren and other places in HunanSoon the name "Citigroup" appeared, and since then, "Citi" has become the special name of the Tiandihui troops that originated in Guangdong and Fujian and were formed in Jiangxi and put into the Taiping Army.

Xiao Yungui really wanted to collect these horses, and after going south to Fujian in the future, he could then enter Guangdong, if he could subdue the Fujian Little Knife Society, it would definitely be of great benefit to occupy the entire territory of Fujian and then go south to Guangdong. Xiao Yungui took one step and looked at three steps, and he even thought that the people who went south to Fujian would then continue to go south to get in touch with the Guangdong Tiandihui, in order to be able to contact more Uprising Society. Fortunately, Xiao Yungui thought so and did so, otherwise after the arrival of reinforcements from the Qing Army on the Third Road, the Southern Jiangsu Campaign of the Taiping Army in the West Hall is likely to be different, and I have to say that Xiao Yungui's quick decision once again disrupted the deployment of the Qing army. (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )