When Lin Qirong and other generals successfully repelled the Qing army of Hechunbe, the battle on the Suzhou battlefield on the other side also entered a white-hot situation.

That night, Xiao Yungui, the king of the West, rushed back to Suzhou with Hong Yun'er and Tang Erniu, because he brought a lot of artillery, guns, red medicine, and lead, Xiao Yungui arrived at Suzhou Creek, changed to the waterway, and it took more than a day to return to the Taiping army camp in Wenchang Pavilion on the outskirts of Suzhou.

Suzhou Wenchang Pavilion is located in Suzhou Hushuguan Town Xingxian Bridge South Grand Canal west bank mound, Wenchang Pavilion was built in the Ming Dynasty Wanli 23 years, surrounded by small rivers, the Ming Dynasty Wenchang Pavilion has been destroyed in the late Ming Dynasty when the Qing army went south, the existing building for the Qing Kangxi Dynasty reconstruction, condescending overlooking the canal, the situation is dangerous. After the Taiping Army of the West Palace sent troops to besiege Suzhou, Zuo Zongtang saw at a glance that the terrain of Hushu Pass and Wenchang Pavilion was dangerous, and divided his troops to garrison Hushu Pass and Wenchang Pavilion, and built Wenchang Pavilion as the general camp, as a camp to guard the canal and a place to store grain and grass. And build a brick wall with a height of more than 3 meters and a thickness of about 1 meter around Wenchang Pavilion, and there are several ditches and earthen walls as fences to ensure the safety of all money, grain and medicine in the general camp.

Speaking of Suzhou, we have to mention Hushu Pass, this Hushu Pass is located in the northwest of Suzhou City, the northeast foot of Nanyang Mountain, more than 20 miles away from the center of Suzhou City in the southeast, on both sides of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, on the verge of the canal, on the Guabu, in the middle of the river, under the convergence of Wuhui will be greatly immersed, in order to enter the sea, known as the thoroughfare of 14 provinces, cotton, wheat, miscellaneous grains in the north, the seafood of Fujian and Guangzhou in the south, the silk, cotton fabrics and other handicraft products of Suzhou and Hangzhou Jiahu, all have to communicate the goods of the north and south through here, so the merchants in the town Jia Pi gathered, and the trade was prosperous. Every day, thousands of people are in groups, and all merchants from all over the world are sold here, and those who pass through the customs must also buy it.

During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty. It has become one of the most famous banknotes in the Ming Dynasty, and the annual commercial tax revenue is very considerable. Until the Qing Dynasty, Jishuguan was still a prosperous town well-known throughout the country, and was known as "the abyss of business travel, the majesty of Zeliang". In fact, the establishment of Hushu Banknote Customs was launched as early as the beginning of Hongwu. In the fourth year of Xuande, the Ming Dynasty has successively paid the tax on commercial goods in the center of commercial transportation, and set up more than a dozen banknotes on the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal to collect banknotes, and it was only officially introduced in the first year of Jingtai. Merchants were active in the Ming Dynasty. The establishment of customs and taxation throughout the country can be regarded as keeping pace with economic growth, which is both regrettable and understandable. It is a pity that although there are clear tariff rules, specific provisions. In the hands of customs officials, it often deduces different endings from person to person, and honesty and corruption can incubate completely different scenes of banknotes.

The so-called "banknotes". It is a specified banknote, a Qing treasure banknote and an official bill of the household department. Folk collectively known as "banknotes", which are actually paper money. According to the carrying capacity of the vessels, the goods carried and the distance traveled, the banknotes are converted into silver. According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty: "each banknote has always been discounted by three cents of silver, and each money is discounted by seven cents of silver". There are regulations on banknote boats, river boats, hall boats, and sailing boats in passing boats, starting from five feet (wooden ruler) to one zhang and four feet. Such as five feet: ten pieces of money; Six feet: 20 banknotes; One zhang: eighty runs; One foot and four feet: two hundred. There are also other provisions for long boats, Sichuan boats, black boats, and Gan boats.

But the implementation is not so simple. Do it according to the rules in front of the Qing officials; The plague official's mouth was shouting, and the people were lamenting like this, crossing this Hushu Pass was like a ghost gate. Hushu Pass from the first director of the customs to the end of the Ming Dynasty Chongzhen 17 years, 194 years, a total of 146 officials were appointed, 148 people. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, in the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Cheng Liangru, a customs official sent by the small court of Hongguang, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and returned to Shun, and a total of 116 terms and 211 people were appointed in the sixth year of Daoguang. The above statistics are from 1450 to 1826, which is recorded, in a short period of 376 years, but there are a total of 359 officials, and the average tenure is only a little more than a year.

It is not difficult to see that the two dynasties of the Ming and Qing dynasties attached great importance to the wealth that can be collected here, in all fairness, exploitation is one side of the problem, on the other hand, the establishment of Hushu banknote pass, undoubtedly the development and management of waterway transportation at that time, dredging waterways, building embankments and wharves, promoting commodity circulation, and rectifying the peace of one side, also has its favorable side. It's just that with the increasing corruption of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there are more and more corrupt officials, and the accumulated disadvantages that need to be retained are accumulating deeper and deeper.

Since the Taiping army captured Hushu Pass, the miscellaneous taxes for customs clearance were abolished, and the customs duties were only levied once, which made the people who came and went in and out of the merchants and travelers very happy.

In contrast, Xu Naizhao, the governor of Jiangsu in the Qing court, did not do well with the people, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Taiping army in the west hall were menacing, Xu Naizhao, the governor of Jiangsu, and Zhang Guoliang's Qing army retreated to Suzhou early, and only arrived in Suzhou, Zhang Guoliang took the experience of fighting with the Taiping army for many years, and ordered Ma Dezhao, the chief soldier of Daming Town, to "first order the people's clothing, the second order to relocate, and the third order to set fire", preparing to burn the houses outside the city to the ground, in case the Taiping army relied on these houses to approach the city wall to attack the city.

Ma Dezhao complied with the order to set fire, and in an instant, known as "the first and second class of the world's first and second class romantic and wealthy places", the Nanhao Street outside the Changmen, the line from Shantang to the Tiger Hill, and the Zhongshi Street in the Changmen to the Jiejiaqiao, Wu Chaofang and other places were reduced to ashes, and some guerrillas of the Qing army took the opportunity to loot on a large scale, and the people of Suzhou were all forcibly moved to the city, and the people complained for a while.

In the following day's fierce battle, the Taiping army easily swept away the Qing army on the periphery, and surrounded the six gates of Lou, Feng, Qi, Pan, Xu, and Chang in Suzhou. In the following ten days, the Taiping army went out to attack Suzhou endlessly, and Xu Naizhao, Zhang Guoliang, Ma Dezhao and others used 12 points of strength to barely block the Taiping army's offensive.

Early this morning, Zhang Guoliang stood at the head of the city with a tired face, looking at the city tower that was damaged by the Taiping army's artillery fire yesterday and was silent for a long time, he found that this morning in the Taiping army's formation, the banner of the king of the west appeared again, which means that the king of the west Xiao Chaogui has returned to Suzhou to supervise the battle. Zhang Guoliang was sad in his heart, he also knew that if the reinforcements did not come, it would only be a matter of time before Suzhou was lost, and no matter how brave and good he Zhang Guoliang was, he would not be able to withstand the brigade of the Taiping Army Xiwang. Thinking of this, Zhang Guoliang smiled bitterly, recalling that day when he entered Suzhou City in high spirits, and said that he could defend this lonely city, only after more than ten days, Zhang Guoliang felt how ridiculous he was at that time.

On that day, when Zhang Guoliang was passing through Nanchang to attack Tianjia Town, he suddenly received an urgent edict of 800 li from the imperial court, ordering him to rush to Suzhou to defend and block Changmao's eastward advance. On the second day of departure to Suzhou, I visited the Malay newspaper and said that the Taiping army was tens of thousands. More than 1,000 warships went down the river, broke through Zhenjiang and Guazhou, and went to Jintan and Wuxi. Zhang Guoliang was shocked into a cold sweat, he couldn't imagine that Changmao used his troops so quickly, once Jintan and Wuxi were lost, Suzhou would be in danger. In the rush to Suzhou, he received a letter from Xiang Rong, the minister of the Qin Mission, ordering him to rush to Suzhou, and Xiang Rong himself led his troops to defend Hangzhou, thinking that he was fighting the horns.

Zhang Guoliang knows that Jintan and Wuxi are lost. Suzhou will be in danger, and Hangzhou and Shanghai will also be exposed to the long-haired soldiers, and the entire Jiangnan will be even more difficult to defend. So I came day and night, and within a day I arrived at the city of Suzhou, and I saw the city of Suzhou from afar. Zhang Guoliang's heart is a little calmer.

Enter the city of Suzhou and arrange for his soldiers to rest. Governor Xu Naizhao heard the news. also rushed to meet each other, and the first thing he said when he saw Zhang Guoliang was: "With Zhang Dianchen's help, Suzhou is worry-free." ”

Zhang Guoliang was proud in his heart, bowed slightly, frowned and said: "Lord Futai is too complimentary, and the lower officials are not three-headed and six-armed. The matter of defending the city still has to be combined with the collective wisdom of the people. Where's the longhair, my lord? ”

Xu Naizhao knew Zhang Guoliang's arrogant and stinky temper, so he didn't care about smiling slightly, and said: "It is estimated that these two days will come." If you arrive a day later, it will be very dangerous to face off against the long-haired field outside the city. ”

Zhang Guoliang snorted and said: "Fighting in the wild, others dare not say it, my old Zhang will not be vague about the long-haired thief, it is good luck to be long-haired, and I didn't meet my old Zhang in the wild." Lord Futai, let's go to the city and inspect it. Xu Naizhao didn't think it was wrong, smiled and took a general with Zhang Guoliang to patrol the city.

Looking at the houses outside Suzhou, Zhang Guoliang pointed to the houses and said: "All the houses close to the city wall must be burned down immediately, so as not to use the long hair as a nest to entrench in the siege of the city, or dig the ground to attack the city." ”

Xu Naizhao hesitated slightly, and said: "The line from Nanhao Street, Shantang to Tiger Hill outside Changmen, and the middle market street in Changmen to Jiejiaqiao, Wu Chaofang and other places are prosperous places in Suzhou. ”

Zhang Guoliang said that prosperity was right, and said with a slight smile on his face: "Lord Futai, if Suzhou City is lost, it will become the land of long-haired thieves in a prosperous place, what is the use of keeping it?" As for how to resettle the people, this is a way for Lord Futai to find a way, and ask the court to allocate some money for these people to rebuild houses and live in them. ”

Xu Naizhao was slightly angry, these arrogant generals only knew how to fight and kill, and never cared about the local people's livelihood, and said at the moment: "The war in Jiangnan continues, and the court can be thankful that some taxes can be exempted, how dare you ask the court for silver?" That's it, the old man will recite this infamy. ”

Zhang Guoliang smiled and said, "Lord Futai said that he was laughing, and the lower official gave you a bad idea." Aren't the rich families in Suzhou panicking? The adults of Futai can appease them, these houses are still burned clean, otherwise the city will be broken by then, and none of them will be able to escape. Let them give some money to these people, and then the money for rebuilding the house will be gone? ”

Xu Naizhao said with a bitter face: "In the previous preparations, this official recruited thousands of brave battalions, and they have already donated more to the rich families in the city, I'm afraid that no one is willing to donate money anymore." ”

Zhang Guoliang grinned, pulled Xu Naizhao aside and whispered: "You can explain to these rich people that it is my Zhang Guoliang's soldiers and horses who are here, so I have to urge them again, I am not afraid that those rich businessmen will blame me, and the Futai adults can give me the charge." ”

Xu Naizhao was stunned, seeing that although he was smiling and talking, his eyes had no intention of teasing, but he was very sincere, and said in a low voice: "The palace ministers can't be trusted, this court is already suspicious of us Han people to supervise the generals, if you offend these rich businessmen and are participated, it is a great crime." ”

Zhang Guoliang squeezed his eyebrows and whispered: "I'm not afraid, the court still needs Lao Zhang to exterminate the long hair, haha." Xu Naizhao's eyes widened, and he was speechless for a long time.

So, the Qing army donated to the rich households in the city like a wolf and a tiger, and ransacked the houses outside the city by the way, and the people and rich businessmen inside and outside Suzhou were all resentful, but the rich businessmen just hid their anger in their hearts, after all, as long as the official army can hold Suzhou, most of their money can still be kept, if the long hair comes in, I am afraid that even my life will be gone.

After sacking the outside of the city, the Qing army always unceremoniously set fire to the vacant houses outside the city, and for a time there was thick smoke billowing all around Suzhou City. Most of the people outside the city were frightened by the rhetoric of the Qing army, what long hair kills people without blinking, killing people who believe in Buddhism and Taoism, these vicious words are really useful, long before Zhang Guoliang entered the city, most of the people outside the city fled into the city. The next day, the Qing army recruited tens of thousands of people, dug a deep ditch outside the city, and filled it with water to prevent the Taiping army's tactics of attacking the city. (To be continued......)