That night, Ali Guo was packing up his things, preparing to return to Shanghai tomorrow morning on another battleship, the Sidewinder, this time the task was not easy, Ali Guo had dealt with the cunning King of the West, and knew the cunning and cunning of this prince, he can always find your flaws and then give the most direct and effective blows, while the places where he seems to show flaws are often traps.

Recently, the king of the West made the Yankees deflated, and the Americans sent a protest note to the Qing when a whole line of gun production equipment was seized in Guangzhou, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom replied with an equally strong note, accusing the Americans of not abiding by the neutrality treaty and selling weapons to the Qing State.

Merchants doing business in the entire Far East know that China is now in the midst of a civil war, and that huge arms deals are going on either explicitly or covertly, and that the so-called neutrality of various countries is a matter on the surface, and that businessmen from Britain, France, the United States, and other countries are secretly selling weapons or equipment for making guns and ammunition to the Qing and Taiping Heavenly Kingdoms. The Yankees were very angry, and officials from the Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Rites of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom actually accused the United States of selling arms and undermining neutrality?

But anger turned to anger, and finally the Yankees swallowed this breath dumbly, and Ali Guo at first did not understand why the Americans gave in so easily, and then when a large fleet of ships arrived in Shanghai from the east coast of the United States, Ali Guo suddenly realized.

The fleet was carrying equipment and technicians from several bankrupt shipyards purchased by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from the United States, and Ali Guo had heard that an Oriental was on a frenzy in the United States to buy some bankrupt American companies. After these acquisitions, the American companies all received orders from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom without exception. Ali understood that this was the arrangement of the Western King, who was using his own capital to buy American companies, and the Americans saw such a move as injecting vitality into the sluggish American economy. As a result, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had the upper hand on both the open and dark sides, and the Yankees naturally did not dare to make any more trouble.

Ali Guo couldn't guess the true intentions of the King of Xi, so what was the benefit of participating in the five-party negotiations for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? Ali Guo, who was packing his luggage, suddenly stopped, he lit his pipe and leaned back on the soft chair in a daze.

At this moment, his attendant knocked on the door and said, "Sir, Gong is back." Ali Guo opened the door and let Gong Cheng in, and poured Gong Cheng a cup of coffee. Ali Guo asked, "What have you gained?" ”

Gong Cheng held the coffee cup and said, "Sir, Lord Rong's cooperative attitude is very sincere, and his idea is to establish a more open and civilized Qing country. The military deployment from Dagu Pass to the capital was provided in the hope of sweeping away the conservative forces in the country. Then Gong Cheng talked about some things he discussed with Rong Lu, and did not mention the shares that Rong Lu gave him.

After hearing this, Ali Guo frowned and said, "Rong and I are old acquaintances, and he also thinks that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom may sabotage this negotiation?" But you don't know, Midil came from Shanghai this morning. Brought a note from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Instead, they asked to be part of the negotiations. ”

Gong Cheng was slightly shocked and said, "Sir, this is exactly a means for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to sabotage the negotiations." ”

Ali Guo took a puff of his pipe and said, "Go on." Gong Cheng analyzed: "Our people pay attention to the destiny of heaven, as the so-called heaven has no two days and the people have no two masters, since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has the name of the country, the Qing court and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are the mortal enemies of the death, and it is tantamount to a fool's dream to ask the Qing court to agree to participate in the negotiations with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!" ”

Later, Gong Cheng tried his best to tell Aliguo about the complex relationship between China's imperial power and the people's will for thousands of years, as well as the so-called justification, etc., and Aliguo finally figured it out. Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the independence of the United States were both acts of rebellion, the Qing emperor was clearly not the king of England. If the British king can't win the war, he can sit down and negotiate with the thirteen independent states of the United States, and the Qing emperor will never sit down and negotiate with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, either the Qing State will destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, or the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will kill the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and in the end there will always be one side to unify the whole of China, and there will be no peace negotiations before this, both sides will not recognize each other, how can they negotiate? This is where the difference between the imperial culture of the East and the West lies.

Ah Liguo frowned and pondered deeply, and finally said slowly: "Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has the intention of sabotaging the negotiations, we cannot give up this opportunity. In comparison, it is better to bring the weaker Qing Kingdom to its knees than to bring the powerful Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to its knees, and it is better if the Qing Kingdom is really unwilling to negotiate in the future, don't we still have good friends Rong? If he can really provide the military deployment of the Qing State, we have a good chance of winning. Speaking of this, Ali Guo paused and said, "It's just that Rong's ambition is too big, and he is not a puppet who can control zhì very well. ”

Gong Cheng smiled and said, "But there doesn't seem to be a more suitable candidate than him at the moment, isn't it?" Mr! ”

Ali Guo breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Okay, this matter will be discussed after I report to Sir Ergin in detail, you go back to rest, and go back to Shanghai with me tomorrow morning, it is still necessary for us to meet His Excellency the King of the West." ”

……

The throat of the two Guangzhou, the confluence of the three rivers, Wuzhou. It is already the weather in September, but the sky is still not the slightest cool, the scorching sun mixed with the hot heat wave licks the earth, and there is only the slightest cool breeze on the three rivers of Guijiang, Xunjiang and Xijiang near Wuzhou.

But at this time, the people of Wuzhou can not go out of the city, the city gate has long been closed, the Xijiang River is densely covered with the sky and the sun to come thousands of boats are bravely going upstream, there are more than 1,000 Taiping cavalry on both sides of the Xijiang River to support the guard, the sound of the sailors' horns, the cheerful drum music shakes the four fields.

Soon the scattered scouts came back, and brought back the news of Wuzhou to Chen Yucheng, who was on a boat in the Xijiang River, that the four gates of Wuzhou City were closed, and the Qing army on the periphery of the city wall relied on the houses and houses to build several fortified defense lines. The city wall of Wuzhou has a history of more than 500 years, it is built with bricks and stones, it is divided into four gates, it is divided into east, south, west and north gates, the circumference is more than six miles, it is more than two zhang high, it is more than two zhang thick, it is more than five gates, there is a floor on the door.

Directly south of the city wall is the Nanxun Gate, the city wall extends to the west, to the Dezheng Gate, then to the northwest to the Xijiang Gate, and then to the north to the Dayun Gate, and then to the east to the foot of the North Mountain, along the North Mountain to the southeast to the Yangming Gate, and then turn back to the Nanxun Gate. The city wall is surrounded by the east, south and west sides, and the north is the North Mountain. Huancheng Hao, also known as the dragon embankment, more than two zhang wide, the edge of the Hao planted willow, the tree fence outside the Hao, the water from the crocodile pond outside the east gate against the current, to the south gate, the small south gate, the west gate to the Tochigi Bridge into the Guijiang River. The Qing army not only strengthened the dragon embankment, but also relied on the houses to build a fortress to consolidate the city defense after the dragon embankment, which is the handiwork of Jiang Zhongyuan.

After listening to the report, Chen Yucheng stared at the river-shaped banner flying high at the head of the city for a while, and then slowly said to the generals behind him: "Rest along the river bank tonight, tomorrow the sailors will return to Deqing to participate in the battle, and the cavalry will go ashore and attack Teng County along the south bank of the Xijiang River!" ”

Seeing the appearance of the Taiping Army's naval division, Jiang Zhongyuan, who was standing at the head of Wuzhou City, was also secretly worried, since the Liangguang Naval Division was wiped out in the Battle of Guangzhou, there was no naval division within the Liangguang River System that could resist the Taiping Army, although the Western ships of the Taiping Army in the inland river system could not sail in, but the captured Qing army's sand boats and red single boats were free to enter and exit, and the Taiping Army's naval division ignored the first Qing army defense line in Deqingzhou and Luodingzhou and appeared in Wuzhou, indicating that Chen Yucheng began his usual running tactics.

In the evening, the Taiping army landed on the shore and began to camp and camp, the camp seemed loose, but Jiang Zhongyuan forcibly resisted the construction of his subordinates who had rushed out of the city to kill for a while, he saw that there were a large number of cavalry in the Taiping army, and there was no benefit in fighting in the infantry team.

So neither side launched an attack, and in the second half of the night, Jiang Zhongyuan couldn't help but send a team of Qing troops to attack the Taiping army's camp at night, intending to probe the truth, but the five hundred dead soldiers who went out, even the wounded only returned more than 40 people, it seems that Chen Yucheng has been prepared.

At dawn, the Qing army was surprised to find that the Taiping army's camp was empty, and after defeating the Qing army's night attack last night, Chen Yucheng pulled out the camp overnight and went west. Jiang Zhongyuan was shocked into a cold sweat at that time, and went west to Teng County, Xunzhou Mansion and other places, in order to resist the eastward advance of the Taiping Army, Jiang Zhongyuan transferred a large number of Qing troops from the west of Guangxi to advance eastward, Teng County and Xunzhou Mansion were extremely empty, once Chen Yucheng broke through Teng County and captured Xunzhou Mansion, he could attack from all sides, and then the whole Guangxi would not be peaceful.

Another point, Xunzhou Mansion is where Jintian Village, where the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom raised troops, Chen Yucheng led the Taiping Army to fight back, what kind of repercussions it will cause among the people, Jiang Zhongyuan did not dare to think about it.

After thinking about it for a while, Jiang Zhongyuan decided to let his brother Jiang Zhongshu lead 5,000 men to follow the Taiping army and prepare to rescue Tengxian and Xunzhou Mansions. Before leaving, Jiang Zhongyuan repeatedly told Jiang Zhongshu to beware of Chen Yucheng's return gun, and if something was wrong, he would occupy the dangerous terrain and hold on, and send messengers for help, and Jiang Zhongyuan would personally lead his troops and horses to rescue him.

At noon on the second day after the reinforcements were dispatched, hundreds of Qing troops fled back to Wuzhou, Jiang Zhongyuan was shocked, could it be that Jiang Zhongshu was still defeated? When the defeated troops were brought into the city, Jiang Zhongshu was attacked by the cavalry of the Taiping army at Chishui Ruins, thirty miles west of Wuzhou.

Although Jiang Zhongshu was already very careful, the guard sentry was released more than ten miles away, but he ignored the Xijiang River in the north, Chen Yu formed a regiment of cavalry to cross the Xijiang River north and wait in the dense forest on the north bank, and after Jiang Zhongshu's brigade passed, the cavalry regiment returned to the south bank and came from behind, Jiang Zhongshu paid attention to the movement in front and ignored the behind, so the Taiping army's horse pistols and sabers quickly defeated the Qing army. In this battle, in addition to hundreds of Qing troops fleeing, more than 4,000 Qing troops were annihilated, and Jiang Zhongshu was killed on the spot.

Jiang Zhongyuan almost fainted when he heard this, and at this moment, more than 100 cavalry of the Taiping Army roared over, hung Jiang Zhongshu's body on a big tree not far from the dragon embankment, and nailed down a wooden plaque, which read: "Today, your brother returns to his homeland, and he is the same as the monarch's body." The group of cavalrymen who sent the corpse laughed and fired a burst of guns at the Qing troops guarding the dragon embankment, and then swaggered away. (To be continued......)