On February 9, 1853, Hong Yang moved Wuchang to the air, supervised the army and civilians of 500,000, known as one million, advanced by land and water, pointed directly to Jinling, and on the 10th, surrounded Wuxue, an important town on the Yangtze River.

Shouchun Town's chief soldier led 4,000 officers and soldiers, destroyed more than 30 Taiping military ships, resisted for three days, and the whole army was annihilated.

Wuxue Wharf, the Taiping Army is on land and water, thousands of sails are competing, the head and tail are connected for dozens of miles, covering the river and the sun, and the momentum is like a mountain and a sea row. Lu Jianying, the minister of the Qin Mission, trembled, his liver and gallbladder were broken, and he retreated to Anqing in a hurry.

Jiang Wenqing, the governor of Anhui, begged for a joint defense. Lu waved his hand and said: "The thief is mighty, he can't be defeated, you know it when you see it." ”

Jiangxi governor Zhang Fu heard that the former army was overthrown, and Qin almost left without a fight, and also abandoned Jiujiang and fled to Nanchang.

Shi Da Kaidu led 10,000 troops, and it didn't take a single cent to occupy Jiujiang. Spin into the territory of Anhui and conquer Xiaohu Mountain in one fell swoop. Anhui Province takes Xiaohu Mountain as the gateway, and Xiaohu Mountain takes Jiujiang as the gateway. Both portals were lost, and Anqing was in danger.

Li Benren, the political envoy of Anhui, fled Anqing under the pretext of escorting grain and salary. Zhou Tianjue, who had been reformed from Qinchen, was ordered to help defend Anqing, but the bandits had not arrived, and Jiang Wenqing retreated to Luzhou; The message leaked, rumors spread everywhere, and the officers and soldiers fled the city, and they spread their praises one after another. Jiang Wenqing was weak in return, panicked, had his own legacy, swallowed gold and never died, and drank medicine and was not endless; Later, he was captured by the Taiping army and slashed to death.

Shi Da marched into Anqing, seized countless grains and weapons, and marched east along the river, and then Kechizhou, Tongling, and Wuhu, within 28 days, advanced 1,800 miles, and finally arrived at Xishan Bridge in the south of Jinling City on March 8.

Lu Jianying was frightened, did not work, did not visit, and did not supervise the soldiers; Burn incense every day and pray for the blessing of Avalokiteshvara.

Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, saw through the crisis, used the excuse to raise food and troops, and fled to Zhenjiang. Jiangning General Xiang Hou invited Lu to fight.

Lu Jianying said: "Jiangning City, which is surrounded by 96 miles, has been blocked by 500,000 thieves; I have 5,000 soldiers, and I have more than 15,000 battlements; May I ask General Xianghou, how many stacks of soldiers are there? Climb high and look at it, from outside the city to the Jiangdong Gate, endlessly, more than ten miles wide, straight to the end, all red heads! If it is said that if you go out of the city to kill the rebel, you will have 4,000 soldiers, and in only half an hour, they will all be dusty and disperse. General, the general trend has gone, and Jinling is in danger. ”

Xiang Hou said: "Why don't you stick to it?" ”

Lu Jianying said: "Where is the aid?" Xiang Xinran followed the habit, Qi Jing'an was old and slow, hundreds of miles away, and stopped at a distance. ”

Xiang Hou said: "Xiang Rong and Qi Shan are all wine bags and rice bags!" I will defend the inner city alone and swear to live and die with Jiangning! ”

On March 19, 1853, Lin Fengxiang struck the west in the east, feinted to attack the west gate of the water, led the main force to dig a hole under the Fengyi gate, filled the goods, blew up the city wall, Jinling City was broken, the sixth commander of the right of the palace Ji Wenyuan, and the sixteenth commander of the right of the palace Huang Yiyun rushed in. At the same time, Zhu Xikun, the third commander of the left of the palace, also broke through the east gate of Jinling.

Cheng Sanguang, the general soldier of the Qing Dynasty, resisted stubbornly and died in battle; The Qing army was dispersed, and Lu Jianying took four people to avoid trouble. Xiang Hou angrily refused, led the flag soldiers and their families to resist stubbornly, lasted three days and nights, all the people in the inner city, from the swaddling toddlers, to the toothless old people, all died.

Jinling was broken, Lin Fengxiang and others still did not seal the knife, searched the city for suspicion, and killed 40,000 men and women in the city, and 3,000 eunuchs, in order to vent the anger of civilians to help demons defend the city.

Lai Hanying, the fourth commander of the right side of the palace and the wife and brother of Hong Xiuquan, galloped into the slaughterhouse, drank to stop the indiscriminate killing, posted notices, preached doctrines, and comforted the people, and the hearts of the people in Jinling were determined.

Jinling planned, Hong Yang entered the city, and in the sound of long live long live long live, long live long live, change Jinling to Tianjing, and make the capital of the country.

Hong Xiuquanxing issued an edict: The earth is turned into the north of the new earth, and the sky is forever established in the new heavenly dynasty. The unification of the country has arrived, and the compatriots are relieved to be free.

Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, also admonished: Build the royal industry, cut the common people, worship God as soon as possible, destroy the evil gods, reward the heart of heaven, enjoy the blessings of heaven, and give agriculture and industry and commerce, and each do its own thing. After the self-proclamation, you should live in peace and quiet, be happy to keep your business, the holy soldiers will not make any mistakes, and the group will not be deterred, and the city will not be surprised, and the hope of thinking of its Su will be.

The king of the east ordered Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Luo Xuan, and Wu Ruxiao to lead troops eastward, attack Yangzhou and attack Zhenjiang, occupy the intersection of the canal, and cut off the road of Cao Yun, and solidify the east and south of the sky.

On March 28, 1853, Lin Fengxiang and Luo Xuan led 10,000 troops to the east, took a boat to the east, first conquered Yizheng, and then occupied Guazhou. On the 31st, Lin and Luo were divided, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang went north to Yangzhou, and Luo Outline and Wu Ruxiao went south to Zhenjiang.

The next day, Lin and Luo soldiers entered Yangzhou and Zhenjiang without bloodshed.

Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, fled to Jiangyin again, and played in a hurry: there were only four or five thousand bandits, and there were no long skills. However, Jiangnan's military equipment has been abandoned for a long time, and because of the loss of Jiangning, people's hearts are suspicious, so they are wrecked. Zhenjiang is like this, and its Su, Chang, Huai, Yang and other prefectures, and there are no soft and brittle soldiers, what will it be.

Emperor Xianfeng was very resentful and issued an edict against himself: I am the lord of the world, and I can't inspect the officials and the people, causing thieves to run rampant, Yan Lu harassing the police, and ruining the lives of people. I ruled and nurtured in no way, resulting in the failure of the north and the south, and the abolition of the salt gang of Huaiyang, that is, repeatedly blaming myself, which is also a false text. Every time I think of this, I can't sleep at the table, and I can't eat it. Only self-cultivation, introspection, and knocking on the sky, confined to my big mistakes, give me the opportunity to make amends, and save the people. On the occasion of this critical death, the ministers of the Qin Mission, Xiang Rong, Qi Shan, and Jiangning General Su Butong'a must rush into Jinling, set up camp, and strangle the thieves again; Tai Yong, Zhang Liangji, Luo Bingzhang, Jiang Zhongyuan, Guan Wen, Zeng Guofan and others were stationed in Lianghu and thought that they should respond later. Yiliang was awarded the governor of Liangjiang and the prime minister of military, political and civil affairs in Jiang, Jiangxi and Anhui. Yang Wending, retreated from the battle, temporarily dismissed, and stayed in the army to serve. Xu Naizhao acted as the governor of Jiangsu, and immediately supervised the troops to defend against the enemy. Zhou Tianjue was awarded the governor of Anhui and stationed in Luzhou on the same day.

According to Hubei, Jiang Zhong came from Jintian all the way to fight, and was well aware of the bad habits of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion of "winning is to fight for merit, and defeat is light".

Emperor Xianfeng praised it, and ordered Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, and Bai Gui, the governor of Guangdong: Now that the bandits are fleeing eastward, the Jiangfang is extremely tight, and he has ordered Xiang Rongchi to go to Jiangning to intercept head-on. Ye Mingchen and Bai Gui were about to gather 100 of the ancient warships and fast crabs and big chops of the sea division outside the province, and prepare more medicines.

Anhui Governor Zhou Tianjue and Anhui Deputy Minister of League Training Lu Xianji said: The matter should be divided, and the group training will be ordered to annihilate the bandits; The shepherd ordered to guard the territory, and the commander to suppress the thieves, and not to be far away from a hundred miles, so as not to shirk. At present, the thieves have occupied Jinling, and they must first strangle the Yellow River, and Du Hongyang will flee north.

In order to be single-minded, Zhou Tianjue resigned as governor and took up military affairs. Lu Xianji played the tune to Yuan Jiasan, Hanlin editor, Li Hongzhang, and assisted the Anhui regiment to train and suppress bandits.

Emperor Xu of Xianfeng ordered Zhou Tianjue to supervise the soldiers in Suzhou, Huaiyuan, Mengcheng, and Lingbi; Li Jiarui, a servant of the Criminal Department, temporarily served as the governor of Anhui, with the rank of governor, and governed the army of the whole province; Yuan Jiasan and Li Hongzhang immediately went to Anhui to practice courage and resist rebellion.