Hong Xiuquan remembered Li Xiucheng's letter of persuasion.
Li Xiucheng did not have the slightest sign of rebellion, but the opposite news came, and he thought in his heart: "Maybe I'm suspicious, but maybe Li Xiucheng thinks that the time for rebellion is not right." Either way, the danger remains. Since I have already given the dead Yang Xiuqing Zhaoxue, why can't I exert favors on the living?”
In mid-December 1859, Hong Xiuquan made Li Xiu the king of loyalty, and personally inscribed the four characters of "Eternal Loyalty" in red satin, and sent the edict to Li Xiucheng's mansion.
After the Qing army captured Zhenjiang in February 1857, the minister of the Qin Mission, He Chun, and the governor of Jiangnan, Zhang Guoliang, gathered troops and rebuilt the camp in Jiangnan in the spring of 1858.
On January 28, 1860, Li Xiucheng rushed from Pukou to Wuhu and agreed with Li Shixian, who had just been appointed as the chief general of the Left Army, to attack Hangzhou and save Beijing.
After the meeting, Li Shixian went south to conquer Jing County and Huizhou to cover Li Xiucheng's main action.
At this time, Li Shixian's troops had also entered Zhejiang, joined Li Xiucheng, and the army conquered Anji and Changxing.
Then Li Shixian led his troops to feint Huzhou to contain the enemy soldiers, while Li Xiucheng led 6,000 men to Hangzhou with light equipment.
The Taiping Army wore a Qing army tassel hat, a Qing army uniform, and a Qing army flag, and went all the way unhindered.
When Tan Shaoguang, Wu Dingcai, and Lu Shunde led 1,200 pioneers to the city of Hangzhou, the defenders there were unguarded, the city gates were wide open, and people entered and exited.
Unfortunately, a small accident caused the Taiping army to lose the opportunity to rush directly into the city: the front team found that there were more than a hundred war horses outside the city, driven by two Qing soldiers, probably to be sent to some cavalry camp. The heavenly soldiers of the front team did not ask for instructions, so they stepped forward to snatch the horses, cleared the soldiers, shouted that there were thieves, and rode their horses into the city, and the defenders were alert and immediately closed the city gates.
The Taiping army planted flags all over Wansongling outside the city, and with great momentum, they stormed Qingbo, Wulin, Qiantang and other gates. The defenders of Hangzhou had 5,000 people, plus Tuan Yong and about 15,000 reinforcements from all over the country.
As a result, on March 19, when the Taiping army collapsed the city wall at Qingbo Gate, the defenders immediately dispersed.
When He Chun learned that Li Xiucheng led his army into Zhejiang, he urgently ordered the general soldier Zhang Yuliang to rush to help, and successively sent more than 13,000 people.
When Li Xiucheng heard the news, he knew the plan of the Qing army, so he quietly withdrew from Qingbo and Yongjin on the 24th.
Zhang Yuliang's soldiers came to the city of Hangzhou, and saw a forest of banners at the head of the city, but he didn't know that it was Li Xiucheng who rushed to make the military flag overnight, thinking that he was a suspicious soldier, so he didn't dare to enter the city for a day and a night.
The next day, when he saw that there was still no movement, he sent someone to listen and realized that he had been deceived.
However, after these soldiers entered the city, they were busy looting because they were greedy for property and did not pursue them in time, which allowed Li Xiucheng to calmly go north.
On April 11, Li Xiucheng's troops captured Jianping, a key pass in southern Jiangsu, and held an emergency military meeting here.
At the meeting, Li Xiucheng announced the plan of the five-way army to encircle the Jiangnan camp, and after the meeting, the leaders of all roads acted according to the plan.
At the end of April, the Fifth Route Army, with a total of 100,000 troops, arrived on the outskirts of Tianjing.
In the Xiaolingwei and Chun camps, Hechun sat opposite Zhang Guoliang, the governor of Jiangnan, and was silent.
At this time, Hechun completely lost his previous stubborn demeanor, and he was panicked like a lost dog. After holding back for a while, he cast a pleading look at Zhang Guoliang and said: "The rebels are gathered in Jinling, known as 100,000 soldiers and horses, and they are menacing, what is the best way for the Admiral to break the enemy?"”
Zhang Guoliang has long been dissatisfied with Hechun's stubbornness and self-use, this person is talentless, ignorant, stupid, and blindly confident, unwilling to adopt advice, and now at an emergency moment, and has no ideas, so after listening to his questioning, he replied angrily: "This enemy is difficult to break, I expect that the camp will be defeated!."”
He Chun felt his heart beat to his throat.
Looking at Hechun's pitiful expression, Zhang Guoliang sprouted a strange schadenfreude mentality, and forgot that he was an insider, he touched his earlobe, and said slowly: "The way to defeat the enemy is to defeat the enemy, one is to be brave, the second is to be loyal, and the third is to be one and the same." Our army does not possess all three, so how can we defeat the enemy?Lord Futai favored the wing commander Wang Jun, this person was greedy for power, and the whole army was boiling, and they all demanded that he be replaced, but the adults ignored him. Wang Junke deducted the soldiers' salaries, and now the soldiers are given a month's worth of food every 45 days, what fighting spirit do they have?If there is no fighting spirit, where does the courage come from?”
He Chun's face suddenly turned red: two-thirds of Wang Junke's military salary fell into his pocket.
Li Xiucheng led a light army to attack Hangzhou, and I told the adults at that time that this was a trick to attack the east and the west, but the adults did not listen, so they sent Zhang Yuliang to help Hangzhou. The strange thing is that Li Xiucheng has already returned from Hangzhou for more than a month, but Zhang Yuliang has not returned for a long timeDoes he still have this Jiangnan camp in his eyes?This is called disloyalty. As for the unity of the upper and lower hearts, it is impossible to talk about it, the soldiers are eager to gnaw Wang Jun alive, not to mention, even to adults and me.
The people below are also scolding. ”
The more Zhang Guoliang spoke, the more angry he became, and he poured out all the grumbling in his stomach.
What are these bastard soldiers scolding us for?”
And Haru roared.
Scold us for conniving at the ** traitor!”
And Chun was speechless for a while.
Why don't Lord Futai consult with Wang Jun about how to break the enemy?”
Zhang Guoliang's words are close to being mean.
Lord Admiral, I know that I have been negligent. But you and I are grasshoppers on a rope now, so stop making fun of me. ”
He Chun begged, with a pitiful look of embarrassment.
This sentence reminded Zhang Guoliang, he pondered for a while, and said, "Do your best." ”
Sure enough, as Zhang Guoliang expected, when the Taiping army launched a general attack, all positions of the Jiangnan battalion were vulnerable.