Chapter 20 The third quarter night attack on Huangzhou Mansion

Chen Yuben was only passing through Tongcheng, and seeing that the Nian army had retreated to northern Anhui, he took advantage of the opportunity of winning the battle, and led his troops to leave the Tongcheng battlefield quietly on a dark night of one month, and continued to advance westward.Before leaving, they planted thousands of flags of various colors on the hillside and tied them to the treetops.This trick really worked.It was not until five days later that Duo Longa and Bao Chao knew that they had indeed left, but their whereabouts were unknown. Chen Yucheng's troops passed through Yuexi County via Huangjiapu and Guanzhuang Mountain. After hearing that Hu Linyi, governor of Hubei, was camping in Taihu Lake, they diverted to cross Sikong Mountain, bypassed Yingshan County, and entered Daling Mountain.Zhou Guoyu said to Chen Yucheng: "Your Highness, the troops of His Royal Highness King Zhong in the south have not yet left Jiangxi Province. We must cross the river at the Huangzhoufu Ferry before we can attack Wuchang from the south bank."

Chen Yucheng said: "This is the only way to go now. I don't know how the situation in Huangzhou Mansion is." Kang Lu said: "Your Highness, I will take a few people to spy tomorrow." "Okay. Pick a few capable brothers, disguise themselves as merchants, and go to the city to take a closer look. Set off early tomorrow morning and come back early." Three days later, Kang Lu came back and told Chen Yucheng dejectedly: Huangzhou Mansion seems to have learned of the enemy's situation. There are many swords and guns on the city wall, and the four city gates are tightly guarded; The leader of the army is Deng Shaoliang, who is used to fighting.A few years ago, Deng Shaoliang had been promoted from deputy general of the Yunnan Chuxiong Association to admiral with the rank of commander-in-chief of Shouchun Town, Anhui.He uttered big words: Huangzhou Mansion is a gate made of copper and iron, and it is impossible for a long-haired soldier to pass through here.

Chen Yucheng and Zhou Guoyu felt troubled when they heard this.Kang Lu said: "I will go to Huangzhou Mansion for a few more days to see if I can find a loophole." Kang Lu came to Huangzhou Mansion again alone, and found a small hotel to stay. On the surface, he wandered around leisurely, but inside he was very worried.In the evening, a procession of sedan chairs came out from the magistrate's yamen.Kang Lu inquired quietly, and learned that Xu Gengzao, the prefect of Huangzhou, was sitting in the blue sedan chair, so he followed behind secretly.The sedan chair team crossed the streets and alleys and stopped in front of the Ximen Inner Confucian Temple.Kang Lu inquired again and learned that the Temple of Confucianism has been converted into Deng Shaoliang's Xingyuan.Kang Lu thought: Xu Gengzao came to visit Deng Shaoliang, there must be something important, this is a good opportunity.

Kang Lu returned to the hotel, changed into night clothes, and came to the Confucian Temple by moonlight.Seeing that no one was there, he jumped onto the courtyard wall, jumped again, and landed gently on the ground.Kang Lu saw that Minglun Hall was brightly lit, and servants carrying bowls came in and out from time to time, so he knew that Xu Gengzao and Deng Shaoliang must be drinking here.Kang Lu jumped again, onto the roof of Minglun Hall, and slipped in through a small window, imitating the fleas on a drum, leaning his body against the beam near the wine table, listening with his ears up.

Sure enough, Deng Shaoliang and Xu Gengzao sat at the table.Deng Shaoliang, who was in his forties, was tall and fat. He took off his coat and wore a tight black embroidered jacket with no hat on, revealing a big bald head.Xu Gengzao on the opposite side was in his fifties, with a gray and white long thin face, wearing a fifth-grade civil official robe empty on his body, as if covering a dry old tree, with two chopsticks neatly placed in front of him, as if from Didn't move.Xu Zhifu sat upright, looked at Deng Shaoliang with a gloomy expression, and said: "Master Junmen, I heard that there are tens of thousands of long hairs hidden in Daling Mountain. They must have come to attack Huangzhou Mansion. The 3,000 guards in the city are probably a little less." .”

"The prefect don't have to worry." Deng Shaoliang wiped his mouth with his hands, and said with a hint of alcohol, "All the township soldiers under my command are good men with one as ten, and three thousand men can be compared with thirty thousand. When I was older Mao Puppet King Xi and King Yi are such powerful characters. When they attacked Changsha, they were about to be destroyed. I brought three thousand soldiers from Xiangtan to kill them. Damage. Prefect Xu should know about this, I must not be bragging!" Whether bragging or not, Xu Gengzao couldn't tell in detail, because he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. What he saw with his own eyes was the performance of stationing in Huangzhou Mansion for two months, and these made the cautious prefect Xu uneasy.He said tactfully: "The majesty of the general is admired by the whole world. There is a tradition of two or three hundred years for the soldiers in the town to fight. How can the lower officials not know? I just heard that the long-haired people in Daling Mountain are led by pseudo-heroes." Wang Chen Yucheng, this kid is hard to deal with."

"Hahaha!" Deng Shaoliang laughed wildly, "Xu Taishou, you are too worried. Chen Yucheng is only a boy in his twenties, how much can he bear? I have served in the army for thirty years. The puppet British king has not yet been born! He can only beg for cheap in front of Hechun and Zhang Guoliang, in front of me, I am afraid Sun Houzi will meet the Tathagata Buddha—he will not be able to beat the palm of his hand!" He laughed loudly again, He raised his wine glass and said: "Prefect Xu, come, let's relax and have a drink. This is the famous old snow mountain cellar at the top of our Qianzhou Hall."

Xu Gengzao couldn't resist, picked up the wine glass, took a sip, chewed two green vegetables carefully, and brought up the war again: "Master Junmen, Hu Zhongcheng once told me that Huangzhou and Qizhou will guard the Yangtze River together. The prefectures are not far apart, and they help each other in times of crisis. General Liu Xiyuan is currently stationed in Qizhou with 1,500 brothers, and has always had a good relationship with the lower officials. In order to ensure that Huangzhou is safe, the lower officials plan to invite General Liu to lead his troops. Huangzhou will temporarily assist Lord Junmen for a few days, and return after the wind calms down, I think Lord Junmen will agree."

Xu Gengzao's endless chatter has made Deng Shaoliang unhappy.I thought: Invite Qizhou soldiers, you will pay for all the expenses anyway, and I would be happy to have someone share some responsibility, if you want to hire the goddamn soldiers, go and invite them!Deng Shaoliang picked up the red umbrella-shaped cap placed on the side of the table and put it on his head, stood up and said, "Since Hu Zhongcheng has something to say first, go and invite General Liu Shen! Dude, sit here for a while. Go to the hut and come back." After finishing speaking, he left his seat with a stomach full of shame.Although Xu Gengzao was angry at this uneducated martial artist's disrespectful behavior, he couldn't make a sound, so he stood up angrily and said, "It's getting late, so I'll take my leave. I'll send someone to Qizhou tomorrow morning."

In the early morning of the next day, before the sun came out, a fast horse was galloping along the Guanma Avenue from Huangzhou Mansion to Qizhou.Immediately sat a middle-aged man with a yellow bundle on his back, holding the reins tightly, and hurried on his way with concentration, when a stone hit the horse's buttocks unexpectedly.The horse was startled suddenly, and its front hooves flew into the air, throwing the unprepared man off the horse.At this moment, a young hero flew out from the grass, one hand pinched his neck like iron pliers, and the other hand showed a shining steel knife.The man's face turned yellow with fright, and he was dripping with cold sweat. He cried and said, "Let go, man. I'm a person who writes a letter. I only have five taels of silver on me. I'll give it to you!"

The young hero glared at him and scolded: "Whoever wants your stinky money, lead the horse and follow me!" The man led the horse obediently, and followed the young man off the road to a forest.It turned out that this young hero was none other than Kang Lu, the 18th inspector on the right side of the Taiping Army Hall. He chose this sparsely populated area and had been lying in ambush for half an hour.Kang Lu asked sharply: "You said you wrote the book, what book did you write?" The man lowered his head, hesitating and daring not to speak. "Say it! Don't say it, I will stab you with a knife!" The man was so frightened that he kowtowed again and again, and said, "Hero, spare your life! I said, what I wrote is a request for help." "Where can I ask for help?" "Ask General Liu Shen of Qizhou Prefecture for help." "who are you?" "I'm Xu Qing, the master of the prefect's yamen in Huangzhou Prefecture." Kang Lu was very happy, and he did not admit the wrong person. "Get up and follow me!" "Where does the hero want me to go?" Xu Qing became even more frightened. "Don't ask, just follow me!" "A man!" Xu Qing kowtowed again, "Let me go, a man. I have official documents. If I miss something, I will be beheaded!" Kang Lu lowered his face, raised his eyebrows and cursed: "You are afraid that the magistrate will kill your head, but you are not afraid that I will kill your head? If you talk too much, I will kill you!" Xu Qing didn't dare to beg for mercy any more, and stood up obediently.Kang Lu stripped off Xu Qing's coat, tore off a belt, blindfolded him, and grabbed him on the horse's back.The two rode a horse and ran towards Daling Mountain as if they were flying. When it was dark the next day, a Qing army of more than a thousand people came to the city of Huangzhou, led by Zhou Guoyu, an official who lived in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the prime minister.Yesterday, after discussing with Chen Yucheng, Zhou Guoyu, and Kang Lu, they decided to use this opportunity to sneak into Huangzhou City pretending to be the Qing army.The Taiping army had no time to make military uniforms because of the shortage of cloth and frequent swimming and fighting. They often stripped the clothes from the dead Qing army officers and soldiers, so there were a lot of enemy clothes and hats in the army. Under the coercion, Xu Qing was also forced to submit and agreed to enter Huangzhou with them. The city gate of Huangzhou had already been closed tightly. On the city wall, a few township soldiers held lanterns and gongs, and shouted as they walked: "Strengthen your guard!" "Beware of long hairs!" The strange Xiangxi dialect spread in the night sky, which made people feel creepy.On the top of the city gate, beside the dim paper lanterns, stood a few lazy soldiers, amusing each other with unsavory nonsense, seemingly unaware that a team of more than a thousand people had come under the city wall. Zhou Guoyu ordered Xu Qing to speak to the tower.Xu Qing patted his horse forward and shouted: "Which military master in the city is on duty at night?" After shouting two or three times, I saw a person walking over with a lantern.The man looked down and couldn't help being taken aback, and shouted angrily, "Who are you?" Xu Qing shouted from below: "Master Xu, don't be afraid. I am Xu Qing, the master of the magistrate's yamen. They are brothers from Fubiao Zhongying. Master Xu asked me to invite me to Qizhou." "It's Master Xu, thank you for your hard work!" The man on the tower was relieved, and his tone became affectionate. Xu Qing shouted again: "Open the door, the brothers are tired and hungry after walking for a day, open the door and let them in!" The people on the tower said: "Master Xu, wait a moment. Deng Junmen told us that Changmao is next to us. Don't open the door casually. I will tell Deng Junmen." The man got off the tower, quickly led a horse, and ran quickly to the Confucian Temple. The guard said that Deng Shaoliang was in the magistrate's yamen, and the man ran to the magistrate's yamen in one breath.After hearing the report, Deng Shaoliang said: "Since the troops brought by Master Xu himself, of course they are brothers from Qizhou, open the door and let them in!" "Slow down." Xu Gengzao got up and said, "Let me ask if Liu Shen is coming. If he comes, I have to go out of the city gate to meet him personally." Xu Gengzao left the yamen, got into a sedan chair, and rushed to the east gate.He climbed up the tower, and under the protection of several soldiers, he shouted to the people below: "Xu Qing, which general is leading the team?" Xu Qing didn't know how to answer, and looked at Zhou Guoyu.Guoyu said: "You said that Liu Shen will be inseparable from general affairs, and the team leader is the defender Zhang Yongsheng." Xu Qing boldly repeated Guo Yu's words.Xu Gengzao saw that Xu Qing was not straightforward, and that Liu Xiyuan himself was not here, and Zhang Yongsheng had never seen him before, so he became suspicious.He asked the soldiers to set up a few more lanterns, and looked down with wide eyes, but they couldn't see anything clearly.Don't be careless!It happens from time to time that Chang Mao pretends to be an officer, and it is hard to guarantee that Xu Qing will not be coerced by Chang Mao.Xu Gengzao thought of this and said loudly: "Xu Qing, you bring Zhang Shoubing in, and the other brothers are waiting outside for a while." Zhou Guoyu said to Kang Lu: "Take your brothers and wait here. I will go in with Guoxian. I will try to open the city gate. Then you must cooperate closely." There are three gates in the east gate of Huangzhou City, and a small gate is opened on the side of the gate on the left, which is only for one person to enter and exit at night.The small side door opened, and Xu Qing led Guo Yu and Guo Xian into the door. The guard at the gate thought Guoxian was Zhang Shoubei's entourage, and let him in without questioning him.Xu Gengzao got off the tower and waited in the hut next to the city gate.Zhou Guoyu was at the front, Xu Qing was in the middle, and Guoxian was at the back.Xu Qing knew that his life was in Guoxian's hands, so he had to follow obediently, not daring to talk or move.Entering the house, Zhou Guoyu saw a skinny old man wearing a fifth-grade civil service uniform sitting there. Knowing that it was Xu Gengzao, he stepped forward to salute and said, "Zhang Yongsheng, the garrison of Fubiao Zhongying, sees the magistrate." Xu Gengzao bowed slightly in reply, staring at Zhou Guoyu and asked, "General Liu Shen sent you here?" "Yes." Zhou Guoyu replied calmly. "Why doesn't General Liu come by himself?" "Long Mao's big stock has entered eastern Hubei, Qizhou is busy with military affairs, General Liu Shen can't leave." "Zhang Shoubei has a very natural face, which I have never seen before." Xu Gengzao looked up and down Zhou Guoyu suspiciously. "The new recruit from Wuxue came to Qizhou, no wonder the master didn't know him." Zhou Guoyu had already made preparations. Xu Gengzao saw that Xu Qing was standing by the side and kept silent, his face turned pale and red, and he was even more suspicious. He thought for a while and asked, "Zhang Shoubei, General Liu Shen has recently given birth to a son. May I ask who is the wife of Mrs. Ru?" of?" Now Zhou Guoyu was stunned, who knew how many wives Liu Xiyuan had.Zhou Guoyu paused for a while, and said, "I tell the master, I have not long been in Qizhou, and I don't know where General Liu Can's son comes from." "Nonsense!" Xu Gengzao slapped his hand on the chair, stood up and said loudly, "General Liu Shen held three banquets for his son the day before yesterday, and set up more than two hundred tables. Everyone in Qizhou knew that he was born to the wife of the third wife. , since you are his guard, how can you not know? It seems that you were not sent by General Liu Shen!" Guo Yu secretly winked at his younger brother, Guo Xian held the knife tightly and made emergency preparations.Guoyu asked back calmly: "Master Xu said that I was not sent by General Liu Shen, so may I ask you, who sent me?" Xu Gengzao was stopped for a moment.He took a closer look at Guo Yu again, and saw that the officer in front of him was dignified and upright, and his manner and speech seemed to be well-educated, which was not at all the long-haired image in his usual mind.He smiled unnaturally, and said, "Zhang Shoubei, take a rest for a while, and let me ask Xu Qing." Turning to Xu Qing, he said, "Come with me to the back room." Zhou Guoyu thought this question, wouldn't it be revealing!Things have come to this point, there is no longer any hesitation.He pulled out his knife abruptly and shouted to Guoxian: "Third brother, go and open the city gate!" With this shout, naturally the truth came to light.Xu Gengzao shouted: "Catch these two thieves!" Guoxian turned around and rushed out the door.Guoyu wielded his steel saber, and single-handedly dealt with more than 20 townspeople.The Zhendun soldiers were always strong, and they bullied Guoyu to be alone, so they surrounded him.Although Zhou Guoyu was highly skilled in martial arts, he was outnumbered after all. Gradually, he was only capable of parrying and had no power to fight back.A vicious pockmark took advantage of the opportunity to stab him in the back, Guo Yu screamed, fell to the ground, bleeding profusely, and died with hatred.Next to the city gate, Guoxian chopped down two guards, cut off the gate bolt with a knife, and opened the side door on the right.Kang Lu commanded more than a thousand brothers outside the gate to rush into the city gate.These more than a thousand Taiping troops entered the sea just like a dragon entering the sea, stirring up waves at the west gate of Huangzhou Mansion. Xu Gengzao, Xu Qing, and hundreds of Zhenyu soldiers on and off the tower all died under the chaos.Guoxian ran to the top of the city tower and lit a fire that soared into the sky. Chen Yucheng, who was lying in ambush not far away, saw the fire and knew that the city gate had been opened.In the dark night, Deng Shaoliang saw the Taiping army rolling in like huge waves. He couldn't figure out how many people there were. He was terrified and frightened. He hurriedly assembled his troops and killed them indiscriminately. run.