Chapter 50 Section 7 Fighting for the Young Heavenly King

As expected by Zeng Guofan, while Li Xiucheng was being interrogated in Jinling City, a fierce battle was going on from southern Jiangsu to northern Jiangxi for the Young Heavenly King. A few days after Li Xiucheng was arrested, one of Xiao Fusi's subordinates told a friend of the Huai army who was stationed in Hushu the shocking news, and based on his own speculation, he told this friend that among those who accompanied Li Xiucheng out of the city, There must be many long-haired officials and a large number of gold and silver treasures.This Huai army is a scheming person, and he reported this important situation to the commander Li Zhaoqing overnight.Li Zhaoqing, who was facing Jiziying with envious eyes, was overjoyed when he heard it, and rewarded him with a silver coin weighing more than seven taels, and told him not to speak out again.The next day, Li Zhaoqing rushed to Changzhou.Li Hongzhang lived in the mansion of Chen Kunshu, the former protector of the Taiping Army in the city.

"Second brother, this is a batch of big fish that slipped through the net! What do you think we should do?" After reporting the situation, Li Zhaoqing asked excitedly. "Yes, maybe there is a fish king among them!" Li Hongzhang couldn't restrain his inner joy, stood up, and walked back and forth quickly in the room. "Second brother, do you mean that the long-haired little heavenly king might be caught in this group of people?" "It's very possible!" Li Hongzhang rubbed his chin and replied, his eyes sparkled. "How do you know?" Li Zhaoqing was quite surprised.

"A letter came out from the secret agents of the third sect in Jinling City, saying that Zeng Laojiu hadn't caught Little Heavenly King, and even Hong Rengan hadn't caught it. It seems that they fled the city among these people." While talking, Li Hongzhang walked to the big wall chart and looked at it intently. "Oh!" Li Zhaoqing nodded, thinking to himself: So there is still Huai Army's secret work in Jinling City, how come this matter has never been mentioned by the second brother and the third brother? "Fourth, come here." When Li Zhaoqing walked to the side of the wall chart, Li Hongzhang pointed at the drawing with his finger and said: "The current situation is that southern Jiangsu has been wiped out by our Huai army, and most of Zhejiang has also been recovered by Zuo Jigao's Chu army. Mao's sporadic troops, but they are unlikely to be successful, and the ones who can make an impact are the fake servant king Li Shixian and the fake king Lu Shunde gathered in the northeast of Jiangxi, and it is said that they have more than 100,000 horses."

"In this way, the group of long-haired people who escaped from Jinling will probably go to Jiangxi to join them." Li Zhaoqing hurriedly expressed his opinion without waiting for his second brother to finish speaking. "Yes." Li Hongzhang's tone was very certain. "I'll take my brothers to intercept!" Li Zhaoqing couldn't wait.He thought in his heart that if he was lucky enough to catch Little Heavenly King, he would become famous all over the world in an instant. "You should intercept them immediately. If you go late, these big fish will fall into the hands of Zuo Jigao and Shen Youdan." Li Hongzhang narrowed his eyes and stared at the wall chart and said, "However, there are two people who fled from Fangshannan to Jiangxi. One is to go west to Moling Town, and the other is to go east to Longdu. You take eight hundred brothers, travel lightly, and rush to Taiping Mansion, Anhui, and stop Changmao from there. Go block."

"Okay, I'll go back to the lake immediately to make a call." Li Zhaoqing was about to turn around after finishing speaking. "Slow down." Li Hongzhang patted his fourth brother on the shoulder and said solemnly, "If you find the Little Heavenly King, you will do everything possible to catch him alive. The capital held a grand prisoner offering ceremony." "I hope this luck falls on my head!" Li Zhaoqing finished speaking and went out, straddled his horse and swung his whip, and galloped northward. The Taiping Army, which managed to escape through the gap in the Taiping Gate, lost the burden of commanding the entire army by Qianwang Hong Rengan after losing Li Xiucheng.Hong Rengan's mind was extremely calm in the crisis. He knew very well that this army would never fight. Its mission was to escort the Young Heavenly King to Jiangxi as soon as possible to join Li Shixian.In this way, the Taiping Army scattered in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian will have a legitimate leader, and they will unite again, and the banner of the kingdom of heaven will not fall down.Although there are more than 2,000 personnel at the moment, more than half of them are injured and sick, which seriously slows down the speed of the entire army. If they do not rush to Jiangxi quickly, they may be captured by chasing troops or officers and troops along the way at any time. For the team, finding food is also a big problem, and the wounded and sick must be left behind.Hong Rengan discussed with Lin Shaozhang and others, and everyone had the same opinion.After some persuasive persuasion, the wounded and sick were persuaded, and some healthy people were left for care.In this way, there were only five hundred people left in the army.

King Qian reorganized the 500 people and arranged 20 capable young people to protect the young heavenly king, 10 people to take care of the two little queens, and 50 people to look for food.He also asked everyone to take off their official and military uniforms and put on civilian clothes, but the long hair on their heads could not be shaved for a while, so they were all wrapped in various cloths.In order to ensure safety, they are all changed to travel at night and stay at dawn.In this way, Li Zhaoqing did not catch up after walking hundreds of miles safely. Li Zhaoqing did not give up, and led his men and horses to continue chasing over mountains and mountains.Every day he walked, he left 20 or 30 people behind, because he was afraid that he would go too fast and overtake the Taiping army, so that the people left behind would turn around and search slowly.Once the situation is found, immediately report to the Pegasus.Li Zhaoqing believed that he had already laid a net, and that the little heavenly king who had escaped from Zeng Laojiu would never slip away from his nose again.

On this day, Li Zhaoqing's pursuers came to Tujiazhai, Wuyuan County, where Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangxi meet, and stayed overnight at Tuguang's home, a squire.Tu Guangzhi is the local emperor in this area. He has more than a hundred regiments under his command. In a radius of 30 to 40 miles, any disturbance is under his control. During breakfast, the leader of the regiment reported to him that there was a team of four to five hundred in the early morning. The No. 1 man came to the foot of Pine Ridge, not knowing what he was doing.Tu Guangzhi became vigilant, he was afraid that strongmen would come and rob the cottage, so he asked Tuan Lian to keep a close watch on it, and at the same time ordered the cottage to fortify its walls and clean up the wilderness.At the end of the day, there was no movement. Tu Guangzhi suspected that this group of people would stay for a long time, and felt very uneasy.Just in the evening, Li Zhaoqing came with five or six hundred people.Tu Guangzhi wanted to use the strength of the officers and soldiers to defend the cottage, so he informed Li Zhaoqing of the situation.Li Zhaoqing thought to himself: There are more than 2,000 long-haired people who rushed out of Jinling City, and there are only four or five hundred people in this group. It is not certain whether they are Taiping soldiers or not.Tired and hungry, he didn't want to go in person, so he ordered one of his post chiefs to take more than 30 brothers to Pine Ridge with lanterns and torches to see the situation.

Half an hour later, the whistle chief came back and reported that the people at the foot of Songmu Ridge disappeared without a trace, only a few pieces of waste paper were picked up.Li Zhaoqing smoothed out the waste papers, looked carefully one by one, and found that one piece was a fragment of a notice, with the words "Heavenly Father and Brother" and "Qing Yao" written on it. "This is the long-haired group we were chasing!" After chasing for half a month, finally found the trace, Li Zhaoqing was overjoyed, and immediately ordered, "Let's go immediately and look around!"

Li Zhaoqing recruited several Tujiazhai regiments to lead the team, wandered around in the woods and grass all night, until dawn, did not see the shadow of this team.When he was depressed, a Yong Ding saw a dozen people running on the path in the opposite mountain from a distance. "Si Shuai, there are people over there!" He hurriedly reported to Li Zhaoqing. Li Zhaoqing raised the binoculars hanging on his chest, looked towards the opposite mountain, and saw hundreds of people in the woods who were going deep into the mountain. "Hurry up!" Li Zhaoqing ordered loudly.

Regardless of fatigue, the Huai army officers and warriors mustered up their energy and ran forward.After running for about three miles, suddenly a group of well-armored men with live ammunition came out from another hillside, and stopped Li Zhaoqing's Huai army halfway. "Who are you?" Li Zhaoqing shouted. "We are the Chu army!" A tough man replied, pointing to a middle-aged man beside him and said, "This is our commander-in-chief Wang Kailin." "It turned out to be Wang Junmen." Wang Kailin was Zuo Zongtang's general. Li Zhaoqing had heard of her name for a long time, but had never met him.

"What's your name?" Wang Kailin asked coldly, standing majestically. "The humble job is Li Zhaoqing, the branch commander of the Huai Army." "Oh, it turned out to be Fourth Master Li!" Wang Kailin immediately put on a smile all over her face, and politely clasped her fists, "Long-awaited, long-awaited! May I ask why you came here?" "I was ordered by my second brother to hunt down Chang Mao who escaped from Jinling City." "Shang Mao who escaped from Jinling City?" Wang Kailin asked in surprise, "Where are these people?" "It's in the forest ahead." Li Zhaoqing pointed to the front with his whip.There was no one in the woods long ago, and he was very anxious. "Oh, you mean that group of people just now?" Wang Kailin smiled relaxedly, "They didn't escape from Jinling City, they were a group of Changmao Wang Haiyang's subordinates who were chased by us for several days and nights. It's gone. Isn't this just to catch them!" Wang Kailin turned her face, looked at the people behind him, and pulled out the saber at her waist two or three inches with her right hand. "Didn't they escape from Jinling City?" Li Zhaoqing was skeptical, paused for a while and said, "Wang Junmen, no matter where they are, they are a group of really long-haired people, let's catch them together!" "Don't bother Fourth Master Li, these guys have already become our prey." Wang Kailin said, stretching out his hands, making a blocking gesture. Li Zhaoqing became suspicious.It is a great thing for someone to help, why stop it? "Wang Junmen, Changmao is a trapped beast, very vicious, you have few hands, I will help you catch them all!" "No need." Wang Kailin put away her smile and said seriously, "Just now you said that you were chasing the long hairs that escaped from Jinling, but it reminded me that an old man told me yesterday that there was a large group of long hairs with long hair on their heads. From the direction of Huangsha Town." "Really! How many people are there?" Li Zhaoqing asked.He thought to himself: Could it be that those people really escaped from Jinling. "The old man can't tell, there must be several hundred!" Wang Kailin pointed to the front and said, "Fourth Master Li, you go back, pass through the Tujiazhai, go to Nantou Avenue, and then pass the ghost face rock, you will arrive at Huangsha Town. Hurry up, don't miss the important thing." "Okay! Wang Junmen, see you later." Li Zhaoqing clasped his fists. "See you later, Fourth Master Li, I wish you good luck." Wang Kailin also clasped her fists together. After Li Zhaoqing walked away, Wang Kailin laughed loudly, waved to his subordinates, and said, "Brothers, let's go into the mountains to capture the little Heavenly King! Whoever captures the Little Heavenly King with his own hands, the Zuo Zhijun will reward him with three hundred taels of silver!" The Chu army cheered and ran towards the mountains together. What's going on here?How did Wang Kailin know that Hong Tianguifu was here?It turned out that two days earlier, Wang Kailin's subordinates had caught two men with hair all over their heads and brought them here.Wang Kailin knew at a glance that it was the Taiping Army, so she personally interrogated him.Those two people happened to be the guards next to the Young Heavenly King. They were arrested because their feet were injured and they couldn't keep up with the team.At first they refused to admit it, but when a soft satin hat embroidered with dragon and yellow was found from a person, they had to confess their identities.Wang Kailin's shock was no small matter, so she coaxed the two guards with sweet words, gave them food and applied medicine.That's it, set everything up.What a fortune suddenly fell from the sky!Wang Kailin secretly thanked God for his blessing, and immediately mobilized more than a thousand people to chase after him along the way.How can the good luck be passed on to others?Wang Kailin told a casual lie and sent Li Zhaoqing away. When Wang Kailin came into the mountain, there was no trace of the Young Heavenly King's men and horses, and she stomped her feet angrily and cursed Li Zhaoqing for ignoring him.Wang Kailin was not willing to give up, and ordered the soldiers to fire guns and gongs all over the mountains and fields, shouting loudly.He believed that this group of long-haired people had already become frightened birds, as long as they were fully imposing, there would always be timid and impatient people who would jump out. Wang Kailin's move is really effective.Just a few miles away, the soldiers of the Taiping Army who were covered by trees could clearly hear the noises and shouts from all around. The sixteen-year-old Little Heavenly King was so frightened that he had no choice but to say to Hong Rengan: " Uncle Qian Wang, what should we do? It seems that he died here today." Hong Rengan hugged the young Heavenly King in his arms, and said comfortingly, "Your Majesty, don't worry, Heavenly Father and Brother will protect us." Lin Shaozhang and others were also in a hurry, and they all surrounded Qian Wang, asking him to make up his mind.At this time, what idea can the king come up with?He could only give an order: go where there is no sound!After walking for another three or four miles, I came to the edge of the hanging rock, and there was no way!Now everyone is dumbfounded.This is a group of the most loyal soldiers in the kingdom of heaven. Almost no one thinks of surrendering, and many people are silently making final arrangements.Hong Rengan held the Young Heavenly King's hand tightly.I also prepared for the worst in my heart: if I was surrounded by Qing monsters, I would follow Lu Xiufu's example and jump off the hanging rock with the young king in my arms, and die together for the country. At this critical moment, suddenly, a white-haired old man walked out from the depths of the dense forest on the side.The old man held a small hoe in his hand and carried a long bamboo basket full of herbs on his back.Hong Rengan seemed to have seen a glimmer of hope, and hurried to meet the old man. "Excuse me, old man, is there a road ahead?" Hong Rengan bowed deeply to the old man and asked very humbly. "Didn't the guest officer see it? There are cliffs and cliffs ahead, where is the way? If you want to find the way, you have to turn back." The old man answered calmly. At this time, there was another burst of shouting and killing from behind, and it seemed that the pursuers were about to find them. Hong Rengan had no choice but to say to the old man again: "The old man is a local, and he must be familiar with the terrain here. I beg the old man to show us the way. We are all good people, and we were chased here by robbers. If we are guided by the old man, we can survive the crisis." , in the future, no matter what request the old man has, we can satisfy it.” The old man took a careful look at Hong Rengan, then looked around at the people around him, and then asked seriously, "Who are you guys and where are you going? Tell me the truth!" Now, there is no need to hide anything.Hong Rengan said cheerfully: "Old man, we are all soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. We escaped from Tianjing City. We are going to Jiangxi to join the brigade. Then we will set up the banner of the Heavenly Kingdom and fight the Qing demon to the end!" When the old man heard this, his expression darkened immediately, and he asked softly, "According to what you said, Tianjing has been destroyed by the Hunan Army?" "Exactly. Old man, we have told you the truth, can you help us?" "Since you are soldiers from the Kingdom of Heaven who are fleeing, I will show you a way!" Upon hearing this, the young heavenly king and the two queen mothers hurriedly said, "Grandfather, please show me the way!" The old man took Hong Rengan to the edge of the hanging rock, pointed to an old pine tree seven or eight feet away from the top below, and said, "Heroes, please see that under this century-old pine tree, there is a thousand-year-old cave. , and arrived at Dexing County, which is already the ground of Jiangxi Province." "How far is the exit of the cave from here?" Hong Rengan asked. "If you walk along the mountain road from here, you won't get there in two days." The old man answered nonchalantly. Hong Rengan silently thanked the heavenly father and brother and the old heavenly king for their protection. Lin Shaozhang asked: "How to get down?" "Scrape the ivy and slide down." The old man said, "I went down once thirty years ago. The entrance of the cave is like a hall, which can accommodate hundreds of people." Hong Rengan immediately ordered the soldiers to cut ivy and weave it into a rope, which was soon made into a ten-foot-long rattan rope.The old man tied one end of it to a big camphor tree on the top of the mountain, and threw the other end down along the hanging rock, just to the side of the pine tree.Lin Shaozhang said: "I am the first to shoot! After I succeed, I stand at the entrance of the cave and shoot an arrow upward." After finishing speaking, Lin Shaozhang slid down the rattan rope like an agile ape.After a while, an arrow shot out from under the pine tree. It worked!Qian Wang hugged the old man's shoulders with both hands, grateful.So I weaved two more rattan ropes, tied one end to the tree on the top of the mountain, and threw the other end down as before.Everyone followed Lin Shaozhang's example and entered the ancient cave from the top of the mountain one by one. Even the Young Heavenly King and Wang Niang also plucked up their courage to go down.On the top of the mountain, only Qian Wang and the old man were left. "Hero, you also go down quickly, I will throw away the rattan rope for you from above." With tears in his eyes, Hong Rengan excitedly said to the old man, "Old man, we have nothing to repay you for saving your life. Please accept my worship." After finishing speaking, he knelt down on both knees and kowtowed to the old man.The old man quickly helped him up and said, "Go down quickly!" Hong Rengan held the ivy tightly and was about to slide down when the old man suddenly said, "Man, can you give me something as a souvenir?" Hong Rengan said as if waking up from a big dream: "Oh, it's my fault. I didn't expect to give you a little gold and silver for the great kindness of the old man. Now they have all gone down, but I don't have any." Yinliang, what should I do?" "The old man is from the mountains, what do you want silver taels for? Can you choose one of the things you carry with you for the old man as a permanent souvenir." Hong Rengan touched his body, but there was nothing, only a rectangular jade seal hidden in the embroidered pocket around his waist.This is a treasure that he always carries with him, so he can't take care of it now.Quickly took it off, held it in both hands, handed it to the old man, and said solemnly: "Old man, you should keep it alive. Maybe in three to five years, my soldiers from the kingdom of heaven will come back again. At that time, you will bring this Yin came to me." The old man took the jade seal and looked at it, only to see two lines imitating Song Dynasty characters engraved on it: imperially appointed Wen Hengzheng President Jingzhong Military Advisor Qian Wang Hongrengan. "You are His Royal Highness Qianwang!" The old man was shocked. "Yes." Hong Rengan said calmly, "To tell you the truth, the boy who went down just now is our young heavenly king." The old man looked at Hong Rengan excitedly, and said, "King Qian, with you here, I believe the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be revived. You must remember that there should be no more internal strife. The root cause of the failure of the early stage of the Heavenly Kingdom lies in On to the six-year internal strife in Bingchen!" "Old man, we will definitely remember!" Hong Rengan said as he slid down the ivy. The old man cut off the green vines without haste, threw them under the hanging rock of Baizhang, then picked up the bamboo poles and quickly disappeared in the forest. Half an hour later, Wang Kailin came to the edge of the hanging rock with her pursuers, and looked down, but saw that the bottom of the valley was unfathomable, and a gust of cold wind blew from her feet, making her feel uncomfortable.He shook his head and said to his subordinates: "There is no way ahead, spread out to the left and right to search!" Wang Kailin searched the area for three days and three nights, but there was no trace of the Young Heavenly King, so she came to Hangzhou in disappointment and reported the situation to Zuo Zongtang, governor of Fujian and Zhejiang and commander of the Chu army. "The little long-haired heavenly king really fled to Zhejiang?" Zuo Zongtang asked.He put down the official document and rubbed his hands excitedly. "It's true." Wang Kailin took out Hong Tianguifu's embroidered dragon hat from his cuff and handed it over, "Zuo Shuai, look at this." Zuo Zongtang took it, looked at it for a while, then threw it on the desk, patted the table with his right hand, and shouted: "This Zeng Disheng, he dares to deceive the Queen Mother and the Emperor!" "What did he say to the queen mother and the emperor?" Wang Kailin asked. "His report said: The fake young master accumulated salaries in the palace and set fire to himself. Fortunately, he can say it." Zuo Zongtang grabbed a stack of papers and threw it over, saying, "This is what I received yesterday from Anqing. Can you read the message of the State Council?" At that time, the Qing army fighting the Taiping Army in the north and south of the Yangtze River, whether it was within the Hunan Army, or the Huai Army, Chu Army, and the Green Camp, every time there was a report of a major battle, after the worship, they would report to each other in the form of a message to benefit each other. Get to know each other. When Zuo Zongtang received this speech about Jiang Ning's conquest, he had very complicated feelings in his heart.The collapse of Jiangning is undoubtedly a symbol of the complete destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As a court official who has been dealing with the Taiping Army for more than ten years, Zuo Zongtang is of course very happy, because he has an indelible contribution to this victory.On the other hand, for a "Jin Liang" who aspires to build the world's most miraculous achievements, Zuo Zongtang also feels quite acid in his heart.He has always believed that his talent is unparalleled in the world, and the good news of capturing Jiangning should come from the memorial reported in his name, not from others.He looked down on the ignorant Zeng Guoquan and his corrupt Jiziying.He felt that Zeng Guofan did not entrust the important matter of besieging Jiangning to him, but to Zeng Guoquan, which was Zeng Guofan's greatest self-interest.This Boss Zeng, who has always been known to treat people with sincerity, fully demonstrated his hypocrisy, selfishness, and cuteness in this matter.And this memorial, seemingly modest, boasted of his Zeng family's achievements in his bones. What Zuo Zongtang couldn't bear was that such a memorial reporting the demise of the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not mention that the Chu army had moved to Jiangxi and Zhejiang in recent years. achievements of hard work.If there were no prerequisites for the Chu army to recover Zhejiang and hold back a large number of Taiping troops, would that bastard Zeng Laojiu be able to achieve today's success?On the other hand, they brought irrelevant official documents to lead, not to mention that official documents are Zuo Zongtang's deadly enemy, but from the public side, is official documents worthy of this honor? "Shuai Zuo, this memorial is a crime of deceiving the emperor!" Wang Kailin said angrily.He has always had a faint resentment towards Zeng Guofan.His second elder brother, Wang Chi, was recognized as a first-rate general, but Zeng Guofan just didn't use him highly.In the fourth year of Xianfeng, he and his fourth brother Kaihua recruited brave men in Xiangxiang. They were about to recruit all the troops, but unexpectedly Wang Chi was sent back to Hunan, and the original plan went bankrupt.If Zeng Guofan treated Wang Chi the same way he treated Zeng Guohua and Zeng Guoquan, his Wang family would surely have the glory of the Zeng family and Li family today. "Shuai Zuo, give the Queen Mother and the Emperor a copy, and read their copy!" Wang Kailin urged. "Yes, there should be an excerpt." Zuo Zongtang thought to himself.First of all, Hong Tianguifu did not die in Jinling City, but fled outside, and has not been caught yet.This important event must be told to the Queen Mother and the Emperor.The Empress Dowager and the Emperor decreed that all provinces and regions should be closely searched and arrested.To capture a thief, you must capture the king, and to cut grass, you must remove the roots. Now that the king has not been captured, and the roots have not been removed, there is no guarantee that there will be no more disasters.As a governor with heavy responsibilities, Zuo Zongtang, who has always been serious in his work, believes that he is duty-bound to report to the court. In addition, he was also angry that the Zeng brothers had blatantly deceived the Queen Mother and the Emperor on such a major event.The Zeng brothers have received great favor from the imperial court, and they should be role models for the generals of the whole country in all aspects. Now that they have built a Jinling city, if they continue to develop, they will not seek rebellion and usurp the throne?On this point, for Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang believed that he might not be able to do so by modifying the Shendingshan joint language. Tianwei, nine times out of ten, will be dazed by the victory, not knowing who he is!Yes, there must be a strong wording of the memorial, to knock their feverish brains, let them know that there are people in this world, and it is not something that his brothers from the Zeng family can cover up with one hand! "Wang Kailin!" Zuo Zongtang shouted, startling Wang Kailin beside him. "The end is here!" "The pseudo-young heavenly king probably fled to Jiangxi to meet up with his servants. You need another 2,000 troops to block all the roads going west. Be sure to capture the false young heavenly king and come see me!" "Yes!" Wang Kailin replied. When Wang Kailin left Hangzhou, Hong Rengan had brought the group safely to Jiangxi, and when he was about to meet Li Shixian, the news leaked again.Later, due to being outnumbered, the young heavenly king Hong Tianguifu was captured by Xi's subordinates in Shicheng, Jiangxi.When the news came out, Wang Kailin was downcast, and Zuo Zongtang was also very disappointed.