Chapter 39 After Wu sacrificed the city of Suzhou, Nawang Gao Yunguan also sacrificed his head

Li Hongzhang, who entered Shanghai, was like a fish in water, his military and communicative talents were fully utilized, and he had a lot of tricks from his teacher before he left. He was unwilling to adopt the "moving to Zhenjiang", but he kept in mind the idea of ​​"using the power of foreigners" and used it extremely well.He has a close relationship with Ho Bo, the commander of the British Navy, and Wall, the leader of the foreign gun team and the American fugitive.He changed the name of the foreign spear team to the Changsheng Army, and lured them to capture Jiading and Qingpu with generous rewards, and soon won awards from the court.At the same time, he commanded Cheng Xueqi, Guo Songlin, Liu Mingchuan, Li Hezhang, Pan Dingxin, Zhou Shengbo and others to win consecutive victories in southern Jiangsu, winning Changshu, Taicang, and Kunshan successively.Later, Huang Yisheng led the Huaiyang navy to help, and the Huai army became stronger.Soon, Hua Er was shot and died while fighting Cixi, and the former deputy leader, American Bai Qiwen, became the leader of the Ever Victorious Army.

Later, Bai Qiwen couldn't ask for payment, so he beat up Shanghai Taoist Yang Fang and seized 40,000 taels of silver.Li Hongzhang relieved his military power in a rage, and Bai Qiwen took the money and went to the Taiping Army.The leader of the ever-victorious army was played by the Englishman Gordon.At this time, Li Hongzhang ordered Cheng Xueqi to lead the Kaizi Battalion, Gordon to lead the Changsheng Army, and Huang Yisheng to lead the Huaiyang Navy to attack Suzhou in three directions. The Suzhou guard is the third son-in-law of King Zhong, Tan Shaoguang who has been promoted to King Mu.His deputies are Na Wang Gao Yunguan, Bi Wang Wu Guiwen, Kang Wang Wang Anjun, Ning Wang Zhou Wenjia, and Qing Tianfu Baoxi.Suzhou has always been the provincial capital of Jiangsu Province, and now it is the center of Sufu Province, which is the base of Li Xiucheng's business for many years.Tan Shaoguang knew the great responsibility of defending the city, so Feiqi asked Li Xiucheng for help.Li Xiucheng was in Lu'an, Anhui at this time, and originally planned to attack the upper reaches of the Yangtze River again to attract the main force of the Hunan Army and illustrate the danger of Tianjing.Hearing that Taicang and Kunshan were lost one after another, and Suzhou was in danger, they rushed to Suzhou from Lu'an Starry Night.As soon as Li Xiucheng entered the city, the North Road to Wuxi was immediately cut off by the Taihu Navy led by Li Chaobin, and Suzhou became an isolated city besieged on all sides.Cheng Xueqi, Gordon, and Huang Yisheng attacked day and night. The stone barriers outside Loumen, Fengmen, and Panmen were all destroyed by foreign guns.

In the middle of the night, accompanied by Tan Shaoguang, Li Xiucheng returned to Zhongwang Mansion after inspecting the fortifications of Xumen, Changmen, Loumen, and Qimen.Hearing the continuous sound of guns and cannons outside the city, and seeing the flickering flames at the top of the city, Li Xiucheng felt depressed and couldn't sleep peacefully.A year ago, under his direct leadership, Sufu Province was still thriving.Suzhou, as the political center of Sufu Province, has a lofty status second only to Tianjing in the eyes of the military and civilians of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.When the struggle for power among the upper-level leaders in Tianjing City intensified, many loyal soldiers, disappointed, pinned the hope and future of the kingdom of heaven on Suzhou. They believed that Suzhou under the leadership of the loyal king would eventually be able to shoulder the important task of saving the country's destiny.At that time, King Zhong himself had such ambitions. Li Xiucheng, who had never recited poems and compositions very much, actually looked at the sword pond and recited a poem of Qilu on a moonlit night when he was boating on Tiger Hill:

Drum Xuanxuan kept moving, caring about Chuwei and Wutou. Unexpectedly, after the sword energy rises, Hu Chen still disturbs the autumn. There are many fortifications in the mountains and rivers of thousands of miles, and you can climb the tower alone after a hundred years of experience. Everyone is responsible for his own rise and fall, and he is willing to pay his fame and fame. Unexpectedly, within this year, the situation in the Kingdom of Heaven took a turn for the worse.First, the defense line of the Yangtze River with Jiufuzhou as the main body collapsed, and the defense of Tianjing suffered a fatal blow.Then Yi Wang Shi Dakai was captured and executed by Luo Bingzhang, and the Taiping Army going west was wiped out.When the bad news came, the whole country was in grief.Although the westbound army is ineffective in defending the rivers and mountains in the south of the Yangtze River, as long as they are there, a pile of flames in the kingdom of heaven will be burning. Maybe one day, they will raise the flag of righteousness in the southwest and create a flourishing situation.But now, that glimmer of hope has been dashed.Then, most of the prefectures and counties in Zhejiang were lost. The Chu army and the Chang Jie army led by the French have surrounded Hangzhou, and Hangzhou may fall again at any time.Now the territory of Sufu Province is shrinking day by day, and Suzhou is at stake.Could it be that the ideal that tens of millions of people have longed for has been shattered like this?Could it be that the Kingdom of Heaven, for which millions of people shed blood and sacrificed their lives, has perished like this?Li Xiucheng cried out in pain in his heart.After a burst of heart-wrenching sadness, he slumped down on the easy chair and muttered helplessly: "God's will, is this God's will?"

"Lord King!" A quick and blunt accent came, Xiucheng raised his head, and saw Lou Sect Master General Bao Xi hurried in with a stern expression, "Lord King, King Na and Wang Tianjiang quietly left the Lou Sect just now." "Why did they leave the city in the middle of the night?" Xiucheng became alert, "Have you asked them?" "I asked." Bao Xi replied, "Nawang said something urgent." "Why didn't you stop him? No one is allowed out of town without my order!" Xiucheng was angry. "How can I stop it? King Na is a king, and I'm just a blessing." Bao Xi stretched out his two hairy hands, shrugged his shoulders, and made an aggrieved and helpless gesture.

Xiucheng's face relaxed.Bao Xi is not only a blessing, but he is also a foreigner. He does not have his own troops, how can he stop the vicious official Gao Yun, the king of Na, who has 50,000 subordinates? "Did you send someone to keep an eye on them?" Xiucheng asked again. "Sent two people." "That's right!" Xiucheng patted Bao Xi's shoulder and praised.He expressed his apology for the anger just now with this intimate gesture.Yesterday afternoon, Li Xiucheng and Tan Shaoguang inspected more than half of Suzhou City, but they couldn't see Gao Yunguan, Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun, Zhou Wenjia, and they were puzzled.He and Shaoguang went straight to Nawang's mansion, opened the door, and saw the four kings and heavenly generals Fan Qifa, Zhang Dazhou, Wang Huanwu, and Wang Youwei whispering furtively, seeing them suddenly barging in, the eight of them looked embarrassed.Zhong Wang said a few words and then came out. "The actions of Gao Yunguan and others are questionable. When the soldiers are in danger at the city, we must prevent someone from selling the city to join the enemy." On the way, Xiucheng solemnly warned his son-in-law.That night, all the gates in Suzhou sent more trusted aides of King Mu, and informed Bao Xi, who was guarding the Lou gate, of this important situation.

"Father." Tan Shaoguang strode in and reported, "Gao Yunguan and Wang Youwei rowed a small boat into Yangcheng Lake." "How do you know?" Xiucheng asked. "I just came from Loumen, and the people sent by Baoxi came back to report." What did they do in Yangcheng Lake?Li Xiucheng pondered. Li Xiucheng did not expect that at this time, Gao Yunguan and Wang Youwei were sitting opposite Li Hongzhang, Cheng Xueqi, Gordon, and Huang Yisheng on the luxurious boat of Huaiyang Navy Admiral Huang Yisheng, discussing top-secret matters. "Of course, Suzhou is just around the corner, but even so, the court still welcomes General Gao who can abandon the dark and turn to the bright, and change from evil to good." Li Hongzhang showed obvious contempt on his long face. He imitated Zeng Guofan's appearance and kept his right hand He carefully combed the beard under his mouth, but his beard was short and sparse, far from the style of the teacher.He stared at Gao Yunguan's face, and asked in an interrogative manner, "General Gao, how many people have you controlled?"

"There are 80,000 people in the city of Suzhou, and we control more than 50,000 people. Tan Shaoguang only has more than 20,000 people. Now the food in the city is basically gone. Among his more than 20,000 people, only two or three thousand people followed him wholeheartedly. Others will come here as soon as the food is cut off." Gao Yunguan is not a cowardly and incompetent person, on the contrary, he has always had extraordinary courage and courage, and because of this, he is unwilling to stay under others for a long time. Throwing away the hoe, picking up the sword and gun, and joining the Taiping Army, relying on military exploits to get ahead and gain glory and wealth.But now, seeing that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is over, there are only two paths before him: defend Suzhou, and the result must be death here; surrender the city, and possibly become a high official of the court.Zhang Guoliang, Wei Jun, and Cheng Xueqi are examples.Not long ago, Luo Guozhong, who offered Changshu, and Qian Shouren, who offered Taicang, were appointed as lieutenants. They changed their masters and clothes, and they were still high-ranking officials with generous salaries.Gao Yunguan has no belief in lifelong struggle, nor does he have any moral concepts such as integrity. His purpose in life is to be powerful, powerful and rich, and to live a happy and comfortable life.Many senior generals in Suzhou City held his outlook on life. He quickly contacted Bi Wang Wuguiwen, Kang Wang Wang Anjun, Ning Wang Zhou Wenjia, and heavenly generals Fan Qifa, Zhang Dazhou, Wang Huanwu, and Wang Youwei.After plotting several times, the unanimous view is: Suzhou cannot be defended, and surrender is the only way out.Wang Youwei went out of the city in disguise and expressed this meaning to the Huai army who were besieging the city.Li Hongzhang made an appointment to meet at Yangcheng Lake tonight, and he wanted to meet Gao Yunguan in person to see if it was a real surrender or a false surrender.

"Wu Guiwen and the others are all reliable?" Li Hongzhang asked, tilting his head and squinting his long eyes. "It's reliable, it's completely reliable!" Gao Yunguan took out a few pieces of paper from his pocket, and handed them to Li Hongzhang with both hands, "This is a letter from Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun, Zhou Wenjia and others to your lord." Li Hongzhang took the paper, turned it over slightly, and put it aside. "These thin papers are useless!" Cheng Xueqi glanced contemptuously at the letter from Wu Guiwen and others, then stood up and shouted sharply, "If you really surrender, you will bring Li Xiucheng's head to Li Zhongcheng next time." After speaking, he sat down and looked at Li Hongzhang flatteringly.

Li Hongzhang smiled and asked Gao Yunguan: "Cheng Zongbing, can you do it?" "Well, this matter..." Gao Yunguan hesitated.In order to gain Li Hongzhang's trust, he would not hesitate to do whatever Gao Yunguan was asked to do now, but killing Li Xiucheng was very difficult for him.It might not be too difficult to suddenly lead troops to surround Zhongwang's mansion and arrest and kill Li Xiucheng, but Gao Yunguan couldn't bear to do so, and Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun, Zhou Wenjia and others might not be able to do so.The four of them have been Li Xiucheng's confidantes for many years. It was Li Xiucheng who promoted them step by step from ordinary low-ranking officers, and then played the role of quasi-king, and made them all four kings; The prestige among the ten thousand soldiers is extremely high, and there are many people who oppose the killing of Li Xiucheng, so there is no guarantee that there will be trouble.

"Even Li Xiucheng didn't dare to kill him, and even talked about surrendering. Forget it, I knew that you bastards were not sincere." Seeing Gao Yunguan's hesitation, Cheng Xueqi forced him again with arrogance.Li Hongzhang kept silent, just combing his beard non-stop, with a mocking smile on the corner of his mouth.Gordon's chest was straight, and he looked like a well-bred professional soldier. His Chinese was not very good, but he could understand it.Huang Yisheng had never been good at speaking, so the two of them sat and listened silently. "We are really sincere, we can swear to God!" Gao Yunguan was anxious.Wang Youwei also hurriedly said, "Cheng Zongbing, don't misunderstand, we are sincerely surrendering to the imperial court." "That's right." Gao Yunguan had to tell the truth, "All of us were single-handedly promoted by Li Xiucheng, and there are many soldiers who have been favored by him. I'm afraid that if we kill Li Xiucheng, it will cause trouble. .” Li Hongzhang nodded slightly.Gao Yunguan thought for a while, and then said: "If Zhong Cheng and Cheng Zongbing don't believe it, within these two days, we will kill Tan Shaoguang first and hang his head outside Qi's gate. You can see clearly. Let's open the Qi door again and let the army come in. At that time, Li Xiucheng will naturally not be able to escape from Suzhou, what do adults think?" "Yes." Gordon said a very simple Chinese. "I think that's fine. As long as Tan Shaoguang is killed, Suzhou will be in chaos. As long as our army enters the city, Li Xiucheng will be the turtle in the urn." Huang Yisheng also agreed. "That won't work, we have to kill Li Xiucheng first!" Cheng Xueqi refused to budge. "If you don't want to do what Cheng Zongbing said, then I can't make the decision alone, and I have to go back and discuss it with Wu Guiwen and the others." Gao Yunguan glanced at Cheng Xueqi and said softly, "Cheng Zongbing also surrendered later. People, why make things difficult for others?" "You! What the hell are you talking about?" Cheng Xueqi stood up again in anger, the veins on his neck bulging. The word "guishun" is the scar on Cheng Xueqi's head. He hates others to expose it the most. If Li Hongzhang, Gordon and others were not sitting here today, he would definitely fight. "He's right." Gordon said to Cheng Xueqi calmly, he looked down on Cheng Xueqi who had no military temperament. Cheng Xueqi stared at Gordon, his face flushed purple, he clenched his fists, tried to stand up a few times, but sat still.Gordon acted as if he hadn't seen it, and kept his back straight, with his hands flat on his knees.Li Hongzhang was worried that the negotiations would break down. What he wants now is to get Suzhou City as soon as possible. The besieged beasts are still fighting, not to mention that there are still 80,000 soldiers in the city, and there is the prestigious Li Xiucheng. If Gao Yunguan is forced to hug Li Xiucheng , it is hard to say whether Suzhou City can be won. "Okay!" Li Hongzhang put down his hand touching his beard, and said solemnly to Gao Yunguan, "It's settled like this. Within three days, you will hang Tan Shaoguang's head on the Qimen tower. This is your sincerity. Three If there is no movement after a few days, we will attack by force, and it will be too late to surrender at that time." Gordon and Huang Yisheng nodded in agreement, while Cheng Xueqi was noncommittal. "We will definitely kill Tan Shaoguang within three days and open the door." Officer Gao Yun was relieved about this matter, but he was not so relieved about another matter, "Lord Zhongcheng, after the brothers surrender, the court will not kill him." Shall we?" "Hahaha!" Li Hongzhang laughed loudly, "Don't worry, you are meritorious persons of the imperial court, how could you kill your head! You will be rewarded." "How big an official will it be?" Wang Youwei timidly probed. "At least the lieutenant general." Li Hongzhang replied straightforwardly. "Where are our subordinates?" Gao Yunguan asked after a moment of hesitation. "It is under your command as it is!" Li Hongzhang's pleasure made Gao Yunguan feel that these benefits came too easily and he dared not believe it. He added: "Lord Zhongcheng, what you said will not change by then!" "I am a majestic governor of Jiangsu, how can I go back on my word." Li Hongzhang replied firmly. "There is no evidence for what you say, can you make a written agreement?" Gao Yunguan asked boldly, for fear of being reprimanded by Li Hongzhang. "Okay." Li Hongzhang's unusually straightforward reply surprised Gao Yunguan and Wang Youwei.Li Hongzhang wrote in writing: "Gao Yunguan and other eight people killed Tan Shaoguang and offered them to Suzhou. After the incident was completed, they were appointed as deputy generals by the imperial court, and the original subordinates remained unchanged. I will never break my promise when I set up this writing tool." Li Hongzhang signed on the back After writing his own name, he handed the pen to Cheng Xueqi and said, "You, General Ge, and Chang Qi all sign, so that they can rest assured." Gao Yunguan and Wang Youwei hid the document and returned to Suzhou with peace of mind. In the early morning of the next day, a fast horse rode through the encirclement of the Qing army, rushed into Suzhou City from Qimen, and handed Li Xiucheng an imperial edict written by the king of heaven.The edict sealed Li Xiu as a true and loyal military advisor of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, took charge of the military and political power of the whole country, and returned to Tianjing to relieve the siege.The position of a true loyal military adviser is actually the second highest position after the king of heaven.At this time, the king of heaven granted him this position, which undoubtedly expressed his complete trust in him.For this, Li Xiucheng was grateful.But Suzhou is at stake, especially the secretive departure of Gao Yunguan and Wang Youwei last night, which makes Li Xiucheng feel that the situation is serious.Tan Shaoguang is young, can he take on this important task? "Father, Tianjing is more important than Suzhou after all, you should go back to Tianjing!" Of course Tan Shaoguang knew what Li Xiucheng's departure from Suzhou would mean, but he always cared about the overall situation and understood the general situation. This was also an important reason why Li Xiucheng recruited him as his son-in-law. "Lord Zhong, after you return to Tianjing, on the one hand, relieve the siege of Tianjing, and at the same time send a team to rescue Suzhou." Bao Xi suggested from the side. "Okay, your reminder is very good!" Bao Xi resolved Li Xiucheng's conflict with one sentence.Yes, Suzhou's relief has to rely on foreign aid. "Shao Guang, Bao Xi, as long as you persist for another week, I will organize an army of 50,000 to come to the rescue." In the middle of the night, Li Xiucheng brought a few soldiers out of the city of Qimen.Before leaving, he held Shaoguang's hand tightly, and said, "The burden of Suzhou is on your shoulders, and you must do everything possible to persevere. Gao Yunguan, Wang Youwei and others are acting suspiciously, so you should be careful." Shaoguang said firmly: "Father, don't worry, go, Suzhou will be there with me." Li Xiucheng's sudden departure brought unexpected convenience to Gao Yunguan and others. This night, the Four Kings and Four Heavenly Generals conspired and planned in Nawang Mansion all night. In order to cope with the accident, Tan Shaoguang convened a meeting of all the senior generals defending the city, re-deployed the city defense, and announced that Gao Yunguan, Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun, and Zhou Wenjia were replaced from Changmen, Qimen, Xumen, and Panmen respectively. "Crack!" Tan Shaoguang hadn't finished speaking, Gao Yunguan jumped up, his eyes widened, and he shouted: "Tan, please understand, Suzhou is not your world anymore, why do you want to replace us!" When Tan Shaoguang watched, Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun, Zhou Wenjia, Fan Qifa, Wang Youwei and others all clenched their sword hilts; outside the door, hundreds of men with swords and guns had surrounded the conference hall. "No, let them do it first!" Tan Shaoguang groaned secretly, and shouted: "Officer Gao Yun, are you going to rebel?" "I'm about to rebel!" Gao Yun pulled out his waist knife with a bang, and ordered Wang Youwei: "Give it to me!" Wang Youwei drew out his sword and rushed towards Tan Shaoguang like crazy. "Get out of here!" Bao Xi yelled, and immediately pulled out the foreign gun on his waist, and the bullets flew towards Wang Youwei with two beeps.Wang Youwei tilted his head, and with two screams, the two generals behind him fell into a pool of blood.Gao Yunguan brandished his knife and yelled: "All of them!" The other six rushed forward, Tan Shaoguang and Bao Xi were outnumbered and finally fell down.There was chaos in the meeting hall, and the generals were stunned by the sudden change. "Brothers!" Gao Yunguan jumped on the table and shouted in a hoarse voice, "Suzhou city has already run out of food, if we keep going, everyone will starve to death. We have already contacted Li Zhongcheng. As long as Xiancheng surrenders, The brothers can keep their current official positions. What do you think? " "Okay!" "Agreed!" "We listen to King Na!" Most of the generals in the meeting hall agreed, only a few people watched coldly and did not make a sound. On the day Tan Shaoguang's head was hung on the Qimen tower, Li Hongzhang led Cheng Xueqi's Kaizi battalion and Gordon's ever-victorious army into the city.Zhongwang Mansion was changed to Futai Yamen in Jiangsu Province.Three days later, Li Hongzhang set up 250 tables of banquets in the spacious back garden, and 2,000 military officers above the brigade commander of King Gao, Wu, Wang, and Zhou Zhou were invited to the banquet.Gao Yunguan and other eight people sat at the guest-of-honor table beamingly. After drinking for three rounds, Li Hongzhang stood up and said with a pleasant smile: "Brothers, you have all made great contributions to the restoration of Suzhou City, especially General Gao and General Wu. General Gao and eight others will serve as deputy generals." Having said this, Li Hongzhang turned his face and shouted, "Come here, bring the official uniforms of General Gao and others!" As soon as the words were finished, eight well-dressed yamen servants came out from behind, each holding a wooden tray, on which was a set of brand-new second-rank military officer robes neatly stacked, and eight red crowns were placed on the robes. The tasseled umbrella-shaped hat, especially the eight flowered coral beads on the top of the hat, shone brilliantly in the sun, making people at the banquet table jealous. "Brothers, let's drink three cups to General Gao and the others!" Li Hongzhang said, taking the lead in raising the wine glass, and toasted with Gao Yunguan and the others with a smile.All the drinkers were in a commotion.They drank heavily and ate large pieces of meat, completely unaware that they were sitting on the guillotine. Seeing that most of the people were almost drunk, Li Hongzhang gave Cheng Xueqi a wink.There was only a sound of a cannon going up into the sky, and countless soldiers of the Huai Army suddenly fell from the sky in the back garden.They all wore full body clothes and held sharp knives. Without much effort, two thousand heads fell to the ground. At the same time, the four kings and four heavenly generals at the guest table had already reported to the Hall of Hades.Li Hongzhang sat on the stool with a smile on his face, watching the tragedy in front of him as if watching a play. Cheng Xueqi grinned loudly, he was very proud and happy.Huang Yisheng couldn't bear it.It's hard for him to understand Li Hongzhang's thoughts, killing and surrendering is not benevolent, doesn't he even understand this?Gordon raised his eyebrows angrily. He was very indignant at Li Hongzhang's blatant treachery.He finally couldn't bear it anymore, stood up abruptly, pointed at Li Hongzhang's nose and cursed: "Rogue, I want to sue the whole world!" After saying that, he left angrily. "Zhong Cheng, Gordon can do what he says, and he will really sue." Looking at Gordon's back, Huang Yisheng said to Li Hongzhang timidly. "Let him sue! This is China, not his British Empire!" Li Hongzhang laughed heartily.