Chapter 45 Erhong Renda reveals the secret of Yulinyuan

Xiao Fusi checked carefully, and asked several Taiping Army officials who surrendered to check in person, and confirmed that the person kidnapped and sent here was Li Xiucheng.He knew that the old heavenly king Hong Xiuquan was dead, and that the young heavenly king Hong Tianguifu was a child, and that Wang Hongrengan was supposed to be the prime minister of the country's political affairs, but his qualifications and achievements were not enough to command the whole country. This Li Xiucheng.It was really a lucky star and good luck, Xiao Fusi galloped into the city and reported the big news to Zeng Guoquan.

"Is it really a hypocritical chieftain?" Zeng Guoquan was frustrated that he hadn't captured the most important leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom these days. This news made him so excited. "The lowly position has been verified face to face by the long-haired pseudo-official who surrendered. There is no doubt that he is the pseudo-loyal king Li Xiucheng." Xiao Fusi replied loudly. "What about the fake Young Heavenly King, the fake Gan Chief, and the fake Zhang Chief?" Zeng Guoquan asked impatiently, wishing to catch them all. "I haven't caught it yet, but it doesn't matter." Xiao Fusi said confidently, "There will be good news within a couple of days, Jiu Shuai, you can rest assured and wait!"

"Xiao Junmen, hurry up and bring the false loyal chief, I will interrogate him personally!" Zeng Guoquan ordered loudly. "Yes!" Xiao Fusi turned and went out. "Slow down." Zeng Guoquan touched his bald pointed chin, thought for a moment and said, "This commander is the commander-in-chief of the three armies of the majestic king's division, and the false loyal chieftain is just a grass bandit in the mountains. Today he is my prisoner, so I called you here." Didn't this commander meet him on an equal footing? Xiao Junmen, go down and quickly build a wooden cage three feet long, three feet wide, and six feet high, tie up the false loyal chieftain and throw them into the wooden cage, and then Order four soldiers to carry him on their shoulders to meet me in the hall."

When the soldiers came in with the large wooden cage containing Li Xiucheng, Zeng Guoquan had already put on the second-rank civil official court uniform, with a long face, straight back, and was sitting in the middle of the hall.The wooden cage was gently put down, and Zeng Guoquan's two bony hands on the desk were already shaking, making a sound like a chicken pecking rice. The veins on his body were protruding, and his lips were twitching. Seeing Li Xiucheng sitting in the wooden cage calmly, like a idler enjoying the cool air, he couldn't help but feel even more angry. "Crack!" Zeng Guoquan slapped the desk violently.The force was so strong that I felt numb in my palms, and the soldiers on both sides lowered their heads in fright. Li Xiucheng in the wooden cage seemed to have heard nothing, but still sat upright with a faint smile on his face.

"You are the false loyal chief Li Xiucheng!" Zeng Guoquan's hoarse roar was almost trembling. "This king is right." Li Xiucheng's answer in the wooden cage was very serene. Zeng Guoquan was overwhelmed by Li Xiucheng's aura, and couldn't ask another sentence for a while. "Where did the false young heavenly king go?" After a long time, Zeng Guoquan burst out another sentence. "have no idea".Li Xiucheng was happy, which meant that the young king was not caught. "Where are Hong Rengan and Lin Shaozhang?" Li Xiucheng was overjoyed again, neither King Qian nor King Zhang was arrested!He still answered calmly: "They will always be by the young king's side."

"Hahaha!" Zeng Guoquan stared at the wooden cage for a long time, and suddenly burst out laughing, "Li Xiucheng, you also have today!" Zeng Guoquan laughed recklessly, his voice changed from complacent to crazy, from crazy to gloomy, from gloomy to sad, and finally Mixed with whimpering and crying, all the officers and soldiers in the hall were terrified. In the hot weather, it was like standing in the cold wind, and the whole body was shaking. "Li Xiucheng, you have caused me so much suffering!" Zeng Guoquan yelled, put away his strange smile, shot a fierce light from his eyes, stood up suddenly, put his hands on the desk, and shouted, "When you escaped from the city How many troops did you bring?"

It was rumored that Zeng Laojiu, who was so capable, was such a stern and soft-hearted person. Li Xiucheng really despised him, so he closed his eyes and ignored him. "Where do you want to escape to?" Li Xiucheng didn't answer. "Where is your brother Li Shixian now?" Li Xiucheng still did not answer. "Where did Chen Bingwen, Wang Haiyang, and Lai Wenguang go?" Li Xiucheng sat upright with his eyes closed, expressionless, and took a contemptuous attitude towards Zeng Guoquan's question, ignoring it.A prisoner was so arrogant and rude that Zeng Guoquan was swept away.He became angry from embarrassment, and finally completely abandoned his status as a second-rank official, picked up an iron awl from the desk that was usually used for binding documents, walked quickly down the hall, rushed to the side of the wooden cage, and faced Li Xiucheng. The thigh poked hard.Li Xiucheng closed his eyes tightly and leaned his whole body against the wooden pillar. The muscles on his face twitched non-stop. He endured the tremendous pain and remained silent.Zeng Guoquan pulled out the iron awl forcefully, and a stream of blood gushed out from the wooden cage.Li Xiucheng squinted his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.Zeng Guoquan was furious again.The awl didn't pierce, but because of too much force, his forehead hit the pillar, and the pain caused him to yell, "Come on, cut his flesh with a knife!"

Two soldiers came over and helped Zeng Guoquan to sit on the chair, and one soldier came up with a dagger. "Cut, give me a piece of land!" Zeng Guoquan yelled as he sat down and pressed his forehead with one hand. The soldier picked up the dagger, went to the wooden cage, put the knife into the wooden cage, and slashed at Li Xiucheng's left arm, a piece of flesh fell off, and blood gushed out.The timid staff covered their faces and did not dare to look, but when they looked sideways with bold ones, they saw Li Xiucheng still sitting, motionless, secretly admiring him. "Cut again!" Zeng Guoquan went completely crazy.The soldiers had no choice but to raise the dagger again, and cut off another piece of flesh from Li Xiucheng's left arm.At this time, Li Xiucheng's left underwear was completely soaked in blood, and he did not move or make a sound, sitting upright like a stone sculpture or cast iron.Zhao Liewen, who was sitting by the side, couldn't stand it anymore, stood up and walked to Zeng Guoquan, and said softly, "Jiu Shuai, don't cut any more, Li Xiucheng's mind is already numb, it's useless to cut a few more pieces, in case he bleeds too much and dies." , it’s hard to explain in the future.”

"If you die, you die. There is nothing to explain." Zeng Guoquan replied coldly. "Nine Marshals, what if the court wants to offer up prisoners?" "Li Xiucheng is no more than a grassroots bandit, and the imperial court can't afford to hold a prisoner offering ceremony for him." Zeng Guoquan looked at the table coldly, then raised his head nervously, and ordered loudly: "Cut it off, cut it off piece by piece, cut it to death and pull it down!" Zhao Liewen knew that Zeng Guoquan had lost his mind.Of course he could understand Zeng Guoquan's mood at this time.In order to break Jinling, Lao Jiu almost put his life on the table, but as an aide who was ordered by Zeng Guofan to assist him, he believed that he had the responsibility to stop Zeng Guoquan's gaffes. "Nine Marshals, even if the imperial court does not allow captives to be offered, Li Xiucheng is a key criminal in Long Mao after all. It is a great credit to the Nine Marshals to catch him. Now the weather is hot and Li Xiucheng is very weak. If he cuts him a few more times , Li Xiucheng will die in the hall immediately. In the future, if a villain writes to the court saying that Jiu Shuai arrested a fake and pretended to be rewarded, what will Jiu Shuai use as evidence?"

These few words of Zhao Liewen obviously moved Zeng Guoquan, he raised his black and thin right hand, waved it weakly, and signaled his soldiers to go down. "Ninth Marshal." Zhao Liewen continued, "There is another important reason. Li Xiucheng cannot be allowed to die right now, so I have to ask Jiu Shuai to order someone to apply medicine to him immediately to avoid accidents." "What did you say?" Zeng Guoquan raised his eyes and looked at Zhao Liewen.Zhao Liewen turned his face away to avoid his intimidating gaze. "Jiu Shuai, Lord Zhongtang is still in the future. He wants to interrogate Li Xiucheng himself." In one sentence, Zeng Guoquan was suddenly sober as if he had taken a refreshing medicine.Yes, the elder brother is still in Anqing, and he said that he will come to Jinling in the next two days.If Li Xiucheng died today, how would he explain to his elder brother?Confused!Zeng Guoquan secretly blamed him.He stood up and said to the wooden cage under the court: "Li Xiucheng, you have committed a heinous crime, and you deserve to die. This Commander will not torture you today, and let you live for a few more days!"

The four soldiers walked to the wooden cage, shouted, and lifted the cage to their shoulders. Just as they were about to start it, Li Xiucheng looked at Zeng Guoquan and cursed: "Zeng Laojiu, you are more poisonous than snakes and stupid than pigs, When the two countries fight each other, each is its own master. The general of the defeated army can be killed but not humiliated. You don’t understand this little truth. How can you have the right to interrogate me! Besides, it’s a common thing for victorious and defeated military strategists. Hundreds of thousands of people, you only win occasionally, how can you put on airs in front of this king!" Zeng Guoquan, who had just calmed down, was irritated by Li Xiucheng's words again. Angrily, he snatched the dagger from the soldier's hand: "I must kill you today!" As he said this, he was about to rush over, but Zhao Liewen grabbed it and said, "Jiu Shuai, don't bother with such clowns!" He turned his face and ordered, "Not yet!" Lift it down!" Zeng Guoquan sat down on the chair again, his face pale with anger.At this moment, Liu Lianjie came in and reported loudly: "Nine Marshals are overjoyed, Hong Chief's second brother Hong Renda has been captured!" "Come on!" Zeng Guoquan ordered.It was the first face-to-face confrontation with Li Xiucheng, and he knew in his heart that he had lost, and now he had to interrogate Hong Renda to save face. Hong Renda was escorted up.This is a man in his fifties, obese, with a dark complexion, thinning hair, small eyes and thick lips, and looks obscene.Hong Renda came in, and without waiting for Zeng Guoquan to ask questions, he knelt down in the middle of the hall and shouted: "Master Zeng Jiu, spare your life!" Zeng Guoquan glanced contemptuously, and shouted, "Report your name!" Unexpectedly, even though Hong Renda had lived in Jinling for more than ten years, he couldn't understand Zeng Guoquan's Xiangxiang official dialect. He stared blankly at Zeng Guoquan, not knowing what he was talking about. "Report your name!" Zeng Guoquan yelled again impatiently.Hong Renda was still watching like a fool. "Isn't he deaf?" Zeng Guoquan thought to himself. "Jiu Shuai." Zhao Liewen understood in his heart, leaned over and said, "I think he can't understand you." Zeng Guoquan nodded.Zhao Liewen said to the soldiers: "Bring Chen Defeng here." Song King Chen Defeng was captured yesterday in a street battle in the city, and immediately surrendered to the Hunan Army.Chen Defeng was brought up, and his hands were tied with ropes. "Chen Defeng, tell me that Hong Renda is deaf, and I still can't understand what I say." Zeng Guoquan asked. "I tell the Nine Commanders that Hong Renda is not deaf. He has been farming at home since he was a child, and has never been an official. He usually only understands the Huaxian dialect, and he can't understand anything else." Chen Defeng answered with a bow. "Then tell him what I said in Huaxian dialect again, and ask him to confess truthfully." "Yes!" Chen Defeng bowed again. After translated by Chen Defeng, Hong Renda finally understood, "The villain's name is Hong Renda." "Who are you from Hong Xiuquan?" "The villain is Hong Xiuquan's second brother. There are three brothers, the elder brother and I are born of one mother, and the third is born of another mother." "What kind of official did Hong Xiuquan seal you?" "The third son first made my elder brother King An, then changed it to King Xin, and named me King Fu, and then King Yong. Ninth Master, in fact, my eldest brother and I farmed for the first time. We can't recognize a stone in big characters. We don't know how to be king, we only know Eat well, dress well, and ask for more wives." The moment Hong Renda was arrested, he was thinking about how to save his life.He put all the responsibility on Hong Xiu's body and dressed himself up as an ignorant bumpkin.Everyone in the lobby thought it was funny, but they didn't dare to laugh out loud.Zeng Guoquan thought: Such a person has been king for more than ten years, what a fucking bastard! "Hong Renda, I ask you, when did Hong Xiuquan die?" "The third child returned on April 19th. Since the end of March, Tianjing has been tightly surrounded by Lord Nine. The third child knew that he could not win the battle, so he became ill. I advised him to take medicine, but he didn't take it. It is said that his life is in the hands of the Heavenly Father, and taking medicine is useless. On the night of April 19, the city was full of flames, and the third child thought that the city had been broken, so he committed suicide by taking poison." "Where is Hong Xiuquan's body buried?" "Buried under the largest sweet-scented osmanthus tree on the hill east of the Yulin Garden outside Xintianmen." "You have to confess honestly, no nonsense!" "Yes, yes, the villain doesn't dare to talk nonsense. After the third child died, I wiped the corpse and changed into clothes, and the place to be buried was also chosen by the villain and the villain's elder brother." Although Hong Xiuquan was not captured alive, he can be confirmed dead. This is what Zeng Guoquan gained from interrogating Hong Renda today.Such a stupid person probably didn't know much, Zeng Guoquan didn't have the mind to continue the trial, so he ordered him to be taken away.Hong Renda was in a hurry, he wanted to bet on it, maybe one day he would be beheaded, and there was still a life-saving prescription, and it would be too late. "Master Jiu, I have one more thing to tell Master Jiu!" Hong Renda shouted from the hall. "What else do you need?" Zeng Guoquan asked angrily. "Master Jiu, this is a top-secret matter. If you promise me not to behead me, I will tell you." Zeng Guoquan thought to himself, this guy is Hong Xiuquan's second brother, maybe he really knows something that others don't, so he coaxed: "Tell me, I won't kill you." Hong Renda was very happy, and said: "This matter can only be told to Master Jiu, but not to others." "You all go down!" Except for Chen Defeng, everyone left in the courtroom, including Zhao Liewen.Hong Renda approached Zeng Guoquan and said quietly: "There is a peony garden on the left side of the Yulin Garden. In the middle of the peony garden there is an open space the size of a dustpan. From this open space, there are three large wine jars. This is what I saw last month. When Tianjing was in crisis, it was buried secretly. It contained the treasures that the third brother had bestowed on me for more than ten years. I don’t know how much these treasures are worth. I have more things than others. He said that my wealth can surpass that of a man named Shi Chong in the previous generation. He also said that I am the richest person in the world. Lord Jiu, I am willing to use these three altars of treasures to redeem me I will give you the three altars of treasures, so let me go!" Zeng Guoquan never expected that the trial of this stupid and fake brave king would turn out such a beautiful thing. The troubles of Li Xiucheng's trial just now had already flown out of the sky, and he was overjoyed. "Okay, I won't kill you, but you must never tell others about it. If I can't dig out the three altars of treasures, I might tear you to pieces!"