"Are you Zeng Guofan?"
"Exactly! I am none other than Zeng Guofan!"
The person who asked the question was the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the person who answered was Zeng Guohua, the third brother of Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan is eleven years older than Zeng Guohua, one is forty-one years old, and the other is only thirty years old. Logically speaking, they should not recognize each other. It's bad, but the two brothers really look alike. They both have hanging eyebrows, triangular eyes, high cheekbones, big beards, and thin bodies. It's almost like Zeng Linshu had a third child based on the appearance of his eldest son Zeng Guofan!
Moreover, all the Zeng family members have an old appearance - with this appearance and the sideburns, it is normal for them to look ten or eight years older than their actual age.
However, Xiao Chaogui was a rough man but he still stared at the old man who looked very similar to him kneeling next to "Zeng Guofan" and asked in a deep voice: "Who are you?"
After a night of tossing, Zeng Linshu lost more than half of his soul. Now his mind is still blank. Hearing Jian Chaogui's question, he just subconsciously replied: "Old, old man is Zeng Linshu, a scholar from the Lotus Leaf Pond in Xiangxiang." Fame...
"Then is he your son Zeng Guofan?" Xiao Chaogui asked, pointing to Zeng Guohua.
Zeng Linshu nodded and replied: "Yes...
Hearing his father's answer, Zeng Guohua breathed a sigh of relief.
It turned out that when he was brought to see Mr. Kanemori, he quietly told his father that he was going to pretend to be his brother. But at that time, his father looked like he had lost his soul. Only God knows whether he heard it or not.
Xiao Chaogui looked at Xu Yuegui again, Xu Yuegui smiled and said: "It's unmistakable, I asked the Zeng family to recognize it too!
Then you really can’t go wrong!
He admitted it, his father identified him, and a kid from the Zeng family who was kidnapped from Baiyangping in Lotus Leaf Pond also recognized him. Then the person in front of him must be Zeng Guofan... Although he looks a little younger, he behaves As a senior official, I eat shark's fin and bird's nest every day, pamper myself and take various supplements. It's normal to look younger!
"Okay, now that Zeng Guofan has been captured, let's relieve the siege and retreat!"
Jian Chaogui already knows the strength of Qingyao's troops in Xiangxiang County. There are 1,000 state camps, of which 500 are Zhang Guoliang's soldiers. They are not weak! There are also 500 local regiments in Xiangxiang who have been training for two years. The old team training should also be able to fight.
More importantly, Xiangxiang is just an inconspicuous small county, and it is not worth Xiao Chaogui's waste of too much energy.
In fact, he had been delayed in Xiangxiang County for too long. First he attacked a small village called Heyetang, and then he had trouble getting through there with a group of natives named Zeng. After struggling for a few days, he left Ma behind. Baocai and a pawn will help him open up a base
Afterwards, he led the remaining soldiers and horses to attack Xiangxiang County, and arranged for Xu Xianggui to sneak into the secret hall with elite members of the God Worshipers...
This guy is trying to fight against a small county with the same vigor as Changsha!
Now that Zeng Guofan has been captured, why should he compete with Xiangxiang County? Even if they are defeated now, it is impossible to divide the troops and set up defenses. They still have to be thrown out. If the city is empty, they can be attacked as easily as possible.
But now there are 1,500 defenders in the city, and it might take ten days and a half to defeat it, with the loss of 300 to 400 lives... This is too time-consuming.
Changsha City has almost been taken by Luo Yaoguo, and Qingyao will definitely fight back with all its strength!
To repel Qingyao's counterattack, opening up and controlling the Xiangjiang River is the key.
Because only by opening up the Xiangjiang River, the large group of people led by Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing could march all the way along the river and reach Changsha. Hong and Yang's group not only included the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's left, middle and right garrison and the main female army, but also a large number of family belongings and baggage.
, and the female troops, family members, and baggage all traveled by boat along the Xiangjiang waterway. If Xiao Chaogui's army could not pull out the county towns and towns along the Xiangjiang River that were defended by landlords' armed forces, it would be inconvenient for Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing's main forces to come over.
Moreover, relying on the Xiangjiang River, Feng Yunshan's southern Hunan base can be firmly defended.
Therefore, Xiao Chaogui did not have the time to spend ten days and a half in Xiangxiang and Qingyao, and he did not have the extra troops to defend Xiangxiang, which was far away on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River.
"Wait!"
Seeing Xiao Chaogui about to leave, Xu Yuegui hurriedly stopped him.
Xiao Chaogui smiled and asked: "Sister Yuegui, Zeng Guofan has already obtained it. If you don't want to retreat, is there anyone else you want to capture?"
"Brother Xiao," Xu Yuegui said with a smile, "Sister, I don't want to catch anyone else, but I want to ask Zeng Guofan to write a letter and shoot it into Xiangxiang County to tell the dog officer inside that Zeng Guofan is in my hands.
They immediately reported to Xianfeng that Xian Yaotou would offer my husband Hong Daquan in exchange! It won’t be too late to leave after receiving a reply from the other party!”
"Okay!" Xiao Chaogui nodded, then glared at Zeng Guohua, "Write according to Mrs. Xu's words!"...
Xiangxiang City, County Government.
"Di Zhang, Long Mao is strong, our army is weak, and we can barely defend the city, how can we still go to war?
"Di Zhang, it's you that Changmao wants to catch, not Mr. Boss and Wen... If you rush out of the city now, not only will you not be able to save them, but you will get yourself involved too. Who can come to save you and Wen then?"
Mr. Boss and Wen Fu? Even if we want to rescue them, I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do!”
"Teacher, what Master Zhu and Yunxian said is absolutely true! As long as you, mentor, can be saved, there will always be a way to rescue Master Lao and Wen Fu. At worst, we can raise a huge sum of money to redeem them.
ah!"
"Brother, Mr. Zhu, Brother Ziying, and Brother Yunxian are right. The family members who ran back are all the ones that the girl Changmao wants to catch is you. The third brother thinks he is you because he protects you. You.
Now to lead the troops out of the city to fight Changmao, wouldn't it be like throwing yourself into a trap? All the efforts of the third brother will be in vain!"
"Brother, fourth brother is right..."
Zhu Sunyi, Guo Songtao, Huang Shijie, Zeng Guohuang, Zeng Guoquan and others were in the second hall of the county government office in Xiangxiang County at this time, pulling Zeng Guofan together to prevent him from going out of the city to fight against Rong Chaogui! Zeng Guofan looked like he had lost his mind.
He looked like a man, holding a sword and rushing out, as if no one was holding him and he really wanted to rush out of the city to die.
Just when several people were a little unable to stop Zeng Guofan, who was about to go "crazy with filial piety", Zhang Guoliang's Cantonese accent suddenly came from outside the second hall of the county government office: "Good news, good news... Changmao has withdrawn his troops!"
We won!" "Thank God..." Zhu Sunyi, Guo Songtao, and Huang Shijie all said "Thank God" in their hearts, but on the surface they still looked indignant.
Then a Hunan accent shouted: "Eldest brother, second brother, fourth brother... Before Changmao retreated, he shot in a letter written by the third brother in the name of the eldest brother!" "What? Fifth brother, what did you say?"
Zeng Guofan was stunned when he heard this.
Zeng Guobao took out an envelope tied on an arrow shaft and shot it into the city, handed it over with both hands: "Brother, you can read it yourself!"
Zeng Guofan hurriedly took the envelope and took out the letter paper inside. Sure enough, it was the handwriting of his third brother Zeng Guohua. Although the handwriting was still Zeng Guohua's, the name of the recipient written in the first line at the beginning was "Brother Cheng, Brother Wen,
Brother Yuan, Brother Ji, you", and the signature at the end is "Brother Guo Fan Hand Grass".
Among them, Chengdi refers to Zeng Guohuang, whose name is Chenghou, Wendi refers to Zeng Guohua, whose name is Wenfu, Yuandi refers to Zeng Guoquan, whose name is Yuanfu, and Jidi means little brother, referring to Zeng Guobao.
The content of the letter was to inform his father and himself that Zeng Guofan was captured by Xiao Chaogui, the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and that everything was fine now. The Western King had no intention of harming him. The Western King just wanted to exchange the lives of father and son for Hong Daquan.
He hoped that his family could convey this news to Emperor Xianfeng and beg Xianfeng not to harm Hong Daquan. Finally, "Zeng Guofan" also hoped that his family could reply with a letter and send it to the Western King's army.
After reading this letter, Zeng Guofan was no longer dumbfounded, but petrified! How should I reply to this letter?
Reply in whose name?
If he returned in the name of Zeng Guofan, would the Western King be so angry that he would kill Zeng Linshu and Zeng Guohua?
This filial son acted like a filial son. Before his mother’s death was over, he killed his father as a “filial piety”!
But if we follow Zeng Guohua's letter, will the long-haired man really regard Zeng Guohua as Zeng Guofan? When Xianfeng refuses to exchange Hong Daquan, it would be better if the long-haired man kills Zeng Guohua, in case he is forced to surrender.
"Zeng Guofan"...Well, there are two Zeng Guofans, one from the Qing Dynasty and one from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This is a lot of fun!
Chapter completed!