Chapter 70 Sand King and Righteous King (2)
Five days later, next to the Yiwang Mansion in Anqing, Shi Dakai was sitting by the river, watching the warships on the Yangtze River. He thought about it, but soon after, soldiers came to report: "Report to Your Highness, Your Highness, there are guests outside the camp asking for a visit."
Shi Dakai was stunned: "Who is the person coming?"
The soldier said: "The visitor called himself the King of Sha Feng Yuliang, who came from the night of the starry sky in Tianjing."
"Sand King Feng Yuliang? I haven't heard of it, have you confirmed it clearly?"
"It has been confirmed that the visitor has the handwriting of His Majesty the Heavenly King, and there will be no falsehood. Should the King of Justice meet?"
Shi Dakai thought for a while and said, "It's interesting, let him come in."
Soon, Su Sanniang, who was already dressed up, came to Shi Dakai and bowed, "See King Yi, Feng Yuliang, who was wrongly loved by the Heavenly King recently and was named King Sha. Although he was in the name of the king, he has long admired the name of King Yi. Today I am fortunate to see him, and he is indeed of extraordinary temperament!"
Shi Dakai returned the ceremony and said, "Since King Sha came from Tianjing, there must be something important to tell me. Come on, follow me to the Yiwang Mansion and tell me slowly."
The two walked into the hall of the Yiwang Mansion. Shi Dakai asked his subordinates to make two cups of tea for them. After they sat down, they asked, "What handwritten order did the Heavenly King bring?"
Su Sanniang handed over the handwriting to Shi Dakai. When Shi Dakai read it, she said: "Since King left Tianjing, it has been more than April in a flash. His Majesty the Heavenly King misses King Yi very much. If the war in Beijing is intensified today, I will send my ministers to talk to King Yi, hoping that King Yi will not be grudged, change his mind, and return to Tianjing to discuss the country with the King."
After reading the handwriting, Shi Dakai gently rolled up the handwriting, put it aside, and sighed and said, "I said when I left Beijing that although Shi Dakai was not in Tianjing, I, first, did not surrender to the Qing Yao, and second, I would not return to the field. No matter where I went or where I fought, I would always be the chief general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. I would be responsible for overthrowing the Qing Yao and establishing a small paradise. Although I am in Anqing, I am always concerned about the war in Tianjing at all times, and I also empathize with the pressure from His Majesty the Heavenly King. Since Tianjing is in trouble, I cannot stand by and watch... Let's do this, I will send Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng, Wei Jun and other tiger generals to lead the troops to reinforce Tianjing."
Su Sanniang asked, "Dare you ask why King Yi didn't return to Beijing in person?"
Shi Dakai said: "In Anqing, several troops are also entangling with Zeng Yaotou, and they cannot be dispatched. I hope the Heavenly King and Sha King understand."
Su Sanniang asked: "If you report this to Your Majesty, Your Majesty will definitely order Chen Yucheng to station in Anqing. I believe that King Yi also knows that Your Majesty has always appreciated Chen Yucheng's talents and once wanted to summon him as his son-in-law. Moreover, Your Majesty's main purpose is to let King Yi return to the capital. King Yi wants to stay, so I dare to ask if there is any other reason?"
Shi Dakai thought for a while and said, "Alas, since Yang Xiuqing and Wei Changhui were killed, Your Majesty has been quite guarding against the elders who are highly meritorious. It's not that I haven't been back, but Your Majesty insists on appointing two brothers as kings, but he has restrained me in every way. After thinking about it, I, Shi Dakai, have been fighting outside for many years and really don't like palace fighting, so I still stay at the front line. I think that since Your Majesty has not issued an imperial edict, he just asked the King of Sha to bring a handwritten edict, which means that there is room for discussion on this matter. I also ask the King of Sha to tell you the truth. If I firmly don't return to Tianjing, what punishment will Your Majesty punish me?"
Su Sanniang knew that this was not Shi Dakai's true thoughts, but she could not mention the evil and evil things. After a few hard persuasions, she saw that Shi Dakai still did not give up, so she had to say, "Your Majesty has given me a task. He said that if King Yi insisted on not returning, he would admit that King Yi's departure was the "expedition" of the Celestial Empire, and he would stay by the King Yi, assist King Yi, and create a world outside."
Shi Dakai knew that this was just a spy liner next to him. However, the two evils were equal, and as long as they did not return to Beijing, it would not be a big deal. So he replied: "It's so great. After several young generals rushed to Tianjing, I happened to be missing a capable helper. If the Sha King did not dislike this simple Yiwang Mansion and was not afraid of the wandering life of sleeping in the open in the future, I, Shi Dakai, would like to welcome me."
Therefore, Su Sanniang failed to persuade Shi Dakai to return, but successfully joined Shi Dakai's expeditionary army. However, although the two shared the name of the king, Shi Dakai only granted Su Sanniang the decision-making power of logistics affairs, and firmly grasped the military and political power in her own hands. For Su Sanniang, this was the best arrangement. Her purpose was to steal the treasure map and prevent Shi Dakai from gaining power after he was in power.
However, the development of things did not go as smoothly as Su Sanniang imagined. Su Sanniang took advantage of the opportunity of Shi Dakai going out many times to try to find the whereabouts of the treasure map in the Yiwang Mansion, but she kept searching for it without success. Later, she was forced to follow Shi Dakai to fight in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Hunan, and continue to enjoy victory in all kinds of battlefields, and encountered failure. The troops following Shi Dakai had sharply reduced from the initial 100,000 to 30,000. Despite this, the Expeditionary Force still restrained a lot of Qing Dynasty.
The army created conditions for Hong Xiuquan's main force to lift the siege of Tianjing. Shi Dakai and Hong Xiuquan's power increased and declined. Hong Xiuquan felt relieved again and was gradually unwilling to worry that Shi Dakai's family would dominate, so he did not mention the treasure map. Instead, Su Sanniang and Shi Dakai survived the troubles and increasingly linked their destiny with the fate of the expeditionary army. Shi Dakai gradually lifted his defense against Su Sanniang and was eager to hire people, so he let Su Sanniang participate in the front-line war.
In 1859 AD, Shi Dakai raised an army from Jiangxi and entered Hunan and launched the "Baoqing Battle".
Baoqing has been a major transportation route since ancient times, with the dangerous snow peaks in the north and the beautiful five ridges in the south. The Zijiang and Shaoshui River converged here, with hills undulating, and the terrain was extremely dangerous. Shi Da opened troops to besiege Baoqing in two directions, forming a stalemate with the Qing army and the Hunan army. In July, Li Xubin's troops of the Hunan Army took advantage of Shi Dakai's main force to attack the half-bian street of the East Road of the Hunan Army. Gaojia rushed to the Qing camp and captured the Taiping army's Tianjiadu to Qingshuitang camp. At this time, the battle situation was already very unfavorable to Shi Dakai's army.
One day in late July, Shi Dakai and Su Sanniang led a vanguard force of 5,000 people to break through and evacuate to the southern part of Baoqing. Because the march was too fast, when the troops arrived at the Liyuao area, only 800 cavalry were left in front. At this time, the mountains on both sides were steep, but Shi Dakai insisted on going deep alone. When he was halfway through, a group of gunners who had long been ambushing the hillside came out one after another. For a time, the entire canyon was trapped in a sea of fire. Not long after, more than half of the 800 cavalry had been killed or injured, and the people in the rear quickly evacuated the valley. Shi Dakai and Su Sanniang were surrounded by thousands of Hunan troops along with more than 100 people left on the front line.
The leader of this ambush is Etourhung, who is the former subordinate of Li Xubin. Seeing that the situation was controlled by his own side, he took out his pistol and pointed it at Shi Dakai and said, "I didn't expect that, long-haired men, Governor Li went into ambush alone last year and was killed by you traitors in Sanhe Town. Today, you Shi Dakai fell into my hands in the same way. God is so open-minded, haha!"
At this time, Shi Dakai was already a bird in a cage, and it was hard to fly. Instead of fighting a trapped beast, it would be better to exchange one person's life for everyone's safety. Then he said, "You want me Shi Dakai to die, but I just want to use my head to Beijing to receive the reward. Even if the heads of these ordinary soldiers behind me are meaningless. If you agree to let them go, my life will be handled by you. Otherwise, once we fight to the death, even if you can wipe out our army, you may kill a thousand enemies and lose 800 yourself. What do you think of this deal?"
Etuulhun and the deputy general beside him looked at each other and said to Shi Dakai: "Yes, I agree."
Shi Dakai smiled slightly and was about to dismount and surrender, Su Sanniang stopped him and said, "Wait, you all made a mistake. He is not Shi Dakai at all, I am. If you want to change, you should change my head!"
Shi Dakai really didn't expect Su Sanniang to come out and shouted: "Feng Yuliang, don't meddle in other people's business!"
Etuulhun's eyes lit up: "Feng Yuliang? Oh... You can't be the king of sand Feng Yuliang they mentioned? Someone said before that there was a young boy promoted from the front line in the long-haired army, known as the king of sand. I thought it was a joke, how could the two long-haired kings work together? I saw each other today, it was really eye-opening, hahaha... It seems that the old thief Hong is no longer available, and his energy is gone, hahaha!"
The deputy general said: "No matter what king he is, as long as he is a long haired leader, he will get this head back twice the bounty!"
Seeing that his identity had been revealed, Su Sanniang sternly said: "Since that's the case, you will take me and King Yi away and let those ordinary soldiers go!"
Etourhhhh, this is difficult. If there is any king among the people who are let go, wouldn’t we have a big loss?”
A soldier in the Taiping Army saw the situation and shouted: "King Yi, King Sha, don't be lucky with Qing Yao. Since we have followed King Yi to leave Jing, we have already sent King Yi to the King of Yi! I am trapped here today, so we just want to live and die together with King Sha of Yi and fight to the last person! Everyone said, right?"
The morale of the soldiers was encouraged and they shouted: "Yes, yes, live and die together, and wipe out the Qing demons!"
Seeing this, Shi Dakai burst into tears and recited the "Praise of the Holy Father" loudly: "Praise God as the Heavenly Father, praise Jesus as the Savior, praise the Holy Spirit, praise the Holy Spirit's Wind and the Holy Spirit..."
This move was really exciting. In the valley, the romance of Taiping soldiers was heard:
"Praise God as the Holy Father of Heaven, praise Jesus as the Savior, praise the Holy Spirit, praise the Holy Spirit. How can the true way be the same as the world, save people and enjoy endless blessings. The wise are excited and receive them as blessings. The foolish awaken, the road to heaven is open, the heavenly father is vast and boundless, and he does not care about the prince, sending him to the mortal world, people repent, and the soul can ascend to heaven..."
The two armies were close together, and one of the Taiping soldiers was ready to die. They kept repeating the "Sutra of Praise of the Holy Father" and chopping them to the Qing army. They had heaven as their destination, and their combat effectiveness suddenly increased. Every time one person died, they could always replace the lives of one or two Qing army. Even so, the enemy was numerous and we were few, and the sound of chanting in the Liyuao Valley continued to decrease.
As a female general, Su Sanniang was very skilled in kung fu. After killing six people in a row, she was stabbed in the chest and abdomen. She was kicked in the abdomen in the duel with the deputy general and fell to the ground.
"Be careful of Sha King!" Four Taiping Heavenly Kingdom soldiers immediately surrounded Su Sanniang who had fallen to the ground. A large number of Qing troops immediately attacked here. After fighting seven or eight people, the four soldiers were killed in the battlefield. At this time, Shi Dakai's arm was also cut off and he couldn't take care of himself. Seeing that Su Sanniang was about to die, he shouted: "Sha King, see you on the road to the underworld!"
But at this critical moment, a sky-blue beam of light fell from the sky and shone on Su Sanniang. Su Sanniang suddenly felt a sky-blue aura all over her body, and she felt her whole body full of strength. When she looked at the Qing soldiers, each step they took was so slow. In an instant, a fish jumped up and shouted loudly, and the Qing army surrounding him flew away.
Etourhun and Shi Dakai shouted almost at the same time: "What's going on?"
At this time, Su Sanniang woke up the purifying power. She was originally a military general, and her power and speed were greatly improved instantly. When she confronted the Qing army, it seemed as if a strong man with infinite power was facing a group of children. With just one knife, the heads of the three Qing soldiers had already landed on the ground.
Another group of Qing soldiers surrounded them. Su Sanniang cleverly avoided their moves and waved her Pu Dao, shuttled between the Qing soldiers, lifted her sword and fell, and seven or eight Qing soldiers were chopped to the ground.
At this moment, the Qing army was shaken. If the opponent was only powerful and could win by just a human sea tactic, but once the enemy made a move almost beyond the naked eye, he would probably not know how he died. No one dared to come forward again and retreat one after another. He was so anxious that he shouted: "Don't retreat...Don't retreat! Those who violate the order will be killed!"
Seeing this, Shi Dakai also approached Su Sanniang, and while resisting the enemy, he asked, "Who are you?"
Su Sanniang said, "I don't know what happened, but I don't have time. My strange power is rapidly fading away. Run away!" After saying that, he shouted to the Qing soldiers blocking the road in front of him, "I don't want to die, get out of here!"
A gap appeared in the middle of the Qing army. Seeing this, Etuhrhui personally took a horse and killed the generals. When Su Sanniang was angry, Etuhrhui and his men and horses were cut into two halves.
Chapter completed!