"Mr. Guo, what are you thinking?"

The person who was called Guo Laodao by Lu Yi was really a Taoist priest. The man's surname was Guo Mingcheng. He was originally a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi. He followed his master to escape. Unexpectedly, after the Taiping Army attacked Jiangxi, a team of defeated Qing army green camp soldiers ran to the vicinity of Longhu Mountain to collect grain and slaughtered several villages at the foot of the mountain. Some villagers ran up the mountain, but were blocked by the green camp soldiers, covered them with sacks, and then poured them on tinder oil and burned them in order to make fun.

Guo Cheng, who was hiding with his fellow brothers at the mountain gate, was angry at the atrocities of the Qing army. He broke free from the brothers and rushed out with his kitchen knife alone. As a result, he killed nine Qing soldiers in a row, which scared the rest of the Qing army to panic. After committing such a big deal, the Taoist priests on Longhu Mountain were naturally afraid that the Qing army would come to take revenge on the mountain gate. Guo Cheng was so happy that he said that one person would do things and one person would do it. He would go down the mountain to surrender to the army to avoid implicating the army.

Just like that, Guo Cheng came down from Longhu Mountain. He thought of the government surrendering. As a result, after inquiring, the Qing army in Jiangxi had long been defeated by the Taiping army from Guangdong. The officials appointed by the Tartars either surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, or were raided by the Taiping army. The young and old even asked the boys to kill them. Now Jiangxi is the surname Li Ming!

This is great news. Guo Cheng originally wanted to go back to the mountain to tell his master and his brothers about the good news. But then he thought that he went up the mountain at the age of six and stayed on the mountain for twenty years in a flash. Although he learned a lot of skills from his master, he had never even gotten down the mountain gate before. He just carried water and chopped wood every day, learned Taoism and practiced martial arts, and lived a very boring life. Wouldn't this skill be wasted?

Thinking of this, Guo Cheng decided to join the army, relying on his martial arts to find a future and live a personal life. So he went to the nearby Taiping Army recruitment site to join the army. As a result, he was caught by Liu Bangdong, a hundred households who came to recruit soldiers, and asked him to be his direct guard, responsible for the banner and orders.

Because Guo Cheng looks a little old, he is wearing a sloppy Taoist robe when he first entered the camp. At first glance, he looks like an old Taoist priest who appeared in the Dao Temple. Therefore, the Taiping Army in the camp calls Guo Cheng, who is only 26 years old, "Guo Laodao".

After carefully understanding Guo Cheng's past experience, the Anjun envoy Lu Yi ordered that Guo Cheng should not be called the old Taoist. He did not expect Guo Cheng to think that being called the old Taoist was good, because his master was called "Zhang Laodao" by the villagers at the foot of the mountain. Moreover, when he hit Xiao Guo Cheng, he heard from his senior brothers and the others that anyone who was called the old Taoist was very capable and respected, so Guo Cheng insisted on his companions to call him Guo Laodao, and Lu Yi was so amused that he could not let him go.

Guo Cheng was dazed because he was young and had washed his feet for him, except for his senior brothers and others when he was a child, no one in the world had washed his feet for him. Now, Lu Anzhi was holding his feet, washing while checking whether there were bubbles under him.

"Luan, I can wash myself. My legs are very hard. Don't worry, I can go to the end with the team."

Guo Cheng was embarrassed to break his feet away from Lu Yi's hand, but Lu Yi laughed and pressed his feet back into the bucket. While washing, he said, "The General said that only by taking good care of ourselves in our Taiping Army, the soldiers can kill the Tartars for the world. If there are any problems with their own body, no matter how many Tartars are in front of you, you can't kill them. Don't underestimate this foot washing. In the past, when Liu Baihu and I fought Tartars in Huizhou, we used hot water to burn our feet every day when camping, so that the soles of our feet will be much more comfortable and will not bubble up the next day. If it is not hot and the blood vessels are activated, it will definitely bubble up. Then the pain will make you unable to move forward. Now we have only walked 200 miles and are still far from Nanjing City. If we want to go to Nanjing smoothly, this foot board cannot be produced at all."

"I know this, but Luan asks you to let me wash myself."

Guo Cheng was really embarrassed to be washed by a big man. Lu Yi smiled, stood up from the ground, wiped the water stains on his hands, and said to Guo Cheng: "The General said that the Han people in the world are family, and our brothers in the Taiping Army are as close as their family. We are the elders and brothers, and parents! Do you think that what is wrong with this brother washing your younger brother's feet? In the future, when you accumulate merit and become the commander, if you become the commander, you must take care of your brothers as much as I am now, and treat them as real family members. Only when we are as close as our family, can we advance and retreat together on the battlefield, and can we safely hand over the flanks and backs to our comrades and brothers, and move forward bravely and fearlessly!"

"The Han people in the world are a family"

Guo Cheng thought calmly. Lu Yi left, but he observed the situation of others. It was not until very late that everyone had fallen asleep. He scooped a bucket of hot water while sitting by the campfire and scalded his feet, while eating the remaining crusts at the bottom of the pot with pickles. The crusts were a little hard, so he soaked them in boiling water, so that they would not be so laborious.

Suddenly, a slight footsteps came from behind. Lu Yi thought that some soldier was getting up and Xiaojie. He looked back and saw a very familiar face that he would never forget.

"Master!"

Lu Yi was so excited that he was about to stand up and come forward to pay homage to Zhou Shixiang. Zhou Shixiang hurriedly raised his hand and pointed at the sleeping soldiers, indicating that Lu Yi would not disturb them. Lu Yi hurriedly sat there and didn't dare to move. Zhou Shixiang smiled and looked at the young officer in the firelight. He also looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen this person for a moment.

Finally, Zhou Shixiang's eyes fell into the bowl held by the young officer in his hand, and found that he was eating water to soak the crust. He was stunned. Zhou Shixiang said nothing, but just patted the young officer on the shoulder and turned around and left.

Lu Yi sat there blankly, watching Ge Zhenjiang and Chen Qianhu and others disappear into the night surrounded by the general.

In order to rush to Nanjing as quickly as possible, all Taiping soldiers of the Eastern Expedition were required to march lightly. In addition to necessary weapons and armor, each soldier was only allowed to carry 20 kilograms of grain and a six-kilogram quilt. Therefore, more than 30,000 Taiping soldiers lying on the open space on the bank of Tunxi were sleeping around the bonfire and had no tent at all. It was the end of August, and there was also cold in the south, and even dew in the early morning.

Along the way, there were sound sleeping sounds from sleeping soldiers everywhere. With the eyes of sentries and patrol guards, Zhou Shixiang and his party carefully walked through the camp and came to the Tun River, which was quietly flowing with the river. The wind by the river blew the torches held by the guards to an uncertainty, and the sound of military flags not far away hit everyone's heart.

"This structural map of Nanjing City was bought by the Military Information Department from a large sum of money from a former Jinyiwei named Wei Youqing."

"Wei Youqing?"

"According to this person, he was the distant nephew of Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch of the Tianqi Dynasty. When Wei Zhongxian was not over, he found a hundred hereditary households of the Jinyiwei for him. After Wei Zhongxian's death, he was driven out of the Jinyiwei by the court and later wandered to Jiangnan. In the Jiashen year, the Qing army went south, and he happened to get this Nanjing structure map from the descendants of Duke Wei. At that time, he thought that this map might be sold at a high price in the future. He didn't expect that it would be in his hands for 16 years and no one would buy it." Guo Xiong said this and paused and said, "The intelligence officer of the Military Intelligence Department in Jiangnan first found the descendants of Duke Wei, and only then did he know that the picture had fallen into Wei Youqing's hands. After searching for several months, he found Wei Youqing's whereabouts and spent a lot of money to buy the picture from him."

Zhou Shixiang nodded. He didn't care how he got this map of Nanjing when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He only cared about whether this map was useful. He asked Guo Xiong: "Is this map trustworthy?"

Guo Xiong said confidently: "The military department has studied it, and combined with the Nanjing intelligence sent by the Military Information Department, he unanimously believes that this picture is true."

"Then where do you choose to explode?"

"Yifeng Gate!"

"Yifeng Gate?" Zhou Shixiang frowned slightly, "Is it the gate where Liang Huafeng attacked the Yanping King's army?"

"It's that city gate. As shown in the picture, the Yifeng Gate is full of pure mud, which is most suitable for digging tunnels. There is no need to worry about the danger of water inlet and collapse. There are also wild forests everywhere, which are not easy to be discovered by the Qing army."

Zhou Shixiang pondered for a moment and said to Guo Xiong: "I will leave this matter to you. I don't want to blow up Nanjing City then."

Guo Xiong hurriedly said, "Don't worry, the general will guarantee his life!"

"What's the use of your life? If you can't break Nanjing City, you can't save my more than 30,000 soldiers even if you cut off my head!"

Zhou Shixiang took a breath and marched 800 miles to capture Nanjing City. Success and failure were here. The danger inside was no less than Chaohui's fight against Jidu's army on the east expedition that day. After that, the southeast changed color. If not, the more than 30,000 Taiping Army would become an isolated army. They could not advance or retreat under the city of Nanjing, and there was no supply of food and grass. There was a great probability that the entire army would be wiped out. When the decision to attack Nanjing was made for the entire army, Zhou Shixiang knew that this was the biggest gamble in his two lives, which was even bigger than the gamble of the surprise attack on Guangzhou City by following Suna's advice that day!

Ge Yi suddenly said with some concern: "Master, General, I thought it was not difficult to seize Nanjing, but such a long-distance marching was unprecedented in our army. The General was worried that the soldiers would not be able to arrive as scheduled. If they could arrive, there would probably not be many. In the best situation, there would be no 20,000 people. At that time, they would be trapped and exhausted, and their physical strength reached their limit. They would not have the strength to attack the city. It would be like a bomb that would explode Nanjing City. There were still tens of thousands of Qing troops in the city. How could they stop their counterattack? The General always made the battle too dangerous."

Ge Yi mentioned this issue and was also the most worrying thing about the military headquarters and the towns. From Huizhou Prefecture, passing Ningguo, Taiping, taking the path to Gaochun and Lishui, and finally reaching the west of Nanjing City. The distance is at least 800 miles. Judging from the quality of the Northern Expedition Army's advancement, there are probably less than 20,000 people who can successfully reach the city. The 20,000 troops of the expedition were hard-working against the tens of thousands of Qing troops who were waiting for their hard work, even if the explosion was the weapon, the generals were still not optimistic about taking over Nanjing City. After all, Nanjing is not an empty city, but there is a prince of Tartar inside!
Chapter completed!