Dong Shuheng returned to Yangzhou on February 5, the fourth year of Xianfeng. He took a fast boat and took the canal, returning ahead of the rest of the army.
A lot of big things happened in the south this month.
On January 15, Hu Yihuang of the Taiping Army captured Luzhou and forced to death Jiang Zhongyuan, the founder of the Hunan Army and an old enemy of the Taiping Army.
The rise of Jiang Zhongyuan is closely related to the Taiping Army.
During the Taiping Army uprising, he was just a county magistrate. At that time, Jiang Zhongyuan's official position was obtained step by step. He was more famous than Zeng Guofan. He was the authentic founder of the Hunan Army.
At the beginning of the Taiping Rebellion, the imperial envoy and scholar Sai Shang'a went to Guangxi to suppress the Taiping Army. Jiang Zhongyuan accompanied the army on the expedition and received special attention from the deputy capital commander Wu Lantai.
He was specifically ordered to return to his hometown in Hunan to organize an army. This was the embryonic team of the later famous Hunan Army. At the beginning, there were only 500 people who went to Guangxi to suppress bandits.
At that time, the Taiping Army was extremely powerful and repeatedly defeated the regular troops of the Qing Army. They beat the troops led by Admiral Xiang Rong, Commander-in-Chief Wu Lantai and others into a panic and were defeated. They continued to fight from Guangxi to Hunan.
In 1852, the Taiping Army broke through and marched north to invade Guilin. At that time, the commander-in-chief Wu Lantai was killed in the battle, and Xiang Rong could only pursue the Taiping Army.
After Jiang Zhongyuan heard the news, he recruited more than 1,000 soldiers in his hometown and led an army to guard Cormorant Island. He defeated the Taiping Army three times and lifted the siege of Guilin. Emperor Xianfeng was overjoyed and believed that the so-called regular troops were not as good as other people's rabble. Therefore, he
He was promoted to prefect.
Later, he led his army to win the battle to defend Changsha, and was awarded the second-level title. In this way, Jiang Zhongyuan became a governor from the county magistrate in one year. Later, after the Taiping Army moved eastward to Jiangning and established its capital, it sent troops to attack Nanchang, Jiangxi.
Jiang Zhongyuan's army supported Nanchang and saved the city of Nanchang, forcing the Taiping Army to retreat and go north.
After Shi Dakai arrived in Anqing, he changed his strategy and asked Hu Yihuang to go north to attack Luzhou, the temporary provincial capital of Anhui. Luzhou was in danger again.
The Qing government then ordered Jiang Zhongyuan to be the governor of Anhui, to defend Luzhou, and to send reinforcements to support him.
The reinforcements along the way were from the Huaihai Navy, which did not take the Qing government's request to heart at all. Dong Shuheng also wanted to use the Taiping Army to completely drive the Hunan Army out of Anhui.
On the other side was the 5,000 Qing army led by Shu Xing'a, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. However, Shu Xing'a was too slow and did not arrive until the city of Luzhou was broken.
The Taiping Army also paid a heavy price in its attack on Luzhou, and the initial attack did not go smoothly. After the Eastern King Yang Xiuqing and the Huai Navy secretly stopped fighting, Tianjing sent reinforcements to Anhui, and Hu Yihuang gained the upper hand.
Hu Yihuang used private houses outside the city as cover to dig tunnels. Governor Jiang Zhongyuan dug from inside the city and destroyed nine of the Taiping Army's siege tunnels.
Although the Taiping Army blew down the city wall twice, they failed to invade. Later, the Taiping Army switched to a new method, "Beside the Moon City of the South Gate, they dug several more places, shaped like curved protrusions, and stacked into upper and lower layers.
. The warning says: When it first occurs, you don’t have to respond when you hear the sound, just block it with all your strength. If you block it and it occurs later, you won’t be able to catch it.”
On the night of January 14th, when the fog was so thick that you couldn't tell where you were, the mines on the upper level exploded, destroying five or six feet of the city wall. The Qing troops defending the city rushed to block it. Soon, the mines on the lower level were fired again, and the villagers rushed down to the city and defected to the Taiping Army.
The Qing army was in panic and chaos.
The Taiping Army's attacking troops took advantage of the momentum and rushed in through the gap, and the defenders retreated one after another. At the same time, the Taiping Army in the direction of Xiaonanmen and Xiaodongmen also climbed up the ladder, invaded the city, and started street fighting with the Qing army.
By the morning of the 15th, all the Qing troops defending the city were wiped out, the prefect Hu Yuanwei surrendered, and Luzhou City was occupied by the Taiping Army. Jiang Zhongyuan was unwilling to surrender to the Taiping Army and committed suicide by drowning.
When the Taiping Army invaded Luzhou City, Liu Qingnan led the instructors to also occupy Chuzhou and Hezhou. The Qing troops in both places had been transferred to support Luzhou and had been eliminated by the Taiping Army.
The first division of the First Division led by Wang Congzhi also successfully captured Fengyang Prefecture, Sizhou and Yingzhou. The troops advanced to the front line of Dingyuan, Fengtai and Yingshang.
After the Taiping Army conquered Luzhou, they did not advance eastward or northward. Instead, they took advantage of their victory and marched into Lujiang, Lu'an, Qianshan Wuwei and other prefectures and counties.
In this way, the line from Luzhou to the Yangtze River in the east was the territory of the Huaihai Navy, and everything to the south was occupied by the Taiping Army.
In the south, the Taiping Army finally captured Nanchang, which had suffered several failures. Except for a few of the Jiangxi officials in Nancheng who surrendered, all others were killed.
The Huaihai Navy's Second Division also occupied Guangde, Ningguo, Huizhou, and Guangxin Prefecture in Jiangxi, and recovered Raozhou and Jingdezhen that were previously in the hands of the Taiping Army. However, other places in Jiangxi and southern Anhui were all occupied by the Taiping Army.
In this way, the Taiping Army was integrated from Jiangning to the west and south, and occupied the provincial capitals of Anhui, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi provinces.
Under Dong Shuheng's order, the Huai Navy also stopped on the current front and did not move.
The Taiping Army also had a tacit understanding and did not actively provoke the Huaihai Navy. Even when the Huaihai Navy took advantage of the Taiping Army's full-scale attack on Nanchang and occupied Raozhou and Jingdezhen, they did not launch a counterattack.
Because a big event is brewing in Tianjing City right now.
After Tianjing was established as the capital, rifts grew between the main leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, etc. each formed their own power groups and fought for power and profit.
The Eastern King Yang Xiuqing controlled most of the real military and political power, and his proud and domineering style expanded his conflicts with Hong Xiuquan, Wei Changhui, Shi Dakai, Qin Rigang, etc.
Since getting involved with the Huai Navy, the Eastern King Yang Xiuqing has become more powerful. Not only are the guards of Tianjing City under his command, but he has also used money to win over some generals from the Western Expedition.
These people included Shi Dakai's subordinates, Wei Changhui's subordinates, and even the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan's subordinates.
This incident put all the kings on the same footing.
During the Spring Festival celebrations in Tianjing City, the kings gathered in Tianjin City. During the banquet, the King of Heaven mentioned the difficult days when everyone worked together as brothers to share the joys and sorrows during the Jintian Uprising. He also mentioned the earliest preacher of the Kingdom of Heaven, Nan Wang Feng Yunshan.
Moreover, Hong Xiuquan vaguely mentioned that Feng Yunshan’s death was quite strange.
This is actually a historical mystery. Many people in later generations believed that Yang Xiuqing designed Feng Yunshan to be killed.
This incident made Yang Xiuqing feel quite unhappy when she left the banquet.
That night, a thin young man quietly came to the back door of Northern King Wei Changhui.
Duan Quan, the head of the Northern Palace, came over personally to open them.
"Prime Minister Huang, please come in! Your Majesty is waiting for you."
The person who came was none other than Huang Hao, a close confidant of King Hong Xiuquan. Ever since he confirmed that he could not marry Yang Ximei, Huang Hao regarded Yang Xiuqing as his number one enemy.
If he can help the King of Heaven get rid of the internal enemy of King Dong, then Huang Hao will probably be crowned king in one fell swoop. Therefore, Huang Hao is very concerned about getting rid of King Dong.
The North Palace sent away all the servants tonight for various reasons. Therefore, Huang Hao went all the way to Wei Changhui's reception room, and there was no one except Chang Shi who led the way.
After entering the room, Duan Quan stayed outside the reception room.
With a "crunch", Duan Quan closed the door smoothly.
Sitting in the hall was a short, frail man wearing a bright yellow double-breasted robe. It was the Northern King Wei Changhui.
Anyone who knows Wei Changhui knows that they cannot be deceived by his appearance. Wei Changhui is extremely brave in commanding operations, and he is also a man of deep scheming, cunning, and many tricks.
"Prime Minister Huang, what is the will of His Majesty the King?" Wei Changhui has been waiting for this day for a long time, and he is very excited at this moment. The hatred accumulated in his heart towards Yang Xiuqing is almost bursting out.
Wei Changhui still remembers that he sent his subordinate Zhang Zipeng to invade Hubei on a ship. Zhang Zipeng was eager to make contributions and competed with the friendly forces for ships. Yang Xiuqing then beat Wei Changhui with a cane for dereliction of duty. Wei Changhui was beaten until his skin and flesh were bruised, and he could not get out of bed for ten days.
The most outrageous thing was that the brother of one of Yang Xiuqing's concubines was competing for real estate with Wei Changhui's brother. Yang Xiuqing wanted to kill Wei Changhui's brother, but did not do it herself and handed it over to Wei Changhui. Wei Changhui had no choice but to cut his brother into pieces.
It can be said that the hatred for Yang Xiuqing in Wei Changhui's heart has accumulated to a certain extent, making Wei Changhui himself psychologically distorted.
Huang Hao took out a bright yellow scroll from his arms. Just as Wei Changhui was about to stand up and kneel down, he was supported by Huang Hao.
"King Bei doesn't have to do this. It's a secret decree. His Majesty the King of Heaven has said it. Just let King Bei see it for himself." Huang Hao said with a hint of flattery.
After Wei Changhui received the edict, he read it carefully. The more he read, the more excited he became, so much so that his hand holding the edict trembled slightly.
"I accept the decree, long live your Majesty!" Wei Changhui saluted in the direction of the Heavenly King's Mansion.
…
Dong Shuheng didn't know that his little wing flap had brought the original Tianjing Incident forward by two years.
The early destruction of the Jiangnan Camp and the victory of the Taiping Army in Anhui and Jiangxi made Hong Xiuquan full of confidence. In addition, the Northern Expeditionary Army also sent back good news of their attack on Beijing in the north.
It made Hong Xiuquan feel that the Qing government was exhausted and the victory of the Taiping Army was just around the corner.
Before achieving the final victory, Hong Xiuquan had to get rid of the strongest potential enemy of his throne, an enemy within himself.
Since the fall of the Jiangnan camp, the King of the East has become increasingly arrogant. First, he asked the King of Heaven to confer the title of Long Live on him, and then asked to confer the title of Long Live on his son.
Coupled with the fact that Huang Hao and other close officials had been plotting against King Zhidong in front of the King of Heaven, Hong Xiuquan believed it to be true.
For example, Huang Hao claimed that Yang Xiuqing was planning to marry his sister to Dong Shuheng in exchange for cooperating with Huai Haijun to conspire for the power of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is quite reasonable.
The fact that Yang Ximei was captured by the Huai Navy for the first time and then released back can be confirmed.
There is cooperation between Yang Xiuqing and Huai Haijun, which is also well-documented. Otherwise, where did Dong Wang get so much food and materials? Who was the collected silk and porcelain sold to?
In the previous negotiation with Huai Haijun, why did the charcoal burner let his sister go to Yangzhou to negotiate, and Huai Haijun agreed so easily to help the Taiping Army transport supplies. For this reason, he was punished by Qing Yao.
Thinking along this line of thinking, Hong Xiuquan became more and more convinced that Yang Xiuqing must be discussing some conspiracy with Huai Haijun.
As the saying goes, before fighting foreign forces, one must first settle the internal affairs. The Huai Navy can be put aside first, but Yang Xiuqing must be dealt with first. Otherwise, the two must cooperate internally and externally, and the kingdom of heaven he built with his own hands may be ruined.