Sun Youcheng and Kuang Jiacheng arrived at Jiangbei Camp with a group of people and were immediately received by Li Zhen.
In the big tent, Sun Youcheng said respectfully: "Master Li, the first step of the plan to deliberately release grain to the Taiping Army has been completed. The other party has robbed another 300,000 kilograms of grain. Next, the second step of the plan will be implemented. Do you have any new ideas for the upcoming plan?" Sun Youcheng had already learned the specific arrangements for the second step of the plan from Li Zhen before, but after a while, Sun Youcheng wanted to confirm it and see if Li Zhenyou No new ideas.
Li Zhen shook his head and said: "The second step of the plan has been finalized. I don't have many requests. I only ask for a little and a louder momentum."
"Well, I understand."
Sun Youcheng nodded and said: "I will go back immediately to organize relevant personnel to prepare, and also ask Mr. Li to prepare."
Li Zhendao: "Don't worry, I'm always ready."
Sun Youcheng immediately stood up to say goodbye and left the Jiangbei Camp with Kuang Jiacheng. Kuang Jiacheng didn't know the specific plan. He was confused and didn't know anything clearly. He asked: "Mr. Sun, what is the second step of the plan."
Sun Youcheng said: "Let's go, I'll tell you halfway, we need to do this together to build up the momentum, otherwise, everything will be in vain."
When Kuang Jiacheng saw what happened to him, he immediately laughed.
…
Chen Yucheng returned triumphantly with 300,000 kilograms of grain and was immediately received by Hong Xiuquan.
In the Hall of the Heavenly King, Hong Xiuquan was wearing a dragon robe and a jade belt around his waist. He was sitting upright directly above the hall. His face was serious, but there was a smile in the corner of his eyes. Chen Yucheng easily obtained 300,000 kilograms of grain. Hong Xiuquan was also quite happy. of.
Below the main hall, stood Hong Renfa, Hong Renda, and Prime Minister Xu Yuan.
Chen Yucheng stood respectfully in the center of the hall and said loudly: "This time we captured 300,000 kilograms of food, but for the soldiers in the army, the food supply is still in short supply and cannot meet the needs of all soldiers. The soldiers have to fight. , you have to work hard, and you can't eat porridge and pickles all day long. If this continues for a long time, our soldiers will be so hungry that they will become emaciated and emaciated. If we don't use the Manchu army to attack, we will have problems ourselves."
Xu Yuanwen also agreed with Chen Yucheng's opinion and asked: "Prime Minister Chen, do you have any ideas?"
Chen Yucheng, like Xu Yuan, both held the position of prime minister.
The prime minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not held by one person. Instead, the prime minister was divided into six official prime ministers: heaven, earth, spring, summer, autumn and winter. For example, the division of "heaven" has the prime minister of heaven; the division of "earth" has the official of earth. Prime Minister... Not only that, each Prime Minister also has four persons: 'Zheng', 'Youzheng', 'Deputy', and 'Youde', for a total of twenty-four prime ministers. It can be said that the prime ministers travel everywhere.
Chen Yucheng smiled back and said unhurriedly: "I think the food problem is actually Li Zhen's problem. These two things are connected."
"Oh, tell me carefully."
Hong Xiuquan showed a hint of interest and asked curiously.
Chen Yucheng said: "After careful consideration, I believe that Nanjing's food supply comes from three main sources. One is from the taxation of food produced by the people under my jurisdiction. Since wars are ongoing, the food taxation is only a small part. Point."
"The second is the supply from merchants in Shanghai. Shanghai is the most prosperous commercial location near Nanjing. There are countless big merchants, as well as many foreign merchants. These foreign merchants are protected by foreign soldiers, which makes Shanghai mixed with the strength of foreigners. , but on the other hand, Shanghai is also Li Zhen's territory, because the officials who currently control Shanghai are still Li Zhen's old subordinates. Once Li Zhen is defeated, Shanghai will no longer have the protection of Li Zhen. If we attack Shanghai appropriately, we can Shock the grain merchants and let the merchants who control the grain loosen their control over the grain, and Nanjing will be able to get grain."
"The third source is the supply of grain from merchants near Nanjing. There are countless large merchants in Yangzhou, Taicang, and Zhejiang Province. The merchants must have groups. They have united to prevent the sale of grain to Nanjing, so that we have no grain. , and the protector of these people is still Li Zhen."
Chen Yucheng's eyes were cold and stern, and he said in a deep voice: "To solve the food problem, in the final analysis, we need to solve Li Zhen's problem. As long as Li Zhen is solved, everything will be solved, and businessmen everywhere will no longer dare to curb the sales of grain." The channel in Nanjing, the King of Heaven, and the ministers requested a battle, willing to lead the army to attack the Jiangbei camp."
After hearing this, Hong Xiuquan immediately considered the feasibility of Chen Yucheng's suggestion.
What he was thinking about was whether he could defeat Li Zhen. It was just like the question that Chen Yucheng's veteran Lao Yu considered at the time. Li Zhen was a famous general in the world, could Chen Yucheng defeat Li Zhen.
At the thought of failure, Hong Xiuquan's fighting spirit plummeted.
Hong Renfa had no other abilities, but he still had the ability to observe people's words. Seeing Hong Xiuquan's hesitation, and Hong Xiuquan advocating not to fight, he immediately stood up and said: "King of Heaven, I have something to say."
"explain."
Hong Xiuquan said in a deep voice.
Hong Renfa said: "At the beginning of the year, Shi Dakai defected to Nanjing, which caused Nanjing's strength to be greatly weakened and even precarious. After the efforts of the King of Heaven and all the courtiers, it finally improved and restored some of its strength. At this time, I We believe that the first priority is to develop ourselves and enhance our strength. Moreover, Yang Xiuqing, Qin Rigang, Hong Xuangjiao, Li Xiucheng and others all failed in their attack on Li Zhen. We must be ahead of the curve and we cannot afford to fail."
Immediately, Hong Renda continued: "King of Heaven, my brother agrees with King An's opinion and cannot go to war. My brother does not think that General Chen will fail, but that we cannot withstand failure. Once defeated by Li Zhen, everyone in the army will think that Li Zhen will fail." Zhen is our nemesis."
"That's nonsense."
Chen Yucheng was furious when he heard this and immediately retorted.
An Wang Hong Renfa immediately said: "General Chen, what's wrong with what I said?"
Chen Yucheng snorted: "King An deserves to be King An. He always puts safety first. However, the generals disagree with what King An said. Yang Xiuqing, Qin Rigang and others were defeated by Li Zhen, so we don't dare to go." If so, I think this is a real failure, because everyone is afraid of Li Zhen and dare not hit Li Zhen."
Speaking of excitement, Chen Yucheng said excitedly: "If the army wants to win the war, it must have the heart to despise the enemy. No matter how powerful the enemy is, it must believe in its own strength. We soldiers also have brains and flexible brains. , so I think Li Zhen is not invincible."
Hong Renfa blushed and hesitated, not knowing how to refute.
When Hong Renda saw this, he thought that if he spoke he would be scolded by Chen Xiucheng, so he simply stopped talking.
Chen Yucheng said: "King of Heaven, please give the order. I will raise my troops to level the Jiangbei camp."
After Hong Xiuquan thought for a moment, he shook his head and said: "Yucheng, I also believe that the current top priority is to develop strength. You should work hard to train your troops and strive to lead the army to attack the Jiangbei camp next year." Hong Xiuquan also chose to be conservative because he was afraid of failure. Afraid that one's prestige will be affected.
After hearing this, Chen Yucheng sighed in his heart.
Hong Xiuquan didn't know how to make progress, how could he seize the world?
Chen Yucheng was very disappointed. He didn't know what he said next, so he left the Heavenly King's Hall in a daze. When he returned to the military camp, he was even more listless.