Foreword: In July 1864, when Zeng Guoquan broke through the Tianjing City Wall, a Taiping army unit was brave and abnormal, breaking through the three encirclements of the Hunan army in a row.
A mysterious breakout force
This mysterious Taiping army slipped out from under his nose, which surprised Zeng Tiedou and made him very angry: When will someone slip away from me? Aren't you smashing my "iron bucket" signboard when you're making such a fuss?
Now is not the time to be angry, the gold-lettered signboard of "Zeng Iron Bucket" seems to be smashed, and the most important question now is how to minimize the loss?
The peasant uprisings of all dynasties and dynasties were similar to the last moment of failure, nothing more than the small soldiers trying their best to cover the breakthrough of the supreme leader, people have been doing this for thousands of years, there is no need to sacrifice brain cells, and you can conclude that there must be big fish in this batch of long hairs based on intuition alone! Otherwise, is it necessary to let so many people desperately break through at this time?
Zeng Iron Bucket, now you are in big trouble!
It is said that although the Taiping army that broke out this time is not very numerous, only more than 1,000 people, there are really a lot of big fish in it, and one of them is the little king Hong Tianguifu that he can't ask for.
In addition to Hong Tianguifu, the big fish also have a group of princes, civil and military officials such as Hong Renji, and there are many first-class "Qin criminals", but the real big fish is someone else, and this person is the big fish that Zeng Guoquan wants to catch the most - Li Xiucheng, the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as the planner and organizer of this breakthrough, only he has such wisdom and strategy in the current Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Just when Zeng Guoquan was going all out to complete the final preparations for the siege of the city at the dragon's neck, Li Xiucheng had been thinking about a major question related to the future and fate of the Kingdom of Heaven: how to save the life of the Little Heavenly King and let the flag of the Kingdom of Heaven continue to fly?
The old king of heaven has eaten nectar and ascended to heaven, the first banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has fallen, Tianjing is in danger, the second banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is about to break, if the little king has any more accidents, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will no longer have the opportunity to unite people's hearts and make a comeback!
This is a serious political issue, and it is a major issue concerning the future of the kingdom of heaven. The safety of the "second generation leader" of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is the foundation of the country, Tianjing can be recaptured if it is lost, and if the little heavenly king also ascends to heaven, the kingdom of heaven will really come to an end!
Li Xiucheng commanded the soldiers of the Taiping Army to "treat dead horses as live horse doctors" and defend Tianjing desperately, while racking his brains to think about how to bring the little king out of Tianjing. After all, there are still hundreds of thousands of Taiping troops scattered around Tianjing, as long as the banner of the Little Heavenly King is played, it is unknown when the comeback comes!
Breaking through is a difficult technical job, Tianjing has been surrounded by tens of thousands of Hunan troops, although it has not yet reached the point where even a fly can't fly out, but if you want to lead a force to break out, the difficulty is no less than landing on Mars, unless you have the ability of Sun Wukong's seventy-two changes.
But no matter how difficult it is, you have to try your luck with all your might, Li Xiucheng thought nervously, he was thinking about how to get out of this iron bucket of Zeng's iron bucket.
If there are too many breakout troops, the target will be large and easy to expose. However, the number of people is too small and it is difficult to break out of the encirclement, even if you are lucky enough to fish in troubled waters and get out of Tianjing, not to mention that it is difficult to resist the pursuers, even if you encounter a local armed force or a bandit who blocks the road and robs, I am afraid that you will not be able to deal with it.
Breaking through from Tianjing is not only a technical job, but also a cross-country race that requires physical strength. What worries Li Xiucheng is the little king himself, this sixteen-year-old boy, raised in the deep palace since he was a child, has never fought a vicious battle, has not suffered hardships, and even does not ride a horse very well. Even if you escape from Tianjing, you still have to travel a long way, and you have to deal with all kinds of unexpected emergencies and difficulties.
For the future of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, even if there is only one percent hope, we must strive for it with 100 percent effort, as long as we work hard, there will be no regrets!
It is up to people to plan things, and it is up to heaven to make things happen!
From the perspective of Destiny, if he can't avoid this catastrophe, it can only mean that the Heavenly Kingdom is exhausted; If he is really the true son of heaven and the people, he will definitely be able to grow up quickly in the test of war and danger, and turn evil into good fortune, so that there will be new hope for the kingdom of heaven!
Li Xiucheng fell into deep thought, in order to successfully achieve this almost impossible breakthrough, there must not be the slightest mistake. He had to pinpoint every step of the way, taking into account every possible contingency. The commander-in-chief, who has been fighting on the battlefield for more than ten years, knows very well that there are too many unpredictable factors, and among the current preset plans, which one to adopt can only be improvised.
At noon on July 19, 1864, the Hunan army finally blew up the city wall and began the final general attack, and the most dangerous time came! At this time, Li Xiucheng was commanding the battle at the Taiping Gate near the gap, and seeing that the Hunan army was about to come in, he hurriedly rode away from the front line and came to the palace of the Celestial Empire.
The little king Hong Tianguifu had already sensed that danger was coming, and when he saw Li Xiucheng riding a horse, just like a child who had fallen into the water saw a penny stretching from the shore, his face was quickly covered with relief, and he helped up Li Xiucheng, who was kneeling in front of him, and asked Li Xiucheng to quickly save him from Tianjing.
Li Xiucheng lovingly comforted this nephew, who still looked a little immature, and comforted him and said that there was nothing to be afraid of the Qing Demon, and the Heavenly Father and the Heavenly King would bless him.
Li Xiucheng estimated that Zeng Guoquan's No. 1 target would definitely be the Celestial Empire Palace, so he immediately took a group of civil and military officials such as Hong Tianguifu and Hong Renji and more than 1,000 elite soldiers to withdraw from the Celestial Empire Palace and look for an opportunity to break through.
Li Xiucheng led his team to the dry west gate, which was not the main position of the Hunan army for the time being, but it was still intercepted by a Hunan army. I went to several city gates in a row, but there was no suitable opportunity. In desperation, Li Xiucheng had no choice but to escort the little king to Qingliang Mountain for temporary refuge.
Seeing that Li Xiucheng was walking towards the city with him, the little king didn't seem to have the intention of escorting him out of the city, so he wondered why he didn't take advantage of the chaos to kill Tianjing.
Li Xiucheng patiently explained to him, saying that it was not the time yet, and he would not act until the Qing Demon relaxed his vigilance.
Qingliang Mountain is the commanding height in Tianjing City, and Li Xiucheng has already built fortifications here, even if the Hunan army kills it, it can still resist for a while.
Li Xiucheng ordered his soldiers to set up a strict martial law, he knew that it was not the time to break through in broad daylight, and Qingliangshan would not immediately become the key target of the Hunan army, all he needed now was to wait.
The more dangerous it is, the more you have to stay calm, and Li Xiucheng, who has experienced countless major dangers, knows this well, and he is calmly waiting for a suitable opportunity to break through.
Li Xiucheng was a meticulous person, and from the moment the Hunan army detonated the explosives, he had been closely concerned about the battle situation in Tianjing City and the progress of the Hunan army. In the evening, he learned that Zeng Guoquan's Hunan army had captured the gates of Tianjing, and he expected that the Hunan army must be either busy looting property or slaughtering the brothers who were still continuing to resist, so that the defense of the Tianjing City Gate and outside the city would definitely be relaxed, and this was not the best time to fish in troubled waters and break through in one fell swoop?!
He ordered everyone to hurry up and prepare to break through, fill their stomachs, check their equipment, and then ordered someone to take out a large pile of clothes from the camp of Qingliang Mountain, and ordered everyone to quickly change into them.
When I opened it, it turned out to be the previously captured Hunan army uniform. This is Li Xiucheng's trophy, I originally kept it in case of emergency, but I didn't expect it to come in handy today. All the breakout personnel changed their military uniforms, and when it was dark, they marched from Qingliang Mountain to the city, at this time the Hunan army was busy snatching the fruits of victory, no one paid attention to what was unusual about this mysterious army, Li Xiucheng led everyone to walk eastward and west, while looking for an opportunity to highlight the city gate.
Li Xiucheng led his team to try to break through from the North Gate, Shuixi Gate and Xiaonan Gate, but the Hunan army was tightly guarded at the city gate and had no chance to attack.
The hope of breaking through the siege is getting slimmer and slimmer, and Li Xiucheng is eagerly thinking about countermeasures, where is the weak link where the Hunan army is the least vigilant?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his head: the most dangerous place is often the safest place!
Li Xiucheng gradually approached the Taiping Gate with his men. The most critical moment has arrived, as long as you rush out of the Taiping Gate, the breakthrough is half the success!
However, the Hunan army in Taipingmen was also relatively well guarded, and the city gate was too small, so once the troops of more than 1,000 people were discovered by the enemy, it was very easy to be cut off and encircled.
The more dangerous it was, the more calm and calm Li Xiucheng became, he carefully looked at the terrain near Taipingmen and the deployment of the Hunan army, looking for all possible opportunities.
There is no end to the road! Notch! Be unexpectedly rescued from a desperate situation!
The gap in the dragon neck area near the Taiping Gate, which was blown up by the Hunan army during the siege of the city during the day, had not yet had time to be blocked by the Qing army, and the number of guards next to it was not large, and it looked like the situation was still a little lazy. The siege troops are all grabbing gold and silver, and they are staring and hurrying here, and it is understandable that they are not motivated to work.
Looking at the gap in the city wall in the distance that was blown up by the Hunan army, it is estimated that it is fifty or sixty meters, and the Hunan army is busy cleaning the battlefield and making a fortune at this time, and no one pays attention to this hidden danger. Li Xiucheng secretly said in his heart, God help me, this gap is not the best place for us to break through!
Li Xiucheng ordered to quickly move closer to the gap, and then regardless of the three-seven-twenty-one, rush outward, as fast as he could, and try to rush through the city gate as fast as possible!
Although the breakthrough troops changed their uniforms, they still aroused the suspicion of the city gate sentry, and the city defense troops were about to speak for questioning, but they saw that this "friendly army" ignored them and rushed out of the city gate and galloped away.
Details determine success or failure, although the Taiping army wore makeup, but did not shave the long hair that remained in front of their foreheads. This one is so eye-catching, it looks like long hair!
It seems to be exposed, and the pursuers will soon bite it. Li Xiucheng ordered his troops to march in a southeasterly direction, but they did not encounter a large force of Hunan troops along the way, and they had all been transferred to participate in the siege. The breakout troops went very smoothly, and soon crossed Xiaolingwei, passed through Cangbo Gate, and rushed all the way to Chunhua along the western foot of Zijin Mountain.
The prospect of breaking through is bright, but an accident happened in Chunhua, and an accident that even Li Xiucheng could not predict at all.
It was this accident that changed everything after that. The maker of the accident was none other than the little king Hong Tianguifu who Li Xiucheng was worried about.
A big fish caught by accident
After successfully rushing out of the city gate, Li Xiucheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. A good beginning is half the battle, and the Long March has finally taken the first step towards victory!
However, now it is still far from the real breakthrough, the Hunan army may chase and kill at any time, and the little king is still shrouded in great danger, and the top priority is to go out of Jiangsu to Anhui to meet Yang Fuqing's brigade.
In order to improve the safety factor, Li Xiucheng ordered the troops to be divided into two groups, the front army protected Xiao Tianwang and quickly marched towards Chunhua, and the rear team was personally led by Li Xiucheng to be responsible for guarding and resisting the pursuing soldiers.
Xiao Tianwang's performance was not bad, although he was a little nervous, he was still able to maintain a normal riding posture and follow the team, and Li Xiucheng couldn't help but add a little confidence to the prospect of breaking through.
Seeing that he was about to cross Chunhua, Li Xiucheng suddenly discovered that there was something wrong with the little heavenly king Hong Tianguifu.
More precisely, it was the little king who stepped on the horse and had a problem. When this horse was very young, because of the "talent over the horse" became the little king's mount, due to the same long-term lack of exercise as the little king, this pony who was expected to grow into a thousand miles of horses has simply degenerated into a bad horse, what a horse is like a person!
A man with poor riding skills rode a clumsy horse, if the Qing Demon Cavalry caught up, the Little Heavenly King would not be finished. Li Xiucheng ordered the troops to pause and exchanged his own war horse for Hong Tianguifu's inferior horse.
Relying on his long-term experience and superb riding skills, and he has always loved his soldiers, Li Xiucheng did not exchange this inferior horse for his subordinates, but rode his own army.
After riding the horse, Li Xiucheng realized that he had made a big mistake, and the horse that the little king was sitting on was even worse than he imagined. More unfortunate things are still to come, this bad horse may also have a problem with its psychological quality, it probably also felt the tension of escaping, and he stumbled and lost his front hooves without paying attention to it, and became a kidnapping horse, which made it even worse!
Under the threat of an uncertain future and a chasing soldier, the arrival of the night added a little fear to everyone, everyone was trying to flee for their lives, and no one paid attention to Li Xiucheng, who was gradually falling behind.
As the saying goes, the road knows the horsepower, and Li Xiucheng was soon thrown off by the army and became a lonely goose miserably. Li Xiucheng rode this "broken horse" and had no choice but to admit that it was impossible to catch up with the brigade, so he could only find a place to avoid it for the time being. In order to avoid the pursuers of the Hunan army, Li Xiucheng no longer walked along the main road, but turned into a small road to the east, and finally touched a barren mountain when the sky was getting brighter.
This barren mountain is called Fang Mountain, it is a small hill not far from Chunhua, where people are inaccessible, and it can be regarded as a quiet land in the war.
Li Xiucheng saw that it was sparsely populated, so he released the bad horse and let it find its own way to survive, taking it with him was a burden. After a night of traveling, Li Xiucheng was tired and hungry, so he walked up the mountain to see if he could find a mountain people's house, eat something and rest before making plans.
In the summer dusk, the scorching heat has gradually disappeared, walking on the lush mountain paths, the pleasant cool breeze from the green leisurely, Li Xiucheng feels an unprecedented relaxation.
The short-term comfort was quickly replaced by nervousness, he couldn't help but worry about the little king, and he didn't know what happened to this child now, Zeng Guoquan would definitely not let them go easily, but I hope that the little king Jiren has his own natural appearance, and it is good to be able to turn evil into good fortune in case of trouble.
Shi Dakai, the wise and martial winged king, lost his life with hundreds of thousands of people, and now the demons around him are dense, how easy is it for these more than 1,000 people to escape from the net of heaven and earth?
Li Xiucheng's worry is necessary, of course Zeng Guoquan in anger will not give up, so that the iron bucket that he has always been proud of was beaten into a rotten barrel by long hair this time, the problem is indeed very serious, how can they give up to the court when they really want to run? Besides, if these long-haired people accidentally run out of their own territory and run to the defense area of other troops, so that others can pick up this ready-made bargain, then they will make a big wedding dress with someone!
Big trouble, big trouble!
As soon as Zeng Guoquan learned of Changmao's breakthrough, he immediately ordered the general soldier Zhang Dingkui to lead 700 elite cavalry to chase after him, and went to pick up Wu Weishou, the general soldier who had already led the team to chase after Changmao when he broke through.
The speed of the elite cavalry of the Hunan army was very fast, after two days and two nights of wild running, on July 21, 1864, Zhang Dingkui and others captured the king Li Wancai in Chunhuasheng, caught up with the brigade in Changshu Town, and killed Lin Shaozhang, the king of Zhang, and Xiao Youhe, the king of Youxi, but the big fish Hong Tianguifu and Hong Renji escaped again.
Zeng Guoquan's heart hung again, and he continued to chase the horse team of the remnants of the long-haired breakthrough force There was no news so far, and he didn't know if he could successfully exterminate the big fish caught by the long-haired army, and he began to feel a little depressed and apprehensive.
Things in the world are often impermanent, just when Zeng Guoquan was annoyed about whether he could catch the big fish of the "pseudo-little king", another big fish was accidentally caught and sent to his military camp.
A burden leads to destruction
Zeng Guoquan was immediately overjoyed when he saw it, and it was Li Xiucheng, the old long-haired leader who had made him toss in Tianjing for two years, who was escorted.
This is a real big fish!
However, Zeng Guoquan's mood immediately fell into a trough again, because it was not the Hunan army that caught Li Xiucheng, but two hunters near Fangshan in Chunhua.
These two guys, who have been hunting all their lives, have not been able to turn over, they are really lucky!
A peerless hero who commands thousands of troops and horses is actually planted in the hands of two hunting little people, just like a famous general who can take the head of a general in a million army was accidentally plotted by a few bandits who blocked the road and robbed, Li Xiucheng, who capsized in the gutter, was unlucky to arrive home this time!
It all has to start with a baggage.
It is said that after Li Xiucheng fell behind in Chunhua, he touched Fangshan alone, came to a broken temple, took off his turban to rest and take a cool, and put the gold and silver treasures he carried with him in the turban and made it into a burden, and hung it on a branch next to him.
Li Xiucheng, who was thinking about getting some food to satisfy his hunger, suddenly heard someone talking nearby, and when he looked around, he saw a group of mountain people walking in his direction.
Li Xiucheng hurriedly got up and prepared to flee. The mountain people shouted "Leave the money, save your life" and chased after them.
Tired and hungry, Li Xiucheng finally ran to the bottom of the mountain, but the fatigue of the past few days made him unable to run wildly, and he was soon surrounded by mountain people.
Li Xiucheng, who was stunned, thought to himself that this is over!
But what happened next plunged him into even greater consternation again. I saw the mountain people kneeling on the ground in unison, chanting for King Chung Chitose. Li Xiucheng helped the mountain people, and after inquiry, he learned that these mountain people had received help from him, and they all regarded him as his great benefactor.
Li Xiucheng saw that the mountain people were dressed shabby, and knew that they were having a hard time, so he remembered the burden on the branch in front of the broken temple, so he asked everyone to wait here for a while, saying that he would go and get it for them.
It turned out that when Li Xiucheng escaped down the mountain, he forgot to pick up the burden on the branch because of a momentary panic. The mountain people were very interested, and they hugged Li Xiucheng from the original road to the mountain, and everyone was dumbfounded when they walked in front of the branches, the top was empty, and the burden was gone!
It seems that when everyone chased Li Xiucheng down the mountain, someone had already come here to take the baggage, and the mountain people immediately went to search the mountain to find it back.
Li Xiucheng knew that wealth was the source of trouble, and secretly regretted proposing to go up the mountain to get the burden, he was afraid that the mountain people were worried about the treasure, so he told everyone that there was not much gold and silver in the baggage, and it was not worth much, if he could escape from the hands of the demons, he would come back to thank everyone in the future.
Although the mountain people didn't believe what Li Xiucheng said, but because of the situation, it was not good to insist on finding gold and silver treasures, so they had to go down the mountain first to settle Li Xiucheng at home, and then learned from Li Xiucheng that Tianjing had been captured by the Hunan army, so they planned to wait for him to recuperate for a while and then send him to join the army, and said that in order to avoid the eyes and ears of the court, King Zhong, you had better shave your hair.
Li Xiucheng resolutely rejected the advice of the mountain people, believing that shaving his hair was no different from becoming a demon. Everyone persuaded again, saying that if they didn't shave their hair, the Qing army would be strictly inspected along the way, and they would not be able to pass the checkpoint at that time. (King Zhong refused to shave his head, and checked the checkpoints along the way, so he couldn't send you.) Quoted from Luo Ergang, "History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom")
Li Xiucheng still didn't want to, he thought it was a principled political issue, and said to the mountain people that he was the loyal king of the heavenly kingdom, and now Tianjing was attacked by the Qing demon, and the king of heaven had also ascended to heaven, if it was captured by the Qing army, it was fate, and it was just a big deal; If you shave your hair, even if you get away with it, how will you face those brothers in the future? Wouldn't they have mistaken that they had surrendered and become demons? (I am a minister, the country is ruined, if I can't get out, I will be sent to the demon camp, and I will die.) If I had the life to escape, now that I have shaved my hair, it will be difficult for my officers and soldiers. Same as above)
The crowd persuaded him that shaving his hair and changing his hairstyle was just to deal with the Qing army, and after a while, he would join the Taiping army, and his hair would naturally grow.
King Zhong couldn't stop the hard work of the mountain people, so he had to close his eyes and let them shave off the hair on their foreheads, turning them into half a "watermelon head" that disgusted him.
Li Xiucheng, who had shaved his hair, was hidden at home by the mountain people, recuperating and recuperating while waiting for the opportunity to find the little king.
The mountain people are very simple, take care of Li Xiucheng very dedicated, very thoughtful, although their economic conditions are very poor, but still try to get delicious food for him to nourish his body, which makes him both sigh and regret that he should not have hung that burden on the tree, otherwise it can also improve their lives.
Thinking of that burden, Li Xiucheng's uneasiness in his heart was aroused again, the gold and silver treasures were not enough, the most troublesome thing was the turban, the material was yellow fine silk, which was very eye-catching, and it was embroidered with dragon and phoenix patterns.
The more you are afraid of ghosts, the more ghosts come to you. What provoked the "little ghost" was not the headscarf that Li Xiucheng was worried about, but the gold and silver treasures in the baggage.
These mountain people who settled Li Xiucheng have been worried about it since they heard about the bag of gold and silver treasures in the mountain temple, although Li Xiucheng explained that there are not many treasures, but the mountain people don't believe it at all.
If you have this bag of gold and silver, you don't have to worry about your livelihood in this life! Besides, the loyal king Chitose has already promised to give it to us, I don't know which one picked up this cheap, and took this batch of treasures that originally belonged to us, we must find this guy!
The mountain people began to inquire everywhere about who had gone up Fang Mountain on the day they met King Zhong, and the hard work paid off, and the intelligence showed that there were indeed two hunters who had gone up the mountain that day.
One is named Tao Dalai and the other is named Wang Xiaoer.
The mountain people approached them and demanded that they hand over their treasures. Tao Dalai and Wang Xiaoer naturally didn't want to spit out the fat that had been eaten in their mouths and return it to others, so they flatly denied that they had made this windfall.
The mountaineers testified on the spot that they had seen them go up the mountain that day, and described the scene in detail.
The witnesses also wanted a piece of the treasure, so they naturally spared no effort to testify. Tao Dalai and Wang Xiaoer had no choice but to admit it, but said that if this thing fell on the road, whoever picked it up would return to whom.
The mountain people had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, asking the Tao King and the two to divide half of it for them and the witnesses, and let them keep the remaining half.
People's greed is endless, Tao Wang and the two resolutely refused to divide this plan equally, they said that those who can have so many gold and silver treasures, can wear such luxurious clothes, must be the big boss of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, (this kind of treasure, the big boss of the Celestial Empire has it.) If you ask me to divide this thing, you will receive this leader. Quoted from Luo Ergang's "History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom") Since you know that there is this treasure, then you must have caught this big boss, and you will definitely get a large bonus if you hand him over to the imperial court, and you are not even satisfied with wanting to divide these gold and silver treasures equally, you are too unkind, right? If you want to divide this money, you can also score half of the bonus from the imperial court!
In the face of a huge amount of treasure, the two sides were deadlocked, and they could not go to the government to complain, so the mountain people had to go back to their homes first.
Everyone was embarrassed to say that they were looking for treasures, and they were afraid that Li Xiucheng would prevent them from continuing to find King Tao to share the money, so they hid from him and went to King Tao and the others every day to ask for treasures.
Tao Dalai and Wang Xiaoer were forced every day, thinking that they would simply not do anything, so they simply grabbed the long-haired man and sent it to the Qing army to receive the reward. If you "hunt" this big-haired head, what kind of hunting do you need to get up early and be greedy for darkness in this life?!
So the two hunters began to implement the "hunter" plan, they took advantage of the darkness, brought a large group of people to touch Li Xiucheng's residence, the mountain people were outnumbered in a hurry, and Li Xiucheng, who was resting, was arrested by them, and was immediately sent to Jinling.
On July 23, 1864, Li Xiucheng was escorted to the Hunan army camp of Zeng Guoquan outside Jinling City.
Zeng Guoquan unexpectedly harvested such a big fish, and he was so excited that he walked around the barracks, this "loyal king" who had worked hard outside Tianjing City for more than two years, should also let him suffer a little!