Foreword: In July 1864, Tianjing City was broken, Li Xiucheng broke through the siege and went out of the city, on the way to see the little king of heaven mount was not effective, so he used his thousands of miles of horses to exchange with Hong Tianguifu, resulting in breaking away from the army, hiding in the mountains, and being captured by the hunters in the mountains and sent to Zeng Guoquan's camp!
Another battle on the battlefield
Li Xiucheng became the "prey" of the two hunters, so he had to accept his fate, and he was surprisingly calm along the way.
Now it's nothing more than death!
Zeng Guoquan was a bloody and impulsive commander, and soon after Li Xiucheng was sent to the barracks, he couldn't wait to interrogate this old opponent who had been facing off on the battlefield for many years.
In his imagination, Li Xiucheng, the "long-haired leader", is one of the best commanders, and in fact the "No. 1 criminal", which of these masterpieces does not have his share in the collapse of the Jiangbei camp and the Jiangnan camp, the destruction of Li Xubin's entire army in Sanhe, and the fall of the entire territory of southern Jiangsu?
Zeng Guoquan expected that this old man who had defeated the Qing army would be a burly and heroic man even if he did not have three heads and six arms.
Since seeing Li Xiucheng for the first time, Zeng Guoquan couldn't help but cry out in disappointment, how can this legendary long-haired leader look like this, it is completely different from what he imagined!
Let's look at him around forty, medium height, fair skin, clear eyebrows, completely a little white-faced embryo, where does he look like a fierce man!
Zeng Guoquan was a little disappointed, it was incredible! How can a beautiful man like a girl be the legendary commander of thousands of troops, galloping, invincible, and cunning "Big Long Hair"!
But the person in front of him is indeed Li Xiucheng, and the few "little long hairs" who surrendered have already identified their real bodies, and they can't be wrong. Zeng Guoquan began to despise from disappointment, and then from contempt to inexplicable anger, he was tossed by him in Tianjing City for more than two years, his soldiers died of illness more than 10,000, nearly 10,000 deaths, and he was obliged to avenge the countless subordinates who died in the hands of this person!
Zeng Guoquan swore that he must do whatever it takes to defeat this long-haired man in his own camp that he did not defeat on the battlefield!
He took out his own weapons, which should have been torture instruments to be exact—an awl, a knife...... Zeng Guoquan is about to start fighting!
He picked up the awl and stabbed it on Li Xiucheng's body, the excitement and anger made him have no rules, he only knew that he needed to keep pricking!
When Li Xiucheng boarded, blood splattered everywhere, blood flowed like a stream, blood flowed all over his body, and his clothes were quickly wet, as if he had just experienced a baptism of blood and rain.
Zeng Guoquan's awl was still flying in the sky, and he longed for the man in front of him, who looked weak, to kneel down and admit defeat at this time, and whisper to himself for mercy to satisfy his vanity, which was distorted by the swelling.
To Zeng Guoquan's great disappointment, Li Xiucheng didn't know how to cooperate at all, he didn't say a word, neither dodged, nor begged for mercy, and didn't even bite his teeth!
Li Xiucheng looked coldly at Zeng Guoquan who was jumping up and down, this person who tortured himself desperately really had no grace and taste at all, in his eyes, Zeng Guoquan was just a mad dog at best, and he couldn't see as much as him.
Is this guy human?
Zeng Guoquan saw Li Xiucheng, who was speechless, and all the contempt and disdain shot out of his eyes, and he finally became uncontrollably angry!
This guy is so hateful! I can't go on!
Li Xiucheng's contempt angered Zeng Guoquan even more, and he decided to let others play and enjoy it himself. Zeng Guoquan called the best executioner in his professional kung fu, this is an executioner who specializes in Ling Chi, it is said that all those who have been tortured in his hands, there is no one who does not regret being born from his mother's womb.
According to Zeng Guoquan's instructions, the executioner began to vigorously display his profession in order to win the applause of the leaders. The small meat cleaver was extremely sharp, and it was not an exaggeration to describe it as blowing hair, and between the executioner's dexterous fingers, the knife swept over Li Xiucheng's body like a snake, and pieces of thin skin and flesh fell from the air like petals.
The colorful beauty of Luoying made Zeng Guoquan smile proudly.
This smile is extremely vulgar in Li Xiucheng's eyes, so vulgar that it is the same as the vulgar shrews in the mountains and fields who stand on the road with their legs spread and scold the street.
Don't let this vulgar puppet get his way! Li Xiucheng straightened his chest and didn't move, letting the dripping blood drip under his feet.
Zeng Guoquan returned to his original madness and rage, and he viciously ordered the executioner to cut to death, he wanted to cut to death this long-haired man who was so stubborn as a prisoner!
Li Xiucheng, who had been silent, felt the need to give Zeng Guoquan a free training class, at least today he had to tell him how to behave, especially how to be a man, and he finally said the only thing he said in this interrogation in a disdainful tone: Zeng Jiu! We fight our own wars, so why should you be so angry? Besides, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, and if you accidentally succeeded in catching this king today, how did you become a mad dog! (Zeng Jiu!) Each to his own master, what are you angry about? And rise and fall, if you succeed by chance today, will you go crazy? Quoted from Luo Ergang, "History of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom")
After Li Xiucheng finished teaching Zeng Guoquan a lesson, his eyes were slightly closed, and he never said a word no matter how Zeng Guoquan interrogated him viciously. His words immediately added fuel to the fire, Zeng Guoquan ordered the executioner not to stop, and simply cut up this long-haired captive who was a "good teacher" and liked to take political classes!
At this moment, one of the "jury" approached Zeng Guoquan and muttered a few words in his ear, Zeng Guoquan thought for a moment, and finally ordered the executioner to pause.
Or Zhao Liewen is right, if you just cut this long hair, if the court asks to send prisoners, it will indeed be a little troublesome, and now there is not even a confession, and if the court does not admit it, even ten mouths will not be able to tell, or wait for the eldest brother to come.
Zeng Guoquan, who was full of frustration, finally regained a little reason and stopped his violent performance, but he did not give up the torture of Li Xiucheng. Three days later, he specially hired a carpenter with considerable skills to tailor a special cage for Li Xiucheng.
This wooden cage has a special size, which is a style specially designed by Zeng Guoquan for Li Xiucheng. Li Xiucheng walked into the wooden cage and found that it was difficult to turn around, standing and bending over, he knew that this was Zeng Jiu's little man who was deliberately tossing so much for himself, so he smiled faintly and sat in the cage with his eyes closed.
Zeng Guoquan's food for him was rationed, and the food he gave was about the same as pig food, probably only hanging Li Xiucheng for a breath, Zeng Guofan had a special letter to explain that he could not harm his life, and everything would be decided after he came from Anqing.
On the afternoon of July 28, 1864, Zeng Guoquan finally waited for his eldest brother Zeng Guofan, and before Zeng Guofan sat down to drink saliva and catch his breath, he couldn't wait to complain about his bitterness, saying how arrogant and hateful Li Xiucheng was, and suggested that this person be killed immediately.
Zeng Guofan patiently listened to Zeng Guoquan's actions against Li Xiucheng, and then said to him that this person is arrogant and must not be strong. After so many years of training, he has almost figured out how to deal with people, and knows that against this kind of person who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, a hard knife is useless, and if you want to use it, you can only use a soft knife.
Zeng Guofan asked, who else has interrogated Li Xiucheng?
Zeng Guoquan said that there was also Zhao Liewen, and especially said that they had talked for a long time, and the implication was that they were still very dissatisfied with Li Xiucheng's disdain.
Zeng Guofan ordered Zhao Liewen to be summoned and obtained first-hand information about Li Xiucheng from him. It's not the time to go head-to-head yet, and he needs to know more about this formidable opponent.
Zeng Guofan, who has a deep understanding of human feelings, knows that he is about to face an extremely difficult master. In this battlefield without gunpowder, the intensity of the battle is no less than the defeat of a fortified city, and it is no less than defeating a powerful army, and he needs to find the weakness of his opponent.
Zhao Liewen was Zeng Guofan's confidential secretary, a highly talented and thoughtful literati who believed that he would have the answers he wanted.
A few hours passed quickly, and night slowly fell, and Zeng Guofan ended his conversation with Zhao Liewen. After having dinner and doing the daily meditation homework, Zeng Guofan went to interrogate Li Xiucheng in high spirits.
From the first second of contact between two unfamiliar eyes, both sides realized that there was a problem – the real heavyweight battle is now finally underway!
A knife with no visible blade
It is an unequal battlefield: one is a captive, a "criminal"; One is the winner, the "judge".
The contest kicked off on such a peculiar battlefield.
Li Xiucheng has undoubtedly failed militarily, because Tianjing has been breached, but he is not a loser in the strict sense, because after all, he was not captured by the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan, and he was only captured by two small hunters who were greedy for money and profit.
This is also one of the reasons why Zeng Guoquan tried his best to find a sense of superiority and accomplishment in Li Xiucheng, but Li Xiucheng didn't buy it.
Now it's Zeng Guofan's turn.
Zeng Guofan's performance really opened Zeng Guoquan's eyes.
On the evening of July 28, 1864, Li Xiucheng sat in a wooden cage specially made for him by Zeng Guoquan, and began to chat with Zeng Guofan, who was sitting outside, for several hours.
The "dialogue" between the two life-and-death enemies was very harmonious and in-depth, Li Xiucheng answered all questions, looked respectful, and was very cooperative with this "interrogation", and completely judged the two of them when facing Zeng Guoquan, and compared with Zhao Liewen's "conversation", Li Xiucheng's performance was better this time.
What's wrong with this old longhair, why do you buy my eldest brother's account?
Zeng Guoquan couldn't figure it out.
Zeng Guoquan was still very hot, and it was naturally impossible for him to comprehend the unfathomable subtlety of this with his scheming.
The reason why Li Xiucheng adopted a cooperative attitude was, on the one hand, because Zeng Guofan did not "extort confessions by torture", but "put his heart into his heart"; On the other hand, there is a more important reason, that is, Zeng Guofan and Li Xiucheng have their own needs, and they both want to get what they want, otherwise the contest itself will lose its value of existence, and the dialogue itself will have no value.
Zeng Guoquan's interrogation is just a kind of venting, a passing scene, if you can make Li Xiucheng convinced, bow his head and admit defeat, bow his head and bow his head, of course, there is a light on his face, which shows that he not only has the strength to defeat the other party militarily, but also has the charm to impress the other party, and this kind of innate desire to conquer Zeng Guofan in human nature also has.
If Li Xiucheng continues to die and does not speak, like dealing with and playing with Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Guofan will escort him to the imperial court and let those professional judges of the central government try him, and he will be content with the name of "offering prisoners". But the problem is that Li Xiucheng has what Zeng Guofan wants, and he must let Li Xiucheng speak obediently.
After understanding a few hours ago, Li Xiucheng's completely different performance from Zeng Guoquan and Zhao Liewen made Zeng Guofan clear that Li Xiucheng is a person who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, and can only use soft and hard to deal with this kind of person, only carrots, and never big sticks.
This man has a strong heart, and the only way to conquer him is to start from the heart. Zeng Guofan believes that anyone's heart, no matter how strong, will have the weakest place, as long as he finds this seven inches of the heart, he will definitely be able to conquer the fortress of the heart.
He remembered what Zhao Liewen said to him: "Pseudo-Loyal King" (press: referring to Li Xiucheng, the Qing side said that the official titles of the Kingdom of Heaven are all preceded by a pseudo word to indicate that the official does not approve) There is the idea of survival in the words! (Words have the meaning of begging.) Quoted from Zhao Liewen's "Diary of a Neng Jing Jushi")
This sentence made Zeng Guofan fall into deep thought, what is Li Xiucheng's motive for survival?
By the way, as to whether Li Xiucheng has a motive for survival, among the many academic articles I have read, this is a controversial topic, and it is too arbitrary to simply determine whether there is or is not, in fact, there are two sides of contradiction in many things, and it is not an either/or extreme.
Li Xiucheng has experienced a hundred battles and died nine times in his life, so he has naturally put life and death aside, as a commander of the Taiping Army who killed tens of thousands of Qing troops, he cannot imagine that the Zeng brothers and the imperial court can let him live.
But after all, he is a flesh-and-blood person, a living person, and if he is a human being, he will have desires, and "living" is the most basic and powerful desire of human beings, which is one of the most core instincts of human beings. As the saying goes, "It's better to die than to live", which is rough, but not rough. The most cherished thing for anyone is always their own life, so the laws of ancient and modern China and foreign countries have put the protection of the right to life in the first place without exception, and compensation for murder has become an invariable clause in many legal systems.
Maybe Li Xiucheng was not afraid of death when he galloped on the battlefield, but this does not mean that he does not care about his life under any circumstances. When Li Xiucheng was kidnapped by Orion and sent to the Qing camp, when he was humiliated and tortured by Zeng Guoquan, when he was locked in a small cage like a wild beast, when he could see the approach of death, it was impossible not to pass through his strong heart.
But Li Xiucheng is not a stupid and vulgar man with a simple mind and simple ideas after all, his desire to survive cannot only stay at the level of leaving a head to eat, there should be more important hidden secrets behind this. Zeng Guofan continued to talk without urgency, while exerting his "Xiangren" stunt, carefully observing Li Xiucheng's expression, and experiencing the tone of his speech, he wanted to see through the secret of Li Xiucheng's heart.
When Li Xiucheng talked about two major issues, Zeng Guofan suddenly realized, he thought that he had insight into Li Xiucheng's true thoughts, and almost at the same time as reaching this judgment, Zeng Guofan also made a major decision - this person must be killed, solve it on the spot!
The first issue Li Xiucheng touched on was the fate of the remnants of the Taiping Army. His gist is to say that the kingdom of heaven has now been destroyed by you, and it is impossible to bring the dead back to life, and there are still a lot of Taiping troops scattered in the north and south of the river, and it is best to let him go to Zhao'an, let these people lay down their weapons, disarm and return to the field, so that they can fulfill the virtue and reputation of your good life in the middle hall, and secondly, it can be regarded as giving these people a way to live.
The second question Li Xiucheng said was about the fate of Zeng Guofan. It is to the effect that Lord Zhongtang, your martial arts are world-renowned, the Kingdom of Heaven is not your opponent, and the Qing Demon is not the opponent of the Kingdom of Heaven, so the Qing Demon is definitely not your opponent. You are Han, you don't need to work for the Manchurians, just be your own boss, move the dragon chair and sit on it yourself!
Zeng Guofan confirmed his judgment, this person is indeed not to be underestimated!
Both moves are extraordinary, an unusual long hair, and an extremely scheming opponent.
You said you were going to Zhao'an, who knows if you surrendered by fraud, collected people and horses and then tossed it? Want to fool us and let you out and want to make a comeback? Dream on! Besides, after so many years of fighting, killing and killing, the main force of long-haired hair has been wiped out, why do you care about working hard for another two years to clean up the mess? What's more, as long as you kill you, the real existing "Longhair No. 1", what is the rest of the longhairs to fear!
You are still afraid that the world will not be chaotic, and it is not enough for you to rebel yourself, and now you have to provoke me to rebel! The world has not been troubled enough by you, and the common people have not suffered from your scourge? Besides, although I now have more than 100,000 horses under my command, the imperial court has already supported Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang to prevent me, if I really rebel, I am afraid that the future may not be better than yours!
If he is asked to recruit the rest of the army, if he doesn't let the tiger return to the mountain and start a war again, the court will definitely not be able to spare himself at that time, and besides, wanting to be the emperor is also a high-risk business with his head, this guy is really well-intentioned!
A chill began to rise in Zeng Guofan's heart.
It seems that Li Xiucheng still wants to pull a cushion on his back when he is dying, and he doesn't let the court be quiet! He didn't expect Li Xiucheng's scheming to be so deep, if he was dedicated to the Beijing division and went to the center to talk nonsense, I am afraid that he will definitely be suspicious of the imperial court, and I am afraid that he will not be able to rebel when the time comes!
This man is a scourge.
Zeng Guofan, who wanted to kill Li Xiucheng and then quickly, although his heart was turbulent, the expression on his face did not change at all.
The legendary "mood is invisible" is indeed a relatively difficult stunt to practice, and there are very few people who have practiced it in historical materials, and this is also a very effective stunt, Rao is Li Xiucheng, such a shrewd person has not spied on Zeng Guofan's true thoughts.
The expressionless Zeng Guofan continued to think sharply, since he couldn't sacrifice the prisoner to Jingshi, he could only kill him here, but how to communicate to the imperial court, what if the imperial court issued an order to come to ask for someone?
There is still a way, take the supply.
This is the only feasible way, as long as there is Li Xiucheng's confession, he can be killed here, and he can be handed over to the imperial court. But the question is, will Li Xiucheng be willing to supply exports? Will he be able to obediently give the kind of confession he wants?
It's time to go for it.
The blade that can't be seen, it's time for it to unsheath and show its unrivaled power!
The target is directed at the weakest point of Li Xiucheng's heart.
During the conversation, Zeng Guofan clearly felt Li Xiucheng's resentment, his disdain for Hong Xiuquan's incompetence, his dissatisfaction with Hong Xiuquan's reuse of members of the Hong family, and his disappointment at the internal political disorder of the Taiping Heavenly Heaven. This brave and resourceful commander, since Chen Yucheng was captured and killed, he has supported the crisis of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with a pillar of optimus, fighting everywhere, conquering cities and conquering territories, and expanding the territory, so that Hong Xiuquan's dream of the heavenly kingdom has continued for several years, but Hong Xiuquan is reluctant to give Li Xiucheng even a military division, but he is suspicious in many ways, how can it make people chill!
Since ancient times, heroes cherish heroes, and heroes are rare confidants. Who can understand their own hardships and who can appreciate their talents? Li Xiucheng doesn't think that the fall of Tianjing is his own incompetence, nor is it his own sorrow, the real sadness is that he has not met the real Bole, and there is no stage where he can display his talents to the fullest!
Everyone wants to be recognized by others, no matter how confident he is, and this is a weakness that is difficult to overcome in human nature. Deep in the heart of Li Xiucheng, a lonely hero, he needs a character who can also be called a hero to affirm and appreciate him!
It is not easy for a person to feel that others genuinely identify with him from the heart. Heavyweight recognition is not something that can be solved by the formulaic braggadocio of "you're awesome", it requires keen insight and penetration.
With the softest in the world, we can control the most rigid in the world!
A strong and sharp penetration of humanity and the human heart is the only weapon that pierces a heart that is both strong and weak.
Zeng Guofan's tone began to soften, his attitude began to become sincere, his gaze began to become sincere, and he began to have a new round of dialogue with the top prisoner in front of him like an old friend who had a heart-to-heart, sympathy, and reunion after a long absence.
In the second phase of the conversation, Zeng Guofan, in addition to expressing his appreciation and admiration for Li Xiucheng, also hinted that he would consider going to the imperial court to let him go out to recruit the hundreds of thousands of remnants of the Taiping army.
The words hit his heart directly, and Li Xiucheng began to be confused and began to sigh.
Is this enemy sitting in front of him the legendary "Zeng Shaved Head"? Is it the murderous and unblinking Hunan army demon who the soldiers can't wait to eat his flesh raw? If it weren't for each of us, perhaps we would have become confidants.
Li Xiucheng got unprecedented satisfaction in the strong resonance, and this feeling of heart-to-heart talk between friends made him very comfortable, and also stimulated his desire to talk and talk.
This kind of satisfaction was also felt by Hong Xiuquan, once to canonize the loyal king, and once to give the name Xiucheng, but unfortunately it was no longer there.
Seeing that the play was almost done, Zeng Guofan accepted it as soon as he saw it, and he stopped his first conversation with Li Xiucheng in time.
Putting on a show is like cooking, and mastering the heat is very important, and psychologist Zeng Guofan knows this very well. All that's left is to reap the fruits of this blade.