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Vézé was woken up from his bed in the wee hours of the morning. He had been sleeping with his clothes on. As soon as the guard called him, Vézé sprang up from his bed and asked, "What's wrong?"
The guard said, "Chief of the General Staff, the troops outside Tianjing City have sent some people back. They have the latest intelligence."
"Let him in!" replied Vézé as he rose to wash his face.
Soon, the intelligence officer rushed into Vézé's tent. The staff officer's face was full of fear. It seemed like he had suffered quite a shock. After saluting, he said, "Reporting to the chief of staff, since yesterday evening, many people have escaped from Tianjing City. At night, the guards of Tianjing City went out of the city to pursue these people who had escaped. Our troops, in accordance with the arrangement, exchanged fire with the troops who had come out of the city in pursuit. The troops didn't suffer any losses, but the troops in the city lost some people. We have gathered those who escaped from the city and brought them back to the camp. "
"Who are those people?" Vézé asked.
The staff officer's voice trembled slightly. "There are roughly three types. The first type is the civil servants of the King Of The East's residence. They said that the Heavenly King summoned the important ministers of the King Of The East's residence to the Heavenly King's residence early in the morning yesterday. At noon, he summoned the middle-ranking officers away. There was no news until the afternoon. These people felt that something was wrong and dragged their families out of Tianjing City to seek shelter with us. The second group are some soldiers. They heard the sound of gunfire at the place where the middle-ranking officers of the King Of The East are staying. They felt that something was wrong and fled here. The third group was the six subordinates of the North King and the King of Yan. They had been ordered to follow the King of Yan to kill the mid-level officers of the King Of The East's army. According to them, they had killed more than 2,000 people. They really couldn't kill anymore, so they came to us. But this is only what a few of them said, it's not necessarily true. "
"Killed two or three thousand people?" Vézé was dumbfounded. This group of people really dared to make a move! Killing all the middle ranks of an army of more than thirty thousand people would be equivalent to two or three thousand people. However, such a Killing technique was no longer just breaking the backbone of this troop. Instead, it was forcefully pulling out the spine of this troop.
The news was horrifying, but Vézé had to believe it. If they didn't do this, they wouldn't be able to truly control the soldiers in Tianjing City. Three thousand soldiers from the North Wangfu were facing an enemy ten times their size.
"Record!" Vézé said to the staff officer on duty. "Interrogate those who escaped immediately. Gather information as soon as possible and establish a timeline."
Soon, an order was drafted. Vézé read through it, signed and stamped his seal, then sent the order out.
After he was done, Vézé didn't feel like sleeping anymore. He sat down on the folding chair and started to think about his next move. It was already the dawn of the fourth day since the coup in Tianjing. It only took the Heavenly King three days to wipe out the King Of The East's forces in Tianjing City. This speed surprised Vézé. Of course, the degree of bloodshed in the process also shocked Vézé.
Vézé's mentality had been on a rollercoaster ride for the past few days. Initially, he only knew that the coup in Tianjing would break out. After that, he felt that he might be able to participate in it. Soon, he realized that the "peasants" he had once mocked had started a political struggle. The degree of decisiveness, or rather, the degree of bloodshed, was far beyond his imagination. If it was Vézé, he wouldn't be able to do this.
Now, the only way out for Vézé was to completely break away from the Taiping Rebellion. The degree of bloodshed in Tianjing was extremely beneficial for Vézé's troops to unify their thinking. Once they knew about the massacre in Tianjing, it was inevitable that everyone in Vézé's troops would feel insecure. At that time, this troop would be willing to break away from the Taiping Rebellion.
When he had no choice but to accept the truth, Vézé realized that he actually didn't have much of a choice. In the past, he thought that he might be able to intervene in the coup in Tianjing, but that was completely Vézé's imagination. The basis of Vézé's imagination was that he wouldn't participate in the massacre. This in itself determined that Vézé had no chance at all.
The sky brightened quickly. Vézé waited for everyone to have breakfast before calling for a meeting of the General Staff Department. Hu Chenghe was very cautious. Although he didn't come to Tianjing, he sent half of the General Staff Department to Vézé's side. Yesterday, Vézé had sent half of the first 16 divisions to Zhenjiang with their families. After eliminating the unstable factors in the army, Vézé felt much more at ease.
Although there wasn't enough intelligence, the intelligence staff officer in charge of the interrogation work took out a tidied up timeline of the coup in Tianjing. First, they killed the King Of The East, forced out Vézé, destroyed the King Of The East's residence, and massacred the middle-ranking officers in the King Of The East's troops. Everyone was dumbfounded after seeing this series of steps.
After a while, Wei Changrong said in a shocked tone, "Chief of General Staff, what do we do now? Fight our way into Tianjing? "
Lei Hu was relatively calm. Even so, his voice was strange, as if his vocal cords were stiff. "According to the intelligence, we still have a chance to fight our way into Tianjing."
"What do we do after we fight our way into Tianjing? Fight the Heavenly King and the others? "Vézé asked calmly.
"Let's fight them! The Heavenly King is so rebellious. So what if we fight him? "Ruan Xihao's voice sounded like he was trying to boost his courage with a little bit of ferocity.
"The fact that the Heavenly King killed so many of his brothers isn't a reason for us to fight him! If that's the reason, we won't have to kill our brothers in the Taiping army when we fight him. Why won't others have a reason to fight us then? "Vézé asked.
This time, everyone fell silent. Everyone was just saying it. Faced with a reality that was completely beyond their imagination, no one knew what to do.
"Should we retreat? Chief of General Staff, we just need to attack Jiangzhe. The Qing Army in Jiangzhe will not be able to withstand a single blow. After we occupy Jiangzhe, we will contact our brothers in the Dagger Society. We will have at least 100,000 men. With you leading the way, we can defeat the Manchu Qing by ourselves! "Wei Changrong said. Although this was supposed to be an impassioned speech, after knowing that thousands of people had been killed in Tianjing, even the usually bold and fearless Wei Changrong seemed listless.
Vézé couldn't get excited either. He still said in a calm tone, "We must retreat. But we can't retreat now! No matter what, there are still so many relatives of the King Of The East's subordinates in the city. Let's do as much as we can for them. I declare that from now on, we will be on alert. Be prepared to fight and retreat at the same time. The troops will stay here for at most four more days. After four days, no matter what happens, we will retreat back to Changzhou! "
The military meeting soon ended. Vézé called his father-in-law, Qi Yuchang, over and briefly explained the situation. Vézé said to the shocked Qi Yuchang, "Father-in-law, do you have anyone who dares to go to Tianjing to meet the Heavenly King?"
Qi Yuchang was shocked by Vézé's news and didn't understand Vézé's words for a moment. After Vézé repeated it a second time, he asked in a trembling voice, "Why do we have to meet the Heavenly King now?"
Vézé replied, "If I send my officers, won't that be too aggressive? Besides, my men are young and impetuous. It's hard to guarantee that they won't say the wrong thing in a moment of desperation. You brought along so many people who served as advisors to the King Of The East this time. They're all educated people. I believe there should be some talented people among them, right? "
"Prince Of Qi? What are you sending them to say? Are you going to war with the Heavenly King? "Qi Yuchang had barely recovered, but he still replied in a trembling voice.
"I'm only sending people to tell the Heavenly King that I'm leaving the Taiping Rebellion. And I want to ask the Heavenly King for some people. "Vézé gave his answer.
Qi Yuchang told Vézé that he would do his best. However, given the current situation, he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to find the right people.
Vézé could also imagine that the literati wouldn't be reliable in such a situation. He had no choice but to find a few passable but low-ranking staff from the General Staff. In the end, Levis from the Logistics Department volunteered to meet the Heavenly King.
"You have to know that your life might be in danger this time!" Vézé told Levis the cruel truth.
Levis nodded. "Chief of General Staff, as long as our troops are still here, the Heavenly King might not dare to do anything to me. Inspector Lei Hu's words made sense. At this time, the King Of The East's command system in Tianjing City had collapsed. The Heavenly King was unable to build a new one. They are at their weakest, and I'm not going to scold them. I'm afraid that what they want most now is to send us away as soon as possible. There will definitely be danger, but I don't think we'll be killed. "
"Alright! I'll get someone to train you on the etiquette of meeting the Heavenly King during the Taiping Rebellion. At this time, we should try not to provoke the Heavenly King! "Vézé replied.
An hour later, Levis and 400 cavalrymen headed towards Tianjing City under the banner of Prince Of Qi Vézé. The troops arrived at the north gate of Tianjing City before noon. Seeing such a large group of cavalrymen outside the city, although there were people running around nervously on top of the city wall, the number was incomparable to before.
Two soldiers were sent to the city gate to inform the Prince Of Qi Vézé that he had sent someone to meet the Heavenly King. The troops on top of the city wall didn't seem to want to start a war. They only told Vézé's troops to wait. After a long time, the city gate didn't open. A wicker basket hung down from the top of the city wall, allowing only the messenger to enter. Levis got off the horse, tidied up his clothes, and sat in the basket.
The guards in the city acted as if they were facing a formidable enemy. Even though Levis was alone, seven or eight people still came up to search Levis thoroughly. After the search, they immediately put Levis on a horse and escorted him to the Heavenly King's Residence as quickly as possible. After waiting outside the residence for a while, the side door opened. Levis was brought into the Heavenly King's Residence.
Hong Xiuquan, Wei Changhui, Qin Rigang, Chen Cheng? The four of them sat in a side hall. Levis immediately went forward to greet them. Then he stood up. They didn't pursue this matter too much. Chen Cheng? "What does Vézé want you to do?"
Levis replied, "Heavenly King, our Chief of Staff, Vézé, has sent me to inform you that you ordered people to kill the King Of The East, as well as thousands of the King Of The East's subordinates. We can't accept such a wanton slaughter of our people. Therefore, our army has officially decided to leave the Taiping Rebellion. From now on, we will go our separate ways and cut off all ties. The Chief of Staff will return all the flags and uniforms to the Heavenly State soon. "
Wei Changhui was furious after hearing this. He shouted, "Vézé, Yang Xiuqing's henchman, still hasn't tied himself up and apologized to the Heavenly King? The Heavenly King might spare Vézé's life. You didn't mention your rebellion, but instead said that the Heavenly King killed his brothers! How dare you! "
As if he didn't hear Wei Changhui's scolding, Levis continued calmly, "Other than that, our Chief of Staff has one more thing to ask of you."
"What other thing? We will drag you out and behead you now! "Wei Changhui continued scolding.
Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan waved his hand, signaling for Wei Changhui to stop. Seeing that Hong Xiuquan had personally given the order, Wei Changhui cursed a few more times before shutting up.
"Heavenly King! For killing the King Of The East, you can say that the King Of The East is rebelling! For killing the King Of The East, you can say that they are the King Of The East's best friends. For killing thousands of generals, you can say that they are the King Of The East's henchmen. Our Chief of Staff requests that you hand over the families of those who were killed to us. You have killed thousands of people. If you stop now, you can still justify yourself to the brothers of the Taiping Rebellion. You have a point. Since our Chief of Staff is the number one general under the King Of The East, we can leave the Heavenly State and bring the families of our brothers who were killed with us. When the other brothers of the Taiping Rebellion hear about this, they will also feel that we are in the wrong … "
When Levis said this, North King Wei Changhui angrily said again, "Vézé, that bastard, when he attached himself to Yang Xiuqing, he did not respect the Heavenly King at all. Yang Xiuqing wanted to be the emperor and rebel. He encouraged Yang Xiuqing to usurp the throne. Such a person still dares to say that he is in the right? "
Faced with Wei Changhui's righteous speech, Levis, as a young man, was naturally unhappy. But he did not come here to quarrel with Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Especially since a meaningless quarrel would only cause Levis to lose his life. And just like what Vézé said, the relationship between Vézé's troops and the people in Tianjing City was not determined by their status. What determined the status of both parties was their combat power. As long as Vézé's troops, who had the upper hand, did not resort to threats, it would be easier for the other party to accept the fact that they were at a disadvantage in terms of combat strength.
Indeed, although the North King Wei Changhui was also cursing, he was only exerting mental pressure. He had no intention of making a move. Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan stopped Wei Changhui from continuing.
After Wei Changhui calmed down, Levis continued, "If the families of those brothers who were killed stay in Heavenly State, they will only be the families of sinners. Heavenly King, if you let them go with us, when our brothers in Heavenly State find out about this, they will definitely think that you are magnanimous and spared their lives. It will be easier for them to believe that the King Of The East is in the wrong. The Heavens have the virtue of cherishing life. I hope the Heavenly King can let those people go and let them go with us! "
Hearing this, Chen Cheng was stunned. He looked at Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan and asked, "Although the Prince Of Qi sent you here to say this, how do I know that the Prince Of Qi is not lying to us? After receiving these people, the Prince Of Qi will no longer have anything to worry about. What if he sends troops to attack Tianjing City? "
"During our meeting, someone also suggested attacking Tianjing City," Levis said in a very calm tone. There was no hint of threat in his words. Even so, Hong Xiuquan, Chen Cheng, and Qin Rigang all had a look of fear on their faces. Even so, Hong Xiuquan, Chen Cheng, and Qin Rigang all had a look of fear on their faces. Wei Changhui was the only one who looked furious. However, this time, he did not curse immediately. Instead, he waited to hear what Levis had to say next.
"Our chief of staff said that if our army attacks Tianjing City again, we will definitely have to fight our brothers again. Everyone started a rebellion in Guangxi. They started a rebellion against Manchu Qing and killed Qing Yao. They did not come to kill our brothers. If our army accidentally wins this fight, will it be over? There is still Yi Wang and the other Marquises in Anhui. Will they give up just like that? They will definitely raise their troops to take revenge for our brothers in Heavenly State that we killed. At that time, we will kill a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Those who died are our brothers! If we enter Tianjing City, are we going to destroy Qing Yao or help Qing Yao? Therefore, the result of our discussion is that we will not enter Tianjing City! "
Hearing Levis's words, the faces of Hong Xiuquan and the others turned ugly again. Vézé was not trying to scare them. What he said was a simple fact that could be easily thought of. And the cruelty of this fact had already been proven once by what happened in Tianjing City.
"Therefore, our chief of staff sent me here to ask the Heavenly King to let the people in the city go with us on account of our long friendship. This is also a great favor to you, Heavenly King! "Levis concluded.
No threats, no shouting. Levis clearly stated the purpose of this trip. Hong Xiuquan and the others fell into deep thought. After a while, Chen Cheng asked, "What if we don't let them go?" After a while, Chen Cheng asked, "What if we don't let them go?"
Levis sighed softly. "If the Heavenly King is not willing to let them go, please spare their lives. They are just the family members of the King Of The East's brothers. If the Heavenly King executes them, the brothers in Heavenly State will be in danger. Heavenly King, you are the King of Heavenly State. If you let them go, the brothers in Heavenly State will remember your kindness. If you kill them, how will you appease the hearts of the brothers in Heavenly State? "
"Kill all the traitors so that no one will dare to act like a traitor like Yang Xiuqing! If we don't punish these people severely, are we going to let them follow Yang Xiuqing's example? You came here on Wei Ze's orders to say these words to bewitch the Heavenly King. Your crime is unforgivable! "Wei Changhui seemed to be angered by Levis's words. He stood up and pointed at Levis and scolded.
"North King, sit down first!" Hong Xiuquan ordered solemnly.
When Wei Changhui sat back down unwillingly, Hong Xiuquan said, "I will make up my mind on this matter. But where is Vézé going after this? "
"My army will wait outside Tianjing City for at most four days. If we can receive the brothers in Tianjing City, we will leave immediately. If we can't receive it, we'll leave on the fourth day as well. The chief of staff sent me here to say what I wanted to say. I will take my leave now! "Levis said.
Hong Xiuquan waved his hand to stop Wei Changhui's impulse to yell. Chen Cheng gave him a look. Chen Cheng? He stood up and left the Heavenly King's residence with Levis. When Levis was taken away at the entrance, Chen Cheng asked with uncertainty. Somewhat unconfidently, he asked, "Is King Qi really going to leave?"
"Our chief of staff said that if the Heavenly State brothers kill each other, it will only benefit Qing Yao. Since attacking Tianjing City will only cause Heavenly State to kill each other, our army will definitely not attack Tianjing City! If we stay, we won't be able to get along. Since things have come to this, let's just go our separate ways. "Levis emphasized Vézé's attitude.
Chen Cheng? He didn't know if he understood Vézé's attitude, was regretful about the current situation, or was simply sentimental. "Sigh!" Chen Chengrong sighed and asked someone to take Levis away.
Levis looked calm on the surface, but he was actually very uneasy. When he was escorted out of the city and returned to the cavalry, he realized that his clothes were completely drenched in sweat.
"Return immediately!" Levis's voice trembled when he gave the order.
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