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On the 24th of January, 1855, at around three o 'clock in the morning, the King of the North, Wei Changhui, and the Prince of Yan, Qin Rigang, killed the King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing.
On the 25th of January, Vézé led his army out of Tianjing City.
On the 26th of January, the North Prince, Wei Changhui, and the Prince of Yan, Qin Rigang, killed nearly three thousand people from the King Of The East's residence.
On January 27th, the King Of The East, Wei Changhui, began massacring all of the King Of The East's relatives who were attempting to escape from Tianjing City.
On the 28th of January, the North Prince, Wei Changhui, personally gave the order, "The remaining members of Yang Xiuqing's faction must be exterminated!" Tianjing City immediately began the massacre of the family members of Yang Xiuqing's troops who had been killed.
On January 29th, due to the large number of people killed, some of the corpses were thrown into the river and washed down the Yangtze River. Only then did Vézé's troops realize that a massacre had taken place in the city.
On the 30th of January, Vézé's troops left Mount Qixia and began to retreat towards Changzhou.
On the 1st of February, Lin Fengxiang, who was guarding Huai An, received the third letter from Vézé. It described the massacre in Tianjing City and clearly told Lin Fengxiang that Vézé wanted to leave the Taiping Rebellion.
Putting down the letter, Lin Fengxiang's face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost. Vézé's first letter was delivered to Lin Fengxiang on January 27. Vézé sent people on a speedboat under the banner of the Prince Of Qi. They first went down the river, then entered the canal, and headed straight for Huai An. Finally, they reached Huai 'an in three days. The first letter said that the Heaven King had ordered the North King to kill the King Of The East. At that time, Lin Fengxiang's first reaction was that Vézé must have heard the rumor from somewhere. However, after reading the letter carefully, Lin Fengxiang couldn't smile anymore. The letter clearly stated that Vézé was in Tianjing City.
Lin Fengxiang knew very well that Vézé was not an alarmist. Furthermore, Vézé had clearly told Lin Fengxiang that he was in Tianjing City, so the possibility of him lying was even lower. In the letter, Vézé also introduced what he knew. When the King Of The East was about to be conferred the title of Long Live, there were many rumors in Tianjing City that the King Of The East wanted to kill a Heavenly King.
Even though he was in Huai An, Lin Fengxiang wasn't completely clueless about what was happening in Tianjing City. The high-pressure measures taken by the King Of The East before he was conferred the title of King of The East was quite shocking. Lin Fengxiang actually suspected that the King Of The East wanted to overthrow Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Now that the Heavenly King had killed the King Of The East, Lin Fengxiang was extremely distressed.
However, Lin Fengxiang couldn't think of the situation in Tianjing City. He was far away in Huai An, far away from Tianjing City. Right now, Lin Fengxiang was defending the northeast of the Taiping Rebellion. The Qing Army's troops centered around Xuzhou had been moving erratically recently. In order to defend the important city of Huai An, Lin Fengxiang also felt that it was rather strenuous.
Before Vézé left Anhui, he had decided on the strategy of defending the Yangtze River and Huai An. Lin Fengxiang was very supportive of this strategy. As long as they could defend the Huai River, the Taiping army would attack Zhejiang eastward and reach the coast. At that time, they would be able to build a true defensive line with the Huai River as the boundary. The King Of The East, Yang Xiuqing, and Vézé had broken through the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps. In the Battle of Hukou, the Wing King, Shi Dakai, had broken through the Xiang Army upstream. Vézé had also stationed his troops in Changzhou, ready to march into Jiangnan and Zhejiang at any time. It seemed that the Taiping Rebellion would be able to steadily occupy six provinces in the Yangtze River basin. Once this situation was stabilized, the Northern Expedition would be just around the corner, and the Manchu Qing would be destroyed in a matter of days. Lin Fengxiang had never imagined that something like this would happen just when the situation was going so well.
Vézé's first letter was delivered to Lin Fengxiang on January 27th. On the night of January 28th and the day of January 29th, Li Kaifang and Yoshibuwon, who were also stationed in Anhui, sent letters to Lin Fengxiang. They said that Vézé had sent letters to the two of them, informing them that the Heavenly King had ordered people to kill the King Of The East.
In the following days, Lin Fengxiang was so anxious that a few strands of his hair turned white. However, not only did the situation not improve, Vézé's second letter informed Lin Fengxiang that he had been pushed out of Tianjing City by the people from the King Of The East's residence, and was completely unable to grasp any news within Tianjing City.
The third letter was even more straightforward, informing Lin Fengxiang that there had been a massacre of the King Of The East's subordinates and their families in Tianjing City. Vézé had made his stance clear. He wanted to break away from the Taiping Rebellion.
Of course, Lin Fengxiang did not completely listen to other people's news. He himself had sent messengers and spies. The messengers went to Tianjing City to seek an audience with the Heavenly King, Hong Xiuquan, while the spies were naturally there to gather information. Without waiting for these people to return to report, Vézé gave them such an earth-shattering news.
As an old brother of the Taiping Rebellion, Lin Fengxiang could not wait any longer. He immediately ordered his men to prepare a ship, and he personally took the ship to Changzhou to meet Vézé first. No matter what happened, Vézé was the number one general of Heavenly State, and he controlled the most powerful field army in Heavenly State. Once Vézé broke away from the Taiping Rebellion, it not only meant that there would be a huge gap in the Taiping Rebellion's strategic layout south of the Yangtze River, but it also meant that the Taiping Rebellion's military forces would suffer a great loss.
Of course, this could also be a conspiracy by Vézé, the number one general under the King Of The East. However, Lin Fengxiang was more familiar with Vézé, and the lives of the Northern Expedition Army were also saved by Vézé. Based on this trust, Lin Fengxiang was willing to take the risk.
They set off on the first of February, and by the fourth of February, Lin Fengxiang had only brought about two hundred people to Changzhou. As soon as they reached the shore, Lin Fengxiang's troops were surrounded by a large group of Vézé's troops. To Lin Fengxiang's surprise, the flag of Vézé's troops had completely changed. It was no longer the yellow flag of the Taiping Rebellion, but a red flag. On the upper left corner of the flag, there were five yellow stars, one big and four small.
The military uniform of Vézé's troops had also completely changed. It was no longer a yellow robe, but a greenish-gray short shirt with two halves on the top and bottom. The shirt was buttoned up, and the pants were wider at the thighs.
From the change in the clothes, it could be seen that Vézé was really breaking away from the Taiping Rebellion.
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