Seeing that they couldn't convince Lin Fengxiang, Shi Dakai and Li Xiucheng turned to convince the other Lords. The war with the Liberation Army had indeed shocked everyone. Lin Fengxiang was quite loyal. He didn't directly expose them and let Shi Dakai and Li Xiucheng do their own thing.
The Lords who didn't know the inside story were all shocked when they heard the news. Although everyone felt that it couldn't go on like this, they didn't expect the situation to suddenly change to this extent. These people didn't even want to shirk responsibility. They were either panicking or thinking that they should just stand up and fight. At least in the upper echelons, those who thought that they should fight were not at an absolute disadvantage.
After three days of persuasion, Shi Dakai and Li Xiucheng finally understood the attitude of the Lords and the ministers in Chang 'an. When they were ready to formally propose the future plan and let the current Heavenly King, Hong Tianfugui, pass it … The Heavenly King, who Shi Dakai would only think of when he needed him, was missing. Along with the Heavenly King, the head of the Imperial Guards, Zhang Yingchen, and hundreds of Zhang Yingchen's real loyal troops were also missing.
Zhang Yingchen would have subordinates in the other Lords' troops, and the other Lords wouldn't be any worse than Zhang Yingchen. But Zhang Yingchen had left with his loyal troops. When those people realized that something was wrong, they only found a dozen of his informants who were tied up and unable to break free. Zhang Yingchen had disappeared from Chang 'an just like that. They couldn't even tell which gate Zhang Yingchen had left through. Because there were records of Zhang Yingchen's departure at several city gates.
"Go to Tongguan!" Shi Dakai immediately ordered. No matter whether the disappearance of Zhang Yingchen and the Heavenly King, Hong Tianfugui, was related, or the reason for their disappearance. Shi Dakai first had to avoid the possibility of Hong Tianfugui falling into the hands of the Liberation Army. This was the result that would cause the greatest damage to the Taiping army. Once Hong Tianfugui fell into the hands of the Liberation Army, the last legal system of the Taiping Rebellion would be gone. The originally chaotic situation would immediately explode.
Of course, other than heading in the direction of Tongguan, the Taiping army had also sent out troops in the direction where they could find traces. Shi Dakai wasn't in the mood to converse with the other princes and ministers. What was there to talk about in this situation? Talk about how the Taiping Rebellion collapsed?
In fact, Hong Tianfugui had fled earlier than Shi Dakai had expected. Early in the morning of the first day, with the help of Zhang Yingchen, Hong Tianfugui had left the Heavenly King's Residence. He had changed into the ordinary Taiping army uniform and was on his way. After confirming the identities of Li Peiyuan and Zhou Guben, the two intelligence agents of the Liberation Army, Zhang Yingchen ordered them to mobilize the intelligence system of the Liberation Army and escort the Heavenly King Hong Tianfugui to the Liberation Army's territory.
Li Peiyuan and Zhou Guben originally thought that Zhang Yingchen was joking, but when Zhang Yingchen brought them into the Heavenly King's Residence and saw Hong Tianfugui, the two of them realized that Zhang Yingchen was going to play it big.
"Brave King, why didn't you leave with us?" the two of them asked Zhang Yingchen after they came out.
"If I leave, won't Tianjing immediately know that something is wrong? They don't care about the Heavenly King, but they care about me! "Zhang Yingchen said frankly.
Li Peiyuan and Zhou Guben really didn't know how to evaluate Zhang Yingchen's attitude. After a while, Li Peiyuan said, "Brave King, you are indeed a capable general who has followed the commander-in-chief for so many years. The people of the Taiping Rebellion are indeed not as good as you. "
This was indeed a compliment, but it also really touched the scar in Zhang Yingchen's heart. Zhang Yingchen said, "Don't play games with words. I don't have any intention of letting the Heavenly King down. You must send the Heavenly King safely to the Liberation Army. If he is intercepted on the way, the Heavenly King's life will be in danger. If something like that happens, I, Zhang Yingchen, will never forgive you! "
"Don't worry, Brave King. We will definitely ensure the Heavenly King's safety," Li Peiyuan and Zhou Guben replied confidently.
Zhang Yingchen snorted. "You don't have to worry. I just want to use this method to dig out your intelligence network. At this point, digging out your intelligence network is of no use to the Taiping Rebellion. At most, it can drag on for a few more days. "
Shi Dakai and the others were currently focused on persuading the various kings. In Shi Dakai's eyes, Hong Tianfugui was originally just there for show. He had no time to think about Hong Tianfugui now. At most, he would increase the surveillance on Zhang Yingchen to prevent Zhang Yingchen from colluding with Lin Fengxiang.
Zhang Yingchen did not contact Lin Fengxiang at all. At this point, Zhang Yingchen was actually not afraid of Shi Dakai. Instead, he was most afraid of Lin Fengxiang, who was loyal to the Taiping Rebellion. There were many things that Shi Dakai could not see through, but they could not hide from Lin Fengxiang. Shi Dakai was smart enough to see through things on the surface, but Lin Fengxiang could see through many undercurrents under the surface.
In the morning, Hong Tianfugui escaped from Tianjing City. Although Zhang Yingchen's heart was in a mess, he was still able to maintain his calm. At night, Zhang Yingchen arranged his escape disguise and escaped from Chang 'an City with his guards. What he felt at this time was not freedom, but double the tension.
Calculating from the map, it was 300 miles from Chang 'an City to the Liberation Army's control area. There would be too many problems in this 300 miles. Zhang Yingchen could run 300 miles on horseback in a day and night. But could Hong Tianfugui do it? And were Li Peiyuan and Zhou Guben reliable?
But there was no turning back. Zhang Yingchen did not even want his family. As long as he took this step, he had no other choice but to escape with his loyal subordinates.
On August 19th, Zhang Yingchen received news that Wing King Shi Dakai's subordinates had been defeated.
On August 20th, Zhang Yingchen confirmed Li Peiyuan and Zhou Guben's identities.
On the morning of August 22nd, Hong Tianfugui escaped.
Late at night on August 22nd, Zhang Yingchen escaped.
At around 12 o 'clock on the morning of August 23rd, Shi Dakai's troops set off.
At 9 o 'clock on the morning of August 24th, Zhang Yingchen stopped in front of a group of Liberation Army cavalry with bloodshot eyes.
The cavalry commander stared at Zhang Yingchen for a long time. He dismounted and ran to Zhang Yingchen. "Brigade Commander Zhang, do you still remember me? I'm Zhong Dajiang. I finally get to see you again. "
Zhang Yingchen had long forgotten who Zhong Dajiang was. But since he recognized him, he must have been Zhang Yingchen's subordinate in the past. Zhang Yingchen also dismounted. "Have you seen the Heavenly King?"
Zhong Dajiang went forward and held Zhang Yingchen's hand. "The Heavenly King Hong Tianfugui has arrived safely. Brigade Commander Zhang, don't tell me. Hong Tianfugui has been talking about you. He said you would come later. He won't rest until he sees you. "
Along the way, Zhang Yingchen was physically exhausted and mentally tormented. In order to suppress the anxiety in his heart, he tried to use all his energy on the march. When he heard that Hong Tianfugui had arrived safely with the Liberation Army, he could no longer hold on. Zhang Yingchen only felt his mind suddenly go blank, and then he didn't know anything.
After some time, Zhang Yingchen woke up from his deep sleep. He opened his eyes and looked outside. The sky was still quite bright, and he did not know what time it was. He was about to get up, but he felt as if all his energy had been sucked out. He tried to get up, but he heard a joyful voice beside him. "Brother, you're finally awake!"
Turning his head with difficulty, Zhang Yingchen saw Hong Tianfugui sitting by the bed. When the two reunited, Zhang Yingchen's heart fell back into his stomach. Along the way, Zhang Yingchen felt more and more regretful. He knew that what he did was necessary. If he waited any longer, Chang 'an would definitely change greatly. At that time, he would not be able to leave even if he wanted to. But this operation was really rushed, and all kinds of unknown and uncontrollable events could happen. Once they happened, all the previous efforts would be in vain.
After reuniting with Hong Tianfugui, Zhang Yingchen was finally sure that his adventure had succeeded. Now that he was out of danger, Zhang Yingchen suddenly thought of his family in Chang 'an. He suddenly felt sad and could not help but cry.
At this time, Vézé had also received the news. Although they had not seen each other for more than a decade, Vézé still had an impression of his clever subordinate. Zhang Yingchen, who only relied on his cleverness, made Vézé feel a little pity. The characteristics of cleverness were that they read too much but did not know the meaning, and they were good at imitating but did not understand the source. If they could follow the general trend, they would be fine in the beginning, but they would stagnate when they encountered difficulties. Once they broke away from the general trend, they would be like a few drops of water in the desert, drying up in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Yingchen's current actions could be considered to have returned to the right path, but Vézé could not help but feel that Zhang Yingchen had only become more proficient in his cleverness. It was still worth observing whether there was a qualitative change.
At this time, Vézé was meeting people, so he only asked the troops to send Zhang Yingchen and the Heavenly King Hong Tianfugui to Luoyang for good protection. Moreover, he had to first confirm Hong Tianfugui's identity. No matter how good the Liberation Army's intelligence work was, it was really impossible to get to the Heavenly King's palace. More importantly, no one in the Liberation Army would have thought that the Heavenly King Hong Tianfugui would take the initiative to surrender to the Liberation Army.
After explaining this matter, Vézé went to see the waiting Zuo Zongtang. Zuo Zongtang was now the Deputy Director of the Guangdong Civil Affairs Bureau and had the treatment of a director. Because of the vegetable basket project, it would not be long before he would be promoted to the Deputy Governor of Guangdong Province, and there was a high chance that he would become a member of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee. Wei Changrong arranged for Zuo Zongtang to report to Vézé, mainly because he hoped that Vézé would meet Zuo Zongtang and wash away the color of surrender on Zuo Zongtang.
But Zuo Zongtang was really Zuo Zongtang. This time, he had dragged a former Qing official, Shen Baozhen, and wanted to recommend him to Vézé. Vézé had some impression of this name. Shen Baozhen had left a mark on China's shipbuilding industry. And after knowing that Shen Baozhen was Lin Zexu's son-in-law, Vézé finally agreed to meet him.
People who could be valued by Zuo Zongtang were indeed different. After meeting Vézé, Shen Baozhen began to plead for the young emperor of Manchu Qing.
Vézé found it interesting. He could not help but ask Shen Baozhen, "I heard that you fought the Taiping Rebellion with the Xiang Army. What I want to ask you is, if Hong Xiuquan died at that time and his son succeeded the throne, would he have been a teenager? He was just a teenager who didn't know anything. If this child fell into your hands, what would you do with him? "
Zuo Zongtang never expected that Shen Baozhen would bring up the topic of pardoning the young emperor of Manchu Qing after meeting with Vézé. Then, he saw Vézé ask Shen Baozhen such a question. Zuo Zongtang could only sigh in his heart. He admitted that he had underestimated Shen Baozhen's character.
After hearing Vézé's question, Shen Baozhen lowered his head and thought for a while. Then, he raised his head and said resolutely, "If I were to encounter such a situation, I would definitely put this person to death."
"Oh … Since you have made such a decision, why do you want me to pardon the young emperor of Manchu Qing?" Vézé said and could not help but smile.
"Your Majesty, these two things are completely different," Shen Baozhen replied calmly.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
