After everyone finished their prayers, Xiao Yungui smiled and persuaded them again, asking everyone to raise their chopsticks. Li Kaifang was the first to pick up the chopsticks and whispered: "Your Highness the King of the West, why don't you invite Brother Zeng to have something together?"

Xiao Yungui cursed in his stomach, "Damn it, I'm going to win over my confidants to discuss countermeasures. What should I ask this spy to do?" But he said calmly: "Brother Zeng has something to deal with, so he won't come."

Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang looked at each other, and their faces were full of confusion. It turned out that they had just arrived in the government office and met Zeng Shuiyuan. He had just finished handling the official duties and said that he was going back to the army to have dinner. Why did the Western King say that?

Xiao Yungui called everyone to take their chopsticks. After eating for a while, everyone praised the chef for his good skills. The chef was praised and his eyes narrowed even more when he smiled.

Xiao Yungui was very hungry with Hunan cuisine and ate six bowls of rice in a row before he was full. This appetite scared him. His body was not as good as that, but seeing Xiao Chaogui's body with a tiger back and a bear waist, he felt relieved. He ate too much.

After the meal, Xiao Chaogui ordered people to serve hot tea. He used to be very addicted to smoking and had to smoke one after the meal. Although his body has changed and he has no physical needs, he still needs it psychologically. He licked his lips and asked, "Who are you smoking?"

Lin Fengxiang and others shook their heads in surprise. The fat chef bowed and smiled and said, "Prince, the villain smokes the pipes, let's get it for you."

After a while, Xiao Yungui took the pipe and took a sip. The tobacco was extremely choking. He couldn't help but cough a few times and could only make do with it. There was no cigarette at all these days. He then said to the fat chef: "Well, this tobacco is good. What's your name by the way?"

The fat chef bowed and replied, "The villain is called Zhou Zhaoyao, from Xiangtan, Hunan."

Xiao Yungui took another sip. This time he was prepared and did not cough anymore. He breathed a long sigh and said, "This meal is good, and the cigarettes are good. I'll give you some money. You can go home."

Zhou Zhaoyao was very surprised. Unexpectedly, Xiao Yungui not only let him go but also gave him a reward. He knelt down and kowtowed again. Xiao Yungui hated the etiquette of kowtowing and helped him up and said, "This is your salary for cooking. Our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is a fair deal, so you don't need to thank me."

Zhou Zhaoyao touched the back of his head and smiled foolishly, "The Qing Yao Magistrate Guo Shijian is so stingy and has never given any rewards. Every time I cook, I will add ingredients to him. If he knew, he would definitely not be as magnanimous as the prince, so the villain must kowtow and thank him."

Xiao Yungui smiled, but Li Zuoche said in embarrassment: "Your Highness the Western King, we have no money. All the money is in the military Saint Curry, and the guard Zeng is in charge of it."

Xiao Yungui smiled bitterly. The bastard's Holy Ku, the prince's expenses are all taken from the Holy Kuri. In his opinion, this Holy Kuri is like an egalitarian big pot rice, which is very unreasonable. However, he had already said that he could not speak out. He did not want to alarm Zeng Shuiyuan in order to reward a chef. After pondering for a moment, he said, "You can take whatever you like in this room. If Qing Yao comes back, you can just say we can take it."

This time the Taiping Army rushed to Changsha, and the prefectures and counties passed by were just intercepting money and grain. Although there were many antiques and accessories in this house, they would not carry them with them. They were moving forward lightly and could not bring more things, so the things here were not included in the Holy Library.

Zhou Zhaoyao was overjoyed and took a few vases of antiques, and went there with great thanks.

"Brother Lin, why don't you make a sound?" Seeing that Li Kaifang, Li Zuoche and others were talking and laughing when they were just having dinner, only Lin Fengxiang was depressed, so he started asking.

Lin Fengxiang stood up and clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness the Western King, this time our light army attacked Changsha, and there were not many people. There were no red medicine (i.e. gunpowder), muskets, cannons, and any weapons to attack the city. What should we do when we really arrived at the city of Changsha? Should we fill it with the lives of our brothers? At that time, many people attacked Guilin Prefecture, and there were enough military weapons, but we could not capture it. Changsha Prefecture heard that it was much larger than Guilin Prefecture."

Xiao Yungui was smoking a cigarette puff, and the smoke was shrouded in the smoke. Lin Fengxiang spoke faster and faster: "His Royal Highness, the brothers are eating brown rice outside now, but we are big fish and meat here. I feel uncomfortable eating it!"

Speaking of this, Li Kaifang hurriedly pulled Lin Fengxiang, Xiao Yungui shook off the tobacco from the cigarette pole and tasted the tea ceremony: "Brother Lin, continue, what else is wrong with me?"

Lin Fengxiang is really a straightforward person. He can even say something in his heart. He still remembers his soldiers when he eats. Such a person can be used more, and only Xiao Yungui can hear the truth from his mouth.

Lin Fengxiang seemed to have made it a pledge, and he left Li Kaifang and stepped forward and continued: "There is also His Highness, and there are more than a thousand people in the Heaven and Earth Association of Chaling just now. But the guards of Zeng said, "You think that the Heaven and Earth Association are not the same as us. I'm afraid it's difficult to tame and refuse to accept it. This will make people feel cold."

Xiao Yungui widened his eyes and said, "Have I ever said this?" He then remembered that Xiao Chaogui had indeed said this before, but Zeng Shuiyuan advised him that if there was a heaven and earth association along the way, he would not be taken in. What did they say that now they are alone and have few troops. If there are too many people joining the heaven and earth association, this team may become the heaven and earth association.

What bullshit suggestions are this? They have rebelled with flags. Beware of this and that. In the end, they turn those who could have become friends into enemies. Xiao Yungui stood up and asked, "Where are those brothers from the Heaven and Earth Association now? I will go to see them in person."

Lin Fengxiang was overjoyed. He didn't expect that the King of Xi, who was a hot temper and a little stingy, would listen to his words. He immediately led the way forward and everyone headed to the schoolyard of Chaling County.

Li Kaifang felt that Xiao Chaogui's behavior today was strange. He walked behind and quietly grabbed Tang Erniu and asked, "Brother Erniu, do you think the Western King is a little strange today?"

Tang Erniu shook his head and said, "I don't think we are not in enough staff now. It's a good thing to join the gang of the Tiandihui (the Taiping Army calls ordinary people who don't believe in religion).

Li Kaifang shook his head and said, "I'm not talking about this, I'm saying that the King of the West actually smoked his tobacco pipe."

Tang Erniu pursed and said, "Taste something fresh. Didn't you see the King of Western choking and tears came out when you choked?"

Li Kaifang shook her head and stopped talking. She followed everyone, looking worried.

The Chaling County yamen was stationed by Xiao Chaogui's five hundred elite swordsman, while the rest were scattered at the city gates and the schoolyards in the city. Today, after the Taiping Army reached Chaling, the magistrate Guo Shijian had already escaped. The Qing Dynasty's laws were strict, and the officials who lost their land would be killed. The magistrate would probably be arrested and asked for the beheading in the future. The few green camp soldiers, yamen runners, officials and others in the city also took off their official uniforms and hid homes. The Taiping Army can be said to have captured Chaling without bloodshed.

In the afternoon, a large number of Tiandi congregations came to join us after hearing the news, with a total of more than 1,000 people. Since the establishment of this Tiandicon, it has been an important anti-Qing gang among the people. There are Tiandicon activities in many provinces south of the Yangtze River, especially Fujian and Guangdong. It is mainly composed of the Qing gang, which controls the transportation of the canal and the Gelao Society in Sichuan. Many of the subsequent gangs were derived from the three gangs. Even the founding father of the Nation Zhongshan had many support from the branch triad associations of the Tiandicon, so if the Qing Dynasty was depleted, it would be difficult to explain clearly if these gangs were missing.

There were originally many people from the Tiandihui Association in the Taiping Army, such as Jiao Liang, who was named Hong Daquan, Luo Dagang, who was brave and good at fighting, and the heroic female general Su Sanniang, who were all boat troops of the Tiandihui Association in Guangxi. However, these people were subject to many restrictions on joining the Taiping Army. First, joining the Taiping Army means giving up their original beliefs and believing in God of Heavenly Father. Second, the Tiandihui Association has long had strong gang habits and the Taiping Army's military rules are strict, so a large number of Tiandihui members were blocked outside the door. However, the members of the Tiandihui Association who stayed in the end could eventually become the backbone of the Taiping Army.

This time, when I came to Hunan, I went north and went to Xiao Chaogui's banner. Many local Tiandihuis in Hunan came to surrender after hearing the news, but Xiao Chaogui advanced quickly and went to Chaling because Xiao Chaogui fell into a coma. The partial division of the Taiping Army stayed in Chaling for a day, and the congregations of Tiandihui everywhere came to surrender.

Unfortunately, Zeng Shuiyuan was afraid that there would be too many people to surrender, so he could not accept these people, so he did not accept them. Under Lin Fengxiang's persuasion, he reluctantly agreed to keep these people in the school field for a full meal, sleep for a night before leaving.

When Xiao Chaogui followed Lin Fengxiang to the schoolyard, he saw that the small schoolyard was filled with people, and several huge bonfires were lit. The congregations in the world sat around the fire, some of whom were old, young, strong and weak, and were dressed in various ways, their clothes were shabby and tattered, and some were even uncovered.

Xiao Yungui understood at first glance that most of them were farmers nearby, some of them were all kinds of people in the city, and a few were wearing the clothes of the yamen in the city. It seemed that the world here would be the same as those elsewhere, and often they could penetrate into the government.

Xiao Yungui asked Lin Fengxiang in a low voice, "Who is their leader?"

Lin Fengxiang replied: "There are more than a dozen leaders, and all the congregations of the Tiandihui in nearby townships come. They all have their own leaders or hall masters. Most of them have a hundred people under their command, and the few have four or fifty people under their command."

When Xiao Yungui heard this, he felt that the world congregation with more than a thousand people had more than a dozen leaders and hall masters. These people must be disagreeable with each other. Even if these people were really brought into the team, they would not have any combat effectiveness in the short term. The untrained farmers were not much different from the long-term Green Camp Big Heads. However, the officers and soldiers were well-armed and had unified orders. If they wanted to take these people to the battlefield, they really had to consider their command.

Xiao Yungui frowned and pondered for a moment, saying, "Call them all over, I will see them first."
Chapter completed!