The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Western Expedition Army swore to set out on May 19th. Under the command of the Chunguanzheng Prime Minister Hu Yihuang and the Xiaguan Deputy Prime Minister Lai Hanying, they first occupied Hezhou, Anhui, and then passed through Taiping and Chizhou. On June 10th, they conquered Anqing, an important town on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Then, Hu Yihuang was in charge of Anqing, and Lai Hanying led the inspection of Zeng Tianyang and commanded Lin Qirong and other troops to enter Jiangxi. On the 13th, they captured Pengze, and then connected Kehukou, Nankang, and Wucheng Town. At the end of June, the entire army arrived at the city of Nanchang. The road was as powerful as a bamboo shoot and progressed rapidly.

However, Lai Hanying was blinded by the easy victory. When the first strong attack on Nanchang was not over, he did not consider whether there was a better strategic plan. Instead, he became more angry and vowed not to give up until he took Nanchang. So, the battle for Nanchang was in a stalemate again. He had to send someone to ask Tianjing for reinforcements.

At the end of July, reinforcements led by Shi Xiangzhen, Shi Fengkui and Wei Jun arrived in Nanchang. According to the imperial edict of the Eastern King, Shi Xiangzhen unified the command of the two armies and quickly changed the tactics. By using the method of siege to attack reinforcements, the Tianjun annihilated nearly two thousand Qing soldiers sent by the Jiangnan camp Xiang Rongzeng to support Nanchang's defense, killed the general Yin Debu, and then quietly withdrew to encircle Nanchang, without knowing where to go.

When the Qing soldiers guarding Nanchang were still unable to understand the enemy's intentions, Shi Xiangzhen's army had already arrived outside Luzhou City on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Long before the Tianjun's movement to Luzhou, Hou Qianfang, the Minister of the Eastern Prefecture, entered Luzhou first. He came to Luzhou's prefect Hu Yuanwei under the secret order of the Eastern King.

Hu Yuanwei was born as a Jinshi. Because he had no support from his powerful forces, he had to borrow money from his relatives and spent countless gold and silver to donate the magistrate's shortcomings. He was cowardly by nature. After a high school Jinshi, he was once a woman pointed at her nose and insulted by a neighbor's wife. She was still humble and timid, and her relatives and friends all laughed at him.

However, no matter how cowardly he is, he may not be without his strength. Although Luzhou is the temporary provincial capital of Anhui, it is not rich, and the people are even more indulgent. After Hu Yuanwei donated his official position, he could neither deny the debt nor was willing to plunder the people. The dilemma made him feel more and more helpless. Seeing his colleagues suddenly getting rich, and thinking about his boss's constant blackmail, he even regretted entering the officialdom.

When he saw Hou Zongfang, somehow, in addition to being surprised, there was a vague sense of novelty. What was surprised that the other party was so bold that he was so brave. As a rebellion of the court, he came to him without any consequences. What was novel was that as soon as the other party spoke, he directly hit his life gate.

From Hou Zongfang's expression was calm and fearless, it was obvious that the other party was completely prepared. In his words, Hu Yuanwei felt that the other party was not only aware of the garrison in Luzhou, but also knew him clearly.

"There are a total of 300 battalions in Luzhou City, and of course, there are thousands of rural warriors. But do you think they will do anything under the pressure of our Heavenly Army? Haha, I don't think so. The Heavenly Army will be under the city soon. Does the Prefect Hu still have any hope for your court? You are a good official, you can say that you love the people as your son, but as a court, you can only give one and a half of an official like you, which cannot save the people. I believe you have heard that our Heavenly Kingdom rose up to save all the poor people. Our purpose is to eliminate all unfair things in the world and to give peace to the people!"

Of course, Hu Yuanwei knew what the soldiers in the city looked like. Apart from playing with the people, he probably had no more ability. However, it was not easy to ask him to abandon the ethics and morals he was familiar with. At least he was still doubtful. If the Taiping Army despises Confucius and Mencius, would he pay attention to corrupt scholars like himself?

Hou Qianfang had already seen through his thoughts, "The magistrate must still think that we just want to use you for the time being, say one thing and do another? Yes, we are saints who oppose you, and this does not mean that we hate all knowledgeable people. You can see, after we set the capital in Tianjing, have we ever burned books and buryed scholars? No. Our Heavenly Father once admonished this, "Confucius and Mencius's books do not need to be abolished, and there are many principles that are in line with the heavenly feelings. "Don't listen to the provocations of people with ulterior motives."

"Your King Hong Tian destroyed the Confucius Temple and smashed the tablets, which is all true."

"Yes, the King of Heaven also believed in Confucius and Mencius and studied hard in the Four Books. However, the crimes were cheated and the officialdom were greedy for money. You used all the so-called etiquette to foreigners, but you exploited the people very much. The tablets of Confucius and Mencius have long been regarded as fig leafs. How many of your officials have really paid attention to them in their hearts? The main theme of the Analects of Confucius is nothing more than five words: "Celebrity, kindness, respect, frugality, and mercy". Who did it? What the King of Heaven smashed was the inequality you put on the people back then, but your officials threw away the tablets of Confucius and Mencius in their hearts. Our Celestial Empire advocated eating with food and wearing clothes with each other, and everyone was brothers and sisters. Is this contrary to what you saints said?"

Hou Zongfang's erotic talk cannot be said to have not touched Hu Yuanwei. He is from Guangdong, and the court's incompetence towards foreigners is also unforgettable. Those who have read the ways of saints but are full of thieves and prostitutes are all over the place. After many contacts with Hou Zongfang, although he was not really convinced, when the Taiping Army indeed surrounded Luzhou like an iron barrel, he still gritted his teeth and made a decision in order to avoid the war in order to avoid the people in the city from being damaged. He gave the Shuixi Gate and allowed the Taiping Army to successfully occupy Luzhou.

Everything that happened from Nanchang to Luzhou was called Shi Xiangzhen, Hou Qianfang and others who knew the inside story admired His Highness An's prediction. According to the pre-deployment of the Eastern King, Shi Xiangzhen began to dispatch troops with Lai Hanying to clean up the surrounding small counties, and mobilized local people in the far and near suburbs of Luzhou to divide the land, divide the property, kill local tyrants and kill bullies, expand their army to prepare for war, and immediately sent secret envoys to Woyang in Huaibei to contact the fun-loving Nianzi there.

In more than a month, all rural cities in the areas controlled by the Tianjun in western Tianjin have been vigorously organized, from the two Simas who ruled the twenty-five households, to the brigade commanders, division commanders, military commanders and other management personnel who manage thousands of households, more than 10,000 households. The plunderers of the Tian Dynasty have their own fields, whether they care about each other, whether they are rescued from troubles, never close their households at night, and never pick up their own relics. The whole world is a family, sharing the sacred ideal of peace, the strict military discipline of the Tianjun soldiers, and the amiable image of brothers who meet everyone. The transactions are not only fair but also even intentionally pay more money, which has won the praise of the truly affordable people. What rewards them is that more and more people join the ranks of the Tianjun.

It was at this time that Shi Dakai arrived in Anqing.

While the momentum was making great efforts to cross the Huai River north, Shi Dakai left Lai Hanying to lead his headquarters and the newly recruited 20,000 troops to station in Luzhou, and only transferred Shi Xiangzhen's troops to the south. A few days later, Shi Xiangzhen's banner appeared again under the city of Nanchang.

As the new assistant to the Jiangnan camp military affairs, Hubei Censor Jiang Zhongyuan received a report from Nanchang's emergency military. Without saying a word, he immediately clicked three thousand troops and left Jiujiang and rushed to Nanchang to rescue him. Due to the delay in judging the enemy situation, he received news of the loss of Luzhou on his way to pursue Shi Xiangzhen's troops a month ago. He was scolded by the court for this. This time, no matter what, Changmao could no longer be called. Unexpectedly, he had just arrived in Nanchang, and before he could even get in, the emergency help document followed.

Jiujiang is in a hurry! Jiang Zhongyuan is dizzy. What kind of battle is Changmao fighting? How is this possible? When he stepped on the city tower and saw the thief Shi Ni escape from the city, he had to believe this fact. The cunning Changmao was using the trick of luring the tiger away from the mountain. He hurriedly bid farewell to Jiangxi Governor Zhang Fu and embarked on the road to return. Since Anqing was lost, Jiujiang could not be lost any longer, otherwise the three provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi would be threatened by Changmao.

The idea is the idea after all, but the road is too long. It took nearly four days to come from Jiujiang to Nanchang. There was no sufficient rest. If you rush back, you can check how anxious the soldiers are. The feet of the soldiers are all flesh.

Jiang Zhongyuan led this exhausted army and finally heard the sound of cannons coming from the direction of Jiujiang City. However, before he could see the shadow of the city, he stepped into the ambush circle of the Tianjun, which had been waiting for him for a long time. Just like the Quanzhou Qianyidu, where he started his business, he set up an ambush, logged a river, and intercepted the Taiping Army, which not only caused great losses to the Taiping Army, but also caused the martyrdom of the Southern King Feng Yunshan. Today, fate is such a coincidence. In the ambush circle of the Tianjun, they were greeted with breathtaking anger and shouts, as well as the sword forest that covered the sky and the sun. The difference is that he and his subordinates no longer had the spirit and courage to continue the heaven and earth. They were only tired and lost any ability to resist.

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