A clean official who can bring back my collection? He is.
Xu Yuegui heard the words of the Archangel, her breathing grew rapid, her bosom heaved with an irregular rhythm, and her face was filled with disbelief and surprise.
She had actually long considered Hong Daquan to be a dead person. This dead man was too reckless! He claimed to be the brother of the son of God, and if he were caught by Xianfeng, he would certainly be crucified and slaughtered one piece at a time.
It's not easy to catch such a big boss of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. How big a demonic head would Taiping need to catch for Xianfeng to be willing to make the exchange?
"He is called Zeng Guofan!" Ro Yao Guo laughed, "He is a retained assistant minister, who was the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel before taking leave due to the death of a family member, and served as the chief examiner for the Jiangxi Provincial Examinations."
Xu Yuegui became somewhat disappointed after hearing Ro Yao Guo's words: "Retained assistant minister. It seems not too big, does Xianfeng really want to trade my collection for him?"
How can this be possible?
Ro Yao Guo thought to himself, "If Xianfeng is willing, I'm not! It's Zeng Guofan, the savior of the Great Qing!"
It can be said that if there was no Zeng Guofan in history, and instead let people like Zeng Xuanqiong, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang fight the Taiping Rebellion, the Taiping Rebellion might still have ended in failure. However, the Qing Dynasty would likely have collapsed as well!
Because without Zeng Guofan, the big shot who could lead both the Xiang and Huai armies, Zeng Xuanqiong, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, and that batch of people would inevitably take the route of fostering enemies to enhance their own power and adopting armed separatism—this is a very common phenomenon in history. The warlords of the Eastern Han, the military governors during the late Tang Dynasty, and the heroes at the end of the Yuan Dynasty all followed this pattern. I have already clarified these issues in "Reverse Canon," and those scholars are sure to be reminded of thoughts of becoming a lord!
And once the Qing Dynasty sees the rise of Han official militias and armed separatism, no matter whether there is still the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing Dynasty is definitely doomed!
So, the importance of not having Zeng Guofan is crucial!
Because only he would, after desperately suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, also disband his Xiang Army, which was his means of livelihood and security. Others' love for the Qing Dynasty is not as deep!"
After a round of thoughts, Ro Yao Guo sincerely addressed Xu Yuegui: "Mrs. Yuecui, the probability that Xianfeng is willing to exchange is always above 50%, even if he doesn't want to, he won't harm the brothers of the whole collection. Moreover, we will definitely catch more Qing demons in the future. Since Zeng Guofan is on leave due to mourning and has no post, it will be easier to catch him!"
Jiao Hong, Xu Yuegui, Xu Xianggui, and Zhang San, these dark hall leaders from the Heaven and Earth Society, were moved after hearing Ro Yao Guo's words.
Xu Yuegui suddenly knelt before Ro Yao Guo: "Archangel, your kindness to us is as heavy as a mountain! The entire Military Recruitment Hall looks up to you and follows your lead!"
Jiao Hong, Xu Xianggui, and Zhang San quickly knelt down and expressed their loyalty to him.
Ro Yao Guo raised his eyebrows. This was an unexpected gain——the "loyalty" of these military recruitment hall people had risen again.
"Get up, get up," Ro Yao Guo waved his hand, signaling Jiao Hong, Xu Yuegui, Zhang San, Xu Xianggui and others to rise. Then he asked, "Let's plan carefully next, how should we send in informants to Changsha and Xiangxiang?"
Previously, when Ro Yao Guo occupied Daozhou, Guiyang Prefecture, Chenzhou, and other cities, he used the inside-outside attack strategy, and all of them were successful!
Now he naturally wants to imitate the model, and try again for twice!
After Ro Yao Guo and Jiao Hong, Xu Yuegui, Xu Xianggui, and others discussed plans to launch a Tienmu Sect uprising in Changsha and Xiangxiang to coordinate with the Taiping Army's attack, they called on Su Sanyun and Yu Meicheng to accompany them to the Xiwang Palace within Chenzhou City.
Inside the Xiwang Palace.
"Welcome, the 40th Heavenly Angel of Taiping!"
As soon as Luo Yao Guo stepped into the yard, a group of fierce Tiankuang army generals under the Xiwang Xiao Chaogui, such as Zeng Tanyan, Wu Ruoxian, Li Shoucheng, and He Dashu, who had already arrived to attend the meeting, all knelt down and bowed in respect.
In the angelic palace of Luo Yao Guo and the upper military, the etiquette of kneeling and bowing was rarely used. Instead, more emphasis was placed on "brothers and sisters, a close-knit family." In contrast, in Xiao Chaogui's Xiwang Palace and the front army, the old rules were still in place.
Because Xiao Chaogui possesses the divine authority of "the true godess Dufu," he not only maintained his ranking within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom but also gained greater say. Therefore, this time, the commander-in-chief of the Taiping Army's advance to Changsha was Xiao Chaogui, with Luo Yao Guo serving as the deputy commander.
So as long as Xiao Chaogui is present, the kneeling and bowing etiquette must follow the rules of the Xiwang Palace.
“Rise, rise, all rise.” Luo Yao Guo remains as easy-going as ever, smiling warmly to call everyone up. Xiwang Xiao Chaogui and Hong Xuanjiao waited outside the hall together, seeing Luo Yao Guo come in, they smiled eagerly to go up to meet him.
"Big brother!"
"Old eighth!"
Luo Yao Guo then clasped his fists to the two: "Brother-in-law, Sister." Then he asked Hong Xuanjiao: "Sister, when did you arrive in Chenzhou?"
"Only yesterday evening," Hong Xuanjiao laughed, "I heard you just came back from the wharf outside the city, so I didn't go to disturb you."
Xiao Chaogui continued Hong Xuanjiao's words and asked: "Eight brother, do those workers on the ships support our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? They are all brothers of the Heaven and Earth Society who want to overthrow the Qing Dynasty."
Luo Yao Guo has been very busy these days. On one hand, he is busy arranging for secret hall lecturers to be sent to Changsha and Xiangxiang to launch the uprising; on the other hand, he is also busy with the work among the heads and workers of ships on Chenzhou River and Leishui River.
Most of the boatmen on the Xiang River have been absorbed into the Taiping Army, but there are very few boatmen on the Chenzhou River and Leishui River who have joined. It's not that they don't want to, but because Luo Yao Guo cannot take away all the water transportation capacity from several prefectures in southern Hunan.
Water transportation is the main force of logistics in southern Hunan. Xiangjiang, Liaijiang, Chenzhou River, Kui River, and Yijiang, as well as the Guanzhou and Yanshan counties belonging to Guangxi adjacent to Daozhou and the Manjiang within the counties of Guanzhou and Yanshan in Hunan all finally converge into the Xiangjiang. If Feng Yunshan can make great achievements in southern Hunan while the main force of Taiping Army is advancing northward to Changsha, he will take down Jiling, Quanzhou and Hengyang. Then Xiangjiang, Liaijiang, Chenzhou River, Manjiang, Kui River and Yijiang can be connected into one piece through the Xiangjiang waterway between Guanzhou and Hengyang.
At that time, Feng Yunshan's Southern Palace only needs to control the four important cities on the Xiangjiang River: Qiyang, Qixiang, Jiling, and Quanzhou. By relying on the transportation network formed by the Xiangjiang River, Liaijiang, Chenzhou River, Manjiang, Kui River and Yijiang to transport troops and supplies, and by holding several passes on the southern side of the Nanling Mountain Range, a large and stable base can be established.
So in order to help Feng Yunshan with logistics and supplies for future military operations in southern Hunan, and to ensure the livelihood and production of the southern Hunan base, Luo Yao Guo has no intention of enlisting all the two hundred and thirty large wooden ships and their ship captains, ship workers gathered at the eastern dock of Chenzhou City into the Taiping Army.
However, he still intends to establish branch halls of the God-worshipping Society among these southern Hunan boat captains and workers, and to develop a group of members of the God-worshipping Society among the southern Hunan boat captains and workers.
This task was assigned by Luo Yao Guo to his main disciple Wang Yan, with a few students of the first term of the lecturers class. They established branch halls ten days ago and started spreading the principles of "Anti-Classics" and "The Tianchao Land System" among those boat captains and workers. The previous Lord Yan came to report that they had developed a group of disciples and were planning to start a "small lecturers class," asking Lord Luo Yao Guo to help with the scene.
Therefore, the following afternoon, Luo Yao Guo and Su Sanyun went there together. He not only gave speeches to the students of the small lecturers class, but also had intimate conversations with several boat captains who had status in the Heaven and Earth Society. Su Sanyun also made a godmother to one of the female boat captains.
"The boat captains and workers on the Chenzhou River are all set," Luo Yao Guo said with confidence, "Su Sanyun and I had to argue a lot, but finally they understood that my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will definitely replace the Qing Dynasty. They are naturally willing to follow in order to seek a title of merit at the founding of a new state. However, they still need Brother San of the Southern King to personally call them in and bestow some official positions so that they can work hard."
Xiao Chaogui asked: "How many ships do they have? Can they carry how many troops and horses?"
Luo Yao Guo was mainly busy with the lecturer team and secret halls, and the specific military affairs were passed to Su Sanyun and Yu Meicheng, so he didn't answer, but glanced at Su Sanyun.
Although Su Sanyun and Luo Yao Guo haven't held a wedding ceremony, their close relationship has long been public. Therefore, Xiao Chaogui and Hong Xuanjiao treated her as a younger sister, and they dared not let her stand there kneeling for a long time. After she finished the kowtowing ceremony, she stood beside Luo Yao Guo.
Now seeing Luo Yao Guo's look, she quickly replied: "They have hundreds of ships in total. The 23,000 troops heading north can be transported by ship, and all the baggage and cannons can also be transported by water, which is very convenient. However, Yu Meicheng said that the Governor of Hunan Province Cheng Yuncai is currently stationed in Hengyang. He has three thousand garrison troops under his command, all of whom have followed him to Hengyang. This demon is so cowardly that he will abandon the city and flee north if he knows that our 23,000 troops are all out. If he escapes into Changsha, it's fine; but if he slips away to Wuhan instead! Then the losses for Western King when attacking the city in the future will be much greater!"
So, after discussing with Yu Meicheng, we think it's feasible to have the main force advance slowly along the Chenzhou River and Leishui River by boat, while sending a detachment of elite troops by land to bypass Hengyang and head north along the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, racing towards Changsha.
Xiao Chaogui didn't let Su Sanyun finish speaking before nodding heavily: "Very good! Let Eighth Brother lead the detachment of the surprise attack on this route. It's not that I am lazy or timid, but rather that my fate is incompatible with Changsha. Next time we attack Wuhan, I will definitely lead the vanguard!"
Seeing that Xiao Chaogui had made up his mind to avoid Changsha, Luo Yao Guo could only helplessly shrug his shoulders. After all, it was "Jifu warning," and Xiao Chaogui wouldn't believe him unless he wanted to be trouble!
"Of course," Luo Yao Guo thought for a moment, "Brother-in-law, it's no problem for me to lead troops in an attack on Changsha. However, I don't have many elite soldiers under my command. I wonder if I can borrow some troops from the front army to take with me?"
"Alright!" Xiao Chaogui immediately agreed without hesitation, "I will send Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang with two thousand old brothers from Guangxi to join you! All matters of charging and breaking through the enemy lines can be entrusted to them."
Luo Yao Guo bowed to Xiao Chaogui and said, "There's one more thing that I need to trouble you with, brother-in-law."
Xiao Chaogui shrugged indifferently and smiled, "What's the matter? Just say it."
Luo Yao Guo spoke in a low voice: "Please bring your troops to Xiangxiang and capture an enemy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's fate! I have arranged an internal informant, inside and outside combined, and there will be no loss."
