Chapter Fifty-two Old Matters of Past Years

  In 1856, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom experienced an event later known as the 'turning point from prosperity to decline' - the Tianjing Incident. Due to the arrogance of the Eastern King, the Heavenly King summoned the Northern King Wei Changhui, the Wing King Shi Dakai and the Yan King Qin Rigang to enter the capital and remove Yang. Wei Changhui and Qin Rigang arrived a step ahead, these two having a grudge against the Eastern King, after entering the capital they quickly surrounded the Eastern King's palace, beheading several thousand members of Yang Xiuqing's family.

  After learning of this, Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan ordered North King and Yan Wang to stop the slaughter and spare the lives of the Eastern King's followers. However, North King and Yan Wang were afraid that the Eastern King would take revenge in the future, so they refused to carry out the Heavenly King's order and killed all the surrendered soldiers and officers under the Eastern King's command.

  At that time, the Eastern King was in charge of all military affairs of the Heavenly Kingdom, so most of the "Eastern Party" who were eliminated were the best military generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. After the event, it is estimated that about 20,000 Taiping soldiers were killed.

  The Heavenly King learned that the incident had deteriorated to such an extent, and initially ordered a decree condemning the Northern King Wei Changhui. However, at this time, the Northern King and the Yan King had already controlled Tianjing, so Hong Xiuquan endured it and did not thoroughly investigate the crime of the two kings' disobedience.

  More than a dozen days later, Wing King Shi Dakai returned to Tianjing and saw such a tragic situation. He was furious and condemned the Northern King for killing innocent people indiscriminately. Wei Changhui wanted to kill Wing King again, but Wing King received the news in advance and fled overnight. As a result, Wei Changhui killed Shi Dakai's entire family.

  Shi Dakai rushed to Anqing, raised troops to execute the Northern King, and asked for orders from the Heavenly King. Wei Changhui was already red-eyed with killing, and upon learning of Shi Dakai's rebellion, he feared that the Heavenly King would hand him over. With no other choice, he led his troops to surround the Heavenly King's palace, intending to kill Hong Xiuquan and take his place.

  The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was founded on the basis of religion, with the Heavenly King holding an extremely high position, and his prestige was almost divine. With a single order from Hong Xiuquan, many of the Northern King's troops refused to obey the Northern King's command and returned to the Heavenly King's camp. After two days of fierce fighting, the Northern King was killed, and the Heavenly King sent Wei Changhui's head to Anqing Shi Dakai. Later, Yan Wang Qin Rigang was also killed by Yi Wang.

  After the death of North King, his party also suffered a lot of slaughter, but there was one exception, that is Wei Changhui's younger brother Wei Zhi-jun. At this time, Wei Zhi-jun was defending Wuchang to the death, Wuchang was an important town, with Wuchang, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would occupy the entire Yangtze River basin, half of China, losing Wuchang, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would be trapped in the southeast.

  Due to Hong Xiuquan and Shi Dakai's hatred for Wei Changhui, they also suspected Wei Zhijun. When Hong Xiuquan saw that such an important town was being besieged, he didn't send any troops to rescue it. After Wei Zhijun was trapped for several months with no external reinforcements and internal supplies, he had no choice but to retreat.

  Hong Xiuquan, upon hearing of Wei Zhi-jun's retreat, not only failed to provide reinforcements but also blamed Wei Zhi-jun. Fortunately, Shi Dakai was reasonable and managed to save Wei Zhi-jun's life along with Li Xiucheng.

  From then on, Wei Zhi-jun repeatedly suffered from the suspicion of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. If it weren't for Wei Zhi-jun holding a strong military power, he would have probably escaped death.

  This is the pressure from the Tianjing side, and also from the local side. Not far from Chi Prefecture, there is the Gannan region, which is Yang Fuqing's territory. Yang Fuqing was the cousin of Eastern King Yang Xiuqing, and after Northern King exterminated the entire family of Eastern King, Yang Fuqing put all his hatred on Wei Zhijun's head.

  Wei Zhi-jun knew that his brother owed others, so he also made efforts to make up for it. Whenever Yang Fu-qing was in a battle against the Qing army in Gannan, Wei Zhi-jun would definitely lead troops to support him. However, on the contrary, Yang Fu-qing did not show any gratitude and instead plotted to kill Wei Zhi-jun at every turn, hating him to the bone.

  A few days ago, Wei Zhi-jun suddenly received news that Hong Xiuquan had dismissed Meng De-en as the commander-in-chief of the Central Army and appointed Yang Fu-qing to succeed him. Wei Zhi-jun was also required to obey his orders.

  Wei Zhijun thought that no matter what the outcome was, he would definitely die. If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rebellion succeeded, he would be executed as a rebel; if they won, Hong Xiuquan would inevitably abandon him and kill him after using him; if neither side won or lost, both armies would fight on, and even if he obeyed Yang Xiuqing's orders, it would still lead to death.

  During the siege of Wuchang, the Qing army repeatedly urged Wei Zhi-jun to surrender. Although he already knew that his brother had been executed, he still refused to give in. After breaking through the siege, originally loyal and dedicated Wei Zhi-jun received too much suspicion and unfair treatment, causing him to become disheartened and even harbor many grievances towards the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so he made up his mind to surrender to the Qing army.

  During the introduction of the audience, Li Mingfeng carefully observed the expressions of the crowd and felt that although some generals were furious with Hong Xiuquan and Yang Fuqing, there were still many people who did not show any excitement, and even a few slightly furrowed their brows. It seems that Wei Zhijun's betrayal was not supported by all the generals.

  Li Mingfeng listened to everyone's words and thought for half a day before saying: "I wonder if General Wei can have a private conversation with me?"

  Wei Zhi-jun waved his hand and said loudly, "Just say whatever you want to say. These brothers of mine are all from Wuchang City, we fought our way out together, we're sworn brothers, nothing is off-limits."

  Li Mingfeng saw the situation and had no choice but to say directly: "I have understood General Wei's intention, and I can assure that General Wei is sincerely surrendering and not pretending to surrender. However, everyone has their own ambitions, General, do you want to surrender to Qing? Have you asked your subordinates?"

  Wei Zhi-jun heard this and said with a hint of anger: "How can Lord Li say such things? My brothers and I are united, we advance and retreat together. If I were to surrender to the imperial court, would my fellow brothers still dare to oppose me?"

  Wei Zhi-jun finished speaking, several generals stood up quickly and shouted in unison: "Brothers, one heart, advance and retreat together!" Of course, there were still a few people sitting expressionless without moving.

  At this time, Wei Zhi-jun also felt that something was wrong and frowned, sizing up the crowd who had not expressed their attitude.

  Huang Wengjin, Liu Guanfang, Gu Longxian and Lai Wennong were sitting there with cold sweat dripping down their faces, thinking that General Wei could not ignore the fraternal bond of many years and silence them.

  Huang Wenjin plucked up the courage to say: "Huang Mou has today's status thanks to your trust, and I have long made up my mind to repay with death. If on the battlefield, you encounter danger, Huang Mou will definitely sacrifice himself to save you. However, as a general of the Heavenly Kingdom, my loyalty to the Heavenly King is unwavering."

  Lai Wen Hong stood up and said, "In one sentence, if you want to take Lao Lai's life, then take it, but if you think Lao Lai will betray Tian Wang and surrender to the Qing demon, that is absolutely impossible."

  Li Mingfeng saw this and shook his head, walking out. Wei Zhijun needed some free space to solve internal problems.