Chapter 30: Hunan Tiandihui (Seeking Recommendation Tickets)

  In the dead of night, Li Yunzhong was sleeping soundly with Su San Niang in his arms when they were suddenly awakened by a loud knocking at the door. Li Yunzhong woke up San Niang, who saw that she was naked and embracing Li Yunzhong, her face turned red as she closed her eyes again and asked the person outside the door: "What's going on?"

  "General, something's gone wrong! The Taiping Army has killed the Han King and General Hu is now besieging the government office to avenge the Han King. And another group of Taiping soldiers have opened the city gate." The urgent voice outside sounded like Yang Changmei.

  Su San Niang didn't react until a while later, and she hastily pushed open the door to get dressed. Li Yun Zhong also had no time to appreciate the beauty of Su San Niang, as he quickly found his own clothes and surprisingly finished dressing before her. He opened the door to see Yang Chang Mei looking like she had seen a ghost, and he patted her cheek, asking: "What's going on?"

  Yang Changmei exclaimed: "The King of Han is not dead!……" After calling out several times, she came to her senses and replied excitedly with a red face: "Reporting to the King of Han, around the hour of the tiger, the Taiping Army inside the city rebelled. They occupied the government office, saying that you, the King of Han, had been killed by them, and told us to surrender. General Hu is leading the First Army in attacking the government office to avenge the general."

  Li Yunzhong thought about it and remembered that Xiao Chaogui had warned him to be careful of Yang Xiuqing. He understood the whole situation now - Yang Xiuqing was trying to get rid of both him and Xiao Chaogui, so he could have all the power for himself. Now, the Taiping Army's troops might already be in the city.

  Li Yunzhong, who had come to his senses, embracing the spirit of "it is better to be shattered jade than to remain unbroken pottery", ordered the surrounding female soldiers: "Yang Changmei, you go and order Hu Yihuang not to attack the government office anymore, tell him to hurry up and open all city gates except the North Gate, after completion, gather at the North Gate."

  "Yes sir!" Yang Changmei excitedly accepted the order and rode off on horseback.

  "Xiao Yunmei, send someone to notify all troops within the city separately and have them quickly gather at the North Gate."

  "Edict"

  "Others quickly gathered their belongings and prepared to withdraw." Li Yunzhong shouted at the people who were stunned on the spot.

  Seeing no one outside, Su San Niang dressed up and came out, walked to Li Yunzhong's side and asked: "What's going on after all? Didn't we already give Changsha to them?"

  Li Yunzhong said: "Some people are not satisfied with killing me, they also want to swallow our entire army."

  Seeing Su San Niang's angry look, Li Yunzhong comforted her instead: "It's better this way, I don't feel guilty in my heart either. We have already been kind and righteous to them, now it's their turn to owe us."

  Su San Niang had just taken a few steps when she suddenly grabbed onto Li Yun Zhong, and seeing the puzzled look on his face, she pinched the soft flesh around his waist and blushed, saying: "Isn't it because of what you did last night..."

  Li Yunzhong smiled knowingly, and Jia Ren's voice came again, hastily helping Su San Niang onto the horse, saying: "Didn't you ride 'horse' very happily last night?"

  Su San Niang asked in confusion, "When did I ride a horse last night?" Seeing Li Yunzhong's embarrassed face, she suddenly reacted and quickly raised the whip in her hand to strike him.

  Li Yunzhong rushed ahead on horseback and galloped towards the North Gate.

  Li Yunzhong arrived at the North Gate to a chorus of cheers and shouts, "The King of Han is really not dead!", "God bless!", "The King of Han is indeed a god descended from heaven!", "Long live the King of Han!"... Finally, the whole army shouted in unison "Long live the King of Han!", their voices echoing through the clouds, as the sky gradually brightened. The Qing army outside the city was shocked and uncertain.

  Li Yunzhong raised his hand and everyone finally quieted down.

  Seeing all his sworn brothers present, Li Yunzhong smiled and nodded at them, ordering them to form up in ranks. Once the troops were formed up, he shouted out to the army: "Open the city gates!"

  The city gate slowly opened, and Li Yunzhong waved his hand, saying: "Kill!"

  The First Army led the vanguard, while the Fourth Army, the Boy Scouts, and the newly joined Heavenly Soldiers protected the elderly and weak in the middle. The Second Army brought up the rear, leaving the city one after another. Most of the Qing army was deployed to the south of the city, where they clashed with the Taiping Army over control of the city gates. As a result, the Qing forces were scattered all over the place, each fleeing for their lives.

  The army stopped only when they reached the banks of the Xiangjiang River, where Hu Yihuang sent people to gather boats. By noon, the entire army had arrived on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, which was less than 10 li from Wangcheng Town. Li Yunzhong then ordered Liu Xiucheng to lead a battalion to take Wangcheng Town. The main force followed slowly behind, sending people to Changsha to gather information.

  Less than an hour later, Li Xiucheng sent someone to report that Wangcheng Town had been taken. In the afternoon, the army was stationed in Xiangyin.

  In the afternoon, Jiao Liang led three thousand people to Wangcheng Town, and Li Yunzhong hurriedly came out of the city to greet him.

  Jiao Liang pulled Li Yunzhong's hand and sighed: "Hearing the name is not as good as meeting in person, Hong Xiuquan has such a big reputation, but he treats military and national affairs as a joke, recklessly destroying Confucius temples and spreading superstition. What's the difference between this and the tyrant Qin Shi Huang?"

  Li Yunzhong said: "I also advised them, but they insisted on going their own way, so I had no choice but to part ways with them."

  Jiao Liang said: "Different paths do not make plans together, this is the right thing to do. They are so perverse and will ultimately lose the hearts of the people. It's still General, no, Han Wang Dianxia is wise, I lead the Tian Di Hui brothers to come and surrender."

  Li Yunzhong happily said: "With your help, it's better than having 100,000 brave soldiers. The reason I didn't let the brothers from the Tiandihui join the army is that I was waiting for you."

  Jiao Liang's eyes were filled with hot tears, and he said, "Jiao Liang is really speechless. The King of Han doesn't despise me for being inferior, yet still treats me so generously after abandoning me last time... I..."

  Li Yunzhong immediately announced: "The Heaven and Earth Society brothers will be formed into the Third Army, with Jiao Liang as the army commander. The officers in the army can be appointed by General Jiao himself."

  The people of the Tiandihui all knelt down together and shouted: "Thank you, General"

  Liu Jiaolong is reorganizing his troops outside the city, while Li Yun and others return to Wangcheng.

  Hu Yihuang said: "Your Highness, why are you treating Focal Bright so generously?"

  Li Yunzhong looked at the crowd with a puzzled expression, and laughed: "Firstly, in the two lakes region, the Tiandihui has a huge influence, with tens of thousands of people just in Hunan. Secondly, I heard that the Hubei governor, to prevent us from going north along the river, has built countless underwater stakes in the rivers. However, the Tiandihui has countless members on both banks of the river, and with one order, they can remove all the underwater stakes in a single day. Thirdly, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is strict with the Triad, while I am lenient, so all the Triads under heaven will definitely join me and leave the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

  "I'm afraid that the heavens and earth will have a trend of being too big to get rid of!"

  Li Yunzhong said, "Don't worry about this aspect, everyone's heart is with me, I treat everyone equally, if they want to leave me and go, I won't stop them. We are all rebels against the Qing, it's better than being buried in the countryside or surrendering to the imperial court."

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  The next day, Jiao Liang had the Third Army in order and handed over the list of generals to Li Yunzhong, saying: "I heard that the First and Second Armies each have only eight thousand men. My Third Army cannot be an exception, with six thousand men left, how should they be arranged? Please instruct me."

  Li Yunzhong said, "Each army is divided into two thousand people." Looking at the list handed over by Jiao Liang, the first row was Zhou Guoyu, He Jian'ou, and He Lu. Under each person's name, there were a few more names written, apparently the battalion commanders.

  Li Yunzhong asked: "How is there so much blank space again?"

  Jiao Liang said cautiously: "The reason why the Tiandi Society has repeatedly failed to start a business is that it lacks talent. I hope General Mo will transfer some backbone from other armies to the Third Army, which can greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the Third Army."

  Li Yunzhong thought, Jiao Liang was a sensible person, and didn't need to be told: "Alright, some of the generals from other armies who have made achievements haven't had time to receive their rewards yet. Let's promote each of them one rank and transfer them to the Third Army."

  Jiao Liang continued: "The Willing-to-Fight Party has another problem, which is that its discipline is too poor, and it often resorts to robbery, arson, and looting."

  Li Yunzhong nodded, recalling the time when they attacked Tong County and forgot to inform Luo Dagang and Su Sanniang's troops about discipline. After entering the city, they killed indiscriminately, for which Li Yunzhong executed over a hundred people, and Li Xiucheng almost got beheaded as well. Li Yunzhong asked: "What plan do you have?"

  Jiao Liang said: "We can try our best to let them fight in the wilderness, and also send military officers to each regiment to record their merits and demerits."

  Li Yunzhong praised: "This method is good, let's do it this way. I will immediately order Li Daji to select military officers to enter the third army. Jiao Liang, I trust you, whatever happens in the Tiandihui, you understand better than me, just make your own decisions."

  Jiao Liang said: "Thank you, Your Highness, Jiao Liang will exhaust his loyalty and dedication until death."