Chapter 45: Deceiving Zuo Zongtang and digging a pit

  "Report, reporting to Your Excellency, a battle report from the front line." Chen Yucheng handed over two battle reports to Li Yunzhong and then left.

  "On April 21, our troops arrived in Yangzhou and the officials fled one after another. The Second Army occupied Yangzhou city without bloodshed. On April 23, the Qing army led by Qi Shan came to attack but was defeated and retreated to Jiangdu County. On April 24, Li Shixian took over Chuzhou and the Seventh Army retreated to Shucheng."

  Zuo Zongtang exclaimed with delight: "Good! I didn't expect the Second Army to take Yangzhou so smoothly. If we had been a step later, Qi Shan would have taken it."

  Li Yunzhong smiled and took out the second battle report, continuing to read: "On April 23, the Fifth Army arrived at Zhenjiang by boat and fought fiercely for half a day. The Governor of Jiangsu led the officials to escape to the Jiangnan Camp. On April 25, our army captured Danyang and Changzhou, and Zhang Guoliang of the Jiangnan Camp led 5,000 soldiers to garrison Wuxi."

  Zuo Zongtang said disappointedly: "I didn't expect the Qing court to send troops from Jiangnan's large camp to rush to Suzhou instead of sending troops from Jiangxi."

  Li Yunzhong put down the battle report and said fiercely: "We can continue to let the Fifth Army attack Suzhou and Wuxi. If Rong Yu continues to deploy troops to Suzhou, then I will first conquer the Jiangnan Great Camp."

  Li Yunzhong turned his head to look at Zuo Zongtang, somewhat embarrassed: "Sir... do you have any students or friends in Hunan? Summon them to Nanjing, and I will entrust them with important tasks. In the future, it will be easier to deal with Zeng Guofan and others if we know each other."

  Zuo Zongtang considered it and shook his head: "They are probably unwilling to come to Nanjing."

  Li Yunzhong felt even more embarrassed and whispered: "We can write a letter... to deceive them into coming over for a gathering, at most... we can persuade them repeatedly."

  Zuo Zongtang did not expect Li Yunzhong to be so shameless and hesitated: "This... won't I be harming them?"

  Li Yunzhong shook his head and waved his hand, promising: "I absolutely will not harm their lives, just let them re-recognize the Great Han. If they are unwilling to work for me, I won't make things difficult for them either. I'll give them complete freedom. Those who want to return, I'll provide travel expenses; those who don't want to return, I'll entrust with important tasks."

  Zuo Zongtang sighed and said: "I'll just be a little man this time, after going back I'll write them a letter, troubling the Han King to send someone to deliver it to them."

  Li Yunzhong waited until Zuo Zongtang left, then secretly followed him from behind, making sure he had left the Wang Mansion. He hastily instructed his young attendant Chen Yucheng: "Yucheng, go and summon Jiao Liang over, and have him bring someone familiar with Hunan along."

  Before long, Jiao Liang brought a young man in his twenties to the Wang Mansion and said to Li Yunzhong: "Your Highness, this is my younger brother, named Jiao Jing, who is very familiar with the situation in Hunan."

  Li Yunzhong said to Jiao Jingdao, "Later I will send you to Hunan to handle a matter. This is a major event, if it succeeds there will be great rewards, but if it fails... then you don't need to come back."

  Jiao Jing said anxiously: "Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will definitely do my best to serve you."

  Li Yunzhong saw him tense and said, "Don't be nervous, this matter is important but simple. I just need you to go to Hunan and bring back a few people. Later, I will give you the list of names, and you can visit them one by one according to the list. Whether they are willing or not, you must bring them back to Nanjing. And also their family members. I will arrange for the Water Army and the Seventh Army to meet you at the Anhui border. Your Tiandihui has a strong foundation in Hubei and Hunan, this small matter shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

  Jiao Liang and Jiao Jing let out a sigh of relief at the same time, secretly blaming the lord for scaring people. It was just a small matter of sesame seeds and green beans, but it was said so seriously that they thought Jiao Jing would be sent to Hunan to rebel. Jiao Jing quickly said: "Please don't worry, my lord. There are still many people in the Tiandihui in Hunan who want to come and surrender to the Han King. Let's consider this as their letter of intent. I think they will handle things properly."

  Li Yunzhong nodded in satisfaction: "Well, I hope so. Once this matter is settled, I will heavily reward you."

  Jiao Jing thanked him and said: "Thank you, Your Highness, I will take my leave."

  Jiao Liang saw his younger brother had gone out and smiled at Li Yunzhong: "I heard that Your Highness is still not married?"

  Li Yunzhong said inexplicably: "Your news is really informative, I just ordered the preparation of the wedding, and you already knew."

  Jiao Liang feared that Han Wang would misunderstand, so he quickly told the truth: "To be honest, my wife's sister admires you, Your Highness. Of course, I also hope to become relatives with you through marriage. What do you think?"

  Li Yunzhong thought of Xu Yuxiang's lovely appearance, his lust was stirred up, and he pretended to be embarrassed: "I've already planned to marry San Niang and Xuan Jiao together, marrying your younger sister might..."

  Jiao Liang heard that there was a chance and tempted: "A great man with three wives and four concubines is a common thing, let alone the Han king! Yueliang won't mind either. Besides, Su San Niang and Hong Xuan Jiao are both widows... they understand the righteousness and will not oppose it." Seeing Li Yunzhong's face was not right, Jiao Liang quickly changed his evaluation of the two women, thinking: It seems that the king is not interested in their beauty, but instead has deep feelings for them.

  Li Yunzhong thought: This is a political marriage, fortunately, the one who married was Xu Yuxiang that little pretty girl, if it were wrapped in small feet, wiping zombie powder's big sister, wouldn't I have to sleep with "zombie", I wonder if she would bite me.

  "Well, since Yueliang doesn't mind, let's have the wedding together then. However, we'll still need to trouble you, madam, to smooth things over with San Niang... Haha..."

  Jiao Liang said: "No problem, I don't know which day Your Highness has set the wedding for?" Jiao Liang shook his head in his heart, he didn't expect His Highness to be so henpecked. It seems that in the future, he can't get along with Su San Niang and Hong Xuanjiao.

  Li Yunzhong had already thought it through and said directly: "Let's just make it May 1st, many people will get married on this day anyway."

  Jiao Liang returned home with excitement, instructing Xu Yuegui to go to Su San Niang's place to discuss matters. However, he saw Zuo Zongtang handing a thick stack of letters to Li Yunzhong, saying: "The top four letters are very important. These people are all talented but have repeatedly failed the imperial examination and harbor resentment towards the court. They can be recruited for our use."

  Li Yunzhong then discussed official business with Zuo Zongtang and handed over all the letters in his hand to Jiao Jing.

  Nanjing originally had a population of over 600,000 residents. Before Li Yunzhong led the army to attack the city, several tens of thousands of people escaped, and with the people brought by the Da Han army from Hubei, there are now 700,000 people, most of whom live outside the city.

  On May 1st, the city of Nanjing was filled with a festive atmosphere. The common people heard that the King of Han was getting married today, so many people pasted red cloth and auspicious characters on their doorsteps. The drummers puffed out their cheeks and blew the suona loudly. The wedding procession carried eight large sedan chairs from the king's mansion to the residence of the Ji family, followed by 100 female guards with swords. After picking up the brides and getting them onto the flower sedan chair, they deliberately circled around the bustling streets a few times, taking an extra two hours before arriving at the king's mansion.

  Li Yunzhong stood at the gate of the Wang's mansion, his eyes fixed on the distance, anxiously pacing back and forth. Who wouldn't be annoyed after waiting outside for four hours? The wedding sedan arrived at the Wang's mansion, and firecrackers burst into a lively "pa pa" sound as if they were free.

  Looking at the three beautifully dressed women, their crimson cheongsam dresses clinging to their skin, with red veils draped over their heads like on TV, Li Yunzhong had his arm around San Niang's, while Hong Xuanjiao and Xu Yuxiang were each supported by a pair of bridesmaids, one on either side, as they made their way towards the main hall.