Guo Zhiqi left Guangzhou. When he left, Zhou Shiyan went out of the city to see him off. However, whether the Grand Secretary was really willing to help him seek a title of Prince from Yongli, and whether he really believed him, Zhou Shixiang was unsure.

Before Guo Zhiqi left, he asked to see Geng Jimao and Li Rutai, but Zhou Shi agreed. Geng Jimao, who had been under house arrest for many days, heard that the imperial envoy from the Yongli court and the Grand Secretary Guo Zhiqi wanted to see him, and was so excited that he almost cried.

When Guo Zhiqi and Geng Jimao met, they did not let Zhou Shixiang be present, so Zhou Shixiang didn't know what Geng Jimao and Guo Zhiqi said. When they met Li Rutai, Guo Zhiqi allowed Zhou Shixiang to be present, but the two did not say anything.

Guo Zhiqi wanted to persuade Li Lutai to surrender, but Li Lutai insisted on not following him. After he was very fond of his heart, Guo Zhiqi could only leave with regret. From beginning to end, Grand Secretary Guo did not criticize or curse the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty.

This made Zhou Shixiang very strange. Although Geng Jimao surrendered, he was reported to him on the surface anyway. Anyway, no surprise, the Yongli court must confer the "King of Jingnan" who came back as the two-character prince of the Ming Dynasty, just as the Qin King Sun Kewang, who was about to be the King of Yi of the Qing Dynasty. This is a political attitude, so it is not surprising that Guo Zhiqi is a little more than a surprise to Geng Jimao, who is about to become the Prince of the Ming Dynasty. However, Li Shutai is the son of the great traitor Li Yongfang. Since entering the pass, he has more than a hundred battles for the Qing court. His hands are stained with the blood of Ming officials and the people. He will never surrender. Why did Grand Secretary Guo have the idea of ​​cherishing heroes to him and never speak ill of each other?

After thinking about it, Zhou Shixiang couldn't understand it, so he could only attribute it to Mr. Guo's respect for the enemy.

The news of the Qing army's attack on Guizhou made Guo Zhiqi worry about the safety of the southwest. His words revealed that he wanted to ask Zhou Shixiang to divide a group of troops to cooperate with the Ming army in Zhaoqing and Gaozhou to attack Guangxi, in order to restrain Zhao Butai, the general of the Qing Dynasty who attacked Guizhou from Guangxi from north to the Guangxi Admiral, and the Ministry of State Security on the Guangxi Admiral's Line, to reduce the pressure on the King of Jin. Zhou Shixiang of course refused this request and was about to face the Jidu army. At this critical moment, he could divide his troops to Guangxi.

Guo Zhiqi seemed to know that his request was a bit difficult. After sighing, he asked Zhou Shixiang to hand over Hong Shiming to him to Kunming. Zhou Shixiang did not agree to this request, but Guo Zhiqi was disappointed but was not angry. As long as Zhou Shixiang was kind-hearted, he could not treat him seriously just because his father was Hong Chengchou.

After deciding to leave Guangzhou, Guo Zhiqi wrote letters to some of the old Yishi recruited on the coast, asking them to come to Guangzhou to accept Zhou Shixiang's control. Then he left with Qin Rong. Guo Zhiqi went directly to Qinzhou from Xinhui, but Qin Rong went to Zhaoqing.

Zhaoqing was where Yongli ascended the throne and called Xingtian, which was more important than Guangzhou. Anyway, Li Chengdong wanted to take Yongli back to Guangzhou afterwards. However, the Guangxi officials who followed Yongli at that time were worried that the court would not have their seats after the emperor went to Guangzhou, so he firmly opposed it. In the end, Emperor Yongli returned to Xingtian in Zhaoqing.

The main purpose of Qin Rong's visit to Guangzhou this time was to set up a front station for the Governor Lianchengbi to implement the return of Lianchengbi and Qinzhou officials to Guangzhou. Now, there is no need to mention this matter. Although Qin Rong is stubborn, he also knows that he has offended the King of Xingping, who has tens of thousands of troops, and the return of the Governor General cannot be accomplished in his own hands, so he chose to go to Zhaoqing to see if Chen Qice and Zhu Tong are willing to let the Governor return.

After Guo Zhiqi and Qin Rong left, Zhou Shixiang and Song Xianggong held several meetings at the Military Commander's Office, mainly to deploy troops to send troops after the New Year, with the focus on food and grass and mobilization of civil servants in various counties. He went to Shi Yuanling once these days and had two nights to rest in Lin Wan's room.

Since Shi Yuanling's incident, Zhou Shixiang felt sorry for Lin Wan'er. So on the night when Wan'er arrived in Guangzhou from Xiangshan, Zhou Shixiang took the small jade carving carved into her room. It was naturally a "war" that night. Fortunately, Wan'er was not a newly married woman. After a "fight", Zhou Shixiang actually asked for forgiveness. She thought that it was true that people should not behave like a person, but Wan'er had a long-awaited heart hidden under her cute appearance.

It was already the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, and the New Year was still eleven days away. The business in Guangzhou, which had been stagnant due to the arrival of the Taiping Army, became active again. The joy of the New Year began to appear in the city.

In the morning, after suddenly aroused his anger and accompanied Lin Wan'er around Nancheng, Zhou Shixiang was about to go to Yuexiu Camp to see how the second town prepared for the dispatch of troops. But as soon as he picked up the bowl, Hu Qili from Huizhou arrived.

Hu Qili was defeated. Three days ago, his deputy general Han Chaozong was defeated by Wu Liuqi's troops at the Jiazimen Station in the northeast of Jieshiwei, with more than 2,000 casualties. After Wu Liuqi won the Jiazimen victory, he immediately took advantage of the victory to occupy Jieshiwei. Han Chaozong led more than a thousand remaining soldiers to retreat to Lufeng for help from Hu Qili. After receiving the request for help from Han Chaozong, Hu Qili led the elite troops of the commando to Lufeng on the one hand, and sent people to ask Zhou Shi for help.

Hu Qili had to ask for help because this time Wu Liuqi was invading with seven or eight thousand troops, of which three or four thousand were his elite soldiers. Wu Liuqi had been preparing for this attack for more than a month, and by surprise, he severely damaged the Han Dynasty Clan's army, causing Hu Qili's largest mobile force to be destroyed. In a hurry, he had no time to transfer the troops scattered in various counties in Huizhou, so he could only lead more than a thousand old generals of the governors who were good at helping him to reinforce the Han Dynasty Clan.

Hu Qili was worried that Wu Liuqi's large-scale invasion might have been instructed by the Qing court to fight for the upcoming Jidu army, in an attempt to burn the war directly to Guangzhou, rather than in Huizhou or Chaozhou. He had no chance of surrendering to the Qing army, so he could only hope that Zhou Shixiang would lead the main force of the Taiping Army to reinforce him.

The war in Huizhou disrupted Zhou Shixiang's original plan to send troops after the New Year. Considering that if Huizhou is occupied by Wu Liuqi, Guangzhou will face the threat of Jidu's army after the New Year, Zhou Shixiang immediately decided to send troops to the east.

The main force of the Eastern Expedition was composed of the first town and the second town, the artillery battalion and the cavalry brigade, with a total of more than 20,000 troops. The third town was the reserve team to enter Huizhou Prefecture to govern the country, and the fourth town transferred to Guangzhou to prevent Guangzhou, and worked with the water camp to ensure the safety of Guangzhou.

After the order to send troops was issued, the trainees from the Military Preparation Institute immediately returned to each department. In addition to leaving behind the on-duty personnel, the instructors also set out with the army. At the same time, they ordered Zhao Ziqiang, Qianhu, Qianhu Wang Zhaoxing, Qianhu of Foshan, and Hu Mingyi, and other surrendered generals of the Green Camp to lead their troops to Guangzhou to participate in the Eastern Expedition.

Zhou Shixiang specially named Geng Zhongde and Shang Keyuan, and asked the two deputy envoys of the admiral to lead the instructors of the lecture hall to form a teaching team and join the military commander's mansion to listen to the command.

Duke Xiang of Song suggested a oath-taking meeting to boost the morale of the military and civilians. Zhou Shi agreed and the oath-taking ceremony was to sacrifice the flag and send troops.

"Take Li Rutai's head to sacrifice to the flag and ask Hong Shiming to make a military manifesto."

Zhou Shixiang arranged this matter without thinking.

On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year, the auspicious day of the zodiac, it is beneficial to use weapons.

As soon as the sky was dawn, drums and horns were ringing, gathering in the first, second town, artillery battalion, and cavalry brigade of Yuexiu Camp, the soldiers from the military camp drove from the military camp to the main campus. In addition to the main troops of the Taiping Army, more than 3,000 independent battalions were reorganized from the original Green Camp soldiers, and they were also lined up in the campus.

The army was solemn and silent, and everyone was quietly watching and waiting for Zhou Shixiang's arrival. At the third hour, Zhou Shixiang was covered in armor and led a group of generals out of the north gate of Guangzhou. The guards were raised in front of the flags, hundreds of cavalry wearing red cloaks followed closely behind.

Three cannons rang through the sky, and the trumpeter raised his long horn high, and a "whimper" roared, and the empty peaks echoed.

Amid the cheers of more than 20,000 soldiers, Zhou Shixiang ascended to the general's stage and slowly glanced at the three armies. His face was full of resoluteness and confidence. He waved his hand and shouted: "Swearing to sacrifice the flag!"

Li Ruitai knew that he could not escape death, and did not struggle, nor beg for mercy, nor was he afraid, so he allowed the executioner to hold him down. He did not kneel at the beginning, but forced him to press it, but he still did not kneel. The executioner had no choice but to hit the joints of the hind legs with the back of the knife. Under the severe pain, Fang's knees fell to the ground, his head still raised, showing his contempt.

Zhou Shixiang snorted coldly, "Why are you going to be a hero when you die?"

Tieyi solemnly raised his steps and shouted to the executioner: "Open the sword - sacrifice - flag!"

Then there were three more cannons, and Li Ruitai's bloody head rolled on the wet grass, his eyes wide open, still feeling unwilling.

"Sir, stand solemnly and listen to the commander's proclamation for sending troops!"

Under the gaze of more than 20,000 pairs of eyes, Hong Shiming, who was wearing the sixth rank of the Ming Dynasty, had a pale face and stepped onto the general stage tremblingly. He looked at the north helplessly and opened the manifesto he had written last night.

Zhou Shixiang looked at Hong Shiming coldly, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. If the Qing court knew that the Taiping Army's military proclamation was written by Hong Chengchou's son, he did not know how to look at Hong Chengchou and how Hong Chengchou looked at himself.

Well, it seems that the fourth family letter to report Ping An should have been sent. I wonder if Mr. Hong would be very relieved to see his son's family letters.

After reading the military proclamation he had planned with a bitter face, Hong Shiming breathed a long sigh. He didn't know whether to cry or laugh at his current situation.

More than 20,000 soldiers cheered. Most of them did not know who Hong Shiming was who read the manifesto to them. They only knew that they were going to go to war with the commander. The cheers were from the heart and unwilling to give up, but whether they wanted to or not, at this moment, they were all Taiping Army, and they had only one choice, that is, to fight the Qing army to the end.

As the drummer specially named by Zhou Shixiang, Suna rang the drum with an excited look on her face. With the sound of the drums, teams of Taiping Army drove out of the school ground and headed towards the east without looking back.
Chapter completed!