Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 217 Cai Bingwen: It’s easy to defeat the bandits!
However, the crowd's pleas for mercy did not reduce Hong Xiuquan's anger in the slightest.

Instead, it made him even angrier.

The more people stood on Hong Rengan's side and pleaded for him, the more Hong Xiuquan wanted to kill him.

In the city of Tianjing, Hong Rengan was able to knock him unconscious and forcibly abduct him out of the city under the banner of doing good for Hong Xiuquan.

Then, it is not impossible that he will continue to do even more excessive things under the banner of doing good for Hong Xiuquan.

Is this okay?

Whether it was to vent his anger or to maintain his own authority, Hong Xiuquan was determined to kill Hong Rengan to establish his authority.

"Traitors, all of them are traitors!"

Seeing that no one moved, Hong Xiuquan shouted angrily, pulled out the sword of another guard, and raised the sword again to chop at Hong Rengan himself.

Hong Rengan dodged hurriedly, escaped from the cabin quickly and ran to the deck.

Hong Xiuquan strode out in pursuit. In order to avoid him, Hong Rengan began to circle around the mast on the deck of the ship, and Hong Xiuquan followed him.

"Traitor, traitor, don't run away!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

Seeing that Hong Rengan dared to escape, Hong Xiuquan became even more angry.

While running away, Hong Rengan turned around and explained to Hong Xiuquan who was chasing him with a knife.

"Calm down, my king. I have done nothing wrong."

"If I had not risked the world's condemnation to rescue the king from Tianjing City, something unbearable to talk about would have happened by now..."

When Hong Xiuquan heard this, his old face instantly turned red.

"You fart!"

"If you hadn't knocked me unconscious and abducted me from Tianjing, how could Tianjing have been lost?"

The two men, one chasing and the other fleeing, circled around the mast.

A drama of the king circling the pillar was staged!

Suddenly, Hong Rengan saw a small boat next to Hong Xiuquan's boat.

Without thinking, he jumped out of the side of the boat and jumped onto a small boat nearby.

Then he used his sword to force the sailor on the boat to row away from the main force.

Hong Rengan planned to avoid the spotlight temporarily, and then go to Hong Xiuquan to apologize after Hong Xiuquan calmed down.

Hong Xiuquan glared at Hong Rengan who jumped onto the boat, just as he was thinking about whether he should jump over as well.

Meng De'en came to report in a panic.

"Report... Report to the Heavenly King, something terrible has happened. Ahead, our fleet has discovered a demon blocking the way..."

Upon hearing this, Hong Xiuquan stopped.

But the expression on his face was one of panic.

……

Cai Bingwen stood on the deck of a Qing warship, looking at the Taiping fleet on the river in the distance, his eyes lighting up.

"Soldiers, Changmao is right in front of us, follow me and kill him!"

Amid the shouts and cries of killing, Cai Bingwen led the Jiangxi militia and attacked the remnants of the Taiping Army who had escaped from Tianjing.

"Kill, kill the long-haired man!"

"Longhair, die!"

"Kill the Taiping rebels and protect the Qing Dynasty!"

Amid shouts and cries, the two sides began to fight.

Soon, the remnants of the Taiping Army began to retreat.

Hong Xiuquan's escort forces suffered heavy losses in the process of breaking out from Tianjing.

After successfully breaking out, a head count revealed that only a hundred people were left, and almost everyone was injured.

Now they were suddenly ambushed and without even a fight, the morale of the army was in chaos from top to bottom.

Only a few loyal guards around Hong Xiuquan still persisted in resisting.

But facing the Qing army which had an absolute advantage in military strength, defeat was only a matter of time.

Under the command of Cai Bingwen, Jiangxi militia soldiers boarded Hong Xiuquan's boat in wave after wave, and then fought with Hong Xiuquan's guards.

Although Hong Xiuquan's troops had abandoned their ceremonial flags after withdrawing from Tianjing, Cai Bingwen had no idea who the important figure was on the ship.

But just looking at these guards who fought desperately, you can tell that this person is no simple person.

Cai Bingwen had a premonition that this time when he led his troops out of Jiangxi to march east to support the war in the south of the Yangtze River, he might have really caught a big fish.

Soon, the war was over.

All the guards around Hong Xiuquan were killed or wounded, and Hong Xiuquan, Meng De'en, Lai Lianying and other high-ranking Taiping Army leaders were captured by the Qing army in one fell swoop.

When Hong Ren'gan saw that things were going badly, he immediately jumped off the boat to escape. However, he disappeared as soon as he entered the water and it was unknown whether he was alive or dead.

Cai Bingwen looked at Hong Xiuquan who was brought in front of him, and at the bright yellow dragon robe on Hong Xiuquan, he was completely overwhelmed with ecstasy.

I'm sooooooooooooo...

I caught a big fish. This time I really caught a big fish!
Hong Xiuquan, this is the bandit leader Hong Xiuquan.

It was definitely a great achievement for me to be able to capture Hong Xiuquan alive.

Even if Jiangxi was really lost, the emperor would definitely not punish himself for it!
Taking a deep breath, Cai Bingwen suppressed his inner excitement and spoke with a trembling voice.

"Quick! Quick!"

"Immediately send someone to report the victory to the capital. We have captured the long-haired bandit leader..."

“Hahahaha! We caught the thief!” “Isn’t it easy to defeat the thief?!”

After instructing his men to prepare to report the victory, Cai Bingwen looked at Hong Xiuquan, raised his chin slightly and said.

"Thief, now that you have fallen into my hands, do you have anything to say?!"

When Hong Xiuquan heard this, his face became uncertain and he did not answer Cai Bingwen's question, but just muttered.

"Heavenly Father will send heavenly soldiers and generals to rescue me, he will!"

Upon seeing this, Cai Bingwen said no more, but waved his hand and ordered the soldiers around him to take Hong Xiuquan away and keep him under strict supervision.

We finally caught such a big fish, we can’t let anything unexpected happen!
……

The Dragon Boat Festival is on the fifth day of the fifth month in the second year of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Yi got up in the morning and ate rice dumplings. In the morning, he took Luo Caiyu and Fu Shanxiang to watch the dragon boat race.

Watching the dragon boats lined up on the Pearl River, as a drum sounded, the oarsmen on the dragon boats paddled in unison, and the next moment, the dragon boats shot out like flying fish...

Looking at the dragon boats speeding on the river, Li Yi's eyes were full of amazement.

He was a northerner in his previous life and had never been to watch his southern cousins ​​race dragon boats in person.

Now, I have gained more knowledge!
A large number of people gathered on both sides of the Pearl River. Looking at the dragon boats on the river, countless people were cheering and cheering for the teams they supported.

Li Yi watched the excitement with a smile on his face.

He has been busy with government affairs during this period, but he has not seen such a lively scene for a long time.

However, just when Li Yi was watching the dragon boat race with a smile on his face, feeling quite comfortable.

Li Liang walked hurriedly to the outside of the viewing stand, and after being informed and searched, he came in front of Li Yi.

"Your Majesty, urgent news from Jiangnan, something big has happened in the Kingdom of Heaven..."

When Li Yi heard this, the smile on his face froze, and he turned around and asked with a serious expression.

"Something happened in Heaven?"

"What exactly is going on?"

Li Liang took a deep breath and spoke.

"In reply to your Majesty, the Qing demons have concentrated their main forces in the south and north of the Yangtze River after the New Year, intending to attack Jiangning."

"The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom set up defense lines in Suzhou and Zhenjiang to resist the Qing Dynasty's invasion."

"At the beginning, the war was just a stalemate, but at the end of March, the foreigners in Shanghai suddenly sent troops to help the Qing demons."

"With the help of the foreigners, the Qing demons first conquered Suzhou, then Zhenjiang, and gathered their main forces outside Jiangning City."

"The battle of Jiangning lasted for more than 20 days. By the end of April, Jiangning was defeated. The main force of the Heavenly Kingdom was almost completely destroyed, and the Heavenly King fled with the remnants."

"Then, on the river near Hezhou, west of Jiangning, they were blocked by the Qing army and their entire army was annihilated. Even the Heavenly King was captured by the Qing monster..."

Upon hearing this, Li Yi's expression instantly became solemn.

He didn't want to continue watching the dragon boat race, so he immediately got up and prepared to return to the city with Li Liang.

On the way, Li Yi gave instructions to Zhang Taidao who was following the carriage.

"Immediately pass on my order to summon the senior officials of the General Staff and the Ministry of the Interior to come to the palace to discuss matters..."

"By the way, send Zeng Jinqian here as well!"

After saying this, Li Yi sat in the carriage, lowered his brows and began to ponder.

To be honest, he had thought about the fall of Tianjing and the demise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Hong Xiuquan's look of being obsessed with enjoyment shows that he is not likely to accomplish anything.

It was only a matter of time before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed.

Especially after the Tianjing Incident, a civil strife caused the Heavenly Kingdom to lose its spirit, and the countdown to the demise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom began.

But Li Yi didn't expect that things would happen so quickly!
Even so, the current Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is much weaker than the same period in history due to Li Yi's poaching.

But Li Yi was still somewhat surprised that the Kingdom of Heaven was destroyed so quickly by the Qing Demon.

It’s difficult!
You must know that the original development strategy formulated by the Tang Dynasty was to unite with the Taiping Army to jointly attack the Qing demons in Jiangxi, cut off the Qing court's connections in the south and north of the Yangtze River, and then swallow up the entire south of the Yangtze River.

However, with the demise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, this strategic plan may have to be put on hold for the time being.

Then, the Tang Dynasty’s subsequent strategy to destroy the Qing Dynasty is a very debatable issue.

Nowadays, the only thing that makes Li Yi feel gratified is that the Tang army is making good progress both in the eastern and western expeditions.

At the beginning of March, the Tang army's westward expedition to Guangxi had successfully captured Guilin and gradually swept across the entire Guangxi region.

By the beginning of April, the Tang army's eastern expedition had successfully captured Jiujiang and was now heading towards Nanchang.

Thinking about this, Li Yi soon returned to Prince Tang's Mansion in a carriage, and then went straight to his study.

Li Liang took his leave and went to get information about the recent changes in the world situation for Li Yi.

Soon, Li Liang came back and gave Li Yi all the relevant intelligence about various forces in the world that the Military Intelligence Department had recently collected.

Just as Li Yi was reading the intelligence, many high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty came to Li Yi's study one after another.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. May your Majesty be well and healthy!"

Li Yi waved his hand, motioning for everyone to take a seat, and then spoke with a serious expression.

"I just received a report that something happened in Jiangnan."

"The Qing demons gathered their main forces and conquered Tianjing. The Heavenly King escaped and was captured. The Heavenly Kingdom has now been destroyed."

"Everyone, tell me, how should the Tang Dynasty deal with the changes in the world?"

While asking this question, Li Yi was also thinking about what the Tang Dynasty should do.

(End of this chapter)