The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 156 Zeng Guofan: Am I still myself then?

"Are you Zeng Guofan?"

"That's right! I am Zeng Guofan!"

The person who asked the question was Xiao Chaogui, the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the one who answered was Zeng Guofan's third brother Zeng Guohua. Zeng Guofan was eleven years older than Zeng Guohua, one was forty-one and the other was only thirty. Logically, they shouldn't have recognized the difference, but the two brothers looked very similar, both had drooping eyebrows, triangular eyes, high cheekbones, big beards, and thin bodies. It was as if Zeng Linshu had given birth to a third child based on the appearance of his eldest son Zeng Guofan!

Moreover, the Zeng family members all look old - with this appearance and the beard, it is normal for them to look ten or eight years older than their actual age.

However, Xiao Chaogui was a man of rough but delicate character. He stared at the old man who looked very similar to Zeng Guofan and was kneeling beside him, and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

After a night of tossing and turning, Zeng Linshu was so scared that he almost lost his soul. His mind was still blank. When he heard Xiao Chaogui's question, he just answered subconsciously: "Old, I am Zeng Linshu from Heyetang, Xiangxiang, and I am a scholar."

"Then is he your son Zeng Guofan?" Xiao Chaogui asked, pointing at Zeng Guohua.

Zeng Linshu nodded and replied, "Yes."

Zeng Guohua heaved a sigh of relief after hearing his father's answer.

It turned out that when he was brought to see Xiao Chaogui, he secretly told his father that he wanted to impersonate his brother. However, his father looked so desperate at that time that only God knew whether he had heard it or not.

Xiao Chaogui glanced at Xu Yuegui again, and Xu Yuegui smiled and said, "It can't be wrong, I asked the Zeng family kid to admit it!"

Then it can’t be wrong!

He admitted it himself, his father pointed him out, and a kid from the Zeng family who was abducted from Baiyangping in Heyetang also recognized him. So the man in front of him must be Zeng Guofan. Although he looks a little younger, he is a high-ranking official who eats shark fin and bird's nest every day, lives a life of luxury, and takes all kinds of tonic food, so it is normal for him to look younger!
"Okay, now that we've captured Zeng Guofan, let's withdraw our troops!"

Xiao Chaogui already knew the strength of the Qing Yao troops in Xiangxiang County. There were 1,000 Daozhou camps, 500 of which were Zhang Guoliang's soldiers, and they were quite strong! There were also 500 local Xiangxiang militiamen, who had been training for two years and should be able to fight.

What’s more important is that Xiangxiang is just an insignificant small county, not worth Xiao Chaogui’s wasted energy on.

In fact, he had been in Xiangxiang County for too long. He first raided a small town called Heyetang, and then had a quarrel with a group of local elders named Zeng. After several days of trouble, he left Ma Baocai and a soldier to help him build a base. Then he led the rest of the troops to raid Xiangxiang County and arranged for Xu Xianggui to infiltrate with the elite members of the God Worshipping Society.
This guy is using the same energy he used to attack Changsha to pick a fight with a small county town!

Now that Zeng Guofan has been captured, why bother to compete with Xiangxiang County? Even if we take it now, we can't divide our troops to defend it. We still have to throw it out. If the city is empty, we can just attack it.

But now there are 1,500 defenders in the city. It may take ten days or half a month, and cost three or four hundred lives, to take it down. This is too much of a waste of time.

Changsha City has almost been taken by Luo Yaoguo, the Qing demons will definitely counterattack with all their might!
In order to repel the counterattack of the Qing demons, the key is to open up and control the Xiangjiang River.

Because only by opening up the Xiangjiang River could the troops led by Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing advance all the way along the river and arrive in Changsha. Hong and Yang's team not only had the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's left, center and right garrisons and the main force of the female army, but also a large number of family members and baggage, and the female army, family members and baggage all took the Xiangjiang River by boat. If Xiao Chaogui's army could not take down the county towns and towns along the Xiangjiang River that were held by the landlords' armed forces, it would be inconvenient for the main forces of Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing to come over.

Moreover, relying on the Xiangjiang River, Feng Yunshan's base in southern Hunan could be firmly defended.

Therefore, Xiao Chaogui did not have the time to spend ten days or half a month fighting the Qing monsters in Xiangxiang, and he did not have any extra troops to defend Xiangxiang, which was far away on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River.

"Wait a minute!"

Xu Yuegui saw Xiao Chaogui was about to leave, so she quickly spoke up to stop him. Xiao Chaogui smiled and asked, "Sister Yuegui, Zeng Guofan has been captured, but you still don't want to withdraw your troops. Is there anyone else you want to capture?"

"Brother Xiao," Xu Yuegui said with a smile, "I don't want to capture anyone else, but I want Zeng Guofan to write a letter and send it to Xiangxiang County to tell the dog officials inside that Zeng Guofan is in my hands. Tell them to report to Emperor Xianfeng immediately and ask the demon Xian to exchange my husband Hong Daquan! It won't be too late to leave after receiving the other party's reply!"

"Okay!" Xiao Chaogui nodded, then glared at Zeng Guohua, "Write according to what Madam Xu said!"

Xiangxiang City, County Government Office.

"Di Zhang, the Taiping rebels are strong and our army is weak. It is difficult for us to defend the city. How can we go out to fight?

"Master Di, the Changmao wanted to capture you, not the old man and Wen Fu. If you rush out of the city now, you will not be able to save them, but you will also be implicated. Who will come to save you, the old man and Wen Fu? Even if we want to rescue them, I am afraid we are powerless!"

"Master, what Master Zhu and Yun Xian said is absolutely right! As long as you can protect them, there will always be a way to rescue the old man and Wen Fu. At worst, we can collect a huge sum of money and redeem them!"

"Brother, what Lord Zhu, Brother Ziying, and Brother Yunxian said are correct. The family members who ran back are all you. That female long-haired girl wanted to catch you. Third brother thought it was you in order to protect you. If you lead your troops out of the city to fight the long-haired girl now, aren't you walking into a trap? Third brother's efforts will all be in vain!"

"Brother, what the fourth brother said is right"

Zhu Sunyi, Guo Songtao, Huang Shijie, Zeng Guohuang, Zeng Guoquan and others were in the second hall of the county government office in Xiangxiang County at this time, holding Zeng Guofan together and preventing him from leaving the city to fight Xiao Chaogui!
Zeng Guofan looked like he had lost his mind. He rushed out with a sword in his hand, as if no one was holding him back and he was really going to rush out of the city to die.

Just when several people were unable to stop Zeng Guofan, who was about to "go crazy with filial piety", Zhang Guoliang's Cantonese accent suddenly came from the door of the second hall of the county government: "Good news, good news, the Taiping rebels have retreated! We won!" "Thank God."

Zhu Sunyi, Guo Songtao and Huang Shijie all said "thank God" in their hearts, but on the surface they still looked indignant.

Then a voice with a Hunan accent shouted, "Big Brother, Second Brother, Fourth Brother. Before the Taiping Rebellion, a letter was shot in from Third Brother, written in the name of Big Brother!"

"What? Fifth brother, what did you say?"

Zeng Guofan was also stunned when he heard this.

Zeng Guobao took out an envelope that was shot into the city from an arrow shaft and handed it to him with both hands: "Brother, take a look for yourself!"

Zeng Guofan hurriedly took the envelope, took out the letter paper inside and took a look. It was indeed the handwriting of his third brother Zeng Guohua. Although the handwriting was still Zeng Guohua's, the names of the recipients written on the first line at the beginning were "Brother Cheng, Brother Wen, Brother Yuan, Brother Ji and so on", and the signature at the end was "Brother Guofan's handwriting".

Among them, Chengdi refers to Zeng Guohuang, whose courtesy name is Chenghou; Wendi refers to Zeng Guohua, whose courtesy name is Wenfu; Yuandi refers to Zeng Guoquan, whose courtesy name is Yuanfu; Jidi means younger brother, and refers to Zeng Guobao.

The content of the letter was to inform his father and himself that Zeng Guofan had been captured by the Western King Xiao Chaogui of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and that everything was fine at the moment, and that the Western King had no intention of harming him. The Western King just wanted to use the lives of his father and son to exchange for Hong Daquan, and hoped that his family could pass this news to Emperor Xianfeng, begging Xianfeng not to harm Hong Daquan. Finally, "Zeng Guofan" also hoped that his family could write a reply letter and send it to the Western King's army.
After reading the letter, Zeng Guofan was no longer dumbfounded, but petrified!
How should I reply to this letter?

In whose name should I reply?

If I reply in the name of Zeng Guofan, would the King of the West be so angry that he would kill Zeng Linshu and Zeng Guohua?
This filial son, before his mother's funeral was over, he also "filially" killed his father!
But if we follow Zeng Guohua's letter, will the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom really regard Zeng Guohua as Zeng Guofan? When Emperor Xianfeng refuses to exchange Hong Daquan, it would be fine if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom kills Zeng Guohua, but what if they force Zeng Guofan to surrender? Well, there will be two Zeng Guofans, one for the Qing Dynasty and one for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This is a lot of fun!

How can this be good?

(End of this chapter)