On October 20 of the second year of Xianfeng, one person and one rider rushed into Wuchang City for 800 miles. When he got off the horse at the yamen of the governor of Hubei, he climbed with a roll.

Hubei Governor Chang Dachun is the founder of the Ming Dynasty, after the king of Kaiping, Chang Yuchun, Hengyong Chen, Guidao, Hengzhou Prefecture, Hengyang County (now Hengyang City, Hengyang County, Jinlan Town, Ruizhi Village), he is discussing with a cadre of staff in the flower hall, the situation is unclear, the movement of the Taiping Army caused the participants to sigh for a long time and not to mention.

Chang Dachun received the report of the next person, out of the flower hall, after setting up the incense case and bowing, the eight hundred miles of urgent edict to open and read carefully, Chang Dachun is a gentleman of moral articles, but also the head of the four major book collectors in Hunan in the late Qing Dynasty, the room [Tanyin Pavilion], the collection of 40,000 kinds of books, thousands of inscriptions, hundreds of inkstones, the name of Hunan. But only clumsy in military strategy, when I saw the edict, I knew that it was Emperor Xianfeng's imperial pen letter, and after reading the emperor's order, it was like grabbing a life-saving straw, but he was still unwilling to make a decision.

A staff member rushed in suddenly, and said to Chang Dachun with a pale face: "Lord Futai, there is news from Yuezhou, Hong rebels have reorganized the soldiers and horses, and received tens of thousands of sailors in Yuezhou, and they are ready to move, and it seems that they are going to send troops!" ”

Chang Dachun made up his mind, his eyebrows tightened, and he opened his mouth to urge: "Pass the old man's order, quickly invite the Hubei Governor Chang Lu, the Hubei General Soldier, and Lord Wang Jinxiu, the general soldier of Hubei, to come to my meeting, by the way, and the two prefects of Hanyang and Hankou, please also be invited!" ”

On the first day of November, the Taiping army sent troops from Yuezhou to attack Wuchang, and because of the proposal of Tang Caichang, a sailor from the pawn, tens of thousands of sailors collected in Yuezhou were organized into water battalions, and the navy was formally established. The navy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom went down the river, the wind traveled 600 miles, only to see the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom flag covering the sun, the floating river 10,000 ships, the sail is like a stacked snow, the residence is like a bush of reeds, whenever the wind is galloping, then the direction is unstoppable, everywhere to look at the wind is invincible, the Qing army is scattered like birds and beasts. The fleet of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's naval division was nearly 10,000 ships, and he completely controlled the right to control the river, and Xiang Rong, the governor of Guangxi, who was chasing the troops, couldn't even find a boat to transport troops, so he hurriedly jumped to his feet and scolded his mother: "What is the use of these turtle sons in Hubei!" I can't even find a few big ships to let General Ben transport troops! Lao Tzu must play the emperor and participate in their nonsense! "Xiang Rong had nothing to do, so he had to hang far behind the Taiping army,

On the 10th day of November in the second year of Xianfeng, the advance of the Taiping army arrived at Jinkou, the gateway of Wuchang, and Zhou Hexiang, the county magistrate, led a regiment to practice 400 resistance, but he was invincible, and he died together with the county Chengdian Shi Qianzong. Although Zhou Hexiang was unable to resist the Taiping army, he delayed the Taiping army's offensive and bought time for Xiang Rong's pursuers. Xiang Rong and Chun Qin Dingsan chased and the rear team of the Taiping army, the two sides fought a bloody battle, each with damage, Hubei Governor Changlu Hubei General Wang Jinxiu also led an army of 2,000 to fight, but was ambushed by the Taiping army, losing more than half. Fortunately, several teams of reinforcements rushed to Wuchang on the 11th to set up defenses, and the strength of the Qing army in Wuchang was slightly thicker. The Taiping army marched to Xianning, Xianning has a lot of cultural relics, all of which are the "demon traces" that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants to get rid of, the Taiping army set fire to it, "destroyed the Wu Temple of the Yi Department and the Anlan Palace of the First Mountain Zifu Temple", it is said that the Taiping army had strict military discipline, although the city was burned and the people "did not suffer much".

The Taiping Army general Dian Zuoyi commanded Huang Yukun to lead the Taiping Army to land at the famous Guishan in Wuhan. During the Guangxi Worship of God Society, Feng Yunshan was arrested and sent to Guiping County Prison, and the brothers of the God Worship Society came to ask him to find a way to save Feng Yunshan. Yukun said: "Now the government is very afraid of saying that it will rebel, cover up and down, and live a mixed life, so it will never dare to handle this case." But the yamen is open to the south, don't come in without money in both hands, the government is full of vampires, and once you arrive at the yamen, you can't do it without money. The brothers of the Worship of God frowned and said, "When it comes to money, it is very difficult. We are all poor people who burn charcoal, and we have money to fill in the corrupt officials, and for us, it is still the same whether we can do it or not! Yukun said: "No, the government doesn't dare to do it, there is a way." There is also a way to raise funds, as long as everyone works together and accumulates a lot, don't you hear the old saying that you gather your armpits? So he set a method for the worship of God to raise funds for "Ketan", accumulated a large sum of money, bribed the government, and Feng Yunshan was released. This matter shows Huang Yukun's keen insight.

Huang Yukun led the army to attack the city of Hanyang, the gate of Hanyang was wide open, the soldiers were not bloody on the way, the army went to Hanyang City to search a little, and found that there were only some old and weak women and children in Hanyang City, the treasury was empty, the shops were closed, and it became an empty city, Huang Yukun was slightly strange. According to the news report of the spies, Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei, only had 3,000 men and horses stationed in Wuchang, and there were no soldiers and horses in the rest of the places, but although there were no soldiers and horses, even the common people were gone.

"Commander, found an old man, he said he knew where the people went."

"Bring it in." It was at the Yamen of the Hanyang Prefect that Huang Yukun saw this old man who couldn't even walk.

"Do you know where the people have gone?"

"Back to the general's words, on the 21st of last month, the governor Chang and the prefect both issued an order, within ten days, all the people of Hanyang immediately abandon the city and go to Wuchang to settle down, wait," the old man looked up at Huang Yukun carefully, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, "After the thieves have passed, return home, and in addition, open the treasury to share all the grain, grass and silk in the treasury with those who abandoned their homes and went to Wuchang." Only a few of us are really bad at doing it, so we stayed, this Hanyang City is so empty, by the way, the governor also ordered the villain to pass a word to the general. ”

"What?"

"Please Yang Xiuqing will hunt in Wuchang and fight it out!"

"Presumptuous! How dare the old horseman be so rampant! When Yang Xiuqing, the eastern king of the Taiping Army's left auxiliary army, learned about the situation in Hanyang and Hankou, and heard such arrogant words from Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei, Yang Xiuqing, the eastern king who was stationed in Xianning County, couldn't help but be furious, and the green tendons on his forehead burst out. Hankou, a famous important commercial and trade town, did not have a single soldier, nor a large amount of property, only some grain and grass that had not yet been burned, originally wanted to capture two places to get grain and grass property to reward the three armies, and coerce the local people to fill the Taiping army to grow the military plan completely failed, and heard Chang Dachun's arrogant and provocative words, Yang Xiuqing couldn't help but be angry.

A young man in royal costumes came out on the side, hugged his fists and said: "Don't be angry, this is Chang Dachun's plan to clear the wilderness, as long as our heavenly army captures Wuchang, the property and people in the city will naturally take everything they have, why do you need to lose morale!" "This young man is none other than Shi Dakai, the winged king of the Taiping Army.

"Okay, pass on my edict and order Tang Zhengcai to immediately build a pontoon bridge, and this king will capture Wuchang City within ten days and celebrate the New Year in the city!"

"Yes! Strategist! ”

At that time, the Qing army of the two lakes was not there, only a few docks were burned down and a few large ships that had not been completed and had been burned down in the sinking river, the Taiping army held the right to control the river, and Tang Zhengcai, a sailor who was sitting on a boat by Yang Xiuqing, presided over the construction of a pontoon bridge on the Hankou River, one from Parrot Island to Baishazhou, and one from Nan'anzui to the embankment, preparing to enter Wuchang. The pontoon bridge of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was built quite quickly, the ships were connected with cloth, and the simple pontoon bridge was built on the river surface in only one day, but this kind of pontoon bridge was easy to be dismantled by the wind and waves, so a solid pontoon bridge was designed, and the huge cable and horizontal cable and big wood were used as the bridge base, and the wooden board was used to cover it, and the big iron anchor weighing three or four thousand catties was tied. The pontoon bridge connected the three towns of Wuhan, which made it easier for the Taiping army to quickly deploy troops. Yang Xiuqing sat in the Wanshou Palace, commanded Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifangluo, and attacked Wuchang, Wei Changhui lived in the back road, and Shi Dakai and others blocked the Qing army for reinforcements. The Taiping army of 100,000 troops, surrounded Wuchang by land and water, "located in the east of the city, the bowl mountain, the flood mountain, the small turtle mountain, the Bauhinia Mountain, and the camps built to the city are all thieves." Siege Wenchang, Wangshan, Baoanzhong, Binyang, Zhongxiao, Wusheng and other gates".