Chapter 239 The enemy is in the concession, loyal minister Luo Xueyan (seeking votes, requesting subscription)
Inside a guild hall in Shanghai County.

Liu Lichuan, Li Yunxian, and Zhou Lichun, who had just left the Daotai Yamen, were standing side by side in the small courtyard. In a dimly lit hall facing the courtyard, three chairs were placed side by side, and three people in red robes and red scarves were sitting.

“Reporting to the Taiping Envoy, Luo Yaotou of the Shanghai New Army will lead 6,000 new troops under his command to relieve the siege of Jiangning in three days!”

Liu Lichuan reported to the three people in the room with excitement.

“Hmph, Jiangning has already been captured by the Holy Soldiers. What is he still trying to do to help?” a female voice with a Hunan accent replied.

Upon hearing that Jiangning had been occupied by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Liu Lichuan, Li Yunxian and Zhou Lichun all looked surprised.

Liu Lichuan said, “Your Excellency, if that is the case, can we start an uprising right after Luo Yaotou leads his troops to leave Shanghai?”

The female voice with a Hunan accent hesitated for a moment, then spoke again: “Brother Jiao, is it time?”

A male voice with a Hunan accent that sounded a bit rough took over the question and said, “It seems that the time has come! Brother Zhang San, please invite the Holy Angel King Wu to order!”

“Yes!”

The person sitting on the right among the three stood up from his chair first, then took out an envelope from his arms, then bent over and handed the envelope to the person in the middle.

The people sitting in the middle and left chairs also stood up. The person in the middle took the envelope, took out a piece of letter paper from it, and handed the envelope back to the person on the right.

The person originally sitting on the left was a graceful woman. She walked to the side of the main room, pulled open the curtains with a rustling sound, and pushed the window hard. With a creaking sound, the bright afternoon sunlight shone in, and the originally dim and depressing room was suddenly filled with golden light.

The heavenly messenger in red clothes and red scarf, holding the edict of the holy angel King Wu, was suddenly covered with golden sunlight, and his face with thick flesh and whiskers looked sacred and solemn.

Liu Lichuan, Li Yunxian and Zhou Lichun took a look at the fierce face of Jiao Shengshi, and quickly lifted their robes and knelt down to listen to his orders.

This “envoy Jiao” is Jiao Hong. It is he, Zhang Sanxiang and Xu Yuegui who came today to deliver the angel’s order to the three Hongmen bosses in Shanghai.

Jiao Hong unfolded the decree written by Luo Yaoguo himself and read it in Hunan Mandarin: “The true destiny of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Holy Angel, King Wu Luo, decrees: Now it is known that the demon leader Luo Xueyan will lead his troops north to rescue Jiangning in a few days. By then, Shanghai will be empty on all sides. It is a good opportunity for you heroes of the Tiandihui and Xiaodaohui to raise your troops. You must decisively raise your troops, take the county, destroy the Qing demons, attack the concessions, and drive out the foreigners.”

After Jiao Hong finished reading the decree, Liu Lichuan, Li Yunxian, and Zhou Lichun, who were kneeling below, were all shocked and speechless for a moment. After a long while, Liu Lichuan asked, “Excuse me, envoy, is this really the decree of His Majesty the Holy Angel King Wu?”

“How could it be fake? Come, take a look for yourself, this is written by the Holy Angel himself!”

Faced with such an unreasonable question, Jiao Hong was not angry at all. He took the initiative to step forward and handed the decree written by Luo Yaoguo to Liu Lichuan.

When Liu Lichuan took the order and read it, he was even more shocked.

Because the content of the edict was exactly the same as what Jiao Hongnian had read! Moreover, the ink on the edict had already dried up, and there was no scent of ink left, so it was obviously not written just now.

As far as Liu Lichuan knows, Luo Xueyan’s decision to send troops in three days should have just been made!
“May I ask when this decree was issued?” Liu Lichuan asked in a low voice.

“There’s a date on it. It was five days ago!” Jiao Hong replied, “It was delivered to me yesterday.”

“But.” Liu Lichuan said, “As far as I know, Luo Yaotou decided to send troops only in the past two days.”

“Hahahaha.” Jiao Hong, who had already sat back in his chair, laughed a few times. “Of course the Holy Angel is good at predicting, so he was able to predict that Luo Yaotou would send troops a few days in advance.”

Then he waved his hand, signaling Liu Lichuan, Li Yunxian, Zhou Lichun and the other three to stand up: “Everyone, stand up. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.” “May I ask the envoy,” Li Yunxian asked, “Does the Holy Angel’s order say that we should attack the concession and drive out the foreigners?”

“Yes!” Jiao Hong replied, “When the three of us said goodbye to the Holy Angel in Wuchang, the Holy Angel said: The enemies of the Kingdom of Heaven are headed by foreigners. If we want to resist the foreigners, we must take the concessions!”

Liu Lichuan looked worried and asked, “But if we attack the concession, will it attract the intervention of the foreign army?”

Li Yunxian also said: “Your Excellency, the foreigners are still claiming to be neutral. If we attack the concession fiercely, the foreigners will side with the Qing Dynasty and provide Luo Xueyan with guns, ammunition and so on. We are afraid that we will not be able to defeat him!”

Zhou Lichun clasped his fists and said, “Your Excellency, please tell the Holy Angel that the real enemy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Jiangnan is Luo Xueyan, the Jiangnan Salt Law Enforcement Commissioner. If this thief is not eliminated, Jiangnan will be difficult to pacify!”

Jiao Hong said sternly, “Everything you said has been calculated by the angels. As for Luo Xueyan, the Jiangnan Salt Law Master, how can the 20,000 troops led by the Holy Angels not be able to capture him? Just follow my orders.”

Seeing that the three people in front of him still didn’t quite believe in the angel, Zhang Sanxiang said firmly: “Don’t worry, the holy angel is a person sent from heaven. Before he came, my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was still wandering around, without even a county. What is the situation now? This is all thanks to the angel’s divine calculations!”

“That’s right,” Xu Yuegui said with a smile, “The Holy Angel can predict every move of Luo Xueyan. Luo Xueyan has no chance of winning.”

After hearing what the three said, Liu Lichuan, Li Yunxian, and Zhou Lichun all said respectfully to Jiao Hong, “We respectfully accept the order from the Holy Angel King Wu.”

“Woo.”

“How dare the traitor do this!”

“Alas, Jinling, Alas, the whole city”

“Five thousand elite troops of the Eight Banners, twenty thousand soldiers and their families. Gone, all gone! Woohoo.”

In the second hall of the Jiangsu Governor’s Yamen in Shuyuan Lane, Suzhou, a group of high-ranking officials wearing peacock feathers were crying loudly!

This group of officials included Jiangsu Governor Yi Liang, Assistant Minister of Military Affairs Sheng Bao, First-class Imperial Envoy Su Shun, Assistant Imperial Envoy Yuan Bao, Assistant Envoy Bai Siwen, Counselor Li Hongzhang, etc. They were crying bitterly over the fall of Jiangning City and the massacre of the Taiping Army!
In fact, the entire city of Jiangning had been massacred by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a long time ago, but Yiliang and Shengbao had not received accurate information and still had illusions until this morning when the county officials of Yizheng County, Yangzhou Prefecture and Jurong County, Jiangning Prefecture respectively sent people to deliver reports of death. Both reports said that they had rescued a few Eight Banner soldiers who had escaped from Nanjing during the chaos, and from them they learned that the entire city of Jiangning had bravely resisted for thirteen hours after the city was breached, but in the end they ran out of ammunition and food and had no choice but to surrender, and then thousands of Eight Banner soldiers and 20,000 families died heroically.
There is no hope now. All the Eight Banners descendants in Jiangning city have passed the seventh day of their death. How can we save them?
The loss of Jiangning City to the Eight Banners can be said to be the first and second largest loss since the founding of the Qing Dynasty! Probably only the Battle of Tongbo during the Yongzheng period, which caused the whole city of Beijing to be in mourning, can be compared!
However, those who died in the Battle of Tongpo were all soldiers, and this time many of their families were also killed. The absolute number of losses should be ranked first.

Moreover, the battle with Tongbo was an ambush in the field, and it took more than half a month to lose more than 10,000 people. However, this time the battle of Jiangning was only two days. In one day, Jiangning City was broken by the first wave of attack! In another day, the whole city was broken. Yiliang couldn’t even write a memorial. How could he brag about it? Five thousand Eight Banners soldiers defended the city for thirteen hours and were killed by the Taiping?
I don’t know how these people will tell their ancestors after they go down. It was about the same speed when Duoduo accepted the surrender and entered the city, right?
What is even more terrifying is that with the Taiping Rebellion’s ability to attack like this, can Suzhou still be defended? Can Jiangnan still be defended?
A group of loyal Qing officials were crying in the hall of the governor’s office when suddenly an official rushed in, shouting, “Sir, governor, reinforcements have arrived! Reinforcements have arrived in Kunshan!”

Upon hearing the news, Yiliang was stunned and cried. How could reinforcements come in this situation?

He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a capable-looking fourth-rank civil servant in his thirties jogging towards him with his robe in his hand. It was none other than Qiao Songnian, the prefect of Suzhou.

“Heqie, what did you say?” Yiliang asked in a trembling voice.

“Governor, I heard that reinforcements have arrived.” This Governor Qiao is from Shanxi and speaks with a vinegary tone.

“Do you know where the reinforcements came from?” Yiliang asked.

“Shanghai! They are from Shanghai!” said Prefect Qiao. “They are soldiers from Luo Xueyan, the Jiangnan Salt Administration Commissioner and Prefect of Jiangning. There are five to six thousand of them!”

“It’s Luo Xueyan’s soldier.” Yi Liang was so moved that tears streamed down his cheeks. “He’s a loyal minister! A loyal minister is needed in times of national crisis!”

(End of this chapter)