Although all the Feng Sanbao Corps of the Wu army were moved to Yuhuatai and broke off contact with the rear, the Wu army in the rear was trying to find ways to spy on the Yuhuatai battle through various means and channels. A large number of Wu army secret agents also continued to risk their efforts to sneak into the Nanjing battlefield and collect various information about the Yuhuatai War to report to the rear.

Therefore, even though he was thousands of miles away in Jiujiang City, Wu Chaoyue could still have a general understanding of the battle situation in Yuhuatai. He knew that although Feng Sanbao's army fought extremely hard and difficult in the front, he could barely hold on. He had not yet had the danger of being annihilated by the Taiping Army in a short period of time. He could gather the army and hoard ammunition and food, and prepare to launch the third round of Eastern Expedition.

In order to ensure victory in the decisive battle in Nanjing and offset the number of troops of the Taiping Army, Wu Chaoyue, who always liked to take the elite route, rarely became a militant force. In addition to drawing a large number of local troops from the southwest rear to participate in the war, he also selected some elite troops from the Wu army in Henan and Jiangxi to participate in the war. He also specially asked his brother-in-law Nie Shicheng for the elite cavalry of the Wu army to enhance the power of the Wu army on land. In addition, Wu Chaoyue's directly under the elite corps and the three battalions of Daye elites, the third Eastern Expedition Army of the Wu army exceeded 30,000, and in fact he was preparing to use more than half of the military force for the decisive battle in Nanjing.

Relying on the spies of Wu army, Wu Chaoyue had probably mastered some of the situations of Li Xiucheng's troops in Taiping Army. He knew that the Taiping Army under Li Xiucheng was mainly composed of locals in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and his weapons and equipment were even slightly stronger than the second-line Wu army. However, his fighting will and individual combat power were lacking, which was not difficult to deal with. As long as the Wu army Cao Yanzhong's regiment recovered and joined the Nanjing battlefield, it was enough to ensure that the Wu army could be invincible. If Wu Chaoyue personally led the Third Eastern Expedition Army to join the Nanjing battlefield, if the Wu army still couldn't win this decisive battle, Wu Chaoyue could jump into the water and commit suicide by jumping into Teacher Zeng.

The war is not difficult to fight, and the enemy is confident of dealing with it. However, Wu Chaoyue is still a little worried, because no matter how poor Wu Chaoyue's history is, he knows that in history, his teacher Zeng, relying on the decisive battle in Nanjing, laid the overall victory in one fell swoop. He not only killed the Nanjing Taiping Army, but also killed the main force of Li Xiucheng, the number one warlord of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, completely shattering the hope of the Taiping Army to make a comeback. He ended the war turmoil brought by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cult for a long time in advance.

Whether for himself or for the innocent people in Jiangnan, Wu Chaoyue hoped that he could succeed Teacher Zeng and continue to create this miracle, but Wu Chaoyue was worried that he could not do this. Because Wu Chaoyue knew very well that history had been too messed up by himself, the wild boar skin family had been driven to the northeast to ate Ula grass, the Western powers no longer hated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom so much, Yang Xiuqing was still alive, Hong Xiuquan had just returned to power, and the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was much larger than in history. At the same time, the Taiping Army's Jiangnan rear was no longer in trouble, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang were in trouble, and the retreat was far more choices than in history.

Therefore, Wu Chaoyue was very worried that history would change completely. Hong Xiuquan and Li Xiucheng no longer insisted on defending Nanjing. They went to other places in advance to continue to cause trouble, increasing the difficulty of destroying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom cult, and also causing the innocent Jiangnan people to suffer more wars, and even gaining the support of Western powers, adding more suffering to the Chinese people who suffer from disasters and difficulties.

Therefore, in a meeting discussing the strategy of the Eastern Expedition, Wu Chaoyue publicly expressed his concern to the senior civil and military officials of the Wu army attending the meeting, saying: "This battle in Jiangning is not difficult to fight, we are sure to win. Even if Yang Yuanqing and Yang Fuqing bowed their heads to Hong Xiuquan and took Huaibei Changmao south to participate in the war, we would never be our opponents. No matter how Changmao increases its troops, we are not afraid. We are just afraid that Changmao will not fight this decisive battle with us, give up Jiangning and run away early, and wander to other places and struggle to death. If we want to completely eliminate them, we don't know if we need to spend more time and effort."

Knowing that Wu Chaoyue likes self-righteous temper, most of the Wu Jun and Wenwu present nodded and agreed, praising Wu Chaoyue's wise and magical martial arts at the intersection, only Gui Zhongxing, who had the lowest official position, did not know how to live or die, put forward different opinions and said: "Is the King of Zhennan a little over-concerned? Jiangning is a fake capital of Changmao, which is of great significance to Changmao. How could Changmao give up easily?"

"According to common sense, it is impossible for Changmao to give up their false capital easily, but no one can guarantee that Changmao will never give up their false capital." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said, "If I were in Hong Xiuquan's position, I would definitely choose to give up at this time. Even if I don't give up Jiangning, I will only leave an army to defend Jiangning and take the main force to southern Jiangsu or Zhejiang. When I get there, I can not only get enough money and grain supplies, but also gain plenty of rest time. Even if I don't have the opportunity to make a comeback in the future, I still have hope of transferring to Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi."

After saying that, Wu Chaoyue added, saying: "If Hong Xiuquan really makes this choice, the people in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and the southeast coast will be in great trouble. I don't know how many people will suffer innocently, nor do I know how many people want their wives and children to be separated, wander, and die in a bad life."

When he was the county magistrate, his family could only collect eleven taels and five cents of silver. After hearing Wu Chaoyue's words, Gui Zhongxing, a famous poor official in the late Qing Dynasty, immediately changed his position and said: "The King of Zhennan loves the people as his son, and admires the humble position. Yes, even if this may not be big, we will never let the main force of Changmao give up the pseudo and wander around to other places to poison the people. We can only find ways to let Hong Xiuquan and Changmao stay in Jiangning and wait for death, so that we can create a chance to break Changmao in a battle."

"Zhennan King, can we cut off Changmao's retreat in advance with force?" Wu Junzhong general Qian Wei made a suggestion and said: "The Yangtze River is in the north of Jiangning. Our navy has an absolute advantage on the water. We should be confident that we can block the river surface so that Changmao cannot escape north or go down the river from the water. In the south, as long as we take Moling Pass first, we can prevent Changmao's main brigade from fleeing south. There is a Maoshan Mountains blocking road in the east. If we can think of any way to block the east, we may be able to completely trap Changmao's main force in the Jiangning battlefield."

"The encirclement is too big, and our troops are not strong enough." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said, "And Changmao is not a fool. If he is determined to abandon the city and leave, he can not only escape before we build the encirclement, but also take advantage of the long front line to break through from our weak defense. We want to completely trap Changmao's main force with military force, and there is no possibility."

Qian Wei also shut up his mouth, and Dai Wenjie, the chief of staff of the army, planned to speak slowly, saying: "King of Zhennan, if we can come up with something to let Changmao see the hope of defending Jiangning, or let Changmao feel confident that he can fight back our attack, then we should not have to worry that Changmao's main force will escape in advance."

"This is of course a good idea. As long as Changmao can see hope, Changmao will definitely not run away easily." Wu Chaoyue finally nodded and frowned and said, "But how can Changmao see this hope? I have been thinking about this issue these days, but I have never thought of any good idea."

"How about asking for peace from Changmao?" Dai Wenjie said in a shocking voice, "Send an envoy to contact Jiangning Changmao, and said that we wanted to truce with them, wanted to negotiate with them, and even asked them to let our Shanghai and General Feng's army go together, so that Changmao felt that we were no longer able to do anything and had no potential, and then we would not run away in advance."

"The solution is one way." Wu Chaoyue still frowned and said, "But I can't grasp it very well. There are also discerning people on Changmao's side. I'm afraid that we will see that we are playing hard to get and want to trick them into staying in Jiangning and waiting for death."

"It doesn't matter. We don't need to hide it from all Changmao. We just need to make Hong Xiuquan believe that we are going to surrender." Dai Wenjie answered confidently and said: "Did King Zhennan forget that General Feng and his friends' plans to lure Changmao to fight during the Great Win Pass were ridiculous. Hong Xiuquan's big Changmao was still fooled? From this point of view, Hong Xiuquan's big Changmao sometimes likes water in his head. As long as our messenger likes his preferences, flatters more, and shows him more weakness, it is very likely that Hong Xiuquan will be fooled. As long as Hong Xiuquan is fooled, no matter how much other Changmao opposes, he will definitely not listen."

From later historical materials, we know that Hong Xiuquan is slightly mentally ill. Wu Chaoyue was of course very moved after listening to Dai Wenjie's suggestion. However, Gui Zhongxing jumped out and voted against it, saying: "It is best not to take this risk. If our tactic of hard-to-get is seen by Hong Xiuquan, the messenger will definitely lose his life immediately. Maybe he will also receive a counter-effect. Remind Hong Xiuquan that big long-haired hairy thought of escaping quickly, and we would indirectly harm the people on the southeast coast."

Not particularly aware of Hong Xiuquan's personality, Dai Wenjie certainly did not dare to rule out the possibility proposed by Zhang Zhongxing. He could only turn his attention to Wu Chaoyue, and Wu Chaoyue never said anything. It was only after a long time that Wu Chaoyue suddenly said: "Mr. Wenjie's method is feasible and worth a try."

"Zhennan King, what if Changmao sees out and gets the reverse effect?" Gui Zhongxing asked worriedly.

"It doesn't matter, we can take a two-pronged approach and use another strategy to make other Changmao see through our tactic of hard-to-get, and there is no way to convince Hong Xiuquan to give up Jiangning and go to other places." Wu Chaoyue replied.

"Zhennan King, how can we do two-pronged approach?" Gui Zhongxing quickly asked.

Wu Chaoyue did not answer, but turned to Dai Wenjie, the chief of staff of the army, and said, "Mr. Wenjie, you should pick up your pen and write a letter to Changmao's fake loyal king Li Xiucheng. The more solemn and formal the tone, the better."

"What?" Dai Wenjie asked while lifting his pen.

"Please help him to leave Hong Xiuquan alone and become independent. He also advises him to learn from Yang Xiuqing, get along with us in a friendly manner, and divide the world equally." Wu Chaoyue said casually: "Tell him again that if he is worried about the safety of his family under Hong Xiuquan's house arrest in Jiangning City, he can first persuade Hong Xiuquan to leave Jiangning, take the opportunity to rescue his family, and take the opportunity to trick Hong Xiuquan into his Jiangsu and Zhejiang territory and kill him with one knife, and then he can immediately become the boss of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

"A clever plan!" Dai Wenjie suddenly realized and clapped, "The clever plan of King Zhennan is that as long as Hong Xiuquan sees this letter, no matter how Li Xiucheng persuades him to leave Jiangning, he will only suspect that Li Xiucheng is malicious and refuses to listen to anything he says."

"And other people advised him, he would also suspect that this person was bought by Li Xiucheng." Wu Chaoyue said with a smile: "Not only that, with Hong Xiuquan's personality and temper, after seeing this letter, he would definitely try every means to force Li Xiucheng to fight to the end, not only to protect himself, but also to weaken Li Xiucheng with our hands, so that Li Xiucheng was difficult to take the main force away in advance."

Dai Wenjie nodded quickly and asked carefully: "King of Zhennan, how can Hong Xiuquan, the big long hair, see this letter reasonably? The method that General Feng and the others used before may not be used anymore, right?"

"Of course I can't use it anymore. The last time I was able to get away with Hong Xiuquan and Shi Dakai was because they were lucky. They could find a long-haired prisoner to send such an important letter, which was a pity they could think of." Wu Chaoyue hummed disdainfully and said seriously: "This time I want an envoy who is not afraid of death. I have to take on the burden of taking the risk of seeking peace and getting to the Changmao, and risk losing my head to let Hong Xiuquan see this letter. If I accidentally fail to escape from the devil's claws, I can still withstand Changmao's heavy torture and force confessions, and I will never let go. Do you have such a person in your hands?"

Everyone kept silent, but Gui Zhongxing stood up and said, "King Zhennan, let Xiaguan go. Even if Xiaguan sacrificed his life, he would definitely complete the mission you gave to Zhennan and save the people in the southeast in dire straits."

"Mr. Lu Zhen, you can't go." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said, "First, I can't bear to let you take the risk of your life. Second, you have rebelled against me, and Changmao will suspect that you were the dead room I sent to, and you are more likely to get the opposite effect."

Gui Zhongxing was stunned for a moment, and then hesitated and said, "King of Zhennan, then the official wants to recommend someone to you, and he can also guarantee that he will not betray our army to seek rebellion, but this person is a criminal and is still guilty."

"What's this person's name? What's the crime of wearing?" Wu Chaoyue asked casually.

"Mo Xiangzhi is a friend that Xiaguan met when he was suppressing bandits in Guizhou. He once served as a county magistrate in Hunan and was dismissed for being reported to be corruption of money and grain." Gui Zhongchang introduced, and quickly said: "But the King of Zhennan, the official can use the petals to guarantee that he was wronged. He was guilty of being too upright and too strict in his work. Later, the Hunan Governor's Office had almost found out his case, and happened to catch up with the King of Zhennan. You raised an army to fight against the rebellion in the capital. In the chaos in Hunan, he was always guilty and entered the shogunate of Xiaguan for a livelihood."
Chapter completed!