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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 125: Wait and see what happens

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    More than a hundred Qing soldiers were squatting on the ground outside Xiangyang Town. Many of them were pale and wearing shabby gray cloth cotton-padded jackets with Qing army uniforms on the outside. I wonder if the cotton-padded jackets were not thick enough. The Qing soldiers were shivering in the cold wind.  Surrounded by more than a hundred Taiping soldiers holding swords and guns and glaring angrily.  These brave soldiers of the Qing army looked fearful, not knowing what their fate would be. They shuddered when they thought of the cruel methods they had used to capture Taiping prisoners in the past. The Taiping army would definitely take cruel revenge.

    After a while, a group of Taiping troops rushed over. The leader of the Taiping Army general said a few words to the Taiping soldier commander who was guarding the prisoners. The soldier commander yelled a few times in Guangxi dialect, and the two troops quickly  's exchanged positions.

    The prisoners of the Qing army were a little frightened. The newly arrived Taiping army seemed to be more vicious. Everyone was holding a steel knife, and they surrounded the prisoners of the Qing army like a tiger looking around, like a firing squad.

    The Taiping Army general came forward and shouted loudly: "Listen, you Qingyao, if you want to survive, work honestly! Whatever I say, you do what you do! Otherwise, all of them will be beheaded!" The Qing soldiers breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that they were here.  To detain them for their work.

    At that moment, the Taiping Army general ordered all the Qing troops to go northeast. When they arrived at a small road outside the town, they saw groups of Taiping Army marching toward the northeast one after another. Many Taiping Army shouted:  "Rush to Quanxi Town and ambush the demon head!"

    One Qian Zongzong in the Qing army was shocked. His name was Yu Zhifeng, his ancestral home was Anqing. When he was more than ten years old, he followed his uncle to Sichuan to seek life. Later, forced to make a living, he went to the Green Camp and became a soldier. He followed Xiangrong to suppress the bandits and met him.  I have learned some words and gained some knowledge after many years of fighting.  During the battle of Liaotian Town, he saw that the momentum was not going well, so he changed into the clothes of an ordinary soldier early, and surrendered with everyone, without the Taiping Army being able to identify him.  At this moment, Yu Zhifeng was shocked when he heard that the Taiping Army was going to attack Quanxi Town. He also knew that after passing Chashu Town, there was only Quanxi Town on the Lei River for the eastward ferry, although he didn't know that Xiang Rong  The situation of the army at this moment, but it can be seen that the Taiping Army seems to want to ambush Xiang Junmen in Quanxi Town.

    The job that the Taiping Army arranged for the Qing army to do was to carry grain. The transportation journey was not short, and they had to go north after passing Pingtou Ridge.  Along the way, Yu Zhifeng was spying on the movements of the Taiping Army, planning to find the right opportunity to escape.

    When the team arrived at Miaoling, a group of dozens of Qing army detective horses appeared in the field of vision. Strangely enough, the escorting Taiping Army did not seem to intend to fight. As soon as they shouted, they dropped dozens of grain carts and captured soldiers and went.  Flee south.  The prisoners of the Qing army cheered together and quickly fell into the arms of their own family members.

    After being rescued, Yu Zhifeng immediately revealed his identity. The general who led the Qing army to explore the horse recognized him, and immediately treated him politely, giving out water and food to everyone.

    After eating and drinking, Yu Zhifeng said that he had confidential military information about the Long-haired Thief. The commander immediately sent out several cavalry to escort Yu Zhifeng to Xiangrong Camp, while the rest escorted the grain truck back.

    Not long after Yu Zhifeng left, a group of Taiping cavalry came over to kill the general. The Qing army could not resist, so they had to abandon their grain and grass carts and flee for their lives. The Taiping Army did not pursue them. After recapturing the grain and grass carts, they returned to the south.

    But he said that Yu Zhifeng rushed to Xiangrong Camp and told everything he saw in the Taiping Army.  Xiang Rong's expression changed drastically when he heard this. If the Taiping Army tightened their pockets and set up an ambush in Quanxi Town, he would really be fooled.  He then asked how many long-haired thieves there were in the south, but Yu Zhifeng only said that there were no more than two thousand.

    After thinking about it again and again, Xiang Rong ordered his horse to explore Quanxi Town, then comforted Yu Zhifeng with a few words and ordered him to go down and rest.

    Two hours later, the scouts reported back that there were indeed long-haired thieves in Quanxi Town, and they were mostly deployed on the other side. The other side had high mountains and dense forests, and no one knew how many people there were.

    The current military situation is raging, and if he allows the Taiping Army to arrange their arrangements calmly, he will be trapped and die here. Xiang Rong was so confused that he finally made a wrong judgment. He knew full well the cunning of the Taiping Army and the puppet King of the West.  A virtual force was set up in the south, with the purpose of tricking myself into breaking out of the siege at Quanxi Town, so that I could cross over and attack.  I still have 7,000 soldiers and horses in my hands, why should I be afraid of the 2,000 long-haired thieves from the south?  The best strategy is to be on the safe side, or to concentrate our forces on land to the south to break out.  After gathering his attention, Xiang Rong immediately ordered the entire army to break out of camp and fight to the south to break through.

    At dusk, Xiangrong's vanguard troops rushed to the Siye Mountain, Niuwan Ridge, and Pingtou Ridge lines. After a quick meal, they launched an attack on the Taiping Army on the top of the mountain. The roar of mountain-splitting cannons and iron cannons was everywhere.  The Taiping Army on the mountain also responded with artillery fire. The two armies had a lively fight but not many people were killed.  When Xiang Rong's flag appeared on the battlefield, it was almost dark. Xiang Rong ordered all the troops to temporarily retreat three miles to camp and wait and see what happened.

    On the other side, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang were ecstatic when they heard that the Qing army turned around and headed south.  It turns out that the Qing army prisoners were deliberately released in the morning in order to let the Qing army prisoners bring false news to Xiangrong. The only one in Quanxi Town wasMore than two hundred Taiping Army cavalry rushed over to create a suspicious formation and bluffed on the other side, making Xiang Rong think that there was a dangerous trap there.

    After knowing that the plan was successful, Xiao Yungui immediately followed Zuo Zongtang's plan and sent a message to Lin Fengxiang and Ji Wenyuan, asking them to quickly cross the Xiangjiang River and seize Xinwushan and Miaoling outside Dongyang Town.  Wait for the key points to be further compressed to surround Xiang Rongbu.

    Seeing the fierce artillery fire from the Taiping Army on the mountain, Xiang Rong was beating his heart. Seeing that the sky was dark, he had to withdraw his troops for the time being.  Although he was cunning and suspicious by nature, his suspicion caused him to lose his last chance to break out.  If he ordered the Qing army to break out of the encirclement at night, the Taiping soldiers in the south would be exhausted and their forts would be poorly constructed. He might be able to break out of the encirclement, but because of his suspicious nature, he planned to investigate clearly before making a decision, thus wasting a whole night in vain.  precious time.

    After withdrawing his troops, Xiang Rong thought about it over and over. He began to wonder about the Taiping Army's ambush in Quanxi Town, and asked Yu Zhifeng to ask in detail.  Xiang Rong asked very carefully. When he heard that the Taiping Army had changed a group of detainees before taking Yu Zhifeng and other prisoners to transport food, Xiang Rong was shocked and began to realize something was wrong.  It's enough to just transport food and send someone to deliver the order. Why do we need to change a group of people to take care of it?  It was obviously his intention to let Yu Zhifeng and others go.

    Thinking of this, Xiang Rong could no longer sit still, and immediately ordered his horse to go to Quanxi Town to investigate. This time, he must investigate clearly. It would be best to find a boat to cross the Lei River to the other side to investigate.

    Xiang Rong, who was restless, began to feel like a thorn in his back. He walked out of the tent and saw a bright bonfire on the hilltop to the south. Countless shadows of the Taiping Army were swimming in the mountains. He was startled and thought to himself that the real trap might be here.

    After waiting anxiously for more than an hour, the detective horses sent out finally came back, but out of more than a hundred horses, only about twenty came back.  The general who led the army only knew that the Miao Ridge to the north was also occupied by the Long-haired Bandits and could not pass by. Instead, he had a battle with the Long-haired Bandit's cavalry and lost more than 70 people.

    Xiang Rong's vision went dark, and he almost fainted. Miaoling was occupied, and even the retreat to Quanxi Town was cut off. More than 7,000 of his people were trapped in this area, which was only six miles from east to west and eight miles from north to south.  Caught in a narrow gap.  After calming down for a moment, Xiang Rong immediately summoned the generals from all ministries to discuss matters.

    In Xiangrong's big tent, Xiangrong's Goshiha raised a pot of charcoal fire. The whole tent was warm and cozy, but the Qing generals in the tent all had gloomy faces.

    After Xiang Rong explained the current situation, all the generals felt uneasy. It was unprecedented for them to be surrounded by their sworn enemy, the Long-haired Thief, not to mention the extremely stubborn Pseudo King of the West who surrounded them.  , no one dared to say whether he could escape, and for a while, the tent was surprisingly quiet.

    Xiang Rong sighed and said in a deep voice: "I have served in the army for half my life. The Henan Tianli Jiao, Beijiang Zhang Geer, Xinning Li Yuanfa, Guangxi Tiandihui, bandits and thieves from all walks of life have all defeated my opponents in more than a hundred battles.  I have never been bullied like this. The long-haired thieves are currently besieging me from the north and south, with Laishui and Xiangjiang rivers to the east and west. The situation is critical and dangerous. I have no more military strategies to arrange. The only plan now is to move horizontally.  With one heart, top and bottom, with the courage to risk death and survive, we must defeat the land to the south and seize a bloody road to have a chance of survival! All soldiers will have a good rest tonight and have a full meal tomorrow morning.  After a pause, all the armies moved forward with all their strength. They vowed not to stop until they broke through the ground in front of them! The soldiers were dead and wounded, the generals went up, the generals were dead and wounded, the generals went up, the generals died again, and the generals were on guard. In short, this commander was here in person.  In the battle formation, no one in the entire army is allowed to retreat! Only in this way can we break through the shackles and escape, otherwise we will die without a burial place! Do you understand this?!"

    All the generals in the tent were shocked when they heard this. They were in a desperate situation and could only survive by fighting to the death. They no longer hesitated at the moment. They all clasped their fists and loudly accepted orders. They were all gearing up and waiting for the fierce battle to break out of the encirclement tomorrow.

    It's not that Xiang Rong didn't want to break out at night, but the Qing army under his command had many firearms. Most of his subordinates were soldiers from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guangxi Green Camps. According to the Qing army's military system, for every thousand Qing soldiers, there were 200 archers.  There are six hundred shotgun and cannon soldiers, one hundred rattan soldiers, and one hundred artillerymen who also practice swordsmanship. For a battalion of less than a thousand soldiers, the number will be reduced accordingly.  In other words, more than 60% of Xiangrong's soldiers used firearms and artillery. Breaking out at night could not bring out the maximum effect of firearms and artillery. It was nothing more than a fantasy to try to force a way out by hand-to-hand combat.

    So Xiang Rong could only wait until dawn, hoping to use the power of powerful firearms to carve a bloody path.

    On the other side, the Taiping Army used this night to strengthen the defense of the camp, dug several trenches, planted bamboo sticks and blocked horses. After the arrangements were made, all Taiping Army units also rested on the spot for the night, waiting for the fierce battle tomorrow.

    Just like this, on this cold winter night, more than 10,000 people on both sides were quietly waiting for dawn, quietly waiting for the arrival of death.
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