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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 542: Night Battle in the Back Mountain

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    The Pantheon in the center of the town is located next to the Huguang Guild Hall. Like the Huguang Guild Hall, it was built in the early Qing Dynasty.  After Li Chong's Qing troops retreated into Xing'an Town, Li Chong set up his military camp in the Huguang Guild Hall.  Li Zhongbu mobilized a total of 5,000 Zhenjun soldiers and more than 4,000 newly recruited Xiangyong soldiers from Hengyang this time. After a fierce battle during the day, the Zhenyu soldiers lost more than 1,800 people and the Xiangyong recruits lost more than 1,000 people.  In the ensuing battle of resistance by the front team and building fortification by the rear team, more than a thousand Xiangyong were lost. After one battle, Li Chongbu lost almost half of his troops.

    After entering Xing'an Town, although the Qing army still had more than 5,000 soldiers and horses, it needed to defend the front from the attack of the Taiping Army. Most of the elite suppressing troops were deployed in the front, and the sides and rear were mostly defended by the Hunan Yong soldiers.  Although Li Chong readjusted the strength of the defense line in the evening, there was a tributary of Lingqu Canal running through the middle of Xing'an Town. There were rivers, paths and residential buildings all over the place. It could be said that it was connected in all directions. No matter how Li Chong set up his defense, he felt that there were loopholes everywhere. The reason was that Xing'an Town had no  Build city walls.

    In desperation, Li Zhong had no choice but to choose a few wide roads and bridges in the front as defensive points, and a small group of troops to monitor the small roads and bridges in the back. He arranged a mobile troop in the town. If anything happened,  When things are tight, they come to the rescue urgently.  In Li Chong's view, the Taiping Army's large forces would still choose the broad roads and bridges in front of them if they wanted to attack, so Li Chong also specially arranged to deploy the remaining eight mountain-splitting cannons and aim them at these places.

    Yang Chengming followed Zhou Wangcai, and the group quietly waded through the tributaries of Lingqu Canal in the night, and then stepped onto the streets of Water Street.  Along the way, Yang Chengming repeatedly recited his mission: "When we arrived in the town, we quickly occupied a higher residential building outside the guild hall, created chaos to attract the attention of the demons, and just shot at the bright torches in the dark. Anyway, the people who broke into the town  Friendly troops cannot light torches, only clear demons can light torches!"

    Zhou Wangcai and other eight people were extremely skilled. They defeated seven or eight Qing patrols along the way, all with their bare hands or sharp blades. To a large extent, the Xiangyong uniforms they wore made the Qing troops relax their vigilance and act blindly.  They couldn't see clearly until dangerous elements like Zhou Wangcai approached the Qing army.  The fate of these Qing troops was already determined.  When large groups of Qing troops were mobilized, they would hide in alleys and houses for temporary shelter.

    In this way, a group of people quickly approached the Huguang Guild Hall. Yang Chengming and others chose a grain and oil store as a hiding place for several of their snipers.  Because this is a three-story wooden building.  Zhou Wangcai and others continued to slander and headed towards the hill behind the ancestral hall. They agreed that the signal to take action was Zhou Wangcai's whistle.

    When Yang Chengming and others entered the grain and oil store, the owner of the grain and oil store and the two clerks all knelt down to beg for mercy and begged to let them go.  There Yang Chengming saw the mess after being looted by the Qing army.

    The leading veteran just lightly warned the family not to make any noise.  Soon the boss and others silenced themselves under the threat of the strong smell of blood from this group of people.  After all, this group of people just hid in the house and took no further action.

    Yang Chengming and the other three people quickly ran upstairs. The boss suddenly began to beg again, and even had the courage to step forward and grab Yang Chengming's clothes.  The leading veteran shouted to stop, but was unable to persuade him. Finally, the veteran pulled out his bayonet, and the boss stopped crying.

    Yang Chengming shook off the boss's hand and quickly ran up to the third floor.  He understood everything.  On the top pavilion where debris is piled on the third floor, inside a messy bamboo basket.  There are two women hiding, one seems to be the wife of the owner of the grain and oil store, and the other girl should be his daughter.

    It turned out that the boss stopped them from going upstairs because he thought that some Qing army chiefs were trying to invade his home. During the day, the grain and oil store was just ransacked, but the women of several families in the town were murdered, so the boss was very angry.  Worry.

    Yang Chengming looked at the two women, and he saw the panic in their eyes. He immediately said to the people downstairs: "There are two women, greet them. They are about to start a fight."

    But when the boss came upstairs, he just hugged his mother and cried, and kept kowtowing to beg for mercy, but would not move. Yang Chengming said this several times, and even showed their identities as Taiping soldiers, but the few people were indifferent. In the end, Yang Chengming  Ming and the other two looked at each other and said helplessly: "If they want to stay here, just stay there. If they start fighting later, they will run away."

    After the three of them cleared the debris next to the skylight of the top pavilion, Yang Chengming looked outside. The view here was very good, and he could also see the situation inside the Huguang Guild Hall two hundred steps away.  The three of them prepared their firearms. Yang Chengming was the main shooter by the window of the top pavilion. The other two were responsible for loading ammunition. The two downstairs were responsible for dealing with the Qing troops coming from the street. The veterans downstairs moved all the large furniture.  Come over and block the doors and windows downstairs to prevent Qing troops from breaking into the house after discovering their location.

    Yang Chengming aimed at a few lights walking back and forth in the Huguang Guild Hall. He knew that they were Qing troops patrolling with torches.  Soon a message from Zhou Wangcai came from the back mountain.The Qing troops in the guild hall and on the street were all startled by the sharp whistle. Almost at the same time, Yang Chengming pulled the trigger on his first target.

    After the gunshot, a bright spot in the Huguang Guild Hall shook for a moment and then stopped moving. The other bright spots started to panic. Yang Chengming quickly took the gun handed over by his companion and fired the second shot.  A family of three in the grain and oil store on the top floor were frightened by the gunshots. They all huddled together and did not dare to make a sound.

    After a few shots, the Qing army at the Huguang Guild Hall became chaotic. More and more Qing soldiers lit up torches and began to look for the person who shot the black gun. The more torches there were, the more targets Yang Chengming had. Soon the other two people also started to attack.  Joined the shooting ranks.

    In the night, the Qing army didn¡¯t know how many enemies were coming. They only felt that their companions fell down from time to time, and they soon became a mess.  Li Chong heard the noise in the guild hall and came out to check. He was standing next to a Qing army guard holding a torch in the corridor. He was about to scold the soldiers. Unexpectedly, a bullet flew towards him and hit him on the shoulder.  It was Yang Chengming who looked at the bright spot behind him and shot it. Unexpectedly, he hit Li Chong.

    When the Qing army saw their coach wounded and lying on the ground, they became even more confused. The mountain-mountain artillery position following the mountain also started to erupt with gunfire, followed by shouts of killing. The Qing army in the Huguang Guild Hall didn't know whether to look for the black gunner or the gunman first.  Reinforce the mountains first.

    Just when you are hesitating.  Several Qing army generals came to scold the soldiers, and one of them shouted loudly: "Put out the torch first, the enemy is just looking at the light and shooting!" Soon the torches were extinguished.  Follow the Qing army to form a team, prepare to divide the troops into two groups and go all the way to the back mountain, starting to search nearby residences along the way.

    At this time, there was a violent explosion from the back mountain, followed by a burst of fire rising into the sky. Yang Chengming also looked at it and said excitedly: "Chief Zhou and the others are done!" Several footsteps came.  The veteran downstairs rushed up and shouted loudly: "Come downstairs, Qing Yao is coming this way, let's leave here immediately. After we go out, light more fires to make Qing Yao more chaotic, and then the general attack will begin."

    As soon as he finished speaking, explosions also came from the east and west.  It seems that the Qing artillery arrays on the mound to the east and Laotai Pavilion to the west have also been removed.  Yang Chengming and others were very excited.

    After simply packing up and getting ready to leave, Yang Chengming looked at the grain and oil store owner and his family who were still huddled in the corner, then stepped forward and whispered: "You'd better leave quickly, Qing Yao will be here soon and can't see us. They  I will kill you to vent my anger."

    The boss kowtowed and said: "Master, where do you want us to go? There are soldiers everywhere outside. During the day, the commander-in-chief of the government and army warned that anyone who went out on the street would be killed on the spot. We didn't dare at all."  Get out."

    Yang Chengming couldn't bear it. If they hadn't chosen this place, the family might not be in danger. He gritted his teeth and said, "You three and the two guys from the store will follow us, but don't  Fall down, and it¡¯s better to live and die when you get out, than to wait for death here, do you want to follow us?¡±

    The boss saw that they were all Taiping troops, and he also knew that there had been rumors recently in Guangxi that the Taiping troops would conquer all of Guangxi in the near future. It would be better to follow them than to stay here and be killed by the Qing army. Moreover, his home was looted by the Qing army during the day.  There was nothing valuable to bring, so the boss agreed immediately.

    At the moment, Yang Chengming led a family of three and two clerks from the grain and oil store out of the store. The veteran at the door frowned and said, "What are you taking them for? Do you think we are not slow enough? You will kill everyone!"

    Yang Chengming retorted, "Should we leave them and let Qing Yao kill them?" The boss hurriedly bowed and said, "We just follow the boss and escape from the town, and we won't cause any trouble to you."

    The veteran said helplessly: "We don't have time to chat. If they can't keep up, don't blame us for harming them! Let's go!" After that, he took a few people and left first.

    Along the way, several people lit fires everywhere and walked back the way they came. When they turned the corner, they encountered dozens of Qing troops swarming towards them. The veteran shouted and took off his uniform and said: "Brothers,  Empty the gun! Fix the bayonet and say hello!"

    Several people tore off their uniforms, emptied the bullets in the barrels of their guns, and attached bayonets. The five of them formed a formation and charged into the oncoming dozens of Qing troops like tigers without retreating.

    Oncoming was a patrol team of Xiangyong recruits. Although this Xiangyong was also a newly trained army by Zeng Guofan in Hengyang, after all, the training time was not long, and it was the first time to go into battle. Yang Chengming and others were killed.  His posture was startled, and following the skillful bayonet fighting tactics of several people, he quickly collapsed under the cold light of the bayonet under the moonlight.

    Yang Chengming charged for a while, then turned around and saw several Qing soldiers bypassing a few people and heading towards a family in the grain and oil store behind them. He immediately shouted loudly, turned around and stabbed a Qing soldier with his bayonet.  on the back, then pulled it out and stabbed another person.Upon seeing this, the Qing army and several other people fled in all directions, thus saving the family in the grain and oil store.

    The boss was waiting to thank him when Yang Chengming shouted sternly: "Go! Go! The clear demons will only gather more and more. It's not safe here!" After that, he should follow the veteran and others to clear the way and rush to Shuijiekou.

    When they arrived at the place where they forded the crossing, they happened to catch up with Zhou Wangcai and three people returning here. Zhou Wangcai's forehead was dripping with blood and he seemed to be injured. He gasped and said: "When we attacked Houshan, there was Zhenyu over there.  The soldiers are guarding, four brothers are dead, so you haven't lost any men here."

    The veteran said: "We killed a group of Xiang brave men without losing any men, and also saved a few people." Zhou Wangcai looked at it without saying anything, waved his hand and said: "Send them across the river, leaving a few people to guard first."  Here, the Qing demons are biting hard!" As soon as he finished speaking, shouts of killing came from the street not far away, and it seemed that hundreds of Qing troops were coming this way!  (To be continued)
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