Bao Chao is a veteran soldier, and when he heard Zhao Liewen slap his hand on the battlement wall and praised: "Li Xubin is really a veteran of my Hunan army, a division of salvation, and now this time to break through is very good!" Very good! ”

That's right, now the main force of the Rainbow Army is cleaning up the various Hunan armies that have been routed everywhere, and they have not yet gathered back, and although Li Xubin has been fighting with the red thief for a day today, he is breaking through now, which is indeed out of the surprise of the Rainbow Army, and it can be said that it is the best time to break through.

Under the moonlit sky in the distance, the sound of gunfire, fighting, and artillery continued to sound, but the intensity was expected by Zeng Guofan, and Bao Chao also came up with a little advantage: "Although our army is north today, there are many people scattered in the countryside, Li Xubin is breaking through now, maybe ......"

It's just that Bao Chao didn't dare to speak more in the next moment, he saw that Zeng Guofan's eyes were full of murderous aura, and Zhao Liewen persuaded: "Shilang, now that Li Xubin has broken through, he can finally pick up some people to come out, if it drags on until tomorrow, it will be too late!" ”

"Let's see how many soldiers he can drag to break out!" Zeng Guofan's face was pale, so he didn't say much: "Tonight, we will wait for him Li Xubin to come back!" ”

Bao Chao didn't understand, he had to pretend to observe the battlefield and look down into the distance, but he overturned the five-flavor bottle in his heart.

Zeng Guofan's face was even more ugly than today's big defeat, originally after Peng Yulin's sailor returned, Zeng Guofan's face looked good all of a sudden, and he could even barely smile a little, but now Zeng Guofan seemed to be about to kill.

Isn't Li Xubin the best chance to break through now?

After a long while, he realized that yes, for Li Xubin's 6,000 soldiers and horses, breaking through now is indeed the best tactical choice, but from the perspective of the overall situation of the Hunan army sticking to Nanchang, Li Xubin's breakthrough broke Zeng Guofan's overall deployment.

In today's battle, the Qing army suffered staggering losses. If you count Gan Yong's losses, the number is definitely close to 10,000 people, and they still collapse easily, even if you don't count these Gan Yong and Green Battalion soldiers. The Hunan army itself alone is also the most important since the founding of the Hunan army.

In this case, the Hunan army that broke back to Nanchang City can be said to be frightened, and the Hong army is already frightened, so what they need most is time, as long as there are a few days, Zeng Guofan can reorganize the Hunan army to hold on to Nanchang City.

After all, there was a precedent before the Taiping army attacked Nanchang City three times. Zeng Guofan can repeat such a miracle again, but the premise of this is that Li Xubin continues to hold on to the banks of the Ganjiang River and find a way out for the entire Hunan army.

But now Li Xubin led the whole army to break through, although it was for Li Xubin's army in the encirclement of the Rainbow Army to find a way out, but it brought a fatal flaw to the Jiangxi layout of the entire Hunan army, and the red thief could take advantage of the victory to attack at any time and take Nanchang directly.

As soon as he thought of this, Bao Chao could only sigh: "If Nanchang can't be defended." Then you don't have to defend it, why bother burying the entire Hunan army for a county town......"

It's just that seeing Zeng Guofan's face with frost, Bao Chao didn't dare to say this. Just put his hands on the cold battlement wall, looking for the last glimmer of light.

After waiting for about an hour, there was a sudden commotion in the city, and then someone shouted loudly: "Shilang, Shilang, I'm Li Xubin Li Di'an, open the city gate quickly!" ”

The Binglin on Zeng Guofan's face finally slashed off a few threads, but he was still ruthless: "Ke'an, it's past an hour today, and you can't open the city gate." Swim up to the city! ”

As soon as Li Xubin heard the news, his legs were almost weak, and he shouted loudly: "Zeng Disheng, we are still followed by thousands of red thieves, how can you tell me to swim over!" ”

Li Xubin didn't expect that he would fight to the death to break through, and he also rescued several friendly troops on the way. In the end, he encountered such a scene under the city of Nanchang, but his officers and soldiers have been fighting since the morning, not a drop of water has entered, no grain of rice has been eaten, and they are already exhausted, how can there be a reason to swim through the moat of more than ten meters and climb the Nanchang city wall a few zhang high. …,

Zeng Guofan kept a straight face and didn't speak, and let Li Xubin roar for a long time, and only after a long time did he say: "Ke'an, you fought to the death, how many Hunan people did you bring out?" ”

"There are more than 1,000 people...... Li Xubin almost wanted to cry, he looked at the monster in the city in the night: "There are more than 1,000 Hunan villagers here, it's a pity ......"

He really cried out, these 6,000 soldiers are his heart, I don't know how many of his old relatives and friends, but now he has thrown his life and blood on the distant shore of the Ganjiang River, and he has not even snatched the corpse back.

"Open the gates!" Zeng Guofan changed his mind because of Li Xubin's words: "Put the suspension bridge down!" Put it down! ”

Zhao Liewen dragged Zeng Guofan's hand and said, "Squire, squire, if the red thief chases down to the city and follows the hand of our army, what is good?" ”

"That's providence!" Zeng Guofan glanced at the starry sky, and he was already determined in his heart: "There are more than 1,000 Hunan people in this city, and more than 1,000 robes that will accompany me for the rest of my life, I can't leave him behind......"

Saying that, Zeng Guofan actually chanted an ancient poem: "How can you say that there is no clothes? with the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my spear. Enmity with the Son! How can you say that you have no clothes? With the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my spear halberd. Work with the son! How can you say that you have no clothes? with the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my armor soldiers. Walk with the son! ”

The sound of gunshots, fighting, and roaring in the distance was getting closer and closer, and Zhao Liewen listened to Zeng Guofan chanting this unclothed in this verse, and watched the drawbridge slowly fall, and there was a feeling of boiling blood.

This Zeng Guofan Zeng Shilang may have such and such problems, but he is still the top person in this time and space, watching Li Xubin's subordinates desperately rush into Nanchang City, he suddenly has a feeling of wanting to cry.

Zeng Guofan patted him on the shoulder, comforted him and said: "Liewen, you and I have only been friends for a few months, but in my heart, you are not from Changzhou, Jiangsu, but from Hunan......"

This is the greatest affirmation for Zhao Liewen, but Zhao Liewen replied unceremoniously: "Zeng Shilang, no matter when, I am a wanderer in Changzhou!" ”

Fortunately, the pursuit of the Hongjun was a little slow, but when they killed under Nanchang City again, the drawbridge had already risen slowly, and Li Xubin ran up with a bloody face and tears: "Shilang, Disheng, your grace to open the door, my Li Ke'an will never forget it in this life!" ”

"No need!" Zeng Guofan said unceremoniously: "Today, the red thieves have cleaned up our army outside the city, and the troops will inevitably reach the provincial capital, you have a good rest for half a day and prepare for the battle!" ”

Bao Chao was originally bent on his waist and half-asleep against the battlement wall, but Zeng Guofan's words woke up the whole person: "Squire! What's wrong? Do you still want to defend Nanchang City? ”

The Hongjun army lost most of its troops by land and water, and even Li Xubin's army abandoned the camp and moved into Nanchang City, in this case, the army's heart was cold, Bao Chao felt that Nanchang was an undefensible situation, but he didn't expect Zeng Guofan to still hold the determination to defend Nanchang.

"That's right!" Zeng Guofan has already reacted to a series of blows, he is the kind of frustration and courage of the typical, in the face of countless desperate situations he survived: "If you don't defend Nanchang, then Jiangxi will not guard, Jiangxi will not guard, then Hunan and Hubei will not guard, Hunan and Hubei will not guard, it is for the fall of China, and today you must not defend Nanchang...... Ke'an, what do you think? ”

Li Xubin is a well-known brave general of the Hunan army, and has always been a rescue division of the Hunan army, where the situation is critical, he will go to where to reinforce, but now he has lost most of his confidence after today's defeat: "Jiangxi provincial city must not be defended, but today there are no soldiers to defend, my army of 6,000 soldiers, now there are only more than 1,000 people, one of which is the one I broke through the siege that was received outside the city to meet the brave ......"

His meaning is obvious, that is, Nanchang cannot be defended, Zeng Guofan did not get enough support from him, but he has considerable determination: "Ke'an, the red thief fought with me yesterday, although it broke my division, but there were many losses, it can be said that it is quite destructive, not to mention that now Russia and France are using troops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the red thief dragon spear and Nanxi are the first elite among the thieves, and they must return to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so in my opinion, as long as the Jiangxi provincial capital is held today, the Jiangxi provincial city can be used as the center to recover the whole province of Jiangxi, as long as the whole province of Jiangxi is recovered, You can go down the river and regain the southeast, today's setback, the fault is in my ......"...,

His voice is getting louder and louder, yesterday's defeat made this scholar grow up again: "My Hunan army should have been hard to fight, dumbfounded, according to the stronghold, Di'an was surrounded by thieves for a few to ten years, according to the stronghold, the thief can never be proud, and I rescue Ke'an heartfew, adjacent to my Hunan 15,000, Gan Yong 7,000 out of the city and the thief to fight in the city, the thief is fine, will be many soldiers, although I broke the enemy's front, but the dragon spear thief suddenly with 20,000 guns and cannons to kill, our army hastily received the enemy, in order to suffer a big setback, resulting in the situation out of control, But this battle also let me know where the thief is and where my strengths and weaknesses are! ”

"The strength of our army is to hold the stronghold, Nanchang City is high and sufficient, and there is a water division to help the battle, although our division has suffered heavy setbacks, there are still 10,000 soldiers brave, enough to defend, who dares to take on the responsibility of defending the city!"

Zeng Guofan said it wildly, but he made up his mind to stick to Nanchang City, but although his idea was good, his subordinates did not have much confidence in sticking to Nanchang City.

The traditional tactics of the Hunan army are indeed to "harden the village and fight a dumb battle"; Nanchang is still well fed and paid, and there should still be nearly 10,000 soldiers, but the key problem is that these generals and colonels of the Hunan army have been beaten by yesterday's defeat.

The permanent losses suffered by the Hunan army yesterday can be said to be an unprecedented loss of the Hunan army, although everyone is not sure, but a rough estimate shows that including the losses suffered by Li Xubin during the breakout, the losses suffered by the Qing army throughout the day will certainly reach 10,000, of which the losses of the Hunan army account for at least seventy or eighty percent.

After such a loss, who can maintain confidence, so although Zeng Guofan expected someone to stand up and respond to his call, the whole scene was cold, and finally someone spoke: "If the squire does not dislike the new subordinates and the official position is very small, he is willing to stick to Nanchang for the squire." ”

Seeing this very unfamiliar battalion officer, Zeng Guofan asked with questions, "Are you?" ”

"Under Jiao Yujing." (。