The siege base of the southern gate of the Taiping Army was repaired, and Yang Xiaoshan's newly built earthen camp began to exert its might. They began to dig tunnels under the stronghold, and dozens of tunnels were excavated together, aiming directly at the southern city wall of Changsha.

Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, who patrolled the city wall every day, also observed the situation, but was helpless. The strongholds of the Taiping army are scattered, they are horns of each other, the distribution is very reasonable, and the watchtower gun port and other facilities are readily available, but they are not so easy to attack. What's more, at this time, the morale of the Taiping army was at its peak, and the Qing army was defeated twice in a row, and Governor Luo was not very confident in the soldiers under him.

Seeing that the Taiping army has been digging for dozens of days in succession, it is estimated that they are about to reach the city wall. Governor Luo was so worried that he didn't think about tea and dinner, and on this day, he brought all his staff to seek a solution.

Staff, look at me, I look at you, it seems that there is no good way, these people write articles, do official documents, and almost do not know anything about military affairs.

At this time, a new staff member opened his mouth, he stepped forward unhurriedly, and said slowly: "Xiaguan has three ways to solve the siege of the long-haired cave ground. ”

As soon as Luo Bingzhang saw this person, he immediately recognized it, this is not the Hunan genius Zuo Ji Gao Zuo Zongtang recommended to him by his friends. Since he came to him, he seems to have no intention of doing official business, and he has not had any dealings with him, but he stood up when he didn't think of a critical time.

Luo Bingzhang hurriedly asked politely: "What is Ji Gao's good plan, please give me a lot of advice." ”

Since Zuo Zongtang entered Beijing three times and failed to enter the Jinshi, he is no longer interested in the book of the imperial examination. In his hometown, he read more books that have been used in the world, and regarded those famous works involving Chinese history, geography, military, economy, and water conservancy as treasures. After meeting Hong Xiuquan, he couldn't understand his religious theory, left the Taiping Army, and was later introduced to Luo Bingzhang as a staff member.

"One, listen to the sound and distinguish the position. Dig a big hole every ten meters in the city, bury it in a large vat, and invite some blind people with excellent hearing to stick to the wall of the tank to find the direction of the long-haired hole. Then dig up with them, and once they dig into the inside, they will be smoked to death and stink. Zuo Zongtang said the first way.

It's a good idea for other people's eyes to light up, but it's a little damaged. Governor Luo also nodded repeatedly.

"Second, the method of cutting the ground. On the outside of the city walls, earthen walls were built to block the view of the long hairs. A deep ditch was also dug along the perimeter of the city wall, and once the long hair was dug up, it could be found immediately, and people were sent into the deep ditch to wait for the rabbits. Zuo Zongtang said the second way.

The crowd began to admire the fact that both of these methods were very practical.

"3. Build an interior wall. Build a slightly lower inner wall on the inner side of the south city wall, even if the long hair collapses, there is still an inner wall to protect it, and we can't rush in for a while, we still have room to maneuver. Zuo Zongtang then finished talking about the last way.

"Good!" Everyone applauded in unison, and Governor Luo was determined after hearing this, with these three methods, the long-haired cave siege can finally not worry.

Governor Luo implemented it according to the plan, and it was effective, and the Qing army destroyed more than 20 tunnels of the Taiping army at once. The Taiping army took a lot of effort, and finally only succeeded in a tunnel on the west side of the south of the city, and in the end it did not collapse, and the success was lost.

Yang Xiuqing was unwilling to fail, and ordered the earth camp to bypass the deep ditch of the Qing army and continue to attack the city. After another month, it finally had an effect, and the wall was blown down on the southwest side, and the gap was four zhang long. Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang desperately attacked the city, but there were too many defenders, and Jiang Zhongyuan and He Chun also sent troops to rescue. Although the Taiping army killed one general and two thousand generals of the Qing army, they still failed to attack Changsha City in the end.

Although the two sieges failed, in order to avenge the king of the west, Yang Xiuqing tried to bombard the city with mines, but at this time, Governor Luo had already demolished the houses in the south of the city and repaired the inner walls with the bricks and tiles of the houses. After the Taiping army blew down the city wall at a great cost, they found that there was still an inner wall inside, so they still did not attack Changsha City.

The three sieges failed, the morale of the Taiping army was very damaged, Yang Xiuqing's confidence was also shaken, and the Taiping army stayed outside the Changsha city wall for 9981 days, if it were not for Yang Xiaoshan to get so much grain from the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, the Taiping army would not have been able to hold out for so long. But now that winter is approaching, it is becoming more and more difficult to raise food, and the time has come for the Taiping army to leave.

"You mean to leave, too?" Yang Xiuqing, who wanted to leave, found Xiaoshan to ask for his opinion.

"Everyone knows that the East King especially wants to avenge the West King, and no one dares to open his mouth to you, but the current situation is no longer for us. Once the winter comes, according to the current situation, there will definitely be no food. What's more, the Qing army has recently begun to increase its troops on a large scale, and if we don't leave, we will be trapped and starved to death here. Yang Xiaoshan was telling the truth.

"Our Taiping Army will take revenge if it has revenge, this is our emotional weight. It's really a little unwilling to leave like this. Yang Xiuqing was distressed when she thought of the death of King Xi.

"Changsha is a provincial city and a big city, and now it is heavily defended, and it is taboo to attack the city with our troops. The vengeance of the king of the west, we will remember it for him first, and it will not be too late to report it later, our top priority is to find another city, settle our heavenly army and people, and let them spend this winter first, and many people will die in the winter on this barren mountain and wild mountain. Yang Xiaoshan knew that now was a critical moment, and it would really outweigh the losses if he continued to spend here, so he strongly persuaded Dongwang Dao.

"Well, you're right. Tell us what you think next. Yang Xiuqing is not an emotional person, he knows very well what to do, but Xiao Chaogui's relationship with himself is too deep, so he has persisted for so long.

"Let's first pass the pontoon bridge, go to the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, bypass Changsha, go to Linzikou, and enter the Dongting Lake area. In this way, the Yangtze River can be entered by land and water, and the marching speed will be much faster. There are too many Qing troops in Hunan, let's go to Hubei along the Yangtze River, and the prefectures and counties along the way can be used as temporary supply places, and Wuchang will be the key target of our next attack. Yang Xiaoshan had already thought of a way out, in fact, this was the only way to Nanjing, and the Taiping army did not have many choices.

After Yang Xiuqing listened, he nodded again and again, and then he thought about it again and made up his mind: "The king of the west returns to heaven, the front army has no commander for the time being, Xiaoshan has you to lead them." Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang's ministry are all assigned to you, you have to be a pioneer for the kingdom of heaven. ”

Yang Xiaoshan couldn't imagine that the East King would give him such a heavy task all of a sudden, and he didn't know how to respond all of a sudden.

"This king believes that you have the ability to lead the front army, don't shirk it, you are the most suitable person for this position." Yang Xiuqing saw that Yang Xiaoshan didn't speak, thinking that he wanted to shirk.

"Thank you for my father's cultivation, Xiaoshan will live up to his trust." Yang Xiaoshan knelt down and thanked him, he himself could not have imagined that in less than two years, he would have jumped from a small soldier to a general in command of the army like a rocket. Now he is a veritable minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In addition, we have to set up a suspicious plan to get rid of the pursuit of the Qing army, and we can't let them bite our tail. Yang Xiuqing resumed his calculations as a coach and began to think about how to get rid of the plan of chasing soldiers. That night, he found Shi Dakai and assigned him the task of getting rid of the Qing army.

After 81 days, the Taiping army was finally ready to leave Changsha and march to a new destination.