Xiang Rong received the emperor's holy decree, which not only reinstated him as an official, but also allocated more than 10,000 people to him directly under his command. Sai Shoufu was also very attentive to him, and let him serve as the commander-in-chief of the Qing army on the North Road. Then he forced Ulantai to say some soft words, let them shake hands and make peace, although the two still have a knot, at least on the surface, they have reconciled, all of which is enough to give Xiang Rong face. Xiang Rong knew that if he didn't make some achievements, he was afraid that he would not be able to say it in front of Lord Shoufu.

Xiang Rong is indeed a veteran of a hundred battles, his wisdom is no less than Yao Ying, and he also sees the problem of the Qing army. He advocated the digging of a new north-south passage around Yong'an, so that it could quickly exchange information and conduct joint operations with the Qing army on the southern route.

Later, it surrounded Longyantang, an important stronghold in the north of Yong'an, and set up three large camps in succession, and the Changmao camp was only three miles away, where the Qing army was already three times the strength of the Taiping army.

After a winter of scheduling, everything was almost arranged, and the weather became warmer. Xiang Rong is finally ready to start after the beginning of spring.

"Lord Admiral, the long-haired defender of this Longyan Pond is Lin Fengxiang, this person is a fierce general in the long-haired group, and he is particularly brave in battle, we must be careful." Liu Changqing has fought with Lin Fengxiang many times here, and he has suffered a lot, reminding Xiang Rongdao.

"Don't worry, we are not fighting with him this time, we just need to demolish his camp." Xiang Rong looked at all kinds of cannons transferred from Guilin, Luorong, Guangdong and other places with great confidence, the lightest of these cannons weighed 2,000 catties, and the heaviest weighed 8,000 catties, which were all heavy artillery. The firing range is much farther than that of the long-haired old earthen cannon, and the power is not comparable to that of the pine cannon.

Xiang Rong was divided into three roads, left, middle and right, with 5,000 people on each road equipped with more than 20 heavy artillery, and it was a fierce bombardment of the Taiping military camp in Longyantang. This time, the Qing army invested a lot of money, and actually fired more than 300 shells in one hour, and it was hard to build. Xiang Rongrong has never fought such a luxurious battle in his life.

With such a fierce shelling, Lin Fengxiang's camp suffered a huge blow, and the enemy bombarded himself outside the range of his own shells, Lin Fengxiang was useless. The accuracy of the artillery shells of the Qing army was not good, but they could not resist such a saturation blow of the shells. At the beginning, he also asked his subordinates to pay attention to filling loopholes, but today there are too many loopholes in the camp to make up for it.

In the face of the fierce offensive of the Qing army, Lin Fengxiang sent a thousand men as a lure, wanting to separate Xiang Rong's infantry cavalry from their artillery team. But Xiang Rong ignored the temptation of the Taiping army from beginning to end, he recognized it and bombarded it with cannons, and the infantry cavalry protected the cannons, and didn't care about anything else. Xiang Rong heard what Yao Ying said before he died, he especially understood, if he didn't play wit with Long Hair, he would play hard with him, and just use the advantage of the cannon to bully Long Hair. If Longhair comes to attack, he will block it with superior forces, and Longhair will not chase him if he wants to run.

This kind of combat method is relatively dull, but it is particularly useful, so Xiang Rong pulled out the camps around Longyan Pond one by one, and the losses were almost zero.

Lin Fengxiang exhausted himself inspecting the various camps, and the situation was similar, almost every camp was surrounded by heavy artillery of the Qing army. He looked at those heavenly soldiers with chapped lips, sunken eyes, and trance-like expressions under the artillery fire, and felt distressed, he was so distressed that he had encountered a battle that could only be beaten and could not fight back, and he was too aggrieved.

"Marshal, let's withdraw. We can't hold on here. The attendant suggested.

"No, this is the north gate of Yong'an, and if we withdraw, it will have too much impact on the battle situation." Lin Fengxiang shook his head and said.

"Li Junshuai's side has withdrawn, and he has retreated to Longhengling." The attendant continued.

"Was Li Kaifang's camp also shelled?" Lin Fengxiang was surprised, Li Kaifang has been partnering with him for many years, and his strength is clear to him, and he must have been hit hard before he withdrew.

"This time, the Qing Demon has made a bloody investment, and I don't know where to transfer so many heavy artillery, and there are so many Qing soldiers. We are helpless now. The entourage said distressedly, the Taiping army was only beaten, and there was nowhere to use it. There are too many enemy soldiers, and they can't fight hard.

"Do you have any instructions from the King of the West? I handed in a report yesterday on the situation here. Lin Fengxiang asked.

"The king of the west has gone to Yong'an to see the king of the east, and I believe that it will not be long before I can wait for the instructions of the king of the east." The entourage comforted, "I heard that all the camps on the periphery of Yong'an are almost the same, and they are all being abused by the artillery of the Qing army. The situation on the battlefield is very unoptimistic. ”

"The will of the king of the east has come." A pro-soldier said loudly.

Lin Fengxiang led the main officers to the door to receive orders.

After the herald of the Eastern King read the order, Lin Fengxiang couldn't believe it. This was the first time that the king of the east gave the order to retreat in Yong'an. Not only him, but all the other camps on the plains were to be withdrawn from the mountains. The camps on the mountain should be repaired with tunnels and holes to deal with the artillery bombardment of the Qing army.

"Has Shi Dakai also withdrawn from the South Road?" Lin Fengxiang asked in a low voice.

"Yes, they must be withdrawn, and the king of the east has given a death order. Now that the Qing Demon is powerful, we have to avoid its edge for the time being. The herald replied in a low voice.

The situation on the battlefield has reversed suddenly, and after plucking out the long-haired camp on the plain, Xiang Rong is still not satisfied. Without the blockade of layers of camps, the defense area of Long Hair has shrunk a lot. He was able to place heavy artillery under Yong'an City, shell Yong'an City, and then ask someone to pull things back after nightfall.

This has a great killing effect on the morale of the long hair, the hall of the Celestial Empire has been hit by the cannonballs of the Qing Demon many times, although the wall of Yong'an City is reinforced, and it is not easy to collapse in a short time, but the Qing Demon comes and goes freely, and he can fight if he wants, and he can leave if he wants. The Taiping army had almost no way to deal with him, and there were rumors in Yong'an City, and the army's morale was also a little shaken.

The Qing army began to crush the Taiping army with abundant materials and personnel, and the Taiping army in Yong'an fell into a passive position and had nothing to do.

After a few days, the Taiping army even the camp on the mountain was destroyed by the heavy artillery of the Qing army, and the soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom lined up to block the Qing army during the day, and could only hide in the tunnel cave to resist the Qing army at night, and the life became more and more difficult.

In spring, there is a lot of rain on the mountain, and sometimes the tunnel is flooded, and everyone's lower body is soaked in the water, and life is miserable. The situation of the Taiping army in Yong'an is becoming more and more critical, and it has reached a very dangerous moment.

In the face of the Qing Demon's heavy troops and heavy artillery, Yang Xiuqing also realized that Yong'an could not hold on, and the only way out for the Taiping Army now was to break through, otherwise the Qing Demon would tie the Heavenly Kingdom to death like a python, but now the Taiping Army wants to flee there? Where to break through is another big question, and we must act cautiously, which is related to the lives of the 20,000 Taiping troops.