After some intensive preparations, even though they knew that they were not sure, but under the command of Zuo Zongtang, the Jiujiang Qing Army still resolutely launched the military plan of retreating from Poyang Lake, and did its best to save the Hunan army officers and soldiers who had reached the end of their rope. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

At three o'clock, according to Zuo Zongtang's command, Bao Chao led four newly formed sailor battalions Zhang Fan to launch a feint attack on the Taiping Army's Hukou defense line. It was a snowflake at night, although it was a rare opportunity for a surprise attack, but due to the serious lack of strength, the Qing army did not have any hope of really breaking through the Taiping army's defense line, and the only prayer was to be able to come back alive.

The time is approaching, the Qing army fleet that went down the river successfully arrived at the mouth of Poyang Lake, but the route on the west side has long been scuttled and blocked by the Taiping army's big ships full of sand and gravel, coupled with heavy anchor chains to intercept, the Qing warships can not pass, can only go around the east channel blocked by the Taiping military activity cable, but not waiting for the Qing army ships to approach the cable, the east shore of Poyang Lake and the north of Meijiazhou shore have already been the roar of cannons, countless heavy shells whistling and flying. At the same time, Shi Zhongshan's Taiping Army night fleet also immediately came out of the camp to kill, and the shouting of killing shook the heavens and the earth.

Seeing such a scene, the sailors of the Qing army who had just entered the battlefield were all frightened, and many of them immediately began to tremble in their legs, and Bao Chao, who was ordered to contain the main force of the Taiping Army's naval division, had a firm expression, and commanded the fleet to fire back while firing back with cannons, and at the same time sent sampan boats to raid the cable defense line, and fixed the bamboo raft full of firewood, grass and oil to the cable and set it on fire, creating the illusion of trying to rush into Poyang Lake.

Zuo Zongtang's feint attack plan really received the ideal effect of luring the enemy, misjudging that the Qing army's sailors wanted to enter the inner lake to rescue Ash Mountain, and coveted the rare opportunity for the Qing army's sailors to leave the protection of the land division, Qin Rigang immediately dispatched the main force of the Taiping army's sailors and personally led them to meet the battle.

Confirming the movement of the Taiping army, Bao Chao also immediately commanded the Qing army fleet to retreat to the west bank, continuing to lure the enemy while also seeking shore artillery protection, but Qin Rigang, who has rich experience in water warfare, knew that the shore artillery hit the moving target and hit the enemy, and was not afraid of the Qing army's shore artillery fire at all, and did not hesitate to lead the army to charge, and the Qing army fleet fought fiercely in the area of Yangjia Village.

In the artillery fire around Yangjia Village, the pace of time finally came to the beginning of the hour, and it was too late to confirm whether the main force of the Hukou Taiping Army Naval Division was really completely contained by Bao Chao, and the remnants of the Hunan Army Naval Division, which had been hiding in Wangjiawan and relied on the protection of the Lu Division, were dispatched to the nest, including the warships that had not yet been repaired, and under the leadership of Yang Yuebin, they raised their sails and struck directly into the gray mountain in the southeast with the help of the cold north wind.

The Taiping Army scout ship that was monitoring in Huwan also discovered this situation at the first time and immediately flew to report to Qin Rigang, but Qin Rigang coveted the prey on the opposite side, and categorically gave up the plan to divide his troops to intercept the pursuit, and waved his hand and said: "Regardless of them, there are only a few broken boats left, and the sailors of Wei Inspection Point are enough, just send a message to Wei Inspection Point!" ”

After making this decision, Qin Rigang loudly ordered the trumpeters to play the flag, asking the Taiping army fleet to adopt the tactics of seizing ships near the side as much as possible, and make every effort to capture as many new ships as possible of the Qing army's naval divisions.

There is no need for Qin Rigang to send someone to Wei Jun to inform him of the news, Wei Jun also has a scout clipper on his side who is responsible for monitoring the remnants of the Hunan Army's naval division, and the remnants of the Hunan Army's naval division have only reached the halfway point of crossing Poyang Lake, Wei Jun has already received the scout's report, and immediately prepared for battle.

"Is it a sortie? Or is it a formation defense? ”

Wei Jun only thought about this question for less than three minutes and came up with an answer, although the Hunan army naval division was disabled, but the firepower of the big ship still had a certain advantage, although the strength of the naval division of the self-army was strong, but the firepower of the small pulling boat of the main warship was too weak. Only by taking the initiative to face the battle can we display the tactics of pulling out the boat at sea that our own army is good at. Therefore, Wei Jun decisively ordered: "Order the whole army, sail out of Taoshawan, and meet the enemy in an open place on the water!" ”

The order was issued, and even if it was only a partial division, the still large Taiping Army sailors swayed and rowed, quickly sailed out of Taosha Bay, which was a little narrow, and lined up on the water surface in the northwest of Taosha Bay. The officers and men of the Hunan Army's land division in the south of the gray mountain quickly discovered this situation, and when the news was reported to Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guofan, who was washing his face with tears, rekindled hope in his heart, and while ordering the whole army to fight, he hurriedly climbed to the top of the mountain and looked nervously to the northeast.

With the advantage of the wind direction, before the hour arrived, the remnants of the Hunan Army's naval division had already approached the vicinity of Gray Mountain, but the first thing that appeared in front of the officers and soldiers of the Hunan Army's naval division was the starry ship lights on the lake, and the Taiping Army's small pulling fleet was densely packed like a colony of man-eating ants, which was already daunting before the battle.

Knowing that the self-army had no chance of winning, but in order to cover the troop carrier approaching the gray mountain to save people, Yang Yuebin still ordered the fleet to continue to move forward with a resolute expression, and as soon as it entered the firing range, he preemptively opened fire, and bombarded the Taiping army fleet with the remaining long-range artillery of the Hunan army. Wei Jun, who knew that the firepower of the small pulling boat was inferior to that of the Hunan army's warships, did not hesitate, and immediately let the flag station play the flag, and ordered the front team to charge and fight on the side of the board, "Kill!" Destroy all the few broken boats left by the Qing Demon to Lao Tzu! ”

The shouting and charging small pulling boat team quickly approached the Hunan army fleet, and quickly displayed its best boat sea tactics, attacking a military sampan of the Hunan army in groups of three or five, and the rest of the small pulling boats were scattered as much as possible, interspersed into the gap of the Hunan army's big ship like swimming fish and loaches. However, at this time, black objects suddenly flew out of the sampan of the Hunan army, smashed into the small pulling boats of the Taiping army that were charging and exploded, bursting out with a loud thunderous sound, and spewing dazzling firelight, sinking four or five small pulling boats of the Taiping army almost instantly.

"Grenade bombs."

Just by seeing those flames floating on the water, Wei Jun, who had accumulated countless experience in actual combat, already knew what kind of weapon it was, but Wei Jun was still not afraid at all, on the contrary, he sneered, "Look at how many grenade bullets you have, don't think we don't know, this kind of weapon doesn't even have much in the hands of the little demon." ”

The next action of the remnants of the Hunan Army's naval division made Wei Jun a little unexpected, relying on the melee advantage of the bitter acid grenade bomb, after quickly blowing up the Taiping army fleet that rushed head-on, the Hunan Army's naval division continued to advance with full sail, and under the impetus of the wind, it directly killed the main force of the Taiping Army's naval division. Seeing this scene, Wei Jun couldn't help but change his face, and said secretly: "Could it be that the Qing Demon wants to use the tactic of capturing the king?" Want to take out my flagship first? ”

Wei Jun really didn't guess wrong, even if he knew that he would definitely lose, but before going to war, Yang Yuebin had also considered whether he could win the opportunity to capture the thief and capture the king first, and at the same time, in order to completely contain Wei Jun's main force, Yang Yuebin resolutely used this trick, commanding the sailors to attack the flagship of the Taiping Army, forcing Wei Jun to besiege him with all the small pulling boats. Fortunately, for the sake of prudence, Wei Jun really ordered the flagship to play the banner and ordered the main force of the Chinese army to go out to meet the battle, and the momentum of intercepting the Hunan army's charge also surrounded this lone army on all sides.

At the same time, the Qing army's troop transport fleet, which was secretly assembled in the Dagutang area, had also been dispatched in a big way under the leadership of Peng Yulin, a fleet of fishing boats, cargo ships, and civilian passenger ships, which had almost no combat effectiveness except for a dozen or so civilian boats carrying armed soldiers, and whether or not they could successfully reach the foot of the gray mountain could only depend on whether Yang Yuebin could deceive the main force of the Taiping Army's naval division.

Every folk sailor on the ship knew this, but these folk sailors also knew that every time they rescued a man from Ash Mountain back to Gutang, they could also receive a reward of at least twenty taels of silver—the silver of the white flower was placed on the shore of Gutang, and every boatman had clearly seen it. People die for money, birds die for food, and it is precisely because of the temptation of real money that Peng Yulin can take these folk sailors to embark on the journey of nine deaths.

This is also a fleet that carries a serious shortage of ships, large and small ships combined, full of calculations can carry 13,400 people, when escaping to the gray mountain, Zuo Zongtang's last data is that the Hunan army land division is about 7,200 people, even if there are a large number of casualties and surrenders these days, Zuo Zongtang estimates that there should be about 4,000 left in the Hunan army, even if this troop transport fleet is full, it can't save half of the Hunan army. But Zuo Zongtang had no choice but to save one and count one.

Fortunately, the heavy snow kept falling, and the winter was long and the night was long, and the snowy night successfully covered the whereabouts of the troop transport fleet, and without knowing the true purpose of the Hunan army, Wei Jun threw all his water forces into the battle to besiege the remnants of the Hunan army's naval division. After successfully inducing Wei Jun to exert all his strength on himself, Yang Yuebin also immediately commanded the fleet of the Hunan Army Navy to make a detour to the north, luring the Taiping Army Navy Division to pursue, and gradually lured the Taiping Army Navy Division away from the water surface of Taoshawan with difficulty, and won the opportunity for the troop transport fleet to reach the foot of the Gray Mountain.

The bitter acid grenades thrown in large quantities were not wasted, relying on the help of this melee weapon, the remnants of the Hunan Army's naval division were not only able to crisscross the Taiping Army's small pulling boat sea freely for a while, but also completely angered Wei Jun and the Taiping Army soldiers, attracting them to chase and chase after them. Unconsciously, the sailors of the Taiping Army had been lured far away from the surface of the gray mountains and deep into the north of Poyang Lake.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to exchange the lives of friendly soldiers, the troop transport fleet led by Peng Yulin finally arrived at the foot of the gray mountain and leaned on the shore of the lake. Fortunately, Zeng Guofan commanded properly at this critical moment, and decisively ordered Zeng Guoquan to lead the army to defend the camp defense line, and ordered all the troops not to go down the mountain and board the ship without an order.

Zeng Guofan's second order did not play much role, urged by the will to survive, the Hunan soldiers fled down the gray mountain one after another, rushed to the shore and got on the boat directly.

The choice that is more difficult than death is placed in front of Zeng Guofan, facing a far insufficient number of troop carriers, let those people get on the ship to escape, let those people stay and wait for death, it must be decided by Zeng Guofan, and the decision must be made in the fastest time. Under such circumstances, Zeng Guofan, who was already known for his slow thinking, could not make a choice.

"Tell the officers and men of the whole army that this is only our first troop transport team, and there are two more in the back, everyone can get on board, don't panic, don't mess around!"

Hu Linyi, who had grown up in this regard, decisively issued another false order, and then said to Zeng Guofan: "Dashuai, you get on the ship first, and I will organize the soldiers to get on the ship as much as possible, and how much can be saved." ”

"Do I still have the face to throw away the children of Sanxiang and run first?"

Hu Linyi's words pulled Zeng Guofan back from hesitation, at this moment, the brilliance of human nature, the guilt of the children of Sanxiang and the pride of Zeng Sheng's descendants finally returned to the teacher Zeng who made countless people hate, after taking a deep breath, Zeng Guofan instructed Hu Linyi: "Zhensheng, you get on the boat first, I will organize people to board the ship, you go first." ”

"Dashuai, it's still my ......."

"Don't talk nonsense! That's an order! Zeng Guofan rudely interrupted Hu Linyi and shouted: "The long-haired sailor may come back at any time, you get on the boat first, and I will get on the boat later!" ”

Forcing Hu Linyi to board the ship, Zeng Guofan hurriedly returned to the mountain, and while ordering Xianfeng to follow his old man of the Hunan army to board the ship when he was three years old, he arranged for his own soldiers to protect Liu Rong, Guo Songtao and Li Xubin, who had been injured in the battle before, to go down the mountain and get on the boat, and then hurriedly ran to the vicinity of the forward position where the battle was raging, and sent the most confidant captain of the personal army to give Zeng Guoquan an order, secretly ordering Zeng Guoquan to go to the shore immediately to board the ship.

"Remember, tell Lao Jiu that I'm already on the boat and have already left first! Tell him to get on the boat at once, and you will come on board with him! Don't worry about me here, I'll go on the last boat, but don't let Lao Jiu know. ”

The captain of the pro-soldiers did not suspect him, and hurriedly ran to convey the secret order to Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Guoquan was also a brother who knew that he was a person, and he also did not doubt him, and honestly followed the captain of the pro-soldiers to the back mountain to board the boat. However, as soon as Zeng Guoquan left, Zeng Guofan immediately appeared in his army, personally took over the command of the Quanzi battalion, and personally led the Quanzi battalion to resist the tide of the Taiping army's attack.

"Yuanpu, it doesn't matter if I can wait for the next reinforcement, the important thing is that you must go back alive, ninth brother." This is what Zeng Guofan said when he saw Zeng Guoquan leave.

When the sky was light, the sailors of the Taiping Army who found that they had been fooled hurriedly returned to the foot of the Gray Mountain, but the Hunan army troop carriers had already gone eighty or ninety, and the last few boats saw that the situation was not good, and they also hurriedly sailed westward, and did not dare to pull people anymore and ran away. Zeng Guofan hurriedly reorganized his team in the dilapidated Hunan army camp, appointed temporary generals to fill the gap between Hu Linyi and Zeng Guoquan and others, and continued to use Hu Linyi's lies to deceive the Hunan army, saying that there would be two troop transport fleets coming behind, telling the Hunan army officers and soldiers to calm down and wait patiently for follow-up reinforcements.

Zeng Guofan's words only temporarily deceived the Hunan army soldiers, as time passed another day, the Taiping army's retaliatory and crazy attack, the gradual exhaustion of ammunition, and the Hukou Taiping Army's water division increased the gray mountain, and the Hunan army soldiers who could only hit the enemy outside the camp with stones came to Zeng Guofan's front and angrily asked Zeng Guofan if he deceived them?

"I didn't lie to you, we have reinforcements, but I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out until the reinforcements arrive."

"Soldiers from Hunan, soldiers from Hubei and Jiangxi, I, the commander, am sorry for you, I took you out of my hometown and brought you to this place of death, but I can't bring you back to your hometown and your relatives."

Zeng Guofan knelt down on his knees to his soldiers, apologized, and said calmly: "So far, the only thing I can do is to stop preventing you from leaving the camp and surrendering, if you feel that surrendering from the camp has a chance to live, then you can leave now." If you are willing to stay with me and wait for help, stay here, and if you don't want to, please leave, except for weapons and ammunition in the camp, you can take whatever you like, this is my last compensation for you. ”

Zeng Guofan's words touched many Hunan army soldiers and made them express their willingness to accompany Zeng Guofan to live and die together, but there were also many soldiers who were greedy for life and afraid of death who chose to go out of the camp and surrender, Zeng Guofan kept his promise and did not do anything to obstruct it, and the Taiping army also openly accepted the surrender of these Hunan soldiers to fight the military spirit of the remnants of the Hunan army on the mountain.

Another night passed, during which no ships other than the Taiping warships appeared, and only the last three or four hundred people were left around Zeng Guofan's side to guard Nuoda's camp, and the Taiping army under the mountain asked the Hunan army to surrender and shout directly, "Except for Zeng Guofan, as long as you surrender, no one will be killed!" ”

Some Hunan soldiers could not bear the fear of death and surrendered, and the Taiping army, which was anxious to counterattack the Jiujiang battlefield with all its might, also launched a frantic attack on the already extremely empty camp of the Hunan army again, and the first to take the lead were those Hunan soldiers who had just cut their braids and wrapped red cloths.

The huge camp that once could accommodate more than 7,000 people was only a few hundred people left, and the outer camp was of course quickly breached, even if all retreated to the Chinese camp, in the face of the Taiping army's dense row of guns and fierce artillery fire, the Hunan soldiers only held out until the afternoon before the Taiping army broke through the Chinese army camp, and the Taiping soldiers swarmed into the camp, while slashing and killing the Hunan soldiers who refused to surrender, while searching for the whereabouts of Zeng Guofan.

The soldiers of the Taiping army easily found him in Zeng Guofan's tent, although Zeng Guofan was still alive and sitting in the middle of the tent, the Taiping army never had the opportunity to capture him alive, Zeng Guofan not only kept his various official letters and official uniform seals - but also placed a barrel of gunpowder whose fuse was about to burn out.

"Let's go! Come on! The powder keg next to Zeng Lao Demon is about to explode! ”

Looking at the Taiping soldiers who fled in a hurry, Zeng Guofan smiled slightly, and couldn't help but think of his past, when he was a child, his brain was stupid and he read slowly, and he read a book over and over again, and even the thief hiding on the beam of the house was familiar with it, but he still couldn't memorize it fluently, but at that time, he couldn't even imagine that he could be admitted to the Jinshi and become an official in the court.

Zeng Guofan thought of his official benefactor Mu Zhang'a again, remembered Emperor Xianfeng, who had never liked him very much, and also remembered the past events of his formation of the Hunan army, but Zeng Guofan suddenly remembered in deep impression that at the beginning, a skinny old man forced his equally thin grandson to kowtow in front of him, and begged him to accept his grandson as a student............

Thinking of that thin protégé, Zeng Guofan of course remembered himself and his various grievances and entanglements, and he was also an enemy and a friend. Then, Zeng Guofan asked himself and couldn't help but say softly......

"Weiting, you are my best student, I am sorry for you, I owe you too much."

"Boom!" (To be continued.) )