After the firing line was promoted to the nominal Zhizhou, when Mo Xiangzhi, the envoy of the Wu army's 'peace', rushed east to Nanjing to contact the Taiping army, because Hong Xiuquan was forced and Li Xiucheng was also a little unwilling, the Taiping army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang once again launched an unprecedented all-out attack on the Yuhuatai camp of the Wu army, and once saw the dawn of victory by relying on the absolute superiority of troops and firepower, and almost entered the Chinese army camp of the Wu army.

Having learned the lessons of the failure of the last strong attack, the Taiping army did not dream of any tricks to break the enemy in one fell swoop, and honestly chose the orthodox tactics of the soldiers who surrounded the three queyi, first using wooden boxes to build three solid box wall fortifications in the southeast, north and south directions of the Wu army camp, and set up temporary bunkers, and deliberately let go of the west to let the Wu army soldiers see the hope of escape, shaking the determination of the Wu army soldiers to hold on, and then launched an attack on the Wu army camp from the ground and underground at the same time.

Ground floor? That's right, the Taiping army did attack from both the ground and the ground at the same time! As in the history of the Great War of the Hunan Army, under the cover of the box wall fortifications, the Taiping Army, which was good at tunnel operations, while firing at the Wu army through the trench with superior firepower, dug tunnels behind the box wall, in a vain attempt to blow up the fence of the Wu army's camp wall with gunpowder, open the road directly into the Wu army's camp, and completely drown the Wu army, which was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength, with the advantage of numbers.

Firepower does not occupy any advantage, and is not like the historical Hunan army is also good at tunnel operations, Yunnan-Guizhou soldiers accounted for the majority of the southwest Wu army is naturally very difficult, the ground has to dodge the Taiping army's superior artillery fire, always guard against the Taiping army's bullets and sudden killing of the army, under the ground and have to beware of the Taiping army's tunnel attack, up and down at the same time to deal with the extremely difficult, less than a day, the Taiping army has four times to blow up the Wu army's camp fortifications, a large number of Wu soldiers on the ground at the same time, He also took advantage of the local superiority in strength to kill the Wu army camp, and almost took the Wu army camp directly twice.

At the critical moment, it was hand-to-hand combat to save life, the Taiping army succeeded in blasting four times, and the Wu army relied on the reserve to sacrifice their lives to drive the Taiping army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang who were not good at hand-to-hand combat out of the camp four times, and relied on the cover of picric acid weapons to re-plug the gap and keep the camp from losing. At the same time, in response to the three-dimensional offensive of the Taiping army, Feng Sanbao adopted the suggestions of several old people of the Hunan army, and arranged for the people to dig trenches and build walls in the camp overnight, and establish a second line of defense, so that the officers and men of the Wu army could quickly retreat to the inner camp after the first line of defense was broken. In addition, they dug tunnels to connect the tunnels of the Taiping army, smoked poisonous smoke and dumped sewage, desperately resisting the underground attack of the Taiping army.

Even so, in the face of the Taiping army's frenzied attack at any cost, the Wu army, which suffered heavy casualties, was forced to abandon another camp the next day and continue to shrink its position to ensure that there were sufficient troops available. The morale of the Taiping army that succeeded in the onslaught was greatly boosted, and the offensive became more and more violent, and once it also blew up the main camp wall of the Chinese army of the Wu army, forcing Wu Chaoyue's pro-soldier battalion to strike again, and it took a lot of unreplenishable Henry bullets to repel the Taiping army.

Strange to say, after three days and four nights of high-intensity fierce fighting, just when the Wu army was about to be unable to support it, and Feng Sanbao had already decided to abandon the two southern camps again and fully retreat to the north of Yuhuatai, the Taiping army's offensive suddenly showed signs of exhaustion, the soldiers shouted that the charge was not as hard as before, and the intensity and density of artillery fire also decreased significantly. Feng Sanbao hesitated and made up his mind, and took the risk of sending out the main battalion reserve to launch a counterattack, launching a counter-charge against the enemy's position, which was still far superior to his own army.

The miracle appeared again, in the face of the elite counterattack of the Wu army of the two battalions, the Taiping army not only failed to seize the opportunity of the Wu army to take the initiative to eliminate and weaken the elite of the Wu army, on the contrary, it was also killed by the soldiers of the Wu army of two battalions of ghosts and wolves, holding their heads and running away, and fleeing in embarrassment to build a successful box wall position, the reserve of the Wu army struck while the iron was hot, expelled the defeated soldiers of the Taiping army as the vanguard, and quickly dispersed a large number of enemies in the south of Yuhuatai. With the help of reinforcements, he successfully killed the enemy who was encircling the camp, and narrowly preserved the southern position of Yuhuatai.

What surprised the Wu army was still behind, after the Taiping army was basically expelled from Yuhuatai, in the case of the absolute superiority of troops and firepower, the Taiping army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang actually chose to collect troops and return to the camp, and at the same time, the Taiping army artillery that had been raging for many days was also unprecedentedly dumbfired, no longer bombarding the Wu army camp all the time, and the Yuhuatai battlefield, which had been surrounded by artillery for many days, was thus restored to calm, so that the soldiers on both sides were no longer suffering from the deafening cannonade.

In this regard, the Wu army, who had been tortured to death by continuous high-intensity battles, was of course smiling, and many of the Wu soldiers did not even have time to bandage their wounds, so they just lay on the ground and slept soundly like dead corpses. The generals of the Wu army, led by Feng Sanbao and Li Hezhang, were both happy and strange, and they all said: "Why did Long Mao suddenly stop fighting?" As long as they persist in fighting, even if they can't break our main camp, they can at least guarantee to take the southern position of Yuhuatai? ”

Feng Sanbao, the commander of the Wu army, yawned on the Yuhuatai and was confused, not understanding why the Taiping army suddenly gave up the attack? Li Xiucheng, the commander of the Taiping Army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, was pale in his Chinese army camp, trembling hands and feet, because after more than three days of fierce fighting, the number of casualties of the Taiping Army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang had broken through the 18,000 mark, coupled with the previous war losses, there were already more than 35,000 Taiping Army soldiers lying on the Yuhuatai battlefield forever, and the huge number of ammunition consumption made Li Xiucheng even more shocked, and he shouted and asked if the statistics were wrong?

What's worse is that after a long period of high-intensity firing, the number of artillery shells of the Taiping Army has been close to 100, and the barrel of the cannon is about to explode more than 200 guns, and the consumption of flowering shells has also exceeded 60%, and the consumption of propellant has directly exceeded 70%. Therefore, no matter how rich and rich he is, no matter how rich the rear of Jiangsu and Zhejiang University is, Li Xiucheng will not dare to continue to fight like this. - If all the shells and gunpowder are exhausted, and the Cao Yanzhong Corps of the Wu Army, which is close at hand, suddenly kills again, Li Xiucheng can't cry anymore.

"We can't fight a strong offensive war anymore, we can only change our strategy, defend Tianjing steadily, use Tianjing's city defense to resist the support of the demon soldiers, and also use Tianjing as a buffer to block the demon soldiers, not giving the main force of the demon soldiers and the Shanghai demon soldiers a chance to form a line, and also protect our rear of Jiangsu and Zhejiang University."

Li Xiucheng's self-talk had just finished speaking, and Li Shuxiang next to him immediately cautiously reminded: "Zhongwang Chitose, this is impossible, right?" Tianjing is the capital of our Heavenly Kingdom, how could the Heavenly King agree to let Tianjing directly take on the responsibility of resisting the attack of the demon soldiers? And doing so is even more dangerous for the Heavenly King himself, and he will never agree to it? ”

Li Xiucheng thought about being silent, and after a while, Li Xiucheng suddenly said: "How about asking the king of heaven to move to Suzhou or Hangzhou?" There is Suzhou and Hangzhou under heaven, the wealth and prosperity of Suzhou and Hangzhou are by no means under Tianjing, it is safer to stay away from the Yangtze River, please long live the king of heaven to move to Suzhou and Hangzhou, and leave the heavy generals of the Heavenly Dynasty to guard Tianjing, will the king of heaven agree? ”

"It can only be said that there is hope, but I am not sure." Li Shuxiang said with great confidence: "I heard that Long Live Tianwang has only been out once for so many years since he entered the Tianwang Mansion, and he is so accustomed to living in Tianjing, I am afraid it will be difficult to suddenly ask him to move to Suzhou and Hangzhou." ”

"No matter what you think, you must ask the King of Heaven to agree to move." Li Xiucheng said in a deep voice: "As long as the king of heaven moves, our game of chess in the kingdom of heaven will be much easier, when the demon soldiers counterattack, of course it is best for us to hold Tianjing, and if we can't hold Tianjing, we can also rely on the resistance of the cities in southern Jiangsu to drag the progress of the demon soldiers, and give us time to breathe and recover, which is better than our decisive battle with the main force of the demon soldiers in Tianjing." ”

After speaking, Li Xiucheng added with a gloomy face, and said: "At this time, we have no chance of winning in a decisive battle with the main force of the demon soldiers, on the contrary, we may be broken by the demon soldiers in a battle!" ”

"Then Chung Wang Chitose, how exactly do we fight for it?" Li Shuxiang hurriedly asked.

"You hurry up and find an excuse to go into the city, first go to see Meng Shiyong on my behalf, explain to him carefully the pros and cons of asking the Heavenly King to move, and pull him to our side first." Li Xiucheng commanded, and said: "Then Meng Shiyong can directly ask the king of heaven to move the car, of course, it is the best, he is not sure, so he asked him to ask the king of heaven to summon me into the city to discuss, let me go to ask the king of heaven to agree to move in person." ”

Li Shuxiang agreed, hurriedly prepared a heavy gift, and then took Li Xiucheng's handwritten letter to Meng Shiyong, and entered the city to see Meng Shiyong under the pretext of going into the city to report the war situation.

was expected by Li Xiucheng, when it was dark, when Li Shuxiang returned to him, he really brought not very good news - although Meng Shiyong, who knew the big and big situation, agreed to help persuade Hong Xiuquan to open Nanjing, but he made it clear that he was not sure that he could persuade Hong Xiuquan to agree, so he could only agree to help invite Hong Xiuquan to summon Li Xiucheng into the city to meet.

In addition, Meng Shiyong also sent a warning to Li Xiucheng through Li Shuxiang, reminding Li Xiucheng to beware of Qin Rigang, who had just restored the title of King of Yan recently, to make trouble, and deliberately slandered Hong Xiuquan to prevent him from leaving Nanjing. Li Xiucheng, who has been away all the year round, was a little confused when he heard this, and hurriedly asked: "How could Meng Shiyong tell me to be careful of Qin Rigang making trouble, Qin Rigang and I have always had no grievances and no enmity, at this time, he should also be able to see the benefits of asking the Heavenly King to move to Suzhou and Hangzhou, how can he deliberately slander and obstruct it?" ”

"Because of the blindfold rate, he is now fighting very hard with Yan Wang Chitose in the Heavenly Court." Li Shuxiang said truthfully: "King Yan seems to be dissatisfied with the power of the Mengshou Leader above him, as long as the Mengshou Rate supports it, he will definitely oppose it and try his best to obstruct it." Mengshou also said that the last time the Heavenly King refused to transfer the old brothers from the Tianjing garrison to us, it was because King Yan deliberately blocked it, otherwise, at that time, the Mengshou Rate was about to ask for the consent of the Heavenly King. ”

"Fool with no head! The kingdom of heaven is like this now, and they only think about hindering each other and fighting for power! Li Xiucheng scolded a swear word, and after thinking about it for a while, Li Xiucheng instructed Li Shuxiang again: "Li Shangshu, this matter is too important, for the sake of safety, you work harder, and then go into the city to see Qin Rigang, like persuading Meng Shiyong, first persuade Qin Rigang to stand on our side, and then I will go into the city to see the king of heaven and ask him to move to Suzhou and Hangzhou." ”

Li Shuxiang agreed, and found an excuse to enter the city the next morning, bringing valuable gifts and Li Xiucheng's letters to meet Qin Rigang, who was incompatible with Meng Shiyong. As a result, in the afternoon, Li Shuxiang returned to Li Xiucheng dejectedly, and pleaded guilty with a sad face: "The loyal king forgives the sin, the ministers failed to do the mission you explained, and the king of Yan not only refused to agree to help us ask the king of heaven to move, but also refused to accept our gifts." ”

"Why won't he say yes?" Li Xiucheng asked, "Did you say the reason?" ”

"The reasons are all high-sounding excuses, saying that Tianjing is the capital of our heavenly kingdom, the king of heaven can't leave easily, and what kind of great enemy is at present, it is too dangerous for the king of heaven to go out of Beijing." Li Shuxiang replied truthfully, and said: "But listening to his tone, it seems that he is very dissatisfied with us getting too close to Meng Zhang, and he also gossips and beats us, complaining that we have something to do, and will only think of going to Meng Shiyong first, and look down on him." ”

"Raised by a son of a bitch, in the final analysis, I am still jealous that Meng Shiyong is the leader of the Chinese army in the kingdom of heaven, and I am dissatisfied that he is only the deputy leader." Li Xiucheng scolded another swear word, and pointed out the real reason why Qin Rigang deliberately became a clown who jumped off the beam. And after racking his brains for a while, Li Xiucheng suddenly had an idea, and hurriedly said: "Li Shangshu, you go to see Qin Rigang again, and tell him directly, after I go to the city to meet the Heavenly King, in addition to asking the Heavenly King to move to Suzhou and Hangzhou, I will also ask the Heavenly King Long Live to change the five-military system of the Heavenly Kingdom to the six-military system, add a one-way commander, and ask him Qin Rigang to serve as the new commander." ”

"Brilliant plan!" Li Shuxiang woke up and applauded, and then hurriedly asked: "But King Zhong Chitose, if King Yan is added as the commander, what troops will be assigned to him?" And put him in charge of that battlefield? Now that the Heavenly King has no extra army and territory, right? ”

"Draw 30,000 troops from my loyal palace army to him." Li Xiucheng said in a deep voice: "In Quzhou, Chuzhou and Wenzhou in Zhejiang, most of the land and cities are in our hands, but there are still many remnants of the Qing Demon entrenched in the coastal area to resist stubbornly, and a major minister of the Celestial Empire is needed to lead the army to clear it. Tell Qin Rigang that I want to recommend him. ”

"King Zhong, we're at a loss, aren't we?" Li Shuxiang exclaimed: "Divide the troops and horses and divide the territory, is it worth it for us to do this?" ”

"It's worth it!" Li Xiucheng replied categorically, and said: "First, if we can't persuade the Heavenly King to move to Suzhou and Hangzhou, and be forced to fight a decisive battle with the demon soldiers in Tianjing, our Zhongdian army will only suffer greater losses!" Second, we have to think about the future, if Suzhou and Hangzhou can't hold it in the future, we still have to continue to have a way out, Qin Rigang has the ability to clear the demons in southern Zhejiang, leaving a way out for our heavenly kingdom! ”

Li Shuxiang still had some flesh pain to oppose, but Li Xiucheng had made up his mind, Li Shuxiang had no choice but to hurry into the city again with the gift to see Qin Rigang, the result was okay, after hearing the new price code offered by Li Xiucheng, Qin Rigang was finally tempted to stop blindly sneering, and was obviously very tempted, but after careful consideration for a while, Qin Rigang said greedily: "Li Shangshu, although the territory of Quzhou, Chuzhou and Wenzhou is vast, but the main cities are in the hands of the Qing demon, Quzhou is now directly bordered by the control of the demon soldiers, if I go to those places to clear the remnants of the demons, there is no reliable rear to provide money, food and weapons? ”

"Yan Wang Chitose, then what else do you want?" Li Shuxiang asked helplessly.

"It would be nice if we could let the Sixth Road take charge and take charge of Jinhua Mansion." Qin Rigang smiled and said: "Although the area of Jinhua Mansion is not large, it is located inland and backed by Hangzhou, which is an ideal rear for the battlefield in southern Zhejiang. ”

Li Shuxiang closed his eyes even more helplessly, and said after a while: "If King Yan Chitose can help us persuade King Zhong to persuade the King of Heaven to move to Suzhou and Hangzhou, Jinhua Mansion can ask the Sixth Road of Heaven to take charge of it." ”

"Li Shangshu, can you be the master of King Zhong?" Qin Rigang asked uneasily.

Li Shuxiang nodded and said, "If King Yan is not at ease, he can send a trustworthy person to follow his subordinates to the camp of King Chung Chitose and ask King Chung Chitose to promise this matter in person." ”

Qin Rigang, who had long been looking forward to becoming the emperor of the soil like Li Xiucheng, was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly thanked Li Shuxiang again and again, and then really sent a confidant to follow Li Shuxiang out of the city and confirm the matter in front of Li Xiucheng. The result was okay, although Li Xiucheng also brazenly took advantage of Qin Rigang's robbery, but for the sake of the overall situation, he still gritted his teeth and agreed to the matter, Qin Rigang secretly made a great deal of joy, and immediately made a promise on behalf of Qin Rigang, promising to help Li Xiucheng persuade Hong Xiuquan to leave Nanjing and go to the rear of Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Still after sending away Qin Rigang's secret envoy, Li Xiucheng let out a long sigh, and then instructed Li Shuxiang: "Go and contact Meng Shiyong, and ask him to ask the King of Heaven to summon me into the city to discuss state affairs, the sooner the better." ”

Li Shuxiang agreed, but before Li Shuxiang could send someone out of the account, a personal soldier hurriedly came in outside the tent, saying that Hong Xiuquan sent an envoy to praise the edict and summoned Li Xiucheng to the city to meet him. What happened in Tianjing City? ”

"Returning to the Zhongwang Chitose, I heard that the Transcendence Little Demon sent a messenger to take the waterway directly to the Yifengmen Wharf to contact our Tianjing army, and on behalf of the Transcendence Little Demon to sue for peace with our Heavenly King." The soldier replied truthfully.

"Summation? Transcend the little demon and take the initiative to sue for peace with our Heavenly King?! ”

Li Xiucheng was so surprised that he couldn't believe his ears, but after coming back to his senses, Li Xiucheng quickly guessed Wu Chaoyue's intentions, and said fiercely: "Seeking to retreat and advance to capture the old and indulge, not only do you want the Tianjing City of our heavenly kingdom, but also want to kill the main force of this king, you are ruthless enough to surpass the little demon!" ”

"But it's a pity that your demon envoy is a step too late!"