Zeng Guoquan led more than 100 cronies, and as soon as he rode out of the city gate, he heard the alarm bell on the city tower and discovered the enemy's situation!

Seeing outside the city, I don't know whether Luo Zenan and the others will take the water route or the land route, where can they find it? At this time, the Hunan army at the head of the city shouted one after another, shouting that the Cantonese thieves were coming, and they were about to close the city gate, so Zeng Guoquan had to order twenty people to look for them separately, and he led the rest of the people back to the city, after all, defending the city is the most important. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Zeng Guofan had already received the alarm of the enemy's situation, climbed the north city tower, held the Western Ocean bought by the trustee and looked at it for a thousand miles, only to see the Yangtze River not far away, white sails covering the sky, there were thousands of sailing ships sailing from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and there were bursts of gongs and drums mixed with shouts on the river, and the sound was impressive.

Zeng Guofan's face changed! The Cantonese thieves are about to launch a general attack! Seeing the boats on the river breaking through the wind and waves, setting off the rolling waves, Zeng Guofan's fear of water almost made a mistake, he quickly turned his head and stopped looking at the splash, and his heart was clouded by the departure of Luo Zenan and others.

The Hunan army sailors, who had long understood the power of the Cantonese thieves' artillery, could not attack the Cantonese thieves under Hanyang City on the north bank, and now they are afraid of these thousands of warships.

However, Zeng Guofan knew in his heart that once the Cantonese thieves controlled the Yangtze River, the Cantonese thieves in Hanyang City in Jiangbei and the thieves who came from the downstream would join forces, and the whole Wuchang would be even more dangerous, and he could only be trapped in the lonely city, and the situation would be even worse. So, Zeng Guofan forcibly ordered that Yang Zaifu, Zou Shouzhang, Chu Ruhang, and Xia Luan, four sailor battalion officers, lead the Hunan army sailor to take advantage of the unstable formation of the thieves coming downstream to take the initiative to attack.

Yang Zaifu and Zou Shouzhang, as the former sailors, appeared in the middle of the Zuijiang River on the south bank, and the Hengjiang River intercepted the 10th Division of the Capture Army and the former Taiping Army Naval Division led by Wei Jun, Zhang Zipeng, and Tang Zhengcai (who had been released and also joined the Holy Kingdom).

However, thousands of large and small warships of the Shengguo Navy Division, overwhelming, stretched for miles on the Yangtze River, and for a time for the unfolding, under the personal drumming of Yang Zaifu and Zou Shouzhang, more than 200 long dragon boats and sampan boats marched forward bravely, and lit 20 sampan fireboats prepared in advance, and rushed into the fleet of the naval division of the captured army from upstream to down.

Fortunately, the naval division of the captured army was scattered in the outermost extension, and the distance between the ships was large, and there was no loss, but in the middle of the river was the former Taiping army naval division, and the military discipline was a little loose, and it was impossible to evade for a while, and hundreds of warships burned up, and the situation was in chaos.

At this time, the rear team of the Hunan Army's naval division, which was hiding in the sand lake, under the leadership of Chu Ruhang and Xia Luan, fought out from the direction of the Red Pass and attacked the Holy Country Naval Division on both sides.

The 300 sampan warships led by Zhang Zipeng bore the brunt of the attack, and they were about to be defeated and fled, but at this time, the 10th Division on both sides of the Yangtze River fired in unison from a distance of one and a half miles, suppressing the defeated Chu Ruhang and Xia Luan fleets in the mouth of Shahu at Hongguan and unable to sail out.

And Wei Jun and Tang Zhengcai, each with the remaining 800 warships, have crashed into the two Hunan army naval divisions of Yang Zaifu and Zou Shouzhang, and all kinds of weapons such as short cannons, muskets, bows and arrows, spears, and brand knives have been staged, and a tragic battle has begun.

Half an hour later, although the Hunan Army's sailors were fierce and tenacious, and one warship almost killed three or four warships of the Holy Kingdom, it was not long before Yang Zaifu and Zou Shouzhang found that they had fallen into the vast sea, and there were too many soldiers and warships of the Saint's Navy. Even if the Hunan soldiers exchanged one life for two or three lives, after losing five or six hundred Hunan soldiers, Yang Zaifu was empty-hearted.

It's not that he's afraid of death, it's that he can't fight. The Hunan army has suffered heavy casualties, and the people who fight with it are all long-haired thieves, the Guangdong thieves, hiding in the distance and putting cold cannons, and if this continues, the entire naval division will be annihilated.

At this time, Zeng Guofan also knew about the situation of the water battle on the river, and ordered the Yangtze River to be abandoned, and the Hunan army and water divisions were all withdrawn into Shahu and held Wuchang City.

Zeng Guofan: This is also something that there is no way to do.

Because he just received a report, just now, when the Guangdong thief sailor and the Hunan army sailor were fighting on the river, a team of nearly 13,000 thieves marched into Wuchang City from Shimenfeng in the northeast of Wuchang City, and has now entered Hongshan in the east of Wuchang City and set up camp.

At the same time, the Taiping soldiers in Hanyang on the other side of the Jiangbei River also took more than 100 civilian boats and fishing boats, taking advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the Hunan Army's naval division to fight in the section from Zui to Hongguan on the south bank of the Yangtze River, crossed the river and landed, and more than 5,000 Cantonese thieves were stationed in Baishazhou.

The nearly 20,000 thieves have landed on the east bank, and the thieves in Hongshan are less than five miles east of Wuchang City, and the thieves in Baishazhou are only six miles south of the city.

Zeng Guofan only understood at this time that there was a high-ranking commander in the thief army, and he would drag the sailors of the Hunan army at any cost, and he would take advantage of the opportunity of the water battle to cross the river and detour to the east and south of Wuchang City, and prepare to attack the city.

So, Zeng Guofan hurriedly ordered the sailors to hide in the sand lake to defend it, so that the Hunan soldiers in the city could cheer up, strengthen the city defense, and deal with it carefully.

However, what made Zeng Guofan strange was that the thieves did not attack the city immediately, but set up camp and put on the appearance of a long-term siege. The victorious thieves and sailors on the Yangtze River did not take advantage of the situation to cover up and kill in the Sand Lake, but lined up the warships and blocked the two passages leading from the Sand Lake to the Yangtze River, one south and one north, sandwiching Wuchang City in the middle.

That night, the Qing army and the people in Wuchang City were in a panic.

……

In the middle of the night, Wuchang Pinghu Gate City upstairs.

Zhu Tieqiao, the sentry officer of the Chunting Battalion, led a captain, as well as 3 shotgunners, 3 spearmen, and 1 archer, patrolling back and forth at a distance of dozens of steps on the city tower.

As early as when the Hunan army was in Yuezhou, it had officially determined that the battalion system of the land division was the third level of the battalion and sentinel team. Each team has 15 people, 8 teams are a sentry, 4 sentry is a battalion, each battalion plus battalion officers, sentry officers and clerks, etc., a total of 500 people, in addition, each battalion is also equipped with more than 100 chiefs to assist in the battle.

Zhu Tieqiao looked at the fires on the river in the distance with some absent-mindedness, and he knew in his heart that those fires were all Cantonese thief sailor warships on the river during the day.

It was almost time, and Zhu Tieqiao saw that everyone was walking back and forth a little hard, so he asked everyone to take turns to rest.

The two spearmen in front of them hurriedly stopped, and yawned a few times because they were sleepy.

One of them, ten lean youths, approached the sentry officer Zhu Tieqiao and said, "Uncle, you are still fighting so hard, it's so late, don't you rest early." There will be a bad battle tomorrow! Hey, I don't understand, we are all from Xiangxiang, and now our hometown has been occupied by other Cantonese thieves, why do we still work so hard for the imperial court, fight against other Cantonese thieves, and anger them, what should our relatives in our hometown do? ”

It turned out that these two spearmen, like Zhu Tieqiao, were fellow villagers in the same village, and they had known each other for a long time.

The other spearman was a little listless, and said with a disdainful face: "Erlengzi, do you think your uncle wants to." Isn't it now that the governor of Na Mu Nan is watching Lord Zeng closely! After speaking, he suddenly looked around, and found that the shotgunners and archers were far away, so he lowered his voice and said mysteriously: "Uncle Tieqiao, Erleng, do you know?" I heard that last night, our old Xiangyong's chief officer, Mr. Luo Shi Luoshan, led many of his disciples to secretly leave Wuchang and return to his hometown in Xiangxiang! Those are all our Xiangyong's battalion officers and sentinels, and even they are unwilling to die for this Manchu court. ”

"What!? What did you say? Zhu Tieqiao screamed suddenly, suddenly realized that his voice was too loud, looked around, and did not alarm others, so he lowered his voice and said: "Da Niu, what you said is true?" ”

Erlenzi on the side also stared at the big cow, with a shocked look on his face. He knew that the uncle beside him was several disciples of Mr. Luo Shan, who had studied in Luo Shan Library, and it was precisely because of this that he was invited by Mr. Luo Shan to join Xiangyong.

"It's true! I heard from my cousin in the morning! He followed Zeng Jiu and Zeng Guoquan to ride out of the city to chase Mr. Luo Shan back, but later encountered thieves and soldiers to attack, so he returned to the city. Da Niu confirmed.

When Erlenzi on the side heard this, his face was happy, and he said: "Uncle, since Mr. Luo Shan has left Wuchang and left Zeng to shave his head, why don't we follow back to Xiangxiang." I heard that now my hometown is good, since the Cantonese thief, oh, bah, it's not a Cantonese thief, it's a holy country, since the holy country occupied the hometown of Xiangxiang, the villagers in the hometown have divided the fields, and this year's early rice can be harvested a lot. ”

He closed his eyes, imagining the beautiful scene when the granary at home was full and he couldn't finish eating, and muttered: "Every year, there are more than ten or twenty stones of grain, and in less than two years like this, my father will be able to marry my daughter-in-law, and then marry my daughter-in-law for Sanlengzi, and give birth to a few babies, see that my father is still unhappy!" He dreamed of holding his grandson as soon as possible! ”