On the 28th day of the 10th lunar month, Li Wenmao did not wait for the time agreed with He Lu in mid-November, and ordered all the rebels on the outskirts of Guangzhou to capture the city of Guangzhou with him. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The 200,000 rebel army was divided into three routes by Li Wenmao: Li Wenmao personally led the headquarters of 60,000 and attacked from the west road to attack Qinglong Bridge to Daximen; The 40,000 righteous troops led by Gan Xian lived on the North Road, captured the north fort of the city through Sanyuanli, and then attacked the North Second Gate; Chen Xianliang led 50,000 righteous troops to live on the East Road and attacked Dongguan from Yantang; Lin Guanglong led 40,000 rebel troops to support across the river.

The massive attack of nearly 200,000 rebels did not make Fan Ruzeng feel too happy. He was among the rebels, and when he saw that most of the rebels were still armed with wooden sticks, hoes, iron forks, kitchen knives, etc., he couldn't help but worry: could such weapons and equipment, even if they were numerous, be able to capture the well-defended and thick-walled city of Guangzhou?

You must know that in Niulangang before, it was because the number of Qing soldiers was too small, and the rebels were ambushed, and the Qing soldiers were encircled and had no fortifications to rely on, so the rebels rushed to the front for hand-to-hand combat. But now with the obstruction of the city wall, even if the number of the rebels is large, they can't fly into the city, and in a hurry, there is no large-scale siege weapon, relying on the cloud ladder to climb the city and the giant tree to storm the city gate, undoubtedly by the Qing soldiers at the head of the city as a target, I am afraid of heavy losses.

Fan Ruzeng thought for a while, then sent out several holy soldiers of the Xizuo Battalion who followed him, and separately delivered the news to the Holy King on the Xijiang River, Luo Outline and others on the Beijiang River, explaining that the situation had changed, and the righteous army had launched an attack in advance, and asked the Holy Army to rush to Guangzhou as soon as possible. At the same time, he brought back the Qing army in Guangzhou that he had discovered.

At this time, Fan Ruzeng knew that with his status as a small brigade commander, he could not dissuade Li Wenmao, but he still had to work hard.

He found Li Wenmao and persuaded the rebels to wait a few more days, and wait for He Lu, Chen Kai and other rebels around Guangzhou Mansion to arrive in Guangzhou City together, and then attack the city together, which would have a better chance of victory. Because by then, the Taiping Holy Army will almost arrive in Guangzhou and be properly arranged.

Sure enough, Li Wenmao shook his head and refused. He had already found out through the spies lurking in the city that the Manchu Qing troops in Guangzhou were empty, and there were not many Qing soldiers who were deployed to defend the city, with more than 5,000 soldiers in the Eight Banners and nearly 10,000 soldiers in the Green Battalion. After the Qing soldiers who were completely wiped out of the city at Niulangang, the Qing army in Guangzhou held the city tower.

It's time to attack the city of Guangzhou! Li Wenmao thought secretly. If he waited for He Lu and the other rebels to arrive at the city and then attacked the city together, it would make his brothers think that they were following his orders, and the prestige of his chief would be greatly reduced, and even if he captured the city of Guangzhou, future generations would think that it was captured under the leadership of He Lu.

People are a bit selfish. Thinking like this, Li Wenmao became anxious, coupled with the great victory of Niulangang, he felt that he could lead 200,000 righteous troops, how could he occupy the city of Guangzhou, which was less than 20,000 Qing soldiers.

The rebel army led by Li Wenmao took the lead in occupying the Qinglong Bridge, but when crossing the west moat from the bridge, the Qing artillery and shotguns on the tower of Daximen City fired in unison, and the rebels were killed thousands of people on the Qinglong Bridge, and the corpses blocked the bridge deck. Li Wenmao's eyes were red, and he gritted his teeth and ordered to throw the corpses piled up on the bridge into the river and continue to rush forward to kill.

At the same time, Gan Xian's 40,000 Yi rushed through Sanyuanli and began to capture the Qing army fort on Yuexiu Mountain in the north of the city. In the north of the city, Shen Dihui, the Manchu Qing envoy, personally supervised the army to defend the city, and he led 3,000 green battalion Qing soldiers to guard between the two towers in the north city, guarding the north fort on the middle mountain beam. The rebels were bombarded by artillery on the mountain, rushing upwards several times, but as soon as they approached the fort and the city tower, they were scattered by the Qing shotgunners hiding behind the battlements, and the casualties were all over the field, and in just half a day, more than 5,000 people were killed and wounded. Gan Xian saw that the siege was hopeless, so he had to collect his troops and retreat to Sanyuanli to station.

Chen Xianliang's 50,000 rebels sent troops from Yantang to capture Dongguan, that is, the Dadongmen Bridge on Donghao Chung, so that they could cross the bridge and attack the Dadongmen. However, the terrain of Dongguan is important, and the Donghao Yong, which protects the city, separates the streets outside the city from the eastern suburbs, and the Qing soldiers set up artillery and carry guns at the pass, blocking the righteous army outside the gate. After losing thousands of rebels, Chen Xianliang realized that it was impossible to capture the pass by relying on the hard rush of the rebels alone, so he immediately ordered to stop the siege and camp in the eastern suburbs. At the same time, he sent a letter to Li Wenmao to discuss countermeasures.

Li Wenmao learned that the three sieges were in trouble, and he still did not give up. Analyzing the city gates everywhere, it is believed that it is the moat that blocks the road of the rebel army's attack, so that it is difficult to attack the city, and the north road wall is not closed, but the fort built according to Yuexiu Mountain replaces the city wall, perhaps concentrate troops to attack from the mountain beam, and do not need to seize the fort, just rush up the mountain beam, enter the city, and you can break the city. Therefore, he ordered the righteous army of the east and west roads to transfer 30,000 righteous troops to support the northern road, led by Gan Xian himself, and led 100,000 troops to attack the northern city from Yuexiu Mountain.

Gan Xian immediately took the lead, leading the forward to charge on the whole line on the mountain beam of the third or fourth road, and set up ladders to climb the cliff and steep slope to attack the mountain. According to the inspector Shen Dihui mobilized 2,000 Qing soldiers from other places in the city to help defend the northern city, and ordered the people in the city and the regiment to burn boiling water, boiling oil and molten iron, and sprinkled it from the city tower and the fortress cliff. In less than a few hours, more than 4,000 people were scalded to death by the boiling oil and molten iron of the Qing army, and more than 15,000 people were scalded.

Gan Xian was unwilling to fail, so he took the lead and led the righteous army to continue to rush, but he was also poured from the head with a scoop of molten iron, and he was killed instantly, and his hairy bones were gone. As soon as Gan Xian, who commanded the army, died, the rebel army was quickly routed and fled back to the Sanyuanli camp. Fortunately, the Qing soldiers in the city were concentrated at the Shangliang Fort, and they could not go down the mountain to pursue, so the rebels were not completely annihilated by the Qing soldiers. But it also suffered heavy losses, and only in the battle of Yuexiu Mountain in the north of the city, more than 20,000 rebels were lost.

The news of the fiasco in the north of the city and the death of Gan Xian reached the camp of the righteous army outside the Qinglong Bridge.

"What? What did you say?! When Li Wenmao heard the bad news brought by the messenger, he cried bitterly on the spot: "I should not regret it, I didn't listen to the advice, and I killed Brother Gan and all the brothers of the righteous army!" It's my Li Wenmao's fault, it's all my fault! ”

After crying for a long time, Li Wenmao wiped away his tears and invited Fan Ruzeng to his big tent.

"Brother Fan, I regret not listening to your advice at the beginning, and now, the siege of the city is blocked, what do you think?" Li Wenmao's eyes were red, trying to calm himself down, and asked in a low voice.

"Big Boss, Ru Zeng is still the same suggestion. Await! At present, the morale of our rebel army has been drained, and it is unable to attack again. It is only necessary to maintain the siege without attacking, and then urgently send people to invite He Lu of Panyu, Chen Kai of Foshan and other righteous troops from all walks of life to come, and then besiege Guangzhou City together after joining forces. ”

"In addition, Ru Zeng has sent someone to ask my Taiping Holy Army to speed up the march, no longer attack the towns along the way, and go straight to Guangzhou City." Fan Ruzeng hesitated, and then said.

"It turns out that Brother Fan has long expected today's situation." Li Wenmao sighed, only blaming himself for being too anxious, not only killing many rebels, but also killing his brothers who had followed him for many years. At present, we can only wait for the arrival of the Taiping Holy Army as Fan Ruzeng said, and contact the rebels outside the city to attack the city together.

Then, Li Wenmao followed Fan Ruzeng's advice and ordered to stop the siege. Blockade road traffic and strictly prevent the entry and exit of Qing troops. The rebels dug ditches outside the city of Guangzhou and built fortifications to prevent the soldiers in the city from attacking the city. He also sent messengers to the rebels to ask for help.