Smoke billowed from Yuhuatai, flames spread, and the stumps and charred corpses of Taiping soldiers could be seen everywhere, and a strong stench emanated from the air.

Chen Jiong, the defender of the Taiping Army, occupied the geographical advantage of the Yuhua Terrace and repelled more than a dozen rounds of attacks by the Shanghai army one after another, but he suffered heavy casualties, bringing 20,000 Taiping Army soldiers and soldiers, of which less than 2,000 were left at the moment, and everyone was wounded.

Finally fell into night, Chen Jiong finally breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that night was not conducive to the battle of the Shanghai army musketeers, so compared with the day, night was more suitable for the Taiping army to defend.

However, to Chen Jiong's collapse, although the Shanghai army did not launch a night offensive, the Shanghai army sounded the military drum and military music at every turn, which frightened Chen Jiong and the remaining less than 2,000 Taiping army soldiers to hurriedly enter the position, but they were vigilant for more than an hour, and they did not see the Shanghai army attacking.

Chen Jiong and the other Taiping soldiers had been fighting hard all day, and they were so tired that they didn't even have the strength to eat, so they wanted to sleep.

However, whenever they wanted to close their eyes and rest, the horn of the Shanghai army would sound at the foot of the mountain, forcing them to open their eyes, tense their nerves and be vigilant.

After one or two times, Chen Jiong suddenly understood that this was the tired tactics of the Shanghai army, but he had no way to deal with it, as a defensive side, he had to fight hard to hold on.

Chen Jiong and other Taiping soldiers were tossed all night without closing their eyes, and when it was almost dawn, many soldiers were so tired that they fell asleep.

At that moment just before dawn, the Shanghai army sounded the horn of attack again.

This time the Shanghai army really came, they rested for the night, recovered their strength, replenished ammunition and supplies, so they launched an attack again, taking advantage of the fact that the Taiping army was tossed all night without sleep, and their physical strength and energy were exhausted, plus before dawn was the most sleepy time for people. Prepare to take the rain flower platform in one fell swoop.

"The enemy is coming!"

Most of the soldiers of the Taiping Army were numb and groggy in their heads, and their ears heard it, but their eyes just couldn't be opened, their limbs were sore, and they had no strength, especially those who were seriously injured, and they couldn't wake up from this sleep.

"Get up, the enemy is coming!"

Chen Jiong went everywhere to call his subordinates to get up, but after shouting a lot, few people stood up. Even the soldier who had woken up in front of him fell asleep after a while.

"General, the soldiers are extremely tired, we can't hold it, let's withdraw!"

At this time, the only deputy general couldn't help but persuade Chen Jiong.

Chen Jiong's mouth was dry, and he finally made some soldiers stand up, but what caught his eye was that they were missing arms and legs one by one. The body is covered with blood, where is there still the elite appearance of the Taiping Army, it is better than being called Huazi.

Chen Jiong sighed, just with these thousands of disabled soldiers. It was impossible to stop the attack of the tiger-wolf Shanghai army.

"If I lose Yuhuatai, Tianjing will have no commanding heights, and I won't be able to explain to the king of heaven when I go back, Deputy General Chang. Take all the brothers who can go, and stay with me those who can't. ”

"General, don't stay, stay in the green mountains and don't be afraid of no firewood!" Vice General Chang knew what Chen Jiong was going to do. Hurriedly persuaded.

But Chen Jiong has made up his mind and cannot be opposed.

At this moment, the Shanghai army opened fire.

Knock knock!

The rumbling of cannons broke the pre-dawn silence, and a sharp whistle came straight towards Yuhuatai.

Chen Jiong shouted: "Hurry up, after this round of cannons, you won't have a chance to leave if you want to!" Go back and tell the king that Yuhuatai can't be lost, and send a large army to come quickly. I will set fire to the mountain and block the Shanghai army for half a day. ”

The cannonballs whistled and exploded in an instant, and the Taiping soldiers who had no time to dodge were blown up one after another.

Deputy General Chang didn't want to leave, but seeing that Chen Jiong had made up his mind, he said goodbye and hurriedly fled to Tianjing from behind with a group of disabled soldiers.

Chen Jiong took the remaining Taiping soldiers who couldn't leave, collected all the explosives and oil, and set fire to all the surrounding mountains and forests.

The ignition of fire points everywhere soon took advantage of the fierce artillery fire of the Shanghai army to form a prairie fire, and in an instant, the entire Yuhuatai was a sea of fire, and the thick smoke billowed straight into the sky.

Chen Jiong and other Taiping troops set themselves on fire and were all killed, but they also used their last cruelty to block the pace of the Shanghai army's advance and prevent the Shanghai army from seizing Yuhuatai.

"Scolding the guy next door, you're so ruthless!" In the headquarters, Li Weiguo saw this scene through a telescope, and immediately couldn't help but curse, and immediately ordered the Shanghai army to retreat, quickly digging trenches, cutting down trees, and cutting off the spread of the fire in the direction of the Shanghai army camp.

Chen Jingnan was also extremely stunned, and it was only at this time that he completely gave up the idea of destroying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the near future, and said to Li Weiguo: "The Lord is right, now is indeed not the time to destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!" ”

Li Weiguo blackened his face, returned to his seat, and asked, "How is Wang Degui?" ”

Chen Jingnan replied: "Your Majesty, Lord Wang stormed Jubaomen several times yesterday, and once broke the two walls of Jubaomen, but you also know that Jubaomen has four city walls, three urn cities, and more than 20 Tibetan pits. ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "It is also a fact that our artillery does not have a commanding height, and it is difficult for artillery shells to cross the city wall to attack the enemy in the cave. I thought that if we took Yuhuatai earlier, with this commanding height, our shells could be shot directly into Tianjing City, but it's a pity! ”

Chen Jingnan said: "After this battle, after the bloody battle between the officers and soldiers of our Shanghai Army and the Taiping Army, the combat effectiveness will be greatly improved, which is a good thing." Besides, the Yuhuatai fire blocked us for half a day at most, as long as we controlled the commanding heights of Yuhuatai, the Taiping army would inevitably panic. ”

Chen Jingnan paused and continued to ask, "It's just that the Lord really doesn't want to take Tianjing?" The Imperial Court may reward your lord with a governor for this! ”

Li Weiguo shook his head and said: "A Yuhuatai, the Taiping army is so desperate, if I want to storm Tianjing, even if I break the city, I will kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred, how many people can I have left in my 20,000 army?" For the sake of a mere governor to bury 20,000 elites, I, Li Weiguo, am not so crazy. ”

Chen Jingnan said: "The Lord is not for fame and fortune, he loves soldiers like sons, and the soldiers of the three armies must be grateful to Dade after hearing it." After this battle, presumably the imperial court will no longer suspect the suspicion of the lord's rebellion in a short period of time, and our Shanghai army can develop with peace of mind for a period of time, as for the position of the governor of Liangjiang, sooner or later it will be the lord. ”

Li Weiguo said: "It's too early to talk about those, Shi Dakai's Eastern Expeditionary Army has always been our henchmen if it is not hit hard!" ”

Chen Jingnan said: "Yes, Shi Dakai is the most powerful commander of the Taiping Army, and the 100,000 elite Taiping Army's Eastern Expedition is too much of a threat to us." However, after yesterday's battle, presumably Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing will be scared to death, and it is estimated that Shi Dakai will be forcibly recalled soon. ”

"Hmm!" Li Weiguo nodded and said: "Send more people to investigate Shi Dakai's movements, our real purpose is to surround and send reinforcements, even if we can't completely annihilate Shi Dakai's troops, we have to hit them hard, otherwise I won't be able to sleep well." ”

"Understood!" Chen Jingnan immediately received the order.

In the Tianwang Mansion, after learning the news that Chen Jiong was killed in battle and the 20,000 elite Taiping Army of Yuhuatai were wiped out, Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing and others were suddenly like ants on a hot pot.

"As soon as Yuhuatai is lost, there is no safe place in Tianjing City, and the artillery of the Shanghai army is always threatening, and it may be difficult to hold the capital!"

"Yes, when we captured this place, the Qing army was unable to resist because of the loss of Yuhuatai, and now Yuhuatai is lost, and Tianjing is in danger!"

"Please order the Heavenly King to summon the Winged King to lead the army back to help defend the capital!"

Under the instructions of Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, hundreds of civil and military officials played one after another, explained the stakes, and persuaded Hong Xiuquan to order Shi Dakai to lead the army back again.

Hong Xuanjiao objected: "The Wing King led an army of 100,000 to the east, how can you come back when you say that you will come back, you also take the march and fight too seriously." Besides, even if the Wing King returns to help now, it will take time, and far water will not quench the thirst of the near. It is better to let the king of the north transfer troops from Anqing to help. ”

Yang Xiuqing snorted coldly: "The Northern King is a defeated general under Li Weiguo, how can he ensure that he recaptures Yuhuatai and holds Tianjing?" Besides, before the Eastern Expedition, the Wing King had already transferred most of the elite of the Western Front, and now the troops on the Western Front are only barely in balance with the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan. At that time, the king of the north will not be able to retreat Li Weiguo, and Anqing will be lost there, and the Qing army will besiege Tianjing on all sides, so we will really catch turtles in the urn. ”

Hong Xiuquan saw that the civil and military officials were arguing fiercely, and he also hesitated.

Since Hong Xiuquan lived in the Tianwang Mansion, Yang Xiuqing built a luxurious palace for him, and selected thousands of beauties to enrich the harem.

The court meeting lasted for most of the day, first arguing whether to let Shi Dakai lead the army back to help, and later discussing whether to transfer troops from Tianjing City to recover Yuhuatai, but there was no conclusive conclusion.

Until a cannonball fell into Tianjing City, everyone was suddenly awakened by a bang.

"Newspaper—"

"The Shanghai army has extinguished the fire on Yuhuatai and is setting up a fort to bombard our city!"

After hearing this report, Hong Xiuquan and the others were all dumbfounded.

This is going to be a dead man, the artillery of the Shanghai army is far and powerful, and the city wall can still block the gun attack of the Shanghai army before, and now the Shanghai army occupies the commanding heights, condescendingly, and the cannonballs can hit wherever they want, compared to ordinary people, even Hong Xiuquan's Tianwang Mansion is not safe.

Hong Xiuquan panicked, Yang Xiuqing was also scared, and the civil and military officials were all frightened.

"Quickly order Qin Rigang to lead his troops to recapture Yuhuatai, and at the same time send someone to send a decree to King Yi, ordering him to immediately lead the army back to help, and also send a decree to the guards of the nearby counties, ordering them to transfer troops to King Qin!" (To be continued......)