In the mountains and forests on both sides of Tianshi Valley, soldiers from a regiment of Lu Shaochuan opened fire.

Occupy the high ground and launch an attack, and there is no disadvantage.

"Poof! Burst!! ”

A barrage of bullets flew through the air and hit the Taiping soldiers.

At this moment, the Taiping soldiers were like drunk people, falling to the ground one after another. When Li Xiucheng and Lu Shaochuan were fighting, Wu Qigong and more than ten soldiers were not noticed, standing alone on the inside of Tianshi Valley, as if they had been forgotten. Li Xiucheng didn't intend to let Wu Qigong go, and while retreating with the soldiers, he shouted: "Shoot, shoot Wu Qigong!" ”

The soldier with his back to the mouth of the Tianshi Valley raised his gun, aimed it in the direction of Wu Qigong, and opened fire.

"Bang! Bang!! ”

A series of gunshots came out, and Wu Qigong was shot four times in the body.

Among them, Wu Qigong was shot twice in the chest, and once in the lower abdomen and thigh. Wu Qigong looked up at the soldiers who were attacking on the hillside, and then at the Taiping soldiers who had begun to retreat, and opened his mouth to speak. However, Wu Qigong failed to lift his breath, and it was pitch black in front of him, his body shook for a while, and he fell to the ground. Qi Shan's deathbed instructions to Wu Qigong could not be completed, and Wu Qigong was shot. Wu Qigong was killed, and the remaining dozen or so soldiers were also killed in the blink of an eye.

Li Xiucheng got rid of Wu Qigong and continued to retreat surrounded by soldiers.

In about three points, the elite led by Li Xiucheng had already approached the entrance of Tianshi Valley.

In the short three-minute firefight, the soldiers under Li Xiucheng's command lost as many as 800 people, which was already nearly one-third of the number. On the entire road of Tianshi Valley, you can see dead soldiers everywhere, you can see blood flowing everywhere, and the terrible screams of soldiers linger in your ears.

Such a huge loss made Li Xiucheng's mood extremely entangled.

This battle was too bad.

Li Xiucheng knew that the situation was critical, and he had to withdraw from the mountains and forests as soon as possible in order to reverse the situation, so he ran vigorously to the outside of Tianshi Valley, wanting to get rid of the ambush on both sides of the valley.

On the slopes on both sides of the valley mouth of Tianshi Valley, Smith waited patiently like a cheetah. Seeing the Taiping soldiers approaching the valley, Smith took out a grenade from his waist, pulled out the fire rope, and threw it down the valley. The grenade streaked through the air in a parabola and landed in the crowd of bandits who were rushing towards Taniguchi.

"Boom!!"

Explosions rang out, dirt splattered, and corpses flew sideways.

One body after another fell to the ground, unrecognizable. Within four meters of the grenade, the Taiping soldiers were violently impacted. Some soldiers were blown off limbs, some were killed directly, and some soldiers were blown unconscious. It was just a grenade, but there were nearly a thousand people lying in ambush on both sides of the valley mouth.

Among them, 400 people quickly took out the grenade stuck in their waists, pulled out the fire rope, and threw the grenade. Grenades streaked through the air and rained down.

"Boom! Rumble!!!! ”

The explosion was deafening, and it continued to sound at the mouth of the Tianshi Valley.

Under the light of the fire, corpses flew up, a puff of dirt splashed everywhere, and large pits quickly formed. In short, Smith ordered the soldiers to attack with grenades, causing great damage to the Taipings. However, Smith's attack is not just a grenade, after all, the speed of the grenade is not fast.

Smith had 400 people drop the bombs, and the other 600 were in charge of shooting.

Not only that, but more than a thousand soldiers under Lu Shaochuan also opened fire.

Under the suppression of dense firepower, the mortality rate of the soldiers under Li Xiucheng's command plummeted, and soon more than 1,000 soldiers were lost. Most of these soldiers were blown over by grenades, and a few were killed by bullets. Li Xiucheng brought 3,000 elites, and before he could fight Li Zhen's army, more than half of them had died, with more than 2,000 casualties, and only a few hundred people were left around.

At this moment, Li Xiucheng wanted to cry without tears.

This time the battle was worse than the last time he led his army to attack Shanghai.

Anyway, last time, you could shoot at Li Zhen, and you could still see Li Zhen, but this time you didn't even find where Li Zhen was. Not only that, Li Xiucheng also felt that Li Zhen's weapons were far more powerful than the equipment of the soldiers under his command. Li Xiucheng relied on the soldiers to break through with their lives, and finally rushed out of Tianshi Valley.

Li Zhen took Lu Shaochuan, Smith and Zhu Wu down the hill and began to hunt down Li Xiucheng.

The 3,000 elites continued to cover up and kill, and Li Xiucheng's soldiers were crushed.

Lu Shaochuan followed Li Zhen and shouted, "Dashuai, isn't it Li Xiucheng?" You just want to live. If you don't stop it, the special forces of the Sharp Knife Battalion will directly snipe Li Xiucheng, and the bandits will definitely surrender automatically. Li Xiucheng is alive and kicking, the backbone of the bandits is still there, and it is very difficult for us to annihilate the bandits in one fell swoop. ”

Li Zhen said: "What's the hurry, this battle has just begun, and Yang Xiuqing's tens of thousands of troops have not yet been resolved." ”

The army pursued all the way, rushing from Tianshi Valley towards the foot of the northern side of Yu Mountain.

Li Xiucheng took the soldiers out of the mountains and forests before he breathed a sigh of relief.

By now, there were less than 500 soldiers left under Li Xiucheng's command, and the losses were heavy. All the way out was to open the way with the lives of soldiers. Li Xiucheng looked at the bright barracks, but he didn't dare to enter the barracks, gave up the food and ordnance in the barracks, and ran directly in the direction of the county seat.

Li Zhen led the army out of Yushan, and saw Li Xiucheng fleeing, but he stopped the pursuit of the soldiers and only occupied Li Xiucheng's military camp. This order made Lu Shaochuan and Smith feel a pity.

finally set a trap for Li Xiucheng to drill inside, but Li Zhen let Li Xiucheng leave.

This kind of handling is the same as letting Li Xiucheng leave when he was in Shanghai, which is a return to the mountain. The Jiangbei camp was breached by Li Xiucheng, and Wu Qigong was killed by Li Xiucheng. If Li Zhen killed Li Xiucheng in Shanghai, it is likely to be a different situation, Qi Shan will not die, Jiangbei camp will not be broken, and Wu Qigong will not be killed.

However, Lu Shaochuan and Smith didn't know that such a situation was exactly in line with Li Zhen's thoughts. For Li Zhen, the existence of the Jiangbei camp was a manifestation of the strength of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

As long as Li Xiucheng is reused by Yang Xiuqing, he will continue to attack the cities of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and constantly weaken the influence of the Manchu Qing. Of course, Li Zhen also had the intention of subduing Li Xiucheng, so he would let Li Xiucheng leave.

Lu Shaochuan was anxious, his face was full of complaints, and he said regretfully: "Dashuai, it's just that you don't let us snipe Li Xiucheng." But how not to pursue? Li Xiucheng shouldn't have been allowed to escape! ”

Li Zhen naturally didn't say what he thought in his heart, but said lightly: "The purpose of letting Li Xiucheng go is to better deal with Yang Xiuqing, and now the pursuit may not be able to capture Li Xiucheng alive." Even if Li Xiucheng is caught, it may not be able to make Li Xiucheng return to his heart. When Li Xiucheng returns in embarrassment, Yang Xiuqing will be disappointed even if he doesn't show his intentions. Let's shoot again, and the opportunity will come, and then we will successfully take down Li Xiucheng. ”

After hearing this, Lu Shaochuan was still a little dissatisfied in his heart.

A Li Xiucheng, is it worth it?

ps: one of the three watches;