Changsha City is located on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, which is rectangular along the river. The Liuyang River flows into the Xiangjiang River from east to north around the city, and the Laodao River meets the Liuyang River in the north of the city, and the southeast of the city and the west bank of the Xiangjiang River are mountainous. Standing along the river is the famous Yuelu Mountain.

The wonderful peak in the south of the city is the barrier of the south gate of Changsha, and the south of the city academy is famous all over the world, but at this time the academy is empty, and the people have run away from the people.

In the Pingyuan army array, the guns are like a sea, and the dense rows of riflemen are endless, and the blood, fire and murderous aura fill the world.

On the stage, Jing Xiang, the king of Suzhi County and the general of Pingyuan Jingkou, worshiped heaven and earth and swore an oath, drew his sword and declared: "Look at the charm of the world, who can block the edge of the Pingyuan army!" ”

"Kill! Kill! Kill! "Thousands of soldiers, the roar pierced the sky, shaking the sky and the earth.

Immediately, the Pingyuan army attacked Miaofeng, and the Battle of Changsha began.

The artillery roared, the mountains and forests of Miao Peak bloomed a group of firelight, the fierceness of the guns was unheard of in the land of China, and the elite of Zeng Guoquan and Jizi Battalion stationed at Miao Peak were well-armed, brave and good at fighting; The general of the Pingyuan Army who attacked was Waitab, the first fierce general under Harrich, carrying a saber and taking the lead, like a wolf and tiger.

On a high ground far away from the battlefield, Ye Zhao held a clairvoyant mirror to observe the battle situation everywhere, but in fact, he couldn't see anything clearly, and battle reports came from time to time.

Jiang Zhongyuan, the general of the Hunan army, led more than 10,000 Hunan soldiers to storm the eastern position of the Pingyuan Army to support the Miaofeng battle, and fought fiercely with the rifle battalion of Su Hongniang's sixth town.

The sound of gunfire, shouts, the earth seemed to tremble from time to time.

Ye Zhao gently put down the telescope in his hand and lit a cigarette.

The guards behind him are the iron-legged Liu San, who is famous for "iron splitting and hanging", his face changed slightly at this time, tens of thousands of people fought fiercely, he experienced it for the first time, the soldiers like the tide of the sea crushed the might of the enemy formation, if you don't experience it personally, it is really unimaginable, in the meantime, you will deeply understand the insignificance of personal strength, let you have the ability to penetrate the heavens and the earth, but on this battlefield, it is really insignificant.

The battle of Miao Feng lasted for several nights, because the artillery fire was difficult to carry out an effective blow to the Qing army of Miao Fengfeng, this fierce battle was extremely tragic, the second infantry battalion of the second town, the formation was completely dispersed, the officers and soldiers of the posts were almost sacrificed, Waittab was seriously wounded, and was carried off the line of fire.

Just when the Hunan army on Miaofeng thought that it was repelling the attack of the Pingyuan army, Haric personally led the guard post and the first battalion of rifles and the battalion of rattan swordsmen, which had been held down, directly into the enemy's formation.

On the west side, the large and small sailing ships of the Hunan army and the navy came one after another, trying to attack the middle of the Pingyuan army and the field hospital, but they were mercilessly bombarded by artillery.

The governor of Changsha City, the yamen, reported one by one.

Jiang Zhongyuan's troops were defeated and retreated to the camp of Chenghuangmiao in the east of the city, while on Miao Peak, the Pingyuan army attacked more urgently.

Zeng Guofan paced, his face sinking like water.

On the Miao Peak, the rapid attrition of the casualties of the soldiers is appalling, every time a battle report comes up, it is hundreds of casualties, a few kung fu, more than 10,000 Jizi battalion defenders on the Miao peak have suffered most of the casualties, although the reinforcements in the city are constantly coming up, but how can it be compared with the combat power of the Jizi battalion?

If the real situation of Miaofeng Mountain is transmitted to the soldiers in the city, I am afraid that the army will be disheartened immediately, in the past two years, Zeng Guoquan's Jizi battalion, brave and superb, almost into the spiritual symbol of the Hunan army, many Hunan soldiers are extremely superstitious about the martial arts of the Jizi battalion, although they have heard the name of the Pingyuan army, but do not believe that it can be stronger than the Jizi battalion.

Who knew that under the fierce battle, the Pingyuan army was as terrifying as a demon, and the rifle team of the small artillery team was endless, and the attacks were endless, as if they would never stop.

Almost every last few battle reports of Zeng Guoquan had words like "critical", which made Lu Mingze's scalp tingle, could it be that Miao Fengfeng was really going to lose?

Suddenly, Zeng Guofan stopped and said, "Futai, you pass the message overnight, and let each household bring their own equipment to the city to cooperate with the officials and soldiers." Whoever is discharged from the service of his husband shall be exempted from the service for one year; Those who have made great contributions can be given priority. Then let the left flank gallop to the aid of the Jizi battalion! ”

Lu Mingze hurriedly bowed down to receive the order, in Changsha City, if the people are recruited, about 30,000 can be obtained, the Pingyuan army is small in number, and Miao Fengfeng is not suitable for the artillery army.

Just as Lu Mingze sighed and was about to go to the order, a small colonel hurriedly ran in, "Report! Handsome! Tianxin Pavilion is lost! ”

Zeng Guofan and Lu Mingze's faces immediately changed color, Tianxin Pavilion is the southern city tower, it is the highest point of Changsha City, although it is not where the city gate is, but it has a very special geographical location, can be used as a lookout post, signal station, front-line command and combat barracks, is a place where soldiers must fight. In the first two years, in order to prevent bandits, Tianxin Pavilion built a fort, there are nine flowering cannons, if the Miao peak is lost, this is the most important stronghold against the Pingyuan army.

Why was it suddenly occupied by the Pingyuan Army?

Zeng Guofan immediately came to his senses and said coldly: "The thief soldiers must be a small infestation, and the soldiers and horses of Nancheng are ordered, if they can't take the Tianxin Pavilion within an hour, the three-wing commander will come to see him!" ”

"Wow!" The herald hurried out.

Just when the Pingyuan army and the Hunan army were fighting fiercely at Miao Peak, Harwich ordered his most elite reconnaissance post to bypass Miao Peak, kill all the opponent's transport team, disguise themselves, and surprise attack Tianxin Pavilion, and immediately encountered a fierce siege by the Hunan army, fighting fiercely for more than three hours, and more than 100 people in the whole outpost were sacrificed.

But the flowering cannon in the city, Miao Peak under the bombardment, Tianxin Pavilion fluttered the flag of the Pingyuan Army, for a while Changsha City was in an uproar, the leisurely citizens felt the advent of the war, and even a cannonball smashed the early stall, scaring a group of citizens who drank soy milk to scatter, fortunately the shells were inferior, there was no explosion, otherwise I am afraid that these dozens of citizens have become meat sauce, as for several other places, the civilians killed by the flowering cannon are afraid of no less than dozens of people.

Many of the leaflets scattered by the reconnaissance post were picked up by the citizens and secretly circulated to each other, and when they saw that the Pingyuan Army had "a thousand artillery pieces, those who helped the evil will be bombarded into powder", and the citizens were all panicked, and Lu Mingze's journey to conquer Ding immediately became a problem, and there were few responders.

The defenders of Miaofeng, who had become the end of the strong crossbow, heard that Tianxin Pavilion was broken by the Pingyuan army, and was immediately defeated, and the Pingyuan army took advantage of the situation to cover up and kill, killing the enemy and capturing countless enemies.

The battle of Miaofeng was the most violent collision between the Pingyuan Army and the enemy after the Battle of Guangzhou, and it was also the official duel between the two major military groups of the Pingyuan Army and the Hunan Army.

Ye Zhao was depressed, but he didn't know that the world was shocked, the Hunan army's Jizi battalion was almost wiped out in this battle, the first fierce general of the Hunan army, Zeng Guoquan, was killed in battle, Changsha City has been completely exposed to the artillery fire of the Pingyuan army, tens of thousands of Hunan troops in the city, panicked and said, seeing that the fall of Changsha is a foregone conclusion.

The next day, 10,000 artillery roared, and the Pingyuan army began to bombard Changsha City, and the supplies and soldiers from Guangdong continued to be transported along the railway line to Chenzhou, and then from Chenzhou to the front line.

A few days later, a gunboat suddenly appeared in the Xiangjiang River on the bank of Changsha City, and without much effort, the transport fleet from Yuezhou was overturned one by one.

This is a small gunboat of 1,000 tons of the Guangdong Naval Division, disguised as a merchant ship, coming along the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, suddenly appearing under Changsha City, blocking the waterways of Changsha City, and the panic it brought is indescribable.

The Pingyuan army immediately launched a strong attack on the city of Changsha.

Nancheng Tianxin Pavilion was hit by the artillery fire of the Pingyuan Army, its flowering cannon battery was blown apart before the battle array, the south city wall fell down section by section, the engineering troops of the Pingyuan Army ignited the detonator explosives that had been buried earlier, the sky collapsed and the earth cracked, and a large area of the city wall collapsed in the screams of the Hunan army.

The city's sharp weapons have long since lost the power of the barrier under the gunpowder of the Pingyuan army.

The street fighting lasted for a night and gradually subsided, only the occasional gunshots rang out, it was the Pingyuan army to clear the enemy army in the city, when the king of Suzhi County and the general of Pingyuan Jingkou Jingkou entered the city, the squires in the city organized people to welcome them.

In January 1859, the Pingyuan Army defeated the Hunan Army and pacified Changsha.

The two major military groups in the head-on confrontation with the Pingyuan Army and the patrol militia suffered a total of more than 5,000 casualties, the Hunan army killed countless people, surrendered tens of thousands, Zeng Guofan led hundreds of personal soldiers to flee to Yuezhou, in Yuezhou to collect the remnants, I heard that on the way there were also weeping bitterly, wanting to kill themselves to thank the world, but were stopped by the pro-soldiers.

The second and sixth towns of the Pingyuan Army immediately rested in Changsha, and Lord Su led a special battalion composed of guard posts, patrols, and militia groups to receive the surrender of various state officials.

In the same month, the fourth town of the Pingyuan Army surveyed Fuzhou, the Huai army retreated into Zhejiang, and the green battalions of all roads in Zhejiang bravely besieged Dinghai to no avail, and Yuan Jiasan, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, suddenly led several officials to Guangzhou, attached to the Southern Dynasties, and published a telegram to the whole country.

Its realization is now said to be electrified to the whole country, but it is only the place where the telegraph is connected under the rule of the Pingyuan Army. In addition, newspapers in Shanghai, Tianjin, Yingkou and other commercial ports also received telegrams, and several newspapers all published them in the most conspicuous position on the first page.

A large delegation of Britain, France, and the United States came to Guangzhou at this time to meet Ye Zhao and the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, and the chief representative of the delegation was Sir Bahrain, who had just arrived in China.

The intention of the delegation was very clear: The dispute between the North and the South of China has seriously damaged the interests of businessmen of various countries in China, and it is because they hope to mediate the peace talks between the North and the South Korea.

In Shandong, Britain and France both obtained concessions in Weihaiwei, and had promised to help the Northern Dynasties quell the rebellion of the Twisted Army and the northern invasion of bandits, and would make every effort to promote peace between the North and the South.

(To be continued)