The inexperience of the three and the conservative thinking of cautious and stable led to the Taiping army losing the best opportunity to capture Partridge Pass, because it turned out that at that time, the cavalry led by Zhao Zhongyao was less than 2,600 people, plus the old and young women and children in the whole city were less than 4,000 people, and there was a lack of necessary defense facilities, it was difficult to play a big role with some bows and crossbows, but the Taiping army at this time had the strength of 25,000 people, and Zhao Zhongyao's follow-up troops were still forty miles away. Throwing all the forces into the attack on Partridge Pass as fast as possible, the strength of less than 4,000 men alone was simply not enough to resist it.

However, history does not have ifs, and it is difficult to predict how much impact this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will have on the Taiping army, but it is certain that the Taiping army will pay an extremely painful price.

The three wings of the 2nd Independent Division, which received an urgent order, immediately increased the pace of the march and, as required by the order, went as fast as possible, "even if they ran to the Partridge Pass with a breath left." ”

The rapid march took only more than an hour to reach the west gate of Partridge Pass, and the Taiping army at this time had just come to the east gate of Partridge Pass to set up a position.

The commander of the Taiping army quickly saw the reality of the army stationed on the city wall, and there were some civilians in civilian clothes mixed with the bloodstained robes, even so, the soldiers on the city wall still looked sparse. Without much hesitation, the main general, Mao Neng, threw a 10,000-strong onslaught with a wave of his hand, and in his opinion, perhaps only one or two charges would be enough to crush the weak defenders on the city walls.

Seeing that the soldiers of the Taiping Army holding the ladder swooped up, the soldiers of the three thousand salvos opened their bows and arrows at the same time, and there were bursts of arrow rain, suppressing the soldiers defending on the city wall so that they couldn't raise their heads at all. While dodging the whistling arrows. Zhao Zhongyao secretly complained in his heart, he didn't expect the enemy army to come so quickly, and there were so many of them, far beyond his own speculation, how long his side could hold out in this situation, he didn't know the bottom in his heart. Isn't it time to consider taking the initiative to evacuate to preserve strength? This thought crossed Zhao Zhongyao's mind like lightning, and it was immediately denied, not to mention whether it would be pursued and eliminated by the enemy army by victory, I am afraid that Lord Qin's level alone will not be able to be overcome, and if you escape from the battle, it will be cut according to the law!

Abandoning other unrealistic ideas, Zhao Zhongyao is more relaxed, there is no big difficulty except death, if you want to die, you have to die like you, don't lose the face of the Northwest Army. Taking a long breath, Zhao Zhongyao protected himself with an iron shield, and came to the battlement of the city wall with his waist bent, and groups of Taiping soldiers had approached the base of the wall, and the ladder held high was slowly erected, and he leaned towards the city wall step by step.

The defenders kept firing arrows or crossbows in their hands, but that didn't do much, and the people hiding by the battlements already had desperate looks on their faces.

Sighed softly. Zhao Zhongyao is also helpless, this is the cruelty of war. How proud of the spring breeze on his own side was light, it didn't take a while, and he immediately turned upside down, but he became a water dog.

As the shouts gradually approached, the ant-like enemy soldiers finally began to launch the final attack, and Zhao Zhongyao cheered up. Holding the nine-ring knife in his hand high, the eyes of all the soldiers fell on the shining blade of the commander, and there was a sad look on his face, waiting for the last moment to come.

"Division commander, look!" Suddenly, the soldier next to him pointed behind him in surprise. Zhao Zhongyao turned around blankly, only to see that countless soldiers on the two wall ladders were swarming up, and after a while, they had already entered the battle position on the city wall, although they could see that they were very tired, but adding so many new troops out of thin air made Zhao Zhongyao unbelievable for a while.

"Division Commander, we didn't make a mistake, right?"

The three panting subordinates came down to Zhao Zhongyao and made Zhao Zhongyao have mixed feelings, for a while, there were no other superfluous words, just a wave of their hands to let them enter the position, and a heart really fell.

The soldiers who didn't have time to rest immediately caught up with the first wave of attacks, countless ladders were raised and erected on the side of the city wall, and wave after wave of bow and arrow attacks began to slow down, so as not to cause accidental injuries to the siege soldiers on their own side, and at this moment only a real face-to-face white-knuckle battle began.

Unexpectedly, the other party's reinforcements would be replenished at this critical moment, and the Holy Cult Army, which was still attacking according to the original plan, immediately suffered a heavy blow. As you can imagine, the defensive force, which was originally only about 3,000 people, suddenly increased to 16,000 people, and the offensive and defensive forces were greatly unbalanced, and the consequences were also catastrophic.

One after another, ladders were smashed or toppled down, boulders fell like hailstones, and corpses were soon strewn all over the walls, blood spilling everywhere to form a moat. The Taiping soldiers who were lucky enough to rush to the head of the city wall were immediately surrounded by superior forces and fell under the chaotic knives, and the archers who were already ready also spread out according to the formation, and began to carry out long-range strikes on the Taiping soldiers under the city wall.

It wasn't until the archers were subjected to the counterattack from the opponent's archers from a high place that Mao Neng, the commander of the Taiping Army, found that his judgment seemed to be wrong, as if the enemy's strength was far from being as weak as he had just observed, and the opposing soldiers on the city wall seemed to have increased several times at once, endlessly inflicting heavy blows on the soldiers on his side, causing great damage to his own troops.

The other two 10,000 (cavalry) commanders also found the problem, but at this time it was already more than an hour later, and the 10,000 people who had invested had lost nearly seventy percent, but there was no response, and if they were put into the attack again, it was difficult to say how much effect would be achieved.

The three main generals also had differences because of the follow-up attack, and the commander of the Wan cavalry advocated continuing to strengthen the attack, not losing the fighters, once the enemy had a firm foothold, it would be more difficult to deal with it, and believed that the remaining 10,000 troops should also be put into the attack, and strive to conquer the Partridge Pass in one fell swoop, while the other commander was resolutely opposed, believing that the current situation between the enemy and us was unclear, and it would only bring greater losses if it continued, and it should retreat first, and make a decision after receiving accurate information about the other side.

Mao Neng fell into a dilemma, retreat, the loss is so big but the gray back, it is really difficult to explain, attack, there is no powerful equipment, some simple ladders alone can not achieve good results, not to mention that now the enemy has obviously been strengthened, he even suspects that the previous opponent's performance is a false image, it is very likely that he set a trap to lure himself into the bait, relying on the city wall as a support to consume the vitality of his side. (To be continued......)