At noon, the Qing army set up a pontoon bridge at the Liujia ferry of the Liuyang River, a large number of Qing troops began to cross the river, the Qing army Xiao commanded more than 1,500 people of the front army of Taqib crossed the river in advance, this place is too close to Changsha City, Taqib crossed the river and immediately ordered the soldiers to bravely deploy along the river, in case the long hair on the side of Changsha suddenly killed.

Seeing that the front team had crossed the river, Bao Qibao was about to order his subordinate lieutenants to escort him to follow him across the river, and suddenly saw a blue tweed official sedan chair hurriedly coming under the escort of more than ten soldiers and Goshha.

Next to the official sedan chair, a Goshha opened the sedan curtain, and an old man about sixty years old got down from the sedan chair, this old man was wearing the official uniform of a first-class official of the Qing court, although he was old but in good spirits, a pair of eagle eyes looked at the dense Qing army on both sides of the river, and his face was as light as water.

When Bao Qibao saw this old man, he frowned slightly, it turned out that this old man was Luo Huandian, the deputy minister of military affairs of Hunan in the Qing court. Daoguang nine years of Jinshi, selected Shu Jishi, awarded the editor, successively served as Shuntian, Sichuan Township Examination Examiner, Shanxi Pingyang Prefect, Shaanxi Governor of the Grain Road, Shanxi according to the inspector. Daoguang served as the political envoy of Guizhou in 24 years, and was praised by Lin Zexu, who was the governor at the time. In the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang, he was promoted to governor of Hubei. Ding You, who returned to his hometown in Hubei, served this year, Emperor Xianfeng planned to edict him to serve as the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, replacing Lin Zexu, who died of illness, but Luo Huandian was ready to leave for Yunnan and Guizhou, and Changmao had already entered Hunan, and Emperor Xianfeng had to order Luo Huandian to go to Changsha to help with military affairs.

Luo Huandian arrived in Changsha in May, and Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang and Admiral Bao Qibao together to rectify the Hunan military affairs, in addition to supplying the grain and grass supply of the besieging Chenzhou army, but also to supervise the construction of the earth city at the south gate, from Baisha Street in the north to Dachun Bridge in the south, and re-organize the township Yong, hundreds of Liuyang Township Yong were compiled and trained in his hands. This old man really helped with a lot of military affairs, but he didn't expect Changsha City to fall, and it fell so quickly.

Bao Qibao stepped forward and arched his hand: "You are always waiting for the news behind, and you don't need to work for your old relatives to come to the front." ”

Luo Huandian's eyes flashed, and he sighed: "Bao Junmen, how can you let the old man sit in the back, the saint is as kind as the sky, and the edict ordered the old man to help with Hunan military affairs, and he has not done an inch in the provincial capital for several months, and the thieves attacked the city and broke the city in one day, the old man is ashamed of the grace of the monarch's father, how can he see the Hunan father?" When the city is broken, the old man should be martyred with Luo Ruzhai. ”

As he spoke, Luo Huandian actually wept, took out a silk scarf and wiped his tears, Bao Qibao persuaded in a low voice: "The prince is relieved, Luo Futai saw that the thieves were fierce that day, so he came up with this plan to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle, let me wait for the two to lead the army to withdraw from the city, and join the Hubei reinforcement Xu Tuke to restore the provincial city, and gather the thieves in the city to exterminate them together." Jiegong, you are not a Hunan official, but an assistant Hunan military minister, you should focus on suppressing thieves, and the crime of trapping the city and losing land is borne by the lower officials and Luo Futai. As long as we can retake Changsha, the Holy Benevolence will forgive us for our sins. ”

Luo Huandian slowly bowed his head and said: "That's why the old man came to the army, even if he was beating drums and cheering for the soldiers, in short, the old man can't watch from the wall." ”

Bao Qibao said with a sigh of arch of his hand: "Jiegong, you are a civil official in front of the battle to supervise the battle, let me wait for the military attache to be in awe, since this is the case, please Jiegong with the artillery team to cross the south, the young general first across the river to deploy, the rebel thief is fierce, I learned that our army is new, will lead the army out of the city to invite the battle, the young general first deploy the camp to frustrate his spirit, and then march to attack Changsha City, what do you think?" ”

Luo Huandian muttered: "The military horses should stand firm first when crossing the river, and they must defend this pontoon bridge when they fight against the water, and Bao Junmen should send heavy troops to guard the pontoon bridge, and the smooth grain road can inspire the soldiers to move forward bravely." ”…,

Bao Qibao arched his hand and said: "What the prince said is very true, and the young general will cross the river first." At that moment, the two parted ways, Bao Qibao followed the two thousand Chinese troops to cross the river in advance, and Luo Raodian urged the artillery team to pack up their baggage and prepare to cross the river.

Just when Bao Qibao stepped on the shallows on the south bank, Taqib's front army had approached Wujialing, but saw a thick black wolf smoke rising up from the top of Wujialing Mountain, followed by countless flags erected above Wujialing, and countless red turbans emerged from the barren grass and dense forests of Wujialing.

Following the rain of stones and arrows that rained down like hail, Tazib's former army rushed around and turned around, only hating his father and mother for giving birth to two legs. Following the smoke of gunpowder on the ridge, the deafening cannon sound sounded, and the solid shells rained down, falling on the chrysanthemum stones on the river beach, and the round shells rolled happily, plowing out a bloody road in the dense Qing army array.

The Qing army on the south bank was frightened by this sudden blow, the enemy's artillery fire on the ridge was fierce, and under the solid projectiles flying stones, the place where they passed was either to take away half of the Qing army's brave body, or to take away a leg to scream, seeing that the companion next to him was seriously injured, and he couldn't die for a while, the sound of wailing and screaming stimulated the Qing army's green battalion soldiers on the south bank.

Yong He, who had been absent from the battle formation for a long time, had never seen such a bloody scene, and they all fled to the pontoon bridge with a shout. Bao Qibao just got off the pontoon bridge, and saw the ambush of the long-haired thief on Wujialing, his face became pale, but he didn't expect the long-haired thief to be ambushed under his nose, and the sentinels sent out should be beheaded, but he didn't find the long-haired ambush on Wujialing!

Now Bao Qibao also raised his courage, it is better to fight than to die, and immediately pulled out the sword on his waist and shouted: "There is no way to retreat, rush up, kill the thief!" Before the words fell, a solid projectile seemed to have eyes, jumping and jumping with huge kinetic energy, rushing through the chest, Bao Qibao's eyes widened, staring blankly at the hole the size of a basin in his chest, and he fell to the ground and died in front of him.

Wujialing was only two miles away from the place where the Qing army crossed the river, and this time the artillery brought by Li Kaifang and others was able to hit up and down for two miles, and the Qing army was concentrated on the beachhead on the south bank, which happened to be a live target for the artillery to exert its firepower.

Seeing that Bao Qibao was killed by a cannon, several Goshha who were guarding on the side were frightened, grabbed Bao Qibao's body together, and fled to the north shore with it.

Luo Raodian on the north shore was also stunned for a while, there were actually long-haired ambushes on Wujialing, which was still calm, and there were artillery arrays, which was really incredible. The old man was shocked, but immediately came back to his senses, and ordered the artillery team to redeploy the artillery along the river and fire back.

There are four 3,000-pound cannons in the artillery team of the Qing army on the north bank, the firing range is up and down in four miles, slightly farther than the long-haired artillery on Wujialing, when the four artillery pieces are erected, the tom tom put three cannons, when the fourth cannon is released, this artillery actually exploded, the huge air wave flew to the side of the artillery were lifted up, smashed to death a lot of Qing soldiers brave, followed by the fire ignited the powder keg placed on the side, a sea of fire spread, the Qing army artillery array was in chaos.

It is also strange that the green battalion soldiers neglected to drill firearms, and hurriedly set up the cannons, and the fourth cannon was brave and anxious to put more gunpowder, and the fourth cannon was an old cannon cast in clay molds, and there were a lot of trachoma, which could not withstand the excessive gunpowder burning, and exploded on the spot.

Luo Raodian was shocked by the air wave, and looked at the artillery array of a sea of fire and shouted sadly: "God mourns me!" God forbids me! At this moment, a large number of long-haired thieves with red turbans rushed to the east of Liujiadu of the Qing army, and the Qing army could not care about each other, and the rout was already a matter of time.

At the same time, above the north gate of Changsha City, Xiao Yungui, Ji Wenyuan and others went to the city to watch, only to hear the rumbling of Wujialing cannons in the distance north of the city, Ji Wenyuan said with great joy: "The fight has started, and the Qing demon must be ambushed!" ”

Xiao Yungui said indifferently: "Quickly send a scout horse out of the city, listen to the truth, and see if Lin and Li need the reinforcement of the soldiers and horses in the city." ”

The sentinel came out of the north gate, only to see Tong Qiangsheng rushing to the city with a bloody face, crying to the ground and saying loudly: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, the women's camp and the Tong camp led by the Queen of the West were surrounded by more than 900 people from the Qing Demon Deng Shaoliang Department in Dongjingpu, and the situation is critical, please ask His Royal Highness the King of the West to send rescue troops quickly." ”