There is anther mountain in the southwest of Hengyang City, this mountain lives Yue Ping Mountain again, it is said that there are Huang and Ge two immortals in the mountain to make alchemy in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Under the anther mountain, there is the Guangxiao Bao'en Temple that was built in the fifth year of Baoyou of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, the Anther Temple, the temple is solemn, majestic, quiet and elegant, and it is one of the four major Buddhist jungles in Hengyang at that time. There is a spring stream well in the west of the temple, the water is clear and clear, the gilded carved dragon on the temple is inverted, the water ripples, the dragon shape is hidden from time to time, if there is nothing, it is known as "anther spring stream dragon claw", it is also one of the eight views of Hengyang.

But at this moment, the tranquility of the anther mountain and the anther temple was broken, thousands of Taiping soldiers with red scarves rushed here, occupied the anther mountain and the anther temple, there were originally five hundred Qing troops stationed on the mountain, in the early morning mist, they were chased and driven by the Taiping army, leaving hundreds of corpses, the rest of the people fled all the way back to Hengzhou City.

When Xiao Yungui rushed to Huayi Mountain with Zuo Zongtang and more than 100 personal guards, the forward army on the mountain had already erected the apricot yellow banner of Fengtian and the demon, and more than ten mountain-splitting cannons under the banner were spitting flames, bombarding the Qing military camp and stronghold outside Hengzhou City.

In the rumbling cannon, Xiao Yungui stood at the highest place of the anther mountain and looked out, only to see that Hengzhou City is located on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, as long and narrow as a jade belt, the south of the city has been completely exposed to the artillery fire of the Taiping army, the houses and houses in the south of the city have been damaged a lot, and there are still many Qing troops outside the city who are panicked to enter the city, but the city gate is not open.

"Later, the thousand-pound cannons will be transported up, and the south of the city will continue to be bombarded, and the former army Lin Fengxiang and Lin Qirong will be ordered to prepare to take advantage of the chaos of the Qing army to attack the city, and the rear army Ji Wenyuan and Zhu Xineng will take the anther mountain as an important place to build a camp in the south of the city to connect the pontoon bridge on Dongzhou Island." After Xiao Yungui passed down the order, he looked at Zuo Zongtang and said with a smile: "Sir, it is really a clever plan, after capturing Hengshan County, we will let our army's middle road and left army cross the Xiangjiang River in Hengshan County to the east, and from the east bank of the Xiangjiang River along Liuxia Town and Dapu Town, the Qing army only said that we will go south along the official road from Hengshan County to Hengzhou, and our attention is focused on the north, but I didn't expect that we would play a dark light, fight from Dongzhou Island in the south of Wantang, cross the Xiangjiang River in the west, and attack the city in the south of the city. ”

Zuo Zongtang said lightly: "Zuo is a Hunan person, of course the geography here is familiar with the chest, after the siege of the south of the city begins, I hope that the left army in the north can also take advantage of the situation to seize the Qingcao Bridge and attack the north gate, so that the Qing army can not take care of each other." Then he paused, and said with some hesitation: "But there is Hengzhou Shigu Academy in the north of the city, and it is a pity that it was destroyed in the war." ”

This is the third time that Zuo Zongtang has nagged in Xiao Yungui's ear about the Stone Drum Academy, which was built in the Tang Dynasty in Hengzhou Stone Drum Mountain, hence the name. In the second year of the Taiping rejuvenation of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyi of Taizong of the Song Dynasty gave the "Stone Drum Academy" plaque and Xuetian. In the third year of Song Taizong's reign, Li Shizhen, a native of the state, asked the county guard to establish a formal academy here to recruit students and give lectures. In the second year of Song Renzong's reign, Liu Xin, who had served as the head of Jixian Palace, served as the prefect of Hengzhou. At this time, he reported the story of the Stone Drum Academy to the emperor, and after Song Renzong read it, he gave the "Stone Drum Academy". Because the Stone Drum Academy was "exclusive" twice by the emperor of the Song Dynasty, it entered the "heyday" period of the Stone Drum Academy, and became the first of the four major academies of the Song Dynasty with Suiyang, Yuelu and Bailu Cave at that time.

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Chengchou, the minister of economic strategy, waved his troops south to attack the Southern Ming Dynasty and used the Shigu Academy as a military command post. In the same year, Yuan Kuoyu, the governor of Pianyuan, went to the Qing court and applied for the reconstruction of the Shigu Academy, and Yu Tianpu, the magistrate of Hengyang County, was specifically responsible for the restoration project. At this time, there are buildings such as Hejiang Pavilion, Yuwang Tablet, Wuhou Temple, Daguan Building, Lecture Hall, Zhongjie Temple, Seven Sages Temple and so on on the mountain. Shigu Academy was the first academy allowed by the Qing government to be restored, and during this period, the academy was transformed into a scholarly place for teaching and cultivating talents for imperial examinations.

Xiao Yungui pondered for a moment and said: "Mr. Zuo, according to you, this Shigu Academy is the first academy restored after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, and it represents the foundation of Manchu servile Confucianism, even if it is destroyed, this king promises you that in the future, we will build another academy here, and restore the academy like that in the Song Dynasty, it is also our own academy of the Han people!" What is taught in it is our broad and profound Han Confucianism, which is the real study of application to the world, not the stubborn Baguwen! All things imposed or tampered with by the Manchu Qing Dynasty can only be restored to their former outlook only when they are broken and then established! Then he looked at Zuo Zongtang's braided hair, and said with a slight smile: "We can cut off the tangible braids, but can we get rid of the braids in our hearts for two hundred years?" ”

His words were born from what Gu Hongming said in "The Great Cause of the Founding of the Party", at present, the Taiping army wants to break the old Shijie, overthrow the Manchu Dynasty, and rebuild the Han Dynasty, in fact, the biggest obstacle is the braid in people's hearts. Shigu Academy is like a banner of Manchu Confucianism, and stubborn thoughts have always been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, even if Zuo Zongtang cut off his braids, but in his consciousness, he is still subtly worried about the future of Shigu Academy, so Xiao Yungui deliberately said it. After Zuo Zongtang heard this, he really felt a pang in his heart, lowered his head and thought about it, and muttered from time to time: "Visible braids, invisible braids? ”

Xiao Yungui didn't bother him, with Zuo Zongtang's intelligence, this problem had to be figured out by himself, so he stepped aside and focused on commanding the war.

But the next battle did not go well, the Taiping army transported to the anther mountain cannon was mostly 400 catties of small cannons, Xiao Yungui ordered people to transport the 1,000 catties of cannons on the east bank as soon as possible. But the artillery team of the Taiping Army in the urging sound of the cannon across the Dongzhou Island pontoon bridge but there was an accident, the Dongzhou Island pontoon bridge was made overnight last night, quite rough, people and horses and four hundred pounds of artillery through are a little swaying, after the jack cannon came up, the pontoon bridge could not withstand the heavy pressure, it actually broke, a jack cannon sank into the water, fortunately, the gunner fell into the water and had a companion who knew the water to rescue, there were no casualties, but the pontoon bridge was broken and caused the east and west sides of the strait to transport troops and food were not smooth, Xiao Yungui had to order to suspend the siege, Ordered all armies to rush through the pontoon bridge first.

Later, bad luck followed, the siege battle in the south of the city was temporarily suspended because the artillery fire did not arrive, and the pontoon bridge was broken, and more than 4,000 people led by Li Kaifang, Li Yiwen, Zeng Tianyang, He Zhenchuan and others on the right route army in the north appeared on time in the north of Hengzhou. The Qing army guarding the bridge fled back to the city in panic, but before leaving, the Qing army poured fire oil on the bridge and burned it, intending to prevent the Taiping army from crossing the bridge, and at the same time allowing himself to have time to escape back to the city.

When the Taiping army in the north grabbed the Qingcao bridgehead, the fire was already uncontrollable, and the four generals Li Kaifang and Li Yiwen had to watch the 800-year-old wooden bridge burn down. The Taiping army in the north could not cross the Cao River, so they had to look for boats and timber on the north bank to organize people to repair pontoon bridges to cross the river.

Originally, a surprise attack that could make the Qing army unable to take care of each other, was shelved for various reasons, and Hechun, who came to his senses, knew that Changmao was really here this time, and he did not dare to slack off, so he hurriedly strengthened the defense of the city walls on both sides of the north and south, and at the same time sent people to flee to Leiyang and Youxian in disguise as refugees, and at the same time asked Xu Guangjin and Xiang Rong for help.

In the evening, the pontoon bridge on Dongzhou Island was restored first, and a jack cannon of Zuihou was also transported to Huayi Mountain, and condescendingly began to bombard the south of Hengzhou City. During this period, Xiao Yungui organized several manpower to seize the dwellings on the outskirts of the south of the city, and began to prepare for the siege of the city based on the strong dwellings.

The Qing army in the south of the city did not show weakness, set up cannons to fight back, and for a time the guns and arrows in the south of the city rained down, and the houses and houses were almost destroyed. Hengzhou is an important place for the Qing army to hoard materials, in addition to sufficient money and food, there are 12 newly cast 3,000 catties of iron cannons in the city, and the vicious Hechun put all the twelve new cannons in the south of the city, which once suppressed the Taiping army and could not get close to the city wall. It was getting dark, and the fierce battle between the two sides gradually weakened.

Xiao Yungui also noticed that the firepower of the Qing army was superior to his own, and thought that his body seemed to be very attractive to cannonballs, so he never dared to give the order to attack the city on a large scale. When night fell, Xiao Yungui remembered that in the Battle of Changsha in history, the Taiping army had engaged in the siege of the cave, so he asked Lin Fengxiang, who was in front, to prepare to take advantage of the dark night to start digging tunnels from the houses in the south of the city.

Thinking of the Taiping army's siege of the city in history, Xiao Yungui also knew that it was extremely easy to be destroyed by people when he excavated a single-layer tunnel, so he told Lin Fengxiang as soon as he came up and asked him to send someone to dig a double-layer tunnel, which was shaped like a zigzag protrusion and reached under the city gate. In several other places, he also pretended to dig tunnels to advance in order to confuse the Qing army. At the same time, Xiao Yungui ordered the artillery array of Huayi Mountain to fire from time to time, disturbing the sight of the Qing army.

The Qing army did not expect that the Taiping army would also fire artillery after dark, and Chun relied on the abundant medicine in the city, and ordered the return fire, and for a time the south of the city was lively again, but there was no accuracy in the night, as long as it was not too unlucky, it was generally not injured by artillery fire. But Xiao Yungui didn't dare to risk himself, his character and luck didn't seem to be very good, so he kept hiding behind and discussing military affairs with Zuo Zongtang.

The houses in the southern part of the city were already very close to the city wall, and the excavation was half completed overnight. After dawn, Xiao Yungui changed the rear army Ji Wenyuan and Zhu Xineng's troops to feint and continue to attract the attention of the Qing army, and Lin Fengxiang's troops continued to dig tunnels.

However, Ji Wenyuan, Zhu Xineng and other troops attacked several times on the table desk, were repelled by the Qing army's artillery fire, and more than 100 people were killed. The Taiping army under the city was all stunned when they saw this, and secretly gritted their teeth, waiting for the moment when the city was broken to kill all these demons.

At the third watch of the night, the tunnel has been dug into the city, there are many old brothers of Guixi silver mine among the people and horses in the West Hall of the Taiping Army, all of whom are the old department of the King of the West, and the best thing is to attack the soil, after the tunnel is dug up, according to the thickness of the soil layer and the size of the city wall, tens of thousands of catties of red medicine are placed in the two layers of tunnels to prepare for blasting. These red pills are two-thirds of the medicine of the Southern Route Army, and if they can't break through the South Gate, Xiao Yungui will have to attack strongly.