At this time, the night sky was bleak, and the cold moon was even more cold in the cold autumn wind, Xiao Yungui tightened the cloak on his body, only to feel that the weather was getting colder day by day. When Shi Cai walked out of the house, Xiao Yungui called Yao Yuan, the life-saving officer, to the side and instructed him to take a few reliable brothers who had recently joined in Changsha, and follow Hong Xuanjiao tomorrow, she could do whatever she wanted wherever she wanted.

Yao Yuan is a smart person, he saw that King Xi's face was sad, it must be that Queen Xi didn't give him a good look. When he was still in Jintian, in order to revitalize his husband, he even did not hesitate to use the hand of his father and brother to teach Xiwang Niang, and the big guys knew about it.

After finishing the order, seeing that Yao Yuan's face was narrow, Xiao Yungui coughed lightly and hummed: "Xiwang Niang has only arrived in Changsha, and if you are not familiar with life here, this king will let you take the local brothers in Changsha as guides to follow the way, which is a big advantage." ”

Yao Yuan hurriedly bowed down and said, "My subordinates understand that they must do this well." ”

Xiao Yungui snorted and said: "You originally worked under Brother Nanwang, and this king also appreciates your bone-setting skills, if you do things well, this king will naturally not treat you thinly, but you also have to keep your mouth shut, what to say and what not to say, you must have a number in your heart." Tomorrow, a few of you follow closely, there are still remnants of demons in the city, I want you to protect Xiwangniang every step of the way, you know? ”

Yao Yuan hurriedly agreed, Xiao Yungui nodded with satisfaction and said: "This king is going to patrol the camp tonight, so he won't come back, I'll ask Lin Qirong to bring some personal guard swordsmen to guard here later, and if you encounter trouble tomorrow, you can ask Lin Qirong for help." After finishing speaking, Xiao Yungui stepped out of the governor's yamen, Yao Yuan sighed slightly, and said with a secret smile: "This king of the West really cherishes the queen of the west." ”

Xiao Yungui went out of the governor's yamen, passed through another village, and came to Gongyuan Street, which was the most prosperous street market in Changsha, all the way was paved with granite, the shops were lined up one after another, and merchants from all sides gathered, but at this time it was late, many shops had closed, the streets were deserted, and few people passed by, and there were several teams of Taiping Army patrols passing by.

The end of Gongyuan Street is Zhengdong Street, Zhengdong Street is Xiaowu Gate again, Changsha City has nine gates, two gates were blocked at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, now there are only seven gates left, from the north ring number are the Xiangchun Gate in the north; Xiaowu Gate and Liuyang Gate in the east; the Zodiac Gate to the south; Facing the Xiangjiang River in the west, the city gate is the most, there are three in total, namely the big west gate, the small west gate and the grassland gate.

In the morning, after Li Kaifang led the troops to pursue the Hui army, he garrisoned the area of Xiaowumen, and Xiao Yungui walked through Zhengdong Street with dozens of swordsmen and came to the outside of the military camp of Xiaowumen. When the Taiping soldiers guarding the camp gate saw the arrival of the king of the west, they hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and ordered his subordinates to report that Li Kaifang had gone.

Li Kaifang was a little puzzled after receiving the report, didn't King Xi just leave his military camp not long ago? Why did you come back again? Hurriedly got up to greet him.

To the camp to pick up the king of the west, Li Kaifang led Xiao Yungui to his residence, here is a barracks converted from a southern grocery store at the end of Zhengdong Street, this is not the Taiping army forcibly occupied, after the Qing army Shaanxi soldiers arrived in Changsha, Luo Bingzhang assigned the Shaanxi soldiers to the garrison here, the Taiping army entered the city and continued to use.

When I went to the house to sit down, Xiao Yungui's old illness had not healed and his new injuries came again, and the mahogany chairs in the house were hard, and he was not very comfortable to sit on. Seeing this, Li Kaifang immediately took two soft cushions for him to cushion, and Xiao Yungui barely sat down steadily.

After taking the tea served by Li Kaifang, Xiao Yungui could see that Li Kaifang really respected and cared about himself, and saw that Li Kaifang's gum bedding was not unfolded, but there were still a few maps on the table on the side, and he said with a slight smile: "Before coming to you, I thought that you had already fallen asleep, and on the day of the war, Brother Li was still busy, and it was really a blessing for me to have such a good general to assist." ”…,

Li Kaifang heard the praise of the King of the West, and said with a slightly happy face: "It is my fortunate to be able to work under His Royal Highness the King of the West." He paused and continued: "Since the incident, the younger brother has been following the West King in the front army, and the West King has led the army to destroy the city one after another, and cherishes his subordinates, and the big guys are extremely respectful of the West King. After the younger brother returned to the city, he heard that the West King scolded himself and Zeng Shuiyuan, and the younger brother admired the West King very much. ”

Xiao Yungui waved his hand and smiled, Li Kaifang is clever and changeable, he is very sleek, and he pats himself at every opportunity, but looking at his current expression, he really admires the courage of King Taxi to scold himself, and he laughed and scolded at the moment: "You are a person, you can speak." Then he said slowly: "This king treats everyone equally, meritorious service will naturally be rewarded, and there will be natural punishment, this time in the battle of Wujialing, you and Brother Lin are the first meritorious, and the report document sent to the Chenzhou brigade has been prepared by this king." This king invites the king of heaven to seal you as the seventh inspection point on the left in front of the palace, and the brothers in the forest as the eighth inspection point on the right in front of the palace. ”

Li Kaifang was surprised and delighted when he heard this, he is now only the rank of the general system, and there are still two levels of general and commander above the general system before he reaches the position of inspection, Xiao Yungui in the first battle of Wujialing did not take the lead in his own work, and asked the king of heaven to promote himself and Lin Fengxiang to the third level, which was really good, and he got up and thanked him immediately.

Xiao Yungui raised his hand to stop, and asked again, "It's so late, what are you still busy with?" ”

Li Kaifang replied: "The junior brother is looking at the latest map of Changsha presented by the army. ”

Xiao Yungui snorted, but he remembered from Xiao Chaogui's memory that the marching soldiers needed to know what they knew, and they also needed to understand the enemy's geographical situation, study the terrain and calculate the distance of the road. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has always collected pictures and books for every gram of a city, recruited scholars to draw and map, and tested the distance of the road. When the army is about to march, it must send out a list of routes, draw all the roads it travels on paper, and distribute them to the museums, showing the trend and order, all according to the fatwa. In recent days, there have been wardens in all armies who are in charge of this matter, and the maps, county chronicles, and atlases of the city have been collected by the Taiping army, and the literate people have compiled and presented them to the generals of the various armies for illustration.

Where does Xiao Yungui have a copy, but he hasn't had time to take a closer look, hearing Li Kaifang say this, he can't help but blush slightly, people are just subordinates who can still look at the map at night, and he is the head of the army, and after returning home, he only thinks about stealing jade and stealing incense, which really makes Xiao Yungui a little embarrassed.

"Brother Li really has a heart, can you see anything?" Xiao Yungui coughed lightly, took out a dry tobacco pouch and lit it, and took two sips hard.

Li Kaifang took a map and put it on the desk next to Xiao Yungui and said: "The younger brother has been watching for a long time, and I only feel that it is not the best strategy for our army to be trapped in the city. ”

Xiao Yungui sighed, under Li Kaifang's reminder, he remembered that the battle of Yong'an was the first battle of the Taiping army to defend the city, in the face of the superior strength of the Qing army, the Taiping army creatively adopted the deployment of "guarding the danger but not guarding the wall", concentrating the main forces in the dangerous places, echoing each other and maneuvering, defending the line with points, overcoming the weakness of insufficient troops, and changing the disadvantages of one-sided reliance on the moats.

Although the Taiping Army had begun to confer officials at all levels when it was in Yong'an, and even developed to the point that all veterans had official positions, in fact, the whole army was concentrated, the orders were unified, the orders were enforced, and the response and response could be maintained quickly. In the Battle of Yong'an, the Qing army made several partial breakthroughs, but was often blocked by the Taiping army, which quickly mobilized to help.

In the deployment, the Taiping Army was good at building fortifications, not only the fortifications were perfect, but also the defensive facilities such as tunnels, ditches, and mines could be flexibly configured to form a thorough defense system; When the fortifications are destroyed by the superior artillery fire of the Qing side, or the enemy breaks through one place, it can quickly start a field battle, the front team resists, and the rear team builds a fortress to remedy, so that the dream of a quick victory of the Qing side is shattered.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yungui nodded heavily and said, "Brother Li, you're right, let's just guard the danger and not defend it, you go on." ”

Li Kaifang saw that Xiao Yungui adopted his own strategy again, his face was full of excitement, he cleared his throat and continued: "The battle of Wujialing in the morning is an example, if we can hold the important places outside the city, occupy Wujialing in the north, Kaifu Temple relies on the Liuyang River, and build fortifications in Ma'andui, Gaohedui, Gaoling Temple and other places in the east, there is a Xiangjiang River barrier in the west, and three more cannons can hold the river, and the south can defend Miaofengfeng, Cai Gong's tomb, Jinpenling and other places, so that all sides can be defended according to danger. ”

Xiao Yungui checked them one by one according to Li Kaifang's instructions on the map, and then took two puffs of smoke and said: "Okay, just do what you said Brother Li, tomorrow when Brother Lin returns to the city, let's take a look at every dangerous place from south to north, and select and assign generals to go out of the city to build fortifications and defend the danger!" ”