The morning mist had not yet dissipated, the barren grass and dead branches of the four-leaf mountain were sprinkled with a thin layer of hoarfrost, and in the dry and cold wind, groups of Taiping soldiers sat quietly on the ground, their hands pious clenched into fists in front of their heads, their eyes closed, and their mouths muttering prayers.

"Heavenly Father Emperor God, the boy and others are about to fight, please Heavenly Father Emperor God, bless us and others to slay demons and eliminate demons, invincible......" Everyone recited the same thing, compared to the recruits seemed to be more energetic, and the veterans were more religious.

At first, these recruits in Hunan did not believe in this God of Heavenly Father Emperor, but the officials tirelessly chanted every day, and in a series of battles, the Taiping army was invincible, so that the recruits began to believe in this God. When facing a big war, people will always feel scared and helpless, and at this time, thinking of God, these recruits will be indescribably steadfast in their hearts, the more they believe, the more they read, the more they believe, so soon the recruits will become God's loyal soldiers.

The veterans, on the other hand, are more religious, and their reverence for God the Father is even more incomprehensible, which is where their faith and courage lie, and they can face all fearless courage, even death.

Li Yiwen was stationed on Siye Mountain, and after praying before the war, each soldier was given a piece of jerky, a bag of fried rice, half a bag of black beans, and a cow belt of water. This is all the rations for today, in the face of the desperate breakthrough of the superior forces of the Qing army, maybe these things will have to be eaten for two days.

After a hurried meal, the Tanma at the foot of the mountain waved the red flag desperately and shouted loudly: "The Qing Demon is approaching!" Prepare the armies! "The Taiping troops stationed in the forward sentry posts began to retreat, and after jumping over the trenches and barriers, they stood at the forefront.

In the morning mist, accompanied by the dull footsteps, the neat trumpet of the Qing army shouted, and the sonorous sound was endless, and the gray figure of the Qing army finally showed its true body from the mist.

The Taiping army at the front raised the red flag high, the apricot yellow banner on the hill was erected, the pawn flag, the brigade commander flag, the division commander flag, and the military flags at all levels were erected one after another.

The first two cannons fell more than 30 steps in front of the Qing army's marching formation, obviously the Qing army had not yet entered the firing range, but the stone bullets with a huge momentum, jumped into the Qing army's formation, and killed several unlucky Qing soldiers, but the other Qing troops still moved forward unhurriedly and calmly.

Li Yiwen personally sat on top of the artillery array, and when he saw the momentum of the Qing army from afar, he couldn't help but gasp: "These Qing demons are not the same as usual, it seems that they already know that they can only escape by fighting to the death, and they ordered all armies to strictly defend themselves!" Today's battle is different from the past, and no one is allowed to take a step back until the moment of zuihou! ”

At this time, the artillery of the Qing army began to roar, and the cannonballs fell on the trenches in the front line, rejecting horses, smashing out bullet marks one by one, and the cannons of the Taiping army also rang out, and at this time, the dense stone bullets caused a lot of damage to the Qing army.

The Qing army at all levels drew their swords and shouted, and the pace of the Qing army began to quicken, starting from trotting to galloping, and rushing straight to the trench of the Taiping army.

The Qing soldiers in the first row held rattan cards and steel knives in their hands, rushed to the edge of the trench and stood up, the rattan cards were erected as cover, and the shotgunners in the back began to bombard the mountains, and the Qing soldiers in the middle screamed and slid down the trench with ladders and planks in their hands, preparing to build a bridge on the trench, so that the Qing troops behind could rush up.

The trench is full of bamboo sticks, sharp dead branches and other things, there was no place to stand, the Qing army first threw down the plank, and then people jumped up, they could zhanzhu in the deep trench, and then the wooden ladder was built along the top of the head, and the wooden ladder was paved with wooden planks, and people could walk on it.

Li Yiwen also admired Xiang Rong's intelligence, crossing the trench for such a small matter, he could think so thoughtfully, it seems that this is what King Xi said The details determine success or failure. Fortunately, he was also prepared, and immediately pushed more than a dozen firewood and grass balls over after drinking the mountain. These dozen firewood and grass balls are made of dead branches, dry grass woven into balls, there are more than one person tall but very light, generally when guarding the mountain can prepare a dozen, once the enemy swarms, ignite the firewood and grass balls and roll down the mountain, who can resist the raging fire?

Li Yiwen drank the firewood and grass ball to prepare, and waited for the Qing army to rush to the third trench before casting it, otherwise the fireball would roll into the third trench and not hurt the Qing army.

On the mountain ridge, the Taiping army desperately shot at the Qing army under the mountain with bows and shotguns, and the artillery fire, bird guns, and arrows of the Qing army under the mountain were also constantly fired, and the casualties of the Qing army were even more heavy in comparison, and in just half an hour, hundreds of corpses were lying at the foot of the mountain. However, relying on these casualties, the Qing army finally broke through the third trench, and flocked to the hill with short soldiers in high arms.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Li Yiwen gave an order, and more than ten firewood and grass balls lit a raging fire and rolled down the hillside. The Qing army that rushed to kill could not withstand the flames, so they had to avoid one after another, and the firewood and grass balls rolled into the third trench, and when they touched the dead branches in the trench, they instantly ignited a fire. At this time, the weather was dry and the wind was strong, and the wind in the trench suddenly helped the fire spread, forming a wall of fire, and the follow-up Qing army could not rush up.

Li Yiwen shouted and waved his flag, and the Taiping troops in the mountains rushed down the mountain with their swords and guns high, and soon fought hand-to-hand with the Qing army who had crossed the third trench. The Qing shotgunners in the back were afraid of their own family, so they didn't dare to shoot, but just shot at the mountain. The Qing army behind the trench was blocked by the fire and could not go up to the rescue, and the Qianzong who led the troops was so anxious that he stomped his feet.

Xiang Rong, who was supervising the battle not far away, looked at the battle situation of Siye Mountain with a clairvoyant mirror, and sneered predictably: "This long-haired thief is really very cunning, give me an order, and the former army shotgunners will fight wherever they have the most people!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the generals around him exclaimed: "Junmen, we still have brothers fighting against the long-haired thief!" ”

Xiang Rong's face did not change, and he said lightly: "The retreat has been cut off, and he has become a loser, and sooner or later he will die at the hands of the long-haired thief. Then he turned around and looked at the generals coldly and said: "The number of long-haired thieves is less than ours, and it is worth it for us to change one by one!" ”

All the generals gasped, Xiang Rong was really ruthless, not only to the enemy, but also to his own people.

For a while, behind the third trench, the Qing army and the Taiping army were shot and fell to the ground, and even the Qing artillery was aimed at this place, and the soldiers on both sides made loud noises, shouting and killing and terrible screams.

Li Yiwen opened his mouth wide, he didn't expect Xiang Rong to be so ferocious, he didn't even care about his own people, a cannon bombardment came, the hundreds of Qing troops who broke through the third trench were of course suffering heavy casualties, and the four hundred Taiping troops who came forward to fight hand-to-hand were also more than half of the casualties. After hesitating for a moment, Li Yiwen had no choice but to order the rest of the people to retreat. Amid the sound of gunfire, only more than 80 Taiping troops retreated to the mountain, and the Qing army was completely annihilated.

After the Qing army waited for the fire to be a little smaller, they began to swarm and attack Siye Mountain. The soil at the foot of the mountain has been soaked into a dark red by the flesh and blood, and the Qing army is still swarming on the mutilated corpses at the foot of the mountain. In the past, the Qing army attacked the important places of the Taiping army, and once it was frustrated, it would find another side, and it was not desperate to attack, but this time it was a trapped beast, and every Qing army seemed to have burst out with extraordinary courage in the predicament. And once you kill people who are red-eyed in the war, who have been stimulated by killing and blood, the ferocity that erupts cannot be contained.

After the Qing army rushed up, the Taiping army on the mountain fired artillery, muskets, bows and arrows, and stones down the mountain. After repeating this several times, Rao is Qing army was much more courageous than before, but it could not withstand such a tragic fight, and after repeatedly rushing and killing several times, the Qing army began to gradually weaken, and there was already a cowering attitude. Seeing this scene, Xiang Rong ordered Du Si Ji Shengmai to personally lead his guards to supervise the battle, and anyone who flinched would be beheaded on the spot.

More than ten heads commanded in front of the Qing army's array, and Ji Shengmai shouted: "Those who rush up the mountain first will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver, and those who retreat will be killed!" Under the coercion and temptation of Xiang Rong, the Qing army mustered up the courage to storm Siye Mountain.

The Qing army and the Taiping army were very strange, Xiang Rong had been attacking Siye Mountain like crazy, but he turned a blind eye to Niuwan Ridge and Pingtou Ridge, and Li Yiwen gradually couldn't support more than 1,000 people in Siye Mountain, and began to send people to the Xiwang camp behind for help.

Since the opening of the war, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang have been camping in the back mountain to supervise the battle, and the subordinates sent out to report the battle situation from time to time, when Xiang Rong has been biting the Four Leaves Mountain, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang feel bad. Sure enough, after two hours of fierce fighting, Li Yiwen began to ask for help.

When he came to ask for help for the first time, Xiao Yungui just said lightly: "Go back and tell Li Yiwen that if you fight to the death, this king has no reinforcements for him." ”

After another half an hour, Li Yiwen's card knife hand came to report covered in blood: "King Xi, General Li has led people to personally rush into battle, please send reinforcements." ”

Xiao Yungui still gritted his teeth and said: "Tell Li Yiwen that this king has no reinforcements, only more than 100 heads in the camp, do you want this king to go up with you?!" ”

The third time, Li Kaifang sent someone to say that the Qing demon in Siye Mountain was rampant, and he was willing to lead the defenders of Niuwanling and Pingtouling to rush to help.

Xiao Yungui shouted angrily: "Go back and tell Li Kaifang that the old thief Xiang Rong is waiting for us to mobilize the defenders of Niuwanling and Pingtouling, as long as you move there, Xiang Rong will definitely mobilize new forces to rush to Niuwanling and Pingtouling, his real purpose is to break through to your side!" Tell Li Kaifang that even if there is no one left in Siye Mountain, not one of the soldiers and horses in Niuwanling and Pingtouling is allowed to move! ”

Standing up with Xiao Yungui's voice, he said to Zuo Zongtang: "The camp is guarded by Mr. Lao, and this king will bring people up to fight, and Lao Tzu won't believe that I can't control the field when I go out in person!" ”