A group of Taiping soldiers carried hundreds of yellow flags out of the team, and after a while, they crossed the Liuyang River and looked at Liuyang County. Walking in the queue of the Taiping army, I saw that the Taiping army was divided into three columns to move forward, the middle team was small, the number of the two wings was large, the two wings were protruding forward, and the middle team was slightly behind, which was slightly strange than the ordinary officer army.

Zuo Zongtang couldn't see the power of such a march for a while, but he always felt that the spirit of slaughter in the army was very deep, and the sergeants of the three columns were all walking fast and slow, and their steps were very neat. Unexpectedly, the military discipline of the long-haired thief was strict, so that Zuo Zongtang was stunned.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask Xiao Yungui about the beauty of the method of marching, Zuo Zongtang was a little anxious when he reached the mouth, secretly thinking that he was brighter than he is today, and he was conceited that he was better at the classics of history and the art of war, and he knew everything, but now he couldn't see the method of marching with long hair, and he was a little uncomfortable when he asked each other.

Walking out of the line again, Zuo Zongtang couldn't hold it back, and when he lowered his face and was about to open his mouth to ask, he saw that at the front of the team, a red flag was erected on the left and right, followed by several low horns.

Zuo Zongtang didn't understand what was happening, but he saw the generals at all levels in the long-haired queue tear up their throats and shouted: "The demon is coming!" Change formations! Change formations! "A group of sergeants in the middle of the long-haired army formation immediately divided the left and right halves, and divided the left and right flanks, and the whole queue became two teams.

Following the left and right wings, there is a yellow flag raised high in the front, middle and rear sections, and the left and right teams are divided into three sections of men and horses, the head and tail are bent and hooked, gathered in an instant, and formed a circle to meet the enemy, and the action is rapid and jaw-dropping, which shows that the method of sudden encounter and battle change formation in this kind of march is very familiar with long hair.

Zuo Zongtang was led by Xiao Yungui and moved into the circle in the middle of the left wing, while Deng Yi and others were pulled into the middle of the right wing by the card knife hand. The circle formation of the Taiping army squatted down with rattan long knives as the avant-garde, a row of spearmen in the rear to protect the wings, and the third row was a shotgun standing with guns in hand.

This has arrived near Zhangshutou Village in Liuyang County, there are several ponds in front here, and an official road in the middle winds up, during which the forests and aquatic plants are dense, and the sound of crying and the laughter and scolding of the Qing army can be heard in the distance. The soldiers of the Taiping Army waited silently, and the entire circle was quiet, but the strong killing intent was already hovering in the sky.

Zuo Zongtang came to the battle for the first time, his palms were full of sweat, his heart was beating wildly, and he didn't know what would come out of the official road for a while. Thinking of this, Zuo Zongtang faintly had a strange feeling in his heart, as if he wanted Changmao to win.

After a while, I saw a group of ordinary people on the official road crying and shouting for their mothers, and I saw that most of these people were old and weak, women and children, with large bags and small bags on their bodies, and some of them tied live chickens and ducks to their bodies to flee for their lives. Zuo Zongtang knew that the people in the countryside had always been poor, and some people's chickens and ducks were the most valuable things. Seeing that many young women in the crowd had blackened their faces, and they were running away with the flow of people in a panic, Zuo Zongtang's face was slightly red, and he also knew why these peasant girls had to smear their faces, and he couldn't help but secretly scold the officials and soldiers for being shameless.

There are always two or three hundred people in this group of people, before and after passing the pond, but they didn't think that there would be countless red turban men and horses ambushing after the dense forest and grass by the pond, and a few young descendants who ran in front were so frightened that they sat on the ground, and when the people saw clearly that the people in front of them were the legendary long-haired thieves, they couldn't help but cry louder, there were tigers in front of them, and hungry wolves in the back, how should this be good?

Just as the people were crying and wailing, they thought of a few people in the long hair shouting loudly in Hunanese: "Folks, run to Changsha City, the Taiping holy soldiers over there don't kill people or rob things." We're going to fight the officers and soldiers here, run quickly, we'll die if it's too late. ”…,

The people woke up like a dream, and Long Hair was preparing to fight the official army here, and the people cheered and jumped at the moment, and ran away to the middle road. When many people passed by the round formation, they shouted one after another: "Long-haired and good-looking, kill a few more dog officers and soldiers!" "My sister has been spoiled by these beasts, and the long-haired brother has avenged me!"

These words floated in, Zuo Zongtang felt very harsh, and secretly sighed that the people who were officials in the court were not strict, and they had ravaged the people in the countryside like this. But after thinking about it, I felt a little disappointed, I was still a cloth cloth, how could I participate in these evil generals? I had to smile bitterly and shook my head, but in a blink of an eye, I saw that Deng Yi and the others were all hanging their heads, and they seemed to be even more ashamed to cover their heads.

Soon after the people left, a few more people rushed over, behind them was the Qing army soldiers with hideous expressions, one by one wearing a big cool hat, the big word of courage on the chest was very eye-catching, a few people who ran slowly were chased by them and hacked to death, and the valuable things on their bodies were looted, followed by the Qing soldiers Yong selected a few younger men's corpses, cut off the heads, cut off the braids with another knife, and followed daxiao up and said: "These are all long-haired thieves and spies, and they will take the heads to ask for rewards later!" ”

Zuo Zongtang was far away, although he didn't hear what a few people were saying, but looking at their practices, he knew that it was a common trick of the officials and soldiers to kill good and take risks, although he heard a lot about the officials and soldiers doing this, but when he saw it with his own eyes today, he couldn't help but rush up angrily, and his eyes cracked and scolded in a low voice: "These dog thieves are really not as good as pigs and dogs!" ”

Xiao Yungui on the side sighed slightly, looking at Zuo Zongtang couldn't help laughing, Zuo Zongtang frowned and said, "King Xi, do you still have some conscience?" Can you still laugh at this time? ”

Xiao Yungui coughed lightly and said, "This king is laughing at you, why is Mr. Zuo also scolding the official army?" ”

Zuo Zongtang snorted lightly and said: "Shouldn't you be scolded for ravaging the township and killing the people?" ”

Xiao Yungui hummed and said: "It's time to scold, I'm afraid that you won't be able to keep your mouth shut, and you keep scolding Emperor Xianfeng." ”

Zuo Zongtang hesitated for a moment and said: "The saint is far away in the capital, and he doesn't know what happened here......

Xiao Yungui raised his hand to interrupt him and said: "You don't want to defend Emperor Dog, there is a court message from Emperor Xianfeng to Luo Bingzhang in the yamen of Changsha Governor, which mentioned that the soldiers of other provinces are brave and arrogant, and Emperor Xianfeng said that he has strictly ordered Xiang Rong, Qin Dingsan and others to extort their subordinates, and you don't say that he doesn't know about it." ”

Zuo Zongtang was angry, and Wu defended himself: "The saint is worried about provoking a mutiny, so he has to do it as a last resort. ”

Xiao Yungui said with a straight face: "It's nonsense, why can my Taiping Holy Soldier be kind to the people?" Mr. Zuo, how long do you have to hold on? ”

Zuo Zongtang's face darkened, and he was speechless in a daze. At this time, several Qing soldiers bravely took the heads of the people and did not continue to pursue, turned back and walked back, and after a while, hundreds of Qing soldiers came in groups, and the banner was Wang Jialin, the chief soldier of Hebei Town.

Xiao Yungui sighed lightly and said, "Sir, let's think about it, let's move the formation now, follow this king, don't get separated." ”

Zuo Zongtang woke up in shock when he heard this, but saw that the long hair really began to change formations, and the middle and rear circles on the left and right wings quietly moved forward, and after being level with the front circle array, they were quietly moving to the left and right, faintly bypassing the pond in front of him. Only then did Zuo Zongtang see that Xiao Yungui was planning to engage the enemy in the front line first, and then go out to surround him, or deceive him by deceit, and ambush troops to surround the enemy.

The Qing army's leading soldiers and horses quickly broke through the road of the pond, but they didn't expect that a large circle of red turbans and long-haired thieves appeared in front of them behind the forest by the pond, and the crisp gunfire of shotguns in front of the circle array was loud, and dozens of Qing soldiers were caught off guard and were knocked to the ground by shotguns, and the Qing troops behind them shouted and retreated. …,

Xiao Yungui pulled out his long knife and shouted, "Withdraw from the formation!" Raise the flag! Outflank! Seeing that the Qing army did not have the courage to step forward to engage in the battle, and had some intention of running, he immediately ordered the formation to change. The flag bearer beside him immediately put up the yellow flag of the king of the west, and it was Li Kaifang who commanded on the right.

Seeing that the flag was played, the soldiers of the Taiping Army put away the defensive formation of the circle formation, the rattan players were on the left and right, the spearmen were ahead, the shotgunners followed, and Xiao Yungui, the king of the West, stepped on the war horse, and took the lead with the flag bearers to rush out to the water and grass bushes on the left, and the whole army on the left flank followed without the slightest panic.

Li Kaifang's troops on the right wing also took advantage of the situation to kill, and the soldiers and horses on both wings bypassed the pond in front of them and rushed to the sides of the Qing army.

The Qing army was panicked here, I don't know how many Taiping troops were behind the pond, Wang Jialin, the general soldier of Hebei Town, hurriedly waved his army to meet the attack, but the middle route rout army arrived first, and then the middle road Taiping army under the command of Li Yiwen killed from the middle road, and the three Taiping troops outflanked and stormed, and the Qing army was almost a touch of collapse.

Zuo Zongtang followed Xiao Yungui closely to the left, only to see his banner to the left, the whole army on the left wing followed to the left, and to the right followed to the right, before he could see the change in formation, the Qing army had already collapsed.

Seeing that the Qing army was scattered, Xiao Yungui raised his long knife and shouted: "Each army and two horses set up flags to pursue!" Scattered! Each of the two Sima of the Taiping Army put up their banners one after another, and the subordinate generals followed their own commanders and two Sima Ranks, and rushed to kill the past.

In the first battle of Zhangshutou Village, the Qing army and the Taiping army fought an encounter, the Qing army's Hebei town commander Wang Jialin was defeated, seriously wounded, and was rescued left and right, more than 800 Qing soldiers were killed, and the rest fled back to Liuyang County for temporary refuge. The Hunan capital of Hunan Si Taqibu, who fled back to the city in the morning, was shocked to receive the report of defeat, and hurriedly supervised the troops to go to the city to defend the city, so as to prevent the Taiping army from taking advantage of the situation to attack the city.

Hearing that the long-haired thief arrived, the people in Liuyang County were panicked, the big families cried and shouted to their mothers to avoid going home, and the newly defeated soldiers and horses in Taqibu in the city were even more dangerous to themselves, and after more than 2,000 defeated soldiers of Wang Jialin's department retreated into the city, the people's hearts were slightly calmer.

Xiao Yungui led the troops to chase to five miles outside Liuyang City, seeing that the Qing army had closed the city gate, this time the troops did not bring siege equipment or artillery, Xiao Yungui immediately unfurled the flag and shouted: "No need to chase, gather the soldiers and horses, clean the battlefield, and return to the city!" ”