Ten miles south of Changsha City, on the Swallow Ridge next to the cave well shop, in a lush mountain forest, dozens of pennants flutter in the wind, one of which is the unique Fengtian Demon Apricot Yellow Banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The few houses and houses in the mountains and forests have been strengthened with stones, and they have become strong barracks, and hundreds of Taiping soldiers with red scarves loom behind the barracks.

Deng Shaoliang, deputy general of the Chu Xiong Association of the Qing Army under the Swallow Ridge, held up this monocular clairvoyant and looked at it, this clairvoyant was still a gift from Ouyang Zhaoxiong, a wealthy businessman in Hunan, after Daoguang's victory in conquering the anti-thief Li Yuanfa in 30 years.

Deng Shaoliang, the word Chenruo, a native of the Qianzhou Hall in Hunan, was born in a brave soldier, and was promoted to garrison by Tunben. In the battle to suppress the Chongyang bandit Li Yuanfa, he led 500 people to break the thief Jinfengling, captured Yuanfa, promoted the capital division, gave Hualing and the name of Yang Yongbaturu. Later, Deng Shaoliang went to Guangxi from Xiangrong to suppress thieves, and the battle of Niupak Ridge in Xunzhou was flanked by fine cavalry, and the two thieves were defeated. In the first year of Xianfeng, he was awarded the deputy general of the Chu Xiong Association. Now fifty years old, he has spent most of his life fighting thieves, and he has also obtained official positions, profits, rewards, and countless trophies from the thieves.

Putting away the clairvoyant mirror, one of the members of the command bowed down and said: "Lord Xietai, the long-haired thieves on the mountain are all big-footed women and young boys, and if you lead three hundred people up, you can capture them in one fell swoop!" ”

Deng Shaoliang glanced at this capital, but this person was a distant cousin of Xu Guangjin, the then minister of thieves and the governor of Huguang, named Zhu Ming, the word Zichen, a native of Wu County, Suzhou. In May of the second year of Xianfeng, Zhu Ming followed Xu Guangjin to suppress the Taiping Army in Wuzhou, Guangxi, and captured more than 1,600 Taiping soldiers in the Wujiang Water Battle.

In August of that year, Emperor Xianfeng ordered Xu Guangjin to replace Sai Shang'a as the minister of the thief and the governor of Huguang, and go north to Hunan to exterminate the Taiping Army Brigade. After Xu Guangjin was edicted, he ordered Zhu Ming to lead 100 elites to Chenzhou in advance. After Zhu Ming arrived in Chenzhou, he was assigned to Deng Shaoliang's command, and when Chenzhou's governor Mao Thief had more than 2,000 people in the north, Zhu Ming followed Deng Shaoliang's troops and horses to the north.

To tell the truth, Deng Shaoliang, a veteran, doesn't look down on Zhu Ming's crepe appearance, and it is expected that Zhu Ming relied on his distant cousin who was a feudal official to have this official position.

Listening to this kid's wild words, he tightened the black copper nail cotton armor on his body at the moment, and said with a faint smile: "Zichen, those on the mountain are not as long as the ones you met in Wuzhou, the long hair in Wuzhou are just ordinary bandits who echo the thief's situation, but these on the mountain are all big-footed barbarians and red-scarf demon boys who came out of the Bauhinia Mountain in Guangxi, don't look at them are all women and teenagers, and they are not inferior to those long-haired bandits in the battle." At the beginning of spring this year, the long-haired broke through from Yong'an, among which there were these big-footed barbarians dancing with knives to take over, as well as the long-haired thieves attacking Guilin, and those red-haired demon boys were also swarming to attack the city, and they had suffered a big loss to the military gate, which should not be underestimated. ”

Zhu Ming snorted lightly and said, "Is Lord Xietai's words too arrogant?" I think my subordinates are all men in the Qing Dynasty, are we really afraid of the female dependents and demon children of a group of bandits? The bid is willing to lead a hundred elite soldiers under him to attack the mountain, and Lord Xietai can follow up. ”

Deng Shaoliang's face sank, in the officialdom of the Qing court, the boss and subordinates were strictly hierarchical, and a small capital secretary would never dare to talk to a deputy general like this, but there was a big backer behind this Zhu Ming in front of him - Xu Guangjin, the governor of Huguang, but he couldn't scold his ordinary subordinates like that, so he had to say patiently: "Zichen, let's send troops from Xiangtan, and we found this bandit halfway through, although these bandits are barbarians and demon boys, but they don't panic when they encounter the enemy, and they calmly retreat to this mountain to hold on, and there must be long-haired reinforcements near the left, You must be cautious, or you will fall for the tricks of the hairy thief. ”…,

Zhu Ming was eager for meritorious service, and couldn't help but say again: "Lord Xietai, the long-haired thieves have captured Changsha, a few days ago, Lord Zongxian sent a military order, let me and other departments gather in Changsha, there is only the long-haired thief army in Changsha near the left, those thieves have to deal with the imperial army from all walks of life, and they are too busy to take care of themselves, how can there be people to help?" After saying that, he hugged his fists heavily and said loudly: "Lord Xietai is relieved, and he has led his own troops and horses to attack the mountain, and if he is defeated, he will be dealt with by military law, and the credit for winning will be Lord Xietai!" ”

Deng Shaoliang's face became extremely ugly, and he repeatedly forbears it for Xu Guangjin's face, if the nephew of the governor has any three strengths and two weaknesses under his command, it will not be easy to explain in the future, but he didn't expect that this Zhu Ming wanted to make meritorious contributions, and couldn't help but snort at the moment: "Since the subordinates have such courage, then this Xietai will agree to your invitation!" The credit for winning is all yours, and this association does not take any chance! ”

Zhu Ming has always led the troops under the protection of Xu Guangjin, never knew how to get along with Shangguan, and did not hear that Deng Shaoliang was already angry.

Deng Shaoliang saw Zhu Ming's happy face, secretly shook his head and smiled bitterly, at a glance, he knew that this Zhu Ming was a chick, he didn't know the method of advancing and retreating according to the battle, let alone the gift of leading from above, and he didn't understand the twists and turns of officialdom, but thinking of Xu Guangjin's face, he still sighed lightly and ordered left and right: "Later, my son's ministers will come out, everyone is ready to respond, if it is a drum up, then we will cover it up, if it is not good to attack the mountain, we will take the subordinates down the mountain, he is the distant cousin of Lord Zongxian, and it is difficult to explain any damage." The military attachés roared yes.

The horn of the Qing army sounded, between the beating of the war drums, Zhu Ming took more than 100 Qing soldiers to climb the mountain and forge ahead, this swallow ridge mountain is not high, more than 100 Qing soldiers have reached the halfway up the mountain in a moment, and the Taiping female soldiers and Taiping boy soldiers on the ridge are still quiet and have no movement.

Zhu Ming also said that the barbarian woman and the demon boy on the mountain were timid, shouting loudly and bravely rushing in, which was close to the edge of the chaotic stone camp created by the Taiping army, and suddenly saw a dark colored pennant suddenly erected, and dozens of black muskets behind the stone barrier were discharged. A female general held a short gun, now under the Xuanxi pennant, I saw her dressed in a blue men's robe, a yellow scarf wrapped around her head, and between the bare hands, the short gun in her hand spewed fire.

Zhu Ming was shocked, only to feel a sharp pain in his shoulder, and his eyes rolled down the mountain in the dark, followed by the sound of fried bean-like muskets behind him.

The more than 100 Qing soldiers who attacked the mountain did not expect that this group of big-footed barbarians and red-scarf demon boys actually had dozens of muskets, and they were caught off guard and were fired by a burst of muskets at close range, killing and wounding more than 30 people on board.

The yellow turban general raised her eyebrows, snorted contemptuously, and said to herself: "When my sister is a soft persimmon, I can pinch it if I want to?" Let's have a meal of fried beans first, and wait for your brigade to attack! With her hair fluttering, she laughed loudly at a group of boy soldiers and female soldiers behind her: "The demons are defeated, laugh at them as much as you like!" Let them lose their breath and come back to attack the mountain! Then he smiled at a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy: "Chen Picheng, prepare those two hundred-pound cannons and eight spray canisters, and the Qing Demon Brigade will come up later, so that they can taste the power of our firearms!" ”