The next day, before the sky was completely bright, in the Taiping military camp on the Anther Mountain, the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led his subordinates to pray, and by the way, he also prayed for this siege.

Yesterday, after hearing that the Northern Route Army was also blocked on the riverbank, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang discussed for a long time, but they couldn't find out where the problem was that the raid was unsuccessful. Xiao Yungui only woke up at this time, as an excellent general, military, strategy, leading troops, arranging formations, etc. can be learned, but luck is not learned. Throughout ancient and modern Chinese and foreign history, many examples of winning more with less are full of elements of general luck, such as the Battle of Guandu, if the Cao army had not taken refuge and knew where Yuan's army had been stocked with grain, the outcome of the war would have changed. Therefore, wars are always full of factors that are not controlled, and these factors combine to be luck, which the Japanese call martial arts.

Xiao Yungui thought that his character and luck were not good, and he couldn't solve this problem after thinking about it, but Lin Fengxiang reminded him. Later, Lin Fengxiang came to say that the tunnel had been completed, and by the way, tomorrow was the day of worship, and although it was in wartime, he should also lead the whole army to pray. Lin Fengxiang bluntly said that there are some discordant words circulating in the army now, that is, before the war, King Xi did not lead everyone to pray before the war, so the war will not go well.

After listening, Xiao Yungui was overjoyed, he had believed in Christianity before, although he had not been officially baptized, but he prayed sincerely before every exam, hoping that God could bless him. It's the same this time.,Maybe I sincerely pray that Heavenly Father Emperor God can let luck be on my side.,The siege of the cave has reached the juncture.,Don't have any more problems.。

So before dawn, Xiao Yungui led the whole army to worship and pray before the battle. After the ceremony, looking at the military officers and soldiers who were relieved and encouraged, whether they were veterans or new recruits from Hunan Province, everyone listened quietly with a pious solemnity on their faces, and gradually the fear and panic on people's faces disappeared, replaced by fanaticism and excitement. At this time, Xiao Yungui somewhat understood, he held a sharp weapon in his hand, and if used well, he could let the soldiers find a strong spiritual sustenance and faith, in the face of the cruel war of blood and fire, only a strong spiritual sustenance and faith could dispel fear and helplessness, and make people fearless, which is also the reason why the Weishenme Taiping Army was not afraid of hand-to-hand combat and the Qing Army was very afraid.

Looking at the busy appearance of the missionary officers of the various armies, Xiao Yungui seemed to see the military priests in the Western armies in later generations, and at the same time the shadow of the political commissars of his own army in later generations, and thought of a problem, if he wanted to completely control an army, it was these wardens that he needed, not just Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang. Maybe a few cronies will understand some role, but the role will definitely not be greater than the role of these lower-level wardens. Xiao Yungui plans to think about how to use these wardens to control his army after this battle, their success or failure and direction will definitely affect the future of this army, does he Xiao Yungui need a military priest or a political commissar? Or is it a combination of the two? At the moment, he couldn't think about it so much, and after the prayer was over, he could only focus on the battle.

Like Xiao Yungui, Hechun in Hengzhou City got up early, and was woken up by his subordinate Geshiha from the warm quilt of the concubine, and Hechun scolded the eighteenth generation ancestor of the long-haired thief head Pseudo West King outside the city, if it weren't for this pseudo West King, why did he work so hard to get up early?

Yesterday, the Taiping Army's siege was thunderous and rainy, not like the style of long-haired thieves in the past, and Chun estimated that the thieves in the south of the city were waiting for the long-haired ones in the north of the city to attack the city together. Yesterday at dusk, the Taiping army on the grass river in the north of the city has set up a pontoon bridge to cross to the south, and Chun sent a group of soldiers and horses led by the general Deliang to attack the Taiping army on the north bank to build a pontoon bridge, but the Taiping army on the opposite bank set up wooden boats, bamboo rafts viciously forced to cross the south bank, and there were Taiping artillery arrays on the north bank to help the battle, Deliang fought for three hours and could not break through the temporary camp of the Taiping army on the beachhead, so he had to retreat to the city. Subsequently, the Taiping army accelerated the speed of building the bridge, it was winter, the river level was shallow and narrow, and the Taiping army was built at dusk, and the Taiping army brigade on the north bank began to cross the river.

Yi Hechun didn't dare to be careless, the fool knew that the Taiping army would launch a fierce offensive today, and the south and north of the city would be attacked by the Taiping army at the same time, so he got up early in the morning and arranged the defense of the city.

The north of the city was handed over to the general Deliang to guard the palace, and Hechun focused on the south of the city, because there was a banner of the long-haired puppet king in the south of the city, and this side must be the focus of the Taiping army's attack. After inspecting the north of the city, He Chun was very relieved of Deliang's deployment, all kinds of defense equipment were sufficient, and Deliang also captured a lot of refugees in the city to help defend the city, the number of people was far more than the Taiping army outside the city, and he was not afraid of the Taiping army's strong attack.

After the inspection, He Chun rushed to the south of the city with a group of Goshha, when there was still a mile from the south gate, only to hear a muffled sound, the ground under his feet seemed to tremble, in the huge noise, the city wall of more than ten zhang in the south of the city was blasted open, and the gravel and dust filled the entire south of the city.

He Chun was startled by the sudden explosion, and the frightened person under the green horse under his crotch stood up, and lifted He Chun, who was also a little stunned, off the horse. Left and right Goshha was shocked, and hurriedly stepped forward to help Hechun, who had fallen into a daze, and Chun was not in major trouble under the visit.

He Chun couldn't care about the pain on his body, and looked at the city wall in the south of the city in a daze, the dust had not yet dissipated, and it could already be seen in the haze that a section of the city wall in the south of the city had collapsed, and the cheers and shouts of the Taiping army outside the city went straight to the eardrums, and the long-haired thief raised by the son of a dog actually played a hole to attack the city!

During the battle of Guilin, the long-haired thief used this trick, but the underground of Guilin City was a solid rock and could not be dug up, so the long-haired thief's cave siege was unsuccessful, but in the subsequent battles of Daozhou, Quanzhou, and Chenzhou, Longhair used this trick.

He Chun drew his saber and shouted hoarsely: "Order the whole army to come forward and plug the gap for me!" Fill in the gaps with people, move forward bravely, reward one or two silver, and retreat and immediately cut off! ”

After Hechun's general order came out quickly, the Qing army in the south of the city had to bite the bullet and block the gap, on the one hand, for the reward of silver, and on the other hand, they were also worried that the Taiping army would be killed after the city was broken. The Qing army under Hechun was in battle with the Taiping army in Guangxi for a long time, and everyone had the blood of the Taiping army on their hands, knowing that after the city was broken, there was only one way to die in the hands of the Taiping army, and they were now swarming to the gap to block it.

But the Taiping army outside the city did not seem to have attacked in time, and when the Qing army gathered in the gap, the second loud bang came, and the ten thousand catties of red medicine buried in the lower tunnel of the Taiping army also exploded smoothly. The sky was covered with severed limbs and scarlet dust, and the Qing army scattered in all directions screaming, and even Kazuharu, who was close to the gap, was shaken down by the air wave.

With loud cheers and shouts of killing, the Taiping army outside the city shouted: "Long live the kingdom of heaven!" Kill demons! slogans, began to swarm into the gap. The bloody gap was covered with the corpses of the Qing army, the raging fire was ignited, and the smell of wafted up. It turned out that the explosion just now ignited the fire oil hoarded by the Qing army in the south of the city, and a fire ignited in the gap, but the Taiping army still swarmed forward, covering the fire with the bricks and stones of the collapsed city wall, and then broke into the city.

Escorted by more than 100 Goshkha, Hechun fled to the north of the city in panic. He Chun's face was full of horror, and when he looked back, the south of the city was already a bloody storm, full of Qing troops fleeing to the north, and the slightly condensed morale was completely crushed by the second blasting, and the south of the city could no longer hold it, and the north of the city could not hold it.

He Chun, who came to his senses a little, hurriedly gathered the rout army and went to the west gate, and he couldn't go to the east, and the Xiangjiang River blocked him in the east, so he couldn't escape in a hurry, so he could only look to Qidong County in the west and run. I can't care about Deliang in a panic, someone has to stay and break the queen, and Hechun sold Deliang without hesitation.

led more than 1,000 defeated soldiers to flee out of the West Gate in a panic, and fled along the official road to Qidong County like a lost dog. Walking to Moshitang, a few miles away, a Taiping army of more than 1,000 people ambushed and killed, but the first one was Zeng Tianyang, a veteran of the Taiping army.

The Qing army of Hechun was already frightened, and was killed by the Taiping army after a fierce attack and then scattered and fled, the Taiping army pursued to the bank of the grass river, Zeng Tianyang looked at the Hechun wearing official uniforms and chased after him. After chasing to the grass river, fortunately, Goshha under Hechun resisted bravely, and Hechun and several cronies were able to grab a bamboo raft from Yizhou Bay and escape to the north bank.

It turned out that after Li Kaifang, Li Yiwen, Zeng Tianyang, and He Zhenchuan crossed to the south yesterday, they received Xiao Yungui's general order, ordering them to divide their troops to rush to the west of the city to ambush at night, because Zuo Zongtang calculated that once there was a breakthrough in the south of the city, there would be people fleeing westward in the Qing army in the city, so they were ambushed in advance. Sure enough, as soon as the south of the city was broken, He Chun fled westward, and was intercepted and killed by Zeng Tianyang's ambush soldiers, only to be spared.

The battle in the city lasted until the afternoon, Deliang led more than 2,000 Qing troops in the north of the city to see that they could not escape, and did a battle of trapped beasts, but under the attack of the Taiping army in the south and north of the city, Deliang resisted for three hours, Zuihou died in the north of the city, and more than 2,000 Qing troops under his command were annihilated. The refugees he forcibly captured were angry at the brutality of the Qing army, and scattered and fled at the first time of the Taiping army's strong attack, which did not play any role, but made the Qing army's morale dissipate and quickly collapsed.

After entering the city to exterminate the Qing army in Zuihou, Xiao Yungui urgently ordered all the troops to guard the city gate, stabilize the people in the city, and open the official warehouse to release grain to the people. Looking at the baggage loaded with money, grain, cloth, red medicine, instruments, shotguns, artillery, etc. everywhere in Hengzhou, Xiao Yungui's eyes lit up, and he scolded fiercely regardless of the viciousness of his image: "Damn, Lao Tzu has made a fortune!" ”

Xiao Yungui's joy did not last long, just as he ordered Zuo Zongtang to take people to count the supplies, Zhu Xineng outside the south of the city reported urgently, saying that the Tanma sent to the south was returned, and there was a large Qing army in Leiyang coming to Hengzhou, which was only forty miles away from Hengzhou.