The weather was very cold in early winter. The Taiping Army, who had camped in Hutouling, got up early in the morning and found that the withered weeds were covered with thin layers of autumn frost. Not far away, Xiangtan City was shrouded in thick fog, and only the outline of the city wall could be vaguely seen.

The breakfast was very rich, and each Taiping Holy Soldier was assigned a bowl of broth, some dried vegetables, jerky meat, rice and rice. Su Ji sat silently on the ground eating, looking at the twenty-seven boys around him and said, "Eat a little bit, and you will have the strength to fight later!"

After Su Ji followed Li Yiwen to fight in Changsha, like other Taiping soldiers who participated in the Changsha Campaign, he received the reward of promotion to the third level. He was promoted from a tail card to the position of two Sima of Boy Soldiers, and took charge of the twenty-three Boy Soldiers under his command. The youngest was only seventeen years old, and the youngest was only fourteen years old. They were all from Liuyang. They lost their parents when the Qing army robbed Liuyang, and finally the Taiping Army took them over.

After more than ten days of training, Su Ji didn't know how much he could compete with them. Strictly speaking, he was also a recruit who had only been enlisted for a month, but he had experienced several actual combat and killed eight Qing troops. He was already considered a qualified Taiping Army soldier.

The sound of horns and drums sounded, and the whole team of command flags were raised. Su Ji shouted loudly to let the boy soldiers line up. The boy soldiers were extremely obedient and soon lined up in four rows, standing straight in the cold wind. They were wrapped in red scarves on their heads, wearing new-haired cotton jackets, and large-sized clothes of the adult Taiping Army. The smaller ones looked very funny, with ordinary gray cloth cotton pants, straw sandals under their feet, and their feet were a little cold.

Their outfits were all newly received military uniforms before departure. The army received the order of the Western King, and all winter clothes were given priority for boy soldiers and new recruits. The reason was very simple. Many new recruits were almost unclothed when they joined the army. Lao Changmao did not complain much. They were still wearing the original shabby clothes, but the weapons they sent were the best, especially the firearms, which were almost all concentrated in Lao Changmao's hands.

The boy soldiers had mostly messy weapons, and some even carried bamboo guns. Only Su Ji had a steel knife around his waist, which was considered a decent weapon. For Su Ji, he would rather go to the adult Taiping Army to make a small tail card than lead a group of boy soldiers like he is now, because he had never commanded others and felt that the burden on his shoulders was very heavy. He didn't want to fight, and if he disappeared, his hands would be gone, and who would die in battle again. But Li Yiwen insisted that he be the two Simas of this boy soldiers, saying that he would not lead troops at all times, and he always had to take responsibility to grow faster.

The long-term pawn flag was raised high, and Su Ji led his team of child soldiers to the position. Standing on Hutouling, thousands of Taiping troops had already been lined up. Looking down from the ridge, the small Hutouling was densely filled with Taiping troops with red scarves. As a result, three cannons were heard passing by, the artillery teams on the frontier of the Taiping Army began to fire artillery at the Qing army's stronghold outside Xiangtan City. Under the guidance of the flag, several Taiping troops began to move towards the camps in the dangerous place of the Qing army outside the city.

Deng Shaoliang, the old fox, relied on the private houses outside the city, set up many Qing army strongholds and camps in a dangerous place to prevent the Taiping Army from directly attacking the city walls. At the same time, more than ten Qing army's mountain-splitting cannons located at the top of the city can bombard these strongholds. The frontiers of the camps and severely killed the Taiping Army. The mountain-splitting cannons were found in the Ming Dynasty. They were named "Thousand-Sizi Thunder Cannon". They mainly fired shots. The shots were generally made of lead. During combat, they mainly bombarded soldiers with a large number of soldiers. Deng Shaoliang had a total of twelve 400-pound mountain-splitting cannons in Xiangtan City, all of which were arranged by him in the north of the city. He planned to kill and injure the Taiping soldiers when the Taiping Army stormed the city in a dense manner.

Xiao Yungui, the Taiping Army, brought a lot of artillery from Changsha this time, mainly twenty five hundred kilograms of mountain-splitting cannons, eight eight hundred kilograms of cannons, and two thousand kilograms of generals. They were all Qing army iron cannons removed from the Changsha city walls. For this reason, the West Palace specially set up a 500-person artillery team. Before the attack began, the Taiping Army's artillery began to bombard, and the sound was like thunder, which shocked the four fields.

As soon as the Taiping Army fired, the Qing army in the stronghold outside the city suddenly became panic. Most of them were recruits and Xiangtan Green Camp soldiers who had never seen fighting. They still felt more at ease when they were behind the city wall, but they were driven out of the city by Deng Shaoliang to be cannon fodder. When the first round of shells was smashed, the Qing army in the private houses and the camps immediately scattered.

Looking at the Qing army running around in scattered, Xiao Yungui shook his head secretly. They were all people who had not gone through actual combat. When the cannon sounded, they ran around in panic and at a loss, and they didn't know how to avoid cannons. No wonder the Qing army always suffered heavy casualties against the powerful troops with the advantage of artillery. Sure enough, the Qing army running around was seriously injured under the artillery fire of the Taiping Army, and they all gathered at the city gate and shouted to enter the city.

The Taiping Army's two thousand-pound cannons had a long range. The 400-pound light cannons placed on the top of the city of the Qing army were powerless to them. Deng Shaoliang scolded Luo Bingzhang for concentrating all the heavy iron cannons in Changsha, but he could not defend them. These newly cast iron cannons became powerful weapons for the Taiping Army to attack the city now. But even though he was scolding, Deng Shaoliang had to stand on the top of the city in the fire of artillery, yelling, and praying to the Qing army under the city to go back to guard, otherwise the city would also have to fire artillery.

The Qing army under the city cried and screamed. Deng Shaoliang did not allow them to enter the city, and they did not dare to turn around, huddled under the city in a mess. The Qing army in the city did not dare to open the city gate at all, for fear that the Taiping army would take advantage of the situation to rush back. Deng Shaoliang shouted and ordered artillery arrows to be fired at the top of the city, and immediately killed dozens of Qing army under the city. As soon as the Yu Zhong shouted, he turned around and ran back.

Deng Shaoliang breathed a sigh of relief and said that the soldiers turned around and went desperately. Who knew that the soldiers fled in scattered ways. One of them pulled out a white cloth from somewhere, made a white flag and shouted for surrender, and led his soldiers directly to the Taiping Army to surrender.

The Taiping Army had been stationed in front of the artillery team and had not entered the Qing army's artillery range on the front line. Seeing the Qing army surrendering with a white flag, Ji Wenyuan, the former army, hurriedly ordered someone to report to Xiao Yungui. Xiao Yungui also saw it from afar, so he shouted his life in advance to allow these Qing demons to surrender.

The Qing army who fled to the front of the formation became prisoners of the Taiping Army. The other Qing army that were still fleeing were either killed by artillery or fled to the west and south of the city. The three hundred Qing army outside the city died like this, fleeing and surrendering.

Ji Wenyuan, a Taiping Army, captured some prisoners in front of him, and more than 100 Qing troops surrendered, and all of them were tied up and taken to the military camp.

Deng Shaoliang at the top of the city was furious and ordered the Qing army to prepare for the city. The Taiping army must be attacked next.

But what is surprising is that after defeating the Qing army outside the city, the Taiping army built a fortress on the front line and was not in a hurry to pounce on the city. It also distributed several teams to continue to seize the dangerous place outside the city, but was not in a hurry to attack the city.

On the other hand, the Taiping Army outside the East Gate also adopted the same tactics, only attacking the Qing army's strongholds outside the city. After clearing the periphery, the Taiping Army stopped to consolidate its camp.

After the Qing army was swept up outside, Deng Shaoliang lost nearly 600 people. Although most of them were Opium Ghost Green Camp soldiers in the city and had no combat power, Deng Shaoliang still suffered a pain and had to force the local officials in the city to force the people to go to the city to help defend.

In the afternoon, the weather warmed up slightly, and Deng Shaoliang looked at the road leading to Xiangtan with his eyes, hoping that there would be news of reinforcements from Liling, but he could never see any reinforcements. The Taiping Army outside the city was anxious to consolidate the camp and was busy.

It was already early winter and it was dark early. Just when it was dark, the Taiping Army sentry on the official road in Liling suddenly became chaotic, and the sound of gongs and horns sounded loudly. Deng Shaoliang looked up and saw that the Taiping Army sentry on the official road had already ignited a pile of bonfires. With the light of the fire, he vaguely found that the Taiping Army there was suddenly in chaos.

After watching for a while, a thousand-year-old general beside Deng Shaoliang shouted in surprise: "It's our horse-striking horse back."

Deng Shaoliang looked closely and saw several Qing army probes riding horses, and dozens of Taiping soldiers were chasing them behind him.

Deng Shaoliang hurriedly shouted: "Prepare a rope basket and pull the people up! Cannon hero is ready to fire the cannon! Prepare bows and arrows in the city!"

The Qian President hesitated and said, "Master Xietai, I can't see clearly when it's dark, I'm afraid I can't get my hair."

Deng Shaoliang cursed angrily: "Just scare the hairy thief and pick us up into the city!"

After several Qing army explorers approached the city, the Qing army on the top of the city fired artillery and arrows to stop the Taiping Army chasing behind. Seeing this, the Taiping Army did not dare to chase after him. They cursed a few words from afar and went back.

Several Qing army explorers were pulled into the city by ropes and baskets, and they were breathing heavily against the battlements. Deng Shaoliang rushed over and saw that it was indeed the messenger sent to Liling yesterday, and hurriedly asked, "What did Zhang Guoliang say?"

The leader of the Qing army took out a letter from his arms and handed it over, and said with a breath: "Mr. Zhang said he didn't have many troops, and there were long-haired thieves near Liling. He was afraid that after sending troops to help, the long-haired thieves would take advantage of the situation to attack Liling. Therefore, Mr. Zhang refused to send troops. He also sent a messenger to the brigade for help, but asked the brigade to guard for a few more days, and the Hengzhou thieves would arrive."

Deng Shaoliang cursed in anger: "This thief who was killed by a thousand swords! I must be involved in his crime of not saving him when he dies!"

The Qiang General advised, "Super the anger of the National Taiwan University, Lord Zhang's troops have only two thousand troops, and they are strong and powerful. It is unknown whether they can divide their troops to attack Liling." When he said this, Mr. Qiang took a few steps and lowered his voice: "Sir, he is not a guardian here, nor is he a parent official here, and the imperial envoy has not issued a clear order to defend Xiangtan to the death. Even if the city is broken, the imperial envoy will not blame the court. On the contrary, if the emperor is defeated and his soldiers and bravery are all damaged, the imperial court will punish the emperor. In the eyes of the young general, it is better to leave the city and not leave. Tonight, he will take advantage of the darkness to leave from the west, cross the Tongmu Bridge, go to Shanshu Lane, Mapoli, and Taling to Ningxiang. If you ask the top, you will say that we are following the imperial envoy's wishes, and you can go to Changsha to suppress the thieves as soon as possible."

Deng Shaoliang said oh, frowned and said, "But how to explain to the officials in the city?"

President Qian smiled and said, "Just say we go out of the city to attack the enemy, what can they say?"

Deng Shaoliang looked at the endless Taiping Army camp fire outside the city and gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! I secretly ordered all the troops to prepare, and we will leave the city at the second update!"
Chapter completed!