As Zhou Wangcai finished speaking, three fireworks and arrows flew into the sky from the frontier positions of the Taiping Army outside Xing'an Town, and they flew into the air and knocked three times. Then there was a loud rushing sound like a tsunami.

Yang Chengming was overjoyed and shouted loudly: "It's the signal that we launched a night attack! The night attack has been launched!"

Zhou Wangcai gave him a blank look and said loudly: "Why don't you leave quickly, why are you standing there?"

Before Yang Chengming could answer, the veteran said, "The Qing Demon seems to have retreated!" Everyone looked up and saw the long dragon of Qing army torches slowly retreating into the town in the distance.

Zhou Wangcai spit out thick phlegm and cursed: "A group of brave bandits retreated when they saw our army launching a night attack. They really have no courage!" Then he turned around and greeted everyone, "Let's go, it will be safe after crossing the river. Our mission has been completed."

The soldiers participating in the assault mission all relaxed their expressions. Although they had lost four brothers, they had already completed the mission by removing the Qing army's artillery array. At that time, everyone was covering each other and unconsciously protecting the owner of the grain and oil shop and his family to the other side of the river.

Halfway through, I heard a few cannons roaring from the platform of the Huguang Guild Hall behind me. Zhou Wangcai immediately occupied his body, looked back and cursed, "Damn the dog Qing Yao, and a few cannons are hidden in the Guild Hall!"

Yang Chengming, the veterans and others looked back together, and didn't know what to do for a moment. At least four mountain-splitting cannons were still firing. Although the Qing army fired in the dark, they must have adjusted their guns in the daytime and bombarded the avenue outside the town, which would definitely cause great damage to the charging Taiping Army.

Zhou Wangcai sternly said to the remaining people without hesitation: "Go back with me! If we fight for our lives, we will take down the Demon Clear Cannon Array in the Huguang Guild Hall!" The veterans and others said yes, and each turned over and ran back.

Zhou Wangcai pulled Yang Chengming over and said sternly: "Boy! Stay behind. Send these civilians back safely, and then tell our people. If we fail, send more people!"

Yang Chengming didn't understand why he was left alone. He shouted loudly: "I am also a Taiping Holy Soldier, and I'm not afraid of death!"

Zhou Wangcai was stopped by Yang Chengming, but instead of anger, she laughed faintly and said, "Minwaizi is also a kind of girl, but you have only been in less than two months. You should go back. I order you to escort them away safely!" After that, he turned around and twisted his body and went back in the waist-deep water.

Yang Chengming was stunned for a while, and turned around and said to the owner of the grain and oil shop and others: "Let's go! Go quickly!" Yang Chengming protected his family and wade through the waist-deep river, and finally came to the shore. When he looked back, Zhou Wangcai and others were gone.

Yang Chengming gritted his teeth, pulled off the identity strip embroidered in the pocket of his shirt and handed it to the grain and oil shop owner, panting and shouting: "You will reach our position by walking west along the river road. Leave this to our people and tell them to send someone to support us!"

The owner of the grain and oil shop was timid and was about to refuse, but his daughter whispered, "Don't you protect us?" The boss nodded and said, "That's right, little brother. Come with us, your master also asked you to follow us."

Yang Chengming suddenly opened his mouth and smiled and said, "Since the day we joined the Taiping Army and became the holy soldiers, we have already put life and death aside. You see the smile of our captain just now. All the soldiers are welcomed by the veterans. Whenever we go on a mission, we are not afraid of the veterans crying, but we are afraid of the veterans laughing. When this mission is dead for ten lives, the veterans will laugh. Because they also know that they will surely die here, so it is better to smile freely and calmly. I know that you can live with you. But I can't leave. I am with them, and I will die together even if I die!"

Speaking of this, Yang Chengming stuffed the cloth strip into the hands of the grain and oil shop owner without any explanation and shouted: "I'll leave it to you!" After that, he quickly turned around without looking back, and disappeared into the night in a blink of an eye.

"Boss, what should we do?" A guy asked in a low voice. The boss looked embarrassed, but couldn't speak. But his daughter said lightly: "Dad, they saved our lives and it's time to help them do things." The owner of the grain and oil shop cheered up and said, "Okay, let's go west."

The road back seemed not very smooth. Yang Chengming hid and approached the Huguang Guild Hall with difficulty. When he turned the entrance of the alley, he heard fierce gunfire and shouts of killing. Yang Chengming poked his head out of the alley and saw more than a hundred Qing soldiers surrounding a room with bows and arrows and bird guns. Zhou Wangcai's scolding in the room became louder and louder.

Without thinking carefully, Yang Chengming took off the two grenades on his body and threw them into the crowd of Qing troops. After two bangs, Yang Chengming shouted with a bayonet. With a flash of cold light, he stabbed a Qing army running towards him, and then he followed the situation and smashed another one with a gun. After pulling out the bayonet, he shot the people in front of him. In an instant, the three of them were knocked to the ground by him. In addition, the grenade exploded and injured Qing army, the formation of the more than a hundred people suddenly became chaotic.

Zhou Wangcai and others heard the news and rushed out of the house. Seeing that it was Yang Chengming, Zhou Wangcai said angrily: "Boy! What are you doing when you are back?"

Yang Chengming shouted loudly: "If you want to die, die together!" Zhou Wangcai muttered a few words, Yang Chengming didn't understand the Guangxi Hakka dialect, but soon Zhou Wangcai said: "Go to the guild hall!"

The more we went to the guild hall, the more Qing troops, there were more and more swings and arrows flying over. After a while, the Taiping Army team was left with Zhou Wangcai and Yang Chengming.

Zhou Wangcai gritted his teeth and broke the feather arrow on his shoulder, retreated to the wall at the corner of the street and leaned against him. Yang Chengming's bayonet had been broken. After snatching a big knife and slashing the two of them, he returned to Zhou Wangcai.

Zhou Wangcai smiled miserably and said, "No, there are too many of them and they can't attack. Boy, I'm blocking here, you can run away by yourself!"

Yang Chengming was covered in blood, sweating and bloody, and said angrily: "Where did you ask me to run? You all died in battle. After you die, you can enter the Martyrs' Temple. Do you want me to be a lonely ghost outside alone?!"

Zhou Wangcai said twice in a row and finally said, "Then let's die together. We must pull a few more Qing Demons on the back before dying!" After that, he raised his bayonet and rushed over. Yang Chengming was not willing to be outdone and waved his sword to follow.

A moment later, Yang Chengming stood on the ground with a single knife. A large mouthful of blood was spurted out. He just slashed a Qing army with one knife. But he was stabbed in the belly and fell to his knees on the ground with a slight step back.

The Qing army around them shouted: "This hair is not good enough!" "Go up and dismember the corpse!"

Yang Chengming raised his head and glanced coldly. The Qing army couldn't help but take a step back. When Yang Chengming looked around, he saw that Zhou Wangcai had already fallen to the ground. More than ten Qing soldiers were using swords and guns all over him, and they were still killing corpses to vent their anger. Zhou Wangcai's eyes were so wide. Under the reflection of the firelight, he was still so powerful!

Yang Chengming roared, and raised his last effort to stuff the intestines flowing out of the abdomen back. Then he pulled and swung it tightly to tie the abdomen, and roared and rushed up again...

The entire night of fighting turned the originally peaceful ancient town of Xing'an upside down. It was not until the eastward whites turned white, and the sound of fighting in the town gradually stopped. After a day and night of fighting, the Third Division of the New First Army of the Taiping Army finally annihilated the Hunan Army, which had been south to support the Qing army. In this battle, the Taiping Army killed more than 1,000 people and injured more than 2,000 people. The Qing army's town soldiers and Hunan Yong were annihilated, more than 5,000 people were killed or injured, and more than 3,000 people surrendered. A large number of Qing army generals, including Li Chong, were captured alive.

After dawn, Zhang Wenxiang came to the street not far outside the Huguang Guild Hall where the Qing army commander camp was located. He only saw that nearly 60 Qing soldiers died on a corner of the street, and the bodies of several incomplete Taiping soldiers were also among them. One of the bodies was densely covered with dozens of darts and feather arrows, and the body remained unfolded against the stone wall at the corner of the street. It stood there, with its eyes still open like a copper bell.

Zhang Wenxiang's eyes suddenly became wet. He turned around and asked, "Did these soldiers carry out the assault mission last night?"

Zheng Yantuo had already shed tears and nodded and said sadly: "No one of the three teams sent by the Third Regiment last night came back. Li Chong left four mountain-splitting cannons alone in the guild hall, which we did not expect. But when the cannon sounded, all the soldiers of the three teams returned to the guild hall to attack, trying to destroy the cannon formation. Although they were all sacrificed in the end, their battle directly disrupted the command of the Qing army. If it weren't for their desperate battle, the brigade would not have been able to quickly break into the town."

Zhang Wenxiang sighed lightly and said, "Preparably restrain their bodies, and the soldiers participating in the assault mission will submit a separate memorial to request merit, and request that all these soldiers be allowed to enter the Martyrs' Temple."

Speaking of this, a messenger led a man who looked like a businessman. The man was about to kneel down when he saw Zhang Wenxiang. Zhang Wenxiang hurriedly supported him and said, "This gentleman, don't be too polite. Our Taiping Army will kneel down if we don't promote."

The man took out a piece of cloth from his arms tremblingly and said, "The villain is the owner of the Daxing Grain and Oil Store in the town. Fortunately, he was rescued by the heavenly soldiers last night and was spared from his death. When he parted with the heavenly soldiers last night, a heavenly soldier asked the villain to bring a message to their master and ask the emperor to lead the troops to rescue them as soon as possible."

This person was the owner of the grain and oil shop that Yang Chengming and others rescued last night. Their family walked west along the riverside road. On the way, they met a team of Taiping Army rushing towards Xing'an Town. However, the teams had their own tasks and asked them to go back and find the people behind. In the end, the boss and his family arrived at the Taiping Army's position safely, but the logistics soldiers who received them did not know the assault mission of the Third Regiment. They just looked at the cloth handed over and said that the people from the Third Regiment rushed forward, and there were no people from the Third Regiment behind. Finally, a messenger took him to find Commander Zhang Wenxiang to pass the message directly. He went around like this, and the boss did not bring the message until now.

After saying that, the boss suddenly despised the standing corpse on the corner of the street and exclaimed: "It's the little brother from last night!" As the sadness came, the boss knelt on the ground and cried loudly: "Little brother, the little old man is useless, useless..."

Zhang Wenxiang and Zheng Yantuo looked at each other and knew that even if they received the news last night, it would be too late to send reinforcements. If they knew that they could wait for reinforcements to come, there would be no need to launch a strong attack even if they were alone and weak. Zhang Wenxiang silently unfolded the cloth strip, looked at the name on it, and finally said slowly: "This Yang Chengming is a good person!" (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!