Since the Jinggang Water Battle, Banbishan battle was definitely the most dangerous and evil battle that the Hunan Navy fought. Although it was comparable to the strength of the Taiping Navy and had its own strengths, it was a loss. When the Taiping Navy arrived at the battlefield, the Hunan Navy, which was mainly a large ship, was turning around and putting on the whole team. Not to mention the formation, it was not an exaggeration to describe it as a chaos, and it was in the most fragile time period.

Qin Rigang, who is good at water war, certainly would not miss such a god-given opportunity. He did not care about gathering the two fleets ahead that had just been defeated by the Hunan Navy. He directly called out a command and raised a banner. The combat fleet dominated by the small ships immediately raided the entire army, inserted into the gaps between the Hunan Navy's ships like arrows, and interspersed in the Hunan Navy's fleet like loaches and fish. Like an ant swim in, he quickly submerged more than 100 large ships of the Hunan Army with a small boat, fired guns and threw fire objects, and attacked the Hunan Army's ships every minute, creating more chaos for the already chaotic Hunan Navy's navy, forcing the Hunan Army's warships to fight on their own, and never exerted the strength advantage of heavy ships and powerful artillery.

If Zeng Guofan had not given most of the precious grenades that disobeyed students and gave them two consecutive assistance to the Hunan Navy, the Hunan Navy would have almost certainly lost this battle. Thanks to the foresight Zeng Guofan, the Hunan Navy, attached great importance to the Hunan Navy and gave the good things to the lifeline. The Hunan Navy then had a certain ability to fight back in the near-side battle. Without being stingy with consuming weapons, the Hunan Navy generals ordered the soldiers of the army to throw grenades to launch a counterattack.

Strike, the power of explosions is the greatest bitter and sour grenades in this era exploded in the Taiping Army fleet. The soldiers of the Taiping Army Navy screamed and fell into the water and died. Then the bitter and sour flames burned fiercely on the Taiping Army Xiaoba ship and on the water surface, effectively hitting the combat power of the Taiping Army Navy and also creating a lot of chaos for the Taiping Army fleet. The Hunan Navy, whose pressure was reduced, quickly seized the time to turn around and adjust its formation while fighting fiercely.

The war on the shore was small, but the intensity was not inferior to the battle on the water. In order to seize half of the mountain highlands, Liu Kun, who had recently defected to Wu Chaoyue, led his direct descendants, and Zhuangzi Camp to attack the commanding heights of the mountain. The Taiping Army soldiers who had taken the lead in climbing to the highest point resisted stubbornly with their favorable advantage, desperately shooting and throwing stones to attack Liu Kun's army. At the same time, more Taiping Army small ships were loaded with soldiers to land on the dock, gathered into teams to fight here, and cooperated with friendly troops on the top of the mountain to attack Liu Kun's unit.

Seeing that the situation was critical, Liu Kunyi did not dare to be stingy with precious weapons and preserve his strength. While ordering soldiers to throw grenades in large quantities, and forcing the front army to charge and feint at any cost, Wu Chaoyue sent Liu Kunyi as technical guidance to Liu Kunyi to use grenade launchers without hesitation, and accurately attacked Taiping soldiers hiding behind earth and rocks. Relying on the huge advantage of weapons and equipment, after about twenty minutes of fierce fighting, Liu Kun's army finally rushed to half of the mountain highland, stabbed all the remaining Taiping soldiers and wounded soldiers on the highland. While repairing fortifications, he raced against time to carry the only five breech guns to the highland. At the same time, Liu Kun's army's rear team had already fired with the reinforcements of the Taiping Army at the foot of the mountain, and the war was so fierce.

Without even waiting for the heavy breech gun to go up the mountain, the Wu army gunners had already taken over the Taiping Army's gunners, adjusted the high-fire angle to charge the ammunition, and fired at the dense areas of the Taiping Army Navy. When the shore artillery fire came to the Taiping Army, the Taiping Army soldiers were also noisy and their morale was frustrated. The Hunan Navy soldiers were greatly encouraged. They decided to speed up their actions and greatly reduced their mistakes. Large ships such as the Red Single Boat, Long Dragon Boat and Fast Crab Boat each had difficulty turning the bow, and the smaller sampan boats returned one after another, retreating under the large ship to protect the sideways, and the situation finally improved.

Of course, this level is far from enough to force the Taiping Army to give in and withdraw its troops. While putting all the water combat forces on the battlefield at any cost, Qin Rigang sent more troop ships to the dock and land, and rushed to the half of the mountain highland with murderous aura, saying that they would take control of the highlands back. Liu Kun's army, who were all equipped with firing guns, calmly responded to the battle, and kept firing under the cover of the grenade launcher. With the advantage of high firing rate, the Taiping Army soldiers who were shouting were sobbing that they howled, and they were lying down in groups. The Taiping Army could not get close to Liu Kun's position at all. At the same time, the armed civilians of Liu Kun's army also took the opportunity to use ropes, wooden sticks and other tools to push and pull the five rear cannons to the upper half of the mountain highland, and arranged them one by one under the guidance of the Wu army's technical soldiers.

After the rear-mounted rifled cannons joined the battle, the pressure and blows under the Taiping Navy suddenly increased several times. The high-fire and high-precision rifled cannons rushed into the Taiping Army fleet. Even when most of them fell, the shock waves generated by the explosion and the waves caused the Taiping Army's main warship, Xiaoba Ship, to tilt and collided with each other. Then the bitter and sour flames ignited the sailing body of the Taiping Army's Xiaoba Ship, burning the Taiping Army's soldiers on the ship with their skin and beards and hair burning, and the battle formation was in chaos.

It was also with the cover of artillery fire on the shore that the Hunan Navy ships gathered on the waters of the half-bian mountain to win the adjustment time. First, the large ships turned around with thick smoke and flames, and lined up in huge squadrons. The sampans also gathered in place one after another, gradually expelling the Taiping Xiaoba ships in the fleet. Then, while extinguishing the flames on the ship, they fired fires to bombard the Taiping Fleet in the distance. The Qing army's water and land artillery fire gradually flourished, and the Taiping Xiaoba ship, which could only be equipped with small artillery or earth artillery, broke the mast on the side, and suffered extremely heavy casualties.

In fact, when the Hunan Army's ranks were adjusted and the artillery power was exerted with the "t" tactic, the Taiping Navy, which had too weak firepower, had no hope of winning, but Qin Rigang still refused to give up. He first ordered the fleet to retreat and reorganize the team, and then asked the landing army to temporarily retreat and reorganize the team, preparing to launch a full-scale attack again and take the gamble back to regain the position of half of the mountain! However...

However, as the night falls gradually and the night wind gradually increases, the wind direction advantage of the Banbishan position gradually manifests itself. Faced with the bitter southeast wind, the Taiping Army's small ship did not dare to open a fan in the charge. The increase in the ship speed depends entirely on manpower and a little downstream advantage. No matter how hard the soldiers work, they cannot increase the charge speed. The Hunan Navy, which fought against the lee, fired fire one after another, covered the slow-speed Taiping Army fleet with dense artillery fire, and successively sunk and destroyed the Taiping Army's small ship. At the same time, the bitter acid shells shot on the high ground of Banbishan were burning in the water, and the fire also burned to the Taiping Army's fleet with wind. How did the Taiping Army soldiers storm the charge and raid in a desperate manner, but they still could not break through the tight firepower network organized by the Hunan Army and Wu Army with artillery. They paid a heavy price but could not see any hope of victory.

The same is true on land. During the Jiangning War, the elite troops under the command of Taiping Generals such as Li Kaifang, Ji Wenyuan and Wei Changhui were helpless with the Wu army's high-fire striker guns. Now Liu Kun's army is equipped with striker guns, and has the advantage of condescending terrain and grenade launchers. The ordinary main combat soldiers under Qin Rigang were naturally helpless with Liu Kun's army. They were repelled three times in charge and were seriously injured, and the soldiers were extremely afraid to rush again. They only dared to hide in the distance and fired from afar. Liu Kun's army only took less than half of their strength and easily defended the Banbishan position.

The night wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the charge of the Taiping Navy became more and more difficult. The casualties gradually expanded rapidly, and the soldiers were exhausted. The naval soldiers of the Taiping Army were not as small as the soldiers on the Hunan Navy ship, and they could get the opportunity to take turns to rest and eat. Although no general dared to persuade Qin Rigang to give up the attack during this period, Qin Rigang was still very clear that his army had no hope of taking the crucial Banbishan position today.

After hesitating for a long time, Qin Rigang finally made a painful decision and ordered: "Prepare the banner, withdraw the troops on the shore, retreat, and rest at the water surface of the Wuwang Temple for a night. Then send someone to send an order to Zhong Tingsheng to find a suitable position to temporarily station, to restrain the main force of the Lu Division of Qing Yao, and to buy time for me to regain Banbishan."

…………

Relying on the Lu Division led by Zhong Tingsheng to temporarily restrain the Lu Division of Zeng Wu's coalition, Qin Rigang's daydream was a little too beautiful. After receiving Qin Rigang's order, although Zhong Ting gritted his teeth and ordered the Lu Division to suspend its advance and quickly deploy defenses in the Makou area, attempting to deal with the Zeng Wu coalition with the remaining siege of the Makou town for a long time. However, as soon as he received this news, Wu Chaoyue immediately ordered: "Tell the entire army to move forward quickly, and don't give Changmao the opportunity to establish a defensive position in Makou!"

"Slow down!" Zhao Liewen, the dog-headed military advisor next to him, suddenly spoke, and smiled at the Wu army commander who was holding his fists and taking the order, saying: "This order is cancelled, and our army will continue to advance at normal speed."

"Hui Fu, what do you mean?" Wu Chaoyue asked in more confusion than the messenger.

"Weiting, why are you anxious?" Zhao Liewen smiled even more treacherously and whispered: "After an hour later, your teacher's navy will be more dangerous. Since that's the case, why should you be more anxious than him? Let our soldiers fight less tough battles and have more rest opportunities, isn't it better?"

Wu Chaoyue laughed suddenly and gave Zhao Liewen a thumbs up. As Zhao Liewen expected, soon, the Hunan Army Taqibu Battalion, which was in the forefront mission, indeed accelerated the advance and rushed to the horse mouth at a speed that exceeded the rapid march. At the same time, Zeng Guofan also sent someone to send news to Wu Chaoyue to inform Wu Chaoyue of the situation and asked Wu Chaoyue to move forward quickly and use artillery to cover the Hunan Army's attack with artillery. It also stated early that the Hunan Army was responsible for the heavy responsibility of attacking. Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen looked at each other and smiled, just ordering the artillery battalion to speed up the advance, while the main combat soldiers continued to maintain their original speed, reducing physical loss and soldiers' fall as much as possible.

The barber teacher really liked to preserve his strength before. After finally correcting this bad temper, the Hunan Army finally showed their true strength. Before Zhong Tingsheng had gained a foothold in Makou, Tazibu had already taken the Tazi Battalion to the near future and launched an attack on the Taiping Army's position without hesitation. The Taiping Army was forced to build fortifications while fighting. The progress of the fortifications was greatly affected. Until the main force of the Hunan Army and the Wu Army's artillery battalion brought advanced artillery to the nearest place, the Taiping Army had not completed half of the artillery and bulletproof fortifications.

Then, the Wu army artillery poured bitter acid shells with incendiary effects onto the Taiping Army's positions, destroying the Taiping Army's defensive positions and killing the Taiping Army's biological forces. Then, without waiting for the flames to be extinguished and the Wu army's artillery fire to completely destroy the Taiping Army's positions, Zeng Guofan, who was eager to reinforce the navy, could not wait to order an attack, and threw three battalions of troops into the Taiping Army's position in one breath. After a fierce battle, the Taiping Army's Land Division, which was fighting stubbornly, could not resist the repeated charges of the Hunan Army with red eyes, and was forced to give up the horse's mouth to retreat to the Wuwang Temple. Zeng Guofan personally led the main force of the Hunan Army to pursue with all his strength. Wu Chaoyue smiled and took the Hubei New Army as the task of escorting the baggage team, and rarely enjoyed a happy life of hiding behind and watching the teacher charge into battle.

Finally, on the evening of the second day of the fierce battle between Banbi Mountain, the Hunan Army's Land Division first arrived at the Wuwang Temple area across the river from Banbi Mountain. Seeing the Qing army's flag still floating on Banbi Mountain on the south bank, Zeng Guofan was of course relieved. But when he saw the main force of the Hunan Army's Land Division who came quickly, Qin Rigang complained and couldn't show his grief.

The situation did make Qin Rigang despair. He had no wind direction in the area of ​​Wuwangmiao, and was in a headwind position that was taboo by the navy. He was always facing the threat of artillery from the Zengwu coalition. As long as the land division could not withstand the attack on the shore of the Zengwu coalition, the Zengwu coalition brought the artillery to the highlands of the north shore and attacked the highlands from a high place. The Taiping Navy would never have a peaceful life in the area of ​​Wuwangmiao, and would never have a peaceful life. Without the Wuwangmiao, a harbor suitable for a large number of ships, the Taiping Navy would not be able to gain a foothold in Tianjia Town, let alone defend this throat for a long time and block the Qing army of Hubei in Hubei.

The only way for the Taiping Army was to quickly regain Banbishan and seize the advantage of the superiority. Taking advantage of this, the Zeng and Wu coalition forces on the north bank were unable to cross the river in large numbers. However, after the Hunan Navy seized the Banbishan position, it refused to take a step forward and set up a defensive formation early on. Even if the Taiping Navy attacked with all its might, it might not be sure to win.

If you can't win, you have to fight. When summoning the generals of the Navy to discuss matters, Qin Rigang announced his tactical plan in public and decided to set up artillery while the Zeng and Wu coalition forces had not yet controlled the Wuwang Temple Heights, and to send all the navy troops to fight a decisive battle with the Hunan Navy. Then Qin Rigang said to the generals: "Dear generals, I have already made it clear to you. We must win this battle. We can only fight to the death and seize the only hope of victory. One battle will determine the world! What do you have to say about this decision of this Marquis?"

The answer to Qin Rigang was the silence of death. All the generals of the Taiping Army kept their silent posture of looking at their noses and their noses. No one was willing to speak even a word. Qin Rigang was extremely dissatisfied and raised his voice and said, "Why don't you talk? Do you have no confidence? Tell me all the words!"

The generals of the Taiping Army still refused to say anything. Qin Rigang became more and more popular as he looked at Shi Dakai's fellow clan Shi Fengkui moved his mouth, and shouted at Shi Fengkui: "Shi Fengkui, what do you want to say? Say!"

After hesitating for a moment, Shi Fengkui bowed and said, "Dingtianhou, the last general wants to say that we have all our strength to attack Banbishan. Our hope of winning is very slim. The wind direction is not good for us. The Fushui River slightly lower than Banbishan has interfered with the flow of the Yangtze River and has a great impact on our small-drawn ship. Our only offensive route is to attack the northwest of Banbishan. We are at a disadvantage from the beginning to the end. As long as the Qingyao Navy keeps its current formation unchanged and bombards our fleet against the wind with heavy artillery, we will..."

Speaking of this hesitantly, Shi Fengkui gritted his teeth and simply said: "Of course, if the Marquis of the Heavenly King must attack against the wind, the last general will just obey his fate. A scar as big as a bowl of fire fell off his head, and he will be a hero again in 18 years!"

The other naval generals nodded and agreed, saying that if Qin Rigang had to order an attack, he would take the order himself. It would be great that he would die in the battlefield and serve the kingdom of heaven with his life. As a result, after hearing these words, Qin Rigang not only did not order troops, but also fell silent on his own. After thinking about it for a long time, Qin Rigang lowered his head and said in a weak voice: "Get out of Hubei. If the Wing King is to pursue it, I will just take it and don't let the soldiers die in vain."

Hearing this, the Taiping Army was relieved first, and then expressed their willingness to take the crime of disobeying with Qin Rigang. Qin Rigang sighed quietly and said, "The Wing King is six thousand years old, it is not my order to resist you. It is the current situation. If you continue to fight, you will only die in vain. It is better to save the lives of the soldiers and the vitality of the navy first, and wait until you come to take revenge later."

In 1855 AD, on the second day of June of the fifth year of Xianfeng, the Qing Dynasty, in view of the dual reasons of critical situation and insufficient strength, the Qin Rigang army of the Taiping Army was forced to abandon its strategic location, Tianjia Town, and retreat eastward to Jiujiang to avoid the Qing army's front. Zhong Tingsheng's troops, who were fighting with Qin Rigang, boarded a ship and retreated. The Taiping Army of Xingguo and Huangmei counties, was also forced to abandon the city and go on land to retreat to Jiangxi and Anhui by land. Wu Chaoyue's Qing army and local regiments took advantage of the situation to restore the land and officially recovered the entire territory of Hubei, and in name only achieved the complete expulsion of the Taiping Army from Hubei.

The war was easy to fight, but the aftermath was difficult. After repeated tug-of-war, the southeastern Hubei was devastated, with starving corpses everywhere, and villages were too hot, smoke from towns, and hungry people were fleeing everywhere. At the same time, the Hunan Army, who had made great efforts in the battle to restore the land of Hubei, also asked Wu Chaoyue to commit suicide, forcing Wu Chaoyue to fulfill the military salary and food he had promised, and scraped his bones and flesh on Wu Chaoyue, who was already thin.

Fortunately, Hubei was completely destroyed in the southeast, and the central part was severely damaged. The prefectures to the west and north were barely peaceful. The Qing court had already agreed to draw military salaries for help. With the knocking of local officials, Wu Chaoyue finally collected all the money and grains extorted by the Hunan Army in this season of summer, and handed them to Zeng Guofan as much as possible. After Zeng Guofan smiled and took the money and grains offered by the disobedient disciples, he smiled more cordially and said to Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, Chen Qimai, who was the army in the same year, learned that Hubei Changmao was cleared, he had already sent letters to his army twice for help. The situation on the battlefield in Nanchang was very critical, so he wanted to lead his army into Jiangxi a day or two to reinforce Chen Futai. After leaving for the army, Hubei will ask you all."

Knowing that the barber teacher didn't want to give him too much preparation time, Wu Chaoyue still pretended to be fat, and bowed to Zeng Guofan and said, "Don't worry, the teacher, the students will definitely not pull you back. After you leave, the students will definitely strive to ensure the safety of Hubei!"

His face changed slightly. Zeng Guofan was planning to continue to be false with his disobedient disciple. Unexpectedly, Zeng Guofan's aide Liu Rong rushed in with a piece of emergency. As soon as he entered the tent, he shouted: "Master, Wu Futai, something is wrong! The Yellow River breaks! The Yellow River breaks more than 80 feet on the north bank of Lanyang. The water cannot be curbed. The flood has invaded Shandong!"

Zeng Guofan and Wu Chaoyue's faces changed drastically at the same time, and they stood up at the same time. Then, since the unscrupulous teachers and students met again in Hubei, they also said a heartfelt word from the bottom of their hearts, "The world is going to be even more chaotic!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!