Shi Dakai thought Lai Yuxin's suggestion was appropriate, but he did not want to adopt it. As Shi Zhenji said, if Zeng Yaotou was afraid of death and retreated to Changsha, it would greatly increase the difficulty of attacking Changsha. Direct attacking Baling County can not only eliminate the vitality of the Qing army and the morale of Changsha. As for the Qing Yao Navy, Shi Dakai didn't care. As long as he captured the entire territory of Hunan, no matter how many Qing Yao Navy had, it would be given away for free.

"Shi Zhenji obeys the order and orders you to lead 5,000 people to take a boat to capture Xiangyin County, cut off Zeng Yaotou's retreat, and contact Prime Minister Zeng Tianyang's army as soon as possible, and the two armies gather." Shi Dakai was still very concerned about his brothers.

"Abide by the order"

"Fu Zhongxin obeyed the order, I expected that the demon head would return to Baling County to defend, and ordered you to lead 8,000 people as the vanguard to attack Baling County. I will lead the army and then arrive."

Fu Zhongxin bowed and obeyed the order, and went out to order the troops and set off.

Guo Songtao from Baling County was suddenly panicked and had no hope of whether Zeng Guofan could win. He muttered to himself: The Hunan Army led the generals to fight for the first time and they were defeated by Zhongyue at the city of Nanchang, losing half of their troops; Wang Feng was even more miserable, and was defeated by Zeng Tianyang for the first time. The second time, he didn't even meet the enemy. More than 1,000 people were killed by cannons, more than 1,000 people were privately fled, and less than 2,000 people were safely retreated to Baling County. Zeng Disheng was also unable to escape from the customs. He was surrounded by Changmao in Baling County, and life and death were unpredictable!

Wang Feng was also frowning. He was the only one here who saw Changmao's power. There were more than 30 cannons alone, and half of them were Western cannons. They were ruthless and accurate. Many of the soldiers under his command were killed by stone tablets. They were determined to persuade Zeng Guofan to withdraw back to Changsha, but they were afraid of being misunderstood and ridiculed. They could only pray that Zeng Guofan could block Changmao in Baling County and give Changsha more time to prepare.

"Master... It's not good, the city is broken... Let's go quickly..." Zeng Guobao ran in panting and pulled Zeng Guofan out.

Everyone was shocked and didn't understand what Zeng Guobao was going crazy, so they just said nonsense.

Guo Songtao stopped Zeng Guobao and said unhappy: "There are tens of thousands of defenders in the city, and 8,000 people stationed in Huangpoling outside the city. This battle has not been fought yet, how could the city be broken?"

Zeng Guobao was angry and cursed: "The commander who guarded the city opened the city gate privately and let Changmao enter the city. Damn, if I know who did it, I must kill all his clan!"

Capture Zeng Yaotou alive... Capture Zeng Yaotou alive... Kill... Don't run away Zeng Yaotou...

Listening to the shouts of killing from afar, everyone looked at each other, and then they believed that Zeng Guobao was telling the truth, and turned to look at Zeng Guofan together.

Zeng Guofan walked out of the county government and the shouts of killing gradually became clear. Seeing the panicked Hunan Army running around, Zeng Guofan was ashamed and speechless. Before this, he often ridiculed the Green Camp soldiers for fleeing, which was vulnerable. Unexpectedly, the Hunan Army, which he had spent so long to train for himself, was also vulnerable and subconsciously walked towards the battlefield.

Seeing Zeng Guofan's expression abnormality, Liu Rong ordered Zeng Guobao to gather the defeated army, and ordered Chen Shijie to send someone to contact the Hunan Army outside the city to be ready to evacuate at any time. He took Guo Songtao, Wang Feng and the others slowly followed Zeng Guofan.

Zeng Guofan looked at the retreating Hunan Army with a sad look. He knelt down to the north, kowtowed a few times, picked up the weapons on the ground, and touched the neck.

Guo Songtao and Liu Rong hugged Zeng Guofan and shouted, "Mr. must not... must not." Wang Feng took the opportunity to steal Zeng Guofan's weapons and threw them on the ground.

Zeng Guofan struggled and said, "You let go of me, I am ashamed of the emperor, ashamed of the elders of Sanxiang, I have no face to live in the world again, and I am embarrassed to see myself..." As if I was about to release all the aggrievances during this period, Zeng Guofan looked crazy and his face was distorted.

Liu Rong and Guo Songtao pulled Zeng Guofan back and advised: "It's just a temporary defeat. We can make a comeback. The Hunan Army is the hope of Hunan. The Grand General is the hope of the Hunan Army. If you die, we have to follow us so as not to be scolded by the villagers."

Zeng Guofan couldn't listen to it, but just shouted: "The Hunan Army had not made any contribution, but was defeated, and was ashamed of the emperor..."

Looking at Zeng Guofan, Wang Feng felt aggrieved and comforted him: "The general doesn't know yet? Zhiting won a great victory in Changsha and killed Zeng Tianyang, which was yesterday!"

Seeing that Zeng Guofan had no reaction, Wang Feng repeated loudly in his ear: The general doesn’t know yet? Zhiting won a great victory in Changsha and killed Zeng Tianyang, which was yesterday!

Zeng Guofan pulled Wang Feng and asked, "This is true. Zhiting really killed Zeng Ni? Why didn't he report to me?"

Wang Feng explained: "I heard this news at that time and had left Changsha. As for Zhiting, he should continue to pursue Changmao's remaining troops..."

The Hunan Army made great contributions! God will not destroy me! There is no need to die for the time being. Zeng Guofan calmed down and returned to his previous appearance, as if nothing had happened just now. "This Baling County cannot be defended anymore. Let's take a boat to Changsha!"

The defeat in Baling County spread throughout Changsha with Zeng Guofan's arrival. Those who hated Zeng Guofan in the officialdom were gloating, especially the Hunan governor Xu Youren and others. Ping Yueli was quite angry about Zeng Guofan's interference in the government affairs and had long wanted to get rid of him. Now, seeing that the Hunan Army was defeated so badly, he ran to Luo Bingzhang to complain.

"Sir, Zeng Disheng is arrogant and incompetent. Tens of thousands of troops actually broke out in one blow. It greatly lost your prestige. It would be better for us to write a memorial to impeach Zeng Disheng and then disband the Hunan Army."

Luo Bingzhang also disliked Zeng Guofan very much, but he couldn't leave Zeng Guofan at this time and advised him: "The current situation is now broken, and Changhai is rampant. Although Zeng Disheng is in a mess, he is now the pillar of Changsha. When Changhai retreats, we will talk about other things. You don't want to be birded with Changhai, right?"

"Yes... I'm right, I'm humble and stupid. Thanks to the reminder, otherwise it will be a big mistake and regret will last for life."

The first thing Zeng Guofan did when he arrived in Changsha was to send people to find Tazibu, and soon he found it in Baishui Town and asked him to meet in Changsha.

Zeng Guofan held Tazibu's hands and cried in tears, saying, "Thanks to Zhiting's victory, otherwise the Hunan Army would be in danger!"

Tazibu smiled honestly and pulled an official behind him over and introduced: "Master, I will bring you a talented man! This person is named Hu Linyi, and he is currently the governor of Guizhou. He was invited by Wu Wenrong to help. Unfortunately, Runzhi had just arrived in Changsha, Hunan, and Mr. Wu..."

Hu Linyi bowed and clasped his fists at Zeng Guofan and said, "Hu Linyi is a native of Yiyang, Hunan. I have met an adult!"

Zeng Guofan kindly helped Hu Linyi up and praised: "I have also heard of Runzhi's name in Hunan. Guizhou mobs have caused troubles many times, and Runzhi has calmed down. It can be seen that you have real talents and knowledge."

Hu Linyi was moved and said, "Since I learned that Lord Wu has died for his country, I am heartbroken and at a loss. From now on, I am willing to serve under the command of the Lord. I hope to eliminate the rebels as soon as possible and give the Qing Dynasty a bright world."

Generals above the Hunan Army camp were summoned by Zeng Guofan, including Wang Feng, who also made up his past grudges.

"Today I'll call you all to discuss the current situation of the Hunan Army. To put it bluntly, how to win the battle! The others are all empty." Zeng Guofan was straightforward. He needed a victory too much. He personally directed the winning battles to establish his prestige.

Hu Linyi was a cliché and wanted to show it: "Civil officials do not love money, military officials do not hesitate to die! Now the Qing Dynasty's administration is corrupt, and the Green Camp Army is even more corrupt. If you want to defeat Changmao, you must change your course and find another way. You find that using the method of compiling the people as brave camps can achieve miraculous results."

Zeng Guofan had long realized this, and nodded with shameful face and did not comment.

…………

Now I realize that collection is so important. Seeing that it has risen by more than a dozen times a day, but it is sometimes not rising but falling, it is really a blow!
Chapter completed!