Aide He Zongjun is a Changsha native, and his hometown is about to suffer a war, which makes him feel angry and retorted loudly: "The military book says that we will do our best. Now our army is in a strong momentum. We should attack and attack Changsha. To annihilate this batch of short hair in Hunan, it can not only boost the morale of the army, but also crack down on the morale of short hair. Put this group of short hair heads under Jiujiang City. What reason can we not conquer Jiujiang!"

The other staff members were from Hunan and advocated continuing to advance. Li Xubin compared two proposals, rationally letting him choose the former one, but considering that his hometown was about to encounter war disasters, the Yueyang gentry admired him, so he decided to advance to the provincial capital Changsha regardless of everything.

"The whole army rushed to Changsha immediately!" Li Xubin shouted, and Changsha would be more dangerous if it delayed for a moment.

On January 13, Li Xubin sent a Hunan Army to stay in Yueyang and personally led the main force to attack Xiangyin, intending to enter Changsha from Xiangyin through Wangcheng. On January 15, through a one-day fierce attack, the Hunan Army suffered 500 casualties and occupied Xiangyin. All the remaining Taiping Army left behind in the city were killed in battle. On January 17, Li Xubin sent people to stay in Xiangyin and marched to Jinggang Town, Wangcheng.

Seeing the Han Army Camp in Jinggang, Li Xubin realized that Shortmao did not attack Changsha. He sighed and camped five miles outside the town.

Jinggang Town is located in the northwest of Wangcheng. Li Jing, a general of the Tang Dynasty, once stationed troops here. Because he was good at governing the army and never disturbed the people, later generations changed the name of this place to Jinggang.

Chen Yucheng had already been waiting for the battle here. In just seven days, Chen Yucheng had nine brick and stone camps outside the town, guarding the river. All the people in the town fled, and just in time the Han army set up an ambush.

Aide Zeng Guohua found Li Xubin and advised: "The river in Jinggang Town is wide, and our army has no navy, so we cannot fight. We should retreat to Xiangyin and wait for reinforcements."

Li Xubin did not intend to retreat easily. He chased this group of bold rebels for nearly a month. His patience reached its limit: "The thief army can fight, but I can fight too. If he retreated, not only will our army be honored, but he will also be chased by the enemy."

He Zongjun said: "There are only heavy troops stationed in Wuchang nearby. It is better to ask the Governor to send troops to suppress the enemy. There are strong cities in front and heavy troops in the back. It is difficult to fly with short hairs."

With all the friends on the side of the curtain, no one will dislike their own soldiers.

Li Xubin immediately wrote a letter of help:

The 5,000 troops in the army were defeated by Yueyang and Xiangyin, and the remaining troops reached 3,000. Since the New Year, they have often fought hard, but they have never stopped. They have damaged elites and were full of wounds. Now there are less than two thousand people, and they are all tired. There are many thieves in the Jinggang area. I asked the Governor to send troops to suppress them. Such a rebel has nowhere to escape, and success or failure is not a plan.

The next day, Li Xubin divided his troops into three groups to launch an attack on nine fortresses outside the town. He fought fiercely. The Hunan Army suffered more than 500 casualties, and the defenders were all the remaining Taiping Army. They could not bear the casualties and retreated to the town.

On this occasion, all the elite troops from Changde and other places rushed to Jinggang and surrounded the Hunan Army camps. Li Xubin rushed left and right and could not break through the siege.

Every day, the Hunan Army suffered huge casualties, fewer and fewer camps, and the encirclement was getting smaller and smaller.

Wu Lirong suggested that Li Xubin take advantage of the fact that the Hunan Army still has the power to fight and quickly withdraw his troops: "There are no more troops than us, the battalion officials and brave men in the world, but we cannot be without generals like you, Mr. Li. Please break through. The last general leads his troops to cover the situation to the death. Even if you are the only one, we will die without regrets."

Li Xubin looked at the division of all the battalions with a solemn expression and said, "This is a bad thing. The reason why the thieves are powerful is that the officers and soldiers fled on the battlefield. Not only are the thieves arrogant and embarrassing the court. The only thing I can do now is to fight bloody battles, do more bloody sincerity, and encourage the Qing officers and soldiers and thieves to stick to the end."

Zeng Guohua advised: "I didn't expect that in just a few days, the short hair actually expanded its army several times. It's really a waste of heaven. Now Changsha cannot protect itself. If you want to break through the siege, you can only ask the Governor to send troops. Take a boat from Wuchang and travel at night. You can reach Jinggang without three days. Then we still have a chance."

Li Xubin smiled terrified. Did he not know what kind of person Guan Wen was? Can he send troops?

Seeing that Li Xubin was dissatisfied, Zeng Guohua opened the skylight and said: "General, you sent someone to ask for help from Wuchang, but in fact, to Zeng and Hu, the other two, just to give the officers and soldiers more hope, so that they will fight to the death and delay for a while."

Li Xubin said to Wu Lirong and He Zongjun: "After our army attacks south, you can take the opportunity to jump into the river and escape. It would be best if you can call reinforcements. If... you don't come back."

"General!" The two of them had red eyes. Seeing that Li Xubin was determined, they had no choice but to take the order and leave.

Compared with Li Xubin's despair, Chen Yucheng was surprised that they could persevere until now. He immediately realized that this group of Hunan Army was unusual. He called prisoners to interrogate. Only then did he realize that the Hunan Army in the encirclement was all Zeng Guofan's starting troops, and the generals above the team were all from Xiangxiang.

Tan Shaoguang smiled and said, "This group of thieves is like our first army, all composed of old soldiers. If you annihilate this group of thieves, the Hunan Army will inevitably be greatly damaged and morale will be greatly reduced. Our army will take the opportunity to defeat the Hunan Army in one fell swoop."

Liu Lichuan has also gained knowledge in recent years and smiled and clasped his fists at Chen Yucheng, saying, "If the Hunan Army is defeated, our Han Dynasty will follow the trend and conquer Yanjing at that time, the general will be the first to be a marquis. When he is granted a title, he will be said to be ready!"

Although Chen Yucheng was mature, he was still only sixteen years old. A hint of pride appeared on his face and said with a smile: "The Hunan Army's offensive just now was unusual, and they almost made them break through. They must double their defense in the future. They don't have much food or grass. After another seven or eighth day, our army can launch a large-scale attack. Capturing Li Xubin alive is also a great achievement."

Wu Lirong and He Zongjun rushed to the road at night. With the support of the Xiangyin defenders, they rushed to Wu Changcheng on the third day. He Zongjun clasped his fists at Wu Lirong and said, "This time, I bewitched the siege of Jinggang and started to enter Changsha. Although I knew Guan Wen was greedy for life and was afraid of death, I still wanted to go into the city to try it. I don't believe that he dared to take the blame for the world and refused to send troops. You wait outside the city for two hours. If I haven't left the city in the evening, it proves that I was killed by Guan Wen. You don't have to wait any longer. Go east and ask Mr. Zeng to find a solution."

Wu Lirong smiled bitterly and said, "Master Zeng is thousands of miles away, and even if he sends troops to rescue him, it is too late. You clearly make me live in vain. How can I do this?"
Chapter completed!