The Taiping Army made no progress in attacking the city for a day. Feng Yunshan came to visit Li Yunzhong, hoping to borrow some explosives to blow up the city wall. Li Yunzhong sent a demolition battalion to follow Feng Yunshan. Two hours later, the demolition battalion returned. It turned out that the entire city of Guilin was full of people.

You can't dig out rocks or anything like that.

On September 8, Wu Lantai, the deputy governor of Guangzhou who was chasing the Taiping Army, led his troops to Jiangjun Bridge in the southern suburbs of Guilin. Seeing Wu Dutong's flag from a distance, Xiang Rong on the tower of Guilin City was happy and thought to himself.

There is hope.

Li Yunzhong ordered the Second Army to intercept. Zhang Suimou used the muzzleloader gun captured in Yong'an City. One shot wounded Wu Lantai's thigh who was running at the front. The Cantonese army rushing behind him turned around and ran away in fright.

, leaving Ulantai alone on the bridge groaning and struggling to crawl back, leaving a shocking blood trail. Zhang Suimou saw that Ulantai was wearing official uniform and asked someone to carry him off. He died because of his serious injuries.

die.

This scene made Xiang Rong's heart freeze when he saw it on the city. It also plunged the Qing army huddled in Guilin City into deep fear. The morale of the Taiping Army was greatly boosted, and they attacked the city more and more fiercely.

, under the cover of bursts of gunpowder smoke, the Taiping soldiers set up ladders, with square tables wrapped in wet cotton on their heads, and bravely attacked the city. Even women and children cheered and cheered. September 15th, West Gate, South Gate, Wenchang

Fierce fighting continued at the gate. On the 18th, the Taiping Army set up piggy shells on Elephant Trunk Mountain to bombard the city. The prefect's office was hit by artillery fire, which frightened the prefect and hid in the guild hall near Shuidong Gate. Xiang Rong watched many officers and soldiers secretly

He retreated back, quickly boosted his morale, and shouted loudly: "Every officer and soldier in the city will be rewarded one tael of silver every day. If you kill a bandit, you will be rewarded five taels of silver." The Qing troops guarding the city were really jealous. Most of them were a bunch of poor people.

, were forced up, and used guns, fire pots, rolling logs, and stones one after another, as well as pouring boiling water, boiling porridge, and boiling oil. For a time, the sound of cannons inside and outside the city rumbled, and the sound shook the valley.

The Taiping Army camped its main force of 6,000 people along the west gate, south gate, and outside the Wenchang Gate, forming a half-moon siege of the provincial capital Guilin. During this period, several orders were issued to invite Li Yunzhong to attack the city together, but they were all rejected. They only ordered not to allow the Qing Dynasty.

The promise of demon reinforcements taking one step closer to the city

In September, after the Qing army suffered repeated setbacks, it mobilized more than 30,000 reinforcements from ten provinces including Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Henan, Yunnan, Fujian, Guangdong, Hui, Su, and Guangxi in an attempt to annihilate the Taiping Army under the walls of Guilin.

, Li Yunzhong led the entire army to the north bank of the Li River first, and persuaded the Taiping Army to retreat. Li Yunzhong took advantage of the Qing army's unstable footing to launch an attack, taking the lead in breaking through the Qing army's forward. The defeated troops rushed towards the camp, and the Qing army's camp became chaotic.

He got up, abandoned even the baggage, and fled in panic. Li Yunzhong led the army to continue north, heading straight for Quanzhou, the northernmost part of Guangxi. In the evening, the entire army arrived at Quanzhou City. Li Yunzhong ordered his people to camp under the city and did not attack Quanzhou.

The city has high walls and thick walls, is poor, and has no strategic value. Li Yunzhong did not want to waste his efforts.

The governors and county magistrates of the whole state were in fear all night in the city. The poison was prepared. There were only 600 defenders in the city. Even if the people were forcibly recruited, there would only be more than 300 people. There were tens of thousands of rebels under the city, and the city would be broken within a few days.

Xiang Rong stood on the city wall and watched the reinforcements enter the city one after another. He was full of ambition. The Taiping army fled in a hurry overnight. He didn't know how the court would reward such a great achievement. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. The admiral was already a first-class official, and he was probably going to be promoted to a title and a false title.

, Prince Shaobao? Haha.

When Saishang'a heard that the Taiping Army was attacking Guilin, he immediately moved his camp from Yong'an to Lipu. One day later, he moved from Lipu to Yangshuo. Saishang'a, with 30,000 troops, was stationed at Shouyang Academy in Yangshuo, more than 130 miles away from the provincial capital.

, but did not dare to return to the provincial capital in person to command the battle, and repeatedly reported that he was "sickly" in an attempt to shirk responsibility. It was not until September 26 that he arrived from Yangshuo to Guilin. By then, the Taiping Army had already evacuated Guilin for a week.

It can be said that Jiang Zhongyuan was extremely disappointed with Sai Shang'a. He was afraid of the enemy but fought, shirking responsibility... Hearing that the Taiping Army had moved north from Guilin and marching into Hunan, he was afraid that they would go back and harm Xinning, so he took Chu Yong with him without asking Sai Shang'a.

Chasing the Taiping Army.

"The imperial edict has arrived." Xiang Rong looked excitedly at the eunuch who came to deliver the edict, and led the Guilin officials to kneel down to receive the edict.

Just listen to the eunuch chanting: "Xiang Rong has betrayed the divine grace. He was afraid of the enemy but fought, lied about his military exploits, dismissed him from his post, demoted him to a commoner, and allowed him to serve in the army for his crimes."

Xiang Rong, who was exhausted, only listened in despair. When the eunuch finished reciting the imperial edict, he even forgot to answer the edict and staggered to the house to pack his things and prepare to go home to retire.

Zhang Guoliang caught up with Xiang Rong, supported Xiang Rong, and said: "Junmen, are you okay? What's wrong with this court? Those who have meritorious service are not rewarded, and those who delay the war opportunity are not punished. How can we suppress the bandits?"

Xiang Rong shouted: "Shut up, you can slander the imperial court. This must be a villain slandering the emperor. You must stay in the army and serve well."

"Then what are you going to do..." Zhang Guoliang asked looking at the frustrated Xiang Rong.

Xiang Rong patted his shoulder, waved his hand, ignored Zhang Guoliang who was stunned on the spot, and walked away.

Li Yunzhong rushed to Liyidu and saw that the river was bottomless. He collected the boats to transport the soldiers across the river. After the entire army crossed the river, the boats were taken over by the Taiping Army vanguard.

Ever since Qin Shihuang ordered the construction of the Lingqu Canal to connect the Xiangjiang River and the Lijiang River, Hunan and Guangxi have influenced each other. Especially during times of war and chaos, when the rebels could no longer stand in the province, they would go to neighboring provinces to fight.

As soon as the army entered Hunan, it entered the territory of Lingling Prefecture. When the prefect of Lingling Prefecture saw the army besieging the city, all the troops were transferred to Guangxi. There were only 300 defenders in the city. He quickly opened the city gate, and the fish and birds flew and fled towards Hengyang.

go.

This surprised Li Yunzhong. Since he raised his army, he has never seen the generals who defended the city abandon the city and flee. It seems that the troops from Hunan and surrounding provinces have been transferred to Guangxi. Li Yunzhong established the Han government in Linglingfu

, appointed himself King of Han, launched the political slogan of "Drive out the Tartars and restore China", and asked the army to announce the slogan "Land to the tiller, tax exemption for three years" wherever they went.

The First Army attacked Daoxian, and the Second Army marched towards Guiyang. Li Yunzhong led the Fourth Army and the remaining people to temporarily stay in Lingling Mansion to consider the next plan and inquire about the situation of the Taiping Army.

Yu Wanqing, the admiral of Hunan who was stationed in Daozhou, saw the Han army coming to attack, so he quickly fled with his family. The First Army occupied Daozhou without a fight.

Li Qishao, the magistrate of Guiyang Prefecture, usually preyed on the people and did all kinds of evil. When he heard that the Han army was coming, he was so frightened that he abandoned the city and fled to the countryside with the money he looted. Everywhere he fled, he heard that the Han army was coming and saw the people voluntarily go there.

When he was greeted by the scene, he was so anxious that he thought of the ancient story of abandoning objects and stopping pursuit, and returned the gold and silver treasures all the way. When he fled to Jian Town, the local people suddenly shouted: "The thief is coming! The thief is coming!", which frightened him.

Master Zhifu thought that the Han army was chasing him, so in order to avoid being humiliated, he jumped into the river and committed suicide.

Many local coal diggers in Daozhou and Guiyang joined the Han army. Seeing that they were good at digging tunnels, Li Yunzhong organized them into a demolition battalion and expanded it into a demolition regiment. The total number of the group was 4,000, capable of both fighting and attacking.

Destroy the city walls.

Li Yunzhong learned from local officials that Changsha was depleted of troops and that the city walls had not been repaired for a long time and were not strong. He immediately made a desperate move and ordered the entire army to put down all their territory and immediately rush to Changsha at full speed. Along the way, many people from the Tiandihui asked to join. Li Yunzhong

He had no choice but to let Su Sanniang's Fourth Army, who was familiar with the Tiandihui, take him in along the way. He led the boy scouts, joined the First Army, and rushed towards Changsha at starry night.

Luo Bingzhang never expected that he would meet his fellow villagers in battle under such circumstances. His heart was in a state of excitement. After a while, he thought fiercely: Hong Xiuquan, you are just a failed scholar, a rebel from Huaxian County.

Young man, how dare you compete with me, a dignified old scholar of the Qing Dynasty? I know that I am the target of your jealousy and hatred. By doing this, aren't you forcing me to fight you? I don't care about my own future, but I have to

Save some face for yourself in front of people in your hometown, otherwise no one will be willing to study and take the Jinshi exam in the future.
Chapter completed!