The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 132 Zuo Zongtang, my Taiping Heavenly Kingdom wants to recruit you (ask for monthly tickets)
The western city wall of Changsha City.

Yuanbao, Bai Siwen, Wenxiang, and Ronglu were all walking northward along Changsha's ancient and majestic city wall. Yuanbao, Bai Siwen, and Ronglu all looked a little depressed, and they just kept their heads down and walked along without saying a word.

Wen Xiang would turn around from time to time and say some encouraging words.

"Just wait until we reach Yingchun Gate! There is a battalion of Xianghu militia stationed at the Tiefu Temple outside Yingchun Gate, and they have also stockpiled a lot of opium! If you are addicted to smoking, just bear with it. When you get to Tiefu Temple, you will have everything you need!"

"Don't lose your weapons! We might run into the Taiping Rebellion and the Tiandihui on the road. These weapons are our lives!"

"We can't lose the flag. We are the Demon-Suppressing Battalion, a powerful army of the Beijing Banner. This flag is our reputation. We, the Eight Banners, will fight for our dignity even at the cost of our lives!"

"Brothers from the Green Camp, please help the brothers from the Eight Banners. We are all one family. When we get to the Iron Buddha Temple, we will give you silver, two taels each!"

It's no wonder that this bannerman who passed the imperial examination in Beijing from outside the Great Wall really has a kind of spirit that the bannermen in Beijing don't have. Even though the army was defeated, he still used words to coax and deceive, trying to lead as many troops as possible out of Changsha City.

Another motivated young man from the Outer Pass in the Demon-Suppressing Camp is Duolong'a. Strictly speaking, he is not a Manchu, but a Daur. Like the Solon people, he is a "savage" from the Outer Pass who paid blood taxes to the Qing Dynasty. He grew up in a bitter and cold place, which not only built up his strong muscles and bones, but also honed his indomitable will.

Although he had suffered a defeat, he was still trying hard to clean up the defeated army, just like Wenxiang.

When he retreated from Huangdao Street before, he led a team of Green Camp soldiers from Gansu and Shaanxi to cover the rear and withstood several rounds of fierce attacks from the Taiping Army. He was wounded all over his body and his clothes were stained with blood. Finally, he ran to Yibu Gate with less than 30 Green Camp soldiers before catching up with the main force led by Yuan Bao, Wen Xiang and others.

After counting the number of people at the Yibu Gate, Yuan Bao and Wen Xiang discovered that they still had three or four hundred Eight Banners soldiers and five or six hundred Green Camp soldiers under their command - a little over fifteen hundred of the 2,500-man army were gone, leaving barely less than a thousand. In addition, there were "red flags fluttering" everywhere in Changsha City. They didn't know whether they were the red flags of the Taiping Army or the red flags of the Tiandihui?
Anyway, it’s no longer the territory of the Qing Dynasty!
After discovering that Changsha City was full of "red flags", Yuan Bao, Wen Xiang and others did not dare to leave the city. But they could not leave the city either, because there was the Xiangjiang River outside the city!

If I walk outside the city, I might jump into the river if I’m not careful. I dare not do that!
So they decided to just climb up and down the city wall.

So Yuanbao and Bai Siwen were responsible for leading the team, Wenxiang was responsible for encouraging them, Duolong'a continued to guard the rear, and more than a thousand Eight Banners and Green Camps came to Chaozongmen in a sparse manner.

When they were about to reach Chaozongmen Gate, Wen Xiang, who had been cheering all the way, suddenly changed his tone and shouted loudly: "Stop, stop, don't go!"

"Wen Bochuan, what are you talking about?"

"Bochuan, don't stop!"

Yuan Bao and Bai Siwen were hurrying along with their heads down, calculating how much "ass-wiping paper" they should send to their superiors to wipe out this great defeat. Suddenly, they were shocked to hear Wen Xiang say that he would not leave.

They thought Wenxiang was desperate and wanted to take these thousands of defeated soldiers to fight the Taiping Army!
"Look at Chao Zongmen Street for yourself, and then listen carefully."

Yuan Bao and Bai Siwen looked up and found that flames were shooting up into the sky on the main street inside Chaozong Gate. Then they listened carefully and heard the Taiping Army's "hymn" "A Man Should Be Self-reliant" echoing in the air.

It’s over now, Chao Sect is finished!

"Hurry, let's retreat back to Yibu Gate!" Yuan Bao suggested quickly.

"It's too late! There's a battle going on at Yibu Gate!" Wen Xiang turned around and pointed at Yibu Gate.

Yuan Bao and Bai Siwen turned their heads and suddenly felt dizzy.

They were fine when they left Yibu Gate just now, but now someone has started a fight with the Taiping Army and they are fighting fiercely.

This time it was really over, they couldn't move forward or backward, they were blocked on the city wall. It would be better to walk along the Xiangjiang River, jumping into the river would be a life-or-death situation, but jumping off the city wall would be a sure death!
When the two men were feeling desperate, Wenxiang, who was always positive and optimistic, suddenly began to encourage them: "Keqin, Siwen, I think the outcome of the Chao Sect is still uncertain. Why not make a big show of force to intimidate the bandits? Maybe we can find a way out!"

Yuan Bao and Bai Siwen had already lost their opinions, so after hearing what Wen Xiang said, they just nodded in agreement. "Bochuan, we will listen to you."

"Okay, let's do what you say!"

The Chao Sect.

The battle line on Chaozongmen Street was moving towards the Chaozongmen city gate little by little.

Although the Taiping Army was greatly encouraged by the "Angel's Resurrection" and defeated the Hunan Army, Chaozongmen was a long street, and the army could not be deployed at all. The two sides could only fight in columns. The front of the battle was very narrow and the depth was very large. The Taiping Army could not break through the Hunan Army's front line.

In addition, the fire in the rice shop inside Chaozong Gate was getting bigger and bigger, and had already spread out from the rice market. The fire was originally burning on the north side of Chaozong Street, and now many houses on the south side of Chaozong Street were also on fire.

If we don’t organize our forces to control the fire, this fire might burn down the whole Changsha!
At this time, Luo Yaoguo no longer had the heart to sing "A Man Should Be Self-reliant". Instead, he stood on Chaozongmen Street, holding a red flag, with a white cloth wrapped around his right ear and dark red bloodstains faintly visible on his right cheek.

As he looked at the growing fire and the battle that was about to be won, his expression became even uglier.

Luo Yaoguo had been very proud since he came here through space. Because he came here under the gaze of thousands of people, and he had several "magic weapons" in his hands, he was like a fish in water in the special national conditions of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Later, when he captured Daozhou, entered Guiyang, and occupied Chenzhou, he was able to use a sledgehammer to defeat a gnat with an unstoppable force along the way and never encountered any opponents worth mentioning.

After advancing northwards to Changsha Prefecture, although they encountered some troubles, they also encountered a "defeatable guard" - this guy is definitely an enemy more valuable than a comrade! As expected, they gave Luo Yaoguo a great victory in Changsha for nothing.

Unexpectedly, when Luo Yaoguo was most proud, he was hit by Zuo Zongtang and was almost killed by a sniper under his command! Although he was lucky to escape, his "body" was damaged. A small piece of his ear was knocked off, and now it hurts like hell!
This is still a small matter. I wonder if the people below will suspect that this "angel" has "lost his magic power"?
In addition, Zuo Zongtang burned down the Chaozongmen rice market and used the burning rice market as bait to ambush the Taiping Army!
He fought this battle beautifully!

Although he failed to defeat the eight or nine hundred men under Luo Yaoguo's command and was at a disadvantage, Luo Yaoguo was very upset. He did not want to take over a Changsha city with no food, no houses, and only 200,000 or 300,000 refugees. Even the local tyrant Zhu Jiu would not be willing to take over such a Changsha.

But he was unwilling to give up the opportunity to kill the Hunan Army that had just appeared and capture Zuo Zongtang at the same time.

Zuo Zongtang is not a dog official of the Qing Dynasty yet. He is just a temporary worker without a regular position, and he works for Luo Bingzhang, the "temporary governor". He is a temporary worker hired by temporary workers, and he is not even qualified to die for the Qing Dynasty. So if he is caught, he will definitely surrender!

But now it seems that Zuo Zongtang is not easy to catch!
"Your Highness, the Angel! Another group of Qing demons are coming along the city wall, and there seem to be more than a thousand of them!" Su Sanniang's voice suddenly rang in Luo Yaoguo's ears, "The fire on Chaozong Street is getting bigger and bigger, and we can't fight anymore. We might as well withdraw our troops for the time being and work with the Tiandihui brothers in Changsha to put out the fire. At least we can control the fire first. The food in Chaozongmen's rice market is gone, but if the fire can't be controlled, it's possible that half of Changsha City will be burned down."

"Ming Jin withdraws his troops!"

Luo Yaoguo finally made up his mind and waited for Su Sanniang to pass on the order. After the jingling "golden sound" rang out, he asked Su Sanniang, "Has Li Shoucheng arrived?"

"Just arrived," Su Sanniang said, "with five hundred people."

Luo Yaoguo frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Tell Li Shoucheng to hand over the troops to you, and then order him to personally capture a few smart Manchus."

"Catch a few smart Manchus? What are they for?"

"Be an envoy," Luo Yaoguo looked up at the Chaozongmen city wall in the distance and murmured, "I want to recruit Zuo Zongtang!"

"Recruitment?" Su Sanniang was stunned. She was quite familiar with the word "recruitment", but in the past, it was always someone in the government who wanted to recruit her. She didn't expect that now she could also recruit others.

Luo Yaoguo snorted softly: "It's a surrender. He was a commoner from Xiangyin. He set fire, killed people, and had soldiers. Isn't the next step to surrender?"

(End of this chapter)