Wang Zhongsi killed Xiao Chaogui, a brave general of the Taiping Army, with one blow. Hong Xiuquan was shocked and panicked. When he saw Wang Zhongsi coming towards him, he yelled and turned his horse to run away.
Wang Zhongsi naturally would not let Hong Xiuquan go, and pursued him all the way, riding like the wind. However, Hong Xiuquan was the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom after all, and he still had some means of winning over people's hearts. He had many warriors around him who were willing to die for him.
Seeing that Hong Xiuquan was in danger, these people killed Wang Zhongsi one by one without fear, and fought one after another, sacrificing their own lives for Hong Xiuquan's time to escape.
With the interception of these people, the distance between Wang Zhongsi and Hong Xiuquan became wider and wider. Seeing that they could no longer catch up, Wang Zhongsi immediately took out the hard bow from the back of the saddle, picked up the bow and arrow, and aimed at Hong Xiuquan. He loosened his fingers and fired the sharp arrow in an instant. Whistling away.
However, Wang Zhongsi and Hong Xiuquan had already opened up a lot of distance after all. In addition, Hong Xiuquan was running hard on his horse and his body was shaking violently. Although Wang Zhongsi's arrow hit his back, it did not hurt any vital parts. .
However, Hong Xiuquan, a magician, was used to being pampered. Although the arrow did not hurt any vital parts, he still screamed in pain and almost fell off his horse.
He tried his best to look back, only to see that Wang Zhongsi had drawn another arrow from the quiver. He was frightened to death. He suppressed the severe pain in his waist and beat the horse under his crotch fiercely. The war horse was in pain and immediately ran away like crazy.
Wang Zhongsi nocked the arrow and cocked it, but saw that Hong Xiuquan had turned into an inconspicuous black dot in his sight. He couldn't help but put down the hard bow in his hand, turned his horse's head and shouted loudly: "Brothers, the traitor Hong Xiuquan has already arrived." Escape, let’s withdraw our troops and return to the city!”
Hong Xiuquan ran all the way until he met the rear army led by Shi Dakai. Only then did he calm down his inner fear a little. He held high the banner of the King of Heaven in Shi Dakai's camp and recruited the defeated troops to rout them.
Hong Xiuquan's prestige among Taiping Dao believers was extremely high. With his prestige, he gathered another 130,000 to 40,000 troops. Except for Xiao Chaogui who unfortunately died in battle, other generals such as Yang Xiuqing and Feng Yunshan also returned safely.
However, the Taiping Army experienced a disastrous defeat and had low morale. In addition, Hong Xiuquan's own arrow injury worsened due to his lifeless running, so he had no choice but to order the entire army to temporarily rest.
. . . . . . . . . .
In the Taiping Army's temporary camp, although after more than ten days of training, Hong Xiuquan's arrow wound had completely recovered. But at this moment, Hong Xiuquan was still bedridden, sighing from time to time, looking depressed.
"King of Heaven, Shi Dakai, the last general, wants to see you!"
Shi Dakai's loud voice suddenly sounded outside the barracks. Hong Xiuquan quickly stood up and said slightly excitedly: "King Ji, please come in quickly!"
As soon as Shi Dakai stepped into Hong Xiuquan's barracks, Hong Xiuquan asked impatiently: "King Ji, how is the training of the troops and horses now? Is the morale good enough?"
Before the defeat at Wuyan Mountain, Shi Dakai had advised Hong Xiuquan to be careful of Sui army raids. After this disastrous defeat, Hong Xiuquan felt very regretful and secretly thought that if he had listened to Shi Dakai's words at that time, how could there have been such a disastrous defeat? After that, Shi Dakai began to be reused and all military training matters were handed over to him.
Shi Dakai cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to the King of Heaven, after more than ten days of rest and training, the last general has reprimanded a few cowards who deceived the public with their far-fetched words and tainted the morale of the army. Now the morale of the whole army can be put to good use."
Hong Xiuquan was overjoyed when he heard this and said: "King Ji has indeed lived up to my kindness. Okay, pass on the order, and the army will set off immediately to fight for Longxi County. This time, I must avenge my shame!"
Shi Dakai hurriedly tried to dissuade him: "King of Heaven, wait a moment, can you listen to what the last general has to say first?"
Hong Xiuquan now trusted Shi Dakai extremely, and immediately waved his hand and said: "King Ji, please speak!"
Shi Dakai said in a deep voice: "King of Heaven, our army has had two sword battles with Wang Shouren, the governor of Yangzhou who was stationed in Longxi City, both of which ended in disastrous defeats. This shows that Wang Shouren is not an easy man. And according to recent reports from scouts, Sui Dynasty general Yue Fei led The 50,000-strong army is coming here and will arrive in the near future. If our army takes Longxi directly, it is very likely that we will fight fiercely under the city and end up being flanked by the Sui army from two directions."
Hong Xiuquan immediately asked: "What does King Ji think we should do?"
In fact, Shi Dakai had already thought of a countermeasure and was waiting for Hong Xiuquan to ask, and immediately said: "King of Heaven, when we first raised the army, everyone thought that the Kingdom of Heaven had an army of 300,000 people, and the main force of the Sui army was in the Central Plains. Our army could be as powerful as thunder. Capture the south of the Yangtze River and march straight into Jiangdu. But looking at it now, our Heavenly Kingdom army has only been established for a short time, and its combat power is far inferior to that of the Sui army. If we stick to the previous strategy, we will eventually feel that the future of the Kingdom of Heaven is worrying!"
Hong Xiuquan somewhat understood what Shi Dakai meant and asked aloud: "Isn't King Ji planning to abandon Jiangnan and attack Jingzhou instead?"
Shi Dakai nodded and said: "The King of Heaven is wise. Jiangdu is the capital of Yang Gao'er. If we take Jiangnan and threaten Jiangdu, Yang Gao'er will fight to the death with us! Moreover, the general heard that the Tang Army is now attacking Jingzhou in three directions. We can still Contact the Tang army to deal with the Sui army together, so that the Sui army can take care of its counterattack in the future."
Hong Xiuquan lowered his head silently and began to consider Shi Dakai's plan. After a long time, he suddenly said quietly: "But if we turn to attack Jingxiang now, will the scholars think that our kingdom is afraid of Wang Shouren? Where is the prestige of Hong Xiuquan?"
Shi Dakai smiled slightly and said: "Don't worry, King of Heaven, the general will think that if Wang Shouren learns that our army is diverting north to attack Jingxiang, he will definitely not ignore it."
Hong Xiuquan couldn't help but interrupt Shi Dakai and said: "King Ji means that Wang Shouren will definitely lead his army to chase our army and prevent our army from going to Jingxiang. And we just happened to ambush this thief on the road."
Shi Dakai shook his head and said, "King of Heaven, although Wang Shouren is a hateful beast, he is indeed a master in the art of war. For this reason, in the end, he will definitely adopt the strategy of surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao, and lead his army straight to Lingnan."
Hong Xiuquan understood immediately, "According to King Ji's wishes, we should arrange an ambush in the direction of Lingnan?"
Shi Dakai nodded, "If the King of Heaven can trust the general, and the general is willing to personally lead a troop to lay out an ambush, he will definitely get Wang Shouren's head for the King of Heaven."
Hong Xiuquan laughed loudly and said: "If King Ji takes action, success will be achieved immediately. I believe that King Ji will be able to deliver the head of Wang Shouren, the evil thief, to me."
After Hong Xiuquan and Shi Dakai finished their discussion, they immediately ordered the army to set off and kill all the way towards Jingxiang.
The scouts sent by Wang Shouren quickly passed this information back. Wang Shouren couldn't help being shocked when he heard this, and quickly came to Wang Zhongsi to discuss: "At present, the Tang army is invading south in three directions. The focus of the imperial court is on Jingbei, and only Maimeng is the only one in Jingnan." Cai and Su Kuang's 30,000 troops, the land in Jingnan is vast, I'm afraid they can't defend it with just 30,000 troops."
