Chapter 48: Rushing to One's Death

  The long-haired ones attacked the camp endlessly, and some had already managed to climb up. However, this was not a fortified city, and the stored grain, grass, and military equipment were limited. By now, the arrows had been used up to 70-80%, and the camp was gradually being damaged by cannon fire, probably unable to hold out for much longer.

  Li Xubin, seeing this situation, personally took up his sword and loudly shouted: "If we continue like this, by dawn the camp will definitely be broken! I, Xubin, am willing to go out of the camp and fight to the death with the Longhairs (Taiping rebels), whoever is willing to follow me?"

  Sun Handong was the first to step forward, shouting: "I am willing to live and die with the adults!"

  Then, the Xiang Army people all shouted to go out of the camp and kill the thieves. Li Xubin stopped Zeng Guohua and said: "Brother Guohua, you were entrusted to me by General Zeng. I will not die, and I must not let you take risks. You don't have to say more, just bring the wounded brothers and stay in the camp!"

  Zeng Guohua could only nod in agreement with tears in his eyes.

  Li Xubin led Sun Handong and other Hunan army generals, about 2,000 people, all abandoned their horses and held chopping knives and long spears, preparing to fight out of the camp.

  At this time, Li Xubin pulled Li Mingfeng to a deserted place and said: "Mingfeng brother came to rescue me, it was originally a great kindness between us, but I have dragged my brother into a desperate situation, alas!"

  "Your Excellency, please don't say that. Today, you and I will jointly defeat the enemy and report to the country! Even if heaven does not bless me, I die in battle, it is also a loyal death for the emperor, and it is a worthy death." Li Mingfeng scolded fiercely in his heart, but he still had to say nice words.

  After listening to Li Mingfeng's words, Li Xubin's eyes gleamed with tears: "We are hot-blooded men, let's not talk about that woman's words. Today I only ask you one thing, do you agree?"

  "Brother Li made me go through thick and thin, and I won't let him down!" Li Mingfeng said with a pat on his chest.

  "I won't let you go through thick and thin, I only ask that you rescue Guo Hua from Sanhe and bring him back to Zeng Gong's side, so that he can die without regret."

  "Now the encirclement is so tight, how can we escape?" Li Mingfeng said with a bitter smile.

  "I and my brothers will fight our way out, we have already made up our minds to die. Leave these troops and horses for you, wait until we break through a bloody path and draw the attention of the Longhairs, then you can take advantage of the opportunity and escape quickly!" Li Xubin said.

  Upon hearing this, Li Mingfeng couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart. This Li Xubin was indeed a good man. It wasn't until then that Li Mingfeng took a closer look at Li Xubin. Under the flickering light of the fire, this 40-year-old Hunanese man had disheveled hair and a dirty face, with bloodstains all over his face. His eyes were fixed intently on Li Mingfeng, awaiting his response.

  Li Mingfeng only then understood why the relationships between comrades on the battlefield were so intimate, this feeling was truly too special and couldn't be put into words.

  "Alright! As long as Mingfeng doesn't die, I'll definitely take Zeng Daigou out of this place!"

  Li Xubin nodded, turned around and shouted to the over 2,000 Hunan Army elites who were already fully armed: "Today we are in a desperate situation, but we cannot let the Longhairs look down on the Hunan Army! My name is Li Xubin, and when the Longhairs hear it, they tremble with fear. Today, even if I die, I will not let my prestige be lost!"

  Everyone shouted in unison: "Invincible prestige! Invincible prestige!"

  "Open for business!"

  Li Xubin held the flag in one hand and the knife in the other, and was the first to rush out of the camp gate, killing his way out. The Hunan soldiers followed him like a tide, also killing their way out.

  Only the foreign gun squad and a number of wounded Xiang soldiers were left in the camp, Li Mingfeng ordered the camp gate to be closed tightly to prevent the Taiping rebels from taking advantage of the situation.

  Li Xiu-bin led the troops to kill their way out, without looking back, and rushed straight to the "Chen" character commander flag. The Long-haired bandits never expected that the Hunan army would take the initiative to kill their way out, and for a time, countless of them were slaughtered.

  Li Xubin's name was indeed loud among the Longhairs, having breached over 40 cities and fought in over 600 battles. In every major battle, he would be at the forefront. Is such a person ordinary? When Li Xubin charged forward with his life on the line, the other Longhairs didn't dare to advance, instead retreating in disorder. Those who ran slowly were all cut down by a single slash of his sword.

  Chen Yucheng was observing the battle from a distant mountain, and had been receiving reports from the front that made him think victory was within his grasp. However, he did not expect Li Xubin to suddenly charge out. Chen Yucheng knew that his subordinates were extremely afraid of Li Xubin, so in order to boost morale, he issued an order: whoever beheads Li Xubin would be rewarded with 10,000 taels of white silver and a promotion of three ranks; whoever beheads an ordinary Hunan soldier would be rewarded with 100 taels of silver and a promotion of one rank.

  Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men. One hundred taels of white silver was the entire family property of an ordinary peasant household. Upon hearing that such a large sum of money would be rewarded, Zhang's morale was boosted.

  It was now daylight and friend and foe could be distinguished.

  Li Xubin led the troops to rush straight to Chen Yucheng's place and kill him, thinking that even if he died, he had to pull down the four-eyed dog. Chen Yucheng was directing his army on a mountain about six or seven miles away from the Hunan Army camp. Li Xubin was already surrounded by tens of thousands of long-haired soldiers halfway through, it can be said that there were three layers inside and three layers outside, some Hunan soldiers had already shown fear on their faces.

  Li Xubin shouted loudly: "Those who fear death are not my three Xiang brothers! Today we have already fallen into a desperate situation, if all of you officers and soldiers remember the fraternal bond, then help me kill that four-eyed dog, it will also fulfill my wish!"

  Sun Handong shouted along: "Since we're already doomed to die, why don't we make a good fight of it?!"

  All the generals burst out laughing, feeling infinite power in their bodies, and no longer having any fear.

  On the camp, Li Mingfeng, Zeng Guohua and others were all watching the battle. Seeing Li Xubin still charging forward, Zeng Guohua was anxious: "Why hasn't Lord Li retreated yet? Isn't the crisis here already resolved?"

  Seeing Li Mingfeng silent and speechless, Zeng Guohua suddenly came to his senses, realizing that Li Xubin had already made up his mind to die.

  "No way, I have to go save Lord Li!" Zeng Guohua said as he prepared to head down the mountain to gather the remaining Hunan troops.

  Li Mingfeng sighed and gave Chen Xinghan a signal with his eyes, Chen Xinghan understood and went forward to knock Zeng Guohua unconscious with one palm.

  The generals under Zeng Guohua's command were bewildered and saw their leader being knocked unconscious, they all drew out their waist knives and glared angrily at Li Mingfeng.

  Li Mingfeng signaled to the crowd to calm down and explained Li Xubin's arrangement. The Hunan army generals all listened with tears streaming down their faces, although they were unwilling in their hearts, but also knew that this was the only way out.

  At this time, looking out again, it was seen that Li Xubin's troops had already charged to the small mountain where Chen Yucheng's commander flag was located, and most of the long-haired bandits surrounding the camp had gone to pursue and kill Li Xubin.

  Feeling that the opportunity had arrived, Li Mingfeng immediately ordered his generals to gather and mount their horses. There were 1,500 military horses, but more than 2,000 people. Li Mingfeng was also very worried about this situation. The foreign gun team was his own property, and the Xiang Army was entrusted by Li Xubin, neither of which could be abandoned.

  At this time, a general under Zeng Guohua said: "Sir, we brothers have always been born and died together. Mr. Li is generous to die, and we cannot live alone. If you hadn't come to rescue us yesterday, we would have died long ago. Being able to live for one more day is already a gain. Now that there are not enough horses, it's impossible to let the brothers who came to save us suffer."

  After that, the man led the remaining wounded soldiers of the Xiang Army down from their horses and handed all the horses over to the foreign rifle team. Li Mingfeng opened his mouth wanting to say something, but after thinking for a long time, he just let out a deep sigh: "No need to say more, you can rest assured that I, Zeng Guohua, will take him to a safe place. As for your families and children, I will do my best to help."

  The wounded soldiers said: "Thank you!"

  After that, they opened the camp gate and rushed straight to the southeast direction. Looking at the backs of these hundreds of wounded soldiers, Li Mingfeng and his men couldn't help but shed tears.