Chapter 27: Li Yunzhong Attacks Changsha

  Lu Bingzhang again scolded the officials who had escaped into the city, saying: "You want to escape with your lives, but you should at least send a message to the provincial capital and delay for some time. What are you doing here? Go and block the city gate." After scolding them, Lu Bingzhang quickly wrote a memorial requesting reinforcements.

  After the initial deployment, Rong Bingzhang felt that it was not appropriate. The current situation is extremely severe, and the Taiping Army's momentum is so fierce that they will not stop until they capture Changsha. The Green Camp soldiers in the city are not even real soldiers, they can only bully ordinary people, but when facing the Taiping Army, they are afraid to death, absolutely no match for the Taiping Army. If he doesn't want to lose to that little old countryman, he needs to come up with a clever plan. This clever plan Rong Bingzhang had thought of early on, originally intended to offer it to someone else, but unexpectedly he ended up using it himself.

  Before long, someone came to report that Admiral Bao Qihong had arrived and was seeking an audience.

  Bao Qihong said to Luo Bingzhang: "Governor Luo, all the soldiers under my command have been transferred to Guangxi to suppress bandits. There are only over a thousand Green Standard Army soldiers in Changsha. I want to relocate to Xiangtan and gather officials and soldiers from all over the province to support Changsha."

  Luo Bingzhang cursed in a low voice, "The Qing dynasty is all because of you martial artists that it's so precarious. When the enemy arrives, you want to run away with your tails between your legs. If I'm going to Xiangtan, I'll go myself, what does it have to do with you?" In his urgency, he called out his name directly: "Bao Qibao, according to the Qing dynasty's laws, those who lose a city will be put to death. How can we escape if the provincial capital falls?"

  Bao Qihong said, "What's good about that? There are less than 2,000 soldiers in Changsha. The reinforcements will take at least ten days to arrive. The bandits have heard that they are heading towards Changsha. If the bandits come to attack, we may not even be able to fill the city walls."

  Luo Bingzhang said what he thought of a wonderful strategy: "We can recruit and dispatch the trained braves and local braves to come and guard the city."

  Bao Qihuo sneered: "Calling a group of muddy legs to guard the city, haha, Lord Luo, I think you are starving and will eat anything."

  Luo Bingzhang suppressed his anger and persuaded him: "It's not necessarily impossible to use the brave, the thieves are also a group of rebels, besides, must we really let go of Changsha?"

  Bao Qihong was at a loss for words, and reluctantly said: "In that case, I'll have to give it a try. I'll immediately issue an order to have the nearby militia and trained troops rush to Changsha as quickly as possible."

  After a moment of silence, Luo Bingzhang asked: "Do we need to send someone to defend the dangerous and important places outside the city?"

  Bao Qihuo said: "Let the militia who have arrived to guard, at least they can delay the rebel's attack on the city. If reinforcements arrive in time, Changsha will be saved."

  Three days later, Hu Yihuang led the First Army to Shimapu in the south of the city and saw a group of civilians holding weapons defending. He thought they were the militia mentioned by Jiao Liang. Seeing that they had just arrived, Hu Yihuang ordered Li Desheng to attack before they could settle down. After a fierce battle for half an hour, over a thousand enemies were killed, a deputy general was beheaded, and the rest fled.

  Luo Dagang occupied Miaofeng in the south of the city. In the afternoon, Li Yunzhong and the Second Army arrived at Changsha.

  Changsha City, five miles wide and ten miles long. Looking at the dilapidated city walls of Changsha, Li Yunzhong almost burst out laughing. He ordered the blasting team to dig tunnels along the shortest and most cracked places, while the First Army covered the attack on the city.

  The Qing army's attention in Changsha was all attracted by the attacking generals, and Commander Bao Qihao applied to Chenglun Temple for the statue of Dingxiang King to be carried to the South City Tower, where Commander Bao Qihao and others took turns guarding it, seeking divine protection.

  When a section of the city wall collapsed, the defending troops all thought that the gods were protecting the rebels and did not consider anything else, either fleeing or surrendering. The resistance encountered by the First Army when it rushed into Changsha was also slight. Rong Bingchang had fled to Xiangtan with his officials half an hour earlier, and Li Yunzhong immediately occupied Changsha, ordering people to seal up the government offices and treasuries. The Second Army came out of the city to meet the Fourth Army arriving in Changsha.

  Kuo Pu-chang, who had escaped to Hsiang-t'an, was both regretful and frightened. Upon receiving a letter from Chiang Chung-yuan, he learned that the troops attacking the city were those of the Taiping Kingdom, while the Taiping Army had just entered Hunan Province and been defeated at the Battle of Pu-i Ferry by Chiang's Chu-yung army, suffering heavy casualties, including the severe injury of Nan Wang Feng Yun-shan. Chiang Chung-yuan was renowned throughout Hunan for his bravery. Kuo hastily wrote to Lo Tse-nan, a great scholar from Hsiang-hsiang County, asking him to come to Hsiang-t'an for a meeting.

  Luo Zhenan and Hong Xiuquan had some similarities, both were repeatedly unsuccessful in the imperial examination, but loved to write books. However, unlike Hong Xiuquan who only wrote some superficial poems and Christian doctrines, Luo Zhenan wrote works such as "Ximing Lectures", "Poetry Collection" and "Reading Mencius Notes". Because of his good writing skills, he gained great fame, even the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou asked his son to become a disciple before his death. Luo Zhenan not only knew how to write books but also knew how to observe people, with dozens of famous disciples from Xiangxiang area under him, including Wang Dian, Li Xubin and Li Xuyi brothers, Liu Rong being the most notable. At this time, Luo Zhenan and his disciples were discussing the matter of organizing a militia with the county magistrate in the Xiangxiang County government office.

  Luozhenan said to County Magistrate Zhu Sunyi, "I heard that there were bandits in Xiangxiang yesterday. In my opinion, they are heading towards Changsha. Since Changsha is empty and cannot be defended, I beg you, sir, to make early arrangements."

  Zhu Sunyi was a Jiangxi native, and his predecessor had been driven out by Wang Duan for offending Luo Zhenan's group. He learned from this lesson and recommended Luo Zhenan as a filial and incorruptible official, deliberately befriending him to gain their great trust. When he heard that Luo Zhenan wanted to organize a militia, he of course strongly supported it, saying: "Now the Green Standard Army is not enough to use, I hear that Jiang Zhongyuan's braves won a victory at Ecun in Guangxi and Hunan, we also want to organize a militia, internally to maintain order in the county seat, externally to resist the Taiping Army. I will now issue a proclamation throughout the county, letting each place below the county cooperate with you."

  After returning, Wang Dang and Li Xubin each returned to their respective hometowns to recruit strong men. Luo Zhenan received a letter from Luo Bingchang and set out for Xiangtan.

  After the Taiping Army was defeated at the Battle of Xiangjiang, they boarded ships and sailed up the Xiang River. Behind them followed Sai Shang'a's army of 80,000 men. Sai Shang'a feared the Taiping Army's military strength and did not dare to engage in battle, so he could only slowly follow behind. Every time the Taiping Army left a place, he would write a memorial saying that after a fierce battle, they had recovered a certain county, and the rebel army had been defeated and fled.

  When Zeng Guofan learned that Changsha had been captured by the Hunan Army, which broke out from Guangxi, he immediately ordered his army to march north to Changsha, hoping to retake Changsha before the imperial edict arrived. Meanwhile, the Taiping Army also received news of Li Xiuming's attack on Changsha, and Hong Xiuquan ordered the vanguard to immediately disembark and rush to Changsha, trying to occupy Changsha like Yong'an.

  Li Yunzhong woke up to find that the surrounding counties of Changsha had been occupied by tens of thousands of Qing troops, Hunan's Lu Bingzhang's Green Standard Army, and Sai Shang'a's army were besieging Changsha from ten miles away. Fortunately, Luo Daguan had repaired the collapsed city wall, but the Qing army also launched a surprise attack. Li Yunzhong ordered the First Army to deploy outside the city and use some surrendered soldiers and civilians as laborers to build fortifications. Hearing that the Taiping Army was fighting fiercely with the Qing army in Xiangtan, Li Yunzhong hastily sent Meng Shangsheng to make contact, and wrote a letter to Yang Xiuqing, explaining Jesus' position in Christianity, that God is Jesus, and Jesus is the only god of Christianity. Li Yunzhong thought to himself: Give Xiao Chaogui some eye medicine.