Liu Yihua leaned under a big tree, holding a gun, staring at the Qing army that had already formed an attacking formation under the hillside. Suddenly, a rustling sound rang behind him.

Liu Yihua was angry. As soon as he announced the discipline, someone immediately violated the order and acted without authorization. Liu Yihua shouted: "Who, do you really want to live?"

A gentle female voice sounded behind her: "Brother Liu, it's me, Susan,"

Liu Yihua looked back and saw that Susan crawled from the grass, her nose was covered with sweat, and her little face felt a little aggrieved.

When Liu Yihua saw that it was Susan, he smiled bitterly and said, "Susan, General Su, you have to command the Second Company, so you might as well go back quickly!"

Susan smiled bitterly and said, "You are the commander-in-chief now. Brother Liu, I just thought of an idea, I don't know if it's OK."

"What's the idea?" Liu Yihua looked at Susan. After all, she was experienced and had many battles, so maybe she would really have some good ideas.

Susan said: "Brother Liu, didn't we capture one of their generals? Is it okay to use that general to force them to release some of us?"

Liu Yihua smiled and said, "We have so many people here, and only one general has been captured. They will not be willing to exchange one general for so many of us."

Susan sighed, "I know it won't work either. Actually, I just want them to change two people."

Liu Yihua was stunned and said, "Which two people?"

"General Hong and Brother Liu, you." Susan looked at Liu Yihua.

Liu Yihua smiled bitterly and said, "Where is the other person?"

"Hey, the people of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are not afraid of death, and other people can only fight to the death!" Susan bit her lip and said again: "General Hong is an important task of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Brother Liu, you were involved for no reason. Besides, you are so powerful, if you two live out, you will be able to overthrow the Qing Dynasty one day!"

Liu Yihua stared at Susan with wide eyes.

In the face of life and death, Susan was so decisive? What she thought of was not herself, but the cause of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the personal safety of Liu Yihua?

"But I am not from your Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! Why should I go out?" Liu Yihua was moved by the female general Susan. There were really some shadows of Zhou Xiuying in Susan. However, Zhou Xiuying seemed to have experienced more than her.

Susan said solemnly: "Brother Liu, no matter whether you are from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom or not, you said that you will overthrow the court! You are so powerful, as long as you cooperate with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, we will definitely overthrow the court!"

Liu Yihua smiled bitterly and said, "Oh. Maybe it's right."

At this time, I suddenly heard a shouting sound at the foot of the mountain. A battalion officer wearing Qing army armor walked to the cliff, held up a trumpet, and shouted to the mountain: "Listen to the bandits, give you a stick of incense. Put down your weapons and hand over General Hong! The remaining parties will not ask, otherwise, when the time comes, the cannon will be heard, and no chicken or dog will be left behind!"

Liu Yihua looked back at Susan and said, "Susan. Go and take Xiong Wuting up."

"Brother Liu agrees? Okay, I'll go right away." Xiaoping became excited and turned around and left.

After a while, Daniu and Xiaoping beheaded Xiong Wuting, who was tied up in large numbers, on the wall.

Liu Yihua asked Susan to lie under the wall, stood behind Xiong Wuting, holding a rifle, and asked: "What unit is coming to reinforce? Who is the chief officer?"

"Mengda, the governor of Liangjiang, was under the command of Mengda."

"Subordinate of Liangjiang Governor Yiliang?" Liu Yihua was shocked.

Liu Yihua looked down the mountain. He saw the Qing army in blue uniforms behind, and the Qing army guarding the city wearing traditional uniforms in front. The equipment and mental state of the Qing army was obviously better than the Qing army guarding the city. In any case, Mengda had fought a war, and this guy was in charge of the army. Although his methods were cruel, he was much better than the loose Eight Banners of the Qing army. Xiong Wuting's Qing army guarding the city was just a local force.

Mengda has always been cruel and ruthless. What's worse is that he knows Liu Yihua!

Liu Yihua hid behind Xiong Wuting and shouted to the foot of the mountain: "Listen to the Qing soldiers at the foot of the mountain, this is your general Xiong Wuting. There is a suggestion below. There are three women on Aotou Cliff. They are not from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If the brothers below are willing to let these three women go a long way to live, we will let your General Xiong go."

Liu Yihua didn't have much hope for Susan's suggestion. The Qing soldiers would never use a general to exchange for General Hong, the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. These two people were not of the same level at all. However, Susan's suggestion reminded Liu Yihua, General Su, Xiaoying and Xiaoping that the three women should not die here. War is a man's business and has nothing to do with women.

At the foot of the mountain, the Qing generals who were guarding the city Qing soldiers saw Xiong Wuting, and there was a commotion. The battalion officer who was calling was also the Qing soldiers who guarding the city, and was a subordinate of Xiong Wuting. He was stunned when he heard the sound, and then shouted: "The bandits must not be rude to General Xiong! When I ask General Meng for instructions, I will make a decision."

The camp officer said, leaving in a hurry.

Susan squatted under the corner and shouted: "Brother Liu, I mean to exchange this general for you and General Hong. Why did you exchange us for us? I won't do it!"

Liu Yihua smiled and said, "General Su, the Qing soldiers will never agree to the conditions you mentioned!"

"Why?"

Liu Yihua said: "General Hong is the leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Qing army captured him. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom people are all headless and difficult to accomplish. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How can the court let it go! You three go first, try to contact General Zeng from Chongming Island and ask him to come to rescue him. We will hold on for a while, and maybe there will be a chance. Otherwise, we will have no chance!"

"But……"

Liu Yihua lowered his face: "Nothing, but this is our only way out!"

As I was talking, I suddenly heard a shouting at the foot of the mountain.

The Qing army rushed forward and surrounded the Qing soldiers guarding the city. These Qing soldiers were indeed well-trained and well-equipped. In a blink of an eye, the eight hundred Qing soldiers guarding the city had no heads. They were at a loss and were immediately dismissed.

An officer walked down from a small steamer. The officer was wearing a military uniform, with long leather boots, armed belts, and a sword. His face was gloomy. It was Mengda.

Two soldiers brought a chair over, Mengda sat in the chair, crossed his legs, and more than a dozen new Qing soldiers, who were like wolves and tigers, rushed into the Qing soldiers guarding the city, dragging out more than a dozen soldiers, including the battalion officer who had just called out.

The dozen or so officers were pushed down in the water in front of the reeds. Standing in a row, Mengda sat on a chair, waved his hands, and a row of gunshots, and more than a dozen officers and soldiers were shot dead on the spot.

The Qing soldiers guarding the city looked at the dozen bodies and were trembling with fear.

Liu Yihua also took a breath. He had known that Mengda was cruel and ruthless. But he didn't expect that he would attack his friendly troops on the eve of the war! However, Liu Yihua admired Mengda. His methods were cruel, but the effect was good. Mengda killed people. In fact, there were two purposes: first, to stabilize the morale of the army and force the Qing soldiers in the city to resolutely. Second, he took the opportunity to annex the Qing soldiers in the city. Anyway, if the Qing soldiers in the city had no commander, this army would belong to others sooner or later. He would take the initiative to take action first. Now it seems that he had achieved his goal after killing more than a dozen people.

On the wall, Xiong Wuting saw his subordinates being killed and was so angry that he cursed: "Mengda, fuck your ancestors, do you dare to kill my Xiong Wuting's people? I will sue you at the Governor. I want to kill your whole family!"

Mengda glanced at the top of the mountain and shouted sternly: "General Xiong Wuting has already sacrificed his life for his country. That is the rebellion party pretending to be General Xiong to disrupt our morale. The army listened to the cannon, and immediately attacked the mountain. The Qing soldiers defended the city in front. The Qing soldiers were in the back. If they were afraid of the former, they would be killed without mercy!"

Xiong Wuting shouted: "Meng, I won't let you go..."

There was a loud bang. A cannonball broke through the air and exploded outside the wall. Liu Yihua hugged Xiong Wuting and rolled down the wall. Xiong Wuting's eyes were blood red: "Meng, you can kill someone to silence me!"

Liu Yihua handed Xiong Wuting to Daniu: "Take him to a safe place and protect his safety!"

"But he is a Qinggou!" said Daniu.

"He is not now, the Qing soldiers don't recognize him at all. Go quickly!"

"Yes!" Daniu pulled and dragged Xiong Wuting down.

Liu Yihua betrayed Xiong Wuting up the mountain, originally hoping to use this general to restrain the Qing army. Even if the Qing army did not intend to exchange, they could still be afraid of the enemy. However, when he thought that a ruthless Mengda came, Liu Yihua's idea was dashed.

It seems that I can only fight head-on!

Liu Yihua picked up his rifle, rushed out of the wall, and lay under the big tree. Susan also rushed over and leaned beside Liu Yihua.

"Why are you here again?" Liu Yihua scolded.

"Brother Liu, do you hate me so much?" Susan's tears rolled in her eyes: "My parents are from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. They were killed by the Qing soldiers. I want to defeat the Qing soldiers and avenge them!"

Another orphan! Liu Yihua remembered Zhou Xiuying, and didn’t know where she was wandering?

"Okay, remember, don't leave me two meters!" Liu Yihua shouted: "Otherwise you will go back!"

"Yeah!" Susan burst into tears and laughed.

The sharp beeps broke through the air, and shells flew up the cliff one after another, landing accurately on the roof and gatehouse of the small temple. The small temple ignited a raging fire, mixed with the roar of the houses torn and collapsed.

The Qing army was indeed different from the Qing soldiers defending the city. The artillery was trained in regular shooting. The one who taught them was German teachers and had extremely high tactical qualities. They believed that the small temple was the command center of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Under the guidance of the signal soldiers, the artillery hit rate was extremely high. In less than fifteen minutes, the entire small temple fell into a sea of ​​fire, and the main building of the small temple collapsed.

"Brother Liu, you are so amazing. If you listen to Brother Xu, it would be a bad thing." Susan clapped her hands and applauded.

"Shut up!" Liu Yihua shouted, holding the rifle.

Susan was so scared that she stuck out her tongue and obediently leaned beside Liu Yihua, without saying anything.

On the hillside, more than 100 Qing soldiers guarding the city wearing traditional suits launched a charge. Behind them was the Qing army with live ammunition. The guns of the Qing army did not aim at the top of the mountain, but at the backs of the Qing army guarding the city. Anyone who hesitated would be shot dead on the spot.

Under the threat of the Qing army, the Qing soldiers guarding the city howled and rushed up the hillside. The roar of artillery gave them courage. The Qing soldiers guarding the city had never experienced real war. Before that, their opponents were all bandits who occupied the mountains and became kings. The bandits often scattered when they heard the cannons. Now, a fire was lit on the small temple on the cliff. The Qing soldiers guarding the city took it for granted that the enemy troops there were either burned to death or fled early.

The artillery stopped bombarding, and the Qing soldiers guarding the city rushed to a place less than fifty meters away from the wall. Outside the wall, the Qing soldiers guarding the city issued bold calls and aimless shooting, but they did not hear the gunshots of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

This made the Qing soldiers guarding the city believe that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had already fled.

Many Qing soldiers guarding the city stood up straight and marched swaggeringly in the jungle. A whistle leader Qing army vanguard rushed to twenty meters away from the wall. Liu Yihua picked up his rifle, pointed the muzzle at a Qing army whistle leader walking in the middle of the team, pulled the trigger, the whistle leader shot his forehead and leaned back, and his body rolled down the hillside.

In the mountains and forests, gunfire sounds were heard. Bullets flew over from all directions. Before the Qing soldiers guarding the city could figure out what was going on, they were knocked down a dozen. Seeing that the situation was not good, the soldiers behind ran down the mountain.

As soon as he ran for more than ten steps, he heard a burst of rapid gunfire at the foot of the mountain. The soldiers running in the front were knocked down a large area.

Under the hillside, a Maxim heavy machine gun spit out a tongue of flames.

Heavy machine guns are the country's important weapon, and the Qing Dynasty has only 20 or 30 armies in total. The Qing army was the new army, and Meng Zhichao was the empress dowager's confidant. The court made an exception and gave him two heavy machine guns.

However, Mengda did not use this heavy machine gun to deal with the invaders, nor to deal with the rebellious parties. Instead, he used this Qing Dynasty's most advanced weapon to massacre the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty!

The Qing soldiers of Qiongbaung had never experienced the tragic tragedy of war. They had never seen blood. When the gunshots sounded, they were confused. They never thought that the new Qing army would shoot at them, and the soldiers in front were knocked down by heavy machine guns. The soldiers behind thought they were being pursued by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and ran towards the bottom of the mountain more and more crazily. However, what was greeted was Maxim's ruthless bullets!

Five minutes later, the hillside became quiet.

More than a hundred Qing soldiers died at the muzzle of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. All the others died at the muzzle of the Maxim heavy machine gun.

Whether it was the Qing soldiers at the foot of the mountain or the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the mountain, they were all shocked by this tragic scene. Both sides looked silently at the bloody Qing army corpses on the hillside. The entire Yangtze River was silently silent.

The big bull crawled over at some point and cursed: "Dog Damn Mengda, so fucking cruel and ruthless!"

"He is right!" Liu Yihua said.

"What! The one who killed himself is still fucking right!" Big Niu shouted.

Liu Yihua shook his head and said, "On the battlefield, orders are prohibited and retreat without obeying orders. Even his own brothers cannot forgive him! He is not loyal to war!"

"Fart!" Daniu cursed: "I am not like my brothers who shoot..."

"Brother Zhou is right!" A deep voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Liu Yihua looked back and saw a middle-aged man standing by the collapsed wall. The man was of medium figure, with a fair face, a mustache, a buzz cut on his head, but no braids.

Liu Yihua shook his head and sighed. He had been familiar with the image of this man as early as when he was in elementary school. After many years, his photos, portraits, sculptures will appear in every city and every village in China, and his name will appear in every textbook for Chinese children's enlightenment.
To be continued...