Bad! I got shot!
When Wu Shibin felt the searing pain in his left shoulder, he knew he had been hit by a bullet!
Wu Shibin gathered all his subordinates together to form a group, with the intention of having them take bullets for him — the Taiping rebels had laid ambushes of gunmen on the northern wall, and he had nearly been killed just now!
Little did he expect that so many people were blocking it, and the bullet still found its way to him as if it had eyes!
No, I can't stay here, I have to leave immediately!
Thinking of this, the injured Wu Shibin hit upon a decision and, using his still movable right arm, pulled the reins to bring his warhorse around. Then he stepped into the stirrups and mounted it, galloping towards the southern gate of Di Street all the while shouting, "Make way! Get out of my way, you damned fool! I'm going to call for reinforcements..."
But now, no matter how hard he shouts, it's useless, because the di street is full of "smoke loss has gone, smoking addiction is back" green camp soldiers at this time!
These fellows, after smoking up, only dared to bully the female Taiping soldiers. Now that they've been ambushed, there are people shooting from above, and many male Taiping soldiers burst out of the alleys, not to mention a bull demon appearing!
Now that Wu Shibin is running again, things are chaos. Everyone is scrambling to escape for their lives, and no one would give way for this middle-level military official.
He saw that the thousands of Qing soldiers on the di street turned around and fled south in a chaotic manner, pushing and shoving each other, trampling over one another, completely losing their order.
"Kill the Qing demons! Protect the land!"
"Kill the Qing demons! Go to heaven!"
The shouts of male and female Taiping soldiers, like a tidal wave, began to echo from the alley on the west side of di street at this moment.
The men are shouting "Protect the land and soil"—they are fighting for the land!
The women are shouting "Go to heaven"—they are the most devoted followers of Heavenly Father!
This "half-step revolution army" and "religious fanatics" have actually teamed up in the same camp, all wielding spears and broadswords, roaring with cries of killing.
And the deadly bullets rained down like a storm, landing amidst the crowded Qing soldiers, hitting their targets almost every time.
Just then, He Damei, who had been followed by Wu Shibin and his "foreign cigarette soldiers" all the way to the northern gate of Di Street, lost her composure. One could see her holding a spear and surrounded by about 200 sisters, forming a spear array, shouting "Kill the Qing demons, go to heaven" as they charged towards Wu Shibin's back.
Although the physical strength of these Heavenly Kingdom sisters is not as strong as that of the brothers, once they form a spear array in a narrow space, they no longer rely on their individual courage to fight, but instead rely on collective power.
Facing the spear array that pressed forward like a wall, the "foreign cigarette soldiers," who were already in disarray and frantically trying to flee, were utterly unable to resist!
With his left shoulder shot and bleeding profusely, Wu Shibin knew that if he didn't hurry to escape, his life might be in danger.
Thus, he didn't care about the comradeship and decided to give it his all, using his still movable arm to swing the horsewhip viciously and heavily whip his steed. His warhorse was a tall Mongolian stallion, which neighed "shrill" after being struck by pain, then galloped forward with all four legs in full speed, knocking over several "foreign cigarette soldiers" in one go.
This collision further chaos on Di Street, with a din of curses and cries echoing everywhere.
"Hey Wu, do you have any shame?"
"Damn you, leaving the battlefield without fighting......"
"Your imperial majesty gave you so much silver, was it just to lead the escape?"
"Damn it, get rid of this worthless piece of trash who just drinks blood from the army!"
Also, it was unclear who had shouted so loudly that some of these green garrison troops, whose "smoke addiction" was not yet completely past, suddenly went crazy. Without warning, someone grabbed his lance and swung it at the anus of Wu Shibin's warhorse.
That horse isn't made of iron, and it can't withstand a spear being thrust into its anus.
The horse shrieked in agony and went mad at once. It galloped forward recklessly with all four hooves.
As a result, all the Qing soldiers in front of the horse were unlucky. They were either knocked over or trampled. Many more Qing soldiers, to avoid the mad horse and the ambushed troops coming out of the alleys, jumped into the Shao River on the other side of Di Street.
For a moment, the Shao River bank was like a scene of throwing in vegetables, with people jumping into the water one after another!
But Wu Shibin still couldn't escape the southern gate of Di Street. As he rushed through the gate, just as he was nearing the southern gate and about to get out, his warhorse suddenly seemed to be tripped by something and fell forward on its knees, throwing Wu Shibin off its back.
Wu Shibin struggled to get up, dragging his arm, which was streaming with blood, and tried to run away limpingly. Suddenly, he heard a loud shout: "Qing demons, where are you going? Zhu Ba is here!"
Then......pain shot through his back and upper abdomen. He looked down and saw a blood-stained spearhead emerging from his abdomen!
He tried to look back one more time and saw a devilish face that he would never forget.
"Really, there's a Bull Demon!" Wu Shibin murmured, and then he blacked out.
......
When Wu Shibin, who was killed in the battle and led the Qing troops into Di Street, was facing near total defeat due to the ambush by the Taiping forces, Yuan Wanqing, his superior officer of paramilitary commander Wu, was still basking in his glory.
At this moment, he was leading dozens of elite Cossack cavalrymen, tightly pursuing behind Su Sanlang and her dozens of female cavalry soldiers. He chased them with such urgency that he shouted out loud, "Don't shoot arrows, catch them alive... Ha-ha! I want them alive!"
Fortunately, this old man had some mercy and was still confident. He wanted to catch them alive, otherwise, if it were not for his Cossack cavalrymen's shooting skills, Su Sanlang's female cavalry would have suffered heavy casualties.
However, the horses that Su Sanlang and her companions were riding were quite fast, and Yuan Wanqing chased them for a long time but couldn't get any closer. This old man was getting impatient and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Su Sanlang, don't run anymore! You can't escape. Just surrender willingly, and I'll treat you well......"
It turns out that his shouting had some effect. Just as Su Sanlang and her subordinates were running past a small forest, they slowed down their horse speeds.
Are you going to surrender?
Yuan Wanqing was overjoyed! If Su Sanlang didn't surrender, he really didn't know how to handle her... She had already been sentenced to be beheaded by slow slicing! And she was the main commander of the long-haired rebels' invasion of the Ge Tang town. If she were to die without surrendering, how could Yuan Wanqing report to Emperor Xianfeng?
Just as Yuan Wanqing was overjoyed, a large group of "red-headed" people holding spears suddenly appeared from behind the small forest. The old man quickly reined in his horse and looked closely, only to see that they were all long-haired...... men!
Before he could react, another group of long-haired cavalrymen appeared from the back of the forest. At the head was a middle-aged man with white face and long beard, wearing a team dragon robe. Behind him, someone held a large flag with the words "Southern King of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" inscribed on it!
Southern... Southern King?
Yuan Wanqing almost fell off his horse.
The Southern King of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's appearance, accompanied by at least thousands of male long-haired rebels, he was thinking how could he fight them with only 2000 people under his command?
"Clap, clap, clap..."
Before Yuan Wanqing could come to his senses, the Taiping forces' bird-gun soldiers inside the small forest opened fire. One salvo brought down several of his Cossack cavalrymen.
Now, Yuan Wanqing had no thought of fighting even for a moment. He immediately turned his horse and fled.
The Southern King Feng Yunsan, sitting on his horse, saw this scene and laughed loudly. He turned to a deeply-eyed, long-bearded elderly man next to him and said: "Zeng Servant, go fetch that old demon for me... Remember, catch him alive!"
"Yes!"
This "Zeng Servant" was Zeng Tianyang. Although he had joined the instructor team, this time he was still acting alongside Southern King Feng Yunsan. After receiving Feng Yunsan's order, this old man didn't say a word but drew his spear, spurred his horse, and led more than a hundred cavalrymen to begin the pursuit.
He didn't go far before seeing that Yu Wanqing and several of his guards, who were riding at a good pace, suddenly knelt down together and threw them off their horses, landing heavily on the ground with a "plop" or "plunging" sound.
It turned out that Feng Yunsan had already arranged for eight sets of trip wires on the official path south of the small forest!
At the same time as Yu Wanqing fell from his horse, countless spear soldiers emerged from the rice fields on both sides of the official road, completely sealing off the retreat path for Yu Wanqing and others.
Zeng Tianyang then rode up with a laugh, pressing the spearpoint against Yu Wanqing's chest, and shouted loudly: "Devil head, state your name! I, Zeng, will not let a nameless ghost die under my spear!"
"Don't kill me... Please don't!" Yu Wanqing shouted at the top of his lungs, "I am Yuan Wanqing, the former commandant of Hunan Province. I surrender... I will also rise in rebellion against the Qing dynasty! I have a copy of 'Against Treachery' in my pocket!"
