From the shore to the Tianmen Mountain, Maike erected two bridges across the Zishui and Yuan rivers.

Aside from the naturally occurring obstacles, it was largely smooth sailing.

Continuing north from Tianmen Mountain, this last section of the route, the Heavenly Army ran into trouble.

The trouble did not arise in the construction of the passage itself, but in the encounter with the enemy.

As they passed through the foothills of a mountain next to a state office, a crowd of people poured out of there and launched an attack on the Heavenly Army.

However, Mai Ke didn't worry much at first, but felt that he was in the middle of it.

He originally planned to finish the passage first, and then sweep away the surrounding Manchu forces, whether it was officers and soldiers, or militia groups.

Seeing that there were four or five hundred people coming, Ding Guangye sent two battalions of troops to attack in two directions, intending to wipe out this troublemaker.

Who knows, as soon as these two battalions came into contact with the enemy, they were counter-surrounded!

Two ambushed men and horses suddenly came out and encircled the Celestial Army from both sides, and the enemy in the middle was also divided into two, and in cooperation with the two groups of enemies outside, the two battalions of the Celestial Army were all dumplings.

The Heavenly Army had a smooth journey, and it really didn't take a few enemies into account!

The two battalion commanders, in particular, immediately fought with the enemy's leaders.

These two battalion commanders were both from the teaching regiment, and their martial arts and military qualities were good, and they felt that there would be no powerful enemies in this remote area, so they did not pay special attention to them.

As a result, one was caught off guard and was both killed by the enemy general!

The other heavenly armies did not have time to help, and they were furious. Rush to the past and want to avenge your battalion commander!

Unexpectedly, the enemy army is all hard hands, and they will not be opponents, and the soldiers will not be able to take advantage!

And the two enemy generals who killed the battalion commander were even more like entering a no-man's land, where the fighting was fierce, they would go to support wherever they could, and slaughtered the soldiers of the Celestial Army who attacked more ferociously one by one.

Originally, he was also a soldier of the Heavenly Army with good martial arts, but he didn't have a general!

Only then did everyone know that the killing of the two battalion commanders was not accidental.

Mai Ke saw that the momentum was not good. Two additional battalions were immediately sent to support. At the same time, two servants were sent from the guard to deal with the two powerful enemy generals.

After the reinforcements went up, the original Celestial Army was rescued from the encirclement of the enemy army. Larger casualties were avoided.

The two men also fought with the enemy generals. What I didn't expect was. There was only a draw!

It was only because of the large number of heavenly troops that the enemy army withdrew.

The two enemy generals covered in the rear, and the retreat proceeded in an orderly manner.

Mai Ke knew that he had met a strong opponent. Immediately divide the troops into two routes, one to continue to the north to establish a pivotal front, and the other to stay and deal with the enemy.

Mai Ke had some understanding of the enemy's situation, and knew that this city was called Dayong, where a state capital was located, and there were two Qing soldiers.

However, it was not the regular troops of the Qing Army that came to attack today, but the local regimental training!

In other words, Mai Ke wanted to occupy Xiangxi, and finally had a direct conflict with the most powerful local forces!

The group training he encountered today was also a result of Zeng Guofan's group training in advance, and their foundation had already been established!

This group training led to the establishment of the largest local family, which was the Zhang family.

The Zhang family has a long history, which can be traced back to Zhang Liang, one of the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, commented on Zhang Liang as "the husband is strategizing, and the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, I am not as good as the ovary".

It can be seen that Zhang Liang is an intelligent military advisor.

Whether it is consistent with history, no one knows, but this Zhang family has always kept Zhang Liang's tomb in the ancestral tomb.

The development of Zhangjia was in the Ming Dynasty, the Zhang family produced military generals, and was awarded for merit, and a large area of mountains and forests became the industry of the Zhang family, forming a large area exclusive to Zhangjia.

After the Manchu Qing Dynasty destroyed the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Jiayan died down and implemented Tao Hui's plan, and there was no movement for many years, but he secretly kept his energy and recuperated until Zeng Guofan advocated group training.

The contemporary advocates that Tianci decided that this was an opportunity for the Zhang family to make a comeback, and immediately took action, organizing a group training of 3,000 people, led by his three sons.

Among them, the eldest son, Zhang Long, inherited his role as a military advisor, served as a military advisor for regimental training, and concurrently served as the commander of the Central Army.

In the second and third times, Zhang Hu and Zhang Bao served as the commanders of the army and the right army respectively.

Today's attack on the Heavenly Army is the success of the cooperation of the three brothers.

In the first frontal battle with the Celestial Army, it achieved the record of killing two officers and dozens of soldiers, which shows that this regiment is quite effective in training and arming.

Zhang Hu and Zhang Bao were a little fluttering, saying that the Heavenly Army was nothing more than that.

"Don't talk nonsense!" Zhang Long, the eldest brother, shouted, "This is the result only when the enemy is clear and we are secret; if the Heavenly Army attaches importance to it, it will be difficult for us to confront it! For example, can you kill the two people you meet later?"

The two warriors thought for a while, and had to say honestly: "No!" In fact, they only have the ability to parry enemies of this level.

"It is estimated that the Heavenly Army will come to the door next! We hurriedly went to discuss with the head of the family the next step against the enemy. "Zhang Long relied on his father who was the head of the family to make decisions in major matters.

In the Dayong Prefecture Ya, three people are getting together to talk, one is Zhizhou Wenzuo, the other is the chief soldier Zhao Meng, and the other is the current family of the Zhang family who advocates God's gift.

The three of them were discussing the fact that the Zhang family sent troops to attack the Heavenly Army.

This was the idea of the dog Long'er, and the grass people felt that they would not be able to delay it sooner or later, so they agreed. When the grass people came to see the two adults, they reported some of the situation, and the responsibility for one was naturally borne by the grass people alone. Zhang Tianci said. When he saw the two senior military and political officials, he was quite reproachful in his eyes, and he hurriedly explained, especially that he would bear all the responsibility.

Seeing Zhang Tianci say this, the faces of the two of them were much better.

They also have no choice, now officialdom is like this, the top priority is to evade responsibility.

And to evade responsibility, the most important one is not to do things!

Not to mention that it is very difficult to do things, even if you do it well, you will cause trouble out of thin air!

Wen Zuo said worriedly: "If Long Erxian's nephew wins, it's easy to say." In case of failure, we need to prepare early!"

"There is not much difference between defeat and victory! The Heavenly Army must come to attack the city, and we must all prepare early!" said in an urn voice, it was Zhao Meng, the chief soldier.

While the discussion was endless, the three brothers hurriedly walked in, they were also quite familiar with these two civil and military officials, so they walked in directly.

After listening to the report of the two, Zhang Tianci immediately put forward the plan again.

This plan had been proposed before, but it was rejected.

This time, I did it in real time. The plan was put forward again.

Two military and political adults. At this time, he was more knowledgeable, and agreed to Zhang Tianci's plan without hesitation.

When it comes to arranging troops, everyone together is not as good as Zhang Tianci.

The three of them jointly wrote a book. Go to two places to urge reinforcements. One letter was sent to the boss of the Governor's House. One was sent to the provincial capital Changsha.

These letters are not only a plea for help, but also a report on the situation. Let them know about the progress of the Celestial Army.

Then, the main force, including the Qing soldiers and most of the Zhangjia regiments, arranged to defend the city.

In the end, Zhang Bao was sent to lead a thousand soldiers of the Zhang family to go out on a mission.

Zhang Tianci was in charge of all military deployments, while Wen Zuo was in charge of reassuring the people and mobilizing them to support the defense of the city.

Zhao Meng also let go of his pride and said that he would obey the command and do whatever he wanted.

Zhang Tianci, father and son, returned to the Zhang family compound and immediately convened an emergency all-clan meeting.

When everyone arrived, Zhang Tianci was also verbose, and directly issued the patriarch's order, directly promoted the second-echelon regimental training reserve in the clan to active duty, and organized a force of 3,000 people!

He asked Zhang Long to lead these people, and then made some preparations and waited for the signal to greet them.

The Zhang family is indeed well-trained, and as soon as the patriarch's order was issued, these three thousand people were immediately gathered together, and a powerful military force had been formed.

Zhang Tianci himself climbed the city wall and went to the front line to command.

At this time, the army led by Mai Ke had already followed, with a total of eight regiments, plus 2,000 special forces, including experts in various elements and various wisdom elements.

According to Mai Ke's strategy, it is to kill chickens with a knife! Mount Tai is on the top, and the battle is quick and decisive!

Mai Ke used a conventional siege strategy, and the siege was missing one.

The missing gate is the East Gate, which is also the most commonly used and the most convenient to escape.

Only by letting the enemy see the possibility of them fleeing again will they not resist desperately.

It is much easier to eliminate an enemy army that has fled than it is to eliminate an enemy army that has been entrenched in a city.

It's a pity that Zhang Tianci didn't plan to run away at all.

The Celestial Army came from the west and directly took the West Gate as the main direction of attack, and arranged three regiments to attack, with two regiments each from the South Gate and the North Gate. The remaining regiment served as a reserve.

All special forces are not dispersed and are directly controlled and used by the command.

Mai Ke didn't have a sentinel battle or a tentative battle at all, and he directly threw himself into a battalion to attack the city!

The north and south cities are the same!

Dayong is not a big city, so the defense is not very strong, about a zhang high, and those with strong martial arts can jump up, and others can also take a ladder to go up.

Therefore, the offensive and defensive sides are almost direct hand-to-hand combat!

At this time, the soldiers of the Zhang family all served as the main force of defense, and they all stood on the city wall, blocking the jumping and climbing of the heavenly army.

At this time, only the sound of swords and guns colliding, the sound of sharp blades entering the flesh, the sound of wounded pain, and the screams of dying were heard.

The soldiers of the Celestial Army went forward one after another, attacking on their backs without stopping, and those regimental training soldiers were also ruthless and killed with full force mercilessly.

Thick corpses were soon piled up in front of the walls, while the larger ones fell to the inside of the city, and because of the partition of the walls, those outside could not see inside.

Soon, not a single battalion of the Celestial Army could continue, and they had either sacrificed their lives for the Kingdom of Heaven, or they were seriously injured and fell to the ground and could not get up again.

Mai Ke's face was grim, and with a wave of his hand, the pressure of the two battalions went up!

The main force still climbed the city wall, but there was a company of soldiers, working together, picked up a big log more than one meter thick and twenty meters long, and smashed it towards the city gate!

More than a dozen tons of force shook the city gate, and the gate fell to the ground with a bang!

(To be continued......)