Niu Gen was relieved at this time, and then after telling the story of what happened in the town, he said hatefully: "I will go to those Qing soldiers to take revenge and ask them to pay for their blood debts." The soldier who bandaged the leader just now said: "You want to seek revenge from the Qing army, so why did you attack us?" ”

Jia Lesheng hurriedly said: "Master Jun, it's not that we want to attack you. We didn't know that you were the Restoration Army, and we thought that you were Qing soldiers and came back. The soldier patted his armor and said, "Have you ever seen a Qing soldier wearing such a thing?" Besides, don't you see, we don't have Manchu braids? ”

Niu Gen found out that these people really didn't have braids, and suddenly Niu Gen said to the leading Fuming army: "General, I really didn't mean it, the general can punish him however he wants, but we really want to go to the Qing army for revenge." ”

The leader of the Restoration Army: "Okay, I also know that you didn't mean to, it's a misunderstanding." But your town is really strange, we came all the way, the closer we got to the town of Wuchang, all the towns, there are a large number of people in the town, but why don't you have it in the town? ”

Niu Gen said: "Before we were in the town, there were also people living here, but they were suddenly taken away a few days ago, saying that they were going to attack some city in Jiangbei. The Restoration Army was about to speak, when a sudden noise came from outside the town. Then he said again: "Get up quickly, the commander is here." ”

After a while, Niu Gen and Jia Lesheng saw that a person was surrounded by everyone and walked over, it was Zhou Dazhu, the commander of the Sixth Army of the Restoration Army.

Seeing Zhou Dazhu coming, the leader just now hurried over and said to Zhou Dazhu: "My lord, this town was ransacked by the Manchurian Eight Banners of the Qing army. The whole town was left with these two men. ”

Zhou Dazhu glanced at Niu Gen and Jia Lesheng, frowned, and said, "I didn't expect the Qing army to rob the town here." Wait, Chang Zhicheng, you just said that it was the Eight Banners of Manchuria? Chang Zhicheng said: "Yes, it is the Eight Banners of Manchuria." Zhou Dazhu was suddenly a little surprised: "It's really the Eight Banners of Manchuria, how far is it from Wuchang?" ”

Chang Zhicheng said: "There are still about twenty miles away from Wuchang City. Passing through Jinshazhou in front, we will pass Wuchang City, but the Eight Banners of Manchuria are stationed there, and there are 10,000 of these Eight Banners. ”

Zhou Dazhu was taken aback and said, "How is it possible, doesn't it mean that there is no Eight Banner Army in Huguang?" Even if there are not many, how can these ten thousand Manchurian Eight Banners suddenly appear? Chang Zhicheng said: "We didn't know this situation before, or these two people said it." ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "Oh, I wondered just now, why is there no Minzhuang in this town, could it be that before the massacre of these Manchurian Eight Banners, the Minzhuang was also moved away?" Chang Zhicheng said: "It is said that 10,000 people were indeed stationed before, but they were transferred away just a few days ago. As for whether it was transferred for the purpose of slaughtering the town, it is estimated that it is not. It is understood that they went to Jiangbei, and just now these two people were about to say in detail, and the adults arrived. ”

Zhou Dazhu thought for a while and said to Chang Zhicheng: "Let the soldiers go to fight the fire first, and then gather all the corpses of the people in this town together and cremate them." Arrange for the army behind to camp here, you hurry up and make arrangements, find out the situation in Jinshazhou, and find out what is going on. ”

At this time, Niu Gen stepped forward and said, "General, don't ask, I know." Some time ago, I went to Wuchang. Zhou Dazhu said: "Have you been there?" You are a flat-headed citizen, what are you going to do in Wuchang? Do you still know about these military information? ”

Seeing Zhou Dazhu's suspicions, Niu Gen immediately explained: "General, although I am a flat-headed commoner, I went to Wuchang for a reason. Previously, our Minzhuang here was going to be sent to Wuchang, and the Qing soldiers who came to escort these Minzhuang were not enough, so they temporarily transferred me to serve in labor and escorted these Minzhuang to Wuchang. ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "Then how did you know about these military information?" Niu Gen said: "I didn't know about it originally, but after these people were sent to Wuchang, the officials who received them over there asked us to send them to the Yangtze River, saying that they wanted to send these people across the river." ”

Niu Gen swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, "When we heard the news, we had to send them to the riverside. Then another official came and said to the official who received Minzhuang, 'How is it, how many people are here?' The official hurriedly looked at the notebook and said, "Even this batch is only 30,000 people." The officer stomped his foot and said, 'Not enough, there are still 20,000 men.' ’”

Zhou Dazhu said impatiently: "Don't talk this nonsense, tell me how you know about the military situation in Jinshazhou." Seeing that Zhou Dazhu was a little impatient, Niu Gen immediately flinched a little, and whispered: "General, I'm talking about this." The official who received the people asked why and how many people were needed. The official who came from behind said, "Don't worry about why, now the governor has listened to Prince An's order and wants to send 50,000 people and 50,000 troops to Jiangbei." If it can't be done, the 10,000 Manchurian soldiers brought by Prince An will come to Tu Wuchang. ’”

Zhou Dazhu was shocked and said, "Tu Wuchang? I'm afraid there are no less than a million people in this Wuchang now. Niu Gen hurriedly said: "General, I didn't say it, it was those officials who said it." He also said that the officers and soldiers who could not move the standard were to gather in the green camp of the Qing army in Wuchang and send 50,000 people to cross the river. ”

Zhou Dazhu immediately understood why the Qing army was going to send troops across the river. Then he said: "Now Gou Xingwang is in Hanyang, but it's not easy." We didn't expect that Zhang Changgeng could gather so many troops, and there were actually 10,000 Manchurian Eight Banners. Niu Gen said: "General, no, the Manchurian soldiers did not cross the river, and those who crossed the river were Minzhuang and the Green Battalion, and it is said that they also went to the Governor's Mansion Standard Camp of 10,000 troops." ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "How do you know? Niu Gen said: "It was the official who received Minzhuang who said it, and he complained: 'I don't know what happened to Hanyang, but after counting one after another, the army that has been transferred across the river has 70,000. At this time, the army that came out of nowhere, so able to fight. ’”

After this period of time, the later Restoration Army also arrived one after another. After the various departments arranged for the army to rest, all the generals rushed to Zhou Dazhu.

When Zhou Dazhu saw that everyone had arrived, he talked about the military situation and said: "Now that the situation has changed, everyone wants to think about what to do." How can we take Wuchang? ”

The Sixth Army was expanded from Yuan Zongdi's subordinates before, and the general soldier Suo Yanlong was Yuan Zongdi's old subordinates. Now that Zhou Dazhu suddenly mastered the Sixth Army, he had no confidence in Zhou Dazhu for a while. Although after reorganization and fighting with the Restoration Army, the fear of the Qing Army in his heart has been eliminated.

But this time he encountered the Eight Banners of Manchuria, and Suo Yanlong still had no bottom in his heart, and took the lead in saying: "My lord, we only have one army, and we have marched all the way down, and the number of people left behind has reached 500." And all the soldiers, after a few days of hurrying, were already exhausted and could not fight at all. If we insist on attacking at this time, we will suffer too many casualties, and we will not be sure of victory. ”

Qianhu Wang Youchen was originally the son of Wang Xing, the commander of the Ninth Army. After returning to Chongqing, he was arranged by Zhu Youdong into Yuan Zongdi's Sixth Army. Now he also said: "Yes, not to mention the real Manchuria, as the saying goes, the Jurchen is not satisfied with ten thousand, and it is invincible." My lord, it's better for us to be cautious, and we might as well wait for Your Highness to come down before making plans. ”

Zhou Dazhu was also the one who raised troops with Zhu Youdong, when he was in the south, he dared to fight with the Qing soldiers empty-handed. However, since then, he has been in charge of the affairs of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, so he has not often led troops. always gives people a feeling of weakness, but everyone forgets that Zhou Dazhu is also a ruthless person.

At this time, after listening to Wang Youchen's words, he was immediately furious and smashed his fist on the tree next to him. Said: "What kind of bastard words are you talking about, what Jurchen is not satisfied with, and what is invincible, you can say it." You are growing the morale of others and destroying your own prestige. Lao Tzu doesn't believe it, he, a Manchurian, is not two shoulders on this head. ”

Then Zhou Dazhu directly waved his hand and said: "There is no need to discuss other issues, just discuss how to eat these ten thousand Manchurian Eight Banners." I couldn't beat the Eight Banners of Manchuria, so I wiped my neck directly and wanted His Highness to apologize. Didn't you say that the Jurchens were invincible? Lao Tzu just wants to see how powerful he is. ”

Suo Yanlong didn't expect Dazhu's temper to be so short-tempered this week. Immediately persuaded: "My lord is angry." Now is not the time to say these angry words. Why mess up the deployment of the army for the sake of a word? ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "This is not angry words, what I said is true." Think about it, if we can defeat 10,000 true Manchuria in one fell swoop, what will the Qing army in Wuchang City think? We can defeat all the Eight Banners of Manchuria, and it is not easy to capture Wuchang. It also scared the courage of the Qing soldiers in Wuchang who liked to surrender and were greedy for life and afraid of death. ”

At this time, Wei Du said: "My lord is right, we just want to pick the most difficult to fight." As long as we defeat these 10,000 Manchurians, even if Wuchang City does not surrender, we will not have the courage to defend it. This is very beneficial for us to attack Wuchang, but if we attack Wuchang first, there are these ten thousand Manchurian Eight Banners behind the harassment, or directly attack us, who can capture Wuchang? ”

This guard is the banner soldier of the original Zhenghuang Banner, and was captured by Zhu Youdong in the south with Malerji. Then Zhu Youdong used a live chop, frightened and surrendered to the Restoration Army. Now that the Restoration Army is fighting everywhere, he is no longer the cowardly person he was before and afraid of death. has always flaunted himself as a Han Chinese, and he didn't mention his original Manchurian identity, who wants to say that he is a Manchurian, he suddenly looks at you anxiously.

Hearing Wei Du's words, several people suddenly said in their hearts: "Aren't you a Manchurian?" Now a Manchurian doesn't feel awkward. Of course, these people didn't show it, and Wei Du had already fought with several people for this.

Zhou Dazhu said: "What Wei Du said is reasonable, let's talk about it." Our Sixth Army, now the vanguard of the Great Army, what does the vanguard do? It's just gnawing hard bones, or how to call it a striker? If you can't make a contribution to being a striker, then don't go out to fight and go home with your children. ”

Hearing Zhou Dazhu say this, all the generals suddenly couldn't sit still, and said: "The general is right, the strikers can't make meritorious contributions, it's just a wretch." We are willing to follow the general and defeat the Manchurian Eight Banners. ”

Zhou Dazhu saw that the morale of the generals was available, and he immediately said happily: "Okay, everyone is so confident, we will definitely be able to defeat the Manchurian Eight Banners." Although everyone has this confidence, we cannot underestimate the Eight Banners of Manchuria. We still have to plan well, and everyone can talk about whatever they want. ”

Suddenly everyone fell silent, just to boost morale and shout slogans. Of course, everyone shouted loudly, but now that it's time to talk about the specific plan, everyone has no clue for a while.

In the end, it was Wei Du who said: "General, the Eight Banners of Manchuria are not really invincible, and now the Eight Banners stationed in various places, and the Eight Banners that are usually sent into the city, in fact, their combat effectiveness is also very limited." After all, most of these people were Manchurians who had not experienced a battle. ”