When the time came to the second year of innovation, the offensive and defensive battle of Xi'an City also reached the most critical and cruel time.

Under the onslaught of Nian Qianyao, the Great Righteous Army led by Liu Ruhan could not block the Qing army outside the city after all, and a large number of Qing troops attacked the city of Xi'an, and launched a bloody offensive and defensive battle with the Great Righteous Army, and at this time Liu Ruhan was looking forward to the reinforcements of the Fu Han Army, only fifty miles away from Xi'an City, and Chen Daoxian's 30,000 people also began to move closer to the direction of the Fu Han Army.

This signal made Nian Qianyao a little worried, he did not regard the current results as evidence that the Qing army was invincible, in fact, the Great Righteous Army he faced was more than 10,000 elites, plus an army composed of more than 100,000 chaotic people, when the elites were exhausted, the Great Righteous Army was completely destroyed.

As long as he gave Nian Qianyao three more days, he could completely eliminate the rebels entrenched in Xi'an City, but the Fu Han army did not give him three days, but only gave him one day, as long as one more day of effort, the forward troops of the Fu Han army will come to Xi'an City and start a battle with the Qing army that has been tired for a long time.

In a day and a half, although Nian Qianyao's Northwest Army still had 70,000 people, there were only less than 30,000 real soldiers, while the Fu Han Army was two divisions, a total of 20,000 people, and artillery alone was enough to smash them to death, so it can be said that the situation has reached a very critical point.

Hu Qiheng held the report in his hand, with a little anxiety on his face, looked at Nian Qianyao who was watching the battle, and said in a low voice: "General, you can't fight anymore...... If we continue to fight, when Chu Wei arrives, tens of thousands of us will have to be blocked in Xi'an City! ”

In Hu Qiheng's eyes, the best choice at the moment is to withdraw the troops, as for the tactics of dividing the troops to intercept the Fu Han army first, it was denied from the beginning, the reason is very simple, in the face of the firepower of the 20,000 Fu Han army, sending 23,000 people to go is not at all the problem, and it is estimated that it will not be able to hold out in a day.

Listening to the sound of fire guns coming from the city of Xi'an, and then looking at the smoke in the city, Nian Qianyao was a little unwilling after all, "Let Zhang Guangsi attack again....... If we can't defeat the White Lotus Sect again, we will retreat! ”

Zhang Guangsi was a fierce general who had been used under Tian Wenjing's banner before, and he was extremely brave in battle, and he was also valued by Tian Wenjing. Later, after the end of the war in Henan, Tian Wenjing led the remnants of the army to retreat to the north of the Yellow River, and he was entrusted to Nian Qianyao, who also valued him and allocated thousands of men and horses to him.

Especially after Yue Zhongqi led his troops to Sichuan, Zhang Guangsi's position under Nian Qianyao's banner became more and more important, and he was extremely brave in battle, so he became the sharp knife that Nian Qianyao relied on.

Now for Nian Qianyao, Zhang Guangsi is the last hope. For Zhang Guangsi, this is not a good opportunity to make a contribution.

Thousands of Qing troops, led by Zhang Guangsi, joined the melee in Xi'an City as a new force, each with a bird gun in their hands and a long knife hanging from their waists, and rushed towards the White Lotus Sect's defense line with great vigour.

At this time, under the leadership of Liu Ruhan and other White Lotus Sect generals, the Great Righteous Army was stubbornly resisting the impact of the Qing army, although the alleys were already full of corpses of the Qing army, but there were still more soldiers in the direction of the Great Righteous Army.

"Bang Bang Bang ......."

A burst of thick white smoke drifted through, and the Qing army led by Zhang Guangsi had already joined the battlefield, they held the bird gun smoothly in their hands, and then lit the fire rope and fired a volley, although the sound of the gun did not sound uniform, and even looked a little messy, but among the righteous army opposite, many people still fell.

Seeing that the position of the Great Righteous Army was a little scattered because of this round of gunfights, Liu Ruhan hurriedly let the few remaining elites go up, but in front of Zhang Guangsi's new force, there was still a trend of losing and retreating......

After a round of muskets, the two sides also fell into hand-to-hand combat, compared with the muskets in front, this kind of long knife to long knife, spear to spear fighting, a little more cruel, so this kind of battle is not ordinary soldiers can fight, almost all of them are the elite of both sides.

"Kill the thief! Kill the thief! ”

"Kill the dog! Follow me! ”

The Qing army held swords and spears and collided with the soldiers of the Great Righteous Army, and the sound of countless knives and spears penetrating the human body made people feel that the roots of their teeth were sour, and the blood rain was swaying in the narrow streets and alleys, as if flowers were blooming one after another......

The elites of the two sides are entangled together, constituting the most tragic scene at the moment, rows of corpses falling, but it makes Liu Ruhan and Nian Qianyao extremely distressed, compared to those peasants who catch a lot of peasants, these veterans are all rolled out of the sea of blood, they are the backbone of the army, and they are one less dead......

Zhang Guangsi brandished a big knife and slashed in the crowd, followed by dozens of Qing soldiers, each of whom held spears and swords and shields.

"Let's rush together!"

The corners of Zhang Guangsi's eyes were cracking, and he roared loudly, but he alone couldn't change the whole overall situation after all, even if he had been stabbed many times, but in front of the seemingly endless righteous soldiers, there was no way to defeat them after all, and he could only continue to fall into the strangulation, and at this time, the roar of the righteous army was still endless, which was terrifying.

Although more and more soldiers of the Great Righteous Army fell on the opposite side, the number of dead Qing soldiers gradually increased, and their fighting movements became more and more difficult, and both sides fell into exhaustion and strangulation.

Seeing that this attack still did not defeat the Great Righteous Army, Nian Qianyao was a little discouraged after all, he looked at the righteous soldiers like a wave, and no longer had the pride of fighting Luobuzang Danjin in the northwest, he only felt weak all over his body, as if he was trapped in a quagmire, and he could no longer move.

The Qing Dynasty has reached this point, and it is really difficult to return......

Hu Qiheng looked at his benefactor, with a somewhat bitter smile on his face, "General, you can't fight anymore, if you continue to fight, the general himself will have to fill in!" ”

At this moment, Nian Qianyao could only choose to think about himself. If you insist on fighting again, even if you destroy the White Lotus Sect, you will fall into the siege of the Fu Han army, and the outcome will be no different at that time.

If it was a real loyal minister, he might rather die than destroy the righteous army, but Nian Qianyao was not after all, he once thought he was, but at this juncture, he found that he Nian Qianyao did not have the courage to accompany the Qing Dynasty to be buried together.

"Retire ....."

Under the afterglow of the sunset, the Qing army finally chose to retreat, they slowly withdrew from the battlefield, and the righteous army was unable to fight again after all, they were holding swords and guns, looking at the Qing army that was evacuating from Xi'an City, and they were at a loss in front of them.

Victory? Did we finally survive? However, this scene has been waiting for too long, but people don't feel the slightest sense of reality, let alone the slightest joy.

Liu Ruhan looked at the retreating Qing soldiers, although there was no change on his face, but a strong feeling emerged in his heart, that is, he was the one favored by heaven, otherwise at this critical time, how could the Qing army choose to give up?

At this fateful moment, Liu Ruhan felt the boiling in his heart, he couldn't help but raise his arms high, a violent cheer came from his ears, and he felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction, which may be called the expectation of everyone.

After such a bloody battle, Liu Ruhan can be sure of one thing, that is, when this battle is over, he will be stronger than in the past, and the army will only be more obedient to him than in the past, because he led everyone and persevered......

Just when everyone was cheering, among the guards behind Liu Ruhan, a sturdy man quietly took out a handcuff from his arms and blocked it with a piece of clothing, but the muzzle of the gun was undoubtedly aimed at Liu Ruhan.

"Bang-"

With the sound of a gunshot, a flash of fire erupted in front of the muzzle of the handcuff, and a lead bullet was fired, hitting Liu Ruhan's back very accurately at such a close distance, and the lead bullet rolled and tore in his flesh and blood, bringing out a red blood flower.

In front of everyone, Liu Ruhan fell, his lungs had been hit, and he had no chance to survive, but until he died, he didn't understand where the bullet came from......

Seeing Liu Ruhan falling, the cheering crowd around them was stunned, they helped Liu Ruhan up, and arranged for people to look for the murderer everywhere, but there was nothing on the ground except a short gun.......

After the withdrawal of the Qing army, the Fu Han army did not take Xi'an in one go, although if it really wants to fight at the moment, it will definitely be able to take Xi'an, but this is not in line with the overall interests of Ning Chu at present, this is not only related to the war against the Qing court, but also affects the future strategic planning of Xinjiang.

What's more, before this battle, Ning Chu had reached an agreement with Chen Daoxian, that is, after supporting him to ascend to the throne, Xi'an would temporarily cede it to him, as a temporary place to stay, and in the future, after taking Xinjiang, he would need to bring people to expand westward, and Xi'an would naturally return to Ning Chu's hands at that time.

Based on this agreement, Chen Daoxian will be a vassal to Ning Chu, and the entire righteous army needs to be de-White Lotus - this is actually the same as Chen Daoxian's idea, because the core group of the real White Lotus Sect has been wiped out by the Qing army in the First Battle of Xi'an, and Liu Ruhan, the sect leader, has already died.

Chen Daoxian, who was born in the White Crane Dao, was originally dismissive of the White Lotus Sect, and knew that this model could only be destroyed, but it was not enough to support the construction, so it has always been contrary to Liu Ruhan in this regard, and the original idea of the White Crane Dao was to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, so it is more consistent with the current Ning Chu's thinking, which is also the reason why Ning Chu can accept the current Great Righteous Army.

Of course, after this battle, the Great Righteous Army is also considered to be a great injury, so Chen Daoxian will also go to Nanjing, officially write to the minister, and will accept the guidance of officials sent by Ning Chu at that time, in addition, Ning Chu will also arrange an officer training regiment to go deep into the Great Righteous Army and help them train - to put it bluntly, Ning Yu is to eat the entire Great Righteous Army through this subtle way.

Of course, this time to be able to take the Great Righteous Army without bloodshed, it is also very good news for Ning Chu and the whole people, at least after such a battle, it has completely eliminated the possible threat of the Great Righteous Army in the future from the inside, and it has also greatly damaged the vitality of the current Qing court's northwest army, and in a short period of time, Ning Chu no longer needs to worry about the threat of the northwest.

.........

The old Qin family's yokan, during the long siege of Xi'an, was naturally out of business, and now that the war has stopped, it has been reopened, which makes many old customers feel relieved, and they also sigh inexplicably, this boss is really not easy!

It's just that what is more surprising is that the shopkeeper of the old Qin family is gone, it is said that he caused trouble during the war, so that a stray bullet that flew from nowhere was hit, and when he was dying, he entrusted this shop to his nephew Xiao Qin, and he officially took over the shop.

The gourmets sighed at the difficulties of the world on the one hand, and thought of what they had experienced at home, but they seemed a little silent, but when the fragrant mutton soup came up, they threw it all over and began to feast on it.

"Hey, that's the taste, it seems that this Xiao Qin's shopkeeper has good craftsmanship!"

The new shopkeeper Xiao Qin is a young man who doesn't like to talk very much, he looks dark and honest, and when he saw that everyone said yes, he also cracked his mouth and smiled at the moment, "Everyone thinks it's delicious, the old shopkeeper told me before he died, even if he doesn't rush to earn this livelihood, he has to serve a few masters comfortably!" ”

"Hey, that's what you love to hear!"

Everyone laughed, but they washed away the boredom of Shicai, but the little shopkeeper at this time quietly retreated, and walked into the secret room according to the way the old shopkeeper taught before.

At this time, there was a lone lamp in the secret room, and there were two people sitting next to him, one was the so-called old shopkeeper who had died, and the other was the hardcover man who assassinated Liu Ruhan, and the two of them had a slight smile on their faces.

"The shopkeeper, the top is all served!" Xiao Qin's shopkeeper had a little reluctance on his face.

The old shopkeeper smiled, with a little relief in his smile, "In the future, you will be the shopkeeper of this store, and you will also be the 'shopkeeper' of the entire Xi'an Military Intelligence Department, understand?" ”

"Yes, my subordinates understand."

The sturdy man next to him sighed, "Old Qin, if there is anything else you still need to entrust, hurry up and finish entrusting it, I am afraid that you and I will never be able to come back here in the future." ”

The old shopkeeper nodded helplessly, after the assassination of Liu Ruhan, he and the hardcover man both won the first-class merit, and at the same time received the order of promotion, so Xi'an should be handed over to others here. Of course, even if you don't get promoted, you can't stay in Xi'an, after all, you can't guarantee that you won't be recognized.

Therefore, it was originally the right thing to transfer away, but when he left this place suddenly, the old shopkeeper was a little reluctant in his heart, but he quickly adjusted his emotions and said seriously: "Code name Erqi!" ”

"The subordinates are here!"

Xiao Qin's shopkeeper stood up and gave a dignified military salute, although he was not wearing a military uniform at this time, but this spirit could not be covered by ordinary clothes, and he looked quite heroic.

"Repeat the order!"

"Yes! Hide yourself and wait to wake up! ”

"What else?"

"Loyal to Your Majesty, loyal to the Motherland!"