At present, the enemy of the two roads belongs to the nine battalions of two towns, and there is no subordinate on either side, all of them are the Hunan and Hubei green banner soldiers who were originally controlled by Hong Chengchou.

One of them all the way from Lianzhou to the east, this road green battalion from Xiangxi into the Guizhou border followed the southern general Zhao Butai, all the way through the pass to kill the general to Kunming, before hearing that Zhao has returned to Beijing to restore his life, the commander of this army, for the original garrison of Yueyang surnamed the general military officer, the number of more than 5,000, half of the war auxiliaries.

The army from Gaozhou to the south, is the original garrison of Hubei Enzhou soldiers, followed Hong Chengchou into Xiangxi, under the control of Baylor Shangshan, now has been explored, Shang Shan also returned to Beijing with Zhao to restore his life, this road green flag for Wu Sangui's general Ma Bao's old subordinate, but also incorporated the puppet Daxi country Zhang Xianzhong and Li Chuang's old department, fierce fighting, quite powerful.

There are more than 3,000 soldiers and less than 1,000 auxiliaries on this road, and the total number is more than 4,000, and the combat power is quite fierce.

As for which way to attack, Wei Ai and Er Chen both coincidentally thought that they should fight the northern road, because the two sides were the closest and were the main force of the Qing army going south, since it was an imminent threat, it was necessary to deal with it first---- which was the same as the heroes.

Discussing the specific tactics, Chen Shangchuan pointed to a north-south road on the map and said, this is the official road from Gaozhou to Leizhou, and pointed to a river that enters the sea from west to east and said, this is Tongming Creek, now in the middle of summer in June, its water depth is not topped, only the water depth of the official road is only beyond the knee, only here the water and land army baggage chariots and horses can wade through the water, the south of the river bank is the Shentang Plateau, it is a gentle slope of dry land, it is suitable for arranging troops, there is a high slope in the west of the official road after crossing the stream, there is a moon temple, the soldiers can be hidden, the east of the road is lush with trees, and the soldiers can also be ambushed.

Yu tactics, ambush both sides of the official road in advance, and the boat on the stream, prepare more firearms and bows, wait for the enemy's main force to cross the river, auxiliary troops and heavy chariots and horses did not cross the time, the boat ambush soldiers in all directions to attack its unpreparedness, at this time the enemy is separated by the stream, each other head and tail are difficult to care, Yu to block the stream with a boat, and then gather all strength to surround the three thousand soldiers, so, can be a drum down.

Wei Hong listened and nodded and said, the general's method of battle is feasible, but there is no need for the general to lead the troops to fight, my opinion is: after the enemy's main force crosses the river, the general's ambush will not come out for the time being, at this time, we will concentrate all the Australian troops, line up on the official road, and directly confront the more than 4,000 green battalions, you wait for our Australian army to receive fire on the wilderness of the official road, and the general will send out an ambush to raid the enemy's rear, in this case, the enemy army will be defeated!

Obviously, the key to this tactic is that the Australian army can resist the first wave of attack of the 4,000 green battalions, and when the two sides are fighting, the ambushes behind their flanks suddenly attack, so as to defeat the enemy by surprise.

However, can Australia's 1,900 firearms soldiers withstand the attack of the 4,000 Green Battalion in the flat wilderness?

Although Chen Shangchuan and Chen Anping had personally witnessed Xiao Ai's garrison live firing and various drills, and were deeply impressed by the sharpness of the Australian firearms, the cautious Chen Shangchuan still had some concerns when facing actual combat at this moment, after all, there was an essential difference between the drills on the school field and the battles on the ground, and the combat strength of the Australian army had really not been tested in actual combat - at least, the two Chen generals had not witnessed the actual combat strength of the Australian army.

Therefore, Chen Shangchuan responded after a moment of silence, the two brothers have just arrived, people and land are both born, it is better not to rush into battle, the soldiers of the green battalion, mostly from bandits, the combat power is quite strong, this method is quite risky, above this wilderness, there is no strong wall to rely on, the enemy sees that there are few soldiers, and it is inevitable to rush up, so trapped in a fierce battle between the two brothers and the enemy, a certain is quite unbearable, it is better for the Australian army to ambush on the side, a certain elite to treat the enemy, after the fierce battle, the enemy's morale is sluggish, and it is okay to attack again.

Wei Ai and the others were a little moved when they heard this, thinking that this Chen Shangchuan is really a heroic figure, with a good character, and a responsible person, no wonder so many people can follow him to Annan without abandoning, and finally become a powerful historical figure.

Of course, the brothers will definitely not agree to Chen Shangchuan doing this, because this will make their team unable to fully play the role of firearms, of course they also understand Chen Shangchuan's concerns, after all, Er Chen has not seen the actual combat of the Australian army with his own eyes, and he does not know the combat effectiveness of the Australian army.

However, in the face of the four thousand green battalion soldiers, Wei Ai and the two brothers did not have many concerns.

The main reason is that the strength of these green battalions has been proven, and the most confident thing for Wei Ai and the others is that these green battalions have no cavalry---- and the enemy only has cold weapons and extremely short range and inaccurate firearms.

Of course, the enemy still has horses, but it seems that except for dozens of horses pulling carts and general soldiers, and thousands of horses and horses, all of them are foot soldiers, such an army, in the face of the Australian army armed with 57-type rifles and 57-style grenades @ bullets, once it starts, it will definitely have no advantage, just two points of range and rate of fire, it is enough to form a crushing situation.

What's more, both Xiao Ai and Wei Hong attach great importance to the bayonet tactics of fighting in groups of three, and the training of this tactical subject is the most and most solid on weekdays, so pulling these 1,900 soldiers out, even if there are no Chen Shangchuan's 3,000 men and horses to cheer them on, their own strength alone is enough to defeat these green battalion soldiers.

For Wei Ai and the others, what they need to do is to prove the strength of the Australian army through a battle, so that Chen Shangchuan will follow the Australians with all his heart.

Of course, in front of the cautious and serious Chen Shangchuan, Wei Hong and the two brothers can't be too underestimated, let alone too bragging, otherwise it will give people a feeling of frivolity and helplessness, which will be counterproductive.

So Wei Hong pretended to muse deeply for a moment, nodded and responded, what the general said is very true, but since the green battalion is so fierce, the general's soldiers are also under pressure, so let's do it, our army is temporarily deployed on the frontal official road, if the enemy army comes to attack, how about the general to surprise and help in advance?

Chen Anping, who was next to him, immediately nodded after listening to Wei Hong's words, and said yes, Brother Wei is reasonable, the enemy is coming, you can first line up to defend, and then the ambush troops will come out and surround the enemy on all sides, even if you can't completely annihilate it, you can also defeat it, in this way, Leizhou City can be protected, and it can also allow me and others to calmly retreat from the people in the city.

Chen Shangchuan thought for a moment and felt that it was feasible, so he carefully discussed some tactics and liaison details with these people, and finally decided: Wei Ai and the others led 1,900 soldiers and horses from their headquarters to camp on the official road of Shentang Plateau, blocking the enemy's way to Leizhou City, and when the enemy army approached the formation to engage or the enemy wanted to retreat, the two wings of the ambush troops came out together, cut off their retreat, and then surrounded each side to annihilate the enemy in the wilderness.

The negotiations have been decided, and the parties have begun to step up their arrangements.

That battle left a deep impression on the lives of Chen Shangchuan and Chen Anping, because it was the first time that Er Chen saw what line infantry combat was---- which was a new and strange method of warfare that had just appeared in Europe and had not yet become popular in the world.

The battle soon took place on the morning of 13 July, when Chen Shangchuan, who had received the report from Kuaima, summoned the generals and Wei Ai and said that the Qing army of 2,000 had occupied the city of Gaozhou the evening before, and had changed hands without encountering any resistance.

At this time, there were already people fleeing from the north to the south on the official road leading to Leizhou, these people supported the old and the young, or walked or drove cattle carts, and flocked to the south with large bags of luggage and belongings.

Just a few days ago, many refugees from Yunnan and Guizhou from the 100,000 mountains have entered the old village and abandoned city by the sea---- and the situation is indeed as stated in the report of the Huotang Club in the early stage: the number of refugees who have been collected alone has reached more than 30,000 people, and if you count the refugees who fled from Gaozhou and other places this time, and some people who plan to leave Leizhou City and follow the Australians to Nanyang, the total number is estimated to have exceeded 40,000 so far.

Originally, not many of the people in Leizhou City would leave their hometowns and go with the Australians, but the news from Gaozhou City in the north was indeed disturbing, and it shook many officials and people who had planned to wait and see the return to the new dynasty.

According to the people who fled out, the city of Gaozhou was still brutally looted after the surrender, although it had long been rumored that the evil deeds of the green battalion soldiers had already fled a small part of the Gaozhou people, especially the rich families almost left in advance.

But there are still some people who are reluctant to leave their home pots and jars in the city.

So these fools became fat sheep in the hands of the Green Battalion soldiers. Of course, the excuse of the officers and soldiers of the court is still the same: to suppress thieves.