"According to the scouts, there are almost 20,000 people. When I left Maling, the advance of the Qing army had already arrived at Batang Town, and it seemed that they were going to attack Guigang...... I sent people to constantly reconnoiter the vicinity, and sent people back at any time to report the latest enemy situation. ”

"Pouring out of the nest......" Lin Xiao muttered.

According to the enemy situation reconnoitred in the early stage, the main forces of the Qing army stationed in Yulin and Wuzhou were Shang Kexi, the puppet king of Pingnan, and Geng Jimao, the son of Geng Zhongming, the king of Jingnan, with almost 20,000 people each.

"Yu Cheng!" Lin Xiao shouted out the door.

"In!" Yu Cheng, who was standing outside the door, entered the door in response.

"Quick, go and ask Lord Qu...... Also, send someone to invite Battalion Commander Ding, Battalion Commander Zhu and Company Commander Duan to come over. ”

"Yes!" Yu Cheng responded and left.

After a while, Qu Shiyun hurried in.

"Master Overseer, it looks like we have to leave early." Lin Xiao briefly introduced the situation.

"My lord, which general is currently guarding Yulin City in Gui County?" Lin Xiao looked at Qu Shiyun with a solemn face and asked.

"It's Nanyang Bo Li Yuanyin, Li Chengdong's adopted son."

"Li Chengdong's adopted son? How is this person? ”

"Speaking of which, Li Yuanyin is a person who knows the righteousness and has the measure, when Li Chengdong was re-right, it was mainly influenced by him, the emperor valued him very much, and named him the governor of Jinyi and Weidu, and always let him lead the forbidden brigade to escort him...... After Li Chengdong was defeated and died, the emperor crowned him as the general of the chariot and cavalry, and gave him the title of Nanyang Bo, but he insisted on not accepting it, and still supervised the forbidden army as the governor of Jinyi Weidu. ”

"Now, with him leading the forbidden army to garrison Yulin, it can be seen that the imperial court has no more available soldiers."

Qu Shiyun said bitterly, "The rest of the army is either a rabble with different intentions, or a rabble that will only harm the people." ”

"Don't worry, my lord, I'll set off immediately, and we will arrive in Yulin in a few days, and we will definitely destroy this Qing army."

"But Li Yuanyin's forbidden army is only about 3,000 people, and in the face of the siege of tens of thousands of Tartars, he may not be able to defend until the reinforcements arrive."

Qu Shiyun was still worried, "General Shuangmu, if possible, be sure to save Li Yuanyin, there are really very few people who are loyal to the imperial court and have the ability to lead the troops." ”

"Okay, don't worry, my lord, we will find a way to prevent Shang Kexi's troops from attacking the city."

Before the words fell, Ding Shuai came, and after a while, Zhu Yujia also came.

A hint of fierceness flashed in Lin Xiao's eyes, and he ordered in a deep voice: "Zhang Chenfeng, you take the regimental headquarters guard platoon, and the reconnaissance platoon of the third battalion, ride a horse and march quickly, rush to Maling Town, meet your people, and rush to the southwest of Yulin City overnight...... If the Qing army storms Yulin, you must flank its back, if possible, attack the city to help defend it, and if the defenders do not let your troops into the city, at least let the defenders inside the city know that there are friendly troops outside the city to increase their confidence in defending the city. ”

"Yes! Mission completion guaranteed! Zhang Chenfeng stood side by side and saluted, and replied loudly.

"Ding Shuai, I wish Yu Jia, order your subordinate to prepare food and ammunition within half a day, and we will set off overnight."

"Yes!" Ding and Zhu saluted and replied loudly.

"He Shouxin, Qin Shuya! Go and prepare, and follow Company Commander Zhang to set off immediately! ”

"Yes!"

"Situ Zheng!"

"Here!"

"Go and ask Dr. Yu to come, I have something to look for him."

"Yes!" Situ Zheng took the order and left.

After a while, Duan Zhenghong and Yu Jifan arrived, Duan Zhenghong took the artillery to train in a relatively distant place, came a little late, Lin Xiao inquired about the training, and learned that he had just taught the principle and structure of mortars, as well as the calculation of the firing table, and had not yet conducted live-fire training, and said urgently: "Give you half a day this afternoon, be sure to teach them how to operate, get enough ammunition before dark, and set off with me." ”

"Yes!"

Although Lin Xiao didn't have time to introduce the situation, Duan Zhenghong still carried it out to the letter.

Seeing that these young people were very confident, full of vigor and high morale, and acting concisely and efficiently, Qu Shiyun couldn't help but sigh in his heart!

If all the armies of the Ming Dynasty could have such courage and strict discipline, instead of fighting for power and profit every day, how good would it be!

In the end, Lin Xiao had a conversation with Yu Jifan alone, inquired about the formation of the field hospital, and then asked him to set up a field ambulance medical team, bring enough necessary medicines, and go with the army.

After everyone left, Lin Xiao faced the map and silently analyzed the battlefield situation...... He was not very worried about Guigang and Guiping, he believed Liu Xulei.

He was most worried about the movement of Kong Youde in the direction of Liuzhou, judging from the map, once the Qing army conquered Liuzhou, the guests would be at their fingertips, and then the army would rush south to attack Nanning, then he might not have time to rush to the rescue.

There are two ways to go from Laibin to Nanning, one is to assist Guigang in the southeast direction and then turn to the west, this road is unlikely, according to Kong Youde's arrogant personality, he will not make a wedding dress for others, but will go straight to Nanning; There are two ways to go directly to Nanning, one is to take the mountain road to storm Kunlun Pass, this road is the nearest but the mountain road is difficult to walk, and it is inconvenient for the army to carry heavy actions; The other road is through the valley between Kunlun Mountain and Daming Mountain from Gantang Town, which is the main road but the road is a little farther.

How long can the guests stay? Which way will Kong Youde go?

Lin Xiao hesitated for a long time, and it seemed that he could only wait for the scout's reconnaissance results first.

……

Just as Lin Xiao was thinking hard at the Fangchenggang Headquarters, Liu Xulei of Xunzhou (i.e., Guiping) was already on a killing spree.

Arriving in Xunzhou, as soon as Zhang Chenfeng's reconnaissance company was sent away, Liu Xulei immediately sent several groups of scouts to reconnoiter along the Xunjiang River in the direction of Wuzhou, and as a result, the first group of scouts to be sent to the area of Wulin Town encountered a large number of people who had fled west from Teng County, and learned that the Qing army in Wuzhou had gone west the day before yesterday, and had now arrived in Teng County, and was burning, killing and looting. So some of the scouts continued to reconnoiter eastward, and some of them immediately returned to Guiping to report.

Liu Xulei carefully inquired about the people brought back by several scouts, and learned that the Qing army was numerous, and hundreds of inland river boats were used, and as soon as they crossed the Beiliu River, the troops divided into two routes, advanced by land and water, and killed them to the west.

However, Liu Xulei learned an important information through the mouths of the people, that is, these Qing troops with big pigtails have extremely bad military discipline, and they will burn and kill traitors everywhere they go along the road? The prostitution plundered the people, and the march was not fast.

Liu Xulei stared at the map for a long time and pondered repeatedly, Tengxian County is about 200 miles away from Guiping, most of them are mountainous and hilly, not easy to walk, there are several large towns along the way, the land route of the Qing army will be delayed for a long time every place, and the waterway up the Xun River is farther.

After repeated calculations, Liu Xulei immediately made a decision, and immediately went to the city to meet with Jiao Lian to report the enemy situation and exchange his battle ideas.

After getting Jiao Lian's approval, he immediately ordered Guo Yutao, the commander of the baggage company, to lead the whole company to assist Jiao Lian's army in strengthening the city defense in case of accidents, and he personally led the first company, the second company and the machine gun platoon of less than 300 people, and attacked Jintian Town at night.