A soldier bravely ran into the big tent of the Chinese army, knelt down and saluted breathlessly: "Tell the two generals that General Lian has led the reinforcements to the city, and ask to lower the drawbridge and let them enter the customs." ”

He Yunlong got up excitedly and said, "Oh? No wonder the bandits slowly retreated yesterday! How many men did General Lian bring? ”。

The herald bowed his head and replied: "Tell the two generals, General Lian has brought tens of thousands of horses, and there are dozens of carts full of grain and grass in front of the team. ”

He Yunlong was a little excited, his eyes were blazing and he looked into the distance and hugged his fists and said: "General Ma Yu broke off at the opportunity, General Lian acted quickly, now my Yumen Pass is solid, even if the red turban bandits make a comeback, they can't be shaken!" ”。

Cheng Liangchou got up and said: "General He, come slowly, the thieves are scheming, be careful to sail the ship for ten thousand years, you and I should first climb the city tower to explore the truth before it is too late!" ”。

On the top of the city tower, He Yunlong and Cheng Liangchou stretched their necks to look down, only to see the flag waving in front of the pass, and the dust was flying. Near the suspension bridge, there are dozens of wood-wheeled carts loaded with grain and grass. The soldiers have a neat lineup, a dazzling black iron armor, and the banner is also a hussar battalion.

He Yunlong smiled and pointed: "General Cheng, look, who else is the one holding the long knife under the banner of the Chinese army's "Lian" character "Lian", who else can it be?" Although he can't look real, his long black beard is his golden sign. ”

Cheng Liangchou smiled: "I saw that this General Lian cherishes his black beard more than a woman, and he is a self-proclaimed beautiful beard." ”

He Yunlong said with a smile: "Put down the suspension bridge, and I will personally lead the team out of the customs to greet you." This General Lian wants to blame, just say that you, General Cheng, are cowardly and afraid, and he was frightened by the bandits, so he delayed for a long time.

Cheng Liangchou hugged his fists and said: "There is General Lao He, don't say a few bad words about me in front of General Lian!" ”。

As the "squeak" suspension bridge was lowered and the door was opened, He Yunlong led his troops to rush out, and the goose wing array was lined up, and at the same time waved his hand to let the wooden wheel cart carrying grain and grass enter the customs first, and he raised the Fang Tian painting halberd in his hand and shouted: "General Lian, He has been waiting here for a long time!" ”。

General Lian, who was under the banner of the Chinese army, silently raised the long knife in his hand, which was regarded as a response. He flicked the reins of his horse and walked slowly.

As the two generals got closer and closer, a sudden scene made everyone on the scene stunned.

The "General Lian" had a long black beard that suddenly fell half off his chin. Faced with the sudden change, He Yunlong and the "General Lian" were stunned at the same time.

Du Zhongnian simply tore off the black beard stuck to his chin, and muttered dissatisfiedly: "General Guan is addicted to acting, it's not enough to change the enemy's flag and armor, it is really uncomfortable to have to stick such a broken thing to the Sprinkle family, the Sprinkle family originally had a good black beard!" After saying that, he threw the fake beard on the ground casually, shouted, and rushed towards He Yunlong with a knife. The soldiers of the "Hussar Battalion" behind him also shouted at the same time, and then covered up and killed.

He Yunlong, who noticed that the momentum was wrong, turned around and wanted to rush onto the suspension bridge and return to the pass, but the dozens of "grain and grass" were blocking the suspension bridge side by side at this time, blocking the retreat route.

He Yunlong stubbornly led his subordinates to rush towards the men and horses of "General Lian". At this time, the trumpets were full of cannons, divided into left, center, and right roads, and the red scarf bandits with red scarves on their heads shouted like a tide.

The smile on Cheng Liangchou's face at the head of the city instantly froze, and when he saw the chaos below, he hurriedly turned his head and shouted: "Put away the suspension bridge and close the door!" Be quick! ”。

Dozens of soldiers rushed up and struggled to turn the crank of the sling, tired and sweaty, but the slings did not move as if they were growing in the ground.

General Cheng Liangchou Cheng was sweating profusely, and hurriedly lay on the battlements to look down, the archers around him were at a loss, and they didn't dare to release arrows when they looked at the messy pot of porridge below. Cheng Liangchou stared and observed carefully for a moment, then stretched out his arm and shouted, "Shoot those who have red cloth strips wrapped around their arms, and those who have red cloth tied around their heads." ”

The archers on the tower stretched their bowstrings to the brim, but they still didn't dare to let go. Because at this time, a few people and horses under the city tower have been stirred up, and it is difficult to distinguish between the enemy and me at all.

According to the original plan, Du Zhongnian, Zhang Baiqian's troops and He Yunlong's men and horses fought together, Nie Yunniang and Yao Taihe led the men and horses of the headquarters to rush onto the suspension bridge, and quickly overturned the dozens of wooden wheeled vehicles disguised as grain and grass, which were actually stuffed with stones, in the trench, and killed the closed gate that was slowly closing.

More than a dozen hussar battalion soldiers were burying their heads and pushing the door with great difficulty, when they suddenly heard a loud "boom", the two gates were not closed, but the bodies of the soldiers who closed the door were shocked and flew out. But it turned out to be the little fat man Yao Taihe and the two giant hammers in his hands on the door that was about to close. The door was opened again, like a river embankment that had been ripped open, and the soldiers of the Red Turban Army poured in like a rushing flood.

Cheng Liangchou on the city tower glared angrily, his face was flushed, and he pulled out the sword hanging from his waist with a "swish", and roared hoarsely: "Brothers, kill me and fight with them!" Locked up in people, closed in people dead! Without hesitation, the soldiers of the hussar battalion behind him clenched the weapons in their hands and rushed down the tower with a shout.

He Yunlong danced wildly with the Fang Tian painting halberd in his hand, and at the same time was secretly surprised in his heart: this fake General Lian was even sharper than the real General Lian's knife technique!

Zhang Baiqian, who was killed later, made his mood fall to the bottom, and he understood that he only had one way to die on the battlefield today to repay the country's kindness.

Now that he has the heart of death, He Yunlong no longer has any scruples, bursts into applause, pushes left and right, and fights Zhang Baiqian and Du Zhongnian desperately. Helpless, he was soon scarred and crumbling on his horse.

Seeing that the opponent was weak, Du Zhongnian was still unrelenting, but Zhang Baiqian did not hesitate to leave his opponent, rode his horse and rushed onto the suspension bridge, and rushed towards the gate.

Cheng Liangchou, who had just rushed down the city tower and had not had time to get on the horse, met Yao Taihe with a sledgehammer, and shouted with red eyes and pounced with a sword.

Yao Taihe saw that the other party was dressed as a general, so he left the soldiers in front of him who were boring to beat, and patted his horse to meet him.

In terms of martial arts strength, Cheng Liangchou was not originally under Yao Taihe, but at this moment, one step at a time; A sledgehammer is powerful, and a portable sword is not very good, so Yao Taihe took advantage of it.

After fighting for dozens of rounds, Cheng Liangchou was careless, and the sword he stabbed out was smashed by the sledgehammer that came over, and the sword broke off with a "boom". In a hurry, Cheng Liangchou threw away his sword, turned around and snatched a spear from his own soldiers, and stabbed Yao Taihe swiftly.

"Click", the barrel of the gun was broken by the sledgehammer again, Cheng Liangchou threw the broken gun in his hand again, turned around and snatched the big knife in the soldier's hand again. Yao Taihe didn't have the patience to accompany him to continue damaging public property, so he urged the horse to rush to the front, picked up a sledgehammer and smashed it on Cheng Liangchou's back. General Cheng spurted a mouthful of blood and rushed out for more than a dozen steps before falling to the ground.

Almost at the same time, He Yunlong in front of the gate let out a miserable scream, and was mercilessly slashed off his horse by Du Zhongnian.

The leaderless hussar battalion soldiers still gritted their teeth and fought separately, struggling to support. An hour later, the smoke cleared, and the banner of the Red Turban Army was planted on the tower of the Yumen Gate.

The dusty General Lian Peng led his troops to arrive at the Yumen Pass, and he looked up, and the banner dancing in the wind had nothing to do with the hussar camp. General Lian suddenly felt that everything was burning inside, his heart was surging, his thoughts were thousands, and he felt a lot of emotion. Faced with this situation, he couldn't help but want to write a poem......

The "boom" closed door and the drawbridge was lowered. With the earth-shattering shouts of killing, Yao Taihe rushed out with two big copper hammers in his hand, and made a special trip to welcome the guests from afar.

General Lian swallowed and spit, desperately suppressed the surging poetry that had just surged, and did not hesitate to turn his horse and gallop wildly, without looking back and waving his hand to signal his subordinates to evacuate quickly.

The soldiers of the Red Turban Army who followed were reluctant, chasing while firing arrows indiscriminately, but the distance between the two sides was farther away, and there was almost no lethality.

chased out for ten miles, and on a small hillside, Yao Taihe, who was out of breath, reined in his war horse. Turning his head and shouting: "Don't chase, you can't catch up!" The soldiers under him all reined in their horses and gathered around General Yao, watching the backs of the hussar battalion.

General Yao suddenly became interested, and said to the soldiers around him with a smile: "Brothers, do you remember the song that Marshal Guan drank too much and taught us to sing that night? Let's sing together to see off the hussar camp! The soldiers laughed and echoed.

In this way, a group of strong men who killed people without blinking immediately sang on the hillside, pulling a loud voice like a broken gong. To tell the truth, they were ridiculous and uneven, and they sang as ugly as they were, mixed with brutal laughter:

Ay............

Sister, you boldly go forward,

Moving forward,

Don't look back......

In the large camp of the New Army for the Protection of the Country, the quartermaster was reporting to General Yan with a sad face about the urgent situation of food and grass in the army.

"Many county capitals and counties that supply grain and grass have sent people to send news that it is the spring rains, the roads are muddy, and the Holy Lord has issued an order for disaster relief, so it is difficult to gather grain and grass for a while, and even if it is gathered, it is difficult to transport it. At present, there is not much food in the army, and if the army returns to Beijing on the same day, it can still hold out to the capital. If we delay for a few more days, I'm afraid it will be ......."

Hearing this, an adjutant general hurriedly stepped out of the ranks, clasped his fists and said: "Commander, the last general thinks that the commander should immediately order all troops to stop the drill from tomorrow, and the soldiers will have their daily meals halved and prepare for evacuation." The current flood will not subside in ten days and a half months, so it is better to return to Beijing as soon as possible than to dry up here. ”

Lang Zhendong said dissatisfiedly: "What spring rain is continuous, the road is muddy, I see that the weather is fine these days!" It is clear that someone is obstructing it, and they don't want us to eliminate the Taiping bandits. If the soldiers' daily food is reduced, the people will inevitably be panicked and the army's morale is unstable, then stop fighting and simply go home! ”。

General Yan, who was sitting upright behind the handsome case, bowed his head and muttered silently, his right hand lightly brushing his silver-white thick beard.

Another lieutenant frowned and said, "Commander, you should make a decision as soon as possible!" At present, it is not possible to fight, nor is it to withdraw, and if it is delayed for a long time, once the army breaks off food and causes riots and mutinies, the situation will be difficult to clean up! ”。

Lang Zhendong said indignantly: "What to withdraw? As long as the city of the Taiping bandits is captured, won't the grain and grass be solved? ”

The adjutant general smiled politely and bitterly: "But even if it takes ten days and a half here, when the flood recedes, can the vanguard officer guarantee that our army will be able to attack?" If the land is full of swamps and attacks rashly, I am afraid that it will be difficult to win in the short term, and once the army runs out of food, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

General Yan put down his raised right hand and said slowly: "You don't need to discuss the issue of withdrawing troops!" If you don't destroy the Taiping thieves, our army vows not to return to the dynasty! Let's discuss how to solve the problem of food and grass in the army. ”

Lang Zhendong frowned, bowed down and clasped his fists and saluted: "Dashuai, there is a big righteous warehouse in Jizhou Mansion, which is less than a hundred miles away from my military camp. Can the marshal play the Holy Lord, and call for our army urgently? ”。

Old General Yan's eyes lit up, he thought for a moment, and then shook his head with a gloomy gaze: "Even if you send a fast horse to send the concert now, it is difficult to grasp whether the Holy Lord can promise it; Even if the Holy Lord allows him to return to Jizhou quickly, I am afraid that the grain and grass in the army will be unsustainable this time! ”。

All the generals bowed their heads, silent, and frowned. Old General Yan leaned his head back in his chair, slightly closed his eyes and fell into deep thought. Suddenly, he grinned, as if he had something to gain.