Next, on the relatively open plain of central Hunan Province, Yongzhou (now Lingling City), Daozhou (now Dao County), Shaozhou (now Shaoyang), and Hengzhou (now Hengyang City) all the way back to the water, seven or eight large and small cities and customs along the way were all concocted in the same way, and it was easy to take over and change the defense without blood;

Dozens of rebel generals were sent to Guangzhou, and more than a dozen were able to join the Taiping Army to continue to be used (in fact, those who could be left behind were some old or injured, or even marginalized figures). But there are also several people who chose to lead their troops north to join the rebel army in Huangchao, and took about five or six hundred people with them, so I can only wish them good luck all the way.

After such a continuous accumulation, the rebel army that was successively incorporated along the way also reached nearly 20,000 horses; He also easily stopped several waves of clashes and fires between local rebels; defeated a group of rebels in Xinning County, killing 1,000 people; He has beheaded and punished hundreds of black sheep who have violated the purpose of the righteous army or who have recently mutilate the people;

However, apart from the inflated quota and the old and weak who can only be sent to the logistical sequence, the barely suitable supplementary troops are only more than one-third; Therefore, a small number of garrisons were assigned as usual to disperse and reorganize the backbone, coupled with the poor and young people who were recruited from the local area, and barely replenished the garrison force of key cities and transportation points along the Xiangshui line of the Lingdao; It can be regarded as consolidating and maintaining this transportation route from Lingnan and the supply of grain.

However, the Taiping army once again replenished a lot of materials, equipment, and personnel in the big city of Hengzhou, and after passing through the county seat of Xiangtan, it encountered interception and blockage from the land and water checkpoint called "Huashishu" in Hengshan County, which borders with Tanzhou.

Immediately, this stronghold with the banner of "Hengshui Town Strangulation" quickly fell into the sound of fireworks and tearing under the attack of the Taiping army that was roaring away by land and water.

After half a ring, Zhou Huai'an, who was sitting on the top of the fleet and waiting, saw that Wang Tianming, the jumping captain covered in blood and fireworks, dragged a dead dog-like person back with a certain indifferent expression.

"Let's let this guy make it clear to himself."

"Humble villain. It's just that the desire for profit is delusional and wants to collect more benefits.,Confused brains will resist the army.。。 ”

The man who was brought back screamed loudly and poured out like pouring beans.

"This ministry is also a new commission that the villain has spent a lot of money in the state city, so I just want to collect the capital back as soon as possible."

"I also hope that the prince of the court will be forgiven, I am not a true thief. I would like to serve the officers and soldiers as a redemption... ”

Well, as he spoke without words, the expressions of all the generals present became very strange and strange; Obviously, because of the relatively strict and orderly lineup and style of the Taiping Army, it was actually regarded by the other party as the court and the official army.

"Why is the place already chaotic, can you set up cards and rob the road without permission?"

Zhou Huai'an also frowned slightly in embarrassment, and turned to Wang Chong beside him.

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

"I didn't look like this last time I came back. Although there is some chaos in the place, the waterway is still unimpeded. ”

Wang Chongba couldn't help but blush, but he took the initiative to ask for his life

"There are also a few of my subordinates who have been familiar with this waterway for a long time, and they dare to ask the leader to borrow a group of men and horses. Clear the way for the army to advance. ”

"It's fine."

Zhou Huai'an immediately decided.

"Where there is enough men and horses in that group, I will give you a battalion leader; Then send a battalion to echo each other from afar, and after landing on the shore, they will be divided into left and right roads. ”

The next encounter of waterway navigation really confirmed Zhou Huai'an's conjecture, just on the Xiangshui River in just a few tens of miles, he actually encountered and uprooted seven or eight strongholds and checkpoints one after another; Among them, a water village was erected, and the boat was plugged in the river; And the most simple thing is to take a big log tied with a rope directly, and throw it into the middle of the river, and dare to sit on the ground and goose to collect money and grain.

Although most of them are not vulnerable at all, and even frightened when they see movement from afar; However, such frequent blockades, even in order to catch those escaped shrimp soldiers and crab generals, and use them as temporary coolies to clear and drag away the obstacles in the middle of the river one by one, it has already delayed and slowed down the march of the main fleet in disguise.

And their origins and achievements are also varied, including the mayor of Guan and the garrison officer appointed by the righteous army, as well as the town generals and military lords appointed by the government, and the self-proclaimed Tutuan Township Protection Team. It is also a wonderful state of not disturbing each other with its neighbors.

Therefore, we walked and stopped on this section of the river until noon the next day, and then arrived at the Lukou Shu (near present-day Zhuzhou City) of the fork of Xixiangshui and Lushui in Liling County. This is not only a stronghold for patrolling river pirates, but also a large town located on the hilly plateau of the estuary, which prospered in the early years because of the business of selling tea;

Therefore, under the mound is the official road leading to Tanzhou and the accompanying post house building, and there are many ferries and wharves that moor various merchant ships and wharves nearby; It forms several streets and pavements of different widths.

To the south of the town are large areas of developed paddy fields and enclosures, while on the inland side, which is backed by west and north, there are contiguous stretches of water that are accessible to boats but not suitable for large groups of people to cross.

Therefore, in the central Hunan Plain where the water network is all over the place, a certain kind of natural trunk has been formed to face the river, and only a road along the river can be passed.

Then, as if because of the rumors and warnings, he refused any representations and shouted here, and the resistance became fierce at once. In the condescending terrain of the other party, the vanguard team led by Wang Chongba attacked several times, but they were all beaten back with strong bows and crossbows and rolling wood and stones.

Although there were not many casualties in the cover tactics because of the better protection of the equipment, it broke the head of Wang Chongba, who was easy to climb to the top of the city, and stirred up the anger of the group. Just as he wanted to reorganize his manpower, he made a detour to the edge of Mizusawa to the west and make another attempt.

Then, Zhou Huai'an, who arrived with the ship, stopped his rough tactics of the traditional rebels, who would only rely on personal courage and a momentary bloody attack, and a wave of reckless and reckless tactics; and began to change to a more professional technical content and military skills of the play.

With the sound of high-pitched horns, the coarse components loaded and unloaded from several large ships docked on the shore were formed into several towering stone cannons in half an hour, while the other ships were pushed down by several coarse iron-clad crossbows with overlapping arms, turntables, rollers, and handles.

And among the members of the team that assembles and manipulates the equipment. Bai Duolu, a former sharpener and tinkerer, was also struggling to wedge an iron bolt into the thick arm, and then hammer it with a sledgehammer to nail it tightly. Then the thick rope sleeve made of brown cable was tightly wound, and it struggled to rotate in the wide winch, and little by little pulled the slightly bent arm down.

But every time he turned around, he had to whisper a sentence in his mouth:

"The Imperial Father Aroko Tianzun is blessed from above."

"Save the suffering, save the great sage, move the rat, and descend to the world to purify all sentient beings."

"Tianzun should make a cool breeze to a virgin,"

"The cool breeze is in the belly of the last Yan,"

"According to the Tianzun Sect, Mo Yan is pregnant immediately,"

"In order to serve the virgin with a cool breeze with the heavenly venerable,"

。。。。。。。

He is the one who has practiced: "Changming Emperor Music Sutra", "Preface to Listening to the Sutra of Lost Poems", "Zhixuan Anle Sutra", "Monotheism", "Great Sage Tongzhen Returns to Fazan", "Xuanyuan to the Benjing", and has been praising and worshiping the Son of Heaven since Tang Taizong for many years as "the main guarantor of all believers on the ground".

In the early years, because of the follow-up impact of Wuzong's destruction of Buddhism and the destruction of the forbidden Jingjiao, he had to return to the vulgar to avoid trouble; Because he didn't have a name, he took the name of Peter, one of the twelve sages and kings. Since then, he has pushed a small cart on the iron furnace and taken a little apprentice to go around, relying on the repair skills of collecting some scrap copper and rotten iron, so he is good at making a bamboo sledgehammer and claiming to be exactly the right to beat.

It's just that he was a little unlucky to be arrested by the officials and soldiers outside the city of Guangzhou, and all the family was lost, and even the little apprentice who was raised as a son has disappeared since then; Then, as soon as the official army was defeated, he also became a prisoner of the rebels. It was only when the Fury Wind Battalion, where the head of the void pipe, recruited skilled people that he was able to get out of the prisoners under the stairs and become one of the hardware workers in the first baggage team.

Later, after the establishment of the appearance team, he was selected to become one of the members of the maintenance team because of his ability to dismantle and repair it, and he can be regarded as an official member of the rebel army with a decent rank and salary. It wasn't until the shaft wrapped around the thick rope could no longer be rolled that he gestured in his heart:

"May the Lord of Heaven bestow upon him the eyes of an eagle, the mouth of a wolf, the strength of a bear, and the swiftness of a cat, so that the enemy may be invincible, and all those who have sinned here will die freely and purely."

Then, in the midst of his prayers and the whistling of his arm, a dozen or so balls of mud for calibration flew out, and with a thud they fell under the wall of the town of Po City, and suddenly splattered into pieces. And beside Bai Duolu, there was a lot of noise.

"Yes, yes."

"The first hit hit,. It's a great bonus."

"All of them are calibrated with this one, and the first three rolling stone bombs break through the wall, and then the fire oil bombs and poisonous smoke balls alternate between half. Get ready to bombard. ”

And among the heads of the civil walls of the town on the slopes, there was a sudden burst of irrepressible exclamations and shouts; Then the wooden door of the confined town was opened, and out came a man carrying a small blue flag representing the rebels; I saw him shouting something and slowly walking down the slope.

Then, before the man could go far, he was killed on the slope by several volleys of arrows. Zhou Huai'an, who gave the order, pouted, since the other party rejected the possibility of negotiation at the beginning and responded by force, there was no possibility to say anything, so he could only speak in the language of swords, guns and arrows.

(End of chapter)