In the large willows and banyan bushes on the bank of the Cao River, as the son and nephew of Dong Chang who was most valued by the regimental training, the Lin'an soldiers and horses who were described as heroic and strong and nicknamed "Dong Biao'er" all knew Dong Zhen, and they were also rushing forward with sticks and spears waving like the wind.

As a strange soldier and a partial division in a different way, his main task is to take advantage of his familiarity with geography and the ability to echo the locality, go out to the rear of the thief army to find fighters, and even break into pieces to contain and harass the back of the thief army.

But it was a little disappointing that he was not able to get the echo and subordination of the township as expected; Because under the ravages of the Taiping thieves, the wealthy families in those places either broke down their families and destroyed their families, or they fled and disappeared.

He also tried to send people north to the border between Huzhou and Hangzhou, which had already fallen, to attack and sneak attack the strongholds and checkpoints of those thieves; But I didn't expect these thieves to be cautious and cautious on the grain road, which made people a little helpless;

All the strongholds were laid out at the main points of the rivers and roads, and there were fortifications and ancillary camps every thirty or forty miles, according to the distance traveled and the time of the boats; Not only is the external inventory extremely strict, but also the response is very fast, relying on the beacon fire and the tower to have backup within almost half a day to several hours.

Therefore, this time, after receiving the exact news that a large number of thieves were heading south with the ship, he decisively gave up the means of continuing to hide and broke through all the way, and had already broken through at least three main roads and fortifications along the river, and defeated and repelled at least five or six of the peripheral men and horses suspected of being Taiping thieves.

Most of the opponents who were initially defeated were only dressed in cloth, bamboo spears and willow short knives, and there were not many bows and arrows; When you are cautious, it's easy to get away. Then the opponent had leather holsters and leather armor, more standard wooden spears and painted cards, broadswords, more bows and arrows, and a small number of strong crossbows.

After coming all the way, these thieves gradually became more tenacious and powerful with his sudden advance, and even made him have to spend more time entanglement and then divide his troops to contain and temporarily get rid of them.

The 3,000 men and horses, who were still considered to be strong, were reduced sharply to a little more than 2,000. However, as long as they can successfully kill the Cao River, raid and burn the grain and grass boats that are the successors of the Taiping thieves, they will be able to fundamentally shake and affect the situation under the city of Hangzhou.

As long as the army led by his uncle Dong Chang can seize this opportunity, coupled with the internal and external cooperation with Jiang Huan's army and horses in the city, there is really a great chance and possibility of victory, and the general's heart will be defeated again and driven out of the Hangzhou boundary. It is also the best means of repayment and loyalty to his uncle Dong Chang, who has always trusted him.

He was a father and brother who died early when he went to sea since he was a child, and he was able to come of age with the help of his uncle; He was also regarded as a seed in the local tycoon Dong clan, and was sent to Tianmu Mountain to learn art, and after he came back, he was entrusted with a full-time position of pro-army and close servant.

Then, inspired by the good horse and the bow, he personally participated in the bloody storm before the establishment of the eight capitals of Hangzhou, in order to compete for the dominance and the position of the leader of the alliance; He also had a firm foothold in Qiantang for the Dong family, who was born in Lin'an, and secretly intercepted and killed the envoys and officials sent by other states, and destroyed the gentry who refused to cooperate.

also participated in the rebellion against Wang Ying, the general of Wolf Mountain Town in western Zhejiang; pacified the bandits of Zhu Zhi and other "Hangzhou bandits". He also ambushed the grass thief striker who attacked Hangzhou; even led troops to counterattack most of its camps, burning and plundering and capturing without counting, Dong Zhen was invincible in the middle of the camp and was known as brave for a while. This is the nickname of "Dong Biaoer".

Even after the further expansion of his power, he participated in the expulsion of the Hangzhou Assassin appointed by the imperial court, and ambushed the 300 officers and soldiers sent by Zhou Bao to escort Zhenhai Jiedu; In the end, he personally went to dredge, so that Zhenhai Jieya posthumously recognized the fait accompli of the Hangzhou regimental training envoy and assassination history.

And Dong Chang himself, after he drank and collapsed with him many times, he sighed and said, "My family is a thousand miles away", "It can be described as the luck of the family", "My son will rely on it in the future." “。

Therefore, in the battle of Dantu, in which the Yiying army from all walks of life was ordered to go north to fight the thieves, and the first victory and then the defeat, Dong Chang lost most of the men and horses in the eight capitals of Hangzhou; Relying on Dong Zhen, who stayed in Lin'an to guard the portal and the foundation, he could still defeat many pretenders and potential opponents, and gave Dong Chang a chance to make a comeback.

This time will obviously be no exception. According to his uncle Dong Chang's secret mid-term promise and statement in advance; His generation was getting old and in poor health, and his sons were not talented enough to inherit the family business. Therefore, as long as he can defeat the foreign thief army this time, he will be regarded as the assassin of Hangzhou, and as the successor after his death.

However, an unexpected situation soon pulled Dong Zhen's thoughts back to reality. Because the front team that was rushing suddenly stopped.

Seeing the large sparkling waves behind the shadows of the trees in the distance, and the sound of the water was faint, Dong Zhen couldn't help but roar angrily and dispersed the people who were holding bows and arrows, but seemed to be frozen on the riverbank, "Why don't you continue to do it, release the arrows quickly." ”

Then he saw the behemoth of the fish on the river, a strange boat with a huge hub tumbling on the surface of the river and making white waves.

The rockets that were fired densely from the shore fell on the blue-black boat, which was three stories high, just like mosquitoes biting on cowhide with all their might, and most of them broke off one after another, or a few nails fell on them, and they were quickly extinguished in the green smoke pouring down from the water.

At this moment, Dong Zhen reacted, this is not a heavy grain ship at all, but a sailor warship of the thief army. He was obviously deceived by the Taihu Lake thieves who came over, and he was looking for these people to lead the way, but found that they had long since disappeared.

However, at this time, Dong Zhen wanted to regret turning around, that is, it was late to turn around, and soon there were more and more intensive fights and shouts in all directions, and there was a crackling sound like fried beans, which was rapidly approaching his location with the figures rushing to retreat.

At this time, the thief warships on the river finally made their own reactions, only to hear a sound of rolling thunder before and after a rainstorm, and a large cloud of gray smoke splashed on the boats; Then, like an invisible force that came out of thin air, they smashed into these crowds gathered by the river.

In the blink of an eye, their armored bodies were like papier-mâché grass, and their flesh and blood were flying and bursting apart, or they were splashed on the heads and faces of the people around them, or they were splashed between the embankments and trees of the riverbank.

Although only the outermost people on the river bank who bore the brunt of such a blow were suffered, the next tragic scene caused the rest of the rest to collapse their morale and morale on the spot;

Some of them hysterically counterattacked at the Taiping army who outflanked and besieged them, and then brandished their weapons indiscriminately and were quickly drowned in them. Some of them even sat on the ground with incontinence, wailing and crying regardless of it.

Others scattered like headless flies, trying to find a shelter for themselves to hide and feel safe, but where could they find shelter in the endless plains of the water towns, except for the willows, poplars, and banyan trees that form obstacles.

As a result, more people who fled outward, and had to be forced and driven by the Taiping army, which was gradually surrounded on all sides, under the persecution and drive of swords, guns, bows and crossbows, rolled back and crowded and trampled on each other.

As for the backbone of their former backbone, the soldiers and horses of Lin'an all knew Dong Zhen, but in this chaotic scene of screaming and screaming, they found that they could no longer command most people. On the contrary, because of the race to escape from the riverbank and embankment, the last hundred or so relatives gathered around him were highlighted.

So, a new round of rapid-fire fire from the boat in the middle of the river instantly drowned them in the dust of the rubble and sand that was splashing like a fountain of dust, and the branches and leaves flew and broke and fell from the trees.

When the smoke and dust dispersed with the river wind again, the dusty Dong Zhen struggled to break free from the fallen branches, only to find that there was no longer a figure around him that could stand, only the moaning of anger and the movement of struggling and wriggling.

As for the captain of his hometown and personal pawn who desperately tried to cover him with his body, he was also torn apart, and only the upper body was left with a twisted and hideous expression, and half of his stiff arm was still clutched on his shoulder.

And another retinue, who had been serving in front of the saddle and behind the horse since childhood, also leaned on half of the stump bleeding from the seven orifices, and several big cracks on his body revealed all the internal organs.

It's just that when Dong Zhen was dumbfounded and wanted to get up and fight to the death, he found that his lower body had lost consciousness, and his two bloody legs were pressed into the fallen branches, and he couldn't move at all.

At this time, the sound of fighting in all directions also fell silent, and more and more Lin'an soldiers were slashed and stabbed to death, or knelt on the ground and begged for mercy; Dong Zhen was also desperate, but still touched the tip of half of the flag, and stabbed him hard in the neck.

However, suddenly there was a heavy pain in the side of his head and a dark eye, and he fainted from a flying branch.

- I'm the dividing line -

And at the foot of Tianmu Mountain, a hundred miles away,

Dong Chang, who was finally in order to tidy up the last thousands of people and horses around him, looked at the Taiping Qingqi standing up on the head of Lin'an City in disbelief, and suddenly shook his body a few times before falling off the horse's back in an exclamation.

At the head of the city, Zhang Baibo, a captain from the Taipingshan Barracks, was also anxiously and apprehensively looking at the movement on the distant avenue. Because, this time it is also the old mountain soldiers from Fujian, who are one of the few opportunities to stand alone except for the piecemeal bandits.

Under the leadership of the mountain people's guides, they crossed Tianmu Mountain and sneaked to the vicinity of Lin'an City, serving as armed reconnaissance and standby echoes. But he didn't expect that after accidentally capturing a military official who went to the countryside to Luosuo, he found that Lin'an City was so empty.

Thus, there was a logical infiltration and reconnaissance, and then in the tired and weak condition of the gatekeepers, it turned into an attempt to seize the city gate by force; After succeeding in one fell swoop, he found that there was not much strength in the city to take it back.

Then they took advantage of the situation to attack the city several times, not only snatching back a large number of supplies and equipment, but also frightened the defenders of the other gates into opening the door and scattering away, so they occupied the government and held on here.

Because there were not enough flags to bluff, they simply requisitioned and collected everything in the city that resembled cyan and passed it off.

Therefore, except for some of the outermost flags planted near the city gate, other strange objects such as the wine flags of the shops, the curtains of the people's houses, and even the banners of the temples have been erected.

"Emperor Xuanyuan, Sunlight Bodhisattva, Imperial Father Aroko, Great Light Saint Venerable,"

Just as he was muttering all this in his heart, he suddenly stopped the slowly approaching military formation in the distance, and then a commotion was visible to the naked eye and spread.

In the end, as the largest banner with the word "Dong" in the center slowly fell, these military horses also scattered after a short confrontation and rapid clashes and battles.

Most of them went straight past Lin'an City at the foot of Tianmu Mountain, and rushed towards the distant wilderness. As a result, the crisis of defending the city was solved for a while.

Tang remnant

Tang remnant