At the beginning of the year, the Taiping Army and the Hunan Army have been in the Jiujiang and Hukou areas, carrying out tug-of-wars, with great ups and downs.

Zeng Shuai was resolute, learned from the pain, and then regrouped, and repeatedly defeated and fought.

The pressure on western Zhejiang is increasing day by day, and the war in southern Anhui and southern Jiangxi is also unpredictable with the advance and retreat of the Hunan army. It is clearly the land of four wars!

Governor Huang Daren mastered, sent troops to Hukou, refused the enemy outside Zhejiang, and specially recruited Tang Dawei, the general soldier of Hujia, and Zhang Yingquan, the chief soldier of Jinxian County, to discuss the matter of protecting the territory.

Why these two people?

There are three reasons: First, there are not many well-trained villagers in Zhejiang (the governor has no right to transfer green battalion soldiers out of the province to fight). Second, the leader of the knife bandits is dead, and he is unable to commit Zhejiang, and the Hujia area is safe. Third, Tang and Zhang had a good cooperation and can be called a model for military training.

In short: transfer troops, cross borders, and fight long hair.

How to fight?

"Wait, what do you think about the situation? Let's put it bluntly. ”

"Lord Governor!" Zhang Yingquan also thought when he received the order to come to Hangzhou: "Now in the Jiujiang and Hukou areas, the strongest force is Xiangyong, who is Zeng Dashuai, and there are also the imperial court green camps in Hubei, all rely on Panyang Lake to fight water battles. ”

"What does Mr. Zhang mean to stop and watch?" Lord Huang's face was not good-looking.

"Your Excellency! If you want to fight, you can hit its vital points, choose another battlefield, and you can win without going to the lake. ”

"Oh? Let's talk about it! ”

"The attack and defense of the lake mouth is important to the sailors, not we can covet it, and fight two battles in the periphery, and it is okay to deal with the story, but in fact, it is itchy across the boots. Moreover, the mouth of the lake is the throat of the place, the west bank is the Jiujiang fortress, the north is near the Yangtze River, the downstream is the important town of Anqing, the south has Raozhou reinforcements, the heavy army is around, not 100,000 water and land at the same time, it is difficult to shake. ”

"Straight to the point! What do you think? ”

"Threatening the direction of non-Hukou in Zhejiang, the Anqing bandit camp is the first evil. The long-haired army is in Qingbei Chen soldiers, its purpose, the west can support Hukou, the east can defend Jinling, the south can directly stab the west of Zhejiang, this is the head of the key point, the status is not inferior to Jiujiang, the long-haired warrior Shi Dakai sits here, it is by no means a fictitious, and it is also a dangerous place for thoroughfare. If the troops are sent to attack Qingbei, it will be hit on the soft underbelly, and the troops at Hukou will take care of the backup and be timid, and then Xiangyong, the green battalion and I will train the army, and then join hands to plan and attack together, and the big thing can be accomplished, and the west of Zhejiang will be safe. ”

"Courage is not small! It is a good move, where the battle, with the right fit, with the odd victory. Good! Lord Huang nodded, he generally doesn't praise people.

"Mr. Zhang, Zhou Lang's great talent!" Tang Zongbing followed and praised.

"This mansion will pass the book to Zeng Dashuai, and you will prepare quickly!"

In the end, it was decided that two battalions would be drawn from the Hujia area to practice bravery, and two battalions (small battalions) from Jinxian County would be drawn to practice bravery, and nearly 4,000 people would be coordinated by General Tang and Zhang Zongbing, and attack and harass the Qingbei area, cooperate with Xiangyong to fight, and try to block Changmao and the outside world.

Two battalions were dispatched, one battalion was the battalion that went to Jiaxing last time, although the personnel have changed, the backbone has not changed, the difference this time is that it is fully equipped with breech guns, which is a tested musket battalion, called the 'rear battalion'. The other battalion is still a battalion with musket posts from the left and right, plus the volunteers who have newly completed training from the mountain town, a new group of one sentry and three breech gun posts, and a temporary battalion, called the 'front battalion'.

Directly under the general tent of the general army are: fifty musketeers, called lancers, all equipped with short muskets (also known as cavalry guns); The artillery team consisted of ten men and two mortars, all of which were on horseback, but most of the horses were shells and utensils, and the horses they rode were nothing more than load-carrying vehicles; There was also a medical team with a red cross armband on their arms, led by Garcia, and five subordinates, all of whom had passed John's special training, and Lang Zhong, who specialized in treating red wounds, was also on horseback; Finally, there is the battalion supply team, which is composed of ten new carts, each cart has five people attached, all of whom are trained by the left and right battalions, and there are ammunition, food, and camp tools on the vehicles.

After the assembly, the count was counted, and there were more than 1,200 people.

Three days later, he set out, and on the way, he met with 2,300 people led by Tang Dawei, trained the army in the Jiahu area, and sent two formed battalions, plus 300 muskets guarded by Tang General Army. After the convergence, a total of 3,500 troops, the scale of this battle is not small, you know, 1,500 muskets, in history, who has heard of this movement?

"Brother! I know what you think, I don't want to lick Zeng Dashuai's eyes! Brother, why don't I think so? The one who once shaved his head, 3,000 people are in his hands, you and I fuck him? I don't know where I am buried? ”

"Huh!"

"It's still the same sentence, brother, I listen to your command! It can be seen that your 1,000 people are comparable to the average 5,000 Yong. ”

"Talk, talk!"

Quzhou to Gyeongju less than 500 miles, the road is not difficult to walk, in the past here is a major official road, the so-called four provinces thoroughfare, obviously still an important trade road, because of the war and deserted, 3,500 practice courage is not slow, four days close to Gyeongbuk.

Here, belongs to the hilly terrain, the mountain is not high and not dangerous, the slope is uneven, the mountain is full of stones, in the stone crevices on the mountain, there is a kind of shrub with strong vitality, the mountains are all over the field, this plant is thorny, extremely hard, like a steel needle, enter the mountain with bare hands, must be pierced into a blood gourd, the big animal is not allowed to enter, it is called the paradise of mountain rats and hares.

The official road is not wide, one side seems to have been reclaimed, the gravel is built in the outer circle, although it is flat but the weeds are barren, the reclaimed area is also seventy or eighty zhang wide, and then there are barren mountains, rocks, and bushes, forming the dividing line between man and nature. There are dilapidated houses on the side of the road, no one is inhabited, and there is a scene of war.

"Report! Five miles ahead, there is a long-haired battalion stationed. ”

"Stop, all of us wait!"

In the clairvoyant mirror, the terrain of five miles away is gentle, like the land, at this time it is not the flood season, the land is also dry, overgrown with weeds, feasible people, the front is the Yangtze River embankment, wide, the horse can run on it, the river surface can not be seen, and the tidal flat can not be seen, only the mast can be seen, the mast of countless ships, if it is not mistaken, there is a very important ferry in front, this ferry should be a small market town, but this angle is invisible.

That's right, it's Gyeongbuk Ferry

The barracks appear five miles away, the terrain is gentle, look at the flag is a division of the Taiping Army, about 2,600 people, the Taiping Army generally does not act as a division unit, it is not good, there are barracks around, if it is an army, it is about 15,000 people, the Taiping Army at this time in this ferry concentrated 10,000 or 20,000 troops, as expected, if there is a war at the mouth of the lake, Anqing is the backing, but Anqing is downstream, can not rush against the water to help, the south bank land route is only this one, this ferry is quite important, can not be heavily guarded?

Three miles ahead, there is Mantou Mountain, close to the official road, it is a reclaimed abandoned hillside, there is no messy bushes, it is said to be a mountain, in fact, it is just a big soil bag, like a steamed bun.

General Zhang commanded: "Run forward and occupy the Mantou Mountain ahead!" Defend in place. ”

The team moved forward quickly, and dispersed after arriving at Mantou Mountain, some people camped in the back, arranged logistics, and practiced Yong in Jinxian County, each holding a small shovel, digging trenches and repairing bunkers.

This spade is also made of good iron, it looks like a shovel, but it can be used as an axe, saw, knife, and it is also a sharp weapon for hand-to-hand combat when it is critical. ”

There are many reasons why it is impossible not to be spotted for such a bold breakthrough: First, there is not much hidden space in this mountain, and you can't get into the bushes with this only one road, right? Second, the long-haired camp is cautious, and the outpost is generally released more than two miles, so that the team may be discovered early. More than 2,000 people on the official road carried out, and it is difficult to hide from the world! It is better to boldly advance and seize the most favorable terrain, which can be attacked and defended, which is the first opportunity.

Sure enough, the long-haired camp, the reaction was very fast, a bang sounded, the door of the camp was opened, and a red turban gushed out, presumably they had already assembled, ready to fight, it may be that the training army camped in Mantou Mountain, unexpectedly, only two miles between the two camps of the enemy and us, an official road is connected, and the gate can be seen with the naked eye, it is too contrary to common sense, this battle is not such a way of playing, you should be playing the game of squeezing oil residue?

Tang Zongbing let Zhang Zongbing give orders, and he was also funny in his heart, this kid, don't look for rules, Leng is to tie the camp into door-to-door, this does not lead people out, it is strange to find you desperately, in exchange for this person, you will also take advantage of your unstable foothold, hit the door, and deceive people too much! It's okay, stir up the generals, attack and defend the shift, let's defend them to attack, advantageous! Thinking of this, he suddenly understood, this general soldier doesn't seem to know how to fight, in fact, the monkey spirit! Since the beginning of the war, he has not suffered a loss.

Shouqingbei Ferry, a general under Shi Dakai, named Pan Anshan, received an order from the commander ten days ago, leading 15,000 troops to take over the defense of Qingbei Ferry, and collect ferries to ensure smooth communication with the direction of Hukou.

According to the convention, the five divisions are divided into east, west, south, north and middle camps, among them, the west camp is responsible for the direction of Hukou, the north camp is responsible for the Qingbei ferry, the east camp is responsible for guarding the direction of Chizhou, and the south camp is responsible for blocking the official road intersection leading to the west of Zhejiang.

The horn sounded, and the whole division assembled, ready to meet the battle.

Pan Anshan happened to be in Nanying, he climbed to a high place, took out the clairvoyant mirror given by Shi Shuai, and looked carefully, what happened? They stop and don't go? Found a camp? Want to go back?

Unexpectedly, the Qing Demon accelerated his attack, just to seize a steamed bun mountain, and did not dare to hit the camp directly, but it was a little wrong? The Qing demon actually camped, door to door, so close that chickens and dogs heard each other, this is too much to take the Taiping army seriously, right? Grab the terrain defense, understandable, if you can't do it, you will retreat! Squatting at your doorstep and lazy not leaving? Can the battle be fought like this?

"Attack! Chase the demons away! ”

"Boom!" With a bang, the camp gate opened, the sword and shield hand, the shield bearer took the lead, the spearman followed, the archers pressed the formation, and two thousand red turbans poured out.

"Kill the demons!"

Two miles of road, a moment away, a hundred people wide front formation loose, facing Mantou Mountain, followed by more than ten or twenty rows, like waves.

"Kill!"

"Bang bang bang!" In an instant, there was a loud gunshot, which was denser than the sound of fried beans.

Qing Demon only exposed half of his body, and some people, simply lying on the ground only half of their heads were exposed, I can't figure out how many people, listening to the dense sound of gunfire, there are enough two thousand muskets shooting, bullets swept like wind, harvesting life, in the blink of an eye, half of the ground fell, the whole formation is retreating, not people running backwards, but people like dominoes facing backwards.

"Sa! Sprinkle! …… Fast! ”

Attack fast, retreat faster, spread out more than a mile in the blink of an eye, there are only six or seven hundred people left, being bitten by the Qing demon, it hurts to the heart, it's terrible!

In the first round, Mr. Zhang smiled!