The scout cavalry brought back the news that Huang Zhao had been waiting for for a long time, and the Qing army had assembled more upstream of the Daliao River, about forty miles away from Niuzhuang Fort, with about four or five thousand people, and the number was still increasing.

Huang Zhao was very happy, and he began to prepare for defensive operations more and more seriously. In the afternoon of the same day, he went to Shi Lang again and offered to borrow some artillery and gunners from the navy. There are a total of hundreds of cannons on the warships of the navy, if all these cannons are removed from the ships and erected on some gun emplacements at the head of the city and under the city, not to mention the four or five thousand Qing troops, Huang Zhao thinks that if there are thirty or forty thousand, they will also come to give him heads and medals.

However, with Shi Lang, he failed to fully realize his vision. Shi Lang said that the battleship "Fuyuan" was only borrowed, and after seizing Niuzhuang Fort, this battleship will return to Jeju Island, and there may be some operational missions. Therefore, the cannons and personnel on the "Fuyuan" must not move. One of the two remaining cruisers, one of which was recently transferred, was said to be ready to be sold to the Japanese shogunate, so the cannons on this ship could not be moved. So, only the remaining cruiser could move. In this way, Huang Hao owed Shi Lang a favor, but in the end he only got fourteen cannons.

However, Huang Zhao was still confident that he could repel the Qing army's attack, and inflict great casualties on the Qing army in the process.

"It's a pity that the head is worthless now." Huang Hao sometimes sighs like this. Nowadays, it has become customary for the imperial court to default on capitation fees, including after receiving a loan from the Zheng family. So now there are fewer military leaders who are willing to buy heads at a high price. But in fact, Huang Hao just said it casually, anyway, the matter of selling people's heads has nothing to do with the model army, and he can't get anything from it, whether it is money or credit.

The Qing army gathered more and more, the number of people rose from four or five thousand to more than ten thousand, and a lot of clothing and other things were also requisitioned. Huang Zhao was so excited that he couldn't sleep well at night, and it is said that he often shouted in his dreams at night, such as "It's done, it's here, it's ...... now".

The artillery forts have also been built, all the cannons have been tested with various types of ammunition, the shooting tables and grids have been laid, Huang Zhao looked at the north with his eyes wide every day, hoping that those lovely flags of the Qing army could appear in his field of vision. However......

"The military gate is full of tears, and the north looks at the Tartars for another day." On this day, after Huang Zhao inspected the construction of the fortifications, he climbed the high city tower as usual and looked affectionately towards the north, when suddenly such a sentence came from behind.

There is no need to look back, Huang Zhao also knows that only Shi Lang can say this kind of thing.

He turned around, and sure enough, it was Shi Lang, and said, "How did you have time to come here?" ”

Shi Lang smiled: "I'm not waiting for those dog tartars?" Do you think you're going to get credit? Dog's day Tartar, I don't know what he's rubbing? I've heard...... There's already an interest in transferring me to the south, just recently, if these dogs don't come...... It's a real rush! ”

Hearing this, Huang Zhao hurriedly said: "If you leave, this cannon and gunner?" ”

"I'm just going alone, and the boat isn't going. Is there still a shortage of such ships in the south? Don't worry, I'll talk to him about it when I take over later, and you don't have to worry about it. Shi Lang said.

"Well," Huang Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and added, "I almost forgot to congratulate you!" Alas, these Tartars are grinding, really, and it is not easy to send them to death! ”

While the two were talking, another scout sent back information. Huang Zhao went over and talked to the scout for a few words, then took a picture and looked at it, and then let the cavalry go down. Then he walked back, and said to Shi Lang with a face full of loss: "Tartar of the dog day! ”

"What's wrong?" Shi Lang asked.

"Those Tartars are not preparing for an attack...... They actually built a new battery there! Huang Zhao gritted his teeth and replied.

"What?" Shi Lang was also taken aback, and then he laughed, "Haha, Tartar is scared of us!" ”

Huang Zhao looked at Shi Lang, he knew that of course Shi Lang could laugh, his credit was enough, and the promotion order was about to come down, and what kind of fight on land had little to do with him, and he couldn't take much credit.

"I've been preparing for so long, but the Tartar of the dog day is not coming!" Huang Zhao said hatefully, "The name of the old slave means wild boar skin, right?" This wild boar was provoked, and it rushed straight up if it didn't want to die. How come the few cubs born from the wild boar skin of Ya don't smell of wild boars at all, are they his species or not! ”

Shi Lang just smiled, but didn't make a sound. After a while, seeing that Huang Zhao finished scolding, he said: "Now I'm afraid that Jianxuan won't come in a short time, what are you going to do?" ”

Huang Zhao said: "Grandma, Lao Tzu has too few soldiers in his hands, and if you want to take the initiative to fight them, there will be not enough manpower to take care of the house." What else? By the way, why don't we do another vote together......"

The night was already deep, but the moon was slowly climbing, and now it was almost the end of the month, and the moon was only a thin bend, like a small silver hook. Although the moon came out, the faint moonlight was not enough to illuminate anything, and the earth was still dark.

If you stand on the bank of the Da Liao River at this time and look in the direction of the estuary, you will find that on the other side of the estuary, there are three small stars in red, yellow and blue, and if you listen closely, you may be able to hear the sound of the river gently lapping on the beach in the sound of insects and frogs, and the occasional pop of fish jumping out of the water, and, wait...... Listen, there seems to be the sound of oars paddling through the river. You open your eyes wide, but it is still dark, only the sound of oars, the sound of the river washing over the hull of the boat gradually gets louder and louder, and after a while, you can finally see a dark shadow appear near the riverbank, it is a sailboat, and soon, a ...... appears in your field of vision

At this time, from the reeds on the bank of the river came a few bird calls, like quails and night herons. There were a few birdsongs from the boat, and then something was thrown out of the boat, and then, faintly, a few people came out of the reeds, and then more came out of the boats.

About thirty or forty people disembarked from the four galleys. The men went ashore, and the one who took the lead counted the number of people, and asked them to count their weapons, and then turned to the people who were waiting for them on the shore: "I have to trouble you to lead the way." ”

The men nodded, whispered something, and then the men gathered together, and someone struck the fire sickle, and soon a little light was lit up among them. One man unfolded a small map, and several heads leaned over......

After a while, the men snuffed out the lights, put away the map, and disappeared into the darkness under the guidance of a few people.

……

"There are more than 20 Jianzi in Zhuangzi, basically all of them are old and weak, and there are more than 50 coats. There is a courtyard wall in the village, but it is not very strong, and the things we bring with us will definitely break the wall at once. However, those Jianzi are a little guarded at this time, and there are dogs in Zhuangzi, so you should be careful. Outside Zhuangzi, Xiang Yang, a scout who led the way, whispered to the Huang Company Commander beside him.

"Got a dog?" Although he couldn't see his expression, listening to this voice, Xiang Yang could imagine his frowning.

"It's okay, I've got the meat buns ready." Xiang Yang lowered his voice and said, "If you add materials, you will make up for it." I'll go over and kill the dog first, and then we'll ......."

Company Commander Huang nodded, turned his head again, and lowered his voice to the few people behind him: "The demolition squad is ready to attack, a platoon leader, you take the blasting squad." The second shift, the third shift followed, if it went well, it was carried out according to the number one plan, and if it was to be stormed, it was carried out according to the number two plan. Pay attention to those coatings, be careful of them, dogs, some coatings have really been raised by Tartars as dogs! If there's a threat, whoever it is, let's kill it first! Do you understand? ”

Several people nodded silently.

"Let's get moving!" Huang Lian Chang said in a low voice.

Xiang Yang first touched the courtyard wall of Zhuangzi, and when he touched a place not far from the courtyard wall, he stopped, and threw a black thing into the courtyard wall. The muffled sound of the thing falling to the ground could be faintly heard. Xiang Yang listened sideways for a while, and faintly seemed to hear some movement, as if there was a low whining sound of a dog. Xiang Yang knew that the night watchdog had been solved, so he waved his hand back, and several scouts followed, ready to throw out their hooks and climb in to open the gate. But at this moment, an exclamation suddenly came from inside the compound, and then a gong sounded after a while. Apparently, offensive operations were discovered.

Xiang Yang didn't know how the enemy found out about their movements, maybe someone happened to get up at night and saw the poisoned dog? But now, it doesn't matter, it's important to break Zhuangzi before the enemy reacts!

At the same time as the gong sounded, several people from the demolition squad swooped down on the courtyard wall and placed a box-like object at the foot of the courtyard wall. It was an arc-shaped, airtight container filled with gunpowder. Gunpowder burns at a limited rate, and without a good sealing, it is difficult to form an explosion. This thing is made in an arc, which can also concentrate the impact force of the explosion accordingly. A Demoman pulls the pull. Fire. Plugs, guides. Fire. Suowton burst into flames, spewing sparkles. Several people from the demolition squad also immediately flashed to the side.

With a loud "boom", the courtyard wall suddenly collapsed. The second and third squads, which had already been prepared, immediately rushed in through the gap with double-barreled shotguns.