In the early morning, the sky was bright, the sun had not yet risen, and only a touch of morning glow dyed the sky red. There are still a few dew drops on the long reeds and grass at the water's edge of the Gwai River, and the waterfowl are still hiding in the branches and playing in the grass.

Luo Xuan commanded dozens of "water ghosts" to go down the river unconsciously. The river is still quite cold on autumn mornings, and the "water ghosts" swim to the other side of the river shirtless, bare-chested, with their hair tied around their heads and soft ropes tied to their bodies. The cord is made of linen skin, torn into pieces, tough and soft. Between the two soft ropes are buckled wooden planks, which are used as the base of the simple pontoon, and several ropes are pulled on the left and right sides of the top to serve as a hitch on the pontoon. Of course, this can only be done if everything goes well.

"My lord, it's not good!" Subaode hurried into Arjinga's barracks.

"What's your name, don't you see that I haven't woken up yet?" Arzia sat up in exasperation and scolded Subaod.

"The villain has disturbed the adult, and the little one is really in a hurry.!" Su Baode was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt on the ground to salute.

"What's the matter, tell me quickly!" Aljinga asked nonchalantly.

"My lord, the bandits are fighting。。。。。。 It's called! Su Baode replied in a panic.

"What? The bandits really ate the gall of the leopard, and they dared to attack? You read that right? "Al Jinga couldn't believe it, the Taiping army didn't take their own team into account at all.

"Yes, my lord, some of my patrol men found their men pulling ropes and preparing to build a pontoon bridge. Please also give the order to attack quickly. There was a little fear in Su Baode's voice, he had never fought such a big battle after all.

"Don't be afraid, you let your men guard the shore with spears, and I will immediately give the order for the artillery and archery teams to attack." Arjinga didn't dare to slack off, immediately put on a black coat, tied a red crown, and walked out of the big tent.

Xiao Chaogui and the others stood on the shore, anxiously watching the development of the battle situation at the Guijiang ferry. If all goes well, Luo Xuan's team will be able to pull up more than a dozen improvised pontoon bridges, and as long as he is given another stick of incense, Li Kaifang's vanguard can cross the river.

"Why is this Luo outline's movement so slow, when will this pontoon bridge be erected?" Li Kaifang is extremely anxious at the moment, time is of the essence, and the key to the success of this operation is the word "fast", and the Qing army is taken by surprise. In order to prevent the Qing army from discovering, Li Kaifang's team all lay prone on the shore and waited for his orders.

"The outline has done its best, so the cold river water is hard to pass, it will take some time, you wait." Xiao Chaogui comforted, in fact, he was more anxious, he actually didn't have a trace of confidence in his heart about this sneak attack, this was no way, he could only hope for God's blessing.

"Strategist, look! There are two pontoon bridges! Lin Fengxiang's eyes were sharp, and he cheered excitedly.

Li Kaifang didn't wait for an order, and immediately set off to run to the shore and command the team to attack.

"Wait! Something is wrong。。。。。。 Xiao Chaogui froze down, looked carefully and looked at it, and felt that the Qing army on the other side had already moved, and their team seemed to have discovered the action of the outline.

But at this time, Li Kaifang had already walked away, and the Taiping army did not wait for all the pontoon bridges to be built, and dozens of people in front had already begun to cross the river from the two pontoon bridges.

The pontoon bridge was so simple that people walked unsteadily on the planks, and although there were ropes on both sides to help, a few people could not grasp their balance and fell into the water. At this time, if you can't fall into the water in this river, if you can't water, you must be dead.

"Give me arrows! Fast! "Arjinga has already organized the Qing army, and the archers lined up to guard the high places on the shore, condescending to shoot at the Taiping troops on the pontoon bridge.

The Taiping troops who were still crossing the river on the pontoon bridge could not dodge at all, many people were hit by arrows and fell into the river, and many people were forced to jump down the river in order to avoid bows and arrows. The Taiping army's offensive stalled in an instant, and the casualties were not small.

"Fire! Hurry up! Arjinga gave another order to the artillery team, and the artillery of the Qing army roared, the muzzle of the cannon was facing the pontoon, and the shells fell densely on the side of the pontoon. The accuracy of the artillery of the Qing army was not very high, and dozens of cannons were fired without a single shot, but the splashing river washed away some of the wooden planks in the middle of the pontoon bridge, and the huge impact force lifted off part of the Taiping army off the pontoon bridge.

Al Jing'a looked proudly at his "masterpiece" on the Guijiang River, the Taiping army had collapsed and was in chaos.

"My lord, there are people building pontoons under them!" Su Baode pointed to the Taiping army under the water on the shore, who used a hollow reed to bite into their mouths for ventilation.

"Gun team, come here, put a gun at the bubbling place!" Al Jing'a smiled coldly, thinking to himself that the Taiping Army would dare to deceive me right now? Let you taste my awesomeness.

The carrying gun is a kind of heavy bird gun unique to the Qing court, which is about 1 zhang long and weighs more than 30 catties. Its structure is exactly the same as that of ordinary shotguns, but the charge, range and lethality are far greater than those of shotguns. Due to the length of the gun, it must be fired by two people, one person acting as a gun carriage in front, resting the gun on the shoulder, and the other aiming and firing.

"Woohoo!" The bullets of the gun whistled into the water, and after a while, a pool of red rose under the water, which was the blood of the soldiers of the Taiping Army. After a few rounds of shooting, the river on the bank was completely stained red with blood, and more and more Taiping corpses were washed onto the sand by the river.

Of the hundreds of Taiping soldiers who participated in crossing the river, only twenty or thirty arrived at the shore of the Qing army, some of them came from the pontoon bridge, and some of them fell into the water and were washed by the river. Some people have weapons in their hands, and some people don't have weapons in their hands. Led by a standard-bearer, they fought against a thousand of Subaode's regiments.

The tall and sturdy standard-bearer held the flag of the Taiping Army, and the others gathered around him, fighting to the death on the sand on the shore. The fall of a Taiping army was exchanged for the death of more regimental soldiers, and Su Baode, who was standing behind the command, was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, feeling that he had lost face in front of Arjinga. But no matter how he shouted, the regimental members who had suffered a loss just didn't want to come forward to die, but just surrounded them with spears and didn't move.

"Su Baode, what's the matter with you? Can't you eat this person? Arjinga also came, and his tone was very unkind.

"My lord, I want to persuade you to surrender, you wait a moment." Su Baode really couldn't find any excuse, so he could only use this method to stabilize Arjinga first.

Su Baode walked to the front of the battle under the protection of more than a dozen family members, and he shouted milkily: "Longhaired people, you have no way to escape, surrender to avoid death, and if you want to live and drop your weapons and come over, we will not be embarrassed!" ”

At this time, the Taiping army on the shore had fought to the limit, almost everyone was wounded, and blood flowed out from the wounds that they knew and did not know, and it was sprinkled on the sand.

"Brethren! Those who are willing to shed their last blood for the kingdom of heaven stand by my side. If you want to live, just go, I don't feel bad. The standard-bearer still clutched the flag, which was already blood-red, and his right thigh had been drilled by a spear, and he stood with all his might.

None of the more than 20 Taiping soldiers walked over, and all of them gathered around the standard-bearer. Some of them supported each other, some limped on one leg in the sand, and some couldn't walk and crawled over with both hands on the sand. In the end, everyone gathered in one place, back to back, shoulder to shoulder, and looked coldly at Su Baode in front of them.

"It's all good, brothers, let's live and die together!" The standard-bearer raised the flag and shouted with tears in his eyes.

"Live and die together!"

"Live and die together!"

"Live and die together!"

。。。。。。 All the remaining Taiping soldiers shouted together.

"Hear me, demons! That's our answer to you! The big standard-bearer looked at Su Baode contemptuously and shouted categorically.

"Stubborn, stubborn, hopeless!" Su Baode was so angry that the fat on his face trembled.

"Gun team, let me go!" Arzel also noticed the situation on Subaode's side and knew that he had failed to persuade him to surrender.

After a burst of gunfire, the standard-bearer and his brethren finally fell, and they fulfilled their promise and shed their last blood for the kingdom of heaven, except for the banner that remained in the sand until the end.

"Master Xiao, let me lead someone to rush again!" Lin Fengxiang couldn't bear such a tragic situation, and ran over to ask for battle.

At this time, Xiao Chaogui was trembling all over, and he tried his best to calm himself down, "Withdraw all for me, withdraw all of them!" No one is allowed to attack without my orders. ”

In this battle, the Taiping army lost more than 300 brothers, and fortunately, Li Kaifang, who fell into the water, was rescued by Luo Xuan and others and picked up a life.

Until noon, Xiao Chaogui didn't say a word, and he stayed alone in the barracks and still restrained his excitement.

"Xiao Junshi, someone is looking for you. I found it while patrolling outside the camp, so I'll bring it to you. A voice shouted outside the door.

"No, I don't see anyone." Xiao Chaogui replied impatiently.

"It's better to meet him, and I heard this man say that he has something urgent to bring to you." Yang Xiaoshan walked in with a person who looked like a villager.

"Didn't I say I didn't see anyone!" Xiao Chaogui was just about to get angry, but when he saw that it was Yang Xiaoshan who came in, he held back the words in his mouth, "What are the words?" ”

The villager-looking person said one by one, and Xiao Chaogui and Yang Xiaoshan showed surprise on their faces at the same time after hearing this.

"Is it really Lao Huang who asked you to talk?" Xiao Chaogui really couldn't believe it for a while.

"Yes, this is his plaster, saying that you can tell the truth at a glance." The visitor handed over a plaster, which looked no different from an ordinary dog skin plaster.

Xiao Chaogui took it in his hand, looked at it carefully, put it under his nose and sniffed it, and finally put his mind at ease, "That's right, it's Lao Huang's plaster." This brother, you are now resting in the camp for a while, and I will leave with you when I have arranged the military affairs. ”

"Xiaoshan, this matter must not leak the slightest rumor, only you can know!" Xiao Chaogui turned around again and told Yang Xiaoshan.

"Okay, don't worry, I promise." Yang Xiaoshan also knew that the stakes were high, and immediately replied.

Xiao Chaogui asked Yang Xiaoshan to find Li Kaifang, Lin Fengxiang and Luo Xuan to come over for a meeting.

"What? Two days later at this time, you are going to storm at this time? This is absolutely not a no-go! Li Kaifang didn't care about the injuries on his body, and was the first to jump out to object.

"Xiao Junshi, you still advised me not to get excited, why are you so impulsive?" Lin Fengxiang also shook his head in disagreement.

"I don't approve of it either, everyone has seen today's battle, we can't sacrifice the lives of our brothers in vain." Luo Xuan, who has few objections, expressed his opposition this time.

"Needless to say, I have something important to leave, and I want to take two small sampans with me. The military affairs of the former army are temporarily taken over by Xiaoshan, I know if you have any doubts, but this is a secret, no one is allowed to inquire, this is a military order! Violators will be killed! Xiao Chaogui was very serious and ordered word by word.

Li Kaifang and the others walked out of the barracks full of suspicions, and everyone had incomprehensible expressions. Xiao Chaogui left the barracks with two small sampans, a dozen guards, and the villager who came to report the news.