After receiving the emperor's decree, Xiang Rong, the veteran general of Hunan Governor, was reappointed as the Governor of Guangxi, and he quickly completed the military affairs and led the army from Hunan to Guangxi, and was the first to go to the forefront of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Zhou Fengqi, the general soldier of Xunzhou City, thought that the imperial court would want his head, so he took off his court clothes, took off his top flower, wore white clothes, tied his hands behind his back, and went to Rongying to ask for guilt.

Xiang Rong's camp was set up outside Xunzhou City, the camp was firmly entrenched, and the drainage ditch was dug very deeply. There was no noise in the camp of 6,000 people, and the patrolmen looked serious and did not say a word, but only scanned the surroundings with vigilant eyes, and saw that only the old troops who had been on the battlefield for a long time had such strict discipline.

Zhou Fengqi followed the guards of the Admiral all the way, watching as he walked. When he saw all this, he was even more in awe, a famous general is a famous general, much stronger than his own soldiers.

"The criminal Zhou Fengqi asked the old general to say goodbye, the criminal knows that his crime is unforgivable, and he will not escape death, and please ask the old general for the sake of our colleagues, please don't embarrass my family."

"Get up, Mr. Zhou. The emperor is indeed ready to give you a piece of white silk, but I ask the emperor to give you a chance to make meritorious contributions, so your head can still be hung around your neck. Although Xiang Rong didn't think much of Zhou Fengqi, after all, he was a local, and he was familiar with all the connections here. When he first came to Guangxi, he also needed Zhou Fengqi's support. What's more, Zhou Fengqi is the only high-ranking general who has fought against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and only by knowing himself and his opponent can he win a hundred battles, and it is somewhat useful to leave him alive.

"Thank you, Admiral, thank you, Admiral." Zhou Fengqi breathed a sigh of relief, his body was a little weak, as if he had walked in hell, kowtowing like pounding garlic.

"Don't thank you first, let's talk ugly things ahead, your head is only temporarily stored in yours, if you dare to leave the team and run away again, not only will your life be lost, but your whole family will be sent to Ningguta to be enslaved by the armored people!" Xiang Rong gave a piece of candy first, and then a slap, one hand is soft and the other is hard, and he is very good at controlling people.

"The sinner will never dare, will never dare." Zhou Fengqi kowtowed again and again and assured that no matter what, this life was saved.

"Don't hurry up and loosen the ties to General Zhou Bing." Xiang Rong instructed his subordinates.

"Get up, and tell me about the last time you fought them." Xiang Rong turned his head to Zhou Fengqi again and said that he was eager to know the situation in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Zhou Fengqi recounted the last battle in 1510, of course, saying that there was an exaggeration in the Taiping army, otherwise how could he reduce his charge of fearing the enemy?

"Old general, it's not that the guilty ministers are cowardly, it's that they are ready to cut off my retreat. If I don't run again, the whole army will be destroyed. Zhou Fengqi didn't know where the tears came from, and she cried bitterly.

Xiang Rong secretly laughed at his stupidity in his heart, the military law has a cloud of "ten rules to surround it", and only ten times the number of people on the other side can the other party be tightly wrapped. Even if this Taiping army surrounds you, it is only three times your number, it is impossible to have no weak points, as long as you gather the team to find a place to break through, it is not difficult to exhaust the three armies to death, and the two thousand Qing soldiers will be lost in the hands of this fool.

Of course, Xiang Rong still wants to use him, so he doesn't break it, "You just said that they broke your formation with a fire can?" ”

"Yes, the criminals never expected them to use this trick." Zhou Fengqi said aggrievedly.

"These bandits still seem to be very smart, and they can still come up with this trick." Xiang Rong was very excited, he realized that this Taiping army was different from the anti-thieves he had fought before, these people were not only basically already in the army, but also very cunning. It seems that it will take some thought and time this time. The old general has been suppressing bandits all his life, he is not afraid of a strong opponent, he is afraid that the opponent is weak, and it will be meaningless to shoot to death.

"The criminal minister has also investigated, and Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the bandits, is especially good at bewitching the public, so his team is often not afraid of death, and the Admiral must be careful this time." Zhou Fengqi said flatteringly.

Xiang Rong frowned slightly, religious thieves are often indeed easily bewitched, and he had also learned the power of fanatical believers when he suppressed the traitors of the Tianli Sect earlier, but even so, in the end, he was not destroyed by himself.

"Where are they now?" Xiang Rong has a great desire to attack, he is very confident in himself, this time he came to Guangxi quickly, just didn't want the Manchurian Governor Urtai to divide the labor with him, and he could completely exterminate this gang of bandits by himself.

"In the area of Steak Ridge north of Guiping County." Zhou Zongbing replied that he was most afraid that the Taiping army would attack his city, so he arranged a large number of probe horses on the periphery to monitor the movements of the Taiping army at all times.

"It's not far from here." Xiang Rong secretly rejoiced, fortunately he came early, if Xunzhou City was captured, his 6,000 people estimated that it was unlikely to besiege Xunzhou, and he could only wait for the other brother troops to arrive.

"Early tomorrow morning, you and Qin Dingsan, the chief soldier of Qin, will go to Steak Ridge with me." Xiang Rong is full of fighting spirit, and he can't wait to exterminate this gang of bandits immediately and monopolize the great work of counterinsurgency.

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The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also heard that Xiang Rong, the new governor of Guangxi sent by the imperial court, had arrived in Xunzhou, and Yang Xiuqing convened various senior generals to hold a meeting together to study and discuss the next countermeasures of the Taiping army.

"The little emperor of the Qing court has finally sensed our threat and has sent people to encircle and suppress us, and our current opponent is Xiang Rong, the governor of Guangxi." Yang Xiuqing has realized that the situation in Guangxi has changed, and the opponent is no longer the vulnerable garrison troops of the province, but the elite soldiers and strong generals transferred from other provinces.

"This Xiang Rong is really not easy to fight, and it is difficult for our Tanma to get close to their military camp, this is a hard bone that is not easy to gnaw." Wei Changhui said with a frown.

"According to the information provided by the brothers of the Heaven and Earth Society, this old thief Xiang Rong not only defeated the rebel army of the Heaven and Earth Society in Xinning, Hunan, but also captured Li Yuankai, the leader of the rebel army, and is indeed an opponent that should not be underestimated." Shi Dakai also said.

"Otherwise, let's retreat to Bauhinia Mountain to avoid its edge first, and then fight with it when we find out the details. Wouldn't that be safer? Feng Yunshan was more stable, thought about it and suggested.

Yang Xiuqing didn't speak, he looked at the generals who came to see the meeting, and felt that everyone seemed to have a sense of fear, which was not a good sign for timidity before the war started.

"This is a letter of surrender issued to us by the new Guangxi Governor Xiang Rong, and we are limited to reply within three days." Yang Xiuqing suddenly took out a surrender document and slapped it on the table, and said to everyone.

"Go to his grandmother's surrender letter, fight with them, and let them taste grandpa's awesomeness!" Xiao Chaogui said angrily.

"Surrender? No way! "Everyone is full of emotion, this is a naked insult.

"Never surrender, fight with them! Let's see who's afraid of whom! For a while, everyone in the camp showed a strong fighting spirit.

"Let me slaughter the messenger boy first, and take it to the flag!" Xiao Chaogui grabbed the surrender post and shouted that he was going to rush out and kill someone.

"Chaogui, wait a minute, the two countries will not fight each other." Yang Xiuqing hurriedly stopped him, turned back to his subordinates and said, "Pass my order, let someone bring a message to Xiang Rong, and ask him to fight in Steak Ridge tomorrow morning!" ”

Steak Ridge, the two armies confronted each other, and a big battle was about to break out.