Xiao Chaogui led 4,000 heavenly soldiers to chase and kill all the way, and the villagers in Xunzhou were powerless to resist at all, except for a few stubborn resistance that were eliminated, most of the others surrendered. The heavenly soldiers are cleaning the battlefield, and there is a large amount of food and baggage from the Qing court here.

"Brother Xiao, look, two big fish." Li Kaifang excitedly held up the two red tops, "This one belongs to the prefect of Xunzhou, and this one belongs to the minister of the Qing court." ”

"Didn't catch anything alive?" Xiao Chaogui complained.

"Their guards resisted too fiercely, and they injured several of our brothers, so everyone was angry, so they surrounded them and stabbed them with spears, and as a result, all these demons were stabbed to death." Li Kaifang muttered.

"Forget it, death is death. What did Zhaojiazhai say, let's go in and rest? Xiao Chaogui pointed to the Zhao family village in front of him.

"I was about to tell you about this, then Zhao Deyang, the patriarch of Zhaojiazhai, wants to see you." Li Kaifang replied.

"Oh? Let's go over and have a look. Xiao Chaogui rode a horse and walked in front, and the guards followed behind with handsome flags.

The door of Zhaojiazhai was still closed, and the old man Zhao stood on the wall, very nervous. He wiped the sweat from his head, glad that he didn't let Li Qin's party in just now, there were so many Taiping troops densely packed outside the gate of this village, if they were put in, their own people would become Li Qin's funeral.

"Master Zhao, what's the matter? The sun is so poisonous that you don't want to let us in and enjoy the shade? Xiao Chaogui pulled the reins and parked the horse in front of Zhaojiazhai.

"It's Xiao Tianjiang, don't make fun of the little old man. Our village is so small, thousands of people like you come in, and our village can't fit it. Old man Zhao saw the word Xiao on Xiao Chaogui's handsome banner, "Little Lao'er is definitely not resisting the Heavenly Army, Xiao Lao'er has prepared a thousand taels of silver, which can be regarded as filial piety to all the soldiers of the Heavenly Army." So saying, he commanded the people on the wall to hang down a large chest of silver with a rope, and filled ten large chests, each of which contained a hundred taels of silver.

"That's it?" Xiao Chaogui didn't blink, and his tone was cold.

Old man Zhao paused, thinking that this Heavenly Army's appetite was really big, so he could only grit his teeth and said with a smile: "Of course, Xiao Lao'er also prepared five cows, ten pigs, and a hundred chickens to reward the soldiers of the Heavenly Army." "This time he really made a bloody effort, and the coffin cost was thrown out. Then he commanded his people to hang the cows, pigs, and chickens down.

His grandson next to him was a little distressed, and complained: "Grandpa, we only give Master Qincha dozens of steamed buns, so many things for this gang of bandits?" Our old books are all pasted in, what are we going to do for the New Year this year? ”

Old man Zhao immediately pulled down his face and knocked his head with his hand, "Be quiet, don't you know, how many big families around Guiping County have been raided by them?" Do you want money or death? This is all money to buy lives, I have inquired, as long as the money is spent, these people will not be embarrassed, and their words still count. ”

Xiao Chaogui asked the guards to accept the silver, and all the other cattle, pigs and chickens were killed and eaten meat. In fact, he didn't care how much silver he had, the ambush had been really hard these days, and it was even more important to give the brothers a big meal, and the silver could not be eaten, and any amount of money had to be handed over to the holy treasury.

The Taiping army enjoyed the delicious food sent by Zhaojiazhai, and the poor could only open meat during the Chinese New Year, and some poorer people had not even tasted meat for several years. Everyone ate happily, and many people felt that it was really worth it to enter the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and there was meat to eat without much effort in this battle, so it was really head-to-go.

Xiao Chaogui didn't eat with everyone, he stood at the gate of the camp, anxiously waiting. A spy rode back to the camp.

"How's it going, is there any news?" Xiao Chaogui didn't wait for the spies to get off the horse, and hurriedly asked.

"Lord General, Xiang Rong's troops did not come to the rescue. I kept watch for several days at the bridge of the road they had to pass, but I did not find any movement, and I rode ten miles in their direction, but I did not find their figures, so I hurried back and reported to the commander. The spies hurriedly dismounted to report the military situation.

"It seems that this old thief did not fall for it, and the pressure on Xuanjiao's sister will be very great this time." Xiao Chaogui sorted out his thoughts.

"Pass my order, everyone will march to Dongling immediately after eating, there must be no mistake." Xiao Chaogui turned his head and ordered the herald, his tone was very resolute.

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Sanliqiao, Yang Xiuqing received a letter from Xiao Chaogui, both happy and a little worried. Happily, the two high-ranking officials of the Qing court were killed, and the goal of this battle has been successfully completed. The worry is that Xiang Rong has not been fooled, and this Dongling is afraid that it will be attacked. Fortunately, he ordered Hong Xuanjiao to bring a thousand reinforcements in advance, as long as there are no accidents, Xiang Rong should not take any advantage. At this time, Yang Xiuqing didn't know that something had happened to Dongling, but he was naturally keen, and he was faintly worried.

"Tonight we will withdraw from the Three Mile River to Jintian." Xiao Chaogui thought about it, for the sake of insurance, even if Dongling was broken through, as long as his team returned, Xiang Rong would not be able to make any tricks.

"So early? Before you go, why don't you do something with this Ulantai? Wei Changhui on the side was a little unwilling, and the team went back without fighting.

"We only have six thousand men here, and to attack him we have to wade through water, and crossing the river is an open field, which is not good for our infantry, but his cavalry will have the advantage. We will suffer a loss if we take the initiative to attack, not to mention that the 4,000 infantry of Ulantai will arrive in two days, and we are in danger of being flanked. The goal of this battle has been achieved, and it will be accepted when it is good. Yang Xiuqing's thinking is as precise as chess.

In the Sanli River, the moon slowly set, the sun gradually rose, and the war horses of the Qing soldiers began to neigh, as if to remind them to eat forage. The Taiping camp on the other side seemed to be particularly quiet, without a trace of noise. The lanterns hanging on the walls of the camp were still lit, but not a single person standing guard outside the camp was nowhere to be seen.

"What, the bandits have run away?" Ulantai received a report from the outside, all the sleepiness woke up, he hurriedly put on his clothes, ran to the river, and looked at the Taiping army camp, and sure enough, as the report said, it was not bad at all.

Ulantai's heart began to furious, he felt that something was wrong, would he fall for the tricks of these bandits. The more he thought about it, the more chilled he became, scratching his ears and cheeks, and fidgeting.

"Lord Totong, something is wrong!" It was a messenger from Xunzhou.

"What's the matter?" The more he was afraid of something, the more he came, and Ulantai vaguely felt that his guess was correct.

"Lord Li sent by the imperial court and Lord Zhang, the prefect of Xunzhou, were ambushed by bandits on the way to the rescue, and both adults were martyred." The messenger knelt down with a weeping voice and reported.

"Oops!" Ulantai was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, he was played by the bandits as a monkey, and the bandits used themselves to set a trap for the Qincha, but in fact, their target was not themselves at all, but the Qincha in Xunzhou.

The imperial court in charge of Guangxi's military affairs returned to heaven a few days before taking office, and Ulantai also had a numb scalp, how to explain this to the imperial court, I can't explain it.

"Go back to Xunzhou first and think about it in the long run." Ulantai couldn't think of any good way, so he could only take one step at a time.