Before the war, when the battle plan was being formulated, Ma Wanchun and Bai Yanhu quarreled.

Bai Yanhu insisted on holding on to the fort, and at the same time sent rangers to attack the grain roads in the rear of the official army. Ma Hualong has strong financial resources and has been operating for a long time, and Jinji Fort and the surrounding forts are far taller and stronger than the forts in Shaanxi, and should be able to support them for a longer time under the fierce artillery fire of the official army. If the grain route is not smooth, after a long time, there will be no way to continue, and they will be forced to retreat, and the siege of Jinjibao can be relieved.

Ma Wanchun was unimpressed.

Judging from the battle situation in the north, the officers and soldiers are nothing more than that! Before, Shaanxi replied to all kinds of rhetoric, blowing the official army, especially the Xuan army, as if the heavens were going down to earth, obviously exaggerating and exaggerating, to put it bluntly, he was looking for an excuse for his own inusefulness!

He decided to open a fort to meet the enemy, face each other head-on, and give the officers and troops a "head-on blow"; Moreover, he asked Bai Yanhu, Yu Deyan and other Shaanxi to be the vanguard for him.

Bai Yanhu was in a hurry, saying that fighting well in the north was the result of avoiding the enemy's edge and disturbing the enemy's rear road, how could you do the opposite? If you do this, the city of hope will not be saved! As soon as the city of hope is lost, Heichengzi and Li Wangbao will also be lost, and the southern portal of Jinji Fort will be opened!

Ma Wanchun sneered and said: "If you are afraid of death, just say it!" What's the use of talking about what you have and don't? ”

Bai Yanhu was so angry that he couldn't help but touch the hilt of the knife.

Seeing that it was not a problem, Yu Deyan hurriedly stood up to play a round, saying that he was willing to lead the team to play the vanguard and fight head-on, with Bai Yanhu leading the rest of Shaanxi back to attack and harass the official army from the flank.

Ma Wanchun's hand was also pressed on the handle of the knife, and he squinted at the two of them for a long time. Finally let go of the hand. He snorted heavily. "That's it—that's it." ”

Yu Deyan has the heart of death, his idea is to exchange his life for Bai Yanhu to bring most of the Shaanxi vitality out of the city of Hope, if the battle situation is unfavorable, he will not return to Jinji Fort - this life under the fence can't be lived!

As for where to go after leaving Jinji Fort, it depends on the situation. Try going southwest. Let's see if we can meet with the Ma Zhanao Department of Hezhou and Didao. If you can't get through, you have to go all the way west, through the entire Hexi Corridor, to meet the Ma Wenlu Department in Suzhou.

That night, Yu and Bai had made a decision, and they held hands and said goodbye in tears.

The next day, the officers and troops approached the city of Forehope, and reported to Zuo Dashuai: return to the bandits to open the gate of the fort and wait in formation.

At the beginning of the year, Zuo Zongtang, Zhan Donglu, Lei Zhengwan, and Tao Maolin were several. I thought I had heard it wrong. The generals surrounded the marshal, and went out of the tent to climb a small dirt slope. Looking into the distance, sure enough, in front of the city, there was a large area of black pressing.

I can see it more clearly in the clairvoyant mirror: the bandits are densely packed, although they are not very neat, but they are indeed "waiting in array".

Is this what kind of medicine was taken?

Regardless of whether the bandits have taken medicine or not, since it has been sent to the door, there is no need to be polite.

The artillery battalion of the Xuan army was lined up, and the twelve-pounder Napoleonic cannon roared angrily.

The solid bullet broke through the thick white smoke, dragging one long gray trail after another, falling into the crowd opposite, plowing one after another bloody "road".

In order to resist the guns and cannons of the officers and soldiers, the Hui bandits had prepared dozens of "big shields" in advance: three or four layers of wet cotton quilts were stacked on top of each other, covered with door panels, wrapped in several layers of cowhide, erected on two-wheeled carts, and pushed at the forefront of the ranks -- however, this kind of "big shield" that could effectively resist the earthen guns and artillery was useless against the foreign cannons of the officers and soldiers!

A cannon hit a "big shield" head-on, "the big shield" immediately split apart, the cannon passed through the shattered "big shield", the speed seemed to be unaffected, the back of the cart after the "big shield" was cut into two pieces, the cannon landed, jumped all the way and rolled forward, and three more backs were taken by it, one was torn off an arm, one was torn off a leg, and one fell to the ground, after the cannon rolled, the head was gone.

The bandits in the formation had just started, and in less than a pillar of incense, they completely collapsed before they could launch a formal charge.

The officers and soldiers shouted and attacked.

The bandits who were arrayed outside the city scattered and fled, and most of them did not have time to withdraw to the fort; The defenders watching the battle on the walled wall were discouraged by the stumps and wails everywhere, and they looked forward to the battle of the city.

Yu Deyan was killed in battle, and Ma Wanchun desperately fought his way out of the encirclement and fled back to Jinji Fort.

The officers and troops continued to advance without stopping, and after looking at the city, Heichengzi and Li Wangbao were taken down without much effort, and it was almost "determined by the rumors" -- it was completely expected by Bai Yanhu.

Before Bai Yanhu could "flank and harass" the official army, Ma Wanchun was defeated. Bai Yanhu sent someone to secretly go around the battlefield of Prospect City, but he couldn't find Yu Deyan's body, he sighed, shed tears, and then turned west with hatred.

The gateway to the south of the castle opened.

The officers and troops were unforgiving, and an infantry regiment of the Zhandong Lu Department attacked and occupied the mouth of the gorge, and a large encirclement situation was formed in which the Central Route Army and the Northern Route Army attacked the north and south of Jinji Fort.

The situation took a turn for the worse, and Ma Hualong panicked.

In particular, the two key points of Yongning Cave and the mouth of the gorge fell into the hands of the officials and soldiers one after another, and Ma Hualong immediately felt that one big hand was in the east and the other in the west, and at the same time he was pinched, and his neck was choked -- not to mention anything else, the officers and soldiers were happy, and they could open the sluice gates and release water at any time.

Zhan Donglu's judgment was right: before the war, Ma Hualong did not fully realize the strategic value of the gorge and Yongningdong, and was not strictly prepared, but was easily captured by the official army one after another.

However, now that Ma Hualong has woken up, he can see clearly: to break the encirclement of the official army, the first important thing is to recapture the gorge and Yongning Cave.

The mouth of the gorge is the water inlet, and Ma Hualong decided to hit the mouth of the gorge first.

In view of the loss of the city of forehope, he clearly realized that his firepower was far inferior to the official army, and the strongest Xuan army in the official army was guarding the mouth of the gorge.

After all, the Hui bandits are landlords, and their familiarity with topography and hydrology is their greatest advantage.

Jinjibao is located east of the Yellow River, and Ma Hualong sent a group of elites to cross the Yellow River a few miles north of Jinjibao. After arriving at the west bank, it quietly moved to the opposite position of the river at the mouth of the gorge. After nightfall, under the cover of night, the group of returning bandits took a sheepskin raft and quietly crossed the river to the east.

I went ashore and hurried all the way to the mouth of the gorge.

The leader of the team gave an order, and all the bandits roared in unison and pounced on them with a roar.

At this time, most of the defenders at the mouth of the gorge were asleep.

*(To be continued......)