Just after noon on the second day of the second day when the striker quickly took the Gushan Station, the main force of the Wu army of more than 10,000 people was also led by Hu Huaizhao and successfully arrived at this precipitous choke point, thus completely grasping the initiative of the Jinan battlefield, and could take the official road to attack the Acropolis of Jinan, Changqing City, take Changqing as an advance base to attack Jinan, or confront the Qing army in Jinan for a long time; You can also take the not too difficult path of fried rice shops to attack Jinan directly, and try to directly take the last provincial capital controlled by the Manchu court on the North China Plain.

It was also a coincidence that when Zhang Yinqing left the temporary camp of the Wu army with Hu Huaizhao's letter of persuasion, the first snow after the winter fell on the land of Shandong, although the snowflakes were not very big, but they were also fluttering, fluttering and sprinkling, and in a short time the earth was dyed into a plain white, the air became fog, the dripping water became ice, and even the flat official road gradually became a little slippery and difficult to walk.

Although the battlefield experience is not as rich as that of my father, seeing such weather suddenly come, Zhang Yinqing, who is still very loyal to the Manchu court, still can't help but secretly rejoice in his heart, knowing that such weather will only be unfavorable to the Wu army, which is dominated by southerners, and it is even more unfavorable for the Wu army to transport grain north through the mountain road of Zhangxiazhen to supply the front-line battlefield, and understand that as long as the Qing army on the Jinan battlefield resists the Wu army for a period of time and does not give the Wu army the opportunity to quickly take Jinan or Changqing to gain a foothold, then it will not take much time. The Wu army, which advanced alone, could only obediently get out of the Jinan battlefield, and the Shandong Qing army could also successfully survive the sudden death of the big boss Luo Bingzhang.

"God is also on our side, Shandong is still saved, and the Qing Dynasty must also be saved."

Loyalty and optimism did not change the fate that Zhang Yinqing would inevitably face next, after being escorted to the suburbs of Changqing by the Wu army cavalry and released, before five minutes passed, Zhang Yinqing was surrounded by the patrols of the Changqing Qing army, and it did not have any effect to immediately show his identity.

Fortunately, Changqing guard Detong not only knew Zhang Guoliang, but also knew Zhang Yinqing, a junior, very familiar, so even if he came to meet Detong as a prisoner of Wu Jun and delivered a letter of persuasion for Wu Jun, Zhang Yinqing was not mistreated and troubled, and was escorted by Detong to Jinan City, thirty miles to the east, as soon as possible, so that Zhang Yinqing could see Bao Jun, who had just arrived in Shandong, and Fu Zhenbang, who had been friends with Zhang Guoliang.

The days are short in winter, and when he entered the city of Jinan, it was already dark, but Zhang Yinqing didn't even have a chance to eat, and was immediately escorted to Baojun and Fu Zhenbang and others for interrogation, Zhang Yinqing did not dare to have anything to hide, and immediately told Zhang Guoliang's army before and after the fiasco, and calmly admitted that he was ordered by his father to take the initiative to lay down his arms and surrender, and said that Zhang Guoliang tried to commit suicide and martyrdom. Fu Zhenbang, who is a sibling to Zhang Guoliang, also wiped the corners of his eyes, choked up and sighed, "Palaceman, you are for your son, you were captured by the thieves for your son." Otherwise, with your temper, how could you be a prisoner of Wu thief? How could he be a prisoner of Wu's rebel army? ”

Unlike Fu Zhenbang, who was hurt from the bottom of his heart, Baojun and Rong Lu and others were more concerned about the specific situation of Wu Jun's partial division, and roughly understood the destruction of Zhang Guoliang's army, Rong Lu couldn't wait to ask Zhang Yinqing, who was still crying: "Major General, since you have already fought with the Wu Rebel Thief Army, and you came with the Wu Rebel Thief Army, how much do you know about the specific situation of the Wu Rebel Thief Army?" Please tell me everything you know, the more detailed the better. ”

"Lord Rong, Yin Qing is still only a half-old child, let him calm down, okay?" Fu Zhenbang's tone was full of dissatisfaction, and said: "The palace minister is to leave a chance for Yin Qing to live, so he wants Yin Qing to lay down his arms and surrender to the Wu rebel thief army, now that Yin Qing is back, the palace minister is still being held hostage by the thief army, how sad is Yin Qing's heart, can't you think about it for him?" ”

"But General Fu ......?"

"Ahem!"

Rong Lu wanted to argue with Fu Zhenbang, but Bao Jun next to him suddenly coughed, and gave Rong Lu a look, Rong Lu understood that Bao Jun meant that he could only shut up obediently, Fu Zhenbang also turned to continue to comfort Zhang Yinqing, or after Zhang Yinqing's crying stopped for a while, Fu Zhenbang asked again: "Yin Qing, how is he now?" Did the Wu Rebel Thief Army say what to do with him? ”

"My father was seriously injured, but fortunately it was not too dangerous, and it should not be a big problem to save his life." Zhang Yinqing replied truthfully: "The thief army asked my father to surrender to them and serve them, but my father refused, and the thief army did not force my father, but just said that when my father was injured, he would send my father to Wu Chaoyue, who was a traitor." ”

"It's okay, as long as the thief army doesn't poison the minister, there is still hope, we still have hope to find a way to save the minister."

Fu Zhenbang breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately thought of a way to catch a big man in the Wu army and replace Zhang Guoliang, but Rong Lu over there was even more impatient, and immediately asked Zhang Yinqing: "Major General, how much do you know about the situation of the Wu rebel army that came north to Jinan?" Can you tell me more about that? ”

"Lord Rong forgives the sin, the last general doesn't know much about the specific situation of this Wu rebel army." Zhang Yinqing shook his head and said dejectedly: "The last general only knows that there are twenty-two battalions of the Wu rebel thief army this time, of which three or four battalions are all equipped with foreign fast guns, and the others don't know. ”

"Where is the thief's next target?" Rong Lu hurriedly asked again, "Is the thief army planning to fight Changqing first?" Or are you going to take the road of fried rice shop to Jinan? ”

Zhang Yinqing hesitated and didn't dare to answer, and Fu Zhenbang, who loved his nephew next to him, was even more dissatisfied, first glared at Rong Lu again, and then said: "Lord Rong, how could Yin Qing, a prisoner who was captured by the thief army on the battlefield, know such an important matter?" ”

"Then the young general, I will ask you another important question, and I hope you will answer it truthfully." Rong Lu didn't have time to deal with Fu Zhenbang's reproach, but continued to ask: "Why did the thief army send you to Changqing to send a letter of persuasion?" Even if the Wu rebel army didn't want the envoy to take risks, just let an ordinary captive come to deliver the letter, why did they send such an important captive as you? Don't the thieves understand that it is impossible for you to go back when you come? ”

Concerned about Zhang Guoliang's safety, of course Zhang Yinqing didn't dare to answer this question easily, but Fu Zhenbang was furious, and asked loudly: "Lord Rong, why do you care about Wu's rebel thief army to let Yinqing deliver the letter?" Wouldn't it be good for Yin Qing to come back? Do you want the Wu rebel thief army to cut Yin Qing with one sword? ”

"General Fu, you misunderstood." Rong Lu hurriedly defended and said, "Of course I'm very happy that the young general can come back safely, but General Fu, didn't you find that this thing was too wrong?" What can be done by sending one person at random, why did the Wu rebel thief army let such an important prisoner of the major general do it? Could there be any particular reason for this? ”

"The reason is that Yin Qing is a filial son!" Fu Zhenbang said angrily: "The thief army knows that if Yin Qing doesn't care about his father's life or death, and he doesn't go back when he comes, Yin Qing will feel guilty for a lifetime, and he will be infamous as an unfilial son for the rest of his life!" ”

didn't want to repeat the mistake of having a conflict with Fu Zhenbang, Rong Lu could only turn his attention to Bao Jun for help, and Bao Jun was also a little embarrassed, knowing that Rong Lu was reasonable, but he also knew that Fu Zhenbang regarded Zhang Yinqing as more important than his own son, and it was impossible to tolerate others repeatedly forcing Zhang Yinqing, so Bao Jun could only try to slow down his tone, and said to Fu Zhenbang in a low voice: "Weiping, calm down, Zhonghua is also for the important affairs of the court, otherwise, you can ask Yin Qingxian's nephew this question." ”

Fu Zhenbang didn't want to be too disrespectful to Baojun, so he could only clench his fists and agree, and then turned to Zhang Yinqing and asked, "Yinqing, do you know why the thief army sent you to deliver the letter?" ”

Zhang Yinqing's expression reacted greatly beyond Fu Zhenbang's expectations, hearing Fu Zhenbang's question, Zhang Yinqing first had red eyes at the corners, then tears rolled down, and then cried out again, Fu Zhenbang, who loved this nephew from the bottom of his heart, was shocked, and hurriedly asked: "Yinqing, what's wrong?" Why are you crying again? Still crying so sadly? ”

"Uncle, Lord Rong, he guessed correctly, the Wu rebel thief army deliberately let me come back, they want to use me to deceive you, deceive you to expose the flaws in the defense, and give them a chance to ......."

Zhang Yinqing pounced on Fu Zhenbang's knees, kowtowed and cried, carefully introduced Wu Jun's attempt to use himself to carry out the anti-plot before and after, and his suspicion that Wu Jun was using himself to deceive the Qing army, and then cried and pleaded: "Uncle, Baofutai, in fact, I wanted to tell you just now, but I was worried that once the thief army knew about this, it would definitely be unfavorable to my father, so I didn't dare to speak, I didn't dare to say it!" ”

Seeing that Zhang Yinqing said emotionally, of course Fu Zhenbang had already pounced on his beloved nephew, and hugged Zhang Yinqing and cried, but Baojun and Ronglu next to him were surprised and delighted, and couldn't wait to start analyzing and speculating, and then Baojun quickly said: "In this way, the Wu rebel army is planning to deceive us into concentrating our forces in Jinan, giving them the opportunity to easily take Changqing, take Changqing City as a foothold, and then attack Jinan City?" ”

"Judging from the situation introduced by the major general, the thief army should be this purpose, I want us to think that dividing troops to reinforce Changqing will fall into their trap, and we don't dare to put too many troops in Changqing." Rong Lu nodded in agreement, and said: "And the thief army is also in line with the common sense of the soldiers, after taking Changqing City, they can not only use Changqing City as an advance base to continue to attack Jinan, but also rely on Changqing City to confront us for a long time, forcing us to concentrate the main force in Jinan, and create opportunities for them to open up the situation in other battlefields." But....... ”

Analyzing this, Rong Lu was inevitably a little worried, but fortunately, Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Yinqing had already stopped crying under the persuasion of others, Rong Lu hesitated, and still asked Zhang Yinqing tentatively: "Young General, take the liberty of asking more, are you sure that the thief soldiers deliberately let you hear those words?" ”

"Absolutely." Zhang Yinqing replied confidently: "Those two thief soldiers deliberately said next to me, and they spoke very slowly and clearly, deliberately so that I could understand, so I concluded at that time that the thief army was attacking Jinan from the east to the west, and it was true that we did not dare to preemptively strengthen the Changqing defenders and send troops to reinforce Changqing." ”

After that, Zhang Yinqing also took the initiative to say: "Baofutai, uncle, it's not my ambition to grow the thief army, destroy the prestige of our Qing army, the thief army is really powerful in the field, the guns of the foreign fast guns are fast and dense, so that we can't get close at all, the formation is dense, they use fast-firing small foreign cannons and palm thunder bombs, the formation is loose and close to them and has no effect, there is no way to deal with them." Therefore, I think that if we want to strengthen the defense of Changqing City, we must hurry up and send the army into the city before the Wu rebel army surrounds Changqing City, otherwise, we can basically only watch the German general soldiers fight alone. ”

Bao Jun nodded slightly, Fu Zhenbang nodded even more, and immediately turned to Bao Jun and said: "Baofutai, the last general thinks that Changqing should be replenished with four or five battalions as soon as possible, otherwise Changqing may be in danger." Detong only has three battalions of soldiers and horses and more than 2,000 local regimental training, and the equipment is not very good. ”

Trusting the battlefield experience of the old military Fu Zhenbang, Baojun almost didn't hesitate, and was about to say yes while nodding, but fortunately Rong Lu next to him spoke in time and stopped: "Wait, Baofutai, this matter is still strange, and it must be clarified before deciding." ”

Bao Jun, Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Yinqing turned their heads to look at Rong Lu together, but Rong Lu looked a little embarrassed, and hesitated to Zhang Yinqing and said: "Young General, to say something offensive, I am a little worried that you have been tricked by the Wu rebel army and used by the Wu rebel army to further deceive us." ”

"I was tricked by the Wu rebel thief army?" Zhang Yinqing was stunned and said, "Lord Rong, how did the last general be tricked by the Wu rebel army?" How could it be used by the Wu Rebel Thief Army to further deceive you? ”

"The Wu rebel thief army deliberately let you see through their counter-plots, let you mislead us for them, and let us decide that their voices are false, and the real fight is true." Rong Lu said word by word: "Then as long as we are fooled, send reinforcements into Changqing in advance to help defend the city, and weaken the defenders of Jinan Province by ourselves, the Wu rebel army will highlight the strange soldiers and really come to fight Jinan!" Completely kill us by surprise! ”

Zhang Yinqing's heart jumped, and only then did he realize that he might still be in the trap of the Wu army, and was used by the Wu army to mislead the Qing army. But fortunately, Fu Zhenbang next to him immediately spoke up and asked, "Lord Rong, what you said is that there is this possibility, but what about the evidence?" Do you have any evidence that your analysis is correct? ”

"I have no proof." Rong Lu shook his head and admitted calmly: "I just suspect, but I have no evidence. ”

"Then why do you insist that Yin Qing was tricked by Wu's rebel army?" Fu Zhenbang, who loved his nephew, sneered loudly and asked: "If Yin Qing's analysis is correct, the Wu rebel thief army really went all out to fight Changqing, but we didn't save Changqing when he saw death?" What about Changqing City? Is it to give it to the Wu rebel army? ”

"General Fu, I just suspect that the young general was tricked by Wu thieves, but I didn't say that he was treated as a fool by Wu's rebel thief army!" Rong Lu gradually became angry, and said angrily: "And even if General Zhang Shao guesses correctly, what? No matter how important Changqing is, can it be half as important as Jinan? How could it be that for the sake of a peripheral acropolis to weaken the defense of the provincial capital of Jinan, troops were transferred from Jinan to save Changqing early? ”

"It's paper again." Fu Zhenbang laughed even more sarcastically, and said, "Lord Rong, can you go to the battlefield a few more times and then come to guide the country?" Changqing is not important? Do you know that once the Wu rebel thief army takes Changqing, it will immediately advance and retreat on the battlefield in Jinan, and take the initiative more? At that time, if they are willing, they can come to fight at any time to defend the provincial capital of Jinan, or they can spend this winter in Changqing Mao, and when the spring flowers bloom in the spring of the next year, the grain, grass and ammunition are hoarded, and the reinforcements are also in place, and then when the Wu rebel thief army comes to fight the provincial capital of Jinan, how can Jinan be defended? How can you keep it? ”

"General Fu, I didn't say that Changqing is not important." Rong Lu was also a little unbearable, and said angrily: "Changqing is very important, but we can't weaken the defense of the provincial capital for Changqing, we have other ways to deal with Changqing!" We can completely not make any adjustments, just like we did with Changmao back then, as long as Changqing can't hold it, we will immediately burn the grain in Changqing City, and there will be no grain left, so that the Wu rebel thief army has no food to do in Changqing City, forcing them to survive this winter by transporting grain from the rear! ”

If Rong Lu's words were said to other Qing army generals, there would definitely be no problem, and even if he said something like Zhang Guoliang, Zhang Guoliang would consider whether he could accept it without blinking his eyelids. But it's a pity that Rong Lu ran into Fu Zhenbang, the biggest strange alternative among the generals of the Qing army, this time, so after hearing Rong Lu's words, Fu Zhenbang's face immediately changed, and his eyes at Rong Lu were immediately full of murderous aura, his hands clenched into fists, and he said word by word: "Okay, Lord Rong, even if what you say is a way!" But I only want to ask you one question, what about the people of the Qing Dynasty in Changqing City? What will they do if they burn their food for the winter? ”

Taken away by Fu Zhenbang's momentum, Rong Lu subconsciously took a step back, and said with a slightly trembling voice: "General Fu, Ci ......, Ci is not in charge of the army......." ”

"Say it again to Lao Tzu!"

Fu Zhenbang roared angrily, like a lion, so frightened that the other Shandong civil and military forces next to him hurriedly came up to stop him, and Baojun over there also hurriedly pulled Rong Lu back a few steps, deliberately slapped Rong Lu in the face, and scolded: "Shut your dog's mouth!" Our Qing Dynasty King is a benevolent and righteous teacher who loves the people like a son, and the people in Changqing City are all our Qing Dynasty people, how can we listen to your nonsense? Burn up the food and starve the whole city to death? What is the situation of our Qing court now, you still don't want to love the people and protect the people, but also burn the people's grain and lose the hearts of our Qing court? Get lost! Get out of the way for the old man! ”

deliberately scolded the henchmen he brought from the capital, and then Bao Jun turned to Fu Zhenbang to make amends for Rong Lu, fortunately, Fu Zhenbang was also quite calm, knowing that at this time, infighting with Rong Lu would only cheapen Wu Jun in vain, so he also suppressed the anger in his heart, and said to Bao Jun: "Bao Futai, the last general still means that, we must send troops to reinforce Changqing as soon as possible, strengthen the defenders there, and don't give Wu thieves the opportunity to take Changqing in one fell swoop, as long as Changqing holds on, there will be no danger here in Jinan." ”

"It's ......."

The difficult choice of right or wrong was once again placed in front of Bao Jun, and the result was okay, learning the lesson of failing to listen to Fu Zhenbang's correct opinion the day before yesterday, Bao Jun hesitated for a long time, but decided to give himself a chance to make amends, nodded, and said: "General Fu is right, the old man should send a support army to Changqing as soon as possible, but General Fu, who do you think the old man should send?" ”

"If I go, maybe I will have a chance to catch a big man who is a thief and use him to exchange the palace brothers back."

This thought flashed in his heart again, the current Jinan Qing army, oh no, it should be said that in the entire Manchu court, Fu Zhenbang, the most capable and most experienced Qing general, quickly made up his mind, and said to Baojun: "Baofutai, let the last general lead the people of the headquarters, the last general dares to use the head of the head to guarantee, and he will definitely be able to help General De defend Changqing City, and not give Wu rebel thieves any chance." ”

Of course, Fu Zhenbang's military ability is 100 percent, but because he trusts Fu Zhenbang the most in military affairs, Baojun is inevitably a little reluctant to let Fu Zhenbang leave Jinan City, but considering that Fu Zhenbang and his right-hand man Rong Lu are at odds with each other, and they are in the same situation, forcibly leaving Fu Zhenbang in Jinan City may lead to dangerous consequences. So Bao Jun just bit his lip and nodded, and said, "Okay, then there is Lao Weiping, there is Weiping you, Changqing side, the old man can indeed sit back and relax." ”

Hearing Baojun's decision, the muscles on Rong Lu's face, who had already hid in the distance, twitched involuntarily a few times, and he wanted to speak to persuade him several times, but he swallowed them all back into his stomach, and sighed in his heart: "I hope this time it's still my fault, and it's still Fu Zhenbang's right." ”