Just when Feng Yunshan was thinking about dealing with the Twist Army and local regimental training in the Huanghuai area, the place he was thinking about, in the Anmanhao Prefecture in the Huanghuai area, a Manchu Qing official wearing a Zhengerpin Beijing official uniform, led more than 4,000 soldiers in the city, stood on the city wall, looked at the black and oppressive thief soldiers outside the city, and couldn't help frowning. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

This Manchu official was ordered by the edict last year to replace the deceased Zhou Tianjue, the head of the military department, and led the troops to suppress the northern Anhui bandits, Zuodu Yushi, and Yuan Jiasan, the governor of Anhui and the minister of regimental training. In the past half month, he has been besieged by sporadic thieves and locked in the city of Maozhou, and he doesn't even know anything about the outside world.

The two people around him are Gong Guoxun, the governor of Haozhou, and Song Qing, the general of the Haozhou battalion.

Gong Guoxun said to Yuan Jiasan in a little panic: "Junmen, these twisted bandits, how can they kill more and more!" Now that I heard that the Beijing division was besieged by Cantonese thieves and the Qing Dynasty was in danger, these bandits and thieves flocked out one after another, gathering in the Pheasant River in the south of Maozhou. ”

Yuan Jiasan sighed and said: "The country has suffered a great disaster, and those of us who are courtiers should bear the responsibility of defending the land." Even if you can't fly to save the suffering of the people in the capital and protect the king, you have to save the people in this millistate! However, all localities wantonly collected checkpoint fees and apportioned heavy taxes to the people in the countryside, and the people could not survive, so they naturally followed the example of the Cantonese thieves and started trouble. It's just that why there are so many thieves today, it's really strange? Could it be that something really happened, General Song, did your spies find out the news? ”

Song Qing, who was wearing the leather armor of the general, hurriedly reported: "Yujunmen, the number of bandits has increased suddenly, and it should be that the twist parties from all over the country in the vortex river area of northern Anhui have gathered in Mizhou. At the end of a few days ago, I heard a spy report that it was said that bandits from all walks of life in northern Anhui were going to gather at the Pheasant River in Bozhou, but I didn't expect it to be true! ”

Yuan Jiasan glanced at Song Qing dissatisfiedly, and said coldly: "Such important news, why don't you report it to this official?" If you knew in advance, maybe you could go to the Pheasant River Set...... Yuan Jiasan didn't continue, and he himself knew that it was impossible to go to the Pheasant River Set up an ambush. Judging from the twists outside the city, I am afraid that there are nearly 20,000 strong, and if we add those who are old and infirm, I am afraid that there are only 30,000 or 40,000 people. If you really rely on the courage of the 4,000 soldiers in your city, even if you go to all of them, I am afraid that it will not be enough, and then it will not be an ambush for the thief, but a dumpling made by the thief.

Song Qing hurriedly bowed and saluted: "The last general will know his mistake!" ”

Gong Guoxun, the governor of Maozhou, and Song Qing on the side were fellow villagers, and hurriedly helped divert the topic: "The military gate, there are many thieves and soldiers, if we organize a strong attack, I am afraid that our side will not last long." If you don't send someone to Guide Mansion in the north to ask for help, there are still thousands of elite soldiers of the Eight Banners left behind by Lord Katsuho. ”

Yuan Jiasan shook his head and said, "The Eight Banners in the city of Guide Mansion cannot be mobilized. If they are transferred to Anman, they will give up the Guide Mansion to the thieves, but let the thieves go north and enter Zhili, but it will be bad. ”

Gong Guoxun said: "Military gate, but today's Zhili, and the arch guard?" ”

Yuan Jiasan was stunned and speechless. But isn't it, now Zhili is almost controlled by Cantonese thieves, and the emperor has also left the capital and went to Rehebei to hunt, saying that he was hunted, but in fact, it was just an escape.

"Then tonight, I will send someone to sneak out of the city and ask for help from Guide Mansion." Yuan Jiasan gritted his teeth, and said to the two of them: "General Song patrols the city with his own officials, Gong Zhizhou, you quickly return to the city and organize a group of people to defend the city, and the thieves are likely to attack the city immediately." ”

The two should go down, Yuan Jiasan was just about to patrol the city, and suddenly saw the twist thieves not far from the city rolling and turning, holding five teams of cavalry with yellow, white, blue, black, and red five-color flags, guarding dozens of horsemen, came to a dirt slope two miles away from the city, and tens of thousands of thieves shouted in unison: "King Yong of the Great Han!" King Yong of the Great Han! ”

Yuan Jiasan's face tightened, he had already recognized who one of the forty-year-old big men was, it was Zhang Lexing, the leader of the twist thieves who were active in the area of Bozhou Pheasant River. This thief was defeated by him many times, but each time it didn't take long for him to come back again, and now this time he led as many as 20,000 people.

At this time, a blood-covered detective was taken to the city tower by several personal soldiers, and reported the news of the discovery: "The military gate, the small one has been inquired, and the twisted bandits who came are tens of thousands of twisted thieves from Bozhou, Mengcheng, Suzhou, and Yongcheng, and gathered in the Pheasant River in Maozhou, and pushed the thief head Zhang Lexing to be the leader of the alliance, known as the 'Yongwang of the Han Dynasty', and tens of thousands of twisted thieves established the five flags of yellow, white, blue, black, and red, and the thief head Zhang Lexing led the general yellow flag master, and led the five banners of 20,000 strong people to attack the city of Maozhou. ”

I see! Yuan Jiasan's face changed. Tens of thousands of twist bandits, he is not afraid, these twist bandits are some local villagers, although there are some cavalry, but lack of unified command, scattered like sand, and there is no siege weapons and combat methods, he has thousands of soldiers bravely defend the strong city of Haozhou, but do not worry too much.

But now, it's different, the twisted bandits actually united to form an alliance, and also launched an alliance leader, which is completely different from the previous scattered, and has to worry him a lot. With unified command, it will be difficult for him to break through each of them as before. But if they don't break through each of them, according to the strength of his men, they are simply unable to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the twisted bandits.

"Also, Junmen, something is wrong!" The bloodied detective opened his mouth, a little hesitant to say something, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "I heard from a few merchants from Luyi County, Chenzhou Prefecture, Henan, that the Cantonese thieves had already captured the Forbidden City in Beijing, and ten days ago, the thief chief Feng Yunshan ascended the throne in the Forbidden City and became the emperor!" And my Qing Emperor died in the Rehe Palace, and the emperor's youngest son has succeeded to the throne under Zhang Luo, the auxiliary minister, but the original Prince Gong Yixun is also the emperor in Suiyuan, Shanxi, and the entire Qing Dynasty is in chaos! ”

"What?" Yuan Jiasan's face changed greatly, grabbed the detective, and shouted loudly: "If you talk nonsense, this official will skin you alive!" Are you telling the truth? ”

"Junmen, the small ones don't dare, the small ones also heard from those merchants, and they also heard the news, it doesn't seem to be a lie!" The sentry was so frightened that he quickly knelt down to explain.

Yuan Jiasan's face was pale as if he was struck by lightning, he looked at the heroic figure of the leader of the twisted thieves outside the city, and muttered: "Oh my God, how can this be, the sky wants to kill me!" ”

Gong Guoxun next to him was also full of panic, his mind was blank, and he was also stunned by the news of the outpost! If the Qing emperors all died, and two more emperors competed for the throne, it would mean that the Qing Dynasty was finished. What's the point of them sticking to this city again? Moreover, when the soldiers in the city heard the news, let alone guarding the city of Haozhou, it would be good to surrender the thieves if they did not open the door, and they were likely to scatter and flee. I'm afraid that when the time comes, he, the governor of the state, will not have a good result.

"Bastard, it's nonsense, you're a spy sent by bandits outside the city! Disturb the hearts of our troops, damn it! Suddenly, Yuan Jiasan came back to his senses, shouted, drew his waist knife, and slashed the detective with a knife, preventing him from continuing.

"Defend the city with all your might! There must be no words that confuse the hearts of the army, and those who violate it will be beheaded! Yuan Jiasan thought that no matter whether the news was true or not, he had to treat it as false first and defend the city with all his might, otherwise, it would be over. However, in his heart, he couldn't help but suspect that this news was likely to be true.

And at this time, the twisted bandits outside the city also began to shout: "Listen to the Qing demons in the city of Maozhou, the old nest of your Manchu masters, Beijing City, has been taken by others, and the emperor Lao'er has also died, hurry up and open the city gate to surrender, follow our Han Yongwang, spare you from death!" Otherwise, after the city is broken, there will be no chickens and dogs! ”

Yuan Jia was shocked, and the shouts of the thieves outside the city made the Qing soldiers at the head of the city hesitate and discussed. He hurriedly ordered to the general Song Qing: "Quick, let the brothers open fire, don't let the thieves outside the city continue!" ”

Suddenly, the artillery that had been prepared on the castle tower was lit and began to fire with a bang, but despite the rumbling momentum, it was completely inaccurate, and two miles away from the city, it was not known where it had hit. Even so, it did interrupt the shouting of the twisted army outside the city, which can be regarded as having some effect.