Admiral Bao Heng and the general soldiers of several towns drank very happily, Bao Heng drank so much that he even asked Lan Li to go to the town to find a few female branches to accompany him. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoJust as it was in full swing, there was a sudden sound of urgent horses' hooves, and then, the door was pushed open, and Lan Li, the only general soldier who was still awake, saw several of his own soldiers leading two ragged and bloodstained Qing soldiers to break in.

"Your Excellency and the Chief Soldier, Urgent Military Report!" Lan Li's personal soldiers shouted loudly, interrupting the lively scene of staggered bargaining, Lan Li's heart was excited, and Bao Heng squinted his eyes and threw a wine glass in his hand over: "What kind of military report, disturbing Lao Tzu's wine!" ”

Lan Li hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "What the hell is going on?" ”

One of the two ragged Qing soldiers cried out in mourning: "My lord, the thieves raided the Dagukou Fort, hundreds of thousands of warships, hundreds of thousands of horses besieged the fort!" ”

"Yes, sir! Da Nian, the deputy general of the Dagu Association, sent villains and others to Tianjin Fucheng for help. The villain passed by the military food city, saw that there were officers and soldiers stationed in the town, and learned that the adults were again, so he came to report the news. Another soldier explained why.

Lan Li was taken aback, he grabbed a Qing soldier and shouted, "What, the thief soldiers raided Dagukou?!" You will know, from beginning to end, carefully and clearly! ”

"My lord, in the afternoon, the fort suddenly discovered that there were a large number of warships at the mouth of the sea, and immediately put them on alert. As a result, hundreds of warships under the banner of Cantonese thieves attacked the fort. Among them, there were also a number of Western warships, the artillery was fierce, and the adjutant general saw that the situation was not good, so he hurriedly sent a few small soldiers to come on fast horses to ask for help. Along the way, the land division that happened to meet the thieves made a detour to attack the rear of the fort, and several of our brothers were killed by the thieves, so the two of them escaped from hiding in the belly of the horse, and hurried here to report the news! Qing Bing was also very organized, and talked about the experience in detail.

Another soldier added: "My lord, send rescue soldiers quickly!" Late, little worry, the fort is going to be breached by thieves! ”

Lan Li's hand tightened, and he grabbed the Qing soldier in pain, and asked the Qing soldier: "How many thieves are there?" ”

"Lord Hui, the thieves came by boat from the sea, hundreds of warships, plus troop transports boarding large and small ships, there are thousands, it is difficult to count. There were a large number of thieves behind the forts on the detour, which could almost besiege the three forts on the south bank, and I am afraid that there are no less than tens of thousands, which is really innumerable. However, the thieves did not have horsemen. Qing Bing replied with trepidation. If the thieves had cavalry, it was estimated that both of them would have to explain halfway through.

At this time, Admiral Bao Heng, who had already woken up, also came to Lan Li's side and said in shock: "There are really tens of thousands of thieves and horses? Someone, send an order, and quickly send more detectives to the direction of Dagukou to find out about the thief! If the thieves have conquered Dagukou tonight, they will withdraw their camp to the west and return to Tianjin City to defend as soon as it dawns tomorrow. ”

Bao Heng was also frightened, he was half scared awake when he was drunk, and his mind was also clearly calculated.

This time, he led more than 4,000 cavalry from the third battalion of the commander of Zhili, the third battalion of the standard, and the cavalry of the three towns of Daming, Tianjin, and Hebei Town, and prepared to rush to Dagukou to assist in the defense, and the follow-up infantry and baggage came again.

If there were really tens of thousands of thieves, even though he was 4,000 cavalrymen, he was worried that he would not be able to defeat the thieves. The name of this Cantonese thief is too great, and he has not been defeated since he fought with the officers and soldiers. Bao Heng knows the combat strength of his subordinates, it's okay to drink, and if he kills the enemy, he will kill less than a few hundred unsuccessful bandits and smuggler salt dealers.

Therefore, he immediately decided, for his own safety, just in case, to lead his troops out of this military food town early tomorrow morning. According to his estimates, the thieves were all infantry and ships, and it was impossible to march in a hurry all night, even if they conquered Dagu Kou tonight and marched without rest, fifty or sixty miles away, it would not be until nearly noon tomorrow to arrive at this military food town. At that time, his cavalry had already rushed back to Tianjin. Moreover, marching at night is a taboo for soldiers.

Therefore, the general troops dispersed, and ordered the battalions to prepare at once, and only wait for the news of the horses, and then leave the military food town at dawn tomorrow.

That night, several probe horses sent one after another failed to come back, and Lan Li didn't close his eyes all night. At dawn, finally, the three groups of scouts returned.

A scout reported: "Lord Commander, it's not good, the thieves have advanced by land and water, and they have reached a place four or five miles east of the military grain city. ”

Another Tanma's letter made Lan Li even more shocked: "My lord, it's not good. The thieves may have conquered the Dagu Fort and captured 300 horses. The thieves used these horses to put on the carriage and used it to quickly transport the troops, and they made a detour overnight, and they had already rushed to the northwest of the military grain town, blocking the rear road of our army. ”

"What?" Lan Li was stunned. He pulled the sentry and rushed to the north wing to find the commander of Zhili, Baoheng.

When the sleepy-eyed Bao Heng heard this, he panicked, kicked at Lan Li, and scolded angrily: "What about those sentry posts last night? Why didn't you report it sooner? Lao Tzu ordered you to send more detectives last night, and you will report to Lao Tzu this morning. ”

Lan Li complained bitterly: "At the military gate, the lower officials sent more than a dozen sentinels, but they may have been intercepted and killed by the thieves." What to do now, the military gate should quickly get an idea. ”

Bao Heng calmed down and hurriedly ordered: "The whole army breaks through and rushes out in the direction of the north, Qilihai." ”

Lan Li exclaimed: "Not going back to Tianjin City?" ”

Bao Heng said: "If the thieves are strong, will they go back to Tianjin City and wait to be captured?" If there are not many thieves and we can't capture Tianjin, we will lead our troops to intercept and kill the thieves from behind, and we will definitely achieve a great success. ”

Lan Li was silent, he knew that what Bao Heng said was just an excuse, the thieves could capture the Dagukou Fort so quickly, and the number of troops would definitely not be less. Bao Heng is bent on escaping!

The Qing soldiers had tidied up their men and horses, and before they left Yangtai Village, they saw the sound of horns in the river bay and on both sides of the river in the southeast in the distance, and the dragon flag with yellow stars on a red background was already visible.

The thieves came so fast!

And at this time, along the southeast wind, Lan Li clearly heard the command of the thieves marching: "One-two-one, one-two-one!" ”

Bao Heng took the lead in leading the horsemen of this standard, set off first, and rushed to the north, and then, followed by the horsemen of the two towns of Daming Town and Hebei Town, Lan Li glanced back at the more than a dozen granaries by the river, gritted his teeth and ordered: "Ignition!" Let's go! ”

Suddenly, more than 100 Qing soldiers threw torches in their hands at the granary on the side, surrounded by dry firewood stacks, and suddenly the fire rose to the sky, and there was a continuous scorching crackling sound.

This is the largest dozen granaries in the military grain city, has always been used to receive the sea route food that can not be transported away for a while, in order to prevent the thieves from getting, before leaving, Zhili Admiral Baoheng ordered that all of them be burned.

As soon as the Qing soldiers left the military grain city, thousands of soldiers rushed in, but they did not disturb the people, and rushed into the Qing army camp while extinguishing the fire in the granary.

At this time, the vanguard of more than 100 warships also sailed into the section of the military grain city.

The 4,000 horsemen of the Qing army who escaped from the military grain city suddenly saw a dark gray black line in the wilderness north of the front, and slowly surrounded themselves, it turned out to be a group of thieves or infantry, about 1,000 people.

At this time, there was a black line on the east and west sides that was slowly moving over, and there were about a thousand people.

The thieves are scattered! I want to surround myself!

Bao Heng is angry! Although he is timid and afraid of war, it is for the entire thief army, but these more than 1,000 thief soldiers want to intercept him? You must know that you are leading cavalry, more than 4,000 cavalry, and it is not easy to kill these more than 1,000 foot soldiers and thieves!

As long as you scatter them, you don't have to annihilate them all, and there should be time before the thieves on both sides surround you. Moreover, with the credit of these thieves, I have an explanation! Bao Heng quickly calculated.

He immediately ordered: "Charge the thieves in front of you head-on, kill them, and then rush out." ”

When all the 4,000 cavalry were ready, Bao Heng ordered Shi Rongchun, the chief soldier of Daimyo Town, to lead 1,000 as the vanguard, and he himself was the Chinese army.

On the left flank, Lan Li, who was charging at high speed, rushed forward under the escort of more than a dozen personal soldiers. He half-squinted at the thief on the other side.

The opponent had stopped marching and set up a formation to meet the battle. The thieves chose a half-moon-shaped dirt slope and lined up sixty or seventy open carriages in front of the dirt slope, and behind the dirt slope was a deep stream two or three meters high, forming an excellent natural fortification.

The forward Daimyo town cavalry had already rushed within 100 paces of the dirt slope.