The commander of the Qing army in Yizhou, Airen, chose to accept the surrender of the Wu army without hesitation because he was a Mongolian, but the commander of the Qing army in Guangning, Cuncheng, because he was a Manchurian or surnamed wild boar skin, not only categorically rejected the surrender of the Wu army, but also executed the envoy of the Wu army without hesitation.

The angry Wu army soldiers immediately launched an attack on the city of Guangning, Cuncheng led the army to defend to the death, and also relied on the strong city defense and sufficient pre-war preparations to fight quite well, once thwarted the large-scale attack launched by the Wu army general Jiang Zhongji personally commanded, successfully forced the vanguard of the Wu army to switch to the slow effect of the tunnel siege tactics, smashed Jiang Zhongji's wild words to drink the Ma Liao River before Cao Yanzhong led the army to arrive, and also won valuable time for the puppet Manchu court to adjust and respond.

At the same time, the puppet Manchurian court also started a contest with the Tsarist army at the negotiation table, in order to keep the existing land and city as much as possible, and also in order to take the opportunity to test the combat effectiveness of the Tsarist Russian army and the sincerity of the alliance, the devil six summoned the Tsarist Russian minister Zhemeni almost every day, and once visited the Tsarist Russian army camp outside Shenyang, visited Kazakievich and Baranov and other Tsarist generals, and repeatedly asked and pleaded with the Tsarist army to immediately dispatch and advance west to reinforce the Guangning battlefield and share the pressure for the Qing army in Guangning.

It's a pity that although the devil is shrewd, the Tsarist side is not a fool, whether it is Rzemeny or the Russian army commander Kazakevich, they all know that the city of Quang Ninh is remote and cannot be held for a long time, and sending troops at this time will only cause the Tsarist Russian army to face the main force of the Wu Army's Northern Expedition alone, and be forced to fight an uncertain field decisive battle, and all of them use the excuse that the major event of sending troops needs to obtain the consent of the Russian governor of Eastern Siberia, Korsakov, and categorically refuse to send troops immediately. At the same time, he also asked the puppet Manchu court to vacate the streets of private houses in Shenyang as soon as possible, so that the Russian army could enter the city at any time and station.

In order to achieve his own goals, the devil six also shamelessly used money bribes and beauty tricks, but unfortunately Zhemeni and Kazakevich both received silver and women slept, but the army always stood still, biting to death to obtain Korsakov's consent first, and in turn asked Devil Six to send someone to discuss directly with Korsakov. The devil who was empty of people and money gritted his teeth with hatred, but there was nothing he could do, and he didn't even dare to say a word to Remeni and the others.

The puppet Manchu court also missed the best opportunity to reinforce the Guangning battlefield, Jiang Zhongji was able to calmly transfer the troops and horses under the command of the northern expedition to Yizhou to the east to reinforce, first took the big and small black mountain forts, cut off the direct contact between the Qing army in Guangning and Shenyang, and then concentrated forces to storm the city of Guangning, and finally on the second day after Cao Yanzhong led the army to Jinzhou, he successfully blew down the city wall of Guangning with tunnel blasting tactics, and led the army to attack the city of Guangning, which saved some face. - Don't look at the comrade-in-arms relationship, in fact, Jiang Zhongji is not very convinced of Cao Yanzhong, who has outstanding achievements, and he can only take the small city of Guangning with Cao Yanzhong's help, and Jiang Zhongji will never want such a humiliating thing to happen.

After the city wall collapsed, Cuncheng, who knew that he could not escape death, still wanted to go crazy before he died, not only to force the Qing army and the Wu army in Guangning City to fight to the end, but also personally brought his own soldiers to burn the granary of Guangning. But it's a pity that Cuncheng wants to go crazy, but most of the Qing soldiers refuse to accompany him crazy, not only the defenders in the city have laid down their arms and surrendered, but also some Qing soldiers quietly shot black guns at Cuncheng, and finally even Cuncheng's Goshha rebelled, and suddenly stabbed Cuncheng to death from the back who was burning food, cut off his head and surrendered to the Wu army, and the fire that had just risen was also extinguished by the Qing soldiers themselves, helping the Wu soldiers to seize a large number of Guangning city walls.

Then, after a symbolic report to Cao Yanzhong, Jiang Zhongji, who was anxious to make meritorious contributions, used the excuse that he did not want to give the Qing army a chance to reinforce the army, and without Cao Yanzhong's consent, he immediately led the army eastward and attacked Xinmin City next to the Liao River. Cao Yanzhong was clear about Jiang Zhongji's thoughts, but for the sake of the unity of the army, he did not stop it, and only wrote back to remind Jiang Zhongji to avoid taking risks and not to make the mistake of underestimating the enemy.

Fortunately, although Jiang Zhongji made meritorious contributions, he never forgot the lesson of his eldest brother Jiang Zhongyuan's lone army being killed by the Taiping army, and after leading the army all the way to the city of Xinmin Hall, Jiang Zhongji did not immediately launch an attack on the city, and chose to attack the Kaesong ferry next to Xinmin first, and was very cautious to cut off the reinforcement road of the Qing army first, and then turn around to clean up the Xinmin defenders.

Devil Six also descended to the Tsarist Russian legation in person, almost kneeling down to ask the Russian army to immediately send troops to reinforce Xinmin, and considering that the situation is indeed critical, and at the same time it is also necessary to understand and master the strength of the Northern Expedition Wu Army, Zhemeni finally made a merciful and relieved promise, while unceremoniously accepting the generous gift from the six hands of the devil, while discussing with Kazakevich to send reinforcements, decided to send Russian Major General Baranov to lead more than 3,000 Tsarist Russian troops to the west, reinforcing the Xinmin battlefield, which is only more than 100 miles away from Shenyang.

After the six-year-old devil who was grateful soon found himself in the evil position of the Russians, and led the army west to the bank of the Liao River, Baranov did not send a soldier to cross the Liao River west to directly reinforce the Xinmin Qing army, but chose to garrison Ping'an Fort to contain the Wu army in the periphery, and the anxious devil six found Remeni to protest, but Remeni rolled his eyes and said: "Lord Gong, do you know how to fight, there is no water advantage, and there is no army to respond, our army is forced to cross the Liao River under the nose of the enemy, isn't it in vain to die?" ”

"But Mr. Remeni, you are only Liaohe, how can you help us defend Xinmin City?" Devil Six asked aggrievedly.

"Rest assured, our army stationed on the bank of the Liao River is reinforcements, at least it can make Wu Chaoyue's army dare not use all the troops to attack the city." Remeni smiled and said, "And as soon as the time is ripe, our army will immediately cross the Liao River and stab Wu Chaoyue's army in the back." ”

"I'm afraid that Xinmin City has been broken by Wu thieves, and your army won't dare to cross the Liao River even a step, right?" The devil muttered hatefully in his heart, but he didn't dare to show the slightest expression on his face, on the contrary, he had to thank Remeni once again for his kindness, and thank the Tsarist Russian army for the 'great help' provided to the New People's Qing Army.

It turned out that Devil Six was really wrong to blame Zhemeni, because the Tsarist Russian army stationed troops on the east bank of the Liao River threatened the back of the self-army, and in the next few days, Wu Junjiang Zhongji really did not dare to launch an attack on Xinmin City. However, just when the six devils and the Xinmin Qing army were relieved, a new accident suddenly happened - without any warning or reason, the Tsarist Russian army led by Baranov suddenly abandoned the camp of Ping'an Fort overnight and hurriedly withdrew to Jingyan Fort, which was a full sixty miles away from Xinmin City! The devil was shocked when he heard the report, so he could only quickly find Rhemini again and question Baranov face to face the reason for Baranov's sudden retreat.

"I don't know very well why Major General Baranov suddenly withdrew his troops, but I can guarantee that it must have been a special situation that suddenly happened at the front, so Major General Baranov had to withdraw his troops."

Remeni replied coldly, but when the devil six asked further, there was a sudden quick horse report outside the door, saying that Baranov's army had just withdrawn to Jingyan Fort, and a Wu cavalry suddenly crossed the Liao River from the vicinity of Liaobin Tower upstream, and tried to directly attack Jingyan Fort, the only way to communicate with Xin'an, but because Baranov's army arrived one step first, the Wu cavalry failed to succeed, and could only withdraw to the direction of Xin'an.

Hearing this news, Devil Six was of course taken aback, but Baranov, who was quite familiar with military affairs, was triumphant and said, "Lord Gong, I'm not wrong, right?" If General Baranov does not withdraw to the Pure Smoke Fort in time, not only will your communication with Xinmin be cut off by the enemy, but our army will also be surrounded by the enemy, and then our army will be very passive. ”

Devil Six was speechless, and muttered in his heart: "In the final analysis, it's not for yourself?" Concerned only about the safety of your own army, when can you think about our Xin'an army? ”

…………

When Remeni was triumphant in front of the devil six, Ding Ruchang, who failed in the surprise attack, also ran back to Jiang Zhongji to plead guilty, Jiang Zhongji asked the reason for the failure, and Ding Ruchang replied dejectedly: "It may be that we were discovered by the Rakshasa soldiers when we were rushing to build the pontoon bridge, and we called the police in time, so we let the Rakshasa devils run first." ”

"I really underestimated these Rakshasa devils." Li Hongzhang, who proposed this surprise attack plan, frowned and said: "It stands to reason that if you find that we are rushing to cross the river on a pontoon bridge, you should suspect that we are preparing to attack Ping'an Fort." I didn't expect the Rakshasa devil to be so cunning, and he could immediately guess that we were preparing to attack the Pure Smoke Castle, and retreated overnight to protect the retreat,"

"No way, it's not our meritorious life." Shaking his head and regretting a word, Jiang Zhongji quickly cheered up again and said, "It's not in vain, at least you can attack the city with peace of mind." The order was sent to the sappers to immediately start digging tunnels, striving to take Xinmin City and open the way to Shenyang before our main force arrived. ”

It is still a pity that although the Russian army that threatens the back of the army is temporarily forced away, the siege of Jiang Zhongji's army is still not smooth enough, and the excavated tunnel was soon discovered by the Xinmin Qing army and damaged by flooding, and it has never been able to take Xinmin City first. After a slight delay, the main force of the Wu army led by Cao Yanzhong successfully arrived at the city of Xinning, and Jiang Zhongji had no choice but to run to the main force of the Wu army in a low voice to meet Cao Yanzhong, who was eight years younger than him.

In addition to severely praising Jiang Zhongji's previous merits in winning the two cities of Quang Ninh and Yizhou, Cao Yanzhong also comforted Jiang Zhongji's failure to encircle the Tsarist Russian army and the unsatisfactory attack on Xinmin, and made it clear that victory and defeat are just a common thing in soldiers, and failure is the mother of success. Jiang Zhongji's heart felt a little better, so he asked Cao Yanzhong, who had already been named the governor of Liangguang: "Cao Zhitai, what should we do next?" ”

"Of course, it is to attack the city, first take Xin'an, and then march into Shenyang." Cao Yanzhong replied with a smile.

"How do you attack that? What tactics are used? Jiang Zhongji asked.

"Frontal assault." Cao Yanzhong replied very simply and directly, and said: "I will provide you with artillery cover, and you are responsible for commanding the army to attack the city." ”

Frontal assault covered by artillery fire? Jiang Zhongji and Li Hongzhang, who came to meet Cao Yanzhong together, looked at each other a little, and once they were a little suspicious that Cao Yanzhong had not gone to the field to investigate and did not know the city defense situation of the Xinmin Qing Army, so they said a big thing. However, a day later, when the main force of the Wu army officially joined forces with Jiang Zhongji's army to launch a frontal assault on Xinmin City, Jiang Zhongji and Li Hongzhang knew that Cao Yanzhong was not talking big, and finally understood what kind of disparity in strength between his partial division and the main force of the Wu army led by Cao Yanzhong had reached.

Because, the main force of the Wu army under Cao Yanzhong, under Xinmin City, fully deployed two hundred rear-loading rifled guns! In addition, there are more than 300 front-loading smoothbore guns of different calibers, and nearly half of them are new guns that can use black powder flowering shells!

Therefore, Jiang Zhongji and Li Hongzhang and other Wu Jun's partial teachers and civil and military forces also quickly sighed, and said: "In the end, it is the army of our own sons, we are raised by stepmothers, and there is no way to compare." ”

Two hundred rear-loading rifled guns fired together, and all of them used picric acid shells, the horror of the artillery fire was naturally not imaginable by ordinary people, it was just a round of salvo, the small city of Xinmin was like the sky was cracking, the courtyard walls of the houses collapsed one after another, the streets and alleys were constantly on fire, the Xinmin Qing army and the people screamed in despair, and the order in the city quickly began to be chaotic. However, the large and small artillery of the Wu army was unceremonious, and the fire roared continuously one after another, until the Xinmin City was blown into cracks, the sand and dust were filled, and the Xinmin City was bombarded with fire, the smoke soared into the sky, the houses were on fire countless times, and the Qing soldiers and residents of the city were chasing the rabbits and rabbits on the streets, crying and shaking the sky, and the chaos and despair reached the extreme, as if they were in the hell of the end.

After an hour of artillery preparation, Cao Yanzhong arranged for the army to come forward, built temporary bomb shelter fortifications under Xin'an City, and arranged a large number of grenadiers and Mini guns to cover before Jiang Zhongji's army launched an attack. Inspired by the artillery fire of the main force of the army, the soldiers of Jiang Zhongji's department, who were not very good at ant warfare, were no longer afraid, and rushed with the flying ladder to the head of Xinmin City with only one charge.

Contrary to the soldiers of the Wu army who fought the ants, the Xinmin Qing army, which had been broken by the terrifying artillery fire of the Wu army, was cowering, trembling in the footsteps of the upper city to participate in the battle, and looked absent-minded......

On that day, the Wu army broke through Xinmin City in one fell swoop. The next day, the general battle situation of Xinmin was sent to Shenyang City by the Qing army, and after knowing the horror of the artillery fire of the main force of the Wu army, Devil Liu's face was as pale as paper, and he sat on the chair for a long time without making a sound. And because the army was also equipped with picric acid weapons and new flowering cannons, the Russian minister Rhemeny not only did not feel as frightened and desperate as Devil Six, but also seized the opportunity to find Devil Six immediately and put forward two new demands to Devil Six.

Rhemeny's two demands were, first, that the Tsarist Russian troops must be immediately stationed in the city of Shenyang! Second, Ci'an and Cixi must be asked to take Kant the Great to Heilongjiang immediately! At the same time, Rhemeni also clearly told Devil Six that if his two demands were not met, the Tsarist Russian army would immediately retreat north and no longer help the puppet Manchu court to resist the attack of the Wu army!