Although Seng Lingqin had made certain preparations for the Taiping army's abandonment of the city and the breakout, the Taiping army still killed the Qing army by surprise when he suddenly abandoned the city almost without warning, including Seng Greenqin, who did not expect that the Taiping army would make such an important decision so quickly, and hastily organized an effective attack to meet the Taiping army who abandoned the city in a hurry.

The Taiping army chose a very clever route to march, after leaving the city from the east gate, they swooped down on the Dongchangfu Township Yong camp, and divided the troops to attack from north to south, expelling the low combat effectiveness but a large number of Dongchang Township Yong fled south, giving the Taiping army a free vanguard, and successfully disrupted the Qing infantry brigade that hurriedly went out of the camp to intercept. Then the Taiping army did not take the wide official road due south to break through, and chose to take a small road to escape to the Tuxiao River, not to set up a car or carry the old cannons in Gaotang City, and the grain and grass were carried by mules, donkeys and soldiers, which maximized mobility and flexibility, making it extremely difficult for the Qing army to chase them.

Fortunately, the biggest advantage of the Monk Greenqin army is that there are many cavalry, although the combat effectiveness is too strong to the point of crushing the Taiping army in the field, Monk Greenqin is very rational to order the cavalry to bite the tail of the Taiping army, delay the escape speed of the Taiping army, and at the same time send fast horses to speed north to contact Wu Chaoyue, asking Wu Chaoyue to hurry south to help the war.

Hearing the battle report of the messenger of Monk Greenqin, Wu Chaoyue was of course ecstatic in his heart, but on the surface, he remained silent, and told the messenger very calmly: "Go back and tell Monk Beizi, I will speed up immediately, and I will definitely join him as soon as possible!" Also, remember one thing, especially pay attention to blocking the eastward escape path of Longhair, your cavalry is multi-mobile and powerful, and you are not afraid of Longhair's escape to the south and west, but you must not let Longhair's escape eastward! ”

"Why?" The messenger of Monk Grinqin was inexplicable.

"Idiot!" Wu Chaoyue scolded, "You are still the guard in the tent of Seng Beizi, and you don't even know a little geography?" To the east is the Taiyi Mountains, Mount Tai, Yishan and Mengshan three mountain ranges, thousands of miles of mountains and dense forests, the terrain is complex, the cavalry is difficult to fight, the long hair drills into the deep mountains and old forests, do you go to the mountains and forests and hide and seek with the long hair or I go?! ”

After being scolded by Wu Chaoyue, although the messenger felt a little uncomfortable, he still sang the promise honestly, remembered Wu Chaoyue's advice with his heart, and then quickly went back to report to Monk Greenqin. And Wu Chaoyue's order to obey the promise and keep his promise, Wu Jun Lian Yong accelerated his southward movement, and at the same time, he also muttered in his heart: "Heaven and earth, Guangxi wolf, Li Kaifang, you had better understand geography, flee east, and hope to survive when you enter the Taiyi Mountains." ”

It's a pity that Li Kaifang, who was born as a low-level peasant, has the biggest disadvantage of being too low in education, although he is very smart and good at learning, but his foundation is too poor, and he doesn't know that there is a vast mountain and forest area in the east. At the same time, after receiving the warning, the Manchu local officials in the south also desperately organized troops to block along the way and help Seng Lingqin block the Taiping army's southward escape, and the result also had a little effect - at least forcing the Taiping army to spend time fighting and killing them.

But Wu Chaoyue also had a little miscalculation, that is, the number of cavalry in the Taiping Army Li Kaifang's department was also quite a lot, and the cavalry accounted for more than half, and there were also many donkeys and mules that could transport grain and ride, so the retreat speed of the Taiping Army was also quite fast, basically reaching more than 70 miles a day, so when Wu Chaoyue led the Wu army except for the artillery camp to catch up with the Taiping Army, the Taiping Army had already fled to Dong'e County in Tai'an Prefecture.

In the persimmon orchard just south of Dong'e County, Wu Chaoyue fought a battle with the rear army of the Taiping army, and once again defeated the Taiping army, forcing Xie Jinshan, who led the army to the palace, to flee by seizing the road, and the cavalry of the Qing army took advantage of the situation to pursue and capture many donkeys and mules. After Xie Jinshan and the cavalry behind the palace caught up with the main force led by Li Kaifang, the main force of the Taiping army happened to be erecting a pontoon bridge to prepare to cross the Daqing River and march to the Peng family in the south, which was at the most critical moment.

The terrain around the Daqing River is dazzlingly complex, the main stream and tributaries of the Daqing River are east of Pengjiaji to join the Fei River, if the Taiping army wants to continue to move south, it must successively cross the main stream of the Daqing River and the smaller tributaries of the large volume, and then cross the larger amount of fertilizer water to enter the open area suitable for cavalry marching, which is the paradise for the infantry activities of the Wu army, and also the hell for the cavalry of the Taiping army.

In order to complete the long escape road, of course, the Taiping army could not abandon the war horses and donkeys and mules, and the terrible overtaking demon was constantly killing this side, and the Taiping army actually had only one choice left - leaving a team of infantry to fortify on the south bank of the main stream of the Daqing River to intercept the pursuers of the Wu army and the main force of the Qing army, but in this way, this team of infantry is destined to have no hope of escape.

Of course, Li Kaifang couldn't bear to do this, and he couldn't open his mouth to name who he wanted to be sent to death, but fortunately, several generals understood Li Kaifang's thoughts, and they all stood up and took the initiative to ask for this mortal task. Among them, Huang Yiduan, the number one fierce general under Li Kaifang, was the most resolute, and said loudly: "Don't fight with me!" Don't rob me either! When it comes to leading infantry, which of you is as good as me? I can't fight horses, but I'm the best at foot fighting! If I don't stay, who will?! ”

After Xie Jinshan, Tan Yougui and other colleagues shut up one after another, Li Kaifang also shed tears, choked up and ordered Huang Yiduan to lead more than 500 infantry to stay on the Daqing River defense line, and lead the last 1,000 cavalry to break through the siege in the south. Huang Yiduan did not hesitate to clench his fists to receive his life, but Li Kaifang couldn't help crying loudly, and hugged Huang Yiduan for the last time with love.

In the wind and snow, the cavalry of the Taiping army hurriedly went to the south, Wu surpassed the Wu character banner with teeth and claws and a large number of Qing infantry quickly appeared on the north bank of the Daqing River, and the Dongping Qing army, which had been in the west of Dongping City, also killed the ferry violently, and Monk Lingqin personally led the cavalry to cross the river from the bridge under the Dongping City and launched a pursuit to the south.

The brutal Daqing River blocking battle soon began, with the natural danger of the river, more than 500 Taiping infantry met the Qing army, and repelled the Qing army's attack four times. As a last resort, Lang Ruilin could only personally lead the army to cross the river from the upper reaches and kill the flank of the Taiping army in a roundabout way, which forced Huang Yiduan to abandon his position and retreat to Pengjiaji, which had been burned into ruins by the Qing army, to continue the battle, and stubbornly resist the crazy attack of the Qing army with a dilapidated earthen enclosure.

The slow-moving Wu artillery battalion was still in the rear and did not reach the battlefield, and the exhausted Wu army Lian Yong and the Qing army could not deliver the final blow to the stubborn Taiping army. Forced to be helpless, Wu Chaoyue could only quickly find Ruilin to discuss in a hurry, and decided to temporarily stop the attack, surround Pengjiaji on all sides, and at the same time send people from Dongping to transfer the city fire artillery there to bombard Pengjiaji. As a result, when the artillery was sent to the battlefield, when the Dongping County Commander personally delivered a good Chinese New Year's Eve meal to Wu Beyond with a flattering face, Wu Beyond was shocked to find that today was actually the Chinese New Year's Eve of the third year of Xianfeng, and it was the first time that he had spent a New Year on the battlefield.

On the first day of the first month of the fourth year of Xianfeng, the Qing army launched a fierce attack on Pengjiaji again, but the tenacity of the Taiping army far exceeded the imagination of Wu Chaoyue and the Qing generals. ――Of course, this is also related to Wu Chaoyue's deliberate and quiet release of water.

In the end, it was still on the fourth day of the first month, the Wu army artillery battalion sent the heavy artillery to the front line, and ten mortar guns used a parabola to hit a large number of picric acid shells into Pengjiaji, and the Taiping army with heavy casualties gave up Pengjiaji to break through to the south, but because of the river blockage, the Qing army had been tightly deployed on the south bank of the tributary of the Daqing River, and the Taiping army's breakthrough was never successful. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking through, Huang Yiduan simply took the last dozens of Taiping soldiers to launch a suicidal charge towards Ruilin's flag array, and miraculously killed close to the flag array, which frightened Ruilin and fled, and the flag array was almost crushed by the Taiping army.

After being surrounded by the Qing army, Huang Yiduan, who was seriously wounded, categorically refused Wu Chaoyue's personal surrender, and chose to pounce on a Qing soldier, biting his throat and dying with him, allowing the Qing soldiers to chop him to pieces.

Witnessing this tragic scene, Wu Chaoyue's eyes flashed with tears, and he said in his heart: "Farewell, warrior, don't worry, you won't die in vain, your heroic companions will definitely have a chance to escape." ”

Finally annihilated the Taiping army Huang Yiduan, only to rest outside the city of Dongping for a day, the former boss of the Ministry of Rites Lang Ruilin urged Wu Chaoyue to quickly lead the army south to help Seng Lingqin, knowing that the infantry of the army was difficult to catch up with the cavalry of the Taiping Army, Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate to agree, but just when Wu Jun Lian Yong was about to set off, Shengbao's urgent military order was suddenly sent to Wu Chaoyue - ordering Wu Chaoyue to immediately return to the north to intercept the Taiping Army Ji Wenyuan Department that had broken through from Lianzhen.

Smiling secretly in his heart, his face was full of surprise when he asked the messenger of Shengbao about the breakthrough of the Taiping Army, Wu Chaoyue knew that after Wu Jun Lianyong left the battlefield of Lianzhen, Ji Wenyuan, who suspected that this must be Wu Chaoyue's trick, had not broken through, gritted his teeth and persisted for several days, and also repelled Shengbao's rampant attacks many times. Finally, on the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month, it was probably confirmed that Wu Jun Lian Yong really left the battlefield of Lianzhen, Ji Wenyuan suddenly led the army to break through, and successfully killed the Qing army from the southeast of Lianzhen to surround the south, Shengbao hurriedly launched a pursuit, and also tried in vain to adopt the tactics proposed by Wu Chaoyue before, divided the troops into detours, and fortified layers to intercept the Taiping army's escape road, but only one interspersed success, and then was immediately broken by the Taiping army.

After listening to these situations, of course Ruilin scolded, I have never seen such an incompetent and shameless boss in the world, jealous and jealous can drive away the main force of the battle, greedy for merit and light up the enemy to give the enemy a chance to turn over, mess things up and ask his subordinates to go back to clean up the mess, it is really rare to be shameless to this point! But Wu Chaoyue pretended to smile bitterly and shook his head, and then asked Ruilin: "Lord Rui, what should I do if Master Sheng wants me to return to the northern line?" ”

"Don't listen to him!" Ruilin roared angrily: "Follow me to the south to chase and kill Changmao, the emperor is there, I will explain it to you!" ”

"But Lord Rui, Marshal Sheng is the commander of the whole army, and he is also the minister of the Qincha, if the subordinate disobeys the order, it is a great crime of disobeying the military order!" Wu Chaoyue reminded Ruilin and said: "Also, Xia Guan is a foreign official, and he is only a four-grade Taoist platform, not like a monk and a prince. ”

Ruilin kept a straight face and didn't speak, and thought for a while before saying: "You go, you are an infantry anyway, and it is not so easy to catch up with the long-haired cavalry." Alas, it would be nice if the court had a few more loyal ministers like you! ”

Wu Chaoyue was indeed a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, and after hearing this, he did not hesitate, and immediately asked Shengbao's envoy to bring back a reply, while promising to return to the division to block the attack, while suggesting that Shengbao strictly seal the Taiping army's eastward escape road, and not give Ji Wenyuan the opportunity to escape into the Yimeng Mountains, and then immediately let Shengbao's envoy carry this letter north, so that he could risk the opportunity to be intercepted by the Taiping army at any time to send a letter to Shengbao. In the end, Wu Chaoyue, of course, quietly prayed for God's blessing, so that Ji Wenyuan could get this letter that pointed out the way for the Taiping army to live.

The miracle did not happen, the Taiping army did not intercept the messenger carrying Wu Chaoyue's letter, but unexpectedly, in the process of breaking through the south, because he learned Wu Chaoyue's movements from the mouth of the captured Xiangyong, Ji Wenyuan, who had eaten enough of Wu Chaoyue's suffering, did not dare to go due south to die in vain, and with the simple map captured, he found the only feasible escape road in the southeast. At the end, he also arranged the illusion of attacking Jinan, took the opportunity to cross the old Yellow River at Luokou, miraculously passed through the blockade of the Qing army, and robbed a little supply in Wangsherendian, and rushed into the Taishan Mountains with the last six or seven hundred people, and disappeared into the depths of the vast mountains and forests.

During this period, in order not to give people a handle, Wu Chaoyue was very faithful to carry out every order of Shengbao, and took Wu Jun to practice Yong to the north and eastward, climbing mountains and wading through rivers and marching thousands of miles, but because the distance was too far and all were infantry, he never got the opportunity to fight with the Taiping army again, and his hard work was in vain and his achievements were not achieved - but Wu Chaoyue was also willing to eat in his heart.

Ji Wenyuan fled into the mountains with the remnants to become bandits again, and Li Kaifang's side also fled into northern Anhui with the help of the Twist Army. But in the face of this situation, there is no one who dares to accuse Wu Chaoyue of ineffective combat, and after meeting with Shengbao's main force outside Jinan, Shengbao is so ashamed that he doesn't even dare to see Wu Chaoyue's face, and the supervising army Zaiyuan is only comforting Wu Chaoyue, who is fed up with grievances, while scolding Shengbao for being shameless and incompetent, and the jealousy of Jixian can bury the favorable situation of the total annihilation of the Taiping Army! -- It also caused us to carry the prince to the military plane to fail!

What was even more violent was the Xianfeng Emperor in the capital, which lasted ten months, cost nearly three million taels of military salary, and countless grains and grasses, and finally let Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan run away together. Emperor Xianfeng's depressed anger is of course conceivable, under the rage, Emperor Xianfeng did not hesitate to order Shengbao to arrest, take the crime of entering the Beijing Ministry of Communications, and let Zaiyuan take over Shengbao to lead the front-line army, and cooperate with the Shandong Qing army to search for the remnants of Ji Wenyuan. At the same time, he ordered Monk Greenqin to continue to pursue Li Kaifang to the end, either to get Li Kaifang's head back and return to the title of county king, or to lower the title to another level!

Or wait for Emperor Xianfeng to lose his temper, and the violently undulating chicken breast has basically regained its calm, Su Shun, who has received Wu Chaoyue's silver, carefully reminded: "Master, Wu Chaoyue also has a fold, the Shanghai regiment has marched more than 3,000 miles during this time, and there have been 26 small battles, the soldiers are exhausted, seriously injured, and most of the weapons and ammunition have been consumed. ”

"Shandong's long hair hasn't been killed yet, what are you in a hurry to go back to Shanghai?" Lin Kui muttered quietly.

"Lord Lin, is it important to have a few hundred long hairs in Shandong, or is it important to be rich in southern Jiangsu?" Su Shun asked very politely: "For the hundreds of long hairs in Shandong, the imperial court has used more than 50,000 soldiers, is it not enough, and you have to put another elite there?" Now the southern Jiangsu area is no longer threatened by the long-haired all the time, the long-haired general Xie Changsha is entrenched in Wuxi, invading the two important places of money and grain in Suzhou and Changzhou, and the momentum is getting bigger and bigger, so that Wu Chaoyue can lead the Shanghai regiment to train back to Shanghai, wouldn't it be possible to send troops to quell this gang of bandits at any time, and kill two birds with one stone? ”

"Su Zhongtang, please don't forget the lessons of the rebels Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the previous dynasty." Lin Kui retorted unconvinced: "These two bandit leaders were almost wiped out by the officials and troops of the previous dynasty several times, but each time it was because the officials and troops of the previous dynasty did not kill them all, giving them the opportunity to make a comeback, and finally caused uncontrollable consequences. ”

"That's because Emperor Chongzhen of the former Ming Dynasty lost his morality and the people's hearts turned their backs, so Li Bandit and Zhang Bandit were repeatedly suppressed!" Su Shun talked nonsense with his conscience, and said even more shamelessly: "My dynasty is different, the emperor of my Qing Dynasty is not diligent and loves the people, and what emperor is not supported by all the people?" Our current master loves the people like a son, and is recognized by all the people as a benevolent king! The long-haired bandits froze to death and starved to death in the mountains and forests, if they dared to step out of the mountains, they would definitely be discussed by the whole world, and everyone would be punished! ”

"Alright, stop arguing." Emperor Xianfeng interrupted the shameless argument between Su Shun and Lin Kui, and said with a gloomy face: "I will tell Wu Aiqing that the evil must be eliminated!" It's the same to rest there, let him rest in Jinan, help Zaiyuan coordinate the overall situation, continue to search for the long-haired Yu party, and wait until the long-haired bandits in Shandong are completely wiped out and then return to Shanghai! ”

Categorically vetoed Wu Chaoyue's request to return to Shanghai immediately, Emperor Xianfeng made a little calculation, and said: "Again, Wu Chaoyue is appointed as the envoy of Jiangsu, the rank of squire of the leading army, rewarded with dazzling eyes, the first class of knights, and a yellow coat and 1,000 taels of gold!" In addition, 50,000 taels of silver were transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to reward the meritorious soldiers under Wu Chaoyue's command. ”

As soon as Emperor Xianfeng's words were finished, Mianyu on the other side had already widened his eyes and exclaimed, "Your Majesty, it's too heavy, right?" Not to mention the gold and title, Wu Chaoyue is only nineteen years old, how can he be crowned as the third-rank inspector and reward the second-grade military squire title? ”

"Shut up!" Emperor Xianfeng didn't give the fifth uncle any face, and roared: "What's wrong with the nineteenth year old? The monk you strongly recommended to me is in his forties, but what did he do with the battle? If he is more aggressive, let alone the squire of the Ministry of War, the Minister of War and the Minister of Military Aircraft can be sealed! But what did he do with the battle? What did it look like?! ”

The more he talked, the more angry he became, Emperor Xianfeng simply took up the pseudo-dragon case again, and roared with anger, "This time Zhili suppressed bandits, if there is one more capable minister in the army like Wu Aiqing, who has won all battles, and one more loyal minister like him who thinks about me and the court in everything, how can he let Li Zhiji escape with his life?" Millions of salaries were consumed, tens of thousands of officials, soldiers and township warriors were mobilized, and in the end, the bamboo basket was empty? ! Wu Aiqing, a loyal minister and a capable minister, if I don't make an exception and reward him thickly, do I still want to reward Shengbao? Go and reward the monk Grinqin?! (To be continued.) )