Compared with most of the Qing army, the Tai'an Qing army is indeed relatively capable of fighting, with good weapons and equipment, a firm will to fight, and the training in peacetime is quite strict, with the demeanor of elite and strong soldiers. However, it is a pity that the Tai'an Qing army met the battle-hardened and imposing Wu army this time, and was blown up by the Wu army and lost its geographical advantage, so the Tai'an Qing army was destined to become a tragedy with a capital letter.

After the city wall was blown down, the Tai'an Qing army, which had a certain amount of preparation, also wanted to temporarily block the Wu army's offensive with a powder keg, and gain time to re-plug the gap, but the gap was as wide as 15 or 6 zhang, even if the powder keg was desperately smashed to temporarily block the Wu army, it was too late to quickly plug the gap, coupled with the experienced Wu army, and concentrated artillery fire on both sides of the gap, the Tai'an Qing army was not only more difficult to plug successfully, but the number of casualties also skyrocketed.

After the artillery fire stopped, when the Wu army commando launched a charge again, the Tai'an Qing army, which had been bombarded by Wu army's artillery fire, had no time to throw enough powder kegs to completely block the road. And when more than 1,000 Wu soldiers rushed into the city, the Tai'an Qing army no longer had the opportunity to re-plug the gap, the Wu army continued to kill into the city, the Tai'an Qing army was defeated like a mountain, the regimental training was the first to collapse, and then the regular army also collapsed, constantly escaped from the east, west and north three gates outside the city, the Wu army took advantage of the situation to take the Tai'an granary, and successfully captured a large number of valuable grain.

In the melee, the loyal Qing army commander Baisheng once personally led the reserve to rescue the gap, after being defeated by the Wu army, Baisheng fled back to the command and discussed countermeasures with Liu Yingjie, although Liu Bairen also had the idea of fleeing north to Jinan with the defeated army, but considering the current situation of the Manchu court at sunset, as well as the responsibility that the army will bear after losing Tai'an, Liu Baier, who had been loyal to the Manchu court, gritted his teeth and crossed his heart, and simply chose to take the remnants of the defeated army to lay down his arms and surrender, Following the example of countless colleagues, he became a traitor to the Qing army.

The civil and military leaders all chose to surrender on their knees, and the remaining Tai'an Qing army naturally had no hope, and was all expelled from the city by the Wu army before dawn. And the interesting thing is that because he was angry that the Tai'an Qing army let himself suffer the first defeat after the Northern Expedition, Hu Huaizhao, the boss of the Wu army's partial division, once had to drink the order to behead Liu Yingjie and Baisheng to avenge the soldiers who died when the previous sneak attack failed, so frightened that Liu Yingjie and Baisheng hurriedly shouted injustice, and stated in public that he was determined to protect the granary.

After the victory, the Wu army's partial division was of course full of joy, but when Hu Huaizhao and the jackals, tigers and leopards of the Wu army happily received and counted the precious military rations, the scouts of the Wu army were in the northwest of Tai'an, but in the area of the head of the Jietou in the northwest of Tai'an, they caught the messenger sent by the Qing army in Jinan to contact the Qing army in Tai'an, and also successfully captured the letter written by Bao Jun to Liu Yingjie, from which they learned the news that the Qing army's reinforcements would arrive soon. Then the scouts of the Wu army did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly sent the letter and messenger to the city to report this important news to Hu Huaizhao.

"Reinforcements from the rebellious party are coming? Do you want Liu Yingjie and Yum to burn the grain when they can't hold it? This rebellious party governor named Baojun is really fucking ruthless! It's a pity that it's late, he's too late, this son of a bitch never dreamed of it, we only took one night to take Tai'an City. ”

At the beginning, Hu Huaizhao did not pay special attention to this information, and once happily laughed at Baojun's slow movements, proud of the speed of his army's movements, and successfully took the important town of Tai'an, which had blocked the main force of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition for several months, in just one night. However, after gradually coming back to his senses, Hu Huaizhao, who was not too stupid, suddenly realized that the opportunity had come, and said in surprise: "The reinforcements of the rebellious party want to take the road of Zhang Xiazhen to reinforce Tai'an?" I heard that the road is a mountain road, narrow and long, lined with deep mountains and old forests, is a good place for ambush warfare, if we can make some fuss on that road, use ambush soldiers to kill the reinforcements of the rebellious party, and then go north to fight Jinan, the grasp will be much greater? ”

"General Hu, I'm afraid it's too late." He Qinghan next to him reminded: "Last night, there were many soldiers of the rebellious party who escaped from the city, and it is very likely that some of them will flee to Jinan by that mountain road, as long as they tell the news that we have taken Tai'an to the rebellious party reinforcements, the rebellious party's reinforcements will definitely not come south, even if we set up an ambush, it will not play a role." ”

Hu Huaizhao refused to give up, and asked the self-army scouts who escorted the messenger: "Until last night and just now, have you found that any of the defeated soldiers of the chaotic party have fled into the mountain road in Zhangxia Town?" Did you intercept them all? ”

"Back to General Hu, there have been discoveries, and five or six have been discovered." The scout replied truthfully: "We have stopped all that we can, but we are not sure that any of the defeated rebels have escaped our interception and fled into that narrow mountain road." ”

Hu Huaizhao was disappointed when he heard this, but he still refused to give up, and said to himself: "In this way, it is possible to let the rebel party reinforcements know the news in advance, but if I am the general of the rebel party reinforcements, I will definitely not give up directly after believing a few defeated soldiers, I will send someone south to inquire about the news, and after finding out the situation, I will decide whether to continue to go south to save Tai'an, or quickly withdraw north from the mountain road." If we can find some way in this regard, we may still hope to deceive the rebel army into sending ...... to death. ”

"Does General Hu want to use the trick of fishing in troubled waters?"

He Qinghan next to him opened his mouth and curiously interrupted Hu Huaizhao's self-talk, but unfortunately, Hu Huaizhao, who was not highly educated, asked dizzily: "Mr. Boyuan, what is fishing in troubled waters?" What do you mean? ”

"Don't even know this idiom? You still have the face to lead the troops to fight. He Qinghan slandered in his heart, but he still pretended to be a scholar: "The idiom of fishing in troubled waters comes from the thirty-six strategies, and the original text is to take advantage of its chaos, benefit its weakness and have no owner." Follow, in order to feast on obscurity. ”

Hu Huaizhao, who was sorry for the literary language, looked even more embarrassed, and had to ask He Qinghan to translate further, He Qinghan had no choice but to explain carefully: "In the vernacular, this passage is to take advantage of the enemy's internal chaos and take advantage of his ignorance and lack of assertiveness to make him obedient, which is human nature, just like people must go into the room to rest at night." ”

After that, He Qinghan, who did not understand military affairs but was quite smart, said: "The current chaotic party reinforcements are like fish in troubled water, we can only roughly see the situation nearby, and we can't see the distance clearly. ”

"Then how do you completely mess up the water?" Hu Huaizhao hurriedly asked again.

"This ......." He Qinghan, who didn't understand military affairs, hesitated a little and wanted to excuse himself, but when the words came to his lips, He Qinghan suddenly had an idea and said, "General Hu, how about using false reports?" asked Liu Yingjie to write a letter to Zhang Guoliang, who led the rebellious party reinforcements, and said that Liu Yingjie found out that we had sent a fine work disguised as a defeated soldier of Tai'an to go north to report a false letter, and lied to Zhang Guoliang that Tai'an City had been taken by us, and wanted Zhang Guoliang to stop advancing to buy time for us to attack Tai'an, and asked Zhang Guoliang to hurry south to save Tai'an. ”

"In this way, Zhang Guoliang may suspect that those defeated soldiers of the rebellious party who escaped into the mountain road to report the news were our meticulous work, kill them and continue to go south, penetrate into our encirclement, and give us a chance to annihilate them all......."

"Good! That's it! Quick, send someone to invite Liu Yingjie to meet me. ”

Before He Qinghan finished speaking, Hu Huaizhao had already applauded, and couldn't wait to send someone to ask Liu Yingjie to write a fake letter, but He Qinghan was dumbfounded when he heard it, and hurriedly said: "General Hu, this method may not be reliable?" And the person who sent the fake letter is also a big problem, if he can't be trusted and betrays us, we will be in big trouble. ”

"What's in trouble with us? At most, let the army feed mosquitoes in the mountains for two days, and soon it will be winter, and there are not many mosquitoes in the mountains. Hu Huaizhao's rogue temperament was fully revealed, and he said with a smile: "It is easier for the person who sends the fake letter to do it, just find someone who has a family in Tai'an City, and promise him a heavy reward, if he dares to disobey, he will slaughter his whole family, and see if he dares to sell us." ”

"It's straightforward." He Qinghan smiled bitterly, and said secretly: "But you can really try your luck like this, if you don't succeed, you will lose a messenger, if it does, our harvest will be great." A book of great profits, worth a try. ”

…………

Now it's time to take a look at the situation on Zhang Guoliang's side, and by the way, Zhang Guoliang was able to appear again in the ranks of the Qing army in Shandong, as mentioned above, in the battle of Pingshan east of Jingcheng Pass, because of the love of the monk and the prince, Yi Xing'a deliberately declared a personal vendetta, intending to frame Fu Zhenbang, a famous general of the Qing army who had a grudge against him, and Zhang Guoliang, who dared to help Fu Zhenbang and himself go against him, causing Fu Zhang's second army to mutiny, which led to the defeat of the Qing army in Pingshan, and the Wu army successfully rushed out of the narrow mountain road.

Afterwards, of course, Yi Xing'a went to the bullet to impeach Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang, and Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang, who were rescued by his subordinates, also sent people to contact the Manchu court to complain about their grievances at the first time, and as a result, the devil sent people to investigate and found that most of the responsibilities did need Yi Xing'a to carry them, and the Manchu court, which was declining, needed Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang to lead the army, so they did not hesitate to put Yi Xing'a in prison and bring them to justice, and accepted Luo Bingzhang's request, so that Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang returned to Shandong together to continue to lead the army. After receiving the news of Tai'an's emergency, he not only immediately arranged for Zhang Guoliang to lead 2,000 men and horses from his headquarters to the south for reinforcements, but also allocated three battalions of the Shandong Qing army to Zhang Guoliang under the command of Zhang Guoliang to strengthen Zhang Guoliang's army strength.

The army under his command mutinied without any punishment, and the two governors of Shandong before and after were so important to themselves, Zhang Guoliang, who was already very loyal to the Manchu court, was of course even more loyal, and after receiving Bao Jun's order, not only did he not have any shirk and complain, but also patted his chest in front of Bao Jun and promised that he would complete more than 160 miles of roads within two days and rush to Tai'an for reinforcements. As a result, Bao Jun was of course very satisfied when he heard it, but his friend Fu Zhenbang hurriedly reminded: "Palace, be careful, this mountain road in Zhang Xiazhen is too dangerous, don't just rush to the road, send more scouts to investigate, if you find something wrong, you must stop immediately, retreat when you should retreat, if you are surrounded by thieves on that road, you will be in big trouble." ”

"Don't worry, take that road, of course I don't dare to be careless." Zhang Guoliang answered his friend's reminder with a wave of his hand.

Although the answer was a little careless, after crossing Changqing and turning into the mountain road, Zhang Guoliang did not dare to forget Fu Zhenbang's advice and reminder, and carefully sent a large number of scouts who were accustomed to walking the mountain road to investigate the movement of the road, and carefully guarded both sides of the road while hurrying southward, and did not relax his vigilance because it was still far away from the Tai'an battlefield. In the evening of the same day, after rushing to Qingyang Village in the south of Zhangxia Town, Zhang Guoliang not only sent more people to the periphery quickly, but also specially sent fast horses to the south overnight to contact the Qing army of the Great Wall Post in front of him to understand the latest situation on the Tai'an battlefield.

Hu Huaizhao and He Qinghan's greatest fears thus happened, and in the early morning of the next day, Zhang Guoliang's army continued to move south without going far, and the fast horses sent to contact the Great Wall Post the night before galloped back to Zhang Guoliang's face, and reported to Zhang Guoliang that several defeated soldiers of the Tai'an Qing army had fled to the Great Wall Post yesterday afternoon, and reported to the Great Wall Post Qing army that the city of Tai'an had been broken by the Wu army the night before. Zhang Guoliang was shocked when he heard the report, and exclaimed: "Tai'an City has been broken by the Wu rebel army the night before yesterday? How can it be? Didn't it say that Wu's rebel army only began to cut off the water and prepare to attack the city the morning before yesterday, how could it take so little time to break through Tai'an City? How did the Wu rebel thief army enter Tai'an City? ”

"I heard that our defeated soldiers who fled to the Great Wall Post in Tai'an said that the Wu rebel army blew down the city wall with gunpowder." The messenger who went to contact the Great Wall Post replied truthfully.

"Blowing down the walls with gunpowder?" Zhang Guoliang was skeptical, and some doubted the truth of the news - after all, it was not very easy to blow down the city wall in such a short time.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhang Guoliang asked again: "What about Liu Zhentai and Baititai?" Do they have any news? ”

"I don't know." The messenger shook his head and said: "The defeated soldiers of Tai'an who fled to the Great Wall Post fled out of the city when they saw Wu's rebel army entering the city, and they don't know the situation of Liu Zhentai and Baititai. Also, there is a mess on the side of the Great Wall Station, and the post man has to ask you for him, should he abandon the post station and bring the stagecoach to meet us? ”

Zhang Guoliang was silent, and the eldest son Zhang Yinqing next to him reminded: "Father, shouldn't you let the army stop advancing?" ”

Zhang Guoliang nodded, and was about to give the order to stop the army from advancing, but a fast horse suddenly came in front, and immediately the knight had a red flag on his back to deliver an urgent report, Zhang Guoliang did not dare to slack off, and quickly let the army stop and rest temporarily, while letting the soldiers step forward to stop the knight, lead him to himself, and then cut his head and cover his face and asked the person: "Who are you?" What are you here for? ”

"General Zhang, I finally met you." The person who came still knew Zhang Guoliang, and hurriedly introduced himself: "General Zhang, do you remember me?" Liu Zhentai's personal follower Luo Shaojin, we met a few years ago when you went to Tai'an with Luo Futai to play long hair. ”

After carefully recalling and finding that the person in front of him was a little familiar, Zhang Guoliang hurriedly asked, "Where is Liu Zhentai?" How is he doing now? ”

"It's okay at the moment, but the siege of Wu's rebel army is too tight, and Tai'an City doesn't know how long it can last."

Luo Shaojin's words of reply made Zhang Guoliang's father and son dumbfounded, and Zhang Guoliang couldn't help but blurt out: "What? Tai'an City is still in our hands? Not broken by Wu's rebel army? ”

"That's what the little ones are here for." Luo Shaojin hurriedly explained, while untying the package on his back, taking out a letter with chicken feathers and presenting it, he said quickly: "General Zhang, you have been fooled, the fact that Tai'an City has been broken by the Wu rebel thief army is a false news deliberately spread by the thief army, which means that I want to trick you into retreating from the army, don't go to save Tai'an." This is our handwritten letter from Liu Zhentai, you will know it after reading it. ”

After hurriedly reading the letter written by Liu Yingjie, Zhang Guoliang did not hesitate, and immediately pulled out the saber on his waist, his copper bell eyes widened, and shouted angrily at Luo Shaojin: "Raised by a son of a bitch, you dare to help Wu rebel thieves to deceive Lao Tzu?!" ”