Just do it, after making up your mind, this time Jiang Zhongji, the commander of the Northern Expedition of the Wu Army, summoned the generals under his command on the same day, and announced the decision to bypass Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan City to intersperse a surprise attack on Jinzhou, and the result was the same as Jiang Zhongji before he made up his mind, the generals of the Wu army were also surprised by this seemingly risky tactic, and questioned it one after another, and Li Hongzhang had to stand up again to explain and analyze it with great effort, wasting a lot of saliva, which made the generals of the Wu army, including Xu Lai and Ding Ruchang, accept this tactical plan, Agreed to support Jiang Zhongji in initiating this action.

It was convenient to have the support of the naval division to intersperse along the coast, and in just over a day, the main force of more than 17,000 Wu troops, including cavalry, boarded all the sea ships under the personal leadership of Jiang Zhongji, and under the protection of the naval division's warships, Zhang Fan sailed north, and slaughtered towards Jinzhou. The more than 8,000 rear troops were handed over by Jiang Zhongji to the commander of Zhu Hongzhang, the general of the old and steady Wu army, and all of them were stationed in the south of Shanhaiguan, responsible for containing the Qing army in Shanhaiguan and protecting the grain and grass hoarded in Qinhuangdao.

During this period, although the Qing Army's Zailing Department in Shanhaiguan, which was close at hand, knew the movements of the Wu army well, and even successfully found out that the Wu army did not carry too much grain and grass in order to free up ships to transport troops, but because they did not dare to fight with the Wu army, Zai Ling and Wang Zhankui and other Qing army civil and military forces never dared to send a soldier to contain a little, so they could only quickly send people north to report to Ningyuan City and Jinzhou, so that the Qing army in Ningyuan and Jinzhou could quickly prepare for the battle, while watching the main force of the Wu army board the ship and go north. to cut off their direct contact with the rear of Shenyang.

Thanks to the blessing of the home battle, the warning issued by Shanhaiguan was sent to Ningyuan and Jinzhou successively in only two days, and the Qing army in both places was frightened, and hurriedly made all kinds of pre-war preparations, and the Qing army reinforcements who were still on the way south also stepped up their steps after receiving the news, and hurried to Ningyuan or Jinzhou to station in the city to help the battle, not daring to waste time on the road, giving the Wu army a chance to besiege the city and send reinforcements.

At the critical moment, luck was on the side of the Qing army again, and the Wu army's sailors, who were extremely unfamiliar with the hydrology of Liaodong Bay, still protected the troop transport fleet and crossed Huludao, only to find out that the self-army had made a mistake through on-the-spot investigation - because of the sediment accumulation brought by the water of the Xiaoling River, the vicinity of the estuary of the Xiaoling River has become a large silt shoal, which is extremely unsuitable for the troop transport fleet to land on the shore, and it is difficult for the Wu army fleet to land at Anttun, ten miles southwest of Jinzhou, according to the original plan, and there is no way to use Anttun as the main camp for attacking Jinzhou.

Therefore, there was no other way, and the Wu army fleet could only temporarily adjust its plan, land in the area of Tianqiaochang, 40 miles south of Jinzhou City, where the surrounding sea water is deepest, build a temporary wharf and set up a camp in order to hoard grain and grass, which not only wasted precious time for surprise attacks, but also forced to divide troops to stay in Tianqiaochang to protect the wharf and grain and grass, and could not use all combat forces to attack Jinzhou City according to the original plan. As a result, the Qing army in Jinzhou also gained at least two more days to prepare for the battle, and took the opportunity to dig a trench outside the city of Jinzhou, introducing water from the Xiaoling River to protect the city, which once again increased the difficulty of the Wu army's siege.

Fortunately, even so, the Wu army still has the absolute upper hand in terms of strength, and the preliminary investigation basically confirms that including the newly arrived reinforcements from the rear, the number of Qing troops in Jinzhou City is only about 6,000 and the weapons and equipment are indeed not as sophisticated as the Qing army in Shanhaiguan, so Jiang Zhongji is still relieved to take the main force north to cross the Xiaoling River, set up a camp directly north of Jinzhou City, and start preparing to launch an attack. The Wu Army's naval division went south according to the original plan, returning to Qinhuangdao to transport grain to the north to supply the front line for operations.

During this period, although there was no head-to-head confrontation between the Wu army and the Qing army, the scouts on both sides were trying to probe each other's situation, and the various arrangements of the Wu army were constantly sent by the Qing army scouts to Jinzhou, Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan to land. As a result, after learning that the Wu army was forced to land and stock up on Tianqiaochang, which was far away from Jinzhou, the commander of the Qing army in the Liaoxi battlefield, Zai Ling, couldn't help but be a little surprised, and said: "What a chance, Wu thieves are forced to stock up on grain in Tianqiaochang, which is not very far from Ningyuan, and our Ningyuan army can send light cavalry to attack their granaries and burn their grain and grass?" ”

"I'm afraid it's not that easy." Deputy Wang Zhankui poured cold water and said: "Wu thief's battlefield experience is far above us, it is impossible not to prevent us from sneaking up on their grain hoarding land. ”

Zai Ling, who had some military talent, looked at the sand table and didn't speak, and after thinking for a long time, Zai Ling suddenly ordered: "Give Ning Yuan's Rui Chang an order, asking him to send two battalions of troops to the north and set up a camp at Lianshan Fort." ”

"Loading platform, why do you want to do this?" Wang Zhankui asked very strangely: "Let's not mention that Lianshan Fort is a camp left by the previous dynasty, the fort wall has already collapsed, and it is difficult to build a strong camp in a short time." Even if we could build a camp quickly, it would only backfire? When the Wu rebel army saw us camping there, they must have immediately known that we wanted to attack the Tianqiao field, and they would only protect their grain hoarding land more closely. ”

"That's what I want." Zai Ling replied: "I just want the Wu rebel army to know that I am preparing to attack their granary, forcing them to strengthen the protection of the granary, and even luring them to send troops to attack Lianshan Fort, so that our Jinzhou defenders can be more relaxed, and there is more hope to hold out until winter." ”

"Clever in making the table." Wang Zhankui suddenly realized and praised: "That's right, seeing that we set up a camp in Lianshan Fort, the Wu thieves have to strengthen the protection of the Tianqiao Field, or directly send troops to drive our army away from Lianshan Fort, in this way, we are equivalent to using two battalions of second-line troops to contain the elite of Wu thieves of several thousand." ”

Zai Ling smiled and nodded, admitting that this was his true purpose, but he remembered the main granary established by the Wu army in Qinhuangdao, and secretly said in his heart: "It would be good if I could make some articles here in Qinhuangdao, if Qinhuangdao succeeds here, maybe it can turn the tide of the entire battlefield in western Liaoning." ”

Perhaps it was destined to make Zai Ling pay special attention to the Wu army's Qinhuangdao granary, and the day after the order was issued, the Qing army scouts found out the news again and found that the Wu army fleet that had returned to Qinhuangdao had once again rushed north to the Jinzhou front line under the protection of the Wu army's naval division after loading a batch of grain and grass. And after the situation report arrived in front of Zai Ling, Zai Ling couldn't help but be moved again, and said secretly: "Wu Thief's sailor is gone again, and now there is Zhu Hongzhang's thief army south of Shanhaiguan, if you can find a way to contain the main force of the thief soldiers and send an elite surprise attack on Qinhuangdao, maybe you can directly kill the granary of the thief army and reverse the situation in western Liaoning in one fell swoop." ”

Itchy and hard to ponder carefully, Zai Ling was excited to find that in fact, not only did he not have any chance, but on the contrary, the opportunity was quite large, because in Shanhaiguan City, there were more than 14,000 Qing troops to use, and the Wu army relied on its own army to have strong field combat capabilities, leaving only 8,000 troops to monitor the Shanhaiguan Qing army and protect the granary, of which 5,000 people were stationed outside the south gate of Shanhaiguan, and six battalions of 3,000 people were stationed in Qinhuangdao. Not without the power of a fight.

More importantly, Shanhaiguan is only more than 30 miles away from Qinhuangdao, although the Wu army chose Qinhuangdao to store grain for the convenience of transshipment of grain from the sea, but it is also very convenient for the Shanhaiguan Qing army to sneak attack the Wu army's granary, as long as the Shanhaiguan Qing army highlights the strange soldiers, or a few hours can rush to Qinhuangdao, directly win the hope of destroying the Wu army's granary!

After carefully pondering the possibility of this action, in the evening, Zai Ling made up his mind, first invited several of his military deputies to have dinner together, and then when it was time to eat, Zai Ling made his plan to attack the granary of the Wu army public, and took it out to discuss with several generals. The result made Zai Ling very happy that although Wang Zhankui and Zhang Mingjin and other generals were surprised by his decision, they were not so afraid that they did not dare to accept the order.

The plan of action that Zai Ling figured out by himself is indeed very feasible, and he is ready to arrange the elite of a battalion to serve as a death squad, put on a flag and a white tasseled hat, disguise himself as Wu Jun, and go out of the city at night to lurk; Then the main force was dispatched to attack the main camp of the Wu army at night, pretending to rob the camp to confuse the judgment of the Wu army, and also taking the opportunity to contain the main force of the Wu army. Then the Qing army divided 3,000 troops, chasing and killing the death squad pretending to be the Wu army to go south to Qinhuangdao together, after the death squad arrived at Qinhuangdao, first panicked and said that it was Zhu Hongzhang sent to reinforce the Wu army reinforcements in Qinhuangdao, of course, it is best to directly open the door of the Wu army camp, directly rush in and set fire to the grain, if it cannot be successful, the Qing army will launch a frontal assault on the Wu army camp, cover the death squad to rush into the Wu army camp and set fire, and strive to win. If they still couldn't succeed, the Qing army would retreat before dawn to preserve the army as much as possible and minimize losses.

With the help of several generals with actual combat experience, Zai Ling finalized some details of the plan, prepared a relatively complete set of contingency plans, and began to make full preparations for launching this war early the next morning, so that the troops preparing to go to war could seize the time to rest, rush to make and distribute torches, dry food and other things for night battles, and set up death squads to do pre-war encouragement and mobilization. Then when it was slightly dark, Zai Ling sent troops at the middle of the command headquarters to officially carry out a surprise attack on the granary of Qinhuangdao of the Wu army.

The season is indeed very favorable to the Qing army, just after six o'clock in the afternoon, the sky in the area of Shanhaiguan is already dark, at seven o'clock, the Qing army in Shanhaiguan quietly opened the east gate of Linyu City, the Qing army death squad quietly went out of the city under the cover of night, and the people were covered with horses and hooves, and silently sneaked to the sheep and horse wall to ambush. At half past seven, the Qing army quietly opened the south gate of Linyu again, and the main brigade was also a man with a horse and a hoof, trying not to make a sound to sneak out of the city in batches, and quietly crossed the bridge to the Stone River to assemble, and because the sky was too dark and the moonlight was dark at the end of the month, etc., it was still at eight o'clock when the river was crossed, the Wu army patrol team responsible for monitoring the Shihe bridge found out about the Qing army's action, and quickly issued a warning alarm.

Hearing the gunfire of the Wu soldiers, the Qing army that hit the vanguard immediately charged across the river and quickly rushed across the stone bridge to seize the gun position, although the Wu army patrol desperately shot to block it, and also ignited the emergency mine planted at the bridgehead in advance, but still failed to block the Qing army's assault team from crossing the river, and missed the opportunity to block the Qing army on the north bank of the Shihe River. The Qing army's vanguard seized the opportunity to quickly cross the river and quickly gathered a certain number of troops on the south bank of the Shihe River, ensuring the smooth passage of the road to the south and protecting the road for the main force to enter the camp of the Wu army.

It was still at this time that the main force of the Wu army led by Zhu Hongzhang made a contingency response, but unfortunately, because the sky was too dark and the enemy situation was unknown, Zhu Hongzhang, who had a cautious personality, did not dare to risk sending troops to meet the battle, and chose to let the whole army close the camp and defend, watching the main force of the Qing army stride across the river and quickly advance to the side of the camp of the army to attack.

Then, although the soldiers of the Wu army firmly blocked the Qing army with strong fortifications and did not give the main force of the Qing army a chance to enter the camp of the own army, the Qing army death squad pretending to be the Wu army team also took the opportunity to cross the Shihe bridge, and then quickly went south to attack Qinhuangdao according to the original plan, and because the Qing army death squad has not fired too many torches, the main force of the Wu army, which was temporarily blocked in the camp by the Qing army, has never found this suddenly extra 'Wu army' battalion.

At about 9:40, the main force of the Qing army suddenly divided its troops, sending six battalions of 3,000 troops to bypass the Wu army camp to the south, although the main force of the Wu army quickly discovered the action of the Qing army, but thought that the Qing army was preparing to attack the back door of the camp of the Qing army in a roundabout way, and did not make a correct response in time, and finally after ten o'clock, it was confirmed that the Qing army division was going to the direction of Qinhuangdao, and the surprised Zhu Hongzhang hurriedly sent a fast horse to Qinhuangdao to report to Qinhuangdao, so that Ni Gui, the general of the Wu army guarding Qinhuangdao, was ready to hold on.

At the same time, the Qing army death squad pretending to be Wu Jun had already lit all the torches, strode south on the official road with the forged Wu army flag, and directly declared that it was Zhu Hongzhang who sent the army to reinforce Qinhuangdao when they encountered the Wu army scouts, and when the Wu army scouts who first encountered the Qing army carefully questioned the night password, the Qing soldiers who dealt with the Wu army scouts also scolded: "The password is your mother's head!" Don't see our flag? The matter of reinforcing Qinhuangdao is so important, who has time to waste time with you? ”

"No, you have to say the password!"

The Wu army scout was about to insist, but he never thought that a few crossbow arrows suddenly flew out of the Qing army's ranks, and immediately shot the unlucky Wu army scout off the horse, and the Qing soldiers in front of him swarmed up, held down the Wu army scout who was not dead by the arrow, and shouted to ask the Wu army for the night password, the Wu army scout struggled to refuse, and was cut off two fingers by the Qing army soldiers without hesitation. As a result, the Qing army was still lucky, and ran into a Wu army scout with relatively soft bones, and the Wu army scout finally replied honestly: "Our password tonight is to hack the devil to death, and the king of Zhennan, Chitose Chitose, Chitose Chitose." ”

A knife resulted in the captured renegade Wu army scout, the Qing army death squad continued to rush south, and the four companions of the Wu army scout who were killed escaped to the police, but in a panic all fled to the main camp of the Wu army, no one could think of hurry south to report to Qinhuangdao, the Qing army death squad took the opportunity to quickly go south, relying on the captured night password to deceive the Wu army sentry posts along the way, and successfully arrived near the Wu army's Qinhuangdao camp at about one o'clock in the morning, At the same time, the Qing army brigade, which pretended to chase and kill Wu's reinforcements, also successfully approached within ten miles of Qinhuangdao.

The most critical moment came, swaggering to the gate of the Wu army's Qinhuangdao camp with dense torches and the banner of the Wu army, the Qing army's death squad first replied to the order to deceive the trust of the Wu army, and then falsely claimed that it was Zhu Hongzhang who sent to reinforce the army of Qinhuangdao, and said that there was a Qing army chasing and killing behind, and asked the soldiers of the Wu army to immediately open the camp gate to let the army enter the camp. And because the password was correct, and seeing that there was indeed a Qing army brigade chasing and killing behind, the general of the Wu army guarding the camp gate really ordered: "Open the door immediately and let them in!" ”

"Wait! Don't open the door! ”

Fortunately, at the critical moment, Ni Gui, the chief general of the Wu army in Qinhuangdao, appeared in time, first drank the soldiers of the self-army who were already taking the latch, and then immediately asked about the specific details of the reinforcements, and learned that the Wu army battalion officer who led the army to reinforcements was Zhu Hongzhang's general Zheng Xiang, but Ni Gui, who had only heard of Zheng Xiang's name, moved his eyes and ordered for the sake of caution: "Tell them, say that I am very familiar with Zheng Xiang, call Zheng Xiang over, I will personally identify it." ”

"Lord Ni said, he is very familiar with your Zheng Xiang Zheng Yingguan, please come over to your Zheng Yingguan, our Lord Ni will personally identify it!"

Hiding in the crowd and hearing the shouts and demands of the soldiers of the Wu military camp, sweat immediately appeared on the forehead of Zhang Mingjin, a general of the Qing army who pretended to be an officer of the Wu military camp, and said secretly: "What should I do?" Do you want to try your luck? What if recognized? Wu thief army is a platoon of guns, I still have to change a sieve? ”

"Zheng Xiang Zheng Yingguan, please come out and answer."

The shouts of the soldiers of the Wu army came from the gate of the camp again, and when Zhang Mingjin was even more hesitant in his heart, Jin Taiwen, the former Qing army Lu Longshou who volunteered to help Zhang Mingjin, came up and said in a low voice: "General Zhang, Wu Thief's words are a bit strange, deliberately emphasizing that they are very familiar with that Zheng Xiang, why does it sound as if there are no silver three hundred taels here?" The lower officials have the courage to think that you should take a risk, if you get past and deceive the door of the thief's barracks, we will make a miracle tonight. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Mingjin's heart jumped, and almost subconsciously stepped forward and walked towards the door of the Wu military camp......