Wang Kebin stopped the officer, questioned his selection criteria, and wanted to participate in the operation.

Seeing that he found out the inside story so quickly, the officer knew that he was not an ordinary soldier, and patiently explained: "You are too handsome, unlike ordinary soldiers, and if you are brought too conspicuously, you are likely to cause trouble." ”

Wang Kebin blinked his eyes for a long time, pointed to the big bull in the team not far away and asked, "Then how did he choose?" Wouldn't it be more conspicuous that he was so fat. ”

The officer turned his head to look at Da Guniu, his eyes faintly revealed a hint of closeness, and said with a smile: "He was born with that figure, it doesn't matter how fat he is, he used to be a green battalion soldier, and his speech and demeanor will not show flaws." ”

"You know him?" Wang Kebin immediately discovered the language problem in his words.

"Yes, I used to share something with him, but on the Green Camp." The officer was Gan Yu, and said: "I not only know him, but also know him very well, and I can give the best play to his role and complete this mission, is there any problem?" ”

……

On the fourth watch, the vicinity of the pontoon bridge was still brightly lit, and the transport ships of the Qing army's naval division ferried back and forth to bring the cannons that were too heavy to pass through the pontoon bridge to the opposite bank.

Away from those bright lanterns and torches, surrounded by a heavy night, there was no light pollution in this era, it was dark everywhere at night, and the steaming river was equally dark and dreary, only the sound of flowing water was continuous, and a warship of the Qing army sailors sailed slowly past, patrolling the nearby river.

Several large lanterns illuminated the hull of the boat, but it could not illuminate the distance, and the Qing army sentry at the bow of the boat suddenly felt some movement on the river. Hurriedly reported to the officer on duty, turned the warship and sailed to the vicinity to check.

In addition to a few floating aquatic plants, some rotten wooden planks and broken bamboo rafts floating downstream. There was nothing else, the army was crossing the river on the pontoon bridge, and it was normal to wash down some garbage, and the Qing warship turned around and drove away, and the officer could be heard scolding the nervous sentry from afar.

There was a soft splash, and one head after another poked out of the water. The soldiers of the Chu army spit out the reed tube in their mouths and breathed happily. The black fish came out of the water and looked at the Qing warship in the distance. Beckoning his companions to work together, he pushed the rafts forward, and several taut ropes appeared behind the rafts, as if dragging some heavy objects.

Take advantage of the night. Two hundred soldiers of the Chu army crossed the steaming river. Untie the rope tied to the raft, pull out the oilcloth baggage from the water, and disappear into the night.

Two miles away from the shore, they came across a wood, and the black fish looked around and whispered, "This is a good place, let everyone rest for a while, and quickly dry your clothes." ”

The night can provide cover, though. But it is difficult to say whether there are any sentinels of the Qing army nearby, and the Chu army is not familiar with the place. If you continue to walk forward, you may be exposed, so it is better to take a break here and wait for the dawn before swaggering.

They unwrapped their oilcloths, took out knives, guns, clothes and armor wrapped in animal skins, wiped them carefully, and then sat down on the spot, felt out the dry food and gourds filled with water to eat and drink, and some people were still chatting quietly.

"Aren't you working under Quan Xi? How did you get back? "Da Gu Niu and Gan Yu have a lot of friendships, and they didn't find a chance to speak all the way, and they were full of questions.

"I'm here to help temporarily, and I'll go back when this battle is over." Gan Yu had been active in Hengyang some time ago, and was very familiar with the situation on the Qing army, so he was selected to join the commando.

"When did you get promoted?" In addition to envy, Da Gu Niu is more happy for his friends.

"It's not decided, if you mess up the errand this time, you'll have to go back to the original shape." In the face of his friends who are still ordinary soldiers, Gan Yu is a little embarrassed, the specifications of the intelligence bureau are very high, but there are not many manpower, and these backbones of them are promoted very quickly, in order to maintain balance as much as possible, all the promoted officers must be trained in the front-line troops.

After dawn, there was a faint sound of cannons on the other side of the steaming river, and the battle of the new day began again, looking out from the woods, there was a small road nearby, no one passed quietly, but there was a big road in the distance, there were Qing troops shuttling back and forth in the early morning, and the wooden donkey carts transporting grain and grass were lined up in strings.

Sentinels disguised as Qing soldiers poked out of the woods to check the surrounding situation, while Blackfish called the soldiers together to make arrangements before the battle.

"Now we can tell everyone, our goal is Shigu Mountain......"

……

On Shigu Mountain, hundreds of Heavenly Blessing soldiers have nothing to do.

After the Qing army's counteroffensive began, the battle line continued to push forward, and the grass bridge had become the rear, and the dozens of artillery pieces arranged here were useless, and they were transferred to support the front line in batches, leaving only eight red-coated cannons that were too heavy. Unlike the new Shenwei General Cannon, these eight red-coated cannons are not equipped with gun trucks, and the cannon bodies of several thousand catties are difficult to carry, so they have been kept here.

There are less than 200 artillery left, and 300 infantry are responsible for guarding, but in the eyes of Peng Yaozu, the general manager of Qian, who led the troops, he was left here to sit on the cold bench because he offended his boss.

"Damn, everyone else is earning a lot of future and rewards, but we can only sit here and drink the northwest wind, the heads of more than 20,000 southern thieves, and when this battle is over, Lao Zhang and a few of them will at least have to be promoted to guerrillas, and Lao Tzu will have to fight a thousand when he sees them."

"Just seeing the thief eating meat, not seeing the thief being beaten, Chu Jun is not so easy to provoke, that reward is careful to earn life and spend money." Du Cheng, the general manager of artillery, patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said: "Although there is no military merit in staying behind, at least you can rest assured, after so many days of war, the southern thieves dare not look at Shigu Mountain, they should be here to escape the summer and relax, and they will let people order wine and food later, and our brothers will drink two cups." ”

"Drink it, drink it, whoever is afraid of whom, the officials are all happy in the city with their heads in their arms, and no one in our place will come to check!" Peng Yaozu was born with good wine, but he didn't get a drop of wine for many days, and he immediately felt that the wine worm kept scratching in his heart, but drinking in wartime was a big crime, although he had a hard mouth, he immediately arranged for the soldiers to add double posts to avoid being broken.

The thousand-year-old Stone Drum Academy, the dog meat was full of wine, Peng Yaozu and Du Cheng found a bamboo pavilion with excellent scenery, put down the wine and food to drink, and suddenly someone reported that there was a defeated army withdrawn from the front line, and they got lost and walked here.

……

After dawn, the Tianyou soldiers launched a fierce attack, and the Chu army felt great pressure when they left.

Geng Zhongming personally led the army to attack from the front, like a continuous heavy punch, hitting the Chu army's defense line crumbling, and the Qing army on the grass bridge was like a sharp knife, specifically aiming at the weak link of the Chu army's defense line and stabbing inward, advancing more than ten miles in just one morning, almost a stone's throw away from Luckdhun.

The Ji'an battalion fought hard for days, the camp was full of wounded soldiers, although it was still losing and retreating despite its desperate blockade, seeing that its own defense line was about to become a breakthrough for the Qing army, Gu Zongfu commanded the battle by himself, and drove Wang Ding to ask Wang Kefan for help.

"The last general is incompetent, the Ji'an battalion can't hold it anymore, can the military gate send us some reinforcements?" Wang Ding's expedition was dusty, and he galloped all the way, his helmet and armor were very wolf-like, and he asked Wang Kefan for reinforcements, and his face looked even more ashamed.

"Can you do it for another hour?" Wang Kefan asked him to sit down, poured a bowl of water and handed it over: "The Gongyi Battalion and the Tongcheng Battalion have already set off for Caoqiao, and if you follow the words, you will soon be able to cut off the back road of the Tartars, and after an hour, the Ji'an Battalion can take the initiative to withdraw from the battle, and I will give you the whole battalion credit." ”

Wang Ding had just brought the water bowl to his mouth, and suddenly put it on the table with a bang, and suddenly stood up and asked, "Did the Gongyi Battalion go to fight the grass bridge?" I said why don't you see reinforcements! ”

The anxiety in his heart turned into excitement, and if he took the grass bridge, the Qing army would not care about launching another onslaught, and the Ji'an battalion would be able to turn the corner from danger to safety.

But after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was inappropriate: "I can't take the initiative to disarm, once this Tartar merges with Luckdehun, it will have the strength to launch a counterattack, and under the attack from both sides with Geng Zhongming, Wang Sheng and Tan Xiao's side will definitely not be able to withstand it, won't the Tartars break through?" ”

Wang Kefan said with a smile: "If you can't stand it, you won't top it, let them break through, if Luck Dehun is willing to return to Hengyang, I can't ask for it, and I will send them off." ”

If Luck Dehun retreats, he can only be trapped in the lonely city, and when the reinforcements from the loyal battalion and He Tengjiao arrive, the Qing army will be besieged in the city, and it will not be able to run if he wants to, and it is only a matter of time before he is eliminated.

"That's it, yes, if I'm Luck Dehun, I won't return to Hengyang, I must think of a quick solution." Wang Ding pondered and asked: "After Luck Dehun and Geng Zhongming join forces, there will be at least 50,000 horses, almost twice as many as ours, and there is no shortage of grain and grass, if we fight our army on the north bank of the steaming river, we are afraid that we are not opponents!" ”

"You don't have to fight him, just drag it down, drag it if you can, run if you can't drag it, see who can grind whom, and when the loyal battalion army arrives, all his 50,000 people have to be put into my pocket." Wang Kefan said with a smile: "As long as we take the grass bridge and Shigu Mountain, our army can send troops at any time to cut off the grain route of Luckdhun, and he can't care about the desperate ...... with us."

Geng Zhongming ate a trench and grew wise, sent heavy troops to guard the pontoon bridge, and it was impossible to simply copy the battle of Zhaojiawan, but it was possible to consider the problem with the same idea, the last time it was a waterway wharf, this time it was directly by land, directly attacking Shigu Mountain, and threatening the supply line of the Qing army from the side.

The Qing army had 50,000 horses, including a large number of cavalry and artillery who were extremely dependent on logistics and supplies, and the various materials consumed every day were an astronomical amount.

As long as the Ming army places a force in Shigu Mountain, it can hit any link of the Qing army's supply line, so that Luck Dehun and Geng Zhongming are unable to defend themselves. (To be continued......)