Just fought with the Shanxi Wu army, never fought with the real Wu army's first-line elite, the Qing army's famous general Fu Zhenbang actually didn't believe his beloved nephew Zhang Yinqing's description, what to say that the Wu army's elite equipped with firing needles and grenade grenades is invincible in the world, even the elite of the Shandong New Army under Zhang Guoliang is not their opponent at all, and even in the field, it is difficult to fight with the Wu army in close combat.

Therefore, even if it is not revealed on the surface, he also loves and trusts Zhang Yinqing, a nephew, in the depths of Fu Zhenbang's heart, he still still feels that Zhang Yinqing's introduction and description are too exaggerated, and Zhang Guoliang's army must be caused by a variety of factors in the field battle with the Wu army - for example, the army is flustered and demoralized after being fooled, etc., and the more disciplined and hard-trained headquarters under his command may not have the strength to fight with the Wu army in the field.

Fortunately, Fu Zhenbang is a person who can listen to persuasion, knowing that even if the strength of the Wu army is not as exaggerated as Zhang Yinqing's introduction, it is definitely not a master to deal with, in order to maximize the combat power in his hands for more important city defense battles, Fu Zhenbang still adopted Zhang Yinqing's suggestion, and chose to send troops to the west at the fourth watch that night, and rushed to Changqing with more than 2,000 elite people from his headquarters to reinforce, not giving the Wu army a chance to intercept himself in the field battle.

It was already the second half of the night when he set off, but Baojun, the governor of Shandong, who was already more than half a hundred years old, still insisted on going to Luoyuanmen to see off Fu Zhenbang, Fu Zhenbang was also very moved when he saw it, and hurriedly led his generals to salute and thank him, and repeatedly promised to defend Changqing City to the death, and never give Wu Jun any chance to break the city. Bao Jun picked up Fu Zhenbang with his own hands, and said kindly: "Weiping, it's still the same sentence, if you go to Changqing to sit in town, even if it is a million-strong army of Wu thieves surrounding Changqing City, I can sit back and relax in Jinan, and I will never worry about any mistakes in Changqing." But....... ”

Speaking of this, Bao Jun couldn't help but pause, and there was a hesitant look on his face, Fu Zhenbang saw Bao Jun's hesitation by the light of the torch, so he took the initiative to say: "Lord Futai, if you have anything to say, explain it directly, the last general will listen to it and will definitely obey." ”

"Then the old man is welcome." Bao Jun also opened his mouth at this time, and said in a serious tone: "But you must not underestimate the enemy, don't rely on your elite soldiers, the men and horses of the headquarters are a hundred battles, and they will take the risk of fighting head-on with the Wu rebel thief army and fighting a decisive battle in the field." ”

After that, Bao Jun hurriedly added, "Of course, I don't believe in Weiping's skills, it's that your army is too important to our Shandong in the Qing Dynasty, and there is no room for the slightest mistake." Also, don't underestimate your opponent, as far as I know, Hu Huaizhao, the thief general who commanded Wu's rebel army to the north this time, is a veteran of the thief army who has followed Wu Chaoyue rebel as early as the second year of the emperor, and he has been through a hundred battles like you, and he has never been defeated. ”

Knowing Baojun's military skills, Fu Zhenbang first glanced at Baojun suspiciously, and then asked: "Lord Futai, forgive the end of the rudeness, these words were said to you by Lord Rong Lurong, right?" ”

"That's right, it's him." Baojun didn't hide it, he nodded directly and admitted it calmly, and patted Fu Zhenbang on the shoulder and said, "Don't take him too seriously, in terms of military affairs, I trust you more." But he was also kind to me when he said this, and I also think that his words have some truth, so I will talk to you a few words. ”

"The yellow-haired boy who has not dried up dares to look down on me like this."

Fu Zhenbang, who has never had a good impression of Ronglu, has a little fire in his heart, but for the sake of Baojun's face, Fu Zhenbang did not reveal this dissatisfaction, and said to Baojun: "Thank you Lord Futai for reminding me, please rest assured that the last general will never despise the thief army, let alone fight rashly, and give Wu the thief army a chance to dominate the general." ”

Bao Jun nodded happily, and told Fu Zhenbang to be careful, and then waved his hand to let Fu Zhenbang lead the army out of the city and leave, but after watching Fu Zhenbang's army leave on the Luoyuan Gate City at the West Gate of Jinan, when the torch light of Fu Zhenbang's army was about to disappear from view, Bao Jun suddenly remembered a language problem in Fu Zhenbang's words, and said secretly: "Don't give Wu rebel army a chance to be outnumbered?" Crowded? ”

Silently muttering this simple military term, a ominous thought gradually arose in Baojun's heart, who was very good at Chinese......

…………

After taking more than 2,000 people out of the city and marching westward, relying on his familiarity with the road, even if he did not march at a dangerous rapid march speed in the snowy night, when the sky was light, Fu Zhenbang still successfully arrived at the Changqing City thirty miles east of Jinan with his headquarters, and got in touch with the Qing army guarding the east gate of Changqing, and submitted an official document requesting the Changqing defenders to open the city gate and let his army enter the city and station.

The Qing army's Changqing guard general Detong is also very familiar with Fu Zhenbang, and the relationship is quite good, and he received the news from Jinan in advance, knowing that Fu Zhenbang will personally lead the army to reinforcements, so after receiving the report of Fu Zhenbang's arrival with the army, Detong did not hesitate, and immediately galloped to the west gate of Changqing to open the door, and then the city gate just opened, Detong also opened his hands and rushed out directly, while rushing to Fu Zhenbang while laughing loudly: "Weiping, it's interesting enough, at the critical moment, you are the most reliable, with you, Now the brothers can rest assured that they can close their eyes when they sleep in Changqing City. ”

Detong's enthusiasm did not come back in return, smiling and hugging Detong in public, Fu Zhenbang unceremoniously whispered on the spot: "Old De, why are you confused again?" Didn't you read my official document first, screen my identity, and rush out directly? What if I'm pretending to be the Wu Rebel Army? Or what if I was kidnapped by the Wu rebel army to cheat the door? ”

"Old man, it's not easy to see each other, don't count me down as soon as you meet, okay?" Detong replied with a wry smile, and couldn't wait to greet him: "Okay, let's talk about other things slowly, quickly bring your army into the city, the meal has already been prepared for you and your brothers." Don't worry, I didn't drink anything, and I didn't drink it either, since I received the news that Wu's rebel army was going north, I didn't dare to touch another drop of wine, for fear that I would be counted by you. ”

It is true that he has a good relationship with Detong, seeing that his friend's attitude is so sincere, Fu Zhenbang did not continue to count Detong's carelessness, and with a wave of his hand, he let the army he brought line up into the city, and he and Detong entered the city hand in hand. At the same time, during this period, Fu Zhenbang, who had a steady personality, still did not forget the major military events, and asked: "Old De, is there any news from Gushan?" ”

"Not yet." Detong shook his head and said: "Don't worry, I have arranged enough people to keep an eye on it, no matter what movement the Wu rebel thief army has, at most an hour, I will definitely know here." ”

After that, Detong sighed again, and said regretfully: "It's a pity that Baofutai didn't listen to you, otherwise, even if we let our brothers take the people and horses of our headquarters to guard the Gushan Station, we definitely don't need to be so worried as now, we have to prevent the Wu rebel thief army from coming directly to fight Changqing City, and we have to prevent the Wu thief from highlighting the strange soldiers, and suddenly take the small road of the fried rice shop to Jinan." ”

It's good that Detong didn't mention the matter of Gushanyi, but as soon as Fu Zhenbang mentioned it, he was very angry, and it was rare to say a bad word about others behind his back, and hummed: "It's not that Rong Lu's yellow-haired boy who talks on paper, but he persuaded Debao Futai not to listen to my bad advice." If I hadn't insisted this time, that yellow-haired boy would have stopped me from coming to Changqing. ”

"What? That little bastard of the Gualjia family, dare you come and help me? Old man, tell me carefully, what's going on? I'm going to settle accounts with that little bastard! ”

Detong, who is also a banner person, was a little stunned when he heard it, and he wanted to attack on the spot, but it was a bit of a coincidence that Fu Zhenbang was about to explain the cause and effect of the matter, but the city headquarters suddenly had a Pegasus report, saying that the Wu army had already made a move, and about four battalions of the Wu army had left Gushan Post and were killing Changqing on the official road. Detong and Fu Zhenbang didn't dare to slack off when they heard this, so they had to put aside the matter of unanimously crusading against Rong Lu for the time being, one hurriedly led the army into the city and stationed, and the other hurriedly returned to the headquarters for the overall situation.

Wu Jun's movements were very fast, Fu Zhenbang didn't take much time to settle the army, and then hurried to the Qing army headquarters, just met with Detong again, Detong said to Fu Zhenbang: "The front team of the thief army has already done it with our team on Cao Dayu's side, and the thief army is still attacking fiercely, and it used a fast-firing small foreign cannon at the beginning. ”

"So fast?" Fu Zhenbang, who was very familiar with the terrain of Changqing, was full of surprise, and said in surprise: "Just hit our camp in Cao Dayu, and the thief army is not afraid that we will have ambushes on the Flint Mountain and Ma'an Mountain next to us, and suddenly kill them to surprise them?" ”

"There are three possibilities, the first is to underestimate the enemy and look down on us. The second is that we have already figured out the situation on the Cao Dayu battlefield, and know that although it is suitable for ambushes, we have not arranged ambushes, so we dare to attack with confidence. ”

Detong, who is also a veteran military officer, quickly analyzed and said one by one: "The third is to kill us by surprise, and want to break through our outer defense line as soon as possible, and kill directly under Changqing City, without giving us time and opportunity to strengthen our defense." ”

"Sure enough, I expected it."

Fu Zhenbang smiled happily, and only then did he carefully talk about the conflict with Rong Lu again last night, and learned that Rong Lu actually wanted to die to himself, and the hot-tempered Detong of course immediately jumped like thunder, yelling to find Rong Lu to settle accounts, Fu Zhenbang was helpless, so he could only comfort and change the topic, "Old De, looking for Rong Lu to settle accounts can only wait for the future, and the most important thing now is how to hold Changqing City." You are most familiar with the situation here, in your opinion, how long can Cao Dayu's side last? ”

"It should last until this afternoon." Detong was still a little angry, and said: "If the troops in my hands are richer, Cao Dayu has hope to fight beautifully, but you also know that I only have three battalions of troops and more than 2,000 regiments to practice, so there is no way, I can only leave a regular army and 300 regiments at Cao Dayu's place, and it is good to be able to hold out until this afternoon." ”

"It doesn't matter, with such a small number of troops, as long as I can survive noon today, I am already very satisfied." Fu Zhenbang didn't expect any miracles to be created in the small battlefield of Cao Dayu's outpost battle, but he just analyzed it more conservatively: "As long as Cao Dayu can survive noon, then when the main force of Wu's rebel thief army crosses Cao Dayu and advances to Changqing City, it will be almost ......dark." ”

"Report ————!"

"General Yude, Cao Dayu is lost! General Zhang Jiwen Zhang was killed! ”

The herald who suddenly rushed in first interrupted Fu Zhenbang's analysis, and then used the content of the report to make Fu Zhenbang and Detong's faces change color together, and exclaimed in unison: "Why did you lose it so quickly?" How did the thieves take our strongholds? ”

"Returning to the two generals, the thieves suppressed the defenders of our camp gate with fast-firing small foreign cannons, sent people to rush to the vicinity of our camp gate, and directly blew up our camp gate with gunpowder. After rushing into our camp, the thief army suddenly used a palm mine, General Zhang was directly killed, the regimental training that helped us defend the camp completely collapsed, and the strength of the thief army was superior, and our brothers really couldn't resist it, so they had to abandon the camp. ”

The enemy attacked the camp directly from the front?! Knowing this report, Fu Zhenbang and Detong, who are also old sparrows on the battlefield, inevitably had some changes in color, and after glancing at each other, Detong also said categorically: "Elite! It's definitely the elite of the thief army! Brother, although my ability to lead troops is not very good, but I will definitely not bring out the oil soldiers who will collapse at the first touch, and the thief army can take Cao Dayu so quickly, it is definitely a first-line elite! ”

"What kind of muskets are the thieves who attacked Cao Dayu's camp equipped with?" Fu Zhenbang asked the herald silently.

"It's not clear for the time being, only that it's a foreign gun with a bayonet." The herald replied truthfully.

"It should be the kind of fast-firing foreign gun that Yin Qing said." Fu Zhenbang nodded slightly, and then turned to Detong and said with a smile: "Old De, you and I are unlucky, it seems that I guessed it again this time, the Wu rebel thief army is targeting Changqing, and wants to kill us by surprise, and go all out to quickly take Changqing, we think that it will definitely not be too easy to pass this level." ”

"It's okay, it's okay, I wish they came." Being able to form a deep friendship with Fu Zhenbang, Detong's personality is naturally not as good as that, and he waved his hand and smiled: "It's best for Wu thief to come directly to fight Changqing, at least the two of us don't need to worry about distractions for Jinan." ”

Fu Zhenbang smiled, quite complacent in his heart, very satisfied with his repeated anticipation of the enemy's planes, and judged all the actions of Wu Jun correctly.

After joining forces with Detong to carefully arrange the city defense affairs, Fu Zhenbang and Detong climbed the city wall of the east gate of Changqing in the fine snow, ready to see the specific situation of the upcoming Wu army. However, at this time, a Qing soldier who even had his eyebrows frozen white hurriedly rushed to the city wall, submitted an urgent report of the military situation to Fu Zhenbang, and said quickly: "Fu Titai, Jinan urgent, around this morning, our army's fried rice shop camp reported urgently, saying that the Wu rebel army sent an army to attack the fried rice shop, and the offensive was very fierce, and our army was difficult to parry. Lord Futai is worried that Wu's rebel army may directly attack Jinan through fried rice shops, so please Fu Titai, you are ready to lead the army back to Jinan as soon as possible. ”

"How is that possible?" Fu Zhenbang blurted out and exclaimed, "The Wu rebel thief army is attacking Cao Dayu in Changqing on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are attacking the fried rice shop, are they going to fight there?" ”

"It may be a combination of virtual and real, so that we can't tell the direction of their main attack." Detong analyzed, and said: "Don't worry, as long as we find the direction of the main force of the Wu thief, we will know that they are going to fight there." ”

Fu Zhenbang nodded, and was about to ponder whether to make his army ready to return to Jinan at any time in advance, but he never thought that the Qing soldiers such as Detong next to him exclaimed one after another, saying that the Wu army had arrived, Fu Zhenbang did not dare to slack off, and quickly raised the telescope to look into the distance. As a result, Fu Zhenbang also immediately saw that in the fine snow like grains of rice, there was indeed a Wu army wearing cotton hats and white hats that was rushing towards Changqing at the speed of a rapid march, and the momentum was very fierce.

It's a pity that even with a telescope, Fu Zhenbang can only see this situation roughly, the reason is that the wind and snow interfere with the line of sight, and the second is that the Wu army did not directly rush to the east gate of Changqing, just arrived at the periphery and drew a semi-arc and gradually turned to the north, Fu Zhenbang knew that the terrain of Changqing was the easiest to attack in the north city It is not surprising, but he and Detong and others also followed the north to continue to see the situation.

When he returned to the north gate of the city, Fu Zhenbang gradually found that the situation was wrong - after Wu Jun returned to the northern suburbs of Changqing, he still did not stop, and still strode towards the east, and finally rushed to the northeast corner of Changqing City, Wu Jun finally stopped and let the army rest on the spot.

"What did the Wu rebel army stop there for? It's not a good place to start a siege, right? Detong was the first to exclaim.

"It's not suitable for the main brigade to answer and cover them, right?" Fu Zhenbang also saw at a glance that Wu Jun's movements were strange, and added casually, "Stop there, the most suitable thing is just to prevent us from going out of the city......." ”

Before he finished speaking, Fu Zhenbang had already closed his mouth by himself, and his heartbeat involuntarily accelerated. It turned out to be a coincidence, at this time, a Qing army scout covered with snow particles suddenly rushed to the city, rushed to Detong and knelt down on one knee, and arched his hand: "General Yude, the main brigade of Wu thieves has left Gushan and is driving in the direction of the fried rice shop!" ”

The snow has increased a little, and the weather has become colder, but Fu Zhenbang and Detong's foreheads suddenly oozed soybean-sized beads of sweat together, rolling down, and their faces became as white as snow together.