The defeat of the Wu army was that he did not know the enemy's situation too much, and he did not know the importance of the Tai'an Qing army to the south city gate, so he directly sent the demolition team across the Pan River, and in order to facilitate the blasting to succeed, he immediately launched an attack, and immediately began to build a pontoon bridge before the blasting was successful, but he did not know that the Qing army's secret post had already discovered the move of the army, and pulled the rope connecting the city early, like the Qing army on duty in the city to issue a warning.

The Qing army camp officer defending the city was also very cunning, and after receiving the alarm, he did not immediately yell and alarm the Wu army under the city, but chose to let the soldiers defending the city get up and prepare for battle, and at the same time sent people to the city to report to the city, so that the Qing army reserves in the city were ready for reinforcements, and patiently waited for the Wu army to build a pontoon bridge, send the assault team across the Pan River, and quietly wait for the Wu army soldiers to die by themselves.

Then, the Wu army naturally had a coffee table, and blew up the city gate with Dana explosives, only to find that the road at the city gate had been blocked by earth, stone and sandbags, and the Qing army took the opportunity to fire guns in unison, and attacked the Wu army commando with fierce firepower, and at the same time, it also bombarded the Wu army's pontoon bridge with more cunning concentrated artillery fire, cutting off the Wu army's north-south connection. The Wu army commando could not advance to the city, and the retreat road was blocked by the Qing army's firepower, and was suddenly defeated, and the adventure of not knowing the water rushed to the pontoon bridge to cross the river desperately, and those who knew the water jumped into the Pan River one after another, and swam across the river in the early winter, and fled back to the south bank of the Pan River in embarrassment, while the Qing army laughed wildly and shot desperately to shoot and fire, and shot and killed the members of the Wu army commando who had no power to fight back, as well as the Wu army reserve on the south bank of the Pan River, and achieved a brilliant victory.

According to preliminary statistics, Wu Jun killed 52 people in this battle, 9 people were missing, 2 people were seriously wounded, and more than 30 people were slightly injured. Therefore, after withdrawing to safety with the army, Cheng Jiaxie, the forward general of the Wu army, had no choice but to immediately run in front of Hu Huaizhao to plead guilty, and honestly expressed his willingness to accept any punishment.

Fortunately, Hu Huaizhao had already seen the situation clearly with a telescope and knew that the loss of this battle had nothing to do with Cheng Jiaxie's command, but because the Qing army had been prepared, and at the same time, the Wu army suffered too much in terms of geographical advantages, so Hu Huaizhao did not blame Cheng Jiaxie too much, but just asked: "How was it discovered by the rebel army?" Was it that when you built the pontoon bridge, the action was too big, and it was discovered by the rebels in the city? ”

"I don't know." Cheng Jiaxie said in a gloomy voice: "It shouldn't be, I have been watching from the shore when I was building the pontoon bridge, and I am sure that I didn't make a loud noise, but I am not sure." ”

"Useless things, I don't even know how the enemy found them." complained about Cheng Jiaxie, Hu Huaizhao had no choice but to sigh and order: "Withdraw the troops, the rebel party is prepared, and the reinforcements must have gone to the city, and there is no hope at all tonight." ”

Cheng Jiaxie agreed in disgrace, but Hu Huaizhao was more sullen than him, because the only hope for the Wu army to quickly break the city was the battlefield of the south gate of Tai'an, after the failure of this sneak attack, the Qing army will definitely pay more attention to the defense of the south gate, and the next Wu army wants to take Tai'an by sneak attack The possibility is almost equal to zero, and the attack on Tai'an is basically the only option left with a time-consuming and labor-intensive frontal attack, but the Wu army is very tight on the issue of grain and grass, so can it still take Tai'an City, To be honest, Hu Huaizhao no longer has any confidence in his heart.

At this time, a soldier from the front team ran to Cheng Jiaxie, who had not had time to leave, and clasped his fists and said: "General Cheng, I have found five missing brothers, they have gone downstream to the shore and have returned to the team. ”

"Okay." Cheng Jiaxie nodded, and then casually ordered: "Keep looking and see if you can find the remaining brothers." ”

The speaker was unintentional, the listener was unintentional, and when he heard the report of the soldiers in the front team, Hu Huaizhao, who was worried next to him, moved in his heart and hurriedly said, "What did you say just now?" Five brethren back with the dripping water? Didn't swim over? ”

"General Yuhu, they said that they came back with flowing water, but the specifics are not clear." The soldiers of the front team who came to report replied truthfully.

"Bring them right away and let me ask them personally." Hu Huaizhao hurriedly ordered, and a glimmer of hope was rekindled in his heart.

According to Hu Huaizhao's instructions, five Wu soldiers who had disappeared but returned smoothly were quickly led to the front, Hu Huaizhao carefully asked them about their crossing of the river, the five Wu soldiers answered truthfully, saying that they were washed by the river to the lower reaches of the Pan River because of the poor water quality, but after coming back to their senses, they tried all kinds of ways to barely stand firm, and found that the river was not deep, so they took the risk of crossing the river hand in hand, and luckily flowed to the south bank to return to the team. Hu Huaizhao was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "The deepest part of the river has flooded you?" ”

"It's just a little higher than your chest, not up to your neck."

A medium-sized soldier of Wu Jun was the first to answer, and also compared the position where he was flooded by the river, and when Hu Huaizhao, who was also not too tall, hurriedly compared his height with him in person, Cheng Jiaxie next to him also suddenly understood the strangeness, and said in ecstasy: "The river is so shallow? Brother Hu, let's go directly to the south gate and storm the south gate? ”

"Don't worry, I'll talk about it tomorrow." Hu Huaizhao replied excitedly, and subconsciously glanced at the upstream direction of the Pan River, and said secretly in his heart: "I have to send a few people who understand hydrology to go upstream to have a look, it would be great if there was any place that could temporarily block the river." ”

…………

Contrary to the morale of the frustrated Wu soldiers, after successfully defeating the legendary invincible Wu rebel army in the battle to defend the city, the defenders of Tai'an were of course ecstatic, their morale soared, and their confidence immediately increased. And what is even more coincidental is that on the morning of the next day, the newly appointed governor of Shandong, Bao Jun, sent someone to send an urgent mail, saying that he would send Zhang Guoliang, a famous general of the Qing army, to lead the army south to reinforce Tai'an, so that Liu Yingjie and Baisheng could defend the city with peace of mind and wait patiently for reinforcements to arrive.

Just won a battle and received such good news, the overjoyed Liu Yingjie of course made the good news public at the first time, in exchange for the cheers of the Tai'an defenders, everyone was overjoyed, and the deputy Baisheng also smiled, and said to Liu Yingjie: "Congratulations to Liu Zhentai, congratulations to Liu Zhentai, this time as long as you resist the Wu rebel army and survive this pass, the court will reward you for your meritorious deeds, and the title of governor should belong to you." ”

"Don't dare, don't dare, I'm already overwhelmed by the actual inspection of Shandong, so dare to peep into the governor's position?" Liu Yingjie was pretended to be modest, and then said with a smile: "It's General Bai that you should congratulate and congratulate, this time the fight is over, how can there be a viscount, right?" ”

Yum is also pretended to be modest, and he tacitly acknowledges it with Liu Yingjie. However, Liu Yingjie was also quite calm, and quickly turned back to the topic, and asked: "General Bai, in your opinion, how will the Wu rebel thief army fight next?" ”

"I guess they don't dare to hit the idea of the south gate anymore." Yum came to a confident conclusion and said: "Wu's rebel thief army came by land, and it was difficult to transport grain and grass, so basically there was only a quick choice. If my prediction is correct, it is likely that the Wu rebel army will storm our exit outside the city, open the way to the army, and then launch a siege as soon as possible. ”

"If we really want to fight like this, then it will be easier for us to defend it, the three city gates in the east, west and north, no matter if the city outside the city gate is lost, just block it like the south gate immediately." Liu Yingjie nodded, and said: "But we still have to guard against other tricks of the Wu rebel thief army, listening to Luo Futai, the most difficult thing for the Wu rebel thief army to deal with is that they are abducted and deceived, and there are many tricks, we must keep an eye on them and prevent them from playing any new tricks." ”

"It's easy to do." Yum replied more confidently: "We have been stationed in Tai'an for a long time, and we are familiar with the mountains and rivers in Tai'an, as long as we send more scouts to closely monitor them, no matter what tricks the Wu rebel thief army plays, they will definitely not be able to hide from our eyes." ”

Of course, Yum's self-confidence is not a random boast, the home battle is familiar with the terrain, and the local people are more supportive of the Tai'an Qing army, which is much better disciplined than the Taiping army, so it is indeed difficult for the Wu army's every move to hide from the eyes of the Tai'an Qing army. As a result, what made Liu Yingjie and Baisheng even more relieved was that on the first day and all day after the failed sneak attack, the Wu army did not make any major moves, but only sent a large number of people to cut wood and make various siege weapons in the mountains, and at the same time sent many scouts to closely inspect the surrounding movements, and did not rush to launch a forced attack. In this regard, although Liu Yingjie and Baisheng also understood that Wu Jun was sharpening his knife and not cutting wood, they were also very relieved, and said: "Since you are not in a hurry, then we are not in a hurry, see how long your grain and grass can last!" ”

The day passed quickly, and on the second day after the Wu army's sneak attack failed, the main force of the Wu army, which had already set up camp outside the east gate, suddenly rose up, and the whole army crossed the Pan River and moved directly to the camp outside the south gate of Tai'an. In addition, the Wu army separately divided about 4,000 troops and marched to the vicinity of Buxiling in the western suburbs of Tai'an to leave the camp. Liu Yingjie and Baisheng were both surprised, and they both said in surprise: "Why did the Wu rebel thief army move to the south gate of Tai'an?" If you want to build a pontoon bridge and directly cross the river to attack, they are not afraid that we will directly break the pontoon bridge with artillery? ”

"What are you doing when you send a detachment of partial divisions to set up camp on the side of Buxiling? Want to intercept our reinforcements? But isn't that the only way for our reinforcements to go south? Bai Sheng, who was barely a famous general of the Qing army, said in surprise: "Also, our scouts said that the thief army did not seize the highest point of Buxiling, but set up camp two miles next to it, what does the thief army want to do?" It's completely out of order, isn't it? ”

"Send more people to keep an eye on Wu's rebel army." Liu Yingjie made the only decision that the Qing army could choose at present, and said: "If nothing else, the tricks of the Wu rebel thief army are coming soon." ”

Unfortunately, Liu Yingjie said that it was just the next morning, and the sky was not yet bright, so the south gate guard hurriedly sent someone to report, saying that he didn't know what the reason was, and the water level of the Pan River outside the south gate suddenly began to drop slowly, and it seemed that there was a possibility of breaking the flow. Liu Yingjie and Yum Wenbao were shocked together, so they could only hurry to the south gate and come to the scene to check the situation in person. As a result, after hurriedly boarding the south gate of Tai'an, before they could raise their binoculars to take a closer look, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng had already seen with pale faces - the water level of the Pan River, the natural barrier of the south gate of Tai'an, had dropped to about half of the usual, and the water flow was very slow than usual!

"Buxiling!"

Liu Yingjie suddenly came to his senses and shouted, "It's the Buxiling side that has a problem!" To the north of Buxiling, there is a large depression, where the Wu rebel army blocked the river and introduced the river into the depression, so that the Pan River could be cut off, so that they could directly attack the south gate of Tai'an! (PS: Non-fictional terrain, that depression is now the Tai'an River Reservoir.) ）

"What a treacherous Wu rebel army!" Bailian also suddenly woke up and exclaimed: "I can even think of such a shameless method, no wonder they want to move the camp to the south gate of Tai'an, it turns out that they want to bypass our fortifications outside the city and directly attack our only south gate without the protection of the fortifications outside the city!" ”

was guessed by Liu Yingjie and Baisheng, and it didn't take long for the scouts sent outside the city to hurriedly report, saying that the Wu army's division was blocking the Pan River with earth, stone and sand bags near Buxiling, and forcing the river into the big depression north of Buxiling. At the same time, Xizuo outside the south gate also sent an urgent letter, saying that Wu Jun was still cooking smoke after breakfast, and it was very likely that he was rushing to make steamed buns and other dry food. As a result, based on this alone, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng, who were already experienced in a hundred battles, came to the conclusion that the Wu army was likely to launch a frontal attack, and it was likely to be a long-term attack day and night!

"What to do? What to do? What to do? ”

was so anxious that after turning around more than a dozen times like ants on a hot pot, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng finally discussed some coping strategies - to strengthen the defense of the South Gate, seize the time to move the torches that can be used to the South Gate City to strengthen the firepower, and prepare more dry food torches for long-term combat; Organize death squads to prepare to go out of the city to assault the temporary dam fortifications of the Wu army, and destroy the dam at any cost to restore the water level of the Pan River; Let the defenders of the east, west, and north prepare to attack, so that they can launch a surprise attack when the south gate is in an emergency, and share the pressure on the south gate battlefield!

In addition, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng certainly did not forget to send fast horses to the north with urgent letters, to report to Baojun the critical situation facing Tai'an, and to ask Baojun to send reinforcements south as soon as possible.

Fortunately, the road from Tai'an to Jinan has always been in the hands of the Qing army in Shandong, and at the same time, the Great Wall Post and Zhang Xiayi also have stagecoaches to transfer to the emergency messenger of the Qing army in Tai'an, so in the evening of the same day, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng's urgent letter was sent to Jinan City, and was presented to the newly appointed Manchu Shandong governor Bao Jun at the first time. As a result, after learning the content of the letter, Baojun's face suddenly changed, and he hurriedly sent someone to give Zhang Guoliang an order, asking Zhang Guoliang to prepare to go south to reinforce Tai'an overnight, and set off south to save Tai'an early the next morning.

"Baofutai, you should send an urgent letter to Liu Zhentai and Baititai immediately." Rong Lu next to him suggested: "Tell them that it is of course best if Tai'an City can be saved, if it really can't be saved, and it is killed by Wu's rebel army into the city, they will immediately set fire to it, burn all the food and ammunition in the city, and don't give Wu's rebel army a chance to grab food and supplies!" ”

Hearing Rong Lu's words, Bao Jun was stunned for a moment, then nodded heavily, and said viciously: "Yes! That's how it should be! ”