Hesitating again and again, hesitating again and again, in the incomparable entanglement and self-blame, Zhang Kuang still chose to be silent, and now if he sends a fast horse to chase, he still has time to warn Chen Youlong, but this also means a complete break with He Tengjiao.

Zhang Kuang didn't have the courage.

Early the next morning, Hao Shaoqi led 20,000 elite soldiers to Shaoyang.

After receiving the order of the governor, Chen Youlong did not dare to slack off, and despite the dissuasion of his subordinates, he put Hao Shaoqi's headquarters into Shaoyang City, and also set up a banquet to give warm hospitality.

The guests and hosts enjoyed themselves, and they went back to the barracks to rest, but in the middle of the night, the city suddenly caught fire, and Hao Shaoqi led the army to attack the town.

The soldiers of Zhenxiao were caught off guard and were defeated by Hao Shaoqi, and his subordinates escorted Chen Youlong to escape from Shaoyang desperately, gathered the remnants of the defeated army at Jukou Pass, and at the same time sent people to Zhang Kuang to hold him accountable and redress his grievances.

Zhang Kuang's reply was delayed, but the news sent back by the scout broke Chen Youlong's most fortunate back, after He Tengjiao's department occupied Shaoyang, he even took Longhui, Shaodong and other counties, obviously intending to seize the entire Baoqing Mansion!

Hao Shaoqi's army was rushing towards Jukou Pass, Baoqing Mansion could no longer stay, Chen Youlong and his subordinates discussed, ready to go to block Yinxi.

Most of the generals agreed with this idea, but his staff member Su Li had a different opinion.

"Although blocking the military gate is a good official, but it is still controlled by He Tengjiao, I will go to defect, although it can be accommodated temporarily, but it will be harmed by He Tengjiao in the future, it is better to throw another Wang Junmen and find an errand in the Chu army." Su Li is quite wise, and it was his idea to take Shaoyang, and when Hao Shaoqi came to borrow the Tao, he also gave a warning. But Chen Youlong didn't dare to offend Shangguan just now, so he didn't listen to his opinion. lost Shaoyang in vain.

Eat a trench, grow a wisdom, Chen Youlong attached great importance to Su Li's opinion, but after thinking about it for a while, he still shook his head and said, "Wang Junmen?" I almost never knew him, so I went rashly, and I am afraid that I will not be able to reuse it. ”

Su Li persuaded: "What the general is worried about is not true. Wang Jun is a dignified official of the frontier, but there are only 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses under his command, and the general will defect. It must be the backbone of the general, although the blocking of the military gate is familiar with the general, but there are 200,000 strong soldiers in the loyal battalion, and Li Guo and others have a marquis. The general will inevitably succumb to the queen of the ox......"

The Townsmen must now find a backer. He Tengjiao doesn't have to think about it, the remaining choice is to block Yinxi and Wang Kefan, block Yinxi's temperance loyalty battalion, gentleman's battalion and other departments, there are many soldiers and horses, there are many generals, and Chen Youlong is very difficult to be reused. Wang Kefan's status is half a level higher than that of Du Yinxi, but he only has more than 30,000 horses under his command, and he would rather be the head of the chicken. If you are not a cow, it is a better choice to take refuge in him.

Chen Youlong suddenly realized what he said. He thought about it for a while, and finally made up his mind, and ordered all the troops of the Zhenxiao army to assemble at Baima Pass in the southeast of Baoqing Mansion, and enter Yongzhou Mansion to join the Chu army.

Zhou Guodong, Tan Xiao and Wang Ding led three battalions of soldiers and horses to garrison Yongzhou Mansion, half of which was to deal with the Qing army, and more than half was to guard against He Tengjiao, He Tengjiao's main force went north to occupy Baoqing Mansion, and the pressure of Zhou Guodong and others plummeted, and they could finally divide their troops to cooperate in attacking Hengzhou Mansion.

The Tongshan battalion continued to defend the capital of Yongzhou Prefecture, Lingling, and the Ji'an battalion guarded the subordinate prefectures and counties, while Tan Xiao led the Yuezhou battalion to march northwestward, capturing Changning County in the south of Hengzhou Prefecture in early June, and opening up the Xiangjiang River waterway from Lingling to Hengyang to ensure the supply of grain and grass for the army.

At the same time, Wang Kefan led the main force of the Chu army to attack the eastern part of Hengzhou Prefecture, successively captured Youxian and Hengdong, and cleared the peripheral strongholds on the east side of Hengyang.

The offensive and defensive battle of Hengyang has officially begun!

Hengyang is a typical Jiangnan water network area, there are hundreds of large and small rivers in the territory, in addition to the main stream of the Xiangjiang River, there are her first-class tributaries have Lingling water, steaming water, Leishui, Weishui, etc., Lingling water flows into the Xiangjiang River in Changning County, far away from Hengyang, Huanshui flows into the Xiangjiang River in Hengshan, and there is a distance from Hengyang, but the steaming water and the Leishui water are in Hengyang into the Xiangjiang River, and several big rivers protect Hengyang tightly.

Where the three rivers converge, the importance of the water division was immediately highlighted, but the small water division of the Chu army was still in the Yuanjiang River, and it was too late to support the battle of Hengyang, but the Qing army had a water division between Hengyang Mansion, Changsha Mansion and Yuezhou Mansion, which was the first difficulty in front of Wang Kefan.

Due to the water network around Hengyang, the cavalry basically lost its role, but the role of the musketeers was multiplied, and the Tianyou soldiers were just good at using muskets, which was the second difficulty in front of Wang Kefan.

In order to compete with He Tengjiao for territory, the Chu army left three battalions of troops in Yongzhou Mansion and Chenzhou Mansion, and the strength was reduced by more than three percent, compared with Geng Zhongming stationed in Hengyang, there was no overwhelming advantage, considering that the Qing army's reinforcements would arrive at any time, the Chu army's strength was obviously insufficient, which was the third difficulty in front of Wang Kefan.

Seeing the moves, Wang Kefan carried out various deployment transfers and dealt with them one by one.

If there is no sailor, civilian ships will be recruited, grain and grass will be transported, and pontoon bridges will be built for the army to cross the river, and these civilian boats will undertake the transportation task, and it is strictly forbidden to approach the sailors of the Qing army to avoid unnecessary losses. Under the cover of the infantry and artillery of the Chu army, civilian ships always follow the activities of the Chu army, which can basically ensure their own safety.

The cavalry was no longer useful, and Wang Kefan ordered Ti Zhaorong and Wang Meng to lead the Western Cavalry Battalion and the Jiang Cavalry Battalion to the north to attack Hengshan County in order to cut off the waterway of the Xiangjiang River and stop the Qing reinforcements from Changsha and Yuezhou.

In order to restrain the muskets of the Tianyou soldiers, Wang Kefan deliberately put Hengyang aside, and first went to attack Chenzhou Mansion and Yongzhou Mansion and other places, after more than two months of preparation, the Jinggangshan Repair Institute worked overtime to produce two hundred flintlock pistols, plus the Portuguese soldiers, the Chu army made up a flintlock pistol force of more than 500 people.

No matter how powerful the bird gun is, it is still an arquebus after all, using a flintlock pistol against an arquebus, just like using a jet fighter to deal with a propeller fighter, the two sides are not on the same level at all, Wang Kefan is ready to defeat the Tianyou soldiers in the frontal musket shooting, defeat the arrogance of the other party, and establish the confidence of the musketeers of the Chu army.

In this time and space, the only ones who can fight with the Chu army in firearms are the Tianyou soldiers and the Tianzhu soldiers, the strong team is strong, the king is king, and defeating the strongest opponent in a hard-fought battle is the best way to improve the morale of the army.

Insufficient troops is a big problem, but the so-called righteous and unrighteous are more helped, and the people who are unrighteous are willing to cooperate with the Chu army's actions, and even Wang Jincai has been secretly keeping in touch with Wang Kefan, after weighing and considering, Wang Kefan issued an order in the name of Admiral Caojiang to transfer the loyal battalion and Ma Jinzhong's troops to participate in the battle of Hengyang.

The Zhenxiao soldiers who had just joined the Chu army stayed in Youxian County and changed their name to Zhenxiao Battalion, and Chen Youlong served as the camp officer, and they were reorganized and reorganized according to the requirements of the Chu army.

Everything was ready, and the Chu army crossed Leishui and approached the suburbs of Hengyang.

Nanyue Heng Mountain, seventy-two peaks, scattered around Hengyang, these peaks are not high, most of them are about one thousand meters above sea level, but the mountains are stacked, the peaks and peaks are connected, like a huge vermilion bird spreads its wings and flies. From a military point of view, these peaks are a natural barrier around Hengyang, and Geng Zhongming boasted that he could defend Hengyang for half a year because Hengyang was guarded by three large rivers and these dangerous peaks could be defended.

As soon as he arrived in Hengyang, Geng Zhongming recruited tens of thousands of young and strong men to build camps on the peaks around Hengyang, paying special attention to the southeast and southwest directions. Caixia Peak is located on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, on which the Qing army built a strong camp to closely guard the east gate of Hengyang.

The battle started first at Caixia Peak.

The first few small checkpoints are all broken at once, the Chu army arrived in front of the main village but was blocked, the Qing army's camp site is very tricky, is stuck on the narrow mountain road, one hundred and ten bird guns plus two artillery, the road of the charge is blocked. Because the troops could not be deployed, the Chu army returned with several attacks.

"Damn, a Caixia Peak is so hard to bite, if you really get to Huiyan Peak and Zhurong Peak, you can't knock out Lao Tzu's big teeth!" Gu Zongfu scolded and scolded, looked up at the camp of the Qing army, and his brows furrowed into a big pimple.

The slope of this mountain road is very large, and the feint attack cannot rush up the speed, and the soldiers can only suffer lead like live targets, and the casualties are too great.

Cut off the water source like the Battle of the Three Kingdoms Street Pavilion, it is not applicable here, there is a lot of water in the south, and there is a mountain spring with abundant water on Caixia Peak, just behind the camp of the Qing army.

Even if the troops can walk the path on the mountainside, but the follow-up baggage vehicles can't pass, and if this nail is not removed, will each grain team have to send a large number of soldiers to protect it?

When he was at a loss, Wang Yi came up with a musket team to reinforce him.

"How's it going, did you hit a hard bone?"

"Hey, this battle is really bullshit! In fact, there are not many people in the Tartars, as long as they can send their sons to the camp and build a ladder, they can break the village. Gu Zongfu also considered building siege equipment such as half-cut boats, but this mountain road was too steep for the heavy half-cut boats to push up at all.

"Don't worry, there is no unbreakable fortified city in the world, not to mention a small Caixia Peak, this matter requires the cooperation of the two of us, you are responsible for digging the ditch, and I am responsible for covering ......"

Wang Yi proposed a good way, to adopt the method of civil engineering operations to approach the Qing army camp, no matter how powerful your cannons and rolling wood and rocks are, I will not be able to hit them all if I hide in the traffic trench.

"Good boy! In the end, young people have a lively brain, why didn't I think of it? Gu Zongfu was overjoyed, and slapped Wang Yi on the shoulder: "After this village is defeated, our two families will share the credit equally, and half of each person." ”

Although he was a little suspicious of relying on the old and selling the old, Wang Yi didn't care, and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter what the credit is, it's all up to Brother Gu's arrangement, and the most important thing is to build this village first." ”

The Chu army brigade was blocked behind, and there was a time limit for attacking Caixia Peak, and the amount of civil engineering work planned by this plan was very large, and if the time limit was exceeded, it would be punished by Wang Kefan. (To be continued......)