During the period when Guo Songtao and Gong Cheng went all out to help the Taiping Army purchase the fleet, after some intensive preparations, knowing that it would be difficult to obtain follow-up supplies, Liu Kunyi, who volunteered, always led more than 2,000 people from the Zhuangzi Battalion of his headquarters to set off to the north and rushed to the Luoyang battlefield via Nanyang. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Considering that Liu Kunyi did not have many troops in his hands, and faced with the troops that were likely to be the nest of the Qing army in Shanxi, Wu Chaoyue originally planned to transfer a Wu army team originally organized as Eyong from the northern front to Liu Kunyi to command Liu Kunyi to strengthen Liu Kunyi's troops. I didn't think that the situation changed abruptly, the main force of the blue and yellow banners of the twisted army suddenly entered the territory of Guangzhou, Henan from northern Anhui, and was active in the border of Hubei and Henan, and in the case that most of the elite of the northern front had gone north, Wu Chaoyue did not dare to take the risk of transferring troops from northern Hubei again, so he could only change his mind and decide to let Nie Shicheng train Li Zhanjun in the newly incorporated Ruzhou regiment in Henan to help Liu Kunyi, fortunately, Liu Kunyi didn't care, and said with a smile that in fact, he didn't need to strengthen his troops at all, and if he wanted to expand the army, he could wait until he entered Shanxi and then recruit himself.

Contrary to Liu Kunyi, who was charging with his head in the front, Wu Chaoyue, who was sitting in the rear, did not dare to take it lightly, because Nie Shicheng had already reported that the Qing army in Shanxi had not only been tightly deployed on the front line of the Yellow River, but also strengthened the defense of the Jiezhou section of the Yellow River early, and at the same time, the Qing army in Shaanzhou, Henan Province also took advantage of the danger of the Cuihan Road to strictly defend it, and the Wu army had almost no chance of smuggling the Yellow River, and the only option to break through the Yellow River was to attack and rush to cross the Yellow River head-on.

In view of this situation, Wu Chaoyue repeatedly admonished Liu Kunyi, repeatedly emphasizing three points, the first is not to be in a hurry, even if the task of breaking through the Yellow River and occupying Jiezhou cannot be achieved, it does not matter, and you must not take risks because of greed; The second is that the tactics of breaking through the Yellow River must be discussed with Nie Shicheng, and must not be blindly brutal; The third is to conceal the purpose of sending troops as much as possible, and can threaten to help Nie Shicheng deal with the Qing army in Henan, take Xingyang and force Kaifeng, so as to confuse the judgment of the Qing army.

In addition, Wu Chaoyue also told Liu Kunyi that he might as well listen to some of the suggestions of Zhang Zhidong, who had been named the head of the Wu Army's military department, and let Zhang Zhidong, who had completely deceived Nie Shicheng and Shao Yanhong several times, think of more ways.

Liu Kun promised to be very beautiful, but the actual action almost did not make Wu Chaoyue angry, and the Zhuangzi battalion that went north by boat had just landed in Xiangyang Mansion, and the soldiers of Liu Kun's army had already declared on the wharf of Xiangyang Mansion that they were going to Jiezhou, and they had already asked the Xiangyang salt merchants, who were currently in short supply, to prepare to go north to sell salt, and grab the salt from Jiezhou to make huge profits in northern Hubei.

"This Liu Kunyi, what is crazy? I have repeatedly asked him to conceal the purpose of sending troops, why did he forget it all before he left Hubei? ”

After receiving the news from Liu Qi, the prefect of Xiangyang, Wu Chaoyue, who had a good temper, rarely got angry, and almost suspected that Liu Kunyi deliberately disobeyed orders. However, after calming down, without the persuasion of others, Wu Chaoyue gradually woke up and said secretly: "Fiction is real, reality is virtual, the transformation of fiction and reality is all in one thought, let him go, always tie up the hands and feet of the accomplices and lackeys and worry about everything for them, sooner or later I will have to die of exhaustion like Zhuge Liang." It is better to let go of the experience of the generals and exercise their ability to take charge of themselves. ”

At the same time, the Qing army, who was closely monitoring every move of Xiangyang Chongdi, had also sent the news to the rear, and the result was enough to make Wu Chaoyue gratifying, the two leaders of the Qing army in Henan, Yinglanpo and Tuo Ming'a, their first reaction was to scold, "Wu dog traitor, come here again, do you think we will be fooled this time?" ”

But Liu Kunyi's ecstasy array did not completely work, at least at present, Xu Jiji, the optimus giant pillar of the Shanxi Qing army, did not join this evil party, not only did not relax his precautions at all, but also went to Wenshanxi to governor Yinggui, suggesting that Yinggui increase his troops to relieve the state, and directly pointed out in the official document: "Wu Reverse used the strategy to attack the west and succeed, this time it may not be impossible to attack the west with a sound, and really cross the Yellow River to attack the state." And Jiezhou is a wealth of heavy land, Wu thieves and soldiers committed Shanxi, and it is also right to take Jiezhou first. ”

Liu Kunyi's hand also failed to hide Zhang Zhidong, who had become Wu Chaoyue's accomplice lackey, and just received the news, Zhang Zhidong immediately hummed in front of Nie Shicheng and Shao Yanhong: "It's useless, the official army has suffered a loss once, and this time I will definitely not be fooled again." This time, he wanted to deceive the officials and soldiers to take it lightly and give him the opportunity to smuggle across the Yellow River, so there was no hope. ”

"Xiaoda, when will you be able to change your tune and call the rebel army?" Shao Yanhong was a little helpless to remind Zhang Zhidong of Zhang Zhidong's name for the Qing army, and then said: "Since Liu Kunyi's tricks can't deceive the rebel army, what do you think he should do?" ”

"I don't know what he's going to do, but I think we can do something about it first and try to lay some groundwork for him first." Zhang Zhidong replied: "Now the strength of the rebellious party army in the area of Xin'an Mianchi is weak, and it all depends on the support of local regimental training. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Zhidong paused for a moment, and then said: "Xin'an and Mianchi are not far from Luoyang, and they must know how powerful our foreign guns and cannons are, and they must also know that if Liu Kunyi's army sends troops to the west, it will be their doomsday." Therefore, I think that we might as well send envoys to secretly contact the leaders of the regimental training in these two places now, and try to persuade them to surrender voluntarily, or even let them suddenly defect when they are in battle, so as to help us quickly break through the Kip Shi Pass, which was heavily guarded by the Qing army in Shaanzhou. ”

After listening to Zhang Zhidong's suggestion, Nie Shicheng and Shao Yanhong did not refuse, and immediately nodded in agreement, and also let Zhang Zhidong, who was outstanding in writing, immediately put pen to paper and wrote letters to several landlord regiment training leaders in Xin'an and Mianchi, persuading them to surrender to the Wu army and help the Wu army enter Shaanzhou.

It was also a coincidence that at this time, the first official document of Liu Kunyi's contact with Luoyang happened to be sent to Nie Shicheng, and what made Nie Shicheng and Shao Yanhong dumbfounded was that Liu Kunyi also asked them to contact the landlords on the western front in advance, trying to appease and persuade them to surrender, and strive to win over these landlords' regimental training, whose main purpose was to protect their family property, and reduce the resistance of Wu's army to the west.

In addition, even Zhang Zhidong was a little surprised and admired that Liu Kunyi even attached a list of salt prices in Huguang and Jiangxi - due to the impact of the war and the drag of Yunnan and Guizhou, the price of salt in the land controlled by the Wu army was still seriously high. Therefore, Liu Kunyi suggested that Nie Shicheng use the sharing of the salt profits of Jiezhou as a bait to persuade Shaanzhou, Xin'an and Mianchi Tuanlian, who were stuck on the salt road, to share the profits of salt transportation and increase their income.

"What kind of person is this Liu Kunyi, why is his head so good?" Zhang Zhidong, who had never seen Liu Kunyi, said in surprise: "Both coercion and coercion, and temptation to benefit, both soft and hard, and both grace and power, such Qiu Ba is rare?" ”

"Like you, you're a reader." Zhengzong Qiu Ba Nie Shicheng replied casually: "The first place in the Xiucai examination in Xinning County, Hunan, but I just held a group exercise and missed the imperial examination. ”

"It turned out to be a person all the way." Zhang Zhidong snorted and said: "I understand, he deliberately made a big fuss about attacking Jiezhou, it was not a sound to attack the east and the west, but to force people with momentum, the fox and the tiger were mighty, holding a stick in one hand and honey in the other, forcing the local group practice that just wanted to save his life and wealth to make way for him, and to be a cannon fodder lackey, enough yin!" ”

"Well, it's a good idea, though."

After the Wu army's secret envoys separately held the book and marched westward, the landlords' regimental leaders in Xin'an and Mianchi knew very well that their own army would never be able to defeat the Wu army, and they really agreed to consider surrendering to the Wu army. Among them, the geographical location of the hometown is very important, and the land of Yinghao Town, which is very important, advocates that Wei Qing is not only afraid of the looting of the Wu army, but also greedy for the profits of salt transportation in the future, not only agreed to surrender and lead the way, but also secretly dedicated the fortifications of the Qing army in the two important places of Kip Shiguan and Bailangdu to the Wu army, in exchange for Nie Shicheng to promote him as the top of the seven products.

At the same time, in the increasingly biting cold wind of late autumn, Liu Kun's army, which was equipped exactly the same as the main elite of the Wu army, successfully arrived in Luoyang and joined Nie Shicheng's army. Nie Shicheng led Wu Jun Wenwu to personally go out of the city to greet him, and greeted Liu Kun as soon as he greeted each other, but Liu Kun, who was six years older than Nie Shicheng, smiled when he met him: "Gongting, it's amazing, at the age of twenty-five, he led a division to break through Luoyang, drank horses and the Yellow River, and single-handedly contained the two main forces of the chaotic parties in Shanxi and Henan. ”

"Brother Yanzhuang, don't make fun of it." Nie Shicheng, a real person, said with a wry smile: "Everyone knows that the marshal handed over so many troops and such an important task to me, all because my sister-in-law is his wife, and I have today by nepotism. ”

"What's there about leading soldiers by nepotism? If Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were not relatives of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, could they lead troops to the battlefield at such a young age? ”

Knowing Nie Shicheng's straightforward temper, Liu Kunyi's words were also very direct, patting Nie Shicheng's shoulder and smiling: "I didn't embarrass your brother-in-law, it was your brother-in-law's Wei Qinghuo who got sick." ”

Nie Shicheng thanked him shyly, and then introduced the newly acquired Zhang Zhidong and Li Zhan and others to Liu Kunyi, Liu Kunyi greeted each other, and said to Li Zhan with a smile: "General Li, I am from Hunan and have never been to Henan, so it is up to you to show me the way." But don't worry, when we take down the state and take the salt pond, I will never swallow your credit for rewarding meritorious deeds, and I can't do it Liu Kunyi after grabbing merit and pushing through that kind of shameless thing. ”

Li Zhan, who was about to give Liu Kunyi a hand, hurriedly thanked him, and said that he would do his best to help Liu Kunyi capture Jiezhou. Zhang Zhidong next to him was depressed in his heart, and said secretly: "Good means, not only to win over the relationship, but also to encourage Li Zhan's mind to climb up, he is a talent who is in charge alone." I heard that this Liu Kunyi was the first Hunan regiment training general who Wu Chaoyue was the first to envelop in Hubei, was it a coincidence, or did Wu Chaoyue really have the ability to know people, and he saw this Liu Kunyi's ability early on? ”

After greetings, they went into the city to sit down, and it was also when Nie Shicheng's personal soldiers arranged a banquet, Liu Kun asked Nie Shicheng and Shao Yanhong about the situation of the Qing army unhurriedly, and after learning that the Qing army in Shanxi was increasing troops to Jiezhou, Liu Kun nodded and said: "I met a strong enemy, I deliberately leaked the goal of entering the army early, not only did not shake my suspicions, but also immediately increased the troops in Jiezhou." Shanxi has not been chaotic all these years, and it seems that it is indeed Xu Jiji's credit. ”

"Brother Yansheng, how are you going to fight this battle?" Nie Shicheng hurriedly asked.

"Take Shaanzhou first, and then try to break through the Yellow River defense line of the rebellious party army, and directly attack the state to gain a foothold." Liu Kunyi replied.

"Straight frontal assault?" Nie Shicheng asked suspiciously: "Don't you plan to use some strategy to win with surprise?" ”

"It's useless." Liu Kun shook his head and said: "The Yellow River defense line of the chaotic party army has been operating for a long time, and the sentry beacon tower that should be arranged has long been prepared, and Xu Jiji is another opponent with outstanding talents, and it is difficult for the tactics of surprising victory to work in front of him, on the contrary, it is possible that he will plan and fall into his trap." ”

"But if you attack head-on, you'll ...... ammo." Nie Shicheng hesitated a little and said: "The supply line is too long, I have to deal with the main forces of the rebellious parties in Henan and Shanxi at the same time, and there is not much ammunition I can provide for you." ”

"It's okay, just save a little money." Liu Kunyi shook his head again and said: "In the third year of Xianfeng, Changmao did not have foreign guns and cannons, just relying on guns and birds and crypts to attack the city, he still entered Shanxi and advanced eastward into Zhili. ”

Seeing that Liu Kunyi looked confident, and at the same time, there was really no way to deceive the Qing army into revealing flaws in the Yellow River defense line, Nie Shicheng had no choice but to tell Liu Kun a few words and stop objecting as soon as he was careful, and when asked what help Liu Kunyi needed, Liu Kunyi replied very simply and said: "Give me as much as possible the bird guns, guns and medicines you have captured, I will be of great use." ”

"Also, get me a little more sericite." Liu Kunyi added.

At the same time, after receiving the news of the arrival of Liu Kun's army in Luoyang, Xu Jiji, who commanded the Qing army in Shanxi, and Chongshi, who led the Qing army in Henan, also immediately made every effort to strengthen the defense, especially Xu Jiji, who was in charge of the defense line of the Yellow River, and even issued a strict order prohibiting the mobilization of any Shanxi army guarding the ferry, repeatedly emphasizing the beacon tower system, not giving the Wu army the slightest chance to smuggle along, and also preemptively established a command post in Jiezhou, which was most likely to be selected by the Wu army as a breakthrough, stored a large amount of ammunition, and was ready to go to the Jiezhou battlefield to command and defend the river.

After a short rest in Luoyang, Liu Kun's army really moved westward and killed Shaanzhou, Henan without the protection of the Yellow River.

The main force must defend the state city and the important land of Kip Shi Pass, and the two dilapidated small county towns of Xin'an and Michi, which are isolated to the east of Kip Shi Pass, naturally do not get strong support from the state, so they can only defend the city by themselves to buy time for the rear. As a result, after the Wu army came to the city, the Xin'an regimental training, which bore the brunt of the attack, not only did not dare to assist in defending the city, but also immediately laid down his arms and surrendered to Liu Kunyi.

The situation in Mianchi is much the same, although the county of Mianchi did not give any answer to the surrender of the Wu army for a while, but after seeing Zhang Weiqing, the head of the largest regimental training under his rule, took the initiative to take the heroic town regimental training to help the Wu army attack the city, the embattled Mianchi Zhixian had no choice - obediently open the city gate and surrender to the Wu army.

The reason why Xin'an and Mianchi have been able to survive to this day is entirely because the poor and broken Luoyang Wu army is not interested in occupying it at all, and it is not surprising that Liu Kun took it without spending a single soldier. The real test is still to come, after taking Michi, although the Wu army has two choices to cross the Yellow River from Bailangdu and enter Shaanzhou, but no matter which tactic is adopted, it will definitely be resisted by the Qing army, so how Liu Kunyi fights next is what Nie Shicheng and Xu Jiji and others are most concerned about.

Liu Kunyi's choice made Nie Shicheng and Xu Jiji were very surprised, in the case of not much grain and grass in Mianchi City and the Wu army in Luoyang could not provide too much grain and grass support for Liu Kunyi, Liu Kunyi did not rush to march, but spent three days to reorganize the Xin'an and Mianchi regimental exercises that had just surrendered, dyed their hats and tassels white with sericite, and dressed up as Wu soldiers, and then took these local regimental training as the vanguard and marched towards Kip Shi Pass, which was heavily garrisoned by the Qing army.

What's even more surprising is still to come, after arriving at Kip Shi Pass, Liu Kunyi did not use the firepower of the Wu army to cover and attack the city head-on, but first carefully explored the terrain and formulated the tactics of attacking the key points with tunnel blasting, and then put it into practice. At the same time, it was also after the fact that Nie Shicheng, Xu Jiji and others learned that Liu Kunyi did not use the powerful picric acid to carry out the blasting, and chose to use the original black powder.

Although primitive, but also enough, after successfully stuffing more than 200 catties of black powder under the wall of Kip Shi Pass, after a loud bang, the narrow and old wall of Kip Shi Pass basically collapsed. Then, something even more staggering happened, the fighter plane that broke through the level in one fell swoop was put in front of him, Liu Kunyi did not use his main force Zhuangzi battalion, and chose to send the newly incorporated local regiment to train the spear to shoot the forward.

The fighter plane seemed to be missed by Liu Kun in vain, and although the new regimental training with mediocre combat effectiveness fought hard for a long time, it could not break through the temporary defense line formed by the Qing army with the ruins of the wall, and after a long battle, even deserters began to appear. As a result, Liu Kunyi was unceremonious, and immediately ordered the soldiers of the Wu army to shoot with a firing pin gun, and drew a line on the battlefield, shouting: "If there are escapees who cross this line, they will be killed immediately!" ”

Forced by Liu Kunyi's remnants, the regimental training in front really didn't dare to retreat and flee, even if he couldn't rush over, he gritted his teeth and shot at the Qing army in front. Liu Kun saw the opportunity, taking advantage of the Qing army's fatigue from a long battle and the heat of the gun barrel and the inability to charge, he once again invested a regimental training in front of the front to launch a charge, forcing the Qing army at Kipshi Pass to quickly strengthen the front-line troops.

At this time, the long-idle Wu army's artillery finally began to exert its might, ten breech guns fired two salvos, and fired 20 picric acid shells one after another, which immediately blew up the Qing army at Kip Shiguan, which was too dense on the front line, and suffered heavy casualties, and the ghost cried wolf.