Shi Dakai was not without hope of escaping from the trap of the old fox Luo Bingzhang, and on the first day of leading the main force to set off north, Li Kaifang, who was joining forces with the Twist Army and Chen Yucheng's army to attack Heze City, took the initiative to send a letter, saying that they had already known about the gathering of the main force of the Qing army in Shandong in Tai'an, and took the initiative to ask Shi Dakai if he needed reinforcements? He also said that if necessary, the battlefield on the western front could immediately dispatch a cavalry and horse team that could not participate in the siege operation, and rushed to the east to reinforce Shi Dakai. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Kaifang and Shi Dakai did not have too deep friendship, but there was no holiday, he was so enthusiastic and took the initiative to help Shi Dakai, of course Shi Dakai would not take a cold ass to Li Kaifang's hot face, and immediately wrote back to thank Li Kaifang, and also asked Li Kaifang to send a cavalry over to help him make up for the gap between himself and the Qing cavalry.

However, it is a pity that although Shi Dakai asked Li Kaifang for help, he did not think about waiting for the reinforcements to arrive and then go north, and the next morning, Shi Dakai left Xiao Hua and Zhang Suiru and other generals to lead the old and weak rear army to guard the rear of Yanzhou, or personally led 10,000 elites to the north according to the original plan, and it only took one day to rush to Dawenkou, more than 50 miles away, and Zeng Shihe and the army were in one place.

Of course, one large, two small and three fortresses could not accommodate Shi Dakai's main army, and Shi Dakai's army could only set up camp with its back to the Dawen River. It was decided to send troops to attack the Qing army's Xihe camp first, open the road to the city of Tai'an, and then deliberately step into the trap of the Qing army, lead the Qing army out of the camp and ambush, deliberately send a feint to play their own banner, pretending to cooperate with Feng Zicai to sneak attack the Qing army camp, and immediately retreat after the enemy encounters it, and in turn lure the Qing army into the ambush circle of the self-army.

Theoretically speaking, of course, there is no problem with Shi Dakai's battle plan, the only problem is the time to do it, Zhang Suimou, Zeng Jinqian, Zeng Shihe and Huang Zaizhong and other cronies all suggested that Shi Dakai should not be in a hurry, and wait for Li Kaifang's reinforcements to arrive, but Shi Dakai shook his head and refused, saying: "Can't wait, the night is long and dreams are many, if the Qing Demon finds out that Li Kaifang sent troops to help, it may be that he will not dare to take any more risks to lure the enemy, the sooner the better." ”

After that, Shi Dakai immediately ordered Zeng Shihe to lead his army north the next day to attack the Qing army's Xihe camp, and said very confidently: "Look at it, the Qing Demon's Xihe camp will inevitably go down in a battle, and the Qing Demon wants to lure the main force of this king to go north, and he will never work hard to defend Xihe." ”

Shi Dakai made a serious miscalculation, and when Zeng Shihe led his army north to attack Xihe the next day, the Qing army's Xihe garrison not only did not immediately abandon the camp and fled, but on the contrary, it also relied on the advantage of camp defense to meet Zeng Shihe's army. With the increasing corruption and degeneration of the Taiping army, as well as the Qing soldiers who have been trained in continuous actual combat, under the condition that the level of weapons and equipment is roughly equal, the Qing army has stubbornly withstood the attack of the Taiping army, and the Taiping army has paid a considerable price.

After most of the day's fierce fighting, Zeng Shihe and the elite of the department lost more than 600 people, and also killed many old brothers during the Jintian Uprising, which was so distressed that Zeng Shihe directly shed tears, but the Taiping army still failed to take the Xihe camp, only seriously damaged the camp fortifications of the Qing army, forcing the Xihe Qing army to abandon the camp and leave after the Taiping army withdrew, and razed the remaining camp fortifications to the ground when retreating, not giving the Taiping army a chance to inherit and use.

At this point, Shi Dakai of course also understood the sinister intentions of the Qing army - even if it was a fraud, he had to use his geographical advantage to break a few teeth of the Taiping army first! In addition to hating the cunning of the enemy, Shi Dakai was still very stubborn and sent troops overnight to seize the streams and rivers that could only start from the buffer at most, so as to implement his tactics of calculating and calculating.

Finally came to the moment of the main showdown, according to the prior agreement with Feng Zicai, the Taiping army had just established a temporary camp in Xihe, and Shi Dakai was impatient to send someone to light wolf smoke on the top of Longshan Mountain next to Xihe, and informed Feng Zicai to start tonight. As a result, after the Qing army scouts reported the situation to Luo Bingzhang, Luo Bingzhang laughed and said: "I didn't expect Shi Dakai to be so unbreathable, he only rushed to Dawenkou the afternoon before yesterday, and he wanted to do it tonight, it seems that this traitor has long been holding a fire in his stomach and wants to find a place to vent." ”

"Luo Futai, then how should we clean up this traitor tonight?" Sheng Bao, who admired Luo Bingzhang more and more, hurriedly asked.

"Don't worry." Luo Bingzhang shook his head with a smile and said with a cruel smile: "Tonight, let the mosquitoes and fleas clean up their long hairs first!" ”

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In order to ensure that the main force of the Qing army was severely damaged, and even won the opportunity to defeat the main force of the Qing army in Shandong in one fell swoop, that night, Shi Dakai's main army of course went out and rushed to the north of the river to set up an ambush in the dark, and had to build a position to prepare for battle before the third watch. During this period, because of the darkness and unfamiliar terrain, the Taiping army was left alone and accidentally injured, not to mention the huge physical exertion, and had to lie in ambush among the grass and thorns to know the harassment of mosquitoes, flies, snakes and insects, and suffered a lot of sins from top to bottom.

Relying on the military discipline and discipline that Shi Dakai has worked hard to maintain for a long time, under the condition that the overall quality has declined considerably, the officers and men of the Taiping Army have finally been deployed in place before the third watch, and at the same time, the lure army under the banner of Shi Dakai is also ready to launch a feint attack at any time. However, it was not easy to survive until the third watch, but there was no movement on the main side of the Qing army, and there was no fire and riot at all.

"The first moment of the third watch has passed, why haven't you seen any movement?"

Always staring at the Western pocket watch in his hand, seeing that the hands on the pocket watch had already passed eleven thirty in the middle of the night, but there was still no movement on the side of the Qing army camp, Shi Dakai's heart was inevitably more and more uneasy, and he began to have some doubts, but he refused to give up, gritted his teeth and just continued to wait. However, waiting left and right, until one o'clock in the morning of the fourth correction, there was still no abnormal situation on the side of the Qing army camp, on the contrary, the generals of various armies sent people to inquire about the situation, asking whether to continue to ambush and wait?

At this time, it is certainly an option to withdraw the army and return to the camp, but if the Qing army is prepared and suddenly dispatches cavalry to raid when the Taiping army retreats, then the infantry team of the Taiping army may have to suffer a big loss, and Shi Dakai certainly does not dare to make up this decision casually. As a result, at this time, there was finally a sentry in front of the horse to report, "The Winged King is eight thousand years old, and the night patrol sentry of the Qing Demon shouted outside the camp, saying that it was ....... ”

"Say what?" Shi Dakai hurriedly asked.

glanced at Shi Dakai timidly, and then the sentry horse replied: "It is said that Feng Zicai suddenly doesn't want to rebel again, and it is really embarrassing to let His Royal Highness the Wing King work hard all night in vain." ”

With a heavy punch on the stone next to him, Shi Dakai's finger joints turned pale, but his face turned blue-black. The sentry horse over there said again: "The Qing Demon Sentinel also shouted, saying that their cavalry and horse team are ready, tell His Royal Highness the Wing King, you can retreat with confidence, they will never chase and kill!" ”

Shi Dakai's expression was hideous and silent, and the two henchmen Zeng Jinqian and Zhang Suimou next to him were silent, suspecting in their hearts that this was just an empty plan of the Qing army, but they did not dare to conclude that the morale was not high, and if the Qing cavalry was allowed to stab the Taiping army when it retreated overnight, the Taiping army would basically stop fighting this battle.

"Order the whole army, be on guard, stay where you are, and no one shall leave the established position without an order." Shi Dakai gave the order very helplessly, and said in his heart: "You can't take risks, and you can't lose the battle anymore and hurt your morale." ”

In this way, under the condition that the enemy situation could not be judged, the officers and men of the Taiping Army could only sleep in the wilderness and feed the mosquitoes for a night; although they were lucky not to encounter any rain, but after one night, the officers and men of the whole army still consumed a lot of physical strength and energy, and their morale and physical strength were frustrated at the same time, and their combat effectiveness was greatly affected.

Finally suffered until the sky was slightly bright, and his face was gloomy, and Shi Dakai hurriedly ordered the whole army to assemble and prepare to retreat, but when the Taiping army soldiers assembled and lined up, more than ten miles away from the Qing army camp, suddenly rushed out of the Qing army camp one after another, full of spirit in front of the camp to line up an offensive formation, Shengbao's commander banner and Luo Bingzhang's Shandong governor banner, also appeared in the Qing army at the same time.

"Victory Dashuai, it's still the same sentence, the old man doesn't know how to march and fight, and you command the battlefield." With a smug smile, Luo Bingzhang said to Shengbao in high spirits: "But the old man also has a request, let the old man bring the Shandong New Army from Jinan to play the front and walk in the front." ”

"Luo Futai, you can trust your Shandong New Army so much?" Katsubo asked suspiciously.

Luo Bingzhang smiled, and said to the pro-soldiers next to him, and the pro-soldiers understood, and immediately ran to the Shandong Qing army led by Zhang Guoliang and Yuan Baoheng to convey the order. Then, what happened to Shengbao and the other officers and soldiers of the Qing army who were stunned -- the generals and soldiers of the Shandong New Army untied the gun bags in their hands together, showing all the foreign guns they had never seen before, and all of them were loaded with bayonets, and the bright bayonets reflected the light of the morning sun and brightened the eyes of blind dogs.

"Luo Futai, you have so many foreign guns?!" Katsuho yelled frantically and asked, "Why haven't you heard of it before?" ”

"I'll tell you that later." Luo Bingzhang smiled and said: "The most important thing now is that the Shandong New Army formed by the old man can now take the lead for you, right?" ”

Let the army equipped with advanced muskets rush to the front to take the lead, such a request Shengbao will only refuse if he is stupid, and after happily ordering Zhang Guoliang and Yuan Baoheng to serve as the vanguard, Shengbao also suddenly remembered the deformed version of the hammer anvil tactics that Wu Chaoyue had introduced to him, and immediately concocted the same method, and arranged the Qing cavalry on the two wings of the Shandong New Army Later, he led the main force of the Qing army to follow, and strode towards the Taiping army that had been tortured all night. What made Shengbao even more overjoyed was that the Shandong New Army was still marching with the tactics of the Wu Army that he had seen, striding forward in dense horizontal formations.

At the same time, Shi Dakai is of course faced with a painful choice - whether to run? Or is it resolute to fight? As a result, at the critical moment, Shi Dakai, who had been in a bad mood since the Northern Expedition, broke out in anger, regardless of the current poor condition of the army, and still shouted: "Order the whole army, prepare for battle!" Fight to the death with the Qing Demon! ”

After the order was delivered, despite the decline in physical strength and poor spirit, Shi Dakai's main force immediately lined up in battle formation, and put on the crab formation and Qing army that the Taiping army relied on to sweep the Qing army. At the same time, although Shi Dakai and many old men of the Taiping Army were very aware of the power of the linear tactics of the Shandong New Army, they generally had such an illusion in their hearts, "It is impossible for the soldiers of the Qing Demon to be as desperate as they are to surpass the little demon, and dare to shoot within thirty or fifty steps." ”

The cruel facts soon shattered the illusions of Shi Dakai and others, although Luo Bingzhang, the double biological mother of Xiang Jun and Chu Yong, did not understand military affairs, but in terms of choosing soldiers, he was in the same vein as Zeng Guofan and Wu Chaoyue, and they all liked to use honest and honest peasant soldiers, and at the same time, the character of Shandong people was originally known for being honest and simple, after receiving strict training in the rules and regulations copied by Luo Bingzhang and Liu Rong from Wu Chaoyue, plus Zhang Guoliang and Yuan Baoheng, two rare commanders of the Qing army, The Shandong New Army was still under the stunned gaze of the officers and men of the Taiping Army, and rushed to within 50 meters of the Taiping Army's position under the rain of bullets before raising its guns to shoot.

The Lizhi rifle equipped by the Shandong New Army is also a very good rifle, with a front-loading rifle, although the gun body is slightly shorter, but it has the advantage that it can be loaded with a bayonet while loading ammunition, and at the same time uses the most advanced conical bullet (Kulikov warhead) - which is more advanced than the British main battle rifle M1842, and the shooting accuracy is quite guaranteed. Therefore, even if the Shandong New Army was still unfamiliar with marksmanship, it still made hundreds of Taiping soldiers lie down in a pool of blood in the first round of shooting............

The ping-pong guns rang out continuously, and the Qing army cheered like thunder, but the Taiping army had solemn faces, the musket shooting was completely abused, and the charging assault had to be shot in three sections first, and the casualties were heavy before they could fight in close quarters, and the Qing soldiers were bloodied with bayonets. Although the Taiping death squad with rattan cards in their hands also relied on their experience advantage to hack and cut down many Qing soldiers, the Qing soldiers who had received strict training always maintained a tight formation, protected each other and stabbed down one after another Taiping warriors who sacrificed their lives to rush to the front, and withstood the Taiping army's sacrificial attack.

The casualties of the front team were too great, and he was forced to helplessly, Shi Dakai could only withdraw from the front team and replace the army to attack, and then without waiting for the rear army of the Taiping Army, which was generally pale, to charge, the Qing army had already taken the opportunity to reorganize the formation, reload the ammunition, and let the charging Taiping soldiers fall in rows like cutting wheat. The soldiers of the Taiping Army who were retreating began to appear, and Shi Dakai's face became more and more ugly - because these soldiers who died were the elite of his own lineage, and for every loss of one, his main force would be weakened by one point............

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In order to rush to the battlefield in time to help Shi Dakai, he had just received Shi Dakai's reply to ask for help, Zhang Lexing immediately took his four thousand cavalry to march eastward, and it took only two days to rush from Heze to Yanzhou. However, when they first saw the Taiping Army's Dawenkou fortress, before Zhang Lexing and other soldiers of the Twist Army could cheer, a scene that made their jaws drop suddenly happened.

On the open North China Plain in the north, the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry of the Qing army wearing gorgeous uniforms were like groups of foraging beasts, shouting and howling with joy, galloping on horseback, and rushing left and right on the plain unscrupulously. And the objects they foraged for were all Taiping soldiers with red cloths on their heads, crying and shouting for their lives.

"What's wrong? How could it have failed so badly? Zhang Lexing couldn't believe the picture in front of him at all, but out of righteousness and duty, Zhang Lexing still did not hesitate to give the order to charge and fight, and led the cavalry of the Twist Army to cross the Dawen River, catch the cavalry of the Qing army, and cover the infantry of the Taiping Army who had completely collapsed and fled back to the fortress.

If it weren't for the timely arrival of the cavalry of the Twist Army, Shi Dakai himself would have died on the battlefield, but even if he escaped back to Dawenkou Fortress City, Shi Dakai still couldn't help but kneel and cry, mourning the fiasco of this battle, and feeling even more sorry for the Taiping soldiers who died in this battle.

The news of the fiasco of Shi Dakai's main force in front of the Shandong New Army spread, just like a thunderclap, stunned the Taiping soldiers of the entire Lunan battlefield, forcing the Taiping army on both wings of the army to hurriedly abandon the Lunan city that was about to be captured, and urgently withdraw to Yanzhou for rescue. The Taiping Army's second large-scale Northern Expedition was also basically defeated, and the Manchu court, which was in decline, took the opportunity to avoid the danger of annihilation, successfully passed the most dangerous period after Wu Chaoyue's sudden rebellion, and won the opportunity to continue to survive.

Yang Xiuqing in Nanjing City was also stunned, and he couldn't believe that Shi Dakai, who took the lead in supporting him to overthrow Hong Xiuquan, lost so badly and lost so badly. Correspondingly, within the Taiping Army, which barely maintained stability and unity by relying on Yang Xiuqing's personal prestige and Shi Dakai's full support, various contradictions and contradictions gradually began to surface.

Diametrically opposed to Yang Xiuqing, the Manchu court's reaction to Shi Dakai's fiasco was of course ecstatic, crying bitterly that the Qing Dynasty was saved, and at the same time, the devil Ziliu also immediately advocated that Wu Chaoyue's Sakhalin Island, which was finally returned to Britain and France to the Manchu Dynasty, be ceded to Tsarist Russia, in exchange for further support from the Tsarist invaders for the Manchu court, and even directly send troops to help.

Ci'an and Cixi accepted the proposition of the devil six without hesitation, but Cixi pointed out again: "Old six, you can't just stare at Changmao, and Wu Chaoyue is on the side of the traitor, you have to quickly find a way to weaken it." Otherwise, when the traitor has consolidated the rear, we will lose both of them with Longhair, and he will be the one who chooses the cheapest. ”

"Of course Weichen knows that he can't ignore Wu Chaoyue's traitor, but Weichen really can't do anything for a while." Devil Six replied helplessly: "That traitor is too cunning, he hides all the dangers that he can dodge, and picks the weakest Yun Gui to attack, Wei Chen can't do it even if he wants to weaken him?" ”

"Can you find something in Shanghai?" Cixi suggested: "There are not many Wu rebel thieves in that place, and the foreign miscellaneous places are surrounded by long hairs on three sides, the situation is extremely complicated, and it is impossible for the Wu rebel thief army to fully grasp it. If we can find some way to recapture Shanghai, we can not only catch Wu Chaoyue's family members, but also block the entrance to the sea for Wu's rebel army, and cut off the connection between Wu Chaoyue's rebels and overseas foreigners. ”

"The Queen Mother of the West is clever." Devil Six nodded and said, "If you want to weaken the Wu thief, Shanghai is indeed the easiest place to succeed. Let Weichen think about it and see if he can come up with a way to surprise Wu Thief. ”