In fact, the Qing army of the Daimyo Mansion still had a chance, because on the night of Wu Chaoyue's order to Kaifeng, the temperature on the North China Plain suddenly plummeted, and the first snow after the winter fell, which not only added a lot of difficulty to the Wu army to cross the river overnight and secretly go north, but also added a lot of difficulties to the rapid march of the Wu army in Henan to attack the Daimyo's mansion city. As long as the Daimyo's Mansion www.biquge.info hurry up and work day and night, even if it can't build a one-zhang high outer wall planned in advance, it is not impossible to complete the trench excavation and build a sheep and horse wall and fence defense.

In addition, because of the land freezing problem caused by the sudden drop in temperature, Fu Zhenbang, the chief soldier of the Daimyo Mansion, who was worried that the construction progress would be more affected, also found Changqing overnight, and once again asked Changqing to rush to dig trenches and build outer Guo day and night, and kindly reminded Changqing: "Changfuzun, it is not that the last general will urge you, but once the land is frozen, according to your previous construction speed, even if it is at the end of the month, it will never be successfully completed." ”

However, it is still a pity that Changqing, who firmly believes that the Qingwu peace talks will be successful, still took Fu Zhenbang's kind warning as the wind in his ears, and just yawned and said: "I know, Fu Zongbing rest assured, this official guarantees that it will be successfully completed before the end of the month." It's late at night, and the official has been busy all day today, and I'm too sleepy, so I won't keep you. ”

After that, Changqing, who was cold and sleepy, picked up the teacup and touched it on the skin of his mouth, and walked through the scene of serving tea to send off guests, and then he couldn't wait to go back to the room to find Xinna's concubine to keep warm, leaving Fu Zhenbang in the living room with a long sigh, and had to pray secretly, "I hope that Wu thief will not send troops to attack at this juncture, otherwise we will be in big trouble." ”

The incomparably precious night was wasted, and in the early morning of the next day, Fu Zhenbang, who was not at ease, came to the construction site to check the construction situation against the wind and snow, and the result was that Fu Zhenbang's nose was crooked on the spot, and there was no one working on the construction site of Nuoda, only some errand soldiers and migrant workers were roasting in the grass shed next to the pile of materials. Fu Zhenbang rushed up again to ask the reason, only to know that it was because the wind and snow were too big and the weather was too cold, and the Daimyo Prefecture, who was in charge of supervising the work, decided to give the migrant workers a half-day holiday, planning to wait for the wind and snow to stop before continuing the construction.

Procrastination has reached this level, no matter how good Fu Zhenbang's temper is, he can't help but make a thunderstorm, and scolded that he was about to go into the city to find the magistrate to settle accounts, but who knew that Gong Yaolun, the deputy who accompanied him, stopped Fu Zhenbang and said: "Brother Fu, forget it, although you are a second-grade general soldier, you are only a military officer, and you have no power to directly interfere in local government affairs. ”

Under Gong Yaolun's reminder, thinking of his grudges with Yi Xing'a, and thinking about his current embarrassing situation, Fu Zhenbang, a good man, could only sigh and reluctantly gave up his plan to go into the city to make trouble. Gong Yaolun persuaded again: "Brother Fu, go back and rest, it's too cold, take care of your body before you can kill Wu thief in the future." Anyway, the imperial court is now negotiating peace with the Wu thief, and it is unlikely that the Wu thief in Henan will go north in a big way. ”

Silently accepted Gong Yaolun's kind persuasion, Fu Zhenbang returned to the camp in Daming Town dejectedly, but after returning to the camp, Fu Zhenbang did not go into the barracks with charcoal fire to rest, but stripped off his shirt on the school field, carried a nine-ring knife shirtless in the wind and snow, and danced a nine-ring knife weighing more than 30 catties with a sparkling sword.

"Good knife technique!"

A set of ancestral knife techniques had just been practiced, and there was an unfamiliar loud cheer at the gate of the school field, Fu Zhenbang ignored it, and just slowly withdrew the knife until he adjusted his body rhythm. Fu Zhenbang turned his head to see who the person was, but saw that it was Zhang Guoliang who led a few personal soldiers to the school field at some point, and he was applauding again and again, "Good swordsmanship, I have long heard that General Fu is excellent in martial arts and has extraordinary skills. ”

After smiling bitterly, Fu Zhenbang put on his coat first, and then greeted Zhang Guoliang with each other, and asked Zhang Guoliang directly: "Palace, are you here for the matter of the construction site of Waiguo?" ”

Zhang Guoliang shook his head in surprise to Gong Yaolun, and said: "No, I know that you don't have the right to intervene in local affairs, and I've heard that you and Ixing's dog bastard won't make you embarrassed." ”

After understanding Fu Zhenbang, Zhang Guoliang said again: "I came to you to discuss another matter with you. If the Wu thief army in Henan goes north lightly and does not fight the cities along the way to take the Daimyo's mansion, I am afraid that even if we can receive the alarm in advance, I am afraid that there will not be much time to prepare for war. ”

"So I think we'd better build some beacons on the hills to the south." Zhang Guoliang said: "In this way, once it is discovered that the Wu thief army is moving north, the beacon tower will immediately light the wolf smoke and give an alarm. In this way, no matter how fast the Henan Wu thieves come, we can also fight for a day or two of response time. ”

"Good idea." Fu Zhenbang nodded, and said with a bit of gritted teeth: "I'll go to Changqing and let him act according to the plan, it won't cost him a few taels of silver to do so, and he won't refuse if he thinks about it." ”

Things have come to this point, if the local officials of the Daimyo Mansion can act according to the plan as quickly as possible, then Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang will definitely have a chance. But it's still a pity, although Changqing promised to do this, the road map and the post station fast horse are also ready-made, and it is actually a matter of a day to build the beacon tower with all his might, but Fu Zhenbang just left on the front foot, and Changqing forgot about it on the back foot............

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At the same time, the long-standing Henan Wu army had already begun a sneak attack, under the leadership of Zhu Hongzhang and Li Chendian, the elite of the 2,000 Henan Wu army had secretly crossed the Yellow River the night before, rushed to the Changyuan city that had previously surrendered to the Wu army, and waited for the night to continue north. The main force of the Wu army in Henan was secretly preparing for war under the personal leadership of Zeng Guoquan, and was ready to cross the river to the north to participate in the war at any time.

During this period, the Qing army scouts in Kaizhou actually found some clues, and at the same time, the Qing army placed in the Changyuan area also reported to the Kaizhou Qing army the important news of the closure of Changyuan City during the day, but the Qing army Kaizhou co-leader Ruilian, who had long had close economic contacts with the Wu army in Henan, did not think so, neither did any defensive preparations, nor sent people to warn the Daimyo's Mansion, but just hid in the warm housing to enjoy the wine and beauties, thinking about how to make money from smuggling, and wasted a whole day's precious response time for the Qing army of the Daimyo's Mansion.

In winter, the days are short, it has just arrived at about six o'clock in the afternoon, and the sky is already dark, but when the Qing army in Kaizhou can't wait to return to the camp to sleep, the 2,000 Wu troops who have rested in Changyuan City for a day suddenly left the city and strode north on the flat official road with dense torches. At the same time, Zeng Guoquan also personally led the main force of the Henan Wu Army from Kaifeng to cross the river on the pontoon bridge in Chenqiao Town, and joined forces to go north one after the other.

During the fourth watch, the Qing army scout Kuaima finally sent the news of the Wu army's northward march to the Kaizhou co-leader Rui Lian, but Rui Lian couldn't believe that the Wu army in Henan would suddenly make a move, and scolded the scout for false alarms. Impossible? Doesn't it mean that the imperial court is negotiating with the Wu thief, and Wu Chaoyue's traitor is also falling into the well for Changmao? ”

"General Rui, no matter whether the Wu thief really did it or not, this news must be sent to the Daimyo's Mansion immediately." The subordinates next to him hurriedly said: "Also, we must also immediately send troops to intercept and buy time for the Daimyo's Mansion." ”

"Fart!" Rui Lian scolded angrily: "We only have many soldiers and horses here, and we sent troops to intercept the Wu thief army with foreign guns and cannons, do you want to find death?" ”

After the reprimand, Ruilian made the decision to send a fast horse to deliver a letter to the Daimyo's mansion, and at the same time let his army strictly guard the camp and the city of Kaizhou, and guard against the Wu army from attacking his own army, and at the same time, Ruilian began to transfer his property and his wife and relatives early.

When the sky was light, the Wu army approached the city of Kaizhou, but did not launch an attack on the city of Kaizhou and the camp of the Qing army, and chose to directly bypass and continue to the north -- thanks to the open terrain, the soldiers of the Wu army who went into battle lightly could easily march even if they did not take the official road. During this period, although his subordinates once again suggested that Ruilian send troops to intercept and buy time for the main force of the Qing army in the Daimyo's Mansion, he was rejected by Ruilian again, "Fart!" Can we beat the Wu thief? Hold on to help! ”

After passing Kaizhou, the Wu army could have been intercepted by the Qing army in Qingfeng and Nanle, and Zhu Hongzhang and Li Chendian, who commanded the front of the Wu army, were also ready to break through by force early, but because the Wu army came too quickly and too suddenly, the Qingfeng Qing army in the north of Kaizhou did not make any preparations, and the strength was relatively weak, so they did not dare to send troops to intercept it. will join forces with more than 1,000 southern orchestras to intercept the front of the Wu army.

The interception of the Nanyue Qing army did not receive any effect, as soon as the front of the Wu army, which was eager to go north, immediately sacrificed the fifty grenadiers brought by the army, and only used two rounds of salvos, and immediately blew up the Nanyue Qing army to the point that the ghost cried wolf howl, and collapsed, and the local regiment of Nanle saw that the regular army collapsed so quickly, and it was even more scrambling to scatter and flee, and in the blink of an eye, it fled all over the mountains, and the front of the Wu army did not chase and kill, but took advantage of the fact that the sky was not yet dark, and rushed forward for twenty miles before stopping, Rest in the area of the Ryuo Temple, fifteen miles southeast of the Daimyo's Mansion, and prepare to spend the night before continuing north.

…………

The words are divided into two ends, the Henan Wu army launched a surprise attack with infantry as the front team, no matter how fast it is, it is no matter how fast it is not as fast as the Qing army's fast horse, so in fact, before the Wu army and the Qing army in Nanle took over, the alarm issued by Kaizhou had already been sent to the Daimyo's Mansion, and it was immediately stunned by the Qing army's civil and military forces in the Daimyo's Mansion.

"Is the Wu thief really here? How can it be? How can it be? Among them, the most exciting reaction was, of course, the prefect Changqing, who first had a face full of disbelief, and then suddenly scolded, "Shameless dog thief! It's really coming, it's really coming! We were fooled, we were fooled this time! ”

"It's not us who are fooled, it's you who grow up!" Zhang Guoliang said with a blushing face: "I and General Fu have repeatedly persuaded you to repair Wai Guo as soon as possible, and you will repair Wai Guo as soon as possible, but you just don't listen, now it's okay, we have to fight this battle!" ”

"Repair! I'll fix it right away! Changqing didn't dare to mention any money and food issues, but just shouted: "Come on, go to the construction site to give an order, ask the migrant workers to immediately go all out to repair the outer Guo, and then mobilize the people outside the city to go to the construction site to dig a trench and ram the city wall!" Hurry! ”

"Shut up!" Zhang Guoliang roared angrily, "It's too late to repair Waiguo now, isn't it?" Close your beak and wait for me to discuss it with Mr. Fu! ”

drank the panicked Changqing, and then Zhang Guoliang said to Fu Zhenbang: "Mr. Fu, it's too late to repair Waiguo now, but it's a pity to give up Waiguo that has begun to take shape." I mean, we might as well take advantage of the opportunity of the Wu thieves to come from afar, join forces with the Wu thieves' front army to fight, and strive to kill the Wu thieves' front army, if we can succeed, the main force of the Wu thieves will not dare to give up the grain road and go north directly, we can only take the cities along the way first, and slowly go north. ”

"In this way, we can buy enough time to prepare for the war, and even if we can't build a solid earth and stone wall, we can build a fence, a sheep and horse wall, and a ditch to build a perimeter barrier."

After thinking for a while, Fu Zhenbang shook his head and rejected Zhang Guoliang's proposal, and said: "You can't risk the battle, as far as I know before, the Wu thieves in Henan not only have fast-firing foreign guns in their hands, but also fast-fire small cannons and palm mines. In a head-on decisive battle, we are not very sure, and it is possible that we will be defeated by Wu thieves in the field battle, and the soldiers are scattered too much, and we can no longer continue to defend the city. ”

felt that Fu Zhenbang's analysis was reasonable, Zhang Guoliang immediately changed his mind and asked, "What should I do then?" ”

"The best way, one of you and one of my troops, retreat to the city to defend it." Fu Zhenbang replied: "The other army relied on the existing camp to seize the time to strengthen the fortifications, and acted as horns with the defenders in the city, only defending without fighting. In this way, the Wu thief front army that did not carry heavy weapons had nothing to do with us, and we could buy time to gather the surrounding officers and regiments to reinforce the city, or we could wait for the reinforcements sent by the official platform. ”

"It's ......." Zhang Guoliang was a little embarrassed and said: "General Fu, I am a guest army, although the camp is also protected by fortifications, it is not strong enough...... ”

"Your Majesty, you misunderstood me." Fu Zhenbang shook his head again and said, "I'm not asking you to camp outside the city, you enter the city, and I will camp outside the city." ”

"You're out of town?" Zhang Guoliang was taken aback and blurted out: "Then aren't you too much of a loss?" ”

"It's all for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, who will suffer and who will take advantage of it?" Fu Zhenbang smiled gently, and said with a smile: "The Shandong New Army under your command is the last reliance of our Qing Dynasty at present, and if you don't give priority to letting your army enter the city to garrison at this time, do you still ask the army under my command to enter the city and flee for its life?" ”

"Brother Weiping!" Zhang Guoliang held Fu Zhenbang's hand and shook it vigorously.

…………

The reason why Zhu Hongzhang and Li Chendian chose to rush to the Dragon King Temple to rest and spend the night was actually not a random arrangement on a whim, but a careful arrangement made by Zeng Guoquan, who had already figured out the geographical situation around the Daimyo's Mansion -- the Longwang Temple was only 15 or 6 miles away from the Daimyo's Mansion City, and the front of the Wu army was coming from a long-distance raid.

And once the Qing army of the Daimyo Mansion did this, then as long as the front of the Wu army gritted its teeth and held on for another night, with the advantage of the high terrain of the Dragon King Temple and the defense of the Nitrate River, it would definitely be able to inflict heavy losses on the enemy in the field battle and lay a solid foundation for the next siege of the Wu army.

It's a pity that Zeng Guoquan, who is not good at winning by surprise, although he also tried his best to arrange tactics to lure the enemy, he unfortunately ran into Fu Zhenbang, a famous general of the Qing army with both wisdom and courage and a stoic personality. Although the front of the Wu army camped for the night in the Longwang Temple not far away, many Qing army generals volunteered to lead the army to launch a night attack, but Fu Zhenbang categorically refused, and led the soldiers to seize the time to strengthen the camp fortifications of the tofu camp in the south of the city, and at the same time organized the people to transfer materials from outside the city into the city, desperately preparing for a long-term defense of the city, and refused to take the initiative to send troops to fight with the tired division of the Wu army that was close at hand, and took the soldiers to take turns to sleep and rest, Zhu Hongzhang and Li Chendian, the generals of the Wu army, wasted their physical strength. In the end, nothing came of it.

The matter was not over, after resting for a night in the Dragon King Temple, Zhu Hongzhang and Li Chendian, who had worked hard all night, refused to give up, and led the army to kill the city of the Daimyo's Mansion and launched an attack on Fu Zhenbang's camp. As a result, because they did not bring heavy weapons, the advantage of individual soldiers with excellent equipment was completely offset by the Qing army's camp fortifications, so the Wu army not only failed to capture Fu Zhenbang's camp, but also paid a lot of casualties in the battle, and was repulsed in two consecutive attacks.

In desperation, Zhu Hongzhang and Li Chendian, who were alone in the depths, could only implement Zeng Guoquan's backup plan, and led the army to retreat to the Dragon King Temple to establish a camp and wait for the main force to come for reinforcements. Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang continued to hold on to the camp and the city, seizing the time to strengthen the fortifications while patiently waiting for reinforcements from all over the country.

After the news of the unfavorable progress of the front army was transmitted back to Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Guoquan, who was leading the main force to stride north, was of course frowning and worried, extremely worried that after the main force rushed to the city of the Daimyo's Mansion, it would also not be able to quickly break through the Daimyo's Mansion City. He was even more worried that the rear army led by Nie Shicheng would not be able to quickly dredge the grain route and send military rations to the front line of the Daimyo's Mansion, so that the army would fall into a difficult situation of running out of food.

As a result, at this time, Zeng Guoquan naturally suddenly remembered Zhang Zhidong's wild words released before, and hurriedly found Zhang Zhidong and told Zhang Zhidong about the unfavorable progress of the front army and the Qing army's insistence on not fighting in the Daimyo Mansion. As a result, before Zeng Guoquan asked Zhang Zhidong for advice, Zhang Zhidong had already said in a big way: "Normal, this is the wisest choice, there is no foreign Guo to defend, as long as Fu Zhenbang and Zhang Guoliang are not stupid, they will definitely only defend the camp and the city without fighting, and try to delay the time and wait for reinforcements." ”

"So what should we do?" Zeng Guoquan hurriedly asked.

"Continue north." Zhang Zhidong replied in a relaxed tone: "When we arrive outside the city of the Daimyo's Mansion, naturally someone will open the city gate and welcome our army into the city. ”

"Someone will open the gates? Who would do that? Zeng Guoquan asked dumbfounded.

"Of course, the guy who took your ten pearls." Zhang Zhidong replied with a smile.