The Qing army took advantage of the snowy night to suddenly attack, and the iron horse cut into the hinterland of the Ming army's defense line, swept straight in from the northwest direction, and stormed the Chu army's Huangshagang military camp in the middle of the night.

Huangshagang, is an important village and town more than 70 miles away from the west bank of the Ganjiang River, located at the junction of the Luoxiao Mountains and the Mufu Mountains, a large road runs from the front of the town to the north and south, from Nanchang to the Qingjiang River, if the Qing army occupies here, the left flank of the Chu army will be threatened by Yanzhòng.

Garrisoned in Huangshagang is a part of the Yuezhou battalion, more than 1,400 soldiers, mainly infantry, and the main general Lin Yonggang is a favorite general that Tan Xiao relies on. He was suddenly attacked violently in the middle of the night, while organizing resistance, while sending people to report to Tan Xiao, the road was slippery and difficult to walk on a snowy night, although the herald was fast, it took an hour and a half on the road.

Hearing that the Qing army raided Huangshagang, Tan Xiao's doubts were greater than his shock: "How many soldiers and horses are there from the Tartars?" Can't Huangsha Gang be defended? ”

The herald replied: "I can't see it clearly in the middle of the night, there are about three or four thousand people in the Tartars, almost all of them cavalry, they rushed into the town at once, wounding about two hundred brothers, but the camp is still stable, and when I left, General Lin was leading his brothers to guard the camp gate and fight with the Tartars." ”

"Good! Good! This gang of Tartars is really a wolf, and they have red eyes on snowy days! Tan Xiao scolded, pondered for a moment and said, "You go down to rest, I will send someone else to Huangshagang." ”

The herald saluted and retreated, Tan Xiao turned around and asked Teng Shuanglin: "Old Teng, I plan to wait and see what happens, and don't go to the rescue of Huangshagang, what do you think?" ”

"As it should be." Teng Shuanglin nodded: "Now you should do your best to pass on the orders to all departments." Strengthen the vigilance, lest the Tartars take advantage of the chaos, and I will cross the river and return to the Tongshan camp. ”

It was suddenly attacked in the middle of the night. Neither the size of the Qing army nor their intentions were known, and recklessness would reveal flaws. It is more than 80 miles back and forth from Huangshagang to here, and it will be too late to send reinforcements, and it will snow in the middle of the night.

"Okay. I wanted to have a good chat with you, but I was disturbed by the dog's day, so I had to clean them up first! Tan Xiao was still lazily complaining just now. When a battle broke out on the front line, he immediately became extremely excited, and his eyes shone coldly, as if a tiger had discovered that other wild beasts had broken into his territory.

"Don't forget to send more scout sentries out. Do your best to find out the movements of the Tartars. Let's ventilate more and act together. Teng Shuanglin instructed again before going out.

"Don't worry, no matter what happens, even if I don't have time to report to Yuntai, I have to tell you Lao Teng first." Tan Xiao stood up: "Let's go, I'll send you." ”

"No need, what's polite at this time."

"Okay, then you go by yourself. Be careful when crossing the river. ”

Tan Xiao waved his hand, and Teng Shuanglin had just stepped out of the camp tent with his front foot. He turned around and gave orders to his men, and several lieutenant officers went to wake up the sleeping camp and prepare for all kinds of battles.

Under the leadership of a young general, twenty cavalrymen arrived first, all of them were the elite of Tan Xiao's personal army, each of them had excellent riding skills and excellent martial arts.

Tan Xiao handed over an arrow to the general: "You immediately rush to Huangshagang and tell Lin Yonggang that you must hold on until dawn tomorrow morning, if the Tartars still don't leave, I will take the army to stew them in a pot, in case I can't go, Lin Yonggang also has to find out the details of this gang of Tartars before withdrawing, I can't suffer a dumb loss!" ”

Immediately afterwards, he sent several teams of scouts to search along the Gan River, contacting the Chu army sentinels in various places, and making sure to grasp the entire battlefield dynamics in the fastest possible time. Tan Xiao knew very well that the Qing army dispatched three or four thousand people to launch a surprise attack on Huangshagang, which would not be an isolated operation, and news from other parties should come soon.

Send someone to inform Wang Kefan and other friendly troops, as well as several other small strongholds occupied by the Yuezhou battalion...... After Tan Xiao made all the arrangements, the thousands of officers and soldiers in the camp all got up, had breakfast while tidying up their equipment and equipment, and were ready to leave for Huangshagang at any time.

This is all for the sake of being prepared, and the most taboo thing to do in a war is to be led by the enemy, and what action should be taken next depends on the news fed back by all parties.

Since the Qing army dared to insert into the diagonal rear of the Yuezhou battalion to attack Huangshagang, they must have thought that Tan Xiao would go to the rescue, even if there was no ambush, they would withdraw in time before the Yuezhou battalion arrived. The Eight Banners cavalry has a strong ability to maneuver, interspersing and rushing back and forth, mobilizing the opponent to reveal flaws, which is their forte, especially in this cold and muddy snowy day, especially in this kind of cold and muddy snowy day.

After a short time, scouts came to report one after another, and a total of four or five Qing cavalry were found on the west bank of the Ganjiang River, ranging in number from one or two thousand to three or four thousand, and the one attacking Huangshagang should be the largest. They all deliberately avoided the fortified Chu army camps on the front line, infiltrated the hinterland of the Chu army from the mountains and fields, and launched surprise attacks on relatively lax villages and strongholds.

"Is this going to be a counterattack? It's not like that! Tan Xiao stared at the map in a daze, figuring out the intentions of the Qing army.

The Chu army launched a continuous onslaught a few days ago, advancing more than 130 miles in the direction of Nanchang in one go, but because Wang Sheng took away part of the troops, the Chu army was fierce on the surface, but in fact it was already lacking in stamina, just in time for this snow, so it suspended the offensive and stopped to rest.

On the side of the Qing army, Tan Tai was ostensibly defeated and retreated, but secretly mobilized 10,000 cavalry and launched a surprise attack this evening...... It stands to reason that it is very common for you to come and go on the battlefield, but Tan Xiao always felt that something was wrong.

Since the Qing army launched a counteroffensive, it should be confronted head-on with the Yuezhou battalion, if both sides are unwilling to retreat, a decisive battle will be launched on the edge of the Gan River, according to Wang Kefan's deployment, the Chu army is only a feint on the frontal battlefield, Tan Xiao has long been ready to hold on for a few days, and then take the initiative to retreat.

However, the Qing army was broken into pieces and sent several cavalry to the hinterland of the Chu army to make trouble, although this was very annoying, and it was also the best means of the Eight Banners, but it could only play a role in harassment and had little impact on the entire battle situation.

There seems to be some conspiracy hidden in this!

Facing the map, Tan Xiao's gaze stopped on Huangshagang, relatively speaking, Huangshagang is the most critical, it can't be lost lightly, and the Qing army's offensive is also the most fierce, whether to save or not, it is really difficult to choose.

Since the Qing army sent cavalry to raid lightly, it was bound to not carry artillery equipment, as long as there was no self-disordered formation, with Lin Yonggang's ability, it would definitely be no problem to hold until dawn tomorrow. The problem is that the Qing army has an absolute advantage in numbers, and after a long time, Lin Yonggang still can't support it.

After much hesitation, he finally made up his mind.

"Pass on my general's order, at the end of the Yin period, Battalion A and Battalion B will send troops with the general to rescue Huangshagang, and Battalion C will stay in the big camp."

No matter what the Qing army has to fight, what should be fought for in front of them will be fought, and the end of the hour is about half past four in the morning, and it is just dawn when you rush to Huangshagang, so you don't have to worry about being ambushed by the Qing army.

The general gave the order, and thousands of soldiers drove it, and at the darkest time before dawn, nearly 5,000 soldiers of the Yuezhou battalion left the camp and set off in the heavy snow.

The snow flakes landed on the lit tabulipine torches, making a stabbing sound, and although the smoke was much louder than usual, it was still illuminated, and the long line of torches slowly advanced in the darkness. Fortunately, the snow on the ground was frozen at this time, and except for some slippery, it had little effect on the speed of the march.

Walking out for about ten miles, I met two groups of Qing army rangers, both of which were small troops of twenty or thirty people, and when they saw the Chu army's brigade, they avoided it far away, and the cavalry of the Chu army was very uncomfortable in the snow, and they did not catch up and fight.

Tan Xiao ordered all the cavalry scouts to go out and expand the range of vigilance, so as not to fall into the ambush of the Qing army, the Eight Banners have always been like the wind, and they will run away after being bitten by them, which is too cowardly.

After walking forward for another three or four miles, the rear team of the Chu army suddenly found the sound of horses' hooves behind them, and when they turned their heads, they saw several torches coming in a hurry, high and low as if they were jumping forward, and it was obvious that the cavalry was galloping fast.

"This gang of Tartars really has two hits, and they run so fast that they are not afraid of breaking their horses' legs in the snow." The officer who led the troops muttered and ordered a group of infantry to prepare for the battle, and the other troops continued to advance, with a total of three or five torches, and the chasing Qing army, no matter how high its riding skills, could not withstand the Chu army.

"Is it the Yuezhou camp? Don't let go of the arrows, we're in the city! The cavalry who came spoke Hubei, and everyone could hear it clearly, that is, the tone of Tongcheng, and they were all relieved immediately.

"Why are you here?"

"Urgent military situation, I don't have time to say more, take me to General Tan quickly!" Among the people who came, the military academy led by him showed an arrow.

Chasing the Chinese army from the rear team, Tan Xiao was also very surprised, Teng Shuanglin had just gone back, and what did he send someone to chase after him?

"General Qiqi Tan, my General Teng has a letter for you."

Tan Xiao took it, looked at the letter seal covered on it, and then tore open the fire paint wax seal, there was only a short strip inside, with a few words written on it, and he finished reading it with a sweep of his eyes, but Tan Xiao's face suddenly changed.

"The whole army stops advancing!"

The letter made it clear that the scouts of the Tongcheng camp had discovered the latest situation: the Qing army's naval division had sent more than 100 large and small ships to the south along the Gan River, and they would soon reach the stations of the Tongcheng camp and the Yuezhou camp.

"Ha, it turned out that the tiger was leaving the mountain, and I wanted to copy Lao Tzu's back road!" All the questions were answered, Tan Xiao cursed, and ordered the whole army to turn, the front team to the rear team, the back team to the front team, and immediately return to the military camp by the Gan River.

Although Huangshagang is important, compared with the Ganjiang camp, it is like oranges and watermelons, which are not in the same heavyweight class at all, and the safety of the Ganjiang camp must be ensured first no matter what. Anyway, Huangshagang is close to Hualin Mountain, and Lin Yonggang really can't hold on, so he can retreat to the mountain and hold on......

What Tan Xiao didn't expect was that the Qing army sailors ignored his Ganjiang camp, but went directly against the river and went straight to Zhangshu Town. (To be continued......)