The elite of the Green Battalion in Guangzhou was basically lost in Xinhui, and some of them were captured and reorganized by the Taiping Army, and many of them were even in the ranks of the Taiping Army in person.

After the battle of Xinhui, Lin Jinzhong tried his best to collect battalions from the counties under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Prefecture to replenish them, and forcibly pulled a group of masters to join the army, which reluctantly rebuilt the Guangzhou Green Battalion, but the consequence of this incident was that there was a large shortage of soldiers in the counties under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Prefecture, and some of them were even less than half of the original, and the most typical one was the Xiangshan Green Battalion.

Before the battle of Xinhui, there were more than 1,600 people in the Xiangshan Green Battalion, and as a result, 700 people were transferred to participate in the siege, and after the war, 300 stronger soldiers were transferred to supplement the government camp.

This practice of tearing down the east wall and making up for the west wall has not only weakened the strength of the battalions in various counties, but also weakened the strength of the Guangzhou government battalions, and the combat effectiveness is no longer the same as that of the original Guangzhou Green Battalion. When attacking Zengcheng, if it were not for the recklessness of the artillery team of the Guangzhou Governor, it would have been impossible for Lin Jinzhong's thousands of rabble to force the Taiping army's infantry left battalion to abandon the city and retreat.

Even Hu Qili, who commanded the Qing army, gave a very low evaluation of the Taiping army's field combat ability, and even the leader of the Taiping army, Zhou Shixiang, made a statement that he did not know the soldiers but knew the soldiers.

The generals are like this, and the soldiers are even more so, chasing the Taiping army all the way, and their own artillery team has dealt heavy losses to the Taiping army, so the attack order, everyone in the Guangzhou Green Battalion really dares to take the lead, and they are desperate to hunt down and kill those Taiping troops who are chased by them and have no way out, so that they can take their heads and ask for rewards from the officers.

Now the situation has changed, the Taiping army set up an ambush on the other side of the Lutou River, and as soon as the cannon sounded, the false fire of the green battalion soldiers immediately dissipated without a trace. When the commander-in-chief ran away, the recruits and the master were naturally not far behind, and they ran faster than anyone else.

The rabble of more than 3,000 remnants of the Guangzhou Green Battalion retreated like a tide, making the supervisors and pacesetters who were behind also in a big queue. When the Taiping army shelled, only a few sentinels entered the shelling circle, and several generals who led the team took the men and horses out of the shelling circle in time, so the losses were not large. But before they could rearrange their formation, the defeated soldiers of the green battalion in front of them rushed over like a tide, and the pacesetters who had several posts were also crushed.

Seeing that the pacesetters were about to be swept away by the green battalion, Wu Tai, the superintendent of the team, knew that it was not good. Hurriedly led their respective subordinates to quickly retreat, slashing and killing the battalion soldiers who rushed the team as they retreated, so that the battalion soldiers were finally left behind, and they stabilized their position in more than three miles on the east bank of the Lutou River.

At the same time, Hu Qili, the general who commanded the Qing army, received an order at the same time, ordering the generals to grasp their ranks, on the one hand, to prevent the battalion from retreating, and on the other hand, to establish a defensive line to block the Taiping army, so that they could not pursue the Qing army without hindrance.

Wu Tai discussed with the other two thousand presidents. Immediately transferred the archers under each of them and placed them at the front of the pacesetter team, and after the green battalion soldiers rushed over in a panic, Wu Tai pulled out his long knife and threw it on the ground in front of him. At the same time, he shouted: "Whoever dares to pass this knife, cut it!" ”

Lin Jinzhong was riding a horse when he fled, so he ran the fastest, and he was the first to find that the pacesetter in front of him was making a combat alert posture. After seeing those archers raising their bows at his battalion soldiers, Lin Jinzhong couldn't help but be furious, and immediately stepped forward and scolded: "Bastard of the superintendent. Why don't you get out of the way and let us pass! ”

"Lin Zhentai, the last general was ordered by General Hu Shen to crush the army, and asked Lin Zhentai to immediately contain the entire army of soldiers and horses and fight again with Taiping Kou! If Lin Zhentai can't restrain his subordinates and indulge his subordinates to attack my pacesetter brigade, then the general will carry out the military orders from above! ”

Wu Tai rode forward, without giving Lin Jinzhong, the chief soldier, any affection, and refused to give way to his request.

Lin Jinzhong's guerrilla Yu Tianen and Wu Tai both worked in the Ming army back then, and later joined the green battalion, seeing that Wu Tai led people to block the way, and threatened Lin Zongbing, he was so angry that he scolded: "Wu Tai, you white-eyed wolf, if Lao Tzu hadn't saved you back then, you kid still don't know where to bury it now!" You hurry up and give way to me, if you don't give way, the Taiping Kou will catch up behind, do you really want Lao Tzu to die in the hands of the Taiping Kou to feel at ease! ”

"The military order is like a mountain, don't give way!" Wu Tai's attitude is very resolute.

"His mother's dead eyes, the six relatives don't recognize it! Brothers, ignore him, rush with Lao Tzu, and see if they dare to release arrows! ”

Yu Tianen was furious, and with a wave of his hand, he took the lead and was about to rush forward.

Lin Jinzhong wanted to stop him, but after a little hesitation, he let him go, and he also wanted to see if the person who supervised the bid really didn't take his Guangzhou general soldiers seriously.

"Raise your bow!"

To Lin Jinzhong's surprise, Wu Tai actually ordered the archers to prepare to shoot the battalion soldiers who rushed forward.

Seeing Wu Tai's real move, and then seeing the arrows held by those archers flashing with cold light, Yu Tianen stopped his feet with a spirit, thinking of Wu Tai's temperament, his tone instantly softened, and he almost pleaded: "Wu Tai Wu Qian, you have the ability to take people up to fight against Taiping Kou, what are you stopping us from!" ”

"The military order is like a mountain, and you must not retreat!"

Wu Tai coldly folded the next sentence, no longer paying attention to Yue Tianen, and with a wave of his hand, a group of archers pressed forward together with the pacesetters.

"What are you doing?"

Lin Jinzhong was frightened in his heart, and instinctively pulled the horse back. Yu Tianen was also so frightened that he jumped backwards like a rabbit a few times. A group of green battalion routs also retreated one after another under the pressure of the pacesetters, but they were bumped into again by the battalion soldiers who were eager to flee and didn't know the situation in front, and there was a lot of chaos.

Finally stopped the mount, Lin Jinzhong's face was difficult to see, and Wu Tai and other officers on the opposite side were also unkind, the archers held their bows obliquely, looking like they were bluffing, Lin Jinzhong was really afraid that someone in the supervising bid would remember his position as the chief soldier, and let people shoot him directly with this head.

In the distance, the shouts of the Taiping army and the ugly sound of suona were getting closer and closer.

Wu Tai didn't dare to let this matter be delayed any longer, he shouted: "Lin Zhentai, the last general has an order, and I also ask the Lord Zhentai to quickly gather his subordinates, so as not to delay, Taiping Kou will come up soon!" ”

Another thousand general Jiang Wei saw that Lin Jinzhong didn't dare to really ask someone to attack the pacesetter brigade, and knew that he was weak-hearted, so he persuaded: "If Zhentai goes back here, this defeat will definitely not be able to escape from Zhentai." If Zhentai can reorganize the troops and fight again, it will be defeated by the Taiping Kou, and no one will say that Zhentai is not. ”

Jiang Wei's words came to Lin Jin's loyalty, he had already lost once in Xinhui, if he was defeated again this time, and it was such an embarrassing method, he would definitely not have his own good fruit to eat after returning to Guangzhou, and the governor might really use his head to correct the military law under his anger. In that case, listen to them. Gather the soldiers and horses and fight the Taiping army again, so it can be regarded as a face-saving pass, after all, this time the people who supervised the bid also participated in the battle, and they didn't run back before? The eldest brother doesn't talk about the second brother, the law doesn't blame the public, and no matter how partial the governor is, he can't still bring himself to justice, right? If this is really the case, he will shout injustice to the court and King Pingnan, but this battle was ordered by him Hu Qili, not ordered by Hu Qili to be urged. His Guangzhou Green Battalion will not enter the ambush circle of Taiping Kou!

That's it!

Lin Jinzhong turned his heart sideways, gritted his teeth and shouted at the few officers who escaped around him: "What are you doing in a daze, hurry up and collect your soldiers!" There is a superintendent, and I'm afraid that Taiping Kou will not be able to eat you! ”

The officers, but you look at me. I see you, and no one will move. They really didn't have the courage to fight the Taiping army again, and the previous good situation was defeated, even if they gathered up this group of frightened battalions, it would be possible. Turning around and going back is a death! He. Damn, why do we do the life of sending him to death, he doesn't do it himself!

The officers all scolded the superintendent for not being authentic. Seeing this, Lin Jinzhong was anxious, picked up the horse whip and gave Yu Tianen, who was closest to him, and scolded: "The governor can kill Lao Tzu's head, and Lao Tzu can also kill your head first!" ”

After finishing speaking, he whispered to Yu Tianen and the others, who had a red face: "You go and gather up the soldiers, with the soldiers in hand, our heads can be protected, without the soldiers, just go back to Guangzhou like this, can the governor spare us?" He supervised us to turn back, let's really turn back, go, take the soldiers to the side first, act at the opportunity, don't let us go here, we can always go elsewhere, right? When he also loses to Taipingkou, we will have nothing. ”

The words made several officers wake up, and they hurriedly took their own soldiers to take action to collect the rout, and Wu Tai commanded the superintendent to press forward dozens of steps, so frightened that the green battalion rout soldiers no longer dared to run around, and obediently collected by their respective officers. However, the rout team of more than 3,000 people can be gathered in a moment and a half, and there are Taiping troops chasing after them. Finally, Lin Jinzhong led people to collect more than 1,000 routs, and the others fled around like headless flies, and they couldn't catch them.

The Taiping army also discovered the Qing army in front of the commander, and Ge Yi and Tie Yi, who were in command of the front, ordered to stop the advance at the same time, gather back those subordinates who were chasing and killing the Qing army, and at the same time send people to report the battle situation to the army commander. The brigade commanders also seized the time to reorganize their ranks and prepare for the next battle.

Unbeknownst to the commanders of both sides, on a low slope to the northwest of the battlefield where they were confronted, several pure white and several blue and red flags had already appeared.

Under the pure white banner, Suna, the commander of the white flag in armor, said with a smile to the deputy leader beside him: "There is no shortage of warriors who dare to fight in the green camp of the Han people, and that thousand chief officers are also very good, knowing that they can stop the rout, and they can also rectify their subordinates in a short time and confront the Taiping Kou, judging from the formation alone, this pacesetter is indeed an elite soldier, well, rare." This thousand chief officers are small, and I will make him a general after the war. ”

After speaking, he turned his head and smiled at the flag soldiers behind him: "The sons and daughters will go with me to meet the Taiping Kou of the Southern Barbarians for a while, they can chase the Green Battalion miserably just now, we have to save face for the Green Battalion, otherwise the Taiping Kou thinks that our soldiers in the Qing Dynasty are so bad, haha." ”

"Didn't we come to Guangdong to support the Han soldiers, if the Han soldiers are used, what do you want us to do!"

A group of flag soldiers echoed and laughed, and they didn't pay attention to the Taiping army at all.

Tong Erhan also cooperated with a few compliments to the Manchurian soldiers, and then asked Suna to ask: "Lord Commander, deal with this group of Manchurian warriors under the command of Taiping Kou Bulao, I will just take my sons and daughters." ”

"You?"

Suna laughed, and was quite relieved of the combat effectiveness of the Han Army Banner, since Tong Erhan wanted to take the lead, let him go and fight for the first feat, he waved his hand: "Go, by the way, bring the head of the thief Xiucai to Ben Zuoling, Ben Zuo Ling wants to see if this thief Xiucai is three heads and six arms, otherwise how can the Han army always suffer a big loss."

"Oh, Lord Zuoling, just take a look!"

With Suna's approval, Tong Erhan was in good spirits, and ordered his subordinates to say: "Blow the trumpet, tell the gang of waste in the green camp, our Eight Banners are here!" (To be continued.) )