Yan Xueyi's order was quickly conveyed, but it also took several days to reach all parts of Siqi, and it was too troublesome to have no wired telegraph or telephone connection in Siqi, but it would take time to build wired telegraphs and telephones, and the lines often had the possibility of being destroyed. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

After Yan Xueyi's order was conveyed to various places, the Han troops in various places quickly assembled towards their respective locations, leaving half of the recruits in each place, led by a few veterans, to cooperate with the local police to maintain law and order, and the remaining recruits followed the Han army.

According to the intelligence transmitted by the agents who broke into the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang originally planned to gather at least 100,000 troops, but the number of officers and soldiers actually mobilized exceeded 150,000, including the elite officers and soldiers of the Hunan army, the Huai army, and the Mongolian cavalry, and it was expected that the Manchu army would have more than 200 advanced breech guns (ranging in caliber from 55 mm to 100 mm, with more small calibers), 9,000 cavalry, including 5,000 elite Mongolian cavalry, and 10,000 advanced equipment Rifles (singles and one rifle refers to the kind of bullets that are loaded with one bullet, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty is equipped with many models of singles and one rifle, so it is replaced by singles and one rifle), and 30,000 ordinary musket teams equipped with various old models of muskets, and the remaining officers and soldiers are only equipped with cold weapons.

The Manchu army, numbering more than 150,000, was to attack the four provinces in five simultaneous directions:

The first road: led by Zuo Zongtang himself, attacking Siqi Province from the direction of Shaanxi Province, the first road army as the main force with a total of more than 55,000 people, including more than 12,000 Chu troops (including a musket team equipped with 2,000 "singles one" rifles), 5,000 elite Mongolian cavalry, more than 38,000 green battalions equipped with a large number of old-fashioned muskets, in addition to the first road army is also equipped with 80 advanced breech guns and hundreds of old-fashioned artillery.

The second route: led by Zhang Shusheng (who served as the minister of Beiyang for a period of time, the general of the Huai army), from the Yangtze River to take a foreign ship into the hinterland of Siqi Province, the second road army totaled more than 5,000 Huai troops, equipped with 3,000 "singles one" rifles and 30 advanced breech guns.

The third road: led by Yang Changjun, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, attacked Siqi Province from the direction of Susu Province, the third road army totaled more than 40,000 people, for 10,000 Chu troops and 30,000 green battalion soldiers, of which, the 10,000 Chu army included a 2,000-man cavalry team and a 3,000 musket team equipped with "singles and one" rifles, and more than 70 advanced breech guns and more than 100 old-fashioned artillery.

Fourth Road: Led by Bian Baodi, the governor of Huguang, attacking Siqi Province from the direction of Hunan Province, the Fourth Route Army totaled more than 37,000 people, including 20,000 Hunan troops and 17,000 green battalion soldiers, of which, the 20,000 Hunan army includes a cavalry team of 1,500 people and a musket team equipped with 2,000 "singles and one" rifles, and is also equipped with nearly 10,000 old-fashioned muskets, 20 advanced breech guns, and more than 100 old-fashioned artillery, in addition to the green battalion soldiers are also equipped with many old-fashioned muskets and old-fashioned artillery.

Fifth Road: Led by Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, the Fifth Route Army attacked Siqi Province from the direction of Yunnan Province, with a total of more than 15,000 green battalion soldiers, including a cavalry team of more than 500 people, equipped with more than 2,000 old muskets of various types and a small number of old artillery. (Yunnan and Guizhou provinces actually have a lot of troops, but at this time, there was friction between the Manchus and France, which wanted to occupy Vietnam, from time to time, so most of the elite officers and soldiers in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces were deployed in the Vietnamese border area)

Zuo Zongtang wanted to exterminate the "short-haired thief" in a war, and before he knew the specific strength of the "short-haired thief", he guessed the strength of the "short-haired thief" in the general direction (unfortunately it was still far from the real strength), so in the end, he mobilized more than 150,000 troops across the country, including 50,000 elites, and divided them into five ways to encircle and suppress the "short-haired thief" from five directions.

However, the army was mobilized from all regions of the country, and it took a certain amount of time to march, so it was not until the beginning of August that all the armies of the five routes were assembled, and the grain, grass and military salaries were sent to the door by someone.

Zuo Zongtang accepted all the grain, grass and salaries needed for the transfer of troops, and everything was easily solved, and the officers and soldiers from all over the country quickly assembled.

The 150,000 army surrounded the river in five ways, bringing strong self-confidence to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, no matter how strong the "short-haired thief" is, it is impossible to defeat the 150,000-strong army, so many cavalry, musket teams and artillery, how can the "short-haired thief" who is only equipped with cold weapons be able to fight, even if there are several times more "short-haired thieves" can be killed, I am afraid that now the "short-haired thief" in Siqi Province is afraid, thinking about how to escape, right?

The Manchu magnates who fled in a hurry returned to their original homes with confidence, and some of them were imagining how they could get back their lost property after the imperial army defeated the "short-haired thieves".

However, what the Manchus did not expect at all was that the "short-haired thief" in their mouths did not show any panic at all, even if they already knew that the Manchu 150,000 army was coming to encircle and suppress, they were still not afraid.

"Does it matter if there are more people? Whether it is cavalry or infantry, there is no life or death under the guns of my heavy machine guns in the rainstorm. "The Han heavy machine gunners expressed disdain for the Manchu army.

Yes, in the face of heavy rain and heavy machine guns, as many people as there were people from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they had to lie down as many people.

The Han armies from all over the province calmly assembled to their respective locations, and the Manchus were divided into five routes to encircle Sichuan, and the Han troops of the four brigades would also be divided into five routes to face the Manchu five-way army.

The strongest of the four brigades of the Han Army, the first brigade, was in charge of the First Route Army led by Zuo Zongtang under the leadership of brigade commander Zhao Gang, Niu Dehou's second brigade was responsible for the Third Route Army led by Yang Changjun, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Chen Haojie led a regiment of the Third Brigade and a regiment of the Fourth Brigade and the artillery battalion directly under the Fourth Brigade was responsible for the Fourth Route Army led by Bian Baodi, the governor of Huguang, Lin Hao led the remaining regiment of the Third Brigade and the artillery battalion directly under the Third Brigade was responsible for the Second Route Army led by Zhang Shusheng. Sun Ran led the remaining regiment of the Fourth Brigade to take charge of the Fifth Route Army led by Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.

The Manchus would not have thought that the "short-haired thieves" they were preparing to encircle and suppress were not only not afraid, but would take the initiative to attack and prepare to "keep the enemy out of the country."

The 20,000 Han army plus the recruits who have only been trained for more than a month, against the 150,000 Manchu army, including 50,000 elites, no matter how outsiders look at it, the Han army will lose, but only the Han army itself understands in his heart that the 150,000 army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty is just a paper tiger for the Han army, and it will be broken if it is stabbed.

Just when both sides were almost ready, a total of ten armies on both sides set off, and a big battle was about to break out.