In fact, until the day of the withdrawal of troops on March 30, Hilgen did not dare to send the news of the decisive battle in northern Jiangxi to the capital with 800 miles of urgency, and reported to Kang Mazi. [Full text reading]

Some friends must ask, Zhangtai Beizi is okay, how can the old fox of Hilgen worry about how to report the fiasco of northern Jiangxi to Kang Mazi? Isn't this nonsense? If you lose, you will lose, and if you lose, you will lose, and Hilgen, who is quite responsible, can just report the truth, so why should you think about what to report good news and not bad news, and what to do if the military plane is delayed?

The friend asked the right question, Hilgen, who was loyal to Kang Mazi and the Mites Qing court, really wanted to honestly confess the fiasco to Kang Mazi, and asked Kang Mazi to make strategic adjustments as soon as possible to prevent the next move of the Wu army - but the question is, does Hilgen dare? It was Kang Mazi who was gullible enough to believe that Lu Fatzi was seriously injured by the cannon, and it was Kang Mazi who believed that Han Daren surrendered by fraud, and it was Kang Mazi who ordered to force the main force of the Qing army in northern Jiangxi to go west and go north to fight a decisive battle with the Wu army!

Could it be that if Hilgen really went to say to Kang Mazi, "Master, you are all to blame for your stupidity, blame you for your incompetence, blame you for not understanding military blind command, killed tens of thousands of troops in our Qing Dynasty, and ruined the good situation of our Qing Dynasty battlefield in northern Jiangxi." "Then something will happen, and Hilgen and Zhangtai Bei really can't imagine anything.

It is precisely because it is a rat trap that he has to take into account Kang Mazi's numb face that Hilgen will wait and see for two days after the fiasco, intending to find the flaws of the Wu army, using the more than 10,000 troops who still have the strength of a battle in their hands, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Wu army's big victory to get carried away, and take advantage of a loophole to win a small victory to save a little face for Kang Mazi. I never thought that I would run into such a superb enemy as Lu Fatzi, not only did he not get carried away after the big victory, but he didn't even fight the abacus of pursuing the victory to continue to expand the victory, and Hilgen, who couldn't find a chance to attack after death, could only secretly call unlucky, and had no choice but to order the troops to retreat and defend the city.

Originally, if it was replaced by a truly selfless Qing army general such as Ao Bai or Yue Le, he might have taken the responsibility of the fiasco and took all the blame on himself, but unfortunately, Hilgen was not great to this point. Therefore, it was not until the first day of the fourth month of April that Hilgen and Zhangtai Beiziye, who had reached a secret agreement in private, used 800 li to expedite the report to the Qing court, and put all the blame for the fiasco in northern Jiangxi on the deputy general of Dingnan and the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Hargaqi, and insisted that it was Halgaqi who believed in Han Daren's deception and tried his best to promote the Qing army to cross the lake for a decisive battle, which led to the defeat of northern Ganbei and the defeat of the whole army!

Anyway, Halgaqi is a dead man and can't open his mouth, with him carrying the black pot, not only can the guilt of Hilgen and Zhangtai Bei Ziye be much lighter, but Kang Mazi's face has also been saved, Kang Mazi's face has been saved, and the guilt of Hilgen and Zhangtai Beizi is naturally lighter. So, Lord Hargaqiha, I'll just wronged you.

At noon on the fifth day of the fourth month of April, after more than four days of losing the dog's frightened escape, the remnants of more than 14,000 Qing army defeated soldiers finally fled back to the city of Anqing, and stayed here in the mite Qing Zhennan General Dutong Niyahan and Anhui Governor Wang Yongyu personally led the generals out of the city, but at the welcoming ceremony, naturally there was no joy and laughter and vigor when the army was sent off, and it was all a piece of dejection, sorrow. After carefully observing the defeat of the Qing army brought back by Hilgen, Niyahan asked in a low voice to Hilgen: "General, we have more than 40,000 troops, just like that?" Is there really no queen army in the back? ”

Hilgen smiled bitterly, and really had no shame to answer Niyahan's question, fortunately, Niyahan didn't ask any further, but comforted: "Don't be discouraged general, victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, wait until our reinforcements arrive, reorganize the soldiers and horses, and then fight Wu Gou under this Anqing City." ”

"Is it too late to fight Wu Gou under this Anqing City?" Hilgen paused for a moment and hurriedly asked, "What do you mean?" Is there any movement from Wu Gou? ”

"Just received a scout clipper urgent report." Ni Yahan replied: "Just yesterday morning, Wu Gou's 40,000 troops crossed Poyang Lake, and Wu Gou's 6,000 sailors also poured out, a total of 46,000 Ma Bu sailors, known as 300,000, led by Wu Gou Lu Yifeng dog thief himself, with Wu Gou's general Han Daren as the vanguard, claiming to attack Anqing, go straight to the south of the Yangtze River, take the Yangtze River waterway and the south bank of the Yangtze River, advance by land and water, and have been killed towards Anqing!" ”

"Lu Yifeng didn't go to Nanchang, he came directly to Anqing?" Hilgen was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "Is it a rumor that our scouts saw it with their own eyes, or is it a folk rumor?" Can Lu Yifeng be so bold, leave Nanchang alone, and kill Anqing directly? ”

"General Hui, it's our scouts who saw it with their own eyes." Ni Yahan replied again: "In addition, our army also heard that Lu Yifeng's dog thieves only left Li Xiongfei as a general, and led the army to guard Jiujiang City to protect the grain road, although the strength of the city has not been figured out for the time being, but it will definitely not be many. The most capable armies of Wu Dog on the East Road were all brought to Anqing by Lu Yifeng's dog thieves. ”

"Get into town now!" Hilgen struck a stirring spirit, and hurriedly ordered: "Then send an order to all the armies, after entering the city, immediately go to the city to strengthen the city defenses, the moat is carefully dredged, fill the river, and all the artillery I brought back from the front are moved to the city wall, and they are installed in place as soon as possible." Niahan respectfully agreed, and hurriedly followed the order, arranging for the defeated army to enter the city and station, and at the same time arranging for the armies to strengthen the city defenses, so as to meet the next battle of attack and defense of the city.

In the evening of the same day, the news that Lu Fatzi personally led the army to the east to conquer Anqing was once again confirmed by the news of the Qing army's scouts, and after crossing Poyang Lake in half a day, more than 40,000 fat soldiers immediately advanced by land and water, marching more than 50 miles in one breath in a rapid marching posture, and arrived at the city of Pengze at night. Peng Zezhi County, which had almost no soldiers to defend, did not dare to close the city and resist stubbornly, so he immediately opened the city and surrendered. And the fat army did not enter the city, but after ordering the whole city to cut its braids, it set off from Pengze at dawn this morning and continued to march eastward, threatening to capture Anqing and point to the south of the Yangtze River!

Things have come to this point, Lu Fatzi's tactics are already obvious, obviously he wants to take advantage of the opportunity of the shock after the fiasco of the Qing army in Anqing, and also take the opportunity of the Qing army's various teams to rescue Anqing, and capture this gateway to Jiangnan in one go, and then try to enter Jiangnan, or return to the division to attack Nanchang.

Fortunately, although Hilgen did not dare to immediately report the bad news of the fiasco in northern Jiangxi to Kang Mazi, as early as the day after the end of the decisive battle in northern Jiangxi, Hilgen had already sent a messenger to the mite Prince Qingkang Jieshu stationed in Luzhou (Hefei), asking him to send troops south to Anqing City to help in the battle, in order to prevent Lu Fatzi from taking advantage of the victory to pursue Anqing City. And on the night of the fifth day of the fourth lunar month, news finally came from Luzhou, and the Jieshu faction was the main and deputy commanders of the Red Banner Bayar and Madaha, and led an army of 10,000 to take the official road south, and they also rushed to Anqing for reinforcements in the starry night. Obviously, Prince Kang also knows Anqing's important surname too well.

Finally confirmed that a support army was on the way to the battlefield, Hilgen, Niyahan and Zhangtai and others inevitably breathed a sigh of relief, but in the early morning of the sixth day of the fourth month, a news that made Hilgen and Niyahan stunned again, in just one day on the fifth day of the first month of April, the main force of the Wu army led by Lu Fatzi personally marched nearly 100 miles and approached the city of Jiande County, the capital of Chizhou! Zhao Liangsheng of Jiande Zhi County was caught off guard, although he quickly closed the city and defended it, but he was attacked by the Wu army and climbed the city wall, and killed Zhao Liangsheng's whole family to divide the corpses of Zhao Liangsheng's family, and has successfully occupied Jiande County, and is less than eighty miles away from Anqing!

Lu Fatzi advanced so fast as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, it can be said that he had caught the Anqing Qing army off guard, and while he was desperately trying to strengthen the city defense, Hilgen and others had to send messengers to contact Jieshu's reinforcements again, asking Bayar and Madaha to speed up as much as possible and rush to Anqing for reinforcements as soon as possible. However, just after the messenger was dispatched, an unexpected messenger took the initiative to come to Anqing City and got in touch with Hilgen and others. Lebei was jointly sent by Kang Mazi, Aichen, Liangjiang Governor A Xixu and Jiangning Zhenshou General Echu to understand the war situation in northern Jiangxi.

A Xixu and Echu were so concerned about the situation in northern Jiangxi, of course, they had already received the news of the Qing army's defeat at Poyang Lake - the speed of the waterway express news was much faster than that of the land route, and Axixu and Echu, who were worried that Anqing would not protect Jiangnan, naturally did not dare to slack off, so they sent Echu's right-hand man Lebei to Anqing to learn about the situation in northern Jiangxi, and to judge whether Anqing could hold and how long.

Because of this, after having a general understanding of the battle situation at Poyang Lake and the current situation of the two armies, Lebei immediately asked Hilgen: "Old general, Wu Gou's army is about to enter the city, with the current situation in Anqing, how long can it hold on?" The old general was asked to tell the truth, and the last general should report to the governor of A and the army gate, and ask them to decide whether to reinforce Anqing. ”

Hilgen was silent and did not answer, quite dissatisfied with Lebe's attitude, and Niahan replied one after another: "General Le, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and no one dares to say how long Anqing can hold it and whether it can hold it." However, General Le can repay Governor A and Ejunmen, we all know the importance of Anqing to Jiangnan, so the 20,000 Qing soldiers in Anqing will definitely do their best to fulfill the responsibility of defending the city. ”

"General Xi, General Ni, please forgive me, the last general is also in a hurry, so he spoke a little rushed." Lebei also found that his tone of speech was not quite right, so he apologized first, and said very sincerely: "But the last general can swear to the sky, the last general absolutely does not mean to despise the Qing soldiers of Anqing, but Governor A and Ejunmen want the last general to report to you two before leaving, Anqing City is related to the fate of the entire Jiangnan, and there must be no mistakes!" As long as General Xi Lao and General Ni can hold Anqing, Governor A and Ejunmen will give what they want, grain for food, ships for ships, and people for people, but Anqing City must not be broken by Wu Gou! ”

"The kindness of Governor A and Ejunmen, the old man understands it." Hilgen finally spoke, and said helplessly: "The grain and grass in Anqing City can still support half a year, there is no shortage of grain, and there are more than eighty warships, and the sailors in the defense of the city are not very useful, and there is no shortage, but the only thing that is lacking is ......." ”

"What's missing?" Lebe hurriedly asked.

"Lack of troops." Zhangtai Bei Ziye opened his mouth and said with a sad face: "The Mabu Water Army in the Anqing Defense Area has just reached 20,000 people, and most of them are defeated soldiers who were scared by Wu Gou, their morale is low, the army is discouraged, and they really don't have much combat effectiveness, and they also set aside some troops to defend the neighboring Chizhou capital city, and the troops are really a little insufficient." ”

"20,000 troops is not enough?" Le Bei was stunned, and asked again: "Bei Ziye, General Xi, isn't 20,000 troops enough?" Anqing is a well-known fortified city in the world, the city is high and deep and the fortifications are strong, it is reasonable to say that it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as there are a small number of troops can support it for a long time, why do you still think that the troops are insufficient? ”

"General Le, you haven't learned the power of that Lu Yifeng's dog thief." Zhangtai Bei Ziye almost didn't cry, and said through gritted teeth: "That shameless Lu Yifeng dog thief is more cunning than a fox, more ruthless than a jackal, more poisonous than a silver snake, and more fierce than a tiger!" Our Qing army suffered a crushing defeat in northern Jiangxi this time, and it was lost in his hands alone! ”

"If someone else comes to attack Anqing, 20,000 defenders will already be more than enough." Hilgen was not as lyrical as Zhangtai Bei Ziye, and said very frankly: "But this time it was Lu Yifeng's dog thief who came to attack the city, so the old man has no confidence." ”

"Why?" Lebei asked: "Please tell the old general the truth, the last general should be the governor of Ah and the army gate." ”

"General Le, do you know Wuchang City and Jingzhou City?" Hilgen asked rhetorically, and said weakly: "Those two cities are both strong cities in the world that are comparable to Anqing City, but they were all broken by Lu Yifeng's dog thieves, and there are more than 60,000 defenders in Wuchang City, which was broken by Lu Yifeng's dog thieves, and more than 40,000 defenders in Jingzhou City. So this time, the old man really didn't have much confidence. ”

"So powerful?!" Lebei was taken aback, and then looked at the dejected nodding appearance of Hilgan, Zhangtai and others, Lebei probably had the bottom in his heart, and understood that Hilgen and the others had indeed been scared by Fat Lu, and had completely lost the confidence to win in front of Fat Lu. At that moment, Lebei nodded and said: "Okay, please rest assured that General Xi and Bei Ziye will go back to Jiangning to pay tribute to Governor A and Ejunmen, and ask them to send troops to reinforce Anqing City as soon as possible." ”

"Then thank you, General Thanks." Zhangtai Bei Ziye was overjoyed, and hurriedly advised: "Please General Le tell Governor A and Ejunmen that the more reinforcements come, the better, and the faster the better, only by holding this Anqing City, Jiangnan can ensure safety and not be violated by Wu dogs!" Lebe nodded in agreement, immediately said goodbye and left, went out of the city to board the clipper, and rushed back to Nanjing to ask for help by taking advantage of the smooth wind and water.

Judging from Le Bei's tone, A Xixu, the governor of Liangjiang, and Echu, the general of Jiangning, were indeed very willing to help the Qing army in Anqing with all their might—but this is not surprising, after Anqing is over, Nanjing will not think of having a good time. In this way, Hilgen and Zhangtai, who were expected to send troops to reinforce their own army, were more determined in their hearts, and somewhat strengthened their confidence and determination to defend Anqing, and began to settle down to consolidate the city defense and organize the army to defend it with all their might.

On the morning of the seventh day of the fourth lunar month, the main force of the Fat Army finally came to the city of Anqing, and came to the area of Dadukou across the river from Anqing City to set up camp, and the Fat Army Naval Division led by Li Guodong also stopped near the ferry wharf, and the army formed horns to set up a large camp, and the Qing army of Anqing, which had been broken into a decisive battle, did not dare to go out of the city for a decisive battle, but leaned on the city to defend it, and the Qing army naval division led by Ghent Baturu also honestly hid in the adjacent port of Anhui, and did not dare to come out again to fight a decisive battle with the Wu army's naval division -- the crazy tactics of the Wu army's artillery covering the battlefield of nearboard warfare, has also broken the courage of the Qing army's water division, whose strength is still above the Wu army's water division.

In the early morning of the eighth day of the fourth month, after a short rest of the night, the Wu army divided into two routes, one led by Han Daren, to attack the downstream Chizhou capital city, collect civilian ships to prepare to cross the river, all the way to the Dadukou wharf, unload the Hongyi cannons carried by the naval division warships, and bombard Anqing City across the river with Hongyi cannons with ultra-long range, so as to strengthen the army's might. This artillery bombardment was very short, and only more than 30 artillery shots were fired before they stopped, but it also collapsed the Qing army's Water Gate Tower in Anqing City, and once again shattered the courage of the Qing army's defenders. Later, Lu Fatzi sent a Qing army soldier to cross the river with a white flag to send a letter to surrender, threatening that if the defenders did not surrender, after the Wu army broke the city, the whole city would be defended, and the chickens and dogs would not be left! Hilgen also destroyed the book and vowed to live and die together in Anqing!

On the ninth day of the first month of April, the Wu army partially divided the army Han Daren soldiers to the city of Chizhou, launched a strong attack on the city of Chizhou, the defenders of Chizhou asked for help from Anqing, Hilgen, Niyahan and Zhangtai and others did not dare to help, but ordered Chizhou to defend to the death, but under the crazy bombardment of the Wu army's mother artillery, the defenders of Chizhou, who had no fighting spirit and weak troops, soon abandoned the city and fled, crossed the Yangtze River and fled to the north bank. After Han Daren entered the city, he immediately began to recruit sailors and collect civilian ships so that the Wu army could cross the river and attack the city.

I waited for another day in fear, on the tenth day of the first month of April, the reinforcements sent by Jieshu arrived at Gaohe, the defenders of Anqing were a little at ease, and they were desperately mobilizing the soldiers and civilians of the whole city to defend the city of Anqing, but the main force of the Wu army on the south bank unexpectedly pulled out the camp and continued to advance to the east, and the sailors also went down the river to the east, and arrived at Chizhou City first. Hilgen and the others were shocked and suspicious, and hurriedly sent a large number of scouts to monitor and spy on the movements of the Wu army. At the same time, he sent fast horses to contact the friendly troops in Nanchang and ordered them to send troops to feint to attack Jiujiang City, forcing Lu Fatzi to return to the army to protect the grain road.

At noon on April 11, the main force of the Wu army arrived at the capital city of Chizhou, entered the city and stationed there, while organizing the people to strengthen the city defense, while releasing rumors, saying that the Wu army was preparing to take Chizhou City as a foothold, cross the Yangtze River at the Chizhou ferry, and then attack Anqing City. The Qing army made a detailed report to Hilgen, and Hilgen was suspicious, but he didn't have the courage to go out of the city for a decisive battle, so he had to continue to hold his troops and stick to Anqing, the throat of the Yangtze River, to respond to all changes without change, and wait for Lu Fatzi's next conspiracy. At the same time, the reinforcements led by Bayar and Madaha arrived in Anqing and entered the city to assist in the defense.

In the early morning of April 12, the main force of the Wu army finally made another move, but instead of crossing the Yangtze River north to attack Anqing City as threatened, it completely abandoned Chizhou City and continued to advance eastward along the official road, with an unclear goal! At the same time, the fleet of the Wu Army Naval Division led by Li Guodong also left the port to Zhang Fan, taking advantage of the smooth wind and water all the way east, and the goal was also unknown!

When the news came back to Anqing, the first thought of the old and slippery Hilgen was that Wu Gou was turning the tiger away from the mountain again! It must be the well-known cunning Lu Yifeng's dog thieves who found that the city of Anqing was strong, and he was unwilling to consume troops and ammunition in a frontal assault, so he repeated his old tricks, wanting to deceive the precious army in his hands away from the protection of the fortified city, annihilate the main force of his own army in the field again, and then try to attack the city. Therefore, General Xi quickly made up his mind that the army would never go out of the city and continue to monitor the movements of the Wu army!

As if to verify the wisdom of the old fox of Hilgen, at night, the Qing army scout Pegasus returned to the city to report, saying that it was near the Wuxi Bridge, the only road from Chizhou to Qingyang, and the Wu army flag was found in the dense forests on both sides of the road! At the same time, in the area of Laozhoutou downstream of Chizhou, the reeds on the bank of the river also found the Wu army's sampan lurking, but the Wu army's sailor continued to move eastward - it was obvious that the Wu army's sailor was also luring the Qing army's sailor to leave the port for a decisive battle, and then use the suicide sampan to severely damage the Qing army's sailor!

"If you have the ability, you will continue to go east, Lao Tzu just won't be fooled, see what you do as a dog thief!" The old general Hilgen snorted coldly, and at the same time repeatedly ordered the amphibious army to stand still, and not to send a single soldier without authorization!

On April 13, the Wu army's land and water army continued to move eastward, and the speed remained the same, but the Wu army ambush was still found on both sides of the land road, and at the same time, the sampan of the identity was found lurking on both sides of the river bank of the waterway.

On April 14, Wu's naval division arrived at the surface of Tongling, and the land route had simply penetrated into the territory of Ningguofu, but the land and water routes continued to advance eastward. In this way, the old general Hilgen finally found that something was wrong with the situation, and at this time, in the evening of the same day, a team of fast horses also rushed to the city of Anqing, and the messenger of the Qing army who led the team not only brought a handwritten letter from the governor of Liangjiang, A Xixu, to Hilgen, but also told Hilgen with great excitement, "Old general, please rest assured, General Ejunmen and General Lebei have personally led an army of 12,000 to Anqing by boat, and they will arrive in Anqing for reinforcements within five days at the latest!" ”

"Thank you, thank you, Governor, thank you for ......." Before the words of thanks could be spoken, Hilgen struck a fierce spirit and shouted like a madman, "What? Ejunmen and General Lebei personally led the army to reinforce Anqing? Or by water? ”

"yes." The dusty messenger replied with a smile: "After General Lebei brought the old general's request back to Jiangning City, Governor A immediately sent Ejunmen and General Lebei to lead the army to reinforce the Anqing battlefield, the Governor said, Anqing is the gateway of my Jiangning, and Jiangning is dependent on each other, if Anqing can't hold it, Jiangning will be in danger, so I want to send Ejunmen and General Lebei to reinforce Anqing City as soon as possible at all costs!" ”

"Then how many sailors escort our troop transport fleet?!" Hilgen asked, trembling.

"General Hui, no." The messenger replied truthfully: "The warships we built before and the newly recruited sailors have all been sent to Anqing City, and now the warships in Jiangning City are either unfinished or have no sailors, and the only two thousand sailors have all gone to the mouth of the Yangtze River to prevent the sneak attack of Taiwan's Zheng Cheng's sailors, and there is no sailor to escort the troop transport fleet." ”

"Woo-!" Hilgan's cloudy eyes widened, and a beastly hiss came out of his throat, almost fainting on the spot. After finally swallowing the blood that had already gushed into his throat, Hilgen trembled his lips and asked with difficulty: "So, how many troops are there in our Jiangning City?" ”

"It's only eight thousand." The messenger replied: "But please rest assured, old general, as long as you can hold Anqing City, Jiangning City will be able to sit back and relax." In addition, the Governor A has already ordered that the governor of Jiangning, Mu Tianyan Mu, and the prefect Xie Dongxie, should make every effort to recruit troops, and within a month, at least more than 25,000 recruits should be recruited as a backup. ”

"Ahh Hilgan finally let out a hysterical roar, and then a mouthful of blood spurted out, and the person also fell to the sky, fainting for the third time by the shameless despicable anger of the fat man.

"Old general, old general! Lang Zhong, call Lang Zhong quickly! Everyone was shocked, and hurriedly pounced on Hilgen, pinched and rubbed his chest, and it took more than an hour, and after Lang Zhong finally woke up Hilgen with a silver needle, the first thing Hilgen did was to grab Niahhan's hand, and shouted faintly in his dying voice: "Quick, quick, ......, troops, dispatch...... All armies. ”

"Sending troops?" Niahan was surprised and asked, "Old general, didn't you say that you are not allowed to send out a single soldier without your order?" Why is this going to be a whole army again? Where to go, what to do? ”

"Save ......." Hilgen didn't know that there was a force coming out of it, and he yelled frantically: "Save Jiangning City!" Save Echu's troop convoy! Hurry! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, blood spurted from Hilgen's mouth and he fell headlong on the hospital bed again, but this time, the old fox of Hilgen, who was nearly seventy years old, never had a chance to wake up.

"There are only ten days of food and grass, and weapons and ammunition are only enough to fight a big war." At the same time, on the official road leading from Chizhou Mansion to Nanjing City, Lu Fatzi, who was lying on the spot, silently calculated the strength of his army and the grasp of success or failure, and muttered in his heart: "Except for the thirty sub-mother cannons, the other artillery pieces are all on the ships of the naval division, and there are no siege weapons....... ”

"Hehe, it's all up to you, you should repay you with the grace of dripping water-Brother Xie, I saved your life, you should repay me with a Nanjing city, right?"

(To be continued)