Heavy rain poured wantonly on the land of Huaiyang, and the copper mountain was also shrouded in rain and mist. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info raindrops hit the tent of a tent, and seemed to knock on the hearts of the people in the tent.

The fifteenth town general from the original Great Western Army and Shao Chengguo, the new third town general from the old man of Daqiao Mountain, sat around the fire, roasting his hands while quietly listening to the wind and rain outside. On the side, Jiang Fan, the deputy general of the fifteenth town, was thinking about something with a letter of urgency from the marshal.

As early as when he was in the eastward detachment, Qi Hao cooperated with Shao Chengguo, so he was also an old partner. The fifteenth town was reorganized from the eastward detachment, and most of the soldiers were Xiangxi soldiers. The new three towns were reorganized from the Jiangxi Green Battalion, and their combat effectiveness was relatively low. Therefore, when the two towns cooperated to attack in the direction of Yizhen this time, the fifteen towns were in front, and the new three towns followed.

Four days earlier, in the Tongshan Blockade, the C Brigade of Xinsanzhen was attacked by a Manchurian cavalry in a roundabout way, and suffered heavy casualties, so it had to be supplemented by the Qing soldiers captured by Yizhen. Now there are 11,000 soldiers in the two towns, and more than 3,000 prisoners have been captured. The strength of the Qing army in front of the face is unknown, but it should not be less than about 10,000 people, of which the number of cavalry is about three or four thousand, which is why the fifteenth town and the new three towns were forced to stagnate in Tongshan, after all, compared to the old four towns and other military towns that can fight, the fifteenth town and the new three towns are still too weak, and the ration of firearms and artillery is also insufficient, so in the face of the Qing army with cavalry advantage, they have to take a defensive position.

The military order in Jiang Fan's hand was sent from Gaomin Temple in the southeast just half an hour ago, and the military order required the fifteenth town and the new third town to launch a strong attack on the Qing army in front of them and advance to Yangzhou at all costs. The essence of this military order was to order the 15th Town and the New Third Town to be used as bait to attract more Qing troops to move from the south of Yangzhou to Tongshan, so as to reduce the pressure on the main force in the direction of Gaomin Temple, but this move meant that the 15th Town and the New Third Town were likely to be wiped out.

After Qi Hao and Shao Chengguo received this military order, the two of them were silent until now. After roasting around the stove for a while, Shao Chengguo suddenly got up and rubbed his hands, and said with a smile: "Brother Qi, that's it, I'll go back and prepare, this time our new three towns will take the lead, and your fifteen towns will follow up... If you really want to fight it out, you and my brother will also be buried on Meihualing in the future. After saying that, he turned around and opened the curtain and left in the wind and rain.

Jiang Fan looked at Shao Chengguo's figure who was far away in the wind and rain, his lips moved, but he didn't stop him, but turned his head to look at Qi Hao.

"Call everybody."

Qi Hao stood up and sighed softly, paced to the map, and looked at it in a daze. Soon, three brigade schools and three ambassadors of the 15th town came to the tent of the town general. After they came in, Qi Hao was still looking at the map and didn't pay attention to them. Several people waited for a while, but Qi Hao never spoke.

It was quiet in the tent, except for the sound of torrential rain outside, the heavy wheezing of the crowd, and the occasional "thunderclap" in the stove. While waiting, General Jiang Fan had already handed the order to the six people to look at it one by one. After the six people saw it, they all frowned.

After waiting for a while, Wu Dayou, the ambassador of the Anjun Army of the C Brigade and a native of Xiangshan, couldn't help but say: "Since it is the commander's order, we will obey the order, and the commander does not have to hesitate!" After speaking, he walked to the tent door, lifted the tent curtain, pointed outside, and said to the people: "This heavy rain is not at the right time, but it is not good for us, and even worse for the tartars." Looking at this rain, it will definitely not stop for a while, and besides, it has been raining for a day, this place has long been rotten, and the Tartar cavalry can't move in the mud, so let's take this opportunity to fight with them! ... People are hanging to the sky, eating the handsome, taking the handsome, living the handsome, spending the handsome, we have lived a good life, and now the handsome wants us to work hard, let's fight with his mother's tartar! ”

"yes, fight with the fucking Tartars!"

The generals were cheered up by Wu Dayou's words and echoed them one after another. Qi Hao also turned around and walked in front of the generals, he slowly glanced at the generals, then nodded slightly, and said, "Then let's fight." ”

"I command..."

As Qi Hao's order was handed down, all the officers whose names were called bowed down and stood up to receive the order, Qi Hao pressed the saber on his waist, and his eyes were full of determination.

With the order, in the wind and rain, thousands of people and horses in the fifteenth town were dispatched and assembled together, and everyone was already wearing armor. Blades, bows, and arrows, all worn on the body. The wind and rain were so strong that the fire guns could not be fired at all, and the soldiers put the guns in the camp, and all they held in their hands were big swords and spears.

Thousands of people lined up in the wind and rain, although everyone was shivering from the cold, and they were very hesitant one by one, not knowing why the military order was to assemble in the wind and rain, but the cruel military decree made everyone can only bury their doubts in their hearts, and wait for the arrival of the generals one by one. After a while, the soldiers in the wind and rain saw their town general, dressed in armor, appear in their sight.

"Attack the order, dare not have the former, slash!"

Qi Hao didn't say a word, and directly ordered an attack. The brigades were quickly mobilized and drove out of the camp. In the camp of the new three towns not far away, a group of soldiers also lined up out of the camp in the wind and rain, and drove silently towards the Qing army in the distance.

Qi Hao galloped out, and in his sight, he saw the military flag of the new three towns and the figure of Shao Chengguo under the military flag.

His neck turned slightly, and his gaze fell to the southeast.

Commander, may your decision be correct, and may the brethren not die in vain!

"Kill!"

Qi Hao rushed to his horse and galloped on the muddy ground with hundreds of town guards.

The wind is strong and the rain is heavy. In this storm, tens of thousands of Taiping soldiers launched a strong attack on the Qing army. The sound of fighting soon sounded in the wind and rain.

...............

Gaomin Temple, Yizhen Estuary.

The wind blew the boats on the river and the raindrops fell, and the weather was very bad, but in this bad weather, the Taiping Army's canal sailor fleet was still moving forward against the wind. The sailors rowed their oars hard, desperately holding on to their pennies, just to make the boat row a little further.

On the south bank of the Yizhen River, the wharf temporarily repaired by the Taiping Army was covered with straw, but because of the heavy rain, it was constantly trampled back and forth, and the ground was already muddy. Many of the soldiers' shoes got stuck in the mud and couldn't pull them out, so they had to run barefoot. The cold made many soldiers frostbitten, but no one stopped, they were still busy on the dock, using all their strength to move the goods that the sailors had just transported to the shore.

The soldiers carried thick iron pipes to the shore, which looked like cannon barrels but not like them, because those big iron pipes were carried by one person, and there were no such large cannon pipes in this world, so it was right to say that they were iron barrels. (To be continued.) )