Liu Mingchuan finally roared angrily: "Okay, as long as you dare to let Lao Tzu go, Lao Tzu will immediately ask for help from Master Li and fight you to the death." ”

"Well, this is what the king wants."

Eight Huai Army prisoners of war were selected, and they were ordered to carry the stretcher and teleport Liu Ming away.

The officers and soldiers of the Huaxia Army were very sorry, and looked at the shadows of Liu Mingchuan and others: "This is the return of the tiger to the mountain, and it will be us who will suffer in the future." ”

Luo Yang didn't explain, let everyone go,

A meeting of generals was held to let everyone talk about the current military situation.

"No matter what, after our army annihilates the Huai army, we will move our army north and take Beijing City directly."

The reason why Luo Yang released Liu Mingchuan was that it was a pity for his heroic image, and secondly, he wanted to stimulate the Huai army, hoping to stimulate the Huai army and Li Hongzhang to make a big move, or go north to fight a decisive battle, or flee south, no matter what, the Huai army is a strong force, and if the Huai army is destroyed, it can also deter the Hunan army.

To Luo Yang's surprise, the Liu Mingchuan he released, sure enough, was a hero, as soon as he was released and walked fifty miles, he encountered the newly arrived Huai army troops, led by the Huai army general, the first strong man Cheng Xueqi,

Cheng Xueqi, originally a subordinate of the Taiping Army, later saw that the situation of the Taiping Army was unfavorable, turned his head, escaped from the camp overnight, and led Ding Ruchang and others to surrender to the Qing army Zeng Guoquan troops, Zeng Guoquan of course did not believe in them, every time they fought, these generals were arranged in the front line, who knows, Cheng Xueqi and others are very brave, and they can fight to the end in every battle, so they won successive victories, because of the accumulation of military merits, he was promoted to a battalion officer, and later transferred to Li Hongzhang to fight, and has become a chief military officer, although his official is not big, but, everyone knows, He is the most capable general in the Huai army, the officers and soldiers of the department, fierce and strong, if the strongest force in the Hunan army is Bao Chao, the first capable general in the Huai army is Cheng Xueqi, Li Hongzhang also attaches great importance to the special, has promised, after entering Henan to participate in the war, he will be promoted to the rank of commander, so, under his command, there are four general officers, Ding Ruchang, Wei Rugui, Liu Shiqi, Liu Yulin, the department is 23 battalions, each battalion has more than 500 officers and soldiers, the most is more than 800 people, the total strength is more than 14,000 people,

Cheng Xueqi inquired about the situation, immediately stationed the troops of the department, and after two days of rest, he set off impassionedly to attack Huaxia Tian**,

Li Hongzhang also got the news and quickly dispatched troops, almost overwhelmingly.

Under the command of Li Hongzhang, the strength is far from the legendary more than 40,000 people, but more than 100,000 people, with various troops of the navy and army, the most famous are Zhang Shusheng, Pan Dingxin, Wu Changqing, Zhou Shengbo, Zhang Yuchun, Li Hezhang, etc., as well as a large number of people who surrendered to the Taiping Army of Dayuan, learned that Liang Hongsheng, Zhang Shushan, Liu Mingchun had been defeated, and the news that the troops were annihilated.

"The thief army is rampant, our army should be cautious." Ma Jianzhong and others suggested that we should be cautious,

Sheng Huaixuan newly entered the Li army shogunate, but he was young and shrewd: "My lord, there are many reasons for this setback, especially the strong firepower of the enemy army. ”

Li Hongzhang went crazy: "The time is the time, when is the time, we will talk about the time." He had a rare tantrum, a company of four generals will be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy, he has never had a fiasco, he has been mad, "although the thief army defeated me, but the officers and soldiers of our army are brave, the firepower is strong, and they will inflict heavy damage on the enemy, so the thief army must be greatly injured, the so-called crushing victory, at this time, the main force of our army is pressed, and the enemy will be able to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, so hesitation, so that the enemy has a chance to breathe, then the enemy will be more difficult to defeat." ”

Li Hongzhang's opinion has been supported by many generals, especially those former Taiping Army generals who surrendered to the Huai Army.

The commander of the Kaizi battalion, Cheng Xueqi of the Middle Route Army, is Li Hongzhang's most trusted general now, after several back and forth communications, Cheng Xueqi also advocated the battle, he said that he could go north alone and defeat the Huaxia Army,

This time, Li Hongzhang learned to be obedient, and did not dare to let Cheng Xueqi's army go north easily, but sent Wu Changqing's army and Pan Ding's new army, each with other affiliated battalions, with more than 13,000 troops each, and Cheng Xueqi's army became a character formation, slowly advancing, and he quickly concentrated his forces, all of them went north,

At this time, Luoyang troops are also actively preparing, mobilizing troops, taking the initiative to advance to the southeast, to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, the garrisons in Luoyang and other places, also mobilized the people, made a large amount of gunpowder, etc., Shaanxi's arsenal, will also make a large number of explosives packages, grenades and other things, quickly sent to Kaifeng, Luoyang to Qiu Yuancai as the vanguard, Lan Chengchun, Lan Dashun, Liang Chengcai, Dong Fuxiang, Zeng Shihe and other departments to follow-up march, he led the pro-army, and the cavalry of the Twist Army Ren Huabang Department as a backup, through Shangqiu, arrived at Yongcheng, and Huai army encountered,

Qiu Yuncai's army was strengthened by firepower, and the elite main force of Cheng Xueqi's army in the Kaizi battalion fought hard, regardless of victory or defeat, and then, Cheng Xueqi's Huai army was stationed in the south of Yongcheng, lined up, and established a solid military camp, Qiu Yuancai's army also established a military camp in the north of Yongcheng, and the most fierce competition between the two armies was the county seat of Yongcheng.

Qiu Yuancai is known as the fierce general of Taiping Tian, not only brave in battle, dare to take the initiative to attack, take the lead, but also good at using his brains, the officers and soldiers of the department, because of the long-term commander, the officers and soldiers are unanimous, and the command is flexible, after Luoyang allocated an artillery regiment, he was able to compete with the enemy's firepower.

The battle of Qiu Yuancai's army is to attract the enemy, as long as the Huai army dares to fight, Luo Yang is naturally very happy, but he is afraid that the enemy will not give himself a chance to escape.

Luo Yang didn't expect that Li Hongzhang, not only did not have a timid heart, but was ambitious, and wanted to fight a rake and annihilate all the Chinese army.

A big battle unfolded between the Huaxia Army and the Huai Army, and both sides fought fiercely, both brave, with heavy casualties,

Qiu Yuancai's army was enriched, there were more than 8,000 people, and when they fought in one day, they sacrificed 2,000 and wounded more than 1,000, which shows the fierceness of the battle.

"Damn, the demons are very fierce." Qiu Yuancai used a telescope mirror to observe the enemy's military camp, and watched the soldiers of the two armies fighting inside and outside Yongcheng.

"King Huai, that's Cheng Xueqi's troops."

"Cheng Xueqi, you fucking scoundrel, bastard, traitor." As soon as he heard that it was Cheng Xueqi, Qiu Yuancai became even more angry.

On the other side, Cheng Xueqi was also stunned, with the strength of his troops, bravery, and the power of foreign guns, the other party was able to hold out for so long.

"Whose soldier is on the other side?"

"I don't know."

"Go, call Luo Rongguang, the deputy general of the artillery battalion, and bombard Lao Tzu hard."

Luo Rongguang was originally an officer of the Hunan Army, Cheng Xueqi also worked in the Hunan Army for a long time after the defection of the Taiping Army, and Luo is an old acquaintance, but unfortunately, he only led an artillery battalion, which is the deputy general, and he is still a chief military officer, but he is very cool, because, as the chief military officer, he commanded several general soldiers this time, and several very powerful deputy generals,

The fierce battle continued, and it was not until Qiu Yuan's army ran out of artillery that he was forced to retreat.

Cheng Xueqi was overjoyed, and finally got his wish to occupy Yongcheng,