The sudden rainstorm made the evacuation operation in Longyan Township extremely difficult, and the evacuation operation, which was originally estimated to take only five days, has continued for a full seven days.

The evacuation of Longyan Township was the largest evacuation operation of the Taiping Army in Xiangshan, and the evacuees included the former camp residents resettled in Longyan Township, as well as local people and new immigrants, with more than 10,000 people, and most of them were elderly, weak, women and children.

Beforehand, in order to prevent accidents, Song Xianggong personally came to command the evacuation operation. In order to ensure the success of the evacuation operation, Zhou Shixiang also transferred 1,000 reserve soldiers from the rear to assist, plus the security team of Longyan Township, and a guard of the left battalion of the infantry army stationed in Longyan Township, and the number of troops undertaking the evacuation operation reached more than 2,000 people.

Combined with the time of the Qing army's march, Zhou Shixiang and Song Xianggong were very optimistic about the evacuation operation, because they had already carried out the evacuation operation ahead of the Qing army, and they were retreating to Xinhui nearby, and the probability of failure was very low. A sudden rainstorm interrupted the evacuation operation, which also cast a shadow of failure on the evacuation operation.

At present, only more than 7,000 elderly and weak women and children have been successfully evacuated to the river beach, and more than 4,000 are still on their way to the Tan River. Some of them may never see Tan Jiang again.

The situation is not optimistic, the Qing army has approached Longyan Township three days ago, and the guard of the left battalion of the infantry army has already fought with their forward, because of the wind and rain, the Qing army stopped advancing, so that Song Xianggong's side can still strive to withdraw some more people. However, today's wind is much stronger than yesterday's, and it is a typhoon. On the other side of the river, the Xinhui sailors could not sail the boats in this gale, so thousands of old and weak women and children could only wait helplessly on the empty, unsheltered riverside. They had to wait until the wind stopped. There is no way.

The rain is still falling, and the wind is still blowing.

The old and weak women and children crowded together on the river beach, their thin and already soaked clothes made them shiver, and the only places where they could shelter from the wind and rain were already crowded with children, and along the riverside, it was densely packed with people. From time to time, the cry of a baby sounded, which made Song Xianggong's heart numb. There is a painful feeling of liver and intestine breaking.

In the afternoon, bad news came from the security team, and a battalion of the Qing army braved the wind and rain to raid the Taiping army behind the mat. In the wind and rain, because I don't know how many Qing troops came, the hundred households leading the army could only be forced to retreat. But the Green Battalion had bitten at them, and now it was less than a few miles from the river.

How many miles are you from the river?!

Song Xianggong became nervous, he knew that once the Qing army rushed to the riverside. What will be the consequences. Even if there are only a few dozen of these Qing troops, it will turn the river beach into a hell on earth in an instant. Those women and children would trample on each other in panic, and they would throw themselves into the river out of fear

Song Xianggong didn't dare to imagine the consequences of letting the Qing army approach, so he asked people to find the brigade commander of the reserve army, Qianhu Yu Shizhong.

Yu Shizhongzu was a partial general under General Qi Jiguang, and he was stationed in Jinshan to guard the Japanese. When Jiangnan fell in the first year of Hongguang, Yu Shizhong followed the Ming army who refused to surrender all the way south, first entering Fujian to join Emperor Longwu, and then fleeing to Guangdong to Emperor Shaowu. In the first year of Yongli, the city of Guangzhou was broken. He took some of his men from Guangzhou City to Stanley Island in Xin'an County, and later Stanley Island was breached by Xin'an's Green Battalion soldiers. He led the remnants of the remnants and fled into Wutong Mountain to continue to resist the Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Dachang of Xin'an Zhi County, appointed by the Qing court, once sent people into the mountains to persuade Yu Shizhong to surrender, promising that as long as he brought people out to surrender, he could not only save his life, but also promote him to be the garrison of the green camp in Xin'an County. However, Zhang Dachang's several persuasions were rejected by Yu Shizhong, and he asked the people who persuaded him to tell Zhang Dachang that his grandfather followed Qi Dashuai to fight the Japanese and kill the Tartars, and died under the knife of the Mongols, and his father died under the knife of the Hunhe Jin soldiers. I want him to surrender to the Tartars, but there is no door, he is a Han man in life, and he is a Han ghost in death! (Author's note: Stanley, later Hong Kong)

After the Taiping army captured Xiangshan, Zhou Shixiang sent people to recruit the remnants of the Ming army scattered near Xiangshan. After hearing the news, Yu Shizhong led his remnants out of the mountain to cross the sea at night to reach the Qianshan Village, and contacted Jiang He, the general of the Taiping Army stationed in the village, and was willing to lead the department to be reorganized into the Taiping Army.

Jiang He saw that the three or four hundred soldiers under Yu Shizhong were all in rags, as if they hadn't eaten for a long time, and there weren't many weapons, just when they were ordinary Ming troops, he looked down on them, but when Yu Shizhong didn't ask Jiang He to see how his subordinates practiced, Jiang He immediately put away his contempt.

Yu Shizhong's three or four hundred subordinates were trained according to the training methods of the Qi family's army back then, although there were few people, although they were not full, and although they did not have many weapons, once they practiced, Jiang He felt the breath of a strong army.

Jiang He took in Yu Shizhong and his subordinates on the spot, and let Yu be the brigade commander under him, adding the rank of a thousand households. After the appointment was reported, Zhou Shixiang happily approved it.

After learning that the Qing army's three-way army was approaching Xiangshan, the Taiping army also made a general mobilization, Jiang He led all the reserves of the former cottage to Xiangshan to stand by, and after learning that he wanted to send a capable subordinate to Longyan Township to assist Song Xianggong in evacuating the people, the first candidate that flashed in Jiang He's mind was Yu Shizhong.

When Song Xianggong saw Yu Shizhong, the other party was also soaked, but no matter how strong the wind and rain were, he still stood and talked, instead of squatting down.

After listening to Song Xianggong's explanation, Yu Shizhong was silent for a moment and gathered the 1,000 soldiers he had brought.

"There is news from behind, the Qing soldiers have caught up with us, only a few miles away from here, and the brothers of the left battalion of the infantry army are dragging them, but this Qing army is very fierce, and the number is more than them, I am afraid that it will not be able to stop for long. Lord Song and I have discussed, no matter what, we can't let the Qing soldiers rush here, otherwise all the women and children here will be finished. So I need you to come with me to stop the tartars. ”

In the wind and rain, the 1,000 reservists clenched their spears in their hands, and no one spoke, and no one wavered, just like their thousand households, let the rain hit their cheeks.

"Let's go!"

Yu Shizhong turned around and took the lead without a word.

Not long after Yu Shizhong's departure, He Bao, the head of Longyan Township, gathered the township security team and the security teams of various villages, and he watched these security guards standing under the wind and rain closely, letting the rain hit his eyes.

"The gentlemen of the Taiping Army are desperate to fight the Qing Demon for your wife and children, let me ask you, are you embarrassed to let them go and fight hard for your wives and children, but they are hiding here?"

"Township Chief, don't talk about it, let's go and fight with the Tartars!" A security guard shouted with a blushing face.

"Everyone is a gentleman, how can there be a reason for their mother-in-law and baby to ask others to protect them, everyone said, let's not go!"

"Go,. The son is not going to go! ”

"As long as we can let our women and children live, Lao Tzu will die, and he will not be wronged!"

"Let's go, let's go with the Taiping soldiers to kill the Tartars!"

"Let's go, go kill the Tartars!"

“……”

"Then don't stop here, I'll go with you, village chief!"

He Bao said and glanced at Song Xianggong, who was staring at him, and bowed deeply: "Lord Song, these women and children are all handed over to you." ”

Song Xianggong didn't speak, nor did he nod, just looked at them quietly.

(To be continued.) )