After returning to Mianning, the Luoyang army did not move, rested all day, and sent reconnaissance cavalry to run around to grasp the surrounding military situation.

"Brothers, we must make more small explosives packets, and we must make more gunpowder! Stock up on weapons and ammunition, the big battle is about to begin! ”

There was no objection to the main attention of the whole army being devoted to the production of weapons and ammunition, but there was a lot of suspicion, and several brigade commanders asked bluntly: "Commander Luo, Mianning is so far away from asbestos, how to deal with it?" How to annihilate the demons in the north and south? ”

Luo Yang explained: "The Qing demon is cunning, our army is advancing north with all its might, and it is attacking after its tailgating, it is precisely because our army is moving south, which arouses the suspicion of the Qing demon army, they dare not easily follow north, our army is stationed in Mianning, you can threaten the enemy army, and ensure that our army is flanked!" ”

"But, Brother Luo, why is there a rumor in the barracks that we have separated from the main force of the Wing King's army, and the purpose is to become an independent army, what does this mean?"

"Yes, Brother Luo, some people still say that you want to lead us to join the Qing Demon, won't it be like this?"

Luo Yang was taken aback: "Who said that?" ”

"I don't know, anyway, there is indeed such a discussion in the barracks!" Ouyang Jiong, the commander of the artillery battalion, spoke most bluntly.

"This is nonsense!" Luo Yang flatly denied it.

"Then, what is the cause of all this mess of rumors?" The commander of the cavalry battalion, Kong Fangzhou, was incredulous.

Luo Yang knew that there must be something strange here, so who was making trouble publicly? Could it be Han Yan'er? She is unleashing rumors, creating contradictions, and forcing herself to speed up the pace of surrendering to the Qing Dynasty officials and soldiers? Or is it gradually influencing the morale of this Taiping army?

"Then, you give me a strict investigation, and anyone who is caught must be punished, yes, treated as a traitor!" Luo Yang said resolutely: "Also, we must find out the mastermind behind the scenes, hold them accountable, and pursue them to the end!" ”

"Yes!"

"Brothers, we are all brothers of the Taiping Army, without the Taiping Army, there would be no us, if anyone dares to be unfavorable to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with a clear conscience, it is my Luoyang, and I am also your absolute enemy! I, Luo Yang, will be the first to attack him! Luo Yang combined his brilliant growth with the battle example of beating the Qing Demon, and told everyone that even if everyone else rebelled, he would not rebel.

"Good! Commander Luo, so that the brothers can rest assured! ”

Shi Dakai's army arrived in Asbestos City on May 13, the lunar year. Luoyang army withdrew asbestos, returned to Mianning, stop and go, it has been five or six days, I don't know what the situation of Shi Dakai's army on the south bank of the Dadu River is, anyway, these days, the weather is good and bad, and there have been several heavy rains, especially on the night of May 13, there is heavy rain in the area of Shimian County, but when the Luoyang army returns south, the day is sunny again, and after that, the weather is uncertain.

Luo Yang asked the guide of the troops, a man named Lai Youcheng, "Is it the climate here, and there will be heavy rains in May?" ”

"Not certainly."

"Then, must the water of the Dadu River skyrocket?"

"It's not certain, but, Commander Luo, the Dadu River comes down all year round, and when the water rises, it will be at least a month later!"

"Then, is the Dadu River easy to cross?"

"It's not good, once the water rises, you can't cross the river at all, even if you barely cross the river, it's extremely dangerous!"

Luo Yang was sure in his heart, since it had been raining for several days, and the Dadu River must have risen sharply, then, if Shi Dakai wanted to cross the Dadu River, there must be many difficulties. However, I don't know how long he can last in the Purple Land area.

Luoyang's current situation can be said to be very safe, not only because of the high efficiency of normal cavalry, but also because of some strategic knowledge that can be heard from Shi Dakai and Zeng Shihe as a senior officer, a division of the Taiping Army, known as 30,000, is actually estimated to have seven or eight thousand people, and is leading the absolute main force of the Qing army in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces to the distant Guizhou area, in the south of Sichuan, in addition to the local armed forces, a small number of regular elites, who really pose a threat to the Luoyang army, have not. The Luoyang army advanced and retreated freely for the reinforcement of Shi Dakai's army.

The number of Shi Dakai's army is more than 55,000, known as 100,000, excluding family members and the wounded and sick, the combat force is about 40,000, which is a very powerful army. In addition, when they marched north, they carried enough food supplies. As long as they did not fight to the death with the Qing army and did not encounter the indiscriminate bombardment of the Qing army's superior firepower, the problem of its destruction should be more than a month.

Luo Yang himself did not know much about a lot of military knowledge at this time, so he often convened meetings, or recruited several brigade commanders and officers in charge of the barracks to study and seek advice, and his approachable attitude was recognized and supported by everyone, and at the same time, he gradually confirmed a fact.

He took the theme that after the return of his troops, they might have already been encircled and intercepted by the Qing army, and asked everyone to consider them from various aspects, and finally came to a relatively objective conclusion.

As long as the grain and grass are there, Shi Dakai's army will be surrounded in the purple land for a month to two months, and it will not collapse. Unless there are special reasons, the troops are greatly reduced, or the grain and grass are attacked and burned.

In Mianning, Luo Yang once again convened a meeting of the generals of the whole army, and showed the banner of the Wing King Shi Dakai: "Before the Wing King set off, he had a secret advice to this commander, asking Luo Yang to design, or attract the Qing Demon to follow the army to destroy it, or, move the troops to the southwest, and make the illusion that the main force will return to the Anning River!" Now, the Qing Demon Army is sticking to Yuexi City and other places, and our army should not attack it, so we can only march to the southwest of our department! ”

Luo Yang tried his best to find an excuse to transfer the troops, no matter what, he couldn't go north directly to meet Shi Dakai's army now, what he was most worried about was that Shi Dakai would immediately recruit him to join the troops and station them in the area of Purple Land, either crossing the river or doing other things, then there was only a dead end.

Luo Yang did not underestimate the strength of the Qing army, because the Qing army could instantly upgrade the local county and township-level militia regiments and other miscellaneous weapons such as training Yong to form a large-scale force to fight, Yang Yinggang's more than 3,000 people, Wang Songlin's more than 1,000 people, casually recruited 35,000 regiments to train native soldiers, including Tibetans and Yi Tusi in this area, that force is actually very big.

Under the banner of Shi Dakai, the Luoyang army continued to march to the southwest, from asbestos to Mianning, more than 100 miles, and from Mianning to Xichang City on the bank of the Anning River, it was more than 100 miles, three days later, the Luoyang army swaggered and opened its banner and entered Xichang City.

In the city of Xichang, it has been occupied by a small number of local regimental training of the Qing army to "recover" the lost territory, and, according to the stubborn resistance of the defending city, the Luoyang army used artillery to bombard, quickly blasted open the city gate, and the Qing army training was scattered. As a result, the battle ended in ten minutes, killing more than 40 regimental training troops, wounding and capturing more than 50 people, and the pursuit of the fast troops of the reconnaissance cavalry out of the city brought back more than 70 bloody heads.

The materials that the Qing army had just carried and transported were served by the Taiping army again.

It has been nine days since the separation of Shi Dakai's army. The scout cavalry sent to the north all reported that the road to the Qing army had long been cut off.

A delicate and lovely white dove flew out of the county seat of Mianning, flew and stopped, more than a day, has arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan, and landed in a large compound of the governor's palace, soon, it carried the secret letter on the leg, to the table of Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Sichuan.

"Excellent! This little swift is capable! Luo Bingzhang was pleasantly surprised after reading it.