Xiaoshui County, outside the city.

The big camp of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the big tent of the Chinese army.

Gobard, Ma Hui, Adams, Lawell and others gathered together to discuss the battle against Xiaoshui County. With a faint smile on his face, Gobard said in a deep voice: "Everyone, we have arrived in Xiaoshui County, and according to the terms agreed with Li Zhen earlier, we will attack Xiaoshui County next. If you have any offensive strategies, you can speak freely and talk about your thoughts. ”

"Mr. Gobard, I don't think we need to attack Xiaoshui County!"

The French envoy Rankfurt said in a deep voice with a cold expression.

Gobard asked, "Why?" ”

Rankfort said: "According to Li Zhen's strategy, the strategy he set was to attack the east and the west, and we would attack Xiaoshui County, and the purpose of attacking Xiaoshui County was to attract more troops, attract Xi Changzhen's attention, and avoid Xi Changzhen from focusing on Nanming Pass. Therefore, we don't need to fight with real swords and guns, we don't need to storm Xiaoshui County, we only need to send troops to make a feint and scare the defenders in the city, which is enough to achieve the purpose of attracting Xi Changzhen's attention and to complete the task assigned by Li Zhen. ”

"Reasonable!"

The Russian envoy Tropiclin nodded and smiled slightly.

Anyway, Li Zhen is leading this war, and they just need to cooperate.

Frankfurt's statement has won the approval of some people.

Coldel and Adams, including Burnford, nodded in agreement. After all, the last time they fought with Xi Changzhen, they were beaten so badly by Xi Changzhen, they had some shadows in their hearts, and they didn't want to face such a powerful character again. Now that he has the opportunity to avoid the war, he naturally dodges fighting with the army under Xi Changzhen.

Ma Hui shook his head and said, "Gentlemen, I don't agree with Mr. Rankfort's opinion!" ”

Gobard asked again, "Why?" ”

Ma Hui said solemnly: "We have spent a lot of money in this battle. In addition to the food, money, and weapons that we consumed ourselves, we also raised 300,000 catties of grain and 1 million taels of silver to give to Li Zhen. If we don't actively attack Xiaoshui County, once we fail to achieve the goal of attacking the east and the west because of our reasons, so that the whole plan collapses, this is our responsibility. ”

Ma Hui's expression became more and more serious, and his voice gradually became high-pitched, and he said loudly: "Once this battle is lost, will you have to raise money again for Li Zhen to attack Xi Changzhen?" Please put aside the past grievances and work hard for this victory. Moreover, after the victory, we nine countries will form Vietnam together, which will also be beneficial to us. ”

Gobard listened and nodded repeatedly.

This time, he no longer replied with two simple words, but said sincerely: "Mr. Ma Hui's words are very reasonable, and I agree to go all out." After all, we used money and food to invite Li Zhen to fight. If we drag our feet and cause money and food to be wasted but ineffective, isn't that a loss for ourselves? Please think about it. ”

After Ma Hui and Gobard said this, Spice, Stopicillin and the others fell into deep thought again.

They had to think about the consequences of passive combat!

Once Li Zhen's layout fails, in the end, they taste the bitter fruit of failure!

Rawell sighed lightly and said helplessly: "I agree with Your Excellency Ma Hui's opinion and am willing to lead the army to go all out." The link we are responsible for will never make mistakes, and Li Zhen will not be given the opportunity to catch and question us. ”

Rankfurt also changed his mind and nodded in agreement.

Gobard asked again, "What do you think it's a war?" Or not fighting? If you have an idea, you can talk about it, and once you have decided on it, you will not change it. Because after Ma Hui's words, everyone unanimously agreed to fight with all their might, so there was no room for turnaround, and no one said negative combat again.

After unifying their opinions, it was unanimously decided to attack Xiaoshui County.

……

Xiaoshui County, military camp.

Huang Bai led the army to be stationed here and took over the defense of Xiaoshui County, the city tower and other important places.

He sent his soldiers to hold important positions and prepare for war with all their might.

"Report!"

The soldiers entered the tent of the barracks, clasped their fists and saluted, and reported: "General, the foreigners stationed outside the city have moved and are attacking us, and it is estimated that they are preparing to attack Xiaoshui County." ”

"Let's go, follow me to the castle tower!"

Huang Bai waved his hand and led the soldiers up the city tower.

He rode at a gallop and hurried very fast, and when he reached the tower, none of the soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance had yet arrived outside the city. Huang Bai stood on the city tower and looked into the distance, looked at the lieutenant who was in charge of reconnaissance beside him, and asked, "How far is the foreign dog from the county seat?" ”

The lieutenant replied, "It's not tea time!" ”

Huang Bai thought for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "Open the city gate!" ”

"Ahh

The captain exclaimed in surprise and looked at Huang Bai in a daze, with a stunned expression on his face. With this hesitation, Huang Bai's expression suddenly became serious, his gloomy eyes narrowed, and a cold light flashed in his eyes, which made the captain's back cold. The lieutenant immediately replied, "Yes, the last general obeys!" He quickly went downstairs to carry out the order, only to hear a creak, and the door opened.

Huang Bai smiled slightly, looking forward to the arrival of this battle.

It didn't take long for Adams and Rawell to arrive outside the city with more than 2,000 soldiers.

When the two saw the city gate open, their mouths opened wide, and their jaws almost fell to the ground. Adams stopped the advancing soldiers, then looked at Rawell and whispered: "Commander Rawell, the gate of Xiaoshui County is open, I'm afraid it's a fraud!" When we fought with Xi Changzhen at the beginning, we won every battle, and then finally encountered an ambush and were directly defeated. Now, the garrison of Xiaoshui County has opened the city gate, and it must harbor evil intentions. If you rush in, I'm afraid you'll be ambushed! ”

Rawell also lowered his voice and said in a low voice: "I also feel that there is an ambush, and I always feel frightened and have an ominous premonition." If you kill it, you might be finished. ”

The two of them muttered laughter as they spoke, and Gobard and Ma Hui walked up.

Gobard was troubled when he saw the door open.

Ma Hui was silent for a long time and said, "Everyone, I once read a book called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and a very interesting story was written in the book. At that time, Wei and Shu were at war, and Sima Yi, the commander of Wei, led his troops to the city, but Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu, did not have soldiers to defend the city. Zhuge Liang made a bold decision to open the city gates and lay out an empty city. At the same time, Zhuge Liang was playing the piano alone on the city tower. Sima Yi led the army to stop outside the city, and after listening to the piano music, he suspected that there were ambushes in the city, so he directly ordered the troops to retreat, and a crisis was immediately resolved. ”

After a pause, Ma Hui said with a smile: "Afterwards, Sima Yi found out that Zhuge Liang was left behind in an empty city. Now, we may also face such a situation, it may be that the guards of Xiaoshui County deliberately opened the city gate to scare us. In any case, a team of soldiers should be sent to investigate and see what is going on in the city. ”

Gobard said: "I agree with Mr. Ma Hui. ”

Rawell thought about it carefully, and finally nodded and said, "Okay, first send a company of soldiers to the city to investigate the situation, and then make plans." ”

Adams nodded in agreement and sent a company of soldiers forward.

ps: the second shift;