After entering the Tan River, the Chen Naval Division was indeed not intercepted by the Qing Army's Naval Division, and some fishermen encountered along the way also said that they had not seen the Qing Army's Naval Division appear on the river for several days.

Although the naval division of the Qing army in Guangdong was not their opponent at all, since the capture of Shangxiachuan Island, Chen had been unable to go ashore to operate, resulting in a severe shortage of food in the army, so that some officers and men of the naval division could only unload their artillery from their boats and turn them into fishing boats to fish, so that they could barely starve to death.

Now it has been a year since the last time they entered the Tan River, in this year, the officers and soldiers of the naval division stationed on Shangxiachuan Island have not received any supplements, and they live an isolated life on the isolated island, each of them is a man who is determined to fight with the Tartars to the end, each of them has a blood feud with the Tartars, and what they look forward to every day is nothing more than to go ashore and fight with the Qing army, but the gap in land combat strength makes them sigh at Lu Xing, and they can only stay in Shangxiachuan Island and wait for the situation to change.

Now, they finally set out again, once again on the Tan River where they had fought a bloody battle a year ago, and at this moment, the blood of the sailors was hot

The white-haired General Ling Hai stood on the roof of the ship, holding a clairvoyant mirror captured from the Qing army. In the clairvoyant mirror, the outline of Xinhui City more than ten miles away is faintly visible, but it is impossible to carefully identify the flag erected on the city.

I hope that Xinhui City is still in the hands of the Taiping Army, and I did not come in vain this time.

Chen Qice prayed silently, put down the clairvoyant mirror and turned around, and ordered: "Go and invite General Qi to come over." ”

"Yes, General."

A pro-soldier answered and went down the stairs to take Qi Hao.

This Qi general soldier was ordered by Zhou Shixiang to go with Chen Mo to burn Qi Hao of the Guangdong Water Division.

On the same day, after Chen Mo ignited the gunpowder depot of the Qing army and exploded, Qi Hao and two of his men were rushed downstream by the river, and one of his men sank into the river because of exhaustion on the way. Because they didn't know the water and didn't have the strength, Qi Hao and another of his men couldn't swim to the shore on their own. I could only continue to float downstream with the plank until I was rescued by a fishing boat.

After being rescued, Qi Hao wanted to return to Xinhui, but the Qing army launched a strong attack on Xinhui City at this time, and at the same time sent troops to block the Xicheng River, making it impossible for Qi Hao to sneak back into the city again. Helpless, Qi Hao could only hide in the mountains to the west with his subordinates, looking for food on the one hand, and inquiring about Xinhui's movements on the other hand, waiting for an opportunity to move.

One day, Qi Hao was looking for food with his subordinates. I accidentally ran into a spy sent by Chen Qice, and only then did I know that General Ling Hai had entered Tanjiang with the officers and soldiers of the Water Division, and it was only a hundred and ten miles away from Xinhui City at this moment.

Hearing that General Ling Hai led his troops to help, Qi Hao was immediately excited, and he and Chen Qice were also acquaintances. When Li Dingguo's army besieged Xinhui last year, Qi Hao was ordered to lead his troops to cooperate with Chen Qice to capture Jiangmen, and later because Li Dingguo could not bear the people in Xinhui City to be poisoned by the Qing army, and there were Manchurian soldiers from Beijing to help, plus the army was infected with the epidemic and had no choice but to retreat. However, due to the hasty retreat, the Ming army units scattered near Xinhui could not be notified. When Qi Hao learned that Li Dingguo had withdrawn his army, he had become a lone army, and the road to the west was blocked by the Qing army.

Although the main force to capture Jiangmen was Chen Qice's sailors. But Qi Hao's department also made a big effort in it, if it weren't for Qi Hao's department desperately dragging the Qing army in Guangzhou who wanted to rescue Jiangmen, Chen Qice's sailors would not have solved the Qing army's Guangdong sailors so easily. There is such a relationship, Qi Hao, who was suffering from being unable to rescue Xinhui, naturally put his hope on Chen Qice's sailor.

Qi Hao's arrival made Chen Qice, who was also distressed because he didn't know the inside story of the Taiping Army, overjoyed. After inquiring about the situation of the Taiping army's defense in Xinhui and the internal situation in the army, Chen Qice urgently ordered the whole army to speed up the speed of the ships and be sure to arrive at Xinhui at noon tomorrow. Whether you can catch up or not. The white-haired veterans are determined to do their best, and if the Taiping army really can't hold Xinhui, it will be providential

After Qi Hao, who was at the bow of the boat, was invited to the top floor, Chen Qice smiled heartily and said, "How does General Qi look at the scenery of the Tan River?" ”

Hearing this title, Qi Hao smiled bitterly, now he is a loner, how can he dare to be called a "general" without a single soldier.

stepped forward and bowed, and shook his head slightly: "The old general is not embarrassed by Qi, I don't dare to be a general." ”

"The general is a general on the imperial court roster, as long as the imperial court has not stripped the general of his official position, why would the general not dare to be a general?"

Although he looked down on Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and other generals from the Great Western Army, Qi Hao led his troops to contribute quite a lot in the battle of Jiangmen last year. He stepped forward and pulled Qi Hao, pointed to both sides of the strait and said: "The scenery of Tanjiang is beautiful, the old man just looked at it again, but he was embarrassed in his heart, thinking that my Ming Dynasty is picturesque, but today it is called a Tartar stealing house, which makes people hate and hate." ”

Qi Hao was also emotionally moved in his heart, sighed and looked at Chen Qice, he knew that the other party must have something to say when he invited him to come up.

Sure enough, after sighing, Chen Qice's face was solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "Our army is about to arrive at Xinhui, but whether Xinhui is still in the hands of the Taiping Army, the old man has no bottom in his heart. General Qi is not an outsider, the old man is here to talk to you openly, if the Qing army has broken the new meeting, the general can only lead his troops back. If General Qi asks for it, the old man can't do anything. ”

What Chen Qice said was the truth, although his sailors could crisscross the Tan River, but they could not make a difference on land, if Xinhui was still in the hands of the Taiping army, then he could naturally play the role of a sailor to support Xinhui City. On the contrary, if Xinhui had been captured by the Qing army, he would not have ordered his subordinates to storm this fortified city that even Li Dingguo's tens of thousands of troops could not overcome, after all, his sailor capital was too small.

He asked Qi Hao to come to inform him of this, and he also knew that the other party had now joined the Taiping Army, and he was quite eager to rescue the Xinhui, and if he decided to return, the other party would inevitably feel cold. In this way, it is good for both parties to talk ahead.

Hearing this, Qi Hao said firmly: "Old General Chen, rest assured, Xinhui must still be in the hands of the Taiping Army!" ”

"Oh, why is General Qi so confident?"

Chen Qice's face remained unchanged, he had clearly understood the strength of the Taiping Army from Qi Hao's mouth, and he also admired this army of soldiers and horses that rose from Luoding, and he was even more eager to see Zhou Shixiang, who was born in Xiucai, but the Taiping Army was able to fight again, limited by soldiers and food and grass supplies, trapped in the lonely city for so many days, I am afraid that no one would dare to pack a ticket This city is still in the hands of the Taiping Army.

"The old general can rest assured, he is fully sure that the new meeting is still in the hands of our army!"

Qi Hao couldn't tell why he was so sure that Xinhui had not lost, but he understood that if he wanted Chen Qice to believe in his judgment, one or two empty words would definitely not work, and he was about to analyze his judgment on the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city and the plight of the Qing army, but the roar of the sky-shaking ship came from the direction of Xinhui in the distance:

"Swear to live and die with Xinhui, and swear to fight with the Qing Demon to the end!" (To be continued.) )