Hengzhou Mansion, Xi'an County, the seat of governance, a room in the backyard of the Tang family's mansion from time to time came from a girl's screams and cries for help.

Since the Taiping army captured Hengzhou Mansion, burning, killing and looting has become commonplace, and the people of the entire Hengzhou Mansion are in dire straits.

At this time, Wei Changhui, the king of the north, forcibly broke into the Tang family's mansion and frantically destroyed the eldest lady of the Tang family. The upper beam is not correct and the lower beam is crooked, and the king of the north is still like this, and his subordinates are even more presumptuous, and the entire Hengzhou Mansion is restless.

"Newspaper—"

"Report to His Royal Highness the King of the North, Mr. Liao has an urgent military report!"

The herald's sudden voice almost frightened Yang Wei, who was Wei Changhui.

Wei Changhui was refreshed, and naturally he didn't want to be disturbed at this time, but when he heard that it was an urgent military situation, he couldn't help but stop and arrange a meeting with Mr. Liao.

In the study next door, Wei Changhui met with Mr. Liao.

"His Royal Highness the King of the North, I just received an urgent report from General Qi guarding Meiling, saying that it was found that there were Shanghai warships on the Fuchun River heading towards Jiande County, and the intention was unknown."

Wei Changhui suddenly rolled his eyes and said, "What a big deal I should do, tell General Qi that there is no need to make a fuss, if the Shanghai army attacks, just pretend to fight a few times." Li Weiguo is now busy annexing Zhejiang, and it must be the magistrate of Yanzhou Mansion who is not convinced, so Li Weiguo will send troops to suppress it, rest assured that this is not the first time to cooperate with Li Weiguo, it's okay, don't make a fuss! ”

Mr. Liao said: "Your Highness, Li Weiguo has always been cunning, although there is a secret agreement between us, but there is no evidence for empty words and white teeth, turning his face is like turning a book, and things are at his fingertips!" ”

Wei Changhui frowned, he valued Mr. Liao very much, many things were planned because of listening to Mr. Liao's words, he said: "Is Mr. Liao too careful, in the past few years, we have acted with Li Weiguo in private to show the court, and we have always cooperated well." Moreover. If Li Weiguo wants to expand his strength, he has to continue acting with us, and if the court does not destroy us as soon as the court does not destroy us, Li Weiguo will keep getting bigger day by day, so it is impossible for him to turn his face against us. ”

Mr. Liao nodded and said: "That's right, it's not unreasonable for His Highness to think so, it's just that the heart of defense is indispensable, Li Weiguo is cunning, Your Highness needs to be careful!" ”

At this time, the news of Hong Xuanjiao's return to Tianjing had not yet reached Wei Changhui's ears. So even if Mr. Liao is always scheming, he will not think that Hong Xuanjiao betrayed Li Weiguo, so he will not guess that Li Weiguo will strike first.

Wei Changhui was halfway refreshed, and when he thought of that Miss Tang, he was in a hurry to go back, and immediately sent Mr. Liao away with a perfunctory word.

Although Mr. Liao was worried, he could not convince Wei Changhui, so he had to send someone to inform General Qi in Meiling to be more careful. It's just that without Wei Changhui's warrant, Mr. Liao's words are greatly reduced. General Qi of Meiling just laughed, he had the same idea as Wei Changhui, at most, he was just acting with Li Weiguo, and there could be no danger.

Li Weiguo led the East China Sea Fleet along the Fuchun River to Jiande County, the capital of Yanzhou. Due to the narrowing of the river channel, the water depth was not enough, which made it impossible for large battleships to advance. So Li Weiguo ordered 15,000 Shanghai officers and soldiers to disembark and continue to march to Hengzhou Mansion on foot.

Meanwhile. Li Weiguo sent people to Meiling to interview Qi Huan, the general of the Taiping Army, and told him to cooperate again. Deal with the imperial court inspectors.

Qi Huan did not doubt it, and immediately agreed, and agreed that three days later, the armies of the two sides would engage in battle at Sanhe Pass, northeast of Meiling. Li Weiguo sent 3,000 troops to defend the city, and Qi Huan sent 10,000 troops to pretend to attack the city.

After the two sides reached an agreement, Li Weiguo immediately ordered Su Sanniang to lead 3,000 Shanghai officers and soldiers to Sanhe Pass, pretend to fight with Qi Huan, only defend but not attack, and contain Qi Huan's 10,000 army.

Secretly, Li Weiguo personally led an army of 12,000 troops, divided into three routes, 3,000 people along the Shouchang River from the west to outflank the left flank of Meiling, 2,000 people all the way to the Senxiao Mountain Road, through Yongchang Town from the east to outflank the right flank of Meiling, Li Weiguo personally led the remaining 7,000 main forces to attack the main camp of the Taiping Army in Meiling West House.

In the night, the Shanghai soldiers divided into three routes, traveled lightly, and slowly approached Meiling.

The West House is backed by the cliff, guarding the pass leading to Xi'an, the seat of Hengzhou Mansion, the terrain is dangerous, and it has always been a place where soldiers must fight.

After the Taiping army captured Hengzhou Mansion, in order to guard against the Shanghai army from Zhejiang, Wei Changhui ordered his fierce general Qi Huan to lead 15,000 elite Taiping troops to defend this place.

Now Qi Huan has transferred 10,000 elites, leaving only 5,000 soldiers to guard the West House, as well as more than 10,000 people who serve as logistics.

Under the cover of night, the advance reconnaissance battalion of the Shanghai army climbed up from the cliff behind the Xiwu Village, easily killed the sentries of the Taiping Army, and then put on the clothes of the Taiping officers and soldiers, infiltrated the grain and grass baggage area of the Taiping Army, and lit a criminal fire.

"It's out of the water!"

"It's out of the water!"

The rapid sound of the gong sounded, and the entire West House was suddenly in chaos.

Qi Huan was not in the camp, and the deputy general Guo Ying hurriedly organized people to put out the fire.

But the fire is not so easy to save, the scouts of the Shanghai army spilled oil on the grain and baggage, it is difficult to be extinguished, all the fire extinguishing trucks prepared by the Taiping army have been destroyed, and the large water tank stored has also leaked all the water inside, so they can only send people to carry buckets to the distant stream to take it out, but unfortunately the fire quickly expanded, and there is a tendency to burn the prairie and cannot be extinguished at all.

"Boom! Boom! ”

The fire* powder store exploded, and the earth shook in an instant, and a huge cloud of fiery red mushrooms rose into the sky, instantly lighting up half of the sky.

Guo Yan stood on the spot for a moment, and his heart was finished, if it was just the grain and grass that was burned, then there was a remedy, just search for the people nearby. But now the ammunition depot has exploded, which is hoarded with guns and ammunition of the Taiping army, because the Taiping army is reluctant to use muskets and artillery in peacetime, so they are all gathered together and sealed for the needs of the battle, and now they are all turned into flames at once, and Guo Yin can't afford to bear it.

"Whoosh! Sou! Sou! ”

Suddenly, there were three rapid howls, Guo Yin looked up at the night sky, and saw three fires rising into the sky, quickly blooming three dazzling flowers.

"Damn, whose house is this putting flowers, is it to see Lao Tzu's joke?" Guo Yan was angry, and he was suddenly angry.

However, soon Guo Yin was dumbfounded, and fierce gunfire suddenly sounded from the southeast, north, and south directions.

The main force of the three-way Shanghai army, which had already touched the outside of Xiwuzhai, launched an attack on Xiwuzhai at the same time after seeing the fireworks signal.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

The cannons roared, and the shells whistled and shot towards the West House, and they also emitted dazzling red lights in the night.

Because the Xiwu Village was in flames, the artillery team of the Shanghai Army could see it clearly, so the shells were accurately fired at the camp of the Taiping Army.

"Boom! Boom! ”

The artillery shells exploded up and down the Taiping military camp, and in an instant the mountains shook, debris shot out, earth and rocks flew one after another, and mushroom clouds rose into the air. The violent blast wave instantly swept the nearby Taiping soldiers into the air and fell into the distance. The Taiping army, which was concentrating on fighting the fire, was defenseless and suffered numerous casualties.

"Enemy attack!"

"Enemy attack!"

Guo Yin's face suddenly turned like earth, and he suddenly realized that first the grain and grass caught fire, then the ammunition depot exploded, and then he was attacked by an unknown enemy, which was clearly a premeditated surprise attack.

"Assemble! Fight with me! ”

Guo Yin deserved to be a fierce general in the elite Taiping army, and quickly regained his composure and hurriedly organized the Taiping army to meet the enemy.

However, Guo Yin didn't know who the enemy he was facing, he only thought that it was the Eight Banners of the Qing Army or the Green Battalion, so he had the confidence to face the battle.

However, when Guo Ying climbed up the cottage and looked out, he was dumbfounded.

But in the darkness dozens of meters away, rows of fires were shining around, and dense projectiles like rain were shooting, harvesting the lives of the Taiping soldiers like wheat harvesting.

In addition to this, there was a larger point of fire in the distance, and there must be artillery firing there, no need to ask.

This is certainly not a Qing army that uses knives, guns and sticks, it is clearly an army that uses muskets and artillery, and the number of opponents is huge, and the entire Xiwuzhai has been surrounded by the other party on three sides, with at least more than 10,000 troops.

Who can have such a powerful firearms force, there is no doubt that Guo Yin only thought of one person, and with his shrewdness, he instantly guessed a possibility.

"Oh no, Li Weiguo has turned his face!" (To be continued......)