The tattered Jiujing white-haired Daxu, the handsome banner of the defeated army's generals, has many rifle bullet holes, arrow holes and shrapnel holes, and is also stained with mud and grass clippings, and even has many traces of burnt rolls. If you want to change the usual time, not to mention that such a flag is used by the mite Qing army as the main flag of the whole army, even if it is thrown on the side of the road, no one may come forward to pick it up.

It is strange to say that when Ao Bai hung this handsome flag on the mountainside of Qianling Mountain, those Qing soldiers outside Guiyang City who were desperate and vented their despair because of the burning of the city by Tuhai quickly quieted down, holding their tired bodies, supporting their injured companions who were stumbling, and walked silently towards Qianling Mountain, walking towards this tattered handsome flag from all directions, and looking at this tattered Qing army handsome flag at the foot of the mountain, as if they were enchanted.

At this time, the large and small wounds on Aobai's body have also been re-bandaged with the help of Hadaha and other pro-army guards, but the wound in the corner of the eye that was the most seriously injured was still bleeding under the gauze, and it didn't take much time to dye the white gauze into a piece of red, which was the wound brought to Ao Bai by the Wu army's cluster bombs.

Stand up under the support of Hadaha, look at the Qing soldiers who continue to gather under the mountain, a sour feeling wells up in my heart, these are the most elite soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, when they set off from Guiyang to the south, they all have clear flags, how high-spirited they are, and how majestic and mighty the team is, but it is only so a few days, when they return to Guiyang City, these soldiers have become so embarrassed? Almost all of them were wounded, all of them were exhausted, all of them were staggered by hunger, tiredness, and thirst, and they could not find a clean and tidy place in their bodies, so weak that a gust of wind could blow them down.

"Soldiers......." Aobai's voice was a little choked, and after trying to clear his throat, Aobai tried to calm himself down, and said in his loudest voice: "Soldiers, soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, yesterday's fiasco has nothing to do with you, it is all my responsibility, and when you get to a safe place, the old man will naturally give you an explanation." But now, the old man has another mission, that is, to take you home, to take you to a safe place, please consciously abide by military discipline, obey my orders, let me take you ......, go home. ”

Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers of the Qing army were silent, only Aobai's slightly hoarse voice echoed in the mountains, "Soldiers, don't give up hope, for the sake of your relatives in your hometown, for your wives, children, and parents at home, please don't give up hope for life, pick up your weapons again, straighten your waists, stand in your formation, and let the old man take you home!" ”

When it came to the last word 'go home', Ao Bai couldn't help but shed muddy old tears, and countless mite Qing soldiers also shed tears, silently lined up at the foot of Qianling Mountain, looking for a position, and the chaotic defeated army changed and gradually returned to the formation. Ao Bai wiped away the tears on his face, choked up and ordered Hadaha, "Go and give an order, let the generals above the level of deputy leader come forward, wait for orders in front of the battle, and reorganize in units of 300 people, if the generals at the level of assistant leader are not enough, they will be selected from the generals at the next level." ”

Hadaha and other pro-soldiers led the order, and after a while, dozens of Mite Qing generals came out of the ranks, and with the help of Hadaha and other generals, the team was reorganized, and several surviving Mite Qing senior generals were also led to Aobai. What made Ao Bai overjoyed was that Jie Shu and Le Erjin were two young generals, but Yue Le and Zhao Liangdong, who were the most favored by Ao Bai, were nowhere to be found, and Ao Bai hurriedly asked Le Erjin: "King Shunjun, where is your uncle Prince Gong'an?" You were on the left flank of our army with him at that time, do you know about him? ”

"Back to Taishi, at that time, my uncle and they were surrounded by barbarians, and they couldn't retreat with the last general." Le Erjin replied with tears in his eyes: "When our army collapsed and retreated, my uncle and their retreat were cut off, so they could only break through to the depths of the Miaoling Mountains in the north. ”

Ao Bai was silent, the depths of the Miaoling Mountains are full of deep mountains and old forests, full of poisonous snakes and beasts, swamp quagmires, the locals are all dead and alive when they enter, Yue Lejun is all northerners, and when he enters such a place, how many people can come out, it is really impossible for anyone to predict. After laughing miserably, Ao Bai muttered to himself: "Zhao Liangdong, who is familiar with the situation in Guizhou, is with him, I hope there will be a miracle, and the future of the Qing Dynasty depends on him." ”

When he sighed again, more than a dozen heralds left by Tuhai were also led to Aobai, and said to Aobai: "Qiyu Taishi, Tuzhongtang was ordered to abandon Guiyang, in order to prevent the Wugou army from cutting off the retreat of our army, he has led the army to Bajiang Guiding, Tuzhongtang asked me to wait to report to the Taishi and the princes, he will leave an army in Bajiang City (Gulongli) to meet the Taishi and the princes." ”

"Ba Jiang?" Ao Bai was happy in his heart, and said happily: "Tuhai is still a bit of a brain, Bajiang is surrounded by mountains and streams, and it has been the first throat of Qianchu since ancient times, and the terrain is extremely steep, as long as you hold this throat, there is hope to block the pursuit of Wu Sangui's old thief." ”

"Master, let's go quickly." Jie Shuzhan trembled and urged: "The rear army has come to report that Wu Sangui's old thief's pursuers have arrived in Huaxi, less than thirty miles away from here. ”

"How's the army doing? How many people are left? Ao Bai turned to Hadaha next to him and asked.

"Master Yu, it has been reorganized, and there are probably more than 32,000 people left." Hadaha replied quickly.

"That's all there is left." Ao Bai's nose was sour, and he forced a smile and said: "Yes, it's more than the old man estimated, so let's do it, go and tell the soldiers that Tuhai has prepared food, wine and meat for everyone in Bajiang, and pick us up there, as long as we arrive in Bajiang, we can eat and rest." ”

Hadaha and others followed the order, Ao Bai sent Jie Shu to open the way, Le Erjin led the Chinese army, and personally led the army to the rear of the palace, a moment later, more than 30,000 remnants of the Mites Qing army were defeated and set off again, marching at full speed to the northeast along the official road - it was said to be full speed, in fact, it was about the same normal marching speed in peacetime, and the Mites Qing army was too tired and hungry. However, the same is true of Wu Sangui's army in the southwest, obviously as long as he catches up with the defeated army of Mites, he can win another complete victory, but because the war horses and soldiers are extremely tired, he can't think about it at the moment, so he can only take a temporary rest with the mind of sharpening the knife and not cutting wood, and then pursue with all his strength after recovering a certain amount of physical strength.

……………………

It is not without reason that Ao Bai and Tuhai attach so much importance to the small city of Bajiang, this small city that was only changed to a county a year ago, although there is only one street and a tattered earth and stone city wall, but the post station official road of the Ming and Qing dynasties is through the city, whether it is from Huguang into Guizhou, or from Guizhou to Huguang, it must pass through this small city built on the top of the mountain, and the importance of the location can be imagined.

It is precisely because of this that when Tuhai left his confidant Shu Buku to lead an army of 2,000 to garrison this city to meet the defeated soldiers of the Qing army, he repeatedly told Shu Buku: "The people in the city must be killed, lest they have civil strife to meet Wu Gou, if this small city is lost again, no one in the army behind us will be able to escape from Guizhou." ”

Shubuku was very obedient, and as soon as Tuhai's army left the Bajiang along the post road that passed through the city, Shubuku killed all the people in the city with his hind feet - although in order to escape the war, most of the inhabitants of the city were scattered, and only more than 100 old and sick people did not flee. And when the last innocent people in the city died under the butcher's knife of the Qing army, the time was already noon on the eighth day of the sixth month of the eleventh year of the mite Qing Kang Mazi.

"Master, someone's coming!" Just after noon, the Qing army sentry on the city tower suddenly shouted loudly. Shu Buku hurriedly climbed the city tower to take a look, but saw that on the post road on the gentle slope of the southwest, there was indeed a Qing army team, the number of people was only forty or fifty people, leading the war horse and dragging the tattered military flag, one by one was covered with blood and soil, and walked very slowly with his head down, and the leader was wearing the uniform of the Qing army sentry who did not even have a hat, and shouted weakly from afar: "Don't release arrows, don't release arrows, it's your own people." ”

"It's my own people." Shubuku breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand, and the Qing archers on the city wall hurriedly put down their bows and muskets, and Shubuku ordered again: "Open the city gate and let them in, and bring the leader up, I will ask him." ”

The order was delivered, the already somewhat dilapidated city gate slowly opened, the forty or fifty Qing soldiers led the war horses and stumbled into the city, and the sentry officer led by him was led to the city wall, Shubuku couldn't wait to ask: "Are you the team under the command of that general?" What's going on next? ”

"General Hui, we are cavalry under the command of Prince An, and the brigade was scattered by Wu Gou." The cross-eyed Qing army sentry officer replied weakly with a Cantonese accent: "The situation in the back is very miserable, Wu Gou's army has been chasing our brigade, we tried our luck on a small road, evaded the pursuers and fled here." ”

"What happened to Master Ao? Any news? Shubuku asked impatiently.

"Boom!" Without waiting for the cross-eyed sentry to answer, a loud noise and the screams of the Qing soldiers suddenly came from under the west gate of Bajiang City. The cross-eyed sentinel suddenly stretched out his ape arm, strangled Shubuku's neck with his left hand, pulled out Shubuku's waist knife with his right hand like lightning, put his backhand on Shubuku's throat, and shouted: "Put down all your weapons!" Drop your weapon! ”

Roaring, the cross-eyed soldier dragged Shubuku to the side of the city wall and quickly retreated with his back to the battlements of arrows, so as not to be attacked from behind by the enemy. At the same time, outside the west gate of Bajiang, countless figures suddenly burst out of the woods on the side of the road that was silent just now, one by one, wrapped in a white cloth and carrying a giant sword to dress up as a slashing soldier, crossing the mountains and mountains as if walking on the ground, and rushing to the Bajiang city gate with a whirlwind, and the city gate guards had already been blown up by grenades, which would naturally not be able to close the city gate, and the gang of soldiers rushed into the Bajiang city gate almost in the blink of an eye, and a scream and explosion suddenly sounded in Bajiang City.

"Kill!" A new shout of killing came, and a group of Wu cavalry turned out from behind the mountain and rushed straight along the official road. The cross-eyed Qing soldier took the opportunity to shout: "Listen to Lao Tzu, the 20,000 troops of the Pingxi Royal Mansion have arrived, lay down their weapons, surrender and don't kill!" Resist stubbornly, don't talk about killing! ”

Roaring, the cross-eyed knife tightened his grip on Shubuku's neck and shouted, "Tell them to lay down their weapons, or they will kill you!" Shu Buku hesitated for a moment, and the cross-eyed immediately swung a knife and slashed at Shu Buku's thigh, which made Shu Buku tearful, killing pigs and screaming, "Put down your weapons, put down your weapons for Lao Tzu!" ”

"Lay down your arms and spare you from dying!" The cross-eyed roared again, and the Qing soldiers with knives and guns around hesitated, at this time, a black fat boy suddenly led three or four fake Qing soldiers to rush up, and when he saw that the cross-eyed was surrounded, he immediately roared angrily: "Brother Hong, don't be afraid, I'm here to save you!" Full of pups, to death! ”

Roaring, the black fat boy picked up a pure iron mace, and slammed at the surrounding Qing soldiers, weighing more than 60 catties of mace, even if the Qing soldiers raised their knives to block, the weapon was shocked, and the tiger's mouth was bleeding, and then he was knocked on the body and head with a stick, either the tendons were broken or the brains were bursting, and the death was extremely miserable. Although the remaining few fake Qing soldiers did not have the terrifying brute strength of this black fat boy, their martial arts were extremely skillful, and the attack and defense were orderly between slashing and slashing, and they were skilled in cooperating, and they beat up to several times the Qing soldiers into defeat and retreat.

"Tell them to lay down their arms again." Hong Xiguan also slashed at Shu Buku's thigh, Shu Buku was helpless, so he had to shout with a crying voice: "Put down your weapons, dog slaves, put down your weapons for Lao Tzu, this is a military order, it's a military order, put down your arms!" ”

The shouting and killing sound in the city became more and more intense, the cavalry of the Wu army outside the city rushed closer and closer, and the Qing army defenders on the city wall hesitated, at this time, a Qing soldier was suddenly grabbed by the black fat boy, grabbed his arms and pulled out like a wheel, flew straight down the city over the heads of everyone, flew out more than ten zhang away, fell to the end of the bones, the flesh and blood were blurred, the fierce screams almost covered the sound of grenade explosions in the city, all the Qing soldiers changed color on their faces, and said that this black boy's strength was really terrifying. When the fat black boy went to pry another Qing soldier, the Qing soldier didn't even have the courage to resist, so he threw his weapon directly, knelt on the ground and cried, "I surrender, I surrender!" ”

"Surrender, surrender." With someone taking the lead, the psychological defense line of countless Qing soldiers collapsed, scrambling to lay down their arms and surrender, and a small number of recalcitrant Qing soldiers were also cut into meat sauce by the fierce soldiers who poured up the city wall like a tide, and the Bajiang West Gate quickly fell into the hands of the Wu army.

When the Wu army brigade led by Lu Fatzi and Li Tianzhi personally entered the city, the battle in Xijiang City had basically ended, and most of the Qing soldiers who had basically no fighting spirit fled from the east gate of Bajiang River, and a small number were killed, and about two or three hundred people were captured alive by Wu Junsheng. And when he saw that the people in the city were slaughtered, Lu Fatzi was also furious, and shouted angrily and ordered: "Cut down all the prisoners, and leave no one behind!" Avenge the people! ”

"Cousin, didn't you say that the captives only killed dogs?" Lu Fatzi's cousin Qin Yong asked cautiously: "Most of these captives are Han Annihilation, and they are the objects you said you can fight for." ”

"Preferential treatment of prisoners also depends on the situation." Fat Lu replied in a low voice: "We only have more than 2,100 people in total, and if we want to block the defeated soldiers full of thousands of dogs jumping over the wall, the strength is already very tight, what else can we do to guard the prisoners?" If they rebel in the city, won't we be miserable? ”

Qin Yong had always respected his cousin, and he didn't dare to insist when he heard the words, so he immediately rushed to the group of captives with a team of soldiers, Shubuku was the first to be cut off by Qin Yong, and the steel knives of the other Wu soldiers were undulating, and the screams of despair echoed again in Bajiang City. Lu Fatzi called Li Tianzhi and Xiao Erlang again, and asked them to quickly lead people to close the city gate, block the city gate from the inside, and leave no weak point for the Qing army to attack.

"Boss, don't rush to raise our flag, right?" Uncle Wang, the new lackey of Lu Fatzi, jumped out and suggested: "According to the students' opinion, it is best to continue to play the military flag full of dogs, so that you can avoid startling the grass and snakes, so that the defeated soldiers of the dog can temporarily rise up and take other paths to escape, and you can adapt to the situation to gain time, even if you delay a little longer, you can also buy more time to wait for our main force to join us." ”

"Good idea, why didn't I think of that?" Fat Lu slapped himself lightly, and blamed himself: "It must be the first time to lead the army too excited, and he forgot to buy time, he really deserves to fight!" ”

"Erlang, quickly lead people up to the city wall, take down all our military flags, and put the dog-full flags back on!"

……………………

The praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch is behind, what Lu Fatzi never dreamed of is that just when he ordered Xiao Erlang and others to pick up their banners and rehang the banner of the Qing army, in the woods on the mountain opposite Bajiang City, two Mites Qing generals who were very afraid of Lu Fatzi and more than a dozen ragged defeated soldiers of the Qing army also lurked here quietly, but the troops were too few, so they didn't dare to come up and sneak attack. These two mite Qing generals, one is called Yue Le, and the other is Zhao Liangdong.

Yue Le and Zhao Liangdong also took the Qingyan path of Lu Fatzi's surprise attack on Bajiang to Bajiang, when Yue Le led the army to break through to the Miaoling Mountains, Zhao Liangdong, who was familiar with the terrain of Guizhou, knew that once he went deep into Miaoling, without Wu Jun's hands, the poisonous snakes and beasts in the primeval forest and the swamp sinkhole could take Yue Lejun's surname, so he tried to persuade Yue Le to change into ordinary soldiers' clothes, led twenty or thirty of the most reliable personal soldiers to quietly leave the brigade, hid in the depths of the dense forest, and escaped the pursuit of Wu Jun's rampant soldiers. It was only when it was dark that he came out of the woods, and found the corpses of Wu soldiers on the battlefield, took off his corpse clothes and changed them into the color of Wu military uniforms, and fled north all the way through the cover of night and chaos, and sneaked into the Qingyan path that Zhao Liangdong had also walked, and took this shortcut road to the outside of Bajiang City.

But it's a pity that Yue Le, Zhao Liangdong and others are still much late, so that when they found Lu Fatzi's army, Lu Fatzi's army had completely controlled the entire Bajiang town, and the Wu army flag was hung on the city.

"Lou? Is it Lu Yifeng's army? Seeing the Luzi banner on Bajiang City from the telescope, Yue Le's handsome face covered with dirt and blood completely turned dead gray, and he didn't dare to scream, so he could only grit his teeth and roar hysterically, "Lu Yifeng, this dog thief? How did you get here so quickly? ”

"It's definitely going to take the Qingyan path." Zhao Liangdong trembled and said: "No wonder when we came from Qingyan Road, there were traces of the march of the brigade everywhere on that road, I thought it was our defeated army at first, but I didn't expect it to be Lu Yifeng, a Han dog!" How did he know that the path was so remote? ”

"It's over, our brigade's retreat has been cut off." Yue Le groaned in despair, "Lu Yifeng barbarian, why didn't this king kill you with a single sword?" How far do you want to harm us so that you are satisfied? ”

"Lord Wang, look, Hangou has taken off the flag again." A soldier exclaimed quietly.

Yue Le hurriedly raised the binoculars again, and saw that the soldiers of the Wu Army had really taken off the flag of the Wu Army and re-hung the flag of the Qing Army before, Yue Le was still a little puzzled at first, and then suddenly came to his senses and shouted angrily: "Lu Yifeng barbarian, shameless to this point? Not to mention the back road of our brigade, what tricks do you want to play pretending to be our army? ”

"Who knows?" Zhao Liangdong smiled bitterly, and said in a low voice: "Lord Wang, we can't delay, when the Wu Dog Brigade catches up, none of us can escape." Take advantage of the present, hurry up and take other paths to bypass Bajiang City, and go after the army in front of us. ”

"No, I'm going to report to our brigade, I can't watch them being killed by Lu Yifeng's barbarians!" Yue Le jumped up.

"Lord Wang, it's no longer possible!" Zhao Liangdong hurriedly grabbed Yue Le and begged: "Good lord, the slave has said it again and again, you also saw it with your own eyes last night, and now in this situation, it is the most dangerous to be with the brigade, and besides, Wu Gou's pursuers will come over here again, and we will turn around and go back, what is it that is not to die in vain?" ”

"Then I can't watch Lu Yifeng's barbarian deceit and scourge our soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, right?" Yue Le asked angrily.

"Lord Wang, why are you ......." Zhao Liangdong was in a hurry, and suddenly said with an idea: "Lord Wang, the slave asked you to bypass Bajiang City, also to save our brigade." You also saw it just now, Lord Wang, Lu Yifeng's barbarian snatched Bajiang back from our army, which proves that our front team must not have gone far, we bypassed Bajiang City to catch up with our army, and organized them to fight back, can't we pick up our brigade? When the time comes, it will be sandwiched from both sides, and it is not hopeless to make Lu Yifeng's fat man dumplings! ”

Yue Le began to be moved, secretly thinking that he would go to join the brigade now, even if he relayed the news that Bajiang City had fallen to the enemy, at most it would only let the brigade not be deceived by Lu Fatzi, and in the end he would still attack Bajiang City, and maybe he would also put himself in it. Instead of this, it is better to catch up with the front team, organize them to turn around and meet the brigade, and attack Bajiang City in front and back, not only the odds of victory will be greatly increased, but also the opportunity to capture Lu Fatzi alive on both sides, wouldn't it be wonderful?

Thinking of this, Yue Le made up his mind, gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's go quickly, go and chase the front team back to pick up, leave two people here, and wait for the team to come and report to them the situation in Bajiang City." ”

In the face of Yue Le's wise decision, Zhao Liangdong and the others naturally supported it from the bottom of their hearts - only the two unlucky people who were forcibly left behind by Yue Le were not happy, but they had to stay in this ghost place that could be discovered at any time, risking their lives to starve and wait.

"Lu Yifeng barbarian, wait, this king will come back to you." Looking back at Bajiang Mountain City, which had fallen into the clutches of Lu Fatzi, Yue Le said with hatred in his heart, and finally took Zhao Liangdong and a dozen or so defeated soldiers to detour. It's just that Yue Le said anything and didn't expect that the surprise was that when he and Zhao Liangdong and the others walked away, the two defeated Qing soldiers who were left in place by him not only did not stick to them as ordered, but also quickly caught up with them and quietly evacuated their posts............

It's not surprising that how many people in the world are not afraid of death? Especially this kind of drudgery of sacrificing oneself to protect others, there are even fewer people who can do it willingly.

(Note: The county seat of Longli County, Guizhou Province was not moved to its current location until after the liberation, before that, the county seat has been in Bajiang Township, Longli County, and the official road in the Qing Dynasty also passed through the city from the Bajiang River, the terrain is extremely steep, known as the throat of the eight provinces.) ）

(To be continued)