Ao Bai crouched in the grass, with the help of a telescope, looking towards the city of Texas in the distance.

Fortunately, it was September, and although the vegetation had withered, it had not yet completely withered, so it was enough to cover the figure of Ao Bai and the five hundred horsemen who followed him.

He watched as the refugees of more than 100 people walked towards the Texas City Gate.

As soon as he took the city gate, his five hundred horsemen would immediately rush up and occupy the city gate, and then behind him, 20,000 eight banners would swarm in.

They seized Texas, not to defend it, but to defend the city with cavalry, which was originally a stupid idea. The real purpose of Aobai is to destroy Dezhou, especially the military resources of Yu Guozhen gathered here, as long as it is burned with a fire, then in Tianjin Wei and Cangzhou, Yu Guozhen's 40,000 troops will be lost and have to retreat.

Even if he transports grain and grass from the sea, it means that he must squeeze the space originally used to transport troops to transport grain and grass military materials, which can greatly slow down the speed of Yu Guozhen's troop buildup.

Moreover, even if Yu Guozhen did not show any flaws when he withdrew his troops from Tianjinwei and kept the whole army from losing, the battle line would be pushed into the territory of Shandong's east.

The key to victory or defeat, and even the key to the national fortunes of the Qing Dynasty, lies in whether this group of people carefully selected by Wu Sangui can enter the city and seize the city gate.

As long as they can hold the city gate for three to five minutes, the big picture can be decided.

It's early in the morning, and it's already foggy in Texas, and the dew in the grass is quite uncomfortable on people.

While Ao Bai was eyeing the tiger, Ma Dabao carried a toolbox and walked to the city gate with high spirits. He was followed by dozens of railway engineers, since Yu Guozhen stopped to greet him that day. Ma Dabao was famous among his own team of railway engineers, not only did Fei Shen no longer dare to talk back to him, but even the officials above them were also polite to him.

So Ma Dabao's team is the first to go out of the city and the last to enter the city every day - which means that they have to work more overtime every day. Maybe in the eyes of others, this is stupid or stupid. However, in the eyes of the railway engineers at this moment, this is an opportunity for them to make more contributions to the future of China.

Honor is more important than life, and responsibility is heavier than Mount Tai.

There was a lot of noise outside the door. Something seemed to have happened, but it had nothing to do with Ma Dabao and them, they were just waiting for the city gates to open. Then he went out of the city and went to the construction site in the north of the city to continue his work.

The city gate slowly rose, and Ma Dabao walked in the front, said hello to the militia guarding the city gate, and was about to leave the city.

Yu Guozhen's reinforcement this time took away all the 20,000 new reinforcements, and there was only one battalion of the Huaxia Army left in the city, so the militia was mainly responsible for garrison tasks and daily vigilance.

But at the door, Ma Dabao was stopped by a group of people.

He was stunned for a moment. The people on the other side were also stunned, and at the same time, there was also Ao Bai who was holding a telescope and observing in the forest.

Since the railway engineering corps is called a soldier, although it is not a combat arm in the true sense, it still has discipline and unity. Elephant Ma Dabao. They wore military uniforms woven of canvas, which were camouflage, which were the common training and labor protection uniforms of the Huaxia Army, so at first glance, they were almost indistinguishable from the Huaxia Army in training.

"How is it possible, could it be that Yu Guozhen ...... Already prepared? ”

Ao Bai's heart sank. If he can't capture the door, relying on 20,000 cavalry to attack Dezhou City, even if he is arrogant, he doesn't have this kind of certainty, and it is more likely that there is no gap to take advantage of, so he can only return to the army, and then take the risk to test Yu Guozhen's main formation, which is guarded by 20,000 troops.

But he was a veteran of the battlefield after all, and soon realized that it was not the city that was prepared. If he was really prepared, then what he saw was not such a group of "soldiers" who probed and controlled their brains, but should have muskets and bullets.

"Who are you, and why are you in the way?"

Dezhou City still retains the city wall and suspension bridge at this time, Yu Guozhen does not want it, with the use of reinforced concrete, all Chinese cities have lost their own cultural features, so his attitude towards the old city wall and city gate is to protect it if it can be protected, which is really in the way, such as the city gate is too small, not suitable for entry and exit, that is only to consider expanding the city gate, or opening more city gates, rather than directly demolishing them.

Of course, if it must be demolished, he will not have to stay.

Therefore, Wu Sangui's subordinates, who were pretending to be refugees, were on the opposite side of the moat at this moment, and they were so anxious that they inevitably blocked the entire drawbridge.

"We ...... We came from Cangzhou, there was a war over there, and the people had no way to live. There are old and young here, and please make it convenient for the military master to let us enter the city! ”

The people blocking the entrance of the suspension bridge shouted loudly, Ma Dabao was happy to hear it, and he also longed for the Huaxia Army in his heart, and was mistaken for the Huaxia Army, which made him feel very glorious. Seeing that the other party was indeed old and young, and several ugly women were still holding the wrapped baby in their hands, he smiled and said: "Then you have come to the right place, but we have to go out to work first, you wait a while, I will let someone come to greet you, you have to give you a hot soup and rice first......"

He beckoned to the militia at the door, and gave a few orders, he is now very famous in Texas City, the militia knows him, and after listening to it, he smiled and nodded, thinking that he was recognized as the Huaxia Army, and did not forget to give him a military salute, and then ran away quickly.

Wu Sangui's subordinates glanced at each other, they thought that Ma Dabao's status must not be low, and it was easy to support the mending, if there was a chance, it would be a good hostage to hold this person. Overwhelming the defenders even for a short period of time can increase their chances of victory.

Ma Dabao didn't know that he was mistaken for an officer in the Huaxia Army, he thought about it, and said to Fei Shen: "You take someone to work first, and I will arrive later, these people are pitiful, I have tasted the hardship of fleeing at the beginning, if someone hadn't given me some dry food......

Speaking of this, Ma Dabao sighed a few times.

Wu Sangui didn't dare to argue, so he got out of the way at the moment and watched Fei Shen and the others come out one by one. In the distance, Ao Bai also stared at the city gate, and couldn't help but hold his breath, so far, although there were some small accidents, it seemed that those wearing the training uniforms of the Huaxia Army did not have any suspicions.

Fei Shen's people left first, Ma Dabao followed, and Wu Sangui's people saw that he was the only one left, so they glanced at each other and flocked over. Ma Dabao also wanted to help pick up a child in the swaddling bag, but suddenly felt that something was wrong in his heart: so noisy, why didn't any of the babies they held cry?

Although he has military training, he is not a real soldier after all, so he is vigilant and slow to react. When he realized the problem, several of Wu Sangui's subordinates, pretending to be refugees, had already caught him, and two short knives were pointed at his side.

"Take the gates!"

"Kill!"

"Your ruler is in our hands!"

"Abandon weapons, those who abandon weapons will not be killed!"

Ma Dabao's ears were full of gibberish voices for a moment, his mind was confused, and the cold blade under his ribs made him realize that he seemed to be in some kind of predicament. He instinctively pinched his arms down, pinching the two blades under his arms.

Although the two Wu Sangui subordinates pointed their daggers at Ma Dabao, they had absolutely no intention of killing him immediately, and in their opinion, it was best to restrain this "officer" and then threaten the other party to retreat. They only need to hold out in front of the city gate for a short time, even if it is just a few minutes, and wait for the five hundred elite horsemen of Ao Bai to arrive, then they are done.

Therefore, they didn't care about Ma Dabao's action of clamping the knife, but then Ma Dabao turned his waist and turned around, although the blade of the dagger cut through his clothes, but because it was not the tip of the dagger piercing, it only cut a cut under his ribs, and did not stab him. And with this action, he caught the two Wu Sangui's subordinates, turned in place like a meteor hammer, and swept off a few of Wu Sangui's subordinates on the suspension bridge and fell into the trench.

Then Ma Dabao saw seven or eight short knives and daggers pointing at him, he immediately panicked, he was an honest man, a little cunning, and he also hoped to go to the Huaxia Army to kill the enemy, and he also received a certain amount of military training, but it does not mean that he really has the ability to turn his strength into combat power. Almost without thinking, he turned around and jumped straight into the moat.

The railway engineer has to build a bridge to cross the river, so being familiar with the water is a necessary skill, and although Ma Dabao is not too strong in the water, he still has the ability to flutter in the moat. He freed himself from the entanglement of one of Wu Sangui's soldiers who had been thrown into the trench by him, swam far away, and when he turned back, he saw that the city gate had been occupied by this group of attackers.

And not far away, the sound of horses' hooves rolling in like a storm rolled in.

Ma Dabao knows that what he is most worried about now is not himself, let alone Texas City, but the railway engineer who just went out!

Just when he was worried, he heard a shout, which was clearly shouted by Fei Shen.

Although the railway engineers were not equipped with firearms, they had shovels and pickaxes in their hands, and they carried these tools with them when they went out to do things.

They rushed towards Wu Sangui's subordinates, and at the same time, the militia in the city gate also reacted, they were armed militiamen, and they had muskets in their hands.

The muskets were thumping, but very sporadic, Wu Sangui's subordinates were attacking very quickly, and there were not too many militiamen at the city gates.

"Let's go, let's go!"

Fei Shen knocked down Wu Sangui's subordinates who were guarding the bridge, but saw Ma Dabao in the trench waving anxiously, Fei Shen was stunned for a moment, at this time, why did he leave?

The sound of the horses' hooves behind him became more urgent, and Fei Shen turned around, and about five hundred horsemen were already approaching like a storm!

The momentum of dozens of war horses galloping up was already extremely amazing, not to mention five hundred horses, and farther away, the smoke and dust were billowing on the horizon, and it was clear that more enemies were coming!

"Come down, come down!" Ma Dabao began to shout again.

Although Fei Shen wanted to intercept this group of enemy horses, when they were getting closer and closer, and when they were within a hundred meters, Fei Shen suddenly understood what Ma Dabao meant.

With them, it is impossible to stop this group of cavalry, in this case, how did the commander explain?

Preserving the living force...... People are lost, people and land are saved, people and land are saved, people and land are destroyed......

Then Fashen shouted: "Jump off the moat!" Jump off the moat! ”