In Shanyang County, the seat of Huai'an Prefecture, teams of soldiers in the county town went in and out, escorting the strong men who were arrested everywhere.

I saw that these soldiers were wearing uniform horse coats, embroidered Huai characters in the front, Xiuyong characters in the back, thick crotch pants and black cloth shoes, and clear knives across their waists.

"This military uniform is really ugly to death, compared with our military uniform, it is really weak!"

"That's it, I really want to quickly change back into our own military uniforms, wearing beggar's clothes and feeling uncomfortable!"

In the crowd of strong men, two Shanghai soldiers disguised as refugees whispered.

Hearing the whispers of his subordinates, the commander of the Shanghai army, who was also disguised as a refugee, suddenly said angrily: "You two shut up Lao Tzu!" Dare to complain again, Lao Tzu killed the two of you first! ”

Seeing that the commander was angry, his subordinates immediately stopped talking and didn't dare to complain anymore.

At this time, under the escort of a group of Huai army soldiers, this group of five or six hundred strong men was sent to the military camp in Shanyang City.

"Everyone listen, I'm afraid the Huai army will send someone to divide the troops later, no matter where everyone is distributed, give me honesty, and don't make trouble."

"Remember, if someone from the Huai Army asks if anyone will release a gun, none of you are allowed to say that you can. Even if they teach you how to shoot guns, you are not allowed to show that you can shoot, do you remember? ”

"Remember!"

The officers of the Shanghai army carefully explained some precautions, and the soldiers of the Shanghai army were well-trained and naturally understood the truth.

Some of the thorny soldiers on weekdays were also named and "taken care of" by their respective superior officers, and they could only be people with their tails between their legs for a while, and they didn't dare to cause trouble.

Before and after, more than 3,000 strong men were sent to the Shanyang military camp one after another, and most of them were disguised by the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town of the Shanghai Army.

This is a strategy negotiated by Chen Liang and Hai Mingze. Since they couldn't make a detour to Huai'an Mansion and couldn't avoid the ending of being caught, the two of them decided to make a big fuss about Huai'an Mansion.

Among them, 3,000 officers and soldiers of the fourth town continued to disguise themselves as refugees and entered Shanyang County, and without exception, they were all arrested by the Huai soldiers, successfully entered the Huai army barracks, and successfully became the recruits of the Huai army.

At the same time, the remaining officers and soldiers of the Fourth Town of the Shanghai Army did not advance, but hid in the nearby mountains, distributed guns and ammunition, and changed into a batch of signature clothes of the Taiping Army. Pretending to be the Taiping Army, he prepared to capture Huai'an Mansion in one fell swoop.

Of course, Chen Liang and Hai Mingze have not forgotten their mission, once Huai'an Mansion is captured, they will quickly evacuate and continue north.

However, the two were also ready to pick up the grass and beat the rabbit, and found out that Hu Xueyan happened to be in Shanyang County, which was a good time to take advantage of the soldiers to kill Hu Xueyan.

Dragon King Temple in the south of Shanyang City. Chen Liang and Hai Mingze are discussing combat operations.

"Our people all went in, and most of them were assigned together."

"There are about 5,000 people in the Huai Army recruit camp in Shanyang City, and they are all issued with cold weapons such as swords, spears, swords, halberds, etc., and some of our people have been appointed as officers. But the leader is still the Huai army officer, but our men are sure to kill them and seize military power. ”

"In addition, there were originally two battalions of soldiers and horses of the Huai Army stationed in Shanyang County. One is the Zhao battalion, with about 800 people, including 450 guns and guns. There are four mountain cannons, and the commander is called Zhao Yangfei; The second is the Zhangzi battalion, with about 500 people, including 300 muskets and guns, and four mountain cannons, all of which are called Zhang Kewang. ”

Listening to the report of General Haimingze, the chief of staff, Chen Liang kept thinking in his head, and he asked, "Will the recruits be assigned to these two battalions of the Huai Army?" ”

Hai Mingze nodded and said: "Whether it is the Zhao battalion or the Zhang battalion, they have just gone through the battle with the Taiping Army and lost some troops, although this batch of strong men is going to be sent to the Hefei Huai Army Battalion, but Zhao Yangfei and Zhang Kewang will definitely intervene and pick a group of recruits to supplement their own strength." ”

Chen Liang nodded, if it was him, if his subordinates were short of troops, he would definitely rush to pick up troops when he learned that there were troops to replenish.

"Tell Liu Dachuan and let him find a way to stuff the brothers of the reconnaissance battalion into the Zhao Zi camp and the Zhang Zi camp, and at the critical moment, it will play an unexpected role!"

"Understood!"

Hemingze nodded, wrote down this article, and sent someone to deliver the letter in a while.

"Can the gates be explored?"

"There are three city gates at the south gate of Shanyang County, the outer gate and the inner door are hardwood doors, which can be blasted directly with five packs of 'slag' medicine, and the city gate in the middle is a jack gate, if it cannot be controlled in time, once the jack gate falls, it must be blasted with at least one hundred packs of 'slag' medicine, and it may not be successful."

Hai Mingze paused and continued: "However, Huai'an Mansion is far away from the battlefield, and the Huai army here generally does not worry that the Taiping army will attack, so the city gate guards are not strict on weekdays, and there are not many troops, about only about fifty people. If the warriors in our city suddenly attack, it will be easy to take the city gate. ”

Chen nodded and said: "Shanyang County is the seat of Huai'an Prefecture, once the battle starts, Li Hongzhang will get the news on the same day, and the next day the main force of the Huai Army will besiege Shanyang County from all directions, we must take Shanyang County before this, and kill Hu Xueyan, and finally have to leave time in time, in this way, we don't have much time, about only four hours." ”

Hai Mingze analyzed: "It should be enough, raid the city gate after dark, the battle should be resolved in five minutes, the Zhao Ziying and Zhang Ziying should be solved within half an hour and Hu Xueyan should be killed, and there will be more than three hours left to loot the Huai'an Treasury, and then evacuate, and the rapid march before dawn will jump out of the Huai army encirclement and go directly north." ”

Chen Liang thought for a while and added: "We are pretending to be the Taiping Army to attack Huai'an Mansion, if we don't do it well, it will make Li Hongzhang suspect that if we provoke a war between the Huai Army and the Shanghai Army and spoil the commander-in-chief's major event, you and I can't afford to take this responsibility." ”

Hai Mingze agreed: "That's easy to do, the Taiping army entering the city is nothing more than killing the flag man and fighting the local tyrants to divide the land, after all, we are a disciplined army, we can't kill innocents indiscriminately, we can pick some fish and flesh people, and attack the bully forces who are evil, and the chamber of commerce that has close contacts with Hu Xueyan is also our enemy, so we don't have to be soft." ”

Chen Liang agreed to Hemingze's plan of action, and the two discussed the specific implementation rules in detail, and then convened a meeting of officers above the battalion level to begin the deployment operation.

Operation Code Name - "Snow Clearing Rush"

Three days later. Palm light time.

In the new barracks of the Huai Army, the 3,000 Shanghai officers and soldiers who mixed in passed the operation code to each other.

"Password!"

"Snow clearing! Rebate! ”

"Hurry!"

"Bring the guys to the playground and assemble!"

"Understood!"

……

A quarter of an hour later, Ai Changzhi, the commander-in-chief of the Shanghai Army, who had infiltrated the Huai Army's new barracks, brought five or six soldiers to meet Chang Tan, the general of the Huai Army.

"What for?"

"I'm here to bring wine and food to General Chang!"

"It turned out to be Ai Guan, General Chang is discussing with other generals, you can go in later!"

Several Huai soldiers guarding the gate recognized Ai Changzhi, and when they saw Ai Changzhi and others with a few jars of wine and a few boxes of snacks, they thought that Ai Changzhi had come to talk to Chang Tan again, so they let him go.

Ai Changzhi smiled slightly and stepped forward. said: "I don't know what time General Chang will be in the meeting, the food will be cold after a while, why don't you eat a few of them!" ”

"How can this work? General Chang knows that he will smash our mouths! ”

"It's okay, I don't say it, you don't say it, General Chang naturally doesn't know! Let's eat it while it's hot, and there's wine! ”

Several Huaijun soldiers guarding the gate did not suspect Ai Changzhi's motives, and they were all gluttonous insects, and they immediately gathered together and rushed to drink.

Ai Changzhi saw that the soldiers of the Huai Army standing guard had arrived. Immediately gave his subordinates a look and motioned to do it.

Burst! Burst! Burst!

With a muffled snort, several Huai soldiers standing guard were killed, without alerting the surrounding patrols.

"Scum!"

Ai Changzhi snorted softly. Several of his subordinates hurriedly opened the food box and threw away the wine and food on it, and there was a slag hidden in Ange below.

Everyone came to the door and window of the house where the generals of the Huai Army were discussing, and gave an order with Ai Changzhi. Immediately set the packet on fire, then broke the door and window and threw it in, and quickly evacuated.

Boom! Boom!

The whole house was blown up in an instant. Chang Qin and other Huaijun recruit battalion generals who were discussing inside, didn't have time to react at all, and were killed in an instant.

"A few of you immediately leave the barracks, and as soon as you see me leading people to chase you, immediately run to the south gate, and make an expression of absconding in fear of crime!"

"Understood!"

Ai Changzhi arranged everything and hurried to the school field.

At this time, the soldiers of the recruit camp heard the sound of explosions, and the three thousand Shanghai officers and soldiers had already assembled in the center of the school field, and the other recruits were all strong men who had just been captured by the Huai army, one by one, and they were all well-behaved.

Ai Changzhi didn't expect such a thing to happen, but he had an idea and immediately sent someone to organize more than 2,000 strong men, and the free cannon fodder did not need to be in vain.

"Brothers, someone assassinated General Chang and was fleeing to the south gate, everyone obeyed my order, immediately pursued, and caught the assassin and rewarded him with a thousand taels of silver!"

For the soldiers of the Shanghai Army, they know the truth, this is a play to seize the south gate, and they will fight a vicious battle later, so they are not excited.

But for the other 2,000 or so strong men, they don't know the truth, and they don't want to know the truth, and whoever gives them money will listen to whomever they want. One thousand taels of silver is undoubtedly a huge amount of money for these strong men, and they can be squandered for several years, so they all roared, and without waiting for Ai Changzhi to give the order to leave, they rushed out of the barracks and went straight to the south city gate.

Ai Changzhi sneered, and when he saw that none of the officers and soldiers in Shanghai were moving, they were all waiting for his order, and he immediately nodded with satisfaction.

"Let's go!"

More than 2,000 strong men were in front, and 3,000 Shanghai troops were behind, and the black pressure rushed towards the south city gate.

"Catch the assassin!"

"Catch them, don't let them get out of town!"

A few Shanghai soldiers looked back while running, and couldn't help but have big heads, if they were caught, they wouldn't be shot to death!

Just to complete the task, several Shanghai soldiers turned their hearts and ran quickly towards the south city gate.

"Stop! What the hell! ”

Under the south city gate, the officers of the Huai army guarding the city on duty immediately shouted.

"My lord, we are all ordinary people, we have been arrested, you can do it, let us out of the city!"

Several Shanghai soldiers said the prepared lines.

"Damn, it's a deserter, arrest me!"

When the officer guarding the gate heard that it was a deserter, he was furious and immediately ordered his subordinates to arrest several people.

At this time, thousands of people rushed to the south gate with a roar, and immediately frightened the Huai soldiers defending the city.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm Ai Changzhi, the leader of the new barracks, these people killed General Chang as deserters, and we were ordered to come and arrest them!"

"I see, it scared me!"

The officer guarding the gate immediately breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his guard and came to Ai Changzhi.

"Brother, since these people killed General Chang, they must be repeat offenders, do you see if we also have a share of this credit!"

"Don't worry, I won't forget your dedication to the city gate!" Ai Changzhi suddenly laughed, and a knife pierced into the heart of the Huai Army officer.

At the same time, a thousand Shanghai archers bent their bows and arrows, and a salvo shot dozens of Huai soldiers on the city head, and then another 2,000 Shanghai soldiers rushed to kill with swords and spears, killing the remaining Huai soldiers in the city gate cave.

In less than five minutes, the Huai soldiers guarding the gate did not have time to react at all, and they were all wiped out.

The other more than 2,000 strong men who followed were dumbfounded one by one, they were still arresting assassins just now, but in the blink of an eye, they turned into killing officials and seizing the city gates.

This is clearly the rhythm of rebellion!

However, they were more just ordinary people, and although they wore the skin of Huai soldiers, they did not have any combat effectiveness.

Soon, Ai Changzhi ordered the wolf-like Shanghai officers and soldiers to surround the two thousand strong men, all of them disarmed, and no one resisted.

"Open the gates! Raise the fire and set off the signal! ”

Squeak Quack -

The city gate was opened, and the torches at the head of the city shook back and forth, leading the Shanghai army outside the city into the city.

Chen Liang, who was outside the city, looked at his pocket watch, and in exactly five minutes, the south gate of Shanyang County was opened, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"That's a fucking fast!"

"Speed into town!"

"The brothers inside took the city gate in five minutes, and if we can't solve the remaining enemies within half an hour, we will all buy a piece of tofu for Lao Tzu and kill him!"

As soon as the officers and men of the Fourth Town heard the words of their division commander, they immediately screamed, and they all put on expressions of resoluteness to complete the task.

At the same time, most of the hundreds of recruits who were screened to join the Zhao and Zhang battalions yesterday in the two barracks of the defenders of Shanyang County were pretended to be officers and men from Shanghai.

This is also something that cannot be helped, who makes the officers and soldiers of Shanghai look tall and strong one by one, and they will not let them go if anyone is replaced to pick up troops.

Basically similar to Ai Changzhi's approach, these Shanghai officers and soldiers who had infiltrated the Zhao and Zhang battalions were also cooperating, setting fire to people everywhere in the camp to create chaos.

When the Shanghai army outside the city rushed to the outside of the barracks, they quickly cooperated, joined forces with the outside, seized the gate of the barracks, and surrounded all the Huai troops of the Zhaozi camp and the Zhang Zi camp in the barracks.

Bang bang!

Bang bang!

Dense gunfire rang out, and the Huai army and the Shanghai army suddenly fought fiercely.

It's just that the front-loading smoothbore muskets of the Huai army can't beat the rear-loading rifled rifles of the Shanghai army at all, and in the face of the rain of bullets and bullets of thousands of the Shanghai army, the Zhao Zi Battalion and Zhang Zi Battalion of the Huai Army, which are absolutely weak in strength and firepower, are quickly wiped out.

It took less than half an hour before and after, and the actual battle was only ten minutes, except for the time it took for the Shanghai soldiers to enter the city from outside the city.

At the same time, there were thousands of Shanghai soldiers who went to the east, west, and north gates in four ways, and another team of 500 people, led by Chief of Staff Hai Mingze, went straight to Hu Xueyan's mansion. (To be continued......)