In the governor's hall, Cixi was already taken aback when she heard the loss of Beijing, not to mention the surrender of Nie Shicheng, and now, Zhang Zhidong told himself that Liu Jun's troops were about to hit Xingtai, how could he not let himself be gathered.

"Zhang Zhidong, you immediately order, we will leave tomorrow and go to Shanxi."

Cixi is indeed a little worried, she knows very well that although Handan now has tens of thousands of troops, it is still said whether he can stop Liu Jun, so he wants to arrive in Xi'an as soon as possible, relying on Qinling and Tongguan to resist Liu Jun's army.

Zhang Zhidong thought that Cixi would be furious, but the result was that he would leave for Xi'an tomorrow, which was really unexpected.

Liu Jun's army has now arrived in Xingtai. Cixi didn't care about this, but she actually cared about it first. Taking a deep breath, Zhang Zhidong stepped forward.

"Lafayette, what about Xingtai Handan?" He didn't say the rest of the words, he knew that with Cixi's command, he knew what he wanted to say.

"In Handan and Xingtai, all military and political affairs are entrusted to Tieliang to be responsible for everything."

Since Cixi had already said so, Zhang Zhidong could only nod, stood up and said goodbye, and walked out to convey the order.

On the outskirts of Neiqiu County, Xingtai, listening to the sound of artillery in the distance, Wang Shizhen, who was wearing a steel helmet in the bunker, put down the pen in his hand again, picked up the telescope placed in the ammunition box and walked in front of Luo Dacheng, who was observing the enemy's situation.

"How is it, what is Li Yuanhong's action?" After Wang Shizhen finished speaking, he raised his binoculars and began to observe Neiqiu City.

After the peaceful settlement in Beijing, under the order of Liu Jun, Wang Shizhen and Luo Dacheng commanded the Fourth Corps, the Seventh Army, and the Eighth Army of the Fourth Corps rested in Beijing for a day and left a battalion, the two of them took the two armies to the south, after replenishing ammunition in Baoding, and according to the original Feng Guozhang's suggestion, the Fourth Corps fought directly, while Feng Guozhang's Tenth Corps made a detour to Hengshui and then went to the south of Qinghe Guangzong Pingxiang, and surrounded the Second Concord and the 5008th Banner Army in the first town retreating in Xingtai from the northeast.

Feng Guozhang had to set off earlier than himself, and now he had entered Nanhe after taking Hengshui, but he had only reached the inland river and actually met Li Yuanhong's main force.

Wang Shizhen really didn't expect that Li Yuanhong would not guard Xingtai, but actually go out of Xingtai to guard Neiqiu. This was a bit unexpected.

"Paralyzed, after this grandson exchanged fire with the 13th Division outside the city, he retreated into the city and did not come out at all. We attacked several times, and Li Yuanhong only bombarded with artillery fire. The telescope in Luo Dacheng's hand spat and scolded Li Yuanhong for being shameless and despicable.

That's the case, Wang Shizhen lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised the telescope again to observe Neiqiu City in the distance.

Neiqiu City looks like the city wall is not very high, but the important thing is that the inner hill is very flat around it, there is no cover, if the guns attack, the Qing army on the city wall as long as the artillery fire is far away, close to the guns, it will not be able to get close at all.

It seems that if you want to take the inner mound, you can only enter after the city wall is blown down.

However, now the field artillery is basically still in Beijing, and even if the heavy artillery is transferred, the caliber of the field artillery will not be able to achieve the effect of bombardment.

The only thing that can be used can only use the Lushun No. 1 howitzer, but the Lushun howitzer is a secret in the army, and this kind of artillery, there are only seven in the whole Lushun, this kind of artillery, the caliber is 120 mm, it is considered to be the most powerful artillery in the army, this kind of artillery, there are only ten in the whole army, five are stored in the Lushun Ordnance Bureau, and five are stored in the Northeast Heilongjiang Ordnance Bureau.

And to use this artillery, you must consult Liu Jun, without Liu Jun's consent, it is impossible for anyone to call it.

"Someone, send a telegram to Lushun, request the use of howitzers." Wang Shizhen put down the binoculars and gave an order.

Luo Dacheng next to him suddenly widened his eyes, he looked at Wang Shizhen in surprise, and swallowed a mouthful of saliva in his heart, only he dared to think about this matter.

After the Lushun Headquarters settled the matter in Beijing, Liu Jun left Beijing by train on the third day and arrived in Tianjin, and after meeting with Yang Shixiang, he was kind enough to give a good idea of the future development of Zhili, and then boarded the Buchan cruiser that had been waiting at the dock in Tianjin and returned to Lushun.

"No, how could Wang Shizhen's troops have been stopping in Neiqiu County, what the hell is going on." Looking at the map on the wall, Liu Jun kept muttering to himself.

"What's the matter, you've been standing here for a long time," Zheng Yiqianshan asked softly as she stepped forward.

When Liu Jun saw that it was Zheng Yiqian, he turned around and said what he thought.

After Zheng Yiqian understood everything, she immediately looked at the map and looked down at the car market, and after a while, she raised her head and looked at Liu Jun who was sitting on a chair: "The city wall of Neiqiu County is endless, if the Qing army retreats back into the city and does not come out, then it must be blasted open before it can advance, I estimate that where did Wang Shizhen meet the main force of the Qing army, so he can't take it."

If you want to blast open the city wall, Liu Jun frowned, if you want the Honghua City Gate, you have to use heavy artillery, but now Wang Shizhen only has field artillery in his hands, and that kind of artillery is in an endless place, it is very difficult to bombard a point in a concentrated way, unless he uses his secret weapon 110 mm howitzer, there is no way at all.

"Wife, you take my leader, go to Dai Linmin, and ask him to immediately transfer a howitzer from the warehouse, load it by train, send it to Beijing, and then disassemble it and send it to Neiqiu and deliver it to Wang Shizhen for use.

Zheng Yiqian smiled slightly, turned around and walked out. "Head, Wang Shizhen urgent telegram." Less than three hours after Zheng Yiqian went out, Zhong Lin ran in and handed the telegram in his hand to Liu Jun.

Liu Jun picked up the telegram and looked at it, smiled slightly, and glanced at Zhong Lin.

"Call back, the howitzers have been shipped, and in the sub-flagship, the Eighth Army can divide its troops to the south to take Ren County, and then attack the first line of defense in the north of Handan from the direction of Sange."

"The head is smart." Zhong Lin smiled slightly, wrote down the order, and turned around and wrinkled.

Neiqiu County, five days of waiting, the howitzer finally arrived at Wang Shizhen's headquarters at dusk, Wang Shizhen, who had been waiting for five days, saw that the artillery and the personnel of the Lushun Ordnance Bureau had pulled down the artillery and assembled the gun position, and suddenly showed a smile in his heart, he knew that tomorrow, Neiqiu County would definitely take it.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the second co-commander of the Qing army, Li Yuanhong got off early, and he now admires Tie Liang.

Tie Liang gave himself an order in Handan, letting him get out of Xingtai and enter Neiqiu County to block Wang Shizhen, he was still a little worried at first, but now, he has blocked the Liaodong Army here for nearly ten days. This was the biggest victory since the start of the war against the Liaodong Army.

Boom, there was a loud bang, and Li Yuanhong felt that the teacups on the table were trembling slightly.

There was a loud bang, and the huge explosion almost knocked Li Yuanhong's ears away.

"What's going on? {Li Yuanhong put down the pen in his hand and looked at the direction of the explosion with a puzzled expression.}

"Xietong, it's not good, it's not good, the city wall was collapsed by the Liaodong Army, and now the Liaodong Army is concentrating artillery fire to expand the gap. An adjutant ran in. Anxiously say what is ahead.

What the? Li Yuanhong stood up suddenly and grabbed the adjutant by the collar.

The adjutant swallowed his saliva and stammered: "The Liaodong Army didn't know where to transport a terrifying cannon, and one shot blew down the wall of the East Gate to a five-meter-long opening, and as soon as the Liaodong Army found the gap, it began to attack it fiercely.

Lao Tzu didn't believe that his Liaodong Army could transfer the shore defense artillery. Li Yuanhong didn't believe in this evil, so he left the adjutant with an angry face, turned around and grabbed the telescope placed next to him, and ran towards the city wall.

Before he reached the city wall, he heard a loud shout of killing in the distance and the figure of the Qing army that had retreated.

"You are not allowed to retreat, and those who disobey military orders will die." Li Yuanhong pulled out a pistol and shot a soldier who was fleeing behind.

However, this did not seem to work, and the soldiers still had to run behind.

I wanted to kill a few people, but I retreated in the face of more and more soldiers. Li Yuanhong could only stomp his feet, he knew that Neiqiu was finished, and it was better to go back to Xingtai to rest first.