Around December 20, 1888, after receiving news from Li Zhongju, Li Ran immediately began to deal with the combined army of Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangjiang, and Prince Gong Yixin, who had invaded Fujian Province. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Ran found Zhao Peng, and the two began to discuss how to deal with the coalition army, and finally the two decided to give up some places, mainly to hold the central and western parts of Fujian, because after all, the western part is close to Guangdong, and the central part is the core of Fujian Province, and there is no room for loss.

The two began to gather an army, and at the same time, Zhang Qu, the governor of Fujian Province, gave the two of them the greatest support, which was to give what they wanted. At the same time, Zhang Qu recruited 20,000 troops according to Li Zhongju's instructions and handed them over to Li Ran of the Fourth Brigade.

Because Li Zhongju believes that Li Ran's ability and loyalty are the best. Therefore, Li Zhongju can completely trust Li Ran, even if Li Ran commands more troops, Li Zhongju is not worried.

Li Ran finally mobilized a large army to prepare for a battle with the army of Zeng Guoquan and Prince Gong Yixin in Yanping Mansion.

December 29, 1888.

Recently, Prince Gong Yixin and Zeng Guoquan were indeed extremely happy, because they had already taken most of Fujian, and these two men restrained their officers and soldiers relatively well, and did not cause much loss to the people of Fujian, but there were still a few Manchu soldiers who caused certain harm to the villagers.

won most of Fujian Province, and the other party didn't react much, which made the two of them happy and excited, and they couldn't sleep.

At the same time, the two also received the news that the other party had dropped all their military strength to Yanping Mansion and was preparing to start a big battle in Yanping Mansion, but the two did not pay attention to it at all. Because the two felt that it must be the general from Fujian who couldn't withstand the pressure from Li Zhongju, so they chose to fight against the water.

In fact, a few days ago, Zhang Qu asked Li Ran why he wanted to give up several prefectures in northern Fujian, Zhang Qu clearly remembered that Li Ran said this at that time, "Governor Zhang, I chose to give up those places for three reasons, one is that we do not have the energy and troops to fight on three sides, the second is that Zeng Guoquan and Yi Xin's armies are very strong, and at the same time they will not do too much, and the third is an illusion that we want to talk about, an illusion that we are afraid of them." Only then will the chances of us winning be infinite. ”

After Zhang Qu heard this, he felt very good, and besides, Li Zhongju, the king of Zhennan, had already handed over all the military affairs of Fujian to Li Ran, the commander of the Fourth Brigade, and he only needed to provide enough grain and grass for the army.

Zhang Quke is a very capable official, in the position of the county commander, he has done a good job, and he has also done a very good job as the prefect of Guangzhou, and now as the governor of Fujian Province, he is also even more hardworking.

Zhang Qu did not rest day after day, for many days, and kept gathering supplies for the army, because he knew that the more supplies there were, the greater the probability of the army's victory.

Zhang Qu urged all prefectures and counties every day to provide more supplies for the army, and explained to everyone the benefits of the prince's rule and that the prince was sincerely thinking about the interests of the nation.

If Fujian Province was really occupied by the Qing army, then people's lives would definitely not be as good as those ruled by the prince. Zhang Qu touched some people with his true feelings, and they all felt that what Zhang Qu said was very right, and they were willing to do their best to support the Zhenwu army in the battle. Because they know that to support the Zhenwu Army is to support themselves.

On December 31, 1888, Prince Gong Yixin and Zeng Guoquan led a coalition of 50,000 troops towards the city of Yanping in Fujian Province. Along the way, all the people who saw it were full of deep worry in their eyes.

The momentum of the Qing soldiers is very high, you must know that Zeng Guoquan's army used to be the Hunan army, and the army led by Prince Gong Yixin was their last family in the Qing Dynasty.

These two strongest armies of the Qing Dynasty, when combined, can be called absolutely terrifying, and this is only for the other armies of the Great Qing Dynasty. But for the Zhenwu Army, I'm afraid it's still a little worse.

Located in the central part of Fujian Province, Yanping City is a relatively historic old city, and at the same time curbs the east, west, north and south traffic arteries of Fujian Province, and is one of the important military cities in Fujian Province.

If the Qing army took Yanping City this time, then they could attack Fuzhou Prefecture in Fujian Province in the south and Guangzhou in the west. For the Qing army, it was very important to be able to take Yanping City.

As for the Zhenwu Army, this time to hold Yanping City, this war is still to be fought, if you fail to hold Yanping City, I am afraid that Li Zhongju's sphere of influence will be greatly reduced.

In any case, this battle of Yanping City is related to the success or failure of this operation of the Qing court, and it is also related to whether Li Zhongju can get closer.

Li Ran stared closely at the map in front of him, Li Ran already knew that the 50,000 Qing soldiers were already less than thirty miles away from Yanping City.

Li Ran had 12,000 elite soldiers in his hands at this time, 20,000 newly recruited recruits, and some troops from various provinces that could be mobilized, totaling 5,000. Li Ran had a total army of 37,000, which was also a relatively considerable number.

Li Ran stood quietly, and the guards next to him were also quietly guarding, once Li Ran had any needs, the guards would definitely prepare for Li Ran as soon as possible.

Suddenly, Li Ran turned around, "Go and invite General Zhao." ”

"It's the brigade commander." The guards replied cleanly, and immediately ran out and gave the order.

Zhao Peng was sitting in the camp at this time, thinking about how to fight this battle, since he agreed with General Li's approach, then he would definitely stand on the same front with General Li.

Zhao Peng summed up the skills of each commander's battle, and Zhao Peng found that he couldn't learn the commander's methods at all, and he didn't know where to start. Alas, what a headache!

Suddenly, there was a "report." Interrupted Zhao Peng's contemplation.

"Come in." Zhao Peng frowned and said.

"Brigade commander, General Li asked you to come over." The guard came in and said immediately.

Zhao Peng nodded, got up and prepared to go to Li Ran's camp.

Zhao Peng rode his horse for a while, and then came to Li Ran's camp, seeing that all the soldiers began to prepare carefully, Zhao Peng already understood that I am afraid that the big war is about to start.

Zhao Peng sped up and directly entered the barracks where Li Ran was, and saw that Li Ran was still looking at the map seriously, and he admired it very much. Zhao Peng didn't choose to disturb Li Ran, he found a place by himself, sat first, and waited for General Li Ran to finish reading.

Five minutes later, Li Ran's eyes left the map and said with a smile, "General Zhao, you have been here for a while, why don't you say a word, you have been waiting for so long." I forgot for a while, General Zhao is embarrassed! ”

Zhao Peng laughed, "Aren't you afraid of disturbing General Li?" General Li doesn't have to be like this, General Li works hard for the army, so why don't I wait a little longer? ”

Li Ran immediately became serious. (To be continued.) )