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In 1853, Huaiqing, Henan, this is not a very large city, but it is an important commercial town, which can be regarded as a place where soldiers must fight.

The poisonous sun of July hung hotly in the sky, burning the earth motionlessly. There was not a single cloud in the sky, and there was not a trace of wind to be found. The tree seemed to be exhausted, hanging its branches low, and the leaves looked sad and helpless, like endless sighs.

In the streets and alleys of Huaiqing Mansion City, there was no shadow, even the original few homeless stray dogs, who were also hiding in the shade at this time, stretching out their limbs and crawling, sleepily spitting out their long tongues, and beating the nasty flies that were endlessly provoking themselves.

However, outside the South Gate and West Gate, it is a completely different scene. The yellow dust trampled by thousands of troops and horses covered the sky and closed the sun, and the Taiping soldiers with chapped lips and yellow scarves on their heads, with blood-red eyes and throats that had already diverged, let out angry and almost hysterical roars, carrying long cloud ladders, and rushing to the city wall again.

On the city wall, the crack on the lips of Yu Bingtao, the prefect of Huaiqing, had already formed a bloody eggplant, and his eyes were bloodshot, and he couldn't remember how many times the longhairs had attacked.

Since the siege of the city on the seventh day of this month, it seems that the frenzied attacks have hardly stopped. He has been holding on, expecting that the rescue sent by the imperial court will arrive immediately, and he will not be able to hold on.

When another group of wealthy businessmen in the city gathered to reinforce the city, Yu Bingtao danced the machete in his hand and shouted at the rich businessmen: "You have done a good job, you have to tell everyone, once the city is broken, everyone who has a family and a business will suffer!" His voice was hoarse, and he didn't know how to wield a knife or a stick, and his posture of wielding a machete was slightly funny.

"My lord, we have scraped together a lot of silver taels, as the salary of the soldiers who defend the city, as long as we can defend the city, we will take as much as we want." Zhang Mingli, the richest man in Huaiqing, shook his head at the housekeeper behind him and said to Yu Bingtao, "My lord, I asked my family to boil a lot of mung bean soup and bring it up, you can drink some to relieve the heat first." After the long-haired people were killed, there was a delicious lunch prepared for the soldiers. ”

Looking at the steaming soup bowl in the middle of the housekeeper of Zhangfu, Yu Bingtao did not pick it up. He turned his head to look at the long-haired soldiers who were swarming up the ladder on the city wall, and suddenly a thought flashed in his mind, "Quick, pour the hot soup up the ladder, I will douse these bandits to death!" ”

Lin Fengxiang, the deputy prime minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, ignored the dissuasion of the left and right, exposed his bronze solid upper body, and held a large knife with a dazzling cold light in the sun, and immediately commanded the siege in person within the range of an arrow from the city wall. The arrows that rained down from the city fell all around him, and the swordsman who followed him fell from his horse from time to time, without blinking an eye. Just stared at the holy soldiers who set up the ladder and bravely climbed the city.

This peasant-born general, who has been trained in more than two years of war, is not only famous for his ability to conquer and fight in the heavenly army, but also a kind old man who loves soldiers like children. In the face of the casualties of his subordinates, each of them made his heart tremble and bleed. But there was no way for him to stop now.

From May 8 to the Northern Expedition to leave Yangzhou, within more than 20 days, he and his heroic holy soldiers created a brilliant record of sweeping more than a dozen prefectures and counties in northern Anhui and invincible.

After entering Henan, he first conquered Guide Mansion, and planned to cross the Yellow River north through Shandong to go straight to Beijing, the nest of the Qing demon, who expected that his strategic intentions would be guessed by the Qing court, so he had to give up the original plan and go west along the Yellow River. Although there were victories in capturing many cities, there were also failures in attacking Kaifeng but not overcoming. When the whole army finally crossed the Yellow River from Bishui and Gongxian, it was obvious that there was a shortage of grain.

In order to obtain the necessary supplements, he discussed with Li Kaifang, the prime minister of the local government, and Ji Wenyuan, the deputy prime minister of the Chunguan, and decided to storm Huaiqing Mansion at any cost.

What he never expected was that a city guarded by only more than 2,000 green battalion soldiers would block more than 20,000 of his horses under the city for more than ten days.

Looking at the brothers on the ladder who had been poured hot water from the cauldron, his thick black eyebrows moved.

"Withdraw, you can't let the brothers go on with hunger." He persuaded himself in his heart.

"Prime Minister, the reinforcements of the Qing Demon Head Shengbao are approaching here," a cavalry rushed to Lin Fengxiang's side, wiping his sweat on his face and hurriedly reported, "Prime Minister Li Kaifang, please immediately collect the army and return to the camp to discuss countermeasures." ”

"Alas!" Lin Fengxiang sighed helplessly, and looked at the high city wall in front of him with resentment

In the Chinese military tent, Lin Fengxiang didn't even look at the simple meal on the side. The heat of the weather and the boredom of the mood made his face unusually ugly.

Looking at Lin Fengxiang, who was struggling and shaking the big pu fan in his hand, and was silent, Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan, who had just arrived, looked at each other, Li Kaifang took the sweat towel handed by the card knife hand, wiped the sweat, and said hesitantly: "Brother Lin, now there is a strong city in front of you, and there are siegers in the back, do you want to abandon this place first to avoid the edge of the Qing demon?" ”

He and Lin Fengxiang can be regarded as old partners, since the breakthrough of Yong'an City, as Lin Fengxiang's assistants, the two have been serving as the pioneers of the Heavenly Army. He is twenty years younger than Lin Fengxiang, and he has both brotherly friendship and respect for his elders.

"No," Lin Fengxiang shook his head resolutely, "There are few towns like Huaiqing in the vicinity that are rich in food and rice. Without food, we will not be able to carry out our plan. ”

"Then we're going to split up on two fronts." Ji Wenyuan muttered.

"Yes," Li Kaifang groaned, "Brother Lin, our whole army will not be able to attack Huaiqing to the death, and it will be even more difficult to grasp it if we deal with it on two fronts." ”

Lin Fengxiang stopped the pu fan in his hand, "I think that Huaiqing has been besieged by us for more than ten days, and the loss of the originally limited Qing Demon in the city will not be small." As long as the connection between Shengbao and the city can be cut off, and reinforcements are not called into the city, there is still hope for breaking the city. As he spoke, he looked at Li Kaifang with a look of trust and expectation.

Hearing Lin Fengxiang say this, Li Kaifang didn't hesitate at all, he nodded vigorously, "Okay, I'll immediately move my troops to block Shengbao's reinforcements, and promise not to let Shengbao's soldiers enter Huaiqing City." ”

Lin Fengxiang smiled, and threw away the big pu fan in his hand, "Forget it, I still have to deal with this demon head, and you and Wen Yuan continue to attack the city." ”

"Okay," Ji Wenyuan also nodded, "In addition, you should send a letter to the East King, asking the East King to arrange for reinforcements to come." If it continues, the Qing Demon will mobilize more men and horses to stop us from attacking the capital. ”

Lin Fengxiang picked up the pen on the table and hesitated, "Judging from the actual situation that we tried to cross the Yellow River and go straight to Shandong in the previous attempt, if we still follow the prior arrangement and wait for us to conquer the Tianjin Celestial Dynasty before reinforcing the army, I am afraid that it will be difficult to achieve the expected goal." Obviously, now that the Qing Demon has understood the purpose of our march, it is bound to blockade the Yellow River. Therefore, if the Celestial Empire can send reinforcements, it is naturally better to send troops as soon as possible. ”

"It's hard!" Li Kaifang sighed, "If you think about it carefully, even I can't figure out where the reinforcements can be drawn from." ”

"Alas," Lin Fengxiang dropped his pen and picked it up again, "I think it's better to write a letter to His Royal Highness the Wing King at the same time to state our views." I'm worried that the king of the east will abandon Zhenjiang and Yangzhou in order to send reinforcements, and in that case, the city we have captured with all our lives will be wasted again. ”

"I think Brother Lin may just say it," Ji Wenyuan stretched out a finger and smiled bitterly, "At present, the only people and horses that can be used are those who stay in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou." ”

All three of them fell into deep thought for a moment

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