Liu Zhaoji didn't know what was happening in Nanjing, and he didn't care what Nanjing would do, the troops had already arrived in Huai'an, preparing to launch an offensive operation against Shandong.

"Division Commander Liu, all the firearms troops brought this time are firearms?" Huang Degong looked at Liu Zhaoji's troops with some envy.

"Jingnanhou, yes, there are more than 3,000 Yangzhou Type 1 rifles, and the artillery is all new, which is different from the previous artillery." Liu Zhaoji said with some pride.

"I said Senior Commander Liu, why do you want everyone to wear a straw hat in your first division, are we soldiers still like a girl, afraid of tanning?" Huang Degong asked, pointing to the straw hats on the soldiers' backs.

"Jingnanhou, this is not suntan, you will know the use when the time comes." Liu Zhaoji didn't say anything, just smiled.

"What does that require us to do?" Huang Degong asked.

"Jingnanhou, you only need to ensure the safety of our rear, and if we take down a place, you have to send someone to defend it." Liu Zhaoji said.

"That's all we do? That's easy. Huang Degong said with a smile.

"However, the Metropolitan Governor requires you and the officers above the fifth division to observe this combat operation, and the troops will change their outfits one after another in the future, and an important purpose of this operation is to explore the tactics of the all-firearms unit." Liu Zhaoji said.

"That's great, I'm worried we don't have anything to do." Huang Degong said happily.

"Jingnanhou, let's set off early tomorrow morning, we want to capture Xinyi in a battle, can you tell us about the situation of Xinyi's Qing army?" Liu Zhaoji said.

"Hey, I said Division Commander Liu, the Qing soldiers in Xinyi are not worth mentioning, there are only more than 3,000 horses guarding there, all of them are the Ming troops who surrendered before, if it weren't for the peace talks, I would have taken it a long time ago, the key is how we will act after defeating Xinyi, will we continue to fight in the direction of Qingzhou?" Huang Degong was dismissive of Xinyi's Qing soldiers.

"Then we have to follow the order of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, let's kill chickens with knives, or how to fight Xinyi in total." Liu Zhaoji said.

Early the next morning, Huang Degong and Weng Zhiqi, commander of the Fifth Division, began to march towards Xinyi with officers above the regimental level of the Fifth Division.

At the same time, the envoys sent by Nanjing City had also arrived in Yangzhou.

When the envoy arrived in Yangzhou, he first found Gao Qiqian, and wanted to understand from him why the Yangzhou army was good at starting a war, and thought that Gao Qiqian, as the Yangzhou military supervisor, must know.

The envoy finally found Gao Qiqian in a remote courtyard, but Gao Qiqian didn't know anything about what happened in the Yangzhou army.

Now almost everyone in Yangzhou knows that Gao Qiqian is the culprit who killed Lu Xiangsheng in the first place, as long as Gao Qiqian goes out, some people point to the backbone and scold, at the beginning, with Gao Qiqian Jinyiwei also stood up and scolded a few times, but the patrol of Yangzhou Mansion is not vegetarian, before the Jinyi guards pulled out their knives, they were about to come up to lock people, and in the end even Jinyiwei did not dare to speak.

Gao Qiqian hadn't been out for many days, and he wanted to just run back to Nanjing, but without the consent of the Ma Ge Department, Gao Qiqian knew that even if he returned to Nanjing, life would not be easy, and now he could only stay in the courtyard and dare not go anywhere.

The envoy did not get useful information from Gao Qiqian, so he had to run to Shi Kefa's mansion to ask for a meeting, Shi Kefa saw him, and the envoy wanted to convey the will of the imperial court, and now even Shi Kefa was unwilling to kneel to receive the holy decree anymore, so he only asked the envoy to take the holy decree to see.

After reading the holy decree, Shi Kefa reluctantly said to the envoy: "I don't want to start a war either, this battle is the order of the Metropolitan Governor Luo Jian, and now only he can order the cessation of combat operations." (I don't want to fight, most of them are ordered, and if I want to stop, I must also be ordered.) ）”

This was asked by Luo Jian to say this, at this moment it is not the time to completely turn his face with the Southern Ming Dynasty, someone has to turn around in the middle, and Shi Kefa is the most suitable.

The envoy reluctantly went to the governor's palace to ask for an audience, but was told that the governor was not in the palace, and he did not know where he was going, nor when he would return.

Knowing that Luo Jian would not meet him at all, the envoy had to rush back to Nanjing.

Liu Zhaoji and his troops had already surrounded Xinyi County, which was very small and dilapidated, and the First Division did not immediately attack.

According to the pre-war deployment, the purpose of defeating Xinyi is not the goal, the purpose is to beat the Qing army, so the purpose of encircling Xinyi can only be to encircle the point and send reinforcements.

At this moment, Tan Tai and Wu Sangui were discussing how to meet the attack on the Yangzhou army.

The news of the Yangzhou army's march to Shandong had already reached Shandong, and Tan Tai also rushed to Yanzhou from Jinan with 10,000 cavalry, and joined Wu Sangui, who was stationed here.

"Xinyi City is small and broken, three thousand years ago, the Ming army surrendered to defend it, according to the last general, Xinyi must not be defended, it is better to abandon it, and we can prepare for defense with peace of mind." Wu Sangui said to Tan Tai.

"Why did the king of Pingxi grow the ambition of others and destroy his own prestige? Although Xinyi is small, but it is also under the rule of my Qing Dynasty, if there is an attack under my rule in the future, we will not save it, who else is willing to defend the land for my Qing Dynasty? Tan Tai said coldly.

"The end of the marshal also understands, but this time the Yangzhou army is not good, although there are not many people, but the combat effectiveness is extremely strong, if it wants to capture Xinyi, it should be a gesture, but it is not in a hurry to attack the city, that is, to wait for my reinforcements to attack it, this is the encirclement point to help, marshal, I don't want to be fooled!" Wu Sangui said.

"Yangzhou Army's move is ruthless! I can't wait to be saved, and it's not okay if I don't save it, so what can I do? Tan Tai also fell silent when he heard that Wu Sangui was reasonable.

"We're afraid that they will do something, I have not touched the Yangzhou Army in the Yellow Banner, I don't believe that the Yangzhou Army is three-headed and six-armed, and I am using the Yangzhou Army to make a name for itself. Besides, I'm all cavalry in the Qing Dynasty, can't we still go if I can't fight? Yiriti, the leader of the Yellow Banner, stood up and said.

"Yes, if the Yangzhou army captures Xinyi and then marches to Yizhou (Linyi), we still have to meet it, it is better to rescue Xinyi as soon as possible, if we can't save it, we can also retreat and do a defensive plan as soon as possible." Leng Yundeng, the deputy chief soldier under Wu Sangui, also said.

"Makes sense! Ordered 5,000 cavalry of the Yellow Banner and 10,000 cavalry and 5,000 musketeers of the Guanning Army, carrying 25 general cannons, led by the King of Pingxi himself, and quickly set off to meet the Yangzhou army. Tan Tai thought about it for a long time and finally made up his mind.

When Wu Sangui heard this, Tan Tai still had to give up Xinyi, if he went out to the cavalry rescue, it would be too late, this would bring the fire guns and the general's artillery, from Yanzhou to Xinyi, there would be no six or seven days, where could I catch it? I'm afraid that the army will arrive, and Xinyi will be gone long ago.

However, the order still had to be carried out, Wu Sangui had long heard that the Yangzhou army was powerful, and he also wanted to use this battle to test the weight of the Yangzhou army.

With Tan Tai's order, 20,000 soldiers and 20,000 auxiliaries set off from Yanzhou.

Liu Zhaoji, Huang Degong and others were idle outside Xinyi City at this time, although there were only five or six thousand people besieging the city, but Xinyi City was indeed too small, and now Xinyi couldn't even fly a bird.

After two days of siege, the Yangzhou army did not fight, and even the defenders of Xinyi couldn't stand it, and had sent people out of the city to ask for surrender, but Liu Zhaoji did not agree immediately, and responded that it was okay to surrender, but they had to hold on for a few more days, and wait for the Qing reinforcements to arrive.

"I said Division Commander Liu, when the Qing reinforcements arrive, will these people still surrender?" Weng Zhiqi asked curiously.

"These birdmen, if they surrender, we still have to feed them, and if they don't surrender, we will destroy them." Liu Zhaoji said indifferently.

After waiting for another two days, the Yangzhou army had already set up a position in Yangji Town, northwest of Xinyi, and the scouts reported that the Qing troops had arrived sixty or seventy miles northwest of Xinyi.

Today, Liu Zhaoji agreed to the surrender of the Xinyi defenders, and Huang Degong ordered the first division of the fifth division that followed to take over the defense of Xinyi, and the troops of the first division had all moved to the outside of Yangji Town.

Wu Sangui led the army and was still marching unhurriedly, dragged down by the general's artillery, he couldn't get up even if he wanted to.

The scouts had reported that the Yangzhou army had set up a defensive position in the town of Yangji, where the battle would begin.

"Deputy Chief Soldier Leng, I heard that the Yangzhou military weapons are very good, we have to take it easy, but we can't put our Guanning army in front, if our army is gone, we will be nothing." Wu Sangui still used his previous official title to call Leng Yundeng.

"Yes, Dashuai, you can rest assured." Leng Yunden replied.

By the next day, less than half of the scouts had returned, and it turned out that they had already encountered the scouts sent by Yangzhou, and the battle was first started between the scouts of the Qing army and the scouts of the Yangzhou army.

Wu Sangui looked carefully at the corpse brought back by the scout, looked at the big hole in the bowl on his back, and couldn't help but gasp.

"This Yangzhou firearms are so powerful, the scouts are all wearing three layers of armor, and they can't prevent it, this battle is not easy to fight." Wu Sangui said with a sigh.

However, early the next morning, when the Qing army was only twenty miles away from Yangji Town, Wu Sangui gave the order to move forward quickly, so that the firecrackers and the general's artillery would catch up with them, and the cavalry troops would attack immediately, because the sky was about to change.

"Why did King Pingxi give the order to attack at this moment?" Yiliti ran over and asked Wu Sangui puzzled.

"Look at this weather, it's going to rain soon, once it rains, Yangzhou firearms will no longer be usable, and this is the time for our cavalry to destroy them." Wu Sangui gritted his teeth and said.

When Yi Li heard this, he hurriedly said: "King Pingxi, this battle should be based on my Yellow Banner warriors, and see how my Qing warriors cut down the Yangzhou army." ”

"Okay, then please ask General Yiliti to lead the Qing warriors to take the lead, and I will lead the troops to suppress the general." When Wu Sangui heard this, he agreed unbelievably.

On the position of the Yangzhou Army outside Yangji Town, Huang Degong kept looking up at the sky, and kept saying in his mouth, "God don't want it to rain", looking at Huang Degong's words, Liu Zhaoji couldn't help but be a little funny.

"Jingnanhou, what are you talking about?"

"I said Master Liu, aren't you worried at all? The cavalry of the Qing army is about to arrive, and it is going to rain soon. Huang Degong said anxiously.

"Hey, I said Jingnanhou, you can rest assured, our first division according to the words of the Metropolitan Governor, it is an all-day battle, what are you afraid of a little rain?" Liu Zhaoji said confidently.

While the two were talking, the rain began to fall, and the scout also ran back from the front to report: "The Qing cavalry is already three miles away."

"All ready for battle, artillery ready to block and shoot!" When Liu Zhaoji heard this, he gave an order for battle.

Huang Degong raised the telescope in his hand and looked ahead, it was foggy, but he couldn't see anything clearly.

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