From the beginning of the night, sporadic gunfire rang out uninterruptedly, and the enemy surrounded on three sides suffered heavy losses and mourned under the precise blows of the snipers of An Yi's division and the outstanding shooters of various regiments and battalions.

The 19th Army, which was encircled to the north, suffered to the fullest, and there was an east-west stream in front of the two sides, and this stream, which was only six meters wide and waist-deep, was not an obstacle at all during the day, but at night it cost people lives -- because of the differences in the combat methods and the psychology of the officers and men of the two sides, the officers and men of the 19th Army, which had more than 20,000 men, were on guard across the water and tightly surrounded them, while the officers and men of An Yi's Division quietly sneaked out and crossed the narrow stream to harass and snipe at the enemy.

Just after 10 o'clock in the evening, army commander Han Liancheng, who rushed to the front line to command the operation, received a report that hundreds of officers and men had been killed by the enemy's cold shots.

An Yi and Yin Jinan both knew what the gesture of Zhang Chengzhu, who was deeply affectionate, repeated three times in a row, represented, especially Zhang Chengzhu, who was unusual, led all the elites under his command to the north when the war was about to begin, and revealed the meaning he wanted to express: that is, it was recommended that An Yi go east as soon as possible, and then break through the encirclement position of the southern boundary market town to flee for his life, he led the cavalry to the north, and clearly told An Yi not to worry about the pursuit.

So far, Lu Guang's Reading Force Regiment is the most well-preserved main force among the four regiments of An Yi's Division, this team brought out by An Yi and grown on the basis of the model battalion, all aspects are reassuring, the surviving more than 1,400 officers and soldiers are all elite who swear allegiance to An Yi, and there is a firm model battalion spirit and the belief in serving the country in their bones, Yin Jinan and Hu Jialin have proudly said many times: Our reading force group will never be defeated!

After removing the threat of the enemy's cavalry in the southwest corner, Cheng Cheng Guang led his soldiers to quietly withdraw from their positions, followed Ding Zhicheng's 300 elites to sneak eastward, and arrived at the ambush between Guihuagang and Huzhuang by the lake, only more than 700 meters away from the lakeshore.

A figure quietly and silently moved quickly from east to west, and soon came to the temporary command post behind the post, and the captain of the fourth detachment with a muddy face came to Ding Zhicheng's side and reported in a low voice:

"Battalion commander, there is a small wharf in Hanqianzhuang, one and a half kilometers north-east, where more than 40 fishing boats and more than a dozen bamboo rafts are moored, and there are two small lakes with a radius of five or six hundred meters around Wangzhuang, which is 800 meters southeast, and the distance between the two lakes is about 70 meters.

Cheng Guang reacted quickly: "Lao Ding, do you think you can send two detachments to grab the boat?" Then he went quietly behind the enemy by water, and my side would surely attract the enemy's attention as soon as I started fighting, and the brethren of the detachment would pick him up from behind him, and I would be done with one more charge. ”

"Okay, that's what I mean."

Ding Zhicheng nodded in agreement: "Cheng Guang, immediately send a herald to inform the division, and ask him to quietly send all the brothers who can't run over, dozens of fishing boats and bamboo rafts, squeezed can fit five or six hundred people, as long as they are eight hundred meters away from the shore, it will be safe, and we don't necessarily have to wait for us to get to Taiping to grab the boat and carry people." Without further ado, I'll personally lead the team over to grab the ship and go around, and it's all up to you here! ”

"Don't worry!"

Cheng Cheng Guang waved his hand, the first battalion commander Lu Xiong came quickly, Lu Cheng Guang whispered a few words in his ear, Lu Xiong nodded and left quickly, and ordered the battalion deputy to lead the team to immediately rush to report to An Yi.

Ding Zhicheng led 300 brothers to quietly touch Han Qianzhuang, the two men who were smoking dry tobacco on the wharf only felt their eyes flicker, and suddenly lost consciousness, two detachments of 120 special elites quickly rushed down the wharf to untie the cables, and the four larger fishing boats left the wharf and sailed south.

Zong Xingzhen, who remained on the dock, immediately arranged for more than 100 brothers to disperse and monitor the dozen or so houses near the dock, and never allowed any noise to alarm the enemy two kilometers to the north.

Everything was arranged, and the sudden rumbling cannon sound made Zong Xingzhen and the others, who were anxiously waiting, panic, and looked up at the bursts of fire that exploded from time to time in the northwest direction, and the cannonballs dragging the red tail flame in the sky smashed into the blocking position in the encirclement one after another.

The villagers were so frightened that they opened the door one after another, and Zongxing really didn't care about worrying about the other departments, so he immediately ordered his brothers to gather the villagers together and explain them kindly, telling them whose army we are, and trying to win their understanding must not harm innocent people.

Soon after the sound of artillery fired, an unpredictable mutation occurred on the entire battlefield, and the anger of a small company commander of the 19th Army of the Anhui Army unexpectedly shattered the plans and deployments of the generals of both sides -- the overall plan of the Zhilu Army and the Anhui Army to encircle and annihilate them was broken, and the retreat operation that the remnants of An Yi was quietly carrying out suddenly died.

All this is only because a company commander on the position of the 19th Army in the north was shot off half of his head by a sniper, and this unlucky company commander's sworn brother is also a company commander, under the sadness and rage, hearing the sound of artillery, he no longer disregarded any military discipline, and commanded the brothers of a company under his command to launch a decisive charge against the position of Xia Jian's regiment, and more than 100 brothers who died on the adjacent positions also shouted the slogan of revenge for the company commander and followed the killing, and the officers and soldiers of the surrounding battalions and companies mistakenly thought that the charge order was down, Involuntarily picked up the gun and jumped out of the position, rushed to the creek, and quickly waded across the creek to storm the position of An Yi's division on the south bank.

The battalion commanders on the position were shocked when they saw their subordinates rushing forward one after another, and immediately reported to the authorities, but seeing the fierce fighting, they were deeply afraid that the soldiers under their command would suffer losses, so they gritted their teeth and rushed forward. As a result, the entire 10,000-strong army on the right flank of the northern encirclement was thrown into battle, and a division on the left flank followed.

On the west bank of the Xuhong River, Xu Zhisheng, who had long been red-eyed and hateful, heard the earth-shattering shouts and the firelight of the battle, and immediately took advantage of the situation to order the 5,000 officers and men of the mixed brigade under his command to board the large and small boats collected one after another to quickly cross the river to participate in the battle.

On the battlefield of the northern front, the 2,000 soldiers of Xia Jian and Gu Changfeng's regiment suffered heavy losses in the enemy's 20-minute fierce artillery bombardment, and the hastily constructed positions were simply unable to resist the dense artillery fire.

Gu Changfeng and Xia Jian could still sit still and wait for death, and they led the remnants of their subordinates to retreat sharply, braving the enemy's artillery fire and rushing to the main position in the southeast.

The main position has already been bombed beyond recognition, fortunately, Yin Jinan and Yang Bin have led more than 800 wounded and sick brothers under the leadership of Lu Xiong to flee for their lives at the Hanqianzhuang Wharf in the southeast under the guidance of Lu Xiong, An Yi and Hu Jialin sent to inform Xia Jian and Gu Changfeng to lead the troops to withdraw from the position, but they were killed by the enemy's fierce artillery fire when they approached the frontline position. An Yishi, who was in a hurry to plan how to escape without alarming his opponent, suffered heavy losses.

An Yi fled east quickly under the urging of Hu Jialin and surrounded by the guards, Hu Jialin and Chen Kan led a teaching company to risk death to stay and answer, seeing Xia Jian and Gu Changfeng's two regiments of brothers rushing back, Hu Jialin ordered Chen Kan to concentrate the remnants and quickly drive to the southeast, and he led a squad of guards to meet Gu Changfeng and Xia Jian, and the shouts and killings of the enemies in the west and north were earth-shattering, getting closer and closer.

In the southeast direction, seeing that the time had come, the light of the road pulled out his spear and took the lead, launched a fierce charge at the enemy position, and the special detachment that quickly bypassed to the rear of the enemy position, under the leadership of Ding Zhicheng, rushed to the enemy position fearlessly and shot frantically at the defending enemy almost in close combat, and the enemy positions on both sides were immediately broken, and the frightened enemy troops ran frantically to the west, impacting the enemy position opposite Chen Zhibiao, the commander of the second regiment, into chaos.

Seeing this, the smart and resolute Chen Zhibiao would not let go of such a good opportunity, and quickly led his six hundred brothers to shout in unison and charge, which made him extremely lucky to break through the enemy formation and join the three battalions of the Lu Guang Division.

Chen Zhibiao, who had palpitations, was just about to order his subordinates to retreat south, but the Lu Guang Department rushed over, rushed to Chen Zhibiao's side, grabbed his shoulders and shouted loudly:

"Zhibiao, the enemy is very chaotic, obviously frightened by our sudden attack, quickly bring your troops and me to the west to kill, take advantage of the enemy's panic to attack again, and buy time for the brothers of the division and other regiments to quickly retreat south!"

"This ...... All right! Brethren follow me—"

Although Chen Zhibiao, who was full of resentment, was very reluctant, but the advice given by Cheng Guang with the rank of major general was equivalent to the order of the peak at this time, although the two were both regiment commanders at the same level, but Chen Zhibiao had to strictly implement it, otherwise with An Yi's strict military law, he would be severely punished, even a henchman like Xia Jian made a mistake, An Yi dared to peel off Xia Jian's clothes, beat ten lashes in front of the whole regiment and then locked up for three days, not to mention him Chen Zhibiao?

It was Cheng Guang's very far-sighted attack of victory, which defeated the enemy's Qu Tianze's plan to stabilize his position and quickly counterattack, and the sudden rout of the two regiments in the east quickly spread to the enemy responsible for the encirclement of the southern front like a plague, coupled with the fierce charge led by Cheng Cheng Guang and Chen Zhibiao without fear of death, and successively broke the two battalions of the enemy army who were panicking, and nearly 10,000 enemy troops lost their command in panic and retreated three kilometers sharply.

At two o'clock in the morning, the remnants of An Yi's division, which left the pursuing enemy far behind them for six kilometers, did not make much effort, and soon repelled the blocking position set up by the local militia in the north of the town, and more than 2,000 soldiers roared into Taiping Town, Ding Zhicheng led his elite to rush to the wharf to grab the fishing boats, Lu Guang and Gu Changfeng led the remnants of more than 1,600 people to the whole town to start a vigilance, Chen Zhibiao and Xia Jianbu were responsible for collecting the injured brothers and rushing to the wharf, everything was carried out in a tense and orderly manner.

At 2:40, more than 2,800 brothers began to gather at the dock, Gu Changfeng rushed over with the unconscious Lu Guang, An Yi and the others were taken aback when they saw the situation, Shen Fengdao strode forward to take over the Lu Guang, and quickly got on the boat for treatment, Xiao Langzhong hurriedly followed with the medicine box on his back.

"What's going on?"

An Yi's heart was like a knife, and he grabbed Gu Changfeng's shirt and asked loudly.

Gu Changfeng endured the pain of being shot in the arm, and replied angrily: "The militia shot coldly, if Lao Tzu hadn't been knocked down by the adjutant, he would have been fucking dead!" ”

An Yi's eyes were about to split, and he let go of his hand and shouted loudly: "Hu Zijinan is responsible for retreating and boarding the ship, Xia Jian-"

"Here!"

Xia Jian, whose clothes were broken into strips, rushed up, his muscles bulging and covered with sweat stains.

"Lead your brother with Lao Tzu, and kill and rob all the big families in the town! Tiger head, you are responsible for setting the fire! An Yi gritted his teeth and roared.

"Yes!"

A neat roar rang out to the sky.

A sudden revenge began like this, An Yi, who loved to be seriously injured and lost his mind, led nearly a thousand brothers under his command who also killed the red eye, rushed into all the buildings with more than two floors in the town, killed people when they saw them, ransacked them, and in less than half an hour, the entire town was ablaze with skyrocketing fires, and when tens of thousands of enemy troops chased after them, An Yi's remnants were already on the lake a kilometer away.

(To be continued)