The Fu River flows slowly, like a silver belt in the moonlight.

The Pingyuan Army on the south bank of the Fu River has already built trench fortifications, and at this moment, the artillery battalion howitzer shotgun is pouring rain on the position of the Taiping Army on the north bank, just like fireworks blooming everywhere, it is dazzling, but under this beautiful scene, I don't know how many bones are buried.

Since the engineers of the Guangfu Iron and Steel Works invented the open-hearth steelmaking according to the idea of the general Wang, the texture of the steel has been further improved, and now several guns in the artillery battalion of the first town are made of the latest steel materials, and the steel hoop is added to make the gun body more difficult to break.

With the sharp increase in the amount of steel in Guangdong and Jiangxi and other places and the need for export, Guangfu steel mill is further expanding, which imports several iron-making blast furnaces and some parts of the steel-making furnace from the United Kingdom, and the iron-making blast furnace built by itself should soon be put into use in the test and improvement, as for the steel-making furnace, after the use of open-hearth, the technology of removing phosphorus, sulfur and other impurities in the molten iron has been improved, but some facilities still need to be imported.

In several small private iron and steel factories in Ganzhou, almost all of the equipment used is made in Guangdong.

Naturally, Jimbo was indifferent to this, he only knew that the barrel of the cannon seemed to feel more comfortable.

Standing on the mound, holding a clairvoyant mirror and looking at the north bank, although the number of bandits is numerous, if you want to break through the Jiangxi camp, it is impossible if you do not pay a hundredfold and thousand-fold price, and Li Xiucheng will not let his elite soldiers and strong generals die in vain under artillery fire.

Even the positions on the north shore within the range of the Pingyuan army's artillery fire were gradually depleted.

However, Shenbao's heart was heavy, Li Xiucheng wanted to trap the Jiangxi battalion, Jiangxi battalion to Guangzhou to be precise, the telegraph line to Jianchang City was destroyed several times, although it was repaired several times, but it was not as fast as the destruction of the bandit squad, and now to contact Guangzhou, the only way to contact Guangzhou is to go to Jianchang Mansion as soon as possible, and Jianchang will send a telegram to Guangzhou.

In fact, between Jianchang Mansion and Jiangxi Daying in Fuzhou, bandits were extremely active, and even if they transmitted military information, they had to be extremely careful.

Although the Jiangxi battalion has sufficient food, grass and ammunition, but now I feel that I am cowering in the camp as a turtle with a shrunken head, and sometimes I really want to attack Nanchang and fight with the bandits.

But the last telegram sent by the prince wanted to hold on to himself and keep Fuzhou and Jianchang safe, although he would not be subject to the orders of the foreign monarchs, but in fact, even if he captured Nanchang at a tragic price, in fact, it would only provoke Li Xiucheng's troops to become a rogue Kou, and now the war everywhere is extremely tight, and the strength of the first town is not enough to exterminate it.

What's more, the prince sees the battle situation in the whole world, and everything has his own considerations, but he can't just care about the momentary gains and losses.

Putting down the clairing mirror in his hand, Jimbo slowly paced back to the barracks.

…… The night is like ink, under the city of Jianchang, but the head of the city is shouting to kill the sound of shaking the sky, a branch of bandits suddenly came to the city, in the city, the sound of shouting and killing is everywhere, the fire bursts, from time to time you can see the big man with a red scarf running from the street.

Under the city, the red scarf man shook the sky with the sound of killing, and climbed towards the city.

In the blazing firelight, an iron tower-like man rode in the formation of ten thousand troops, he held a black and huge tiger head knife, shouting at the bandits to besiege the city, the power is incomparable, it is the first tiger general Chen Bingwen under the loyal king Li Xiucheng, later generations said that he "has excellent arm strength, can hold a huge pot with one hand, a few feet away, fly into the boiling water tea bowl, no mistake." Good at practicing martial arts, good at eighty pounds of spring and autumn knives, wielding like flying, people can't get close. ”

"Your third master Chen has arrived, surrender quickly! Avoid the death penalty of the demon in the city! Chen Bingwen's voice was like a bell, and his voice was still clearly audible in the shouting of killing.

The patrol and defense of the city, the regimental courage are all in turmoil, Li Xiucheng has been fighting in Jiangxi for many years, Chen Bingwen and Chen Laosan's name is even louder, although the Pingyuan army has frustrated the bandits after entering Jiangxi, so that the fear of the bandits in the green battalion regiment training has gradually disappeared, but now it is suddenly attacked, and the huge fear of the long-haired bandits that has gradually faded suddenly comes to the heart.

I don't know how many bandits sneaked in the city, and under the city, the bandits are pouring in like ants, how can it not make people tremble?

A team of torches, Jianchang patrol guard Ding Mao hurriedly went to the city, and then a little thin man ran over, crying with a sad face: "Second master, brothers can't stand it...... " The little thin man is Ding Maocai's relatives, and he likes it very much.

Ding Maocai's face sank like water, and when he came to the battlements, he saw that although the guns of the patrol battalion behind the battlements rang out, someone was quietly slipping down the city, and a cloud ladder had been set up on the city, and the red-scarf bandits climbed the ladders, and in the firelight, their hideous faces were faintly visible.

"Second master, or we will lower the ......" Before the little thin man finished speaking, he was suddenly kicked and kicked by Ding Maocai.

"Bastard! If you dare to disturb our army's heart again, Lao Tzu will kill you! Ding Maocai's eyes were red, and the little thin man was so frightened that he curled up beside the brick stomping and didn't dare to speak again.

Ding Maocai looked around and yelled: "Brothers, damn it, have you all forgotten how comfortable we are now?" Think about your wives and children, how did this comfort come about?! Think about your wives and children in the future, do you still think about this fucking eating white buns and playing with kaleidoscopes? If you don't want to think about it, you will throw away the rolling pin in your hand and surrender in Kaesong! If you've thought about it, you'll fuck me out! As soon as Bao Dashuai's reinforcements arrive, Long Hair is fucking scum! ”

"Hey!" Ding Mao cut off half of the face of the bandit who had just climbed to the top of the city with a knife, kicked it down, and shouted: "How many years have you been bullied by Long Hair?!" Now that there is the support of King Su and his old man, you are afraid of a bird! It's a gentleman, don't let the long hair pee on your neck! Hard! There is a good name! As soon as the words fell, there was a bang, and he was shot in the shoulder, but it was the bandits under the city gate who saw his official uniform, and the one with the firearm immediately shot him coldly.

Ding Mao snorted, but waved his arms and yelled: "Hit the fuck for me!" Kill the longhair! Blood poured out of his left arm, and as if he didn't realize it, he drew his short gun and shot at the city.

At this time, I suddenly saw that on the city ladder, dozens of big men ran up on their feet, and the leader of the big men said while running: "Second master! The long hairs in the city have been killed by the little ones! Our brothers are all in the Four Cities! "But it is a group of brave branches, and the head of the Han is called Zhang Weigan, and the gentleman of the new-style school in the city gave him the name.

The inventory in and out of Jianchang Mansion is already extremely strict, not to mention that the battle in Jiangxi last month was almost said to be closed, and there are really not many bandits in the city, but they bluff and disturb the hearts of the army and the people.

Ding Mao laughed when he heard this, and shouted: "I'll beat his grandmother!" ”

In fact, the head of the four cities, there are many new recruits in the patrol battalion here, and it is only Ding Mao who will personally come to supervise the battle, at this time the morale of the patrol soldiers is great, foreign guns, bird guns are released, and the swordsmen and spearmen are struggling to pick up the cloud ladder, and the bandits are attacking immediately.

Jianchang City, the sound of killing shook the sky, seeing that a ** offensive was repulsed, Chen Bingwen's face was pale, although he knew that this Jianchang was now the center of the Pingyuan Army from the south to the north, and the Pingyuan Army patrol battalion and regiment must be strictly guarded, but the Qing demon who is not equipped with a large number of firearms is not afraid? Each has no eggs, a touch of collapse, now he has a thousand musketeers and thousands of foot soldiers to attack the city, I thought that Jianchang was at my fingertips, so cut off the Jiangxi camp and the southern border, and so he sent troops and horses to attack Jianchang, since it can be divided and annihilated, it is not a problem to trap the Jiangxi camp.

Who knows how the demons seem to have changed people? Look at the city one after another, one by one.

"Qu Laoqi, you go!" Chen Bingwen pointed to the Pingyuan Army Tiger Banner fluttering at the head of the city, "Cut that flag for me!" ”

A big man in front of the horse roared, and immediately, hundreds of snow-bright steel knives rushed up.

At the sound of the horn, dense red turbans poured up like a tide again.

…… Poof, Ding Mao was stabbed in the chest, and a burst of Venus rose in front of him, and then the big man was poked down the city by Zhang Weigan with a spear, Ding Mao didn't know that this evil tiger-like man called the composer Lao Qi was the brother-in-law of the bandit leader Chen Bingwen.

"Second master, you, are you okay?" Zhang Weigan ran over with a panicked face, Ding Maocai's face was pale, but he shook his head and wanted to stand up, but his legs were weak.

Zhang Weigan was startled and immediately came to see his wound, Ding Mao pushed him away and said in a low voice, "Help me tie up the wound!" ”

"Huh?" Zhang Weigan obviously saw that the wound was extremely deep, but when he saw Ding Mao, he glanced at him and said, "Hurry up!" ”

Zhang Weigan had no choice but to peel off the underwear of a corpse next to him and tear it into strips of cloth, and tied it to Ding Maocai's wound layer by layer with tears.

Ding Maocai slowly stood up with the handle of the knife, but saw that although the bandit temporarily retreated, he was obviously preparing to launch the next wave of charge, and after the vicious battle just now, the bright blade of the bandit elite did not know how many of his hands and feet had been cut down, and when he looked around, there were wounded soldiers everywhere, most of the soldiers were either dead or wounded, and some of the wounded soldiers were lying in a pool of blood panting rapidly, a miserable scene.

Ding Mao closed his eyes, could it be that Jianchang City could not escape this catastrophe today?

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of footsteps, but in the firelight, countless cloth-clothed people poured up from under the city wall, including men, women and children, and several squires led by them said loudly: "We are here to help the general defend the city!" ”

The people poured into the city, some rescued the wounded soldiers, some picked up the weapons of the city, and some directly brought bricks and stones, and in the hole of the city gate, there were a large number of people piling up wood and masonry to strengthen the city gate, and some of the wood was obviously just dismantled from their own shops.

The spirit of the remnants of the city was all lifted, and Ding Mao leaned on the battlements, and looked back at Jianchang City silently, the place where he was very familiar with the grass and trees.

The horn sounded in the distance, and the attack of the bandits pressed again...... In November 1858, the patrol regiment of the Pingyuan Army bravely fought with 3,000 people, fought bloodily, and more than 10,000 bandits fought fiercely in Jianchang, and finally waited for reinforcements, so that the bandits returned with feathers, and the garrison Ding Mao was seriously injured and martyred, and the people of Jianchang were erected to commemorate it. Pingyuan Army Art Song and Dance Troupe, then took him as the prototype to choreograph the drama song and dance drama, sang everywhere, for a time Ding Maocai's brave loyalty and righteousness recited several provinces in southern Xinjiang, becoming a model for the patrol of the provinces, the Jiangxi border patrol regiment practice more morale greatly boosted, everywhere to kill the long hair, protect the homeland slogans pasted countless times, several for the ocean.

In the same month, the Pingyuan army landed in Dinghai and conquered Dinghai City with lightning speed, and the two ships of Jinghai and Dinghai lined up in Hangzhou Bay, and the material circulation of Shanghai and Fujian and Zhejiang was all in the hands of the Pingyuan army.

The only good news for the Northern Dynasties was that Zeng Guofan returned to Changsha, the Hunan army and the new army repelled Harich's offensive, and the second town of the Pingyuan army retreated to Hengzhou.

…… In the Yin'an Hall of the County King's Mansion, Ye Zhao flipped through the squires everywhere, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places, among which the Jiangxi squires were the most numerous, and they all asked the general Wang to open the gun ban and allow them to buy guns and equipment.

In fact, the price of a rifle is not expensive, and the landlords and gentry have united to form a regiment to practice self-defense, and it is not a problem to buy dozens or hundreds of guns, but there is no channel.

Ye Zhao looked at Chen Qingxin, why did he feel as if he was going to help them form a homecoming group? But now it is not bad to equip the militia with rifles, just like in northern Jiangxi, the militia is equipped with firearms, which can patrol and protect the communication lines.

It's just that the militia that is allowed to be armed with rifles is to be well selected, controlled, and more confined to the front line of the war.

As for the patrol battalions in various places, the speed of changing rifles can also be accelerated, and the fifty rifles in each battalion can be raised to nearly half, and more than 100 rifles and 200 rifles can be raised.

In the past, the armament of the patrol battalion was not rapidly upgraded, firstly, because of the limited military expenditure; Second, the reason is that many of the patrol battalions are similar to the local troops in the period when the warlords were in the later generations, and most of them are for military pay, and the whole battalion will help you fight today, and you may vote for others tomorrow, and as for the tough battle, the defection of the entire battalion and the whole battalion is not a problem.

How can such an army be assured that the ordnance will be handed over to them? Now, in the past few years, the ideological transformation has gradually seen results, especially the backbone of the military force, most of them have entered the martial arts hall, and the life in Guangdong, Jiangxi and other places has gradually become stable and prosperous, and the concept of protecting the family does not need to be instilled.

However, the change of clothing of this patrol battalion naturally has to come step by step, starting from the patrol of Guangdong and Jiangxi, which has followed him the longest and the most loyal and reliable.

In terms of military spending, it will cost a lot of money, this war, only to know that the money spent is average, some money can't be imagined, not to mention others, just say that this pension silver is the boss's expenditure, Linjiang Mansion thousands of patrols sacrificed, one time is 100,000 silver, and this money must be given, in fact, Ye Zhao still feels that it is less. In fact, this money can be distributed uniformly after the end of the war, but today's situation is special, because there has been no such rigorous and perfect pension system in China, in order to set a ruler, lest the soldiers speculate with the old yellow calendar that it is empty talk again, and in the end it has become an official's trick to collect money.

Flipping through the paperwork, the guards hurried in and delivered an urgent telegram.

Ye Zhao tore open the fire paint, took out the telegram and looked at it, and with a bang, taking advantage of the urgency of the war in Jiangxi and Hunan, the bandit wing Wang Shi Da went straight to Henan, invincible all the way, and the message had already broken through the Chenzhou Mansion when it was sent.

The great changes in history that he stirred, and now this is the second Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army?

Ye Zhao frowned.

(To be continued)