On October 25, on the field 20 kilometers west of Taoyuan County, many soldiers of the Royal Army of the Chinese Army wearing dark green military uniforms, or simply wearing gray military uniforms, but all of them bald or inch-headed, were walking on the field.

They marched forward in columns in battalion units, with the Royal Army infantry carrying mini rifles on their shoulders, some of the soldiers of the Allied Defense Force carrying swords and shields, and some musketeers carrying arquebuses or smoothbore guns.

In addition to the large number of infantry, the baggage soldiers of the army were driving horses or mules and other livestock, dragging heavy four- or two-wheeled wagons.

In terms of logistical transportation, in addition to extensive inland river transportation, the Chinese Army also extensively uses various land transportation modes in some inland river transportation.

Among them, the baggage troops directly under the Royal Army are relatively regular, using a large number of self-made four-wheeled trucks, and there are nearly 2,000 horses and mules and other livestock in a royal infantry division, and the service horses, mules and other livestock occupy more than 1,500 horses, and the real riding horses are actually only about 500, which can be seen that the Royal Army is a very standard mule-horse army.

However, there are not only the Royal Army in the Chinese Army, but also the Auxiliary Defense Force, and if it is a battle far from the supply center, it is difficult to transport the supplies in the rear in time by relying only on the military's own baggage troops.

Therefore, it is inevitable that when the Chinese army is actually fighting, it will extensively recruit and mobilize young and strong local people to undertake long-distance supply and transportation tasks. The means of transportation of the people are not four-wheeled carriages, and even two-wheeled carriages are few, and most of them are some wheelbarrows. Or maybe it's just shoulder-picking.

Therefore, if these people are also included, the Qing army said that Shi Qingxuan had 50,000 people, and he barely said it!

However, the real strength of Shi Qingxuan's First Army was only 35,000, of which the main combat force, the Royal Army, was only 17,000.

There are not many troops in his own house, which Shi Qingxuan is very clear about, facing the Qing army from Suqian. The army reinforced by Huai'an, Muyang and other places, Shi Qingxuan didn't plan to let them complete the convergence, and then integrate nearly 100,000 people to fight with him.

"I should be able to arrive in Taoyuan County tomorrow. However, from the perspective of time, I am afraid that the Qing army in Suqian is estimated to be able to arrive in Taoyuan County the day after tomorrow, and Li Hongzhang's troops from Huai'an City are estimated to be able to arrive in Taoyuan County tomorrow! ”

Suqian, Taoyuan, and Huai'an are in a straight line, and the distance between them is very short. From Huai'an to Taoyuan. The distance in a straight line on the map is only thirty kilometers, and the actual march schedule will not exceed two days. The straight-line distance from Suqian to Taoyuan is only about forty-five kilometers, and the march of large-scale troops will take three days at most.

Therefore, when the First Army arrived in Taoyuan County, the reinforcements of the Qing Army were basically coming!

Shi Qingxuan said at this time: "Let's not go to Taoyuan County first!" ”

Xu Peng'an looked puzzled: "If we don't go to Taoyuan County, didn't our previous plan to march into Taoyuan County, and then start a decisive battle with enemy reinforcements in Taoyuan County?" ”

Shi Qingxuan said: "Although Taoyuan County is not a big city, there are not many enemy troops. But it will be difficult to take it for a while, and now the Qing army is coming to the rescue of Taoyuan. At that time, the enemy army under Taoyuan City may exceed 100,000 people, and it will be difficult to fight at that time! ”

"So, let's change our plan, don't go to Taoyuan, and go north directly to meet the enemy from Suqian!"

Shi Qingxuan originally said that he wanted to attack Taoyuan, although he had the enemy to take Taoyuan and then encircle Huai'an, on the other hand, he also hoped to attract the Qing army in the direction of Suqian, and then defeat them in the field.

Now that the Qing army dares to take the initiative to come to help, then Taoyuan County does not need to rush to fight, first go north to defeat the monk Lingqin who went south from Suqian.

And at this moment, a report suddenly came from outside, and a major walked in quickly: "The Second Cavalry Regiment has come to report that the Third Division has engaged the enemy forward in the north!" ”

Shi Qingxuan was not surprised when he heard it: "It seems that their speed is faster than we expected!" ”

He didn't discuss it with the generals present, but quickly gave an order: "Immediately send an order to the whole army, go north to support the third division, and the reconnaissance cavalry of all units will be dispersed, and closely monitor the movement of enemy troops in Taoyuan County and other directions!" ”

As soon as Shi Qingxuan gave the order, the 1st Division and other troops that were originally marching towards Taoyuan County immediately turned north, preparing to join the 3rd Division ten kilometers to the north.

At the same time, an infantry battalion on the left flank of the 3rd Division had already cleaned up the battlefield, and the battalion commander was listening to the battle reports of his subordinate officers.

"Due to the haste of the engagement, and most of the enemy troops were cavalry, the results of the battle were not large, only more than 100 enemy troops were annihilated, and the rest had fled north, and our side lost three killed and thirteen wounded!"

The battalion commander of the major nodded: "Well, let the troops rest in place, clean up the battlefield, and wait for the main force of the division headquarters to arrive!" ”

Not long after, Fu Linyang, the new commander of the Third Division, led the main force of the Third Division to arrive, and after arriving, Fu Linyang ordered the whole division to choose a place to camp.

Because since he has engaged the enemy's forward, it means that the enemy's main force is not far away, Fu Linyang must let the troops rest, and at the same time wait for the arrival of the first division and other troops in the rear, so that he can meet the enemy in Suqian with the most perfect attitude.

At the same time, the divisional cavalry companies of the 3rd Division had already dispersed and then moved forward to reconnoitre, and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment also sent a part of the cavalry out to reconnoitre, trying to find and monitor the main force of Seng Lingqin at any time.

Two hours later, the reconnaissance cavalry reported five kilometers northeast of the front and found an enemy force of about 3,000 troops.

Three hours later, the scout cavalry reported again, and ten kilometers away due north, the main force of the enemy army was found, numbering at least 30,000 people!

Near noon, the herald of the First Army arrived, saying that the army commander Shi Qingxuan had led the First Division, the Ninth Auxiliary Defense Division and other troops to the north, and brought Shi Qingxuan's latest order, asking the Third Division to wait for the First Division and not to fight in advance!

On this day on the 25th, the 3rd Division was the core. The scouts of the Chinese army came out in all directions, closely monitoring the approaching Seng Lingqin's headquarters, and at the same time, the heralds on horseback were also quickly moving back and forth between the various units of the First Army. Command after command was delivered.

In the evening, the 1st Division of the 1st Army successfully joined up with the 3rd Division, but at the same time the reconnaissance cavalry also received news that the enemy's main force had stopped moving south seven kilometers away and set up camp.

"It seems that they are also very cautious, and they will stop going south as soon as they see that the momentum is not right!" Xu Pengan said: "It's okay to stop, it's approaching night now." We'll just rest for the night, and we'll continue north tomorrow morning to defeat them directly! ”

But Xu Pengan's words didn't last long. The scout cavalry has sent news again: the enemy army in Taoyuan County has marched out of the city to the north!

Shi Qingxuan frowned when he heard this, he didn't expect that the Qing army in Taoyuan County would dare to take the initiative to go out of the city, it seemed that they wanted to come here to join the enemy in Suqian.

But I've been busy for so long, and I've been able to make them meet successfully. Immediately, he said: "Summoning the whole army." Hurry up and continue north! ”

Although there are many inconveniences in marching at night, the enemy army in Taoyuan County has begun to move north, and if you wait for one night, it is estimated that you will be chased behind your buttocks, and it is not easy to be beaten by the enemy before and after, so even if it is inconvenient to march at night, it is not unbearable.

The 1st and 3rd Divisions, as well as the 9th Auxiliary Division, began to carry torches. Continue north, and their destination is the Monk Grinqin, seven kilometers away.

In the wilderness of the night. The First Army was like a huge fire dragon, moving northward in a zigzag, and to the north, there was a large camp of the Qing army that stretched for miles and was also brightly lit.

In the barracks tent in the big camp, Monk Lingqin also listened to the report of the detective, and the more he listened, the more frowning: "They have to rush overnight!" ”

Du Xing said: "The rebel army is so arrogant, it dares to march at night, my lord, see if you send a team of elite soldiers to attack at night!" ”

Monk Lingqin nodded after hearing this: "Yes! Immediately, he turned his head to a general in military uniform and said: "You lead the headquarters to ride a thousand elites, go and give it a try, and come back immediately if you remember that you can't do anything!" ”

Monk Lingqin didn't expect to be able to succeed in the night attack or something, although the people were marching at night, but they were all holding torches, and they would definitely send patrols around, if their own number was small, they might be able to break through at night, but it would be difficult to have any results if the number was small, but they would fold themselves in, if there were more people going, they were not fools, and it was estimated that even the outer patrol circle of the people was discovered before they broke through.

The most important thing now is the main force of the Chinese army!

Therefore, in addition to sending a thousand cavalry to see if there is anything cheap to pick up, Monk Greenqin also ordered the battalion to be strictly vigilant, and at the same time let the troops rest in batches.

Because he knew that tonight seemed to be turbulent, but tonight could not be fought, and the real battle was tomorrow, so he had to let the soldiers recuperate in advance.

And things are similar to what he expected, the thousand cavalry he sent out tried twice and failed to break through the outer cordon of the Chinese army, and when the second attack was finally able to see the formation of the army, the result was Wang Luyun's second cavalry regiment detoured behind, dismounted and hit with a mini rifle, although there were not many who were directly killed and wounded, but the night battle was easy to be confused, and when the number of people was counted at dawn the next day, the thousand Qing cavalry who attacked the night attack was nearly two hundred less, It is not that all of these two hundred people were killed or captured, but that most of them were lost and could not be recovered.

The next day, before dawn, Monk Greenqin ordered the whole army to bury the pot in advance to make rice, and ordered that there was no limit to rice and meat!

Coincidentally, behind a small hill two kilometers away, the men of the First Army had already begun to prepare breakfast, but more soldiers were still asleep, and they only arrived here in the second half of last night and did not set up camp, and rested directly on the spot, the soldiers all had their own blankets, although it was a little cold at night, but it was not freezing.

In order to allow the soldiers to better recover their strength, it was not until the men in the army had cooked their meals that Shi Qingxuan woke up the soldiers and then ate together.

Before the advent of the Great War, the first thing that the Qing army and the Chinese army did was surprisingly consistent, and that was to eat! (To be continued......)