If Guangde is the western barrier of Changxing, then Changxing can also be said to be the eastern barrier of Guangde.

Considering that Changxing is closer to Huzhou, and the vast southern area of Guangde is hilly and mountainous terrain that is not suitable for the passage of the army, then Changxing can actually be said to be the rear and retreat of Guangde.

Once Changxing is captured by the Taiping army, then the Taiping army can not only threaten the direction of Guangde, but more importantly, the Taiping army can directly attack Huzhou, which can be regarded as the rear of the Yongying camp in Yuyao County, and as long as a large number of cavalry is dispatched, the road communication between Huzhou and Guangde can be cut off.

As a result, strategically speaking, the Yongying of Yuyao County, located in Guangde, will be in a very embarrassing and even dangerous situation.

Lin Zhe is not a person with great military talent, in essence, he is the same as Zeng Guofan, he is not good at leading troops to fight, they are good at employing people, co-ordinating, rather than going to the front line to command the battle.

However, even Lin Zhe, who was of average level, could see that if he allowed the enemy army to conquer Changxing, it would cause a series of negative strategic impacts, and this negative impact was something that Lin Zhe thought was difficult or unnecessary to bear.

Their attack on Changxing must be stopped!

Lin Zhe quickly made up his mind, not only him, but also the other officers of the Yongying Battalion in Yuyao County could see the current predicament, and it didn't take long for Shi Langyi to ask to see Lin Zhe, and Lin Zhe immediately sent troops to Changxing!

In the military conference room held in the afternoon, many officers also agreed to send troops to Changxing, but when everyone reached an agreement on rescuing Changxing, Shi Qingxuan, the assistant of the supervision and training office, raised a question: "Once we go to rescue Changxing, what should we do if the enemy attacks Guangde?" ”

As soon as he said this question, many people fell into deep thought

If they want to rescue Changxing and face more than 6,000 enemy troops that may be encountered, then the original strength of more than 1,000 people is too small, and it is absolutely impossible to engage in any more tactics of dividing troops, so if they want to rescue Changxing, otherwise the whole army will be dispatched.

However, once the main force of the Yongying camp in Yuyao County left Guangde, it was absolutely impossible to shoulder the heavy responsibility of defending Guangde by relying only on the original hundreds of Qing troops in the city.

At present, the combat effectiveness of the green battalions and banner soldiers in the vast number of Qing troops is obvious to all, and it is said that the three scum of the war are all elevated, and if nearly 1,000 green battalions face the Taiping army, the Taiping army does not need much, and a hundred veterans can beat them at will.

What's more, in addition to the Yongying camp in Yuyao County, there is only one battalion of less than 300 people in the green battalion in Guangde City, and the rest are all cobbled together government officials and Minzhuang. Once the Yongying of Yuyao County left Guangde, a few hundred Taiping troops could easily take the city.

However, Changxing is important, but Guangde is not easy to abandon, these two places are bridgehead positions to prevent the Taiping army from attacking the hinterland of northern Zhejiang, and they cannot be easily abandoned.

However, when Shi Qingxuan said this, Lin Zhe didn't care much in his heart!

Whether it is Guangde or Changxing, if it is lost, it will be lost, and now Lin Zhe is thinking about the safety of Yuyao County's Yongying itself, as long as it can ensure the strategic security of Huzhou, he can continuously obtain material supplies from Huzhou and maintain the combat effectiveness of his own troops, so it doesn't matter if Changxing and Guangde are not in hand.

"Now that the main force of the enemy army is gathered, since we want to rescue Changxing, we must go all out, and the whole army will inevitably be pulled out at that time, as for Guangde's side, I believe that General Li has no problem with them!"

Lin Zhe didn't give his subordinates too much time to doubt, but quickly made a judgment, as for whether the more than 300 green battalions led by General Li and hundreds of government servants and Minzhuang in his mouth could safely defend Guangde, then they could only resign themselves to fate.

What he cares about is how to annihilate Lin Chengting's 6,000 enemy troops, not what city to fight for, as long as Lin Chengting's 6,000 enemy troops can be defeated, whether it is Guangde or Changxing at that time, it will be safe.

Even if it is temporarily taken by the Taiping army, the rear can be fought back by itself, as for how many deaths and injuries of the gentry and common people will be caused during the occupation by the Taiping army, these are not things that Lin Zhe needs to consider.

Lin Zhe made the decision to send troops, and the Yongying Battalion in Yuyao County soon took action, and the troops began to assemble and prepare to move, and a large number of baggage was loaded into the carriage.

When he heard that Lin Zhe was going to lead the Yongying camp of Yuyao County to leave Guangde, Li Chengan, the guard of the green battalion stationed in Guangde, hurriedly found Lin Zhe.

"Lord Lin, are you going to leave the city now?"

At this time, Lin Zhe was already the same as all the generals, and changed into the self-designed dark blue double-breasted combat uniform, he glanced at Li Chengan, and couldn't help but feel a little pity for him in his heart.

Li Cheng'an is about forty-five years old, not as tall as a word but extremely strong, it is said that before the Yuyao County Yongying reinforced Guangde, he led the headquarters of the green battalion and the young people in the city to resist the attack of the Taiping army, the battle situation was once critical to the Taiping army to attack the city, or he personally led dozens of people into hand-to-hand combat, which drove the Taiping army off the city, and insisted on the arrival of the Yuyao County Yongying.

Previously, Guangde was able to hold on, and Lin Zhe led Yuyao County to come to the rescue was the main factor, but it was also inseparable from his efforts in the early stage.

Such a military general is in the smoky Qing army, which can be regarded as a relatively exceptional survival.

It's a pity that this person is the general of the green battalion, otherwise Lin Zhe would like to recruit him under his command, and what is even more regrettable is that once Lin Zhe leads the army to leave Guangde, the fall of Guangde is just around the corner, and it is unknown whether Li Chengan will be able to survive the fierce battle at that time.

Obviously, Li Chengan also knew that once Lin Zhe led the army to leave, Guangde would become very dangerous, otherwise he would not have rushed to the post when he learned that Yongying in Yuyao County had left.

Why did Li Chengan come, Lin Zhe knew very well, it was nothing more than wanting to let Yuyao County Yongying stay, and this was destined to be impossible.

Lin Zhe immediately said: "This official shoulders the heavy trust of Huang Futai to protect the peace of northern Zhejiang, and now the thief army has entered Changxing eastward, how can I sit idly by, once Changxing falls into the hands of thieves, Huzhou is in danger, and there is no way to guarantee the peace of northern Zhejiang!" ”

What Lin Zhe said was a big truth, and Li Chengan naturally knew the priorities of the matter, so in the face of Lin Zhe's words, he was speechless, should he give up Huzhou's strategic security for the sake of a mere Guangde?

Once Huzhou is lost again, then the entire northern Zhejiang region will be equivalent to opening the door to the Taiping army, and then it will not be the gain or loss of a city in Guangde, but the tens of millions of people in the entire northern Zhejiang will fall into the hands of thieves.

So Li Cheng'an's words came to his lips, but in the end, he didn't say anything!

"After the camp leaves Guangde, there are still 400 soldiers in the city, 600 young and strong, I will leave you some muskets, bows and arrows, knives and guns, and then the safety of Guangde will depend on General Li!"

Li Chengan wanted to say something to save Lin Zhe, but when the words came to his lips, they became: "Xiaguan congratulates Lord Lin on his victory in this battle, and the safety of Lord Guangde can rest assured, as long as I, Lin Chengan, do not die, this Guangde will not be lost!" ”

Although it sounded like a confident word, Lin Zhe heard the gloomy meaning in it, and Li Chengan's words had already indicated another meaning, that is, people were in the city, and if the city was lost, he Li Chengan would naturally die in battle.

For such words, Lin Zhe could only sigh in his heart, he couldn't give Li Chengan too much assistance, in the face of the 6,000 Taiping army rushing to Changxing, even if the whole army was exhausted, it was not enough to have troops, and it was impossible to leave troops to defend Guangde's side.

In this regard, Lin Zhe could only draw a batch of muskets, bows, arrows, swords and swords captured from the Taiping army to Li Chengan, and try his best to increase the equipment level of the Qing army in the city.

Previously, in the first battle outside Guangde City, Yuyao County Yongying defeated the Taiping Army Li Cong'an, and seized a large amount of military funds, including two small-caliber artillery, more than 100 horses, more than 50 arquebuses, and hundreds of swords, spears and shields.

Some of these seized things can be used by the Yongying Battalion in Yuyao County, such as the two small-caliber guns, which were used to be incorporated into the original First Artillery Company, and for example, the more than 100 horses, although they are all logistics horses, only a very small part of them can be used as riding horses, but they can still be supplemented to the artillery company and the baggage company to tow artillery and transport baggage.

As for cold weapons, a small number of swords of acceptable quality were selected for backup, and the others were too useful, as for arquebuses and bows and arrows, they were of no use at all.

As a full equipped with Mini Infantry guns, with a modern establishment of the army, Yuyao County Yong Battalion is demanding and simple in terms of single equipment, batch equipment is the brown bass infantry 'rifled rifle' gun modified from the rifled rifle gun, that is, commonly known as the Mini Infantry 'gun', cold weapons are mainly used by cavalry, the sabers they use are Western-style light cavalry sabers, and there is a batch of spare hollow cavalry guns.

The command knives used by the officers are also Western-style command knives.

It does not have the same mess of weapons and equipment as other domestic armies of the present day.

Therefore, many of the captured arquebuses, swords and other weapons were not used at all, so Lin Zhe left these weapons and equipment to Li Chengan, although these weapons and equipment could not fundamentally reverse the weakness of Guangde's defense, but it was also possible to let those temporarily armed people have a competent weapon, instead of holding hoes, wooden sticks and the Taiping army for life and death like before.

The action of the Yongying camp in Yuyao County was very fast, and at noon that day, the first batch of soldiers left the Guangde City Gate with neat steps, and then headed straight to the east.

On a small hill a few kilometers away from Guangde, several Taiping soldiers watched the Yongying camp in Yuyao County leave the city gate, and they all showed cautious expressions.

One of them, who looked like a captain, turned to a short soldier and said, "You and Lao Tong immediately return to the camp, and be sure to tell the commander Yuyao Qingyou that he has left Guangde!" ”