Although the onslaught on Kunming caused the Fourth Army to suffer some casualties and losses, it was even more uncomfortable for the Zhenhu army defending the city.

Lin Chengting, who had fought with the Chinese army many times, was already very familiar with the tactics of the Chinese army on the other side, and in defensive operations, he tried his best to avoid letting his troops and the Chinese army engage in medium- and long-distance firefights, often putting the Chinese army closer before fighting, and keeping the engagement distance within 100 or even 50 meters.

In some cases, they even gave up firepower and did not retaliate in hand-to-hand combat until the Chinese army rushed to their positions.

Although this kind of defensive tactics largely offset the firepower advantage of the Chinese army, the reason why the Chinese army was able to sweep the country was not only by relying on the firepower superiority, and many large-scale battles were won by bayonet hand-to-hand combat, so even if Lin Chengting put the Chinese army in for bayonet hand-to-hand combat, in fact, it was still difficult for the Zhenhu army, which had not been trained for a long time, to block the attack of the Chinese army.

However, although it was a disadvantage compared to this kind of hand-to-hand combat with bayonets, it was much better than being beaten in vain in a battle at medium and long distances, and Lin Chengting succeeded in causing the Chinese army to suffer thousands of casualties outside the city of Kunming, which was the success of this defensive tactic.

It's just that the casualties of the Zhenhu army themselves are greater, and in the more than ten days of continuous fighting, the troops under Lin Chengting have suffered more than 3,000 casualties, and this is still a situation with a large number of fortifications, if it is a field battle, it is estimated that the casualties of the Zhenhu army will be more than two or even three times.

This is also the reason why Lin Chengting has always avoided large-scale resistance on the periphery before, because he knows that if he fights in the wilderness, his troops will be even more unable to fight.

And at this time. Lin Chengting knew that he couldn't do anything, and he knew that he could only do this in Kunming. I have been holding on for more than ten days, and there is no point in continuing to hold on. Maybe he will bury all the remaining troops in his hands.

Therefore, he once again resolutely fled from the battle, still using the old routine of letting a large number of second-line troops attract the main force of the Chinese army, while he himself fled westward with more than 3,000 old backbone troops.

Sensing that the Zhenhu Army was suspected of shrinking its strength, Shi Langyi decisively put into his strategic reserves, that is, the 1st Guards Mixed Brigade equipped with 1858 Linde rear-loading rifles, and the 2nd Royal Army Mixed Brigade, also equipped with 1858 rear-loading rifles, to launch a surprise attack from the left flank.

On the first day of the attack, the two mixed brigades managed to make a detour into a three-kilometer position, and finally surrounded and annihilated more than 2,000 Zhenhu soldiers.

But Lin Chengting's escape kung fu has once again been proven. He left behind more than 6,000 second-line troops and many auxiliary defense troops equipped with cold weapons in the city to defend to the death, and ordered the defense troops to launch a certain degree of counteroffensive, but he himself successfully led more than 3,000 backbone troops to flee westward.

After taking Kunming, Shi Langyi found that Kunming, which he had fought hard for more than ten days, had been seriously damaged, and the expected large amount of grain and gold and silver and other booty were not much at all. Only Shi Langyi was left with women and children in the city, and they were women and children without rations.

In this battle, Shi Langyi's Fourth Army suffered about 1,200 casualties, although more than 4,000 Zhenhu troops were killed. More than 5,000 prisoners were captured, but the interrogation found that these Zhenhu troops were all second-line troops of the Zhenhu army, and there were no old troops brought by Lin Chengting from Jiangxi at all. Moreover, these captured Zhenhu soldiers were all soldiers, and the officers had already run away with Lin Chengting.

It's obvious. At this time, no matter how stupid Shi Langyi was, he knew that Lin Chengting had once again escaped with his main backbone.

The angry Shi Langyi did not wait for the troops to rest, but personally led the Fourth Army westward in pursuit. Go straight to Dali.

However, halfway through, the connection was attacked and harassed by a small group of elite troops of the Zhenhu army, although it did not cause too many casualties, but it seriously delayed the speed of the troops' march.

Lin Chengting's raiding tactics successfully delayed the advance of the Chinese army, which led to the complete failure of Shi Langyi's plan to solve the battle in Yunnan within a month.

On January 26, 1860, the Fourth Army arrived in Dali and engaged in a large-scale battle with the Zhenhu Army at the foot of Cangshan Mountain and on the shore of Erhai Lake.

The tactics of both sides were similar to those in the Battle of Kunming, the Zhenhu army could not defend to the death, and used the fortifications to intercept layer by layer, and repeatedly took the initiative to abandon the defensive positions and then waited for the Chinese army to approach before launching a bayonet counterattack.

On the one hand, the Chinese Army used the 2nd Division, the 4th Division and other troops to fin down the main force of the Zhenhu Army head-on, and then mobilized the 2nd Mixed Brigade and the 1st Guards Mixed Brigade to carry out a roundabout surprise attack.

This time the two sides fought more fiercely, Lin Chengting took the two infantry brigades equipped with Mini rifles under his command as the backbone, and repeatedly routed the frontal breakthrough of the Fourth Army head-on, and even ambushed the Second Mixed Brigade that detoured from the left flank.

The brutal battle between the two sides around the area around Dali made the troops on both sides quickly depleted!

Looking at the densely packed and winding defense line of the Zhenhu army in front of him, Shi Langyi sighed deeply, this time the battle of Dali was more difficult to fight than he expected.

After more than ten days of fighting, he already learned that the Zhenhu army on the opposite side was basically equipped with foreign guns, and at least more than 8,000 people were equipped with Mini rifles.

Four days ago, when the 17th Division attacked a section of the Zhenhu Army front, it originally thought that there were only those Zhenhu troops equipped with smoothbore guns in that section, but they did not expect that a large number of Zhenhu troops equipped with Mini rifles suddenly appeared, the 17th Division set off 500 meters away, but when it rushed to within 200 meters, it had more than 2,000 casualties, and finally Shi Langyi had to send the second mixed brigade to launch an attack from the right to support, and finally although it successfully repelled the defense of the Zhenhu army, this battle also caused heavy losses to the Chinese army.

The 17th Division, adapted from the Hunan Army, suffered more than 2,000 casualties!

But he knew that although his losses were large, but the situation of Lin Chengting on the opposite side was even worse, through the more than ten days of fighting, his Fourth Army killed at least more than 4,000 Zhenhu troops, only from the comparison of battle casualties, the Chinese army still maintained an absolute advantage.

So even if it was a very hard fight, Shi Langyi still gritted his teeth and asked the troops to continue the attack, if he did not recover Dali, his western expedition would not be successful, and if Lin Chengting's troops were not annihilated, there would be no peace in Yunnan.

The offensive and defensive battle between the two sides is still going on brutally!

On February 14th, even during the Spring Festival, Shi Langyi still did not stop attacking!

In order to break through the defense line of the Zhenhu army at one time, he integrated the most elite 2nd Mixed Brigade and the 1st Guards Mixed Brigade under his command, replenished them with new recruits and a large number of rear-loading rifles, restored the two mixed brigades to a fully equipped state, and then formed a roundabout army to launch a large-scale roundabout attack from the flank again!

At the same time, in order to cooperate with the actions of the roundabout troops, he ordered the 2nd and 4th Divisions, which had suffered considerable frontal damage, to launch a large-scale frontal support attack to contain the enemy's troop movements.

The total strength of these two mixed brigades combined was close to 10,000 people, and this time they not only made a short-distance detour, but bypassed Xiaguan, and then crossed the Erhai Sea from the east coast of the Erhai Lake with a large number of rudimentary bamboo rafts and rafts, and after crossing the Erhai Lake, they landed on the shore only five kilometers away from Dali.

Hearing that a large number of Chinese troops had landed in Erhai Lake behind him and Dali was also in danger, Lin Chengting did not have the slightest reason and transferred a large number of troops from the Xiaguan defense line to return to Dali City.

On 21 February, the Chinese Army's roundabout corps tactics of sending reinforcements at the outskirts of Dali City defeated Lin Chengting's reinforcements of 4,000 people from the Xiaguan defense line.

And this brigade is the only two infantry brigades under Lin Chengting's command that are equipped with mini rifles!

The next day, the Chinese army turned around and attacked the city of Dali, defeating the Zhenhu army of about 3,000 people in the city and conquering the city!

Later, the roundabout troops left Dali directly and went straight to Xiaguan, where they wanted to attack Lin Chengting's main force with the second and fourth divisions in the east.

In the next few days, a total of 40,000 troops on both sides fought a final decisive battle in the land of Xiaguan, and Shi Langyi led the Fourth Army with a total of more than 25,000 people to flank the Zhenhu army, which still had more than 15,000 people.

However, this battle was somewhat different from the previous offensive and defensive battles between the two sides, due to the limitations of the terrain, the two sides broke out many battles of line and column above the size of an infantry regiment.

This is because Lin Chengting has found that the Chinese army behind him is using rear-loading rifles, and if he wants to win this battle, if he wants to survive, the only breakthrough is to defeat the Chinese army in front, so after he learned that his rear Dali was captured, he seized the last remaining opportunity to take the initiative to launch a comprehensive counteroffensive against the frontal troops led by Shi Langyi himself.

Although the total strength of the Chinese army is larger, there are 10,000 roundabout troops, and there are only more than 10,000 on the frontal front.

However, Lin Chengting's troops gathered to launch a counteroffensive were more than 15,000 people, and he knew that if he did not defeat the frontal Chinese army and break through, he would have to die here, but Lin Chengting, who took out the momentum of attacking Nanjing back then.

Not to mention personally going to the front line to boost morale, but also personally leading the army to charge, this kind of bravery made the Zhenhu army under his command all like the outbreak of the small universe, and the combat effectiveness instantly increased by several sections.

I have to say here that the reason why Lin Chengting has been able to make a comeback after repeated defeats is because he has a group of backbone soldiers who are inseparable from life and death, most of these people are old subordinates who have followed him for many years.

How to say it, since the infighting in Tianjing, most of these people are singles, and their hearts are full of hatred, otherwise they would not stand by Lin Chengting's side so firmly and never give up. (To be continued.) )