"Oooh-ah-ah!"

Standing up and half-kneeling on the ground, an inhuman low roar came out of his throat, and his eyes were even more miserable and messy cold light, with half of his body stained with blood, the whole person was like a wounded beast.

The layers of corpses on the ground were dressed in black silk coats and pedal-feuille cloth shoes, all of which were the elites he brought from the Xishan camp, all of them were majestic and daring to fight. But at this Yanling Pass, he didn't even rush up the ancient road, and he was full of corpses, like cattle and sheep abandoned everywhere in the slaughterhouse.

At this time, the northwest wind gradually rose, the smoke in the mountain road was fading rapidly, and outside the sound of gunfire, the screams of panic became denser and denser, chasing the smoke and dispersing towards the mountain streams around the ancient road.

In addition to the smoke of gunpowder, there is also the will to fight, Gao Qi can't figure it out, he has clearly calculated the red-clothed generals, he has clearly surrounded the red-clothed on all sides, he holds four times the enemy's strength, the tip of the knife has been forced to the enemy's throat, victory should be self-evident. Since the Qing Dynasty and the Nanban North and South war, there has never been such an absolute advantage in the general trend as he is, the Nanban Red Clothes have also lost countless teachers in the Western Regions, and the defeat of the Silver Dome Temple also shows that the Red Clothes are not invulnerable, and he is about to complete the great cause that the Qing Dynasty has never held: the total annihilation of a thousand or more Nanban Red Clothes.

"Why! Oh - why!? ”

Raised his fist and hammered the ground, splashing a puddle of blood, even if his face was stained, he still didn't realize it. The cry of the rout around him became clearer and clearer, and he just couldn't understand why he was defeated. It's all done at this point, why can't you win against the red clothes!?

"Demons, demons!"

Out of the mist, a few soldiers appeared, crawling on the ground in the pile of corpses, their muskets gone. The wrapping head was also scattered, the thin braids shook with the staggering and undulating of the master, the mouth kept shouting, and the eyes were even more straight, and he turned a blind eye to the high rise and the chief with flowers floating on his winter hat. Just a of urine passed by them.

"Demon ...... That's right, it's a demon! ”

With this defeat, his original ambition also collapsed, what else did he use to defend Henan?

He roared highly: "Today is the time of the dead country!" He drew his sword and rushed forward, without waiting for his men to pull him down. There was another slip under his feet, and he fell on his back, and then splashed a large amount of blood. His subordinates carried him and fled backwards, and his whole body was as soft as mud, and he no longer had the strength to struggle.

The smoke gradually dissipated, and Jiang Dedao pushed away the staff officer who stopped him and stepped onto the dumped carriage. The situation on the ancient road is in full view.

On the ancient road, which is less than 100 zhang long, the red-clothed men line up in a horizontal line, back to back to both sides of the road, and the gun trucks also hit the mountain wall or ridge mouth. In front of the horizontal line, under the muzzle. The corpses of countless Qing soldiers fell to the ground, and the corpses that fell from the mountain wall clogged the passage that was only three or five zhang wide. The mouth of the ridge was even more shocking, with layers of corpses pressed by the Qing soldiers, extending to the front of the horizontal formation, and the nearest place had met with the horizontal formation, mixed with the dead red-clothed officers and soldiers.

The staff officers who followed up also had a full view of the situation. His face turned pale and he muttered, "Miserable, so miserable......"

There are a number of gaps in each segment. At the intersection of several ancient roads and ridges, the horizontal formation was even more sparse, and at a glance, there were no less than thirty or fifty people in red clothes who fell to the ground!

Jiang Dedao's heart is also dripping blood, yes, it's too miserable! His formation is not out of order. The artillery fire was fierce, and I thought that I could easily crush the ambush of the Qing army. But I didn't expect to pay such a big price! Just looking at this scene, I am afraid that there will be no more than one or two hundred casualties! In the previous Armageddon in the Western Regions, against the 80,000 Junggar and Rakshasa coalition forces, what was the loss of the red clothes? One hundred and sixty-two people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded......

As for the casualties of the Qing army? Who cares? At this time, the Anglo-Chinese Army had already crossed the era of the old world soldiers who counted the merits of the war, either to seize the city and occupy the land, or to gather and annihilate the living forces.

The battle of Yanlingguan Ancient Road ended in just over an hour, and Gao Qi was dragged out of the battlefield by his subordinates, and fled to Luoyang with the remnants of the defeated generals. The Henan Qing soldiers under his control were the last powerful army of the Manchu Qing in the Central Plains, and they were all buried in this little or so hour. However, Jiang Dedao is still unaware of the significance of this battle, and he is still grieving for his "huge casualties".

The staff officer's request pulled out Jiang Dedao's mind: "Commander, are we going to pass the test immediately?" ”

Jiang Dedao glared and said, "Do it according to the drill rules!" ”

Not only the staff officers, but also the other subordinates are speechless, and they still have to do it according to the drill rules? In this chaotic mountains and forests, it is in line with the rules of the drill to not chase down the defeated soldiers, but it is necessary to continue to attack the pass one by one? The Qing army must have run out.

Jiang Dedao was really scared, and scolded his subordinates: "It was an anti-ambush just now, but now it's a storm, one yard to one yard!" ”

In this way, the officers and soldiers continued to strictly abide by the rules and regulations, and attacked Yanling Pass without falling behind, and when they attacked the pass, they found that the defenders were just a bunch of remnants, either frightened and stupid, or twisted their feet and broke their legs while fleeing for their lives.

Stepping on the Yanling Pass, the vast land is boundless, this is the so-called outside the gate in ancient times, Jiang Dedao's heart was slightly relieved, and he shouted to his subordinates: "Go!" Nakahara is waiting for us! ”

In the early morning of March 13, in Luoyang City, Gao Cheng, who had withdrawn from Kip Shi Pass with great difficulty, could hardly believe his eyes when he saw his father in the governor's yamen. But the only three-eyed flower feather in the Henan realm on the winter hat can't be faked, this sideburns are gray, haggard like dead wood, trembling, and the half-old man whose mouth is still flowing is his father.

"Dad, Nanban Redcoat has passed through the magnetic cave, only thirty miles away from here, why haven't you seen the guards at the head of the city!?"

Gao Cheng was anxious, and he didn't pay much attention to it, so he asked angrily.

Gao Cheng knew that Yanling Pass was defeated, and it was only when he found that the red clothes had broken Yanling Pass, so he withdrew from Kip Shi Pass. Knowing that his father was well, he was not willing to flee in defeat, and made noise all the way in Mianchi and Xin'an, preaching that the red-clothed demons had come and wanted to dig up the ancestral graves.

In Gao Cheng's heart, his father is tenacious and the best man in the world, so it is impossible for him to collapse, he must have regained his strength in Luoyang and wants to fight to the death with the red clothes.

Unexpectedly, when I entered Luoyang City, I found that the city gate was not closed, and the soldiers had not been ordered. It's almost a bleak scene of a group of dragons without a leader, waiting for the red clothes to enter the master.

"The ...... in Red"

Raised and shivering, his scattered eyes flashed with scattered points of light, and then dissipated without a trace.

"Demons! Devil! ”

He thumped his chest suddenly, startling Gao Cheng. Only then did I notice that my father not only described the great change, but also seemed to have lost his soul in his body.

"It's miserable, it's miserable......"

At this time, Gao Qi looks like a thirty-seven-year-old man in his prime, and he is clearly a man with a split liver and gallbladder. The half-old man whose soul is half gone.

"Daddy! Daddy, wake up, my son is here! The sky is falling, and there is a son to carry it! ”

Gao Cheng shouted and shook his father's shoulder, so that Gao Qi was a little more sober.

"That's right, the sky has fallen, the Central Plains can no longer be defended, you should go back to Beijing quickly. You don't have to sit with your father anymore. ”

The soul gradually returned to its place, and although Gao Qi couldn't suppress the trembling, he was able to speak normally.

"Me? I promised the Queen Mother that I would be in Henan ......"

When Gao Qi said this, the scene on the ancient road three days ago was still full of support in his heart. He couldn't stop trembling, and he was shocked by these scenes. He asked himself if he was not a weak person, but the layers of corpses on the ancient road, like a stream of blood, haunted him like a nightmare, making him not at peace.

When mortals exhaust all mental energy. When you feel that you have done the ultimate in the world, and it is impossible for others to surpass it, you find that the enemy is just going according to your steps. Respond like a robot, and shatter all your pile advantages, and all your power will be wiped out in an instant. Such an enemy, who is scolded as a demon in his mouth, has become a god in his heart, a god that mortals can never match.

Gao Qi has given up. He waited for the god to appear and pronounce his fate.

"Daddy...... The handsome man is already stunned! ”

Gao Cheng gritted his teeth and looked at the family members left and right. What I saw was a withered face like Gao Qi.

"Let's go! Set up my dad and go! ”

Eighteen-year-old Gao Cheng is strong-blooded, and he is never willing to admit defeat, let alone leave his father. He commanded his family and confidants, set Gao Qi directly out of the governor's yamen, threw him in the carriage, and hurried out of the city.

Outside the yamen, a large number of civil and military officials were still waiting outside, all of them looking panicked.

When Gao Dashuai first came to Henan, what a wise and martial artist, smelling the rebellion of the Xiangjiao Sect, he waved his hand to stabilize the situation. Then with the incisive analysis of the northerners' trade after the southern barbarians regained the land, as well as the iron-fisted means of killing chickens and monkeys, the local merchants in the hinterland of Henan in Luoyang Kaifeng were shocked, and the money that the queen mother had decided to stay in the place before supported the cost of defending the land. And the Guangfa Nanban's decision on disposing of the Manchus (in fact, it was the remarks of the Nanban radicals in the newspaper) also pushed the local government of Henan Prefecture and the Green Battalion army to defend the territory with him, and in a short period of time, tens of thousands of soldiers were gathered.

The vigorous and resolute cheering up atmosphere made the Henan people see hope, and everyone also believed that Gao Dashuai would continue to bring them victory and would defend Henan like a pillar of optimus.

Unexpectedly, in just a few days, it was the battle of Kunshan, and Gao Dashuai not only lost his division, but also lost his soul...... The tall and handsome lost their souls, and the people below them no longer had the backbone.

Seeing that the young marshal took the big marshal, these officials were still silent, and when the carriage started, they were still expecting that maybe the big marshal would cheer up again and at least show them a way.

But the hope was finally dashed, the carriage gradually disappeared, and at that moment, it seemed that the backbone was sucked away, and the trace of anger still condensed on the faces of the officials was swallowed up by the thick black gas.

No one spoke, and almost at the same moment, the officials turned around and dispersed, quietly crumbling like a sand bank under the raging waves.

On the afternoon of March 13, the sentry cavalry of the 60th Division appeared outside Luoyang City, looking at the wide open city gate and the empty city head, the sentry cavalry opened their mouths one by one, in disbelief. The ancient capital of this famous city, the hinterland of the Central Plains, which was expected to be the most resolute stronghold of resistance, is now open to arms.

"It's time for Luoyang to ......"

In the north of Jiangzhou Mansion in Shanxi, the red-clothed brigade is advancing north, and Gu Shining, the deputy governor of the Western Route Army of the Northern Expedition, and the commander of the Third Army of the Northern Expedition, said to himself.

Gu Shining didn't know that in the direction of Henan, not only Luoyang had fallen, but the entire Henan had also lost the only organized army due to the defeat of Gaoqi Mountain, and the resistance of the Manchu Qing government in Henan collapsed.

He knew very well that his progress was later than planned, and according to the plan, the main force of his army should arrive at the city of Taiyuan on the 25th, but today it was already the 13th. Only after passing the Jiangzhou Mansion. This made him secretly slander his boss Xie Dingbei's "step by step, rapid progress", which must be stable and fast, and be a steam engine.

As a powerful general who followed Xie Dingbei from Yuezhou all the way to Wuchang. Gu Shining actually recognized the ability of this old boss, and when his subordinates complained about Xie Dingbei's appointment as deputy marshal, he also spoke for his old boss. However, when it comes to actual military affairs, he also believes that Xie Dingbei has implemented a cautious and conservative policy so strongly. It is a lack of confidence and can only be a performance based on stability.

Maybe the impact of the defeat of Yinding Temple was too heavy, that defeat not only buried thousands of officers and soldiers, but also lost two young and promising generals, Gu Shining asked himself, if he provoked the strategy of Henan and Shanxi provinces on one shoulder, and commanded the six divisions of the two armies with 40,000 red clothes. and the subordinate 8th Division's 50,000 volunteers, which should also be walking on thin ice.

The matter fell on him again, and the Third Army of the Northern Expedition led by him had two red-clothed divisions and two volunteer divisions, which were responsible for attacking the entire Shanxi. It's not trembling. The Northern Expedition of the government and the opposition is where the righteousness lies, Yinghua is right, Manchu is evil, evil is invincible, red clothes are everywhere, and evil demons are collapsing. This is nothing more than literati rhetoric. Xie Dingbei is right, since he is a martial artist, he must be vigilant. Treat all northerners as enemies. Victory is earned with real swords and guns, not by vain faith.

It's just that so far, the journey into Shanxi has really responded to the opinions of the government and the opposition, and has not encountered decent resistance, and the prefectures and counties have been looking at the wind and descending all the way, which should be the credit of the Heaven and Earth Society and the merchants in the country. This made Gu Shining a little depressed. Put it in other eras, or under other managers. On the 25th, let alone Taiyuan, he could go east around Zhili and flank the city of Beijing.

And now, he can only 40 to 60 miles a day, and when he encounters a prefecture or county, he will set up battle formations, build camps, and deploy supply stations, just like he fought in the Western Regions before, and advance forward one by one.

When his mind was distracted, the red-clothed division walking in front sent someone to ask for an order: "There are many stragglers cruising in the direction of Gaoxian, and the commander asks if he can transfer troops to annihilate ......"

Gu Shining frowned and asked, "What is the origin of the enemy army?" How threatening is it? ”

Hearing that there were basically dozens or hundreds of guerrillas in a group, not under the banner of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was better to say that it was a soldier, it was better to say that it was a bandit, Gu Shining shook his head: "There is an explanation before the march, our target is the Qing army, and it is also a large Qing army, other than that, don't pay attention to anything else." Tell you to rule, the battle has to be fought, Taiyuan City will let him fight happily, these snakes and rats, don't pay attention! ”

The general policy of the Northern Expedition was like this, the red clothes were used to attack the city and defeat the enemy, not to suppress bandits, and the stragglers were not the targets of the red clothes, and they were not even the targets of the volunteers stationed at the military stations and the counties along the road.

Who will deal with these enemy forces that have been reduced to small forces?

In the abandoned fields, hundreds of men in mixed clothes carried muskets and fled like a burning buttocks, until they escaped into a sparse woodland.

"Red, red didn't chase after me, catch up!"

Tang Erda, who appeared at the end, gasped and shouted, and everyone was relieved.

"These red clothes are really weird, they all looked at us, and they just drove us away......"

Tang Da, the leader of the team, pinched his chin, puzzled.

"I'm afraid you look down on us, don't you bother to play with us, what's the origin of the red clothes? Our most powerful firearms army in the Qing Dynasty was so frightened when they saw the red clothes that they were scared, and they even used human walls to resist the Mongolian horse team in the Western Regions......"

Tang Er came to such a sentence, which caused everyone to look at each other angrily.

"You've read Nanban's newspaper!? Believe what the newspaper says? ”

Tang Da shouted, and Tang Er lowered his head in shame.

Then Tang Da glanced at everyone and said in a deep voice: "If the red clothes don't chase us today, we will regret it in the future!" We don't have the ability to confront the red clothes, but it is easy to attack his grain and rob him of his baggage! Don't forget, this is our land, where our ancestors lived! ”

Everyone nodded solemnly, and Tang Er also hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, that's what we mean, no matter how powerful the red clothes are, we, we have to fight to the end!" ”

Tang Da patted his younger brother on the shoulder with relief, and then encouraged: "We are the officers and soldiers who have been personally told by Mu Xiantai!" As long as you make some achievements, let alone enter the flag, the future of the guerrilla is waiting for you! ”

After a moment of silence, everyone responded, some shouted generously, some showed longing, but some people said sullenly: "I don't care about the future, I just don't want to be captured by the Nanban to open a mine in the South Seas, I heard that there are still people who have been thrown into the Western Regions or even thousands of miles away from the land continent to reclaim the wasteland, it is better to die ......here than to die there."

These words caused everyone's emotions to be a little scattered, and Tang Da hurriedly coughed and said, "Whatever it is, anyway, we have a relationship with Nanban!" Besides, how happy it is to wear the hat of an officer and soldier and do the things of a hero! ”

The prospect depicted by these words was more direct and distinct, and the hundreds of people laughed.

"Let's take a closer look, and when the red-clothed brigade is over, we will pick up the baggage team behind and start! The officers and soldiers of the Southern Barbarians are extravagant, and the good things are full, as long as you catch all the way, we will send them! ”

Tang Da said more explicitly, and many people began to stir their throats.