Xie Dingbei didn't realize that he was carrying the worries of countless people, and he was nervous.

"Brothers, I am only leading the victorious army on behalf of the army, and the affairs of the army still have to rely on the guidance of the brothers...... What kind of rules should our vanguard army have, we have to refer to it together. ”

Even in front of a group of Zhonglang generals and even Wei Lang generals, Xie Dingbei, a brigadier general, was still as bright as his boss, and the golden dragon crest on his shoulders was dim.

Jia Hao issued a military order, asking Xie Dingbei to enter Hubei by land, enter Wuchang, and open the way for the follow-up army.

The commanders and deputy commanders of the third division of the Shengjie Army were really difficult to accept Xie Dingbei's smile, and they drooped their heads, not daring to look at him. But this is just a small section, when it comes to business, they have said what else is needed for this? When Aunt Pan was martyred in Wuchang, the army had captured Wuchang by land, and the terrain along the way was already familiar, so she should be stunned. Qing soldiers to block? They couldn't ask for it, they were trying to fight against the Qing soldiers and avenge the blood feud of their old boss Zhan Wenda.

Xie Dingbei said humbly: "Okay, let's do it!" ”

Leaving the first division of An ** to guard Yuezhou, Xie Dingbei took the vanguard army composed of five divisions to dispatch, although the strength was close to 30,000, there were only two new red-clothed divisions, and the artillery was all four-pound and eight-pound small artillery. It's enough to open the way, but it's hard to get down to the city.

From Yuezhou to attack Wuchang, the land route is to go down to Hunan, enter Hubei, occupy Puqi and Xianning, go north to Tongcheng, and then go under the Jiangxia city wall of Shangwuchang [1].

After ten years of confrontation between the north and the south, the Qing court attached great importance to the land route because of the waterway in hand, and there were heavy troops in all the prefectures and counties. In the Wuchang Rebellion that year, the Yinghua army and the people marched into Wuchang in a big way, up to Yongzheng, down to the civil and military forces in Hubei, all felt the weakness of border defense, and also made great efforts in defense facilities, and all county towns had renovated the city walls, and also set up a number of passes.

Xie Dingbei felt that the vanguard army's trip was like passing five passes and killing six generals, and it would definitely encounter fierce resistance.

He rarely raised his face on the floor at the military meeting: "Hold on to weight!" Let's be careful! We must not be blinded by the desire to seize merit, as long as the vanguard army is advancing, it is a victory! ”

But in the end, he still showed his original form, his face relaxed, and he smiled: "What do you think...... How is it? ”

More than a dozen chief and deputy commanders nodded their heads again and again, and even the people of the Shengjie Army did not dare to say anything. The general impression of General Xie is that it is...... insidious, because he laughs so fakely that it always sends chills in people's hearts. Yinghua has always emphasized that military orders come first, and when the boss makes up his mind, his subordinates have no room to talk more. What's more, Xie Dingbei also served as the dean of the Changsha Army Academy for several years, and many of his subordinates in the army were his students.

So the five divisions of 30,000 horses, more than ten miles a day, slowly forced towards Linxiang, and there was no thunderous momentum of the vanguard army at all.

In Linxiang, you can also see the newly plastered city wall crowded with people, civil and military officials, soldiers and ordinary people, full of perseverance, a posture of defending the city to the end.

"Nanban is brutal and unkind! The men have braids and no heads, and the women are conscripted as military prostitutes to serve their soldiers! A country practices foreign demon law, miasma is congested! But there are sages and sages who say that they will kill their heads and destroy their families! Our Linxiang fathers and sons, whether it is for the loyalty of the court or for their own name, should refuse the thief to the end and never die! ”

"The imperial court has not forgotten our Linxiang! Ejitai and Marshal Yue will come to our rescue! As long as we hold on, Linxiang will become the tomb of the Southern Barbarian army! ”

The prefect of Yuezhou, Hubei Province of the Qing court also made a generous statement at the head of the city, and the prefect of Linxiang County supplemented it.

"That's right! Never die! ”

"That's right, refuse the thief to the end!" ..., some of the students with braids shouted loudly, causing the people to shout, and the city was noisy and imposing.

"Lord Futai, let's ...... What are the charters? ”

"What else can there be? pushed the people of Linxiang to fight to the death, and it can be regarded as an explanation to the imperial court. If we take some people and retreat, we will show that our city will break the Jews' will to fight, and the court will not do anything to us. Since Ezhitai has left Linxiang alone, we can't not be allowed to save ourselves, right? ”

After shouting on the city wall, when they returned to the county office, the conversation between the two chief officials was a different story.

Before Linxiang was still the base camp of Ortai's invasion of Yuezhou, the Wuchang camp, and the Hubei Green Camp, tens of thousands of people were stationed in Linxiang, but now they can't see half of their figures.

Earlier, Ortai was reminded by Yue Zhongqi that the Hubei Green Camp was no longer credible, so he urgently gathered all departments and wanted to clean up the Green Camp. This made Zhan Wenda suspicious, and an accident occurred when he went out of the city to investigate. Then Ortai heard that the commander of Yuezhou in the south was killed, and he was overjoyed.

After Yue Zhongqi retreated to the north of Dongting Lake, Ortai also learned from various sources that the Southern Barbarian army was gathering in Changsha and preparing to enter Wuchang directly, and he did not dare to gain a foothold in Linxiang anymore, so he rushed back to Wuchang with his men and horses. As for Linxiang and the prefectures and counties along the way, he couldn't take care of it at all.

Since the state and county are allowed to seek more blessings, it is no wonder that the officials of Linxiang have their own wishful thinking. When Ortai left, thirty or forty old-style artillery pieces that the general had no time to carry were left, and Linxiang also had something to rely on, thinking that he could defend the city and attack the invading Nanban pioneers, which was also the reason why the local scholars could make noise for the people.

Up and down a county, the pillow is waiting for the day, and the momentum is like a rainbow.

On 6 May, the Nanban Red Clothes, who had to report to Yuezhou, had already set out on the 4th, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were crowded at the head of Linxiang City, mustering all their spirits and preparing to fight to the death. It is only more than 100 miles from Yuezhou to Linxiang, and the army can kill it in two or three days.

As a result, Nanban did not come, and not a single red-clothed soldier appeared.

On the 7th of May, the figure of the red-clothed soldiers appeared outside the city, and the whole city suddenly boiled, the guns and cannons rang out in unison, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

If there is a green battalion general in the city, it should be reminded, it is just a sentry, and the whole city is so noisy day and night, it can't last a few days. The Southern Barbarian army has really arrived, and there is no longer the heart and strength to move.

It's a pity that he has already felt the same way as Yue Zhongqi, and he feels that the Hubei Green Battalion is unreliable Ortai, not only pulled all the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion to Wuchang, but even the county General Lian and others were also pulled away, he was afraid that these people would lead the soldiers to rebel against the water and sacrifice the city.

Therefore, the people of Linxiang have been making noise like a carnival. Every day there were red-clothed sentry riders, and every day they had to fire cannons and guns, and they felt that this was already a fierce battle.

On May 10, Xie Dingbei finally rushed to Linxiang City with an army of 30,000, and at this time the Linxiang people had been carnivaling for five or six days, and most of them had not slept for several days and nights, and their brains could no longer turn.

A few days ago, the sentinel reported that there were many artillery pieces in Linxiang, and the local people resisted resolutely. Xie Dingbei prudently decided to feint on all sides first to test the other party's reality.

The four-pound and eight-pound small cannons were unfurled, bombarding vigorously, creating a fierce firepower, but the strength of the siege was only two battalions of 3,000 people, and they were still scattered on all sides.

Xie Dingbei stood outside the city, nervously observing the battle situation with binoculars, and was mentally prepared for heavy casualties among the feint troops.

When the troops arrived at the city, the platoon guns covered the city, the flying cannons covered, and the ladders were driven, but the other party did not react?

Well, it should be waiting for our army to go to the city and engage in a head-on attack......

The first team with the Heavenly Punishment Society as the main ascendant ascended the ladder, and the ants attached to the siege city opened the way with grenades. Up? This is going up? ..., I'm afraid that there are fierce rows of guns and raining shotguns to greet the warriors, Xie Dingbei's heart is clenched.

Still no response? One by one, the officers and men went to the city, and the process was as easy as an exercise, and occasionally sporadic gunfire could be heard, but they were soon drowned out by the roar of their own platoon guns and grenades.

What's going on?

Xie Dingbei was puzzled, and when the other three feints reported that they had all gone to the city and met with no fierce resistance, the telescope slipped from his hand and smashed into his chest.

That's it!?

He couldn't believe it, although Linxiang didn't have a brigade of Qing soldiers, but the artillery was so fierce and the fighting spirit was so strong before, how could it be like a layer of paper, and it would be broken with a single stab?

The subordinates reminded him that it was time to send follow-up troops, Xie Dingbei put aside his doubts and nodded again and again. Why do you care about him? Take advantage of his illness to kill him!

In less than an hour, the whole city of Linxiang was down, watching a group of captives ignore it, fall to the ground and sleep, and the people in the city were all sideways, and they didn't want to be tired when the sky fell, Xie Dingbei and his subordinates suddenly realized that none of the people in Linxiang knew the soldiers, and they had been playing prostrations in the past few days......

The subordinates looked at Xie Dingbei, and their eyes began to change, but General Xie was a real person. Slowly suppressing the marching speed of the army, I am afraid that I know that Linxiang will be like this, the Linxiang people are resolute, and there are many artillery, and their vanguard army went down to Linxiang, with no more than 20 casualties! What a miracle this is!?

Xie Dingbei was only secretly glad, but he didn't expect that he had left a reputation for "good strategy" in the army, he urgently interrogated the Yuezhou prefect and Linxiang prefect who were captured by the sentinels, and learned that Ortai had pulled the Hubei Green Battalion and even Lian Zong to Wuchang, and from Yuezhou to Wuchang, there were almost no people who knew the soldiers all the way to preside over the state and county defense, and he was overjoyed.

Thinking that his vanguard army was like a thunderbolt, preempting Meng Songhai's Yangtze River Fleet and killing Wuchang by land in advance, Xie Dingbei's face smiled even worse, what a glorious thing it was?

The strong fighting spirit filled the whole body, suppressing the previous trembling, Xie Ding Beiguo decided to make a strategy and rush eastward!

"Rush forward to rush forward, you have to be vigilant with three points, don't forget to beware of the ambush of the Qing soldiers. Oh, have you read through the new canon? The column tactics mentioned above ......"

But Xie Dingbei is not a reckless person after all, and the habit of being the dean of affairs at the Changsha Army Academy in the past has risen again, and he has been teaching his subordinates for a while, and the emphasis is on emphasizing accidents.

The commanders and deputy commanders of each division are in high spirits, and they all feel that General Xie is too fond of nonsense, and Ortai has the courage to come out and invite the battle?

The commander set a policy of rapid advance, and the divisions were like wild horses out of the cage, advancing at a speed of seventy or eighty miles a day, and even the sentry could only put a field post of ten or so miles, and the guard posts on the periphery could not be taken care of at all, and the marching speed was too fast.

However, in three days, Puqi was captured, and like Linxiang, the casualties were in double digits. But the reason is different from Linxiang, the Qing court Puqi officials did not expect that the footsteps of the red-clothed soldiers would become so fast, a few days ago, they had not arrived in Linxiang, why did they rush to Puqi, which is nearly 200 miles east of Linxiang? When the red-clothed soldiers arrived, Puqi didn't even have time to close the city gate.

The capture of Puqi is only the second pass of this road, Xie Dingbei still did not take the reins, in his opinion, Ortai shrank in Wuchang, waiting for the army to come to the city.

The red-clothed soldiers rolled like a tide and rushed towards Xianning in the northeast.

In Xianning, Hubei, there is also a large group of men and horses rolling westward, and Hao Dai, the governor of Hubei, is also in high spirits.

"Xie Dingbei? Back then, he and I were in Huguang to raise the standard, and he climbed to the position of general of the Chinese army with his flattering face, and he had no ability at all! ”

"The red-clothed soldiers under his command are all adapted from the guards, and most of them are gray-clothed villagers, and their combat strength is weak. If I am allowed to have 10,000 elites and attack halfway, then Xie Dingbei's army will definitely collapse! ..., "The Taiwan system is my Qing Dynasty blessing general, didn't the enemy general Zhan Wenda die under the blessing of the Taiwan system?" The blessing of the handsome under the label! ”

Thinking of his words when he fought for troops in front of Ortai before, Hao Dai was secretly proud, and then he was even more happy when he thought of the victory that was about to come.

Xie Dingbei...... He's all too familiar, that's an incompetent straw bale! The straw bale took a large group of people and horses, and it took several days to drag a hundred miles to Linxiang, and I don't know how much time it will take to spend under Linxiang City. Although there are no soldiers on the Linxiang side, and there are no people who know the soldiers, there are so many artillery, how can they drag Xie Dingbei.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he led an elite army to raid from the back, Xie Dingbei definitely wanted to wandan!

This is not only his Hao Dai's thoughts, Hubei Green Battalion, up to the generals who have stayed in office for many years, down to the veterans ten years ago, when they mention Nanban, they are flustered, and when they mention Xie Dingbei, they have a high fighting spirit. Bully the rotten face straw bag, don't be too cool, I'm afraid this is also the only chance to earn a record in Nanban.

Ortai never thought that the Nanban would be so stupid as to appoint a straw bag as the commander of the road, but the Hubei Green Battalion was condensed because of Xie Dingbei, and he was happy to accept this change. Hao Dai's explanation also felt that it was right, Xie Dingbei may not be a straw bag, but his lack of ability is certain, and it took several days to drag the army to Linxiang, which is indeed a good opportunity for a sudden attack.

Thinking of Yongzheng's reprimand in the fold before, Ortai's back was also full of sweat. He retreated to Wuchang, which was also a last resort, if the Nanban really hit Wuchang, he, the governor of Huguang, would have been derelict in his duties.

With a heart, Ortai selected 8,000 Hubei Green Battalions, plus 5,000 Wuchang battalion soldiers, led by Hao Dai, and rushed to Hunan Province.

On 17 May, the two armies encountered each other at Guantang, which was nothing short of an accident for both sides.

"The enemy's army has a maximum of five or six thousand people in one division, and it must be the top soldiers sent by Xie Dingbei, what is there to be afraid of? Above! Eat this spearhead, and we'll already have half the credit! ”

Originally, when he saw the red-clothed soldiers, the Qing soldiers and generals had weak legs and stomachs, but Hao Dai's words suddenly boosted morale, not because of the situation emphasized by Hao Dai, but because the three words "Xie Dingbei" reassured them, what soldiers can Xie Dingbei's straw bag bring?

More than 10,000 people came to kill the 43rd Division of the Shengjie Army, and the red-clothed division adapted from this guard army was originally unexpectedly due to a sudden encounter with the enemy, but after being stunned, the ecstasy ran through the whole body of the officers and soldiers, it was really a pie falling from the sky! Their forty-three divisions rushed in front of each division, full of thoughts about avenging Zhan Wenda, and now they will get what they want?

The Qing soldiers were fierce, and they couldn't take care of the formation of horizontal formations, and Gu Shining, the commander of the division, was extremely grateful to Xie Dingbei at this time, and felt that this General Xie was really scheming, and he actually expected that the Qing soldiers would send out a large brigade to remind them to pay attention to the column to meet the enemy.

"The battalion columns marched in! Hit the flanks directly, and the artillery seizes the commanding heights of the front! ”

Gu Shining gave an order, and the fate of Hao Dai and the 13,000 Qing soldiers was decided.

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