"Report to the Chief of Staff! Deputy Commander He sent someone! A subordinate broke in to report it. Khalid heard this and said eagerly: "Let someone come in!" After a while, two men dressed in green clothes with black cloth wrapped around their heads entered. One of them took off his turban and showed his short hair, raised his hand and saluted: "Report to the Chief of Staff, my subordinate is the second lieutenant of the reconnaissance of the 41st Division, this is a letter from Deputy Commander He to you!" ”

Khalid didn't bother to greet him, and immediately opened the letter to check, "Haha, Deputy Commander He is really extraordinary, which is admirable. The letter said that you are from Luding County, if nothing else, it is estimated that this kung fu has occupied Meishan! "Yes, Chief of Staff, after we set off, the deputy commander led his troops to also advance to Meishan!" Khalid shouted: "Someone! Several operational staff officers entered and immediately sent someone to report the situation of the deputy commander to the corps headquarters. ”

Khalid then briefly convened a military meeting, and then ordered his troops to move quickly. The troops had to pass through the junction of Neijiang and Zigong, and go straight between Meishan and Ziyang. Three days later, in the morning, Khalid led his troops to a place called Renshou, which also belongs to the edge of the Chengdu Plain, to be precise, it belongs to the hilly area, and the population is relatively dense. The troops were hidden in a wooded area, and the soldiers rested under the wet tree trunks, and some of them quickly fell asleep.

About 2 kilometers to the east of the woodland, a group of scouts cautiously followed the left side of the post road. Suddenly, there was a neighing of horses in front of them, and the scouts quickly dispersed in stealth. The movement ahead was getting louder and louder, and the scouts quietly stepped forward to check and found that many Qing soldiers were eating breakfast on the grass next to the post road, and it was obvious that the Qing army was camping here. The scout did not dare to slack off, and immediately turned around to report.

Khalid was napping in his tent in the woodland when he woke up to hear the Scout report of great joy. According to the scouts, there were at least 10,000 Qing troops encountered, but in fact, the Qing army had more than 20,000 horses. It was too late to deploy troops, and Khalid made a quick decision to attack head-on. The troops moved immediately and met them in a skirmisher formation. The officers and men were extremely excited when they received the order, and the depressed mood they had been depressed for several days was finally released.

The troops moved quickly and pounced along both sides of the post road. After breakfast, the Qing army was sorting out the formation in the order of the front team, the middle army, and the rear team, and they did not expect to encounter a large number of Northern Expeditionary Army. At first, when the Qing soldiers saw the Northern Expeditionary Army rushing towards them, they thought it was their own people, and when they were stupid, the gunshots suddenly rang out. The Qing soldiers shouted quickly: "Not good! The Northern Expeditionary Army is coming! The Qing soldiers in front of this kung fu were knocked to the ground by the dense rain of bullets, and in the blink of an eye, the Qing army was in chaos and fled backwards quickly. The rout was like a mountain, the front team crushed the Chinese army, and then the Chinese army broke the rear team, and the Qing generals could no longer control the troops.

The Northern Expeditionary Army was well-trained and had a rapid impact, and the green battalion of the Qing Army was a veteran soldier, which could withstand such a fierce pursuit and fierce attack. Many Qing soldiers threw away their rifles, luggage, and belongings. The running ability of the Qing soldiers was far from good. Half an hour later, the Qing soldiers, who could not run, simply knelt on the ground and surrendered with their hands raised. Khalid entered the battlefield, saw this scene, and ordered the 95th Brigade and the 96th Brigade to bite the Qing army and occupy Ziyang one after another, and the 97th Brigade followed up and captured the prisoners.

As far as the eye can see, rifle items discarded by the Qing army are everywhere, and most of the weapons are old-fashioned rifles. What's even more funny is that many Qing soldiers knelt on the ground and raised their hands, waiting in horror for the Northern Expeditionary soldiers behind the palace to detain them one by one. An hour later, the Qing army was overwhelmed and began to scatter and flee, and the more than 20,000 Qing troops were finished. The 95th Brigade and the 96th Brigade had no time to take care of the Qing troops fleeing on both sides, but kept pursuing forward, and the goal went straight to Ziyang.

The Qing army that fled to the south went to Neijiang, and the Qing army that fled north ran to Chengdu. In the evening, the troops arrived in Ziyang, the Qing army defending the city was only more than 500 people, and when they saw the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, they were frightened and immediately abandoned the city and fled, and the 96th Brigade took the lead in occupying Ziyang without blood. After the Khalid Palace, he captured the prisoners of the Qing army along the way, and when he arrived at the foot of Ziyang City, he actually captured more than 7,000 Qing officers and soldiers, which was really a hearty battle. Khalid led the division headquarters to Ziyang with a large number of prisoners, and it was already midnight.

The next day, Khalid received a report from the reconnaissance cavalry that they had encountered the reconnaissance unit of the 41st Division, confirming that He Meng had occupied Meishan. Khalid was overjoyed when he heard this, ordered his troops to rest in Ziyang, and then led his guards straight to Meishan. Coincidentally, the Qing officers and soldiers who fled to Chengdu were like lost dogs, and the largest group of more than 3,000 people ran into the victorious army brigade from Chengdu in the early morning of the next day in Xinjin.

In the big tent of the Huai Army, Cheng Gan, the commander of the victorious army, was surprised after listening to the report of the general army and asked, "You mean that there are tens of thousands of rebels?" "My lord, there are no lies from my subordinates, there are rebels all over the mountains, and we will be defeated in the blink of an eye!" The chief soldier is just guessing, where does he know the true situation of the Northern Expeditionary Army. Cheng Qian was stunned, before leaving, Lord Zuo told the rebels who occupied Meishan that there were only 10,000 horses, why did tens of thousands of horses suddenly appear.

But the facts in front of him made him have to believe it. Although Cheng Qian didn't look down on the Green Battalion at all, he was defeated by 20,000 horses, which was too evil. Cheng Qian ordered to report to Lord Zuo quickly, and then ordered the army to defend on the spot, and at the same time sent scouts to Meishan to reconnoitre. He was worried that the rebels would turn around and aim at him, and if he really found the main force of the rebels, he could retreat immediately, so that Lord Zuo would not blame him.

Khalid hurried to Meishan in the evening. After He Meng heard the news, he greeted him in front of the command department, Khalid jumped off his horse, and the old friends stared at each other with a clear heart, and then hugged warmly, at this time silence is better than sound. "Old man, if you don't come, I'm afraid I'm going to hold on to Meishan City, Zuo Zongtang dispatched his victorious army, ready to eat me in Meishan." "Brother He, if you eat meat, I'll drink some soup! Tell me about your five levels and six generals, my heart is itchy enough! ”

The two brothers talked and laughed and walked into the house, and He Meng ordered the guards to serve wine and food. After a few glasses of wine, He Meng told the story, traveled a long distance, captured the Luding Bridge to occupy Luding County, outwitted Ya'an, raided Meishan, took the sheep and ate the Huai army transport team, and returned to the horse to swallow the 10,000 Qing troops in Leshan with one shot, He Meng said lightly. Khalid listened heartily and said: "It's a miracle that Brother He is extraordinary, you were superior and outstanding in the military academy back then, this time I can be regarded as serving you!" ”

He Meng shook his head and said, "Frankly speaking, I also have palpitations, probably because of my luck!" "Okay, don't be hypocritical, now that I have defeated the Qing army in Ziyang, what are your plans for the Qing army coming from the direction of Chengdu?" Shall we him? "Your appetite is too great, the Qing army from the direction of Chengdu is the elite of the Huai army, according to reconnaissance, the victorious army dispatched 40,000 horses, this piece of meat is too big, and their combat effectiveness is far stronger than that of the green battalion soldiers." But if the victorious army comes to attack, we can let him lose his troops. ”

Khalid came to his senses and said, "How do you fight?" He Meng shook his head and said: "You have defeated more than 20,000 Qing troops in one go, and I am afraid that the victorious army already knows the situation." I judge that the victorious army will not come, and after Zuo Zongtang understands the situation, he will order the victorious army to withdraw to Chengdu, and we are afraid that we will close the door and fight the dogs in the next step. "I have already informed Commander Leng of your occupation of Ya'an, and I am afraid that the commander of the later changes does not know about it."

He Meng said with a smile: "Now I know, I estimate that the Huai army in Luzhou and Yibin will shrink their forces to hold the city when they learn that Meishan is occupied, and Commander Leng will judge that Meishan is occupied by me when he sees this situation." The Qing army shrank its forces. The Yangtze River defense line is self-defeating, and Commander Leng will lead his troops to cross the river in the middle of Yibin and Luzhou, and I estimate that the first goal is to take Yibin. Although Yibin is a Huai army unit, it is not Zuo Zongtang's descendant army. The two of them talked about the wine until late at night.

The sky forms a curtain of rain. It's like a black pot pressing on top. There was chaos in the Chengdu Governor's Mansion again, and Zuo Zongtang was confused when he received Cheng Qian's report, only to see him sitting on a chair with a pale face and not saying a word. A staff member said worriedly: "My lord, there are tens of thousands of rebels on the front line of Ziyang and Meishan, but Luzhou has been captured by the rebels?" Otherwise it is impossible to explain all this. Zuo Zongtang was still silent, he knew that he had made a mistake in judgment, and it didn't matter how the rebels appeared in Meishan.

"My lord! What do we do next? Another staff member asked with the same pale face, knowing that the situation was reversed. Zuo Zongtang also came to the conclusion that the rebel army was by no means 60,000 horses, and it seemed that it was impossible to hold on to Sichuan. Zuo Zongtang stood up abruptly and said: "Quickly report to the capital, 100,000 are urgent, and ask for reinforcements." Ordered Cheng Qian to immediately lead his troops to withdraw to Chengdu, and I, Zuo Zongtang, swore to live and die with Chengdu. Zuo Zongtang knew in his heart that tens of thousands of rebels were blocked on the front line of Meishan, and if the Qing army on the front line left the city, it would be a dead end, and if they held the city, there was still a glimmer of hope, so they could not give the order to retreat.

Leng Yifei spent more than 20 days in a tormented way, and he didn't even know how to spend these 20 days. He believed that He had no problem capturing Meishan, but he did not dare to guarantee that the army would be safe and sound in such a harsh environment of terrain and meteorological conditions. Leng Yifei was under heavy psychological pressure, and anything could happen if he was in danger. However, this was the only dangerous move to break the stalemate, and if it succeeded, the defense line of the Qing army would crumble and the whole situation would be opened.

In the Guangzhou Military Government, Pei Gejin, chief of staff, was also nervous, but Deng Zixuan was very calm. He is glad that the generals under his command can have such a strategic vision, and they should be allowed to make mistakes and lose the battle. There are no winning generals in war, and defeat is the mother of success. However, out of Deng Zixuan's appreciation of He Meng, he thought that he would definitely be able to bring the news of victory.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, chief of staff, Annan war report, Liu Yongfu report, the French army has invaded the north on a large scale, with a total strength of about 30,000 people, and at present, Liu Yongfu has abandoned Hanoi and withdrawn to the front line of Liangshan for fortification!" One of his subordinates handed the letter to Tang Zixuan. Deng Zixuan simply glanced at it and handed it to Pei Gejin and said, "What should come will always come, let the storm come more violently!" ”