On the city wall, Ni Tao saw that there were so few people attacking the city this time, and he hadn't brought siege equipment yet, so he asked Zhang Guoliang, who was standing next to him, "What kind of trick are the thieves doing, and they can't use these thirty or fifty people to attack the city?" ”

Zhang Guoliang said: "Don't worry, adults, ......" Before he finished speaking, he saw the city wall shake, and there was a "boom" sound.

"Let's go and see what's going on, everyone can rest assured that it was just an earthquake." Zhang Guoliang saw that the officers and soldiers in the city were panicking, and shouted hoarsely.

"My lord, no, the city gate has been blown up with a big hole." A government official even knelt and crawled to the county order to report.

The county commander lost his mind and said, "How can this be, God will die for me." Guoliang, you say, what should I do now? ’

Zhang Guoliang said: "The only way to do this is to withdraw from the city first, and then have another good plan." "He's not stupid, tens of thousands of thieves outside, rushing into the city can chop them into meat sauce.

"The laws of the Qing Dynasty, those who lose the city die, it is better to live and die with the city, Guoliang, you go, keep a useful body, and serve the country well." Although Ni Tao wanted to leave immediately, he still had to pretend to be decent, and when the officials came to ask for the crime, it could also be said that he was forced out of the city by his subordinates.

Zhang Guoliang hurriedly said: "If you don't leave, it's too late, the adults are offended." "Signaled the henchmen to take the county order away, took the men and horses, regardless of the gentry's pleas, rushed out of the city, only to find that there was no way out of the city, Pingnan County returned water on three sides, there was no boat, and if you don't take a boat, you can only rush out of the front of the thief.

The county commander Ni Tao said in despair, "It's better to go back and stick to the city and save your full name." ”

The master who followed behind said: "I have prepared a few boats in front, just in case today, everyone hurry up." ”

The chasing soldiers were coming, Zhang Guoliang and the others could only believe the master's words, and when they ran to the riverside, they saw a few boats, but they were not enough for a group of more than 1,000 people. Zhang Guoliang now sent the county commander, the master and other important people and their families to the ship, and ordered his regimental training personnel to get on the boat first, leaving a desperate person to sail away.

When Li Yunzhong entered the city, the city had basically cleared out the remnants of the enemy, and he unceremoniously set up the command center in the county office, which was already empty at this time, and thinking of the scene when he was locked up in the prison a few days ago, he asked people to release all the prisoners in the prison, and many prisoners also said that they wanted to join the rebel army, Li Yunzhong did not expect that there were so many soldiers in the prison. After a while, Wang Gang came to report that he had taken over the whole city, that Li Desheng's 1st Brigade, Wang Xin's 3rd Brigade, and Liu Cai's 4th Brigade were pursuing the remnants of the enemy, and that there were now only his 2nd Brigade and the 5th Brigade under Li Yunzhong's direct jurisdiction in the city.

There were more than 10,000 soldiers and horses of the three soldiers who came to attack the city, and only the Chinese army entered the city, and the front army and the rear army were left outside the city, and only those above the brigade commander were allowed to enter the city.

Zhang Guoliang and Ni Tao led the remnants of the defeated army upstream, and arrived at Xunzhou Mansion a few hours later. met with the prefect Gu Yuankai and told him the news of the fall of Pingnan County. Gu Yuankai didn't dare to slack off, he had a rebel under his rule, and he also captured the county seat, if he didn't put it out as soon as possible, I was afraid that his official position would not be guaranteed. Busy people informed Xunzhou general Zhou Fengqi and deputy general Li Dianyuan to call to discuss together.

Xunzhou General Zhou Fengqi looked at Zhang Guoliang and Ni Tao who were kneeling on the ground, and asked angrily: "It's just a group of homeless people, so I beat you to the head, what's the use of the court raising you." ”

Li Dianyuan said: "Zhang Guoliang? You changed your name well, and you will tell you how the thieves captured the county in detail. ”

Last year, when Li Dianyuan exterminated the Heaven and Earth Society in the Pingnan area, Zhang Guoliang listened to him under his command, and he had a good impression of this leader of the regimental training who dared to fight and rush.

Zhang Guoliang said calmly: "Lord Qiyu, the anti-thieves are not ordinary homeless, among them, there are heaven and earth will be anti-thieves to prosper (Luo Outline), as well as Su Sanniang, a female thief who wanders in Lingshan County and Qinzhou, and Li Yunzhong, the leader of the God Worship Sect, there are tens of thousands of people. And the soldiers in the city were less than a thousand, and the anti-thieves attacked the city for several days in a row, fearless of death, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties.

Zhou Fengqi automatically filtered the boastful section, and only became serious when he heard that the thieves used explosives to blow up the city gate. couldn't help but say: "Among the anti-thieves, there are people who can use gunpowder!" ”

Li Dianyuan thought that he would not forget the Savior in times of crisis, and he was even more interested in excusing Zhang Guoliang, saying: "The last time I went to Pingnan County to inspect, I noticed that the God Worship Sect had bad intentions to gather people, and I also ordered the inspectors to pay close attention. ”

The prefect Gu Yuankai also shirked and said: "A few days ago, I issued an official document for you to take precautions, but I didn't expect to lose the city today." ”

The three of them glanced at each other, and saw that the responsibility was put on the head of the county commander of Pingnan County, so they began to discuss the preparation of the thief, in order to share the responsibility and strengthen the troops, they called the deputy general of the Qingjiang Association, Iketambu, and sent an official letter to the governor of Guangxi, spreading the news of the fall of Pingnan County, after all, it was tens of thousands of thieves, and no one wanted to bear this responsibility.

Gu Yuankai called Jia Zhu, the magistrate of Ping County, who was the seat of the Fucheng Governor, and told him the news of the rebellion of the God Worship Sect, and asked him to strictly guard against the worship of God in the territory, and not to let the rebels under his rule enter the city, otherwise a large number of their general soldiers, prefects, and deputy generals would be captured.

Zhou Fengqi said: "The memory of the anti-thief captured Pingnan, the south and north are all mountains, if the anti-thief wants to make a difference, it is nothing more than to the west and east, and the west is to fight Xunzhou, which is to throw himself into the net, to the east is Teng County, and Teng County belongs to Wuzhou Mansion, as long as we drive the anti-thief to Teng County, then we will have a back." ”

Li Dianyuan is very ambitious, he has been in war for a long time, and he has no fear of anti-thieves, but wants to take advantage of this to be promoted, and said, "There are many worshippers in the Jintian area, and there are almost 4,000 people in the collection of soldiers and horses in Fucheng plus local regimental training, first exterminate them, and then recover Pingnan County." ”

Zhou Fengqi was worried that Fucheng would be lost, and objected, "It's not proper, how can you come out of the nest, Fucheng must leave at least 2,000 people to defend before the reinforcements arrive, and send troops to suppress thieves at most 1,000, plus the regimental training has 2,000, and it is easy to exterminate the anti-thieves." ", I thought, you can be promoted by exterminating the anti-thieves, but I can't, it's better to keep the city.

Zhou Fengqi heard that there were only 2,000 people, and just now he heard Zhang Guoliang say that there were tens of thousands of people in the area of Pingnan County alone, and although there was water, he would not easily wade into danger. said: "Then trouble Vice General Li." "The word 'adjutant general' was deliberately said a little slowly when he spoke.

"General Li has experienced a hundred battles, and he will win every battle against the anti-thieves." Gu Yuankai also complimented.

Li Dianyuan already felt that 2,000 people were a lot, and he only needed a few hundred people to exterminate the anti-thieves of the Heaven and Earth Society most of the time, so he agreed to this plan, and added: "Zhang Guoliang will let him make meritorious service for his crimes, and let him be a general in the army." "This is not just a meritorious service, it is simply a three-level promotion, from a civilian to a seventh-grade official, in charge of more than 100 soldiers."

Not to mention Zhang Guoliang, who was kneeling on the ground, buckled his head to thank him, even Ni Tao also said that he was willing to make meritorious contributions in the army. Li Dianyuan also wanted to know more about the worship of God, and it was not bad.