Just as the battle at the city gate was about to begin, the two-hour buffer time set by Li Hongzhang for the Hunan army was also approaching, and he waited anxiously for the expected good news, but the result made him very disappointed, Zeng Guofan did not come as scheduled.

"Mr. Luo, two hours are coming, it seems that I was wrong." Li Hongzhang said depressedly.

"Strategist, if Zeng Dashuai can come, it will be the best ending, but even if Zeng Dashuai can't come, we have already prepared the road of retreat, as the saying goes, all roads lead to the Beijing Division, since this best road is not passable, then we will take another road that is prepared, and please cheer up." Luo Bingzhang seemed to have expected such a result, so he was not as disappointed as Li Hongzhang, and between his words, he also revealed his consolation to Li Hongzhang.

"Alas, even though I said that, I was unwilling, unwilling." In addition to being disappointed, Li Hongzhang was unwilling.

In Li Hongzhang's overall vision, he never doubted that Zeng Guofan would lead the army to help in time, and from the beginning of the plan, all the deployments he made were centered around this center, with the progress of the war and some accidents, although he also adjusted other retreat routes for the army, but those roads, in his opinion, were not used at all, because he always firmly believed that Zeng Guofan could come.

However, the actual result disappointed him, maybe it wasn't as simple as disappointment, more precisely, it should be heartbreak, it took countless efforts and painstaking management of the plan was ruthlessly shattered, how could he be indifferent. Perhaps this also corrects the unchanging saying that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

"Military advisor, although the best choice is gone, but from another point of view, trading with the Qing army can be regarded as a good result. No one can grasp what happens in life. I remember that when this battle was just beginning, we thought that we could not only take Hefei City, but also eliminate the vitality of the Qing army, who knows, it backfired, we accidentally fell into the trap of the Qing army, under such a change, we were ready for the annihilation of the whole army, but we didn't think that the Qing army was willing to let us go, the impermanence of the world, nothing more than this." Luo Bingzhang sighed.

"Mr. Luo's words are very true, I don't have anything to do, I'm just a little disappointed." Li Hongzhang nodded and said. He understood that Luo Bingzhang was well-intentioned.

"Strategist, the facts are irrevocable, but the road still has to be walked, should we inform Prince Gong now and implement the agreement we drew up earlier?" Luo Bingzhang really didn't want this matter to drag on any longer, the longer this kind of thing dragged on, the less beneficial it would be to the Xiangchu army.

In order to avoid long nights and dreams, he believed that he could only cut through the chaos quickly, and the sooner the agreement with the Qing army was implemented, the better.

"Well, I have no opinion on this matter, you can do it." Things have come to this point, and Li Hongzhang can only bow to the facts.

Perhaps, as Luo Bingzhang said, it is a good result to be able to bring the main force of the Hunan Chu army out of the city.

"Okay, I'll do it right away." Luo Bingzhang saw Li Hongzhang nodding, and hurriedly turned around to deal with the matter

"Mr. Luo, wait." Li Hongzhang suddenly stopped Luo Bingzhang.

Luo Bingzhang took back the steps he had taken, and looked at Li Hongzhang with a suspicious expression, but he didn't say anything.

"Mr. Luo, let's gather the generals first, tell them our decision, let them be ready, and then go and inform Prince Gong." Li Hongzhang thought for a while and said.

"Well, I'm going to inform a few generals." Luo Bingzhang also thought that this was very deserved, and he turned around and went to gather the generals.

After a while, the generals of the Hunan Chu army, including Hu Linyi and Luo Zenan. Peng Yulin, Liu Kunyi, Jiang Zhongyuan, etc., all gathered around Li Hongzhang.

Luo Bingzhang first explained the reason why Li Hongzhang summoned the generals, and all the generals said that they had no opinion, and they would do whatever the military advisors said.

Although Li Hongzhang had expected the public to say this, he couldn't help but be very moved after listening to the words of the public. After all, in this world, it is not a rare thing to be able to share wealth and wealth, but if you can share hardship, then it is called precious.

Subsequently, Li Hongzhang personally announced the order of retreat to the generals.

Liu Kunyi and Jiang Zhongyuan led the Chu army brothers to retreat in the first wave.

Then Hu Linyi led the Hunan army to leave.

Then, it was Peng Yulin's men who left.

The most rearly is Luo Zenan's department, and Luo Bingzhang will act with the Chu army, and Li Hongzhang will follow Luo Zenan's department.

For such an arrangement, the generals basically have no big problems, but there are some details, and the generals still have some ideas, for example, the Chu army left in the first wave, and Jiang Zhongyuan, as a Chu general, felt that this was unfair to the Hunan army brothers, and he said that the Chu army was willing to stay and let the Hunan army brothers go first.

The three generals of the Hunan army also disagreed, they felt that it was too dangerous, and Li Hongzhang should walk in the middle of the team, so that it would be convenient to command the entire team and avoid unforeseen events.

For such a proposal, Li Hongzhang categorically refused. His reason was that the military orders were like a mountain, and the generals could only abide by them, and he thought that such an arrangement was also reasonable, and all aspects could be taken care of. He further explained in more detail to the generals.

First of all, he let the Chu army leave first, because he wanted to put Luo Bingzhang at the forefront, and Luo Bingzhang would lead the position of the pioneer, he was relieved, and it was also beneficial to the army.

Secondly, Li Hongzhang himself has his own reasoning, the situation on the battlefield is unpredictable, and only after can he see everything clearly, which is also of great benefit to commanding the overall situation.

Seeing that Li Hongzhang insisted, the generals had nothing to say, so they could only prepare separately.

After the generals left, Luo Bingzhang went to Qing camp as the plenipotentiary envoy of the Hunan Chu army according to Li Hongzhang's meaning.

He met with Prince Gong and Seng Lingqin and consulted the two kings face-to-face with all the details of the withdrawal.

For example, when will the Hunan and Chu armies assemble, how to go, how to evacuate in several batches, what is the route of evacuation, how will the Qing army cooperate, how to ensure that there is no friction between the two armies, how to deal with it in the city, and what to do after leaving the city... And so on, for these details, the two sides have made a detailed discussion.

The negotiations lasted for a short time, and after several rounds of bargaining, the two sides finally finalized the relevant details and reached an agreement.

After the details were agreed, Luo Bingzhang was anxious to go back and report to Li Hongzhang, so he left first.

After Luo Bingzhang left, Prince Gong and Monk Greenqin also chatted.

"Lao Gong, I think this is an opportunity, the agreement is certain, the Hunan Chu army must relax its vigilance, then, on the way they leave, we can take the opportunity to ambush, in this way, the chance of annihilating the Hunan Chu army is still very great." Monk Lingqin began to be restless again, it was really good that the scar forgot the pain, they had just reached an agreement with the Hunan army, and in an instant they began to play amnesia again.

When Prince Gong heard what Monk Greenqin said, he shook his head, he felt that Monk Greenqin had gone too far, he finally persuaded Li Hongzhang to agree to withdraw the army, he didn't want to turn his head, Monk Greenqin wanted to change again, he really didn't know what this old monk was thinking.

"Old monk, no, I don't agree, this time, I can't agree with you to do this anyway, the danger of doing so is too great, and you and I both know that the Taiping army has come to the city, the situation is critical, if we fight with the Hunan army again, the Taiping army will definitely take the opportunity to attack the city. When that happens, what are we going to do?" Prince Gong said a little annoyed.

"I have ordered Deng Dinggong to bring tens of thousands of horses to reinforce the defenders of the city gate, as long as we stick to the city and do not rush to battle, the city gate must be impregnable, whoever wants to capture it, it is not so easy, Lao Gong, you think too much." Monk Grinqin is full of confidence.

It turned out that the captain of the black armor squad who had returned to his hometown left a hand, and while he was looking for Deputy General Ning, he had already sent someone to inform Prince Gong and Seng Greenqin of the Taiping army's arrival in the city, and then Deng Dinggong led the army to reinforce the city gate, but Prince Gong and Seng Greenqin did not know about the follow-up city gate battle, so they thought that the city gate was not lost until this time.

"Old monk, you are just too confident, are you suffering such a loss, don't say it far, just say that the siege and killing of the Hunan Chu army this time, in your words, it is also foolproof, but, to the end, you have seen the result. I don't need to say more, this lesson is right in front of you, why don't you learn a lesson?" Prince Gong's words really have a bit of hatred for the smell of iron not being steel.

"This time, that time, besides, this opportunity is obviously better than the last time, and it would be a pity if I missed it." As long as Seng Lingqin can seize the slightest opportunity, he wants to put the Hunan army to death. So, as soon as this opportunity came up, he couldn't hold it back.

"Okay, old monk, you are a fan of the authorities, I am a bystander, you let hatred blind your mind, but I am very sober, so, this time, I will not let you come nonsense no matter what." Prince Gong said urgently, his attitude this time was very resolute.

"Okay, okay, Lao Gong, don't worry, listen to you, isn't it okay?" Monk Greenqin knew that Prince Gong would not agree, so he didn't plan to talk to Prince Gong about his true thoughts.

Monk Greenqin has already made up his mind in his heart, once the fighter is mature, he will not hesitate to attack, the battlefield opportunity is fleeting, if he misses it, he will not come back, he will not do such a "stupid" thing, let go of a good opportunity. (To be continued......)