The Xiaolingwei outside the Chaoyang Gate of Tianjing, which has become a huge military camp at this time, has been filled with more than 30,000 people of the new Fourth Army in the West Palace, 20,000 soldiers and civilians and township corps.

Yesterday, the vanguard of the Fourth Army had already arrived here, and the hundreds of Beidian troops stationed here did not make any resistance, and collectively took prisoners, to Feng Zicai's surprise, these prisoners were not discouraged by being captured at all, but felt a kind of relief.

Since Feng Zicai was transferred back to Suzhou at the beginning of the year to report on his work, as the factional plan of the Western King to disrupt the generals of the New Army, Feng Zicai has become the acting division commander of the Second Division of the New Fourth Army from the commander of the New Third Army. The new Fourth Army went out to Tianjing with the King of the West, and the second division was used as the vanguard, after arriving at Xiaolingwei yesterday, he saw that the Beidian Army had no fighting spirit, Feng Zicai originally planned to conquer Chaoyangmen in one go, but he did not expect to receive the general order of the King of the West, and ordered the second division to be stationed in Xiaolingwei to establish a camp for the follow-up troops.

Feng Zicai had to give up the great opportunity and stay in Xiaolingwei to build a camp. At this time, he stood on a dirt slope and looked at the camp of Xiaolingwei in front of him, but it was a busy scene. Those who dig trenches, build wooden fences, build camps, and carry materials, the whole Xiaoling Wei is full of voices, and the sound of horses neighing and cows roaring is endless.

Feng Zicai lit a Xiaodao brand cigarette, since he became the acting teacher, he gradually became obsessed with the smell of this cigarette, and when he was upset, he would light one to relieve the irritability in his heart.

"What? Haven't figured out the Western King's general order yet? Feng Zicai looked back, but it was Zhang Mingjing, the chief of staff of the Third Army, who turned out to be the division chief of staff of the Third Army to which he belonged, only to see him walk to his side, and also looked at the Chaoyang Gate of Tianjing in the distance and sighed lightly and said: "King Xi, this is planning to enter the city last to clean up the mess." ”

Feng Zicai frowned slightly, looked at himself and Zhang Mingjing's bodyguards, and then said with a smile: "Soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty. And our march this time is not to destroy many enemies, but to win the hearts and minds of the people, right? ”

Zhang Mingjing smiled and patted Feng Zicai's shoulder approvingly: "Yes, it's a layer deeper than I thought, it is true that our potential enemy in Tianjing this time is not only the Beidian Army." ”

Feng Zicai took a deep breath of smoke and said: "Now that the soldiers and horses of the Wing King have arrived at the Great Victory Pass, Yang Fuqing's troops are in Chunhua Town behind us, and there are only more than 30,000 soldiers and horses in the North Palace, and the morale is low, they are not our opponents at all, I think the West King ordered us to temporarily stay in Xiaolingwei for two purposes." ”

Zhang Mingjing smiled and said, "Yes, I pondered it all night. I also think it's two purposes, let's talk about it first, what do we think differently? ”

Feng Zicai looked in the direction of Tianjing and said: "One is that the Heavenly King's Mansion and the West Palace's Mansion are still in the city, and the West King is worried that if Tianjing is stormed, the North Palace Army will stage the final madness. Even regardless of a qiē, he stormed the Heavenly King's Mansion and the West King's Mansion. Let's stop to leave a thought for Wei Changhui. There is also room for a negotiated settlement of the matter. After all, the King of the West doesn't want a Tianjing City where life is ruined. ”

Zhang Ming nodded and said: "That's right, the dog will jump off the wall if he is in a hurry, if the Chaoyang Gate is broken, Wei Changhui may really burn the city, he is no longer the king of the north, he is now a madman." ”

Feng Zicai asked hesitantly, "Does the King of the West really plan to negotiate with a madman?" ”

Zhang Mingjing smiled noncommittally and said: "Negotiation takes time. Although it may not be possible to negotiate with a madman, you can finally buy time. ”

Feng Zicai understood a little: "The King of the West needs time to win the hearts and minds of the people, especially in the Yiwang Department and Yang Fuqing Department in Dashengguan and Chunhua Town. ”

Zhang Mingjing bowed slightly: "Yes, the second purpose of King Xi is to take advantage of King Qin this time." It is better to be able to subdue the two families, and taking Tianjing too early will inevitably complicate things. ”

Feng Zicai's expression became a little surprised, and he slowly asked in a low voice, "Because the Heavenly King is still in the Tianjing City?" ”

Zhang Mingjing smiled and said: "Yes, our nominal co-master, the Heavenly King and his old man are still in Tianjing City, if you enter Tianjing too early, the West King's right to speak will be a little weaker, and it will be difficult to act if you enter Tianjing too early." ”

Feng Zicai snorted, and said without thinking about it: "This Heavenly King is really troublesome, why didn't Wei Changhui get rid of him?" ”

After Feng Zicai finished saying this, he seemed to think of something again, and looked at Zhang Mingjing with a somewhat ugly face, Zhang Mingjing also had an ordinary face, and the two looked at each other and lost their voices at the same time: "The King of the West has a third purpose!" ”

……

However, it is said that Wei Changhui summoned his henchmen and generals in the Beiwang Mansion that day to plot to transfer troops to attack the Tianwang Mansion, although today the inside and outside of the capital are under the control of the North Palace, but there are two places that are not under the rule of the North Palace. One is Hong Xiuquan's Tianwang Mansion, and the other is the West Wangfu. These two places have their respective guards in the Tianwang Mansion and the West Wangfu, and there are still more than 3,000 people in the Tianwang Mansion and more than 1,000 in the West Wangfu. Although there are a lot of soldiers and horses in the North Hall at this time, there are also a lot of soldiers and horses in the Heavenly Palace, and although there are few soldiers in the West Palace, they are all elite soldiers, and Wei Changhui does not dare to act rashly without complete certainty, and if he is not desperate, Wei Changhui does not dare to kill the Heavenly King or kill all the people in the West Palace, especially the people in the West Palace, Wei Changhui still needs them to be hostages.

Wei Changhui looked at a group of henchmen in the palace and said in a deep voice: "Pass on my commandment, all the soldiers will gather and attack the Heavenly King's Mansion with me!" ”

All the generals were stunned, and the general Zhang Tonghai asked: "Your Highness, how many men should I prepare?" "Now Wei Changhui kills people at every turn, and the generals don't dare to disobey him, so they can only follow his words.

Wei Changhui said anxiously: "Didn't I say it? All, all. "Yes!" Zhang Tonghai relied on his courage and said, "Your Highness! We have more than 39,300 soldiers. 18,000 people were taken up for defending the periphery of Tianjing, and 18,000 people were taken up for guarding the city gates, city walls, palaces, and other places. There are only more than 3,000 soldiers who can be mobilized. How do I transfer? Please decide 6,000 years old. ”

When Wei Changhui heard this, his heart was half cold, and now he felt that there were few people and his strength was empty, and he heard that Qin Wangjun was no less than 200,000 people, so what would he do to fight against others? Can more than 3,000 people take the Heavenly King's Mansion? There are more than 3,000 people in the Tianwang Mansion, and the defense of the Tianwang Mansion is also extremely tight, not to mention that 3,000 people may not be able to defeat even if there are 6,000 people. And once the Heavenly King's Mansion is moved, it will only be allowed to win, not defeated. The Heavenly King's Mansion must be taken down, otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable.

He was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, shaking his head and sighing, but wouldn't he take this action? No, the shape shì doesn't wait for anyone! Xiao Chaogui and Shi Dakai may come back at any time, and they can't defend the city gate without soldiers? The task of guarding the city gates is even more crucial, and the number of troops must not be reduced.

Just when Wei Changhui was making a difficult choice, the news brought back by a spy made him dispel the idea of attacking the Heavenly King's Mansion. A spy came to report with a dirty face: "Your Highness. The army of the West King is less than 100 miles away from Xiaolingwei, and another army and horse are coming from Zhenjiang and are already approaching Yanziji. ”

Wei Changhui's face changed greatly, and he said in a trembling voice: "Why, how did you come so quickly?" "Then another spy will come to report, and the army of the Wing King will also arrive at the Great Victory Pass. At this time, Wei Changhui panicked.

Zhang Chunhou, the secretary of the north hall, hurriedly said: "Your Highness, the West King is extremely prosperous. Unstoppable. I heard that even Lao Maozi in the north is not the opponent of the soldiers of the West Palace, so we still gather our soldiers and horses to defend the walls of Tianjing City. ”

Wei Changhui said angrily: "What if the city walls can't be defended? ”

General Zhang Tonghai flattered: "Your Highness, our north hall is working together to protect His Highness, how can we not keep it?" ”

Wei Changhui still looked like a mourner, and shook his head incessantly: "You don't know how powerful the West King and the Wing King are, just one Shi Dakai is already something I can't deal with." Not to mention Xiao Chaogui. ”

Zhang Chunhou frowned and said: "Otherwise, let's gather the soldiers and horses first, and then concentrate our forces to break the Xiwang Mansion and take the Xiwang family as hostages." Force the King of the West to retreat! ”

Wei Changhui said angrily: "It's nonsense, if Xiao Chaogui learns that the Xiwang Mansion is broken, won't he kill all of us?" ”

Zhang Chunhou said: "The meaning of the humble position is to lay down the Xiwang Mansion, but not to harm the Xiwang family, this time it is not to kill people indiscriminately." Zhang Chunhou said the wrong thing in a hurry, this time he didn't kill indiscriminately, which means that he killed indiscriminately before.

But Wei Changhui didn't care, just said thoughtfully: "Will the King of the West withdraw for the sake of the family of the West Palace?" ”

Zhang Chunhou said: "If you have a hostage in hand, you can return to Luzhou in exchange for your life, Your Highness." ”

Wei Changhui only remembered what Liu Naixin said that day, and at this time, it seemed that the middle strategy left Tianjing and returned to Luzhou, at least it was a good strategy. Wei Changhui pondered for a moment and said: "It's okay, let's fight the Xiwang Mansion first, but let the brothers be careful, don't hurt the Xiwang family, especially Xiao Youhe, the prince of the Xiwang." The generals received their orders together, and each of them divided up and prepared to go.

Wei Changhui rested for a while, and after dinner, Zhang Tonghai came to report that it was ready, so Wei Changhui put on his clothes neatly, dressed in full uniform, and picked up his knife outside Beifu to get on the horse. Zhang Tonghai was already ready, 3,000 men and horses were ready to go, Wei Changhui swung his big knife and went to the West Palace.

This night, the sky was very dark, the stars and the moon were dark, and it was difficult to see the five fingers when you stretched out your hand. However, the soldiers of the North Palace are all holding torches, familiar with the road, and after a short time, they came to the main gate of the West Palace, Wei Changhui reined in the war horse, and watched with his head, but saw that in the West Palace, it was pitch black, and there was no sound, and it seemed that the West Palace was not prepared. He secretly rejoiced in his heart: God really helps me! So, he immediately sent an order and ordered Zhang Tonghai to lead his troops to attack.

The soldiers of the North Palace quickly broke through the main gate of the West Palace, and hundreds of soldiers from the North Palace poured into the main gate and came to the front yard of the West Palace. But I didn't want to be in an instant, the lampball torch was lit in the front yard of the West Palace, illuminating the front yard as if it were day.

The hundreds of soldiers in the north hall of the West Palace, who were still stunned, suddenly, three cannons rang out in the West Palace, torches were raised in the front yard and on the roof, and hundreds of West Hall guards, each holding muskets, fired at the North Hall soldiers in the courtyard.

For a while, bullets rained down, and it was cross-firing fire, and there was nowhere to hide under the crowding of the soldiers in the north hall. At the same time, I saw that there were more than 100 West Hall guards in the alleys on both sides of the West Palace, and the muskets opened the way, and the muskets of the West Hall guards were sharp, and the North Hall Army retreated again and again.

The Beidian Army was not prepared for such a move, so they were caught off guard and messed up. Many people were killed and wounded by muskets in an instant, and the general Zhang Tonghai also died under the indiscriminate gun.

Wei Changhui saw it, knowing that the Xiwang Mansion had made full preparations, his eyes were about to burst out, and he shouted in a lost voice: "Where did the Xiwang Mansion get so many firearms?" ”

He didn't know that as early as more than a year ago, the king of the West had secretly smuggled new Western firearms into Tianjing, after all, all the royal palaces were enjoying all kinds of Western items, and it was very easy to smuggle guns into Tianjing with tributes and gifts.

Wei Changhui saw that the momentum was not good, so he hurriedly turned his horse's head and planned to take the road away. When the soldiers and horses of the North Palace saw the North King fleeing, they also retreated in panic, and in this way, the three thousand soldiers of the North Hall were repelled by the 1,000 elite West Hall guards, and the West Palace's Mansion was safe and sound.

In the main hall of the West Palace, Tong Qiangsheng looked at the corpses of the soldiers in the north hall with a gloomy face and said, "If it weren't for the order of the West King, I could kill Wei Changhui, the dog thief, tonight." ”

On the side, Li Zuoche held a smoking musket and said with a faint smile: "If you can't bear it, you will make a big plan, let's go, the two of us should also go to meet the king of the north, and the things explained by the king of the west must be done." (To be continued......)