Cai Ye was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He learned from Jiang Yiliu that the Seventeenth Standard had captured Fenyi, and the cavalry standard of the Fifth Town, which was further ahead, had adopted a large detour tactic to cut off the passage of the righteous army to the south, and Cai Yi, who had a high military literacy, immediately realized that the uprising on which he had placed great hopes was over.

In fact, Cai Ye had already understood that once the Fifth Town arrived on the battlefield, the rebels would face defeat. After more than 20 days of zero-distance investigation, Cai Ye already has a full understanding of the combat power of the fifth town. Against such an elite, there was no hope of victory for the rebels.

The measure of an army's combat strength is not only based on equipment and numbers, but also on training and discipline. And a long-distance march is an excellent touchstone for testing the combat effectiveness of the troops. Starting from Jinan, it is a surprising thing to maintain a continuous marching speed of more than sixty miles. Cai Yi thinks that the third town of Beiyang, where Duan Qirui trained single-handedly, can't do this at all. The good spirit of the troops, the small reduction of personnel, and the lack of food and supplies without disturbing the people are enough to reflect the strong logistical support capability and training level of the Fifth Town.

The only hope is for Long Qian to release water on the rebels. Is this possible, there is. The evidence lies in the fact that Long Qian found out his identity, but did not restrict his activities, but temporarily assigned him to the Fifth Town Staff Office for "apprenticeship". In addition, the contents of the leaflets compiled and printed by the Fifth Town Staff Office in the camp, the gentle exhortations, the appropriate warnings, and the lenient handling methods all proved that Long Qian was not hostile to the rebels, but had a certain sympathy.

The leaflets were all sent to the forward troops by fast horses.

Confrontation meant massacre, and Cai even hoped that the rebels would follow the advice and disperse. Cai Ye has not made efforts to "rebel" against Long Qian. But even he felt that his tone was pale and dry, Long Qian just smiled, "Cai Songpo, you better listen to my advice and join the Fifth Town." Cai Ye also did not agree.

The army crossed the Yangtze River in the Jiujiang area, entered Jiangxi, and finally arrived at the battlefield. Just when Long Qian and Situ were invited to Wu Chongxi's banquet, Cai Ye saw Feng Guozhu's military report at the staff office. When he boarded, he was poured a basin of cold water on his head, and he never expected that the first blow from the fifth town would hit the "seven inches" of the righteous army.

"How so? They, they too. Too stupid, right? Cai stammered.

"What did you do earlier? Whether it is eastward to Linjiang. Or go south to Luling (the capital of Ji'an Prefecture), they are all free before our army arrives. But since our army has come, it is beyond them! Jiang Yiliu pointed to the map and said.

"Idiot!" Cai was extremely disappointed. I couldn't help but scold.

"Staff Officer Cai is very sympathetic to them." Jiang Yiliu said meaningfully.

Cai Ye didn't care about discussing the battle situation with Jiang Yiliu. There's nothing more to discuss. With the level of equipment and training of the Fifth Town. A mark can crush the rebels. What's more, the main force of the Ninth Association has been reinforced. Now the only way to turn to Long Qian is not to open the killing ring. Although he basically believed that Long Qian had sympathy for the rebels. But the tiger and wolf generals under Long Qian may not have the idea of killing the good and inviting merit, not to mention that the rebels are not good citizens in the eyes of the imperial court. The seventeenth standard marched so quickly, isn't it just the idea of meritorious service? The only way to get an order from Long Qian is to ask for an order. Only by taking it to the front can you stop the massacre of the rebels. It would be good to leave a little seed for the anti-Qing force, and Cai Ye became realistic.

He was not qualified to participate in Wu Futai's reception banquet for the head of the Shandong guest army, he heard that Long Qian came back and asked to see him, but he couldn't enter the backyard where Long Qian lived, Gu Xiaolin said that the commander had rested, and he would talk about it tomorrow.

The anxious Cai Ye waited until dawn, ignored the guards' stopping, shouted at the backyard gate, and called Long Qian out.

"What are you shouting? What's the urgency? ”

"I'd better come into the house and tell you." Cai Yi felt that Long Qian was quite approachable.

"No need, just say it here."

"Long Junmen, did you give me a warrant to go to the front?"

"What warrant do you want?"

"Why do you knowingly ask? Killing people is not cutting leeks, and if a person's head falls off, it won't grow! ”

"Is Long Qian a murderer? I have already given the relevant orders. Rest assured. ”

"How can I rest assured? Unless you authorize me, let me go to the front to oversee the battle. ”

"That's too much. Well, you can go. I'll give you a platoon of cavalry, and you go. Long Qian waved his hand and turned around to go back to the house.

Liu Daoyi is now completely hopeless about the uprising. First of all, he must escape from the encirclement of the Qing army.

Time goes back.

On the 21st day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar (December 6 of the Gregorian calendar), Fenyi was captured, the righteous army was stopped and cut off, a column counterattack failed to attack Fenyi, and the column commander Zhao Zhao died under the city of Fenyi, and then was expelled by the officers and soldiers who were killed out of the city, and the team scattered and fled, almost out of control.

By dawn, Liu Daoyi had finally gathered more than 100 defeated soldiers, and the highest "position" was a squadron leader, surnamed Yu, called Yu Ge.

At the beginning of the reorganization of the Righteous Army, Liu Dao partly learned the Japanese military system, and the column was invented by himself, with brigades, squadrons, and squads below.

"What to do? Mr. Liu? Yu Ge asked Liu Daoyi. This is a short, thin young man with a Xiangdong accent.

"Let's figure out what this place is." Grunting with hunger, Liu Dao sat on a mountain rock one by one, desperately adjusting his breath. After running all night, I felt like my body was about to fall apart.

"The mountain to the south is Jianfuling." A Jiangxi man said.

"How far is it from Fenyi?"

"Fifty miles."

"Well, the first thing now is to get the team together. Of course, we have to have a full meal first. Where is the nearest village nearby? How far away? ”

"Over there, seven or eight miles." It's still the same Jiangxi person.

"Brethren, do not be discouraged. This battle is not fought well, it is nothing. Liu Daoyi realized that morale was already extremely low, and if he didn't agitate, it would be completely finished, "From ancient times to modern times, the revolution has never been smooth sailing." At the beginning, Zhu Hongwu raised troops to resist the Yuan and also fought defeats. Didn't you drive the Tartars out of the Central Plains? We're nothing. Commander Zhao died at the hands of the Tartars, and I am as sad as you. But it's useless to be sad, the most important thing is to avenge Brother Zhao! Now, everyone listens to me, let's go to the village over there for a full meal, and then find a way to find the lost brothers in the neighborhood, or go north to find Gong Dudu, or go south to Luling, the situation is very promising. As long as we find an opportunity to win one or two battles, the people will still be oriented towards us. Everybody is a good guy. You can't bow to the tartars anymore no matter what! ”

"Yes. Avenge Brother Zhao! Avenge! "Many of the officers and soldiers of the first column are Zhao Zhao's old brothers, and Liu Daoyi's words can be regarded as speaking to their hearts.

Let the little man from Jiangxi lead the way, Liu Daoyi and Yu Ge led the more than 100 people to the village and knocked on the most imposing family. He told his master to prepare a meal for a hundred and ten people at once.

This village in the mountains apparently did not know that there had been a war in Fengi last night. "Where can you cook so many people?" The host immediately complained bitterly. He was scared to death, and he thought it was a robbery by bandits.

"We are troops of the Southern Army of the Chinese National Army, not bandits. Don't be afraid," Liu Daoyi said to the lord with a pleasant face, "It is an anti-Qing army, the Manchu Tartars have oppressed the Han people for hundreds of years, and they have had enough!" You are Han, not a Tartar! Brothers, scrape together some money for this eldest brother, and get some rice to cook quickly, and we have to hurry. ”

It's not easy to do with bandits, the master doesn't dare to mention the money, "Okay, good, all the heroes, don't enter the house, don't disturb the female relatives of the family, I'll get you food to eat." He hurriedly found a cauldron and called his wife out to cook for these unkempt and disheveled men.

Liu Daoyi searched all over his body, only found four silver dollars, and asked Yu Ge for them, everyone said that there was no money, Liu Daoyi was helpless, and he just stuffed four silver dollars to the panicked master.

There were no dishes, everyone ate a meal of white rice, which temporarily solved the stomach problem, and the next thing was the direction of action.

Yu Ge proposed to go north to find Gong Chuntai's brigade, "Let's bypass Fenyi, take the small road, and go back to Yuanzhou." ”

"If you don't go to Yuanzhou, where else can you go? Yes, go back to Yuanzhou......"

Almost all of them lost faith in going south. Perhaps, the characteristics of those days in Yuanzhou without worrying about food and clothing left a deep impression on the Yijun brothers.

At this moment, Liu Daoyi only has one hundred and ten people in his hand, and there are only about a dozen foreign guns, and the bullets have not been counted, and there is no need to count them, because there are too few.

It is unrealistic to rely on this strength to fight Luling. I had to go back to the brigade. In the next two days, Liu Daoyi led this army to move westward, and along the way gathered more than 200 rebel troops, all of whom were men and horses of the first column, which increased the strength of his hand by nearly 400 people. He rebuilt the first column and appointed himself commander. No one objected, and it takes courage to stand up and take responsibility in this situation, and to be a real hero.

Liu Daoyi's confidence has recovered a lot, he cheered for the soldiers all the way, and the waves washed the sand, leaving behind all the staunch revolutionaries, all of whom are the essence. When we join Brother Gong's team, and when the news of our uprising spreads throughout the country, the comrades of the League will surely respond to us in other places, and the Manchu Tartars will be doomed to do so!

The remaining team still believed his words. However, the facts quickly shattered Liu Daoyi's hopes, and when they diverted from the mountainous area southwest of Fenyi to the north, they encountered the Qing army in an unknown mountain village. It was noon, and it could be seen clearly that the Qing army in front was not a patrol battalion from Hunan or Jiangxi, but a regular army of the imperial court wearing khaki cotton uniforms. The encounter started instantly, the Qing army was stunned by a gurgling machine gun, and the soldiers around Liu Daoyi, who shouted and led the charge to lead the team, were shot continuously, and the team quickly collapsed, and the Qing army on the opposite side - about 100 people launched a battle formation to attack up, Liu Daoyi was dragged by Yu Ge and fled from the battlefield, and when he escaped this Qing army, the officers and soldiers of the first column were left with more than 100 people again.

The next step is not to fight, but to flee. Liu Daoyi and his men found that Qing troops appeared around them, in the west, east and north, and the Qing army seemed to have spread a net. It's not a war, it's fishing. The murderous and cunning Qing army hired mountain people to shout to the rebels and demand that they surrender. Leaflets were scattered everywhere, saying that as long as they surrendered, not only would they not be killed, but they would also be given money for the journey home.

The people have become unfriendly, and they can't afford to buy food with their money. Before this, Liu Daoyi had robbed the rich twice to help the poor, and robbed 100 taels of silver from the rich households. Of course, it was not the poor who were helped, but their own hungry troops.

Liu Dao assessed the situation at the first instance and thought that he could no longer try to go north to rendezvous with Gong Chuntai. Apparently, more Qing troops had already arrived in the Fenyi area, blocking every road to Yuanzhou. Maybe all the people from the fifth town of Beiyang in Shandong have appeared west of the Linjiang River, which is definitely not something they can afford to provoke, thinking of this, Liu Dao, who was in danger, was worried about Gong Chuntai and another comrade of the League, Cai Shaonan. Now, he suspects that Yuanzhou has been captured by official troops. But he didn't tell his dwindling subordinates that it would make them lose confidence even more. Now we can only go south, and we can escape from the encirclement first.

So the team turned south and headed for Luling. A day later, Liu Daoyi's remnants encountered a sudden Qing cavalry, Liu Daoyi was shot in the leg, and before he could commit suicide, a Qing cavalryman swung a knife and knocked off the short knife in his hand, and he was captured. (To be continued......)