More than 20 days have passed, and Leng Yifei is becoming more and more anxious. The only thing that relieved him was that there was no letter from the headquarters urging him. "Report to the commander, a letter from the chief of staff of Kazakhstan to report the emergency!" A subordinate handed the letter to Leng Yifei. Leng Yifei hurriedly opened the letter to check it. “haha！ He Meng did it so beautifully, it's a miracle. Immediately order the commanders-in-chief to go to the headquarters to convene a military meeting. Leng Yifei seemed to be a different person, happily radiant and dancing.

A few hours later, the big tent of the Chinese army was full of generals. At this time, Lin Xiong, Lu Changlin, cavalry brigade commander, and artillery brigade commander. Seeing the commander's face full of joy, he was infected by it, and they all turned their heads and whispered in private. "Everyone, be quiet!" Leng Yifei looked around at everyone: "Let me tell you a good news, He Meng led his troops to successfully occupy Ya'an, this was 5 days ago. If it goes well, it is estimated that Meishan has been taken. At present, Khalid led his troops, in accordance with the pre-planned combat jihua, is interspersed in a roundabout. ”

When the crowd heard this, they were overjoyed, and there was a buzzing sound. Leng Yifei continued: "The occupation of Meishan is like a steel knife stuck in the heart of the enemy. We not only cut off the transportation lines of the Qing army at the front, but also cut off the Qing army from the rear. Needless to say, the Qing army at the front line was in a situation where the dragons were leaderless. I judged that the Qing army's defense line along the river would collapse immediately, and the Qing army would shrink its forces and hold the city. I ordered to pay close attention to the movements of the Qing army, search for ferries along the river, and launch a river-crossing operation as soon as the Qing army shrinks its forces. ”

In Luzhou City, there was a trace of tension in the air. Zuo Shiqing, the commander of the hussars, said to the generals with a pale face: "Brothers, the situation has changed greatly. Now it is confirmed that a large army of rebels miraculously appeared in the rear, and 10,000 green battalion soldiers in Leshan were wiped out, indicating that Meishan has been occupied by the rebels. The defeated soldiers of the Green Battalion who fled to Neijiang in Ziyang confirmed that a powerful rebel army appeared between Meishan and Ziyang, and more than 20,000 Green Battalion soldiers were defeated in an instant, and our connection with Chengdu was completely cut off. The situation was extremely critical, and I decided to immediately shrink the forces of the defense line along the river, stick to Luzhou, Yibin, and Zigongcheng, hold back the rebels in front, and share the worries of the Zuo people. ”

Zuo Shiqing was about 40 years old, and years of fighting left a deep scar on his face. This guy is related to Zuo Zongtang, and he is a child of the clan recruited by Zuo Zongtang back then, and there is absolutely no problem with sincerity. He learned about the danger through the elimination of 10,000 Qing troops in Leshan, which means that he learned about the occupation of Meishan before Zuo Zongtang. Therefore, he sent someone back to Chengdu to report, the road was far away, even if Zuo Zongtang understood the real situation, the battlefield situation was already powerless. Lord Zuo did not give an order, and the city could not be given up easily, so Zuo Shiqing ordered to shrink his forces to hold the city, and to gain time for Lord Zuo to arrange troops and arrange troops.

Two days later, Leng Yifei received the news that the Qing army had withdrawn its troops on the Yangtze River defense line, and immediately ordered Lin Xiong to send a brigade west to cross the Nanjiang River, launch a feint attack on Yibin from the south side, attract the attention of the Qing army, and then order the main force to seize the Nanxi ferry between Luzhou and Yibin. The Qing army has become a frightened bird, and the forward troops occupy the Nanxi ferry without blood.

A few days later, in the evening, Leng Yifei led the cavalry regiment, artillery regiment and logistics troops to the riverside. At this time, Lin Xiong's two infantry brigades had already taken the lead in crossing the river and deploying their troops. Several large ropes crossing the river pass through the river, which can speed up the crossing of the river. A few hours later, Leng Yifei led his headquarters to the other side of Nanxi, and then two regiments of the cavalry brigade and the artillery brigade began to cross the river. The crossing of the river with horses and artillery had to be delayed for a long time.

In the temporary headquarters of Nanxi Ferry, all the generals gathered again. Leng Yifei proclaimed: "The situation is better than we expected, Deputy Commander He got in touch with us, they not only occupied Meishan City, but also made the Qing army powerless to resist with continuous combination punches. Another piece of good news is that the chief of staff of Kazakhstan led his troops to encounter 20,000 Qing troops between Meishan and Ziyang. Now that it is known that the 20,000 Qing troops have been defeated and at least half of them have been wiped out, Khalid took the opportunity to occupy Ziyang, and the next step was to close the door and fight the dogs. ”

"After the 100th Brigade of the 44th Division of Lin Xiong's Division crossed the Nanhe River to the west, it quickly launched an attack on Yibin, because Yibin only had 30,000 troops to defend the city. And Zigong had 50,000 Qing troops. Zigong is located in the middle of Yibin to Luzhou to form an inverted triangle, so the Qing army set up a reserve army in Zigong, that is, to reinforce Yibin and Luzhou at any time. Our judgment came true, and after the Qing army shrank its strength, the 100th Brigade made a feint attack on Yibin, causing panic in the Qing army. According to the reconnaissance troops, Zigong urgently dispatched 10,000 Qing troops to support Yibin. ”

Leng Yifei said decisively: "The General Staff Office of the Corps Headquarters has drawn up an operation to encircle and annihilate Zigong reinforcements. I decided to eat this Qing army in the area of Xiaogushan. Command! "All the generals stand up!" The 101st and 102nd Brigades of the Lin Xiong Division were outflanked from the west, the 97th and 98th Brigades of the Lu Changlin Division were intercepted from the east side, and the 99th Brigade and the Artillery Brigade were intercepted from the front. It is necessary to eat this Qing army as quickly as possible and fight the first battle of crossing the river. ”

In the middle of the night, the cavalry brigade crossing the river took the lead, and then Lin Xiong and Lu Changlin also began to act. A day later, in the Xiaogushan area, 10,000 Qing troops were successfully surrounded in the area. At first, the Qing army found that it was not good and tried to retreat, but was intercepted by cavalry units. The Qing army tried to advance again, but was intercepted by our frontal blocking troops. Frankly speaking, the combat experience of the Hunan army is much stronger than that of the green battalion, and in the face of such a situation, if the green battalion had collapsed long ago.

The Hunan army still had a lot of combat experience in defending on the spot, and they quickly arranged simple fortifications. The next morning, the siege and annihilation operation officially began. The 2nd Regiment of the Artillery Brigade was the first to start shelling on the front, and then the 99th Brigade began to launch a fierce offensive on the front. The Huai army did not expect to be surrounded, and desperately resisted. About an hour later, the flanks attacked. Without strong fortifications, the combat effectiveness and will to resist of the field Huai army were not at the same level at all.

About 10 kilometers south of Xiaogu Mountain, in the big tent of the Chinese army, Leng Yi heard the rumbling sound of artillery coming from the front, and he was in a very good mood. Several combat staff officers who were infected by it also looked calm and methodically counted the battle reports at the front. When an operational staff officer saw Leng Yifei and the spring breeze was rippling, he stepped forward and said, "Commander, it's really two heavens of ice and fire, it's incredible!" It's been a long time since I've seen a battle like this! ”

"What's incredible! Even if Zuo Zongtang is a tiger, he commands a flock of sheep. Even though I am a sheep, I command a pack of wild wolves, and the two cannot be compared at all. "Leng Yifei is willing to be low-key, but he actually despises the other party." Zuo Zongtang does not deserve the title of tiger, the commander is the real tiger. "The combat staff officer slipped and slapped the horse." Come on! Don't flatter your face! Commander-in-Chief Deng is the king of beasts, and we are wolves at best! ”

While he was teasing, there was a hurried sound of horses' hooves outside the tent. An officer turned over and dismounted and entered the big tent, "Report to the commander, the Huai army has stubbornly resisted for 3 hours, and is now abandoning the defensive position and fleeing to the north. "Stupid, the generals of the Huai army are simply clever and stupid, and it is undoubtedly looking for death in a duel with cavalry in the field. The battle has not been with any suspense, and it is immediately planned to attack Yibin's battle jihua! Sure enough, a few hours later, the battle ended, and the 10,000 Hunan troops were wiped out.

In Luzhou City, Zuo Shiqing was shocked to hear that the 10,000 Hunan troops from Zigong who had gone to Yibin for reinforcements were surrounded and annihilated, and he was immediately shocked and immediately ordered Luzhou City to enter battle preparations. He thought that the rebels would immediately outflank Luzhou from the north, but his judgment was quickly miscalculated, and three days later, the Northern Expeditionary Army pressed Yibin from the north, and then launched a siege against Yibin.

Yibin is known as the wine capital, and the famous Wuliangye was born in this city. The Jinsha River and the Minjiang River converge here, and the downstream is called the Yangtze River from Yibin, and Yibin is known as the first city of the Yangtze River. The terrain here is complex, and the whole area is covered with wide hills and narrow flat dams. Middle mountains, low mountains, bad valleys, hills and flat dams are intricately intertwined and have a variety of postures.

The attack began at 8 a.m., with simultaneous attacks from the north, northeast, and northwest, with both artillery regiments all engaged in battle, and cavalry brigades serving as guards on the periphery. The offensive was wave after wave, and 30,000 Qing troops resisted to the death. The offensive continued throughout the day, but in fact it was all a feint. In order to shorten the time for attacking fortifications, the operational staff officers drew up a bold operational jihua.

That is, the strong attack put strong pressure on the Qing army, and then used the 100 brigade on the south bank of the Yangtze River to make a fuss. As night fell, the guns in the north of Yibin were still roaring, and the offensive did not stop. Somewhere on the Jinsha River upstream of Yibin, soldiers of a regiment boarded various raised boats and went down the river. The battle in the north was in full swing, and because of the Yangtze River as a barrier, the Qing army's attention was fully devoted to the north side.

The soldiers quickly landed on the pier, accompanied by the dense gunfire and grenade explosions, a small number of defensive troops of the Qing army quickly retreated to the city gate behind the pier, the soldiers pursued all the way, very unexpectedly, following the fleeing Qing soldiers, the Northern Expeditionary Army took advantage of the situation to attack the city gate. A company of soldiers first controlled the city gate, the Qing army fought back, the vanguard company fought hard to defend the city gate, and soon a battalion came up, and the city gate was stable. Accompanying the vanguard regiment into the city gate, the two regiments on the other side of the river began to cross the river.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, all 100 brigades entered the city from the southern wharf, and the Qing army's defense collapsed.