When he learned that the Qing army had broken through, Chen Yucheng immediately ordered the cavalry regiment outside the city to pursue, but the cunning Qing army blew up the wooden bridge after crossing the Xijiang River on the wooden bridge in Xiaoxiang Town in the upper reaches of the Xijiang River, and the Taiping army's pursuit cavalry did not achieve much success.

Chen Yucheng, who felt that he had been tricked, was very annoyed, and Jiang Zhongyuan put on a posture of burning jade and stone, deceiving everyone, including his colleagues. When Liu Zhaolan and others learned that Jiang Zhongyuan took Chu Yong to break through the siege first, the morale of the Qing army in Zhaoqing plummeted, and they almost surrendered on the spot on the battlefield of the night attack, and when it was dawn, the Taiping army completely captured Zhaoqing City.

Looking at Zhaoqing City, where almost half of the city was destroyed, Chen Yucheng gritted his teeth and scolded Jiang Zhongyuan's ancestors for all eight generations in Hakka, and the interesting thing is that Liu Zhaolan scolded Jiang Zhongyuan as much as Chen Yucheng. When the prefect was escorted to Chen Yucheng, he did not scold Chen Yucheng, the long-haired bandit leader, but scolded his own boss.

The Taiping army's losses were quite large, in addition to the casualties of more than 2,000 soldiers, the material consumption was also quite large, what was even more unacceptable to Chen Yucheng was that coupled with the time when Zhang Wenxiang's troops were blocked in Zhaoqing before, the Taiping army was delayed for a month under the small city of Zhaoqing.

The New First Army, from Chen Yucheng to the staff officers, all felt disgraced, and they were all successfully deceived by Jiang Zhongyuan's scheme. It was only at noon that the General Staff received the latest information from Bai Zetang, that in the area controlled by the Qing army west of Zhaoqing, the Qing army was vigorously recruiting people to build various city fortifications. Moreover, the treacherous and cunning Jiang Zhongyuan had been vigorously searching for the intelligence personnel of the Taiping Army in the remaining control areas of the Qing army in Liangguang early in the morning, and the methods were much more drastic than those used in Zhaoqing. Jiang Zhongyuan implemented the system of joint sitting. Ten households were guaranteed, but one family found out that they harbored the Taiping Army's fine work and secret piles, so all ten families were executed.

As a result, Bai Zetang and the intelligence department's meticulous work and spies in Guangxi were dealt an unprecedented blow. Most of the personnel were forced to go underground or take refuge in the territory of Zhu Hongying, He Goubei and other rebels, and a small number were captured and killed, which was interrupted for more than half a month because of the Qing army's military deployment in Guangxi.

Seeing this information sent by Bai Zetang who didn't know how many people had sacrificed, Chen Yucheng knew that the matter was strict, so he hurriedly convened Chen Alin and others to discuss, and finally everyone came to the unanimous conclusion that Zhaoqing City was just the beginning, and the cities and key passes that went west into Guangxi must be guarded by the Qing army. Although it was impossible for these cities and key passes to resist for too long, Jiang Zhongyuan's purpose was to resist one by one and delay the Taiping army's attack. At the same time, the supplies and troops of the Taiping army were consumed.

Unfolding the map and looking west, there were still Luodingzhou, Deqingzhou and other places behind Zhaoqing were still in the hands of the Qing army, and Chen Yucheng immediately ordered the cavalry regiment to quickly attack and advance to the two places. In the evening, the cavalry sent scouts to report back, and the Qing army relied on the ancient city wall of the Song Dynasty to build another defense line in Guanwei Town, Xinxu Town and other places in Deqing Prefecture. It formed a defensive lot with the city of Deqingju. The situation in Luoding Prefecture is similar. The Qing army dispatched a large number of people to repair the city defenses, and waited for the Taiping army to attack.

Looking at the location of the two states on the map, Chen Yucheng and the others all fell into deep thought, do they really want to gnaw everywhere? In this way, he just fell into the hands of Jiang Zhongyuan, what he wanted was to delay the attack of the Taiping army for time and delay, what was he waiting for?

"Jiang Zhongyuan is waiting for reinforcements from the Hunan army and the Qing army in Ronglu Capital!" Chen Alin let out a long breath and said: "The latest military report is that the new army of the capital of the Qing Demon Ronglu surrounded the remnants of the Twist Army in Huaibei, and the Qing Demon must have thought that after solving the remnants of the Twist Army, Ronglu's soldiers and horses would be able to withdraw from here and go south from Hunan to help Guangxi." There is also the Hunan army of the demon head. He trained ten battalions of Xiangyong in Hengyang, and presumably he would also send this part of the soldiers and horses south to rescue Guangxi. After all, if Guangxi is lost, then he will be attacked on three sides. ”

Chen Yucheng has been unable to sleep and eat for the past few days, his resolute face is full of scum, and his thick eyebrows are crowded together and he said in a deep voice: "The movement of the Ronglu Department and the Hunan army in the north His Royal Highness the King of the West will definitely have arrangements, and the Qing Demon may not be able to draw troops and horses south to help, what our department has to consider is not to let Jiang Zhongyuan lead the nose!" ”

Chen Yucheng paused when he said this, pointed to Wuzhou behind Luo Dingzhou and Deqing Prefecture and said: "The Xijiang River is abundant, from Zhaoqing to Wuzhou can pass through the big ships of 100 stones, this commander plans to let all the ships below 100 stones of the navy go to Zhaoqing to listen to the use, and then collect all the ships nearby, and escort the cavalry regiment of three divisions with the navy to kill directly to Wuzhou City, Wuzhou can be broken, and if it can't be broken, it will continue to advance westward, let the cavalry regiment attack in Guangxi, and break the siege of the Qing demon on Zhu Hongying, He Goubei and other rebels, so as to revitalize the situation in Guangxi." , harassing Jiang Zhongyuan's rear, so that he could not arrange calmly. And all the infantry regiments continued to advance steadily with the township soldiers, this time they must be stable, and they would rather waste more time than completely annihilate Jiang Zhongyuan's Chu Yong! As long as Jiang Zhongyuan's gang is eliminated, our henchmen will be gone. ”

Chen Alin nodded and said, "This is also the best arrangement at present." Then he said with some doubts: "Chen Shuai, depending on your arrangement, do you want to lead three cavalry regiments into Guangxi by yourself?" ”

Chen Yucheng finally smiled and said: "This commander still likes to command the cavalry to leap thousands of miles, and the kung fu of leading the infantry regiment to grind the plate is still the responsibility of Division Commander Chen's steady person." ”

Chen Alin said in a hurry when he heard this: "Chen Shuai, you are the commander of the Governor's Liangguang Campaign, you can't leave a large army and enter Guangxi alone, just let Zhang Wenxiang lead the three cavalry regiments." ”

Chen Yucheng pondered for a moment and said: "When entering Guangxi, I also have to contact Zhu Hongying, He Goubei and other rebels, which also involve some coercion negotiations, it is most appropriate for me to go, Zhang Wenxiang is a good hand at fighting, but if he wants to deter and lead those rebels, he is only afraid that the weight will be insufficient." ”

Chen Alin persuaded again: "Then let me go, I always feel that Chen Shuai only led three cavalry regiments deep into Guangxi, and the number of troops is a little less." ”

Chen Yucheng smiled and said, "If you go, will the number of troops increase?" Will the danger be reduced? Speaking of this, Chen Yucheng pressed his palm a few times and said: "Ben Shuai has already decided, so there is no need to persuade him." Go down and prepare, and remember to buy and sell fairly when collecting ships. ”

The generals were ordered to turn around and leave separately, but Chen Alin didn't leave, just stood there and said: "Chen Shuai, there is still a word from your subordinates, you must listen." ”

Chen Yucheng looked away from the map and looked at Chen Alin with a smile: "When did Senior Master Chen become such a mother-in-law?" ”

Chen Alin said: "Chen Shuai, you are brave and wise, but also young and promising, you will be the pillar of heaven in the future, but sometimes it is too easy to trust others, although Zhu Hongying, He Goubei and others are known as the anti-Qing rebels, but they all have their own titles. Especially the Zhu Hongying Department, they still fantasize about opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, and after contacting the righteous army, they must remember not to believe the words of others. If our army has the advantage of soldiers and horses, these rebels may not have any dissenting intentions, but this time the three cavalry regiments we went to only have more than 4,000 horsemen, and Zhu Hongying and others are all claiming to have 100,000 horses, so I am worried that they will have any dissenting intentions. ”

Chen Yucheng pondered for a moment and then nodded heavily: "Senior Master Chen, Jin Shiliangyan, must be remembered, don't worry, I remember the words of His Royal Highness King Xi." ”

Speaking of this, the two looked at each other and smiled, and said together: "If you are not afraid of god-like enemies, you are afraid of pig-like teammates." The two of them burst out laughing.

After a moment of laughter, Chen Alin sighed again: "Chen Shuai, do you think that since the death of the Qing Demon Xianfeng Dog Emperor, the Empress Dowager of the Qing Demon and the Two Palaces has mastered the political situation, and the Qing Demon seems to be getting more and more difficult?" ”

Chen Yucheng hummed and said: "Yes, Ben Shuai also has this feeling, this time the Queen Mother of the Qing Demon Two Palaces tried her best to disagree with the public and enable Jiang Zhongyuan's house, originally Jiang Zhongyuan lived in several remnant counties in Jiangxi, but now once he became the governor of Liangguang, he showed his skills, and the girls of the Qing Demon and the Two Palaces still have some vision." ”

Chen Alin frowned and said: "Not only that, but also the deployment of Rong Lu, the Qing Demon to exterminate the Twist Army, originally we also said that the Twist Army had an incident, and our troops and horses in Huaishang could also take advantage of the situation to launch an offensive, but I didn't expect the Qing Demon to eliminate and fight, but to wipe out most of the Twist Army." I heard that the Huaishang Qing Demon enabled Yuan Jiasan and Li Hongzhang, who are also very powerful figures. ”

Chen Yucheng sighed lightly and said: "Yes, the two ladies of the Qing Demon actually have such a vision, and they are not confined to the ancestral system of the Qing Demon, and dare to reuse Jiang Zhongyuan, Zeng Guofan, Yuan Jiasan, Li Hongzhang, these Han people, it is really a bit courageous." By the way, did you notice that Liu Zhaolan was interrogated last night, this time there was no Manchu official in Jiang Zhongyuan's department, one of his two brothers became a political envoy in Guangdong, and the other was an envoy according to the inspection, and the Qing demon girls really dared to use people with confidence. ”

Chen Alin sighed: "Speaking of the Qing Demons, the Han people are fighting against us, I don't understand why there are so many Han people who are desperate to protect the Qing Demons." ”

Chen Yucheng shook his head and said: "This is what Xi Wangniang said, the poison of two hundred years is too deep, and it is not an overnight thing to pull it out, let's do our own thing." ”

Chen Alin bowed his head slightly, and then slowly saluted Chen Yucheng and said: "Chen Shuai, this trip to Guangxi is cherished, you must remember not to trust others!" ”

Chen Yucheng returned the salute, and said with a smile on his resolute face: "Don't worry, I'm waiting for you to lead the troops in Guangxi!" ”

A few days later, the Taiping army was mobilized, and hundreds of small boats below 100 stones were densely lined up on the Xijiang River, carrying thousands of Taiping cavalry to Wuzhou. Chen Alin led the infantry brigade to besiege Luodingzhou and Deqingzhou, and this time Chen Alin fought steadily, first surrounding several cities and key passes of the Qing army, and building several heavy trenches, fortresses and other fortifications outside the city, and then began to let go of the siege. (To be continued......)