The heat wave was rolling in and the Guangzhou military government was silent. At present, the war in Annam and the war in Xichuan affect everyone's heart. In the war room of the General Headquarters of the Military Government, several operational staff officers were busy, and the atmosphere seemed to be a little tense. On the wall facing the huge military map, the red arrows of our army's defense and attack are very eye-catching. At this time, Deng Zixuan calmly checked the Annan war report. The content of the battle report is very simple, Liu Yongfu fought bloodily on the front line of Liangshan, and the battle situation was precarious.

The French almost came with revenge, so they concentrated 30,000 troops and launched a fierce offensive against the Liangshan defensive line. Due to Liu Yongfu's weak combat effectiveness, not to mention the 50,000 horses, it suffered heavy losses in only half a month, and the defense line was precarious. At this critical moment, Feng Zicai led his troops to support, and after a bloody battle, he stabilized his position.

Deng Zixuan secretly thought: It seems that history has its inevitability, and there is a conclusion in the dark. Due to his own birth, Feng Zicai was overshadowed in Zhennanguan, and became famous in Liangshan. "Someone!" An operational staff officer ran over. "Pass my order and immediately report and reward General Feng. At the same time, 3,000 rifles, 2 million rounds of ammunition, and 20,000 grenades were transferred to the Liangshan front immediately. The operational staff officer had to be ordered to go, and Pei Gejin came in in a hurry, "Commander-in-chief, good news, Sichuan has a great victory・・・・・・." “”

In the city of Luzhou, the people were panicked, and the Northern Expedition army took off up and down, which had already made the morale of the Huai army extremely low. "Report to the Admiral, after Zigong was attacked, the 20,000 green battalions in Neijiang also surrendered. The scouts reported that the rebels were outflanking me. Zuo Shiqing's face was expressionless and silent. Seeing this, the subordinates stepped aside, the admiral was in a bad mood, and there were very few words recently, so the subordinates naturally had to be cautious.

A man in civilian clothes walked in, and Zuo Shiqing immediately opened his eyes when he saw this person. "Lord Admiral, your subordinates have fulfilled their mission, this is a letter from Lord Zuo to you." Zuo Shiqing didn't say anything and immediately opened the letter to check, only to see that there were only four words on the letter: kill yourself and become a benevolent! Zuo Shiqing closed his eyes and waved his hand, and someone came down. Zuo Shiqing knew in his heart that Zuo Zongtang meant to tell him that now it was a critical moment, let him stick to Luzhou City and live and die with Luzhou City.

At this time, one of the staff members said cautiously: "Lord Admiral, the big war is coming, what should we do with those who are imprisoned?" "Kill!" A word popped out of Zuo Shiqing's mouth, and his face looked very hideous. Recently, the widows and widows, officials and businessmen in Luzhou City have written to ask Zuo Shi to understand the current affairs and join the Northern Expeditionary Army to avoid the misery of Luzhou City. Zuo Shiqing was furious and arrested all these people. There were many innocent people in the bloody killing, and this person later accelerated the destruction of the city.

There is a small town 20 kilometers north of Luzhou City, where the West Road Corps is temporarily located. In the corps headquarters, all the generals gathered around a simple sand table and listened to Chief of Staff Khalid explain: "Commander, everyone, the commander of Luzhou is called Zuo Shiqing, who is Zuo Zongtang's capable cadre and the leader of the hussars. This person is a disciple of the Zuo Zongtang clan, and he is very sincere to him. ”

Khalid continued: "The Huai army formed a perimeter defense line in Pingba Town, Niuzhen, and Zhaohua Town, and according to the reconnaissance of the perimeter defense line, there were about 20,000 Huai troops defending the perimeter defense line, and about 40,000 people in Luzhou City, with a total strength of 60,000 troops. In recent times, the Huai army has continuously strengthened the fortifications on the north side of the city, adding three more trenches. There are 8 ditches from the outer defense line to the city wall, and Zuo Shiqing is clamoring to live and die with Luzhou City. The defense of the Qing army was about the same. ”

"Grandma is a bear, it looks like Luzhou City is not easy to fight!" Lin Xiong couldn't help but shout. He Meng said calmly: "At this time and that time, it was really difficult to fight when the morale of the Huai army was strong, but now the morale of the Huai army has fallen to the point where it is impossible to return to the yang, and their will to resist and combat effectiveness have dropped significantly. On the other hand, the morale of our army is booming, and the terrain in the north of Luzhou City is relatively flat, and it is convenient for large troops to deploy, you see. ”

He Meng pointed to Niu Zhen and said, "Commander, everyone. There is a passage from Niuzhen to the north gate of Luzhou City, and the Qing army is heavily defended on this line. In this case, we will attack where we think it is most secure, and once we break through Cowtown, we can outflank the flanks and clear the outer defenses in one fell swoop. "The deputy commander's suggestion is feasible, I order Pingba Town, Niu Town, and Zhaohua Town to attack at the same time, and the main attack site of the feint on both sides is Niu Town."

Seeing everyone's expectant eyes, it was necessary to fight for the main attack, Leng Yifei said decisively: "The 41st Division will attack Niuzhen, the 42nd Division will feint to attack Zhaohua Town, the 43rd Division will feint to attack Pingba Town, and the 44th Division will serve as the reserve of the corps. The 2nd and 3rd regiments of the artillery brigade were deployed in the direction of Niuzhen, and the captured Huaijun artillery was deployed in the direction of Pingba Town and Zhaohua Town. "The main attack task was given to He Meng, and everyone was not good at fighting, Leng Yifei decided that the headquarters would be located in front of Niuzhen.

In the Governor's Mansion of Luzhou City, Zuo Shiqing sat in the lobby, still without any expression on his face. Since he put life and death aside, his whole body is relaxed. His intelligence was inaccurate, and his subordinates reported that the rebels had at least 150,000 troops under the city of Luzhou, and given the strong attack power and combat effectiveness of the rebels, he knew that he would not be able to escape this fate. Two months ago, the rebels launched an attack from the south, and if it weren't for the danger of the Yangtze River, I am afraid that the city would have been broken long ago.

At present, the area north of the city is open and suitable for the deployment of large armies, although there are 8 trenches, but they cannot stop the opponent's attack. Needless to say, it is inevitable that the city will be broken, it is only a matter of how long you hold on. Lord Zuo is kind to himself, and now is the time to repay. "My lord! The letter you wrote to Lord Zuo and Mrs. Zuo has been sent, do you have any other instructions? Zuo Shiqing said that he understood, waved his hand and let his subordinates go down.

The confession has been explained, and Zuo Shi's heart is as pure as water. The staff and subordinates were also silent, and they knew in their hearts what would be the end of Zuihou? But no one dared to say anything, for fear of causing the wrath of this evil god and losing his life, and now Zuo Shiqing almost didn't blink his eyes when he killed people. Suddenly, there was a rumbling cannon sound from the north, and everyone got up from their chairs, but Zuo Shiqing was still sitting.

The front was covered by artillery fire, and He Meng took a telescope to observe. "Order the 93 Brigade to launch a tentative offensive! Be sure to expose the enemy's artillery positions! At the sound of the order, the soldiers charged in a skirmish formation, and at this time, the enemy's artillery began to explode. The attacking troops retreated. The enemy stopped shelling. The soldiers attacked again, and the enemy artillery fire began to roar again.

"Report to the deputy commander, after fire reconnaissance, the Hunan army's artillery positions are divided into three places, with a total of 15 artillery pieces, and we have calculated the exact position." An operational staff officer came to He Meng. "Order all the artillery regiments to go into battle, and be sure to destroy the enemy's artillery positions!" He Meng's tricks were naturally learned from the military academy, and this was the first time he used them in actual combat. How effective is that, sure enough, the artillery of the Qing army is dumb. He Meng sighed in his heart, and once again bowed to the commander-in-chief's military genius.

The commander of the 93rd Brigade of Kung Fu ran over excitedly and said: "Deputy commander, the enemy's artillery is dumb, the brothers of the artillery regiment are doing a good job, do you order a general attack on the whole front!" "It's not a general attack, it's a feint!" "Feint?" The commander of the 93 Brigade looked confused! "The realism of the feint attack made the Qing army think that it had launched a general attack on the whole front!" The commanders of the 91st and 92nd Kung Fu brigades also came up, "Deputy commander!" The enemy's artillery has been wiped out, and if Weishenme does not launch a general attack on all fronts, the brothers are screaming! ”

"You have to hold back the howling, you two brigades are sleeping now, the Qing army has no habit of fighting at night, and the general attack is set at 8 o'clock in the evening!" "Yes!" The two brigade commanders understood. The dusk feint stopped, and after a hundred days, the defending Huai army was very tired, especially the fierce artillery fire of the rebels, which allowed them to survive the nightmare day. As night fell, the 93rd Brigade was withdrawn, and the 91st and 91st Brigades pulled up. The troops took advantage of the darkness to move quietly, with the aim of launching an assault closer to Cowtown.

There were three trenches on the north side of Niuzhen, two of which were occupied by the feint during the day, and only one trench was faced by the general attack. At 8 p.m., the artillery roared suddenly, and the flames of the explosion reflected the night sky. The shelling extended after 20 minutes, and with the sound of loud military trumpets, the soldiers jumped to their feet and rushed forward in a sea of mountains. Two hours later, Cowtown was broken through, and the troops spread out to the flanks. At 1 o'clock in the morning, Pingba Town and Zhaohua Town were also broken through, and the outer positions of the Huai Army were completely broken.

In the early hours of the morning, the combat staff officers in the division headquarters were packing up their things, and they were very busy, and the division headquarters was going to move to Niuzhen. At this time, He Meng was dozing off, and Leng Yifei walked in. When the operational staff officer saw the commander, he hurriedly wanted to wake up He Meng. Leng Yifei stopped it with his hand, but He Meng woke up. "I'm sorry to fall asleep, when did the Commander arrive." He Meng raised his hand in salute. "I just arrived, and I saw that you were very tired, and I couldn't bear to disturb you! The troops are developing in depth, so you can rest for a while! ”

"After a nap, I'm refreshed." He Meng smiled. "Brother, you have lost a lot of weight, after you defeat Luzhou, I will give you a good patch!" Leng Yifei said with concern. "Let's fight Chengdu! I'll let you have a feast every day! "Good! Deal! Then He Meng ordered the division headquarters to be pulled, and Leng Yifei looked at his favorite general, and couldn't help but rejoice in his heart. At the beginning, Bai Sheng had discussed in private and gave He Meng to him. Thanks to not agreeing, otherwise I am afraid that I will be embarrassed in Sichuan.

A few days later, gunfire sounded like firecrackers and grenades exploded like thunder. In the Admiral's Mansion, Zuo Shiqing's eyes were bloodshot, and one of his subordinates in front of him was slashed to death, and blood splashed all over his body, looking hideous and terrifying. Apparently this subordinate was killed in a bad fight. An hour earlier, the city had been broken and the city was littered with fire. Zuo Shiqing stubbornly defended the city for two days, but when the battle was raging tonight, a fire suddenly broke out in the city, which turned out to be the work of the family members of those who were killed by him.

The fire in the city caused the Huai army's will to resist to collapse, and the city was breached. At this time, the night sky was brightly illuminated outside. Under the light of the fire, there was no longer a single figure in the Admiral's Mansion, Zuo Shiqing gently wiped the blood marks on the knife, and then shouted loudly facing the north: "Lord Zuo, I'll go first!" Then he swung his knife and killed himself, and blood sprayed out ・・・・・・.

At noon the next day, Leng Yifei came to the Admiral's Mansion. Zuo Shiqing's body was lying on a stretcher, with a white cloth covering his body. "Commander, Zuo Shiqing ordered to stop resisting, and then committed suicide!" He Meng had a regretful expression on his face. Leng Yifei lifted the white cloth and stared at it for a while: "He is a warrior, thick burial!" ”