After getting the news that Xiang Rongbu came to help, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang glanced at each other, thinking that they really came.

After repatriating the soldiers who came to report the news, Xiao Yungui touched his chin and said, "There are still forty miles to go, it seems that he should have sent a messenger for help yesterday and Chun." "Leiyang is more than 80 miles away from Hengzhou, according to the normal marching speed, that is, the distance of a day's rapid march, but the marching speed of the Qing army can not walk 80 miles a day, the most likely is that Xiang Rong only sent troops this morning, the Taiping army in the afternoon to completely suppress the Qing army in the city, and then enter the city to appease the people, and guard everywhere, it is now almost dusk, this day's kung fu Qing army to walk forty miles is still normal.

Zuo Zongtang shook his head and said: "Hechun is as timid as a mouse, he must have sent a messenger for help on the first day, Xiang Rong delayed for a day before sending troops, it seems that this Xiang Junmen is planning to make us fight with Hechun to exhaustion, and he will clean up the mess." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled, sat behind the table in the county hall and said: "In this way, Xiang Rong, the old horseman, is also a heartless guy, who only cares about his own top, and the Qing court officialdom is like this, how can he be undefeated?" ”

Zuo Zongtang shook his head and said: "Xiang Rong didn't expect that Hengzhou City would be lost on the third day of Hechun, and he always wanted to be able to defend it for three, five, or seven days." But that's fine, then we can calmly arrange to deal with Xiang Rongbu. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded, ordered someone to spread out the map and asked, "Then with what Mr. sees, how will Xiang Rong use his troops?" ”

Zuo Zongtang pointed to the map where Leiyang is located and said: "Leiyang to Hengzhou official road sandwiched between Leishui and Xiangshui, after passing Liaotian Town and Xiangyang Town, it is most likely to be in Dongyang to find an opportunity to cross Xiangshui and then go north to help Hengzhou, there is another road is like us, from Dongzhou Island to the west of the pontoon bridge, and there is a road a little farther around, from Songjiang Town, Hengnan County to the north of the Xiangjiang River, this road has to go more than ten miles. Sooner or later, the news of the loss of Hengzhou will reach Xiang Rong's ears, and this old fox may be stuck on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, and it will be difficult to suppress Xiang Rong's troops. ”

Xiao Yungui looked at the map, and said after a moment: "In this case, we will set up an ambush, send more than 3,000 people to block Dongyangdu, let go of the camp of Dongzhou Island as a bait, and let Xiang Rong think that we only care about defending Dongyangdu and ignore Dongzhou Island. Dongzhou Island is located in the middle of the Xiangjiang River in the southeast of Hengzhou, about four miles long, about half a mile wide, the beach area is 25 acres, the east waters are more than half a mile wide, and the west waters are one mile wide. On the island, there are nunnery, academies, ancient trees, peach blossoms, and beaches can be seen in the season when there is little water. The island is surrounded by water on all sides, the trees on the island are dense, the green shade is thick, the environment is very quiet, Yueyang Junshan, Changsha Orange Island, Hengyang Dongzhou Island and called the three continents of the Xiangjiang River Basin. Xiao Yungui remembered that in the battle of Changsha in the later generations, Shi Dakai had ambushed the troops in Orange Island and defeated Xiang Rong, and he also wanted to copy it, Dongzhou Island also had the conditions to ambush the Qing army.

But Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly and said: "This method is very good, and it can be a miracle against ordinary Qing generals, but I am afraid that I can't hide it from Xiang Rong, an old fox." Zuo Zongtang pointed to Songjiang Town on the map and said: "At first, we crossed the Xiangjiang River from Hengshan Mountain, bypassed the grass river to the south and crossed the Xiangshui River to the west to attack the south of Hengzhou City, why don't we cross the Xiangshui three times, cross the Xiangshui for the third time from Songjiang Town, cut off the road to Rong, block Dongyangdu and Dongzhou Island in front, and surround Xiangrong Department on the land sandwiched between Leishui and Xiangshui. The downstream of Leishui is suitable for the army to cross the river only in Quanxi Town and the ferry village of Chashu Town, once we cross the Xiangjiang River in the east, we can quickly capture Xiangyang Town to cut off the ferry of Chashu Town, Xiangrong will only have Quanxi Town This ferry available, when Xiang Rong really wants to flee east, we can win a big victory halfway through! ”

Xiao Yungui was taken aback, looked at the map, and sure enough, from the northernmost intersection of Leishui and Xiangshui all the way to Songjiang Town, this area is an irregular triangular area, with Xiangjiang River in the west and Leishui in the east. At that moment, Xiao Yungui laughed very sinisterly, Zuo Zongtang is really cunning, and he is familiar with the geography of central Hunan Province, according to the strategy Zuo Zongtang said, this time Xiang Rong will not die and will shed his skin.

"Okay, let's fight the battle of crossing the Xiangjiang River three times!" Xiao Yungui clapped his hands and said, following the battle of the three crossings of the Xiangjiang River, why is it so familiar? He didn't think of Taizu's battle of crossing Chishui four times.

After the plan was agreed, Xiao Yungui immediately ordered all the generals to gather, leaving Zeng Tianyang, He Zhenchuan and more than 2,000 people to guard Hengzhou. Xiao Yungui personally led Zuo Zongtang, Li Kaifang, Li Yiwen and 4,000 men and horses to continue south to Songjiang Town to cross the Xiangjiang River, copying the back road of Xiang Rongbu. Ji Wenyuan, Zhu Xineng and 2,000 men guarded Dongzhou Island, and Lin Fengxiang, Lin Qirong and 2,000 men guarded Dongyangdu.

Songjiang Town is more than forty miles away from Hengzhou, in the territory of Hengnan, the distance is not far or close, because I don't know whether Xiang Rong will stay overnight on the way or will rush overnight, Xiao Yungui plans to move south as soon as possible.

In the evening, after the 4,000 Taiping troops had dinner, when night fell, they went out of the team again by night. Although there are many recruits in the army at this time, most of them are from poor backgrounds, and they are accustomed to hardship and hard work, under the leadership of veterans, the marching speed of the Taiping army is much faster than that of the Qing army.

At the second watch of the night, the army rushed to Songjiang Town, and the Qing army in Hengnan did not even know that a Taiping army had wiped out the city. There were only a few local regimental exercises in Songjiang Town, and they were solved by the Taiping army in their sleep, and more than ten ferries at the ferry were all looted by the Taiping army.

Xiao Yungui ordered the Taiping army to be stationed in Songjiang Town for one night, blocking the entrance to the town, still hanging the banner of the Qing army, in order to confuse the Qing army on the other side.

The next day, spies were sent to the other side to investigate in the guise of the Qing army, and soon after the news came back, Xiang Rong's army had passed Liaotian Town in the morning, and there was no doubt that there would be a Taiping army on the south road. Xiao Yungui was overjoyed and immediately ordered the troops to demolish the houses in the town, collect wood and bamboo to build pontoon bridges, and rafts to cross the Xiangjiang River.

In winter, the Xiangjiang River flows gently and gently, and the river surface is much narrower, but in order to rush across the Xiangjiang River, the soldiers of the vanguard army set up rafts and bamboo rafts to cross the river in advance, and many rafts and bamboo rafts are hastily made, and a raft is crowded with many people, causing many rafts to be scattered, and the soldiers fall into the icy river water, and the scene is extremely chaotic for a while.

Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang were both anxious after arriving at the ferry, and Xiao Yungui couldn't help but step forward to reprimand Li Yiwen, who commanded the former army to cross the river. Li Yiwen was very aggrieved, he also wanted to cross the river quickly, and also asked his generals to pay attention to the raft to be tightened and not to have too many soldiers, but his generals were also eager to fight, so they ignored it.

"What? You said it, the generals didn't care? Xiao Yungui became more and more like the king of the west, and did not give the future king of Zhong face at all, and said angrily with a horizontal brow: "You say that they must be the wind in their ears!" We must be careful in doing things, some details can be said ten times, and the subordinates can listen to it once, even if they are haode, if you only say it once, they don't take it seriously! ”

Zuo Zongtang hurriedly came up to dissuade him: "King Xi, General Li is also eager to fight, so forget it this time." ”

Xiao Yungui frowned and said, "Okay, forget it this time, and we'll calculate it after this account!" Yiwen, you have to remember, the details determine success or failure! We are alone, any detail may lead to defeat, march and fight especially pay attention to subtle things, you can become a qualified general! Then he turned around and left.

Zuo Zongtang and Li Yiwen were stunned on the spot, and the two of them invariably chewed Xiao Yungui's words that details determine success or failure, and after a while, Zuo Zongtang sighed lightly and looked at Li Yiwen and said with a smile: "King Xi is really a genius, the sentence that details determine success or failure is incisive, and it is indeed something that we ignored before." General Li, the King of the West actually loves you very much, and these non-reverberation words are also told according to the truth, hoping that General Li can take charge of himself as soon as possible. ”

Li Yiwen's face was relaxed, and he nodded and said: "Thank you Mr. Zuo for telling me, the young general understands, and in the future, he will definitely pay more attention to the subtleties according to what King Xi said." The two looked at each other and smiled, and a storm was revealed. In the future, Li Yiwen kept in mind Xiao Yungui's words when marching and fighting, and he asked about everything, and there were really fewer mistakes, which helped Li Yiwen grow up a lot.

Dozens of soldiers who fell into the water were rescued and a bonfire was raised on the shore to keep warm, the winter sunset was not a joke, Xiao Yungui had to order these soldiers to stay and guard Songjiang Town, looking for an opportunity to withdraw to Hengzhou.

After noon, most of the Taiping army had completed crossing the river, and Xiao Yungui led the army to Liaotian Town.

The rear army behind the palace of Xiang Rong was more than 1,500 Qing troops led by Xiao Fengchun, a Qing army general. The Qing army had just arrived in Liaotian Town, and the former army and Xiang Rong's Chinese army had already gone to Xiangyang Town, and Xiao Fengchun was cooking with some grain and grass with the army.

After the Qing army scattered outside the town spotted the Taiping army, they flew to Xiao Fengchun in the town, saying that thousands of long-haired thieves had been found in the south. Xiao Fengchun was carrying a roast leg of lamb and nibbling on it, and scolded with a smile: "Damn, are you blind?" How can there be a hairy thief in the south? Aren't they attacking Hengzhou right now? Where are so many hairy thieves? Isn't it some long-haired thief with a red turban wrapped in a red turban? You go to see clearly, whether it is really long hair, if it is really Lao Tzu who admits it, if it is fake, we just use these chaotic people to invite credit! ”

After eating a leg of mutton mixed with a big bowl of Wuling wine, Xiao Fengchun burped, and then got up lazily and said, "Let's go, let's go out and see who they are!" ”

Walking out of the house of the largest wealthy family in the town, I saw more than a dozen Qing soldiers rushing to the front in a hurry, led by the general urgent report: "My lord is from the south of the real long hair, under the banner of the pseudo-West King Xiao!" ”