That night, the Qing army launched a large-scale night attack unusually, the Taiping army was still busy fighting the fire in the first half of the night had to rush and tired to respond, the Qing army divided the road along the slightly smaller street attack, these unfatal Chu Yong are all short-bladed fighting posture, and the attack is fierce and fast, obviously premeditated for a long time. The Taiping army at the forefront was forced to retreat a few streets, and in the end, Zhang Wenxiang personally led the guards directly under the Third Division to fight three bayonets in a row to stabilize the position.

When the sky was about to shine, the Qing army's offensive was blocked, and Chen Yucheng was furious and strictly ordered the troops in the city to organize a counterattack. So the Taiping army continued to raid several streets that were recaptured by the Qing army at night, and then there was a fierce battle for the streets and alleys. It is worth noting that the Qing army actually planted gunpowder in some stone brick houses, waiting for the Taiping army to detonate when it approached, and the rubble and tiles rained down like scattered flowers of the heavenly maidens, and the casualties of the Taiping army began to increase.

However, the Taiping army's will to fight was also very strong, and bayonets, platoon guns and grenadier grenades finally recaptured the positions lost during the night. In the evening, the various units counted the losses, including the casualties of the previous night, and more than 1,000 Taiping soldiers were killed and wounded.

When Chen Yucheng received the battle report of the loss, his face was abnormally pale, and he followed him to convene the commanders of the divisions and the staff officers to hold a pre-battle meeting to discuss the current battle situation.

The atmosphere inside the tent was very depressing, since the First Army was founded, there was no record of losing more than 2,000 soldiers in two days, and it was caused by the same Qing army.

"Jiang Zhongyuan, the dog thief, is really cunning and attacks at night. We can't give full play to our advantage in firepower, and we can only rely on hand-to-hand combat and close combat, so it becomes a situation where life is exchanged for life. But every soldier in our new army is an elite veteran, so it's not worth it to exchange your life for those miscellaneous group training of the Qing Demon! It was Zhang Wenxiang who spoke, and as soon as he sat down, he couldn't help but say angrily and loudly: "It's best to pull the cannon in and bombard the rest of the city!" ”

Chen Alin coughed on the side and said: "There are still a large number of people in the remaining urban areas, if we could have relied on artillery to solve the Qing Demon, we would have done this a long time ago, do we still have to wait until now?" ”

Zhang Wenxiang was very afraid of Chen Alin, the commander of the first division. Because he was the commander of the cavalry under Chen Alin back then, he was told by his old boss that he didn't dare to flourish. Chen Alin touched his chin and said, "Chen Shuai." It seems that Jiang Zhongyuan's gang has been dormant in Jiangxi for a long time, and he has re-trained an elite Qing Demon Group training. This Qing Demon Regiment is good at hand-to-hand combat, and regards his own life as a mustard, Jiang Zhongyuan uses the night to offset our advantage in firepower. Although this Qing Demon may not be able to defeat our army in hand-to-hand combat. But it's not like the first day of passive beatings. Moreover, in today's daytime battle, it can be seen that Jiang Zhongyuan's gang has come up with some more insidious damage tactics, such as burying gunpowder in the houses that our army must pass by, and then letting the dead detonate, and the rubble and rubble are all over the ground, causing a lot of damage to the soldiers. This Jiang Zhongyuan is really the great enemy of my Taiping army, and he has repeatedly suffered big losses at his hands, but I have to say that this fang is quite clever and scheming. It's hard to deal with. ”

Chen Yucheng frowned and said, "Senior Commander Chen, now is not the time to praise the enemy. Is there any way to deal with Jiang Zhongyuan's tactics? ”

Chen Alin smiled and said, "Chen Shuai forgot the military aphorisms he learned in the military academy?" In the face of absolute strength, a single conspiracy and trickery are useless. Our army has an absolute superiority, and it only needs to fight steadily, advance layer by layer, and gradually encroach on the Qing army's position, and in the end it will definitely be able to win the battle. Tonight, the Qing Demon will definitely attack our department at night, and we must also build barricades to guard against night attacks. After dawn, the ground was steadily advanced with small artillery, and then continued to consolidate the position, and so on to reduce losses. ”

Chen Yucheng hummed and said: "Fight steadily, consolidate the position during the day to guard against the surprise attack of the Qing Demon at night, continue to advance the next day and then consolidate the position, and so on the cycle of the Qing Demon will be defeated." It's just that this will slow down the pace of the army and be detrimental to our army's strategy of quickly sweeping through the two Guangzhous. ”

Chen Alin said: "According to the intelligence, Chu Yong brought by the Qing Demon Jiang Zhongyuan knows that there are about 10,000 people, plus thousands of Qing Demons in Zhaoqing, there will be no more than 20,000 horses at most. Although our army lost 2,000 men and horses in the two days of fierce fighting, the Qing Demon lost even more, and he Jiang Zhongyuan now has 10,000 soldiers and horses left, leaving two divisions of more than 28,000 people enough to deal with, and the third division can be sent to continue to advance westward, and both sides can be taken into account. ”

Chen Yucheng snorted, turned back to several staff officers and said, "According to this strategy, quickly draw up a plan, and tomorrow we will transfer the soldiers and horses of the Third Division to continue to advance westward." The generals stood up together and took the order.

At the same time, in the yamen of the Zhaoqing prefect's mansion, Jiang Zhongyuan sat at the top of the inner hall with a gloomy face, and saw that all the generals under him were all depressed, and he couldn't help but snort coldly: "Who dares to lead the team in the night attack tonight?" ”

As soon as these words came out, all the Qing generals looked at each other, and last night Jiang Zhongyuan's fierce general Chu Yong guerrilla Liu Zhenli led 3,000 Chu Yong to counterattack at night, only to come back less than 1,000 people, and Liu Zhenli died on the spot. The Taiping army will definitely prepare for a night attack tonight, and it will definitely be a dead and lifeless thing to go again tonight.

Seeing that the generals were silent, Jiang Zhongyuan's younger brother Jiang Zhongshu stood up and said loudly: "Lord Futai, I am willing to lead a thousand men and horses from my headquarters to attack at night!" ”

Jiang Zhongyuan glanced at Liu Zhaolan and said slowly: "Governor Liu, the governor and his younger brother can lead the troops to go, and last night it was also the elite under the command of the governor who went to attack at night, is there no one capable of fighting in Zhaoqing?" ”

Seeing Jiang Zhongyuan say this, Liu Zhaolan had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "The Zhaoqing soldiers have not been recruited for a long time, and they are not as brave as the Futai Lord Chu soldiers, and they are only afraid that the adults' strategy will be ruined by going to the night attack." ”

Jiang Zhongyuan sank his face and said: "My Chu Yong was also raised by his father's mother, why can't Zhaoqing Bingyong compare?" Tonight, the Zhaoqing soldiers will definitely go out to attack at night, otherwise military law will be engaged! ”

Liu Zhaolan and other Zhaoqing generals were all pale when they heard this, but because of Jiang Zhongyuan's prestige, they had to accept it. Jiang Zhongyuan saw that Liu Zhaolan and the others agreed, and said slowly: "Zhaoqing is actually not able to defend this place for a long time, there are more than 50,000 elite soldiers in Changmao, more than 80,000 people in the township brave auxiliary soldiers, and hundreds of Western artillery. In fact, tonight's night attack is to fight for a place to maneuver for tomorrow's breakthrough. Tonight, all the soldiers who attacked at night will be rewarded, and then force the long hair back a few streets, and when they come back, they will set up more dark thunder gunpowder on the way they come, and tomorrow the long hair will slowly advance, and we can take advantage of the situation to break through from the north gate. ”

Liu Zhaolan and other generals were stunned when they heard this, although they were secretly happy in their hearts, they were all beating drums, Liu Zhaolan asked cautiously: "Lord Futai, we are all from the Zhaoqing Official Office, and the loss of land is to be questioned." ”

Jiang Zhongyuan waved his hand and said: "It's okay, this governor will play the imperial court, Zhaoqing City has become a dead place, if you leave a useful body, break through and continue to deal with Changmao, if the imperial court blames it, this governor will bear it." ”

Liu Zhaolan and others also heard that Jiang Zhongyuan was promoted to the governor of Liangguang, this person was highly respected by the empress dowager of the two palaces, and he must have borne it and would not blame them, so everyone went down with peace of mind to prepare for the night attack. Everyone also knows that if they can't force the Taiping army back tonight, they will definitely be bitten by breaking through tomorrow, and if they can't attract the attention of the Taiping army, it will be extremely difficult to break through from the north gate in tomorrow's counterattack.

After the generals dispersed, Jiang Zhongyuan stopped Jiang Zhongshu and instructed in a low voice: "Tonight, raid your troops to break through Gongyuan Street and then take a detour to Liuyuan Lane and retreat, so that Liu Zhaolan and their Zhaoqing soldiers can continue to attack." ”

Jiang Zhong Shuqi said: "Brother, why do you want to go back? ”

Jiang Zhongyuan said coldly: "Our Chu Yong has suffered a lot of losses in the past few days, and if we don't break through, the whole army will be wiped out, and tonight we will take the opportunity to break through when Liu Zhaolan and other Zhaoqing soldiers attack us at night." ”

Jiang Zhongshu sighed and said in a low voice: "Brother, junior brother thinks you have changed. Jiang Zhongyuan snorted, as if he hadn't heard it, and said to himself: "Zhaoqing can keep the rules, your eldest brother is now the governor of Liangguang, what's the use of sticking to this little Zhaoqing?" The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces is the Governor of Liangguang, and we must continue to deal with Changmao in the land of Liangguang, and it is the right way to drag the footsteps of Changmao, which is also the meaning of the Queen Mother, to buy more time for the imperial court. Long Hair would never have guessed that we were going to break through tonight, and this was going to be a real thing. ”

Speaking of this, Jiang Zhongyuan came back to his senses and asked, "Third brother, what did you say?" ”

Jiang Zhongshu smiled bitterly: "I didn't say anything. ”

Jiang Zhongyuan patted Jiang Zhongshu on the shoulder and said, "Third brother, I know that you blame the eldest brother for not being righteous, leaving Zhaoqing and these people to leave first, right?" ”

Jiang Zhongshu shook his head and said, "Big brother is right to do everything. ”

Jiang Zhongyuan knew this brother's temper, and said this on his lips, but he didn't think so in his heart, he smiled bitterly at the moment, and sighed lightly: "When the eldest brother led the troops to rescue Hangzhou, he originally made an appointment with Li Tingyu to send troops together, but Li Tingyu didn't come in order to protect himself, so your second brother Zhongji died in battle." Since that time, my brother has learned a truth, only by surviving can he continue to serve the court, and if he dies, he can't do anything, and it is best never to let his fate be in the hands of others. ”

Hearing Jiang Zhongji's name, Jiang Zhongshu gritted his teeth and said, "Little brother understands, big brother, don't worry, I will bring back the Chu soldiers from the headquarters." ”

Jiang Zhongyuan hummed and said: "You go and prepare, Zhongjun and I are waiting for you at the north gate, let's kill together, remember that if we can't wait for you, Zhongjun and I will not leave first." ”

Seeing the concern in Jiang Zhongyuan's eyes, Jiang Zhongshu nodded heavily and strode out.

That night, the Qing army really launched another night attack, but this time the Taiping army was already prepared, they planted mines at the front of the position, and built barricades, wooden fences and other fortifications on the streets.

Just after the attention of the Taiping army was attracted by the Qing army attacking at night, the north gate of Zhaoqing was suddenly highlighted by the Qing army, and the garrison at the north gate was the first station of the third division that was ready to be transferred. (To be continued......)