The warm winter sun shone down in the afternoon, and it should have been a warm sun, but Xiao Fengchun only felt a chill rushing from his back to the back of his head. Looking at the red frenzy rolling in all directions, Xiao Fengchun shouted hoarsely: "Set up the formation!" Occupy the town and defend it! Send someone to report to the military gate quickly! ”

Seeing thousands of Taiping troops wrapped in red scarves swarming in, the Qing army in Liaotian Town suddenly became agitated, and many people heard Xiao Fengchun's roar, but what dangerous place can be defended in the small town? This Qing army didn't plan to stay in Liaotian Town for too long, they just had lunch in the town and were about to hurry, and they didn't think about digging trenches at all.

At this time, the Qing army and the Taiping army of Xiangrong had been fighting for a long time, and although they could be regarded as a capable army, they relied on the tactics of attacking in a loop with shotguns and firearms, or occupying dangerous places and pressing step by step. But at this moment, the Taiping army had the advantage in numbers, and they swarmed to catch the Qing army by surprise, and the Qing army had no danger to rely on.

A scuffle spread quickly, and the entire town of Liaotian was filled with the figures of the Qing army and the Taiping army.

When Li Yiwen led his swordsmen into the town, he saw that the Qing army had begun to retreat, the only street in the town was covered with the corpses of soldiers on both sides, and the Qing army hiding in the dark corner of the street from time to time cast cold guns, and Li Yiwen's swordsmen were very nervous.

Li Yiwen saw that more than 200 Qing troops were fighting and walking under an archway in the town, and the formation was quite orderly, and he pointed to the side and said with a smile: "Order the commanders of the soldiers, order the flag to hit in the middle of the town, crush the enemy army there, and the Qing demon in the town will be defeated!" ”

Li Yiwen's order flag was raised, and all the Taiping troops of the forward army rushed to the archway in the middle of the town, and Li Yiwen also rushed forward with a card knife. When he got closer, a Qing soldier on the ground struggled to raise a shotgun and was about to bombard the Taiping army in front of him, Li Yiwen was quick and fast, and the long sword in his hand was thrown, which hit the Qing army in the chest, and the man fell to the ground with a scream.

Due to the large number of new troops, when often charging, they looked at the front and the back, and the left and the right, Li Yiwen shouted loudly: "Don't forget what you are taught on weekdays, form a formation to fight, long soldiers to guard, short soldiers to defend, don't just rely on a brute force to kill!" After shouting a few times, the swordsman next to him loudly passed down the order, and the Taiping army who was suffering really woke up and began to fight in small teams.

When Xiao Fengchun was shot by the Taiping army, he fell to the ground in the middle of the door and died, the remaining more than 100 Qing soldiers only said that the general trend had gone, and they all knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

Li Yiwen saw that the Qing army in the town had been cleared, so he ordered the army to take care of the prisoners, and divided several teams of men and horses to search house by house in the town to prevent the Qing army from hiding, and then divided the manpower to take over the Qing army's baggage convoy.

In the first battle of Liaotian Town, more than 1,500 people from Li Yiwen's Ministry of Culture defeated the Qing army, and more than 1,000 Qing troops from Xiao Fengchun's department within two hours, which can be described as clean and neat, but dozens of Qing army rangers still escaped and rushed to Xiangyang Town.

When Xiao Yungui saw Xiao Fengchun's head, he no longer had the same nausea as before, but he still didn't feel very comfortable, and he sent an order to Li Yiwen to clear the remnants of the Qing army in the town, and then caught up with the baggage of the Qing army, and the Taiping army behind did not enter Liaotian Town at all, and then rushed forward, and then chased and killed the Qing army.

There are not many Qing troops in Xiangyang Town, Xiang Rong only left more than 500 people to meet Xiao Fengchun, when the Qing army rangers fled to Xiangyang Town to bring the news that the rear team was exhausted and Xiao Guerrilla was killed, the Qing army in Xiangyang Town was completely broken, and did not dare to intercept the Taiping Army here, and immediately ordered the Qing army to go north out of the town to catch up with the footsteps of the brigade.

When Xiao Yungui, Zuo Zongtang, Li Kaifang and other generals led their troops to Xiangyang Town, there was no Qing soldier in the town, and Xiangyang Town had fallen into the hands of the Taiping army. Zuo Zongtang immediately said: "King Xi, you can quickly send a large army forward to occupy the first line of Siye Mountain, Niuwan Ridge, and Pingtou Ridge, Xiang Rong knows that the back road is intercepted, and he will definitely send heavy troops to counterattack!" ”

Xiao Yungui also knew the truth of advancing the army like fire to seize the first hand, and immediately ordered Li Kaifang to lead the troops and horses to continue to move forward and seize Siye Mountain, Niuwan Ridge, Pingtou Ridge and other places.

Siye Mountain, Niuwan Ridge, and Pingtou Ridge are only a few miles away from Xiangyang Town, and after a short time, Li Kaifang has already led the Taiping army to arrive, and after occupying three low mountain ranges, Li Kaifang ordered the army to start repairing the camps, digging trenches, and arranging defenses.

Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang waited in Xiangyang Town until Li Yiwen arrived with his troops, and Li Yiwen captured eight 500-pound mountain splitting cannons, two 800-pound iron cannons, as well as a lot of red medicine and grain and grass from the Qing army in Liaotian Town, and more than 200 pack horses of the Qing army became the trophies of the Taiping army.

Xiao Yungui was overjoyed, and immediately ordered Li Yiwen to bring artillery to the front to support Li Kaifang. They went south lightly this time, basically without artillery, and they didn't expect to capture so many cannons, which made Xiao Yungui a little thankful, it seems that his luck has really come.

The Taiping army had eaten some food in the morning until this moment, and most of them had not eaten yet, although they were all hungry, and they marched dozens of miles in a hurry, and fought a vicious battle, but everyone won the battle and their morale was high. Many Taiping soldiers took out a handful of black beans from the cloth bag and ate them, and continued to work with shouts, building camps and digging trenches at any speed.

When Li Yiwen appeared on the front line of Siye Mountain, Niuwan Ridge, and Pingtou Ridge with artillery and a large number of red medicine, the Taiping soldiers burst into cheers.

Siye Mountain, Niuwan Ridge, Pingtou Ridge line east is Leishui, west is Xiangjiang River, east and west width is only six miles, at dusk, the Taiping army relies on three small hills, hastily created a line of defense, the retreat of Xiang Rong is completely cut off, the pontoon ferry of Chashu Town Ferry Village in the east is also controlled by the Taiping Army, and the road left to Xiang Rong is only Dongyang Town Ferry, Dongzhou Island and Quanxi Town Ferry on the east of Leishui.

When Xiang Rong knew that the Taiping army appeared in the south, he had already led the soldiers and horses to the other side of the ferry in Dongyang Town, and seeing that the Taiping army was already stationed on the other side, Xiang Rong did not dare to rush into the army, and ordered the army to camp on the spot to investigate the enemy's situation.

Just after the camp was settled, the Qing army in Xiangyang Town brought the news of Xiao Fengchun's defeat and death, Xiang Rong was taken aback, and faintly realized that something was wrong. Seeing that the ferry in Dongyang Town was guarded by the Taiping Army, Xiang Rong felt that something was wrong, it stands to reason that the Taiping Army should still be besieging Hengzhou at the moment, why would they divide their troops to guard here? Could it be that attacking Hengzhou is a false move?

At this time, he heard that most of the Taiping army appeared in the south, and Xiang Rong only felt cold and swishing on his back, these long-haired thieves attacking Hengzhou may be a trap, just to lure themselves to save, but fortunately intercept and kill himself halfway, he didn't expect Hengzhou to be lost at this moment.

After thinking about it again and again, Xiang Rong ordered spies to go out to find out the movements and military strength of the Taiping army in the south, and then sent people to the north, intending to make a detour to Dongzhou Island to investigate the situation in Hengzhou. After arranging the military affairs, Xiang Rongyin's face gradually became cold, and he had already made up his mind, as long as Hengzhou was lost, he would immediately rush to Quanxi Town in the east, cross Leishui in the east, and jump out of danger first.

In the courtyard of a large family in Xiangyang Town, Zuo Zongtang sat on the Taishi chair like an old monk and closed his eyes and pondered. This family heard that the Qing army had passed and knew that there would be a war, so they had already fled back to the countryside with their families, and the mansion was occupied by the Qing army first, and then occupied by Xiao Yungui as his temporary station.

Xiao Yungui smoked a dry tobacco pouch, and muttered in his heart, if Xiang Rong, the old fox, went east with all his might, the remaining more than 3,500 people in his hands would not be able to keep him, Xiang Rong still had at least 7,000 Qing troops in his hands at this time, and he had more than 400 casualties in Liaotian Town, and the available soldiers in his hands were less than 4,000, even if he could catch up with Xiang Rong and attack halfway, at most he would defeat the soldiers and horses of Xiang Rong's palace, and he could not completely annihilate him, how could he induce Xiang Rong to come down to fight the Taiping army and arrange a strong camp?

At this time, Zuo Zongtang suddenly coughed, waved his hand to disperse the smoke all over the house, Xiao Yungui smiled and said, "I'm sorry, sir, this dry smoke has choked you." ”

Zuo Zongtang frowned and said, "King Xi, what if Xiang Rong is desperate to go east? The guests we invited are leaving, but we have to make a plan to keep them, otherwise all the hard work will be in vain. ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "This king is also worried about this, now that the situation is very good, it would be too cost-effective to turn a war of extermination into a defeat war." Xiang Rong is cunning and suspicious by nature, and he will slip away at the slightest disturbance, and it is really not easy to calculate him. ”

At this moment, the swordsman outside the hall came in and reported: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, more than 100 captured Qing demons have been escorted, what should I do?" ”

To tell the truth, Xiao Yungui has the most headache to deal with prisoners of war, and the current march army is very anxious to fight, and it is impossible to slowly transform them, if they are not put properly, it seems that it will be ominous to kill them, and I really don't know how to deal with them for a while.

Suddenly, Xiao Yungui had an idea and smiled: "Sir, I have thought of a way, maybe I can trick Xiang Rong's old horseman, I don't know if it can be done." ”

Zuo Zongtang sighed and asked, "What plan?" ”

Xiao Yungui smiled treacherously: "Jiang Gan stole books!" ”

What kind of character Zuo Zongtang is, he pondered for a moment and said, "Are you trying to use these Qing army prisoners to deceive Xiang Rong for you?" ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and smiled: "Yes, we just used these Qing Demons to give Xiang Rong a plan for us!" He whispered to Zuo Zongtang about the strategy.

After listening, Zuo Zongtang got up and said: "Okay, you King of the West, you are really a treacherous belly, this time Xiang Rong is afraid that he will also fall in love with your Tao." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled on his stomach and said, "Sir, you are not too much." ”

The two laughed wickedly, but it made the swordsman in the hall inexplicable for a while, like Zhang Er King Kong was confused.