In general, this plan borrowed from the game is meticulous, not to mention that the brigade commander of the Second Garrison Brigade is Ding Ziming, even if it is a cautious and steady person like Kanghe, in order not to be held accountable by the empire afterwards, there is a chance that he will be fooled in his eagerness.

At present, the boats on both sides of the river have been collected by the Good Friends Association and mobilized believers, either hidden in the reeds, or directly burned, and the two Anping bridges on the periphery have been destroyed. Under the personal gaze of Chen Wu and Wang Huifang, the last passable Anping Bridge was also dismantled from the underwater pillars, chiseled through the road surface, and forcibly demolished a gap about 20 meters wide.

"It's done!"

After personally confirming the distance of the broken bridge, Wang Huifang couldn't help but be happy.

Although the weather in Taiping County this summer is dry, the Hongze River is a tributary of Weishui, and even if the water level drops a lot, it is still not enough to wade on foot. Due to the existence of the Anping Three Bridges, the land route is unimpeded, and there are no docks and too many ships nearby, not to mention that they have swept it again. Now that the three bridges are all broken, even if the scouts of the official army can detect the news in advance, it is completely impossible to repair them within three or two days.

All kinds of factors doomed the officers and soldiers to make a detour according to their plan.

After confirming the preparations here, Chen Wu and Wang Huifang did not stay any longer, and rushed in a circle to Xiayang Valley, fifty miles upstream.

More than 1,000 soldiers of the Taiping Righteous Army and more than 800 Dharma Protector Buddhist soldiers of the Good Friends Association did not accompany the high-level of the Righteous Army, but went straight to the side of Xiayang Valley. Although they did not have horses, they almost arrived with Chen Wu, who had returned from the inspection, in the state of a rapid march of nearly forty miles a day.

Subsequently, the coalition forces of both sides began to prepare for the upcoming ambush while exploring the terrain.

A large number of boulders, ranging from hundreds of pounds to tons, were pushed by the soldiers of the righteous army to the cliffs on both sides of the entrance and exit of the valley with accompanying carts. Make sure that once activated, the valley can be sealed perfectly.

In addition, the Rebels and the Good Friends gathered a large amount of dry wood and dead leaves, and managed to bring a large amount of fire oil from the side of Long Mountain.

After sealing the official army in the valley, Chen Wu mainly relied on fire attacks in addition to attacking with archers and trebuchets.

With such a two-pronged approach, custody can beat the officers and troops to the point of collapse. Even if the rest were scattered and fled into the valley, they would inevitably die of thirst.

Perhaps they brought enough rations with them, but there was no water source in the Xiayang Valley.

Three days at most, those trapped survivors will surrender!

Now, everything is ready, just waiting for the officers and soldiers to take over.

As the scouts sent from both sides continued to send back news, the marching positions of the county officials and troops were constantly reported. When Chen Wu and his side basically completed the preparations for the ambush in Xiayang Valley, the Second Garrison Brigade under the command of Ding Ziming rushed to a place that was only twenty miles away from the Hongze River in a straight line.

The time has come to eat these 4,600 people in one fell swoop, and then break through Longshan and sweep the entire Taiping County!

………

In the evening of the same day.

The 2nd Garrison Brigade of Wu'an rushed to within five miles of the Hongze River and chose a high ground to camp.

This marching speed was quite fast for the second-line troops of the empire, but it was still not enough in the eyes of Ding Ziming, who was eager to quell the rebellion. Because of the scorching heat of the past few days, the troops had to avoid the noon march for a few hours, which undoubtedly delayed a lot of time. But Ding Ziming also knew that there was no way to do it.

After all, his troops were not the most elite city guard regiments in the empire, and he forcibly required his soldiers to march quickly, even if they arrived outside Longshan City within two days, they would not have much strength left to deal with the rebels.

However, this is not the most annoying thing for him.

"The Anping Bridge in front was demolished by thieves!"

This was the news brought by the scout who had returned at noon, and just now, he sent someone to confirm and reconnoitre. Apparently, the thieves already knew of their arrival and were trying to delay the march in their thoughts.

This is a bad sign.

Ding Ziming knew in his heart that this group of thieves could break through Yicheng and Lushan in a short period of time, and then join forces with another group of rebels to besiege Longshan, which must be extraordinary. At present, when they learned of the arrival of the counterinsurgency officers and troops, their first reaction was not to flee, but to delay the progress of the officers and troops, and there was only one most likely reason: the other side was sure to break through Longshan.

The idea of those thieves was to break through Longshan before the arrival of the official army, and then defend the city against the official army.

The words of the messenger sent by Longshan also bear this out.

If they really break through Longshan, more than 100,000 displaced people will all enter the city, not to mention what Longshan will become, just with this big city to rely on, it will be much more difficult for the officials and soldiers to quell the rebellion. So, no matter what, let these thieves succeed.

In order not to be blocked by the Hongze River and reach Longshan as soon as possible, Ding Ziming immediately dispatched new scouts to the remaining two bridges depicted on the map after confirming that the Anping Bridge was destroyed and that it would be difficult to repair in a short time. Now the only hope he had was that the thieves were not so well prepared and did not destroy all three bridges.

However, bad news followed.

The cavalry sent out sent the news overnight, and the entire Anping Three Bridges on the Hongze River had been dug up by thieves. The wreckage of burned wooden boats can be seen along the river, and there are few boats for officers and soldiers to cross the river.

Ding Ziming, who had only slept in the middle of the night, received the news, and he no longer had the slightest sleep, and saw Tianming on the map on the general's case. However, Ding Ziming quickly waited for a turnaround. Shortly after dawn, two messengers from Long Shan arrived from the upper reaches of the Hongze River.

One of them was none other than Jiang Zhong, who had come a few days ago.

The two horses were sweating profusely, and one of them died of exhaustion shortly after entering the barracks. The appearance of the two of them also looked very wolf, and Jiang Zhong was even more bloodstained and had arrow wounds on his shoulder.

Just looking at this tragic scene, you can think of how dangerous it was when the two broke through the thieves' interception.

Knowing that the two had arrived, Ding Ziming was overjoyed. In the excitement, he didn't even care about being reserved, and said loudly: "Hurry up, please!" In addition, call someone to invite Lang Zhong who is with the army! ”

Soon, the good friend of the incense owner under the pseudonym Jiang Zhong was invited into the Chinese military tent.

Knowing that the messenger from Longshan had arrived again, and brought crucial first-hand information, the four wings of the Second Garrison Brigade, the cavalry commander, and the general of the escort army, Lin Anluo, all rushed over. The current safety of Long Son is directly related to the success or failure of the entire counterinsurgency operation, and everyone is very concerned.

"If the big thing is not good, please immediately pull out the camp and raise troops to rescue Longshan!"

Jiang Zhong's face was full of panic and anxiety, and after entering the tent, he pushed away the military doctor who was going to treat his wounds, walked forward quickly, knelt on the ground and kowtowed, and pleaded urgently: "The thieves are attacking the city in a big way, Longshan is already in danger, and the city will be broken in a day or two at most." The safety of 100,000 people is all on the shoulders of the lords in the army. ”

"What?"

This sudden news was so bad that Ding Ziming didn't even have the heart to read the official document, so he took the case and asked, "What is the situation?" Although the shape of a few days ago was severe, didn't it say that it could still be supported? How can it be reduced to a situation where the city will be destroyed in a day or two? ”

"Adults don't know, those thieves are too treacherous." Jiang Zhong calmed down a little and told the situation in Longshan: "I told my lord before that the rebellious Good Friends Association had a good foundation in Longshan City. Lord Zhang knew about this and was worried that the Good Friends Association would break the city with the outside, so he also took strict precautions. Who would have thought ......"

"Who ever thought of anything?"

Ding Ziming and several of his co-captains asked together, and even Lin Anluo, who was sitting at the top, couldn't help frowning when he heard this, and his expression was no longer as indifferent as before.

"Who would have thought that the remnants of the Good Friends who were lurking in the city did not open the city, but found an opportunity to steal poison from the wells around the school grounds of several city defense camps. The officers and soldiers were defenseless, and nearly 100 people were poisoned and killed if they neglected to take precautions. In addition, several hundred officers and militias were slightly poisoned, and although they were immediately treated, they either fainted or were extremely weak, and it was difficult to fight for three or five days without recuperation. The thief army took the opportunity to attack the city on both sides, limited to the lack of officers and soldiers, and was afraid of ......"

Jiang Zhong said as he spoke, his face was sad, and he couldn't help crying bitterly.

"Poisoning?"

Ding Ziming and Lin Anluo's faces changed.

They didn't expect that the internal response of the Good Friends Association would be able to do this.