After marching more than six miles to the southeast, the army finished encamping before dark.

With yesterday's experience, the speed of the rebels' encampment this time was much faster. Taking advantage of this time, Gan Xing escorted the four deserters he caught, including Li San, a member of the Li family's Changfang clan. After counting the crimes, the four were beheaded in public, and their bodies were all hung outside the camp gate.

In order to intercede for his son and nephew, Li Dongqing, the patriarch of the Li family, even came to Chen Wu in person during the march. and said that as long as Chen Wu can spare Li Sanyi, the Li family is willing to pay the corresponding price.

His request was rejected by Chen Wu without hesitation.

In order to deter these loose rebels, military law must be strict, and there must be no relaxation. Otherwise, the Li family escaped with affection, what about the Sun family? What about the other henchmen? If everyone follows suit, how can the military regulations formulated by Chen Wu be a deterrent?

Because of this, Li San must die!

Two groups of deserters were killed in a row, and even the Li family's old pleas were useless, which completely shocked the soldiers of the righteous army.

Looking at the four heads who were full of horror, as well as the rumors that Li Dongqing had left the big tent with a pale face, not only the old people in Changshan Town were frightened by the strict military regulations of the righteous army, but even the people of Nanjiazhuang, who were forced to join today, were silent a lot. However, this silence soon became untenable. When the grain was distributed, all the people of Nanjiazhuang were told that their food was only half of that of the old rebels in Changshan Town.

It's not impossible to want the same treatment, and the next time you fight, the people of Nanjiazhuang must take the lead!

There is only so much food in total, and if the people in Nanjiazhuang eat less, others can eat more. Therefore, this decision was made by the old rebel soldiers in Changshan Town. In the face of life-saving food, the friendship between the two villages on weekdays is not worth mentioning. And as long as they have their support, the people of Nanjiazhuang can't mess up if they want to. Either he was hung by hunger, or he was forced to step on Chen Wu's chariot and fight hard in the next battle!

Several principals in Nanjiazhuang didn't fail to see Chen Wu's intentions, but they were helpless about it.

Under Chen Wu's casual power tricks, his control over the rebel army began to deepen.

At the established pace, another two-day march.

The army advanced at a rate of about ten miles a day, during which time it once again broke through a village called Huaizhuang, expanding the rebel army to nearly 5,000 men. This time, the people of Nanjiazhuang really couldn't hold back and obediently became pioneers. After two battles in succession, Chen Wu's two large infantry teams finally had a bit of the atmosphere of a righteous army, and they were a lot more ruthless when fighting with their opponents. Although the combat power is still not enough, it is much better than the peasant appearance of a week ago.

At the same time, Chen Wu's infantry battalion also erected a framework during the march.

Nanbao, a hunter from Nanjiazhuang, became the leader of the Bow Battalion the day after joining the rebels. Although there is still only one team of people in this so-called infantry bow battalion, and the weapons are even more used hunting bows, with Nanbao's training and guidance, the Orion archery skills in the infantry bow battalion have begun to slowly improve. Next, as long as you continue to add people to it and capture the arsenal of Yicheng, this infantry bow battalion will begin to take shape.

In addition to the infantry battalion, the horse team has also made some progress.

The capture of two villages, including Nanjiazhuang, and the small caravans hijacked along the road, added six more horses to the horse team. Riders who can be trusted, leaping to fourteen people. Among them, Ning An from Huaizhuang became the leader of the horse team. He was originally the groom of a landlord in Huaizhuang, but because he was framed for stealing the owner's jewelry, he was beaten violently and sent to the government to be imprisoned. It happened that Huaizhuang was broken by Chen Wu and them the next day and saved him.

Therefore, this young man with good equestrian skills became the first person in the entire Huaizhuang to take the initiative to join the rebel army.

The overall strength of the rebel army was constantly enhanced, which made Chen Wu feel very good. And at this time, the army finally marched within ten miles of Yicheng.

At this point, the risk of the rebels' whereabouts being exposed greatly increased. With the experience of Jiang San and Old Man Zheng, when he set up camp that night, Chen Wu arranged a sentry that far exceeded the previous several times. When they set out the next day, they were sent out three miles away. Anyone who encounters them on the road will be forcibly intercepted, and those who resist will be killed on the spot!

In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, Dian Yong even personally went out to reconnoiter in front.

At noon, the brigade of the rebels advanced to the boundary less than five miles from Yicheng. After estimating the distance, Chen Wu ordered the rebels to stop for a while.

An atmosphere of tension and unease spread.

Many people realized that the battle of life and death for the rebels was coming.

The battle against Yicheng was the first real battle since the establishment of the Taiping Righteous Army, and it was also a battle that was enough to decide life and death. If they can win the war, the rebels will have enough room for development. If they fail here, then what awaits them must be the crazy strangulation of Longshan Mansion. With these rebel armies, which are not much stronger than the homeless people, and have no stable foothold, they will inevitably be defeated in a battle, and there is no possibility of recovery.

Therefore, Chen Wu attaches great importance to this battle, even if he is already 100% sure in his heart.

The plan to seize the city had been thought out long before the founding of the rebel army. Dian Yong led people to pretend to be a caravan and raided the west gate of Yicheng. Subsequently, two light infantry brigades followed, one consolidated and occupied the city gates, waiting for the subsequent rebels to arrive; The other blocked the city defense battalions and arsenals stationed in the city. After that, hundreds of people from the Volunteer Battalion entered the city, rushed to the other three city gates, and then closed the entire Yicheng.

Mastered the four gates, tens of thousands of people in Yicheng are the turtles in the urn. Frightened by the huge momentum of thousands of rebels, Yicheng, which had been peaceful for a long time, would inevitably fall into chaos in an instant, and there would be no ability to resist.

However, although Chen Wu was confident in capturing Yicheng, the other rebels did not see it that way.

There are two large groups of defense battalions and soldiers in Yicheng, and there are real city walls. In the eyes of these rebels, who were ordinary peasants not long ago, they were completely impregnable. Not only that, but the officials and lords in Yicheng are real imperial officials and nobles. At the thought of attacking them, the fear and cowardice in the hearts of the rebels resurfaced. This fear becomes more obvious the closer you get to Yicheng.

With just a few thousand mob thieves, can they really challenge an empire?

Chen Wu felt the morale drop.

In the face of this situation, there are two solutions. First, take them to capture Yicheng. As long as the first victory is won, the fear in the hearts of the rebels will dissipate a lot, but this little bit of water will not quench the thirst of the near. As for the second method, it is material rewards and incentives.

"The general has an order, and everyone will be rewarded after defeating Yicheng!"

"The infantry battalion and the horse team will each be rewarded with twenty gold coins, the infantry army will be rewarded with fifteen gold coins each, and the volunteer battalion will be rewarded with ten gold coins each. If there is a person who stands out and fights bravely, an additional set of leather armor weapons will be rewarded; Those who are afraid of the battle and flee will not be spared according to the military regulations! ”

"The granary of Yicheng is piled with 200,000 stone of disaster relief grain!"

"Everyone in the city is fed! In the homes of those big landlords, there are all kinds of chickens, ducks, fish and meat! Even the women's camp can eat unlimited for three days! ”

One news after another, which was spread by Li Niu, Sun Zhong and other guards, greatly boosted the morale of the rebels.

In the past few days of hurrying, Chen Wu deliberately withheld the rations of the rebels under the pretext that there was not much food left. The two infantry armies were treated the best, not only to be fed, but also to eat horse meat and mutton. The soldiers of the Volunteer Battalion can basically eat ninety percent full. Combat power is guaranteed, but there is always some hunger. The people of Nanjiazhuang and Huaizhuang who joined later were treated even lower than them. As for the remaining old and weak women, they can only barely guarantee not to starve to death. Hearing that you can eat a full meal after capturing Yicheng, and then thinking about the deliciousness of chicken, duck and fish, these people driven by hunger swallowed their saliva one by one, and a strong fighting spirit erupted in their bodies.

Taking advantage of this short-lived morale, Chen Wu began a series of deployments.

Gan Xing, Sun Tian, Li Zishi, Nanbao, Ning An and others were summoned. Before the big battle, their faces were either apprehensive or excited, and so on. Seeing that Chen Wu and Dian Yong were there, several people clasped their chests with their right fists together and saluted the two rebel commanders.

"Sun Tian listens to orders!"

Chen Wu called the name in a loud and solemn voice.