The Qing army carried out carpet searches from all directions, forcing the upper echelons of various ethnic groups, such as the disgraced Tusi, traitors, landlords, and other sects and nine streams, to join the rolling flow of people who retreated to Crowpo and Niujiaopo, and formed a general special political force.

Among them, there are Ma Dawu of Qingjiang Hall, Ou Yangsheng, Ou Yubang of Taigong, Pan Laoyan of Huang Ping and others. It is precisely because of the existence of this force that the Miao army is divided into two factions, so that Xi Qitian and Gong Jichang have the opportunity to make a fuss about "recruiting surrender", bribing those who are not strong-willed, and providing internal intelligence of the Miao army.

In order to meet the urgent needs of the 250,000 or 60,000 rebels and refugees in the Liangpo, the Marshal Miao Army's Mansion opened a wartime free market on the gentle slope called "Gazhiying" in the middle of the two slopes, where people could buy silver or barter. Salt merchants from Bazhai and Maha also set up stalls here, which were protected by the armed Miao army.

Some rice merchants took the risk of transporting grain into the Leigongshan area and sold it to Miao Jun at a high price, but they were all intercepted by Gong Jichang, who bought them at market prices in case of emergency.

The two warring sides fought fiercely for ten days and nights, and every local small battle was extremely difficult, and the troops invested by both sides were more than 10,000 people, and the amount of ** used was tens or hundreds of tons. Every time a Miao village was captured, the Qing army had to pay a considerable price, with hundreds of casualties and thousands of casualties, and of course, the Miao army, which was backward in weapons and equipment, suffered even heavier losses.

The number of casualties of the "Xi family's army" is also increasing, but this cannot stop Gong Jichang's pace of advancement, everywhere he goes, completely destroying the houses and fortifications of the Miao army, burning the already small grain and grass, the Miao army is almost on the verge of breaking the cooking, and can only survive by eating grass roots, wild vegetables, and tree bark.

At Lengshuigou (Wengti), Gong Jichang was defeated by the Miao army general Bao Nanyao, which was the first defeat he suffered since acting as commander-in-chief. For this reason, he hated it so much that he ordered in the army that whoever caught Bao Nan Yao would be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver, and if the general was captured, he would be promoted to a higher rank, and if the soldier was captured, he would be directly promoted to a thousand generals.

Due to the eagerness to win, Gong Jichang's subordinate guerrilla general Gong Shengfu and Dusi general Gong Shenglu (both of whom are Gong Jichang's adopted sons) recommended themselves and asked to lead 1,000 elite people of the Jingyi Battalion to enter the mountains to arrest Bao Nanyao. After careful consideration, Gong Jichang agreed to the request of the two.

Before leaving, Gong Jichang told the two of them not to take the well-guarded Miao army lightly, especially in the terrain of deep ravines and ravines, they could not attack and rush.

Gong Shengfu, Gong Shenglu and others rashly marched forward, advanced ten miles, turned around, entered a canyon, only to see an open dam, full of houses and walled walls, the fortress at the head of the village hung a red flag with the word "newspaper" written on it, and there were some "Miao Army" with bird guns aimed at the upper floors of the village.

"Haha, it didn't take much effort to get there." Gong Shengfu ordered all the soldiers to set up a formation, and then launched an attack on the stockade, with artillery and rifles firing in a volley. After four or five minutes of fighting, a lot of ammunition was wasted, but no one in the village fired back.

"Oh no, we've been tricked!" Gong Shengfu looked up and saw that the Miao army outside the dam was swept up, the sky was full of dust, and the entire sky immediately dimmed, and the number of people should be more than 3,000, more than three times his own.

Gong Shenglu said eagerly: "Quickly launch a signal flare and ask the headquarters for rescue!" ”

"Yes, General!" A soldier fires a flare.

So, the men and horses shuttled back and forth, crossbowmen, musketeers, pikemen, sword players, artillerymen, etc., all ready, into a section with earthen walls, for a comprehensive defense, Gong Shengfu was determined to beat the Miao army in the first round.

The fierce attack of the Miao army began, the sound of arrows and arrows roared, the mountain artillery rumbled, and the shouts of killing shook the sky. Gong Shengfu was firm and stubborn, and calmly commanded the Xi family's army to resist the enemy.

The Miao army forcibly attacked, but was repelled by the foreign artillery of the Xi family's army, and the Miao army did not advance half a step, leaving thousands of corpses to retreat.

At night, the Miao army camped on the mountain, and the lights continued for several miles, and Gong Shengfu saw that the Miao army was about to besiege him. Gong Shengfu formed a commando team of more than 300 people, with himself as the captain, each equipped with short weapons and dry firewood, and went to the Miao military camp to set fire.

Taking advantage of the dark night and high wind, this group of commandos quietly came to the Miao army camp and began to set fire. The fire borrowed the wind, and after a while, there was a sea of fire all over the mountains, and the Miao army was in a mess, seeing that the Miao army was about to be buried in the sea of fire, and suddenly it rained heavily.

Gong Shengfu looked up to the sky and sighed: "Heaven doesn't help me, it's not a crime to use soldiers!" Then he led his troops to quickly retreat to the canyon, and it seemed that he had to defend it.

The Miao army was burned by the fire, and the leader reported that Nan Yao secretly rejoiced that the loss of more than 4,000 people and horses was not large, so he ordered to strengthen patrols to prevent Xi's army from raiding again.

The next day, when it was dawn, there was no movement at the headquarters, not even a single figure, and the mouth of the canyon was sealed.

Gong Shengfu stood on a gentle slope of the dam and smashed the earthen wall a few times, why haven't the reinforcements come yet. In last night's battle, more than 100 soldiers were lost, and the food was only enough for three days, how long can more than 800 people and horses hold out?

Suddenly, a scout crawled out of the stream with a bloody face, and reported that the army of the headquarters had gone to the southern end of the crow slope to defend last night, and asked Gong Shengfu to hold out for two days.

"The firearms are almost used, and this is going to kill me!" Gong Shengfu was completely disappointed.

In order to save ammunition, Gong Shengfu and Gong Shengdi went out together to grab some food, he ordered 400 death squads, climbed the steep cliff, and pounced directly on the Miao army who was still asleep.

Gong Shenglu took the lead, wielding a long knife to kill the enemy bravely, the dragon soared and the tiger leaped, like a bamboo, and killed more than 100 people at once. Other soldiers also struggled to cover up, and the Miao army, who had no time to dress, was cut into pulp, and the enemy camp was suddenly in chaos.

Bao Nanyao is not a vegetarian, and immediately organized 800 people to surround Gong Shengfu and them. The heroic Xi Jiajun quickly cooperated with a team and rushed towards Bao Nan Yao. After a bloody battle, the Miao army, which had been put together on a temporary basis, was soon defeated. Seeing that the situation was not good, the deputy general who reported Nanyao also led 500 men and horses to help.

Gong Shengfu shouted: "Withdraw—"

The death squad immediately withdrew to the Miao village in the dam, and reported that Nanyao did not know how many Xijia troops were in the dam, and he suspected that it was a feint and did not chase after him. In this way, the next day, daylight passed again, and the Miao army did not launch an active attack.

At night, there is general silence in the canyon. Gong Shengfu set up the camp on the mountainside, patrolled the camp with torches, and inadvertently saw several black shadows shaking and entered the tent of the Miao army.

With the intuition of a soldier, Gong Shengfu understood that it must be a spy hidden in the Qinghe army, and sent a letter to Bao Nanyao.

Gong Shenglu said to Gong Shengfu worriedly: "Big brother, the big thing is not good, the enemy knows our details, before Bao Nanyao did not launch a counteroffensive, we will take advantage of the night to evacuate along the water stream, right?" ”

Gong Shengfu said: "No! Once we evacuate, the Miao army will catch up. ”

Gong Shenglu said: "I'm afraid that we won't be able to evacuate, the terrain here is unfamiliar." ”

Gong Shengfu said: "Running away is also death, fighting is also death, fighting for the country to die, why die?" ”

Gong Shenglu: "Now it is still possible for us to break through and kill it." ”

Gong Shengfu took out a piece of jade pendant and handed it to Gong Shenglu: "Brother, don't persuade me." I've made up my mind! In this way, tomorrow's war, you can see what you do. ”

Gong Shenglu swallowed and accepted the jade pendant, he admired this loyal and patriotic brother very much: "Big brother, I won't leave either, I will compensate you for the bloody battle tomorrow!" ”......

The next day, when the sky was slightly bright, Gong Shenglu got up to relieve himself, and saw from a distance that Miao Jun had come in from both sides of the valley.

He hurriedly woke up Gong Shengfu, who had just fallen asleep: "Big brother, we are surrounded!" ”

Gong Shengfu jumped up, handed over the task of blocking to Gong Shenglu, and then put on his battle robe and ordered 500 soldiers and horses to gallop towards the valley mouth.

3,000 Miao troops, several times the strength of Gong Shengfu. The Xi family's army, which had not eaten breakfast, fought against the fierce Miao army in the mountains, and the result can be imagined.

The tenacious willpower supported Gong Shengfu to kill from morning to noon, and the enemy was killed and wounded by more than half, and he still failed to eat Gong Shengfu's Xi family army.

After Miao Jun decided to eat, he fought Gong Shengfu to the death, and retreated hundreds of meters one after another. He was so hungry and tired that Gong Shengfu cut a few pieces of meat from Miao Jun's corpse and chewed them, and the other soldiers also took a big bite to eat. It was the first time Miao Jun had seen such a bloody scene, and he was horrified.

Half an hour later, the well-fed Miao army surrounded Gong Shengfu's troops, and the sound of swords and swords, and the clanging of swords and guns resounded in the distance.

The two sides fought until one o'clock in the afternoon, and Gong Shengfu repelled countless enemy charges, and his mount was exhausted and almost collapsed to the ground.

Gong Shengfu got off the horse, slapped it with a gun, and said sadly: "You run for your life!" The horse seemed to understand him, and stood motionless.

It wasn't until Gong Shengfu changed into Miao Jun's war horse that it raised its head to the sky and let out a long roar and ran towards the mountain alone......

At this time, Gong Jichang was in a small camp at the southern end of the Crow Slope, fighting fiercely with Yang Daliu's Miao army. Some of the old people in the Qingman village climbed to a high slope behind the village to see.

The guns roared, Gong Jichang led the Qinghe soldiers to attack from the bottom of the slope, only to see the gun smoke pushed up and up like a thick fog, and then the thick fog pushed down from the top to the bottom, pushed down, and so on several times, the last time the thick fog slowly pushed up, and suddenly pushed up to the top of the mountain.

Hundreds of meters away from the top of the mountain, is the marshal of the Miao army, Gong Jichang took a long breath: Grandma, if Lao Tzu's troops were not well-equipped, they would have almost been killed by Yang Daliu, a barbarian!

The old people who were watching at that time all cried bitterly and shouted: "The babies have failed, the babies have failed." ”