Although Mu Zhan's order is to "speed up", the order is an order, and the execution is an execution, and this acceleration. Didn't say how much to add? Isn't it all a plus!

Now the friendly army is in trouble, and the flag army and the green battalion under Mu Zhan are not as immobile as a mountain, and they are already worthy of the salaries of those two soldiers, and it is almost the same as a so-so "disease like a turtle".

Of course, Mu Zhan is a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, and he is the grandson of Jin Taishi's eldest family. He is not a loyal minister, who is a loyal minister?

So you have to hurry!

However, the premise of hurrying must also ensure their own safety, especially the vanguard of Geste led the horse team into the encirclement of the traitors, Mu Zhan was almost surrounded by infantry troops, and he also pulled a lot of artillery and baggage. What if this is attacked by the rebel cavalry?

And the cavalry of the traitors. Soon to come!

This side of Huaibei is the Great Plains, and there has always been a tradition of raising horses. The historical Twist Army had a large number of mules and horses, which could carry out long-distance maneuvers in the vast northern land, and even beat the sleepy monk Lingqin in a fatal ambush in mobile combat! Therefore, Li Zhongtang recruited cavalry teams under the heads of various battalions in Huaibei, although these cavalry are not very elite, the skills of riding archery and horse charging are far from home, there are no good horses, and the discipline is also very poor, but after all, they are horse teams that can go back and forth on the Great Plains. Moreover, they are also very familiar with the terrain of Huaibei, and they all know where those large and small rivers can be crossed and where they can't be crossed.

And these Huaixi cavalry are now all gathered by Li Dazhongtang and handed over to Wang Leiyong and Yu Haitao, the two cavalry generals brought by Wu Xiaosu (both of them and He Tianran are Wu Guogui's family members). And these two cavalry generals and He Tianran also brought some veterans (all of them were Wu Guogui's personal soldiers) when they transferred to Li Dazhongtang's door, and later in the process of following Li Zhongshan, they recruited some of their subordinates, and now they each have dozens of old cavalry brothers, relying on these old brothers, Wang Leiyong and Yu Haitao easily mastered thousands of Huaixi cavalry.

Of course, these Huaixi cavalry can't go head-to-head with Gestai's Eight Banners Horse Team, but Geste has already drilled into the encirclement, and the Huaibei land is their vertical and horizontal world!

In addition to these not very elite Huaixi cavalry, Ma Bao's elder brother Ma Weixing, who was transferred from Wu Sangui to Geng Jingzhong by the Qing Dynasty to "exchange rebel experience", also has a cavalry under his hands.

At this time, Wang Lei Yong, Yu Haitao, and Ma Weixing were all sent out, each leading a team of cavalry to move north of Suishui, and Mu Zhan led a 20,000 infantry army, of course, he couldn't avoid the eyes of these cavalry.

With a shout of "enemy attack, cavalry", the 23,000 Qing warriors below Mu Zhan who "slowed down when they saw the thief" all let out a long breath!

"Chief, there are large groups of thieves and horses in front of our army and on the left and right sides, with a total of no less than 20,000!"

Mu Zhan, who was riding a horse and advancing slowly, heard the report of his subordinates, and almost didn't spurt blood, 20,000 cavalry? How dare you make it up!

Look at the smoke and dust raised in front and on the plains on the left and right, at most a few thousand cavalry, how could there be twenty thousand? This is a blatant lie about the military situation!

"Probe!"

Mu Zhan spit out two words in a calm voice, and then continued to walk slowly with the troops.

After a while, a few more horses under Mu Zhan's command rushed to him, and then dismounted and reported loudly: "Report!" Twenty or thirty miles ahead, thousands of elite horsemen were found, and they also recognized the flag with the word "horse" and the word "Wu"! ”

"What? Thousands of elite riders still have the word 'horse' and the word 'Wu' to recognize the flag? Could it be"

The atmosphere suddenly became very tense!

Li Zhongshan will never be able to pull out thousands of elite riders, but his good friend Wu Shifan has it! The "horse" character recognition flag should not be Ma Bao, the iron cavalry chief under Wu Sangui, right?

"Chief," Shang Kejiao immediately stepped forward and came to Mu Zhan's side, "This place is only seven hundred miles away from the Nanyang Mansion Realm, if Wu Shifan sends troops, he will be able to arrive in seven days!" ”

Nian Yaoling also immediately echoed: "Chief, Wu Shifan and Wang Datou have a fateful relationship, and his sister-in-law is Wang Datou's wife, so naturally we can't help but guard against it!" ”

The prestige of the Wu Jiajun is much greater than that of the Huaixi Army!

This story is made up at a high level, and it is much more than the 20,000 Huaixi cavalry statues under Wang Datou.

However, Mu Zhan can't withdraw his troops to Xuzhou just because there is Wu Shifan in front of him, and now the trapped Fu Liji is 10,000 Eight Banner soldiers!

"Form a phalanx, hold on and move slowly!" Mu Zhandao.

The generals below have been waiting for Mu Zhan's words for a long time - friendly troops are in trouble, even if they can't move like a mountain and retreat like the wind, they must advance like a turtle and a snail!

"Huh!"

The generals made cheerful sounds, and Mu Zhan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

However, it is still moving forward, even if it is really the same as the turtle crawling, there will always be a time to climb to the battlefield. In addition, although it can still crawl, the communication with the Fu Liji in front and Xuzhou City in the rear has been completely cut off.

This is the bitterness of the infantry when it meets the cavalry, and it is sealed up for you before and after, and I don't know any news. Even if the Qing Dynasty is still there, there is no way to know.

So their cheerful mood didn't last long, and it became solemn.

What they didn't know was that they would soon get the good news that would allow them to be completely freed from the Xusu Battlefield!

On the fourth day after the start of the Battle of Fuliji, when the encirclement of Fuliji was tightened more and more, the cupola cannon that could fire twenty-four catties of flowering shells was erected. When the 23,000 siege relief troops led by Mu Zhan advanced ten miles a day to move closer to Fuliji. When the already cloudy sky began to fall with a drizzle. In the rain and fog, a military horse finally approached the west of Xuzhou City when the sky was about to dawn.

At this time, the northeast of Xuzhou is surrounded by the Yellow River on both sides, and the south is Yunlong Lake, and only the west is flat and open. At this time, the west gate of Xuzhou has been opened, and the people are constantly carrying the grain transported from several market towns near Xuzhou. Since a month ago, Xuzhou has been preparing to deal with the siege, because the terrain of Xuzhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so the "attack" in the "siege" can only be an auxiliary, and the "siege" is the main means.

In order to cope with the "siege", it is necessary to reserve a large amount of grain and grass. Therefore, before leading his troops to follow Mu Zhan on the expedition, the prefect of Xuzhou sent people to buy grain at a high price from all the nearby market towns.

I didn't expect to buy much. After all, the market towns near Xuzhou are also the same as the market towns in Huaibei, Anhui Province, all of which are surrounded by large earth and tribes, and they are very strong! Now to sell the grain to the government of the Qing Dynasty, it is better to take the grain children and nephews to form a group to participate in the anti-Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and turn back to fight for the ancestral wealth.

But I didn't expect that I had an eye for money! Zhao Xiaolian (lifting people) of Zhaojiaquan in Xiao County, Xuzhou, took out 30,000 stone of old rice to sell to Xuzhou Mansion, and the fleet of grain came along the Yellow River and arrived outside Xuzhou last night.

Thank goodness for that!

Therefore, the officials who stayed in Xuzhou Mansion hurriedly asked people to open the city gate, and also summoned hundreds of people from the city to carry grain from the Yellow River wharf to the west gate of Xuzhou City. And the gate of Xuzhou has been closed a few days ago because it has to prevent the sneak attack of rebels. Chickens, ducks, fish, meat, melons, fruits and vegetables outside the city, and even firewood and coal for burning fires cannot be transported into the city. And the people in the city were not ready to deal with the siege, and there were not many things in their homes, so they were panicked.

Now they found that the city gate was actually opened, and they all flocked out to buy it, and those small merchants who lived in the annex seemed to know in advance that the city was going to open, and they had already prepared all kinds of goods and set up stalls outside the city gate to sell.

For a while, outside the west gate of Xuzhou City turned out to be a bazaar, even if it was still raining lightly in the sky, it was still crowded with people.

The Qing army left behind in Xuzhou, although the number was not large, there was only one garrison camp of less than 1,000 people, but at this time, they were not worried about the enemy's sneak attack, neither drove away the merchants who were doing small business, nor urged the people to move quickly, but began to collect stall fees one stall after another! There are also some green battalion soldiers who set up cards at the city gate to collect money under the pretext of guarding against thieves.

And when the sky was completely bright, Master Zhao's grain had already been sent to the city, but the business outside the west gate of Xuzhou was getting bigger and bigger, and people who didn't know the news were pouring out - hurry up and buy some! If you don't buy it today, you won't have to buy it in a few days! And the businessmen who come to Xuzhou West Gate to do business today are not treacherous, do not take the opportunity to raise prices, nor are they short of two catties, and they are full in turn, and even bargaining is not big.

And these merchants also seem to be loyal, and they are all good guys with strong physiques

The old man Zhao who transported grain to Xuzhou and the Zhao family under his command did not leave after receiving the money, but moved a lot of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea from the ship, and set up a stall outside the Xuzhou city gate to sell it. The clansmen who came with him were all sturdy young men in their early twenties, and they could see tendons and flesh on their bare arms!

The people of Xuzhou City have not known the situation outside for several days, and they took the opportunity to buy materials to talk to those loyal businessmen who have tendons and meat on their two arms.

These loyal businessmen knew at a glance that they were well-informed, and they were right.

"How's the big head of the Rebel King? Have you ever been killed by the heavenly soldiers of the imperial court? ”

"Nope. Heavenly soldiers of the imperial court. Didn't play well! ”

"Ah, defeated?"

"It's not defeated yet, it's just surrounded, and I'm waiting for the imperial court to send another army to save it!"

"Where did Wang Datou get so many soldiers? How did you surround the tens of thousands of troops of the imperial court? ”

"He doesn't have so many soldiers, his father-in-law does! Do you know who his father-in-law is? ”

"It's Wu Rebellion. No, it's the prince of the West! ”

"The prince of the West surrounded Kangxi in Xi'an a while ago! Why does he have an army of 180,000 under his command? ”

"There must be some, it seems that Li Zhongtang borrowed the western soldiers, and he will soon win a big victory! After he wins, will he come to Xuzhou? ”

"That's for sure, Xuzhou is a battleground for soldiers since ancient times!"

"Then we need to get ready."

"Yes, you have to prepare, you see this is a pot, this is a pot. Do you know what it's for? ”

"Know, know"

"Then buy two, shall we?"

"Buy two pairs of little old children, there are many people in the family!"

Just when the people of Xuzhou City were about to deal with Li Zhongshan, a team of cloth-clothed men driving a cart had already driven towards the west gate of Xuzhou. The leader of these men was a strong man with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, wearing a white robe, holding a folding fan in his hand, riding a big red horse, and a few people wearing short shirts and with muskets on their belts.

A general manager in charge of the West Gate of Xuzhou was standing in front of a stall selling baskets and pots, holding a basket and looking carefully. You have to pick a better one, and it's decent to use it for cakes when you go back!

Suddenly, I heard someone shouting, "Who are you?" Where did it come from? ”

"Phew! Blind your dog's eyes, this is our old lady Chang Yangzhou! ”

The person who came was a Yangzhou dialect!

When has this been? Why are there still Yangzhou businessmen coming to Xuzhou? Selling smuggled salt?

The general manager immediately became vigilant, and looked at the Yangzhou accent, and immediately saw that the old lady Chang who was riding on the horse was not old at all, that is, he was in his twenties, but this is quite normal, and the businessmen in Yangzhou like to call people "old lady".

Look at the entourage next to the old lady Chang, they also look like thugs of the Salt Gang.

"Now that the war is in chaos, what are you doing in Xuzhou?"

The general put the basket back on the side of the stall, and then pressed the handle of the knife with one hand, and pointed to the "old lady Chang" with the other hand and asked.

"Hahaha!" The surname Chang laughed three times, and then said loudly, "I am the king of Kaiping in the Ming Dynasty, and Chang Wei of Jiangdu is also, and now I am ordered by Li Zhongtang to take Xuzhou, and you will not surrender quickly!" ”

The Great Tomorrow Soldier is coming!

The one who always subconsciously shouted to catch the thief, but his head was blocked by something like an iron pipe, and he looked at it out of the corner of his eye, it was the man from the Zhao family who had just bought it for him, holding an iron rod in his hand and pressing it against his head.

If you go down this stick, your head will bloom!

The man was polite, and handed the basket to the general manager with a pleasant face, and there was a steamed bun in the basket, and said with a smile: "I will exchange this dumpling and this steamed bun for your knife!" Do you want to change it? ”

"Change, change" The always quickly let go of the handle, and then let the other party take away his waist knife, and then took the basket containing a steamed bun, raised it high, and shouted loudly: "The people of Xuzhou welcome the Ming Wangshi!" ”

When he shouted, the others immediately reacted, and they all shouted together: "The people of Xuzhou welcome the heavenly soldiers of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

"The Great Ming King is here!"

"The king has entered the city!"

In fact, the big guys are looking forward to the Great Ming King in their hearts!

If Wang Shi takes Xuzhou, Xuzhou will not be surrounded, and the small life of the big guy will not be affected.

In addition, Xuzhou is the central city of Huaibei, and the people of Xuzhou are actually the same as the people of this "set" and that "set" outside! Nine times out of ten it is also the ancestral Ming army, who wants to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty?

When Chang Wei saw this scene, he knew that the west gate of Xuzhou City could almost be taken, but he didn't dare to take it lightly, so he still took out a flintlock pistol and shot it into the sky, which was a signal for action!

As soon as the gun rang out, those who were originally doing business, as well as Zhao Juren and his sons and nephews, all broke out, and they all took out big knives and spears from the carts they were pushing and picked up the goods, and shouted loudly together, "The soldiers of the Great Tomorrow have arrived", and then rushed to the west gate of Xuzhou.

At the same time, some people raised a red flag and threw themselves on the tower of the west gate of Xuzhou.

Now the city of Xuzhou is very empty, the defenders are only a thousand people, and there is no strength to fight to the death - the city camp is generally locals, and it is enough to defend the city against thieves, but the Ming Dynasty is now the king's division, and Huaixi is the "old area of the Ming Dynasty", how many people are willing to help the Qing Dynasty fight against the Ming? It's not realistic!

On a hill only seven or eight miles away from the west gate of Xuzhou, dozens of horsemen stood on it, quietly watching the chaos at the gate of Xuzhou, and the red flag was planted on the head of Xuzhou City. The leader of them was Li Zhongtang's military advisor Zhou Chang.

This battle of Xuzhou was planned by him, Luo Dawei, and Shang Shuying. However, this first credit has to be given to Chen Yonghua's brother-in-law Chang Wei, this is politics!

Of course, Zhou Chang, Luo Dawei, and Shang Shuying will not suffer, especially Zhou Chang and Luo Dawei, after this war, both of them will be Li Zhongtang's right-hand men in the military.

Seeing the red flag fluttering at the head of Xuzhou City, Zhou Chang finally suppressed the tumbling emotions in his heart, and he turned his head to the officers around him and said, "You can enter Xuzhou now. Remember, you must restrain the team, be sure to do nothing in autumn, and take Xuzhou all! ”

"Yes!"

(End of chapter)