Shi Dakai was not without hope of escaping from the trap of the old fox Luo Bingzhang. On the first day of leading the main force to head north, Li Kaifang, who was joining forces with the Nian Army to attack Heze City, took the initiative to send someone to send letters, saying that they had already known the situation of the main force of the Shandong Qing army gathering in Tai'an, and took the initiative to ask Shi Dakai if he needed reinforcements? He also said that if necessary, a cavalry team that could not participate in the siege operations could be immediately drawn on the Western Front battlefield and advanced east to reinforce Shi Dakai.

Li Kaifang and Shi Dakai did not have a deep friendship, but there was no holiday. He offered to help Shi Dakai so enthusiastically and proactively. Of course, Shi Dakai would not stick Li Kaifang's hot face with a cold butt. He immediately replied to the letter and thanked Li Kaifang, and asked Li Kaifang to send a cavalry to help him make up for the power gap with the Qing cavalry.

Unfortunately, although Shi Dakai asked Li Kaifang for help, he had never considered anything at all waiting for reinforcements to arrive and head north. The next morning, Shi Dakai left Xiao Hua and Zhang Suiru and other generals to lead the old and weak army to guard the rear of Yanzhou, and still led 10,000 elite troops to the north according to the original plan. In just one day, he arrived at Dawenkou, more than fifty miles away, and met Zeng Shi and Jun.

Of course, one big, two small, three small, and three bulwarks could not accommodate Shi Dakai's main army. Shi Dakai's army could only set up a camp with his back against the Dawen River. During the establishment of the camp, Shi Dakai convened a few trusted subordinates to hold a meeting and couldn't wait to announce his combat plan. He decided to send troops to attack the Qing army's Xihe camp first, open the road directly to Tai'an City, and then deliberately stepped into the Qing army's trap, lead the Qing army out of the camp to ambush, deliberately send a group of pretending to be a fake army to attack his own banner, pretending to cooperate with Feng Zicai to sneak attack the Qing army's camp, and immediately defeat the enemy, retreating, and in turn luring the Qing army into the ambush circle of his own army.

Theoretically, Shi Dakai's combat plan is of course fine. The only problem is the time to take action. Zhang Suimu, Zeng Jinqian, Zeng Shihe and Huang Zaizhong and other close friends all suggested that Shi Dakai do not have to worry. After Li Kaifang's reinforcements arrived, Shi Dakai shook his head and refused and said, "You can't wait, there are many dreams. If the Qing Yao finds that Li Kaifang is sending troops to help, he may not dare to take the risk of seducing the enemy. The faster the better."

After saying that, Shi Dakai immediately ordered Zeng Shihe to lead his army north the next day to attack the Qingjun Xihe camp. He said confidently: "Look, Qing Yao's Xihe camp will inevitably fight down. Qing Yao wants to lure my main force to go north and will never work hard to defend Xihe."

Shi Dakai made a serious misjudgment. The next day when Zeng Shihe led his army north to attack Xihe, the Qing army's Xihe garrison not only did not immediately abandon the camp and flee, but instead also relied on the advantage of battalion defense to attack Zeng Shihe's army head-on. As the Taiping Army gradually became corrupt and degenerate, the Qing army also gained experience in continuous actual combat. With roughly equal weapons and equipment levels, the Qing army actually stubbornly withstood the Taiping Army's attack, which also cost the Taiping Army a considerable price.

After half a day of fierce fighting, Zeng Shi and his elite troops lost more than 600 people, and many old brothers who were killed during the Jintian uprising were killed. Zeng Shihe was so distressed that he shed tears directly. However, the Taiping Army still failed to take down the Xihe camp, which only seriously damaged the Qing army's battalion defense fortifications, forcing the Xihe Qing army to voluntarily abandon the camp after the Taiping Army withdrew. When they were still retreating, they razed the remaining battalion defense fortifications to the ground, and did not give the Taiping Army the opportunity to inherit and utilize it.

At this point, Shi Dakai certainly understood the sinister intention of the Qing army, even if it was a fraudulent defeat, he had to use his geographical advantage to destroy the Taiping Army first! While secretly hating the enemy's cunning, Shi Dakai still stubbornly sent his army to seize the stream that could only take the most buffering effect in order to implement his own tactics.

Finally, it was the time for the main force to showdown. According to the prior agreement with Feng Zicai, the Taiping Army had just established a temporary camp in Xihe. Shi Dakai was impatient to send someone to light a wolf smoke on the top of Longshan Mountain next to Xihe and notify Feng Zicai to take action tonight. As a result, the Qing army scout reported the situation to Luo Bingzhang, but Luo Bingzhang laughed and said, "I didn't expect that Shi Dakai's thief was so impatient. He arrived at Dawenkou the afternoon of the previous day and wanted to do it tonight. It seemed that the thief had already been holding a fire in his stomach and wanted to find a place to vent."

"Luo Futai, then how should we deal with this traitor tonight?" Sheng Bao, who was increasingly impressed by Luo Bingzhang, asked quickly.

"Don't be anxious." Luo Bingzhang smiled and shook his head, and said with a grim smile: "Tonight, let the mosquitoes and fleas clean up their hair!"

…………

In order to ensure that the main force of the Qing army was severely damaged and even win the opportunity to defeat the main force of the Qing army in Shandong, that night, Shi Dakai's main force was of course dispatched in full swing, and rushed to the north of the river in the dark to set up an ambush. He had to build a position before the third update to prepare for battle. During this period, because of the darkness and unfamiliar terrain, the Taiping Army had many cases of falling behind and being injured in accidents. Not only did the physical exhaustion be consumed, but he had to ambush in the grass and thorns to recognize the harassment of mosquitoes, flies, snakes and insects, and suffered a lot of crimes from top to bottom.

Relying on the military discipline that Shi Dakai has been working hard to maintain for a long time, with a significant decline in overall quality, the Taiping Army soldiers finally deployed all before the third update. At the same time, the lure army, who was under the banner of Shi Dakai, was ready to launch a feint attack at any time. However, after finally reaching the third update, there was no movement on the main force of the Qing army, and there was no fire and no riots.

"The first time of the third day has passed, why is there no movement?"

He was always staring at the Western pocket watch in his hand. Seeing that the pointers on the pocket watch had passed eleven thirty at midnight, there was still no movement in the Qing army camp. Shi Dakai was inevitably worried. He began to feel a little suspicious, but he refused to give up, and gritted his teeth and just continued to wait. However, he waited left and right, and waited until the fourth morning to correct at 1:00 a.m., but there was no abnormal situation in the Qing army camp. On the contrary, the generals of the army sent people to inquire about the situation and asked if they would continue to be ambushed and wait?

At this time, withdrawing troops and returning to the camp is certainly an option, but if the Qing army is prepared and suddenly dispatching cavalry raids when the Taiping Army retreats, the Taiping Army's infantry team may suffer a great loss. Of course, Shi Dakai dared not make up his mind casually. As a result, at this moment, there was finally a whistle ahead, "Reported to the winged wing, the Qing Yao's night patrol sentry shouted outside the camp, saying yes..."

"What did you say?" Shi Dakai asked quickly.

He looked at Shi Da timidly, and then replied: "It was Feng Zicai who suddenly didn't want to betray him again. I'm really embarrassed to work hard all night with His Royal Highness Wing."

He punched the stone next to him, and Shi Dakai's hands were clenched with a pale finger, but his face turned blue and black. The whistle horses on the other side said again: "The Qing Yao Shishi shouted, saying that their cavalry and horse team are ready, and ask Your Highness, you can retreat with confidence, they will never chase and kill!"

Shi Dakai looked ferocious and said nothing. Zeng Jinqian and Zhang Suimu, two confidant advisers next to him, did not say anything. They suspected that this was just an empty city plan for the Qing army, but they did not dare to conclude that their morale was not high. If the Qing cavalry was stabbed when the Taiping Army retreated overnight, the Taiping Army would basically not fight in this battle.

"Send the entire army to be careful and be vigilant. The order is on the spot. No one is allowed to leave the established position before the order is ordered." Shi Dakai gave the order helplessly, and said in his heart: "You can't take risks, and you can't lose your battle and hurt your morale anymore."

In this way, even though the enemy was unable to judge the situation, the Taiping Army soldiers could only sleep in the wilderness and fed mosquitoes for one night. Although they were lucky and did not encounter any rain, the soldiers of the army still consumed a lot of physical strength and energy over the night, and their morale and physical strength were at the same time, and their combat effectiveness was greatly affected.

After finally suffering until the dawn was dawn, his face darkened for a night. Shi Dakai quickly ordered the entire army to gather and prepare to retreat. However, just as the Taiping Army soldiers gathered together, teams of troops suddenly rushed out of the Qing army camp more than ten miles away, and they were full of energy to arrange attacking formations in front of the camp. Shengbao's commander flag and Luo Bingzhang's Shandong governor flag also appeared in the Qing army at the same time.

"Sheng Damao, the same thing, I don't know how to march and fight, and you will be commanded on the battlefield." With a proud smile, Luo Bingzhang said to Shengbao with great enthusiasm: "But I also have a request to let the Shandong New Army brought from Jinan to attack the vanguard and walk in the front."

"Luo Futai, can you trust your Shandong New Army so much?" Sheng Bao asked skeptically.

Luo Bingzhang smiled and whispered to the personal soldiers beside him. The personal soldiers understood and immediately ran to the Shandong Qing army led by Zhang Guoliang and Yuan Baoheng to convey the order. Then, something that made Sheng Bao and other Qing soldiers stunned. The generals and soldiers of the Shandong New Army actually unbuttoned the gun bags in their hands together, and showed off all foreign guns that they had never seen before. They were all equipped with bayonets. The bright bayonet reflected the sunlight, blinding the dog's eyes.

"Luo Futai, you have so many foreign guns?" Sheng Bao shouted wildly and asked, "Why have you never heard of it before?"

"I'll tell you all this later." Luo Bingzhang smiled and said, "The most important thing now is that the Shandong New Army formed by me personally can now take the lead, right?"

The army equipped with advanced muskets rushed to the front and took the lead. Shengbao would only refuse such a request if he was stupid. After giving Zhang Guoliang and Yuan Baoheng a happy order, Shengbao suddenly remembered the transformed hammer anvil tactics that Wu Chaoyue had introduced to him, and immediately arranged the Qing cavalry on the two wings of the Shandong New Army. Later, he led the main force of the Qing army to follow him, and took great strides towards the Taiping Army that had been tortured all night. What made Shengbao even more overjoyed was that the Shandong New Army actually marched with the Wu army tactics he had seen, and arranged in densely horizontal strides.

At the same time, Shi Dakai certainly faced a painful choice whether to run away or fight resolutely? As a result, at a critical moment, Shi Dakai, who had been in a bad mood since the Northern Expedition, burst out angry. Despite the current poor condition of his own army, he still shouted: "Send the order to the whole army to prepare for the battle! Fight with Qing Yao Decisive to the death!"

After the order was conveyed, despite the decline in physical strength and poor spirit, Shi Dakai's direct main force immediately arranged the battle formation and set up a crab formation on which the Taiping Army relied to sweep the Qing army and deal with the Qing army. At the same time, although Shi Dakai and many old Taiping Army members knew very well the power of Shandong New Army's linear tactics, they generally had such a fantasy in their hearts, "The Qing demon's soldiers could not be as desperate as they surpassed the little demon. They dared to rush to nearly thirty or fifty steps before firing before shooting."

The cruel facts quickly shattered the fantasies of Shi Dakai and others. Although Luo Bingzhang, the two biological mother of the Hunan Army and Chu Yong, did not understand military affairs, was in the same lineage as Zeng Guofan and Wu Chaoyue in selecting troops, and they both like to use honest and honest peasant militia the most. At the same time, the Shandong people are known for their honest and simple character. After receiving strict training on the rules and regulations that Luo Bingzhang and Liu Rong plagiarized from Wu Chaoyue, and with the rare commander of the Qing army, Zhang Guoliang and Yuan Baoheng, the Shandong New Army was still under the tongue-in-cheek of the Taiping Army soldiers, and rushed to the Taiping Army position within 50 meters in the rain of bullets before raising the gun.

The Rizhi rifle equipped by Shandong New Army is also a very excellent rifle. It is equipped with a rifle in the front. Although the gun body is slightly short, it has an advantage that it can load ammunition while loading bayonets. It also uses the most advanced conical bullet (Kulickov warhead). This is more advanced than the British main battle rifle m1842, and its shooting accuracy is quite guaranteed. Therefore, even though the Shandong New Army is still unfamiliar with gunshots, it still left hundreds of Taiping soldiers lying in a pool of blood in the first round of shooting……

The gunshots were constantly sounding, and the Qing army was cheering like thunder, but the Taiping army was all serious. The musket shooting was completely abused, and the charge and assault had to be shot three times first. He had to fight in close combat, and he was bayonetized with the Qing soldiers. Although the Taiping Army suicide squad with rattan cards also killed and injured many Qing soldiers with his experience advantage, the Qing soldiers who had received strict training always maintained a strict formation, protected each other and stabbed each other and sacrificed their lives to rush forward, resisting the Taiping Army's life-sacrificing attack.

The front troop was too much casualties, and in helplessness, Shi Dakai had to withdraw his front troop and change his army to attack. Then, without waiting for the generally pale Taiping Army rear troop to charge, the Qing army had already taken the opportunity to reorganize the formation and reload the ammunition, and put the Taiping Army soldiers who charged in rows like cutting wheat. The Taiping Army soldiers who fled in the battle began to appear, and Shi Dakai's face became increasingly ugly because the dead soldiers were all elites of his headquarters. Every time one person was lost, his main force would be weakened...

…………

The one who volunteered to help Shi Dakai was Zhang Lexing's army. In order to arrive at the battlefield in time to help Shi Dakai, he had just received a reply from Shi Dakai's request for help. Zhang Lexing immediately took his 4,000 Nian cavalry to march eastward. It took only two days to arrive from Heze to Yanzhou. After learning that Shi Dakai had personally led the main force to the north, Zhang Lexing, who was very loyal, ignored the fatigue of the march and asked the army to take a break and immediately set off for Dawenkou. However, when he saw the Taiping Army's Dawenkou Lexing, before Zhang Lexing and other Nian soldiers could cheer, they suddenly fell off.

On the open North China Plain to the north, the Qing army, Manchu and Mongolian cavalry in gorgeous uniforms were like groups of wild animals foraging, cheering and howling, galloping, and rushing left and right on the plain without restraint. The objects they were foraging were all Taiping soldiers with red cloth wrapped on their heads, and Taiping soldiers crying and shouting for escape.

"What happened? How could it be defeated so badly?" Zhang Lexing couldn't believe the scene in front of him at all. However, out of loyalty and responsibility, Zhang Lexing still issued an order to charge and fight without hesitation, leading the Nian cavalry across the Dawen River, caught the Qing cavalry, and covered the completely collapsed Taiping infantry fleeing back to Leicheng.

If the Nian Army cavalry had not arrived in time, Shi Dakai himself would have had the possibility of being killed on the battlefield. However, even though he had escaped back to Dawenkoulei City by chance, Shi Dakai could not help but kneel down and cry, mourning for the disastrous defeat in this battle, and even more distressed the Taiping Army soldiers who died in this battle.

The news that Shi Dakai's main force was defeated in front of the Shandong New Army was spreading, just like a thunderbolt, shocking the Taiping Army soldiers on the entire battlefield in southern Shandong, forcing the Taiping Army to give up the city of southern Shandong, which was about to succeed, and urgently withdraw the city of southern Shandong, and retreated to Yanzhou for rescue. The Qing army and the landlord regiment trained the Lunan Army, with great morale, took the opportunity to counterattack and quickly regained multiple cities and large swathes of land, causing the Taiping Army to take a sharp turn in the situation on the battlefield in southern Shandong, and was forced to change from a full attack to a full defense. The Taiping Army's second large-scale northern expedition basically concludes defeat. The Qing court, who was declining to the west, took the opportunity to escape the danger of destruction and successfully passed the most dangerous period after Wu Chaoyue's sudden rebellion, and won the opportunity to continue to survive.

Yang Xiuqing in Nanjing was also shocked. He could not believe that Shi Da, who took the lead in supporting him to undermine Hong Xiuquan, lost so badly at the meeting. Correspondingly, it was all up to Yang Xiuqing's personal prestige and Shi Dakai's full support to maintain stability and unity. Various contradictions of all sizes and major began to surface.

In contrast to Yang Xiuqing, the Qing court's reaction was of course ecstatic about Shi Dakai's defeat. While crying that the Qing Dynasty was saved, the Japanese Lion immediately advocated ceding Wu Chaoyue, which had finally been returned to the Qing Dynasty, to Tsarist Russia, to exchange for further support from the Tsarist Russian invaders to the Qing court, and even sent troops to help.

Ci'an and Cixi accepted the proposal of the Japanese Six without hesitation, but Cixi pointed out: "Lao Liu, you can't just stare at Changmao, and Wu Chaoyue's rebel thief, you have to find a way to weaken it. Otherwise, when the rebel thief consolidates the rear, we will fight Changmao again, and he will be the one who takes the advantage."

"Of course I know that I can't ignore Wu Chaoyue's traitor, but I really can't do anything for a while." Guizi Liu replied helplessly: "That traitor is too cunning. He can hide all the dangers that can be avoided and will only pick the weakest Yunnan and Gui. Even if I want to weaken him, I can't do it?"

"Can you think of some solutions in Shanghai?" Cixi suggested: "There are not many Wu thief troops in that place, and the foreigners are surrounded by long-haired areas. The situation is extremely complicated, and the Wu thief army will never be able to fully grasp it. If you can find any way to retake Shanghai, you can not only capture Wu Chaoyue's family, but also block the Wu thief army's estuary and cut off the connection between Wu Chaoyue's thief and overseas foreigners."

"The Empress Dowager Cixi is brilliant." The Japanese nodded six times and said, "If you want to weaken the Wu thief, Shanghai is indeed the easiest place to succeed. Let me think about it and see if I can come up with any way to surprise Wu thief."
Chapter completed!