During the period when Guo Songtao and Gong Cheng were fully helping the Taiping Army to purchase the fleet, after a lot of preparations, Liu Kun, who volunteered, still led more than 2,000 people from Zhuangzi Camp in our headquarters to head north and head to the battlefield through Nanyang. . The fastest update

Considering that Liu Kunyi had few troops, but he was likely to be the army of the Qing army in Shanxi, Wu Chaoyue originally planned to draw a Wu army team originally organized as E Yong from the northern line to Liu Kunyi to command and strengthen Liu Kunyi's troops. Unexpectedly, the main force of the Nian Army's Blue and Yellow Banners suddenly rushed into Guangzhou, Henan from northern Anhui, and was active on the border of Hubei and Henan. When most of the elite troops on the northern line were heading north, Wu Chaoyue did not dare to take the risk of dispatching troops from northern Hubei. He could only change his mind and decided to let Nie Shicheng train Li Zhanjun, the newly incorporated Ruzhou regiment in Henan, to help Liu Kun. Fortunately, Liu Kunyi didn't care, and smiled and said that in fact, there was no need to strengthen his troops. If he wanted to expand the army, he could completely wait until he entered Shanxi before recruiting himself.

In contrast to Liu Kunyi, who was charging in front of the battle with his head in his arms, Wu Chaoyue, who was in charge behind, dared not take it lightly, because Nie Shicheng had already reported that the Qing army in Shanxi had not only set up tight defenses on the front line of the Yellow River, but also strengthened the defense of the Jiezhou section of the Yellow River. At the same time, the Qing army in Shanzhou, Henan also used the natural danger of guarding the battle to prevent and defend the battle. The Wu army had almost no chance to smuggle the Yellow River. If they wanted to break through the Yellow River, they basically had to attack and cross the front. Of course, they were destined to pay a considerable price.

In view of this, Wu Chaoyue repeatedly reminded Liu Kunyi, repeatedly emphasizing three points: First, we should not be anxious. Even if we cannot achieve the task of breaking through the Yellow River and seizing Jiezhou, it is not important, and we should not take risks because of greed for merit. Second, the tactics of breaking through the Yellow River must be discussed with Nie Shicheng more, and we must not just do it recklessly; third, we should try our best to conceal the purpose of sending troops, and we can threaten to help Nie Shicheng deal with the Qing army in Henan, and threaten Kaifeng to confuse the Qing army's judgment.

In addition, Wu Chaoyue also told Liu Kunyi that he might as well listen to more suggestions from Zhang Zhidong, who had been named the head of the Wu army's Ministry of War, and let Zhang Zhidong, who had completely deceived Nie Shicheng and Shao Yan several times, think of more ways.

Liu Kun agreed very beautifully, but his actual actions almost made Wu Chaoyue so angry. As soon as Zhuangziying, who was heading north on a boat, landed in Xiangyang Prefecture, Liu Kun's army had already claimed on the dock of Xiangyang Prefecture that they were going to defeat Jiezhou, and he also asked Xiangyang salt merchants who were currently in short supply of goods to prepare to sell salt north and grab the salt from Jiezhou to northern Hubei to make huge profits.

"Why is this Liu Kunyi going crazy? I have repeatedly asked him to conceal the purpose of sending troops. Why did he forget it before he left Hubei?"

After receiving the news from the Xiangyang prefect Liu Qixian, Wu Chaoyue, who had a pretty good temper, was very angry, and almost suspected that Liu Kunyi was deliberately disobeying his orders. However, after calming down, Wu Chaoyue gradually woke up and said to himself: "If you are weak, you are solid, and if you are solid, you are weak. The change of virtuality and reality is all in one thought. Let him go, always tie the hands and feet of the accomplices and lackeys and worry about them in everything. Sooner or later, I will be exhausted like Zhuge Liang. It is better to let go of the training generals and exercise their ability to stand alone."

At the same time, the Qing army's detailed work, which was closely monitoring every move in Xiangyang, had already sent the news to the rear. The result was enough to make Wu Chaoyue feel relieved that Ying Lanpo and Tominga, the two leaders of the Qing army in Henan, were cursing, "Wu dog traitor, come here again. Do you think we will be fooled this time?"

But Liu Kunyi's ** formation did not work completely. At least at present, Xu Ji, the giant pillar of the Qing army in Shanxi, did not join this evil party. Not only did he not relax his defense at all, he also went to Wenshanxi Governor Ying Gui, suggesting that Ying Gui increase his troops to Jiezhou, and pointed out directly in the official document: "Wu Ni used his plan to attack the east and the west. This time, it may not be impossible for a person to attack the west, and he really crossed the Yellow River to attack Jiezhou. Moreover, Jiezhou is a wealthy place. Wu bandits invaded Shanxi, so it is also the right to take Jiezhou first."

Liu Kunyi also failed to hide this trick from Zhang Zhidong, who has become Wu Chaoyue's accomplice. As soon as he received the news, Zhang Zhidong immediately snorted in front of Nie Shicheng and Shao Yan: "It's useless. The government army suffered a loss once, and this time it will definitely not be fooled again. This time I want to deceive the government army to take it lightly and give him the chance to smuggle the Yellow River. There is no hope."

"Xiaoda, when can you change your word to the rebellious army?" Shao Yan reminded Zhang Zhidong helplessly about the title of the Qing army, and then said: "Since Liu Kunyi's tricks can't deceive the rebellious army, what do you think he should do?"

"I don't know what he should do, but I think we can do something first and try our best to lay a good foundation for him." Zhang Zhidong replied: "Now the rebellious army in Mianchi in Xin'an is weak, and it depends entirely on local regiment training. If Liu Kunyi sent troops to Jiezhou this time, if he decides to cross the Yellow River in Shaanxi Province and head north, then the regiment training in Xin, the two places of Mian will definitely be the first to bear the brunt of the first."

Speaking of this, Zhang Zhidong paused, and then said: "Xin'an and Mianchi are not far from Luoyang. We must know how powerful our foreign guns and cannons are. We must also know that if Liu Kunyi's army sends troops westward, it will be their doomsday. So I think we might as well send envoys to secretly contact the leaders of the regiment training in these two places, so as to persuade them to surrender voluntarily, and even let them suddenly turn against each other when they are in the battle, helping us quickly break through the Qingshi Pass, which was closely guarded by the Qing army in Shanzhou."

The Wu army in Luoyang has been afraid of being beaten by the surrounding landlords. After listening to Zhang Zhidong's suggestions, Nie Shicheng and Shao Yan did not refuse, and immediately nodded in agreement. Zhang Zhidong, who was outstanding in literary talent, immediately picked up his pen and wrote a letter to several landlords in Xin'an and Mianchi, persuading them to surrender to the Wu army and help the Wu army enter Shanzhou.

It was also coincidental that at this moment, the first official document that Liu Kunyi contacted Luoyang happened to be delivered to Nie Shicheng. What made Nie Shicheng and Shao Yan dumbfounded was that Liu Kunyi actually asked them to contact the landlords on the Western Front in advance to try to recruit and persuade surrender, and strive to win over these landlords whose main purpose was to protect their property and reduce the resistance of the Wu army to advance westward.

In addition, even Zhang Zhidong was a little surprised and admired that Liu Kunyi actually attached a list of salt prices in Huguang and Jiangxi. Due to the impact of the war and the drag of Yunnan and Guizhou, the salt prices in the areas controlled by Wu Jun were still seriously high. Therefore, Liu Kunyi suggested that Nie Shicheng use sharing the salt profits of Jiezhou as bait to persuade Shanzhou, Xin'an and Mianchi Tenglian to share salt transportation profits and increase their income.

"Who is this Liu Kunyi? Why is his brain so good?" Zhang Zhidong, who had never seen Liu Kunyi, said in surprise: "It is both threatening and tempting to benefit, using both soft and hard, and using both kindness and power. Is this rare Qiu Ba rare?"

"Like you, you are a scholar." Authentic Qiu Ba Nie Shicheng replied: "The first scholar in Xinning County, Hunan Province was the first to be a scholar, but he held a group training and missed the imperial examination."

"So it's all the way." Zhang Zhidong hummed and said, "I understand. He deliberately threatened to attack Jiezhou, not just to attack the east and west and lure the tiger away from the mountain. He wanted to use his power to force people. He held a stick in one hand and a honey in the other. He forced the local team that only wanted to save his life and wealth to give way to him and be a cannon fodder for him, which was so ugly!"

"But that's a good idea."

The two important Westernization officials in the late Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi, jointly optimistic about the two important officials of the Westernization Affairs Office, worked as expected. After the Wu army secretly envoys led the letter to advance westward, the landlord regiments in Xin'an and Mianchi areas were very clear that their own army could not defeat the Wu army, and they really agreed to consider surrendering to the Wu army. Among them, the landlord Zhang Weiqing, who had a very important geographical location in Mianchi, was afraid of the robbery of the Wu army and greedy for future salt transportation profits. Not only did he agree to surrender and lead the way, but he also secretly presented the Qing army's defense fortifications in two important places in Kushi Pass and Bailangdu to the Wu army, in exchange for Nie Shicheng's recommendation as the seventh rank.

At the same time, in the increasingly biting cold wind of late autumn, Liu Kun's army, equipped with the same equipment as the main elite of the Wu army, arrived in Luoyang successfully and met with Nie Shicheng's army. Nie Shicheng led the Wu army's civil and military personnel to greet each other in person, and greeted Liu Kun. As a result, Liu Kun, who was six years older than Nie Shicheng, met, and smiled and said, "Mongting, it's amazing. At the age of 25, he led the first division to break Luoyang, drink horses from the Yellow River, and restrained the two main forces of the rebellion in Shanxi and Henan alone. Our Hubei army has another young general."

"Brother Yanzhuang, don't make fun of me." The real man Nie Shicheng said with a wry smile: "Everyone knows that the general has handed me so many troops and such important tasks, because my elder sister is his wife, and she is today due to nepotism. That's as glorious as Brother Yanzhuang's merits that you have achieved with each sword and a shot?"

"What's the point of leading troops by nepotism? If Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were not relatives of Emperor Wu of Han, could they lead troops to the battlefield at such a young age?"

Knowing that Nie Shicheng was so sarcastic, Liu Kunyi said it very directly, patted Nie Shicheng's shoulder and smiled, "I didn't embarrass your brother-in-law, it's your brother-in-law's Wei Qinghuo Qubing."

Nie Shicheng thanked him shyly, and then introduced Liu Kunyi to the newly acquired Zhang Zhidong, Li Zhan and others. Liu Kunyi greeted them and said to Li Zhan with a smile: "General Li, I am from Hunan and have never been to Henan, so I have to lead the way to Jiezhou. But don't worry, when we capture Jiezhou and take the Yanchi, the general will never swallow your merits according to his merits. I have never been to win the shameless thing, and I, Liu Kunyi, can't do it."

Li Zhan, who was about to attack Liu Kunyi, hurriedly thanked him and repeatedly expressed his determination to do his best to help Liu Kunyi conquer Jiezhou. Zhang Zhidong next to him was depressed and said, "Good means have won over the relationship and encouraged Li Zhan to climb up. He is a talented general who is the only one. I heard that Liu Kunyi was the first Hunan regiment training general who was attracted to Hubei. Is it a coincidence, or is Wu Chaoyue's fake foreign devil really capable of knowing people, and he saw Liu Kunyi's ability early?"

After the greetings, they went to the city to sit together. It was also when Nie Shicheng's personal soldiers arranged a banquet that Liu Kunyi slowly asked Nie Shicheng and Shao Yan about the situation of the Qing army. After learning that the Qing army in Shanxi was increasing its troops to Jiezhou, Liu Kun nodded and said, "I met a strong enemy. I deliberately leaked my target of advance early. Not only did I not waver my suspicion, but I also immediately increased my troops in Jiezhou. Shanxi has not been in chaos over the years. It seems that it is indeed Xu Ji's contribution."

"Brother Yansheng, how are you going to fight this battle?" Nie Shicheng asked quickly.

"First take Shanzhou, then try to break through the Yellow River defense line of the rebellious army, and directly break the prefecture and gain a foothold." Liu Kunyi replied.

"Directly attack head-on?" Nie Shicheng asked in confusion: "Don't you plan to use some strategy to win with a strange one?"

"It's useless." Liu Kun shook his head and said, "The Yellow River Defense Line of the Rebellion Army has been operating for a long time, and the beacon towers that should be arranged have been prepared. Xu Ji is another talented opponent. The tactic of winning unexpectedly is difficult for him to work. On the contrary, he may be able to use his tricks and fall into his trap."

"But if you attack head-on, your ammunition..." Nie Shicheng hesitated and said: "The supply line is too long. I have to deal with the main force of the rebellion in Henan and Shanxi at the same time. There is not much ammunition for you."

"It's okay, just save some money." Liu Kunyi shook his head again and said, "In the third year of Xianfeng, Changmao had no foreign guns and cannons. He just used the guns, bird guns and caves to attack the city, and he still rushed into Shanxi and Zhili to the east. Is our Hubei army even worse than Changmao?"

Seeing that Liu Kunyi looked confident and could not deceive the Qing army into revealing flaws on the Yellow River defense line, Nie Shicheng had to remind Liu Kun to be careful and no longer objected. When asked what help Liu Kunyi needed, Liu Kunyi answered very simply and said, "Try to share some of the bird guns you seized, lift the gun and the medicine you have taken, it will be of great use to me."

"Also, prepare more sericite for me." Liu Kunyi added.

At the same time, after receiving the news that Liu Kun's army arrived in Luoyang, Xu Jihe, who commanded the Qing army in Shanxi, led the Qing army in Henan, immediately strengthened his defense with all his might. Especially Xu Ji, who was responsible for the Yellow River defense line, issued a strict order to prohibit the mobilization of any Shanxi army guarding the ferry, repeatedly emphasized the beacon tower system, and did not give the Wu army a chance to suddenly smuggle. He also set up a command post in Jiezhou, which was most likely chosen by the Wu army as a breakthrough, storing a large amount of ammunition, and was always ready to go to the Jiezhou battlefield to command the river.

After being reported by Xu Ji, after a short rest in Luoyang, Liu Kun's army moved westward and rushed to Shanzhou, Henan, which was not protected by the Yellow River. The magistrate of Shanzhou, Lu Pu, hurriedly asked Xu Ji for help, while Xu Ji continued to refuse to help him, and even ordered a severe ban on the Qing army in Jiezhou from crossing the river to reinforce.

The main force must guard the city of Zhou and the important area of ​​Jiushiguan. The two broken counties, Xin'an and Mianchi, hanging alone to the east of Jiushiguan, naturally did not receive strong support from the state, and could only defend the city by relying on their own. As a result, after the Wu army was at the city, the Xin'an delegation, which was the first to be hit, not only did not dare to help defend the city, but also immediately put down their weapons and surrendered to Liu Kun. After Liu Kun repeatedly sent envoys to the city to persuade the surrender, the Xin'an County Magistrate, who had long been overwhelmed, had to open the city to surrender.

The situation in Mianchi was similar. Although the magistrate of Mianchi once did not answer any response to the Wu army's surrender, after seeing Zhang Weiqing, the largest regiment trainer under his rule, took the initiative to lead the Yinghao Town regiment trainer to help the Wu army attack the city, the magistrate of Mianchi, who was surrounded by enemies, had to make the wisest choice to open the city gate obediently and surrender to the Wu army.

The reason why Xin'an and Mianchi survived to this day was entirely because they were poor and destroyed. The Wu army had no interest in occupying the Luoyang. It was no surprise that they were captured by Liu Kunyi without any effort. The real test was still to come. After taking Mianchi, although the Wu army had two choices from Bailangdu to cross the Yellow River and advance to Shanzhou, no matter which tactic was adopted, they would definitely be resisted by the Qing army. Therefore, how Liu Kunyi fought next was the thing that Nie Shicheng, Xu Ji and others were most concerned about.

The choice made by Liu Kunyi surprised Nie Shicheng and Xu Ji together. With the lack of food and grass in Mianchi City and the Wu army in Luoyang unable to provide too much food and grass for Liu Kunyi, Liu Kunyi did not rush to march. Instead, he spent three days to reorganize Xin'an, who had just surrendered, and trained the Mianchi regiments, dyed their hat tassels white with sericite and dressed up as Wu soldiers. Then he used these local regiments as vanguards and advanced towards the Jiushi Pass, where the Qing army was heavily stationed.

What was even more surprising was at the back. After arriving at the Jiushi Pass, Liu Kunyi did not use the firepower cover and frontal attack tactics that Wu Jun had used. Instead, he carefully explored the terrain and formulated tactics to solve the problem with authentic blasting before putting it into practice. At the same time, Nie Shicheng, Xu Ji and others realized that Liu Kunyi did not use the powerful picoric acid to perform blasting, and chose to use primitive black gunpowder.

Although it was primitive, it was enough. After successfully stuffing about 200 kilograms of black gunpowder under the wall of the Huoshiguan, the narrow and old Huoshiguan wall basically collapsed. Then, something even more surprising happened. The fighter plane that broke through the gate was placed in front of him. Liu Kunyi did not use his main force Zhuangzi Camp and chose to send a newly incorporated local regiment to train with a bird gun and raised a gun to strike the vanguard.

The fighter plane seemed to be missed by Liu Kunyi. Although the newly-organized gang trained with mediocre combat power struggled for a long time, they could not break through the temporary defense line formed by the Qing army with the ruins of the walls. After a long battle, deserters even began to appear. As a result, Liu Kunyi was not polite and immediately ordered the Wu army soldiers to shoot with a firing gun, and drew a line on the battlefield, shouting: "If anyone who crosses this line, kill immediately!"

Due to Liu Kunyi's remnant power, the regiments in front really dared not retreat and flee. Even if they couldn't rush over, they gritted their teeth and shot against the Qing army. Liu Kunyi seized the opportunity and took advantage of the opportunity of the Qing army's exhaustion in the long battle and the gun barrel was heated and unable to charge, and once again threw a regiments in front to launch a charge, forcing the Qing army at Jiushiguan to quickly strengthen the front line.
Chapter completed!