The Wu army was defeated because they didn't understand the enemy situation and didn't know how much the Qing army attached to the south gate at all. They directly sent the blasting team across Panhe. In order to facilitate the blasting, they immediately launched an attack after succeeding. Before the blasting was successful, they immediately started to build a floating bridge. However, they had no idea that the Qing army had already discovered the actions of their own troops, and pulled the rope connecting the city early, like the Qing army on duty on the city issued a warning.

The Qing army barracks guarding the city were also very cunning. After receiving the alarm, they did not yell and startle the Wu army under the city. They chose to ask the soldiers guarding the city to get up to prepare for war, and sent people to inquire into the city, asking the Qing army reserves in the city to prepare for reinforcements, wait patiently for the Wu army to set up a floating bridge, send the commando across Panhe, and wait quietly for the Wu army soldiers to die.

Then, the Wu army naturally had a coffee table. They used Dana explosives to blow the city gate and found that the city gate corridor had been blocked by earth, stone and sandbags. The Qing army took the opportunity to fire and attacked the Wu army's commando with fierce fire. At the same time, they also concentrated artillery fire to bombard the Wu army's floating bridge and cut off the north-south connection between the Wu army. The Wu army's commando could not advance to the city, and the retreating road was blocked by the Qing army's firepower. They were defeated. Those who could not water rushed up the floating bridge and fought to cross the river. Those who could water jumped into the Pan River one after another. In early winter, they swam across the river and fled back to the south bank of the Pan River in a mess. The Qing army laughed wildly and fired guns and shot and killed the members of the Wu army commando who had no power to fight back, as well as the Wu army reserve team on the south bank of the Pan River, achieving a brilliant victory.

According to preliminary statistics, Wu's army died in this battle, nine missing people, two seriously injured, and more than 30 minor injuries. Although the number of casualties is not very large, most of the sacrifices are elite veterans who have experienced many battles. Anyone can be pulled out to serve as the core backbone of the Shi Changshou Officer in the ordinary battalion. The losses are actually quite considerable, and the morale of the army has also been greatly affected. Therefore, after taking the army back to the safe area, the Wu army's vanguard general Cheng Jiaxie had to immediately run to Hu Huaizhao to apologize and honestly expressed his willingness to accept any punishment.

Fortunately, Hu Huaizhao had already seen the situation clearly with his telescope and knew that the loss of this battle had nothing to do with Cheng Jiaxie's command, but because the Qing army was prepared for a long time, and the Wu army suffered too much in terms of geographical advantages, so Hu Huaizhao did not blame Cheng Jiaxie too much, but just asked: "How was it discovered by the rebellious army? Did he act too much when he built the floating bridge and was discovered by the rebellious party in the city?"

"I don't know." Cheng Jiaxie said in shame: "It shouldn't be. I kept watching on the shore when I was building the pontoon bridge. I was sure that there was no loud noise, but I wasn't sure."

"The useless thing, I don't even know how the enemy discovered it." After complaining to Cheng Jiaxie, Hu Huaizhao had no choice but to sigh and ordered: "Retreat the troops, the rebels are prepared, and reinforcements must have come to the city. There is no hope tonight."

Cheng Jiaxie agreed in a disgrace, but Hu Huaizhao was even more depressed than him, because the only hope of the Wu army quickly breaking the city was the battlefield of the South Gate of Tai'an. After the sneak attack failed, the Qing army would definitely pay more attention to the defense of the South Gate. The next Wu army wanted to capture Tai'an by sneak attacking, which might be almost zero. Attacking Tai'an was basically the only option of time-consuming and labor-intensive frontal attack. However, the Wu army was very nervous about the issue of food and grass, so to be honest, Hu Huaizhao was no longer sure whether he could still capture Tai'an City.

At this time, a former soldier ran to Cheng Jiaxie who had not had time to leave, and clasped his fists and said, "General Cheng, found five missing brothers. They drifted downstream and went ashore and had returned to the team."

"Okay." Cheng Jiaxie nodded and ordered casually: "Continue to search to see if we can find the remaining brothers."

The speaker was unintentional, and the listener was unintentional. When he heard the report of the former soldiers, Hu Huaizhao, who was worried next to him, felt aroused and said, "What did you say just now? Five brothers came back from the water? Didn't they swam here?"

"Report to General Hu, they said they came back from the water, so the details are not clear." The former team soldier who came to report answered truthfully.

"Take them right away and let me ask them in person." Hu Huaizhao quickly ordered, and a glimmer of hope was rekindled in his heart.

According to Hu Huaizhao's instructions, five Wu soldiers who had disappeared but returned successfully were quickly led to the front. When Hu Huaizhao asked them carefully about their passing, the five Wu soldiers answered truthfully, saying that because the water was too poor, they were washed to the lower reaches of Pan River by the river. However, after coming back to their senses, they tried every means to barely stand firm. However, they found that the river was not deep, so they took their hands and took the risk of crossing the river, and returned to the south bank. Hu Huaizhao was overjoyed and hurriedly asked: "The deepest part of the river has flooded you?"

"It's only taller than your chest, not reaching your neck."

A medium-sized soldier Wu Jun answered first, and gestured at the location where he was flooded by the river. Hu Huaizhao, who was also not too tall, quickly compared his height with him. Cheng Jiaxie next to him also understood the strangeness and said ecstaticly: "The river water is so shallow? Brother Hu, let's just flow water over and attack the South Gate?"

"No hurry, wait until dawn tomorrow." Hu Huaizhao answered excitedly, then subconsciously glanced at the upstream direction of Panhe, and said in his heart: "You have to send a few people to the upstream to see if there is a place that can temporarily block the river water."

…………

In contrast to the Wu army soldiers who were frustrated, after successfully defeating the legendary brave Wu thief army in the battle to defend the city, Tai'an's defenders were of course extremely ecstatic, their morale rose sharply, and their confidence increased immediately. All of them said that the Wu bandits were just like this, and it was not much more difficult to deal with the Taiping Army. What happened to be the next morning, the newly appointed Shandong Governor Bao Jing sent someone to send an urgent document, saying that he would send Zhang Guoliang, a famous general of the Qing army, to lead his army south to reinforce Tai'an, so that Liu Yingjie and Baisheng could defend the city with peace of mind and wait patiently for reinforcements to arrive.

After winning a battle, he received such good news. Liu Yingjie, who was overjoyed, made the good news public at the first time, and received the cheers of the Tai'an defenders. Everyone was happy. His deputy Yu Sheng also smiled and bowed to Liu Yingjie and said, "Congratulations to Liu Nietai, congratulations to Liu Nietai. This time, as long as he withstands the Wu thief army and survives this level, the court rewards him according to merits, and the title of governor should be yours."

"I dare not, I dare not, I am actually overwhelmed by the Shandong Censorship. How dare I peek at the position of governor?" Liu Yingjie was hypocritical and then smiled and said, "It's General Bai, you should congratulate you. After the battle this time, why should you have a viscount?"

Bai Sheng was hypocritical and tacitly aware of Liu Yingjie. However, Liu Yingjie was still calm and quickly turned his words back to the point and asked: "General Bai, in your opinion, what will the Wu thief army fight next?"

"I guess they dare not dare to attack the South Gate anymore." Yusheng came to a confident conclusion and said: "The Wu thief army came by land, and it was difficult to transfer food and grass. Basically, there was only the choice of quick battle and quick decision. If I expected it, the Wu thief army would likely attack us outside the city and open up the road to advance, and then launch an attack as soon as possible."

"If we really want to fight like this, it will be easier for us to defend it. No matter what the three city gates outside the city gate are lost, they can be blocked immediately like the south gate." Liu Yingjie nodded and said again: "But we still have to be careful of other tricks of the Wu thief army. According to Luo Futai, the most difficult thing for the Wu thief army to deal with is to cheat and cheat. We have many tricks. We must keep an eye on them and prevent them from playing new tricks."

"This is easy to deal with." Yum replied more confidently: "We have been stationed in Tai'an for a long time, and we are familiar with the mountains and rivers of Tai'an. As long as we send more scouts to monitor them carefully, no matter what tricks the Wu thief army plays, we will definitely not be able to hide them from our eyes."

Yum is so confident, of course it is not a random boast. The home battle is familiar with the terrain, and the local people support the Tai'an Qing army, which is much more disciplined than the Taiping Army, so it is difficult to hide the Wu army's every move from the Tai'an Qing army. As a result, what made Liu Yingjie and Yum even more relieved was that on the first day after the sneak attack, the Wu army's army did not make any major moves. They just sent a large number of people to go up the mountain to cut wood and build various siege weapons. At the same time, many scouts were sent to closely inspect the surrounding movements and did not rush to launch a forcibly attack. In this regard, although Liu Yingjie and Yum also understood that the Wu army was sharpening their knives and chopping wood, they were also very relieved and said, "Since you are not in a hurry, we are not in a hurry. Let's see how long your food and grass can last!"

A day passed quickly. On the second day after the Wu army failed to attack, the main force of the Wu army, who had already set up a camp outside the east gate, suddenly stepped up, crossed the Panhe River, and moved directly to establish a camp outside the south gate of Tai'an. In addition, the Wu army divided about 4,000 troops and drove to Liying near Buxiling in the western suburbs of Tai'an. Liu Yingjie and Baisheng were both surprised and said in surprise: "How did the Wu thief army move to the south gate of Tai'an? If we want to build a floating bridge and cross the river and attack directly, aren't they afraid that we will directly break the floating bridge with artillery?"

"What are you doing when we split a branch and set up a camp in Buxiling? I want to intercept our reinforcements? But that is not the only way for our reinforcements to move south?" Baisheng, who was barely considered a famous general of the Qing army, said in surprise: "Also, our scout said that the bandit army did not seize the highest point of Buxiling. It was set up a camp two miles away. What did the bandit army want to do? It is completely inconsistent with the rules?"

"Send more people to keep an eye on the Wu thief army." Liu Yingjie made the only decision that the Qing army could choose at the moment, and said: "If nothing unexpected happens, the Wu thief army's tricks will come soon."

Unfortunately, Liu Yingjie was told that it was just early the next morning. Before the sky was clear, the guard of the South Gate hurriedly sent someone to report, saying that for some reason, the water level of Panhe outside the South Gate suddenly began to slowly drop, as if there was a possibility of a quit. Liu Yingjie and Baisheng were shocked together and could only hurried to the South Gate and visit the scene in person to check the situation. As a result, after climbing the South Gate to Tai'an South Gate, before he could raise his telescope to take a closer look, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng had already seen the natural barrier of Panhe, the water level had dropped to about half of the usual level, and the water flow was also very slower than usual!

"Buxiling!"

Liu Yingjie suddenly woke up and shouted: "There is a problem on Buxiling! There is a big depression to the north of Buxiling. Wu thief army blocked the river there, and introduced the river water into the depression, leaving the Pan River to cut off the flow, so that they can directly attack the south gate of Tai'an!" (ps: Non-fiction terrain, that depression is the current Tai'an Dahe Reservoir.)

"What a treacherous Wu thief army!" Bai Lian also woke up and said in surprise: "Even such a shameless method is to come up with such a shameless method. No wonder they were moving to the south gate of Tai'an. It turned out that they wanted to bypass our fortifications outside the city and directly attack our only south gate without the protection of fortifications outside the city!"

After Liu Yingjie and Baisheng guessed that it was not long after, the scouts from outside the city hurriedly reported that it was the Wu army's partial army blocking the Pan River with earth, stone and sandbags near Buxiling, forcing the river into the large depression north of Buxiling. At the same time, the fine work outside the south gate also sent an urgent letter, saying that the Wu army was still smoked after breakfast, and it was very likely to be making steamed buns and other dry food. As a result, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng, who have been through many battles, came to the conclusion that the Wu army might have to launch a frontal attack, and it is also very likely to be a long-term attack day and night!

"What to do? What to do? What to do?"

As anxious as an ant on a hot pot, Liu Yingjie and Yum finally discussed some countermeasures to strengthen the defense of the South Gate. They seized the time to move the useful torches to the South Gate city to replenish firepower, and prepared more dry food torches for long-term combat; organized suicide squads to prepare for the temporary dam fortifications of the Wu army, and destroyed the dam at any cost to restore the water level of the Panhe River; and prepared the defenses from the east and west and north to prepare for attacking the attacks in order to launch an assault when the South Gate is in an emergency and share the pressure on the South Gate battlefield!

In addition, Liu Yingjie and Yum Sheng certainly did not forget to send a quick horse to carry the urgent letter to the north, reporting to Baoyan about the critical situation facing Tai'an, and requesting Baoyan to send reinforcements south as soon as possible.

Fortunately, the road from Tai'an to Jinan has always been in the hands of the Shandong Qing army. At the same time, Great Wall Post and Zhang Xia Post and Yima can transfer to the Tai'an Qing army's emergency messenger. That night, Liu Yingjie and Yusheng's emergency letters were sent to Jinan City, and presented them to Bao Yan, the newly appointed Shandong Governor of the Qing Dynasty. As a result, after learning the content of the letter, Bao Yan's face suddenly changed. He quickly sent someone to send an order to Zhang Guoliang, asking Zhang Guoliang to prepare for the south to reinforce Tai'an overnight, and set off south to save Tai'an early the next morning.

"Baofutai, you should immediately send an urgent document to Liu Nietai and Baititai and others." Ronglu next to him suggested: "Tell them that it is best to keep Tai'an City. If it really cannot be kept, if it is killed by Wu's thief army, set fire immediately and burn all the food and ammunition in the city, so as not to give Wu's thief army the chance to seize grain and supplies!"
Chapter completed!