In the large tracts of willows and banyan trees on the banks of the Caohe River, Dong Chang’s most valued nephew as the regiment trainer, Lin’an soldiers and horses who are described as strong and strong and nicknamed "Dong Biaoer" know Dong Zhen, and they are also wielding a stick and a spear. Struggling as the wind rushed forward.
As a stranger and a divergent division, his main task is to use the advantages of familiarity with geography and the ability to respond to the place, go out to the rear of the thief army to find fighters, and even break it into pieces to contain and harass the thief army. .
But what is slightly disappointing is that he was not able to get the echo and obedience from the village as expected; because under the ravages of the Taiping thieves, the rich family in those places either broke their homes, or they fled without a trace. Up.
He also tried to send people north to the already-occupied junction of Huzhou and Hangzhou to attack and sneak attacks on the strongholds and checkpoints of the thieves; but he did not expect that these thieves were cautiously cautious on the food road to make people feel a little helpless;
All the strongholds are located at the key points of rivers and roads. According to the footsteps and the time of the boat, there is a fortress and affiliated camp every 30 to 40 miles; not only the external investigation is extremely strict, but the response is very fast, relying on the beacon and the tower. Almost half a day to several hours, there will be backup.
Therefore, this time he got the exact news that the thief army had a large number of heavyweights to go south with the ship, and decisively gave up the concealment method and rushed all the way. He has breached at least three roads and the fortifications along the river, defeated and attacked. At least five or six of them have been retired, and they are suspected of being a peaceful thief.
Among the first opponents who were defeated, most of them only had a cloth, bamboo spears and willow short knives, and not many bows and arrows; after being cautious, they would easily disperse. Then the opponents to fight again have leather cases and leather armors, more standard wooden spears and drawing cards, broadswords, more bows and arrows, and a few strong crossbows. .
After picking up all the way, these thief army members also gradually became tough and strong with his advancing momentum, and even made him have to spend more time entangled and then divided the troops to contain and temporarily get rid of.
The three thousand men and horses still called fine and strong have dropped to slightly more than two thousand from this. However, as long as they can successfully kill the Caohe River, raided and burnt down the food and straw boats succeeded by the Taiping thief, it will be able to fundamentally shake and affect the situation in Hangzhou.
As long as the army led by the uncle Dong Chang can seize this opportunity, coupled with the combination of inside and outside with Jiang Huan’s army in the city, there is really a lot of winning rate and possibility. The Taiping thief, who is shaken by the general’s heart, will be defeated again and driven out of Hangzhou. . It is also the best means of repaying and loyalty to his uncle, Dong Chang, who has always believed in him.
Since he was a child, his father and brother went to sea and died early, and he was able to reach adulthood with the help of his uncle. He was also regarded as the seed of the local tycoon Dong's clan and was sent to Tianmu Mountain to study art. After returning, he was appointed a full-time military and close follower.
Then, inspired by Liangma and Baogong, he personally participated in the bloody storm of fighting for dominance and the position of the leader before the establishment of Hangzhou Badu; also for Dong, who was born in Lin'an, stood firm in Qiantang. And secretly intercepted and killed the messengers and officials sent by other states, and destroyed the gentry who refused to cooperate.
Also participated in the rebellion against Wang Ying, the general of Langshan Town in western Zhejiang, and put down the banditry of "Hangzhou bandits" such as Zhu Zhi. He even ambushed the grass thief striker who invaded Hangzhou; and even led troops to counterattack most of his camps, burning and looting and seizing it was not counted. Dong Zhen stayed in the middle of the camp and called the unrivaled bravery for a while. This is the nickname "Dong Biaoer".
Even after further expansion, he participated in the expulsion of the Hangzhou governor’s road trial appointed by the imperial court, and ambushed the three hundred officers and soldiers sent by Zhou Bao to escort Zhenhai Jiedu. In the end, he personally went to dredge and made Zhenhai Jieda ratify Hangzhou. A fait accompli of the regimental ambassador and governor.
And Dong Chang himself, after many times when he was drunk and collapsed together, he sighed and said, "My family is a thousand miles of horses", "It can be said to be a blessing for everyone." "My son will all rely on in the future..." .
Therefore, in the Dantu Battle, where the volunteers of various groups were ordered to go northward to fight against thieves, Dong Chang lost most of the people in Hangzhou Badu; relying on Dong Zhen who stayed in Lin'an to guard the portal and the foundation, still Can defeat many pretenders and potential opponents, and Dong Chang has the opportunity to make a comeback.
Obviously there will be no exceptions this time. According to his uncle Dong Chang’s pre-conceived statement by Xu He in the dark, his sons are getting older and hesitate, and his sons are not enough to inherit the family business. Therefore, as long as he can defeat the foreign thieves this time, he will be regarded as the Hangzhou governor and his successor.
However, an unexpected situation soon brought Dong Zhen's thoughts back to reality. Because the front team that was advancing suddenly stopped.
In the distance behind the shadow of the tree, the large area behind the shadow of the tree was shining, and the sound of the water was faint, Dong Zhen couldn’t help but roared apart the tribes who were holding bows and arrows but seemed to be stuck on the river bank and said, “Why not Keep doing it and let go of the arrow..."
Then he saw the behemoth that fished on the river, a strange ship with huge wheels that rolled over the river with white waves.
And the rockets shot from the shore in densely packed, landed on the blue-black boat gang that is three stories high, just like mosquitoes biting the cowhide with all their strength, most of them broke off and fell insignificantly, or a little nailed down. It was quickly extinguished in the green smoke pouring down from it.
At this moment, Dong Zhen realized that this was not a food ship at all, but a navy ship of the thief army. Obviously, he was deceived by the Taihu water pirates who got in. He was trying to find these guides, but found that he was gone.
However, at this time Dong Zhen wanted to turn back and turn around. Soon there were more and more intensive fighting and shouting around, and there was a crackling sound like fried beans, and he was escaping with the fight. 'S figure, and quickly approached towards his location.
At this time, the thief army warship on the river finally made its own response, only to hear a sound of thunder before and after a heavy rain, racing to spray out waves of gray smoke on the boat gang; In a moment, it was like an invisible force coming out of thin air, beating these people gathered by the river one after another.
In a blink of an eye, their armored bodies are like papyrus, competing with flesh and blood to crack apart, or splashed and scattered on the heads and faces of people around them, or splashed on Yinyin. The clump of river embankment barriers between the trees.
Although only the first person on the river bank suffered such a blow, the next tragic scene caused the rest of the others to collapse on the spot. Morale and military spirit collapsed;
Some of them recoiled hysterically against the Taiping Army who had outflamed and besieged them, and then brandished their weapons indiscriminately, and were quickly submerged in it. Some two battles even fell to the ground with incontinence, crying regardless.
Others strayed like headless flies, trying to find a place to hide and provide a sense of security. However, on the endless plains of water villages, except for the barriers of dykes and poplars. Apart from trees and banyan trees, where can they find other shelters
As a result, more people who fled out had no choice but to gradually enclose the Taiping Army on all sides. Under the persecution and drive of swords, guns, bows and crossbows, they rolled back and trampled on each other.
As for their former backbone, Lin'an soldiers and horses knew Dong Zhen, but in this chaotic scene of exclaiming and shouting, they found that they could no longer command most people. On the contrary, because of the race to escape from the riverbank and the embankment, it highlighted the last gathering of more than a hundred relatives around him.
As a result, a new round of rapid fire collection from the boat in the middle of the river immediately submerged them in the dust of gravel, sand, and dust splashing like a spring, and among the trees that were falling down by the flying branches and leaves.
When the scattered smoke and dust once again dissipated with the river breeze, the gray-headed Dong Zhen struggled to break free from the fallen branches, only to find that there was no longer a figure able to stand beside him, only the moaning and struggling wriggling like a gossamer. The movement.
As for the desperately trying to cover his old home general and captain with his body, it was also torn apart to describe the twisted and hideous only upper body, half of his stiff arm clung to his shoulder.
And another companion who had been serving in front of the horse since he was a child, also leaned against half of the stump with bloody orifices, with a few big cracks in his body, revealing all his internal organs.
It's just that when Dong Zhen was staring and trying to get up and fight to the death, he found that his lower body had lost consciousness, and his two bloody legs were crushed by the fallen branches, he was completely unmovable. .
At this time, the sound of fighting in the surrounding area also fell silently. More and more Lin'an soldiers were chopped over and shot to death, or fell on their knees and begged for mercy; Dong Zhen was also desperate and still touched half the flag tip, facing I just stabbed my neck hard.
But suddenly there was a pain in his head and his eyes went dark, and he passed out from a flying tree branch.
—I am the dividing line —
And under the Tianmu Mountain a hundred miles away,
Dong Chang, who managed to tidy up the last thousands of people and galloped back home with great difficulty, looked at the Taiping Green Flag that was erected above Lin'an City in disbelief. He suddenly shook his body a few times and moved away from the horse in an exclamation. I fell down on my back.
On the top of the city, the school lieutenant Zhang Baibo, who was born in the Taipingshan Barracks, was also watching the movement on the distant avenue anxiously and nervously. Because, this time it was also these Laoshan soldiers from Fujian who had few chances to stand alone except for the fragmented bandits.
Under the leadership of the mountain people's guide, they climbed the Tianmu Mountain and sneaked into the vicinity of Lin'an City, responding as armed reconnaissance and standby. But he didn't expect that after accidentally capturing an army official who went to the countryside to go to the countryside, he discovered that Lin'an was so empty.
As a result, there was a logical infiltration investigation, and then when the goalkeeper was exhausted and weak, it became an attempt to seize the gate; after the successful seizure in one fell swoop, it was discovered that there was not much power in the city to regain it.
Then he took advantage of the momentum and attacked the city several times, not only snatching back a large amount of materials and equipment, but also scaring the defenders of the other gates to open the door and leave, so they occupied the palace and stood there.
Because the number of flags used for bluffing is really not enough, they simply expropriated and collected all the cyan-like objects in the city to pretend to be for a while.
Therefore, in addition to some of the outermost flags near the city gates are genuine products, others will be found when you come closer, including the wine flags of the stores, the curtains of private houses, and even the flags of the temples. The objects were all erected.
"Emperor Xuanyuan, Nikko Bodhisattva, Emperor Aroko, Daguangming Shengzun,"
Just as he was mumbling about all these conceivable prayers in his heart, suddenly the army formation that was slowly approaching in the distance stopped, and then riots occurred and spread visible to the naked eye.
In the end, as the largest banner with the character "Dong" in the center slowly fell, these military horses also fled apart after a brief confrontation and rapid conflicts and fights.
Most of them bypassed Lin'an City at the foot of Tianmu Mountain and rushed towards the distant wilderness. Therefore, the crisis of defending the city was solved for a while. (End of this chapter)