Qiao Zhiqing's dispatch of troops to northern Shaanxi was unexpectedly smooth, and after he rushed to the imperial court for 800 miles, the empress dowager of the two palaces did not blame him for sending troops privately, but rewarded him in the letter, informing the Han army across the country to learn from Qiao Zhiqing the spirit of loyalty and patriotism, and have the courage to share difficulties for the imperial court.This is not difficult to understand, the Hunan army has worked hard to take the city of Nanjing, no one will care about the desolate and barren place in northern Shaanxi, and if you take the city of Nanjing, you will have to tear the soil and seal the king, and you can't even get a slag of oil if you take northern Shaanxi.The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces naturally did not blame Qiao Zhiqing when she was employing people, Prince Gong Yixun was skeptical, but he only blamed the generals of the Manchurian people for not being angry, and the commander of the Jiangbei camp, Shengbao, was beaten by the Taiping Army, where could he still take care of the defense of northern Shaanxi.And there is Qi Junzao in the court as an echo, Qiao Zhiqing plundered the calligraphy and painting of Tang Bohu in the Ming Dynasty in Suzhou, but it was not given for nothing, this Shanxi old-timer has tried his best to speak for him, no matter how to say that the old man is also the master of the Tongzhi Emperor.The balance of power is always in mutual restraint, Zeng Guofan naturally did not dare to break this balance, along the way to the Qing army to give the green light, Wang Shijie led the cavalry regiment to run day and night, it only took five days to rush to the boundary of Yan'an Mansion.The outside of Ansai County is already cloudy, and the war is about to break out, and the Hui army has gathered tens of thousands of men and horses to surround Ansai County, dozens of company camps, dig ditches and set up ditches outside the city, and prepare equipment for attacking the city.Wang Shijie rushed into the city after dark, Qiao Zhiyuan waited for reinforcements and almost fainted with excitement."
Which one is Qiao Zhiyuan, the prefect of Yan'an" Wang Shijie entered the city, wiped the blood marks on his face after dismounting, found the defenders at the south city gate, and shouted to the crowd in front of him."
This official is, but I can be regarded as looking forward to the general, which part of the general is the general" Qiao Zhiyuan walked out of the crowd, looked at Wang Shijie and the strange costumes of more than 2,000 horses behind him, and made a big salute to Wang Shijie with his fists."
Your Excellency doesn't have to be like this, your subordinates are generals under your brother Qiao Zhiyuan, and I am specially ordered to come to support my lord."
Wang Shijie hurriedly held Qiao Zhiyuan up, looking at him, he really looked a little similar to Qiao Zhiqing, but his face was wider, and he was slightly richer than Qiao Zhiqing, "You are sent by Zhiqing, how is this possible, aren't you stationed in Suzhou Mansion" Qiao Zhiyuan was surprised, and held Wang Shijie's hand with excitement on his face."
The last general will come over day and night, the situation is critical, and I will tell the adults in detail in the future, and the adults will tell the last general about the deployment of this city as soon as possible, and the last general will arrange the deployment as soon as possible."
Wang Shijie frowned, looking around at the terrain of Ansai County."
General Qing come with me," Qiao Zhiyuan led Wang Shijie to the city wall, pointing to the terrain under the moonlight outside the city, "General, please see, Ansai County is staggered on all sides, ravines and ravines, since ancient times it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the city wall is built according to the terrain, although it is not high, but it is indeed extremely dangerous, the north gate has no fixed river to guard, the east and west sides are ridges, only the south terrain is quite flat."
There are now more than 20,000 old and young women and children gathered in the city, all of whom have fled from all over the surrounding areas, and there is a great shortage of food and grass. ”"Master Qiao, don't you have any weapons here, and the equipment of these soldiers is too backward."
Wang Shijie looked at the equipment of the soldiers on the city wall, most of them were wooden sticks and farm tools, and he didn't even have a decent knife and gun, and couldn't help frowning.Qiao Zhiyuan rubbed his hands and said embarrassedly, "Let the general smile, northern Shaanxi has been a desolate land since ancient times, with nine droughts in ten years, not to mention weapons, even the farm tools of each family are scarce, there is really no way, otherwise, it will not let the back dogs gain momentum." ”"This is difficult to do, the last general came all the way and found that a large number of Hui troops were gathered in Chao Suide City, and the number was at least more than 100,000.We're going to have to hold out here for at least a month before reinforcements come, so it's not in our favor. ”"General, this official has decided to live and die with the people of Ansai County, and I ask the general to save his life and tell my third brother, so that he can take care of the eldest brother and sister-in-law in the family."
Qiao Zhiyuan's voice was tragic and desolate, and Wang Shijie was unconsciously admired, and there was really no one in the Qiao family."
Please rest assured, the Hui army is backward in equipment, but it is gathered together by Islamic teachings, and it does not have much combat effectiveness, as long as we work together, we will definitely hold out until the arrival of reinforcements.At present, the main problem is to solve the problem of obtaining food and grass in the city, and a day of more than 20,000 people is not a small consumption. ”Wang Shijie was faintly worried, he saw the desolation along the way clearly, and he knew how much there was in the city without asking."
What the general said is very true, the official has long concentrated the grain in the city and distributed it every day, and at present, the people can only drink porridge, and the grain and grass can barely last for half a month."
Qiao Zhiyuan secretly thought about it in his heart, and his face showed a trace of sadness."
This is not the way to go, the Hui army will be able to complete the complete encirclement of Ansai County tomorrow, we must hurry up and stock up enough grain and grass.Adults know where there is still food in the surrounding prefectures and counties," Wang Shijie said and went down the city wall with Qiao Zhiyuan."
This is difficult to do, the nearby Defu counties have been ruined by Huigou, but the official has hidden thousands of loads of grain in the cellar of Yan'an Mansion, I don't know if it was discovered by Huigou" Qiao Zhiyuan thought about it carefully and shook his head helplessly."
If there is hope, it is good, and the last general will take people to Yan'an Mansion to check it, and with this batch of grain, our situation will be better."
As he spoke, Wang Shijie waved his hand to the horse team not far away, and beckoned the generals of the cavalry regiment to come over for a meeting."
The general has been running around for days, why don't you rest for one night and go again tomorrow when you have enough spirits."
Qiao Zhiyuan was a little worried."
No need, don't worry, my lord, there are not many returning troops outside the city today, and it is convenient to act while it is dark, if you wait until tomorrow, I am afraid that there will be no more opportunities."
Wang Shijie rejected Qiao Zhiyuan's kindness, made arrangements for the generals, left 500 cavalry to garrison at the south gate, and the rest of the people all followed him out of the city gate, and went straight to Yan'an Mansion on horseback."
What a fierce general, if my Great Qing Kingdom is such an elite general, why worry about the country being uneasy and the society restless."
Qiao Zhiyuan looked at the dust rising in the distance and secretly praised it.Wang Shijie opened the city gate, and carefully interspersed through the gaps between the camps of the Hui army, because the night was dark, and the Hui army did not notice it.Yan'an Mansion looks very strange under the moonlight, and the quiet along the way makes people's pores erect, and there is no sound of chickens and dogs barking within thirty miles.It wasn't until I was approaching the city wall that I faintly saw a glimmer of fire.Wang Shijie stopped the cavalry team at a place three miles away from the city, and sent a dozen small groups of men and horses to the front to investigate the situation, and after a while, the horses returned, and all the troops near Yan'an Mansion were clearly investigated."
Master, I'll cut you first tonight."
Wang Shijie spat out his phlegm and assigned tasks to the generals, strictly ordering all departments not to use firearms, so as not to alarm the defenders in other places.After receiving the order, all the soldiers got on their horses and drew their waist swords.Wang Shijie looked ahead with sharp eyes and yelled, "Yan'an Mansion, don't leave a dog, kill it." ”The shout of "kill" shook the sky, more than 1,500 war horses rushed to Yan'an Mansion like sharp arrows, and the Hui army by the bonfire did not seem to be aware of the impending danger, and still gathered together, constantly molesting more than a dozen women with their whole bodies, and there were bursts of banter from time to time.A woman screamed because she was too frightened, and tried her best to break free from the clutches of the Hui army, and desperately fled into the distance.The soldiers wiped their saliva and stared at the woman shaking up and down, laughing even more.One of the soldiers got up and chased after her, grabbed a spear made of bamboo poles on the ground, and threw it at the woman.Hearing only a "whoosh", the spear pierced through the woman's chest and pierced the ground, the woman's eyes widened in horror, and she even forgot how to scream, her trembling hands clutched the bamboo pole on her chest, and she knelt on the ground with a low cry of "ahhhBlood flowed out along the bamboo poles, and the woman's body went limp, and she fell heavily on the yellow earth, never to get up again.The returning soldier who threw the spear turned around, and just wanted to boast to the returning soldier by the campfire, when suddenly he felt a cold cold piercing his chest from the inside out, and in an instant the feeling became hot again, and his chest seemed to be burned by the fire.He hung his head in disbelief, only to find that a dangling waist knife had pierced through his chest."
The officers and soldiers are here, the officers and soldiers are here."
One of the soldiers at the campfire felt the sound of horses' hooves under the night sky and shouted alertly.The Hui soldiers hurriedly picked up the bamboo spears on the ground, but before they could form a formation, they were divided and surrounded by a group of horses, and the people on the horses were like demons who had escaped from hell, wielding waist knives, wantonly harvesting the heads of the Hui army.The frightened sounds of the women, the screams of the returning soldiers, and the killing of the cavalry suddenly mixed together and tore the whole night.The weapons of the Hui soldiers were too clumsy, and the better ones were one or two iron steel knives, most of which were spears sharpened from bamboo, which were powerless in front of Wang Shijie's cavalry regiment, and were either trampled to death by horses' hooves or hacked to death by waist knives.In less than an hour, none of the more than 500 Hui troops outside Yan'an City escaped, except for more than 100 people who were captured, and all the rest were hanged.The group of captured soldiers knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing at the cavalry, Wang Shijie glanced at them coldly, got off the horse and asked people to dress the women outside the city, and gathered these women who were already a little stunned."
Are you Han Chinese?"
asked Wang Shijie coldly to the woman in front of him.The women curled up and crouched on the ground, not daring to reply."
Let me ask again, are you Han Chinese" Wang Shijie lost patience, and his words were full of murder."
Master Jun, we are Han, we are Han."
A woman finally stood up, bravely replied, and cried out to Wang Shijie after speaking.In the gray night, Wang Shijie couldn't see her appearance clearly, but he could feel from his voice that this was still a childish little girl
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