Master Yuan, start!

It would be a pity to kill the surrendered soldiers. They came from the Chu, Xiang and Huai armies and still had some combat effectiveness.

But on the other hand, after years of fighting, their thinking has already been shaped. Instead of letting them get promoted by making military achievements, they will become an obstacle to Yuan Shikai's city in the future.

It would be better to consume it on the battlefield in the capital.

Therefore, under Yuan Shikai's deliberate blind command, the National Defense Army was stationed in Yongping Prefecture, and Sheng Fei, Duan Zhigui, Wang Zhanyuan and others took turns leading the troops to monitor the Jiashen surrendered army moving westward to capture Fengrun County.

Thousands of national defense troops monitored thousands of Jiashen surrendered troops to attack the city. They would attack if they could take it, and retreat if they couldn't.

The National Defense Army took turns to monitor, and the Jiashen surrendered army took turns to attack the city.

Bai Dingshan fulfilled his agreement with Ronglu and sent troops to garrison Yutian and Fengrun. With the advance warning from the National Defense Army, he engaged in a siege battle with the Jiashen surrendered army.

On the 1st, 3rd and 5th, he attacked and I defended; on the 2nd, 4th and 6th, he defended and I attacked. In order to make the performance more realistic, Bai Dingshan even gave up Fengrun City to let the Jiashen surrendered army get some benefits.

Seeing that the city was "broken", Ronglu in the rear thought that Bai Dingshan was defeated and was about to send troops to support him, but Bai Dingshan said that it was not necessary and he would recapture Fengrun City by himself.

Sure enough, the next day Bai Dingshan led a large army to attack the city and captured Fengrun in one fell swoop. Ronglu was also very happy.

He had no idea that it was the National Defense Army that took the initiative to order the surrendered troops of Jiashen to abandon the city and return east.

So, in the back-and-forth siege and defense battles, both sides felt that they had won.

Yuan Xiangcheng consumed the manpower of the surrendered army of Jiashen and gradually eliminated the unstable factors; Baidingshan also took the opportunity to bury many of Ronglu's Green Camp; Ronglu also successfully blocked Yuan Xiangcheng for more than ten days in the indefensible Jingdong Plain.

It should be said that it is a win-win-win situation, with both parties winning three times.

No, there was also the Hunan Army. The Hunan Army originally felt that Yuan’s army was too powerful to stop, and with 6 troops attacking, they had already planned to run back to the capital and force Cixi to move south.

However, seeing the poor performance of Yuan's army in the past ten days, which did not look like elite soldiers at all, Zhu Hongzhang, whose forehead wound had not yet healed, began to doubt himself.

Could it be that Yuan Jun was just lucky at Xifengkou?

All in all, the Hunan Army also believed that they had won.

Four wins, Kua Zhua wins.

Perhaps the only ones who suffered were Liu Shengjiu and the Jiashen surrendered army. They watched helplessly as their troops were consumed, but could only swallow their anger.

The stagnation of the army for more than ten days also gave the world's public opinion time to change.

Yuan Shikai cleared the area outside the Great Wall in 50 days and conquered Shanhaiguan in two days, which shocked the whole world, especially the south, and everyone rushed to report the good news.

Many people thought that he was going to repeat the Eight Banners’ invasion of the Pass and capture the capital in one fell swoop.

As for Cixi in the capital, she had planned to flee after hearing the news of the fall of Shanhaiguan, but she did not expect Ronglu to calm down and fight back and forth with Yuan Shikai in Zunhua.

In the past half month, public opinion has continued to ferment, from initial belief and then belief, to belief and then questioning, and then questioning and questioning again.

Especially the elders and fellow villagers in the capital.

Can Yuan Shikai still break into the capital?

If not, wouldn’t the national defense flag they embroidered at home be in vain?

Bannermen are also human beings. Most ordinary people don’t care whether it is the Empress Dowager or the Emperor of Korea in power.

Zhaoshu Group 895*Long 738

If you talk about right and wrong, it does seem that Karl Lagerfeld was more wrong.

But the Empress Dowager gives us money. Ever since the Emperor, oh no, the East Emperor left the city, the Empress Dowager has doubled the monthly salary of the bannermen in the capital in order to win over the people's hearts. She also distributes porridge in major temples and Taoist temples in the capital on the 5th and 10th of each month.

The old lady was indeed wrong, but putting aside the reality, is there no problem at all with the one in the east?

For example, why couldn't he just sleep through it all and never wake up again?

"I was saying that Yuan Shikai had launched his army from Korea and marched seven or eight hundred miles in one go. He must be at the end of his strength and is about to be defeated inside the pass."

"Yes, just like the French five years ago. They fought their way to the gates of Beijing, but in the end, their general was captured and their entire army was defeated."

The atmosphere in the city has shown some signs of changing. Under Cixi's silver bullet offensive, the public opinion of ordinary people has shifted very quickly.

Scholars with conscience could only remain silent for fear of being arrested.

The people far away in the capital already felt that Yuan Shikai was like a spent force, not to mention Ronglu.

At this time, Ronglu, who was in charge of Baodi, was in a particularly good mood over the past ten days.

He didn't expect that Bai Dingshan really blocked Yuan Shikai in Zunhua for 15 days, forcing Yuan Shikai to be unable to advance.

It even forced Yuan Ni to use the "Kongming Lantern" that he had used before in Shanhaiguan to throw bombs.

However, the weather is not good, and the Kongming lanterns often fly too far due to the strong winds in recent days.

Moreover, Yuan Ni didn't seem to have any yellow explosives left, so the lethality of the black powder bombs was greatly reduced.

It seems that the disadvantages of Yuan Ni's direct advance have become apparent, and he is running out of supplies!

Ronglu has ordered the Hunan Army to move north along the southern coastline. As long as they can get behind Yuan's army, they can catch them in a trap!

He now thinks he has the advantage over me!

Today, Ronglu is drafting a memorial to the Empress Dowager, recommending Bai Dingshan as the assistant commander of the third rank.

It was a half-level promotion than the promised fourth-rank defense lieutenant.

Ronglu thought to himself that he was very sincere to Bai Dingshan and only hoped that Bai Dingshan would not disappoint him.

Just as he was writing the memorial, the personal guards outside the door came in and said that Bai Dingshan and Liu Shengxiu had come together and had urgent military information to report to Lord Rong.

"How could the two of them come together? Is Liu Shengxiu so magnanimous?" Ronglu was puzzled.

He transferred the soldiers brought back by Liu Shengxiu to Bai Dingshan in order to create conflicts between the two. Only in this way would Bai Dingshan have no friends in the army and would he follow Ronglu wholeheartedly.

However, since there was urgent military information, Ronglu could not care less and could only let the two in first.

"Mr. Rong, your subordinates congratulate Mr. Rong!" The twenty people said in unison, leaving Rong Lu confused.

"What's the matter?" Ronglu didn't think there could be any good news: "Did you two defeat Yuan's army again?"

"Lord Rong, it's not just that!" Liu Shengxiu's face flushed, as if he had just experienced a fierce battle: "Yuan Xiangcheng, Yuan Ni is dead!"

"What?" Ronglu's eyes widened, and he immediately yelled at Liu Shengxiu, "Have you lost your mind, Liu Shengxiu?! How could he die in such a situation when Yuan Xiangcheng had tens of thousands of troops at his side?

And even if he died, he would definitely keep it a secret, so how could he let you know?!"

"Master Rong, it's true!" Bai Dingshan pretended to be as excited as Liu Shengxiu. "The Yuan army used Kongming lanterns a few days ago, but they didn't work very well. Today, seeing that the wind is picking up, they thought of raising lanterns again."

"However, when the Kongming lantern floated over Yutian City, the wind suddenly died down, and the Kongming lantern dropped more than ten feet in one breath.

Lord Liu seized the opportunity and fired a shot at the Kongming lantern, hitting the lantern box right in the middle.

The Kongming lantern floated slowly out of the city, and I quickly gathered my men to chase it.

Finally, on a slope, a short man who had just crawled out of the lamp was found.

I stabbed him right in the chest with my gun, killing him instantly.

After bringing the body back to the city, Lord Liu pointed at the body lying on the ground and said, "This man is Yuan Xiangcheng!"

Having said that, Bai Dingshan turned around and looked at Liu Shengxiu with gratitude: "Thanks to that musket shot by Lord Liu, I was able to kill Yuan Ni with my own hands!"

"No, no." Liu Shengxiu knew that he couldn't share all the credit by himself, so he was naturally willing to praise Bai Dingshan:

Novel 7587424

"Brother Bai is an excellent spearman. The fact that Yuan Xiangcheng's mouth was bleeding and his face was ashen was due to Brother Bai's efforts.

It's just that the corpse is a bit dusty and hard to see clearly, and Brother Bai is in a hurry to report military intelligence to Lord Rong.

Otherwise, I will bring Yuan Ni's body here."

Ronglu was already confused as he watched the two people in front of him flattering each other, and there was only one thing on his mind.

Yuan Xiangcheng is dead.

"Quick, take me to see Yuan Xiangcheng's body!"

Ronglu grabbed the two men's official uniforms and pulled them out, then jumped on his horse and ran out of Baodi City at the fastest speed in his life.

After Ronglu called several hundred guards, he rode his horse at full speed towards Yutian City.

As soon as he entered the camp set up in the city by Bai Dingshan, he met rows of former White Tiger Regiment members wearing white cuffs.

Ronglu knew that this was the attire of Bai Dingshan's personal soldiers, and the white cuffs proved that they were direct descendants of the old White Tiger Regiment.

"Greetings to Lord Rong!" Bai Dingshan's confidant bowed and knelt before Ronglu.

"Don't bother with greetings," Ronglu said anxiously, waving his hands. "Where's Yuan Xiangcheng? Where are the others?"

"Master Rong, please follow me." Bai Dingshan bowed and led the way, leading Rong Lu to the back of the camp.

"Look, Lord Rong, this is the Kongming lantern used by Yuan's traitorous army. It appears to be made of leather and silk. I imagine the imperial court could imitate it in the future."

"Yes, if we want to imitate it, we will imitate it." Ronglu replied absentmindedly. He just wanted to see Yuan Shikai's body.

He didn't even glance at the remains of the Kongming lantern.

As we walked further back, there were fewer and fewer soldiers in ordinary uniforms in the camp, and more and more soldiers in white uniforms.

Ronglu's mind became somewhat clearer and his pace slowed down.

"Sir Rong, Yuan Xiangcheng's body is of utmost importance." Bai Dingshan seemed to notice Rong Lu's hesitation and deliberately said soothingly, "I will naturally place it in the most strictly guarded place."

"The traitor Yuan is indeed dead. If you don't believe me, ask Lord Liu." Bai Dingshan pointed at Liu Shengxiu who came with him.

"It's absolutely true, Lord Rong!" Liu Shengxiu had already imagined in his mind whether he would be an admiral or a general. If that didn't work, the governor was also an option.

Oh, by the way, you also need to be awarded a title, preferably one with a beautiful name.

"Sir Rong, I have met Yuan Xiangcheng. The body that Sir Bai brought must be Yuan Xiangcheng!"

After hearing the two men's assurances again, and because Ronglu was indeed anxious, he finally walked step by step into the deepest part of the camp.

"Master Rong, we're here!" Bai Dingshan pointed to the tent in front of him and said, "This is the tent where Yuan Xiangcheng's body is kept."

Wouldn't it be a bit too grand to put it in a separate tent? Ronglu was puzzled again.

However, if it is used to store important figures like Yuan Shikai, it is understandable.

"Come on, the three of us will go in together, and you guys stay outside." Ronglu instructed his personal guards, then took half a step back and let Bai Dingshan walk in front.

After the curtain was opened, Ronglu followed closely inside: "Humin, you have really performed a great service!"

"Serving the country with loyalty is Dingshan's duty." Bai Dingshan walked in without looking back and pointed at the man on the wooden board: "Look, Lord Rong, that's Yuan Xiangcheng's body."

Ronglu looked carefully and it was indeed Yuan Xiangcheng!