Master Yuan, start!

"Vinegar, it's aged vinegar." A strong driver answered in front of the team.

"Forget it, let's go." The Eight Banners Man holding the grass pinched his nose, waved his hand, and signaled the convoy to hurry up.

"Wait!"

Just as the convoy was about to leave, one of the Eight Banners who had been lying on the ground and was lazy stood up.

"Are you from Shanxi? But your accent sounds more like Shuntianfu."

"My ancestral home is in Shanxi, but I followed my father into business at a young age, so I've lived in Shuntian Prefecture for a long time..."

The young vendor bowed and made a gesture to explain.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the driver next to him suddenly lifted the cotton cloth, revealing seven or eight large vats. Except for one large vat that was filled with black aged vinegar, the rest of the vats were filled with muskets.

"Why waste so much time talking to him? These useless good-for-nothings working for Yuan Xiangcheng are unworthy of being bannermen!"

The strong coachman roared and shot at the Eight Banners guarding the bridge in front of him. Then he turned around and shot the Eight Banners who was holding dogtail grass in his mouth to death with a "bang".

The Eight Banners soldiers defending the city who were lying under the shade of the trees heard the gunshots and were about to get up when they were knocked down by the dense gunfire from the convoy.

But n3si Erjiao Liuqun: In an instant, the defensive forces deployed by the Eight Banners Anti-Rebellion Army at Lugou Bridge were completely wiped out.

At this time, in Gongji City, which was only a few hundred meters away, the patrolling soldiers were afraid of the scorching heat and chose to rest in the shade under the city wall instead of coming up for patrol.

Tie Liang sent a disguised advance team, and unexpectedly, they captured Lugou Bridge without bloodshed.

It was not until thousands of troops crossed the Lugou Bridge and arrived at the foot of Gongji City that the soldiers defending the city discovered something was wrong.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

Seeing the dense crowds of people outside the city, the Eight Banners who had just come up to patrol the city suddenly broke out in cold sweats all over their bodies.

But before he could finish his words, two gunshots hit him in the chest. He staggered and fell headfirst from the city wall.

The soldiers on Lugou Bridge ran very fast. The Eight Banners Anti-Rebellion Army, who had long relaxed their vigilance, did not expect that the National Defense Army had no warning and allowed Tie Liang's army to reach the front of Gongji City.

These Eight Banners rebel forces had never experienced a war of blood and fire. Under the attack of the Tieliang Army, they lost the west gate of Gongji City in just a quarter of an hour. Everyone was forced to retreat into the city and engage in street fighting with the enemy.

The Tieliang Army who had already broken into the city were so crazy that they kept muttering things like "I didn't rebel" and "I am your grandfather who is loyal to the Qing Dynasty". They attacked their fellow Manchus without mercy.

The wailing and screaming soon spread throughout the entire Gongji City. In less than an hour, most of the city was occupied by the Tieliang Army. Their several thousand men were suppressing the more than ten thousand Eight Banners Anti-Rebellion Army.

"What the Eight Banners Anti-Rebellion Army is, it's nothing more than this, humph!"

After completely controlling half of the city, Tie Liang rode his horse into Gongji City. He didn't care at all that the blue brick floor under his feet was covered with sticky blood.

"So what if they were the National Defense Army? They were beaten by me and fled in panic, not even abandoning Gongji City.

I finally understood today that the Aisin-Gioro clan was bullshit. Whoever has the bigger fist is the leader!

Tieliang thought of the National Defense Army cavalry that had suffered a "crushing defeat" at his hands a few days ago, and felt a surge of pride in his heart.

He whipped his horse whip and without hesitation ordered the massacre. "Clean up these Eight Banner rebels and march on Beijing!"

On the other side of Gongji City, looking at the Eight Banners anti-rebel army that suffered heavy casualties, Shou Chang remembered what Yuan Shikai said before he left.

"Come on, good job, don't lose face!"

The more he thought about it, the redder Shouchang's face became, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he was sorry for Yuan Xiangcheng's support.

"Damn it, Tieliang, you bastard, how dare you sneak attack me!

I don’t believe that you can block more than 10,000 people in the city!

Hit me! Ten taels of silver per head. Ten heads and I'll recommend you to Lord Yuan as a Qianzong!"

Chapter 260: The North-South War (Part )

Outside Gongji City, the Yongding River is dead silent. Behind the city walls, it seems like two different worlds inside and outside the walls.

Yuan Xiangcheng led the cavalry that was "spying on the enemy" and looked at the bloody and fiery Gongji City from afar, with an indescribable emotion in his eyes.

These Eight Banners anti-rebelion troops were just like the army that followed Ming Baozong to the battlefield. They were doomed to failure because of a mistake made by their commander.

The most important thing is that this "mistake" was intentional.

Ming Ye was unaware of Yuan Xiangcheng's inner turmoil. After receiving the latest intelligence, he excitedly said, "Chief Instructor, Commander Duan's 5th Regiment has arrived near the capital.

Yesterday we pretended to be defeated, making Tieliang mistakenly believe that the National Defense Army was nothing special, so he took Gongji City in one go.

Now that the 5th town has arrived, should we encircle and annihilate them?"

"No, wait a little longer." Yuan Xiangcheng hardened his heart when he smelled the bloody smell coming from Gongji City.

"Tie Liang not only imprisoned Prince Zhuang, but now he is also killing all the rebels from the Eight Banners.

His sword is still useful. The longer he lives, the less likely the Eight Banners will be able to make waves in the future."

"Imprisoning Prince Zhuang? He's crazy. This has already been a rebellious situation. How dare he do that?"

Ming Ye had been traveling back and forth between Duan Zhigui's 5th Town and Yuan Xiangcheng's army in the past few days, and had no idea that Tie Liang had done such a shocking thing, so he couldn't help but gasp when he heard the news.

Are the rebels fighting among themselves?

According to the original plan, the newly recruited Eight Banners Anti-Rebellion Army was stationed to defend Gongji City, while the National Defense Army went out under the pretext of spying on the enemy.

After finding Tie Liang's army, several thousand national defense troops took the initiative to fight, then pretended to be defeated and fled, luring Tie Liang to the vicinity of the capital.

By then, Tie Liang's army would have won a victory and would be eager to get rid of the label of traitor, so they would definitely choose to march towards the capital.

8073045 Rhodium Han

Gongji City is a must-pass place on the way to Beijing, and there are a large number of bannermen stationed there. A fierce battle is bound to happen between the two sides.

Bannermen killed bannermen, weakening the armed forces of the Eight Banners to the greatest extent possible.

But what Yuan Xiangcheng did not expect was that the expected normal fight turned into a massacre.

After Prince Zhuang escaped from the capital, he immediately fled to the Tieliang army camp in the west of the capital, but Tieliang was very angry about Prince Zhuang's arrival.

Tie Liang believed that if Prince Zhuang had not escaped, Yuan Shikai would have no direct evidence to prove that the assassin was related to Prince Zhuang.

This escape is simply an act of concealing one's own guilt.

He could only sigh that Prince Zhuang Zaixun was truly a useless prince of the Aisin Gioro family, but now that things had come to this, Tieliang could only muster his troops and prepare for a final struggle.

However, at this time, the two received a telegram from Cixi, which appointed Prince Zhuang as the General of the Northern Expedition and Tieliang as the General of Suppressing Bandits.

Prince Zhuang Zaixun felt that the title of General Zhengbei was higher than that of General Pingzethie, so he changed his previous depressed look and began to give orders to the army.

Zaixun felt that he could not attack the capital by force, but he could try a few times. If it failed, he would immediately head north and move to the grassland to make plans.

0But Tieliang believed that he had already made the move to assassinate the emperor and there was no room for complacency. He either had to break into the capital before the National Defense Army arrived, or surrender.

Ling and the other person were arguing endlessly, and neither could convince the other.

Seeing that Tieliang was determined to attack the capital, Zaixun used his status as Aisin-Gioro and Prince Zhuang to put pressure on him.

However, it would be fine if I didn't talk about this, as Tieliang gets angry when I mention it.

If it weren't for Zaixun, Tieliang was the rising star of the Bannermen in front of the emperor. He was expected to command a large army in the future and even be appointed as a governor. However, because he foolishly followed Zaixun to rebel against Yuan, he ended up like this.

Thinking about the life-threatening road ahead for him, Tieliang was filled with anger and a desire for evil.

4 In a rage, he killed all of Prince Zhuang's personal guards, imprisoned them in the central military tent, and ordered an attack on the capital.

After Mian killed the people, Tieliang seemed to have opened a certain mechanism and no longer showed leniency to the Bannermen. He killed them and chopped them off at will.

Such a result can be said to be far beyond Yuan Xiangcheng's expectations.

Originally, he thought that the Eight Banners Anti-Rebellion Army was all bannermen, and after Tie Liang broke through Gongji City, he should have distinguished between friend and foe and recruited most of the anti-rebellion army for his own use.

In this way, the Eight Banners armed forces basically became the "enemy army"

By then, Duan Zhigui's 5th Regiment should have arrived, and the National Defense Army would naturally show no mercy to the enemy and would destroy them on the battlefield.

But now it seems that the National Defense Forces will not be needed.

...

Yangzhou. When all of China's attention was focused on the area around Beijing, Duan Qirui was making final arrangements for the siege in Wayao Town, north of Yangzhou.

The National Defense Army, which has been maintaining low-intensity siege attempts, has encountered stubborn resistance from the Yangzhou Hunan Army in recent days.

After learning about the assassination in the capital, Liu Kunyi ordered people to spread the news of the chaos in the rear of the National Defense Army in Yangzhou City.

In addition, Yangzhou is close to the Yangtze River and the canal for supply, which rekindled the confidence of the new Hunan Army, as if it had returned to the era of the Jiangbei Camp decades ago.

Rumors in Yangzhou City compared Yuan Shikai to Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, Guangxu to Hong Tianfugui, the Little Heavenly King, and Prince Zhuang to Wei Changhui.

They mistook the National Defense Army for the Taiping Army and fabricated a Qing Dynasty version of the "Tianjing Incident" in a serious manner, hoping that the National Defense Army that attacked Yangzhou City would have to return to the capital for rescue just like Wing King Shi Dakai.

In this way, the danger to Yangzhou City would naturally be resolved without a fight.

But Duan Qirui was unwilling to let this big fish go.

"50 Hotchkiss machine guns, 30 French 90mm heavy artillery, thousands of rifles and tens of thousands of pounds of ammunition." Duan Qirui held the weapons and equipment intelligence counted by intelligence personnel at the dock in his hand and read it out loud word by word.

"You think the enemy has ample firepower, and a single mistake could turn the siege into a war of attrition. Do you want to wait until the chief instructor heads south before making a final decision?"

"Yes!"

Duan Qirui looked at the commander of the 7th Regiment Wang Zhanyuan, the commander of the 8th Regiment Wu Changchun, and the commander of the 9th Regiment Cao Kun in front of him, closed his eyes silently, and exhaled.

His original job was the commander of the First Town, so logically speaking, he was at the same level as the three people in front of him.

But the difference is that he also holds a position within the society. He is one of the five decision-making members of the Central Decision-making Committee of the Red Confucian Society and also the Vice Chairman of the Military Commission of the Red Confucian Society.

The Central Decision-making Committee is currently the highest authority of the Red Confucian Society. Although a full-member meeting of the Red Confucian Society has not been held for a long time due to delays caused by the war, people in the Red Confucian Society often only know the chief instructor Yuan Xiangcheng, but not the Central Decision-making Committee members.

But this does not mean that the identity of the Central Decision-making Committee is useless.

Among the five decision-makers of the National Congress, Yuan Shikai went north to the capital; Xu Shichang stayed in Tianjin to prepare food and fodder; Ma Xiangbo and Zhang Jian returned to the outside of the Great Wall to stabilize the rear.

In other words, on the southern front, Duan Qirui was the supreme commander.

This is the power granted to it by the organization and is also recognized by Yuan Xiangcheng.

But for a town leader who is also a member of the Red Confucian Society, it is not appropriate to use his status to force others to do so.

Within the Red Confucian Society, there is no respect for hierarchy in the Qing court.

After much deliberation, Duan Qirui finally decided to persuade everyone in front of him.

"Comrades, the Chief Instructor is caught up in an assassination attempt in the north, and we should help him resolve his problems.