The Qing army camp in Changde outside Quanzhou City, Guangxi. The north wind blows, and there is a solemn atmosphere inside the camp. A handsome flag is erected high in the center of the camp, but there is a big character "Peng" on it.

Not far from the commander flag is the commander's tent of Changde who came to assist Guangxi for 20,000 Qing troops. More than ten Qing army generals gathered in the commander's position. Peng Yulin, who was appointed as the commander, was the Hunan Regiment and the rank of Censor.

Peng Yulin looked at the generals in the tent with a solemn look. His thin face was very haggard, showing his thoughts. Peng Yulin didn't like the current Qing army pattern in Hunan. Since Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army defeated Changsha, Yuezhou and other places, the Hunan Army and Changde Qing army have bounded Dongting Lake. The territory of the Hunan Army to the east and the territory of the Hunan Governor to the west.

The provincial governments in Jiangxi, Fujian, Jiangsu, Hubei, Guangdong and other places were lost to the hands of the Taiping Army. The Qing court still set up a governor in these places. For example, the Fujian Governor retreated to Taiwan Island and the Guangdong Governor retreated to Hainan Island to work. Although it was embarrassing, it was understandable. Hunan Governor Zhang Liangji was also the most pitiful governor in the Qing court. The provincial government of Hunan Changsha was clearly in the hands of the Qing court, but he could only stay in Changde in the festival, which was very embarrassing.

Zhang Liangji repeatedly wrote letters to request the governor's yamen to move back to Changsha, but the court always refused for some reason. Later, Zhang Liangji also figured it out that the court needed the Hunan Army to resist the Taiping Army in front.

Since Hu Linyi and Peng Yulin followed Zhang Liangji in the second year of Xianfeng, they have been promoted to the position of governor of Hubei this year and have gone north to Jingzhou Prefecture to take office. Peng Yulin has also made his mark and has become the second-person of the Qing army in Changde, Hunan. He is known as Xue Shuai, and has fought against Shi Dakai's Taiping Army many times.

What Peng Yulin didn't like was the current situation where the Hunan Army and the Qing Army in Changde were not subordinate to each other and were inconsistent with each other. Both sides were always secretly competing, putting condoms on each other and pulling each other back. Even jokes were circulating in the public, saying that the two governors in Hunan, one in the Eastern Governor of the Eastern Governor of the Others were Zeng, and the other in the Western Governor of the Western Governor of the Second Governor of the Second Governor of the Second Governor of the West Governor of the West Governor of the Second Governor of the West Governor of the West Governor of the West Governor of the West were Zhang.

This time the imperial court issued an order to let Hunan soldiers rescue Jiang Zhongyuan, Guangxi, and the two sides were still calculating each other. At first, Zhang Liangji believed that Hengyang, Hunan was the old nest of the Hunan Army and was closer to Guilin Prefecture. It was reasonable for the Hunan Army to send troops. However, after two months of delay, Zeng Guofan was still quarreling with the court, so Zhang Liangji couldn't help but get angry. He immediately ordered Peng Yulin to lead 20,000 Qing troops in Changde to go south to aid, and at least he was ashamed of Zeng Guofan's old donkey face.

But after Peng Yulin's troops arrived south through Baoqing Prefecture, news came from the Hunan Army that the Hunan Army had also sent more than 10,000 troops to help Guangxi. The two armies gathered in Quanzhou and went to Guilin Prefecture to rescue the siege.

Although Peng Yulin was also from Hunan, he became famous with Zhang Liangji and was not favored by Zeng Guofan. However, he was still devoted to official business. After receiving the official documents from Li Chong of the Hunan Army, he came to Quanzhou to meet in the agreement. However, the Qing army in Changde has been in Quanzhou for five days, and the Hunan army still has no ghosts. The Qing army in Changde was extremely embarrassed and angry.

Hunan governor Li Mengqun broke the silence in the tent: "Shishou, Xiang Yong has not arrived yet, should we still wait here?" Li Mengqun had fought with the Taiping Army since the Taiping Army was in Guangxi. Later, the general under Hu Linyi had been promoted to Hunan governor at this time. He was also an old enemy of the Taiping Army.

Hunan Admiral Yu Wanqing coughed twice, "The news of Changmao's invasion of Guangxi this time is huge. I think it is better to wait for Qi Xiangyong to advance with his troops." Yu Wanqing was the position of Hunan Admiral in the early years of Xianfeng. Later, he was defeated by the Taiping Army and was sent to Heli Town, Yunnan to serve as general. This year he has accumulated merits and was promoted to the admiral of Hunan, which is considered to be the reinstatement of the official position. This person is already sixty years old and has not been enterprising enough and is just thinking about maintaining success.

The generals in the tent also expressed their opinions. A group of people supported Li Mengqun's opinions, and half of them stood on Yu Wanqing's side, and they all said their own reasons and started to quarrel for a while.

Peng Yulin couldn't bear it anymore and slapped the table heavily, and the tent suddenly became silent. Peng Yulin didn't bother with this topic at all and asked, "Are the people who went to contact Xiangyong back?"

Yu Wanqing said, "I haven't returned yet." Peng Yulin said angrily, "What are you doing?! Xiangyong has arrived in Yongzhou Prefecture. Is it going to go back and forth for Yongzhou Prefecture for three days?!"

Yu Wanqing said a little embarrassedly: "Maybe something has been delayed on the road, you know Xue Shuai. Recently, there are many long-haired fine works and hidden stakes in the junction of Hunan and Guangxi, so I'm afraid there will be some accidents."

Peng Yulin stood up with a loud voice and said loudly: "Send people again. There is no news to come back until sunset tomorrow. The morning after tomorrow, we will deport the camp and go south to Guilin Palace as soon as possible to help! This is a military order, so there is no need to discuss it again! Distract the tent!" He immediately turned his sleeves angrily.

Peng Yulin came out of the commander's tent and took several Goshha personal guards to patrol the soldiers and horses of each battalion. He arrived on a mound. He saw a team of Qing troops training in the camp east, but the general in the leader was a female general wearing a scarlet battle robe.

Peng Yulin looked at it for a while and saw that the female general had a very well-organized exercise. The firearms, bows, arrows, swords, spears, and horses were arranged at many levels. He was immediately moved and said to the left and right: "Changmao was Hong Xuanjiao, the big-footed manpo in Guangxi, and the camp was full of female soldiers, wearing colorful clothes, and entering and leaving the formation. The official army was dazzling. I didn't expect that there were such brave female generals in our official army today. Can we know which group of people this female general is?"

Before the left and right answered, Li Mengqun's voice floated over: "Xueshuai, this is Li Suzhen, my sister-in-law."

Peng Yulin looked back and saw Li Mengqun walking slowly in military uniforms and hanging his sword on his waist. Peng Yulin said with an oh, "My sister He Gong is also proficient in leading troops?" Li Meng's group name was Heren, and Peng Yulin and others kept calling him He Gong.

Li Mengqun smiled and said, "She Mei has been a scholar since she was a child, and she is good at riding and shooting. She is familiar with Sun Wu's military strategy. She also studied all the studies of astronomy and divination. Her father was very surprised at that time. When I was fighting in Guangxi, she clamored to join the army. This year she came to me secretly and couldn't drive her away. Finally, she reported to Hu Jiantai and allowed her to stay. Now she just asked her to lead the three hundred personal guards of her family."

Peng Yulin twisted his beard and suddenly realized: "So that's it. Since he is a person who is Run and Fair and allowed to enter the camp, he should have extraordinary talents. He is not as good as a man. This time, Changmao also knew that there are female generals in our army."

Li Mengqun nodded softly and said, "My little sister has always wanted to fight with Changmao's rumored female generals. But it seems that Changmao's female camp has disappeared in recent years, and there are no female soldiers in the formation."

Peng Yulin smiled faintly and said, "Changmao is now a big family and has a large population. It is no longer the dilemma of insufficient long-distance battles. Naturally, there is no need for female soldiers to go into battle."

Li Mengqun said with an oh, "The little sister's wish can only be lost." He paused and continued, "Shishuai, although the words of the old general Yu were unpleasant, he was mature and steadfast and had some knowledge. Xiang Yong broke the appointment. Zeng Guofan naturally had no good intentions. He just wanted us to rush in, but if there were long-haired soldiers and horses ambushing us, we were first caught."

Peng Yulin sighed softly and said, "Why does Changmao have the momentum of today? It was something we were indulging step by step. When Jiang Zhongyuan ambushed Changmao in the Curtain Ferry, his troops were only more than 2,000, but he could fight Changmao without moving forward. If tens of thousands of nearby officials could quickly come and kill him, why would there be today's disaster?" Peng Yulin paused and continued, "Now Guilin Mansion is surrounded by Changmao's heavy troops. Changmao's four-eyed dogs use troops to fight with vicious soldiers. When I go to support, Changmao must have a back move, and I know that it is very dangerous to go there. But now half of the country is about to be defeated. Do we have to sit on the wall again? So the general decided that even if there is a dragon and tiger den in Guilin Mansion, I will go for a try, which is not to disappoint the court's grace."

Li Mengqun touched his nose and said, "What should Xiangyong do? Are you just watching them take advantage of us from behind?"

Peng Yulin said lightly: "Since they are timid, we will leave our own. I want to come. As long as we leave, Xiang Yong will definitely follow us. Even if Zeng Guofan is shameless, he is embarrassed to let his troops who go to the aid go back without even stepping on the Gui land."

Li Mengqun sighed and said, "Then we have to be careful. We must build a strong village every time we go to, and beware of long-haired raids. Four-eyed dogs are famous for being good at returning to the horse and rushing thousands of miles away."

The next evening, the messenger sent finally came back, but the news brought by the Hunan Army was indeed in Yongzhou to purify military discipline. Li Chongtui said that the thousands of newly recruited Hunan dynasties in Hengyang were making money and they would not run out without money or food. He was dealing with this matter. Peng Yulin sneered and ordered the troops to prepare to set up their camps and continue to move south early the next morning.

The next day, the Qing army led the camp to the south. After walking for 30 miles, they stopped walking for no more. Peng Yulin sent cavalry everywhere to inquire, and the army set up a hard village on the spot. He walked along the official road by the Xiang River and walked for several days before he arrived in Xing'an.

That day, camped in Xing'an. Peng Yulin even sent a scout cavalry to inquire. In the end, the scout cavalry on all sides reported that there was no sign of hair, but the scout cavalry on the back came to report that Xiangyong followed and had arrived at Quanzhou Prefecture.

After hearing this news, Peng Yulin and Li Mengqun shook their heads and smiled bitterly. It seemed that Xiang Yong was really shameless and really regarded Changde's army as a stroll. Peng Yulin was too lazy to send people to question him now, but just ordered the troops to go south step by step to Guilin.

In a day, I arrived at Lingchuan, an important town on the west bank of the Li River. There were more than 3,000 new Taiping Army troops stationed here. Peng Yulin's army was blocked. Peng Yulin immediately ordered the army to camp on the spot and confronted the Taiping Army in Lingchuan.

The day after camping, Peng Yulin sent Li Mengqun to lead thousands of Qing troops to conduct a tentative attack. As a result, the Taiping Army also set up a hard camp and easily repelled the Qing army's offensive with its firearms and artillery advantages. The Qing army left hundreds of corpses and found nothing except for them.

Peng Yulin was very angry. Guilin Mansion was less than fifty miles away, but his 20,000 army was blocked by more than 3,000 people here and could not be afraid. However, he wanted to bypass Lingchuan and cross the Li River to continue to rescue him, but he was afraid that he would be attacked by Chen Yucheng's cavalry who came and went like the wind. At the same time, he was afraid that his retreat would be cut off, or that he would enter the long-haired pocket formation after reaching the east coast.

Just as Peng Yulin was upset in the tent about how to defeat the current enemy, Li Mengqun quickly walked into the import and said half happy and half sad: "Shishou, Xiangyong sent an envoy to ask for help, only saying that Xiangyong was surrounded by Changmao in Xing'an. The situation was in a hurry. Please send reinforcements as soon as possible!"

Peng Yulin opened his mouth and said in surprise: "What? When did Changmao detour behind us? Did they fall from the sky?!" (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!