Xiao Yungui left the Ministry of War Office humming a small song. He was in a very good mood, but he didn't know that at this moment, he was being scolded by a group of Qing army generals and officers.

In the Qing army camp of Peng Yulin's troops in Lingchuan, Guangxi, Peng Yulin sat upright on the head of the commander camp with a gloomy face. He watched a group of Qing army generals and officers under his command murmuring and cursing the brutal and cunning King of Long Hairy, but those were just slandering words to vent their anger, and they were all cursing for no reason.

Faced with the impatientness of his subordinates, Peng Yulin also became irritated. Nearly 10,000 Xiangyong from Li Chong's troops were all ruined in Xing'an Town for two days and one night. When the reinforcements he sent were still halfway, he met some defeated soldiers who escaped from Xing'an Town, the news was that Xing'an Town was over. In the end, the Qing army reinforcements had to quickly return to Lingchuan to defend. They also knew that the Taiping Army often liked to play siege and fight for reinforcements, and they did not want them to be eaten by the elusive Taiping Army on the road.

The Taiping Army interspersed a large number of elite troops to its retreat. Peng Yulin was very helpless. The Taiping Army was stuck in Xing'an Town. Not only did it cut off the official road to the north, but it even connected the Xiangjiang River through water. The Lingqu Canal of the Li River was cut off by the Taiping Army. Chen Yucheng once again showed Peng Yulin that the Taiping Army he led was very good at fighting such roundabout and intermittent mobile warfare.

Peng Yulin knew that these were the glorious traditions of the long-haired bandits. Back then, they were able to jump out of Guangxi and jump out of the encirclement of more than 100,000 Qing troops in Sai Shanga, relying on this kind of mobile warfare. Changmao is an expert in this regard. At this moment, his opponent Chen Yucheng seemed to have applied this tactic to the attack. It was no longer the strategic shift that was forced to do back then. Peng Yulin found that the Taiping Army's individual combat capabilities were greatly improved with the help of new weapons. Even Changmao was just moving a small army to the side of his brigade, which would make the Qing army very uncomfortable.

Now the Qing army led by Peng Yulin is trapped in Lingchuan, with the Taiping army of Chen Alin who besieged Guilin in front of him, and the rear was cut off by Zhang Wenxiang's Taiping army. The 30,000 troops in his hands are always in danger of being wiped out. What angered Peng Yulin even was that the Taiping army liked propaganda and psychological warfare very much. Zhang Wenxiang's troops even sent the captured Xiang brave soldiers and flags outside the camp to show off their power. Hundreds of people organized the Battle of Xing'an into rumors and kept talking about it outside the Qing army camp all day long. The Qing army couldn't help but go out to attack, and what they brought was a burst of guns and cannons.

More than ten days after the battle in Xing'an Town, Peng Yulin did not dare to divide his troops. He broke through several times and was blocked by the Taiping Army. However, the sound of gunfire in Guilin became increasingly heavy. Peng Yulin knew Chen Yucheng's plan. His 30,000 people were the dishes on his plate. He could enjoy it slowly after he was defeated by Guilin.

"Stop it all!" Peng Yulin could no longer help cursing his subordinates aimlessly, and suddenly slapped the table and shouted sternly: "Are you the only ability to curse behind your back?!"

The entire camp suddenly became quiet. Peng Yulin looked coldly at Hunan governor Li Mengqun and asked, "How much food and grass are there in the army?"

Li Mengqun had been silent for the moment, and then he slowly spoke bitterly: "It's less than seven days."

The Hunan Admiral coughed and said sadly: "Shishou, the food and grass are about to be broken. After Li Chong's troops were annihilated, it is estimated that Hunan will never send reinforcements. We will be in the jar."

Peng Yulin pondered, and at this moment, a personal guard outside the tent hurried into the tent to report: "The Grand Marshal, Li De'an, the general of the township soldiers who were long-haired, asked for a visit."

Peng Yulin said with an oh, "Take him in!" Li Mengqun frowned and said with a surprise, "What are Changmao letting him back at this time? Could it be that he was sent to deliver a letter to persuade him to surrender?"

Peng Yulin smiled faintly and said, "I thought so, but the Four-eyed Dog wanted to persuade me to surrender, which was a delusion."

Li Mengqun said: "Even so, there is no need to see this defeated general over there, so as not to discredit the general's eyes and ears of Changmao. If the censor finds out and reports in the future, it will be extremely unfavorable."

Peng Yulin raised his hand and stopped, "Of course he wouldn't let those rebellious words say. Since Li Dean was put back by Changhai, he must know the reality of the long hair. It's okay to ask some questions."

After a while, Li Dean was brought into the tent. Although he had gone all out of his clothes and only wore ordinary civilian robes, he looked in good spirits and seemed to have not been abused after being captured.

After seeing Peng Yulin, Li Dean took his head and bowed, knelt on the ground and claimed the death penalty. Peng Yulin waved his hand lightly and said, "Li Shenrong is not a subordinate of me, and there is no need to say such accusation. Since you are back, follow me with me. After returning to Hunan, your guilt will be decided by the court. What are the words of Changmao when you come back? If you are trying to surrender, then there is no need to say it."

But unexpectedly, Li Dean knelt on the ground, raised his head and clasped his fists and smiled bitterly: "Qi Bian Xue Shuai, Changmao coach Chen Yucheng, came back from his subordinates. When Chen Yucheng came, he met his subordinates in person. He said that Su asked Xue Shuai to be loyal to the Qing court. If he came back to deliver the subordinates this time, he would not say anything to persuade him to surrender."

Peng Yulin said a little surprised and smiled slightly, "I didn't expect that this four-eyed dog is quite wise." He then asked, "Then what will he let you back? Do you just want to bring a message to humiliate me?"

Li Dean shook his head and said, "No, Chen Yucheng said he was willing to let Xue Shuai take his troops back to Hunan safely."

As soon as this was said, the Qing generals in the tent exclaimed together, and no one believed their ears. Peng Yulin was also surprised and said in confusion: "What? The four-eyed dog is willing to let go of a way and let us go back to Hunan?"

Li Dean nodded and said, "That's right, Chen Yucheng said, as long as we restrain our subordinates, withdraw from Guangxi and return to Yongzhou, and no longer go south to rescue Guilin, he can let Xing'an official road and let Xue Shuai's army return north."

Li Mengqun sneered: "Four-eyed Dogs want us to leave the hard village. Fortunately, he intercepted us halfway, so he didn't have any kindness to do. Xue Shuai should not be fooled."

Li Dean hurriedly said, "Chen Yucheng said that he didn't want to do anything like letting the tiger go back to the mountain. He was very happy to trap Xue Shuai's army first. When Xue Shuai's army was out of ammunition and food, he would wipe out Xue Shuai's army in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, his Western King Xiao Chaogui gave him a secret order to let Xue Shuai's army leave!"

Peng Yulin was moved this time and said, "Is this the pseudo-Western King's meaning?" Li Dean stood up and took out a letter from his arms and said, "This is a letter written by Xiao Chaogui who was handed over by Chen Yucheng, so that his subordinates will definitely bring it to the commander."

The letter sealed by the fire lacquer was placed on Peng Yulin's desk. The fire lacquer was still intact, which means neither Chen Yucheng nor Li Dean had read this letter. At that moment, Peng Yulin took the letter and pondered for a moment before talking to Li Mengqun. Yu Wanqing and the others said, "You can come and watch this letter with me."

Li Mengqun and Yu Wanqing looked at each other and knew that Peng Yulin was avoiding suspicion. The three of them with the largest Qing officers in the department watched the letter together. Even if there was anything, the three of them knew it together. Peng Yulin could naturally show that he had no connection with Xiao Chaogui. If the censor knew about it in the future, nothing would happen.

The two of them approached Peng Yulin's handsome position. Peng Yulin opened the letter and watched it together. After seeing it, the three of them changed their expressions. Li Mengqun whispered: "Snow Shuang, it's not advisable for too many people to know about this matter. Let everyone step back first." Yu Wanqing also nodded and said: "I mean that's the same."

Peng Yulin nodded and waved his back to the tent, leaving only Li Dean. Although the Qing army generals were puzzled, the tent was full of Li Mengqun, Yu Wanqing and Peng Yulin's confidant generals. Li Mengqun and Yu Wanqing have never dealt with each other. It is rare that the two agreed this time. The generals knew that this time must be of great importance, so they retreated together.

After the generals left, Li Mengqun frowned and said unhappily: "Shishou, what the long-haired pseudo-Western King said in the letter may not be true, and perhaps it is Changma's plan to alienate others."

Yu Wanqing coughed twice, and his old voice said angrily: "If this matter was not true, why did the long-haired pseudo-Xiang King's letter explain the marching route and the geometry of our troops so clearly? This letter was written before the Battle of Xing'an. At that time, we did not happen to make an appointment with Li Chong to gather south, and also informed the marching route of Xiangyong and his turtle grandsons. Zeng Guofan's child was hiding evil intentions, but he wanted to make us lose all the thieves to weaken the power of the Changde army!"

Peng Yulin slowly put away the letter and said lightly: "What is said in this letter is true." Before Li Mengqun could speak, Peng Yulin continued: "No matter what the pseudo-Western King said in this letter, we all said that Li Chong's army secrets were said to have been on excuses and did not meet according to the agreement, but asked us to be in front and their march method in the back, Xiang Yong wanted to kill people with a knife."

Li Mengqun was very discouraged. He felt that although Zeng Guofan was quite ambitious, he would not have trapped the friendly forces in Hunan Green Camp like this, but he really could not justify the strange behavior of Li Chong's troops Xiangyong. After a moment of silence, Li Mengqun said: "Snow Shuai, maybe I should think about it the other way around. Why did Changmao do this? What benefits would it be for Changmao and the others?"

Peng Yulin repeatedly tapped the table with his fingers and said slowly: "This is something I have been thinking about after reading the letter. The long-haired pseudo-Western King is known for being treacherous and cunning. It is impossible for him to let us go without any benefit. Why did he let us go? Could it be that he just wanted to provoke a conflict between us and Xiangyong, so he could make profits? But even so, I will not attack Xiangyong for the time being when I go back. At most, I will report this matter to the two palaces to know. Before the conclusion is made, even we dare not take it in the Ming place. It is probably impossible for him to see us fighting with Xiangyong. Is it that he just wants to let Xiangyong know the two palaces that he is just trying to let Xiangyong know the unjust?" (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!