Before the vanguard of the new army reached Wuqing, heavy rain had already poured down. This heavy rain cloud rose from the Yanshan Mountains and then pressed eastward. The sky in the northern part of Zhili leaked, and a heavy rainstorm swept the world.

At this time, no one cared about the lives of the people, nor did anyone care about flood control and rescue. Almost all officials in Northern Zhili got a terrible rumor from different channels that the direct troops of the East and West Empress Dowager were about to go to war on the Zhili Plain.

In the past few days, the atmosphere in the entire Zhili officialdom has changed suddenly. No one has drunk and visited brothels, no one has recited poems and chanted mountains and enjoyed the scenery, and even lost the intention of embezzlement and bribery. Everyone's emotions have been tied up because they know that this plain battle will determine the political pattern of the Qing Dynasty in the next few decades.

"Good, Empress Dowager Ci'an is only 29 years old this year, Empress Dowager Cixi is only 31 years old this year, and the emperor is only 10 years old this year. This is how the Qing Dynasty will be in chaos in the future. These are all the ages when the young and powerful force make trouble..."

Almost all officials should consider such a problem. It is impossible not to choose to take sides in the Qing Dynasty officialdom. If you are considered a fence-bearer, then you are the enemy of everyone.

Every major political incident is an opportunity for officials to queue up again. If they choose the right one, they will naturally get promoted and become rich. If they choose the wrong one, they will lose their official position or be dismissed, and if they are seriously lost, they will lose their heads. This is not a trivial matter.

However, there are many officials in Zhili who are looking forward to Xiao Letian's victory. Through the efforts of the Punishment Hall, 40% of county officials in Zhili are now receiving Xiao Letian's secret salary. The Zhili officialdom of the Qing Dynasty has made the "borers" raised by Xiao Letian have been chewed with holes.

Xiao Letian's heart is like Mingjing. Money can never buy loyalty. Even if they write a blood letter and submit to him, it is not the most reliable thing. Everything depends on victory. It is a violent group of the army. As long as victory continues and martial arts continues, Xiao Letian can gain the greatest loyalty.

Xiao Letian smeared the rain on his face and shouted to the Japanese sword-drawing team who were walking forward quickly beside him, "No Heita, Hitoro... Are you tired, are you cold, can you still fight? Answer me loudly..."

"Not tired...not cold...of course we can fight." More than 400 sword-drawing team members roared in the heavy rain.

Xiao Bing Taro raised his head proudly, "What's this? In our Japan, the typhoons blowing from the sea are even more terrible. We have never retreated. We are used to volcanic eruptions, but it's just a heavy rain."

"Good... The Japanese sword drawing team can hold on, what about my loyal Ryukyu warriors."

"We have survived the blood and fire of the baba. I'm afraid of this little wind and rain... Accelerate and march quickly." There were shouts in the team.

Xiao Letian smirked at Sima Yunluo and the others and shouted, "Japan, Ryukyu brothers can hold on... So what about our great Chinese good men, can you hold on..."

"Salute Xuanyuan with my blood, and sacrifice to China with my life. The new army accelerates... march quickly." A huge thunder sounded like a flat ground, which scared the war horses screamed in a flash, almost overturning Xiao Letian to the ground.

"Boys, you know you have great strength, so you have the strength to use it on the soles of your feet... Let's go, brothers, go to Beijing to eat hot food..." Xiao Letian rushed out first.

The old city wall of Wuqing County was left behind by the new army. Xiao Letian knew that there must be countless officials and gentry on the top of the city who were secretly watching him as an evil demon. They did not dare to fight with him, and they did not dare to get close to him. All they could do was curl up in the city wall and watch timidly.

A master on the city wall hid in a temporary awning and whispered, "Master, you really missed the opportunity to get on the boat like this. If you send Xiao Letian some information, this favor would be great. Li Hongzhang could deceive Xiao Letian, but he could not deceive us local snakes."

"I'm confused." The county magistrate glared at me and scolded, "Master, I'm also a soldier. If there was no such rain now, I would definitely sell it to Xiao Letian. But look at this heaven, even God helped those Huai Army... What is the most afraid of firearms? What is the most afraid of is water."

"It's definitely a loss situation. The fool just got on the boat. He turned around and defeated Xiao Letian and asked the captains to go out to catch some defeated soldiers. We can also get some credit, right..."

The master stopped talking. He listened to the county magistrate's confident tone and sighed in his heart, "Master, Master... don't you think about it. Xiao Letian led his troops back from Europe. Didn't anything really happen? If something is abnormal, it will be a monster..."

The information transmission in the 19th century was still behind. Even if Xiao Letian returned to the Qing Dynasty, no one in northern China knew what he did in Europe. Only a fast horse on the official road in Henan was running to the north with his life. It was the Lion City newspaper that Zeng Guofan sent to the court.

It’s a pity that this newspaper came too late, and war is now inevitable.

The heavy rain poured down, and hundreds of Huai soldiers wearing straw raincoats were hidden in a drainage channel. Everyone ignored the rolling waves under their feet and the pickled mud. They all seemed to be out of life and remained motionless in the heavy rain.

No one has a hard bow to remove the bow string in his hand. There are long spears and short swords and other hand-to-hand weapons on the ground, while the bow strings of the bow and arrow are wrapped in oil cloth and hidden deep in his arms.

The commander made it clear that the bowstrings would soon be softened when the heavy rain was raining. At most, three arrows would be fired. After three times, the bowstrings would be useless, so you had to wait until the enemy appeared before hanging the strings.

"I heard it carefully... I won't see the ghosts." In the eyes of these Huai soldiers, the soldiers Xiao Letian, the two ghosts, were ghost soldiers.

Any famous army in history was full of momentum when he first formed the army. Those grassroots officers trained by famous generals, and those veterans who have experienced countless blood and fire, are the backbone of an iron army.

This is the case with the Huai Army at present. They are not the Beiyang after their desperation in later generations. The Huai Army that pacified the Nian Army was only 50,000 or 60,000. In history, after the Nian Army was completely pacified, the total strength of the Huai Army was not more than 70,000, and the Hunan Army had already reached 500,000.

This is a moderately sturdy army. The smaller force allows Li Hongzhang's command to penetrate deeper, and the orders are clear and unobstructed.

Moreover, if the troops are shorter, it is easier to produce elite troops, especially with more than 3,000 iron troops in front of him, which is Li Hongzhang's old foundation. The elite level can be said to be unparalleled in the world.

There was heavy rain, lightning and thunder, and the world was pitch black as dark as ink. In such a bad weather, the three thousand Li Hongzhang's children did not retreat at all. They set up an ambush quietly, without even a complaint.

This is a group of wolves fed by silver, a group of villagers gathered together by the blood of the villagers, and an iron army brought out by Li Hongzhang himself that can change the modern history of China.

At this moment, they met their destined opponent, Xiao Letian's new army.

If Xiao Letian had not been able to move forward along his inherent trajectory, Li Hongzhang would eventually become the leader of the Han minister and the Westernization official. Under his influence, the Qing Dynasty was unwilling to carry out backward changes, and finally even surpassed Japan's small country.

If Xiao Letian had no new army, the Huai Army would still become the largest military group in the late Qing Dynasty. It would not have withdrawn from the historical stage until the Republic of China, and the civil war between the Beiyang warlords and the National Revolutionary Army would not have fought for 17 years.

Of course, Li Hongzhang and his men did not know what would happen in the future, nor did they know that Xiao Letian and his army would steal the glory that should have belonged to them, but there was a cause and effect in the dark, and Li Hongzhang and his Huai Army hated Xiao Letian without reason.

In the past two years, Xiao Letian was the one who was most dissatisfied with Li Hongzhang, and the Huai Army was sour when they saw the results of the new army. If you ask them why, they couldn't say anything, but jealousy was jealousy. Maybe this was the real enemy of fate.

"Silence... Everyone is silent...discovering the traces of the enemy..." Countless drainage ditches were countless trenches, and the sound of low commands began to rise and fall.

Sure enough, on the official road in the east, a group of soldiers in blue uniforms appeared in the heavy rain, pressing their heads low one by one, and then the brim of the patent leather large-brimmed hat blocked the rain and barely maintained their sight.

"Win the string...Win the string...Everyone remembers that we only have three chances to shoot volleys...Pull the wind, we are the leader, we will definitely shoot accurately...Everyone is ready to fight..."

Inside the woods was Li Hongzhang's hidden command post. The commander in a straw hat was not special at all. He was also wet with the soldiers. However, when he needed to observe the battlefield with a telescope, the guards held up a umbrella to block the rain for the commander.

"Here..." When a bright blue flashed in the telescope, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but shouted, "It's true, it's true, Xiao Letian is indeed proud, in his eyes, don't you know how to respect the world? He really came in the heavy rain..."

"If it was sunny today, maybe you still have some chance of winning, but now this heavy rain and mud are your burial place... I will send the order and prepare for the battle as planned..."

Li Hongzhang's orders were redundant. These veterans had extremely rich experience in the battlefield. When Xiao Letian's vanguard had already entered the ambush circle, the ambush soldiers in the front did not launch an attack. They just used their bodies to protect the bow and arrow that had just hung the string, for fear that the rain would soak the bow and string.

Three serrated wolf-toothed arrows were placed next to each soldier. Once the flesh was inserted, you would pull it off and it would be a piece of flesh and blood.

More and more new soldiers were entering the pocket. When the vanguard was almost approaching the bottom of the pocket, countless shrill roars suddenly sounded in the heavy rain.

"Phot...three consecutive shots..."

There was a trembling sound of dense bowstrings, and a black cloud followed by the wind rushing towards the new army. The vanguard, who was caught off guard, screamed in an instant, and the smell of blood in the air came to his face.

"The enemy attacks...there are enemy attacks...prepare to fight, counter-charge...brothers counter-charge." This book was first released from 17K Novel Network, and you can read the genuine content as soon as possible!
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