Wu Yan didn't expect that victory would be so sudden.

The poster reported that Shi Dakai led 20,000 elite Taiping Army soldiers as the vanguard, and there were a total of about 300,000 Taiping Army soldiers on the back and on both sides, Wu Yan was preparing to kill the generals and seize the flag again, and first killed Shi Dakai, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's most war-captured war.

However, just when he came back from the quiver, Shi Dakai's people also came.

"surrender?"

Wu Yan felt like the enemy had fallen down just as he was about to punch. It was so uncomfortable.

However, it is a good thing to not fight. Although Shi Dakai's 20,000 people were not taken seriously by him, if they really fought, they would consume some ammunition.

There is no shortage of ammunition in the Ming Dynasty for the time being. Due to eight months of rest, stable development, and increased resource control, the reserve of 7.62 caliber bullets used in the White Horse Swordsman has exceeded 300,000.

It sounds very rare, but the reason is that the industrial capacity is insufficient and even assembly line production cannot be achieved, rather than having no money or resources to build it.

However, the emergence of steam engines can greatly improve the industrial capacity of the Ming Dynasty. When the steam engine begins to be used, even if the Ming Dynasty only has one military factory, it can build tens of thousands of bullets a day.

However, 300,000 bullets were enough for Wu Yan, because currently only Baima Yicong can use 7.62 caliber bullets. The 1,000 white horses brought this time were allocated 50 bullets, and the logistics company also prepared 50,000 bullets at any time, which was equivalent to 100 bullets per person.

In the era of no fully automatic rifles and machine guns, this configuration is really too high.

"Your Majesty, be careful of fraud."

An aide next to him reminded him.

Wu Yan laughed, looked at an aide who didn't speak, and asked, "Li Er, do you think Shi Dakai surrendered to me, and there is a great possibility of a bright future, or deliberately surrendering, and then when I was fighting with the main force of the Taiping Army, there is a great possibility of stabbing me from the back?"

Li Er’s real name is not Li Er. The reason why he has this name is because he is the second child in his family.

Wu Yan called out a name equivalent to a nickname, not a big name or a character, but Li Er did not feel insulted at all, but was very happy.

After pondering for a moment, Li Er replied: "Shi Dakai's chances of joining His Majesty are even greater, because in the news from the East Factory, it is said that Shi Dakai and Hong Xiuquan compete for power and profit, and this time Shi Dakai only has 20,000 people under him, which also proves that Shi Dakai was taken away from his military power."

Dongchang is an intelligence organization formed by Wu Yan. It was formerly the Xiaodao Society and the Tiandi Society. It is currently under the management of Liu Lichuan, the Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty and the former head of the Xiaodao Society.

Because of his strong foundation, although Wu Yan's Dongchang has not been established for even a year, his intelligence capabilities are quite good, not inferior to those of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing court.

An aide next to him raised questions and said, "But what if Shi Dakai and Hong Xiuquan, because our Ming army was approaching, the power struggle was suspended?"

Wu Yan continued to look at Li Er.

Li Er was honored to say: "Shi Dakai could not voluntarily give up military power. In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, without military power, it would become a fish on the chopping board, and civil officials would never be able to have a higher status than military generals. In this regard, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is different from our Ming Kingdom and from the Qing court, because Hong Xiuquan did not have enough prestige and people's hearts in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. On the contrary, Your Majesty is the will of the people in our Ming Kingdom, so there will be no dispute between us, the Ming Kingdom for military power."

Wu Yan nodded with satisfaction and sighed in his heart that celebrities are celebrities.

"It's right. Remember, I'll give Li Er a reward of a house after I go back."

Li Er hurriedly knelt down and thanked the emperor for his kindness, but in addition to thanking Wu Yan, he also felt a lot of gratitude to his master Zeng Guofan. He felt that he, who had just joined him for a short time, could directly become an aide to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Now he had not made any contributions and had a house in Tokyo, where housing prices were getting more and more expensive. It is certain that Zeng Guofan's good words have a lot to do with him.

Little did they know that even if Zeng Guofan did not recommend him, Wu Yan would reuse him as long as he came to join Wu Yan.

Because Li Er's original name was Li Zhangtong, he later changed his name to Li Hongzhang, and was one of the four famous ministers in the late Qing Dynasty in his original history.

His father was a Jinshi of Zeng Guofan in the same year, and he himself was a Jinshi in the 27th year of Daoguang (1847). After failing the first exam, he became a disciple of Zeng Guofan. Later, he passed the Jinshi exam and was directly under Zeng Guofan. Therefore, Zeng Guofan was his teacher.

Last year, in 1853, he went to supervise the troupe training with the Minister of Works for fame and fortune, which was also learned from Zeng Guofan.

According to the original history, he would have been rewarded for his military achievements in 1855 until he was jealous of his great achievements and kept a low profile for two years in the name of Dingyou. In 1859, he was summoned by Zeng Guofan to help the Hunan Army, and then formed the Huai Army with the help of Zeng Guofan, and finally became a real powerful minister.

But history has changed. Because of Wu Yan, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom frantically reduced its troops from all over the country to return to aid. The regiment training camp that Li Hongzhang finally supervised had no chance to fight the area occupied by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Without military achievements, the team training would definitely not be able to continue, but Wu Yan would not rebel, so Li Hongzhang continued to supervise the team training and prepared to fight the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Ming Kingdom to make achievements.

However, what Li Hongzhang never expected was that the Ming Dynasty was really capable of fighting. His master Zeng Guofan defected to the Ming Dynasty, and later he was forced by the Qing court to participate in the formation of the brave camp to fight the Ming Dynasty.

How to fight?

The battle outside Tokyo had spread all over the world at that time, and Li Hongzhang could easily analyze that as long as the Ming Dynasty was not as serious as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing court could not beat the Ming Dynasty at all.

In addition, the Qing court did not provide any money, and the regiment training camps they formed all required their own military expenses, which was simply unsustainable.

So Li Hongzhang came directly to join Zeng Guofan. Zeng Guofan also knew that Li Hongzhang had great talents, so he directly recommended him to Wu Yan.

"Please calm down." Wu Yan asked Li Hongzhang to get up and asked, "Since you think Shi Dakai really surrenders, how dare you go to Shi Dakai's army to supervise the war?"

Li Hongzhang was stunned.

The aides who were just a little envious and jealous were stunned, and then they were filled with joy.

Analysis is analysis, who knows whether Shi Dakai will drop in real or fake?

After all, things like talking about war on paper are on paper.

But Li Hongzhang himself was a bold and decisive person. Zeng Guofan had a slow-witted personality, so he was often hesitant. When he was under Zeng Guofan, he often helped Zeng Guofan make a decision in just a few words.

Wealth and honor are in danger.

Li Hongzhang immediately received the order and said, "I am willing to die for Your Majesty."

Wu Yan laughed and said, "Okay, as long as I succeed, I will hand you a big thing."

Li Hongzhang didn't know what major thing Wu Yan was going to give him. After listening to some Wu Yan's explanation in his heart, he took twelve Wu Yan's guards to Shi Dakai's camp.

If there weren't these twelve guards, Li Hongzhang really felt that Wu Yan wanted him to die.

With Shi Dakai's surrender, Wu Yan felt that it would be easier to capture Nanjing City this time.

Because as long as Shi Dakai really surrenders and the news spreads, the morale of the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be even more disintegrated.

On the contrary, Wu Yan's already high morale will also increase again.

As for whether Shi Dakai surrenders or fake surrenders, it has little impact on Wu Yan. Even if a talent like Li Hongzhang dies in an accident, it will be his life.

With more talents, you don’t have to stay in history and celebrities. Many times it is the reason for the time and fate.

The army continued to march towards Nanjing City. In a few days, the Ming army led by Wu Yan met with the 20,000 elite Taiping Army led by Shi Dakai and 150 miles away from Nanjing City.

The Northern King of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, who was waiting to see Shi Dakai and Wu Yan fight and then take the opportunity to act, saw the scene he expected.

Shi Dakai's army made way out and went to the west of the Ming army, looking like a guarding the main force.

"Sure enough, I have a thief heart."

When the King of Northern saw this scene, he laughed, because Shi Dakai's surrender meant that no one in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would compete for power and profit with Hong Xiuquan, and Hong Xiuquan would not fight, so he would become the leader of the military power of the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

"After this battle, I can't say that Hong Xiuquan has to give way to me."

Wei Changhui, the northern king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, immediately began to gather troops and find a plain area, with an attitude of clearly tying to confront the Ming army head-on.

This scene surprised Wu Yan a little.

However, since the other party was going to fight head-on, he naturally would not be afraid. He marched to the fifteen miles of the Taiping Army and began to rest.

The Taiping Army did not take the opportunity to launch a raid, and the wing king Shi Dakai did not take the opportunity to cause trouble. Instead, they cooperated with Wu Yan's orders, allowing Li Hongzhang, who had been following Shi Dakai, to gradually fade away with his fear and worries.

As soon as the next day dawn, the 30,000 Ming army and 20,000 Taiping army that had rested, could reach the 200,000 Taiping army fifteen miles away.

He even completely ignored the 40,000 Taiping Army each and plunged into the encirclement of a total of 280,000 Taiping Army.

When the Northern King saw this scene, he felt even happier.

"The great head is still there now, and I can't see the world's leader? Hahaha... Today, I took Zhao Wuji's dog head."

The Northern King issued an order, and the 200,000 army divided the 40,000 people again, and circled the north and south sides of the Ming army, with 20,000 people each. The 40,000 Taiping Army, which were originally on the north and south sides, had 20,000 people each divided the 20,000 people each, and circled the behind the Ming army.

He seemed to be trying to encircle the Ming army.

Before the Ming army could react, the Northern King directly issued an order to attack, waiting for the effort. Although the more than ten miles of the Ming army marched was nothing in ancient times, it still had a certain impact on physical strength.

It's a good time to launch an attack.

Wu Yan was still at the forefront of the military formation. When he saw the Taiping Army of the Northern King suddenly launching, he laughed.

The generals around him were stunned.

Because the Taiping Army who came from the front actually raised a long-line shield, each shield was more than one person tall, and it looked like it was made of pure iron.

Someone standing on the ladder observing the enemy situation, a message came when this row of extremely long shields slowly came.

"Your Majesty, behind the Taiping Army's shield phalanx, there are seventy artillery pieces and at least ten thousand musketeers."

Wu Yan had already guessed this and said with a smile: "They are afraid of the White Horse Righteous Cong, so they want to use this method to narrow the distance between them and us. When the distance reaches 200 steps, the range advantage of the White Horse Swordsman is not great. Because at a distance of 200 steps, both them and our artillery can hit each other. At that time, they will have to fill in their lives."

This kind of marching speed naturally cannot carry heavy artillery with a longer range. Whether it is the Ming army or the Taiping army, they carry field artillery, with a maximum range of only two or three hundred steps.

Gongsun Zan, the commander of the White Horse Yicong, said: "Your Majesty, I will ask for a fight."

Wu Yan asked with a smile: "They have shield defense, and this place is a plain, and our number of ladders is not enough. How do you fight?"

Gongsun Zan said: "The last general can circumnavigate to the enemy's flanks to find the flaws of shield defense. You only need to break out a gap and the army can press forward."

Wu Yan looked at the shield formation with a line in his sight, knowing that the Taiping Army must be very well prepared, and there were definitely more than so many shields.

Just simply attacking around the flanks will not be as fast as the opponent's shield.

This is the advantages and disadvantages between offense and defense. Wu Yan led the Ming army to attack and the Taiping army defended, so he could naturally choose a terrain that was more conducive to the Taiping army.

"What if the enemy accelerates to attack our main formation when you are circling toward the enemy side? Or, what if you gather forces to encircle you?"

"At the end, we will only bring two hundred people enough to swim and attack them."

Wu Yan looked at the Taiping Army that had been walking dozens of steps, nodded and said, "Okay, you can take the five hundred white horses and go there, I will give you another two thousand cavalry guards, well... I will personally plunder the formation for you."

When Gongsun Zan heard this, he felt a sense of passion. When he was taking the order and leaving, he heard Wu Yan say, "Come on, set up my ladder."
To be continued...