This Geng Zhibiao is about thirty years old, with a Chinese character face and a beard. He is not too tall, but he has broad shoulders and a round waist, and is quite strong.

He is one of Zhang Chen's old brothers. I think he was in the team when Yang Zhen came out of Ningyuan.

It's just that at that time, like many people in Yang Zhen's team, he had just escaped from death in the Battle of Julujiazhuang. At the same time, due to the defeat and rout, his original positions as a guard and a battalion soldier were all lost.

He was deprived of it and turned into a down-and-out soldier who was confused and had nowhere to go.

Of course, today, Geng Zhibiao is no longer the miserable leader of the army. Over the past few years, he has become the sentry officer of Li Shouzhong's battalion of the Eastern Expedition Army Musket Regiment.

Among the first group of old brothers who followed Yang Zhen out of Ningyuan, he was definitely not the best, not even the second best.

After all, Zhang Degui, Zhang Chen, and Li Lu were already generals, and even Zhang Guogan, Yang Shen, and Pan Xi were deputy generals.

Including Yang Zhan'ao, Deng En, Yang Dagui, Li Shouzhong and others, they have also begun to take charge of their own affairs, or lead a battalion alone.

In such a situation where one can be promoted immediately for meritorious service, as one of the old brothers who followed Yang Zhen out of Ningyuan, he is still stuck at the level of Sentinel Officer Qian, which shows that he has not performed much outstandingly in the past few years.

But no matter what, Yang Zhen was quite tolerant and treated his old brothers who risked their lives with him northward.

As long as these people have merit, they will definitely be greatly rewarded and promoted. Even if they make mistakes, as long as they do not cause public outrage, they will often turn a blind eye.

Otherwise, given today's situation, Geng Zhibiao would probably be left with nothing to eat.

"The humble Geng Zhibiao, please see the Governor!"

Geng Zhibiao was stout but still agile. After turning over and dismounting, he quickly came to Yang Zhen and knelt down on one knee to greet Yang Zhen.

"Okay, save it, let me know if there is any urgent military situation!"

Seeing that he was an old brother under his command, although Yang Zhen looked dissatisfied, his tone also revealed a different kind of kindness.

When Geng Zhibiao heard what Yang Zhen said, he stood up almost immediately with a playful smile.

"Captain, we were in Changcheng around 11 o'clock in the morning. We got a report from the imperial people hiding nearby, saying that a large number of soldiers from the Qing Dynasty wanted to cross the river and go ashore. After hearing the news, Li Yingguan gathered some troops and took the humble officials and others to investigate."

When he got down to business, Geng Zhibiao immediately had a solemn look on his face, and the veteran look he had just now disappeared.

"When we arrived, we happened to see the Qinglu braided soldiers wading across the river. About a thousand of them had already reached the shore. At that time, there were more than a thousand people on the other side who had not crossed the river. All the Qinglu braided soldiers had horses. Together, they

There were almost two thousand people.

"We gathered about 500 people at that time. Officer Li felt that we were small, so he did not rush directly to the Qingluo team, but ordered the humble officials to come back and report to the governor first!"

"There are two thousand people from the Qing Dynasty?"

"Yes, there must be two thousand people!"

Faced with Yang Zhen's expressionless rhetorical question, Geng Zhibiao answered decisively and simply.

"very good!"

"Very-very good?"

Yang Zhen's reaction stunned Geng Zhibiao, who was covered in oil and sweat.

But soon he asked again: "Then, Commander, what should we do? Camping officer Li and our brothers from the front camp are still waiting in the north. Whether it is an ambush or an interception, Commander, please give the order quickly!"

"Um."

Yang Zhen hummed, then frowned and looked to the north.

In fact, after he just found out that the team riding into the camp was the sentinel team sent by Zhang Chen, Yang Zhen already had a hunch that it was Qing soldiers and horses who took a detour upstream to cross the river.

However, he was already slightly aware of it and was prepared. As long as there were not too many soldiers and horses, he would not be afraid.

More than two thousand riders, no more, no less, just right.

Of course, you can still eat even more.

As the saying goes, there is a road to heaven but you don’t take it, and there is no door to hell but you rush in.

"You quickly send someone back to tell Li Shouzhong that after gathering his troops, he should try to hide his whereabouts. He only needs to follow the Qinglu troops from a distance. There is no need to ambush or intercept them. Just let the Qinglu troops come over!"

Changcheng is only a few dozen miles away from Xinyibao. If the Qinglu crossed the river around Chen time, including the time they took to rest after crossing the river, they should have arrived before noon.

Even if Yang Zhen wanted to make some other moves, he had no time to make any arrangements.

"This——, I humbly obey my orders!"

Geng Zhibiao and the others set out for the north yesterday, so they were not aware of the current preparations in their camp, so they were a little surprised when they suddenly heard Yang Zhen's order.

But he also knew that the matter was urgent at the moment, and since his governor had already made a decision, there must be no room for argument.

What's more, he has been in Yang Zhen's army for a long time, and he also knows that his commander-in-chief is very resourceful and will never fight an uncertain battle. Now that he says this, of course he has already thought about how to deal with it.

So he hesitated for a moment, then received the order and turned around to make arrangements.

In just a moment, a small group of sentries turned north and disappeared behind the mountains in the blink of an eye.

As for Yang Zhen, he did not make any adjustments to the seemingly loose defense inside and outside the north gate of the camp. Everything remained the same as it was when Geng Zhibiao rushed into the camp.

Including the lookout posts on the watchtower at the camp gate, as well as the guards and soldiers on duty inside and outside the camp gate, they all remained as they were, and they were not deliberately asked to evacuate.

However, with the news reported by Geng Zhibiao and his team, the atmosphere in the camp has quietly changed.

Previously, only those at the team officer level and above knew what might happen today, and even so, many people were taking chances, secretly feeling that Yang Zhen's deployment was just a precautionary measure, and that the Qing Dynasty troops might not actually come.

And even if it does come, it may not be today, or it may not be when, it may be tomorrow.

However, when Geng Zhibiao and his sentry riders rushed back the message, both the sentry officers of each battalion who had been prepared before and the soldiers in the sheds who had been kept in the dark and did not understand the real situation suddenly understood.

As a result, no one at the top or bottom had any chance to take chances.

Those who were manipulating various types of artillery loaded ammunition for the large and small artillery in charge, and adjusted the muzzles to what they thought was the best aiming state.

Those who dug pits and laid mines in the open space in the middle of the camp also hurriedly and carefully installed message tubes and fuses for the buried iron-clad enemies, and spread lime on the laid mines. Only their own army knew how.

mark.

There are also groups of musketeers and grenadiers who have been digging trenches along the edge of the camp. They no longer talk, laugh, brag and fart while digging trenches. Instead, they dig trenches and look at themselves from time to time.

Battle position with muskets and flying general grenades.

When they had a premonition that the enemy was coming and the battle was about to begin, no one could talk and laugh as easily as before.

The atmosphere began to become dull.

However, fortunately, our army was prepared, and the musketeers and grenadiers were able to dig trenches without their knowledge.

Even the sky cannon and thunder cannon gunners deployed on the east and west sides of the camp also have semi-underground gun positions, which can give them a lot of security.

Of course, in sharp contrast to the dull atmosphere elsewhere, deep in the camp, in a trench not far in front of the heavy artillery position, was filled with more excitement.

Yang Zhen deployed all 600 of his bodyguards, that is, the gunmen and auxiliary troops directly under the main town government, here.

In addition to all the musketeers, Yang Zhen also placed Zhang Guogan and his first musketeer here.

Also deployed at this place by Yang Zhen was Wang Yuyou, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Regiment, and his selected first-post grenadiers.

This is the barrier of the heavy artillery position. Once the Qinglu cavalry rushes into the camp in large numbers, this place will be the place to bear the impact of the Qinglu cavalry head-on.

Therefore, Yang Zhen deployed a large number of elite soldiers and generals here.

However, what made the soldiers gathered in this trench more excited than nervous was not that they were about to face the Qing raids - this was not exciting at all.

What excited or inspired most of them was that Yang Zhen himself was wearing armor, carrying guns and ammunition, and waiting in the same trench.

As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, Yang Zhen can go to a safer place, such as the rear of the heavy artillery position, which is the safest place at the moment.

Or, even if Yang Zhen wants to participate in the war, he can go to a relatively safe flank, such as the left or right wing, and no one will say anything.

But Yang Zhen did not do this. Instead, he placed Zhang Chen on the left wing of the camp where there were more musketeers, and Zhang Tianbao on the right wing of the camp where there were more grenadiers.

Sun Dengxuan and Yang Shen from the artillery regiment camp were also placed on the left and right wings of the camp, and they were asked to lead and command the sky cannon and flying thunder artillery teams deployed on both wings.

Yang Zhen himself gave the heavy artillery position to Liu Zhongjin with full command, and only took the gunmen, Zhang Guogan's battalion of musketeers, and Wang Yuyou's grenadiers to jump into the trench not far in front of the heavy artillery position.

The trench was about three feet deep and the ground was a little muddy. Because the camp was not far from the Yajiang River and had abundant groundwater, it was already wet after only digging three feet.

Yang Zhen was almost the same as everyone else guarding the trench. His feet were in the mud, and he was leaning forward and lying on the mound of soil at the edge of the trench. There were two muskets next to him, one with an extra-long barrel, and the gun

He carried the gun with a heavy body, and the other was an ordinary flintlock gun with a bayonet attached.

The only difference between Yang Zhen and others in the trench is that he has a telescope in his hand. He can lie on the front edge of the trench and observe the situation further away through the telescope.

Others, on the other hand, could only build a pergola with their hands and look forward excitedly and nervously.

"The enemy is coming!"

Yang Zhen looked through the telescope and suddenly saw a large amount of dust a few miles in front of his camp, and immediately blurted out his judgment.

At this time, Zu Kexiang, who was standing beside Yang Zhen and trying to look ahead, immediately took over the conversation and said with certainty:

"Yes, Governor, if there is dust, there must be a large number of Qing cavalry coming at full speed! But it looks like they are still several miles away from us!"

"No! The dust lags behind. The cavalry must pass by first, and the dust appears behind. I'm afraid a large number of enemy cavalry will arrive in the blink of an eye!"

Zu Kexiang had good eyesight, and he could also see the dust that Yang Zhen saw through the telescope with his naked eyes.

But his judgment on the distance was wrong, and Yang Zhen immediately rejected his judgment.

"Zhang Guogan!"

"The humble position is here!"
To be continued...