The main force of the Hebei Huaxia Army attacked in four directions. The roads they took were blocked, and their targets were all the central army of the Qing army. Since Huo Chong started his army, the Huaxia Army was best at plain field battles, relying on its superior muskets. Wherever they encountered the enemy, they would defeat them. This was not just Hu Yue's pride, the old brothers of the entire Huaxia Army had the same pride.

In Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, any Qing army that dared to confront the Huaxia Army head-on ended in failure, no matter how much advantage they had in numbers . Only a few lucky ones could escape the Huaxia Army's relentless pursuit, while the rest either died or surrendered.

At this time, scouts were traveling between the four groups, informing each other of the latest situation. The troops were marching vigorously, carrying weapons on their backs, and mules and horses were pulling cannons.

Soon, the reconnaissance platoon of the left wing encountered the Qing scouts. The Chinese cavalry shook the reins and galloped towards the Qing scouts. The Qing scouts had no intention of retreating, and they also urged their mounts to rush over.

Although the number of people was less than 30, the momentum of both sides was no less than that of a large army. Seeing that they were less than 30 meters away from the Qing scouts, the Chinese cavalry raised their short muskets. The Qing army also raised their hand guns.

There was a burst of gunfire, and four Qing soldiers fell off their horses, while only one Chinese soldier was slightly injured. The accuracy of shooting on a horse that was bouncing up and down was indeed worrying.

Almost at the same time, the Chinese and Qing armies put their firearms into the holsters beside their saddles and drew their weapons. The clash between the iron short sabers and the steel long sabers decided the outcome in a moment. The Chinese army's standard sabers had the upper hand, and five more Qing soldiers were chopped off their horses.

Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, the remaining Qing soldiers turned their horses around and fled. The Chinese soldiers were not willing to let them go and chased them. After a while, three more Qing soldiers were slashed with deep wounds by long sabers and their injuries could not be borne. They either stopped their horses due to excessive blood loss or simply fell off their horses due to excessive blood loss.

The scouts were overjoyed at the initial victory. They circled back and captured the enemy's horses, and also captured the Qing soldiers who were not so seriously injured, bandaged them, and brought them back.

After handing over the prisoners, the scouts set out again. The peripheral mobile troops were responsible for both scouting the enemy and driving away the enemy's scouting troops. Before the main army fought, the battle between the two sides had already begun between these troops.

Although the Qing scouts suffered many casualties, they brought back the news of the approaching Chinese army to the Qing army. Basai did not order an attack, nor did he order a retreat. Instead, he urged his men to quickly build a camp.

The camp was already there yesterday, and now they just needed to reinforce it. Basai found Liu Tongxun, whom Hong Zhou valued the most, and said, "Liu Zhongtang, can you persuade the emperor to return to Shanhaiguan to wait for news?"

Liu Tongxun was not surprised, he had similar thoughts. But Liu Tongxun knew that this was impossible. Hong Zhou was determined to follow Kangxi's example and lead the army in person. How could he abandon his troops and go back at this time?

Basai also knew Hong Zhou's thoughts. Otherwise, Basai did not want a Han Chinese to persuade the Manchu emperor. Seeing Liu Tongxun's embarrassment, Basai said directly: "Liu Zhongtang, I want to hold on here. The enemy's firearms are fierce. If the emperor is injured, none of us can afford it. Only when the emperor is safe can we fight with confidence. In terms of reason, I am not as good as Liu Zhongtang. But Liu Zhongtang can understand our thoughts."

Liu Tongxun knew he couldn't refuse, so he had to agree. While Basai continued his military affairs, Liu Tongxun went to see Hong Zhou.

Hong Zhou saw Liu Tongxun's expression and sneered, "Liu Tongxun, you are not here to persuade me to go to Shanhaiguan, are you?"

Liu Tongxun knew that he was not the first person to persuade Hong Zhou. There were others who had been persuading Hong Zhou before. Unable to hold back a long sigh, Liu Tongxun said, "Alas! Your Majesty. I have several sons. I have been away for a long time and I miss them more and more. At first I thought it would be nice to see them, but later I felt that this was not my original intention."

Hearing Liu Tongxun say this, Hong Zhou sneered, "Haha. Liu Tongxun, are you going to imitate Chu Long in talking to the Queen Mother of Zhao?"

"Your Majesty, I miss my family because they are the people I care about most. However, I am worried about whether my family is safe. Your Majesty is the person we, your subjects, miss the most. Right now, we are in a dangerous place with war, and we are even more worried about your safety. As long as Your Majesty is safe, even if I die, I still have my sons to serve Your Majesty. But as long as Your Majesty is in an unpredictable place, your subjects will never be at ease. If Your Majesty thinks that what I said is wrong, please give me some advice."

Hong Zhou's face was very unfriendly, and he scolded: "Liu Tongxun, do you have no chance of winning?"

" Of course we will strive to win. However, as long as it involves Your Majesty, we want to be absolutely sure."

Hong Zhou was angry, "Humph! You said the words of a loyal minister. However, my grandfather, the emperor, led the army in person, and the villain Huo Chong on the opposite side also stood at the forefront. Am I so useless in your eyes?"

Hearing this, the civil officials standing beside Hong Zhou all lowered their heads, all of them were at a loss. When Hong Zhou brought up this, the civil officials didn't know what to say.

Liu Tongxun was not afraid. He continued, "Your Majesty, the whole army is loyal to you. That's why we followed you here. However, Shengzu and the thief Huo Chong led everyone to fight for a homeland. So we must be armed and stand at the forefront. Your Majesty is our homeland. As long as our homeland is safe, we will naturally feel at ease."

Everyone was stunned because they didn't expect Liu Tongxun to say such a thing. Even the anger on Hong Zhou's face had mostly dissipated. Liu Tongxun continued, "Your Majesty, we are loyal, and Your Majesty has seen it all. I hope Your Majesty can let us rest assured, and it can be regarded as Your Majesty letting us know that Your Majesty understands our loyalty!"

After hearing what Liu Tongxun said and seeing Hong Zhou's shaken expression, the civil and military officials beside him quickly knelt down and asked Hong Zhou to go to Shanhaiguan first to wait for good news.

Hong Zhou had long been sure that these civil and military officials were loyal to him. At this time, he was really moved by what Liu Tongxun said. Besides, these people's suggestions were not aimless. Huo Chong's Chinese army has always been good at fighting. Someone had risked his life to secretly tell Hong Zhou that if Hong Zhou was there, the whole army could only advance and could not retreat. In order to let Basai give it a try, it would be better for Hong Zhou to leave first.

Although Hong Zhou scolded the man who spoke that time, he had to admit after he calmed down that what he said might be reasonable.

Finally, Hong Zhou sighed, "Since you said so, will you all obey the general's orders?"

All the officials

Basai was relieved when he learned that Hong Zhou had agreed to leave first. While sending elite troops to escort Hong Zhou to evacuate, Basai continued to inspect the army.

The Qing army was seen doing their best to dig soil and pile stones to build camp fortifications. Basai also urged the Qing army to work harder.

By the afternoon, the frontline scouts could no longer resist and retreated to the camp. Basai stood on a high place and took out his clairvoyance to watch. He saw intermittent black lines appearing on the horizon of the Zhili Plain. If ordinary people saw them, they probably wouldn't know what they were. In the eyes of the old general who had experienced many battles, they were thousands of enemies rushing towards him. In another hour, he would be able to see more clearly.

The 40,000 Chinese troops were already close to their destination. The commander was overjoyed to learn that the Qing army had not withdrawn. This was great news. The Qing army was gathering here, so they could be annihilated in one fell swoop.

For this reason, the four groups of troops did not gather immediately, but first arrived at the outskirts of the Qing army to cut off the Qing army's retreat route.

After this maneuver, the Huaxia army continued to approach the Qing army the next morning. At this time, news came from the capital that three Qing troops had entered the outer city of the capital, while Hu Yue was guarding the entire city. The two sides fought, and the Qing army fought from afternoon to night, suffering a lot, and finally stopped at dawn.

The commander was relieved to know that the situation in the rear was still under control, especially when he saw Hu Yue still talking nonsense without complaining.

After all, the biggest burden has been thrown to Hu Yue. Even if the outer city of Beijing is occupied by the Qing army, the main force of the field army does not need to worry. Then the field army can focus on dealing with the Qing army in the field.

At this time, the four armies had surrounded the Qing army on three sides. Being surrounded on three sides and leaving one side vulnerable was the key to siege warfare, and the enemy had to be given an option to escape no matter what.

The Chinese army arranged their positions and reorganized their troops. After noon, the bombardment began. The Qing army had set up a lot of cavalry and other things on the offensive route, and the artillerymen were unable to destroy many of them. But at least they were able to disrupt the Qing army hiding there.

After that, the vanguard immediately formed a battle array, and the long line of soldiers set out towards the Qing army position under the command of bugles and whistles. The purpose was to first clear away the roadblocks that hindered the attack, clear the obstacles for the subsequent fierce attack, and allow the Chinese army to rush all the way to the Qing army position without stagnation.

The troops' initial work went smoothly. The engineers followed the infantry. After the infantry had advanced, they removed the roadblocks. The wooden stakes buried in the ground were cut down with axes. The holes in the ground were filled with soil dug with engineer shovels.

At this time, the Qing army's artillery began to bombard. The Chinese army did not continue to work in the face of the shells, and quickly withdrew. When the Qing army's shelling ended, they moved forward again.

The Qing army's artillery was a heavy iron cannon, not the bronze and cast iron cannons of the Huaxia army. Judging from the artillery captured in previous battles, the Qing army's artillery was cast very thick to ensure strength. This method was indeed useful, but there was also a problem, which was that it was very difficult to cool down.

Bronze dissipates heat quickly, and its toughness is much stronger than iron. It is no problem to pour water directly. The cast iron cannon developed by the Huaxia Army is much cheaper than the bronze cannon, and the cast iron cannon can also be cast very thin. The toughness is much better than the Qing Dynasty cannon, and the heat dissipation is also much faster.

When the Qing army's artillery bombardment stopped, the person in charge of observation looked at the watch and found that the time was indeed the limit of the Qing army's traditional bombardment. If the Qing army continued to bombard, they would risk exploding the barrel. The troops moved forward again to continue clearing the roadblocks.

All the actions were as summarized from the previous war experience. The roadblocks were finally cleared. The Qing army's artillery hastily began to fire again. The troops withdrew all the way to make way for the main force of the attack. At the same time, the artillery of the Chinese army also began to bombard. Immediately suppressed the arrogance of the Qing army's artillery attack.

Even as the artillery bombarded them, the Chinese artillerymen continued to move their artillery forward while the guns were cooling down. The artillery captains shouted at the artillerymen not to get too close to the guns to avoid getting burned. Even so, many artillery recruits accidentally touched the guns in the chaos and screamed in pain.

But these are all minor matters. The Chinese army quickly prepared their formations, and as the trumpets rang out, the flags of all regiments and battalions were raised. The troops lined up in neat rows, and marched forward with their legs raised high to the sound of whistles.

If Huo Chong saw this action, he would definitely smile bitterly. Compared with the PLA's steps in the military parade, this action is full of Western flavor. However, this step is not learned from foreign devils, but is completely from the Chinese army.

The ground is never flat, and raising your thighs can minimize tripping. Although the PLA can definitely beat the Chinese army easily, the Chinese army is not nothing compared to the PLA in another time and space.

When it comes to the actual combat experience of queue executions, the Chinese Army can hold their heads up high and express their pride in the fact that they have never had such experience.

With these seemingly strange steps, the Chinese army pressed towards the Qing army's position.

After crossing the roadblock area, the smoke-soaked Qing army on the opposite side could be seen quite clearly in the smoke. Regardless of whether it was the Chinese army or the Qing army, the commander ordered the troops to start firing volleys.

The battle between breech-loading percussion-cap rifle and muzzle-loading flintlock rifle, which was supposed to take place in 187X, broke out in Zhili in 1733.

As the Huaxia Army had experienced in the past, the Qing Army was really no match. However, the Qing Army's firepower at this time was much stronger than a few years ago. After all, under the strong pressure of the Huaxia Army, the Northwest Qing Army completely abandoned the matchlock gun and used the most advanced flintlock gun technology sent from the West to equip the Qing Army.

During the exchange of fire, the Qing army continued to fall to the ground. The Chinese army also suffered tremendous pressure, and officers and soldiers continued to fall to the ground amidst the flying bullets. Even many flag bearers were hit, and the military flags fell crookedly.

However, the Chinese army was not willing to give in. Someone immediately took over the flag bearer, held the military flag high, and stood in front of the queue.

The military flag is the command of the troops. When the military flag is waved forward, the officers and soldiers must charge forward following their team's flag.

Being ordered not to move is to follow the station discipline. This is something that every Chinese soldier has been taught countless times.

The smoke between the two sides increased a little with every shot. Just as the figures gradually became blurred, the Qing army's formation finally couldn't hold on.

The flags on the front line waved, and the troops finished firing the last round of volleys. The officers drew their swords, and the instructors took the lead in removing their bayonets and putting them on their rifles. Amid the noise, the pure firearms troops were transformed into troops that could carry out both firearms and close combat. Another round of bullets was loaded. The Chinese army charged forward with the flag bearer.

The sound of killing shook the sky, and the troops pushed forward and attacked the Qing army's position. At this time, a large number of Qing soldiers holding long spears suddenly rushed out from behind the fortifications that had been built at the waist.

This change made the frontline officers and soldiers stunned, but the two sides were so close that they had no chance to study what was going on. With the sound of weapons colliding, the two armies began a brutal hand-to-hand fight.

"A-choo!" Huo Chong sneezed. Rubbing his nose, Huo Chong continued to look at the battle report. The Qing army in Wuhu was on the move, and the Qing army in Henan also set out from Luoyang, crossing Gongyi and trying to rush into Zheng County.

In the new China, Gongyi is really not a very important place.