Zuo Zongtang led an army of 20,000 people and continued to occupy the rear in Anxi Prefecture.
Then he ordered Xia Zhikuan and Li Jingxiao's troops to secretly station in the Barkol Division. They would make a raid in the direction of the ancient city in a few days, and then attack Bai Yanhu's Division in Urumqi.
If Li Jingxiao and the others want to take Urumqi, they must take down several small strongholds in front of Urumqi, such as the ancient city, Wusu and other places. However, the roads are still much easier to walk, and they are all major roads.
Liu Jintang and Jin Shun's troops are secretly stationed in Hami City. At the same time, they will take a small road to surprise Pizhan City, and then attack three cities near Turpan.
It is still a very difficult road for Liu Jintang and his team to go over mountains and ridges.
The defenders of Pizhan are from Aguba, and a group of Aguba's sharp soldiers are stationed here.
Even if Pizhan City is attacked, Turpan will not be easy to attack.
Agubah sent heavy troops in Turpan, Dabancheng, and Toksun, and Agubah's eldest son Bekhuli was personally in charge here.
These three cities are in the shape of a triangle, with one side attacking and the other two rushing to support.
So it depends on whether they both cooperate well.
If Li Jingxiao and the others break through Urumqi and then go south to attack Dabancheng, it will be much easier for Liu Jintang's troops to attack Turpan.
Akubah's son Bekhuli is in Toksun. No matter which side he supports, the other side will be in danger.
This is also the reason why Zuo Zongtang ordered his troops to attack in two directions.
In addition to their main force, the Agubai rebels attacked, as well as some reinforcements, such as the reinforcements from Uliasutai, the reinforcements from Qinghai, and the Shu army from Sichuan.
August is not far away, and they must launch an attack as soon as possible, at least to capture southern Xinjiang before the year.
Otherwise, it will only get colder and colder as we move further back, and heavy snow will block the mountains which will not be conducive to marching and combat.
The last batch of supplies arrived in the hands of the two vanguard armies in mid-July.
The war to regain Xinjiang is about to begin.
Zuo Zongtang visited the two places in advance to mobilize the army.
Zuo Zongtang said at the swearing-in ceremony for Li Jingxiao and others in Barkol: "Xinjiang is our Xinjiang, and it has been the inviolable territory of our Holy Spirit since ancient times."
"It is a precious treasure left by our ancestors. There are cattle, sheep, melons and fruits all over the mountains and plains."
"Tell me, can we give it away easily?"
"Can't, can't, can't!"
"No, even if I lose everything, I will fight to the death to regain Xinjiang!"
"In my opinion, Xinjiang is suffering from a serious disease. This serious disease requires strong medicine and big sticks for major tasks. Otherwise, the disease cannot be cured and the people cannot be brought to peace."
"To regain Xinjiang, I only ask that no prisoners be kept alive, and that even if they surrender, they will be killed!"
"I will make them pay with blood."
"Taguba is just a first-rate Kor. He just took advantage of our country's internal and external troubles to temporarily occupy our land."
"His regime is destined not to last long, and Xinjiang is still our Xinjiang."
"Soldiers, do you have the confidence to destroy the enemy invaders and regain Xinjiang?"
"Yes, yes, yes..."
"Okay, I gave the order to order Xia Zhikuan as the vanguard and Li Jingxiao as the deputy general. They will lead an army of 20,000 to attack the ancient city and capture Urumqi as soon as possible."
Li Jingxiao and Xia Zhikuan both knelt down on one knee: "The last general will take the order!"
Then Li Jingxiao and Xia Zhikuan led the army to attack the ancient city.
Li Jingxiao and others were shocked by the order "No prisoners left alive".
But for the sake of peace in Xinjiang in the next few decades, we have to do this.
Furthermore, none of the rebels, whether it is Aguba, Bai Yanhu or the local leaders, are clean.
They all committed many evil deeds and deserved to die.
Li Jingxiao and Xia Zhikuan led the army all the way west and did not stop until they reached the outskirts of the ancient city.
Xia Zhikuan wanted to lead the army to charge, but was stopped by Li Jingxiao.
After all, Li Jingxiao was nominally the deputy general and could not live up to the facts.
Li Jingxiao and the others took advantage of the fact that the night was getting dark and the city gate was about to close.
Li Jingxiao personally led a group of people to approach slowly.
Xia Zhikuan ordered the artillery to prepare. When Li Jingxiao and the others approached, they would first fire a few shots at the opponent, and then Li Jingxiao and the others took advantage of the opponent's panic to attack the city.
Because Li Jingxiao and the others were cavalry, they were highly mobile.
When Li Jingxiao and the others reached the 500-meter mark, the night turned dark and the city gate was about to close.
No one noticed the Qing troops approaching below.
Li Jingxiao and more than a hundred people led the horse away. The horse's mouth was stuffed with something, its feet were wrapped in cloth, and it didn't make any movement.
Xia Zhikuan, one kilometer away, used a telescope to see Li Jingxiao and others arriving at the designated location.
Xia Zhikuan decisively ordered the firing.
Twenty cannons were fired into the city.
Aguba's army didn't even understand what was going on.
Suddenly they saw a small group of cavalry approaching them.
The general who defended the city immediately ordered the city gate to be closed, but it was too late. Li Jingxiao and his cavalry had already arrived at the city gate.
These more than a hundred people were all masters of volley shooting. When someone tried to close the city gate, Li Jingxiao killed him with one shot, and then about a hundred people directly attacked the city.
More than a thousand cavalry quickly followed behind.
The infantry followed closely behind.
Li Jingxiao and more than a hundred people quickly eliminated the enemy troops at the city gate, guarded the city gate, and waited for the army to enter the city.
The leader of the city knew that the tower was broken and fled with dozens of his followers, regardless of whether his concubines would fall into the enemy's hands.
The rebels knew that persistence was of no use, so they all surrendered.
None of the Qing troops expected to capture the ancient city so easily.
They thought there was a fierce battle, but they lost dozens of people and captured a city.
This was a good start for the Qing army.
Next, Xia Zhikuan ordered the army to continue clearing the rebels in the city.
All those who had surrendered were killed. After all, Marshal Zuo ordered not to take prisoners.
Li Jingxiao felt very cruel, but now and then, he could not be kind to women at this time.
After taking care of the prisoners, the army rested for the night.
Xia Zhikuan and others sent a scout to Zuo Zongtang, telling them that they had captured the ancient city.
At the same time, Liu Jintang's troops had also set off and successfully captured several small strongholds in front of Pizhan City. In order to keep it secret, they did not let anyone go.
There are three strongholds along this road, all of which are beacon towers outside Pizhan City.
Because the normal army would only go through the ancient city, then attack Urumqi, and then reach Daban City.
This is the only road that is a main road, and it is heavily fortified along the way. Cannon fodder like Bai Yanhu are arranged to guard this outlying city.
The real important strongholds are Daban City, Turpan and Toksun.
But Agubai and the others were just in case, fearing that the Qing Dynasty would take a small road, so they set up a stronghold between Pizhan City and Hami. Whenever they discovered enemy situations, they had to notify Pizhan in time to take precautions.
Pizhan is the largest city outside Turpan.
Due to the terrain, Liu Jintang's movements were much slower than those of Li Jingxiao and others.
Moreover, they are attacking on a small road, so be more careful.
Xia Zhikuan and Li Jingxiao left a thousand people to guard the ancient city, waiting for the follow-up troops to take over the city.
They continued westward with the main force.
Zuo Zongtang also moved his base camp to Hami so that he could continue to issue orders to the large forces in front.
Just when their attack was going smoothly, a piece of bad news suddenly came.
