The stragglers can only rest for a while, then get up and chase the large group, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups of three or five.

After attacking the second regiment in Laiwu County, they burned down the military camp, buried their fallen comrades, and then set out to chase the larger army.

They left a company behind to accommodate wounded or stragglers.

At this time, a strange scene occurred on the road from Laiwu to Tai'an.

There were often a dozen Confederate Marines charging into groups of defeated Union troops.

However, the defenders, who had an absolute numerical advantage, were defeated. What they wanted was not to counterattack and annihilate the enemy, but to escape.

The Marines shouted and charged, chasing the opponent like a duck. This scene was weird and ridiculous.

In fact, the defenders in these places were all defeated by the powerful marines, and their courage was completely shattered, and they lost their will to fight.

In the early morning of the third day, before dawn, the Marine Brigade led by Ding Changqiang finally arrived at its destination, a village less than ten miles away from Tai'an Prefecture-Tai'an County.

The reconnaissance team in front of them reported that Zhang Shuyuan's retreating vanguard was still more than a hundred miles away from Tai'an City. It would be impossible for a large force to arrive before noon tomorrow.

This made Ding Changqiang breathe a sigh of relief. When he relaxed, his legs suddenly felt as heavy as lead, and an indescribable feeling of fatigue came over him.

He didn't rest for two days and three nights, he kept running.

"I am ordering the whole brigade to rest for three hours. Each regiment will be assigned a hundred men to guard. All the people in this village will be gathered into the ancestral hall and guarded by me. They will not be released until we start the attack."

This small village with only a few dozen households and less than 200 people was in panic after being driven to the ancestral hall.

Most of them squatted on the ground holding their heads. Occasionally, a child opened his mouth to cry, but his mouth was immediately covered, and the loud cry was swallowed back into his stomach.

The entire village was silent except for bouts of snoring. Before the army entered the village, the corpses of those barking dogs had long been lying on the ground.

Ding Changqiang didn't care about the moisture on the ground. He sat on the spot, leaned against the wall, tilted his head, and fell into a deep sleep.

In the entire village, there were only a few hundred soldiers on guard who were fighting up and down to guard the safety of the entire army.

Three hours later, the adjutant on duty woke up Ding Changqiang. He jumped up, stretched out his legs and kicked the adjutant who was sleeping like a dead pig next to him, kicking him awake and said, "Go, gather the battalion commanders of each regiment, and come to my place."

gather!"

The adjutant who ordered the order slapped his face with his hand, stood up and summoned the order soldiers to go separately to notify.

…

More than a hundred miles away from Tai'an, Zhang Shuyuan led less than 20,000 troops to set up camp. Behind them, there was no longer any team, and the mighty convoys of wealthy families had long been swept away by them.

.

After leaving Yizhou City earlier, Zhang Shuyuan immediately discovered that such a huge convoy traveling all the way was simply suicidal.

He still couldn't cover thirty or forty miles in one day, so he could reach the Jinan Prefecture Defense Area in the year of the monkey and join forces with his clan brother Zhang Huaizhi.

As for the miscellaneous soldiers led by Wu Chenghua to guard Yizhou City, Zhang Shuyuan had no confidence at all.

Ten days is just the most optimistic estimate. If it is not done well, it will be broken in two or three days.

Those brave soldiers who were temporarily recruited were not the elite soldiers that I took away, but the farmers who had just put down their hoes and held their swords and guns for only a few days.

Now the only thing he relies on is this army of less than 20,000 people, which is also his last capital.

It is a pity that Wu Chenghua left behind his more than 6,000 troops, otherwise his strength would be stronger.

But when I think about it, I feel relieved. Wu Chenghua has a little capital in order to buy himself more time.

In fact, Zhang Shuyuan's estimate was not wrong at all.

After the general abandoned the city, Yizhou City's morale immediately dropped to freezing point. After holding on for two days against the Southern Army's attack, Wu Chenghua wisely abandoned the city.

The tens of thousands of miscellaneous soldiers were disbanded on the spot, allowing them to take off their military uniforms and fend for themselves, while he led the remaining five thousand elites and began to retreat along the path Zhang Shuyuan retreated.

Wu Chenghua was not a fool. He knew that the remaining five thousand soldiers were the foundation for his survival. Without them, he would be worthless.

Not long after retreating, Wu Chenghua discovered a fatal problem. On his way forward, there were huge convoys of wealthy people everywhere, but Zhang Shuyuan had long disappeared.

Obviously, Zhang Shuyuan also sized up the situation, and he regretfully abandoned the wealthy gentry in his family.

Facing these greedy Zhang clan members, Wu Chenghua had nothing to say. At this time, he wanted money rather than his life.

Seeing that those tribesmen actually came to ask his soldiers to transport property for them, Wu Chenghua raised his sword and chopped without saying a word, and then led his men to deviate from the main road and escape to the other side.

He firmly believed that the target pursued by Chen Tianhua's southern army was not him.

The target of Chen Tianhua's pursuit was indeed not his partial division of thousands of men. Wu Chenghua fled to the other side, and the Southern Army just let him go.

Their target is Zhang Shuyuan.

But what Chen Tianhua never expected was that the army he let go would almost give him a fatal blow in the future.

If time could be turned back again, Chen Tianhua would definitely send a cavalry brigade to kill this defeated army that fled in panic.

After the Southern Army occupied Yizhou City, the main force pursued in the direction of Tai'an. After less than two days of pursuit, Chen Tianhua was stunned by the roads, even the fields on both sides, filled with horse-drawn carriages, ox-carts, and donkey carts.

.

There were so many of these gadgets that they filled the road they were traveling on. When they were still far away, they could still see the crowds of people beside these cars.

Finally, the pursuit came closer, and these dignitaries, who were unwilling to abandon their property until death, finally felt scared, abandoned their property, and began to run away.

But except for some able-bodied soldiers and porters who escaped, these delicate, wealthy, and aloof people were no match for the Confederate soldiers at the start of the race. They were caught one by one like sheep with a rope.

They were strung together in a bunch and left shivering on the roadside.

Chen Tianhua is not Wu Chenghua, or any other warlord, and he will never allow the indiscriminate killing of innocent people.

It took him half a day to process and place these delicate captives and clear the roads.

Although the seized property was piled up like a mountain, Chen Tianhua felt no joy at all. Perhaps this half-day delay would be fatal.

Whether the Marine Corps captured Tai'an on time or not, Chen Tianhua knew how difficult this task was. Even in the later generations he was familiar with, he had to march more than 400 miles on two legs in three days, and had to carry out several operations along the way.

After this defeat, he didn't have any confidence in his heart.

Song Xiaoniu's vanguard was a cavalry division commanded by Zeng Xin. After receiving the order, he changed horses without changing men, and rushed to Tai'an day and night.
Chapter completed!