The strategy of "making something out of nothing" was realized by him from the 36 strategies.

It's like having a beautiful woman, the eldest brother wants it, and the second brother also grabs it, and the youngest brother, because of the weakest strength, can't compete, but he might as well fight the idea of the maid next to the beauty.

What he has to do now is to dismantle a "maid" out of thin air from the fleet.

With his current status, if he made a suggestion in the recital, the court might not have listened carefully, not to mention that the edict had just reprimanded him. But as long as the war in Shanghai is won, it will be very different, and at that time, whether it is the empress dowager of the two palaces or the princes of the military aircraft department, they cannot but take his words seriously.

Guan Zhuofan is quite self-aware, knowing that such an important excerpt of Lu Dao, with his own talents, cannot be written in any case, so he wants to entrust this matter to Libin.

"Yixuan, I have never written an excerpt, I am afraid that if I can't do it well, it will delay your big plan." Libin was a little apprehensive, "I don't know what you want me to write?" ”

"This excerpt can be written in three meanings, I said slowly. Mr. Li is as big as the sea, and he is well versed in foreign affairs, so there is absolutely no reason why he can't do it. Guan Zhuofan said with a smile, "Just let those elders in the court see the handwriting of Jiangnan Yishi, let them know the Tao and know the Tao, how blind the examiner is that he has missed such a high talent." ”

This sentence suddenly aroused Libin's ambition, and he nodded vigorously: "Okay, you can say it." ”

The first meaning is to show the importance of coastal defense to the imperial court and strengthen the imperial court's determination to purchase this fleet. The second meaning is to say the important position of the garrison division of Tianjin's ports, and to ask questions for the imperial court. If there is such a fleet. Is it much more secure? The third meaning. If you can assign one or two intermediate or small-class gunboats to cruise at the mouth of the Yangtze River, you can not only guard against the long-haired sailors, but also fire artillery bombardment in the event of a battle on land, which will become a powerful support.

In addition to this excerpt, he also planned to write a letter to Hurd. Explain to him what is at stake - since Hurd is fighting to officially become the chief tax officer, then it is right to support the purchase of the Aspen fleet and tie Li Taitai in this matter, not Li Tai to say anything, and oppose it all. But this letter, he can write it himself, and he doesn't have to bother Libin.

"Yixuan, you have such a big heart, if you really only get one or two boats, are you willing?" Libin understood what he meant. Asked with a smile.

"How big a belly, how much food to eat." Guan Zhuofan said with a grin. "To swallow an elephant with a serpent is to support the dead."

"Why do you want to place the fleet in Tianjin?" Li Bin suddenly had a good idea, and said excitedly, "It's better to tell the imperial court that if the fleet goes up the river, sweeps the long-haired naval army, and shells Jinling, you can reap the merit as soon as possible, and you will definitely be able to invite the consent of the imperial court!" ”

"It's good, but it's a lot of obstacles, and it's not something that can be done right now."

"How?" Libin asked unconvinced.

"If this fleet is placed on the Yangtze River, it must be under the control of Commander Zeng, then we have nothing to do." Guan Zhuofan analyzed for Libin, "If it is controlled by others, Governor Zeng will definitely reverse even the proposal to buy - the Hunan army has fought a hundred battles, and it is thin Jinling, and when it is about to succeed in nine turns, how can you let others snatch the first credit?" ”

These words were very profound, and Li Bin admired it, nodded silently, and said in his heart that he was really far inferior to this Guan Yixuan in these things.

In fact, what Guan Zhuofan thinks is even deeper. Now the Zeng brothers are famous all over the world, and the governors and generals who are fighting in various places are either from the disciples of Zeng Guofan, or they have some relationship with the Hunan army. His proposal to place the Aspen fleet in Tianjin was actually to put the fleet under the control of the imperial court, and most of them could get the consent of the imperial court.

As for what will happen to the fleet in the future after agreeing, it is not something he can control, anyway, what he wants is just that "maid".

"Yixuan, when do you want this excerpt?" Libin asked.

"As long as I recover the whole territory of Shanghai, I will send it immediately."

"Reclaim the Territory...... I wonder when the road will be waiting? ”

"Soon," Guan Zhuofan said confidently, "as long as Takahashi wins the battle smoothly, it will not be far away." ”

*

*

The Taiping army at Gaoqiao had indeed fallen into a desperate situation, and although there were still more than 9,000 troops, they were compressed into an area less than twenty miles long and less than ten miles wide—the Huangpu River in the west had been firmly blocked by warships, and the north and east were the mouth of the Yangtze River into the sea. In such a narrow area, it becomes very difficult to deploy troops.

To the south, the officers and troops were approaching step by step. Although the number of officers and soldiers is smaller than that of the Taiping Army, the ferocity of firepower is incomparable to that of the Taiping Army.

The strength of the officers and troops was mainly 2,000 people of the Xuan army - Daniel Zhang's horse team of 500, Ding Xianda's infantry team of 700, and Forrestal's foreign gun team of 800. followed by Li Hengsong's 1,500 green battalions and Wu Jianying's 1,500 new soldiers, all of whom are very capable of fighting. plus 1,300 troops from Zeng Bingzhong and Liu Xun, a total of 6,300 people.

A few days ago, the situation was still very good, but now the situation has changed abruptly, and it has plummeted for thousands of miles, which has hit the morale of the Taiping troops very hard, and the backlash of Wu Jianying and Liu Yulin has aggravated this low mood. But even in such a desperate situation, Li Rongfa is still a trapped beast. He divided the troops into three routes, relying on the topography, on the line from Nanlin Village to Yujiagou, with trenches, wooden fences, earthen walls and artillery bases, built the first defensive position, set up the second line of defense three miles away, and built a fort and placed six cannons on a high ground to the west between the two lines of defense.

However, what Li Rongfa didn't expect was that the firepower of the strike also became more terrifying.

Early in the morning of the 27th, the sky was just dawning, and there was still a thin morning mist drifting on this piece of land with the river. In the midst of such silence, the guns suddenly rang out three times on the positions of the officers and soldiers, and after a moment of silence, there was a loud bang, and the French warship "Gao Ao" outside the mouth of Wusong fired first, followed by the "Mary" and "Baron Fair" also opened fire, and the four British warships and one American warship on the Huangpu River also began to fire a salvo at the position of the Taiping army.

Sixty-eight and thirty-two pound shells from naval guns, with a piercing screech, exploded through the painstakingly constructed positions of the Taipings, causing horrific damage and damage, and the eight-pounder shells fired from the positions of the officers and soldiers seemed to have become insignificant by comparison. The Taiping had never suffered such a terrible shelling, and the sequence of battle was quickly disrupted, and soldiers could be seen running around with their heads in their hands.

The soldiers of the official army were also frightened by this kind of firepower, and they had just made the transition from the age of cold weapons to the age of firearms, and they saw this scene of modern warfare for the first time.

The rumbling sound of artillery can be heard clearly in Shanghai. People woke up from their sleep, opened the doors and windows, probed their brains, and wanted to know what was going on in the road, and there were also people who knew how to spread the news - the decisive battle of Gaoqiao, and the foreigners opened fire! As a result, the number of people on the street gradually increased, and they listened attentively, and some people liked to move the colors and ran to tell each other.

The people in the county government have been getting up before dawn for the past few days to prepare for office and military affairs, and when they heard the sound of cannons, they all walked out of the house. Guan Zhuofan was not exempt from vulgarity, walked out of the signing room, frowned slightly, and listened intently - this decisive battle can only rely on fast horses to deliver news, and it cannot be as fast as a telegram.

At this time, a clerk surnamed Wang stumbled into the yamen, so excited that he couldn't tell him the news he heard from outside, and when he saw someone, he said: "The foreigners have opened fire!" The foreigners have fired! As a result, he didn't run a few steps before he bumped into Guan Zhuofan head-on.

"How?" Guan Zhuofan asked expressionlessly, "What are you so happy about?" ”

Wang Shuban saw Guan Zhuofan's face, and said in his heart that it was not good, the noise in the ya, it was possible to eat ten boards, so he had to accompany him with a smile, bowed his waist and said: "Master, the foreigner has opened fire!" ”

Guan Zhuofan glared at him for a long time, and suddenly a leaky slap slapped him, knocking him to the ground.

"The foreigner is your father?"

*

(Four more sent, ask for a guaranteed monthly pass.) The books on the shelves today,History seems to be the only one.,I want to try to rush this month's new book monthly ticket list.,Thank you, everyone.,Happy New Year! (To be continued......)