Naturally, it was the Xuan army that fired a shot! Huang Wenjin secretly laughed at himself and doubted that he had nothing to do. Although this cannon is more dynamic than the usual eight-pounder gun, it is still out of the usual routine of the Xuan army's usual bluff and sneaking into the camp.

"Don't panic......" As soon as he said these three words, he was interrupted by another loud bang suddenly, and then it was as if the sky was falling apart, and the thunderbolts were repeated, and the artillery fire of the Xuan army was overwhelming, exploding everywhere, blooming everywhere, and the earth and rocks were splashed in the cannon, and the broken limbs flew sideways, turning Huang Wenjin's camp into a nightmarish hell on earth.

The camp of the Taiping army is an inverted triangle shaped into a zigzag. The front of the south bridge is the camp of Huang Wenjin and the camp of the general Chen Shen, which is one mile apart, and behind it is the 3,000 people of the "heavenly general" Sun Defu, camped in Xipu Village, thinking that the horns, grain and military supplies are also stored here.

Ding Shijie mobilized a total of more than 70 cannons on the front and side of Huang Wenjin's camp, among which the seven twelve-pounder cannons that had just been transported from Qibao were the most powerful. He was determined to defeat Huang Wenjin's camp first, as long as Huang Wenjin's main force collapsed, he believed that Chen Shen and Sun Defu would definitely not be able to withstand it. So as soon as the horn sounded, all the cannons fired in unison, and all the shells were poured into Huang Wenjin's six camps.

This is to use the liliang of the lion fighting the rabbit to deal with the Taiping army on the southern road, which is equivalent to smashing silver on the head of the Taiping army - each flowering bullet costs six taels of silver, and in just a while, ten thousand taels of silver turned into green smoke in the dense artillery fire.

However, the goal was achieved. Such artillery fire covering the sky and avoiding the earth was unheard of and unseen by the soldiers of the Taiping Army. Not only were the fortifications completely shattered. And everyone was awakened from their deep sleep. Shouting wildly, running around, a large number of casualties were killed and wounded in the camp by artillery fire. By the time the thirteenth battalion of Xuan's army, which had surrounded the camp, broke through the gaps in various places, the Taiping army in the camp was almost unable to make effective resistance. Chen Chen, on the south side of the camp, urgently summoned 3,000 people to rescue, and before he left the camp, he was attacked by Daniel Zhang's fast gun horse team, and retracted back to the camp in a panic.

In this way, Huang Wenjin's camp finally collapsed! The Xuan army that attacked the large camp. It is the four battalions of the Jianzi Regiment, the Xianzi Regiment and the Foreign Gun Regiment, among which Wu Jianying's Jianzi Regiment, because it used to be "his own people", is the most familiar with the situation in the camp, and the fight is also the most fierce, Wu Jianying personally charged, led a battalion of people around to the west side, ignored the sporadic resistance of the Taiping army around him, and went straight to Huang Wenjin's big tent.

He guessed that Huang Wenjin would definitely flee at this time, this time. Sure enough, he caught up with Huang Wenjin, who was about to avoid the camp and go west, surrounded by more than 200 of his own soldiers. Enemies meet each other. Extremely red-eyed, they both shot each other with foreign guns first, finished the bullet in the gun, and then fought with white blades.

At a distance of twenty or thirty paces, there was a sudden exchange of fire, without the slightest buffer and covering, and at this time, the results of Xuanjun's training were revealed. Wu Jianying's soldiers did not panic, the front row knelt and fired, the back row shot immediately, only one volley, and immediately knocked down a large part of Huang Wenjin's personal soldiers. The shooting of the Taiping army was chaotic, and after a round of shooting, only about 20 people on the opposite side were killed and wounded, so the result was doomed. The Xuan army used 500 bayonets against Huang Wenjin's remaining 100 or so personal soldiers, and they had the upper hand, but these personal soldiers were indeed unambiguous, and in such a desperate situation, they refused to tie their hands, and resisted for nearly a stick of incense, either killed, or injured and captured.

Huang Wenjin was only wearing a pair of trousers, a shirt was draped on his upper body, his face was gray, and he stood in the middle of it in a daze. He could no longer have imagined that overnight, he would become a prisoner of the Xuan Army, and it would fall into the hands of Wu Jianying, the traitor he hated the most.

Huang Wenjin was captured, and the Taiping army on the southern road collapsed. Chen Shen abandoned the camp and fled without waiting for the Xuan army to attack, and retreated to Xipu Village behind with the rout of Huang Wenjin's troops. And Sun Defu, who camped in Xipu, was first rushed by this defeated army, and then was attacked by the reckless fierce attack of the Xuan army that followed, unable to stand on his feet, and was also a big rout, retreated into Zhejiang, and fled desperately in the direction of Jiaxing.

The three major battalions of the Taiping Army on the South Road were wiped out in half a day, which was the astonishing combat power displayed by the Xuan Army as China's first modern army in actual combat. Guan Zhuofan's Chinese army in Sijing was overjoyed when he received the good news sent by Daniel Zhang and sent flying horses, and on the one hand ordered Ding Shijie to release Huang Wenjin to the Chinese army, and on the other hand passed an order to commend him, ordering the whole army not to rest and immediately turn to the direction of Songjiang.

Ixan's Kezi regiment has already captured Liantang Town in the early morning, and now what Guan Zhuofan has to do is to deal with Tan Shaoguang in the middle of the road with all his might.

Huang Wenjin has been caught, maybe he can catch Tan Shaoguang too? If that's the case, I'll be a guest of the curtain when I see it......

The three armies in front were fighting bloodily, and the commander still had such a small obscene thought in his heart, and he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed when he thought about it himself.

*

*

The Xuan army only took half a day to defeat Huang Wenjin, not only Huang Wenjin couldn't think of it, but also Tan Shaoguang, the main general of the middle lane. When the gunfire was fierce on the Nanqiao side, he once sent 4,000 men to the south to try to reinforce them, but they were firmly intercepted by Ixan's Kezi regiment in front of Liantang Town, and not a single soldier could pass. Now that Huang Wenjin has been defeated, Tan Shaoguang expected that the troops of the Xuan army would march north, and under great fear, he contracted the defense line in Qingshuikeng, five miles west of Qingpu, and echoed with Gao Yongkuan in Qingpu City, and was determined to block the way of the Xuan army, otherwise let the Xuan army drive straight forward, hit Jiading, and Li Hongzhang's Huai army to attack the "loyal king", the Taiping army besieging Jiading must be defeated.

He said it was interception, but he was completely unsure how long it would last. The last time he was in Shanghai, he fought with Guan Zhuofan, and at that time, Xuan Jun didn't seem to be as sharp as he is now. And now, just the dense thunderous cannon sound that came from the direction of Nanqiao in the morning was enough to make people feel frightened, and he didn't know for a while what method he could use to fight this Xuan army - after all, the fortifications of the Taiping army were originally built on the front of Qingshuikeng, that is, to the east, and now the Xuan army attacked from the south flank, what could they use to resist?

In fact, Tan Shaoguang's thoughts are roughly not bad. At present, the Xuan army, which has more than 10,000 people, has opened a gap with the Taiping army in terms of equipment and training, and has almost reached the point of forming a "generation gap".

However, Tan Shaoguang's Middle Route Army is still stronger than Huang Wenjin's Southern Route Army, and its strength is nearly doubled. In Qingpu City, there are 5,000 people from Gao Yongkuan, and 14,000 people from Qingshuikeng. Tan Shaoguang urged his subordinates to step up digging trenches and repairing fortifications, and no matter what, they must try their best to fight.

However, just as the main force of the Xuan army was approaching Qingshuikeng, Tan Shaoguang received an urgent report from the rear, saying that the advance of the Xuan army, crossing Dianshan Lake, suddenly appeared in Kunshan County, had broken Qiandeng Town, and pointed to Kunshan County!

Ixan's move made Tan Shaoguang, who was preparing for the war with all his might, completely messed up.

Li Xiucheng's "Southern Jiangsu Province", with Suzhou as the provincial capital, Changzhou, Wuxi, Kunshan, Changshu and so on are all important towns, among which Changzhou in the west and Kunshan in the east are the most important, and they are the military bases of the Taiping Army in the west and east directions, and the grain and grass are piled up like a mountain. What's worse is that Kunshan is also the choke point for the Taiping army to return to Suzhou in the eastward expedition to Shanghai, and if Kunshan is lost, it can only detour to Taicang and Yangcheng Lake to return to Suzhou in the west, which takes a lot of effort.

In desperation, Tan Shaoguang had no choice but to send people to report to Li Xiucheng in Jiading on the one hand, and on the other hand, he stubbornly drew another 6,000 people from the limited troops, led by Wu Guiwen, the "King of Bi", and Wang An, the "King of Kang", and hurried back to Kunshan.

This is a way to tear down the east wall and make up for the west wall -- since the west wall has been repaired, it is inevitable that a large hole will be exposed in the east wall. As soon as the reinforcements sent to Kunshan left, the Xuan army launched a fierce attack on Qingshuikeng, and at the same time cut off the connection between Tan Shaoguang and Qingpu City with artillery fire and horse teams. From noon to evening, the remaining 8,000 Taiping troops were killed and wounded, and finally they could not bear it anymore and had to retreat in the direction of Jiading.

This retreat left Qingpu City alone in the hands of Xuan Jun. When Gao Yongkuan in the city found that it was not good, and wanted to let the city not go, he found that he could not leave, and there were Daniel Zhang's fast gun rangers everywhere, once he left the city, he was glued by these cavalry, and he was like a maggot on the tarsal bone, and he could no longer get rid of it. In desperation, he had no choice but to retreat back into the city, close the four gates, and plan to defend the city.

But how can you keep it? Knowing that there are so many cannons in the Xuan army, as long as you gather fire at any city gate for half an hour, the city gate will inevitably collapse, so the so-called "defending the city" is just a better plan than nothing.

Who knew that the Xuan army did not attack the city that night, and I don't know what arrangements they were making. Gao Yongkuan stayed up anxiously until the next morning, when a personal soldier came to report, saying that someone outside the city called for the door to meet the "Nawang".

*

(Two is more likely to be a little later, around eight o'clock.) I'm sorry. ）

*(To be continued......)