After receiving the news that Shi Dakai led the main force of the Taiping Army on the West Road to find trouble with Wu Chaoyue, Fu Aji, who was ordered to investigate Zhao Liewen, ran to Wu Chaoyue as soon as possible to ask for his resignation, under the pretext of going to Wuchang Mansion City to investigate the details of the case and return Zhao Liewen's innocence, and pulled Yan Jingming to slip away. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

was busy organizing soldiers and horses to meet Shi Dakai, Wu Chaoyue didn't have the heart and time to mock Fu Aji's escape, so he sent Fu Aji away with a few polite sentences, and directly told Fu Aji and Yan Jingming that he was busy with military affairs and had no time to see them off. Of course, Fu Aji, who was anxious to escape for his life to avoid the war, would not mind this, Yan Jingming also arched his hand and said: "Wu Futai doesn't have to be polite, Xia Guan is a powerless literati, this war is a matter between you young people, staying is also causing chaos for you, hide in Wuchang Mansion to wait for your triumphant news, how dare you go to send Xia Guan?" ”

"What happens between young people? Lord Yan, what do you mean? ”

Wu Chaoyue was a little confused, and he also suspected that Yan Jingming didn't have any good intentions in saying this, but Yan Jingming smiled and asked, "Wu Futai, did the lower officials say something wrong?" You are only twenty years old this year, and your enemy this time, the long-haired pseudo-winged king Shi Dakai, heard that he is only twenty-four years old this year, and now you and he each lead an army to fight in Tianjia Town, competing to see who is the well-deserved number one young general in the world, isn't this a matter between you young people? ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled dumbly, and then suddenly realized that Yan Jingming's words were really not wrong, he was only twenty years old this year, and Shi Dakai on the opposite side was only twenty-four years old this year.

Smiling and modestly saying a few words, after sending away Fu Aji and Yan Jingming, Wu Chaoyue immediately focused on the establishment of the Tianjia Town defense line, and in fact, as early as after Shi Xiangzhen was overturned, Wu Chaoyue had already expected that Shi Dakai might come to take revenge again, so even though he knew that the iron cable defense line would not play much role in front of the Taiping army, but in order to let the self-army sailors not even have the strength to fight back in front of the Taiping army sailors, Wu Chaoyue still let the soldiers rebuild the three iron cable defense lines with the remnants of the water fortifications early, At the same time, after learning the lessons of the last war, Wu Chaoyue tried to arrange some cable-type anchor mines that had been invented in the Ming Dynasty on the iron cable defense line, which was specially used to entertain the Taiping warships that destroyed the iron cable.

On the same day, the genius spy Zhang Dejian finally found out quite accurate the strength of the Taiping Army, and the result made Wu Chaoyue overjoyed that the Taiping Army brought by Shi Dakai this time was based on the land division as the main force, and the strength of the land army exceeded 25,000 people, but the water force was only about 8,000 people, and the fleet consisted of more than 30 tows, fast crabs, and Changlong-class warships and more than 1,200 small pulling boats and small rowing boats, of which a considerable part of the small pulling boats were also used by Shi Dakai to carry grain and grass baggage, and the strength of the ships was not stronger than the previous Shi Xiangzhen army. And Wu Chaoyue's side after accepting a group of remnants of the Hunan Army's naval division who fled from the downstream, the strength of the naval division has improved, and even if the Taiping Army's naval division is still at an absolute disadvantage, it is no longer as huge as before.

In addition, Zhang Dejian also sent the great news that Liu Mingchuan's ministry had successfully infiltrated the Taiping Army in accordance with Wu Chaoyue's secret order, but Shi Da was strict in governing the army, and even Zhang Dejian could not guarantee that the secret contact with Liu Mingchuan could be unimpeded, so it was difficult for Wu Chaoyue to continue to command Liu Mingchuan to act according to the order.

It doesn't matter, it is enough for Wu Chaoyue at present, after carefully understanding the specific strength and types of troops of the Taiping Army, Wu Chaoyue is still happy to rub his hands again and again, and he can't help but say happily: "Okay!" Good! It's good to have the land division as the main force! It's true that the water official is not your opponent, but on land, even if you are Shi Dakai? What if the total strength of this officer is only a third of yours? Dare to fight a decisive battle on land, and the official will keep it for you to ********! ”

I really couldn't get used to Wu Chaoyue's ugly face of being a villain, Zhao Liewen couldn't help but pour cold water and said: "Weiting, don't be too happy too early, Changmao is indeed more advantageous to our army to attack with infantry as the main force this time, but we are far from reaching the point of winning steadily." As long as the bandit leader Shi Dakai is cautious in his use of troops and has proper tactics, no matter how good we are at land and field warfare, we may not be sure to win this battle. ”

"Of course I do. If I were Shi Dakai, even if I would mainly use the Lu Division to fight Tianjia Town in this battle, after arriving at the Tianjia Town battlefield, I would definitely let the Lu Division take a defensive position, and the deep ditch and high fortress would only defend without fighting, so as to avoid the field advantage of our army and highlight the weakness of our army that is not good at attacking fortifications. At the same time, with their superior naval army, they will take an offensive, first sweep our sailors, and then use the sailors to cut off our grain and grass supply roads, so that our land divisions will have no food and chaos on their own. ”

Wu Chaoyue's frank answer surprised Zhao Liewen very much, and also made Zhao Liewen ask in surprise: "Weiting, since you are so clear about our weaknesses and disadvantages, why do you still have a victorious look on your face?" Have you already thought of a way to play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses? ”

"Of course." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "Our best way to play up our strengths and avoid weaknesses is to fight quickly, and launch a decisive battle with Long Hair as soon as possible, and the sooner the better." ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue's mind was so clear, Zhao Liewen, who was still a little worried that Wu Chaoyue was too careless about the enemy, breathed a sigh of relief, and asked Wu Chaoyue again: "Then what good way did you come up with to lure Changmao to fight quickly?" ”

"Two come to mind at the moment." Wu Chaoyue raised two thin fingers and said, "First, let out the rumors, let's say that our Strategic General Reserve Liu Changyou Department will rush to Tianjia Town for reinforcements in the near future. Second, he deliberately let Shi Dakai see through the strategy of delaying the army, so that Shi Dakai felt that the sooner he launched a decisive battle, the more beneficial it would be for him, and lured Shi Dakai to take the initiative to send troops to fight Tianjia Town. ”

"Wonderful! It is worthy of a comfort pavilion. Zhao Liewen applauded and applauded: "Let Changmao mistakenly think that our reinforcements will arrive soon, it has the effect of luring the enemy to attack, and it is also a good way to let Shi Dakai see through our delaying strategy, but do you think of how to do it?" ”

"I was about to ask you that." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "You are my ovary Zhang Liang Xiao Zhuge , I didn't think of a good way to let Shi Dakai see through it with a delaying tactic, so I can only hand it over to you." ”

"The comfort pavilion has won the award, and I don't deserve the ovary Kongming." Zhao Liewen smiled bitterly and modestly, but after only thinking about it for a moment, Zhao Liewen said to Wu Chaoyue: "Comfort Pavilion, how about not making a fuss about Shi Xiangzhen's corpse?" ”

"How?" Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked.

"Put a long-haired prisoner of war and ask him to bring a letter back to Shi Dakai." Shi Dakai smiled and said: "Let's just say that there are no eyes on the battlefield, and our army was forced to kill Shi Xiangzhen, but we have always admired heroes and heroes, so after getting Shi Xiangzhen's body, there was no **** head, on the contrary, we also put it in a good coffin." Then make an appointment with Shi Dakai to return Shi Xiangzhen's body to Shi Dakai seven days later. ”

Wu Chaoyue laughed loudly, and hurriedly asked Zhao Liewen to write a letter to Shi Dakai for himself, prepared a delicate gift, arranged for a captive to carry letters and gifts to Shi Dakai to deliver the letter, and at the same time arranged for people to spread the news of Liu Changyou's upcoming aid, not to mention all kinds of arrangements.

So, under the escort of the Qing soldiers, a soldier of Shi Xiangzhen's old department was quickly escorted to the Taiping Army's forward army that was attacking along the north bank of the Yangtze River and released.

As predicted by Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen, after seeing Wu Chaoyue's almost flattering letter, Shi Dakai not only killed Wu Chaoyue and didn't believe that Wu Chaoyue would treat his brother's body well, but on the contrary, he immediately noticed Wu Chaoyue's important question of returning Shi Xiangzhen's body after seven days, and said suspiciously: "How can the little demon say that he will return his brother's body to me after seven days?" Is this his delaying tactic? Let me see the hope of welcoming back my brother's body, and not fight him for seven days? ”

"On the surface, it should be a delaying tactic."

Shi Da, nicknamed Zhang Blind, first echoed the idea of the plan, and then reminded: "But the Wing King is five thousand years old, we must guard against this being the opposite of the little demon, deliberately making us suspect that he wants to use a delaying tactic to delay our march, but the real purpose is to lure us into the army as soon as possible and launch a decisive battle with him as soon as possible." ”

Shi Dakai nodded, and then asked, "Is there any new change in the hostile situation in Tianjia Town?" ”

"Not as of this morning." Zhang Suimou replied: "Surpassing the little demon is just that the Yangtze River rushed to repair three iron cable defense lines, laid out some mines, and then did not make any adjustments, or the main force is on the north bank, and the division is on the south bank." ”

Shi Dakai had memorized the military situation of Tianjia Town for a long time, and knew that Wu Chaoyue's current strength was about 19 battalions, excluding two battalions of sailors, of which the Hubei New Army, which was equipped with shotgun guns and mini guns, was eight battalions, of which six battalions were stationed in the area of Wuwangmiao on the north bank, two battalions and Liu Kunyi's Zhuangzi battalion were stationed in Banbishan on the south bank, and eight battalions of the green battalion assisted in the battle, of which five battalions were on the north bank, and three battalions were stationed on the south bank. The deployment of troops is obviously focused on the north, but the terrain of Banbi Mountain on the south bank is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and a large number of solid civil fortifications have been built early, so the battlefield on the south bank only seems to be relatively thin, but in fact it may not be easier to fight than the north coast, which is geographically poor.

"The most ideal breakthrough is still on the water, but unfortunately the effect is too slow, even if the sailor can break through Tianjia Town and kill into the hinterland of Hubei, cut off and harass the baggage grain road that surpasses the little demon, there is no way to ensure victory on land, and I can't kill the surpass demon to avenge my brother."

Muttering and sighing in his heart, Shi Dakai decisively ordered to continue to march the army, so that the land and water army could directly drive to Wuxue, which was only a dozen miles away from Tianjia Town, to set up camp, and then instructed Zhang Suimou: "Send more and more carefully, closely monitor every move of the little demon, and report to me immediately if there is any trouble." ”

In the evening, when the advance of the Taiping Army successfully arrived at Wuxue and immediately began to build camp fortifications, the Taiping Army had already reported the rumor that Liu Changyou was about to rush to Tianjia Town with reinforcements to Shi Dakai. Shi Dakai, who was only four years older than Wu Chaoyue, did not take it seriously, and chose to immediately convene important strategists such as Zhang Suimou and Zeng Jinqian, as well as major generals such as Hu Yihuang, Lai Guiying, Qin Rigang, and Chen Yucheng, to hold an operational meeting to discuss the next step of the battle plan.

Misled by the false news that Liu Changyou was about to lead the army to help, the decision-makers of the Taiping Army discussed two battle plans for Shi Dakai to choose, the first of course was that Wu Chaoyue's most feared land division would stick to the onslaught of the water division, open a gap in the relatively large water battlefield, eliminate the weak water division of the Wu army as soon as possible and control the Yangtze River channel, cut off Wu Chaoyue's grain, grass and heavy supply lines, and then slowly try to take the main force of the Qing army's land division.

The other, of course, is Wu Chaoyue's favorite Taiping army tactic - to launch a decisive battle as soon as possible before Liu Changyou arrives in Tianjia Town, and to storm the Wu army's naval division and the main camp of the Wu army with all his might, and to crush Wu Chaoyue with the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai. Moreover, the Taiping army also unanimously determined that the target of the main attack on land should be the main force of the Wu army stationed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, the reason is that the main force of the Wu army in order to cooperate with the defenders of Banbishan to block the Yangtze River waterway, forced to establish the main camp in the area of Wuwangmiao, which is relatively open, and the geographical location is a bit of a loss, and at the same time, the southeast of Wuwangmiao happens to be a large area of mountains and forests (visible on satellite cloud maps), which is suitable for the Taiping army to arrange ambushes and intersperse detours to launch surprise attacks, which is the most ideal place for Guangxi wolves to enter the sky and the earth.

If he didn't want to kill Wu Chaoyue with his own hands to avenge his brother, then there is no doubt that Shi Dakai would definitely choose the safe tactic of using the water master to attack the main attack. But considering that even if this is successful, Wu Chaoyue still has the opportunity to calmly escape before the grain and grass run out, and the current situation on the battlefield in Jiangxi does not allow Shi Dakai to go too deep into the hinterland of Hubei, but Shi Dakai hesitated again and again on this choice, even if he knew that it was not very safe and a little risky, Shi Dakai still couldn't help but set his sights on the second plan - immediately launch an attack and launch a decisive battle with the main force of the Wu army on land and water as soon as possible!

In the end, he was still young and impulsive, and after weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Shi Dakai finally asked tentatively to everyone: "In your opinion, how sure can our army win by attacking the main camp beyond the little demon with all its might?" ”

After discussing a few words in a low voice, Hu Yihuang, Shi Dakai's important deputy Hu Yihuang came forward and replied: "The Wing King is five thousand years old, we feel that we are not sure, although the terrain around Wuwangmiao is relatively favorable to us, but the fast-fire foreign guns that surpass the little demon are enough to offset any disadvantage in the terrain, plus he also has a fast-fire small cannon called a grenadier cannon, attacking his strong camp head-on, not only do we not have any certainty, but we are also doomed to die in vain." ”

Hu Yihuang spoke very frankly, even though he knew that Shi Dakai was in a hurry to avenge Shi Xiangzhen, he still added: "Also, even in the field, we still don't have any certainty of winning the decisive battle, the fast-fire foreign gun that surpasses the little demon has made us suffer countless big losses, and we must not repeat the mistakes of the past." ”

Shi Dakai was disappointed, but fortunately, Shi Dakai is also a ruthless character who can afford to let go, and he knows which is more important, so he nodded and subconsciously gave up the plan to take the initiative to attack. However, at this moment, Zeng Jinqian, another important advisor of Shi Dakai, suddenly said: "The Wing King is five thousand years old, if you want to defeat the Transcendence Demon before the Qing Demon reinforcements, there is only one way, to design and lure the Transcendence Demon to take the initiative to attack our camp." ”

"Lure the snake out of the hole?" Shi Da's eyes lit up.

"Yes, lure the snake out of the hole." Zeng Jinqian nodded, and said in a deep voice: "Luring the transcendent demon to take the initiative to attack our camp, its advantages are twofold, the first is that we have fortifications to avoid bullets, offsetting the advantage of the surpassing fast-fire musket, and the second is that we can get the cover of water artillery fire, with these two advantages, and then appropriately arrange some ambushes in the hidden places of the mountains and forests, and hold on until the old man of the Qing Demon Master is tired, and take the opportunity to launch a counterattack, it is not difficult to break the enemy." ”

Seeing Shi Dakai's appearance of nodding in agreement with this method, Shi Dakai's chief strategist Zhang Suimou was a little surprised, so he poured cold water and said: "Although Wei Tianhou is reasonable, how can we make the little demon who surpasses the fortifications give up the cover of the fortifications to storm our camp?" Surpassing the little demon has always been known for his treachery, and it is not ordinary to let him be fooled. ”

"I'm worried about that, too." Zeng Jinqian frowned and said: "The only thing I can think of now is to act as soon as possible, so that the transcendent little demon will feel that our fortifications are not strong and have the courage to attack our camp, but as for how to let this notoriously treacherous little demon be fooled, I really can't think of any good way for a while." ”

When Zhang Suimou was secretly proud, Shi Dakai encouraged: "It doesn't matter, as long as you can find the direction, the three stinkers are still one Zhuge Liang, let's work together, I'm not afraid that we can't think of a way to let this Qing demon be fooled." Let's think about it and see if there is any good way to fool the transcendent demon. ”

Under Shi Dakai's encouragement, the decision-makers of the Taiping Army racked their brains again and again, and really came up with some solutions, among which Hu Yihuang first proposed: "How about not cheating?" How about sending an army to attack the demon camp, and deceive the transcendent demon out? ”

It's a pity that Hu Yihuang's proposal was unanimously opposed by everyone, in addition to Wu Chaoyue's being too treacherous, and also because even if Wu Chaoyue pursued and killed in the Wuxue area, it was unlikely that he would continue to storm the Taiping army's camp. And after seeing that everyone was helpless, Zhang Suimou, who had already made a plan in his heart, smiled and said: "Wing King, in fact, if you want to let the Transcendence Little Demon continue to storm our army's camp, there is only one way, let the Transcendence Little Demon think that he can win by storming our army's camp!" ”

"So how can this be done?" Shi Dakai hurriedly asked.

"Serial scheme! Deceive and lure the enemy! ”

Zhang Suimou first answered categorically, and then said with a smile: "First of all, send someone to surrender to the Transcendence Demon, and make an appointment to do internal response, and at the same time tell the Transcendence Demon, saying that we have decided to attack their relatively weak Banbishan position first, and persuade the Transcendence Demon, to take the opportunity to attack our main camp, and defeat our army with a combination of inside and outside." ”

"Then, let our sailors carry the old and weak soldiers across the river to Fuchi Town to land, pretending to attack the Banbishan camp of the Qing Demon, so that the little demon who surpasses the little demon feels that our sailors want to protect the troop carriers, and they dare not go all out to support the main land camp, so they can rest assured that they will fight! In this way, the Transcendence Demon will not only inevitably send troops, but it may also be possible for his sailor to take the initiative to attack to increase the chance of victory, and create an opportunity for our sailor to break the sailor in one fell swoop! ”

"Brilliant plan!" Shi Dakai applauded, and immediately clapped his hand and said: "Just do it, even if this plan is not successful, we will have no loss, once it succeeds, we can win a big victory!" It's easy to advance and retreat, it's feasible! ”

"Wing King, who should be sent to come forward to deceive and surrender?" Hu Yihuang asked.

Shi Dakai only thought about it for a moment, and immediately smiled and said: "Let Chen Yucheng come forward to be this traitor, a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old is strong in blood, and it is normal to drive out some foolish things on the spur of the moment." (To be continued.) )