When Li Xiucheng received the news that Wu Chaoyue personally led the army to Nanjing, Wu Chaoyue had just arrived in Wuhu with the Third Route Eastern Expeditionary Army, and there was still more than a day away from the Nanjing battlefield, but because the waterway was unobstructed and always kept in touch with the front line, he had just landed in Wuhu, and Wu Chaoyue had basically grasped the situation on the front line, knowing that the Wu army's naval division had trapped the Taiping army in Jiuhuanzhou, and Cao Yanzhong had defeated the enemy one after another at Moling Pass, and it was only a matter of time before he took Moling Pass.

Staying in Wuhu is a subordinate general under Cao Yanzhong, surnamed Jiang Yutai, and he is also the old man of Wu Jun who followed Wu Chaoyue from Shanghai to Hubei to take office, with deep qualifications and a cautious and stable personality, so he was entrusted by Cao Yanzhong with the important task of guarding the Wuhu logistics base. After meeting, Jiang Yutai first saluted Wu Chaoyue happily, and reported the military situation at the front to Wu Chaoyue in detail, and then Jiang Yutai said to Wu Chaoyue: "King Zhennan, Wang Fu Wang Junmen will also ask you for a crime on his behalf, and the order you gave him is to seize Jiuhuanzhou to cut off the connection between Jiangning Changmao and Jiangbei Changmao, but a few days before receiving your order from King Zhennan, the enemy situation in Jiuhuanzhou suddenly changed significantly, and Wang Junmen changed your order to let the water division carry it out, please forgive King Zhennan." ”

"Is it because of the change that Long Hair increased his troops in Jiuhuanzhou in advance?" Wu Chaoyue looked at the map sand table and asked.

"Back to the King of Zhennan, that's exactly the case." Jiang Yutai nodded respectfully, and said: "After discovering that Changmao had stationed 20,000 troops on Jiuhuan Continent, Wang Junmen thought that if we had to attack head-on, although we were sure to take Jiuhuanzhou, the casualties and losses would definitely be greater than expected. But if we choose to trap Jiuhuanzhou and not fight, then with our water superiority, we are completely sure that we will trap the longhairs on Jiuhuanzhou alive and starve to death, and kill more than 30,000 longhairs without a single soldier. Therefore, Wang Junmen took matters into his own hands, and did not rush to attack Jiuhuanzhou, but just tried his best to kill the long-haired sailors and broke the pontoon bridge connecting Jiuhuanzhou and the north bank. ”

"Alive, sleepy, starving? When did Wang Fu learn to be so ruthless? Wu Chaoyue laughed loudly, and then waved his hand and said: "It's okay, the general will be outside, the king's order is not affected, Wang Fu is improvising according to the changes in the enemy's situation, how can I blame him?" ”

Jiang Yutai thanked Wang Fu for his needs, and hurriedly said: "King Zhennan, rest assured, the long hair of Jiuhuanzhou has been surrounded by us on the island, and our sailor only needs to divide one or two percent of the force to easily trap the long hair of Jiuhuanzhou, which will not affect the battle of the main force of the sailor division, and if you need it, you can also order the main force of our sailor division to participate in the battle at any time." ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded with satisfaction, and then looked at the map sand table that carefully marked the enemy's troops and garrisons and studied it, and then asked Wen Wu under his command: "How do you think we should fight this battle?" Where to go first? ”

"The last general thinks it's okay to fight any way." Qian Wei, the corps commander of the corps directly under the Wu Army, spoke first, and said very confidently: "We have an absolute advantage on the water, and we also have an absolute advantage on land. ”

The other civil and military forces of the Wu army echoed one after another, and they all confidently said that there was no need to consider what to avoid the real attack in this battle, and no matter which opponent was chosen, which road to take to enter the army, the Wu army, which had an absolute advantage on water and land, had absolute certainty of victory. On the contrary, Bi Jinke, the youngest general of the Wu Army in Jiangxi, spoke cautiously and said: "King Zhennan, the last general believes that although we have a great advantage on both water and land, it is best to be cautious in our specific tactics and not to underestimate the enemy too much. ”

"As for the reason, the first is, of course, that the arrogant army will be defeated, and you can't make the mistake of underestimating the enemy. Second, the opportunity is rare, and the last general feels that we should take advantage of the opportunity of the main forces of the long hair from all walks of life to gather in Jiangning, and eliminate the main forces of the long hair in Jiangning as much as possible, so that we can not only fight a lot easier in the next battle, but also eliminate the remnants of the long hair as soon as possible, free up our hands to deal with the remnants of the rebellious party, reunify the country, and completely end the civil war in our China. ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled again, and smiled at Bi Jinke with a pleased expression: "I remember when Boss Yang recommended you to me, he said that you were not only brave, but also strict in governing the army, and had never done anything to condone the soldiers to harass the people, and I still didn't believe it at that time. Now it seems that my wife's grandfather Yang Lao's praise for you Bi Yinghou is still far from enough, you not only have the talent to govern the army, but also have a compassionate and compassionate bodhisattva heart. ”

was extremely embarrassed to be praised by Wu Chaoyue, Bi Jinke could only hurry up and be modest, saying that compared with Wu Chaoyue, the bodhisattva's heart of saving the suffering and saving the suffering was just a candlestick compared to the sun and the moon, and the difference was not enough to describe. It's a pity that Wu Chaoyue, who knows very well what kind of person he is, didn't continue on this topic with Bi Jinke, but just turned to the generals and said: "Ying Hou's words are very right, we can't be proud, and we must also seize this opportunity to try our best to wipe out the main force of Long Hair on the battlefield in Jiangning, and completely break the idea of Long Hair's comeback!" ”

The generals agreed, and then Qian Wei, who took the lead in underestimating the enemy, hurriedly made up for his crimes, and said: "King Zhennan, then we should attack the long hair on the battlefield in Jiangbei first, the long hair in Urawa Pukou is relatively weak, after we break Li Xiucheng's main force on the south bank, they are likely to run immediately, increasing the difficulty for us to annihilate them." Start with Jiangbei Changmao, not only to not give them the opportunity to escape in advance, but also to completely break the idea of Jiuhuanzhou Changmao fleeing north, and then we can also use Jiangbei to use our water advantages to see the seams and needles, start from the weakness of Jiangnan Changmao, and achieve the greatest victory at the minimum cost. ”

"Just what I want!" Wu Chaoyue finally nodded with satisfaction with Qian Wei, and said: "Hitting Jiangbei first can not only prevent the long hair on the north bank from having a chance to run, but also receive the effect of steady and steady fighting, in addition to spending a little more time, it is better than going directly to Jiangning Town or Dasheng Guanqiang, which is the best choice for us to start first!" ”

"What about Feng Sanbao and Feng Junmen on the Yuhua Terrace?" This time it was Bi Jinke who was the opposite, and he reminded him very worriedly: "Feng Junmen, they have been surrounded by long hair on Yuhuatai for more than 50 days, and they have fought so many big battles with Li Xiucheng's main force of big long hair, and the current situation is likely to be very critical, what should we do if we fight Jiangbei first?" Do you want to think about rescuing Feng Junmen and them first, and then go to fight Jiangbei Changmao? ”

One of Wu Chaoyue's fathers-in-law, of course, the well-behaved Qian Wei didn't dare to speak casually, but fortunately, Wu Chaoyue has always been a person who can afford to let go, and immediately said: "It's okay, Feng Sanbao can use their food for at least three months, without us in the periphery, he can still hold it for nearly two months, and now he will definitely be able to hold it for the third month!" With such a big advantage, if I can't break Li Xiucheng's main force in a month, then I, the king of Zhennan, don't have to be the king. ”

Seeing that Wu Chaoyue, who was a son-in-law, said so, Bi Jinke, who had never even met Feng Sanbao, of course no longer entangled, but just volunteered to be the vanguard of the attack on the Jiangbei Taiping Army, and Wu Chaoyue agreed. Then when they began to discuss the details of the tactics, Wu Guanli, Cao Yanzhong's strategist who assisted Jiang Yutai to stay in Wuhu, stood up and said: "King Zhennan, there are two long-haired forces on the battlefield in Jiangbei now, one is led by Xue Zhiyuan, the so-called Tianpu Provincial Guard General appointed by the big long-haired Hong Xiuquan before, and the other is led by Yang Youqing, the cousin of Yang Fuqing, the long-haired pseudo-auxiliary king. ”

"Tell me why." Wu Chaoyue commanded.

"Obedience." Wu Guanli promised, and then said: "Yuzhen South King, Xue Zhiyuan, this thief will be born a twist bandit, after the defeat of the army, he once surrendered to the emperor when the court named Taoist He Guizhen, with He Guizhen against the twist bandit is very effective, a year later, because of the conflict with He Guizhen, and assassinated He Guizhen to surrender to the long-haired Yang Xiuqing, and when the big long-haired Hong Xiuquan came back, he took the lead in showing loyalty to Hong Xiuquan, and won Hong Xiuquan's appreciation, which was appointed by Hong Xiuquan as the guard ......of Changmao Tianpu Province. ”

"Not bad." Wu Chaoyue interrupted Wu Guanli's words, nodded and said: "It is absolutely impossible for such a capricious and despicable villain to be of the same mind as Changmao, let alone be willing to accompany Changmao to the funeral, there is a possibility of surrender." ”

"King Zhennan is wise, indeed." Wu Guanli hurriedly complimented, and said: "Yang Youqing and Xue Zhiyuan's situation is different, but it is also impossible for him to be of the same heart with Hong Li and the two thieves, this thief will fight with many long-haired thieves with Yang Fuqing's support for the big-haired Yang Xiuqing, or after Yang Xiuqing's crime of colluding with the chaotic party in the capital was completely exposed, he was forced to surrender Hong Xiuquan with Yang Fuqing, such a thief will not be afraid that Hong Xiuquan will find him to settle accounts after the autumn, so he thinks that this thief will also have the possibility of surrendering. ”

After roughly introducing the reasons why Xue Zhiyuan and Yang Youqing might choose to surrender, Wu Guanli said: "Therefore, I think that if our army can attack by force and supplemented by soliciting and persuading to surrender, it should be able to get twice the result with half the effort, even if we can't persuade these two long-haired thieves to surrender directly, we can also shake and blow their determination to resist, so that they have the intention of leaving a way back, and dare not fight against our army to the end, so as to reduce the casualties and losses of our soldiers and soldiers." ”

"Yes, you can try." Wu Chaoyue accepted Wu Guanli's suggestion, turned to Dai Wenjie next to him, and instructed: "Mr. Wenjie, write two letters of persuasion to Xue Zhiyuan and Yang Youqing in my honor, telling them that as long as they surrender with the army and lay down their arms, I will not only ensure their personal and property safety, but also give them official rewards." But if they are obsessed and stubbornly resist, I will not even let go of their families. ”

Dai Wenjie agreed, and immediately wrote a letter for Wu Chaoyue, and Wu Guanli suggested again: "King Zhennan, I think it is better to let Ma Yutang, the long-haired general, come forward to handle this matter, so that Xue Zhiyuan and Yang Youqing can see Ma Yutang's example, and the effect of persuasion will definitely be better." ”

Of course, Wu Chaoyue could never refuse such a correct suggestion, so soon, Ma Yutang, the Taiping Army general with excellent acting skills, took several old troops to board the ship and set off first, and rushed to Jiangxinzhou, the camp where the Wu Army Naval Division is currently stationed, overnight, and then with the help of the Wu Army's Naval Division, he quickly sent Wu Chaoyue's surrender letter to the north bank of the Yangtze River, and sent it to Xue Zhiyuan and Yang Youqing, the two vacillating elements of the Taiping Army, respectively, and used himself as an example to persuade Xue Zhiyuan and Yang Youqing to lead the army to surrender to Wu Chaoyue.

After seeing the surrender letter covered with the seal of King Wu Chaoyue of Zhennan, Xue Zhiyuan, the capricious Jiangpu guard general of the Taiping Army, although he did not immediately make up his mind to surrender, while politely and warmly entertaining the secret envoy of the Wu army, he quietly found a few henchmen to discuss, and then quickly made up his mind, ready to wait and see the wind again, as long as the situation was not right, he would immediately surrender Kaicheng, and throw himself into Wu Chaoyue's warmer and broader embrace, without thinking about any bloody battle to the end. Loyal and dutiful for Hong Xiuquan.

Yang Youqing's character is slightly better than Xue Zhiyuan's, and he did not immediately find his subordinates to discuss whether to accept the persuasion to surrender after receiving the letter of persuasion, but he did not hurt and detain the envoy of the Wu army, and chose to politely send the envoy of the Wu army back to the camp, and replied that he had been greatly favored by the king for a long time, and he really couldn't bear to betray Hong Xiuquan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and asked the king of Zhennan to understand and forgive Yunyun, and at the same time politely refused and left enough room for himself. Therefore, after receiving the reply, Ma Yutang, who was in charge of coming forward to surrender, did not need to ask Wu Chaoyue for instructions, and immediately sent an envoy to contact Yang Youqing to persuade him, and quickly established a secret contact channel with Yang Youqing.

"Look at the wind again, as long as you surpass the little demon and overturn Li Xiucheng, you can run when you should run, surrender when you should surrender, anyway, you can't fight to the end with the little demon."

Xue Zhiyuan and Yang Youqing are both playing such wishful thinking, but unfortunately, a day later, when the Wu Army's Third Route Eastern Expeditionary Army led by Wu Chaoyue personally rushed to the Nanjing battlefield, the main force of the Wu Army first launched an attack on the north bank of the Yangtze River under the cover of the artillery fire of the Wu Army's naval division, and as a result, after receiving the news, Xue Zhiyuan and Yang Youqing immediately understood that they had no hope of riding the wall to watch the wind, and they had to make a choice as soon as possible if they wanted to die or live.