Of course, it was not for nothing that Liu Lichuan made up her mind to surrender to the old master's precious grandson so quickly.

In fact, due to the rush of time, and for the sake of secrecy, Liu Lichuan personally arranged this mutiny and seizure plan did not mobilize all the generals of the Liu Army to participate, including Lin Afu, many generals of the Liu Army did not know about it in advance, and there was a more important Liu Army general than Lin Afu who did not know about it, this person was Liu Lichuan's important ally Pan Qiliang, the boss of the Hundred Dragons Society.

Pan Qiliang, who snatched the position of the boss of the Hundred Dragons Society from Wu Chaoyue's old friend Wang Guochu, was not Liu Lichuan's direct subordinate, but when the Little Knife Society rebelled, Pan Qiliang provided real help to Liu Lichuan's Little Knife Society rebel army, although Liu Lichuan also treated Pan Qiliang as a good person, but he never dared to forcibly reorganize Pan Qiliang's army, and let Pan Qiliang form a family under his command.

This time, for the sake of prudence, Liu Lichuan did not dare to tell Pan Qiliang about the mutiny plan in advance, what he was afraid of was that Pan Qiliang refused to participate and sabotaged the opposition, it turned out that Liu Lichuan was very discerning in this regard, when Liu Jiajun and the Taiping Army turned their faces and merged, and when Liu Lichuan hurriedly sent someone to inform Pan Qiliang of the truth and asked Pan Qiliang to lead the army to participate in the war, he was categorically rejected by Pan Qiliang, "Don't do it!" I took the poor brothers of the Hundred Dragons Society to raise an army, not to kill the friendly troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! ”

While categorically refusing to help Liu Lichuan, Pan Qiliang immediately sent people to contact Zeng Lichang and others, expressing absolute neutrality, and also expressing his willingness to come forward to reconcile the contradictions between Liu Lichuan and the Taiping army.

Without the help of Pan Qiliang, an important ally, Liu Lichuan's army basically had no hope of overthrowing the main force of the Taiping army in the midst of the fire. In the fierce battle, although the Liu Lichuan army, which took the lead, once hit the door of the Taiping army headquarters, but it was met with the most tenacious and fierce resistance in front of the gate of the Taiping army headquarters.

Even though the left flank has been attacked by the Taiping reinforcements, the soldiers of the Liu Jiajun commanded by Li Xianchi still mustered up the courage to launch a fourth attack on the Taiping Army Headquarters, and once killed in front of the gate of the Taiping Army Headquarters, but they were still heavily killed and wounded by the Taiping Army's three-stage shots, and had to retreat to regroup. Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Xianchi could only quickly send someone to Liu Lichuan for help, and Liu Lichuan did not hesitate, and immediately ordered Lin Afu, who was stationed in Ximen, to send troops to attack the right flank of the Taiping army, which was relatively empty.

Lin Afu, who was unrighteous and helpless, also refused Liu Lichuan's order, and in turn demanded that Liu Lichuan immediately cease fire and send people to negotiate peace with the Taiping army. Liu Lichuan was furious when he heard the report, and sent someone to Lin Afu's camp, so that the messenger said to Lin Afu: "Lin Afu, Brother Yuan asked me to ask you, do you still remember the original Taoyuan Three Knots?" Now that Brother Alin has been beaten to death by Long Hair, you are also his sworn brother, will you avenge him?! ”

After being persecuted, Lin Afu, who was too righteous, hesitated again and again, and finally sent an army to attack the right flank of the Taiping army, and the Taiping soldiers who were attacked by friendly troops had already been prepared, and they were full of righteous indignation, relying on the street fighting fortifications built in advance and the temporary barricades to resist stubbornly, with a small number of enemies but not falling behind, Lin Afu's army was beaten to heavy casualties, and it was difficult to advance an inch. -- Of course, the Taiping army also paid a lot of money for this.

At this time, Zhou Lichun's army also joined the street battle battlefield at the request of Zeng Lichang, sent troops from the east gate, attacked Liu Lichuan's headquarters to surround Wei and save Zhao, and the Zhou army soldiers who had long been dissatisfied with Liu Lichuan were high-spirited and brave, and beat Liu Lichuan's direct army to the point of crying wolf, with continuous casualties. However, because Liu Lichuan's army had street fighting fortifications to follow, the French weapons in his hands were no worse than the American weapons that someone gave to Xiao San, and it was relatively safe to shoot in ping-pong while hiding in the fortifications, and the firepower blocked the road very tightly, so although Zhou Lichun's army had the upper hand, it was still unable to break through the fortification defense line of Liu Lichuan's army.

The sky was already dark, the night sky was very gloomy, the stars and the moon were dark, the streets of Shanghai were wet with torches, the three armies of the Taiping Army, Zhou Lichun's Army and Liu Lichuan's Army were fighting like hemp, the gunfire was as dense as firecrackers bursting beans, the screams of being shot one after another, and the soldiers kept falling down and dying in battle. But it's a pity that all the soldiers who died were anti-Qing rebels, and all the wounded were the vitality of the anti-Qing rebels, there was no winner, the victors were the Qing army outside the city, and the little comprador Wu Chaoyue who was hiding behind the camp of the Qing army.

The Qing army had already discovered the turmoil in the city, Xu Naizhao hurriedly convened the generals to discuss countermeasures, and at the same time sent someone to order the sailor Bo Chengsheng stationed in Yangshupu, so that the Qing army's sailor was urgently dispatched to the east gate of Shanghai to wait for his order. Wu Chaoyue and He Chun also rushed to Xu Naizhao's camp for a meeting, and at the same time ordered his army to prepare for a night battle. And when Wu Chaoyue rushed to Xu Naizhao's camp, he happened to meet the Qing soldiers who brought Liu Lichuan's messenger who was caught outside the city.

Hearing that Liu Lichuan accepted Wu Chaoyue's temptation to surrender and launch a rebellion, the generals of the Qing army were of course thunderous with joy, and they were all overjoyed, and they were also full of praise for Wu Chaoyue's clever plan to disrupt the enemy. Wu Chaoyue looked calm, but quickly asked Liu Lichuan's messenger about the various conditions in the city, and asked the Qing army scouts about the situation of the major city gates in Shanghai, and when he learned that the gates of Shanghai have been closed so far, Wu Chaoyue frowned, and after thinking for a moment before saying to Xu Naizhao: "Xu Futai, we can't say that we are sure to win now, there are still two variables on the battlefield in Shanghai." ”

"Those two variables?" Xu Naizhao hurriedly asked.

"The variables depend on the rain in the sky." Wu Chaoyue replied: "If God helps, it doesn't rain tonight, and our and Liu Lichuan's firearms can be used normally, then it will be easy for us to hit Changmao hard, and it is not hopeless to wipe out Changmao." But if God doesn't help, and it rains heavily tonight, the situation will be unpredictable. ”

Speaking of this, Wu Chaoyue paused for a moment, and then said: "God, if it rains tonight, then our firearms are useless, and Liu Lichuan and Changmao's firearms are useless, so we can only rely on white-knuckle battles to decide the winner." Fighting a white-knuckle battle, we may not be sure to beat the main force of Changmao, Liu Lichuan is even more hopeless, Changmao has the upper hand, not to mention killing our encirclement, it is a forced landing of Liu Lichuan, and it is very possible to continue to hold the city of Shanghai. ”

Considering the physical performance of the Qing soldiers in hand-to-hand white-knuckle combat, as well as the crazy strength of the Taiping army at the moment of the bayonet, Xu Naizhao, He Chun and others nodded one after another, all agreeing with Wu Chaoyue's analysis. Then Wu Chaoyue said: "So, in order to ensure that we recover Shanghai City, we now have only one choice, show sincerity and let Liu Lichuan open the city gate!" Even if we only control one city gate, no matter whether it will rain tonight or not, as long as we hold this city gate, we can force Changmao to abandon the city and retake our Shanghai City! ”

Xu Naizhao is also very decisive, after listening to Wu Chaoyue's analysis, he did not hesitate, and immediately wrote a letter of guarantee, promising to protect Liu Lichuan from death after surrender, and also to ensure the safety of his property, sign his name and stamp the governor's seal, and He Chun and Wu Chaoyue also signed the guarantee, and finally handed it to the messenger sent by Liu Lichuan, instructing: "Take it back and hand it to Liu Lichuan, tell him, open the city gate immediately, let us in!" ”

Liu Lichuan's messenger agreed, and Wu Chaoyue instructed him again: "Also, remember to tell Liu Lichuan that he wants him to hand over Hui Zheng's father and son to us, and to absolutely guarantee the safety of Hui Zheng's father and son!" ”

Sent someone to send away Liu Lichuan's messenger, Xu Naizhao immediately dispatched troops, ordered Bo Chengsheng to immediately open fire on the city of Shanghai, and ordered Hu Songlin and Liu Cunhou to lead an army to rush to the west gate and north gate of Shanghai controlled by Liu Lichuan to wait for orders, and when Liu Lichuan opened the city gate, he immediately entered the city to control the city gate, and also asked to destroy the city gate immediately to prevent accidents. Then Xu Naizhao urgently ordered the main forces of the Qing army to go out of the camp to assemble and wait for orders, and wait for the call at any time.

After accepting Xu Naizhao's order, Wu Chaoyue hurriedly returned to his camp to organize the army out of the camp, but Wu Chaoyue had just entered the camp tent with his front feet, and the sky that had been gloomy for a long time was raining sparsely, and the rain was by no means small. Seeing this scene, Wu Chaoyue suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "It's bad, tonight I can only fight with Changmao with bayonets." ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue thought about it a little more, and immediately yelled at Feng Sanbao, the future father-in-law who had already been in the tent: "Feng Sanbao, you play forward tonight!" ”

The rain soon wet the flint of the flintlock pistol, poured the fire rope, and gradually wet the paper shell bullets of the revolver and the firing pistol, resulting in a great reduction in the firepower of the Liu army, while the Taiping army, which was hiding in the bunker in the house and shooting, was not affected much by the rain, and the firepower was still quite intensive. Under the elimination of the other, the offensive of the Liu Jiajun quickly weakened, and the Taiping army cheered and took the opportunity to counterattack, rushing to the front to start a white-knuckle battle with the Liu Jiajun.

In the white-knuckle battle, although the soldiers of the Liu family, who were good at fighting in groups, did not perform badly, but there was no way, there were no pig teammates but there were divine opponents, and the Taiping soldiers who relied on licking blood from the knife to eat slashed harder and fiercer, stabbed more accurately and fiercely, and it didn't take too long to kill the soldiers of Liu to retreat. Li Xianchi saw that the situation was not good, so he could only quickly retreat to the self-army defense area with the army, seeking the protection of the self-military fortifications, and also relied on the street fighting fortifications to barely block the fierce attack of the Taiping army.

The Liu Jiajun Lin Afu Division, which was attacking in the open air on the right flank, was also disturbed by the rain, and was also forced to retreat to the self-military defense area to seek fortification protection, and the situation of street fighting was completely reversed, and it became the Taiping Army's fierce attack on the Liu Jiajun to defend it, and because of the huge gap between morale and combat effectiveness, the situation of the Liu Jiajun was quite bad.

Fortunately for Liu Lichuan, at this time, his messenger had already returned to the city with Xu Naizhao's letter of guarantee, and saw that the governor of Jiangsu, the governor of Jiangnan and the three first, second and third grade officials of Jiangsu promised in writing to guarantee that he would not die, Liu Lichuan was completely relieved, and then did not hesitate, and immediately shouted: "Give orders to the west gate and the north gate, and ask them to open all the city gates!" Welcome the demons into the city! ”

Next, something happened that Liu Lichuan never dreamed of, Pan Qiliang, who replaced Li Xianchi to guard the north gate, and Lin Afu, who guarded the west gate, refused his order to open the city together, and also asked him to immediately stop fighting with the Taiping Army and negotiate peace with Zeng Lichang!

"Bastard!" Liu Lichuan yelled as if he was going crazy, "It's all come to this point, and you still want Lao Tzu and Changmao to negotiate peace?" Lao Tzu killed so many long hairs tonight, will long hair let me go? Will you let me go? ”

Roaring, Liu Lichuan, who was furious, simply led the army all the way to the West Gate and personally forced Lin Afu to open the West Gate. After meeting, Liu Lichuan slapped Lin Afu without saying a word, and roared: "Are you still not my brother?" Little Mirror (Pan Qiliang) If you don't listen to me, forget it, you don't listen to my orders? Do you still remember, me and you and Chen Alin, the original Taoyuan three knots?! ”

Wiping away the blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, Lin Afu said slowly: "Brother Yuan, it is precisely because I remember that you are my eldest brother, so I don't listen to you." Don't believe the nonsense of the demons, how many of those who surrendered after rebelling since ancient times can survive? Don't be confused, it's still too late. ”

"Don't worry, the Qing demon has already promised me." Liu Lichuan hurriedly took out the guarantee letter written by Xu Naizhao, pointed to the signature on it and said: "You see, in addition to the third-grade transcendent young master, the second-grade governor and the first-rank admiral of the Qing Demon have all signed and used seals on it, promising not to kill me, but also to protect the safety of my property." Now we have caught the long-haired Prime Minister Xu Zongyang again, as long as he is handed over to the Qing Demon, he can be promoted and make a fortune immediately! ”

"Brother Yuan, have you forgotten the lesson of the one hundred and eight heroes of Liangshan?" Lin Afu sneered and said: "Song Jiang and Li Kui were recruited by the imperial court, and they fought in the south and the north for the imperial court, what happened in the end?" One hundred and eight heroes, how many of them have a good death in the end?! ”

Liu Lichuan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly wavered, and Lin Afu said again: "Brother Yuan, don't be confused, you have already betrayed the Qing Demon once, and if you betray the Kingdom of Heaven again this time, you will be a slave with three surnames, even if you can really save your life and money, who will look down on you in the future?" Can you afford us brothers of the Twin Blades who follow you back and forth? ”

Speaking of this, Lin Afu paused for a moment, and then said: "Brother Yuan, I won't hide it from you, I have already given an order, if I am not present in person, no one is allowed to open the city gate without authorization, and whoever dares to touch the city gate will be killed." Also, I also sent someone to contact Prime Minister Zeng and ask him to stop fighting with you and renegotiate. ”

Liu Lichuan was at war with heaven and man in his heart, and he stopped talking for a long time, but after a slight delay, news came from outside the door, saying that the person sent to contact Zeng Lichang had returned. Lin Afu was overjoyed, and hurriedly called the envoy in to inquire about the situation, and the envoy wiped the rain on his face and said: "Brother Fu, Prime Minister Zeng promised a truce and also agreed to negotiate, but ....... ”

"But what?" Lin Afu urged: "It's okay to say it directly. ”

The envoy still didn't dare to say anything, and timidly looked at Liu Lichuan, Liu Lichuan knew it, so he said: "Say, do you want my life?" ”

"It's not." The envoy shook his head and said, "Prime Minister Zeng wants Brother Yuan to hand over your military power, otherwise he won't dare to rest assured." ”

"Go and tell Prime Minister Zeng that Brother Yuan can't hand over the military power." Lin Afu said quietly: "But we promise that we will obey his command in the future." Also, as long as he immediately orders a truce, we will negotiate with him immediately, and anything can be discussed! ”

The envoy agreed, and hurriedly rushed into the rainy night, while Lin Afu turned to Liu Lichuan again and said, "Brother Yuan, it's okay, we will still go with you, and we won't let Prime Minister Zeng take away your military power." ”

Liu Lichuan was silent, just kept calculating in his heart, Liu Lichuan knew very well that in order to keep the city and not give the Qing army a chance to enter the city, Zeng Lichang was very likely to take back the deprivation of his military rights. But what about after that? Even if he retains his military power, he will definitely not be able to raise his head in front of his allies in the future, and he will not be able to raise his head in front of his subordinates, the most important deputy Chen Alin is dead, and the other arm Lin Afu has a neutral attitude, and he will not follow him as desperately as Chen Alin in case of trouble, and his ally Pan Qiliang will definitely fall to the Taiping Army, even if he still has military power in his hands, is it not impossible to be as free as before? And who dares to guarantee that Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing will not settle accounts with themselves in the future?

Thinking of this, Liu Lichuan completely made up his mind and instructed Lin Afu: "Brother Afu, we have no turning back, go and open the city gate, go and open the city gate immediately!" ”

"Brother Yuan, are you crazy?" Lin Afu was shocked when he heard this, "Prime Minister Zeng has already agreed to negotiate, why do you still want to surrender to the Qing Demon?" ”

"Less nonsense, I'm your boss, what I tell you to do, you have to do it!" Liu Lichuan roared savagely: "Go and open the city gate immediately, this is an order!" ”

"No!" Lin Afu roared angrily: "I don't surrender!" Nor do you open the gates! ”

Liu Lichuan was too lazy to talk to Lin Afu again, turned around and went out directly, Lin Afu, who was familiar with Liu Lichuan's character, guessed that he must be going to open the city gate in person, so he quickly rushed to the door, opened his arms to block Liu Lichuan's way, Liu Lichuan yelled, "Get out of the way!" ”

"I won't let it!" Lin Afu replied loudly: "Brother Yuan, if you want to open the city gate and let the Qing demon enter the city, step on my corpse first!" ”

It's okay that Lin Afu didn't say that, as soon as his words came out, Liu Lichuan had already pulled out the revolver on his waist, pointed the gun at Lin Afu's chest, and roared wildly with bloodshot eyes: "Lin Afu!" You give me the way! ”

"Don't." Lin Afu believed that his sworn brother would not attack him, so he simply straightened his chest and said loudly: "Brother Yuan, even if you kill me with one shot, I will not let you surrender to the Qing Demon again and do a ...... like Lu Bu." ”

"Bang!"

The sound of gunfire interrupted Lin Afu's persuasion and dissuasion, the bullet drilled into Lin Afu's chest, and blood arrows rushed out of his chest, Lin Afu lowered his head in surprise, looked at the wound on his chest in disbelief, and looked up at Liu Lichuan in disbelief, but Liu Lichuan looked hideous, and shot his brother three times in a row, beating Lin Afu to the ground and falling down.

The cry was loud, and several of Lin Afu's personal soldiers pounced on Lin Afu's body, while Liu Lichuan sneered and said to Lin Afu who was lying in a pool of blood: "You forced me." ”

After that, Liu Lichuan turned around and yelled at the relatives who had fallen into a state of dementia: "Go with Lao Tzu!" Open the city gate and welcome the young master beyond into the city! (To be continued.) )