As it got dark, in order to restore the strength of the soldiers who had not been able to rest fully for two consecutive nights, Wu Chaoyue ordered the army to rest on the spot on the heights of Xiatalong, to satisfy their hunger with dry food, and at the same time sent scouts to the castle town outside the north gate of Raozhou to detect whether the enemy was in ambush and at the same time test the reaction of the Taiping army.

In this regard, Zhou Wenxian, a staff member of the army, was a little puzzled, and reminded Wu Chaoyue that his army carried a camp tent and baggage, and suggested that a strong camp should be established so that the soldiers of the Wu army could rest in peace, but Wu Chaoyue shook his head and refused, but ordered to summon Liu Mingchuan and Qian Wei, two generals, while gnawing hard dry food together, while discussing what the purpose of the repeated weakness of the Raozhou Taiping Army was, and whether the Wu army should launch an attack as soon as possible.

Like Wu Chaoyue, after learning the details of the information provided by the Wu army's spies, Liu Mingchuan and Qian Wei, who had already received military education in the East and the West, also suspected that the Taiping army was deliberately spreading the news that Raozhou was difficult to protect, and the real purpose of showing weakness was either to empty the city or to capture the old people, and wanted to trick the Wu army into giving up the siege to buy time for Shi Zhenji to return to Raozhou, or they wanted to trick the Wu army into launching a siege in a hurry, and take the opportunity to weaken the city defense to attack the Wu army.

"Then do you think Longhair is playing an empty city plan, or is he trying to get away with it? Should we launch a siege as soon as possible? Or do you want to find out the details of the long hair first? ”

It's a pity that like Wu Chaoyue, Liu Mingchuan and Qian Wei also judged what the real purpose of the Taiping Army was trying to do? After being asked by Wu Chaoyue and couldn't answer, Qian Wei, who was a cow and a horse for Wu Chaoyue when he started the army from Shanghai, also said: "The king of Zhennan forgives his sins, and the last general is only a shallow learner, and he really can't see what the real purpose of long hair is, so the last general doesn't dare to speak indiscriminately, or ask the king of Zhennan to make your own decisions about whether you should attack the city overnight." ”

"King Zhennan, the last general can't see the true intention of Long Hair, and he doesn't dare to draw conclusions lightly." Liu Mingchuan didn't dare to make a judgment, and said: "It's better to ask the king of Zhennan to take your idea, and we will act according to the order." ”

"If I could see the purpose of the long hair and make up my mind, I wouldn't have called you here to discuss." Wu Chaoyue smiled, and then said: "That's it, since we can't see what the purpose of Changmao deliberately shows weakness, then let's just learn from the foreigners' staff, deduce the pros and cons of our attack as soon as possible, and don't rush to attack the city for the time being, whether the benefits of attacking the city outweigh the disadvantages, or the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, and then choose the tactics that are most beneficial to us." ”

Qian Wei and Liu Mingchuan, who had received Western military education, applauded when they heard it, and they were eager to show their skills and experience the battlefield deduction ability they learned from foreign officers, Wu Chaoyue nodded, and then said: "Let's deduce the gains and losses of attacking the city overnight, you just have to speak freely, we will attack the city overnight, if Changmao is an empty city plan is easy to do, we will definitely not need too much effort to take Raozhou City, but if Changmao is playing a trick to capture the old man, we attack the city overnight just in their arms, What are the consequences? What kind of situation will it face? ”

"The last will come first." Qian Wei hurriedly said: "If Changmao really wants to capture the old man, then we will definitely suffer a lot of casualties in the siege, and it is likely that it will be in vain, and we will not be able to take Raozhou City." However, the last general believes that with the equipment and training of our army, even if we cannot take the city, the losses will not be so great, at most it will be in vain. ”

"In addition, as long as we have two or three battalions of elite troops left, it will be enough to deal with everything, whether it is Shi Zhenji coming back with the Longhair army to rescue, or Longhair has an ambush outside the city, our reserves have enough strength to take them down. Therefore, the last general felt that even if Changmao really wanted to capture the past, we would lose a few hundred siege troops at most, and we would not be able to take Raozhou, so it was impossible to have other losses. ”

"The last general also feels that if we attack as soon as possible, even if we have losses, it won't be too big." Liu Mingchuan also said: "And after doing this, if there are any ambushes outside the city, or Shi Zhenji suddenly comes back with the long-haired army to reinforce, it will be more beneficial to us, the advantage of weapons and equipment is placed here, even if there are more ambushes suddenly killed by Changmao, it is just to give us a head, and we will die in vain." ”

After that, Liu Mingchuan hurriedly added a sentence and said: "Of course, the premise is that we must leave two or three elite battalions in reserve, and we can't put all our troops into the siege battlefield, and we can only use four or five battalions to attack the city, reducing our certainty of success in the siege." ”

Wu Chaoyue deduced in his heart, and felt that the analysis of the second general was quite reasonable, even if the strong attack failed, the loss was not large, as long as enough reserves were left to prevent accidents, it could guarantee that the possible enemy ambush soldiers would be drawn all over the ground in the field to find teeth, and it would be easy to deal with Shi Zhenji's sudden return to help. After affirming this, Wu Chaoyue nodded first, and then said: "Then if we don't rush to attack the city and choose to plan and then act, what are the pros and cons of it?" ”

The consequences of this choice are undoubtedly more variables, so Liu Mingchuan and Qian Wei did not rush to answer, but just tried to use their brains to calculate, while Wu Chaoyue threw bricks and stones, and said: "Let me say it first, we are not in a hurry to attack the city, the biggest advantage for us is that we can reduce the casualties of the soldiers and calmly deal with all changes." The disadvantage is that it is a waste of time, allowing the long-haired empty city plan to succeed, missing the opportunity to break the city, and may even disrupt our overall plan, forcing us to send General Feng Sanbao's army south for reinforcements, and spend more ammunition, money, food and time to take Raozhou. ”

"King Zhennan, it's not so serious, right?" Qian Wei said suspiciously: "If Changmao is really playing with the empty city plan, even if we waste a day or two, as long as we find out the situation of Changmao in the city, we can still easily take Raozhou City?" ”

"What about the army that Shi Zhenji brought out of the city? Have you forgotten to consider this variable? Wu Chaoyue said calmly: "If before we find out the truth of Raozhou Changmao, Shi Zhenji brought the Changmao army back to Raozhou, and we failed to stop Shi Zhenji's reinforcement army and let Shi Zhenji successfully enter the city, then we will have to fight the second battle of Hukou." ”

"King Zhennan, rest assured, the last general can guarantee to stop Shi Zhenji." Qian Wei said confidently: "As long as we send more scouts, closely monitor the surroundings, and discover Longhair's reinforcements in time, we will be ten percent sure that we can kill Longhair, so that they will not be able to enter Raozhou City." ”

Wu Chaoyue was silent, and Liu Mingchuan didn't dare to agree with Qian Wei's self-confidence, so he reminded: "Brother Qian, what if our scouts can't find the long-haired reinforcement in time?" Don't forget, our army is coming to Raozhou for the first time, but Changmaoshi Town Jibu has been entrenched in Raozhou for many years, far more familiar with the geography and roads than us, not to mention anything else, just secretly returning to the city in the middle of the night is enough for us to be overwhelmed. ”

Qian Wei stopped talking, but Wu Chaoyue opened his mouth and said: "There is another very important point, the south gate of Raozhou is the Pojiang River, and the long-haired army can take the road on the south bank of the Pojiang River to return to help, and cross the river and return to the city with the help of the sailor, making it more difficult for us to stop Changmao." ”

"We can divide our troops on the south bank of Raozhou and block the ...... of the south gate of Raozhou."

After all, it was an old man of Wu Jun, and he drank foreign ink in the Hankou Military Academy, Qian Wei stopped himself before he finished speaking, and retorted to himself: "You can't do this, don't say anything else, our army just thinks that it is difficult to cross the Pojiang River, and the remnants of the long-haired sailors will definitely not give us the opportunity to cross the river easily, and Changmao has built a fort at the mouth of the Pojiang River and pulled a barrage to the river, and our sailors must first pass the Changmao fort if they want to participate in the war, and we are not sure about forcibly crossing the river, and there is still a great danger." ”

"It's also dangerous to force our sailors into battle." Wu Chaoyue added for Qian Wei: "The water surface of the Pojiang River is narrow, and forcibly letting the Luo Weilin enter the Pojiang River is equivalent to giving the long-haired boat the opportunity to take the opportunity to besiege the Luoweilin. However, if we do not allow the Luo Weilin to sail into the Pojiang River, we will not be able to seize the right to control the river with our 100 military sampans alone, at least we will not be sure to take the right to control the river as soon as possible. ”

"We can't be sure that we will stop the long-haired reinforcements!" Qian Wei came to his senses and hurriedly said: "If Changmao returns to the city on the north bank of the Pojiang River, we may still have some hope to stop it." But it is impossible for Long Hair not to see this, and it is more likely that he will take the south bank road back to the city, and we are not sure to win the right to control the river, so we are even less sure to stop Long Hair from returning to the city from the south bank. ”

Wu Chaoyue finally nodded and said, "Yes, the difficulty of besieging the city and sending reinforcements is higher than I estimated before, and the disadvantages of planning and then acting are also greater than we expected. But there should be more disadvantages than that, you say, what are the other disadvantages? ”

"Hurt morale, the Hukou fight is so difficult, the impact on our morale is not small, if we let Changmao return to the city for reinforcements, our morale will definitely be even more affected."

They are all old soldiers, just after a little thought, Qian Wei immediately gave the second answer, and Liu Mingchuan also quickly said: "It is also possible to give Changmao a chance to turn the tables, it is impossible for Governor Rao Mao not to know how Lin Qirong defended the city a few days ago, with the elite soldiers at the bottom, and Lin Qirong's tactics can be copied, it is not impossible to hold the city for a long time." Not only will we suffer more casualties, but our entire plan may also be disrupted. ”

"King Zhennan, we don't have to rush to fight in Raozhou, but the overall plan can't be messed up." Qian Wei was a little anxious by Liu Mingchuan's analysis, and hurriedly said: "Old lady Wu, as well as Deng Siyuan and Meng Ji, they are surrounded by long hair, and they are waiting for us to rescue, we can't lose a big one because of a small one." ”

Wu Chaoyue was silent, and gradually made up his mind in his heart, and said slowly: "Attacking the city overnight, even if we fall into Changmao's plan to capture the old man, the biggest loss is only a few hundred troops, but if Changmao is playing an empty city plan, we have a great chance of easily taking Raozhou City, and if we succeed, we will gain a huge gain, and we will lose a lot." ”

"Plan and then act, give up the initiative, we are not sure to stop the return of Changmao's army, and it may also lead to the deterioration of the war situation, delay under the city of Raozhou for a long time, pay the price of more casualties, and even affect the overall plan to rescue Shanghai......."

Speaking of this slowly, Wu Chaoyue suddenly paused, raised his voice and said, "Fight!" Even if Governor Rao Mao wants to capture him, I admit it, I am sorry that I lost hundreds of troops and was forced to retreat, and it will not affect the overall situation! In the future, there will also be a chance to settle accounts with Governor Rao Mao Qiuhou! It's better than planning and then acting! ”

The pros and cons of resolutely attacking the city overnight were deduced with the help of Qian Wei and Liu Mingchuan, which would make Wu Chaoyue make up his mind, and Qian Wei and Liu Mingchuan of course did not hesitate to surrender their orders immediately. Wu Chaoyue said again: "With five battalions of troops to attack the city, my personal battalion can withstand ten battalions in the field, leaving two battalions of reserves is enough!" ”

"In addition, I will clearly tell the soldiers that the situation tonight is special, this king makes an exception, as long as he can break through Raozhou City tonight, half of the money and grain in the city will be owned by the soldiers participating in the war, and this king will take out one percent of the money and grain separately from fifty percent as a reward, and tonight the battalion will enter Raozhou City first, and that battalion will have this money and grain alone!"

…………

Contrary to Wu Chaoyue and Liu Mingchuan and others who nervously deduced the gains and losses of the siege, at the same time in Raozhou City, Shi Zhenchang and Shi Dade, who stayed in Raozhou, were quite relaxed, firmly believing that the Wu army would not dare to give up the siege tonight - the reason is also very simple, the Wu army came day and night with a long-distance attack, the army must be quite tired, and the possibility of attacking the city overnight was not large, coupled with the pre-war layout of the Taiping army, the carefully created illusion, and the Wu army's historical combat habits, the possibility of directly attacking the city without too many preparations is naturally smaller.

But there is also something that worries Shi Zhenchang and Shi Dade, that is, the Wu army did not build a strong camp, and chose to rest on the spot, which is quite convenient to attack. Therefore, even if they firmly believed that the Wu army did not dare to attack the city overnight, Shi Zhenchang and Shi Dade did not dare to take it lightly, and boarded the north gate of Raozhou together after it was dark, and watched the camp of the Wu army from afar.

"Why don't you send a few people out of the city and get closer to take a closer look at the situation of the demon soldiers?"

"No, you can't take any chances!"

Shi Zhen's plan to go out of the city to reconnoiter had just been spoken, and he was immediately resolutely opposed by Shi Dade, who reminded: "To prevent our scouts out of the city from being caught by the demon soldiers, once the demon soldiers ask about the current situation in Raozhou City, then we will be in big trouble." ”

After thinking about it carefully, he found that Shi Dade's opposition was reasonable, so Shi Zhenchang had no choice but to dispel this idea, nodded and said: "There is this danger, forget it, let's just leave it at that, patiently persist for this night, and tomorrow the eldest brother's army can come back." ”

"You don't need to hold on all night, as long as you hold on until about three watches in the middle of the night, we will pass this night." Shi Dade said confidently: "The demon soldiers came so far to attack Raozhou, the army must be very tired, and they are still seizing the time to attack the city in the first half of the night without taking advantage of their morale, and they will have no strength and spirit to attack the city in the second half of the night." ”

"It's still your clever plan." Shi Zhen often patted Shi Dade's shoulder with a smile, and said with a smile: "If you calculate correctly, the Transcendence Little Demon will suspect that we are cheating, and we don't dare to risk attacking the city. ”

"The treacherous will be suspicious, and the doubtful will be cautious." Shi Dade smiled and said: "What is said in the book of war really makes sense. ”

Shi Zhen often laughed happily, first praised a few words of his brother, and then listened to Shi Dade's suggestion, and decided that Shi Dade was responsible for the city defense in the first half of the night, and he changed the guard with Shi Dade during the third watch, and then he was going back to the city to rest, but when Shi Zhenchang and Shi Dade said goodbye to each other, the pro-soldiers next to him suddenly shouted: "Second general, third general, look, the demon soldiers are moving!" ”

"Is there any movement of the demon soldiers?!"

Shi Zhenchang and Shi Dade turned their heads quickly, and as a result, they didn't need to raise their binoculars, Shi Zhenchang and Shi Dade had clearly seen that the torches near the Xiatalong Heights were shaking, like stars flowing, gradually flowing in rows and columns, slowly flowing towards the north gate of Raozhou. And then, naturally, Shi Zhenchang and Shi Dade of course exclaimed in unison, "The demon soldiers have seen through our empty city plan?!" ”

After the exclamation, Shi Dade, who single-handedly directed Raozhou's empty city plan, added, "How is it possible? There's no way we're going to show any flaws?! ”