Thanks to the blessing of rushing to build the city wall that connects Taicheng in the east and Qingliang Mountain in the west, the rumor that the Taiping Army in Nanjing is rushing to load grain and jewelry has not crossed the city wall to the front line of Beicheng, and the Taiping Army Li Rongfa and Fang Haizong, who are fighting fiercely with the Wu army on the front line, do not know this situation, and the morale of the army has not been affected.

In this way, of course, it is also bitter that the poor Wu army soldiers, who are not familiar with the terrain, have to shuttle in the courtyard of the private houses as dense as a chessboard to fight, and may be hit by the cold guns of the Taiping army at any time, and every step forward has to be trembling, fearful, and at any time they have to guard against the Minnie gun bullets that come from nowhere, and the fast-fire needle gun in the hand has no advantage in the complex terrain, and the Minnie gun in the Taiping army's hand is slower to load the advantages of higher shooting accuracy to the fullest. successively relied on cold gun sneak attacks to kill and wound many Wu soldiers who had experienced a hundred battles, making the Wu soldiers hard to be like German devils in the Battle of Stalingrad.

It is even more fatal, because Wu Chaoyue clearly asked the Wu army to break through Liuxiang as soon as possible and take the two highlands in the city, Jilong Mountain and Taicheng, the Wu army officers and soldiers did not have time to destroy the enemy house by house, so they could only put the main combat forces on the front and concentrate on seizing the space in front of them, and the flank battlefield became a paradise for the Taiping army squads. The loss is huge.

In the end, after Cao Yanzhong personally led the army to reinforce the Liuxiang battlefield, the Wu army, which had been replenished, strengthened the protection of the flanks, which finally reversed the passive situation, but the Taiping army team that was expelled by the Wu army refused to give up, and was still rampant on the edge of the Wu army's position, containing many of the Wu army's combat forces, and also effectively sharing a lot of pressure for the frontal battlefield.

Although the Wu army arranged more than 20 breech-loading rifled guns in front of the front to open the way with heavy firepower, the anti-artillery fortifications invented by the Taiping army themselves achieved better results than expected, whenever the Wu army began to bombard, the Taiping army immediately hid in the underground anti-artillery hole, and the cover plate above the anti-artillery hole was piled up, and unless the Wu army's shells hit the hole of the anti-artillery hole, whether it was shrapnel or picric acid flames, it was almost impossible to hurt the Taiping soldiers hiding in the anti-artillery hole. As soon as the Wu army's artillery bombardment ended, the Taiping army immediately rushed out of the anti-artillery hole and entered the position, relying on the sheep and horse wall and other bomb-sheltering fortifications to continue the battle, and dealt a heavy blow to the oncoming Wu army, forcing the Wu army to take out grenadiers and bombard, and the Taiping army fought for the position space inch by inch, and the advance was quite slow.

(PS: The Taiping Army's anti-artillery fortifications are not fictional, in the historical contest with the British and French armies, the Taiping Army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang did invent this kind of quite effective anti-artillery fortifications on their own.) ）

Of course, after all, the disparity in the strength of firepower is too great, although the Wu army fought hard, but still advanced step by step towards the depths of Liuxiang, its own casualties are not small, but also caused more casualties to the Taiping army, at the same time, the Wu army also has a close combat advantage, if the Wu army does not consider the casualty figures, blindly rush and fight at any cost, the speed of advance can definitely be improved. Therefore, after Liu Kan, the general of the Wu army who led the army in front, was beaten by the Taiping army, he also sent someone to contact Cao Yanzhong, the boss who was pressing the rear formation, and asked directly: "Do you want a position?" Or do you want the army? The position can be fast, but the casualties are not guaranteed. If you want the army, you can only fight slowly, and the speed of advance is not guaranteed. ”

Cao Yanzhong and Wu Chaoyue were in the same dilemma, because Cao Yanzhong also knew very well that Wu Chaoyue did not have many mobile troops in his hands, and he didn't know when to fight the street battles in Nanjing. Therefore, Cao Yanzhong did not dare to reply to Liu Kan in a hurry, so he could only kick the ball to Wu Chaoyue, send someone to report the street battle to Wu Chaoyue, and ask Wu Chaoyue to give instructions.

The difficult choice was once again put in front of Wu Chaoyue, and it also made Wu Chaoyue regret his elite strategy for the first time, and did not prepare enough battlefield cannon fodder for the elite army, but regret is useless, and now Wu Chaoyue has only two choices, to continue to insist on fighting for the total annihilation of the Taiping army in the city, he can only use the little mobile force in his hand to enter the city to fight. If you want to quickly take the city of Nanjing, you can only give the Taiping army a chance to break through the siege, and send the besieging army into the city to help in the battle, so as to reverse the inferior combat effectiveness of the Wu army on the local battlefield.

"Otherwise, block it. Bet that Song Yongqi really surrendered, and the information sent was true, and he would attack again when Changmao broke through. ”

After hesitating, Wu Chaoyue almost imagined that he was outside Suzhou City, throwing a silver yuan to gamble on either victory or defeat, but after a few words, Wu Chaoyue swallowed the decision back into his stomach, because Wu Chaoyue knew very well that once he let the army slow down the attack, then the Taiping army would immediately be able to take the opportunity to build more street fighting fortifications, and at the same time, it was also possible to build a new city wall connecting Qingliangshan and Taicheng in a short period of time.

"Fighting a war is not about gambling for money, you can't take risks." After quietly shaking his head and dispelling the idea of gambling, Wu Chaoyue pinned his hopes on the prisoners caught in front of him, and asked Dai Wenjie next to him, "Is there any news from the person who went to interrogate the prisoners of war?" Did you ask about the confession that Longhair was ready to abandon the city and break out? ”

"Nope." Dai Wenjie replied dejectedly: "So far today, more than 50 prisoners have been captured, and more than 100 old troops of Wu Jianying and Liu Yulin, who had been dispersed before, took the initiative to vote, but they have not heard the news that Changmao is preparing to abandon the city and break through. ”

"It seems that Li Xiuguo still blocked the news from the front-line Changmao." Wu Chaoyue sighed, frowned again, and said: "But I'm not sure, if Li Xiucheng sent someone to deceive him, of course the long-haired people on the front line don't know about Hong Xiuquan and Li Xiucheng's preparation to abandon the city and break through." ”

"King Zhennan, don't you think this is a little suspicious?" Dai Wenjie said: "If Li Xiucheng really sent someone to deceive us, he should also spread false news on the front line, saying that he is ready to abandon the city and break through the siege, and further deceive us under the mouth of prisoners of war deserters." But Li Xiucheng didn't do this, doesn't this in turn prove that the important information sent by Song Yongqi is likely to be true? ”

"Stupid words!" Grateful for Dai Wenjie's many help to him when he was under Hua Shana's account, Wu Chaoyue scolded Dai Wenjie for the first time, and said angrily: "Li Xiucheng dared to do this to find death, and explained to the front-line army that it was fake news, and we may immediately know that he is cheating." If you don't explain the truth to the front-line army, the long-haired front-line army is afraid that it will be abandoned by Li Xiucheng, and it may collapse directly immediately! ”

Dai Wenjie nodded submissively, and then carefully reminded: "King Zhennan, how to choose, you should make up your mind, Cao Junmen is still waiting for your decision." ”

"It's hard to make up your mind."

Wu Chaoyue smiled bitterly, rubbing his thin fingers and couldn't make a decision, but at this time, the soldiers suddenly presented a few pieces of paper in front of Wu Chaoyue, and said: "King Zhennan, the captive named Guo Laosi woke up for a while just now, and the clerk sent by Mr. Dai to wait asked for some new confessions from him. ”

couldn't wait to take Guo Laosi's new confession, and when he took a closer look, Wu Chaoyue was disappointed again, because Guo Laosi only roughly recounted the previous confession in the confession, and then said that Song Yongqi had secretly persuaded Li Xiucheng to put down his arms and surrender, and offered Hong Xiuquan to Wu Chaoyue as a promotion gift, but Li Xiucheng did not accept it. In the end, when he turned to the last of Guo Laosi's confession, Wu Chaoyue's eyes suddenly lit up and saw a seemingly subtle but very important situation - Guo Laosi confessed before he fell into a coma again that he had been ordered by Song Yongqi to contact Wu Jianying outside the Shence Gate, and wanted to join forces with Wu Jianying to open the city gate to receive Wu Jun into the city, but because Wu Jianying's sudden move led to a melee at the Shence Gate, it was unsuccessful.

"Bring Wu Jianying immediately!" Wu Chaoyue didn't think much about it, and immediately shouted: "Besides, bring Guo Laosi here and call a few doctors to accompany him, both Chinese medicine Langzhong and foreign doctors!" ”

According to Wu Chaoyue's request, Guo Laosi, who was still unconscious, was quickly carried back in front of Wu Chaoyue, and then Wu Jianying was also lifted to Wu Chaoyue by Wu Junjun. Wu Chaoyue was not polite, first asked the soldiers to carry Guo Laosi aside to prevent collusion, and then asked Wu Jianying about Song Yongqi, but unfortunately, Wu Jianying didn't know anything about Wu Chaoyue's questioning, and asked in confusion: "King Zhennan, the crime will not be wrong, right?" Song Wangzong once sent someone to contact the Sin General, and wanted to join forces with the Sin General to receive your army into the city? How could I not know about this? ”

"Then do you and Song Yongqi know each other? Did you secretly discuss surrendering to me beforehand? Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked again.

"Nope." Wu Jianying shook his head and said truthfully: "Don't dare to deceive the king of Zhennan, although the criminal general knows Song Yongqi and Song Guozong, he has not met a few times, let alone has a deep friendship, and he is Li Xiucheng's brother-in-law, the criminal general is very bold, and he does not dare to tell him about the preparation to abandon the darkness and turn to the light." ”

"Something strange." Wu Chaoyue was puzzled and said, "Then how did Song Yongqi know that you were mine?" Will he take the initiative to send his personal captain to contact you? ”

Wu Jianying shook his head, confused and didn't understand this strange thing. And Dai Wenjie next to him hurriedly said: "King Zhennan, you still need to tie the bell to solve the bell, Guo Laosi must know the reason for this." ”

"Immediately bring Guo Laosi over!" Wu Chaoyue roared: "A few doctors are also invited!" ”

Guo Laosi was soon carried over, and three doctors from two middle schools and one ocean also came to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue was not polite, and immediately pointed to Guo Laosi, who was unconscious, and instructed the three doctors: "No matter what method you use, as long as you can wake him up, so that he can speak for a few minutes, one hundred taels of silver per person, cash it on the spot!" ”

Under the heavy reward, there will be brave men and brave doctors! Hearing Wu Chaoyue's words, and seeing the white flowers and silver that Wu Chaoyue's own soldiers quickly took out, the three doctors of the two middle schools and one ocean immediately rushed to kneel down in front of the stretcher lying on Guo Laosi like flies seeing blood, or pinched people or rubbed their chests, pierced acupoints and fed medicine, and tried every possible means to rescue Guo Laosi. Not to mention the result, after tossing for more than ten minutes, Guo Laosi really let out some hoho in his mouth, and woke up with a moan.

"King Zhennan, this person is awake!"

"Get out of the way! Let the king come in person! ”

Pushing away the cheering Lang Zhong, Wu Chaoyue knelt down on one knee next to Guo Laosi's stretcher, held Guo Laosi's hand and said anxiously: "Just ask you one question, how did Song Yongqi know that Wu Jianying was ready to surrender to me?" Say, tell me quickly, how did Song Yongqi know that it was my person? Why did you send you to see Wu Jianying, and prepare to join forces with Wu Jianying?! ”

"Wang ......, Wang Zhaoqiang." Guo Laosi struggled to say a name, groaned and said: "Wu Jianying's subordinate Wang Zhaoqiang knew that Wu Jianying was going to surrender, and ran to Li Rong to report ...... and inform. At that time, Li Rongfa was ......, and he happened to be absent, and Song Wangzong heard the rumors, so he ran to talk about Wang Zhaoqiang's words, and knew that Wu Jianying was preparing to ...... and preparing to surrender. Then ......, and then Song Wangzong ......, he killed Wang Zhaoqiang with his own hands, and sent me to ...... with Wu Jianying to contact ....... ”

The voice became weaker and weaker, Guo Laosi's head tilted, and he fell into a coma again, but it was enough, Wu Chaoyue had already jumped up like crazy, rushed back to Wu Jianying, grabbed him by the collar, and asked, "Your subordinates, is there a person named Wang Zhaoqiang?" Does he know that you are ready to surrender to this king? ”

"Yes, he knows." Wu Jianying nodded hurriedly, and added: "When the criminal general was about to make a move, that Wang Zhaoqiang suddenly disappeared, and he still went to the direction of Liuxiang, and the criminal general was afraid that he was going to find Li Xiucheng's godson Li Rongfa to report it, so he could only do it quickly." ”

"Ahh Wu Chaoyue was stunned at first, and then suddenly laughed wildly, "Ahahahahaha!" Providence! Providence! ”

"King Zhennan, what providence?" Wu Jianying asked inexplicably, and still slandered in his heart, and said secretly: "Oh no, my new master, shouldn't I be the same as Hong Xiuquan, I also have a problem with my head?" ”

Ignoring Wu Jianying's question, Wu Chaoyue just laughed and turned around, and smiled at Dai Wenjie: "Mr. Wenjie, don't have a headache, I can be sure, the news sent by Song Yongqi is true, and Changmao is going to run tonight!" ”

"King Zhennan, what should we do now?" Dai Wenjie hurriedly asked.

"Immediately give Cao Yanzhong an order, telling him to slow down the attack, give priority to preserving the army, retain physical strength, and prepare to continue fighting tonight." Wu Chaoyue commanded: "But tell him to remember, you can't let Long Hair see the flaws, know that we are deliberately staying strong, and let Long Hair feel that we really can't fight, so we can only fight slowly." ”

"Besides, I ordered the whole army outside the city to immediately prepare for a night battle, and prepare me with enough torches and dry food, so as to prepare for a long battle." Wu Chaoyue continued to order: "Also, the matter of preparing for Changmao's breakthrough today, secretly inform the battalion commanders, but it must be kept secret, until it is completely dark, do not let the soldiers below know, so as not to leak the news." ”

Dai Wenjie hurriedly took the lead again and again, arranged for a few staff members to quickly draft orders, and then Dai Wenjie asked Wu Chaoyue again: "King Zhennan, in your opinion, which road is Changmao most likely to take to break through?" ”

"Dongcheng!" Wu Chaoyue replied categorically, and said: "I bet that before breaking through to Dongcheng, Li Xiucheng will definitely play some ghost tricks to attack the east from the west to trick us into transferring the mobile army to Xicheng or Nancheng to strengthen the defense!" But the direction of his breakthrough must be east, and he will break through through the city gates of Chaoyang Gate, Hongwu Gate and Tongji Gate! ”

"King Zhennan, can you be sure?" Dai Wenjie asked with some concern: "The situation outside the Jubao Gate is open, and it is possible for Long Hair to break through to the southern city?" ”

"It can't be Nancheng!" Wu Chaoyue laughed and said: "It is true that the terrain south of Jubaomen is open, but Li Xiucheng has to protect Hong Xiuquan to break through this time, the more open the terrain, the more dangerous Hong Xiuquan is!" Only by breaking through the siege in Dongcheng, first going to Jurong, and then crossing Maoshan from Baitu Town, and then using the narrow terrain around Baitu Town to block our pursuers with all his might, Hong Xiuquan can safely escape to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Suzhou and Hangzhou! ”

After laughing, Wu Chaoyue added with a smile, "Li Xiucheng's hand, I still learned from me, when I escaped from this Jiangning City, I also took this road to escape." ”