If you don't have enough enemies, you will be caught off guard.

After taking the Hunan army to Huangzhou Mansion and Wuchang County, which were across the river, Zeng Guofan, who was not good at fighting assault warfare, not only continued to adopt the prudent strategy of seeking stability first and then forging ahead, but also put the main force on the battlefield of Huangzhou Mansion on the north bank, and only monitored the Taiping army in Wuchang County with partial divisions. In this regard, the generals of the Hunan army were puzzled, and they all asked Zeng Guofan: "Marshal, Huangzhou Mansion is more difficult to fight than Wuchang County, we should first fight the most certain Wuchang County, how to give up the easy and difficult, and put the main force on the north bank to fight Huangzhou Mansion City first?" ”

"Because we hit Wuchang County first, Huangzhou Governor Mao will inevitably send troops to rescue, but if we hit Huangzhou Mansion first, Wuchang County Governor Mao will not dare to send troops to save Huangzhou!"

"Previously, because of our lack of money and food, we delayed the future attack on Wuchang County, the capital of Huangzhou, and gave Changmao time to build strong city fortifications on the front line of Huangwu. The long hair of Huangzhou Mansion is strong, and the long hair of Wuchang County is weak, we can't quickly succeed in fighting Wuchang County first, and Huangzhou Changmao will inevitably see stitches and needles, highlighting the surprise soldiers behind the sneak attack on our army, and if we are a little careless, we may repeat the mistakes of Yang Dingguo. ”

"But if we hit Huangzhou Mansion first, the situation will be completely different. The Changmao army in Wuchang County is weak, and it does not have enough strength to rescue Huangzhou Changmao, even if it is reluctant to fight, it will give our army a chance to annihilate it in the field! Therefore, it is the most beneficial for our army to attack the capital city of Huangzhou first! ”

After listening to Zeng Guofan's extremely confident explanation, the generals of the Hunan army suddenly realized that they praised the handsome and wise. And the result was just as Zeng Guofan expected, he really caught the Taiping army off guard, never expected that the Hunan army would come to attack the Huangzhou capital city Zhong Tingsheng could only order the Wuchang County garrison not to act rashly, the Huangzhou battlefield abandoned the camp outside the city and fully retreated to the city, while quickly sending people to Tianjia Town downstream for help. However, the messenger was intercepted by the Hunan army's naval division in the middle of the road, and Zeng Guofan was triumphant, while strengthening the blockade of the river channel, while preparing to attack the city with all his might. And then ......

Then Zeng Guofan was also caught off guard by the Taiping army, only one day later, there was a Taiping army sailor fleet composed of more than 100 small pulling boats appeared in front of the Hunan army, considering that the Taiping army sailor was stationed in Tianjia Town far away, and may rush to reinforce the Huangwu battlefield in a short time, the Hunan army sailor once thought that this fleet was the Taiping army fleet in Wuchang County or Huangzhou Prefecture, in order to annihilate the enemy's water power decisively sent troops to fight, and the Taiping army fleet turned around and ran downstream, Peng Yulin, the general of the Hunan Army's naval division, was greedy for merit and pursued closely, and was lured to the lower reaches of the Ba River, thousands of Taiping Army's small boats suddenly came out, surrounded Peng Yulin on all sides, the Hunan Army's naval division ships turned around, charged against the wind and retreated against the current, and the mobility was almost completely lost, and the light and flexible small boats were galloping on the wide river, constantly interspersed with surprise attacks, gradually cutting and surrounding the Hunan army's boats, and beating the Hunan Army's sailors to cry wolf, as long as they parried, they had no power to fight back.

Received the news that Peng Yulin's army was ambushed, Zeng Guofan also panicked, and he couldn't care about saving his strength, so he could only order the Hunan army sailors to go out to save Peng Yulin, and finally relied on the full rescue of the Hunan army's sailors, Peng Yulin's army was lucky to escape the annihilation, but the thirty-four warships brought were sunk and burned by the Taiping army, eight of which were captured, including an expensive red single boat, and most of the remaining ships were injured, and at the same time, the main force of the Hunan army sailors who came to save Peng Yulin was also destroyed four in the fierce battle, and two were severely damaged. The losses were quite heavy.

On the contrary, because the water power was heavily damaged and unable to gain the advantage of the river, the Hunan army was still in danger of being surrounded by the Taiping army on the south bank, forcing Zeng Guofan to ask for help from the Yang Dingguo Department of the Hubei Qing Army stationed in Gedian, and asked Yang Dingguo to hurry east to join the Hunan army's partial division and strengthen the south bank force.

The news was transmitted back to Wuchang Mansion City, and Wu Chaoyue secretly gloated, but also somewhat worried that his lips would die - the teacher is no longer a teacher, and if Teacher Zeng and the Xiang army are finished, Wuchang Mansion City and Hankou Port, which is about to lay golden eggs, will also not be able to keep it. Therefore, Wu Chaoyue did not dare to take it lightly, and persuaded the official document to focus on the overall situation and let Yang Dingguo fully support the Hunan army's partial division, while Wu Chaoyue strengthened the vigilance of Wuchang Fucheng, and sent a large number of people to reconnoiter the movements of the downstream and spy on the reality of the Taiping army.

Fortunately, the scout's reconnaissance report quickly showed that the scale of the Taiping army's dispatch this time was not as large as the last attack on Wuchang Fucheng, and all the troops that did not enter by land were naval troops, and although the strength of the troops could not be found for the time being, from the analysis that the Taiping army's naval division did not land in large numbers to enter the city for reinforcements, the Taiping army's naval division could not have many landing combat forces.

According to this analysis, and combined with the actual situation of the Wuhuang battlefield, Wu Chaoyue carefully studied a battle plan for the teacher - he felt that the Hunan army should make use of its strengths and avoid its weaknesses, give full play to the advantages of strong land strength, and use the land division to storm the capital city of Huangzhou or Wuchang County, forcing the Taiping army to dispatch a naval division to rescue the land defenders. The Hunan Army's sailors can also get a chance to surprise and win.

When the battle plan was drawn up, and then Zhao Liewen wrote a letter to Zeng Guofan to suggest the implementation, Zhao Liewen did not rush to write, and reminded Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, although your tactical plan is feasible and not a little certain, but doing so will definitely make the Hunan army and land division pay a lot of price, with your teacher's temper, even if you know that your suggestion is right, I am afraid that you will refuse to adopt it." ”

Of course, Wu Chaoyue knew that what Zhao Liewen said was the truth, sighed helplessly, and said: "Mind him, tell him the battle plan first, let him adopt it or not, of course it is best for him to adopt it, if he doesn't listen to it, I can't help it." Anyway, for him, a teacher, I can be regarded as benevolent and righteous. ”

Zhao Liewen nodded helplessly, and wrote a letter for Wu Chaoyue, but Zeng Guofan's reaction was unfortunately expected by Zhao Liewen, after receiving the letter sent by Wu Chaoyue's clipper, Zeng Guofan's first reaction was to be furious, patting the handsome case and roaring: "Arrogant child, the milk smell has not dried, and he dares to point fingers at this handsome!" ”

Liu Rong and Luo Zenan and other henchmen next to him asked the reason in surprise, after Zeng Guofan showed them Wu Chaoyue's letter, Liu Rong and Luo Zenan looked hesitant, and only after a while did Luo Zenan say: "Dashuai, Wu Chaoyue is pointing fingers at you, although it is disrespectful, but the battle plan he proposed is quite feasible, why don't you consider adopting and implementing it?" ”

Zeng Guofan didn't speak, in fact, Zeng Guofan also knew that Wu Chaoyue's suggestion was feasible, and he had considered using troops like this before, but when he thought of the price to be paid for doing so, Zeng Guofan subconsciously dispelled this idea. So even if Luo Zenan gave Wu Chaoyue help, Zeng Guofan hesitated and shook his head, and said: "It's too risky, our army is not good at attacking fortifications, if we can't force the long-haired sailors to land for reinforcements, our losses will definitely not be small." Caution is paramount, such a risky plan, until the last moment, we still don't have to be surprised. ”

Of course, Luo Zenan also knew that Zeng Guofan wanted to preserve his strength, although he didn't break it, but he suggested: "So, how about asking Yang Dingguo to storm Wuchang County on the south bank?" Even if he can't capture the city, as long as he can induce the long-haired sailors to land and fight, our sailors can win the chance to break the enemy. ”

Let the Hubei Green Battalion fight a tough battle, Zeng Guofan naturally would not refuse, but even if Yang Dingguo relied on the protection of the Hunan Army's partial division Hu Lin's wing, and mustered up the courage to launch many attacks on the small city of Wuchang County, the Green Battalion soldiers who were extremely meaty still only shot far away under the city, and did not dare to really attack with ants, of course, there was no way to induce the Taiping Army's sailors to fight in the city. The Wuhuang battlefield also fell into a negative confrontation, the Hunan army and the Taiping army both wanted to strike later, and no one wanted to strike first to show their flaws, and they were competing with each other for the consumption of grain and grass logistics, and the situation was the same as that of the Qing army's Jiangnan camp and the Taiping army in Nanjing.

During this period, the anxious official Wen and Wu Chaoyue, who was in charge of grain and grass logistics, of course, repeatedly urged Zeng Guofan to enter the army, but Zeng Guofan ignored them all, and it was expected that Guanwen and Wu Chaoyue did not dare to do anything with him and turned a deaf ear. As a result, the official Wen and Wu Chaoyue, who had to rely on Zeng Guofan to defend Hubei, really didn't dare to do anything with Zeng Guofan, but they had to make the messenger lose all his smiles, and he didn't even dare to say a word of heavy words in his words.

On 28 April, a fleet of six steamships and two sail warships suddenly appeared in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, hoisting the flags of Britain and France, emitting billowing black smoke, and heading directly toward the Wuhuang battlefield. The Taiping Navy Division, which bore the brunt of the attack, hurriedly sent troops to block it, but after some negotiations, the Taiping Army Navy Division still obediently gave way and let it go, and the steam fleet continued to roar westward, and entered the defense area of the Hunan Army Navy Division.

Of course, Zeng Guofan had long known that the Manchu court had approved the opening of the Yangtze River route to Britain and France, but because of his duty, Zeng Guofan still sent people to board the combined fleet of foreigners to negotiate and find out their intentions and whether there were foreign ships from other countries that were not British and French. As a result, the messenger quickly reciprocated, saying, "Your Excellency, six of the eight ships are English ships, two are French ships, and there are no ships from other foreign countries. The leader of the group they led claimed to be called Xiao Baoling, and said that he was going to Hankou to establish a treaty port. ”

"Are foreigners the same as the legend, strange-looking, blond hair and blue eyes?" Zeng Guofan, who had never seen a foreigner, asked curiously.

"Back to Dashuai, foreigners are very strange-looking, with hair of all colors, blue and yellow eyes, and a very high nose bridge." The messenger replied truthfully: "They speak in a strange tone, and it is difficult to fully understand what they are saying. Their etiquette is even stranger, as soon as they meet, they have to touch the villain's hand. There were also a few foreigners dressed in black, like foreign monks, holding the hands of the villains and asking if there were any Westerners in our army. ”

"Barbarians are rampant, and it is difficult to settle in the Qing Dynasty." Zeng Guofan groaned bitterly, and then hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Let them go, let them go quickly, let them go to Hankou to deal with Wu Chaoyue, this matter is his forte." ”

After the envoy promised to give way to make way, Zeng Guofan suddenly remembered a major event, and hurriedly instructed his henchman Liu Rong next to him: "Quick, immediately send a few people to Hankou to see how these foreigners deal with Wu Chaoyue, and see if the foreigners have sent any foreign guns and cannons to Wu Chaoyue." If so, be sure to figure out what the number is. ”

…………

Of course, the arrival of the foreigner fleet caused a huge sensation in Wuchang and Hanyang, and the steamer with black smoke had not yet docked the deep-water wharf that had just been built, and the wharf was already crowded with people from the two prefectures, crowded with the people of the two prefectures who watched the excitement, and when they saw the strange-looking foreigners waving their hats next to the side of the ship, the noise of landslides and tsunamis naturally broke out in the crowd of people, exclaiming curiosity, and many people walked timidly. Even the official text of the governor of Huguang, who had just seen the appearance of foreigners in the telescope, was so frightened that he quickly gave up his plan to cross the river to greet him, climbed into a sedan chair and rushed back to Wuchang Mansion to be an ostrich.

Of course, the most fierce reaction was our little comprador Wu, who was the governor of Hubei, and in full view of everyone, Wu Chaoyue actually gave Xiao Bao Ling a bear hug directly on the dock, and yelled excitedly, "Mr. Bao Ling, you are finally here!" Do you know how hard I waited for you? ”

"Wu, we didn't get to Hankou to meet you as soon as possible, and the responsibility should be borne by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." Xiao Baoling smiled and explained: "It took us a lot of time, even the threat of force, to convince the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to agree to open the Yangtze River waterway to us, allowing us to travel freely to and from their defense area. If it weren't for Mr. Hong Renji's good offices, it might have been a long time before we could have come here to meet you. ”

"And what did you pay for?" Wu Chaoyue hurriedly asked, and also hurriedly asked Xiao Baoling to answer in English.

"Tariffs, as well as the sale of weapons to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the prohibition of proselytizing and building churches in the territories under their control." Xiao Baoling shrugged his shoulders and replied frankly in English: "If it weren't for Mr. Ali Guo's early advice to my father not to discuss religious issues with those madmen, and his success in convincing my father to agree, I probably wouldn't have made concessions on this matter." ”

"It's okay, it's okay, if you want to preach and build a church, you can preach and repair a church as much as you want here in Hankou." Wu Chaoyue showed a traitorous face and said: "I am now the governor of Hubei, and I have the final say in the civil affairs of Hubei, I will allow you to preach and help you explain the misunderstanding." And I have already bought a piece of land in Hankow and gave it to you to build a church. ”

"Wu, it is because of you in Hubei that we would rather make concessions to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and we must dredge the Yangtze River route and come to Hankou to meet you."

Xiao Baoling laughed and told Wu Chaoyue the truth, and then before the words fell, Wu Chaoyue was already surrounded by a large number of old acquaintances such as Maadox and Meng Zhensheng, and Wu Chaoyue was full of cold greetings with these foreigner friends, and vented the depression of being isolated in the inland of Hubei during this time. In the end, when Huang Sheng, Rong Hong and others appeared in front of Wu Chaoyue with a cordial smile, Wu Chaoyue left everyone and pounced, grabbed Huang Sheng and asked, "Did you bring anything?" ”

"No ......."

Huang Sheng deliberately dragged out the end of the note, and then it wasn't until Wu Chaoyue showed a panicked look that Huang Sheng smiled and added: "Of course it's impossible to have no, don't worry, what you want from Lord Futai, it's all the same, and you have brought it all!" ”

Hearing this, Wu Chaoyue folded his hands, raised his head high, closed his eyes and bowed to the sky, then turned around and yelled at Huang Dasha and Nie Shicheng and other generals: "Send an order to the whole army, so that every officer and soldier of the Hubei New Army knows that we have survived!" From now on, the whole army will change its uniforms, weapons and equipment, clothes, hats, shoes and socks, all of which will be brand new! Throw all those old clothes, old guns, and old guns at me! ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue pointed at Liu Kunyi again and yelled: "Liu Kunyi, you are the same, throw all your broken guns to me, and replace them with shotgun and mini gun!" ”

When Liu Kun was pleasantly surprised, Xiao Bao Ling next to him smiled and said, "Wu, if you have an old ship, you can also throw it all away and replace it with a new one." ”

When Wu Chaoyue looked at Xiao Bao Ling in surprise, Xiao Bao Ling smiled, pointed to the only two non-steam-powered sail warships in his fleet, and said: "Wu, these two sail battleships are warships that have just been retired from our British Royal Navy, with a shallow draft suitable for fighting in inland waterways, full oak hulls, all wrapped in brass below the waterline, double gun decks, and each ship is equipped with fifty guns. My father, knowing that you must be in great need of them, asked me to take both ships to Hankow, and asked if you would like to buy them. ”

"Can you sell it to me?" Wu Chaoyue's eyes were full of stars, and he hurriedly asked Xiao Bao Ling, "Dear Mr. Bao Ling, how much can you ask for?" Also, if you sell me the ship, will there be any reaction from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? Will it affect your free passage on the Yangtze River route? ”

"Wu, thank you for your concern for us, but it doesn't matter, in the agreement we negotiated with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, we also agreed to sell weapons to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, including ships. And before that, we had sold ships to your court. ”

The small packets selling weapons on both sides replied very frankly, and then said with a smile: "As for the price, Wu, my father said, for the sake of your friendship with us, you can give 60,000 silver dollars for these two second-hand ships and weapons." But you have to pay in cash in silver dollars or silver, and if you need to hire our English instructors to train your sailors, you will need to pay in cash. ”

Looking at the two battleships that were at least seventy or eighty percent new, any one of them was several times more powerful than the small red single ship of his barber teacher's ace warship, Wu Chaoyue once again reported the small Bao Ling in public, and said with a choked voice: "God bless the queen, Mr. Bao Ling, we will always be the closest friends!" ”

Xiao Bao Ling smiled and hugged Wu Chaoyue, and said in his heart If it weren't for my father's willingness to suggest to the country to support you, if it weren't for us to force the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to buy more warships from us, would we be able to sell you at such a low price? However, Wu Chaoyue's next words made Xiao Baoling completely speechless - Wu Chaoyue asked Xiao Baoling with great anticipation: "Dear Mr. Baoling, can you sell me another ten at this price?" Also, can you ask your British naval instructors to help me train sailors and artillerymen for free? ”

Wu Chaoyue's insatiable and shameless request was of course categorically rejected by Xiao Baoling, and Wu Chaoyue, who originally planned to sell a few of the ten boats to make back the capital, was disappointed, so he had to turn to Wang Fu, the battalion officer of the Wu Army's sailor who was listening inexplicably next to him, and pointed to the two battleships and shouted: "Wang Fu, do you see it?" From now on, I'll hand over those two boats to you! Take these two battleships to win more battles for me, and I'll let you drive the steamer battleship in the future!" ”

Wang Fu and the soldiers of the Wu Army and the sailors he brought were stunned at first, and then after confirming that Wu Chaoyue had bought the two majestic battleships, Wang Fu and the others cheered and rushed to the two battleships, and many people were so excited that they shed tears, "What a big ship!" I never dreamed of being on such a big ship! ”

After only one day, the 3,000 Hubei regimental training was all completed, including Liu Kun's Yizhuang battalion, which was not a descendant of Wu Chaoyue, the clothes, hats, shoes and socks, weapons and equipment were all brand new, the bright bayonets of the firing pin guns and mini guns shook in the sun, the heavy breech guns and mortar guns were majestic, and there were two battleships flying the big banner of Wu characters on the wide water surface of the Yangtze River, showing off their might.

After eyeliner brought the news back to the Wuhuang battlefield, Wu Chaoyue's barber teacher was stunned at first, and then sat back on the chair, patted his forehead and said regretfully: "It's over!" It was too much the other day! I knew that foreigners would send so many good things to Weiting, Ben Shuai shouldn't have forced him so ruthlessly, he shouldn't have forced him so ruthlessly! Now, it's hard to get good things from this little slippery head. ”

PS: The information is insufficient, the price of the ships at that time is difficult to verify, in 1862 the Manchu court purchased a fleet of three medium-sized steam gunboats and four steam gunboats from the British, and paid a total of 1.07 million taels of silver. During the Opium War, Lin Zexu sold the British sail warship Cammelich to Lin Zexu to the Americans, and the Americans paid about 47,000 taels of silver for the purchase from the British, along with the weapons. The 34 guns of the Camillige are 5-level ships, and the small package in the book sells to the protagonist is a 4-level ship with 50 guns, considering the gradual elimination and depreciation of the protagonist's halo and sail warship, 60,000 silver dollars should be a more reasonable price for conscience. (To be continued.) )