The superintendent Zaiyuan still didn't know about Shengbao sending Wu Chaoyue to the Gaotang battlefield for reinforcements until the next morning, and was so shocked that Zaiyuan didn't have time to question Shengbao's reason, so he came directly to Wu Chaoyue's army, and asked Wu Jun, who was marching south, to suspend his advance, and then asked Wu Chaoyue about what happened.

In this matter, Wu Chaoyue of course told the truth about the situation, explaining that the army was forced to leave the Lianzhen battlefield because of Shengbao's order, and Zaiyuan almost blew up his belly when he heard it, and scolded in front of everyone, "Defeat!" It's really worthy of the emperor's scolding! Is this dog slave in the water in his head, or is the lard in his heart? Without the Shanghai regiment training and the Comfort Pavilion to make suggestions, can we take back Tianjin and trap the main force of Longhair in Lianzhen? Now there is only one last step left, he actually wants to transfer the Shanghai regiment training, he is a fool 25? ”

"Comfort Pavilion, you can't go! You wait for me, and this king will go to see Katsuho and ask that dog slave to leave you behind! ”

"Lord Wang, please wait."

Wu Chaoyue stopped the angry Zaiyuan, and said to Zaiyuan: "Lord Wang, your kindness has been appreciated by the lower officials, but for the sake of the overall situation of the imperial court and the internal unity of our army, let the lower officials go." ”

Zaiyuan didn't understand what Wu Chaoyue meant by this, Wu Chaoyue patiently explained: "Lord, the attitude of the commander to leave the battlefield in Lianzhen is very resolute, even if you exercise the power of supervising the army and force the commander to take back the military order and leave the officer, it is impossible for the commander and the commander to live in harmony as before, and the commander is not in harmony with each other, and sooner or later he will repeat the mistakes of the previous commander and the monk king, and delay the major events of the emperor and the court." So, let's let the lower officials go. ”

"Yes, lord, let's go." Huang Zhisheng, a pedantic talent next to him, also had the courage to say: "Lord Wu made it very clear to us last night, and Shuai Sheng feels that Lianzhen's side is already a sure chance of winning, and there is no need for us to go into battle to kill the enemy again." Instead of forcing us to stay and share the merits with the friendly army and cause contradictions in the army, it is better to go to Gaotang and continue to kill thieves, which can not only continue to serve the emperor and the court, but also avoid causing discord with the friendly army and misleading the major affairs of the court. ”

Listening to Wu Chaoyue and Huang Zhisheng's words that couldn't be more beautiful, Zaiyuan was extremely embarrassed, and said after a while: "Weiting, then after you leave, what should I do if the war on Lianzhen's side repeats?" ”

"Don't worry, the prince can rest assured, since the marshal has decided to transfer the lower officials to Gaotang to participate in the war, it means that he already has his grasp of the war on Lianzhen's side, and it will not be a big problem in the future."

Wu Chaoyue Zhenzhen was speechless, and said: "But Lord Wang, please remember one thing, after the lower official leaves, you must not use the plan proposed by the lower official to lure the enemy to break through, the long hair is fierce, except for the lower official, I am afraid that no army can afford the burden of frontal interception and interspersed encirclement, and it is the best policy to continue to adopt the tactics of besieging the long hair on all sides." In this way, even if it is difficult to annihilate Lian Zhen Changmao for a while, after the lower officials break through Gaotang Changmao, they can immediately return to the division to break Lian Zhen Changmao. ”

Zaiyuan didn't speak anymore, just patted Wu Chaoyue's shoulder and said: "Weiting, Su Zhongtang didn't misunderstand you, you are indeed the future pillar of the imperial court, you can rest assured, today's matter, this king will report to the emperor truthfully." ”

Wu Chaoyue thanked him, and saluted Zaiyuan, who had been getting along well, and then immediately led the army to the south, but when it was time to go away, Zhao Liewen came up and said in a low voice: "Weiting, you said a lot in front of the prince just now, and there were many people just now, if Sheng Dashuai knew what you said, I am afraid that he will only be more uncomfortable with you in his heart, and maybe he may do something impulsive." ”

Wu Chaoyue was silent and didn't answer, his face was calm, but he was smiling in his heart, "This is exactly what I hope for, Shengbao is not impulsive or stupid, Ji Wenyuan's chance to break through?" ”

As Wu Chaoyue wished, Wu Chaoyue's words in front of Zaiyuan were quickly stabbed in front of Shengbao by someone with a heart, and Shengbao really didn't feel guilty after hearing it, and he was not moved by Wu Chaoyue's knowledge of the overall situation, but he was still a little annoyed and angry, and he also strengthened his determination to break Ji Wenyuan with the strength of his own army. This is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

As soon as Lian Yong, who led Wu Jun Lian Yong, left Lian Zhen, Wu Chaoyue of course immediately pondered how to fight on the battlefield of Gaotang, but Wu Chaoyue was not thinking about how to break the city and annihilate the enemy, but how to force Li Kaifang to abandon the city and flee south - it was best to abandon the city and flee south before Wu Jun Lian Yong arrived in Gaotang. However, it is a pity that there is almost no knowledge of the situation on Gao Tang's side, and the intelligence support is seriously insufficient.

Guilty of difficulties in the heart, unconsciously, Wu Jun Lian Yong has been pulled to the border of Zhili and Shandong Sangyuan Town, because of the needs of the war, the Qing army has been separately stationed here, the green battalion led by the team always saw the arrival of the Wu army, and saw Wu Chaoyue's big banner of Wu characters with teeth and claws, and immediately ran to Wu Chaoyue's horse to salute and greet him, extremely flattering. Wu Chaoyue saw that he seemed to know himself, so he casually asked him about his origin, and the general replied truthfully: "Back to Lord Wu, the younger one is a subordinate of General Shi Rongchun Shi, the deputy general of the Zhili Green Battalion, and he also participated in the Tianjin War, so I know your majesty." ”

"Adjutant General Shi's subordinates?" Wu Chaoyue was a little impressed by that Shi Rongchun, so he asked casually, "Then why were you transferred here to station?" ”

"Intercept the Hairy Courier." The general replied truthfully: "In order to get in touch with Lian Zhen Changmao, Gao Tang Changmao sent people to the north to deliver letters disguised as ordinary people several times, and in order to intercept the Changmao messenger, he asked the small ones to bring troops to station here, and they were responsible for checking the passers-by. ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, just wanted to ask if there was any gain from that boss, but he didn't think that the boss suddenly asked: "Lord Wu, is the battle over there in Lianzhen over?" Has Ji Wenyuan's bandit leader been caught? ”

"Why do you ask this?" Wu Chaoyue asked suspiciously.

"Lord Wu, haven't you even killed all the long hairs in the town?" That was always more puzzled than Wu Chaoyue, and said: "Lord Wu, you are the long-haired nemesis, and you are the most famous general in our Qing army, you personally led the army south, doesn't it mean that the long-haired people in Lianzhen have been killed by you?" ”

Wu Chaoyue laughed when he heard this, and just wanted to deny it, but when the words came to his mouth, Wu Chaoyue's heart moved again, and he hurriedly changed his words and asked, "What did you just say, say it again!" ”

The general was confused, but he had a lot of respect for Wu Chaoyue, so he repeated the question just now: "Who is the little one, Lord Wu, you are the long-haired nemesis, the first general of our Qing Dynasty, you personally led the army south, which means that the battle on the other side of Lianzhen has been over, and Ji Wenyuan's gang of long-haired people have also been killed by you." ”

Wu Chaoyue's expression was a little stunned, and after coming back to his senses, Wu Chaoyue showed a happy smile, took out a handful of Wu Dayang and handed it to the president, and said with a smile: "Your words reminded me of a big event, reward you, by the way, can you do me another favor?" ”

"Thank you, Lord Wu, thank you, Lord Wu." The one who was always happy to accept Wu Chaoyue's reward, and hurriedly said: "What does Lord Wu want the little one to do, please just give orders, the little one is willing to go to the soup for the adult." ”

"You don't have to go to the soup." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "Let the wind go for me, let the more people know, the better, just say that even the long hair on the other side of the town has been killed more than us, and Ji Wenyuan's head has also been cut off by my own hands, now I want to go to Gaotang to intercept Long Mao's escape path, and wait for our main force to arrive in Gaotang, and then completely annihilate Long Mao, do you remember clearly?" Don't be afraid that someone will pursue you in the future, I will bear it for you. ”

The general nodded hurriedly, indicating that he had remembered Wu Chaoyue's instructions, and also patted his chest to promise that he would release the news for Wu Chaoyue. And after Wu Chaoyue sent him away, he immediately called Zhao Liewen in front of him and instructed: "Huifu, write a letter to Monk Lingqin for me, and tell him that if he wants to break through the Gaotang Changmao as soon as possible and return to the title of county king, I am willing to work with him." Tell him again, with only me and the troops in his hands, there is almost no hope of directly taking Gaotang City, if you want to break the enemy, the only way is to quickly release the wind, just say that the long hair of Lian Zhen has been completely wiped out by our army, I am the vanguard and will go to Gaotang immediately, and our main force will then be able to arrive at the Gaotang battlefield and lure Long Mao out of the city to break the enemy. ”

Zhao Liewen agreed, and then asked: "Weiting, whether Monk Greenqin is willing to cooperate or not doesn't matter, but if Monk Greenqin cooperates, and Longhair takes advantage of the fact that we have not yet arrived at the Gaotang battlefield and breaks through in advance, then what should we do?" ”

"What if we can use it? Did the long hairs run from our defense zone? ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled and asked, Zhao Liewen suddenly realized, and hurriedly gave Wu Chaoyue a thumbs up, praised Wu Chaoyue for becoming more and more yin and lacking morality, and then hurriedly picked up the pen to make a book, and sent a fast horse to carry the letter to go south to contact Seng Lingqin, Wu Chaoyue and instructed Wu Jun Lian Yong to spread rumors along the way that the Taiping Army in Lianzhen had been annihilated.

At noon the next day, Wu Chaoyue's letter was successfully sent to Gaotang by a fast horse and delivered to Monk Greenqin, who read the letter and had to ask a cadre for advice. However, to the surprise of Seng Greenqin, including several of his henchmen who sincerely hoped that Wu Chaoyue's family would not die well, they all said that they should abandon their previous suspicions and work together with Wu Chaoyue, and also helped Wu Chaoyue spread rumors, shake the morale of the Taiping army, and prompt the enemy to abandon the city. Among them, Lang Ruilin, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, who recently brought the defenders of the Old Summer Palace to help Monk Greenqin, also said: "Monk Beizi, the lower officials know that you have had frequent disagreements with Wu Chaoyue before, but the state affairs are big, and Wu Chaoyue can focus on the major affairs of the imperial court, and take the initiative to express his willingness to join hands with you, not to mention that you are still the solid mountain Beizi of the imperial court?" ”

"Lord Bei, Lord Rui's words make sense, the Gaotang city is quite strong, and no one can capture it in a hurry, but if Lord Wu's clever plan succeeds and prompts Changmao to abandon the city and flee for his life, then we can not only avoid the hard battle, but also send the recovered Gaotang back to the capital before the New Year, the emperor will be happy when he hears the news, and the emperor will be happy when the time comes, and we will not be equally happy?"

After listening to the advice of Ruilin and a few henchmen, and considering that if you want to restore the title of county king, you must rely on military exploits in exchange, Monk Greenqin gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and finally made up his mind, and ordered: "Immediately follow the plan, let the sergeant cheer loudly, just say that we have completely annihilated Lian Zhen Changmao, and also cut off Ji Wenyuan's head, Wu Chaoyue is leading the army to reinforce us, and when our main force arrives, we can kill all the long hair of Gaotang!" Remember, the truth can only be known to a few of us, even our soldiers must hide it! ”

According to the order of Seng Lingqin, the generals at all levels of the Qing army immediately organized the soldiers of all battalions and local villagers to cheer loudly, spreading the rumor that Ji Wenyuan's army had been completely annihilated, and as a result, the rumor quickly spread into the nearby Gaotang City and sent it to Li Kaifang, who had never been able to get in touch with Ji Wenyuan.

If it was replaced by other Qing troops and Ji Wenyuan, Li Kaifang would definitely scoff at such rumors, but there was no way, this time it was the old opponent Wu Chaoyue who played against Ji Wenyuan, who had fought with Wu Chaoyue many times, knowing how difficult and vicious Wu Chaoyue was, and seeing with his own eyes the horror and horror of Wu Jun's training of Yong Western artillery, no matter how confident Li Kaifang was in Ji Wenyuan, it was inevitable that he would be a little worried. For the sake of prudence, Li Kaifang naturally sent people to continue to inquire about the truth of the news, and at the same time arranged for the envoy to secretly go north again to reconnoiter the real movements in the north.

Under the cover of night, two Taiping army secret envoys disguised as ordinary people went out of the city separately, one of them named Du Youzhong was lucky to touch the Qing army blockade line and was able to go north, but unfortunately, when he finally crossed the Majia River and continued to go north, Du Youzhong was recognized because of his Guangxi accent, and was captured by the local townsman in the area of Xiaohezhuang in the southwest of Enxian County, and was also searched for Li Kaifang's secret letter hidden on his body.

Next, of course, Xiaohezhuang Xiangyong happily escorted Du Youzhong to Enxian County to ask for a reward, but when the county magistrate of Enxian County interrogated Du Youzhong's confession, news suddenly came from outside the city, saying that Wu Chaoyue had led the army to arrive outside Enxian County, and the county magistrate did not dare to slack off, so he hurriedly put Du Youzhong in prison temporarily, and took other low-level officials in the county out of the city to welcome Wu Chaoyue. Du Youzhong, on the other hand, never said a word, preparing for death in his heart, and at the same time prayed for the blessing of his Heavenly Father to allow his companions to escape and bring important news back to Gaotang.

Then, a very strange thing happened, after a short period of time, Du Youzhong was suddenly taken out of prison by the officials, and he was escorted out of the city, and was escorted to the Wu Army Lianyong Camp, which was already camped outside the city, and was directly escorted to Wu Chaoyue's Chinese army tent, and to Wu Chaoyue, whose hands were stained with the blood of the soldiers of the peasant rebel army.

After entering the account, Wu Jun Lian Yong of course forced Du Youzhong to kneel to Wu Chaoyue, but Du Youzhong would rather die than give in, and let Wu Jun Lian Yong stand upright and not kneel no matter how he kicked and hit. Seeing this scene, Wu Chaoyue first waved his hand to stop the self-army to practice bravery, and then got up and came over to untie Du Youzhong with his own hands, and said to Du Youzhong with a smile: "This strong man, I know that you are a big hero who stands up to the sky, and I also like your unyielding character, but what are you still obsessed with?" Don't you know that Lian Zhen's long hair has been slaughtered by our Qing Dynasty officials and soldiers, Ji Wenyuan's bandit leader has also been killed by my own hands, and Li Kaifang is already isolated and helpless in Gaotang City, like a grasshopper after autumn, and he can't jump for a few days? ”

Du Youzhong raised his head and didn't speak, while Wu Chaoyue smiled more kindly, and said gently: "Zhuangshi, this official is a person who loves talents, especially likes loyal and brave people, if you insist on not surrendering, I will not force you, and I will give you a good time." But if you are willing to rein in the precipice and turn back, the prodigal son will turn back, and the official can give you a chance to reform himself, as long as he goes back to Gaotang City for me to do one thing, the official will not only not kill you, but will also go to the court and ask the court to give you an official position, so that you can also become an official of the Qing Dynasty. ”

"Back to Gaotang City?" Du Youzhong's heart moved, and he hesitated, but Du Youzhong still couldn't help but ask, "What do you want me to do when I go back to Gaotang City?" ”

"You don't need to know that right now." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said, "Now the official only asks you one sentence, are you willing to surrender?" ”

After rolling his eyes a few times, Du Youzhong still knelt down on Wu Chaoyue's knees against his will, kowtowed to express his willingness to surrender, and swore lifelong allegiance to the Qing Dynasty. And in order to gain Wu Chaoyue's trust, Du Youzhong also honestly explained his name and identity, and also recruited a lot of military information about the Gaotang Taiping Army, Wu Chaoyue nodded again and again when he heard it, and then first gave Du Youzhong a random eight-grade official position, and asked someone to bring a small bottle of medicine, and said with a smile: "Du Zhuangshi, this is the medicine that the official bought from foreigners at a high price, called Ten Days of Broken Intestines, after eating, if you don't take the antidote within ten days, you will break your stomach and die a miserable death." ”

Du Youzhong didn't hesitate, he immediately picked up the bottle of medicine, swallowed the yellow powder and wine inside, Wu Chaoyue was even more overjoyed when he saw it, and praised Du Youzhong for a long time, and then said: "Du Zhuangshi, I know that you are coming to spy on our army's movements for Li Kaifang, I just need you to bring a fake news back to Gaotang City and tell Li Kaifang, just say that Ji Wenyuan is indeed not dead, and is breaking through to the south with some remnants, and is currently surrounded by us in the area of Xiaohezhuang north of the Majia River, and needs Gaotang Changmao to send reinforcements to respond, Then you can persuade Li Kaifang to personally lead troops to save Ji Wenyuan. ”

Listening to Wu Chaoyue's words, Du Youzhong was of course ecstatic in his heart, and immediately knelt down and said that he would complete Wu Chaoyue's task, Wu Chaoyue was even more overjoyed, and he was busy picking up Du Youzhong with his own hands, and relieved him for a long time with kind words again, and then sent someone to escort Du Youzhong south overnight, so that Du Youzhong could return to Gaotang to pass on false military information. At the same time, in order to help Du Youzhong win the trust of Li Kaifang, Wu Chaoyue also returned the letters previously found from Du Youzhong to Du Youzhong, and rebranded the fire paint very carefully.

Then, an incomparably tragic scene naturally appeared, knowing that he had only ten days to live after taking the intestinal poison, after returning to Gaotang City late that night, Du Youzhong still told Li Kaifang the truth with tears, Li Kaifang couldn't help but cry like rain when he heard this, and he hugged Du Youzhong, who sacrificed his life and surrendered, and cried - the level of education is not high, of course Li Kaifang and Du Youzhong have no doubt about what ten days of dismemberment. At the same time, because of the psychological effect, Du Youzhong also felt that his whole body was uncomfortable, and he looked like he was poisoned.

Wu Chaoyue, who has a despicable character, has a negative credit in front of the Taiping army, and no matter what the Taiping army says, it can only be listened to in reverse, but the more this is the case, combined with the intelligence collected from other channels, the more Li Kaifang believes that the Taiping army in Lianzhen has been completely wiped out by the Qing army, and his good brother Ji Wenyuan has also been killed by Wu Chaoyue himself. Considering the current embarrassing situation of the Taiping Army and the few grains and grass in Gaotang City, Li Kaifang gritted his teeth and finally issued an order: "Order the whole army to immediately prepare to break through to the south, and go out of the city from the east gate at dawn!" Withdraw to Huainan to join our main force, and wait for the future to avenge the Ji brothers! (To be continued.) )