Contrary to the partial division that had a smooth ride and a strong situation, the main force of the Wu army led by Cao Yanzhong encountered stubborn resistance on the battlefield of Zhenjiang and was forced to fight hard.

The reason for the obstruction of the main force is, of course, the body of Wu Dingcai, the defender of the Zhenjiang Taiping Army, as Ye Yunlai's military deputy, there are only thousands of troops available in his hands, Wu Dingcai not only categorically surrendered with the good intentions of the Wu army, but also shot and killed the Wu army envoy who carried Li Xiucheng's letter to the city to persuade him to surrender, and shouted in public: "There is only Wu Dingcai who is standing and dying, and there is no Wu Dingcai who is kneeling and living!" ”

Even the envoy can be killed, of course, Cao Yanzhong immediately understood that Wu Dingcai would never surrender himself, and in desperation, Cao Yanzhong could only start to arrange the attack, and deliberately arranged for the Taiping Army led by Wu Jianying and others to surrender troops to the vanguard to launch a siege, single-handedly directing a human tragedy of the Taiping Army's cannibalism. However, Cao Yanzhong soon found that he still underestimated Wu Dingcai's enemy, although many Taiping soldiers rushed to kill very hard in order to please the new master, but Wu Dingcai, who had only 2,000 elite soldiers in his hands, resisted bravely by virtue of the city's geographical advantages, and repelled the Wu army's attacks many times, causing a lot of casualties to the Wu army, and also seriously shaking the military heart of the Taiping army's soldiers, and affecting the Wu army's control over the new soldiers - the Taiping soldiers are not fools, of course, they understand that Cao Yanzhong let them play the vanguard is to let them be cannon fodder.

Fortunately, Cao Yanzhong, the old sparrow on the battlefield, soon discovered this situation, in order to appease the new soldiers, Cao Yanzhong in addition to vigorously strengthening the artillery cover, and decisively invested the old troops of the Wu army to join the battlefield, and fought side by side with the Taiping army, and quickly pacified the soldiers, and then relied on the good city wall blasting tactics, directly dug a hole in the city wall and buried Dana explosives to detonate, successfully blew down a section of the city wall, and opened the way into the city.

The matter is not over, because of the unyielding loyalty of Wu Dingcai and the Zhenjiang Taiping Army, the soldiers of the Wu Army were hit head-on by the Taiping Army's powder keg when they hit the gap, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and the Taiping Army re-blocked the gap for the first time, and failed to seize the fighter plane to break the city in one fell swoop. Cao Yanzhong had no choice but to scold Wu Dingcai's stubbornness, while launching a blasting siege again, and it took a lot of effort to blow up a big gap and enter Zhenjiang City at night.

The next battle can only be described as tragic and tragic, under the leadership of Wu Dingcai, the soldiers of the Zhenjiang Taiping Army relied on their familiarity with the terrain in the city, relying on the resistance of the courtyard of the house and the street fortifications, swearing not to surrender, and composing a loyal war song with life and blood, so that the Wu army had to pay for death and injury almost every step forward, and also forced the Wu army to fight hard in the city for a day and a night, which finally killed Wu Dingcai himself, but there were still many Taiping soldiers who would rather die than give in, and gathered the crowd to self-immolate and die after the ammunition was completely exhausted.

After paying a heavy price to reluctantly take Zhenjiang City, Cao Yanzhong, who had lingering palpitations, asked Li Xiucheng: "General Li, how many people like Wu Dingcai are there in the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang?" ”

"Cao Junmen forgives my sins, I don't know about this." Li Xiucheng shook his head and said: "I can't guarantee other people, but Cai Xiande in Jiangyin, and Tan Shaoguang who I stayed in Suzhou, will definitely fight to the death like Wu Dingcai, and will never surrender easily." I am not sure that they will be surrendered. ”

Unfortunately, Li Xiucheng said in a word, Wu Ruxiao's deputy Cai Xiande, who stayed in Jiangyin, really refused the surrender of the Wu army, and also chose to resist resolutely, but fortunately, the special terrain of Jiangyin was very conducive to the Wu army to give full play to the advantages of artillery fire, after taking the Jiangyin fort through fierce battles, the Wu army quickly moved a large number of advanced artillery to the Jiangyin fort, turned the gun port and bombarded the Jiangyin city, until the Jiangyin city was bombarded everywhere, and the defenders had nowhere to stay, and successfully forced Cai Xiande to abandon the city and flee south, and the Wu army took advantage of the situation to chase and kill, In a relatively easy-to-fight field battle, he successfully defeated the Jiangyin Taiping Army, and successfully killed Cai Xiande himself, and took Jiangyin City relatively easily.

After recovering Jiangyin, Cao Yanzhong finally made direct contact with the Shanghai Wu army, and the Shanghai Wu army, which had been relieved, also took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack, and recaptured Taicang, Chongming and Jiading with the help of the Eastern Expeditionary Wu Army, and at the same time the Eastern Expeditionary Wu Army also successfully forced down Nantong and Haimen and other places, and took back Changshu, Wuxi and other cities through fierce battles. Helped the Wu army quickly seize control of the countryside in the area of Su Chang, completely isolated Huang Zilong, the Taiping army who controlled the capital of Changzhou, and forced Huang Zilong, whose hands were stained with the blood of the Wu army in Shanghai, to abandon the city and flee to Zhejiang, before the Wu army completely surrounded Changzhou, the soldiers of the Wu army easily took the capital of Changzhou, and in the southern Jiangsu area, only Tan Shaoguang led the army to guard Suzhou City and still waved the banner of the Taiping Army.

Having already learned Li Xiucheng's accurate prediction, Cao Yanzhong certainly did not dare to expect Tan Shaoguang to lay down his arms and surrender, and took the initiative to hand over the important town of Suzhou, so he could only personally lead the main force to fight Suzhou. But it's still okay, although Tan Shaoguang's moral character has nothing to say, but it is slightly lacking in military aspects, in the face of Cao Yanzhong, who personally led the main force to kill, Tan Shaoguang did not choose the most headache for the Wu army's comprehensive retreat tactics, still arranged the main army outside the city, guarding the dangerous camps everywhere, and dealing with Cao Yanzhong's main force with absolute firepower advantage as if dealing with the Qing army.

Cao Yanzhong, who was old in the battlefield, seized Tan Shaoguang's tactical mistakes, deliberately did not attack the out-of-city strongholds of the Taiping Army in Suzhou in turn, and chose to send elite troops to boldly intersperse, divide and encircle the out-of-city strongholds of the Taiping Army, and then calmly launch an attack, and gradually eat the Taiping Army outside the city in a relatively easy-to-fight camp battle, weakening the combat strength of the Taiping Army in Suzhou. And after Tan Shaoguang found out that his strategy was wrong, it was already late, and the army outside the city could not be withdrawn, even if he gave up the stronghold outside the city and retreated to the city, the order was sent to several camps outside the city, and the Taiping army that abandoned the camp and retreated was also intercepted and blocked by the elite of the Wu army on the way to retreat, and the heavy casualties could not return to the city, during which the Taiping army in Hushu Pass was also completely annihilated by the Wu army, and less than 100 people escaped from more than 4,000 troops.

Even so, Tan Shaoguang still refused to give up, and held a meeting in the city to discuss with Gao Yongkuan, Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun and other Taiping generals who were also guarding Suzhou. However, what made Tan Shaoguang very angry was that after the tactical plan was formulated, none of his colleagues were willing to lead the army out of the city to fight, Tan Shaoguang repeatedly asked a few colleagues to take the initiative to ask for help, Gao Yongkuan also said in a weird manner: "Mu Tianyi, the army outside the city was sent by you, and among the several armies in the city, you have the largest number of troops and the strongest combat effectiveness. ”

"yes, yes." Wu Guiwen, Wang Anjun, Zhou Wenjia and other generals echoed one after another, and they all said: "Mu Tianyi, the tactics were formulated by you, and you can do what you say, but when you go out of the city to meet such a thing, you should personally lead the army, right?" ”

Tan Shaoguang was silent, and only after a while did he say: "Don't dare to deceive the brothers, I don't dare to go." But I'm not afraid to fight with the demon soldiers, I'm afraid that as soon as I leave Suzhou City, something will happen in Suzhou City. ”

"Mu Tianyi, with us guarding Suzhou City, what will happen?" Gao Yongkuan was the first to ask.

After hesitating for a moment, Tan Shaoguang said calmly: "Because as far as I know, Li Xiucheng, that traitor, took advantage of his familiarity with the army of the Suzhou Heavenly Kingdom to write a lot of letters of persuasion and send them to the city, encouraging the brothers in the city to lay down their arms and surrender like him, and sacrifice Suzhou City to the demon soldiers in exchange for their lives. Some of the brothers here received such letters, but he did not hand them over to prove his loyalty to the kingdom of heaven, so I feared that if I left the city, something would happen to the city. ”

Gao Yongkuan, Wang Anjun and the others all changed color on their faces, and then Wang Anjun hurriedly asked, "Who?" Mu Tianyi, who did you find secretly in contact with the demon soldiers and harbor different intentions? ”

"You're one of them." Tan Shaoguang muttered in his heart, but he refused to break it directly, and said: "Kang Tianyi forgives his sins, I can't say it, once I say it, he will have no way out, and he may jump over the wall in a hurry and directly lead his army to fight with us, so I can't say it, I want to give him a chance to change his mind, ask him to quietly burn Li Xiucheng's letter of persuasion, continue to defend Suzhou City with us, and serve the country loyally." ”

With a flickering eye, he secretly glanced at everyone a few times, and Gao Yongkuan said with a forced smile: "Mu Tianyi really hasn't changed at all, he has a good heart and a good temper, if it was me, he would definitely kill that traitor directly with a knife." But since Mu Tianyi said so, then I will also give him this opportunity, if any of you have hidden the letter of the demon soldier and has not handed it in, go back and quickly burn the letter quietly, and we will be fine. ”

Wang Anjun, Wu Guiwen and others hurriedly nodded in agreement, and said that Tan Shaoguang's way to deal with it was the best. Tan Shaoguang also said again: "Brothers, the words are far away, let's continue the topic just now, who will lead the troops out of the city to pick up the soldiers and horses of Zhang Dazhou and Wang Youwei?" We have plenty of food in the city, and we don't have to worry about running out of food for a year and a half, and as long as we can bring them back, we will have much easier time defending the city. ”

Gao Yongkuan, Wang Anjun and others were silent again, Tan Shaoguang asked again and again but did not answer, and finally could only say angrily: "Do you have to force me to personally lead the army out of the city?" ”

"Mu Tianyi, we really don't have this certainty, or you can go." Gao Yongkuan opened his mouth, patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, you should be trustworthy with me, right?" I can swear to my Heavenly Father that after you leave the city, if anyone dares to mess around in the city, I will be the first to let him go! ”

Not to mention, Tan Shaoguang really didn't find out that Gao Yongkuan had any secret connection with Wu Jun, plus the army in Gao Yongkuan's hands was second only to Tan Shaoguang's soldiers and horses in Suzhou City, and it did have the strength to suppress civil strife, so Tan Shaoguang was really a little tempted and shaken. However, considering the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, Tan Shaoguang didn't dare to make up his mind on the spot, and said hesitantly: "Let me think about it, I'll get here here today." ”

That night, Tan Shaoguang, who was loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, stayed awake all night, and his mood was complicated, not only regretting his tactical mistakes, not shrinking the army under the city in advance to defend the city, but also unwilling to see the Taiping army in various camps outside the city being annihilated by the Wu army one by one, and wanted to personally lead the army out of the city to save the friendly troops outside the city, but he was worried that after he left the city, without his own deterrence, there would be traitors in the city who would take the opportunity to make trouble, and he was full of sorrow.

However, Tan Shaoguang never considered surrendering on his knees, and was still full of confidence in defending Suzhou and reviving the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, firmly believing that he would be able to wait for the friendly troops in Zhejiang to come to the rescue and work with him to tide over the difficulties.

It was also a coincidence that the next night, when Tan Shaoguang was still hesitating about whether to personally lead the army out of the city, the rescue messenger sent by Wang Youwei, the general of the Taiping Army stationed in Likou, luckily passed through the layers of blockade of the Wu army and sent a bloodstained letter for help to Tan Shaoguang, begging Tan Shaoguang to send troops north as soon as possible to meet and help him get out of the siege and withdraw to the city. At the same time, Wang Youwei also clearly told Tan Shaoguang that he found that the Wu army was gathering forces to prepare to storm Likou, and if there were no reinforcements, the Taiping army in Likou would likely repeat the mistake of Hushu Pass and be completely annihilated by the Wu army!

The situation was so critical that Tan Shaoguang had no choice but to make up his mind to go out of the city, and invited Gao Yongkuan, who was the second strongest on the battlefield in Suzhou, early the next morning, to ask him to stay as the city guard for the time being, and prevent changes in the city during his time out of the city. Gao Yongkuan was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly patted his chest and promised to guard Suzhou City for Tan Shaoguang, and knelt down in front of Tan Shaoguang and swore to his Heavenly Father that he would never betray the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Tan Shaoguang, who had never found any signs of Gao Yongkuan's collaboration with the enemy, was greatly pleased, and only then began to arrange preparations for the battle.

The elite Tan Shaoguang army was ready to attack at noon, but when Tan Shaoguang came to the army to prepare to lead the army out of the city, the British soldiers of the Taiping Army hurriedly came to him, grabbed his war horse and said: "Tan, you can't go out of the city, the atmosphere in Suzhou is not right, after you leave Suzhou City, if someone closes the city gate and doesn't let you come back, you will be finished, and Suzhou will be finished." ”

Glancing at this foreign warrior who was loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tan Shaoguang said: "Mr. Oh, I have made sufficient arrangements, after I leave the city, Natian Yi Gao Yongkuan will guard the city for me to guard against what you are worried about, so there will be no danger when I go out of the city." ”

"Gao? What if he also defected? He directly pointed out the biggest danger after Tan Shaoguang left the city, and said loudly: "In Suzhou City, only you are the most reliable, you must stay in the city!" The army outside the city, if it really can't be saved, it won't be saved, and fighting is like this, sometimes you have to give up when you have to give up! ”

Tan Shaoguang was a little hesitant, but when he thought of Wang Youwei's bloodstained letter for help, Tan Shaoguang said that he couldn't put this heart on his shoulders and ignored his comrades-in-arms, shook his head and said: "Mr. Huh, I understand your kindness, but I can't give up my brothers, my comrades-in-arms, I have to go out of the city to save them." So, Mr. Woo, please let it go, don't worry, I will come back safely. ”

After that, Tan Shaoguang ignored the repeated obstructions, insisted on taking the army out of the city from the second gate of Qiping, and went north to rescue the friendly troops surrounded by the Wu army, leaving him to beat his chest in Suzhou City, scolding Tan Shaoguang for being stupid and daring to leave Suzhou City at such a dangerous time.

When he hurried to the vicinity of the Likou battlefield with the army, not only did he not find that the Wu army had any strong attack on the Taiping army's Likou camp, but on the contrary, he also saw the Wu army brigade that was waiting for him, and the Wu cavalry that quickly outflanked him. In addition, what made Tan Shaoguang even more stunned was that his army had already exchanged fire with the Wu army, and Wang Youwei's army was still standing still in the Likou camp and did not take the opportunity to launch a breakthrough operation.

"Oops! Hit the trick! Wang Youwei was raised by that son of a bitch, and it is likely that he has surrendered to the demon soldiers, and deliberately helped the demon soldiers trick me to save Likou! ”

After coming to this conclusion, Tan Shaoguang hurriedly ordered a retreat, his army hurriedly turned south, the cavalry of the Wu army intercepted head-on, the infantry of the Wu army charged from behind, and under the front and rear attacks, the Tan Shaoguang army, which was not advantageous in weapons, was quickly defeated, Tan Shaoguang could only give up the war horse, mixed into the defeated crowd and fled south, the Wu army rushed and killed, and killed Tan Shaoguang's main force all over the field, and the blood was pouring down.

Fortunately, Tan Shaoguang and some of the defeated soldiers still escaped back to Suzhou City, and at the same time, there was nothing unusual in Suzhou City, and the flag of the Taiping Army was still flying at the head of the city, but the city gate was closed, and Tan Shaoguang and the defeated soldiers could not return to the city directly. Tan Shaoguang had no choice but to take the defeated soldiers to the Qi Gate to call the door, but Gao Yongkuan, who volunteered to stay in the city for Tan Shaoguang, also quickly stood up and shouted at the city: "Has Mu Tianyi come back?" Has Mu Tianyi come back? There he is? ”

"I'm here!" Tan Shaoguang hurriedly stood up from the crowd of soldiers, raised his head and shouted: "Na Tianyi, I'm here, open the door quickly, and the demon soldiers will ...... quickly." ”

Bang! Bang! Two gunshots suddenly rang out on the city wall, and two blood flowers suddenly appeared on Tan Shaoguang's chest, Tan Shaoguang looked down in disbelief at the blood hole in his chest, and when he looked up at Gao Yongkuan, in addition to seeing the hideous smile on Gao Yongkuan's face, he saw more muzzles appearing, shooting at his soldiers one after another......

The matter is not over, when Tan Shaoguang's body gradually lost its temperature in the arms of his own soldiers, he suddenly rushed to the head of Qimen City like crazy, roaring and pulling out his revolver to shoot at Gao Yongkuan one after another, but more bullets hit Gao Yongkuan's body at the same time, and he fell in a pool of blood, and he kept scolding Gao Yongkuan in English until he died, a shameless traitor, a dirty and despicable coward. Gao Yongkuan, who was only slightly injured, smiled fiercely and said: "The foreigners on the side of the King of Zhennan said that it was piracy for you to snatch the steamer in Shanghai, and if you were killed directly as a pirate, the foreigners would not blame me." ”