When Zeng Lichang investigated the murder of the soldiers of the Self-Army, Xu Zongyang also began to continue digging trenches, knowing well the threat of trench tactics to the positions of the Self-Army, Wu Jun Lian Yong also immediately made a tough counterattack, first the grenadier and then a few shots found that it was difficult to hit the dog, in order to save valuable shells, Zhou Tenghu simply sent the Jiangyin Lian Yong he brought to launch a surprise attack.

The effect of the raid was so good that Zhou Tenghu was a little surprised, and the Jiangyin Lian Yong who suddenly came out of the battle rushed to the near place just threw a few grenade bombs into the trench, and immediately blew up the enemy who was working in the earthwork, Jiangyin Lian Yong then took the bayonet to kill the trench, and stabbed the enemy who had been blown up, and easily repelled the enemy who was digging the trench, and chased out a large distance, and finally the Taiping army gathered the elite to launch a counterattack, and Jiangyin Lian Yong quickly withdrew to the Wu army position along the trench.

The battle went so smoothly that Zhou Tenghu was a little suspicious that this was a plan by the Taiping army to lure the enemy, but after interrogating in detail a prisoner captured by Jiangyin Lian Yong, Zhou Tenghu knew the truth of the matter - it was Liu Lichuan Army who was in charge of the soil work, and the equipment was relatively poor, and the quality of individual soldiers was weak, and the number of people fighting was terrifying, and the morale was not high when he did heavy work and complained, so he was so vulnerable to fighting in a narrow space that tested the combat effectiveness of individual soldiers. At the same time, from the mouth of the captive, Zhou Tenghu also asked about the important news that after the trench was dug, the Taiping Army's Zeng Lichang Department would undertake the combat mission.

After discovering these circumstances, Zhou Tenghu was overjoyed and immediately found Deng Siyuan, suggesting that Wu Jun Lian Yong take turns to attack the six trenches that had not yet been completed by the Taiping army. Deng Siyuan hesitated a little and said, "Mr. Tao Fu, is it a bit risky to do this?" Not to mention that doing so will waste the physical strength of our soldiers and give the enemy the opportunity to gradually weaken us, even if we don't think about it, what is the use of killing more of those rabble under Liu Lichuan's command? ”

"Who says it's useless?" Zhou Tenghu asked rhetorically, and said: "In the troubled times, soldiers are kings, and only when there are soldiers and horses in hand can they be tough, no matter how careless Liu Lichuan's gang is, they also know the truth that the more soldiers under their command, the better, we have killed their soldiers a lot, can they not be angry with the long hair in the field?" Today, the foreign longhair wants to push them in front as a shield, can they continue to be happy? ”

After hesitating again and again, Deng Siyuan still decided to try again, and when the genuine Wu Jun Lian Yong flexibly attacked the six trenches being dug by the Taiping Army, he did pay some casualties, but Liu Lichuan's subordinates were killed and injured even more heavily, and two or three hundred people were killed by Wu Jun Lian Yong in more than half a day, and the digging speed was even slower, and then it was completely stopped later - there were too many casualties, and Liu Lichuan's general Pan Qiliang was reluctant, It was also difficult to force his men into the trenches to continue digging.

After a lot of time, Xu Zongyang decided to send an elite to protect the soldiers of the Liu army to dig a trench, and as a result, the Taiping soldiers, who were good at close combat, also relied on the narrow space in the trench to repel an attack by the Wu army. Zhou Tenghu heard the report and guessed that the Taiping Army must have mixed the elite soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, so he immediately said to Deng Siyuan: "Changmao has dispatched elite soldiers, we don't need to risk the lives of the soldiers, let Changmao dig it up, anyway, after the trench is dug, Changmao will be responsible for the main attack, and we just kill some more long-haired elites to reduce the pressure on our main force." ”

Relying on the deliberate indulgence of Wu Jun's Lian Yong, and also relying on the protection of the elite of the genuine Taiping Army, in the evening, Liu Jun's soldiers finally dug the trench to a distance of 50 meters from the Wu army's position, and dug left and right to connect overnight, planning to complete the project that night. When the news was reported to the main camp of the Taiping Army outside Shanghai, Zeng Lichang was overjoyed and hurriedly convened an operational meeting overnight to dispatch troops to arrange the next day's attack.

The generals of the Taiping Army who belonged directly to Zeng Lichang had just arrived, and Zeng Lichang had just announced the good news that the trench was about to be completed, and before the generals of the Taiping Army cheered, he never thought that a herald ran in in a panic, and ran to the side of Zeng Lichang's general Yan Zhongwu and whispered a few words, Yan Zhongwu also immediately changed his face, and asked in a roar: "Who did it?" ”

"I don't know, I just know that I was killed by a foreign short gun."

The herald shook his head and answered truthfully, and when Zeng Lichang asked Yan Zhongwu why he was angry, Yan Zhongwu replied: "Prime Minister, the personal soldiers of the last general came to report that the sentry in front of the camp sent by the last general was killed by a sneak attack, using a foreign short gun. ”

"Did the person who fired the shot catch it?" Zeng Lichang asked angrily.

"I ran away after the fight, and I didn't catch it." Yan Zhongwu replied: "I just heard someone shouting, telling Guangxi dogs to get out of Shanghai." ”

Zeng Lichang's face changed, and he just wanted to order an all-out search for the murderer, but as soon as his mouth opened, another herald suddenly entered the account, saluted Zeng Lichang and said: "Prime Minister, our patrol team clashed with the patrol of the friendly army in Shanghai, the other party opened his mouth to insult our soldiers, and the soldiers of our army argued with them, the other party started beating people first, and the soldiers of our army were forced to fight back, and the other party fled back to the camp for help, the situation showed signs of expansion, how to deal with it, please show the prime minister!" ”

"Dog RI's!"

Zeng Lichang scolded loudly, and also slammed his fist on the table, and Yan Zhongwu over there was even more furious, "Prime Minister, Liu Lichuan's people are too deceitful!" My brother must have been killed by them, you have to call the shots for us, you have to call the shots for us! ”

"Yes, Prime Minister, Liu Lichuan is too deceitful." Huang Shengcai also said: "I haven't found out what happened last night, and I came here again today, if I don't teach them a lesson, will our soldiers dare to go out of the camp alone in the future?" ”

After thinking about it for a long time, Zeng Lichang still decided to give Liu Lichuan one last chance and sent someone into the city to pass Liu Lichuan to see him, but what made Zeng Lichang furious was that the messenger actually reported that Liu Lichuan was too drunk to go out of the city, and could only come back tomorrow morning to see him. Zeng Lichang, who was stationed outside the city and also lived in the city, had no choice but to shout: "Order all battalions to strengthen their vigilance tonight, and if Liu Lichuan's subordinates take the initiative to provoke, there is no need to ask for an order, immediately return fire!" The rest will be discussed tomorrow! ”

Because the Taiping army strengthened its vigilance, Zhou Tenghu's Jiangyin Lian Yong, who stayed outside that night, could not find a chance to make a move, and at the same time, the patrol conflict did not continue to expand, so the night was finally passed safely. However, just when Zeng Lichang breathed a sigh of relief, Liu Lichuan came to him with a full body of wine and asked why Zeng Lichang ordered the summons last night.

Quite disdainfully glanced at Liu Lichuan, who was still drunk on his face, Zeng Lichang roughly told about the clash of patrols and the attack on the soldiers of the army, but Liu Lichuan listened to it, although he complained bitterly, he continued to perfunctory blame, promising to strengthen military discipline and ensure that the murderer would be found. And Zeng Lichang, in order to join hands to resist the overall situation of the enemy, also chose to swallow his anger again, and then took the opportunity to say: "Liu Checkpoint, by the way, discuss a matter, this prime minister saw that the city of Shanghai was ruined, although your army repaired it, but it was not lawful. For you and our army to be based in Shanghai for a long time, Prime Minister Ben wants to send an army to Shanghai to help you repair the city walls of Shanghai and build city fortifications, what do you think? ”

"Stationed in Shanghai?" Liu Lichuan's heart was cold, and the residual alcohol after drinking with the generals of southern Jiangsu last night was suddenly swept away, and then only after a little calculation, Liu Lichuan immediately shook his head, and said with a hippie smile: "Prime Minister Zeng, no need, don't bother your brother to do it, you think the city defense is not good, I will send someone to repair it, and you don't need your brother to do it himself." ”

"My men are experienced, and the fortifications that have been repaired and built are stronger." Zeng Lichang forced a smile and said, "Don't worry, this prime minister will only send 500 people into the city, and he won't cause you trouble." ”

Liu Lichuan also shook his head like a rattle, and said: "Prime Minister, it's still not necessary, the lower officials will go back to repair the city wall, if it still doesn't work, we will discuss what to do." Well, if you have nothing to do with you, Prime Minister, the last general will retire. ”

After that, Liu Lichuan only hugged his fist, and then immediately ran out of the Chinese army's tent with a smoke, leaving Zeng Lichang to stammer in the tent, and after a long time, Zeng Lichang slammed his fist on the table again, and his face was gloomy and he calculated, "The Shanghai battlefield is going to be bad!" Liu Lichuan is a child, and he will not let the prime minister's army enter the city, once the Qing demon comes to attack in a big way, or surpasses the main force of the little demon to return to Shanghai, my army is afraid that it will be more auspicious! ”

It was also at this time that Zeng Lichang suddenly discovered that the Shanghai battlefield, which seemed to have a bright future, was already cloudy and full of dangers before he knew it. Among the two friendly armies, Liu Lichuan's army did not contribute to the work, and it didn't play a role in fighting a tough battle, and it seemed to be friendly to the self-army, but in fact it was afraid and wary; Zhou Lichun's army has gone to Zhabei to be stationed with resentment, although it can nominally play a buffering role and contain the effect of the Qing army in Wusongkou, but whether it can be relied on at the critical moment is still a big problem. Therefore, whether it is now or in the future, the Shanghai battlefield is actually its own army fighting alone!

Born of this sense of crisis, Zeng Lichang did not review his suspicious personality and lack of courage to be arbitrary on the spot is the main reason for all this, but he just decided that the best way to change this situation is to take the Wu Army Arsenal, seize the ammunition depot of the main force of the Wu Army, and completely reverse the passive situation. Therefore, Zeng Lichang did not hesitate, and immediately organized and launched another attack on the Wu Army Arsenal, and personally went to the position to supervise the battle.

The fierce battle like a meat grinder started again, relying on the cover of the trench, the Taiping soldiers were able to safely enter the position only about 50 meters away from the Wu army's position to deploy their troops, heard the war drums and charged in groups, killing the Wu army's position one after another, Wu Jun's practice Yong shot desperately, gunshots, shells, charging shouts, dying screams, all kinds of sounds converged into one, deafening, straight into the sky, even standing more than ten miles away in the head of Shanghai can be heard clearly.

The thin wall of the Wu Army Arsenal became the biggest nightmare of the Taiping Army, and Wu Jun practiced Yong either standing on a high place behind the wall, condescending and precise sniping, throwing grenades to attack the enemy, or standing behind the firing hole and shooting, beating the Taiping soldiers who rushed forward one after another to the point that they were on their backs, and their chests and abdomen were bleeding; They also beat wave after wave of Taiping soldiers to the point that they fell in rows like cutting wheat, killing and wounding them and leaving corpses all over the ground. No matter how the soldiers of the Taiping Army sacrificed their lives to charge and assault, it was difficult to hurt the Wu army who was hiding behind the wall, and it was even more difficult to cross the thin wall that was only more than three meters high, and they could not enter the Wu army's position after paying a heavy price for this.

In order to alleviate the pressure on the main force of the Wu army when they returned to Shanghai, although such a scene was exactly what Zhou Tenghu and Deng Siyuan expected to see, but in the face of the Taiping army's crazy attacks one after another, the casualties of the Wu army's Lian Yong inevitably began to expand, and the physical exertion was too much and could not get enough rest, and there were negligence several times, and several Taiping soldiers climbed to the top of the wall, and finally relied on the continuous shooting of the revolver and the filling of the leaks in the reserves, which did not give the enemy a chance to enter the rear of the position.

In the fierce battle, the soldiers of the Taiping Army, who were very good at thinking, thought of a new way to deal with Wu Junlianyong's fortifications, that is, they brought a lot of thick door panels to the front, and advanced against the door panels to block Wu Junlianyong's shooting hole. However, because the firing hole was opened in the middle and lower part of the wall, Wu Jun Lianyong was a little in a hurry for a while, and the density of firepower dropped rapidly. Fortunately, Zhou Tenghu is also a person who is very good at improvisation, while letting Wu Jun Lianyong throw a large number of grenades, he commanded the reserve team to move and quickly pile up the debris under the wall, and let Wu Jun Lianyong stand on the debris and lie on the wall to shoot at the outside, which re-raised the firepower density.

By the end of the fierce battle, more than 500 Taiping soldiers had been killed, and all of them were elite soldiers, with countless minor and serious injuries. Seeing that the casualties of the main force were too large, Zeng Lichang and Xu Zongyang had to adjust their tactics and continue to launch an offensive with a mixture of elite soldiers and auxiliary troops, with the result that although the number of casualties among the elite soldiers dropped greatly, the total number of casualties still reached more than 1,600, accounting for more than one-seventh of the total strength of Zeng Lichang's army, and in addition to the troops who stayed in the camp, the Taiping troops on the forward positions had already taken turns to fight.

When it was dark, Wu Jun Lian Yong was already exhausted, Zeng Lichang and Xu Zongyang were also terrified, they never expected Wu Jun Lian Yong to be so tenacious, and they did not expect that the soldiers of the self-army could attack within 50 meters of the position safely, and they could not take the Wu army's walled position. As a last resort, Zeng Lichang and Xu Zongyang could only hurriedly discuss new tactics.

"Prime Minister Zeng, I think it's better for us to continue to attack overnight." Xu Zongyang analyzed: "Although our casualties are large, but the demon soldiers are not easy to fight, if we continue to fight overnight, even if we still can't take the wall of the demon soldiers tonight, even if we are tired, we can exhaust the demon soldiers, and our hope of success tomorrow will be much greater." ”

"Of course, we can't let our people continue to fight." Xu Zongyang hurriedly added: "Our casualties are too great, and the soldiers also need to rest, so we must find an army to undertake the night battle task for us and buy us time to rest." ”

Zeng Lichang nodded slowly, first asked the soldiers of the self-army to continue to shoot in the trench, not giving Wu Jun Lian Yong a chance to relax and rest, and then Zeng Lichang ordered: "Send someone to see Liu Lichuan and ask him to bring three thousand troops here to meet me." Tell him that we have a great hope of succeeding here, and we have laid down the ammunition depot of the demon soldiers, and I have captured six or four of the ammunition. ”

At the critical moment, if Liu Lichuan obediently acted according to the order, the Taiping Army might really have hope of taking the Wu Army Arsenal, but it is a pity that although Liu Lichuan has been hiding in Shanghai City and has never come out, he has always sent people to closely monitor the various situations on the front line, and he has long known that the Wu Army's position has been turned upside down and killed in a river of blood, and he has long expected that Zeng Lichang will definitely attack his idea. So after Zeng Lichang's envoy arrived outside the city, Liu Lichuan's general, Li Xianchi, who was ordered to guard the city, simply didn't even open the city gate, but said loudly: "I'm sorry, Wu Songkou came to report that the Qing demon stationed there had abnormal behavior, Liu Jian was worried that the Qing demon would attack overnight, and ordered that the city should not be opened tonight, and no one should be allowed to enter the city, so as to avoid accidents." ”

When the news came back to Zeng Lichang, Zeng Lichang, who almost vomited blood, scolded and began to regret forcibly sending Zhou Lichun's army to Zhabei to station—wasting a good cannon fodder army. As a last resort, in order not to sacrifice the soldiers who died during the day, and in order not to let the hard preparations of these days be wasted, Zeng Lichang could only grit his teeth and say: "Continue to attack the fortifications, and order my garrison and rear army, so that they are ready to fight tomorrow!" No matter what the price is, you have to take this place for me before you come back! ”

Very similar to Shi Shuai to go to the bloody battle of Guanjiayuan, in the case of equipment and training are not as good as the enemy, the Taiping soldiers showed unimaginable courage and fighting spirit, day and night to storm the enemy's strong stronghold, but unfortunately, the morale and fighting spirit in the modern war has been difficult to offset the disadvantage of weapons and equipment, Wu Jun Lianyong is tired and tired, and the geographical advantage is indeed offset by the trench tactics of the Taiping Army, but the sufficient number of bitter acid weapons has become a life-saving magic weapon for Wu Jun Lianyong, Whenever there was a crisis, a large number of grenades and grenadiers were thrown, and the burning bitter acid flames ignited the corpses and clothes of the Taiping soldiers, forming a circle of fire on the periphery of the Wu army's position, and the fire also neutralized the Taiping army's advantage in night fighting, so that the Taiping soldiers had almost no chance to touch the sneak attack under the wall at night.

The sky is about to dawn, although the gunfire of Wu Jun Lian Yong has obviously sparse a lot, but the Wu army's position is still there, and the wall sprinkled with blood is still firmly controlled by Wu Jun Lian Yong. Seeing this scene in the telescope, Zeng Lichang had no choice but to slap the table and order loudly: "Give the order to the big battalion, only 300 people will be left to guard the camp, and the rest of the people will all come over to help me fight!" ”

Before Zeng Lichang's words fell, before the herald had time to clench his fists and agree, a Taiping soldier with a red cloth wrapped in his head suddenly rushed in the distance to the north, holding a token high and loudly identifying himself, saying that he was a person sent by Zhou Lichun to see Zeng Lichang. And after the man was led in front of Zeng Lichang, he only said a word, Zeng Lichang stood up suddenly, his face suddenly turned blue, and the generals Xu Zongyang and Huang Shengcai next to him were even more pale............

Almost at the same time, among the reeds on the south bank of the Huangpu River in the south, several fireworks suddenly flew out, flew into the sky and exploded, blooming several beautiful huge flowers. Seeing those fireworks, Zhou Tenghu, whose eyes were already bloodshot, also showed a smile on his face and muttered, "Lord Wu, you are finally back." (To be continued.) )