Li Xiucheng urgently ordered Cai Yuanlong to lead the Taiping Army's naval division to attack, of course, Qibao's plan to lure the enemy and ambush had succeeded, severely damaged the Wu army in Shanghai, and created a good opportunity for the Taiping army's naval division to enter the army.

The veteran of the Wu army, Meng Qi, had to bear full responsibility for the fiasco of the Battle of Qibao, forgetting Zhou Tenghu's repeated admonitions before, and when he was completely in time for time, Meng Wei had not reported his decision to fight without authorization back to Shanghai, in order to prevent Zhou Tenghu from intervening and wanting to surprise his colleagues in Shanghai, but the result was to bury the last opportunity to correct.

Although Huang Jiacai and Xu Dali and other generals advised him to stay with some of the elites as a precautionary measure, Meng Yu coveted the so-called opportunity to directly take Li Xiucheng's first rank, worried that the night attack force was insufficient, and insisted on bringing all the main elites of the four battalions to the front line, leaving only the second-line army to guard Qibao and putting all his eggs in one basket.

These two fatal mistakes completely led to the crushing defeat of the Wu army, and after chasing the defeated Lu Shunde army to the outside of Li Xiucheng's Chinese army camp, he just saw Lu Shunde's army. Deceived the Chinese army camp of the Taiping Army, Meng Wei immediately launched a strong attack on the Taiping Army camp, and then, when he saw the chaos in the Taiping Army camp, the camp gate was successfully blown open by the soldiers of the Taiping Army, Meng Wei naturally did not hesitate to order a charge, and personally rushed into the Taiping Army camp with the elite of the four battalions that could have relied on the fortifications to resist the Taiping Army, and also rushed into the trap carefully arranged by the enemy.

Or when the ground under the feet of the Wu army exploded one after another, Meng Wei knew that he had fallen into the enemy's tricks, and quickly ordered the army to retreat, but it was too late to do so, and the large number of mines planted in front of the Taiping army had blown up the Wu army soldiers to heavy casualties, and the formation was completely chaotic, and it was impossible to fight in formation, so naturally there was no way to resist the Taiping ambush soldiers who were killing from all directions, and were forced to start a hand-to-hand battle with the Taiping army in the case of confusion in formation.

Because of the strict training, the Shanghai Wu army's white-knuckle combat ability was not weak, but unfortunately, the Taiping army not only has more experience in white-knuckle warfare, but also equipped with a broadsword and axe in close combat is more practical than bayonets in close combat, the Wu army was defeated in close combat, the formation completely collapsed, and it could not be formed into a breakout and retreat, so it could only be entangled with the Taiping army and fought and retreated, which could not get rid of the melee entanglement of the Taiping army, and was constantly cut down by the Taiping army in the fierce battle, and the casualties expanded rapidly.

The tricks of the Taiping army are not only that, when Meng Qi's troops finally withdrew near the Lu Shunde camp on the road after paying a heavy price, the Lu Shunde camp that had been taken by the Wu army soldiers before was like magic, and suddenly a Taiping army appeared, blocking the Wu army's retreat in front of the remnants of the camp fortifications, and the Wu army soldiers who were entangled in close combat failed to break through the Taiping army's defense line several times, and were surrounded by the enemy and faced the danger of annihilation.

Then, in order to save the main force, Xu Dali, the general of the Wu army who stayed in the Qibao camp, could only send troops to meet Meng Da, the result was that Xu Dali had just left with the army on the front foot, and there were two Taiping armies on the back foot to kill, and the Wu's Qibao camp was already very empty.

It's a pity that God didn't give Xu Dali this opportunity, in the fierce battle, a stray bullet just hit Xu Dali's face, Xu Dali died on the spot, and the second-line Wu army led by him quickly collapsed, neither able to move forward to meet Meng Yu, nor able to retreat to rescue the camp of the army. The lucky Taiping army was demoralized, and successfully broke through the empty Qibao camp of the Wu army before dawn, and pulled out the biggest nail stuck in the throat of the main force of the Taiping army in Shanghai. Surrounded by the Taiping army on all sides, Meng Xi's headquarters also completely collapsed, and the soldiers could only flee to the surrounding Wu army strongholds in twos and threes in order to survive, and were killed and wounded by the morale-like Taiping army, and countless weapons and ammunition were lost.

In the end, the four battalions of the elite of the Wu army were able to escape back to the stronghold of the army with a total of less than 800 people, the loss of troops reached 60 percent, a large number of firing pin guns and supporting ammunition were lost, and the five breech-loading rifled guns and a large number of picric acid weapons left in the Qibao camp were also snatched away by the Taiping army, and the heavy losses directly set the highest record of the Wu army in Shanghai since it became an army. Although Meng Ji, who was seriously wounded, was carried back to the Hongqiao stronghold of the Wu army by his own soldiers, he shot himself when everyone was not paying attention, and his last words before dying were, "I am guilty!" ”

It stands to reason that having achieved such a brilliant victory on land, as long as the Taiping army joined forces by land and water to take the Wusongkou Fort of the Wu army, which was far away from Shanghai, and drove the steam gunboats into the Huangpu River, it would be enough to severely damage and blow the morale and will of the Shanghai army and the people, and it would definitely not be a fool's dream to take Shanghai directly in one go. However, it is a pity that just when the land division of the Taiping army was cheering for a great victory, the news that the water division was attacked by the Wu army and suffered a big loss suddenly came, which shocked the generals of the Taiping army and made Li Xiucheng so angry that he flipped the table on the spot and roared: "Waste! Idiot! The best chance to win Shanghai as soon as possible was missed in vain! ”

Diametrically opposed to the Taiping Army, the victory of Wu Lao's comprador frogman tactics was successful, but it gave a shot of strength to the panicked Shanghai army and civilians, and also allowed the Shanghai Wu army to sweep away the haze of Meng Yu's fiasco, and re-saw the hope of victory in defending Shanghai.

The unexpected victory on the water battlefield only helped the Shanghai Wu army get rid of the shadow of the Qibao fiasco and passed the most dangerous pass, the real test of the Shanghai Wu army is still to come, the time has just passed a day, the Taiping army is under the personal command of Li Xiucheng, and at the same time launched a crazy attack on the Wu army strongholds on both sides of the Huangpu River, the Taiping army sailing fleet on Chongming Island stormed the Wu army's Wusongkou position, and the Taiping army sailors in Suzhou also took the steam cannon ship that the British gave to the Taiping army from the Wu Lijiang River, and joined forces with the land division to attack Shanghai, The Wu army in Shanghai rose up to meet the enemy and fought to the death with the Taiping army in various strongholds.

After all, the disparity in strength was too great, and it could not withstand the Taiping army's rotational attacks launched by relying on the superiority of troops, and the Wu army in Shanghai could only give up the peripheral strongholds such as Wusongkou, Jiangwan and Yangjing, and shrink the defense line to make up for the weakness of the lack of troops, while the Taiping army pressed forward step by step, constantly narrowing the encirclement of Shanghai, and relied on successive fierce offensive battles to win Hongqiao and Wangjiasi, which the Wu army in Shanghai did not dare to give up on its own initiative, and then quickly took Xinjing with the support of the naval artillery, and the troops were on the racecourse. The camp was only 12 miles away from the nearest part of the Shanghai city wall, and the sound of artillery could be clearly heard in the city of Shanghai and in the concession, and the Taiping army had also taken the opportunity to carry out a large-scale activity in order to constantly encourage the refugees to rebel and respond to the Taiping army's attack on the city, and strive for the opportunity to burn, kill, loot and make a fortune.

The Battle of Shanghai therefore reached the most critical time, in the face of the main force of the Taiping Army, which was already close at hand, the Shanghai Wu Army could only use a large number of picric acid weapons that could not be supplied to stabilize the situation, and at the same time used a large number of Dana explosive mines to resist the Taiping Army's attack, blocking the Taiping Army's advance at any cost. The Taiping army, which had strong troops, was not afraid at all, and while trying every means to lure the Wu army to waste these advanced weapons, it took turns to attack continuously, and successfully took Bailianjing, the last stronghold of the Wu army in Pudong, and bombarded the neighborhoods outside Shanghai across the Huangpu River, causing huge losses to the densely populated and wealthy Shanghai city watchers, and directly led to a riot among the refugees outside Shanghai who took advantage of the fire and robbery.

At the critical moment, it was the victory on the water battlefield that gave the Wu army in Shanghai a shot in the arm, and under the heavy recruitment of Wu Lao's compradors, 20 gang thugs drove ten grasshopper boats full of Dana explosives to the lower reaches of the Huangpu River, launched a suicide attack on the Taiping army's sailing fleet, successfully sank and injured six sail warships of the Taiping army, and the British and French combined fleet in the Shanghai concession also took the opportunity to attack the Taiping army's sailor fleet that was blown up by the death squad, and won more victories with less. Successfully expelled the fleet of the Taiping Army's naval division, which was about to seriously threaten the Shanghai Street Concession, out of the Huangpu River, and helped the Shanghai Wu Army breathe a sigh of relief. On the battlefield of Wu Zhenjiang, the frogmen of the Wu army also succeeded in a sneak attack again, although they failed to blow up the steam gunboats protected by the Taiping Army in Suzhou, they also successfully sank two sail warships of the Taiping Army, which dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Taiping Army.

In fact, there was no way to take the rogue tactics of the Shanghai Wu army to release frogmen out of the suicide ship at every turn, and in addition, in terms of water warfare technology, it was a cut off from the British and French combined fleet, Li Xiucheng had no choice but to give up the plan of joint land and water troops, and put all the focus of the offensive on the land battlefield, as a result, although the Taiping army's offensive was weakened somewhat, but relying on its absolute superiority on land, it still forced the Shanghai Wu army to breathless.

Finally, after many days of brutal and fierce fighting, the Taiping army finally took the Fahua Temple camp, the defensive support point of the Wu army in Shanghai on the western front, which not only directly threatened the neighborhoods outside Shanghai, but also directly cut off the connection between the Shanghai county and the two strongholds of the Wu army, Xujiahui and Caohejing.

When the defeat of the Shanghai Wu army was decided, many problems hidden under the water were also quickly exposed, and the Shanghai gentry and landlords headed by Yang Fang and Gu Wenbin had to quickly try to secretly contact the Taiping army for their own interests, although they did not agree to help the Taiping army deal with the Shanghai Wu army, but also weakened the economic support for the Shanghai Wu army, and at the same time had to be prepared to sell the Shanghai Wu army at a critical moment in exchange for their own lives.

Britain, France, the United States and other Western consuls were also forced to make a two-handed plan, secretly contacting the Taiping Army to negotiate secretly, preparing to recognize the Taiping Army's entry into Shanghai as a condition in exchange for the Taiping Army to abandon the attack on the concession and protect the safety of the concession. And Li Xiucheng, known as Li Hongzhang of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, did not hesitate to agree to the conditions offered by the Western powers, which led to the Anglo-French alliance to completely retreat to the concession and no longer join forces with the Wu army in Shanghai.

The people in Shanghai are even more in turmoil, and the riots are not stopped, I don't know how many people are looking forward to the Taiping army entering Shanghai as soon as possible, bringing themselves the opportunity to take advantage of the fire to rob, and there are also many people who have already made up their minds, just waiting for the Taiping army to come and immediately surrender and turn around and attack the Wu army, and among these people, there are quite a few auxiliary army soldiers temporarily recruited by the Wu army, holding the weapons provided for them by Zhou Tenghu and Wu Lao comprador and others.

Even the remnants of the Manchu court came out to stir up trouble and stir up trouble, fanning the flames among the people, inciting hungry refugees to revolt, helping the Taiping army to deal with the Wu army in Shanghai, and avenging their masters by the hands of the Taiping army.

After learning through secret channels that the Western powers and the Taiping Army had reached a secret deal, Wu Lao comprador also knew that the general trend had gone, in addition to sending the news to Zhou Tenghu, he quickly made some important arrangements, and then called his granddaughter-in-law Zhou Xiuying and baby great-grandson Wu Nianyue to the front, sighed and ordered Zhou Xiuying: "Xiuying, there is no way, hurry up and prepare, tonight you take Nian Yue and your Uncle Xiaohua to Suzhou Creek Wharf, the old man has arranged a boat for you over there, and the people on the boat are all people that the old man can trust, They and your Uncle Xiaohua will take you to Hong Kong to find Xiao Nianyue's grandfather. ”

"Grandpa, what are you going to do?" Zhou Xiuying asked vigilantly, "Are you going with us?" ”

"You go first, and the old man will come later." Old comprador Wu barely squeezed out a little smile and said, "The old man still has some things to do in Shanghai, and when he finishes it, he will take another boat to Hong Kong to meet you." ”

"No, let's go together!" Zhou Xiuying saw through the intentions of Old comprador Wu at a glance, and said categorically.

"When is it? Why are you still stubborn, kid? Old comprador Wu complained and said, "Even if you don't think about yourself, at least you have to think about Xiao Nianyue, right?" Listen to grandpa, leave tonight, and grandpa will leave in a few days. ”

"Grandpa, I can't explain to Chaoyue." Zhou Xiuying was still not fooled, and said: "I took Nian Yue and left first, if you are in any danger, how can I explain to him if you ask about it in the future?" ”

"You don't have to explain it to him!" Old comprador Wu said angrily: "If he has something to say, you can directly tell him the old man's decision and tell him to shut up!" ”

Zhou Xiuying didn't agree to tell Wu Chaoyue to shut up, she chose to shut up herself, holding Xiao Nianyue's expression was extremely resolute, no matter how the old comprador Wu urged, he refused to go down to prepare for the trip, Wu Lao comprador was helpless, so he could only change his tone and said: "Xiuying, good boy, the old man knows that you are filial, but Shanghai can't do without the old man, if the old man leaves, our military spirit will be dispersed immediately, and Shanghai is really completely hopeless." And there are so many people who know the old man, if he is recognized on the road, what kind of consequences will it be, do you dare to imagine? ”

Knowing that Wu Lao comprador was telling the truth, Zhou Xiuying was inevitably a little hesitant, but Wu Lao comprador choked up and said: "Xiuying, transcendence is such a son, even if you are going to transcend, you have to take Nian Yue away first, right?" Don't worry, when you can't hold on, the old man will definitely find a way to escape, the old man hasn't lived enough, and the old man still wants to hold his great-grandson ...... for a few more years. ”

Zhou Xiuying shed tears, and also put down the little Nian Yue in her arms, and commanded in a hoarse voice: "Nian Yue, go, give your grandfather a hug again." ”

Xiao Nianyue, who vaguely understood that something was wrong, obediently walked in front of Wu Lao Comprador and asked timidly: "Grandpa, do you want me and my mother to go to Hong Kong to find grandpa?" Why don't you come with us? ”

Old comprador Wu shed tears, hugged Xiao Nianyue and choked up and said: "Good baby, it's not that grandpa doesn't want to go with you, it's that I still have something to do, and when grandpa finishes things, I will go to Hong Kong to find you." ”

"No, Grandpa, I want to be with you." Xiao Nianyue shook his head and said, "If you want to go together, I just want to be with you, grandpa." ”

Before Xiao Nianyue's words were finished, Wu Lao Comprador had already cried, hugging Xiao Nianyue tightly and crying, crying silently, Zhou Xiuying was also crying on the side, and even Xiao Nianyue was also in tears, and the three of the four generations cried together.

"Old lady Wu! Old lady Wu! Where is Mrs. Wu? I am Zhou Futai's personal soldier, take me to see the old lady, there is a big matter! ”

The anxious shouts that suddenly came from outside the door interrupted the hug and crying of Wu Lao comprador and Zhou Xiuying's mother and son, thinking of the critical situation on the battlefield, Wu Lao comprador subconsciously tightened his heart, and hurriedly opened his mouth to order Zhou Tenghu's personal soldiers to come in, and even forgot to wipe his tears and asked directly: "What's wrong?" In such a hurry? ”

"Old lady Wu, Long Hair has retired! Li Xiucheng's big long hair went to Suzhou with the main force of long hair! ”

Zhou Tenghu's personal soldier's answer made Wu Lao comprador so shocked that he jumped up directly with Xiao Nianyue in his arms, and asked loudly: "Really, fake?" Li Xiucheng, who has big long hair, how could he suddenly withdraw from the army for no reason? Is it hairy and tricky? ”

"Back to the master, it's true, Li Xiucheng's big long hair did take his main force to the direction of Suzhou." Zhou Tenghu's soldiers wiped their sweat and said: "Actually, we found that Long Hair showed signs of retreat last night, but we didn't dare to confirm it, or just now our scouts and fine workers repeatedly confirmed this matter, Zhou Futai called the little one to send a letter to the old lady, please be relieved, although Long Hair did not withdraw all the troops, but the remaining Long Hair We have hope to stop it." ”

Old comprador Wu opened his mouth and was stunned for a long time, Old comprador Wu suddenly understood something, quickly hugged Xiao Nianyue and kissed him a few times, and said excitedly: "Nianyue, grandpa's sweetheart, if grandpa is not mistaken, you are about to meet your father." ”