In order to take Shanghai, a wealthy land, Li Xiucheng unceremoniously used most of the main elite under his command, and personally led an army of more than 100,000 people, including more than 12,000 troops equipped with Western muskets, hundreds of flowering cannons, and a small number of picric acid weapons.

In addition, the four steam gunboats under the command of Li Xiucheng were also dispatched, all of which went north to participate in the war, and in addition, the steam ships that the British volunteers had recently dedicated to the Taiping Army, the steam armed ships used by the Taiping Army in the Shanghai battlefield actually reached as many as five, which also made the Taiping Army form an overwhelming advantage over the Wu Army in Shanghai both on land and on the water.

Li Xiucheng's movements were still very fast, and he set off from Hangzhou with the main force of his direct lineage, and it only took him five days to rush to the outskirts of Shanghai, where he joined forces with Tan Shaoguang, Huang Zilong, and other armies, and stationed on the west bank of the Huangpu River. In addition, Gao Yongkuan, Zhong Wanxin, and Chen Kunshu, who were directly under Li Xiucheng, were temporarily stationed on the east bank of the Huangpu River according to the order.

After the meeting, the first thing Li Xiucheng did was to order the summoning of Tan Shaoguang, Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde, the three generals, Tan Shaoguang, who was also directly subordinate to Li Xiucheng, also rushed to Li Xiucheng to meet at the first time, but in front of many Taiping Army soldiers, Li Xiucheng was unceremonious, and as soon as they met, he personally rewarded Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde with a few big-eared scrapers, and shouted angrily: "Kneel!" ”

has always been in awe of Li Xiucheng, Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde didn't dare to say anything, and immediately knelt down on their knees together, Li Xiucheng rewarded each of them with a kick, kicked them to the sky one after another, and then asked angrily: "Do you know why this king beat you?" ”

"The last general doesn't know, please make it clear to the king."

Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde shook their heads honestly, and they both quietly looked at Tan Shaoguang, who was not punished, and suspected that it was caused by Tan Shaoguang's false accusation. Li Xiucheng saw their thoughts, and shouted angrily: "What do you see? It has nothing to do with Jian Tianyi! He has never said a bad word about you in front of this king, nor has he ever told you anything wrong! ”

gave Huang Lu and each a kick, and Li Xiucheng hated to say the real reason, and said angrily: "But even if Jian Tianyi didn't say anything, this king also knows that you two fools have fallen into the demon soldiers' divisive scheme, suspecting that Jian Tianyi wants to get rid of you and eat alone, deliberately conserving his strength and wanting to keep the army to pick up the cheap, causing Jian Tianyi to fight alone, and also giving the demon soldiers a chance to break you all!" And ye yourselves say, Will this king punish you? ”

After shouting angrily, Li Xiucheng pointed to Tan Shaoguang next to him again, and said even more angrily: "This king might as well tell you a clear word today, even if people all over the world don't believe in Jian Tianyi, this king believes it!" With his loyalty to the Kingdom of Heaven, even if the foreigners in the concession really joined forces with him to take Shanghai, the money and jewelry he seized would be handed over to the Kingdom of Heaven in the same amount! If he keeps a penny or a tael of silver in his own possession, this king is willing to be guilty of the same crime with him! ”

Hearing Li Xiucheng's words, Tan Shaoguang's eyes turned red on the spot, in fact, he knew very well that Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde, who were Tan Shaoguang, were both envious and ashamed, and at the same time, they could only kowtow honestly and ask for guilt. Fortunately, Li Xiucheng's temper was far less irritable than Yang Xiuqing, and he reprimanded Huang Lu and the others and shouted: "Get up, for the sake of the current enemy, the military stick will be remembered for you first, and the current situation of the Shanghai demon soldiers will be carefully reported first!" ”

Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde resignedly agreed, and after getting up, they hurriedly reported to Li Xiucheng the latest movements of the Wu Army in Shanghai, not to mention the results, thanks to the blessing of Lu Shunde's department operating in Songjiang for many years, the information of the Wu Army reported by Huang and Lu was not only careful and accurate, but also very clear even the important news that the Shanghai Wu Army Arsenal had restarted four days ago, which immediately aroused Li Xiucheng's vigilance.

"Didn't you say that the demon soldier's gun workshop had been burned to the ground by you? Even the materials to be imported from abroad have been almost burned out, so why did they suddenly start work again? Li Xiucheng asked very vigilantly.

"King Huizhong, five days ago, two large foreign ships that had never seen flags came to the lower reaches of the Huangpu River, and they brought a batch of foreign machines on board. Although there were not as many workers working inside as before, the guards were much tighter than usual, and anyone who entered had to be searched repeatedly. ”

Lu Shunde's answer made Li Xiucheng's face change slightly, and Li Shuxiang, the advisor who was very trusted by Li Xiucheng, also raised his head and glanced at Li Xiucheng, and also suspected that the two ships were the Swedish ships that had been intercepted by the Taiping Army in Ningbo. However, of course, this kind of thing that damages Li Xiucheng's prestige can't be said, and after thinking about it for a while, Li Shuxiang also comforted Li Xiucheng and said: "Don't worry, King Zhong, as long as we move fast enough, the demon soldiers can't make many foreign guns and cannons." ”

Li Xiucheng nodded, but still regretted his decision to let go of the two Swedish ships. As a result, at this time, a personal soldier suddenly came to report from outside the tent, saying: "Yuzhong Wang Chitose, the Shanghai demon official Zhou Tenghu sent a messenger with a letter to ask to meet you, saying that he hopes to negotiate peace with my heavenly army. ”

Li Xiucheng didn't answer, just turned his head to look at Li Shuxiang, Li Shuxiang understood, and replied with a smile: "It's just a plan to delay the army, for the Shanghai demon soldiers, the most important thing now is to gain time and send envoys to ask for negotiations. ”

"King Zhong, Zhou Tenghu, this demon official is very cunning, you must not fall for him." Tan Shaoguang also said: "Last time, in order to dissipate the morale of our Heavenly Army and divide our Heavenly Army, he was willing to exchange 200,000 taels of silver for the last general to temporarily withdraw from the army, but fortunately, the last general was not fooled. ”

"Cunning? In the eyes of the king, it is very stupid. Li Xiucheng smiled and said: "Just 200,000 taels of silver also want to buy our heavenly kingdom's Jian Tianyi, it's just brainless, if it's this king, at least 2 million taels of silver have to be opened!" ”

After smiling and encouraging the love general, Li Xiucheng first carefully calculated for a while, then looked at the sky outside the tent, and then instructed Li Shuxiang: "Li Shangshu, you go to receive the demon soldier envoy for this king, talk to him more, and then send him back, and ask Zhou Tenghu, the demon official, to change a messenger with enough qualifications and weight to talk to this king." ”

Li Shuxiang agreed with understanding, and Li Xiucheng added, "Also, be sure to let the demon soldier messenger know that this king originally planned to go to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to meet and surpass the little demon first, but this king's subordinates were too greedy for Shanghai's silver, and it was difficult to disobey the will of the people, so this king had to come to Shanghai first." ”

"The loyal king is wise, and his subordinates understand."

Li Shuxiang agreed even more understandingly, and went out of the account on behalf of Li Xiucheng to meet the envoy of the Wu Army in Shanghai, but Tan Shaoguang, Lu Shunde and others next to him looked at each other, and at the end Tan Shaoguang couldn't help but ask curiously: "The loyal king forgives the sin, and the last general has the courage to ask, how can I listen to you, as if I want to negotiate with the Shanghai demon soldiers?" ”

"Of course this king wants to negotiate with the demon soldiers." Li Xiucheng's words were amazing, and then he smiled and said: "If you don't negotiate with the demon soldiers, how can you make the Shanghai demon soldiers take it lightly?" ”

Tan Shaoguang nodded as if he didn't understand, but Li Xiucheng turned to Lu Shunde next to him, beckoned Lu Shunde to the front first, and then whispered in Lu Shunde's ear: "Go back immediately to prepare a thousand elite soldiers for this king, and then prepare some guides who are familiar with the road to send to Gao Yongkuan, and make an appointment with him to send troops, and tonight the fourth watch will work together to take down the demon soldiers' camp in Sanlintang, Pudong!" ”

"Fight tonight?"

Lu Shunde was so surprised that his voice was a little loud, and after looking at the sky outside the tent, Lu Shunde hurriedly lowered his voice and asked, "His Royal Highness King Zhong, are you too anxious?" Not to mention that the time to prepare for the night attack is too tight now, Jian Tianyi's army is only in Shanghai today, and the top and bottom are very tired, and they may not be able to ....... ”

"You don't have to worry about Gao Yongkuan's side, this king will personally give him an order."

Li Xiucheng waved his hand to interrupt Lu Shunde, and said coldly: "Tonight is the best time to make a move, the demon soldiers saw that the main force of this king had just arrived, and they would definitely not have thought that this king would launch a surprise attack overnight, and if they did it tonight, they could just kill the demon soldiers by surprise." ”

After that, Li Xiucheng added another sentence in his stomach, and said secretly: "You have to be in such a hurry, the son of a bitch raised a surpassing little demon, and it only took one day to take down Peng Ze, this king is not in a hurry." ”

The matter is not over yet, after knowing that Li Xiucheng has a good temper, Lu Shunde, who obediently accepted the order, was about to hurriedly return to the self-army camp established in Lujiahui, Pudong, to organize a night attack, but Li Xiucheng grabbed him and whispered in his ear: "Remember, whether the night attack tonight is successful or not, this king will say that you are a private matter, and will punish you in public, and you will also cooperate with this king to act at that time, pretending that you are because of this king's reproach and anger to pull Gao Yongkuan to fight privately, understand?" ”

Lu Shunde opened his mouth wide, and it took a while to guess something from Li Xiucheng's smiling look, nodded hurriedly, and replied: "King Zhong, Chitose, please rest assured, the last general will definitely cooperate with you to play the trick well." ”