"Lord Futai spare your life, spare your life! The burning of your gun workshop was forced by Hong Xiuquan and Li Xiucheng to my brother-in-law, and it has nothing to do with the small one, and it has nothing to do with the small one! The small ones did not participate! I didn't know until later! ”

“…… The first time was when my brother-in-law was confused by the ghost and was blinded by Li Xiucheng's reprimand, and he took the wrong medicine to save face, so he had the audacity to attack your camp. It's just that I didn't expect Li Xiucheng's big-haired illness to be jealous, and my brother-in-law not only didn't give a reward when he got it, but also blamed my brother-in-law for pulling Gao Yongkuan out of troops without authorization, and said that he could take Sanlintang, all of which was Gao Yongkuan's ....... ”

“…… My brother-in-law was dizzy, and he was angry that he led the army alone to attack Bailianjing last night, and he thought that Li Xiucheng, the traitor, decided to send troops this morning, and the troops were divided into seven ways to attack your seven camps, and my brother-in-law sent troops to fight Bailianjing without authorization, which not only disrupted Li Xiucheng's plan to let Chen Kunshu fight Bailianjing, but also reminded you and made you prepared. ”

“…… Huang Pengzi and my brother-in-law are fellow villagers, and the relationship has always been very good, and it was he who quietly sent someone to send a letter to my brother-in-law, saying that Li Xiucheng's big long hair was ready to let my brother-in-law take all the responsibility alone, and pushed the black pot that couldn't beat Qibao and Luojiagang to my brother-in-law alone, and persuaded my brother-in-law to take the initiative to ask Li Xiucheng for his guilt as soon as possible to alleviate his guilt. ”

“…… My brother-in-law knows Li Xiucheng better than Huang Pengzi, knows how vicious Li Xiucheng's heart is, and knows that continuing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will definitely be a dead end, so he moved to surrender to you to save your life, but I am afraid that you will not believe it, and I am even more afraid that you will blame him for burning your gun workshop under orders, so I sent the little one to ask for directions first, and also let the little one be a hostage, so that Lord Futai, you know the sincerity of my brother-in-law's surrender. ”

Explaining in horror, Lu Shunde's brother-in-law Lu Jixiang kowtowed again and again, and said: "Lord Futai, my brother-in-law is really repentant and ready to surrender, as long as you agree, he will immediately surrender with the army and atone for your meritorious service for the soldiers who killed Li Xiucheng's traitors." Please Zhou Futai, you are a lot, give my brother-in-law this opportunity, give my brother-in-law this opportunity. ”

The light in the lobby where he deliberately explained the more candles was bright, and Zhou Tenghu's tired but still bright eyes had been watching Lu Jixiang, carefully paying attention to all the subtle expressions of Lu Jixiang, and it turned out that Lu Jixiang's expression did not look like he was lying, and his words and attitudes were also very sincere, and it seemed that he had really come to act as a messenger and hostage for Lu Shunde and beg.

But the more this is the case, the more Zhou Tenghu doesn't dare to take it lightly, and Jin Anqing next to him doesn't dare to be gullible, thinking about it and asking: "Lu Jixiang, how is the relationship between your sister and your brother-in-law recently?" ”

"What is the relationship between my sister and my brother-in-law?" Lu Jixiang was asked by Jin Anqing's question, but he still answered truthfully: "Back to Lord Jin, the relationship between my sister and my brother-in-law has always been very good, listening to my sister, she and her brother-in-law only occasionally quarrel at most, and have never fought, and my brother-in-law's two sons are also born to my sister." ”

"Then what will happen to your sister and your nephew, and the rest of your family after your brother-in-law surrenders to us?" Jin Anqing asked another key question.

"Don't worry, Lord Jin, my brother-in-law has already thought about this." Lu Jixiang hurriedly replied: "Lu Rirong, who is staying in Songjiang Mansion now, is my brother-in-law's own cousin, and his flesh and blood have always been reliable, if Lord Zhou Futai Jin agrees to let my brother-in-law surrender, my brother-in-law will immediately tell Lu Rirong his decision and persuade Lu Rirong to surrender to you with the army." At that time, it is of course best to dedicate Songjiang Mansion to you, and if you can't keep Songjiang Mansion City, let Lu Rirong take my sister and them to break through to Shanghai. ”

Jin Anqing no longer spoke, just glanced at Zhou Tenghu, and muttered in his heart together, "Either it is really down, or it is death." ”

After instructing the guards to take Lu Jixiang down temporarily, Jin Anqing spoke again and said: "Tao Fu, I think I might as well try my luck and promise to let Lu Shunde surrender, but before surrendering, he must show greater sincerity." ”

Zhou Tenghu pondered for a moment, and then said: "In addition to Lu Shunde, Changmao also has three thieves who command the army in Pudong, Gao Yongkuan, Chen Kunshu and Zhong Wanxin, let this Lu Jixiang bring a message back to Lu Shunde, if you want to surrender, you can also agree to his conditions, but at least we have to send the head of one of these three big hairs to prove sincerity!" ”

"Isn't it a bit too wasteful?" Jin Anqing felt that Zhou Tenghu's conditions were too lenient, and said: "Lu Shunde, a big hairy man, please surrender, grasp the opportunity, and it is not hopeless to completely reverse the entire Pudong battle situation?" ”

"You can't take any chances." Zhou Tenghu shook his head resolutely and said: "As long as Lu Shunde can surrender and help us kill one or two Pudong Big Hair, create chaos for the Pudong Hair Army, and blow and shake the morale of the Long Hair Army, it will be enough for us." If you are not greedy, you will be in trouble if you fall into the trap of long hair. ”

Knowing that Zhou Tenghu was for the sake of prudence, Jin Anqing didn't insist, and made up for Zhou Tenghu: "We should also understand Lu Shunde, we only accept his surrender during the day, and at night, even if he runs to our camp and kneels, we will only shoot him." ”

Zhou Tenghu nodded, waved his hand to let Jin Anqing act according to the plan, and then said in his heart: "I hope it's true, we need a turnaround to boost morale." ”

…………

Lü Jixiang went back with a message, the battle in Pudong had basically ended, but the battle on the Puxi battlefield was still in full swing, and the Taiping army, which had strong troops, continued to rotate troops into battle, and stormed the Wu army's Nanxiang, Qibao, Huacao and Luojiagang camps. Among them, only the situation of the Qibao Wu Army is slightly better, with strong troops and a battalion of the main elite in charge, which can be as stable as Mount Tai, but the other three battlefields are in danger one after another.

The most critical situation is, of course, the Nanxiang battlefield, in order to save valuable bitter acid weapons, Chen Jingsheng, the defender of the Nanxiang Wu army, had to lead the second-line army under his command to resist the enemy with old front-loading guns, and the firepower was too weak to effectively suppress the Taiping army's charge, giving the Taiping army many opportunities to fight in close combat. The Taiping army responsible for attacking Nanxiang not only outperformed the Wu army Chen Jingsheng in terms of melee combat ability and battlefield experience, but also had a certain advantage in equipment, regardless of melee combat and long-range warfare, it was in the upper hand, and relied on the absolute superiority of troops to suppress and beat the Nanxiang Wu army, causing huge casualties and losses to the Nanxiang Wu army, unless Zhou Tenghu could send elite reinforcements to Nanxiang, otherwise the loss of the Nanxiang camp was basically a foregone conclusion.

The situation in Luojiagang and Huacao is not much better, although the Taiping army that attacked these two Wu strongholds is not particularly elite, but because of the different degrees of importance, the Wu army in Shanghai guarding these two strongholds is also a second-line army, and the equipment and combat effectiveness are also not very strong, and the picric acid weapons used for emergency relief are less stockpiled. So after nearly a day and night, these two strongholds also asked for help one after another, and they were crumbling.

When it was dark the next day, the situation was even more critical, first a messenger from Nanxiang came to report, saying that the picric acid weapon had been used up, and the casualties had exceeded forty percent; Then Luojiagang also sent bad news, saying that the guard general Su Youfu was killed by a stray bullet, although Su Youfu's deputy stepped forward in time to pick up the heavy burden, but the morale of the army has been severely damaged, and the army casualties have been close to forty percent.

"Is it a contraction of the line of defense? Or send reinforcements to stabilize the perimeter? ”

Although he is the de facto teacher of Zhao Liewen, the second person in the Wu army, Zhou Tenghu's personality and temper are far less like that of his brother-in-law, and after hesitating for a long time next to the map sand table, Zhou Tenghu still chose to be prudent and cautious, and ordered to take the initiative to abandon the Luojiagang stronghold, and also allowed the Huacao defenders to retreat on their own when they could not support it, and withdrew the troops from both places to Wangjiasi, shrinking the Puxi defense line that was not easy to maintain so far.

"Dashuai, what should I do over there in Nanxiang?" Deng Siyuan asked.

"Tell Chen Jingsheng to hold on for another day." Zhou Tenghu replied expressionlessly: "Abandon the camp and break through tonight, and withdraw to Jiangqiao to wait." ”

Although he knew very well in his heart that the second-line army of the two battalions under Chen Jingsheng might not be able to survive this day, Deng Siyuan still didn't say anything, just nodded silently and accepted. Zhou Tenghu was also like a knife, and said secretly: "I'm sorry, Nanxiang soldiers, I have an elite reserve in my hand, but I can't send it to you, and I have to borrow your life to consume more long-haired elites and foreign guns and ammunition." ”

After making this painful decision, Zhou Tenghu naturally remembered Lu Shunde's sending people to surrender last night, and looked forward to it in his heart, "I hope that I really ask for surrender, even if I can't change the strength and weakness, I can also hit Changmao's military morale, disrupt Changmao's overall plan, and help me draw troops from the Eastern Front to reinforce the Western Front." ”

The ideal is very plump, the reality is very skinny, and at noon, a very unexpected news suddenly came - the scout actually reported that Lu Shunde's Taiping army was moving towards the Huangpu River pontoon bridge, as if it was going to be transferred to the Pudong battlefield. Zhou Tenghu was surprised when he heard the report, and hurriedly ordered to carefully investigate the reason.

Perennial confrontation with Lu Shunde's troops in the territory of Songjiang Prefecture, the Shanghai Wu Army naturally bribed and installed an inside line in Lu Shunde's army, although it could not access the tactical secrets of Lu Shunde's army, it was easy to inquire about the reason for the transfer of troops. Therefore, just after confirming that Lu Shunde's army crossed the Huangpu River and marched to Puxi, Wei Wencheng, the spy leader of the Wu Army in Shanghai, personally sent the news and reported: "Lord Futai, the reason why Lu Shunde's long hair went to Puxi has been inquired, and it was Li Xiucheng's personal order to ask Lu Shunde to go to Puxi to make meritorious service and directly accept Li Xiucheng's order. ”

Of course, it is reasonable to transfer the army that has repeatedly acted without authorization to a nearby place to monitor and control, so Zhou Tenghu's heart jumped, and he suddenly gave birth to greater hope, and hurriedly ordered Wei Wencheng to continue to carefully investigate the specific situation of Lu Shunde's department, and then instructed the captain of the pro-army next to him: "If Lu Shunde's long-haired man sends someone to contact us again, no matter when, bring him to see me immediately." ”