It is useless to see clearly the tactical purpose of the Taiping army, Zhou Tenghu is still in a dilemma - sending troops to rescue Nanxiang will give the Taiping army a chance to encircle and send reinforcements, and if he does not save it, he will probably not be able to keep it, and he will be in a dilemma.

"Save? Or not save? If you save it, will it be taken by Long Hair to fight a decisive battle? If you don't save it, what will be the consequences? ”

After turning around the governor's yamen hall several times with his hands behind his back, Zhou Tenghu suddenly stopped and asked Deng Siyuan, who was waiting for his life next to him: "Siyuan, Nanxiang's guard Chen Jingsheng was single-handedly promoted by you, how is this person?" Is it reliable? ”

"Reliable." Deng Siyuan replied without thinking about it: "Although he is the third batch of soldiers to join the command of King Zhennan, and has not participated in the Battle of Huangdu and the Battle of Jiangning, he has followed King Zhennan to the north to King Qin and south to quell the rebellion, and he can be regarded as an old man in our army." Yiliang borrowed troops from us to fight Changmao, and when our army was defeated in a heavy rain, he was in charge of the palace in that battalion, and he himself was not lightly injured, but he still insisted on following the army and made meritorious contributions. The last general also saw this and gradually promoted him. ”

Zhou Tenghu nodded, and finally made up his mind, and ordered: "You personally give Chen Jingsheng an order, asking him to give me all my strength to defend Nanxiang, and allow him to use the picric acid weapon in Nanxiang's camp at will, but he is never allowed to abandon the camp and retreat without authorization!" Nanxiang's camp is here, his head is here! Nan Xiang lost, his head lost! ”

Hearing Zhou Tenghu's voice, Deng Siyuan hurriedly asked: "Futai, are you going to let our brothers in Nanxiang fight by themselves and not send reinforcements to them?" ”

"Nanxiang is important, but not the most important." Zhou Tenghu's voice was a little cold, and he said: "For Changmao, it doesn't matter if you can take Nanxiang or not, of course it's best if you take it, and if you can't take it, you can continue to take a detour to Wusongkou to pick up their sailors." ”

"But for us, it is not cost-effective to fight a decisive battle with Changmao for a camp on the north bank of Suzhou Creek, whether it is won or lost." Zhou Tenghu's tone became colder and colder, and he said: "Our main force still has to be kept to defend Shanghai, and it can't be used to defend a barracks, that's because of a small loss." ”

Deng Siyuan was silent, sighed before holding his fists and agreeing, and said: "Lord Futai, don't worry, the last general will give Chen Jingsheng a warrant, so that he must defend Nanxiang no matter what." ”

Zhou Tenghu nodded, and ordered Deng Siyuan to send two battalions of elite reinforcements to the Caohejing battlefield, where the Wu army was currently in the best situation, to launch a local counterattack, and by the way to ensure the safety of the pontoon bridge erected by the Wu army in Dongjiadu, so as not to give the Taiping army a chance to divide the Wu army on both sides of the Huangpu River.

When Deng Siyuan's handwritten order was sent to the Nanxiang battlefield, it was just in time for the reinforcements sent by the British army to the Wu army in Nanxiang to be repulsed by the Taiping army—although the British army could fight, it was too few in number and only two companies. The Taiping army sent by Li Xiucheng to attack Nanxiang was not only well-equipped, but also dealt with foreign troops along the coast all the year round, and was familiar with the tactics and tactics of the British army.

The foreigner reinforcements were forced to retreat, and the morale had just been affected, and the boss came to order him to defend to the end, and the pressure on the mountain was naturally all pressed on Chen Jingsheng, the commander of the Wu army's Nanxiang. But fortunately, Chen Jingsheng finally did not disappoint Deng Siyuan, after receiving the order, he neither complained nor complained, and also released a message that a large number of reinforcements would arrive soon, so as to stabilize the hearts of the people in Nanxiang, and at the same time, Chen Jingsheng also expected that the Taiping army, which had just repelled the British army, would inevitably attack on a large scale soon, and ordered to prepare for the use of picric acid weapons early.

was guessed by Chen Jingsheng, and under the great morale of the British army, Hong Chunyuan, the general of the Taiping Army who led the army to attack Nanxiang, really exerted all his strength in the next attack, in a vain attempt to win the victory on the battlefield of Nanxiang in one go. As a result, the picric acid weapons prepared by the Nanxiang Wu army in advance naturally came in handy, and the grenadier shells that had not dared to squander it suddenly shot out one after another, and the bitter acid grenades that would never dare to be used until the critical moment were also smashed out one after another, and immediately blew up the Taiping army, which was a little too dense in formation, and the elite soldiers of the Taiping army were directly killed and wounded, which immediately caused heavy losses to the Taiping army.

In the ensuing fierce battle, although the Taiping army launched a strong attack on the Nanxiang stronghold of the Wu army twice, and relied on the cover of a sudden heavy rain, once broke through the Wu army's trench fence defense line and entered the Wu army's camp, but it was still repelled by the Nanxiang Wu army in a white-knuckle battle, and it was not possible to take the Wu army's Nanxiang camp until it was completely dark.

During this period, after obtaining two battalions of elite reinforcements, the Wu army on the Caohejing battlefield also successfully reaped a counterattack victory, and successfully defeated the Taiping army attacking Caohejing with a counter-charge, which not only shattered the Taiping army's dream of taking Caohejing to directly threaten the suburbs of Shanghai, but also gradually stabilized the situation on the Shanghai battlefield that was once in an emergency.

However, the fierce battles in the Wu army's various camps continued, and the Taiping army, which had strong troops, was still constantly rotating troops to attack the Wu army's camps, and there were still sufficient reserves to enter the battlefield to strengthen the offensive at the necessary moment. Therefore, Zhou Tenghu also died of the heart of sleeping tonight, and directly lived in the lobby of the Jiangsu governor's yamen for the night, keeping abreast of the military intelligence reports constantly sent from various battlefields.

The more tired and the more things happen, when midnight is approaching, the sound of gunfire is still faintly coming, Jin Anqing suddenly went up to the lobby with a pair of panda eyes, first carefully woke up Zhou Tenghu who was napping, and then put a letter in front of Zhou Tenghu, and said: "Tao Fu, Lu Shunde, the long-haired leader of Songjiang, just sent someone to send it, Lu Shunde's handwritten letter." ”

"Lu Shunde?!" Hearing this name, the sleepy-eyed Zhou Tenghu suddenly became sleepy, and immediately asked while receiving the letter: "How did he send the letter?" ”

"The little long-haired man who was sent directly by his brother-in-law Lu Jixiang and who often contacted us for Lu Shunde, I have seen it, and you should have seen it." Jin Anqing replied: "I was captured by our soldiers at Dongjiadu, and I wanted to see you by name, but the people have already been escorted, and they are waiting outside the hall." ”

Zhou Tenghu didn't speak anymore, but immediately opened the handwritten letter of Lu Shunde that had been opened and read it, but saw that the content of the letter was very simple, that is, Lu Shunde hoped to get the forgiveness and forgiveness of the Shanghai Wu Army, and asked Zhou Tenghu to accept his surrender, and said that as long as Zhou Tenghu promised to spare himself from death and save his life and property, he would not only surrender to the Shanghai Wu Army with as many descendants as possible, but also turn against the Shanghai Wu Army on the battlefield and help the Shanghai Wu Army kill the other Taiping troops on the Pudong battlefield.

After reading the handwritten letter from Lu Shunde with a seal, Zhou Tenghu did not hesitate, and immediately asked Jin Anqing: "Have you asked the reason?" Lu Shunde's long hair, why did he ask us to surrender for no reason? ”

"I've asked, Changmao sneaked up on our Bailianjing camp last night, and it was Lu Shunde who went behind Li Xiucheng's back to do his own thing." Jin Anqing replied: "As a result, not only did Bai Lianjing not be defeated, but Li Xiucheng's tactical plan to attack our other camps today was also greatly affected, Li Xiucheng was angry to cure Lu Shunde's crime, and he also wanted to push the black pot that was unfavorable during the day to Lu Shunde alone, Lu Shunde heard the wind in advance through Huang Zilong, and for the safety of his family, he had to come to beg us to accept his surrender." ”

After quickly finishing the reason for Lu Shunde's request for surrender, Jin Anqing added two more sentences and said: "Lu Shunde also asked his brother-in-law to bring us a message, saying that he knew that we could not believe it, so he simply sent his brother-in-law with his handwritten letter to prove his sincerity, so that we could take the lives of his whole family at any time." ”

"In addition, more than halfway through tonight, Lu Shunde has to pretend that he can't hold on and take the initiative to withdraw from the army, reduce the pressure on us, and leave the descendants of the army to listen to our arrangements."

Zhou Tenghu quickly calculated, and then first took out his pocket watch to check the time, and saw that the time was a little past twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, and when he listened carefully, he found that the sound of guns and cannons on Bai Lianjing's side had indeed been significantly sparse and weakened, and his heart couldn't help but waver, and said secretly: "Is it a fraud?" Or is it really surrendered? ”

After another period of time, the sound of guns and cannons on Bailianjing's side gradually disappeared, and then another herald came to report, saying that Bailianjing had successfully repelled the attack of the Taiping army, and Lu Shunde's troops were directly defeated and fled back to Sanlintang, and the battle on the Pudong battlefield was basically over. However, after hearing the good news, Zhou Tenghu did not have the slightest joy, on the contrary, he pondered for a long time before asking Jin Anqing: "What do you think?" ”

"I can't see through it, I can't tell the real from the fake." Jin Anqing shook his head.

Zhou Tenghu hesitated again, and then ordered: "Let's meet Lu Shunde's brother-in-law and bring it up." ”