At the same time as the stone was broken, the Wu army actually had a chance to take the city of Wuwei Prefecture - after Fan Yunde led the army out of the city, Ma Yutang, the number one scum of the Wuwei Taiping Army, had been waiting in the city of Wuwei to make a move, as long as the Wu army sent an army to attack the city by the way, Ma Yutang would immediately launch a mutiny and open the city gate to welcome the Wu army into the city.

But it's a pity that the Wu army Cao Yanzhong and Feng Sanbao chose to deal with Shi Dakai's main force with all their might, and no one had time to divide the army to attack Wuwei City, and Fan Yunde was defeated by the Wu army and returned to the city directly with the defeated soldiers.

It is also retribution, Ma Yutang, who escaped from Wuwei City, first met the team of Feng Sanbao's corps of the Wu army, and was first escorted to Feng Sanbao, who was angry with him for making himself embarrassed, not only failed to get a heavy reward immediately, but also received a scolding from Feng Sanbao who was not angry, and suffered some grievances. But fortunately, Feng Sanbao is not a person with a rat's belly and chicken intestines, so he didn't continue to worry about Ma Yutang when he was angry, and asked, "How many old departments do you still have in Wuwei City?" Are you sure that they will open the gates of the city and receive our army into the city? ”

"Back to Feng Dashuai, the sin general will not dare to say this certainty." Ma Yutang said with a sad face: "There are still some old departments in Wuwei City, but after Fan Yunde's long-haired return to the city, he will definitely remove the hidden dangers of the old subordinates of the last general, whether they can escape from the poisonous hands, whether they will change their minds, the sin general really doesn't know." ”

Feng Sanbao was greatly disappointed when he heard this, but he had no choice but to secretly hate himself for not considering the overall situation and missing a rare opportunity to directly take Wuwei City. Li Hezhang next to him saw Feng Sanbao's thoughts, and hurriedly comforted: "Uncle, it's okay, it doesn't matter if you can't take Wuwei City quickly, anyway, the main force of the big hairy Shi Dakai has been broken by us, and the small city of Wuwei is isolated and helpless, and sooner or later it can be taken down." ”

"I know it's only a matter of time before I take down Wuwei, but it's not my pity that this is not the case." Feng Sanbao rarely did not completely obey Li Hezhang's words, and said regretfully: "It's a pity that I missed the fighter, if we took Wuwei City yesterday and completely dredged the waterway from Huguang to Wuhu, then we would have completed the mission assigned by the King of Zhennan." After that, we can act on our own and go to fight the other long-haired cities. ”

"Uncle, could it be that you intend to personally raise troops to fight Jiangning and win the first merit of breaking the long-haired pseudo-capital?" Li Hezhang understood what Feng Sanbao meant.

"Don't think of your uncle as greedy for merit, the strength of our army is not sure that it will be able to take Jiangning, I want to share the pressure for our friendly army in Shanghai as soon as possible." Feng Sanbao shook his head and said: "Our friendly army in Shanghai has been surrounded by Li Xiucheng's troops for so long, if we quickly open the road to Jiangning and threaten the safety of the long-haired puppet capital, Li Xiucheng has to immediately return to the army to save their puppet capital, then our Shanghai friendly army will be much easier, and the king of Zhennan can rest assured in the rear." Don't you know what kind of feelings our Zhennan King has for his grandfather? ”

Li Hezhang came to his senses and said respectfully: "Uncle forgive me, my little nephew finally understood today why the King of Zhennan would rather let people say that he was nepotistic behind his back, and let you take on the burden of being the commander of the Second Route Eastern Expeditionary Army." ”

"The military duke is selfless, regardless of personal gains and losses, and gives priority to the safety of friendly troops, and the last general also admires him." Ding Baozhen next to him also hurriedly patted his ass, and said: "But the last general is bold, I feel that whether I can take Wuwei as soon as possible has little to do with whether I can share the pressure for the friendly forces in Shanghai as soon as possible, if Feng Junmen really intends to enter Jiangning as soon as possible, and force Li Xiu's main force to return to the army immediately to save their pseudo-capital, we actually have another way." ”

"What's the solution?" Feng Sanbao asked.

"Continue to act separately with Cao Yanzhong's soldiers and horses of Cao Junmen." Ding Baozhen proposed: "Now that Shi Dakai's main force has been destroyed, and the long-haired army around the Wuhu battlefield is only the remnants of Fan Yunde and Li Kaifang's defeated generals, whether it is us or Cao Junmen's army, it is enough to deal with it alone, and it is guaranteed that it is only a matter of time before Wuwei and Taiping Mansion City are taken." In this case, why should we waste time dealing with Cao Junmen in each city, it is better to deal with Fan Yunde and Li Kaifang alone with one line of soldiers and horses, and the other way to go east with all our might, directly attack Jiangning and threaten the Changmao puppet capital, forcing Li Xiucheng to return to the division to save the siege of Jiangning, and encircle Wei to rescue Zhao to relieve the difficulties of the friendly army in Shanghai. ”

Feng Sanbao was greatly moved when he heard this, and said after thinking about it: "The method is not bad, but will Cao Yanzhong's side agree?" Also, with only one army marching into Jiangning, wouldn't it be too risky to go deep alone? ”

"As long as the power to control the river is in our hands, the supply road is unblocked, and the lone army can also ensure that there is no wind and no danger." Ding Baozhen said confidently: "The big deal is to turn offense into defense, take a defensive position and wait for the arrival of backups. As for Cao Yanzhong and Cao Junmen, as long as they explain it to him and let him know that this can immediately lift the siege of Shanghai, he will not object to it. ”

"There's another crucial point." Ding Baozhen suddenly smiled a little strangely, and said with a smile: "Cao Junmen's army has been stationed in Wuhu for a period of time, familiar with all the situation in this area, we have just arrived near Wuhu and don't know anything about the geographical road, if there is an army to march into Jiangning first, Cao Junmen will not want us to stay and start over, let his army go to Jiangning first, right?" ”

Hearing this, Feng Sanbao immediately laughed, and Li Hezhang and the other civil and military officials of Feng Sanbao's corps who were present also laughed, and they all laughed very happily. Ma Yutang, who had just joined the Wu Army and didn't have any official position, also laughed, and then muttered in his heart, "When the old man has to dig out his heart to grab credit, it seems that it is not easy to mix under the account of the king of Zhennan." ”

Determined to get the first opportunity to be the first to attack the city of Nanjing, Feng Sanbao's army did not even set up a camp, and rested directly on the spot at the muddy river wharf that the Taiping army voluntarily abandoned, and in the afternoon of the same day, Feng Sanbao sent Li Hezhang to Wuhu on his behalf to meet with Cao Yanzhong, Wang Fu and other generals to discuss the tactical plan for continuing their separate actions. The result was not as Ding Baozhen expected, Cao Yanzhong, who had a deep relationship with the Wu army in Shanghai, was really very moved by this proposal, but considering the strength of Feng Sanbao's army, Cao Yanzhong was unwilling to let Feng Sanbao's army take this risk, and proposed that Feng Sanbao be responsible for attacking Wuwei and Taiping Mansion, and he would lead the army to Nanjing first.

"Cao Junmen, Uncle Feng said it, it's not that he wants to compete with you, it's that you are more familiar with the situation around the Wuhu battlefield than us."

Forced to be helpless, Li Hezhang could only start his tongue like a spring, and said in a hearty manner: "If we are responsible for clearing out the remnants of the enemy around the Wuhu battlefield, we must first exchange positions with you, and we must first find out the specific situation around the Wuhu battlefield, and then we can launch an attack on the city, so it is too much of a waste of time." But if we go to fight Jiangning first, the situation will be completely different, uncle he can avoid these troubles, Cao Junmen, you can also launch an attack as soon as possible, take Taiping Mansion and Wuwei earlier, and then march to reinforce us as soon as possible. ”

Although Li Hezhang is a quibble, it is a completely reasonable quibble, Cao Yanzhong can't refute it, he can only say this: "Brother Li, this matter is not a joke, as far as we know, the long-haired troops in Jiangning City are not only numerous, but also very well equipped, in addition, the long-haired troops in Zhenjiang, Jiangyin and Yangzhou will definitely return to Jiangning as soon as possible, your army is mainly based on the southwest army, and it is only very difficult to fight." Moreover, once the main force of Changmao in Jiangsu and Zhejiang led by Li Xiucheng returns to the Jiangning battlefield earlier than us, I am afraid that you will still be in danger of being counterattacked. ”

"Cao Junmen, don't worry, we have thought about it carefully." Li Hezhang replied: "If we really encounter such a situation, we will turn the offensive into defense, take a defensive position to deal with the counterattack of Changmao, and wait for Cao Junmen to take the Taiping Mansion and Wuwei and then march east to reinforce us." ”

Cao Yanzhong frowned, still worried about the danger faced by Feng Sanbao's corps after venturing eastward, but Wang Fu was more supportive of Feng Sanbao's decision, and said to Cao Yanzhong: "Cao Junmen, although Feng Junmen's eastward march alone seems to be risky, I don't think the danger is great, first of all, Feng Junmen can defend himself according to the danger, even if the long hair dumps the nest and counterattacks, he has a certain certainty of self-protection, and secondly, the right to control the river is in our hands, which can ensure the smooth supply of grain routes, and can also retreat on the ship when it is dangerous, and the army that Long Mao wants to encircle and annihilate Feng Junmen may be very small." ”

"And more crucially, fighter planes are rare." Wang Fu said again: "The main force of Changmao Shi Dakai suddenly collapsed, this must be beyond the expectations of Changmao, the army's heart is shaken, and the deployment is chaotic, if we seize this opportunity to immediately enter Jiangning, not only can we completely disrupt the plan steps of Changmao in southern Jiangsu to return to Jiangning, but also hope to break through Changmao's reinforcements and win the decisive battle." ”

Cao Yanzhong still couldn't make up his mind, and the result was also a coincidence, just at this time, the Wu army scouts sent urgent news, saying that they found that the remnants of Shi Dakai's army were assembling under the city of Hezhou, Cao Yanzhong suddenly woke up, knowing that if he didn't hurry up to put further pressure on Hong Xiuquan and gave Shi Dakai the opportunity to lead the remnants back to Nanjing for reinforcements, then it would be more difficult to encircle Wei and save Zhao and force Li Xiucheng to give up attacking Shanghai!

"Well, anyway, the power to control the river is in our hands, so if we can't beat it, let's run." Cao Yanzhong gritted his teeth, and then said to Li Hezhang: "Go back and tell Uncle Feng that since he has made up his mind, then I have no objection to him entering Jiangning alone first." But please remember one thing, after arriving in Jiangning, he must rely on the wharf to set up camp, and the sailors must not risk going ashore to participate in the war, they can only give priority to the protection of Jiangquan! ”

Li Hezhang agreed, and agreed with Cao Yanzhong to send troops, and then he said goodbye and left, while Cao Yanzhong divided his troops to take over the important position of Feng Sanbao's garrison, and at the same time asked the army to step up preparations to attack the city, determined to take the Taiping Mansion City first, and then go to fight Wuwei.

In this way, at noon the next day, when the fighters were not very mature, the Wu army Feng Sanbao Corps boarded the ship and set off, taking the lead in killing Nanjing, the old nest of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. And what is quite interesting is that whether it was the Wu army Zeng Guoquan who attacked the Manchu capital first, or the Wu army Feng Sanbao, who first attacked the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they were not the strongest elite corps of the Wu army, and they were all fighting an uncertain battle.

Perhaps luck is destined to belong to the brave, at about two o'clock that night, when Xu Laibu, a naval division of the Wu army under the command of Feng Sanbao, was protecting the Wu army's troop transport fleet approaching the surface of Hezhou, the scout clipper who was exploring the way in front suddenly came to report to Xu Lai, saying that a large number of civilian ships had been found on the river in front, and the ships were full of Taiping soldiers wrapped in red turbans. As a result, Xu Lai's first reaction when he heard it was not at all in disbelief, and he asked in surprise: "Longhair's troop transport fleet?" How can it be? How can there be a long-haired troop carrier here? ”

No one could answer Xu Lai's question, on the contrary, Xu Lai suddenly came to his senses, patted his thigh and said, "It must be Shi Dakai's defeated army!" His remnants were assembled in Hezhou, and they wanted to return to Jiangning for reinforcements, and without the escort of the sailors, they could only sneak across the river, which happened to be met by us! ”

"General Xu, what a chance!" The general said in surprise: "We should immediately ask Feng Junmen for an order, and let our sailors send warships to rob and kill!" ”

"It's too late, our boiler sound has been heard by Longhair." Xu Lai immediately made a decision and shouted: "Immediately dispatch two steam cannon boats, plus sixty military sampans, and rush up to fuck him!" ”

The order was delivered, and without having time to ask Feng Sanbao's consent, the two Wu army's steam gunboats roared and accelerated their speed to the highest speed, and rushed downstream, followed by sixty military sampans, shouting and rushing to the Taiping troop convoy ahead. And what is very funny is that the first thing to be frightened is not the Taiping army troop transport fleet that is about to be in calamity, but the Wu army soldiers and Feng Sanbao on the Wu army troop transport ship, who were awakened by the sudden acceleration of the steam warship's boiler sound and shouting of killing, all of them changed color, and they all thought that the Taiping army was coming to sneak attack the transport fleet of their own army.

Wu Jun's own people were frightened, of course, not to mention the Taiping Army fleet that was sneaking back to Nanjing, seeing the two Wu Army steam gunboats roaring and killing, and none of the unarmed Taiping Army troop transport fleets from top to bottom were not hair on end, and they screamed miserably, "Demon soldiers' steamers? How can it be? When did the demon soldier's steamer come?! ”

The one who was most frightened was of course Shi Dakai himself, who personally organized and initiated this late-night return voyage - he was almost directly frightened and fainted, exclaiming: "How is it possible? How could the demon soldiers know that we had returned to Jiangning overnight? Where is the news leaking? This king only made a decision in the afternoon, even if the demon soldiers were lurking in Hezhou, it was impossible for them to send the news to Wuhu so quickly? The demon soldier's steamer can't come so soon, right? ”

In fact, the truth is no longer important to Shi Dakai, the important thing is that the troop transport ships he worked so hard to collect from the people have neither any armament, nor any speed and maneuver advantage, even the military sampan of the Wu Army's naval division can easily catch up and easily kill with small-caliber bow guns, so when the two steam gunboats of the Wu army rushed into the Taiping army's troop transport fleet at high speed, it was directly a pure massacre.

"Come to the shore! Stay on the South Shore! How many troops can be saved! Although Shi Dakai's order shouted with tears in his eyes was correct, it was a pity, because most of the sailors on the troop carrier were forcibly recruited by the people, and the flag of his flagship was not understood by many of the helmsmen of the troop carrier............