With the Hubei New Army crossing the Yangtze River to the north, the situation of Zhong Tingsheng of the Taiping Army in the city of Huangzhou has become more embarrassing, and he is trying his best to defend the city. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoAbandon the city and leave, it's a pity, I don't want to abandon the city and I want to hold the city, the only way is to ask for help.

Whether to rescue the Huangzhou capital city is also a big problem, the battle of Wuchang County, although the main force of the Taiping Army Navy Division was not fatally damaged, but also in front of the main force of the Hunan Army Navy Division is even more uncertain, dispatched to rescue the Huangzhou City is not only not sure, but also quite dangerous. The main force of the Taiping Army has also been transferred to the more important Nanchang battlefield, and it is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive to transfer the army back to reinforce Huangzhou, but also equivalent to throwing watermelons and picking sesame seeds. So in a dilemma, Qin Rigang could only kick the ball to Shi Dakai, the coach of the Western Front of the Taiping Army, and let Shi Dakai make up his mind.

The Taiping army wanted to wait for Shi Dakai's decision, but Wu Chaoyue refused to wait and waste time, only a day after moving the camp to the north bank of the Yangtze River, after personally exploring the terrain, Wu Chaoyue soon chose the main battlefield of the siege outside the open Huangzhou Mansion, and in view of the fact that the Taiping army's artillery was concentrated in the north gate, let the artillery build a large number of temporary batteries outside the city, and prepare to pull out the Taiping army's batteries with the rear-loading rifled guns that are several generations ahead of the Taiping army's artillery in technology, weaken the Taiping army's defensive firepower and open the siege road.

After making up his mind, Wu Chaoyue symbolically greeted Zeng Guofan, asking Zeng Guofan to dispatch Hunan artillery to help the battle and help his army increase its firepower. However, to Wu Chaoyue's surprise, the barber teacher, who has always been stingy, not only agreed to help, but also agreed to attack the city with artillery the next day without hesitation, and even more rarely took the initiative to send Zeng Guoquan to lead the army to protect the artillery position and prevent the Taiping army from raiding out of the city.

What is the reason why the barber teacher suddenly became so generous, Wu Chaoyue couldn't guess for a while, but with the help of the Hunan artillery, the firepower of the Hubei New Army was still greatly enhanced, and on the morning of the next day, when fifteen breech guns and more than 60 Hunan army mountain splitting guns joined forces to bombard the north gate of Huangzhou City, the Qing army completely suppressed the firepower of the Taiping army's battery, and the Taiping army's battery was only able to parry, and there was no power to fight back.

In the fierce artillery battle, the solid shells of the Hunan army of course only play an auxiliary effect, the real can form a fatal threat to the Taiping army artillery is always the Wu army's picric acid shells, as long as it can hit the fort to explode, the shock wave and shrapnel emitted when the picric acid explosion can instantly sweep away the Taiping gunners on the fort, picric acid flames can often ignite the gunpowder on the fort to cause martyrdom, if the picric acid shells can get away with the Taiping army's artillery close, You can even rely on the shock wave to tear down the Taiping artillery directly from the battery. In the end, coupled with the advanced artillery technology learned from the West and the high precision of rifled guns, the artillery of the Taiping Army quickly fell silent in the fierce artillery fire, forcing Zhong Tingsheng to quickly order the artillery to be moved off the battery, so as not to scrap all the artillery and have no firepower to suppress the Qing army during the ant war.

During this period, Zhong Tingsheng, who did not have many troops in his hands, never dared to send troops out of the city to fight, and he did not even dare to arrange many soldiers on duty in the city, and the soldiers brought by Wu Chaoyue and Zeng Guoquan have always been useless, but because of the distance between the positions, Wu Chaoyue and Zeng Guoquan have not been able to meet. In the end, it was still until all the artillery of the Taiping Army was withdrawn from the battery, and the breech guns of the Wu army could no longer find valuable targets to fire.

Among the brothers of the Zeng family, Zeng Guoquan and Wu Chaoyue, who were relatively upright, got along quite well, waved their hands and said directly, no need to be polite, and then asked Wu Chaoyue with great curiosity about the reason for the high accuracy of Wu's artillery, Wu Chaoyue also told the truth, saying that the gunners of the self-army had been trained by the foreign army, and roughly introduced the principle of rifling to stabilize the trajectory. Zeng Guoquan was even more envious when he heard this, and said: "Weiting, you are familiar with foreigners, can you help us buy some of this kind of artillery?" ”

"It's a trivial matter, I'll place an order for foreigners when I go back." Wu Chaoyue agreed, and then couldn't wait to ask Zeng Guoquan: "Uncle Jiu, most of the artillery and forts arranged by Changmao at the north gate have been killed by us, how about we seize the time to attack the city tomorrow and the day after tomorrow?" ”

"You have to discuss this matter with my brother, I don't count." Zeng Guoquan replied helplessly.

Wu Chaoyue nodded, and said to Zeng Guoquan in a low voice: "Uncle Jiu, when I go to see the teacher to discuss this matter later, please help me say a few more good words and help me persuade the teacher." Huangzhou is close to the city of Wuchang Mansion, and I can't get it back for a day, and I, the governor of Hubei, don't dare to close my eyes when I sleep in Wuchang Mansion for a day. ”

Knowing that his eldest brother would never easily make up his mind to launch an attack on the city, but Zeng Guoquan still casually agreed, when Wu Chaoyue hurriedly thanked him, a Wu Chaoyue's personal soldier hurriedly ran to the nearest place with a letter, Wu Chaoyue's personal soldier captain Wu Dacheng stepped forward to ask about the situation, and then handed the letter to Wu Chaoyue, and said: "Lord Futai, Mr. Huang Sheng just sent someone from Hankou, saying that it was a letter about military affairs, and it was urgent. ”

Wu Chaoyue took the letter casually and opened it in front of Zeng Guoquan to read it, but after only a few glances, Wu Chaoyue's face quickly changed, and Zeng Guoquan next to him saw that something was wrong, and asked Wu Chaoyue curiously: "Weiting, what's wrong?" ”

"No ......, nothing." Wu Chaoyue's expression was a little flustered, and while folding the letter back into the envelope and stuffing it into his sleeve, he said casually: "Uncle Jiu, the little nephew has some things to deal with, so I will leave first." ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue led Wu Dadao and the others to leave in a hurry, Zeng Guoquan felt a little strange in his heart but didn't care much, and was about to ride his horse away, but the soldiers next to him reminded in a low voice: "Nine Marshal, Wu Futai's letter has dropped." ”

Zeng Guoquan looked down, but saw that the letter that made Wu Chaoyue's expression change just now did fall to the ground, and then in the flash of light, Zeng Guoquan quickly made up his mind, and said to the pro-soldier next to him, the pro-soldier understood, and immediately picked up the letter and presented it to Zeng Guoquan, Zeng Guoquan took it and took out the letter and read it roughly, and then his expression changed greatly. Then, Zeng Guoquan quickly stuffed the letter back into the envelope and asked his own soldiers to chase after Wu Chaoyue to return the letter. And then ......

Then, the general content of the letter was naturally reported to Zeng Guofan by Zeng Guoquan.

"How much do you know about Huang Sheng?"

This is the first question raised by Zeng Guofan after thinking about it for a long time, and the intelligence ability of the Hunan army is also quite good, Guo Songtao immediately replied: "Huang Sheng, the word Pingfu, Wu Chaoyue fellow villager, Wu Chaoyue's grandfather sponsored to study in Citigroup, because of the water and soil adaptation only stayed in Citigroup for a year before returning to the Qing Dynasty, and then has been serving in Hong Kong, and later Wu Chaoyue recruited him with a letter, because he received the great favor of the Wu family, he went to Shanghai and entered Wu Chaoyue's shogunate, and has been staying in the rear of Shanghai for Wu Chaoyue, presided over various foreign affairs for Wu Chaoyue, and came to Hankou with the foreigner fleet a few days ago. ”

"Sure enough, it's a little slippery friend." Zeng Guofan muttered in his stomach first, and then asked, "Then what about his talents?" ”

"I don't know." Guo Songtao replied truthfully: "He has not been in Hankou for a few days, and the students have not yet found out his details, only know that he can speak foreign languages, and he is responsible for all kinds of business in Hankou. ”

Zeng Guofan was silent, but Liu Rong next to him said: "If that letter is really written by this Huang Sheng, then this Huang Sheng is not only proficient in foreign affairs, but also very unique in terms of strategic level, which can be regarded as a rare talent." ”

"Mr. Meng Rong, what do you mean by that?" Guo Songtao was a little confused when he heard this, and asked suspiciously: "Listening to your tone, you seem to suspect that the letter that General Nine saw was forged?" ”

"What a coincidence." Liu Rong sneered and said: "Such an important and critical letter happened to be delivered to Wu Chaoyue when he was talking to General Jiu, and Wu Chaoyue happened to accidentally leave it, giving General Jiu a chance to peek at the letter. It's so coincidental, it's as if it's deliberately arranged. ”

"Mr. Meng Rong, did the comfort pavilion deliberately give me the opportunity to peek at the letter?" Zeng Guoquan asked in surprise.

Liu Rong nodded with a sneer and said, "He expected that you couldn't help but be curious to peek at the letter, and he also expected that you would definitely report the content of the letter to the big handsome, so it is likely that you have fallen into his trap when you opened the letter." Wu Chaoyue is notoriously cunning and resourceful in the use of troops. ”

"Then why did he do it?" Zeng Guoquan asked even more surprised: "Isn't he afraid that his brother will really bring the main force into the Jiangxi battlefield, let him face the main force of Changmao alone, and force him into a desperate situation?" ”

"He's trying to make a bet with me." Zeng Guofan finally spoke, and said in a flat tone: "He deliberately reminded me that by doing this, I could push him harder, and then as long as I did what he instructed, I would walk on the table with him." If he loses the gamble, he can only obediently ask us for help, begging us to save him, and we can also slaughter him and give him what he wants. ”

"But if he wins the bet, he won't have to worry about my extortion of him in the future, he can use all the money, food, and military salaries in Hubei to handle his Hubei New Army, and compete with me for merit and favor, and it will be difficult for me to have the opportunity to force him to hand over the money, food, and weapons, and I have to be restrained by him to a certain extent."

Speaking of this slowly, Zeng Guofan also smiled slightly, and said: "He really deserves to be the best protégé of Ben Shuai, and he really has the guts, in order not to be restrained by Ben Shuai, he would rather take the risk of dealing with the main force of Long Hair alone." Sure enough, there is courage and courage! ”

"If this letter is really deliberately arranged by Wu Chaoyue for General Nine to see, then there is only one explanation." Liu Rong nodded in agreement, and then asked Zeng Guofan: "Dashuai, your student has already placed a bet on the table, do you, the banker, accept this bet?" Take a big gamble with your students? ”

"Mr. Meng Rong, in your opinion, should Ben Shuai bet on this?" Zeng Guofan asked rhetorically.

"It's ......." Liu Rong hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Dashuai, the student thinks that you shouldn't gamble, if you don't bet, you will already win, although you are destined to win more if you win the bet, if you accidentally lose the bet, Wu Chaoyue really carried the long hair alone to take advantage of Hubei, then we will be in big trouble." ”

"Dashuai, the last general also thinks that it should be cautious, and it is best not to gamble." Luo Zenan also said: "As long as we don't expel Changmao from Hubei for a day, Wu Chaoyue will ask us for a day, but if we go all out to drive Changmao out of Hubei, and Wu Chaoyue alone bears the next wave of Changmao's counterattack, then he will be a dragon going to the sea and a tiger entering the mountain, and we will have no way and opportunity to restrain him." ”

"Especially when Hankow has already opened its port." Liu Rong also pointed out: "There is no need to say how important the tariff is, Hankou Port is now a hen that can lay golden eggs, and the golden eggs will definitely get bigger and bigger!" We can discuss these things with Wu Chaoyue slowly, but the customs supervision of Hankou must be taken down! Unless Wu Chaoyue agrees to replace the Hankou customs superintendent with ours, we will never drive Changmao out of Hubei for him! ”

"You shouldn't take a risk, it's best to play steadily." Zeng Guofan nodded first, and then suddenly asked: "Then in your opinion, if Ben Shuai bets with Wu Chaoyue, how likely is it to lose?" How sure are we that we will win the bet? ”

Liu Rong, Luo Zenan and the others all hesitated, and after thinking for a long time, Luo Zenan replied: "The possibility of Wu Chaoyue winning is very small, and our bet is at least eighty percent sure!" As far as the current situation in Hubei is concerned, Wu Chaoyue may still have some hope on land to deal with the long-haired counterattack alone, but he has no chance of winning on the water! The foreigner sold him two good ships, but the sailor's training was far more responsible than the land master, and he didn't expect to see any results in a year and a half, so unless it was a miracle, Wu Chaoyue would never have any chance of stopping the long-haired sailor from invading the hinterland of Hubei! ”

"The student also thinks so, Wu Chaoyue may be able to deal with the long-haired Lu Master on land, but he definitely can't do it on the water, his water power is too weak."

Liu Rong also agreed with Luo Zenan's opinion, and then Liu Rong said: "But the student still opposes Dashuai, you gamble with him, Dashuai, your student is too unfathomable, he has ambition, appetite and ability, maybe he can create a miracle in this gamble of life and death." Therefore, the student thinks that it is better to fight steadily and steadily, taking advantage of the fact that he must now rely on us to expel Changmao from Hubei, and force him to hand over the Hankou customs and more money, grain, and weapons! ”

When Liu Rong and Luo Zenan expressed their opinions, although Zeng Guofan had not spoken, he had been nodding slightly, but just when Liu Rong and Luo Zenan felt that Zeng Guofan had given up gambling, Zeng Guofan suddenly shook his head with a smile and said: "Although Mr. Meng Rong's opinion is very reasonable, you have forgotten two major things. ”

"Students forgot those two big things?" Liu Rong asked curiously.

"First, the reaction of the imperial court." Zeng Guofan raised a finger and said: "Although Ben Shuai swore to beg for thieves, although it was for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, there were many young people in the court who criticized Ben Shuai, and the emperor therefore withdrew the order to let Ben Shuai act as the governor of Hubei. Now that the long-haired heavy troops are gathered in Nanchang, there are not many thieves in Hubei, and they are not strong, if the commander can't quickly expel the long-haired people from Hubei, he will inevitably give people more hands! ”

"Second, even if we continue to stay in Hubei, we will still be used by Wu Chaoyue." Zeng Guofan raised a second finger and said: "Now the long hair in Huangzhou City has become a lonely army, and it may be very possible to abandon the city, even if we don't make a move, as long as Wu Chaoyue does not hesitate to do so, it is still very likely that he will drive away the long hair in Huangzhou City alone!" ”

"When the time comes, the two cities of Wuhuang will be recovered, and the city of Wuchang will win the buffer, and Wu Chaoyue will resist the pressure of the imperial court and temporarily not go to the cities in the lower reaches of the country, and train the new army in Wuchang and Hankou with peace of mind. At that time, our situation will not only be more embarrassing, but we will no longer have the opportunity to restrain and manipulate this ambitious little slippery head! ”

Liu Rong closed her mouth and stopped talking, Luo Zenan also nodded again and again, Zeng Guofan smashed his fist on the handsome case, and said in a deep voice: "Such a big gamble, even students dare to bet, why don't I dare to bet as a teacher?" Bet with him! The sooner we gamble, the more we don't give him time to train and become an army, the better our chances of winning! If we win this bet, the local money and grain in Hubei, the customs duties in Hankou, and the new weapons and weapon workshop of that little slippery head will all belong to us! ”

Seeing Zeng Guofan's resolute attitude, Liu Rong and Luo Zenan didn't say anything more, they all nodded and agreed, and they all admitted that Zeng Guofan's opinion was the most reasonable--gambling with Wu Chaoyue not only had a great chance of winning, but also could curry favor with the Manchu court. The result was also a coincidence, just at this time, the news of Wu Chaoyue's request to see came from outside the tent, and Zeng Guofan, who had made up his mind, did not hesitate and immediately ordered to summon him.

Wu Chaoyue came to meet the barber teacher, of course, he came to discuss with Zeng Guofan to launch an attack as soon as possible, and the result was completely expected by the dog-headed military advisor Zhao Liewen, Zeng Guofan, who felt that he had a good chance of winning, really agreed to launch an attack on Huangzhou Mansion the next day, and also took the initiative to give Wu Chaoyue some siege weapons prepared by the Hunan army before. Wu Chaoyue was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly thanked the barber teacher, and promised to give the Hunan army another 500 grenades to help the Hunan army's sailors deal with the attacks that the Taiping army's sailors could launch.

During the discussion of the siege war, Wu Chaoyue and Zeng Guofan did not mention what to do after capturing the Huangzhou Mansion, or after agreeing on the order of sending troops and the siege direction they were responsible for, Zeng Guofan smiled at Wu Chaoyue and said: "Weiting, if you can successfully take the Huangzhou Mansion, my plan is that you and I had better continue to join forces to pursue the victory, take the opportunity to recover the remaining four county towns of Qizhou, Huangmei, Xingguo and Guangji in Hubei, recapture the important land of Tianjia Town in one go, and completely expel Changmao from the Hubei battlefield, I just don't know what you mean?" ”

Under normal circumstances, Wu Chaoyue, who had just set up the barber teacher, was supposed to act, pretending to refuse, pretending to refuse, pretending to be afraid that the barber teacher would take the opportunity to go east to the battlefield in Jiangxi, but he clearly saw the blazing gaze in the barber teacher's eyes, as well as the silent expressions of Liu Rong, Luo Zenan and others. Wu Chaoyue also immediately understood in his heart that the barber teacher had already seen through his own arrangement and decided to bet with himself.

Therefore, Wu Chaoyue didn't bother to act with the barber teacher, nodded very calmly, and said, "If you can do this, of course it's the best." ”

"You're going to lose!" This is the heartfelt words of the barber teacher Zeng Guofan at this moment, and it is also the heartfelt words of the disobedient student Wu Chaoyue at this moment. (To be continued.) )