The speed of the Wu army's baggage fleet was of course not fast in any case, and the fleet of the Wu army's naval division, which consisted of nine steam gunboats and four sail battleships, could only be at full speed, and it took more than six days to retreat from the suburbs of Nanjing to the city of Anqing. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

When they were about to arrive in Anqing, Lin Fengxiang's department of the Anqing Taiping Army took the initiative to send people to get in touch with Wang Fu, the commander of the Wu Army's naval division, saying that he had received an order from Hong Xiuquan and Shi Dakai to give way and let them go, so that the Wu army's naval division fleet could pass through the Anqing River section with confidence, and made it clear that it would never intercept and attack first.

Even so, Wang Fu still did not dare to take anything lightly, when passing under the city of Anqing, Wang Fu in addition to first sending scout boats to closely reconnoiter the situation on both sides of the strait and upstream, and sent three steam gunboats to cross the city of Anqing first to protect the upstream road, and then sent four Russian sail battleships captured in Poyang Lake to Anqing City, using these water mobile batteries to deter the shore batteries of the Taiping army, and then led the fleet to cross Anqing through the channel on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Fortunately, Lin Fengxiang faithfully fulfilled his promise and allowed all the Wu ships to pass through the Anqing River without any hindrance, but he laughed at Wang Fu's cowardice. Wang Fu was relieved after all the ships were out of the range of the Anqing Taiping Army's artillery fire, and specially sent people to land to express his gratitude to Lin Fengxiang.

There was also good news for the Wu army's sailors, on the evening of the day when they passed through Anqing, the clippers sent by the Wu army in Jiujiang finally got in touch with them, saying that the Wu army sailors in Jiujiang had just received the news that they were forced to return to Hubei, and immediately began to prepare for their return to Hubei by force. At the same time, he also closely monitored the most powerful Hukou Lin Qirong Division in the Taiping Army's water division, as long as Lin Qirong's water division made any changes, the Wu Army's Jiujiang Water Division would immediately attack, and would not give Lin Qirong's army any chance to threaten the Wu army's fleet!

The steam gunboats of the Jiujiang Naval Division of the Wu Army are the same as the steam gunboats of the Hukou Taiping Army Naval Division, both of which are three, but one of the steam gunboats of the Wu Army is an iron-hulled boat, and there are five red single boats to help, although the strength is not enough to completely overwhelm the Hukou Taiping Military Naval Division, there is no problem in holding down Lin Qirong and making a big move. So after learning the news of Jiujiang, Wang Fu, who had been worried for a long time, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his obviously tired face, and said: "Since there is no problem on the Hukou side, then only Peng Ze remains, and after Peng Ze, we can really rest assured." ”

"Brother Wang, be careful of Madangshan." Xu Lai, a deputy with a steady and cautious personality, reminded: "The river there is narrow, the narrowest part is only a mile wide, the current is fast and chaotic, our baggage fleet is going against the current, even the normal passage is very difficult, if the long-haired shore fort is disrupted, the consequences will definitely be unimaginable." ”

Wang Fu nodded, frowned again, and said, "If there is any way to let the long-haired army leave the Madangshan Fort temporarily, then we can rest assured." ”

"How about a direct negotiation?" Xu Lai proposed: "Go directly and tell Huang Wenjin and ask him to let the army leave the Madangshan Fort temporarily, so that we can pass through the Madangshan River section with confidence." ”

"That's too much, isn't it?" Wang Fu said with some worry: "We temporarily decided to turn around and go back to Hubei, originally made it clear that the letter was not long-haired, and Huang Wenjin took the initiative to give up the Madangshan Fort, is it a bit too deceitful?" ”

"Anyway, Longhair also knows that we can't trust them, so it's better to directly make it clear." Xu said: "And this Huang Wenjin supported Yang Xiuqing in the long-haired civil war, we are better to speak, and directly tell him that we can trust Yang Xiuqing but not Hong Xiuquan, so we temporarily decided to withdraw from the army. ”

After speaking, Xu Lai added with a wicked smile, and said: "Maybe Huang Wenjin will take the opportunity to stay behind, he must be afraid that Hong Xiuquan will find him to settle accounts after the autumn, at this time, do more favors to us, and when Hong Xiuquan forces him to a cornered point in the future, there will be a way to defect to us." ”

Considering that he had already expressed his distrust of Hong Xiuquan in action anyway, it didn't matter much if he directly said it more clearly, and Huang Wenjin's previous position choice in the Taiping Army's civil war, Wang Fu finally decided to try his luck, so he carefully selected a messenger who could speak kindly, and asked him to take a letter to Pengze to contact Huang Wenjin by speedboat, and ask Huang Wenjin to temporarily abandon the Madangshan Fort, so that the Wu army fleet could rest assured that it would pass through the Madangshan Pass.

…………

Wang Fu and Xu Lai really underestimated some Huang Wenjin, Huang Wenjin was in the wrong position in the Taiping Civil War, but it was because Huang Wenjin believed Yang Xiuqing's defense and believed that Yang Xiuqing did not secretly communicate with the Manchu court to stand on the wrong side - after learning that he had been deceived, Huang Wenjin greeted his old boss Yang Xiuqing's ancestor in public.

Huang Wenjin is indeed afraid that Hong Xiuquan will find him to settle accounts after the autumn, even if Hong Xiuquan promised not to pursue it before, Huang Wenjin has always been thinking in his heart, and he is also afraid that Hong Xiuquan will not believe it. However, after receiving Shi Dakai's secret order to arrange an ambush to attack the Wu army's fleet, Huang Wenjin not only did not resist, but on the contrary, he also decided that this was a God-given opportunity for him to atone for his sins, and he worked harder to implement it.

After all, Huang Wenjin is also a Taiping Army hawk loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, after the Tianjing Revolution in history, Huang Wenjin, who was born in Yang Xiuqing's lineage, not only did not waver at all, but continued to fight bravely with the Qing army, and after Nanjing was breached, he led the army alone to protect Hong Xiuquan's son Hong Tianguifu to fight at the junction of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and was loyal until he suddenly died of illness.

So in this way, Wang Fu and Xu Lai's borrowing move was not only doomed to failure, but on the contrary, it also gave Huang Wenjin a better chance to deceive. When the messenger of the Wu Junshui Division rushed to Pengze to get in touch with Huang Wenjin, Huang Wenjin only thought about it for less than three minutes before saying, "Of course you can, but you have to move faster, don't waste time." After the Heavenly King is reinstated, he will definitely send me a prison army here, and his prison army is here, and I can't do it even if I want to remove the fort garrison. ”

Then, when the envoy of the Wu army brought Huang Wenjin's reply back to Wang Fu, Wang Fu and Xu Lai, who believed it to be true, were also fooled under the great joy, did not carefully calculate the travel time, and took the Wu army fleet to rush as soon as possible, and rushed to the vicinity of the Madang Mountain Fort at noon the next day after receiving the letter.

At this time, Huang Wenjin's envoy naturally came to Wang Fu, and while claiming to be Huang Wenjin's confidant and personal soldier Zhang Yi, he said very nervously: "General Wang, it's too bad, you are a step late, just last night, the new supervision army sent to us by Huang Chengxuan by the King of Heaven has arrived in Pengze, and our General Huang no longer dares to withdraw the garrison of Madangshan Fort casually." ”

"So coincidentally?" Wang Fu asked a little suspiciously.

"What a coincidence." Huang Wenjin's envoy Zhang Yi nodded, and explained: "Previously, General Huang had already expected that the Heavenly King would definitely send him a new supervising army, but he didn't expect it to come so coincidentally, and it would happen to arrive in Pengze last night. ”

couldn't tell whether Zhang Yi's words were true or false, so Wang Fu had no choice but to say: "Then forget it, please go back and tell General Huang, just say that you can ask him to give way according to the previous agreement, and we will still use the old way to cross the horse mountain." ”

Zhang Yi didn't answer, first looked left and right, and then lowered his voice a little, and said: "General Wang, General Huang sent a small one, and there is a confidential important matter that I want to report, our General Huang wants to kill the prison army sent by the Heavenly King, and dedicate Peng Ze and Madangshan to the King of Zhennan, I don't know if the general is willing to accept it?" ”

"What did you say?"

Wang Fu was startled, but Zhang Yi stopped speaking, but took out Huang Wenjin's handwritten letter from his arms and presented it with both hands, and when the soldiers hurriedly forwarded the letter to Wang Fu, Xu Lai next to him also rushed up to look at it. After reading Huang Wenjin's letter that he wanted to surrender to the Wu army under the pretext of being afraid of Hong Xiuquan's guilt, Wang Fu really fell into a dilemma, and had to temporarily leave Zhang Yi and discuss countermeasures with Xu Lai.

Zhang Yi had just been taken away by Wang Fu's own soldiers, and Xu Lai couldn't wait to say: "Brother Wang, I can't imagine that Huang Wenjin really plans to surrender to us, what do you say?" Do you accept it? ”

"If I had an idea, I wouldn't have consulted with you." Wang Fu said with some distress: "Originally, it was nothing to try whether Huang Wenjin was a real surrender or a false surrender, but now is not the time, first, we have to protect the baggage grain team, and second, if we accept Huang Wenjin's surrender, the king of Zhennan just doesn't want to start a war with Changmao immediately, and he has to fight." ”

"But if we don't agree, I'm afraid it will chill Huang Wenjin's heart, and we will miss the opportunity to win Peng Ze and Madangshan in one fell swoop." Xu Lai reminded.

This is also where Wang Fu hesitated, but after thinking carefully for a long time, Wang Fu still said: "No, we can't take any risks at this time, even if we miss this opportunity, I will admit it, tell Huang Wenjin to be restless, and if he wants to surrender, he will say it later, next time he asks for surrender, the two of us will give him a guarantee." ”

The responsibility on his shoulders is too heavy, no matter how tempted Xu Lai is, he can only agree with Wang Fu's decision, and at that moment Wang Fu sent Huang Wenjin's messenger Zhang Yi, and let Zhang Yi bring Huang Wenjin back with a message about his decision. At the same time, he continued to move forward with the fleet, cautiously approaching Madang Mountain, and also sent more scouts to closely reconnoiter both sides of the road ahead, not daring to take anything lightly.

When the main fleet arrived at the area of Daxue Mountain, fifteen miles downstream of Madang, an accident occurred, and the front team of the Wu Army's naval division suddenly came to report, saying that the Taiping army in Madangshan refused to give way and let the Wu army fleet pass. Wang Fu was shocked when he heard the report, and hurriedly asked, "Did you say the reason?" ”

"It is said that it is Huang Wenjin's order, no matter what kind of ship it is today, without his personal approval, it will never be allowed to pass through Madang Mountain." The front team messenger replied truthfully.

"It's going to be bad!" Wang Fu had an ominous premonition in his heart, and immediately shouted: "Raise the flag, the whole army will stop advancing, the baggage fleet will be in the center, and the naval warships will be protected on all sides!" ”

While quickly arranging for the sailor warships to protect the baggage fleet, Wang Fu immediately sent someone to contact Huang Wenjin, asking Huang Wenjin to fulfill the previous agreement and immediately and unconditionally give way and let him go! Otherwise, the Wu Junshui Division will use cannons to open the way and directly knock out the Madangshan Fort! All the consequences will be borne by the Taiping Army!

After wasting some time, at half past three o'clock in the afternoon, the previous Zhang Yi returned to Wang Fu and brought Huang Wenjin's message and said, "General Wang, our General Huang said, whether you agree or not, he will kill Hong Xiuquan's envoy today, and take our Peng Ze army and Madangshan to surrender to you, please give us General Huang a little time to do it, and our General Huang will use facts to prove whether he really surrendered or surrendered." ”

If Wang Fu was a genius like Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, or a natural belly full of bad water like Wu Chaoyue, then Wang Fu would definitely immediately order an attack, and quickly take down the Madangshan Fort with absolute strength advantage when the line of sight was good, and then easily sweep away the Peng Ze Taiping Army's naval division, which was almost pitiful to Wu's army, and dredge the westward advance of the channel by force. But it's a pity that Wang Fu, whose talent is limited after all, hesitated at this moment, coupled with Zhang Yi's bitter pleading, Wang Fu was confused for a while, and finally agreed to give Huang Wenjin a little time.

This time also almost took the life of the Wu army's baggage fleet, Zhang Yi never returned, the time was dragged to five o'clock in the afternoon, when it was not far from dark, the Taiping Army Sailor who had been cowering on the Pengze Wharf suddenly poured out of the nest and killed to the east, and because of the tailwind and smooth water, Wang Fu had just received the news that the Taiping Army Sailor had already killed at the foot of Madang Mountain, and formed a joint force with the defenders of Madang Mountain Fort.

This is not over, in order to lure Wu Junshui to take the initiative to give up the attack and win better fighters, Huang Wenjin also arranged for a Taiping army general to come forward very insidiously, holding a human head and telling Wu Junshui that it was his own head, and he was beheaded by his subordinates because of a conspiracy to mutiny, and Peng Ze's Taiping army will resist to the death under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan's supervising army, even if the last person dies and sheds the last drop of blood, he will never allow the Wu army fleet to pass through Peng Zema as a mountain!

In addition, in order to completely anger the Wu Army's sailors, the Taiping Army's sailors also deliberately hacked to death the Wu army's envoys sent by Wang Fu to contact Huang Wenjin on the flagship deck in front of the soldiers of the Wu Army's sailors, and preemptively fired at the front team of the Wu Army's sailors!

When the news came back to the fleet of the Wu Army's Naval Division, almost all the angry generals of the Wu Army's Naval Division were scheming, and they all demanded that Wang Fu immediately launch an attack, raze the Madangshan Fort, wipe out the Peng Ze Taiping Army's Naval Division, and avenge the envoy of the self-army and Huang Wenjin!

"Damn, it's so tired that even our messenger dares to kill it! Beat! Sweep away the long-haired turrets! Send all the hairy wrecked boats to the bottom and feed the fish! ”

Wang Fu of course chose to conform to the will of the army, and decisively ordered his deputy Xu Lai to lead a fleet of sailors to step forward, cover the Taiping army's batteries, and break through the Taiping army's barrage to annihilate the enemy's sailors. At the same time, Wang Fu also carefully arranged a well-equipped marine corps and handed it over to Xu Lai in order to launch a landing operation.

After the Wu army warships participating in the battle were assembled, Xu came to Wang Fu to say goodbye, Wang Fu didn't say much, waved his hand and handed over the front-line command to the experienced deputy, but when Xu came out of the cabin to change ships, a personal soldier came to Wang Fu with a plate of food and said, "Titai, it's time for dinner." ”

Wang Fu nodded smoothly, but when he just picked up the chopsticks, Wang Fu suddenly remembered something, and suddenly asked in shock: "Dinner?" When is it now? ”

"Around the beginning of the unitary hour." The soldier replied truthfully.

Wang Fu's face changed, and he hurriedly took out the pocket watch given to him by Wu Chaoyue to take a closer look, and saw that the time was already 5:38 in the afternoon, Wang Fu suddenly understood something, and hurriedly shouted: "Quick, chase Xu Lai back!" Tell him to come back right away! ”

Fortunately, when the order was sent to Xu Lai, Xu Lai, who had just boarded his own boat, had not had time to give the order to leave, and was quickly brought back to Wang Fu. ”

"What time was too coincidental?" Xu Lai asked inexplicably.

"It's time for Longhair to take the initiative to provoke us!" Wang Fu said quickly: "Changmao killed our messenger, we decided to send troops to take revenge, the time happened to be less than five or six o'clock in the afternoon, and it was about to get dark, is this too coincidental?" ”

Wang Fu reminded him, Xu Lai gradually came back to his senses, and quickly nodded and said: "Yes, it's a bit too coincidental, it's ......so coincidental, it's like it was arranged in advance." ”

"I also felt like it had been arranged in advance." Wang Fu said: "And Huang Wenjin plans to surrender to us and be killed, whether this matter is true or not, we all listen to what Changmao himself said, whether it is true or not, we have no way of knowing." ”

"How do you explain the Huang Wenjin head that the long hair took out?" Xu Lai asked.

"Have you ever met Huang Wenjin? Have our people seen Huang Wenjin? Wang Fu asked rhetorically, "Who can be sure whether that human head is Huang Wenjin's?" What if it's fake? ”

"It's ......." Unable to prove whether the human head belonged to Huang Wenjin or not, Xu Lai could only change his words and ask, "Then what should I do?" ”

"Hold your ground, stay on the defensive, and protect our baggage fleet first!" Wang Fu replied categorically, and then said: "What is the matter, wait until dawn tomorrow, there must be no action tonight, Long Mao is the head snake here, far more familiar with the terrain and water flow here, we have to prevent them from diverting the tiger from the mountain and taking the opportunity to sneak attack our baggage fleet!" ”

According to Wang Fu's arrangement, the Wu fleet, which had already broken away from the defensive formation and was ready to attack, retreated to its position again, using all its combat forces to protect the baggage fleet. As a result, after this situation was reported to Huang Wenjin by the Taiping Army scouts, Huang Wenjin of course slapped his legs and shouted that it was a pity, but Huang Wenjin refused to give up, and said: "Beyond the little demons don't come to fight us, let's fight them!" Raise the flag, put down the barrage cable, and all the sailors will move forward! ”