It was only after dawn the next day that Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a and other Manchu officials discovered Zhou Tenghu's misdeeds, and found out that Wu Lao comprador had actually fled to the Wu army camp to live temporarily, but found that it was too late to be fooled, and the angry British acting consul in Shanghai, Mai Huatuo, and the French consul in Shanghai, Aitang, had already come to Xingshi to ask for the guilt, and directly submitted a diplomatic note to express the strongest protest, demanding that Xue Huan, Gil Hang'a and others give an explanation and compensation for the Qing army's violation of the concession, and threatened to use force to retaliate!

As a last resort, Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a could only nod and apologize, and at the same time push the black pot to the sailor soldiers under Wu Quanmei's command, saying that they did such a stupid thing because they didn't understand the concession regulations, and promised to severely punish the perpetrators and compensate for the losses of the concession, in a vain attempt to appease the British and French, and then pull the British and French troops over to deal with the powerful Wu army. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Unfortunately, Xue Huan and Gilhanga's reply did not satisfy Mai Huatuo and Aitang, and together they threatened to report to the British and French envoys in China, asking the British minister Pruss and the French minister to China Bourblon to submit a protest to Wu Chaoyue, who was in charge of the Manchu Foreign Ministry, and said on the spot that they would request assistance from the neighboring British and French troops to mobilize troops to protect the concession.

After finishing his diplomatic rhetoric, Aitang, who was also an old acquaintance with Xue Huan, asked directly: "Xue Futai, are your Qing soldiers crazy?" Why did they break into the concession and search everywhere, and shoot and wound the patrol of the Ministry of Industry, what are they looking for? ”

Knowing that paper would definitely not be able to contain the fire, and also knowing that blindly concealing the truth would only give Wu Jun a chance to win over the British and French consuls in Shanghai, in order to seek help from the British and French troops, Xue Huan and Ji Hang'a simply told Ai Tang and Mai Huatuo the truth after discussion, and replied: "Dear Mr. Ai Tang, they are to arrest our official Wu Jianzhang, because the information they received is wrong, so they mistakenly think that Wu Jianzhang has escaped into the concession, so they rushed into the concession to arrest people. ”

"Arrest Wu Jianzhang?" Aitang was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "Why?" What crime did Wu Jianzhang commit? Also, don't you know who Wu Jianzhang's grandson is? How important was the army he led to the county seat of Shanghai and the Shanghai Concession? ”

"Corrupt tariffs." Xue Huan threw out a charge that would never wronged Wu Lao compradors, and said: "There is a saying in my country that a prince is guilty of the same crime as the common people, so no matter how huge Wu Jianzhang's power is and how prominent his grandson's status is, as long as he violates the law, we have the right to arrest him." ”

"Two distinguished consuls." Gilhanga hurriedly took the opportunity to say: "As you know, the main force of the Qing army in Shanghai is controlled by Wu Jianzhang and his co-defendant Zhou Tenghu, and we are likely to be resisted by their armed forces during the arrest process, and even trigger their rebellion. Therefore, we now formally request you to mobilize British and French troops to protect the county seat of Shanghai, and to help us arrest Wu Jianzhang and his co-defendant Zhou Tenghu. ”

"Of course, we will naturally have a good return." Xue Huan also hurriedly added: "Whether it is to compensate for military expenses or expand the concession, as long as the British and French armies can help us capture Wu Jianzhang and Zhou Tenghu, these can be discussed." ”

After all, Xue Huan and Ji Hang'a, who had accumulated some diplomatic experience, also asked people to bring two silver tickets as gifts to Mai Huatuo and Aitang respectively. And Mai Huatuo and Aitang were not only short-handed, but also greedy for the land and military expenses promised by Xue Huan and others, so they also agreed to consider this matter. Xue Huan and Gilhanga were overjoyed when they heard this, and hurriedly nodded the British and French envoys to send them out of the governor's yamen, and immediately discussed how to buy the upcoming British and French troops and make them available to the Qing army.

…………

Of course, Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a also underestimated some of Wu Jun's intelligence forces, in fact, it was only noon that day, and Zhou Tenghu, Wu Lao comprador and others already knew the content of their conversation with the British and French consuls. After learning that Xue Huan and Gil Hang'a were going to borrow troops from foreigners, Zhou Tenghu also immediately came to a conclusion and immediately said categorically:

"We have to do it now, as soon as possible, to solve this matter before the foreign army can react. Otherwise, if Mai Huatuo and Ai Tang really pulled the foreigner army to Shanghai, even if the foreigners didn't help Xue Huan and Gilhang'a, as long as they came to a central mediation and watched us fight with Xue Huan and Gilhang'a, it would be enough to disgust us! ”

"So how do you solve this?" The old comprador Wu next to him hurriedly asked.

"Of course, it is to take the county seat of Shanghai and arrest Xue Huan and Gilhang'a." Zhou Tenghu replied without thinking about it.

Old comprador Wu began to tremble, and asked with some teeth fighting: "Tao Fu, are you going to attack Shanghai City?" Isn't that too impulsive? Isn't it waiting for the news of transcendence? ”

"Tao Fu, I also feel a little rushed." Zhou Tenghu's deputy, Jin Anqing, was also a little worried, and said: "If Wu Zhitai's side does not raise troops as we expected, but we are here to attack the city and arrest people first, and the court will ask in the future, how will you explain to the court?" I think it's better to wait, otherwise the risk will be too great. ”

"No wind, no danger." Zhou Tenghu said confidently: "Since the empress dowager of the two palaces issued a secret edict to let Chongen capture Wu Zhitai, it is enough to prove that there will be an earth-shattering power struggle in the capital." If Su Zhongtang and they win this political battle, then no matter what we do in Shanghai, Su Zhongtang and Zai Wang Ye will definitely not pursue it, on the contrary, they will praise us for making a quick decision and keeping Shanghai's wealth from being controlled by their political enemies. If Su Zhongtang loses, they ....... ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Tenghu paused for a moment, and then said: "Then Wu Weiting has no choice but to raise troops and raise things, otherwise, he will have to sit and wait for the end of the end." We will not be held accountable for attacking the city in Shanghai and arresting people, and we can also receive the effect of striking first to eliminate any hidden dangers in advance. ”

felt that Zhou Tenghu's analysis was reasonable, so Jin Anqing no longer objected, but asked again: "Tao Fu, then what excuse do you use to attack the city and arrest people?" ”

Zhou Tenghu, who has always been witty, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Avenge Lord Wu!" Let's just say that last night Xue Huan and their team mobilized the Red Dan fleet to attack Jianghaiguan for no reason, shot and injured Master Wu, and asked Xue Huan, Gilhanga and Wu Quanmei to seek justice! ”

"Rascals! Bummer! Jin Anqing scolded with a smile, and said with a smile: "However, the reason is very sufficient." ”

Knowing that the Wu army in Shanghai did not have much time, as soon as he made up his mind, Zhou Tenghu immediately summoned the generals of the Wu army headed by Deng Siyuan, Meng Ji and others, announced his decision to them, and asked them to spread the rumor that Wu Lao comprador had been injured in the chaos last night, and angered the Wu army soldiers who depended on Wu Lao comprador for food, clothing, and military salaries to beg from the Shanghai gentry. Then he immediately dispatched troops and ordered Meng Yu to lead the army to attack Wu Quan's American army stationed on the dock of Dongmen, and ordered Deng Siyuan to lead the army to attack the south gate of Shanghai, and at the same time notified the Wu army stationed in Xujiahui to be on strict guard to prevent the Taiping army from taking advantage of the fire to loot.

After explaining the siege tactics to Deng Siyuan and Meng Ji, Zhou Tenghu instructed the old comprador Wu: "Master Wu, you can't be idle, first of all, you put on a little makeup, pretend to be injured and make our teacher famous." Then there are two things that only you can do, the first is to ask you to come forward to negotiate with the foreigner consul in the concession and try to keep the foreigner neutral. ”

"This shouldn't be difficult, the foreigners don't have many troops in the concession, so it shouldn't be a big problem to convince them to remain neutral." Old comprador Wu nodded, very confident in his ability to handle diplomacy, and then asked, "What about the second one?" ”

"The second thing is to ask you to use your appeal to let the gangs in the concession come forward and help us arrest Xue Huan and Gilhanga." Zhou Tenghu replied: "If our army succeeds in storming the south gate of Shanghai, Xue Huan and Gilhanga will flee into the concession from the north gate, and then our army will not have the right to enter the concession to arrest people, but the hooligans in the concession are different, they are not restricted by the treaty, they will hand over Xue Huan and Gilhanga to us, and the foreigners will not find any reason to accuse us of violating the concession." ”

"I can't imagine that the old man's gang of juniors can play such a role." Old comprador Wu muttered, and then nodded and agreed to Zhou Tenghu's arrangement.

So, soon, before receiving the news of Wu Chaoyue's troops, the Wu army in Shanghai took the lead under the command of Zhou Tenghu. Meng Ji led an army to the Dongmen Wharf in Shanghai, while building a position to prepare for the battle, and at the same time, according to Zhou Tenghu's instructions, claiming to avenge Wu Lao comprador to find Xue Huan, Gil Hang'a and Wu Quanmei to settle accounts, and asked the Qing army's Red Single fleet to remain neutral and not to interfere, otherwise it would be right!

On the other side, after Deng Siyuan rushed to the south gate of Shanghai with his army, he was also preparing to attack the city, and at the same time sent envoys to negotiate with the Qing soldiers guarding the city gate, claiming to avenge Wu Lao comprador and settling accounts with Xue Huan and others, and asked the Qing army in the city to open the city gate within a limited time, otherwise they would forcibly attack the city!

After Wu Jun's actions and requirements were sent to Xue Huan and the others, Xue Huan and Ji Hang'a, who never expected Wu Jun to move so quickly, of course immediately panicked, and Wu Quanmei, who had already been stationed in Shanghai, was very calm, and immediately said to Xue Huan and others: "Xue Futai, Ji Fantai, things have come to this point, and there is no other way than to start fighting." The last general suggested that Wu Jianzhang and Zhou Tenghu should immediately announce the rebellion, and organize the army in the city to fully defend the city of Shanghai, as long as we can hold the city without breaking, there will definitely be a turnaround! ”

"Can you hold it?" Xue Huan, who knew how powerful the Wu army in Shanghai was, thought about it together with Gil Hang'a, but they had no choice but to hurriedly announce that Wu Lao comprador and Zhou Tenghu had rebelled, and while organizing the army to defend the city with all their might, they also sent people to the concession to ask for help from the British and French garrisons.

The military and diplomatic contest unfolded at the same time, and the old comprador Wu Lao, who was familiar with foreign affairs, personally went out to bribe the British and French consuls who were in control of the concession army with a large amount of money, and claimed that Wu Jun's move was only to seek justice for himself, promising not to infringe on the interests of the Western powers in Shanghai, and also promising to strictly deal with the Qing soldiers who attacked and harassed the concession last night, and demanding that the concession army remain neutral. And Mai Huatuo and Ai Tang did not dare to make decisions in the complicated situation, so they could only agree to remain neutral, and categorically refused Xue Huan's request to let them send troops into the city to help in the war.

Under the command of Deng Siyuan, the experienced soldiers of the Wu army beat the Qing army on the city wall with grenadiers and mini guns and did not dare to raise their heads, and at the same time sent a blasting team to place explosives under the south gate of Shanghai, and piled up two hundred catties of picric acid explosives under the city gate, which was detonated with thunder mercury, and the huge shock wave easily tore the city gate to pieces, and then blew away countless Qing soldiers who were carrying earth and stones in the city gate. Before the Qing soldiers blocked the city gate, the passage into the city was opened.

When Deng Siyuan's army charged into the city, Meng Wei also connected with Wu Quanmei's sailors outside the city - Wu Quanmei felt that his soldiers were also experienced in a hundred battles, and their combat effectiveness was definitely not under the old Wu army, and he also took the initiative to order the army outside the city to attack the Wu army. However, standing on the wall of the east gate of Shanghai, Wu Quanmei was extremely dumbfounded to see that although his soldiers bravely charged the Wu army's position as he wished, but in the face of the Wu army's skillful grenadiers, grenade bullets and gun platoon tactics, his soldiers did not even have a chance to get close to the Wu army's position, and they had already been put down by the Wu army's grenadiers in pieces, knocked over by the Wu army's pin guns in rows, and were defeated by the Wu army in three strokes and two blows.

In desperation, Wu Quanmei could only order the Red Dan fleet to open artillery and bombard the positions of the Wu army with naval artillery, but as a result, Meng Qi, who was very good at using his brains to fight, decisively led the army to transfer his position, but the residential houses outside Shanghai fell into great luck, and many innocent Shanghai people died tragically under the fire of the Qing army, and the anger of the Shanghai people against the Qing army suddenly reached its peak. What is even more helpless for Wu Quanmei is that his Red Single fleet can certainly rely on gunfire to defeat the Wu army, once his landing army leaves the cover of artillery fire, it is also vulnerable to the Wu army, so he simply detours back to the South Gate battlefield to share the pressure of defending the city for the defenders in the city, forcing the Wu army to give up the siege.

At this time, Deng Siyuan's army had basically controlled the head of the south gate, covering the rear army to be able to enter the city endlessly to start street battles. The Qing army in the city was not high in morale, and did not prepare enough street fighting fortifications, relying on the cover of houses and courtyard walls to shoot and fight, and the experienced Wu soldiers used a large number of grenades and grenadiers in the street fighting, constantly attacking the Qing soldiers hiding behind the obstacle houses in a curve, and the Shanghai Qing army, which had relied on the protection of the Wu army to survive in the city, soon collapsed, and the Wu army attacked quickly, and soon hit the periphery of Xue Huan's governor's yamen.

Then Zhou Tenghu expected, seeing that the war situation was not good, Xue Huan and Gilhang Ah even Wu Quanmei, who was supervising the battle at the east gate, did not have time to inform, and immediately took his wife and children to run away to the concession, and fled directly into the French concession through the north gate of Shanghai. Wu Quanmei did not dare to delay after hearing the report, and hurriedly took advantage of the fact that the Wu army had not yet attacked the east gate and fled for his life, and withdrew the red single fleet with the remnants of the defeated general, and fled to the lower reaches of the Huangpu River with the fleet without waiting for everyone to get on the ship.

Because the Qing army in Shanghai only made a big fuss in the concession the night before, when Xue Huan and Gilhanga and his party fled into the concession, of course, the French army that was heavily guarded disarmed at the first time, in order to be able to take refuge in the concession for a while, Xue Huan and Gilhanga of course did not dare to resist, and honestly asked the guards to hand over their weapons. Then Xue Huan and Gilhanga fled directly to the French consulate to ask for help, so that they could ask Aitang to allow them to live in the concession temporarily, and wait for the next day to discuss the possibility of borrowing troops to recover the county seat of Shanghai and suppress the rebellion of the Wu army.

After the end of the negotiation with the French consul, Xue Huan and Gil Hanga left the consulate to find temporary accommodation, not to mention, Xue Huan and Gilhang'a and their group were really lucky, in the concession was already overcrowded and the sky was dark, there were still people on the street who took the initiative to ask them if they wanted to rent a house, Xue Huan and others were overjoyed, and regardless of the high rent price, they immediately let the guy who solicited customers come forward to lead the way, leading his wife and children and unarmed soldiers to gradually stay away from the consulate, was also led into a seemingly peaceful alley......

"What are you doing? Whining! Let me go! Let go...... I ......, woo. ”

"Help! Help me! The Wu family thief army has entered the concession to arrest people! ”

After Xue Huan and Gilhanga were knocked unconscious by a group of people and put in a sack and taken away, their families and relatives immediately found the patrol and police of the concession, and insisted that it was the poisonous hand of Wu Jun in Shanghai. However, after careful investigation, Aitang could only tell Xue Huan and Gilhanga's family very helplessly............

In order to avenge Wu Jianzhang, they kidnapped Xue Huan and Gilhang'a, and secretly handed them over to Mr. Wu Jianzhang. Mr. Wu Jianzhang did not send troops into the French Concession, and those hooligans were not soldiers, so our French Consulate could not accuse Mr. Wu Jianzhang of infringing on the rights and interests of the concession, so we could only try our best to arrest those hooligans and punish them. ”

"In addition, all those hooligans have fled to the Public Concession, and according to the laws of the Concession, even if we know their identities and crimes, we have no right to arrest them in the Public Concession, and we can only arrest them when they come to the French Concession."

While Xue Huan and Gilhang'a's family scolded Wu Lao comprador for being despicable and shameless, Wu Lao comprador finally learned from the urgent letter that his precious grandson had indeed raised the banner of Qingjun's side in Hubei. Looking at the letters of his precious grandson repeatedly, the old comprador Wu, who had been obedient to the Manchu court all his life, had mixed feelings in his heart, knowing that his precious grandson would never turn back if he embarked on this road, and he was also worried that this was the beginning of the destruction of the old Wu family, and he had a faint sense of expectation......

"The grandson of the old man, does he really have the emperor's life?"