The messenger sent by Wall was called Yin Yang, and he was ordered by Wu Dada to arrange for War's order, according to Wu Chaoyue's usual vicious rules, Wall did not tell him the truth when he sent him to deliver the letter, but only used money to bribe Yin Yang to act. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Who knows that this Yin Yang is still a little conscientious, as soon as he turned around, he ran to Wu Dadao to sell Wall, and exposed Wall's crime of trying to betray Wu Xiaocompa, Wu Chaoyue heard the news and couldn't cry or laugh, but also a little moved, so he personally met with this little soldier, while telling him the truth, he praised him more, and promised to reward and promote him after the fact, so Yin Yang was sent over to offer a letter of fraud.

Encountering such a seriously brainwashed messenger, of course, it was difficult for Wei Jun to find any flaws and loopholes in the interrogation, but Wei Jun was more concerned about Wall's letter written in English, and specially invited two Americans who operated the steam cannon ship and a translator to let them translate the content of the letter, and found that the complete content of the letter was as follows:

"Dear Mr. Commander of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, hello, let me introduce myself, my name is Wall, I was born in Massachusetts, United States of America, studied at the Liberal Arts and Military Academy of the United States, is a traveler and mercenary, has participated in the Mexican and Crimean Wars, has very rich war experience, and is currently serving as an instructor in the direct naval division of Wu Chaoyue, the governor of Hubei Province of the Qing Dynasty, with the rank of deputy general, responsible for assisting in the command of the steam gunboat Brave of Wu Chaoyue's direct naval division.

Dear Mr. Commander, I can't stand Wu Chaoyue's stinginess and stupidity at all, as his important general, I can't move freely in the Hubei Prefecture he governs, which is undoubtedly a cruel torture for an American who advocates freedom, especially if this American is also a traveler who loves sightseeing.

I love Miss Hu Ya in Wuchang City, but Wu Chaoyue does not allow me to propose to the beautiful Miss Hu Ya on the grounds that he is afraid of being held accountable and that he will be punished by the Qing court, which is as stupid as he is. Dear Mr. Commander, I believe you must be able to understand an American's pursuit of love, and there must be no stupid rule in your Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that prohibits intermarriage with foreigners.

As for the salary, Wu gave me a lot of salary, but it definitely can't compare to the sacrifices and dedication I made for him, I am not greedy, and I am satisfied if my salary can be doubled.

Dear Mr. Commander of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, allow me to move freely, allow me to marry the beautiful Miss Hu Ya, double my salary, and if you can meet my three conditions, then when it is time for you and Wu Chaoyue to fight, I will do something in the steam boiler of the Brave, let his Brave lose power, and let you get the Brave, and at the same time let you get my allegiance.

Trust my sincerity, and trust my ability, to convince some of the sailors who can maneuver the steam gunboats to surrender to you, or to help you train your troops, and to contact our arms dealers in the United States of America to help you buy weapons from the American arms dealers. Maybe you don't know that the kind of Smith pistol that Wu Chaoyue's army is equipped with that is not afraid of water is what I sent to the front line with my friend Brown and sold to Wu Chaoyue.

Dear Mr. Commander, if you can accept my surrender, you can have my messenger bring back a reply, and if you are afraid that the letter will leak, you can also use a message, I believe that you are a gentleman who keeps his promises. Goodbye, my friend. ”

Of course, Wei Jun was very curious and uncomfortable with the style of writing in the American cowboy style of Wales, but on the contrary, the two American sailors hired by Hong Renji from Hong Kong were very cordial, and they both said that they did not expect that the enemy side would also have compatriots from their own country. When Wei Jun asked them about the authenticity of the letter, of course the two American soldiers replied: "Of course it is true, this letter is written by us Americans, and the Qing people will never be able to write it." ”

"Then does this American, named Wall, really want to surrender to me?" Wei Jun asked again through the translator.

Wei Jun should never ask this sentence, he was originally a mercenary who spoke irresponsibly, and both Americans should be cowboys to help cowboys, so the two American mercenaries replied without thinking about it: "OK!" There must be no problem, this bastard named Wall is fed up with Wu Chaoyue and chose to surrender for the sake of women and money, of course it is true. ”

The joy that could not be concealed appeared on Wei Jun's face, because Wei Jun knew that a good thing that he had never dared to think of before was about to befall him - as long as he broke through the iron cable defense line of Tianjia Town, he was very likely to get the opportunity to capture a steam gunboat of the Wu army during the battle, and the Wu army's sailors were originally few ships and few people, and if there was suddenly a steam gunboat, it was even more unlikely that it would be his opponent!

He had already hesitated to forcibly break through the defense line of Tianjiazhen at any cost, but he suddenly saw the hope of capturing a Wu army's steam gunboat, and imagined that Li Xiucheng would form a foreign gun team, so Wei Jun finally made up his mind......

…………

Not to mention, Wei Jun's cheerful promise really scared Wu Chaoyue, after reading Wei Jun's English reply to Wall, seeing that Wei Jun readily agreed to Wall's request and made countless promises, Wu Chaoyue's first reaction was that he felt that it was too smooth, and it was so smooth that it didn't seem to be true, and he couldn't help but ask Zhao Liewen: "Huifu, could this be a long-haired plan?" It stands to reason that the long-haired side has suffered so much from me, so it's impossible to trust my subordinates to surrender? ”

"I also think it's going too well, and it's going a little unusually." Zhao Liewen, whose character is no better than Wu Chaoyue, was also shocked, frowned and said: "But when it comes to planning, I really don't see any intention of Changmao, to deceive us and take the opportunity to sneak attack?" It's all bright this day, and it's impossible for Long Hair to sneak attack? ”

"Gotta be careful tonight." Wu Chaoyue, who is as timid as a mouse, is also afraid of this, and said: "Tonight's defense must be strengthened, the sentry posts will be doubled, and secret sentry posts must be sent to several water and land passes downstream, and more fireworks signals must be prepared, so that Changmao cannot be given the opportunity to sneak attack." ”

When Zhao Liewen nodded in agreement, a scout suddenly came from outside the door to report, saying that the Taiping Army sailors dispatched many large and small warships to Tianjia Town, and also drove out three steam gunboats to escort the formation, as a result, Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen looked at each other, and couldn't help but exclaim in unison, "Long hair is really fooled?!" ”

Wei Jun was indeed fooled and believed in Wall's sincerity in surrender, but he was not completely fooled, among the Taiping Army sailors who came to Tianjia Town from Wuxue to fight this time, there were as many as 20 three-masted tugboats that could be equipped with two bow guns, and there were more than 300 military sampans, and there were also three steam gunboats to help and some troop carriers ready to rescue the soldiers who had fallen into the water. At the same time, if the Wu army is not well prepared, or if it is negligent because of the excessive reliance on the geographical and water flow, it is by no means impossible for the Taiping army to break through the Wu army's iron cable defense line in one fell swoop.

Fortunately, Wu Chaoyue and the officers and men of the Wu army did not make a mistake in this regard, and just heard the sound of the vigilance drum from the camp of the Chinese army, the soldiers of the Wu army and the Hubei Eyong who helped the war immediately went out of the tent to assemble, and then under the leadership of the grassroots generals, they went straight to their respective posts to prepare for the war quickly, without any negligence or laxity. At the same time, the Wu Army's naval divisions were also all in place and left the port, driving large and small ships to the battlefield to help the battle, always ready to bombard the Taiping Army naval divisions with artillery fire.

In the nervous waiting, the huge Taiping Army fleet finally appeared in the field of vision of the Wu army's soldiers, seeing that there were many ships, Shao Yanhong, who personally presided over the imitation of the improved Congreve rocket and succeeded in it, was very excited, and couldn't wait to run to Wu Chaoyue to make a request, "Lord Futai, the long-haired sailor is about to enter the range of our big rocket, the student asks for an order, personally go to the rocket position to preside over the rocket fire, and strive to kill the long-haired steam ship in advance." ”

Shao Yanhong's request failed to obtain Wu Chaoyue's approval, but on the contrary, he also reminded Wu Chaoyue of this important matter, so that Wu Chaoyue immediately said: "Quick, order all rocket positions, as well as all ships of the naval division, without an order, not to set off our new rockets, only to meet the enemy with artillery fire." Also, let the rocket positions hide the rockets everywhere to avoid being discovered by the longhairs. ”

"Lord Futai, what are you doing here?" Shao Yanhong asked in surprise: "The student presided over the imitation of that kind of rocket, which is a sharp weapon for water combat, why do you abandon it and not use it?" ”

"It's not that I want to abandon it, it's that Longhair only dispatched part of the main force this time." Wu Chaoyue said with a cruel smile: "You have to let Longhair see a little hope, and when the Longhaired Sailor is out of the nest, then take out your rocket and attack it suddenly, so that you can give Longhair a bigger surprise." ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue also gave an order to Qian Wei, the battalion officer of the artillery battalion who was directly related to Fubiao, so that Qian Wei could not use breech guns and picric flowering shells, and retained his strength to prepare for the main force of the naval division of the Taiping Army.

Although he was a little disappointed, Shao Yanhong still didn't insist, and at the same time, what relieved Shao Yanhong was that the Taiping army was very cunning to park the steam gunboat in the distance downstream, and did not drive to the near place to take risks, even if the Wu army used a large number of new rockets, it would be difficult to hurt the Taiping army's steamship, so Shao Yanhong could only muttered regretfully, "The dog has long hair, it is really cunning." ”

The steam gunboats of the Taiping army stopped in the distance downstream, and the ten large boats of towing went against the current under the protection of more than 100 military sampans, and launched a frontal assault on the Wu army's iron cable position.

Words cannot describe the spectacular scene at this moment, when the Taiping army fleet entered the range of the Wu army battery, after Wu Chaoyue personally issued the order to open fire, the mountainside on both sides of the Yangtze River seemed to be the sky and the earth cracked, and suddenly broke out with an earth-shattering loud sound, the fire was everywhere, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and one after another shells rushed out, whistling and flying towards the Taiping army's fleet. Then, the waves seven or eight feet high rose and fell, constantly rising and falling in the Taiping fleet, and the Taiping warships were constantly shot. Among them, the towing boat is better, as long as it is not hit at the draft on the side of the ship, the middle and upper few shells have little impact, but the Taiping army's sampan boat has bad luck, even if it is only hit by one shot, the lightest is the ship is seriously injured, and if it is serious, the ship will be directly destroyed and killed.

Even if the shore artillery did not hit the moving target with a high rate, after the first round of shelling, no less than 10 sampans of the Taiping army were damaged and sunk, and the wreckage of the ship and the soldiers who fell into the water floated everywhere with the waves. At the same time, the ten large boats of the Taiping army were also wounded, and the most seriously injured one, the deck and the side of the ship were directly cut five large openings by Wu army shells.

While Wu Chaoyue was satisfied with the results of the first round of artillery bombardment, the artillery fire of the forts on both sides of the strait was still continuing, and the high-spirited Taiping Army fleet was still advancing, and at the same time, he couldn't wait to aim at the large wooden fire of the Wu army floating in front of him, and miraculously hit the wooden gun with two guns in succession, so that the officers and men of the Wu army who were hiding in the wooden gun to manipulate the mines shouted and panicked. At the same time, the Taiping army's tugboat artillery fire also continued to bombard the Wu army's water ships that set off the iron cable, the purpose was to prepare to kill these ships fixed with heavy anchors first, so that the Wu army's iron cable would lose its foil and fall into the river on its own.

The biggest threat to the Wu army's iron wire array is the Taiping army's sampan boats, although the sampan boat's artillery fire is weak, but a large number and light and flexible, the Wu army's artillery fire is difficult to hit, so these sampan boats even if they are under the rain of bullets, they can still quickly move forward, quickly approach the Wu army's iron cable defense line, set fire to the Wu army's wooden firebolt and the fixed boat that sets off the iron cable, although the Wu soldiers and the defenders on the boat in the wooden bowl also continue to shoot back, but also continue to pull mines to attack the Taiping army ship soldiers nearby, But it still couldn't stop the Taiping army from constantly shooting rockets, and the wooden and toso ships lit fire one after another.

At the same time, the Wu Army's naval division had also opened artillery to help the battle, and the four main forces were lined up, constantly bombarding the ships on the opposite side with dense gunwales, and cooperating with the batteries on both sides of the strait to bombard the Taiping Army's fleet, and the Taiping Army's response strategy was to leave only dozens of sampan boats to protect the steam gunboats near the side, and put the remaining towboats and military sampans into the battlefield to increase the density of firepower.

The sound of artillery rumbled, the smoke of gunpowder covered the river like fog, and in the smoke of gunpowder, countless solid shells and flowering shells roared back and forth, constantly falling into the river and splashing and blowing up huge waves, and constantly hitting each other's ships and water fortifications, and the terrible sound of wood breaking and soldiers falling into the water one after another, and the sound of artillery slogans merged into one, playing a cruel and cruel battlefield march.

Listening to this majestic music, and enjoying this spectacular scene of thousands of cannons, Wu Chaoyue, who originally intended to use the water defense line to consume the enemy's strength, was of course extremely satisfied, and said that he did not expect that Wall would come forward to surrender and achieve such an ideal success. However, to Wu Chaoyue's surprise, during the period of the Taiping army's assault on the iron cable defense line, they even used picric acid weapons that even the soldiers of the Wu army were easily reluctant to use, and used them to burn the Wu army's water fortifications - the pit characteristics of picric acid that can float on the water and burn can be seen in the telescope.

"Even the picric acid has been used, it seems that Long Hair is determined to attack head-on this time." While smiling with satisfaction, Wu Chaoyue hurriedly arranged a small boat with a little conscience, ready to use it to pick up the wooden Yan garrison that was ignited by picric acid, so that they would not be burned alive in the wooden Yan.

The large wooden bowl that was ignited by the picric acid weapon really failed to survive, but fortunately, the Wu army's small boat took away most of the garrison in time. However, after the loss of this large water fortification, the defense ability of the first iron cable of the Wu army was also greatly reduced, and it was quickly cut off by the Taiping soldiers one after another, revealing a huge opening, and at the same time, the boat supporting the iron cable was also ignited by a large number of Taiping soldiers, forcing Wu Chaoyue to be forced to order to abandon the first line of defense.

The Taiping army, which successfully broke through the first line of defense, roared with joy, while Wu Chaoyue pouted disdainfully on the shore and sneered: "Let you be happy first, and when your main force comes, I will give you another surprise." ”

Wu Chaoyue's deliberate show of weakness has achieved satisfactory results, seeing that it only took one morning to successfully break through the first line of defense of the Wu army, Wei Jun couldn't help but have such a thought in addition to being overjoyed, "Okay, as long as you continue to fight like this, within three or five days, there will definitely be hope to break through Wu Demon's iron line of defense!" ”

In addition to being overjoyed, Wei Jun, who was sitting on the steam gunboat, of course, also gave an order to Gu Longxian, who commanded the former army, to continue to attack at any cost, and strive to break through the three iron lines of the Wu army within today!

Coincidentally, when Wei Jun ordered Gu Longxian to make every effort to break through the three lines of defense of the Wu army within one day, Wu Chaoyue was also discussing with Zhao Liewen how much sweetness to give the Taiping army today, and Zhao Liewen suggested: "Three iron cable defense lines, let three today, and three more tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, it is estimated that Changmao should be dispatched." At that time, we still have four lines of defense to defend, but we can keep it safe, and we will suddenly increase the intensity of the counterattack, and it will definitely not be a big problem to hit the long hair hard. ”

Wu Chaoyue took Zhao Liewen's suggestion after a little calculation, and after about two hours of fierce fighting, when the Taiping army paid a heavy price and ignited the second water wooden bowl of the Wu army, Wu Chaoyue decisively ordered to abandon the second line of defense, deliberately allowing the Taiping army to quickly break through the second layer. The result was not as expected by Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen, and the morale of the Taiping Army soldiers who succeeded one after another was greatly boosted, regardless of the huge losses and the fact that it was not early, they really launched an attack on the third line of defense of the Wu army......

On that day, the officers and men of the Taiping Army, who were united as one, succeeded in destroying the three iron cable defense lines of the Wu army, but they were also sunk by the Wu army's artillery fire, three of which were seriously injured and almost scrapped, and the remaining towing boats were all wounded, the loss of sampans was more than 100, and the casualties of the soldiers were missing more than 900 people. In the face of such a heavy price, although Wei Jun was somewhat distressed, he still felt that it was worth it, so he had just returned to the Wuxue camp with the broken fleet, and Wei Jun immediately arranged the next day's sortie fleet, demanding that the next day be broken through the Wu army's three iron cable defense lines no matter what!

"Break through three paths today, break through three more tomorrow, and the main force will all be dispatched the day after tomorrow, completely break through all the defense lines beyond the little demon, and fight to the death with his demon soldiers and sailors!" This is Wei Jun's confident threat. (To be continued.) )