When he received the good news that the future famous general Liu Mingchuan accepted his recruitment, Wu Chaoyue had already boarded the flagship of the Wu Army's naval division, the 'Loyalty', and personally led the fledgling Wu Army's naval division to set sail and rush to Tianjia Town to personally guard the defense line of Tianjia Town. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info knew the good news, and Wu Chaoyue, who was trapped and disturbed by internal and external troubles, also showed a rare smile, and said: "Good sign, this kind of good thing happened to the sailor on the day of departure, a rare good sign." ”

It is indeed a good sign, but it still can't change the cruel fact that the Wu Army's naval division is too weak, except for the two fourth-class sail warships 'Loyalty' and 'Renyi', which are half-sold and half-given by foreigners, the remaining warships of the Wu Army's naval division only have 24 small boats that can only be equipped with two light guns, as well as 36 small rowing boats that can't even be equipped with artillery and some light boats that do not have any combat effectiveness to serve as scouts and liaison tasks, not to mention the overall strength compared with the main force of the Taiping Army Naval Division and the main force of the Hunan Army Naval Division. It's not enough to even stuff their teeth.

In terms of even more fatal personnel, the hastily formed and hastily expanded the army to two battalions, the skills of the officers and men of the Wu Army's naval division were seriously not proficient, and they had no experience in water warfare at all, and a considerable number of the non-commissioned officers only learned to swim after joining the naval division, and the quality of the soldiers was far inferior to that of the sailors and soldiers of the Hunan Army and the Taiping Army, and because the operation of the fourth-class warships was far more complex and difficult than those of the Hunan army's small red single boats, they were simply unable to give full play to the powerful advantages of the cannons of the 'Loyalty' and 'Renyi' ships. So much so that when Wu Chaoyue ordered Wu Jun's naval division to go to war, Cullen, a British instructor who had been hired for a large amount of money, ran to Wu Chaoyue and strongly objected, demanding that Wu Chaoyue give him at least another three months of training time, and then Wu's naval division could form combat effectiveness and play a role on the battlefield.

Of course, Wu Chaoyue also knew that the sailors were far more difficult to train than the land divisions, and he also knew that the Wu army's sailors were now forced to fight, not only could not play a big role, but they might also be nipped in the bud by the Taiping army's sailors. But there is no way, the defense line of Tianjiazhen is too dangerous, the Hunan army's naval divisions that have been defeated in successive battles are greatly injured, and there is no way to intercept the Taiping army's eastward advance, only the land division of the Hunan army can barely hold on to the land, and Tianjiazhen is the only way for the Hunan army's grain and grass. Therefore, whether it is to protect the Daye Industrial Base that has already started construction, or for his official career and to keep the Hunan Army as a shield, Wu Chaoyue must increase his troops in Tianjia Town as soon as possible to prevent accidents.

In order to deal with the Taiping Army's naval division and not give the Taiping Army a chance to go straight into the hinterland of Hubei along the Yangtze River waterway, Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to take the risk of dispatching the Wu Army's naval division! But fortunately, the Yangtze River is in the area of Tianjia Town is in a north-south direction, and now it is autumn when the north wind is gradually rising, no matter the direction of the wind and the current, the advantage is on the side of the Wu Army Naval Division.

Zhao Liewen, who was entangled in lawsuits, also insisted on getting on the boat and continued to come to Tianjia Town to help Wu Chaoyue, and dispatched the sailors to the east in advance without receiving the Taiping Army's division of troops to the west, which was also Zhao Liewen's idea for Wu Chaoyue, because only by letting the Wu Army's sailors seize a favorable position in advance, the Wu Army's sailors, who are still very weak, can have a little self-preservation. But if the Taiping Army's sailors were allowed to move first and seize the advantageous position first, then the Wu Army's sailors could only be said to have died in vain if they hurriedly drove to Tianjia Town.

Fortunately, Wu Chaoyue listened to Zhao Liewen's suggestion to send troops in advance, when the Wu army's naval division was pulled out to the area of Maoshan Town, Tianjiazhen really sent an urgent report, saying that the Taiping Army really sent a naval division to the west, crossed Lujiazui and entered the Hubei territory, the commander of the army was Shi Dakai's brother Guozong Shi Xiangzhen, the number of troops has not been proved for the time being, and the number of large and small ships is an astonishing more than 800.

Hearing this, Wu Chaoyue of course ordered the fleet to speed up and rush to Tianjia Town, and ordered the land division to stick to the iron cable defense line in Tianjia Town, and never let the Taiping Army Navy Division have the opportunity to break through the iron cable defense line before the arrival of Wu Jun's water division, and then sat down to study the Shi Xiangzhen information collected by Zhang Dejian.

After carefully studying the information about Shi Xiangzhen, Wu Chaoyue inevitably frowned, because the Wu Army Naval Division was about to face this opponent Shi Xiangzhen was not only brave and fierce on the battlefield, he had a nickname called Iron Rooster, and he also had very rich experience in water warfare. Shi Xiangzhen, who was besieged by the Hunan army's naval division, was forced to withdraw from Hunan, and although he was defeated, he was defeated.

While frowning, Wu Chaoyue suddenly noticed Shi Xiangzhen's nickname, and asked Zhang Dejian, who was waiting on the side, "Shi Peng, this Shi Xiangzhen is also Shi Dakai's brother, how can there be such an ugly nickname as Iron Rooster?" Is he stingy and greedy for money? ”

"As far as his subordinates know, Shi Xiangzhen is a little too frugal in terms of money." Zhang Dejian replied truthfully: "But my subordinates heard that his nickname is mainly because he is good at fighting tough battles, especially because he is good at tough battles, just like a rooster with iron digging into the soil, so he got this somewhat ugly nickname." ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded, vaguely thinking of a little in his heart, but he couldn't judge whether it was feasible, so he could only hide this idea in his heart for the time being, and carefully study Shi Xiangzhen's combat characteristics and military habits.

The advantage of smooth wind and water helped the Wu army's sailors, all the way to the vicinity of Tianjia Town, just vaguely saw the towering Banbi Mountain on the south bank, the Wu army had already heard the continuous shelling sound like thunder, it was expected that the Taiping Army's sailors were already attacking the iron line of defense, Wu Chaoyue could not send scouts to reconnoitre, urging the sailors to just rush down.

Next, when I finally saw the movable iron cable defense line that the Hubei New Army had worked hard to build, there were indeed a large number of Taiping Army boats that were attacking the barrage iron cable, and had already cut off one of the six iron cables, and ignited the water fortifications built above the iron cable.

Next, when Wu Chaoyue ordered the Wu Army's naval division to join the battle, the rookie nature of the Wu Army's naval division was also immediately revealed, without the threat and interference of the enemy's ships, although it took a lot of time for the Loyalty and Renyi to reluctantly turn the bow, so that the side of the ship with the most dense artillery faced the enemy ship, during which the Renyi even damaged a small rowing boat of the Wu army that protected it, and almost won the first battle to kill a self-army warship.

Wu's small detachment also performed very badly, and it took a lot of effort to reluctantly adjust the formation to a battle formation with the head around the side of the ship facing the enemy, and there were also two collision accidents during the period. The small rowing boat, which was in charge of the maneuvering mission, barely performed well by virtue of its excellent agility, and finally lined up in an arc in front of the Loyalty and Renyi, protecting the near side of the main warship.

When Wu Chaoyue shook his head again and again, it made Wu Chaoyue even more angry and angry, because of serious lack of experience and too much psychological tension, the gunner of the Loyalty actually ignited seven or eight guns at the same time, and the powerful recoil force between the roar of the guns at the same time made the hull of the Loyalty tilt on its own, almost capsizing, and all the shells that were shot out also missed, none of them hit the enemy warship, and all of them deviated by 108,000 miles.

Fortunately, the iron cable defense line played a key role at this critical moment, and it was clear that the rookie of the Wu Army Naval Division on the opposite side was vulnerable, but the Taiping Army fleet could not immediately launch a surprise attack because of the iron cable blockage, and easily killed the rookie of the Wu Army Naval Division. The rookie soldiers of the Wu Army's naval division were also able to slowly accumulate experience in actual combat, and gradually took turns firing artillery, and were gradually able to hit the enemy's warships closely, and gradually formed a little power against the downstream ships.

In Hubei just started, the production of picric acid is too small, Wu Jun's naval division is currently equipped with solid shells and a small number of black powder flowering shells, the power of artillery is naturally far less than picric acid artillery, fortunately, the number of artillery advantages greatly make up for this weakness, even if only half of the firepower is used to participate in the battle, the artillery of the Loyalty and Renyi still reached an astonishing fifty guns, and all of them are relatively advanced British naval guns, the range is far and powerful, as long as one cannon is hit, A single shell can directly kill a small boat of the Taiping army. In addition, more than 20 small boats of the Wu army were fired to help the battle, and the artillery of the Wu army batteries on both sides of the Yangtze River was refueled, and the density of the Wu army's artillery fire was always in the absolute upper hand, and more than 100 small boats of the Taiping army that attacked the iron cable defense line were bombarded so that they could not fight back at all, and one ship after another was destroyed and people died.

In addition, the Qing soldiers stationed in the water fortifications also played a certain role, and they kept shooting and killing the Taiping soldiers on the enemy ships.

Seeing that the Wu army's artillery fire was too powerful on the flagship, and the iron cable blocked the road and could not fight a close battle, Shi Xiangzhen, who arrived at the Tianjiazhen battlefield only a few hours earlier than the Wu army's naval division, thought twice, and finally let the flagship play the retreat banner and withdraw the forward fleet, which had no hope of winning. Then after ordering the sailors to temporarily retreat to Jiangxin Island in the Wuxue area and station, Shi Xiangzhen couldn't help but raise his binoculars to look at the mighty Loyalty and Renyi in the distance, his eyes were also full of greed, and he said secretly: "Such a good ship, if it were mine, it would be good!" ”

Relying on the absolute superiority of fortifications and firepower, Wu Chaoyue first sent a small rowing boat to extinguish the fire to ensure the water fortifications that could be used as much as possible, and then ordered the sailor to camp at the port of Wuwangmiao, which was very good to him, and very carefully instructed the sailor soldiers not to go ashore without authorization, and to protect the warship with all their might, and finally led Zhao Liewen and Wang Fu and others to get off the boat, and met with Huang Dasha, Liu Kunyi and Wang Guocai who were stationed on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

At the moment of the great enemy, Wu Chaoyue certainly had no interest in holding a cocktail party and feasting lackeys, he just ordered to reward the sailors and soldiers who finally failed to defeat the battle, and then immediately held a meeting to discuss the next tactical plan with the accomplices and lackeys.

As a result of the discussion, all the accomplices and lackeys suggested that they should only defend and not fight, and let the Taiping army sailors take the initiative to fight, and continue to fight as they did today by virtue of their superiority in fortifications and firepower. Wu Chaoyue was not satisfied with this, and asked everyone: "If you are long-haired Shi Xiangzhen, will you continue to fight like today?" Stupidly attacking head-on against the tide and wind, it is difficult to fight back when you are hit by shells and guns, will Shi Xiangzhen find another way to break through our iron line defense? ”

Everyone shut up, and Wu Chaoyue said again: "The reason why Changmao dared to fight like this today is because they didn't know that our sailors were about to rush to Tianjia Town, and they felt that with the strength of their sailors, they were enough to smash our iron cable defense line blocking the river, and they did almost do it. Now that he has suffered a surprise loss, Longhair will definitely not attack head-on like this again, and I expect that Longhair will inevitably come up with another poisonous plan and find another way to destroy our iron line defense. Therefore, if we pin all our hopes on that thin iron line of defense, we will only sit idly by. ”

The generals hurriedly nodded their heads again and again, saying that they must remember the teachings of Lord Wu of Futai, and Wu Chaoyue told the generals not to underestimate the enemy, and then asked Liu Kunyi, Wang Fu and others: "General Liu, General Wang, among us, you have the most experience in water warfare, in your opinion, what method might Changmao use to destroy our iron line of defense?" ”

"Night Raid." Liu Kunyi and Wang Fu replied in unison without thinking about it, and then Liu Kunyi said again: "If I were the commander of Long Hairy, I would definitely send a number of sailor teams to sneak attack our iron line overnight. In the middle of the night, our artillery is not accurate, the best way to solve it is to send sailors to meet us, when the small fleet of long-haired ships has the opportunity to axe and hammer saws, destroy our iron cables, if there is no chance, they will temporarily retreat and wait for another opportunity, if we send sailors to block, they will definitely take the opportunity to lure the enemy, lure our sailors into a broadside battle with them, and give full play to all the advantages of how flexible their ships are. ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded again and again, and was extremely worried that the Taiping Army Sailor would use this method to make trouble for himself, but when Wu Chaoyue asked Liu Kunyi if there was any way to stop this move, Liu Kunyi helplessly spread his hands and said: "Futai, there is really no way to do this, the best defense on the water battlefield is to attack, unless our sailors can win the long-haired sailors, otherwise we will never be able to stop the long-haired sailors from doing this, and the long-haired ones will always be able to completely destroy our iron cable defense line once they take a bite." ”

Wu Chaoyue scratched his head, racking his brains and couldn't think of any good way to clean up the enemy on the water, but the kind old man Feng Sanbao put forward a more reliable suggestion, saying: "Wu Futai, why don't we ask the Hunan Navy for help?" They're not too far from here, and as long as they turn around and join forces with us, we won't be able to defeat the long-haired sailor fleet on the water. ”

first glanced at the honest and honest old man, and then at the treacherous and despicable accomplice staff officer Zhao Liewen, seeing Zhao Liewen nodded, Wu Chaoyue couldn't help but feel a little moved, and said secretly: "You should try your luck, anyway, my old immortal teacher is now almost drawn by Shi Dakai, and the sailor who has made him hurt a lot join forces with me, and he has more hope of keeping the remnants of his sailor, this matter is beneficial to him, as long as his extortion is not too much, it is nothing to give him some money and food to pay him appropriately." ”

With this idea in mind, Wu Chaoyue immediately asked Zhao Liewen to ghostwrite a book, and in the name of working together to break the enemy, he invited his barber teacher to transfer the remnants of his sailor back to Tianjia Town, and joined forces with the sailor division of the army to deal with the sailor division of the Taiping Army, and sent people to Jiujiang by land on the south bank to contact Zeng Guofan.

Liu Kunyi and Wang Fu expected that night, the Taiping army really sent a small fleet to attack the Wu army's iron line of defense, and Wu Chaoyue was also forced to send a small rowing boat to meet the battle, and it was not easy to repel the small force of the Taiping army with muskets and grenades. However, the Taiping army was repeatedly defeated and fought, and launched three sneak attacks in the night, and the fledgling Wu army's sailors were exhausted and worked hard.

The next day, the Taiping Army's naval division, which had the absolute upper hand in the number of ships, came up with tricks again, and even sent a fleet to storm the Wu army's weaker Banbi Mountain position, Cao Yanzhong, who guarded Banbi Mountain, fought with all his might, and the Wu Army's naval division was also forced to go out to save Banbi Mountain, but the fierce battle was until the evening, after receiving the news that the Taiping Army's naval division took the initiative to retreat, Wu Chaoyue suddenly woke up, stomped his feet and scolded: "! Fallen for the long-haired exhaustion of the army! ”

It is indeed the tired strategy of the Taiping Army, aiming at the weakness of the Wu Army's sailors with few soldiers and difficult to rotate, the treacherous Shi Xiangzhen relied on the absolute superiority of the number of Taiping ships, sent a fleet of different sizes, and constantly attacked or stormed the iron cable defense line that the Wu Army's sailors must save, so that the training of the Wu Army's sailors was exhausted, exhausted to parry, weakening the physical strength of the Wu Army's sailors and men, and also hitting the morale and fighting spirit of the Wu Army's sailors. Not daring to launch a decisive battle to win, the only way to do this was to divide the Naval Division in two, and let the Loyalty and Renyi take turns to attack to protect the only iron line that could prevent the Taiping Naval Division and the Wu Naval Division from fighting a close-quarters battle.

Even if the already weak naval division was divided into two forces, the effect was still not great, and under the tireless and repeated efforts of the Taiping army's naval division, four of the Wu army's six iron cable defense lines were cut off one after another, and the water fortifications were also burned down and destroyed by the Taiping army's naval division, and the defense line was crumbling and weak to the point of being very dangerous.

Fortunately, on the evening of the day when the fourth line of defense was destroyed by the Taiping army, the messenger who went to contact the barber teacher finally returned to Wu Chaoyue's front and presented a reply from the barber himself, and said that Wu Chaoyue would immediately return to the battlefield of Tianjiazhen as long as the conditions proposed by the barber teacher had broken through the blockade of the Taiping army and reunited into a single force.

Knowing that the conditions prescribed by the barber teacher must be very harsh, he had long been mentally prepared to be blackmailed, but after opening the letter sealed by fire paint and taking a closer look, Wu Chaoyue's nose was crooked on the spot - Zeng Guofan actually asked Wu Chaoyue to lend the two warships of the 'Loyalty' and 'Renyi' to the Hunan Army Sailors for use in the name of excessive losses of the Hunan Army's naval divisions and a large number of skilled sailors, or sell them directly to the Hunan Army's naval divisions at the original price of 60,000 silver dollars!

"Weiting, I finally know who can take advantage of the fire in the whole world." Zhao Liewen also smiled bitterly and said to Wu Chaoyue: "Knowing that your sailor is weak, even if you can't even deal with the long-haired sailor's partial division, you also know that once the water defense line in Tianjia Town is broken through by the long-haired sailor, it will be difficult for your only two good boats to be kept." That's why it's here, forcing you to choose whether to give the Loyalty and Benevolence to Changmao or to him. ”

"Old immortal!"

The first time he insulted the teacher, he scolded directly, but the retribution came quickly, and suddenly a herald outside the tent rushed into the tent, saluted Wu Chaoyue and said: "Lord Futai, there is a group of people from outside my military camp, and the leader claims to be Huguang Dao Yushi Fu Aji, or the minister sent by the imperial court to investigate and deal with Master Zhao, and asks to meet you immediately. ”

Hearing this, Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen first glanced at each other, and then sighed in unison and said, "It's even worse!" (To be continued.) )