The operation of the monk Lingqin army to attack the sluice gate of the moat in Tianjin was unsuccessful, because the sluice gate was a little too close to the city wall, and the situation of the sluice gate could be clearly seen with the naked eye on the city wall. After the secret sentry issued a warning, the Taiping army on duty at night immediately shot and fired arrows at the monks and kings, and at the same time urgently lowered the commandos with ropes to launch a counterattack.

Of course, Monk Greenqin's unauthorized actions made Shengbao furious, and the superintendent Jun Zaiyuan was also very angry and told Monk Greenqin in person, saying that whether to adopt the time-consuming tactics of diverting water to besiege the city must be decided by Emperor Xianfeng himself, and asked Monk Greenqin not to act rashly. But Monk Greenqin didn't listen at all, and felt that Zaiyuan had already put on a pair of pants with Shengbao, and under the pretext that he would not be subject to the orders of the foreign monarch, he still went his own way and continued to insist on implementing the tactics of diverting water to besiege the city.

Our monk and prince also underestimated the Taiping army a little, and his tactical action of sneaking attack on the gate actually gave the Taiping army a wake-up call, so that Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan immediately understood that the Qing army planned to make a fuss about the water attack, so the Taiping army immediately arranged-for-tat countermeasures.

The Taiping army had three main countermeasures, the first of course was to strengthen the protection of the sluices, and set up open and dark sentry guards there to monitor day and night, and a special army was ready to attack and protect the sluices at any time. The second is to prepare for the worst, prepare a large number of sandbags and stones at the entrance of the four water gates in advance, and be ready to fill the water gates at any time. Do not give floodwaters a chance to enter the city.

The third one is the most ruthless, after careful exploration of the terrain. Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan decided to simply fill in the inlet of the Dead Sea River to connect the moat and build a fixed sluice. Push all the water of the sea and rivers into the flood ditch! In this way, although the Taiping army was somewhat inconvenient in terms of water, even if the Qing army really diverted water to irrigate the city, the flood would first flood southward, first flooding the camp of the monk and the prince, and then threatening the three gates of Tianjin.

When the Taiping army began to fill the estuary, the monk prince of course also panicked, so he could only quickly send troops to obstruct the destruction, and the Taiping army was of course going all out to meet the battle for its own safety. He fought three battles in one day with the soldiers and horses under the command of the monk and the prince in the area of the gate, and repelled the attack of the monk and the prince three times, and the progress of the river filling was only affected to a certain extent, but it did not stop. With nothing to do, the monk prince could only ask Shengbao to send reinforcements to help him stop the Taiping army from building and destroying the sluice gate - Originally, our monk and prince wanted to call Wu Chaoyue to lead the army to reinforce by name, but he really couldn't pull down this face.

Shengbao categorically rejected Seng Greenqin's request, and the angry Seng Greenqin just wanted to write a bullet to impeach Shengbao, but the holy decree of Emperor Xianfeng was sent to Tianjin first. In the holy decree, we monks and princes scolded a bloody dog, and scolded the monks and princes for only caring about their own merits and ignoring the imperial treasury, not thinking about breaking the city and destroying the enemy as soon as possible, and also wanting to extend the war time to the Qing treasury to continue to increase the burden. We want our monk to immediately stop the action of diverting water to besiege the city, and take off an east pearl from our monk's head as a punishment!

In addition, Emperor Xianfeng also praised Yitong Shengbao and Zaiyuan's affairs, and the imperial court was important everywhere. At the critical moment, he can keep calm and give priority to the imperial court, and ask Shengbao to find another way to break the city and kill the enemy as soon as possible. As a last resort, the Battle of Tianjin must not be dragged into a long war of confrontation and attrition -- Emperor Xianfeng's belongings really cannot withstand such a toss.

Listened to the decree of Emperor Xianfeng. Of course, Shengbao and Zaiyuan were dazzled and smiled, and they also quietly breathed a sigh of relief together, glad that they still listened to some of Wu Chaoyue's anti-ear advice, so they didn't be unlucky with Monk Greenqin. However, Seng Lingqin was greatly disappointed, and ordered to stop the plan to divert water to besiege the city, dismissed the people who were filling up the flood river and expanding the mouth of the Haihe River, and allowed the Taiping army to quickly block the inlet of the moat with earth and stones.

The matter was not over, in the afternoon of the same day, after receiving the report that the monk had stopped the water diversion operation, Wu Chaoyue first laughed loudly, and then suddenly thought of something, and suddenly hesitated in his heart, and couldn't decide whether to warn Monk Lingqin. And after thinking about it again and again, Wu Chaoyue finally dispelled this idea - Wu Chaoyue is not an extraordinary hatred of the hardcore traitorous monk and prince, he chose the advantage of victory in history, and attacked the desperate Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Northern Expeditionary Army, which was extremely vicious, Ling Chi and buried alive, barbaric like a beast; In front of the foreigners, the original form was revealed, and the battle of Bali Bridge, which made the foreigners think it was a big joke, killed more than 10,000 people before killing thirteen foreign devils.

"Let's help the Taiping Army again, isn't Monk Greenqin unlucky to be a bird for me? I'm happy when this kind of person dies! ”

Wu Chaoyue expected that night, when the fixed sluice had been built, the Taiping army really sent a commando team to attack the mouth of the Haihe River, intending to use gunpowder to completely blow up the embankment that had been dug up by the monk and the prince, and take the initiative to divert the water of the Haihe River to flood the camp of the monk and the prince!

But there is one thing Wu Chaoyue did not expect, at the critical moment, a group of people who have not yet left discovered the sneak attack of the Taiping army, and immediately issued an alarm, and at the same time, they also used hoes and flat shoulders to fight with the Taiping army raid team, and never gave the Taiping army a chance to install gunpowder to blow up the embankment. After receiving the urgent report, the monk who was almost scared to pee his pants did not dare to hesitate, and immediately sent cavalry to reinforce the embankment battlefield, and finally defeated the small Taiping commando.

In this regard, Wu Chaoyue of course quietly shouted that it was a pity, and Shengbao also secretly complained that the group of people were troublesome, but the monk who almost didn't scare his soul kept kowtowing to the sky, thanking God for his help, so that he could escape a catastrophe - if the Taiping army really succeeded, even if the monk prince did not die on the battlefield, Emperor Xianfeng would be able to skin him!

Fortunately, the monk and the prince hurriedly ordered the re-organization of the people to repair the embankment, and at the same time, he also put down the county king's shelf for the first time and went to the embankment construction site in person to visit and comfort the people who bravely defended the embankment. However, to the surprise of Seng Lingqin, there were only more than 30 people in the group of people who dared to fight hand-to-hand with the Taiping army, and all of them spoke with a capital accent and were not locals. Monk Lingqin asked curiously about their origins. The leader of the group of people replied truthfully: "Back to the prince, we are all in the capital Xie Zhuang. My name is Feng Sanbao, and I am the land protector of Xie Zhuang. ”

"Then why did you come to Tianjin?" Monk Lingqin asked curiously.

"The little ones are delivered to Tianjin." Feng Sanbao replied truthfully: "Xie Zhuang raises more chickens and ducks. Master Wu of Jiangsu Daotai sent people to the capital to buy livestock, bought a lot of chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep from us, and hired a man to transport these things to Tianjin, so we followed. Later, we were all leaving, but we caught up with the prince and asked you to hire a man to do the work, so we stayed by the way. ”

"! I can't imagine that it can have anything to do with that little barbarian! Monk Lingqin scolded secretly, but he didn't mean to thank Wu Chaoyue at all, but asked Feng Sanbao curiously: "Feng Zhuangshi, you fought fiercely with Long Mao last night. What about the casualties? ”

"Four of the villagers in our village died and more than a dozen were injured." Feng Sanbao continued to answer truthfully, "But we also killed six long hairs, and I don't know how many we were injured, but it will definitely not be less." ”

"Kill six longhairs when you die four?" Knowing that these people were fighting with a flat hoe, the monk Lingqin was even more surprised, and he also praised the grass people under his rule rarely, and said: "Yes, I didn't expect Feng Zhuangshi to be so brave and good at fighting, not only can you hold the embankment." You can also kill six long-haired bandits, which is really good! The king will reward you greatly! ”

After that, Monk Lingqin really asked someone to bring a hundred taels of silver to reward Feng Sanbao and others, and Feng Sanbao thanked him. Then he said: "Lord Wang, the grass people have a small request, I hope you can fulfill it." I would like to ask you to let me meet Master Wu of Jiangsu Daotai and apologize to him in person. Make amends. ”

"Why?" Monk Lingqin's face changed slightly.

"The little one has seen Lord Wu before." Feng Sanbao said: "At that time, the grass people misheard the rumors and misunderstood that Lord Wu was a traitor who betrayed the country and sought glory. scolded him in person and drove him away from my house, and later the grass people learned that Lord Wu was actually a big hero who stood up to the sky, and he was very ashamed, so he wanted to meet him and kowtow to him in person to make amends. ”

"! What kind of hero is that little barbarian? ”

Monk Greenqin was unhappy in his heart, and said casually: "Wait for the opportunity, Lord Wu is with Sheng Dashuai every day, even if this king wants to see him, it will be difficult for this king to meet him, and when there is a chance in the future, this king will arrange it for you." Feng Zhuangshi, since you and your fellow villagers are so brave and good at fighting, it is too aggrieved to dig and pick stones here, why don't you join Tianjin to practice bravery? Help the king's army kill the long hair, make contributions to the court, and also eliminate harm for the people, if you make another war exploit, this king will definitely have a heavy reward! ”

Feng Sanbao hesitated a little, first discussed with the villagers in the same village for a while, and then said to Monk Greenqin: "Lord Wang, we are all willing to stay and serve the imperial court, but there is one thing, the grass people also have a daughter, she also came, originally she was helping to cook on the construction site, but if the grass people joined Lian Yong, she would have no place to settle." ”

"Easy to do." Monk Lingqin said casually: "Lian Yong also has to eat, in the back camp of the Tianjin regimental training, there are also some women helping to cook, just ask your daughter to cook too." ”

Feng Sanbao was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly thanked Monk Greenqin, who casually arranged for Feng Sanbao and his party to live in and out of the city, join the Tianjin group training team under Qingqi, and then went to inspect the construction site in a big way. After Monk Greenqin left, Feng Sanbao naturally quickly found Feng Wanzhen, who was cooking on the construction site, told her the situation, and asked Feng Wanzhen to go out of the city with him. But Feng Wanzhen was a little displeased after hearing this, and said directly: "Dad, I don't want to go, I don't want to do things for the monk and the prince." The last time I was in the capital, when I met Lord Wu, it was the brother-in-law of the monk and the prince, and he wanted to rob my swan! ”

"Girl, be a man with a big belly! Don't hold grudges! Feng Sanbao taught: "If we hold grudges for everything, then Lord Wu must not hate us to death?" ”

Listening to her father's reprimand, Feng Wanzhen could only nod obediently, and promised to go out of the city with Feng Sanbao to work as an errand for the monk and prince, and then Feng Wanzhen raised her head again, looked at the Wu army camp in the distance, sighed softly, and said softly: "Brother Wu, it would be good if it was for you to cook, the food I cooked was fragrant." ”

…………

At this moment, of course, Wu Chaoyue didn't know that there was a very potential Xiao Lili who was thinking about himself, and at this time, Wu Chaoyue didn't have time to think about other things, the matter of the underground siege was yellow, and the trick of diverting water to besiege the city was also disrupted. The question of how to drive the Taiping army back to the south was naturally put back in front of Wu Chaoyue, and because of the constant urging of Emperor Xianfeng. Shengbao, who had already regarded Wu Chaoyue as a confidant, of course, also transferred this pressure to Wu Chaoyue, forcing Wu Chaoyue to come up with a way to take Tianjin City as soon as possible.

The approach of a frontal assault was, of course, the first to be rejected. Expecting the Qing army under the command of Sheng Bao and Seng Lingqin to be able to take Tianjin, Wu Chaoyue would not have such a thought even if his head was in the water. Of course, it is the best choice to break the city with a strategy, but the Taiping army's attitude of sticking to the city is extremely resolute, and Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan are the masters who have suffered many big losses from Wu Chaoyue's tricks, and it is naturally not so easy to expect them to be fooled. So no matter how hard Wu Chaoyue racked his brains, he just couldn't think of any good way to drive the Taiping army away.

Fortunately, now Wu Chaoyue already has a Zhao Liewen who can share the pressure for him, but when he came to Zhao Liewen to discuss, Zhao Liewen pointed out to Wu Chaoyue: "Comfort Pavilion." I think there is something wrong with the direction of your thinking, the city of Tianjin is strong, the fortifications are perfect, and the defenders are as many as 50,000 people, as long as Changmao holds on without fighting, whether we attack or outwit, it is extremely difficult for us to attack, and even if we win by luck, our casualties will inevitably be extraordinary. To break Tianjin. The best thing to do is not for us to strike, but for the longhair to take the initiative, and we should strike backwards to make the enemy move. We're waiting for an opportunity to break the enemy! ”

Wu Chaoyue nodded and said, "Lure the enemy to make a move, and strike later." It's not like I haven't thought about this solution, but that's what I have the most headache about. How can you get the long hair to move and show the flaws? ”

Let's talk about it. Wu Chaoyue said with a wry smile: "Actually, I have also thought of some strategies such as deception and defeat, but Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan have suffered too much from me in this regard, and it is estimated that they will definitely not be fooled again." ”

"Of course they won't be fooled again, and even if they do, it will be difficult for us to take Tianjin City." Zhao Liewen smiled and said: "There is so much grain and grass in Tianjin City, even if Changmao goes out in danger, he will definitely leave enough troops to defend it, and will not give us any chance to take the opportunity to take the city." ”

"Do you have any good ideas?" Wu Chaoyue asked helplessly.

"If you can't do small tricks, you can only come to the big ones." Zhao Liewen smiled again, and suddenly said, "Weiting, how do you think we withdraw from the Tianjin battlefield?" ”

"We withdraw from the Tianjin battlefield?" Wu Chaoyue was taken aback and said, "Huifu, are you joking?" How could the imperial court and Shengbao agree to let us withdraw from the Tianjin battlefield? ”

"A fake retreat, of course." Zhao Liewen smiled and said: "In the entire Tianjin battlefield, the only thing that Changmao is afraid of is our army, but he doesn't pay much attention to the army of the victorious commander and the monk prince, and dares to build a dam under the nose of the monk and the prince, which is one of the proofs." As long as we find an excuse to convince Longhair to temporarily withdraw from the Tianjin battlefield, Longhair will definitely move and find a way to smash the encirclement arranged by Shengbao and Seng Lingqin. ”

"There are many ways to convince Longfur that we've retreated." Wu Chaoyue pondered and said: "I can come up with one right away, and release rumors that Changmao's reinforcements have arrived in Shandong, and the imperial court sent me to block Changmao's reinforcements, and I will take the army away again, and Changmao will definitely believe it." But in this case, how can we return to the Tianjin battlefield in time to seize the fighters? ”

"Weiting, have you forgotten the local township?" Zhao Liewen said: "After we withdraw, isn't it logical for Shengbao and Seng Greenqin to recruit local villagers to strengthen their troops? Let our soldiers take off their military uniforms, put on tattered clothes, and run to live in the camp of the victorious commander in twos and threes, won't they immediately become local village warriors? ”

Wu Chaoyue was greatly moved, Wu Jun Lian Yong of the five battalions said a lot less, not too much, after pretending to go south, it is not difficult to turn the whole into pieces and return to the Tianjin battlefield, but Wu Chaoyue is not willing to let the soldiers of the self-army come back and toss back and forth, so after thinking for a long time, Wu Chaoyue said: "Huifu, your method is a good idea, but in my opinion, there is still room for improvement, and the effect may be better." ”

"How can it be improved?" Zhao Liewen hurriedly said.

"Let the local villagers enter our camp, and our soldiers disguise themselves as local villagers and be stationed in other camps." Wu Chaoyue said: "At the same time, we will release false news to let Longhair know that their reinforcements have entered Shandong, so that with some flaws we deliberately exposed, Longhair will have to be deceived!" ”

"Wonderful!" Zhao Liewen applauded and exclaimed: "It's still Weiting who understands military affairs, which can not only save our soldiers from the pain of running back and forth, but also make Changmao more convinced that we have left Tianjin, and want to seize the fighter plane to go out of the city for a decisive battle, and fight to the death with Shengbao and Monk Greenqin." ”

"It's a big plan, so let's think about it carefully and see how we do it." Wu Chaoyue commanded: "Also, this plan must make Monk Lingqin believe that we have withdrawn. ”

"Even the monk and the prince have to hide it?" Zhao Liewen already liked to laugh, but when he heard it, he laughed even more, and said, "As for it? Although the snobbery of the monk is on the top of his head, he is not so bad that he really runs to tell Changmao in order to pull our hind legs, right? ”

"There are many ways to pull back your legs, and you don't have to deliberately tell Longhair." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said: "If you don't hide the monk and the prince, even if he doesn't deliberately tell the truth and doesn't deliberately pull his hind legs, he will definitely be perfunctory when he executes the mission, and maybe he will reveal some flaws, let Chang Mao see through it, and cause our plan to fall short." ”

Speaking of this, Wu Chaoyue also smiled slightly, and said: "Also, if the monk also believes that we are gone, only his army hangs alone south of the Haihe River, confronting the main force of long hair alone, he must not even dare to sleep with his eyes, and it is good for him to worry about a few hairs." (To be continued.) )