“…… If we have deceived the door of the thief's barracks, we will have made a great achievement tonight. ”

Listening to the instigating words of the accomplice Jin Taiwen, Zhang Mingjin's head couldn't help but get hot, and he subconsciously raised his legs forward and walked towards the Wu army camp, but just after taking a step, a hand suddenly stretched out next to him, grabbed Zhang Mingjin, and said nervously: "Cousin, you can't go, the thief army recognizes you, and you play." ”

It was his personal soldier captain and cousin who held Zhang Mingjin, and he was also a relative surnamed Zhang who didn't want to see Zhang Mingjin die in vain, so Zhang Mingjin involuntarily stopped. As a result, at this time, there was a sudden shout from the door of the Wu military camp, "Zheng Xiang come out!" If we don't come out again, we'll shoot! ”

"Shoot!"

It was only after issuing this order that Zhang Mingjin found that he was a little too impulsive and too anxious to reveal his identity. But it was too late to regret it, hearing Zhang Mingjin's order, the Qing army who had long been so nervous that their palms were sweating had already opened fire one after another, and they shot the bullets at the door of the Wu military camp first.

The Qing army's surprise attack, which was already infinitely close to success, was changed, and the Qing army's death squad had no choice but to change the surprise attack into a strong attack, while desperately shooting at the gate of the Wu barracks, while charging forward, throwing precious bitter acid grenades and shells made of black powder at the gate of the Wu barracks, in a vain attempt to blow open the camp gate and rush into the camp. However, it is a pity that the experienced Wu soldiers immediately adopted the tactics of rotation fire to block the road with firepower, and at the same time, the Wu artillery placed on both sides of the camp gate in advance also hurriedly opened fire, effectively suppressing the Qing army's charge, and successfully survived the panic period of the sudden attack.

"Throw away the torches! Jin Taiwen, you are in charge of the left, I am in charge of the right, spread out to the two wings, our reinforcements are coming, and if you have the opportunity, you will rush to the camp of the thief army! ”

Cursing Zhang Mingjin's cowardice like a mouse, Jin Taiwen, the general of the Qing army, acted according to the order, and led a group of Qing troops to rush to the left side of the Wu military camp door, extinguishing the fire torch to avoid revealing the position, Zhang Mingjin also personally led the army to rush to the right side, hiding in the dark and waiting for the fighter to reappear. The Wu army also reacted quickly, and all battalions and teams went into battle with guns, holding the camp wall and trench to prevent the Qing army from approaching, and at the same time preparing to meet the approaching Qing army brigade.

In a short time, the Qing army brigade composed of six battalions arrived at the scene, and immediately launched a strong attack on the Wu army camp in accordance with the pre-war agreement, and the Wu army officers and men rose up to meet the battle, relying on the camp fortifications to meet the Qing army brigade, the guns around the camp were like hemp, and the artillery roared, and from time to time there were Qing army fire bombs thrown at the Wu army camp, the fire was raging, and the fight was inextricable.

After all, the Qing army was more prepared, in order to ensure the success of the arson, not only the Qing army's death squad carried valuable picric acid weapons, but the Qing army brigade also brought an astonishing number of black powder shells, although the original throwing weapon was not as powerful as the picric grenade, but after the explosion on the ground, it could still spray flames that could hurt and kill people, the wooden camp wall and antlers of the Wu army continued to catch fire, and the Qing soldiers took the opportunity to continue to charge the Wu army camp in a unit. Successfully rushed through the trench many times, approached to the side of the camp wall and fought with the Wu army soldiers in close combat. The poorly prepared Wu soldiers were very passive, and in a hurry they could only rely on fortifications to fight, and they were unable to effectively suppress the Qing army's offensive.

The Qing army death squad led by Zhang Mingjin and Jin Taiwen immediately launched a sneak attack on the Wu army's position as long as they saw the opportunity, or directly attacked the Wu army camp wall, or quietly stepped forward under the cover of night and smoke, sneaked to the side of the Wu army's position and made a sudden critical attack, and did not hesitate to suddenly use the picric acid weapons bought at a high price, killing the Wu army soldiers on the opposite side in a hurry, and rushed directly to the bottom of the Wu army camp wall many times, and once successfully rushed to the top of the Wu army's camp wall. The soldiers of the Wu army shouted loudly, and were forced to meet the Qing soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, and because the Qing army's death squads were dressed as Wu soldiers, they were accidentally injured in the white-knuckle battle.

Fortunately, the grain and grass of the Wu army were far away from the camp wall, and the Qing army's death squad could not throw bitter acid grenades or fire bombs directly on the grain bags stacked in the open air by the Wu army, otherwise, the battle of the Wu army would definitely be ten times more difficult. However, even so, the Wu army defending the camp was still in a hurry by the sacrificing charge of the Qing army soldiers one after another, several defense lines were in a hurry, and they were forced to put into the reserve to fight the fire, and the Qing army was roaring constantly, and the red eyes just took turns to step forward, desperately attacking the fortifications of the Wu military camp, and some particularly desperate ones simply carried gunpowder bags and directly attacked the door of the Wu military camp.

…………

At the same time, the main camp of the Wu army was fighting more fiercely, because of the proximity to the Guancheng, the Qing army moved a few Russian-made howitzers to help, and cooperated with the splitting mountain artillery to directly bombard the camp of the Wu army, while the main force of the Wu army was obviously not ready for a decisive battle, even if the weapons and equipment, battlefield experience and the quality of the soldiers were superior, they were still pressed and beaten by the well-prepared Qing army, and they could only stick to the camp and could not carry out a counterattack.

The commander of the Qing army, Zai Ling, surnamed wild boar skin, did have some military talent, and saw that the Qing army had the upper hand on the wall, and the Wu army only dared to defend and did not dare to attack, and Zai Ling decisively dispatched the reserves in the city to fight, with more heavy artillery to reinforce the main battlefield, Qi Chengyan, the deputy of the civilian side, questioned, worried that this move was too risky, Zai Ling also said firmly: "There will be no danger!" The situation of the black light is unknown, and the Wu thief must have already known our actions to attack Qinhuangdao, and he did not dare to send troops to counterattack Shanhaiguan at this time with a hundred courage from the Wu thief! Even if we send all the troops in the city, there will be no danger to Shanhaiguan at this time! ”

After the Qing army reserve rushed to the front line with more heavy weapons to reinforce, under the pressure of the great increase, the Wu army really did not dare to go out of the camp to counterattack, and could only passively see the moves, use musket grenades to resist the infantry attack of the Qing army, and use long-range artillery to bombard the Qing army's artillery, Zhu Hongzhang, the chief general of the Wu army, only commanded the army to guard the camp, while worrying about the Qinhuangdao battlefield thirty miles away, and did not think of risking a counterattack at all, and went to fight to the death with the Qing army outside the camp. Of course, this can't be blamed on Zhu Hongzhang's cowardice and conservatism, mainly because the enemy situation is unknown in the middle of the night, I don't know how many troops the Qing army has dispatched, and how many reserves are available.

Under the command of Wang Zhankui, a general of the Qing army with rich experience in actual combat, the Qing army soldiers were divided into three routes, taking turns to attack the main camp of the Wu army, and even directly shouted the slogan of capturing Zhu Hongzhang alive in the fierce battle. Zhu Hongzhang also repeatedly ordered all battalions not to allow any battalion to go out of the camp to counterattack without authorization, resulting in the Wu army Although the formation was not chaotic, the scene was completely passive, and it was difficult to fight back just by being beaten, so it could only grit its teeth and hold on.

…………

At the same time, the Qinhuangdao battlefield was the same, relying on the advantage of preemptive strikes, the Qing army, which was actually at a disadvantage in terms of comprehensive strength, fought a tailwind battle, and also beat the Qinhuangdao Wu army led by Ni Gui to the point of resistance, and miraculously rushed to the top of the Wu army camp wall many times, causing a large number of casualties to the Wu army, while also using the Qing army death squad pretending to be Wu army soldiers to create a lot of chaos for the Wu army's position, resulting in the Wu army having to screen the enemy after every close battle with the Qing army, which wasted adjustment time and hurt morale. However, even so, there were still several members of the Qing army's death squad who took the opportunity to infiltrate the Wu military camp and set it on fire, which affected the morale of the army even more and made the battle situation even more passive.

After a period of fierce fighting, the Qing army also created a new miracle, a Qing soldier who carried a gunpowder bag to the door of the Wu military camp was not killed after being shot, hid in the pile of dead people and crawled forward, approaching the door of the Wu military camp little by little, and successfully ignited the gunpowder bag on his back near the gate of the Wu military camp, and severely damaged the gate of the Wu military camp with the price of his own broken bones, causing the gate of the Wu military camp to ignite. The Wu army was shocked and shaken, but the soldiers of the Qing army were thunderous with joy, and immediately launched a cluster charge towards the gate of the Wu army's camp, Ni Gui had no choice but to personally lead the battalion directly under him to step forward, line up in a horizontal line to guard the camp gate, and let the soldiers extinguish the fire and block the door while struggling to suppress the Qing army's attack.

…………

Let's take a look at the situation at Shanhaiguan, on the wall of the south gate of Shanhaiguan more than 30 miles away, Zai Ling of course did not know that the self-army had made a major breakthrough on the battlefield of Qinhuangdao, but even so, Zai Ling was still full of smiles and a relaxed expression, because in his telescope, the performance of the main force of the Qing army was more satisfactory and better than he expected, and he had always pressed and beaten the main force of the Wu army, and once used Russian artillery to collapse the north main gate of the Wu army camp, forcing the Wu army to invest a lot of troops to guard the camp gateZai Ling also concluded that even if the self-army could not completely destroy the main camp of the Wu army tonight, it would definitely be able to severely damage the morale of the Wu army, boost the morale of the self-army, and even force the Wu army to transfer troops from the Jinzhou front line to help Shanhaiguan, which is not impossible.

The situation is very gratifying, but what Zai Ling never dreamed of was that at this critical moment, a herald suddenly rushed to him with a crawl, and shouted before saluting: "Carrier, the big thing is not good, there is a thief army fleet at the mouth of the Shihe River, there are several steamers, and cannon ships!" ”

"What?!" Zai Ling suspected that his ears had heard it wrong, and exclaimed, "How is it possible? Didn't Wu thief's fleet go to Jinzhou? Why did you come back so quickly? ”

No one could answer Zai Ling's question, but there were a few cannon sounds from the Shihekou side first, and when Zai Ling hurriedly raised his binoculars to take a closer look, he saw at a glance that the old dragon head battery that had been voluntarily abandoned by the self-army had already risen on fire, and it was obvious that the Wu army fleet directly used picric acid shells, which not only reconnoitred the situation of the Qing army's batteries, but also released fire to facilitate reconnaissance of the situation. And after seeing this, Zai Ling, who was quite cautious, suddenly understood something, and shouted: "It's not the original Wu thief water master!" The original Wu thief sailor knew that we had taken the initiative to give up the old dragon head, and it was impossible to fire at the old dragon head fort again! It's the new Wu thief water master, and he doesn't know the situation of the old dragon's head, so he shoots at the old dragon's head! ”

After waking up and yelling, Zai Ling was inevitably even more confused, and said, "But where did this Wu thief water master come from?" New to Shanghai? But Jiao Dongbao Zhongtang, why didn't you send me a letter? ”

…………

At the same time, the same was true on the Qinhuangdao battlefield, when four steam cannon captains flying the flag of the Wu army appeared near the Qinhuangdao dock with a whistle, not to mention the Qing army that was besieging the Qinhuangdao dock, the Wu army was also inexplicable, and they all said: "What's going on?" How did our sailor come back? Got the message and rushed back to the rescue? It's impossible to have such a fast speed, right? ”

It doesn't really matter where the Wu army steam gunboat came from, the important thing is that after the Wu army steam gunboat arrived on the shore, it immediately did not hesitate to fire at the Qing army crowd, and it was extremely extravagant to directly use bitter acid flowering shells, the Qing army that was besieging the Wu army camp was in chaos, and the pressure of the Wu army in Qinhuangdao was greatly reduced, and the morale of the Qing army who had the opportunity to rush into the camp to burn grain fell wildly, and they all shouted that the Wu army reinforcements had arrived.

…………

After confirming that the Qing army was not stationed in the Laolong Fort through artillery bombardment, several armed sea ships of the Wu army immediately turned their bows and rushed directly into the Shihe River, which had a large flow, and killed directly at the Shihe Bridge with a fierce momentum. Other Wu ships put down their boats and carried soldiers to Bailu Island on the south bank of the Shihe River to land. Seeing this situation in the telescope, Zai Ling, who had already run to the southeast corner of the Shanhaiguan city wall to observe the enemy's situation, suddenly lost his soul and hurriedly shouted: "Quick! Go and give Wang Zhankui an order to withdraw the army! Wu thieves must not be allowed to block him on the south bank of the Shihe River, and he must not be allowed to block him on the south bank of the Shihe River! ”

At this time, the main force of the Wu army and the main force of the Qing army, of course, also discovered the arrival of the mysterious fleet, affected by this, the main force of the Wu army was of course greatly boosted morale, and the army was jubilant, but the Qing army was frightened, and there was no need to send someone to give orders, Wang Zhankui, the front-line commander of the Qing army, had already slowed down the offensive on his own and commanded the army to withdraw from the battlefield one by one. And when he found out that the warships of the Wu army had ventured to raid the Shihe bridge, Wang Zhankui was even more distraught, and hurriedly ordered the reserves to rush back to reinforce the bridge and protect the way back to the city.

The sudden appearance of the mysterious fleet did turn the tide of the battle in one fell swoop, but unfortunately, this mysterious fleet flying the flag of the Wu army also made a mistake, that is, it had clearly seen that the main force of the Qing army was located on the south bank of the Shihe River, and even chose the landing site on the Bailu Island on the south bank of the Shihe River! After the Qing army scouts quickly reported the situation to Wang Zhankui, Wang Zhankui, who had sufficient troops in his hands, was immediately overjoyed, and immediately yelled at his subordinate Li Hongshou: "Take your headquarters to Egret Island, and kill all the salty dogs who dare to go ashore for me!" ”

Loudly responding to Wang Zhankui's order, Li Hongshou hurriedly strode eastward with the two battalions of soldiers and horses he had just withdrawn from the front line, and pounced directly on the landing site of the Wu army with his teeth and claws. And what made Li Hongshou even happier was still to come, when he hurried to Bailu Island not far away with his army, the Wu army had already landed on the coast, and there were only about 200 soldiers on the coast, and they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of troops! Li Hongshou was ecstatic in his heart, and immediately shouted: "Brothers, go on! Kill! Kill all these Wu thieves! ”

"Kill all the thieves!"

Seeing that there was a advantage to be taken advantage of, even if they were not satisfied, there were still more than 900 Qing soldiers who immediately charged, shouting slogans and rushing to the landing site of the Wu army, and they were arrogant and must wipe out all the sailors of the Wu army who ventured to land! Then, in addition to the continuous gunshots, new shouts were heard......

"Fast-fire cannon! It's a fast-fire cannon of a Wu thief! ”

"Quick gun! It's a Wu thief's fast-firing foreign gun! ”

"Holy shit! Palm Thunder! Short gun! What kind of thieves did Lao Tzu encounter? How can you be so well equipped? It's better than the main equipment of the Wu thieves who went to Jinzhou! ”

"Boom !!"

In the distance, there was a sudden loud noise at the Shihe Bridge, and the solid Shihe Bridge broke off near the bank, although it did not collapse directly, but the bridge deck also collapsed and the masonry fell in clusters, so frightened that the Qing soldiers guarding the bridge deck shouted and screamed, and even fled off the bridge with rolling and climbing, and the Qing soldiers on the shore looked at the Wu army boats that ventured into the Shihe River and were dumbfounded, and they were surprised and said: "What's the matter?" Didn't you see the Wu thief's cannon hit our bridge? How did our bridge break on its own?! ”

Of course, if these Qing soldiers could have better eyesight and a more careful heart, and don't just care about shooting at the Wu army's warships and carefully observing the river conditions of the Shihe River, then they might be able to find that there are two mysterious shadows with black bodies that are rising and falling in the river, quietly sneaking back to the direction where the Wu army's ships are located......

"Concentrate artillery fire! Hit the location of the explosion just now! ”