As Wu Jianzhang guessed, Wu Chaoyue did take the Shanghai regiment to practice to Huangdu Town, the old nest of the Qingpu Rebel Army, and got up to prepare at the third watch in the middle of the night, and opened to Huangdu Town at the fourth watch, the purpose was not to worry about being discovered by the Qingpu Rebel Army, but to be afraid of being blocked by the comprador grandfather, and the result was not bad, the Shanghai defenders who did not dare to open the city gate in the past few months did not find that Wu Chaoyue attacked overnight, and Wu Jianzhang also missed the best opportunity to stop his baby grandson from doing wrong.

In fact, as early as more than half a month ago, Brown, who Mao Sui recommended himself to Wu Chaoyue as an instructor, had already suggested that Wu Chaoyue march to Huangdu Town, and use the Qingpu Rebel Army, which was equipped with primitive equipment and insufficient training, to train in actual combat, and to ensure that the Shanghai regimental training that had undergone his strict training would definitely be able to draw the Qingpu Rebel Army all over the ground -- in the armies of the great powers of this era, newly recruited soldiers could be put into the battlefield after only a few weeks of training.

At that time, Wu Chaoyue categorically rejected Brown's suggestion, first, Wu Chaoyue hoped that the Shanghai regimental training would practice the basic skills more solidly before going to the battlefield, and second, Wu Chaoyue had not fully figured out the belief of the Qingpu Rebel Army. And after a period of waiting, with the secret help of the thugs of the Double Knife Society and the lackeys of the Hundred Dragons Society, Wu Chaoyue finally got the necessary information about the Qingpu Rebel Army, and basically knew himself and his opponent.

According to the intelligence collected by the Shanghai gang thugs for Wu Chaoyue, the Qingpu rebel army organized by Zhou Lichun has more than 3,000 people, but most of them are scattered in the countryside and villages for armed self-defense, and only after receiving Zhou Lichun's order will they gather together to fight. And the fortifications of Huangdu Town are very poor, that is, the earthen walls and wooden piles, and a trench is barely dug, which is also not difficult to deal with.

As for the weaponry of the Qingpu rebel army, Wu Chaoyue no longer had to worry about the fact that he attached importance to the enemy tactically -- in addition to primitive knives, guns, bows and arrows, and clubs, the most advanced ones were more than 100 primitive arquebuses and carrying guns, and it was difficult to ensure a sufficient supply of bullets and gunpowder.

In view of these circumstances, Wu Chaoyue came to the conclusion that even if he defeated the Huangdu garrison of the Qingpu Rebel Army, or even if he took Huangdu Town, it would be difficult to extinguish the Qingpu Rebel Army in one fell swoop. At the same time, the special terrain of Huangdu Town's proximity to the Wusongjiang Wharf in the north also determined that it was impossible for the Shanghai regimental training without water power to wipe out Zhou Lichun and other leaders of the rebel army in Huangdu Town. Therefore, Wu Chaoyue believes that the best time for the self-army to attack should be to take the opportunity to launch a decisive battle with the Qingpu rebel army when it is massively assembled, and kill the main force of the Qingpu rebel army in a battle, so that it will be difficult for Zhou Lichun to make a quick comeback even if he escapes.

The information provided by the gang thugs shows that as Wu Chaoyue expected, in order to receive and incorporate the Chen Mujin Department of the Jiading Rebel Army, and also to prevent the Qing army from taking advantage of the situation to attack Huangdu, Zhou Lichun really ordered the Qingpu Rebel Army to assemble in Huangdu Town, which is only more than 60 miles east of Shanghai, and it is expected that the two rebel armies of Qingpu and Jiading will inevitably hold a ceremony to celebrate the alliance, and Zhou Lichun cannot disband the army in a short period of time. Wu Chaoyue no longer had any hesitation, and immediately seized the opportunity to lead the army westward, and came to find Zhou Lichun, who almost became his father-in-law, for a decisive battle.

In the morning, the sky was basically bright, and after letting the army rest for half an hour at the edge of the Shanghai county border, Wu Chaoyue ordered the marching drum to be sounded, and led the Shanghai regiment drill, which was called the 205th Battalion by the people, to cross the county border, officially stepped into Qingpu County, and swaggered along the official road to Huangdu. The snowy bayonet shone brightly under the rising sun, and Wu Chaoyue, who was riding a horse, also smiled fiercely under the banner of the regimental training with teeth and claws, "Zhou Lichun, come on, I only have more than 200 people, come and take revenge on me, eat me in one bite!" ”

After strict training and elimination, the 250-man Shanghai regimental training is now actually only 226 people left, of which 192 soldiers are two sentinels, 20 sniper teams, and the remaining 14 are all counted as Wu Chaoyue's personal soldiers, and they are also temporarily used as scouts, Wu Chaoyue personally served as the commander-in-chief, and Brown, a retired American veteran, also came with the army to serve as tactical guidance.

Although there is a huge disparity with the enemy in terms of the number of troops, Wu Chaoyue and Brown are full of confidence in the victory of the first battle, and on the road they continue to cheer up the soldiers, while they can't wait to discuss the combat tactics, Brown, who personally helped Wu Chaoyue train this regiment, also couldn't wait to suggest: "Wu, after the enemy appears, don't hesitate, just use linear tactics to attack, our equipment and training have an absolute advantage, and there is no doubt about defeating the enemy." ”

"Nope." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said: "After encountering the enemy, we should be safe, use the infantry phalanx to engage the enemy, and wait until the enemy is scared before launching an attack." ”

"I don't think so." Brown also shook his head and said: "Wu, it's not that I despise your Chinese civilian armed forces, it's that your civilian armed forces are so weak that they can even use hoes and clubs as weapons, and it is a waste of time and strength to use infantry phalanxes to deal with such an enemy." ”

"A little time has to be wasted." Wu Chaoyue replied: "We must give our soldiers a little time to build confidence, let them know how strong they are now, how professional and effective our training is for them, we know, but they don't know, so we must first take a defensive position, first build up their confidence and courage through defensive operations, and then launch a counterattack to ensure victory." Otherwise, if we rashly launch an attack, once the courage and confidence of the soldiers are insufficient, we may be defeated by the enemy with the weak and the strong, and the enemy with the outnumbered and the few. ”

After carefully looking at the appearance of the capable and brave, it was found that although the soldiers of the Shanghai regiment were marching in line according to the requirements, they still lacked the indomitable temperament of elite veterans on their faces, and many of them were obviously nervous, and Brown also recognized Wu Chaoyue's judgment and agreed to first adopt infantry phalanx tactics to meet the enemy in the battle. Then, Brown couldn't wait to shout in stiff Chinese, "Be brave, be brave for me!" Don't be afraid, I've told you many times, I've trained you to be strong enough, all you lack now is confidence and courage, and you don't have to think about anything else when you get to the battlefield, just do what I teach you to do! ”

"Brothers, Mr. Brown is right, you are armed to the teeth, there is no army in the land of the Qing Dynasty that is your opponent, and when the first battle is over, you will know how strong you are! But you still have to remember to me that after winning the battle, first, you are not allowed to kill prisoners, second, all seizures must be handed over, and then distributed uniformly, and third, **** women are not allowed, and those who violate the order will be beheaded immediately! ”

…………

When Wu Chaoyue and Brown were desperately cheering up Lian Yong and emphasizing military discipline on the battlefield, the news that the Shanghai regimental training was approaching Huangdu Town was also sent to Huangdu Town by the scouts of the Qingpu Rebel Army. Hearing that the Qing army was approaching, Zhou Lichun and Chen Mujin, who were in the business alliance of the Chamber of Commerce, were startled at first, but the Qing army that came clearly turned out to be Wu Chaoyue After forming the regiment of only more than 200 people in Shanghai, Zhou Lichun, who had just gathered the main force in the area of Huangdu Town, suddenly laughed and said: "It's finally here, I didn't expect this little Qisan surnamed Wu to really have the courage to come, but well, it's good!" Just find him to settle the old accounts together! ”

"Brother Zhou, what do you mean by that?" Chen Mujin asked curiously: "Listen to your tone, could it be that you know this dog officer who led the troops?" ”

"Do you know more than that?"

Zhou Lichun snorted coldly, and roughly talked about his grievances with the ancestors and grandchildren of the Wu family -- of course, he focused on Wu Chaoyue's teasing of his daughter Zhou Xiuying, and the Wu family's thug Liu Lichuan did not believe in his words, and also introduced the general situation of the Shanghai regiment training founded by Wu Chaoyue by the way -- only more than 200 people were called the 205th Battalion by the common people, and they sent people to investigate from afar several times, but they did not find that the 205th Battalion was trained to cut people with knives and pull bows and arrows. Until now, he has not been on the battlefield once, and he has been extorting grain from the wealthy merchants and gentry in Shanghai for three days, which is a joke among the people of Shanghai.

After listening to Zhou Lichun's contemptuous introduction, Chen Mujin immediately put his mind at ease, and immediately began to think about whether to fight, grab some regular army equipment, and show his strength by the way, so as to increase the weight of his speech in the next alliance negotiations. And Chen Mujin's deputy, Xu Yaona, couldn't wait, and immediately shouted: "Uncle Zhou, don't worry, you don't need to do it yourself to deal with such a little deflated three, I will take five hundred brothers and keep him and arrest him and send him to cut off his head to get angry!" ”

When he said this, of course, the young and handsome Xu Yao kept peeking at Zhou Xiuying's expression next to Zhou Lichun, but to Xu Yao's disappointment, Zhou Xiuying's beautiful face that made him itch not only did not have the slightest appreciation, but on the contrary, there was some indifference and distraction, as if he was hiding something.

Xu Yao opened his mouth first, and Chen Mujin, who had already picked up a cheap deal with Shanghai Green Camp, was no longer polite, and immediately said that he would take his more than 1,000 teams to meet the battle, and arrest Wu Chaoyue to Zhou Lichun as a meeting gift. It's a pity that Zhou Lichun didn't want to let go of this great opportunity to take revenge with his own hands, so he waved his hand and said: "Let's go together, I will also take all the brothers with me, and strive to wipe out Xiao Qisan surnamed Wu, so that the officers and soldiers in Songjiang, Suzhou and Taicang will no longer dare to look at us!" The seized baggage, let's divide it equally! ”

Chen Mujin and Xu Yao applauded, and when Zhou Lichun also loudly ordered the main force to attack, Zhou Xiuying finally turned her beautiful eyes to Wu Chaoyue in the east, sighed secretly, and said: "You are really stupid, so many people dare to come, don't you know, Zhong Dianbang brought seven or eight hundred people to come and was beaten away by my father, you people, do you stuff our teeth?" Fool, run. ”

Although it was somewhat unbearable, Zhou Xiuying still set out eastward with Zhou Lichun and the Qingpu rebel army, which numbered 3,000 people, Chen Mujin and Xu Yao also led the Jiading rebel army, which numbered about 1,300 people, to attack with them, and the rebel army of more than 4,000 armed with various weapons in their hands was mighty, spread all over the mountains and fields, strode eastward, and the slogan of capturing Wu Gouguan alive also rose one after another, and the morale was quite strong -- this was also the result of Zhou Lichun's order to inform the whole army of the number of incoming enemies.

The two armies marched head-on, and at about the beginning of noon, Wu Chaoyue's personal soldiers, who were riding horses to reconnoiter and equipped with telescopes, had already reported the enemy's movements to Wu Chaoyue, and when he heard that the enemy's main force was attacking in an all-round way, Wu Chaoyue, who was looking forward to breaking the enemy in one fell swoop, was of course overjoyed, and immediately ordered the army to stop advancing, seize the high ground and lay a hollow phalanx, and wait for the enemy to arrive - although after strict training and good food and drink for nearly three months of training, Wu Chaoyue still ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot. At the same time, water, dry food and weapons and equipment were checked, as well as sniper positions were arranged.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, several fast horses from the direction of Shanghai rushed to the location of Wu Chaoyue's phalanx, bringing Wu Jianzhang's message asking Wu Chaoyue to roll back immediately, otherwise he would break Wu Chaoyue's dog's leg. Wu Chaoyue was afraid of shaking the morale of the army, so without saying a word, he fired two shots into the sky, and ordered the people to go back to him immediately, otherwise he would shoot and shoot him, and he drove away the messenger sent by the comprador grandfather kindly.

The time is approaching, the dense crowd of rebels appeared in the field of vision of the Shanghai regimental training, seeing the number of enemies almost twenty times that of the own army approaching, Wu Chaoyue's Lian Yong is well trained, it is inevitable that there is a feeling that his legs want to tremble, but Wu Chaoyue is calm and calm, and shouted: "Array!" Snipers, get ready! Check the weapon at the end! ”

According to Wu Chaoyue's requirements, under the command of the two sentinels Huang Dasha and Deng Siyuan, one hundred and ninety-two soldiers quickly laid out a neat phalanx of two layers of queues -- if necessary, they could also be transformed into a three-layer queue at any time, squatting in front and standing behind, shoulder to shoulder, bayonets and muzzles outside, shaped like a huge hedgehog with edges and corners, Wu Chaoyue's personal soldiers were responsible for filling the gaps, and the 20 snipers were each holding Mini guns inside the phalanx to seize the high ground, and were specially responsible for accurately shooting the enemy generals and also taking into account the task of filling the gaps. At the same time, because the first actual battle was too tense, Brown, who helped Wu Chaoyue train and practice bravery, naturally had to shout and scold and point, asking the soldiers to be close to each other and neatly queue.

Fortunately, the two rebel armies of Zhou Lichun and Chen Mujin, who were not a rabble in their bones, gave the Shanghai regiment a great opportunity to train a tight formation, seeing that the Shanghai regiment was training and arranging the infantry hollow phalanx shaped like a hedgehog, Zhou Lichun and Chen Mujin not only did not rush to launch a charge to destroy and delay the array arrangement of the Shanghai regiment training, but also commanded their subordinates to surround Wu Chaoyue's hedgehog array, which gave Wu Chaoyue a chance to boost morale, "Brothers, we are surrounded, if you want to live, you can fight according to the method that I and the foreign instructor taught you!" If you win, you will make a fortune, and if you lose, no one will be able to escape! ”

At the same time, when they saw that all the soldiers under their command were wearing thick cotton clothes, Zhou Lichun and Chen Mujin, who were still wearing tattered clothes most of the soldiers under their command, inevitably had red eyes, and they couldn't wait to launch a charge as soon as they surrounded the Wu army, but Zhou Xiuying stood up at this time and said to Zhou Lichun: "Dad, let me go and say a few words to Wu Chaoyue first, okay?" ”

"What do you want to say to him?" Zhou Lichun asked vigilantly, and reminded: "I can warn you first, don't think about the past, our Zhou family and him have long been incompatible!" ”

"I persuaded him to surrender." Zhou Xiuying said with a cold expression: "He is surrounded, he can't run away if he wants to, I persuade him to put down his arms and surrender, this is always okay, right?" ”

"This one does." Zhou Lichun agreed, and said: "Go and tell that little deflated San, as long as he puts down his arms and surrenders, I will spare him from death and let him go back to Shanghai City!" ”

Zhou Xiuying nodded, and then walked out of the crowd and walked to the front of the formation, Xu Yao next to him was inevitably a little strange when he saw it, and then asked in a low voice Zhou Xiuying almost rolled the sheets with Wu Chaoyue, Xu Yao inevitably had a nameless fire in his heart, and subconsciously had the idea of tearing Wu Chaoyue alive.

At the same time, seeing Zhou Xiuying, who was dressed in a strong suit, walking out of the formation with a knife, Wu Chaoyue was also taken aback, and hurriedly ordered no one to shoot, and then ran to the edge of the phalanx and shouted at Zhou Xiuying: "Shimei, why are you here?" It's dangerous here, go back quickly, or I won't be able to save you if the gun doesn't grow long! ”

Hearing Wu Chaoyue's words, of course, the two armies were in an uproar, but Zhou Xiuying felt a little warm in her heart, and then said loudly: "Wu Chaoyue, you have been surrounded by us, thinking of the previous friendship between you and me, my father asked me to persuade you to surrender, as long as you lay down your arms, he will spare you from death, and let you go back to Shanghai!" ”

"Persuade me to surrender?" Wu Chaoyue almost didn't laugh out loud, and said in his heart that Lao Tzu has more than 200 soldiers who have undergone strict training, and he is also holding the most advanced weapons in the world in this era, if he still wants to surrender to your rabble, then I will really cross in vain.

After laughing secretly, Wu Chaoyue also said loudly: "Shimei, your words seem to be the opposite, it is you who should surrender, it's really not that I underestimate you, just you rabble, I really don't care about it, go back and tell your father, if he puts down his weapons and surrenders immediately, and then arrests the thief named Chen Mujin to me, I will protect him from death!" ”

There are really not many strange things like this to persuade each other to surrender on the battlefield, but what Wu Chaoyue didn't expect was that his words also brought an unexpected consequence, Zhou Xiuying's side, there was even a man in his forties, shouting at Wu Chaoyue: "The surname Wu is Xiao Qisan, Lao Tzu is Chen Mujin, don't you want Lao Tzu's head?" If you have a kind, come and get it! ”

"What a miracle! Pie in the sky! Wu Chaoyue heard the music, and without thinking about it, he turned around and shouted: "Wu Competition, what are you still doing?" Call me Chen Mujin! ”

Hearing this order, Wu Dada, who was very talented at sniping, didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately pulled the trigger at Chen Mujin, who was already aiming, and the Minny gun, which had the highest shooting accuracy in this era, immediately erupted into a ball of fire.

Bang!

The gunshot rang out, and Chen Mujin, who was beside Zhou Xiuying, squirreled a bloody arrow from his chest, screaming and falling on his back. Between the blood splashes, two drops of blood spilled onto Zhou Xiuying's pretty face, and Zhou Xiuying's whole person was stunned, "It turns out that he can kill me at any time?!" ”