Disturbed by the bluff tactics of the Wu army, he didn't sleep well all night, and finally stayed up until the early morning of the next day, when the civil and military forces of the Shandong Qing army headed by Bao Jun suddenly received a great news -- Ji Wenyuan, a famous general of the Taiping Army who was active in the Yimeng Mountains, finally agreed to surrender the Shandong Qing army conditionally after repeated efforts by the Shandong Qing army, accepted the command of the Shandong governor Yamen, and joined forces with the Shandong Qing army to deal with the Wu army.

There are three key reasons why Ji Wenyuan betrayed the revolution, one is that Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing have both lost their breath, and Ji Wenyuan can no longer find a loyal object; Second, after the Wu army entered Shandong, it had directly threatened Ji Wenyuan's territory and security, and Ji Wenyuan had to make a choice as soon as possible; The third is that Ji Wenyuan really hates Wu Chaoyue so much, that he hates it to the point that he would rather serve the Qing army than be a cow and a horse for Wu Chaoyue, and he chooses the lesser of two hatreds, so Ji Wenyuan made this choice.

The reason why Ji Wenyuan chose the Qing army is that Bao Jun and others can probably guess it, and at the same time, Ji Wenyuan's surrender conditions are also very harsh, in addition to the lion's mouth wide open in terms of military expenses, grain and grass, the army establishment required to be retained is also far higher than the conditions successively issued by Luo Bingzhang and Bao Jun, in addition, Ji Wenyuan also asked the Manchu court to canonize several of his important assistants as officials, and required at least three rank officials.

The conditions are a little too harsh, but it doesn't matter, what Bao Jun, Rong Lu and Wen Qian and others lack now is cannon fodder who can fight with Wu Jun, so after receiving the good news, Bao Jun didn't even blink, and immediately yelled: "Promise him!" As long as he comes to the relief of Nan with the army immediately! The old man agreed to the conditions he proposed for the imperial court! ”

After hurriedly writing the reply into a letter and handing it to Kuaima to send out, Bao Jun rubbed his hands happily again, and said in a loud voice: "God bless the Qing Dynasty, God bless the Qing Dynasty, as long as Ji Wenyuan's rescue arrives, Jinan will be as stable as Mount Tai." Ji Wenyuan's dog long-haired still has a few brushes to fight, even if he can't do Wu rebel thieves in the front, at least he can share countless pressures for us, and it is expected to hold Jinan, and it is expected to hold Jinan and keep Jiaodong. ”

"Lord Futai, the lower officials think that this news should be made public immediately, so as to boost the morale of the army." Rong Lu suggested.

Bao Jun nodded his head, and hurriedly sent someone to handle this matter immediately, vigorously publicizing and encouraging the morale of the army, and then Bao Jun asked again: "Zhonghua, is there any new movement on the side of the Wu rebel army?" ”

"A lot of people were sent to cut wood on the side of Hero Mountain, and almost all the bamboos around Jinan were cut down by the thieves. Rong Lu replied truthfully: "Also, the Wu thieves also stopped building the camp, it seems that they want to launch an attack as soon as possible." Mr. Meng Rong analyzed, if it is fast this afternoon, if it is slow, it will be noon tomorrow, and the Wu thief will launch an attack. ”

"This afternoon or tomorrow at noon?" Bao Jun shook his eyes and said, "Why is it afternoon or noon?" Although the old man didn't understand military affairs, he had also heard that if he sent troops to fight, he usually started early in the morning. ”

"Wu thief's habit of attacking fortifications is to start preparing at noon and exert force at night."

Rong Lu explained, and was about to carefully introduce to Baojun the reason why Wu Jun likes to attack the city at night, when a slap in the face came, a herald suddenly rushed up to the governor's yamen hall, knelt down on one knee and hugged his fist and said: "Lord Futai, General Qu Suken urgently reported that the Wu rebel army is moving artillery to the front, and at least four battalions of troops have been dispatched to approach his defense area, General Qu suspects that this is a sign that Wu thieves are preparing to attack the city, please Futai Lord prepare as soon as possible and promulgate the strategy of defending the city." ”

"So fast?" Rong Lu was a little dumbfounded, and quickly took out his pocket watch to open it, and saw that the hands had not crossed nine o'clock in the morning, Rong Lu couldn't help but be stunned again, and blurted out: "It's not even nine o'clock?" Wu thief is in such a hurry? ”

"Quickly invite Mr. Meng Rong." Baojun hurriedly ordered, and shouted at the herald: "Go back and tell Qu Suken that you only defend without fighting, and the Wu thief dares to attack the city and beat the old man hard!" ”

After a while, Liu Rong was invited, and when she learned that Wu Jun was already preparing to attack the city, Liu Rong was inevitably a little dumbfounded, and said in confusion: "How is it possible?" The main force of the Wu thieves only arrived in Jinan yesterday when it was almost dark, and the camp fortifications were not yet perfect, and it was impossible to prepare sufficient siege weapons, how could they launch an attack so quickly? ”

"Xia Guan also thinks this thing is too strange." Rong Lu said: "Or, Mr. Meng Rong, let's go to the city wall to have a look?" ”

Liu Rong nodded and agreed, and at that moment Rong Lu and Liu Rong hurriedly prepared their horses and trotted together to check the situation at Luoyuan Gate, but Wu Jun's speed once again exceeded Liu Rong and Rong Lu's expectations. Rong Lu also almost fell down, and exclaimed in unison with Liu Rong: "How is it possible? Already hands-on? ”

It has indeed begun to move, and a solid cannonball was fired to verify the firing angle, seeing that the cannonball just hit the female wall of the Jinan city wall, the Wu army artillery with a total of more than forty pieces was unceremonious, and immediately bombarded the head of Jinan City, and the key bombardment location was also the northern section of the Luoyuan Gate city wall that the Qing army had been closely guarded against, and the defense area of the army of the Qing army's general Qu Suken! The Qing army refused to show weakness, and immediately opened artillery bombardment, with a total of more than 50 artillery pieces two miles apart, firing and bombarding each other from the air, and the area north of Luoyuanmen was also shocked by the sound of artillery, which continued to reverberate.

Climbed the city wall with Liu Rong, Rong Lu saw at a glance that the side of Su Ken was already in a mess, the gunners carried the ammunition back and forth and ran endlessly, and the soldiers hid as much as possible in the dead corner of the female wall, and the Wu army's shells continued to hit the city either smashing on the city wall to leave a deep pit, or smashing on the city head to jump and eject, occasionally a few shells also happened to hit the rear female wall, rebounded back and smashed on the Qing soldiers behind the female wall in front, and smashed on these unlucky Qing soldiers who took shit and vomited flesh and blood, broken tendons and fractures, The shouting shook the sky, and some cannonballs smashed directly into the city over the city, breaking through the walls and piercing the roof, startling the nearby people, soldiers and civilians shouting, holding their heads and running around, as if the end was coming.

After careful questioning, Rong Lu learned the approximate number of Wu army's artillery, and also knew that Wu army had immediately bombarded the city as soon as the artillery team was deployed. Rong Lu was surprised when he heard Daqi and said, "Could it be that the Wu thief really wants to storm this section of the wall?" Impossible? This is not a good place to attack, is it? ”

"Lord Rong, Mr. Liu, it's too dangerous here." He tore his throat open in the sound of the cannon and shouted, "Please go down first, and I will send someone to report to you if there is a situation." Also, the Wu rebel army has too much artillery than us, and we will suffer too much in the artillery battle, if possible, please bring me some more artillery. ”

Rong Lu and Liu Rong, who knew that the gentleman did not stand under the dangerous wall, did not refuse, so they quickly nodded and agreed, and while promising to ask Baojun to allocate artillery to help Qu Suken as soon as possible, they hurriedly went down to the city to leave this dangerous area that could be hit by the stray bullets of the Wu army at any time. As a result, when it was time to return to the city, Rong Lu suddenly remembered a major event, and hurriedly said to Liu Rong: "Mr. Meng Rong, have you found anything wrong with the Wu thief's artillery?" ”

"Wu thief's artillery is wrong?" Liu Rong was a little confused for a while, but after pondering it carefully, Liu Rong suddenly came to her senses and exclaimed, "It's not right!" Wu thief didn't use a flowering cannon, all the shots were solid cannonballs! ”

"That's right." Rong Lu said in a deep voice: "If the Wu thief used the flowering cannon, and it was still the kind of foreign fire flowering cannonball that couldn't even be watered, the casualties on our side would never be as few as now!" But Wu Thief didn't do this, but all used solid cannonballs, why is this? ”

Liu Rong closed her eyes and analyzed, and after a while, Liu Rong suddenly opened her eyes and said: "Two possibilities, one is to prepare artillery fire, kill and injure our defenders in the city as much as possible, lure us to consume a lot of ammunition, and also lure us to concentrate our forces in this area, and then use flowering shells to bombard the city, causing us heavy casualties and creating an opportunity for them to really exert their strength." The second possibility is ......"

"Sound from east to west!"

Rong Lu decisively took over Liu Rong's topic, and said categorically: "Pretend to storm the northern section of Luoyuan Gate to attract our attention, and then suddenly attack other sections of the city and kill us by surprise!" ”

Liu Rong nodded slowly, admitting that Rong Lu's judgment was the same as her own, and then said: "Let's go back first, Baofutai must not be able to wait, and we will discuss countermeasures when we get there." ”

It was also a coincidence that when Rong Lu and Liu Rong returned to the governor's yamen, which had already been in the limelight, they had just seen Bao Jun, and Bao Jun immediately beckoned and said: "Zhonghua, Meng Rong, come on, an important enemy situation has been discovered at Lishan Gate, you can listen to it together." ”

After that, Bao Jun hurriedly knelt in the hall and a Qing army herald recounted the situation just reported to Rong Lu and others, the herald agreed, and said to Rong Lu: "Two adults, the small one is sent by General Tian, the guard of Qishan Gate, not long ago, we had a brother who went out of the city to investigate the ambush of the Wu thief scout, and was accidentally caught, and the Wu thief scout asked him for some confessions, and then the captured brother seized the opportunity to bring back with injuries, and General Tian asked him about the capture and felt a little suspicious, so he asked the little one to report to the Futai Lord. ”

"What's suspicious?" Rong Lu hurriedly asked.

"After our scout was caught by the Wu thief scout, the Wu thief scout immediately asked him about the city gates in Jinan City, and asked if the four city gates of Jinan City had been blocked by us with earth, stone and sandbags." The herald replied truthfully, and then said, "Then the Wu thief scout asked about the deployment of our city and our garrison at Lishanmen. General Tian felt strange and sent a small one to report. ”

After glancing at Liu Rong and seeing each other's vigilant looks, Rong Lu asked the herald sent by Tian Zaitian, the guard of Qishan Gate, "Then did the scout we capture truthfully explain the situation at Jinan City Gate?" This is important, and you have to be honest. ”

"He told the truth." The herald replied cautiously: "Our captured brother, afraid that the Wu thief has already asked the truth from other people's mouths, or that there are spies lurking in the city, so he truthfully said that Lishan Gate and Luoyuan Gate are only ready to block the door, but they have not been blocked yet." ”

"Good, just tell the truth." Rong Lu nodded with satisfaction, and then ordered: "Go back and tell General Tian, just say that although the captured scout confessed to the Wu thief, he did it for the sake of his life, this is human nature, no wonder he, and the captured scout can still escape back to report the news, which shows that his heart is still loyal to the Qing court, so there is no need to punish him, and he can be rewarded appropriately." Treat the scout first, then bring him in, and I'll ask him a little more about it. ”

When the messenger of Lishanmen heard this, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked the Qing army scout who had unfortunately been captured, and then left at the request of Rong Lu. And then the situation was a little chaotic, Bao Jun, who had little experience in military affairs, asked about this while asking about the situation at Luoyuanmen, Rong Lu and Liu Rong answered one by one, first carefully reported the situation to Bao Jun, and then Rong Lu came forward and concluded: "Lord Futai, although I am not sure, Xia Guan feels that at least eighty percent of Wu's rebel thief army may be attacking the east and west, pretending to feint the northern section of Luoyuanmen to attract our attention, and then highlight the strange soldiers and sneak attack other city gates in Jinan. Use their tricks to blow up the city gates and enter the city. ”

Baojun nodded, turned his head to look at Liu Rong again, Liu Rong understood, and replied: "Lord Futai, the student also has this opinion." And this can also explain why the Wu rebel thief army stormed the northern section of Luoyuan Gate, only by attracting our main forces to that position, it would be much easier for Wu rebel thief army to sneak attack Lishan Gate and Qichuan Gate, and Wu rebel thief army even had the opportunity to directly attack Luoyuan Gate. ”

"Zhonghua Gaojian, Mr. Meng Rong's Gaojian, it should be like this." Baojun, who doesn't understand military affairs, echoed and blindly agreed with the judgment of the two helpers - but Rong Lu and Liu Rong's talents are placed here, and Baojun's choice is by no means wrong. Then, of course, Bao Jun hurriedly asked again: "Zhonghua, Mr. Meng Rong, then what should we do?" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Rong Lu replied: "Lord Futai, the lower official thinks that we should pretend to be a plan first, and first add some artillery to General Qu's side to strengthen the firepower there, so that Wu's rebel army will feel that we have been tricked, and also share some pressure on General Qu's side." Then we will discuss how to plan and give Wu Thief a head-on blow. ”

"Okay, that's it." Bao Jun accepted the case on the spot, and ordered: "Quickly, send someone to send ten more artillery pieces to Qu Suken's side, so that he and Wu rebel army can fight to the end!" ”

…………

Not to mention that Liu Rong, Rong Lu and others discussed in the governor's yamen how to deal with the sound of the Wu army, but after Baojun's order was issued, the Qing army reserves in the city immediately opened the arsenal in the city, took out ten heavy artillery pieces and supporting ammunition, and pushed them to the city with great difficulty. Seeing the great joy, Qu Suken hurriedly sent people to help arrange the artillery in place, and immediately entered the battle, with a full twenty artillery pieces and Wu Jun's forty artillery pieces in the air, and immediately expanded the scale of the Luoyuanmen artillery battle a lot.

There was no need to send scouts to come forward to observe, just by relying on the sudden increase in firepower of the Qing army, as well as stealing a few firepower points of the Qing army, the Wu army outside the city already knew that the Qing army had replenished ten artillery pieces. However, after the news was reported in front of Hu Huaizhao, the commander of the Wu Army's division, Hu Huaizhao, who was having lunch with He Qinghan, was so happy that he dropped his chopsticks directly, hugged He Qinghan and laughed wildly, "Mr. Boyuan's clever plan!" The chaotic party has really been fooled! Sure enough, I was fooled! ”

"Come on, send all our remaining front-loading guns to the front line, and give Lao Tzu a hard shot at the Jinan city wall! But remember, only solid shells are allowed, flowering cannonballs are not allowed, and artillery is not allowed to be aimed at the rebels! Let the artillery of the chaotic party continue to fight, and fight hard! Let the rebels move more artillery and bombard us as well!! ”

When Hu Huaizhao, who succeeded in his treacherous scheme, opened his teeth and claws and roared, under the continuous impact of the solid cannonballs of the Wu army, and also under the continuous impact of the recoiled force of the more huge cannon body of the Qing army's cannon, a long fine crack had appeared on the Jinan city wall about one meter away from the top of the city wall, which was first difficult to check with the naked eye, and then gradually visible to the naked eye, and then could even be directly inserted into the palm of the hand. At the lower end of the city wall, there are also countless fragmented cracks, which are wide or narrow, large and small.

But it's a pity that this position happens to be the blind spot of the Qing army's line of sight, and it can't be seen at all. On the contrary, the siege commander of the Wu army could occasionally see these cracks in the gray smoke. After the news was reported to Hu Huaizhao, Hu Huaizhao laughed wildly, in addition to urging the rear army to speed up the construction of trench bridges, pontoon bridges, flying ladders and other siege aids, and decisively asked the army to immediately start preparing for night battles.

The fierce artillery battle was expanded and fierce because of the number of Wu army's re-replenishment artillery, not to be outdone, Baojun, who had plenty of ammunition in his hand, did not ask Rong Lu and Liu Rong and others for their opinions, and directly added ten medium-sized artillery pieces to Qu Suken, and the scale of the artillery battle expanded again, and under the joint destruction of the impact force of the Wu army's shells and the Qing army's own artillery recoil, the Jinan city wall repaired from the Ming Dynasty city wall was raised one meter higher, and it also began to shake slightly, and the cracks were more and more and longer. Even the Qing soldiers who were hiding behind the women's wall and crawling to avoid the cannon gradually began to notice the slight cracks under their feet............

"Boom!"

In the unusually violent loud noise, the upper end of a section of the Jinan city wall suddenly cracked and collapsed, and collapsed in the screams of countless Qing soldiers and the wild laughter of the Wu soldiers, burying the Qing army general Su Ken who happened to be in this position, burying countless Wu army soldiers and soldiers, as well as several Qing army's own artillery, two of which had been loaded with gunpowder Qing army artillery were still martyred in the collapse, which hit the Jinan city wall that was already full of cracks and expanded the gap.

There is no need to send someone to report from the front line, Hu Huaizhao, the commander of the Wu army's partial division, who has been waiting for this moment for a long time, has already seen this situation with a telescope on the high ground in the camp, and the evil laughter that has reached the extreme of ecstasy has suddenly echoed in the camp of the Wu army, which has long been ready for night battles and sorties......

"Tie Xuan! Iron City God! Thank you, if it weren't for you blocking Ming Chengzu's cannon with Ming Taizu's tablet and letting me know that Jinan City Wall is afraid of cannons, I would dare to come to Jinan in only ten days? How dare I dare to come to Jinan for an adventure with only so much time?! Hahahahaha! ”