On the morning of the second day after taking Chikou Town, while continuing to establish camps, the Wu army invested about three battalions of troops to launch an attack on the Taiping Army's Tiefo Temple stronghold located in the western suburbs of Chizhou City, and at the same time arranged four battalions of troops to protect the two wings to prevent the Taiping Army from other strongholds from reinforcing the Tiefo Temple.

The strength of the barracks-level fortifications far inferior to the city wall could not stop the Wu army's artillery fire at all, only 20 rear-loading rifled guns and 10 smoothbore heavy guns were invested, and only bombarded for more than half an hour, the Taiping army's position was already full of holes, the surface fortifications were crooked, the collapse was serious, thick smoke was billowing everywhere, and the fire was soaring into the sky, and before the Wu army launched a formal attack, some Taiping soldiers had already begun to escape from the camp.

It was only when the main Buddha hall of the Iron Buddha Temple was collapsed by the Wu army's artillery fire, that the Wu army's infantry tried to launch a tentative attack on the Taiping army's position, which had been shrouded in flames and smoke, and the current situation of the Taiping army's position was reconnoitred by firepower.

At the same time, the Taiping army in other places finally had some movement, but the Taiping army of Chizhou, the head of the land, still did not move, and the Taiping army Huang Wenjin, who was still stationed on the side of Qishan, sent reinforcements, and rushed around a large circle to reinforce the Iron Buddha Temple.

After many actual combat battles, the Guizhou Wu Army, which was born as a bandit, already knew that the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army and the Guizhou Thief Army were completely two different concepts, and they were ready to meet a vicious battle early on, but when the Wu Army was confused, only one round of salvo was fired from ten grenadiers, and the Huang Wenjin Army, which had a much higher proportion of Guangxi veterans than the Chizhou Taiping Army, had already collapsed, and they rushed to regroup, and then divided part of their troops to step forward sporadically in the Hundred Bird Formation, and the distant shots did not enter the firing range at all. On the surface, fighting with the Wu army was actually a pure formality, symbolically scratching the periphery of the Wu army's position.

"What's wrong with Huang Wenjin's long hair? Want to show weakness and lead us to attack? That's too fake, isn't it? ”

Seeing this scene, the Wu army led by Feng Sanbao naturally looked at each other, and once suspected that the Taiping army was preparing to deceive and lure the enemy. In the end, it was only after the Wu army scouts brought the Taiping prisoners who were released last night back to Feng Sanbao and presented the anonymous letter brought by the Taiping prisoners, Feng Sanbao and the others finally understood something, and the most intelligent Li Hezhang couldn't wait to ask the messenger: "Who gave you this letter?" ”

"Back to my lord, I don't know, it was handed over to me by a few people I don't know, and they gave me a little silver, saying that as long as I hand over this letter to you, I can go home." The messenger answered truthfully.

"It's really fine enough, we don't leave a name, it's useless for us to pass this letter to He Yunlong."

Li Hezhang laughed, and ordered Feng Sanbao's personal soldiers to give the messenger a little silver to send him home, and then said to Feng Sanbao: "Uncle, if the little nephew is not bad, this letter should be Huang Wenjin's meaning, but he is afraid that He Yunlong will know that it will be difficult to explain, so he did not leave his name, and he did not contact us publicly." ”

Feng Sanbao nodded, and asked again, "Then what does Huang Wenjin plan to do?" He said that he was ready to leave Chizhou at any time, is it true or false? ”

"This little nephew doesn't know." Li Hezhang shook his head and said: "But the little nephew can be sure of one thing, Huang Wenjin's real purpose in writing this letter is to hope that we will directly attack Chizhou City and not go to the Qishan camp to find trouble for him, so that he can take the initiative and force He Yunlong to beg him to enter the city. ”

After carefully savoring Huang Wenjin's hint in the anonymous letter, Feng Sanbao nodded in agreement with Li Hezhang's analysis, and then asked, "Then what should we do?" ”

"And Huang Wenjin is false and wronged, and meets his requirements that he doesn't want to fight with us head-on." Li Hezhang replied very simply, and said: "During the period, make sufficient preparations for the siege of the city, and suddenly attack Chizhou City, and strive to take Chizhou City in one fell swoop before Huang Wenjin, the long-haired force, enters the city, so that He Yunlong will be too late to ask Huang Wenjin to enter the city to help in the battle." ”

After pondering for a little longer, Feng Sanbao, whose military talent was actually not very high, understood that Li Hezhang meant to make a time difference, so he nodded again and said, "You can do this, but you also have to guard against Huang Wenjin being cheating, deceiving us and taking us off guard." ”

"Of course you have to guard against it." Li Hezhang didn't think about it and said: "Uncle, the little nephew suggested that the pro-military battalion of the King of Zhennan be used to prevent Huang Wenjin's long hair, and it would definitely be a waste of combat power to let the pro-military battalion of the King of Zhennan fight against the ants and fortifications, and they would not be able to exert their full strength at all, but with their pro-military battalion to prevent Huang Wenjin's long hair in the field, they could play the role of several battalions or even ten battalions." ”

As soon as Feng Sanbao heard the applause, he immediately agreed to adopt Li Hezhang's strategy, and then listened to Li Hezhang's suggestion, and ordered the Wu army on the flank to only defend and not attack, and Huang Wenjin's army was in a false relationship, but the frontal battlefield strengthened the offensive and attacked the Iron Buddha Temple camp of the Taiping army in Chizhou with all his might.

The Chizhou Taiping Army is indeed inferior to the Taiping Army's Lin Qirong and Huang Wenjin and other elite troops in terms of combat effectiveness and will to fight, and after a fierce battle for more than an hour, the Wu army easily captured the Iron Buddha Temple with little casualties, the defeated soldiers of the Chizhou Taiping Army fled back to the city of Chizhou in embarrassment, and the so-called reinforcements sent by Huang Wenjin also retreated immediately, and the Wu army did not pursue, but quickly took over the Iron Buddha Temple to establish an advance base, opening a road that could reach the west gate of Chizhou.

After learning the details of Huang Wenjin's reinforcement of the Iron Buddha Temple from the scout's mouth, He Yunlong, who was furious, of course sent an envoy to Qishan Xingshi to ask for the crime at the first time, but the answer given by Huang Wenjin almost didn't make He Yunlong angry to death - Huang Wenjin actually said that his reinforcements were preparing to lure the enemy into pursuit, but the Wu army was not fooled, so it failed to succeed, and directly said that the firepower of the Wu army was too fierce, and his army did not have any certainty of winning in a frontal battle, so it could only be fought like this!

"If you want to preserve your strength, just say it!" He Yunlong also smashed the table and roared angrily: "It's a big deal to go through the motions together, Lao Tzu won't believe it, the demon soldiers can let your Huang Wenjin's camp not fight, let's fight Lao Tzu's Chizhou City first!" ”

After the roar, He Yunlong still had bad intentions and ordered the camp of the Taiping army in Chizhou in the southwest corner of the city, so that they would take the initiative to abandon the camp when they encountered the strong attack of the Wu army, and at the same time lead the Wu army to fight Huang Wenjin's camp in the south of Chizhou City, and he was determined to let Huang Wenjin fight with the Wu army outside the city first.

To He Yunlong's surprise, after taking the Iron Buddha Temple, in the next two days, the Wu army did not make any moves, neither did He Yunlong want to attack Huang Wenjin's camp, nor did he touch the other ten camps of the Taiping army in Chizhou outside the city, but only built camps, cut wood to prepare siege weapons. In this regard, He Yunlong, who had never fought with the Wu army, was completely confused, and Huang Wenjin, who did not want to see the loss of Chizhou, sent people into the city, kindly reminding He Yunlong to beware of the Wu army ignoring the Taiping army's stronghold outside the city, and directly launched an attack on the west gate of Chizhou.

It's a pity that Huang Wenjin's kindness fed the wolf, and He Yunlong promised that he would be careful to take precautions, but after sending away Huang Wenjin's messenger, He Yunlong scolded his mother in public, "Is he scared when Huang Laohu is Lao Tzu?" The demon soldiers ate the leopard's gall, and left us alone in so many camps outside the city, so they dared to attack the city directly? The demon soldiers are not afraid of my garrison outside the city and hit the two wings of his siege army? ”

The generals of the Taiping army in Chizhou echoed one after another, all of them thinking that Huang Wenjin was deliberately alarmist and wanted to trick He Yunlong into agreeing to let his army enter the city and station. But there are also one or two generals who have different opinions, and one general persuaded: "Zhongtianan, it's better to be careful, I heard that the soldiers who surpass the little demon have always been treacherous, and they like to hit others by surprise and catch them off guard, Huang Chengxuan has been fighting with the demon soldiers for many years, and he knows the demon soldiers better than us, and his reminder may be really for our good." ”

"Yes, the last general is also worried about the next attack of the demon soldiers." Another general also said: "Hejiawan came to report that in the past two days, the demon soldier's boat has touched the south channel of Phoenix Continent several times, as if it is exploring the depth of the water and the shallowness of the water, and it is possible that he wants to drive the gunboat into the river bay and directly bombard Chizhou City." ”

Fortunately, He Yunlong could barely listen to persuasion, and felt that the analysis of the two subordinates was reasonable, so he also agreed to strengthen the city's defense, and prepared some more rafts and gunpowder boats in the river bay to prevent the Wu army's warships from rushing into the southern channel of Fenghuangzhou and directly shelling Chizhou City. However, He Yunlong, like many of the Taiping army in Chizhou, still felt that it was impossible for the Wu army to directly attack Chizhou City, and the next target would definitely be the Taiping army's camp outside the city, or it might be Huang Wenjin's camp directly.

As if to confirm that the judgment of He Yunlong and other Chizhou Taiping troops was not bad, at about nine o'clock in the evening, the two battlefields of Hejiawan and Wushajia successively heard the sound of gunfire, proving that the Wu army still did not dare to directly attack the city, and still chose to attack the Taiping army's out-of-town camp first. He Yunlong was not in a hurry when he heard the news, and while ordering the two camps to hold on to them with all their might, he sent someone to contact Huang Wenjin, asking Huang Wenjin to immediately send troops for reinforcements, and at the same time strictly forbade the troops in the city and the troops of other camps to fight without authorization, so as not to be attacked by the Wu army in the dark night.

More than half an hour later, the messenger who went to contact Huang Wenjin brought a reply, saying that Huang Wenjin had promised to send troops to reinforce Wushajia as soon as possible, and at the same time reminded Huang Wenjin to prevent the Wu army from attacking Chizhou City at night, pointing out that the Wu army's attack on these two camps was likely to be a feint, the purpose was to cover the main army's attack, so that the main force of the Wu army could use the cover of the night to suddenly approach the city of Chizhou. However, He Yunlong scoffed at Huang Wenjin's reminder and didn't take it seriously at all.

In such a background, about two hours later, when a large number of Wu soldiers suddenly appeared outside the west gate of Chizhou, and suddenly carried out a fierce artillery bombardment on the west gate of Chizhou, He Yunlong and the defenders of Chizhou City were of course immediately killed by surprise, and there was no time to calmly mobilize the army to go to the city to prepare for war, let alone send troops out of the city to strengthen the defense of Xinghua Village, the town under the city, and could only rush up to the city to enter the position under the fierce artillery fire of the Wu army, and hope that the defenders of the town under the city could hold on their own.

Unfortunately, under the focus of the Wu army's flowering shells, the defenders of the castle town without the protection of the city wall soon suffered heavy casualties under the Wu army's artillery fire, and could only rely on a few bunkers and ruins to barely support, and when the Wu army commandos rushed into the city with grenadiers and grenade shells to watch and sweep the remnants of the enemy, the Taiping army in the castle town soon couldn't parry, and kept rolling and crawling out of the castle town, and gradually gave way to the road to the west gate under the castle.

Knowing that the situation was not good, He Yunlong of course hurriedly sent someone to contact Huang Wenjin again, asking Huang Wenjin to immediately reinforce Ximen Chengxia Town. And when the envoy hurried to the Qishan camp to see Huang Wenjin, Huang Wenjin, who was holding back his anger, finally had a chance to vent, and said to the envoy of the Chizhou army with a sneer: "Go back and tell Zhongtian'an, I already know the situation in Ximen Chengxia, the artillery fire of the demon soldiers is too fierce, and we sent troops there to die in vain, and we can't help this favor." ”

"Chengxuan, but if you don't send troops, the castle town won't be able to hold it." The envoy of the Chizhou army hurriedly said: "Please also Chengxuan, for the sake of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, hurry up and send a force to rescue Ximen, help us contain the demon soldiers for a while longer, and give us time to prepare for war." ”

"If it weren't for Heavenly Father's sake, I wouldn't have come to save Chizhou." Huang Wenjin's smile was even colder.

"Isn't Zhongtianan fully prepared? Why do you want us to send troops to help him buy time to prepare for war? Huang Wenying also said in a weird manner: "Also, don't you still have several garrisons in places like Xuejiadun and Changgang?" Zhongtianan does not mobilize the garrisons in these places to reinforce Ximen, but prefers to come to us by walking a long way? ”

"This ......, this ......." The envoy of the Chizhou army was completely speechless, and he could only plead for a long time: "Huang Chengxuan, but you can't see death without help, right?" Although Chizhou City is not under your jurisdiction, if there is anything wrong in Chizhou, you will have no place to replenish food and ammunition? ”

"Go back and tell He Yunlong, just say that I, Huang Wenjin, am not a person who can't be saved when he sees death." Huang Wenjin said lightly: "But I am really not sure that I can contain the demon soldiers in the field battle, only by letting my army enter the city, I can be sure to help you defend Chizhou City." ”

Seeing that Huang Wenjin took the opportunity to extort and extort resolutely, the envoy of the Chizhou army, who did not dare to call the shots, had no choice but to leave in frustration, but after sending away the envoy of the Chizhou army with a gloating gaze, Huang Wenjin sneered and said: "Order the whole army, prepare to move the camp, if nothing happens, at most at dawn tomorrow, He Yunlong should come and kneel and beg us to enter the city." ”

"Maybe it's time to beg us in the middle of the night." Huang Wenying also sneered and said: "By bullying the Qing Demon Seal, and by patting Lin Fengxiang's sycophants to become the Chizhou guard, and when he encounters the demon soldiers who surpass the little demon, he can use the Anhui soldiers as the main force to carry it until dawn, I think he He Yunlong may not be able to have this ability." ”

"You can't underestimate He Yunlong too much, that little bastard is still quite desperate to fight." Huang Wenjin shook his head, admitting that he didn't have a bad impression of He Yunlong, and said: "Besides, he still has a city wall to defend, as long as he learns to defend the city like Zhentianhou, the demon soldiers can't easily break the ...... Chizhou City." ”

"Ah——!h

The sudden scream like killing a pig interrupted the conversation of the Huang Wenjin brothers, when the Huang Wenjin brothers looked at it suspiciously, they saw that it was Fan Ruzeng, the general of the self-army, who screamed, Fan Ruzeng's face was obviously a little pale, and his hands and feet were still trembling, Huang Wenjin saw the strangeness and hurriedly asked: "Ruzeng, what's wrong?" What's wrong? ”

"The end ......, the end will be guilty." Fan Ruzeng suddenly knelt down on Huang Wenjin's knees, and said tremblingly: "The last general just remembered that when the last general went into the city to see He Yunlong three days ago, he forgot to make an envoy to promise you. ”

"What did you forget?" Huang Wenjin asked suspiciously.

"The last general forgot to tell He Yunlong how Zhentianhou defended the city."

Fan Ruzeng's answer made Huang Wenjin and Huang Wenying's hair stand on end, and Huang Wenjin couldn't help but roar: "What? You forgot about it?! ”

Fan Ruzeng nodded tremblingly, and said with a pale face: "The last general was angry with He Yunlong's troubles at that time, and he insisted that we didn't make any effort to save Chikou, so we forgot to tell him how Zhen Tianhou guarded Hukou City, so the last general was worried that He Yunlong might not know how to block the city gate in advance, and the pointed wooden donkey ...... that used fire to break the demon soldiers." ”

"Bastard! Son of a bitch idiot! ”

Huang Wenjin, who was extraordinary, kicked Fan Ruzeng in the chest, kicking Fan Ruzeng into the air, spurting blood from his mouth, and falling more than a foot away, but Huang Wenjin didn't look at him, just shouted with red eyes: "Send someone into the city immediately and tell He Yunlong how to break the siege tactics of the demon soldiers!" Huang Wenying, you immediately take the army to the West Gate for reinforcements, you must not give the demon soldiers the opportunity to dig the city wall and blow up the city gate! ”