Strictly speaking, Shence Gate is definitely not insignificant, located in the north of Jiangning City, although the right side is a huge area of Xuanwu Lake, due north is a small town and selling cake bridge two quite prosperous castle towns, many buildings and hills, the terrain is complex, it is an ideal buffer battlefield for the defenders to fight street battles and consume the enemy's vital forces; For the besieging side, in addition to the transportation is a little inconvenient, but there are two major advantages of easy deployment of the siege team and a large number of infantry bunkers, it is not impossible to consider it as the main battlefield of the siege, among the thirteen cities in the outer city of Jiangning, in addition to the main gate of the land route Jubao Gate and the main gate of the waterway Yifeng Gate, the Shence Gate is fully qualified to be said to be the third most important place in Jiangning City.

This ranking can even be mentioned, because the inside of Yifeng Gate is Lion Mountain, which has a condescending bird's-eye view of the outside of the city, and is a natural ideal artillery position. In addition to the protection of the Qinhuai River, Jubaomen also has a perverted three-way urn city, and the solidity of the city fortifications is deservedly ranked first among the thirteen gates of Jiangning. However, not only did the Shence Gate not have the geographical advantages of these fortifications, on the contrary, there was a huge hidden danger outside the city, the Great Spectacular Mountain (Hongshan Park) -- once the enemy placed his artillery on the mountain, he could condescendingly fight at the Shence Gate as he wanted.

Wu Chaoyue's military experience is pitiful, and he only learned a little bit of tactical deployment and battlefield command through books, television, and movies, and later the American veteran Brown gave Wu Chaoyue guidance and taught almost all of them field experience, but even with such a half-bucket of water, after carefully understanding the terrain of Shencemen and the deployment of the Qing army, Wu Chaoyue immediately discovered many important problems.

First of all, the Great Spectacular Mountain, as the highest point outside the Shence Gate, the Great Spectacular Mountain is not only complex in terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the water source is also very sufficient, and the Xuanwu Lake waterway can be relied on, even if it is isolated, it can also rely on the waterway to replenish soldiers, grain and ammunition endlessly, which is a tactical support point that can be encountered in the defensive battle but cannot be sought. However, Jiang Ning did not deploy a single soldier on the mountain, and completely retreated into the city, giving up this important military place.

The second is the strength of troops, the Jinchuan Gate and the Taiping Gate on the left and right of the Shence Gate are far away, and it is difficult for each other to rescue each other in time, but the Jiangning Qing Army only deployed two hundred green battalions and five hundred Lian Yong in the Shence Gate, even if it is coupled with the five hundred Songjiang regimental training brought by Wu Chaoxin, it is only 1,200 troops, but it is responsible for guarding the city wall for ten miles, and the strength is very pitiful. What made Wu Chaoyue even more speechless was that the only reserve team in Jiangning City was still stationed in the Mancheng in the southeast corner of the city, and once the Shence Gate was in an emergency, the reserve team had to run more than ten or twenty miles to rush to the scene to rescue.

In addition, there are many situations that also make Wu Chaoyue speechless, even if the friendly green battalion soldiers and Jiangning Xiangyong are undisciplined and demoralized, the moat, which is far narrower than the other city gates, is also not dredged, gunpowder is stored in the open air, torches, fire oil and wood are also seriously insufficient, and those stones used to smash the enemy have not undergone basic processing, each piece is taller than a person, thicker than a grinding plate, and no three or five people want to lift it up and smash it down the city.

Puzzled by these circumstances, Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to ask Geng Huan, the garrison of the green battalion who was responsible for guarding the Shence Gate, about the situation, and seeing that Wu Chaoyue gave him a hundred taels of silver when he met, Geng Huan answered Wu Chaoyue's questions in detail one by one -- as a result, Wu Chaoyue was even more speechless, and it was Lu Jianying's decision to pat his head hiding in the Governor's Mansion to give up the Great Spectacular Mountain, and Lu Jianying gave up this important military place without going to the scene to investigate it once--and it was very popular with the Qing soldiers.

The moat was not dredged because the former Guangxi governor Zou Minghe's masterpiece, entrusted by Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, Zou Minghe, who had been dismissed, was ordered to organize Jiangning Lian Yong to repair and strengthen the city defense, as a result, Zou Minghe every day in addition to trying to scrape the silver from the rich households in Jiangning to scrape money and grain, is to find ways to deduct and embezzle Jiang Ning Lianyong's salary, basically do not do business, so the moat has not been dredged, the houses along the city have not been demolished, and those amazingly large stones are also the products of Zou Minghe let Lian Yong go to the city to do perfunctory things.

As for the serious shortage of materials to defend the city, not to mention, hastily prepared and joined forces to embezzle and withhold, and the amount of expensive fire oil can be sufficient. And the reason for the lack of troops is even more surprising - in Jiangning City, which is ninety-six miles in circumference, there are only more than 5,000 Green Battalion soldiers and Eight Banner soldiers combined! also set aside a part to defend the city, beware of the Han people in the city to find the Manchurians to settle old accounts, so the number of guards at the thirteen gates of the outer city is naturally small to the point of almost pitiful......

After basically understanding these situations, he was completely speechless, and Wu Chaoyue immediately came to a conclusion - it was impossible for Jiangning City to hold! It will inevitably be captured by the Taiping army as in history!

Fortunately, although the situation on the side of Shence Gate is bad, it has the advantage that it is more convenient to escape, and at the same time, Wu Jun Lianyong, who only has five hundred people, is still certain to be sure that even if it is impossible to create a miracle to defend Jiangning City and protect Wu Chaoyue to escape from the encirclement. So in addition to despairing about the defense of Jiangning, Wu Chaoyue didn't worry much, the only thing he prayed for was that the Taiping army should not take Shence Gate as the main direction of attack, and don't station too many troops outside Shence Gate, so that it would be more convenient for Wu Chaoyue to flee for his life.

Geng Huan, who had to accept bribes from Wu Chaoyue, had to help, and on the first night of arriving in Jiangning, Wu Jun Lian Yong did not work hard to go to the city to guard, and lived in a nunnery near the Shence Gate. However, when he slept in the middle of the night, there was a sudden continuous cannon sound in the direction of Jubaomen in the south, which startled Wu Jun Lian Yong to get up and prepare for battle, but Wu Chaoyue heard the sound of artillery far away, asked Lian Yong to continue to rest, and led a team of personal soldiers to the city alone to understand the situation. But the result still made Wu Chaoyue speechless, the Jubaomen side found out that the Taiping army was approaching, but when the Taiping army did not attack, the defenders on the Jubaomen side fired indiscriminately outside the city, saying that it was to deter rebellion and inspire the army.

"Waste of gunpowder!"

After throwing down this sentence, Wu Chaoyue went back to sleep, but the next morning, the problem came again - no one provided Wu Jun Lianyong with food and grass. Wu Chaoyue found Geng Huan to inquire and learned that the Qing army actually did not have a plan to provide food and grass for Lian Yong, saying that it was to give money to Lian Yong to buy food by himself, but when Wu Chaoyue reached out to Geng Huan to ask for money, Geng Huan asked Wu Chaoyue to go to Zou Minghe, the former governor of Guangxi who was the chief planner of Lian Yong. Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to let Wu Jun Lian Yong temporarily use dry food to satisfy his hunger, while first taking out the silver to buy grain, vegetables and meat, and at the same time sending people to the headquarters of the Jiangning Preparation and Defense Bureau set up in Baiyi Nunnery to contact Zou Minghe and ask Zou Minghe to return his silver.

The people who went to buy grain, meat and vegetables came back first, saying that the prices of grain and vegetables in the city had skyrocketed, and the prices of pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks had risen to sky-high prices. However, when Geng Huan cheekily ran to the Wu army garrison to have lunch, the person who went to contact Zou Minghe also came back, crying and saying that Zou Minghe would not give a tael of silver, saying that he was only responsible for distributing money and food to Jiang Ning Lianyong, and Songjiang Tuanlian had nothing to do with him, so Wu Chaoyue went to Lu Jianying to ask for it.

Hearing this answer, Wu Chaoyue was of course extremely angry, and Geng Huan next to him was gnawing on chicken legs like a hungry ghost, and said vaguely: "Brother Wu, if you can ask Lu Zhitai to send you silver, then it's best not to let Zou Minghe handle it, that old shameless person is darker than anyone else, and the silver is over his hand, and half of you will be deducted, and it is possible to deduct you seventy or eighty percent." ”

"Is it so dark?" Wu Chaoyue asked suspiciously--I have indeed never seen an official who can deduct military salaries so harshly.

"I don't believe you, go to the city and have a look." Geng Hua pointed to the distant city wall with the half-gnawed chicken leg, and said: "Go and see what those Lian Yong eats in the Preparation and Defense Bureau, compared with them, the pig food in our green camp is considered a good meal." ”

Wu Chaoyue was even more speechless, and he also understood that he must have to hemorrhage in this battle, and under the fire, in order to make up for a little loss, Wu Chaoyue sent someone to contact Hui Zheng again, and asked Hui Zheng to help him ask Lu Jianying for military salaries - the old Wu family is rich, but the old Wu family's silver is Wu Jianzhang's hard work and corruption, and Wu Chaoyue is not loyal to the Manchu court to the point of sticking silver to help Emperor Xianfeng die.

After lunch, Wu Chaoyue and Geng Huan discussed how to help the defense, and decided to divide the four outposts of the Wu army into two teams, taking turns to go to the city to guard, and Wu Chaoyue brought his own personal team to act as a mobile reserve. Geng Huan, who eats people and has a soft mouth, also took great care of Wu Jun Lian Yong, and assigned the nearest city wall to Wu Jun Lian Yong to guard, so that Wu Jun Lian Yong did not have to work in vain in running back and forth - of course, the premise is that Geng Huan will come to Wu Jun's camp every time from now on to eat.

For a whole day, the Shence Gate side has been calm, not even half of the Taiping soldiers have been seen, but the Jubaomen side has been the sound of cannons - but I heard that the Taiping Army has not launched an attack on the Jubao Gate, even if it is not a single attack, the Qing gunners have been firing at the open space, wasting thousands of pounds of gunpowder in vain without hitting a single Taiping soldier. (Historical facts)

When the sun was setting, when Wu Chaoyue was patrolling the city with his own army, Hui Zheng suddenly came to the city of Shence Gate, and said to Wu Chaoyue with an embarrassed face: "Weiting, I'm sorry, I told Lu Zhitai about your military salary, but Lu Zhitai said that there is not enough money and food in the city now, and there is no way to pay you food and salary for the time being, so I can only send you a hundred taels of silver to buy food first, and the rest will be made up for you later." ”

After that, Hui Zheng really asked his entourage to take out a hundred taels of silver and handed it to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue couldn't cry or laugh, and said, "Brother Hui, Lu Zhitai is too generous, right?" I came to Jiangning with a regimental training, and it cost me two hundred taels of silver just to charter a boat, and he actually paid a hundred taels of silver for military salary, he wanted me to go bankrupt and serve the country? ”

Hui Zheng was speechless, so he could only persuade in a low voice: "Comfort Pavilion, mosquitoes are also meat, take it first, yes, at least Lu Zhitai still gave you cash, the practice of the Jiangning Security Bureau, but there has been no salary for more than half a month, and the Preparatory and Defense Bureau has also been paid for five days." ”

Sighing, Wu Chaoyue still took the silver, then opened the bag of silver, threw it in front of the soldiers guarding the city, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, listen to me!" Whether it is Songjiang's Lian Yong, or the brothers of the Green Camp and Jiang Ning's Lian Yong, the first to hit or cut the long hair, whether it is hit with a gun or a knife, whether it is killed or cut, you can come and get a piece of silver, first come, first served, until you finish it! ”

"Good!" There was laughter on the lifeless city wall, and the soldiers of the Green Battalion and Jiang Ning Lian Yong all looked at the bag of silver with red eyes, and their morale was subconsciously high, and they also began to hope that the Taiping Army would arrive as soon as possible, so that they would have the opportunity to earn real cash. However, Wu Chaoyue's current temporary boss, Geng Huan, shook his head and kept secretly scolding Wu Chaoyue's behavior of being a loser - how good is it to stay and divide equally?

"There's long hair!"

At this time, on the streets outside the city, a group of Taiping soldiers wrapped in red turbans suddenly appeared, all of them rode war horses from east to west, and there were only more than 30 horsemen, like a Taiping scout team that reconnoitred the enemy. After probably seeing this, the Qing soldiers who had just been boosted by Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and immediately picked up their arquebuses and fought at those Taiping knights, but Wu Jun Lianyong, who was holding a pin gun and a Mini gun, did not move - because the distance was at least 600 meters, even the Mini gun could not hit that far.

…………

Standing more than a mile away to peek at the enemy's situation, Lin Fengxiang, who was old on the battlefield, of course did not have to worry about being hit by the enemy, holding a monocular in his hand, he just patiently observed the surroundings, thinking about whether he could use the Shence Gate as the main battlefield for siege. And when he suddenly saw many Qing soldiers in the city carrying snowy bayonets, Lin Fengxiang was shocked, and hurriedly went to see the flag on the city wall, and when he saw the big banner with the word 'Wu' with teeth and claws, Lin Fengxiang was suddenly happy, and secretly said in his heart: "Dog Qing Demon, it turns out that you are here!" ”

…………

After observing the situation in the city again, and having a rough idea in his heart, Lin Fengxiang continued to move forward with his soldiers and rushed to Jinchuan Gate and Yifeng Gate to reconnoiter the enemy's situation. The Qing soldiers in the city wasted a lot of ammunition and failed to hit an enemy, of course, all of them were disappointed, and Hui Zheng asked Wu Chaoyue suspiciously: "Weiting, why didn't your Lian Yong shoot?" I remember that your practice of Yong is very accurate, why don't you let them show off their marksmanship? ”

"It's too far away, and firing a shot is just a waste of bullets."

Wu Chaoyue answered truthfully, Geng Huan next to him was very curious, and hurriedly asked Hui Zheng why he said that Wu Jun's marksmanship was amazing, Hui Zheng probably said that after the battle on the river on the first day, Geng Huan didn't believe it at all, saying that Wu Jun Lian Yong couldn't shoot the musket so accurately, and asked Wu Chaoyue to perform marksmanship in public. Wu Chaoyue, who was one less than one of Minnie's bullets, didn't bother to pay attention to him, just said that it was not early, and invited Hui Zheng and Geng Huan to his station for dinner, and Hui Zheng, who had already finished his business, readily agreed, Geng Huan also immediately put aside the matter of appreciating Wu Jun's marksmanship, and generously asked people to bring a jar of wine, and went to Wu Jun's garrison with Wu Chaoyue to drink wine and eat meat.

During the war, Wu Chaoyue, who was very self-disciplined, of course, did not drink a drop of wine, but Hui Zheng and Geng Huan were ignorant and fearless, chatting and boasting that they drank most of the wine and refused to stop. As a result, it was at this time that Wu Chaoyue learned from the two of them that it turned out that Wu Chaoyue's opponent, Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, had already gone to Zhenjiang as early as the 22nd day of the first lunar month under the pretext of discord with Lu Jianying, so he was no longer in the city at the moment. And Lu Jianying is not a good thing, although he is still in the city, his family has already fled from the city with a large number of goods.

When the defense of Jiangning was even more desperate, the city suddenly reported that the long-haired bandits had been found outside the city, and at this moment the sky was already dark, and the time was the twenty-eighth of the first month, and the moonlight was unknown, Geng Huan and Wu Chaoyue did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly took Wu Chaoyue's personal soldiers to the city to observe the enemy situation, and Hui Zheng, who had been almost drunk, also followed.

When he arrived at the city, he was just in time for the first quarter of the moon to be obscured by the clouds, and it was dark outside the city that he could not see the slightest situation, but Geng Hua was angry at the Qing soldiers, but Wu Chaoyue was very careful to let the self-army practice Yong to prepare for battle, and he also took a mini gun loaded with gunpowder and bullets, and then asked the Qing soldiers about the situation, and only then did he learn that there was indeed a group of Taiping soldiers with torches from the Jinchuan Gate, and suddenly extinguished the torches when they arrived near the Shence Gate, and then disappeared again.

Hearing such a report, Geng Huan, who was interrupted from drinking, was of course furious and asked his subordinates if they were wrong, and his subordinates swore that they were not wrong. Deng Siyuan, the sentry officer of the Wu army on the side, also testified: "General Geng, he is not mistaken, when the long hair did not extinguish the fire torch just now, I could see it clearly in the telescope, it was really long hair wrapped in red cloth, and they were all riding war horses. ”

"All on war horses?" Wu Chaoyue interrupted Deng Siyuan's words and said, "Could it be the captain Mao cavalry who showed up in the afternoon?" ”

"Possibly." Deng Siyuan replied truthfully: "Because their number is not very large, and they are coming from the direction of Jinchuan Gate." ”

Hearing this, Wu Chaoyue's mind quickly came up with such a road map - after the Taiping Army scouts reconnoitred the Shence Gate, they went west around the city wall, successively reconnoitring the Jinchuan Gate, Zhongfu Gate and Yifeng Gate, and then turned around and walked back to the Taiping Army camp outside the Jubao Gate, passing through the Shence Gate again - but why did the Taiping Army scouts extinguish the fire torches outside the Shence Gate? Wu Chaoyue couldn't figure this out.

"Could it be that the Taiping army extinguished the torches in order to reconnoiter under the city?"

Wu Chaoyue suddenly had such a suspicion in his heart, and then connected to the moonlight in the sky was unknown, and it was difficult to see, Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and immediately raised the Minnie gun to the city, and shouted in a low voice: "Throw torches under the city!" ”

Hearing the order, Wu Jun Lian Yong next to him did not hesitate, and immediately threw two torches under the city, and then as Wu Chaoyue expected, when the torches shone, two Taiping soldiers with red cloths on their heads appeared on the moat bridge under the city, but before Wu Chaoyue could aim at them, the two Taiping soldiers rushed to the opposite side of the moat and quickly hid in the dark. Wu Chaoyue was helpless, so he could only shout: "Keep throwing torches!" Throw it far away! ”

Wu Jun Lian Yong followed the order one after another, throwing many torches to the opposite side of the moat, but to Wu Chaoyue's surprise, the torch light flickered, and a group of Taiping soldiers leading war horses appeared on the opposite side of the moat, and then Wu Chaoyue did not dare to have any hesitation, and immediately aimed at one of the tall Taiping soldiers and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

The gunshot rang out, and in the afterglow of the torches, the Taiping soldier who was getting on his horse immediately fell to the ground, and then, the screams that made Wu Chaoyue and the others extremely surprised suddenly came, "Prime Minister Lin!" Prime Minister Lin! Prime Minister Lin, what's wrong with you?! ”

"Brothers, go! Prime Minister Lin Cheng was shot! ”

The sound spread far in the night, and these few shouts Wu Chaoyue and the others could all hear it clearly, and then Wu Jun Lian Yong and the Qing soldiers shot blindly at that area, throwing torches to find the enemy's traces, but Wu Chaoyue and Geng Huan and Hui Zheng looked at each other, and after a while, Wu Chaoyue said: "Brother Hui, Brother Geng, what is the name of Prime Minister Lin Cheng with long hair just now, did you hear it?" ”

Hui Zheng and Geng Huan both said that they had heard it, and then Geng Huan said suspiciously: "That Prime Minister Lin? Over there, is there a general named Prime Minister Lin? ”

Before Geng Huan's words were finished, Hui Zheng had already come back to his senses, and then Hui Zheng suddenly thought of a possibility, and suddenly hugged Wu Chaoyue excitedly, and said excitedly: "Weiting, did you hit Lin Fengxiang?" The long-haired pioneer general is Li Kaifang, and his deputy is Lin Fengxiang, these two thieves were named prime ministers by Hong Cheng, this Lin Chengxiang just now is likely to be Lin Fengxiang! ”

"Is it Lin Fengxiang? How can it be?! Wu Chaoyue blurted out exclaimed, and then such a thought flashed in his heart, "What if it's really Lin Fengxiang?" I beat him to death, how can the Taiping army still go on a northern expedition?! ”

"It's definitely him!" Hui Zheng roared excitedly: "There are many long-haired bullshit prime ministers, but there is only one surname Lin, and that is Lin Fengxiang!" The one you hit just now must be the long-haired famous Lin Fengxiang! ”

"So, we've done a great job?" Geng Hua said in surprise: "Brother Wu, you hit the long-haired general Lin Fengxiang with the first shot you fired at the Shence Gate, this is a great achievement!" ”

"It can't really be him, can it?" Wu Chaoyue's face turned a little pale, and he said in his heart: "Don't be him!" In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the people I admire the most are except Shi Dakai, that is, Li Kaifang and Lin Fengxiang. ”

…………

Unfortunately, it was really Lin Fengxiang, when the sky was light, when the Taiping soldiers carried Lin Fengxiang, who was shot in the abdomen, back to the Taiping Army camp outside the Jubao Gate, Lin Fengxiang had already fallen into a coma several times due to excessive blood loss, and Li Kaifang, the main general of the Taiping Army, also threw himself on the body of his good brother and cried bitterly, complaining that Lin Fengxiang did not listen to his own dissuasion, and had to personally explore the terrain and the situation of the demon defense. After being rescued by the military doctor, Lin Fengxiang took Li Kaifang's hand and said with difficulty: "Prime Minister Li, from Shence Gate to Yifeng Gate in the north of Jiangning, the moat is seriously silted up, and the terrain is open, which is suitable for attacking the city. The soil in the area of Yifengmen is thick, and it can launch an underground siege. There is high ground outside the Shence Gate, and artillery can be deployed, however, beware of the cold gun ...... of the Shence Gate Qing Demon. ”

After saying this, Lin Fengxiang, who was seriously injured, fainted again, and Li Kaifang cried loudly again, roaring and roaring: "The Shence Gate is mine!" No one is allowed to rob me! Ji Wenyuan, tomorrow you will bring me 3,000 brothers to move outside the Shence Gate and prepare for the siege! When the King of Heaven arrives, I will personally go to the Shence Gate, kill all the demons there, and avenge Brother Lin! ”