Wu Jianzhang, who blocked the resignation of his baby grandson, soon regretted that he wanted to hit the wall with his head, because within a few days, there was another urgent report from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Taiping army, who had always been unable to take the famous city of Jiancheng, did not know that they had learned a trick of lack of virtue from there, and they actually used the method of digging a tunnel to bury gunpowder to blow up the Wenchang Gate in Wuchang, killing Chang Dachun, the governor of Hubei, and Shuangfu, the governor of Hubei, and the chasing soldiers of Xiang Rong in Hongshan, and successfully conquered Wuchang City like Wu Chaoyue's prediction.

Wuchang is broken, the large and small cities in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are naturally in an emergency, and it is expected that Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang, who was ordered to block the Taiping Army, will definitely fight his baby grandson's idea again, Wu Jianzhang did not dare to waste half of his time, and immediately asked the master's staff to write an excerpt for his grandson calling him sick and resigning, and called Wu Chaoyue to the front and forced his baby grandson to sign and seal the fold.

Wu Chaoyue, who didn't want to be a slave to the Manchu Qing Dynasty for a long time, of course immediately signed the excerpt, but after Wu Jianzhang sent someone to send out the excerpt with a fast horse, Wu Chaoyue said to Wu Jianzhang again: "Grandpa, I'm afraid it's not so easy to resign now, if you really don't want me to go to Changmao, it's best to send someone to Jiangning for another activity, send some silver to Lu Jianying, and ask him to promise to let me resign." Otherwise, not only will he certainly not agree to let me resign, but he may also threaten us in return, saying that if I insist on resigning, he will go to the court to impeach us and let the court punish me. ”

Considering the critical situation on the Yangtze River battlefield, Wu Jianzhang, who was not short of silver, did not hesitate to adopt his grandson's suggestion, and immediately called his henchman who specialized in doing dirty things for him, and asked him to take the silver to Jiangning to bribe and give gifts, and bribe Lu Jianying to agree to let Wu Chaoyue resign from his official position. But even so, Wu Chaoyue still had a bad premonition in his heart, always feeling that this thing would not go so smoothly, and he who was very unlucky in this regard might really be forced to fight with the Taiping Army.

Because of this bad premonition, and because he knew that after the Taiping army captured Nanjing, Shanghai would break out in the Little Knife Society, Wu Chaoyue still set out to strengthen war preparations, first persuaded Wu Jianzhang to take out the silver and ordered a batch of weapons and ammunition from the Americans and Prussians, and then carried out a very targeted water combat training for the Shanghai regimental training, rented five old lock boats commonly known as the Red Single Boat and a number of small boats, and hired sailors to pull the Shanghai regimental training to the mouth of the Yangtze River for water combat training, so as to defend Shanghai in the future.

It was also at this time that Wu Chaoyue discovered that he had many innate advantages in water warfare that ordinary people could not dream of, first of all, most of the regimental training in Shanghai were local soldiers in Songjiang, and they were familiar with boats and were not afraid of going into the water; The second is that the old Wu family has many Guangdong villagers in Shanghai, and a considerable number of them are sailors who come to Shanghai with sea ships to make a living, although the discipline is bad, the operation of the old lock ship suitable for coastal navigation is the ability to watch the family, and Wu Chaoyue, a small fellow countryman, is more loyal and obedient, is quite an ideal sailor candidate; In order to let Wu Chaoyue buy ships and artillery from them, the consuls of various countries not only rushed to provide technical guidance for Wu Chaoyue, but the British also helped Wu Chaoyue train gunners for free, and took the initiative to invite Wu Chaoyue's regimental training to board their armed merchant ships to actually operate the advanced artillery on their ships, and persuaded Wu Chaoyue to buy ships and guns from them, and promised to provide technical support and guarantee the supply of weapons and ammunition.

In view of these, no matter how Wu Chaoyue, who has no ambitions, wants to be an overseas Chinese in Honolulu, he will inevitably have such thoughts, "If Lao Tzu becomes a warlord like Zeng Shaved or Yuan Datou that day, and they sign a few traitorous treaties in exchange for the support of foreigners, there is actually great hope for overthrowing the Manchu Qing Dynasty and establishing New China." ”

moved this idea to this thought, Wu Chaoyue, who has a somewhat lazy personality, is still more willing to be a rich man who doesn't have to worry too much, so no matter how the foreigners encourage Wu Chaoyue to expand the group training, Wu Chaoyue never let go, patiently just waiting for the reply of his resignation, and constantly praying for God's blessing, so that the Taiping Army's advance will be slower, and give him more time to resign as a deserter.

The dream is full, the reality is skinny, to the eighteenth month of the second year of Xianfeng, Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, who has moved to Jiangning, first sent an official document, not only categorically rejected Wu Chaoyue's resignation for the second time, but also directly condemned Wu Chaoyue's resignation at this time as a runaway and failed the monarch and the people, and threatened that if Wu Chaoyue dared to resign again, he would be impeached and ask the Manchu court to punish Wu Chaoyue for desertion.

Seeing this official document, Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue, the unscrupulous ancestors, of course, stretched their thin faces longer than donkeys, knowing that Yang Wending was taking revenge for personal gain, but they were helpless, and they could only hope that a miracle could happen to Lu Jianying. However, what made the unscrupulous ancestors and grandchildren want to cry without tears was that only one day later, the master who went to Jiangning also sent a message, saying that Lu Jianying had gone to the front line of Jiujiang, and he couldn't find a target if he wanted to bribe and give gifts, Wu Jianzhang was so anxious that he stomped his feet, but he didn't have the courage to send the master to the front line to bribe and give gifts to let his baby grandson be a deserter, and he could only pray for God's blessing, so that the Taiping army would not come to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and go elsewhere to harm other places.

In view of the loss of Wuchang and the successive defeats of the Qing army, the Xianfeng Emperor, who was full of fire, ordered that Xu Guangjin, the minister of the Qincha and the governor of the two lakes, who were afraid of the war, be dismissed from his post and handed over to the criminal department to reconsider the crime, cut down the Yuezhou counselor Akdong'a, who pretended to be dead and fled, and cut off the heads of the civil and military officials such as Bole Gongwu, Lian Chang and Hu Fanggu, who were harboring Akdong'a, and arrested more than a dozen civil and military officials who fled in fear of the battle, and wrote these punishments into a newspaper. Mingfa Tianxia let all officials across the country know what the fate of running away in fear of war is! At the same time, it was clearly ordered that the group training in Jiangsu, Anhui and other places must not refuse Lu Jianying's recruitment, and those who violated the order will be reconsidered!

Things have come to this point, no matter how much Wu Jianzhang regrets forcing his grandson to be an official, it is useless, the old tears are just self-pity, crying bitterly and admitting that he hurt his baby grandson. While comforting Wu Jianzhang, Wu Chaoyue was also mentally prepared to listen to the tune and go into battle, and began to arrange the western expedition in his heart, and began to think about how to fight one or two battles perfunctory Lu Jianying and Xianfeng, and then find a way to get rid of the fate of being cannon fodder for the Manchu Qing.

On February 9, 1853, the second day of the first month of the third year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, after the New Year in Wuchang, the Taiping Army resolutely abandoned the lonely city of Wuchang and launched an eastward expedition with all its might, with land and water and land going down the river, 10,000 floating boats on the river, sail flags like clouds, and hundreds of thousands of troops, and the blade pointed directly at the important land of money and grain in the Qing Dynasty - Jiangnan!

Rebellion is rampant, along the way I Qing Dynasty Eight Banners and Green Battalion soldiers although they fought bravely, rose up to resist, the minister of the Qin Mission, Xiang Rong also personally led the army to chase after the main force of the rebellion, but the rebel thief is strong, the Wang division is outnumbered, it is difficult to resist, in just 14 days, Huangshi, Mouse Gorge, Jiujiang, Pengze and Xiaogushan and other military important places have been lost, the general of the Liu'an Battalion Yushou was martyred, the minister of Qincha, the governor of Liangjiang, and the Xianfeng Emperor Lu Jianying was also unfortunately injured by the rebel soldiers, two teeth were broken, and the injury was serious! As a last resort, Lu Jianying had no choice but to return to Wuhu first and reorganize the river defense to defend Jiangning City, the first important town in the south of the Yangtze River!

In addition, regarding the injury of Lu Jianying and Lu Duxian, the so-called Lu Duxian was too afraid of the enemy and fled for his life overnight, and was mistaken by the night guards of the Wang Division as a traitor and beaten and injured. Lu Duxian was injured, all because of his hard work, he worked tirelessly to patrol the camp late at night, and was unfortunately injured by a bandit who pretended to be a soldier of the king! Lang Lang Qiankun, justice is at ease in the hearts of the people, no matter how much the rebellious bandits slander and slander, they will never hurt Lu Duxian's reputation, and the small people who spread rumors will only work in vain!

After returning to Wuhu with a seriously injured strategy, the first thing we did was of course to find ways to transfer troops and send generals to reinforce the troops, but unfortunately, the Eight Banners and Green Battalions of the Qing Dynasty who were trapped at home and abroad were either in the two lakes, or were pinned down by foreigners on the southeast coast, and the troops in the hinterland of the south of the Yangtze River were very empty. Then there was no escape, the first thing Lu Duxian remembered, of course, was that the Shanghai regiment that had trained more than 4,000 thieves with more than 200 brave soldiers trained Wu Jiajun, and after another order, the order requiring Wu Chaoyue to lead the soldiers of the headquarters to Wuhu to help suppress it was quickly sent to Shanghai, and sent to Wu Jianzhang and Wu Chaoyue, the unscrupulous ancestors.

There are only two ways to put in front of the ancestors and grandchildren of the Wu family, one is to let Wu Chaoyue obediently carry out the order and risk to Wuhu to participate in the war, and the other is that the old Wu family absconded overseas, Wu Jianzhang hesitated and wavered for a while, and Wu Chaoyue, who had long been psychologically prepared, calmly accepted his fate and decided to take this risk to fight, Wu Jianzhang cried for a long time and had to tearfully agree, but asked Wu Chaoyue to come back alive, even if he lost all his weapons and equipment, he must come back alive.

Lu Jianying's order required Wu Chaoyue to rush to Wuhu before the thirtieth day of the first month, the time was a little tight, fortunately, Wu Chaoyue had made sufficient preparations in advance, but he would not be in a hurry, but because the instructor Brown was not a missionary, the American arms salesman Brown could not go to Wuhu to participate in the war, so that Wu Chaoyue lost an arm, and at the same time, the morale of the Shanghai regiment training was not bad, and they all believed that with the advanced weapons in their hands, fighting Changmao would definitely be as easy as fighting the Qingpu and Jiading rebels. Wu Chaoyue not only didn't have to worry about how to boost morale, but also had to warn his subordinates not to underestimate the enemy.

On the morning of the 22nd day of the first lunar month, 500 Shanghai regimental exercises under the leadership of Wu Chaoyue boarded ten rented civilian boats, set sail and rushed to Wuhu, Wu Jianzhang and many foreigners went to the wharf to see off Wu Chaoyue, saw the boat of the baby grandson sailing to the lower reaches of the Huangpu River, Wu Jianzhang cried and fainted on the wharf, Wu Chaoyue saw his grandfather fainting from afar, and his heart was also very uncomfortable, and shouted loudly: "Grandpa, don't worry, I will definitely come back, I will definitely come back!" ”

…………

There were only nine days left to go upstream, Wu Chaoyue of course asked the hired ships to move at full speed, but fortunately, the weather had gradually warmed up, and the southeast wind was gradually rising, which was more conducive to going west, so under the day and night, it took only three days for the Shanghai regimental training to cross the Zhenjiang River and enter the territory of Jiangning Mansion.

After Yizheng bought vegetables and meat for a short rest, Wu Chaoyue's fleet continued to swim upstream, and when he crossed Yanziji and passed through Jiangning City in the evening, Wu Chaoyue did not let the fleet land on the shore, and ordered to directly cross the city and continue to move forward - Wu Chaoyue knew that Lu Jianying was in Wuhu, and he also knew that it was Yang Wending, the governor of Jiangsu, who was now in charge of Jiangning City, and Wu Chaoyue, who had an enmity with Yang Wending, certainly did not want to go into the city to suffer Yang Wending's bird anger.

The next day, that is, on the morning of the twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month, when Wu Chaoyue's fleet entered the river of Taiping Mansion in Anhui Province, the soldiers on the deck suddenly came to report, saying that they had seen the legendary Taiping army team wrapped in red turbans on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and the number was quite a lot!

"What? Spotted the Longhair Army on the South Bank? Quite a lot? They flew in?! ”

After being stunned, Wu Chaoyue, who had a sparse history and did not know that the infantry ran faster than the sailors when the Taiping army attacked Nanjing, of course, immediately rushed to the deck, raised the telescope and looked at the south bank, and as a result, Wu Chaoyue immediately opened his mouth even more - on the official road on the south bank, there was indeed a considerable number of troops marching eastward, and the soldiers' heads were all wrapped in red cloths, and they were also playing the legendary yellow silk flag of the Taiping army. Then, of course, Wu Chaoyue screamed like a pig, "How is this possible?" Lu Jianying asked me to rush to Wuhu to participate in the battle before the 30th of the first month, and today is only the 27th of the first month. ”

"Young Master Sun, could it be that Wuhu has already been defeated?" Wu Dadao, who was next to him, hurriedly said: "After we passed Jiangning City, there have been boats escaping from the upstream, and none of the boats have rushed upstream. ”

"Did any official ships with flags escape?"

Wu Chaoyue also hurriedly asked, and after Wu Dadao and the others shook their heads and said that they didn't see it, Wu Chaoyue suddenly had some hesitation, not knowing whether he should continue to rush to Wuhu. At the same time, the Taiping soldiers who were marching on the south bank also discovered Wu Chaoyue's fleet with the flag of regimental training, and sent some scouts to check the situation, Wu Chaoyue also ordered the fleet to approach the south bank to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, but soon heard those Taiping scouts yelling in a Guangxi accent, "Qing demon on the ship, quickly get off the ship and surrender, spare you from dying!" Otherwise, when the army of our heavenly king arrives, you will all be powdered! ”

Raising the binoculars to observe the enemy's situation, and seeing that the enemy did not have weapons that could threaten the safety of his ship, Wu Chaoyue relaxed a little, and then ordered Wu Dadao and the others: "Sniper team, aim and shoot, try to wound one or two, and come over to ask for a confession!" ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue also personally picked up a mini gun, and after loading, he aimed at the enemy on the shore more than 200 meters away and pulled the trigger, and fired the first shot of the brutal suppression of the Taiping uprising.

At this time, Wu Dada and other Wu army snipers equipped with Mini guns also opened fire, and those heroic Taiping soldiers although they had rich combat experience, but because they were too experienced, they thought that the distance of more than 200 meters was safe enough, and they did not hide behind the shelter in advance, and suffered a big loss, and were immediately killed and wounded three or four people, and then they screamed and hid behind the reef and trees.

Wu Chaoyue originally planned to catch the mouth and ask for a confession, but after the shooting, Wu Chaoyue realized that he was too naïve, hearing the gunshots, the soldiers of the Taiping Army who were marching immediately stopped advancing and made a vigilant posture, and immediately divided an army and rushed over to check the situation, and there was a big flag behind the leading general, which vaguely seemed to be a 'forest' word.

There was no way to catch the prisoners on the shore, so Wu Chaoyue had to let the snipers continue to shoot, and the Taiping troops on the shore were not to be outdone, and also shot back, but unfortunately even if the arquebus they used could barely hit more than 200 meters, the bullets had already deviated from 108,000 miles after flying out of this distance, and there was no threat to Wu Chaoyue's fleet. However, the Mini guns of the snipers of the Wu army could still maintain some shooting accuracy from a distance of more than 200 meters, taking advantage of the long-distance shooting battle, and knocked over several Taiping soldiers on the shore one after another, and also beat those Taiping soldiers to the point that they roared and cursed continuously.

Between the ping-pong shooting, several boats suddenly rushed upstream, the dhow ship in front was still smoking, it seemed to have caught fire, and behind were three strange boats with two ends raised high, Wu Chaoyue hurriedly used the binoculars to look at the coming ships, and suddenly saw that the smoking dhow ship was under the banner of the Qing army, and the people on the three strange boats behind were all Taiping soldiers with red turbans. Then Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate any longer, and immediately ordered: "Go up and save the smoking boat!" ”

There was a loud bang, and when Wu Chaoyue's fleet just continued to move forward, the smoking dhow ship suddenly broke its mast, and the sail smashed into the river with flames, and the speed of the ship also stagnated, and the ship sounded a miserable scream, and the three strange boats with the same bow and stern as the canopy (Xiao Tu boat) behind were cheering, speeding up the oars, and quickly approaching the unlucky Qing army division ship.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Qing soldiers on the division ship jumped into the water one after another, swimming to meet the Wu army fleet that was far away for help, but there were still cries on the division ship, "Help me!" Save me! Take me for a run! I don't know water, Wanzhen and I don't know water, help! ”

"Wanzhen? Wanzhen! ”

Wu Chaoyue's ears immediately stood up, and when he hurriedly raised his binoculars to take a closer look, he saw that there was really a man and a woman on the division ship that had lost control, and the woman was also short and seemed to be a small Luoli, and then Wu Chaoyue didn't have time to wonder how Feng Wanzhen could run here, and immediately shouted: "Speed up, prepare for battle!" Sniper, shoot! Hit the three boats in the back! ”

Wu Dadao and other snipers sang a promise, regardless of the distance and accurate aiming, they had already shot at the three strange ships behind, and the result really received a little effect, after finding that Wu Jun's musket could hit their hull and sail, the three strange ships really slowed down a little, Wu Chaoyue's fleet took the opportunity to shake forward and quickly narrowed the distance with the Qing army's ship.

At this time, Wu Chaoyue finally saw the situation on the division ship clearly in the telescope, not to mention, the woman on the boat was really a little Li, but unfortunately she was burying her face in the arms of a man in an official uniform, and she couldn't see if she was Feng Wanzhen who Wu Chaoyue had seen twice in the capital, but the middle-aged man in the official uniform was crying constantly, "Help!" Brother on the ship, come and save me! I'm the Daotai, I'm the Daotai of Guangtai Dao! Come and save me! ”