"Whew——!"

In the sound of whistling shells breaking through the air, a black powder flowering cannonball flew across the Lujia River and rushed into the block of Lujiabin in the south of Shanghai and exploded, taking the lead in opening the prelude to the attack on the town of Shanghai by the Taiping Army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Then, immediately after that, more flowering shells whistled in, smashing into the defensive positions of the Wu army in Shanghai one after another, and from time to time shells bombarded into the residential blocks, adding more turmoil to the already chaotic Lujiabin neighborhood, and from time to time splashing blood and flesh and blood.

At the same time, the Taiping army on the side of Xujiahui also moved, directly sent troops from the north bank of the Lujia River to the east, and cooperated with the main force of Li Xiucheng's department who attacked head-on, and attacked the flank of the Wu army's position in Lujiabin, and because of the lack of large river protection due west of Shanghai City, even if the Wu army in Shanghai deployed a large number of troops to protect the flanks in this open area, it still appeared to be seriously understaffed, and lacked bitter acid weapons, which were sharp weapons to kill the enemy, so they could only rely on small river ditches and fortifications built before to defend hard. Resist the offensive of the Taiping army.

Fortunately, because the raw material warehouse was attacked and burned by the Taiping Army, although the picric acid weapons of the Shanghai Wu Army were seriously in short supply, but thanks to the blessing of Nobel and his son and the relatively easy to find materials required for production, the Shanghai Wu Army had some more powerful Dana explosives in his hands, which were made into mines and planted in key positions in advance. It also gave the officers and men of the Wu Army in Shanghai precious respite and readjustment.

The same is true on the frontal battlefield, Dana explosives have long been hidden under the bridge of the Lujia River, and the small group of Taiping troops charging across the river Wu army can be directly repelled with guns, after the Taiping army of the brigade rushed to the bridge across the river, the soldiers of the Wu army immediately set fire to blow up the bridge, directly killing a large number of enemies at the same time, it also completely shattered the Taiping army's dream of directly seizing the bridge and crossing the river, forcing the Taiping army to cross the river with small boats, the defensive pressure was reduced quite a lot, and the number of casualties of the Taiping army rose rapidly.

Taking advantage of the Taiping Army's large-scale attack and the chaos in the neighborhood, countless hungry refugees living in the towns of Shanghai took advantage of the fire to rob, or rushed into the houses to steal and rob, or openly robbed property on the streets, and even raped women and killed people on the streets. even quietly shot at the Wu army's position from behind, cooperating with the Taiping army's frontal attack. The Wu Army's auxiliaries, who were in charge of maintaining law and order, were overwhelmed and helpless in the face of the huge chaotic crowd.

The foreign coalition forces in the concession north of the city have always stood still, only allowing ordinary people to flee into the concession for refuge, but they have never sent a single soldier to participate in the battle to help the Wu army in Shanghai resist the attack of the Taiping army, because the consuls of Britain and France have reached a secret agreement with the Taiping army, promising to remain neutral and no longer provide military assistance to the Wu army in Shanghai. What prompted the consuls of Britain and France to make this decision was that the Wu army in Shanghai had been defeated in successive battles, almost lost all the strongholds in the suburbs, and was forced to retreat to the town, and it was only a matter of time before the consuls of Britain and France were forced into the city to defend the city, and the consuls of Britain and France had to make this decision in order to protect their economic and property interests in the concession.

It must be explained that another key reason for the consuls of Britain and France to make this decision was Wu Chaoyue's own doing, in order to join forces with the Taiping army to deal with the Qing army, Wu Chaoyue had secretly persuaded Yang Xiuqing to make concessions to the Western powers, in exchange for the full support of the Manchu court from Britain and France and other countries as they did in history. As a result, now that the Taiping Army and the Wu Army suddenly turned their faces, under the premise that the Taiping Army acquiesced to the opium trade of Britain and France, it was naturally unnecessary for Britain, France and other countries to go all out to help the Wu Army in Shanghai resist the attack of the Taiping Army.

"Kill ——!"

In the shout, several Taiping assault boats suddenly rushed out, like arrows from the string rushed across the Lujia River, the soldiers on the boat jumped boats and landed, the Wu army's front-loading guns were too slow to effectively suppress the charge of the Taiping commandos, and they could only watch the Taiping army commandos rush to the north bank, hide behind the obstacles and occupy a north bank position, and the Taiping soldiers behind took the opportunity to exert force, or set up a boat to cross the river, or directly swim across the river, and quickly put troops into the north bank position.

"Boom! Bang! Bang! ”

In desperation, the Wu army in Shanghai could only use the rear-loading rifled cannon to bombard the bitter acid shells that could not be replenished to the Taiping army's position, and at the same time, with the bitter acid grenade that could not be replenished, it took a lot of effort to finally repel the Taiping army's onslaught and regain the fallen position.

Seeing this picture in the telescope, Li Xiucheng, who was on the front line to command the battle, felt a little regretful, but he was not worried, and sneered: "Look at how long you can last, how many demon artillery shells and palm thunder there are, it doesn't matter if you use more now, Lao Tzu will be much easier when attacking the city." ”

"His Royal Highness King Zhongming, this is exactly the truth." Li Shuxiang, the think tank of the Zhongwang Army next to him, echoed casually, looked at the pocket watch in his hand again, and said with a smile: "It's almost three o'clock, and it will be dark in a few hours, now consume more ammunition and physical strength of the demon soldiers, and at night, we will be sure to cross the river." ”

Li Xiucheng nodded, very much recognizing Li Shuxiang's judgment, and casually instructed Chen Bingwen, who commanded the front-line army: "Rotate the army to participate in the battle every hour, don't you cross the river in one fell swoop, as long as you can consume the physical strength of the demon soldiers, and create opportunities for us to exert our strength at night." ”

Chen Bingwen patted his chest and agreed, and begged Li Xiucheng to allow him to continue to fight the first strong attack at night, Li Xiucheng understood the thoughts of the general, and said with a smile: "Yes, but this king said in front, your strong attack at night must be rushed across the river for this king, otherwise, there will be no ...... in the spoils outside Shanghai." ”

"Chitose King Yuzhong, the Holy Decree of the King of Heaven has arrived! The Heavenly Envoy asks you to accept the order immediately. ”

The urgent report of the pro-soldiers interrupted the ridicule of Li Xiucheng and the beloved general, and also made Li Xiucheng couldn't help frowning, but no, out of loyalty to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and fear of the authority of the Heavenly Court, Li Xiucheng still immediately ordered to summon the messenger sent by Hong Xiuquan, and the result was not what Li Xiucheng expected, and the messenger really read it like this: "Long live the holy decree of the king of heaven, summon the loyal king Li Xiucheng to return to the army to rescue Tianjing quickly, and there must be no delay or delay." Chin this. ”

"We're thanking you." After kowtowing with the etiquette he learned from the stage, Li Xiucheng stood up, and while receiving the edict, he asked the envoy very strangely: "A few days ago, I sent Qian Guiren back to Tianjing to meet the Heavenly King, didn't the Heavenly King already promise to give me a period of time to fight Shanghai, why did it only take three or four days to send me back to Tianjing?" ”

"Huizhong Wang Chitose, something big happened in Tianjing." The envoy said: "The Waste Wing King Demon Thief Shi Dakai and the Transcendence Demon secretly colluded and prepared to dedicate Tianjing City to the demon soldiers, Tianjing is in a hurry, Long live the Heavenly King has to announce that you will go back immediately." ”

"Shi Dakai and the Transcendence Demon secretly colluded? Ready to dedicate Tianjing to the demon soldiers? Are you kidding? How could such a thing be? ”

Li Xiucheng couldn't believe his ears at all, and hurriedly asked the envoy for details, but fortunately, the messenger knew a lot of inside information, and truthfully said that the letters between Wu Chaoyue and Shi Dakai were intercepted by Qin Rigang, and also said the general content of the letters he knew. As a result, Li Xiucheng heard the bitterness, stomped his feet and said: "This is clearly the demon soldier's divisive plan, how can the king of heaven be fooled like this?" How loyal Shi Dakai is to the Kingdom of Heaven and Long Live the Heavenly King, and he has so much blood feud with the Transcendence Demon, how could he secretly collude with the Transcendence Demon?! ”

"But Zhongwang Chitose, Shi Dakai ran away as soon as he left the Heavenly King's Mansion." The messenger said in a deep voice: "Long live the King of Heaven, he did not kill the demon thief Shi Dakai on the spot, the stone demon thief not only did not thank the King of Heaven for his kindness, but also deceived King Youzan in front of the gate of the King of Heaven to loosen his ties, and he took the opportunity to injure King Youzan and ran away. ”

Li Xiucheng was even more stunned when he heard this, and after quickly asking for details, Li Xiucheng finally understood why Hong Xiuquan suddenly rebelled, and suddenly issued an edict to force him to return to the army. ”

"Then please ask Chung Wang Chitose. Also, Chitose Zhongwang, the little courage reminds you, Long Live Tianwang had a great temper when he issued the edict this time, if you don't hurry back to the army to save Tianjing, I'm just afraid that ...... Long live the king of heaven will condemn the sin. ”

After another sentence, the messenger said goodbye and left, Li Xiucheng also hurriedly discussed with Li Shuxiang, Li Mingcheng, Liu Zhaojun and Chen Bingwen and other civil and military henchmen next to him how to perfunctory Hong Xiuquan and strive for more time to attack Shanghai, as a result, several civil and military henchmen agreed that they should continue to find excuses to delay, Li Shuxiang also said openly: "Loyal King Chitose rest assured, not to mention that it is impossible to fire and fight with the character and temper of the Abolished Wing King at the moment of the great enemy, even if he really leads the army and our Tianjing's soldiers and horses, Judging from the situation reported by Qian Chengxuan, his remnants of the defeated army can't turn up any storms. ”

When Li Xiucheng nodded slightly, a cheer suddenly sounded in front of him, Li Xiucheng hurriedly raised his binoculars to take a closer look, but saw that the Wu army was in a fortress on the north bank of the Lujia River in thick smoke. The morale of the Taiping army on the front line was greatly boosted, but there was an uproar on the Wu army's position, and the morale plummeted, and Li Xiucheng also immediately applauded and cheered: "Good! This is a good sign of Heavenly Father's blessing, proving that we will definitely be able to cross the Lujia River and hit the city of Shanghai today! ”

"If you're lucky, you might be able to get straight into Shanghai." Li Shuxiang said with a dreamy smile: "The demon soldiers have deployed so many troops outside the city, and they will definitely not be able to return to the city for a while, as long as the soldiers of our heavenly kingdom chase fast enough, it is not without ...... to take advantage of the chaos to kill into the city of Shanghai." ”

"Report ——! Qiyu Zhong Wang Chitose, and there is a holy decree of the Heavenly King, and the Holy Envoy of Tianjing asks you to accept the decree immediately! ”

The urgent report that came again interrupted Li Shuxiang's lust for Shanghai City, and after reluctantly glancing at a few confidants and civil and military forces, Li Xiucheng had no choice but to order an immediate summons, and then respectfully invited the second proclamation envoy sent by Hong Xiuquan in one day to the front, led everyone present to kneel down to the envoy, and listened to the holy decree of the king of heaven more respectfully.

"Heavenly Father decrees, Heavenly King decrees, loyal King Li Xiucheng, you immediately bring me back to Tianjing with the Heavenly Army, and you must not delay for a moment, if you violate this edict, the law of the country will not tolerate it! Chin this! ”

After listening to the tone that was far more severe than the first decree, Li Xiucheng also knew that something must have happened again in Nanjing, so he hurriedly kowtowed and thanked him, and asked before he got up and stood still: "What's going on again?" ”

"Back to King Chitose, the soldiers and horses of the stone demon thieves have rebelled." The second messenger told the bad news, and said with a nervous expression: "Long live the Heavenly King sent the first day to arrest the accomplices of the stone demon thief, and I don't know if the news leaked there, the stone demon thief's father-in-law, Huang Yukun, the yellow demon thief, directly led the stone demon thief to rebel in Yuhuatai's soldiers and horses, and killed many heavenly soldiers. ”

Li Xiucheng's face finally began to be grim, and he pondered for a long time before inviting the second messenger to return to the camp to rest, and then looked at Li Shuxiang and the others, Li Shuxiang understood and hurriedly said: "Long live King Zhong, rest assured, Shi Dakai's army is outside the city, even if it rebels, it will not threaten the safety of Tianjing City, and it is great that it will cause some losses to our Tianjing army, and it will not be shaken to the root." ”

Li Xiucheng was silent, and after thinking for a while, he took out his pocket watch to check the time, and seeing that the time was close to five o'clock in the afternoon, Li Xiucheng also immediately made up his mind and said: "Continue to fight, we must break through Lujiahe tonight, and other things will be said when we hit the city of Shanghai first." ”

The order was conveyed, taking advantage of the fact that the sky was still bright, the Taiping army immediately began to prepare for the night battle, distributed dry food torches to check guns and weapons, selected elite sailors to organize the ferry assault team, and decisively strengthened the artillery preparations, and at the same time rotated the army in order to continue to consume the physical strength of the Wu army, in addition to Tan Shaoguang and Huang Zilong on the side of Xujiahui also made every effort to prepare for the night battle, and the Taiping army Gao Yongkuan, who was in charge of the Pudong battlefield, also prepared a huge artillery team and a ferry fleet early, just waiting for Li Xiucheng's general attack order, and then immediately made efforts to attack, Flanking the Wu army in Shanghai on three sides.

At the same time, Zhou Tenghu and Deng Siyuan and others have also discovered the Taiping Army's preparations for war, and understand that the Taiping Army will make efforts at night to storm and take the Lujiabin block with a large population and materials. ”

When this order was given, Zhou Tenghu's eyes were already flickering with tears, and when the order was conveyed to Deng Siyuan, Deng Siyuan also directly wiped the corners of his eyes............

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the sky had begun to get slightly dark, and the participating troops of the Taiping Army had begun to enter their respective positions one after another. At the same time, in order not to be affected by interference, Li Xiucheng also specially ordered his own soldiers not to report any rear situation to himself, even if Hong Xiuquan had another messenger to arrive, he was not allowed to report!

The hands on the pocket watch slowly crossed the 6:25 scale, and Li Xiucheng also raised his head to look at the Lujiabin position in the distance. Li Xiucheng sighed lightly, and said to himself in a low voice: "Even if you take down Lu Jiabin first, as long as you force the demon soldiers into the city, cut off their sources of food, grass and military supplies, and rely on the manpower and material resources outside the city, even if there is no main force from me, Shanghai can be taken." ”

"Chitose King Yuzhong, the Holy Decree of the King of Heaven has arrived! The Holy Envoy of Tianjing has arrived! ”

For the third time in a day, the sound of the pro-soldier report made Li Xiucheng's face change color, and then he was furious, turned his head and roared: "What did this king say just now? Don't ......, ah! Golden Dragon Banner?! ”

Li Xiucheng's roar only stopped halfway through the roar, because by the light of the torches around him, Li Xiucheng had clearly seen that a golden dragon flag representing Hong Xiuquan's presence was rapidly approaching him, and when he saw the appearance of the person who played the flag, Li Xiucheng was dumbfounded again and exclaimed, "Mo Shixuan Mo Qiuguan?!" ”

That's right, the one who strode over with the Golden Dragon Flag kicking Li Xiucheng's own soldiers was indeed Mo Shixuan, the highest official in charge of punishment in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Mo Shixuan, the official of the Criminal Department of the Heavenly Dynasty, and after coming to Li Xiucheng angrily, Mo Shixuan also showed a beautifully made golden sword, and shouted: "The Golden Dragon Sword of the Golden Dragon Banner of the Heavenly King is here, the loyal King Li Xiucheng, kneel to receive the Holy Decree of the Heavenly King!" ”

Glancing at the golden dragon sword that could directly cut himself, Li Xiucheng first swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and then obediently knelt in front of Mo Shixuan, Li Shuxiang and Li Mingcheng and others also knelt behind Li Xiucheng with fear, Mo Shixuan also unfolded the third holy decree that Hong Xiuquan gave to Li Xiucheng in one day, and read it aloud: "Heavenly Father's Holy Decree, Heavenly Brother Heavenly Brother's Holy Decree, Heavenly King's Holy Decree, Li Xiucheng, do you know the law?" Knowing my law, immediately return to the division to rescue Tianjing, and don't delay for a moment! If you don't obey the edict, the law of the country will not tolerate it, and you will be ordered to take the golden dragon sword to behead you and replace you! Your mother, wife, and children will be put to death together! Chin this! ”

Hearing Hong Xiuquan's third holy decree, everyone present changed color on their faces, Li Xiucheng was like being struck by lightning, and looked up at Mo Shixuan with difficulty, his face was full of desire to speak, but Mo Shijun's face was extremely grim, and he said word by word: "King Zhong, don't force me, I am also acting in accordance with the edict." ”

"Mo Qiuguan, can you give me another night?" Li Xiucheng's voice was choked, and he said tremblingly: "As long as I am given one more night, I will definitely be able to take down Lu Jiabin and force the demon soldiers into the city." ”

"King Chung Chitose forgives his sins, and the lower officials can't agree." Mo Shixuan shook his head and said, "Long live the Heavenly King personally explained to me, if you don't go back to the army to save Tianjing immediately, I will behead you on the spot and take over your army." ”

Li Xiucheng knelt still, silent for a long time, while Mo Shixuan slowly pulled out the golden dragon sword in his hand, and said in a heavy voice: "King Zhong, Chitose, please don't force me, it's time for you to kowtow." ”

Li Xiucheng was still motionless, but tears gradually began to flicker in his eyes......

About half an hour later, the soldiers of the Taiping Army, who had entered the assault position, inexplicably withdrew with the superior generals, but the officers and men of the Wu Army in Shanghai, who were ready to retreat at any time, were all stunned and said: "Long hair is crazy? Preparing for such a big move in the night battle, why did you suddenly withdraw again? Lu Jiabin's side, we can't hold it anymore? ”

The gold plate, from the sky, the general wept and the class returned, and the morale was depressed and angry. In the earthquake border, the thistle has covered the Jianghuai. The enemy is peaceful, the strong man is dead, the world is in trouble, there is this, the country is dead, it is too late!