On the night of the first decision and the implementation of the rebellion to recruit Ji Rongxian, the general of the Taiping Army, the Wu army launched an attack on the city of Hukou again, trying to use the best tactics of digging holes and blasting to blow down the city wall of Hukou and open the way into the city. However, it is a pity that the operation, just as Wu Chaoyue feared, was completely defeated.

"Here it is! Throw torches! Quick, throw the torches! ”

"See! See! Get out of the fire, get out of the fire, and burn these dog demon soldiers! Shoot! Shoot! ”

Although there is night to cover the whereabouts, and there is the sound of gunfire and cannons to cover the sound of digging the wall, but the Wu army sappers hiding under the pointed wooden donkeys have not even had time to chisel through the rammed earth wall bricks of the Hukou city wall, and the roar of the Taiping soldiers has already sounded overhead, and then, before the Wu army sappers can escape, the torches and the straw bundles poured with gunpowder tung oil have been smashed down with their heads and faces, and quickly surrounded the Wu army sappers in the sea of fire and smoke. There were already indiscriminate shots on the city wall, and only one of the last five Wu army engineers who was responsible for digging the city wall fled back with wounds, and the remaining four were all buried in the fire.

Seeing the soldiers of the self-army being devoured alive by the fire through the telescope, Rao is Wu Chaoyue has long been accustomed to life and death on the battlefield, and he can't help but be silent, his heart is painful, Dai Wenjie, Feng Sanbao and Liu Mingchuan and others next to him are also silent, or when the herald came to report that the engineer only escaped back, Wu Chaoyue opened his mouth and said: "Call the military doctor to treat it with all his might, and you must rescue it back, and if you don't come back, you will be given preferential compensation." ”

The herald took the order and left, and Dai Wenjie next to him also opened his mouth and asked, "King Zhennan, what should I do?" Do you want to try again? ”

"There's no need." Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said, "No matter how you try, you will be sent to death in vain, and you can only find another way to break the city." ”

"King Zhennan, attack it." The old man, Feng Sanbao, suggested: "Our siege weapons are well prepared, and our morale is also very high. ”

Considering that he currently has sufficient troops, a large number of southwest Wu troops can be used as cannon fodder, and at the same time there are advantages in weapons, and the morale is indeed good, although he has never liked to fight meat grinder wars, Wu Chaoyue still nodded, agreed with Feng Sanbao's suggestion, and temporarily handed over the command of the siege to Feng Sanbao, so that Feng Sanbao could command a large number of southwest Wu troops to knock on Hukou City head-on.

The brutal and bloody battle of the city wall was launched, in the continuous sound of guns, the two battalions of the southwest Wu army were the first to go out of battle, carrying the primitive flying ladder to hit the Hukou city wall, shouting and stepping on the ladder to go up, the stones and wood on the city wall were smashed down like hail raindrops, constantly smashing the Wu soldiers down the flying ladder, and the guns and cannons also continued to tilt down from the top of the city wall, the Wu soldiers were shot one after another, blood splashed, and the casualty number climbed rapidly.

The morale of the soldiers of the Southwest Wu Army who are anxious to prove themselves is indeed very high, and there are definitely more than one or two soldiers who are injured and re-ascend the ladder after being smashed off the ladder, and the soldiers of the Wu Army who shoot on the side of the moat also have a super level of performance, and in the case of a very poor shooting angle, they still hit the enemy above the city wall many times, relieving a lot of pressure for the ant companions, and more than once helping the ant companions rush up the city wall, helping the companions to almost seize a city wall position.

But it's still a pity, although the morale of the southwest Wu army is high, but they unfortunately encountered the fierce and brave Guangxi wolf soldiers, under the command of Lin Qirong, with Guangxi veterans as the backbone of the core of the formation of the Hukou Taiping Army soldiers are all vying for the first, sacrificing their lives, even if the equipment is at a disadvantage, there is no fear, still a small number of Southwest Wu troops equipped with bitter acid grenades to the head of the blood, casualties continue, one after another to repel the attacks of the Wu army, even if the Wu army soldiers threw bitter acid grenades around them exploded, It still can't stop them from charging with injuries, and the ruthlessness of not fearing death makes the southwest Wu army, who has received actual combat experience in the battle of Yunguiping and Ping, speechless, both respectful and afraid.

Although several Wu warriors successfully rushed to the city wall, but the companions behind could not keep up, these Wu warriors could only fall into a lonely hard fight, even if they smashed out the grenades, they could not stop the Taiping soldiers from charging one after another, either they were hacked to death on the city wall with knives and axes, or they were thrown down and knocked down the city wall with injuries, and no one could hold on to the top of the city wall for more than ten seconds. More than 1,000 soldiers of the Wu army of the two battalions charged five times, but they were all repulsed one by one by the Hukou Taiping army, and nearly 300 people were killed and wounded but nothing was gained.

Seeing this scene, Wu Chaoyue, who has never liked to fight this kind of tough battle, of course frowned and kept thinking about other siege tactics. Dai Wenjie, a staff member of the army next to him, also said: "King Zhennan, if we fight like this, I'm afraid that even if we can take Hukou, we will definitely suffer a lot of casualties, which will affect the morale of the army, should we change the way?" ”

"King Zhennan, how about trying to attack the city in an authentic way?" Liu Mingchuan suggested: "Digging the tunnel under the city wall to bury gunpowder to blow up the city wall, although this method takes a little more time, it is safer, and the certainty of success is much greater than digging a hole in the city wall to bury gunpowder." ”

After thinking for a long time, he found that although the tunnel siege took a long time, it was not necessarily sure to blow up the Hukou city wall, but it was better than taking the corpses of soldiers to pile up the ramp in the city, Wu Chaoyue still made up his mind, "Mingjin, collect the troops, and tell the sappers to start digging the tunnel immediately." But the army that monitored the city of Hukou cannot be removed, and Changmao must not be given another chance to build a bunker! ”

The abandonment of the frontal assault was to reduce casualties, preserve morale, and avoid affecting the next battle, but the three sieges before and after failed to succeed, the morale of the Wu army officers and soldiers was still somewhat affected, and the optimism of taking the lake mouth in one fell swoop was gone, and even Wu Chaoyue himself had to give up the illusion of quickly taking the lake mouth, and was forced to be psychologically prepared for a long and bitter battle. But at this time, it was only noon the next day, and Zhang Dejian, the spy leader of the Wu army, suddenly sent Wu Chaoyue an unexpected news - Ji Rongxian, the general of the Taiping Army in Raozhou, had agreed to surrender to the Wu army! He also promised to be willing to obey Wu Chaoyue's arrangement and help Wu Jun quickly take Hukou City!

"Agreed so quickly? That Ji Rongxian is so refreshing? ”

The news was so unexpected that Wu Chaoyue couldn't believe that this was true, and hurriedly asked the envoy brought by Zhang Dejian about the specific process, and the secret envoy of the Wu army, who was ordered to go south to contact Ji Rongxian's Taiping Army, told the truth, and said: "King Zhennan, that long-haired thief Ji Rongxian is indeed very happy, after reading the handwritten letter from General Manager Zhang's office to him, he agreed to surrender our army without thinking much time, and also promised to pretend to reinforce Lin Qirong Dachangmao, and take his army into Hukou City, and respond to our army's siege of the city. ”

Wu Chaoyue was a little dumbfounded, and Dai Wenjie, Feng Sanbao and other senior civil and military officials of the Wu Army next to him also looked at each other, and invariably gave birth to such a thought in their hearts, "Really fake?" If you can be so happy, there should be no fraud, right? ”

In addition to expressing his remorse for his association with Changmao to rebel and expressing his sincere admiration for Wu Chaoyue, the southern king of Daqing Town, Ji Rongxian only fully accepted Wu Chaoyue's surrender conditions and promised to help Wu Chaoyue take Hukou City. ——The attitude of being willing to surrender to Wu Jun is so simple and direct that it is outrageous, and it is even more refreshing and direct, so that people can't believe that this is true!

After taking turns to read Ji Rongxian's letter of appointment, not to mention Dai Wenjie, who served as a staff officer for Wu Chaoyue, and Liu Ming, who was both wise and brave, even Feng Sanbao, who was rectum, was vigilant and suspicious, and said: "King Zhennan, will this Ji Rongxian be playing any tricks?" Why did we agree as soon as we surrendered, it was too refreshing, right? ”

"Ji Rongxian, this long-haired man, shouldn't he want to trick us into giving up intercepting his army?" Liu Mingchuan put forward a possibility and said: "Ji Rongxian was ordered to reinforce Hukou, knowing that it would be difficult to break through our interception and directly enter Hukou City to participate in the battle, so he pretended to surrender to us and tricked us into giving up the interception, and then he took the opportunity to take the long-haired thief soldiers into Hukou City to reinforce and complete Shi Zhenji's mission to be explained by the big long-haired man." ”

Liu Mingchuan's analysis is of course reasonable, not only Dai Wenjie, Feng Sanbao and others nodded again and again, but even Zhang Dejian, who first proposed to recruit and oppose Ji Rongxian, also had a drum in his heart, and couldn't help but bow his hand to Wu Chaoyue and said: "King Zhennan, General Liu's analysis is very reasonable, although he knows that Ji Rongxian, he has no deep friendship, and this Ji Rongxian's character is really not good to be honest, we had better guard against him, find out his true intentions before making a decision, don't fall for his tricks, Hurt your name. ”

Listening to the questioning and analysis of Feng Sanbao and Liu Mingchuan and others, Wu Chaoyue didn't speak, but he didn't hesitate too much, after listening to Zhang Dejian's words, he didn't think much time, Wu Chaoyue made up his mind, and said in a deep voice: "Accept Ji Rongxian's surrender, tell him to come with his army with confidence, and we will give way to him and let him enter Hukou City." ”

Unexpectedly, Wu Chaoyue, who has always been cautious and suspicious, would believe in Ji Rongxian's quick surrender so quickly, everyone was inevitably stunned, and then Dai Wenjie came forward and asked: "King Zhennan, do you think Ji Rongxian is really ready to surrender to us?" ”

Wu Chaoyue shook his head and said calmly: "I don't know, I can't see the truth of Ji Rongxian's long-haired intentions." ”

"Then you are so readily willing to accept his surrender?" Dai Wenjie was even more puzzled, and said: "What if it's really like what the third province is worried about, and Ji Rong is tricking us into making way first?" When the time comes, it will not only hurt our morale, but also grow the ambition of growing hair? ”

"It will also affect our siege." Feng Sanbao interjected and said: "Although Ji Rongxian's long-haired equipment is not very good, if we enter Hukou City and fight on the city wall, it will definitely not be as easy for us to clean them up as in the field." ”

"It doesn't matter, even if Ji Rongxian's long-haired deception doesn't matter." Wu Chaoyue's smile was very relaxed, and he said with a smile: "For us, as long as Ji Rong advances Hukou City, whether he really intends to surrender to us or not, Hukou City will only be easier to take, and it will not become more difficult to fight." ”

"Why?" Dai Wenjie, Feng Sanbao and the others all asked in surprise.

"Because Ji Rongxian, the long-haired thief soldiers, are all from Hubei and Hunan." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said, "Do you remember the old saying that one person is a dragon, and many people are insects?" Why aren't we sure to take Hukou City quickly? The reason is not that our soldiers can't fight, nor that our equipment is not good enough, but because Lin Qirong, the long-haired commander, is effective, and the thieves under his command work together and are willing to live and die with him, so our siege resistance is so great. ”

"But after Ji Rongxian's long-haired thief army entered Hukou City, the situation must be completely different." Wu Chaoyue's smile began to be treacherous, and he said with a wicked smile: "Ji Rongxian, this long-haired man is not Lin Qirong's direct subordinate, and the thieves under his command are all Huguang soldiers, and they will definitely have their own faction after entering Hukou City, and it is definitely not so easy for Lin Qirong to command them." With this rat, it will definitely be much easier for us to spoil Lin Qirong's pot of Hukou fresh soup. ”

After gradually understanding Wu Chaoyue's true intentions, Zhang Dejian, who had first proposed to plot against Ji Rongxian, suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly asked: "King Zhennan, did you agree so quickly yesterday to let the lowly plan against Ji Rongxian, is it because you saw the information provided by the lowly position that Ji Rongxian's thieves are all from Huguang?" ”

"That's right." Wu Chaoyue nodded, and said with a smile: "I knew about this situation yesterday and immediately decided to rebel against Ji Rongxian, in fact, this is the idea, the plan is to use Shi Peng's old relationship with Ji Rongxian to directly plot him against him, of course, it is the best, if you can't turn him around, just push him into Hukou City, let him take the long-haired army that does not listen to Lin Qirong's direct command and is likely to hold a group into Hukou City to mix sand, as a-stirring stick, and let Lin Qirong's backyard catch fire." ”

Everyone finally came to their senses, and hurriedly praised Wu Chaoyue's clever calculation and foresight, while Wu Chaoyue waved his hand and said, "Go and contact Ji Rong first, and arrange a plan to let him enter Hukou City." But remember, we have to guard against Ji Rongxian's thief army taking the opportunity to sneak attack us. ”

With Wu Chaoyue's approval, the plan to deliberately let the Taiping army reinforcements Ji Rongxian enter the city was quickly implemented, and in the second half of the night, the Wu army deliberately exposed its flaws, pretending to be attacked by Ji Rongxian, so that Ji Rongxian broke through the Wu army's defense line with more than 3,000 Raozhou Taiping troops under the condition of very slight losses, and rushed to the city of Hukou to join Lin Qirong's army, and then the sky was just dawn, and the Hukou Taiping army opened the city gate and stationed the Raozhou Taiping army led by Ji Rongxian into Hukou City.

But it's a pity that Liu Ming passed on the news that Ji Rongxian had just entered Hukou City with his troops and horses, and the first thing he did was to take the initiative to explain to Lin Qirong the real reason why his army entered the city smoothly - Ji Rongxian was indeed planning and deceived Wu Jun to take the initiative to give way! The result was also very natural, of course, Lin Qirong immediately laughed wildly, patted Ji Rongxian's shoulder and laughed: "Ji Zongzhi is clever, even the notoriously treacherous and cunning Transcendence Little Demon can be deceived, and when the siege of the demon soldiers is repulsed, I must play the Heavenly King and ask the Heavenly King to be crowned a general." ”

"The small skill of carving insects is not enough to worry about teeth, so dare to ask Lao Zhen Tianhou to personally ask for the title of the last general?" Ji Rong was humble in his mouth, but he smiled proudly in his heart: "I came from afar to save you, and I didn't bother with the surrender of the little demon, and used a clever trick to trick him into letting him go, and went directly into the city to help you fight the demon soldiers, such a big favor was given to you, you Lin Qirong can't thank you for this general system, you have a good conscience?" ”

Without God's perspective, Wu Chaoyue certainly didn't know that he was really swept away by a nobody of the Taiping Army, but what Wu Chaoyue didn't know was that when Ji Rongxian successfully entered Hukou City with reinforcements to reinforce Lin Qirong, the news was transmitted back to Raozhou City, Shi Zhenji, the general of the Taiping Army who sent Ji Rongxian to reinforce the Hukou battlefield, not only was not the slightest bit happy, but also very depressed......

"it! How did you let this king bazi really enter Hukou City? Lao Tzu sent Ji Rongxian, who was the vanguard to reinforce Hukou, because he wanted to kill this bastard who liked to disobey commands with a knife, and take the opportunity to reorganize the disobedient army in his hands. ”