During Li Xiucheng's negotiations with Hong Xiuquan in the Tianwang Mansion, after carefully understanding the specific situation of the Shence Gate Gap Battlefield, Wu Chaoyue finally put an elite battalion of troops to the front, but this elite battalion of the Wu Army directly entered the city to reinforce the team of the Wu Army veteran Hu Huaizhao, but carried the cloud ladder to the top of the city wall at the east end of the gap and launched an attack, and at the same time, Wu Chaoyue clearly ordered the Wu army camp team that had successfully taken the west end of the gap, so that they could concentrate their firepower to suppress the enemy on the opposite side of the gap and cover the friendly forces to seize the position.

Seeing that Wu Jun did not enter the city directly, Li Rongfa, who had already rushed to the front line, was still a little happy, feeling that Wu Jun was wasting the strength of the reserves, but after thinking about Wu Chaoyue's purpose of doing so, Li Rongfa quickly came back to his senses and scolded: "What a treacherous demon soldier, taking the city walls at both ends of the gap is equivalent to guarding the gap, so that even if Lao Tzu drives out the demon soldiers who have entered the city, it is useless. The demon soldiers can come in again at any time! Don't be fooled, no matter the cost, you must hold the wall to the east of the gap! ”

Understanding Wu Chaoyue's intentions, Li Rongfa immediately made adjustments and separately divided an elite army to go to the city to help the battle and help the city army guard the top position of the city wall. At the same time, he quickly sent someone to contact Fang Haizong, the general of the Taiping Army next to him, to inform Fang Haizong of the movements of the Wu army, and asked Fang Haizong to step up the attack, join forces with himself to expel the enemy who had entered the city, and make every effort to re-plug the gap in the city wall.

Li Rongfa's reaction was very fast, his judgment was very accurate, and his tactical choice was also very correct, but unfortunately, the huge gap in combat effectiveness and weaponry doomed Li Rongfa's correct tactics to be of no use. No matter how frantically he and Fang Haizong's army charged, saying that they couldn't drive away the Wu army that had already entered the city, they couldn't drive away, and more than 800 Wu soldiers led by Hu Huaizhao, a veteran of the Wu army, responded calmly to the battle, relying on a few street fighting bunkers to bravely fight back, covering each other's fire, and repelling the fierce charges of the Taiping army again and again.

During this period, the Wu army's Chengjiaxie Division, which had been blocked by the flames outside the inner gate of the Shence Gate Urn City, also ignored the excessive consumption of ammunition from the army, and decisively detoured to the gap to charge into the city for reinforcements, expanding the number of Wu troops entering the city to more than 1,000 people, and cooperating with Hu Huaizhao's army to firmly hold the position in the city. Resist! Hold our positions and wait for our reinforcements to come up. ”

At the same time, the soldiers of the Wu army at the top of the city wall were also desperately shooting at the enemy on the opposite side of the gap, even if the enemy on the opposite side had already moved two mountain splitting cannons to bombard the position of the Wu army, they could not suppress the fierce fire of the soldiers of the Wu army. And under their cover, the soldiers of the Wu army who fought with the ants also continued to climb the ladder, throwing grenades at the first opportunity, many soldiers fell off the flying ladder in the fierce battle, but after getting up, they did not hesitate to rush up the flying ladder, the offensive was fierce and resolute, even if the geographical advantage suffered, it still beat the enemy on the city who basically used up the materials to defend the city, and it was a mess.

The time is already two o'clock in the morning, but the Shence Gate is still guns and cannons shaking the sky, shouting and killing, the Wu army stormed the city wall at the east end of the gap, and the Taiping army stormed the position of the Wu army in the city. However, although the battle situation was stalemate, the mentality of the two sides was completely different, the Wu army became more and more stable and confident the more they fought, while the Taiping army became more and more panicked and anxious the more they fought. In order to recapture the position in the city as soon as possible, the Taiping Army's supervisory team even began to cut and kill their own soldiers who retreated from the battle, forcing the soldiers on the front line to die on the front line, but even so, the position of the Wu army still did not loosen at all, and it was still firmly nailed to the city of Nanjing.

At 2:06, the first Wu army warrior successfully rushed to the top of the city wall at the east end of the gap, although he was hit three times in a blink of an eye, but the Wu army warrior still gritted his teeth and pulled the grenade on his waist, the grenade exploded The Taiping soldiers around the explosion screamed and fell to the ground, and the Wu soldiers behind took the opportunity to stride into the city, and rushed directly up to the three Wu army warriors in one breath. The Taiping soldiers on both sides panicked, and hurriedly shouted and raised their knives to pounce, trying to tear down the three Wu warriors off the city wall with hand-to-hand combat, but these three Wu warriors immediately formed a battle group back to back, raised their bayonets and fought in close quarters, gritting their teeth to buy time for their companions behind to climb the city.

Under the cover of their comrades-in-arms, five or six Wu soldiers quickly rushed up to the city wall, throwing grenades at the enemy's dense places one after another, and then another Wu army ladder next to it also made a breakthrough, rushing up several Wu soldiers one after another, and the number of Wu soldiers in the city quickly broke through the ten-person mark, which basically shattered the hope of the Taiping army to expel the Wu army from the city as soon as possible. Then, relying on the cover of grenade attacks and bayonet killings by comrades in the city, more warriors of the Wu army successfully rushed to the city wall and seized a larger position space.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up and drive the demon soldiers down! Catch up! ”

Seeing this scene, the general of the Taiping Army surnamed Sun, who was in charge of this section of the city wall, was so anxious that his eyes were red, and in addition to shouting and urging the soldiers to step forward, he also personally raised his sword and prepared to join the battle. However, the Taiping soldiers he brought up were immediately discovered by the Wu soldiers, and they didn't know that the Wu soldiers were quick-sighted, and immediately threw a bitter acid grenade to his location, and the Taiping army crowd splashed flesh and blood between the explosion of the grenade, and the Taiping army general surnamed Sun was also extremely unlucky to be shot in the eye by a piece of shrapnel, and let out a scream that was even worse than killing a pig, "Mom! ”

It's useless to shout Niang, the more Wu soldiers rushed to the city wall, the Wu army attacked fiercely, the larger the space for the position seized, and the more Wu soldiers also took the opportunity to rush to the city wall, and gradually lined up on the city wall The dense horizontal team that the Wu army relied on to become famous, fired quickly with a firing needle gun, and the Wu army horizontal team was formed, and the Taiping army on the city wall was completely hopeless.

It was still Li Rongfa who was the first to receive the battle report on the situation in the city, but even if he knew this situation, Li Rongfa had no choice but to shout and curse without any hope, forcing the army in the city to continue to attack and strive to create a miracle, and at the same time continue to force the army under his command to attack the Wu army's position in the city like a moth to a fire, regardless of casualties and compete with the Wu army for the position space in the city.

Since it was clearly said that it was a moth to the fire, of course, Li Rongfa's offensive charge still did not have any effect, and what was even worse for Li Rongfa's army was that after seeing in the telescope that a large number of soldiers rushed to the city wall in the western section of the gap, Wu Chaoyue was very decisive and sent an elite battalion to the front, and this time, the reinforcements of the Wu army rushed directly into the city to reinforce Hu Huaizhao, and when the elite battalion of the Wu army rushed into the city, the Taiping army not only had no hope of expelling the Wu army from the city. It was also defeated by the first counter-charge launched by the new force of the Wu army under the cover of a large number of grenades, and the soldiers fled and transferred one after another, and even the supervising team could not stop it.

Things came to this point, and Li Rongfa, who had followed the Taiping Army to fight in the south and north at the age of fourteen, finally despaired, and understood that no matter how much he fought, he was destined to have no effect, and no matter how much he forced the army to charge, the soldiers would be sent to death in vain. The result was also okay, at this time, Li Xiucheng finally sent someone to send the order requested by the sect leader of Hongda, so that Li Rongfa, Fang Haizong and Yuan Dehou and other armies all turned from offensive to defensive, occupied all the key points in the city, rushed to repair the street battle fortifications, and prepared to fight with the Wu army.

After receiving this order, Li Rongfa of course felt like he had been amnestied, and quickly ordered the troops in front to retreat and reorganize the team, and the Taiping soldiers who were forced by Li Rongfa to stand in front were all like escaping from death, and they rushed to retreat to the rear without thinking about it. And such a situation also appeared in the Taiping army ranks such as Fang Haizong and Yuan Dehou.

The Taiping army temporarily withdrew, and Hu Huaizhao's department of the Wu army, which had been fighting for more than half a night, could finally take a breath, and the soldiers of the Wu army could also take the opportunity to repair some street fighting fortifications to protect the position space, but Hu Huaizhao, who had already made the first contribution to breaking the city, was still not satisfied, and quickly sent an envoy to contact Wu Chaoyue, suggesting that Wu Chaoyue take advantage of the opportunity that the Taiping army had not had time to build a large number of street battle fortifications, and quickly advance into the city, seize a large area of space in the city, reduce the difficulty of street battles in the future, and volunteer, please continue to serve as a striker- Although Hu Huaizhao also knew very well that even if Wu Chaoyue adopted his advice, he would definitely not let his tired division continue to play as a striker.

Unfortunately, when Hu Huaizhao's suggestion was sent to Wu Chaoyue, because the distance was too far and he had to carry heavy weapons, the 6,000 people of Cao Yanzhong's department, the most powerful mobile reserve of the Wu army, had not yet arrived at Shence Gate, and the marines of the naval division had just landed in Xiaguan, and they also failed to rush to reinforcements, and Wu Chaoyue did not have many cards in his hand that could be played. So after thinking about it again and again, Wu Chaoyue not only categorically rejected Hu Huaizhao's request to continue advancing in the city, but also didn't even have the option to send another derived force into the city, shook his head and said: "Don't be in a hurry, ask Hu Huaizhao to hold the gap in the city wall first, build fortifications to protect our position space, and wait until our reinforcements arrive." ”

"King Zhennan, isn't it too much of a waste of fighters?" Dai Wenjie asked a little worriedly, and said: "If we don't seize the opportunity to quickly advance into the city, and wait for Changmao to build the street battle fortifications, our next battle will definitely be difficult to fight?" ”

"It's because street fighting is not easy to fight that we can't take risks." Wu Chaoyue replied in a deep voice: "We have to make sure that we trap Changmao to death in Jiangning City, and there are not many mobile troops that can be used in our hands, so we must use them carefully." Now it is too dark, and our soldiers have basically never been to Jiangning City, and they are not familiar with the terrain of the city. ”

Dai Wenjie sighed, regretting that the preparations for the decisive battle tonight were seriously insufficient, and he missed countless precious fighters in vain. And Wu Chaoyue also knew very well in his heart that he was wasting fighters, but there was no way, the army that could enter the city to fight street battles was like this, Wu Chaoyue had to use it carefully, and at the same time, Wu Chaoyue was more worried about another problem, and suddenly asked: "Mr. Wenjie, in your opinion, will Longhair choose to abandon the city overnight and break through?" ”

"This ......." Dai Wenjie put himself in his shoes for a moment before he said: "This possibility cannot be denied, our army has entered the city and taken a position in the city, if Changmao is wise enough, he must understand that it is difficult to drive our army out of the city again, and there is no certainty that our army will continue to enter the city." In order to preserve the strength and to be more sure of the breakthrough, it is indeed an option to break through tonight. ”

"But there's another possibility." Dai Wenjie added: "If you consider that the food and grass must be carried, and there are still long-haired families and children who need to prepare, tomorrow we will be dragged by street fighting for a day, and then abandon the city tomorrow night to break through, it is also very likely that Longhair will choose this way." ”

"Will Longhair make a third choice?" Wu Chaoyue asked again: "Don't abandon the city, and resolutely fight us to the death." ”

"Impossible, right?" Dai Wenjie said with some doubts: "Things have come to this point, how can Long Hair not choose to break through?" Fight to the end with us, and they don't have any certainty of winning? ”

Wu Chaoyue was silent, because Wu Chaoyue vaguely remembered that when the Hunan army was besieging the city with heavy troops in history, the Taiping army had the hope of breaking through and fleeing for their lives, but Hong Xiuquan categorically refused and insisted on staying in the city and waiting for death, so Wu Chaoyue did not dare to deny the possibility of this existence. But it is precisely because of this that Wu Chaoyue, who does not have many mobile forces in his hands, has a headache, and he doesn't know whether he should use all the mobile forces for street fighting, or should he leave part of the mobile army to prepare for interception and pursuit of the battlefield - don't look at this as just a small problem of troop allocation, if it is not handled well, the Wu army may pay a heavy price in the troublesome and grinding street battles, and it is also possible to give the Taiping army a chance to break through and miss the valuable fighters for interception and pursuit.

Worried, Wu Chaoyue couldn't help but say to himself, "It would be nice if I could know Long Mao's intentions, so that I can use the force much more easily." ”

"King Zhennan, if you want to know Changmao's intentions in advance, we don't have no way?"

The speaker was unintentional, the listener was intentional, and Dai Wenjie next to him immediately opened his mouth to remind: "There are so many long-haired thieves who will secretly contact us, including Li Xiucheng's relatives, as long as we can find a way to get in touch with them, let's not say that we can know the general actions of Long Hair, it is not impossible to directly know Li Xiucheng's specific tactical plan." ”

After waking up the dreamer and patting his forehead, Wu Chaoyue first thanked Dai Wenjie, and then immediately called Zhang Dejian and asked him to arrange spies to disguise themselves as ordinary people and Taiping soldiers, as well as the Taiping generals and soldiers who had been captured and renegade before, and let them take advantage of the chaos to enter the city to contact the Taiping Army wavers in the city, and asked Zhang Dejian to find a way to contact Li Xiucheng's brother-in-law Song Yongqi. At the same time, Wu Chaoyue clearly ordered the whole army, asking the officers and men of the Wu army not to kill the soldiers of the Taiping Army who laid down their arms and surrendered, and tried to recruit the enemy on the opposite side.

In the end, Wu Chaocai added with a smile and said: "Besides, tell our soldiers that most of the gold, silver and jewelry that Changmao has looted everywhere for more than ten years are piled up in Jiangning City, and after taking Jiangning City, half of the things in Changmao's pseudo-treasury belong to them!" But you are not allowed to kill the people, nor are you allowed to plunder the people's property! Adulterous people's daughters! ”

After Wu Chaoyue's order was delivered, of course, the Wu army was full of joy and excitement, and Wu Chaoyue also turned his gaze to Nanjing City in the distance quite proudly, and muttered: "At least, I can directly help you avoid the Hunan army this time, and I hope to indirectly help you avoid the devil that time." ”

Soon after, the mobile reserve of the Wu army led by Cao Yanzhong and the marine corps of the Wu army led by Wang Fu personally rushed to the gate of Shence to obey the order, but Wu Chaoyue was worried that the soldiers of the army were basically not familiar with the terrain in the city, and it was too much to rush into the city to fight street battles at night, so he resolutely gave up this opportunity and decided to wait for the sky to be bright before launching an attack on the city.

Wu Chaoyue asked Zhang Dejian to arrange spies to contact the traitors of the Taiping Army, and deliberately named Song Yongqi's name alone, the reason is, of course, that Song Yongqi's identity is special, Wu Chaoyue hopes to use the special relationship between Song Yongqi and Li Xiucheng to find out the intentions of Li Xiucheng, the commander-in-chief of the Taiping Army, so that the Wu army can achieve the goal of annihilating the Taiping Army in the city with the least casualties. However, what Wu Chaoyue never expected was that Song Yongqi could no longer complete this task, which should not be difficult for him, because Li Xiucheng was indeed the commander-in-chief and tactics of the Taiping Army, but the brain that could really decide whether the Taiping Army chose to abandon the city and break through or fight in the streets with all its might had been completely broken.

Therefore, not to mention that Song Yongqi can't know how Li Xiucheng is going to fight, even Li Xiucheng himself doesn't know how to fight next.