"I arrived in Shanghai five days ago."

"Lord Wu takes me as the training officer of the Jiangyin regimental training, presides over the Jiangyin regimental training, I carefully govern the army, refine the soldiers, and build fortifications, so that when Changmao attacks Jiangyin again, I will go into battle to kill the enemy, and repay Lord Wu for his kindness."

"But I didn't expect that after Changmao hit a wall in Jiangyin twice, the third time he didn't take the waterway, changed to the land route or went directly to Wuxi, and did not set foot in Jiangyin County. I only have one battalion or more of regimental training in my hands, and it is impossible for this amount of troops to even take Wuxi City, let alone intercept the main force of Changmao's eastward invasion head-on, I have no choice but to continue to stand still and sit back and watch Changmao pass through the southern part of my defense area. ”

"Originally, I was counting on the defenders of Suzhou to hold back Changmao for a while, forcing Changmao to bypass Suzhou and take Shanghai directly, so that I could have the opportunity to make a fuss about Changmao's back road and grain road. But I didn't expect that the important town of Suzhou would be taken by Changmao in the first battle, with this foothold and Suzhou's supply of money and grain, I have no chance to make a fuss on Changmao's grain road, I have no choice but to hurry to Shanghai with three sentinels to help you. ”

"Longhair is rampant, several counties around Shanghai are already in chaos, everywhere are responding to the long-haired riot of the people, which is equivalent to the long-haired eyeliner everywhere, if I directly use the banner of Jiangyin regimental training to go east for reinforcements, I will definitely be intercepted and surrounded by long-haired if I can't even see the city of Shanghai. I simply asked me to put on all the clothes of the people, disguise myself as the ubiquitous Diao mob and march eastward, and rush to Shanghai to assemble in pieces. ”

"After I arrived in Shanghai, the main force of the official army led by Xu Futai had been defeated by Changmao and fled to Wusongkou, and you have also been surrounded by Changmao here. But through secret observation, I found that you were not only fully supported, but also fought relatively easily, and at the same time, Longhair also refused to lift the siege of you, guessing that this is probably where our army's ammunition depot is, so I didn't rush in to meet you, first tried to listen to and understand the situation of Longhair's army, and made some necessary arrangements in advance, and then I found that Longhair was secretly digging tunnels under the cover of building forts, worried that you would suffer a big loss without knowing it, so I used a plan to break through Longhair's position, Kill in and report and help you. ”

After listening to Zhou Tenghu's self-introduction, Deng Siyuan, who has a steady personality, was a little suspicious, if it weren't for the Jiangyin Lianyong brought by Zhou Tenghu, two of them were Wu Chaoyue's technical instructors who stayed in Jiangyin, and Deng Shaoliang, who had never seen Zhou Tenghu, was afraid that even Zhou Tenghu's true identity would have doubts. But even if there were veterans of the Wu army who could prove Zhou Tenghu's identity, and Zhou Tenghu also took out the seal certificate handed over to him by Wu Chaoyue himself, Deng Siyuan still didn't dare to be completely relieved, and asked Zhou Tenghu an important question, "Zhou Lianguan, you said that you brought troops from three outposts to reinforce Shanghai, so why are there only more than 140 people you brought into our camp?" Where did half of the troops go? ”

"Half of the sentinels disguised themselves as civilians and continued to lurk outside, acting as eyeliner and reserve for us." Zhou Tenghu replied lightly: "There is also a sentry force, I asked them to join the long-haired army, and now they are lurking in the long-haired army." ”

"Join the longhair? Lurking in the Longfur Army? Deng Siyuan's surprise was not trivial, and he exclaimed and asked: "Aren't you afraid that they will be screened out by long hairs and give them their lives in vain?" ”

"If it's a different long-haired team, of course I'm afraid." Zhou Tenghu replied with a smile: "But I'm not afraid of these long-haired bandits in Shanghai, I found through secret observation that these long-haired bandit leaders in Shanghai only care about desperately pulling people to make a strong momentum, blindly expanding the army without carefully screening the origin of the soldiers, the members of the army are complex, and people who don't know each other abound, so I let a sentry Lian Yong infiltrate the long-haired thief army, in fact, there is no danger, and the possibility of being found by long-haired screening is very small." ”

Deng Siyuan was dumbfounded, looking at Zhou Tenghu in a daze, I don't know if Zhou Tenghu is bragging, or if he is really crazy to this point - dare to turn more than one-third of his troops into zero and plant them in the enemy army! But Zhou Tenghu's expression was calmer than his brother-in-law Zhao Liewen, and he said with a smile: "Deng Yingguan, don't be stunned, let's quickly listen to the location of the tunnel to find Changmao, otherwise, if we really let Changmao dig the tunnel under our feet, then we will be in big trouble." ”

Although he was still suspicious of Zhou Tenghu's words, for the sake of prudence, Deng Siyuan immediately began to dig a deep pit and set up a place to listen. And Zhou Tenghu pointed out the direction of the listening, and asked him to bring Lian Yong from Jiangyin to join the excavation to help Deng Siyuan's subordinates, and immediately proposed to visit the fortifications of Wu Jun's camp, Deng Siyuan was not very relieved, and pretended to arrange for the guide to send two people to stare at Zhou Tenghu, Zhou Tenghu did not refuse, and accepted it calmly.

Zhou Tenghu is a very efficient person, more than half an hour later returned to Deng Siyuan's face, Deng Siyuan asked him about his views on the Wu military camp fortifications, Zhou Tenghu replied frankly: "It is very strong, although there are small flaws, but it can be repaired and strengthened at any time, which can be regarded as solid." Attacking head-on, Long Mao had almost no hope of success, and there was no problem in holding on until Lord Wu personally led the main force back to Shanghai. ”

Deng Siyuan, who single-handedly arranged the defense of the Wu Army Arsenal, showed his color, but Zhou Tenghu said again: "But Officer Deng Ying, I think we must not blindly stick to and wait for help, we must find a way to do something and share some more pressure for our main force, so that when Lord Wu returns to Shanghai with the main force, he can fight more easily." ”

"Find a way to do something?" Deng Siyuan, who had just started dealing with Zhou Tenghu, was suspicious again, and asked tentatively, "Is this necessary?" ”

"Absolutely." Zhou Tenghu replied: "Our main force is five battalions of 2,500 people, and King Qinwang in the north will definitely have a lot of consumption, even if we all come back, we will only have about 3,000 troops." Changmao has nearly 30,000 people, almost ten times the number of troops, and sits on the city of Shanghai, and has geographical advantages, head-to-head, even if we can win, the price we pay will be not small. But if we can do something before the main force returns to help, disrupt the tactical deployment of Long Hair, and consume some of Long Hair's elite soldiers, then our main force will definitely be much easier after returning to Shanghai. ”

felt that Zhou Tenghu's words were a little reasonable, but Deng Siyuan still refused to take it lightly, and continued to probe: "Then what should we do?" Take the initiative and find a chance to dry the long hair? ”

"Officer Deng Yingguan is joking." Zhou Tenghu saw Deng Siyuan's temptation, and said with a smile: "We have the protection of the camp fortifications, and we have the advantage of sufficient ammunition, only if we are stupid will we take the initiative to attack and give Changmao the opportunity to gradually weaken us." The best way to drain the Longfur army is to lure the enemy to attack, find a way to lure the Longhair to attack our camp, and then we can destroy more of the Longhair at the least cost with our strong fortifications and sufficient ammunition. ”

"It's a good idea." Deng Siyuan really hoped that the Taiping army would really come to storm the camp of the army, so he asked again: "Zhou Lianguan, then how can we lure the enemy to attack?" ”

"I have to think about this carefully, and I can come up with a good solution by adapting to local conditions." Zhou Tenghu waved his hand and said: "But before that, I have a good way to separate the enemy, let Changmao have internal discord, give birth to contradictions, and also expose flaws so that we can wait for the opportunity to lure the enemy." ”

Deng Siyuan was greatly moved when he heard this, and hurriedly asked Zhou Tenghu how to separate the enemy, and Zhou Tenghu smiled and said, "Do you remember that I caught that long-haired master Zhang Shaoqiang?" He can make a big deal out of him, so that the longhair will give birth to suspicion ...... each other. ”

Smiling, Zhou Tenghu whispered the bad idea he had just come up with, Deng Siyuan first opened his mouth when he heard it, and he couldn't believe that there was a lack of virtue in the world that was as vicious as Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen, and then finally came back to his senses, Deng Siyuan thought about it for a while, and quickly asked, "Is this useful?" ”

"Absolutely useful." Zhou Tenghu replied confidently: "I was ordered to help guard Jiangyin, and I have been confronting Wuxi Changmao for a long time, and I know a lot about the internal situation of Wuxi Changmao, and I know the general situation of that person. In addition, Liu Lichuan first rebelled to seize Shanghai, and must regard Shanghai as his personal possession, and now Zeng Lichang led the army to Shanghai, no matter how restrained and forbearant the host and guest are, there will inevitably be contradictions and conflicts in some details, as long as we do this, those small contradictions and small conflicts are likely to grow from small to large, and become estrangement and suspicion! ”

After thinking about it for a while, he felt that there was no danger in doing so, even if he failed, there was no loss, and once he succeeded, he was destined to gain a lot, Deng Siyuan still nodded and said, "Okay, I gave it a try according to Zhou Lianguan's idea." ”

…………

"Change the whistle, change the whistle! Go back to eating and sleeping! ”

The rough cry woke up Zhang Shaoqiang, the commander of the Taiping Army, who had fallen asleep, and when Zhang Shaoqiang, who was tied to the pillar, woke up slowly, he heard that the door was Wu Jun Lian Yong in the rotation sentry, and then the door opened, and two Wu Jun Lian Yong walked in with torches, and took a closer look and saw that Zhang Shaoqiang was tied to the pillar and there was no movement, so he inserted the torch into the wall next to him to facilitate monitoring at any time, and then walked out again, one of them Lian Yong also scolded and said: "The dog sleeps quite soundly, and his life is better than that of Lao Tzu." ”

"Yes, wasting food in vain, and letting us stare at it without sleeping, why didn't you cut off this dog's long hair with a knife?"

"I heard from the madman, this dog's long hair is still somewhat useful, so you can't kill him for the time being."

"Crazy? The madman who was a personal soldier for Officer Deng? ”

"Well, that's the madman. Whoever gets up, this dog is also unlucky, and I am afraid that I will not know who sold him until he dies. ”

"Who sold him? What do you mean? This dog has long hair, didn't Zhou Lianguan catch him in? ”

"It's true that Zhou Lianguan caught him in, but Zhou Lianguan and our brothers, who helped him touch the proximity of the long-haired position, this dog Long-haired will definitely not be able to think of it."

"Who is it? Who helped our men touch the proximity of the long-haired position? ”

When Zhang Shaoqiang cheered up and listened carefully to this answer, Wu Jun Lian Yong, who had a loud voice at the beginning, refused to answer, but he couldn't stand the repeated questions of his companions, so Wu Jun Lian Yong lowered his voice a little and said: "I can't tell anyone else, it's Wuxi's big long-haired Xu Yao, he is actually our person, who specializes in delivering news to us in the long-haired army. ”

"Xu Yao? Is it that there is a scar on his face, that Wuxi long-haired Xu Yao? How could it be him? ”

"How could it not be? He fell in love with the daughter of Zhou Lichun, another big-haired man in Wuxi, but Zhou Lichun refused to agree, so he took the initiative to contact Zhou Lianguan to secretly surrender for the sake of that woman, revealing to us a lot of important long-haired military information. ”

"****! Ruthless enough, she can really do anything for a woman! Such a person is unreliable, even if he joins us in the future, we have to be on guard! ”

"There's no way, the madman said it, Deng Yingguan and Zhou Lianguan don't like that Xu Yao very much, but that **** provides a more important piece of information, which can help us kill Zeng Lichang, the long-haired boss, so he will definitely come over in the future, maybe he will be crowned."

"What intelligence is so important? Can you help us get rid of the hairy boss Zeng Lichang? ”

"I can't say it to the outside world, Liu Lichuan's **** unhappy long-haired man wants Shanghai City as soon as he comes over, and he thinks that Shanghai should be his monopoly on the world, so he privately contacts the local long-haired head in Taicang, Songjiang, and wants to drive Zeng Lichang away, Xu Yao and Zhou Lichun are not locals, Liu Lichuan privately talked to them about this matter."

"What a good thing! If there is civil strife in Changmao, whether Liu Lichuan kills Zeng Lichang or Zeng Lichang kills Liu Lichuan, it will be a good thing for us! ”

Next, although the two Wu Jun Lian Yong talked about small talk was irrelevant, Zhang Shaoqiang, who was accidentally captured, couldn't sleep no matter what, and his heart turned upside down, all with the same thought, "Is there any way?" Send these important messages out? What's the solution? What's the solution? ”

has been tied to the pillar, of course, Zhang Shaoqiang can't escape no matter what, and he can't think of any good way to send this important information to the Taiping army. However, what Zhang Shaoqiang never expected was that in the early morning of the next day, as soon as the sky was bright, several wolf-like Wu Jun Lian Yong lifted him out of the cell, and also carried him directly to the gate of the Wu Army Arsenal, and escorted him to the door to show the Taiping army.

Immediately afterwards, another Wu Jun with a small white flag came out of the camp and shouted in front of the Taiping army's position: "The enemy on the opposite side, you listen well, your division commander Zhang Shaoqiang is here, if you want to save him back, you can exchange our Lord Hui Zhenghui and his family!" Otherwise, we will cut this Zhang Shaoqiang with one sword! Save wasting our food! ”

"Swap me for an official who clears the demons?" Zhang Shaoqiang was overjoyed in his heart, although he felt extremely aggrieved, but he couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope, hoping that Zeng Lichang and Xu Zongyang could agree to Wu Junlianyong's request, so that he could bring those important news back to the Taiping army.

Not to mention, after hearing Wu Jun Lianyong's request for a hostage exchange, Xu Zongyang, who led the army to besiege Wu Jun Arsenal, was really a little moved by the old situation, first asked Wu Jun Lianyong to wait for a reply, and then immediately sent someone to report to Zeng Lichang to ask Zeng Lichang whether Zeng Lichang should agree to Wu Jun Lianyong's request. However, Zeng Lichang was furious when he heard the report, and roared: "Don't change!" I was carelessly captured alive by the Qing Demon, and I asked us to exchange an important captive, dreaming! ”

"Yes, it can't be changed!" Liu Lichuan on the side also couldn't wait to say: "That Hui Zheng is the father-in-law of the Qing Demon Emperor, I heard that his daughter is the most favored in the palace of the Qing Demon Emperor, how can such an important prisoner be exchanged?" ”

"Prime Minister Zeng, please think carefully." Huang Shengcai, the chief producer on the other side, hurriedly reminded: "Zhang Shishuai is an old brother who joined us when he was in Hunan, and he is a favorite general under Prime Minister Xu, and there are many old pawns in the army. ”

Zeng Lichang was a little shaken, and after careful calculation, he found that this was indeed the case, Zhang Shaoqiang was incompetent and careless and deserved to be captured, but since the Qing army took the initiative to exchange hostages, if he categorically refused, it would inevitably make the soldiers feel that they were ruthless and unjust, and the morale of the army was not good. So after pondering for a while, he first asked if the Hui Zheng family he caught had a wife, a daughter and three sons, and then said: "Okay, let Prime Minister Xu tell the demon soldiers who surpass the little demon that we will only exchange the wife and daughter of the demon Hui Zheng for Zhang Shaoqiang, and Hui Zheng and his son cannot be exchanged." With such an important captive, we have to take them back to Tianjing to sacrifice to the King of Heaven and the King of the East. ”

Zeng Lichang's decision was quickly sent back to the front by fast horses, and Xu Zongyang hurriedly sent people to raise white flags and loudly express the attitude of the Taiping army in front of the gate of the Wu army's camp. Zhang Shaoqiang was happy and worried when he heard this, but he didn't dare to speak, so he could only hurry up and quietly look at Deng Siyuan's expression, and kept praying in his heart, "Promise, promise, you must agree." ”

If Zhang Shaoqiang knew the true limit of Wu Jun, he would definitely not be so worried - in fact, even if the Taiping Army only agreed to exchange it for Cixi's wife or Cixi's sister, Deng Siyuan and Zhou Tenghu would not hesitate to hand over Zhang Shaoqiang. After listening to the reply of the Taiping Army, Deng Siyuan tried to suppress the ecstasy in his heart while being overjoyed, and pretended to bargain with the Taiping Army envoy for two sentences, asking to exchange it together with Hui Zheng. After being categorically rejected by the envoy of the Taiping Army, Deng Siyuan said loudly under the guidance of Zhou Tenghu: "Okay, change it!" But I have one more condition, you must let Hui know the news that his female dependents have been rescued, and also tell Hui that next time we will catch a few more weighty to exchange him and his son-in-law back! ”

Deng Siyuan's additional conditions were not harsh, and he didn't know whether the Taiping Army would honor Wu Junlianyong after agreeing to it, so Xu Zongyang, who was anxious to change back his generals, even waived the procedure of asking Zeng Lichang for instructions, and directly agreed, and agreed with Wu Junlianyong to exchange prisoners at noon.

At noon, the Taiping Army was very trustworthy to escort Hui Zheng's wife and daughter to the front of the battle, and at first Xu Zongyang was worried about what tricks the famous shameless Wu Jun Lian Yong would play, but what made Xu Zongyang relieved was that Wu Jun Lian Yong rarely obeyed the contract and kept his word this time, and he was very disciplined to escort Zhang Shaoqiang to the front of the battle, and released the prisoners in his hands at the same time according to the prior agreement. As a result, as soon as Hui Zheng's wife and daughter got out of freedom, they immediately ran to Wu Jun crying and crying for protection, and Zhang Shaoqiang also hurried back to his own formation, and each other got out smoothly.

With the ecstasy of escaping death, he rushed back to the rear of the self-army, and when he saw Xu Zongyang, Zhang Shaoqiang of course immediately kowtowed to Xu Zongyang and thanked Xu Zongyang for saving his life. Xu Zongyang directly slapped Zhang Shaoqiang in the face, and then kicked Zhang Shaoqiang with four feet in the air, roaring: "Idiot! Useless stuff! For you, Prime Minister Ben has lost face this time! You don't have to be the commander of the division, you will be demoted to the end, and you will start again from the soldiers! ”

Zhang Shaoqiang didn't dare to disobey the order and didn't dare to fight back, but quickly thanked him again, and then quickly said to Xu Zongyang: "Prime Minister Xu, there is a very important matter to report to you separately in the end, please give your permission!" (To be continued.) )