"Lord Futai, after the villain went to the main camp of Changmao, Li Xiucheng, the big Changmao, didn't see the villain, and sent the villain to be met by Li Shuxiang, the pseudo-Shangshu of his Zhongdian."

“…… That Li Shuxiang's attitude is not bad, although he is obviously playing the villain's words, and wants to ask the villain about the details of our Shanghai rebel army, but as long as the villain doesn't say it, he is not reluctant. just attaches importance to the villain's identity and official character, and his position in Shanghai clearly tells the villain that if he wants to talk, the identity of the envoy must be weighty, at least he must be qualified to be a person who can directly call the shots for Lord Futai. ”

“…… In addition, that Li Shuxiang also inadvertently leaked his mouth, saying that Li Xiucheng's big long-haired man didn't want to come to Shanghai first, and wanted to go to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to intercept the main force of our Zhennan King first. ”

“…… In the end, when Li Shuxiang sent the villain out of the camp, he said that he hoped that he would have a chance to meet in the future, and his tone was heavier, and the villain dared to speculate that the long-haired man might have done it on purpose, implying that the villain could go to see him again at any time. ”

Listening to the envoy's report, Zhou Tenghu and Jin Anqing were silent, or after the envoy finished saying everything, Zhou Tenghu asked, "I asked you to bring the gift to Li Xiucheng, did you accept the long hair?" ”

"The adults forgive the sins, and the little ones forget to report." The messenger hurriedly pleaded guilty, hurriedly presented a scroll, and said: "Li Shuxiang's long hair not only represents Li Xiucheng to accept your gift from Lord Futai, but also asked the little one to bring back a famous painting, saying that it is a return gift for Lord Futai." ”

The soldiers stepped forward to take the scroll and presented it to Zhou Tenghu, when Zhou Tenghu opened it, it was just a very ordinary famous painting of the previous dynasty, although it was not common, but it was not very precious. Zhou Tenghu was puzzled in his heart, and after thinking for a while, he instructed the envoy: "Go down and receive the reward, carefully remember the experience of today's envoy to the long-haired camp, and maybe ask you." ”

The envoy promised and hurriedly said goodbye and left, and Zhou Tenghu turned to Jin Anqing on the other side and asked, "What do you think?" Hiding a knife in a smile? Or is it a brick throw? ”

"I don't understand it yet." Jin Anqing, who has always been resourceful, frowned a little and said: "Of course, there is the greatest possibility of hiding a knife in a smile, and the possibility of really wanting to negotiate with us is very small." ”

After that, Jin Anqing added another sentence and said, "Of course, it is not impossible to really want to negotiate with us, after all, for Changmao, blocking the main force of our Zhennan King is the top priority." And as long as he can block the main force of King Zhennan, it will only be a matter of time before Changmao takes Shanghai, and it is indeed not without a chance to surrender without a fight. ”

Zhou Tenghu only listened and didn't speak, and only said after a while: "Regardless of whether Changmao is smiling or not, as long as we agree to negotiate, it will be our opportunity, you seize the time to plan, send a sufficient amount of weight to talk to them according to Changmao's requirements, and try to buy as much time as possible, now time is the most precious for us." ”

Jin Anqing agreed, and reminded: "Tao Fu, you must also prevent Changmao from hiding a knife in his laughter, giving Changmao a chance to take advantage of the situation." ”

Zhou Tenghu nodded and said, "Tomorrow morning, I will go to the camps everywhere to give orders, reminding them to strengthen their precautions and never give Changmao any chance." ”

Zhou Tenghu decided to give orders to the barracks the next morning, because it was already dark, and it was not convenient to send people to contact the barracks, but fortunately, the main force of the Taiping Army led by Li Xiucheng personally arrived in the suburbs of Shanghai today, and the foothold was not yet stable, and the camp had not even been built. At the same time, the main force of the Taiping Army was stationed on the west bank of the Huangpu River, which the Wu army focused on guarding, and the various camps and strongholds in Puxi would be careful even if they were not reminded by Zhou Tenghu, so Zhou Tenghu did not need to worry about this night. However......

"What? Longhair's sneak attack on our camp in Pudong? How can it be?! ”

However, Zhou Tenghu soon found that he had made a negligent mistake, and not long after the fourth correction that night, the soldiers of the Wu army stationed on the city wall of Shanghai clearly saw the fire on the east bank of the Huangpu River, and could faintly hear the sound of gunfire and cannons, and quickly reported the news to Zhou Tenghu, who was sleeping, Zhou Tenghu couldn't believe that this was true. And after finally coming back to his senses, Zhou Tenghu slapped his palm on his thigh and said regretfully: "I was careless, I underestimated Li Xiucheng's big hair." ”

The sky was too dark, and the enemy situation was extremely incomprehensible, Zhou Tenghu of course did not dare to casually mobilize troops to reinforce the Pudong battlefield, so he could only respond to all changes with the same, and let the Wu soldiers on the Pudong battlefield work hard to meet the battle, plus the Wu soldiers and Zhou Tenghu did not expect that the Taiping army would launch a sneak attack on the night of their arrival in Shanghai, and the preparation was not sufficient, so the chances of the Taiping army's sneak attack were naturally much greater.

The main reason why the Taiping army was able to succeed was that it was strong, and the Taiping Army's Lu Shunde Division, which had been confronting the Wu Army in Shanghai for many years, was already very strong, even if it was still not the elite opponent of the Wu Army's main force, at least there was absolutely no problem in dealing with the second-line Wu Army. The Taiping Army under Gao Yongkuan's headquarters was not only the first-line elite of the Zhejiang Taiping Army, but also obtained a large number of advanced weapons and equipment from overseas through the treaty port of Ningbo, and its combat effectiveness was even better. The elites of the two armies joined forces to sneak attack the Sanlintang stronghold, which was only guarded by the second-line Wu army with only three battalions, and it was really difficult not to win the battle.

In the end, after more than an hour of fierce fighting, the Taiping army finally broke through the two trench defense lines and the fortified defense line of the Wu army's Sanlintang stronghold, and successfully killed the inside of the Wu army's camp. The Wu army guarded Wang Yu wanted to fight to the death to the end, insisted on waiting for help, but was extremely unlucky to be hit by a stray bullet and died, the Wu army in Sanlintang was leaderless, and could only abandon the camp and flee for their lives, the Taiping army took advantage of the situation to take Sanlintang, completely reversing the passive situation that the Taiping army once fell into on the Pudong battlefield, and re-taking the initiative in the battlefield on both sides of the Huangpu River.

At dawn, the news of the loss of Sanlintang was sent to Zhou Tenghu, who did not say a word, but immediately dispatched troops to rearrange the deployment and defense of the Wu army in Pudong, and had to consider the proposal that someone had put forward to abandon Pudong and only defend Puxi. However, at this time, the spies of the Wu Army in Shanghai suddenly sent an important piece of information, saying that the Taiping Army's sneak attack on Sanlintang last night was not from Li Xiucheng's arrangement, but that Lu Shunde and Gao Yongkuan were doing their own business behind Li Xiucheng's back!

"Where did the news come from? Is it reliable? ”

After receiving this report, Zhou Tenghu's first reaction was, of course, to question the source of intelligence, and Wei Wencheng, the spy leader of the Wu Army in Shanghai, replied truthfully: "The news was sent by the inside line we planted on Changmao's side, I heard that Li Xiucheng reprimanded Lu Shunde in front of everyone during the day yesterday, and Lu Shunde angrily pulled Gao Yongkuan to sneak attack our Sanlintang camp, but there is no way to confirm whether it is true or not." ”

After that, Wei Wencheng added another sentence and said: "Also, there are rumors in the long-haired army that Li Xiucheng's big long-haired man is dissatisfied with Lu Shunde's private affairs behind his back, and he got angry again and said that he would clean up Lu Shunde, and Lu Shunde's long-haired man may be unlucky." ”

"Really? If that's the case, then it's worth it for us to lose Sanlintang last night? Zhou Tenghu was suspicious, but he couldn't distinguish the truth from the false, so he naturally didn't dare to make any new decisions based on such a piece of news, so he could only tell Wei Wencheng to pay attention to this matter and report it immediately as soon as there was news.

To Zhou Tenghu's surprise, it was still behind, and in the afternoon, Wu Lao comprador, who never interfered in command and decision-making, suddenly ran in front of him and asked him a question directly, saying, "Tao Fu, are you still interested in negotiating with Li Xiucheng's big hair?" ”

"Why did the old man ask this question suddenly?" Zhou Tenghu asked very strangely: "I remember that the junior told you that the junior tried to negotiate with Changmao, just to delay and gain time, not really planning to talk, and we can't keep Shanghai through negotiations?" ”

"Of course the old man remembers." Old comprador Wu nodded, and said, "The old man just asked if you plan to do this?" If you're still planning to use a delaying tactic, then we have a chance. ”

"What chance?" Zhou Tenghu hurriedly asked again.

"The old man just received the news of the concession, Li Xiucheng, the big long hair, sent a British priest named Joseph into the concession, on behalf of the long hair to contact the British and French consuls, and put forward the hope to solve the Shanghai concession issue through negotiations."

Old comprador Wu explained, and said: "The old man thinks this is an opportunity, if you still plan to delay the army through negotiations, the old man will immediately go to the concession in person to inquire about the situation, and by the way, try to see if you can negotiate directly with Li Xiucheng through that foreign priest." ”

has not received formal diplomatic training, and is indeed a little greedy to buy time through negotiations, Zhou Tenghu thought about it, but nodded and said: "Then there is Lao Wu, try to give it a try." ”