It also happened that in the old camp of Lu Shunde's army on Lujiahui's side, there happened to be a handwritten warrant from Tan Shaoguang, and when he checked it carefully, the truth was immediately revealed.

"Tan Shaoguang, you shameless villain! In order to eat alone, you can use such a despicable means! ”

This discovery made Lu Shunde, who had just suffered a big loss, directly dizzy, and almost without any consideration, he decided that Tan Shaoguang was a ghost, and deliberately told Wu Jun in order to eat Shanghai's solitary food, and borrowed a knife to kill himself, an object who could share the spoils, and immediately crossed the Huangpu River to find Tan Shaoguang to settle accounts. Although Huang Demao didn't believe that Tan Shaoguang could be despicable to this extent, he didn't want to question too much because of his relationship with Lu Shunde, so he just persuaded Lu Shunde not to be too impulsive and cheapened Shanghai Wu Jun in vain.

"Uncle Lu, at the moment of the great enemy, it is best to calm down if there is anything, regardless of whether this note was written by Tan Shaoguang to report to the demon soldiers, at this time, turning his face with him will only cheapen the demon soldiers in vain. The little nephew thinks that you had better discuss this matter with my father first, and then decide what to do. ”

Huang Demao's persuasion still had some effect, at least Lu Shunde temporarily dispelled the idea of taking the army to find Tan Shao Guanghuo immediately, but even so, Lu Shunde still asked Huang Demao to bring a letter back to Huang Zilong immediately and consult Huang Zilong's attitude. At the same time, Lu Shunde also asked Huang Demao to bring a clear word to Huang Zilong, saying that he would no longer believe any explanation from Tan Shaoguang, and would never attack the Pudong stronghold of the Wu army stupidly, and would leave the army to prevent Tan Shaoguang from playing new tricks.

In the afternoon of the same day, Huang Demao brought the news back to Huang Zilong, and to Huang Demao's surprise, his father Huang Zilong actually said after thinking about it for a while: "You go to Lujiahui again, and tell your Uncle Lu clearly, just say that if he can find evidence of Tan Shaoguang's secret demon soldiers, I will support him no matter what he does." Before that, I advanced and retreated with him, and stood still together to see what tricks Tan Shaoguang could play. ”

"Father, listen to your tone, do you also believe that the note that told the demon soldiers was written by Jian Tianyi?" Huang Demao asked in surprise.

"Of course I don't believe it." Huang Zilong shook his head first, and then said: "But people's hearts are separated from their stomachs, and we also have to guard against Tan Shaoguang not being so selfless as he seems, so now for us, the best choice is to stand still like your Uncle Lu, and prevent Tan Shaoguang from using demon soldiers against us." ”

"But father, if we and Uncle Lu stand still, how can you explain Tan Shaoguang?" Huang Demao hurriedly asked again.

"What do I need to give him?" Huang Zilong asked rhetorically, and snorted coldly: "At the beginning, we asked him to take down the three demon camps in Sijing, Qibao and Xinzhuang to prove his innocence, and he agreed with red mouth and white teeth, but now that Qibao and Xinzhuang have not been taken down, what qualifications does he have for me to explain to him?" ”

Huang Demao suddenly realized, nodded hurriedly and promised to cross the river immediately to give Lu Shunde an answer, and then lowered his voice and said, "Father, do you want to find a way to bring a letter to the demon soldiers, so that the demon soldiers know that Jian Tianyi must first take Qibao and Xinzhuang." In this way, if the demon soldiers defend these two strongholds with all their strength and fight to the end with Jian Tianyi's side, we may still have a chance to reap the benefits. ”

His son's suggestion made Huang Zilong a little tempted for a while, but it was not bad for Tan Shaoguang, Huang Zilong's character was not so bad, just after shaking for a while, Huang Zilong shook his head and said: "We can't go too far, if Tan Shaoguang grabs the handle, we won't be able to explain to the King of Heaven and King Zhong." ”

After that, Huang Zilong added another sentence and said: "And as long as the demon soldiers are not too stupid, they will definitely be able to hear some rumors in a short time, and there is no need for us to deliver the news directly." ”

Huang Demao's eyes rolled a few times before he nodded and agreed, and while crossing the river to contact Lu Shunde again according to Huang Zilong's request, he secretly let people spread the news that Tan Shaoguangjun must first take Qibao and Xinzhuang to prove his innocence.

With Huang Zilong's clear statement of support, Lu Shunde was naturally relieved and bold, in addition to expressing his gratitude to Huang Zilong, he immediately sent a large number of people to secretly investigate Tan Shaoguang's secret dealings with the Wu army in Shanghai, and at the same time, under the pretext of being attacked by the Wu army and suffering heavy losses, he had no strength to launch another attack, and ordered the men and horses of the headquarters to switch from attack to defense, and then refused to attack the Wu army's stronghold on the battlefield in Pudong.

Huang Zilong's side is the same, the all-out offensive to the defense is unwilling to take the initiative to launch a military operation, Tan Shaoguang sent someone to ask the reason, Huang Zilong in addition to finding various excuses to prevaricate, and then there is a justifiable request Tan Shaoguang to fulfill his promise and take the Xinzhuang and Qibao strongholds of the Wu army in Shanghai alone to prove his innocence.

The battle was already difficult to fight, and Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde worked together to make no effort, and the difficulties faced by Tan Shaoguang's department can be imagined. What's worse is that through the scouts' detailed investigations, Huang Demao's deliberate release of the news, and combined with the battlefield situation, it was judged that the information was likely to be true, Zhou Tenghu also decisively increased his troops in Qibao and Xinzhuang, and used the camp fortifications to consume a large number of Tan Shaoguang's main elites and weaken Tan Shaoguang, the most dangerous opponent.

Tan Shaoguang is also worthy of being a famous general in the late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, no matter how fierce the Wu army resisted, after paying a very heavy price, Tan Shaoguang's army still took the Wu army's Xinzhuang stronghold hanging alone on the outskirts of Shanghai. However, before Tan Shaoguang's troops celebrated the victory, just on the night of the same day, the Wu army in Hongqiao, Caohejing and Luojiagang joined forces to launch a counterattack and attacked Tan Shaoguang's army on the Qibao battlefield.

After temporarily lifting the siege of Qibao, the Wu army in Shanghai seized the time to send a large amount of food and ammunition to the Qibao stronghold, and at the same time sent four additional battalions of troops to strengthen the defense of the Qibao stronghold—one of which was still the main elite of all armed with firing pin guns.

The situation has reached this point, and Tan Shaoguang has no choice but to send someone to invite Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde to the camp to the banquet, intending to be righteous to his comrades-in-arms during the banquet, persuading Huang and Lu to give up the unreasonable demands they had promised before, and send troops to help him share the pressure of attacking the fortifications. However, to Tan Shaoguang's great surprise, he kindly invited Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde to dinner and drink, but the two categorically refused and refused to come to meet him.

"Why don't you come? Is there a reason for this? ”

Tan Shaoguang asked suspiciously, and Ji Si, the subordinate in charge of liaison, replied truthfully: "Prime Minister Lu Cheng said that he found that the demon soldiers in Pudong had abnormal behavior, and he was afraid that the demon soldiers would take the opportunity to sneak attack, so he couldn't cross the river. The Marquis of Kyauktian did not see our envoy, and his son Huang Demao said that he was ill and it was inconvenient for him to go to the camp for the banquet. ”

Tan Shaoguang was silent, and only after a while did he say: "Send someone to visit Kyauktianhou with a gift and ask him how his condition is, whether it matters or not." ”

Ji Si, who has always been obedient, rarely agreed immediately, and said: "Jian Tianyi, don't waste your efforts, Huang Pendulum is obviously pretending to be sick and doesn't want to come to see you, what else do you want to send him?" Invite him to dinner and get sick, is there such a coincidence in the world? ”

Tan Shaoguang was silent again, and after a long time, he said: "This should be just a coincidence, I know that Kyauktianhou is not that kind of person." ”

"Jian Tianyi, the last general will obey you for everything, but I won't obey you at this point!"

Ji Si, a henchman for many years, said in a very unkind tone, and said angrily: "Your heart is too straight, it's like a intestine!" If Huang Pengzi is not that kind of person, then the news that you must take Xinzhuang and Qibao first came from that camp, don't you know? ”

Tan Shaoguang stopped talking again, and after being silent for a long time, he didn't dwell on this issue anymore, just waved his hand and said, "You go down first, and I'll think about what to do." ”

racking his brains and unable to think of a way to persuade Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde to send troops, Tan Shaoguang was of course both disappointed and disappointed, and he also had the idea of breaking the jar and breaking it for the first time, and almost wanted to leave the Shanghai battlefield alone. The result was also a coincidence, at this time, Yang Fang, a well-known wealthy businessman in Shanghai, suddenly sent someone to secretly get in touch with Tan Shaoguang, and requested peace talks with Tan Shaoguang on behalf of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, willing to exchange the high price of 200,000 taels of silver for Tan Shaoguang's withdrawal and return to Suzhou, and promised to continue to maintain business contacts with the Taiping Army in Suzhou, as well as a protection fee of 50,000 taels of silver to Tan Shaoguang every year.

In order to prove the sincerity of the peace talks, Yang Fang also asked the envoy to bring a letter with a silver tattoo of 10,000 taels as a gift to Tan Shaoguang himself, which was not counted in the exchange conditions for retiring from the army.

With the white silver and the very sincere exchange conditions in front of him, Tan Shaoguang, who had already fallen into the dilemma of fighting alone, was naturally a little tempted, and Wu Xijiu and Ji Si and other confidant generals were even more shaken, and persuaded Tan Shaoguang to consider it - anyway, the excuse for retiring from the army with heavy casualties was ready-made. At the same time, the envoy sent by Yang Fang also clearly told Tan Shaoguang, saying: "General Tan, my master said that as long as you agree, no matter what conditions can be discussed, our Shanghai Chamber of Commerce will try our best to meet them." ”

Hearing the overtone that he could continue to increase the price, Tan Shaoguang was of course even more shaken - after all, Tan Shaoguang was not a sage, but just as he was about to loosen his mouth and agree to the secret peace talks, Tan Shaoguang suddenly came to his senses, immediately slapped the table heavily, and shouted angrily: "Bold dog thief, you dare to deceive the demon soldiers and divide my heavenly army?!" ”

"General Tan, you misunderstood, the little one has that kind of guts?" The envoy of Yang Fang hurriedly denied it.

"Dare to quibble?" Tan Shaoguang said angrily: "If I promise to make peace with you secretly, you will deliberately send my reply to Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde, and provoke internal strife in my Heavenly Army, right?" ”

"General Tan, wronged!" The envoy of Yang Fang shouted again and said, "My lord has so many business dealings with your Heavenly Army in Suzhou, so dare to do such a thing to offend you so much?" Cut off Suzhou's financial road by yourself? We really want to give you money in exchange for your retirement, please be aware of it, general! ”

Considering that Yang Fang's business has a lot of business dealings with his Suzhou base camp, he really didn't dare to take such a big risk for Shanghai, Tan Shaoguang was a little shaken for a while, but after carefully weighing the dangerous consequences of his secret peace talks with the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, Tan Shaoguang still completely dispelled this idea, categorically rejected Yang Fang's request for peace talks on behalf of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, and in turn asked Yang Fang's envoy to bring a letter to the people of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, promising not to rob after taking Shanghai. The promise to protect the interests of Shanghai businessmen also struck a blow to and shook the determination of Shanghai's wealthy businessmen to support Wu's army in defending Shanghai.

In the end, Tan Shaoguang also ordered to reward all the 10,000 taels of silver given to him by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce to the sergeants, and he did not keep a penny.

…………

Tan Shaoguang really wronged Shanghai Wu Jun this time, if he agreed to negotiate secretly with the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai Wu Jun and Shanghai's wealthy businessmen were really willing to pay a huge sum of money in exchange for him to withdraw from the army without playing tricks - and then Shanghai Wu Jun would be much easier to deal with Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde.

Therefore, after the news was personally sent to Zhou Tenghu by Yang Fang, although he had a certain amount of psychological preparation, Zhou Tenghu was still disappointed, and couldn't help but say to Jin Anqing: "We really underestimate this Tan Shaoguang, so much silver is placed in front of him, and he can still not be moved at all, not to mention such a person is reckless in the rivers and lakes, even among us Confucian scholars who have read the books of sages, it is really rare." ”

"A beautiful woman, why is she a thief?" Jin Anqing also sighed, and then said: "But it doesn't matter much, Tan Shaoguang refused to accept our money and retreat, but we didn't have a chance to directly kill Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde." ”

"Long Mao's heart has been scattered, unless Li Xiucheng's big Long Mao is reluctant to let his main force intercept the main force led by our Zhennan King personally, and he has to fight Shanghai first, otherwise Tan Shaoguang, Huang Zilong and Lu Shunde, the three long hairs, will no longer be able to threaten the safety of our Shanghai."

Zhou Tenghu nodded, and said to himself: "Li Xiucheng, you must not be as good as Tan Shaoguang, don't be greedy for Shanghai's money and don't stop our main force, take your main force to our Shanghai." ”

As a prophecy, only one day after the incident, accurate news came from Hangzhou, saying that Li Xiucheng had publicly announced that he would personally lead the army to conquer Shanghai, and was ready to take Shanghai first and then turn around to reinforce the Western Front to help Shi Dakai meet the main force of the Huguang Wu army. After confirming the news, Zhou Tenghu was silent for more than ten minutes before saying such a sentence......

"Li Xiucheng, you are really not as good as your subordinate Tan Shaoguang."