The sound of Erdao River artillery roared at night, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Army launched the most powerful battle to cross the river in history, dispatching more than 100,000 troops, thousands of warships secretly transferred from the Yellow River and the Huai River, and even small frigates purchased from merchants from Britain and France to participate in the battle.

However, it was useless, when the East China Sea Fleet lifted the surprise attack and encirclement of the British and French fleets, it quickly entered the Battle of Erdaojiang, cooperated with the north and south batteries of Chongming Island, and carried out a fierce attack on the Beiyang army that tried to force the Yangtze River.

Knock knock......

In the dark night, more than a dozen sail warships of the East China Sea Fleet opened fire fiercely, but they saw rows of fires shining and shells whistling in the blink of an eye, bombarding the Beiyang Army battlefield on the river.

Boom! Boom! Boom Boom Boom ......

Columns of water rose into the sky, and the ships that were hit instantly shattered, raising a fiery red mushroom cloud.

In the face of modern firearms, the traditional Chinese naval warships are simply vulnerable.

The river was fiery red, illuminating the sky, and this time the Yangtze River was forcibly crossed, so that the Beiyang Army understood what the gap was.

On the front line of Haimen Hall, Li Hongzhang personally supervised the battle, he had already been released, and he had to defeat Li Weiguo, otherwise it would be his end.

Of course, the premise is that the Anglo-French alliance and the imperial army led by Yi Xin should cooperate and echo.

It's a pity that Li Hongzhang didn't know the news of the failure of the British and French fleets to attack the East China Sea Fleet, otherwise he would definitely have left some behind, and would not have transferred all the naval warships to fight a bloody battle.

This is also the pit dug by the British and French commanders Claus and Guba for Li Hongzhang, whether it is the imperial court or Li Weiguo's side, as long as it consumes China's national strength, they will echo the core conspiracy of the British and French powers.

"Where did this ship come from? Didn't it mean that Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet was blocked by the combined British and French fleets at the South Gate Harbor and wiped out? ”

Lao Li is in pain, although his naval warships are numerous, but unfortunately the tonnage is too small, the largest warship is only two or three hundred tons, and it is all made of wood. In the past, when fighting with the sailors of the Taiping Army, the opponent still used solid iron lead balls, which had limited destructive power, and at most a shot would pierce a hole in the ship, and there would be no casualties.

But now it is facing the advanced artillery fire of the East China Sea Fleet, and the opponent's shells are all high-explosive yield flowering shells, and if a wooden warship is hit, it is not just as simple as piercing a hole, but it will explode a large area in an instant, and the destructive power is amazing. The lethality is even more staggering, and people within a few meters or even tens of meters around it are not spared.

This is still the lethality of small-caliber shells, when the East China Sea Fleet is ten shallow water heavy turret ironclad ships appeared, the warships of the Beiyang Army suffered even more, the power of the 305 mm main guns is enough to severely damage thousands of tons of British and French ironclad ships, not to mention hundreds of tons of small wooden warships.

The style of that shot is enough to make chrysanthemums fly all over the world.

"Newspaper - The British and French fleets have withdrawn from the port of Nanmen, and both sides have suffered losses on both sides. The British and French fleets retreated to the offshore sea, covering the ground offensive of the British and French forces, and had already captured the coastal defense of Chuanshakou, and a large-scale landing operation was underway. The commander of the British fleet, Klaus, asked the prince to step up the offensive. It is necessary to maintain a strong offensive on Chongming Island to cover the completion of all landing operations by the British and French forces. ”

Hearing the report, Li Hongzhang immediately scolded, "These dead foreign devils." I don't try my best to do anything, I'm a damn one! ”

Qian Dingming, Xu Ting, Liu Hanfang, Wang Kaitai and other members of the staff group accompanied him. At the moment, they are silent, and the provincial people are scolded for lying down with guns.

In particular, Qian Dingming vigorously instigated Li Hongzhang to send troops to launch a campaign to cross the river, but now he was intercepted by the East China Sea Fleet and suffered heavy losses, and he regretted it for a while.

Qian Dingming didn't speak, it didn't mean that Li Hongzhang didn't spray him.

"Qian Dingming, what do you think of this matter?"

Qian Dingming smiled bitterly, had to be stubborn to the end, and replied: "Lord Wang, it is impossible to reconcile between you and Li Weiguo, it must be the end of your life and death, since this is the case, then you should not care about the loss, taking advantage of the fact that the British and French forces have successfully landed in Chuansha, this is the only chance for the prince to turn the tables!" ”

This is a ruined boat, Li Hongzhang really clenched his fists after hearing it, proving that he listened.

"But the strong ships and guns of the East China Sea Fleet are too fierce, and our army has suffered heavy losses, and if we continue to fight like this, even if we cross the Yangtze River, we will suffer more than half of the casualties!"

Qian Dingming said with a smile: "Lord Wang, you must drag the regent into the water at this time!" ”

Li Hongzhang was stunned for a moment, and asked rhetorically: "What do you mean?" ”

Qian Dingming smiled yin and said: "The regent has always wanted to sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight and reap the benefits of the fisherman, but how can the prince let him get his wish?" At this time, it is necessary to let him send troops, once the naval army of Chongqing Prefecture goes down the river, Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet will inevitably be incompetent, and it can also reduce the pressure of our army to cross the river. ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and agreed: "That's right, Yixin, this old ghost wants to see this king's jokes, how can this king do what he wants?" ”

Li Hongzhang turned to Xu Ting and said, "You quickly send someone to inform Yixin and tell him that if he doesn't send troops again, this king will withdraw and won't wait!" ”

Xu Ting immediately received the order and turned to leave.

Looking at Xu Ting's back, Qian Dingming smiled coldly, he didn't block it this time, it was obvious that he had ulterior motives.

Shanghai, Empire State Building.

The telegram from the intelligence department kept ringing, and soon Li Jing took a secret report and handed it to Li Weiguo.

After Li Weiguo saw it, he immediately frowned.

"No. 4 said that he may have been exposed, this news was deliberately given to this king by the enemy, and he can't judge whether the content is true or not, it needs to be evaluated!"

Wu Yong, Chen Jingnan and others also frowned when they received the secret report.

Wu Yong said: "Yi Xin didn't send troops immediately before, there are two purposes, one is to see how strong your Nanyang Army is, and to assess whether it can be decided in a battle." The second is to let the British and French forces and Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Army fight to the death with our army, with the intention of driving the tiger and devouring the wolf, sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight. Li Hongzhang miscalculated in one move, and was eaten by our army 200,000 elite Beiyang Army, plus the previous defeat of the British and French fleets, which caused Yixin to think that the strength of the prince was strong and could not win the first battle, so he retreated to the second place, and watched from the wall again, using Li Hongzhang and the British and French coalition forces to continue to weaken the power of the prince, waiting for another opportunity to appear in the future. ”

Li Weiguo said: "That's right, now the situation has changed, if Yixin knew that the British and French troops had successfully landed in Chuansha, and Li Hongzhang forcibly crossed the Yangtze River, threatening Yixin to pick a son if he didn't send troops, then Yixin probably wouldn't be waiting." ”

Chen Jingnan stood up. Said: "In this case, please order to return to Wuchang immediately and prepare to meet the attack of Yixin's army!" ”

Li Weiguo nodded and said, "You have to go back, but according to the judgment of the 4th, why did Qian Dingming deliberately leak the news?" ”

Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan suddenly fell into deep thought, and the other staff members suddenly had a chance to discuss.

"This should be a Yang Mou!"

"But I don't think it will help!"

"Could it be that Number 4 is too sensitive?"

"I don't think so, No. 4 has been lurking for many years, his intuition will not be wrong, it must be something we didn't think of!"

Zhou Fu, who had not spoken, suddenly said: "Whether it is a conspiracy or a conspiracy, as long as you grasp the key point, it is enough." ”

Li Weiguo and the others immediately looked at Zhou Fu in unison. This strategist who was deceived by Li Weiguo with a stratagem is unparalleled in resourcefulness, but unfortunately, just like Xu Shu entering Cao Ying, he has not said a word in Li Weiguo's shogunate and has not offered a single plan.

For this Zhou Fu, Li Weiguo has always hated and loved, hated him for not giving advice for himself, but cherished his talent and wanted to take it for his own use.

I have to say. Li Weiguo already has the mind of a superior and is on par with Cao Cao.

"Mr. Zhou Fu, please make it clear!"

For some reason, Zhou Fu sighed and seemed to have figured it out. Then he said: "The prince is wise and powerful, but he is in the game, so he doesn't notice it, in fact, whether it is a conspiracy or a conspiracy, it has to be carried out around the focus of the war." The current focus is nothing more than the distraction of the East China Sea Fleet. After being attacked by the British and French fleets, the main battleships of the East China Sea Fleet lost more than half of their ships and were transferred to Wuchang. If the first-line strength of Haimen is not enough to block the Beiyang naval division of King Yan, and if the fleet is not transferred to Wuchang, the regent's imperial naval division will take advantage of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the defense line in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River will collapse in an instant. It is true that the prince's army can fight well, but most of the soldiers in the two provinces of Huguang are the old Hunan army of the former Zeng State Domain, and they have not been in the city for a long time, and once there is any difference, the entire Hunan army group will definitely defect, so the prince must send a fleet to Wuchang. ”

Li Weiguo frowned and said: "But in this way, the mouth of the Yangtze River will lose its naval protection, and Li Hongzhang's army will inevitably cross the river, and with the cooperation of the British and French fleets, it will inevitably pose a serious threat to our south of the Yangtze River." ”

Zhou Fu smiled and said, "Isn't the prince not confident in the Nanyang Army?" ”

Li Weiguo smiled bitterly: "It's not that this king has no confidence in the Nanyang Army, but this king doesn't want to move the war to Jiangnan, Jiangnan is a place where this king has worked hard for more than ten years, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. ”

Zhou Fu's heart was suddenly relieved when he heard this, and he immediately paid homage to Li Weiguo and said: "The prince loves the people like a son, and he is an immortal benevolent monarch. ”

"Congratulations to the prince, Zhou Fu is enough to settle the world!" Wu Yong, Chen Jingnan and other staff members were immediately overjoyed and congratulated Li Weiguo.

What's going on with this Nima, Lao Tzu tried to persuade Zhou Fu to return to his heart, but as a result, he put a hot face on his cold ass, and now he only said a word of worrying about the people, and he can make Zhou Fu recognize the master.

Li Weiguo was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed, hurriedly stepped forward to help Zhou Fu up, laughed, and almost had a snot bubble.

Undoubtedly, Zhou Fu is a great talent, much more knowledgeable than Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan, and his resourcefulness is unparalleled, Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan have told Li Weiguo more than once, but it is a pity that Li Hongzhang failed to keep Zhou Fu and cheapened Li Weiguo.

After a pleasant exchange, Li Weiguo quickly turned back to the topic and asked, "Zhou Fu, quickly tell this king, how to solve this situation?" ”

Zhou Fu bowed and said: "Since the prince is unwilling to destroy the people's livelihood, then as long as the conspiracy against Li Hongzhang can be broken in one fell swoop?" ”

Calling Li Hongzhang by name already shows Zhou Fu's attitude.

Li Weiguo glanced at Wu Yong and Chen Jingnan, both of whom said that this matter was Li Hongzhang's conspiracy, but now Zhou Fu said that it was a conspiracy, which immediately aroused Li Weiguo's interest.

"What a conspiracy, tell me quickly!"

Zhou Fu knew how to be polite, and bowed again: "Lord Qiqi, the minister thinks that Li Hongzhang deliberately leaked information, which is to force the prince to transfer the East China Sea Fleet to Wuchang, which is a plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, but he must also expect that the prince can see through his plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, and will inevitably strengthen the defense of the Yangtze River estuary." Then, next, Li Hongzhang is going to play a conspiracy to make that tactic of attacking the east and the west. On the surface, he attacked Chongming Island and confirmed the previous plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, so that the prince was happy and relaxed his vigilance, but in fact, he would secretly carry out a sneak attack from the front line of Jinling. ”

Li Weiguo was curious: "Why is it the first line of Jinling?" And not Jiujiang or Anqing and other places? ”

Zhou Fu said with a smile: "Because Li Hongzhang once sent 200,000 troops through Jinling once, but he was completely annihilated by the prince's design. But Li Hongzhang is not an idle person, he will definitely not fully believe Wu Zhiqiang at the beginning, and he will definitely have a back hand secretly, once Wu Zhiqiang changes, Ding Richang will immediately use 200,000 troops to sweep away. It's a pity that Ding Richang was wiped out when he crossed the river that day, and there was no 200,000 troops, which caught Li Hongzhang off guard, and the secret hand didn't have time to start at all, so he hid and waited for the next opportunity. ”

The conference room suddenly fell silent, this inference was a bit unbelievable, but Li Weiguo knew that this was definitely not sensational, because if this matter was replaced by Li Weiguo himself, he would have left it behind.

"Wu Yong, you are in charge of Jinling, is there anything suspicious?"

Wu Yong had a bitter face, this was really a problem for him, no one wanted to have a problem with the lot he was responsible for, but listening to Li Weiguo's tone, it was clear that he had already begun to doubt.

Wu Yong racked his brains and recalled as much as he could, but finally shook his head, he really couldn't think of anything suspicious.

Li Weiguo turned to Zhou Fu again.

Zhou Fu then reminded Wu Yong: "Master Wu, do you remember Guo Dingxing, a Taoist member of Jiangning Dao? ”

Wu Yong nodded and said, "There is nothing suspicious about this person?" When Li Hongzhang sent someone across the river to secretly contact the dog, this Guo Dingxing was the first to stand up against it, and he was very loyal to the prince. ”

Zhou Fu suddenly smiled, shook his head, and said: "Lord Wu is afraid that he was deceived by Guo Dingxing, this person is very scheming, if he is silent, it means that he is at least loyal to the prince and wants to be a wallgrass." But he jumped out for the first time to oppose Wu Zhiqiang's defection to Li Hongzhang, it was definitely a show for you to see, the purpose was to gain your trust, because Guo Dingxing's father and Li Hongzhang's father were friends of each other, and Guo Dingxing's daughter had already married Li Hongzhang's son, and few people knew about it. ”

Wu Yong is also a shrewd person, and immediately realized: "There must be a demon when things go wrong, although Guo Dingxing is talented, but he has always been low-key, when he was the first to stand up against the dog, I was also deceived by his appearance, and now I am afraid when I think about it, if it wasn't for the fact that our army wiped out Ding Richang's army with a thunderbolt at that time, I'm afraid this Guo Dingxing has already turned back, after all, the moment he sees me, he will understand that all this is fake, and he will definitely notify Li Hongzhang, but it hasn't been too late." ”

Li Weiguo suddenly laughed and said: "It's a little interesting, the last time he pit Li Hongzhang's 220,000 army in Jinling, Li Hongzhang is still unwilling, this time he plans to play in Jinling again, in this case, this king will pit him in Jinling again." I just don't know if Li Hongzhang was cheated by this king in the same place twice, will he be so angry that he will braided his hair all of a sudden? ”

"Haha!"

The crowd burst into laughter. (To be continued.) )