At dawn, the American Asian (East India) fleet sailed into the Dongmen Pier in Shanghai County.

Mai Lian and Perry stood on the deck of the Saskana, looking out at the county town of Shanghai opposite.

At this time, the county seat of Shanghai has changed greatly, the original brick and stone structure city wall, has now been replaced by reinforced concrete from the cement factory and steel factory in Jiangwan Industrial Zone, the original three meters wide and five meters high old city wall, has now been heightened to 12 meters, widened to 10 meters, the upper fort has also increased from the original eight, increased to 32 guns, and built a special fort ring fortification, the city gate has increased the urn city, the city wall has added a number of ear platforms, making the Shanghai county town become an oriental-style fortress.

Seven U.S. Navy warships lined up, their guns aimed at the county town of Shanghai, and three thousand U.S. Marines assembled on the docks, waiting for Perry's orders.

It's just that Perry suffered a loss in Wusongkou yesterday evening, and he has lost his arrogance, and has become cautious, not daring to speak lightly about the war.

Mai Lian tidied up her clothes and walked towards the east gate of Shanghai County under the protection of 200 American soldiers.

At this time, the Li family army on the east gate was already in full array, and as long as the Americans made the slightest move, they would greet each other with guns.

On the city tower, Li Weiguo and Su Sanniang stood side by side, looking at the American fleet on the river through binoculars.

I only heard Su Sanniangjiao shouting: "This foreigner's warship is so big, much bigger than our warship, but why are there two more big waterwheels on the two warships in front?" ”

"That's called the Bright Wheel! It's a steam-powered ship that can sail without the help of the wind! Li Weiguo explained.

Su Sanniang looked surprised and said, "Then if there is no wind." Our warships can't move, but the foreigners' ships can still move, once the fight starts. Our ships will surely suffer a great loss! ”

"That's right!" Li Weiguo nodded, his face solemn. He knew that foreigners could show off their might, relying on strong ships and cannons. Now that he saw the warships of the US Navy and compared them with the warships in the hands of Li Jiajun, he made a judgment from a high level, and Li Jiajun was bound to suffer a loss in the fight.

Of course, after Li Weiguo's careful observation. He found that the U.S. Navy's Asian Fleet had only seven warships, two of which were steam paddle-wheel driven, with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons. Equipped with 9 cannons, the crew was about two or three hundred, and the bow of the ship was written in English with the words USS Frigate Susquehanna (USS Saskana) and USS Frigate Mississippi (USS Mississippi).

Li Weiguo looked at the other five warships, namely the USS Cruiser Passaic, the USS Saratoga and USS Plymouth, the USS Tippecanoe, and the USS Columbia. In addition to the cruiser Paseik, which is armed with 28 guns. Other frigates have only about 9 to 12 guns.

Li Weiguo made a general assessment of the firepower of the seven warships of the US fleet, and excluding the guns in the bow and stern, the broadside fire salvo could reach 40 guns at a time, while there were only eight guns at the east gate of Shanghai County, a gap of five times, and the battle would be at a loss.

"Newspaper—"

"Report to your lordship, about 3,000 U.S. troops are assembled at the docks, carrying eight 16-pounder infantry guns. If you intend to attack the city, please decide! ”

Only then did Li Weiguo use his binoculars to look at the shore. I happened to see Mai Lian walking towards the east gate with more than 200 American troops, and it seemed that the other party was going to negotiate.

Li Weiguo smiled slightly, and said to Huang Chao, a soldier beside him: "Go, go and inform Yiliang and Gilhanga immediately, you know what to say, right?" ”

"Don't worry, sir!"

Huang Chao immediately received his life excitedly, he was an old man who had been with Li Weiguo for several years. As the saying goes, what kind of master there is, what kind of servant there is, Li Weiguo's cunning and treachery, Huang Chao learned at least three points even if he didn't learn ten points.

Su Sanniang saw Li Weiguo's evil smile on his face, and immediately asked curiously: "Why don't you go to see the American minister, but ask Yiliang and Gilhanga to come forward?" ”

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "Look at it, even if Yiliang and Gilhanga don't die this time, they will have to be recalled by the imperial court!" If you want to rob me of Li Weiguo's foundation, the two of them are too tender! ”

"The two of them are too tender? Did you know that both of them are over 100 years old? Su Sanniang was amused, looked at Li Weiguo and suddenly quipped, "Are you really only sixteen years old?" How do I think you're more cunning than those old foxes! ”

"Why is the eldest sister looking at me like this? Do you want to gnaw on my tender grass? Li Weiguo deliberately answered the question, and immediately winked at Su Sanniang, deliberately selling cuteness.

If you change someone else and dare to tease Su Sanniang in person like this, you will definitely die a very miserable death.

But this person is Li Weiguo, Su Sanniang suddenly pinched her waist and glared at him with a fierce look, but she couldn't get angry, she just said coquettishly: "You just die of that heart, sister, I really don't like your tender grass!" ”

Li Weiguo didn't care, just smiled: "I heard that women usually say the opposite, and the eldest sister said that it is not rare, so she liked it?" ”

Su Sanniang was helpless, ashamed and angry, she knew that she couldn't talk about Li Weiguo, and she would only be taken advantage of by him, so she left under the pretext of listening to Yiliang and Ji Erhang.

Su Songtai soldiers are preparing for the Yamen, Yiliang and Gilhang'a have been restless, they can neither collect taxes from the merchants, but also have no money to appease the Shanghai army, last night I heard that the Shanghai army in Wusongkou and the US army fought, both of them realized the danger, they guessed that this may be Li Weiguo deliberately caused trouble to frame them, but there is no way to deal with it, and now when they heard that the US army hit the city of Shanghai, they were immediately frightened.

Gilhanga said: "Your Excellency, you have something to say, what should we do now?" ”

Yiliang walked around with his hands behind his back, his face extremely ugly. just asked: "What about Li Weiguo, let you go to Yuyuan Garden to return the military and political power to him, have you seen him?" ”

Gilhanga said with a bitter face: "Don't mention it. Li Weiguo's house is not a thing, so I was stunned and waited in Yu Garden for several hours, but the next person came out and replied that Li Weiguo had gone to Zhenjiang Jiangdong Camp and was not in Yu Garden. ”

Yiliang suddenly stomped his feet and scolded: "Damn Li Weiguo, this is going to kill us!" ”

Gilhanga also said angrily: "The court has been boasting all day long about how strong the Shanghai army is, what the result is, and when it encounters foreigners, it will lose the battle." Wu Songkou did not hold it, and even let the foreigners' warships go to Shanghai. If we let the foreigners take down Shanghai, how can we do it? ”

Yiliang sighed, "Before I come." The old man heard that Li Weiguo deliberately united with foreigners to make trouble and pulled down the Shanghai county magistrate at that time, and then Li Weiguo became the county magistrate of Shanghai as he wished. Looking back now, where we are today. Isn't it just him Li Weiguo repeating his old tricks? It's a pity that the old man was too careless. The old man never thought that Li Weiguo was so cunning, even better than those old foxes in the court. ”

Gilhanga said: "What's the use of talking about this now? Adults should hurry up and think of a way to calm the anger of the Americans, right? ”

Yiliang and Gilhanga always thought that the Shanghai army was defeated at Wusongkou, so they were so afraid, but they didn't know that they were jumping into the pit that Li Weiguo dug for them step by step.

At this time, someone suddenly came to report.

"Report to the Governor, the defenders of the East City took the initiative to open the city gate and let the American minister enter the city. It's coming our way! ”

When Yiliang and Gilhanga heard this, they were dumbfounded. Even if there was no Wu Songkou incident, they did not want to meet with the Americans, because this was the will of Emperor Xianfeng, and strictly ordered the local governors, governors and above not to meet with foreigners, because they were worried that the foreigners would pester the imperial court to revise the treaty.

"Li Weiguo, it must have been Li Weiguo who instructed the defenders of the East Gate to let the American minister in!"

"That's right, we can't mobilize the Shanghai army, only he Li Weiguo can!"

"Damn Li Weiguo, this is deliberately trying to kill us!"

Yiliang and Gilhanga hung their chests, and with their shrewdness, they obviously guessed that Li Weiguo deliberately let Mai Lian into the city, in order to let Mai Lian come directly to the two of them, put all the blame on the two of them, and let them be scapegoats.

"So far, the only way to do this is to negotiate with the American Minister Mai Lian first, and see what conditions he puts forward!"

Yiliang sighed, but he was pecked by the geese all the year round, so he could only accept his fate.

Sure enough, along the way, someone deliberately told Mai Lian that Shanghai at this time was not what Li Weiguo said, but Yiliang, the governor of Liangjiang, and Jir Hang'a, the governor of Jiangsu, who said that Mai Lian would find Yiliang and Ji Hang'a to solve anything.

Mai Lian didn't know the conspiracy of the Han people, so she naturally believed it and went directly to Su Songtai's military preparation to the Yamen to discuss with Yiliang and Gilhang'a.

At first, Mai Lian still respected Yiliang and Gilhanga very much, but seeing that the other party was very afraid of the Americans, Mai Lian suddenly had the confidence to lodge a solemn protest against the incident of Li Weiguo's shooting of US troops last year and the Wusongkou shelling incident yesterday, and demanded that Yiliang and Gilhanga solve the problem.

Yiliang and Gilhanga hated Li Weiguo to death at the moment, and naturally they were unwilling to bear the blame for Li Weiguo, and they blamed Li Weiguo's personal behavior for Li Weiguo's shooting of a US soldier last year, and it had nothing to do with them.

But Mai Lian, as a politician, he knows his true purpose very well, he can't find Li Weiguo now, and he also knows that Li Weiguo is just a fourth-grade official, and the Yiliang in front of him is a first-grade official of the Qing Imperial Court, and Gil Hang'a is also a third-grade official, so they are more useful to Mai Lian.

Therefore, Mai Lian avoided Li Weiguo and negotiated with Yiliang and Gilhanga about the Wusongkou shelling incident, demanding that they immediately compensate the US military for their losses, severely punish the defenders of the Wusongkou fortress, and at the same time demand that the Qingmei Wangxia Treaty be amended.

It's easy to say in front of you, Yiliang immediately sent someone to find Li Weiguo, asking Li Weiguo to pay money and severely punish the fortress guards, but when he heard Mai Lian's proposal to revise the treaty, Yiliang was dumbfounded, what should come will always come, and most of them can't hide.

Yiliang dared to agree, and immediately agreed to compensate the losses of the American army and severely punish the defenders of Wusongkou Fortress, but refused to revise the treaty.

Mai Lian finally seized this opportunity, how could she let it go easily, he naturally disagreed. He saw that Yiliang and Gilhanga were timid and afraid, and immediately threatened each other with war.

Yiliang and Gilhanga immediately compromised and said that they would immediately report to the imperial court and ask for the imperial court's approval.

Mai Lian waited for news in the Yamen, and Yiliang and Gilhanga had no choice but to immediately write a report to the imperial court.

It's just that Yiliang and Gilhang'a couldn't reach the Forbidden City at all, and they were secretly intercepted by Su Sanniang and others at the Shanghai Post Station.

At the head of the city, Su Sanniang handed over the recitals of Yiliang and Gilhang'a to Li Weiguo.

Li Weiguo snorted coldly after seeing it: "These two old things, they want to put all the responsibility on me, how can it be so easy, look at how I kill you!" ”

Su Sanniang asked, "What are you going to do next?" ”

"Of course I'm going to meet Mai Lian!" Li Weiguo smiled slightly, and suddenly thought of something, so he instructed Huang Chao: "Go, bring me Lin Yao from Wusongkou Fortress, no, tie him up!" ”

Huang Chao was suddenly surprised and asked: "My lord, General Lin has the responsibility to defend the land, even if he has no merit, he should not be punished, if he is tied up, won't the soldiers of Wusongkou and the entire Li family army be chilled?" ”

"Bastard! You know a! Li Weiguo scolded suddenly, and then said: "You are right, the soldiers of the Li family army should not be happy when they hear this news. Then when you go, by the way, tell the soldiers of the Li Jiajun that I will hand Lin Yao over to the Americans to deal with, and the Americans are likely to kill Lin Yao to vent their anger! ”

Huang Chao was stunned, he had been by Li Weiguo's side for so long and had learned a lot of things, but this time he couldn't understand Li Weiguo, and he didn't know what Li Weiguo was going to do.

"Why are you still stunned? Show me the corpse! ”

Seeing Li Weiguo's glare, Huang Chao didn't dare to ask again, and quickly took someone to Wusongkou with a head of greeting.

Su Sanniang was curious at this time: "What do you want to do?" ”

Li Weiguo asked rhetorically: "Does the eldest sister know how Temujin dealt with his brother Zamuhe back then?" ”

Su Sanniang shook her head and asked, "Don't go around the bend, say something that my sister can understand!" ”

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "It's very simple, it's just four words, there is a knife hidden in the smile!" ”

"Hiding a knife in a smile?" Su Sanniang thought for a while, and suddenly said, "Don't tell me that you are using the art of war!" ”

"The eldest sister is smart, worthy of being a heroine, and the younger brother admires it!" Li Weiguo immediately looked at Su Sanniang with admiration, and further said: "Hiding a knife in a smile, the tenth plan of thirty-six plans is to use political and diplomatic camouflage methods to deceive and paralyze the other party to cover up your own military actions. It's a kind of stratagem, outwardly friendly and secretly murderous, so that the enemy is overwhelmed.

Su Sanniang nodded and asked, "Are you going to use this trick on the Americans?" ”

"Bingo!" Li Weiguo nodded and snapped his fingers.

"What does bingo mean?" Su Sanniang asked.

"If you let me hug me, I'll tell you!" Li Weiguo said with a smile.

"It's starting to break again! Ignore you! Su Sanniang glanced at Li Weiguo, and immediately turned around and walked away, leaving Li Weiguo standing in place with a wicked smile. (To be continued......)