Dantu County, Zhenjiang Prefecture, was originally a medium-sized city, and since the Shanghai army was stationed, it was the core of the Jiangdong camp, so it was greatly reinforced.

However, at this moment, in the face of the frenzied attack of the Taiping army, even the reinforced city wall has become full of holes, and even almost collapsed in many places.

At the head of the city, thick smoke billowed out, and Lin Yao accompanied Wu Yong to inspect the city defense and comfort the soldiers of the Shanghai army.

Lin Yao was originally the commander of the Wusongkou fortress and had rich combat experience, Li Weiguo listened to Wu Yong's suggestion, in order to strengthen the defense of the Dantu, transferred Lin Yao to sit in the Dantu, and Wu Yong was the chief of staff of the Jiangdong battalion to assist Lin Yao to sit in the Dantu, with less than 4,000 elites and more than 10,000 recruits to hold the city, and the fierce attack of the 100,000 Eastern Expeditionary Army for a week was fierce, and the pressure was huge, which was unprecedented.

However, Shi Dakai was not happy, the elite of the 100,000 Taiping army broke thousands of people in Longtan Town, and in order to conquer the Dantu, the strong attack for seven days in a row, the casualties reached 18,000.

The most important thing is that Shi Dakai was under the huge pressure of Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing's edict to withdraw his troops, thinking that the capture of Dantu and approaching Shanghai would force Li Weiguo to withdraw his troops from Tianjing, but it backfired.

Kochi Town outside Dantu West City, the Taiping Army camp, and the Chinese Army Tent.

Shi Dakai walked back and forth with his hands behind his back.

On both sides of him were Li Xiucheng, Chen Yucheng, Wei Jun and other generals, and in front of him were the female officials sent by Hong Xiuquan, because there was no eunuch position in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Tianwang Mansion used female officials and palace maids as eunuchs, so it was the female officials who came to deliver the decree.

Of course, the female officials and palace maids who have recently entered the palace in the Tianwang Mansion are all delicate Jiangnan women, and they are not qualified to go out to deliver the decree, so the Hakka female soldiers who came to deliver the decree are the Hakka female soldiers who have followed Hong Xiuquan since he started the army in Guangxi.

The Hakka female soldier in front of her is called Song Jing, and Shi Dakai knows her. It is the person next to Hong Xuanjiao, and he has a good relationship with Shi Dakai, although he was ordered by Hong Xiuquan to come this time, there are also some things that Hong Xuanjiao explained to Shi Dakai.

After a long time, Shi Dakai frowned and asked, "You mean that Li Weiguo has captured Yuhuatai?" ”

Song Jing replied: "A day ago, Yuhuatai fell, General Chen Jiong and 20,000 Taiping army brothers were killed, and then Qin Rigang, the king of Yan, and Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, led their troops to try to recapture Yuhuatai, but all failed, and in order to save their troops, the king of the east and the king of Yan had to shrink their forces. Defend the city. Now the Shanghai army has set up hundreds of cannons on Yuhuatai, shelling day and night, and the four city walls of Jubaomen have been destroyed two and a half times. ”

Shi Dakai rubbed his temples and felt a great headache. It's not that he doesn't know the importance of Yuhuatai, Yuhuatai is the barrier of Tianjing, and losing Yuhuatai means that it will be difficult for Tianjing City to hold on for a few months, and with the momentum of Li Weiguo's 20,000 troops storming Jubaomen, it will be a little difficult to hold on for ten days.

Shi Dakai was entangled. If it is to return to Tianjing at this moment, then the 100,000-strong army will be declared a failure, and the loss of so many elites of the Taiping army will not be able to hold on. At this time, I am really unwilling to give up.

However, if he didn't give up, Tianjing was in danger. Hong Xiuquan has already issued three holy decrees in a row. If he disobeys the order and doesn't come back, he doesn't have to wait for the Hu army to kill him, Hong Xiuquan will do it first.

"I didn't expect this Li Weiguo to have two more hits. Then let me Shi Dakai lead the teaching! I hope he doesn't get too vegetable, otherwise he will defile the king's sword! ”

Chen Yucheng was secretly happy in his heart, and couldn't help but ask, "Your Royal Highness the Wing King, are you ready to return to the army to rescue Tianjing?" ”

Shi Dakai nodded, glared at Chen Yucheng, and said, "This is as you wish!" ”

Chen Yucheng was told the central matter, and he was immediately embarrassed.

Li Xiucheng didn't do it, he suffered a big loss in Lianshan before, and he wanted to find the Lianshan guard to take revenge, so he was naturally unwilling to retreat, and hurriedly said: "His Royal Highness the Wing King, we have been fighting the Dan disciples for a week, and we are about to take it, withdraw the troops at this time, so aren't our tens of thousands of brothers sacrificed in vain?" ”

Li Xiucheng is also very good at talking, and he suddenly talked about Shi Dakai's heart.

Shi Dakai's face darkened, he didn't know what he was thinking, he had a strategy, and quickly sneered: "Li Weiguo's move to encircle Wei and save Zhao seems to have succeeded now, and the Heavenly King issued three holy edicts in a row to order him to return to the army, and this king has to go back." However, Li Weiguo, a hairy boy, thinks that his treacherous plan has succeeded, how can this king let him get his wish? ”

Li Xiucheng hurriedly asked, "Your Royal Highness the Wing King, could it be that you already have arrangements?" ”

Shi Dakai sneered and said, "Since Li Weiguo is playing with this king to encircle Wei and save Zhao, then this king will give him a dark Chen Cang and let him suffer the consequences!" ”

After a pause, Shi Dakai continued: "Wei Jun, you lead the 10,000 soldiers and horses of your headquarters to continue to attack the Dantu, if you can break the city, it is naturally the best, if you can't break the city, you can retreat to Longtan Town." ”

"The last general obeys!" Wei Jun immediately received the order.

Shi Dakai continued to order: "Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng listened to the order, and this king handed over all the cavalry to you, and ordered you to lead the army to take the path, go out day and night, secretly copy the Xiaolingwei trail, and raid Yuhuatai." ”

Li Xiucheng was overjoyed when he heard this, he had already guessed Shi Dakai's intentions, and immediately responded: "The last general will take the order!" His Royal Highness the Wing King rest assured that the last general will live up to his mission, raid Yuhuatai, defeat the Shanghai army, and capture Li Weiguo alive! ”

Chen Yucheng said: "The last general thinks that if the cavalry attacks Yuhuatai, even if it is a surprise attack, I am afraid it will be difficult to achieve results, after all, Li Weiguo's 20,000 Shanghai troops can block the fierce attack of Dongfang and Yan Wang, and the fortifications must have been done a lot." ”

"Good!" Shi Dakai looked at Chen Yucheng and nodded with satisfaction, but he said confidently: "Yucheng thinks very comprehensively, but if this king guesses well, Li Weiguo will definitely give up Yuhuatai and then withdraw the army when he learns the news of our army's return, and you will carry out a cavalry raid on Li Weiguo's withdrawal route, and you will definitely win a big victory." ”

Hearing Shi Dakai's strategy, the generals' eyes lit up, this time they were frustrated again and again, they all held back their strength, if they could eliminate the main force of the 20,000 Shanghai army in one fell swoop and capture Li Weiguo alive, then they could export their evil anger.

The operational deployment was quickly developed and then implemented.

The next day, the Taiping army launched another large-scale offensive against the county town of Dantu, but was stubbornly resisted by the Shanghai army.

This was just a false move, the purpose was to confuse the Dantu Shanghai army, and the main force of the Taiping army retreated that night, and the Dantu Shanghai army only thought that the Taiping army was defeated and retired. Don't dare to slack off.

The next day, only 10,000 soldiers and horses of Wei Jun were left in the Taiping army camp, but flags were planted all over the place, pretending that the main force of the army was still there.

However, Wei Jun was conservative and knew that the Shanghai army was powerful, so he did not dare to send troops to attack Dantu, which made the pressure on the Dantu defenders suddenly a lot easier, but it also aroused Wu Yong's suspicions.

At the head of the city, Wu Yong and Lin Yao made an inspection. Seeing that the Taiping army's offensive had weakened significantly, he immediately became suspicious.

Wu Yong said thoughtfully: "I'm afraid Shi Dakai has already withdrawn his troops!" ”

Lin Yao hurriedly picked up the binoculars and observed the Taiping army camp, and then said, "The enemy army camp doesn't seem to have changed much!" You can see that not only is their cooking smoke not less, but more, which shows that they are increasing their troops again! ”

Wu Yong shook his head and explained: "If the smoke is more proof that they have increased their troops, then why have they weakened today's offensive? Our army is storming Jinling (Tianjing), and Hong Xiuquan's own troops are not enough. How could he increase Shi Dakai's troops? ”

Lin Yao is also a person who understands the art of war, so he immediately became suspicious and said, "If the enemy's main force has withdrawn, how will Mr. deal with it?" ”

Wu Yong thought for a while. said: "Shi Dakai uses troops like a god, even if he withdraws the army, there will be a back-up move, we need to be careful." In case there is fraud. ”

Lin Yao also agreed, so he discussed it with Wu Yong in detail and formulated a battle plan.

An hour later. 10,000 Shanghai soldiers were sent out from the city of Dantu, of which 1,500 were elite soldiers, and the rest were recruits.

This was Wu Yong's prudent strategy to test whether the main force of the Taiping army had withdrawn.

The soldiers were boundless, and 10,000 Shanghai troops set up a formation under the city, and the momentum was huge, and the main force of the Taiping Army fought a decisive battle.

Seeing that the Shanghai army took the initiative to occupy the city, Wei Jun was dumbfounded, Shi Dakai gave him a lot of coping strategies when he left, but he didn't expect that the main force of the Shanghai army would dare to go out of the city for a decisive battle. Yesterday, Wei Jun must have died of joy, because it was very difficult for the Taiping army to attack the Shanghai army that relied on the fortified city, but if it fought with the Shanghai army in the field, it would be relatively easy.

However, the main force of the Taiping army has quietly withdrawn, and there are only 10,000 troops in the huge military camp at this moment, and it is impossible to eat the 10,000 Shanghai troops on the opposite side no matter what.

Of course, Wei Jun didn't know that most of the 10,000 Shanghai troops were recruits with little combat effectiveness, and he was frightened by the strong combat effectiveness of the Shanghai army before, so he naturally didn't dare to send troops to meet them.

Wei Jun couldn't help but sigh with admiration, secretly saying that there were indeed masters in the Shanghai army, and arranging the main force to fight in this way, whether it was accepted or rejected, would expose the fact that the main force of the Taiping Army had withdrawn.

Faced with this situation, Wei Jun could only hold on to the camp to prevent the Shanghai army from attacking.

At the head of the city, Wu Yong and Lin Yao glanced at each other, and sure enough, they tried to find out whether it was true or false.

Lin Yao hurriedly called his own soldiers and ordered: "Quickly fly the pigeon to pass the book to the lord, tell him that Shi Dakai has withdrawn!" ”

When the soldiers left, Lin Yao turned to Wu Yong again and asked, "If Mr. hadn't seen the problem, Lin Yao would have almost missed a big deal!" ”

Wu Yong said with a smile: "Shi Dakai is resourceful, I just had a feeling at the beginning, and I was not sure!" ”

Lin Yao said: "No matter what, Shi Dakai withdrew his troops, and the adult's plan finally succeeded!" What do we do next? ”

Wu Yong replied: "Next, we still take sticking to the Dantu as the main task, although Shi Dakai has withdrawn the army, but the soldiers do not mean that he will not kill the horse pistol, the Dantu is the gateway of my Jiangdong, there is no room for loss, be careful!" ”

Lin Yao said unwillingly: "But don't we have 10,000 recruits?" After all, there are only 20,000 soldiers and horses in the hands of adults, and the Taiping army is several times larger than adults. ”

Wu Yong shook his head and said, "Ambush Shi Dakai halfway, the adults didn't want to annihilate the other party from the beginning, just hit them hard!" If General Ruolin wants to make meritorious contributions, it is not impossible, just wait until the East China Sea Fleet arrives, advance by land and water, and eat the soldiers and horses left by Shi Dakai, it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of people. ”

Lin Yao's eyes lit up, and he suddenly became happy.

Shi Dakai secretly returned to Tianjing, carefully planned, on the surface, Chen Yucheng led the soldiers in disguise to take the main road to attract the attention of the Shanghai army, but secretly sent Li Xiucheng to lead 20,000 cavalry to take the small road and rush to Yuhuatai.

At the same time, Li Weiguo arranged a small number of suspicious troops in Yuhuatai to attract the attention of the Taiping army, and secretly sent Zhang Xiaoliu and Chen Jingnan to lead the main force of the Shanghai army to ambush Shi Dakai.

Whether it was Shi Dakai or Li Weiguo, the two of them were doing everything possible to calculate each other, and as a result, a battle that was unexpected by the two began.

In Yuhuatai, Li Weiguo received a message from the flying pigeon, knowing that Shi Dakai had withdrawn his troops, calculating the time, and should pass through Liyu Mountain tomorrow.

"Little Liuzi, they should have already laid an ambush in Liyu Mountain!"

"Hmph, Shi Dakai, even if you are a world-famous general, it is not in the hands of my Li Weiguo!"

Li Weiguo said to himself, thinking that Shi Dakai, a famous general in modern history, was about to be defeated by him, he was suddenly very excited, and immediately deployed the withdrawal of troops.

The next day, according to the usual practice, Li Weiguo ordered the artillery to bombard Jubaomen and made another feint, which frightened the Taiping army's courage to the ground.

After the feint, Li Weiguo immediately ordered the withdrawal of the army, with the artillery taking the lead and the infantry following.

However, Li Weiguo would not easily hand over Yuhuatai to the Taiping army, so he destroyed all the fortifications, planted explosives, and sent people to secretly control it, and once the Taiping army boarded Yuhuatai, it would be detonated.

It's just that most of the days have passed since Li Weiguo retreated, but he didn't see the Taiping army in Tianjing City sending people to Yuhuatai to investigate.

Li Weiguo also chuckled when he heard the report of his subordinates on the way, knowing that the Taiping army had been frightened by the Shanghai army after this battle, and he was happy in his heart.

When the army marched all the way to the vicinity of Qinglong Mountain, Li Weiguo was startled by the sudden sound of gunfire, and immediately reined in his horse.

Then a rapid trumpet sounded, which was a warning signal for the Shanghai army scouts in case of an emergency.

"Report, rebel cavalry spotted in the northeast! The number is unknown, but the mountains are all over the country to kill this way! ”

When Li Weiguo heard this, his heart suddenly sank to the bottom, although he didn't know how many cavalry the Taiping Army came, but just one mountain and field was enough to show that there were more than 10,000 cavalry attacking.

There are more than 10,000 soldiers, especially cavalry, once they exceed 10,000, the impact will be very terrifying.

If you are prepared in peacetime, with the 5,000 Shanghai troops in your hands, there is no problem in blocking more than 10,000 cavalry. But now the Shanghai army is passing through Qinglong Mountain, the road is narrow, the line is several miles long, the depth is too long, the opponent's cavalry is very fast, once it is blocked by the cavalry, the consequences are unimaginable.

"Order the front artillery to quickly blow up all artillery and ammunition, advance lightly, not allowed to return to help, and quickly go to the Jiangnan camp!"

"Order the Jiangnan battalion to do a good job of defense, and not to come for reinforcements!"

"Order the rear team to assemble quickly, form a circular position on the spot with five hundred people, and meet the enemy cavalry!" (To be continued......)