"Rush!"

"Kill foreign devils!"

On the banks of the Suzhou Creek, the sound of cannons roared and the shouts of killing continued.

The officers and men of Shanghai braved the enemy's bullets and bullets and charged forward fiercely.

"Brothers, give me a hard rush, kill a foreign devil and reward five yuan, kill an officer and reward fifty yuan, if anyone kills the commander of a foreign devil, the official will be promoted to three levels!"

Next to the Suzhou Bridge, Song Yunhan, the commander of the second town of the Shanghai Army's B Army, stood on his horse, laughing and constantly encouraging his officers and soldiers.

Hearing the division commander's personal promise, the officers and soldiers of the second town suddenly rushed forward with a scream, as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.

At this time, Lin Kecheng, the platoon commander of the 325th platoon of the 4th town of the Shanghai Army's A Regiment, who came to assist in the battle, came over with 14 soldiers from his second squad, three of whom were wounded.

Lin Kecheng has completed the task, and only fifteen people took the Suzhou Bridge, and it only took ten minutes before and after.

This is a surprising achievement.

Especially Song Yunhan, seeing Lin Kecheng and the others coming over at this moment, he no longer had the anger and dissatisfaction he had before, because if he was replaced by his subordinates, I am afraid that he would not pay the price of hundreds of people, and he would not be able to do it for a few hours.

"Congratulations to Platoon Commander Lin, it's really a member of the A Legion, it's amazing, I, Song Yunhan, have learned it, admire!"

Being able to say the word admiration from Song Yunhan's mouth, and a master commander saying such a thing to a small platoon commander was enough to make Lin Kecheng and the others excited.

However, Lin Kecheng's words soon made Song Yunhan unhappy again.

"Division Commander Song, please don't forget the mission of your department, you promised your subordinates like this, I'm afraid that the foreign army in the concession will be defeated by then!"

When Song Yunhan heard this, his face immediately darkened, and he said: "I said Platoon Commander Lin, I was quite happy that you won Suzhou Bridge, and I was thinking about asking you for credit, but you didn't give me face." What do you mean by that? Why, the officers and soldiers of my second town can't defeat the foreign army? ”

Lin Kecheng smiled bitterly and said, "Master Song misunderstood, I didn't mean that?" ”

"And what do you mean?" Song Yunhan is obviously going to go crazy again.

"Master Song is angry! I don't think Platoon Commander Lin meant that! Wu Qin, the chief of staff on the side, hurriedly stood up and persuaded him.

The official level crushed people to death, not to mention that Song Yunhan's official position was five or six levels greater than Lin Kecheng's, Lin Kecheng didn't want to touch his head, so he hurriedly explained: "Master Song, don't be angry, I fully believe that your department can easily defeat the foreign army in the concession, but the problem is that only about 1,000 of these foreign troops are the regular army of Britain and France, and the rest are citizens of all countries in the concession who are temporarily recruited." Once they are defeated, they will hide in residential areas, and then we will not be able to catch them all, and we will leave a huge hidden danger! ”

Lin Kecheng's words were specially told to him by Chen Liang before he came, so he had to tell Song Yunhan and remind him not to miss the right thing.

Song Yunhan's anger will affect his normal thinking, which is why he also nominated the division commander of the first-line A army with Chen Liang, and finally Chen Liang succeeded, but Song Yunhan was assigned to the B army as the division commander. A person whose anger affects his judgment is obviously impossible to go to the front line.

Sure enough, Song Yunhan said unconvinced: "That's not easy, let's attack the residential area directly." Anyway, none of these foreigners have a good thing, so it doesn't matter if they are killed together. ”

Lin Kecheng shook his head and said, "That's not good, if Senior Song does that." The first to frustrate must be our Commander-in-Chief. ”

Song Yunhan was stunned for a moment, as soon as he heard the three words of the commander-in-chief, he would think of the sternness and ruthlessness hidden under Li Weiguo's harmless and smiling face. It made him break out in a cold sweat, and the anger level, which was originally on the rise, quickly began to fall back to its normal state.

One thing descends one thing, which probably refers to this situation.

"Commander-in-chief, does he have any explanation?"

The tone changed obviously, Lin Kecheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, it was good to move Li Weiguo out, otherwise I am afraid that it would be a big mistake.

As chief of staff, he is responsible for the ideology and politics of the army, and he knows Li Weiguo's attitude and principles toward army management best, so he explained: "The commander-in-chief has always issued repeated orders, and all the commanders and fighters of our Shanghai army need to keep in mind the three major disciplines and eight points of attention at all times, and treat their own people as well as foreigners. You must know that foreigners attach great importance to such a thing as the massacre of civilians, and once the Shanghai army massacres foreigners and civilians, it will have a serious international impact, and the Shanghai army will become an international public enemy. ”

Song Yunhan quickly calmed down, and suddenly was afraid of his thighs, and said: "I said that Chen Liang hates foreigners the most on weekdays, and he can't wait to slaughter all the foreigners in Shanghai. At first, I thought that this cargo would not be able to capture the concession, but now I understand that this cargo has long known that once the concession is breached, a large number of foreign troops will quickly sneak into the houses, so that there will be no way to kill them, and if they forcibly attack residential areas and kill people, the commander-in-chief will definitely punish this goods severely. ”

Lin Kecheng was also drunk when he heard Song Yunhan call Chen Liang a mouthful of this and this goods, but Song Yunhan was able to quickly share the power of this, and it was not in vain that he could be the head of a division, and he still had brains.

"That's right, that's what our division commander meant, once the foreign army is defeated and most of the people become ordinary people again, we can't attack them. That's why our division commander asked your troops to raid the concession to stimulate the foreigners, and then the defeat of the foreign costume led them all out, so that outside our fourth town can quickly encircle and annihilate them, so that none of them can return to the concession alive! ”

Song Yunhan nodded and said, "I knew that Chen Liang hated foreigners so much, and he finally caught an opportunity to kill foreigners, how could he let it go easily!" ”

Lin Kecheng immediately said: "Then did Division Commander Song let your troops ......?"

"That's it! I know, I also hate foreigners, and I won't make a mistake! Song Yunhan interrupted Lin Kecheng's words, turned his head and said to his own soldiers: "Pass my order, let the brothers in front slow down their attacks, and once they encounter a counterattack by the foreigners' army, quickly retreat!" ”

The soldiers immediately went to give the order, and Song Yunhan had no intention of continuing to supervise the battle, anyway, he was pretending to be defeated, and the division commander who "ate the defeat" did not have the face to explain to his subordinates, so he immediately rode away.

The next battle was commanded by Wu Qin, and the play still had to be performed. And in order to play well, it is necessary to make the foreign army think that the Shanghai army is vulnerable.

At the same time, outside the British Legation, William was gathering troops, and more than 10,000 concession self-defense forces under his command formed a battle formation and began to counterattack.

"The county town of Shanghai is high and deep, and the defense is tight, I was thinking about how to break through the county seat of Shanghai, but I didn't expect the Shanghai army to take the initiative to come out!"

"It's for the best. The main force of the Shanghai army came out, and was about to give us the opportunity to defeat them head-on, and then the army directly attacked Shanghai! ”

William swore that the officers around him were overjoyed, but Pete had a cold face, not optimistic that a group of rabble would be able to defeat the Shanghai army and seize Shanghai.

He couldn't help but say: "It only took more than ten minutes for the Shanghai army to seize the Suzhou Creek Bridge, and now they have entered the concession, which shows how strong their combat effectiveness is, and it would be good if you could hold the concession." Still thinking about capturing the county seat of Shanghai? Hum! ”

Hearing Pete's words, William's face suddenly darkened.

"Pete, I just want you to see how I beat the Shanghai Army! If I win. You have to apologize to me! ”

Pete snorted coldly again, and kind of agreed.

At this time, more than 10,000 concession self-defense forces restored order under the management of their respective commanders. Along the main street, row after row towards the Suzhou Creek Bridge.

Soon, the Concession Self-Defense Force and the Shanghai Army encountered. Both sides lined up in a neat formation, firing at each other as they marched forward.

Bang bang!

Bang bang!

Bursts of gunfire spewed puffs of black smoke, rows of bullets were fired at each other in a dense manner, and those who were shot continued to fall.

In the blink of an eye, the streets were filled with gunsmoke, obscuring the sky and the sun.

In the era of muskets, the queues fought often in open areas, which was conducive to the smoke being blown away by the wind and did not affect the firing range, but now the two sides are blocked in narrow streets, and the smoke is enveloped by tall buildings on both sides for a long time, and soon the soldiers on both sides cannot see each other clearly.

But it doesn't matter if you can't see clearly, the musket queue is fighting, and most of the front-loading smoothbore guns used on both sides have no accuracy to speak of, and they all rely on the density of fire to win.

Of course, among the Concession Self-Defense Forces, 1,000 British and French troops used the latest front-loading rifled guns, the British army used P1853 rifled guns, and the French army used Bourmani to fire front-loading rifled guns (known as Minnie in China), these two muskets shined in the Crimean War and became the standard equipment of the British and French armies, and began to equip the army on a large scale.

However, the soldiers temporarily recruited in other concessions did not have that treatment, and they naturally used the P1842 front-loading smoothbore gun or the P1851 front-loading smoothbore gun (a modification of the P1842), which was basically the same as the weapon used by the second-line army of the Shanghai Army, and there was not much difference.

The two sides exchanged fierce fire, and even a close-range white-knuckle battle broke out at one point, with casualties on each other.

But soon, some people in the Shanghai army shouted and shouted.

"The foreign devils are so powerful, we can't beat them!"

"Oops, the brothers are dead, let's get out!"

This was deliberately shouted by the Shanghai army, the purpose was to make the foreigners on the opposite side think that the Shanghai army could not be defeated and was ready to retreat.

Soon, the Shanghai army began to retreat on a large scale, ostensibly chaotic, but in fact very orderly, but left behind military hats, military boots, broken muskets and ammunition, and a number of corpses killed in the fierce battle.

William was very nervous, and he didn't dare to make sure that he could defeat the Shanghai army, don't look at him and Pete are angry, but he is not a fool.

It wasn't until William got that the Shanghai army couldn't defeat the large-scale rout, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, glared at Pete next to him fiercely, and sneered: "How is it?" The incomparably powerful Shanghai army in your mouth has been defeated on all fronts! ”

Pete frowned, he had a question, in his eyes, the combat effectiveness of the Shanghai Army was very strong, because he personally watched the battle in which the Shanghai Army completely annihilated the US Asian Fleet and the US Marine Corps three years ago, and the combat effectiveness of the Shanghai Army three years ago was about to catch up with the elite of the British Army that had been trained for more than ten years.

It's greasy!

Pete thought so, but the smoke in front of him, coupled with the obstruction of buildings, could not see the specific situation of the retreat of the Shanghai army at all, and could not judge.

Looking at William's triumphant expression, Pete snorted coldly and was silent.

William didn't intend to listen to Pete's apology, and at this moment, seeing that Pete was deflated and couldn't refute it, his heart was also happy.

"Pass my orders! Don't let go of a soldier of the Shanghai Army, give me a hard beating, let's go into the county town of Shanghai together, gold, silver, treasures and women, all ours! ”

William's shout immediately aroused the fighting spirit of everyone in the Concession Self-Defense Force.

These people joined the Self-Defense Forces for something, not to rob money and women.

"I want treasure!"

"I want a woman!"

"I want them all!"

……

The foreigners suddenly became excited, shouted one after another, and chased after the Shanghai army.

Pete was shocked and couldn't help but say: "William, you are crazy, if you encourage them like this, you will break up the battle formation!" ”

William snorted coldly and asked rhetorically, "Are you willing to do it?" You don't know if this will break up the formation? ”

Pete was stunned for a moment, and quickly understood that William had no choice, after all, this Concession Self-Defense Force was not an army, and the people who had been put together temporarily, if they were not encouraged to have benefits, they would definitely not work hard.

In fact, it is exactly like this, Westerners are like this, not to mention these ordinary foreigners who are mercenary, even the British army will break out of formation in battle to rob the property left by the enemy. In the Anglo-Spanish naval battles in history, during the war, a large number of British warships broke away from the fleet to snatch Spanish warships.

"But have you ever thought about it, they can maintain this state under the premise of victory, but once they are stubbornly blocked or counterattacked by the enemy, they will be vulnerable and will collapse at the first touch!"

"You don't need to remind you! I understand! William snorted coldly and said indifferently: "Don't forget, now the British, French and American forces should have begun to attack, and the marines of the three countries are estimated to have landed, we just cooperate, it won't be long before we will join the division, are you still afraid of the Shanghai army counterattacking when the time comes?" ”

William's words made sense, and Pete couldn't refute them, so he had to keep his mouth shut.

"Report - Sir William, the Shanghai army has been defeated, the Suzhou Bridge has been recaptured by us, and the forward troops are pursuing the enemy's rout!"

"What?" William and Pete were both shocked, a little incredulous to regain the Suzhou Bridge so quickly.

"Beware of the enemy's ambush! Li Weiguo is the most cunning! He just likes to play with intrigues! Pete hurriedly reminded.

William was nervous again, and as a commander, of course he would be worried about being ambushed.

Soon, however, another piece of news came.

"Report - Sir William, the forward troops have destroyed the artillery unit of the Shanghai army, there is a whole artillery battalion, there are more than thirty cannons, the Shanghai army has not had time to blow up the artillery and fled, and some Shanghai soldiers have been captured by us, do you want to shoot them!"

As soon as he heard this, William was immediately relieved, so he said: "Don't shoot the prisoners, take them back, find a house and lock them up!" ”

"Yes!"

The heralds left, William couldn't sit still, the forward progress was too fast, and he had to go to the front to command.

Pete was confused, he couldn't figure out how the Shanghai army could be so vulnerable. He also suspected fraud before, but when he heard that the Shanghai army had even lost the artillery battalion, it was impossible if it was not a big rout.

You must know that both sides are engaged in musket battles, and the role of artillery is huge, after all, there is no artillery in the current concession, and the 36 artillery pieces are of great significance to the concession self-defense forces, and they can be used to directly attack the county seat of Shanghai.

"Li Weiguo, what are you going to do?" (To be continued......)