Updated: 202-07-0

On the afternoon of 25 October, Lin Shenhe commanded the foreign spearmen to completely control the outside of the North Gate, and many small cannons bombarded the North Gate Tower from time to time, so that no one dared to take the lead in the small knives on the city tower. Many civilians helped to tidy up the site, dig artillery positions, and all three 2-pounder cannons were in place. In the evening, in order to cooperate with the capture of Wusongkou, Lin Shenhe ordered six 2-pounder cannons to bombard the western section of the city wall of the north gate of Shanghai together, and used the rumbling cannon sound to cover the gunfire of Wusongkou.

At first, the city of Shanghai didn't care at all, and Xiaodao would think that as long as he was careful, the Qing Demon would not be able to make any waves. But the shelling, although not fast-paced, was continuous. After it was completely dark, the Qing army's shelling continued unhurriedly and showed no signs of stopping. The soldiers and civilians in Shanghai began to have some commotion, which also caused Liu Lichuan, the leader of the Little Knife Society, to be highly vigilant, and he ordered the whole army to be on guard to prevent the Qing army from attacking the city, and personally rushed to the north gate to inspect the battle situation and calm the people's hearts.

In the area where the north gate was shelled, all the guards on the city have withdrawn. Because of the ferocity of the artillery, the knives on and near the north wall are now withdrawn and withdrawn into the inner trenches of the earthen ramparts. This moat was built in order to prevent the Qing army from breaking into the city, and the knife would be dug up secretly.

Liu Lichuan and others hid behind the earthen ramparts to find out the situation of the army's artillery bombardment. I saw that the Qing army was not in a hurry, and smashed more than 10 kilograms of large iron bullets into the west section of the north gate city wall with one cannon after another. After a loud bang, smoke suddenly rose into the sky, and bricks and stones and clods of earth flew everywhere. Jumping over the head of the city into the rubble of the city, smashing the houses by the city wall full of holes, smashing into the open ground and jumping up and continuing to fly, after touching it, he was not killed or injured. The originally very strong city wall shook slightly, more than a dozen battlements had been blown down, several small cannons on the head of the city were all blown down, and two small cannons were lifted off the city and smashed to the ground.

Liu Lichuan suddenly felt bad, although he didn't know when the shelling would stop, but he knew that if the Qing army continued to bombard, he was afraid that in less than an hour, this section of the city wall would collapse. He immediately ordered the troops guarding the north gate to use shields, door panels, etc., to carry dirt bags, masonry and stones, and completely block the north gate as soon as possible.

Liu Lichuan immediately summoned his right-hand men to discuss countermeasures on the spot.

Lin Afu, the right deputy marshal of the Little Knife Society, shook his head again and again, "It can't go on like this, strict defense can only be passively beaten, and the city wall will be bombarded, and Shanghai City will be in danger!" ”

Lin Afu is also the leader of the Fujian Gang, and in the future of the Little Knife Society, the Min Gang has always advocated attacking the city and plundering land, while Liu Lichuan's Guangdong Gang is resolutely advocating defending the city.

Pan Qiliang, the leader of the Bailong Gang, is the Flying Tiger General of the Little Knife Society, and in the rebel army, the courage is only inferior to Marshal Zuo Chen Alin, who is fierce and good at fighting, and is as famous as the female general Zhou Xiuying. He proposed that it would be best to send a group of men and horses to bypass the other city gates, and use the cover of darkness to attack and destroy the Qing army's foreign artillery from the flank.

This method is good, and the confidence of the people to defend the city is suddenly high, but who will they send?

Pan Qiliang volunteered to go, "This idea is mine, or I'll go." There are more than 200 brothers under my command, and all of them are good men who kill Qing demons. ”

Pan Qiliang has always been brave and alert, and he will succeed when he goes out. Everyone's tightly knit brows suddenly relaxed.

Liu Lichuan thought about it and felt that it was not appropriate. He believes that this attack is related to the life and death of Shanghai City. Pan Qiliang's 200 men seem to be a little less, and the Knife Society should mobilize its vital forces to march in two directions from the direction of the small east gate and the west gate to flank the Qing artillery team.

Liu Lichuan's deputy, Marshal Zuo Chen Alin raised an objection, "Night attacks, soldiers are noble, there are not many, there are many people, and the noisy past has disturbed the Qing demon, but it has made a mistake." ”

Chen Alin proposed to take Pan Qiliang's 200 people as one way, and then send a team of brave and good men and horses to the other way. The two elite soldiers are better than the large team.

"Then there are only Zhou Xiuying's people!"

As soon as Chen Alin's words came out, everyone suddenly thought of Zhou Xiuying in their hearts.

"Hey, what about Zhou Xiuying? Why didn't she come to the meeting? A few people looked around and found that Zhou Xiuying did not attend the meeting.

At this moment, the "booming" artillery sound disappeared, and the shelling of the Qing army stopped.

"What's the matter, the demon's cannon is dumb?"

After waiting for a while, the Qing army did not seem to show signs of resuming shelling.

Liu Lichuan hurriedly sent people to climb the north gate tower to watch out for the enemy. Outside the north gate, it was quiet, the lights of the Qing army camp in the distance were dim, and in the dark night, there was no movement of the Qing army.

"Haha, I said. This cannon has a lifespan, and if it is fired for such a long time, the barrel will explode. ”

"The Qing demon is tossing blindly, the cannon must have been damaged."

"Our knife will accept God's protection, and the Qing Demon is completely in vain."

It turned out to be a false alarm, Liu Lichuan wiped the sweat on his forehead with his hand, but he was still a little uneasy, risked being shelled, and climbed the city wall himself.

The night was hazy, the area near the city wall was dark and rumbling, nothing was visible, and the lights of the Qing army camp in the distance were a little dim, compared to the lights in the direction of the concession were much brighter. Liu Lichuan sighed softly, a little melancholy in her heart.

Chen Alin and Pan Qiliang stood beside Liu Lichuan, and Chen Alin asked Liu Lichuan gently, "Do you want to go to a sneak attack tonight?" ”

"The enemy situation is unknown!"

Liu Lichuan had a headache, and he groaned slightly, "You can't let the Qing Demon bombard in vain." General Pan, you first send two people to go down from the city wall with ropes to find out the situation on the Qing demon's side. If we have the chance, we will kill them. ”

By the time Liu Lichuan returned to the Generalissimo's Mansion from the north gate, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening. The Dianchun Hall in the Marshal's Mansion was the military cardinal of the Little Knife Society, and Liu Lichuan sat down in the chair, he just took a breath.

"Big Chief, it's not good! Oh no! I saw Li Shaoxi stumbling in.

Li Shaoxi, a fellow villager in Guangdong, ran in angrily, Liu Lichuan was very unhappy, he slapped the table, "Yelling, what do you want to do!" After a busy night, Liu Lichuan was holding back the anger in his stomach, "We used to be the Ming Kingdom, and now we are the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." This is the Dianchun Hall, which is the same thing as the White Tiger Festival Hall that Lin Chong mistakenly entered. Go out, report and come back in. ”

Liu Lichuan's adjutant couldn't help but say something, so he drove Li Shaoxi out of the door.

Li Shaoxi is so angry, everyone was originally a fellow Guangdong villager who went to Shanghai Beach together. This Brother Liu has been the generalissimo for a few days, and he has changed his face, no matter what, he is also the leader of the Jiaying Gang, and he can be regarded as the backbone of the Little Knife Society.

Li Shaoxi wanted to turn around and run immediately, but the situation was urgent, he stomped his feet, and still reported outside the door, asking to see the generalissimo.

When Li Shaoxi saluted in a proper manner, Liu Lichuan nodded, "This is like the words, since we are officials now, we must have the appearance of officials, and we can't let people laugh at our monkeys and crown, not like an official." ”

Li Shaoxi ran out of breath, and he was out of breath when he spoke, "Report ~~ Sue the Generalissimo ~~, Zhou Xiuying~~ Zhou Xiuying~~"

"Say, what about Zhou Xiuying."

Li Shaoxi gasped a few times, opened his mouth and was about to speak, Liu Lichuan waved his hand, "Don't say it!" I know you're a bad idea to hit Zhou Xiuying again. As a result, I touched a nose of ash. ”

Li Shaoxi's mouth opened and he didn't speak.

Liu Lichuan got up and walked around the room, "Li Shaoxi, Li Shaoxi, what do I say about you." You're a bit of a good guy, a big-footed female doll that deserves your stunt all day. ”

Li Shaoxi finally opened his mouth with difficulty, "No, I didn't have it this time." It's them, it's them~~"

"Them?"

"They've killed the heralds, and they're probably going to be out of town tonight!"

"What?" Liu Lichuan was suddenly shocked, "You say it again?" ”

The small east gate was defended by Li Shaoxi and his Jiaying Gang. In the evening, Li Shaoxi and several of his good brothers went to dinner. The Jiaying Gang has a house in the east gate, and this courtyard is a place used by the leaders of the Jiaying Gang to eat, drink and have fun, and most of Li Shaoxi and others have dinner here.

Jiaying, who was guarding the city, helped the little brother and the team of the Qingpu Righteous Army was a little curious, "Deputy General Tan, what's the matter, so many of your family members are in a hurry to get out of the city." ”

"Get out of the way, get out of the way!" Tan Fusheng looked anxious, "Plague." Our general Zhou's younger brother vomited and diarrhea, and the Tulang in the army said that he was infected with the plague. I heard that there was a foreign doctor in the concession who was of a very high level, so I simply asked my family members to go to check it out, just in case. ”

As soon as it was said that it was a plague, a group of people guarding the city gate hurriedly flashed aside. Zhou Xiuying sent her younger brother and other families of the Qingpu Rebels out of Xiaodongmen. In the rumbling cannon, all the families of the Qingpu rebels got on the sand boats. After unloading a few boxes of ammunition, the boat turned around and headed downstream.

Zhou Xiuying walked downstream with the sand boat, unwilling to leave the dock for a long time.

"Go back, if everything goes well, you will be able to meet your brother in Zhoushan tomorrow." Fu Baichen urged on the side, "The Qing army has begun to shell the north gate wall, you must immediately explain the situation to the brothers, and distribute these guns and bullets." ”

The Hujiang Theater, near the Xiaodongmen, was the garrison of the Qingpu Rebels, and Zhou Xiuying asked Bao Desheng to lead a few of his own men to guard the gate, and then convened a meeting of the brothers.

The night was already thick, and the rumbling of cannons could be heard from time to time in the direction of the north gate. More than a dozen candles were lit in the theater garden, Zhou Xiuying and several leaders and Fu Baichen and others stood on the stage, in front of them were several boxes of guns and bullets, and more than 200 Qingpu brothers gathered under the stage in a chaotic manner, and all the Minnie guns were on their backs.

"Great, the bullets are finally here."

"TNND, after holding back for so long, let the Qing Demon taste our power."

Because Fu Baichen was an outsider, many people looked at Fu Baichen on the stage with surprised eyes.

"Everybody's quiet, everybody's quiet! Outside there was also a cannon fire. Tan Fusheng roared, "Brothers, please ask General Zhou to give a lecture." ”

Zhou Xiuying said loudly: "Brothers, we are all heroes of the Heaven and Earth Society, and we all worship the second master. Everyone said yes! ”

"Yes, we all swore in front of Second Master Guan!" The brethren below immediately all cried out.

"However, now some people don't let us worship the Bodhisattva, worship Laojun, and worship Guan Erye. We are only allowed to worship the gods of foreign devils. What do you say? ”

"It's not going to work!" "This can't be done!" "We're going to worship the Bodhisattva!" "We're going to worship Lao Jun!" "We're going to worship Second Master Guan!" ”

The opera garden suddenly boiled, most of these brothers are natives of Qingpu crops, praying to God and worshiping Buddha is a habit in their bones, and they have always adopted an attitude of worshipping Yang and Yin against Yang to believe in foreign Bodhisattvas.

Hearing the discussion below, Zhou Xiuying said loudly, "Brothers, we have been guarding this city for more than a year, and now we can no longer defend it. Do you hear the sound of artillery outside! The walls could collapse at any moment. I'm going to lead everyone out tonight. Zhou Xiuying bluntly told everyone that fighting a war pays attention to the right time, place and people, and the knife will be trapped in Shanghai City There is no time at all; Most of the team members came to Shanghai to seek a living, and rarely received the support of Shanghai locals; There are many internal gangs and scattered sand, and defending the city can only be a dead end.

As soon as Zhou Xiuying's words were finished, a voice came from the crowd, "Where are we going?" ”

"The Ming army has occupied Zhoushan, let's vote for the Ming Dynasty!" Zhou Xiuying pointed at Fu Baichen, "This is the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming army will meet us by water tonight." ”

At this time, a person came running from outside, and he ran up to the stage and whispered to Tan Fusheng.

The eyes of many people in the venue suddenly focused on Tan Fusheng.

"It's okay, it's okay, the Qing demon shelled the north gate city wall, and Liu Lichuan asked General Zhou to discuss the military situation." Tan Fu gave birth to Zhou Xiuying, "Do you want to go?" ”

"Ignore it, let's move on!"

After a while, another brother ran in from outside, "General, Bao Xianfeng killed the herald, but was discovered by Li Shaoxi." ”

The brothers in the audience suddenly had some commotion.

"Panic what! Let's act now. Zhou Xiuying shouted, she immediately picked up her Minnie gun, and said to Lin Aming, who was in charge of general affairs, "Quick! Immediately fire. ”