On September 18, 1853 in the third year of Xianfeng, on October 20, 1853, there was a surge of people outside the north gate of Shanghai.

Among the crowd were Su Songtai's military equipment, Wu Jianzhang, who supervised the Jiangnan Customs Road, and other cultural relics officials in the Shanghai area.

On the other side are the officers of Yu Shengjun, led by Lin Zhe, who are different from the new military uniforms they usually wear, and these officers are now wearing traditional official robes one by one.

After all, Yu Shengjun's new military uniform is just an internal combat uniform, which is similar in nature to armor and battle robes, and their official uniforms are still those traditional official uniforms.

In this kind of formal occasion to greet Shangguan, even Lin Zhe, who had a disdainful attitude towards the Qing court in his heart, had to wear this zombie official uniform.

It was already late autumn, and the cool river breeze was blowing slowly from the east, but it did not make the waiting officials sweat.

It was noon, and Xu Naizhao, who had been waiting for a long time, finally arrived outside the north gate of Shanghai.

Seeing that Xu Naizhao had arrived, Lin Zhe, Wu Jianzhang and others immediately led their subordinates to greet them, and the third-grade candidate Dao Lin Zhe, who had the highest grade among the people, walked at the forefront.

"Xu Futai has worked hard all the way!" Lin Zheshang looked at this Xu Naizhao carefully, this person was in his fifties and wore the official robe of a second-class official, like many high-ranking officials, from this person's appearance, it was difficult to see this person's true character or thoughts.

When Lin Zhe looked at this Xu Naizhao, Xu Naizhao also squinted at the young commander of the Yu Shengjun.

For Lin Zhe, Xu Naizhao, who is in a high position, naturally knows more than others, since Lin Zhe led the army north to Huzhou, Changxing and the Taiping Army fought for the first time, Lin Zhe's name has been known by Xu Naizhao.

Subsequently, Lin Zhe fought successively in Guangde, Si'an and the Taiping army, and won a great victory with fewer victories, successfully defeating the southward offensive of one army of the Taiping army.

These battles not only allowed Lin Zhe to gain the attention of Huang Zonghan, but also made Lin Zhe rise from the fourth rank to the third rank for him, but also made his name widely spread in the officialdom in the Jiangnan area.

After all, the Jiangnan region was the main area where the Qing army and the Taiping army fought against each other, and there were countless battles of all sizes, and the Qing army has always lost more than won too little.

For the combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army, Xu Naizhao has an intuitive experience.

Because he is not only the governor of Jiangsu, but also the assistant of the Jiangnan battalion, although he is a civilian official, he has also led the army to fight many times, and once tried to recover Zhenjiang, but finally failed miserably, Xu Naizhao, who has fought many times in the Taiping army, knows very well: Those thieves are not easy to fight!

However, this Lin Zhe won more with less in northern Zhejiang, and won successive battles, although Lin Zhe's small military victory in northern Zhejiang did not change the overall disadvantage of the Qing army in the southern part of the Yangtze River.

But in the environment of a fiasco of the Qing army, Lin Zhe's victory is very outstanding, in fact, not only Huang Zonghan attaches importance to him, Xu Naizhao pays attention to him, in fact, many governors and bigwigs in Jiangnan officialdom remember Lin Zhe and his Yu Shengjun.

If he didn't have an understanding of Lin Zhe and Yu Shengjun's previous records, Xu Naizhao would not have spent a lot of money to invite Lin Zhe's Yu Shengjun to Shanghai to fight the knife club.

And the facts once again proved that this Lin Zhe's Yu Shengjun can fight.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Shanghai Xiaodaohui rebel army is far inferior to that of the regular Taiping army, and even the Qing army, they are outnumbered, and the ordinary green battalion of the Qing army is also very difficult to fight against them.

At least when Xu Naizhao sent a partial division to attack Jiading before, he was attacked head-on by the rebel army of the Little Knife Society and had to be defeated.

If Yu Shengjun had not come to Shanghai, the current 3,000 people would definitely not be enough with Xu Naizhao's green battalion soldiers, at least they would have to continue to draw Qing troops from the Jiangnan camp and the periphery of Zhenjiang, and it would have been impossible to recover Shanghai in a short time without tens of thousands of people.

However, after Lin Zhe came to the Shanghai area, with only the remnant army of more than 1,000 people under his command, he fought successively, and when he attacked Qingpu, Jiading and other cities, it was almost effortless.

Then the attack on Shanghai, although it lasted four or five days, the actual siege was only one morning, and most of this morning was to push those mobile high platforms forward.

The real siege battle time is no more than an hour before and after, and the continuous battle after entering the city is also mainly clearing.

Xu Naizhao didn't know these details, but what he did know was that Lin Zhe once again proved the strong combat power of the Yu Shengjun under his command, and more than 1,000 people conquered Shanghai in just a few days, crushing tens of thousands of enemy troops and killing and wounding more than 1,000 people.

This kind of record can be said to have amazed Xu Naizhao!

And looking at this young man now, Xu Naizhao secretly said in his heart: This young man is not simple!

The greeting at the city gate was just a passing scene, and it was impossible for Lin Zhe to talk to Xu Naizhao at the city gate, and everyone just entered the city one after another after a few words of cold words to each other.

However, to Lin Zhe's surprise, when he was at the city gate, Xu Naizhao seemed to be a little cold to Wu Jianzhang.

Although it is impossible for a high-ranking official like Xu Naizhao to show his mentality on his face, Lin Zhe can still feel a trace of coldness in Xu Nai's tone towards Wu Jianzhang.

It seems that Xu Naizhao is very dissatisfied with Wu Jianzhang!

Is this satisfying? The Xiaodaohui uprising broke out in Shanghai, and in just half a month, Shanghai, Qingpu, Jiading and other cities all fell into the hands of thieves, which made the strategic situation of the Qing army in the Jiangnan region extremely embarrassing, forcing Xu Naizhao to draw troops from Zhenjiang, Jiangning and other fronts to the east to Shanghai to suppress it.

Due to the lack of Qing troops in southern Jiangsu, they had to spend a high price to invite Lin Zhe's Yu Shengjun to send troops to Shanghai.

You must know that the impact of the outbreak of the uprising in Shanghai can be said to be very large, and if you don't do it, the official hat on Xu Naizhao's head will be taken off.

And history is true, Shanghai fell and could not be recaptured for a long time, not only Wu Jianzhang, the direct person in charge, was dismissed the following year, but even Xu Naizhao was extremely unlucky and was implicated and dismissed.

Because of the fall of Shanghai where Wu Jianzhang was stationed, he may be dismissed by the imperial court, can Xu Naizhao not hate this Wu Jianzhang?

And what makes Xu Naizhao, a traditional Confucian official, feel indignant and even ashamed is that this Wu Jianzhang lost Shanghai, but you didn't commit suicide or be killed, and you didn't even run away, but you were caught as a prisoner, if the Americans hadn't rescued him, it is estimated that he would have been a prisoner until Yu Shengjun came over.

Wu Jianzhang's behavior is absolutely morally unacceptable to a traditional Confucian official like Xu Naizhao.

All these things add up, Xu Naizhao has a good face for Wu Jianzhang, which is a strange thing.

Lin Zhe naturally couldn't guess Xu Naizhao's thoughts, and he had no interest in the so-called officialdom struggle in Jiangsu.

From the beginning of the regimental training, Lin Zhe's behavior was different from that of ordinary officials, and he could not be regarded as a member of the local government.

It's not that he deliberately doesn't deal with the local government and doesn't want to meddle in local government affairs, but that he doesn't have that power, after all, he is just a group training co-organizer, and the supervision of the Huzhou Donation Bureau is not a too formal official title, just a temporary assignment, and he has no power to meddle in local government affairs.

When he was in Zhejiang, Lin Zhe ran his Yu Shengjun and managed his donation bureau, and Qu Shengchao, the prefect of Huzhou, still sat firmly in the Huzhou government to handle his local government affairs.

The two can be said to be distinct, you are in charge of yours, I am in charge of mine, and they do not interfere with each other.

Now that he is in Jiangsu, he has no name to meddle in the local government affairs of Jiangsu, and the struggle between officialdom.

After returning to the county seat of Shanghai, according to the usual practice, Xu Naizhao naturally held a reception banquet, and everyone talked happily at the banquet, but in fact they didn't say anything except nonsense.

It wasn't until the next day that Xu Naizhao invited Lin Zhe to discuss military affairs.

Xu Naizhao is currently staying in the Yamen of Su Song Taibing Road, while Wu Jianzhang is wronged to stay in the county yamen first.

After Xu Naizhao and Lin Zhe both sat down, naturally someone sent tea, but it was obvious that the attention of these two people now was not on tasting the tea in their hands.

"It's really terrifying!" Xu Naizhao squinted, looked at Lin Zhe and said, "Although I knew that you were a young man before, but when I saw you today, it can be regarded as confirming this statement." Although there are many young and handsome people in our country today, there are not many people who can lead the army to fight at a young age like Lord Lin and make great contributions to the country! ”

In the face of Xu Naizhao's praise, Lin Zhe said that he was very calm!

During this time, most of them will basically talk about their age, which can't be blamed on them, it's not that there are officials in their twenties, but the Sanpin candidate in their twenties, and he is also the commander of thousands of troops, and there is only Lin Zhe in the huge China, which can be said to be the only one without a semicolon.

And Xu Naizhao's praise is just kind words, everyone understands that people naturally know that these kind words can only be listened to, and they must not be taken seriously.

Lin Zhe immediately replied: "Futai is serious, the lower officials are young and shallow, and now although Yu Shengjun is barely supporting it, it is still difficult!" ”

As he spoke, he showed a sighing expression when he cut to the benefit.

Lin Zhe didn't stop, but continued: "Lord Futai doesn't know, I was in a hurry to prepare for the military quartermaster in front of me, if it weren't for Lord Futai, you would have given me Yu Shengjun's salary in time, I'm afraid that there would be no salary to issue and no guns to use!" ”

Xu Naizhao listened and nodded: "Now that it is an eventful season, national affairs are not easy!" ”

Lin Zhe and Xu Naizhao talked about each other's suffering, this situation is somewhat weird!

"Now the Jiangnan battalion is very tight, when it was first built, there were only more than 10,000 troops, although there have been reinforcements in the past few months, but it is only tens of thousands, and now it is not only difficult to recapture Jiangning, even Zhenjiang is difficult to recover!" Xu Naizhao continued to talk about difficulties, he also served as the assistant of the Jiangnan camp, which naturally meant that he was also talking about the difficulties of the Jiangnan camp.

"The imperial court has repeatedly ordered the minister to attack Jiangning, and he also said to the minister that after our army recovers Shanghai, he will use Shanghai's division to conquer Jiangjiang, and then march west to reinforce the Jiangnan camp and conquer Jiangning in one fell swoop!"

At this time, Xu Naizhao stopped talking, and then said: "The main purpose of my coming to Shanghai this time is to see you, Lord Lin!" ”

"See me?" Lin Zhe was already frowning.

Xu Naizhao ignored Lin Zhe's frown, and immediately said, "Yes, Xu Mou came to Shanghai this time to invite Lord Lin to send troops to Zhenjiang!" ”