The pirate ships of the Seahorse Gang soon joined the battlefield and became a straw for the Zuihou who crushed the Qing army's sailors. The Red Flag pirates and Zhang's pirates fled one after another, and those who couldn't escape were also fighting with trapped beasts, while the Qing army's sailors were completely surrounded by the Seahorse Gang warships, and the Taiping army's batteries on the shore were also beaten by water dogs, and the fierce battle between the two sides lasted until dusk.

The pirates were much more fierce in their broadside battles, and many of them could fly to each other's ships with cables on their high sails to fight, shouting sharp blades, and strapping short guns and axes around their waists, and they fought quickly and bravely. The pirates' gunners fired their cannons at close range on the ship's side, and the sailors and helmsmen on board skillfully steered the sails and rudders, dodging the cannon fire while approaching the enemy ships.

After Li Xiucheng looked through the binoculars, he sighed lightly: "It is worthy of the elite who fought with the foreigners in the past, if their warships and cannons are the same as the foreigners, it is expected that the foreigners will not be able to win." In fact, Li Xiucheng only saw pirate operations, not the British Navy operations, he couldn't imagine how the British Navy, which has a century-old naval war heritage and domineering, fought naval battles, to be honest, the gap between the pirates and the British Navy is not a little bit, and they no longer warship artillery, but the entire tactical and training level is backward.

Then I saw that a big war ship of the Seahorse Gang also stood out in the middle of the formation, and a big war ship with the handsome flag of the Qing army began to engage in a broadside battle, on which the first to pull the cable and fly over was a bald man wearing dark green water, this person pulled the cable with one hand, and held a big knife in the other hand, and after flying to the opposite warship, a big knife danced in white light, and several Qing soldiers were hacked to death by him on the spot. Later, more and more pirates boarded the warship, and the handsome flag of the Qing army was cut, and Li Xiucheng said happily: "The main general of the Qing army was captured on a boat, and the overall situation has been decided!" Hehe, the leading man is really brave. ”

The afterglow of the sunset shines on the sea. Broken planks, debris, and corpses floated everywhere, and the Seahorse Gang pirate warships released many small boats to search the sea for captives and salvage useful supplies. After the red flag of victory was raised, the pirates of the Seahorse Gang cheered to the shore, and the soldiers of the Taiping Army responded with cheers. Soon, several warships of the Seahorse Gang sailed to the port of the Yongjiang River, and the rest of the warships scattered to chase and flee the enemy.

After several Seahorse Gang warships docked, they put down several small boats carrying dozens of people to the shore, and Li Xiucheng led people to meet them in person.

A few feet away from the shore, a bald man in his forties jumped off the dinghy, wading through the water in a few big steps, he was dressed in dark green water back. It was the man who led the army to attack and occupy the flagship of the Qing army's naval division just now. At this time, when it was close, Li Xiucheng recognized that this person was the leader of the Seahorse Gang, Monk Tongbao!

Monk Tongbao hahadaxiao walked up to Li Xiucheng and saluted with his fists and said, "General Li, the old man is fortunate not to be dishonored. defeated the officers and soldiers and the group of pirates who saw the money, and came to pay the order! Pick it up! ”

Li Xiucheng looked at Monk Tongbao with some surprise. He smiled slightly and saluted: "The master is happy. Good guys! Li Xiucheng only thinks that this Tongbao monk is very interesting, although he has been a pirate, but he has not changed his true colors as a family, the last time he saw him, he wore a monk's robe, holding a rosary in his hand, and he completely looked like a monk. But today, I saw him wearing water and fighting with a sharp blade, and the gap between this image was too big.

I saw the dinghy docking, and the pirate minions on the ship moved down the handsome flags, flags, official uniforms and other things that were taken from the flagship of the Qing army. He also brought two heads and offered them.

Monk Tongbao pointed to the two bloody heads and said: "General Li, these two are the heads of the Qing demon Zhang Jingqu and Chen Shizhang, the two thieves resisted stubbornly, and the old man killed the two thieves with his own hands, and Turner offered the head in front, which is the name of the old man and the brothers!" ”

Li Xiucheng was overjoyed, and ordered the heads of the two to be passed to the army, and Zuihou was hung at the head of Ningbo City to show the public. Li Xiucheng arranged for Cai Yuanlong and Li Shixian to lead troops to treat their own wounded soldiers and pirate wounded soldiers, clean up the battlefield, count losses, and receive the pirates who came ashore. Monk Tongbao was not hypocritical, and went with Li Xiucheng.

When he arrived at Li Xiucheng's big tent and sat down, Li Xiucheng lined up for a banquet and invited the Tongbao monk to sit alone.

Seeing that the banquet was all vegetarian, the monk Tongbao touched his bald head and said: "General Li, the old man has been through wine and meat, and the Buddha is sitting in his heart, and he does not taboo meat." ”

Li Xiucheng smiled and ordered someone to bring two roast chickens and two roast geese, and the Tongbao monk rolled up his sleeves and ate it, and said while eating: "There is no good wine, it is a fly in the ointment!" ”

Li Xiucheng ordered someone to find some good wine, and the Tongbao monk ate and drank a lot of wine. Li Xiucheng only ate some food next to him as a companion, and the monk Tongbao saw it and said strangely: "Doesn't General Li drink alcohol?" ”

Li Xiucheng smiled slightly and said: "Our doctrine is not to drink alcohol, the master can drink it himself." ”

Monk Tongbao grinned and said, "General Li, you are good at everything, but this doctrine is too strict and bitter, and the old man does not taboo meat, but you don't even drink wine, which is really strange." ”

Li Xiucheng said with a smile: "The master is a person in the Buddhist sect, and he doesn't blink when he kills people, which is unexpected." ”

Monk Tongbao took a big sip of wine and said: "Lao Gu only kills the wicked, the Buddha has a cloud to save people's lives is better than creating a seven-level floating slaughter, Lao Gu thinks that killing a wicked person, he can save many people, Lao Gao is killing people and saving people, and eliminating evil is to do good." ”

It was the first time Li Xiucheng had heard such a statement, so he smiled and said: "The master is really a man of temperament, he dares to act, he is really a good man, but it's a pity to be a monk." ”

Monk Tongbao shook his head and sighed: "It's not a clear dog?" When Lao Gao's whole family was killed by Qing Dog, and he was forced to escape and become a monk, he made a grand wish, the Qing court did not get rid of it, and Lao Gao swore not to return to the vulgar! In the early years, he followed Brother Sha across the Guangdong Sea, determined to fight against the government to the end, and later Brother Sha also descended to the Qing court, and Lao Ke was disheartened for a long time, but fortunately, now that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is rising, Lao Ge also saw the day when he could return to the vulgar. General Li, in the future, Lao Qu will follow the kingdom of heaven to kill the demons, destroy the demons in the world, and return my Han family to the good and prosperous. ”

Li Xiucheng applauded: "Okay, the master is quick to talk!" Then he turned around and took out a yellow silk official document and seal letter and waist card from his desk and said: "This is an official photo issued by His Royal Highness the King of the West, and the master is hereby appointed to lead the Taiping Navy Marshal of the West Palace, and the position is the same as that of the general system!" ”

Monk Tongbao wiped his greasy hands on his body and wiped them, then got up and bowed down and said, "Your subordinates obey your orders!" Then he took the official photo, the seal letter and the waist card, and after looking at it, he asked with some hesitation: "General Li, is it that in the future, the old man will not be able to eat meat and drink alcohol?" ”

Li Xiucheng said with a smile: "It's okay, our West Hall does not force others to believe in religion, and the master can still worship Buddha, eat wine, and kill people as before." It's just that I have strict military rules in Taiping, and then I asked the military warden to preach military regulations, military law, and the laws of my heavenly kingdom like a master. ”

Monk Tongbao touched his bald head and said with a smile: "The country has national laws, and families have family rules, this is natural, Lao Wei and others must obey the military orders and laws of the Heavenly Kingdom." ”

Li Xiucheng smiled and pulled the Tongbao monk back into his seat, and then talked about the thunder rescue strategy of the West King, Zuihou said: "The fleet over there in Shanghai is estimated to arrive in a few days, and the master can be the escort fleet and set off together." ”

Monk Tongbao hugged his fists and said: "My subordinates receive orders." Then he hesitated for a moment and gritted his teeth and said: "General Li, since His Royal Highness the King of the West has opened up the relationship between foreigners, and there is Lao Qu who leads the fleet south to save people, and wants to defeat the fleet of those Qing Demon Sailors in Fujian, Lao Qu still asks himself to be 100% sure, but there is a prince of the West in Shanghai to supervise the fleet, and Lao Qu is leading the fleet by himself, so I am afraid that the command of the two teams will not be coordinated." ”

Li Xiucheng waved his hand and said with a smile: "The King of the West has long known that you will have this concern, the position you received is the commander of the navy, but the two generals Lu Shunde and Zhao Shunping who went south are the military positions of the Yangtze River Naval Division in the West Palace, and they naturally obey your orders when fighting at sea." Before the second generals Lu and Zhao came, the king of the west had already explained that the two generals would listen to your orders. ”

Monk Tongbao was taken aback, he didn't expect this King of the West to be so broad-minded and trusted him so much in a newly attached pirate leader, and he fell to the ground at the moment, and said excitedly: "General Li, it is rare that His Royal Highness the King of the West and you trust Lao Gu so much, Lao Gao is a liver and brain, and he has to follow the two!" Li Xiucheng smiled and helped up Monk Tongbao, and the two continued to talk while eating.

While eating, Cai Yuanlong and Li Shixian came to pay the order, most of the pirates of the Seahorse Gang had already received their ships and docked, the wounded soldiers on the ship had been properly treated by the Taiping Army, and the pirates who had come ashore were also placed in the fort camp for a while. After preliminary calculations, 435 Qing and pirate warships were sunk in this battle, killing about 2,000 enemies and capturing more than 1,000 enemies. The Taiping Army lost more than 20 artillery pieces, killed more than 400 people and wounded more than 600 people, and the Seahorse Gang lost more than 50 warships and more than 500 dead and wounded.

Li Xiucheng ordered Haosheng to appease the wounded soldiers, and the deceased was buried on the spot, but the Tongbao monk said that the pirate rules and the dead would sink into the sea for burial, so Li Xiucheng asked the Tongbao monk to dispose of the pirate's corpse by himself.

After a full meal and wine, another military report came from the fort that the fleet of ships heading south from Shanghai had reached the sea off Ningbo, and had fought another battle with the fleeing Qing army and pirates, and was now coming to the mouth of the Yongjiang River. Monk Tongbao immediately personally led the fleet to meet him, he was very familiar with this sea area, where there were undercurrents, reefs were clear, and he was relieved to guide the way.

At that moment, the monk Tongbao ordered all ships to raise the apricot yellow flag of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he still hoisted the seahorse battle flag under his banner and went to sea with dozens of warships. After arriving at the open sea, Lu Shunde and Zhao Shunping's fleets were led to the mouth of the Yongjiang River.

However, the fleet from Shanghai is too large, the wharf and the shore of the Yongjiang River Estuary can not be moored, most of the ships can only be moored in the open sea, for a time the entire Yongjiang Estuary and the nearby waters are the fleets of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, among which there are merchant ships and cargo ships of various countries with various flags.

Early the next morning, the British consul Charlie Fu rushed to the shore to watch after hearing the news, and after seeing the great momentum of the fleet of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he sighed: "These rebels can no longer be called rebels, they have a firm will and the courage to never give up, in order to save their comrades in Xiamen, they dare to do anything, I believe that in the near future, this ancient country will change masters." (To be continued......)