The general of the Taiping Army is the Qingpu anti-grain hero Zhou Lichun, he led a thousand soldiers and horses to guard Baoshan County, the Qing army really as expected, want to copy the back road of the fort from Yuepu Town, he got Lin Qirong's general order, and immediately led the troops to block the Qing army on the flank of Baoshan City with Li Tianxi. Shanghai's local water network was crisscrossed, and generals Zhou Lichun and Li Tianxi relied on some trenches and fortified forts to defend the flanks.

After the blow of muskets and artillery, when the Qing army was exhausted and rushed to the front of the third trench, Zhou Lichun decisively led the Taiping army to rush out of the wooden fence and launched a hand-to-hand charge against the Qing army, with the cooperation of the artillery fire of the fort, the Qing army was defeated, only less than 500 Qing troops fled back, and more than 1,000 Qing troops, including the deputy general Sun Zhen, died or surrendered, and a backwater battle ended in the defeat of the Qing army.

He Chun saw his soldiers slaughtered by the Taiping army with broadswords and spears in the telescope, and he opened his mouth wide and couldn't speak, but fortunately, the follow-up Qing troops fled back one after another, and they were not completely destroyed, but they could only escape the river and hide behind the earthen pond embankment outside Yuepu Town.

It was almost dark, and He Chun ordered one of the staff officers around him to bring a hundred people ashore for reinforcements, and ordered: "You don't have to attack the long-haired thieves after you go ashore, let the sons and daughters stay on the spot, and when it gets dark, Ben Shuai will personally drive them back!" The general breathed a sigh of relief, as long as the long-haired artillery that guarded until it was dark was out of sight, he would still be able to survive, and then the general led people to drive several fast crab boats and rushed up under cannon fire.

The fast crab boats were fast and small, so it was not easy to hit the guns, and only two of the unlucky fast crab boats were hit when they were released on the shore, and the rest came back safely. After the general led the people ashore, he ordered the defeated Qing troops behind the Tutang to hold on to the spot and wait for it to retreat after dark.

The sky finally got dark, fortunately the moonlight was not very bright, but the Taiping army on the opposite side did not seem to let go of this Qing army. When the Qing soldiers behind the earthen pond were ready to start retreating through the night. Suddenly there was a loud shout of killing in the first trench, and the Taiping soldiers rushed over with torches. The Taiping soldiers in the front row held burning earthen pots one by one, which were mostly fire oil, and when they got closer, they lit them one after another and threw them over, and after the earthen pots fell to the ground, they ignited pieces of fire.

Although these earthen pots caused a fire, they were almost lethal to the Qing army, and just when the Qing army was not clear about the situation, bursts of artillery rang out, and a sharp whistling sound swept through the night sky, with colorful fireworks exploding in the crowd of Qing troops. It turned out that these earthen pots were just for lighting the fire. It was used to guide the artillery on the rear battery.

The Qing army braved the artillery fire and retreated back to the beach, and the boats on the shore did not dare to raise their lights, so the remnants of the Qing army who landed in this way retreated back in embarrassment under the artillery fire of the Taiping army, but the artillery battle between the red single boat and the Wusong fort on the river lasted for a whole night.

Early the next morning. The two sides fought fiercely all night, and the Qing army's naval division suffered heavy losses. Actively disengaged. He Chun gathered the ships and retreated to the anchorage of Chongming Island to count the losses. After this battle, the Qing army's naval division was sunk 19 light red single boats, five were seriously injured, and one was captured, and the entire Wu Quanmei red single boat fleet was completely annihilated, Wu Quanmei himself was seriously wounded, and the Qing army lost a total of 2,378 people. One thousand and seventy-three people were wounded, one hundred and twenty-three people were captured and missing, and after listening to the losses reported by his subordinates, he Chunyi fell on the bow of the ship. Looking at the Wusong Fort, which was as hideous as a monster, he fell into deep thought.

After the sky was bright, all the units of the Taiping army reported their exploits one after another, and the losses of the two forts in the east and west of Wusong were not small, with nearly 500 dead and wounded, and more than 10 artillery pieces were destroyed, most of which were lost in the artillery battle with the red single boat, but compared with the losses of the Qing army, the battle of the Taiping army can be said to be a complete victory.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Lin Qirong summoned the generals to discuss the next step of the battle in the camp behind the Wusong Fort.

After the generals entered the account one after another, all their faces were beaming, especially Zhou Lichun, who killed the most Qing troops and captured the most, and the generals congratulated him one after another, and Zhou Lichun was also so happy that he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

After the generals arrived, Lin Qirong's face was very calm, and he did not have the joy after the big victory, and after looking around at the generals in the tent, he said lightly: "Yesterday and the Qing Demon Water Division fought for a day, although the Qing Demon Water Division was hit hard, but the Guangdong Water Division will continue to have a fleet to go north to help, how to fight the subsequent battle, please also speak up, brothers." ”

Chen Zhiming stood up and clasped his fists and said with a smile: "Lord Inspector, yesterday's battle against the Qing Demon Water Master was nothing more than that, junior brother, it seems that we still hold the Wusong Fort, and teach the Qing Demon not to enter the Neijiang." ”

As soon as this remark came out, the generals echoed it, and it was indeed very easy to win the battle yesterday, although the Qing army had many ships and many artillery, but it was not able to defeat the forts, and the red single ship was almost wiped out, and the generals of the Taiping army were a little light.

Lin Qirong gently pulled the long hair of his sideburns, and after the generals finished talking, he suddenly said: "From today on, all departments will gather the soldiers and horses and all the departments of the West Fort to retreat to Yunzaobang, and the East Fort will retreat to the front line of Gaoqiao, except for a small number of scouts and cavalry left in the Wusong Fort, the rest of the soldiers and horses will all retreat, and the people of Baoshan County will also retreat to Jiading!" ”

As soon as this remark came out, all the generals were dumbfounded, obviously the Taiping Army won a complete victory in the first battle yesterday, why did Lin Qirong give up the dangerous Wusongkou and withdraw his troops?

Seeing the puzzled expressions of the generals, Lin Qirong said slowly: "In yesterday's battle, the fort killed the most soldiers, and our fort still has weaknesses compared to the Qing Demon Red Single Boat, the Red Single Boat can drive in the water to avoid shells, but our fort can only be fixed in one place." In yesterday's battle, in fact, we still took advantage of the ambush, the Qing Demon Water Division was unprepared, and our battery was well hidden, so we caught him off guard. Next, I expected that the Qing Demon would not be able to swallow this breath, and would be entangled in the return of a large number of naval division warships, and by that time the batteries in Wusong have been exposed, and the Qing Demon Naval Division warships can use artillery to fight one by one from far and near, and the disadvantages of our batteries will be undoubtedly exposed. Moreover, the Qing Demon can also choose to land on other river banks, our army is not strong, and it is impossible to fortify everywhere, so the plan for today is to take the initiative to abandon the Wusong Fort and put the Qing Demon on the shore to fight. As long as the Qing Demon Land Team goes ashore, the Qing Demon Water Division will definitely follow, as long as we wait to destroy the Qing Demon Land Master on land, no matter how strong the Qing Demon Water Master is, it will be a crow with broken wings, and it will not be able to fly, and then we will be able to reoccupy Wusongkou. Trap the Qing Demon in the Huangpu River, intercept and ambush both sides of the Huangpu River, and eliminate them one by one! ”

Only then did the generals understand that Lin Qirong was going to annihilate the Qing army and sailors who went north. Lin Qirong had been supervising the battle on the fort during the day, and after the sudden artillery attack, those red single boats not only did not flee, but calmly cruised and fought with the fort. Most of the owners of the Qing army's red single boats were engaged in oil sales, traveling to and from Luzon and Siam, and because of the perennial battles with pirates, these boatmen could skillfully steer ships. can fire artillery, the speed of the ship, the elite of the artillery fire, and the proficiency of the point, compared with the regular naval division of the Qing army. The ship's helmsmen and sailors are all fathers and sons. When encountering the enemy, they will work together to move forward, and there is no risk of prevarication and collapse. In yesterday's battle, these ambushed red single boats were still stunned and calmly engaged in the battle. Although the losses were heavy. However, it also destroyed more than ten artillery batteries of the Taiping Army, bringing hundreds of casualties to the Taiping Army, which shows the elite of the Red Single Fleet.

Fortunately, after these red single boats came north, they were sent to help Shanghai, and if they broke into the Yangtze River, it would definitely be a huge threat to the Taiping army sailors stationed in Zhenjiang, Guazhou and other places. At this time, although there were many ships in the Taiping Army, most of them were river merchant ships and sand boats. It is far less sharp than that of the red single boat, and the artillery on the ship is mostly old-style artillery, far less than the cannon on the red single boat.

In later history, Wu Quanmei and others arrived at Wusongkou. Later, the Qing court ordered the red single boat to enter the river and join the boat division. On the 22nd, the line arrived at Jiaoshan, Zhenjiang, but could not go up immediately due to the wind reversal. On the second day of the seventh month, to the west of Guazhou, Qi Shan, the minister of the Jiangbei camp, summoned Wu Quanmei to the camp and gave a face-to-face lecture. Wu Quanmei, Chen Guotai and others attacked Guazhou, which was the first battle between the Red Danzhou and the Taiping Army.

In leap July, Wu Quanmei and others fought with Qin Rigang, the king of Yan, on the Sanshanying River in Tianjing, capturing more than 260 ships and more than 200 soldiers of the Taiping Army. Then, he fought against Zhang Xian, the Marquis of Dingtian, destroyed 1,200 Taiping military ships, captured dozens of them, and more than 100 people including Zhang Xian were captured. Subsequently, every time the Red Single Fleet went into battle, it dealt a huge blow to the Taiping Army's naval division, and the Taiping Army's naval division gradually lost the right to control water in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Red Single Boat Fleet successively fought against the rebel armies in Fujian, Jiangsu, Anhui and other provinces, destroying thousands of Taiping ships, killing and wounding tens of thousands of Taiping Army, and seizing an astonishing amount of ammunition, food and other materials, which brought serious damage to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Xiao Yungui had a long talk with Lin Qirong before leaving, and he used Shanghai as a bait to lure the Red Dan fleet to attack, that is, he wanted to tell Lin Qirong about the idea of destroying this fleet in Shanghai. Shanghai is a small city, and it is not difficult to conquer, but if the Red Single fleet enters the waters of the Yangtze River, the threat to the Taiping Army will be too great, so Xiao Yungui asked Lin Qirong to hold the periphery of Shanghai while trying to annihilate this fleet.

After Lin Qirong finished saying his thoughts, he slowly stood up and said: "This Qing Demon Water Master is fierce and cunning, we not only want to annihilate the Qing Demon Land Division, but the most important thing is to firmly contain this Qing Demon Water Master in Shanghai, so I originally planned to invite you into the urn, and then close the door and beat the dog!" The generals got up together to receive the order, and then they prepared to go.

In the afternoon, the Taiping army began to prepare to retreat, but the black painted tree trunks were still used as artillery on the fort, and many scarecrows were pierced, and the forts were still full of flags, showing no traces that the Taiping army had retreated. In the evening, the various units began to retreat one after another, and only more than ten sentinels were left on the forts to monitor the movements of the Qing army's naval divisions outside the river.

However, it is said that after Hechun was defeated and returned to Chongming, the Qing army camp was miserable, but fortunately, the next day another fleet of the Guangdong Navy Division arrived, led by Chen Guotai, Lai Zhenhai and Li Xinming, they brought a total of 30 red single boats and 40 fast crab boats, and Chongming's Guangdong Navy Wu Quanmei, Chen Delin, Ye Changchun and other troops rendezvous.

Seeing that reinforcements came, He Chun was greatly relieved and urgently summoned the generals to discuss military affairs. Wu Quanmei couldn't afford to be seriously injured, and after Chen Delin, Ye Changchun and other sailors saw Chen Guotai and others in the tent, they naturally cried. Chen Guotai and the others were furious when they heard this, they didn't expect the Guangdong Navy Division to go north to help, and they were defeated so badly in the first battle, and the newly arrived Navy generals all threatened to take revenge.

That night, after Chen Guotai heard the process of the defeat in the first battle, he immediately made it clear to He Chun that as long as the sailors reorganized the ship and rested for a day, he could leave the team, and this time he would not be careless and would definitely take Wusongkou step by step! (To be continued......)