Chen Guotai, Lai Zhenhai, Li Xinming, Ye Changchun, Chen Delin, etc., of the Qing Army's Guangdong Naval Division, received the news that Wu Song had a long-haired sailor at the end of the Chenshi, and after receiving the news, Chen Guotai sighed suddenly: "He Chun misunderstands me, and Chun misunderstands me!" ”

In fact, as early as the middle of last night, Chen Guotai received a report from the sentinel ship, saying that there were a large number of warships standing out in Yunzaobang, but it was dark that he couldn't see how many ships there were, and Chen Guotai was in a dilemma at that time.

On the one hand, this morning and Chun have already ordered, the sailors and the land division set out together to attack the long-haired camp on the banks of Hongqiao and Yangpu, and break through the iron lock of the Hengjiang River set by the long-haired here, which is the Zhabei of Shanghai, which is already very close to Shanghai City. It can be said that as long as the Zuihou defense line of Changmao in Hongqiao and Yangpu is broken, the Qing army's naval division and land division will complete the important task of relieving the siege of Shanghai. But on the other side, there was a long-haired naval division warship protruding from Yunzaobang, and Chen Guotai immediately realized that Longhair wanted to attack Wusongkou, and directly cut off the back road of the Houguang naval division.

On the one hand, the victory that was about to arrive, and on the other hand, the back road was threatened, whether to return to the division to rescue or to fight to Shanghai in one go, Chen Guotai and his subordinate generals gathered overnight to discuss, and after analyzing for a while, everyone looked at each other.

After a moment of silence, Lai Zhenhai stood up and said: "We wait for the sailors to be the guest army, and the ships are the fundamental, we should protect ourselves first, if we can't break the siege, but fold our own ships here, the court will definitely blame, but if we save the ships, we still have the strength to fight, even if we can't solve the siege of Shanghai at that time, the court will not necessarily blame us." ”

As soon as these words came out, the generals echoed them, Chen Guotai is also an understanding person, during the war, as long as there are soldiers and food in his hands, he will not panic, and immediately get up and say: "That's it." Let's take the third watch, and the fourth watch will raise the sails and return to the division to rescue Wusongkou! The generals of the sailors got up one after another to receive the order, and when they turned around, they each prepared to send out a team to help Wu Song.

He Chun on the shore was shocked when he received the news that the sailor was preparing to return to Wusong, he knew that if his land division did not have the support of the sailor, it would be impossible to break through the defense line of Changmao Hongqiao and Yangpu, and even self-protection would become difficult. He Chun is desperate to solve the siege of Shanghai this time, he commands Jiangnan, and his rule is the land of southern Jiangsu, if he can't hold his own territory. Xianfeng must have killed himself, Xianfeng spared himself last time he was defeated, if he lost Shanghai again, He Chun can imagine that his career and life will come to an end.

At the moment, he discussed with Chun and his staff, and hurriedly took more than ten Goshha. Carrying a few boxes of silver, he hurried to the camp of the sailor at night in a certain Lanni official sedan chair to persuade the sailor generals to stay.

Inside Chen Guotai's big tent. He Chun summoned Chen Guotai, Lai Zhenhai, Li Xinming, Ye Changchun, Chen Delin and other generals to discuss. Although He Chun is the commander of the Qing army, the Qing army's naval division has always retained considerable military power, and He Chun may not be able to rely on military orders to mobilize the naval division.

After the generals arrived, He Chun smiled and said: "You sailors and generals have worked hard, since the battle of Shanghai began, you have killed the enemy with all your might. I'll wait for Master Lu to fight here. Then he stood up and waved his gratitude in a group.

The generals of the water division secretly felt complacent in their hearts, but no matter what He Chun said, he was his own official, and the generals of the water division also got up and returned the salute. There was a bit of humility in his mouth.

He Chun sat down and continued: "This official heard that there was a military news this morning, saying that the long-haired sailor warship was prominent and went straight to Wusongkou. After listening to this, the official was also anxious, you all rely on the ship soldiers as the power, to say a big disrespectful word, now the war is chaotic, if there are no soldiers and no food in the hands, no one will be steady, we lead the top of the army is based on the geometry of the soldiers and horses in the hands. You want to go back to the division to rescue Wu Song, because you are afraid that the long hair will beat Wu Song and block the water retreat, you will inevitably fold here, and it is also human nature to protect yourself in front of others, and this official understands your suffering. ”

Chen Guotai and the others couldn't think of He Chun's words to express everyone's thoughts, and couldn't help but look at each other, all the generals looked at Chen Guotai, just hoping that he would talk, Chen Guotai had to get up and said: "And the military gate, the subordinates are thinking that Wusongkou is a very important place, and the supply of food and grass for the whole army depends on the waterway, if Wusong is lost, don't say that the rescue of Shanghai, it is difficult for us to protect ourselves, the sailor does not exist, and the land division is also difficult to preserve, so ......"

He Chun raised his hand to stop, and said with a smile: "This official just said, I understand your suffering, General Chen doesn't need to say it anymore." Then He Chun clapped his hands, and a few Goshha outside the tent came in with a few boxes, and after opening them, they were filled with silver, and for a while the whole tent was shining with silver.

He Chun stepped forward and pointed to the silver and said, "These are the salaries and silver stored in the army, and the savings of the other officials are tens of thousands of taels of silver. This official has always been a good gambler, in fact, if we lead the troops to fight, when will we not tie our heads to the waistband of our trousers and gamble with God for our lives? In the past, the official and the long-haired bandits fought for many years, always losing more and winning less, and now the official finally figured out a truth, that is, every time the long-haired thief fights, he always goes out and fights hard, as the saying goes, the barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes, and the long-haired thief is a bad life, so they are not afraid of losing the bet, and because of this, the long-haired thief is willing to go out and win the gamble every time. ”

When Chen Guotai and the others heard this, they all bowed their heads, feeling that He Chun was reasonable, so they only heard He Chun continue: "Now that the war has come to this point, this official wants to gamble with the long-haired thief. Lao Tzu took out all his life savings, and even Lao Tzu's life was bet here, so Lao Tzu didn't believe in gambling and not winning this game! If you want to protect yourself, you can, and this official will not stop you. But you have to think clearly, if the official wins the bet, he will definitely participate in the escape of the battle, if the official loses the gamble and loses his life, the whole army is here, you can naturally rest easy, and the official will never complain! ”

Chen Guotai and the others' faces changed color, they couldn't imagine that Hechun's methods were so ruthless, and they used such words to squeeze the generals of the water division.

The generals' faces were ugly, but no one made a sound, and He Chun said with a smile: "However, the official also put his words here, if he is willing to stay and gamble with the official, take the silver here casually, after winning the bet, we can reverse the situation, the court's reward must be indispensable, and the first official will definitely give it to him!" ”

Chen Guotai and the others looked at each other and looked at each other, Chen Guotai got up and said: "Hejunmen, it's not that subordinates are unwilling to work for the imperial court, but that the land of Wusong is too dangerous, and if we lose, we will never recover." ”

He Chun raised his hand to stop, and shouted loudly: "Wusong is guarded by three thousand land divisions, and supplemented by dozens of ships of your naval divisions, how can it be lost in a short period of time?" The one who fought with us was the long-haired thief and the pseudo-king of the West, this fang has always liked to attack the east and the west, and the long-haired sailor hastened to promote the army, how is it your long-standing opponent of the Guangdong sailor? The puppet king of the West is a trick to encircle Wei and save Zhao, wanting us to be in chaos, give up attacking Hongqiao and Yangpu, and then attack when we return to the division to rescue. In the land of Wusong, as long as you send more sentry ships and sentry spies to investigate, once the situation is critical, we will go all out to help, and when the long-haired thieves see your warship, they will not only run away with their tails between their legs? Why bother with the rumors and the grass and trees? Only then did he find out the enemy's traces and give up the victory in front of him and return to the division to rescue? The Guangdong sailors crisscrossed the four seas, and now they were frightened by several broken ships of the long-haired thief, and they were passed out to laugh off the big teeth of the long-haired thief! ”

Chen Guotai and the others were silent after hearing this, and what He Chun said made sense, even if the long-haired thief sent a sailor to come, the Guangdong sailor had a red single boat to help in the battle, and the soldiers and sailors were all veterans who were accustomed to seeing the waves, how could they be afraid of the long-haired inland water army? At best, they have some large merchant ships and grain ships, and the soldiers and sailors are not elite enough, and the long-haired thieves dare to send such sailors to attack Wusongkou, so they are not afraid that the Guangdong sailors will turn around and eat them? Most of them are still as Xiang Hechun said, Changmao is engaged in a plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao.

After being persuaded by Hechun's words, Chen Guotai and others beat the drum in their hearts again, with white flowers and silver in front of them, and listened to the threat of Hechun in their ears, and the generals of the sailors could only obey, obey Hechun's orders, ignore Wu Song's long-haired sailors, and according to the original strategy, they went out to attack Hongqiao and Yangpu.

Almost at the same time, the Qing army and the Taiping army launched a fierce offensive against their intended opponents, but the opponents of the Qing army were different, Lin Qirong's Taiping army had long been in strict formation, there were strict trenches and camps on land, and dense bamboo fire boats and several iron locks across the river were arranged in the water, and even at a bend in the river, the Taiping army arranged a pontoon bridge, on which artillery was arranged to intercept the Qing army's water division, and more than ten artillery arrays were arranged in the river.

At the same time, the Qing army's land division waved its army to storm the Taiping army's shore camp, and the naval division actively sought to break through the obstacles on the water surface, intending to make a detour to the flank of the Taiping army's defense line.

Hongqiao, Yangpu and other places shouted killing, the sound of artillery shook the sky, as He Chun said, he really worked hard in this battle, his handsome flag has been standing in the camp formation, hanging several heads, are the head of the generals who are not conducive to defeat, from the beginning of the war to the present in just one and a half hours, and Chun personally killed three generals, a thousand generals, more than 1,000 soldiers behind him as the supervision team, murderous in the back of the formation, dare to retreat soldiers immediately killed with a knife, do not need to report.

The land division was desperate, and the Qing army's sailors were also desperate, and the sampans and fast crab boats braved the artillery fire to rush forward to clear the obstacles for the red single boat and other big ships, they released water ghosts into the water, overturned the oncoming Taiping military ships, bamboo rows, and went into the water to cut the iron chains of the Hengjiang River.

Lin Qirong's side is also struggling to support, although he has been mentally prepared for a long time, knowing that the Qing army's attack on Zuihou's defense line is bound to be extremely fierce, but as soon as it comes up, it will fall into a white-hot battle, which also makes Lin Qirong unable to sit still. He personally supervised the battle in the artillery array on the front line, and the Taiping army also fought to the death, and the camps and trenches of the Taiping army were full of corpses, and in just one and a half hours, thousands of people died here, including the Taiping army and the Qing army.

Just when the war was developing to a critical juncture, Chen Guotai received an urgent report from the sailor ships that Wu Song had escaped, Wu Songkou had been lost, and the forts on both sides of Wusong Pass were reoccupied by long-haired thieves. (To be continued......)