After paying a sum of silver taels, Xiao Yungui moved the headquarters of his attack on Shanghai to the church and church school area, and at the same time he sent people to inform Hong Yun'er, Yao Yuan and others in the rear camp to pull out the camp to come to converge. The mission school also cleared a vacant lot in front of their square and made room for a portion of the school building to be used as a place to treat wounded soldiers. Xiao Yungui's silver taels were very worthwhile, and he even rented the place with people.

Xiao Yungui was also a little worried that the soldiers of the Taiping Army and the foreigners would have a conflict at first, but later found that the soldiers of the Taiping Army were very kind to these foreign brothers, and the foreign devils also sympathized with these foreign believers, and there was no conflict or trouble between the two sides. However, the problem of Chinese and Western habits always exists, Xiao Yungui believes that the contradictions caused by this cultural and traditional differences will always occur, but he is not afraid of this kind of contradictions, because China wants to contact Shijie, this kind of cultural conflict is inevitable, Xiao Yungui will not be like the Manchus because of the fear of this conflict to make a Chinese and foreign isolation, such a practice in addition to exacerbating mutual distrust and intensifying contradictions, is not beneficial to the cultural exchanges between China and the West. Xiao Yungui is confident that he can resolve the problems caused by these cultural conflicts, but his self-confidence seems to have gone too far, and it has also laid the hidden danger for the conflict that erupted later.

But at least now it seems that the beginning stage of the cooperation between the two sides is not bad, and Xiao Yungui even occupies a comfortable single room in the church. The verdant bamboo arhat bed is softly upholstered in velvet, and the Victorian lion's claw sofa and oak furniture cabinets are all imported from Europe, making Xiao Yungui feel like he has returned to the modern era.

Xiao Yungui, who was leaning on the sofa and enjoying a pure South American cigar, had given up his old dry tobacco pouch, and a box of large cigars had been purchased from Liszt's personal belongings, and he could finally exchange it for a tobacco.

At this time, the guards outside the door reported: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, Miss Zhou Xiuying and Zhou came with a few people, saying that she was the leader of the Little Knife Society, and asked to meet His Royal Highness the King of the West." ”

Xiao Yungui sighed. He stood up from the sofa all of a sudden, and hurriedly said, "Hurry up and let them in, come here, prepare some refreshments, and if you can't find refreshments, ask a foreigner to buy some!" ”

After a while, Zhou Xiuying walked in with Liu Lichuan and others, Xiao Yungui greeted him and said: "In the past, Cao Cao greeted Xu Ziyuan, and now there is a church waiting for Liu Lichuan, with you Liu Lichuan coming, this king is like having a pair of eyes." Isn't Shanghai City ready to go down? ”

Liu Lichuan and others still had some doubts in their hearts, they insisted on going back to Shanghai to find out the news that day, and refused Tong Qiangsheng's invitation to join Taiping. But hearing what King Xi said, Liu Lichuan was relieved.

Liu Lichuan is well-informed. Those who read the drama and listened to the story also know the allusions to the battle of Cao Cao's Guandu. But Pan Qiliang didn't understand, and asked Liu Lichuan in a low voice. Xiao Yungui had sharp ears, and after listening to it, he didn't wait for Liu Lichuan to answer, he smiled and invited everyone to sit down, told the allusion again, and then said: "What this king means is that you are the guiding light of this king. All of you have lived in Shanghai all the year round, and you know the situation in the city, and with your help, this king will be more sure of taking Shanghai. ”

Everyone laughed together. The Western refreshments were delivered, Xiao Yungui beckoned everyone to taste them, but Liu Lichuan stood up and said: "His Royal Highness the King of the West, the villain and others have recently taken refuge, and they have not made an inch, so they dare not enjoy the refreshments, and they only wish to return to the command of the King of the West to lead the troops and kill the enemy. Now that the villain is in a sea of blood, he just wants to go into battle immediately to kill the enemy and enter Shanghai City to avenge the death of our brothers in the Little Knife Society. ”

Liu Lichuan's voice fell, Pan Qiliang, Chen Alin and others immediately stood up and echoed, even Zhou Xiuying, the little girl, followed the blind coaxing, Xiao Yungui smiled slightly, waved his hand to signal everyone to sit down, took a sip of the teacup and said: "The great enemy is not the same as the sky, we will have to settle this account sooner or later, this king wants to listen to the situation in Shanghai in detail, with a strategy, we will be victorious and undefeated." ”

Liu Lichuan and the others snorted, and Liu Lichuan secretly thought in his heart, this King of the West is really calm, and he plans everything before acting, unlike himself and others who only act with enthusiasm. At that moment, Xiao Yungui asked about the situation in Shanghai, from the geometry of the city gate, the strength of the troops in the city, and the gangs, to the yamen, customs, docks, people's livelihood and other things. There are some things that even Liu Lichuan can't answer, but fortunately, Pan Qiliang and Chen Alin, one has been a master of the Yamen, and the other has been a foreign partner, plus Liu Lichuan is well-informed, and several people put together to answer a seven, seven, eight, eight.

After listening, Xiao Yungui muttered: "Shanghai is the customs duty center of Central China, and after the Cao Yun was cut off, the Qing court ordered Xu Naizhao, the governor of Jiangsu, and Wu Jianzhang, Su Songtaidao, to organize shipping ships to change Caoyin to sea and go north? ”

Liu Lichuan nodded and said: "Exactly, it's just that after the Xiwang army began to attack Suzhou and Hangzhou, most of the roads to Shanghai were cut off, and the money and grain in Fujian, Liangguang and other places in the Qing court could only be shipped to Shanghai and then go north. ”

Xiao Yungui hummed and asked, "If you are an official army, Shanghai is besieged, and the north-south shipping relay is cut off, what will you do?" ”

Liu Lichuan and the others glanced at each other, looking at Xiao Yungui in puzzlement, and the king of the west smiled and said, "I just said that if this king wants to deliberate on the next move of the Qing demon." After speaking, he clapped his hands, and instructed the guards to bring the map of the Suzhou and Hangzhou regions, and spread it on the oak table in front of the sofa, pointing to the two states of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and said: "Hangzhou has Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, two generals leading more than 40,000 troops to attack, and the Qing demon Xiangrong old demon head and Hangzhou general Duxing A led more than 10,000 demon soldiers to guard, this road Huzhou, Deqing and other places have been occupied by our army, only Hangzhou is left, and the Qing demon wants to rescue Shanghai, it is unlikely that it will be from Hangzhou to help. Wuxi and Changshu in the north have been down, Suzhou City has been surrounded by our army, and the Qing demons Zhang Guoliang and Xu Naizhao are also leading more than 10,000 troops to resist, and it is impossible to help Shanghai here. The Jiangbei battalion wants to deal with our army's army in Guazhou, Jiangbei, but I am afraid that Yangzhou will lose, and the soldiers here will not dare to move. Only Jiaxing, Haining, Pinghu and other places in the southeast of Shanghai are still in the hands of the Qing demons, and our army has not yet been able to capture Baoshan, Wusongkou, Gaoqiao and other places in the northeast. This king expected that the Qing Demon would take the Guangdong North Naval Division as the front army, supplemented by Fujian and Liangguang soldiers and horses to land in Hangzhou Bay, Pinghu, Haining and other places, or take Chongming Island as the foundation, enter the Huangpu River from Wusongkou, and support Shanghai from the sea, and the north and south may come to the Qing Demon's reinforcements. ”

Then Xiao Yungui frowned and shook his head, staring at the map and muttering to himself: "Sea landing? It's crazy, Jiading, Haining, Pinghu and other places are dead places, trapped between Suzhou and Hangzhou, Shanghai, there is no back road, there is no food and grass support, unless the Qing Demon is sure to solve the siege of Hangzhou in one fell swoop, otherwise no one dares to do this, at this time the Qing Demon does not have such great courage. The most likely thing is to take Chongming Island as the foundation, and the Guangdong Navy Division should respond to the Qing Demon in the north to cross to the south, capture Baoshan and Wusongkou, control the waterway of the Huangpu River, and respond to the aid from the north. As long as they dare to enter the Huangpu River, I am sure that this sailor will be buried in the river. ”

Since getting the news that the Guangdong Navy Division had arrived in Xiamen, Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang have been thinking about how to eliminate the Qing Army. Once this naval division enters Zhenjiang and Guazhou to attack and harass, or fights a decisive battle with the Taiping army, the Taiping army's naval division may be defeated, once the Yangtze River waterway is cut off, Guazhou is lonely and Jiangbei has no grain and grass equipment to replenish, and it is very likely to be broken by Qishan of the Jiangbei camp, and once the Jiangbei Qing army captures Guazhou and then crosses the river, it will disrupt the entire southern Jiangsu campaign.

After discussing for a long time, the two decided to divide the troops first, and Xiao Yungui led the partial division to besiege Shanghai, which had few troops, so that they could contain this red single boat sailor division from Guangdong. The location of Shanghai is too important, the Qing court must not lose, and the reason why Xiao Yungui did not attack Shanghai by surprise, but steadily attacked Suzhou and Hangzhou is also to completely cut off the passage of the Qing army in Shanghai to aid Shanghai by land, Xiao Yungui is also determined to win Shanghai.

Since the Taiping army in Shanghai must attack and the Qing army must defend, as long as Shanghai is attacked by the Taiping army, the deployment of the Qing army can be disrupted. Although Hangzhou was besieged by more than 40,000 Taiping troops, the Qing army could still mobilize heavy troops from Jiangxi and Fujian to relieve the siege, but if Shanghai was besieged, the only way to do so was to rely on the sailors to relieve the siege. Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang divided their troops to play Shanghai, just because they wanted the Guangdong Navy to come to the rescue of Shanghai instead of marching into Zhenjiang, Guazhou and other places.

Liu Lichuan and the others saw Xiao Yungui staring at the map in a daze with a solemn face, knowing that he was planning a military strategy, and they didn't dare to disturb him, only Liu Lichuan was more astute, listened carefully to Xiao Yungui's words, and secretly followed the plan in their hearts.

"How many men can the Jiangbei Qing army mobilize to cross to the south? This king sent Tong Qiangsheng to Zhenjiang in person to cross the river north to inquire about the news, why is there no news until now? Do you want the soldiers and horses of Guazhou to go out to fight the Jiangbei camp and scare the old dog of Qishan, so that he does not dare to divide more troops to go south? In this way, even if the Qing demon crosses to the south, there will not be many soldiers and horses, we deliberately give up Baoshan and other places to the Qing demon of Nandu, the Guangdong sailor will swagger into the Huangpu River, and then we will close the door and fight the dogs, send troops and horses to attack Baoshan and Wusong, and after taking the two places, we can trap the Guangdong sailors in the Huangpu River, send troops along the river to monitor, and prevent them from going ashore to replenish food, and so those sailors are so hungry that they have no strength, those red single boats are the king's, haha" Xiao Yungui himself was immersed in fantasy, and laughed very proudly, I forgot that there were still people waiting for the knife next to me, and it wasn't until I suddenly looked up that I saw Liu Lichuan and others with a shocked face, and this guy was saved.

Xiao Yungui laughed dryly and said: "Brother Liu, it is not difficult to take this Shanghai City, this king wants to use it to lure the Guangdong Sailors, what do you think?" Liu Lichuan bowed and clenched his fists and said: "The villain only understood what the king of the West said, and he expected that the demon was stupid and stupid, and he would definitely fall for it." Xiao Yungui smiled proudly: "That's right, this king thinks the same way, haha, if you can capture those red single boats, the strength of this king's navy will definitely increase greatly, haha." (To be continued.) )