Unfortunately, in winter, the north wind was rampant and civil sailboats were chartered. Of course, Wu Chaoyue's fleet of kings ran relatively slowly. He set off from Shanghai on October 13th, and only bypassed the Shandong Peninsula in early winter months. He arrived at Dagukou, Tianjin smoothly, landed on the snowy land of the Qing Dynasty.

During this period, the Taiping Army, which successfully captured Tianjin City, was certainly not idle. In addition to trying every means to contact Nanjing and requested subsequent reinforcements from Yang Xiuqing, they also used a large amount of supplies, food and grass seized in Tianjin to recruit soldiers to expand their teams and strengthen their strength, absorbed a large number of poor people and the well-known Tianjin Hunxingzi gangster proletariat to join, expanding their troops to more than 50,000 people before crossing the Yellow River, and their momentum increased significantly.

At the same time, there is also a very important point. Tianjin City, which made its fortune by fishing, salt and canal transportation, not only has abundant food and grass, but also has a lot of cotton coats and furs that are crucial in winter. After collecting the whole city and trying to collect cotton coats from markets outside the city, basically every Taiping army soldier can wear a cotton coat and leather coat, which greatly helped the large number of southern soldiers in the Taiping army to survive the bitter cold weather in the north, inspire the morale and boost morale.

The Taiping Army was not idle in the military. After Tianjin had a little stable foothold, Li Kaifang sent Ji Wenyuan to lead an army to attack Beicangcang City, ten miles northwest of Tianjin, in an attempt to seize the grain stored there. Unfortunately, this time, Shengbao said that he did not dare to be defeated Bao, and led his army to defend Beicang, gritted his teeth and did not take a step back. During this period, Shengbao also went to the front line to supervise the battle, and personally killed several Qing generals who retreated in front of the battle. He used all his strength to finally repel Ji Wenyuan's attack, barely protected this important granary, and took advantage of the opportunity to build his large camp in Beicang.

At the same time, under Shengbao's order, Changlu Salt Zheng Wenqian and Tekeshen also hired a group of geese households in Baiyangdian to form a group training camp. They rushed to Wuliang City, which was a little far from the east of Tianjin, and also guarded this important granary without giving the Taiping Army a chance to take the lead. Then Shengbao quickly sent more troops to Wuliang City, and finally protected the grain silo around Tianjin for Emperor Xianfeng, and did not let the bannermen in Beijing be hungry.

The failure to attack Beicang is not entirely a bad thing. At least Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan, who were a little excited, realized that they had reached the end of their strength, were exhausted, and were injured and seriously injured, so it was difficult to launch a large-scale war. In addition, it was sufficient food and grass in Tianjin, which was beneficial to rest. Therefore, after discussion, Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan decided to adjust their tactics and instead switched to retreat defenses. Based in Tianjin, they waited for the Qing army to have flaws and then launched a counterattack in time, and also waited for the reinforcements that Yang Xiuqing repeatedly promised to send.

In order to maintain contact with the outside world and to gain time to strengthen defense, Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan did not take back all the troops back to the city and defend the city passively. After negotiation, they decided to station Ji Wenyuan's troops outside the South Gate of the city to establish a civil structure out of the city (a small city built outside the city wall can be used as a fortification), and to build a buffer and protect the most susceptible to enemy Tianjin South Gate. Li Kaifang led the main force to sit in the city and organized the people to repair and strengthen the Tianjin city wall, which had been 450 years old, and established a large number of city defense fortifications, which was considered a lasting plan.

Tianjin City, commonly known as Ababan City, is a very standard rectangular shape, only 800 meters wide from south to north, not easily affected by enemies and easy to defend, but the length of the city wall from east to west is more than 1,500 meters long, and it is easy to be attacked by the siege. Fortunately, there is a huge amount of water outside the north gate, and it is relatively strong in nature. Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan, who have been through the battlefield, choose to build the city outside the open south gate, which is naturally a correct and wise choice. For the Qing army, once Ji Wenyuan built this city out of the city, they would have thought of stopping the Taiping Army from repairing the old Tianjin city wall, and launched an attack at any cost to prevent Ji Wenyuan from building the city, and resolutely drove the Taiping Army back to Tianjin City with a total area of ​​only 1,555 square kilometers and gathered and annihilated it. This is undoubtedly the most correct choice.

Unfortunately, at the critical moment when deciding the direction and scale of the war in the future, the Qing army did not seize the opportunity to launch a strong attack because Shengbao and Senggelinqin, the two masters, started arguing again. As the imperial envoy, Shengbao had the power to control the front line troops, and had already established the camp in a very important Beicang City. Of course, he ordered Senggelinqin to move to the outside of the Nanmen City of Tianjin to establish a camp and be responsible for preventing the Taiping Army from establishing a camp out of the city. Our Seng Prince was a prince, and his golden branch and jade leaves were high in position. He did not take Shengbao seriously, the official nouveau riche from the juren, and he used the excuse that his main force under his command were either the Chahar cavalry who was not good at attacking the toughest, or the Jianrui Camp and Shenji Camp brought from the capital. He had a noble status and was not suitable for local work. He flatly refused to follow the orders. He had a quarrel with Shengbao, and he refused to go to the outside of the Nanmen City of his life.

In the end, Sheng Bao handed the letter to Emperor Xianfeng. The furious Emperor Xianfeng personally issued an order to force him. Our monks were reluctant to move his noble army to the camp outside the south gate of Tianjin. But even so, our monks were reluctant to let his noble army launch a battle. He only ordered the general Qingqi to recruit Lianyong and let the Han people join forces to be cannon fodder to attack. When Qingqi gathered Jianyong in place, the Taiping Army's exit from the city had been basically completed, leaving only digging trenches and establishing the red antlers.

Next, until Wu Chaoyue arrived at Dagukou with the Wu family army to land, the Qing army launched several attacks on Tianjin City and the city. Each time they hid far away and bombarded with cannons, and did not dare to launch a truly decent charge attack. But this was useless. The Taiping Army also had artillery. The Taiping Army's gunner skills, which had been through the battlefield, were far better than the spoiled Qing army gunners. The artillery not only did not suffer any losses in the bombing, but also always had the upper hand. Therefore, the so-called attack of the Qing army was simply tickling the Taiping Army. No matter how Emperor Xianfeng urged and scolded him, Tianjin City said that it would not be able to get it back, and even the wooden temporary construction of the Taiping Army could not be defeated.

Under such circumstances, the appearance of Wu Chaoyue was undoubtedly to Emperor Xianfeng who had caught the last life-saving straw. As soon as he received the news that Wu Chaoyue led his army to Dagukou, Emperor Xianfeng immediately ordered Wu Chaoyue to rush to the city to meet Shengbao and accept Shengbao's command to attack Tianjin. At the same time, in order to praise Wu Chaoyue's loyalty, Emperor Xianfeng also issued a special order, ordering the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take out some silver, buy some chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep to the front line, specifically to reward Wu Chaoyue's army.

There was no court officials who had sent rewards to Wu Chaoyue before they even fought. However, Mu Yin and Lin Kui and other Manchus refused to miss any opportunity to disgust Wu Chaoyue. They immediately advised Emperor Xianfeng, suggesting that Wu Chaoyue be sent to secretly monitor Wu Chaoyue's every move of Wu Chaoyue and Wu's army to prevent any precautions. Although Emperor Xianfeng was moved, he was a little hesitant and said, "I have not sent a military supervisor to Shengbao and Senggelinqin. Wu Aiqing brought the regiment to help thousands of miles away. As soon as he arrived, I immediately sent a military supervisor to him. Isn't this an obvious way to tell him that I don't trust him enough?"

"Emperor, due to the situation, he has to work at the right time." Lin Kui insisted: "Although Wu Daotai is loyal to the court, he is a foreign official after all, and his soldiers under his command are not formally organized to train bravely without receiving the court's military pay. They are not flag soldiers or green camps. It is best to be more careful about such an army."

Emperor Xianfeng was even more moved, but he was still worried that doing so would make Wu Chaoyue's heart cold and affect the military morale of the Wu army's bravery. However, when Emperor Xianfeng was in a dilemma, Qi Zizao hurried to Emperor Xianfeng, handed a note to Emperor Xianfeng with both hands, and said respectfully: "Long live, Wu Chaoyue had just sent it with a quick horse. He asked the court to send him a military supervisor to help him restrain military discipline and supervise the soldiers."

"Wu Aiqing asked me to send him a military supervisor?" Emperor Xianfeng's eyes lit up.

Qi Zhizao nodded and said, "Wu Chaoyue said in the memorial that he is a foreign official and his soldiers are also trained in the Songjiang regiment. Foreign troops entering the capital are of great importance and must not be without restrictions and supervision. Therefore, he begs the emperor, you to send a prince and minister as his military supervisor to help him restrain military discipline and supervise the soldiers. "

When he met such a sensible and loyal minister, Emperor Xianfeng was of course as happy as he smiled. He agreed to Wu Chaoyue's request without thinking and decided to send Prince Yi Zaiyuan to serve as Wu Chaoyue's military supervisor to show his importance and favor to Wu Chaoyue. But Mu Yin and Lin Kui were dejected and cursed in their hearts: "Gou Manzi, he has a very accurate understanding of the emperor's thoughts!"

Emperor Xianfeng happily sent Zaiyuan to serve as a military supervisor for Wu Chaoyue. However, after receiving this news, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army, Shengbao scolded Kainiang outside Tianjin. Originally, Shengbao planned to comfort and win over Wu Chaoyue a little after Wu Chaoyue led his army to arrive, and then drove Wu Chaoyue to the front as cannon fodder, allowing Wu Chaoyue to charge into the battlefield and let him take credit. But now Emperor Xianfeng sent ********** Zaiyuan to Wu Chaoyue as a military supervisor, Wu Chaoyue and

It’s okay if Zaiyuan is not getting along well. Once Zaiyuan accepts Wu Chaoyue’s bribe, he put on a pair of pants with Wu Chaoyue and becomes a backer for Wu Chaoyue in disguise. Then Shengbao doesn’t mean playing with writing and robbing Wu Chaoyue’s credit, but just trying to drive Wu Chaoyue with his fingers is difficult to reach the sky! Considering the amount of silver in the old Wu family and the fact that Wu Chaoyue has made contributions, Zaiyuan and Wu Chaoyue may not only wear a pair of pants, but also very large!

Suddenly, a Zaiyuan broke up, which was already enough to make Sheng Bao angry. He also heard that Emperor Xianfeng specially ordered to reward Wu Chaoyue's army with pigs, sheep and wine. Sheng Bao was so angry that he cursed, "Why? Why? Wu Chaoyue had just arrived at Dagukou and had not even arrived in Tianjin yet. Why did the emperor reward him? What contribution did he make? What role did he play?"

In anger, he took advantage of Zaiyuan to arrive in Tianjin before he had arrived in Tianjin. Shengbao also seized the time to disgust Wu Chaoyue. Although he knew that Wu's army came from a long journey of the sea, the soldiers were exhausted and needed rest, and their bodies, which had been suffering from wind and waves for a long time, also needed to recover. Shengbao deliberately ordered Wu Chaoyue to lead his army to Tianjin to obey orders within one day, deliberately trying to make Wu Chaoyue suffer more.

Wu Chaoyue's reply almost made Sheng Bao angry. His nose was tilted. The military supervisor had not arrived yet. The foreign army did not dare to enter the hinterland of Zhili easily. Everything was said when the military supervisor arrived!

When Shengbao was so angry that he cursed again, his subordinate Senggelinqin, who did not like to obey command, took the initiative to send someone a document, asking Shengbao to assign Wu Chaoyue to him directly and assist him in attacking the Taiping Army's out of the city. Shengbao also knew that Senggelinqin and Wu Chaoyue could not pee in the same pot. After receiving the request, he immediately agreed to Senggelinqin's request and promised to command Wu Chaoyue's army by Senggelinqin. After receiving Shengbao's reply, Senggelinqin immediately smiled grimly, "Little Manzi, come on, let's see how I deal with you, a toad who wants to eat swan meat, this time!"

Two days later, Zaiyuan, who had a higher title, finally arrived in Tianjin with a large amount of pigs, sheep and wine. Shengbao, who was full of anger, naturally ran to Zaiyuan without hesitation and filed a lawsuit against Wu Chaoyue for committing crimes that he refused to obey the command and refused to advance. He also took the opportunity to test Zaiyuan's attitude towards Wu Chaoyue. As a result, what made Shengbao secretly scream was that Zaiyuan actually smiled and said, "Weiting did nothing wrong. He was leading foreign troops. He had to be very cautious when he went deep into the hinterland of Zhili."

After saying that, Zaiyuan urged: "Sir Sheng, go to Wenhuiting again, and say that I have arrived, and asked him to come to Tianjin to meet me quickly. I have long wanted to see his heroic army of hundreds of battles."

"It's over!" Sheng Bao heard Zaiyuan's implicit voice and cried out in secret: "Listen to Prince Zai's tone, he was so excited this time that he wanted to take this opportunity to make contributions! Prince Zai, you are all **********, so why are you still snatching me from us servants?"

"I hope Wu Chaoyue can fight just as much as Sushun boasted. I want to enter the military office like my ancestors and serve the court and the emperor more and better." This is what our Prince Yixian Prince Zaiyuan Zai said in his heart.

In this way, after receiving Zaiyuan's request, Wu Chaoyue, who had been resting in Dagukou for four days, then urged the army to set off to Tianjin. Five battalions were divided into five teams, flags were flying, bayonets were bright, and military songs resounded throughout the world. Although there were only a few people, there were more than 2,500 people, they also gave people a sense of majesty.

Advancing west along the Haihe River, after more than a day of calm march, Wu Chaoyue led his army to the eastern suburbs. After receiving the news, Zaiyuan, who had high hopes for Wu Chaoyue, certainly went out to greet him. Shengbao could not suppress his curiosity and brought a cavalry to accompany Zaiyuan out to welcome him, wanting to see with his own eyes what the army under Wu Chaoyue looked like? Why can he defeat the Taiping Army several times or even dozens of times with his weak force every time?

Zaiyuan, Shengbao and others held their war horses on the high ground on the north bank of the Haihe River and looked east from above, but they saw the snow-covered official road lined up neatly, with loud military songs. Five dense infantry platoons slowly came from east to west, and there seemed to be nothing outstanding except for the amazingly neat line. At the same time, the Wu army's too dense queue also made Shengbao curl his lips quietly and said, "Idiot! The formation is so dense, and only one shell can be used to kill a large area!"

Thinking of this, Shengbao couldn't help but raise his telescope to see the situation of the Tianjin city wall in the south, hoping that the Taiping Army would send troops or fire artillery to give Wu Chaoyue a warning. However, what surprised Shengbao was that at this moment, there were not only no signs of fire artillery or sending troops in Tianjin city at this moment, but there were signs of chaos. Many Taiping soldiers ran back and forth, shouting and wondering what they were shouting. At the same time, Taiping soldiers were squatting and crawling on the city wall, as if they were hiding something that made them extremely scared.

Unable to resist the curiosity, Shengbao specially sent several cavalry to reconnaissance and eavesdropped on the Taiping Army's shouting in Tianjin City. As a result, the cavalry sent to reconnaissance came back soon, and Xiang Shengbao reported with a gaze: "Report to the Grand Commander, Changmao is scared! They have been shouting that the Superior Demon is coming, and the Superior Demon is coming, and they also want all the long hairs on the city wall to climb down or squat down. They are not allowed to stand guarding the city, otherwise they will be saved and die!"

"ah?!"

Shengbao's chin almost fell to the ground, but Zaiyuan next to him was extremely surprised and asked quickly: "Changmao scared Lord Wu like this? Is it true or false?"

"Report to the prince, it's true." The cavalryman who went to reconnaissance replied: "I heard it clearly, and the screams of Changmao on the city were filled with panic! They all said that when they came, they had to report to their fake prime minister Li Kaifang."

As if to verify the Taiping Army's fear of Wu Chaoyue, Li Kaifang's handsome flag appeared on the city of the north gate of Tianjin, proving that Li Kaifang really attached great importance to Wu Chaoyue, a terrible enemy. Seeing this scene, Zaiyuan laughed and did not hesitate. He immediately rode a horse to meet Wu Chaoyue. Because he had seen one or two faces in the capital before, Zaiyuan directly faced Wu Chaoyue who was riding a horse in front. Wu Chaoyue quickly turned over and dismounted to salute Zaiyuan. Zaiyuan, who had not liked Wu Chaoyue, helped Wu Chaoyue up with both hands and said with a laugh: "Weiting, you are finally here. I can rest assured that this long hair in Tianjin has finally met their nemesis."

After a few hypocritical words, Wu Chaoyue, who knew how important Zaiyuan was to him in this battle, quickly expressed that he had brought some valuable local specialties to Zaiyuan from Shanghai, and immediately sent them to Zaiyuan in a short while. Zaiyuan, who knew what Wu Chaoyue meant, waved his hand and said with a smile: "Why are you polite? Don't you know that I am the same brothers as Su Zhongtang, but he has often praised you for your youthfulness, sensibleness and well-behavedness in front of me. Don't worry, I will treat you as much as Su Zhongtang treats you!"

Hearing this, Sheng Bao's face turned green, and he immediately realized that another monk named Gelinqin was about to appear under his command. Zai Yuan did not consider Sheng Bao's feelings at all. He just greeted Wu Chaoyue, "Weiting, don't be stunned, leave quickly. I and General Sheng have prepared a welcome banquet in Beicang Camp. We are about to go to the table."

"Thank you, thank you, General Sheng." Wu Chaoyue thanked you and said, "But it's not busy, the lower official wants to say a few words to the bandit leader Li Kaifang first to reminisce about the past."

"Discussing the old days with Li Kaifang?" Zaiyuan was stunned.

"That's right." Wu Chaoyue nodded and said with a smile: "Since Jiangning, Li Kaifang and I are old acquaintances. We don't know how many times we met on the battlefield, and we hung him up and beat him up. When we meet in Tianjin, thousands of miles away, we have to say hello to him and let him know that his death date has arrived."

When Zai Yuan heard Wu Chaoyue's answer, he was of course overjoyed and immediately agreed. Sheng Bao, who had no idea how many defeats he had suffered in front of Li Kaifang, gritted his teeth and said to himself: "Little Man, he is so crazy! I want to see what you can say after meeting Li Kaifang!"
Chapter completed!