After making up his mind to exchange Ji Wenyuan's head for merit, Wu Chaoyue was no longer polite and immediately began to study the tactics of attacking Lianzhen. However, after carefully exploring the terrain and interrogating the surrendered prisoners, Wu Chaoyue quickly discovered that Lianzhen's small town was actually far from as easy to break as imagined.

The biggest trouble in attacking Lianzhen was the underground fortifications of the Taiping Army. According to the prisoners' accounts, long before the Qing army built the fortifications in the city, the Taiping Army had already dug a large number of underground fortifications in Lianzhen. Although the artillery fire of the Wu army destroyed most of the houses in the city, the Taiping Army's underground fortifications suffered little loss. After the artillery battle, the Taiping Army buried a large number of mines under the city wall, and at the same time built many light and dark bunkers in the city specifically for street fighting. In addition, we learned from the lessons of the West Gate of Tianjin. When the passage of the city gate was unable to block the city gate, the Taiping Army simply built two bunkers on both sides of each city gate to block the road with fire!

After mastering these situations, Wu Chaoyue and Zhao Liewen believed through analysis that even if the Wu army was dispatched to be the vanguard, the frontal attack was not very sure to win Lianzhen. Moreover, the street fighting after entering the city would definitely cost Wu army the mercy of courage. Therefore, Wu Chaoyue quickly gave up the idea of ​​a frontal attack and decided to use the same trick again, trying to lure the Taiping Army away from the protection of fortifications and deal with the Taiping Army in the field.

If it were normal, it would be not that easy to trick Ji Wenyuan out, who had suffered losses and had been deceived many times. However, now, Li Kaifang sent people to contact Ji Wenyuan several times and asked Ji Wenyuan to break through and go to Gaotang to meet him. If Ji Wenyuan came out, just deliberately put Li Kaifang's envoy into Lianzhen. The only thing that worried Wu Chaoyue was actually how to wipe out the Taiping Army in the field. But this problem was not very big. The distance between Lianzhen and Gaotang was more than 300 miles away, so Wu Chaoyue quickly discussed with Zhao Liewen a tactical plan to combine infantry and cavalry and set up layers of ambush. He was confident that even if he could not wipe out the Taiping Army, he could at least kill most of the enemies, and defeat the remaining enemies into a group of scattered soldiers and yelling.

Next, something that surprised Wu Chaoyue happened. When Wu Chaoyue found Shengbao and offered advice, even Zaiyuan, who did not understand military affairs, had already applauded. Shengbao, who had always obeyed Wu Chaoyue's will, was abnormal and hesitant, and said: "Weiting, isn't this too risky? I deliberately let Li Kaifang and Ji Wenyuan contact the two bandit leaders. If Ji Wenyuan and Changmao bandits succeed in breaking through, what should they do when Gaotang meet with Li Kaifang?"

"Don't worry, Grandmaster." Wu Chaoyue slapped his chest and said, "Changmao breaks south, first of all, you have to pass through Xiaguan's defense zone. Xiaguan can guarantee that even if Xiaguan can't destroy Changmao in the interception battle, Changmao can at least make Changmao pay a heavy price. At that time, Grandmao, you just need to send cavalry to go south first, hold Changmao's marching speed, and then send the main force to cover it up. The subordinate dares to issue military orders, and they will definitely be able to intersperse and deviate to Changmao's front again, block Changmao and kill him! This is not done twice, and it is safe to wipe out the mayor of the town of the town!"

"Master General, Weiting has a good idea." Zai Yuan echoed: "Turn Changmao out and give full play to Weiting's strength and bravery, and set up ambush in fields to defeat the enemy at all levels. This is much stronger than letting our Qing soldiers attack head-on."

Shengbao was extremely hesitant. Although he thought that Wu Chaoyue's suggestions were feasible, when he thought that almost all the contributions to doing this were Wu Chaoyue, Shengbao began to shake again. After a long time of calculation, Shengbao said: "Weiting, your method is good, but it is too risky. We finally forced Changmao to divide the troops and form a favorable situation of defeating each place. We should take steady steps and completely annihilate Changmao. Your tactical plan is still too risky."

After saying that, Shengbao ignored Zaiyuan's repeated persuasion and said, "Let's do this, Weiting, please let me consider it and then give you a reply."

Although he didn't understand what Shengbao had to consider, in order to maintain a friendly relationship with Shengbao, Wu Chaoyue chose to respect Shengbao's opinions and did not insist that Shengbao immediately adopted his tactical plan. However, what Wu Chaoyue did not expect was that in the afternoon of that day, Shengbao suddenly ordered the Qing army to build a fort outside Lianzhen City, preparing to bombard Lianzhen small town from a high place. As a result, when he heard this news, Wu Chaoyue immediately felt a little sorry and said to himself: "Shengbao's head is flooded? The underground fortifications of Taiping Army cannot even break my bitter sour shells. Can his solid shells be of no use?"

In order to prevent Shengbao from being confused, Wu Chaoyue had to visit Shengbao again and persuade Shengbao not to waste time and gunpowder. Unfortunately, Shengbao refused to listen. He insisted that he did this to put psychological pressure on the Taiping Army and forced the Taiping Army in the city to surrender in large quantities, and refused to listen to Wu Chaoyue's unpleasant advice. Wu Chaoyue did not turn around for a while, and was puzzled by Shengbao's decision.

Finally, Zhao Liewen cracked Wu Chaoyue's mystery. After returning to the camp, he told Zhao Liewen about the situation. Zhao Liewen only had a moment of calculation and immediately said to Wu Chaoyue: "Weiting, if I guess correctly, General Sheng is probably jealous of you. He thinks that you have made too many contributions and stole too much attention from him, so he wants to suppress you a little."

Wu Chaoyue suddenly realized, but still felt a little incredible and said, "My relationship with Shengbao has always been good. He has his share of the credit every time. He doesn't think so, right?"

"Haha, Weiting, you're still a little more honest." Zhao Liewen smiled and said, "Master Sheng has a good relationship with you, but he also considers himself. He was just helping with military affairs in Jiangnan Daying. The reason why he became the commander-in-chief of the Central Plains Official Army of the Imperial Commissioner was entirely because Xiang Rong's mistake in analyzing Changmao's intention to go north. He felt that Changmao's north was just trying to take over the grain-producing area in northern Anhui, so he sent Shengbao to chase and stop him."

"Then Xiang Changmao actually drove straight into the Central Plains. When Shengbao chased into the Central Plains, the emperor decided to temporarily let Shengbao serve as the commander-in-chief of the front line and command the front line troops. He was lucky to become the commander-in-chief of the entire army. He was not successful in his ability to defeat the war often and got the nickname of defeated Bao. Therefore, Senggelinqin was always dissatisfied with Shengbao and wanted to replace him with everything he said."

Speaking of this, Zhao Liewen smiled again and said, "Master Sheng had a good relationship with you before. One of the big reasons is because of the aggressiveness of the Monk Prince, and he had to join you in a group to keep warm. Now Senggelinqin's title of prince is gone, and he is far away from Gaotang. He dares not be arrogant and cannot be arrogant. Without this strong opponent, can Master Sheng not consider it for himself, and quickly make more contributions to offset his previous mistakes, and also be promoted to office and make a fortune by the way?"

Wu Chaoyue listened silently, until Zhao Liewen finished speaking, Wu Chaoyue smiled and said with a smile: "Okay, since Marshal Sheng likes to grab credit so much, let him take it away. As long as he doesn't let me attack the toughest, he can grab it anyway."

Feeling that he was sure of victory, Shengbao did not intend to let Wu Chaoyue take advantage. After the inauguration was repaired quickly, Shengbao couldn't wait to mobilize a large number of artillery shells to bombard Lianzhen. The result was that this move really forced many Taiping recruits who were not determined to escape from the city and surrendered. Shengbao was naturally even more arrogant. He believed that Lianzhen's small city could be broken by a blink of an eye, and immediately arranged a siege tactic and arranged his confidant Tomina to serve as the vanguard to launch the siege.

Originally, Wu Chaoyue thought that the cruel fact would soon be able to swollen Sheng Bao's face, but Wu Chaoyue miscalculated this time. Ji Wenyuan, who was treacherous and sloppy, immediately adjusted his tactics and deliberately did not defend the city wall defense line. He deliberately let the Qing army kill the city wall and lead the Qing army into the city to fight street battles. As a result, with a large number of excavations and construction, the Taiping army killed and injured more Qing soldiers. The Qing army had no place to run in the city. He stepped on the ladder and climbed the wall to replenish the troops. He was too slow to replenish the city wall and was shot in the castle, so he was sobbing and howling, and he ran away with his head and fleeing. He had to retreat to the city wall quickly. The Taiping army surrounded the two wings of the city wall, and easily recovered the city wall position he had deliberately given up without any effort.

Ji Wenyuan also received an unexpected effect when he saw the soldiers of the self-army killing Lianzhen City with only one charge. Shengbao was excited and thought that the power of the self-army was enough to break the city. In order to take over the great achievements, he was even more reluctant to dispatch the Wu army to participate in the war. As a result, although the Qing army entered the city twice and was driven out, Shengbao still felt that the city was in sight and there was no need for Wu Chaoyue to help.

Shengbao was full of confidence and dreaming of returning to Beijing to the Marine Office, Zaiyuan was anxious and repeatedly suggested that Shengbao dispatch Wu Chaoyue to lead the army to join the war, but Shengbao refused to listen to the merits in order to take over. He was forced to be anxious by Zaiyuan. Shengbao also argued: "Prince, the servant did this to ensure that Changmao was wiped out. Leave Weiting's elite soldiers. When we drove Changmao out of the city, we would give Weiting a chance to defeat the enemy in a battle. Otherwise, except Weiting, who would be sure to stop Changmao and break through the siege?"

Thinking that Shengbao's words made sense, Zaiyuan closed his mouth. However, after a day of attack, Zaiyuan found that something was wrong. The Qing army rushed into the city three times and failed to take down the city. On the contrary, the soldiers were killed and injured and broke through the thousand-person threshold. I felt that there must be a problem, Zaiyuan ran to Wu Chaoyue to inquire about the reason. Wu Chaoyue was not polite and said to Zaiyuan directly: "Prince, Changmao is deliberately seducing the enemy. Even the rammed earth wall in the town is less than ten feet high and only four or five feet thick. There is no arrow bush and no female wall. It does not play much role in defensive battles. Instead of defending the city wall at the risk of being shot by guns and cannons, it is better to deliberately introduce our army to fight street battles and play their melee skills."

Zaiyuan nodded in a vague way, and then asked, "Weiting, according to your opinion, how should our army defeat the enemy?"

"Prince, if you want to break the enemy as soon as possible and reduce the casualties of our soldiers, the only way is to say that before." Wu Chaoyue replied: "I deliberately let Gao Tang Changmao contact Lian Town Mayormao to lure Lian Town Mayormao to break through the siege and then break the enemy in the field. Otherwise, even if the officials led the army to attack the city, they would not be sure to take Lian Town in one battle."

Zai Yuan nodded, and then Zai Yuan did not hesitate. After returning to the camp, he ran to Shengbao and repeated Wu Chaoyue's original words, suggesting that Shengbao give up the weak frontal attack and adopt the tactics proposed by Wu Chaoyue. As a result, Zai Yuan didn't say that. After hearing that Wu Chaoyue accused his tactical plan of uselessness, Shengbao, who originally wanted to maintain a friendly relationship with Wu Chaoyue, felt very uncomfortable and said to himself: "Why should I listen to you? According to your tactical plan, even if it is successful, the credit will not be yours? I have worked hard to command troops and fight, and aren't it all for you to make wedding dresses?"

After finding an excuse to get Zaiyuan out of vacancies, the more Sheng Bao thought, the more he felt uncomfortable. He knew that it would be fine if he could quickly take Lianzhen, but if he delayed for a few days, the military supervisor Zaiyuan would definitely report to Emperor Xianfeng with a secret letter. At that time, Emperor Xianfeng would probably be dissatisfied with him again, and would also be directly ordered to force him to adopt Wu Chaoyue's tactical plan. So Sheng Bao couldn't help but start thinking, "How should Prince Zai stand by my side and not go to the secret letter to ruin my good things?"

It was a coincidence that the next morning, when Shengbao was thinking about how to break the city and grab the merits, another imperial envoy suddenly came to Lianzhen with the imperial edict of Emperor Xianfeng. Shengbao initially thought that he had sent the edict to him, so he quickly asked someone to arrange an incense case to prepare for the edict to receive the edict. However, the imperial envoy told Shengbao very embarrassedly, saying, "Master Sheng, you misunderstood. The official came to Jiangsu Daotai Wu Chaoyue to pass the edict."

"What's the content?" Sheng Bao asked quickly.

"Prince Hui advised the emperor, saying that the soldiers under Lord Wu were all from the south, and were not suitable for the local environment and were not used to eating and eating. He asked the emperor to give Lord Wu special preferential treatment and encourage Lord Wu and his soldiers to serve the country with loyalty and defeat the enemy as soon as possible." The imperial envoy said truthfully: "So the emperor asked the subordinates to send a batch of wine and meat to Lord Wu. The wine was all the rice wine from the south, and he also sent several Jianghuai chefs to cook for Lord Wu and the others, so that Lord Wu and the others could also eat their hometown dishes here to show the emperor's care and compassion for them."

Hearing this, Shengbao's heart was of course filled with sour water, and he didn't notice that the person who came up with this bad idea was the backstage of the monk Prince. He just smiled and asked his personal soldiers to put away the incense case, sent someone to lead the imperial envoy to Wu Chaoyue's camp to pass the order, and then ordered the attack to launch an angrily attack.

The siege on this day was even worse than the siege on the first day. In order to ensure the battle, Sheng Bao was in a jealous way, the number of troops dispatched was quite large, and he also launched an attack on the three gates of the southeast, south and north of Lianzhen. Ji Wenyuan adapted to the situation and immediately adjusted his tactics, deliberately defending the city wall to attract a large number of Qing troops to gather at the foot of the city wall, and then immediately ignited the mine lead. The Taiping Army had previously buried a large number of mines exploded at the same time, and the Qing army's casualties were naturally heavy to the point where they could no longer be severe. After the Taiping Army took the opportunity to send troops to counterattack, and after Sheng Bao was forced to withdraw his troops, Zai Yuan naturally ran to Sheng Bao and asked Sheng Bao to adjust the tactics immediately and adopt Wu Chaoyue's tactics.

He still made an excuse to temporarily dismiss Zaiyuan. Shengbao was both angry and worried, but another official document was suddenly sent to Shengbao's front, Senggelinqin, who had been demoted to the top, reported that the Gaotang city was too strong, the long hair was fierce and the city was not allowed to go out, and his troops were too small to break the city. He asked Shengbao to send him a reinforcement army to strengthen his troops.

Senggelinqin was also in trouble. Shengbao suddenly had an idea and said to himself: "Why aren't you afraid that Weiting will send to reinforce Senggelinqin? He and Senggelinqin have always been irreconcilable. When Gaotang comes, they will definitely restrain each other and pull each other's back. At that time, Weiting will not be able to defeat Gaotang. I will break through Lianzhen here. What will the emperor and the court think of me and him?"

Although he had this idea, fortunately, Shengbao was still calm and knew that Wu Chaoyue was still reliable in the tough battle, but he was moved but did not make up his mind. However, it was a pity that our monk prince was much better than the ability to fight. Soon, a Shengbao soldier who had received a generous gift from Tong Jian ran to Shengbao and reported secretly, saying that it was a rumor in the army. After seeing the Qing army's failure to siege, Wu Chaoyue laughed and said that it was indeed not possible without him.

He could not bear it anymore, Sheng Bao did not hesitate anymore, and immediately called Wu Chaoyue in front of him and ordered Wu Chaoyue to lead Wu army to bravely go south to help Senggelinqin attack Gaotang. Wu Chaoyue was shocked when he heard this and hurriedly said, "Master, the officials are not right, right? Let the officials go to reinforce Gaotang, what should I do here in Lian Town?"

"Weiting, you heard it right." Sheng Bao smiled and said, "Don't worry about going to Gaotang. Even the town is here. I personally led the main force here. Even if Changmao puts wings, he can't fly out. Just find a way to win Gaotang as soon as possible. Senggelinqin can't count on it at all."

After saying that, Shengbao said very considerately: "By the way, after the Gaotang Dynasty, I will allow you and Senggelinqin to do their own things, without obeying his command, just go for discussion when encountering problems. In this way, even if he wants to wear small shoes for you, he will not have this opportunity."

Knowing that Sheng Bao wanted to transfer himself deliberately and take away the contributions of Lianzhen's victory alone, he also knew that Sheng Bao asked himself and Senggelinqin to do their own things. In fact, he wanted to restrain himself and Senggelinqin and argue every day and ended up in nothing. But Wu Chaoyue did not point it out, but just honestly held his fists and took the order, saying, "Secretary of the Lord, please go and prepare to set off now and set off to Gaotang tomorrow."

After sending Wu Chaoyue away with a smile, Shengbao was of course very happy in the central army tent, but what Shengbao absolutely never dreamed of was that Wu Chaoyue actually smiled happier than him on the way back to the camp. "Yes, Ji Wenyuan has hope of breaking through successfully this time, and Li Kaifang also has to find a way to make him break through as soon as possible."

What Shengbao must have never expected was that after receiving the news that he sent Wu Chaoyue to lead his army to reinforce the Gaotang battlefield, his archenemy Senggelinqin was stunned and stunned at first, and then laughed loudly, "Shengbao Dog Slave, Ben Beizi knew that you were an A Dou who could not help you! But Ben Beizi really didn't expect that you, a dog slave, could be so stupid, destroy the Great Wall, cut off your right-hand man and find death to this point, even God can't save you!"

After laughing wildly, Gushan Beizi Senggelinqin, who was out of the fire, had such thoughts considering his own situation, "Do you should take the initiative to send someone to contact Wu Chaoyue, the little man, to see if you can join forces with him to win Gaotang City and restore Ben Beizi's title of prince before Shengbao's dog slave?"
Chapter completed!