Although the surrender of the Weng brothers is related to the stability of Wu Chaoyue's old nest in Hubei, it is not worth mentioning compared to the importance of the battlefield on the Eastern Front, so let's take a look at the situation on the Wu army's Feng Sanbao team first.

In addition to the Wu Chaoyue's personal barracks, the southwest Wu army following Feng Sanbao's eastern expedition was more than 14,000, with not too many troops. The weapons and equipment were also quite different from the three elite corpses under Wu Chaoyue's command. Only four battalions directly under Feng Sanbao were equipped with firing guns, and the number of artillery was more than 300. However, most of them were old-fashioned front-mounted smoothbore cannons and only more than 40 rifled cannons were installed in the rear. The overall firepower was quite different from the Cao Yanzhong corps of the Wu army, and the quality of the soldiers was not as good as the Cao Yanzhong corps, which was mostly the main combat soldiers of the Wu army.

In all aspects, it is not as good as Cao Yanzhong's corps. However, the combat tasks that Feng Sanbao's corps must undertake are not easy. In any case, he has to take over the two important cities along the river, Chizhou Fucheng and Tongling, for the Wu army. He also has to seize or suppress the ineffective Taiping Army, and completely clear the Wu army's water transportation line, so that Cao Yanzhong's corps can safely and boldly draw cars on the Wuhu battlefield and annihilate the main forces of the Taiping Army returning to Nanjing.

If Feng Sanbao's corps cannot do this, then the Wu army Cao Yanzhong's corps, which was isolated on the Wuhu battlefield, may face a supply crisis. Even if they can escape unscathed, the strategic plan of the Wu army to threaten Nanjing and force the Taiping army to defend the Western Front with all their might be completely bankrupt, and they will no longer be able to share the pressure for the Wu army in Shanghai, and may also lead to the complete destruction of the Wu army in Shanghai.

Knowing that he had a heavy responsibility, Feng Sanbao, who was originally cautious in his character, was of course more careful in his actions. When he passed by Dongliu, who had been taken by the Wu Navy, even though he knew that the remnants of Huang Wenjin's troops of the Taiping Army who had been stationed in Pengze had left Jiande and went to Chizhou, Feng Sanbao was still very careful to leave a thousand troops to guard Dongliu, and what he was afraid of was that Huang Wenjin would make a comeback and attack the already incomplete Dongliu town again, threatening the Yangtze River channel again.

When passing through Anqing, although Feng Sanbao did not get ashore due to military emergency, he still sent someone to contact Wu Jun who was staying in Anqing, and gave him a meeting gift to get all the collected intelligence about the Taiping Army of Chizhou from the Wu Jun of Anqing, and studied it with his civil and military generals and officials, and discussed the specific strategies for attacking Chizhou.

Feng Sanbao's former chief of staff, Li Hanzhang, had been appointed by Wu Chaoyue as the governor of Hunan and did not go to the army. The current position is Li Hongzhang's fourth brother Li Hezhang. However, Li Hezhang has always been unwilling to make people think that he can take up a high position because of the support of his two brothers, and he is even more afraid that Wu Chaoyue would leave him behind and miss the opportunity to become famous. Therefore, after Feng Sanbao arrived in Jiujiang, Li Hezhang tried his best to avoid meeting Wu Chaoyue.

What I was afraid of was that Wu Chaoyue, like the big brother Li Hanzhang, who was verbose, did not allow him to go to the front line. He always acted very low-key and deliberately refused to let Wu Chaoyue notice him. It was only after Feng Sanbao led his army to the east that Li Hezhang jumped out and showed his strength, and was rushing to show himself in everything. At this moment, Feng Sanbao asked the generals to speak freely about the tactics of attacking Chizhou. Of course, Li Hezhang was the first to stand up and plan and guide the country without hesitation.

"...Chizhou Changmao used the complex terrain of Guichi City with mountains and waters, and built twelve camps in Chikou, Wushajiajia, Xuejiadun, Hejiawan, Qingxi Pagoda and Tiefo Temple. On the surface, it seems that they must stick to the outer land and resist at all levels. In fact, I dare to conclude that the Changmao of Chizhou Changmao He Yunlong's troops are very clear that these camps outside the city cannot be held for a long time. No matter how many troops stationed, they will die in vain. Only by guarding the city with all their strength can they have hope of blocking the army's attack on our rebellion!"

"He Yunlong left so many camps outside the city. His real purpose was not to force us to compete with him for the stronghold outside the city, but to the long-haired Huangwen Jinshi stationed in Qishan!"

With a heavy bamboo pole on Qishan, where Huang Wenjin's flag was inserted into the sand table, Li Hezhang said confidently: "He Yunlong wanted to squeeze out the last drop of oil and water from Huang Wenjin's Ministry, so he deliberately left multiple camps outside the city to attract us to fight. Then he could take the opportunity to force Huang Wenjin to send troops to rescue his camp, use Huang Wenjin's remaining army to consume our troops and reap the benefits of the fisherman!"

"If otherwise, if our army only uses partial troops to restrain Huang Wenjin's troops and the main force attacks Chizhou City, then He Yunlong will have only two consequences. One is that he is gradually weakened by our army and forced to release Huang Wenjin into the city, giving Huang Wenjin a chance to occupy the magpies' nest. The other is that Chizhou City was captured by our army, and He Yunlong is not even as convenient as Huang Wenjin's escape. So for He Yunlong, the big long hair, it is best for him to let Huang Wenjin decide the winner and defeat outside the city first. As long as we attack He Yunlong's thoughts, we will definitely get miraculous results!"

Listening to Li Hezhang's confident analysis, Feng Sanbao, Zhao Dechang, Wu Zifa and other generals were inevitably looking at each other, because the information on the Taiping Army provided by the Wu army in Anqing did not mention the internal problems of the Taiping Army in a word, nor did they mention more than half of the conflict between He Yunlong and Huang Wenjin, the defender of the Taiping Army in Chizhou. Therefore, Feng Sanbao and others naturally did not dare to confidently conclude like Li Hezhang that the two heads of the Taiping Army on the battlefield in Chizhou would have such a big gap.

Only Ding Baozhen, a famous foodie in the late Qing Dynasty, agreed with Li Hezhang's analysis and nodded and said, "Ji Quan is very good at seeing that the long-haired veteran Huang Wenjin has been famous for a long time and is far above He Yunlong, a long-haired junior. He Yunlong will not be in aware that Huang Wenjin will use his power to suppress others and occupy the magpie's nest and grab his territory in Chizhou Prefecture. Especially now, Huang Wenjin is a dog that is a loser, and there is no source of food, grass and military pay. He is anxious to find a place to stay. As long as He Yunlong has a little brain, he will definitely not let Huang Wenjin enter Chizhou City easily. He only hopes that Huang Wenjin and us will suffer both losses outside the city, so that he can take all the profits."

"This is also our opportunity!" Li Hezhang said loudly: "I suggest that we should take a two-pronged approach to attack the heart and attack the city, sending a letter to summon He Yunlong and Huang Wenjin, taking the opportunity to disagree and expand the conflict between them, and not taking advantage of He Yunlong's evil traps, ignore his traps outside the city, and take advantage of the opportunity that Changmao could not work together to quickly seize Chizhou City with a thunderous force, and catch Chizhou Changmao off guard."

After all, he was a famous minister who became famous in later generations. After only a moment of calculation, Ding Baozhen understood what Li Hezhang meant and said, "Ji Quan, you said that you sent a letter to recruit surrender and took the opportunity to disagree. Could it be that you wanted to directly claim that Huang Wenjin's support to Chizhou in order to occupy the magpies' nest and swallow him He Yunlong's Chizhou territory? He also pointed out He Yunlong's intention in the letter to Huang Wenjin, so that Huang Wenjin knew that He Yunlong wanted to squeeze out the oil and water on his body and forced him to completely fight the army?"

"Those who know me are Zhihuang." Li Hezhang praised and said, "I dare to conclude that as long as these two letters are successfully delivered to He Yunlong and Huang Wenjin, the already existing conflicts between them will definitely expand again, especially Huang Wenjin. Seeing that we are not deceived by He Yunlong, we will definitely not work hard to share the pressure for He Yunlong. We will only gloat and watch the tiger fight, and wait for us to force He Yunlong to beg him to enter the city for reinforcements."

"Great insight." Ding Baozhen praised again and said, "I was still wondering just now. Ji Quan, why would you suggest siege directly and not consider destroying Huang Wenjin first? I realized that only siege first is the most beneficial to us. If we attack Huang Wenjin first, in addition to hit He Yunlong's thoughts, it is also possible to force Huang Wenjin to bow his head to He Yunlong and surrender, turning the two strands into iron plates."

"So it is best for us to attack the city first." Li Hezhang said with striking remarks: "We will attack the city first. In addition to having the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity of Changmao's uncoordination, we will break the city before Chizhou opens the door and let Huang Wenjin enter the city. Even if we can't do this, we can completely disrupt He Yunlong's wishful thinking and let him beg Huang Wenjin's guest army to enter the city. At that time, the two long-haired troops, which are not subordinate to each other and have different intentions, are crowded in the same city. The guest is strong and the boss is weak, and there is a rift in front of it. It is even difficult not to cause chaos within."

"A clever plan! A clever plan!" Ding Baozhen applauded and praised: "I admire you by understanding people's hearts and taking advantage of the situation."

Ding Baozhen and Li Hezhang sang and praised each other, but Feng Sanbao, Zhao Dechang and other generals next to him were speechless, and they didn't understand whether these two guys were talking nonsense? Finally, after listening to Li Hezhang and Ding Baozhen carefully explain the specific tactical plan, they carefully calculated for a long time. Feng Sanbao nodded reluctantly and said with some confidence: "Just fight as you said."

…………

In the afternoon of the same day, the Wu army fleet approached the Chizhou River section. The navy fleet led by Xu Lai stepped forward and opened the way and crazily bombarded the Chikou Fort position of the Taiping Army with dense artillery fire. Although the Taiping Army's forts also fought back bravely, the number of artillery and the caliber of the artillery shells were too far from that of the Wu army's navy, and the firepower was quickly completely suppressed. Feng Sanbao also sent a small boat to carry elite soldiers to land on the beach and cooperated with the navy's artillery fire to seize the Taiping Army's fort.

During the fierce battle, Li Hezhang and Ding Baozhen reported that the main force of the Taiping Army He Yunlong's troops in Chizhou did not directly send troops to reinforce Chikou. The Huang Wenjin's troops stationed in the south of Chizhou also obediently circled around and ran from the Qishan camp in the south of the city to Chikou Town in the northwest corner of Chizhou to reinforce. However, the strength was too disparity. The Wu Navy only distributed half of the artillery fire, and knocked the reinforcements sent by Huang Wenjin so that they did not dare to enter the range of half a step. Feng Sanbao decisively increased his troops on the land battlefield and bombed the Taiping Army's open-air forts with grenade launchers at close range. The battalion defenders could not stand it and fled before they could stand until sunset. When the reinforcements sent by Huang Wenjin saw that the situation was not good, they had to flee back to Qishan positions. The Wu army quickly repaired the simple dock at Chikou, allowing the main force to land on ashore and establish a forward base.

The loss of Chikou Fort did not surprise He Yunlong, who was worshipping Zhongtian in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, because He Yunlong knew very well what the artillery he arranged at Chikou, and never expected to rely on Chikou Fort to block the attack of the Wu Navy. What surprised He Yunlong was the sharp attack of the Wu army. It took only more than three hours to take down Chikou Fort, and the weak and incompetent forces of the friendly Huang Wenjin Department, was ordered to reinforce Chikou Fort, but it did not even have any effect, and no soldier could even board the fort to fight.

Surprised, He Yunlong asked his personal soldiers who had come to report the war situation with some concern: "Do you have to be responsible for what you say? Huang Chengxuan's soldiers were really defeated by the demon soldiers before they got close to Chikou Fort?"

"Returning to Zhongtian'an, the villain dared not lie. Huang Chengxuan's soldiers were indeed defeated by the demon soldiers before they could board the fort." The personal soldiers who were ordered to go to watch the battle answered truthfully, and said: "But this cannot be blamed on Huang Chengxuan's soldiers. The fire of the demon soldiers' steamships and cannon ships was too fierce. The demon soldiers who landed on the shore had a quick-firing demon cannon. Huang Chengxuan's soldiers rushed three times and were defeated, with many casualties."

"Okay." He Yunlong interrupted his personal soldiers impatiently, his face was a little gloomy, and he snorted inwardly: "The fire of the monster soldiers is too fierce. If they really rush to the turret, it would be reasonable that they would not be able to go up? They just want to preserve their strength and do not want to die more!"

He Yunlong was even more upset. When it was dark, Huang Wenjin, who was stationed in Qishan, sent an envoy to the city. The old story was re-introduced and persuaded He Yunlong to shrink his defense line, give up the destined useless outer camps, concentrate his troops in the city, and compete with the Wu army with the city defense fortifications. He Yunlong, who knew Huang Wenjin's purpose of this move, sneered in his heart, and said perfunctorily that he needed to consider it. Fan Ruzeng, who was ordered to persuade, was a little anxious and said, "Zhongtian'an, there is no time to think about it. He has to take advantage of the opportunity that the demon soldiers have not fully landed, otherwise it will be too late. Our army is stationed outside the city and cannot stop the demon soldiers' foreign guns and cannons at all. Only by defending the city with all our strength can we have hope to block the demon soldiers."

"No hurry, no hurry." He Yunlong didn't listen at all. He kept shaking his head, then frowned and asked, "General Fan, who was the one who led the troops to rescue Chikou Fort today? Why did it look like this? Without a soldier and a soldier rushing to the fort to assist the battle, he was directly defeated by the demon soldiers? The battle was so ineffective, what did Huang Chengxuan give him?"

Fan Ruzeng heard the dissatisfaction in He Yunlong's words, and was suddenly unhappy and said, "Returning to Zhongtian'an, the one who led the troops to rescue Chikou Fort today was our second general Huang Wenying. He had already tried his best. It was because the demon soldiers' water and land artillery fire was too strong that they could not rush to Chikou Fort, so Huang Chengxuan did not blame the second general."

He Yunlong's face was a little ugly and his face became even more gloomy, and he said, "Since he is the second general, I have nothing to say. Please tell General Fan that when the enemy is in front of him, we can only have the hope of blocking the demon soldiers and defending the city and land of our heavenly kingdom."

Knowing that He Yunlong was bending around the bush, he accused his army of his failure to do his best, Fan Ruzeng felt even more unhappy. Seeing that He Yunlong refused to let his army enter the city to station, Fan Ruzeng was no longer in the mood to talk to He Yunlong again. After a few words of politeness, he stood up and said goodbye. While leaving in a very angry manner, Fan Ruzeng also forgot to tell Peng Ze that the Taiping Army had taken the risk of sending information - information about how the Taiping Army in Hukou cracked the Wu army's siege tactics.

However, He Yunlong is not a good thing. After spitting at Fan Ruzeng's back, the first thing He Yunlong considered was how to force Huang Wenjin's remaining army to charge, fighting with the Wu army outside the city to both sides, so that He Yunlong, who was in the city, could reap profits. In this case, when the Wu army forced the Taiping army to bring the letter of surrender back to Chizhou City and transferred it to He Yunlong, even though he knew that the Wu army was sowing discord, He Yunlong still became more determined. He would never allow Huang Wenjin's soldiers and soldiers to enter Chizhou City unless he could not!

"The words of the demon soldiers actually make some sense. The most important reason why Huang Wenjin brought all his troops to reinforce Chizhou was not how kind-hearted he was. Peng Ze, his old nest of Huang Wenjin, had been taken over by the demon soldiers. He had no money, food and military pay. The area in Jiande was poor and had no food. Huang Wenjin could only sit there and wait for death. He could only take this opportunity to come to Chizhou and force me to divide the territory for him, or swallow all my territory directly. For him, Huang Wenjin, it was the best strategy." This is He Yunlong's true voice.

Huang Wenjin's reaction was even more intense than Li Hezhang and Ding Baozhen's guess. After Fan Ruzeng brought back to Qishan camp, Huang Wenjin, who had long known what He Yunlong was thinking, was furious and smashed the table on the spot, cursing He Yunlong's child uneasy and wanted to force himself to fight the entire army. Huang Wenying, who led the army to reinforce the Chikou Fort today, was even more furious and cursed that he wanted to rush into Chizhou City to find He Yunlong to seek justice. Fortunately, Huang Wenjin was calm and knew that the enemy would only give up the enemy for vain. He snatched Huang Wenying's impulse, but all the generals of the Huang army were indignant and were extremely dissatisfied with the friendly troops in Chizhou.

With such a foundation, when Huang Wenjin's soldiers who were injured and captured late at night delivered the so-called letter of persuasion to Huang Wenjin, the letter naturally achieved twice the result with half the effort. It was also obvious that the Wu army was suspected of being sowed by discord. However, Huang Wenjin also very much recognized Wu army's analysis. If He Yunlong did not fight his remaining army or suffered great energy, he would never let him enter Chizhou City. Huang Wenying next to him also said angrily: "Brother, even the demon soldiers can see that He Yunlong wants to force us to fight with the demon soldiers. How can we fight this battle? Is it really necessary to fight our last army for He Yunlong's ungrateful miscellaneous scrimmage?"

Huang Wenjin didn't say anything, and walked around the tent with his hands behind his back for a few times. Huang Wenjin suddenly asked, "What's the situation now when the wounded soldier brought the letter back?"

"Ma An is trying him out to see if he is coming back to be a spy for the demon soldiers." Huang Wenying answered truthfully.

"Don't try, treat his wounds immediately and let him rest." Huang Wenjin whispered: "You write an anonymous letter with the reputation of the Anonymous, and say that we are ready to leave Chizhou at any time and do not want to fight with the demon soldiers to the end. Tomorrow, I will give the wounded soldier some severance money and ask him to send it back to the demon soldiers."

"Brother, what do you want to do?" Huang Wenying was stunned. She never expected that the brothers, who had always been loyal to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, would make such a decision.

"Don't worry, your brother is not trying to do something to be sorry for the Kingdom of Heaven, I am trying to protect our army." Huang Wenjin said in a deep voice: "I do this to make the demon soldiers feel that we will not fight with them to the end for He Yunlong, and are ready to withdraw their troops at any time, and may even accept their surrender, and then the demon soldiers may choose to fight Chizhou City first."

"Brother, the master's plan." Huang Wenying suddenly realized and said quickly: "As long as the demon soldiers attacked Chizhou City first, he would definitely not be able to withstand it with his ability. He could only kowtow and bow to ask us to come into the city to help him defend the city, and then we would not have to worry about anything."
Chapter completed!