After the clock rang, the heavy rain that was pouring at night gradually stopped, and sporadic gunfire began to sound in Shanghai. New and huge changes occurred in the battlefield of Shanghai, which once relied on cold weapons.

Of course, the situation began to be beneficial to the Qing army. How could it be that it was not good at close-range hand-to-hand combat? After all, the Qing army brought by Xu Naizhao from Jiangnan Camp was also considered elite. He still had the courage and ability to use muskets and Taiping Army to be long distances. The Qing soldiers who seized a large area of ​​city walls had the advantage of being condescending. He concentrated his firepower to shoot at the Taiping Army crowd under the city. Meng could also be missed a lot. Taiping soldiers who fired under the city were difficult to hit the Qing soldiers hiding behind the female wall of arrows. As a last resort, Taiping soldiers could only take the initiative to give up counterattack and charge, and were forced to enter street fighting fortifications and find various covers to shoot. The battle gradually turned into a main focus on musket shooting.

The Taiping Army still hopes to protect Shanghai City. As long as it can regain the city wall position, the Taiping Army can calmly suppress the Qing army's subsequent army with its condescending shooting advantage and prevent the Qing army from entering the city quickly. Then, relying on the large number of barricades and street fighting fortifications built in advance, the Taiping Army is very sure to retreat the Qing army that has entered the city and block the gap in the Ximen Gate. It is precisely because of this truth that the war in the city has just turned into confrontation, and Zeng Lichang immediately concentrated his troops to attack the two wings of the Qing army's city wall position, and attacked the Qing soldiers on the Ximen Gate wall from north to south.

It was too dark and the situation was too chaotic. Wu Chaoyue, who had just arrived outside Ximen City, could not grasp the focus at first. However, the dense gunshots on the city wall quickly reminded Wu Chaoyue where the most important place was. Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate and immediately sent a battalion to go up the city through the flight ladder. The troops divided into two groups to protect the left and right wings of the Qing army's city wall positions. They lined up a row of dense horizontal lines to shoot in turn and attack the Taiping Army head-on. During the shooting of high-fire firing guns, the Taiping Army soldiers who came from both sides were killed and injured. They were defeated by Wu Jun's several charges and had to retreat to reorganize the formation. They also lined up horizontal lines to fight against the Wu army to fight muskets.

As long as the Taiping Army has no fortification protection, there is no need to worry that Wu Chaoyue will suffer losses when the situation in the city has just stabilized. Wu Chaoyue immediately found Hechun to understand the situation in the city and discuss the next tactical plan. Hechun directly told Wu Chaoyue, saying: "The Changmao resisted fiercely. The general of Tiger could not open the situation. He only controlled the position less than fifty steps near the city gate, and many casualties were still injured. I was also preparing to send troops to the city to reinforce."

"Normal, Changmao has been preparing for street fighting from the beginning. It's not surprising that we are progressing slowly." Wu Chaoyue didn't care about the slow progress of the Qing army, but just said to Hechun: "Hejun Gate, the best way is to build fortifications, get some earth bags into the city to build sheep and horse walls, hide behind the wall and fight Changmao, expand the control area bit by bit, and take the opportunity to guard the city gate. As long as we can hold on until dawn, we will be much better next time."

He Chun heard the applause, then said in embarrassment: "But in a hurry, we went there to get so many sacks?"

Wu Chaoyue smiled and ordered the soldiers of the army to bring bundles of sacks, saying that they had prepared them long ago. When Hechun was overjoyed, he hurriedly ordered the soldiers of the army to follow the plan, load the sacks with soil and carry them into the city, and build temporary fortifications at the entrance of the street. During this period, in order to save trouble, the Qing army simply used the bodies of the soldiers of the army and the enemy to build fortifications. Soon, relying on the walls of the houses in the city to build a semicircular sheep and horse wall.

Discovering that the situation was not good, the Taiping Army decisively launched another charge to prevent the Qing army from building fortifications. The Qing army fired desperately, showing off its rare courage to fight against the Taiping Army while stacking fortifications. At the same time, the Qing soldiers on the city wall also shot wildly under the command of Qin Ruhu, suppressing the Taiping Army's charge, and eventually repelled the Taiping Army's attack. When the street fighting fortifications of the Qing army gradually took shape, it became more difficult for the Taiping Army to expel the Qing army from the city.

The situation began to gradually be unfavorable to the Taiping Army, and the fallen city wall positions could not be taken back, resulting in the Qing army entering the city at the West Gate, who could not leave like a mangy dog, and built street fighting fortifications that were conducive to shooting. At the same time, the Qing army Liu Cunhou's troops were also feinting the attack on the north gate of Shanghai to restrain the Taiping Army's troops. The Qing army's navy's artillery on the east gate never stopped. There was still Liu Lichuan's remnants of the city resisting stubbornly. Although the Taiping Army was more than enough to protect itself, it had no more energy to organize a larger counterattack and drive away the Qing army that had entered the city.

He struggled dyingly. In order to save Shanghai's last glimmer of hope, Zeng Lichang did his best to gather troops and organized an army to launch a large-scale counterattack on the Qing army's city positions and city wall positions. In order to ensure a successful counterattack, Zeng Lichang not only withdrew the Taiping Army that was attacking the remnants of Liu Lichuan, but also handed over the remnants of Liu Lichuan to Pan Qiliang who surrendered on the front line to deal with him, but also forced Zhou Lichun to lead the army to join the counterattack battlefield with his army. Fortunately, Zhou Lichun was able to understand the overall situation and led the army to join the battlefield without making any requests.

The Taiping Army almost succeeded in this large-scale counterattack. The Taiping Army soldiers who charged on the front battlefield were willing to die and rushed into the Qing army's sheep and horse wall at all costs to fight with the Qing army, and beat the Qing army to howl, run away with their heads in their arms and bounds, and retreating constantly, almost expelling the Qing army from the city.

Unfortunately, on the more important battlefield of the city wall, the soldiers of the Taiping Army were frantically resisted by the Wu army. How could they rush to the Wu army at any cost? The bayonet battle still could not allow the Wu army to retreat even if they had half a step, and the fierce battle was severe and the fierce battle could not be achieved for a long time. As a result, it was precisely because of the Wu army's tenacious resistance that the Qing soldiers on both sides were able to keep shooting on the city wall, covering the street fighting battlefield regardless of the enemy's firepower, and helping the Qing army in the city to maintain the already precarious Sheep and Horse Wall defense line.

The battle has also entered a white-hot stage. On the battlefield of the city wall, Wu Jun Jianyong would shoot whenever he had the chance, and bayonets would kill him without the chance. Gunshots would come one after another, fighting with Taiping soldiers who were charging wildly indistinguishable. On the battlefield of the city, the Qing army's positions were even more intertwined with enemies and us, with people like ants, and swords and guns fighting continuously. The bullets shot on the city wall were as dense as hail, and soldiers of both armies were constantly being shot and injured and killed.

At this time, a new change suddenly appeared. An army wrapped in white cloth on its head seemed to fall from the sky, suddenly appeared on the battlefield in the city, and was also very vicious to raid the northern gate of Shanghai, which was also attacked by the Qing army. The Pan Qiliang's troops of the Taiping Army, who were guarding the northern gate, had to attack the remaining troops of Liu Lichuan and resist the attack of the Qing army outside the city on the city. The troops were already stretched out and were suddenly attacked by this mysterious army. When they were caught off guard, the soldiers of the city gate dispersed one after another. The mysterious army took the opportunity to cut open the door and opened the city gate, and put the Qing army Liu Cunhou's troops into the city.

Of course, smart friends must have guessed that this army was the Jiangyin training camp where Zhou Tenghu was inserted into Liu Lichuan's army in advance. Although the troops were not large and only one whistle, they were still killed and missing in the melee. However, dozens of elite soldiers who had received strict training suddenly rushed from behind to the weak point of the Taiping Army, which still played an important role in making a big move.

The Qing army entering the city from the North Gate gave the Taiping Army a fatal blow in the situation and psychological state, and could no longer draw out the extra troops to expel the Beimen Qing army. It became meaningless to continue to attack the Ximen Qing army. In order to preserve the vitality, Zeng Lichang could only order the attack with tears in his eyes, withdrawing his troops to encircle and suppress the remnants of Liu Lichuan in order to rescue Xu Zongyang, and immediately began to prepare to abandon the city and retreat.

One advantage of hot weapons combat for the commander is that it can judge the battlefield situation through gunfire. When it was found that the gunfire at the Ximen side suddenly became sparse, Wu Chaoyue immediately understood that the Taiping Army had given up the plan to expel the Qing army from the city, and also guessed that the Taiping Army would probably launch a breakout war as soon as possible. Then, considering that if the Taiping Army was allowed to break through and flee to Suzhou, the vitality would still pose a huge threat to his Shanghai lair, Wu Chaoyue did not dare to let go of water this time, so he found Hechun early and asked to lead the army to establish a defensive position outside the South Gate to block the Taiping Army's east fleeing brigade.

The battle against the Taiping Army was fought desperately, and after entering the city, he had the opportunity to burn, kill and loot. Of course, Hechun agreed to Wu Chaoyue's request. At that moment, Wu Chaoyue immediately took three battalions to move to the south gate to take over the siege fortifications built by the Qing army in advance. At the same time, he also quietly prayed that Zhou Lichun would not be confused, and it would be best to take Zhou Xiuying to break through the east gate, so that Zhou Xiuying could hope to increase his strength whether he fled west to Suzhou or to the north to the concession.

When they moved to the position outside the Nanmen City, the street fighting in the city naturally had nothing to do with Wu Chaoyue. Liu Cunhou and the Qing army led by Hechun were also very smart. After entering the city, they did not rush to burn, kill and loot. They chose to step by step and gradually expand the positions in the city to establish a foothold. The Taiping Army was smarter to gradually resist with the street fighting fortifications, and they fought for time to rescue Xu Zongyanghe and prepare to retreat. The intensity of the war with the Qing army decreased a lot.

In this way, the most unlucky one was of course the remnants of Liu Lichuan, led by Li Xianchi and Du Wenzao. The Qing army advanced too slowly and could not provide them with direct support, and could not withstand the fierce attack of the Taiping Army. The soldiers and generals continued to flee. During this period, Du Wenzao was hit by stray bullets and then killed by the angry Taiping Army soldiers. Finally, at nearly four o'clock in the morning, Li Xianchi and the last hundred Liu's remnants were surrounded by the Taiping Army in the lobby of the Shanghai County Government. Under the rush to jump over the wall, Li Xianchi also asked someone to take the seriously injured Xu Zongyang to the door of the lobby and force the Taiping Army to stop the attack.

In order to save Xu Zongyang, Huang Shengcai, the general of the Taiping Army who led his army to besiege the lobby of the county government, came forward in person and agreed to release Xu Zongyang in exchange for Li Xianchi and others to survive. However, Li Xianchi did not believe in the promise of the Taiping Army, but also wanted to capture Xu Zongyang alive and rewarded the Qing army. He immediately refused and said loudly: "I want me to let Xu Zongyang go, yes! But you have to let me take my brothers to the government army first, let us meet with the government army, and then I will let Xu Zongyang go!"

"Fart!" Huang Shengcai was furious when he heard this and roared: "Let you go to the Qing Yao side, will you let Prime Minister Xu be released? Immediately release Prime Minister Xu, we promise to withdraw immediately and no longer attack! Otherwise, we will shoot!"

"If you dare to shoot, I will kill Xu Zongyang with one shot!"

Li Xianchi threatened Huang Shengcai in turn, but what Li Xianchi didn't expect was that Xu Zongyang, who was dying, suddenly raised his head and struggled and shouted: "Huang Shengcai! Shoot! Kill me first, then kill these beasts to avenge me!"

"Shoot! Shoot at me! If I fall into the hands of Qing Yao, I will only die even more miserable! Shoot at me, this is an order!"

As he roared with difficulty, Xu Zongyang tried his best to struggle in pain. When Li Xianchi was furious and beat him, Xu Zongyang took the opportunity to bite Li Xianchi's wrist. Li Xianchi screamed in pain, saying that he could not shake Xu Zongyang's teeth, and could only use a butt to smash Xu Zongyang's head.

Bang, the gunshots were fired. Although Huang Shengcai's bullet accurately shot Li Xianchi, it did not let Li Xianchi die immediately. After being shot, Li Xianchi was still mad and shot several times in Xu Zongyang's head, killing this important general of the Taiping Army on the spot. The Taiping Army soldiers led by Huang Shengcai roared like thunder, and the bullets were shot into the county hall like hail and raindrops. In the end, none of the more than a hundred Liu Lichuan's remaining troops in the lobby escaped and survived.

After receiving the news of Xu Zongyang's murder, Zeng Lichang shed tears and decisively issued an order to abandon the city. He led the remaining Taiping Army soldiers, Pan Qiliang and Zhou Lichun, and two friendly troops, divided into two groups, out of the city from the South Gate and the East Gate, and retreated to Suzhou overnight.

The main force of the Taiping Army who left the city from the south gate was of course hit by the Wu army Lian Yong. Wu Chaoyue, a small comprador who had both hands covered with blood from the peasant uprising army, took a terrible attack and slaughtered Taiping Army soldiers with various advanced weapons, successfully defeating the main brigade of the Taiping Army, forcing the Taiping Army to give up the baggage and divide it into multiple stocks to break through. Wu Chaoyue tried his best to chase and weaken the threat to him in the future of the Taiping Army. The Taiping Army soldiers were killed and injured due to the heavy casualties. Wu Chaoyue, who was secretly sympathizing with him, had no guilt. This was all the Taiping Army forcing Wu Chaoyue to do this.

During this period, Wu Chaoyue, who had already figured out a way out for the Taiping Army soldiers in advance, did not forget to take the opportunity to surrender. During the pursuit, the soldiers kept shouting the slogan of surrendering but not killing, and also prohibited the killing of injured and captured Taiping Army soldiers. As a result, a considerable number of Taiping Army soldiers were captured. Of course, most of these people were soldiers of the Xiaodaohui Rebel Army.

In addition, Wu Chaoyue did not forget to find Zhou Xiuying's whereabouts. What made Wu Chaoyue breathe a sigh of relief was that Zhou Lichun's army was crossing the encirclement at the East Gate of Shanghai, and was only intercepted by the Qing army's naval commander Bo Chengsheng's troops. The loss was not too great, and Zhou Xiuying's murder might be very small. But in this way, Wu Chaoyue wanted to join the line with Zhou Xiuying and told Yang Xiuqing about Zhang Jigeng through Zhou Xiuying, so he naturally had no chance to succeed.

Unwilling to give up, Wu Chaoyue kept taking Wu army to pursue Zhou Xiuying's hometown Huangdu Town, Huangdu Town, before stopping, and then sorting out the team to search for the remaining enemies while allowing the soldiers to rest. At the same time, he also tried his best to search for Zhou Xiuying's whereabouts. However, unfortunately, Zhou Xiuying did not appear in the area of ​​Huangdu Town. Instead, Xu Naizhao sent an urgent letter, saying that many Taiping soldiers fled into the British and French concessions for protection, and asked Wu Chaoyue, who was proficient in foreign languages, to return to Shanghai to deal with the matter immediately, and let Hechun, Qin Ruhu and others shoulder the heavy responsibility of chasing.

Unwilling to go to Suzhou to fight the tough battle, Wu Chaoyue of course immediately accepted Xu Naizhao's request, allowing the exhausted Wu army to rest in Huangdu for a night. The next day, Wu Chaoyue took the army back to Shanghai to deal with the difficult problem of Taiping soldiers escaping into the concession.

The problem is indeed quite difficult. After the Taiping Army soldiers fled into the concession, they were immediately confiscated, but under the protection of foreigners, they were temporarily stationed in the concession. Xu Naizhao asked the consuls of Britain, France and other countries to hand over these Taiping soldiers, but was flatly rejected, but they could not leave them alone and let them hide in the concession and continue to threaten Shanghai. With no choice, Xu Naizhao had to kick the ball to Wu Chaoyue and let Wu Chaoyue find a way to deal with this troublesome problem.

Of course, Wu Chaoyue did not dare to force foreigners to hand over his wife. After racking his brains, Wu Chaoyue could only ask the consuls of Britain, France and other countries to expel these Taiping Army from the Shanghai Concession and let them take a boat to Japan or Nanyang. Aliguo and Aitang were also worried that these Taiping Army soldiers would affect the public security of the concession, so he extorted a sum of silver from Xu Naizhao to deal with these Taiping Army soldiers, and forced Xu Naizhao to agree to expand the area of ​​the British and French Concession, so he agreed to Wu Chaoyue's proposal.

After agreeing with foreigners, this plan to stolen the country was agreed upon. When it was time to sign the treaty for stolen the country, Xu Naizhao, who was treacherous and slick, of course, handed the brush to Wu Chaoyue and said with a smile: "Wu Nietai, this method was agreed upon by you and the foreigners. You have to sign this treaty in person."

Wu Chaoyue was stupid and signed the autograph alone on this treaty. He immediately smiled and shook his head, saying, "Xu Futai, you are the superior of the lower official. This method was decided by your personal consent. Please sign and use a seal first. Just be a deputy for you."

Xu Naizhao and Wu Chaoyue pushed each other around. Hui Zheng, who had just been rescued from the prison by the Qing army, shrank aside and did not dare to say anything. A Liguo and others sneered opposite the negotiating table. When they were in a stalemate, a thin veteran hand suddenly stretched out from beside them and took the brush. Wu Chaoyue looked up in surprise, but saw that it was not someone else who took the brush, but his comprador, Wu Jianzhang. Then when he saw Wu Jianzhang put his pen on the treaty, Wu Chaoyue jumped up to stop him, "Grandpa, you can't sign!"

With a smile, Wu Jianzhang pushed away his baby grandson's thin hand. The smile on his thin old face was extremely gentle, and he said softly: "Sunny, there is no need to stop me. This time the pirate chaos, I can't escape anyway. It's just that I'm taking the blame. There is not much difference between taking one mouthful and taking two mouthfuls. You are still young and so successful, don't affect your future for this little thing."

Watching the comprador grandfather sign the three words Wu Jianzhang on the treaty that was about to regret his career prospects, Wu Chaoyue was crying and kneeling in front of the comprador Wu's comprador, but the comprador Wu smiled and patted the head of the precious grandson, and said gently: "Chaoyue, grandfather is old and tired. Our Wu family will rely on you in the future." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!