The turtle ships that once ran rampant in Taihu Lake, in front of the foreign gunboats, were so fragile, the largest flagship, was smashed with only one shot, and the brave and brilliant Sun Sixi was killed on the spot, all of which had a great deterrent to the psychology of the Taiping Army, and the formation of the fleet immediately showed signs of chaos, some ships were still rushing forward, and some ships stopped in hesitation and slowed down.

However, slowing down is even worse, and it is equivalent to becoming a fixed target. The gunwales on the Jintai and Baiyue began to fire in a salvo, and the Taiping army's big ships were constantly shot, either broken or on fire, and even the gunpowder that hit the ship exploded. By the time the cannons on the turtle ships were finally able to reach the foreign ships, the entire fleet had destroyed nearly a hundred ships, and only three of the seventeen turtle ships were barely able to fight.

The situation has completely shifted to the side of the officers and soldiers. The Hunan army's water bravery, who has been bullied by the Taiping army for more than a year, saw that today was to raise his eyebrows, and under the sails of the wind, he shouted and clamoured forward, not only to take revenge, but also to rush to make this great achievement.

The fleets of both sides are finally entangled. Lang Guokun, who was on the flank, met the right flank of the Hunan army, and Tang Zhengcai's Chinese army also entered the battle group from the front. Nearly 2,000 ships, large and small, fought on the smoke-filled Taihu Lake, and the sound of cannons, gunfires, and the crackling sound of ships on fire was caught in the thrilling sound of the lake waves crashing on the shore blown up by the northwest wind. Both sides know that this is a battle of life and death, especially the Taiping army, knowing that if this battle is lost, not only the Taihu Lake Naval Army that has worked so hard to build will be destroyed, but also the counties in southern Jiangsu that have lost the support of the naval division will also fall into the hands of the Xuan Army. Therefore, although knowing that it is on the verge of despair. Still refusing to retreat. It is not only necessary to resist the sailors of the Hunan army. It was even more hoped that the foreign ship could be damaged and forced to withdraw from the battle.

Unfortunately, such efforts have been in vain. The maneuverability of the two steam-powered paddle gunboats was really not comparable to that of the sail wooden ships, and the sampans intended to besiege were forced by the waves that were discharged by the foreign ships when they were moving, and they could not even get closer. Not to mention the rest? Even if a strong man drove two or three small boats through the waves, he was condescendingly fired by the 30 elite gunmen on the ship, the "marines" in Guan Zhuofan's mind, and they were either killed or wounded.

After fighting like this for less than two hours, Tang Zhengcai, who was on the flagship of the Chinese army, was already desperate -- even if there was no turtle boat, he could still be evenly matched with the Hunan army's naval division, but there was really no way to take two gunboats. The Jintai and Baiyue shuttled through the battlefield. Not only artillery fire could not be resisted, but also a huge angle of attack in the bow of the ship. It has also become a sharp weapon. In addition to firing the cannons, Yujian had the ships of the Hunan army surrounded, so they took the angle of attack in front and broke away from the besieging ships, and they were crushed. In this way, the superiority of the Hunan army became greater and greater, and the ships of the Taiping army were destroyed, burned, and captured by countless people.

The battle finally couldn't go on, Tang Zhengcai saw that the two gunboats had already crossed the battlefield and intercepted the rear army, sighed, and ordered Mingjin to close the team and retreat to the water village on the east side of Xishan Island.

This is a decision with no choice, knowing that once you enter the water village, you will never be able to get out again, but in order to save the emergency, it is obviously a cup of poisonous wine, so you have to drink it.

However, it is not easy to quench your thirst by drinking water. Although it cannot be said that the retreat of the Taiping army could not be said to be blocked, every time a cannon was fired, a ship would fall apart, and the retreating formation of the Taiping army would be scattered. Of the more than 1,000 ships of the Tang Zhengcai Taihu Lake Naval Army, only more than 200 of them were able to retreat into the water village safely.

This is an unprecedented victory for the officers and troops! The ecstatic Hunan army sailors first blocked the waterways at both ends of the water village on Xishan Island to make plans for the next siege, while Admiral Li Chaobin's ship, waving flags, slowly sailed towards the Jintai.

"Edward, aren't you happy?" Ding Ruchang, who was extremely happy, asked with a smile in stiff English. In this battle, only two crew members on the Jintai were wounded, and the fight was very beautiful, but between Edward's eyebrows, there was not much joy to be seen.

"I'm happy, too, but I don't think it's a reciprocal battle." Edward shrugged his shoulders and said, "As an officer in the Royal Navy, I hope to have a stronger opponent. ”

Ding Ruchang smiled and nodded, stepped off the bridge, and prepared to meet Li Chaobin's boarding, but he was thinking in his heart, if one day, I can say the same thing to you, it will be good.

*

*

The battle of Taihu Lake ended, and the situation on land was immediately overturned. Tang Zhengcai's navy retreated on Xishan Island, relying on the water village barrier and the stronghold on land, struggling to support. On the Taihu Lake, all the naval warships of the Xuan Army and the Hunan Army were cruising back and forth, and the stone fortresses of the Taiping Army along the coast not only could no longer get the support of the naval army, but also had to be attacked by both water and land. In particular, the main cannon of the Jintai, each bullet, the sound shocks ten miles, such a might, can really destroy the soldiers' fighting spirit. So within a few days, the Xuan army, which went south from Kunshan again, joined forces with Ding Shijie, and successively captured Zhenze and Wujiang counties, which were adjacent to Taihu Lake.

There was also good news from the north, Li Hongzhang's Huai army, fought hard for more than ten days, and finally on November 29, the "six pockmarks" Liu Mingchuan took the lead in the city, and finally broke Taicang. Cai Yuanlong's more than 3,000 remnants of the army actually resisted in the city for a long time, and when they saw that the general trend had gone, they broke through from the West Gate and retreated to Changzhou and Suzhou.

Li Hongzhang was unforgiving, he sat in Taicang, and sent a group of generals such as Gordon, Cheng Xueqi, Guo Songlin, and Wu Changqing, first with Wu Jianying, the Xuan army stationed in Changshu, to jointly attack Zhaowen County. After taking it, he pounced to the south, and it only took two days to clear the Taiping army in Xinyang County.

So far, from Changshu on the Yangtze River to Zhenze on the Taihu Lake, the battle line of the official army runs through the north and south, and is completely connected as a whole, forming an arc, from the north, east and south, surround Suzhou, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's "Southern Jiangsu Province".

Guan Zhuofan, who is in Shanghai, can grasp these situations at any time, relying on the power of telegraphs. The two telegraph lines, one from Shanghai to Kunshan, were in his own hands, and the other from Shanghai to Jiading and then to Taicang was managed by the telegraph office of the governor's yamen. The news between the two sides was communicated between Zhao Jingxian and Zhou Fu, who stayed in Shanghai by the governor Yamen, and Li Hezhang, who returned to Shanghai to recuperate.

When the news of Zhou Fu's Huai army's capture of Xinyang came, Guan Zhuofan knew that it was time to leave. The fight against Suzhou is a big war, and it can't be said that the brothers will suffer in the front, and they will fall in the city and be accompanied by Hu Qingqing? What's more-

"I'm going to beat Tan Shaoguang." Guan Zhuofan took Hu Qingqing's hand, looked her from head to toe, his eyes fell on a pair of chests, and smiled maliciously, "This time I probably didn't run." ”

Why is this person not serious? Hu Qingqing knew that what he was thinking was not a good thing, but he was shy and sweet in his heart, both the reluctance and uneasiness to send him to the battlefield, and the excitement of looking forward to Tan Shaoguang's revenge for killing his uncle.

"I'll pick up your luggage for you," she withdraws her hand and whispers, "you...... Good haode back. ”

Guan Zhuofan sent an order to Tulin to let the pro-military camp stand by and start early tomorrow morning. That night, Hu Qingqing specially cleaned up a table full of dishes, so that he could eat and drink enough, so that he could have the strength to fight.

"It's not fair, it's not fair." Guan Zhuofan feasted, shook his head and sighed, "I eat and drink spicy food here, and I feel uncomfortable when I think of my brother in front of me." ”

"Ah, Master Guan still has this heart." Hu Qingqing teased, "Then you take me along, and I'll make something for everyone to eat, okay?" ”

"I can't do it! I can't help it! Guan Zhuofan still shook his head, "Don't you know, in the barracks, you can't live too comfortably, otherwise who is willing to work hard?" Ten zhang soft red, the most dissipating fighting spirit, you just hurt me, don't hurt everyone again! ”

"If you don't have a conscience, you can sell well when you get cheap." Hu Qingqing glanced at him, "I'll go back and pack a big bag of hard dough cakes, and give it to Túrin to carry for you, so that you can nibble every day, every day, and see if you dare to say ......"

The two of them said this, but they were interrupted by Zhang Shun, who came to knock on the door - he knew that his master was talking to Miss Hu inside, and it was really undesirable to come and knock on the door at this time. But there are people outside who are anxiously waiting to see Guan Fantai, and it is not okay if they don't report it.

"Master, Mr. Bian from the Telegraph Bureau is here, and he brought his brother-in-law."

"Oh?" Guan Zhuofan Huo Ran stood up. Bian Ning's brother-in-law, Huang Haiqing, is the head of the governor's yamen telegraph room, and he is also a nail buried by Li Hongzhang's side, and he has never moved around with his side. Now that it was getting dark, they came to ask for a meeting at this time, and naturally they had something very important.

Guan Zhuofan took Zhang Shun to the signing room next to the second hall, and sure enough, he saw Bian Ning and they were already waiting there. When I entered the room, I first ordered to be exempt from courtesy and look at the seat.

"Marshal, Li Futai sent a telegram to Li Hezhang and Zhou Fu from Taicang, and asked them to complete it tomorrow and send it to the governor's yamen." Bian Ning refused to sit down, still standing and thinking about things, "Wu Daotai's position in Shanghai Dao is only afraid that it will be bad." ”

Guan Zhuofan narrowed his eyes, his eagle-like gaze stared at Bian Ning's face, but his tone was still very calm: "Well, what reason did Li Futai use?" ”

"Lord Wu is helping him with military affairs, and he is the leader of the Changsheng Army. Li Futai said that Wu Xu was in Taicang, and it was difficult to take care of the affairs of the yamen and the customs affairs...... Haiqing took the risk of copying a fold and sent it to me. I thought this was a big deal, and I should let the marshal know anyway, so I brought him to see the marshal. ”

After speaking, he took out a rolled-up letterhead and presented it to Guan Zhuofan with both hands.

It's a real big deal! Xuanjun's military expenses are all thanks to Guan Yin, and the position of Shanghai Dao is the lifeblood, if it is held by Li Hongzhang, it is equivalent to making people choke their throats.

"Haiqing, you did a good job!" Guan Zhuofan took it, but he was not in a hurry to look at it, and said to Huang Haiqing, who was standing aside and a little restrained, encouragingly, "This work, I will remember it for you first, you don't have to say anything now, you will naturally know in the future." ”

After explaining this sentence, I unfolded the scroll of letterhead and read it slowly. I read it twice, closed the letterhead, put it on the table, and smiled silently.

Li Hongzhang, I'm waiting for you until now, you have done it.

*(To be continued......)