August 21, Xianfeng 4th year, Jiangxi, Hukou.

The scout who was watching on the big ship waved the small red flag in his hand three times, and the Qing soldier who was responsible for delivering the news saw it, turned around and trot, and when he arrived in front of Zeng Guofan, he half-knelt down and said: "Report to the commander, the wolf smoke of the beacon tower in front of you is burning, and you have seen the traces of the sailor of the traitor!" ”

Zeng Guoquan was overjoyed, eager to try, and was about to shout the order, but suddenly found that his eldest brother had not yet spoken, so he took back the words that almost came out of his mouth, and only looked at Zeng Guofan.

Zeng Guofan glared at Zeng Guoquan, and gave orders unhurriedly, "The big boat is in the middle, the small boat is beside it, and it will be a wild goose!" Attack with all your might! ”

"Wow! Pull the sails and go all out! ”

"Lao Jiu," Zeng Guofan instructed his ninth brother, "You fight the striker, and all the artillery from the foreigners will be given to you!" The first battle must extinguish the prestige of rebellion! ”

"Yes!" The war maniac Zeng Guoquan shook his hands, jumped off the lookout, and scolded his mother all the way.

Rong Lu looked at the camp built near the water behind him, and faintly felt that something was wrong, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Dashuai, this rebellion is coming from the east, we have seen the sailor, but listening to the report of the spies in front, there are many rebel troops on land, if the rebel sends a partial division to copy our old camp, this is not appropriate." ”

Zeng Guofan nodded, "Zhuge is only cautious in his life, Zhonghua, the old man you said has already thought about it, you are a northerner, and you are not good at water warfare, I will give you all the musket team, and you will guard the old camp, this battle, you don't have to fight." ”

"Yes," Rong Lu commanded, turning and leaving.

Shi Dakai rode his horse slowly and leisurely on the official road leading to the mouth of the lake. The Taiping infantry around him moved forward rapidly, Lai Hanying followed behind Shi Dakai, the last time the western expedition failed, he was punished by Yang Xiuqing, the king of the east, from the deputy prime minister of the summer official to the deputy prime minister of the winter official, fortunately, the king of the east saw that he was the face of the younger brother of the queen of heaven, and did not push himself to the end. Lai Hanying stepped forward and said to Shi Dakai: "Wing King, isn't it appropriate for us to divide our troops into two ways?" "If Zeng Guofan is prepared. It's a bit of a hard idea.

The young Wing King smiled and nodded. "Prime Minister Lai, you are right, although it is a bit risky to send troops like this, it is okay, Zeng Guofan's sailor has just been trained. There is no need for us to have the sailors recruited by Yuezhou back then. At the very least, this sailor can maintain an invincible situation. This is one thing," Lai Hanying and a group of senior generals with yellow scarves on their heads gathered around the Wing King and listened silently, "Second. Now that the king is leading the infantry to the west, there is no need to travel day and night, just wait until the water division and the water division of the Qing Demon are fighting, and when they are anxious, they will raid the Qing Demon base camp with all their might, and let them taste the taste of burning the camp! ”

Lai Hanying was convinced, but this was a good method, and the Wing King was really a handsome talent who came out of the "Three Visits to the Thatched House" when the King of Heaven and the King of the East went together. Lai Hanying gave up his hands and obeyed the order, "Yes, just listen to the Wing King, when the time comes, burn the old camp of the Qing Demon, it depends on whether the Qing Demon Sailor on the mouth of the lake can escape!" ”

Everyone was overjoyed, and they all nodded again and again, "Be careful, order the scouts," Shi Dakai waved his hand and swept away the buzzing flies in front of him, "When we meet the common people in front, we will all be arrested, and when we get to the old camp of the Qing Demon, we will let it go back so as not to leak the news." ”

"Why should the Winged King be so troublesome, just kill it with one sword."

"No," Shi Dakai forgot that he was once a general of the poor people after living a good life, but now this is the atmosphere in the kingdom of heaven, and he can't stop it, but in his own team, he is not allowed to treat the people like mustard, "Good words to explain, when the time comes, let the people go immediately, don't kill people indiscriminately." ”

"Yes."

Zeng Guofan sat on the main general ship of the formation, the various flags on the ship were blown by the wind and sounded fiercely, the Qing army armor on both sides was solemn, Zeng Guofan twisted his beard and looked into the distance, there were forty ships of great size on both sides, the sky was covered by the tree, the momentum was like a rainbow, Zeng Guofan was extremely proud, but on the surface it was not exposed at all, only took a clairvoyant mirror and looked at the place where the water and sky met in the east, only to see a few faint sail shadows, at this moment, the scout standing on the top of the boat shouted: "The rebel water division appeared!" All ships on alert! All ships on alert! ”

"All ships on alert!"

The signal soldiers on the edge of Zeng Guofan waved the big red and black-edged flags in their hands vigorously, and each ship gave orders in turn, turned the sails, and arranged the shells, and each ship slowly turned and adjusted into a long snake formation, facing the enemy in the northeast, and the battle was about to break out.

The commander of the Taiping Army's water division, Lin Shaozhang, the spring official and deputy prime minister, squinted at the Qing Army Navy Division in the west with cold eyes, sneered slightly in his heart, and was very disapprehensive of Shi Dakai's tactics, can these newly trained Hunan mud legs be compared to the elite of the hundred battles that his heavenly kingdom has been bringing out from Yuezhou, it is really ridiculous, and what is even more ridiculous is that the Wing King is so cautious, as if facing a great enemy, and he also personally led the infantry to divide the troops and go out to catch Zeng Lao Thief off guard.

At this time, Lin Shaozhang had forgotten that he was also a charcoal-burning mud leg when he was in Guangxi, and his so-called elite of a hundred battles was just formed by sailors who fished for a living in Yuezhou.

That's it, he obeys his orders with peace of mind, if he annihilates the sailor of the old thief in one fell swoop on the water, then the Wing King will have to watch himself make a great contribution alone. Lin Shaozhang pressed the knife on his waist and said coldly: "The name of the Wing King is hanging?" ”

"Back to the prime minister, it's already hanging."

"Then let the Qing Demon think that we are led by the Wing King himself! Order, artillery and arrow clusters are ready, let's let the Qing demon have no return! ”

"Yes!

The president of the Hunan Army Navy Division is Chu Ruhang, a native of Guangdong, spent three hundred taels of silver in the Daoguang Dynasty to donate the experience of the Guangxi political envoy, since the Taiping Rebellion, Chu Ruhang in Jintian and Xinxu to suppress the force, accumulated military merits and promoted to the prefect of Baise, and later should be recruited by Zeng Guofan, to Jiangxi, and another important Hunan army general Xia Luan supervised the construction of warships and trained sailors. Standing on the edge of the railing, Chu Ruhang forced himself to calm down, took his glasses and carefully looked at the rebel sailor in the distance, and saw that the largest ship in the middle was hung with a golden word "stone", knowing that it was one of the five kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom - the winged king Shi Dakai personally arrived, Chu Ruhang's heart sank, saying that it was not afraid of it was false, Shi Dakai's army was invincible everywhere he went, except for a block under Anqing City - but this Wang Admiral did not dare to go out of the city to pursue, Chu Ruhang was not depressed, and waved his hand to call the heralds, "Order all ships, don't be impatient, wait until the rebellious sailors are within the range of the artillery, and then fire the artillery together, although our sailors have a lot of gunpowder, but it can't be wasted!" ”

"Wow!"

The Qing army and the sailors of the Taiping army slowly approached, the waves on the Yangtze River were monstrous, and now there were more shouts of war between the two sides, for a time the Yangtze River was extremely noisy, and suddenly, a spark exploded on the side of a warship of the Qing army, and the sparks shot out with lightning speed, like a fire dragon was born, quickly crossed a curve in the air, and threw itself into the turbulent Yangtze River.

As if like a fuse, the sailors of the Qing army launched artillery one after another, and the rumbling sound shook the sky, and many shells fell on the ships of the Taiping army, igniting a raging fire, but more of them were shot into the Yangtze River with white waves, stirring up splashes. (To be continued......)

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