Rebirth of The Deer and the Cauldron, Wei Xiaobao Becomes a God

Finally, the soldiers of the Han camp rushed to the base of the city wall under the west gate. At this time, countless torches were thrown down from the city wall, and the city wall instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

It turned out that the cunning Western devils had already transported a large amount of kerosene (crude oil) from ships and dumped it under the city wall. They had been waiting for the opportunity for the Qing army to attack the city. Once the Qing army approached the city wall, they immediately ignited the kerosene and created this terrible sea of ​​fire.

Li Chengdong looked at the raging fire in front of him and knew that the attack on the city was hopeless. He waved his hand helplessly and ordered the troops to retreat.

In this night battle, the Han camp suffered heavy losses, with more than half of its troops killed or wounded. All of this made Li Chengdong fall into deep self-blame and pain.

.........

The exhausted Soetu and Heyu traveled along the canal all the way to Yangzhou, and then rushed to Nanjing without stopping, where they successfully met up with Fu Lata, the governor-general of Liangjiang who had already assembled 10,000 soldiers.

However, just this morning, when they arrived at the West Gate of Shanghai, they heard shocking news - the sneak attack last night ended in failure! This news was like a bolt from the blue, and Suo Etu was so angry that his face turned blue.

Originally, he was confident that as long as he could successfully join forces with Li Chengdong's 14,000 troops, he would have sufficient manpower to launch a strategic siege. But now it seems that the situation is much more serious than he imagined.

Fortunately, the twenty red cannons of the Han camp were not deployed last night and were still lying quietly in the camp, which also gave Soetu a glimmer of hope.

In the big tent of the Han camp, Suo Etu said to Li Chengdong with a gloomy face: "Can we organize another siege this morning? This time we will concentrate our firepower and bombard the city with red cannons, use up all the shells we brought, and then organize the siege."

Facing Suo Etu's proposal, Li Chengdong replied with difficulty: "Master Zhongtang, our army had already dispatched the entire army when we attacked last night. The soldiers are now exhausted, and the government soldiers have traveled all night and have consumed a lot of physical strength. I suggest that everyone rest for a day, recuperate, and fight again tomorrow."

The Minister of War He Yu also echoed, "Prime Minister Suo, Admiral Li is right. As the Art of War says, 'An exhausted army is doomed to fail'!"

When Soetu heard this, he became a little anxious. He knew that if he could not win a victory as soon as possible, the Qing Dynasty would be in a passive position at the negotiating table with the multinational coalition forces.

But now, Li Chengdong insisted on waiting until tomorrow to launch the attack, which made Suo Etu feel very helpless. However, as a coach, he knew that he could not force his generals too much, otherwise it might cause bigger problems. So, despite being extremely anxious, he chose to respect Li Chengdong's decision and expressed his willingness to wait for tomorrow's attack.

At noon, the two reconnaissance boats had successfully arrived at Shanghai Port. The port was full of foreigners holding weapons, their faces full of vigilance and hostility. Afterwards, the reconnaissance boats continued to Chongming Island, but surprisingly, the island was empty.

When the reconnaissance boat arrived at Wusongkou, the scene in front of them was shocking. There were more than 20 ships of the multinational coalition anchored at the dock, and countless bodies of Jiangnan Navy officers and soldiers and ship fragments floating on both sides of the Yangtze River. This clearly showed that there had been a fierce battle here a few days ago.

The reconnaissance boat continued to move along the Huangpu River. Shanghai County on the shore was shrouded in thick smoke, and the city walls were in ruins. Through the telescope, one could see corpses everywhere in the city, and from time to time, some foreigners could be seen searching for property in dilapidated houses.

The scouts docked the boat at the wild beach and sent personnel to nearby villages to learn about the situation. They learned about the entire multinational coalition invasion from the refugees in Shanghai County. Soon after, a detailed telegram was quickly delivered to Commander Zhang Xiaolong.

Zhang Xiaolong read the telegram with a heavy heart, and then silently handed it to Mu Tingxie beside him. Then, he gave an order to the radio operator: "Forward it to the headquarters immediately."

"What? Seven hundred soldiers at the Wusongkou Fort died, tens of thousands of people in Shanghai County were massacred, more than 100 warships of the Jiangnan Navy were destroyed, and more than soldiers in the Han Camp died..." Mu Tingyi looked at the telegram in his hand and couldn't help but screamed, his voice full of astonishment and grief. His face turned pale, and his eyes were full of shock and anger.

At this moment, Mu Tingxi felt a strong sense of self-blame. He realized that if he had been able to hold on to the first line of defense on Chongming Island, perhaps these tragedies would not have happened. He blamed himself deeply, thinking that it was his dereliction of duty that led to all this.

At the same time, in the Ryukyu Commander's Office, Wei Xiaobao tightly grasped the telegram in his hand, his body trembling slightly, and his face showed an extremely angry expression. He stared at the front with wide eyes, as if he wanted to burn everything in front of him.

Since Kangxi’s policy of seclusion, China has gradually fallen into a two-hundred-year-long path of poverty and weakness from which there is no return.

Today, although the Qing Dynasty is still a powerful country, it is still challenged by European powers. They not only defeated the Jiangnan Navy at sea, but also brutally massacred innocent people in Shanghai County. This atrocity made Wei Xiaobao's anger burn even more.

He gritted his teeth and swore secretly in his heart: "I would not be a gentleman if I don't avenge this!" He decided to take action to safeguard the dignity of China and the safety of its people.

Wei Xiaobao immediately issued two orders: "Telegram to the Eastern Fleet to wipe out the Western armed elements in Songjiang Prefecture with all their strength, welcome merchants who come to China to do business, and suppress all robbers who come to China to rob."

At the same time, he added: "By another telegram, I will arrive at Songjiang Prefecture on the Commander yacht at noon tomorrow to join the Eastern Fleet."

With the issuance of these two orders, a counterattack against Western invaders is about to begin. Wei Xiaobao is determined to defend the honor of the Chinese people and the interests of the people with practical actions, and let those enemies who dare to invade Chinese territory pay a heavy price.

Wei Xiaobao's Commander-in-Chief yacht is a sea transportation vehicle specially customized for the commander-in-chief by the shipyard according to the drawings and detailed introductions in the library.

The yacht is 26.8 meters long and 5.2 meters wide. It adopts a streamlined design and a submersible cabin. The interior decoration is extremely luxurious, making people feel as if they are in modern society.

Not only that, the performance of this yacht is also first-class. Under normal circumstances, it can travel at a speed of 30 knots (about 55.6 kilometers) per hour, and in an emergency, it can increase the speed to 50 knots (about 92.6 kilometers) in a short time.