This question seems simple, but it is actually very difficult.

Because the officers and soldiers of the Shanghai Army are different from other domestic Qing army, Hunan army, Huai army and even Taiping army, the rest of the army is just a matter of making a living, but among the Shanghai Army, it is not just a simple matter of serving as a soldier and eating food.

Every Shanghai officer and soldier has received education. The level of education varies from person to person, and this is all attributed to Li Weiguo's establishment of the chief of staff system in the Shanghai army. These chiefs of staff in the army usually only care about the lives and thoughts of officers and soldiers. This was called instructors in later People's Liberation Army. In layman's terms, it is to brainwash the army.

"If we retreat, will we be considered deserters? Will we be punished?" asked a Shanghai soldier.

Zheng Guohong replied: "Give up Dinghai County, the Commander-in-Chief will not blame you, because you have completed your mission. The soldiers are responsible for obeying orders and completing tasks. You are not considered deserters and will not be punished!"

At this time, Chief of Staff Chen Cheng suddenly added: "But if you leave, the people in Dinghai County will be retaliated by the British and French coalition forces. We have killed so many foreign devils, don't expect them not to retaliate against us. This Dinghai County town may be massacred."

When the foreigners might massacre the city, the officers and soldiers were silent.

Chief of Staff Chen Cheng smiled slightly and continued, "Of course. You can also continue to defend Dinghai County. As a result, you may have defended it or failed. You will sacrifice with the people in Dinghai County. But you will do your best. Even if you die in battle, you will be a glorious martyr. The Commander-in-Chief will personally write everyone's names on the tablets and worship them in the Martyrs' Temple. They will be worshipped and respected for generations."

"If the foreign devils want to massacre the city, then we cannot evacuate! The fellow villagers in Dinghai County support us on weekdays. We cannot refuse to save us!"

"That's right, our Shanghai army has backbone, why should we retreat? Isn't that afraid of the foreigners?"

The soldiers immediately became angry and asked the people who abandoned Dinghai County to retreat. They could not overcome the hurdle in their hearts.

At this time, they had only one choice, which was to defend Dinghai County and fight to the end.

This is exactly the result Zheng Guohong and Chen Cheng want to see. At this critical moment, the fighters must be motivated, otherwise these extremely tired soldiers and the few weapons and ammunition left will not be able to hold on.

Zheng Guohong smiled at Chen Cheng slightly, gave a thumbs up and said, "Gao, he is still a powerful chief of staff!"

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "I do this, and only at this time can I bring out the value of our staff."

Zheng Guohong nodded and said, "It's really good to say that I don't like you staff members the most. They talk to the soldiers all day long, and let the soldiers treat me as a devil, but treat you as a nurse. Now it seems that it's really useful!"

On weekdays, Zheng Guohong is incompatible with Chen Cheng. After this battle, Zheng Guohong's attitude towards Chen Cheng changed drastically, as if he had become a good friend in an instant.

"The enemy is attacking again!"

Zheng Guohong wanted to talk to Chen Cheng more, but unexpectedly, the British and French forces launched another attack at this time.

Without saying much, the two of them suddenly became busy. One commanded the battle and the other was responsible for the support from the rear, each performing his duties and cooperating with each other.

After three hours of fierce fighting, the Shanghai army repelled the British attack again, but because the soldiers were too tired, the casualties became increasingly serious. Many soldiers were trapped in the battle and were distracted by the enemy's sneak attack, causing casualties.

"No, Ximen was attacked by the French army!"

Zheng Guohong was shocked and thought it was not good. This was obviously the enemy's tactic of attacking the west. Unfortunately, the East Gate was tight these days, so he had to draw troops from the other three gates to reinforce. Now the West Gate is the farthest away from the East Gate, and there is only one platoon of troops guarding, so it is probably dangerous.

"Chief of Staff, I'll leave the East Gate to you!"

"Guard platoon, come with me to reinforce Ximen!"

Without waiting for Chen Cheng to respond, Zheng Guohong took the guard platoon and rushed to Ximen to reinforce.

At the same time, Ximen was attacked by tens of thousands of French troops commanded by the Browns. Only one platoon of defenders was obviously too busy. Soon, French soldiers climbed up to the top of the city.

When Zheng Guohong arrived at the Ximen with his guard platoon, the city was already lost.

Fortunately, the city gate was still there, and the Ximen Shanghai army guarded the Qianjin Gate, which made the French army outside unable to enter and could only keep climbing the city from cloud ladders.

Zheng Guohong led the guard platoon to provide rapid reinforcements, but it was a drop in the bucket. He barely defended the city gate with advanced rifles and stray bullets, but he was unable to drive the French army that had climbed the city down.
Chapter completed!