Chapter 382: Great Victory

Chapter 375 Great Victory

The Taiping Army's vanguard troops heading to Yangzhou to attack the Jiangbei Camp were lightly armed and did not carry heavy weapons.

As for the cavalry, Wei Changhui brought more than a thousand cavalry.

However, these cavalry were the treasures of Wei Changhui and Wei Jun, and the two were reluctant to use them.

Therefore, the first wave of attack on the Yueyong were all lightly armed infantry.

These attacking Taiping Army soldiers wore a variety of clothes, holding weapons such as swords, guns, rakes, pitchforks, axes, and a small number of bird guns captured from the Green Camp soldiers. Under the leadership of two division commanders, they slowly approached the positions of the Yueyong.

The march of more than 4,000 people gave the soldiers of the Shanzi Camp a great sense of oppression. This was their first time to participate in actual combat, and they had never seen such a battle before.

Almost everyone's heart was in their throat, including Liang Shaoqiong.

The best mentality was the artillery team. The mercenaries of the artillery team did not take these medieval-like enemies seriously at all, and believed that only a few rounds of artillery fire would be enough to break the morale of the enemy on the opposite side.

"1500 meters!"

"1400 meters!"

"1300 meters! Fire!"

Captain Jorgensen estimated the distance between the Taiping Army and their positions.

The maximum effective range of the two types of Sacramento rifled cannons they were equipped with was 1300 meters to 1500 meters.

When the Taiping Army entered the effective range of 1300 meters, Jorgensen ordered to open fire without hesitation.

The 20 cannons fired almost at the same time.

The 20 bombs drew a beautiful curve in the sky and finally fell into the Taiping Army and exploded.

Since it was the first round of calibration shooting and the opponent was at the maximum range, the hit rate of this round of artillery fire was not only satisfactory in Jorgensen's opinion, but only 3 to 4 bombs hit, and one of them seemed to be misfired, and did not cause large-scale casualties to the attacking Taiping Army.

The hit rate is only relative. Jorgensen felt that the accuracy of the artillery fire was not satisfactory, but in the eyes of the Taiping Army, it was incredible that the artillery fire could hit the target from 2 miles away.

"Don't panic! After this round, when the Qing monsters are loaded, we will rush to the front of these Qing monsters! The Qing monsters can't fire a few rounds of artillery!" said the Taiping Army's general.

The firing of the Guangdong Yong artillery team made the Taiping Army's generals breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, the other side is a local militia. They fired artillery from 2 miles away. They are so impatient. When they rush to their front, they will have a hard time with these local militia. These local militias are simply military merits sent to them by the Father and Brother.

The two Taiping Army generals in charge of commanding the attack were secretly happy.

Before the Taiping Army's general was happy for long, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound of artillery shells, the Guangdong Yong artillery team had launched a second round of artillery fire.

This time, more than half of the shells landed accurately in the advancing team of the Taiping Army and exploded in it.

Since the early explosive fragments had limited killing power, only about 60 to 70 Taiping Army casualties were caused.

But this was already a considerable casualty, and there was a great commotion among the Taiping Army. Fortunately, many of these Taiping Army soldiers were veterans, and they still withstood the bombardment and maintained the forward formation.

However, the two Taiping Army brigade commanders who commanded the attack couldn't help but feel a little shocked, and had a vague sense of foreboding.

Wang Shu looked through the telescope and saw that the Taiping Army withstood the second round of bombardment, and he also had a new look at this Taiping Army.

From the current point of view, the performance of the Taiping Army is better than that of the Japanese shogunate army, but it is unknown how many rounds of bombardment these Taiping Army can withstand.

As the Taiping Army continued to approach, the number of casualties of the Taiping Army rose sharply.

After five rounds of bombardment, the casualties of the Taiping Army had exceeded 400.

The Taiping Army only had over 5,000 soldiers in the attack, and the casualty rate was close to 10%. Wei Changhui and Wei Jun had to send out cavalry to supervise the battle from behind, and they barely stabilized their position by killing deserters.

When the Taiping Army, which suffered heavy casualties, was only about 150 meters away from the defense line of the Yueyong, Wang Shu, the battalion officer of the Shanzi Battalion, blew a whistle.

1,500 muskets fired almost at the same time.

A thick smoke suddenly rose in front of the Shanzi Battalion, blocking the sight of the soldiers of the Shanzi Battalion.

The thick smoke that stung the eyes made Liang Shaoqiong cough and shed tears, but at this time Liang Shaoqiong could no longer care about his physical discomfort, but quickly loaded the bullets and pulled the trigger through the smoke that had not yet dissipated, shooting metal projectiles into the Taiping Army's formation at the fastest speed.

At this time, the artillery team also replaced the original explosive shells with shotgun shells under Jorgensen's order. After stuffing two cans of shotgun shells into each cannon, they poured shotgun shells like raindrops at the Taiping Army.

From time to time, sporadic stray bullets hit the sandbags in front of them, splashing a cloud of dust.

An unlucky soldier next to Liang Shaoqiong was hit in the arm by a stray bullet, uttered a miserable cry, and fell to the ground.

The military doctor crouched down, took out the first aid kit and bandaged the wounded soldier skillfully. While bandaging and stopping the bleeding for the wounded soldier, he said: "It's just an arm injury. At most, it will be amputated, and it won't die."

Not long after, the cavalry scout in charge of reconnaissance came back and reported to Wang Shu: "Wang Yingzhang! Wang Yingzhang! The long-haired retreat! The long-haired retreat!"

"Stop shooting!"

After confirming that the long-haired had been repelled, Wang Shu ordered to stop shooting.

When the wind blew away the smoke surrounding the soldiers of the Shanzi Camp, the sight ahead gradually became clear.

What caught everyone's eyes were the Taiping soldiers who were in disarray and retreating like a tide.

Just win?

At this time, the Yue Yong soldiers looked at the defeated Taiping Army in disbelief, unable to believe that what was happening in front of them was real.

The victory came so easily that most soldiers could not believe it was true.

"We win!"

Someone suddenly shouted, and then the battlefield was filled with cheers like a roaring tsunami from the Cantonese warriors.

"We win!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Liang Shaoqiong looked up to the sky and smiled like crazy. His tears and snot flowed out involuntarily.

Even he himself didn't know whether the tears and snot were choked by the smoke, or forced out by excitement.

Liang Shaoqiong knew that as long as the Taiping Army's first wave of attacks were repelled and the Taiping Army saw the power of Yue Yong, the Taiping Army's subsequent offensive would slow down, and even a direct retreat would not be impossible.

They have already won half of this battle, and now it depends on how the Taiping Army chooses.

Whether to continue the meaningless attack or to retreat directly.

"Shuai Liang!"

The war came to an end temporarily, and Wang Shu came to Liang Shaoqiong to report to Liang Shaoqiong.

"What are the casualties among the soldiers?"

Liang Shaoqiong took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears and snot from his face, straightened his appearance and asked.

"Two soldiers were killed and seven soldiers were injured, all caused by stray bullets." Wang Shu replied, "The soldiers of Shanzi Camp are all good."

Compared with the results achieved and the casualties of the Taiping Army on the opposite side, their losses were almost negligible.

The only thing that made Wang Shu feel distressed was that one of the soldiers killed in the battle was a non-commissioned officer.

"Yaoxie! Yaoxie! These Qingyao must have used evil things!"

The attack was frustrated, which made the 6,000-year-old Wei Changhui of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom furious.

The performance of this Xiangyong completely exceeded his expectations. The artillery can hit people two miles away. The fire gun still maintains a very high hit rate from a hundred steps away. The rate of fire is ridiculously fast. It is not peaceful at all. The army can bear it.

Wei Changhui knew in his heart that this Xiangyong from Guangdong must be equipped with foreign muskets and artillery. After all, Guangzhou had been the only foreign trade port of the Qing Dynasty for a long time, so it was not impossible for the Guangdong Yong to obtain foreign guns.

The Taiping Army also purchased a batch of foreign guns and cannons from the foreigners in Shanghai. Unfortunately, these foreign guns and cannons have not yet been distributed to his right army.

Although Wei Changhui knew what was going on, Wei Changhui decided to conceal the matter from his soldiers.

In order to appease the morale of the soldiers, Wei Changhui said to everyone.

"Don't panic! We are God's people, and we have God's protection! Let me tell Heavenly Father and Brother about this, and let Heavenly Father and Brother destroy the evil treasures and evil gods of Qingyao. There are no evil objects and evil gods. Bless you, these demons are the fish on our chopping board!”

Hearing what Wei Changhui said, the officers and soldiers of the Taiping Army believed deeply. They believed that there were evil things in pure demons.

If it weren't for the clear demons and evil beings, how could their guns and cannons be so accurate? Cum so fast?

Fortunately, Wei Shuaihui saw through Qing Yao's tricks.

Wei Changhui's younger brother Wei Jun, as a senior executive of the Taiping Army, understood that his brother was deceiving himself.

There were no evil gods or monsters, it was just that the country warriors in front of them this time were equipped with foreign guns and cannons, and they were particularly good at fighting.

However, worshiping God will be the basis of their rule in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Even if it is absurd to fool people with spiritual elixirs, Wei Jun, as a member of the rulers, can only choose to believe this theory, at least on the surface.

Wei Jun arranged the incense table for Wei Changhui and performed the spiritual ceremony.

The so-called Heavenly Father refers to God, and Heavenly Brother refers to Jesus.

In April 1848, Yang Xiuqing pretended to be "God descending to earth" for the first time in Yu Ping Mountain, and Xiao Chaogui pretended to be "Brother Heaven descending to earth" for the first time in October of that year. The possession of Heavenly Father from the world became the patent of Yang Xiuqing and Xiao Chaogui.

Wei Changhui did not dare to overstep his bounds and let Brother Heavenly Father possess him to give people a clue. He could only do the next best thing and have spiritual communication with Brother Heavenly Father and tell Brother Heavenly Father about their current predicament.

Wei Changhui put on a robe-like robe, held a peach wood sword, and shook his head in front of the incense table, pretending to be a ghost, and muttered a bunch of nonsense that he didn't even know the meaning of.

A moment later, as Wei Changhui's body twitched, he suddenly opened his eyes and said to the believers who were kneeling in a circle around him with devout expressions on their faces.

"The pure demons and evil gods have been killed, and the evil objects have been taken away by Brother Tian. Brother Tian said that these clear demons have enveloped the evil gods and used evil objects to cause harm to the world. Everyone will have them and punish them.

Those who kill demons will go to heaven after death. "

“Follow the teachings of Heavenly Father and Brother Heavenly!”

Wei Jun took the lead and kowtowed to Wei Changhui.

Wei Changhui pretended to be weak and fell down. Wei Jun hurriedly stepped forward to help Wei Changhui: "King of the North!"

"It's okay, it's just that the relationship with Heavenly Father and Brother Tian has consumed a lot of my soul, and I feel a little tired." Wei Changhui said.

I heard that the evil god who protected Qing Yao had been killed by Heavenly Father and Brother Tian, ​​and Qing Yao's treasures had also been taken away. The Taiping Army swept away the haze of failure and their morale was greatly boosted!

By the time the Taiping Army organized its second attack, sporadic Qing cavalry had appeared behind Yue Yong.

The mercenaries of the artillery team waved their weapons at the Qing army and cheered.

Liang Shaoqiong disagreed. He knew that the Qing troops in the Jiangbei camp were unreliable and would not risk their lives to save his countrymen.

He could only rely on himself.

Seeing that the Taiping Army had launched another attack, the Guangdong warriors who were eating canned food to replenish their energy reluctantly dropped the canned food they had not finished and entered the battle state.

Believing that the evil god who protected the Qing Yao had been killed and the Qing Yao treasure had been taken away by Tianxiong, the Taiping Army rushed desperately against the artillery fire of the Guangdong Warriors.

This shocked the soldiers of the Guangdong Warriors.

But the flesh and blood of the mortal body could not stop the washing of the metal bullet rain after all.

The only difference from the last charge was that the Taiping Army rushed closer this time, but still did not rush to the front of the Shanzi Camp.

Seeing that the Taiping Army had been defeated, De Xing'a, who had been watching for a long time, finally joined the battlefield with the Eight Banners Soldiers of the Jiangbei Camp to pursue the Taiping Army and joined the battlefield.

In this battle, the Guangdong Warriors, who went out for the first time, killed 2,100 Taiping Army soldiers at the cost of less than 20 casualties, and wounded and captured nearly 7,000 Taiping Army soldiers, which was famous all over the world.

"Sir."

Having just come down from the battlefield, Liang Shaoqiong, who was covered in dust, went to the Jiangbei camp to pay a visit to Qishan.

Liang Shaoqiong was not unfamiliar with Qishan.

After Lin Zexu was dismissed and investigated, Qishan replaced Lin Zexu and came to Guangzhou as the imperial commissioner and governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi.

After arriving in Guangzhou, Qishan changed Lin Zexu's tough policy against Britain. Seeing that the British army had strong ships and powerful guns, it was difficult to win, so he privately signed the "Chuanpi Treaty" with Elliot, ceding Hong Kong and paying a compensation of 6 million yuan.

It can be said that Hong Kong was ceded from Qishan.

As a Cantonese, Liang Shaoqiong found it difficult to have a good impression of Qishan.

However, Liang Shaoqiong also knew that Qishan could change his fate. He knelt down to Qishan without hesitation and said, "Liang Shaoqiong, a villager from Xiangshan, Guangdong, greets Sir Qi."

For the Liang family to turn things around and for his own future success, why not kneel down to Qishan? Many people wanted to kneel but didn't have the chance.

"Okay, okay, when I was working in Guangdong, why didn't I find that there were talents like you in Guangdong." Qi Shan smiled and waved his hand to signal Liang Shaoqiong to stand up. "This battle was fought well, and the prestige of our Qing Dynasty was shown."

"It's not that I fought well, but that Lord Qi commanded well and General Dexing'a's Eight Banners soldiers attacked properly, so we had this great victory. I dare not take credit for it." Liang Shaoqiong didn't stand up and kowtowed.

This kid is quite sensible. Seeing Liang Shaoqiong behave properly, Qi Shan became even happier.

The Eight Banners generals on the side were also happy, and their eyes looking at Liang Shaoqiong became more and more kind.

Qi Shan smiled and stepped forward to help Liang Shaoqiong up and asked, "What position do you hold now?"

"To be honest, my father was originally an official appointed by the court, but now he is a scapegoat and lives in the countryside. I am now a commoner." Liang Shaoqiong replied.

"Commoner? What do local officials in Guangdong do? They can't see such a gem right in front of them. Do you have any honors?" Qishan felt very sorry.

"I am a juren." Liang Shaoqiong replied.

"It's easy to talk if you have honors, it's easy to talk if you have honors." Qishan squinted his eyes and nodded with satisfaction, "Come on, bring paper and pen, I want to report my victory to the emperor!"