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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 128: Epiphany of Faith

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    After the victory, the Taiping Army was busy rescuing the wounded. Each army took the time to rest and spent the whole day cleaning the battlefield the next day.  The thrifty Taiping soldiers did not let go of anything that could be collected. Of course they would not let go of weapons and equipment such as muskets, swords, spears, and artillery. Even the copper coins in the pockets of the Qing soldiers were plundered.  Er Jing.  What made Xiao Yungui happy was that after this battle, he cleaned up the battlefield and collected more than 3,000 intact shotguns, muskets, and all kinds of muskets.

    Why are the shotguns and muskets equipped by the Qing army said to be of various types?  Because Xiangrong's green battalions of the Qing army came from three or four different provinces at this time. Although the Qing government had promulgated official formats for muskets and artillery, it was impossible to create standardized things according to China's industrial level at this time.  .  The muskets made in various provinces have uneven wall thickness. Although they generally look similar to the naked eye, you can tell the difference if you use a vernier caliper to measure them.  The thickness of the musket barrel wall directly leads to the difference in the amount of red powder (i.e. gunpowder) consumed, and the amount of red powder directly leads to the difference in range and the probability of the chamber exploding.  In fact, as a large agricultural country, China did not learn what true standardization was from the Americans until the 1970s.

    After letting experienced soldiers test several muskets, Xiao Yungui discovered with some dismay that the Qing army's muskets had several calibers, and even the muskets used by the green camp soldiers in a province were quite different.  Xiao Yungui's original dream of increasing the rate of fire of muskets by developing customized paper-packed gunpowder was shattered. Because these hand-made musket barrels had different wall thicknesses, the fixed amount of powder became a fantasy.  At this time, one can only rely on the experience of the musketeer to judge how much powder to use, otherwise it will easily cause the chamber to explode.  The artillery made by the Taiping Army was also accustomed to engraving the dosage on the cannon.  For example, in the 1970s, a Taiping Army bronze cannon was discovered in the inner city river of Loumen, Suzhou. The cannon body was intact and bright as new, with a total length of 178.5cm, a muzzle diameter of 12cm, an outer diameter of 16.8cm, and a 105.5cm outer diameter on the rear body.  There are two lines of inscriptions engraved with double hooks on the surface: "Made in Sufu Province in the 12th year of Renshu of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom", "Weighing one thousand catties" and "Sixty-eight liang of red powder", which respectively explain the time, place, weight and gunpowder dosage.

    Xiao Yungui could only gather the muskets and extract experienced veterans and some potential recruits from each army to equip these muskets. They needed to waste some red powder to gradually figure out the temperament of these muskets.  Experienced musketeers will often only load the lower limit of red powder, which means that the range can be farther than that of a bow and arrow. They will not blindly increase the amount of red powder in pursuit of the range.

    In addition to muskets, a lot of artillery was also seized. A total of 20 mountain-splitting cannons weighing 400 kilograms and ten iron cannons weighing 800 kilograms.  What made Xiao Yungui most happy was that a total of more than 20,000 kilograms of red medicine had been collected. Adding the red medicine hoarded in Hengzhou City, they suddenly had more than 100,000 kilograms of red medicine.  Although the ratio of these red medicines is not very powerful, they are urgently needed by the Taiping Army.  The rest of the grain, grass, money, flags, various Qing army armors, cotton clothes, and baggage were also harvested in large quantities. The Taiping Army in the West Palace really made a fortune.

    It was not until the early morning of the third day that the Taiping Army had cleaned up the battlefield, and even the corpses of the Qing soldiers were buried uniformly. This was specially arranged by Xiao Yungui. He did not want the plague to be rampant after the war, and the victims would only be the local people.  common people.

    The Taiping Army returned triumphantly to the north, crossing the Xiangjiang River from Dongyang Town Ferry four times and returning to Hengzhou City with hundreds of packhorses carrying the loot, which stretched for several miles.  More than two thousand prisoners of the Qing army were also used as porters and returned to Hengzhou together.

    In Hengzhou City, Xiao Yungui summoned the generals to pay respects to the Heavenly Father and prayed, and then rewarded the generals who had made meritorious services in this battle, among which Li Yiwen had the greatest contribution.  Xiao Yungui ordered He Zhenchuan to write a memorial report to the King of Heaven and King of East in Changsha, and to reward Li Yiwen and other generals and meritorious soldiers.

    Xiao Yungui then asked the generals to express their opinions on this battle, which was a summary of their experiences. The generals participating in the discussion included generals at all levels above the brigade commander. Xiao Yungui wanted these people to know how to fight as soon as possible.  beat.

    But at the beginning, all the generals habitually mentioned the strengths of the Taiping Army. In the end, it was Li Yiwen who pointed out the strengths of the Qing Army.  In this battle, the Xiangrong Qing army relied on their superiority in firearms and caused more than 3,000 casualties to the Taiping Army. Almost half of the 8,000 Taiping Army who went south suffered casualties. If the Taiping Army had not taken advantage of the terrain early  , this battle is not even cheap.  In the final encirclement and extermination battle, the Taiping Army attacked the Qing army in a dense formation. The Qing army had no camps to defend in the wild and little room for maneuver, and finally collapsed in hand-to-hand combat.  However, the Qing army still used firearms to cause more than 2,000 casualties to the Taiping Army. This was clearly felt by all the participating ministries.  In the past, Xiang Rongbu and the Taiping Army were able to escape calmly, largely because the Qing army used muskets to circle around and bombard, alternately cover and retreat, and maintain a good overall situation, leaving the Taiping Army with no way to start, and in the end they could only watch helplessly.  The Qing army retreated to the camp or occupied difficult terrain and lost its fighter opportunities.?

    After hearing what Li Yiwen said, some of the generals agreed, while others dismissed it.  Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang looked at each other, both of them knew that Li Yiwen had accurately stated the advantages and disadvantages of both sides in this battle.  The Taiping Army occupied the terrain with its strong maneuverability, while the Qing Army had the advantage of equipment.  The ratio of muskets in the Taiping Army was far less than that of the Qing Army. The number of gunners in the Qing Army's battalion of 1,000 people reached 600, while the Taiping Army only had two to three hundred people. There was a huge difference in firepower.

    Although the accuracy of the shotguns at this time was not very good, for the Taiping Army who charged intensively and fought hand-to-hand, the damage caused by these shotguns could not be ignored.  Moreover, after the lead bullet fired from the shotgun hits the human body, it causes a lot of rolling damage. Basically, it is a fragmentary wound after entering the body, which is difficult to treat. Compared with the damage caused by a bow and arrow, it is difficult to treat.  Moreover, the stamina required by a musketeer is much less than that of a crossbowman. A strong crossbowman who can shoot ten arrows in a row is already very good, but the musketeer only needs to complete the corresponding tasks.  The more complicated loading action can maintain physical strength to a large extent.  In the process of forced marches like the Taiping Army, the crossbowmen often rushed to the battlefield and had no energy to fire their bows and crossbows, but the movements of the musketeers were relatively simple.

    At that moment, Xiao Yungui coughed lightly and told the generals about a military strategy for the West Palace in the future, which was to focus on the advantages of firearms and artillery, supplemented by hand-to-hand combat and holding on to strongholds, and advancing layer by layer.  However, if conditions permit, we must resolutely carry out large-scale marching maneuvers and concentrate our superior forces to encircle and suppress the Qing army. Those who can fight a war of annihilation must not turn it into a war of defeat.

    At the same time, Xiao Yungui issued a military order that under each of the two commanders, each corps commander must be equipped with two musketeers. The musketeers were equipped with waist knives, and the remaining three soldiers were equipped with rattan swords, spears, and archers. Each  A separate artilleryman is added to the brigade commander's command. The artilleryman's 100-man artillery team is equipped with five iron cannons or mountain-splitting cannons. In the event of a war, all the artillerymen can be centralized and used by the division commander.  This change is actually very similar to the military configuration of the Hunan Army in history. In the era of mixed use of hot and cold weapons, maintaining a certain number of firearms advantages while maintaining the advantage of hand-to-hand combat against the enemy is the way to win.  Xiao Yungui felt that it was unrealistic for the entire army to install firearms before large-scale construction of modern arsenals or comprehensive equipment of foreign muskets.

    Zuo Zongtang also agreed with this strategy. In this way, he could maintain a relatively even situation with the Qing army in terms of firearms and not fall behind in terms of firepower. At the same time, in the competition between the squads, long and short weapons could complement each other. You must know that each two  Sima's twenty-five men have the firepower of ten muskets, and at the same time they are protected by shields and spears at the back. The team can fight without falling behind. It is a balanced configuration.  At the same time, when a large corps is fighting, the musketeers and artillerymen can be directly concentrated to form a large-scale musket array and artillery array to facilitate the development of firepower.

    The captured muskets and guns obtained in Hengzhou City were numerous, which were enough to fully equip the troops and horses in the West Palace. However, the casualties caused a shortage of soldiers and horses in various departments, and the generals also proposed to recruit troops in Hengzhou City.

    When talking about conscription, Xiao Yungui did not answer. Instead, he asked about the prisoners of the Qing army.  Counting the Qing soldiers captured in the battle of Hengzhou and the Qing soldiers captured in the Xiangjiang victory, there are currently more than 3,000 Qing prisoners.

    The Taiping Army always treated prisoners of the Qing army harshly. Green camp soldiers from other provinces were often directly slaughtered by the Taiping Army. In contrast, the Taiping Army released soldiers from Guangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong, and sometimes forcibly captured them.  Many Qing captured soldiers who were forcibly pulled into the army would escape.  Last time in Changsha City, Liuyang Xiangyong's joining the Taiping Army was a special case. Because Liuyang Xiangyong wanted to kill the Qing army for revenge, there was no desertion.  But this time the captured Qing soldiers should be killed, released, or drawn into the army, causing the generals to argue endlessly.

    Most of the generals believed that these Qing soldiers should be killed. Firstly, there were many soldiers from other provinces among them. Secondly, most of Xiangrong's soldiers had enmity with the Taiping Army.  But there are also those who have different opinions. Lin Fengxiang believes that most of the Qing soldiers came from miserable backgrounds, and it is ominous to kill them, so they should be released.

    The generals discussed it over and over, but no one dared to say that these Qing soldiers should be recruited into the army, because no one knew whether these Qing soldiers could accept the Catholic faith and whether they could be of the same mind as the Taiping Army.

    After Xiao Yungui pondered for a moment, he came up with an astonishing strategy, that is, he copied the Red Army's powerful weapon - the Complaint Conference!

    During the three years of the Liberation War, a total of 2.8 million Kuomintang captured soldiers joined the People's Liberation Army, accounting for 65-70% of the total number of people in the People's Liberation Army in 1949.  These captive soldiers did not originally believe in Christianity, and were even deeply influenced by the Kuomintang's revolutionary propaganda. However, they were molded into brave Communist fighters in a short period of time after being captured. This large-scale conversion of faith was decisive in the victory or defeat of the Liberation War.  One of the factors.  Historically, the path to faith conversion has often been divided into two types: gradual enlightenment and epiphany. Gradual enlightenment refers to a slow, gradual awakening, while epiphany refers to a sudden and rapid awakening. The faith conversion promoted by complaints can be roughly classified into the category of epiphany.  one type.  In the history of the spread of faith, thisMass gatherings in China have always been a very effective form. Qin Heping's "History of the Spread of Christianity in Southwest Ethnic Areas" describes the magic of "revival meetings" in missionary work, which can sometimes even cause people to go crazy. This is different from the current situation.  The God-worshipping religion practiced by the Taiping Army is very similar.  In the missionary activities of the very powerful Christian evangelicals in the contemporary United States, this kind of passionate mass gathering is still one of the main forms.

    So Xiao Yungui decided to start this attempt in Hengzhou. If the Taiping Army can master this effective epiphany-style faith conversion, it will give the Taiping Army an unparalleled advantage in future battles!
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