Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Taiping blood

Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 532: Battle of Jiangtang

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    Deng Heming did not die in battle or commit suicide to die for his country. When the Taiping cavalry with sabers rushed in front of him, he calmly said to his panicked subordinates: "The situation is over. It is useless to fight anymore. Dying for the sake of death is not what a man does."  As a result, Deng Heming, the commander-in-chief of Liuqing Town of the Qing army, and more than ten personal guards were tied up. At this point, the entire Qing army sent by Lao Chongguang to the south to stop the Taiping Army was completely annihilated.

    After Chen Yucheng broke into the hinterland of Guangxi, he defeated Jiang Zhongyuan twice and defeated Xunzhou and Keliujiang. He achieved four victories in four battles and shocked the whole province of Guangxi. After four battles, he annihilated more than 40,000 Qing troops, which greatly damaged the vitality of the Qing army in Guangxi.  , Jiang Zhongyuan had to ask for help from Hunan Zeng Guofan. For the sake of the court, he should help his brother.

    Jiang Zhongyuan was a bachelor, and he could see that Chen Yucheng's tactics were to attack everywhere and annihilate the Qing army's effective forces in mobile warfare. In the end, no matter how strong the Qing army's city walls and fortresses were built, there would be no one to guard them.  So while asking for help from Zeng Guofan, he ordered the Qing army in Guangxi Province to abandon the plan to encircle and suppress the rebels such as He Goujian, Zhu Hongying, Hu Youlu, etc., abandon some smaller towns, and make every effort to defend the big cities in prefectures and counties.  He himself also took the initiative to abandon Wuzhou and retreated to Pinyuefu, Yong'an Prefecture and other places. Lao Chongguang gave up Xiangzhou and retreated to Liuzhou Prefecture.  Qi Wangnian, the commander-in-chief of Youjiang Town, raised troops to guard Guixian County in the southwest of Xuzhou Prefecture, intending to shrink his troops and stick to key points, limiting the Taiping Army to Wuzhou and Xuzhou Prefecture, and waiting for reinforcements before launching a large-scale counterattack.

    Jiang Zhongyuan ran fast, and Chen Alin was not slow either.  Chen Alin fought steadily, and with the steady advancement of artillery, gunfire and bayonet tactics, he wiped out the remaining enemies in Luoding and Deqing Prefectures in more than ten days. In this battle, more than 20,000 Qing troops were annihilated. Liu Changyou, the governor of Guangdong and Jiang Zhongyuan's old general, was killed in the battle. Guangdong  Jiang Zhongyi, the younger brother of Jiang Zhongyuan, committed suicide.

    On October 21, after Chen Alin handed over the defense to the follow-up township corps, he led the brigade to break into Wuzhou Prefecture.  It happened that Jiang Zhongyuan had just left with his troops, leaving behind a group of troops who were preparing to set fire to Wuzhou's public and private warehouses and treasuries and fortresses.  Fortunately, Chen Alin's forward troops were commanded by Zhang Wenxiang. The infantry of the Third Division led by him were good at running and came very quickly. When the Qing army saw the Taiping Army flag coming, they were frightened and fled. The few fires they lit were quickly destroyed by the people in the city.  Together with the Taiping soldiers who arrived earlier, they were eliminated.

    Wuzhou Prefecture has hoarded a large amount of military and food supplies.  Jiang Zhongyuan took half of it away, and planned to burn the rest that he couldn't take away. This would leave the Taiping Army with no food and supplies to replenish after arriving in Wuzhou, and they would also have to take care of the more than 100,000 people in Wuzhou who were waiting for meat. Naturally, it would be difficult to take care of them.  But he didn't expect the Taiping Army to arrive so quickly, and the last remaining supplies were burned except for a small part.  Most of the supplies were rescued and fell into Chen Alin's hands.

    After learning of Jiang Zhongyuan's vicious plan, Chen Alin was furious and immediately ordered Zhang Wenxiang to lead the third division to continue chasing Jiang Zhongyuan's troops north.  Zhang Wenxiang commanded the Third Division to catch up with Jiang Zhongyuan's rearguard in Majiangtang, Guijiang, and a battle broke out between the two sides.  Jiang Zhongyuan was still able to think first and last when retreating. The rearguard troops occupied the river and pond terrain and resisted desperately. In the end, more than a thousand soldiers were completely wiped out and no one escaped or surrendered!

    Zhang Wenxiang was greatly surprised.  This group of soldiers bravely withstood the blows of muskets and grenades, and finally launched a countercharge to the death. Although they were quickly pushed back by the soldiers of the 3rd Division with skillful bayonet formations, they retreated and regrouped to resume fighting until there was no one on the position.  Can stand up.  Moreover, this group of Qing troops has a very strange feature. They all wear white uniforms.

    When the Taiping Army was cleaning the battlefield, they rescued more than ten Qing soldiers who were seriously injured and unable to move. When they took off their straw hats, they all showed that they were all wearing white hats.  Zhang Wenxiang and several officers stepped forward to check. An officer who was a veteran of Guangxi exclaimed: "They are foreign children who have returned home!" Wai Xiao was the name given by the old Taiping Army to those who did not believe in the original teachings of the God-worshipping religion. Although  By this time their teachings had changed a lot, but some of their titles could not be changed.

    Zhang Wenxiang frowned. The officer's name was Yang Jijin, who was from Liuzhou Prefecture. He immediately said: "There are three places in Guangxi with the most people. Guilin, Liuzhou, and Nanning. When the King of the West led us to attack Guilin, Guilin's returnees  My little girl even helped us build a lot of cloud chariots, so why are there so many returning soldiers here? And it¡¯s as if they have a grudge against us, and they will fight to the death!¡±

    A white hat soldier¡¯s leg was blown off.  Although the bleeding stopped, he kept cursing in Guangxi Hakka dialect. Yang Jijin stepped forward and answered a few words. Zhang Wenxiang, a native of Anhui, couldn't quite understand. Then Yang Jijin stepped forward and said, "They are all from Liuzhou Prefecture. They used to be  When we raised the army, they also sent people to help us, but later after Yong'an was crowned king, the king of heaven did not carry out religious baptism and forced everyone to join the religion. Later, all their people ran back. He said that they believed in the true God  By Allah, I would rather die than convert to another sect.¡±

    Zhang Wenxiang was a little speechless. He shouted loudly: "Commander! Let Company Commander Ma Chengfu come over!" At that moment, the soldier was ordered to hurry up.After a while, a tall and powerful officer ran over, saluted Zhang Wenxiang and others and said loudly: "Report to the commander! Ma Chengfu, commander of the first company of the second regiment, third battalion, is here to take orders!"

    Zhang Wenxiang hummed and said, "Take a break." Then he pointed at the wounded Qing soldiers and said, "They are all family members who believe in the true God, just like you. Go up and talk to them about our army's doctrines, beliefs, and policies."  , they thought we were going to force them to change their beliefs."

    Ma Chengfu received the order loudly, and then walked forward. A health soldier next to the Qing army was bandaging him to stop the bleeding, and kept cursing to himself.  Ma Chengfu is a returnee from Fujian. He joined the Taiping Army after the Third Division entered Fujian. Like most of the returning soldiers in the army, he is also a devout believer in Allah.  Unfortunately, he couldn't quite understand what the Qing soldier said. Yang Jijin stepped forward to translate. After the three of them talked for a long time, the Qing soldier suddenly covered his face and burst into tears, crying very miserably.

    Zhang Wenxiang didn't know why, but Ma Chengfu came back and said: "He said if they had known that the Taiping Army allowed freedom of belief, they would never have come to fight with Qing Yao. After the Taiping Army left Guangxi, Qing Yao repeatedly publicized that we did not care about belief.  , they must be forced to change their beliefs, so they followed the Qing army to fight."

    Zhang Wenxiang wondered: "I remember that the General Staff Department had a propaganda plan behind enemy lines in the past. Bai Zetang and the Intelligence Department should also have done propaganda in Guangxi. Why didn't they know about it?"

    Ma Chengfu said: "They know it, but the Yong'an religion was an edict personally issued by the King of Heaven. It was too impressive to them, and Qing Yao told them that these were all our tricks to deceive people. Until now he saw  Only then did I realize that I had been fooled.¡±

    Zhang Wenxiang was silent for a moment and then said: "Ma Chengfu, you follow Deputy Chief of Staff Yang to rescue all the Qing soldiers who are not dead on the battlefield. Rescue those who can be saved, and then you take a company of troops to send them home."  , promote our policies to local families!¡±

    Ma Chengfu loudly accepted the order, and then immediately followed Yang Jijin and called several health soldiers to search and rescue wounded Qing soldiers.

    Zheng Yantuo, the teacher's instructor who had never expressed his opinion, pulled out a bloody book from the body of a Qing soldier who died in the battle. When he opened it, he saw that it read: "The first Tietiao worships independence.  There is one true God, and the second day is not to worship evil gods. The third day is not to use the name of the one true God" Zhang Wenxiang walked over and looked at it for a few times, and couldn't help but said: "Replace this true god with the heavenly father.  , aren¡¯t they our top ten principles back then?¡±

    Zheng Yantuo sighed softly and said: "Fortunately, King Xi and Queen Xi have changed the belief policy of the Kingdom of Heaven, otherwise we don't know how many enemies we would have!"

    Zhang Wenxiang smiled lightly and said, "Including you and me? I remember that you are a Taoist."

    Zheng Yantuo smiled and said: "Buddhism and Taoism are not divided into families, and they do include you and me." After the two looked at each other and smiled, Zheng Yantuo said: "After being blocked by these returning soldiers, it seems that I can't catch up with Jiang Zhongyuan, the thief.  Okay, let¡¯s temporarily withdraw our troops.¡±

    Zhang Wenxiang nodded and said: "I agree, stay here and wait for orders." Zheng Yantuo knelt down and put the book back into the arms of the dead body, and said to Zhang Wenxiang: "There is also a military order not to take these indiscriminately.  The doctrinal books or other religious objects found on the Qing soldiers are their beliefs. And their fighting will deserves our respect."

    Zhang Wenxiang nodded and said: "If the Qing troops in the city who came all the way from Guangzhou were so determined to resist, how could we get here?"

    Zheng Yantuo touched his chin and said: "It seems that our previous propaganda efforts were not enough. It may be because the underground activities conducted by Bai Zetang and the people from the Intelligence Department were too restricted, and what the Emperor did when he was in power was very  It is unpopular and leaves a deep impression on people. If we want to change the situation, we have to work harder on publicity."

    Zhang Wenxiang smiled and said: "Professor Zheng, this is your job. I won't get involved. It's up to you to make the troops pay attention to respecting the local customs and customs. I'll continue to think about how to fight the next battle."  ¡±

    Zheng Yantuo shrugged nonchalantly and said: "It's my job in the first place. I will report the matter to General Chen, or even directly to the Department of War. Those few soldiers who are still alive should do a good job when they return home."  It will be much easier to have them promote our work in the future.¡±

    Although not many Qing troops were annihilated in the Battle of Majiangtang.  However, this battle had a great impact on the subsequent policies and propaganda offensive of the Taiping Army. Although Bai Zetang and the personnel of the Intelligence Department lurking in the Qing-occupied areas had done a lot of propaganda before, they all ignored a practical issue, that is, the Kingdom of Heaven  What was the bad influence before and what happened after the publicity.  Xiao Yungui and Zuo Zongtang, who were far away in Tianjing, received the detailed battle report of the Battle of Majiangtang and Zheng Yantuo's suggestions a few days later.  This aroused their great attention, and finally the King of the West decided to increase publicity and publish a "Call for the Conquest of the South and Restoration of the Kingdom".The article not only made it clear that the Taiping Army would launch a large-scale expedition against the Qing army in the southern nine provinces in the near future and completely regain its homeland in the south of the Yangtze River, but also reiterated the Taiping Army's policy towards large gentry households and religious issues, and exhorted the gentry in various places who relied on the Qing army.  Large households should draw a clear line with the Qing army as soon as possible. As long as they do not support the Qing army against the Taiping Army, their property and land can be preserved. Freedom of belief is a principle that the Taiping Army has always adhered to, and this will not change.

    Although Zeng Guofan, Jiang Zhongyuan and others later issued several statements to refute the Taiping Army's statement, as more and more land in Guangdong and Guangxi were recovered, the true face of the Taiping Army became more and more known, and the rumors of the Qing Army  More and more no one believed it, and life became increasingly difficult for the Qing army.
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report