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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 549: The entire army was annihilated

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    "Colonel Su, the Elephant Trunk Mountain Camp has sent out a signal!" On the east gate of the town, an artillery lieutenant pointed at the three yellow fireworks blooming in the air and said loudly.  .  .

    "I saw it, I'm not blind!" A young officer of the Taiping Army, only 18 or 19 years old, shouted angrily: "Light a bonfire to send a signal! Attention all artillery positions, prepare according to the steps of our drill in the afternoon  Launch rockets, pay attention to each gun position, three rounds of rapid fire! Remember the steps! If you encounter a rocket that has not been launched, remember to water it immediately to extinguish it! Be careful of being burned by the rocket tail flame!"

    The bonfire was lit, and the bonfires on the other two towers were also lit. Following the instructions of Colonel Nasu¡¯s loud command, more than ten rocket emplacements on the wall at the east gate of the town lit up rows of rockets on the wooden racks step by step.

    Sharp whistling sounds began to sound endlessly, and countless rockets dragged their long tail flames and flew towards the inner city of Guilin several miles away. The entire city gate building was suddenly shrouded in smoke, and the choking smell of gunpowder almost made people feel uncomfortable.  One cannot breathe.

    "Check the launch frame! Clean up the unlaunched rockets! Remember to water! Don't make mistakes! I don't want to be blown to death by my own rocket! After the inspection is completed, launch the rocket immediately! Remember to adjust the positioning copper piece of the rocket tail!"  In the smoke of gunpowder, Colonel Su roared loudly, and teams of Taiping troops beside the rocket rack quickly and orderly re-prepared their rockets, and soon the second round of rockets was fired.

    After the second round of firing was completed, followed by the third round, when all the third round of rockets were fired, the artillery lieutenant shouted loudly: "Each artillery position reported the firing situation in detail!"

    "The No. 1 gun position fired twenty-nine explosive warhead rockets and one dumb bomb. It fired thirty incendiary warheads and no dumb bombs!" "The No. 2 gun position fired twenty-eight explosive warheads and two dumb bombs. Three incendiary warheads were fired.  Ten, no duds!" After all the reports from gun position No. 1 to gun position No. 17 were reported, the artillery lieutenant stopped the charcoal in his hand and shouted to Colonel Nasu: "Report Colonel! Zhendongmen rocket launch position  A total of 1,020 rockets with two types of warheads and 18 dumb bombs were launched, with no casualties!"

    Colonel Na Su put his sword on his waist and looked at the gun commanders lined up in front of him. He hummed and said slowly: "Very good. Finally, there was no firing error, but our preparation time was too long! And there were not enough inspections before firing.  Be meticulous! Carefully check the rocket fuse before each launch. You are not doing a good enough job! Immediately arrange for manpower to blast the dumb bombs! Be sure to ask for safety! After the mission is completed, each team will disband and return to their positions!"

    After the captains of each artillery team received their orders loudly, they went about their business with their soldiers. Colonel Nasu and the artillery lieutenant still patrolled various artillery positions with several personal guards, guiding the artillerymen's movements from time to time.

    "Hey, what's the background of Colonel Su? Isn't he just a young boy? Why did he become a colonel?" On the No. 1 artillery position.  A bearded Taiping Army artilleryman looked at the back of Colonel Su who had just inspected.  He asked his companions in a low voice.

    "Don't you even know this guy? His name is Su Ji. Despite his young age, he has been a veteran for several years. I heard that he followed the Western King when he conquered Changsha. He was still a member of the Youth Army back then.  At that time, during the battle against Jinling City, he led more than a dozen young men to kill Lu Jianying, the governor of Qingyao Liangjiang. Do you think he was powerful?" A Taiping artilleryman who was sorting out his rocket rack said in a low voice: "Later he was talking about  He majored in gunnery at Wu Xuetang, and I heard that the artillery team he led still holds the record for the fastest firing of the 32-pound heavy cannon in Jiangwu School!"

    The bearded man sneered and said: "Our army is not equipped with such heavy artillery. No matter how fast the heavy artillery is, what use is it to our field army artillery team?"

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if Colonel Su Ji has good ears or if the two of them talked a little louder, but Colonel Su Ji seemed to hear them.  He stopped, turned around, and slowly returned to the No. 1 gun position. The two artillerymen were a little flustered by his sharp gaze, and their hand movements slowed down a bit.

    "As a heavenly artilleryman, whether it is a thirty-two-pounder or a six-pounder, whether it is a cannon or a howitzer, whether it is a front-loading cannon or a breech-loading cannon, you must be able to perform it skillfully. In my drill code,  There is no distinction between naval artillery and army artillery, there is only a branch of service, and that is the artillery of the Kingdom of Heaven! One day maybe we will be transferred to the coastal defense force, maybe we will be transferred to the naval artillery force. No matter what kind of gun it is, we have to play with it.  You have to turn! Do you understand? Corporal!" Su Ji's tone was not urgent and the volume was not loud, but the surrounding artillerymen could hear it clearly. The four words "Heavenly Artillery" seemed to have unusual meaning and magic, which made  The eyes of all the artillerymen were ignited with flames.

    "I think the artillerymen of your First Army are not qualified to be Heavenly Kingdom artillery! They can only play with artillery under 18 pounds, so they are not qualified Heavenly Kingdom artillery!" Su Ji's tone gradually became more severe, causing many people to lower their heads.  go.

    "We were equipped with field artillery from the beginning, the largestIt's just an 18-pound howitzer. No matter how big the gun is, we don't have a chance to play with it.  "I don't know who whispered.

    Su Ji smiled slightly and said slowly: "There will be a chance. Later, the artillerymen of each army will take turns to return to the martial arts hall for further study. Then they will be able to handle those heavy artillery."

    The artillerymen were very happy after hearing this. These soldiers always like to operate artillery, so they naturally have another kind of enthusiasm for artillery. After hearing Su Ji's words, they all became more interested and started asking questions.

    "Colonel Su, is it true? Are you really going to take turns going back to the martial arts hall for training?" "Has any new artillery appeared?" "I have long wanted to play with those big heavy artillery. I have always wanted to  I¡¯ve only heard of them all, never even seen them!¡±

    Su Ji pressed his hands a few times, and said with a faint smile: "Don't think about anything else. Tomorrow morning we have to practice rocket launches to become more proficient. My request is to launch the rocket immediately, without delay! But!  Let¡¯s make an agreement first, which artillery team can stand out in this drill, I will use this artillery team member as the first batch of personnel to return to the martial arts hall for further study.¡±

    After the cheers broke out, the artillerymen of each team became even more enthusiastic.  With a smile on his lips, Su Ji continued to move forward with his hands behind his hands. The artillery lieutenant behind him followed up and whispered: "Colonel Su, the launch conditions of the other two rocket artillery positions have also been reported. The situation is similar to ours, except that  One soldier at the west Qianmen rocket position was burned by the rocket tail flame, but the others suffered no casualties."

    Su Ji breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Fortunately, the First Army is worthy of being the First Army of the Kingdom of Heaven. The quality of the artillery is second to none. They learned how to launch rockets in one afternoon, and there were no big mistakes in the first test launch. The next step is  This is a topic for everyone to practice more skillfully. The southwest is very mountainous and it is difficult to transport artillery and ammunition. In the future, this kind of rocket will become another important means for our artillery to provide fire support, so we must use it and practice it like an arm.  Just average. Oh, send a messenger to report the launch situation to the main camp, and then send a team of people to follow the frontline infantry regiment into the inner city to inspect the results of the rocket launcher, as well as count the rocket impact points and calculate the shooting angle deviation"

    Su Ji explained a lot of things in general, and the lieutenant wrote them down with charcoal in a small book he carried with him, then saluted him with a military salute and hurriedly went to do it.

    Su Ji stood on the battlements beside the city wall, staring blankly at the inner city that was burning with fire. He murmured: "The King of the West once said that the French emperor once praised artillery and said bluntly: Artillery is the god of war.  . Now it seems that it is true, I want to be the God of War who dominates the battlefield!"

    The raging fire in the Jingjiang Palace in the inner city of Guilin continued for a day and a night. The Qing army seemed to have stored a large amount of gunpowder in the inner city, and violent explosions occurred from time to time while burning. Fortunately, the tall city walls in the inner city blocked the spread of the fire.  , the Taiping Army also demolished the residential buildings close to the inner city wall in time, so the fire was controlled within the inner city.

    Most of the Qing troops who fled into the inner city were Chu Yong who followed Jiang Zhongyuan. Unfortunately, these soldiers did not expect that a few months ago they set fire to the city in Zhaoqing, and a few months later they were also killed in the same way in the inner city of Guilin.  life.

    On the third day, the sky over Guilin was covered with thick clouds, and a winter rain began to fall, and the fire gradually extinguished.  When the Taiping soldiers wanted to open the thick iron gate of the inner city, they found that they could not push the gate open no matter what, so they had to use explosives to blow up the gate.

    But when the thick city gate fell, the hundreds of Taiping soldiers present were stunned by the scene behind the iron gate.  The city gate cave behind the iron gate was densely packed with the corpses of Qing soldiers. They all grinned and their expressions of death were still the same. Many of them were not burned to death, but trampled on each other to death, or were killed by the thick poison.  Killed by smoke.

    It took a whole morning to clean up the corpses at several city gate openings. When entering the inner city, you can see the corpses of Qing soldiers who were burned into a pile of coke everywhere. A rough estimate is that tens of thousands of Qing soldiers were burned alive in the inner city of Guilin.  inside.

    Chen Yucheng ordered for the first time to block the passage to the inner city. Except for the civilians who were transporting corpses and cleaning up the inner city, no other idle personnel were allowed to enter.  When he stood on the gate tower of the inner city and watched the tragic situation in the city, he did not speak for a long time, and finally said slowly: "Back then, Zhuge Kongming burned 30,000 Tengjia troops. He thought it was so cruel that it cost him his life.  Today I, Chen Yucheng, set fire to Chu Yong in Guilin, I am afraid this will be the case."

    A few days later, the corpses of the Qing soldiers in the inner city were cleared up, and they were all taken to several large pits outside the city for burial.  Fei Chengli then mobilized the common people in the city to continue cleaning up the ruins. Because there were rumors that there were many gold and jewelry shells in the Jingjiang Palace, thousands of people came to the inner city every day to clean up the ruins.  It wasn't until the ninth day that a few people dug out a secret room in the Jingjiang Prince's Palace. At first, people thought it was a treasure room.After taking a look, I discovered that it was a secret room where a group of Qing generals were hiding.

    This secret room was built underground and contained drinking water, enough to keep dozens of people alive for half a month. Unfortunately, the air was leaking out for these Qing generals.  Due to the raging fire outside, the oxygen had long been exhausted, and dozens of Qing army generals and officials all suffocated to death in the secret room. But the only good thing about them was that their bodies were not burned and their faces could still be identified.

    In the end, the Taiping Army asked previously captured Qing troops to identify the corpses, which included the Taiping Army's old enemy Jiang Zhongyuan, several of his brothers, and more than a dozen of Chu Yong's senior generals. The Taiping Army was almost wiped out in the Battle of Guilin.  Chu Yong's entire army was wiped out in this battle.  (To be continued)
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