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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 607: Canal Confrontation

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    The bloody and cruel battle did not stop, and the resistance became more intense the closer it got to the ancient capital of the empire. The Qing army in the Battle of Baliqiao fell into a crazy rhythm from the beginning.  At the beginning of the battle, a particularly tall Tatar soldier stood on this white marble bridge, probably the flag bearer holding the Senggelinqin flag.  He held high the apricot-yellow flag with black characters written on it and kept signaling in all directions.  Obviously, all the generals are watching this flag of General Seng Gelinqin all the time, because the flag conveys orders to the entire army.

    When the army was in full retreat, when the battlefield and the bridgehead guarded by the elite division were littered with corpses, this Tatar soldier still stood there, always alone, still conveying the commander's last order.  Even as the bullets whizzed past him and the shells rumbled around him, he remained still.  We feel so noble about his courage.  Even Montauban couldn't help but praise: "Ah! What a heroic man! I really hope he won't be killed. Why doesn't this ghost guy evacuate with the others? Save him quickly!" Several soldiers rushed  The general will go up and try to capture him.  At this moment, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out, hitting him, knocking him down, and eliminating him.  And the big flag flew away, disappearing with his twitching arm that was still holding the flagpole.

    The fall of the handsome flag seemed to have an unparalleled blow to the morale of the Qing army. Bali Bridge also fell into the hands of the coalition forces. Originally, the rest of the matter was already very simple, but soon the coalition generals discovered that things were not going to be simple.  direction development.  As yellow dragon flags appeared in the Qing army barracks behind the bridge, the already depressed Qing army seemed to have been injected with some mysterious power, and its morale suddenly increased. General Colino and others who had crossed the bridge  The human bridgehead suddenly felt unusually heavy pressure.

    The stragglers of the Qing army were organized, the Qing army's cavalry began to fight under a unified banner, and the scattered rangers began to attack General Colino's bridgehead front.  This time the attack was different. The Qing cavalry dispersed and did not gather together for an intensive attack.

    They swarm like bees.  But they kept their distance, and the dense crowds relied on the advantage of the sea of ????people to attack this way.  General Colino shouted loudly and ordered the soldiers to fight back, but there would always be a few fish that slipped through the net and rushed in. Before, the coalition soldiers would easily kill these individual soldiers at close range with bayonets and firearms, but this time it was different.  .

    The corpse that fell off the horse was wrapped with a gunpowder bag, and the fire burning on it was a sign of death. Oh my god, these Qing cavalry were actually wrapped around themselves!

    Several loud noises were scattered along with the fire and air waves of the explosion. The Qing cavalry that rushed towards the coalition line caused losses to the coalition forces.  With the chaos caused by the explosion, more Qing cavalry still launched a suicidal charge without fear of death. This time their charge was very effective!

    General Colino had to order a retreat across the Bali Bridge to form a formation. He did not want to be blown up by a group of lunatics. General Montauban understood this retreat behavior. After retreating across the bridge, the Qing cavalry would not be able to attack in a loose formation.  Union soldiers' guns and artillery shells were more likely to hit their targets.

    So the Bali Bridge only belonged to the coalition forces and then became the Qing army's again in less than an hour. The coalition forces retreated for about seven or eight hundred meters before establishing a stable shooting line. As a result, stone debris flew on the white marble bridge.  The Qing cavalry could not continue their pursuit through the narrow bridge. After losing dozens of cavalry on the bridge, the Qing cavalry retreated.

    On the way back, people fell off their horses from time to time.  From time to time, the gunpowder bags on his body were detonated by coalition artillery shells. In short, the scene was like a rain of blood, chaotic and horrible to watch.

    After repelling the coalition forces, huge cheers erupted from the Qing army camp. They really deserved the cheers. This was the first time they had repelled the coalition forces in a head-on field battle.  General Montauban was not discouraged. He ordered the artillery and infantry to continue to press forward steadily and establish a front on the shore across the canal and bridge. The engineers prepared tools and materials for erecting the pontoon bridge.  They had to build a bridge to cross the river in the midst of the war.

    It was noon, and the fighting started at 7 o'clock in the morning and lasted for more than five hours.  The two sides stabilized on both sides of the canal, and the Qing army drove the coalition forces back to the other side of the canal.  They began to consolidate their riverside camps. Although they were under constant bombardment by the coalition artillery, the Qing army still braved the artillery fire and carried out soil work.

    They were digging trenches on the ground like gophers. Those so-called Royal Guards of the Qing Empire had no knightly spirit. They would only hide behind and dig trenches and build forts. Wu Shili complained about why the Qing army didn't come up to fight openly.  Ronglu said to himself: "This is their experience in fighting the Taiping Army. The front team resisted and the rear team built fortifications. It seems that Peng Yulin has woken up, and he does not know who commanded the firearms battalion to reinforce Seng Gelinqin."  who is it."

    Because of the transportation of artillery shells, Montauban and Grant had to order to reduce the density of artillery fire. At least until the artillery shells from the rear were transported to the front, they had to prepare the artillery base.They had a few basic shells just in case. They didn't want the artillery to be without shells when the Qing army suddenly went crazy and attacked the other side of the canal.

    After the coalition artillery fire was sparse, the Qing army organized their defense system more cheerfully. There were no dangerous points on the plains, so they had to add trenches to form defensive positions.  The coalition forces also need engineers to build a few more pontoon bridges to increase the speed of troop delivery, so that they can gain a foothold on the other side after crossing the canal and form a complete blocking front.

    In this way, both sides were carrying out engineering operations, and the remaining soldiers were resting. Two hours later, the coalition forces began to prepare to cross the river. The French engineers were very efficient. They built five pontoon bridges on the canal, and the Qing army's cavalry on the other side  I tried several times to come up and destroy them, but I was repelled by the shooters from the coalition forces on the other side.  The coalition forces relied on accurate rifled guns to control a range of 500 meters. The Qing troops entering this area would be shot by coalition shooters. There were enough shooters on the shore to calmly attack the enemies trying to attack the other side, ensuring the engineering operations.

    When General Colino organized his soldiers, several sharp shells whizzed past their heads and accurately fell behind. Several shells exploded among General Ranman's artillery squad.

    Three Armstrong cannons were blown up, and the young artillery captain Brabazon and a dozen artillerymen and coolies were killed on the spot.  The British army was shocked and the French army was stunned. The poor performance of the Qing army's artillery for a long time made the coalition forces begin to forget the fact that the Qing army also had artillery. It seemed that after the fall of Dagukou, the coalition forces no longer regarded the Qing army's artillery as a threat.  Look, now they are suffering because the reinforcements coming from the other side are the Qing emperor's guards. They also have artillery and cannons, and they are the artillery purchased at high prices from the great powers before. Moreover, their gunners are skilled in operation and know how to hit the target.  !

    The death of artillery captain Brabazon made General Montauban deeply regretful. He still remembered the heroic appearance of this young man when he was practicing artillery at Weihaiwei. It was a pity.  For the first time, General Montauban felt a little hesitant. When the war was over, how many lively young people could he take back to France?

    General Grant was furious, and General Ranman roared loudly, like a bull: "Quickly move the position, the damn Qing people are already targeting us!" It's no wonder that the British are arrogant, this emperor's personal army is reinforcing  After Senggelinqin's troops cleared the army, they never fired artillery. They held back and allowed the coalition artillery to bombard them one after another. They waited until the positions of the coalition artillery positions were roughly calculated before they started to attack.

    After the war, the coalition generals figured out that the reinforcements from the Qing army were led by cavalry and infantry. A few artillerymen followed the troops and arrived at the front line first for range measurement and observation. The artillery team arrived two hours later.  Rushed to the battlefield.

    Other artillery units of the coalition began to fight back. At the same time, they were also attacked by several artillery shells. The Qing general who commanded the Qing artillery on the opposite side was very cunning. He seemed to disperse the Qing artillery positions very well. There seemed to be only a few in each direction.  The suppression of door cannons and other artillery positions of the coalition forces has never been fully effective. After several rounds of artillery battles, the Qing army still had artillery shells that did not come to the coalition lines.

    The fierce artillery battle lasted until five o'clock in the afternoon. Because of the Qing artillery, the coalition forces had not dared to launch infantry to attack the other side. Montauban believed that the Qing artillery must have aimed at several pontoon bridges. His intuition told him that the Qing artillery was on the other side.  The Qing commander waited for the coalition infantry to swarm across the river, and then he would calmly order to blow up a few pontoon bridges, and then besiege the infantry who crossed the river. That was a very dangerous thing!

    Moreover, it was getting late, and Grant did not want the coalition soldiers to camp overnight on the dangerous side of the canal without gaining an absolute advantage. Therefore, the coalition forces and the Qing army were in a stalemate at the Bali Bridge and both sides of the canal, and they faced off like this.  The artillery was still fighting fiercely, while the infantry began to rest.

    After nightfall, the coalition forces implemented light control for the first time, and the Qing army on the other side did not raise fire. The commanders on both sides were very cautious, and Ronglu understood this.  Peng Yulin was a general who had many years of fighting experience with the Taiping Army in the south. He knew that raising fire at night would give the artillery targets directions. I believe he must have suffered from the Taiping Army's night shelling many times in the past.

    Grant and Montauban were sitting dully in the camp. At this moment, the rear transport team arrived, bringing a lot of bullets, artillery shells, food, medicine and other supplies. The bodies of wounded and dead soldiers were also transported.  The transport team was sent back to Tianjin. Also following the transport team was the naval liaison officer who arrived in Tianjin at noon.

    The naval liaison officer brought very bad news to the two commanders of the coalition forces. The Taiping Army stationed in Dalian Bay left the port five days ago, and hundreds of ships covered the sky and sailed to the north of Jintang.  In the direction of Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou(To be continued)
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