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Volume One: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 734: The Decisive Battle Begins

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    In Shitan Town, north of Dongguan, this inconspicuous town is now overcrowded. The main force of the two infantry divisions of the Fifth Army of the Taiping Army is stationed here.  n¡Ên¡Ê,. In a dilapidated ancestral hall in the town, Lin Qirong, commander of the Taiping Army¡¯s Southwest Military Region, was looking at the combat map hanging on the wall with a heavy face.

    "Report, the leading troops of the British and French allied forces have arrived at Xiancun Town." After the intelligence staff reported the latest enemy movements, Lin Qirong nodded slightly and asked: "Where are the cavalry division and the third infantry division of the Fifth Army? They have arrived at the outskirts of Dongguan County.  In Gaoqi Town, the vanguard troops have exchanged fire with the British and French coalition guard troops."

    Lin Qirong nodded and said: "Order the troops to move to Xiancun Town immediately. We will go there to fight the decisive battle with the coalition forces. At the same time, we order the Cavalry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division to attack Dongguan immediately. Dongguan County must be captured before dark."

    Chen Yucheng, Li Xiucheng, Tan Shaoguang and others fought in northern Xinjiang. After Lin Qirong forced the landing of Hu Linyi, Zeng Guofan and other Qing forces in Hubei and Hunan, Xiao Yungui appointed Lin Qirong as the military chief of the Southwest Military Region. His main task was to prepare for the  The upcoming second expedition of the British and French forces.

    The Taiping Army concentrated a total of two elite field armies, the Fifth and the Sixth, in the Guangzhou area. In addition, there were the Hunan Army, the 19th Army adapted from Hu Lin's Qing Army, as well as local rural soldiers and coastal defense forces.  , with a total strength of 210,000.  This number of troops seems to be a lot, but Guangdong's coastline is also relatively long. If troops are stationed in different places, these troops will not be enough.  Therefore, Lin Qirong did not disperse his forces when formulating the overall strategy. He divided the entire coastal area into several defense areas. In the main defense areas, such as Kowloon, the forts along the Pearl River and some nearby counties, he split the 19th Army into battalions.  Regiment as a unit, the 19th Army is dispersed and stationed at these key points, and is responsible for defense together with the coastal defense forces of the Taiping Army. The rural soldiers are responsible for guarding some remote towns. Their main task is not to fight, but to serve as the main force.  Provide intelligence and harass the enemy.  Then the Sixth Army mainly defended Guangzhou.  The Fifth Army is a mobile force, moving back and forth between various key points. Once there is an enemy situation, he will personally command the Fifth Army to support the operation.

    More than ten days ago.  Lin Qirong received the news that the enemy had landed in Jinzhou. At first, he did not dare to confirm whether the enemy who landed was his main force, so he kept his troops stationary, but the Fifth Army had begun to prepare to dispatch from Huizhou.  A few days later, news of the fall of Dongguan came, and it was judged based on the continuous intelligence coming from the rural soldiers.  Lin Qirong concluded that the main force of the British and French allied forces had landed ashore. He recalled the battle report he had received from the 19th Army. All 2,500 officers and soldiers from the Shajiao and Dajiao forts were killed in the battle, but they also caused heavy damage to the British and French allied forces.  Five of the opponent's main warships were sunk, twelve were seriously damaged, and the landing coalition suffered more than 4,000 casualties. Counting the casualties of the enemy's naval soldiers, it is estimated that the enemy's capture of the two forts cost more than 5,000 casualties.  Lin Qirong guessed that the coalition commander must have given up on the strategy of driving all the way from the Pearl River Estuary to pull out nails one by one, and instead used the army to land at the weak point of the Taiping Army's defense and then break into the interior to fight.

    After the fall of Dongguan, Lin Qirong immediately judged that the enemy's target was still Guangzhou.  But they wanted to launch an attack on Guangzhou from the land route east of Guangzhou, so he ordered the Fifth Army to set out overnight, and the entire army moved towards Zengcheng in covert manner.  The common people in Guangdong gave the greatest support to the Taiping Army in its war against the British and French forces, and the Taiping Army was good at mobilizing the masses. Therefore, civilians collected intelligence on every move of the British and French forces after they landed, while the British and French forces were like blind men.  His eyes were blackened.  It is not that the British and French coalition forces have never thought of buying local people to provide them with intelligence, but the effect is very poor. Some scum who are willing to provide intelligence usually disappear after sending intelligence once or twice. The coalition forces will discover them after a few days.  His body was hung where the coalition troops passed by, with the words "Traitors must die!" It can be seen that the local soldiers were merciless in punishing traitors.  So slowly no one dared to provide intelligence to the coalition forces anymore.

    In order to obtain intelligence, the coalition forces had to send more reconnaissance teams. Then these reconnaissance teams were often attacked by rural soldiers, and the sources of intelligence were also quite narrow.  So when Lin Qirong's Fifth Army went to Zengcheng to hide and wait for several days, the coalition forces didn't get any news.

    At the same time, Lin Qirong ordered the Sixth Army stationed in Guangzhou to send 5,000 troops to defend Xintang Town. He would first block the way of the coalition forces, and then attract the attention of the coalition forces. He saw the opportunity and prepared to go south to raid Dongguan, the coalition's supply transfer point.  county.  Once Dongguan County is recovered.  The Taiping Army could calmly surround and divide the coalition land forces ashore. After annihilating the enemy's large army, the enemy's navy could only look to the land and sigh. In this way, the initiative of the entire war returned to the hands of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

    But we have to praise the response of the coalition forces. When the cavalry division and the third infantry division of the Fifth Army had just crossed the Zengjiang River from Shitan Town to DongguanAt that time, the coalition reconnaissance team discovered them, and the enemy responded very quickly. They immediately returned to seize Xiancun Town, intending to secure several pontoon bridges downstream of Xiancun Town, and then immediately sent troops across the Dongjiang River to reinforce Dongguan.  Lin Qirong also reacted immediately. He led two infantry divisions to quickly attack, making sure to delay the enemy so that the cavalry division and the third infantry division could successfully capture Dongguan.

    In Xiancun Town, Sir Seton reached an agreement with the French Field Marshal Duke Malakoff. The French army of 20,000 troops crossed the river first to reinforce Dongguan. The remaining British and French troops of more than 35,000 people were in Xiancun Town.  Arrange in formation to defend the flanks of the force crossing the river.  Lord Seton judged that the enemy's attack on Dongguan was not an isolated action. Their main goal must be to hit the main force of the coalition forces in motion.

    The British and French allied force position in Xiancun Town was carefully selected. It extends along a gentle ridge of the only hill on the right side outside Xiancun Town. It is about 4,000 yards long. The only official road from Xiancun Town to Xintang Town starts from  It passes through the middle.  Six hundred yards ahead and to the right, there is a village surrounded by a rectangular lychee orchard and a bamboo strip fence.  Three hundred yards directly in front of the center of the position is the only street in Xiancun Town. All the buildings inside and outside Xiancun Town have been hastily fortified as positions for the coalition forces.

    The important hilly heights on the right flank were garrisoned by two regiments of the British Army, whose strength consisted of six infantry battalions of the British Guards.  The cavalry brigades serve as central reserves and are deployed between the front line and the hilly heights on the right wing. Two other British cavalry brigades form the top of the left wing, where the terrain is relatively flat.  Most of the twenty-four mounted artillery and field artillery batteries occupied positions on the west line of Guandao in Xiancun Town.  From here you can straf the plains ahead.  According to Sir Seton's instructions, the artillery will ignore the enemy's artillery once a battle begins, and instead concentrate its artillery fire on the enemy's infantry and cavalry at short range.

    While the coalition forces were still consolidating their positions, the Taiping Army led by Lin Qirong had already appeared in the east of Xiancun Town. The Taiping Army deployed its forces on the mounds of Lanshan Village to the east, facing the positions of the British and French coalition forces.

    French Army General Patrice McMahon, Duke of Magenta, and his French First Army extended their forces about 2,000 yards south from the official road in Xiancun Town. On the left side of the official road, British Army Lieutenant General George, Count of Lucan.  Bingham's British army also occupied a similar front. The British cavalry lieutenant general James Thomas Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, the Queen's Guards Cavalry Corps was behind Dellon, and the French Army's Kellerman's Hunters  The Cavalry Cavalry Corps was ordered to support McMahon, and the French Guards served as a central reserve near the headquarters.

    Seeing the formation of the coalition forces, Lin Qirong hesitated. He looked at his pocket watch. Before setting off, he sent a messenger and a carrier pigeon to send an order to Hu Linyi, the commander of the Sixth Army stationed in Guangzhou, ordering him to lead the two troops of the Sixth Army.  An infantry division and a cavalry division reinforced the battlefield from behind. If Hu Linyi's troops could appear on the battlefield in time and attack the coalition forces from the rear, then Lin Qirong would be able to completely defeat the British and French coalition forces in this battle.

    After the Taiping Army's two infantry divisions deployed, Lin Qirong received the news brought by carrier pigeons. Hu Linyi had begun to lead Guangzhou's Sixth Army out of the city. It was more than 60 miles from Guangzhou to Xiancun Town. It was estimated that it would take one or two hours to march in a hurry.  You'll be there soon.  So Lin Qirong decided to launch an attack on the coalition forces first. When the battle heated up, Hu Linyi's troops happened to appear on the battlefield, and that was the time to win.

    After watching the coalition's position, Lin Qirong determined that the coalition's weakness was in the center, so he decided to feign an attack on the hills and highlands on the coalition's right flank and focus on attacking the center.  Lin Qirong hoped that the coalition commander would divide his forces to rescue the right wing to facilitate his attack from the center.

    At 1:30 noon, the decisive battle began. The Taiping Army prepared for artillery fire with eighty twelve-pound guns. The remaining artillery was not launched for the time being. They and the powerful rocket launcher troops were waiting for opportunities.

    The power of the Taiping Army's artillery preparations was not as frightening to the enemy as Lin Qirong expected.  Sir Seton still followed his method of hiding the infantry behind the hill. A series of Taiping artillery shells damaged some buildings and injured some Union soldiers hiding in the buildings.

    After preparing the artillery fire, Lin Qirong ordered the two infantry regiments to rush towards the gentle slope in skirmish formation, facing the hail of bullets to attack the British infantry position.  The war has developed to its present state. Accurate rifled guns can accurately shoot enemies at long distances. Therefore, the Taiping Army has already abandoned the original platoon charge situation. They adopt a leap forward style that is dispersed and has flexible tactical movements.  , skirmisher charge line.

    After the formation was dispersed, the stormtroopers were divided into front, middle and rear sections. The troops in the front charged for a certain distance and then stopped. The soldiers either squatted or crawled on the ground and fired at the enemies in front of them. The soldiers behind them rushed up quickly.  , then stopped and once again covered the troops behind.

    Although the British guns and artillery were fierce, they were nothing like the Western ones.What Baron expected was that there were far fewer enemies who fell. This was different from what he imagined. According to Baron Seton's imagination, the enemies would form a dense charging formation to attack, just like what the Russians usually used.  This offensive method of the Taiping Army gives people a refreshing feeling.

    Baron Seton¡¯s artillery failed to cause significant damage to the charging Taiping troops. Although they also caused casualties to the Taiping troops, it was far below their expectations. More importantly, they exposed their position.  Soon, other artillery units on the Taiping Army's position began to suppress them with artillery fire.  (To be continued.)
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