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 735: Covered by Artillery Fire

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    The Fifth Army of the Taiping Army commanded by Lin Qirong is not a fully organized field army. The Cavalry Division and the Third Infantry Division are not in the formation. The more than 20,000 people in the two divisions are facing the coalition's nearly 40,000 troops. In terms of military strength,  The Taiping Army has a total of more than 150 artillery pieces of various types, while the coalition army has more than 250 artillery pieces.  Novel Chinese iqi.

    But Lin Qirong could only choose to stick to it and delay the coalition forces from retreating to Dongguan. Otherwise, all previous deployments would be in vain. Once the coalition forces returned to Dongguan, where there were stockpiles of arms, food, and solid fortifications, the Taiping Army would have to deal with the coalition forces again.  An annihilating strike would be very difficult.  Therefore, Lin Qirong had no choice but to entangle the coalition forces, even though the coalition forces were twice as powerful as them.

    However, the Taiping Army also has some advantages, that is, the previous unclear intelligence made the coalition generals' formation in Xiancun Town slightly conservative. They did not know the true strength of the Taiping Army that came over from the east, although the scouts reported that they could  It is estimated that there are more than 20,000 enemies seen, but this is Chinese land and the home ground of the Taiping Army. The coalition commanders are not sure whether they will hide more troops in some unknown place, just waiting for the coalition forces.  If a flaw is exposed, it will give the coalition a fatal blow.

    "Moreover, the Taiping Army's more than 20,000 people are in a proactive attack posture, which confuses the coalition commanders. If the enemy is not superior in strength, which commander dares to take the initiative to attack an enemy that is more than twice his own?  The cunning Taiping Army must have some conspiracy. Maybe this offensive force is just a tentative feint attack force, and the Taiping Army's real killer move is yet to come.

    Of course, Baron Seton has not forgotten Guangzhou behind him. According to intelligence, there are also a large number of Taiping troops stationed there, so the coalition's formation must be strong, front, rear, left and right.  But soon the Taiping Army's attack confused the coalition commander even more, because their attack was very sharp and did not look like a tentative feint at all.

    After launching a frontal attack on the coalition forces, the Taiping Army sent a force of several thousand people to attack the right wing under the cover of artillery fire half an hour later. The Taiping Army's twenty-four large-caliber heavy artillery began to suppress the coalition artillery.  , and the coalition forces did not have heavy artillery in the formation, their heavy artillery stayed in Dongguan County.  The reason is simple. When the coalition forces moved north, the coalition commanders did not carry heavy artillery out of caution.  Because once they go deep inland and are besieged by the enemy, it will be difficult to carry heavy artillery, which will cause trouble for the movement of the troops. This is still the disadvantage of unclear intelligence, so they dare not carry bulky heavy artillery.  The Taiping Army is different.  They have the advantage of manpower and material resources here, and the movements of the coalition forces are clear, so their heavy artillery has been following the artillery regiment.

    The blows of twenty-four thirty-two-pound guns were too much for the coalition artillery to withstand. Baron Seton quickly dispatched the Queen's Cavalry Corps commanded by the British cavalry lieutenant general James Thomas Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, and the French cavalry.  The army cavalry ordered them to attack the Taiping Army's artillery positions, hoping that the speed of the cavalry could destroy those heavy artillery and reduce the pressure on the artillery.

    British Cavalry Lieutenant General Earl Cardigan dispatched the cavalry led by Major General Hawkens, together with the French cavalry, a total of more than 5,000 cavalry. They launched a series of charges against the strict Taiping Army artillery positions on the mounds of Blue Mountain Village.  The impact of the five thousand cavalry was indeed unstoppable, and they came around from the flanks.  Avoid the charging Taiping infantry and attack the Taiping position viciously.  But Lin Qirong remained calm and composed. He ordered the infantrymen guarding the position to form square formations in battalion units. The square formations were staggered so that they could fight independently and have room for maneuver. The Taiping artillerymen were ordered to hold on until the end.  moment, and then seek protection in the phalanx.

    Within a hundred yards, Taiping artillery fire broke out, and dense clusters of grape bullets exploded among the coalition cavalry. Rows of coalition cavalry were blown to pieces.  Hawkens's cavalry used various methods other than suicide to break through the Taiping positions. They actually broke through the phalanx and captured several artillery positions, but the Taiping artillerymen quickly dropped their artillery and took cover.  Enter the infantry square.  The coalition cavalry found that they could not kill the enemy's artillery. Then the Taiping Army's infantry phalanx moved over, further squeezing the cavalry's space. Grenades, volleys, and bayonets were the fatal blow to the cavalry from the infantry phalanx. Hawkens' cavalry was like this  Under the counterattack of the Taiping Army infantry phalanx, they returned in confusion.

    Five thousand cavalrymen returned and more than two thousand people returned. Baron Seton was very dissatisfied with this.  Because after the coalition cavalry retreated, the Taiping artillery returned to the artillery and still fired artillery shells at the coalition happily.  Hawkens's cavalry destroyed only a dozen six-pounders, leaving the twenty-four heavy cannons unscathed.

    The battle situation on the front and right wing was very anxious, especially on the front of the coalition forces. Part of the Taiping Army broke into the French position commanded by Colonel Falkenbes and opened a breakthrough there. The coalition launched two counterattacks but failed to regain the position.  , the Taiping Army relied on the coalition fortifications there to attack the coalition forces on the flanks. The first line of defense on the front of the coalition forces was in jeopardy.Dangerous.

    The right wing was slightly better. The Taiping Army's charge was limited by the terrain, but they did not retreat after being repulsed. Those fierce Taiping Army soldiers crawled on the spot and still shot at the coalition positions. Then their officers continued  A charge formation was organized at one time, and they advanced step by step towards the coalition position on the right hill.

    Soon the coalition forces on the front raised their flags, and messengers came frequently to request more troops. Baron Seton transferred 3,000 French troops from the left wing to support them.  Three thousand French troops were led by French Colonel L¨¹beck. They formed a dense charging formation and charged fiercely towards the Taiping Army who broke into the front.  They hoped that a single charge would defeat the enemy in the salient, thereby regaining the position and closing the gap in the defense line.

    Lin Qirong was a little regretful. It would have been nice if he still had cavalry in hand, so that he could immediately send cavalry to break into the coalition position through the gap after the infantry opened the gap, but he did not have cavalry in hand now.

    But Lin Qirong did not hold anything back. At 3:15 in the afternoon, he once again took a desperate risk. Together with the reserve team on the position, a total of 5,000 people once again launched an attack on the front line of the coalition defense line, trying to break through the front line of the coalition defense line. He ordered the Taiping Army of 5,000 people  The reserve team rushed forward to support the Taiping Army, which was still fighting hard at the protruding part of the frontal defense line, hoping to break through the coalition defense line at once.

    Five thousand Taiping infantry troops quickly joined the bloody battlefield and brought ammunition to the friendly forces who were stubbornly defending the front.  L¨¹beck's French army charged three times and only advanced three hundred meters. The Taiping soldiers' precise marksmanship and skilled stabbing skills became a nightmare for the French soldiers.  They even believed that the bayonets of the Taiping Army were sharper than those of the Russians, and before they died, they always liked to pull off the last grenade tied to their bodies, and then rush to where the French soldiers gathered, risking their lives with their own lives.  To exchange for more French soldier lives.

    The coalition soldiers were very unsuited to this life-defying fighting style. In their understanding, if they ran out of ammunition or were injured, they should withdraw from the battlefield. However, this was not the case for the Taiping soldiers. They always resorted to the method of dying together.  Causing the coalition forces to suffer greater losses, perhaps this is the biggest difference between the Western army and the Eastern army.

    An hour later, the Taiping Army captured the first frontal coalition defense line. However, the Taiping Army infantry seemed to be exhausted and unable to continue to expand their victory. They stayed there, resisting the coalition's attacks one after another.

    Baron Seton couldn't sit still. He smelled a hint of danger. Until now in this bloody battle, there is still no new force of the Taiping Army. Does the enemy really only have this small force?  So where did the rest of the enemies go?  Could it be that they are concentrating superior forces to besiege Dongguan County?

    No, we must not waste any more time here. Baron Sidon must quickly defeat the enemy in front of him and then return to Dongguan, so as to preserve the main force of the coalition forces.  At this moment, Sir Sidon suddenly understood why those people in Elgin who had stayed in the east to fight for a year were so afraid of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Now their 60,000 troops had only penetrated less than a month from the landing site into the enemy's interior.  One hundred and fifty kilometers away, they encountered such fierce resistance from the enemy. The enemy's strategy of mobilizing all the people to fight was indeed very terrifying. Thinking of their hundreds of millions of people and vast territory, Baron Seton rushed to  Feeling of powerlessness.

    Baron Seton understood that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was not the Qing Dynasty. It was not the Qing Dynasty that only needed a few thousand troops and a few warships to surrender at home. It was not the Qing Dynasty that would start a war and the local people would trade with the invaders.  The Taiping Rebellion, let alone the Qing court where the local people resisted and killed the invaders and were still held accountable. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was using all the resources available in the country to fight against them.

    Sixty thousand troops seems not enough, but can Britain and France invest 300,000 or 500,000 troops on the Eastern battlefield like they did on the European battlefield?  This is obviously impossible, unless Britain and France no longer want Europe's hegemony and interests.  At this moment, Baron Seton understood that the failure of his expeditionary force was only a matter of time, unless they no longer conducted landing operations. But if the army from far away did not conduct landing operations to capture the enemy's city, how could it make the enemy surrender?  This is where Baron Seton's sense of powerlessness comes from.

    At five o'clock in the afternoon, when the battle began, Baron Seton made a desperate move. He ordered all the coalition reserves on all fronts to attack. He wanted to quickly defeat the enemy in front of him, and then leave the battlefield and return to Dongguan.  The coalition forces assembled all their reserve forces and stormed towards the Taiping Army. The Taiping Army, which was still fighting on the coalition positions, was immediately surrounded.

    After several advancing Taiping squads were surrounded by the enemy, they fired all their bullets and immediately raised the signal flag to fire at me without hesitation. The artillerymen quickly covered the area with artillery fire with tears in their eyes.  .  If the soldiers of the coalition forces were usually avoiding artillery fire, the Taiping Army artillery might not be able to attack them.How much damage was caused, but when the enemy was entangled and stabbed together, the enemy actually used artillery fire to cover his own people. This kind of tactics is really unheard of.

    When Baron Seton saw his soldiers fighting with the Taiping Army, one by one fell under the enemy's fire, he murmured in shock: "Are these people not afraid of death? Why do the enemy's artillery dare to attack?"  Are our own people firing? Are they all emotionless?" (To be continued.)
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