Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 51 Eight Banners Soldiers (×) Permit (√)

When Li Xingyuan heard this, the expression on his face changed from gloomy to bright.

But he also knew that this matter could not be delayed, so he spoke immediately.

"Quick, send someone to tell Admiral Xiang to lead his troops to the Dahuang River estuary and reinforce Wulantai to stop the Taiping Rebellion's offensive."

"Don't let the bandits do their thing!"

"Go and send a message to Governor Zhou in Hualiang, asking him to lead his troops south immediately, cross Pingling, and march toward the mouth of Dahuang River."

After giving these instructions, Li Xingyuan turned to look at the messenger who came to deliver the message and spoke.

"Go back and tell Wulantai immediately that I have dispatched reinforcements to reinforce the battle at Dahuangjiangkou. Tell him to hold out at Dahuangjiangkou until Xiang Rong and Zhou Tianjue's reinforcements arrive, and then encircle the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom bandits."

"If there is any mistake, I will take his head!"

When the messenger heard this, he was immediately startled and kowtowed.

"The villain understands!"

……

Boom! Boom!
The deafening sound of artillery fire resounded throughout the mouth of the Dahuang River.

Several red-haired cannons from the grandfather's generation were placed in front of the Qing army's formation, aimed at the Taiping Army and fired, spewing out gunpowder smoke indiscriminately.

As the sound of cannons rang out, thick smoke filled the entire bank of the Dahuang River.

Although the Green Camp soldiers were not allowed by the Qing government to be equipped with large-caliber artillery, Ulan Tai brought more than just the Guangdong Green Camp to support the war in Guangxi.

There is also a part of the Eight Banners of Guangzhou!

The Eight Banners of today are no longer the brave and invincible Eight Banners soldiers of two hundred years ago. Having been spoiled by eating, drinking, gambling and whoring in their wealthy homes, they are a burden on the battlefield.

But when Ulan Tai set out from Guangzhou, he still brought an Eight Banners Army with him.

The reason is simple. Bringing the Eight Banners soldiers with the army is equivalent to having a license to allow the Red Cannon to accompany the army.

There is no need to mention the role that artillery can play on the battlefield.

The cost is nothing more than a few more mouths to feed.

As long as the Eight Banners soldiers are not allowed to go to the battlefield, no matter how incompetent they are, they cannot drag down the army, right?

Ulantai was still able to handle such a small matter clearly.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, shells flew wildly above the battlefield, making a humming sound as they broke through the air.

Several shells landed on the ground, creating clumps of sand, which then continued to bounce and roll forward.

But perhaps it was due to insufficient charge, or perhaps the quality of the Qing army's gunpowder was defective, and several shells rolled halfway before their kinetic energy was exhausted and they stopped halfway.

Seeing this scene, the Taiping Army looked at each other in confusion.

Immediately, he couldn't help but burst into cheers.

"God bless you, I'm invulnerable!"

"God bless me, I am invulnerable!"

"..."

Everyone subconsciously attributed the failure of the Qing army's artillery shells to God.

In just a moment, the morale of the Taiping Army was greatly boosted.

This is the benefit of the Taiping Army starting out as a religion!

Even Li Yi couldn't help showing joy on his face, but he still started to give orders.

"Everyone, adjust your formation and move forward in three rows!"

The reason why Li Yi made such arrangements was to minimize the threat of Qing army's artillery fire.

At that time, most of the artillery equipped by the Qing army, or the armies of the world, used solid shells, relying on the kinetic energy carried by the shells after leaving the barrel to kill the enemy.

Once the shells hit the enemy's formation, they would penetrate the entire vertical column and cause heavy casualties to the enemy.

Because of this, the denser the infantry array, the more effective the artillery shells are. And vice versa!

This is also the reason why Li Yi ordered his troops to advance forward in three rows in a horizontal formation.

Even if the three rows in a horizontal formation were hit by a shell, at most three people in the same row would be killed or injured, which was an acceptable level of casualties.

But if you use a large and thick square formation with dozens of rows, and one shot penetrates the formation, no one knows how many people will die.

No matter how elite the troops are, they cannot withstand such losses.

Therefore, after artillery was widely used on the battlefield, it was not without reason that all countries began to use simple three-row, or even fewer two-row horizontal formations as their main battle array.

As for the problem of only three horizontal rows and a relatively thin array, how to solve it?

It is actually very simple. Just put three rows behind three rows, and then three rows behind three rows.

The interval between arrays can be adjusted as needed.

The larger the spacing between arrays, the smaller the threat posed by enemy artillery; the smaller the spacing, the more powerful the offensive and defensive capabilities.

All in all, it's a win-win situation!

As Li Yi's troops changed their formation, both the enemy and our side on the battlefield noticed this scene.

Wulantai put down the telescope in his hand and asked with a puzzled expression.

"The long-haired bandits on the right wing, their formation seems to me to be somewhat similar to the Western Barbarians' fighting methods."

The Ulantai people were also in Guangzhou when the Opium War broke out ten years ago.

He had seen with his own eyes how the British played!

Now, in just a blink of an eye, he realized that the formation of Li Yi's troops was similar to that of the British.

Well, the main reason was that Ulan Tai had PTSD after being beaten by the British. Seeing the tactics in front of him that were similar to those of the British, he couldn't help but feel a little stressed.

Wang Jiye, the general of Zhaoqing beside Ulan Tai, saw this and spoke.

"You are worrying too much, it should just be similar."

"The Western Barbarians are only active along the coast at most. How could they possibly come to the inland of Guangxi?"

After hearing this, Ulan Tai's expression improved slightly.

Then he turned around and shouted angrily.

"Damn it, let those bastards with the cannons give me a good beating."

"If anyone dares to be sneaky and cheat again, I will chop off his head and use it as a chamber pot!"

The artillery shells that their side had just fired stopped flying halfway. Ulan Tai naturally knew the reason.

It's simply that the people below were afraid that the artillery would explode, so they reduced the amount of gunpowder.

It is true that he is a wealthy general, but wealthy generals are not necessarily fools.

If we really talk about rich and noble generals, Huo Qubing can also be considered as one of them. Do you know my uncle who is the emperor and the great general?
But can you say Huo Qubing was a fool?
Although Ulan Tai was far inferior to Huo Qubing, he had at least experienced some military experience.

Things like this that are almost in plain sight can't fool him.

When Ulan Tai's order was given, the Qing army's gunners couldn't help but make bitter faces, feeling helpless.

They also want to fire a full-load of ammunition at his mother!

But the problem is that most of the artillery pieces they brought with them this time were from their grandfathers’ generation.

There is even an old item from the Chongzhen period, which is longer than the Qing Dynasty.

These cannons look shiny and bright because they are well maintained on a daily basis.

But no matter how shiny it looks on the outside, it cannot change the reality that this is an old item that has been rotten inside.

If it's really fully loaded with gunpowder, it's bound to explode when fired, right?
But since Ulan Tai's military order had already been issued, there was no room for these low-level artillerymen to make a comment.

If they don't want to be chopped to pieces by the supervision team, they can only follow military orders!

(End of this chapter)