?
Bundles of twigs and grasses were thrown onto the crackling bonfires. Soon, they were burnt yellow and black, and finally, they reluctantly burned. The stems and leaves of the plants, which were still full of water, did not burn very well. Thick smoke rose from the high piles of firewood. The smoke quickly rose, and soon, the outside of Xuyi West City was filled with smoke, making it difficult to see into the distance.
The various organic substances contained in the stems and leaves were either roasted out by the flames, or oxidized during the burning. The pungent or non-pungent smell drifted along the smoke to the top of the west city wall. The Qing Army on the top of the city wall was gradually unable to open their eyes. The hot air rose upwards, and the sounds of coughing and sneezing on the top of the city wall grew louder and louder.
Lin Fengxiang's troops were very experienced in these kinds of battles. Seeing that the defenders on the top of the city wall were in a mess, the assault troops immediately covered their faces with cloth and rushed into the smoke with scaling ladders. The city wall of Xuyi was only about three meters tall, and in the blink of an eye, five or six long ladders were set up on the city wall. The Taiping army who climbed up the ladders used thinner cloth to cover their mouths and noses. The Qing Army on the top of the city wall did not expect the Taiping army to use this kind of tactic. Covering their mouths and noses with thick, coarse cloth made it difficult for them to breathe. If they did not cover their mouths, they could hardly breathe.
Not only was the smoke caused by the burning, the Taiping army below the city wall kept firing in the direction of the city wall, creating even more choking smoke. The extremely bad air environment reduced the difficulty of the siege. The Taiping army began to fight with the Qing Army for control of the city wall.
The troops of Vézé's Twelfth Corps who came to watch the battle watched with interest as Lin Fengxiang's troops attacked the city wall. Sieges had never been Vézé's army's forte. If it were Vézé's troops attacking, they would naturally erect tall watchtowers, which would direct the artillery to bombard the city walls. If they saw that the Qing Army's defences on top of the city walls could no longer hold, the watchtowers would use flag signals to direct the attacking troops.
The strategists generally believed that, compared to Lin Fengxiang's current siege strategy, Vézé's troops' tactics were rather stiff and far less flexible than Lin Fengxiang's. In a sudden battle, Lin Fengxiang's tactics could be used more quickly. Therefore, the staff officers recorded everything they saw on the battlefield in detail, preparing to study and train them when they returned.
But this tactic, which had been impressive in the early stages of the battle, did not show its power in the later stages of the battle. Even though the Qing Army had encountered all sorts of problems, they had at least managed to hold off the assault of the siege troops. After half an hour, the battle for the western city wall had yet to come to a conclusion.
This time, the strategists of the Twelfth Corps were rather disappointed. They had thought that they would be able to see a clean and efficient battle. At least, after seeing Lin Fengxiang's clean and efficient command in the early stages of the siege, they were all convinced. All the strategists' eyes fell on the face of the Twelfth Corps' General Ke Gongyu. Obviously, they all hoped that Ke Gongyu would ask Lin Fengxiang for the task of sieging the city.
Ke Gongyu naturally knew what they were thinking, but it was hard not to have personal or political problems in a war. If Ke Gongyu went to Lin Fengxiang and said that he couldn't take it down, let him do it. From the perspective of the overall outcome of the battle, this would be beneficial to both sides. But from a personal point of view, the generals were all people who cared about their reputation, and they could not afford to lose face like this.
It was during the battle in Central Anhui, when Wei Changrong took the initiative to 'help' Ke Gongyu. It had been almost a year since then, and Ke Gongyu still felt very unhappy whenever he thought about it. Therefore, before Lin Fengxiang made a request, Ke Gongyu felt that it was better not to cause trouble for Lin Fengxiang.
"If it's us, how are we going to fight?" Ke Gongyu asked the strategists.
"Of course we'll use grenade throwers to attack the city. Throwing a bunch of grenades up there is much more efficient than using guns."
"Yeah, the smoke is so thick that Qing Yao won't be able to see what our soldiers are doing on the ladders. If we throw a grenade up there, Qing Yao won't be able to see it. "
"This smoke is really well done. We weren't good at it in the past."
The strategists all chimed in.
Vézé's troops preferred to use brute force. They relied on equipment and training, and using brute force to push down the enemy was their best tactic so far. After seeing Lin Fengxiang's more technical fighting style, the strategists realized that they didn't need to use brute force to push down the enemy. If they were more skillful in the early stages, it would be easier to insert the enemy later on.
The strategists of the 12th Division who were watching the battle concluded and thought about how to incorporate Lin Fengxiang's smokescreen into their tactics. Ke Gongyu received a document from the communications strategist. Ke Gongyu frowned as soon as he opened it. The document informed Ke Gongyu that Vézé would not be leading the main force to Xuyi for the time being because he was going to fight in Anqing.
"What happened in Anqing? Who's fighting? "Ke Gongyu asked after signing the document.
"It seems like He Chun is fighting. The Prince of Yan, Qin Rigang, who is guarding Anqing, is asking us for help, "the communications strategist replied.
Qin Rigang was given the title of Prince by Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Ke Gongyu didn't know what exactly happened, but he heard a little about it. Hong Xiuquan hoped that Qin Rigang would lead the army to the north, so he gave him the title of Prince of Yan in March of this year.
Ke Gongyu was in charge of guarding Luzhou when Wei Ze went north. He knew very well that Qin Rigang clearly had no intention of going on a northern expedition. In the end, there was no further development of this matter. Qin Rigang inexplicably obtained the title of Prince of Yan. Other than that, Ke Gongyu didn't hate Qin Rigang. This Prince of Yan had an unusual advantage, and that was that he didn't play any tricks.
Vézé repeatedly told his subordinates to follow the rules, and one of the most important points was that they didn't play any tricks. Everyone respected Vézé. Vézé was also the creator of the army's system, technology, culture, and so on. Even so, they often wanted to create something unique that belonged to them in the system that Vézé created. Vézé knew what everyone was thinking, so he specially built a military history recording room. In the training minutes, there were clear records of who summarized or invented a certain tactic or training method first. With special measures to make everyone feel that they were different from others, and with Vézé's strong presence, Vézé's army was much more obedient.
But Qin Rigang didn't have this problem at all. After he took over Anqing, he didn't make any changes to the system, system, or personnel that Vézé had set up in Anqing. Instead, he constantly sent people to ask for advice from Vézé. The tax system that Vézé handed over to Qin Rigang was operating well. Ke Gongyu was very impressed. He asked himself if he could do what Qin Rigang did.
But compared to Vézé's military ability, Qin Rigang's army lacked offensive capabilities. Vézé didn't expect Qin Rigang to expand his territory. But after Ke Gongyu read the documents, Vézé even had to bring troops to help Qin Rigang out. Then the situation in Anqing would probably worsen to a considerable extent.
Anqing was in the west of Anhui, and now the Taiping army was attacking Xuyi, which was in the east of Anhui, in Jiangsu. If Vézé continued fighting in Anqing, when would he be able to advance eastward to the Grand Canal? Ke Gongyu felt that this was a pity.
Just as he was thinking about this, the war drums suddenly sounded hurried. Because the top of the city was shrouded in smoke, he couldn't see clearly. But the troops attacking the city began to retreat.
"They can't hold on anymore?" Ke Gongyu was quite surprised. But after reading the latest news, Ke Gongyu wasn't in a good mood. At this time, he didn't care about offending Lin Fengxiang anymore. Instead, he felt the urge to find a place to vent his anger.
"Tell the 2nd Brigade to prepare for battle! Bring more grenades! "Ke Gongyu ordered. After giving the order, Ke Gongyu went forward. There was one thing that Ke Gongyu liked about Lin Fengxiang, and that was that Lin Fengxiang was always able to command from the front. The reason why it was "liked" was because Vézé was now commanding from the back, and his results were better. Ke Gongyu didn't think that Lin Fengxiang could compare to Vézé, so he naturally discounted his praise.
When Lin Fengxiang saw Ke Gongyu running over, he had a rough idea of Ke Gongyu's plan. He tried to ask, "Are you going to attack the city, Ke Junshuai?"
The 12th Division was in charge of the main attack, and Prime Minister Lin Fengxiang was in charge of surrounding Xuyi. Ke Gongyu was in charge of attacking the city.
"Yes. I'm going to lead the troops to attack the city. " Ke Gongyu answered quickly. "Thank you, Prime Minister, for using smoke to cover up the city. It took us a lot of effort to attack the city."
Lin Fengxiang's subordinates didn't know what Ke Gongyu was feeling. Was he really thanking Lin Fengxiang, or was he mocking Lin Fengxiang for not being able to attack the city?
Lin Fengxiang didn't care too much. This time, they used a brigade of more than 500 people to attack the city. Five or six of his brothers died, and another 50 or 60 were injured. The morale of the troops was low, and Lin Fengxiang didn't want to fight anymore.
It didn't take long to change positions. Lin Fengxiang saw that Ke Gongyu only sent a brigade. The troops on both sides were organized according to Vézé's military system. Each division had 10 brigades, and there were no divisions for now. Just by looking at the movements of the troops, Lin Fengxiang's original praise for his troops flew out the window.
When comparing goods, you have to throw them away. When comparing people, you have to die. Just by appearing, Ke Gongyu's men's brisk footsteps were far more presentable than Lin Fengxiang's troops. It was an indescribable kind of footsteps. If Lin Fengxiang had participated in a relatively advanced fitness and walking correction program in the 21st century, he would be able to understand it. There were no external or internal movements. The muscles in the legs had been strictly trained, and the force exertion was reasonable. There were no unnecessary movements.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
