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On the evening of May 13th, both sides failed to achieve their objectives. The Taiping army failed to defeat the enemy in pursuit, and the Qing Army failed to lure out the Taiping army cavalry and annihilate them. Neither side's commanding officers were angry. Everyone arranged for the troops to rest and prepare. They waited for the next day's battle.
Early in the morning of May 14th, He Chun made breakfast. After dawn, his troops had breakfast and set out for the flat battlefield that the Taiping army had tacitly agreed to. Admiral He Chun also approved of the flat land. At least for him, who had sent out 7,000 troops, this flat land was enough for him to fight the Taiping army.
Outside Changsha, Admiral He Chun had also fought with the Cantonese bandits. At that time, he hadn't gained the slightest advantage. And in that battle, the Cantonese bandits had about 5,000 troops. According to the Qing Army's tradition, it was impossible to become a veteran without fighting three to five battles. Even for a veteran, it would take another half a year of training to become an elite.
He Chun knew that Vézé's troops were expanding very quickly. Therefore, he believed that among the 5,000 troops he faced, about 2,000 would be 'elites'. With 7,000 troops attacking 5,000, there would be another 3,000 to outflank them from the side. Admiral He Chun believed that the Qing Army had a high chance of winning this battle.
When the two sides' battle formations met, Admiral He Chun discovered that something was wrong. The Cantonese bandits lined up not in the column formation that they were used to, nor was it the horizontal formation that they liked. The Cantonese bandits lined up in a huge square formation. On each side, there were Cantonese bandits lined up neatly. The formation was densely covered with banners and flags. It was impossible to see what was going on.
He Chun watched for a while but couldn't see anything. The only thing he could be sure of was that this square formation was very difficult to move. The other side had undoubtedly handed the initiative of the battle to the Qing Army. This was also a problem that He Chun had thought of. For the Cantonese bandits, their overall military strength was superior. If they could delay He Chun's 10,000 troops in the wilderness, their various reinforcements would arrive one after another. Naturally, victory would be very easy. At this time, implementing defense was the most efficient method.
As for Admiral Hechun, it was impossible for him to defend. He had to destroy the Taiping army first. He Chun used the monocular "All-Seeing Eye" to look at the formation of the Cantonese bandits, but she really couldn't see any clues. He only noticed that there were many traces of artillery bombardment on the ground between the two armies. He Chun couldn't care less. He ordered, "Send the cavalry to take a look."
The dozen or so cavalrymen were divided into six squads, each consisting of two or three cavalrymen. He started to run back and forth between the two armies. Every time he ran, he would get closer to the Taiping army. These cavalrymen were the elite of the Qing Army. As they galloped back and forth in front of the formation, they did not forget to make some difficult movements on horseback. He stood on the horse and shrank to the side of the saddle. This seemingly acrobatic performance was not necessarily just for show. As he stood higher, he could naturally see more of the situation within the Taiping army.
This performance clearly had the effect of boosting the morale of the Qing Army. Every time they slipped past, the Qing Army formation would erupt into a wave of cheers that grew louder and louder. According to tradition, these cavalrymen not only had to perform these performances, but they also had to fight the enemy cavalry when the enemy sent out cavalry to drive them away. Because their casualty rate was very high, every time after a battle, as long as they didn't die, they would receive a lot of rewards. If they were able to kill the enemy cavalry sent out to scout, they might have an outstanding performance. Then the commander-in-chief would immediately reward them in front of the formation to boost morale.
However, the Taiping army formation did not send out any cavalry. They allowed the Qing Army cavalry to strut back and forth on the battlefield. Moreover, they continued to draw closer to the Taiping army formation.
When these cavalrymen were about 100 meters away from the Taiping army formation, the Taiping army formation first fired six cannons in succession. Every cannonball was aimed at a group of Qing Army cavalry. The artillerymen used grapeshot bullets. Four groups of Qing cavalry were hit head-on. The dozen or so pigeon-egg-sized pellets that flew over struck their bones and snapped their tendons. The men were killed on the spot, but the horses did not seem to be able to survive. Blood was gushing out from their wounds, mouths and noses, while their four hooves were still kicking madly.
When the other two groups of Qing Army cavalry saw that things were not going well, they wanted to turn their horses around and run away. However, the two rows of infantry facing them fired at the Qing Army. 100 meters was a distance of more than 60 paces. The Qing Army couldn't hit the Qing Army at all. This was also the reason why the Qing Army cavalry dared to get so close …
Jiangnan's Admiral He Chun saw with his own eyes that the Taiping army's two rows of soldiers only had about 25 people. The shots of 50 people killed five people and knocked down five horses. The four limbs of the horses suddenly stretched out perfectly straight, and then they fell to the ground with the cavalry. The cavalry on the horses had their arms raised high and were waving their whips with all their might, preparing to escape the range of the Taiping army's cannons. Before they could retract their raised arms, their limbs twitched after being shot, or their limbs went limp after being drained of all their strength.
He Chun watched helplessly as the cavalry fell to the ground with their horses in such a posture. After falling to the ground, the cavalry did not struggle to get up. Instead, they were motionless like cloth bags. It looked like they were dead.
The whole process didn't take more than half a minute. The Qing Army didn't even have time to stop their cheers. As Admiral He Chun watched the cavalry being hit by the cannons and guns and dying in the blink of an eye, he heard wave after wave of cheers from the Qing Army.
Of course, the Qing Army's reaction wasn't slow. Very quickly, they also realized that something was wrong. The cheers stopped. At this time, Admiral He Chun observed with his naked eye and clairvoyance. He confirmed that the ten or so cavalry in front of the Qing Army had all been killed. A wave of anger fiercely rose from Admiral He Chun's chest. The actions of the Bandit Gang not only made Admiral He Chun feel 'angry', but also 'indignant'. Admiral He Chun greatly appreciated this kind of cavalry 'performance' before the battle. For Admiral He Chun, this was a kind of ceremony, a way to show respect for war. But the Bandit Gang in front of him used their guns and cannons to cruelly destroy this ceremony, clearly and unmistakably expressing their contempt for this kind of ceremony.
"You just don't have cavalry scouts as good as us!" Admiral He Chun cursed in his heart.
If cursing was effective, the Bandit Gang would have been killed countless times. To kill them, they could only rely on swords and spears. Admiral He Chun quickly understood the meaning behind the Bandit Gang's actions. They were demonstrating to Admiral He Chun. They were silently telling him, "Our cannons and guns are very powerful."
"These must be the elites of the Bandit Gang!" Admiral He Chun was certain of this point. Then how should they fight? Admiral He Chun ordered, "Fire at the Bandit Gang!"
With such a large phalanx, as long as one cannon shot in, they would definitely be able to kill a few people. Admiral He Chun was very confident in this. The distance between the two sides was one li. Admiral He Chun felt that it was necessary for him to have an artillery duel with the Bandit Gang.
The Qing Army worked hard to move the cannons to the front of the formation. Before they could stabilize the cannons, they saw many thin and tall poles suddenly erected near the front of the Bandit Gang's formation. There were people sitting on the poles. They were like monkeys sitting on the poles, holding something in their hands. Admiral He Chun raised the single tube clairvoyance in his hand to take a look. He almost laughed in anger. The Bandit Gang on the poles were actually holding single tube clairvoyance. Furthermore, each of them were using the clairvoyance to aim at the Qing Army's formation.
Clairvoyance was something that only high-ranking officers in the Qing Army could use. From their attire, the guys on the poles were not officers at all. But each and every one of them were holding clairvoyance. It was really comical.
Not long after the pole was erected, white smoke suddenly emitted from the vicinity of the pole. Soon, a muffled sound was heard. Slightly slower than the sound of the cannons, the whistling shells flew towards the Qing Army's formation.
"Number one cannon position, five meters to the left! Ten meters to the front! "
"Number five cannon position, one meter to the left! Five meters to the back! "
"Number nine cannon position, two meters to the right. Twenty meters to the front!"
The people on the poles were all artillery observers. They were high up, and their job was to calibrate the firing of the artillery. Unlike the Qing army, the Taiping army would not play the trick of firing ten thousand cannons at the same time. The artillerymen did not have their own observation glasses, so they had to rely on the artillery observers to command. Each cannon position fired according to the artillery rules, and different artillery observers would calibrate the shells according to where they would land.
In order to deal with the Qing Army's attack, the Taiping army of the 14th Division split into two. Two thousand soldiers were responsible for dealing with He Chun's forces, while the other three thousand went straight for the outflanking troops sent by He Chun. In order to make He Chun think that the 2,000 men of the 14th Division were more than they looked, the troops had to line up in a hollow square formation. In addition, they put up many flags in the square formation to confuse He Chun.
When the Qing Army finally dragged out the cannons, Cai Yubin, the commander of the 14th Division, finally let out a long sigh of relief. In terms of firearms, He Chun's men's muskets and powder gunpowder were not even worthy of licking the feet of the 14th Division. The only thing that could threaten the 14th Division was the Qing Army's cannons. According to tradition, the Qing Army placed the cannons in front of the formation. This gave the Taiping army the perfect opportunity to bombard the Qing Army's cannons.
Under the guidance of the artillery observers, the Taiping army's 12-pound howitzers became more and more accurate.
"One of the Qing Yao's cannons was hit!"
"Good job!" Someone immediately encouraged him.
"Several of the Qing Yao's artillerymen were hit. About five or six."
"Continue to fire! Fire hard!" Everyone cheered. The Qing Army's artillerymen were not only of poor quality, but also few in number. Killing the artillerymen would probably weaken the Qing Army's artillerymen more than destroying the cannons.
"Hit the Qing Army's powder keg!"
"Oh …" Immediately, there was a muffled response. Vézé's Taiping army still hadn't completely solved the problem of gunpowder. Poverty stunted ambition. Even if it was a few dozen kilograms of gunpowder, Vézé's troops could still see it.
…
"The Qing Yao has dragged the cannons back!" The sentry shouted.
This report caused a burst of ridicule. "It's only been a few minutes!" "They're done already?" "They can't use the cannons anymore?"
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