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The hot air balloon basket was destroyed, and the balloon was burnt. This was not as big of a blow to the 14th Division as Jiangnan Admiral and Chun had imagined.
No one used ghosts to explain this incident. They already had hot air balloons that could carry people into the sky, and no one in the 14th Division believed in ghosts. They just had to believe in Vézé. Needless to say, the cause of this accident was very clear. In fact, some people were worried that the basket was not strong enough. However, the hot air balloon had just been manufactured, and many technical points had not been solved. The weight it could carry was very limited, so everyone had to reduce the weight of the basket.
Fortunately, the two balloon operators reacted quickly and climbed onto the balloon net, escaping the disaster. At that time, the basket was ten meters above the ground. Anyone who fell from this height would end up as a meat patty. The wind blew the balloon, and it carried the two observers towards the Qing Army's position. This gave everyone a fright. The balloon had no protection, and there were two people on it. If it floated to the Qing Army's position like this, it would definitely be a dead end.
The development of the incident was not satisfactory. The balloon was burnt, and the balloon operators slowly landed with the balloon. Although the two were quite frightened, they were not injured. This allowed the senior generals to breathe a sigh of relief. With people who had personally experienced this incident, the General Staff Headquarters could better study this incident and formulate a better plan.
The Qing Army's subsequent performance was even more interesting. A group of more than 2,000 Qing Army soldiers charged directly towards the Taiping army. This made Deputy Commander Cai Yubin and Deputy Chief of Operations Ju Junfeng feel that the burning of the balloon might not be a completely bad thing.
The Qing Army had about 7,000 soldiers, and the Taiping army had 2,000. Two thousand to annihilate 7,000 was too difficult. Vézé led the 3,000 troops of the 14th Division to attack the 3,000 Qing Army soldiers who were trying to circle behind the Taiping army. The goal was to annihilate these 3,000 Qing Army soldiers and continuously weaken the Qing Army's military superiority.
The 2,000 troops left to contain the Qing Army did not expect the Qing Army to send 2,000 people to fight first. Especially after the Qing Army suffered a crushing defeat in the artillery battle, the Qing Army still dared to take the initiative to attack. The Taiping Army could not help but feel surprised. At this point, the 14th Division only had one choice left, and that was to completely annihilate this Qing Army on the battlefield.
"This can be considered as an explanation to the chief of staff." Cai Yubin smiled bitterly and said self-deprecatingly.
Deputy Chief of Staff Ju Junfeng forced a smile and said, "Explain what? Do you think the Chief of the General Staff thinks it's a big deal to burn a balloon? On the other hand, we will definitely be recorded in the military records. There's no reason not to note down the first balloon that got burned on the battlefield. "
"We're really famous now! Haha! "Cai Yubin laughed heartily.
Ju Junfeng was taken aback. He thought that Cai Yubin wanted to talk to the people in the military history department and see if they could cover up this matter. Unexpectedly, Cai Yubin had no intention of covering it up and admitted it just like that. Ju Junfeng heaved a sigh of relief when Cai Yubin admitted it. At the General Staff Headquarters, Vézé had repeatedly said that the military history department must record the truth. If it only recorded lies, then it shouldn't be called a military history department, but a military storytelling department.
At least Ju Junfeng hadn't figured out how to cover up their failure in the military history department. Ju Junfeng had already accepted his fate, and now Cai Yubin had also accepted his fate. At least they didn't need to have any conflicts on this matter.
The Qing Army's formation was about two li away from the 14th Division's position. The 2,000 Qing Army troops were all infantry. They stopped about one li away from the Taiping army and reorganized their formation. The Qing Army began to advance towards the Taiping army's position.
The Jiangnan admiral and Lord Chun watched the battle from afar. They knew that this would be the Qing Army's last attack for the day. First, they had walked more than ten li in the morning, then retreated after the artillery battle. This back and forth had consumed a lot of energy. The Cantonese bandits had set up camp near the battlefield and hadn't done any strenuous exercise. Their physical strength should be much better than the Qing Army's. If the Cantonese bandits hadn't burned something that could float in the air, the Qing Army's morale would have been greatly boosted. Admiral He Chun was planning to let the Qing Army rest and eat something.
But once the army had been released, it was impossible to take it back. This wasn't like yesterday's luring force, which could turn tail and run as soon as they saw the Cantonese bandits. If they fought like this in front of the formation, the entire battle line would collapse. If the Cantonese bandits chased after them, the Qing Army would be completely wiped out.
At this moment, one of the bodyguards brought a man to see He Chun. It was May, and the weather was just starting to get hot. The army was fighting in mountainous areas, so the mountains weren't hot. The man was covered in sweat, as if he had been fished out of the water. Without waiting for He Chun to ask, the man knelt down in front of He Chun and said in a sobbing voice: "Admiral, I am Commander Yin Debu's bodyguard. We were ambushed and completely wiped out! "
"What?" He Chun was stunned.
"We were ambushed by the Cantonese bandits and completely wiped out. My lord asked me to deliver a letter to you. It wasn't easy for me to escape. "With that, the bodyguard took out a bamboo tube from his bosom and handed it to He Chun.
The bodyguard took the bamboo tube, opened it, and pulled out a piece of paper. After opening it, he wrote some words on it, and then handed the paper to He Chun. He Chun frowned. He had come from the army, and writing wasn't his strong suit. Although Commander Yin Debu was a Mongolian Plain Blue Bannerman, he was good at cursive writing. He liked to use cursive writing to create peace and peace.
If He Chun were to read something written in regular script, He Chun could still understand it, but writing in cursive script was beyond his ability. Moreover, according to the bodyguard who had escaped, Commander Yin Debu had written this in a critical moment. In his agitated state, he was full of emotion, or it could be said that he had written the words to his heart's content. Therefore, when He Chun saw the words written to his heart's content, he simply couldn't understand what was written.
The advisor quickly took Commander Yin Debu's "will." After examining it for a moment, he said, "This is indeed Commander Yin Debu's handwriting."
"Oh!" He Chun responded. He suddenly understood why Commander Yin Debu's last will was written in cursive writing. At the time, this fellow couldn't use a seal. In order to not let people think that this thing was forged, he used his best cursive writing, which was tantamount to a special seal.
Although the handwriting was different, the content was quite traditional. Commander Yin Debu apologized for his defeat, saying that by the time he discovered the enemy, they had already killed their way to him. The Qing Army was ambushed and couldn't resist, so they were immediately surrounded. Under these circumstances, Commander Yin Debu was prepared to die for his country. He hoped that Admiral He Chun could give his will to Emperor Xianfeng.
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