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The military history department under the General Staff Headquarters recorded the battle of May 14, 1854 as follows: "... after our hot air balloon crashed, at around 13: 24 in the afternoon (according to the watch of Deputy Head of the General Staff Headquarters Operations Department (then known as the Operations Department) Ju Junfeng), He Chun dispatched about two thousand troops to attack our army. After half an hour of fighting, He Chun left more than 1,500 dead and wounded on the battlefield..."
The artillery unit's battle record was as follows: "... in this battle with He Chun's troops, the artillery unit used standard grapeshot bullets. Each bullet weighed about two taels (about 100 grams). This kind of larger projectile was very easy to retrieve after the battle and reuse. When the Qing Army (then known as the Qing Yao Army) and our army used grapeshot bullets, but there was a big difference between the two sides. The Qing Army preferred to use a large number of smaller bullets to increase airtightness and expand the range of fire. Our army used many airtightness measures to pack the grapeshot bullets, and larger bullets could obviously carry out more effective damage to the enemy's strength. In the battle count, nearly forty percent of the Qing Army were killed or injured by our grapeshot bullets... "
As for the Fourteenth Army's military history, it was written as follows: "... He Chun's troops were more cunning and were relatively able to stick to their strategic plans during battle. However, when faced with a sudden situation that seemed like an opportunity, He Chun would be shaken and rashly change his strategic plans. Before He Chun's troops engaged our army in close combat, they were as difficult to catch as chickens. When they began to fight with us, our army began to kill the enemy as easily as killing chickens... "
These records were all about the Taiping army's attitude. As for Jiangnan's Admiral and Lord Chun's feelings about this battle, it didn't take long. After Deputy Commander Zhong Tai led two thousand Qing Army troops to engage the Cantonese bandits, it took less than ten minutes for Zhong Tai to send someone to ask for help from He Chun. In these ten minutes, Admiral He Chun was completely stunned by the fierce firepower of the Cantonese bandits.
He Chun determined that the Taiping army had at most three hundred people in a row. Even if these three hundred people launched a three-part attack, it was only 900 people. The largest volley of gunfire He Chun had ever seen was a scale of 1200 people. That was when he followed Xiang Rong. At that time, Commander Xiang Rong had displayed the true skill of a veteran and easily defeated the enemy.
The sound of the Taiping army's gunfire was much more ferocious than that of the 1200 Qing Army's continuous firing. It was like a rainstorm, like hail, like thunder. Moreover, everything was in order.
However, the Jiangnan Admiral and Official Chun didn't have time to properly 'appreciate' this storm created by humans. Less than an hour ago, the Deputy Commander of the Guangdong Bandits, Zhong Tai, who led the troops to attack, was already kneeling at He Chun's feet, crying his eyes out. "Sir, the firearms of the Cantonese bandits are sharp, our army … our army has been completely annihilated."
It would be an exaggeration to say that the entire army was wiped out. Of the 2000 people that went out, at least 300 returned. The medical department of the General Staff Headquarters also recorded more than a hundred cases of people who died within three days of being shot by grapeshot. This meant that, at most, 1,500 people were killed.
However, Admiral He Chun was not very good at mathematics and was not good at statistics. Seeing with his own eyes that the 2000 Qing Army had been wiped out in an instant, Admiral He Chun no longer doubted the news that Yindebu's 3000 troops had been completely wiped out. In the blink of an eye, more than 5000 of the 12000 troops had been wiped out. Admiral He Chun did not continue to fight and decisively ordered his troops to retreat.
On the 15th of May, Admiral He Chun led more than 7000 troops to the vicinity of Lu 'an. Outside the city, 5000 troops from the Shou Prefecture Military Division were pressing down from north to south against Admiral He Chun's 7000 troops. Vézé was leading 4000 troops from north to south against Admiral He Chun's 7000 troops. Admiral He Chun, who was not prepared to fight again, told these two pieces of news and hurriedly led his troops to the west.
In Lu 'an, Vézé announced that he would stay in Lu' an to be responsible for finishing up the work. The Shou Prefecture Military Division and the Fourteenth Army surrounded Admiral He Chun while chasing from behind, forcing Admiral He Chun to move in the direction of Yaoli Town, where the annihilation position had been prepared.
After sending out his troops, Vézé immediately mobilized the local administrative departments in Lu 'an. When Admiral He Chun had come to attack Lu 'an, this group of people had been terrified. Now that they saw Admiral He Chun fleeing at the sight of the wind, this group of people could finally relax.
Vézé announced at the meeting, "Everyone, immediately go to the various villages in Lu 'an and ask the squires to come out and help clean up the battlefield."
"Clean up the battlefield?" The people in the administrative department were very confused.
"Yes, everyone, lead this group of landlords and nobles to clean up the battlefield," Vézé said in a tone that could not be refuted.
Right now, there were two types of people who could work in the administrative department. The first type was naturally the administrative cadres provided by Vézé's troops, and the other type was the local civil servants who had passed the imperial examinations. Regardless of which type, they were not fools. When Vézé ordered the landlords and nobles of Lu 'an to come and "clean up the battlefield," what would they see when they cleaned up the battlefield? Naturally, they would see corpses everywhere. This time, according to Vézé, the Qing Army had lost more than 5000 men on the two battlefields. On each battlefield, there were nearly 3000 dead. This clearly showed that Vézé wanted to show off his power to the landlords and nobles.
Li Yongqing, the Deputy Director of the Lu 'an State Tax Bureau, was a local civil servant who had passed the imperial examinations. He immediately praised, "Prince Of Qi, let these guys see the fate of Qing Yao who rebelled against the Heavenly State. Seeing that these Qing Yao were so vulnerable, as long as these people are not blinded by lard, they will not misjudge the situation. Prince Of Qi really has the heart of a Bodhisattva by doing this! "
The civil servants looked at Li Yongqing with unfriendly gazes. More importantly, it was because they thought that Li Yongqing's "You don't deserve to be surnamed Zhao" caused them to feel disgusted, or because they felt jealous that Li Yongqing was the first to say such awesome words.
Li Yongqing did not care about everyone's gazes at him. He said, "Prince Of Qi, I feel that the weather is getting hotter and hotter. If the preparation time is too long, it will not be good if the corpses stink. Why don't we first bring the disloyal landlords and nobles here and let them have a good look at them. We can also carry the corpses along the way. I don't know if Prince Of Qi agrees with me. "
Vézé nodded repeatedly. "This is a good idea. Everyone works at the grassroots level and will always know which landlords and nobles are hostile to us. Also, I'm telling you, I asked them to come here because I really don't want to kill them. If these people don't dare to openly oppose us after knowing how powerful we are and only play dirty behind our backs, our army may suffer even more. Of course, if those people play dirty and get caught by us, it won't be strange for them to kill their whole families out of anger. Therefore, I feel that many of you are from Lu 'an. Facing your fellow countrymen, we have to let them know that they should not do anything wrong! "
When he said this, Vézé's attitude was gentle. However, he had some malicious thoughts in his heart. Would someone play some tricks after hearing that Vézé would kill the whole families of those who played dirty?
Vézé's words undoubtedly set the direction for the civil servants in the government system. After a discussion, this group of people took out a red-headed document titled "On Mobilizing the Landlords and Nobles to Collect the Corpses of the Qing Army", which was approved by Vézé. Therefore, the people in the government system immediately rushed to various places in Lu 'an and began to send the landlords and nobles to the two battlefields in Lu' an.
The nobles who did not support the Taiping Rebellion regime were quickly sent to "clean up the battlefields." It was the first time for the nobles to see a battlefield where thousands of people died at once. The corpses that were shot by guns were considered good, but the corpses that were killed by artillery looked a little too horrible to look at. Their heads were smashed, their arms and legs were shot away, and a large hole with a diameter of more than ten centimeters appeared in their chests.
According to the report submitted by the civil servants who were watching from the side, when the nobles were forcibly taken out of their homes by the armed soldiers, their faces were generally full of anger, but they did not dare to speak. After visiting the battlefields and personally participating in the cleaning up of the corpses that covered the battlefields, most of the nobles had vomited until the sky turned dark. Even though some of the nobles looked strong enough, but they did not really accept the Taiping Army, at least in spirit, they were listless. Some of the more timid ones were scared out of their wits. Before the sky turned dark, they almost kowtowed and begged to leave the battlefields.
Of course, Vézé did not let them leave. Most of the nobles who were brought here were potential enemies, and the landlords and nobles who came later were not supporters of the Taiping Rebellion regime. After watching the battlefields and personally participating in the cremation of nearly six thousand Qing Army corpses, they were gathered in Lu 'an City.
None of the landlords and nobles dared to speak loudly in front of Vézé's civil and military subordinates. In the early morning of the 20th of May, this group of landlords and nobles were called up and "escorted" by the army to Yaoli Town in the west of Lu 'an City. By noon, the landlords and nobles all sucked in a breath of cold air. Nearly three thousand surrendered Qing Army soldiers were kneeling on both sides of the road in a square formation, neatly kneeling two miles away.
The Taiping Army cavalry had already stopped the landlords and nobles, not allowing them to continue forward. Only Vézé's army, which was originally at the very front, continued to move forward. Some of the landlords and nobles were riding on their own horses. This group of people could not help but step on the stirrups and stand up. Some of them were riding on their own mules or donkeys. Naturally, the carriages had already stopped. These people all stood up. They tried to stand higher and see further.
The Qing Army soldiers were all scared out of their wits. They lowered their heads and knelt on the ground. The Taiping army soldiers responsible for guarding them numbered less than five hundred. Other than a fixed number of soldiers guarding each square formation, there were also cavalry and infantry patrolling back and forth.
"Qing Army, kowtow to Prince Of Qi!" a dozen or so people shouted in unison.
"Qing Army, kowtow to Prince Of Qi!" the hundreds of Taiping army soldiers guarding the captured Qing Army soldiers shouted at the Qing Army captives they were responsible for. When the thousands of Qing Army soldiers heard this order, they all lowered their heads deeply.
On both sides of the road lined with kneeling people, Prince Of Qi Vézé rode on a tall horse, leading his entourage through the thousands of kneeling captives. Holding the triangular flag of Prince Of Qi, Qing Qi rode closely behind Vézé. The flag fluttered in the wind like a leaping yellow dragon.
Wherever the horse passed, Vézé waved to the Taiping army soldiers in greeting. Hundreds of Taiping army soldiers stood ramrod straight, raising their hands and saluting their commander-in-chief with proud expressions on their faces.
The landlords and nobles had never seen such a scene, let alone such extravagance. Apart from widening their eyes, they could not help but open their mouths wide. But no one could spit out a single word from their gaping mouths.
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