? The bombs hit the defensive wall of the Nian Army.
The bombs hit the defensive wall of the Nian Army. Bricks and stones flew everywhere in the huge explosion. The defensive wall was shaking. It didn't look like it had when it was first built.
Wen Yuewei's expression was one of horror. Her understanding of the advanced nature of war was left behind from more than ten years ago. Vézé commanded the second wave of the Northern Expedition Army to attack cities and seize territory. During the months-long campaign, Wen Yuewei had seen too many things. For more than ten years, she had never seen a war that was better than Vézé's second northern expedition.
Even though the Xiang Army was good at fighting, the Xiang Army couldn't pressure Wen Yuewei. The Nian Army also built cannons on top of the defensive wall. As long as the Qing Army came within one and a half miles, the cannons would be fired. However, the Xiang Army didn't rush to attack. They stopped two miles away and pulled out the cannons. They were cannons on strange carriages. The cannons didn't look big. Wen Yuewei didn't take them seriously at first. When the cannons flew two miles away and accurately hit the defensive wall of the Nian Army, Wen Yuewei felt that the Xiang Army was lucky.
The Xiang Army's cannons hit the defensive wall one by one. Only a few of them missed. This situation made Wen Yuewei realize that the situation was not good. The defensive wall was strong, but it couldn't withstand the continuous attacks of the cannons. There was no time to think. Wen Yuewei immediately ordered the Nian Army's cavalry to go around the back of the Xiang Army to harass them.
"Grandma Wen, what should we do?" The man who asked Wen Yuewei to come out didn't expect the Xiang Army to be so good at fighting. The cannons were powerful. The defensive wall built by the civilians was very strong, but it didn't collapse after dozens of cannons. But that wasn't the limit either. The outer wall had long been full of holes from the explosions, and the inner wall had many large cracks. If they continued to be bombarded like this, the defensive wall wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
Of course, Wen Yuewei knew this very well. However, she had been through a lot. Vézé had created a battlefield with tens of thousands of corpses. She only understood how common death was after riding her horse through it. Therefore, Wen Yuewei said calmly, "Let's wait for the cavalry to come back."
In less than two hours, the cavalry retreated. The leader of the cavalrymen jumped off his horse and shouted angrily, "These Qing Yao people are like tortoises. I've led the soldiers around, but I can't find a single gap. Stepping forward to test the waters, Qing Yao immediately fired. We can't get close at all. "
The Xiang Army's response is so rigorous. Wen Yuewei has a bad feeling. Under the gazes of the brothers, Wen Yuewei said, "Move the women and children to other places first. Everyone, wait for a while."
"Granny Wen, everyone's belongings are in the compound. The women and children can leave, but we can't. "The leader of the Nian Army, who lived here, shouted angrily.
"If we want to fight Qing Yao in close combat, we can only wait for Qing Yao to come in. But no one knows what will happen when Qing Yao comes in. "Wen Yuewei still didn't panic. She had seen how calm and orderly the Liberation Army was when they attacked the city. If the Xiang Army was at that level, the compound wouldn't be able to resist them.
In the past ten years, Wen Yuewei hadn't been involved in Jianghu. The main reason was that after seeing the fighting power of Vézé's troops, Wen Yuewei was a little afraid of war. Facing a smart opponent like Vézé, the Nian Army had no chance of winning.
Although the Xiang Army didn't have the vigor of Vézé's troops, their orderly discipline and calm tactics made Wen Yuewei feel that something was wrong.
"Since Qing Yao wants to come in, we might as well let them in!" Someone made a bold suggestion. There weren't many doors in the compound, but some of them had tricks. They were designed to be easy to defend and hard to attack. The narrow passageway could be used to kill the attackers effectively. If they could lure the Xiang Army to attack in this direction, it would be better than letting the Xiang Army attack like this.
"Let the women and children go first. Lure Qing Yao over there." The leaders quickly reached a consensus.
The scouts of the Xiang Army found the retreating crowd. Under the lure of the Nian Army, they also found the half-open door. Bao Chao, who was in charge of attacking, snorted coldly. "Small tricks! Ignore them. "
This time, it wasn't just Bao and Chao's two battalions attacking. Ceng Guoquan, Peng Yulin, Li Jiyi, four battalions attacked at the same time. The Xiang Army had secured a stable territory. Now, they were going to steadily nibble away at the Nian Army's territory. They had fought so many battles with the Taiping army and the Liberation Army. The Xiang Army felt that the Nian Army's fighting power was too weak. Did they think that they could lure the experienced Xiang Army with such a simple trick?
The Xiang army was unmoved, and the pressure of the entire war shifted to the Nien army. They had to admit that the Xiang Army's choice of breakthrough was ingenious. Not only was it convenient for the Xiang Army to deploy their forces, but they also didn't expect such a strong artillery attack when they were building the compound's defensive wall. Once the wall collapsed, there wouldn't be anything left to defend against the Xiang Army.
Just as the Nianwei leaders were feeling anxious, a few cannons rang out, and the wall, which had withstood nearly a hundred cannons, collapsed. A moment later, the sentry shouted hysterically, "Qing Yao is coming!"
"Let's retreat!" Wen Yuewei said decisively.
"Why are we retreating?" The commanders who had their homes here were shocked.
Wen Yuewei said calmly, "As long as there's life, there's hope. We can't win against Qing Yao here. If we all die here, what about the women and children who escaped? "
The leaders were not as magnanimous as Wen Yuewei. They shouted, "But our home is gone, where can we go?"
"If our homes are gone, we can rebuild them. If our people are gone, we will have nothing. We can still leave now. These Qing Yao are not the kind of people who will chase after us. " After Wen Yuewei finished speaking, she waved her hand to call the Nian Army, and took the lead to retreat.
"Grandma Wen, if we leave now, I'm afraid we won't have any friendship with these people in the future." Someone advised.
Wen Yuewei said coldly, "When we go back now, we have to think about where to go. If we wait here, it's not that we don't have any friendship, it's that we will all die!"
Hearing Wen Yuewei's words, the commanders who retreated were scared. They quickly asked, "We can't stay in Huaibei anymore?"
Wen Yuewei said with a gloomy face, "Qing Yao's cannons are so powerful. If they take down the villages one by one, how can we stay in Huaibei?"
Things were developing just as Wen Yuewei expected. The Xiang Army was advancing step by step, steadily expanding their territory. They had food, and there were people who sought refuge with them. Every time the Xiang Army arrived at a place, they would build an encirclement and wouldn't act rashly. As the local tyrant, the Nian Army couldn't do anything against the Xiang Army.
Just when Wen Yuewei made the plan to retreat to the south of Huaibei River and started to carry it out, the Nian Army lost their cool. The Nian army, who was forced to lose their cool by the Xiang army, gathered over ten thousand men and launched a major attack.
Ceng Guofan looked at the map and sneered. As the actual commander, Ceng Guofan would lose every battle he personally commanded. So the actual execution was left to the generals. But after seeing the Nian Army's performance, Ceng Guofan couldn't help but give his opinion. "Just defeat them here."
Ceng Guoquan turned a blind eye to his brother's order and gave his opinion to the generals. "We'll split up and go from here. Then we'll surround the Nian Army. If the Nian Army scatters, we'll focus on the largest group. "
Not only that, but Ceng Guoquan also pointed at the key points on the map. This was the backbone of Ceng Guofan's strategy and tactics. With Ceng Guofan's foundation, Ceng Guoquan and the others could fully display their abilities.
The generals had worked hard when building the encirclement. Now that they had these fortresses to rely on, they finally felt the meaning of their hard work. They didn't need to carry heavy military supplies anymore. The Xiang Army could only carry their own equipment. In that case, the daily marching time could be extended from six hours to eight hours. From thirty miles a day to forty miles a day.
Three days later, the ten thousand Nian Army was surrounded by the thirty thousand Xiang Army. The battle went on for two days. Less than a thousand Nian Army managed to break through the encirclement. The rest of the troops were surrounded and destroyed by the Xiang Army.
The Xiang Army, who had won a great victory, didn't stop there. Taking advantage of the fact that the Nian Army had lost a lot of young men in the villages near Huoyang, the Xiang Army began to chase after them.
The villages surrounded by the Nian Army, which had been fighting hard against the Xiang Army, surrendered. The Xiang Army had a much easier time. A large number of children and young women were sold by the Xiang Army to human traffickers. The Xiang Army made a lot of money.
Before the Xiang Army approached the encirclement where Wen Yuewei was, Wen Yuewei had already led her family and subordinates who were willing to go with her to the south. Although the Manchu Qing Army also had a so-called "Huai River Defense Line", it didn't actually exist. The Huai River was neither wide nor deep. Although it could serve as a hindrance, it was far from the level of a natural moat. The Xiang Army, the Huai army, and the Chu Army only had garrisons on the north bank of the Huai River, some distance away. They could stop the Liberation Army from crossing the Huai River at any time. At least they knew what the Liberation Army was doing.
Therefore, they didn't encounter any strong resistance when crossing the Huai River. It was a dry season. Wen Yuewei led her family, people, and subordinates to cross the Huai River easily.
Although the Liberation Army didn't plan to go north, the Liberation Army was much more organized than the Huai army and the Xiang Army. Hundreds of people were immediately detained by the patrols after crossing the Huai River.
Wen Yuewei wasn't angry, nor was she afraid. She said to the officer in charge of the interrogation, "We are the Nian Army. More than ten years ago, we followed Prince Qi Vézé on the Northern Expedition!"
The officer in charge of the interrogation hadn't participated in the Northern Expedition. When he heard this woman, who claimed to be from the Nian Army, brag about history, he was amused. "Commander-in-chief led the Northern Expedition. We've heard of it. But you said you participated. Do you only know about the Military Governor Vaize? "
Wen Yuewei said with a smile, "Of course not only the Military Governor Vaize. I'm also quite familiar with Lei Hu. If he's still alive, you should know about him, right?"
When he heard Wen Yuewei mention the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Huai River Defense Line, Lei Hu, the officer in charge of the interrogation couldn't laugh anymore. Wen Yuewei saw that her words had an effect. She calmly said, "If you can help me pass the message, that would be great. After all, I haven't seen Lei Hu for more than ten years. I wonder if he still remembers me. "
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