Chapter 64

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"I was just lucky. Why don't you try firing a few more times?" Wei Changrong poured a bucket of cold water over Zhang Yingchen's head.

Just now, Vézé's artillery had fired two shots at the Qing Army outside the city. The two shots had accurately hit the Qing Army's flag more than a mile away. One of the shots had even pierced through the flag of the Qing Army, causing a wave of cheers from the top of the city wall. The Qing Army quickly began to retreat. They retreated three to four miles away as if they had just lost a battle.

Even though he had been poured a bucket of cold water over his head, Zhang Yingchen still burst into laughter as he watched the Qing Army retreating. Although Ke Gongyu, the commander of the Instructional Brigade, was also happy, he was not as happy. He had seen cannons fire many times. The same fixed gunpowder, or even the same shot, seemed to be fired from cannons of similar caliber, but the range and landing point of the shot were very different. Even if the same cannon fired the same shell, the landing point would be quite different.

As a member of the Instructional Brigade, Ke Gongyu understood the meaning of the word "homogeneity" more and more clearly. Troops could take the same steps and stride. Guns could have similar trajectories and bullets could have similar power. Cannons could also have the same range and accuracy. With such troops and weapons, the combat staff could be more efficient when making plans.

Most of the 300-strong Instructional Brigade were elite troops. Many of them had followed Vézé since Yongan City. They were the first to receive formal military education and had been tempered the longest. Therefore, their discipline, obedience, and determination to attack were all outstanding.

This Instructional Brigade could be said to be the absolute elites of Vézé's troops. They were also the role models of the entire army. However, as the benchmark for the entire army, the Instructional Brigade could not be used as the standard for making military plans. This was because the soldiers in Vézé's troops had joined the army at different times. Their individual characteristics were very different, and their qualities were uneven. If the Instructional Brigade was used as the standard for making battle plans, the battle plans would definitely be impossible to accomplish.

Ke Gongyu thought of another problem when he saw the effectiveness of the bombardment. "When can we make our own guns and cannons? That would be great!"

Wei Changrong was responsible for the training of the entire army. He was also quite displeased with Zhang Yingchen's excited performance. "Yingchen, you were not here when we chose the cannons. We didn't choose any good ones. The standard for choosing cannons is very strict! The number of useless things is several times greater than the number of things left behind. The powder that was used to train the soldiers (this is the name for gunpowder in this era) can kill at least hundreds of Qing demons if we fire the cannons now. "

Lin Fengxiang had been following Wei Ze the whole time, and when he saw how accurate Wei Ze's artillery was, he was greatly surprised. He had not expected that after scaring off thousands of Qing Army soldiers with two cannons, Vézé's troops did not feel happy. Instead, most of them looked bitter and resentful. This dissatisfaction did not seem to be because Vézé was trying to embarrass someone. It was because they were arguing about something that Lin Fengxiang did not understand.

As for Vézé's own army, Lin Fengxiang could not persuade him. However, when Lin Fengxiang saw that the Qing Army did not show any signs of turning around after retreating, he could not help but say to Vézé, "Wayne Brothers, since we have decided to return to Daozhou, we should go out of the city and fight. We should force the Qing Army to retreat."

In Yongan and Guilin, the Taiping army did not stop every time they were about to retreat. Instead, they sent troops to attack the Qing Army. This tactic could confuse the Qing Army and make it difficult for the Qing Army to figure out the Taiping army's thoughts. Only when they suddenly left the frontlines could the Qing Army not discover the Taiping army's movements.

Vézé did not think too much about it. Originally, he had only wanted to hurry up the city walls. There were not many opportunities to use the Qing Army as a training tool. It was a good opportunity to see what the artillery was capable of. In terms of future movements, they did not think as far ahead as Lin Fengxiang. After listening to Lin Fengxiang's suggestion, Vézé looked at his troops again and found that they were so tired that they were not suitable to fight outside the city walls.

Lin Fengxiang waited for Vézé to give his orders, but when he saw Vézé's embarrassed expression, he could not help but ask, "Wayne Brothers, are there any difficulties?"

Vézé replied, "My brothers are too tired."

This answer was incomprehensible to Lin Fengxiang. Vézé's troops had gone south to seize Jianghua and Yongming, and then attacked Liu Zhangqing. There had been almost half a month in between. They had only fought one battle and walked for a few days, but they were already "too tired." This was not in line with Vézé's achievements. King Of The East Yang Xiuqing had led the Taiping army north from Guilin and fought continuously for more than ten days. Yet they were not so tired that they could not send troops to attack the retreating Qing Army.

But the matters of Vézé's troops were not for Lin Fengxiang to interrupt. Vézé did indeed have achievements. Lin Fengxiang said, "In that case, we must meet Qing Yao tomorrow no matter what. With so many carts and mules, if we cannot defeat Qing Yao first, it will be difficult for us to retreat to Daozhou."

Hearing Lin Fengxiang's words, Vézé secretly heaved a sigh of relief. He also did not want to waste his breath telling Lin Fengxiang how hard it had been to train the troops these days. In war, as long as they dared to attack, the Qing Army was basically no match for them. But training was completely different. In order for the soldiers to display their strength on the battlefield, the basic training was very arduous and boring. Besides, the Qing Army had two to three thousand men, and they had the courage to attack Guanyang. Vézé absolutely had to formulate a battle plan for this Qing Army. He could not simply send his troops out to attack.

Outside the city, Jiang Zhongyuan had also abandoned his plan to attack Guanyang. The fighting strength of the Taiping army was beyond his imagination. If the Qing Army's disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat could be attributed to the fact that the bandits were not afraid of death, and that firearms were easy to master, but artillery technology was not something that could be mastered overnight.

Because he had not studied Newton's three laws, Jiang Zhongyuan could not use modern physics to construct the concept of ballistic trajectory. He had a very direct understanding of the firing of cannons, and after that, he only had some vague "ideas". The Qing Army's knowledge of artillery was at this level. Perhaps there was something that could be summed up after many trials. But this accumulation of practice lacked a real theoretical framework, large-scale education and communication, so there was no way for the Qing Army to make any real improvements.

Needless to say, the Qing Army did not pay much attention to training. For the Qing Army, gunpowder was not expensive, but it was not cheap either. In battle, the Qing Army could consume large amounts of gunpowder regardless of the cost. But for daily military training, the generals of the Qing Army felt their hearts ache to fire a single shot. At that time, they felt it was a "waste".

Because of the surrounding environment, Jiang Zhongyuan could not understand how Vézé was able to make use of the scarce resources at hand to carry out a large amount of efficient training. Seeing the accurate artillery skills displayed by the Taiping army in Guanyang, Jiang Zhongyuan suspected that some of the Qing Army's veteran gunners had defected to the Taiping army. Moreover, one of the two shots had hit Jiang Zhongyuan's flag. In Chinese tradition, this was a great omen. The morale of the soldiers around Jiang Zhongyuan suffered a great setback. He could only choose to retreat and set up camp. He was ready to find an opportunity to fight the Taiping army.

During the retreat, Jiang Zhongyuan suddenly remembered something. The hairstyle of the Taiping army on Guanyang. Now, everything was connected to a single line. This hairstyle of the Taiping army had been famous in the Qing Army in Guangxi for half a year. They robbed the supply routes, killed and wounded the imperial guards, and blocked the valley entrance during the battle of Dadong. More importantly, the Han hairstyle of these people even attracted the attention of the Xianfeng Emperor. He ordered the generals in Guangxi to spend a great deal of effort to collect information about this army.

As a scholar, Jiang Zhongyuan suddenly felt a little complicated. Although he had never heard of the nonsense, "Money and rat tails are the elegant government of the new dynasty; High hat and wide belt are the bad rules of the subjugation of the country," Jiang Zhongyuan had seen the portrait of Confucius. In the portrait, Confucius had his hair tied up. Manchu Qing did not dare to change the hairstyle of Confucius in the portrait. Jiang Zhongyuan had never imagined that he would be able to see a Han with such a hairstyle in his lifetime. He couldn't help but feel a little complicated in his heart.

Forcefully shaking his head, Jiang Zhongyuan said to himself fiercely, "They are bandits. Even if they tie up their hair, they are still bandits! If they really want to restore the glory of the Han, they can take the righteous path! "

But as soon as this thought occurred to him, Jiang Zhongyuan felt a wave of horror. According to the system of the Manchu Qing, any attempt to restore the glory of the Han was considered a rebellion. This time, Jiang Zhongyuan could only fiercely slap his bald head. "We are the imperial army, they are bandits! The two sides will not rest until one side is dead. We must determine a winner tomorrow! "

Inside the city, Vézé said to the generals, "The Qing Army at the foot of the city is different from Liu Zhangqing. We cannot underestimate them!"

"Why?" Ruan Xihao did not understand these words of praise for the enemy.

Vézé replied, "If Liu Zhangqing encountered our army, he would immediately run away. This Qing Army has forced their way to the foot of the city, but they still do not relax. They have long ladders in their hands, and it looks like they are going to attack the city. When they retreated, they even took the ladders with them. It is obvious that they are planning to attack the city again. To deal with this kind of Qing Army, our army cannot underestimate them in the slightest. When Liu Zhangqing is at a disadvantage, he will run away. This Qing Army will not run away until they are at the end of their rope. "

The other officers did not make a sound. Having seen the signs of the Qing Army at the foot of the city, they all felt the same way.

"Then how should we deal with this Qing Army?" Ruan Xihao asked.

"I want to try a more complicated tactic. I want to see if I can involve cannons in the battle!" Vézé answered.