?
"So close!" Vézé and Jiang Zhongyuan had the same thought at the same time.
Vézé turned back and saw the west gate of Guanyang City. Carts and troops were rushing in. Turning his head around again, he saw the Qing troops below the city wall were panting heavily; apparently they could not run anymore.
"Brigade Marshal Ke, fire a few cannons for them to taste!" Vézé said to Brigade Marshal Ke Gongyu.
"Yes!" Ke Gongyu's troops followed closely behind Vézé. Although they were also panting, they quickly pulled out a few small cannons. These were the Qing Army's Mountain-splitting Cannons. According to the Mountain-splitting Cannons made by the Qing Army, they were shaped like large cannons and were only five feet long. They could eat half a catty of stones and shoot as far as four to five miles. These cannons could weigh anywhere from a few dozen catties to a few hundred catties. They were all light cannons.
The Qing Army was equipped with these cannons. The Taiping army also began to equip these cannons after seizing them from the Qing Army. Vézé's troops were equipped with light cannons that weighed a few dozen catties from Guilin City. The light cannons that weighed more than a hundred catties were seized from Liu Zhangqing's troops. These cannons were seized from all over the province. Vézé chose a few of good quality and loaded them on carts to be transported to Guanyang. These cannons had not yet been transported to the top of the city wall.
Ke Gongyu was originally the Brigade Marshal of the 3rd Brigade in Vézé's troops. To avoid trouble, Vézé still used his original title. In fact, there were many internal adjustments. The organizational model was completely different from the Taiping army's.
Vézé originally had four brigades. When Vézé was promoted, they changed divisions. The 1st Brigade Marshal Wei Changrong became the head of the combat training department, similar to the head instructor of the army. The 2nd Brigade Marshal Hu Chenghe was now in charge of the entire army. Ke Gongyu was supposed to be the commander of the 3rd Division, but Vézé did not promote him. Instead, he appointed Ke Gongyu as the commander of the Instructional Brigade.
No one in the entire army dared to look down on Ke Gongyu. The instructional brigade always had the highest priority in obtaining the best equipment and personnel. Vézé was personally in charge of the training of the instructional brigade. And this was just how the ordinary soldiers viewed the Instructional Brigade. The higher-ups in Vézé's army were all well aware of the importance of the Brigade of Instructors. The tactics, training, and even the discipline of military beatings were gradually taught by the Brigade of Instructors. The Brigade of Instructors was responsible for the training of low-level NCOs. This was only the beginning of the rotation training, but it wouldn't be long before all the corporals in Vézé's unit would be trained in the Brigade of Instructors. They would only be able to take up their posts after being recognized.
The current commander of the 3rd Division, Ruan Xihao, seemed to have a higher status than Ke Gongyu, and Ruan Xihao had, after all, brought more than 800 people from six villages to join Vézé's unit. But all the higher-ups, including Ruan Xihao, knew Ke Gongyu's status. The actual influence of this Brigade Marshal was definitely no less than that of Wei Changrong and Hu Chenghe.
The Brigade of Instructors had its own artillery unit. Upon hearing Vézé's order, Ke Gongyu immediately shouted to the artillery captain, Liang Zhangtai, "Prepare to fire!"
Liang Zhangtai was born in the navy, so it was originally impossible for him to join the army. But because Liang Zhangtai was a sailor, he had to learn arithmetic and identify directions. As a result, this experience allowed Liang Zhangtai to complete Vézé's test in the army's assessment, which was rare. Although he barely passed, Liang Zhangtai was highly qualified, so he became the commander of the artillery unit.
After setting up the wrought iron cannons built in Yongming County, Liang Zhangtai instructed the artillerymen to load the gunpowder. Then, they wrapped the cannonballs in linen cloth soaked in oil and stuffed them into the muzzle. Because of the problem of the gunpowder's gas stagnation, the Qing Army's solid artillery shells all tried their best to be as close to the muzzle as possible. Moreover, technical control issues made artillery shells of various calibers very incommensurable, so the Qing Army mostly used cannons to fire loose shells. Only cannons weighing more than a thousand Jin would use solid metal shells. Vézé, on the other hand, adopted the method of the American Civil War that he had read about in a book. He used linen soaked in oil to wrap the cannonball. On one hand, it could improve the airflow rate, and on the other hand, the diameter of the cannonball would be significantly smaller than the muzzle.
When Vézé was in junior high school, the beginning of his geometry class was the ruler drawing method. The artillery soldiers of the Taiping army also learned this method. Regardless of how well they learned it, the cannoneers' wrought iron cannons had different scales to determine the firing angle of the cannon. The Instructional Brigade could become an Instructional Brigade because logistical support was very "loose" for them. Liang Zhangtai became an artilleryman halfway through his life and participated in all kinds of experimental shooting more than a hundred times. Most of the Qing Army's gunners didn't have as much experience as he did.
"Reporting to the Brigade Commander! The artillery is ready! " Liang Zhangtai ran to Ke Gongyu and shouted after he received the reports from the various artillery departments according to the rules. The training these days had been very tiring. Not only was his body tired, but his mind was even more tired. There were more than a dozen steps to firing a cannon. After practicing hundreds of times, the artillery unit could be considered to have mastered these steps. Moreover, a set of standard procedures had been summarized from the training. As long as every procedure and flyers were in place, even if there was a problem, Liang Zhangtai didn't even need to look to know which part had gone wrong.
"Reporting to the Prime Minister! The artillery is ready! "Ke Gongyu personally reported to Vézé, regardless of whether Liang Zhangtai's voice could be heard by Vézé. This was something that only the Instructional Brigade could do. Vézé repeatedly emphasized that they couldn't suddenly take over command. As long as the higher-ups didn't personally issue an order to take over command to the middle command, no matter how inefficient the report seemed, it had to be reported according to the hierarchy.
"Have the shooting elements been measured?" Vézé asked.
"They have been measured!" Ke Gongyu replied. Many of the Instructional Brigade members were from the General Staff Department. In the past few days, they hadn't been idle. They had already measured the shooting elements outside the city.
"Try and see how far you can hit the Qing Army's flag," Vézé ordered. He didn't want to directly give the order to hit the Qing Army's commander. This was because this kind of order was too ridiculous. Even if there were a few people in the Qing Army who wore special clothes, who knew what level of commander they were? On the other hand, the Qing Army's flag was more conspicuous. Moreover, the location of the flag was in the middle of the Qing Army. If they could hit the flag nearby, they would be able to achieve results.
"Shoot at the Qing Army's flag!" Ke Gongyu very clearly summarized the order, which was more accurate.
"I have been ordered to shoot at the Qing Army's flag!" Liang Zhangtai replied.
Because the cannons weren't standard models, their trajectories were very unstable. The cannons Vézé and the others had chosen all had a special characteristic. After rigorous comparison, the cannons they had chosen had relatively similar muzzle diameters and barrel lengths. For the sake of this core parameter, Vézé had even discarded some of the more sophisticated cannons. For the cannons of mediocre quality, Vézé could only have the blacksmiths forge iron hoops to cover the outside of the cannon to minimize the risk of the barrel exploding.
The gunpowder was fixed, and the cannonballs were weighed on a scale. After expending a lot of labor that the Qing Army would never be willing to pay, Vézé had created the prototype of his artillery unit. The first artillery commander, Liang Zhangtai, ordered: "Positions three and four, set up the front at 18 degrees and the rear at zero degrees! Fire! "
The cannoneers of the two small cannons shouted in confirmation of Liang Zhangtai's order, then ignited the cannons. "Bang! Bang!" The muzzles of the two small cannons emitted a white light. Propelled by the gunpowder, the two cannonballs flew out of the muzzles and toward the Qing Army's position. From the time Vézé gave the order to prepare the cannons to the moment they began, the entire process took less than ten minutes.
By the time Jiang Zhongyuan reached the city of Guanyang, he was exhausted. Persuading He Chun didn't take too much effort. After all, Jiang Zhongyuan had Yao Ying as his backing. Moreover, the Taiping army's main force was in Daozhou. A small elite unit attacking the weak areas of the Qing Army like it was no man's land would be a huge blow to the Qing Army's morale.
In this situation, the best solution was to send a unit of the Qing Army that was good at fighting to annihilate the Taiping army's small unit. If they could win, they would naturally eliminate this disaster and raise the morale of the Qing Army. Jiang Zhongyuan had seen the Taiping army hang the heads of Wu Lan Tai, Qin Dingsan and the other Qing Army commanders and commanders outside Guilin. It was a huge psychological blow to the Qing Army. When the Qing Army's Liu Zhangqing's head was hung outside the Qing Army's main camp at Wulitting in Daozhou, the Qing Army in Daozhou, they were scared out of their wits.
If they could annihilate this Taiping army that was good at fighting and hang the commander's head outside the Taiping army's Daozhou city, it would be a huge blow to the Taiping army.
Therefore, when Jiang Zhongyuan insisted on leading the troops to attack, He Chun reluctantly accepted this suggestion. But when Liu Zhangqing was annihilated, he had more than a thousand men under him. He Chun felt that this Taiping army's strength must be at least three thousand. Therefore, He Chun sent another thousand troops to Jiang Zhongyuan. The strength of the three-thousand-man Qing Army was equivalent to the Taiping army's mobile force. The one leading the troops was also the valiant Jiang Zhongyuan, so he would not be swallowed in one gulp like Liu Zhangqing.
Although he did not receive the support of the local Tian Di Hui like the Taiping army, in any case, the Qing Army was an official army, so the local landlords and gentry were willing to send people to lead the way. Therefore, after spending more than three days hurrying, Jiang Zhongyuan finally got close to Guanyang. After sending people to scout, the scouts came back to report that although the gates of Guanyang City were tightly shut, there were very few troops on the city walls. At this time, the news that Quanzhou had been captured had also reached Jiang Zhongyuan through the communication line. Although he was very surprised by the fierce bandits' decisiveness, Jiang Zhongyuan felt that the Guangdong bandits defending the city were at most two to three hundred. With the two to three thousand troops under him, as long as they made ladders and other siege equipment, and concentrated fire from cannons and guns, they should be able to take down the city.
Therefore, Jiang Zhongyuan spent another day secretly making engineering equipment, while resting. In the end, they set off early the next morning, but when they were about to reach Guanyang City, scouts came to report that a large group of Guangdong bandits were on their way to Guanyang City. This time, Jiang Zhongyuan was really shocked. Generally speaking, after the bandits captured a place, they would conduct a large scale looting. The military discipline of the Guangdong bandits was very good, and they never robbed ordinary people. Therefore, when Jiang Zhongyuan calculated, he had already calculated the time it would take for the Guangdong bandits to rush back from Quanzhou to Guanyang City. According to Jiang Zhongyuan's calculations, it would take at least tomorrow for the Guangdong bandits to rush back from Quanzhou to Guanyang City. Unexpectedly, he had miscalculated, and the Guangdong bandits were a day early. Now the two sides were competing to see who was faster. If Jiang Zhongyuan could reach Guanyang City even an hour earlier than the Guangdong bandits, he could still start to organize an attack on the city. There was still a great chance that they could take down one side of the city wall. At that time, three thousand against three thousand, Jiang Zhongyuan could fight a battle with the Guangdong bandits.
Therefore, Jiang Zhongyuan gave the order to march with all his strength and pounce on Guanyang City.
This competition of speed ended with the Guangdong bandits entering Guanyang City a quarter of an hour earlier. When Jiang Zhongyuan brought his troops to the city, he saw that there were more and more Guangdong bandits on the city wall. Although they looked breathless, they quickly occupied the battlements on the city wall with weapons in their hands. They were ready for Jiang Zhongyuan's troops. Although the west gate of Guanyang City had not yet been closed, Jiang Zhongyuan could still suddenly charge to the west gate and engage the Guangdong bandits in a tangled battle. But Jiang Zhongyuan's troops had marched for more than ten li, and were so tired that they were out of breath. That kind of tangled battle probably wouldn't end well.
Just as he was reorganizing his troops one li away from the city, Jiang Zhongyuan suddenly saw two cannons fire from the top of the city wall. Guanyang City did not have cannons weighing several thousand jin. The small cannons were all using loose shells, and could not fly more than one li. Jiang Zhongyuan did not care about this.
Then, he watched as one of the two cannonballs punched a large hole in the Qing Army's banner, and then the other cannonball actually flew past two to three chi above Jiang Zhongyuan's head. The two cannonballs smashed directly into the dense formation of the Qing Army's central army. Amidst the screams, a Qing Army man's head was smashed. The cannonball drilled out of the Qing Army's skull and smashed the chest bone of a Qing Army man behind him. Another Qing Army man had his arm broken, and a Qing Army man behind him had his leg bone broken. The dead Qing Army's situation was not so bad, but the injured Qing Army men screamed at the top of their lungs.
The Qing Army's central army was suddenly hit by a cannonball, and it was an accurate cannonball. The Qing Army that had been surrounding the banner of the central army dispersed in an uproar, leaving only Jiang Zhongyuan and a few bodyguards standing near the banner. Even though he was acting boldly, Jiang Zhongyuan still felt his scalp go numb. Just now, one of the cannonballs had passed two to three chi above his head. Jiang Zhongyuan knew very well that if the cannonball had been a little lower, the one that exploded like a watermelon would not have been the heads of the Qing Army behind Jiang Zhongyuan, but Jiang Zhongyuan's head.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
