?
Jiang Zhongyuan's eyes widened in anger, the corners of his eyes almost popping out. He held a saber in his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, "You bastard! Kill the thieves! "
However, on this battlefield, where the sounds of killing shook the heavens, his shout alone was too insignificant. The bodyguards on his left and right dragged Jiang Zhongyuan back, looking as if he still wanted to fight to the death. The bodyguards simply pulled the saber in Jiang Zhongyuan's hand, then carried Jiang Zhongyuan on their backs and began to run for their lives.
In reality, the Qing Army's side didn't have any battle cries, only the involuntary screams as they ran for their lives, and the screams of those who ran too slowly as they were mercilessly stabbed in the back and killed. The real battle cries came from the Taiping army. At this moment, the Taiping army's marksmen carried their spears, shouting as they stepped over the Qing Army's corpses, and began to fiercely chase after the fleeing Qing Army. Behind these elite spear-wielding warriors, the five musketeers had already finished loading their ammunition. Under the command of the drum, they began to march in an orderly fashion behind the marksmen. Although the Qing Army's defeat could not have been a deliberate trap, this did not mean that Vézé would allow the elite marksmen to fall into a predicament. Since this was part of the original plan, there was no reason to change the original plan without the appearance of an irresistible external factor.
The various troops' marksmen had already been released to pursue the Qing Army. Under the command of the horn and the flag, Vézé's other troops began to gather. A portion of the trained soldiers put down their guns, picked up their spears, and rearranged their formation.
The process of the battle that had already occurred was very classic. It was a swarm of troops charging head-on against a well-organized army. In the end, Vézé's troops simply did not stand there and wait for the Qing Army to charge. The artillery received the order, and after firing the last three rounds, each cannon fell silent. Under the direction of the drums and bugles, the infantry phalanx began to advance towards the Qing Army.
Whether an army had discipline or not was very important. Soldiers in a disciplined army, no matter if they picked up a gun a year ago or a day ago, they would firmly carry out orders to the end. If he told them to advance, they would advance. If he told them to retreat, they would retreat. This couldn't even be considered an invention. Sun Wu had said thousands of years ago, "If the soldiers are orderly, they can face fire and water."
Of course, the Qing Army did not have the discipline of standing still and taking the cannon fire like the European armies of this era. They were taking the beating of the cannon fire and naturally could not withstand the bombardment. They could only desperately charge forward and engage Vézé in close combat. Naturally, Wei Ze would not give the Qing army a chance to reorganize their formation. He ordered the troops, who had been waiting for a long time, to march forward.
The sprinting Qing Army had no time to systematically reload gunpowder and load lead. Many of the Qing Army were simply pushed forward by the people behind them. When the two armies were advancing, it didn't take long to cover a distance of two to three miles. Then, the Qing Army froze. When they charged forward, a large part of it was because of their instinct to get rid of the cannon fire. Of course, there was also the urging of their officers. But after running for a distance, their attention could not return to their guns.
Advancing two miles in a basic formation was already the limit for Vézé's troops. Even though there were many problems with their formation, they were no longer as neat as they were when they first set out. But this depended on who they were compared to. Compared to the Qing Army, Vézé's formation was still intact after advancing two miles. Even if some of the troops advanced faster than others, the Qing Army still could not take advantage of the gaps between the different troops.
In front of this chaotic group of Qing Army, when Vézé's troops were 50 steps away from the Qing Army, each of the soldiers launched a three-pronged attack on the Qing Army. Unprepared, the Qing Army was stunned. When the Taiping army's spearmen crossed the line and charged in front of the Qing Army, the Qing Army's formation quickly collapsed and they began to flee.
Standing beside Vézé, Lin Fengxiang was dumbfounded. Fighting against the Qing Army head-on had always been a weakness of the Taiping army. The field battles between the Taiping army and the Qing Army were all based on the skills that the old brothers in Guangxi had trained since childhood. Before the final battle, the Taiping army had to make ample preparations, lay in ambush, lure the enemy, and outflank them. In addition, in several field battles, before the Qing Army was defeated, the Taiping army suffered heavy casualties. This was the first time Lin Fengxiang saw the Taiping army and the Qing Army face to face on the battlefield. On the other hand, Wei Ze's troops were able to easily win this battle. Every move of the Qing Army fell under Vézé's control. In the end, their defeat was extremely simple and quick.
"Wayne Brothers, you won just like that?" Lin Fengxiang's voice was filled with great suspicion.
Vézé replied, "It will take a while for us to win completely. Retreating is actually very slow. I want to leave Guanyang as soon as possible, but I'm afraid a long night will bring trouble. I don't know if we can move out this afternoon. "
It was summer now, the days were long, and the night was not that dark. Even if they marched the whole night, the troops were not afraid with torches. Besides, it was not that the Taiping army had never marched at night. When they broke out of Yongan, they not only marched at night, but also in the heavy rain. At that time, they did not even have torches.
"Is Qing Yao so weak?" Lin Fengxiang did not care about how to retreat from Guanyang. The process of the battle, especially the way Vézé organized the battle, was a huge shock to Lin Fengxiang. Because Vézé's troops moved too orderly, Lin Fengxiang could not even feel that this was a battle.
"The Qing Yao leader is already very daring in battle. If not for this, they would not have been able to charge more than a mile. If it were any other Qing Yao, I'm afraid they would have retreated when the artillery battle was disadvantageous. "Vézé gave a very normal comment.
Lin Fengxiang still wanted to say something, but he hesitated. The entire battle was beyond his understanding of war. Even if he had thousands of words to say, he did not know where to start.
But the battle would not go on forever. Seeing that the distance between them was almost enough, Vézé ordered the troops to retreat. With the sound of the golden drum, the pursuing long gunners stopped. Everyone was indeed tired from the long journey. Some troops who were in charge of cleaning up the battlefield went to search the Qing army's corpses. After collecting some Qing army's weapons and gunpowder, the troops returned to the city.
The exhaustion of the battle shrouded the entire army. No matter which group of soldiers they were, the distance they should have traveled in the entire battle was not short. Vézé praised the troops briefly, then announced, "Today we will set off for Jianghua and Yongming. After we return, everyone will rest for three days! If there is no military news, we will rest for seven days! "
Hearing Vézé's order, the exhausted soldiers could not help but cheer. In the past month, the troops had only rested for three days. The rest of the time was either training or fighting. Everyone had accumulated extreme exhaustion.
"Let's work harder and rush back to Jianghua and Yongming! Nine Nine Words. He was even more impressed by Vézé's ability to manage the troops. When everyone saw these words, they knew how far they had traveled and how much longer they had to go. Naturally, their complaints were much less.
After two days of arduous marching, the troops finally rushed back to Yongming. The camp had long been prepared. Without much thought, the brothers rushed into the barracks and lay down to sleep.
Although he did not participate in the battle, Lin Fengxiang was also quite tired after following Vézé and the others for such a long journey. Although Vézé looked tired, he did not immediately go to sleep. In Yongming County, there were nearly two thousand people waiting for him. The commander of the Fourth Division, Lin Asheng, stayed behind. He reported to Vézé that these nearly two thousand people had come to seek refuge with Vézé.
After Vézé killed Liu Zhangqing, his reputation in this area soared. Moreover, the Taiping army never plundered. They only paid for the goods they bought. Moreover, the higher-ups of the Taiping Rebellion had discussed this problem. The suggestion they came up with was to "pay more." This was not a simple way to buy people's hearts or to show off. These days, the lives of the commoners were difficult. If the army could pay more, it meant that the army was very rich. There would be a bright future if they followed such an army.
In any case, life could not get any worse. With such a hope, the commoners who could not survive were willing to try their luck. In addition, Vézé had killed more than a thousand Qing Army soldiers. This time, the commoners of Xiangnan who could not survive felt that they would not die so easily if they followed such an army. After watching for a long time, the commoners began to seek refuge with Vézé in large numbers.
Lin Asheng also told Vézé that since these people had sought refuge with the Taiping army, after a few days of eating, some of them would go back and ask their relatives to join the army. In a few days, the number of these people would continue to increase.
"Will there be four thousand of us?" Vézé asked tiredly.
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