?
Faced with Vézé's flintlock formation with an obtuse angle in the middle, the Qing Army's formation was very simple. Several units advanced side by side, seemingly prepared to use their advantage in numbers to overwhelm Vézé's troops. At least from the point of view of Yang Xiuqing, Vézé's thin line of flintlocks was like a thin piece of paper compared to the seemingly endless Qing Army on the main road outside Guiyang City. No matter how he looked at it, it would be difficult for them to continue shooting at the Qing Army. Not to mention defeating the Qing Army.
This time, the Qing Army did not slow down. They did not wait and see. From the moment they charged at Vézé's line, they did not have any intention of stopping. The first to exchange fire with the relatively orderly Qing Army formation were the two soldiers in the middle of Vézé's line of soldiers. It seemed that the Qing Army had given them a great reward. Other than a certain number of gunmen, more than half of the Qing Army were actually armed with cold weapons. They intended to use their numbers to overwhelm Vézé's flintlocks.
However, Vézé's troops did not care so much. Under the command of the two soldiers in the middle, the flintlocks opened fire in a three-stage pattern. In the rising smoke, Vézé's troops fired their guns at the Qing Army.
Vézé's troops trained very hard, especially in marksmanship. There were more than ten steps that they had to practice every day. They also had a training routine. Each time, they fired 12 rounds, from slow to fast. During the first round, they had to move slowly, focusing on standard movements and accurate postures. They had to fire every two minutes. After that, they had to increase their speed. During the last four rounds, they had to reload and fire three times within a minute. If they made a mistake during training, they would be beaten with a stick.
After a large amount of mechanical training, the troops could reload and fire even with their eyes closed. The two pawns in the middle did not reload on the spot after the three-part attack. Instead, they quickly retreated a considerable distance before starting to reload. Now the two pawns at the very front were the two in the middle. They did the same. After opening fire, they retreated. The troops further away began to fire at the approaching enemies.
At first, Yang Xiuqing did not understand what Vézé's troops were up to. All he saw was the troops lining up neatly and firing, retreating, reloading, and firing again. But after a short while, Yang Xiuqing saw through it. Vézé's troops had good aim. Every time they fired, they would take down quite a few Qing Army soldiers. Every time they fired, they would slow down the advance of the Qing Army for a moment. The orderly retreat, the firing, and the firing of each squad affected the Qing Army's charge.
However, this seemingly ingenious formation was not very useful. The number of the Qing army was just too great. Shooting at the Qing army was like trying to stop a dam made of sand against a raging river. It was not very effective. Vézé's troops retreated as if they were being chased by the Qing Army.
If Vézé had not repeatedly assured Yang Xiuqing that nothing would go wrong, and if Vézé had not personally commanded them, Vézé would be the first to die. With this assurance, Yang Xiuqing reluctantly agreed with Vézé's little trick. Up until now, the alternating retreat had been somewhat effective. Vézé's troops had not suffered much damage.
After three rounds of alternating retreat, the Qing Army had forced Vézé's troops back to their starting point. But a smile appeared on Vézé's face. The layered resistance had curbed the charging speed of the Qing Army's vanguard, and the charging speed of the Qing Army's rear was faster than the vanguard. The previously somewhat orderly Qing Army was now densely packed.
By now, Vézé's troops had returned to their starting point. Once again, they lined up horizontally. All of the troops began to fire at the Qing Army as fast as they could. Although the Qing Army's casualties began to soar, they had no intention of retreating. The commander-in-chief of the Qing Army, He Chun, had issued a strict order before the battle. No matter what, they had to win this battle in Guiyang. The Xianfeng Emperor had already decreed that if they could not win, a significant portion of these people would be sent to serve the Xinjiang army.
If they were sent to Xinjiang, it would be tantamount to dying there. None of the generals were willing to suffer such a fate. Even though their casualties had increased, they could see that they were only fifty paces away from Vézé's troops. With a little more effort, they would be able to charge into the vanguard. All of the generals ordered their subordinates to charge forward fiercely and charge into Vézé's ranks.
Each time, the Taiping army would take advantage of the instability of the Qing Army's formation after the Qing Army's musketeers fired, they would have their close combat troops swiftly charge into the Qing Army's ranks and obtain victory. This time, the Qing Army was preparing to use the Taiping army's tactics to obtain victory. At this moment, the sound of cannons could be heard from above the Qing Army.
Looking down from the top of the city walls, the Qing Army's troops and horses were crowded together. Vézé's artillery used solid shells. Given the density of the Qing Army's ranks, they had sufficient destructive power. The thirty-odd cannons on top of the city walls had already set their firing targets. All that was left was to fire in unison.
Not a single shell missed its mark. All of them flew into the Qing Army's ranks. Thirty-odd shells pierced through bodies and broke bones. In an instant, over a hundred casualties had occurred. By now, Yang Xiuqing no longer had any doubts about Vézé. Vézé dared to use a thousand men to deal with a twenty-thousand-strong Qing Army. The continuous firing of these one thousand men seemed to be an attack or a defense, but their real purpose was to lure the enemy. The Qing Army and Vézé's troops had not been able to widen the distance between them. Even if the Qing Army had cannons, based on their accuracy, they would not dare to fire at Vézé's troops. In contrast, the well-prepared artillery could fire fiercely at the densely packed Qing Army's ranks without any misgivings.
The battlefield was like this. By the time the situation could be seen clearly, the battle had already entered an irreversible stage. Vézé's thousand-strong troops were basically all old brothers who had followed Vézé since he was in Wuzhou. They had at least four months of training. At this moment, they were performing at an extremely high level. The three-part barrage showed no signs of stopping. Vézé did not have any plans to be careless. After the troops retreated to their starting positions, two brigades of troops came out of the city and joined in the firing ranks. The three-part barrage became six-part barrage. The possibility of the firing being interrupted was no longer possible.
The Qing Army had not expected to encounter such orderly fire. Row after row of shells sent the Qing Army's center into chaos. Vézé's artillery had disrupted the connection between the Qing Army's center and the front line. The front line had been drawn to Vézé's flintlock squad. In the process, they had long lost the possibility of lining up and firing at each other.
On the battlefield, bullets flew everywhere. The Qing Army's front line was in a situation where they could not resist. The Qing Army were very straightforward. They turned around in unison, ignoring the fact that their backs were completely exposed to the Taiping army. They began to flee for their lives.
How could Yang Xiuqing not see the opportunity? He decisively ordered the 2,000 elites of the Taiping Army on the left and right flanks to chase after them. At the same time, Vézé ordered the musketeers to stop firing and the longgunners to charge. Seeing the front line begin to flee, the Qing Army's center and rear line also turned around and decisively began to flee.
Vézé was dumbfounded by the Qing Army's performance. Although this was what Vézé had hoped for, when it actually happened, Vézé still could not believe it. Twenty thousand people were being chased by three thousand people. If he had not seen it with his own eyes, Vézé would not have believed it.
Moreover, Yang Xiuqing's original plan was much more daring than Vézé's. He was prepared to set up an ambush. When the Qing Army approached Guiyang, he would send two thousand elites to suddenly attack and defeat the twenty thousand Qing Army in one fell swoop. Although Vézé felt that Yang Xiuqing's plan sounded ridiculous, since the Taiping Rebellion was able to seize Nanjing, it meant that this method of warfare would be able to achieve victory.
Of course, after Vézé's suggestion, the battle was also won. The Taiping Army's lancers caught up with the Qing Army's front line in the blink of an eye. The two thousand King Of The East's men and the five hundred men Vézé sent out were all elites. The fleeing Qing Army were all stabbed in the back, and their bodies fell to the ground like sacks.
The artillery had already stopped firing. The pursuing troops quickly eliminated the Qing Army's front line that was in the way, and they quickly chased after the Qing Army's center line.
Vézé was reorganizing the musketeers when a guard ran up to him and said respectfully, "Prime Minister, the King Of The East requests your presence!"
Vézé ordered his men, "Follow them and kill all the Qing Yao on the ground who are still alive!" He then followed the guard to the top of Guiyang's city wall.
"Wayne Brothers, well done!" Yang Xiuqing stood on the top of the city wall and looked down at the battle. His face was full of joy.
"King Of The East, if we chase after them like this, if Qing Yao fights back …" Vézé was a little worried.
Hearing Vézé's worry, Yang Xiuqing smiled. "I told you, Qing Yao was more than fifty miles away from us yesterday. They are already tired enough following us. They ran more than fifty miles in half a day. How can they have the strength to regroup? After this defeat, they will not be able to stop their troops! Our morale is high now. Qing Yao will definitely be defeated! "
After that, Yang Xiuqing turned his head and said, "Wayne Brothers, after this battle, Qing Yao will not dare to attack us easily. We can go to Chenzhou!"
"King Of The East, do we not want Guiyang anymore?" Vézé asked. In war, the so-called triangular force required several strongholds to support each other. Guiyang's city and Chenzhou could be considered as each other's triangular force.
Yang Xiuqing immediately rejected Vézé's suggestion. "We don't want Guiyang. Our team will go to Chenzhou together. We are going to attack Changsha next. Who will stay in Guiyang? "
After that, Yang Xiuqing asked Vézé how he trained such a musketeer team. The Taiping army did not pay much attention to musketeers. The power of the musketeers was limited. The Taiping Army also had no way to gather enough gunpowder. The long gunmen, who were mainly old brothers from Guangxi, were the real backbone of the army.
However, Vézé's use of cannons and musketeers was very effective. This greatly exceeded Yang Xiuqing's expectations. Vézé could only explain, "King Of The East, you know that only three hundred of my men left Yong 'an. Before Yong' an, only a dozen joined the Taiping army. Instead of relying on them to use spears, why not let them use good musketeers? My subordinates could only beat and scold them to make them listen to orders. As for how to fight, that's just wishful thinking. "
Vézé naturally did not dare to talk about the General Staff Headquarters or the training system. Therefore, he only talked about things that Yang Xiuqing could understand. After listening for a while, Yang Xiuqing felt that Vézé really had no other choice. As for the training of the army, Yang Xiuqing's own training was also a headache. He did not continue to ask too much.
In the afternoon, the pursuing troops came back. These two thousand people chased for twenty miles. The Qing Army abandoned everything and ran for their lives. On the other hand, the musketeers that Vézé sent out collected a lot of musketeers and knives. Most of the equipment was given to Yang Xiuqing. The rest was given to Vézé's one thousand men. The two sides joined forces and advanced towards Chenzhou. In the evening, the marching troops received news that the Prince of the West, Xiao Chaogui, had seized Chenzhou. The Taiping Army won the battles on both sides.
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