The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 117 Why is Changmao still working the night shift?

Shimapu is located in the southwest of Changsha City, only about ten miles away from Huangdao Gate, and one can run there in one breath. However, the 1,500 elite Gansu-Shaanxi Green Camp soldiers led by Fucheng and Yin Lipei walked for a whole day under the "scorching sun" of late August in the lunar calendar before they could reach the destination.

Then they turned the otherwise peaceful town into a mess, and it was only with great difficulty that people finally settled down.

Of course, no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

The elite of the Green Camp in Gansu and Shaanxi! It is normal for the Green Camp to engage in looting and burning in the war zone. That is not called undermining military discipline. Military discipline has long ceased to exist in the Green Camp.

They only collect a little over one or two taels of silver a month and there are a lot of deductions. What military discipline can we talk about?
As for Fu Cheng and Yin Lipei, the two masters who led the troops, they were quite satisfied with the performance of their soldiers. They marched more than ten miles, pulling several artillery pieces, carrying a lot of baggage and weapons, and finished the march in one day. They even had a good meal at Yuhua Pavilion in the middle, wasting a lot of time! This marching speed was quite good.

What's even more valuable is that all the soldiers walked or rode horses along the way, and no one took a sedan chair! All the weapons and baggage were carried by the soldiers themselves, without hiring a single porter!
In addition, no one in the entire army smoked foreign cigarettes throughout the day, except for General Fucheng!

In the Qing Dynasty, apart from the Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camp, probably only the Sauron soldiers could do this kind of army that marched personally, carried baggage and weapons personally, and did not smoke foreign cigarettes, not counting the militia.
So when Fu Zongzhen, Fucheng, who had been busy all day, was lying on the smoking couch in a landlord's courtyard in Shimapu, smoking the best East India Company cigarettes, all he could think about was not luring the enemy. With the second best troops in the world at his disposal, a total of 1,500 people, why would he need to lure the enemy when facing a mere few thousand long-haired bandits?
As for the long-haired monster thing, that’s just nonsense!
When the loyal and brave Baturu Yang Fang and Yang Qinyong from the Jiaqing and Daoguang eras fought against the English in Guangdong, they also thought that their foreign guns and cannons were using Western magic, so they could shoot far and accurately. In order to "break the magic", he even collected a lot of toilets, black dog blood and women's underwear and placed them in front of the battle! This joke probably also led to the Western Bull Demon King, the long-haired thief!

But this time, there were a total of 1,500 Gansu-Shaanxi Green Camp soldiers, including 300 cavalry! If they charged, 300 cavalry soldiers and 1,200 infantry soldiers would crush them. How could the long-haired people with no cavalry possibly withstand it?
Wouldn't a charge cost him hundreds of dollars? If he multiplied it by ten and reported it, the position of the admiral and the title of Baturu's bravery would be perfect!

As he inhaled the intoxicating foreign cigarettes, Fucheng General Fu began to daydream. He felt a little sleepy as he was thinking about asking one of his handsome men, Goshha, to help him go to bed when he suddenly heard a noise outside the door.

"Sir, Lord Fu."

"Master Fu is asleep, Master Yin, please come back tomorrow!"

"No, the long-haired soldiers are coming!"

"Ah, you're here so late at night?"

"Quick, hurry up and wake up Master Fu!"

"Master Fu, Master Fu"

Fucheng, who was dazed by the opium, felt a little dizzy and could not tell whether he was dreaming or awake.

It's late at night, why aren't the Taipings sleeping? Working the night shift? Being a Taiping must be hard enough. I wonder how much military pay Hong Xiuquan gave them?
While he was daydreaming, Deputy General Yin Lipei, still wearing his official robe and hat, had entered the room. As soon as he entered the room, he smelled the intoxicating smell of cigarettes and his brows tightened. Lord Fu has smoked too much again. Can he still go into the battlefield and kill the enemy?

"Sir, there are many long-haired people coming from outside the town, driving up with torches, and forming a line!"

"Line up?" Fu Cheng waved his hand in a daze, "No, it's okay. Changmao is setting up camp! Go to sleep, sleep, we'll talk tomorrow."

"Setting up camp? It doesn't look like setting up camp, it looks like we're going to have a night battle!"

"Night battle? How is that possible?" Fu Cheng yawned and waved his hand. "It's just a few bucks. Fighting a night battle? Isn't it tiring? Besides, those long-haired people are all poor Koreans. Most of them are blinded by birds. They can't see when it gets dark. Why fight a night battle? Just sleep soundly! When tomorrow morning comes, our Gansu-Shaanxi cavalry will go out and trample them to death!"

After hearing what Fucheng said, Yin Lipei was a little shaken. He apologized, turned around and was about to go out. When he reached the door, he suddenly heard a few "boom" sounds, followed by a "crash" sound!

"Is it thundering?" Yin Lipei was stunned for a moment, suddenly felt something was wrong, and immediately shouted, "Fire! Fire, the Changmao are bombarding us!" As soon as he finished speaking, there were four more "boom boom boom boom" sounds, and almost at the same time, there was a loud "cracking" sound of something crashing and heavy objects hitting the ground.

Then one could hear the people in the town and the Green Camp soldiers from Gansu and Shaanxi shouting and yelling.

"Long Hair. Long Hair is coming!"

"Long-haired man still has a cannon!"

"Damn it, this long-haired guy doesn't sleep and is fighting at night!"

"The rent is heavy, the interest is high, and it is difficult for poor people to survive these days."

"Yan" in Fucheng also woke up. He never thought that the Taiping Army could engage in a night battle without sleep after marching for two or three days in a row.

Such an army hasn't appeared in the Qing Dynasty for many years, right?

The ancestors of the Qing dynasty who entered the country and ruled the country were just as diligent, right? How could this Chang Mao... This is bad, Chang Mao is actually so hardworking!
"Boom boom boom boom."

The sound of cannon fire rang out again!

The noisy noise outside became even louder, and there was a faint "clang" sound of weapons colliding and shouts of "The Taipings are coming in!" No one knew whether it was the Taiping spies in the town making trouble, or they were being driven out of the camp by the Taiping cannons!
"My lord, my lord, beat the drums and gather the troops. Give the soldiers a reward and then go out to meet the enemy! You can't just stay in the town and get bombarded all the time!"

It must be said that Yin Lipei, the deputy general of Tongguan Association, was experienced and knew that he could not continue to endure the artillery fire.

Although the Taiping Army had only four cannons in total, which should not have killed many people, they could not withstand the morale collapse of the Gansu and Shaanxi soldiers below, who were in chaos. If they caused a camp cry, they would be defeated without a fight.

"Boom boom boom boom."

Another round of artillery fire!
At the same time, the Taiping Army outside began to shout and beat drums, and there were also "crackling" noises. I didn't know if they were firing guns or setting off firecrackers to scare people. The town was even more chaotic, with shouting, cursing, clamoring and other miscellaneous noises everywhere. It looked like it was about to get completely out of control.

"Hurry, beat the drum and change clothes for our town. We are going to send troops to meet the enemy!" After hesitating for a long time, Fucheng finally gave up the idea of ​​escaping from the battlefield and gave the order to beat the drum to gather the troops.

In the south of Shimapu Town, Luo Yaoguo was standing in the darkness. Forty or fifty steps away from him, a bonfire had been lit. It was burning fiercely, emitting a bright light that illuminated a flag of "Angel of Peace" fluttering in the wind.

Twenty or thirty steps in front of him, fully four thousand elite soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were lighting torches and forming four dense square formations in the night. In front of each of the four square formations, there was a cannon weighing two to three hundred pounds mounted on a cart, which was rumbling and firing stone bullets into the city of Shimapu.

The firepower was indeed a bit weak, but it was enough to harass and intimidate the Qing troops in Shimapu. Moreover, Luo Yaoguo had ordered Yu Dabao to lead dozens of Taiping soldiers who had defected from the Qing Dynasty and could imitate a few words of Shaanxi accent to sneak into Shimapu Town in advance to create chaos.

If those green camp members from Gansu and Shaanxi refuse to leave town to work the night shift, they won’t be able to get a good night’s sleep!
As long as they come out, in the darkness in front of the Taiping Army, more than a hundred female soldiers armed with brown basses or other types of foreign rifles have dispersed their formation and are kneeling between the ridges of the fields, waiting for them!

A pair of eyes that are "fed" with pig offal every day can see far away just by the moonlight.
(End of this chapter)