The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 174: Add to your position, get stuck, be careful behind
"Jiang Zhongyuan is missing? And 10,000 elite soldiers are missing?"

Su Sanniang's expression changed again.

She doesn't take Guanwen and Hechun seriously, but Jiang Zhongyuan is not easy to deal with!

I don’t know who Senggelinqin is going to deal with with Guanwen, Hechun, Jiang Zhongyuan and 10,000 elite soldiers?

"Deputy Manager Su, the Qing demon is attacking!"

Su Sanniang wanted to ask Feng Zicai more when someone beside her suddenly called out.

Su Sanniang stood up quickly. This woman was really tall, more than half a head taller than Feng Zicai. She took a monocular telescope from a female soldier next to her and began to observe the situation at the front line.

It was getting late and it was almost dark. But Xiang Rong decided to launch an attack before dark. If he could capture Jiangshe City in one fell swoop, he would be able to gain a foothold near Xiangtan County, and then he could use it as a support to try to lift the siege of Xiangtan County.

Otherwise, it would be very dangerous to place 8,000 troops in the wilderness south of the stream! Because the number of Taiping troops surrounding Xiangtan was not as many as the 30,000 reported by Cheng Yancai, but there might be 20,000. If 14,000 or 5,000 of them rushed south of the stream, Xiang Rong would be in big trouble.

So he had to attack quickly while the Taiping Army in Jiangshe City was still small in number!

From where Su Sanniang was standing, she could see that Xiang Rong had sent out three groups of "armies" with about a thousand men each. One of them was rushing to the bridge over the stream; another group was carrying rafts to force their way across the stream from the west of Jiangshe City, apparently intending to surround the west gate of Jiangshe City; another group was carrying many rafts, apparently intending to force their way across the stream from the east of Jiangshe City.
"Brother Feng," Su Sanniang put down the telescope, turned around and smiled at Feng Zicai, "Your chance to make a contribution has come!"

Feng Zicai had lost his braids and wrapped a red scarf on his head, looking like a glorious Taiping Army soldier. Hearing Su Sanniang's words, he immediately knelt on one knee and said, "Deputy General Manager Su, please give the order. Zicai is not afraid of any danger!"

Su Sanniang said with a smile: "I don't want you to go through mountains of swords and seas of fire, mountains of swords and seas of fire are reserved for the Qing monsters!
Your brothers are still resisting in Jiangshe City. Go and persuade them to surrender first. Then, after the Qing army crosses the bridge, lead them to wave flags and shout, and then rush out of the north gate of Jiangshe City!"

Feng Zicai clasped his fists and said loudly, "Yes!"

Su Sanniang waved her hand and said with a smile: "Go ahead. I'll give you a sergeant's position first. Go and gather your people! Tell them that I, Su Sanniang, know that they are all good men from Guangxi. If they are willing to surrender, I will give them a reward of ten taels of silver each.

You are also a good man. After this battle, I will reward you with 100 taels of silver. You should work hard for His Highness the Angel of Peace in the future."

Feng Zicai was originally a fierce man in Guangxi. Later, he joined the Qing Dynasty and relied on his ability to chop people. He was promoted to the rank of Qianzong and killed a Baturu. He was famous for his bravery. And his brothers were also good at fighting!

That was why Su Sanniang promised to reward him with silver and appointed Feng Zicai as a sergeant.

Li Shoucheng smiled and said, "The captain is in charge of more than a hundred men. After you gather all your brothers together, they will be yours to lead."

According to the military system formulated by Feng Yunshan, the Taiping Army had more than 13,000 troops when fully staffed, and was composed of five divisions, each with more than 2,000 people. A division had five brigades, each with more than 500 people. A brigade had five soldiers, each with more than 100 people, which was almost the same as a company in later generations.

In the past, the Taiping Army's organization was rather empty, with so many armies, divisions, and brigades, just to scare people. But now Luo Yaoguo's Upper First Army and Upper Second Army have gradually been strengthened and are not far from full strength, so Feng Zicai's "company commander" can really lead more than a hundred soldiers.

"Thank you, Deputy Chief Manager Su, and General Li for your cultivation!"

Feng Zicai was naturally overjoyed. A sergeant was certainly nothing, but he could feel Su Sanniang's importance to him and her sincerity in winning him over - Su Sanniang's status in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was much higher than You Changling and Xiang Rong.

If the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom could succeed, it would be more promising for him to be Su Sanniang's younger brother than to be Xiang Rong's younger brother.

Thinking of this, he bowed to Su Sanniang and Li Shoucheng, then stood up and went down to the city wall.

Su Sanniang would not let him go alone to recruit her subordinates, so she immediately winked at Zhu Ba, who had just been promoted to a teacher. Zhu Ba immediately followed him down the tower, and the Taiping soldiers who were carrying Feng Zicai to see Su Sanniang also followed Zhu Ba down the tower.

At dusk, the town of Jiangshe was already filled with the sounds of killing, the rumbling of cannons, and the sound of gunfire, which was as continuous as frying beans.

On the banks of the stream on both sides of Jiangshe Town, there was a battle group of more than 2,000 people each. In each of these two battle groups, less than 1,000 people were Qing troops who crossed from the south bank of the stream to the north bank on rafts. They had just formed their formation on the north bank of the stream when the Taiping Army's artillery shells and bullets came at them. Those artillery shells were not very powerful and were not accurate.

However, the Taiping Army's muskets and flintlock rifles were accurate and fierce, knocking down many Qing soldiers!

These Qing soldiers who forced their way across the river were all "elite soldiers" who had come to fight for their lives after receiving rewards and smoking a lot of foreign cigarettes. They were not so bad as to be repelled by dozens of flintlocks and birdshots. This sparse but accurate firepower actually aroused the ruthlessness of these elite Qing soldiers, and they all rushed forward with a roar.

The Taiping Army's musketeers were lying in ambush on the north bank of the river. Seeing the Qing army charging at them, they all ran towards Jiangshe Town. The Qing soldiers, perhaps because of the smoke, followed them regardless and were shot again when they approached the wall of Jiangshe Town.

This time the firepower was much stronger. Near the east and west gates of Jiangshe Town, two hundred muskets of the Taiping Army fired at the same time, killing hundreds of Qing soldiers in one wave, and their corpses were lying all over the place!
Before the remaining Qing troops could react, more than 2,000 Taiping Army officers and soldiers who were ambushed in the dry trench outside Jiangshe Town rushed out with spears, swords and shields, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Qing troops in front of them.

While shouting "Kill the Qing demons and divide the land", morale was high!

On one side, the smoke had not yet dissipated, and they could still hold on at the beginning, but after all, they were outnumbered and had also been hit by the Taiping Army's accurate gunfire. When the smoke dissipated a little, they gradually fell into a disadvantage.

However, in Jiangshe Town, the Qing army unexpectedly gained the upper hand.

Xiang Rong originally planned to use the selected vanguard who crossed the wooden bridge over the Xishui River as cannon fodder to attract the attention of the Taiping Army, and use the selected vanguard who forced their way across the Xishui River as the main force to attack Jiangshe City.

As a result, the Taiping Army in Jiangshe City made a mistake, and even the more than 100 soldiers left in the town by Feng Zicai could not suppress them. When Xiang Rong sent more than a thousand elite soldiers to rush to the river bridge, these people actually rushed out from the houses where they were hiding and killed all the way to the north gate of Jiangshe City.

As a result of their interference, the Taiping Army in Jiangshe City had no energy left to resist the Qing Army that was charging over from the Creek Bridge. As a result, they lost half of the town in one fell swoop!

At this moment, the Taiping Army in Jiangshe City seemed to have stabilized, and the shouts of "Kill the Qing monsters and go to heaven" gradually rose.

The atmosphere under Xiang Rong's flag was solemn. Lieutenant General Hu Songlin, who led his troops into Jiangshe City, sent cavalry to ask for help, saying that the Taiping Army had reinforcements. They were hundreds of old brothers from Guangxi who were very brave and were launching a counterattack.

Xiang Rong, Sun Yingzhao and Liu Changqing all had gloomy faces. Up to now, they all felt a little trapped in the battle.

They originally thought that there were not many Taiping troops in Jiangshe City, otherwise they would not be unable to defeat the few people under Feng Zicai. But they did not expect that they had invested 3,000 elite forwards, but still could not take Jiangshe City!

But they are reluctant to give up - if they give up, they will have to "cut their positions", and with one cut, they may lose two thousand people!

It hurts so much!
"General, send in another 2,000 men!" Liu Changqing, who had followed Xiang Rong all the way from Sichuan to Hunan, gritted his teeth and said, "I'll lead my men in and charge in. We should be able to take this down!"

Xiang Rong frowned: "A night battle?"

It’s getting dark now!
"Let's fight at night," Sun Yingzhao said, "At worst, we can set all the houses in the town on fire!"

"Whatever!" Xiang Rong was unwilling to give up. "Two thousand is not enough, add another thousand! Lao Liu, I'll give you three thousand men, you must take this down!"

"Your humble position is worthy of your order!"

After receiving Xiang Rong's order, Liu Changqing immediately gathered three thousand men and rushed into Jiangshe City along the creek bridge.

But it seemed that reinforcements had arrived from the Taiping Army!

Liu Changqing's 3,000 men did not achieve the expected results. When the battle went on to the second half of the night, the Qing army only occupied more territory in Jiangshe City and set many houses on fire. The fire soared into the sky, and half of Jiangshe City was engulfed in the fire, making a "boom boom boom" sound. This sound mixed with the shouts, explosions, and gunshots. It seemed that a fierce battle was in full swing!
Amidst this extremely noisy sound, the extremely anxious Xiang Rong suddenly heard a very passionate singing voice coming from behind him!
"His pride laughs at the waves, and his blood is hotter than the red sun."

"This is..." Xiang Rong looked back and took a breath!
He only saw that in the wilderness shrouded in darkness behind him, several thick fire dragons composed of countless sparks of fire appeared at some point and were rolling towards him!

(End of this chapter)