The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 180 The rise of Hong Xiuquan!

After the gunshot, Senggelinqin found that the horse under his crotch was still running steadily and he himself was unharmed.

However, the Mongolian cavalrymen in front of him fell to the ground like dead leaves, and some horses that were frightened or injured fled in panic. This surprised him and he thought to himself, "How come this is different from what I learned from the Western military strategy I got from Guangdong Governor Ye Kunchen?

Isn't it said that Western cavalry often charge into rifle formations?
It only took a few dozen guns to knock down twenty or thirty cavalrymen with one round. How can they charge forward?

This Western military strategy that Ye Kunchen is paying respect to must have been made up by him, it must have been made up, it is all written in classical Chinese, and you can tell at a glance that it was not written by a foreigner. "

Thinking that he had been betrayed by Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangdong, Senggelinqin immediately pulled the reins to stop his horse, preventing it from going forward to die. Then he turned the horse's head by pulling the reins, galloped backwards, and met up with Guan Wen, who was escorting the team.

The Mongolian cavalry who survived the Taiping Army's musket fire just now were also frightened. They had already reined in their horses and were circling on the spot. When they saw Senggelinqin retreat, they also followed their master in retreat as if a heavy burden had been lifted off their shoulders.

As the commander-in-chief, Senggelinqin could naturally advance and retreat freely, but the Eight Banners soldiers behind him could not retreat as they wished, as Guanwen was still leading his men at the back to supervise the battle!
At this time, another group of about a hundred horsemen had approached the square where Yang Xiuqing and Yang Shangdi were. Although there were more than two thousand horsemen under Senggelinqin's Eight Banners, it was impossible for them to form a large formation to attack together. Even a formation of five or six hundred horsemen could not be formed. It was the limit of what they could do to gather a hundred horsemen and rush forward.

Therefore, Senggelinqin’s tactic of “fighting God” was not “wall-style attack”, but a round-robin battle involving more than twenty groups of vests.

The Eight Banners horsemen didn't have the horse-riding and archery skills of the Mongolian cavalrymen. It was already difficult for them not to fall off their running horses. If they were allowed to shoot arrows with their hands free, wouldn't that kill them?
If these Eight Banners soldiers could still be like their ancestors, or like the Western cavalry in the Western military tactics that Senggelinqin saw, and could charge into Yang Xiuqing's army with their heads covered, then Yang Xiuqing would not even be able to escape!

Because the musketeers in Yang Shangdi's square formation facing the Eight Banners cavalry had already fired their bullets and were now reloading. No matter how fast they moved, it was impossible for them to reload and fire before the next wave of Eight Banners cavalry rushed up.

Without the firepower of the muskets, Yang Xiuqing's square formation could only rely on twenty spearmen and twenty sword and shield men to block the more than a hundred Eight Banners horsemen who were rushing towards them.

As long as those Eight Banners vests charge resolutely, Yang Xiuqing's phalanx will inevitably collapse!

Seeing the black masses of Eight Banners vests rushing up, Meng De'en, who was standing next to Yang Xiuqing, could no longer suppress the cold sweat on his forehead. He glanced at Yang Xiuqing and found that the latter's face was equally pale - could God also be afraid?

"God" will be afraid, but the Taiping Army soldiers who are with "God" will not!
The old brothers from Guangxi standing in front of Yang Xiuqing either stood in the second row, concentrating on loading their muskets and flintlock rifles, or stood shoulder to shoulder in the front row, either holding their spears tightly or holding a shield in one hand and a knife on the shield in the other.

The tip of the spear and the blade were polished to a shine, emitting a chilling light in the sunlight that was both terrifying and frightening!

The scene that followed made "God" and Meng De'en breathe a sigh of relief, because the expected collision did not happen at all, and the horses under the Eight Banners naturally bypassed the hedgehog-like square formation formed by the old brothers from Guangxi. This was certainly not because the Eight Banners soldiers were scared, but because the horses under their crotches did not know how to be loyal to the emperor and love the country, and did not dare to collide with those sharp and terrible weapons. They turned a corner while running, and hundreds of Eight Banners horsemen automatically split into two groups and poured to the left and right wings.

As for those Eight Banners soldiers on horseback, they are just riding on horses, and it is a skill for them not to fall off. They don’t know anything else.

"bang bang bang"

Suddenly, there was another burst of gunfire. It was the musketeers on the other two sides of the "God's Square" shooting.

When Yang Xiuqing gave the order to open fire just now, only the musketeers on the side facing the enemy fired bullets. The musketeers on the other three sides did not fire at the air.

Now is a good time to greet the Eight Banners soldiers who have come over!

Because these Eight Banners vests were not moving very fast and were close to the muzzles of the guns, the Taiping Army musketeers had an extremely high hit rate. The two groups of Eight Banners vests that were detouring actually lost more than half of their soldiers.

After the first round of volleys, Yang Xiuqing no longer gave the order to open fire. All the musketeers began to fire freely, charging towards the phalanx in waves. The Eight Banners soldiers circling around the phalanx seemed to be offering their heads. After seven or eight waves, a lot of corpses of people and horses had piled up around Yang Xiuqing's phalanx.

And further away from the square formation, there were many Eight Banners soldiers running around, not knowing where to go.

"Dang Dang Dang"

A piercing golden sound was heard, halting the Eight Banners soldiers' mindless charge that would have cost them their lives.

The one who gave the order to sound the horn was Senggelinqin, who had just retreated and had a dark face.

Guan Wence rode forward and wanted to say something to Senggelinqin, but he heard Senggelinqin mumbling something in Mongolian.

Guan Wen could understand Mongolian. He pricked up his ears and heard the prince gritting his teeth and saying, "Damn it. How can two thousand horsemen not defeat three hundred infantrymen? How can the Eight Banner horsemen be so weak?"

"Xiufeng!" Senggelinqin suddenly called Guanwen's name. "Your Majesty, what do you want?" Guanwen asked.

Senggelinqin raised his whip and pointed at Hong Xiuquan, who was still standing on the bow, watching the thousands of soldiers fighting each other below, and said: "That should be Hong Xiuquan. If we kill him, we will win! But the Eight Banners soldiers can't do this. Go find Jiang Minqiao and ask him to squeeze out some militia. Two or three hundred will be enough. Then charge again!"

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's too late!" Guan Wen shook his head, "The Taiping rebels are also gathering here, look at the river."

Senggelinqin turned his head and his face turned pale.

The surface of the Xiangjiang River and the beach were filled with wooden boats of all sizes. Countless Taiping troops were either standing on the decks ready to jump off, or had already jumped onto the beach and were wading through the water towards where Hong Xiuquan was. Some of them were not far away, so they formed small square formations!
"Defeated! Defeated!"

Suddenly, a panic shout like a tsunami swept over from the other corner of the battlefield and all the way to the bank of the Xiangjiang River.

"It's He Yuting's Green Camp," Guan Wen said in a trembling voice, "Quickly retreat, it will be too late if you don't retreat now!"

Senggelinqin stood up in the stirrups, put his hands on his forehead and looked towards the west of the battlefield. He saw the Green Camp soldiers of the Qing army in green clothes and cool hats being driven back by the Taiping Army in red robes and red scarves.

It seems that the Green Camp under He Chun has been completely defeated!
Senggelinqin turned his gaze back to the Eight Banners soldiers who were retreating in a disorderly manner from the front, and sighed: "Yu Ting has tried his best. This battle is not to blame Yu Ting, nor his Green Camp soldiers. It is us Eight Banners soldiers who are not up to the task!"

He looked at Hong Xiuquan who was standing on a high place and looking down upon everyone, and then looked at Yang Xiuqing who was standing in the square array like a statue, and sighed: "Retreat! Retreat! Let's make Jiang Minqiao suffer a little, and let his people cover the rear. Then tell him how much he lost in this battle, and I will make the decision to give him money from the Hubei Provincial Treasury!
I will also ensure that he will govern Baoqing Prefecture!"

Guan Wen was stunned: "Ah, but he is from Baoqing Prefecture!"

Senggelinqin shook his head and said in an inaudible voice: "Xiufeng, if we defeat the Qing Dynasty, there will be no Hunan!"

"Defeated already?" Guan Wen was stunned again, "And what about Sai Zhongtang?..."

Senggelinqin shook his head and said nothing more. He turned his horse around and galloped north with his Mongolian soldiers without looking back.

"Victory! I won! It turns out I can win the battle"

Hong Xiuquan stood on the bow of a stranded ship with a sword in hand, looking at the Eight Banners soldiers fleeing away from the battlefield at a rapid speed, looking at the Green Camp soldiers being defeated by the Taiping Army on the west side of the battlefield, and looking at more and more Taiping soldiers jumping off the large wooden boats that had hit the beach, forming one square formation after another of varying sizes on the beach, and then immediately engaging in battle and pounced on the Hunan Army and Chu Yong who were still barely holding on.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a satisfaction he had never felt before. Not to mention playing with eighty-eight queens, even if there were twice as many queens, it couldn't compare to this!

Hong Xiuquan said to himself in a low voice: "Well, well, well, a hero should be like this, and should be like this!"

"Long live the Heavenly King! Long live the Heavenly King."

As Hong Xiuquan was savoring the sweetness of this victory, cheers suddenly rang out from all around him. He lowered his head and looked down at the countless "red-headed people" who had gathered on the river beach below. All of them knelt on the ground, bowed to him and cheered loudly.

Hong Xiuquan suddenly raised the sword in his hand, pointed it in the direction of Senggelinqin's escape in the north, opened his throat, and said angrily: "I will tear those Qing demons who dare to fire at me into pieces!"

Behind Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui, and Shi Dakai had already knelt down. Upon hearing Hong Xiuquan's order, the three kings bowed to the high and mighty Hong Xiuquan and shouted, "Your humble servants respectfully receive the true order of the Heavenly King!"

Hong Xiuquan turned around, stared at Yang Xiuqing fiercely, and said word by word: "Qing compatriots, I will go after them myself!"

"No!"

"Your Majesty, you are worth a ton of gold!"

"Your Majesty, let me go after you!"

Yang Xiuqing, Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai were all shocked by Hong Xiuquan's proposal and quickly spoke up to persuade him.

Hong Xiuquan laughed loudly: "You have seen it too. I have the blessing of the Heavenly Father God. The rain of artillery shells cannot hurt me at all! What can the defeated Qing army do?"

(End of this chapter)