The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 457 How could the "Union Jack of England" lose? (Please subscribe, please vote)

Looking down from the Banzhang Mountain Heights, Lieutenant Colonel John Michell of the Army with the "English Union Jack" flying on it saw a very good situation!
It turns out that Luo Yaoguo, who "stole" the "illegal colony" of Macau from the Portuguese under the banner of the Crusaders, was a layman in war. Look, he didn't even bother to look at his own retreat. At the foot of Banzhang Mountain, all the way to the bank of the Qianshan Waterway, there were green rice fields, and there was no trace of the Crusaders' defense line at all. This is good, as long as the British and Qing troops on Banzhang Mountain rush down together, they can completely cut off the retreat of the Crusaders who are deployed in the northwest with their backs against the Qianshan Waterway, as easy as cutting off a noodle!
On the battlefield west of Banzhang Mountain and north of Qianshan Waterway, the Qing army's artillery bombardment had stopped, and the infantry and cavalry pressed forward like a tide. The shouts, like the waves of the sea, came one after another. As soon as you heard the noise, you knew that the morale of the Qing soldiers was so high that it was about to break through the sky! Lieutenant Colonel Michel turned his head and glanced at the battlefield where the shouts came from. Wow, I saw countless Qing infantry and cavalry with green cloth wrapped around their heads or wearing red tasseled hats, forming square formations, and like a surging tide, they rushed towards the place where the cross flag was flying.

But where was the Crusaders' battle line? Where was it? Lieutenant Colonel Michel looked left and right for several times, but he couldn't see the Crusaders' battle line. He kept wondering, "Could those Chinese wearing Crusaders' uniforms have already run away? Oh, they are so cowardly. The Crusaders have lost face in front of China!"

With this in mind, Lieutenant Colonel Michel turned his attention to the rice fields and villages at the foot of the mountain. He waved his hand with an imposing manner that seemed to command thousands of troops: "The Qing army is in front, the British army is behind, everyone, move forward!"

……

At the foot of Banzhang Mountain, Zhangmuwei Village. If Lieutenant Colonel Michel could get a closer look, he would be shocked. A circle of shallow trenches and a circle of low earth walls suddenly appeared around this ordinary, harmless Chinese village. More than 1851 Crusaders with oriental faces were squatting in the trenches like quails, holding their M rifles, staring at the Qing army and the British and Indian troops disguised as the Eight Banners soldiers who were rushing down from the mountain.

Although there were a large number of Qing troops and British Indian troops, totaling 3,500 people, a large mass like a dark cloud, the Crusaders squatting in the trenches were calm and not afraid at all. No one fired randomly, and they were all there quietly waiting for the order from their immediate superior, Li Shoucheng, the commander of the First Division of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Army.

In order to severely strike at the Qing army that might cross Banzhang Mountain, Luo Yaoguo spent a lot of money this time. He sent out real trump cards, and he sent out two of them at once. In addition to Li Shoucheng, there was also Suarez, the head of the Portuguese army in Macau who had defected to the Pope. His group of Portuguese soldiers in Macau were now lurking in Zhangmuwei Village, waiting for Li Shoucheng's order, and they would shout "God bless" while launching a bayonet charge!

These are 1,700 to 1,800 "real foreigners"! They look more "foreign" than the British and Indian troops in Hong Kong, absolutely high-end and classy! If those Indians in the British and Indian troops in Hong Kong were stabbed to death by them with bayonets, they would probably jump out of their coffins laughing after they died. When they meet Lord Shiva, they will brag: "I was stabbed to death by a white Western master with a bayonet. Isn't that amazing!"

On the corner tower of a square building in Zhangmuwei Village, Li Shoucheng held a telescope and watched the Qing army, which was divided into three groups, the front, the middle and the back, and slowly pressed forward. Suddenly, he heard a thunderous roar. Wu Dingcai, a military officer under Li Shoucheng, hurried forward and whispered, "It's His Royal Highness King Wu who started the artillery fire!"

Li Shoucheng nodded: "As expected of the King of Wu, you have grasped the timing just right! The Qing demons here have already gone down the mountain, and they can't see the situation on the battlefield in the northwest at all!" He paused, then said: "Go and inform Chen Kunshu to put the enemy within 20 steps before opening fire!"

"Yes!"

……

On the battlefield north of the Qianshan Waterway, among the densely packed ranks of the Qing army, suddenly, like fireworks, columns of smoke rose! The artillery under Luo Yaoguo fired, wow, it was actually shrapnel! And it was a large-caliber shrapnel fired from a 20-pound mortar and a 36-pound mortar. The landing point of the shells was also particular, not the front formation of the Qing army, but their middle formation. On the battlefield north of the Qianshan Waterway, the Qing army's formation was the militia as the first formation, the green camp as the second formation, and the Eight Banners as the third formation.

At this moment, the first group of militia had rushed to less than thirty steps in front of the Crusaders' position, and if they rushed a few more steps forward, they would encounter the two rows of chariot guns. At this critical moment, more than a dozen mortars in the artillery forts behind the trenches held by the Crusaders' infantry suddenly "fired", blasting large gaps in the formation of the Green Camp soldiers behind these Guangdong militias.

The Green Camp soldiers, who were marching forward with great vigor and confidence, were suddenly bombarded. These were not ordinary shells, but 24-pound and 36-pound shrapnel shells! Moreover, the charge in these shells was very strong. Nitrate sugar made on site in the Macau Castle was added to the black gunpowder. When they exploded, a large area was blown away, like flowers scattered by fairies. However, these "flowers" were not beautiful flowers, but deadly shrapnel.

A shell exploded in the crowd, and a big hole appeared in the infantry formation of the Qing army. The shells fell like raindrops, shrapnel flew everywhere, and every explosion could raise a mess of blood and flesh. Those Green Camp soldiers who had just smoked enough opium and were dizzy and ecstatic were greeted by such fierce artillery fire. It was like a basin of cold water was poured over their heads, and the smoke "woke up" and they immediately became a mess.

However, the Guangdong militiamen who were walking in front of them had no idea of ​​the miserable state of these Green Camp soldiers. At this moment, the morale of the Guangdong militiamen was still very high, and each of them was as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Because there were obviously not many Crusaders behind the low wall in front of them. Now they only had to push down the calvary about ten steps away to complete their mission.

But judging from the situation, there was no need for the Eight Banners' cavalry to charge, as they could do it themselves. Bao Chao, who was from Sichuan and surrendered to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom after being captured in the Second Battle of Changsha, and who was now a battalion commander, poked his head out from behind a short mound of earth, looking intently at the Guangdong militia who had already rushed to the first row of chevaux de frise. Hundreds of rifles under his command were already set up on the mound in front of Bao Chao, with the muzzles trembling slightly. There were large crowds of people in front of the two rows of chevaux de frise, but none of them fired.

Everyone is waiting for orders from him, the battalion commander!
Now, the enemy is less than twenty steps away!
Bao Chao finally raised his voice and gave the order: "Rifles - fire!"

Almost at the same time, Chen Kunshu, a fierce general under Li Shoucheng, cursed "Dou Lei's mother" and shouted, "Rifle - shoot!"

The echo of his command was still reverberating, and rows of large and small flames suddenly flashed on the front line of Zhangmuwei Village! The nearly 2,000 officers and soldiers of the Guangdong militia and the Guangdong Green Camp, who were advancing with their heads covered, never thought that they would run headfirst into countless bullets. As if they were suddenly struck by lightning, they trembled and fell down in a large number, screaming uncontrollably, and people fell everywhere. The Green Camp and the militia, which had originally had high morale, collapsed immediately. Where had they seen such killings? Using intensive firepower from rifles at a distance of 20 steps, isn't this a sure thing? In just the first round of firing, 30% of the Green Camp and the militia fell to the ground, screaming and exclaiming! Those who were not dead or injured were also unwilling to do it. They all screamed and shouted and turned around and ran away, just following the trend, wishing that their parents had not given them two more legs!
The Indians following behind them were stunned. What was going on? Why was there suddenly smoke and flashes behind the mound in front? Was there someone lying there firing? How could they load bullets while lying down?
"dong dong dong"

Suddenly, the sound of rapid drumbeats sounded. It was the British adults urging these glorious British, Indian and Indian soldiers to launch a bayonet charge immediately!

Those black-faced "Singers" had been well trained by their white masters. When they heard the drumbeats, they subconsciously drew out their bayonets and inserted them into the muzzles of their guns, then shouted "God save the Queen" and rushed towards the "lying" Crusaders.

The Crusaders responded by throwing out hundreds of smoking nitrate grenades!

These grenades seemed to have eyes, either falling on the heads of these "Indians" or around them. God blesses Luo Yaoguo's "fifth sister", Queen Victoria, not these Indians. So more than half of the nitrate grenades exploded in a blink of an eye, killing and injuring more than 30% of these unfortunate Indians!

"Damn it! Damn the devil." Lieutenant Colonel Michel, who was supervising the battle from behind, had red eyes, clenched his fists tightly, and looked incredible and unacceptable. The British and Indian troops he had trained could not possibly lose like this!

"Charge drum!" Michelle yelled hysterically like a gambler who had lost all his money.

He is going to make a final attempt by betting the remaining one thousand or so Indian lives!
But before the drummer beside him could beat the charge drum, a sharp and piercing sound that he would never forget suddenly came from the walled village in front of him.

"Ding. Ta-da-da-da."

Then he heard the Portuguese cry: "God bless us!"

The Indians under his command also saw a scene that made them completely despair. A large group of "foreign Crusaders" were rushing out of the besieged village in front with rifles equipped with bayonets, shouting slogans in Portuguese and charging towards their flanks!

In front of them, the Crusaders had already loaded bullets with quick movements and raised their guns to shoot again!
On one side there was precise shooting, and on the other side there were "foreign soldiers" charging with bayonets. The Indians, who had already suffered heavy casualties, collapsed in an instant and turned around and ran away.

Michelle and Li Taiguo, who saw their own army on the verge of collapse, were all stunned and could only murmur: "How is it possible? How could the British army lose?"

(End of this chapter)