The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 527 The final battle of the Qing Dynasty has begun! (Please vote and subscribe!)

In the fifth year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign, on the first day of August, at 3:30 pm.

On the Yongding River Plain, the morning mist had not yet dissipated. Mathilde Bonaparte, holding a French saber tightly and standing with her chest puffed out, stood on a high ground behind the left wing artillery position of the Beiyang New Army. In front of her was Changxindian, the most important stronghold of the Taiping Army east of the Yongding River.

Although she could only vaguely see the outline of Changxindian, she knew that in the past few days, while the front line of Yongding River was covered by rain, the Taiping Army had been trying their best to improve their fortifications. According to the daytime reconnaissance, three winding serpentine trenches had appeared on the west bank of Yongding River. In front of the trenches were stockades, and behind them was a low breastwork - although the breastwork was not high, Mathilde's military advisers told her that the low breastwork was difficult to be destroyed by artillery fire!

Therefore, the 108 12-pound cannons she prepared for Li Hongzhang would probably not be able to break through the Taiping Army's defenses for the attacking infantry.
If her dear Li Hongzhang wanted to break through the Taiping Army's solid defense line, the best tactic should be to use the advantage of military strength to pull the Taiping Army's defense line, deploy the main force on the two wings of the front line, adopt a "strong side, weak side" layout, one wing to contain, and the other wing to attack, and at the same time place the reserve troops in the middle to retain the option of reinforcing the left and right wings, or simply attack the center directly. Well, it's the same layout as her great uncle Emperor Napoleon I in the Battle of Waterloo!
Thinking of the Battle of Waterloo, Mathilde's heart skipped a beat, and she tightly grasped her saber in her right hand. This saber had been used in many battles, including the Battle of Waterloo. It originally belonged to Marshal Michel Ney, who commanded the French cavalry in the Battle of Waterloo. Shortly after the Battle of Waterloo, he was arrested and sentenced to death by the restored Bourbon dynasty.
"Marty, don't be nervous. This time it's 150,000 versus 100,000, not counting the old and weak beggars, so we still have the advantage!" Li Hongzhang's voice rang in Mathilde's ears. His French became more and more fluent, with a Corsican accent that the Bonaparte family deliberately retained. "And the strategy you proposed is feasible. As long as it is used properly, we will definitely win! Marty, meeting you is really the greatest fortune of my life, Li Hongzhang!"

Mathilde turned her head following Li Hongzhang's voice and saw that the big man Li, who had come behind her at some point, was wearing a newly cut peacock feather that fluttered in the morning breeze, just like the gold leaf used for Napoleon's coronation in the gallery of the Palace of Fontainebleau.

Mathilde was now in a much happier mood. She quickly stepped forward and wanted to give her "His Majesty the Emperor" a passionate kiss, but she saw Zeng Guofan walking towards her accompanied by several aides, so she had to give up.

"Shaoquan," Zeng Guofan's hoarse voice rang out, "You two came earlier than me!"

Li Hongzhang turned around quickly and looked at his mentor. Zeng Guofan's eyes were bloodshot, obviously he had not slept all night. In his hand was a copy of "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, the pages of which were already frayed.

"Teacher, rest assured," Li Hongzhang straightened his hat, "I have asked General De (Li Hongzhang's French military advisor De Vigne) to deploy all 108 cannons. We are just waiting for your order, and then all the cannons will be fired at once."

"Pass the order down!" Zeng Guofan suddenly raised his voice, "Right now, fire all the cannons at once and bombard the left and right wings of the Taiping Army for an hour. At 3:30 am, launch the first round of infantry charge!"

"Order!"

Li Hongzhang clasped his fists towards Zeng Guofan, then turned and nodded towards Mathilde. Mathilde immediately drew out the saber that Marshal Ney had used, raised it high, and then swung it under his command, shouting in French: "Fire! God save my emperor!"

When she shouted this slogan, her blue eyes were looking straight at Li Hongzhang.

When the fifty-four heavy guns roared, the earth looked like a chessboard overturned by a giant. Li Hongzhang, who raised his telescope, saw three incendiary bombs drawing scarlet parabolas in the air and accurately falling into the trench on the right wing of the Taiping Army. Dozens of flaming crows flew out from the flames, which turned out to be a straw decoy set up by Yang Xiuqing.

On the watchtower on the opposite bank, Yang Xiuqing took off the gilded telescope from his waist. The words "Heavenly Father, Heavenly Brother, Heavenly King, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" engraved on the tube of the telescope were somewhat illuminated by the artillery fire from both wings of the Hunan-Huaihe Allied Forces.

While he was trying to figure out what Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang on the other side were planning, his foreign brother Winster White suddenly spoke up: "Eastern King, the formation of the Qing demons on the other side seems to be similar to that of Emperor Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo!"

Yang Xiuqing was stunned: "Napoleon? Waterloo"

In the darkness of night, a fire dragon was still rolling forward on the official road from Tianjin to Beijing!

These were the 36 elite troops of the Taiping Army's First Division, led by Luo Yaoguo and Su Sanniang, including a battalion of light cavalry and 6 -jin field cannons produced by the Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

These 10,000 people had been marching at a rapid pace since yesterday morning, with only less than two hours of rest. Although everyone was sweating profusely, they showed no sign of stopping.

Luo Yaoguo was also in the queue, but he no longer pretended to share the hardships with the soldiers. As the de facto leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there was no need for him to waste his energy on this matter.

So this time he, Su Sanniang and Wanzhen set off for Beijing in a Western four-wheeled carriage prepared for him by Boyong.

As the Western carriage rolled over the bluestone official road, Luo Yaoguo's "Tongtian Mirror" was flashing a series of old photos of Beijing. Wanzhen, who was leaning against him, stared at the flashing walls of Beijing in the mirror and suddenly saw four Maxim machine guns mounted on the arrow tower of Zhengyang Gate - that was an image of the future that she could never understand.

Wanzhen was worried about her sister, so she finally mustered up the courage to ask, "Prince, are you contacting Brother Tian? What did he say?"

Luo Yaoguo looked up at the little girl. He found that it was already dawn outside, around five o'clock in the morning. "Wanzhen, don't worry. This is the last battle of the Qing Dynasty!"

"The last battle?" Wanzhen's expression was a little complicated. "After this battle, will the Qing Dynasty be gone?" "Not necessarily," Luo Yaoguo shook his head. "Maybe it's only in name?" He suddenly lowered his voice, opened the car window, and asked a cavalryman outside the window loudly: "Where are we now?"

"Xihewu, just passed Xihewu!"

Luo Yaoguo said: "Send the order, speed up and reach Beijing tonight!"

Beijing, Forbidden City.

When Nara counted to the sixty-sixth cannon shot, the thunder-like sound outside finally stopped.

Nara sighed: "Is this... the fight over?"

Sushun shook his head and said, "It has just begun!" He took out an English pocket watch and opened it to see, "The one-hour bombardment has just ended, and the next wave of the Hunan Army's beggars' army will charge!"

"It's just the first wave?" Nara Laner asked, "I wonder how many copies Zeng Guofan is going to order?"

"Fifty thousand!" Sushun stretched out his hand and slapped his hand. "Fifty thousand beggars are not Zeng Guofan's elite troops, but a mob. Although they are a mob, they can also consume the forces of Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing! After they have attacked for a few times, we will send out the elite troops!"

Na La Lan nodded: "Kindness is not good for commanding troops, Zeng Guofan did a good job!"

"Report to the Queen Mother, urgent news from the Shenji Camp!"

Feng Guifen rushed in and handed a military report to the Holy Mother Empress Dowager. Naralan took the report and opened it. Her brows, which had been relaxed, suddenly tightened. "Senggelinqin and Du Han are heading towards Deshengmen. What do they want to do? Are they ignoring the Nian Army in the north of the city?"

Sushun stood up and said, "Empress Dowager, they may have been scared away by the Nianzi. I will go and stop them!"

Na Lalan nodded: "Okay, thank you for your hard work!"

Inside the Hanyuan Hall of Yingtai, Emperor Xianfeng had already changed into imperial court robes and was sitting upright on the kang. There was no trace of madness on his sallow face, and his eyes were clear.

The artillery fire dyed the morning mist of the Yongding River red. Twelve-pound shells tore through the humid air, blasting waves of mud on the Taiping Army's positions. Standing behind the bunker of the Changxindian Fortress, Yang Xiuqing squinted his eyes and looked at the two wings of his own army that were being bombarded, but he did not order a counterattack - he did not have a Mathilde to supply him with ammunition! Yang Xiuqing's fingertips stroked the gilded hilt of the Seven-Star Sword at his waist, calculating which wing Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Army would launch the main attack on.

Suddenly, he smelled a burning smell - it was the hot incendiary bomb that ignited the scarecrow behind the barricade.

"What a brilliant plan, King Dong!" Hong Rengan laughed and unfolded his folding fan. "The two thieves Zeng and Li have used up all their shells. Can we let our brothers push up from behind the second breastwork now?"

It turned out that Yang Xiuqing had long known that the Beiyang artillery was powerful, so he simply ordered the Taiping Army, which was originally guarding the first trench, to retreat along the communication trench as soon as the enemy's artillery bombardment began - this method was actually taught by Luo Yaoguo!

When Yang Xiuqing thought of Luo Yaoguo, his eyelids twitched.

Suddenly, a broken gong sounded from the other bank. Tens of thousands of beggars swarmed toward the cold Yongding River like locusts. The water in the Yongding River was not deep and could be waded across. Zhang Ah Si from Shandong was caught in the second formation with his blue cloth headscarf. When his straw sandals stepped into the cold river water, he saw that the men in the front row suddenly became half a head shorter - the sharpshooters of the Taiping Army on the other bank suddenly opened fire. They also had Minié rifles!

The captain's gold teeth flashed in the smoke: "Three pounds of rice will be rewarded for crossing the river! If you behead one of them, you can be included in the Eight Banners of Begging for Life!" Before he finished speaking, a flash of gunfire flashed on the opposite Taiping Army's position, and the head of this gold-toothed captain suddenly exploded, and brains and blood splattered all over Zhang Ah Si's face.

Then someone else shouted, "Those who retreat will die, and only those who advance can survive. If one of them is beheaded, he will be a descendant of the Eight Banners who have been eating the emperor's food for generations! He will never suffer from hunger or cold again..."

(End of this chapter)