1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 253 The Siege of Changsha
Peng Gang reined in his horse and stopped in front of the Taiping Army's command tent in the southern suburbs of Changsha. He strode into the tent.

What came into Peng Gang's view were Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, Feng Yunshan, Zeng Shuiyuan, and others with furrowed brows.

"Greetings, Heavenly King; greetings to the Eastern King and Southern King." Peng Gang greeted Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, and others.

Peng Gang did not inquire about the progress of the attack on Changsha.

The expressions of Hong Xiuquan, Yang Xiuqing, and others had already given Peng Gang the answer; there was no need to ask further.

"Seventh Brother! We've been waiting for you like the stars and the moon, and you've finally arrived!"

Yang Xiuqing was genuinely happy to see Peng Gang. She personally got up to greet him and helped him to a seat.

"Changsha is a fortified city with powerful cannons, and the Qing forces defending it are numerous and cunning. Seventh brother, you have many ideas, do you have any good strategies for taking Changsha?"

Yang Xiuqing's attitude toward Peng Gang was the best barometer of the Taiping Army's attack on Changsha.

Even in Xunzhou Prefecture, when Peng Gang and Yang Xiuqing had a harmonious relationship.

Yang Xiuqing has never been in such a state before.

Yang Xiuqing's humble posture only shows that the situation in Changsha is far more troublesome than expected.

"What good strategies do I have? There are no shortcuts to attacking a fortified city. The best we can do is surround it from three sides, leaving one side open, to lure the enemy out of the city and then annihilate them. We can also take it from within and without. We can use artillery to cover a strong attack. We can also use tunnels to breach the walls and enter the city. We can also establish a long siege and force them to surrender when their food supplies run out," Peng Gang said as if reciting a familiar story.

This wasn't him being perfunctory with Yang Xiuqing; siege warfare, especially the attack on large cities, has always been the most difficult and bloodiest battle throughout history.

Changsha is the largest city that the Taiping Army has attacked so far. Compared with the Qing army defending Changsha, the Taiping Army's firepower and even troop strength seem to be inferior.

If Peng Gang were to attack Changsha City himself, this would be the only way he could fight.

"Aside from using an inside job to take Changsha, I've tried all other methods," Yang Xiuqing said after a moment's thought.

"Zuo Zongtang is working for you. I've heard that Zuo Zongtang and Jiang Zhongyuan have a very close personal relationship. Could you ask Zuo Zongtang to persuade Jiang Zhongyuan to defect to the right side?"

The fact that Yang Xiuqing even wanted to turn his nemesis Jiang Zhongyuan against him shows that Yang Xiuqing was indeed running out of ideas for attacking Changsha.

“It’s worth a try, but I’m not confident. I hope the Eastern King won’t pin his hopes on this plan,” Peng Gang said, nodding.

“That’s natural. Digging more tunnels and bombing several sections of Changsha’s city walls is the right way to go,” Yang Xiuqing said.

The fact that Yang Xiuqing dug multiple tunnels indicates that he had already tried but failed, and that he had no choice but to resort to increasing the number of tunnels to try and succeed.

"Did the Qing demons break our army's strategy of attacking cities from underground?" Peng Gang asked.

"We captured some Qing prisoners in the field and learned through interrogation that the Qing had buried large jars in many places in the city and had blind men lie on the jars to listen for sounds in order to determine the direction of our tunnels. They would then descend from the city walls and dig tunnels through the sounds of shovels and spades, either by pouring foul water down the tunnels or by smoking them out with fire. The soldiers of the earthen camp suffered considerable casualties."

Recently, the Qing devils sent troops down the city walls again, digging deep trenches outside the city to cut off the tunnels dug by our earthen camp. I have sent troops to drive away these Qing devils who came out of the city many times, but the cannons on the walls of Changsha can fire from afar and with great firepower, causing heavy casualties to our army, forcing us to withdraw." Yang Xiuqing gave Peng Gang a detailed account of the main force's attack on Changsha.

"The siege has been unsuccessful. Recently, the Qing demons have become much bolder, and they have been climbing out of the city walls to attack the Tu camp soldiers who are digging tunnels more and more frequently."

Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, who were standing to the side, were also sighing.

The reason they attacked Guilin was because the ground was full of rocks, making it impossible to dig.

Changsha was able to dig tunnels, but the garrison in Changsha was even more cunning than the garrison in Guilin.

Was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom truly destined to be forever separated from big cities?
The fortified cities of Quanzhou and Hengyang were all breached using the method of siege warfare via tunnels. It seems that the Qing army in Changsha has learned a lot from these experiences and is making progress.

"The Qing demons used their ability to listen to the earth and their strategy of digging deep trenches to break our strategy of attacking the city from underground. We can only succeed by digging deeper and digging more tunnels."

More than the failure to capture the city, Peng Gang was concerned about the strength of the Qing army garrison in Changsha. The fact that the Qing army dared to repeatedly descend from the city walls to fight indicated that their strength was quite abundant.

"Since you have captured Qing demon prisoners, have you found out how many demon soldiers are in Changsha?"

“The Qing demons falsely claim that there are 300,000 troops in Changsha, but there are definitely not 300,000 Qing demons in Changsha. However, including the troops from other provinces and the local militia, there are still about 120,000 to 130,000 soldiers,” Yang Xiuqing said after thinking for a moment.

The number of Qing troops inside Changsha was also a matter of great concern to Yang Xiuqing.

So far, most of the Qing army officers captured by Yang Xiuqing were middle and lower-ranking officers and militia leaders.

These lower- and middle-ranking Green Standard Army officers and militia leaders obviously had no access to the core secret of how many troops were actually stationed in Changsha.

Yang Xiuqing could only estimate the approximate number of Qing troops garrisoning Changsha City based on the confessions obtained from interrogating these prisoners and his experience in fighting the Qing army.

120,000 to 130,000 garrison troops
Peng Gang was speechless upon hearing this number.

Logically, in a siege, the attacking side should have an absolute numerical advantage in order to be able to surround the city and have a greater chance of success in capturing it.

The Qing army was indeed beyond the comprehension of common sense.

Currently, the Taiping army surrounding Changsha has 33,000 troops in the East Palace, 17,000 troops in the West Palace, and 16,000 troops in the South Palace.

Even including the ten thousand or so men that Peng Gang just brought, the total force is only around eighty thousand.

It's simply unbelievable that over 80,000 people besieged a city defended by 120,000 to 130,000 troops.

The Taiping army was outnumbered and lacked internal support, unlike the battle of Wuxuan. Xiao Chaogui's raid on Changsha failed, and he lost the initiative. Changsha was also well-stocked with troops.

If we persist in a prolonged siege of Changsha, there is a risk of repeating the mistakes of the Battle of Guilin.

"The situation in Changsha is very unfavorable for us," Peng Gang said with a worried expression. "Seventh Brother, I urgently need to see you. I have two requests to make," Yang Xiuqing said, revealing the reason for her urgent visit to Peng Gang.

"The Qing forces occupied Shuiluzhou and built fortifications on it. They also blocked the Xiangjiang River waterway with river locks, preventing our ships from crossing the Xiangjiang River into Dongting Lake."

The Qing forces attached great importance to the defense of Shuiluzhou. I sent troops to attack Shuiluzhou five times, but I failed to capture it.

Shuiluzhou is located in the center of the Xiang River, and only a naval force can attack it.

The Northern Palace's naval camp is the strongest among all the palaces; the crucial task of attacking the Water and Land Continent falls to none other than the Northern Palace.

The lower reaches of the Xiang River have many alluvial sandbars, among which Shuiluzhou (Orange Isle) is the most famous.

Shuiluzhou is located in the center of the Xiangjiang River, facing Yuelu Mountain to the west and Changsha City to the east. Surrounded by water on all sides, it is a long and narrow sandbar that stretches for 5,000 meters.

The Xiangjiang River near Changsha is about one kilometer wide, and it is slightly wider at Shuiluzhou Island.

Given the range of the Qing army's artillery, the cannons near the western wall of Changsha could not cover the entire Xiang River.

But it's different once you occupy the land and water islands.

The distance from Shuiluzhou to both banks of the Xiang River is exactly five or six hundred meters. The Qing army deployed cannons on Shuiluzhou, which enabled them to block the Xiang River.

Yang Xiuqing's proposal to attack Shuiluzhou and dredge the Xiangjiang River waterway, as well as his talk of entering and exiting Dongting Lake, indicates that he already had the idea of ​​giving up on Changsha City.

This is undoubtedly a positive sign.

Of course, the Taiping army could also choose not to take the Xiangjiang River waterway and instead travel by land to enter Dongting Lake.

However, the Taiping army's supply ships carried the survival supplies for more than 400,000 people from the four palaces in the east, west, south, and north.

Not taking the waterway not only meant that the march and transfer would be more arduous and dangerous, but also that they would have to abandon a lot of supplies that they could not take with them.

Unless absolutely necessary, fighting on the water and land islands will definitely be necessary.
Take Shui Lu Zhou and capture the Shui Lu Zhou fort.

This ensured the safety of the waterway west of Shuiluzhou, as the Qing army's cannons on the western wall of Changsha could not reach the Xiangjiang River waterway west of Shuiluzhou.

The Taiping army's fleet could pass through the section of the river near Changsha City via the waterway west of Shuiluzhou, head north to Dongting Lake, join forces with Shi Dakai and Wei Changhui, and then sail down the river to attack Wuchang, where the Qing army's defenses were weaker.

This is Peng Gang's idea; as for what Yang Xiuqing thinks, Peng Gang doesn't know yet.

"After I have investigated the true situation of Shuiluzhou, I will order the naval forces to attack and occupy Shuiluzhou." Peng Gang nodded and agreed.

"Fourth Brother mentioned two things. Taking over Shuiluzhou is only one. What is the second thing?"

The Beidian fleet also had to pass through the Xiangjiang River section near Shuiluzhou. The attack on Shuiluzhou was not only for the Taiping Army as a whole, but also for Beidian's own benefit.

Peng Gang had no reason to refuse.

"The number of earthen troops in the East, West, and South Palaces is insufficient. We want to use the earthen troops in the North Palace to dig tunnels. This will not only distract and draw away the Qing demon troops in Changsha City, but also reduce the pressure on the North Palace's water troops to attack Shuiluzhou."

Secondly, I want to try attacking Changsha one last time. After all, my brother-in-law died here. We are both sons and sons-in-law of the same Heavenly Father, and we should avenge him.” Yang Xiuqing said.

"I will do anything to avenge my brother-in-law," Peng Gang agreed.

Yang Xiuqing was overjoyed and said, "Seventh Brother, what difficulties do you have in conquering Shuiluzhou? Just tell me."

After speaking, Yang Xiuqing asked the other high-ranking officials in the command tent to come out and wait, leaving only Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan, and Peng Gang, the three brothers of the Shentian family.

Seeing that no one else was around, Yang Xiuqing lowered his voice and asked Peng Gang, "If Changsha cannot be taken, where do you intend to go, Seventh Brother?"

Peng Gang was taken aback; Yang Xiuqing had indeed already decided to give up on attacking Changsha.

“Wuchang,” Peng Gang replied.

Wuchang is the provincial capital closest to Changsha and relatively easier to attack compared to Changsha, so the answer to this question is not difficult.

“We share the same idea,” Yang Xiuqing said.

Peng Gang turned to look at Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, and the two nodded to Peng Gang, indicating that they also agreed to attack Wuchang.

“Eighth Brother has already captured Baling, the capital of Yuezhou Prefecture. We have ordered Eighth Brother to wait for us in Baling. After we join forces, we will march east to attack Wuchang,” Yang Xiuqing said.

The capital city of Yuezhou, Baling, controlled the outlet of Dongting Lake. Taking Baling meant that the waterway to the Yangtze River was now open.

In fact, this was the best time for Shi Dakai to launch an attack on Wuchang directly, rather than waiting for the main army to arrive before setting out to attack Wuchang.

However, military affairs are ultimately subject to politics.

Yang Xiuqing's decision not to allow Shi Dakai to attack Wuchang is the same reason why Xiao Chaogui didn't allow Peng Gang to attack Guilin.

Having achievements that overshadow the ruler, even if the ruler is only nominally in charge, is something that any political group would find extremely taboo.

The only difference is that even if Xiao Chaogui hadn't stopped Peng Gang from attacking Guilin, Peng Gang might not have been able to take Guilin.

This time, Shi Dakai has a very good chance of taking Wuchang.

One wonders what Shi Dakai, who was in Yuezhou Prefecture, was feeling at this moment.

(End of this chapter)