Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

"Clap clap clap!"

The Imperial Guard soldiers moved in perfect unison, in platoons and companies. The rhythmic sound of their running echoed through the streets.

The streets of Tianjing City were deserted, without a single person in sight.

All the residents hid in their homes, staring outside in terror.

Three years ago, the Taiping army captured Tianjing, which terrified the residents of the city.

Fortunately, after the Taiping army occupied Nanjing, they did not make things difficult for these ordinary people.

Ordinary people just want to live a peaceful life.

I originally thought that after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was established, it would just be a change of dynasty, right? But over the thousands of years, this land has experienced countless changes of dynasty.

But unexpectedly, last night plunged everyone into terror once again, with fears that the mutinous troops would launch a large-scale massacre.

Led by Chen Yucheng, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Guard headed straight for the Eastern Prince's Mansion.

The 2nd Battalion of the Imperial Guards was responsible for controlling all the city gates of Tianjing.

However, this puts considerable pressure on the 2nd Battalion.

During the Ming Dynasty, Tianjing (Nanjing) had thirteen city gates. Later, the Tartars built three more. Therefore, the 2nd Battalion of the Imperial Guard had to control sixteen city gates. On average, each city gate could only hold a few dozen people.

Inside the Eastern King's mansion, the Northern King, Wei Changhui, was fast asleep, embracing the Eastern King's beautiful concubine.

Many of the elite soldiers were either drinking and gambling, or humiliating the families of the Eastern King's household.

For these people, having won this battle and successfully killed Yang Xiuqing, the Eastern King, it was time for them to enjoy themselves.

At the gate of the Eastern King's mansion, hundreds of soldiers of the Northern King were gathered.

They all stared longingly into the Eastern King's Mansion, waiting for the other troops to come and relieve them so they could also go in and have some fun.

Just then, a group of soldiers dressed in shorts and t-shirts, with buzz cuts or shaved heads, appeared outside the Eastern Prince's Mansion.

"Who are you? This is the Eastern King's residence. The Eastern King, Yang Xiuqing, rebelled and has been executed by the Northern King. Get out of here now!" A blood-soaked officer carrying a long sword shouted menacingly.

The Taiping Army's organization was divided into corps, divisions, brigades, squads, and liang. Each corps, at full strength, consisted of 13,125 men and was commanded by a corps commander. Each corps was further divided into five divisions, each with 2,625 men, commanded by a division commander. Each division was divided into five brigades, each with 525 men, commanded by a brigade commander. Each brigade was divided into five squads, each with 105 men, commanded by a squad leader. Each squad was further divided into five liang, each commanded by a liang commander.

However, most of these Taiping Army troops were understaffed.

Many armies, only a few thousand people.

"By order of the Young Heavenly King, all rebels must disarm. Otherwise, they will be killed without mercy!" Chen Yucheng said coldly.

"What? The Young Heavenly King's order? We are the Northern King's troops! We are killing Yang Xiuqing on the Heavenly King's orders!" The officer looked up, completely disregarding the strangely dressed, child soldiers with their still-childish faces.

"Raise your guns!" Chen Yucheng immediately gave the order.

"Splash!"

Rifles were raised and aimed at the rebels.

"Brothers, grab your weapons!" shouted an officer from the Northern Prince's Mansion.

These elite soldiers from the Northern Prince's Mansion were already incredibly audacious. They didn't take anyone else seriously except for Wei Changhui.

Especially since they had just killed Yang Xiuqing and wiped out the entire Eastern Prince's Mansion, they were in a murderous mood and would not care about these child soldiers.

"Fire!"

Chen Yucheng issued the order with a cold expression.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The guardsmen faithfully carried out the order, and their Type 5 rifles opened fire.

With a crisp gunshot, the bullet flew out.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Hundreds of soldiers from the Northern Prince's Palace were shot down before they could even reach the Imperial Guards.

In just two rounds of firing, all of these elite soldiers from the Northern Prince's Palace were killed.

Although, for many of the guards, it was their first time killing someone.

Many people even felt like vomiting.

This is a normal reaction for someone going to the battlefield for the first time.

Fortunately, their regular training was very effective, which allowed these soldiers to remain calm and carry out their orders normally.

"Operate in platoons and companies, wipe out all rebels. No one is allowed to act alone. Annihilate all rebels!" Chen Yucheng issued the order.

"Yes, Deputy Commander!" the officers and soldiers replied in unison.

Subsequently, the soldiers of the First Battalion of the Imperial Guard entered the Eastern King's Palace and began to purge the rebels inside.

The sound of gunfire awakened the elite troops of the Northern Prince's Mansion who had occupied the Eastern Prince's Mansion.

One by one, carrying all sorts of weapons, they converged on this side of the gate.

"Heavy machine guns, prepare to fire!"

On the side of the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Guard, six Type 5 heavy machine guns were placed directly at the gate of the East Prince's Mansion.

When the rebels surged forward, Chen Yucheng immediately gave the order to open fire.

"Da da da!"

One after another, heavy machine guns began to roar, and dense bullets rained down on the rebel soldiers like a torrential downpour.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Bullets struck human bodies, and blossoms of blood bloomed on their skin.

Countless rebel soldiers who were charging forward fell to the ground.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The other guardsmen were also firing their rifles fiercely.

The dense hail of bullets continued to take the lives of these rebel soldiers.

This was the first time the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guard had realized how simple killing could be.

All they had to do was fire at their targets; they didn't even need to aim to kill the fierce rebels.

The elite soldiers of the Northern Prince's Mansion were completely dumbfounded.

They were battle-hardened veterans! Yet now they were being slaughtered in one fell swoop by a group of child soldiers.

Some of the rebels even collapsed entirely.

They believed these child soldiers were using sorcery. Otherwise, how could those heavy machine guns, seemingly spewing fire, so easily claim everyone's lives?

Countless rebel soldiers could no longer hold on and began to flee.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Guard soldiers pressed their advantage and pursued the enemy.

Two infantry companies from the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Guard entered through the gate of the Eastern Prince's Palace to clear out the rebels inside.

The other two infantry companies were dispersed around the Eastern Prince's Mansion in squads and platoons to prevent the rebels from escaping.

Although their troop strength was completely outmatched by the rebels.

But with their superior weaponry and skillful tactics, they overwhelmed the rebels, leaving them with no chance to fight back.

At this moment, Wei Changhui, the Prince of the North, was also awakened.

"What's going on? What happened? Why were there gunshots?" Wei Changhui put on his clothes and opened the door.

Xu Zongyang, the traitor from the Eastern Prince's Mansion, ran over in a panic.

"Your Highness, it's the Young Heavenly King's troops. They're slaughtering our people like crazy!" Xu Zongyang looked terrified.

"Young Heavenly King? His troops? Those child soldiers from the orphanage? How could they possibly be a match for my elite troops? This is simply a joke!" Wei Changhui clearly did not believe that his battle-hardened troops were no match for the child soldiers from the orphanage.

"Your Highness, those child soldiers are really formidable. Their muskets are incredibly powerful; even the foreigners' muskets can't compare to theirs!" Xu Zongyang explained.

But Wei Changhui clearly didn't believe it. After all, the Taiping Army also used foreign guns and cannons in their battles against the Manchus. It's just that the numbers weren't large.

In the eyes of these Taiping Army high-ranking officials, many times those foreign guns and cannons were not even as useful as cold weapons such as broadswords and spears, so they naturally did not take them seriously.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

At that moment, a gunshot rang out.

A group of elite soldiers from the Northern Prince's Palace who were fleeing were hit by bullets and fell to the ground.

Then, a group of Imperial Guard soldiers rushed in.

Upon seeing Wei Changhui and his group, they immediately raised their guns and fired.

Wei Changhui was, after all, a man who led troops into battle, and he was very vigilant, or rather, he immediately sensed the danger.

He immediately fell to the ground.

At that moment, gunshots rang out.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

As the bullets flew, Xu Zongyang, who had no time to dodge, and several elite guards from the Northern Prince's Mansion were shot dead on the spot.

Such a scene made Wei Changhui's scalp tingle.