Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

"Brothers and sisters! You are all children of God, children of the King of Heaven. We are all like brothers. Your fathers also sacrificed themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven."

The Tartars were brutal; they didn't treat us like human beings, but like slaves to whom they could take whatever they wanted. The landlords and wealthy landowners were even more ruthless in oppressing and exploiting us!

The Heavenly King led us in an uprising against the brutal rule of the Tartars, all in order to create a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom where everyone has land to cultivate, clothes to wear, and food to eat.

Now, although the Heavenly Kingdom has been established, the Tartars are still very powerful. They are still mobilizing large armies to surround and block us, attempting to suppress and annihilate us!

Only by rising up in resistance, killing all the Qing demons, and defending our Kingdom of Heaven can we establish a true Kingdom of Heaven!

Are you all willing to continue fighting for the Kingdom of Heaven? Even if it means giving your lives?

Hong Tian stood in front of thousands of young men who had just finished training and shouted loudly.

Although he is only six and a half years old, his voice is still childish and his body is very thin.

But in the eyes of the many children in the orphanage, Hong Tian's figure was incredibly tall.

Before Hong Tian established the orphanage, they were destitute and couldn't even afford food; many of them nearly starved to death.

After entering the orphanage, they were able to eat their fill, wear clothes, and not suffer from cold or hunger.

Although they have to train every day, they also have to read and learn to read, etc.

But this was the happiest life they had ever had since birth.

This is why these children are so loyal to Hong Tian. They would not hesitate to give their lives for him.

Hong Tian did indeed treat the entire orphanage as his most loyal core group and nurtured them.

Here, he will be provided with a steady stream of loyal soldiers and reliable subjects.

This will be extremely important if he takes control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the future and confronts the Qing government.

"Slay all the Qing demons and protect the Heavenly Kingdom!"

"Long live the Heavenly King! Long live the Heavenly Kingdom!"

The group of young men shouted loudly, their eyes filled with determination.

Although they are all very young, only seventeen or eighteen years old.

But under Hong Tian's tutelage over the past two years, they have become the most steadfast warriors in the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

"Good, very good. I hereby announce the official establishment of the Third Battalion of the Heavenly Kingdom Guard!" Hong Tian was very satisfied with everyone's reaction.

Subsequently, Hong Tian personally presented the soldiers of the Third Battalion of the Heavenly Kingdom Guard with military ranks and distributed weapons.

The Heavenly Kingdom Guard is an armed force that Hong Tian has built up over the past two and a half years, and it only obeys his orders.

The soldiers and officers were all from orphanages.

It can be said that under Hong Tian's almost brainwashing education over the past two years, they are all extremely loyal to him.

This force will be the source of his confidence in suppressing the Tianjing Incident three months later.

The Northern King Wei Changhui killed the Eastern King Yang Xiuqing and purged the entire Eastern King's faction with only three thousand elite soldiers.

Hong Tian's Heavenly Kingdom Guards, though not as elite and valiant as Wei Changhui's.

But in other aspects, it is absolutely superior.

Its main advantage undoubtedly lies in its weaponry and equipment.

The Taiping army's current equipment mainly consisted of cold weapons, supplemented by a small number of foreign guns and cannons.

Furthermore, these foreign guns and cannons were mainly flintlock muskets, matchlock muskets, and even matchlock guns.

The same was true for the Qing army.

The Guards' equipment, on the other hand, was far more advanced.

Hong Tian was a mechanical expert in his previous life, even though he's just a child in this one. However, after managing to import some steam engines from the British and the Gauls, he directed his men to improve these steam engines and then set up a small arsenal.

The raw materials needed by the arsenal, such as steel, coal, copper ingots, saltpeter, and sulfur, were all imported from the British and the Gauls.

Although the British and Gauls are very dark-skinned, they are very expensive.

But as long as these things can be purchased, the arsenal can produce weapons in a continuous stream.

The standard equipment of the soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom Guard includes a rifle, a bayonet, a uniform, a canteen, grenades, and other supplies.

The rifle was named the Type 5 rifle by Hong Tian because it was developed and began mass production when he was five years old.

The Type 5 rifle was a copy of the Mauser 1871 rifle from another timeline, manufactured by Hong Tian, ​​with a caliber of 11 mm. Because black powder was used at that time, the caliber had to be large enough to ensure range and power.

Unlike the flintlock and percussion rifles that are currently the mainstream muzzle-loading rifles, the Type 5 rifle uses breech-loading ammunition, which further simplifies the firing process and increases the rate of fire.

Meanwhile, after improving the formula of black powder, the effective range of the Type 5 rifle could reach more than 400 meters.

Of course, hitting the target at this distance is extremely difficult. Even snipers cannot hit the target every time.

For ordinary soldiers, it is generally sufficient to hit the target at a distance of about 100 meters.

In addition to rifles and wooden-handled grenades, Hong Tian also shamelessly plagiarized the design of the Maxim heavy machine gun and developed the Type 5 heavy machine gun.

In addition, Hong Tian invented the Type 5 80mm mortar and the Type 6 120mm mortar as support firepower for the Heavenly Kingdom Guard.

Next, Hong Tian also plans to produce 75mm mountain guns and 75mm field guns for the Guards' artillery units.

However, producing these cannons requires a considerable amount of copper.

The steel available at the time was not yet capable of meeting the performance requirements for building artillery. Therefore, these cannons were all made of bronze.

In addition, bullets and shells also require copper.

As a result, Hong Tian has spent a lot of money on buying copper ingots over the past two years.

All the treasures bestowed upon him by Hong Xiuquan, as well as his monthly salary as the young Heavenly King, were lost.

That wasn't enough, forcing Hong Tian to resort to begging for money from all over the place.

Fortunately, all these investments were worthwhile.

The current Heavenly Kingdom Guard is definitely a strong and well-equipped force.

The organization of the Heavenly Kingdom's Imperial Guard was completely different from that of the Taiping Army at that time.

The Taiping Army was organized into corps, divisions, brigades, squads, and two units. A corps, at full strength, had only about 13,000 men.

However, most armies are severely understaffed. Many armies have only a few thousand men.

The Imperial Guard, on the other hand, adopted the organization of later generations. Fourteen men formed an infantry squad, with a squad leader and deputy squad leader in charge of management.

Three infantry squads formed an infantry platoon, managed by a platoon leader and deputy platoon leader. The platoon headquarters also included a messenger and a medic. In addition, each infantry platoon had an eight-man fire support team, equipped with a Type 5 heavy machine gun. Thus, a fully manned infantry platoon had a total of 54 men.

Three infantry platoons formed an infantry company, managed by a company commander and deputy company commander. In addition, the company headquarters included two messengers and a cook squad. A fire support group, equipped with a Type 5 80mm mortar, was also included. At full strength, the company had 188 men.

Four infantry companies formed an infantry battalion, managed by a battalion commander and deputy battalion commander. In addition, the battalion headquarters included a reconnaissance platoon, a fire support platoon, and other directly subordinate units. At full strength, the battalion had over nine hundred men. The fire support platoon was equipped with two Type 6 120mm mortars.

With the newly formed Third Battalion, the Heavenly Kingdom Guard now has a total of three battalions.

In addition, Hong Tian's guards were equivalent to an infantry company.

The total number of the Heavenly Kingdom Guard has reached about three thousand.

This is also the source of his confidence in suppressing the Tianjing Incident.

In addition, there are more than 50,000 people in the orphanage.

Every year, children turn sixteen. According to regulations, once they reach sixteen, they can join the Imperial Guard or other departments to work for Hong Tian.

The children in the orphanage were taught to serve Hong Tian, ​​even at the cost of their lives.

This was also Hong Tian's foundation, the source of his confidence to gradually take over and even transform the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

When the children in the orphanage grow up, they will help Hong Tian gradually take control of the entire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, guiding it in the direction Hong Tian desires.