Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

"Da da da!"

The Type 5 heavy machine guns opened fire wildly, and dense bullets rained down on the Qing soldiers like a torrential downpour.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

The bullets easily pierced through the bodies, and flowers of blood bloomed on the bodies of the Qing soldiers.

"Ah! Ah!"

Screams rang out continuously as large numbers of Qing soldiers were hit by bullets and fell to the ground.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The soldiers of the Imperial Guard also opened fire with their rifles.

Although many soldiers were nervous and lacked accuracy.

However, the Qing army was currently in the midst of a dense charge, so they didn't need to be accurate at all; they just needed to fire at the areas with the most people.

Once a bullet is fired, it usually hits its target.

The Type 5 rifle uses breech-loading, fixed ammunition. Therefore, its rate of fire is much faster than other muzzle-loading rifles.

This resulted in the Guards' firepower being extremely concentrated.

Although the Qing soldiers had already rushed to a point very close to the Imperial Guard's defensive line.

But the concentrated firepower was like a wall, and the Qing army crashed into it, suffering heavy losses.

"Da da da! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The Imperial Guard soldiers opened fire wildly, and a hail of bullets reaped the lives of these Qing soldiers.

The entire battlefield scene looked as if it were a wheat harvest.

The bodies of Qing soldiers were piled up in layers.

"Boom! Boom!"

Explosions continued to rang out as the Imperial Guard's artillery seized the opportunity to fire continuously at the Qing army.

Almost every shell that exploded in the ranks of the Qing army took the lives of many Qing soldiers.

Lieutenant General Chen Yucheng, Colonel Sun Qiming, and others all wore serious expressions.

But in reality, they were also very surprised.

Lieutenant General Chen Yucheng, in particular, although he was not yet twenty years old, had already joined the Taiping Army and started leading troops into battle when he was just over ten years old.

In his memory, battles were often extremely brutal.

We must fight the Qing demons with real swords and spears.

Victory is often achieved only after a long and arduous struggle.

But now it seems that everything is becoming very simple.

Or rather, the efficiency of killing is constantly increasing.

In other words, human lives on the battlefield are becoming increasingly fragile.

All it takes is pulling the trigger to take away countless lives.

However, this was actually a good thing for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The Taiping army could more easily defeat the Qing army on the battlefield and win the war. They could occupy more land, continuously accumulating strength until they finally won the war and completely overthrew the Manchu rule.

"All of this is thanks to His Majesty the Heavenly King. His Majesty the Heavenly King will surely lead us to final victory!"

At this moment, Chen Yucheng was absolutely determined.

And countless Guards officers and soldiers shared the same idea.

On the other hand, the Qing army was undoubtedly in a very difficult situation.

At the beginning of the war, they didn't take the child soldiers on the other side seriously at all.

He believed he could easily defeat the Taiping Army and win this battle.

However, the Taiping army, under the command of the commander, dealt a severe blow to the Qing army with their powerful artillery fire. They then began to unleash terrifying firepower, relentlessly reaping the lives of Qing soldiers.

Despite the threat from the supervising team, the Qing soldiers had no choice but to charge forward amidst a hail of bullets from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Imperial Guard.

But that doesn't mean they aren't afraid of death!

When I watched helplessly as my comrades fell one by one.

Especially when you're riddled with bullets from a dense hail of machine gun fire, how could you not be scared?

The Qing soldiers who charged at the forefront quickly turned into corpses.

This undoubtedly dealt a fatal blow to the morale of the entire Qing army.

"Devil! Longhair is a devil! They possess weapons only devils have!"

"Run! We're no match for the Taiping rebels; they'll kill us all!"

Countless Qing soldiers were utterly terrified and fled in all directions.

Even the deterrent effect of the supervisory team was completely ineffective at this point.

Compared to the supervising officers, these Qing soldiers were more afraid of the Imperial Guards.

Especially the heavy machine gun that seemed to be able to breathe fire—it was a terrifying weapon that they had never seen or heard of before!

The Zhejiang Provincial Governor Deng Shaoliang and General Rao Tingxuan, who were watching the battle from the rear, were equally dumbfounded.

They never expected that such a situation would occur.

The Qing soldiers who were charging forward were felled row by row, just like wheat that had been harvested and neatly stacked.

Deng Shaoliang and Rao Tingxuan had been in the military for most of their lives, and they had never seen anything like it before!

"Sorcery! This must be sorcery! Those damned Taiping rebels are using sorcery!" Deng Shaoliang's eyes were filled with terror.

"Admiral, what should we do now?!" Rao Tingxuan was also very panicked.

But Deng Shaoliang himself was completely at a loss and didn't know what to do.

However, they will soon no longer be in such a predicament.

Because the Qing army itself had already collapsed.

Large numbers of Qing soldiers fled in disarray.

Many people even threw away their weapons in order to escape faster.

Blades and spears, as well as matchlock guns, muskets, and flintlock muskets, were scattered all over the ground.

These Qing soldiers now had only one thought in their minds: to run as fast as possible.

Longhair knows sorcery; if we don't run, we're doomed!

What does it mean for an army to collapse like a house of cards? This is exactly the situation the Qing army was facing at that moment.

"Commander, the Tartars have been routed!"

"Order the artillery to extend their fire. Infantry to advance and break through the Tartar defenses!" Lieutenant General Chen Yucheng decisively issued the order.

"Yes, Commander!" Colonel Sun Qiming replied.

"Boom! Boom!"

The artillery battalion's field guns began to adjust their muzzles, and the shells began to penetrate deep into the Qing army's territory.

Or rather, they were practically chasing after the fleeing Qing army.

Shells kept falling, killing more and more Qing soldiers.

This continuously damaged the morale of the Qing army, making them even less courageous to resist the Taiping army's attacks.

Upon receiving orders, the soldiers of the three infantry regiments of the 1st Infantry Division of the Imperial Guards also began to leap out of their defensive lines and pursue the fleeing Qing troops.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division of the Guards Corps opened fire as they pursued the enemy.

The Type 5 rifle in his hand kept firing bullets, taking the lives of those Qing soldiers.

Qing soldiers were constantly being hit by bullets and fell to the ground.

This caused even more Qing soldiers to flee desperately, fearing they would be killed if they were too slow.

In particular, the heavy machine guns and mortars of the 1st Guards Infantry Division were also carried by the soldiers to join the pursuit.

They would stop and fire from time to time.

The overwhelming firepower inflicted heavy losses on the Qing army.

This caused the morale of the Qing army to plummet to rock bottom.

Many Qing soldiers, after being caught up, knelt down and surrendered.

Originally, the Taiping army was not very accepting of the Qing army's surrender.

However, the situation was different for the Imperial Guard. In Hong Tian's plan, the surrendered Qing officers and soldiers would become free labor for the infrastructure construction for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's large-scale war.

Whether it's building railways or highways, or mining, a large amount of labor is required.

These prisoners of war were all strong and healthy.

Killing him like that would be such a waste.

Rather than that, it would be better to spare their lives and force them to work on construction sites and in mines for a long time to come.

This can be considered a way to make use of waste.

It was also a way for these Qing soldiers to atone for the crimes they had committed.

The surrendered Qing soldiers were gathered up and placed under guard.

This caught the eye of the other fleeing Qing soldiers.

Since surrendering won't result in being killed, continuing to flee might actually lead to being killed.

So why continue running away?

The power of role models is immense, and more Qing soldiers began to surrender.

Many Qing soldiers surrendered immediately after being caught up.

This resulted in the Imperial Guard receiving an increasing number of prisoners.