The sun never sets

In the process of conquering Shanxi, many weapons were seized, including thousands of guns, dozens of Gatling guns and dozens of cannons. Although those cannons were old-fashioned recoil guns, and their firing rate and power were not as good as the latest cannons, cannons were still cannons, and with cannons, the whole army felt different.

Robbery is the only way to make a fortune. How can you get it faster than seizing it? Not only weapons and equipment, but also money and soldiers. In just one month, Lin Yongchang's capital has increased by more than ten times.

With cannons, he didn't even care about the walls of Taiyuan. Datong City was strong and thick, and there wasn't much oil and water inside. It wouldn't be much good to take it down, so he didn't have to fight for the time being. But Taiyuan was different. The wealth of the entire Shanxi Province was piled up here. If he took Taiyuan, he would be rich!

"Listen, brothers in the city, open the city gates and surrender immediately. Otherwise, when the city is broken, no one will be left alive."

The rebel brothers who were shouting with wooden trumpets were first shot at by the muskets above, and then they shouted: "Fuck your grandma, come and attack the city, our hands are itching to attack!"

A few brave soldiers stood on the top of the city wall, holding their little brothers and spraying water down. Lin Yongchang looked at the birdmen swinging birds on the top of the city wall with a telescope and cursed, "Damn, you bastards who can't even use electric current to push, dare to use the ultimate bladder sword?"

"Send a message to the artillery camp, concentrate the artillery fire and beat those bastards at the north gate. When the artillery fire stops, all troops will attack the city with all their strength." Lin Yongchang gave this order. He already had a hundred thousand troops, and the number of troops expanded too quickly, which made him more confident. Even if most people did not have guns, with so many people, they could trample the people inside to death.

There were more than 4,000 defenders in Taiyuan City, nearly half of whom were temporarily recruited "village warriors" armed with cold weapons such as swords and guns. Most of Lin Yongchang's men were using cold weapons, and the defenders in the city were not much better.

The Rebel artillery pushed the cannons onto the forts that had been built long ago.

, and then bombarded the city walls indiscriminately.

After ten minutes of bombardment, a large number of Boxer soldiers, under the cover of Maxim and Greene cannons, armed with swords, spears, hoes, spatulas and other weapons, swarmed towards Taiyuan City like locusts. Previously, Lin Yongchang was destroying the surrounding officers and soldiers, and Wang Lao and others attacked several times, but failed to attack the top of the city, which gave the defenders a lot of confidence. But the rebels did not use their full strength in the first few days, and today it is true.

Those Green Cannons and Maxim Cannons were weapons of the officers and soldiers. They were seized by Lin Yongchang before they could exert their due power. Now it is most appropriate to use them to attack Taiyuan City.

"The Boxers are coming..."

Outside Taiyuan City, the sound of killing shook the sky. Several "rioters" leaders stood on high ground, holding ghost-head swords, and shouted loudly: "Fight into Taiyuan, and leave no one alive."

"After we take Taiyuan, we will kill everyone."

……

"After we take Taiyuan, we will kill everyone."

……

Now, everyone in Taiyuan city, whether they were bureaucrats, gentry, landlords, merchants, or even ordinary people, were afraid.

In one morning, Lin Yongchang almost saw the dawn of victory, just that little bit. After a morning of fierce fighting on the Taiyuan city wall, the Shanxi governor knew that the main force of the Boxers had arrived and the city would be breached soon, but it was too late to escape now.

Although the officers and soldiers barely stopped the Boxer's attack, they suffered heavy casualties. The enemy's firepower was too strong, and the walls were littered with corpses, both of their own people and rioters. Although the rioters under the city temporarily withdrew, their morale was extremely high, and their slogans became louder and louder, causing panic among the people in the city.

Chapter 70: Forever Healthy

The morale of the Boxers outside the city was high, and everyone could see that Taiyuan was only one breath away. If they broke into Taiyuan City, wouldn't they be rich? Many of the Shanxi people had never seen the glamorous world and thought that Taiyuan was heaven on earth. Now the heaven on earth was right in front of them, and they were heroes, so who could resist!

When the people inside heard the slogan "Enter Taiyuan and leave no one alive", their scalps went numb. During the Hongyang Rebellion decades ago, the Taiping Army killed a lot of people, but it was still not as good as the organized and planned massacre by the officers and soldiers. A few days ago, Shanxi was full of introductions to the Ten Days of Yangzhou, the Three Massacres of Jiading, and various massacres by officers and soldiers during the Taiping Army era. They also introduced in detail the massacres by the Jin soldiers in Shanxi in the early years of the Guochao Dynasty, which aroused the public's excitement. At that time, many leaders of the Boxers shouted the slogans of "tooth for tooth" and "blood for blood".

The massacres committed by the Jin soldiers in Shanxi were all real and well documented, and many of them were even proudly written into history books. The original intention was to scare the Han people, but now they have all become evidence of crimes. The officials and common people in the city have also read a lot of related tabloids, and now they hear the slogans outside, they are really scared.

Lin Yongchang was also furious when he heard this. He could give up the wealth in Taiyuan City, but those craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, leatherworkers, and those banks, were urgently needed by the new regime. If they were all killed, the meaning of taking over Taiyuan City would be lost by half.

But morale should be boosted, not dampened, and Lin Yongchang could not say anything. The most important thing in a war is victory, and it is not good to blame anyone for not taking Taiyuan. Taking advantage of the panic in the city, he used another "tactic of war" and asked someone to contact the leader of the militia in the city, agreeing that as long as the city gates were opened, he would be appointed as a garrison commander.

Why did they capture Yan Baichuan and his son and bring them to serve in the army? One reason was that Yan Baichuan was "famous", and the other was that the Yan family was from Shanxi and had many acquaintances in Taiyuan, who might be able to use them. Now, they were being used.

Yan Shutang and others contacted the militia leader in Taiyuan City and found an opportunity to open the city gates of Taiyuan. The Boxers outside rushed in, looted the city and massacred the people in the southeast corner of the city, saying that they wanted to avenge the massacre committed by the Jin soldiers in Shanxi in the Jiashen year.

Hatred was one thing, looting and killing was another, the two complemented each other, a fire soon broke out in the southeast corner of the city, and shouts and screams were heard. Lin Yongchang was sleeping, and after being awakened by his personal soldiers, he came out to take a look, ordered to give ten dollars to the person who came to report the news, and then went back to sleep.

[Looting incident:

After capturing Taiyuan, the soldiers looted the city due to the brutal fighting and the desire for wealth.

1. Strict military discipline, no looting, professionalism +5%, Taiyuan desolation +???

2. This is the soldier's right, Taiyuan desolation degree +75%]

Many people died during the siege, and the soldiers need to be allowed to vent their anger, but they cannot be allowed to leave no one alive. It is night now, and if we send soldiers into the city, they may fight with their own people, so we should wait until tomorrow morning. This emergency will not disappear for the time being, so choose the first option after waking up.

As the territory expanded and the number of people increased, various problems began to arise. For example, corruption was growing, but now it was a war, and the most important thing was to sweep Shanxi before the court could react. Winning the war was the most important thing, so Lin Yongchang turned a blind eye to many things.

I fell on the bed with my clothes on and soon fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I went out of the tent to flush the toilet. After I finished, I shook myself twice. It was another beautiful day.

Wang Hu was waiting at the door of the tent. When he saw Lin Yongchang coming back, he immediately stepped forward and said, "Marshal,

The troops are ready.”

"Let Xu Wuji lead the troops into the city to maintain order."

Xu Wuji was the top student of the first class of the Baoding Military Academy. On the day of the graduation ceremony, he was the one who walked at the front of the procession holding a red flag.

“What if someone doesn’t listen?”

"Anyone who dares to resist will be shot on the spot!"

When killing Guo Ji and his gang, Lin Yongchang was still a little uncomfortable, but now he is indifferent. It's just a death. Is there anyone who doesn't die in this world? After seeing too much, his heart has become hard. You have to be hard-hearted. It's hard for gentle and kind people to survive, because this world is neither gentle nor kind.

After Xu Wuji led his troops into Taiyuan City, fighting broke out in several places in the city. The gunfire continued for a while, and then died down. The fighting power of the other Boxers was not very good to begin with, and they lost their organization when looting the city, and were no match for the military police. Order in the city was quickly reestablished. The military police set up checkpoints at various intersections and set up machine guns and cannons on the top of the city. Even if the other Boxers were dissatisfied, they could only become obedient in front of the machine guns and cannons.

But the leaders of each family would not give up. They fought hard to capture Taiyuan City, so why should they not be allowed to enjoy themselves for a few days? That didn't make sense! They couldn't beat the military police who were maintaining order, and they didn't dare to fight, so they had to form a group to come to Lin Yongchang for help.

"Marshal, that's not what you said before!"

"That's right! I said I would leave no one alive, how can you go back on your word?"

"Marshal Lin, you can't go back on your word!"

Lin Yongchang was furious when he heard this. He stood up and said angrily, "Damn it, I didn't say those words! Well, don't you want to kill everyone? Pass the order down, kill all the chickens and dogs in the city, and give them to the brothers to drink with!"

"........."

"........."

The leaders looked at each other in bewilderment. Could this be the explanation for leaving no one alive?

Lin Yongchang sneered: "Do you have different opinions?"

Wang Hu and his personal soldiers put their hands on the hilts of their knives and pistols. The leaders' eyelids twitched and they immediately shouted, "Whatever the Marshal says, that's what it is!"

"Yes, what Marshal Lin said is right!"

"Marshal Lin will always be healthy!"

Soon, a rich aroma wafted from the large iron pot outside the city. The Boxers were sweating as they ate, and were extremely grateful to Marshal Lin. Some of the soldiers below were very happy to eat, but the leaders were not too satisfied. Under the tyranny of the Lin family army, everyone dared not speak out, and they could not help but complain a few words when they privately communicated. But soon, they stopped complaining.

After capturing Taiyuan City, Lin Yongchang ordered Yan Baichuan to lead the military police to search the houses of local tyrants and gentry and the scholar-officials. The local tyrants and gentry who resisted the imperial army were beheaded. The scholar-officials were first asked if they were willing to surrender, and then they were killed if they were not willing to surrender. The governor of Shanxi was ready to commit suicide when the city was broken, but he was too timid and could not do it with the sword in his hand, so he was captured alive.

The governor was the first to be questioned, but he did not dare to surrender, nor did he dare to say he would not surrender. He lowered his head and trembled. Lin Yongchang waited for a moment, then waved his hand, "Shoot him! Just say he died in battle."

The governor shuddered, then looked up and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

The governor could be killed or not, but Lin Yongchang could not show weakness, as the leaders of the militia were all prominent and lawless. He could show mercy, but only after establishing his authority.

[Prisoner of War: Zhou Yi

1. Release. Prestige -10

2. Execution. Prestige +10, Jin favorability -50]

Lin Yongchang chose the second one.

Chapter 71: Painful Cleansing

Baldy Lin killed too many people, and in order to get food and money, he tossed all the Shanxi merchants in Taiyuan City. Yan Baichuan and Yan Shutang, father and son, became Baldy Lin's accomplices. They were locals, and even if they didn't know something, they knew who to ask. Under the attack of Yan's father and son, landlords, corrupt officials, and foreigners' lackeys were all pulled out.

Yan Baichuan and Yan Shutang didn't want to do this, but they had to do it. Lin Yongchang didn't tolerate any sand in his eyes, and he gave too much. They were now branded as traitors, which was not good, but the temptation to control the economic lifeline of the entire Shanxi was too great, and the young and energetic Yan Baichuan couldn't resist.

The fact that he gave a lot was one thing, and the fact that Marshal Lin killed so many people was another. So many wealthy merchants, officials, and generals were killed without any hesitation? Yan Baichuan and his son were terrified, and the leaders of the Boxers also knew how powerful he was, so they did not dare to oppose Marshal Lin openly.

After taking Taiyuan and controlling the telegraph office, Lin Yongchang immediately sent a telegram to the whole country, claiming to be the governor of Shanxi and claiming that he would join the "Southeast Mutual Protection". He also advised Zhang Zhidong to establish a provisional parliament and nominated Zhang Zhidong as the provisional president.

This is outrageous. How can Shanxi be considered part of the southeastern territory? The governors and governors in the south have the idea of starting a new government once the imperial court is over, but no one is willing to make things clear. They are all whores who want to be virtuous. Now Lin Yongchang is recommending Zhang Zhidong as the president, which is like stirring up a hornet's nest.

Zhang Zhidong was very happy. He also set up a new army, promoted Westernization, and built the largest steel plant in East Asia. He often thought to himself, "Who else but me can do this in this world?"

Even the people of Shanxi knew that only Zhang Zhidong could save China. However, Zhang Zhidong refused under the advice of his staff and subordinates, and he did not have the courage to throw away his lifelong reputation.

Not only did Wuchang refuse, it also sent a telegram saying that Lin Yongchang's appointment as the governor of Shanxi was illegal, and asked Marshal Lin to surrender to the court on his own initiative, otherwise he would be reduced to dust once the heavenly troops arrived.

After receiving the telegram from Wuchang, Lin Yongchang sneered. Zhang Zhidong and his people, if they want to rebel, don't they have the guts? They are loyal, but they are reluctant to give up power and wealth. They are all villains who are indecisive. He tore the telegram to pieces, and then drove 100,000 militiamen to fight out of Shanxi Province and rush into Guanzhong.

At the same time, Marshal Lin sent someone to contact the American ambassador, hoping that the great powers would recognize his governor of Shanxi. Although Datong had not yet been conquered, he still had a large area of land in Hebei. It would not be too much to give him the title of governor of Shanxi, right?

The fall of Taiyuan shocked the imperial court. It was a provincial capital, not just a fortified village. How could it suddenly fall into the hands of the Boxers? The imperial court was furious and wanted to send troops to wipe out the Boxers, but the Eight-Nation Alliance, led by British Vice Admiral Seymour, had already marched towards Beijing. Although the number of the coalition forces was small this time, the imperial court was still afraid of the foreigners. It was impossible to send the Wuwei Army to Shanxi, and even wanted to send Yuan Shikai's troops in Shandong back to the vicinity of Beijing.

But how could Yuan Shikai, a traitor, go back? He had finally managed to escape and was determined to stay in Shandong. When he arrived in Shandong, his newly-built army also went with him. The only troops left in the court were those of Nie Shicheng and Dong Fuxiang, and they were surrounded by numerous Boxer soldiers. The number of foreign troops in Tianjin was still increasing. Faced with such a situation, Empress Dowager Cixi was overwhelmed.

Because a group of ministers who advocated peace had been beheaded before, no one dared to say that Empress Dowager Cixi's declaration of war against all nations was bad, but there were still many complaints in private. Cixi knew this very well, and when she was in court, she said in front of all the ministers: "Wei Guangtao has led the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp to rescue Taiyuan, and there will be victory news soon!"

"Now that Lord Wei has taken action, I believe the situation in Shanxi will soon be stabilized."

Ronglu looked even worse. He coughed a few times and said, "The problem now is that the foreigners in Tianjin have been sending more troops. How should we deal with this? Please advise me, Empress Dowager."

Empress Dowager Cixi looked gloomy, and her eyes slowly swept across the faces of the ministers, "What do you think we should do?"

The Queen Mother herself declared war on all nations and killed many ministers. What else could we do? We could only fight. Immediately, the ministers who advocated war stood up and expressed their impassioned desire to mobilize the army to fight the foreign devils to the death. The problem was that the court's army seemed unable to defeat the foreigners. If they could win, would there be any need for discussion?

Just as Xu Tong, Gang Yi and other pro-war ministers expressed their determination, the cabinet scholar Qu Hongji suddenly said loudly: "I impeach Prince Qing Yixin and the military minister Ronglu for accepting bribes from the Boxer Lin Tuzi, which eventually led to the fall of Taiyuan!"

Qu Hongji was the leader of the Qingliu faction. They had fought with Li Hongzhang before, and the Beiyang Fleet was destroyed. Now Qu Hongji was fighting with villains like Yixin and Ronglu. In their eyes, no matter whether they were Westerners or Easterners, they were not as important as attacking their political enemies.

Many people have heard about the story of a fool who used a cart to pull gold to give money to Yixin and Ronglu, but Cixi really didn't know about it. After listening to Qu Hongji's exaggerated story, her face became even gloomier, and she shouted at Yixin and Ronglu: "You are so bold!"

Prince Qing Yixin was so frightened that he trembled all over and secretly groaned in his heart. Ronglu knelt down calmly and explained: "Please allow me to report, Queen Mother, someone once gave me a gift, but I didn't accept it and drove the person out on the spot. As for whether that person has any relationship with the bandit leader Lin Baldy, I don't know."

Yixin also knelt down and said, "Queen Dowager, I did receive the gold, but I was not at home at the time, so I asked someone to send the money back later!"

"Hmph!" Cixi snorted, and her expression softened a little. She was a little angry with Yixin and Ronglu, but she knew in her heart that they were her confidants and could not have anything to do with the rebellion. "Is the Dalai Lama in Tibet also related to Lin Tuzi? Didn't the Lifanyuan notice this?"

Cixi looked at the two people kneeling on the ground and said, "Get up. Don't kneel down. I will settle accounts with you after I have dealt with the foreigners!"

In the Golden Palace, after much discussion, nothing meaningful was achieved. The tone had been set long ago, and the only way to deal with the foreigners was to "fight". The audacious Baldy Lin must be severely punished, and his head must be used to deter other people with ill intentions.

While the court was still discussing the issue, Wei Guangtao had already led the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp across the Yellow River and started fighting with the heroes from Shanxi.

Chapter 72: Recruiting

Wei Guangtao is 64 years old this year. He was born in the 17th year of Emperor Daoguang's reign. As a Hunanese, he naturally joined the Hunan Army when he was young and fought against the Taiping Army with Zeng Guoquan, the younger brother of Zeng the Barber. Later, he followed Zuo Zongtang to quell the Hui Rebellion in the northwest. Twenty years ago, he became the Gansu Provincial Surveillance Commissioner and was later promoted to the Xinjiang Provincial Administration Commissioner.

After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Li Hongzhang's Huai Army was in decline and suffered repeated defeats. The imperial court had no choice but to regroup the suppressed Hunan Army. Wei Guangtao led several thousand men to fight the Japanese.

At this time, he was nearly 60 years old. He led 3,000 soldiers and fought against the Japanese army, which was several times larger than his own. Almost all of his troops were annihilated. In the end, the old man was able to escape because of the desperate fighting of his personal soldiers. Those personal soldiers were all descendants of his hometown in Hunan. Most of them died in Liaodong before they rescued Wei Guangtao.

Such a veteran general, who had fought against the Taiping Army, the Huihui and Northwest Rebels, and the Japanese, was able to grow into a first-class general just by accumulating experience. Wei Guangtao led the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp to fight the foreign devils, but when he heard that Taiyuan had fallen, he immediately changed direction and led 5000 infantry and cavalry to cross the Yellow River.

Wei Guangtao had few soldiers, and the heroes who were conquering cities in Shanxi did not take him seriously. When they heard that the leader of the army was an old man in his sixties, what else could they say? They just stepped on him and trampled him to death. As a result, Wei Guangtao fought all the way from Jiezhou to Linyi, defeating 20,000 to 30,000 Boxers, and the number of troops he had increased. The local tyrants and evil gentry who had been suppressed by the Boxers followed Wei Guangtao with their returning home groups, and they all started to tremble.

After Lin Yongchang captured Taiyuan, he first reorganized the army and the economy, and then led his troops north to Datong. The Shanxi militia was not fighting well, and needed to be reorganized, weapons and equipment needed to be adjusted, the newly established Shanxi Bank needed to be sorted out, steel mills, military factories, cement factories, match factories... and so on. All kinds of things were about to overwhelm him.

The steel plant has not started construction yet, but the relevant preparatory work is already underway, including site selection, land leveling, road construction... He plans to build a railway between the coal plant and the steel plant, but he has no rails, so for the time being he can only do all the preliminary preparations.

When Wei Guangtao's 5,000 troops marched eastward, Lin Yongchang had already discovered them. He thought that this army would go to fight with Li Dayan, but he didn't expect them to turn around and head straight for Taiyuan.

Li Dayan had already entered Kaifeng Prefecture and was wreaking havoc in Henan. Wei Guangtao was initially preparing to fight the foreigners, and halfway through, he was preparing to attack Henan, but in the end, he attacked Shanxi. This marching trajectory made Lin Yongchang a little confused. But since they were already here, there was no need to worry about what they thought. If the enemy came, we would fight them with our troops, and if the water came, we would block it with earth.

After careful inspection, these officers and soldiers who came here are quite fierce, and their generals are also quite fierce. Their styles are very different from those of other officers and soldiers. Their panel data is as follows:

[General: Wei Guangtao——Firepower 3, Assault 2, Mobility 2, Siege 1]

[Infantry 4037, Cavalry 672, Artillery 536]

【士气：9.72；训练度：95%；职业度：23%；陆军传统：55%；战术：4.2】

The enemy general Wei Guangtao also has a characteristic, "-10% damage taken from firepower".

The Boxer's data is:

【士气：9.43；训练度：90%；职业度：20%；陆军传统：19%；战术：3.9】

It seems that the Boxers are not much different from the enemy in terms of various indicators, that is, the army tradition is much worse, but the difference of 0.1 in tactics means that they are lagging behind, and the difference of 0.3 means that they will be beaten if they meet. However, the Boxers are not without advantages, that is, they have a large number of people, and quantity is also a kind of quality.

Datong City had been under siege for a month, and the morale of the people in the city was low. The city would be broken in a few days, so Lin Yongchang did not go south to meet the enemy in person, but let the militia deal with the newly arrived officers and soldiers. I thought that my army was large in number, and even if the exchange ratio might not be very good, I would definitely be able to win in the end.

Who would have thought that the unknown Wei Guangtao was so fierce? Although his attributes were very high, how could he kill his way out with only 5000 people?

Lin Yongchang himself also has corresponding attributes after leading the troops, currently [Firepower 4, Assault 2, Mobility 4, Siege 2], which is three points higher than Wei Guangtao in total. Thinking about it this way, it is not difficult to understand why the Boxers were defeated by others, after all, they were men who were only three points lower than Marshal Lin.

Before the news of the defeat in Linyi reached him, Lin Yongchang had already learned the news from the Celestial Empire system, and also knew the exact number of casualties on both sides. He immediately ordered his soldiers to increase the intensity of the attack on Datong. Now that the troops were sufficient, they did not need to worry about a few casualties. With the support of dozens of old cannons, the rebels launched an attack from three sides.