Chapter 87 Liao Tianyan

Chapter 87 Liao Tianyan

Chapter 87 Liao Tianyan

I don't know which will come first, the accident or tomorrow. What happened to the two-year training? We have only been training for more than three months.

This accident came from the increased burden on Qiao Songnian. The court asked him to take charge of the grain stations in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, and now Mr. Qiao has become the general logistics person in charge of the Qing Dynasty's war to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Military orders are as heavy as mountains, you have to go even if you are not prepared.

This can be considered as unpreparedness. In total, we have been training soldiers for half a year. As far as the infantry is concerned, it is enough.

The problem with the Huai Army now is that it is just a seedling and has no money to expand its army.

Shao Quanzhong's plan of training the soldiers for two years does not mean that everyone will train for two years. It is a whole process of continuously expanding the army and having veterans lead new soldiers.

Fortunately, this time we were just escorting food and fodder, Zhenjiang was in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, and all the bandits along the way were wiped out by Shao Quanzhong.

Entering the Yangtze River from the Grand Canal, Zhenjiang is on the other side.

The main forces of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were divided into two routes, north and south, to attack Wuchang and lift the siege of Anqing. The Yangtze River waterway was controlled by the Qing army and seemed very safe. It should have been just a march.

Marching also requires preparation for war. Shao Quanzhong summoned all the generals at the command post in Shao Zhaigai in Weizi.

"For this escort operation, the Zhong Battalion, Heng Battalion, and the Speedy Squadron will all be dispatched, and the logistics will be on duty."

"Lesen!"

"exist!"

"Mobilize forty salt ships and five days' worth of food and prepare them immediately. At the same time, equip the expeditionary force with the 1,200 Hale rockets that have already been produced."

"As ordered."

"Other generals, gather your troops immediately and set off immediately after logistical preparations are completed!"

The people of Weizi were mobilized all of a sudden.

After half a year of training, the existing troops are already elite and can act quickly.

The logistics department prepared the ships and food in just two hours, and the escort fleet set sail.

After passing through the Tongyang Canal and Taiping River, we arrived at the Grand Canal that night and waited.

The next day, a grain ship from Qingjiangpu, the Jiangbei grain station, arrived. The escort fleet took the lead and began to escort the grain to Zhenjiang.

This time, the escort distance was only more than 40 miles. The fully loaded grain transport fleet moved slowly and arrived in Zhenjiang at one o'clock in the afternoon.

There were no surprises along the way.

Feng Zicai, the general of Zhenjiang and Sergureng Baturu, who was in charge of receiving the grain, was a typical soldier who was not good at socializing. Shao Quanzhong, his subordinate, saluted him without even blinking, but just ordered his men to urge the young men to move the grain quickly.

"Boom! Boom!"

There was the sound of cannon fire in the distance to the south, followed by dense musketry.

The personal soldiers came running over and said, "Report to the general, the Guangdong bandits in the south of the city have arrived in large numbers and have begun to bombard the city!"

"What's the flag?"

"The banners I saw included the fake 'King of Gan' and the fake 'King of Shi'."

Feng Zicai turned around and was about to leave, but Shao Quanzhong stepped forward to ask, "General, do you need our Huai Army's help?"

Feng Zicai raised his beard and said, "What good are a thousand logistics escort soldiers who have never fought in a war? Just do what you need to do."

He led his personal soldiers and hurriedly arranged for the defense of the city.

Shao Quanzhong was not at all upset when being despised by the general.

To gain respect in the military, you have to have military achievements. Suppressing bandits and engaging in firefights with friendly forces do not count.

Shao Quanzhong closed his eyes and thought for a long time, but he didn't remember any large-scale attack on Zhenjiang at that time.

Until the end of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zhenjiang was firmly guarded by Feng Zicai, so he didn't have to worry too much. But Hong Renxuan and Li Shixian are here? These two are the pillars of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. When have they ever attacked Zhenjiang?

Shao Quanzhong didn't know that Hong Renxuan was originally sent to relieve the siege of Anqing, but after a series of defeats, he retreated to Tongcheng, and seeing that he had no other options, he withdrew his troops.

Li Shixian was Li Xiucheng's cousin. He was sent by Li Xiucheng to lift the siege of Anqing from the south. Not long ago, he joined forces with Huang Wenjin to attack Qimen, forcing Zeng Guofan to the point where he almost jumped into the lake to commit suicide. He even wrote his suicide note.

Unfortunately, Li Xiucheng made a wrong strategic judgment and did not know that Zeng Guofan himself was surrounded in Qimen.

Seeing that Chen Yucheng in Jiangbei's attack on Wuchang was not going smoothly and the plan of joint attack on Wuchang failed, he gave up the effort to rescue Anqing.

He withdrew his buddies who were attacking Qimen and prepared to continue to run his fiefdom, Sufu Province. Li Shixian was passing by on his way to attack Zhejiang.

If Li Shixian had withdrawn his troops half a day later, history might have been rewritten and Zeng Guofan would have been killed...

Hong Renxuan and Li Shixian both returned from a failed expedition, and it was difficult to explain to the Heavenly King. The two met on the road, and after discussing it, they decided to join forces and come to Zhenjiang to try.

If the Qing troops were negligent, we could take advantage of the opportunity to launch a surprise attack and capture the city, thus removing the only thorn in the side of the Qing army in southern Jiangsu except Shanghai. That would be a great achievement and could make up for the losses caused by the failed start.

If the Qing troops are defending tightly, then you can just go to Zhejiang and I will go back to Tianjing.

It looked like the two kings were coming together with great momentum, but in fact, this was just an accidental exploratory attack.

Feng Zicai didn't know that he must have gone all out to defend the city.

Shao Quanzhong knew that this war would probably not last long.

He rolled his eyes and said, "The rest of you continue to watch here. Zhang Wushuanlian of the Loyalty Battalion, come with me and watch the battle."

He had long heard of Hong Renxuan's name and wanted to observe the actual battle situation between the Qing army and the Taiping army from afar, so that he could understand the strength of the opponent when the Huai army went to the battlefield in the future.

Shao Quanzhong led a company of guards from the Zhong Camp and marched around the city towards the battle site.

Zhenjiang City is not big. Any big city cannot be defended because too many soldiers are needed.

Only a small but solid city can be defended for a long time. Zhenjiang was such a nail that the Qing army drove into the south of the Yangtze River.

In less than half an hour, shouts and screams were heard from the front. The Taiping Army had stopped the bombardment and was carrying ladders to attack the city.

Shao Quanzhong stopped two miles away from the battlefield, found a small gentle slope, and raised his telescope to watch the battle.

The Taiping Army seemed to have at least 20,000 people, but Zhenjiang City was small and the troops could not be deployed widely.

The front army attacking the city, under the banner of the King of Servant, had only 5,000 men. The central army, under the banner of the King of Gan, also had 5,000 men. The two armies should have taken turns to test the attack and share the damage.

Behind them were the two armies' reserve forces of 10,000 men.

Upon seeing this, Shao Quanzhong was greatly disappointed. Alas, it was just a bunch of weaklings fighting each other.

This - he did not see the elite troops led by Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng personally.

Although Hong Renxuan was famous, he was not good at fighting, his soldiers were not well trained, and their order was far behind that of the Huai Army.

It is still a traditional war, similar to when Shao Hengzhong fought in Qiwei, which is just a pile of lives.

Shao Quanzhong took a quick look and knew that Feng Zicai was cautious and had no flaws, so the Taiping Army had no chance of defeating him this time.

Shao Quanzhong shook his head. "Let's go. There's nothing to see. They're all matchlock rifles. There's not even a quick-firing rifle..."

"boom!"

A bullet from a quick gun brushed past Shao Quanzhong's ear, and the strong wind scratched Shao Quanzhong's face painfully.

Then, a burst of rapid gunfire rang out, and more than a dozen soldiers around Shao Quanzhong fell down.

An ambush was set up not far to the south, and a large flag was raised, "Liao Tianyan".

Under the big flag, Deng Guangming, leader of the Taiping Army's quick-gun team, holding a command knife, and five hundred quick-gun team members, holding quick-guns with bayonets, rushed towards the gentle slope where Shao Quanzhong was.

(End of this chapter)