Chapter 230: The Western Regions of the Han

Chapter 230: The Western Regions of the Han

Chapter 230: The Western Regions of the Han

As soon as the supporting cavalry ran away, the bandits who were rushing out under the attack of machine guns and rapid-fire cannons suddenly lost their courage and turned around and retreated back into the city.

You can't retreat at this time. The charge sounded, and the Huai Army rushed into the city with bayonets in hand, chasing the bandits.

The bandits had just been killed in large numbers by machine guns and rapid-fire cannons, and now their numbers had been greatly reduced, and their morale had reached the bottom. When they were rushed into the city by superior forces, they no longer had the resolve to resist, and finally all surrendered.

The surrendered soldiers were tied together. Hai Qing rubbed his hands excitedly, "Brothers, the work is coming again."

Shao Quanzhong waved his hand to stop them, "We don't want these bandits."

Hai Qing sighed, "They were all strong laborers, what a pity."

Shao Quanzhong took off his military cap and threw it on the ground. "Damn it! In this small ancient pasture, more than 2,000 of my brothers died and more than 3,000 were injured. I am so sorry for the fallen brothers if I have a kind heart. Come on, execute them all!"

With the intensive gunfire, the ancient pasture was littered with corpses, and all 6,000 prisoners were executed.

Shao Quanzhong is not addicted to killing, nor is he unable to control his emotions.

Yesterday, when we first charged into the city for street fighting, we were pushed back. The total number of casualties was over 2,000. In today's bloody battle, over 500 were killed and over 1,000 were injured. The soldiers were all bloodthirsty in their quest for revenge.

If the prisoners were still required to build railways and the soldiers were not given an outlet to vent their anger, they would suffer psychological trauma.

This kind of control over the soldiers' morale is a compulsory course for a qualified commander.

Shao Quanzhong is not as good as Emery in training, reconnaissance and logistics, and he is not as good as Grant in formulating excellent combat plans, but when it comes to empathy with the soldiers, even these two combined cannot match Shao Quanzhong.

In today's terms, it means he has top-notch emotional intelligence.

Shao Quanzhong didn't want to be called a butcher, but he had to ensure that his soldiers were in good combat condition and his own reputation was secondary.

The commander vented his anger, and the soldiers raised their guns and shouted in unison, "Long live the commander! Long live the commander! Long live the commander!"

On the battlefield after the victory, shouts of "Long live the victory" were heard everywhere.

"Crack, bang!"

The photo of the soldiers raising their guns and cheering enthusiastically after their victory will be published in American newspapers two months later.

Mark Twain, a reporter on the front line, didn't think there was anything wrong with the soldiers shouting "Long live" after the victory, and Grant and Emery didn't think it was unusual. Wu Ziyi, who was in charge of cleaning up the battlefield after the battle, and Le Sen, who was helping, looked at each other in silence for a long time.

Wu Ziyi suddenly said, "Brother Le, the army is ready, are the yellow robes ready?"

…………

Seeing his men's high morale, Shao Quanzhong waved his sword and said, "Go after Bai Yanhu and take down Dihua in one go. Let's go!"

A battalion of logistics soldiers was left behind to clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded, while the rest of the soldiers got ready and set off straight for Dihua.

It was only more than 20 miles from Gumudi to Dihua. The soldiers rode their horses in formation and arrived in less than an hour.

The infantrymen dismounted and lined up, preparing to besiege the city. Suddenly, they found something wrong. There was something wrong with the flag on the top of the city wall. There was a big word "Xu" and four small words "Dihua Tuanlian" on it.

The north gate of Dihua City was wide open, and more than a dozen horses galloped out. They dismounted fifty steps away from Shao Quanzhong, and the leader walked towards Shao Quanzhong alone, came in front of the horse and knelt on one leg, "Xu Xuegong, the commander of the Dihua militia, pays respect to Lord Zhongcheng."

Suddenly, his voice choked up, "We, the abandoned people, have finally waited for the imperial soldiers to arrive."

Shao Quanzhong dismounted and helped Xu Xuegong up. "What? Has Dihua been recovered by you?"

He had received intelligence that the Han people in Dihua had formed a group to protect themselves. Tuodelin did not want to lose food production, and the bandits were fighting each other in a mess, so they had no intention of suppressing the Han people, so he allowed the Han people to maintain their own self-governance. He did not expect that this group would be so promising.

"Sir, we found that Bai Yanhu transferred most of the troops in the city to Gumudi and Manas, leaving less than 500 soldiers in the city. I saw the opportunity and led 5,000 brothers to rush in and capture the city. As expected, sir, you won the battle. Bai Yanhu's defeated soldiers could not enter the city and went around it. Unfortunately, we have no cavalry and cannot catch up."

"There are many times more rioters in the city than Han people. How did you succeed?"

"They are divided into more than a dozen factions and are not united. We Han people stick together..." Well, if you talked about the concept of Han people sticking together in another time and space, you would be criticized by countless people, but in Dihua, Han people do stick together.

They are still real Han people, not banana people who are used to kneeling.

The character "Han" in the word "Han people" represents a great dynasty that once dominated the Western Regions.

That was a great dynasty where a brave warrior could conquer more than fifty countries in the Western Regions with just thirty-six Han people, because the motherland behind them was called "Great Han".

Thousands of years have passed, and the descendants can still pat their chests and say, "I am Han Chinese, and the Western Regions belong to us Han Chinese!"

"Master Zhongcheng, please follow me into the city."

Xu Xuegong led the way, Song Laosan led the guards to clear the way, and Shao Quanzhong rode into Dihua on horseback.

On both sides of the road, rows of Han militiamen held swords and spears in one hand, cheering constantly and wiping tears with the other hand.

"They are all good men from China."

Shao Quanzhong sighed and told Wu Ci beside him, "Ziyi, distribute the Russian rifles and ammunition seized in Gumudi to the militia."

Looking at Xu Xuegong who was walking, "Zhongmin, I will give your militia a number - Zhenwu Camp, with an organization of 3,000 people. You will enjoy the treatment of the Green Camp, and my logistics department will pay you. We are going to attack and fight, and Dihua will be left to you to defend. When the war is over, I will ask the court for merit for you."

"Thank you for your support, sir. Whether I get promoted or not is not important to me. I just hope that you can return victoriously soon from this expedition. If you need our Zhenwu Camp, please give me your orders."

Dihua was recovered without any war and is very well preserved.

Shao Quanzhong moved into the pseudo-Khan's palace of Todelin, which was also guarded by militia and was not robbed, but he still had little money.

Tuodelin's base of operations was in Manas in the west, and all the wealth he plundered was transported back to his hometown.

Shao Quanzhong had a brief meeting with Grant and Emery, then summoned all the generals.

"Le Sen led a battalion of logistics soldiers to be stationed in Dihua. With the assistance of the Zhenwu Battalion, they identified the families of the rioters and dealt with them accordingly, while also maintaining our logistics line.

Nie Shicheng's Third Mixed Division, supported by the Cavalry Brigade, moved westward to pacify Manas and Yili, and finally to Tacheng in the north.

The Gansu Army Independent Division must pursue Bai Yanhu as quickly as possible and reach Dabancheng within three days and form an encirclement of Dabancheng. I will personally lead the Guards Brigade and artillery to follow closely behind, and we must launch an attack on Dabancheng at dawn four days later. "

Divide the troops again? The subordinates had some doubts in their hearts, but none of them objected, and then they all followed the order and left.

The Huai Army was an all-cavalry unit, with the Gansu Army's Independent Division as the vanguard. They advanced rapidly and arrived at Tashkurgan City three days later, quickly surrounding it.

In the late night of the third day, the Guards Brigade, which marched slightly slower than the Gansu Army, arrived.

They were able to run so fast because Shao Quanzhong left the baggage in Dihua and only took four days' worth of food. The heavy artillery, machine guns, and rapid-fire guns were left behind and they marched slowly. The artillery only took eighteen twelve-pound mountain cannons and not many shells.

The sky gradually brightened, and the sky in the east began to turn pale. The tall and majestic walls of Tashkurgan City appeared as a cold black silhouette in the morning light.

There were 10,000 bandits armed with muzzle-loading rifles stationed in the city, and 3,000 Kokand people armed with breech-loading rifles, led by Aydelhuli, Yakub Beg's chief steward.

The city was densely covered with earth cannons, as well as the Armstrong four-pound light field cannon pulled by camels brought by the Kokand people.

Such a strong city would need to be slowly attacked with heavy artillery, and it might collapse in half a month to a month.

Now arriving at the scene are more than 10,000 cavalrymen of the Gansu Army, and a total of eight battalions and more than 10,000 infantrymen from the Gansu Army and the Guards Brigade. They have not yet been fully replenished after the casualties in the Guchangchang battle.

There are no heavy artillery, not even machine guns and rapid-fire cannons. Why are you rushing here in such a hurry? We will be out of food tomorrow.

Shao Quanzhong drew his command knife and said, "Bring the ladders and prepare to climb the city walls and attack. The cavalry is ready to enter the city through the city gate. We will take the city in an hour. We will have breakfast inside the city!"

(End of this chapter)