Chapter 234 Field Artillery Attack

Chapter 234 Field Artillery Attack

Chapter 234 Field Artillery Attack

"Dear readers, you have already become familiar with the situation of the famous generals who followed General Shao on the Western Expedition in this distant country.

I am proud that federal generals Grant and Emery were able to participate in this just action to eliminate the devil from the world. At the same time, I pay tribute to famous generals such as Lin Bozai, Shao Hengzhong, Nie Shicheng, Song Le, and Dong Fuxiang.

Each of them has his own fighting style, and the love story of Dong Fuxiang and the beautiful Caris is full of chivalrous colors of the Federal West.

But I think that the person who made the greatest contribution to the victory of the Western Expedition was not those famous generals who killed generals and captured flags and rushed into battle, but General Shao Yigu, who has now moved the logistics command center to Dunhuang.

Most people, including me and other Huai Army generals, were initially dissatisfied with the fact that a general manager of a consortium was directly awarded the rank of major general after he was transferred to a military position.

But the major general immediately demonstrated his talent in material allocation.

The long-distance westward expedition of 80,000 people was a huge systematic project that required a huge amount of supplies.

There are not only various types of weapons and ammunition, but also grain, vegetables, and meat collected from all over the Qing Dynasty, as well as spare parts for the transportation equipment itself, coal and even water resources.

The Qing Empire, like the Commonwealth, was a vast country, with crops from various places harvested once, twice, or even three times a year, and the time, quantity, and types of collection varied. The importance and urgency of frontline weapons also varied.

Now, Ili Province is in the midst of war, with three large-scale battles being fought simultaneously in Manas, Turpan, and Korla. Each location has different logistical needs, and the distance and terrain vary greatly.

I believe such complex logistical requirements will drive the federal logistical officers crazy.
But the Major General did not go crazy. Instead, he calmly used the limited transportation capacity and basically ensured the logistical supply of various battlefields. He was simply a god.

After completing this almost impossible logistical task, the Major General miraculously did not exceed the budget. He even used the remaining capacity for transporting munitions to transport frozen hometown vegetables from Fengyang, the base of the Huai Army, to General Shao Quanzhong.

Although General Shao seemed uninterested in the green vegetables from his hometown and gave them all to me, I have to say that Shao Yigu was a great paperhanger, a versatile plywood.

Okay, that’s all for this episode. In the next episode, I will tell the story of Suhua, a Xibe heroine from Yili, and her husband Dongjun. I will interview the couple if I have the chance.

May God bless Qing Dynasty and America.

"Journey to the West in the Qing Dynasty" No. 261, Mark Twain.

Well, plywood was invented by Nobel’s father, and the Nobel family became rich because of it. Nobel was able to have an excellent family education environment since he was a child and grow up to be an invention genius...

While Mark Twain was writing furiously under the gas lamp produced by Wen, more than 2,000 artillerymen carrying carbines had already taken up their positions, escorting camel caravans carrying cannons, artillery shells and food, and set off overnight to the Korla front.

Thanks to the twelve articles of "Artillery Operation Regulations" written by the talented artillery brigade commander Zhou Shengchuan, the Huai Army had enough basically qualified artillery operators.

Among these two thousand men, there are less than three hundred who are gunners, and the rest are deployed from the infantry, cavalry, engineers, and logistics troops to serve as auxiliary personnel of the artillery, responsible for tasks such as transportation, guarding, and carrying artillery shells.

However, they will soon be trained into qualified gunners by the artillery brigade.

Artillery brigade commander Zhou Shengchuan was urgently promoted to major general by Shao Quanzhong and appointed as artillery division commander, and rushed to the front line with the team.

The arrival of new weapons and the establishment of artillery divisions enabled the Huai Army to begin transforming into a large artillery unit, and its combat effectiveness increased dramatically.

The next morning, Shao Quanzhong asked Grant to lead the civilian staff of the headquarters, the logistics soldiers of the Guards Brigade, and the engineers accompanying the army to escort the logistics vehicles mainly equipped with steam tractors slowly. He himself led the two thousand combat soldiers from the remaining two battalions of the Guards Brigade forward, marched lightly and quickly, and caught up with the newly formed light field artillery brigade that had set out last night.

The artillery was too important. Yakub Beg had an army of more than 20,000 men, and Bai Yanhu had several thousand men following him. Shao Quanzhong was not very reassured that he could only rely on the artillery's own 2,000 men for protection.

Due to logistical constraints, our military strength is now stretched thin, and the Guards Brigade will have to be deployed as well.

In fact, Shao Quanzhong's caution did not work. Yakub Beg was now overwhelmed and had no energy to send cavalry to harass the subsequent reinforcements of the Huai Army.

After conquering southern Xinjiang, he became ambitious and marched into Toksun, preparing to compete with the Huai Army for Ili Province.

But at the critical moment of the confrontation, not only were Dihua and Dabacheng lost, but Korla, an important node on the logistics line, also had an accident.

With the logistics interrupted, his 20,000-strong army was about to be destroyed, so he had no choice but to return to Korla to sort out the logistics line. However, Dong's troops of the Huai Army were relentless and followed him.

Now his food and supplies were about to be cut off. With the Korla rebels blocking his way in front and the Huai Army pursuing him from behind, Yakub Beg was suddenly in a dilemma and was in a difficult situation. The best solution was to retreat to Kuche.

But he was unwilling to accept that he would return to the pre-liberation era overnight and lose a large amount of territory, which he could not accept. So he sent Bai Yanhu to resist the pursuers and personally led the troops to attack Korla, hoping to recapture this important town in southern Xinjiang. How was Korla lost?
He sent his second son Haigula to lead 7,000 soldiers from Kokand and Andijan to garrison Korla, thinking that the situation was foolproof.

As a result, a good father produces a bad son. Haigula is a pretty boy with no ability. He indulged in pleasure and debauchery in Korla and never did any serious work.

Yakub Beg himself is an old white-faced man, but he is old and has a big beard, which makes him look more majestic.

Yakub Beg's childhood experience was unbearable. His father was a witch doctor who performed shaman dances. Later, his father died and his mother remarried. He wandered the streets and became a dancer relying on his good looks and the family's shaman dance skills.

Similar to the experience of some male actresses in the Qing Dynasty, the male dancers in Kokand were noticed by high-ranking officials in Kokand and became mistresses, entertaining people with their looks. In the Qing Dynasty, they were called "rabbits".

At the same time, he was also responsible for putting on combat boots for his superiors, which was basically the job that Nurhaci and Toyotomi Hideyoshi did before they started their careers.

Yakub Beg had a miserable life, but like the old slave and the monkey, he had great ambitions. He offered his sister to his superior, was promoted, and gradually embarked on the path of a warlord.

Haigula inherited his handsome face, but not his ambition and ability. Korla's military preparations were lax, which gave the rebels in the city an opportunity.

The Kokand people were brutal and murderous, and they imposed heavy taxes and levied heavy taxes. They used force to subjugate southern Xinjiang, which angered the people. The Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Weiwuer, and Uighur peoples, who had been fighting each other, were all bullied by the Kokand foreigners, and now they have united.

The first to start the rebellion were members of Karis' tribe, the Uighur natives who joined the Red Flower Society. After all, they were organized, and they contacted the Torghut tribe on the Bayinguoleng grassland. In the dead of night, they attacked the careless guards from inside and opened the gate of Korla.

More than 10,000 Torghut cavalrymen rushed into Korla City, killing and hacking people indiscriminately, and Korla was suddenly in chaos.

The Kokand soldiers were still very powerful. If Haigula had the ability, he could have pushed back the poorly equipped Torghut people.

But he was a coward with no ability. When 500 of his men died, he was terrified and fled with his soldiers. He ran back to Kuqa in a hurry, and Korla fell into the hands of the rebels, which made Yakub Beg, the father on the front line, suffer.

When Yakub Beg went to war, he brought a number of Armstrong six-pound and four-pound field guns with him, but he did not have a steam tractor, and could not carry heavy siege artillery when marching in the vast Ili Province.

In Korla, the rebels of various ethnic groups are now united to defend the city. The able-bodied men of the people also go to the city to help defend it, and the women deliver food, ammunition, bows and arrows. Together, they are determined not to let the Kokand people fight back, otherwise they will be massacred.

Yakub Beg had no heavy artillery, so he could only send soldiers to attack the city like ants, or dig tunnels and bury black gunpowder. These traditional methods were cracked one by one by the concerted efforts of the soldiers and civilians on the city.

Yakub Beg regretted not killing all the Torghut people.

The Torghut people were a nomadic people who had returned from a journey of thousands of miles along the Volga River. They were arranged by the Qing government to guard the border in Ili Province, and were stationed in Ili, Tacheng and Bayinguoleng grasslands.

Yakub Beg defeated the Torghut tribe in one battle, smashed their jars and pots, and robbed the tribe's wealth.

But the damage caused to the nomadic people was not fatal. The Mongols were a nation of horsemen, all of them rode horses, and women could flee on horses with children on their backs. It was quite difficult to catch up with the fleeing Mongols on the grassland and annihilate their main force.

Fortunately, the Torghut people were only poorly equipped with matchlock guns, scimitars, and bows and arrows.

Run away if you want, can the cavalry still capture my city? A quick shot will let you know that the cavalry is useless.

So they ignored the fleeing Mongols and marched north with peace of mind.

As a result, due to the internal support in the city, these cavalrymen rushed into the city with sabers in hand-to-hand combat and actually drove away Haigula, ending up in tragedy themselves.

The pursuers, Dong Fuxiang's troops, were equipped with almost the same equipment as mine, so they were not afraid of him. His infantry were afraid of their own field artillery and did not dare to join the battle, so they only sent cavalry to harass my rear army, which was a minor problem.

As long as I capture Korla, the situation will immediately reverse.

Yakub Beg's men intensified the siege on the city, with constant sounds of gunfire and shouts of killing.

With the firepower suppressing the top of the city wall, the engineers will be able to bury the gunpowder under the city wall during the next charge...

Just when the defense of the Korla rebels was in danger, Shao Quanzhong joined three infantry battalions of the Gansu Army and, with a light field artillery brigade, approached the coalition forces of Yakub Beg and Bai Yanhu.

(End of this chapter)