Chapter 243 A series of accidents and more accidents

Chapter 243 A series of accidents and more accidents

Chapter 243 A series of accidents and more accidents

"Warfare is the art of deception. Therefore, when you are capable, pretend to be incapable; when you are using something, pretend not to use it; when you are near, pretend to be far away; when you are far away, pretend to be near; pretend to be weak to lure the enemy to come, and then you can win..."

The Kokand people's country chicken military adviser had never read the Art of War, and was complacent about his knowledge of some outdated Western academic military tactics. He was easily lured into the enemy's deep territory by Shao Quanzhong.

The brainless Kokand people pursued the two guard battalions led by Song Laosan, violating all the principles mentioned in Sun Tzu's Art of War, and were unaware of the coming danger.

"Boom, boom boom!"

The first to open fire were the artillery positions consisting of 276 four-pound light field guns from 23 companies arranged behind the gentle slope, including three companies of four-pound guns from Yakub Beg captured in the Korla victory.

The artillerymen behind the gentle slope cannot see the enemy, nor do they need to see them. They only need to fire according to the coordinates reported by the observer on the hot air balloon.

Two hundred and seventy-six TNT shells exploded in the enemy group, scattering bloody blanks everywhere and leaving one empty space after another.

The Kokand people still formed a dense formation of line infantry, and the artillery bombardment was extremely effective.

The moment the shell exploded, Bai Yanhu realized that he had been lured into deep territory and was ambushed.

I told you, instead of waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out and annihilate them with ease, wouldn't it be stupid to cross the river and attack them?

Cursing the stupid country chicken consultant, Bai Yanhu and his cronies turned around and ran. It would be too late if they didn't run now.

Then the Williams rapid-fire cannon and Gatling manual machine gun began to spew flames and began to harvest the remaining enemies after the bombardment.

The soldiers' grenades were thrown into place at this time, and the Kokand people rushing in the front enjoyed the power of the TNT grenades.

Then the large slingshot was used again, and the grenade exploded at a farther distance.

Then came the six thousand breech-loading rifles, which called the roll call on the few survivors.

Faced with the Huai Army's lightning-fast and high-density firepower, except for Bai Yanhu and his more than a thousand Uighur confidants who escaped at the first moment, the rest of the Kokand people did not even have the chance to be surprised, and they all went to the paradise said to be flowing with honey and milk.

Following the observer's loud shout, the artillery bombardment began to extend, firing 5,520 shells in ten minutes, and then stopped. The remaining enemies had escaped the effective firing range of the four-pound gun.

Throughout the whole process, the Kokand soldiers, who had never experienced being bombarded by a cluster of TNT shells from an artillery brigade, were confused.

The last group who experienced this were Hashim's subordinates. Most of them were killed in the internal strife, and the rest followed Hashim and fled to Lucia.

As the charge sounded, six thousand soldiers jumped out of the trenches and charged down the slope with bayonets in hand.

The Qing army and Tibetans who were the first to "escape" had already mounted their horses after climbing the gentle slope. Now they rushed out from both wings with sabers in their hands and began to hack at the backs of the fleeing infantry.

The Kokand soldiers quickly collapsed and ran across the Weigan River like sheep being driven.

The enemy artillery on the opposite side looked at the enemy troops following closely behind their own fleeing soldiers and was at a loss as to what to do. Should they open fire and bombard their own people as well?
Soon they no longer had to hesitate, as the pursuing Huai Army infantry had already rushed up to them with bayonets pointed.

The two battalions of the Gansu Army that had been making a feint attack from upstream and downstream also "happened" to come around. Fourteen thousand men attacked the defeated soldiers who had fled back and the three thousand Kokand soldiers in the trenches, including artillerymen.

Grenades were continuously thrown into the trenches, and before the ensuing hand-to-hand combat could take place, the Kokand people, led by the Tuji military advisers, surrendered smoothly.

The cavalry from the Solon Camp, Xibe Camp, and Tubo Camp chased the fleeing Bai Yanhu all the way to Aksu - but they failed to catch up.

After all, it would take some time to resolve the battle with the Kokand people. By the time he remembered to chase Bai Yanhu, the long-legged general had already found a horse and ran far away.

Shao Quanzhong led his troops into Baicheng. This field battle was a victory, and Baicheng was completely recovered without a siege.

In the battle of Baicheng, six thousand Kokand prisoners were captured.

These foreign soldiers all deserved to die, but the Huai Army suffered little loss in this battle, but achieved great results, and also seized six companies of various types of Armstrong artillery. Shao Quanzhong was in a very good mood and did not kill the prisoners. Let them build the railway. The railway line in Yili Province is very long and requires a lot of slaves.

Haiqing's job came, and he led the eunuchs of the detective team to quickly set up a "field operating room".

"Report, the people of Aksu and Wushi 'Hancheng Mancheng' revolted in response to the government troops and closed the city gates. Bai Yanhu did not enter the city, but ran directly south towards Kashgar."

Aksu was liberated, Wushi was liberated, and the only four cities left in the Kokand-occupied area were Kashgar, Yingjisha, Yarkand, and Hotan, headed by Kashgar.

Shao Quanzhong smiled and said, "All his 10,000 Kokand soldiers are gone, so let them run away with the remaining 1,000 or so trusted men. We will settle the accounts together in Kashgar."

Kashgar is the base of the pseudo-Hongfu Khanate, so it must be heavily guarded, with an estimated population of more than 10,000 to nearly 20,000 people.

Shao Quanzhong currently has less than 16,000 men under his command. It would not be realistic for him to immediately attack an enemy force that outnumbers him and has the same infantry and weapons as him, nor would it be realistic for him to defend a fortified city with many artillery pieces.

On the third day of July in the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign, Shao Quanzhong stopped the offensive and moved the front-line command post to Aksu.

Prepare to wait for the arrival of follow-up troops, especially heavy artillery troops, to capture Kashgar in one fell swoop and end the battle in Ili Province.

The heavy artillery troops had to wait. At Tiemenguan, Emery organized the manpower of Korla and started widening the road in the canyon half a month ago.

It would take at least another month and a half to build a road that could accommodate steam tractors. By the time the heavy artillery had traveled more than a thousand miles to Aksu, it would take at least September.

It was quite good that we were able to capture Aksu in July. That was all due to a series of unexpected opportunities, which were seized by Shao Quanzhong and resulted in the effect.

According to the original plan, we should start to attack the iron triangle of Dabancheng-Toksun-Turpan fortresses after the autumn harvest in northern Xinjiang. Now we have exceeded the task and saved several million silver.

There is one advantage to fighting against Yakub Beg's forces. The equipment of the pseudo-Hongfu Khanate was provided by the British and was exactly the same as the equipment of the Huai Army. The captured weapons and ammunition could be used directly.

The Xibe Battalion and the Solon Battalion came to help in the battle on their own initiative. They were equipped with Russian-made muzzle-loading rifles captured during the Battle of Gumudi.

Shao Quanzhong recruited a new Tibetan camp of 3,000 people, whose equipment was simply medieval.

There was no time to change their uniforms during the Battle of Baicheng, so they were used as hussars and fought with sabers.

Now that we have time, we have replaced all of them with breech-loading carbines and equipped them with grenades, and the Huai Army veterans have begun expedited training on the spot.

The obsolete medieval weapons and Russian-made weapons were not wasted and were sent to the newly occupied Aksu, Wushi, Baicheng and Kuche to arm the Han People's Corps. The wounded and retired soldiers were sent to these places to train militia insurance teams.

Wu Ziyi was in charge of all these things, so Shao Quanzhong prepared to take a rest.

Because of the internal strife among the Kokand people, opportunities for war emerged. In the past month, we have advanced more than a thousand miles from Korla all the way to Aksu, which is really tiring.

"Report! The latest news has been sent from the rear of Korla."

Shao Quanzhong was ready to see what was going on in the rear. Was Turpan taken? What was the outcome of the Manas Campaign? Was there any new news from Hailing? Wenxiu was due to give birth in June, but he didn't know whether the second baby would be a boy or a girl...

Liu Niang was holding a large pile of information from the rear, but Shao Quanzhong hadn't even waited to read it.

"Report! Khotanese Uighur general Niyas rebelled and took the initiative to help the imperial court attack Yarkand. Bekhuli personally led the Kashgari troops to relieve the siege of Yarkand.

He Buyun, the former Yarkand garrison commander who had defected to Yakub Beg, took advantage of Bekhurli's military action and led his soldiers to contact the people of Mancheng and Hancheng to rebel, occupied Kashgar, and sent people to ask us for urgent help. "

Alas, the rule of the Kokand people is really hard to describe. I didn't even plan to fight you, I wanted to take a break. But in the end, two of your four cities rebelled, and even your old nest Kashgar was lost.

Shao Quanzhong was no longer tired. "Come here, emergency assembly! Training and rest are suspended, and reinforcements to Kashgar are sent as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)