Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 653 Overwhelming Advantage

Linqing Prefecture is located at the intersection of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Sui-Tang Grand Canal.

With its route leading north to Beijing, west to Luoyang, and south to Hangzhou, it is a veritable hub for waterway transportation.

It was known as the most prosperous city in the two capitals and the richest in Qi County.

At this time, Linqing Prefecture was suffering a great calamity.

The cavalry charged across the battlefield, arrows flying out intermittently.

Soldiers dressed in various colored armors burst into homes, laughing and shouting, looting and killing.

Some people even lit a fire, and the flames spread rapidly, billowing thick smoke.

"Bastard thing!"

Upon witnessing this scene, Prince Hui, Mianyu, angrily cursed, "How could you have burned the city down!"

"Your Majesty."

The governor responded, "Perhaps it was due to an accident by the men."

"But since things have come to this point, let's just leave it at that. It's not a big deal."

In the past, raiding a city or even burning it down would have been a major, earth-shattering incident.

But things are different now. Facing the Taiping Army, which has been invincible in every battle, despair pervades the entire Qing Dynasty.

To boost morale, he had tacitly allowed the soldiers to loot.

However, what was unexpected was that the soldiers, once they got carried away, acted without restraint, leading to the current unmanageable situation.

"never mind."

Looking at the chaotic scene inside and outside the city, Mianyu, with a gloomy expression, turned her horse around and said, "Clean things up as soon as possible."

Many high-ranking officials, including himself, already had a premonition that the empire was about to be lost.

Since they are about to lose the world and it no longer belongs to them, then it doesn't matter if they indulge in tyranny.

Just like their ancestors did two hundred years ago, they acted with the same unbridled arrogance.

The preoccupied nobles had no time to worry about the soldiers' overreaction; they were all preoccupied with how to deal with the approaching bandits.

Those were the invincible bandits who fought their way all the way from Guangxi.

"Your Majesty."

During the military council, a deputy commander suggested, "I have a plan."

"Perhaps we can lure the rebels into the city and then destroy them with fire!"

"The Grand Canal is right next to us, so we can build a dam to store water and then use it to attack the bandits when they come."

Upon hearing this, everyone around paused.

A moment later, bursts of laughter erupted.

"Ebutai, you've been listening to too many storytelling performances at the teahouse, haven't you?"

"You think this is about the Three Kingdoms period?"

"Hahahaha~"

Everyone burst into laughter, which helped to ease the oppressive atmosphere.

Mianyu laughed and scolded, "Do you think the bandits are all idiots? Using fire attacks?"

"The banks of the Grand Canal are flat, but before you even build your dam, the banks have already been flooded. You should step back and keep quiet, or you'll only make yourself a laughingstock."

"But thinking about it, it would be good to have a chance to use a strategy and launch a surprise attack."

After two hundred years, the quality of the Mite-Cleansing leadership is indeed hard to describe.

Unfortunately, inheriting a title doesn't depend on personal ability, but rather on the mother's status and the time of birth.

Most capable people can only drift along and wait to die.

Those who inherit the title are mostly fools.

"Your Majesty~"

As the laughter subsided, Senggelinqin, who had maintained a stern expression, finally spoke.

"Three thousand elite troops can launch a night raid."

"Twenty thousand elite troops can launch a surprise attack."

"How could the imperial army of over 100,000 possibly withstand a surprise attack?"

“Since the beginning of their rebellion, the bandits have been unstoppable; how could a surprise attack possibly succeed?”

"Given the current situation, there are few other options. No soldiers are willing to die for their country. Let us confront the rebels head-on and defeat them in one fell swoop!"

These words already carried a hint of accusation.

Mianyu's smile remained unchanged, but in her heart she was already cursing.

'You, born of an heir, if it weren't for the favor of the late emperor and the current emperor, and your rise to the position of regent, you wouldn't have any say here!'

He was furious, but just as he had thought, even as a prince, he couldn't get angry in the face of Senggelinqin, who was enjoying the emperor's favor.

More importantly, the Mongolian cavalry led by Senggelinqin was crucial in the war against the rebels.

After discussion, the Qing generals concluded that they had to fight the bandits in open battle!
Fighting with their backs to the river, a desperate battle with their boats sunk!

"Forming a battle formation with their backs to the river?"

"That was to prevent deserters from scattering and disrupting the army's formation."

Lin Dao, his face dark, grinned and his eyes filled with hatred. "As for tactics, it's nothing more than a large infantry formation encircling the front, while cavalry on the flanks use their speed to charge and harass."

"They can't possibly still be thinking about using the heavy infantry tactics from two hundred years ago to break through enemy lines, or simply charging on horseback."

"never mind."

With a wave of his hand, Lin Dao instructed, "All units, prepare yourselves. Tomorrow we will set out to completely annihilate these Qing demons!"

He is very angry now.

It was no news that the Qing army carried out massacres in various places; it was their routine operation.

Just like Zeng the Head-Shaver and others who were sent to various places to contact landlords and gentry to organize local militias and return to their hometowns, attacking, burning, killing and looting everywhere had long become their habit.

Their masters, who had shaved their heads, were used to doing this.

The problem is that these Qing demons slaughtered Linqing Prefecture very close to the forest road.

Lin Dao, who hadn't received the news beforehand, was unable to provide assistance in time. This was something Lin Dao could not tolerate.

Even if the distance is far, even if we've never met, even if...
Ke Lindao has always considered all the people of the Central Plains to be his own people, and he came to this world with the aim of helping them live better lives.

Anyone who dares to harm the people of the Central Plains will suffer the most terrifying wrath of the Forest Path!

The dying Manqing dared to commit such a massacre in front of him, which infuriated him.

"I don't care about anything else, I just want them to die!"

The banks of the Grand Canal are smooth and flat.

There wasn't even a small hill, let alone a mountain.

As far as the eye could see, all that could be seen was bare earth.

vegetation?

There should be some in the gardens of the landlords and gentry.

The deforestation in northern China was far more severe than in the south.

Basically, except during the autumn harvest season, the fields are bare everywhere.

Both sides spotted each other quite early on, as there was almost no obstruction to their view.

However, this massive decisive battle, comparable to the Battle of Xiangji Temple, took half a day just to arrange the troops and get close to each other.

As the sun rose high in the sky, the Taiping soldiers, under orders from their officers, began eating their personal rations before the battle.

They sat in rows on the ground, tearing open packaging bags and using self-heating methods to heat up dishes of various flavors.

There's Kung Pao Chicken, Braised Pork Belly, Beef with Green Peas, and more!
In short, there are many flavors and a wide variety of options.

While eating, the soldiers also used heated water to make drinks.

They have black tea, green tea, Nestlé fruit juice, various powdered milk powders, and even coffee powder.

These days, nobody criticizes drinking too many beverages for being bad for your health.

For most of the Taiping soldiers, being able to have such a meal before going into battle was already a great comfort.

Even if I were to die on the battlefield the next moment, I would have no regrets.

Undoubtedly, the irresistible aroma of the food quickly filled the air for the Qing army units on the opposite side.

This thing is even more lethal than poison gas.

Smelling and observing the food of the Taiping soldiers, and then looking at the dry rations in their hands that were as hard as rocks, as well as the water they scooped from the canal, the morale of the Qing army units plummeted.

Putting everything else aside, there wasn't even a hot meal or a sip of hot water!
In stark contrast, the Qing army, which had never had any patriotism or lofty ideals and was purely driven by self-interest, was already showing signs of decline even before the war officially began.

After eating and drinking their fill, the Taiping soldiers rose and lined up at the command of their officers.

They did a final check and organized their weapons, preparing to go into battle.

The Taiping army's soldiers were equipped with almost no special equipment.

The vast majority of sergeants are equipped with the same model of rifle, which may even be produced by the same factory.

Its prototype was derived from the Minié rifle, which was invented a couple of years earlier.

But it was just a prototype.

Because the Minié rifle was a muzzle-loading gun, it did not meet the requirements of the forest road. Therefore, the actual product prototype was the Springfield and Yingqiqi, which were developed and modified based on the Minié rifle.

Moreover, these are products manufactured in modern factories using modern technology and materials.

This is the core reason why the Taiping Army was invincible all the way.

The Qing army, armed with broadswords, spears, bows and arrows, muskets, and matchlock guns, was utterly powerless against the overwhelming superiority of these revolutionary weapons.

Even if they managed to acquire a small number of firearms through various means.

However, it lacks research capabilities and even more so, mass production capabilities.

Aside from being given to the foreign devils, it was of no use to Yu Manqing himself.

As thousands of Taiping soldiers marched forward in rows, carrying breech-loading rifles, accompanied by numerous electronic marching tunes, the Qing army unsurprisingly descended into chaos.

Is the ship ready?

On the viewing platform, Mianyu, her face ashen, lowered her voice and asked her palace guard, "Is everything alright?"

"Your Highness, rest assured, everything is in order, we can leave as soon as we arrive."

Mianyu, who clamored to fight to the death against the bandits, had secretly arranged boats on the Grand Canal in advance.

If things go wrong, they will immediately slip away on a boat and cross the river to escape.

He was a prince, enjoying endless wealth and luxury; how could he possibly have the will to fight to the death for his country?

Wealth as vast as mountains and seas, hundreds and thousands of beauties, and power that can decide life and death with a single glance—how could one possibly let go of such things?

What do you do if you can't win? Of course, you run away.

'Boom boom boom~'

Leading the charge were hundreds of mortars and towed howitzers.

Their fiery rage unveiled the curtain on the great war for Middle-earth to reclaim its place at the top of the world.

Although they were all old items dug out of the warehouse, they had been carefully maintained and refurbished before being sent to Lindao, and most of them even had their cannon barrels replaced with new ones.

Its power is, of course, beyond question.

Whether it's guns, cannons, or logistics.

The Taiping army possessed an overwhelming advantage.

The shells shot into the sky in swarms, then fell back down in parabolic arcs.

Their target was the various types of cannons in the Qing army's formation.

Among them are the mighty general cannon weighing several thousand kilograms, as well as the red-clothed cannon, the mountain-splitting cannon, the mighty cannon, the hundred-son cannon, the bandit-suppressing cannon, the horse-leg cannon, the mother-and-child cannon, the mountain-crossing bird cannon, and so on.

There were even mortars, muzzle-loading cannons, and howitzers provided by foreigners.

The most advanced of them were several Armstrong breech-loading rifled guns, which even the English themselves had not equipped in large numbers.

Without a doubt, these artillery models, which were extremely complex and a complete disaster for logistics, posed the greatest threat to the Taiping Army soldiers.

As soon as the battle began, the artillery positions, whose coordinates had already been marked by drones, were the first to suffer devastating bombardment!

(End of this chapter)