1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 124 A Beast Trapped with Its Back to the River [Third Update]

The Guiliu troops and local militia chose to attack Wei Changhui's right wing positions.

Comparatively speaking, Wei Changhui's right wing was the weakest link among the various units of the Taiping Army's southern bank defense line.

Among the Taiping army's high-ranking officials, Wei Changhui joined the God Society relatively late, only slightly earlier than Hu Yihuang.

The training time for his followers was naturally relatively short.

The core members of the Right Army were from the Wei family.

Just over a year ago, the Wei family was often at a disadvantage in their armed conflicts with the Xie family from the same village.

Otherwise, Wei Changhui would not have joined the God Society, nor would he have remained dependent on Xiao Chaogui.

Previously, the Right Army had fought alongside Xiao Chaogui's vanguard.

Attack Xinwei and capture Jiangkouwei.

All the battles they fought were favorable, with Xiao Chaogui's brave and skilled vanguard providing cover for Wei Changhui.

The enemies they faced were mostly patrolmen and yamen runners from the patrol office, as well as ragtag groups like the local militia.

This was the first time that Wei Changhui's right wing had ever seriously faced the Qing Dynasty's regular army.

Before the battle, Yang Xiuqing had a story about the Heavenly Father descending to earth to boost the morale of the entire army.

Apart from Peng Gang's left wing, the Taiping soldiers in other armies were all very receptive to this approach.

When they met on a narrow path, it was the first time that Wei Changhui's right wing had participated in a high-intensity, high-stakes battle.

However, the soldiers of the right wing were very brave and had extremely high morale.

A considerable number of the Guilin-Liuzhou soldiers and local militia who landed came ashore by boat.

At least one-third of the Guilin-Liuzhou soldiers and local militia carried muskets or even light mountain-splitting guns.

The Guiliu soldiers and local militia did not rush to charge into the enemy lines.

Liu Yongqing and Li Chengbiao.

One was in charge of directing the musketeers, and the other was in charge of directing the gunners; the division of labor was clear.

They first fired three rounds of gunfire at Wei Changhui's right wing positions.

Wei Changhui's right wing had very few muskets and mountain guns, and could only retaliate with homemade guns and cannons.

Fifty or sixty paces apart, three rounds of gunfire came at each other.

Wei Changhui's right wing only managed to kill a dozen or so Guiliu soldiers and local militiamen.

Meanwhile, the Guiliu soldiers and local militia, relying on their superior weaponry, defeated at least fifty or sixty Taiping soldiers from the Right Wing Army.

Seeing that Wei Changhui was about to engage in a fierce battle with the Qing forces, Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Shi Dakai, Qin Richang, and others beat drums and waved flags, gradually gathering towards Wei Changhui's right flank to support him.

Upon seeing this, Liu Yongqing and Li Chengbiao immediately became anxious.

The two men managed to gather only about 1,600 to 1,700 soldiers and local militia members from the routed Guilin-Liuzhou area.

Facing an army of over 2,500 men, the Taiping Right Army was still able to hold its own.

If they waited until a large group of Taiping soldiers, at least four or five thousand strong, surrounded them and turned them into an impenetrable fortress, they would be trapped like turtles in a jar, with no chance of escape.

At this moment, Liu Yongqing's mind went blank. He had only one thought: get out of the gorge, head south, and survive.

Once we break through the God Society bandits' positions ahead, we'll be in a dense forest!
Once inside the dense forest, the chances of survival are much higher with the cover of vegetation.

Even if the God Society wanted to surround and kill them in the dense forest, it wouldn't be so easy.

"What are you doing standing there firing volleys and cannons? Playing with firecrackers? Are you just waiting for the bandits to surround us and kill us on the beach?" Liu Yongqing gritted his teeth, drew his waist knife, shook his head, and tossed his braid.

"We, the Liuzhou garrison, have all survived the blood and sweat of the chieftain rebels! Keep your spirits up! Don't lose face! Those who want to live, charge with me!"

After speaking, Liu Yongqing, along with twenty or thirty of his close followers and about a hundred of Min Zhengwen's personal guards, protected the unsure whether Min Zhengwen was dead or alive and charged forward under the fire of the Taiping Army's right wing.

Driven by their survival instinct, most of the Green Standard Army soldiers followed closely behind.

Wei Changhui's right wing quickly became entangled in a fierce battle with the Guiliu troops and local militia.

As for forming a battle formation, let's not even discuss whether the Guiliu soldiers and local militia, who were eager to escape, still had the strength to form a battle formation.

The rugged and steep terrain near Dateng Gorge, with its high mountains and dense forests, makes it difficult for even two or three hundred people to spread out neatly, and it is also unsuitable for forming a battle formation.

The Guiliu soldiers and local militia were almost fighting head-on against Wei Changhui's Taiping Army's right wing. The right wing consisted mostly of new members who had recently joined the militia; in reality, they were just a group of peasants who had just taken up arms.

In their first tough battle, and in a one-on-one fight, how could they possibly be a match for these seasoned veterans?
Despite the continued bravery of the Right Army, it was ultimately breached by the carefully trained personal guards of two to three hundred Green Standard Army officers, resulting in nearly a hundred casualties for the Right Army.

The Right Army's blood was not shed in vain; they bought time for Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Shi Dakai, and Qin Richang to make their deployments.

Shi Dakai had an extremely keen sense of the battlefield.

Seeing that the Guiliu soldiers and militia were forcibly attacking Wei Changhui's position, they realized that the Guiliu soldiers and militia wanted to sneak into the dense forest, so they blocked their path in advance, stopping the Guiliu army and militia from rushing forward like mad dogs.

Their path into the forest was blocked by Shi Dakai's First Army, leaving Liu Yongqing and the others furious and helpless.

They had no choice but to seize a nearby high hill and hold it with their troops.

On the north bank, Peng Gang and Yang Xiuqing left half of the Taiping army to join Feng Yunshan's rear guard in cleaning up the remaining troops and defeating the enemy on the Qianjiang River.

The remaining Taiping soldiers followed Peng Gang and Yang Xiuqing across the river by boat to support the battlefield on the south bank.

Upon arriving at the battlefield on the south bank, Shi Dakai and Qin Richang had already led their troops to launch a strong attack on the small hill occupied by the Guiliu soldiers and local militia.

Less than half an hour later, Peng Gang and Yang Xiuqing saw Shi Dakai and Qin Richang, covered in blood, retreating from the mountaintop.

Fortunately, the blood on the two was mostly from other people, and they were not seriously injured.

In the early stages of the Taiping Rebellion, high-ranking officers frequently charged into battle on the front lines.

"Damn it, these Qing demons are pretty good at fighting! Let me rest for a bit, then I'll go up the mountain and fight them again!" Qin Richang and his group of Longshan miners were still not satisfied and were already somewhat bloodthirsty.

"They are most likely the personal guards of Min Yaotou and the officers of the Guiliu Green Standard Army. On the way here, I examined several Qing Yao corpses. They are not ordinary soldiers, nor are they Xuntang soldiers." Xie Bin also led the three battalions of spearmen to the south bank battlefield.

The civilians conscripted and forced by the Qing army either dispersed or were captured.

They also captured many prisoners from the central camp of the Liuzhou Assistant Commander-in-Chief and the city garrison of the Guilin Commander-in-Chief, as well as the local militia.

The remaining Qing troops stubbornly resisting on the hilltop numbered only slightly over a thousand.

These thousand men must be either personal guards or elite militia.

Min Zhengwen personally went to Guiping to oversee the troops. Since it concerned his own life and fortune, Min Zhengwen certainly wouldn't dare to be careless, and the militia he organized would definitely be the best of the best.

"Min Zhengwen's personal guards are quite capable," Shi Dakai asked, sheathing his sword.

"What should we do next? These Qing demons are very clever. Not only do they occupy a high hill, but the surrounding area is also covered with lush vegetation. Although we have more firearms than them, it will be difficult for us to use them effectively."

When facing an enemy whose martial arts skills are superior to your own, the best approach is to play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses, and directly use ranged weapons to take them down.

The problem is that the terrain and vegetation now limit the effectiveness of long-range weapons.

"The sun is about to set, why don't we surround them first?" Qin Richang suggested.

"It's easy to accidentally hurt someone at night, and many of our brothers don't have good eyesight at night either."

Yang Xiuqing, as the commander-in-chief, nodded in agreement.

Min Yaotou's army, excluding civilian laborers, suffered more than half of its soldiers dead, wounded, or fleeing.

The more than 1,000 Qing devils on the mountaintop were surrounded by nearly 10,000 Heavenly Army soldiers and could not escape. There was no need to rush.

Yang Xiuqing's biggest worry now is that the spies who slipped through the net during the day will go to Guiping City to tip them off.

The iron chains that block the river can stop large ships, but they cannot stop small boats or people.

While resting after dinner in the evening, Yang Xiuqing expressed his concerns around the campfire: "I am not worried about the more than a thousand Qing demons on the south bank of the mountain. Whether we trap them or launch a strong attack, we will be able to defeat them sooner or later."

What I'm worried about is that the Qing forces in Guiping will send reinforcements. A provincial governor is besieged; surely the Qing wouldn't just leave without sending any reinforcements or making any indication of their intentions.

At this time, the Taiping Army was still very simple in its style. They didn't have many formalities when holding meetings in tents, and they were even too lazy to put up tent cloths.

Once everyone is present, we can discuss matters, and everything should be kept simple.

Min Zhengwen and Liu Yongqing's Qing army deployment had become a trapped beast.

In a hasty breakout, they certainly couldn't take much food or ammunition with them.

They are not tired, hungry, or thirsty, and they still have plenty of energy and strength.

If we surround them for a few days, it will be easier to attack them once they run out of water and food.

　I had a lot of work to do today, so the update is late. These are all short chapters. I'll try my best to finish the last chapter before midnight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)