1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 154 Lost?

"With heavy artillery, we no longer have to worry about being powerless against the Qing army's heavy artillery," Chen Xuyuan said with great joy.

"The bigger the cannon, the better!"

"Not entirely. Big cannons have their advantages, and small cannons have theirs. It's just a matter of different uses; there's no good or bad." Peng Gang reached out and touched the inscription on the cannon.

"Because the mountain-splitting gun is lightweight, we can carry or pull it around in the mountains, while heavy artillery cannot do that."

Heavy artillery and mountain-splitting cannons each have their own uses, and Peng Gang would not abandon the mountain-splitting cannons just because he had heavy artillery.

Peng Gang will not consider abandoning the mountain-splitting gun until he can manufacture or import better light artillery and find better alternatives.

Peng Gang could understand Chen Xuyuan and others' fondness for cannons.

After all, for more than eight months, their left wing had suffered many losses in the face of the Qing army's heavy artillery.

The artillerymen in the artillery company inevitably developed the mistaken idea that heavy artillery was always better than mountain-splitting guns.

Given the current situation of the Left Army, the mountain-splitting gun is actually more suitable for the Left Army's logistics and combat methods.

"Your subordinate is enlightened."

Chen Xuyuan carefully considered Peng Gang's words and felt that Peng Gang made sense.

“Actually, this 800-pound cannon that you cherish is outdated and not a good cannon,” Peng Gang patiently explained.

"Outdated?"

Chen Xuyuan, Liang Zhen and the others found it incredible that the 800-jin heavy cannon made by the Guangdong Ordnance Bureau was the best and most powerful cannon these young men from the mountains of Guangxi had ever seen in their lives.

In their view, the Qing army's heavy artillery had already been incredibly powerful and had a long range.

"Sir, are you referring to the foreigners' cannons?" Chen Xuyuan guessed.

Although Chen Xuyuan was only a company commander, he was a senior officer, and the artillery company was a special technical branch, the only one of its kind in the entire Left Army.

Chen Xuyuan usually spent more time with the battalion commanders than with the company commanders.

Battalion Commander Xie Bin would sometimes get drunk and tell them about his experiences in Guangzhou during the Opium War, especially the foreigners' powerful ships and cannons.

Many of the muskets in the arquebus battalion were purchased from foreigners, and their quality was better than the muskets they made themselves.

Chen Xuyuan felt that since foreigners could manufacture the exquisitely crafted, very durable brown bass, they should also be able to manufacture good cannons.

“The foreigners have better guns and cannons than we do now.” Peng Gang nodded slightly.

"In the future, we should not only buy guns and cannons from foreigners, but also make our own guns and cannons that are better than those of foreigners. Only things that we make ourselves truly belong to us, and we can feel at ease using them."

“That old Manchu chieftain Qianlong was so wicked his grave is emitting black smoke! Decades ago, foreigners gave him better guns and cannons as congratulatory gifts, but that old Manchu chieftain kept them hidden all this time!” Chen Xuyuan said, clenching his fist.

In the classroom of Honglian Village, Peng Gang told the students about Macartney's visit to the Qing Dynasty.

“That’s right! Foreigners aren’t any better. What if they want to attack us again, extort money from us, refuse to sell us cannons, or sell us cannons that are defective? We’ll suffer a huge loss if we encounter them on the battlefield!” Liang Zhen thought that foreigners were just as bad as the Qing government.

On the eve of the Opium War, besides opium, cotton textiles were the commodity with the largest trade surplus in British trade with China.

Britain had a trade surplus of approximately £500,000 to £600,000 in the cotton textile trade.

This translates to a surplus of 1.52 million to 1.82 million taels of silver.

In other words, under normal trade conditions, cotton textiles were the most profitable and advantageous commodity that Britain imported into China.

The high-quality and inexpensive cotton cloth did indeed have a significant impact on the traditional dyeing workshops and cloth shops in coastal areas, especially in the port areas.

Before going bankrupt, Liang Zhen's family ran a small dye shop. Besides the heavy taxes imposed by the Qing government, the reason for their bankruptcy was the import of foreign cloth by foreigners.

Therefore, his hostility towards foreigners was not much less than his hostility towards the Qing court.

"General, when will we be able to use the heavy artillery we built ourselves?" Chen Xuyuan looked at Peng Gang expectantly.

Although Peng Gang often made empty promises to his students, he did not just talk the talk but walk the walk; he would occasionally deliver on the promises he made to them.

Peng Gang said that in the future their artillery would not only be able to use imported cannons, but also cannons they made themselves that were even better than foreign cannons. Chen Xuyuan believed it without a doubt. The only variable was the timing of its realization.

“When we have a prefecture as our base,” Peng Gang said, his hands behind his back.

"With heavy artillery, one artillery company is not enough. I am now going to set up two artillery companies. One company will be responsible for operating the mountain-splitting guns, and the other company will be responsible for operating the heavy artillery. You should prepare yourselves and discuss who will stay in the mountain-splitting gun company and who will go to the heavy artillery company."

Peng Gang considered whether to go straight to the point and form an artillery battalion.

However, Peng Gang quickly rejected this idea.

He certainly had the cannons needed to form an artillery battalion; in fact, he had a surplus.

By squeezing in personnel and transferring them between different units, the artillery corps can be assembled even with a lower entry barrier.

The biggest problem was the shortage of gunpowder, and the source of it was unstable.

Without sufficient gunpowder, cannons are nothing more than pretty iron lumps on display. Having a large artillery force is just for show and will result in a waste of manpower.

Therefore, Peng Gang decided to expand the existing artillery company by adding a heavy artillery company, carefully cultivate artillery talents, and then form an artillery battalion when the time was right and the gunpowder problem was alleviated.

"General, the Qing army has retreated to Wuxuan. Can we take advantage of this opportunity to attack Wuxuan City?" Chen Xuyuan looked at Peng Gang eagerly.

Wuxuan City is only about 20 li away from Sanlixu, and the terrain along the way is flat.

Chen Xuyuan wanted to take the newly captured heavy artillery to Wuxuan City for practice. "We'll let you know whether we're going to attack Wuxuan later. You should prepare for the expansion of the artillery company," Peng Gang said.

Whether or not to attack Wuxuan City and completely drive the Qing army out of Wuxuan County, thus clearing the way for the northward advance, depends on the outcome of the Battle of Sanlixu and the movements of the Qing army under Zhang Bilu on the south bank of the Qian River.

The cleanup work for the Battle of Sanlixu is not yet finished, and it is too early to discuss whether to attack Wuxuan.

Now that we have broken through the Qing army's encirclement and blockade, we should really consider our future direction of advance.

The cleanup work lasted for a day and a half before it was finished.

The results were quickly tallied.

In this battle, during the engagement and pursuit, a total of 556 Chu soldiers and Zhengan soldiers were killed, 250 Guizhou soldiers were killed, 382 Yunnan soldiers were killed, 341 local militiamen were killed, and 42 Eight Banner soldiers were killed (including the bodies that were found after drowning).

They captured 278 soldiers from Chu and Zhengan, 230 soldiers from Guizhou, 362 soldiers from Yunnan, and 892 local militiamen.

Two hundred and sixteen of our soldiers were killed in action, more than 60% of whom were five provisional battalions participating in the war for the first time.

Just as Peng Gang was worried about not having enough ropes to tie up the prisoners, the laborers cleaning the Sanlixu camp found more than fifty baskets of ropes in the Qing army's warehouse.

Peng Gang was very surprised and puzzled, wondering why the Qing army had prepared so many ropes.

It wasn't until several prisoners were captured and interrogated that they learned the ropes were prepared for Peng Gang by Yiketanbu, the deputy commander of the Qingjiang garrison in Guizhou.

When Yiketanbu first entered Guangxi to fight, he was very arrogant and boasted that he would use these ropes to tie up all the God Church bandits and send them to the capital to present as prisoners to his master.

However, later, Iktanbu heard that even Xiang Rong's Chu army and Zhengan soldiers were no match for Peng Gang's left wing.

Iktambu became much more obedient, never mentioning the matter of capturing the God Society bandits alive in the mountains, and the ropes he brought remained unused in the warehouse.

Of course, Iktambu's ropes didn't come in vain; they did come in handy.

However, these ropes were not used to bind the Taiping Army, but rather to bind the Qing Army.

According to the soldiers who bound the Qing prisoners, the ropes were of very good quality.

Peng Gang was both amused and exasperated, truly wondering what kind of mush was in the brains of these Qing army generals.

Instead of preparing proper military equipment, they're busy with all this fancy stuff.

In the afternoon, the sky was dusky and the sweltering heat of western Guangdong rose and rolled on the Wuxuan city wall.

One after another, defeated Qing soldiers marched into Wuxuan City.

These defeated Qing soldiers, with their shoes tattered, armor torn, and stained with blood, some carrying wounded soldiers on their shoulders, others dragging their brothers with broken legs, cried and shouted as they poured into Wuxuan City.

Xiang Rong, who was walking at the front, had lost all his former governor-general prestige and even his governor-general's regalia.

Xiang Rong lowered his gaze, not daring to look at the fearful, disappointed, and contemptuous eyes cast around him, and he had no idea how to face Zhou Tianjue, the governor of Guangxi.

This wasn't because Xiang Rong felt ashamed to face Zhou Tianjue after losing the battle.

Rather, it was because Xiang Rong and Zhou Tianjue had always been at odds, and after this battle, Zhou Tianjue had even more confidence and reason to boss Xiang Rong around.

Xiang Rong's influence among the Qing army on the western front will also diminish with this battle.

Of course, this is on the premise that the Qing army on the western front still exists.

It remains to be seen whether Peng Gang will capitalize on the victory at Sanlixu and take Wuxuan City in one fell swoop.

However, Xiang Rong felt that there was a high probability that Peng Gang would continue to attack Wuxuan City.

The Qing army on the western front lost all its elite troops. Peng Gang had fought in Wuxuan City and was very familiar with it, winning the hearts of the people of Wuxuan.

Previously, the Taiping Army lacked heavy artillery for siege warfare, but the Battle of Sanlixu filled this gap.

If Xiang Rong were Peng Gang, he would definitely choose to attack Wuxuan County and drive the main Qing army out of Wuxuan County.

In the dilapidated main hall of the Wuxuan County government office, the Guangxi governor Zhou Tianjue had already received the report, and all his officials and subordinates stood solemnly on both sides.

Zhou Tianjue sat expressionlessly in the main hall of the county government. He did not rise to greet Xiang Rong, Yiketanbu, Han Yongqi and others who had returned defeated. He only stared coldly at Xiang Rong below the hall.

"Failed?"

Zhou Tianjue asked the question casually, as if the death and capture of thousands of Qing soldiers were insignificant in his eyes.

Upon learning of Xiang Rong's crushing defeat, Zhou Tianjue was even somewhat gloating.

Because Zhou Tianjue's performance in the Battle of Mocun was so poor, Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu believed that Zhou Tianjue was old and greedy for credit and was not fit for important positions.

He then handed over command of the Qing army on the western front to Xiang Rong.

As a veteran official of three dynasties, he was a high-ranking official of the second rank.

Zhou Tianjue was naturally very resentful of being ridden on by Xiang Rong, an uncultured military officer.

However, due to the fact that Zhou Tianjue and his Guizhou soldiers and local militias fought a very poorly in the battle of Mocun, and with Lin Zexu overseeing things from above, the situation was difficult.

Zhou Tianjue could only endure and wait for an opportunity to turn the tables, and now that opportunity had finally arrived.

Lin Zexu said that he was not familiar with military affairs and was not good at managing troops, so he should stay in Wuxuan City to provide Xiang Rong with food and supplies.

Was Xiang Rong, whom Lin Zexu strongly recommended and supported, truly skilled in military affairs and warfare?

Didn't they still get utterly defeated by the short-haired guy and flee in disarray?
(End of this chapter)