1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 165 Short Hair!

"Holy crap, short hair?!"

Just then, the Qing army vanguard saw a group of short-haired religious bandits with stubble on their heads and wearing turbans, howling as they charged straight at the vanguard, and their hearts tightened.

It was indeed the Left Army that came to support Shi Xiangzhen.

However, this left wing was a boat battalion under Luo Dagang's command.

The news that the Left Army had repeatedly defeated Xiang Rong, a veteran general of the Green Standard Army on the western front, had already spread among the Qing army.

Although the Qing army on the eastern front had not yet clashed with the main force of the Left Army, they had heard of the notorious reputation of the Short-haired Rebels.

Upon seeing the short-haired cult bandits charging into battle, Ulantai was so alarmed that he waved his flag and beat the drums, urgently ordering Jiang Zhongyuan to retreat and engage the short-haired cult bandits to ensure the safety of the vanguard and the central army.

Jiang Zhongyuan had no choice but to reluctantly withdraw his troops and engage the short-haired cult bandits.

The first battalion of boats led by Luo Dagang had also experienced several high-intensity battles in recent times, and were exhausted.

Moreover, the submarine battalion brought by Luo Dagang was not fully staffed, with only more than 640 men.

By suddenly appearing, they were able to use the "short-haired religious bandits" as a shield to intimidate the Qing army and catch them off guard.

If they were to fight a prolonged battle against a Qing army that outnumbered them by tens of times, they would inevitably suffer a setback.

Seeing that the Qing troops and local militia on the mountainside had withdrawn, relieving Shi Xiangzhen's immediate crisis, Luo Dagang decided to withdraw and gathered the boatmen to retreat, disengaging from the Qing army.

"Zuo Jun is really generous!"

Witnessing Luo Dagang leading his boat battalion in a frontal assault on the Qing army's formation to relieve the Central Army, Shi Xiangzhen, who was already prepared to fight to the death with his last ounce of strength against the Qing army, was greatly encouraged.

Luo Dagang, who had rescued Shi Xiangzhen, still looked worried.

The Qing army was numerous and powerful. If the Qing army continued its strong attack, the Taiping army under him and Shi Xiangzhen, who were exhausted, would still not be able to stop the Qing army's offensive.

Jiang Zhongyuan also noticed something amiss with the boat battalion's voluntary withdrawal.

Jiang Zhongyuan stamped his foot in frustration and said, "Commander Wu! We've been tricked! The ones who charged just now weren't the main force of the Short-Haired Cult bandits!"

Jiang Zhongyuan usually enjoys reading battle reports.

They had some understanding of the Taiping Army's deployment.

Jiang Zhongyuan knew that there were two battalions of short-haired naval troops near Bitanxun who had long been fighting alongside Qin Richang's long-haired bandits, controlling the Qianjiang waterway in the Pingzai Mountain section and supporting Qin Richang.

The two battalions of the Bitan Xun naval battalion were led by Luo Dagang, a notorious boat bandit leader in Guangxi in the past.

The short-haired cult bandits who charged earlier only made brief contact with their vanguard. Seeing that Chu Yong had retreated down the mountainside, they gathered their troops and withdrew.

Clearly, this group of short-haired cultists was a detachment under Luo Dagang's command, not the main force of cultists personally led by Peng Gang.

Even if Jiang Zhongyuan didn't lead Chu Yong to retreat and reinforce, this short-haired detachment wouldn't be able to defeat their vanguard.

Jiang Zhongyuan deeply regretted missing the opportunity to completely annihilate the Taiping rebels on the mountain.

Ulantai asked in confusion, "The one who charged into battle just now was indeed short-haired. Why do you say that, Minqiao?"

Jiang Zhongyuan patiently explained to Wulantai the main force of the Shorthair Army's land division and the detachment of its naval forces. Wulantai then realized that, upon careful consideration, it was true that the Shorthair Army had two naval battalions operating near Bitanxun.

After analyzing the reasons, Ulantai and others were greatly relieved, believing that they could take this opportunity to annihilate the short-haired naval detachment and break the short-haired naval invincibility.

After resting for a while, Jiang Zhongyuan reorganized his troops and prepared to lead Chu Yong and his Dong Yong to continue climbing the mountain ridge and annihilate the long-haired and short-haired rebels on the ridge.

From the ridge, they saw the Qing army preparing to attack again.

Luo Dagang and Shi Xiangzhen's mood instantly plummeted.

Luo Dagang and Shi Xiangzhen both fought against this Qing army, which was quite strong.

If they are in good condition and have plenty of energy, the battalion of boatmen and the 2,000 elite soldiers of the First Army can definitely stop this Qing army.

The problem is that the soldiers under Luo Dagang and Shi Xiangzhen have been engaged in intense mountain warfare for days without a moment's rest. They are barely hanging on, and their strength is only three or four tenths of what it used to be.

Both men knew that they could not stop the Qing army's attack no matter what, and even if they managed to hold off the first wave, they would not be able to withstand the second wave.

Just as Luo Dagang and Shi Xiangzhen were debating whether to retreat, abandon the plan to annihilate Zhang Bilu's Qing army, and cross the river back to Pingzai Mountain to regroup and preserve their strength.

Two battalions, their flags clearly visible, appeared prominently at the entrance to the mountain path at Bogong'ao.

Luo Dagang and Shi Xiangzhen were immediately excited. Through the telescope, Luo Dagang was surprised to see the familiar red military flag!
"Our commander is here!" Luo Dagang shouted excitedly, grabbing Shi Xiangzhen's arm. "We have a chance to annihilate Zhang Bilu's Qing forces!"

Units at the company level and above in the Left Army all have their own military flags.

The flags of land division units are red, while those of submarine battalions are blue.

The troops that appeared at the Bogong'ao mountain pass were carrying red military flags, indicating that this troops were the land division personally commanded by Peng Gang, and not another boat battalion of Chen Ajiu!
Shi Xiangzhen breathed a sigh of relief, slumped to the ground, and smiled with satisfaction: "The Left Army has arrived, and our Taiping Heavenly Army has hope of breaking the deadlock!"

He was a senior general in the Taiping Army who was well-educated and had relatively high military skills.

Shi Xiangzhen understood what Zuo Jun's arrival meant.

Next, if the Left Army can join forces with the Rear Army and the Central Army to defeat the Qing reinforcements and annihilate Zhang Bilu's isolated Qing army.

The Qing army in Guangxi was no longer able to trap the Taiping army in the Zijing Mountain and the valleys of Pingzai Mountain!
The Taiping Army will regain the initiative!
Ulantai, Huiqing, Jiang Zhongyuan and others also saw the troops that appeared at the Bogong'ao Mountain pass.

Jiang Zhongyuan snorted coldly and mocked, "Are these short-haired cult bandits laughing at our stupidity? They dare to use the same old tricks again!"

Jiang Zhongyuan, who had missed a good opportunity, was fuming with anger and had nowhere to vent it. He mistook the Left Army troops at the Bogong'ao Mountain Pass ahead for another boat battalion of Luo Dagang.

He was eager to try and annihilate the boat battalion of the left wing of the army.

Little did they know that the Left Army unit in front of them consisted of two elite battalions, the First and Third Battalions, not the exhausted boat battalion.

Upon learning that Qing reinforcements had arrived, Lu Qin, the battalion commander of the First Battalion, and Xie Bin, the battalion commander of the Third Battalion, rushed to Bogong'ao to build stone walls and dig trenches in an attempt to block the Qing reinforcements. They were very excited to see that the Qing army was actually going to take the initiative to attack them.

This is a good opportunity to probe the strength of this Qing army reinforcement.

"Musketeers, prepare! Let the Qing troops in the east see the volley fire of our Left Army!" Lu Qin shouted, raising the command flag to prepare for battle.

The last time the Chu army dared to launch a proactive attack and engage the left army's volley was when they encountered the Chu army at Taicun during the initial battles in Xunyang.

Although Zuo Jun had also experienced continuous high-intensity combat, his physiological functions were not at their best.

However, Zuo Jun rested for a full day in Wuxuan City.

They still had seven-tenths of their strength remaining, and their condition was much better than Shi Dakai's First Army and Luo Dagang's two boat battalions.

After Jiang Zhongyuan's six hundred Chu soldiers had finished assembling, they marched forward in a long, winding procession, led by black flags and accompanied by the beating of drums.

Leading the way were two hundred arquebusiers from the Chu army. These Chu arquebusiers wore uniforms with rolled edges, carried arquebuses, had gunpowder gourds and lead pellet bags on their backs, and wore thick-soled hemp shoes.

Following closely behind the musketeers were Chu Yong's spearmen and broadsword wielders.

Further back were the 600 Eastern Warriors, who served as reserves. The more than 700 men of the Left Army's musket battalion were lined up neatly in front of the slope. The mountain path was narrow, and not even a company could be deployed. Lu Qin could only form half-companies to meet the Chu Warriors.

The soldiers of the left wing of the first battalion all wore uniform indigo cross-collar short jackets, with ammunition pouches slung across their bodies, containing pre-loaded ammunition for easy access.

One company of one battalion has been completely re-equipped with the Polu flintlock musket with bayonets.

The Chu arquebusiers numbered two hundred, but they were unable to fully deploy their forces in the narrow mountain path.

Jiang Zhongyuan divided his men into four horizontal lines of fifty, and they slowly advanced.

Although Chu Yong's formation could not compare with Zuo Jun's, it was the most orderly marching militia that Lu Qin and Xie Bin had ever seen.

They were only slightly inferior to Xiang Rong's Chu army and Zhengan soldiers.

Based on past experience, Jiang Zhongyuan advanced to a distance of about 60 or 70 paces from the left flank musketeers' formation and ordered them to open fire.

boom! Boom boom boom!
The Chu soldiers opened fire first, their guns spitting fire and billowing smoke.

Several musketeers on the left flank in the front row were hit and fell to the ground, but the main force remained completely still.

This made Jiang Zhongyuan secretly alarmed. In the past, even if his Chu Yong arquebusiers could not defeat the cultists in the first round of volleys, the cultists' formation would inevitably be disturbed.

This was the first time Jiang Zhongyuan had ever encountered a situation where a volley of guns could be carried without moving an inch from sixty or seventy paces away.

The performance of this local militia also impressed Lu Qin.

The fact that this militia's arquebusiers could wait until they were 67 paces away before firing shows that they were better than any Qing army arquebusiers Lu Qin had ever encountered.

It's just unknown whether this local militia's ability to withstand casualties is also stronger than that of the musketeers of the Chu and Qian armies.

"Take thirty steps forward!"

Lu Qin ordered his men to advance thirty paces, closing the distance to within forty paces of Chu Yong before opening fire, hoping to rout the local militia in one volley.

Anyway, the front row was equipped with flintlock muskets with swords, so even in close combat, the platoon could hold out for a while and prevent the formation from collapsing.

This scene made Jiang Zhongyuan's eyes widen and he gasp.

How dare the short-haired man continue to press forward when the distance was only sixty or seventy paces?

Aren't these short-haired creatures afraid of dying?!

Looking at the short-feathered musketeers, who were fearless and in perfect military formation, and who were constantly closing in on the Chu musketeers.

In a daze, Jiang Zhongyuan felt that Chu Yong, whom he was so proud of, paled in comparison to this group of short-haired musketeers.

Wait a minute!
The short-haired soldiers in the front row were more densely packed than Chu Yong's arquebusiers, and their muskets were also equipped with swords.

Are these short-haired people equipped with flintlock muskets?

Jiang Zhongyuan had been following Wulantai since he entered Guangxi. He was both Wulantai's subordinate general and half of Wulantai's staff.

Ulan Taiping was always fond of tinkering with and studying firearms. He not only talked to Jiang Zhongyuan about firearms, but also showed Jiang Zhongyuan a self-propelled flintlock gun, which broadened Jiang Zhongyuan's horizons.

Even Ulantai didn't have many self-propelled flintlock muskets, so where did this group of short-haired men get so many self-propelled flintlock muskets with muskets and swords?
Jiang Zhongyuan was completely baffled.

As Jiang Zhongyuan was pondering, he saw the Left Army advancing in an orderly fashion, with the menacing musketeers getting closer and closer to their own lines.

Many of Chu's arquebusiers were so frightened that they were trembling all over and could not even load their guns properly.

Many of the Chu musket pilots were either so frightened that they forgot to pull the trigger and fired the gun along with it, or so frightened that they spilled gunpowder all over the ground and continued to pour gunpowder into the gunpowder pool while trembling.

How come these cult bandits are different from the cult bandits of the past?
Even though they were all musketeers, they could refrain from firing at a distance of fifty paces and still advance forward.

Aside from the first volley being relatively well-organized, Chu Yong's subsequent volleys were sparse and scattered, with several instances of overloading and guns exploding.

"stop!"

After enduring two and a half volleys of Chu Yong's gunfire, and being only about thirty-five paces away from Chu Yong's musketeer, Lu Qin waved his command flag to call a halt.

Lu Qin glanced contemptuously at the Chu army's formation, which was already showing signs of weakening, and knew that the outcome was already decided at this moment.

The elite Qing militia troops on the eastern front were nothing special, not much stronger than Xiang Rong's Chu army.

"put!"

At Lu Qin's command, the Left Army's musket battalion opened fire in volleys, and in an instant, flashes of fire and sounds shook the mountain valley!

After the first platoon finished firing, they reloaded on the spot, and the second platoon fired from above, taking turns firing to provide continuous firepower.

No sooner had the volley of gunfire ended than nearly a hundred men in the Chu army ranks fell to the ground, their cries of agony filling the air.

Many Chu soldiers were shot in the chest and abdomen and fell to the ground in the mud. Their blood flowed down the slope and mixed with the puddles of water to form dark red mud.

Nearly a hundred people were shot in a short period of time, something Chu Yong had never experienced since the army was formed.

Chu Yong's morale collapsed instantly, and he retreated uncontrollably.

Even Jiang Zhongyuan himself couldn't control the situation and was swept away by the fleeing Chu soldiers, retreating backward.

Chu Yong was the most relied-upon force by Ulantai, besides the firearms battalion.

Ulantai found it unbelievable that Chu Yong had collapsed so quickly.

"These short-haired soldiers are not Luo Dagang's short-haired naval battalion! They are Peng Gang's elite short-haired land division!"

Still shaken, Jiang Zhongyuan rode up to Wulantai, his expression grim.

"Commander Wu, retreat quickly! The short-haired rebels are about to attack! My Chu Yong can't hold them off!"

They saw that the short-haired pikemen had already advanced and were charging towards them.

Anxious and worried, Jiang Zhongyuan could only protect Wulantai and retreat.

Ulantai was still not giving up and ordered the artillery battalion to fire and drive back the short-haired rebels.

Unfortunately, the short-haired spearmen had already rushed to the front and were engaged in fierce fighting with the Qing army's vanguard.

Although the artillery battalion's cannon fire hit a small number of the three battalions' pikemen, it inevitably wounded the Qing troops in the vanguard.

The Qing army's vanguard was hit by friendly fire, and the vanguard's collapse became even more severe.

Among the various Qing armies, the fastest to react was neither the vanguard army, which had already engaged the enemy, nor the central army, but the rear guard of 800 Eight Banner cavalry responsible for supervising the battle.

These Eight Banners cavalrymen realized that the situation was not good, so they no longer cared about supervising the battle.

They all turned their horses around and galloped frantically towards Mengxu, wishing they could run all the way back to Guiping City!

With the Eight Banners troops gone, and no supervising soldiers left, the Green Standard Army militia in the rear became the vanguard, closely following the Eight Banners troops and quickly advancing towards Mengxu.

(End of this chapter)