1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 254 Fresh Force

Without resting for a moment after leaving the Taiping Army's command tent, Peng Gang led his staff to observe the enemy's and our own situation and understand the deployment of the Qing army in Changsha.

Miaogaofeng was undoubtedly the best vantage point outside the south city for observing the Qing army's deployment, but the heavy artillery of the Qing army near Tianxin Pavilion was pointed directly at Miaogaofeng, so Peng Gang did not rush up Miaogaofeng.

He learned about the situation on the Changsha battlefield primarily by observing the city from all sides and questioning the military commanders of the various battalions besieging Changsha.

In the evening, to help Peng Gang quickly understand the Changsha battlefield, Yang Xiuqing specially asked Chen Chengrong to send Peng Gang a map of the enemy and our own situation, which he had personally revised and updated with the help of his strategist Qian Jiang and others, as well as some Qing army intelligence.

The map and intelligence that Yang Xiuqing sent were largely consistent with the information that Peng Gang had gathered during the day.

In terms of details, Yang Xiuqing, who had fought the Qing army for half a month, knew more about the situation than Peng Gang, who had just arrived.

By the light of the candle, he finished reading the map and intelligence report sent by Yang Xiuqing.

Peng Gang gained a relatively clear understanding of the situation on the Changsha battlefield.

When the Taiping army attacked Changsha, their lack of firepower was more critical than their insufficient manpower.

Before Peng Gang's Northern Palace troops joined the Changsha battlefield, Yang Xiuqing only deployed more than 60,000 troops to the Changsha battlefield, which was only about 10,000 of the Qing court's Changsha soldiers.

Due to insufficient troops, Yang Xiuqing was unable to completely encircle Changsha, only surrounding the south and east sides of the city.

In recent days, Yang Xiuqing's offensive against Changsha City has focused on attacking Huangdao Gate on the south wall, Xiaowu Gate on the east wall, and Liuyang Gate.

Because the Qing army had built fortifications outside the north wall, Yang Xiuqing was unable to attack the Xiangchun Gate on the north wall.

As for the western wall, which has the most city gates, with a total of three (the western wall of Changsha originally had four gates, but Derun Gate was blocked and abandoned, so only three gates remain), it was impossible to attack Changsha from the western wall because it was adjacent to the Xiang River and the island of Shuiluzhou (Orange Isle) was in the hands of the Qing army.

Lin Fengxiang once told Peng Gang that when Xiao Chaogui led the elite troops of the Western Palace to raid Changsha last time...

There were still many buildings outside the city walls of Changsha that could be used to cover the attack on the city.

Luo Bingzhang was a capable official of the Qing court. He would not have been unaware that the buildings outside Changsha could provide cover for the Taiping army attacking Changsha.

The buildings outside Changsha were not demolished, mostly because of the strong opposition from the gentry of Changsha.

Now, the buildings outside the south and east walls have all turned into ruins, leaving a bare expanse with an open and unobstructed view.

This should be the reason why Saishana moved to Changsha.

Sai Shang'a was not as easy to talk to as Luo Bingzhang. Luo Bingzhang still had to consider his official reputation and dared not kill the gentry of Changsha.

Sai Shang'a was a Mongol bannerman who was only responsible to his master, the Xianfeng Emperor, and he didn't care about the opinions of the Changsha gentry.

It takes another evil person to teach a lesson to a wicked person. It must be said that some Han gentry are indeed shameless.

Besides Shuiluzhou, several thousand Qing soldiers were also stationed on Yuelu Mountain, which faces Shuiluzhou and Changsha City across the river on the west bank of the Xiang River.

In terms of the overall situation, Changsha was surrounded by the Taiping Army from the south and east at this time.

But Changsha is not an isolated and dead city.

In the Changsha battlefield, the Qing army still maintained a certain strategic depth.

The Qing troops inside the city could still communicate with the outside world through the Xiangjiang River waterway.

The reason why no Qing army reinforcements have come to Changsha recently is that Yang Xiuqing sent Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai into Dongting Lake in advance. The waterway in the lower reaches of the Xiang River was cut off by Wei Changhui and Shi Dakai, so the Qing army reinforcements could not reach Changsha directly through the Xiang River waterway.

Zuo Zongtang was from Changsha Prefecture. In his youth, he studied at Yuelu Academy near Changsha City and was the person under Peng Gang who knew the geography of Changsha best.

Peng Gang handed over the maps and intelligence sent by Yang Xiuqing to the General Staff, and asked Zuo Zongtang to assist the staff in making a simple sand table overnight to present the enemy and friendly forces' situation on the Changsha battlefield in a visual way.

At dawn, after Zuo Zongtang and his staff worked through the night, a simple sand table depicting the Changsha battlefield was successfully completed.

The enemy and friendly forces on the Changsha battlefield were fully visible.

Peng Gang had some boiled eggs delivered to the staff headquarters tent so that Zuo Zongtang and his staff, who were working overtime all night, could have something to eat temporarily.

Standing before the newly completed sand table, Peng Gang peeled an egg and began to eat it. As he ate slowly, he asked his staff, "What are your thoughts on attacking Shuiluzhou?"

"The Changsha battlefield is like the egg we're eating. Changsha City is the yolk, Shuiluzhou is the white, and Yuelu Mountain is the shell," said Deputy Chief of Staff Zhang Ze, picking up a half-peeled egg and using a vivid analogy.

"To eat the egg white, we must first peel off the shell of Yuelu Mountain and take down Yuelu Mountain first."

Zhang Handai also agreed with Zhang Ze's point of view: "If we take Yuelu Mountain, we can cross the Xiangjiang River from the west bank and launch an attack on Shuiluzhou. Our army will only need to face the Qing army's artillery fire from the direction of Shuiluzhou. The heavy artillery on the west wall of Changsha will not be able to hit our attacking troops."

"Prime Minister Hu Zhengtong of the Southern Palace led 5,000 Southern Palace troops to garrison in the Jinniuling and Yuwangshi area to monitor the Qing army on Yuelu Mountain."

"Prime Minister Hu's troops are not required to participate in the attack on Changsha. We can contact Prime Minister Hu and join forces with his troops to attack Yuelu Mountain, striving to capture it as soon as possible and clear the way for our attack on Shuiluzhou," Huang Bingxian stated his idea.

"Prime Minister Hu and the Qing army on Yuelu Mountain have been locked in a stalemate for more than ten days. Prime Minister Hu should know more about the situation on Yuelu Mountain than the Eastern King."

Prime Minister Hu is Hu Yihuang, the second most important figure under the kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and one of only two prime ministers in the Heavenly Kingdom at present.

A large Qing army was stationed at Yuelu Mountain. Yang Xiuqing was worried that the Qing army at Yuelu Mountain and Shuiluzhou would cross the river and launch a surprise attack on the Taiping army that was attacking Changsha. Therefore, he sent Hu Yihuang to garrison the Jinniuling and Yuwangshi line to monitor and contain the Qing army at Yuelu Mountain and Shuiluzhou.

This was the first time Zuo Zongtang had worked with the staff officers of the General Staff Department.

At first, Zuo Zongtang felt that apart from Huang Bingxian and Qiu Zhongmin, the other three staff officers in the Northern Palace Staff Department did not even know all the characters and their cultural level was not as good as his students, so he harbored a little prejudice against them.

Zuo Zongtang was impressed by the performance of these staff officers today.

Although the staff officers in the General Staff had a lower level of education compared to Zuo Zongtang's students who had received academy education from a young age.

However, the confidence, composure, independent thinking, and willingness to speak their minds that these advisors possess are qualities that many students educated at Hunan Academy lack.

Not to mention, these staff officers were frontline officers with combat experience before the establishment of the General Staff.

If they have the opportunity to receive a quality education from a young age and make up for their cultural shortcomings, they will perform better.

Of course, these advisors are all still very young, around twenty years old, and it's not too late for them to start catching up on their cultural knowledge.

After listening to the staff officers' speeches, Peng Gang instructed his accompanying clerk, Liu Wenjin, to record and organize their opinions. He then stepped out of the staff headquarters tent and looked towards the Taiping Army camp on the opposite bank.

Zuo Jun's camp was located south of Wangyue Village on the east bank of the Xiang River, south of Changsha City, facing Yuwang City on the west bank across the river.

The Taiping Army's local troops were highly efficient. Before the Left Army arrived at the Changsha battlefield, the Taiping Army's local troops had already built a pontoon bridge between the southern part of Wangyue Village and Yuwangshi on the opposite bank to connect the Taiping Army troops on both sides.

The Taiping Army's earthen battalion was a highly professional engineering force.

Not only could they dig tunnels and build pontoon bridges on the battlefield, but they could also construct palaces in the rear. The historically famous Heavenly Palace (Heavenly King's Palace) and Eastern King's Palace were mainly built by the Tu Camp, making them truly versatile.

Historically, during the battles of Changsha and Wuchang, the Tubei troops built pontoon bridges with extremely high efficiency and professionalism.

Peng Gang crossed the pontoon bridge over the Xiang River and arrived at the camp of Hu Yihuang's troops.

At this time, the Taiping Army of the Southern Palace near Yuwang City was cooking. Many of the new recruits in Hu Yihuang's Southern Palace troops were recruited by the Northern Palace in Lingling. When these new recruits saw Peng Gang leading the Northern Palace troops to their camp, they were quite enthusiastic.

Many new recruits even invited the officers and soldiers of the training battalion who accompanied Peng Gang to have a meal together, and even brought out fish that had just been caught from the Xiangjiang River to treat them.

When Hu Yihuang heard that Peng Gang had arrived at the fishing net market camp, he hurriedly went out to greet him.

"Greetings, Your Highness the Northern King." Hu Yihuang lifted his robe and bowed to Peng Gang.

After the Battle of Jeonju, the Southern Palace, which was responsible for the rearguard, was able to recover and grow stronger, largely thanks to the 25,000 fresh recruits that Peng Gang provided to the Northern Palace.

Although the people Peng Gang gave to the South Hall were not as good as those recruited by the North Hall itself, their quality was not bad compared to the Hunan recruits from the other halls.

Hu Yihuang's respect for Peng Gang was not merely superficial; it was a genuine expression of gratitude and respect for Peng Gang.

Peng Gang was the person Hu Yihuang respected the most, besides Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan.

Peng Gang could have easily used some old and weak people to appease the Southern Palace, or even simply refused to send any new soldiers to the Southern Palace. However, Peng Gang did not choose to do so and generously provided the Southern Palace with new soldiers of decent quality.

"Prime Minister Hu, the war is urgent, so these formalities are unnecessary."

Peng Gang helped Hu Yihuang up and went straight to the point, asking Hu Yihuang about the situation of the Qing army on Yuelu Mountain.

"How many Qing demons are there on Mount Yuelu? What is their combat strength? Do they have heavy artillery?"

"When I first entered Yuwang City and Jinniuling, I wanted to take Yuelu Mountain in one fell swoop, but unfortunately, my strength was insufficient, and I failed. I could only retreat and confront the Qing demons on the mountain," Hu Yihuang replied with a bitter smile.

"There are more than 4,000 Qing demons on Yuelu Mountain. Most of these Qing demons are Zhengan soldiers transferred from western Hunan, and they are quite capable in combat. As for cannons, the Qing demons on Yuelu Mountain do not have many heavy cannons. There are only three or four heavy cannons, and the rest are some mountain-splitting cannons."

Hu Yihuang was a rare martial arts scholar among the high-ranking officials of the Heavenly Kingdom, but he had never achieved any outstanding military achievements. He was even captured by Jiang Zhongyuan and Wulantai when he withdrew from Pingnan County.

If it weren't for his quick wit, Hu Yihuang would now be the highest-ranking official of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured by the Qing army.

Hu Yihuang has always wanted to stage a spectacular comeback to prove himself, but unfortunately, his core team suffered heavy losses when they were evacuating Pingnan County to cover the retreat, and they have yet to recover and have been unable to realize his military talents.

He was also unlucky.

Hu Yihuang often carried out rearguard missions when the battle situation was unfavorable, and frequently encountered Qing troops who were relatively capable and numerous.

"I wish to lend Prime Minister Hu a hand in taking Yuelu Mountain. Does Prime Minister Hu have confidence?" Peng Gang raised his hand and pointed to Yuelu Mountain not far away, asking.

The most elite Zhengan soldiers have been wiped out by Peng Gang in Guangxi. The Zhengan soldiers on Yuelu Mountain should be second-line Zhengan soldiers or new recruits.

These Xiangxi soldiers, who fought against rebellious chieftains year after year, were stronger than the average Green Standard Army, but only to a limited extent, and they didn't have many heavy weapons.

Peng Gang is confident of taking Yuelu Mountain.

"Your Majesty the North is joking. If we're going to attack Yuelu Mountain, it will be me, Hu Yihuang, who will be your assistant." Hearing that Peng Gang was going to take action against Yuelu Mountain, Hu Yihuang was overjoyed. With the addition of the North Palace's fresh forces to the battlefield, how could they not take Yuelu Mountain?

"If the Northern King intervenes, how can we not conquer Yuelu Mountain! I am willing to do everything in my power to assist the Northern King in attacking Yuelu Mountain!"

Since the uprising began, all the teams that fought alongside Peng Gang have never been defeated or suffered losses.

Peng Gang took the initiative to approach Hu Yihuang to attack Yuelu Mountain together, which Hu Yihuang was more than happy to do.

"Good!" Peng Gang patted Hu Yihuang on the shoulder. "With the two of us joining forces, we will surely conquer Yuelu Mountain."

After agreeing with Hu Yihuang to jointly conquer Yuelu Mountain, Peng Gang began intensive pre-battle preparations.

The Eastern Palace once conquered Liuyang County in western Changsha Prefecture. Liuyang County was famous for producing fireworks and firecrackers, and Yang Xiuqing obtained a lot of gunpowder and gunpowder raw materials in Liuyang.

Peng Gang didn't stand on ceremony with Yang Xiuqing. Taking advantage of the gap in the scouts' reconnaissance of Yuelu Mountain, he directly asked Yang Xiuqing for 150 loads of gunpowder to use in the attack on Yuelu Mountain.

Having obtained gunpowder, Peng Gang dispatched troops to construct artillery positions at the foot of Yuelu Mountain, and moved all the heavy artillery battalions to the foot of Yuelu Mountain to suppress the Qing army troops on Yuelu Mountain with firepower.

The heavy artillery battalion's cannons, weighing between 500 and 900 jin, were no match for the dozens of heavy cannons, each weighing several thousand jin, inside Changsha.

However, dealing with the Qing army's artillery, which lacked heavy artillery, on Yuelu Mountain was a piece of cake.

They quickly suppressed the Qing artillery on Yuelu Mountain.

Hu Yihuang's previous attack on Yuelu Mountain failed largely because the southern palace was weakly armed and had many new recruits.

Now that the North Palace has joined the Yuelu Mountain battlefield, our side has superior firepower and has suppressed the enemy's artillery.

The morale of Hu Yihuang's Taiping Army soared, and everyone was eager to try their luck.

Peng Gang's tactics for attacking Yuelu Mountain were very simple and unpretentious, using superior artillery firepower to suppress the Qing army on Yuelu Mountain.

They provided cover for the Second Regiment, along with Li Rui and Chang Sheng's Provisional Eighth Regiment. Two full-strength regiments, totaling over six thousand men, attacked Yuelu Mountain.

The 1st Regiment, the 5th Regiment, and the Training Battalion were to remain in reserve and not be deployed for combat for the time being.

Li Rui and Chang Sheng were originally prisoners of war of the Green Standard Army.

Because of the outstanding performance of the Qing army in the recent battle of Leiyang-Yongxing, in pursuing and annihilating the troops of Xu Guangjin, Zhang Guoliang and others.

Peng Gang selected veterans from various battalions to serve as junior officers, and also drew two battalions of soldiers from the reserves, who, together with prisoners of war from Guizhou and Sichuan, formed the Provisional Eighth Regiment.

Seeing that Peng Gang had committed so many troops, they were poised to take Yuelu Mountain in one fell swoop.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Hu Yihuang waved his hand, leaving only 1,000 soldiers as reserves, while the remaining 4,000 soldiers were all thrown into the battle to attack Yuelu Mountain.

The sound of cannons boomed all over Yuelu Mountain, and the twenty-one heavy cannons of the heavy artillery battalion made the Qing soldiers on Yuelu Mountain cry out in pain.

The officers stationed at Yuelu Mountain were Jia Hengjin, the Assistant Magistrate of Fenghuang Hall in western Hunan; Qu Tenglong, the Military Commander of Zhengan Town; and Zhu Zhan'ao, the Guerrilla Commander.

He commanded 4,000 soldiers from Zhengan, including 2,000 veteran soldiers from Zhengan Town and 2,000 newly recruited soldiers.

More than a month ago, they responded to the call of Hunan Governor Luo Bingzhang and rushed to the aid of Changsha, the provincial capital.

They were the elite troops of the Qing army in the Changsha battlefield.

The fact that Luo Bingzhang and Sai Shang'a dispatched 4,000 elite troops from western Hunan to garrison Yuelu Mountain demonstrates the importance they placed on it.

Jia Hengjin, Qu Tenglong, Zhu Zhanao and others lived up to Luo Bingzhang's expectations, repeatedly thwarting Hu Yihuang's offensive against Yuelu Mountain.

Qu Tenglong, a veteran general from Hunan who was nearing sixty, noticed that the Taiping Army that had just arrived at the foot of Yuelu Mountain was different from the ones he had seen before.

Its field artillery fire was far more powerful than even the Green Standard Army's.

Qu Tenglong said to Jia Hengjin beside him with a worried expression, "My lord, a lot of new religious bandits have come down from the mountain. The new bandits are very fierce with their artillery. This attack by the bandits is probably different from the past."

(End of this chapter)