Chapter 179: Total Failure (First Update, Please Subscribe)
“Boom.”
The gunners in the Hunan Army camp on the river bank fired shells at the side of the Taiping. The shells hit the hull with a "bang" and bounced off.
Before the gunners in the Hunan Army camp could react, the foreign ship had already turned around, completely ignoring the Hunan Army navy fleeing around it, and pointed its bow at the Hunan Army fortress on the shore.
"Then, what kind of cannon is that..."
The Hunan Army gunners in the camp looked at the huge cannon on the ship in horror, and Zeng Laojiu, known as "Zeng Tietong", picked up the telescope directly. The next moment, his face suddenly changed, and there was no trace of blood on his dark face. Compared with other people, he saw more clearly. He clearly saw that there were dozens of "foreigners" standing around the huge cannon on the bow that was as tall as a person, and they stuffed cannonballs the size of their heads into the barrel.
"It's over..."
The next moment, deafening cannon fire sounded on the river surface. The whistling shells directly hit the thick earthen wall of the Hunan Army camp. In an instant, the Hunan Warriors on the wall felt the earthen wall seemed to shake violently. Before they could figure out what was going on, a loud "bang" sounded from the earthen wall. In the violent explosion, the Hunan Warriors on the earthen wall were blown into the sky, and the earthen wall collapsed instantly.
…
"Zeng Tietong and Jiangning were badly defeated. Zeng Tietong and Jiangning were badly defeated..."
A few days later, the government army was defeated at the gates of Tianjing, the navy was almost wiped out, and the news that General Zeng Jiu led his troops to flee Jiangning reached Governor Li. In shock, he ordered to stop the march towards Suzhou and sent people to inquire about the news.
A few days later, after learning the news of the Taiping Rebellion's great victory on the Yangtze River, he was even more dumbfounded.
"Iron, ironclad ship, how is this possible?"
"Your Excellency, that was what Marshal Jiu and Marshal Xue saw with their own eyes. Not only was the bandit's ironclad warship invulnerable to swords and guns, but the cannonballs couldn't even make a hole. The shells were more than a foot in size, like small millstones, and the earth shook. Just one shot destroyed Marshal Jiu's camp wall, and then tens of thousands of Taipings took advantage of the situation and rushed in. With the ironclad warships, the Taipings were not only more powerful, but also beyond the reach of ordinary people..."
The information brought by the messenger left Governor Li dumbfounded.
"How come the long-haired man has an ironclad ship?"
"I'm afraid Li Ni bought it from a foreign profiteer in Hangzhou."
Ever since the Taiping rebels captured Jinshan and Hangzhou, they have been buying a lot of foreign guns and cannons from foreign profiteers in the past two years. How could Governor Li not know about this? As for abducting and selling innocent people as slaves abroad, it was nothing new.
"Damn those Western profiteers! They really deserve to be killed!"
While Governor Li was cursing angrily, he thought about what Liu Kunpeng said that day.
"Oh, hurry up, prepare the sedan!"
Governor Li stood up hurriedly.
"We can't let Mr. Wu be fooled by foreigners again and buy the junk that they don't want!"
What's the point of spending 400,000 taels to buy a few useless ships that the foreigners don't want? Are you going to let the Taiping rebels use their ironclad ships to attack them for fun?
Sitting in the sedan chair, Governor Li was secretly thinking about another thing - now that his mentor's navy had just been defeated, if he took the 400,000 taels and bought an ironclad ship like Changmao, then the navy commander would be on his side.
Everyone has ambitions, and Governor Li is no exception. Just as he was thinking about how to get Mr. Wu to pay the 400,000 taels of silver for buying the ship, the voice of a newsboy selling the Shanghai Xinbao was heard outside the sedan chair.
"Extra, Extra, Zhejiang Governor Zuo Zongtang suffered a tragic defeat at the gates of Quzhou, his life or death unknown, Extra..."
What!
Zuo Zongtang was also defeated!
How could this happen?
Governor Li hurriedly lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and shouted.
"Quick, quick, stop the sedan, go and buy a newspaper!"
…
Amid the deafening sound of artillery fire, the Chu Yong soldiers were running everywhere outside the city of Quzhou. As the Chu Yong soldiers were fleeing, the Taiping Army in the distance continued to bombard them with mortars. The fierce artillery fire from dozens of mortars destroyed the Chu Yong troops in an instant.
What was even more deadly was the long-haired foreign rifle team. The fierce firepower of thousands of foreign rifle teams using seven-shot serial rifles became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Facing such a hail of bullets, the fate of the Chu soldiers with only a few foreign rifles was naturally imaginable.
However, after several rounds of artillery attacks, the Chu Yong chose to flee in all directions due to the heavy casualties caused by the violent explosions. As the Chu Yong fled, shouts of "Capture the Qing demon Zuo Zongtang alive" rang out from all directions, along with the sound of artillery, gunfire, and footsteps, and thousands of Chu Yong fled in all directions.
Zuo Zongtang was dumbfounded by the scene. He did not expect that the Chu Yong, whom he had trained so painstakingly, would be so vulnerable. Chu Yong completely ignored the orders of his officers and fled with his head in his hands.
"Master Futai, it's over..."
Jiang Yili, the bravest general under Zuo Zongtang, was also stunned by the scene before him. What stunned him was not the collapse of bravery, but the fierce firepower fired by the Taiping rebels.
"I don't know where the Tai Mao got the foreign cannons from. They can fire hundreds of them at a time. Even an iron man can't withstand such artillery fire..."
Standing on the battlefield, Zuo Zongtang had a dazed expression.
how so?
When did the Changmao's firepower become so sharp? How come that cannon can fire continuously like a chain gun?
The defeated soldiers on the battlefield were like fallen leaves blown by the wind, fleeing in all directions without any purpose.
One of the brave men was in a panic, only caring about escaping, and didn't see Zuo Zongtang and others standing there, and ran towards him in a daze. Seeing the defeat, Zuo Zongtang shouted.
"Deserters should be killed!"
After saying that, he picked up the knife and chopped at them. Yong Ding, who was fleeing in front, screamed and was beheaded. His blood dyed the fields red. Yong Ding, who was fleeing, was immediately shocked by the governor's mighty power. Just as they were barely gathering around the governor again, the Taiping Army artillery team in the distance also saw this group of people and the commander's flag. They did not hesitate and immediately concentrated the firepower of the mortars and bombarded the group of people.
Amid the violent explosion, the general's flag with the word "Left" written on it fell down, and the troops that had just been reorganized collapsed. In the smoke, the wounded screamed miserably. The escaped warriors who had luckily survived no longer cared about military law and fled in panic in all directions. As they fled blindly, many Hunan warriors who saw that they could not escape took advantage of the chaos to take off their uniforms, threw away their swords and guns, and hid in the grass and fields. Soon they became prisoners of the Taiping Rebellion.
However, the only thing that made them feel fortunate was that, unlike in the past, this time the Taiping army did not kill them. Instead, they shouted at them to tie their braids together, and then their hands were tied, making them prisoners.
Thank God, no prisoners were killed...
I have set up a book club: 335260551. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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