Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 156 Wei Changhui VS Senggelinqin
Taiping Army camp outside Jinan city!

Wei Changhui looked at the official document sent from Tianjing in his hand with a complicated expression.

Because, in this official document, Hong Xiuquan, in the name of the Heavenly King, urgently summoned Wei Changhui to lead his troops back to Tianjing.

And this is what Wei Changhui does not want to see.

You know, the reason why Wei Changhui chose to lead his troops to the Northern Expedition was to avoid the big whirlpool in Tianjing City, or even to break away from the Heavenly Kingdom and become independent.

His original idea was to raise his own flag and establish his own regime after taking Jinan.

Unexpectedly, the army was stuck outside the city of Jinan and could not advance an inch.

Naturally, Wei Changhui's idea of ​​becoming independent was temporarily delayed.

But what Wei Changhui did not expect was that Tianjing suddenly called him back.

This is not good news for Wei Changhui!

Wei Changhui was undecided, so he ordered his brother Wei Jun to come and discuss the matter.

"The battle of Jinan has not yet been completed, and Tianjing has urgently summoned us back. Wei Jun, tell me, what should we do?"

Wei Changhui asked Wei Jun to sit down and then asked.

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun showed a thoughtful expression on his face and then asked.

"Brother Wang, what do you think?"

Wei Changhui shook his head.

"I don't have any ideas right now, I just want to ask for your opinion."

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun stopped keeping the question in suspense and spoke directly.

"Brother Wang, if you ask me, returning to Tianjing is the best option for us now."

"First, the Qing army has already arrived to reinforce us. It will take a while for Jinan to be taken. If we cannot take Jinan, then even if you want to establish yourself, you won't have the capital."

"Secondly, the soldiers under your command are not only my brothers from the North Palace, but also some of the soldiers from the Heavenly King and the Eastern King. If you want to establish yourself, I'm afraid these people will not accept you if you don't have great achievements."

"If my brother establishes himself at this time, with powerful enemies outside and internal instability, the consequences will be disastrous."

"Since we don't have enough capital to be independent, then returning to Tianjing to join the main force of the Heavenly Kingdom and then lying low for the future is naturally the best choice."

Wei Changhui wanted to be independent, and this was a secret from everyone else, but his brother Wei Jun knew it.

After listening to Wei Jun's suggestion, Wei Changhui nodded in agreement, and then said with a serious expression.

"Wei Junni is right."

"However, the Qing army led by Senggelinqin and Shengbao are eyeing us covetously. It may not be easy for us to withdraw our troops from Jinan and return to Tianjing."

The current situation in Jinan is very tense.

Shengbao led his troops to defend Jinan, and Senggelinqin supported them outside the city.

Wei Changhui needed to deal with Senggelinqin while taking into account the war in Jinan City, and also be careful not to be attacked from both inside and outside.

This also made the Taiping Army's battle situation outside the city of Jinan extremely tense.

By the same token, if the Taiping Army wanted to retreat, they would face enormous resistance!
Not to mention anything else, the cavalry under Senggelinqin alone is a huge threat.

Countless actual battle records throughout history have proven what will happen to infantry if they are pursued by cavalry during their retreat.

At best, the outcome would be defeat, at worst the entire army would be annihilated!
Under the current terrain, the infantry is indeed at a great disadvantage in the face of the massed cavalry.

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun made a suggestion.

"Brother Wang, perhaps our Taiping Army can take the initiative to attack and engage in a field battle with the Qing demons led by Senggelinqin outside the city of Jinan."

"If we can defeat the Qing demons in one battle, then we can calmly decide whether to fight or flee Jinan next."

"Even if we can't, we can still use this to deal a heavy blow to the Qing demons, so that they won't dare to pursue us when we retreat."

Upon hearing this, Wei Changhui showed a thoughtful expression on his face, and after a moment he nodded and said.

"That's okay!"

"Wei Jun, go and pass the order and summon all the generals of our army to come to my tent to discuss matters."

"Discuss the matters concerning the decisive battle with the Qing Yao!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Jun clasped his fists and left.

……

Outside Jinan city, the Qing army camp!
Senggelinqin was riding a horse on the parade ground, holding a strong bow given by the emperor, and drawing the bow and drawing the arrow while riding.

With a bang, the bowstring exploded and the arrows were released, hitting the head of a human-shaped straw target a few dozen meters away.

The sharp arrow mixed with grass debris shone from behind the straw target, flashing a cold light.

Senggelinqin shot several arrows in succession, and almost none of them missed the target. His riding and archery skills were quite good.

There was a cheer in the school grounds.

"Great Qing will win, the monk king is brave!"

"Great Qing will win, the monk king is brave!"

"..."

Senggelinqin demonstrated his archery skills on horseback, then rode his horse around the parade ground and dismounted.

Surrounded by the crowd, he seemed quite high-spirited.

After ordering his men to take good care of his war horses, Senggelinqin invited all the generals to drink and eat meat together.

But at this moment, a messenger rode his horse to the parade ground and headed straight for Senggelinqin.

He shouted at the top of his voice from a distance.

"Report! Repay!"

"Your Majesty, the long-haired thieves are coming to kill us!"

When Senggelinqin heard this, his expression was stunned at first, then he was ecstatic and spoke.

"Hahaha!"

"The long-haired bandits have taken the initiative to attack us. This is the best time for us to make achievements. Order the entire army to prepare for the attack. We must defeat the long-haired bandits outside the city of Jinan!"

Under Senggelinqin's order, the Qing army marched out of the camp in a mighty force, ready to fight the Taiping Army.

The two sides deployed their battle formations on the battlefield, infantry against infantry, cavalry against cavalry, preparing for battle.

Well, the Qing army also had infantry.

When Senggelinqin led his troops south this time, he not only brought a group of Zhili Green Camp troops from Zhili to support him, but also placed the Green Camp in Shandong under his command and pulled them to Jinan to confront the Taiping Army.

The cavalry of the Taiping Army mainly came from the Nian Army that Wei Changhui gathered on his way north.

The quantity is also quite considerable!

Both sides deployed a very classic formation, with infantry in the center and cavalry covering the wings.

This formation has a characteristic, that is, once it starts, there is almost no room for tricks.

In the end, the competition is about who has stronger power in their hands!
boom! Boom boom!

The deafening sound of artillery fire was the first to sound, marking the beginning of the war.

The black shells cut through the air and shot towards the enemy's infantry formation.

The shells shot into the array, tumbling and spinning, with broken limbs and arms flying everywhere, taking away many lives.

However, when facing the same artillery bombardment, the Qing army and the Taiping army showed two completely different states.

The Taiping Army continued to advance while being bombarded.

But before the Qing army had suffered a few rounds of artillery fire, its formation began to become chaotic.

When Senggelinqin saw this, although he was a little annoyed by the poor performance of his own infantry, he did not take it too seriously.

It was not the first or second time that the Qing infantry was defeated by the Taiping army, and he was mentally prepared.

Besides, when did Senggelinqin ever rely on infantry in a war?

To Senggelinqin, infantry was at most a supplement, and cavalry was the top priority.

Senggelinqin decisively ordered the cavalry to attack, galloping towards the flank of the Taiping Army.

They attempted to defeat the Taiping Army in front of them with their superior cavalry. The sound of horse hooves was heard and smoke and dust filled the battlefield.

Wei Changhui was not flustered when he saw this, but simply ordered his own cavalry to go up and fight against the Qing army.

The Nian troops received military orders and rode on horses, donkeys and mules on the battlefield to meet the Qing cavalry.

Soon, the cavalry of both sides collided head-on on the battlefield and then fought each other.

At the first moment of the battle between the two sides, Senggelinqin was shocked by the fighting power of the Nian troops.

The Qing army took the initiative to attack with superior forces, but failed to gain any advantage? !
Damn, when did the bandits’ cavalry become so powerful?

At the same time, the main force of Taiping's infantry was also advancing rapidly, attempting to take advantage of the opportunity of their own cavalry to delay the Qing cavalry, destroy the Qing infantry in one fell swoop, and thus secure victory.

Snapped! Bang bang!

There was a burst of crisp gunfire.

As the Qing army's musketeers saw the Taiping Army getting closer, fear spread in their hearts like a plague. Then, when the two sides were still 200 meters apart, some of them could no longer hold back and opened fire.

A gunshot rang out, and the others around couldn't hold back and pulled the trigger.

In an instant, the entire battlefield was filled with gunfire, smoke, and bullets whizzing by.

However, due to the long distance, the Qing army's musket fire failed to cause too many casualties to the Taiping Army.

boom! Boom boom!

The artillery was still roaring, and shells were flying across the battlefield, making a humming sound.

The Taiping Army charged forward under a hail of bullets with high morale.

"Kill, kill the Qing monsters and go to heaven!"

"With the blessing of Heavenly Father and Heavenly King, I am now invulnerable to swords and guns!"

"..."

Amid shouts, the Taiping Army rushed forward like a wave.

It’s very oppressive!
The Qing army musketeers began to load their muskets and prepare for the second round of shooting.

However, as the Taiping Army got closer and closer, the Qing Army's musketeers began to panic involuntarily, and their loading movements began to go awry.

A Qing army musketeer's hands were shaking so badly that he half-filled and half-scattered the powdered gunpowder, which was blown everywhere by the wind.

What's worse is that some people forget to pull out the cleaning rod after loading, and the connecting rod is also ejected.

Chaos spread among the Qing army's ranks!

Snapped!Snapped!
Scattered gunshots rang out from time to time.

As the Taiping Army approached, the Qing army's musketeers could hardly complete their volleys and instead began to fire freely and randomly.

This also made their shooting almost threatening to the Taiping Army.

Soon, as the distance was shortened to fifty meters again, the Taiping Army also began to shoot with muskets.

clap clap clap!
However, the Taiping Army did not fire in unison, but instead charged and fired at the same time.

However, as the distance was shortened, their shooting accuracy was still quite high, and several Qing soldiers in front of them fell to the ground.

"Kill!"

"Kill the clear demon!"

"..."

The two sides began to engage in close combat.

Soon, the Qing army's formation was broken.

Amid deafening shouts and cries of killing, the Taiping Army broke through several formations of the Qing Army and forced the Qing Army to retreat continuously.

The Taiping Army soldiers fought bravely and fearlessly, which caused great shock to the Qing army.

At the same time, Senggelinqin also noticed the disadvantages of his own infantry on the battlefield.

He wanted to dispatch troops to provide support, but he was so entangled by the Nian troops that he could not do it at all.

The fierce battle lasted for a whole day, and the Qing army's infantry began to retreat across the board.

For some unknown reason, Shengbao in Jinan City never sent a single soldier out of the city to help Senggelinqin.

They just watched helplessly as the Qing army outside the city was defeated!
Upon seeing this, Senggelinqin knew that the situation was hopeless and he could only gather his troops and slowly withdraw northward to preserve his strength for the future.

Upon seeing this, Wei Changhui immediately ordered his infantry to withdraw and his cavalry to pursue, chasing the Qing army further north.

The infantry on their side gathered their forces and prepared to retreat southwards back to Tianjing.

……

Senggelinqin led his troops to retreat all the way to Jiyang, where they got rid of the pursuers and ordered the army to stop and prepare for rest.

Just as he was thinking about how he would explain to the court if Jinan was lost.

A Qing army messenger came to report.

"Report! Your Majesty, the Taiping troops under Jinan City have withdrawn and are heading towards Dongping."

"Maybe he wants to escape south!"

When Senggelinqin heard this, he was stunned and then he suddenly understood.

He said, how come the two sides were confronting each other peacefully, but Changmao suddenly wanted to have a decisive battle with him.

It turned out that Changmao took the initiative to fight him not in order to attack Jinan, but to withdraw his troops.

If he had known this earlier, Senggelinqin would never have chosen to engage in a decisive battle with Changmao rashly, but would have used his superior cavalry to keep a close eye on Changmao.

When the Taiping rebels retreated, he led his troops to attack and harass them. When the Taiping rebels counterattacked, he led his troops to retreat.

In this way, Changmao will be dragged down by him sooner or later!
Today's defeat would not have happened.

But now that things have come to this, the die is cast and it's too late to say anything.

Senggelinqin let out a long breath, but he felt somewhat relieved in his heart.

No matter what, at least the city of Jinan was saved!
As long as Jinan is saved, this small defeat will not be a big deal.

The court will not blame you for this!

In fact, as long as he and Shengbao agree on their testimonies, this small defeat could even turn into a big victory.

Jinan was relieved and the enemy troops fled south. Who dares to say that this was not a great victory?
How did that saying go?

Battle reports may lie, but battle lines never do.

Senggelinqin had some confidence in reporting this victory...

……

On the fifth day of April in the first year of the Tang Dynasty's Zhaowu reign, the Tang army set out from Guangzhou.

First he went west to Sanshui, then turned to Beijiang from Sanshui, went upstream, and headed towards Shaozhou Prefecture.

On April 20th alone, the Tang army arrived in Shaozhou.

After a short rest, they continued northward on the second day, advancing towards Hunan.

On April 23, the Tang army passed Lechang.

On April 25th, we crossed Luojia Ferry.

On April 28, Tang's army broke through Yizhang County and officially entered Hunan Province.

In early May, the Tang army successively captured Chenzhou and Yongxing, marched northward along the Chenjiang River, and attacked Hengyang.

Along the way, those who were attacked were defeated, and those who were defeated were subdued, and the military power was mighty.

For a moment, the whole Hunan was shocked!
Some gentry even started embroidering Tang flags overnight!

……

Changsha, the office of the Minister of Militia!
Zeng Guofan was handling military affairs.

With the great victory in the Battle of Laohuling, Zeng Guofan's reputation spread throughout Hunan, and gentry and militiamen rushed to join him. The speed of forming the Hunan Brave Army also increased.

In just over a month, the Hunan Army's strength expanded several times to more than 20,000 people.

(End of this chapter)