Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 171 Breaking the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Camps

Amid shouts, the Taiping Army charged towards the Jiangnan camp with great momentum.

The Taiping soldiers rushed forward with their chests held high, wanting to capture the Jiangnan camp in front of them for the Heavenly Kingdom.

As the Taiping Army's offensive forces continued to advance, the Qing Army's artillery finally began to fire.

"Open fire! Shoot for me!"

"Aim at those charging long-haired soldiers and hit them hard. Let them see the power of our Qing Dynasty artillery."

"..."

The Qing army's gunners shouted, and the next moment, the roar of artillery echoed throughout the battlefield.

Amid the smoke, artillery shells flew out and shot towards the Taiping Army's formation.

The shells swept into the formation, rolling and spinning, taking away lives and plowing bloody gullies in the Taiping Army's formation.

The scene is shocking!

However, although the Taiping Army soldiers were bombarded, they seemed to be unaffected. They continued to maintain their formation and advance rapidly.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Kill the Qing monsters and live in peace!"

"Long live the Kingdom of Heaven, long live the King of Heaven!"

"..."

Amid shouts, the Taiping Army came towards the Qing army's Jiangnan camp like a rolling wave.

Before the Tianjing Incident broke out and their faith collapsed, the last thing the Taiping Army lacked was morale to fight on the battlefield.

They are really not afraid of death!

Soon, the Taiping Army's formation advanced all the way to the outside of the Jiangnan camp under the artillery fire.

The Qing army's musketeers hid in the fortifications, aimed their guns at the Taiping soldiers in the distance, and then pulled the trigger.

The crackling sound of musket fire echoed across the battlefield.

The Taiping Army soldiers who were charging forward in formation fell down one after another. The scene was shocking.

The Taiping Army soldiers also raised their guns and fired back.

Snapped! Bang bang!

The battlefield was filled with smoke, but the Taiping Army's counterattack caused limited damage to the Qing troops hiding in the fortifications.

But as time passed, the two sides finally began to engage in close combat.

Swords and spears became the protagonists on the battlefield.

It was from this time that the Qing army began to be unilaterally suppressed.

As time passed, the battle gradually entered a white-hot stage.

Both the Taiping Army and the Qing Army continued to send more troops to the front line in an attempt to overwhelm the other side.

But all they did was to leave behind dead bodies on the battlefield.

The Taiping Army could not break into the Qing army camp in a short time, and the Qing army could not defeat the Taiping Army either.

The two sides started a tug-of-war!

The Qing army began to gather its forces on the battlefield.

At the same time, Yang Xiuqing commanded Qin Rigang to bypass Chunhua and Tangshan areas and launch a surprise attack from east to west on the rear camp of the Qing army's Jiangnan camp, which was short of troops.

In a short period of time, Qin Riguang led his troops to destroy more than ten Qing army camps. The Qing army was defeated for several miles and suffered heavy casualties.

It was not until Xiang Rong sent Zhang Guoliang to lead his troops to rescue that the Qing army's rear camp was able to barely resist the Taiping Army's offensive.

The war has once again reached a stalemate!

At nightfall, Yang Xiuqing sent Zhou Shengkun to lead his troops to attack the Qing army camp at night. The Qing army once again lost several camps and suffered heavy losses.

The Jiangnan camp is in crisis!
Xiang Rong had no choice but to send several urgent letters to Jierhang'a, the governor of Jiangsu who led his troops stationed in Jiuhua Mountain, and Qishan who was stationed in Jiangbei, asking for help.

Qishan in Jiangbei received Xiang Rong's letter for help, but remained inactive.

It was as if the crisis in the Jiangnan camp had nothing to do with him!
Jirhang'a was straightforward. He led his troops from the Jiuhua Mountain camp to support the Jiangnan camp.

But when the Qing reinforcements led by Jirhang'a were halfway there, they were ambushed by Wei Changhui's troops.

After a fierce battle, Jirhang'a led the remaining troops to flee eastward to Changzhou, and Wei Changhui took advantage of the situation to successfully capture the Qing army's Jiuhua Mountain camp.

The change of hands of the Jiuhua Mountain camp meant that Xiang Rong's troops in the Jiangnan camp almost became isolated.

Xiang Rong, who was in the Jiangnan camp, heard the bad news so suddenly that he almost fainted.

After capturing the Qing army's Jiuhua Mountain camp, Wei Changhui also led his troops to the outside of the Jiangnan camp.

He joined forces with Hu Yihuang, Qin Riguang, Zhou Shengkun and others to surround the Jiangnan camp from all sides, and then attacked it day and night.

Finally, Qishan in Jiangbei could no longer sit still.

However, he did not choose to lead his troops across the river to reinforce the war in the Jiangnan camp, but instead led his troops to withdraw from Yangzhou and retreat to Huai'an.

At this point, the Jiangnan camp completely lost its last reinforcement.

The Qing army and the Taiping army fought fiercely for more than ten days. By the end of June, the Qing army in the Jiangnan camp finally could not hold on and collapsed.

Xiang Rong had no choice but to lead his own soldiers to break out and prepare to go to Changzhou to meet up with Jirhanga.

The Taiping Army blocked the enemy along the way, but failed to stop Xiang Rong, who was only interested in escaping and wanted to survive. In the end, Xiang Rong and his remaining troops successfully broke through and retreated to Changzhou.

However, the Taiping Army took this opportunity to capture the Jiangnan camp and began to use its troops outward.

He successively brought Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Jurong and other places under his jurisdiction.

At this point, the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps that had besieged Tianjing for more than half a year had been wiped out by the Taiping Army in one fell swoop.

At this time, Senggelinqin was still in Jinan and had not received an order from the court to lead his troops south to reinforce the camps in the south and north of the Yangtze River.

The only pity is that the Taiping Army only defeated the Jiangnan camp but failed to wipe it out completely.

Not to mention the Jiangbei camp, Qishan took the initiative to lead his troops to withdraw to Huai'an before the Taiping Army had time to fight, with almost no losses. This meant that although the Qing army was temporarily repelled, it could return at any time.

……

On May 21st of the second year of the Zhaowu reign of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang army captured Changsha.

On the fifth day of June, the Tang army captured Xiangyin.

On the ninth day, Yuezhou was conquered.

Afterwards, the Tang army began to continue to send troops to various prefectures in Hunan without stopping.

On June 20th, the Tang army captured Changde.

In early July, the Tang army captured Baoqing Prefecture, and in the second half of the month, they captured Yongzhou, Guiyang Prefecture and other places, successively attacking cities and capturing strongholds.

There was good news of great victory almost every day.

At the same time, Yang Yiqing once again led a team to meet Li Yi and brought Li Yi the good news that the Taiping Army had broken through the Qing Army's Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps.

Prepare to discuss with Li Yi again about forming an alliance and jointly defeating the Qing monster.

"Has the Heavenly Kingdom broken into the Qing demons' Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps?"

"Haha, congratulations, congratulations."

Li Yi sat on the chair behind the desk, clapping his hands and laughing.

From the current perspective, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's breaking of the blockade of the Qing army's camps in the south and north of the Yangtze River can definitely be considered beneficial rather than harmful to the Tang Dynasty.

Not to mention anything else, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom breaks up the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps, it will join forces with the Tang Dynasty to attack Jiangxi, and cutting off the Yangtze River will be a good thing.

Not to mention that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would inevitably continue to send troops to expand its territory, which would attract more Qing troops to the Tang Dynasty.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing also complimented him.

"Foreign ministers would also like to congratulate the Tang Dynasty for its unbeaten record in Hunan, its success in capturing cities and strongholds, and its great achievements."

Li Yi said with a smile.

"It's nothing."

"If the Heavenly Kingdom had not tied up the main force of the Qing demons in the Tianjing area, our Tang Dynasty's campaign to capture Hunan would not have been so smooth."

Li Yi never denied that he had taken advantage of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Because, if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had not stood in the front and attracted most of the Qing army's main forces, Li Yi's expansion in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan would never have been so fast and smooth.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing spoke.

"Your Majesty is truly too modest."

After that, he continued.

"Your Majesty, the main reason I came here this time is to form an alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Kingdom of Heaven to fight against the Qing demons together."

Li Yi looked calm and nodded.

"The alliance is easy to discuss. As long as you agree to my request, the alliance can be signed at any time."

Seeing this, Yang Yiqing stopped beating around the bush and spoke directly.

"The king said that after the war between Heavenly Kingdom and Tang Dynasty, Madang Town should be the boundary. The old king of the East agreed to it."

"The King of the East sent his ministers here this time to discuss with His Majesty the details of the joint attack on the Qing demon, including the time, the number of troops, etc."

Li Yi began to think after hearing this, and after a moment he spoke.

"My Tang Dynasty has just conquered Hunan, and the Heavenly Kingdom has just broken the blockade of the Qing demon camps in the south and north of the Yangtze River. We need some time to recuperate and consolidate our victory."

"Otherwise, it's not good to mobilize troops rashly!"

"How about setting the time for the military action after the New Year?"

It wouldn't be a big problem for Li Yi to mobilize troops.

The casualties of various Tang troops in the Hunan Campaign were not too great, and they were able to fight again at any time.

But the problem is that Hunan has just been conquered and the local area is not yet stable.

Li Yi needed some time to tidy up the local area, wipe out the remnants of the Qing army, eliminate the militia forces, and most importantly, promote the work of dividing the land.

Before doing all this, Li Yi must retain a mobile force in Hunan that can be used to quell the rebellion at any time.

Obviously, the work that Li Yi wants to do cannot be completed in just a few months.

In fact, Li Yi planned to use these few months to recruit and train soldiers.

He planned to recruit more new soldiers in Hunan and complete their training in a few months.

When it was time to attack Jiangxi, a small number of veterans were sent to fight with the new recruits who had completed their training.

By then, Jiangxi will have troops to fight, while the main force of the Tang army's veterans will still be stationed in Hunan, so they are naturally not afraid of rebellion in Hunan.

Even if someone rebels, it can be suppressed quickly.

It can be considered a best of both worlds solution!

Yang Yiqing said hesitantly after hearing this.

"Your Majesty, isn't it too late in this case?"

The Taiping Army's idea was to launch a westward expedition as soon as possible after breaking through the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps, capture Anhui, and expand the Heavenly Kingdom's living space.

But from what Li Yi said, he wanted to wait until after the New Year before mobilizing troops.

This is obviously inconsistent with the strategy of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Hearing this, Li Yi frowned and asked in confusion.

"The Heavenly Kingdom has just broken the blockade of the Qing army's Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps and is about to launch a westward expedition. Don't you need to rest and digest the results of the war?"

"For example, we need to push the battle line outward, pursue the Qing army, and build a defense line to protect Tianjing. Don't we need to do these?"

"If Heavenly Kingdom doesn't do these things now, aren't you afraid that after Heavenly Kingdom's main force leaves Tianjing, the defeated Qing demons will come back and rebuild the Jiangnan and Jiangbei camps?"

(End of this chapter)