Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

During the frontal attack, the British and French forces were hit hard by the artillery of the Firearms Battalion. The artillery shells of the Firearms Battalion not only aimed at the attacking British and French forces, but even hit the British and French positions in the rear!

The fierce artillery fire left Saxton and Yaman stunned. What a powerful firepower!

Saxton swallowed hard and asked, "Yaman, are you sure that your estimate of the Qing army's artillery technology is accurate?"

Yaman smacked her lips and laughed dryly. "Saxton, my guess is a little different from reality. It seems there are still people in the Qing army who understand Western artillery. Damn, how is that possible? Where did they get the artillery technology?"

Saxton suddenly came to his senses and said angrily, "I understand. Damn it, it's that Liu Ye again. In order to get the Americans to withdraw from the negotiations, he offered them a purchase worth one million taels of silver, which included a large number of rifles and artillery. From that time on, Liu Ye had already started artillery training for the Qing army..."

"Impossible, right? Saxton, you have to understand. When the American artillery arrived in Tianjin, Liu Ye had already been transferred to Baoding Town. By the time the artillery arrived in Baoding, Liu Ye had led his army on an expedition to the Northeast. In order to quickly return to join the battle, his elite troops from Baoding Town rushed back in just twenty days! Do you think they could have escaped so quickly with artillery? Moreover, even if they had been trained, it would be impossible for them to have such excellent artillery skills in such a short period of time. Even if they are not as good as the French artillery now, they have already reached the second-rate level in Europe!"

Yaman asked doubtfully.

Saxton roared, "Yaman, what's the point of analyzing this now? You know, with or without an elite artillery unit, the difference in combat power is enormous! Now that they have artillery support, how can we rely on infantry to break through the enemy artillery's firepower line?"

Yaman's face was filled with embarrassment, but she suddenly came to her senses and pointed at the battlefield, shouting, "Saxton, that's not right! Look, the Qing army only has the most powerful artillery at the center artillery position. The other artillery is far inferior and can't even match our soldiers! The number of troops they can operate the artillery is too limited!"

Saxton was shocked when he heard this, and he hurriedly looked at the battlefield carefully. As expected, among the three artillery positions of the Qing army, only the artillery position in the middle was extremely powerful and suppressed the British and French forces. However, the artillery of the Qing army on the left and right wings was so poor in technology that no one knew where their shells hit!

Saxton was overjoyed and shouted, "The Qing army's weaknesses are on the two flanks! The flanks! We don't need to attack from the front. Change our tactics. Order the French First Regiment to conduct a feint attack on the front to draw the firepower of the Qing artillery in the front position. The British First Regiment will immediately move to the left wing and launch a fierce attack on the Qing army's right wing at the same time as the British Second and Third Regiments! Within two hours, you must break through the Qing army's right wing!"

Saxton and Yaman are both generals with rich combat experience. Once they find the flaws in the Qing army's positions, the Qing army will naturally face huge trouble!

For the Qing army in Yangzha, there was nothing they could do. Even if Liu Ye mobilized all the Qing troops who knew how to operate Western artillery, there were only about two hundred people. Distance measurement, adjustment of various parameters, transportation of artillery shells, and shooting all required special people to monitor each link, which was simply not enough. They could only take care of the front positions and could not take care of the two flanks at all.

On the two flanks, one was Shengbao's army, the other was Ruilin's army. Shengbao was okay, as he was also a fierce general in the late Qing Dynasty. Although he could not be compared with Western generals, he was quite experienced in the battle and had a murderous spirit. However, Ruilin was far inferior. Ruilin was just a civilian transferred to the post of Minister of War, and had never been on the battlefield.

Watching Senggelinqin and Liu Ye commanding the battlefield with such confidence, he felt itchy and wanted to show off his skills on the battlefield as well. However, he also had to consider the location. Seeing the British and French forces rushing towards him, Ruilin ignored all the strategies and tactics and directly ordered the Qing army to press forward and attack! Liu Ye could beat the foreigners to a pulp, so I can do the same! At the very least, I still have dozens of homemade cannons behind me!

Ruilin, the foolish one, had destroyed an entire flank with a single command. How could the current Qing army's Green Camp soldiers stand up to the British and French forces head-on? Even if they held their ground, they might not be able to hold out. He actually dared to directly attack. It was truly incredible!

Three thousand Green Camp soldiers received Ruilin's order and launched an offensive against the French army. With the cover of artillery behind them, they rushed towards the Anglo-French coalition forces!

The three thousand Green Camp soldiers had only two or three hundred rifles, muskets, and bird guns, not to mention rifles. With such little firepower, they dared to attack the Anglo-French coalition forces!

When the British and French forces saw the Green Camp soldiers rushing out, they immediately stopped advancing, formed a battle formation, leaned on each other, and launched a fierce shooting at the Qing army! The rain was still falling, and although it affected the performance of the rifles, it was still much more powerful than the Qing army having no firearms!

Three thousand men from three regiments of the Anglo-French Allied Forces kept shooting at the Green Camp soldiers. Bullets rained down, and the Qing troops on the charge fell down one after another like waves of wheat. In just a quarter of an hour, at least hundreds of corpses were left behind!

A strong fear once again enveloped the Green Camp soldiers. The gap, the gap was huge. A second-rate army in the traditional cold weapon era, facing a first-rate army in the hot weapon era, how could they have any chance of winning?

The Green Camp soldiers were stunned by the scene and turned around to run! If they had run any slower, they would have all fallen to the ground!

In the distance, Yaman sneered and shouted, "Saxton, I'm right, aren't I? Their flanking artillery is just a bluff, and their infantry is just a bluff too. They're completely unstoppable! Haha!"

Saxton laughed too. It seemed he'd been genuinely frightened by Liu Ye, believing all the Qing troops were going to do the same thing he did. This pig-like Qing general was truly useless. He'd actually let a bunch of Qing soldiers charge his own army with swords and spears. Wasn't that just courting death? It was ridiculous!

Saxton shouted, "Alright, Yaman, immediately order the three regiments to continue their fierce attack on the Qing army's flank. As long as we can defeat their flank, then we will be victorious!"

Yes, once the flanks are defeated, the Green Camp soldiers in the center will lose all protection, and the entire Qing army's line will be disintegrated!