Slaying the Qing: My Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

On March 28, 1857, outside Luzhou Prefecture, Shi Dakai, the Wing King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, who also served as Minister of Military Affairs and Commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, met with his generals.

"Gentlemen, according to the intelligence we have received so far, the cavalry of the Anhui and Hunan armies are holed up inside Luzhou City. They have not chosen to flee, but rather intend to hold out to the death. This is somewhat unexpected!" Shi Dakai said to the crowd.

"Your Highness, the Tartars probably believe that with the strong defenses of Luzhou City, they can withstand our attack, or at least hold out until reinforcements arrive. That's why they are so fearless!" said General Wang Haiyang, commander of the 4th Army of the Western Expeditionary Force.

"Luzhou City can be considered a fortified city. Especially after the Tartars reinforced it, it will take us a considerable amount of time to take it. We should also be prepared to pay a certain price."

The Tartars recognized this, which is why they wanted to put up a stubborn resistance!

General Shi Zhenji, commander of the 6th Army, said.

General Shi Zhenji was Shi Dakai's cousin and one of his most trusted confidants.

"General Chen, what is the Imperial Guard's opinion?" Shi Dakai asked.

Immediately, all the eyes of the generals of the Western Expeditionary Army fell on General Chen Yucheng.

The 1st Infantry Division of the Guards Corps had made a name for itself in the previous battles.

Whether on the battlefields of southern Jiangsu or northern Jiangsu, the Qing army was routed and suffered heavy losses.

The Imperial Guard Corps, in coordination with the Eastern Expeditionary Corps and the Northern Expeditionary Corps, has annihilated more than 100,000 Qing troops.

It can be said that the Imperial Guard Corps played an indispensable role in enabling the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to reverse the situation in this war and gain the upper hand on the battlefield.

"Your Highness, in my humble opinion, the Qing army's decision to defend Luzhou to the death is actually a good thing for us."

If the Qing army abandons Luzhou and flees to northern Anhui, it will be very difficult for us to eliminate them. Their current entrenched position within Luzhou gives us an opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

"If we can devour them in Luzhou City, the entire central and northern parts of Anhui Province will be utterly defenseless. The entire province will fall under the control of the Heavenly Kingdom. Anhui will become the first province completely controlled by the Heavenly Kingdom!"

General Chen Yucheng said.

Shi Dakai nodded repeatedly.

Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom claimed to control several provinces.

In reality, each province only controls a small amount of territory.

Even in Jiangsu Province, although the Taiping army had defeated the Qing army and the Northern Expeditionary Army was advancing towards Huai'an Prefecture and further north to Haizhou and Xuzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture was still under Qing control.

In addition, there was foreign influence in Songjiang Prefecture, making the situation complicated and troublesome.

If the Western Expeditionary Army can quickly take over Anhui Province, it will be an honor.

"The Tartars won't just stand by and watch us take Luzhou Prefecture; they will definitely send reinforcements. Can we quickly break through Luzhou City before the Tartar reinforcements arrive?" General Zhu Yidian, commander of the 5th Army of the Western Expeditionary Corps, shook his head.

"Your Highness, leave the task of breaching Luzhou City to us. We will concentrate our artillery fire to bombard the city walls. Then we will deploy engineers to destroy the city walls," General Chen Yucheng volunteered.

Faced with the overwhelming firepower of the Royal Guard, these so-called fortified cities could no longer pose much of a problem.

"Alright, then it's up to you. After the city falls, the Western Expeditionary Army will enter Luzhou City and wipe out the Tartars inside!" Shi Dakai ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Chen Yucheng replied.

Anhui Province was ultimately the main battlefield for the Western Expeditionary Army, and General Chen Yucheng had no intention of competing with Shi Dakai for credit.

Besides, Shi Dakai was not only the Minister of Military Affairs of the Heavenly Kingdom, but also the father-in-law of the Heavenly King. Chen Yucheng naturally did not want to have an unpleasant encounter with him.

On March 29, the 1st Infantry Division of the Imperial Guard Corps launched an attack on Luzhou City.

The 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments launched attacks on the east and north gates of Luzhou City, respectively. The artillery battalion was also split into two parts and deployed to fight on these two fronts.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

From every direction, 12 75mm field guns and 6 75mm mountain guns from the regimental artillery company were fiercely firing at the city walls of Luzhou.

The cannonballs struck the city wall, causing a violent explosion.

Shrapnel flew everywhere, constantly claiming the lives of Qing soldiers.

The Qing soldiers could only cower on the city walls and passively endure the attacks.

Although some cannons were also placed on the city walls of Luzhou.

But these were old muzzle-loading cannons, and even when mounted on the city wall, their range was not far enough to reach the artillery positions of the Imperial Guard.

Instead, the cannons that were firing were destroyed by the Guards' artillery.

Some cannonballs even flew over the city walls and landed inside the city, causing even greater losses to the Qing troops hiding behind the walls.

Under the powerful artillery barrage of the Imperial Guards, the Qing army was completely powerless to retaliate.

Shi Dakai and the other military commanders of the Western Expeditionary Army were also watching the Imperial Guard's attack through binoculars.

This was the first time they had truly witnessed the formidable firepower of the Guards Legion.

"No wonder the Imperial Guards were able to achieve victories on both the southern and northern Jiangsu battlefields. Even the foreigners don't have such powerful artillery, do they?" Wang Haiyang remarked.

"Yes! I heard that His Majesty the Heavenly King developed it two years ago. At that time, His Majesty the Heavenly King was only six years old. Isn't that incredible!" Shi Zhenji said.

"It is said that the method of making it was taught to us by our Heavenly Father in a dream."

Another military commander said.

This adds another layer of mystery to Hong Tian's legendary experiences.

The Imperial Guard's artillery fire was fierce, inflicting heavy losses on the Qing army. At the same time, the morale of the Qing army was also greatly affected.

Immediately afterwards, the infantry began to advance.

The 120mm artillery and 80mm mortars opened fire immediately.

Intensified artillery fire swept across the city walls, further increasing the losses of the Qing troops on the walls.

"Da da da!"

When the heavy machine guns began firing, and the dense bullets hit the city walls, the Qing soldiers couldn't even lift their heads.

Meanwhile, the engineers of the Imperial Guard took the opportunity to rush down the city wall with explosive charges.

Even if the Qing soldiers on the city wall saw the actions of the Imperial Guard's engineers, they could guess their purpose.

But they had no way to stop it.

Many Qing soldiers were shot in the head by heavy machine gun or rifle bullets as soon as they popped their heads out.

This allowed the engineers of the Royal Guard to successfully bury a large amount of gunpowder under the city walls.

Even though the city walls of Luzhou had been reinforced, they still couldn't withstand the explosion of hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder.

"Boom!"

With a loud explosion, the eastern and northern city walls of Luzhou collapsed one after another.

The troops of the Western Expeditionary Army, which had been prepared in advance, rushed in through the breach in the city wall.

The collapse of the city walls severely impacted the morale of the Qing soldiers. Many even turned tail and fled, no longer having the courage to resist.

This made the Taiping army's advance in Luzhou City virtually unstoppable after they entered the city.

Upon seeing this situation, Li Xubin, the commander of the Xiang Army cavalry, disregarded the high-ranking official positions and generous rewards promised by Bi Chengzhao, the governor of Anhui Province, and directly led his troops to break through the encirclement, attempting to escape Luzhou City.

To the south of Luzhou City lies Chaohu Lake, a low-lying area unsuitable for cavalry operations.

Therefore, Li Xubin led his troops to break out of the western city.

But here, they ran headlong into the 3rd Infantry Regiment and Cavalry Battalion of the 1st Guards Infantry Division.

General Chen Yucheng had anticipated that if the Qing army wanted to break out, they would inevitably choose this direction. Therefore, he ordered an infantry regiment and a cavalry battalion from the Imperial Guard to guard this area.

"Da da da!"

When the Xiang Army cavalry broke through the encirclement, they were met with a dense barrage of fire from dozens of heavy machine guns.

A large number of mortars were also firing.

Such terrifying firepower completely stunned the Xiang Army's cavalry.

They finally understood how desperate the Menggu cavalry and the Eight Banners cavalry felt when they charged.

Even though the Xiang Army cavalry was extremely fierce, numbering over six thousand.

However, they were unable to break through the Royal Guard's defenses and instead suffered heavy losses under intense fire.

Ultimately, they were surrounded and annihilated beneath the walls of Luzhou.

Even Li Xubin died in battle here.

This was undoubtedly a huge blow to the Hunan Army.