The biggest difference between an entrepreneur and an executive is that one starts a business for himself and the other starts a business for others, which is completely different in terms of mentality and efficiency.

The Taiping Army and the Hunan Army are like this, Shi Dakai got foreign guns and foreign cannons in less than ten days, and at the same time distributed all the firearms, and it was prioritized on the Zhejiang battlefield, Shi Dakai's intention was very obvious, that is, to completely annex Zhejiang with superior firepower!

However, in ten days, the current Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang have not seen the shadow of firearms, and sent a letter to Guo Songtao, seven hundred miles to report to the imperial court, delayed too much time, from Shanghai to the capital, even if it is seven hundred miles urgent, one back and forth, it will take more than five days, saying that Guo Songtao came forward, and then sent the news back to Shanghai, it takes a lot of time, one step can not catch up, step by step can not catch up, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang have been thrown out by Shi Dakai.

By the time Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang signed an agreement with Hua Ruohan, Shi Dakai had already gone to Zhejiang in person and began to command the Taiping army, which was equipped with foreign guns and artillery, to launch a new round of offensive towards Shaoxing Mansion in Zhejiang.

At this time, Zuo Zongtang, who had rushed back to Zhejiang, was making every effort to deploy defenses in the northeast of Zhejiang, guarding against the attack of the Taiping Army and driving to the movement of the Taiping Army.

Zuo Zongtang did not dare to slack off, and led the Chu army of more than 20,000 people to enter Shaoxing and began to confront the Taiping army.

However, Zuo Zongtang was careless this time, in the original fierce battle, the Taiping army has always been more than the fight, and the combat effectiveness is indeed not as strong as the Hunan army and the Huai army, he led more than 20,000 people, facing the 30,000 Taiping army, even if he can't win steadily, he can definitely keep Shaoxing Mansion.

However, what I didn't expect was that the Taiping army was actually equipped with a large number of artillery! And a lot of foreign guns!

Shi Dakai just came to the city, thinking that Shaoxing launched a fierce artillery bombardment, dozens of artillery at the same time, one by one shells hit the head of Shaoxing city, the explosion shook the earth, in just an hour, the west gate of Shaoxing was bombed by the Taiping army to a huge gap!

Shi Dakai nodded with satisfaction, yes, the firearms sold to him by the Americans are really worth the money, the power is huge, with these guns in hand, it is effortless to take Shaoxing and Hangzhou!

Shi Dakai shouted: "Order, the two foreign gun battalions will separate the two sides for me, advance to the range of foreign guns, start to carry out intensive shooting, suppress the counterattack of the Qing demon, and order the former army battalion to attack the head of Shaoxing from the front!" ”

In the city, all the Chu troops stationed in Xicheng were stunned, my God, when did Changmao have such a powerful artillery? This is more powerful than the artillery that the Chu army has, and there are a lot of them!

Looking at the Taiping army that had already launched a charge towards the city, Kou Ruchou, the defender of Xicheng, roared frantically: "Quick, quick, immediately send a letter to the marshal, go and send the letter, Changmao is equipped with a large number of artillery, the power is huge, our city walls have been collapsed, please send reinforcements immediately!" Command my brethren to defend me to the death! ”

The Chu army was famous in the Qing Dynasty for its courage and skill, just like Zuo Zongtang, who was not afraid of death.

In the face of the Taiping army rushing up, the Chu army also began to attack, with bird guns, fire guns, guns, bows and arrows, and even dozens of rifles in their hands, firing at the same time, and launched intensive shooting at the Taiping army, trying to stop the advance of the Taiping army.

It's just that these states in the hands of the Chu army are too inferior, compared with the Taiping army, they are too far behind, and the two thousand soldiers in the Taiping army are all newly issued American rifles, although they are not as advanced as the Liaoyuan No. 1, but they are also first-class equipment, with long range, high accuracy, and the design speed is far beyond that of bird guns and fire guns, not to mention the bulky guns.

Under the cover of artillery, they soon advanced the front to a distance of only 300 meters from the city, and the foreign gun battalion began to shoot intensively, suppressing the counterattack of the Chu army, and more than 1,000 Taiping troops rushed towards the city.

In less than half an hour, the Chu army already had hundreds of people fighting blood, even if the Chu army was brave, in front of such a powerful firearm, it began to panic a little, God, where is this long hair, it is completely a Western army, such a strong firepower, how can it resist?

The Chu army was cowardly before the battle, and the morale in his heart fell immediately, but, under the supervision of Kou Ruchou, he had to bite the bullet and resist the attack of the Taiping army, but he was also killed by others and retreated, with the help of firearms, the Taiping army was simply like crazy, constantly launching a crazy attack on the Qing army, under the fatal blow of foreign guns and foreign artillery, the casualties of the Qing army continued to increase, and Kou Ruchou's five battalions were beaten without the power to fight back! This is still based on the fact that the Taiping Army has just been equipped with muskets and artillery, and the shooting skills are all rookies.

The prefect's yamen, Zuo Zongtang sat firmly in the military tent, and suddenly, the cannon sound in Xicheng was like thunder, and the sound was non-stop, such a huge cannon sound, he had never heard it.

Zuo Zongtang was shocked, it was definitely not the cannon sound of the Chu army, could it be the long-haired artillery? It's just that when did they have such a formidable artillery?

When Zuo Zongtang was frightened, the herald hurriedly broke in from the outside, and said urgently: "Big, my lord, it's not good, Changmao used a large number of artillery to attack the city, in just the blink of an eye, our city wall was bombarded by Changmao's cannonballs, the brothers suffered heavy casualties, Lord Kou was a little unbearable, and asked the marshal to send reinforcements immediately!" ”

What the?

Zuo Zongtang was so frightened that his heart trembled, the city walls were all collapsed? What the? How strong is this artillery?

"Send an order to Zong Yue and order him to immediately lead three battalions to support Xicheng! No, I'll go to Xicheng to command the battle in person! ”

Zuo Zongtang panicked, now seven of the twelve state capitals in Zhejiang Province have been lost, if even the high-class mansion of Shaoxing is lost, there will only be Hangzhou left with him, he can't lose it, he can't lose it! At this time, Zhejiang can't afford such bad news!

Zuo Zongtang led his guards to the west city of Shaoxing in person, but when he arrived, the Taiping army had already begun to rush into Shaoxing City under the cover of guns.

Zuo Zongtang's eyes were cracked, and he roared angrily: "Zong Yue, go out to battle immediately, and beat the Taiping Army back to me no matter what!" ”

(To be continued.) )